Asian American History 101 Gen and Ted Lai

Welcome to Season 4, Episode 25! Sometimes making space for diverse voices isn’t about the realms of music, theater, TV, movies, or fictional literature… it’s about hearing diverse voices in research and academia. We definitely encourage that… so it’s with excitement that we could bring on Dr. Kelly Fong to our show. She’s an author, community historian, and archaeologist who studies artifacts and oral histories to create a better understanding of communities.
Her latest published work is an essay entitled “Conditional but Essential Contingency” which was part of the collection Conditionally Accepted: Navigating Higher Education from the Margins, edited by Eric Joy Denise and Bertin Louis Jr., and published by University of Texas Press. It’s a great essay by Kelly, and it really adds to the book’s overall narrative of the trends and challenges facing BIPOC scholars in academic institutions today. We recommend the book not just for Dr. Fong’s contribution to it, but for all the essays… And if you purchase it from University of Texas Press with the code UTXSUMMER, then you get 40% off!
Dr. Kelly Fong holds a Ph.D. in archaeology from UCLA with a graduate concentration in Asian American Studies. Her interdisciplinary work bridges her interest in Asian American social histories, community-based histories, and historical archaeology to examine everyday life through materials and memories left behind. Dr. Fong is involved with several research projects.
Dr. Fong is working in a position as an instructor and staff member at UCLA in Asian American Studies, but she also balances that with her archaeological work, researching the Five Chinatowns in Los Angeles, collaborating with peers on community histories, and even providing historical context as a guest on the TV show “Take Out with Lisa Ling.” We talk about many of these things as well as, some challenges contingent faculty face (including research on the increasing percentage of the use of contingent faculty in universities by AAUP), tips for breaking out of “muted invisibility, how alumni and students can help improve the situation, and so much more.
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 social media links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at info@aahistory101.com.

Welcome to Season 4, Episode 24! In this episode, we share a conversation with Sarah Myer, the Eisner Award nominated author and illustrator of the graphic memoir Monstrous: A Transracial Adoption Story, published by First Second Books. Other than the Eisner Awards, their work with Monstrous has gained attention with an L.A. Times Book Prize nomination and multiple starred reviews and recognition from a variety of places including a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, a Kirkus Best Teen and YA Graphic Literature of 2023, and numerous Best of 2023 lists.

Sarah has also completed extensive work with IDW Publishing. They are currently the illustrator and cover artist of several comic issues of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures. Previously they were the colorist of TMNT vs Street Fighter and TMNT: Saturday Morning Adventures comics, as well as a variant cover artist of TMNT Usagi Yojimbo: WhereWhen issues. Additionally, Sarah is the writer and illustrator of their independent webcomic Cheer Up, Michael!
Sarah’s previous work includes Hello Kitty & Friends Coloring Book through VIZ Media and the Ringo Award Nominated Anthology Votes for Women: The Battle for the 19th Amendment published by Little Red Bird Press. In Votes for Women, they wrote and illustrated the installment “Asian American Exclusion.” We are also fans of Sarah’s first graphic novel Maker Comics: Create a Costume! also published by First Second Books. You can keep up with updates on Sarah’s work on her website sarahmyer.net and instagram @smyercomics. Buy Monstrous! It’s amazing!
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 social media links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at info@aahistory101.com.

Welcome to Season 4, Episode 23! Today we’re talking to Steven Wu, the Organizing and Policy Director at Woori Juntos. We’re big believers in intersectionality and allyship, and so are they! The name Woori Juntos, combines two words in Korean and Spanish, that when combined mean “to rise together." On their website, they say the name “reflects the location of our organization in an area of Houston that has been heavily influenced by both communities and the rooting of our work in solidarity, inclusion, and collaboration. Woori Juntos focuses on meeting the needs of and organizing low-income seniors, youth, and families. Our first coalition partner was the Workers Defense Project, an organization that works with low-income immigrants in the Latiné community. Our name honors these origins.”
Woori Juntos ensures Asians, immigrants, and all Texans have language access to health and social services and are civically engaged to achieve equity and justice for all. They have a variety of campaigns that center on Citizenship Justice, Civic Engagement, and Language Justice. To do that, they provide resources for citizenship, food insecurity, and more.
Although they’re located in Houston, Texas, what they’re doing encompasses important issues that we see across the country. If you’re in the Houston area, there are a variety of programs that you can join to volunteer or work at Woori Juntos. If you’re outside the Houston area, you can donate to help them continue making an impact.
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 social media links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at info@aahistory101.com.

Welcome to Season 4, Episode 22! We love learning. One area that is ever changing, that we want to learn more about is the world of language… specifically the context which impacts the language choices we make for communication. That’s why we were so excited to invite award-winning author and editor Karen Yin to our show. Karen’s latest book is The Conscious Style Guide: A Flexible Approach to Language That Includes, Respects, and Empowers.
The Conscious Style Guide will be available on May 28, 2024… so now! Anyone who communicates… which means everyone… could learn from this book, because it’s a valuable resource to help you create practices towards the use of more empathetic, conscious language. And if you listen to this episode right away, then you have the chance to pre-order the book and get 20% off when you purchase the ConsciousStyle Guide through Tertulia and use code “STYLE”… but the deal is only good through May 28th. Even without a discount, we think the book is 100% worth it.
In 2017, the American Copy Editors Society (ACES) awarded Karen the Robinson Prize, an honor that’s given to the editor of the year. At that time, she was only the second person of color to win it. In addition to editing, she founded the Conscious Style Guide website and the Conscious Language and Design Facebook group. You can also check out her award-winning children’s books that include Whole Whale, So Not Ghoul, and Doug the Pug and the Kindness Crew. Her next release will be Nice to Eat You which will be published by Scholastic in 2025. Additionally, her short story “My Kinda Sorta Badass Move” was published in Boundless: Twenty Voices Celebrating Multicultural and Multiracial Identities an anthology of stories that center and celebrate the multiracial and multicultural experience. 
If you want to read more of Karen Yin’s creative work or want to learn more about how you can develop your practice with conscious language, then get Karen’s books, visit her personal website, bookmark the Conscious Style Guide website, join the Conscious Language and Design Facebook group, and follow her on Instagram (@karensoffice and @consciousstyleguide). 
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 social media links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at info@aahistory101.com.
(Top Photo Credit of Karen Yin to Paul Beauchemin)

Welcome to Season 4, Episode 21! It’s time for the 2024 STAATUS Index published by The Asian American Foundation (TAAF) with partnership from Leading Asian Americans to Unite for Change (LAAUNCH), AAPI Data, and the Asian American Research Initiative.
This annual survey is a social tracking and national assessment of attitudes and stereotypes towards Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. In this episode, we review the report and provide an overview of it. We also dig into each of the sections and reflect on responses. As always, we highly recommend that you download the STAATUS Index and read it yourself. It’s very well written with easily accessible information, so don’t be afraid that it’s data-rich.
In our recurring segment we ask “What’s Going On?” as we reflect on the sheer number of Asian Pacific-led TV shows that have been canceled in the last year or so. It’s hard to wrap our heads around the fact that the last year has seen cancellations of The Afterparty, Kung Fu, Doogie Kamealoha M.D., NCIS: Hawaiʻi, Young Rock, Quantum Leap, American Born Chinese, The Brothers Sun, Warrior, and Our Flag Means Death. We look at ratings, viewership, and ultimately ask, “What’s Going On?”
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 social media links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at info@aahistory101.com.
Segments
00:25 Current Events 05:24 Talking About the 2024 STAATUS Index 19:51 What’s Going On? API-Led TV Cancellations

Welcome to Season 4, Episode 20! There are plenty of things we love… and for sure one of them is the world of film and entertainment… especially when it’s Asian American cinema. But what happens when what you see represented in Hollywood becomes blurred with the actual experience in an ethnic enclave… or even drives it? Our conversation today dives a bit into that. We’re excited to share this conversation with Professor William Gow.
Dr. Gow is a California-based community historian, educator, and documentary filmmaker who is currently an Assistant Professor at California State University, Sacramento. His forthcoming book, Performing Chinatown: Hollywood, Tourism, and the Making of a Chinese American Community is scheduled for release by Stanford University Press on May 14, 2024… and if you order direct from the publisher and use discount code GOW20, you get 20% off! The book examines Los Angeles Chinatown and its relationship to Hollywood cinema in the 1930s and 1940s. We really enjoyed the book and the depth of the research Dr. Gow presents. In fact, this has been one of the most insightful books we’ve read in the last few years, pushing our thinking of how Chinese Americans survived and represented themselves to often judgmental onlookers.
Professor Gow also has worked on several other projects. Some of the ones that we appreciated are More to the Chinese Side (click to watch an excerpt), The Five Chinatowns: A Community History (along with Dr. Kelly Fong one of our future guests and ), and the great article A Night in Old Chinatown (we talk about this one in the podcast). 
We highly recommend purchasing Performing Chinatown! Don’t forget… if you purchase from Stanford University Press and use the discount code GOW20 (all caps), you get 20% off.
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 social media links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at info@aahistory101.com.