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Welcome to Season 6, Episode 01! Happy New Year! Our guest today is Peter Jae, a multi-hyphenate performer in Hollywood. Peter Jae is an actor, stunt performer, producer, and multidisciplinary creative with over two decades of experience working across film, television, and independent projects. Born in Brooklyn and raised primarily in the Bronx—with time spent in Queens as well—Peter grew up navigating identity as a Korean American in predominantly Black and Latinx neighborhoods. Those early experiences deeply shaped his worldview and continue to inform the stories he chooses to tell and the characters he brings to life. Before entering Hollywood, Peter pursued a wide range of creative paths. He attended a performing arts high school, studied menswear design at the Fashion Institute of Technology, and even launched his own urban greeting-card business. That early blend of art, entrepreneurship, and storytelling set the tone for a career defined by versatility rather than a single lane. Although his first opportunities in Hollywood were focused on stunt work and action, he has expanded into more substantial acting roles, appearing in projects such as Blackhat, Olympus Has Fallen, and numerous television productions. He is especially recognized for his work in Ktown Cowboys, an Asian American–led project that allowed him to portray a multidimensional Korean American character—something he has long advocated for in an industry that often limits Asian men to narrow stereotypes. Most recently, Peter stars in The Workout, an independent action-driven film that blends physical intensity with psychological tension. The story centers on discipline, survival, and the personal battles that unfold when routine, control, and identity collide—both inside and outside the gym. The film highlights Peter's ability to merge his background in stunts with grounded dramatic performance, reinforcing his reputation as an actor who brings authenticity and depth to physically demanding roles. You can follow Peter Jae and his latest work on Instagram at @peterjaenyla. 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.

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's show features Asian Refugees United and Lavender Phoenix in conversation about art, culture, and organizing, and how artists help us imagine and build liberation. Important Links: Lavender Phoenix: Website | Instagram Asian Refugees United: Website | Instagram | QTViệt Cafe Collective Transcript: Cheryl: Hey everyone. Good evening. You tuned in to APEX Express. I'm your host, Cheryl, and tonight is an AACRE Night. AACRE, which is short for Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality is a network made up of 11 Asian American social justice organizations who work together to build long-term movements for justice. Across the AACRE network, our groups are organizing against deportations, confronting anti-blackness, xenophobia, advancing language justice, developing trans and queer leaders, and imagine new systems of safety and care. It's all very good, very important stuff. And all of this from the campaigns to the Organizing to Movement building raises a question that I keep coming back to, which is, where does art live In all of this, Acts of resistance do not only take place in courtrooms or city halls. It takes place wherever people are still able to imagine. It is part of how movements survive and and grow. Art is not adjacent to revolution, but rather it is one of its most enduring forms, and tonight's show sits in that very spirit, and I hope that by the end of this episode, maybe you'll see what I mean. I;d like to bring in my friends from Lavender Phoenix, a trans queer API organization, building people power in the Bay Area, who are also a part of the AACRE Network. This summer, Lavender Phoenix held a workshop that got right to the heart of this very question that we're sitting with tonight, which is what is the role of the artist in social movements? As they were planning the workshop, they were really inspired by a quote from Toni Cade Bambara, who in an interview from 1982 said, as a cultural worker who belongs to an oppressed people, my job is to make the revolution irresistible. So that raises a few questions worth slowing down for, which are, who was Toni Cade Bambara? What does it mean to be a cultural organizer and why does that matter? Especially in this political moment? Lavender Phoenix has been grappling with these questions in practice, and I think they have some powerful answers to share. So without further ado, I'd like to introduce you to angel who is a member of Lavender Phoenix. Angel: My name is Angel. I use he and she pronouns, and I'm part of the communications committee at LavNix. So, let's explore what exactly is the meaning of cultural work.  Cultural workers are the creators of narratives through various forms of artistic expression, and we literally drive the production of culture. Cultural work reflects the perspectives and attitudes of artists and therefore the people and communities that they belong to. Art does not exist in a vacuum. You may have heard the phrase before. Art is always political. It serves a purpose to tell a story, to document the times to perpetuate and give longevity to ideas. It may conform to the status quo or choose to resist it. I wanted to share a little bit about one cultural worker who's made a really big impact and paved the way for how we think about cultural work and this framework. Toni Cade Bambara was a black feminist, cultural worker, writer, and organizer whose literary work celebrated black art, culture and life, and radically supported a movement for collective liberation. She believed that it's the artist's role to serve the community they belong to, and that an artist is of no higher status than a factory worker, social worker, or teacher. Is the idea of even reframing art making as cultural work. Reclaimed the arts from the elite capitalist class and made clear that it is work, it does not have more value than or take precedence over any other type of movement work. This is a quote from an interview from 1982 when Toni Cade Bambara said, as a cultural worker who belongs to an oppressed people, my job is to make revolution irresistible. But in this country, we're not encouraged and equipped at any particular time to view things that way. And so the artwork or the art practice that sells that capitalist ideology is considered art. And anything that deviates from that is considered political, propagandist, polemical, or didactic, strange, weird, subversive or ugly. Cheryl: After reading that quote, angel then invited the workshop participants to think about what that means for them. What does it mean to make the revolution irresistible? After giving people a bit of time to reflect, angel then reads some of the things that were shared in the chat. Angel: I want my art to point out the inconsistencies within our society to surprised, enraged, elicit a strong enough reaction that they feel they must do something. Cheryl: Another person said, Angel: I love that art can be a way of bridging relationships. Connecting people together, building community. Cheryl: And someone else said. Angel: I want people to feel connected to my art, find themselves in it, and have it make them think and realize that they have the ability to do something themselves. Cheryl: I think what is rather striking in these responses that Angel has read aloud to what it means to make art that makes the revolution irresistible isn't just aesthetics alone, but rather its ability to help us connect and communicate and find one another to enact feelings and responses in each other. It's about the way it makes people feel implicated and connected and also capable of acting. Tony Cade Bambara when she poses that the role of cultural workers is to make the revolution irresistible is posing to us a challenge to tap into our creativity and create art that makes people unable to return comfortably to the world as is, and it makes revolution necessary, desirable not as an abstract idea, but as something people can want and move towards  now I'm going to invite Jenica, who is the cultural organizer at Lavender Phoenix to break down for us why we need cultural work in this political moment. . Speaker: Jenica: So many of us as artists have really internalized the power of art and are really eager to connect it to the movement.  This section is about answering this question of why is cultural work important.  Cultural work plays a really vital role in organizing and achieving our political goals, right? So if our goal is to advance radical solutions to everyday people, we also have to ask ourselves how are we going to reach those peoples? Ideas of revolution and liberation are majorly inaccessible to the masses, to everyday people. Families are being separated. Attacks on the working class are getting worse and worse. How are we really propping up these ideas of revolution, especially right in America, where propaganda for the state, for policing, for a corrupt government runs really high. Therefore our messaging in political organizing works to combat that propaganda. So in a sense we have to make our own propaganda. So let's look at this term together. Propaganda is art that we make that accurately reflects and makes people aware of the true nature of the conditions of their oppression and inspires them to take control of transforming this condition. We really want to make art that seeks to make the broader society aware of its implications in the daily violences, facilitated in the name of capitalism, imperialism, and shows that error of maintaining or ignoring the status quo. So it's really our goal to arm people with the tools to better struggle against their own points of views, their ways of thinking, because not everyone is already aligned with like revolution already, right? No one's born an organizer. No one's born 100% willing to be in this cause. So, we really focus on the creative and cultural processes, as artists build that revolutionary culture. Propaganda is really a means of liberation. It's an instrument to help clarify information education and a way to mobilize our people. And not only that, our cultural work can really model to others what it's like to envision a better world for ourselves, right? Our imagination can be so expansive when it comes to creating art. As organizers and activists when we create communication, zines, et cetera, we're also asking ourselves, how does this bring us one step closer to revolution? How are we challenging the status quo? So this is exactly what our role as artists is in this movement. It's to create propaganda that serves two different purposes. One, subvert the enemy and cultivate a culture that constantly challenges the status quo. And also awaken and mobilize the people. How can we, through our art, really uplift the genuine interests of the most exploited of people of the working class, of everyday people who are targets of the state and really empower those whose stories are often kept outside of this master narrative. Because when they are talked about, people in power will often misrepresent marginalized communities. An example of this, Lavender Phoenix, a couple years ago took up this campaign called Justice for Jaxon Sales. Trigger warning here, hate crime, violence against queer people and death. Um, so Jaxon Sales was a young, queer, Korean adoptee living in the Bay Area who went on a blind like dating app date and was found dead the next morning in a high-rise apartment in San Francisco. Lavender Phoenix worked really closely and is still connected really closely with Jaxon's parents, Jim and Angie Solas to really fight, and organize for justice for Jaxon and demand investigation into what happened to him and his death, and have answers for his family. I bring that up, this campaign because when his parents spoke to the chief medical examiner in San Francisco, they had told his family Jaxon died of an accidental overdose he was gay. Like gay people just these kinds of drugs. So that was the narrative that was being presented to us from the state. Like literally, their own words: he's dead because he's gay. And our narrative, as we continue to organize and support his family, was to really address the stigma surrounding drug use. Also reiterating the fact that justice was deserved for Jaxon, and that no one should ever have to go through this. We all deserve to be safe, that a better world is possible. So that's an example of combating the status quo and then uplifting the genuine interest of our people and his family. One of our key values at Lavender Phoenix is honoring our histories, because the propaganda against our own people is so intense. I just think about the everyday people, the working class, our immigrant communities and ancestors, other queer and trans people of color that really fought so hard to have their story told. So when we do this work and think about honoring our histories, let's also ask ourselves what will we do to keep those stories alive? Cheryl: We're going to take a quick music break and listen to some music by Namgar, an international ethno music collective that fuses traditional Buryat and Mongolian music with pop, jazz, funk, ambient soundscapes, and art- pop. We'll be back in just a moment with more after we listen to “part two” by Namgar.    Cheryl: Welcome back.  You are tuned in to APEX express on 94.1 KPFA and 89.3 KPFB B in Berkeley and online at kpfa.org.  That song you just heard was “part two” by Namgar, an incredible four- piece Buryat- Mongolian ensemble that is revitalizing and preserving the Buryat language and culture through music. For those just tuning in tonight's episode of APEX Express is all about the role of the artist in social movements. We're joined by members of Lavender Phoenix, often referred to as LavNix, which is a grassroots organization in the Bay Area building Trans and queer API Power. You can learn more about their work in our show notes. We talked about why cultural work is a core part of organizing. We grounded that conversation in the words of Toni Cade Bambara, who said in a 1982 interview, as a cultural worker who belongs to an oppressed people, my job is to make revolution irresistible. We unpacked what that looks like in practice and lifted up Lavender Phoenix's Justice for Jaxon Sales campaign as a powerful example of cultural organizing, which really demonstrates how art and narrative work and cultural work are essential to building power Now Jenica from Levner Phoenix is going to walk us through some powerful examples of cultural organizing that have occurred in social movements across time and across the world. Speaker: Jenica: Now we're going to look at some really specific examples of powerful cultural work in our movements. For our framework today, we'll start with an international example, then a national one, a local example, and then finally one from LavNix. As we go through them, we ask that you take notes on what makes these examples, impactful forms of cultural work. How does it subvert the status quo? How is it uplifting the genuine interest of the people? Our international example is actually from the Philippines. Every year, the Corrupt Philippines president delivers a state of the nation address to share the current conditions of the country. However, on a day that the people are meant to hear about the genuine concrete needs of the Filipino masses, they're met instead with lies and deceit that's broadcasted and also built upon like years of disinformation and really just feeds the selfish interests of the ruling class and the imperialist powers. In response to this, every year, BAYAN, which is an alliance in the Philippines with overseas chapters here in the US as well. Their purpose is to fight for the national sovereignty and genuine democracy in the Philippines, they hold a Peoples' State of the Nation Address , or PSONA, to protest and deliver the genuine concerns and demands of the masses. So part of PSONA are effigies. Effigies have been regular fixtures in protest rallies, including PSONA. So for those of you who don't know, an effigy is a sculptural representation, often life size of a hated person or group. These makeshift dummies are used for symbolic punishment in political protests, and the figures are often burned. In the case of PSONA, these effigies are set on fire by protestors criticizing government neglect, especially of the poor. Lisa Ito, who is a progressive artists explained that the effigy is constructed not only as a mockery of the person represented, but also of the larger system that his or her likeness embodies. Ito pointed out that effigies have evolved considerably as a form of popular protest art in the Philippines, used by progressive people's movements, not only to entertain, but also to agitate, mobilize and capture the sentiments of the people. This year, organizers created this effigy that they titled ‘ZomBBM,' ‘Sara-nanggal' . This is a play on words calling the corrupt president of the Philippines, Bongbong Marcos, or BBM, a zombie. And the vice president Sara Duterte a Manananggal, which is a, Filipino vampire to put it in short, brief words. Organizers burnt this effigy as a symbol of DK and preservation of the current ruling class. I love this effigy so much. You can see BBM who's depicted like his head is taken off and inside of his head is Trump because he's considered like a puppet president of the Philippines just serving US interests. Awesome. I'm gonna pass it to Angel for our national perspective. Angel: Our next piece is from the national perspective and it was in response to the AIDS crisis. The global pandemic of HIV AIDS began in 1981 and continues today. AIDS is the late stage of HIV infection, human immunodeficiency virus, and this crisis has been marked largely by government indifference, widespread stigma against gay people, and virtually no federal funding towards research or services for everyday people impacted. There was a really devastating lack of public attention about the seriousness of HIV. The Ronald Reagan administration treated the crisis as a joke because of its association with gay men, and Reagan didn't even publicly acknowledge AIDS until 19 85, 4 years into the pandemic. Thousands of HIV positive people across backgrounds and their supporters organize one of the most influential patient advocacy groups in history. They called themselves the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power or ACT up. They ultimately organize and force the government and the scientific community to fundamentally change the way medical research is conducted. Paving the way for the discovery of a treatment that today keeps alive, an estimated half million HIV positive Americans and millions more worldwide. Sarah Schulman, a writer and former member of ACT Up, wrote a list of ACT UPS achievements, including changing the CDC C'S definition of aids to include women legalizing needle exchange in New York City and establishing housing services for HIV positive unhoused people. To highlight some cultural work within ACT Up, the AIDS activist artist Collective Grand Fury formed out of ACT Up and CR and created works for the public sphere that drew attention to the medical, moral and public issues related to the AIDS crisis. Essentially, the government was fine with the mass deaths and had a large role in the active killing off of people who are not just queer, but people who are poor working class and of color. We still see parallels in these roadblocks. Today, Trump is cutting public healthcare ongoing, and in recent memory, the COVID crisis, the political situation of LGBTQ people then and now is not divorced from this class analysis. So in response, we have the AIDS Memorial Quilt, this collective installation memorializes people who died in the US from the AIDS crisis and from government neglect. Each panel is dedicated to a life lost and created by hand by their friends, family, loved ones, and community. This artwork was originally conceived by Cleve Jones in SF for the 1985 candlelight March, and later it was expanded upon and displayed in Washington DC in 1987. Its enormity demonstrated the sheer number at which queer folk were killed in the hiv aids crisis, as well as created a space in the public for dialogue about the health disparities that harm and silence our community. Today, it's returned home to San Francisco and can be accessed through an interactive online archive. 50,000 individual panels and around a hundred thousand names make up the patchwork quilt, which is insane, and it's one of the largest pieces of grassroots community art in the world. Moving on to a more local perspective. In the Bay Area, we're talking about the Black Panther Party. So in October of 1966 in Oakland, California, Huey Newton and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther Party for self-defense. The Panthers practiced militant self-defense of black communities against the US government and fought to establish socialism through organizing and community-based programs. The Black Panthers began by organizing arm patrols of black people to monitor the Oakland Police Department and challenge rampant rampant police brutality. At its peak, the party had offices in 68 cities and thousands of members. The party's 10 point program was a set of demands, guidelines, and values, calling for self-determination, full employment of black people, and the end of exploitation of black workers housing for all black people, and so much more. The party's money programs directly addressed their platform as they instituted a free B Breakfast for Children program to address food scarcity Founded community health clinics to address the lack of adequate, adequate healthcare for black people and treat sickle cell anemia, tuberculosis, and HIV aids and more. The cultural work created by the Black Panther Party included the Black Panther Party newspaper known as the Black Panther. It was a four page newsletter in Oakland, California in 1967. It was the main publication of the party and was soon sold in several large cities across the US as well as having an international readership. The Black Panther issue number two. The newspaper, distributed information about the party's activities and expressed through articles, the ideology of the Black Panther Party, focusing on both international revolutions as inspiration and contemporary racial struggles of African Americans across the United States. Solidarity with other resistance movements was a major draw for readers. The paper's international section reported on liberation struggles across the world. Under Editor-in-Chief, David Du Bois, the stepson of WEB Du Bois, the section deepened party support for revolutionary efforts in South Africa and Cuba. Copies of the paper traveled abroad with students and activists and were tra translated into Hebrew and Japanese. It reflected that the idea of resistance to police oppression had spread like wildfire. Judy Juanita, a former editor in Chief Ads, it shows that this pattern of oppression was systemic. End quote. Paper regularly featured fiery rhetoric called out racist organizations and was unabashed in its disdain for the existing political system. Its first cover story reported on the police killing of Denzel Doel, a 22-year-old black man in Richmond, California. In all caps, the paper stated, brothers and sisters, these racist murders are happening every day. They could happen to any one of us. And it became well known for its bold cover art, woodcut style images of protestors, armed panthers, and police depicted as bloodied pigs. Speaker: Jenica: I'm gonna go into the LavNix example of cultural work that we've done. For some context, we had mentioned that we are taking up this campaign called Care Not Cops. Just to give some brief background to LavNix, as systems have continued to fail us, lavender Phoenix's work has always been about the safety of our communities. We've trained people in deescalation crisis intervention set up counseling networks, right? Then in 2022, we had joined the Sales family to fight for justice for Jaxon Sales. And with them we demanded answers for untimely death from the sheriff's department and the medical examiner. Something we noticed during that campaign is that every year we watch as people in power vote on another city budget that funds the same institutions that hurt our people and steal money from our communities. Do people know what the budget is for the San Francisco Police Department? Every year, we see that city services and programs are gutted. Meanwhile, this year, SFPD has $849 million, and the sheriff has $345 million. So, honestly, policing in general in the city is over $1 billion. And they will not experience any cuts. Their bloated budgets will remain largely intact. We've really been watching, Mayor Lurie , his first months and like, honestly like first more than half a year, with a lot of concern. We've seen him declare the unlawful fentanyl state of emergency, which he can't really do, and continue to increase police presence downtown. Ultimately we know that mayor Lurie and our supervisors need to hear from us everyday people who demand care, not cops. So that leads me into our cultural work. In March of this year, lavender Phoenix had collaborated with youth organizations across the city, youth groups from Chinese Progressive Association, PODER, CYC, to host a bilingual care, not cops, zine making workshop for youth. Our organizers engaged with the youth with agitating statistics on the egregious SFPD budget, and facilitated a space for them to warm up their brains and hearts to imagine a world without prisons and policing. And to really further envision one that centers on care healing for our people, all through art. What I really learned is that working class San Francisco youth are the ones who really know the city's fascist conditions the most intimately. It's clear through their zine contributions that they've really internalized these intense forms of policing in the schools on the streets with the unhoused, witnessing ice raids and fearing for their families. The zine was really a collective practice with working class youth where they connected their own personal experiences to the material facts of policing in the city, the budget, and put those experiences to paper.   Cheryl: Hey everyone. Cheryl here. So we've heard about Effigies in the Philippines, the AIDS Memorial Quilt, the Black Panther Party's newspaper, the Black Panther and Lavender Phoenix's Care Cop zine. Through these examples, we've learned about cultural work and art and narrative work on different scales internationally, nationally, locally and organizationally. With lavender Phoenix. What we're seeing is across movements across time. Cultural work has always been central to organizing. We're going to take another music break, but when we return, I'll introduce you to our next speaker. Hai, from Asian Refugees United, who will walk us through, their creative practice, which is food, as a form of cultural resistance, and we'll learn about how food ways can function as acts of survival, resistance, and also decolonization. So stay with us more soon when we return.   Cheryl: And we're back!!. You're listening to APEX express on 94.1 KPFA, 89.3 KPFB in Berkeley. 88.1. KFCF in Fresno and online@kpfa.org. That was “Juniper” by Minjoona, a project led by Korean American musician, Jackson Wright.  huge thanks to Jackson and the whole crew behind that track.  I am here with Hai from Asian Refugees United, who is a member QTViet Cafe Collective. A project under Asian Refugees United. QTViet Viet Cafe is a creative cultural hub that is dedicated to queer and trans viet Liberation through ancestral practices, the arts and intergenerational connection. This is a clip from what was a much longer conversation. This episode is all about the role of the artist in social movements and I think Hai brings a very interesting take to the conversation. Hai (ARU): I think that what is helping me is one, just building the muscle. So when we're so true to our vision and heart meets mind and body. So much of what QTViet Cafe is, and by extension Asian refugees and like, we're really using our cultural arts and in many ways, whether that's movement or poetry or written word or song or dance. And in many ways I've had a lot of experience in our food ways, and reclaiming those food ways. That's a very embodied experience. We're really trying to restore wholeness and health and healing in our communities, in our bodies and our minds and our families and our communities that have been displaced because of colonization, imperialism, capitalism. And so how do we restore, how do we have a different relationship and how do we restore? I think that from moving from hurt to healing is life and art. And so we need to take risk and trying to define life through art and whatever means that we can to make meaning and purpose and intention. I feel like so much of what art is, is trying to make meaning of the hurt in order to bring in more healing in our lives. For so long, I think I've been wanting a different relationship to food. For example, because I grew up section eight, food stamps, food bank. My mom and my parents doing the best they could, but also, yeah, grew up with Viet food, grew up with ingredients for my parents making food, mostly my mom that weren't necessarily all the best. And I think compared to Vietnam, where it's easier access. And there's a different kind of system around, needs around food and just easier access, more people are involved around the food system in Vietnam I think growing up in Turtle Island and seeing my parents struggle not just with food, but just with money and jobs it's just all connected. And I think that impacted my journey and. My own imbalance around health and I became a byproduct of diabetes and high cholesterol and noticed that in my family. So when I noticed, when I had type two diabetes when I was 18, made the conscious choice to, I knew I needed to have some type of, uh, I need to have a different relationship to my life and food included and just like cut soda, started kind of what I knew at the time, exercising as ways to take care of my body. And then it's honestly been now a 20 year journey of having a different relationship to not just food, but health and connection to mind, body, spirit. For me, choosing to have a different relationship in my life, like that is a risk. Choosing to eat something different like that is both a risk and an opportunity. For me that's like part of movement building like you have to. Be so in tune with my body to notice and the changes that are needed in order to live again. When I noticed, you know, , hearing other Viet folks experiencing diet related stuff and I think knowing what I know also, like politically around what's happening around our food system, both for the vie community here and also in Vietnam, how do we, how can this regular act of nourishing ourselves both be not just in art, something that should actually just honestly be an everyday need and an everyday symbol of caregiving and caretaking and care that can just be part of our everyday lives. I want a world where, it's not just one night where we're tasting the best and eating the best and being nourished, just in one Saturday night, but that it's just happening all the time because we're in right relationship with ourselves and each other and the earth that everything is beauty and we don't have to take so many risks because things are already in its natural divine. I think it takes being very conscious of our circumstances and our surroundings and our relationships with each other for that to happen. I remember reading in my early twenties, reading the role of, bring Coke basically to Vietnam during the war. I was always fascinated like, why are, why is Coke like on Viet altars all the time? And I always see them in different places. Whenever I would go back to Vietnam, I remember when I was seven and 12. Going to a family party and the classic shiny vinyl plastic, floral like sheet on a round table and the stools, and then these beautiful platters of food. But I'm always like, why are we drinking soda or coke and whatever else? My dad and the men and then my family, like drinking beer. And I was like, why? I've had periods in my life when I've gotten sick, physically and mentally sick. Those moments open up doors to take the risk and then also the opportunity to try different truth or different path. When I was 23 and I had just like crazy eczema and psoriasis and went back home to my parents for a while and I just started to learn about nourishing traditions, movement. I was Very critical of the us traditional nutrition ideas of what good nutrition is and very adamantly like opposing the food pyramid. And then in that kind of research, I was one thinking well, they're talking about the science of broths and like soups and talking about hard boiling and straining the broth and getting the gunk on the top. And I'm like, wait, my mom did that. And I was starting to connect what has my mom known culturally that now like science is catching up, you know? And then I started just reading, you know, like I think that my mom didn't know the sign mom. I was like, asked my mom like, did you know about this? And she's like, I mean, I just, this is, is like what ba ngoai said, you know? And so I'm like, okay, so culturally this, this is happening scientifically. This is what's being shared. And then I started reading about the politics of US-centric upheaval of monocultural agriculture essentially. When the US started to do the industrial Revolution and started to basically grow wheat and soy and just basically make sugar to feed lots of cows and create sugar to be put in products like Coke was one of them. And, and then, yeah, that was basically a way for the US government to make money from Vietnam to bring that over, to Vietnam. And that was introduced to our culture. It's just another wave of imperialism and colonization. And sadly, we know what, overprocessed, like refined sugars can do to our health. And sadly, I can't help but make the connections with what happened. In many ways, food and sugar are introduced through these systems of colonization and imperialism are so far removed from what we ate pre colonization. And so, so much of my journey around food has been, you know, it's not even art, it's just like trying to understand, how do we survive and we thrive even before so many. And you know, in some ways it is art. 'cause I making 40 pounds of cha ga for event, , the fish cake, like, that's something that, that our people have been doing for a long time and hand making all that. And people love the dish and I'm really glad that people enjoyed it and mm, it's like, oh yeah, it's art. But it's what people have been doing to survive and thrive for long, for so long, you know? , We have the right to be able to practice our traditional food ways and we have the right for food sovereignty and food justice. And we have the right to, by extension, like have clean waters and hospitable places to live and for our animal kin to live and for our plant kin to be able to thrive. bun cha ga, I think like it's an artful hopeful symbol of what is seasonal and relevant and culturally symbolic of our time. I think that, yes, the imminent, violent, traumatic war that are happening between people, in Vietnam and Palestine and Sudan. Honestly, like here in America. That is important. And I think we need to show, honestly, not just to a direct violence, but also very indirect violence on our bodies through the food that we're eating. Our land and waters are living through indirect violence with just like everyday pollutants and top soil being removed and industrialization. And so I think I'm just very cognizant of the kind of everyday art ways, life ways, ways of being that I think that are important to be aware of and both practice as resistance against the forces that are trying to strip away our livelihood every day. Cheryl: We just heard from Hai of Asian refugees United who shared about how food ways function as an embodied form of cultural work that is rooted in memory and also survival and healing. Hai talked about food as a practice and art that is lived in the body and is also shaped by displacement and colonization and capitalism and imperialism. I shared that through their journey with QTV at Cafe and Asian Refugees United. High was able to reflect on reclaiming traditional food ways as a way to restore health and wholeness and relationship to our bodies and to our families, to our communities, and to the earth. High. Also, traced out illness and imbalance as deeply connected to political systems that have disrupted ancestral knowledge and instead introduced extractive food systems and normalized everyday forms of soft violence through what we consume and the impact it has on our land. And I think the most important thing I got from our conversation was that high reminded us that nourishing ourselves can be both an act of care, an art form, and an act of resistance. And what we call art is often what people have always done to survive and thrive Food. For them is a practice of memory, and it's also a refusal of erasure and also a very radical vision of food sovereignty and healing and collective life outside of colonial violence and harm. As we close out tonight's episode, I want to return to the question that has guided us from the beginning, which is, what is the role of the artist in social movements? What we've heard tonight from Tony Cade Bambara call to make revolution irresistible to lavender Phoenix's cultural organizing here, internationally to Hai, reflections on food ways, and nourishing ourselves as resistance. It is Really clear to me. Art is not separate from struggle. It is how people make sense of systems of violence and carry memory and also practice healing and reimagining new worlds in the middle of ongoing violence. Cultural work helps our movements. Endure and gives us language when words fail, or ritual when grief is heavy, and practices that connect us, that reconnect us to our bodies and our histories and to each other. So whether that's through zines, or songs or murals, newspapers, or shared meals, art is a way of liberation again and again. I wanna thank all of our speakers today, Jenica, Angel. From Lavender Phoenix. Hi, from QTV Cafe, Asian Refugees United, And I also wanna thank you, our listeners for staying with us. You've been listening to Apex Express on KPFA. Take care of yourselves, take care of each other, and keep imagining the world that we're trying to build. That's important stuff. Cheryl Truong (she/they): Apex express is produced by Miko Lee, Paige Chung, Jalena Keane-Lee, Preeti Mangala Shekar. Shekar, Anuj Vaidya, Kiki Rivera, Swati Rayasam, Nate Tan, Hien Nguyen, Nikki Chan, and Cheryl Truong  Cheryl Truong: Tonight's show was produced by me, cheryl. Thanks to the team at KPFA for all of their support. And thank you for listening!  The post APEX Express – January 1, 2026 – The Role of the Artist in Social Movements appeared first on KPFA.

‘Being born in America, feeling American, but having people treat me like I'm not.'Chi Chi Izundu speaks to Korean American actor Arden Cho, star of the hit Netflix film KPop Demon Hunters, about her life and career. Cho is the voice of Rumi, a leading character who must come to terms with her own identity as part-human, part-demon.It's a duality that resonated powerfully with her, as the daughter of Korean immigrants who struggled for acceptance, and faced racism while growing up in America.Now, Korean culture is increasingly popular worldwide, and she has become a leading role model for Asian American children, the kind she says she lacked when she was young.And despite KPop Demon Hunters being crowned as Netflix's most-watched film ever, Cho warns that Asian-led film projects are still seen as a risk. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.Presenter: Chi Chi Izundu Producers: Lucy Sheppard, Clare Williamson and Rebecca Thorn Editor: Nick HollandGet in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.(Image: Arden Cho. Credit: Jerod Harris/Getty Images)

Happy Holidays, Void! Well, this episode writes itself to be honest. It's James Bond in North Korea with hovercrafts, Face-Off technology, and the obligatory stealth vehicle. This time, it's an invisible Aston Martin in the snow! Really, we can count the good things on one hand, but where's the fun in that? Listen to us lament Rick Yune (hot Korean-American actor) being made not-hot, Halley Berry working as an agent of the NSA, and lasers. Seriously, did any of these people SEE AUSTIN POWERS?!?!?!?! TWO OF THOSE FILMS CAME OUT BEFORE THIS ONE!!! But let's be honest, we lose our minds over diamonds in Iceland, raw-dogging ice hotels, and MADONNA. 

**Special note to our listeners** Love the show? Help us keep the conversation going! Become a paid subscriber through our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Your contributions help us continue to make content on issues related to the Asian-American, immigrant, modern parent experience.THANK YOU to our super awesome listeners who have already signed up!---------------------------------------Talking about Korean culture in America right now, we couldn't walk past Kpop Demon Hunters. As of now, it is THE MOST WATCHED ORIGINAL NETFLIX TITLE OF ALL TIME, its film soundtrack has 4 songs in the top 10 of the Billboard 100 and was double-platinum certified and it received five Grammy nominations. We see IG reels of Mormon dads dancing with their daughters to Golden. 8-year-old girls with no Korean heritage belting out Take Down at birthday parties. All this delivered by a anime-style cartoon about a modern-day shamanistic Kpop girl group who defeats demons on the side - pretty crazy right?As Asian American women (including one resident Korean-American), we have all the feels about Kpop Demon Hunters and clue you into what we felt were all the secret winks.

Look around you: Our communities are filled with people in their 60s, 70s, 80s, even 90s, doing things that would have been unthinkable at their age a generation ago. By 2030, the entire Baby Boomer generation will be 65 and older.  By mid-century, more than 80 million Americans will be over the age of 65.  By any prevailing definition, the United States will be a country full of older adults.  But what does it mean to be old in an era of much longer life?    Welcome to Century Lives: The New Old, from the Stanford Center on Longevity! I'm your host, Ken Stern. In this season, we interview six extraordinary people who are challenging the way we think about aging—and inspiring new ways we can live our supersized lives. Today: Margaret Cho. She is a Korean-American comedian, actress, musician, advocate, and entrepreneur. Most of us know her from her stand-up, where she pokes fun at topics like race, sexuality, body positivity, and politics. Decades after her network debut, she's still using comedy as activism.

Sometimes I wish I could just have the intro paragraph to an episode be GAAHHHHHHH THIS ONE WAS SO FUN! So this is my version of that: telling you that I wish it could be that, and then also telling you that we go deep on so many components of the global spread (and embrace) of Korean pop culture. We go into the calculated political elements, the uncanny elision of North Korean stories, and why so many of the Korean narratives resonating with American audiences are ones crafted by Korean-Americans. This is a really effusive and loving episode that also manages to have some very real talk about why kids dressing up as characters from K-Pop Demon Hunters is not yellow face. IT'S SO GOOD, and I know we're gonna have a great discussion about it. ALSO GUESS WHAT, WE HAVE VERY GOOD EPISODES TRANSCRIPTS NOW! They come out within 24 hours of the pod, so you just have to be a little patient and then come back and click here. We pay an actual human for help with these, so thank you for either being a paid subscriber or listening to the ads that make this model possible! If you're a paid subscriber and haven't yet set up your subscriber RSS feed in your podcast player, here's the EXTREMELY easy how-to .And if you're having any other issues with your Patreon subscription — please get in touch! Email me at annehelenpetersen @ gmail OR submit a request to Patreon Support. Thank you for making the switch with us — the podcast in particular is much more at home here!Thanks to the Sponsors of Today's Episode! Stop putting off those doctors appointments and go to Zocdoc.com/CULTURE to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today.Head to Graza.co/CULTURESTUDY and use code CULTURESTUDY to get 10% off your order and get cooking this holiday season with some fresh, delicious olive oil!Visit moshlife.com/CULTURE to save 20% off plus FREE shipping on the best sellers trial pack or the new plant-based trial pack.Go to shopremi.com/CULTURE and use code CULTURE to receive 55% off  your new nightguard PLUS a free foam gift.Show Notes:GO LISTEN TO BIG KOREAN ENERGY!!! And then go find out a lot more about The Mash-Up AmericansSubscribe to The Mash-Up Americans newsletter for updates Really cannot recommend Episode 1 highly enough — it puzzle pieces so well with what we talk about for each of these questions A good secondary listen: our episode with Elise Hu about the Sephora Teen Freakout and my interview with Elise re: her book on K-Beauty We also reference this episode on The Irishification of Pop Culture with Caroline O'Donoghue REP SWEATSTHE KOREAN VEGAN!R.O. Kwon's appearance on Big Korean EnergySusan Choi's Flashlight, Min Jin Lee's Pachinko, Lisa See's Island of Sea Women I try to remember the name of Kim Ji-Young, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo We're currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:Questions About How to Respond When People Ask/React To the Knowledge That You're Not Having Kids'90s Movie SoundtracksHow we think about the morality of money and taxes — who should pay taxes, who shouldn't, who "deserves" money, who doesn't, how we came to decide that religious organizations shouldn't pay taxes (and how that belief is changing), SO MUCHHow to process all the STUFF accumulated from relatives (we have a really helpful organizer with a bunch of mental health training for this one!) The State of The CHAIN RESTAURANT — and chain restaurant supply chain!!! (I'm so excited for this one) Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it's literally the name of the segmentAs always, you can submit your questions (and ideas for future eps) hereFor this week's discussion: What's your favorite manifestation of BIG KOREAN ENERGY right now?

Episode Summary: We're back with a short one, and the last one of 2025! In this week's episode of your favorite Korean Adoptee podcast, the Janchi Boys sit down and talk about whether or not we can trust our origin stories, and have further reflections on the TRC Report — Human Rights Violations in Intercountry AdoptionShow Resources:Full English Language version of the reportPatrick's Substack Reflection (and new podcast, “From the Kitchen Table”)---// Support the Show!Online at janchishow.com / @janchishowSupport the show at janchishow.com/supportJoin our Facebook Group! janchishow.com/afterpartyWatch our Youtube VideosLeave a voicemail! 972-677-8867Write us a note: janchishow@gmail.comThe Janchi Show Quick BioThe Janchi Show focuses on exploring intersectional identities and current events through the lens of adoption, race, lived experience and more. Sometimes we have guests, and sometimes it's just the three of us. Either way, it's always a janchi!// Meet the Janchi Boys!Nathan NowackNathan (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee who was born in Seoul in the 1970s. He was adopted at the age of 5 months old and raised in a small town in Oklahoma along with a non-biological Korean adopted sister.  After going to college in Colorado he later moved to Los Angeles to pursue a digital media career and eventually started 2 photography companies.  He loves spending time with his wife and 3 kids, playing golf, and collecting Lego. He is in reunion with his biological family as the youngest of 7 and has been in contact since 2015.  He currently serves on the Advisory Council for KAAN and helps with the planning of their annual adoptee conference.  In 2021, Nathan and his family moved back to Colorado to be closer to family and start a new chapter in their lives.  Connect with Nathan!Website: http://www.coverve.comInstagram: http://instagram.com/nnowackPatrick ArmstrongPatrick Armstrong (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee, podcaster, speaker, and community facilitator. He is one of the hosts of the Janchi Show, a podcast that explores and celebrates the experiences and stories of Korean adoptees everywhere. He also is host of Conversation Piece with Patrick Armstrong, a podcast where he discusses the missing pieces of the conversations we're already having. He is a cofounder of the Asian Adoptees of Indiana, a group dedicated to creating a safe, engaging community for all Asian adoptees who need it. He is currently based in Indianapolis with his wife and cat. Connect with Patrick!Website: http://patrickintheworld.meLinkedIn: http://linkedin/in/patrickintheworldInstagram: http://instagram.com/patrickintheworldK.J. Roelke (@kjroelke)KJ (he/him) was adopted from Daegu and raised in Dallas, Texas with his two biological, older siblings and his younger sister, adopted from Russia. After spending a decade in the Midwest for college and career, he and his wife are back in Dallas and living large! He has been on his journey of discovery since 2015 and spends his days as a web developer for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.Connect with K.J.!Website: https://kjroelke.online/LinkedIn: https://linkedin/in/kjroelkeInstagram: https://instagram.com/kjroelke// Listen to/Watch The Janchi Show on all major platforms:Apple: http://janchishow.com/appleSpotify: http://janchishow.com/spotifyYoutube: http://janchishow.com/youtubeGratitude & CreditsMichelle Nam for our logo and brandingJerry Won for bring us togetherThis show is created and produced by Patrick, Nathan and KJ and is the sole property of the Janchi Show, LLC.

An insecure Korean-American woman struggles with old resentments against her beautiful best friend, exposing the impossible beauty standards that caused them. https://www.instagram.com/iwishiwere_pretty/ Conversation with actor/director Hanah Chang & Producer Quand C. Robinson Director Statement I Wish I Were Pretty is not just the title, but also a phrase I have constantly thought since I was old enough to understand that with beauty comes power. Many of the elements included in this story are inspired by my personal experiences. One of my constants while growing up was hearing my mother say to me that I would be prettier if I had “ssanggeopul” (double eyelids). I will never forget the drunk customer from my bartending days who asked me to bring him a pretty server. And more recently, when my father saw a K-Pop music video and asked if that is the kind of thing I want to do, his then-girlfriend said “that is for the young and beautiful.” These experiences were painful, and I wanted to redeem them by turning them into part of my art. The struggle to feel that we are enough is felt across all genders. As I was revising the script, I sent it to a family friend in the film industry in Korea, only to find out he had just recently undergone plastic surgery. I both hate that he felt that he had to make that choice and understand it. After all, I can understand how much emotional turmoil he had to suffer for him to decide to permanently alter his physical appearance. Because I know how important representation is both in front of and behind the camera, I hope this film will be inspiring specifically for folks who work in the industry. I am so proud to state that I made this film with a crew of mostly womxn/people of color from beginning to end! For these reasons and more, I believe this film will be impactful, influential, and monumental. There are already many Korean dramas and movies about beauty standards, but the story typically begins after the protagonist undergoes plastic surgery. My intention with ‘I Wish I Were Pretty' is never to judge anyone who chooses that, but to provide a fresh take and a different way to deal with what we have internalized. And my hope is that we will learn to be kinder to and more accepting of ourselves as we are. —— Subscribe to the podcast: https://twitter.com/wildsoundpod https://www.instagram.com/wildsoundpod https://www.facebook.com/wildsoundpod

In this episode, I sit down with clinical psychologist Dr. John Han to explore what happens when a difficult client stirs up our own countertransference—and why choosing not to quit can become a deeply healing moment for both therapist and client. We also discuss the fear of performance that so often pulls us out of true presence, and share honestly about the unique challenges many Korean Americans face around shame, optics, and staying emotionally authentic. This episode is an invitation to slow down, stay curious, and rediscover the courage to remain in the room when everything in you wants to step out.Links related to John:Psychology Today profiledrjohnjhan@gmail.comNew Therapist FAQ on Instagram:⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/newtherapistfaq/⁠⁠New Therapist FAQ on Facebook:⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/ntfaqpodcast⁠⁠

Snail mucin, "glass" or "mochi" skin, BB creams, face masks galore... if you are even remotely interested in makeup and skincare, you've probably noticed the rising influence (bordering on takeover) of Korean beauty in America. Emphasizing skin care and a more "demure" look, Korean beauty products have gone mainstream in the US and are everywhere now from Sephora to Walmart. What's behind the rise of K-beauty products in the US? Do these products even work? What are the beauty standards that underpin them? What about the more invasive beauty procedures (like plastic surgery) that Korea has also become known for? As Asian-Americans (including one resident Korean-American, one makeup and skincare connoisseur, and one professed "cavewoman" skincare adherent :) we've got the exclusive cross-cultural breakdown for you in this fun and honest look at the K-beauty phenomenon in America.

Comment on this episode by going to KDramaChat.comToday, we'll be discussing Episode 3 of Start-Up, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Bae Suzy as Seo Dal-mi, Nam Joo Hyuk as Nam Do-san, Kim Seon Ho as Han Ji Pyeong, Kang Han Na as Won In Jae, and Kim Hae Sook as Choi Won Deok. We discuss:The songs featured during the recap: One Day by Kim Feel and Dream a Dream by Park Sejun. Kim Feel's music is soulful and widely featured in K Drama OSTs.Joanna's trip to Europe, highlights from Nice and Monaco, and her growing confidence speaking French thanks to Duolingo Max.The hilarious and emotional interactions between Nam Do-san and Han Ji Pyeong, including reciting the South Korean national anthem to cover a fake business discussion.The poetic metaphor of the music box, representing Nam Do-san as someone full of potential and how Seo Dal-mi's belief in him gives him the courage to grow.The layered sibling rivalry and estrangement between Seo Dal-mi and Won In Jae, and the complex emotions tied to their mother.An in-depth explanation of startup funding terms like angel investor, pre-series A, series A, mezzanine financing, and term sheets.The theme of equity and control in business, illustrated by how Won In Jae is ousted as CEO due to lack of shares, despite holding the title.The metaphorical and literal meaning of taking the elevator to the top—used by Seo Dal-mi as a symbol of her ambition.Seo Dal-mi's bold bet that she'll be more successful than her sister in three years, likening herself to a future Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg.Samsan Tech's win at the CODA competition, their failed video presentation, and the intrigue by the Korean American judge.Sandbox as a metaphorical and literal safe space for entrepreneurs, inspired by the “sandbox” described by Dal-mi's father.The motivations behind each character's application to Sandbox: Seo Dal-mi wants to take the upper floor elevator, Nam Do-san wants to turn a misunderstanding into reality, and Won In Jae wants to shed her image as “chewed-up gum.”A profile of actor Kim Seon Ho, including his traumatic childhood experience, strong theater background, rise through Strongest Deliveryman, and breakout role in Start-Up.ReferencesWhat is a sandbox?Venture capital terms you need to know

Today we close out season 7 by reflecting on the past year and exploring the various ways we wind down in the holidays. We chat about takeaways from this year that we're carrying into 2026.This will be our last episode of 2025 - we'll be back mid-January with a brand new season! Happy Holidays & Merry Crustmas, thank you for joining us for another year of Eat Your Crust ♥Support the showFollow us on social media @eatyourcrustpod

Rep. Daniel Pae returns to the Defining Moments Podcast to share his journey from Lawton-born son of Korean immigrants to Oklahoma House District 62's “People's Champ.” We dig into servant leadership, the door‑knocking grind, and why he's running again: the job's not finished. From Ag in the Classroom and Oklahoma's evolving economy to human services budgeting, SNAP decisions ahead, mental health wins, criminal justice reform, AI readiness, the Taiwan trade office, and that 80‑mph “Pae Way” bill—this episode is about doing the work and bridging divides. We talk polarization, building trust in a purple district, dealing with negativity, faith, and choosing authenticity over titles. Plus fun: Korean‑American roots, OKC food gems, improv, running, and pop culture trivia. Powered by Freedom and sponsored by M&D Drilling (Waller, Texas). If this conversation resonates, like, subscribe, and share with someone who believes in policy over politics.

On this episode, we chat with bestselling author Lyla Lee to chat about her new YA romance novel, The Cuffing Game, a modern Korean American take on the timeless enemy-to-lovers tale Pride & Prejudice, remixed with the chaotic reality TV energy of Love Island about an aspiring student producer who reluctantly recruits her crush to participate in the college dating show she is producing. Lyla shares with us her journey to becoming an author of young, middle-grade, and young adult fiction, as well as all her inspirations for The Cuffing Game.Follow Lyla on Instagram at @authorlylalee and check out her newest novel The Cuffing Game available now on the Books & Boba bookshop!Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authorsSupport the Books & Boba Podcast by:Joining our Patreon to receive exclusive perksPurchasing books at our bookshopRocking our Books & Boba merchFollow our hosts:Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)Follow us:InstagramTwitterGoodreadsFacebookThe Books & Boba November 2025 book club pick is Taiwan Travelogue by Shuang-zi Yang, translated by Lin KingThis podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective

Today we talk about things we do at work outside of our typical job scope - including attending happy hours, helping to plan events or socials, and taking classes or optional programs to expand our expertise! We chat about ways to make work life feel more dynamic and catered to our personal interests and goals.Support the showFollow us on social media @eatyourcrustpod

Episode 78 of She Said It First, Jerrilyn Lake aka Indeskribeabull and Lynee’ Monae kick things off with What Irritated Me the Most This Week, where Jerrilyn vents about getting ambushed by a hating mosquito and Lynee’ goes off on people showing up unprepared for life like it’s a pop quiz. The ladies somehow turn bug bites and bad planning into a sermon on staying ready so you don’t have to get ready, because as Jerrilyn says, “If you’re gonna embarrass yourself, at least rehearse first.” In Girl, What Happened, the duo dives into Keke Palmer’s new web series Southern Fried Rice, which follows a Korean American girl adopted by a Black family who attends an HBCU. The internet, of course, is in shambles, some calling it cultural appropriation, others calling it creative freedom. Jerrilyn and Lynee’ break it down with their signature mix of humor and honesty, giving Keke her flowers for supporting Black creatives while side-eying the “girl, we didn’t need this” vibes. That conversation spirals beautifully into the episode’s theme: why Black people should be allowed to be mediocre sometimes. From perfection pressure to burnout culture, the hosts preach about giving ourselves permission to miss the mark and still be proud, because, as Lynee’ puts it, “White people been doing it for centuries.” Finally, Girl Talk widens the lens, moving from creativity to technology and mental health. They have a heartfelt call for men to prioritize therapy during Men’s Mental Health Month — preferably before buying another bottle of Hennessy or pair of Jordans. The ladies tear into the rise of AI artists (“we’re not paying to see a hologram hit a high note”). YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@u1pn Follow: @urban1podcast @indeskribeabull @lynee_monae Executive Producer: Jahi Whitehead/ @Jahi_TRG Video/Social Media Producer: Walter Gainer II See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Andrew Ahn's family rented “The Wedding Banquet” in the early 1990s, they didn't realize it was a queer film. They also had no idea that 30 years later, Andrew would write and direct his own version of the film. For many years, Andrew felt his queer and Korean American identities were in conflict. But reconciling those parts of himself has helped Andrew become one of the freshest filmmakers working today – directing the Emmy-nominated “Fire Island” and several episodes of “Bridgerton.” In this episode, Andrew talks about coming out to his family through his art, the song that still gets him to rush the dance floor at a gay club, and the music that guided his journey towards wholeness. Here are his songs. Simon & Garfunkel, “Bridge Over Troubled Water” Yeah Yeah Yeahs, “Maps” Cascada, “Everytime We Touch” Aimee Mann, “Ray” Camille Saint-Saëns, “Symphony No. 3 (“Organ Symphony”)” Frank Ocean, “Self Control” Hikaru Utada, “Hanataba Wo Kimini”

This week, Ivy Slater, host of Her Success Story, chats with her guests, Grace Kwak and Alexis Toney. The three talk about the challenges of standing out in an intensely crowded marketing space, the crucial role of relationships and referrals in their growth, and the lessons they've learned from early hiring decisions and business setbacks. In this episode, we discuss: How Background Noise got started What has kept the team motivated and growing in a crowded marketing environment space When to hire and scale a team in a small agency Why partnering with other agencies is part of their growth strategy Who benefits from keeping in touch How setbacks and surprises shape leadership   Grace Kwak is a growth marketing expert who has spent her career shaping customer journeys from every angle – working within agencies and startups alike – Grace Kwak's newest chapter is leading growth, marketing strategy and analytics at Background Noise. As a first-generation Korean-American, Grace is actively aware of how experiences vary from person to person, and how brands must keep diversity of customer experiences top-of-mind at all times. Across her career, she's contributed to growth for brands including Cecred, Taco Bell, Follain, Papa John's, Hint Water, Dunkin Donuts, NBC Sports, COTY, Lysol, Mucinex, and American Family Insurance. She's been internally honored for her contributions, earning an MVP award at Mindshare and a Person of New York award at Performics. She's contributed to internal presentations around International Women's Day Webinar at Big Spaceship, growth marketing for We Are Rosie and is published with MediaPost. Alexis Toney is a strategy and innovation leader who has built her career at the intersection of data, creativity, and cultural storytelling – Alexis Toney is the Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer at Background Noise. She drives brand innovation through research, analytics, and strategy, overseeing proprietary market research and social listening tools that help clients stay ahead of the curve. With more than eight years of experience in performance analytics, media strategy, and marketing intelligence, Alexis has shaped growth strategies for brands across industries while championing people-first insights. Her career path spans roles at Big Spaceship, Ovadia & Sons, and Laundry Service, where she led research, eCommerce, and media strategy initiatives. At Background Noise, Alexis contributed to the launch of Cécred and has collaborated with brands such as Google, Sony, NBC Sports, UPS, Weight Watchers, and Papa Johns throughout her career. Her work has been recognized with honors including Adweek Media Rising Star and the ADCOLOR Future Award. Based in Brooklyn, Alexis balances her data-driven leadership by day with her creative side as a DJ, music producer, and drummer by night. Website: https://www.backgroundnoise.co/ Social Media Links:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/gracejkwak/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexistoney/  

【聊了什么The What】 本期节目，小蓝和小杨将自己“逼到墙角”，聊一聊让我们甘心情愿入坑的国际K-Pop女团KATSEYE。这个由六个截然不同的文化背景、肤色成员组成的团体出道曲成绩优异，而且靠hyperpop单曲“Gnarly”迅速出圈，已经成为美国炙手可热的新人偶像。她们身上那种“全校最漂亮的mean girls跟你天下第一好”的鲜活与“有病又有梗”的魅力与以往的女团相比更松弛、自由。 但同时，KATSEYE也代表着K-pop全球扩张战略“质变”的一个成功样本——HYBE和Geffin Records强强联手不仅是韩美资本的一场盛大联姻，更是一个将K-pop工业化造星体系移植到美国本土的庞大实验。我们跟随着出道纪录片《Popstar Academy》，见证这场巨大的“楚门秀”如何将活生生、充满棱角的女孩们锻造成精美的商品。在这套精密运作的资本逻辑下，“人”与“商品”的边界变得模糊，友谊、梦想与自我认同被撕裂，作为娱乐献祭给全球观众。从成员选拔中无法掩盖的地缘政治与种族“拼色游戏”，到闵熙珍与HYBE的冲突所揭示的平台垄断与创作者困境，我们探讨K-pop这套“反人性”却极致高效的体系在全球复制时，究竟是在输出文化，还是在输出一套更精密的规训与控制？ In this episode, Xiao Lan and Xiao Yang dive into KATSEYE, the international K-pop girl group that's completely hooked us. This six-member group debuted to chart success and broke into the mainstream with hyperpop single "Gnarly." They radiate a chaotic, meme-able charm—"the prettiest mean girls who are also ride-or-die for you"—that feels more relaxed and subversive than previous girl groups. But KATSEYE also represents K-pop's global expansion "qualitative shift." The HYBE and Geffen Records collaboration transplants K-pop's industrialized star-making system onto American soil. Their Netflix documentary Popstar Academy was a "Truman Show" forging strong personalities into polished products, where the line between "person" and "commodity" blurs. From market-driven diversity in member selection to Min Hee-jin's conflict with HYBE exposing creator struggles, we ask: is K-pop exporting culture—or a sophisticated apparatus of exploitation and control? 【时间轴 The When】 02:32 - 04:55 - KATSEYE 是个什么样的女团？ 04:55 - 10:49 - Gnarly歌曲制作中加入不雅声音引发的巨大争议，行业应该如何对待未成年偶像 10:49 - 13:30 - KATSEYE成员台上和台下的反差魅力，“发疯”的Gen-Z女团来整顿韩娱了 13:30 - 18:47 - 纪录片《Popstar Academy》的“楚门秀”式选秀、K-pop严苛的训练体系如何与美国文化碰撞 18:47 - 28:31 - Manon的角色弧光与争议：不努力是偶像最大的原罪吗？ 28:31 - 45:19 - 选秀的残酷本质、地缘政治与种族配额：国籍、市场等因素如何决定谁能出道 45:19 - 53:37 - HYBE x Geffen资本联姻背后的商业模式、全球扩张野心 53:37 - 59:19 - NEWJEANS 的官司里闵熙珍与HYBE的争议是创新、复制与控制权的根本矛盾 59:19 - 69:54 - K-pop的造星方法论走向世界的过程中会去芜存菁吗？ 02:32 - 04:55 - Who is KATSEYE? The Korean-American entertainment powerhouse deal behind the group 04:55 - 10:49 - The "Gnarly" controversy: Why explicit sounds in the track sparked massive backlash 10:49 - 13:30 - KATSEYE's duality: How this "unhinged" Gen-Z girl group is disrupting K-pop norms 13:30 - 18:47 - Popstar Academy's reality TV manipulation and K-pop's brutal training system meets American culture 18:47 - 28:31 - Manon's journey and the backlash: Is "not trying hard enough" the ultimate idol crime? 28:31 - 45:19 - Beyond talent: How geopolitics, racial quotas, and market appeal really determine who debuts 45:19 - 53:37 - HYBE × Geffen: Unpacking the business strategy and global ambitions 53:37 - 59:19 - The NewJeans conflict: Innovation vs. imitation and the battle for creative control 59:19 - 69:54 - Can K-pop's factory system evolve as it goes global—or will it just export the same problems? 【拓展链接 The Links】 The fued between Min Hee-Jin (NJZ) and HYBE, a timeline "Gnarly" MV KATSEYE 的综艺（Warning: 很吵） ”Machine Girl“ 【买咖啡 Please Support Us】 如果喜欢这期节目并愿意想要给我们买杯咖啡： 海外用户：https://www.patreon.com/cyberpinkfm 海内用户：https://afdian.com/a/cyberpinkfm 商务合作邮箱：cyberpinkfm@gmail.com 商务合作微信：CyberPink2022 If you like our show and want to support us, please consider the following: Those Abroad: https://www.patreon.com/cyberpinkfm Those in China: https://afdian.com/a/cyberpinkfm Business Inquiries Email: cyberpinkfm@gmail.com Business Inquiries WeChat: CyberPink2022

**Special note to our listeners** Love the show? Help us keep the conversation going! Become a paid subscriber through our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Your contributions help us continue to make content on issues related to the Asian-American, immigrant, modern parent experience.THANK YOU to our super awesome listeners who have already signed up!---------------------------------------Have you noticed that Korean stuff is REALLY popular these days? BTS, Black Pink, Kpop Demon Hunters, K-beauty, Korean food, Netflix's Extraordinary Attorney Woo are but a few of the Korean cultural exports that have had immense cultural success in Western markets in recent years.As Asian-Americans (and one resident Korean-American :) we grew up consuming content in the 80's, 90s and the aughts from the largely separate worlds of Asian and American entertainment. So it's kind of a head rush to see how the two worlds are colliding now. We give our unique and under-the-hood perspective on Korean content being embraced in America and beyond - in true MMM fashion, we dive into everything from the geopolitical factors surrounding cultural exports, the unique socio-cultural role that Korean-Americans have played in the global rise of Korean media, to the gossipy bits about Korean celebs.

Today our friends Tiffy and Cindy join us to talk about Girls Nights! We chat about whether we prefer a cozy night in or wild night out with our girlfriends, and discuss some of our favorite activities. We also chat about expectations of meeting or incorporating new people into girls nights, and reminisce about some of our favorite memories together!Support the showFollow us on social media @eatyourcrustpod

In this episode of Dimensions of Diversity we revisit a conversation Lloyd Freeman had during a webinar earlier this year celebrating Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month. He welcomed Patricia Liu, a Korean American author, entrepreneur, and media executive.The conversation focused on Korean American representation in leadership and the media. Liu shared her personal story of immigrating to the U.S. as a child, the challenges of assimilation, and the family advocacy that shaped her. She explained how these experiences inspired her to found "Best of Korea," a media platform celebrating Korean culture.Dimensions of Diversity is a podcast created by Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, highlighting diversity in the workplace. Hosted by Lloyd Freeman, Chief Experience Officer, the podcast features meaningful conversations with industry and community leaders working to advance D&I. 

In this engaging conversation, T.Y. Lee shares his journey as a comic book creator, discussing his upcoming graphic novel 'Return of the Rooftop Koreans,' which draws inspiration from the 1992 LA riots and the story of Korean-American business owners during that time. Lee delves into the influence of Korean comics and culture on his work, the creative process behind assembling his team, and his philosophy on publishing through his label, Anti-Woke Books. He also emphasizes the importance of ethical crowdfunding practices and the need for authentic storytelling that respects cultural heritage.https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/745250410/return-of-the-rooftop-koreans-140-page-graphic-novel?ref=8vfss0https://www.indiegogo.com/en/projects/tylee/return-of-the-rooftop-koreansT.Y. Lee's Social Media: X - @AntiWokeBooksGet your Fortress Comics merchandise with the link belowhttps://www.teepublic.com/user/fortress-comicsFortressofComicNews.comhttps://chriscomicscorner.substack.com/YouTube.com/FortressComicsFind Chris: https://bio.site/chrisrundtMike twitter @fortressrickerMike's Comic Bone Graft: https://globalcomix.com/c/bentbox-shorts/chapters/en/4/1Patreon.com/FortressComicshttps://www.tiktok.com/@chriscomicscornerThanks for Listening!#marvel #marvelcomics #mcu #dccomics #comicbooks #comicnews #podcast #indiecomics #batman

In this conversation, Amanda Morton shares her personal journey of adoption and how it shapes her identity. She discusses the process of returning home to help her mother pack up childhood belongings after a loss, which leads to profound realizations about her past and the universal nature of such experiences.WISHING TO GROW UP BRIGHTLYBook by Amanda Morton, Matthew Decker & Brenson ThomasMusic by Josh TotoraLyrics by Amanda Morton and Josh TotoraDirected by Matthew DeckerA bold new musical inspired by the real-life story of Amanda Morton (The Color Purple, Broadway's Gutenberg! The Musical!, KPOP), co-created with longtime collaborator and Theatre Horizon co-founder Matthew Decker, alongside Josh Totora and Brenson Thomas. After the death of her father, Amanda Newton—a Korean-American adoptee—returns to her childhood home to help her mother pack up. There, she discovers a trove of his preserved memories, created by a tech company called reMemorex, and is pulled into a surreal and intimate journey through loss, identity, and the questions that have quietly shaped her life. As Amanda searches for connection in the fragments he left behind, she begins to confront a deeper longing: how do you create a sense of home when it was taken from you before you even knew what it was?Wishing to Grow Up Brightly has been supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.FOR MORE INFORMATION: https://theatrehorizon.org

On this week's episode of Excelsior Journeys: The Road to Creativity, host & producer George Sirois sits down with comic creator T.Y. Lee. A Korean-American writer & artist, Lee's main characters in his upcoming graphic novel are based on the "Rooftop Koreans," a group of armed small business owners who defended their businesses from their rooftops during the 1992 LA Riots. "Return of the Rooftop Koreans" focuses on a new generation of Koreans in Los Angeles several decades after the original riots. During a time of civil unrest when tensions are ready to snap, these business owners find themselves in the position to follow in their predecessors' footsteps and take to their own roofs to defend themselves and their community. "Return of the Rooftop Koreans" is already fully funded, but you can still participate in the campaign by clicking HERE.Excelsior Journeys: The Road to Creativity exists primarily as a platform for creatives of all kinds (authors, filmmakers, stand-up comics, musicians, voice artists, painters, podcasters, etc) to share their journeys to personal success. It is very important to celebrate those voices as much as possible to not only provide encouragement to up-and-coming talent, but to say thank you to the established men & women for inspiring the current generation of artists.If you agree that the Excelsior Journeys podcast serves a positive purpose and would like to show your appreciation, you can give back to the show by clicking HERE.Excelsior Journeys: The Road to Creativity is now a proud member of the Podmatch Podcast Network, and you can access all shows in the network by clicking HERE.

Through the partnership of We Love Buford Highway and Open Table Community, Voices of a Highway returns to celebrate the people who make Atlanta's most diverse corridor feel like home. Buford Highway is a community shaped by migration, resilience, and belonging. This series amplifies the everyday stories of neighbors, small business owners, and community leaders whose voices reflect the beauty, the struggle, and the complexity of immigrant life in the South.At a time when these communities continue to face pressure to assimilate or disappear, Voices of a Highway offers something different: a reminder that these stories aren't on the margins of our city's story, but the heartbeat of it.In this first episode of revitalized Voices of a Highway series, we sit down with Josh Owh, co-founder of Postern Coffee in Doraville, Georgia.What begins as a conversation about coffee unfolds into a reflection on creativity, calling, and community. Josh shares how his journey—from math major to music ministry to entrepreneur—has been shaped by both his Korean American heritage and the layered culture of Buford Highway.Through stories of family, risk, and resilience, Josh explores what it means to build something lasting: a space that honors where you come from while pushing the culture forward.“Our goal is to honor culture and push the future.”This episode was produced in partnership with We Love Buford Highway and Open Table Community as part of the newly relaunched Voices of a Highway podcast—spotlighting the lived experiences, wisdom, and resilience of Buford Highway's immigrant and refugee communities.

People are fascinated by hoarding culture — in part because it presents a reality that's not that distant from our current accumulation habits. Like, turn one screw in my brain slightly more to the left, and my dahlia collecting habit becomes something that's widely understood as a social problem. When I heard about Amanda Uhle's Destroy This House, a memoir of growing up in a hoarding household, I knew listeners would want to explore that fine line between "proper" consumption and hoarding, the stories we tell about why people hoard, and the real difficulty in navigating hoarding behaviors by people you love. Culture Study is now on Patreon! To read about why we moved, go here.Thanks to the sponsors of today's episode!Use code CULTURE to get 10% off your next order at Bookshop.orgGet $35 off your first box of wild-caught, sustainable seafood—delivered right to your door. Go to:  https://www.wildalaskan.com/CULTUREGet 15% off OneSkin with the code CULTURE at https://www.oneskin.co/Use code CULTURE at jonesroadbeauty.com to get a Free Cool Gloss with your first purchaseShow Notes:GO BUY DESTROY THIS HOUSE: https://bookshop.org/a/56144/9781668083444Follow Amanda's work here: https://www.instagram.com/amanda.uhle/?hl=enI reference Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things: https://bookshop.org/a/56144/9780547422558I reference my interview with Emily Mester about American Bulk: https://annehelen.substack.com/p/american-bulkThe episode we did on "over-consumption" of books: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/all-the-latest-book-publishing-trends-explained/id1718662839?i=1000718656026We're currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:BIG KOREAN ENERGY with Mash-Up Americans (Their framework for questions: What is this Korean vibe everywhere in culture, in food, in beauty, in politics? Definitely not complaining, but maybe confused? Well. Do we have the explainer for all of you Korean Americans, Korean Koreans, and everyone who is adjacent to Korean culture -- which is everyone. What are YOUR questions?)Contemporary Dating Culture!!! Why does it suck, how can it suck less! (with Jonquilyn Hill)Eldest daughter discourseThe sociology of NAMES (naming trends, naming assumptions)WEIRD ENGLISH WORDS (where do they come from!) with Colin Gorrie, who writes explainers like this one on the word DOGAnything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it's literally the name of the segment!As always, you can submit them (and ideas for future eps) hereFor this week's discussion: What is YOUR relationship to stuff? How did this conversation reframe it?

Tae-Yeon Lee (T.Y. Lee) is a Korean American author and creator of the new graphic novel, Return of the Rooftop Koreans, a 140+ page action story about Korean American small business owners who take up arms to defend their community. Passionate about storytelling across mediums, T.Y. enjoys exploring the worlds of comics, graphic novels, and manhwa as well as the art of storytelling in books, movies, and pop culture. He's also deeply interested in self-publishing, entrepreneurship, crowdfunding, and the indie creative journey.About the Graphic Novel: When a Korean American shop owner defends his family during a violent robbery, the media twists the truth, sparking riots across the city. To survive, he must lead a new generation of Rooftop Koreans. Set in the present day, this is a fictional tale inspired by the true story of the 1992 Rooftop Koreans.Book Links:https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/745250410/return-of-the-rooftop-koreans-140-page-graphic-novel?ref=6khj3khttps://www.indiegogo.com/projects/return-of-the-rooftop-koreans/Social Media:https://www.facebook.com/antiwokebookshttps://www.instagram.com/antiwokebookshttps://x.com/antiwokebooks

According to reports from U.S. adoption agencies, only 5% of domestic infant adoptions in recent years were completely closed, meaning no contact between the adoptee and their birth parents. Research suggests that some level of openness tends to benefit adoptive families, birth parents and adoptees, but navigating those relationships still presents a host of challenges.   Author Nicole Chung has documented her experience growing up as a Korean American adoptee in a white family in Southern Oregon in her two memoirs, “All You Can Ever Know” and “A Living Remedy.” Her own adoption was closed, but she recently wrote about the intricacies of open adoption for The Atlantic. She joins us to talk about her reporting.

Today we discuss some of our personal quirks and habits! We talk about random habits we never realized we had until someone else pointed it out, or someone else did the opposite. We chat through habits we've picked up or broken due to our SO.Support the showFollow us on social media @eatyourcrustpod

Connect with USIn this episode, Dana Tai Soon Burgess speaks with Christian Oh, former president of the DC Asian Pacific American Film organization and longtime advocate for Asian American media and arts. From his journey as a Korean American creative to his leadership in shaping the DC APA Film Festival, Christian reflects on identity, representation, and the transformative power of storytelling. Together, they explore the rise of Korean cinema, the importance of passing the torch to new generations, and how film can combat racism and build empathy through shared human stories.Find us on www.slantpodcast.com and follow us on social media @theslantpodcast

What happens when a charismatic home renovator marries a budding design whiz? You get the billion-dollar powerhouse that is Chip and Joanna Gaines.The Gaines' TV show Fixer Upper became a cultural obsession, turning shiplap and farmhouse sinks into a lifestyle movement that swept America.When they walked away from that show at peak popularity, everyone thought they were crazy. Instead, they turned their business Magnolia into a thriving lifestyle brand, which includes a network, retail, restaurants, books, and a magazine. The Silos, their Waco headquarters, became an unlikely tourist destination, drawing millions.Chip and Joanna proved that faith, small-town values and authentic storytelling could compete with coastal glitz. And they did it all while raising five kids. You'll learn:What Chip and Joanna saw in each other—as business and life partners.How a miserable semester in New York sparked the idea for Joanna's first store.How the Gaines' almost went bankrupt after the 2008 housing crash—and refused to quit. Why walking away from their TV show turned out to be a brilliant move.Why faith is as important as luck.Why betting on your hometown can be a superpower.Time Stamps:3:30 Chip's failed dream of becoming a pro baseball player—and the unexpected path that followed.8:20 How running a laundry in college taught Chip the economics of entrepreneurship.14:35 Joanna's Korean-American childhood, identity struggles, and how a toxic newsroom internship changed the course of her life.24:10 The day Chip walked into her dad's tire shop—and never left.35:10 How Joanna's first $25 “sale” encouraged her to open the first Magnolia store.45:15 The housing crash that nearly ended their renovation business—and how they scraped their way back.55:15 The moment HGTV called—and why Chip thought it was a scam.1:09:10 How saying “no” to Fixer Upper opened the door to owning their own network—and their future. 1:13:09 The cultural backlash and the lessons that came with becoming America's most famous fixer-uppers.This episode was produced by Katherine Sypher with music composed by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by Neva Grant with research help from Chris Maccini. Our engineers were Patrick Murray and Kwesi Lee.Follow How I Built This:Instagram → @howibuiltthisX → @HowIBuiltThisFacebook → How I Built ThisFollow Guy Raz:Instagram → @guy.razYoutube → guy_razX → @guyrazSubstack → guyraz.substack.comWebsite → guyraz.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week, Daniel and Jun sit down with Raychel McKelvy, a Black American teacher and aspiring actor who just moved to Korea from Chicago less than a month ago. Raychel shares her unique journey from living across multiple U.S. cities to taking a "midlife gap year" in Seoul to study Korean at Yonsei University's language institute. They discuss her incredibly diverse upbringing and friend group, spanning Japanese, Indian, Latino, and Korean American communities, and how those experiences shaped her worldview. The conversation explores the stark differences between being a minority in America versus being a "super minority" in Korea, navigating the challenges of staring and othering, and finding beauty in cultural differences. Raychel opens up about her language learning journey, the reality of living in a co-living space in Yeongdeungpo, and adjusting to Korean social norms around public transit etiquette, restaurant timing, and high-context communication.If you're interested in hearing a fresh perspective on moving to Korea, understanding the complexities of race and diversity across cultures, learning about the unexpected challenges and joys of language immersion, or gaining insights into how collectivism and individualism shape American versus Korean society, tune in to hear Daniel, Jun, and Raychel discuss all this and more. This episode offers an honest, thoughtful look at cultural adaptation, the privilege of diversity, and the courage it takes to completely upend your life for personal growth.As a reminder, we publish our episodes bi-weekly from Seoul, South Korea. We hope you enjoy listening to our conversation, and we're so excited to have you following us on this journey!Guest bio:Raychel is an American currently living in Korea and attending Korean language school. When she is not studying Korean, she can be found talking to her family or nerding out on her 2 podcasts: MultiNerds Podcast and Tavern of Tomes. Follow her Korean adventures on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/raychelmckelvyLinks:MultiNerds:https://open.spotify.com/show/6cDn8vhL0XRTTBxl5z5xaL?si=PrrWuVz4TDyMA-d_sz0esQ Tavern of Tomes:https://open.spotify.com/show/3sx3q8fhQ7mNLvt2I9PRJk?si=FTh-4cX3T-Sw_mLY5fEcoQSupport the showWe hope you enjoy listening to our conversation, and we're so excited to have you following us on this journey!Support us on Patreon:https://patreon.com/user?u=99211862Follow us on socials: https://www.instagram.com/koreanamericanpodcast/https://twitter.com/korampodcasthttps://www.tiktok.com/@koreanamericanpodcastQuestions/Comments/Feedback? Email us at: koreanamericanpodcast@gmail.com Member of the iyagi media network (www.iyagimedia.com)

The stories in Carol Roh Spalding's collection Waiting for Mr. Kim span more than 70 years and four generations of a Korean-American family.

Born in Taegu with roots in Jeju, Juhee then immigrated to the U.S. at age eight. As a 16-year-old Korean American girl, she ran away from home in Queens, New York, to become an architect. Having fulfilled that ambition, she returns to South Korea to reconcile with her abandoned heritage, resolve the family trauma, and achieve a sense of han puri. Find Juhee Online Personal Website: https://www.jleehartford.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jleehartford The Fortune Teller Story: https://ghll.truman.edu/juhee-lee-hartford-the-fortune-teller/ Discussion Outline 0:00 Rejecting Korean Identity (The death of a mother and Park Chung-hee on the same day) 8:52 Korean Architecture 19:30 Shamanism 23:05 Modern Korean Living 32:45 How Our Houses Shape Us 40:00 Jeju – The Land of Exile 43:25 Korea as an Emotional Land 48:50 Architecture as Class 54:00 Han Puri 1:01:34 Recommendations Episode Glossary (New!): https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-appendix-140730565?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link Thanks to Patreon members: Bhavya, Roxanne Murrell, Sara B Cooper, Anne Brennels Join Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/user?u=62047873 David A. Tizzard has a PhD in Korean Studies and lectures at Seoul Women's University and Hanyang University. He writes a weekly column in the Korea Times, is a social-cultural commentator, and a musician who has lived in Korea for nearly two decades. He can be reached at datizzard@swu.ac.kr. Watch this video next: https://youtu.be/vIbpLfWJoZM?si=srRVQ1vRkLvCV076 Subscribe to the channel: @DavidTizzard/videos Music by Jocelyn Clark Connect with us: ▶ Get in touch: datizzard@swu.ac.kr ▶ David's Insta: @datizzard ▶ KD Insta: @koreadeconstructed Listen to Korea Deconstructed ▶ Listen on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/kr/podcast/korea-deconstructed/id1587269128 ▶Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5zdXkG0aAAHnDwOvd0jXEE ▶ Listen on podcasts: https://koreadeconstructed.libsyn.com

In this episode of Book Lounge by Libby, we're going Beyond the Label to explore stories of disability, neurodivergence, and chronic illness — both on and off the page.  In Segment 1, Joe is joined by Marie Myung-Ok Lee, who opens up about her experiences as a mother to a child with disabilities. She reflects on the fears, challenges, and moments of triumph that have shaped her perspective as both a parent and a writer. Marie also shares how her Korean-American identity and personal experiences influence her work and the stories she tells.  Then, in Segment 2, Joe, Cece, and Meara highlight books that feature characters who go beyond the label — stories where differences drive the narrative and reveal the beauty in experiencing the world another way.  ✨ A heartfelt, thoughtful episode celebrating empathy, awareness, and the power of storytelling to expand our understanding of others — and ourselves.  Looking for the video version of our show? Check out the Libby App YouTube channel!  Link to our full book list:  https://www.libbylife.com/blog/beyond-the-label-stories-of-disability-awareness-book-lounge-by-libby-season-2-episode-3  Guest host recommendations:  Cece's Picks:  On the Edge of Gone – Corinne Duyvis  What Moves the Dead – T. Kingfisher  Meara's Picks:   Vespertine – Margaret Rogerson  How to Kill Your Family – Bella Mackie  Joe's Picks:   The Year My Life Went Down the Toilet – Jake Maia Arlow  Never the Wind – Francesco Dimitri  Follow the guests & guest hosts:   Segment 1:  Marie Myung-Ok Lee - TikTok  Segment 2:   Cece (problemsofabooknerd) - Links  Meara (mearaisreading) - Links  Time stamps:  00:00:00 Title  00:00:23 Intro  00:01:52 Segment 1 with Marie Myung-Ok Lee  01:01:27 Break Libby Holds Update  01:07:22 Segment 2 Book Recs with Cece & Meara  01:38:06 Outro  Readers can sample and borrow the titles mentioned in today's episode in Libby. Library friends can add these titles to their digital collections for free in OverDrive Marketplace and Kanopy. Check out our Cumulative List for the whole season, or this list for today's episode!  Looking for more bookish content? Check out the Libby Life Blog!  We hope you enjoy this episode of Book Lounge by Libby. Be sure to rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! You can watch the video version of our show on the Libby App YouTube channel. Keep up with us on social media by following the Libby App on Instagram!   Want to reach out? Send an email to bookloungebylibby@overdrive.com. Want some cool bookish swag? Check out our merch store at: http://plotthreadsshop.com/booklounge!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today our friends Katie and Jimin join us to talk about the infamous fantasy punishment…999, aka the punishment of consuming 9 hot dogs and 9 beers in the span of 9 innings. Tune into find out what strategies they employed to do their 999 punishment, as well as tips and tricks for (potential) future 999 attempts.Support the showFollow us on social media @eatyourcrustpod

Ahoy SAVOR listeners! We’re excited to share part one of a two-part interview featuring the legendary Roy Choi with the excellent podcast Dos Amigos, hosted by Wilmer Valderrama and Freddy Rodriguez. Choi, a Korean-American chef, transformed the culinary world with his groundbreaking Korean-Mexican taco truck, Kogi BBQ. The amigos and Choi dive into their shared immigrant journeys, including growing up in LA, and how family, struggle, and identity shaped their creative paths. Choi opens up about how Emeril Lagasse helped spark his passion for food and shares the story behind Kogi’s rise from a truck to a movement that redefined LA’s streets. “Dos Amigos” is a comedic and insightful podcast hosted by two friends who’ve journeyed through Hollywood and life together. Wilmer Valderrama and Freddy Rodriguez push through the noise of everyday life and ruminate on a bevy of topics through fun and daring, and occasionally a third amigo joins the mix! Listen to part two of this interview on Dos Amigos with Wilmer Valderrama and Freddy Rodriguez on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we have a very different experience in academia with Dr. James Lee. He tells his story of growing christian, how he got out, and how he found his way as a philosophy professor in a real university (as opposed to pretend evangelical ones). It's an amazing conversation about getting out of church, teaching, and life as an AAPI professor today.Chapel Probation is part of the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Dauntless Media Collective⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Dauntless Media Discord ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠for more conversation with all the podcast communities.Scott's book, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Asian-American-Apostate- Losing Religion and Finding Myself at an Evangelical University⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ is available now!Music by Scott Okamoto, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jenyi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Azeem Khan⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Shin Kawasaki⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Wingo Shackleford⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Chapel Probation Patreon ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to support Scott and for bonus content. Join the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Chapel Probation Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ group to continue the conversations.Follow Scott on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠You can subscribe to Scott's newsletter and learn more about the book, the blog, and performances at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠rscottokamoto.com⁠

Jeff and Phil welcome actors Daniel Dae Kim and Reina Hardesty, stars of the Prime Video thriller series Butterfly. Daniel talks about adapting the original graphic novel to create an action/espionage series around Korean American characters; Reina talks about auditioning for "Untitled Daniel Dae Kim Project" and finding her way in the role of estranged daughter (and highly-skilled assassin) Rebecca; they talk about the need for nuance in ethnic-specific casting for Asian American actors; and we get The Good, The Bad, and The WTF of making Butterfly. 

Hi there, happy Thursday!What I'm Reading…* Food photographer extraordinaire Eva Kolenko (who's shot more than 50 cookbooks) has a new Substack and she's pulling back the curtain on her work. (Eva joined us in our Behind the Spine series back in 2022.)* Cookbook author Marian Burros died at 92 this week. NYT obit. While she authored a dozen-plus cookbooks in her career, the strongest remembrances are around her iconic plum torte, which she published in the Times in 1983 and has remained one of the paper's most-popular recipes. You can read Pete Wells paying tribute here—or, better yet, bake one yourself. * We're right in the heart of fall cookbook season, and this year's lineup is especially rich—stunning, memorable works that I've been lucky to dive into (nearly 100 new books have already crossed my desk!). For a taste of the top titles, check out new roundups from Eater, Epicurious, and Saveur. I'll be chatting with some of the authors on Salt + Spine and can't wait to share those conversations with you.Episode 173: Deuki Hong & Matt RodbardThis week, chef Deuki Hong and journalist Matt Rodbard join us to #TalkCookbooks! Deuki's latest restaurant SŌHN is an “all-day cafe and multi-use gathering space” in San Francisco. Matt is a writer who also hosts the prolific TASTE podcast (required listening for food lovers).When their first collaborative book, Koreatown, came out in 2016, it captivated food publishing. For many readers, it was the first time Korean American food culture was presented with such energy, personality, and depth. Eight years later, Deuki and Matt returned with a new, wider-lens look.The authors are quick to note that the new book, Koreaworld, isn't a sequel. It's a dispatch from a moment when Korean food and culture are everywhere: K-pop topping the charts, Parasite winning the Oscars, Seoul cafes setting global coffee trends, and a Korean tasting menu taking the top U.S. spot on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list this year. As Deuki and Matt write in the opening to Korea World: “You are about to read the story of a culinary revolution.”In our conversation, Deuki and Matt take us behind the scenes of the ambitious project—from their travels through locations like Jeju and Seoul during the pandemic, to profiling the chefs and artisans who make up what they call “Korea World.”

Today we discuss how we approach conflict in our relationships. We try to see if any of our habits trace back to what we learned from our parents, and dissect any learnings from past mistakes.Support the showFollow us on social media @eatyourcrustpod

Originally aired on November 23, 2022Andrea and Kristin talk with Eric Kim about his intensely personal and remarkable book, Korean American. He shares his inspirations and motivations for the essay format, how he wrote his family as characters and the potential and limits of memoir writing. He talks about the idea of authenticity in food, what goes into naming recipes and the unpredictability of a viral recipe.Hosts: Kate Leahy + Andrea Nguyen + Molly Stevens + Kristin DonnellyEditor: Abby CerquitellaMentionsEric KimWebsiteInstagramNew York Times Column"When I Came Out to My Parents, Kimchi Fried Rice Held Us Together" on Food52Food52 Recipes Visit the Everything Cookbooks Bookshop to purchase a copy of the books mentioned in the showKorean American by Eric KimRisotto with Nettles by Anna Del Conte

Today is a really special episode for Matt in that we dive into two of his great loves: food and fiction. In this episode, he catches up with two authors and journalists he has deep respect for: Ed Park and Jason Diamond. Ed is the author of the terrific new short story collection An Oral History of Atlantis and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. We talk about the 1990s and Ed's past life working at the Village Voice. Food is at the center of Ed's life (it's why we love Ed so much), and we talk about his Korean American household in Buffalo and the modern Korean restaurant scene.  On to Jason Diamond. The guy wrote a terrific debut novel, Kaplan's Plot. It's a story set in Chicago in both modern times and the 1920s, and yes, there are gangers—but also some amazing food scenes. We get into what drives Jason to write deeply researched scenes that celebrate Chicago's Jewish diaspora. Yes, liverwurst and the classic Chicago hot dog get some ink. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode Summary: In this week's episode of your favorite Korean Adoptee podcast, the Janchi Boys sit down and talk about whether or not Patrick hates Korea, the role of governments (and how America's is perfect and has never made any missteps ever), and integrating Koreanness as parents.---// Support the Show!Online at janchishow.com / @janchishowSupport the show at janchishow.com/supportJoin our Facebook Group! janchishow.com/afterpartyWatch our Youtube VideosLeave a voicemail! 972-677-8867Write us a note: janchishow@gmail.comThe Janchi Show Quick BioThe Janchi Show focuses on exploring intersectional identities and current events through the lens of adoption, race, lived experience and more. Sometimes we have guests, and sometimes it's just the three of us. Either way, it's always a janchi!// Meet the Janchi Boys!Nathan NowackNathan (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee who was born in Seoul in the 1970s. He was adopted at the age of 5 months old and raised in a small town in Oklahoma along with a non-biological Korean adopted sister.  After going to college in Colorado he later moved to Los Angeles to pursue a digital media career and eventually started 2 photography companies.  He loves spending time with his wife and 3 kids, playing golf, and collecting Lego. He is in reunion with his biological family as the youngest of 7 and has been in contact since 2015.  He currently serves on the Advisory Council for KAAN and helps with the planning of their annual adoptee conference.  In 2021, Nathan and his family moved back to Colorado to be closer to family and start a new chapter in their lives.  Connect with Nathan!Website: http://www.coverve.comInstagram: http://instagram.com/nnowackPatrick ArmstrongPatrick Armstrong (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee, podcaster, speaker, and community facilitator. He is one of the hosts of the Janchi Show, a podcast that explores and celebrates the experiences and stories of Korean adoptees everywhere. He also is host of Conversation Piece with Patrick Armstrong, a podcast where he discusses the missing pieces of the conversations we're already having. He is a cofounder of the Asian Adoptees of Indiana, a group dedicated to creating a safe, engaging community for all Asian adoptees who need it. He is currently based in Indianapolis with his wife and cat. Connect with Patrick!Website: http://patrickintheworld.meLinkedIn: http://linkedin/in/patrickintheworldInstagram: http://instagram.com/patrickintheworldK.J. Roelke (@kjroelke)KJ (he/him) was adopted from Daegu and raised in Dallas, Texas with his two biological, older siblings and his younger sister, adopted from Russia. After spending a decade in the Midwest for college and career, he and his wife are back in Dallas and living large! He has been on his journey of discovery since 2015 and spends his days as a web developer for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.Connect with K.J.!Website: https://kjroelke.online/LinkedIn: https://linkedin/in/kjroelkeInstagram: https://instagram.com/kjroelke// Listen to/Watch The Janchi Show on all major platforms:Apple: http://janchishow.com/appleSpotify: http://janchishow.com/spotifyYoutube: http://janchishow.com/youtubeGratitude & CreditsMichelle Nam for our logo and brandingJerry Won for bring us togetherThis show is created and produced by Patrick, Nathan and KJ and is the sole property of the Janchi Show, LLC.

Welcome to Season 5, Episode 37! Today we continue with the second part of The History of The Secret War in Laos. We highly recommend going back to listen to Part 1. That's where you'll hear about the Cold War motivations behind U.S. involvement in Laos, the rise of General Vang Pao and the Hmong Secret Army, and the massive bombing campaign that made Laos the most heavily bombed country per capita in history. In this episode, we'll talk about the aftermath once the war ended… from re-education camps for the Lao and Hmong soldiers who fought on the side of the Americans, to the massive amount of UXO clean-up, to the refugee crisis. We also share some of the challenges with the current administrations policy of revoking temporary refugee status for many in the community. To learn more about some of the organizations helping with clean-up and education, checkout Legacies of War, Mines Advisory Group, or the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center. You can learn about all three and support them through donations. For our recurring segment, we talk about Netflix's most popular show ever… Kpop Demon Hunters. Kpop now goes beyond Korea, and with several prominent Korean American voice actors, this show definitely resonated with people who find relevance with the “third culture” experience. Whether you watch it for the story, action, music, or Kpop scenes, it's a show that is resonating with a lot of people! If you like what we do, please share, follow, and like us in your podcast directory of choice or on Instagram @AAHistory101. For previous episodes and resources, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or our links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at info@aahistory101.com. Segments 00:25 Intro and Catching Up 06:36 The History of The Secret War in Laos Part 2 15:14 What Are We Watching? Kpop Demon Hunters!!!

Today our friends Aileen and Harpreet join us to talk about bringing your social A game to events and hangouts! We chat about what kind of events make us feel the most comfortable socially, and dive into any tips or tricks that help to set the vibes of an event. We discuss whether we actively try to set the vibes or whether we passively enhance it. Support the showFollow us on social media @eatyourcrustpod

The director Celine Song won over audiences and critics alike with her first feature film, “Past Lives,” the semi-autobiographical tale of a married Korean American woman meeting up with her former childhood sweetheart. Now Song is back with another story about love called “Materialists.” This time the main character is a matchmaker, a job that Song did briefly in her early 20s.On this episode of “Modern Love,” Song reads Louise Rafkin's Modern Love essay “My View From the Margins,” about a relationship columnist who can't figure out love in her own life. And Song tells us how neither falling in love at age 24 nor making a career of writing about love has brought her any closer to understanding it. “It's the one thing that makes me feel like a fool,” Song says.For more Modern Love, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Wednesday.  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.