Thresholds Jordan Kisner

For her last guest as guest-host, Mira chats with former mentee Gina Chung about her debut novel Sea Change, writing about the honest messy stuff, and about learning to take better care of yourself (mind, body, and spirit) for the long-haul creative practice.
MENTIONED:

The bats under Congress Bridge in Austin, TX

“The Love Song of the Mexican Free-Tailed Bat” by Gina Chung (at F(r)iction)


The Daniels accepting the Oscar for Best Picture for Everything Everywhere All At Once



Gina Chung is a Korean American writer. Born in Queens and raised in New Jersey, she is now based in Brooklyn, New York. She is the author of SEA CHANGE (2023 B&N Discover Pick for April; Vintage, March 28, 2023; out in the Commonwealth on April 13, 2023 and in the UK on August 10, 2023 from Picador) a novel about climate change, giant Pacific octopuses, and family, and GREEN FROG (Vintage, 2024; out in the UK/Commonwealth from Picador in 2024) a collection of short stories that explore themes of Korean American womanhood, bodies and animals. A recipient of the Pushcart Prize, she is a 2021-2022 Center for Fiction/Susan Kamil Emerging Writer Fellow and holds an MFA in fiction from The New School's Creative Writing Program and a BA in literary studies from Williams College. She is an alumnus of several workshops and/or craft intensives, including the Asian American Writers' Workshop, Sevilla Writers House, The Center for Fiction, Kweli, and Tin House. 

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J Wortham joins Mira to talk about the power of changes -- changing location, changing names, changing pronouns -- and the space that can open up as a result of them. Plus, some love for benevolent conspiracies!
MENTIONED:


Alejandro's Run in LA

Still Processing


Kristy from The Babysitter's Club



J Wortham (they/them) is a sound healer,, reiki practitioner, herbalist, and community care worker oriented towards healing justice and liberation. J is also a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, and co-host of the podcast ‘Still Processing,’ They occasionally publish thoughts on culture, technology and wellness in a newsletter. J is the proud editor of the visual anthology “Black Futures,” a 2020 Editor's choice by The New York Times Book Review, along with Kimberly Drew, from One World. J is also currently working on a book about the body and dissociation for Penguin Press. J mostly lives and works on stolen Munsee Lenape land, now known as Brooklyn, New York, and is committed to decolonization as a way of life.

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Legendary cartoonist Barbara Brandon-Croft (Where I’m Coming From) joins Mira to talk about building a life out of odd jobs, the double-edged sword of being ‘the first,’ and how being a cartoonist was never on her mind until it happened.

MENTIONED:


Brumsic Brandon, Jr. (Barbara’s father, creator of the comic Luther) 

Marie Brown


Jules Feiffer’s Village Voice strip

Women’s Wear Daily


Barbara Brandon-Croft was born in Brooklyn and grew up on Long Island. After debuting her comic strip Where I’m Coming From in the Detroit Free Press in 1989, Brandon-Croft became the first Black woman cartoonist to be published nationally by a major syndicate. During its 15 year run, Where I’m Coming From appeared in over 65 newspapers across the USA and Canada, as well as Jamaica, South Africa, and Barbados. Her comics are in the permanent collection of the Library of Congress. Brandon-Croft lives in Queens.

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Writer and organizer Sarah Thankam Mathews (All This Could Be Different) joins Mira to discuss a brush with mortality in a rip-tide off the California coast, discovering “the sourdough starter of ego death,” and the problems of being an artist under capitalism.
MENTIONED:


Big Sur, California

"How to Escape a Rip Current"


What It Is by Lynda Barry

I May Destroy You

Michaela Coel's Emmy acceptance speech (video, transcript)


Sarah Thankam Mathews grew up between Oman and India, immigrating to the United States in her late teens. Her work has been published in Best American Short Stories and she is a recipient of fellowships from the Asian American Writers’ Workshop and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. In 2020, she founded the mutual aid group Bed-Stuy Strong. All This Could Be Different, Mathews’ debut novel, was named an NYT Editor’s Choice, chosen for multiple high-profile Best of 2022 lists, and shortlisted for the National Book Award.

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Poet Layli Long Soldier joins Mira to talk about her transformation during pregnancy, learning to open up to the possibilities of the world, and how she makes a space for ease in order to make a space for creativity.
MENTIONED:

The Indigenous Language Institute

The Real Housewives


S.J. Res 14 (111th Congress)


Layli Long Soldier earned a BFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts and an MFA with honors from Bard College. She is the author of the chapbook Chromosomory (2010) and the full-length collection Whereas (2017), which won the National Books Critics Circle award and was a finalist for the National Book Award. She has been a contributing editor to Drunken Boat and poetry editor at Kore Press; in 2012, her participatory installation, Whereas We Respond, was featured on the Pine Ridge Reservation. In 2015, Long Soldier was awarded a National Artist Fellowship from the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation and a Lannan Literary Fellowship for Poetry. She was awarded a Whiting Writer’s Award in 2016. Long Soldier is a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation and lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

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Comedian Hari Kondabolu joins Mira to talk about seeing space for himself on the screen, discovering an answer to the question of how to be in the world, the first joke he was really proud of, and the power that comes from alienating an audience on purpose. There's a lot of laughter in this one, y'all -- as you might expect.
MENTIONED:

People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive in 1992: Nick Nolte

Apu

Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal

Hari's 'diamond' joke



Race by Paul Mooney

Stewart Lee


Also, a big announcement: Hari has a new comedy special coming to YouTube on April 18th -- "Vacation Baby"! Get excited; we sure are!!

Hari Kondabolu is a comedian, writer and podcaster based in Brooklyn, NY. He currently co-hosts the Netflix food competition show “Snack vs. Chef” with Megan Stalter. His 2018 Netflix special “Warn Your Relatives” was named one of the best of the year by Time, Paste Magazine, Cosmopolitan, E! Online, and Mashable. In 2017, his truTV documentary “The Problem with Apu” was released and created a global conversation about race and representation, and is now used in high school, college and grad school curriculums around the country. Hari has also released two comedy albums, “Waiting for 2042” & “Mainstream American Comic.” Additionally, he has performed on Conan, Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Late Show with David Letterman and among many others. He is also a former writer & correspondent on the much loved, Chris Rock produced FX show “Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell.” He’s a regular panelist on “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me” and a regular guest-host on “Midday” on WNYC. As a podcaster, he co-hosted the popular “Politically Reactive” with W. Kamau Bell. Additionally, he also co-hosts what he politely describes as a “pop up podcast,” The Untitled Kondabolu Brothers Podcast with his younger brother Ashok (“Dap” from HBO’s Chillin’ Island and rap group Das Racist.) Hari attended both Bowdoin College and Wesleyan University and earned a Masters in Human Rights from the London School of Economics in 2008.
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