Influx Influx the Pod

In this episode of Influx, we discuss our favourite fracker Rupaul. Okay, fracking jokes aside (it’s hard not to make many tbh) this week we’re taking a moment to talk Rupaul’s Drag Race. The VH1 reality show featuring drag queen competitors vying for the title of “Next Drag Superstar” is often pointed to as the quintessential queer show. But is it?

We sat down with gender performer, artist, and singer Sebastian Yourmum (@sebforthemoms) to chat about the space that RuPaul’s Drag Race takes up in mainstream culture. And the space it at times takes away from the world of drag performance at large that includes Drag Kings, AFAB (Assigned Female at Birth) Queens, and Gender Performers.

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This episode of Influx was recorded and produced in Toronto by Amreen Kullar and Kyle Jarencio in May 2021. You can find them online independently @amreenk_ and @fragilekyle and together @influxthepod. Our intro music is by Boy Garçon (@nadom_) and our cover art is by Andrew O’Brien (@hooker_green). Episode edited by Amreen.

Sebastian Yourmum aka Sky-Ravinn Ffrench (she/they/he) is an up and coming queer Jamican-Canadian musician, and the lead singer and bass player in Pigeon the Band. Building on their roots in slam poetry, photography, and zine making their art is motivated by uplifting the queer voice and journey. Find them online @skyravinn. Support Pigeon by the Band by streaming their music and following @pigeonbandofficial.

10 steps towards _____ Justice, What You Need to Know About What’s Happening in ______, Addressing your _____ Bias. We’ve seen them all on Instagram. To the tune of a classic looking serif font, overtop a stunning gradient background. Or something in tan.

Over the course of the past year and amidst racial reckonings around #BlackLivesMatter and #StopAsianHate, have come the rise of social justice slideshows increasingly present in our casual browses on Instagram. There is so much good that comes from them, but the good is contained by the Internet. A space governed by trends, performative perfection, and the commodification of anything that will make money.

We had gone through a lot of trepidation in reviewing this episode. It’s May 2021 and there has been a shift in focus on social media highlighting the ongoing attacks against Palestinians by the Israeli government. We recorded this episode in April and have since reconsidered the criticality in our stances. Activism online is important. And in creating access to ideas about how to change the world, will always be worth more than the drawbacks.

But the conclusions we come to still stand. What do you do with your guilt about social issues? Turn that guilt into growth and act. On the internet and beyond.

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This episode of Influx was recorded and produced in Toronto by Amreen Kullar and Kyle Jarencio in April, 2021. You can find them online independently @amreenk_ and @fragilekyle and together @influxthepod. Our intro music is by Boy Garçon and our cover art is by Andrew O’Brien aka @hooker_green on Instagram. Episode edited by Amreen.

Black athletes in the NBA were a big reason for the leagues activism in the first place. Jimmy Butler is the specific player mentioned and there’s many articles written on the matter by Black sports journalists that you should check out. And if you’re interested in more about NBA politics check out Netflix’s High Flying Bird, a movie about the lockout. In the film they also feature the book “The Revolt of the Black Athlete” by Harry Edwards which offers more background and info beyond the NBA. We also reference Perfectionism and White Supremacy, read about that here: https://www.ditchperfect.com/blog/perfectionism-white-supremacy-culture Nearby that is The Bias of ‘Professionalism’ Standards https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_bias_of_professionalism_standards. We recommend @thenapministry for some good anti-grind culture content.

We also reference an article by Terry Nguyen (https://www.vox.com/the-goods/21359098/social-justice-slideshows-instagram-activism) and pull a quote from Jia Tolentino’s “Trick Mirror”.

Kim’s Convenience is closing down for good. And listen, it’s Toronto and we’re like really worried that in its place all that will pop up is a condo. Or worse… another dispensary! If you’re unfamiliar with the show, it’s a beloved CBC sitcom that’s centred around the Kim’s, a South-Korean immigrant family running a convenience store in the Toronto neighbourhood, Regent Park. Upon the release of the fifth season, it was chaotically revealed that it would be the last. In wake of its cancellation, there's been a ton of public outcry to keep it going. Short answer, it won’t.

In our return episode, Amreen and Kyle mourn the loss of their fave character, Janet (typical lol!), explore what this kind of representation of Canada means, and chirp on what the loss of the show means not only for its fans, but for the creatives behind it. It’s been a minute folks, time to catch up!

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This episode of Influx was recorded and produced in Toronto by Amreen Kullar and Kyle Jarencio in April 2021. You can find them online at @amreenk_ and @fragilekyle. Our intro music is by Boy Garçon - @nadom_ on insta and our cover art is by Andrew O’Brien - @hooker_green on insta. Additional graphics by Kyle and episode edit by Amreen. 

This episode features the voices of Raizel Harjosubroto (@raizelharjo online) and Brian Chan. ily to you both!

In this episode, we talk about Kim’s Convenience which just wrapped with its fifth season available to view on CBC Gem or Netflix (if you’re living that worldwide life). We also based much of our foundational understanding about the show’s cancellation through an article by Sam Weaver. Read that here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/kim-s-convenience-end-diverse-1.5988267

To disclaim, this episode was recorded on April 24th, 2021. At the start, we comment on the state of the vaccine rollout. The situation has obviously changed since then! Though the decision to keep these comments in was to be reflective of our ongoing confusion and critique around the Ontario handle on COVID-19.

Put a finger down if… you’re nervous about getting things wrong as a BIPOC creator. With so much scarcity in Asian representation, our eyes are peeled for Asian trailblazers to get it right. Are our critiques of those who seek to represent us warranted? Is it even possible to get it all right?

For the season finale of Influx, Amreen and Kyle dive deep into the career of multi-faceted comedic actor, writer, director, producer (brb catching our breath)... Mindy Kaling. She's most known for “The Mindy Project” (2012-2017) and this past summer she released her Netflix Original series “Never Have I Ever”. As a second generation Indian American, she’s heralded as a pioneer for South-Asian storytelling in the global West. But that doesn’t quite save her from stirring the pot on Twitter by nature of being the “first.”

Prepare to question the greyer areas of what it means to be a creator, and listen to Kyle imitate a Seth Rogen laugh (it’s... questionable).

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This episode of Influx was recorded and produced in Toronto by Amreen Kullar and Kyle Jarencio in December 2020. You can find them online at @amreenk_ and @fragilekyle. Our intro music is by Boy Garçon (@nadom_) and our cover art is by Andrew O’Brien (@hooker_green).

In this episode we discuss “Never Have I Ever”, available for streaming on Netflix and “The Mindy Project” which you can find on Prime Video (feel free 2 drag us). We also mention an article by Alex E. Jung titled “Mindy Kaling is not your pioneer” which you can find here: http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2015/1/mindy-project-racetv.html

As pronounced lovers of Call Me By Your Name, hosts Amreen and Kyle serve up a deep dive into Luca Guadagnino’s latest venture, We Are Who We Are, an HBO limited series following the trials and tribulations of two queer teens coming of age on an army base... somewhere in Northern Italy (ofc). 

In this episode, we dwell on what it means to grow up queer. More specifically, what it looks like to harness care in ourselves, in friendships, and in our communities. We also veer into our own personal relationships to coming out as queer folk while questioning its role as a trope in what feels like every other LGBTQ+ narrative.

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This episode of Influx was recorded and produced in Toronto by Amreen Kullar and Kyle Jarencio in November 2020. You can find them online at @amreenk_ and @fragilekyle. Our intro music is by Boy Garçon (@nadom_) and our cover art is by Andrew O’Brien (@hooker_green).

We Are Who We Are is a product of HBO. You can stream it on Crave in Canada.

An Indian girl and Filipino boy walk into a recording studio and make a podcast. A question that lingers between them: is it okay for Asians to talk about race?

For the first episode of Influx, Amreen and Kyle delve into questions of Asianness as it pertains to their lives and the stories told by mainstream media. Anchoring the conversation is the book Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Korean American poet and writer Cathy Park Hong. A memoir and cultural criticism on the nameless feelings of guilt and erasure embedded in the Asian American experience.

For a section in the novel, Hong explores the glorified whiteness of Wes Anderson films. And look, we love the guy but it’s about time that he be dragged for his outright appropriation of Asian culture in a film like The Darjeeling Limited. This episode gets messy and vulnerable. Listen along with love and compassion as we welcome you to this journey with open arms. Thanks for being here with us.

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This episode of Influx was recorded and produced in Toronto by Amreen Kullar and Kyle Jarencio in October 2020. You can find them online at @amreenk_ and @fragilekyle. Our intro music is by Boy Garcon and our cover art is by Andrew O’Brien.

Read an excerpt of Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong here: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/cathyparkhong/cathy-park-hong-minor-feelings-bad-english and we urge you to purchase it from your fave local bookstore. Pirate the Darjeeling Limited? Idk reparations.