Podcasts about aapi

Actor Sean Dulake is part of the stellar cast of Amazon Prime's new Butterfly series, an espionage thriller set in Seoul, ROK, starring and executive produced by Daniel Dae Kim. What's unique about this spy show is that it revolves around the dynamics between a father and daughter, and a mother and son. Which of course, makes an already immensely complicated situation even more convoluted. As a hapa Korean American (from Arcadia, CA), Sean is also the co-founder of the highly successful Third Culture Content production company.

There is a common perception that Asian Americans don't get involved with civic life, but a closer read of AAPI history proves that to be false.

Welcome to Season 5, Episode 32! We love having conversations with a lot of amazing authors of a lot of fabulous books. It's even more fun when we're able to invite an amazing author who's also a long-time friend or family member. So this episode is exciting for us because our guest is Kimberly Tso, the author of the new picture book Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken which is published by Third State Books (one of our favorite publishers)! And yes, we've known Kim for the better part of three decades. Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken is a picture book inspired by the true story of Lillie, a real chicken trained to play tic-tac-toe in New York's Chinatown Fair arcade, and her relocation to a farm for rescued animals. Featuring vibrant paintings of Chinatown by Louie Chin, Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken showcases a local cultural touchstone and shows how children can stand up for what they believe in and solve tough problems with clever thinking. You don't have to wait till Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken's release date on August 19, 2025, because it's available for pre-order through Third State Books, Bookshop, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and more! You can even get a signed copy from Once Upon a Time Bookstore. Kim is an active member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) SoCal and SCBWI LA. She loves the challenge of writing complex ideas in an accessible way. She also likes to draw, paint, and collage. In addition to writing children's books, Kim is the owner of Velocity Ink, LLC, a consulting firm that provides grant writing and strategic planning services to progressive nonprofit organizations. A very successful grant writer, she's also the author of the workbook "Fix It and Get Funded: 10 Do-It-Yourself Repairs for Grant Proposals.” To see more of Kim's work, you can visit her website kimberlytso.com, or follow her on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, or subscribe to her Substack newsletter. If you like what we do, please share, follow, and like us in your podcast directory of choice or on Instagram @AAHistory101. For previous episodes and resources, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or our links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at info@aahistory101.com.

Best-selling novelist Jesse Q. Sutanto's latest offering is a present-day re-imagining of the ancient Chinese folktale about a Chinese daughter who masquerades as a man in order to battle China's enemies. It's the most recent book in the Disney Hyperion's "Meant to Be" series, which is a contemporary romance collection featuring reimaginings of classic Disney stories, written by various authors. @jesseqsutanto

In this episode of the Dialogues Podcast, David Chao interviews Father Joseph Cheah, OSM, PhD, about his groundbreaking 2022 book "Anti-Asian Racism: Myths, Stereotypes, and Catholic Social Teaching" published by Orbis Books. Father Joseph Cheah is Professor of Religious Studies and Theology and Chair of the Department of Philosophy, Theology, and Religious Studies at the University of Saint Joseph in West Hartford, Connecticut. The only Catholic scholarly work addressing anti-Asian racism, Father Joe's book critiques two 2018 documents published by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops—one a pastoral letter on racism, the other a pastoral response to AAPI Catholics—which he argues did not sufficiently discuss AAPI experiences of racism. It also examines historical patterns of anti-Asian racism and proposes a theological framework for addressing racism based on tenets of Catholic social teaching. ResourcesCheah, Joseph. 2022. Anti-Asian Racism. Orbis Books. Bransfield, J. Brian. 2018. Review of Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love – a Pastoral Letter against Racism. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. https://www.usccb.org/resources/open-wide-our-hearts_0.pdf.Bransfield, J. Brian. 2018. Review of Encountering Christ in Harmony: A Pastoral Response to Our Asian and Pacific Island Brothers and Sisters. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. https://www.usccb.org/resources/Encountering%20Christ%20in%20Harmony%20A%20Pastoral%20Response%20to%20Our%20Asian%20and%20Pacific%20Island%20Brothers%20and%20Sisters_0.pdf.‌Jeung, Russell. 2022. Stop AAPI Hate and Racial Trauma. In 2022 Mental Health and Asian Americans Conference.‌Jeung, Russell. 2019. An Asian American Exilic Call to Politics. In 2019 Asian American Theology Conference.Transformative Hope by Russell Jeung and Tammy Ho https://aparri.org/transformative-hope/Noel Quintana:Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit caacptsem.substack.com

A weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. The show is produced by a collective of media makers, deejays, and activists. On tonight's edition of Obbligato on APEX Express, which focuses on AAPI artists, musicians, and composers in the classical music world, host Isabel Li is joined by LA based performer and composer Richard An, who plays and creates new avant-garde music, usually with the ensemble House on Fire, and his music has been performed by the LA Phil and the Calder Quartet to name a few. Join us in our conversation, exploring the possibilities of avant-garde music, raising questions regarding Asian identities in the classical music world, and Richard's insights on art making during a time when Trump's cuts to the NEA are affecting artists and institutions nationwide. Featured Music: Sonatrinas: https://richardan.bandcamp.com/album/sonatrinas i got the electroshock blues: https://rasprecords.bandcamp.com/album/i-got-the-electroshock-blues   RICHARD AN (b.1995) is a performer and composer, born and raised in Los Angeles. Richard plays new music – usually with House on Fire – co-founded the tiny backpack new music series, and has performed with Monday Evening Concerts' Echoi Ensemble, Piano Spheres, The Industry and on Bang on a Can's LOUD Weekend. Richard plays piano and percussion, and has been known to sing, conduct, and teach. Richard's music has been performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Calder Quartet, HOCKET, C3LA, and more. His music has been released on CMNTX Records. Richard has a BM in Composition from USC and an MFA from CalArts. He is on faculty at the Pasadena Waldorf School, Glendale Community College and Harvard-Westlake. He plays taiko and tabla, and makes YouTube videos. Learn more about Richard's work on his website: https://richardanmusic.com/ Richard's social media: https://www.instagram.com/richardanmusic/ If you are in LA and want hear Richard's work, he's playing with House on Fire at the Sierra Madre Playhouse on August 17! https://www.sierramadreplayhouse.org/event/richardan2025   Transcript Opening: [00:00:00] APEX Express. Asian Pacific expression. Community and cultural coverage, music and calendar, new visions and voices, coming to you with an Asian Pacific Islander point of view. It's time to get on board the APEX Express. 00:00:46 Isabel Li Good evening and welcome back to a new episode of Apex Express on KPFA, 94.1 FM. We are bringing you an Asian and Asian American view from the Bay and around the world. I'm your host, Isabel Li, and tonight is a new edition of Obbligato, which explores AAPI identities and classical music. Tonight I'm joined by LA based performer and composer Richard An, who plays and creates new avant-garde music, usually with the ensemble House on Fire, and his music has been performed by the LA Phil and the Calder Quartet to name a few. Join us in our conversation, exploring the possibilities of avant-garde music, raising questions regarding Asian identities in the classical music world, and Richard's insights on art making during a time when Trump's cuts to the NEA are affecting artists and institutions nationwide. 00:01:41 Isabel Li Welcome to the show. Welcome to APEX Express, Richard. My first question for you is how do you identify and what communities would you say that you're a part of? 00:01:50 Richard An My name is Richard An I use he/him pronouns and I'm a second generation Korean American. My parents are both Korean. My dad came from Busan, which is a large city in South Korea, and my mom was born in Seoul and then moved to South America and then made her way up to Los Angeles where they met. And as for identity, like, I think Korean American would be the most accurate one. This is and I think an ever evolving part of first of all my identity and the way that it intersects with my practice and also I think that's the case with many Asian American artists, I mean artists from immigrant families, you know, the the matter of your identity, especially if you feel more distanced from it for one reason or another, is like an unsolved question for everyone like there is no one answer. That works for people and that's a thing that me people like myself I think will be exploring for our entire lives. When I introduce myself to people, I say that I'm a classical musician. And at the very core of it, that is true. That's not a lie. And I am, you know, a part of the classical music community in Los Angeles. But as time goes on, I have noticed and realized. That I tend to align myself more with like the avant-garde and experimental contemporary music communities of Los Angeles, which has certainly an overlap with the classical community, both in practice and historically, but yeah, I I would say those are the sort of two biggest ones, classical musicians and experimental avant-garde, contemporary musicians, whatever label you want to use for that. 00:03:47 Isabel Li Yeah. Some of our listeners might not know what avant-garde music entails. Can you — how would you describe avant-garde music to someone who might not be as familiar with this particular movement? 00:03:57 Richard An Yeah. So avant-garde music, a sort of flippant and joking way to to talk about it is ugly music or music. You know, my dad, for example, wouldn't like, but I think. It's music that either interfaces with elements or confronts facets or issues in music that aren't typical of other kinds of music. The music that you might hear that is labeled of on guard might be noisy or dissonant or uncomfortable, or any kind of, you know, adjectives that are synonyms for noisy or ugly, but I have come to love that kind of music, you know 1. Because of the the kind of questions that they might ask about our perceptions of music and two, because I guess one way to put it is that to be a classical musician, you need to be in a practice room for many hours a day for many years and go to what is unfortunately a college, which is usually very expensive and I guess for lack of a better term, paywalled for like you need to have the kind of resources that allow you to attend a four year undergrad and then a two year masters and then a three-year doctorate. But avant-garde music, contemporary music, experimental music doesn't necessitate that kind of thing. Often those musicians do have a background that gives them some amount of, you know, virtuosity or facility in an instrument. But like some of the best experimental musicians. Alive and some of the best ones that I know have no, like extensive training in a particular instrument and some may not have a degree in music at all. And that's one thing that I in like that separates it from classical music is that. 00:05:44 Richard An Classical music can be, unfortunately a little bit exclusionary. I don't think by any one specific design, but the fact that you need so many hours and very specific instructions from a mentor that necessitate that kind of relationship. But experimental music, I think does a little bit better job of diversifying or making it feel more equitable. 00:06:12 Isabel Li That's a great point, actually. One of my questions following up with that was what do you think is possible with this genre, which you kind of mentioned earlier with perhaps how this genre makes classical music a little bit more equitable for those who are interested in this field. In your experience, composing, what do you think makes the genre special, and how do you go about it? 00:06:35 Richard An One thing that I've noticed about being involved in the sort of contemporary experimental avant-garde music sphere is that it makes me a better listener, and I think other people who attend these concerts will agree. Like for example a large part of this kind of music is drone or repetition or, you know, like long spans of unchanging sound. And if the the sound that is being produced at face value is not changing, well then what do you notice about it? What do you grab on to and one of the most, I think, gratifying experiences is listening deeper and realizing that, ohh, even though you know for example this piano playing two notes for 30 minutes might not like the instructions will say to do the same thing for 30 minutes, but your experience as a human being will certainly change over those 30 minutes, even if the the notes are not like you will notice the slight fluctuations in the way that someone is playing, you will notice the beating patterns in the pitches on an instrument that may not be perfectly in tune, you will note other ambient sounds, you will note like you will notice so much more about the world when you are confronted with the kind of music that you know. You can say it forces you to listen to these sounds but also invites you to listen to these things. And I think that's really, really special. That's not to say that that can't happen with other kinds of music. Or even with classical music. Surely you know there are many, many ways to listen to everything. But I've noticed this within myself. When I listen to long, repetitive drone based music that it really opens my ears and makes me a more active participant as a listener. 00:08:30 Isabel Li It's a great point actually. Part of my work– because I studied music, history and theory in college– was how music can engage various listeners to participate. Have you composed anything that perhaps engages the listener in this more of a participatory setting? 00:08:47 Richard An Yeah. So I guess in order the some of the stuff that I've done to engage the audience, I guess both literally, and maybe more figuratively is, I wrote a piece last year for the Dog Star festival, which is a a contemporary and experimental music festival that is actually happening right now, at the time of this recording. It's a multi week long festival that focuses on music of this type that was founded by people in the sort of CalArts music world. But I wrote a piece for that last year for three melodicas, which are these basically toy instruments that look like keyboards, but you blow into them and you blowing air through these makes the sound happen. It's basically like if you cross a harmonica and a piano together. But I I wrote a piece for three of these, playing essentially the same notes. And because these instruments are pretty cheap, and they're often considered toys or, you know, instruments for children, they're not tuned to the exact way that, like a piano or a vibraphone or an expensive instrument might be. But I wanted to use that for my advantage. For example, if I play an F# on one melodica the same F# on another melodica will not be exactly the same and playing those two pitches together will produce what's known as a a beat or beat frequency. Which is, you know, a complicated, you know, mathematic physics thing, but basically 2 notes that are really, really close, but not quite together will create a kind of third rhythm because the the pitches are so close. Like, for example, if if I play an A at 4:40 and another A at 441, you will notice that difference of 1 Hertz inside of your ears. And that's a really cool phenomenon that happens explicitly because you were there listening to the piece. They don't happen necessarily, you know, like in, in recorded formats like, it's a very difficult thing to capture unless you are in the room with these instruments. And the fact that we had this audience of, let's say, 40 people meant that all forty of these people were experiencing these beat frequencies and another really cool factor of this is depending on where you are located in the room. With the way that the beats will sound in your ears are different and purely by the fact of acoustics like a wave bouncing off of the wall over on your left, will feel really different if you are closer or further from that wall. So not only do the audiences ears themselves, you know, invite these this this participation, but the pure physicality of each listener means that they will have a very slightly different experience of what the piece is, and again like this will happen in any concert. If you're at a classical show, if you're at a rock show if, if you're further from the stage, if you're further to the left or right, you will get a slightly different position in the stereo field that the musicians are playing in, but pieces like what I wrote and many others that exist emphasize this kind of like acoustic phenomena. That is really, really fascinating to listen to. 00:12:23 Isabel Li That's fascinating. And to get a sense of Richard's work, we'll be hearing coming up next. The short excerpt from his album Sonatrinas. This is the duo excerpt performed by Wells Leng, Katie Aikam, Kevin Good and composer Richard An himself. [COMP MUSIC: Sonatrinas (Excerpt: Duo)] 00:17:38 Richard An And so the back story for this piece is this was written for one of my recitals at CalArts. I was planning on playing this piece by Michael Gordon called Sonatra, which is a really, really beautiful and difficult piece for solo piano that I gave myself as an assignment, which I was not able to do with the amount of time. And, you know, like I just didn't give myself enough time to do this thing, so I still had this program of several pieces written with the idea of having this Michael Gordon Sonatra in the middle, but now that that sort of middle part was gone, there was a bunch of pieces about a piece that didn't exist. So in order to fill that hole, I wrote this piece called Sonatrinas which is a cheeky nod to the Michael Gordon Sonatra, but also to the fact that each part of this is kind of a diminutive Sonata form. Everything has a sort of ABA– here's some idea. Here's a different idea, and now we go back to that first idea. Every single part of this has a little bit of that in it. 00:18:51 Isabel Li Yeah, that's fascinating. Even the name itself reminds me of Sonata form in classical music, where it's kind of like an ABA section. As you sort of talked about earlier. And it's really cool that you're adapting this in a more avant-garde context. This is a reminder you're listening to Apex Express. Today we are interviewing composer and musician Richard An. 00:19:12 Isabel Li I think the general question that I have next is can you tell me a bit about what drew you to music and how you got your start in music, how you got introduced to it and what things have inspired you over the years? 00:19:24 Richard An Yeah. So a real quick sort of, I guess, history of my involvement with music is that I started piano lessons when I was pretty young, either three or four years old. I continued that until I was 12 or 13. I decided I really wanted to become a musician. I started taking composition lessons with this composer, AJ McCaffrey, who is really responsible for a lot of what I know and my successes, if you can call it that. He got me into a lot of the music that I am into now and set the foundation for what I would study and what I would write he was one of the instructors for this program called the LA Phil Composer Fellowship program, which back when I was a participant from 2011 to 2013, was a program hosted by the Los Angeles Philharmonic that took 4 high school age students every two years. And you know, they they taught us, you know, everything. How a young composer needs to know how instruments work, how to write a score, how to talk to musicians, how to do everything that a that a composer needs to learn how to do and at the end of this program, after the two years the young composers write a piece for the at the LA Philharmonic. So I was extremely lucky that by the age of 17 I was able to write a piece for orchestra and get that played and not just any orchestra, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, you know, undisputedly one of the best orchestras in the world. Right. And then after that I I went to USC for my undergrad and then went to CalArts for my masters. And then here we are now. And that those are sort of the like, you know if someone writes a biography about me, that's what we'll be, you know, involved in the thing. But I really started to develop my love for music in my freshman and sophomore year. In high school I I started to get into more and more modern composers. I started to get into more and more noisy things and a lot of this coincided actually with the passing of my mother. She died when I was 14 and you know that in any human the death of a parent will cause you to reevaluate and rethink aspects of your life. Things that you thought were certainties will not be there anymore. So for me, I stopped taking piano lessons and I sort of went headfirst into composition and which is why my degrees are specifically in composition and not piano. Had my mother's passing not happened, you know, who knows what I would be doing now? Maybe I'm not a composer at all. Maybe I'm not into avant-garde music at all, but because things happen the way that they did, I suddenly took a quick turn into avant-garde music and my involvement there only grew more and more and more. Until you know where I am today, I'm almost 30 years old, so I've been listening to and a participant of this music for maybe 15 years or so and I'm quite happy. 00:22:43 Isabel Li That's awesome to hear. 00:22:45 Isabel Li And perhaps a testament to Richard one's very versatile compositional style and avant-garde music coming up next are three pieces from his album i got the electroshock blues. There are five pieces in the album in total, but we will be hearing three of them. The first one called “feeling, scared today,” the second one, “pink pill,” and the fifth one, “la la.” [COMP MUSIC: i got the electroshock blues: 1. “feeling, scared today”, 2. “pink pill”, 3. “la la”.] 00:36:41 Richard An Earlier last year, I released a collection of live recordings under the title of I got the Electroshock Blues. Electroshock Blues is a song by the band Eels I encountered at a pivotal moment in my life. This was right around the time that my mother passed and this record and this song is heavily centered in grief. The main musician in the Eels, Mark Oliver Everett, was dealing with the passing of multiple family members and people who were close to him so it hit me in just the right way at just the right time. And because of that, this song specifically has stayed with me for many, many years. I found myself coming back to the contents of this song as I was composing and all the pieces on this album, of which there are 5 heavily take material from this song, whether that's words, chords, the melody. I really, you know, take it apart, dissect it and use those as ingredients in the pieces that I have written here and all of these are live recordings except for the first piece which was recorded in my studio. I just sort of overdubbed the parts myself, and there are credits in the liner notes for this album, but I just want to say that. The first piece which is called “feeling, scared today,” was originally written for the Hockett piano duo, which is a duo comprised of Thomas Kotcheff and Sarah Gibson. Sarah Gibson was a really close friend of mine who passed away last year and now this piece which in some way came out of a feeling of grief now has renewed meaning and another facet or aspect of this piece is centered in grief now. Because this was dedicated to Thomas and Sarah. Yeah. So these pieces are all derived from this one song. 00:38:57 Isabel Li That's a beautiful response. Thank you so much. Kind of following along your background and how you got to where you are. How do you think your identity has informed your work as a composer and musician? And this could be– you can interpret this in any way that you wish. 00:39:11 Richard An Yeah, this is a really interesting question. The question of how my identity interfaces with my music. In my art, particularly because no person's answer is quite the same, and I don't necessarily have this figured out either. So for a little bit of I guess for a little bit of context on me, I'm second generation Korean American, but I've never been to Korea and I never went to Korean school. My parents never really emphasize that part of my education. You could call it assimilation. You can call it whatever, but I think they valued other aspects of my growth than my explicit tie to Koreanness or, you know my specific identity as a Korean or Korean American, and because of that, I've always felt a little bit awkwardly distanced from that part of my identity, which is something that I will never be completely rid of. So in in a world and the field where whiteness is sort of the default part you know, particularly because you know, classical music does come from Europe, you know, for hundreds of years, like all of the development in this particular kind of music did happen in a place where everyone was white. So because of that background of where I come from and where my musical activity comes from, whiteness has been the default and still feels like it is. So me looking the way that I do as, an obvious not white person, as a person of color will always have a little bit of an outsider status to the thing. And with that comes the question of what are you bringing to classical music? What do you bring to the kind of music that you're creating? Like for example, the most I think the most well known East Asian composers are people like Toru Takemitsu or Tan Dun, people who will interface with their Asianness, in many different ways, but that often involves bringing, for example, a Japanese scale into your classical composition, or bringing a Japanese instrument into your classical composition. Those are, you know, examples of of of pieces by Toru Takemitsu, and other, you know, very successful. Asian American composers now may do similarly. Texu Kim is maybe someone who can also give insight into this, but nothing about me feels explicitly Korean, maybe besides the way that I look. And besides, the way that I grew up a little bit like I've never been to Korea. What right does that give me as a Korean, to for example, use a Korean instrument or use a Korean scale? I've never studied that music. I've never studied that culture. I in in some arguments I would be guilty of cultural appropriation, because I, you know, have not done the work to study and to properly represent. And for example, like Pansori, if I were to use that in any of my music. 00:42:46 Richard An But then the the the difficult question is well, then who does have the right? Does being Korean give me all the license that I need to incorporate aspects of my identity? And if I am not Korean, does that, does that bar my access to that kind of music forever? Another way of looking at this is, I've studied North Indian Classical Hindustani music for a while. I've played tabla and and studied that music at CalArts and I really, really love playing tabla. It's it doesn't make its way into my composition so much, but it is certainly a big part of my musicianship and who I am and, like, but am I barred from using ideas or aspects of that music and culture and my music because simply for the fact that I am not Indian? Many musicians would say no. Of course you've done your homework, you've done your research. You're doing due diligence. You're you're representing it properly. And many people who study this music will say music cannot go forward if it's not like the innervated and continued and studied by people like me who are not explicitly South Asian or Indian. That's an example of the flip side of this of me using or representing the music from a culture that I am not a part of, but again, am I really Korean? I've never been there. I wasn't born there. I speak the language conversationally. But this is an extremely long winded way of saying that I feel a tenuous connection to my Korean this my Korean American identity that hasn't been solved, that isn't solved and probably will never be completely solved. But I think that's exciting. I think that's an evolving aspect of my music and will continue to be that way as long as I continue to be involved in music and as as long as I continue to write. 00:45:05 Isabel Li Yeah, absolutely. That's a wonderful response. Actually. I was, as I was studying different types of world music and learning how people kind of borrow from different cultures. There is this always, this kind of question like ohh, like which types of musical elements from which cultures can I incorporate and obviously the aspects of personal identity definitely play into that a little bit. And part of my senior thesis in college was studying AAPI artists in classical music, and specifically that there are a lot of Asian-identifying musicians in the classical music world. But as you kind of mentioned earlier, I think classical music is very much still like grounded in whiteness and has this kind of air of elitism to it just because of its roots. How do you think this kind of identity intersects with the classical music world? And forgive me if you've already kind of talked about it before, but it's an interesting juxtaposition between like, for example, musicians who identify as AAPI or Asian in this kind of genre that is very– it's very associated with whiteness. Could you kind of talk about the dynamics of how these two aspects of like culture kind of interplay with one another? 00:46:26 Richard An Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, there are ways that I personally feel like I intersect with classical music with reference to my identity, and that also plays with the sort of cultural expectations, like there are stereotypes of Asian musicians, of Asian classical musicians. But there are not necessarily the same the same kind of stereotypes with white classical musicians. A very dominant like stereotype that you'll run into is the young Asian prodigy who practices 10 hours a day and may therefore be labeled as mechanical or unfeeling or, you know, are involved in in this a lot. So much so to the fact to the to the point where to excel an Asian American classical musician or as an Asian classical musician, in general, seems to always carry that stereotype. Like you know, Seong-Jin Cho's success as a pianist may not necessarily be attributed to his musicianship or his skill as a pianist. Because he is an Asian person, an Asian guy. Like how much of his success is because of the perceived tiger mom-ness that he might have existed under? How much of it is attributed to the same type of stereotypes that are labeled like that that label the five year old pianist on YouTube that that is clearly better than I am? Like some of these stereotypes help and some of these don't, but the I think it's undeniable that they exist in a way that doesn't in a way that doesn't carry for white people in the classical music sphere. And I think part of that is that classical music is still rooted in its Eurological identity. I think I'm using that correctly. That's an idea from George Lewis. Eurological versus Afrological. The context that I'm using Eurological right now is specifically in reference to George Lewis, who is a composer, trombonist, and musicologist who, I think coined the two terms to differentiate the roots of different styles of music, and you know, I haven't read enough to confidently say, but classical music is Eurological by example and like jazz would be Afrological by an example and the contexts in which they develop and exist and grew up are fundamentally different, which is what makes them different from each other. And again like this needs a little bit more research on my part. 00:49:23 Richard An Yeah, and because the classical music is so rooted in this thing, I don't believe that the stereotypes that exist for Asian classical musicians exist for white people. And I think that is something that will naturally dissipate with time, like after another 100 years of Asians, and, you know, people of color in, you know, every country in the world, with their continued involvement and innova otypes will disappear like this. You know, it may require certain concerted efforts from certain people, but I do believe that after a while these things will not exist. They'll sort of equalize right in the same way. That the divisions that we make between a Russian pianist and a French pianist and a German pianist, though you know people still do study those things like those aren't really dividing lines quite as strong as an Asian composer or an Indian composer might be. 00:50:27 Isabel Li Thank you for that perspective. I think it's, I think these are conversations that people don't kind of bring up as much in the classical music world and it's great that, you know, we're kind of thinking about these and probably possibly like opening some conversations up to our listeners hopefully. And so my next kind of pivot here is as you know with our current administration, Trump has canceled millions of dollars in National Endowment of the Arts grants, and it's been affecting arts organizations all over the nation. And I was kind of wondering, have you been affected by these cuts to arts programs and what kinds of advice would give upcoming musicians or composers in this era? 00:51:07 Richard An Yeah, that's a yeah, that's a big thing. And like, you know, changing day by day, right. So the Trump administration's effects on my life as a musician is simultaneously huge and also not really that much. So in one way these grant cuts have not affected my personal musical life because I haven't ever received a government grant for any of my arts making. So in one way like my life is the same, but in many, many, many other ways it has changed. Like I am involved with and I work with concert series and organizations and nonprofits that do rely on NEA funding and other government arts based funding. And if they have less money to fund their next season, that means certain projects have to be cut. That means certain musicians have to be paid less. That means certain programs have to change, especially if these funding cuts are aimed towards DEI or quote and quote, woke programming like that is, you know this that will by design disproportionately affect people of color in this field, which already you know, like is in a Eurocentric urological tradition like this is already something that people of color don't have a head start in if the funding cuts are aimed at certain types of programming that will disadvantage already disadvantaged groups of people, well then I don't know, that's even–we're starting even later than other people might be, and you know, like, if a musicians, if a person's reaction to this is despair, I think that's reasonable. I think that is an absolutely, like that's an appropriate reaction to what is fundamentally an attack on your voice as an artist. But I I have for as long as I can, you know, I have always worked under the impression that I will have to do the thing myself, and that's in the piece of advice that I give for a lot of people. You shouldn't necessarily wait for this ensemble to come pick you to play or or to to, you know, commission you to write a piece if you want to write the piece, you should do it and figure out how to put it on yourself. If you want to perform you know music by a certain composer, you should do it and then figure out how to do it yourself. That certainly comes from a place of privilege, like I can do this because I have enough work as a musician to be able to pay for the the passion projects it comes from a place of privilege, because I live in Los Angeles and the resources and musicians and other people who I would like to collaborate with live here, so you know, completely acknowledging and understanding that I I do believe that it's better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission. I think if you're a young musician and are feeling some despair about these funding cuts and you know the many, many, many other transgressions against humanity by this current administration. 00:54:38 Richard An I recommend you just go out and do it yourself. You find your people, you find your community, you pull favors, you work long nights and you do it and the reward will firstly be the good you're putting out into the world and then the the art you're making. But also this will be paid in kind by the community you're building, the musicians you're working with. And the the connections you make like you know I I have, I am currently conducting this interview from a studio space that I am renting out in Pasadena that I have built over the last two years that I do all of my rehearsals and my performances in, and that I, you know, host rehearsals and performances for other people, and this cannot happen and could not have happened without the goodwill and help and contribution from other people. When I say go out and do it yourself, I'm not saying that you as a human being are alone. I'm saying you don't need to wait for institutional approval or permission to go out and do these things. Get your friends and do them themselves. And my optimistic belief is that the support and the work will follow. 00:55:53 Isabel Li Richard, thank you so much for sharing your perspectives and your voice on this show today. And thank you to our many listeners of KPFA on tonight's episode of Obbligato on Apex Express. Which focuses on the AAPI community of the classical music world. There were some inspirational words on arts and arts making by Richard An musician and composer based in Los Angeles. 00:56:18 Isabel Li Please check our website kpfa.org to find out more about Richard An and his work as well as the state of the arts during this period of funding cuts. 00:56:29 Isabel Li We thank all of you listeners out there. Keep resisting, keep organizing, keep creating and sharing your visions with the world, your voices and your art are important. 00:56:41 Isabel Li APEX Express is produced by Ayame Keane-Lee, Anuj Vaidya, Cheryl Truong, Jalena Keane-Lee, Miko Lee, Preeti Mangala Shekar and Swati Rayasam. Tonight's show was produced by Isabel Li. Have a great evening. The post APEX Express – 8.7.25 – Obbligato with Richard An appeared first on KPFA.

We're back from hiatus with an incredible conversation featuring Roshni Nedungadi — co-founder, founding partner, and Chief Research Officer of HIT Strategies. Roshni is one of the sharpest minds in political research today, with a career built on elevating the voices of communities too often ignored in traditional polling: people of color, young voters, and low-propensity voters.In this episode, we talk about how she found her path from Wisconsin politics to running her own firm in D.C., why representation in research matters, and what it means to build something new in a field that's still overwhelmingly white and male. If you've ever questioned how change actually happens behind the scenes in politics — this is the episode for you.00:01:00 – Meet Roshni: a polling expert and co-founder of HIT Strategies00:03:00 – The 2008 election, student protests, and how political activism shaped her early career00:08:00 – From legislative aide to data analyst: building technical skills through direct mail and targeting00:12:00 – The power of representation: working for a Black-led firm and learning to take up space00:14:00 – How she and co-founder Terrance Woodbury started HIT Strategies00:15:00 – The 2016 election, youth voters, and the warning signs that went ignored00:18:00 – Starting a firm as women and people of color in a predominantly white industry00:20:00 – The role her mother played in modeling entrepreneurship and offering support00:22:00 – Breaking into political consulting and navigating gatekeeping in the industry00:23:30 – Building early momentum with the Steyer campaign and work on Black and Latinx voters00:24:30 – Responding to the moment: 2020, George Floyd, and a demand for deeper polling00:25:30 – Roshni's current focus: polling young women, AAPI voters, and reproductive justice00:26:30 – The gaps in AAPI polling — and why representation in data still matters00:28:00 – What it means to scale while staying rooted in community00:29:30 – Advice for BIPOC folks trying to break into politics, research, or entrepreneurship00:33:00 – Final reflections on pushing the industry forward and showing up with authenticityPolling isn't just about numbers — it's about who gets seen, whose voice counts, and how decisions get made. Roshni's work challenges the old norms of political research by centering voters that traditional firms often overlook. This conversation is a masterclass in how to build power through data, strategy, and representation — and a must-listen for anyone curious about the future of politics.Roshni is a founding partner and chief research officer of HIT Strategies. Roshni has led expansive, multi-phase research projects exploring how people across the United States feel about abortion access, gun control, mass incarceration, and other important issues on behalf of advocacy leaders such as Everytown for Gun Safety, NARAL, and Vera Institute for Justice. Roshni's research seeks to find nuance in how Americans, particularly BIPOC individuals and low-propensity voters, conceptualize these issues at a time where division and partisanship run rampant. Roshni's research on behalf of HIT Strategies ultimately is meant to lift up the voices of marginalized communities in the United States, one of the fastest-growing and oft-ignored voting blocks in American politics. https://hitstrat.com/our-team/Instagram: @hitstrategies If you enjoyed the show and you...

Welcome to Season 5, Episode 31! Our guest today is Daniel Tam-Claiborne, a writer, multimedia producer, and nonprofit director. His latest work is the novel Transplants released by Simon & Schuster. It's a coming of age story following two young women—Lin, who is Chinese and Liz, who is Chinese American. They're both navigating the journey to find their truest selves in a world that doesn't know where either of them belong. The novel is an exploration of race, love, power, and freedom that reveals how—in spite of our divided times—even our fiercest differences may bring us closer than we can imagine. Tam-Claiborne is also the author of the short story collection What Never Leaves, and his writing has appeared in a variety of publications and outlets including Michigan Quarterly Review, Catapult, Literary Hub, Off Assignment, The Rumpus, HuffPost, and elsewhere. Outside of writing, Daniel serves on the Board of Directors of Seattle City of Literature and on the Advisory Board of Off Assignment. He's a frequent speaker, moderator, and host. In our conversation, we discuss the process of writing a novel, inspiration for Transplants, feelings of belonging, the importance of COVID and lockdown as an element of Transplants, the diversity in the Asian American community, and so much more. Transplants is a well-written, moving book that we think shares several common themes that resonate with so many audiences. Tam-Claiborne doesn't shy away from deep issues that Asian Americans, Asians, and expats face as he explores belonging, identity, and more. You can see more of Daniel's work on his website Travel Breeds Content or his Instagram account @datclaiborne. If you like what we do, please share, follow, and like us in your podcast directory of choice or on Instagram @AAHistory101. For previous episodes and resources, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or our links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at info@aahistory101.com.

Kenny and Chizuko Endo met in 1975 when he was first embarking on what would become his lifelong passion for Japanese taiko drumming, ultimately using it to honor its role in the past, but also using it as a springboard to innovate compositions and collaborations that have established these ancient Japanese drums as clearly belonging to the future of music as well.  Now celebrating his 50th year with taiko, Kenny and wife Chizuko reflect on how their personal and professional lives have been shaped and sharpened by their mutual love of taiko drumming.  To find out more about the 50th anniversary shows, go to www.kennyendo50.com. You'll also find dates and locations for the subsequent shows on the Mainland. And to find out more about their Taiko Center of the Pacific, go to www.taikoarts.com.  

@1QLeadership Question: What role do external partnerships, internal collaboration, and campus engagement play in growing the athletics program's visibility, revenue, and fan base? From the 2024 PacNet Conference, Phil Wang, Sr. Associate Athletics Director for External Affairs at UC Irvine, talks about his almost 20 years at UCI. His transition from finance to external affairs, and how the department is maximizing automation and innovation with Learfield and Paciolan.  Wang also covers collaboration with campus, the value of athletics within the university and broader community, and how the department operates with resources that could be considered limited in the context of the athletics industr. - One Question Leadership Podcast - Tai M. Brown

Today's episode explores the intersection of Asian American Christianity and justice, discussing the historical context of justice within Christianity, the separation of evangelism and justice, and the impact of Western individualism on Asian American faith. Our host, Raymond Chang, together with Rev. Dr. Soong-Chan Rah, emphasize the need to recover a theological understanding of justice and provide practical steps for engaging in justice within the Asian American community. Linked Resources:https://www.professorrah.com/ Hosts: Raymond Chang Guest: Reverend Dr. Soong-Chan Rah Engineer: Elliot Koo Producer: Daniel Harris Manager: Gracie Hulse Follow us on IG: @aachristcollab To find out more about AACC's work, donate, or learn more visit asianamericanchristiancollaborative.com.

Welcome to Season 5, Episode 30! Today's guest is Camey Yeh, an established artist who has a cute and whimsical artistic style. Her latest work is her first picture book entitled We're Different and It's Totally Cool, published by Crown Books for Young readers. It was released on July 22nd, 2025.  Camey is a Taiwanese American artist and author, and she was inspired to create We're Different and It's Totally Cool by her own childhood experiences growing up in a predominantly white town. We love the beautiful artwork that feel both classic in style while still being unique. The colors are bright and the characters choices are inviting, and we can see how this book would be engaging for everyone… including children aged 4-8 as it was intended. In our conversation, we talk a little about Camey's journey to being an author and illustrator, how she was inspired to create We're Different and It's Totally Cool, the themes of the story, how she developed her artistic style, what makes her different and totally cool, and so much more. We're Different and It's Totally Cool makes a great gift for kids 4-8 and beyond. If you're interested in more of Camey's work, then you can follow her on instagram @tropicalspaghetti. If you like what we do, please share, follow, and like us in your podcast directory of choice or on Instagram @AAHistory101. For previous episodes and resources, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or our links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at info@aahistory101.com.

Mari Fong is a music journalist who not long ago launched the "Check Your Head" podcast because of being deeply troubled by the number of professional musicians who struggle with their mental health and addictions, with some even choosing to take their lives. Her show provides these artists a safe and empathetic space to share their stories honestly, and she then brings on different mental health professionals who can articulate what needs to happen in order for them not just to recover, but to thrive as people and as musicians.

- 聊天的人 -马丁苏 Martin Su（视频博主）梵一如- 时间轴 -04:30 一家五口，五种语言模式06:50 爸妈在上世纪90年代“经济上行期”的跨国婚姻14:00 中二少年的“自我认同”困境19:20 日本妈妈习惯内疚 韩国妈妈传递骄傲22:15 我是50%的韩国人，100%的上海人26:45 从中学国际部的多元到bubble里的美国学校38:00 赴美留学，居然选择学“新闻”？！44:45 留学碰上疫情 经历了最黯淡的时光48:00 韩国人or中国人，在美国哪个身份更“好用”？51:00 AAPI什么鬼？美国人真的不了解我们56:00 学成归国，却没选新闻工作59:10 一条笔记意外爆火 从此走上博主路1:03:35 活得很“满”很“紧”的00后博主，听听内心话1:13:30 未来计划赶不上变化：我想活出怎样的人生？- OP -@RayHan- ED -刘欢 - 千万次的问- Logo -五颜六色的大亮哥- 收听方式 -推荐您使用小宇宙app、苹果播客、喜马拉雅、网易云音乐、蜻蜓FM等平台订阅收听《东亚观察局》- 剪辑 -梵一如【商务合作】邮箱：805276781@qq.com- 出品・制作 -番薯剥壳工作室（Yakimo Studio）

The AP's Jennifer King reports on a new poll on Asian and Pacific Islander's views on President Trump.

Episode 32: OPAWL – Building AAPI Feminist Leadership v. Dave Yost, et al.OPAWL – Building AAPI Feminist Leadership v. Dave Yost, et al., argued before Circuit Judges Raymond M. Kethledge, Eric E. Murphy, and Andre B. Mathis in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on July 23, 2025. Argued by Elisabeth C. Frost (on behalf of OPAWL – Building AAPI Feminist Leadership), Mathura Jaya Sridharan (on behalf of Dave Yost, et al.), and Jason Walta (for Amicus Ohio Education Association).Background of the case, from the Brief of Appellees – Cross Appellants (Second Brief):It is well established that lawful permanent residents (“LPRs”) are entitled to First Amendment protection, including for their political speech. And the Supreme Court has long held that spending to promote or oppose direct democracy measures is core First Amendment expression. Nevertheless, [in 2024], Ohio enacted Ohio Revised Code § 3517.121 (“Section 121”), making it a crime for any noncitizen—including LPRs—to engage in any political spending.Section 121's broad prohibitions reach every conceivable type of spending, from direct contributions to independent expenditures, whether made “directly or indirectly through any person or entity,” and apply even to spending “in support of or opposition to a statewide ballot issue or question, regardless of whether the ballot issue or question has yet been certified to appear on the ballot.” Id. § 3517.121(B)(2). At the same time, Section 121 invites political weaponization, mandating that the Attorney General investigate any alleged violation made by any Ohio elector. Id. § 3517.121(G)(2)(a). The law's sheer breadth, lack of tailoring, and threat of unrestrained investigations threaten and will chill the core First Amendment activity of not just noncitizens, but also citizens and domestic organizations who take donations from noncitizens or involve noncitizen decisionmakers….In support, Ohio relies overwhelmingly on a reading of Bluman v. Federal Election Commission, 800 F. Supp. 2d 281, 288 n.3 (D.D.C. 2011), aff'd, 565 U.S. 1104 (2012), that is at odds with the decision itself. Bluman held that Congress may constitutionally prohibit foreign citizens other than LPRs from directly contributing to candidates or to expressly advocate for the election or defeat of a candidate, but in writing for that court, then-Judge Kavanaugh repeatedly cautioned that restrictions on political spending by LPRs or for issue advocacy would raise substantial constitutional questions. See, e.g., id. at 292 (making explicit court was not deciding whether Congress could extend ban to LPRs or restrict noncitizens engaging in “issue advocacy and speaking out on issues of public policy,” warning its holding “should not be read to support such bans”). [Emphasis in original.]The Bluman court was right to be concerned—and this Court should be, too, now that Ohio has enacted such a ban….Resources:CourtListener docket page for OPAWL – Building AAPI Feminist Leadership v. Dave Yost, et al.Ohio Revised Code § 3517.121 (“Section 121”)Brief of Appellants – Cross Appellees (First Brief) [Ohio]Brief of Appellees – Cross Appellants (Second Brief) [OPAWL]The Institute for Free Speech promotes and defends the political speech rights to freely speak, assemble, publish, and petition the government guaranteed by the First Amendment. If you're enjoying the Free Speech Arguments podcast, please subscribe and leave a review on your preferred podcast platform. To support the Institute's mission or inquire about legal assistance, please visit our website: www.ifs.org

Dreams in Migrations: AAPI Identity, Diaspora, and Resistance in Contemporary Art In this special live episode of What's My Thesis?, host Javier Proenza moderates a closing panel discussion at BG Gallery for Dreams in Migrations—the third annual AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) exhibition curated by artist and organizer Sung-Hee Son. This timely conversation assembles a multigenerational roster of artists whose practices interrogate identity, memory, imperialism, and the myth of the model minority through distinct formal languages and lived experiences. Featuring artists Dave Young Kim, Mei Xian Qiu, and others, the episode moves fluidly between personal narrative and structural critique. Kim speaks candidly about growing up Korean American in Los Angeles, navigating ADHD through drawing, and finding community through both art and street culture. He reflects on his work's deep connection to place—evoking the layered histories of Koreatown through archival images, signage, and symbolic compositions. Mei Xian Qiu offers a moving account of displacement, spiritual ritual, and postcolonial trauma. Born into Indonesia's Chinese diaspora, she discusses her early artistic impulse to create “sacred objects” as a means of processing survival and systemic erasure. Her multimedia works—reminiscent of stained glass and batik—expose the mechanisms of propaganda and the cultural inheritance of violence. Her series Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom revisits China's Hundred Flowers Campaign with a provocative inversion: a mock invasion of the U.S. staged entirely by AAPI artists and academics. Together, the panelists explore diasporic kinship, cross-cultural solidarity, and the politics of visibility within the art world. Proenza draws compelling parallels between the AAPI and Latinx experiences, from forced assimilation and linguistic loss to state violence and Cold War geopolitics. The conversation challenges the flattening effects of labels like “model minority,” advocating instead for nuance, specificity, and coalition-building. The episode concludes with reflections on the power of artist collectives, including the Korean American Artists Collective co-founded by Kim, and a roll call of exhibiting artists whose works are transforming the gallery into a space of resistance, celebration, and shared memory. Featured Artists in the Exhibition: Dave Young Kim Mei Xian Qiu Bryan Ida Tia (Otis MFA ‘23) Miki Yokoyama Key Topics: AAPI identity in fine art Postcolonial trauma and Chinese-Indonesian history Korean American experience in L.A. Propaganda, memory, and resistance The myth of the model minority Artist collectives and community organizing Explore how contemporary AAPI artists are reshaping cultural narratives and reclaiming space through radical aesthetics and collaborative practice.

Welcome to Season 5, Episode 29! Today we're joined by a true icon in the world of academia—Professor Gordon H. Chang. A celebrated historian, Professor Chang is both the Olive H. Palmer Professor in Humanities and a Professor of History at Stanford University. He's also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. We're honored to speak with him about his latest book War, Race, and Culture, published by Stanford University Press in May 2025. This anthology compiles some of his most powerful essays written over decades of impactful scholarship. The topics range from foreign relations and U.S. imperialism to race, Asian American identity, and the cultural contributions of Asian Americans. Our conversation covers everything from the role of propaganda in shaping views of Asians, the long history of harmful stereotypes, and the cultural erasure seen during Japanese internment—including how artists like Dr. Seuss and creators of Superman contributed to racist narratives. Professor Chang also reflects on the political engagement of Asian Americans and why “nurture vs. nature” plays a crucial role in debunking the myth of political apathy in the community. We also touch on a more personal subject: his interest in art history, including how his father's legacy inspired him to explore and uplift overlooked Asian American artists like Dong Kingman, whose brilliance was too often overshadowed by the racist caricatures found in mainstream media. This episode offers not only a look into Professor Chang's new book, but a deeper understanding of how history, race, and culture intersect in America—and why writing history is always personal. Links and Resources: Learn more about War, Race, and Culture from Stanford University Press Read more from Gordon H. Chang, including Ghosts of Gold Mountain, Fateful Ties, and Asian American Art: A History, 1850-1970 If you like what we do, please share, follow, and like us in your podcast directory of choice or on Instagram @AAHistory101. For previous episodes and resources, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or our links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at info@aahistory101.com.  

Michael Luo is an executive editor at The New Yorker and writes regularly on politics, religion, and Asian American issues. His first book, “Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging, and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America,” is a well-researched history of Chinese Americans from the Gold Rush until the 1960s. Using his skills as a former investigative reporter, Luo manages to bring back to life the myriad Chinese Americans who struggled, suffered, and even were murdered in their persistent efforts to make this strange new land a new home for themselves and for those who would one day follow in their footsteps.

In this week's episode of Dear Asian Generation, we're turning the page with Neelanjana Banerjee, writer, editor, and storyteller on what it means to carve space for AAPI voices in literature, journalism, and the classroom. From the margins to the mainstream, join us as we explore the power of words, identity, and community through the lens of the humanities. 

When Sarina found Stephanie Pao on social media, she knew she had to interview her. Stephanie has the job we all want—she owns a bookstore on wheels. La Fleuria is L.A.'s first mobile romance bookstore, and we are here for it. Tune in to hear our interview with Stephanie. We're discussing how she got this idea, where she turned for advice, and how she figures out what to stock and where to park La Fleuria!Show links include: #YouAndYourBookstore episode with Mary Laura PhilpottLa Fleuria book truckStephanie on InstagramStephanie's LinktreeLa Fleuria's popup schedule Thrown for a Loop, Sarina's upcoming release (pub date 11/4/25)TropeTruck, a book truck whose owner generously contributed knowledgeIngram, the wholesale bookseller we discuss in some detail (because Jess needed to understand how this bookseller access to indie authors works!)Books Stephanie recommends and loves to sell at La Fleuria:Yes No Maybe by Jessica Sherry (La Fleuria's #2 bestseller!)Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid All Rhodes Lead Here by Mariana ZapataHey, Jess here to talk to you about a new series I have created just for supporters of the #AmWriting Podcast.I met an aspiring author and speaker who has an idea for a book that just knocked me over. I said, please, please write that book. This is someone who had an idea that has a place in the market. It's timely. She's the perfect person to write it, and I asked her, I begged her, if I could please mentor her through this process publicly on the podcast.So while we're not giving her full name and we're not giving the actual title of the book, because we don't want to hand those things away, I am coaching her through the entire process, from preparing her book proposal to querying an agent. I'm going through the whole thing with her. She knows nothing about the publishing industry, she knows very little about how one goes about writing a book—so essentially, this is as I mentioned before, from soup to nuts, From Authority to Author, and hopefully we'll get her there.But really, whether or not this book ends up selling, whether after this book she ends up having a speaking career, this is about the process of preparing to do that. I hope you'll join us.This series is for supporters only, so if you are a free subscriber right now, consider upgrading. Remember, if you upgrade, you'll also get the ability to submit for our First Pages Booklab, and lots of other fun stuff that we put out just for supporters—So come join us. It's a lot of fun.Transcript below!EPISODE 457 - TRANSCRIPTJess LaheyHey, Jess here to talk to you about a new series I have created just for supporters of the Hashtag AmWriting podcast. I met an aspiring author and speaker who has an idea for a book that just knocked me over. I said, please, please write that book. This is someone who had an idea that it has a place in the market. It's timely. She's the perfect person to write it, and I asked her—I begged her—if I could please mentor her through this process publicly on the podcast. So, while we're not giving her full name and we're not giving the actual title of the book, because we don't want to hand those things away, I am coaching her through the entire process—from preparing her book proposal to querying an agent. I'm going through the whole thing with her. She knows nothing about the publishing industry. She knows very little about how, you know, one goes about writing a book. And so she essentially—this is, as I mentioned before from soup to nuts, From Authority to Author, and hopefully we'll get her there. But really, whether or not this book ends up selling, whether this book—she ends up having a speaking career—this is about the process of preparing to do that. How do you write a book? How do you prepare to become a speaker on the back of that book? So I hope you join us. This is a series for supporters only. So if you are a free supporter, or if you're a free subscriber right now, consider upgrading. Remember, if you upgrade, you'll also get access to the ability to submit for our First Pages Book Lab and lots of other fun stuff that we put out just for supporters. So come join us. It's a lot of fun.Multiple Speakers:Is it recording? Now it's recording, yay. Go ahead. This is the part where I stare blankly at the microphone. I don't remember what I'm supposed to be doing. All right, let's start over. Awkward pause. I'm going to rustle some papers. Okay, now one, two, three.Jess LaheyWelcome to the Hashtag AmWriting podcast. This is the podcast about, oh, writing all the things—the short things, the long things, the nonfiction, the fiction, the poetry, the book proposals, the agent queries—all the things. In reality, though, this podcast is about two things. It is about getting the work done, and flattening the learning curve for other writers. I'm Jess Lahey. I am co-hosting today. I am the author of The Gift of Failure and The Addiction Inoculation, and you can find my journalism at The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic.Sarina BowenAnd I'm Sarina Bowen. I am the author of many romance novels. My next one is called Thrown for a Loop and it's coming from Forever in November, and I could not be more excited. And it is in the vein of romance, publishing, and readership that I have invited a guest to talk to us today because she has done something so outrageously cool that I needed to hear more in person. So please welcome Stephanie Pao, who has started Los Angeles' first romance book truck. She's become a bookseller, and I am here to hear all about it. Welcome, Stephanie.Stephanie PaoHi, thank you so much for having me.Sarina BowenMy pleasure. If you wouldn't mind, I would love to hear—how did this happen? Like, how did you decide that the world needed a book truck? Because that is just a cool idea and I never thought of it. And like, so how did you decide to actually make it a thing? And what did you do?Stephanie PaoYes, okay. The idea actually came to me—I lived by the beach, so I was walking by the beach and I saw a vintage Volkswagen truck for sale, and I just couldn't get it out of my mind. It isn't the truck that I have now, but I kept thinking, what could I do with it? And I've always loved books—romance in particular—and I've been looking for something that I could do that kind of took my previous experience, which is marketing, but melded it with something I really enjoyed. And I just thought maybe I could start a book truck. And I started to do research and I saw that there are many book trucks across the country. At the time, I think maybe there was just one or two romance ones and I was lucky enough to be able to speak with someone who had a romance book bus called Trope. She has a bookshop now and she really gave me a lot of confidence that I could probably do this too. I ended up taking a course on bookselling and started looking for a truck. The truck I ended up finding was actually the first truck I found on Facebook Marketplace. The man who was selling it had completely restored it. And he was so excited that I wanted to do this book shop in a truck idea, that he actually helped me and designed all the shelves, and he built it, and he didn't charge me for it.Sarina BowenOh my goodness!Stephanie PaoYeah. So it felt very serendipitous and almost meant to be. And now it's been like two months and I'm having so much fun.Sarina BowenWow. Wow. Oh my goodness. I feel like you should be teaching a class on how to live, right? You're like, "I'm good at this thing, but I'm really interested in this other thing, and I'm going to stick them together and it's going to be great."Stephanie PaoYeah, I feel like it was a little bit of like manifesting, I guess.Sarina BowenWell, wow, that's so great. So how many books does your truck hold at once? Like, what is the size of your store?Stephanie PaoYeah, so it holds about 350 books, and I've taken to also stacking books on top to display my favorite books. So I think it might hold almost 400.Sarina BowenOkay. And so of course, when we think about the bookstores that we grew up going to—you know, there are these giant cavernous Barnes & Nobles, there are smaller independent bookstores—and they're all numbering in the thousands. But by specializing in a category that you really love, like suddenly 400 is you know, it's a workable amount for what romance readers might be looking for on any given day. So, but still, there's a lot of good books in the world. How do you choose?Stephanie PaoYeah, I do a mix of like books that I've read and loved. I have been a voracious reader—I've read my whole life—but I've been a voracious reader for a couple of years. I also do a lot of books that I get recommendations from friends or that I just see are very popular online. So I think people will want to find those, but I think it is hard. I'm still figuring out the right balance of what types of romance to carry.Sarina BowenRight. Right. Because we all have our favorite you know, parts of the genre and they might not be the ones that are killing it.Jess LaheyBut the thing that I'm really excited to hear about is the thing that I love so much about independent booksellers. I get a sense for the bookseller when I go to the bookstore. Like, there are certain bookstores I rave about not necessarily because they're huge, not necessarily because they're beautiful—but because I can tell that when the bookseller recommends something to me; I know who that person is. Or I know the sense of the curation at the store. And that excites me because I feel like I'm in capable hands. So I'm really curious—especially to hear about your curation, and how you decide what you're going to carry—and then I'm also, and I know Sarina is going to ask this question, but in my head, I'm like, how do you find your readers? That's the part I'm so excited to hear about. Like, how do you know where to go? How do the people find you? Because I think that's the magic—is connecting the people with the books. And that's what I feel like a really great curation does. It says, "If you like this, try this," or, "Oh, you're new to this genre? Let me tell you where you should start with this genre." That's what's magic to me about independent booksellers, and the idea of you getting to do it in a very concentrated way with a particular genre is just—it makes me so happy. I'm just so happy you're out there doing this, Stephanie.Stephanie PaoThank you.Sarina BowenSo one time I was reading the listing of a literary agent, I think, and somebody had said, "What do you like about this job?" And the agent said, "I get to invest in my own taste." And I thought that was a really interesting way of looking at her job—but also of your job as well. And before we get to “How do you find the readers?”—because that is a really important chapter of this conversation—I just, from the listener standpoint: are you constantly deluged by authors who are like, “Pick me, pick me”? Like, what would you tell an author who is trying to navigate the bookselling world? What have you learned about your end of being a bookseller that an author might need to hear?Stephanie PaoYes. Okay. So first I want to say, like the curation part—My like number two best seller is actually an indie author's book who I love, and I can see from the book selling, like software that I use, that I'm the only bookstore of the 200 plus bookstores that carry her book, and it's the second best seller for me. Like. I've sold over 30 copies in like two months. So I think it really is like the passion of the bookseller, and I have had quite a few authors reach out to me, and they'll come to events. And I feel like it's, I don't have a good process on how I'm vetting all the authors, but I think it's like, if we make a personal connection, I will try to go out of my way to like read their book, because we've connected in some way, and I love reading, and I just feel like because we've like, either met in person or we've exchanged nice messages on social media, it does make me want to read someone's book more, because I have that personal connection, which is probably how people feel when they go shop at an indie books, or they have the personal connection with, like, a bookseller. So I think that's very similar. Um, I had people like, bring me their books, which does make it easier for me to, like, already have it ready. I don't have to look it up to read it or remember to look it up as well, but I know that, like, probably has a cost to it as well. But I had someone just bring me an F1 romance book yesterday at one of my pop ups, and I've been on an f1 kick. I don't know if she noticed that from my personal social but, like, I am very intrigued already, and now I have itSarina BowenThat's so lovely.Jess LaheyFor the listeners out there who are interested in this very specific topic, in our show notes I'm going to link to an episode we did with Mary Laura Philpott, who used to be at Parnassus, about making connections with booksellers. Because there are things you can do to go out of your way—before your book comes out, or when your book is coming out—to say, “Hey, I have this book coming out, would you be interested at all in getting a copy?” So it's something that can happen that authors can work on. And I'm going to definitely drop the link to that episode in the show notes.Sarina BowenYeah. I had this earlier this year. I was noticing—I started keeping track of how many romance bookstores are in the world. And now I have a list of 60, more than 60. And for a little while, when one just sort of popped up in my social, I was writing an email—because authors get a lot of publisher copies, you know, and sometimes after the launch of the book we end up with a box of like 15 copies still sitting here—and I was sending an email like, “Congratulations on your new store! That's amazing. Can I send you a signed author copy? Because I just have them here. It's a gift.” And the uptake of that is, you know, almost 100%. But I don't ever want to presume that a bookseller wants a copy, you know, unless I check first, because that just seems cheesy. You know, it's, it's, it's hard for authors to know, like, how to be a good partner and not irritating. And anyway, I just thought, you know what your thoughts about that are?Stephanie PaoYeah. I mean, I think for me, like, I am a new store and, like, a single-person business. So anyone that reaches out to me, I'm like, “Oh my gosh, what do you mean? How do you know about me? Why would you want to send me something?” So I'm sure, like, the like, weariness goes both ways, where we are, like, we're also—a lot of people are, like women—or maybe like, not used to promoting themselves more. So I think, like, just shoot your shot. I have an event coming up at like, a big, like, kind of mall, and they said they don't really do things like that with partners like this, but they were impressed that I shot my shot. So I have like, a summer series with them, and I think it's the same for, like, promoting your own book.Sarina BowenYeah, I guess this whole conversation is an exercise in trying.Stephanie PaoYeah, like the worst that could happen is, I think probably they would maybe say no or not respond to your request—which I do feel like I am guilty of that, because I get a lot and I don't know how to best, like, manage the flow of people saying that they want to send books. But that isn't because I don't want to reply. It's more like, I don't have a good system.Sarina BowenIt's hard. So I definitely want to hear how you figure out where to go. Like, where does the truck go? How do you know who to ask? Like, is that a lot of asking and hoping for the, for the best as well. Like, how does it come together?Stephanie PaoYeah, that has been a trial and error process. I think I started off applying to more markets, because they're looking for vendors anyways. But those usually have costs. And I found a few markets that I really enjoy going to, so I go to them monthly now. And…Sarina BowenWhat kind of markets, can I ask?Stephanie PaoYeah, they're like, one is like a night market. They do it like, a couple times a month in a city of LA called Lakewood, and there's like food, there's usually, like a theme, so like, there was an AAPI night, or they had— I don't know if you know those, like toys called Labubu — but the last event I did was a Labubu themed one. And then I do another market that is in Culver City, and it is similar—like, there's food and drinks and then there's, like, people selling different like, a lot of artisan-made things,Sarina BowenOkay.Stephanie PaoYeah, um, and then I reach out to local businesses as well. And I found, like, right away, I reached out to so many, and I didn't hear back from that many, because I was just starting out. I didn't have that many followers at the time. But the people who I found, and I did pop up set, they were so kind, and they let me dictate, like a day where I come back monthly, so I just have like places that I will go monthly, which makes it a lot easier to, like, have it like a set schedule, and then I just try to test new places and add on.Sarina BowenLike, what kind of business? What? What makes a good what's a good sort of connection?Stephanie PaoYeah, well, so the first place that said yes to me was another women-owned business. And I do feel like they are, like, more inclined to, like; take a chance on another woman-owned business. So she actually has a flower shop, and she does like high tea on the days that I go. So she has people going there for like, high tea— but it's on a very visible Street. It's on the Pacific Coast Highway, so I think it's—I'm not sure it's benefiting her in any way, because I'm not sure my customers are going to buy flowers, um, but she has a space for me to pop up, and it doesn't like detract from her business, and it adds something fun to her guests. And I also go to coffee shops and breweries, and I do want to start reaching out to restaurants as well.Jess LaheyI'm actually looking at her pop-up schedule on her site right now, and there's also—I wouldn't have even occurred to me—but these silent readings that I see every once in a while on social media that I'm like, "Oh, if I lived in a city, I would be going to those all the time," where people just get together to read together. I've also seen them—people getting together just to write together—and those? That's brilliant. Showing up for something like that is such a wonderful idea, and your pop-up schedule looks fantastic. I'll definitely be dropping that into the show notes as well.Sarina BowenWell, I just want to push back on the idea that the flower shop isn't getting anything out of you stopping there, because, like—so she runs a flower shop. I'm just certain she has a tiny core number of people who come every week and get fresh flowers because, you know, money is no object, and why not.But then there are other people who are on her list, maybe, who are only there when it's somebody's birthday three times a year. But if you're coming on a certain day, and she can tell her following, you know, that, "Oh, stop by on Tuesday because La Fleuria is going to be here, and it's, you know, the romance book truck, and you definitely want to check it out," it gives her a timely thing she can tell the people that do like flowers. And, you know, she's going to maybe have more foot traffic on that day than she otherwise might not have had.Stephanie PaoYeah, I think it's more maybe imposter syndrome, because she has like 800,000 followers.Sarina BowenWow!Stephanie PaoSo I'm like drop in your bucket.Sarina BowenWow. Well, maybe we should all be in the flower business.Stephanie PaoYeah.Jess LaheyWell, what did you have to sort of overcome with your own resistance in order to try this new thing? Because when writers have this same problem, we have an idea. It's a little glimmer, a sparkle, of an idea. It's so appealing in our minds. But, like, the commitment to actually, like, set aside six months of your life and write an entire book because you had this glimmer of an idea is a process, and that is why there aren't as many people who write complete books as you have ideas for them. So how did you convince yourself that, um, that this risky thing was—was something you ought to commit to? And how did you make that decision?Stephanie PaoYeah, I think I'm still convincing myself that...Jess LaheyOkay, fair, fair.Stephanie PaoUm, I think it's actually really—it's really hard, because I think we're really programmed, or at least I was, on, like, this typical metric of success, which is, like: go to college, get a job, keep climbing the corporate ladder. And so I just kind of thought I would be doing that my whole life. But I never once thought, like, does that make me happy? Like, I was in a marketing job, and I was like—I climbed up to, like, VP, but I didn't enjoy it at all. And I just thought that's what we were supposed to do. So I think for me, I have been freelancing for three years because I got really burnt out, and I've just slowly come to terms with, like, maybe what I build for myself, or what I want for my life, is different than what all my friends have. Because I still talk to my friends that I've had for a long time, and I don't think they understand what I'm doing. And I feel like you will get a lot of resistance from people that you know, because they just want you to do the thing that feels safe to them, which is not venturing and doing something completely unknown. So I think it's, like, being really comfortable with the idea yourself and that not everyone's going to get it—but that's okay, because the people who do will, like, really support you. And then, of course, like, I'm not going to sugarcoat it—it is like a big financial risk. I think if you're setting aside time to write and not doing, like, other work, like—it is a risk either way. So I am lucky enough to have support, and I think that's, like, really important to share; that, like, my parents supported me so that I could take this on. And I—I started taking less and less clients from my, like, freelancing work to prepare to do this. And, like, I am still not, like, super profitable, but I know that I can, like, push back into freelancing if I really need to. So I think it's—I'm comfortable knowing that there are other means of, like, income if I really need it. But I really want to give myself time to see where this goes.Sarina BowenRight, I love that. So, of course, you knew that freelancing was—that you had some connections there, which helps, so you have, like, a little bit of a cushion for yourself, which is amazing. You—you mentioned earlier that you took a course in bookselling, and I just wonder how you found that, and how—how you felt. Was it information that you already had? Did it just give you confidence? Or did you really learn a lot from that course?Stephanie PaoWell, I found it through the American Booksellers Association. It was, like, a linked course that they had on, like, how to get started with opening your own bookstore. And I did learn a lot. I think at the time, I was really debating whether I should do a bookstore or do something more mobile. And that course actually made me feel like—when we did all the calculations—the rent is so much in LA that it just seemed, like, much, much too risky to do a store first. Like, maybe building up a customer base before investing in a shop. So I think I did learn a lot. I also—there's—I get a lot of the same questions from people who want to start something similar. And I got all of that information through this course. Like, a lot of people ask me where you buy books from, and things that have to do with bookselling that aren't very well known. And I think the course provides that information.Jess LaheyNice. Do you do you use Ingram [Ingram Content Group], and so you have like a special account as a bookseller?Stephanie PaoYes. And I just started opening, like, accounts with the publishers, because I wasn't sure how much I was going to order, and you have to meet minimums to order through the publishers. I was like, I don't know how quickly my inventory is going to go, but now I think it will be more worth it, because you get a better, like, discount through the publishers.Jess LaheyAs someone who's not involved in the bookselling community or the independent publishing community—just for my knowledge—one of the things that I, you know, often lament is if I like an author that is an independent bookseller and their print books are hard to come by. How do you—is Ingram someone who helps you bridge that? Does Ingram do this, like, print on demand? Sorry, there—my husband's home. Could you explain how this works a little bit to me?Stephanie PaoSo I also—well, I'm not 100% sure—but yes, Ingram does the print-on-demand books, and they have books from a lot of independent authors on there. I have a friend who is an indie author, and she said that she first listed her book on Amazon, but then the bookstores couldn't buy it, so she had to do something to get it on Ingram. So I'm not sure how that works, but I've also bought directly from a few authors, like the author I mentioned, who is, like, my second best seller. I buy directly from her, and I'm not sure where she gets her copies, but it is a much better deal than through Ingram.Jess LaheyYeah. So, Ingram—their first and primary business was as a wholesaler for traditionally published books. So, you know, in the '90s, when I briefly worked at Random House, Ingram was—you know, when a new book is published, Ingram buys a certain amount of them, and Baker and Taylor buy a certain amount of them, and they stand as a middleman who is ready to wholesale those books to booksellers. And then, of course, they created their print-on-demand service so that, probably, when you log into Ingram, you can see indie titles and traditional titles sort of all together in their offered database. But I did learn something recently about indies and Ingram that was a real eye-opener for me, which is that an author who opens an IngramSpark account and uploads their files there—like, like an indie author that you buy from probably does—has to set a discount amount. And unfortunately, the number that the bookseller gets is not the same as what the author sets. So the author can set a discount to retail in a band between, I don't know, 40 and 60 or something like that. But, um, in order for a bookseller to get their maximum discount, I have to put 53% discount or greater—like 53 or 55—and if I put 52 instead, then the bookseller gets, often, a very bad discount that is not 52%; it's more like 30%. So there's this magic that happens at the 53% author discount that allows you and your colleagues to get the max discount in your Ingram account. And it took me only, like, eight years to learn this magic.Jess LaheySo Stephanie, this is why we keep Sarina around, because she knows how this stuff works.Stephanie PaoI figured it was there was something, because the range in discounts I see from indie offers is so wide from like 20 to 40% and at 20% it's almost not even worth it to carry.Sarina BowenRight. I bet it isn't.Stephanie PaoYeah.Sarina BowenSo you if somebody Well, but, and that's where the confusion comes in, because here's an author, and she's putting 45% in that box, and then you're seeing it at 20 and going, this isn't worth it. And of course, like both of you, could be frustrated because…Jess LaheyExactly!Sarina BowenBecause that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. So um, but I have learned that 53 is the magic number, and that if an author puts 53 and then you will get your max discount. And it took me way, way too long to understand this.Jess LaheyThis is like… this is, this is—these little random things that come up occasionally—are, you know, why I talk about flattening the learning curve for other authors or booksellers or whomever that listen to this podcast. Because how on earth would you know that? And then you're frustrated because you can't carry a book, because you can't make money on it. The author's incredibly frustrated because you can't—won't—carry the book, and then that piece of information never gets across. So thank you for diving into that dorky detail for me, because, again, I think that's such an important piece of information that no one would ever know unless someone somewhere is discussing it. So thank you.Sarina BowenUm…you're welcome. It's really just inside baseball—like picky junk that takes up my week. But here we are.Jess LaheyI know. But the people who listen to this podcast—in particular, the people who are fans of Sarina Bowen—are often people who are also writing within the indie space. And so how, you know—how are they going to find this stuff out?Sarina BowenWell okay.Jess LaheyOkay.Sarina BowenEven if it's not as you know, as joyful as the following your dreams and the flower shop stuff, but we're here to do all of it.Jess LaheyWell… But the big—this is also a big part of it, because there are also going to be people out there who are like, Oh, I don't want to open a brick-and-mortar store, but Oh, a truck? I mean, like, for me, that's the entry point. That's very, very exciting to me. So, the other reason I wanted to be on this podcast today is because I want to understand how that works, and is it a way into something that would really feed your soul and your heart—and not to mention your book… sell—your, your bookshelves.Sarina BowenOf course. So, Stephanie, before we go, I would love—since you're the expert here—I would love for you to recommend a couple romances that you're excited about right now. And if you wouldn't mind, I would be super thrilled to hear what your number two bestseller is—that you, that you are her best bookseller.Stephanie PaoYeah, okay. It's Yes No Maybe by Jessica Sherry, and it is a story of a woman who has, um, scars on her face from, like, an accident from when she was younger. And she's, like, always felt not worthy of, like, all the good things in life, and she's settling. And she moves next door to a romance writer who has writer's block, and she becomes basically his muse. And it's, like, very sweet but very emotional. Some other books I love—I recently finished Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid, and I've never cried so hard in a book. And it's, like, also such a beautiful love story. I, like, have chills thinking about it.Sarina BowenWow.Stephanie PaoYeah. And then, just like a favorite that I always recommend is All Rhodes Lead Here by Mariana Zapata. I'm in my late 30s, so I feel like I love when characters are in their 30s and still figuring things out, and I love a slow burn romance.Sarina BowenAll right. Thank you so much. I, um—I love those choices. Um, we've all walked into bookstores and seen, like, the same five books on the front table that we've seen in every other bookstore we've walked into that month. And it's really lovely to hear some different recommendations from you, and we really appreciate it. Thank you so much for spending some time with us today to talk about this super fun project that—that Jess and I are like, Ooh, we could just quit everything and get a...Jess LaheyYeah. Well, no. The other thing is, I'm like, Okay, when's my next speaking engagement in Los Angeles, and can I make it coincide with one of your pop-up dates so that I could come by?Stephanie PaoI will drive the truck to you.Jess LaheyThat… actually, we'll figure it out. Because I just, I'm dying to see your truck, dying to see how it works. I just, I'm loving the selections. And I'm just really happy for more than anything else, I'm really happy for someone who has found a way to turn something they love into a business that can work. So I'm just so happy for you.Stephanie PaoThank you. Thank you so much for having me. This was really fun.Sarina BowenIt was entirely our pleasure. And thank you listeners for tuning in once again to the am writing podcast, and until next week, keep your heads in the game and your butt's in the chair.Jess LaheyThe Hashtag AmWriting podcast is produced by Andrew Perrella. Our intro music, aptly titled Unemployed Monday, was written and played by Max Cohen. Andrew and Max were paid for their time and their creative output, because everyone deserves to be paid for their work. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode we welcome Deborah Lavaud and ROBIN SINGH, Team Leaders for the New York City Problem Gambling Resource Center. Deborah and Robin join us to discuss the effects of gambling harms on the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities and how we can work together to prevent harms associated with gambling within these communities. Questions that are discussed include:What is the AAPI Project?How do the differences in the AAPI community influence the perception of gambling and the perception of problem gambling?Why is the AAPI population at a higher risk for developing problem gambling?How is the AAPI project addressing some of the risks specific to this population?Who's involved in the AAPI project, and how is that moving forward right now?What are some of the resources to support the work you're doing?What would you recommend community members do to help AAPI individuals and families who are struggling with gambling and gambling harms?If you find yourself struggling with gambling harm, or if you suspect someone you know is facing such challenges, don't hesitate to seek help. For 24/7 support, call the NYS OASAS HOPEline at 1-877-846-7369 or text 467369. Or choose your county using our interactive map on our NYProblemGamblingHELP.org HOME PAGE to see the contact information for the Problem Gambling Resource Center (PGRC) in your region.

Welcome to Season 5, Episode 28! In this episode, we sit down with Michael Luo, the award-winning journalist, editor, and author of Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging, and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America. Currently an executive editor at The New Yorker, Michael writes extensively on politics, religion, and Asian American issues. Before joining The New Yorker, he spent over a decade at The New York Times as a national correspondent and investigative reporter, earning accolades like the George Polk Award and the Livingston Award for Young Journalists. His latest book, Strangers in the Land, published by Doubleday in April 2024, is a sweeping and deeply researched narrative history of the Chinese American experience—from the Gold Rush era to the 1960s. Drawing from archival sources, court cases, and personal stories, Luo sheds light on how Chinese immigrants helped build America while simultaneously being pushed to its margins. He highlights the people and policies that shaped their journey—from the railroad workers and early activists to the architects of exclusion laws and the courts that upheld them. Through vivid storytelling and compelling analysis, Luo explores the roots of anti-Asian sentiment in the U.S., the foundations of our modern immigration surveillance state, and the broader struggle for belonging in a multiracial democracy. This is a must-read not only for lovers of history but for anyone seeking to understand how the past shapes our present-day debates on race, immigration, and identity. In our conversation, Michael shares insights on how he approached this project, why it was important to center underrepresented figures like Hung Wah, Wong Chin Foo, Chin Gee Hee, and Sun Chong, and how understanding this history can guide us through today's political and cultural tensions. If you want to hear more from Michael you can read his work in the New Yorker or see his posts on Instagram @luomich. If you like what we do, please share, follow, and like us in your podcast directory of choice or on Instagram @AAHistory101. For previous episodes and resources, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or our links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at info@aahistory101.com.

Send us a textHoly shit, this one is special! If you haven't heard, Bay Area rapper/activist/Filipina icon/mother Ruby Ibarra is the winner of the 2025 NPR Tiny Desk Concert with her song "Bakunawa" (watch the Tiny Desk Concert here!). To kick off her Tiny Desk Concert tour, the kind folks at the Lagunitas Brewing Company invited us to Ruby's concert at their beautiful brewery in Petaluma, Ca. Enjoy some snippets from Ruby's concert (including Ruby's verse during Thao Nguyen's set), and our interview with her where she shares how becoming a mother has influenced her music, having her concert cancelled in LA during the Ice Protests, and what kind of dialogue she hopes her music creates during these divided times. Follow rapper Ruby Ibarra on IGFor more info on the Lagunitas Brewing Company's summer concert series, click here!Support the showThanks for listening and for your support! We couldn't have won Best of the Bay Best Podcast in 2022 , 2023 , and 2024 without you! -- Fight fascism. Shop small. Use cash. -- Subscribe to our channel on YouTube for behind the scenes footage! Rate and review us wherever you listen to podcasts! Visit our website! www.bitchtalkpodcast.com Follow us on Instagram & Facebook Listen every Tuesday at 9 - 10 am on BFF.FM

Shin Yu Pai was already a published poet and museologist when she entered a contest by the Pacific Northwest's National Public Radio to pitch an idea for a new podcast that focused on Asian Americans. Around seventy people submitted concepts, but NPR picked Shin Yu's. That propelled her into the very formulaic world of NPR podcasts. She learned quickly, and her show became a huge hit in that region. But after three years, she was told that it had come to an end. Shin Yu found ways to identify and process her grief, and then decided to reboot her podcast with the help of an independent production company. But now, unfettered by NPR's way of doing things, Shin Yu is bringing much more of her own voice and perspective to Ten Thousand Things, the award-winning podcast about modern-day artifacts of Asian American life.

Join our Patreon to unlock 30 full-length bonus episodes, ad-free weekly episodes, mp3 downloads of our original songs, exclusive Discord access, and more! Right now, we're retiring our lower tiers– so all new patrons who join at $5/month or higher (or upgrade!) by will be entered into a raffle to guest star on a bonus Patreon episode. Once we reach 100 PAID tier patrons, we will pick the winner! You can also support the show by grabbing your #pride365 gear at bit.ly/lezmerch & picking up Lez-ssentials songs on Bandcamp. Welcome back to Lez Hang Out, the podcast that does its little dance on the catwalk.  This week, Leigh (@lshfoster) and Ellie (@elliebrigida) hang out with Lauren Chan (@lcchan), a Canadian model, TV personality, entrepreneur, and former fashion editor. She is also an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ+ and AAPI representation as well as an expert in the size-inclusive fashion world.  If you happened to walk by a newsstand recently and took enough time away from petting the bodega cat to peruse the magazines, you likely saw Lauren. She made queer history with her Sports Illustrated Swimsuit appearance as the very first out lesbian to appear on the cover! Can you believe it took until now for an out lesbian to be featured? While we may think Sports Illustrated is a male-gaze aligned space, Lauren says that's what makes it so perfect for these kinds of stories. By meeting people where they are and introducing them to concepts and perspectives they may not have had a reason to think about, Lauren provides a gateway to nuanced conversations and increased empathy. Sure, straight men may initially buy the magazine for the bikini pics, but if they stay for the coming out stories that can go a long way in changing the narrative toward LGBTQ+ people.  Lauren came out in 2023, incredibly publicly, in her first appearance in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit where she made history as the first lesbian rookie! She discovered her sexuality in a very familiar way– with the lesbian masterdoc in hand, podcasts about coming out later in life on repeat, and an expanse of free time provided by the pandemic lockdowns. From divorcing her husband to now being engaged to be married again (but, to a woman) the short years since coming out have been a real whirlwind for Lauren.  We are obsessed with how Lauren takes the media's long history of objectifying women and flips it on its head. She may look like just another hot girl, but Lauren is a catalyst for change, inclusivity, self-love, body positivity, and sheer gay audacity.  That's a wrap on Season 8, lezzies! Thank you for hanging out with us this season, and we can't wait to see you back for Season 9. Give us your own answers to our Q & Gay on Instagram and follow along on Facebook, TikTok, and BlueSky @lezhangoutpod. Find your fav tol and smol hosts Ellie & Leigh at @elliebrigida and @lshfoster. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Season 5, Episode 27! We have been known to be obsessed with true crime stories. So we were really excited to read L.A. Coroner: Thomas Noguchi and Death in Hollywood by Professor Anne Soon Choi and published by Third State Books. And we were even more excited when Anne visited us as a guest.  Professor Choi is the Interim Associate Director of Online Pedagogy and Learning for the Faculty Development Center, and Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at Cal State Dominguez Hills. She's a historian and also interested in True Crime as well as Asian American history… so writing a book about Dr. Thomas Noguchi is the perfect intersection of these two interests.  Noguchi was the highest ranking Japanese American official in Los Angeles County during the 1960s and 70s, and he performed autopsies of some of the most well-known people who passed away during that time including Marilyn Monroe, Robert F. Kennedy, Sharon Tate, and Natalie Wood. In our conversation with Anne, she shares her process of research, some of Dr. Noguchi's biggest innovations, how the Asian American community rallied around Noguchi when he faced a racist dismissal, some of Anne's future writing projects, and so much more.  If you love true crime stories and/or learning about Asian American History, then we highly recommend buying L.A. Coroner. You can also learn more about Anne Soon Choi via her Instagram @latruecrime.  If you like what we do, please share, follow, and like us in your podcast directory of choice or on Instagram @AAHistory101. For previous episodes and resources, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or our links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at info@aahistory101.com.

Guest Bryan Yamami is the co-founder and executive director of the acclaimed and award-winning drumming group TAIKOPROJECT (www.taikoproject.org). You'll learn why he was a less than enthusiastic young taiko student, but why he returned to this ancient form of Japanese drumming with fervor while a college student. Notably, Bryan shares why and how he and co-founder Masato Baba felt led to start their own group with the emerging vision to create a uniquely Japanese American version of taiko ensemble performances.  TAIKOPROJECT will be celebratinig its 25th anniversary with a culturally collaborative show featuring Chicanx band Quetzal and Berklee-trained Japanese musician Sumie Kaneko, who will be performing vocals, on koto, and on shamisen. More information about buying tickets can be found at www.taikoproject.org/25th.

When you think of foods that give you a sense of home, what comes to mind? Culturally connected foods are those ingredients, dishes and tastes that connect you back to your heritage and cultural identity. For the AAPI community, finding those foods can be challenging. In May, Where We Live host Catherine Shen hosted a panel discussion called “Cultural Food Systems Through the AAPI Lens” at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford. The panel discussed ways to expand access to these foods and increase food security for all communities in Connecticut. Mia Ayer: Policy Manager at the Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum Dr. Helen Wu: Associate Professor of Psychiatry at UConn Health Quan Tran: Senior Lecturer in Ethnicity, Race and Migration at Yale Vicheth Im: Connecticut organic farmer Where We Live is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.Support the show: http://wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Jenny and Eccho welcome Dr. Lea Lynn Yen to explore Asian American perspectives on affirmative action and corporate DEI initiatives. Dr. Yen shares insights from her research on the model minority stereotype and colorblind racial ideology as they relate to affirmative action. Tune in for a thought-provoking discussion on the complexities of racial dynamics and the importance of cross-racial solidarity in fostering better workplace

Welcome to Season 5, Episode 26! With the fall of Saigon happening about 50 years ago, it's important to recognize related additional moments in the history of Asians and Asian Americans. We're talking about the Secret War in Laos which was closely tied to the Vietnam War. This will be Part 1 of 2 on the topic. Laos is in Southeast Asia, a key region that the U.S. worried about during the Cold War. The Secret War in Laos was led by the CIA and fought predominantly by the Hmong, an ethnic minority in the country, and it's a major reason so many Hmong and Laotian people became refugees after the Fall of Saigon and retreat of U.S. forces. So in this episode, we dig into the geopolitical situation that was present in Southeast Asia, the U.S. role in battling the spread of communism there, the key local soldiers recruited by the CIA, and the amount of damage the U.S. did to the area.  We begin the episode by catching up on current events, including celebrating newly elected mayor of San Antonio Gina Ortiz Jones as well as all the Tony winners of Asian Pacific descent. We also give our thoughts on the push for Asian American History in Arizona. We end the episode with the recurring segment What are We Watching? In this installment, we talk about the streaming show Deli Boys and the feature film Sinners.  If you like what we do, please share, follow, and like us in your podcast directory of choice or on Instagram @AAHistory101. For previous episodes and resources, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or our links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at info@aahistory101.com. Segments 00:25 Introduction and Current Events 04:59 The History of the Secret War in Laos 14:40 What are We Watching? Deli Boys and Sinners

On this episode of the podcast, we have Jerome Viloria, who I met through the dance community. Our journeys have followed similar journeys of integrating our identity into our art and our careers serving the AAPI community, through the theme of art as a form of wellness.Jerome is a queer, non-binary public health professional based in Astoria, NY by way of the Hudson Valley. With a BA in Biology and minor in Philippine Studies, they moved on to pursue an MPH in Community Health Sciences & Practice at NYU, answering a call to destigmatize sexual and mental health by means of community-level education.As a mid-career level public health practitioner, they have amassed experience in sexual and mental health research; community programming; grant writing; academic advising; and teaching at the University-level. On the artistic side, they have been a musician and dancer for 17 years, covering strings (violin, viola, cello), percussion (piano, kulintang), indigenous dance (Maranao, Maguindanao, T'boli, Tausug, and Yakan), modern (hip-hop, jazz funk, waacking), and singing (tenor). They have the best of both worlds, helping forge a path to something only they can create.Jerome is currently pursuing their Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) at NYU, with a focus in nonprofit leadership, workforce development, and education. They seek to understand sources of health information, how they formulate our beliefs, and how community engagement can inspire positive health behavior change. They're excited to take the next step in cultivating themselves as a nonprofit leader at Apicha CHC. Outside their professional realm, Jerome is an active musician, dancer, and gamer. You can find them performing with Kinding Sindaw during Queensboro Dance Festival 2025! Here is the performance schedule.And if you're in the NYC area July 26th, we invite you to attend the 2025 NYC Summer Filipino Community Resource & Health Fair at APICHA. More info here!

A weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. The show is produced by a collective of media makers, deejays, and activists. Tonight Producer Swati Rayasam showcases a community panel of how discriminatory exclusion policies during times of heightened fears of national security and safety have threatened our communities in the past, and how the activities of the current administration threaten our core constitutional rights, raising the specter of politicization and polarization of citizenship, immigration visas, naturalization rights, and the right to free speech.   Deport. Exclude. Revoke. Imprison – “Wong Kim Ark is for All of Us” SHOW TRANSCRIPT Swati Rayasam: You are tuned in to APEX Express on KPFA. My name is Swati Rayasam and I'm back as your special producer for this episode. Tonight we have an incredible community panel titled Deport. Exclude. Revoke. Imprison. This panel explores the history of how discriminatory exclusion policies during times of heightened fears of national security and [00:01:00] safety have threatened our communities in the past, and how the activities of the current administration threaten our core constitutional rights, raising the specter of politicization and polarization of citizenship, immigration visas, naturalization rights, and the right to free speech. I'll pass it on to UC Berkeley Ethnic Studies Professor Mike Chang to kick us off. Mike and Harvey: We're starting on Berkeley time, right on time at three 10, and I want to introduce Harvey Dong. Harvey Dong: Okay. The sponsors for today's event include, AADS- Asian American and Diaspora studies program, uc, Berkeley, Asian American Research Center, the Center for Race and Gender Department of Ethnic Studies- all part of uc, Berkeley. Off campus, we have the following community groups. Chinese for Affirmative Action, Asian Law Caucus, [00:02:00] Asian Prisoners Support Committee, and East Wind Books. Okay, so that's, quite a few in terms of coalition people coming together. My name is Harvey Dong and I'm also a lecturer in the AADS program and part of the ethnic studies department. I can say that I exist here as the result of birthright citizenship won by Ancestor Wong Kim Ark in 1898. Otherwise, I would not be here. We want to welcome everyone here today, for this important panel discussion titled: Deport, Exclude, Revoke, Imprison – Immigration and citizenship rights during crisis. Yes, we are in a deep crisis today. The Chinese characters for crisis is way G in Mandarin or way gay in [00:03:00] Cantonese, which means danger and opportunity. We are in a moment of danger and at the same time in a moment of opportunity. Our communities are under attack from undocumented, documented, and those with citizenship. We see urgency in coming together. In 1898, the US Supreme Court case, US versus Wong Kim Ark held that under the 14th Amendment birthright, citizenship applies to all people born in the United States. Regardless of their race or their parents' national origin or immigration status. On May 15th this year, the Supreme Court will hear a President Donald Trump's request to implement an executive order that will end birthright citizenship already before May 15th, [00:04:00] deportations of US citizen children are taking place. Recently, three US citizen children, one 2-year-old with cancer have been deported with their undocumented parents. The numbers of US citizen children are much higher being deported because it's less covered in the press. Unconstitutional. Yes, definitely. And it's taking place now. Also today, more than 2.7 million southeast Asian Americans live in the US but at least 16,000 community members have received final orders of deportation, placing their lives and families in limbo. This presents a mental health challenge and extreme economic hardship for individuals and families who do not know whether their next day in the US will be their last. Wong Kim Ark's [00:05:00] struggle and the lessons of Wong Kim Ark, continue today. His resistance provides us with a grounding for our resistance. So they say deport, exclude, revoke, imprison. We say cease and desist. You can say that every day it just seems like the system's gone amuk. There's constant attacks on people of color, on immigrants and so forth. And our only solution, or the most important solution is to resist, legally resist, but also to protest, to demand cease and desist. Today brings together campus and community people. We want you all to be informed because if you're uninformed , you can't do anything. Okay? You have to know where things are at. It's nothing new. What they're trying to do, in 1882, [00:06:00] during times of economic crisis, they scapegoated Asian Americans. Today there's economic, political crisis. And the scapegoating continues. They're not doing anything new. You know, it's old stuff, but we have to realize that, and we have to look at the past in terms of what was done to fight it and also build new solidarities today. Wong Kim Ark did not take his situation sitting down. He went through, lots of obstacles. He spent three months in Angel Island he was arrested after he won his case because he was constantly being harassed wherever he went. His kids when they came over were also, spotted as being Wong Kim Ark's, children, and they too had to spend months at Angel Island. So Wong Kim Ark did not take his situation sitting down. We need to learn from him today. Our [00:07:00] next, special guest is Mr. Norman Wong, a good friend of mine. He was active here in the third world Liberation Front strike that led to ethnic studies. He did a lots of work for the development of Asian American studies and we've been out in touch for about, what, 40 years? So I'm really happy that he's able to come back to Berkeley and to talk about yourself, if you wish, maybe during the Q and a, but to talk about , the significance of your great-grandfather's case. Okay, so Norman Wong, let's give him a hand. Norman Wong: Hello, my name's Norman Wong. I'm the great grandson, Wong Kim Ark. Wong Kim Ark was [00:08:00] born in the USA, like my great-grandfather. I, too was born American in the same city, San Francisco, more than 75 years after him. We are both Americans, but unlike him, my citizenship has never been challenged. His willingness to stand up and fight made the difference for his struggles, my humble thanks. Wong Kim Ark however, was challenged more than once. In late 1889 as an American, he traveled to China in July, 1890. He returned to his birth city. He had his papers and had no problems with reentry. In 1895, after a similar trip, he was stopped from disembarking and was placed into custody for five months aboard ship in port. [00:09:00] Citizenship denied, the reason the Chinese exclusion Act 1882. He had to win this case in district court, provide $250 bail and then win again in the United States Supreme Court, March 28th, 1898. Only from these efforts, he was able to claim his citizenship granted by birthright from the 14th Amendment and gain his freedom. That would not be the last challenge to his being American. My mother suffered similar treatment. She like my great-grandfather, was born in America. In 1942, she was forced with her family and thousands of other Japanese Americans to relocation camps an experience unspoken by her family. [00:10:00] I first learned about Japanese American internment from history books. Executive order 9066 was the command. No due process, citizenship's rights stripped. She was not American enough. Now we have executive order 14160. It is an attack on birthright citizenship. We cannot let this happen. We must stand together. We are a nation of immigrants. What kind of nation are we to be with stateless children? Born to no country. To this, I say no. We as Americans need to embrace each other and [00:11:00] cherish each new life. Born in the USA. Thank you. Harvey Dong: Thank you, Norman. And Annie Lee, will moderate, the following panel, involving campus and community representatives who will be sharing their knowledge and experience. Annie Lee, Esquire is an attorney. She's also the, managing director of policy for Chinese Affirmative Action, and she's also, heavily involved in the birthright citizenship issue. Annie Lee: Thank you so much Harvey for that very warm welcome and thank you again to Norman for your remarks. I think it's incredible that you're speaking up at this moment, to preserve your ancestors' legacy because it impacts not just you and him, but all of us [00:12:00] here. So thank you. As Harvey said, my name is Annie Lee and I have this honor of working with this amazing panel of esteemed guest we have today. So I will ask each of them to introduce themselves. And I will start, because I would love to hear your name, pronouns. Title and organization as well as your personal or professional relationship with the US Immigration System. So my name's Annie. I use she her pronouns. I'm the managing Director of policy at Chinese for Affirmative Action, which is a non-profit based in San Francisco Chinatown. We provide direct services to the monolingual working class Chinese community, and also advocate for policies to benefit all Asian Americans. My relationship with the immigration system is I am the child of two Chinese immigrants who did not speak English. And so I just remember lots of time spent on the phone when I was a kid with INS, and then it became U-S-C-I-S just trying to ask them what happened to [00:13:00] a family member's application for naturalization, for visas so I was the interpreter for them growing up and even today. I will pass it to Letty. Leti Volpp: Hi everybody. Thank you so much, Annie. Thank you Harvey. Thank you, Norman. That was profoundly moving to hear your remarks and I love the way that you framed our conversation, Harvey. I'm Leti Volpp. I am the Robert d and Leslie k Raven, professor of Law and Access to Justice at the Berkeley Law, school. I'm also the director of the campus wide , center for Race and Gender, which is a legacy of the Third World Liberation Front, and the 1999, student movement, that led to the creation of the center. I work on immigration law and citizenship theory, and I am the daughter, second of four, children of my mother who was an immigrant from China, and my father who was an immigrant [00:14:00] from Germany. So I'll pass it. Thank you. Ke Lam: Thank you. Thank you all for being here. Thank you, Norman. So my name's Key. I go by he, him pronouns or Nghiep “Ke” Lam, is my full name. I work for an organization called Asian Prison Support Committee. It's been around for like over two decades now, and it started behind three guys advocating for ethics study, Asian and Pacific Islander history. And then it was starting in San Quent State Prison. All three of them pushed for ethics study, hard and the result is they all was put into solitary confinement. And many years later, after all three got out, was Eddie Zang, Mike Romero and Mike no. And when they got out, Eddie came back and we pushed for ethics study again, and we actually got it started in 2013. And it's been going on to today. Then the programs is called Roots, restoring our Original True Self. So reconnecting with who we are. And one of Eddie's main, mottos that really stuck with me. He said, we need to all connect to our chi, right? And I'm like, okay, I understand what chi is, and he said no. He [00:15:00] said, you need to connect to your culture, your history, which result to equal your identity, who you are as a person. So, the more we study about our history and our culture, like, birthright citizen, it empower us to know, who we are today. Right? And also part of that is to how do we take down the veil of shame in our community, the veil of trauma that's impacting our community as well. We don't talk about issue that impact us like immigration. So I'm a 1.5 generation. So I was born in Vietnam from Chinese family that migrant from China to Vietnam started business after the fall of Vietnam War. We all got kicked out but more than that, I am directly impacted because I am a stranded deportee, somebody that got their, legal status taken away because of criminal conviction. And as of any moment now, I could actually be taken away. So I live in that, right at that threshold of like uncertainty right now. And the people I work with, which are hundreds of people, are fixing that same uncertainty.[00:16:00] Annie Lee: Thank you, Ke. I'm gonna pass it to our panelists who are joining us virtually, including Bun. Can you start and then we'll pass it to Chris after. Bun: Hey everybody, thank you for having me. My name is Bun. I'm the co-director of Asian Prison Support Committee. I'm also, 1.5 generation former incarcerated and under, direct impact of immigration. Christopher Lapinig: Hi everyone. My name is Christopher Lapinig, my pronouns are he, him and Sha. I am a senior staff attorney on the Democracy and National Initiatives Team at Asian Law Caucus, which you may know is the country's first and oldest legal aid in civil rights organization, dedicated to serving, low income immigrant and underserved AAPI communities. In terms of my connection to the immigration system, I am, I also am a beneficiary of a birthright citizenship, and my parents are both immigrants from the Philippines. I was born in New York City. My [00:17:00] extended family spans both in the US and the Philippines. After graduating law school and clerking, my fellowship project was focused on providing litigation and immigration services to, survivors of labor trafficking in the Filipino community. While working at Asian Americans Advancing Justice Los Angeles, I also was engaged in, class action litigation, challenging the first Trump administration's practices, detaining immigrants in the Vietnamese and Cambodian communities. Annie Lee: Thank you, Chris. Thank you Bun. Let's start off by talking about birthright citizenship since it's a big topic these days. On the very, very first day of Trump's administration, he issued a flurry of executive orders, including one that would alter birthright citizenship. But I wanna take us back to the beginning because why do we have this right? It is a very broad right? If you were born in the United States, you are an American citizen. Where does that come from? So I wanna pose the first question to Letty to talk about the [00:18:00] origins of birthright citizenship., Leti Volpp: Very happy to. So what's being fought about is a particular clause in the Constitution and the 14th Amendment, which says, all persons born are naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. Okay, so that's the text. There's been a very long understanding of what this text means, which says that regardless of the immigration status of one's parents, all children born here are entitled to birthright citizenship with three narrow exceptions, which I will explain. So the Trump administration executive order, wants to exclude from birthright citizenship, the children of undocumented immigrants, and the children of people who are here on lawful temporary visas. So for example, somebody here on an [00:19:00] F1 student visa, somebody on a H one B worker visa, somebody here is a tourist, right? And basically they're saying we've been getting this clause wrong for over a hundred years. And I will explain to you why I think they're making this very dubious argument. Essentially when you think about where the 14th amendment came from, in the United States, in the Antebellum era, about 20% of people were enslaved and there were lots of debates about citizenship. Who should be a citizen? Who could be a citizen? And in 1857, the Supreme Court issued a decision in a case called Dread Scott, where they said that no person who was black, whether free or enslaved, could ever be a citizen. The Civil War gets fought, they end slavery. And then the question arose, well, what does this mean for citizenship? Who's a citizen of the United States? And in 1866, Congress [00:20:00] enacts a law called the Civil Rights Act, which basically gave rights to people that were previously denied and said that everybody born in the United States is a birthright citizen. This gets repeated in the 14th Amendment with the very important interpretation of this clause in Norman's great-grandfather's case, the case of Wong Kim Ark. So this came before the Supreme Court in 1898. If you think about the timing of this, the federal government had basically abandoned the reconstruction project, which was the project of trying to newly enfranchised, African Americans in the United States. The Supreme Court had just issued the decision, Plessy versus Ferguson, which basically legitimated the idea that, we can have separate, but equal, as a doctrine of rights. So it was a nation that was newly hostile to the goals of the Reconstruction Congress, and so they had this case come before them, whereas we heard [00:21:00] from Norman, we have his great-grandfather born in San Francisco, Chinatown, traveling back and forth to China. His parents having actually left the United States. And this was basically presented as a test case to the Supreme Court. Where the government tried to argue, similar to what the Trump administration is arguing today, that birthright citizenship, that clause does not guarantee universal birthright citizenship saying that children of immigrants are not subject to the jurisdiction thereof, not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States because their parents are also not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. The Supreme Court took over a year to decide the case. They knew that it would be controversial, and the majority of the court said, this provision is clear. It uses universal language. It's intended to apply to children of all immigrants. One of the things that's interesting about [00:22:00] what the, well I'll let Chris actually talk about what the Trump administration, is trying to do, but let me just say that in the Wong Kim Ark decision, the Supreme Court makes very clear there only three narrow exceptions to who is covered by the 14th Amendment. They're children of diplomats. So for example, if the Ambassador of Germany is in the United States, and, she has a daughter, like her daughter should not become a birthright citizen, right? This is why there's diplomatic immunity. Why, for example, in New York City, there are millions of dollars apparently owed to the city, in parking tickets by ambassadors who don't bother to pay them because they're not actually subject to the jurisdiction in the United States. Okay? Second category, children of Native Americans who are seen as having a sovereign relationship of their own, where it's like a nation within a nation, kind of dynamic, a country within a country. And there were detailed conversations in the congressional debate about the [00:23:00] 14th Amendment, about both of these categories of people. The third category, were children born to a hostile invading army. Okay? So one argument you may have heard people talk about is oh, I think of undocumented immigrants as an invading army. Okay? If you look at the Wong Kim Ark decision, it is very clear that what was intended, by this category of people were a context where the hostile invading army is actually in control of that jurisdiction, right? So that the United States government is not actually governing that space so that the people living in it don't have to be obedient, to the United States. They're obedient to this foreign power. Okay? So the thread between all three of these exceptions is about are you having to be obedient to the laws of the United States? So for example, if you're an undocumented immigrant, you are subject to being criminally prosecuted if you commit a crime, right? Or [00:24:00] you are potentially subjected to deportation, right? You have to obey the law of the United States, right? You are still subject to the jurisdiction thereof. Okay? But the Trump administration, as we're about to hear, is making different arguments. Annie Lee: Thank you so much, Leti for that historical context, which I think is so important because, so many different communities of color have contributed to the rights that we have today. And so what Leti is saying here is that birthright citizenship is a direct result of black liberation and fighting for freedom in the Civil War and making sure that they were then recognized as full citizens. And then reinforced, expanded, by Wong Kim Ark. And now we are all beneficiaries and the vast majority of Americans get our citizenship through birth. Okay? That is true for white people, black people. If you're born here, you get your ci. You don't have to do anything. You don't have to go to court. You don't have to say anything. You are a US citizen. And now as Leti referenced, there's this fringe legal theory that, thankfully we've got lawyers like [00:25:00] Chris who are fighting this. So Chris, you're on the ALC team, one of many lawsuits against the Trump administration regarding this unlawful executive order. Can you tell us a little bit about the litigation and the arguments, but I actually really want you to focus on what are the harms of this executive order? Sometimes I think particularly if you are a citizen, and I am one, sometimes we take what we have for granted and you don't even realize what citizenship means or confers. So Chris, can you talk about the harms if this executive order were to go through? Christopher Lapinig: Yeah. As Professor Volpp sort of explained this executive order really is an assault on a fundamental constitutional right that has existed for more than a hundred years at this point, or, well, about 125 years. And if it is allowed to be implemented, the harms would really be devastating and far reach. So first, you know, children born in the us, the [00:26:00] parents without permanent status, as permissible said, would be rendered effectively stateless, in many cases. And these are of course, children, babies who have never known any other home, yet they would be denied the basic rights of citizen. And so the order targets a vast range of families, and not just undocument immigrants, but also those with work visas, student visas, humanitarian productions like TPS, asylum seekers, fleeing persecution, DACA recipients as well. And a lot of these communities have deep ties to Asian American community. To our history, and of course are, essential part, of our social fabric. In practical terms, children born without birthright citizenship would be denied access to healthcare through Medicaid, through denied access to snap nutritional assistance, even basic IDs like social security numbers, passports. And then as they grow older, they'd be barred from voting, serving on juries and even [00:27:00] working. And then later on in life, they might be, if they, are convicted of a crime and make them deportable, they could face deportation to countries that they never stepped, foot off basically. And so this basically is this executive order threatened at risk, creating exactly what the drafters of the 14th Amendment wanted to prevent the creation of a permanent underclass of people in the United States. It'll just get amplified over time. If you can imagine if there's one generation of people born without citizenship, there will be a second generation born and a third and fourth, and it'll just get amplified over time. And so it truly is just, hard to get your mind around exactly what the impact of this EO would be. Annie Lee: Thanks, Chris. And where are we in the litigation right now? Harvey referenced, a hearing at the Supreme Court on May 15th, but, tell us a little bit about the injunction and the arguments on the merits and when that can, when we can expect [00:28:00] that. Christopher Lapinig: Yeah, so there were a number of lawsuits filed immediately after, the administration issued its exec order on January 20th. Asian Law Caucus we filed with the ACLU Immigrant Rights Project. Literally we were the first lawsuit, literally hours after the executive order was issued. By early February, federal judges across the country had issued nationwide preliminary injunctions blocking implementation of the order. Our case is actually not a nationwide injunction. And so there're basically, I believe three cases that are going up to the Supreme Court. And, the Trump administration appealed to various circuit courts to try to undo these injunctions. But all circuit courts upheld the injunctive relief and and so now the Supreme Court is going to be hearing arguments on May 15th. And so it has not actually ruled on whether or not the executive order is constitutional, but it's going to. I mean, it remains to be seen exactly what they're going to decide but may [00:29:00] 15th is the next date is the big date on our calendar. Annie Lee: Yeah. So the Trump administration is arguing that these judges in a particular district, it's not fair if they get to say that the entire country, is barred from receiving this executive order. Is that procedurally correct. Judges, in order to consider whether to grants an injunction, they have a whole battery of factors that they look at, including one, which is like likelihood of winning on the merits. Because if something is unconstitutional, it's not really great to say, yeah, you can let this executive order go through. And then like later when the court cases finally worked their way, like a year later, pull back from that. And so that's, it's very frustrating to see this argument. And it's also unfair and would be very messy if the states that had republican Attorneys General who did not litigate, why would you allow the executive order to go forward in those red states and not in these blue state? It really, I would say federalism run terribly amuck. Swati Rayasam: [00:30:00] You are tuned in to APEX Express on 94.1 KPFA, 89.3 KPFB in Berkeley,. 88.1. KFCF in Fresno and online@kpfa.org. Annie Lee: But anyway, let's see back off from the actual case because I think what we're really talking about and what Chris has alluded to is, these cases about birthright citizenship, all the immigration policy is essentially determining who belongs here. Who belongs here. That's what immigration policy is at its heart. And we see that the right wing is weaponizing that question, who belongs here? And they are going after very vulnerable populations, undocumented people, people who are formerly incarcerated. So Bun if you can talk about how, is the formerly incarcerated community, like targeted immigrants, targeted for deportation? What is going on with this community that I feel like most people might not know about? Thank [00:31:00] you. Bun: Yes. For our folks that are incarcerated and former incarcerated, we are the easiest target for deportation because we are in custody and in California, CDCR colludes with ICE and on the day that we are to be paroled they're at the door, cuffing us up and taking us to detention. I'm glad to hear Harvey say, this is a time of fear for us and also opportunity. Right now, our whole community, the Southeast Asian community, mainly are very effective with immigration. In the past 25 years, mostly it was the Cambodian community that was being targeted and deported. At this moment, they are targeting, all of the Southeast Asian community, which historically was never deported because of the politics and agreements, of the Vietnamese community. And now the Laos community thats more concerning, that are being targeted for deportation. Trump have opened a new opportunity for us as a community to join [00:32:00] together and understand each other's story, and understand each other's fear. Understand where we're going about immigration. From birthright to crimmagration. A lot of times folks that are under crimmigration are often not spoken about because of our cultural shame, within our own family and also some of our community member felt safe because the political agreements. Now that everybody's in danger, we could stand together and understand each other's issue and support each other because now we could see that history has repeated itself. Again, we are the scapegoat. We are here together fighting the same issue in different circumstances, but the same issue. Annie Lee: But let me follow up. What are these, historical agreements that you're talking about that used to feel like used to at least shield the community that now aren't in place anymore? Bun: Yeah. After the Clinton administration, uh, passed the IRA [immigration reform act] a lot of Southeast Asian nations were asked to [00:33:00] take their nationals back. Even though we as 1.5 generation, which are the one that's mostly impacted by this, had never even stepped into the country. Most of us were born in a refugee camp or we're too young to even remember where they came from. Countries like Cambodian folded right away because they needed the financial aid and whatever, was offering them and immediately a three with a MOU that they will take their citizens since the early two thousands. Vietnam had a stronger agreement, which, they would agree to only take folks that immigrated here after 1995 and anybody before 1995, they would not take, and Laos have just said no until just a few months ago. Laos has said no from when the, uh, the act was passed in 1995, the IRRIRA. Mm-hmm. So the big change we have now is Vietnam had signed a new MOU saying that they will take folks after 1995 [00:34:00] in the first administration and more recently, something that we never thought, happened so fast, was Laos agreeing to take their citizen back. And then the bigger issue about our Laos community is, it's not just Laos folks. It's the Hmong folks, the Myan folks, folks, folks that are still in danger of being returned back 'cause in the Vietnam War, they colluded and supported the Americans in the Vietnam War and were exiled out and kicked out, and were hunted down because of that. So, at this moment, our folks are very in fear, especially our loud folks, not knowing what's gonna happen to 'em. Ke Lam: So for folks that don't know what IRR means it means, illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. It actually happened after the Oklahoma bombing, which was caused by a US citizen, a white US citizen. Yeah. But immigration law came out of it. That's what's crazy about it. Annie Lee: Can you tell us, how is APSC advocating to protect the community right now because you [00:35:00] are vulnerable? Ke Lam: So we had to censor a lot of our strategies. At first we used to use social media as a platform to show our work and then to support our community. But the government use that as a target to capture our people. So we stopped using social media. So we've been doing a lot of on the ground movement, such as trying to get local officials to do resolutions to push Governor Newsom to party more of our community members. The other thing is we hold pardon workshops, so try and get folks to get, either get a pardon or vacate their sentence. So commute their sentence to where it become misdemeanor is not deportable anymore. Support letters for our folks writing support letters to send to the governor and also to city official, to say, Hey, please help pardon our community. I think the other thing we are actually doing is solidarity work with other organizations, African American community as well as Latin communities because we've been siloed for so long and we've been banned against each other, where people kept saying like, they've taken all our job when I grew up. That's what they told us, right? [00:36:00] But we, reality that's not even true. It was just a wedge against our community. And then so it became the good versus bad narrative. So our advocacy is trying to change it it's called re-storying you know, so retelling our story from people that are impacted, not from people, not from the one percenters in our own community. Let's say like we're all good, do you, are there's parts of our community that like that's the bad people, right? But in reality, it affects us all. And so advocacy work is a lot of different, it comes in a lot of different shapes and forms, but definitely it comes from the community. Annie Lee: Thanks, Ke. You teed me up perfectly because there is such a good versus bad immigrant narrative that takes root and is really hard to fight against. And that's why this administration is targeting incarcerated and formerly incarcerated folks and another group that, are being targeted as people who are accused of crimes, including Venezuelan immigrants who are allegedly part of a gang. So, Leti how is the government deporting [00:37:00] people by simply accusing them of being a part of a gang? Like how is that even possible? Leti Volpp: Yeah, so one thing to think about is there is this thing called due process, right? It's guaranteed under the constitution to all persons. It's not just guaranteed to citizens. What does it mean? Procedural due process means there should be notice, there should be a hearing, there should be an impartial judge. You should have the opportunity to present evidence. You should have the opportunity to cross examinee. You should have the opportunity to provide witnesses. Right? And basically Trump and his advisors are in real time actively trying to completely eviscerate due process for everybody, right? So Trump recently said, I'm doing what I was elected to do, remove criminals from our country. But the courts don't seem to want me to do that. We cannot give everyone a trial because to do so would take without exaggeration, 200 years. And then Stephen Miller said the judicial process is for Americans. [00:38:00] Immediate deportation is for illegal aliens. Okay. Quote unquote. Right. So I think one thing to notice is, as we're hearing from all of our speakers are like the boxes, the categories into which people are put. And what's really disturbing is to witness how once somebody's put in the box of being quote unquote criminal gang banger terrorists, like the American public seems to be like, oh, okay you can do what you want to this person. There's a whole history of due process, which exists in the laws which was created. And all of these early cases actually involved Asian immigrants, right? And so first they were saying there's no due process. And then in a case called Yata versus Fisher, they said actually there is due process in deportation cases, there's regular immigration court proceedings, which accord with all of these measures of due process. There's also a procedure called expedited removal, [00:39:00] which Congress invented in the nineties where they wanted to come up with some kind of very quick way to summarily exclude people. It was motivated by a 60 Minutes episode where they showed people coming to Kennedy Airport, who didn't have any ID or visa or they had what seemed to be fake visas and they were let into the United States. And then they disappeared, right? According to the 60 Minutes episode. So basically Congress invented this procedure of, if you appear in the United States and you have no documents, or you have what an immigration inspector thinks are false documents, they can basically tell you, you can leave without this court hearing. And the only fail safe is what's called a credible fear screening. Where if you say, I want asylum, I fear persecution, I'm worried I might be tortured, then they're supposed to have the screening. And if you pass that screening, you get put in regular removal [00:40:00] proceedings. So before the Trump administration took office, these expedited removal proceedings were happening within a hundred miles of the border against people who could not show that they had been in the United States for more than two weeks. In one of his first executive orders. Trump extended this anywhere in the United States against people who cannot show they've been in the United States for more than two years. So people are recommending that people who potentially are in this situation to carry documentation, showing they've been physically in the United States for over two years. Trump is also using this Alien Enemies Act, which was basically a law Congress passed in 1798. It's only been used three times in US history it's a wartime law, right? So it was used in 1812, World War I, and World War II, and there's supposed to be a declared war between the United States and a foreign nation or government, or [00:41:00] there's an incursion threatened by a foreign nation or government, and the president makes public proclamation that all natives of this hostile nation, 14 and up shall be liable to be restrained and removed as alien enemies. Okay? So we're obviously not at war with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, right? They have not engaged in some kind of invasion or predatory incursion into the United States, but the Trump administration is claiming that they have and saying things like, oh, they're secretly a paramilitary wing of the Venezuelan government, even as the Venezuelan government is like cracking down on them. It's not a quasi sovereign, entity. There's no diplomatic relationships between Tren de Aragua and any other government. So these are legally and factually baseless arguments. Nonetheless, the administration has been basically taking people from Venezuela on the basis of tattoos. A tattoo of a crown of a [00:42:00] rose, right? Even when experts have said there's no relationship between what Tren de Aragua does and tattoos, right? And basically just kidnapping people and shipping them to the torture prison in El Salvador. As I'm sure you know of the case of Kimber Abrego Garcia, I'm sure we'll hear more about this from Christopher. There's a very small fraction of the persons that have been sent to this prison in El Salvador who actually have any criminal history. And I will say, even if they had a criminal history, nobody should be treated in this manner and sent to this prison, right? I mean, it's unbelievable that they've been sent to this prison allegedly indefinitely. They're paying $6 million a year to hold people there. And then the United States government is saying, oh, we don't have any power to facilitate or effectuate their return. And I think there's a struggle as to what to call this. It's not just deportation. This is like kidnapping. It's rendition. And there are people, there's like a particular person like who's completely [00:43:00] disappeared. Nobody knows if they're alive or dead. There are many people in that prison. People don't know if they're alive or dead. And I'm sure you've heard the stories of people who are gay asylum seekers, right? Who are now in this situation. There are also people that have been sent to Guantanamo, people were sent to Panama, right? And so I think there questions for us to think about like, what is this administration doing? How are they trying to do this in a spectacular fashion to instill fear? As we know as well, Trump had said oh, like I think it would be great when he met with Bukele if you build four more or five more facilities. I wanna house homegrown people in El Salvador, right? So this is all the more importance that we stick together, fight together, don't, as key was saying, don't let ourselves be split apart. Like we need a big mass coalition right? Of people working together on this. Annie Lee: So thank you leti and I think you're absolutely right. These Venezuelans were kidnapped [00:44:00] in the middle of the night. I mean, 2:00 AM 3:00 AM pulled out of bed, forced to sign documents they did not understand because these documents were only available in English and they speak Spanish, put on planes sent to El Salvador, a country they've never been to. The government didn't even have to prove anything. They did not have to prove anything, and they just snatch these people and now they're disappeared. We do have, for now the rule of law. And so Chris, there are judges saying that, Kimber Abrego Garcia has to be returned. And despite these court orders, the administration is not complying. So where does that leave us, Chris, in terms of rule of law and law in general? Christopher Lapinig: Yeah. So, I'm gonna make a little personal. So I graduated from Yale Law School in 2013, and you might know some of my classmates. One of my classmates is actually now the Vice President of the United States. Oh man. [00:45:00] Bless you. As well as the second lady, Usha Vance. And a classmate of mine, a good friend Sophia Nelson, who's a trans and queer, was recently on, I believe CNN answering a question about, I believe JD Vice President Vance, was asked about the administration's sort of refusal to comply with usual orders. Yeah. As we're talking about here and JD had said something like, well, courts, judges can't tell the president what he can't do, and sophia, to their credit, said, you know, I took constitutional law with JD, and, we definitely read Marbury Versus Madison together, and that is the semial sort of Supreme Court case that established that the US Supreme Court is the ultimate decider, arbiter, interpreter, of the US Constitution. And so is basically saying, I know JD knows better. He's lying essentially, in all of his [00:46:00] communications about, judicial orders and whether or not a presidential administration has to comply , with these orders. So, to get to your question though, it is of course unprecedented. Really. It is essentially, you know, it's not, if we not already reached. The point of a constitutional crisis. It is a constitutional crisis. I think it's become clear to many of us that, democracy in the US has operated in large part, and has relied on, on, on the good faith in norms, that people are operating good faith and that presidents will comply when, a federal judge issues an injunction or a decision. It kind of leaves us in an interesting, unprecedented situation. And it means that, lawyers, we will continue to litigate and, go to court, but we can't, lawyers will not save the country or, immigrants or communities. We need to think extensively and creatively. [00:47:00] About how to ensure, that the rule of law is preserved because, this administration is not, abiding by the longstanding norms of compliance and so we have to think about, protests, advocacy, legislatively. I don't have the answers necessarily, but we can't rely on the courts to fix these problems really. Annie Lee: Oof. That was very real, Chris. Thank you. But I will say that when there is resistance, and we've seen it from students who are speaking up and advocating for what they believe is right and just including Palestinian Liberation, that there is swift retaliation. And I think that's partly because they are scared of student speech and movement and organizing. But this is a question to all of you. So if not the courts and if the administration is being incredibly retaliatory, and discriminatory in terms of viewpoint discrimination, in people and what people are saying and they're scouring our social [00:48:00] media like, Ke warns, like what can everyday people do to fight back? That's for all of you. So I don't know who, which of you wants to take it first? Ke Lam: Oh man. I say look at history, right? Even while this new president, I wanna say like, this dude is a convicted felon, right? Don't be surprised at why we country is in the way it is, because this dude's a convicted felon, a bad business person, right? And only care about the billionaires, you know? So I'm not surprised how this country's ending up the way it is 'cause it is all about money. One way that we can stand up is definitely band together, marched on the streets. It's been effective. You look at the civil right movement, that's the greatest example. Now you don't have to look too far. We can actually, when we come together, they can't fight us all. Right? It is, and this, it's like you look at even nature in the cell. When things band together, the predators cannot attack everyone. Right? They probably could hit a few of us, but in the [00:49:00] long run, we could change the law. I think another thing is we, we, as the people can march to the courts and push the courts to do the job right, despite what's going on., We had judges that been arrested for doing the right thing, right? And so, no matter what, we have to stand strong just despite the pressure and just push back. Annie Lee: Thanks, Ke. Chris? Christopher Lapinig: What this administration is doing is you know, straight out of the fascist playbook. They're working to, as we all know, shock and awe everyone, and make Americans feel powerless. Make them feel like they have no control, make them feel overwhelmed. And so I think first and foremost, take care of yourself , in terms of your health, in terms of your physical health, your mental health. Do what you can to keep yourself safe and healthy and happy. And do the same for your community, for your loved ones, your friends and family. And then once you've done that do what you can in terms of your time, treasure, [00:50:00] talent to, to fight back. Everyone has different talents, different levels of time that they can afford. But recognize that this is a marathon and not necessarily a sprint because we need everyone, in this resistance that we can get. Annie Lee: Thank you, Chris. Leti Volpp: There was a New Yorker article called, I think it was How to Be a Dissident which said, before recently many Americans, when you ask them about dissidents, they would think of far off countries. But they interviewed a lot of people who'd been dissidents in authoritarian regimes. And there were two, two things in that article that I'm taking with me among others. One of them said that in surveying like how authoritarian regimes are broken apart, like only 3.5% of the population has to oppose what's going on. The other thing was that you should find yourself a political home where you can return to frequently. It's almost like a religious or [00:51:00] spiritual practice where you go and you get refreshed and you're with like-minded people. And so I see this event, for example as doing that, and that we all need to find and nurture and foster spaces like this. Thank you. Annie Lee: Bun, do you have any parting words? Bun: Yeah. Like Ke said, to fight back, getting together, understanding issues and really uplifting, supporting, urging our own communities, to speak Up. You know, there's folks that can't speak out right now because of fear and danger, but there are folks here that can speak out and coming here learning all our situation really give the knowledge and the power to speak out for folks that can't speak down [unclear] right now. So I appreciate y'all Annie Lee: love that bun. I was gonna say the same thing. I feel like there is a special obligation for those of us who are citizens, citizens cannot be deported. Okay? Citizens have special rights based [00:52:00] on that status. And so there's a special responsibility on those of us who can speak, and not be afraid of retaliation from this government. I would also urge you all even though it's bleak at the federal level, we have state governments, we have local governments. You have a university here who is very powerful. And you have seen, we've seen that the uni that the administration backs down, sometimes when Harvard hit back, they back down and that means that there is a way to push the administration, but it does require you all putting pressure on your schools, on your local leaders, on your state leaders to fight back. My boss actually, Vin taught me this. You know, you think that politicians, lead, politicians do not lead politicians follow. Politicians follow and you all lead when you go out further, you give them cover to do the right thing. And so the farther you push and the more you speak out against this administration, the more you give them courage to do the right thing. And so you absolutely have to do that. A pardon [00:53:00] is critical. It is critical for people who are formerly incarcerated to avoid the immigration system and deportation. And so do that. Talk to your family, talk to your friends. My parents, despite being immigrants, they're kinda old school. Okay guys, they're like, you know, birthright citizenship does seem kind of like a loophole. Why should people like get like citizenship? I'm like, mom, we, I am a birthright citizen. Like, um, And I think for Asian Americans in particular, there is such a rich history of Asian American civil rights activism that we don't talk about enough, and maybe you do at Berkeley with ethnic studies and professors like Mike Chang. But, this is totally an interracial solidarity movement. We helped bring about Wong Kim Ark and there are beneficiaries of every shade of person. There's Yik wo, and I think about this all the time, which is another part of the 14th Amendment equal protection. Which black Americans fought for that in San Francisco. [00:54:00] Chinatown made real what? What does equal protection of the laws even mean? And that case was Seminole. You've got Lao versus Nichols. Another case coming out of San Francisco. Chinatown about English learner rights, the greatest beneficiary of Lao v Nichols, our Spanish speakers, they're Spanish speaking children in schools who get access to their education regardless of the language they speak. And so there are so many moments in Asian American history that we should be talking about, that we should educate our parents and our families about, because this is our moment. Now, this is another one of those times I wanna pass it to Mike and Harvey for questions, and I'm so excited to hear about them. Mike and Harvey: Wow, thank you so much. That's a amazing, panel and thank you for facilitating annie's wanna give it of a great value in terms of that spiritual home aspect. Norm how does your great grandfather's , experience in resistance, provide help for us [00:55:00] today? Norman Wong: Well, I think he was willing to do it. It only took one, if no one did it, this, we wouldn't be having the discussion because most of us would've never been here. And we need to come together on our common interests and put aside our differences because we all have differences. And if we tried, to have it our way for everything, we'll have it no way for us. We really need to, to bond and bind together and become strong as a people. And I don't mean as a racial or a national group. Mm-hmm. I mean, we're Americans now. We're Americans here think of us as joining with all Americans to make this country the way it's supposed to be. The way [00:56:00] we grew up, the one that we remember, this is not the America I grew up believing in. I'm glad he stood up. I'm proud that he did that. He did that. Him doing that gave me something that I've never had before. A validation of my own life. And so yes, I'm proud of him. Wong Kim Ark is for all of us. It's not for me to own. Yeah. Wow. Really not. Thank you so much. Wong Kim Ark is for all of us. And, and , talking about the good , that we have here and, the optimism that Harvey spoke about, the opportunity, even in a moment of substantial danger. Thank you so much everybody. Mike and Harvey: This was amazing and really appreciate sharing this space with you and, building community and solidarity. Ke Lam: But is there any, can I leave with a chant before we close off? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Thank you so much. So this is a chant that we use on the ground all the time. You guys probably heard it. When I said when we fight, you guys said we [00:57:00] win when we fight. We win when we fight, we win. When we fight, we win up. Swati Rayasam: Thanks so much for tuning into APEX Express. Please check out our website at kpfa.org/program/apexexpress to find out more about the show tonight and to find out how you can take direct action. We thank all of you listeners out there. Keep resisting, keep organizing, keep creating, and sharing your visions with the world. Your voices are important. APEX Express is produced by Miko Lee, along with Jalena Keene-Lee, Ayame Keene-Lee, Preeti Mangala Shekar, Anuj Vaida, Cheryl Truong, Isabel Li, Ravi Grover, and me Swati Rayasam. Thank you so much to the team at KPFA for their support, and have a good [00:58:00] night.   The post APEX Express – 6.26.25-Deport. Exclude. Revoke. Imprison – Wong Kim Ark is for All of Us appeared first on KPFA.

We chat with Violet Chin, a filmmaker, storyteller, activist, and currently the Youth Governor of California. We discuss:Generational perspectives on social media and curating identity (1:57)The role of social media on identity and creating community (11:54)Exploring mixed heritage and cultural identity and not fitting into boxes (21:15)Being a young filmmaker, aspirations for supporting diverse stories and storytellers (28:25)Queer identity and creating Letter to Love (35:29)Political engagement, youth leadership, and a future in politics (40:50)Make Noise Today, youth advocacy through the arts, and celebrating AAPI joy (46:00)

After some technical difficulties, we're back with our other episode for AAPI month! Kat covers the Xia Dynasty, somewhat disputed among historians are more legend than reality, and Kaleigh discusses the colonization of Hawaii! Let's Chat! Bluesky: TINAHLPodcastEmail: thisisnotahistorylecture@gmail.com

Welcome to Season 5, Episode 25! We're back with Part 2 of our conversation with the very talented Olivia Cheng. Last week, in Part 1 of the conversation, we mainly focused on Olivia's acting career. In this episode, we pivot to her work behind the camera as a writer, director, and producer.   Olivia shares how she was motivated to write and direct her short film Dinner with Dex, which starred her Warrior co-star Dianne Doan. We also talk about her feature directorial debut on the documentary I am Raquel Welch. The iconic actress was the subject of another installment of CW's “I Am” series and aired in March on the channel. Don't worry, you can still catch the inspiring documentary through streaming services that focus on network television like CW, Fubo, and Direct TV.  In the rest of the conversation, Olivia discusses how the Hollywood industry has changed over the years, her thoughts on Asian Pacific activism, her latest movie Lucky Star (that she also helped produce), and more. She even takes part in our rapid fire segment where we find out her thoughts on her command of Cantonese in Warrior, which of Ah Toy's outfits was her favorite, and which recent role (between Ah Toy, Mei Lin, Master Gao, or Charlotte) was the most similar to her in real life. If you're interested in seeing more of Olivia's work, then you can stream Marco Polo and Warrior on Netflix, See on AppleTV+, and you can rent or buy Lucky Star on Apple TV or Amazon services. You can, of course, follow her on Instagram @thatoliviacheng. If you like what we do, please share, follow, and like us in your podcast directory of choice or on Instagram @AAHistory101. For previous episodes and resources, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or our links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at info@aahistory101.com. *Above photo of Oliva Cheng by Noah Asanias

Third generation Japanese American Philip Kan Gotanda has gained renown as one of the most prolific Asian American playwrights, filmmakers, and musicians, but he came this close to becoming a lawyer. East West Players (www.eastwestplayers.org) is remounting his seminal play Yankee Dawg You Die in July 2025 after first staging it in 2001. Here's your chance to let him educate you about the (sadly) still-relevant message of this play, while he regales you with astonishing and hilarious stories of his journey to embrace his calling as a pioneering artist.

State and local officials say they're monitoring security threats after the U.S. struck three Iran nuclear sites on Saturday. Foot traffic is down in popular Asian ethnic enclaves out of fear of immigration actions. Sherman Oaks residents react to a new neighborhood Trader Joe's. Plus, more. Support The L.A. Report by donating at LAist.com/join and by visiting https://laist.com Visit www.preppi.com/LAist to receive a FREE Preppi Emergency Kit (with any purchase over $100) and be prepared for the next wildfire, earthquake or emergency!Support the show: https://laist.com

Welcome to Season 5, Episode 24! In this episode, we have Part 1 of a Conversation with Olivia Cheng, a storyteller known predominantly for her acting, but beginning to make waves with her writing, directing, and producing.  Originally from Edmonton, Olivia's acting credits include playing Mei Lin in Marco Polo on Netflix, Ah Toy in Warrior on Cinemax and HBO, Charlotte in See on Apple TV+, Master Gao in Deadly Class, and Noel in the feature Lucky Star… just to name a few of her projects. Her performances have been praised for their depth and complexity, and she often plays roles that explore themes of identity, resilience, belonging, and empowerment. In addition to being a talented actress, she's also getting recognition for her action sequences in several roles she's played.  In this part of the conversation, we talk about her origin in acting, some of the key roles she has played, life as a journalist, how she approaches action scenes, and more. Additionally Olivia shares some of her thoughts on being part of productions with cast members of Asian Pacific descent both in front of and behind the camera.  If you're interested in seeing more of Olivia's work, then you can do the following: find her in the roles on the above listed projects, rent or buy Lucky Star on Apple TV or Amazon services, and/or follow her on Instagram @thatoliviacheng. If you like what we do, please share, follow, and like us in your podcast directory of choice or on Instagram @AAHistory101. For previous episodes and resources, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or our links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at info@aahistory101.com. *Above Photo of Olivia Cheng by Noah Asanias

NOTE: This interview was recorded prior to the announcement of "S.W.A.T.: Exiles"Actor David Lim joins Actors With Issues to reflect on his eight-season run on CBS's S.W.A.T. and the importance of positive AAPI representation on TV. From starting in finance to booking a role on ABC's "Quantico", Lim talks about becoming a series regular for the first time, how S.W.A.T. broke stereotypes in male AAPI roles, and the power of telling authentic stories.

Regina Linke was born and raised in Texas, and she always enjoyed the creative arts, but she didn't learn traditional Chinese painting until after moving with her young family to Taiwan in her mid-thirties. Holding management degrees from Washington University in St. Louis and Cornell University, she worked in marketing technology and information systems for the travel and tourism industry. Now, however, she creates and illustrates stories that celebrate East Asian folklore and philosophy in an accessible way. Her most notable creations are the characters from The Oxherd Boy, a single-panel, webcomic that started on Instagram. A young boy, his family ox, and a rabbit living in his garden convey the three core schools of Classical Chinese thought: Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. The best-selling collection of these inspirational pieces called THE OXHERD BOY: Parables of Love, Compassion, and Community released in 2024, and was followed in 2025 by its first original story for children called Big Enough. A second picture book, Little Helper expanding on this world is slated for release in Summer 2026. Here's a link for behind the scenes of her painting: https://oxherdboy.org/pages/digital-painting And here's a link if you'd like to purchase "Big Enough": https://oxherdboy.org/pages/big-enough  

Welcome to Season 5, Episode 23! It's hard to find any other apparel that signifies vacation more than a Hawaiian shirt AKA an Aloha shirt. It's not just a symbol of going on vacation, for some it means being part of the ska community, hanging out at a tiki bar, relaxing at get togethers, and even just dressing up for “casual Friday.” But what is the origin and background of the Aloha shirt, how did it grow in popularity, and what is the importance of it to the Hawaiian islands? In this episode we talk about some key early designers like Ellery Chun of King-Smith Clothiers and Koichiro Miyamoto of Musa-Shiya the Shirtmaker, who both helped popularize the Aloha shirt. We also discuss how the Hawaiian shirt grew in popularity and what the shirt symbolizes in Hawaii. And if you want to buy an authentic Aloha shirt, you're in luck because we also share several current makers like Sig Zane, Kahala, Reyn Spooner, and Ted's favorite, Rix Island Wear. Is there a brand that you like? If you like what we do, please share, follow, and like us in your podcast directory of choice or on Instagram @AAHistory101. For previous episodes and resources, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or our links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at info@aahistory101.com. Segments 00:25 Intro and Catching Up 03:45 The History of the Aloha Shirt 16:02 Expanded Current Events

Asians Represent is back with a charity actual play benefiting AAPI United! Liana facilitated "A Family Affair", a Valor adventure she contributed to Unbreakable: Pathways. Unbreakable: Pathways is a collection of Asian-centric adventures that showcase the intersections of culture, tradition, and experiences utilizing a plethora of Tabletop Roleplaying systems and rulesets. AAPI UNITED is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization committed to championing the diverse and collective interests of the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. AAPI UNITED aims to address systemic challenges, promote equality, and amplify the voices of the AAPI community. Crew: Liana - @valorliana.bsky.social Steve - @dmsteve.bsky.social Michelle - @kilnfiendpotter.bsky.social Danny - @br00taldan.bsky.social Kevin - @knitnack.bsky.social //SUPPORT  Help us produce new and exclusive content! Join us on Patreon for ad-free audio and exclusive series! ⁠⁠patreon.com/aznsrepresent⁠⁠ Join the conversation on our Discord server | ⁠⁠discord.gg/aznsrepresent⁠⁠ Check out Daniel's new TTRPG, Wandering Blades, at ⁠⁠wanderingblades.com⁠⁠ //SPONSOR  The Asians Represent! podcast is brought to you by HERO FORGE! Visit ⁠⁠HeroForge.com ⁠⁠to start designing your custom miniature today and check back often: new content is added every week! //FOLLOW  Website | aznsrepresent.com  Blue Sky | @aznsrepresent  YouTube | @aznsrepresent  //CONTACT  If you have questions about this episode's themes, suggestions, or anything else related to Asians Represent, get in touch with us at ⁠⁠aznsrepresent.com⁠⁠  //MUSIC Euphoria by PAVALON

Alaska's Perseverance Theatre's Artistic Director Leslie Ishii has the distinction of recently being awarded to prestigious awards: The 2024 Stage Directors & Choreographers Foundation Zelda Fichandler Award and the 2025 Paul Robeson Award. To win either of these honors is remarkable; but to win them both, back-to-back, is nothing short of extraordinary. Here's your chance to get to know why and how this fourth generation Japanese American grew up doing acts of social justice, and when she realized the power that storytelling has to educate and motivate people to act on things that truly matter.

Maxwell Lee's Malaysian immigrant parents first put a violin in his hands when he was just three years old, but he soon demonstrated that he had precocious and exceptioinal musical abilities that he would later display as a classical pianist. As he focused on his music in college and graduate school, he seemed destined to make music his career path, either as a performer or an instructor. But after getting married, he dropped music altogether, becoming a successful real estate investor instead. A few years ago, however, he learned that the musician inside of him was slowly waking up. He and his family moved to Taipei, Taiwan, and he secured a coveted 3-year visa for foreign professionals.  This is Part 1 of a special series where Maxwell has graciously agreed to let us tag along with him on his dream to become a professional, performing musician. For now, you can follow him on Facebook. In Part 2, I'll share one of his latest original songs!

As we close out AAPI month 2025, we highlight some relevant organizations doing amazing work in that realm.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jenna and Justin weigh in on some tricky social situations submitted by male listeners. Also, Michelle Williams stops by to catch up and talk about heading to Broadway in the Tony-nominated musical ‘Death Becomes Her.' Plus, Faith Xue, editor-in-chief of Coveteur magazine, shares some top beauty picks in honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. And, comedian Urzila Carlson joins to discuss her new comedy tour, ‘Just Jokes.'

In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we'll be sharing three stories from AAPI storytellers - which take place everywhere from a Korean Spa to a crisis hotline. This episode was hosted by Chloe Salmon. Storytellers: Helen Langlee Wyss finds confidence at a jimjilbang. Hari Sanghvi resents the sound of his own voice, until he's able to help someone in crisis. Wendy Suzuki studies memory as a doctor, and finds a new way of looking at her work when she's confronted with her own father's memory loss. Podcast # 920 To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

➡️ Join 321,000 people who read my free weekly newsletter: https://newsletter.scottdclary.com➡️ Like The Podcast? Leave A Rating: https://ratethispodcast.com/successstoryDr. Tiffany Moon is a Chinese-American anesthesiologist, entrepreneur, and television personality best known for appearing on The Real Housewives of Dallas. Born in Beijing and raised in the U.S., she earned her medical degree by age 23 and is now an Associate Professor at UT Southwestern. In addition to her medical career, she is the founder of Aromasthesia Candles and Three Moons Wine. A dedicated philanthropist and advocate for AAPI communities, Dr. Moon shares her story of resilience and connection in her upcoming memoir, Joy Prescriptions.➡️ Show Linkshttps://www.instagram.com/tiffanymoonmd/https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffany-moon-md-fasa-06938455/https://www.tiffanymoonmd.com/ ➡️ Podcast SponsorsHubspot - https://hubspot.com/ Vanta - https://www.vanta.com/scott Federated Computer - https://www.federated.computer Lingoda - https://try.lingoda.com/success_sprintCornbread Hemp - https://cornbreadhemp.com/success (Code: Success)FreshBooks - https://www.freshbooks.com/pricing-offer/ Quince - https://quince.com/success Northwest Registered Agent - https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/success Prolon - https://prolonlife.com/clary Stash - https://get.stash.com/successstory NetSuite — https://netsuite.com/scottclary/ Indeed - https://indeed.com/clary➡️ Talking Points00:00 – Intro01:34 – The Moment That Changed Everything06:01 – The “Good Asian Daughter” Script08:51 – Breaking Away from Her Parents13:28 – Healing & Finding Joy After Trauma14:39 – Redefining High Performance17:48 – Sponsor Break21:40 – Tiffany's First Taste of Joy30:13 – What Writing Taught Her About Herself32:24 – The #1 Joy-Killing Trait34:30 – Sponsor Break38:35 – Tiffany the Entrepreneur43:15 – Loving the Journey, Not Just the Goal46:57 – Escaping the Scarcity Mindset48:40 – Joy in Her Career53:10 – Comparison: The Thief of Joy1:01:53 – A Lesson for Her KidsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on the special edition Bruce Lee Foundation takeover of the Bruce Lee Podcast for the month of May, Shannon sits down with her friend, Katie Soo. Katie is a creative force, tech innovator, and passionate advocate for underrepresented voices in storytelling. With a career that spans Hulu, HBO Max, DC Universe, Dollar Shave Club, and more, she has been instrumental in building and launching some of the most iconic and disruptive brands in entertainment and media. But what Shannon admires most about Katie is that behind every strategic move is a deep sense of imagination, heart, and a commitment to mentorship and community. In this episode, Katie talks about how it's been to navigate leadership, tech, and Hollywood as an Asian American woman—and why creating access and pathways for others has always been central to her purpose. Katie was also instrumental in helping Warrior to get a 3rd season at Max so you can thank her, Warrior Fans!  Katie shares how she continues to champion bold, creative storytelling as well as her reflections on the power of mentorship and the importance of holding the door open for others. Katie also has a robust creative life beyond the boardroom — from writing her first children's book, to serving on numerous nonprofit boards, to raising her own family to creating inspiring content on social - Katie is the ultimate community connector, creator and friend to those around her! Tune in and listen to see why Katie is such a powerful reminder that true leadership is grounded in personal passion, a desire to lift others up, and boundless imagination. Show notes and more episodes at Brucelee.com/Podcast  Connect with Katie Soo…. Website:  www.katiesoo.com  Instagram: @katie_soo