Asian American History 101 Gen and Ted Lai

Welcome to Season 4, Episode 27 and Happy Canada Day (if you're reading this on July 1)! In this episode, we share a conversation with Chad Soon, an educator from Vernon, British Columbia, and the author of the book The Longest Shot: How Larry Kwong Changed the Face of Hockey. The book is written for middle grade students… which is a great age for getting started reading diverse stories… and it’s illustrated by Amy Qi. The Longest Shot is available for purchase in both hardcover and Epub formats through Orca Book Publishers, Amazon, Apple Books, and other booksellers. 

In the book, Chad has created an engaging retelling of Larry’s life, the racism he faced, his various accomplishments, and his positive attitude throughout his challenges and triumphs. Chad also shares stories of how he learned about Larry, what it was like becoming friends with him, why Larry deserves to be in the Hockey Hall of Fame, which other players of Asian Pacific Islander descent are inspiring, and so much more. As Chad mentions in our conversation, Larry Kwong’s career and life are defined by more than just the single shift he was allowed to play for the New York Rangers in 1948.
You can learn more about The Longest Shot through the Instagram account @larrykwongbook and more about Chad through his personal account @soondatkwong. We highly recommend getting a copy of The Longest Shot for yourself, your kids, and anyone who wants to be inspired by a story of success in the face of racism.
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 26! Is there a more universal convenience food eaten across the world than instant ramen? We’re not sure, but instant ramen has to be pretty high up as the most popular convenience food, and it’s not just for college students and people looking for a cheap, fast meal. In this episode, we share the history of instant ramen, popularized through Momofuku Ando and his company, Nissin Foods. 
Why did Ando want to create instant ramen? What were some of the innovations that led to instant ramen’s success? Who are some of the major companies selling instant ramen and cup ramen? We discuss these questions and more including how instant ramen has continued to innovate with changing habits and preferences across the globe.

In our recurring segment, “What Are We Listening To” returns as we share a few more Asian Pacific musicians to support. We talk about Young the Giant’s Live Across America 2023 album, Raveena's new album Where the Butterflies Go in the Rain, and Charli XCX’s release of Brat. 
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 07:02 The History of Instant Ramen 27:33 What Are We Listening To? Young the Giant, Raveena, and CharliXCX

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)