Asia Pacific Forum

Interstate is an Asian-American pop-rock poetry musical that follows Dash, a transgender spoken word performer, and his best friend Adrian, a lesbian singer-songwriter. Together, they are Queer Malady, a spunky band whose music daringly speaks out about the oppression faced by trans and queer Asian Americans. The duo embarks on a road trip across the United States for their first national tour, and heir fiercely political and deeply personal music touches Henry, a transgender teenage boy living in small-town Kentucky. Henry finds solace in their art as he struggles with his own identity and family. After blogging about the band and documenting his own gender journey, he decides to set out on a quest to meet his heroes in person, hoping to find answers to his own struggles. We speak with Interstate co-writers Kit Yan and Melissa Li about their experiences working on the musical, how the story parallels their own journey, and the exploration of social issues alongside the celebration of queer revolutionary joy on the show.

GUESTS:

Kit Yan, Co-Writer, Interstate

Melissa Li, Co-Writer, Interstate

After months of bellicose banter and rising tensions between the leaders of the US and North Korea, a turnaround suddenly arrived with President Trump and Chairman Kim's summit in Singapore. Now the meeting is being hailed as the biggest foreign relations breakthrough of the TRump administration, and the moment has unleashed a wave of hope, skepticism, ridicule and disbelief, along with a lot of questions and confusion. So what are the prospects of peace and reconciliation in the age of Trump. We talk to Tammy Kim, a Korean American journalist currently in Seoul, about the reaction on the ground.

GUESTS:

Tammy Kim, journalist

The Supreme Court this session has upheld Ohio's very aggressive efforts to purge its voter rolls -- thereby siding with Republicans who argue without evidence that more voting restrictions are needed to combat what they claim is widespread voter fraud.

To learn more about the fight against these new voter suppression tactics, we talked to John C. Yang, president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice in Washington DC about what's at stake.

Learn more about protecting the vote this election season at AAAJ's website.

GUESTS:

John C. Yang, president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice

Although the courts struck down segregation laws long ago, the informal structures of inequality have become entrenched through softer borders social exclusion.

In New York City, most public school kids are black, Asian or Latino, but the schools are among the most highly segregated in the country. And only one in four New Yorkers live in a neighborhood that could be considered racially diverse. We talk to Sarah Camiscoli, an organizer with Integrate NYC, which is leading the #StillNotEqual campaign, about how to promote meaningful integration in city schools.

GUESTS:

Sarah Camiscoli, Integrate NYC