| Bao Phi |
 Thien-bao Thuc Phi was born in Sai Gon, Viet Nam, the youngest son to two mixed blood Chinese and Vietnamese parents who raised him in the Phillips neighborhood of South Minneapolis as a Vietnamese boy in the hood. A graduate of Macalester College and retired pizza delivery boy, Bao has performed at numerous venues and schools locally and nationally, from the Nuyorican Poet's Caf� to the University of California, Berkeley. He has twice won the Minnesota Grand Poetry Slam, and also won two poetry slams at the Nuyorican Poets Caf� in New York. He remains the first Vietnamese American man to have appeared on HBO's Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry, and the National Poetry Slam Individual Finalists Stage, where he placed 6th overall out of over 250 national slam poets. His vision is to offer an alternative perspective on Asian American community building through the arts. He has been a featured artist in many community events, rallies and functions, including an event to raise awareness and funds for inmates Eddie Zheng and Viet Ngo, who are working in the California penal system to create an Asian American studies program for incarcerated inmates. He has taught workshops and performed for youth for organizations from the W.O.C. in Minneapolis to the Chinatown Community Development Center in San Francisco. He was an advisory panel member, workshop moderator, and performer for Intimacy and Geography, the Asian American Writers' Workshop national poetry festival in New York. Currently he works as a program associate at the Loft where he curates and operates Equilibrium, a successful spoken word series he created, which invites nationally recognized artists of color/indigenous artists to share the stage with local Minnesota artists of color/indigenous artists. He is also working on his new CD, Refugeography, and continues to tour around the country. 
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