Podcasts about Japanese Americans

We sit down with Emmy-winning TV producer Clara Plestis, whose work as an executive at Smart Dog Media, helped redefine what family-friendly television can be. Clara has been instrumental in shaping formats that blend high-concept experimentation with broad appeal, from AI-powered dating shows to variety competitions. Her work demonstrates that entertainment aimed at mass audiences doesn't have to be safe or predictable—it can be surprising, ambitious, and culturally resonant.Clara walks us through the creative decisions behind Song vs. Dance, a Japanese-American co-production that combines performance, gaming, and visual flair into a highly original competition format. She also opens up about the bold choices behind Love by AI, a provocative dating experiment that hands matchmaking—and even the date experience itself—over to artificial intelligence. Through these shows, Clara reveals what it really takes to push fresh concepts through the development process: a deep understanding of global markets, strong format discipline, and the confidence to take calculated risks.Join us for a deep dive into Clara's process and what she sees on the horizon for television development.About WrapbookWrapbook is a smart, intuitive platform that makes production payroll and accounting easier, faster, and more secure. We provide a unified payroll platform that seamlessly connects your entire team—production, accounting, cast, and crew—all in one place.Wrapbook empowers production teams to manage projects, pay cast and crew, track expenses, and generate data-driven insights, while enabling workers to manage timecards, track pay, and onboard to new projects from any device. Wrapbook brings clarity and dependability to production payroll, while increasing the productivity of your whole team.For crew: The Wrapbook app eliminates the headaches of production payroll by providing a fast, transparent, and secure solution for workers to complete startwork, submit timecards, and track pay.Trusted by companies of all sizes, Wrapbook powers payroll for some of the industry's top production companies, including SMUGGLER, Tuff, and GhostRobot. Our growing team of 250+ people includes entertainment and technology experts from SAG-AFTRA, DGA, IATSE, Teamsters, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, and more.Wrapbook is backed by top-tier investors, including Jeffrey Katzenberg's WndrCo, Andreessen Horowitz, and A* Capital.Get started at https://www.wrapbook.com/

Jamie Ford, author of "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet," reads a short excerpt from his book which illustrates the horror that took place in Seattle for Japanese-American citizens during World War 2.  The full interview from a 2009 episode of "Conversations On The Coast with Jim Foster" can be heard now wherever you get your podcasts. Photo: Robert Costa.

Riwo finishes up Freedom Month talking about a San Diego Public Librarian who stood up for Japanese American children during WW2 interments. Clara Breed sent books, letters, and support to young readers imprisoned in camps — protecting their right to read and reminding them they were not forgotten.

Golden mussels are a dangerous new invader in California's water supply. Also, a documentary about the oldest and largest Asian American civil rights organization in the country. Finally, a memoir about the first winery in Fair Play, Calif.

The Hot Stove Society Tasting Panel dives into creamy buffalo milk mozzarella // Patricia Gray from the Pike Place Market Foundation and Chef Traci Calderon of Atrium Kitchen join us to chat about this year’s Sunset Supper at Pike Place Market // Tom shares his process and passion behind homemade miso // Brady Ishiwata Williams, chef-owner of Tomo in White Center, reveals how intention and simplicity shape his Japanese-American cuisine // We explore “the Art of Crafting a Dish” // Chef Makini Howell returns with her new retail venture: pre-pressed and pre-seasoned Makini’s Tofu // And of course, we’ll wrap up today’s show with Food for Thought: Tasty Trivia!!

There is a chilling pattern of how governments have systematically dehumanized, displaced, and exterminated entire groups of people throughout history using bureaucratic steps.Drawing from real atrocities such as the Holocaust, the Khmer Rouge regime, the Rwandan genocide, and the Armenian genocide, as well as injustices in U.S. history like the internment of Japanese Americans and the treatment of Native and African Americans, I trace a common structure of how oppression builds: with labels, propaganda, silence, and “legal” processes. Societal fear and political power can normalize cruelty. So here's your reminder of the responsibility to notice, speak out, and act before it's too late. Recognize familiar patterns and refuse to let history repeat itself.Get in touch on HorrorStory.com

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.

633. We talk to Heidi Kim about her research into the novel, Vieux Salomon. "Set in Guadeloupe, New Orleans, the surrounding Louisiana plantations, and briefly in other areas of the South, this is a key text of the history of slavery in Louisiana and the Deep South.There is obviously a difference between memoirs and novels in terms of perception and claims to nonfiction. However, in U.S. antislavery literature, both usually attempted to appeal to the same white mainstream readership (with the exception in this case of Testut's audience being French-speaking and largely Catholic). Most claimed realism; even novels asserted that they depicted events that had happened or were familiar, even if the characters were fictional." "Heidi's research and teaching ranges through 19th-21st century American literature, with specializations in the Japanese American incarceration of World War II, law and literature, and the Cold War period. She has also published on Walt Whitman and antislavery literature, including the partial translation of Louisiana Francophone novel Le Vieux Salomon, and collaborated on interdisciplinary environmental research" (Kim). Now available: Liberty in Louisiana: A Comedy. The oldest play about Louisiana, author James Workman wrote it as a celebration of the Louisiana Purchase. Now it is back in print for the first time in 221 years. Order your copy today! Camille Naudin (pen name). “La Marseillaise Noire — Chant de Paix.” "Let march on! Regardless of color, Men of color, unite; For the light of the sun is for everyone. May each happy race prosper, To the frontiers of humanity Engrave these words: I hope in Thee, Thou shalt reign, Equality." This week in Louisiana history. July 5, 1910. Gov. Sanders appointed to fill senate seat after Sen. McEnery dies, he chooses to remain governor. This week in New Orleans history. Moisant Airport renamed July 5, 2001. The New Orleans City Council unanimously approved the New Orleans Aviation Board's proposal to rename the New Orleans International Airport in honor of the great Louis Armstrong. This week in Louisiana. Lake Bistineau State Park 103 State Park Road Doyline, LA 71023 318-745-3503 1-888-677-2478 lakebistineau@crt.la.gov Website     Situated on the western shore of Lake Bistineau, this park offers a satisfying blend of beautiful vistas and outstanding recreational facilities. Memorable for its upland mixed hardwood forest, its open waters, and its enchanting stands of cypress and tupelo trees, the park offers two boat launches, hiking and biking trails, playgrounds, camping, cabins and excellent fishing!     Beginning in January with the "yo- yo" season and lasting through the spring, summer, and early fall, the dedicated fisherman can draw such freshwater catches as black crappie, large-mouth bass, yellow bass, catfish, bluegill, and red-ear sunfish from the lake's clear waters. Postcards from Louisiana. Delfeayo Marsalis at French Quarter Fest.  Listen on Apple Podcasts. Listen on audible. Listen on Spotify. Listen on TuneIn. Listen on iHeartRadio. The Louisiana Anthology Home Page. Like us on Facebook. 

How can you celebrate true freedom and equality on the 4th of July,  Independence Day?Focus on Frederick Douglass, an abolitionist and orator.In this episode, Aminata celebrates the life and legacy of Frederick Douglass in the context of the 4th of July. She converses with her son, Gabriel Anthony-Kemp, about the impact and inspiration drawn from Douglass's life. Gabriel discusses his admiration for Douglass's visionary and uncompromising spirit. The episode features a reading from Douglass's autobiography, highlighting the traumatic experiences of slavery, and underscores Douglass's dedication to not only freeing himself but also striving for the freedom of others. Check the show notes at dramandakemp.com for more information.Music is “Help Me” by Michael Jamanis (www.michaeljamanis.com)Timestamps:00:00 Introduction and Purpose00:07 Frederick Douglass and the 4th of July00:53 Conversation with Gabriel02:09 Gabriel's Admiration for Douglass04:15 Reading from Douglass's Autobiography07:13 Reflections on Douglass's LegacyWho is Frederick Douglass and Why is Frederick Douglass important?This episode shows our greatest leaders have always been concerned about solidarity and linking our movement for freedom with human rights of ALL people.  Please comment or share if you want to spread this message! In 1867, only two years after the slavery ended in the U.S., Douglass spoke out against racism against Chinese and Japanese Americans.  He argued that Chinese immigrants should be allowed to become citizens just like any other immigrants.He envisioned a "Composite Nation," a multi-racial, multicultural America that recognized human rights.  You can watch the music video featuring Douglass's Composite Nation speech here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f7_Mz7lbJk&t=4sDownload my free guide: 

In this episode we challenge the ideas about invisibility of Asian Americans in the urban Midwest by discussing Rebecca Jo Kinney's Mapping AsiaTown Cleveland: Race and Redevelopment in the Rust Belt (Temple University Press, 2025). Mapping AsiaTown Cleveland links the contemporary development of Cleveland's “AsiaTown” to the multiple and fragmented histories of Cleveland's Asian American communities from the 1940s to present. Kinney's sharp insights include Japanese Americans who resettled from internment camps, Chinese Americans food purveyors, and Asian American community leaders who have had to fight for visibility and representation in city planning—even as the Cleveland Asian Festival is branded as a marquee “diversity” event for the city. Importantly, this book contributes to a growing field of Asian American studies in the U.S. Midwest by foregrounding the importance of region in racial formation and redevelopment as it traces the history of racial segregation and neighborhood diversity in Cleveland during the 20th and 21st centuries. Rebecca Jo Kinney is a Fulbright Scholar and an interdisciplinary teacher and scholar of American Studies and Ethnic Studies at Bowling Green State University, Ohio, USA. Dr. Kinney's award-winning first book, Beautiful Wasteland: The Rise of Detroit as America's Postindustrial Frontier argues that contemporary stories told about Detroit's potential for rise enables the erasure of white supremacist systems. Her third book, Making Home in Korea: The Transnational Lives of Adult Korean Adoptees, is based on research undertaken while she was a Fulbright Scholar in South Korea. Her research has appeared in American Quarterly, Food, Culture & Society, Verge: Studies in Global Asia, Radical History Review, Race&Class, among other journals. Donna Doan Anderson (she/her) is a research assistant professor in the department of History at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In this episode we challenge the ideas about invisibility of Asian Americans in the urban Midwest by discussing Rebecca Jo Kinney's Mapping AsiaTown Cleveland: Race and Redevelopment in the Rust Belt (Temple University Press, 2025). Mapping AsiaTown Cleveland links the contemporary development of Cleveland's “AsiaTown” to the multiple and fragmented histories of Cleveland's Asian American communities from the 1940s to present. Kinney's sharp insights include Japanese Americans who resettled from internment camps, Chinese Americans food purveyors, and Asian American community leaders who have had to fight for visibility and representation in city planning—even as the Cleveland Asian Festival is branded as a marquee “diversity” event for the city. Importantly, this book contributes to a growing field of Asian American studies in the U.S. Midwest by foregrounding the importance of region in racial formation and redevelopment as it traces the history of racial segregation and neighborhood diversity in Cleveland during the 20th and 21st centuries. Rebecca Jo Kinney is a Fulbright Scholar and an interdisciplinary teacher and scholar of American Studies and Ethnic Studies at Bowling Green State University, Ohio, USA. Dr. Kinney's award-winning first book, Beautiful Wasteland: The Rise of Detroit as America's Postindustrial Frontier argues that contemporary stories told about Detroit's potential for rise enables the erasure of white supremacist systems. Her third book, Making Home in Korea: The Transnational Lives of Adult Korean Adoptees, is based on research undertaken while she was a Fulbright Scholar in South Korea. Her research has appeared in American Quarterly, Food, Culture & Society, Verge: Studies in Global Asia, Radical History Review, Race&Class, among other journals. Donna Doan Anderson (she/her) is a research assistant professor in the department of History at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/asian-american-studies

In this episode we challenge the ideas about invisibility of Asian Americans in the urban Midwest by discussing Rebecca Jo Kinney's Mapping AsiaTown Cleveland: Race and Redevelopment in the Rust Belt (Temple University Press, 2025). Mapping AsiaTown Cleveland links the contemporary development of Cleveland's “AsiaTown” to the multiple and fragmented histories of Cleveland's Asian American communities from the 1940s to present. Kinney's sharp insights include Japanese Americans who resettled from internment camps, Chinese Americans food purveyors, and Asian American community leaders who have had to fight for visibility and representation in city planning—even as the Cleveland Asian Festival is branded as a marquee “diversity” event for the city. Importantly, this book contributes to a growing field of Asian American studies in the U.S. Midwest by foregrounding the importance of region in racial formation and redevelopment as it traces the history of racial segregation and neighborhood diversity in Cleveland during the 20th and 21st centuries. Rebecca Jo Kinney is a Fulbright Scholar and an interdisciplinary teacher and scholar of American Studies and Ethnic Studies at Bowling Green State University, Ohio, USA. Dr. Kinney's award-winning first book, Beautiful Wasteland: The Rise of Detroit as America's Postindustrial Frontier argues that contemporary stories told about Detroit's potential for rise enables the erasure of white supremacist systems. Her third book, Making Home in Korea: The Transnational Lives of Adult Korean Adoptees, is based on research undertaken while she was a Fulbright Scholar in South Korea. Her research has appeared in American Quarterly, Food, Culture & Society, Verge: Studies in Global Asia, Radical History Review, Race&Class, among other journals. Donna Doan Anderson (she/her) is a research assistant professor in the department of History at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

In this episode we challenge the ideas about invisibility of Asian Americans in the urban Midwest by discussing Rebecca Jo Kinney's Mapping AsiaTown Cleveland: Race and Redevelopment in the Rust Belt (Temple University Press, 2025). Mapping AsiaTown Cleveland links the contemporary development of Cleveland's “AsiaTown” to the multiple and fragmented histories of Cleveland's Asian American communities from the 1940s to present. Kinney's sharp insights include Japanese Americans who resettled from internment camps, Chinese Americans food purveyors, and Asian American community leaders who have had to fight for visibility and representation in city planning—even as the Cleveland Asian Festival is branded as a marquee “diversity” event for the city. Importantly, this book contributes to a growing field of Asian American studies in the U.S. Midwest by foregrounding the importance of region in racial formation and redevelopment as it traces the history of racial segregation and neighborhood diversity in Cleveland during the 20th and 21st centuries. Rebecca Jo Kinney is a Fulbright Scholar and an interdisciplinary teacher and scholar of American Studies and Ethnic Studies at Bowling Green State University, Ohio, USA. Dr. Kinney's award-winning first book, Beautiful Wasteland: The Rise of Detroit as America's Postindustrial Frontier argues that contemporary stories told about Detroit's potential for rise enables the erasure of white supremacist systems. Her third book, Making Home in Korea: The Transnational Lives of Adult Korean Adoptees, is based on research undertaken while she was a Fulbright Scholar in South Korea. Her research has appeared in American Quarterly, Food, Culture & Society, Verge: Studies in Global Asia, Radical History Review, Race&Class, among other journals. Donna Doan Anderson (she/her) is a research assistant professor in the department of History at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The island of Alameda has produced some great baseball players. Hall of Fame hitter Willie Stargell even has a street named after him! Some of those ballplayers were Japanese American. In the years between World War I and World War II, the Alameda Taiiku-Kai thrived with great players like Sai Tawata leading the team and the community. Bay Curious listener Sam Hopkins saw a plaque commemorating the team's home plate and wanted to learn more about the team's history. Additional Resources: Rediscovering a Japanese-American Baseball Team in Alameda, Nearly Lost to Time Read the transcript for this episode Sign up for our newsletter Enter our Sierra Nevada Brewing Company monthly trivia contest Got a question you want answered? Ask! Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts Special thanks to the Japanese American National Museum for use of the Topaz prison camp clip. That documentary was a gift of Dave Tatsuno, in Memory of Walter Honderich. This story was reported by Brian Watt. Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Gabriela Glueck and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Olivia Allen-Price, Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Alana Walker, Holly Kernan and everyone on Team KQED.

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.

Rudolph Carmenaty, the Deputy Commissioner for the Nassau County Department of Social Services, explores the legal legacy of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and how he clashed with the US Supreme Court over New Deal Legislation, guided the country thru the Great depression and World War II; and at the same time presided over internment camps for Japanese Americans during World War II.

While we work on more upcoming stories from Feet in 2 Worlds, we want to share some great episodes from other podcasts we think you'll like. This story comes from our friends at Proof from America's Test Kitchen. It's a podcast that dives deep into the unexpected backstories behind food and drinks, while examining the human stories that intersect along the way.  This episode follows the journey of the Shinta and Kawahara families — from immigration, to incarceration, to the present day. Proof reporter Hannah Kirshner travels to Watsonville, California, to report how Japanese-Americans — through their resilience — used ingenuity to help turn strawberries from a seasonal fruit to one that's available year-round. The episode was hosted by Proof's previous host, Kevin Pang.

Legendary Stage, Television and Film Actor, Activist, and Author, George Takei, is Set to Release his Graphic Memoir on June 10, 2025!A new full-color graphic memoir from the team behind George Takei's award-winning bestseller They Called Us Enemy, telling the untold story of George's journey from closeted actor to international gay icon. It Rhymes With Takei offers an unprecedented view into the heart of this beloved star and a celebration of the warp-speed changes he has witnessed in one lifetime.George Takei has shown the world many faces: actor, author, outspoken activist, helmsman of the starship Enterprise, living witness to the internment of Japanese Americans, and king of social media. But until October 27, 2005, there was always one piece missing-one face he did not show the world. There was one very intimate fact about George that he never shared - and it rhymes with Takei.Now, for the first time ever, George shares the full story of his life in the closet, his decision to come out as gay at the age of 68, and the way that moment transformed everything. Following the phenomenal success of his first graphic memoir, They Called Us Enemy, George Takei reunites with the team of Harmony Becker, Steven Scott, and Justin Eisinger for a jaw-dropping new testament. From his earliest childhood crushes and youthful experiments in the rigidly conformist 1950s, to global fame as an actor and the terrible fear of exposure, to the watershed moment of speaking his truth and becoming one of the most high-profile gay men on the planet, It Rhymes with Takei offers a sweeping portrait of one iconic American navigating the tides of LGBTQ+ history.Combining historical context with intimate subjectivity, It Rhymes with Takei shows how the personal and the political have always been intertwined. Its richly emotional words and images depict the terror of entrapment even in gay community spaces, the anguish of speaking up for so many issues while remaining silent on his most personal issue, the grief of losing friends to AIDS, the joy of finding true love with Brad Altman, and the determination to declare that love openly-and legally-before the whole world.Looking back on his astonishing life on both sides of the closet door, George Takei presents a charismatic and candid account of how far America has come.and how precious that progress is.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-unplugged-totally-uncut--994165/support.

Legendary Stage, Television and Film Actor, Activist, and Author, George Takei, is Set to Release his Graphic Memoir on June 10, 2025!A new full-color graphic memoir from the team behind George Takei's award-winning bestseller They Called Us Enemy, telling the untold story of George's journey from closeted actor to international gay icon. It Rhymes With Takei offers an unprecedented view into the heart of this beloved star and a celebration of the warp-speed changes he has witnessed in one lifetime.George Takei has shown the world many faces: actor, author, outspoken activist, helmsman of the starship Enterprise, living witness to the internment of Japanese Americans, and king of social media. But until October 27, 2005, there was always one piece missing-one face he did not show the world. There was one very intimate fact about George that he never shared - and it rhymes with Takei.Now, for the first time ever, George shares the full story of his life in the closet, his decision to come out as gay at the age of 68, and the way that moment transformed everything. Following the phenomenal success of his first graphic memoir, They Called Us Enemy, George Takei reunites with the team of Harmony Becker, Steven Scott, and Justin Eisinger for a jaw-dropping new testament. From his earliest childhood crushes and youthful experiments in the rigidly conformist 1950s, to global fame as an actor and the terrible fear of exposure, to the watershed moment of speaking his truth and becoming one of the most high-profile gay men on the planet, It Rhymes with Takei offers a sweeping portrait of one iconic American navigating the tides of LGBTQ+ history.Combining historical context with intimate subjectivity, It Rhymes with Takei shows how the personal and the political have always been intertwined. Its richly emotional words and images depict the terror of entrapment even in gay community spaces, the anguish of speaking up for so many issues while remaining silent on his most personal issue, the grief of losing friends to AIDS, the joy of finding true love with Brad Altman, and the determination to declare that love openly-and legally-before the whole world.Looking back on his astonishing life on both sides of the closet door, George Takei presents a charismatic and candid account of how far America has come.and how precious that progress is.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-like-it-s-live--4113802/support.

Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 14 Andy reconnects with his past, and Emily explores. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. And, after two weeks of trying to subtly discern it from her, Andy eventually just asked Taylor what she did for a living, and Taylor informed Andy that she'd been a phlebotomist before moving into the Rook household, and once she was done with her time in the penalty box, she would go back to it. It was the first step she had taken towards eventually becoming an anesthetist, which was her long term goal. She'd met Lauren when the Aussie had needed someone to come in and blood test a few of the 49ers she was training. Taylor insisted that if Andy ever wanted her to stay in his bed for a night, she would without reservation, but that otherwise, she would be sleeping in the same bed with Lauren, who had set up her own bedroom now, so as to not wake Andy when she left early in the morning for practice.               Piper and Sheridan had also set up their own bedrooms, for similar reasons. Piper insisted her workout routine begin at the butt crack of dawn, and she also had a tendency to go to bed almost immediately after dinner, and Sheridan had started joining her in those hours, although the two women had very different work out routines in the morning. Andy had never been awake for any of them, but both of the women had filmed themselves working out, so he could see what they were up to in the wretched early hours. Aisling, Niko, Emily and Sarah had flatly refused to sleep away from Andy, although the order they laid against one another in the bed at night varied quite regularly. At various points over the last few days, he'd woken up in the night to find Emily quietly making out with each of the other three. He was a little surprised that Emily and Sarah didn't want another bedroom for times when the two of them wanted to fool around with just each other. He'd asked them about it, but Sarah had just teased him and insisted that when they did, he should be nearby in case he wanted to watch or join in. The craziest part of the day, however, was when Emily came to track him down in his office just before dinner with a rather baffling request. He'd spent most of the day writing, knowing that tomorrow there would be new women joining the household, and that he'd likely get very little work done on that day. He felt like he was very close to considering the draft for what he was now calling "The Doppleganger's Identity," the next book in the Druid Gunslinger series, ready for his first pass readers to take a look at, and hoped to wrap it up today. It would certainly stop Sarah from asking him yet again when she could read it, since she had insisted she get a spot on that esteemed small council. He kept the door to his office open most of the time, but Emily insisted on knocking before entering the room anyway. "Andrew, love, I know you're writing right now, but might I bother you for just a skosh?" she said, smiling at him in that disarmingly charming English way of hers. "It's never a bother, Em," he said, closing up his laptop. "You know, you're the only one of my partners I'm okay with calling me 'Andrew?' Anyone else does it, and I know I'm in trouble, but you somehow make me not hate the sound of my full name. C'mon in. Sit down, talk to me." The blonde Englishwoman sashayed into the room before lifting one of his legs so she could sit down on the footstool in front of his writing chair. She was wearing a billowy floral print dress that hung down past her knees, loose fitting but still draped enticingly well. Andy wondered if maybe it was tailor made for her, but before he could think to ask, she launched into the reason she'd come to see him. "My agent received a rather odd request today, and I wanted to come and talk to you about it before I answered it. If you're not comfortable with it, I would completely understand that, but I personally think that it would be an excellent thing for us to do, so I hoped we might talk a bit about it before you came to any decision, and perhaps I could bring you around to my way of thinking." Andy set his laptop on the coffee table to the side of his writing chair and shifted to sit up a little bit. "Who's the request from, and what is it that you think I might be uncomfortable with?" "It came from the office of the president, if you can believe it. My agent said President Pelosi didn't call personally, but a member of her staff did." Emily took his large hands in her small ones, holding onto them softly as she kept his gaze focused on her sapphire blue eyes. Clearly whatever they were going to discuss was of great importance. "When the announcement hits next week, they're expecting much of the nation to be in rather dire shock. Such massive casualties means the American way of life going forward is going to have to be something extremely different than what it once was, something radical and new." She licked her lips, a touch of nervousness Andy wasn't sure he'd seen from the usually confident young woman before. "Something like us. To sort of help assert the new norms in the minds of the general public, they want a handful of celebrities to do talk show appearances, with the hosts who are still alive anyway, and most of them seem to have made it out okay, and talk about their new family units, how polyamory is going to be the lay of the land, and how the laws are immediately being changed so that a single man can have multiple wives, to help repopulate the country after the severe losses." Andy laughed a little bit. "If you want to go on television, Em, you certainly don't need my permission. What makes you think I'd be against that?" She smiled at him kindly, and he realized immediately he'd missed what she'd been specifically asking him. "I don't just want to go on television by myself, Andrew. I want to go on television with you and with Sarah and maybe with a couple of the other girls, Niko in particular. I think it's important that we get out there as a new family unit, on The Daily Show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Late Night With Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Tonight Show, Good Morning America, anyone who wants to talk to us, so that we can help put the country a little more at ease that we are going to get through this. Normally, I would be most in favor of shielding all of you from the horror that is the paparazzi, just to keep my personal life simply that,  personal. But this is a very strange new world we find ourselves in, Andrew, and we need to help our fellow humans become comfortable with their new reality." "You sound pretty committed to the whole idea," he said, trying to keep his voice as non committal as possible, but Emily had gotten very good at reading him in the short time they'd been together, so he knew she could tell he wasn't entirely opposed to it, simply gauging how it would all work. The particulars of opening his private life to the entire world seemed a little daunting at first blush, but certainly not insurmountable. "We wouldn't be the only ones, I think it's important to stress that, love," she said, squeezing his hands a little bit. "And Sarah and I would also be coming out about our relationship with each other, so you wouldn't have to field a lot of questions if you didn't want to. We could take on the brunt of the questions if that makes it any easier. But I just know many people in this adopted homeland of mine are going to be frightened, and I think the idea to show them the way through would be a step in the right direction." She leaned her head down and kiss the tops of his hands before looking up at him. "Oh! And you could also use it to promote your books, if that might sweeten the pot a smidge. It might help, having twenty minutes of prime mental real estate for your face and your writing?" He chuckled, nodding his head. "You know as well as I do that my agent would string me up by my toes if I had a chance to get this much free publicity for my next novel and didn't take it, so how can I say no? I'm not going to hide from journalists. I'll do my fair share. Tell me how all this is going to work." She smiled, leaned in and kissed him, soft and tender, but for what felt like a delicious eternity. "We will set up the camera and microphones in Sarah and I's little studio, and then we'll just take an hour or so a day for a few weeks to record segments with whoever asks. The president's office wants us to do a 60 Minutes interview even before the announcement is made, as our sort of grand unveiling. For that, they're actually going to send Katie Couric here with a camera woman to do the interview in a few days. They're likely to want to do that in a larger room, or maybe out on the back deck, by the pool. They're going to do an entire show all about the deaths, the vaccine and the new post pandemic world we're starting to grow into. The ten to twenty minute interview with us will just be part of the larger package. They were hoping to have us for a day on the 14th. They're going to be filming at the base on the 13th and doing interviews with President Pelosi on the 15th. The president's representative seemed to think Niko might be a good link between the two segments, if she was one of the people helping to give the tour of the base, and the vaccination process. I asked Niko about it, and she said she wouldn't mind if you didn't, but that I had to ask you first. The whole episode of the show is going to air immediately after the President's speech on the 20th." "Good lord, sounds like they've got all this planned out. I'm surprised I didn't hear from the Office of the President personally." Emily offered him another smile, and considered her next words carefully. It wasn't that she worried about bruising his ego, because Andy had never come across that way, but she also didn't want to seem too full of herself. "Love, I've been a very well known movie star for a decade now, so I think they figured out where I was first and went from there. That's no slight against you! I'm just saying that you aren't a household name that millions of people recognize, and, for better or worse, I am. The Dagger Academy movies were everywhere, as were the books. Simon, my costar in the movies, he's still living in England, so he's in an entirely different world than we are here in the States." Andy grinned. "Oh, I know, I know. All I'm saying is that it wouldn't hurt for the President to have called me herself, y'know. But that's fine. It's fine." "Well, when the paparazzi are struggling to get topless photos of you in Ibiza, then we'll have a conversation about how you aren't being taken seriously as an artist, alright darling?" She giggled a little. "It was fun, teasing them, knowing they so desperately wanted to get images of my tits to sell, and that a bidding war would erupt for the image." "They are excellent tits, Em." "Bless you, love. But you're never going to convince me they're as nice as, say, Sarah's or Hannah's. And all those tits, theirs and mine, are exclusively the purview of this family now and forever more, so the paparazzo can fuck right off. So, the interview? You'll do it? You'll dance for the media circus with us, for the good of the nation?" "I'll do almost all of it, sure." She tilted her head slightly in confused amusement, that coy smile on her pink lips, as her tender fingers squeezed his thigh. "Almost all of it? Which part of it am I going to have to have to convince you for?" He rolled his eyes a little, a playful smirk on his lips. "I'll do all the evening shows, magazines, newspapers and website interviews you want me to, but doing Good Morning America might be a hill too far, simply because of how goddamn early I'd have to get up for it." "Or we could simply stay up very late and do it before bed," she said, moving to slide off the footstool so she could climb into his lap. "I'm sure we could find some way to keep you awake and alert that far into the night. Four thirty in the morning our time could give us the opportunity to go on live television with sex hair," she said, waggling her eyebrows at him lasciviously. "Oh, and I'm not gonna do Fox News." "Christ, love, haven't you heard? They're barely running a skeleton crew over there. Most of their on air talent died over the last few months, and now that the women are in charge over there, they're losing some of that ridiculous bullshit they used to be spouting." Andy chuckled, shaking his head a little bit. "All it took was most of the men dying." "It's pretty hard to pretend the plague isn't a real thing when it keeps killing people off left and right, dear," she said. "The rescheduled Presidential election next month is going to be between Senators Kamala Harris and Susan Collins, two women. That's never happened before in the history of this country. The vast majority of people voting in the election are going to be women. This is all completely unprecedented, so all those women who have felt powerless for so many years, this is their chance to shine. But the old tribal lines are still going to be there, even if the genders of the people leading those parties has changed. Republicans will still be Republicans and Democrats will still be Democrats. But there's too many dead people for everyone to go on pretending like the plague isn't real, or that it's not better to not get a grip on the new reality. One side was already telling their people that the plague wasn't real, so more of their men died than the on the other side. They can't afford to do that any more. So the new Fox News agenda is to go back to simple fiscal conservatism, pro military and pro old school Christianity stances. They're just going to drop all the anti woman bullshit that they've been poisoning their own wells with for so long." "And all it took was most of their men dying." Andy rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'll leave it up to you on whether or not you want to do any of the Fox News shit." "Oh heavens no," Emily laughed, shaking her head. "No, you couldn't pay me enough to appear in front of those horrid people. They've been trying to tell me they have the right to regulate my body for decades but that I should keep my mouth shut when it comes to how they spend the money I pay in taxes. At least a few of their remaining hosts have called me horrible things for daring to disagree with them. 'Entertainers should be sit down and be quiet when it comes to politics,' they've said about me for far too long. Fuck that, darling. I'm having none of it." "Well, on that we can agree." "Now, I do believe I have some convincing to be doing," she said, licking her lips playfully, as she slid off his lap and down onto her knees before him, pushing his legs apart. "That's really not necessary, Em," he said, reaching forward to put a hand on her shoulder, but her delicate fingers moved to grab his wrists, lifting them so that one of his hands was along the back of her neck, and the other was sliding up into that radiant cascade of blonde hair. "It might not be necessary, Andrew, but that isn't to say I wouldn't enjoy it anyway," she said, her hands moving to unbutton his jeans, slowly drawing the zipper down. "Because sometimes a girl just needs to get her fix, you know?" She leaned down and kissed part of his exposed stomach. "You wouldn't deny me that, would you, love? Not innocent little me?" "I don't know that I could deny you anything, Emily," he chuckled. She licked her lips, those inescapable blue eyes of hers looking up at him. "That's what I like to hear. Because it's time for me to do something before Sarah does." She fished out his cock, tucking his balls over his boxers to protect them from accidentally getting caught in the zipper of the jeans, because she wasn't willing to wait long enough to pull his jeans off. "I let her have first go at you, but I'm entitled to have some firsts with you before she gets a chance. That's fair, isn't it?" She leaned down and pressed her pink lips against the head of his cock, covering it in tiny kisses. "I think we can both agree that's only fair." "I seem to recall you and Sarah taking turns blowing me at the same time," he said, tilting his head a little. "I wouldn't say she got there first." "She got to fuck you first though, Andrew," she sighed, stroking his cock tenderly. "And I understand why. She's madly in love with you because of your writing, although she's very much fallen in love with the man behind that writing as well." Her tongue slipped out and dragged a long trail across the bottom of his cock, from the base up to the tip, teasing the slit with the tip of her tongue for only a split second. "Me, on the other hand, I fell in love with the man first, when I heard all the lengths you'd gone to in protecting the women who'd chosen to hitch their wagons to your train. Niko painted such a wonderful portrait of you, and you haven't failed to live up to that yet." "I'm always going to put my family's needs above my own, Em," he said, shivering as he felt her pursing her lips around the mushroom tip of his circumcised cock for a long moment. "So what is you want to do before Sarah, hmm?" "Oh, bless, Andrew, I would've thought it would've been obvious," she giggled, blowing air along his cock, teasing his balls with her finely manicured fingernails. "I want you up the serviceman's entrance. I want you in my ass, before Sarah thinks to ask you to do it to her. We've had fingers and small toys up both hers and my asshole before, naturally, but never the real thing, and I'm afraid I simply cannot risk the chance that she get the opportunity to convince you to do it to her before you do it to me. I want to have at least one first of my very own with you before she does, and while I'm a little nervous, I must confess I am also rather excited. First times are always so exhilarating." Andy licked his own lips, swallowing a breath of air. "First times can also be quite intense, Em. Even overwhelming." "Yes yes yes Andrew, that's why I'm going to ask you if you can remember a color code when you're worked up. I know those kinds of sensations can be, distracting to self control, but you've always struck me as level headed." Her tongue took a long swirling path around the underside of the head of his cock, and his fingers tightened in her sandy hair a moment, clenching a fistful of it, which evoked a clear quiver of delight from the girl. "What do you mean a color code?" "You see, when Sarah and I are adventuring into, shall we say, uncharted sexual waters between the two of us, we use a color code. If one of us says 'green,' then things are wonderful, enjoyable and the other should carry on full steam ahead. If one of us says 'yellow,' then perhaps a bit of caution or easing back is needed. If one of us says 'red,' then a moment's rest is needed, or second thoughts are being had, and it's best to stop, until the other is ready to go again. Like a stoplight. We strike the use of those colors for any other uses when we're on the code." She looked up at him with those tender azure orbs again, soft and warm, as her fingertips stroked his shaft and juggled his balls. "Would that be alright, Andrew?" He leaned forward and kissed her again, and this time he found her not only pliant but a touch more eagerly wanton than she'd been moments ago. "Of course, love," he said to her. "But just be careful and remember you can't use those words for anything else while we're in color code mode." She titled her head to the side, a curious expression of amusement on her face. "Oh? Do you anticipate me slipping? I'm quite bright, you know," she teased, winking at him. "I have a degree in feminist studies from Cambridge and everything." He smirked a little bit. "I simply thought you might ask me to paddle your ass red, and then I'd have been more than a little conflicted from the mixed signals." She began to giggle fiercely, having even to take one of her hands from his cock up to cover her mouth, as she nodded furiously, her blonde curls falling in front of her face before her hand lifted from lips and pushed it from her eyes. "You're right! You're right you're right you are absolutely right, I most certainly would have done that, said that without even thinking about it, and what a right git I would've looked, while you would've been standing there frozen in fear that you'd gone too far." "You think you can keep that in mind, then?" She nodded once more, this time more slow and deliberate, before she pressed her hands on the tops of her thighs, moving to stand herself up. "I had Nicolette conceal a couple of bottles of lube in nearly every room of the house, in case this particular stripe of lust struck one of us. She seemed to think it was an excellent idea." Andy couldn't help but snicker a little bit. "I'm sure she did. She seemed to enjoy the hell out of it when she got her turn at it a couple of days ago." Emily giggled again as she reached behind the couch in the corner of his writing studio, her fingers reemerging with a small bottle of lube in them. "I did notice her walking a little funny yesterday, but she wouldn't tell me when I asked her about it. She simply blushed a wonderful shade of crimson and walked away from me. So I take it you gave her the ol' heave ho?" He tried to keep that ain't I a stinker smile from spreading on his face, but in the end, he just couldn't help it. "She told me she likes to be a bit bratty and put into her place, so I stuffed her panties in her mouth while I had a go at her ass. She seemed to like that quite a bit." While Emily approached him, he stood up and tugged off his jeans and boxers, not wanting to get any of the lube on them, setting them on his writing chair. For the hell of it, he pulled off his shirt as well. The idea of resembling Donald Duck appalled him. Emily's eyes widened in amusement and delight, shaking her head frantically. "You didn't! You absolutely didn't! Tell me that you didn't, Andrew!" "I surely and truly did, and she loved it. She even made a point to tell me that it was exactly how I should have a go at her moving forward." "Well, not this time, but I might like to try something like that at some point in the future," she said, as she walked over to him, lifting her dress up and over her head, tossing it aside, revealing she was completely naked beneath it. "Mostly because it wouldn't let me speak the color code if need be, but also because I'm simply not wearing any panties today." She flashed him another saucy wink, as she moved to set up her cell phone to point at the couch. Andy suspected she might be filming it to show to Sarah later, or perhaps just for her own personal edification. "Now let me pour some of this lube on your cock, and you can tell me what position I should be in for my first time at this." He shivered a little as she drizzled clear fluid onto his prick, her slender fingers stroking his shaft again, making sure to get every inch of his thick cock slicked up as much as possible. "If you want total control, you could climb on for a ride, but some women think the sensations are just too intense, and tend to seize up, so they prefer to have the man controlling things. If that's more your speed, then you probably want to get on your knees on the couch, laying your arms down on the top of it, your head resting on your arms, or with your arms behind you, so you can grab at your legs, or rub on your clit. Lauren rubbed her cunt her entire first time, saying it helped the nerve endings get all tangled up in one another." She licked her lips, that tiny hint of reticence fading away the moment he saw it, as she nodded. "I do think it will all be simply too much for me to keep my head clear, so I think I will try the position on the couch, and you can be in the driver's seat." She handed him the small bottle of lube. "Make sure you get me slicked up before you go rampaging in, however." "You sure you  " His sentence was interrupted by her grabbing the back of his head, smearing lube on his skull while she pulled him into a feral, almost delirious kiss, her tongue rampaging into his mouth with a carnal frenzy that he didn't normally associate with his more restrained and reserved partner. When she pulled back, she didn't let her face move more than an inch away from his, her blue eyes peering directly into his greens. "I have been a posh prig my entire life, Andrew," she cooed at him in a sing song fashion. "Now it's time for you to take that stick out of my prim ass and jam this wicked cock up it instead. If you don't, I may well go mad, and that wouldn't be ideal for either of us, I somehow think. Now let's get to it." "As the lady requests," he said, watching her sashay away from him. She slid one knee up on the couch demurely, followed by the other, bending forward at the waist, leaning down until she was resting on her hands and knees on the plush sofa. God, she was gorgeous, he thought to himself. Almost criminally so. She held pose there as he walked over towards her, but as he got closer, she lowered her shoulders down towards the top of the couch, sliding her hands back behind her, to cup her perky porcelain white ass. "This is all yours, Andrew," she moaned. "Virginal. Unspoiled. Unsullied. Uncharted territory." She shivered and he could see goosebumps run across her skin as the lube started to drizzle down the cleft of her ass, smearing over that rosy pucker. "God, I feel so wanton and exposed like this, ready to be debauched and debased, your eager whore, giddy for you to introduce her to these new delights, to expand her horizons and blow her mind." Andy set the bottle on the table next to the couch, then moved to use two of his fingers to smear the clear liquid along her anus, seeing her body twitch and wriggle just a little bit, as he smeared the substance around, pushing his index finger inside of her, hearing her gasp sharply following by a tiny, high pitched yelp, as she clamped down on that digit. "How are we doing, Em?" She drew in a long breath that sounded like it took some effort before she exhaled, a slow controlled push of air over her lips, as that sphincter muscle relaxed around his fingertip. "Green! We're green, Andrew. I just, I simply needed a moment to compose myself once more. Your fingers are quick thicker than Sarah's," she said with a nervous laugh. "You're going to be getting something much bigger than that in a moment," he said. "If you still want it, that is. Not too late to change your mind." "I have come too far to back out now, Andrew." "You haven't cum at all, I don't think," he teased. "Shows what you know," she giggled once more, looking over her shoulder at him to stick her tongue out in his direction. "I definitely came when you pushed your finger in. The pre fuck jitters, one might think. Like a bloody schoolgirl, I am, right now." "Alright then," he said, as he slipped his fingertip out, her asshole closing up immediately. "Remember, you merely have to say what you want, and I'm going to listen." She nodded again, one hand reaching between her legs to rub her fingertips against her cunt, stroking her finely manicured digits against her cunt, as her other hand reached up and over behind her, grabbing one of her asscheeks, pulling it aside, as if to make sure she was open and exposed for him. "Let me feel it, Andrew, but go slow. Just a bit at first." Andy nodded, as he moved his hips, settling the tip of his cock against her asshole, which he felt spasm just a little when the mushroom head of his cock made contact with it. He gave her half a second to relax once more, then began to push forward. He leaned his body against hers, feeling some initial resistance, but after a few moments, the head of his cock popped through that ring of muscle, and a guttural, almost primitive moan erupted from her throat, loud and carnal. "Fuck that's big that's so fucking big yellow yellow Andy, yellow,” she rambled, and immediately Andy held perfectly still. "Too much?" he said, feeling her ass clinging onto the head of his cock with an intense amount of pressure. "Stop? Pull out? Just wait?" "Don't pull out! Are you fucking crazy?" she said, a borderline delirious laugh cackling from her lips. "I just, I just, just give me a moment, please, you're fucking big, you know that? You and your fat fucking cock feel like you've shoved a telephone pole up my tight young virgin ass, so I'm going to need a god damned moment, thank you very much, but don't you dare fucking slip out, or I will beat you bloody senseless with a cricket bat!" Andy blushed a little bit, a wry smile on his lips, as he held perfectly still. "In your own time, Em." The tiny blonde Brit drew in a long breath, then slowly exhaled it, like she was doing some form of yoga and trying to center her chi. She did it again, and Andrew started to get worried that maybe she simply wasn't ready for this, but just about the time that thought started to roll around in his head, he felt her starting to lean back against him just a little bit. "Green, Andrew, but,” she said, shifting her body just enough so that she could look back at him, "please, for heaven's sake, take it slowly." He nodded to her, and began to lean forward, feeling her body almost being pried apart as his cock worked his way inside of her virginal asshole. Her fingertips were rubbing down firmly on her clit, and while he tried to keep the forward momentum as slow as possible, when he was nearly half way into her ass, she suddenly pushed back into him, engulfing the rest of his cock in her back door, as a wash of goosebumps rolled across her flesh, starting at the small of her back and blossoming outwards in an instant flare, followed by a hard tremble intermingled with a high pitched whine that started racing upwards in octaves and volumes until it crested, breaking and dissolving into a frantic, almost demented giggle, as his balls rested against her fingers which hadn't stopped stroking at her cunt. "You alright, Em?" he asked. "Alright? Alright? Are you asking if I'm alright now, Andrew?" she hissed, although the tone was giddy and excited. "I am green, super green, all the greens! I am awesome, fucking brilliant. That felt,” she drew in a long breath, "So fucking good, and I came So fucking hard." Her head whipped to look directly at her cellphone camera. "Sares, it's like it builds and builds and builds, and you're getting more and more and more tense and then,” she said, pulling her hips forward, sliding his cock mostly back out of her ass before, "Wham!" she said as she slammed her ass back onto his cock hilt deep once more, and let out another unearthly moan. "Holy fuck, that feels so good. Your cock just jammed up right my ass, your balls resting right on my cunt." Her head snapped again to look back at him, and her soft and kind blue eyes had gone more than a little crazy. "Go on then, in for a penny, in for a pound. Pound your little penny. Go on, you dirty wanker. Do it to me! Fuck my ass!" At this point, he was pretty sure that if he had said 'red,' she would've ignored him and just played on through. The kind of wild lust in her eyes would've been completely unfamiliar to him if he hadn't seen it before, briefly, with both Piper and Sheridan, though those had been chemically induced. Later in the evening, he'd consider whether maybe she'd tapped into that same mental state that being deprived of his semen developed in women, but in that particular moment, the only thing he could do was to fuck Emily Stevens, film sweetheart of a generation, within an inch of her sanity. His hips drew back and then thrust forward, a solid grind on his first real pump, which was met by a hard squeeze of her ass around his cock and a burbling, uncorked moan oozing from her lips. He drew back again, but this time his forward thrust was met by the snap of her hips pushing her ass back into him, making her toned asscheeks ripple just a tiny amount. "Oh fuck, Andrew," she babbled, "I want more, but I know I'm going to cum soon, and once I start again, it's not going to stop, so I need it, I need you, I love you, I need you to fucking cum inside of my ass, fill it up with that hot spunk for the first time. Mark your territory with your seed! Please Andrew, I'm fucking begging you, let me have it, show my ass you love it, teach me this final thing. Fucking cum in my ass!" The entire time, she was doing more of the thrusting than he was, although he was trying to keep pace with her. And just towards the end, he knew that he wouldn't be able to stave off the impending orgasm for long, so at her insistence, he let loose a hot jet of jizz right into her ass. The minute he felt the first spurt escape him, it felt as though she clamped down on him in a fist like grasp, and then he felt a heavy rush of liquid against his balls, her cunt gushing all over them and down the inside of his thighs. The very sensation of it made him splattered a handful more blasts of cum into her ass before he stopped, one of his hands holding onto the back of the couch for dear life, as he felt her fingertips fall away from her cunt as her arm slumped downwards. He'd gone soft almost right away, but her ass was still trying to milk any last remaining droplets of cum from his cock with gentle squeezes, even as he finally slid out of her. Her body was mostly propped up by her knees, although her face was buried into the couch cushions. He waited a minute or so before he finally said, "You alright, Em?" She began giggling, slowly moving to roll onto her side, so he could see her face had turned bright red, the color of Sarah or Aisling's hair, and she was clutching one hand to her mouth, trying to contain the infectious laugh that would not be suppressed. "Holy fucking Christ, Andrew, I am so so so embarrassed by that," she whimpered. "I've, fuck, I've never done that before. I didn't know I could fucking do that, Christ, I'm made such a mess, how awful of me. I'm horrible." Andy knelt down alongside the couch, and leaned in to press his lips against hers. She struggled for half a moment, still caught up in her own awkwardness of the moment, before she gave in and simply returned the kiss, which he held for an endlessly long time. "Did you enjoy it?" he said, when he finally gave her a moment to breathe again. "Fuckin' 'ell, Andrew," she stumbled, "I think that would've been bloody obvious." "Then who the fuck cares about the mess?" He kissed her again, one hand stroking her sweaty hair from her face, the energy cooling down a little, as they both came down from the orgasmic plateaus they'd just been dancing in. "Besides, I'd have thought you'd enjoy the idea of telling Nicolette to come and clean my office without giving her any explanation into why." Emily face almost hurt from smiling so much as she nodded. "Thank you for this, Andrew, and for making me feel at home in my own body as it learns new things about itself." She looked down then looked up at him, almost a touch of fear in her eyes. "I know I've said it before, but it's important to me that you know this, Andrew. I well and truly love you, like no other man I've known before." "I love you too, Emily," he said, making sure he was looking directly into her eyes when he said it, so she would understand there were no reservations. "And I'm very glad you agreed to marry me. You've been not only good for me, you've been good for the whole house." "Oh shush, now my heart's all aflutter," she said, moving to stand up, pausing to wince for a second. "Well, I'll jolly well feel that for the next few days. It's sore and it's still tingling in pleasure. Both, together, at the same time. What an odd delight." He laughed, grabbing her dress for her, holding it out. "Go on, get dressed and bring Nicolette in here to see the mess that you've made for her to clean up. I'll bet she's not at all embarrassed, and more than a little jealous." "You know, I suspect you might well be correct, Andrew. Brilliant." A cast list intermission for Quaranteam The House of Rook Andy Rook,  A 38 year old content writer for Netflix, who also lives a double life as semi successful urban fantasy writer Blake Conrad, known for his Druid Gunslinger books. Shaved head, neatly trimmed brown beard, 5'11", hazel eyes, tattooed on the chest with a griffon, could stand to lose a few pounds. Originally from Ohio, has lived in the Bay Area for over a decade. Our protagonist, such as he is. Still reaping the benefits from one random act of kindness to a stranger named Dave. Aisling (Ash) Blake,  A 27 year old graphic design contractor for Google. Originally from Dublin, she's lived in the States for 4 years. Red hair, freckles, short (5'4"), fit. Outgoing and charming, but also protective of Andy. Aisling showed up first (at the same time as Lily) and has helped keep Andy level headed and sane throughout the entire ordeal. Pregnant with Andy's child. Engaged to Andy. Lauren White,  A 35 year old personal trainer for the San Francisco 49ers. Originally from Australia, she's lived in the States for 2 years. Very tall (6'6"), very tan, blonde, athletic, emotionally involved with Taylor as much as (if not more so) Andy. Lauren is big and boisterous, but has a tendency to not think things fully through. 2nd Lieutenant Niko RedWolf,  A 22 year old Air Force Security Forces officer (military police). Originally from South Dakota. Half Lakota, one quarter Mexican and one quarter Japanese. Long black hair, toned and slender. 5'4". Sarcastic, wry and witty, Niko has basically become Andy's right hand woman, along with Ash, whom she considers her best friend. She's helped provide endless insight to the vaccine program being managed at the local Air Force base, where she works. Also pregnant with Andy's child and engaged to him. Nicolette (Yvette) Seydeaux (staff),  The 22 year old maid of Rook Manor. Blonde, with long curly hair. Extremely buxom. 5'9" or 6'1" (in heels). Second generation French American. Enjoys wearing classic maids outfits and being a bratty submissive. Pretended to be named Yvette at first, at the suggestion of Phil. Katie Rodriguez (staff),  The 32 year old gardener of Rook Manor. Hispanic, butch, 5'8", with short black hair cut in a bob, almost always seen in overalls and a button up shirt. Lesbian and wife of Jenny Peters. Had reservations about the program, but wanted to ensure safety for her and her wife, so they took the deal and came to join the House of Rook. Jenny Peters (staff),  The 31 year old cook of Rook Manor. Midwestern and plump, 5'8", with brown bushy hair. Wears large circular glasses. Tends to be overly motherly. Bisexual and wife of Katie Rodriguez. Taylor Morrison,  The 25 year old ex ex girlfriend of Lauren White. Platinum blonde, stacked, short (5'2"). Currently still in the doghouse for cheating on Lauren almost a year ago, but close to working her way out of her trouble. As part of her current punishment (dictated by Lauren), she is not allowed to wear clothes. Piper Brown,  A 26 year old Olympic Volleyball player. Brunette, tall (6'2"), muscular but lean, blue eyed. Went viral for a video of her pre game warm up dance. Still slightly recovering from abusive treatment at Andrew Covington's home. Asha Varma,  An 18 year old college student and daughter of Dr. Charlotte Varma. Half Indian, half French, raised in London until last year. Brown skin, black hair, pierced navel, wild child attitude. 5'6". Party girl and socialite, Asha tends to enjoy causing trouble, as it gets her attention. Has some growing up to do. Sarah (Sares) Washington,  A 31 year old actress. 6'2", redheaded, quirky, clumsy and a bit dorky. Originally from New Jersey. Swears like breathing. Very girl next door. Huge fan of the Druid Gunslinger books, and had a crush on Andy before she even met him. Big lover of Broadway theater and musicals, both attending and performing in. Partner of Emily Stevens. Engaged to Andy. Emily (Em) Stevens,  A 30 year old actress, 5'1", blonde, blue eyed, pale, slender, very posh, British. Left London for L A just a few years ago. Incredibly charming and witty, with an almost supernatural social sense. Grew up as a child actress in a wildly popular series of movies called "The Dagger Academy" series, but has since struggled to establish a successful acting career outside that role. Partner of Sarah Washington. Engaged to Andy. Sheridan Smith,  A 32 year old acrobat and performer for Cirque Du Soleil. 5'7" Blonde, frizzy hair, slender and extremely flexible. Very laid back and go with the flow. Has been teaching the girls of the house yoga in her spare time. Hannah Nakamura,  And 18 year old college student and former cheerleader. Half Hawaiian, half Japanese. Short (5'1"), Asian, with long black hair with blonde stripes in it. Curvy, very well endowed (44G) and a firecracker of energy. Originally supposed to be joining the House of Watkins, she is much happier being part of the House of Rook. The House of Yang Eric Yang,  A 39 year old engineer, and Andy's former roommate. Second generation Japanese American. Short (5'5") but athletic, if a bit shy and bookish. Piggybacked on Andy's one good deed into a complete life change he wasn't expecting. Andy and Eric are friends, but not overly close ones, despite having shared a condo for most of a decade. Lily Wu,  a 25 year old coder for Door Dash. Second generation Japanese American. Dyed purple hair, short (5'2"), punkish. Eric's first partner, who expected to be his only partner only for life to get majorly in the way. Lily is the iron fist that runs the House of Yang, sometimes making decisions for Eric so he doesn't spend too long dwelling on them. Jenny Carnero,  a 28 year old meteorologist for the local Fox News channel. Statuesque brunette (5'10") who always remains overly tanned. Lily's ex roommate who had to be rescued after fleeing from the person she was supposed to be paired up with, before getting paired up with Eric. Threatened to tell her story to the reporters at the station she worked at, but Lily convinced her that doing so would be bad for all involved. Phil cleaned the mess up. Sarah Wilson,  a 26 year old HR specialist with Adobe Systems. Short (5'3"), blonde, Nordic and curvy. Originally from Kansas. The House of Marcos Phil Marcos,  a 34 year old Filipino project manager for Boeing, working in conjunction with the Air Force to manage the vaccine development/distribution program trying counter the epidemic. Probably involved in a sizable amount of heavily classified shit. Tall (5'11"), slender and usually exhausted. Has a deep love of fighting games and mischief. Phil always knows more than he can talk about. Audrey Percy,  a 29 year old Hispanic psychologist. Short (5'1"), very curvy. Also a big fighting games fan. Has been doing her best to keep Phil sane throughout the apocalypse. One of the first successful recipients of the current vaccine. Pregnant with Phil's child and engaged to him. Captain Linda Hayes,  a 35 year old Caucasian captain in the Air Force. Blonde, fit, lethal. Also doubling at Phil's bodyguard most days. Tamika Jefferson,  an 18 year old African American college student. Short (5'2"), curvy, disaffected and disinterested in most things. Yuko Takahashi,  a 22 year old first generation Japanese immigrant and video game engineer. Very short (4'10"), very slender but extremely agile. The most sarcastic of Phil's partners. Dr. Charlotte Varma,  a 44 year old French infectious disease researcher working with the Air Force and Boeing. Lead developer on the current vaccine. Average height (5'7"), blonde, matronly but also a bit bougie. Originally from Paris, she moved to London and married Dev Varma, before they emigrated to the US earlier this year with their teenage daughter, Asha (now part of the House of Rook). Was rescued by Andy but chose to go with Phil. The House of Covington Arthur Robert Covington IV,  a 63 year old investment banker. Considers himself the most important person in New Eden. Certainly is the richest. A horrible prick with a rumored proclivity for making his partners do awful things. Runs a regular poker game where people are used as stakes. The person Andy hates the most. Lisa Davis,  a 25 year old graphic design contractor for Google. Ex colleague of Aisling. Partner for Covington, who does not allow her to speak in public. Ash has been trying to find ways to talk to her on the side. Rachel DeMarco,  a 28 year old infectious disease researcher working with the Air Force and Boeing. Has only been spoken of, not actually see in the story thusfar. Veronica DeLaCruz (deceased),  a 27 year old Hispanic card dealer for the House of Covington privately, as well as professionally over at a local casino. Cheated on her partner (Arthur) with a man named Brian Morrison, and the sexual encounter resulted in her death. The first fatality in New Eden, her death is being used to remind women the dangers involved in being unfaithful in the new world. The House of Vikovic Gregor Vikovic,  a 52 year old business owner. Russian, huge (6'2", 275lbs), mucular, with a big braided silver beard and a fondness for expensive things, particular food and drink. One of the more elite members of New Eden. The House of Watkins Nathaniel Watkins,  a 41 year old investor and insanely rich self made gadfly. Tall (6'1"), lean and Waspy, Nathaniel tends to look more like an out of work yoga instructor than the forty first richest man in the world. His brown beard is always somewhat disheveled, and seems to relish always walking around in socks and Birkenstocks. Has a friendly relationship with Andy, whom he gave a shitload of money to, seemingly to punish his son. Benny Watkins,  an 18 year old high school student. Benny is Nathaniel's biggest failure, spoiled and thoughtless, entitled and arrogant. His claiming of Deborah Barnes resulted in his punishment by his father, and the reassignment of Hannah to Andy. Deborah Barnes,  a 34 year old veterinarian from Los Gatos, originally from Kansas. She was originally assigned to Nathaniel, who used her as a stake in one of Covington's poker games. She was won by Andy, but Benny claimed her before she could be relocated. As part of Benny's punishment, Deborah's been assigned control of Benny. Erin Donegal,  a 36 year old pharmaceutical representative. Dated and lived with Andy about a decade ago until she gave him an ultimatum “ "either your friends go, or I do." Andy gave her the boot, and she stalked him on and off since then. Second generation Irish American. Blonde (but dyes her hair brown), curvy. Andy refused to bring her into his house, and she was reassigned to the House of Watkins. The House Of Haunton Mayor James Haunton,  the 54 year old mayor of New Eden. Portly and short tempered. Has a mustache that whole bowls of soup could get lost in. Major Monica Peters,  the 36 year old wife of the mayor, who doubles as the greeter and tour guide of New Eden for the most recent arrivals. The House of Jacobson Jake Jacobson,  the 49 year old owner of the AllStore chain of department stores. Jet black hair with a pencil thin mustache. More reptilian than human, with beady eyes and a perpetual sneer on his face. Hot tempered, petty and vindictive.. The House of Baker Xander Baker,  a 38 year old auto mechanic and car restorer from Ohio. Andy's oldest and best friend. Being relocated to New Eden to get paired up with Captain Betsy Ross. Covered in tattoos, ridiculously muscular, Xander is a gentle giant. Not to be allowed near karaoke machines under peril of death. Captain Betsy Ross,  a 34 year old Air Force officer, working on the reconstruction program, rebuilding America's heavily damaged infrastructure. Soon to be Xander's first partner. Brooke Maloney,  a 24 year old Olympic swimmer, and friend of Piper. Second generation Swedish American. Blonde, short (5'4") and extremely athletic. Originally, Piper was trying to convince Andy to bring Brooke into the House of Rook, but Andy immediately recognized her personality would be a better fit for Xander, and asked Phil to help redirect her. The House of, Dave? Dave, something or other?,  a thirty(ish) something(?) quarantine management engineer for the CDC, who came to test Andy and Eric, and found out that Andy was secretly Dave's favorite author. In exchange for an advance copy of the newest unpublished Druid Gunslinger book, he put Andy and Eric into the system as Top Level V I P, which has changed their life forever. Nice dude, but Dave's just this guy, you know? Chapter 29 The next day, Andy and Ash met up with Eric and Lily for lunch in a restaurant, something they still weren't accustomed to, even though they'd done it a couple of times since moving into New Eden. They'd been in quarantine so long that the basic things like eating out felt alien. They'd found a nice little BBQ joint that someone had opened within the walls of New Eden, and Andy was ecstatic. Andy's hope was that they were going to keep getting more varieties of food in their new home town. The little 1950s dinner was nice, but the village needed things like a Mexican joint, a Chinese restaurant, a ramen house, a place where he could get a banh mi, Andy realized he really just needed the place to be less exclusively white. The guy who owned and ran the BBQ was a big black guy named Bryant Walters who'd apparently played football for the 49ers a couple of decades ago. He'd settled in the Bay after his football career ended, and he had brought his love of southern BBQ to opening his own restaurant, called "Smoke On The Water." He had a dozen of his own BBQ sauces, brisket that he smoked for at least twelve hours and some of the best damn ribs Andy had ever tasted. It didn't hurt that Bryant was also massively friendly, making sure to come out and talk to patrons of the place. The wait staff was comprised of his partners, five women in all, at least one a former 49ers cheerleader. Over lunch, Andy made sure to tell Bryant that he should have delivery service for the community, and the big burly man told him that was an excellent idea, and that he'd start working on a website for online orders. The meal was the first chance that Andy and Eric had really been able to sit down and catch up one on one since they'd gotten to New Eden. Sure, they'd seen each other at parties and big gatherings, but with just Ash and Lily there, it felt like a throwback to the first days of the whole adventure when they'd been a pair of new couples sharing a tiny little condo. "So yeah, what with all the casualties on my team, I've been promoted up the food chain to be director of the division," Eric said, poking at his brisket with his fork. "I like the responsibility and the increase in pay, but it's also incredibly depressing to think about all the former coworkers that died, none of whose funerals I can attend, because nobody's allowing funerals." "Yeah," Andy sighed, "Phil told me they're moving to mass cremations now, since so many people died. They'll probably build some sort of memorial after we're through all of this, like the Vietnam Wall or Ground Zero for 9/11." "It's so strange, seeing all the names on Slack that aren't lighting up any more," Eric sighed. "At some point, the death toll crossed from a number I can understand to a number I can't." "Kill one person and it's murder; kill a hundred thousand and it's a statistic. Good ol' Stalin," Lily joked, squeezing his hand reassuringly. "Don't try and think about it, dear. You're only going to get angry or depressed again, and we're having a nice lunch here, with everyone getting a chance to see one another. I mean, I love Niko to death, but if Andy shows up with his entire tribe, it takes over the whole room. How many are there now, fifty?" Ash giggled, rolling her eyes. "It really isn't tha' bad, Lily. How many're over there?" "Seven, including Lily," Eric said. "I refuse to let them send any more," Lily growled. "Each of the girls gets one day a week to spend with him, and he gets Sundays off." "Then when do ya get time with him?" "Any time I fucking want to," Lily laughed, waggling her beer in Eric's direction. "We're trying to have a kid now, and I'm refusing to let any of those other bitches get a go at getting knocked up until I'm well and truly swollen. Once I'm half way through my second trimester, then I'll let'em get off their birth control, and not a minute fucking sooner." "Still got Eric under your thumb, huh, Lil?" Andy teased. "Thumb, palm, e

Jerry Takigawa is a rare kind of thinker, someone who approaches the world not just with creativity but with deep awareness, humility, and care. His work as an artist and storyteller explores what it means to carry a legacy, reframe pain into purpose, and make meaning in a world that often feels fragmented. In this episode of Design Of, Jerry shares how his Japanese American heritage, his parents' experience with internment, and his lifelong creative practice have shaped the way he see, and responds to, the world. This is a conversation for leaders, creators, and anyone navigating complexity. Jerry doesn't just talk about ideas, he embodies a way of thinking that invites reflection, connection, and change. You'll hear: + Why embracing uncertainty can lead to more authentic leadership + How silence and heritage shape our voice, and our responsibility vWhat it means to create from both logic and intuition + How storytelling, metaphor, and vulnerability unlock deeper trust + And why making space for meaning is essential to resilience and growth One of the most powerful ideas Jerry shares is this: “Your thinking is genesis, and your actions are contagious. So what is worth doing?” Whether you're building a business, guiding a team, or simply trying to live with more intention, this conversation is a meaningful invitation to pause, look closer, and move forward with greater clarity.

Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 10 Andy Rook is given a gift as restitution.. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. Andy pulled his boxers back on, then his t shirt. "Well, it's entirely up to you, obviously. Take your time, get to know everyone, me included, and we'll play it by ear moving forward." The two walked out of the room, leaving Nicolette to tend to Sheridan. "Everyone's so warm and friendly, and you're not at all like that prick Covington." "I did try and tell you that in the letter." "And that's another thing! An honest to god letter, explaining everything for me before I even came out to talk to people. Who does that sort of thing?" "A writer, clearly," he chuckled. "It was a very good letter. But I think it was Niko and Ash who convinced me that everything would work out for the best," she said, hooking her arm into his. "They're still a bit worried about you, but I told them that grief is a monster you kill with a million tiny cuts, not one big one." Andy nodded. "It gets the better of us all sometimes. But you're getting along with the ladies alright?" She swatted his arm with her calloused fingers. "They're lovely, and Niko was nice enough to fill in all the details that your letter left out. I'd apologize for my first impression, but clearly that was that bastard's fault and through no fault of my own. If I had my way, I'd have been at the Olympics right now, but they're obviously being delayed until next year." "Then you should definitely not stop training," Andy told her. "Just because you're here right now doesn't mean you aren't going to get that chance next year. Talk to Jenny, let her know the kinds of dietary specifics you have for your meals, and then get back into the swing of things. Lauren's a trainer for the 49ers, so she can probably help you out a bit here and there." Piper smiled at him, waving a hand. "I'll talk to her, but we've got the team's trainer on Zoom speed dial at this point. I just hope there's enough space around New Eden for me to work out. God, are they really calling it that?" Andy shrugged. "Rich pricks have pompous tastes." "Speaking of which, I heard from Ash last night that you've got another girl showing up today." He rolled his eyes a little bit. "I swear, if I could find a way to monetize gossip, I'd be the richest man ever. Yes, there's another woman coming by today. One of the poker players, Nate Watkins, was supposed to bring someone over earlier in the week, but his son had already imprinted her while he was off playing poker. I told him it was fine, but he insisted his son needed to be punished for it, so apparently the son will be bringing his newest girl over for me today. Whole thing is a colossal fuck up if you ask me, but whatever. She'll probably show up, not be interested in me, and I'll redirect her back to the center." Piper giggled, shaking her head. "You really don't know a thing about how people work, do you Andy? Alright then, I'm off. I need to go get changed and get a run in. You're right,  I've been going too easy on myself during the pandemic, so I need to get back out there, and a run around New Eden will give me a chance to scope out the town." "There you go. Just remember to hydrate, and have fun." She kissed him on the cheek and headed back towards her room, as Andy headed downstairs, going into the kitchen. He'd worked up quite an appetite this morning. "Can I get you something, sir?" Jenny said, cleaning up the dishes from some of the girls' earlier breakfasts. "Yeah, can I get one of those weird French ham and cheese sandwiches you made the other day, Jenny?" She nodded with a smile, pushing those large oval glasses back up onto her nose. "One croque monsieur coming right up." Her oak colored hair flipped as she spun around and moved towards the fridge. "Did you speak with Nicolette this morning, sir?" "I did, and I'm sorry that I made you all feel uncomfortable, Jenny. It won't happen again." "We like feeling like part of the family, sir," she said, as she started to make the sandwich, "but that simply felt like it was going too far. Just keep us a little at arm's length, and everyone will be perfectly content. We don't mind the girls talking with us all the time, but you're the Master of the House, and, well, we prefer it remain that way." "Heard, understood and acknowledged, as my friend used to say. Oh, do me a favor and make sure Sarah eats some lunch today? You'll probably find her in the downstairs central living room, face glued to a book." "Finally told her she can read your next work, did you, sir?" "Apparently nobody told her it was in the house until I mentioned it this morning." "Very good sir. I'm sure she's having the time of her life, and she never felt like that before." Andy gave her the side eye, and Jenny began laughing. "You leave the masterpiece that is 'Dirty Dancing' out of this, Jenny." "Yes sir. Sorry sir," she said with a smile that made it clear she wasn't sorry in the least. After lunch, Andy headed upstairs to put proper pants on, then retreated to his study and worked adding more to the next Druid Gunslinger novel, although if he was entirely honest with himself, he was doing more editing than actual writing. The editing process was important, however, and he needed to trim some of the excess fat he'd been introducing to the story for a while. His editor had, on more than one occasion, accused him of "flavor bloat," where he would write pages and pages and pages of descriptives with nothing actually happening, and Andy was determined not to get such feedback on this manuscript. Early in the afternoon, Emily poked her head into his office, and the cats immediately hopped up to greet her. "So sorry to disturb you," she said, her British accent ensuring she could do no such thing, "but there's a Benny Watkins at the gate saying he's got an appointment to meet you today. Nathaniel's son I assume? Nicolette's just buzzed the gate open, so perhaps we should go out front and meet him?" He sighed, closing his laptop, nodding. "Yep, let's go see what this whole mess is about." As they walked upstairs, Emily peppered him with questions. "Do you have any idea what it is young Mr. Watkins has in store for us?" "His father, Nathaniel, gave me a little bit of an idea, but not all that much, so I have a feeling I'm going to be just as surprised as you are." "Nathaniel seemed like a rather nice man, for the short time I spoke with him. Not at all how Sarah described Mr. Vikovic." "She didn't like Gregor?" "It wasn't that she disliked him," Emily said as they reached the front door. "She just said he didn't talk very much, whereas Nathaniel seemed quite pleasant and conversational." They opened the front door just in time to see the Watkins family limo pulling up in front of the house. Andy felt a little bit nervous, but Emily reached up and took his hand, squeezing it reassuringly. "It'll be fine, love," she said to him. "Let the man keep his pride." After the limo parked, the driver, a large Israeli man who looked like he could kill Andy with an olive fork, moved to open the back door. Nathaniel Watkins stepped out first, a wide smile on his face. "Ah, Andrew, so glad to see you and Miss Stevens are getting along well. I had hopes that you two would take to each other." "He's an excellent man, Nathaniel," Emily said to him. "I never had any doubts about that." "Yes well, let me first introduce my son, Benjamin. Benny, get out here." Benny stepped out of the car, and Andy could immediately sense why Nathaniel wanted to knock him down a few pegs. The younger Watkins was dressed in several designer fashion labels, all expensive, but none of them matched even in the slightest. Benny's hair was cut short, and he looked like he trying to grow facial hair, but the man was too young to make a proper go of it, and it all just looked wrong. The boy was wiry more than fit. "Hello Mr. Rook," the young man said, staring right at Andy with resentment. Nathaniel's face made it clear that he knew this whole experience was going to be a struggle for the younger man, but also reinforced the idea that this was punishment for his son. "Are you going to apologize to him?" "I'm sorry I took your woman, Mr. Rook," Benny said, but his tone conveyed anything but regret or remorse, almost as if he was trying to goad Andy by repeating that he'd taken something from him. "Hannah dear, would you mind stepping out now?" The last person to emerge from the car was a short teenage Asian girl, dressed in an almost embarrassingly large overcoat, her dark hair in a ponytail with blonde stripes in it, an orange scrunchy holding it in place. She was shorter than both Nathaniel and Benny, around the same height as Emily, and her face had a smug grin on it. "Oh my god, it really is Emily Fucking Stevens. Shoots. I'm totally gonna be a sister wife with Emily Fucking Stevens. This is so fucking rad," the girl said. "Now Hannah," Nathaniel said, "I know you weren't particularly keen on pairing up with Benny, so let me ask you, would Mr. Rook be more to your liking?" Hannah looked Andy up and down, then nodded. "Definitely. He's fit, he's cute, and if he can make Emily Fucking Stevens happy, I don't see how I could possibly be let down," she giggled. "Then why don't you go join Mr. Rook, my dear?" Nathaniel said, while handing Hannah an envelope. "I'll take my coat back, however." Hannah slowly opened the coat, and Andy suddenly understood that while the coat might have been partially for his benefit, it was mostly to rub it even further in Benny's face. Underneath the coat, she was wearing a white, orange and black cheerleader outfit that said 'wildcats' on the front of it. One thing that captured the eye immediately was that Hannah was very well endowed. Her tits were large, almost straining against the uniform and whatever sports bra she had on underneath. She was very much bustier than most high school cheerleaders were, but it absolutely worked for her, her legs in long black stockings beneath the surprisingly long skirt. Andy remembered cheerleader skirts being more daring in his day, but this one hung down to her knees, the stockings disappearing up within. She had a rounded face, but still seemed quite athletic, despite her incredibly well-endowed chest area, and a large silver cross hung on a chain, resting on her collarbone. "You see this, Benny? These gigantic titties of mine I've caught you drooling over so many fucking times, you asshole? This toned ass you tried to get me to shake at you? These athletic thighs you were trying to sneak looks at? You're never gonna get any of it," she said as she handed the coat to Benny, making sure the boy got a good look at her in the outfit, before she skipped over to Andy, grinning the whole way. As soon as she reached him, she threw her arms around his waist and pressed her massive tits against his side, like two pillows crowding against him. "I'm Andy's tiggo biddy cheerleader slut now, you fuckin' perv," she said, sticking her tongue out at Benny, whose face was bunched up in frustration. Based on that look, Benny had clearly seen Hannah in this outfit many times, and fantasized about her again and again. Andy remembered that Nathaniel had said the boy had made multiple passes at her, and that she had rejected each and every one. "I'm gonna fuck his brains out until he can't even stand upright. But you? You ain't never gonna get nun a this. I hope you fuck off and die angry." The girl was clearly still upset about the boy's responses when she'd continually rejected him. "Now, Benjamin," Nathaniel said, "you're going to take out that envelope I gave you earlier, and you are going to read it aloud." Benny reached into the chest pocket of his designer jacket and pulled out an envelope, opening it, starting to read, but not aloud, trying to scan through it as much as he could, his eyes growing wider and wider. "It says what happens if you don't read it aloud, Benjamin," Nathaniel stressed. The younger man cleared his throat and started to read, hatred seething in his voice. "Firstly, as part of the punishment for my actions, I, Benjamin Watkins, am losing a portion of my inheritance that my father had planned for me. Active immediately, my father is hereby giving 40% ownership of Inner Light Investments to one Andrew Rook. When my father passes away, I will also receive 40% ownership of Inner Light Investments, and my father's wives will each receive 1% ownership. Secondly, as further part of my punishment, any and all educations that Hannah Nakamura wishes to receive for the rest of her life will be paid for, in full, by me, Benjamin Watkins. Thirdly, half of my two hundred million dollar trust fund is being transferred in ownership to one Andrew Rook, which he will have full access to immediately, in the form of cash, stocks and bonds. Finally, any retaliatory actions by me, my partners or my friends, against Andrew Rook, Hannah Nakamura or anyone else in Mr. Rook's circle of family and/or friends, will result in my immediate forfeiture of the rest of my trust fund to Mr. Rook, as well as all Inner Light Investments stock set to pass to me upon my father's death. Failure to read this letter aloud will be considered a retaliatory action. With this, I have paid my price in full for my transgression except for one final thing." He looked over at his dad. "That's where it ends. What's the final thing, Dad?" Nathaniel Watkins then slapped his son across the face as hard as he possibly could, knocking the boy to the ground. "There is one rule you will learn comes first and foremost in life, boy," he said, pointing a finger at the young man who had started to cry on the ground. "You do not fuck with the money, and until you have earned some on your own, I am the fucking money in this house. By stealing what didn't belong to you, you have cut off one of your own legs and will have to learn how fucking precarious your situation is." "But Dad!" "Don't you say another fucking word, you sniveling little shit. You should be thankful that Andrew was so understanding about this. His insistence that this didn't need to be made a big deal over is the reason you're still even in this fucking family. You aren't losing that money to him; you're paying it to him for being kind and courteous enough to let you keep the other fucking half of it. If he hadn't been so generous, I would've thrown your ass out of my house, my family and all of New Eden for your treachery, taking a woman who wasn't yours at any point at all. She was delivered to me, and I had promised her to Andrew, and instead, you stole from both myself and him, making me dishonor my promise to him." "Dad, it was only some bitch!" Nathaniel Watkins slapped the boy again, just as hard, if not harder. "For the next month, that 'bitch' is going to be your Mistress, you goddamned brat. Everything that woman, Deborah, says to do, you're going to do, and if you don't, you are fucking done in this family. I have clearly failed to raise you properly, and that's on me, but if there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that you certainly do enjoy the lifestyle that you currently have, so if you want to keep even a little chance of keeping it, you are going to let her order you around like a goddamn pet. You're her bitch now, and if that means you have to wear a gimp suit and a ball gag for a month, so fucking be it." "It's not fair!" the young man wailed, tears running down his bruised face. "Fair? Fair?!" Nathaniel bellowed so loudly Andrew was afraid the man would strike his son yet again. "When I was your age, I was working three jobs to save up enough money to pay for housing while I got my education. You've never done a day's worth of hard work in your life. You've enjoyed the fruits of my labors, and you've spit in my eye every step of the way, so now you're going to learn what it's like to pay the cost. Get in the fucking car, before I change my mind and cut you out entirely." The boy glared up at him, but then crawled into the back of the limo, his sense of self preservation having won out over his pride. Nathaniel sighed, and walked over towards Andy, while the man's driver took two suitcases out of the trunk of the limo, clearly Hannah's things, bringing them up to the front door of the house. "I'm sorry you had to witness all that, Andrew, but now you know what kind of trouble my boy has been to me over the years." "Hey, better this than you or I having to going all John Wick on him." The bearded man laughed. "You know, at this point if you told me you were secretly a master assassin in the Before Times, I might just believe you." Andy laughed. "I wasn't, but don't fuck with my cats." "Ah, but that's just what a master assassin would say to throw me off the track," Nathaniel laughed, tapping at his temple with one fingertip. "All of the details about the transfer is in the envelope I gave to Miss Nakamura here, and you simply need to have your finance manager contact mine." Andy frowned in amusement. "I don't even have a finance manager, Nathaniel." "Then mine now also works for you. His name is Zack Burchelli. I'll call him on the limo ride back and tell him to expect your call. He takes his fee out of your investments, so it's in his best interests for him to do well by you, and I'll make sure you get the same deal I have." "Are you sure about this?" Andy sighed, feeling a little guilty of depriving the boy of so much of his inheritance. "I mean, we only met this week and you're just giving me a hundred million dollars." Watkins rolled his eyes, grinning. "It's only money. I'll make loads more. Besides, if it helps me reshape that worthless son of mine into a decent human being, it'll all be worth it." "Deb'll do that," Hannah said to them. "She's baller, and putting her in charge will teach him some humility. The money'll be the carrot to her stick, but most def she's gonna beat him stupid with that stick for the next month." Nathaniel smirked and gave Hannah's head a pat. "I told you that you'd like this one, Andrew. She's got spirit. Getting dressed up in her old Woodside High School cheerleading outfit was her idea, by the way, to really stick it Benny. As I said before, she should technically be a freshman at Stanford right now, but the university is closed until the pandemic passes. I have no doubt she'll be a cheerleader there as well. And you're fine with the last thing, dear girl?" Hannah nodded. "It'll be dope. I'm sure Andy won't mind, and if he does, well, I'll change his mind," she giggled. Andy turned to look at her, and the Asian girl just beamed up at him with a toothy grin, almost daring him to ask, but he decided not to. "You really didn't have to go to such lengths on my account, Nathaniel." "Again, let me stress this, it wasn't on your account, Andrew, only to your benefit," Nathaniel said, shaking his hand. "And I think I put in enough warnings that it shouldn't come back on your and yours, but if it does, well, you'll suddenly be even more wealthy, and my son will have lost everything. Oh! And before I go, I spoke to my friend over at Working Title, and they're eager to get things moving forward on a Druid Gunslinger movie, especially if you might have Sarah Washington and Emily Stevens attached for parts. They're talking possible franchise, you know, especially since you're alive and still writing more of them, because that means they won't run out of source material any time soon. That's a value add as they say." "Sarah would swallow her own fist to get that role," Emily said with a smile, "so thank you again, Nathaniel." "No problem at all, my dear," he said, shaking her hand as well. "I'm mostly just glad to have settled this with only my son's pride being wounded. I hope we can part as friends, Andrew," Nathaniel said, moving to shake Andy's hand one more time. "It's refreshing to see someone so salt of the earth here, and we're all the better for it. Emily and Hannah are very lucky ladies." "Friends it is," Andy said. "We can make it a point to have lunch or dinner once every couple of weeks." "I'd enjoy that very much. Now, time to take Benny back to Deborah, and see what she has in store for him. I'm hoping it's a chastity belt of some kind, but it is, as I said, her decision." "Make sure you have her take pictures, so if you need to, you'll have evidence to use against him later. Should be a reminder not to cross you further." Watkins smirked, tapping his temple again. "You're always thinking, Andrew. I love it. Ciao!" With that, Watkins slid back into his limo and the driver closed the door behind him before getting back into the long vehicle, slowly driving it off the property. "You know, you generally don't see limos that much these days," Emily said to him. "That's because they're chintzy AF," Hannah said. "So you DTF right now, or what?" "Look, Hannah, just because you're here doesn't mean you have to stay here if you don't want to," Andy started, but then yelped a little bit as Hannah's small fingertips closed around his groin though the jeans and boxers, squeezing his cock. "M'kay, lemme break it down for you, Andy," she purred. "I am horny like you would not fucking believe, so maybe I'm not making myself clear enough. I kinda turn into a little cock crazed bimbo when I'm too fucking horny for my own good. You got three choices right now. A) You can fuck me right here and now on the porch. B) You can take me inside the house and fuck me right there in the entryway. Or 3) you can take me into the house, up to your bedroom and fuck me there." "Being randy also apparently messes with your indexing system, Hannah," Emily giggled. "Oh, there's also option D) all of the above, but the rumor is that doing any one of the first three will knock me on my ass so I can't do the rest." She blew a stray bang of blonde hair out of her face dismissively. "Sounds like total bullshit to me, though." "I can't help myself, Andrew," Emily said, sliding her right hand down the front of his pants, having to work with Hanna just a little bit, so that she could get her fingertip across the head of his cock, getting a bit of that glistening precum onto her finger as she lifted it out. The small British girl then moved around, sliding her body in behind Hannah's, the two close to the same height, although Hannah was a little bit shorter, Emily's hips pressing up against the cheerleader's, pinning the girl's body between Andy's and her own. "Wrap your arms around him in a great big bear hug and I'll prove to you that you aren't ready for this." Hannah again dismissively blew air out of her mouth, shooting Emily a skeptical look over her shoulder before she dutifully wrapped her arms around Andy's midsection, holding onto him as best she could, before Emily pushed her fingertip into Hannah's mouth, making the cheerleader get her first taste of Andy, priming her. If it hadn't been for Emily's arms pinning Hannah against Andy, the cheerleader would've immediately collapsed to the ground in violent orgasm, but as Emily had her trapped, Andy instead got to feel Hannah's whole body experience a personal earthquake, her face scrunched up tightly, an extremely high pitched squeal shredding through the air, and he could feel the girl's thick nipples suddenly harden, pressed right against his side, even through the layers of fabric. After several seconds, the Asian girl started to breath again and looked up at him, her brown eyes watering with tears but a broad smile on her face. "Holy fuckballs it's fucking true," she whimpered. "I thought I knew what orgasms were like, but I've never felt anything like that in my life. I think I just touched God." She licked her lips, lifting one hand up to rub the back of her hand against her eyes, wiping away the water from them. "And I want more. Fuck it, I gotta have more, like right fucking now." Her other hand had moved back to his cock again, rubbing against it. "No," Andy said. "We're going to take all your stuff inside, and up to the bedrooms, and we're going to give you a bedroom of your own for the time being, and while we're walking you up and getting you settled in, you can tell us a little bit more about yourself. Then, after a little bit, we'll take you into the main bedroom and get you imprinted." "But I  " "Your other choice is that I can make you wait until after dinner," Andy said, trying to be as authoritative as he could. "Which would you prefer?" "Sooner, sir," she grumbled. "Excellent, let's take your stuff in and you can tell me and Emily all about you." "Whaddaya wanna know?" she said, grabbing one of her suitcases while Andy grabbed the other. Andy had taken the larger one, so he didn't feel bad about letting Hannah carry one herself. Even rolling it along, the larger suitcase was more like a steamer trunk than a practical travel suitcase. "You lived in California your whole life?" Andy said, as they walked into the house. She shook her head. "Moved here about five years ago from Hawaii after my dad's company closed down and we had to move. Dad's second generation Japanese American, and mom's pure blood Hawaiian, but I think she was still glad to get off the island. She said she always knew everyone everywhere she went, and wanted to go someplace we could blend in more. We moved to Woodside when I was 13. Dad's a UX engineer for Playtronics and mom teaches third grade." They headed up the stairs, starting to walk down the hallway along the collection of bedrooms. Andy had to stop and check, finding the first completely unoccupied one, leading Hannah into it. "And what are you going to Stanford for?" "Premed," she sighed. "I'm still debating if I want to get into pediatrics or be a neonatal specialist, but I'll totally have time to figure all that out, considering it's, like, totally a billion years in school, so good on me for having that choad pay for it all." "Nathaniel said you were Benny's tutor, and that the boy tried hitting on you several times." "Fuckin' perv didn't like being told no, and he even got handsy one time, so I decked him, and he went crying to daddy over it," she grumbled, moving to put her smaller bag next to the dresser in the room. "But daddy told him that girls get to say no, and he never tried getting grabby again, but he kept on talking shit." Andy rolled the trunk over as well, placing it between the bed and the dresser. "Nathaniel said you made a go at him as well." Hannah giggled a little bit, rolling her eyes. "I mean, kinda, sorta, sure, I guess. He was separated from his wife at the time, and I knew it would piss Benny off so much, I think I just wanted to see if I could get away with it, but his daddy said no, and he eventually unseparated from his wife, so I guess it all worked out. I was mostly just being a brat." "And you know you can't fuck other men any more now, yes?" Emily asked her. "I mean, I guess," Hannah shrugged. "I thought that was just bullshit too, but if that first thing they told us at the base is true, then I guess all of it is, which means if I sleep with another dude, I'll die, right?" "That's our understanding, but we've certainly never tested it," Andy said. "But the rest of the stuff? About needing to fuck? About it giving you the best orgasms of your life? And that it'll keep you safe from the virus? All that's true?" Emily grinned. "I can speak from personal experience that whether it's biochemistry or natural talent, Andrew has made me cum harder than I even thought was possible." "How many women am I gonna have to share him with?" "There are nine other women in the family currently, four of whom intend to marry him, two of whom have decided simply to remain sexual partners, and three of whom are new enough to still be as of yet uncertain of what they want for their futures," Emily said to her. "There are also three women on staff, who are sexual partners of Andy's as well, but prefer to keep that relationship more professional, enjoying a level of distant removal from the family." "What's that mean?" Hannah asked, her face scrunched up in confusion. "It means I like it when the Master orders me around," Nicolette said, poking her head into the room, "and that the cook and the gardener are lovers, but understand they have physiological needs they have to have tended to in order to stay alive. Hell, the gardener's a lesbian, but Andy's cum still makes her cream herself, so she's willing to drink it. Hey, I'm Nicolette, the house maid." She held out her hand to shake Hannah's. Hannah took it and shook it, before shooting Andy a suspicious look. "You make the French maid actually wear a French maid's outfit?" Nicolette giggled, which made the Asian girl's head spin to look at her. "He's told me multiple times I don't have to wear it, but I like it too much to stop, just like I like calling him Master, when he told me I don't have to do that either. But I just love the way he still blushes a little when I say it, so I know he likes it, don't you Master?" she said, giving a little curtsy in his direction. Andy was sure he was blushing a little, so he only smiled slightly. "No comment." "Told you," Nicolette said, poking Hannah in the side. "Just be yourself in what you want, tell him that and he'll probably give it to you, barring a few exceptions." "Oh yeah?" Hannah said, perking up a little more. "What's on the no fly list?" "He's a bit squeamish about being forceful or inflicting, but he'll do it up to a point, although he's never gonna hurt you," Nicolette said. "Uh, what else did Niko tell me?" "So I see Niko's the one with the big mouth," Andy chuckled. "Well, her and Ash told me a lot, so I can't remember which one said which. Oh! No inflicting pain on him, but I think Ash was just joking when she said she wanted to try and put nipple clamps on him," the maid said, giggling again. "She suggested it to me, and I politely declined." "The strap ons in the house are just for the girls to use on girls, not on the Master, although I don't think anyone's asked him that directly." "Niko did when she had a few drinks in her, but I shut that down right quick." Hannah nodded. "So big daddy's ass is exit only, but is he willing to have a go at ours?" Nicolette smiled broadly and gave an over exaggerated nod. "Oh yeah. In fact, I'm a little disappointed he hasn't had a go at mine yet, especially after we all heard Niko's first time not too long ago. And Taylor's." "Enjoyed it, did they?" Emily asked. "Taylor was pretty loud, but holy shit, Niko was loud enough the neighbors might have heard her, and they're at least a mile away. I asked her about it the next day and she said it the greatest sexual experience she'd ever had in her life. Said it made her cum even harder than she did when she was imprinting, if I could believe that." Nicolette licked her lips, looking at Andy. "So, needless to say, I'm hoping the Master'll take a crack at my ass sooner or later. I'm sure he's noticed me bending over a lot more as of late." Andy had turned a darker shade of red. "Well, you should've said something, Nicolette." "But it's so much fun watching you blush, Master," she said, batting her thick eyelashes at him. "Well, you've got an open invitation to my ass, Daddy," Hannah purred. "Mine and Sarah's as well," Emily said, "although you will need to go slow with us. We're, ah, both unaccustomed to it, but anything good enough for Niko is good enough for us." "Nobody's had my ass either, Daddy, so you've got a whole world of eager virgin assholes to explore," Hannah giggled. "Well, I didn't say mine was untouched," Nicolette said, "but it's still ripe for the Master's taking." "That's, good to know?" Andy laughed. "Oh, and Andy's not into bestiality or watersports, thank god," Nicolette said with a dramatic laugh, "because I'd have to be the one cleaning that shit up." Everyone laughed a little bit at that. "Everything else is fair game, though?" Hannah asked. "Well, if there's something else, I'm sure he'll tell you before you get too far down the path," Nicolette said. "If nothing else, the Master is remarkably straight forward." "He's also still in the room," Andy added, amusement on his face how they were talking about him in front of him like he wasn't present. "How many more women are you going to add here?" Hannah said, pushing the trunk up against the side of the bed. "Well, the banquet hall table holds sixteen people, so last night, I figured I was going to add just two more, but Nicolette has informed me that she, Katie and Jenny don't wish to be at our table any more, because it removes the level of distance they want, so I suppose it'll probably be five more, and I'll just have to tend to the needs of two to three women every day." Andy laughed a little. "I mean, there's worse ways to pass the time." "How are you going to pick them?" "I haven't really picked anyone," Andy said with a sheepish smile. "I took a test, several months ago, and based on that, they've just been sending me people. Although Emily told me that if I wanted to, I could apparently just ask for someone, and there's a good chance they might send them to me." Hannah looked down at her hands and then looked up, a conflicted expression on her face. "Can, may I make a request?" Andy's head tilted to one side. "I mean, you can certainly ask. The worst thing I can do is say no, so might as well ask." "Can I ask you to request someone specific for the house? Would, is that forward of me?" "It sort of depends on who you're wanting me to request, Hannah," Andy said. "I feel a little odd requesting anyone, honestly, so if you have someone specifically you want me to bring into the house, I'm going to need a reason for it." That made the Asian girl hesitate for a moment. "Can I think about it for a little bit?" "Sure," Andy said. "I expect the soonest we would see anyone else show up would be next week, and it's probably just going to be one, maybe two people. After next Friday, though, who the hell knows what's going to go on." "What happens next Friday?" "The news breaks, but let's talk about that later. It'll do your head right now. I would've talked to you about it before, but Emily went ahead and primed you already, so I imagine that lust is bubbling up pretty fierce right about now." "Sorry not sorry?" Emily said to him, a pixieish grin on her darling face. "So he can make a go at you here, Hannah, if you want to wake up alone tomorrow morning, or we can take you to the main bedroom, if you're okay waking up surrounded by other people." "Where are you sleeping, Emily?" "Oh, I'm always going to be sleeping with Andy. Always always always." The British actress had a tendency to say things three times in a row if she wanted to drive home a point particularly emphatically. "I'm going to take one of the bedrooms and turn it into a personal study, but I want to be sharing a bed with Andy all the time unless circumstance demands I be away from him for a while, on a film shoot or something." "Are there going to be more Dagger Academy movies? I don't like how they ended with you losing Eduardo, the love of Dahlia Hairtrigger's life, and her having to do her last year at the Academy alone?" "Well, poppet, I'm afraid there are no more novels to adapt, so unless E. F. Winston decides she wants to write more of them, it's quite unlikely. I'm hoping to be part of the cast for the films based on Andy's books, though." "Oh yeah!" Hannah said, looking at him. "Mr. Watkins said you were a writer, but I've never heard of the Druid Gunslinger books." "They're aimed at a slightly older audience, I think, but I'm sure Sarah will love to tell you all about them." "Who's Sarah?" "Another of Andy's soon to be wives. Sarah Washington. Maybe you've seen her in movies?" "Wait. Wait. 'Ballerina Badasses' Sarah Washington? That Sarah Washington is gonna be my sister wife?" "Well, she's certainly here," Emily said with a laugh. "She's downstairs reading Andy's most recent book right now, which I very much doubt we can pry her away from." "I've got so much to learn and discover here, but yeah, let's go to the main bedroom. I feel like it's getting hard to think, so let's go before I can't keep my head clear." "Sure," Andy said, "off to the main bedroom." "Nicolette, can you come with us?" Hannah said. "We're going to need a hand briefly." "We are?" Andy said. Hannah flashed him another broad as miles grin, nodding. "You'll see soon enough! Don't rush your surprise." She grabbed Emily's hand, and then pulled her along, as the four of them started to walk down the hallway. The girls walked several steps behind him, and Hannah whispered into Emily's ear first, making the British woman giggle, before whispering into Nicolette's ear, the maid taking a turn giggling. "Oh you're wicked, girl," Nicolette said. "I fucking love it. You've definitely got a wildcat here, Master." "It says so right here on my tits!" Hannah laughed. As soon as they got into the room, Hannah handed her cellphone to Nicolette. Emily leaned in and whispered into Hannah's ear, which made Hannah gasp and blush. "Oh god, yes! You do you, girl! I fucking love that!" Emily's face broke into a wide grin like she'd just eaten a canary. "Well, it's your show, girl, so do what you want to." She then moved over to whisper into Nicolette's ear, and the maid immediately started giggling all over again. Hannah reached up and grabbed the back of Andy's neck and pulled him down so she could kiss him, and it was sloppy, her tongue almost wanting to lick every inch of his mouth, before she pulled back. "So I can do anything I want? It's okay if I drive?" Andy laughed, shrugging his shoulders, spreading his hands. "Within reason, of course." "Oh, it's all reasonable, and enjoyable," Hannah said, before she grabbed Andy's shirt and pulled him around the room, finally settling on the big armchair, pushing him to sit down. She slowly slid one knee up on one side then her other knee up the other, straddling him. "I'm sure I'd be a shitty stripper, but I've never met a boy who didn't want to do this." She tugged up the cheerleading top, as well as the bra, and let those massive tits spill free, a tidal wave of tan flesh with large aerolas and thick stiff brown nipples. Hannah had at least double Ds, but Andy wouldn't have been at all surprised if they were even larger, and was nearly overwhelmed when she leaned forward and mashed them right up against his face, bringing her arms forward so he felt like his head was being engulfed by them. " Umm. That's it, daddy. Get a face full of those big ol' titties of mine. Some day soon Imma let you fuck'em. Boys have been asking me for a titfuck for years now, and I've always said no, but for you? Goddamn, I'm wet just at the thought of it." Her fingertips smoothed across his shaved head, and when he tried to pull back, she only pulled his face forward even more, holding him there until he thought he was going to suffocate. Eventually, though, she let him pull his face back, wrapping his lips around one of her nipples, suckling hard on it, teasing it with his teeth, which made her give a dramatic shiver, her fingernails raking against the back of his head. "But I gotta be yours first, Daddy," she said, slowly lifting one knee up, drawing it in under her before rolling in a twist, landing her ass in his lap with a heavy whomp, her back to his chest, feeling his cock straining against the jeans. "So don't you move and let your newest fucktoy do her thing." She scooted back into him so she could reach her hands down and unbutton his jeans. "All the boys at school said I was a wicked cocktease, but that's just because I didn't fancy most of them. The guys I hooked up with, though?" She leaned her head back and whispered into his ear. "I was the biggest fucking whore for them imaginable," she moaned. "Blowjobs, handjobs, missionary, doggy, cowgirl, in a car, in a bar, on a boat, near some goats. I made sure my boyfriends never went home with blue balls. A couple of them even begged me to stop, saying they were afraid they were shooting dust," she giggled. "Not one of them made me cum like just the very taste of you did though, Daddy." Andy reached a hand up, sliding it to cup one of her tits, trying to do his best to contribute, but Hannah had him pinned in place pretty good. "Now let's see what your slut's got to work with. It felt kinda big. Is it kinda big?" she giggled, then finally fished his cock out from his unzipped jeans and boxers, not pushing them down, just making them tuck underneath his cock and balls. "Holy fuckballs!" she gasped. "You thick cocked monster, Daddy! That is one big, beautiful, fat fucking prick! Oh god, I hope it tears my slutty little teenage cunt right the fuck up!" As soon as she had it free, she lifted her hips up to draw her skirt up, moving it higher and higher until Andy could feel his cock being rubbed along the one of her stockings. "I know I should wait and take it slow, but fuck it!" Her hand pulled his cock back just enough as she slammed down, forcing her tight young snatch to swallow up his cock. Apparently she hadn't put on panties beneath that skirt. She was easily the tightest cunt he'd ever felt, her body quivering and squirming atop of him, and he was almost worried that he'd hurt her until that giddy laugh burbled out from her throat. "Oh my fucking god that is some good fucking cock!" she shouted. "Where has this goddamn cock been all my life?" Hannah reached up and pulled the scrunchy from her hair, tossing it aside to let her mane hang loose, shaking her head to make her hair fall in her face for a moment, as she took one hand and pushed her skirt down her legs a little, her other arm folding across her chest. Andy heard a click sound, and tried to peek around Hannah, but she leaned over and made sure he couldn't get a good view. "Uh uh, you stay right fucking there, and you let me ride this giant fucking hog of yours until you give me what I want, and don't you doubt for a fucking second that I want it, oh hot shit do I want that fucking cum." Andy was trying to figure out where to put his hands, but Hannah was already moving, tugging the skirt back up again, lifting both of her hands back to rub along his head, when Andy heard another clicking sound. As soon as Andy's hands touched her hips, she suddenly reached down and grabbed his wrists, pulling his hands up to cup those mammoth tits of hers, followed by another click and then another moan. "I really should be bouncing on this schlong of yours, daddy, but I just love how it feels stretching my teenage cunt open, prying that cunt until I can't help but fit like a good little sleeve, only as big as you're making me," Hannah groaned. "Don't you want me, baby? Don't you wanna force fuck your newest whore until she's weeping your cum? 'Cause that's what she fucking wants. I know you can feel how fucking wet I am around that giant cock," she giggled. "Maybe just a little bounce." Hannah lifted her hips up, sliding her twat up his cock. Andy wasn't sure how far up she was going to lift, but after a few inches, she snickered and thrust down again, which only made her moan all the harder. "Fuck fuck fuck that's fucking good,” "You know, Andrew," Emily said, her voice moving closer, "when Hannah told me her plan for this moment, I offered her a little suggestion, one which she found incredibly erotic. Would you like me to tell you what it is?" "I think you should, don't you?" he said, Hannah making sure he couldn't peek and see what was happening. "Oh, I think you rather might enjoy a surprise instead," she laughed, getting even closer before Andy heard yet another click. He knew he'd heard that sound before, but couldn't place it. "You really should see her like this, Andy," Emily purred. "All wanton and wound up on your lap, eager to get your spunk inside of her but too wired to be able to move. And you, being so noble, not rushing her, when really, I think the little slut's as desperate for you to fuck her as you are." There was a rustling sound, and Andy felt his legs being pushed apart a little by Emily's soft hands. "Which is where I come in." There was another click, then another. Then Andy could feel the skirt fluttering, as one of Emily's hands shifted, the tip of her thumb rubbing along what little of his cock was exposed, before moving to strum Hannah's clit tenderly, the Asian cheerleader wriggling even more in his lap. "Fuck, she's frigging me, Daddy. She's rubbing my little cunny while you're ripping it open, and it all feels so fucking good." "It's a good starter, innit?" Emily said, "but I can do better. Hannah, be a good little fuckpuppet and start grinding on him, would you love?" "I don't know, Emily," Hannah whimpered, almost a touch of fear in her voice. "I'm scared I'm gonna start having chain orgasms or something." "Of course you are, darling," Emily replied, "but that's no reason to be frightened. They're wonderful." The movements were tentative at first, but slowly Hannah's hips began lifting up then pushing down again, starting to ride his cock, although clearly pacing herself to not go completely out of control. "Now," Emily said, as Andy thought he felt her moving to her knees, "let me see if I can expedite this along a little more." Andy damn near jumped when he felt Emily's tongue near the base of his cock, the British woman giving a delightful shiver against him, one hand still using a thumb on Hannah's clit, the other keeping Andy's thighs pressed wide apart enough that she could slip in, her head beneath the skirt, as her voice was a little muffled. "Ah yes, I know how we can kickstart this. Hannah, dear, are you ready for my husband to be to blow your fucking mind by blowing his load?" "Oh god, I want it so goddamn bad, Emily, Andy,” Click. "I need to feel that hot jizz inside of my snug snatch, I'm so fucking desperate for it." "But you know what'll happen when he does, don't you?" Hannah nodded, but didn't say anything, while Emily's tongue was flicking along the point where Andy's flesh met Hannah's. "I can't hear you, darling!" Emily said in a sing song voice. "I'll start imprinting." "And what does that mean, you silly girl?" "That I'll be bonded to him, connected to him,” "Is that what you want?" Hannah nodded again, her hair thrashing about, before she realized that Emily still couldn't hear her nodding. "I want it, I want it, I want it so fucking bad,” Click. "Well, you tell him what you want him to make you, and I'll make sure he does, but if you don't say it, he won't do it, and frankly, I won't blame him one bit." "Please, Andy, Daddy, Master, whatever the fuck you want me to call you, please give me that cum, please fill up my cunt and let it mark my very soul." Andy could feel Emily's tongue moving downward, starting to lash over his balls, flicking along them, that weird clicking sound filling the air again, as Hannah continued begging. "I've never wanted anything like this in my entire fucking life, needed something so fucking badly, to feel you jizzing me up, putting a big ol' creampie in my tight teenage twat, doing what it does, what I want it to do to me so fucking much. I wanna be your slut, Andy, yours and nobody else's. I wanna feel that nut branding me as your whore for life, your wanton and willing cheerleader fucktoy who will take every drop of cum you give her. I need it. Oh fuck do I fucking need it, You gotta give it to me, Andy, before I lose my fucking mind." At that point, Andy felt Emily's lips wrapping around his balls, sucking his nuts into her mouth, washing them with her tongue, rolling them around, almost coaxing them to give up their secrets, as Hannah started spasming again on his lap. The sensations were brutally intense, threatening to overwhelm him.. "Please, Daddy, please please please; make me your girl, your slut, your whore, your toy, your fuckhole, your plaything or wife or whatever the fuck you want me as, just make me fucking yours with that goddamn cum already! Cum in me! Show me how fucking owned I am! Oh my god, I'm fucking cumming! Cum with me! Cum! Fucking cum already!" Between Emily's tongue, Hannah's grinding movements and her quivering cunt, Andy's resistance was futile and he felt his balls try to draw up, only to be kept in place by Emily's lips, even while his cock began spewing hot cum inside of Hannah's cunt, sending the girl redoubling with spasms, her already tight snatch locking his cock inside of her until those spurts had stopped and her body sloughed almost lifeless against him in the chair. Emily began giggling profusely beneath the skirt, and he felt her mouth pull off his balls, giving the base of his cock a little lick before she pushed the cheerleader up and off his cock, forcing her to slide a bit more against Andy's chest. Once she had his cock out of the cheerleader, she moved to lick it clean, and Andy was certain he could feel Emily trembling just a little bit, having rediscovered for certain that every bit of his cum would send her into orgasms. After a minute or so of a tongue bath on his cock, Emily slipped out from under the skirt and moved to help Andy lift her up, carrying Hannah's unconscious form to the giant bed, laying her down. Emily had given his knob an excellent spit shine, so Andy tucked his cock away, and pulled up his boxers and his jeans, zipping and buttoning them up, before he noticed that Emily was standing next to Nicolette, who was still in the room. The two of them were looking at Hannah's cellphone. "No, that's definitely the one. Send him that one," the British woman said to the maid. "That's what I figured, but I wanted to be sure," Nicolette said. "And the rest of them?" "Why, send them to Andy's phone, and all the girls' phones as well," Emily said, leaning in to kiss Nicolette, letting the maid get a taste of a few remaining droplets of Andy's cum, forcing the French girl to vibrate a little, a short but nonetheless powerful orgasm rippling through her at even that small amount. "Am I going to regret asking what this is all about?" Andy said, as he walked over to join them. Emily took the phone from Nicolette's hand, selected a photo and turned the phone to show Andy. It was a picture of Hannah on his lap, although her face was covered by her hair. Her cheerleading top was pulled up, but her arm folded across her tits hid her nipples from sight, and while portions of Andy's form were visible, it didn't clearly identify him either. But also just importantly, Hannah's skirt was clearly over the head and shoulders of Emily, who wasn't totally visible in the photo either, but made the image all that more erotic. "When you told Nathaniel that you weren't going to let Benny watch, Hannah asked us to send him a picture that showed the whole thing without giving him any of the good bits, or showing anybody's face," Emily giggled. "He'll know it's her, and you, and me, but he can't prove it to anyone." "So you took a picture," Andy said to Nicolette, who had a comfortable smirk on her face. "Oh, I took loads of pictures, Master, and in most of them, you can see her tits, her face, I like this one in particular," she said, taking the phone back from Emily, scrolling over to show one that was a close up Emily's face, her tongue extended to lick his cock, Hannah's cunt visible and framed in the shot. "But these are just for the family."

Throw back. a bottle of beer and get ready for a history lesson straight from the west coast. Back in WW2 racial tension were high as Japanese Americans were being rounded up in to internment camps and anyone who didn't fit the mold or were perceived to be adhering to the social demands of the war effort domestically were  seen as 'The enemy from within'. Segregation was in full swing and when the US military built a Naval Barrack in the hispanic neighborhood of Chavez Ravine (Later the site of Dodger's Stadium)...violence ensued. As always follow us on the stuff Merch Store- http://tee.pub/lic/doEoXMI_oPI Patreon- https://www.patreon.com/Artandjacobdoamerica Website- https://artandjacobdoamerica.com/ Network- https://podbelly.com/ Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/artandjacobdoamerica YouTube Channel- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0rT6h3N2pWtlkxaqgIvaZw?view_as=subscriber Twitter- https://twitter.com/ArtandJacobDoA1 Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/artandjacobdoamerica/  

Two hundred and ninety-nine episodes ago, we could not have possibly imagined George Takei appearing on the podcast. Some version of the actor has hung in our imaginations for most of our lives, and we spent many days of our early marriage obsessing over Star Trek, the original series, and its subsequent films. Thankfully, through this beautiful medium called comic books, our paths have crossed, and we get to celebrate our three-hundredth episode with one of our creative and cultural heroes. Takei's latest graphic novel, It Rhymes With Takei, reunites him with the same creative team behind They Called Us Enemy: artist Harmony Becker and writers Steven Scott and Justin Eisinger. Together, they tell the rest of Takei's story, which includes his time in the Japanese American internment camps during World War II. It Rhymes With Takei explores the many lessons George Takei learned from that experience, how it shaped his activism, and gave him the courage to battle through the numerous other injustices he would face and fight for and alongside others. The word "dystopia" gets thrown around a lot these days. It's certainly a go-to for us, and when you look outside your window or scroll through your phone, it's an easy, seemingly apt descriptor. Star Trek has started to feel like fantasy, not science fiction. However, George Takei encourages us to hang onto utopian possibilities. He asks us to accept the inevitability of change but strive toward a brighter, better future. As the news continuously fills us with dread, we needed this conversation with George Takei, and we're grateful to share it with you, beautiful comic book friends. Thank you for spending your time with us over these three hundred (or so) episodes. Your presence gets us to our recording table every week, and you've given new meaning to our lives. It Rhymes With Takei is out now from Top Shelf Productions. Get it wherever rad comics are found. Follow George Takei on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and his Website. This Week's Sponsor We're sponsored by 2000 AD, the greatest comic you're not reading! Within its pages is a whole universe of characters, from Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog to Rogue Trooper, Shakara, Halo Jones, and the poor sods slogging across the Cursed Earth in The Helltrekkers. Get a print subscription at your door every week - and the first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, get free back issues, and download DRM-free copies of each issue for just $9 a month. That's 128 pages of incredible monthly comics for less than $10. Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode: Join Comic Book Club in Person CBCC's Comic Shop Road Trip Patreon Exclusive: Saga of the Swamp Thing Book Club Support Your Local Comic Shop Free Patreon Series Final Round of Plugs (PHEW): Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY. The Comic Book Couples Counseling TeePublic Merch Page. Don't forget to grab your tickets for our June 29th Alamo Drafthouse Winchester screening of James Gunn's THE SUICIDE SQUAD, co-sponsored by Four Color Fantasies. And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren. Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts. Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators. Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

The meat industry and its defenders promise ethical consumption and sustainable farming, but animal agriculture fuels ecological destruction, entrenches human supremacy, and masks cruelty with comforting myths. John Sanbonmatsu, philosopher and author of The Omnivore's Deception, shatters the myths of “humane meat” and the 'naturalness' of eating meat, and explains why abolishing the animal economy is essential to living an ethical human life. Highlights include:  Why growing up as the child of a Jewish mother and Japanese-American father in the U.S. sensitized John to bullying and injustice - against both human and nonhuman animals; Why the origins of human domination over animals are rooted in patriarchy and an ancient human estrangement from animals, and reinforced today by a toxic nexus of masculinity, human supremacy, neoliberal capitalism, and pronatalism; Why focusing only on factory farming misses the fundamental problem of human domination of animals and the planet - and how books like Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma and the new American pastoral ethos perpetuate myths of so-called ethical meat while attacking the animal rights movement; Why justifying meat-eating as “natural” is ethically bankrupt - on par with past appeals to nature to justify slavery or denying women's rights - and how vegans and vegetarians provoke defensive ridicule because they reveal uncomfortable truths; Why the flood of scientific studies on animal cognition and emotion hasn't changed behavior - and how cultural fascination with AI and plant consciousness distracts from our brutal treatment of fully sentient animals; Why bad faith - our self-deception about how we treat animals - is the most destructive force preventing moral progress, and why what we're doing to animals deserves to be called 'evil'; How empathy, an evolved trait we share with animals and desperately need to nurture, is being eroded by increasing social disconnection and anti-empathy tech bro ideologies; Why lab meat, also known as 'clean meat', is not the solution to speciesism and human supremacism and consuming our way to animal liberation is a delusion; Why the animal rights movement is being undermined by the money pouring into utilitarian effective altruism and “realistic” approaches - when true compassion demands not animal welfarism, but the abolition of animal exploitation and a direct challenge to the entrenched power structures that prevent moral progress. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript:  https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/john-sanbonmatsu   OVERSHOOT | Shrink Toward Abundance OVERSHOOT tackles today's interlocked social and ecological crises driven by humanity's excessive population and consumption. The podcast explores needed narrative, behavioral, and system shifts for recreating human life in balance with all life on Earth. With expert guests from wide-ranging disciplines, we examine the forces underlying overshoot: from patriarchal pronatalism that is fueling overpopulation, to growth-biased economic systems that lead to consumerism and social injustice, to the dominant worldview of human supremacy that subjugates animals and nature. Our vision of shrinking toward abundance inspires us to seek pathways of transformation that go beyond technological fixes toward a new humanity that honors our interconnectedness with all beings.  Hosted by Nandita Bajaj and Alan Ware. Brought to you by Population Balance. Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.populationbalance.org/subscribe Support our work with a one-time or monthly donation: https://www.populationbalance.org/donate Learn more at https://www.populationbalance.org Copyright 2025 Population Balance

Broadway Director & Choreographer JoAnn M. Hunter (Bad Cinderella, School of Rock) joins The Art of Kindness with Robert Peterpaul to discuss creating kind communities in theatre, her magical new production of Disney's The Little Mermaid at Paper Mill Playhouse, why she only wants to work with compassionate people and more. JOANN M. HUNTER (Director & Choreographer). Always an honor and treat to be back at Paper Mill Playhouse! Over 30 Broadway, West End, and Australian first-class credits. Directed and choreographed at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. Early and infant stages: director-choreographer of Jo: The Little Women Musical, Yasuke: The Legend of the Black Samurai, and Birds of New York by Sophie B. Hawkins. I have worked with some extraordinary creatives in my career. How very lucky was I. In honing my craft, I keep my mentors in my heart. I am proud to be a Japanese American woman, and am more than just that. Follow Megan ⁠@meganhilty⁠ Follow us ⁠@artofkindnesspod⁠ / ⁠@robpeterpaul⁠ ⁠Support the show⁠! (⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theaok⁠) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Now, a poem about how we win by showing up, and standing with one another. Here's Japanese-American poet, Lauren Ito, reading her poem, 'Arrival as We.'

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.

This “Best Of” episode originally aired in 2013 and was voted a listener favorite. David Hiroshima is a 3rd generation Japanese-American psychologist. He shares his experience and observations counseling sexual predators (rapists and child molesters) at Coalinga, a lockdown mental hospital in central California and how he used Buddhism to help him cope.If you're interested in seeing or buying the furniture that Paul designs and makes follow his IG for his woodworking which is transitioning from @MIHHfurniture to its new handle @ShapedFurniture WAYS TO HELP THE MIHH PODCASTSubscribe via Apple Podcasts (or whatever player you use). It costs nothing. It's extremely helpful to have your subscription set to download all episodes automatically. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/mental-illness-happy-hour/id427377900?mt=2Spread the word via social media. It costs nothing.Our website is www.mentalpod.com our FB is www.Facebook.com/mentalpod and our Twitter and Instagram are both @Mentalpod Become a much-needed Patreon monthly-donor (with occasional rewards) for as little as $1/month at www.Patreon.com/mentalpod Become a one-time or monthly donor via PayPal at https://mentalpod.com/donateYou can also donate via Zelle (make payment to mentalpod@gmail.com) To donate via Venmo make payment to @Mentalpod See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Newt talks with Gerard Robinson, a professor of practice at the Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia, about his recent article on how World War II influenced prison policy. Their conversation explores Robinson's experiences mentoring youth in the juvenile justice system and teaching fifth grade, which shaped his views on criminal justice reform. They discuss the impact of high suspension rates on future incarceration, the importance of education in reducing recidivism, and innovative programs like Texas's Prison Entrepreneurship Program. Robinson shares insights from international prison visits, highlighting Norway's principle of normality and its potential application in the U.S. Their discussion also covers historical treatment of prisoners of war in the U.S. compared to Japanese Americans during WWII, and the implications of the 1871 Virginia Supreme Court ruling on prisoners as "slaves of the state." Robinson's work and publications are available through the University of Virginia and the American Enterprise Institute.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The US is planning to scale down its military presence in Syria from eight bases to one. We also take a look back at survivors of chemical attacks conducted by Assad regime forces during the Syrian civil war. And, exit polls show center-left Lee Jae-Myung winning the snap election in South Korea by a wide margin. Also, as officials in the US suspend visa interviews for all international students looking to study in the country, those from Latin America may be looking at other options. Plus, Japanese American musician Tina Johnson, known as Shima, is shifting from being in a J-Pop band in Tokyo to becoming an electronic solo artist.Listen to today's Music Heard on Air. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This week in Episode #695, I talk with Ethan Sacks, accomplished creator of comics including Star Wars, Old Man Hawkeye, and Midnight Suns, and his daughter and co-writer, Naomi Sacks, who are telling an allegory of a deeply personal time in their lives called A Haunted Girl. They have a Zoop.gg crowdfunding event going on until about Thursday, June 12. This book was originally published by Image Comics and Syzygy Publishing, and this hardcover edition contains all-new behind the scenes features and is the ultimate collector's item for fans of this acclaimed supernatural horror story. The book is described this way: “The fate of all life on Earth depends on a girl who doesn't know if she wants to live. Cleo, a 16-year-old adopted Japanese-American whose anxiety and depression drives her to suicidal thoughts, is fresh out of the hospital and trying unsuccessfully to reintegrate back into her old life.” This campaign went live on the Zoop crowdfunding platform, Tuesday, May 6th.  This date was chosen specifically to coincide with World Mental Health Awareness month, due to the book's subject matter. We explore how the series came to be, who the various characters are, and also talk about how these creatives worked together and what else they might have coming our way soon. Subscribe to the Major Spoilers Podcast Network Master Feed! Major Spoilers Podcast Network Master Feed RSS Feed Show your thanks to Major Spoilers for this episode by becoming a Major Spoilers Patreon member. It will help ensure Wayne's Comics Podcast continues far into the future!

Enjoying cars doesn't require financial hardship. Memories, events and people matter more than metal. Why did Japan make 660cc Kei Cars for their own market while America offered 6500cc V8 entry level sedans? Why did Ferrari make a 2-liter version of the 308GTS?    

We can't even pretend to have chill about this. On this extra special episode, we interview the namesake of our mascot and inspiration for the title of the show, Waverly herself, the legend, the icon, Tamlyn Tomita! We of course ask Tamlyn about the Joy Luck Club, what it meant 30 years ago, what it means now, and her thoughts on playing Waverly. She also talks Karate Kid II, her equally iconic role of Kumiko, and her personal ties to it as a person of Okinawan-descent. Plus she shares one of her all-time comfort foods, what it meant growing up as the daughter of an Okinawan-Filipina mom and a Japanese-American cop dad.  Listen in as we try to keep our cool and Freesia almost makes it through the whole episode without crying, almost. Huge thanks to Tamlyn for being so gracious and so generous with her time and storytelling. Truly a best quality heart.

The GGACP team marks May's Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month by revisiting this interview with one of the world's best-loved pop culture figures, actor-activist George Takei. In this episode, George shares his feelings about Caucasian actors in Asian roles, speaks frankly about Japanese-American internment, expresses his gratitude to Trekkies and fondly remembers old friend Leonard Nimoy. Also, George feuds with William Shatner, chats up Jerry Lewis, runs into Cary Grant and rebukes Arnold Schwarzenegger. PLUS: Frank Gorshin! Celebrating James Hong! George channels Sir John Gielgud! Gilbert does his best Richard Burton! And the last of the Paramount contract players! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on the special edition Bruce Lee Foundation takeover of the Bruce Lee Podcast for the month of May, Shannon is honored to welcome Olympic gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi to the show. Everyone knows Kristi as a champion on the ice, but in her years since winning gold she has also become a devoted author, philanthropist, and lifelong advocate for youth literacy. Born in California to Japanese-American parents, Kristi's mother was born in a WWII internment camp while her grandfather served as a U.S. Army lieutenant. Kristi's journey reflects strength across generations and  is one of legacy and service. Kristi shares how a treasured Dorothy Hamill doll ignited her early passion for skating, and what it felt like to meet her idol moments before the biggest performance of her life. She also reflects on her touring years with Stars On Ice. Kristi opens up about the values her parents instilled in her around service and gratitude—and how those principles ultimately led her to found Kristi Yamaguchi's Always Dream, a nonprofit dedicated to early literacy and family engagement. Through her foundation, Kristi is helping ensure that children in underserved communities not only have access to high-quality books, but also the support needed to build a lifelong love of reading. Finally, Kristi opens up about a new passion she's been engaged in, and it's VERY Bruce Lee of her! Join Shannon and get to know how Kristi is continuing to shape an inspiring legacy that continues across generations! Show notes and more episodes at Brucelee.com/Podcast  Connect with Kristi…. Website:  www.alwaysdream.org Instagram: @kristiyamaguchi | @alwaysdream Facebook: Kristi Yamaguchi | Kristi Yamaguchi's Always Dream X: @kristiyamaguchi

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. Happy Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month! Even though the Trump Administration has eliminated recognizing cultural heritage months, we are still celebrating diversity and inclusion here at APEX Express and KPFA. We believe in lifting up people's voices and tonight on APEX Express the Powerleegirls are focusing on “Asian American Children's book authors”. Powerleegirl hosts Miko Lee and daughter Jalena Keane-Lee speak with: Michele Wong McSween, Gloria Huang, and Andrea Wang   AAPINH Month Children's Books part 1 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.   Ayame Keane-Lee: [00:00:49] Happy Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Even though the Trump administration has eliminated recognizing cultural heritage months, we are still celebrating diversity and inclusion. Here at Apex Express and KPFA, we believe in lifting up people's voices. And tonight on Apex Express, the PowerLeeGirls are focusing on Asian American Children's book authors. PowerLeeGirl hosts Miko Lee and daughter Jalena Keane-Lee. Speak with Michele Wong McSween, Gloria Huang and Andrea Wang. Thanks for joining us tonight on Apex Express. Enjoy the show.   Miko Lee: [00:01:21] Welcome, Michele Wong McSween to Apex Express.    Michele Wong McSween: [00:01:26] Thank you, Miko. It's nice to be here.    Miko Lee: [00:01:28] I'm really happy to talk with you about your whole children's series, Gordon & Li Li, which is absolutely adorable. I wanna start very first with a personal question that I ask all of my guests, which is, who are your people and what legacy do you carry with you?   Michele Wong McSween: [00:01:45] I would say my people are really my family starting with, my great, great grandparents who came here down to my grandparents, my parents, and onto my children because, to me family is. The reason why I created Gordon & Li Li in the first place, it was really to bridge that connection for my children. I didn't grow up feeling that connected with my culture because as a fourth generation Chinese American, I was really in the belief that I'm American. Why do I need to know anything about my culture? Why do I need to speak Chinese? I never learned. As a sidebar to that, I never learned to speak Chinese and it didn't really hit me until I had my own kids that I was really doing a disservice to not only my kids, but to myself. my people are my family. I do this for my kids. I do this to almost apologize to my parents for being so, Disrespectful to my amazing culture and I do it for the families who really want to connect and bridge that gap for their own children and for themselves.    Miko Lee: [00:02:53] And what legacy do you carry with you?    Michele Wong McSween: [00:02:55] Again, my family. My, great grandparents. Really. Started our family's legacy with the hard work and the prejudices and all the things that they endured so that we could have a better life. And I've always felt that it is my responsibility to teach my own kids about the sacrifices that were made and not to make them feel guilty, but to just make them appreciate that we are here. Because of the the blood, sweat, and tears that their ancestors did for them. And so we are, eternally grateful for that. I think it's important for us to continue that legacy of always doing our best, being kind and doing what we can do to further the experience of not just our family, but the people in our community that we connect with and to the greater world.    Miko Lee: [00:03:43] when you were growing up, were your parents speaking with you in Chinese and did you hear about your great grandparents and their legacy? Was that part of your upbringing?    Michele Wong McSween: [00:03:52] I heard about my great grandparents in the stories that my mom told us, but to be quite honest, I wasn't receptive to really digging deep in my cultural understanding of. my great-grandfather and what he went through. I know mom, I know he came over in 19 whatever. I know he brought over all these young sons from his village, but I really didn't fully take it in and. No, I didn't hear Chinese spoken in the house much. The only time my parents spoke it was to each other so that we didn't know what they were talking about. They had like this secret code, language. My experience with my language was not, That positive. we did attempt to go to Chinese school only to be teased by all the other kids because we didn't speak it. It didn't end up well. my mom ended up pulling us out and so no, we were really not connected all that much to the language.   Miko Lee: [00:04:48] I can really relate to what you're saying. As a fifth generation Chinese American, and my parents their ancestors came from different provinces, so their dialects were so different that they even spoke to each other in English. 'cause they couldn't understand each other in Chinese. So it happens so often. Yeah. Yeah. And so I really relate to that. I'm wondering if there was an epiphany in your life or a time where you thought, oh, I. I wish I knew more of those stories about my ancestors or was there some catalyst for you that changed?   Michele Wong McSween: [00:05:17] All of this really kind of happened when I moved to New York. I, you know, raised in Sacramento, went to college in the Bay Area, lived in San Francisco for a while with a job, and then I eventually moved to New York. And it wasn't until I came to New York and I met Asians or Chinese Americans like me that actually spoke Chinese and they knew about cool stuff to do in Chinatown. It really opened my eyes to this new cool world of the Chinese culture because I really experienced Chinatown for the first time when I moved to New York. And it was just so incredible to see all these people, living together in this community. And they all looked the same. But here's the thing, they all spoke Chinese, or the majority of them spoke Chinese. So when I went to Chinatown and they would look at me and speak to me in Chinese and I would give them this blank stare. They would just look at me like, oh my gosh, she doesn't even speak her own language. And it kind of made me feel bad. And this was really the first time that it dawned on me that, oh wow, I, I kind of feel like something's missing. And then it really hit me when I had my kids, because they're half Chinese and I thought, oh my gosh, wait a minute, if I'm their last connection to the Chinese culture and I don't speak the language. They have no chance of learning anything about their language they couldn't go that deep into their culture if I didn't learn about it. So that really sparked this whole, Gordon & Li Li journey of learning and discovering language and culture for my kids.    Miko Lee: [00:06:51] Share more about that. How, what happened actually, what was the inspiration for creating the Children's book series?    Michele Wong McSween: [00:06:58] It was really my children, I really felt that it was my responsibility to teach them about their culture and language and, if I didn't know the language, then I better learn it. So I enrolled all of us in different Mandarin courses. They had this, I found this really cute kids' Mandarin class. I went to adult Mandarin classes and I chose Mandarin because that was the approved official language in China. I am from Taishan, My parents spoke Taishanese, but I thought, well, if Mandarin's the official language, I should choose that one probably so that my kids will have at least a better chance at maybe some better jobs in the future or connecting with, the billion people that speak it. I thought Mandarin would be the way to go. When I started going to these classes and I just realized, wow, this is really hard, not just to learn the language, but to learn Mandarin Chinese, because we're not just talking about learning how to say the four different tones. We're talking about reading these characters that if you look at a Chinese character, you have absolutely no idea what it sounds like if you're, if you're learning Spanish or French or German, you can see the letters and kind of sound it out a little bit. But with Chinese characters. No chance. So I found it extremely difficult and I realized, wow, I really need to support my kids more because if I am going to be the one that's going to be bridging this connection for them, I need to learn more and I need to find some more resources to help us. when we would have bedtime story time, that whole routine. That was always the favorite time of my kids to be really, quiet and they would really absorb what I was saying, or we would talk about our days or just talk about funny things and I realized, wow, these books that they love and we have to read over and over and over again. this is the way that they're going to get the information. And I started searching high and low for these books. back in 2006, they didn't exist. and so I realized if they didn't exist and I really wanted them for my kids, then I needed to create them. That's the impetus, is there was nothing out there and I really wanted it so badly that I had to create it myself.   Miko Lee: [00:09:09] Oh, I love that. And I understand you started out self-publishing. Can you talk a little bit about that journey?    Michele Wong McSween: [00:09:15] I'm glad I didn't know what I know today because it was really hard. luckily I had, A friend who used to work for a toy company, it was all through connections. there was nothing really on Google about it. there was no Amazon print on demand. There were none of these companies that provide these services like today. So I just kept asking questions. Hey, do you know a toy manufacturer in China that maybe prints books? Do you know a company that could help me? get my books to the states. Do you know an illustrator that can help me illustrate my books? Because I had gone to fashion design school, but I had not learned to illustrate characters or things in a book. So asking questions and not being afraid to ask the questions was really how I was able to do it because, Without the help of friends and family, I wouldn't have been able to do this. I had all my friends look at my books, show them to their kids. I had my kids look at them, and I kind of just figured it out as I went along. Ultimately when I did publish my first book, I had so much support from my kids' schools. To read the books there, I had support from a local play space for kids that we would go to. I really leaned on my community to help me, get the books out there, or actually it was just one at the time. Two years later I self-published two more books. So I had three in total. no one tells you that when you self-publish a book, the easy part is actually creating it. The hard part is what comes after that, which is the pr, the marketing, the pounding, the pavement, knocking on the doors to ask people to buy your books, and that was really hard for me. I would just take my books in a bag and I would explain my story to people and I would show them my books. sometimes they would say, okay, I'll take one of each, or Okay, we'll try it out. and slowly but surely they would reorder from me. I just slowly, slowly built up, a whole Roster of bookstores and I kept doing events in New York.    I started doing events in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and through that I gained some following, some fans and people would tell their friends about me. they would give them to their nieces they would give them to their cousin's kids, or, things like that. I knew that I had to do it because my ultimate goal was to have Scholastic be my publisher. That was my ultimate goal. Because they are the publisher that I grew up with, that I love that I connected with, that I was so excited to get their book club, little flyer. I would check off every book that I wanted. And my mom never said no. She always let me get every single book I wanted. I realize now that that's what really Created the love of books for me is just having access to them and, going to the libraries and seeing all these books on the bookshelves and being able to take them out and read them on the spot. And then if I loved them enough, I would check them out and take them home and read them over and over. So it was really, my experience, having that love for books that I thought, oh gosh, it would be a dream. To have Scholastic become my publisher. So after 10 long years of events and community outreach and selling to these bookstores, I finally thought, okay, I've sold, about 17,000, 18,000 books. Maybe, maybe now I can take my series to them. I also had created an app. Maybe I can take this to them and show them what I've done. Maybe they'll be interested in acquiring me. And I got an appointment with the editor and I pitched my books on my app and within a couple of days they offered to acquire my books, which was my dream come true. So anyway, that was a very long story for how self-publishing really is and how ultimately it really helped my dream come true.    Miko Lee: [00:13:08] Now your books are on this Scholastic book, fair Circuit, right?    Michele Wong McSween: [00:13:13] Yes, they are. Well, it's actually just one book. They took the three books, which were everyday Words. Count in Mandarin and learn animals in Mandarin. They took all three books and they put them in one big compilation book, which is called My First Mandarin Words with Gordon & Li Li. So it's a bigger book. It's a bigger board book. Still very, very sturdy and it's a great, starter book for any family because it has those three first themes that were the first themes that I taught my own boys, and I think. It just, it's very natural for kids to want to learn how to count. animals were, and my kids were animal lovers, so I knew that that's what would keep them interested in learning Mandarin because they actually loved the topic. So, yes, my first mandarin words with Gordon & Li Li does live on Scholastics big roster.   Miko Lee: [00:14:01] Fun. Your dream come true. I love it. Yeah. Thanks. And you were speaking earlier about your background in fashion design. Has there been any impact of your fashion design background on your voice as a children's book author?   Michele Wong McSween: [00:14:14] I don't know if my background as a fashion designer has had any impact on my voice. I think it's had an impact on how I imagined my books and how I color my books and how I designed them because of working with, you know, color palettes and, and putting together collections I can visually see and, can anticipate. Because I have that background, I can kind of anticipate what a customer might want. And also, you know, speaking with people at my events and seeing what kids gravitate to, that also helps. But I think there's so much more to being an author than just writing the books. You know, when I go to my events, I have a table display, I have setups, I have props, I have, I actually now have a, a small. Capsule of merchandise because I missed designing clothes. So I have a teeny collection of, you know, sweaters, hoodies, onesies, a tote bag, and plushies   Miko Lee: [00:15:04] they're super cute by the way.    Michele Wong McSween: [00:15:06] Oh, thank you. So, you know, fashion has come in in different ways and I think having that background has really helped. kind of become who they are    Miko Lee: [00:15:17] Can you tell us about the latest book in the series, which is Gordon and Li Li All About Me. Can you tell a little bit about your latest?   Michele Wong McSween: [00:15:25] Gordon & Li Li All About Me is really, it's, to me, it's. I think my most fun interactive book because it really gets kids and parents up and out of their chairs, out of their seats and moving around. And you know, as a parent, I always would think about the kind of books that my kids would gravitate towards. What would they want to read and what as a parent would I want to read with my kids? Because really reading is all about connection with your kids. That's what I loved about books is it gave me a way to connect with my kids. And so a book about body parts to me is just a really fun way to be animated and get up and move around and you can tickle and, and squeeze and shake it around and dance around. And, you know, having three boys, my house was just like a big energy ball. So I knew that this book would be a really fun one for families and I have two nieces and a nephew, and I now, they're my new target market testers, and they just loved it. They had so much fun pointing to their body parts and the book ends with head, shoulders, knees, and toes in English and in Mandarin. And so of course. Every kid knows head, shoulders, knees, and toes in English. So we sing that. We get up, we point to our pottered parts, we shake it around, we dance around. And then the fun part is teaching them head, shoulders, knees, and toes in Mandarin because they're already familiar with the song. It's not scary to learn something in Mandarin. It just kind of naturally happens. And so I think the All About Me book is just a really fun way to connect with kids. I've actually launched it at a couple of events already and the response to the book has been overwhelming. I was at the Brooklyn Children's Museum and even the president of the museum came and did the head shoulders. Knees and toes, songs with us. It was so much fun. Everybody was dancing around and having a great time. So I'm just really, really excited for people to pick up this book and really learn about the body. It's, you know, body positivity, it's body awareness, and it's just a great way to connect with your kids.   Miko Lee: [00:17:31] So fun. I, I saw that you're recently at the Asian American Book Con. Can you talk a little bit about that experience?    Michele Wong McSween: [00:17:38] Oh, that was great. That was the first of its kind and. I led the entire author segment of it. I would say individual authors. There were, there were, publishing companies that brought in their own authors, but I was responsible for bringing in the independent authors. And so I think we had about eight of us. There were Indian, Korean, Chinese, Taiwanese, and we all came together for this one really special day of celebrating our voices and lifting each other up. And there was so much energy and so much positivity in that event, and I. Actually was just thinking about reaching out to the organizers last year and seeing if we could maybe do, part two? So, I'm glad you brought that up. It was a really positive experience.    Miko Lee: [00:18:27] So we're celebrating the end of Asian American Pacific Islander Native Hawaiian month. Can you tell us why this month is important to you?    Michele Wong McSween: [00:18:36] When you have something designated and set aside as, this is the month that we're going to be celebrating Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander heritage all month long, I think it kind of perks up. People's ears and they think, oh wow, this is a great opportunity for me to see what's happening in my community. I think it just brings the awareness to. The broader community and ultimately the world. And I think when we learn about each other and each other's cultures, it brings us closer together and makes us realize that we're really not that different from each other. And I think when there are so many events happening now it peaks the interest of people in the neighborhood that might otherwise not know about it and it can, really bring us closer together as a community.   Miko Lee: [00:19:27] Michelle Wong McSween, thank you so much for joining me on Apex Express. It's great to hear more about you and about your latest book Gordon & Li Li and the entire series. Thank you so much.    Michele Wong McSween: [00:19:39] Thank you, Miko   Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:19:40] Thank you all so much for joining us. I'm here with Gloria l Huang, author of Kaya of the Ocean. Thank you so much for joining us, Gloria.    Gloria Huang: [00:19:48] Oh, thanks so much for having me here.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:19:50] So first off, one question that we're asking all of our guests on our show tonight is, who are your people? However you identify, you know, your community, your ancestors, and what legacy do you carry with you?    Gloria Huang: [00:20:01] Oh, that's such a good question. So I am my heritage is Chinese. My parents were born in China and then grew up in Taiwan. And I myself was actually born in Canada. But then moved the states pretty young and and American Canadian dual citizen and now, but I, my heritage plays a lot into my. Kind of my worldview. It really shaped, how I grew up and how I saw things. And so it features very prominently in my writing and in my stories as you could probably tell from Kaya the ocean.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:20:34] Yes. And I love the book so much. It was such a    Gloria Huang: [00:20:37] thank you,    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:20:38] amazing read. And I'm also half Chinese and love the ocean. Just love the beach so much and have always felt such a connection with the water. I don't wanna give away too much things about the book, but I was wondering if you could talk about your inspiration for writing it and a little bit about, setting and everything.   Gloria Huang: [00:20:56] Of course. So the inspiration for the book actually started I came up with the idea when the world was first emerging from the pandemic and I was seeing a lot of people obviously experiencing a lot of anxiety, but a lot of children very close to me in my life. And they were experiencing it for the first time, which was can be so difficult. I remember when it happened to me and there's just this tendency to. Worry that there's something wrong with you or that you've done something and you feel so alone. And so I remember standing by the ocean one night actually and thinking that I'd really love to write a book about a girl who is struggling with. The anxiety just to be able to send a message to all these kids that there's nothing wrong with them. They're not alone and really all parts of who they are. Even the parts they might not love so much are important parts of these amazing, beautiful, complicated people. They are. So that was the inspiration for that part of the story, the setting. I was very inspired. As you mentioned, the ocean is a huge inspiration to me. It actually comes into my mind, a lot of my stories and someone pointed that out once and I was like, you're right, it does. And I think part of it is that I love the ocean. I love the beach. I love being there, but I'm also so in awe of this powerful thing that, you know, where we know so little about it. It is. There's so much mystery to it. It can look so beautiful on the surface and be so dangerous underneath. I love it as a metaphor. I love it as a part of nature. So I think that was a huge part of why I wanted to incorporate that, especially because I think it also plays well into the metaphor for how some people experience anxiety and you can be calm on the surface, but so much is happening underneath.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:22:29] Absolutely. Yeah. Those interplay with each other and are metaphors for each other in such a beautiful way, mirror the experience. Yeah. I wanted to talk a little bit more about anxiety and particular, as a young Asian American girl the cultural specificity of having anxiety as a young Asian American woman.    Gloria Huang: [00:22:46] Yes I definitely think it's no coincidence. I think that anxiety often goes hand in hand with perfectionism and pressure and I, many people feel that kind of pressure, but certainly a young Asian girl especially with immigrant parents, will feel specific kind of pressure. And so I was really trying to portray that, Somebody once said to me, they were like, oh, I really like how Kaya on the surface seems so put together. She's, got really good grades. She works really hard at school. She's close to her parents, but there's all this going on underneath. And I actually think that's not unusual in terms of that experience for Asian American children of immigrants, and especially if you're female I was really trying to. Tease that out. And then in addition I think there's a tendency, and this might exist in other cultures as well, but in Asian culture, at least in my family history there's a tendency not to really want to talk about mental health. There was a, there's a joke in my family that my parents thought anything could be solved with good sleep and good nutrition, like anytime you had any problem. And I think that there is a, there's a. resistance to feeling like your child can be struggling in a way you can't help them. So I, really wanted to touch on that, part of the cultural pressures at play in kaya's life.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:23:59] And you did so beautifully and it was very relatable, as a anxious Asian girly. And also just, the discussion of big feelings and somehow, having inklings that you may be more powerful than you even realize, but the kind of like emotions that come with that too.    Gloria Huang: [00:24:15] Yes. I think that's a huge part of it is that like when you experience these huge feelings they feel powerful, know, in a negative way. But what I was really trying to get at was, there is also power in accepting these parts of yourself and realizing that They can make up this powerful being that you are, even if you might not love them in that moment.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:24:34] Yeah. I felt very seen by the book and I, couldn't help but wonder wow, what would it have been like if I had read this when I was, 13 or 12 or kind of Closer to the age of the characters in the book.   Gloria Huang: [00:24:45] Thank you so much for saying that it actually means a lot because a lot of my motivation when I do write these books is to write for people who are either of that age or, wish they had a book like that at that age, which is also how I feel a lot about books nowadays and oh, I, I'm so glad that exists. I wish that had been around when I was that age.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:25:03] Yes. Were there any books that really set an example for you that either you read, maybe when you were, in the young adult. Age range or that you've read now as an adult where you're like, okay, this is definitely the audience that I wanna be writing for.   Gloria Huang: [00:25:17] Definitely. I actually love this question 'cause I'm a big reader and so I love talking about books . When I was a kid, middle grade books were my gateway into my love of reading. So I still remember a lot of my favorite books, but I would say a recent book, it's actually maybe not that recent now, it's maybe a couple years old, but a book that really. Had an effect on the middle grade book was when you trap a tiger by Tae Keller and it explores. The kind of Korean experience, but also through the prism of kind of understanding generational grief. And it was just so beautifully done and really made an impact on me. So that was one recently that I thought was really powerful. And, I was like, this is an important book. This is definitely a book I would've loved as a child. When I was younger and I was reading books, there were three books that meant a lot to me. One was called the true confessions of Charlotte Doyle, and it was like a swashbuckling adventure story starring a girl, which was, at that time not very common. And it was, it meant, it was so earth shattering to me to be able to see a female character in that role. So that was great. There's a book called. Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt. And it's an adventure story and it also stars. The main character is a very strong female character and Tuck everlasting, which I just think is a beautiful book. It's also female characters. Now I'm saying it out loud. They are all female main characters. And all about, existentialism and adventure and things that, it was important for me to see. Female characters exploring. But I did also wanna say that when I was reading middle grade books, some of my favorite books included a series called, babysitters Club, which I think that they've redone now as a graphic novel. And that was actually really important, not necessarily for the stories, but because there's a character named Claudia Kishi who. Was a Japanese American character and she absolutely shattered the minds of, I think all kids that age were Asian descent and female in reading these books because there just wasn't a character like her before that, she was so cool and artistic but she had immigrant parents and she had a sister who was very good at math and they didn't get along and she loved junk food and she was. So incredibly nuanced and it was just not something that we saw back then. So that really inspired me, I think, to want to add to the diversity of voices. And thankfully there are many more diverse voices now than when I was reading.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:27:30] I love that. And I also feel like books that you read at that age, they stay with you forever.   Gloria Huang: [00:27:35] They really do.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:27:35] And they shape so much of like your worldview and your friendships. And I'm curious, 'cause I know the book was released this year in January. Mm-hmm. So what has it been like for you on your book tour and what's been some other responses that you've heard? I.    Gloria Huang: [00:27:48] It's been really great. It was so exciting to do the book launch and then just the amount of support from the writing community from, my, my kind of network, my agents and my publisher and editor. And also just readers. It's been really great. But one thing I think I wasn't expecting to love quite so much, not because I was expecting to not love it. I just said, it occurred to me that I would feel this way is getting feedback from, child readers is amazing because, I think as writers we love feedback no matter what. And if it's positive feedback, that's even better. But having a child reach out and as some of my friends will send a video of their. Children reacting to the book or they'll, their, let their child type out a text messages and just to hear how the book hits with them and to hear their excitement or to hear that they were moved or to have them want to know what happens next. It meant so much to me because it was, they're the target audience and to have them feel seen in that way was just, it's just the ultimate kind of powerful feeling.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:28:51] That is so sweet. Oh my gosh. I can only imagine. And so you're talking about the young readers. Yes. But I'm also curious if you have any advice or thoughts for young writers who might be wanting to share and get similar stories out to the world?   Gloria Huang: [00:29:05] Yeah I definitely do. And one of the. Experiences I've had that's been great is I've been doing, some school visits and I go and I talk about the book, but I actually talk about the writing process. And when I do that, I really talk to the kids. As if they're writers. The one of the first questions I ask is, hold up your hand. If you love writing or you think you want me, you might wanna be a writer someday. And a lot of hands go up and I tell them like, what the publishing process is, what are, the different genre options, what you might wanna consider, how you come up with an idea, how you sit down and write it, how you reach out to an agent. And I am surprised at how. Intensely, they're hanging onto every word and they're insightful questions after it. It shows me that a lot of them are really thinking about this. I think for one of the school visits, I remember someone held up her hand and she said what is the youngest age I. Someone has been able to be published. And I thought that was great. Because they're so inspired and you can tell that, that they're thinking for the first time this is a possibility. I have all kinds of advice during the school visits, the main piece of advice is really. Just that it can be a tough industry. writing is a very isolated process usually. There's a lot of kind of obstacles and there's a lot of gatekeeping. And so I tell 'em that the most important thing they can do is just keep pushing through and not to let any, setbacks stop them, because the ultimate goal is to reach even just one person.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:30:24] Absolutely. And what kind of advice do you give around learning how to hone your own voice and also having discipline when it comes to an artistic practice?   Gloria Huang: [00:30:33] Yeah, I think that's such a great question. And I was gonna say this piece of advice is probably more for I. Older writers, but adult writers, I guess I should say. The one thing that I've really been thinking about having published a middle grade book is the very specific and unique experience of writing for middle grade audiences. I think a lot of my friends who write for older audience groups, young adults, adults, They have their own challenges, but one of the things that is different is when they're writing, they are writing for the same target audience. That's also the decision makers. So generally, adults and young adults are picking their own books, and they're speaking to someone who will. Ultimately be the ones to pick up the books where when you're writing for middle grade audiences they're not usually the decision makers. at bookstores, they may or may not be in charge of which book they buy, in. Schools, usually it's a librarian or a teacher. So in some ways you're writing for one audience, but you're also writing a subject matter that you're hoping the decision makers will decide is worthy to put in front of your ultimate readers. So that's one challenge. And then the other challenge is I think middle grade audiences are so. fascinating because they're going through this amazingly unusual time in their lives, whether it's eventful and there's new experiences and that can be exciting, but also scary. So there's a lot to mind in terms of topics, but they are also a mixture of being very sophisticated readers who are on the cusp of being teens. And so there's a healthy dose of, skepticism, but they're still young enough that they. Believe in magic, at least in the literary world. So you, there's a lot of room to play with that. But they also. They sound different. They speak differently than adults. So it's important to get the dialogue, for me I, turn to children in my life, including my own, just to do a check to make sure that the dialogue sounds authentic and something that, people, that kids would say. So a lot of thoughts there, but I think, I've been thinking a lot about middle grade and writing for middle grade, and what a unique experience it is.   Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:32:26] Yeah, that's such a good point about the decision maker and having the multiple audiences, and I'm sure sometimes the decision makers are reading the books too, right? Or reading it with their kids or what have you. For your personal writing practice, are there any upcoming projects that you can share with us? And how do you stay inspired for what I imagine is like the long haul of writing something.    Gloria Huang: [00:32:45] I'm happiest when I have like several projects in the pipeline. So as soon as I am done a book or it's, outta my hands, it's with my agents or my editors. I'm looking to write another book. And I think sometimes I probably overwhelm my amazing book before agents. 'cause I'm like, I'm ready to start another story. And they're like, we're still looking at the book you just sent us. But I, that's very much how. I am happiest. I would definitely say that everybody finds their own rhythm. I'm in some writers groups and some people are incredibly fast drafters and just need multiple projects at a time. And some people are like, no, I need to work on one project and I need to have it to perfection and I'm gonna work on it for a year or two. And I think whatever works for the individual artist, I think is the best kind of process for them. But yes, for me it's very much about having multiple projects. I think I'm most inspired when I have different projects going at the same time. finding your own rhythm, I think is my advice.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:33:40] kaya of the ocean has, strong themes and storylines about, myths, mythology, Chinese mythology, and goddesses. I'm curious if you wanna talk any more about that and then also if that shows up in any of the other projects you're working on    Gloria Huang: [00:33:54] Yes, the Chinese mythological water goddess that features. Pretty prominently in Kaya of the Ocean is Matsu. And I find her to be such a fascinating character. She is a real goddess who's worshiped still in Asia. I think. Fishermen often will, pray to her for safe passage when they go out on the water. And my father told me about her when I was younger he told me like the side stories and I thought that was really interesting. But it was only when I started thinking about this book that I thought, I'd love to, I'd love to incorporate her. I hadn't heard about her too much in, in the fictional world, even though I knew she was still like a revered goddess. But I thought it was so cool that she was this strong. I. Strong female figure in a space that didn't always have that, hundreds of years ago. And so I dove into her story a little bit and found out, the story is that she was once a human child who loved to read and then she was afraid of swimming in water until she was older and then she drowned, saving, trying to save some relatives and it was interesting 'cause I'd already started plotting out Kaya and writing Kaya. And so much of her story wove easily into what I had already come up with. Like there, I think she has two sidekicks that were one time enemies that she, made into her friends and I'd already had Kaya written with two friends, Naomi and Ana. So I, there was just so much that I felt was kismet. And it was really fun to be able to weave that story together and fictionalize it. But I think it was also meaningful for me to be able to do that because. When I was younger, I loved reading Greek mythology. the stories are beautiful and they've been redone in beautiful ways, but it definitely was an area where I didn't necessarily see myself reflected. As part of my goal to add to the diversity of voices, I really wanted to feature Chinese mythology and bring those stories in so that. Kids can either see themselves reflected in those stories and or understand a new kind of set of mythology and learn about a new culture.   Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:35:46] Yes. I'm so glad you put it that way because it is, it's such a privilege to have access to, our own I. Cultural stories and knowledge through these, like fun and modern interpretations. Definitely. So I'm so glad that this can provide that.    Gloria Huang: [00:36:00] Oh, thank you. I did realize I didn't answer your other question, which is does it feature my other works? Which so I have sold another middle grade novel and I'm, it's not announced yet. I'm hoping to announce it soon. And I have some other. Books. I'm working on a young adult novel so far. They have not featured Chinese mythology, but I do definitely have a type that my most of my books tend to be contemporary settings, but with elements of speculative. Fantasy, just like the light touch of that and sometimes a little bit of historical elements as well. So they, they definitely all have that similar motif, but so far chi of the ocean is the only one to feature a Chinese mythological goddess.   Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:36:43] Thank you so much for sharing that. I love that. And I really love the relationship that Kaya had with her two friends and just and then also like the cousin that comes and just capturing like the banter amongst, amongst the girls.    Gloria Huang: [00:36:56] Thank you so much. that was really important to me, I think because at the stage that Kaia is in her life the loves of her life really are her two friends, Naomi and Ana, and they feature very prominently in how she learns to cope with her anxiety and her symptoms of anxiety. And so I really, I think that I really wanted to center her their friendship as much as possible. So I'm I'm glad that you saw it that way too.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:37:19] Yeah. And I feel like, I mean, it truly is the most important relationship. And so it's nice when works of fiction and yeah, works of fiction, can reflect that in such a beautiful way. I know you mentioned that you have daughters or have children?    Gloria Huang: [00:37:32] I do, yes. I have a son and a daughter. And my daughter actually was quite involved because when I first started writing Kaya, I think she was exactly of the age that she would be the target reader group. And so she actually helped Beta read it. She provided a lot of feedback. She became like a cheerleader. She was definitely involved in the process and I think that was really exciting for her. my son became of the reading age once it came out, so he reads it and he's a big fan too,   Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:38:00] that's so sweet. I love that your daughter was part of the editing process too. That's amazing.    Gloria Huang: [00:38:04] Yeah. Yeah. She loves writing and always says she wants to be a writer herself, so it was really special that she got to be part of this and see it up close.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:38:13] Oh wow. Do you think you would do any collaborative projects with her in the future?   Gloria Huang: [00:38:16] It's so funny that you say that. She always suggests that. And then sometimes they'll actually start a Google doc and they'll say, let's write a story together. And we all have, of course, very different writing styles. And then at some point they both actually usually just start reading what I'm writing. And at that point I'm like, this is not collaborative. You have to write as well. So we've had a couple of false starts, but that's always a joke that we're gonna do that together.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:38:39] that's so sweet. What else is upcoming for you? I know this is, Asian American and native Hawaiian Pacific Islander month right now, and the episode will come out towards the end of May. So if there's anything else coming up from you for this month or for June or the summer. Yeah. We'd love to hear what you have going on.    Gloria Huang: [00:38:57] Oh, yeah. Today actually Kaya's audio book was released people can listen to it. It was narrated by this amazing, narrator, Cindy K. And so anywhere you find audio books is available. And that was really cool. I've listened to a little bit of it and you, when you write, you hear the words in your head one way, and then it's amazing to hear like another artist do their take on it. So that's really cool. I will be at the Bay Area book Festival at the end of the month of May. There. Doing like different panels and I'll be on a panel. it's about Fantastical Worlds. I'm really excited about that. hopefully we'll be able to announce this other book soon. As you, you may know publishing is a very long lead time it will be a while before it's released, but I think the hope is to release it during, a API month as well just not this year. And working on a young adult novel that hopefully we can go on submission with at some point. But it's an exciting time for sure.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:39:51] Wow, that does sound so exciting. I can't wait to hear about your new projects and to continue to read the work that you put out into the world. Is there anything else that you'd like to discuss or talk about?   Gloria Huang: [00:40:01] I think just to say a thank you to you for, having me on here and reading Kaya of the Ocean and really anyone who's been interested in joining Kaya and her friends on their journey. It's just, it's so amazing, I think, to create these characters that become real to you, and then have them become real to other people. I don't have the words to describe how meaningful it is to me, but thank you.    Jalena Keane-Lee: [00:40:24] Thank you for letting us join into the world of Kaya for a little bit 'cause it was very fun and healing and all of the amazing things. And thanks so much for joining us today on Apex Express.    Gloria Huang: [00:40:36] For sure. Thanks so much.   Miko Lee: [00:40:38] Welcome, Andrea Wang, award-winning children's book author to Apex Express.    Andrea Wang: [00:40:43] Thank you, Miko. I'm so happy to be here.    Miko Lee: [00:40:46] Happy to have you. I'd love to start first with a personal question, which is, who are your people and what legacy do you carry with you?   Andrea Wang: [00:40:57] My people are from China. My mother's family belonged to an ethnic minority, called the Haka or the Kaja people, and she and her siblings were. A military family, and we're each born in a different province. And when the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949, they went to Taiwan where she grew up and immigrated to the United States in 1965 or 1966. My father's family are from Guangdong Province, and so I'm Cantonese on that side, although I don't speak any Cantonese. And he went to Hong Kong after the Chinese Civil War. So I am the daughter of Chinese immigrants, second generation Chinese American.    Miko Lee: [00:42:01] And what legacy do you carry with you?   Andrea Wang:[00:42:03]  I carry the legacy of their stories, both the ones that I know and the ones that I don't know yet.    Miko Lee: [00:42:12] Ooh. It sounds like there's lots of juicy things for you still to discover. That is fun.    Andrea Wang: [00:42:16] Yes.    Miko Lee: [00:42:17] Today we're talking about your new book, watercress, can you share what the audience, what the book is about, and then what is your inspiration for this book?    Andrea Wang: [00:42:25] So the book is about a Chinese American girl who is growing up in rural Ohio and her parents spot watercress growing in a ditch by the side of the road, and they immediately pull over and make her enter older brother, get out of the car and get down into the ditch with them and collect this. Vegetable, but to her it's a weed. And so when they serve it to her and her family at dinner, she really is unhappy about this and. For her, picking food out of a ditch has a really different meaning than it does to her parents who survived a lot of hardship in China. And it's not until her mom tells her a story about her childhood growing up in China and spoiler alert, loses a sibling to the famine that the girl begins to understand and better appreciate her parents, her culture, and her heritage.   Miko Lee: [00:43:29] And the inspiration for this book.    Andrea Wang: [00:43:32] So the inspiration is largely my own life. this is a semi autobiographical story. The memory of picking watercress by the side of the road was just something that I couldn't forget, I don't know why this memory continued to haunt me into adulthood. And then after my mom passed away, I started writing down, memories and stories of being with my family in order to maintain a connection to her. When I wrote this, at first it was a personal essay and it just wasn't working. I would put it away and I would occasionally take it out and I would put it away and take it out and work on it again. And it wasn't until I decided to pursue writing for young people that I completely changed the manuscript from a personal essay into a picture book. But at that point it still wasn't working. It was in third person and it wasn't very personal It took me several more years to figure out the heart of the story for me. So it was largely based on my own memories and my mother's childhood stories that she shared with me.   Miko Lee: [00:44:39] Can you share more about the power of memory and the artistic process? 'cause you've written many books and in different genres as well, but can you talk a little bit more about memory and its impact on your work?   Andrea Wang: [00:44:52] Yeah, that's a great question. I tend to write primarily for myself. And to figure out how I felt about certain experiences, how they've changed me, to try and process things I feel like I remember a lot about my childhood. parts of it are very vivid and I like to go back to those. Moments that have stuck with me all these years and explore what it means to me. Like I'm just very curious about why I remember certain things watercress was largely my way of processing my childhood feelings of shame about my family and my culture. I have leaned into that and am still writing stories about identity and the struggle to find our identity. Memory has a lot to do with it. I put myself in every single book.    Miko Lee: [00:45:45] Ooh, that's so interesting. And you're talking a little bit about shame and overcoming that. I'm wondering if you could speak more on, if you feel like memories hold the power to heal.    Andrea Wang: [00:45:56] I firmly believe that memories hold the power to heal. I think that writing watercress and talking about these feelings has really helped me, , heal from, that sort of trauma of not feeling like I belonged as a kid and also that I may have been. Not the nicest kid to my parents, not the most filial, right? And so writing this story was, as I say in the author's note, sort of an apology and a love letter to my parents. So it's been very healing and healing to hear about from all the. People who have read the book and had it resonate with them, the things that they regretted in their lives and hoped to, heal as well.    Miko Lee: [00:46:42] Oh, have you heard that story a lot from adult readers?   Andrea Wang: [00:46:46] I have. They will often tell me about the things that their parents did that embarrassed them. A lot of foraging stories, but also stories about, relatives and ancestors who were sharecroppers or indigenous peoples. And it's just been fascinating how many people connect to the story on different levels. There is that theme of poverty. I think recognizing. That's not often talked about in children's books, I think makes people feel very seen.   Miko Lee: [00:47:14] Yeah. That feeling of shame is really showcased by the illustrator Jason Chin. I mean your young you character kind of has a grumpy look on their face. And it was just so fun. Even in the book notes, Jason Chin, the illustrator, writes about how he combined both the western and eastern style of art, but also his similar cross-cultural background. I'm wondering when you very first saw the artwork and this was kind of young you did anything surprise you by it?    Andrea Wang: [00:47:42] I mean, it's amazing, gorgeous artwork and I was really struck by how he dealt with the flashbacks because when I sold this manuscript, I. Had no idea how an illustrator would deal with how interior it is and, , and how they would tackle those flashbacks. And there's one spread where on the left hand side of the page, it shows the main character's current time and then it morphs across the gutter of the book into. The moms past and her childhood memories in China, and it was just exquisite is really the only way to describe it. It was, it's just brilliant, and amazing. We don't, as picture book authors typically get to work with our illustrators. We often do not have contact with them through the making of a picture book. But in this case. Our editors said since it was such a personal story for me, that he, , felt that Jason and I should collaborate. And so I provided photos, family photos, photos of Ohio, lots of different, , source materials to Jason and would talk to him about the feelings that young me in the book went through. And so the fact that, he was able to take all of that and put it on the page, it was just. Spectacular.    Miko Lee: [00:49:01] Oh, that's so fun. I also understand that you love mythical creatures as you I, and one of your children's books is the Nian Monster, which I love. I'm wondering what is your favorite mythical creature and why?   Andrea Wang: [00:49:15] I. Have been sort of fascinated with the qilin, the, or they call it the Chinese unicorn. Right. Although it looks very different from what we think of a, a European unicorn looks like. Yes. And I think it's because they're supposed to be this really benevolent, creature and Have all sorts of powers and I would love to do more research about the qilin and, you know, incorporate that into a book someday.   Miko Lee: [00:49:42] Ooh, fun. Next book. I love it. you have so many books and I'm really curious about your upcoming book Worthy about Joseph Pierce. I love these as Helen Zia talks about these. MIH moments that are missing in history. And Joseph Pierce was the highest ranking Chinese American man who fought in the Civil War. Some people might recognize this picture of this Chinese American guy in a kind of civil war, uniform. Can you tell us one, when is the book being released and a little bit more about it?    Andrea Wang: [00:50:11] Sure. The book is being released on September 9th, 2025, and it is. A picture book, which we typically think of as for younger readers, but it is 64 pages. So you know, it's an all ages picture book. I think my editor and I would like to say, and it is the story of a Chinese boy born in the, First half of the 18 hundreds in China in Guangdong province, and was sold by his father to an American ship captain named Amos Peck. the reasons for that are, lost to time, right? He left no primary sources behind, there was so much going on in China at the time. Famine war, you know, all of these, Difficult things that his father probably sold him in order to keep the rest of the family alive and as well as give him the opportunity to have a better life. And he did end up in Connecticut. He was raised with the captain's, siblings and sent to school and treated almost like a member of the family except for the fact that he was. Clearly Chinese and there were very few Chinese people in, Connecticut at that time. he joined the Union Army when he came of age and was able to leverage his service into gaining citizenship, which really people of color, weren't really able to do successfully back then. And so. He gained a citizenship. He married, he had a family. He was able to own property and accomplish all these amazing things. Sort of right before the Chinese exclusion Act was, enacted. So he was a very brave guy.    Miko Lee: [00:51:45] It's a wild story and you sent me on a little bit of a rabbit hole, which is fun. Just, looking at Ruth Ann, McCune's. historical piece that there were 10 different Chinese American men in the Civil War, but he was exceptional because he rose to such high ranks. And I just think it's so interesting that, in the 1880 census, he registered as Chinese. But then after the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, he listed his race as Japanese in the 1890 census. but he was racialized as white so that he could buy property and everything. Yeah. Can you just talk a little bit about that, like talk about code switching? He like literally changed his race,    Andrea Wang: [00:52:26] right. And people at that time could not tell the difference. Similar to now, people often can't tell different Asian, ethnicities apart. Right. I found actual newspaper articles where Joseph Pierce was interviewed about the battles, that the United States was having with Japan or the battles that Japan was having. He was asked his opinion on what the Japanese government was doing because he told these reporters he was Japanese and that was really the only clue that I had that he, Was code switching that after the Chinese exclusion Act was passed, he felt like he needed to protect himself and his family and he must have cut off his cue because otherwise, you know, that would've identified him immediately as Chinese. So that went into the book. I think it's a powerful moment, right, where he's doing what he has to do to survive and ensure his protection and his family's safety,   Miko Lee: [00:53:25] You have a, a really interesting background. Just having No really, I mean, having done all these different things and I, you know, I think you have a science background too, right? Can you talk about the times that we're living in right now, the political times that we're living in, where our government is banning books that don't align with certain conservative ideologies, where right now certain words are forbodden suddenly. And can you talk a little bit about how that impacts you as a children's book author?    Andrea Wang: [00:53:59] it is very disheartening and discouraging that the current climate is against, people who look like me or other people of color. And as a children's book author, we are experiencing a huge decrease in the number of teachers and librarians who are asking us to come and visit schools, to talk to students, which is horrible because. These young people are the ones who need to learn from books, right? Knowledge is power. And if we are not keeping them informed, then we are doing them a disservice. I think the attacks on our freedom to read are really unjust. and. personally as an author of color, I understand that books like Worthy may end up on some of these banned book lists because it does talk about racism. but these are the stories that we need now, and I'm going to continue writing these stories about the Hidden History, And to talk about these difficult subjects that I think kids understand on some level. but if they're not reading about it in books, then it's hard to spark a conversation with, educators or adults about it. So I think these books that I'm writing, that many of my friends and other children's book authors are writing are providing that. Sort of gateway to talk about, the topics that are so important right now.    Miko Lee: [00:55:29] Thank you so much for sharing, and thank you so much for being on Apex Express today. We appreciate your voice and the work that you're putting out there in the world. Is there anything else you'd like to say?   Andrea Wang: [00:55:39] you know, there's so much to say, I think just to. Stand up for what we all believe in and to, I encourage people to stand up for their intellectual freedom and that of their children.   Miko Lee: [00:55:56] Thank you, Andrea Wang. I appreciate hearing from you and hearing your voice and seeing your work out there in the world.    Andrea Wang: [00:56:03] Thank you so much, Miko. It was a pleasure.   Miko Lee: [00:56:05] Please check out our website, kpfa.org. To find out more about our show tonight. We thank all of you listeners out there. Keep resisting, keep organizing, keep creating and sharing your visions with the world because your voices are important. Apex Express is created by Miko Lee, Jalena Keane-Lee, Preti Mangala-Shekar, Swati Rayasam, Aisa Villarosa, Estella Owoimaha-Church, Gabriel Tanglao, Cheryl Truong and Ayame Keane-Lee.   The post APEX Express – 5.29.25 AAPI Children's Books appeared first on KPFA.

Lakeview once had a thriving Japanese community, but it fell victim to a push for assimilation. As one Japanese-American puts it: “You had to basically be unseen.”

Chelsea and Wade continue celebrating Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month. They discuss George Takei's graphic novel memoir "They Called Us Enemy" which recounts his childhood being incarcerated during World War II with other Japanese Americans.Don't forget to like, follow, or subscribe, and leave us a review! Let us know what you'd like us to cover next!  Follow us here!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/poddemastered/Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/poddemastered.bsky.socialFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodDemasteredYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@poddemasteredHave any topic requests, questions, or general comments? Send us an email at demasteredpodcast@gmail.com.Music: Switch Me On by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

On this Memorial Day, we turn to the life and legacy of Yukio Kawamoto. The Japanese-American World War II veteran served his country under almost unthinkable circumstances and then spent a lifetime building bridges between the two cultures he called his own. Amna Nawaz has the story for our ongoing series, Race Matters. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

History of Japanese-American (& Asian-American in general) exclusion in California.

Here we delve into Bolen's Japanese-American heritage and some of the mystical moments that have been guideposts in her life including a transformative moment as a Girl Scout in the mountains and sleeping under the stars. Bolen emphasizes the importance of love, joy, and curiosity in life, and the potential for spiritual support and collective consciousness. Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D. is a psychiatrist, a Jungian analyst, and an internationally known speaker. She is a former board member of the Ms. Foundation, an advocate for a 5th UN World Conference on Women and a convener of the Millionth Circle Initiative, as well as a permanent representative to the UN for the NGO, Pathways to Peace. She is the author of many books, including Ring of Power: Symbols and Themes Love Vs. Power in Wagner's Ring Cycle and in Us: A Jungian-Feminist Perspective (Jung on the Hudson Book Series) (Nicolas-Hays, Inc 1999) and Ever Widening Circles and Mystical Moments (Chiron Publications 2025)Interview Date: 2/14/2025 Tags: Jean Shinoda Bolen, Girl Scouts, Milky Way, mystical moments, Japanese American, resilience, spirit guides, synchronicity, life assignment, love, delight, joyfulness, Personal Transformation, Psychology

The girlies are back for part two of the immigration series to unpack our modern-day McCarthyism. Starting with a recap of current events (aka The Horrible Things Update), they pick up where they left off in history, discussing Japanese internment, the second Red Scare, post-9/11 surveillance, and how fear of the 'other' has always justified oppression. Digressions include Khloe Kardashian's venture into protein dust and the comforting fact that, as of today, sunlight is still legal to experience. We're going on tour!!!! Find tickets at https://linktr.ee/binchtopia  This episode was produced by Julia Hava and Eliza McLamb and edited by Allison Hagan. Research assistance from Kylie Finnigan. To support the podcast on Patreon and access 50+ bonus episodes, mediasodes, zoom hangouts and more, visit patreon.com/binchtopia and become a patron today. SOURCES:  ‘He is not a gang member': outrage as US deports makeup artist to El Salvador prison for crown tattoos At $5 Million Each, 1000 ‘Gold Card' Visas Have Been Sold. Could This Pay Off The US Debt? Ask a Historian: How Many Japanese Americans Were Incarcerated During WWII? Columbia University agrees to policy changes after Trump administration funding threats Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians Counterintelligence and Access to Transactional Records: A Practical History of USA PATRIOT Act Section 215 Eighty Years After the U.S. Incarcerated 120,000 Japanese Americans, Trauma and Scars Still Remain  Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations Edward Snowden Speaks Out: 'I Haven't And I Won't' Cooperate With Russia Fact check: Is Tren de Aragua invading the US, as Trump says? Florida lawmakers push legislation to weaken child labor laws  Forced to live in horse stalls. How one of America's worst injustices played out at Santa Anita Harvard Renames Diversity Office As Trump Demands Dismantling of DEI Harvard, Under Pressure, Revamps D.E.I. Office Harvard Will Not Fund Affinity Group Graduation Celebrations Following Ed Department Warning  Higher education, federal government ‘intimately connected' History of the Certificate of Citizenship, 1790–1956 Hollywood Ten How U.S. immigration laws and rules have changed through history HUAC   ICE Arrests Nearly 800 in Florida in Operation With Local Officers ICE deported 3 children who are U.S. citizens, their families' lawyers say   Immigration and Naturalization in the Western Tradition Invocation of the Alien Enemies Act Regarding the Invasion of The United States by Tren De Aragua Japanese Internment Camps Judge Blocks Deportations of Venezuelans Under Wartime Law Law from the 1950s may play role in Columbia University student deportation case   Maryland judge orders return of second man deported to El Salvador in violation of court order  McCarran Internal Security Act of 1950 (1950) McCarthyism / The "Red Scare"  McCarthyism and the Red Scare Memorializing Incarceration: The Japanese American Experience in World War II and Beyondlocked National Security Entry-Exit Registration System Of Spies and G-Men: How the U.S. Government Turned Japanese Americans into Enemies of the State PATRIOT Act    Redress and Reparations for Japanese American Incarceration The Alien Enemies Act, Explained The Alien Enemies Act Is a Weak Argument for Deportation The Alien Enemies Act Paved the Way for Japanese American Incarceration. Let's Keep It in the Past. The Alien Enemies Act: The One Alien and Sedition Act Still on the Books The case of Edward Snowden This Is What Detention Under the Alien Enemies Act Looked Like in World War II Truman's Loyalty Program Trump is promising deportations under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. What is it? Trump May Seek Judicial Oversight of Columbia, Potentially for Years  Trump officials issue quotas to ICE officers to ramp up arrests U.S. Immigration Timeline Venezuela minister says no Tren de Aragua members among US deportees When John Adams Signed a Law to Authorize Deportations and Jail Critics World War II Japanese Americans Incarceration: Justice Denied  

In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, we bring you an episode from Inheriting Season One. Inheriting is a show about Asian American and Pacific Islander families, which explores how one event in history can ripple through generations. Leah Bash is an avid runner, a dog mom, a wife – and there’s a part of her family’s history she can’t stop thinking about. The fact that both sides of her family were incarcerated alongside 125,000 other Japanese Americans during World War II. Her father and his six siblings spent more than three years behind barbed wire at isolated camps in Manzanar, California and Crystal City, Texas. After Leah learns about her father’s struggles with panic attacks and is herself diagnosed with bipolar disorder, she starts to wonder: could those experiences at camp during World War II have far-reaching consequences a generation later?

There would be no true crime without this man!! What do Marilyn Monroe, Sharon Tate, and Robert F. Kennedy have in common? They were all investigated by Dr. Thomas Noguchi, the so-called “Coroner to the Stars.” In this episode of For the Love of History, host TK sits down with author and researcher Anne Choi to talk about her book L.A. Coroner, which unpacks the bizarre true story of how one Japanese American forensic pathologist turned celebrity death into public drama while navigating life as a first-generation immigrant. We dive into the racial politics behind Dr. Noguchi's fame, how the media turned autopsies into headlines, and why Noguchi's legacy still looms large in L.A.'s culture of death and spectacle. If you're into forensic history, medical ethics, or the strange intersection of race, fame, and mortality, this episode is for you.

Ralph welcomes back Erica Payne, founder of Patriotic Millionaires, to update us on that group's latest efforts to save American democracy by lobbying to raise wages for workers and tax the rich. Plus, according to our resident constitutional expert, Bruce Fein, the count of Trump's impeachable offenses is now up to twenty-two and rising faster than a Space X rocket.Erica Payne is the founder and president of Patriotic Millionaires, an organization of high-net-worth individuals that aims to restructure America's political economy to suit the needs of all Americans. Their work includes advocating for a highly progressive tax system, a livable minimum wage, and equal political representation for all citizens. She is the co-author, with Morris Pearl, of Tax the Rich: How Lies, Loopholes and Lobbyists Make the Rich Even Richer.What we saw on January 20th, I believe, was the result of a global oligarchical coup who just took the Queen on the chessboard. When you've got three people whose combined worth is around a trillion dollars standing behind who is an unethical at least, criminal at worst billionaire president, Houston, we have a problem here. And the problem is not actually Donald Trump. The problem is the preconditions that led to the rise of a vulnerability to an authoritarian leader and an oligarchy. And that vulnerability was brought about by the actions of both parties over decades.Erica PayneIf you ran a business, Ralph, would you ever fire your accounts receivable department? No. It would be the last department you would cut. So then it says he's either stupid because that's what he's cutting, which I think is probably inaccurate. So if he's not stupid, then why is he doing it? And he's doing it for the same reason that lawmakers have hacked at the IRS budget forever—they don't want their donors to get taxed. They don't want their donors to be audited. And so they cut the cops. So all these folks who are griping about black Americans calling to defund the police are actually defunding the police that is keeping them in line and keeping them honest.Erica PayneAt a divided moment in America, I think we can agree that the federal government shouldn't tax people into poverty, and (to the extent necessary) rich people should pick up the difference.Erica PayneBruce Fein is a Constitutional scholar and an expert on international law. Mr. Fein was Associate Deputy Attorney General under Ronald Reagan and he is the author of Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for Our Constitution and Democracy, and American Empire: Before the Fall.I start out with the fundamental idea of due process—you simply cannot deprive someone of liberty without giving them an opportunity to explain or to refute what allegations the government has made. And the reason why I start out with that, Ralph, is we've had an experiment in World War II with what happens when you have no due process. We did that with 120,000 Japanese Americans. No, we just said that they're all likely to commit espionage or sabotage, got to put them in concentration camps. We made 120,000 errors (and later apologized for it in 1988). So there's a reason due process is not simply an academic concept. It's essential to preventing these kinds of egregious instances of injustice from happening.Bruce FeinThe Democrats and a lot of liberal economists are not keeping up with the horror show that's going on. They don't use words like cruel and vicious. They don't turn Trump's words like deranged, crazed, corrupt on him. They're still using words like authoritarian practices, or problematic, or distressing, or disconcerting, or concerning. They're not catching up with the horror show here. That's why Trump continues to have a soliloquy. The Democratic Party is now having gatherings to see how are they going to collectively deal with Trump? How does a bank deal with a bank robber? They let the bank robber rob the bank and flee with the gold while they deliberate how they're going to deal with a bank robber they see coming into the bank?Ralph NaderNews 5/2/251. At the eleventh hour, Representative Jim Jordan – Chair of the House Judiciary Committee – pulled his measure to strip the Federal Trade Commission of its antitrust enforcement powers and consolidate those within the Justice Department, Reuters reports. “The House panel…had included the proposal in its budget package on Monday. During a hearing on the package…the committee passed an amendment that would remove the measure.” Trump's FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson opposed Jordan's move and intervened with the White House. As Reuters notes, “The proposal mirrored the One Agency Act, a Republican bill that has gotten support from Elon Musk…[which] would effectively repeal the FTC's...authority to sue companies over unfair methods of competition, which the agency is using in cases against pharmacy benefit managers, Amazon…and John Deere.” In short, the FTC's antitrust powers survive today, but there is no guarantee about tomorrow.2. Yet, while avoiding the worst possible outcome on the corporate crime front, the Trump administration is still hard at work going soft on corporate crooks. Public Citizen's Rick Claypool reports “Two Wells Fargo execs had their fines reduced by 90% (related to the bank's accounting scandal) by Trump's [Office of the Comptroller of the Currency].” Claypool links to a piece in Radical Compliance, which explains that “David Julian, former chief auditor at Wells Fargo, saw his fines cut from $7 million to $100,000 [and] Paul McLinko, executive audit director, had his fines cut from $1.5 million to $50,000.” Both Julian and McLinko were part of the senior leadership team at Wells Fargo in the 2010s, when regulators “charged the bank with turning a blind eye to employees opening bank accounts without customer consent to hit sales quotas. That misconduct eventually led to a $3 billion settlement with Wells Fargo in 2020.”3. Lest you think the Democrats are in danger of seriously opposing Trump's policies, the Bulwark reports that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is putting the kibosh on the recent spate of Democrats' trips to El Salvador exposing the reality of the CECOT deportation scheme. This report alleges that “Cory Booker and the Hispanic Caucus were planning on going [to El Salvador],” but are no longer. Perhaps worse, Jeffries is not giving clear marching orders to the party rank and file. One Democrat is quoted saying “As a member of a party you need to be disciplined…They say, ‘Get on a plane,' ‘Don't get on a plane'—that's what you do. Nine out ten times you do what they ask. But you can't take that approach if you're not having regular communications… You have to be clear in messaging what the plan is and you have to do that regularly if you want to keep people in line.” This is just another example of Jeffries' weak and indecisive leadership of the caucus.4. Advocates are having more luck resisting the administration's overreach in court. On Wednesday, Mohsen Mahdawi – the Columbia student faced with deportation after being lured into an ICE trap with the false promise of a citizenship test – was freed by a federal judge, POLITICO reports. After the judge ordered his release, Mahdawi told the press “I am saying it clear and loud…To President Trump and his Cabinet: I am not afraid of you.” Mahdawi's ordeal is not over, but he will remain free while his case winds its way through the courts and a previous order blocked the administration from changing venues, meaning the case will proceed in the relatively liberal Second Circuit.5. Mahmoud Khalil also scored a major legal victory this week. The Huffington Post reports that the ICE agents sent to arrest Khalil did not, contrary to their false claims in court, have an arrest warrant. Amy Greer, a lawyer for Khalil, is quoted saying “Today, we now know why [the government] never showed Mahmoud [a] warrant — they didn't have one. This is clearly yet another desperate attempt by the Trump administration to justify its unlawful arrest and detention of human rights defender Mahmoud Khalil, who is now, by the government's own tacit admission, a political prisoner of the United States.” The ACLU, also defending Khalil, has now moved for this case to be dismissed.6. Despite these victories though, the repression of anything pro-Palestine continues. At Yale, Prem Thakker reports hundreds of students protested in advance of a speech by Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel's radical National Security Minister who has previously been arrested many times for inciting racism and supporting pro-Jewish terrorism in Israel itself. Yet the university responded by “stripp[ing] the school's Students for Justice in Palestine Chapter…of its status as an official student group.” If students cannot even protest Ben-Gvir, what will the colleges regard as legitimate protest of Israel?7. In Yemen, Ryan Grim reports on CounterPoints that the Trump administration has been targeting strikes against the Houthis using data gleaned from amateur Open-Source Intelligence or OSINT accounts on X, formerly Twitter. Unsurprisingly, these are completely inaccurate and have led to disastrous strikes on civilians' homes, incorrectly identifying them as “Houthi bases.” One of these accounts is based in Houston, Texas, and another as far away as the Netherlands.8. According to a new World Bank report, Mexico reduced poverty more than any other Latin American country between 2018 and 2023. Not coincidentally, this lines up almost perfectly with the AMLO years in Mexico, which saw a massive increase in the Mexican minimum wage along with other social rights and protections. These policies are now being taken forward by AMLO's successor Claudia Sheinbaum, whose popularity has now surpassed even that of her predecessor, per Bloomberg.9. In Australia, Virginia Giuffre – the most outspoken accuser of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislane Maxwell – has passed away at the age of 41, the BBC reports. Police concluded that Ms. Giuffre died by suicide and her family released a statement indicating that the “toll of abuse... became unbearable.” Yet, her death was preceded by a bizarre chain of events. On March 31st, the BBC reported that Ms. Giuffre's car collided with a school bus, sending her into renal failure with her doctors saying she had “four days to live.” The Miami Herald also reported “At the time of her death, Giuffre had been in a contentious divorce and child custody battle with her husband, Robert.” The family's statement continued “The death is being investigated by Major Crime detectives; [but] early indication is the death is not suspicious.” One can only hope more details come to light.10. Finally, in a different kind of bizarre story, embattled incumbent New York City Mayor Eric Adams – who has already given up on the Democratic primary and was running for reelection as an independent – will now appear on two new ballot lines “EndAntiSemitism” and “Safe&Affordable,” POLITICO reports. Adams has gone to great lengths to cultivate and maintain his support in the Orthodox Jewish community in New York and is seeking to highlight his strengths and undercut former Governor Andrew Cuomo. Apparently, Adams only needs to secure 3,750 signatures from voters by May 27 for each of these ballot lines, a shockingly low threshold for the largest city in America. These ballot lines will appear without spaces, coming in just under the wire for the city's 15-character limit on ballot lines.This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe

After last week's episode, “The Emergency Is Here,” we got a lot of emails. And the most common reply was: You really think we'll have midterm elections in 2026? Isn't that naïve?I think we will have midterms. But one reason I think so many people are skeptical of that is they're working with comparisons to other places: Mussolini's Italy, Putin's Russia, Pinochet's Chile.But we don't need to look abroad for parallels; it has happened here.Steven Hahn is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian at New York University and the author of “Illiberal America: A History.” In this conversation, he walks me through some of the most illiberal periods in American history: Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act of 1830, Jim Crow, the Red Scare, Japanese American internment, Operation Wetback. And we discuss how this legacy can help us better understand what's happening right now.This episode contains strong language.Book Recommendations:Democracy in America by Alexis de TocquevilleFrom the War on Poverty to the War on Crime by Elizabeth HintonTroubled Memory by Lawrence N. PowellThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.You can find the transcript and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.htmlThis episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Jack McCordick, Annie Galvin and Elias Isquith. Fact-checking by Kate Sinclair, Mary Marge Locker and Michelle Harris. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Aman Sahota and Isaac Jones. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show's production team also includes Marie Cascione, Rollin Hu, Marina King, Jan Kobal and Kristin Lin. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The Trump administration just took things to a chilling new level — deporting people to foreign prisons without due process. They're using the Alien Enemies Act — a law last invoked to justify the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII — to deport 137 Venezuelans to El Salvador, where they're now being held in a notorious, crowded mega-prison where visitation and recreation are forbidden. Meanwhile, Chuck Schumer's decision to back the GOP's spending bill has sparked fierce backlash from Democrats across the board. Jon, Lovett, and Tommy break down the administration's defiance of the courts and debate both sides of the shutdown fight. Then, Dan talks to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries about his break with Schumer and how Democrats can unite against the Trump administration.

Rachel Maddow shares the amazing, historic story of how former Senator Alan Simpson and former Representative Norm Mineta partnered on hearings into the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, and why Donald Trump's reported plan to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which was used to justify Japanese internment, is raising alarm.