The Mash-Up Americans

The Future with adrienne maree brown - Grief, Collected

In the last episode of the season, we are focused on building the future with one of the wisest people of our time, adrienne maree brown. If grief is transformative, what are we creating in its wake? This conversation is about emerging from our collective grief and about creating our future together. It’s about our interconnectedness and what it means to live a good life in community with each other, knowing grief is woven into our lives just as joy is. We love adrienne’s vision and clarity and ...

Meditation: A Reading On Grief from Alexander Chee

Welcome to the fourth meditation of our Grief, Collected series, which come out every Friday. Today is a literary meditation with the esteemed author Alexander Chee. Alexander is the bestselling author of Edinburgh and The Queen of the Night , and a beautiful essayist making meaning of the world around us and helping us imagine new ones. In today’s episode he is reading his 2018 essay, “ Why Grieve Is The Word Of The Year ,” which walks us through all of our many griefs, and how we can find ours...

How Do We Grieve Collectively? - Grief, Collected

Collective grief! What does it mean to grieve as a community? As a country? We’re thinking about what it means to face our losses and our grief head on — together — in order to repair our society. What does it mean to lose a future that we might have imagined? Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg joins us to talk about some of the roots of our grief culture here in America, and with that knowledge, what collective grief and healing can look like in our communities. Part of that work includes looking at how so...

Meditation: Drawing with Wendy MacNaughton

For today’s meditation: grab a pencil and paper! The bestselling illustrator and graphic journalist Wendy MacNaughton is the founder and host of Draw Together . She will lead us through a drawing exercise “Chill Out Drawing for Stressed Out Times.” Draw Together is a participatory drawing podcast and interactive art class focused on imagination and community. Although Wendy’s show is ostensibly for kids, we have found it touches the inner kid in all of us. You can find more info and resources at...

How Grief Lives In The Body - Grief, Collected

You know how when you are grieving you might feel clumsy? Or perhaps your heart literally hurts - not metaphorically? These are some of the many physical manifestations of grief that have been scientifically observed - and humanly felt. And not just humanly!!! Animals grieve! Wait until you learn about crow funerals! Today we’re talking to Dr. Dorothy Holinger, psychologist and author of The Anatomy of Grief. This validating conversation is an exploration of the science and spirituality of grief...

Meditation: Breathing with Linda Thai

Welcome to the second meditation of our Grief, Collected series, which come out every Friday. Today is a breathing meditation with Linda Thai. Linda is a therapist and leads meditations as part of her somatic healing practice. She will take us on a 10 minute meditation to explore our relationship to our ancestors through release and healing. And for those us that get antsy about the idea of meditating for 10 minutes - we get it! Take a walk and see how it feels. Linda Thai is also featured in Ep...

Exploring Ancestral Grief - Grief, Collected

America! The land of opportunity! And also, for so many Mash-Ups, the ambiguous loss of immigration and uprooting a life and a history comes with a complex web of emotions. Today we’re talking to the trauma therapist and educator Linda Thai about ancestral grief, and how unmetabolized grief, particularly in Mash-Up families, is passed down through generations. We dive into how important understanding historical context is for grief and healing . There are many Mash-Up revelations in this episode...

Meditation: Songs of Grief from Daniela Gesundheit

Welcome to the first meditation of our Grief Collected series, which come out every Friday. Today we have a series of 4 songs on grief from Daniela Gesundheit and Snowblink . A lot of Daniela’s music engages with grief, as she weaves together stories from her personal experience and her Jewish traditions. These meditative episodes are an invitation to get out of our heads and into our bodies. This is music by Daniela Gesundheit and Snowblink. Playlist - None - written by Daniela Gesundheit. Perf...

Defining Grief in America - Grief, Collected

We’ve been looking around these past couple years, wondering what grief is in America. Today we start at the beginning and we have some BIG QUESTIONS. What is grief? What is the particularly American approach to grief and grieving — or not grieving as it were? Will we be okay?! We are joined by two of the world’s leading grief experts. George Bonanno and Natalia Skritskaya are psychologists who are researchers on grief, trauma, and loss to define grief and loss and their many manifestations. We ...

Introducing: Grief, Collected - A New Series from The Mash-Up Americans

We’re back!!! Welcome to a new series about grieving and life from The Mash-Up Americans. Grief, Collected is where we explore how grief moves through our bodies, our families, and our communities — and why we need to feel it all in order to transform our future. Launching November 15 — with new episodes every Tuesday and new meditations every Friday. Grief, like joy, is one of our human conditions. Yet it is the one we, as Americans, are the least willing to confront, even as it becomes more an...

Fatimah Asghar on Our Unseen Identities

Poet and screenwriter Fatimah Asghar is talking to us about why "orphan" is the identifier she relates to the most, and why her idea of home isn't a physical place. Fatimah is having a moment right now….within the past year, the web series that she co-created Brown Girls got picked up by HBO, she released a collection of poetry, and she was chosen as one of Forbes 30 under 30 on their Hollywood and Entertainment list. She also shares her 3 rules of success and has really got us thinking about ho...

Ai-Jen Poo on How We Make It All Work

“I really believe that care and caregiving can save the soul of the country. Everybody has people that they care about. It totally connects us in this very deep, emotional way.” We agree with Ai-Jen! We had SO MUCH FUN in this conversation. The paid work of caregiving - which is mostly done by mashy women - makes our economy and world move. Ai-Jen Poo is the head of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and one of the organizers of Supermajority. She’s so mashy she even has a hyphen in her name...

Alua Arthur On Demystifying Death

“Talking about sex won’t make you pregnant, talking about death won’t make you dead.” We are talking about death on this episode and it is a party! We are going to explore life, love, and family through the lens of death with our incredible guest Alua Arthur. Alua is a Ghanifornian Mash-Up and a death doula, which means that she works with individuals and families to help them through the process of death. We chat with Alua about everything from what to do with your loved one’s magazine subscrip...

Aline Brosh McKenna on Leading Ladies

Aline Brosh McKenna is a Hollywood triple threat; she’s a showrunner, director, and writer and she does them all really really well. She has worked in this business for more than two decades but her mission has remained the same: to center women’s stories around something other than a man. We talk about Cher, body hair, bacterial vaginosis, and so much more. Get ready! She’s the writer of your favorite rom coms, from 27 Dresses to The Devil Wears Prada to I Don’t Know How She Does It . Most rece...

Wendy De La Rosa on How We Really Spend Money

This episode is all about money. How we make it, spend it, save it, and value it. Wendy De La Rosa is our guest and she has a lot to say about all of this. Not how we are supposed to manage our money, but how we actually do it. Wendy is a Dominican-born and Bronx-raised Mash-Up who studies consumer behavior and is a founder of the Common Cents Lab, which aims to teach fintech companies how real people use money. Wendy talks to us about her life before becoming an academic, living as a brown pers...

Dr. Leana Wen on Taking Care of Each Other

New Season! We’re kicking off Mash Ups to Know with the President and CEO of Planned Parenthood, Dr. Leana Wen ! A long time leader and advocate in public health, Dr. Wen’s mission to depoliticize healthcare at the forefront of everything she does. We talk with her about what it was like to immigrate here from Shanghai at such a young age, how becoming a mother changed the way that she approaches healthcare, and why her mother's bout with cancer led to her passion for patient advocacy. The Mash-...

Coming Soon! Mash-Ups To Know - Changing the World

New season! We're making the culture, ya heard? On each episode, we’ll bring you a conversation with one incredible Mash-Up who is making waves at the cutting edge of their field. We're talking health, money, death, work, pop culture, and so much more. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....

Lily Percy Is A Boss Bitch

It's the final week of Mash-Ups to Know—for now!—and we are thrilled to bring you our beloved boss bitch, Lily Percy. Also known as Liliana Maria Percy Ruiz, and that's a whole thing that we get into. First though, she is the Executive Producer of On Being Studios—home of the wisest woman we know, Krista Tippett—and the host of the new and totally amazing podcast, This Movie Changed Me. We talk growing up a religious immigrant, the importance of language, and why Sleepless in Seattle is the movi...

Rachna Fruchbom Is Our Sitcom Hero

For our fourth installment of Mash-Ups to Know, we bring you comedy writer and producer Rachna Fruchbom. She knows that her mashiness is her superpower—and she is not afraid to use it. From her badass career change after the birth of her first kid and writing for Parks & Rec and Fresh Off the Boat, to her dream of creating America's new favorite sitcom—starring an Indian American woman!—she brings her full self to her work. Amy and Rebecca talk with Rachna about work, motherhood, and followi...

Bethany Yellowtail Won't Quit

Bethany Yellowtail—fashion designer, business owner, and general badass—is a Mash-Up to Know. She is the owner and designer of B.YELLOWTAIL, a fashion line, and the leader of B.YELLOWTAIL COLLECTIVE, a platform for the work of Native artisans of different nations. Rebecca and Amy try not to fan girl too hard about her beautiful clothes and amazing work, and they get to the heart of why dating as an Indigenous woman in LA is just as challenging as it sounds. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.co...

Frank Shyong Cares a Lot

The Mash-Up Americans are back with another Mash-Up to Know—journalist Frank Shyong of the LA Times. He covers the San Gabriel Valley and the self-described Asian Beat, knows his way around the delis and tempura houses of LA, and has his finger on the pulse. He sat down with Amy and Rebecca just after Crazy Rich Asians came out in theaters, and we talked representation, growing up Asian in the South, and worrying about your parents. And lots and lots of food. See Privacy Policy at https://art19....

Marcella Arguello Is Here to Inspire Women

We're coming your way with Mash-Ups to Know! Up first is comedian and all-around badass Marcella Arguello. She is a Salvadoran Lebanese Nicaraguan American who is also the host of Women Crush Wednesdays, one of the funniest nights of comedy in LA—or anywhere, for our money. Marcella talks to Amy and Rebecca about her family's American tale, the shades of Latinx identity, the importance of finding mentors, loving the glow-up of her BFF Nico Santos, (one of the stars of everyone's favorite movie r...

Coming Soon: Mash-Ups to Know!

Mash-Ups Flirt (and other Mash-Up Wisdom on Sex)

It's a fact: Mash-Ups are the sexiest people in all the land. Though like everything else, sex and dating can be a little more complicated for Mash-Ups. Just ask international sex expert Esther Perel, Nancy Podcast host Tobin Low, and rapper and breakout star of Crazy Rich Asians and Oceans 8 Awkwafina (oh, and her grandma, Mrs. Lum). We did! And we're sharing their wisdom with you today. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#d...

Staying Hopeful (Or At Least Trying)

Mash-Up Wisdom is a short series of episodes featuring wisdom from our Mash-Up heroes. Have you read the news lately? Amy and Rebecca have been taking it pretty hard and needed a therapy session with you guys to find some HOPE. Today we’re reflecting on Mash-Up Wisdom—the gems of knowledge dropped by our guests here on The Mash-Up Americans—and how we are using them to keep us strong and HOPEFUL. This episode features brilliance from Michael Twitty, John Maeda, and Randall Park. They're remindin...

Summer Travel Edition, with Aminatou Sow

It's been awhile, but we're baaack! We're diving into all the feelings and lots of wisdom about traveling the globe—and why you might catch us without a driver's license or a library card, but you'd never catch us without a valid passport. Amy and Rebecca get into it with the incomparable Aminatou Sow, of Call Your Girlfriend and On She Goes, and get a fierce dose of wisdom to share with the fam. More details at mashupamericans.com See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California P...

Dear Mash-Up America: Parenting Edition

This week on The Mash-Up Americans: Whether you are a parent, think you might want to be, or just want the best for the next generation, here are the questions that tear at us as we do our best to raise our many-hyphened kids. After our conversation last month on Raising Generation Mash-Up, you all sent us so many thoughtful, piercing questions on mash-up parenting. Today we're diving in. Joining Amy and Rebecca on the podcast to answer your questions is Matt Sayles, a celebrated photographer, a...

Reprise: What Is Your Bubbemeise?

We're re-sharing our episode with the fantastic author, chef, historian, and mensch Michael Twitty about bubbemeises. Call them old wives tales, call them folk wisdom, call them what you will, we're not ignoring them anytime soon. We'll hear from: a bevy of past guests on their bubbemeise; The Angry Asian Man, Phil Yu, and his lovely wife, Joanna Lee, about how honoring the traditions of their ancestors made their first year of parenthood easier to endure, and more meaningful, too; and finally, ...

Time To Move On

It's that time of year. Time for New Year's resolutions (or not), forgiveness, and moving ahead. 2017 has been a reckoning for all of us — an examination of who and what we fight for, and why. We've looked deeply at ourselves and sat in the uncomfortable acknowledgement that maybe we could have done more. And as we push the world to change, to do better and be better, we're also pushing ourselves. But what's the best way to do that? Joining Amy and Rebecca on the podcast today is Kristen Meinzer...

Raising Generation Mash-Up

Welcome to the third and final installation of our Mash-Up journey: raising our kids. In some ways, we've been working on this episode for the entire lifespan of The Mash-Up Americans. Where do we come from? Where are we going? How do we do raise our children with love, and care, and with a deep love of their mashiness? Amy and Rebecca are joined today by Rumaan Alam, first-generation Bengali American, novelist and essayist on parenting in transracial adoptions; and Christine Gross-Loh, first ge...