Music is powerful. It draws us into places that we know and sometimes into places we have yet to be. As immigrants, sometimes music is the traveller with us, the solace when we're lonely and the means to connect in a new culture.

Join Andrea and her friend Álvaro Moreno as they discuss the immigrant we rarely talk about: music. Álvaro landed as a refugee to Canada over 30 years ago. His love of home and love of music did not wane, and in fact, became a part of his integration into a new world of music he had yet to experience. Hear how music brought him new neighbours, how music was a part of his childhood in El Salvador and how music provided him warmth and comfort even when things were really difficult. Music integrates and adjusts, mourns and celebrates, remembers and looks ahead - just like we do.

And it never leaves us - no matter where we go.

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We recently were told that since we are being critical of things in Canada, then we must hate it here. Unfortunately, that kind of logic only allows for one feeling or one expression at a time. We're human! 

We don't hate our partner because we criticized them for never doing their share of the housework. We can hold appreciation and criticism at the same time. It's not about one side or the other. Being critical isn't necessarily out of hate, more often, it's out of love. Join us dishing it out!

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It's Pride Month and your two immigrant friends are bringing you all lots of love, the history of pride and what it means to truly love. Join Andrea and Hostion as they share their own journey with pride. Hear how Hostion's journey led him to his first Pride experience in Hong Kong and how thankful he is to live his true self in Canada. Hear how Andrea's journey led her to be an ally, to learn what it meant to really love and all because of the love and kindness extended to her by her queer sisters. 

The history, the matriarchs and even the reasons to celebrate Pride collectively remind us that rights are worth fighting hard for, protecting and ensuring them for everyone and not just ourselves.

To everyone within the LGBTQ+ community: while the world was busy trying to control and ignore what love is, you upheld it. You showed us all and continue to show us that love is eyes wide open, it's waking up as you are, it's collective and inclusive freedom, it's giving when no one gives back. The world thinks they know what love is and they may get there one day. Until then, take pride in your beautiful being just as we do. 

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Did you know that Hostion and Andrea were told recently that the only reason they have anything is because white men gave them everything? It's true. And to pause, reflect and express gratitude, we're dishing it out on this episode. It's the narrative that people hold but we're not letting it stand. There is a lot that we have in which white men, honestly, did nothing. Silly people. 

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Cue the cringe music because most of us have either asked someone this question OR we have been asked this question directly. It's a question that most people who are being racially profiled or who may speak with an accent get asked. And for many of us white folks, it's a question we use to displace a person (even if we think it's us being 'curious').

Why does this question harm people so much? What is this micro aggression really saying to people from ethnically and culturally diverse backgrounds? It's important to realize that the question actually displaces the one being asked. It's a question that assumes they aren't 'from here' and that they must be from somewhere else. It's a question that we need to let go of if we really want to know someone.

Hostion and Andrea unpack this question, the impact and what it does to relationships and to creating a more curious world. If you've asked this question, it's not too late to stop. And if you're being asked this question, there is no obligation to share. There are other ways to build a relationship - but this question, isn't one of them.

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We are appalled that an elected official recently blamed immigrants for a hate crime that is still under investigation. Listen to Hostion and Andrea dish it out in response to the Premier of Ontario Doug Ford and his comments that hurt, hate and dehumanize immigrants. There is no room for hateful incidents against Jewish people within Canada and there is no room for hateful comments against immigrants for something that they did not do.

For the whole news story: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ford-immigrants-jewish-girls-school-shooting-1.7219365
To write Mr. Ford's office and demand he apologize and make amends for his statements: https://correspondence.premier.gov.on.ca/EN/feedback/default.aspx

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Usually the first thing we know about someone is their name. Names can tell all sorts of stories - stories of history, family, location or tradition. Our name is what marks us as us. Our name is how others see us. More than just letters, a name is a person. But what happens when you change your name? 

Immigrants and people from ethnically diverse backgrounds, historically and even today, find themselves at the mercy of systems which won't honour a person's given name. The name might sound different than an Anglo-Saxon name and before you know it, changing the name to fit the crowd means giving up identity, ties to culture and traces to family lineage. Employment, housing and even social acceptance ride on the assumption that to be trustworthy or seen, you must have an English name.

But we believe the opposite. We're here to say that your name deserves to be as it is. 

And if you are struggling to pronounce another person's name (wink wink white people), stop with the shortcuts and learn.  People need to be known for who they are, not for how you'd want them to be known.

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Theme music by Nver Avetyan from Pixabay.
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Did you know white men can't get a job? It's true . . . mostly . . . well,  actually, it's not true at all. Silly white men. White men ARE getting jobs and also get paid more than women and people of colour do, hold most of the positions of power, receive far less discrimination than People of Colour do . . . but we digress.

Poor white men? Yeah, not so much. We're dishing it out.

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If trauma unites us, it is joy that liberates us. In this final week of Asian Heritage Month, we will celebrate and honour the beauty, strength, resilience, culture and dignity embodied in Asian people both here in Canada and all over the globe.

Hostion and Andrea will explore the brief history of how Asian Heritage Month came to be, what was the tone at the time when this annual observance began and what does it mean? Crucial to our love of one another is understanding the humanity and the ability to resist and rise above the oppression and historical acts of hate committed against Asian people in Canada. 

Our history is not complete without these stories - these stories of hardship, survival and sorrow. And our history is not complete without these stories - these stories of courage, strength and joy. 

Asian Joy: Liberation From Oppression

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Hostion and I were told that immigrants need to do their research before they come here and that we should have known what we would get in coming to Canada. Blame the buyer for buying what they were sold? Nah . . . we don't think so. Let's dish out this doozy comment!

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Theme music by Nver Avetyan from Pixabay.
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