Our guest, Elaine Castillo, is the author of the newly released book "How to Read Now: Essays," which attempts to observe American books and movies through a BIPOC lens. Elaine takes a close look at TV shows like "The Watchmen" and writings from Joan Didion to explore the politics of reading and how to read with intent.  Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she graduated from UC Berkeley and obtained her MA in Creative Life and Writing at the University of London, Elaine is a second-generation Filipino American. Her parents migrated from the Philippines in the 70s during the Marcos dictatorship, a story that inspired her 2018 debut novel, "America is NOT the Heart." Praised by NPR, The Boston Globe, the San Francisco Chronicle, and others, Castillo's book follows Hero, a Filipino immigrant born to an established family and later radicalized during the Marcos Regime, and her escape to the Bay Area after being captured and tortured by the dictatorship.  Join the conversation: Instagram @immigrantlypod | Twitter @immigrantly_pod |  Please share the love and leave us a review to help more people find us! Host & Executive Producer: Saadia Khan I Content Writer: Ashley Lanuza & Saadia Khan I Editorial Review: Yudi Li I Sound Designer & Editor: Manni Simon I Immigrantly Theme Music: Evan Ray Suzuki I Other Music: Epidemic Sounds

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Today's episode is the second part of our two-part series. If you are tuning in now, please be sure to listen to the first part of this series titled "Human Rights be Damned-Part One." In the episode, I had a stimulating and insightful conversation with our guest, Rana Ayyub, the widely known Washington journalist and columnist. In our discussion, we talked about the human rights violations occurring in India along with a broader conversation surrounding foreign response or, as discussed in the episode, the lack of response. Today I talk with Brent Huffman, an American director, writer, and cinematographer. His work has been featured on Netflix, Discovery Channel, The National Geographic Channel, VICE, NBC, CNN, PBS, Time, The New York Times, Al Jazeera America, and Al Jazeera English and premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), and many other U.S. and international film festivals. He is also a Professor at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where he teaches documentary production and theory.  His new documentary, "Strands of Resistance" (2021), examining China's economic relationship with Pakistan, premiered on Vice and Vice News Tonight. An episode of the documentary "Uyghurs Who Fled China Now Face Repression in Pakistan" won a Rory Peck Award in the Best News Feature category at the British Film Institute in London in 2021. Given Brent's firsthand experience in China, filming this documentary Today's episode will center on what's happening in China to Uyghurs and Pakistan's response or lack thereof. Join the conversation: Instagram @immigrantlypod | Twitter @immigrantly_pod |  Please share the love and leave us a review to help more people find us! Host & Executive Producer: Saadia Khan I Content Writer: Sana Khan & Saadia KhanI Sound Designer & Editor: Manni Simon I Immigrantly Theme Music: Evan Ray Suzuki I Other Music: Epidemic Sounds

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Welcome to Immigrantly's fall guest lineup. In part one of a two-episode series, my  Rana Ayyub, an Indian journalist and opinion columnist with The Washington Post, joins me to discuss the inherent paradox in geopolitics, prioritizing strategic allyship over human rights. As a child, Rana witnessed the demolition of mosques and riots. Then, she worked as a relief worker during the Gujarat riots. She later authored the "Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover-up," an instant bestseller and an investigation into the reality behind the 2002 Gujarat riots. Most recently, Rana has been outspoken about the growing violence toward Indian Muslims and the impediments journalists like her face when trying to uphold freedom of the press and democracy amidst global political pressures. Lastly, Rana & I  talk about mental health and Rana's newfound desire to be seen not just as the brave journalist she is but as a human being who struggles, feels, and hurts. Join the conversation: Instagram @immigrantlypod | Twitter @immigrantly_pod |  Please share the love and leave us a review to help more people find us! Host & Executive Producer: Saadia Khan I Content Writer: Sana Khan & Saadia KhanI Sound Designer & Editor: Manni Simon I Immigrantly Theme Music: Evan Ray Suzuki I Other Music: Epidemic Sounds

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Dear Immigrantly family, as you know, we are not releasing any new episodes this week; our fall lineup starts next week, August 23rd, with our conversation with Rana Ayyub. Nevertheless, I have exciting and fun audio to share today. In April this year, one of our previous guests and patrons, Paula Wood, hosted a fundraiser for us at her house. At the fundraiser, we asked the guests to define the US in a word or a phrase. Here's a compilation of their responses. The audio is raw, and there is some background noise, but the spirit of the conversation & the diversity of thought is beautiful. Enjoy! Join the conversation: Instagram @immigrantlypod | Twitter @immigrantly_pod |  Please share the love and leave us a review to help more people find us! Host & Executive Producer: Saadia Khan I Sound Designer & Editor: Manni Simon I Immigrantly Theme Music: Evan Ray Suzuki I Other Music: Epidemic Sounds

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Today's guest, Thea Pham, shares her journey in discovering and defining what mental health means to her, how it fits in the complicated puzzle of her upbringing, and why she has felt immense emotional and psychological strains being the first generation. As an accomplished biotech entrepreneur, Thea was the youngest in her class to graduate with a Ph.D. in neuroscience at UCLA and currently works for a biotech venture capital start-up in LA. She has won numerous awards for her research and was featured in the LA Business Journal's 20 entrepreneurs in their 20s.    A month ago, Thea received viral attention after sharing an emotional TikTok about her challenges as the daughter of Vietnamese parents. In that video, she highlighted some common expectations that fall on children of immigrants, such as academic excellence and financial support. But in Thea's case, they have caused guilt, mental illness, and more. Atlhough, Thea and I come from diametric points of view in our status as daughter and mother, respectively but our dialogue was fruitful. I want you to stay after, to hear me unpack this conversation with our content editor and this script's writer, Yudi Liu, who is an immigrant daughter herself. Join the conversation: Instagram @immigrantlypod | Twitter @immigrantly_pod |  Please share the love and leave us a review to help more people find us! Host & Executive Producer: Saadia Khan I Content Writer: Yudi Liu I Sound Designer & Editor: Manni Simon I Immigrantly Theme Music: Evan Ray Suzuki I Other Music: Epidemic Sounds

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For Neda Toloui-Semnani, our today's guest, understanding who her parents were and what motivated them to participate in the 1979 Iranian Revolution as young Iranian activists became a crucial step to making sense of her own present. Born to a nation marked by political upheaval and now a Brooklyn-based emmy-winning writer & reporter, Neda is no stranger to the fabrics of social change and the equally important need to document such history.   Her father was imprisoned and killed by the Islamic Republic, while her then-pregnant mother and three-year old Neda escaped Iran for America. After her mother passed away, Neda tried to comprehend why her parents did what they did, which could be argued as both brave sacrifices and selfish risks. Her book, THEY SAID THEY WANTED REVOLUTION: A Memoir of My Parents, published this past February, details her rediscovering of personal history against a larger political backdrop.  Neda works for Vice News Tonight and has appeared in numerous publications such as The Washington Post, Kinfolk, and The Week as well as platforms like The Rumpus and This American Life. We had a fantastic conversation where we talked about the literary and emotional journey behind the memoir and what intersections exist between journalism and storytelling and how they are tools for uncovering the truth and preserving memory.  Join the conversation: Instagram @immigrantlypod | Twitter @immigrantly_pod |  Please share the love and leave us a review to help more people find us! Host & Executive Producer: Saadia Khan I Content Writer: Ashley Lanuza & Saadia Khan I Editorial Review IYudi Li I Sound Designer & Editor: Manni Simon I Immigrantly Theme Music: Evan Ray Suzuki I Other Music: Epidemic Sounds

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Today I am sharing another gem from the Immigrantly vault. It’s our conversation with Abubakr Ali. He is an actor, writer, and singer. Last year, he landed a significant role in the upcoming Netflix series Grendel as the anti-hero, Hunter Rose. This opportunity is historic because Abubakr is the first Arab Muslim actor to lead in a comic book adaptation. As he steps into the spotlight, Abubakr was recently featured in the New York Times and other significant publications. Since ours was his first ever podcast interview, we thought it would be fun to re-share our fantastic conversation, especially for listeners who recently became part of the Immigrantly community. So enjoy! Libsyn is the sponsor of this episode. Click on Libsyn.com and use code Friend to get your discount! Join the conversation: Instagram @immigrantlypod | Twitter @immigrantly_pod |  Please share the love and leave us a review to help more people find us! Host & Executive Producer: Saadia Khan I Associate Producer: Kinza Muzahir I Content Writer: Yudi Liu I Sound Designer & Editor: Manni Simon & Tom Whelan I Immigrantly Theme Music: Evan Ray Suzuki I Other Music: Epidemic Sounds  

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Today we have a fellow podcaster in our midst. Ramtin Arablouei is the co-host and co-producer of NPR's podcast Throughline. This show explores history through creative, immersive storytelling designed to reintroduce history to new audiences.  Ramtin embodies this perspective personally and professionally. Born in Iran, he immigrated to the U.S. with his family as a child and later graduated from St. Mary's College of Maryland with a B.A. in psychology and history. Along with hosting and producing, Ramtin is also a trained audio engineer and has written and mixed music for many award-winning podcasts, including TED Radio Hour and Hidden Brain. Ramtin generously offered his time to us to talk about an episode he reported back in early June this year called "By Accident of Birth." It's about the story of Wong Kim Ark, who, after returning from a trip to China in 1895, was barred from re-entering the country according to the Chinese Exclusion Act, which denied citizenship to Chinese immigrants. His subsequent legal battles culminated in the 1897 Supreme Court case, the United States. v. Wong Kim Ark:  the case that would forever change the path of American immigration law and play a pivotal role in the ongoing battle over who gets to be a citizen of the United States. Libsyn is the sponsor of this episode Click on Libsyn.com and use code Friend to get your discount! Join the conversation: Instagram @immigrantlypod | Twitter @immigrantly_pod |  Please share the love and leave us a review to help more people find us! Host & Executive Producer: Saadia Khan I Associate Producer: Kinza Muzahir I Content Writer: Sana Khan & Yudi Liu I Sound Designer & Editor: Manni Simon I Immigrantly Theme Music: Evan Ray Suzuki I Other Music: Epidemic Sounds    

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The first time I introduced today's episode was in September 2020, when we recorded the interview on abortion access with Dr. Meera Shah. She is the Chief Medical Officer of Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic in New York and the author of "You're the Only One I have Told: The Stories Behind Abortion." Meera is a tireless advocate for accessible, safe abortions. The episode was released only a few days after the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, all while the presidential elections loomed ahead. Fast forward to July 2022, Joe Biden is in the White House, the Democrats have a thin majority in the House, and Senate is split 50-50. In addition, we are freshly reeling from the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. With this layered perspective in the background and the undercurrent of the U.S. midterm elections up ahead, we thought it would be appropriate to revisit this episode from the past to make sense of the present and mobilize for the future. So, here is an episode from the Immigrantly vault — it provides a compassionate lens to abortion, healthcare in general, how U.S. policies have influenced access to it, particularly for immigrant communities, and the reality of shared experiences around it. We hope it will help you contextualize our continued fight for bodily autonomy. So, let's hit rewind. Libsyn is the sponsor of this episode Click on Libsyn.com and use code Friend to get your discount! Join the conversation: Instagram @immigrantlypod | Twitter @immigrantly_pod |  Please share the love and leave us a review to help more people find us! Host & Executive Producer: Saadia Khan I Associate Producer: Kinza Muzahir I Content Writer: Sarah Doh I Sound Designer & Editor: Manni Simon & Tom Whelan I Immigrantly Theme Music: Evan Ray Suzuki I Other Music: Epidemic Sounds    

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On June 24th, 2022, the hyper-conservative Supreme Court overturned Roe Vs. Wade and took away a woman's constitutional right to abortion. Thirteen states with trigger laws will ban abortion instantly. As a woman & a mother of two girls, I am angry, annoyed, devastated, and more uncertain about the safety of my kids now than ever before. It feels unreal that my daughters will have fewer rights than I did. However, I am determined to fight this injustice by voting for & supporting organizations and people who believe in women's bodily autonomy and amplifying the stories that must be told on our platform. As for men, please speak up because this is not only a woman's issue. It's a family issue, a human rights issue, and it will impact you too. And on this show today, we are going to make some noise.  Our guest, LaKia Williams, is a Reproductive Justice activist based in the South. At Tulane University, she founded the Big Easy EC, an emergency contraception provider for college students in New Orleans. After graduating from University with a Bachelor's in Neuroscience, she joined SisterSong: The National Women of Color Reproductive Justice Organization as their Digital Organizer. LaKia is also the host of the Black Feminist Rants podcast about reproductive justice and activism.  Join the conversation: Instagram @immigrantlypod | Twitter @immigrantly_pod |  Please share the love and leave us a review to help more people find us! Host & Executive Producer: Saadia Khan I Associate Producer: Kinza Muzahir I Content Writer: Ashley Lanuza I Sound Designer & Editor: Manni Simon I Immigrantly Theme Music: Evan Ray Suzuki I Other Music: Epidemic Sounds  

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