Are polyamory and open relationships becoming popular in modern society?! ...or is the media just presenting it that way and enabling problematic people to co-opt the concept of polyamory to justify their bad behaviors (i.e., cheating, using people, etc.)? Inspired by a recent read of the New Yorker article entitled "How Did Polyamory Become So Popular?" by Jennifer Wilson, we discuss what we think about all of this. How about you, listeners? Have you noticed a rise in polyamorous relationships ...
Feb 14, 2024•16 min•Season 1Ep. 145
It's the Year of the Dragon y'all and we're looking to tap into that energy of success, power, luck, and excellence as we wade through the new changes that 2024 has to bring. In this episode, we share our respective big new life updates - namely that Angela has decided that she'll be moving to Japan in 2 years, and Jesse is imminently moving in with his boyfriend! What's new for you listeners in 2024 that you want to tap into that dragon energy for? Let us know in the Spotify Q&A section or ...
Feb 09, 2024•19 min•Season 1Ep. 144
The end of the year means that we're at the start of a fresh new beginning! It can be so exciting to start the year fresh, but new life chapters can be daunting! Coming into the holidays, we've decided to reflect on how we've progressed this past year. There have been so many changes that have happened to us - change in locations, careers, and social life. And there are so many new things to come! We chat about how some of these changes can bring new (but exciting) concerns back into our lives. ...
Dec 15, 2023•19 min•Season 1Ep. 143
What do you get when you take a Hong Kong-born kid, move him to New Zealand for the next 13 years, and then have him cross over the ocean to the US as an adult? ... this episode's guest, Henry! You, our dear listeners, asked us to share more and different types of Asian diaspora stories beyond the US, and we listened! In this episode, we hear about Henry's story of identity and finding himself. How did Henry's experience growing up in New Zealand, learning a perfect "Kiwi" accent differ from his...
Dec 08, 2023•29 min•Season 1Ep. 142
What made a white college kid from the midwest decide to move to the other side of the world to live in China?! In this episode, we're joined by Nick Anderson, an LA-based Mandarin teacher who spent his formative young adult years living in China and other Asia-Pacific countries learning and teaching Mandarin. We talk about what that experience was like, compounded with his experience coming out and living his best life as a gay man while abroad. Despite what many may think, Nick's experience be...
Dec 01, 2023•31 min•Season 1Ep. 141
Have you ever wondered what parenting in 2023 looks like? Are more parents disciplinarians or have more parents found their way to gentle parent? Our topic in this episode, gentle parenting, is a newer approach to raising children. Instead of the more traditional authoritarian approach that we were raised by in our own childhoods, gentle parenting parents approach their children with more empathy and focus on letting the child express their emotions. Does it sound a little new-age to you? While ...
Nov 24, 2023•18 min•Season 1Ep. 140
Finding new friends is challenging at any age, but it seems to get particularly more difficult as we get older. As we age out of experiences and environments that are more conducive to socialization (i.e., school), we naturally find less opportunities to make friends. Even in areas like the workplace, most people seem less open to making friends outside of certain environments. We also find that we are more conscious of the people we make friends with. We focus on finding connection over quantit...
Nov 17, 2023•19 min•Season 1Ep. 139
Modern science has truly come a long way with regards to fertility and alternative ways to start families. However, even with these science-aided options like surrogacy and egg freezing/IVF, women are still forced to think about their options with regard to whether or not they want to have children when they are in their mid 20s to mid 30s. Since Angela is in this age range currently and has many friends who have either already had kids or have gone through science-aided options, this topic is v...
Nov 10, 2023•22 min•Season 1Ep. 138
Even though we're pushing towards our mid-30s, finding a healthy sense of self and self-worth can still be challenging. Sense of self and self-worth can be tied to the different types of validation we look for in life. Some of that validation comes from external factors - career, relationships, and personal history. Other types of validation come from within - peace with yourself, satisfaction with your achievements, and self-compassion. We talk about how all of these things have affected our ow...
Nov 03, 2023•18 min•Season 1Ep. 137
It's time to get scary again! Since y'all loved our scary stories from Asia episode last year, we're coming back at you with new stories from the Eastern world! Grip the edge of your seat as Jesse recounts the haunting adventures of a Taiwan-based shaman. Will he successfully help out a distressed young man, or will he be caught up by the paranormal activity himself? Feel your breath catch in your lungs as Angela takes us on a horrifying taxi cab journey based in Korea. Is the mysterious passeng...
Oct 27, 2023•24 min•Season 1Ep. 136
Harry Au is a therapist specializing in working with Asians in the diaspora, often 1.5 and 2nd generation Asians who are either immigrants themselves, or children of immigrants. In this episode, we discuss how Harry was motivated to dedicate his life to this work after seeing the benefits of working out his emotions in therapy for himself, and the common issues he sees with his clients. Largely having to do with his clients' relationships with their parents, they are often challenged with everyt...
Oct 20, 2023•42 min•Season 1Ep. 135
How do you define "meaning" or "value" in life? In the US we often put work above all else, thinking that career success and status is supposed to give you some sort of meaning in life, or that work is supposed to be your ~passion~. But is that really the case? Now that we're in our 30s with enough work and life experience under our belts, we're starting to re-evaluate that assumption. We reflect on our our individual experiences riding the wave of figuring out what meaning we do or don't derive...
Oct 13, 2023•21 min•Season 1Ep. 134
There are so many things about getting older that suck. But does getting older always mean settling down? Is there even a universal meaning to the phrase, "settling down?" Aging means thinking about what the future stages of our lives will look like. Some types of adventures decrease as we get older, to be replaced by other life experiences. In this episode, we talk about how our individual definitions of settling down, and how our different life experiences guide the challenges we want to tackl...
Oct 06, 2023•17 min•Season 1Ep. 133
Many children of immigrants grew up learning their parents' language as their first tongue. Our first language was Mandarin, but like many other immigrant children, this was quickly supplanted by English. Despite attending Chinese School every week from the ages of 5 to 18, our current level of vocabulary and reading/writing skills are sadly on par with 5th graders in Taiwan, at best. As we've gotten older, we've both developed a desire to revisit our mother language as part of better understand...
Sep 29, 2023•17 min•Season 1Ep. 132
Clarissa Wei is a Taiwan-based food journalist and author of the new cookbook "Made in Taiwan," out now. Clarissa was inspired to use this cookbook as a vehicle to tell the stories of the people of Taiwan, and to shine a light on how the history of Taiwan -- from its various waves of immigration pre- and post-1949 to its all-time-high modern political tensions with China -- has affected its people, its culture, and of course its cuisine. Clarissa collaborated with a diverse group of local Taiwan...
Sep 22, 2023•47 min•Season 1Ep. 131
There's a whole industry built around finding shortcuts in experiencing happiness, but do things in life actually make us happy or is it how we experience them that creates happiness? To complicate the subject further, happiness is a different experience for different people. Even in experiences we choose to repeat, we may find that our experience of happiness differs from one day to the next. We sit in the middle of all of this, trying to absorb the capitalistic trappings of happiness while mai...
Sep 15, 2023•17 min•Season 1Ep. 130
Jesse recently went back to Taiwan for the first time since before the pandemic. Although for less than ideal reasons (the death of his grandfather), he was grateful for the opportunity to reconnect with his extended family back in the motherland. We also hear about Jesse's shenanigans going out solo to experience LGBT nightlife in Taipei by himself, and what it was like finally being out to the majority of his family members. Across all of these experiences, we talk about the legendary friendli...
Sep 08, 2023•18 min•Season 1Ep. 129
After living abroad in Japan and Korea the last year, Angela's recent reverse culture shock coming back to the US has your co-hosts wondering why there's such a drastic difference in the quality of life between the US and many (East) Asian countries. In this episode, we talk about just how different our respective experiences were abroad with regard to the cost of living (food, clothes, going out, real estate), general feelings of safety in society, societal norms & expectations, and more. I...
Sep 01, 2023•22 min•Season 1Ep. 128
This 4th of July, we're pondering our Americanness from a different angle. As Taiwanese-Americans - in our case, born and raised in the U.S., with parents and extended family who were born and raised in Taiwan - to what extent should we be emphasizing the "Taiwanese" part of who we are? Inspired by frequent comments we receive on social media from both non-Asian Americans as well as Asians in Asia, we're often told to stop talking about being Asian when we are "simply" American. But to what exte...
Jun 30, 2023•15 min•Season 1Ep. 127
Kristen Meinzer is a force to be reckoned with. She is an award-winning podcaster with millions of downloads, a culture critic who frequently appears on TV (especially to talk about the royal family!), and an author whose book "How to Be Fine" was an Audible #1 Bestseller in 2021. Aside from her incredible career, Kristen is also a Korean adoptee. Born in Korea but raised in Minnesota, she grew up disconnected from the country and culture she was born into while raised in a mostly white family a...
Jun 23, 2023•41 min•Season 1Ep. 126
We've talked about how and why our relationship with our parents is complicated. But as our parents get older, what level of emotional, financial, and logistical support do we owe them in the time they have left? While the topic of eldercare has always been sensitive, being the child of immigrants brings specific challenges into the equation. Despite having lived in the US for most of their adult lives, our parents continue to struggle with navigating a somewhat still-foreign society, while long...
Jun 16, 2023•17 min•Season 1Ep. 125
In this episode, we unpack our experiences with creepy men. Creepy men often approach unexpectedly and at times where we are seemingly just going about our daily lives. The "jump scare" appearance of creepy men often happens without consent and can trigger crippling fears around potential sexual violence. But what is it that empowers creepy men to so boldly approach individuals who have no interest in their attention? We discuss what we think the different factors are that enable creepy man beha...
Jun 09, 2023•32 min•Season 1Ep. 124
Do you think the LGBT community is authentically portrayed in modern media - both from a quality representation standpoint, and in quantity of characters and storylines? In this episode, we talk about what authentic representation means to us. Is more representation always good representation, even if the characters are not well written and don't make you feel seen? Is there "too much" gay portrayal in some pieces of media today to try to right the wrong of not properly including or portraying q...
Jun 02, 2023•15 min•Season 1Ep. 123
The US seems to be more divided than ever today. Especially when the topic at hand is a sensitive issue that has to do with identity and human rights, it's understandable that people are passionate about their positions. In this episode, we explore a number of controversial topics that have provoked vehement debate and division, and pose the question of whether or not the sensitivity around each topic is warranted. Where is the fine line between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation, ...
May 26, 2023•58 min•Season 1Ep. 122
So much of your experience as a child influences you as an adult. Having grown up in a typical Asian immigrant family, we felt like we never received the love that we wanted. But how should we carry that experience forward in an evolved way? In this episode, we dive into how we can unlearn childhood trauma. Childhood trauma can express itself in adult behaviors that you don't quite understand. It can cause you to experience sudden anxiety, anger, or other unexpected emotions as a reaction to cer...
May 19, 2023•18 min•Season 1Ep. 121
New York, Tokyo, London, Seoul - what do current modern metropolises have in common, and how does the speed of modernization change the flavor that each city brings to the table? We look at how modernization of cities can change the cultural landscapes that give big cities their personalities. Angela recounts her recent experiences living in Tokyo and Seoul, exploring what these futuristic cities trade off in culture for modern architecture and towering skyscrapers. Jesse contrasts this with New...
May 12, 2023•16 min•Season 1Ep. 120
How deeply engaged can you be with a country's culture without being fluent in the local language? Can concepts of culture be divorced from language, or will there always be something missing without a linguistic understanding? In discussing our Asian identities, we've always known that we don't quite fit in in the motherland. The local cultural nuances that make you feel that you "belong" are difficult to pick up during short visits. On top of that, understanding these cultural nuances also req...
May 05, 2023•18 min•Season 1Ep. 119
Growing up in an Asian family can feel like you're starved for attention all the time. You can never get the same exact "love" that you see your non-Asian friends at school receive. But looking back, maybe there was love - we just didn't know how to see it at the time. While we were looking for words of praise or a close friend relationship with our parents, they showed their love in other ways. They obsessed about our academic ventures, worried over how much and when we ate, and - as we got old...
Apr 28, 2023•16 min•Season 1Ep. 118
Angela has been a digital nomad for the past 2 years, and half of that time has been spent abroad in countries where she is quite literally a "foreigner." However, this episode is dedicated to reflecting on her recent experience going back to Taiwan (her family's motherland) as an adult with her husband and non-Taiwanese in-laws, and all the ways she felt like a foreigner despite *almost* fitting in. We discuss the difference between visiting the motherland as a child with your family as your pe...
Apr 21, 2023•18 min•Season 1Ep. 117
We've chatted many times before on the pod about how food has such an intimate connection with culture. Food can evoke so many strong memories and strengthen the feeling of connection with your culture. So as one of the main sources of Asian groceries in the US, what does HMart's meteoric rise in the US mean to us as Asian-Americans? In this episode, we bring you through a brief history of HMart and its massive expansion across the US, and delve into how the experience of shopping at HMart diffe...
Apr 14, 2023•17 min•Season 1Ep. 116
