So Where Are You From‪?‬ Kate Matsumoto, Yoko Sakao Ohama

We chat with Sarah Ngu, former deacon at Brooklyn’s Forefront Church and writer with bylines in Vice, Jacobin, and Sojourners (she also has not-bylines as a ghostwriter). We talk about her family’s journey from Malaysia to New York as part of a church planting movement; how writing sermons differs from journalism differs from ghost writing; and the varying merits of animal proteins.

We chat with Pavan Yedavalli, a Ph.D. candidate at Berkeley who’s researching the implications to urban planning if cars could fly (seriously). We talk about why public transit is messed up, NIMBYism, and ridiculous superstitions that we definitely still follow.

Kate’s in LA, Yoko’s in New York. We learn that Kate knows all the words to Amagigoe by enka singer Sayuri Ishikawa, and have our minds blown discussing “99 Ranch” vs. “Ranch 99” and “lie-chee” vs. “lee-chee.”

We're joined by Paul Jochico and Robespierre Dornagon, two of the three founders of the NYC-based dance studio House of Movement. We talk about how they founded their own studio, how the definition of hip hop has evolved, and which Marvel characters they'd make Asian.

We’re joined by Jenny Acosta, food-embedded designer and native Brooklynite. We talk about her Hainanese mixed heritage, food as a love language, and living with parents as an adult. Also, Kate makes her boyfriend try a bunch of new food, and Yoko pops a question.

A lot has happened while we were on break: Yoko got engaged. Kate turned 30. A million podcasts about being Asian have surfaced. Plus, hella/mad Asian movies! Wow! It’s really great to be back ♥️