Welcome to season 2 of 2AM Takeout! After some time spent MIA, we are finally able to share our final college decisions!

In this episode, we (try to) give college advice by presenting brief rundowns on what types of applicants the each of us are (extracurriculars, our “spike,” academics). We talk about the toxicity of the college admissions process, dealing with unrealistic expectations, and how the resulting moments of deteriorating mental health were especially conflated by the loneliness of the pandemic. In addition, we touch on having to self-tokenize our Asian-American narratives for college essays as well as the unexpected hell that is senioritis. Bonus for listeners who have special interest in art schools or are a rising senior!

Also please DM us on Instagram if you are interested in seeing more in-depth Youtube videos from the each of us about our college application journeys! (we’ll include stats).

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Youtube: 2AM Takeout

Edit: We were notified there was a technical issue with our audio, so here’s a reupload. 

This is a feel good episode where 4 anime obsessed people share their favorite show recommendations. They talk about their experience as  “closeted weebs” in different fandoms and the artistic potentials of the genre. As anime gets increasingly more popular as a result of TikTok and the pandemic, we also discuss the controversy around more people jumping on the bandwagon and getting into the genre.
 
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Following the tragic shooting in Atlanta, conversations are arising about how fetishization of Asian women is synonymous with their dehumanization. We share personal stories about   “Yellow Fever” and how we’ve seen Asian features commodified for white consumption. We also talk about the history of the representation of Asian women in media  with a focus on our theory of how the Dragon Lady vs. China Doll binary stereotype has evolved into the modern day “UWU school girl” and ABG. 

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Be warned. This is an extreme rant episode.

This week, Mindy brings on a friend/special guest Ashley to discuss a recent event that happened in their school community. The situation involves an angry parent who decided to make a post on Nextdoor (basically neighborhood Twitter) claiming that the school’s curriculum for International Women’s Day is racist to white children because of its focus on intersectional feminism. What in the white fragility?

From this event, Mindy and Ashley are able to reflect on how in the past, ignorant adults like these in their community have always made them lose hope in confiding in authority figures for racial gaslighting they’ve personally experienced. Together, they revisit memories of what it is like to attend a predominantly white high school.

P.S. we hope we never have to reiterate this again, but reverse racism IS NOT REAL.

#stopAAPIhate

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As Asian-Americans, seeing horrific attacks on the elders in our community go viral on Instagram and Twitter feels absolutely disgusting.  After witnessing anti-Asian hate crimes peaking for the SECOND TIME in the pandemic, it is imperative for us to condemn this violence in an informed and effective way. 

Mindy, Angel, Katelyn, and Yumi explain why seeing so many people post about “spreading awareness” on this issue can often feel tokenizing and just like another exploitative trend. We dissect infographic posts and talk about why “begging” for this specific issue to reach mainstream media shouldn’t be our utmost priority.

More importantly, we dive into how the model minority myth has been wrongfully encouraging anti-Blackness and stereotyping Black men to be enemies of our community. It is also unproductive to say things like “where was the energy that supported BLM” because comparing the oppression of Asians and Black people denies the reality that white supremacy is the real issue. Activism is NOT transactional. We shouldn’t let a few anti-Black/performative Asians or a few anti-Asian Black people divide us further.

This is an episode all about embracing vulnerability, sharing insecurities, and confiding in your close friends. The 2AM Takeout gang gets knee-deep in a conversation all about toxic positivity as well as the importance of  scheduling in crying sessions for your daily self-care routine. We talk about encountering mental health services with immigrant parents and how we combat feelings of loneliness.  Sometimes, it’s truly okay to not be okay (haha! Did you get the k-drama reference?)

*also sorry for the weird background noises. Mindy was drinking hot chocolate :)
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As the BLM movements gives a wake-up call to the public education system, high schools across the United States are scrambling to provide anti-racist curriculum to their students. In this special episode with Katelyn and Mindy, the pair have a cathartic rant about how their respective high school administrations have been failing pathetically at the task of teaching students on the topic of race. Mindy talks about how her schools’ organized “racial equity cohort” classes are catered to white students and use POC students’ traumas as a learning tool. Katelyn talks about her school district board members’ incompetency at addressing systemic racism in their high schools.

No need to be wary of spoilers for this 2AM Takeout Movie Night Review because this movie is a hard skip for us.
Live action Mulan was meant to be a key step for Asian-American representation because of its all Asian cast, but has lately been overshadowed by #BoycottMulan and the politics behind the film like lead actress Liu Yifei’ support for police brutality in the Hong Kong protests or Disney kissing CCP (Chinese Communist Party) ‘s ass to film in the Uyghur Muslim Xinjiang territory.
In this episode, 2AM Takeout dissects how Mulan’s all-white crew and director have truly whitewashed this critical feminist story in Chinese culture. We dive right in and point out specific cultural inaccuracies like the appropriation of Qi, the use of Phoenix iconography, and the cringy made-up proverbs.

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This week, the gang talks about overcoming feelings of internalized racism as well as the stigma around being a feminist that results from internalized misogyny and incel culture. They talk about how they’ve observed many Asian-American teens being afraid of embracing their cultures and “Asian things” like Kpop or Anime, while also recognizing the nuance in the Asian-American experience. Despite most of the group agreeing that they are extremely proud of their heritage, Angel still reminisces about her time as a closeted weeb and Mindy about her obsession with white, blonde girls like Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde. 

In this episode, the gang talks about their love for thrifting and Depop and all the reasons why everyone should boycott fast fashion. Is the thrifting trend gentrifying thrift stores? Are Depop resellers to blame? How is thrifting a privilege for some and a necessity for many? We cover these recent controversies and give our tips for more ethical thrifting. Yumi talks about her love for the minimalistic lifestyle. The team talks about how high consumption of thrifted good is still harmful.