California's 26th District Assemblymember Evan Low describes what it will take to see more AAPI politicians both in his state and across the nation. He also explains why the API Legislative Caucus (he is the new chair) prohibits Republican API members from joining. He also believes that a day is coming sooner than later when the majority of Americans will elect an openly LGBTQ+ POTUS.

After many years of asking, award-winning Alaska-based journalist Lisa Phu was finally able to coax her Cambodian Chinese mother Lan Phu to open up about her life "Before Me (Lisa)." Growing up in Cambodia, fleeing the onslaught of the Khmer Rouge with three daughters and pregnant, then making a new life in America. This new 5-part podcast series (www.beforemepodcast.com) is masterfully produced and wonderfully written and narrated by Lisa.

In this final episode of 2022, podcaster-friends Ken Fong and Ken Kemp recommend the new "The Charismatic Revival Fury" series by their mutual friend Dr. Brad Onishi over at the "Straight White American Jesus" podcat. What government officials and most mainstream media outlets apparently have overlooked is the part that many charismatic and Pentecostal Evangelicals played in not only the attempt to prevent the peaceful transfer of POTUS power on 1/6/20, but in creating a global network that continues to seek power and authority by almost any means necessary.

Anita had built a successful therapy practice over 20 years, but she'd also grown up with a deep appreciation for architecture and interior design. Realizing that she naturally understood how those intersect, she launched a blog in 2016 about the importance of creating living spaces that foster mental health. That led to her becoming a social media influencer, receiving accolades and assignments from the industry, and today, Anita has published her first book "Home Therapy," and she and her husband now work side-by-side in this unique approach to health and home.

Ranger Yenyen Chan has been on the permanent staff of this incredible national park for the past 20 years. Not only is she an expert on its history, geology, and biology, but she's also the one to consult to learn of the vital contributions of many Chinese Americans to this iconic park. 

Bernice Chao continues to be recognized by her industry as an outstanding and creative leader. Even so, what impresses me about her is that she has partnered with Jessalin Lam to enable and empower untold numbers of other AAPIs to break through 'bamboo ceilings' by learning how to make themselves not only more visible to the powers-that-be, but also to themselves. Together they co-founded the now-global "Asians in Advertising" non-profit, host a biweekly podcast, and in November 2022 co-authored "The Visibility Mindset: How Asian American Leaders Create Opportunities and Push Past Barriers."

What started as a film project to chronicle the campaign of California State Treasurer John Chiang as he ran for governor later expanded into a rivetting documentary about the reality of hate-speech and violence aimed at innocent AAPIs, both in the past history of America and in the present-day scapegoating of AAPIs due to the politicization of the COVID pandemic. Public affairs consultant and long-time civil rights advocate Ronald W. Wong, along with his Asian Pacific American Leadership Foundation, have produced "The Race Epidemic: Resurgence of the Yellow Peril," as a clarion call for more AAPIs to speak out and push back against racism and xenophobia aimed at our communities. 

First appearing on this pod on 22 October 2019 (#219), actor and now also writer Anu Bhatt recently returned to spotlight "Autocorrect," her debut short film that she conceived and created during the pandemic. Anu's character gradually finds the courage and determination to insist that her director (a white female) pronounce her South Asian name correctly. As you will soon learn, this was truly a case of art imitating life. On the surface, this is simply about asking people to stop mispronouncing non-Western names. But Anu reveals that this act of insistence is actually one example of when people decide that it's time to reclaim 'agency' over their lives for the sake of their own congruency and mental health.

The recent midterm elections officially ended on November 8th and we already know that there wasn't a resounding Red Wave of change as many had predicted. But we also may still not know the final outcomes of Senate races in Arizona and Nevada. The two Kens got back together the day after the midterms to understand why things didn't heavily tilt to the extreme right, as well as to puzzle over what this might mean going forward for Trumpism and the shape of the 2024 presidential contest.

Christopher Huang is a professional photographer who also blogs about how Hollywood handles race, especially as it pertains to Asian Americans. The recent casting of a young Black actor to star as "Ariel" in the upcoming "The Little Mermaid" live-action remake provoked quite a bit of disagreement. That's what led me to Huang's provocative blog on Medium (https://christopherhuang.medium.com/3-dimensional-portrayals-of-women-of-color-but-only-if-they-have-white-male-love-interests-9f06c78491a9?sk=cb91d715ac283b845549d4e149b23bed

I then invited him to give my listeners an abridged experience of how he sees this controversy and Hollywood's still-problematic history of telling white-male-hegemonic stories.