Next up on visualizAsian.com: Slam poet Beau Sia

Erin and I are finishing off 2009 on visualizAsian.com's AAPI Empowerment Series with slam poet Beau Sia, on Tuesday, December 8 at 6 pm PT (9 pm ET). If you haven't heard of him, Beau Sia is a Chinese-American poet from Oklahoma City. He's an artist who uses words as his paint and canvas, and his work has been widely showcased. We caught his performance, which is equal parts stand-up comedy, speechifying, testifying and socio-political commentary, earlier this year when he visited Denver University. He's funny as hell, intense as hell, powerful, super perceptive and thought-provoking. One of his best pieces is an open letter to Rosie O'Donnell that he wrote after she made "ching-chong" comments on national TV. He's fearless, and gives an important voice to Asian American Pacific Islanders that's too often missing.