Escape From Plan A

(Almost) the whole team piles into this podcast to look back on 200 episodes of Escape From Plan A, dating back to September 2017. Jess, Chris, Diana, Filip, Teen, Adam, Q (and our friend Nia who just dropped by) talk about sticking it out for 3 years, what we think we accomplished, and what we see for the future.

Support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/planamag

TWITTER:

Filip (@filipgwriting)

Chris (@JesuInToast)

Diana (@discoveryduck)

Adam (@snbatman)

Teen (@mont_jiang)

Jess (@cogitatotomato)

Q (@allyouneedis_q)

SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS:

EFPA Opening Theme:

"Fuck Out My Face" by Ayekay (open.spotify.com/artist/16zQKaDN5XgHAhfOJHTigJ)

NOTE: We have unlocked this bonus episode to inaugurate EPFA's Book Club Bonuses. BCB episodes will critically analyze the existing scholarship on the topics that Plan A keeps coming back to over and over, and contextualize key points to our present circumstances.

This session, Mike Nguyen joins Q to discuss "A Critique of Ultra-Leftism, Dogmatism and Sectarianism" by Movement for a Revolutionary Left, edited by Paul Saba. What are the perennial problems of the left? What is holding back revolution today? How do we negotiate our present circumstances and what is the work we can do today that will help rather than hurt future revolutionary change?

Next session will discuss "Dealing in Desire: Asian Ascendancy, Western Decline, and the Hidden Currencies of Global Sex Work" by Kimberly Kay Hoang

TWITTER:

Mike (@kevineuthanizer)

Q (@allyouneedis_q)

REFERENCED RESOURCES:

- A Critique of Ultra-Leftism, Dogmatism and Sectarianism: https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/ncm-4/mrl/index.htm

SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS:

EFPA Opening Theme:

"Fuck Out My Face" by Ayekay (open.spotify.com/artist/16zQKaDN5XgHAhfOJHTigJ)

Diana and Teen join friend (and patron) David Nole, founder of AN Publishing, for a wide-ranging discussion about the urgency around creating independent non-white media. In particular, how ditching the profit-motive can open a huge array of possibilities.

NOTE: We have unlocked this bonus episode to celebrate 200 episodes of EFPA. Many thanks to all our guests, listeners, and patrons.

TWITTER:

Diana (@discoveryduck)

Teen (@mont_jiang)

SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS:

EFPA Opening Theme:

"Fuck Out My Face" by Ayekay (open.spotify.com/artist/16zQKaDN5XgHAhfOJHTigJ)

The second generation Asian American is often burdened with the guilt from the 'sacrifices' of the first generation. We mythologize the great difficult in 'crossing an entire ocean' to come to a new land where they 'had nothing.' Some of this is true, but much of it myth-making. Jess and Teen try and poke a hole through these stories and see if there's a different reality to consider.

Support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/planamag

TWITTER:

Teen (@mont_jiang)

Jess (@cogitatotomato)

SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS:

EFPA Opening Theme:

"Fuck Out My Face" by Ayekay (open.spotify.com/artist/16zQKaDN5XgHAhfOJHTigJ)

Pix joins Diana and Jess to contextualize the LA Riots and their relationship to today's protests against police brutality. In 1992, the media co-opted images of one immigrant community enacting destruction on another immigrant community to foment a Black-Asian conflict narrative. Today, liberals and conservatives both are using the image of K-town storeowners, "Rooftop Koreans," as symbols to push false, divisive narratives, and deflect from the real issues. We take a deep dive into why the mainstream memory bears so little resemblance to what really happened.

Support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/planamag

TWITTER:

Pix (Pixelxilla)

Diana (@discoveryduck)

Jess (@cogitatotomato)

REFERENCED RESOURCES:

- Sa I Gu (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_UyYj-pR8U)

- LA 92 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaotkHlHJwo&t=2s)

- LA Burning (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCYT9Hew9ZU&feature=youtu.be)

- Sam Hunter Twitter thread (https://twitter.com/pronounced_sahm/status/1295120854712451072)

SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS:

EFPA Opening Theme:

"Fuck Out My Face" by Ayekay (open.spotify.com/artist/16zQKaDN5XgHAhfOJHTigJ)

Jessica Sun Lee joins Jess and Diana to talk about racism and sexism during the pandemic. Reports are in that Asian women suffer the majority of racist harassment and violence, and the rise in domestic violence and abusive relationships mean that many of us have no safe harbor at all in lockdown. How do we protect ourselves and how do we support each other? What should we expect after reopening?

TWITTER:

Jessica (@jessicasunlee)

Diana (@discoveryduck)

Jess (@cogitatotomato)

REFERENCED RESOURCES:

Center for Creative Growth (https://creativegrowth.com)

Victims and Survivors Guide to Domestic Violence During the Pandemic

(https://www.mymove.com/moving/guides/domestic-violence-resources/)

SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS:

EFPA Opening Theme:

"Fuck Out My Face" by Ayekay (open.spotify.com/artist/16zQKaDN5XgHAhfOJHTigJ)

Emily Dong joins Diana and Teen for an expansive chat about what the role of an Asian American actually is in America during these stressful times. What connects COVID, the protests against police murder, and the rampant Sinophobia of the New Cold War? Emily brings a perspective informed by Black Radicalism, which can bring a lot of clarity to an era of spiraling confusion.

Support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/planamag

TWITTER:

Diana (@discoveryduck)

Teen (@mont_jiang)

REFERENCED RESOURCES:

- I Want To Be Chinese (by Emily Dong) (https://planamag.com/i-want-to-be-chinese/)

- Organization for Positive Peace (https://forpositivepeace.org/)

- The Saturday Free School (http://www.saturdayfreeschool.org/)

SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS:

EFPA Opening Theme:

"Fuck Out My Face" by Ayekay (open.spotify.com/artist/16zQKaDN5XgHAhfOJHTigJ)

You Peng joins Diana and Teen to discuss how to stay sane during the COVID pandemic. What does "psychological wellness" even mean as a racialized person in a country whose national healthcare policy is to just let us die? The mental health discourse pushes for internal resolutions to torturous external pressures. Who is this really benefiting? Or rather, whose resistance is this trying to suppress?

TWITTER:

Diana (@discoveryduck)

Teen (@Mont_Jiang)

SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS:

EFPA Opening Theme:

"Fuck Out My Face" by Ayekay (open.spotify.com/artist/16zQKaDN5XgHAhfOJHTigJ)

Phan Le, Thuc Nguyen, and Michelle Pham join Diana to critique Spike Lee's Vietnam War movie "Da 5 Bloods," and they pull no punches in dissecting the problems with the film. Why does a script originally written by two white guys about white vets and produced by three white people and Lee get to represent the Black American experience or speak for Vietnamese people?

TWITTER:

Phan (@phannyfishcakes)

Thuc (@BiatchPack)

Michelle (@fodgycakes)

Diana (@discoveryduck)

REFERENCED RESOURCES:

- "Watching Da 5 Bloods in Saigon"

https://www.vulture.com/2020/07/watching-da-5-bloods-in-saigon.html

- "We Fight Together: 17 Black Anti-Imperialists To Radicalize You"

https://wearyourvoicemag.com/we-fight-together-17-black-anti-imperialists-to-radicalize-you/

- "The Racist Origins of U.S. Policing: Demilitarization Will Require Decolonization"

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2020-07-16/racist-origins-us-policing

SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS:

EFPA Opening Theme:

"Fuck Out My Face" by Ayekay (open.spotify.com/artist/16zQKaDN5XgHAhfOJHTigJ)

Diana, Jess and Filip get together to talk about recent announcements from tech giants like Facebook and Shopify to have their work forces go remote-first. While this trend seems to offer freedom and choice for workers, how is it actually going to play out, and does it benefit the worker or the employer? The trio takes a closer look at a policy change that affects Asian Americans and H-1B visa holders more than you'd think.

TWITTER:

Diana (@discoveryduck)

Jess (@cogitatotomato)

Filip (@filipgwriting)

SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS:

EFPA Opening Theme:

"Fuck Out My Face" by Ayekay (open.spotify.com/artist/16zQKaDN5XgHAhfOJHTigJ)