In celebration of Indigenous People's Day (fka Columbus Day), we spotlight the experience of special guest Maggie, who is half Navajo, half German. We discuss where the holiday first came from and what it means to her, what impact growing up "mixed" and racially ambiguous had on her sense of self, and stereotypes about native people that should be left in the past compared to the realities of what represents the modern-day native person.
In today's tense political and social climate, it can be difficult to have nuanced conversations about sensitive topics because certain issues can feel extremely personal. As such, "cancel culture" has become a popular reaction to someone saying something that offends, or is in opposition to, a different group. We discuss how difficult it can be to discuss politics (!!), some examples of improper "canceling" being doled out that we've seen recently, the challenge of discerning the truth when eve...
I'll make a *blockbuster* out of you! Disney's Mulan returns to the home theater as a live-action epic, and boy do we have the sizzlingest review of the movie for you. The live-action film surprised many Disney lovers by taking a significantly different approach from the animated originals. There are no musical numbers, fewer comedic-relief characters, and a less cheerful tone overall. Your resident Disney fan (Angela) and resident Dis-meh observer (Jesse) give you an honest review of the movie....
To catapult us into Season 2 with something that seems larger than life, we discuss the global sensation that is BTS. We bring ARMY super fans Leslie Kim and Diana Jin on as guests to help us learn more about what the magic sauce is that makes BTS so special and has helped the group smash boundaries to break into mainstream music charts and pop culture at large. We also discuss how being a fan of BTS is different for someone from a Korean-American perspective vs. someone from a non-Korean backgr...
Have you ever been asked the dreaded "what are you?" or "where are you really from?" questions on a first date? Yeah, us too. This episode we talk about what it's like dating as an Asian-American. The expectations our parents put on us for our ideal match, our experiences dating in and out of the race, our worst dating experiences, and more! Cap off Season 1 with us with this final fun episode! We'll be back with Season 2 in Mid-September.
We scratched the surface on some of life's most challenging topics in our past episodes - understanding personal finance, growing your career as an AAPI professional, and how to approach the logistics of elder care & estate planning for your parents. This week we're going deeper on all three of those topics with a special guest who not only coaches the youth on personal finance through non-profit work, has broken through that bamboo ceiling to become a corporate exec turned startup founder/c...
Are you as clueless about birthing and raising babies as we are? If so, this episode is for you! We're joined by special guests Catherine & Mark Kim, first generation Korean-American millennial parents and co-hosts of Mom and Pop Podcast. We talk about the expectations Asian parents put on us to continue our family legacy by having children (esp. sons!), what parts of their Korean heritage they plan to pass on to their now 1 year old daughter, what was completely unexpected in the process of...
Kicking the bucket. Taking a long dirt nap. Meeting your maker. Feelings and thoughts about death can be scary and complicated, so this week we're digging up all those skeletons. From past life regression to our favored (or unfavored) ways to pass, we're giving you our most honest insights on death and dying. Beyond our own personal thoughts on the matter, we also face the realities of the near-ish future passing of our parents, and what that means from an east vs. west standpoint in terms of ho...
Talking openly about your religious and spiritual beliefs is fairly taboo in today's society, even though these beliefs can make up a big part of your identity. In this episode, we discuss our varying degrees of religious and spiritual beliefs with a special guest, Lindsay, where we compare/contrast how our beliefs and experiences have been shaped by our different upbringings and individual spiritual paths. We also discuss how searching for a tight-knit community, including the local Asian-Ameri...
Understanding personal finance is so important to #adulting, but no one ever taught us how to manage our finances or prepare for our financial futures - not our immigrant parents, nor the U.S. education system. We are by no means financial experts, but we have picked up a thing or two that have helped us save and plan for the future that we want to share with you. There are a ton of basic concepts that everyone should understand to properly manage your money, and we cover a few of those key topi...
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but what happens when you're viewing it through two different sets of eyes? We discuss the standards of beauty in the western and eastern worlds - where they are drastically different and where they are very much the same, our feelings of not quite meeting either of those standards, and the effect that has had on our sense of identity, representation, and self-worth.
Are you proud to be Amurrican, 🎵 where at least I know I'm free 🎵 ! In all seriousness, the feeling of Americaness has been a contentious topic recently, even between your two hosts. Being American affords all of us many privileges, but are those enough to engender a feeling of national pride? This week we talk about what we think it means to be American and all the unique challenges and opportunities that come with that....
It's Pride month! While we love and embrace every part of what it means to be LGBT, being an LGBT individual can add to the confusion of the already confusing Asian-American identity. Our discussion this week will focus on the struggle of defining what LGBT means, even as we face erasure globally. Our guest Tong was invited to bring an Eastern and female queer perspective, joining us in discussions around how sex and sexuality differ from East to West.
The most productive and legitimate way we felt we could address the explosion of discussion around racial injustice spurred by the murder of George Floyd was by examining the place that Asians hold in society as "model minorities." We take a closer look at the bias against the Asian community as a result of placing us in this category, but also the privileges we've gained from the label and the bias we hold against other minority communities (namely the African-American and Latino communities) a...
We're launching a mini series within the broader podcast called "Reflections" dedicated to sharing listener stories. Join us for this first episode as we hear and discuss stories about growing up Asian in a predominantly white community, a modern take on filial piety, and how non-Asians have realized what it means to feel like they are "other." If you would like to contribute a story or experience to a future episode of Reflections, email us at telluswhereyourefrom@gmail.com...
Let's air a dirty little secret for y'all - drugs can be both life-changingly fun and spiritually meaningful. We talk about how we cut past the fear instilled by our Asian upbringings and societal inhibitions to explore the world of controlled substances. We share our experiences & the benefits we've gained from taking these substances for recreational purposes and in therapeutic settings. Come take a journey with us and explore the freedom of controlled substances...at the very least you ma...
We're discussing the concept of filial piety - a core tenet of Confucianism and a foundational pillar of Chinese culture. It represents the endless karmic debt that children owe to their parents for bringing them into this world, and all the obligations and duties expected of us as a result of being raised under that philosophy. Our guest Jenny was invited to bring a western perspective to this discussion as we explore how we view our relationships with our parents and the generations before us,...
We have a special guest this week - Angela's dad! To close out Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, we discuss the topic of what constitutes cultural heritage and the importance of passing on language, traditions, and values to the next generation. Jeffrey was born and raised in Taiwan, and is Hakkanese. He moved his family to the U.S. in 1989 and is a retired former entrepreneur. He and Angela's mom split their time between the U.S. and Taiwan.
This week's episode is inspired by the May 2020 theme for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month: "Unite Our Nation by Empowering Equality" We discuss equality in the workplace, stereotypes that persist about Asian employees as a result of both our cultural upbringings of not wanting to "rock the boat" as well as external misguided misperceptions, and what else has hindered us from rallying more strongly as a community to truly break the glass ceiling that many marginalized communities find thems...
This week we discuss the explosion of racism against the Asian-American community amidst the COVID-19 outbreak. Each of us will highlight one attack and one uplifting story that have come out of this crisis. To donate to the non-profits we mention in the episode that are fighting against hatred, visit the URLs below: Chinese-American Planning Council (NY): https://www.cpc-nyc.org/ Asian Pacific Policy & Planning Council (CA): http://www.asianpacificpolicyandplanningcouncil.org/ Southern Pove...
This week we discuss representation of Asians & Asian-Americans in mainstream media: why it's important, why we haven't seen enough of it thus far, and what progress has been made towards greater representation in the future.
We discuss the recently released Netflix movie Tigertail and how major themes of this Taiwanese immigrant story relate to our own experiences and those of our parents. Tigertail was written and directed by Alan Yang (writer on Master of None, Parks and Rec) and is loosely based on his father’s story of sacrifice in order to pursue the American Dream.
In this episode we share a little about where our families are from...Taiwan! We discuss what our experiences have been like returning to the motherland, and how being both Taiwanese and American affects how we view our identities and how others see us when we’re back in the land of our ancestors.
We're closing out part 2 of our two-part episode around mental health. We reflect on what motivated us to ignore the taboos we were brought up to associate with mental health and discuss our journey seeking self-care for ourselves.
This week we're exploring Part 1 of our two-part topic around mental health. We'll discuss the taboo around talking about or seeking self-care, and our hypotheses for what parts of Asian culture prevent Asians and Asian-Americans from seeing therapy as a normal, everyday part of their overall health checklist.
Jesse and Angela introduce why they were inspired to start this podcast, and kick off the series with a reflection on how their sense of self has been shaped by a variety of influences from having immigrant parents to succumbing to pre-pubescent social pressures.
