miseducAsian Podcast

In Part 2 of our conversation with Michelle Rhee, we discuss:

• Being in a highly visible role and the impact it has on family  (0:40)
• Michelle reflects on her time in DC (11:58) 
• Identity development, still experiencing Asian "firsts", and leading while Asian     (27:45)

In this episode, we chat with Michelle Rhee, Co-Founder of BuildWithin, and Former Chancellor of D.C. Public Schools. We discuss:

• Growing up and explaining your job to your parents  (8:53)
• Three generations of Rhee's and how our parents evolve (14:22)
• Michelle and Tommy remember Layla Avila (22:50)
• Brian gets awkward talking KJ (38:38) 

In this episode, we speak with accomplished composer and musician Christopher Wong. We discuss: 

• the role of music in Asian communities and why it seems like all Asian kids can play an instrument (1:30)
• reconciling our parents' insistence that we play instruments and their lack of support in pursuing a career in music (12:20)  
• how our relationships with our parents have evolved and haven't over time (24:30)
• figuring out what it means to be Asian and American, and navigating generational divides (39:30)

In this episode, we chat with Diana Hwang, Founder and Executive Director of the Asian American Women's Political Initiative (AAWPI). We discuss:

• trying to meet parent expectations (2:57)
• why she founded AAWPI (22:33)
• the complexity of organizing in AAPI communities (38:55)
• where AAWPI is working now (50:25)

Check out AAWPI's Instagram and website if you want to learn more about and support their work. 

In this episode, we chat with Dr. Jade Agua, Chief Learning Officer at the USC Race and Equity Center. Topics include:

• her background and identity development, specifically having family roots in Hawai'i
• race and equity work in higher education
• recent events related to Affirmative Action
• the relationship between capitalism and racism 

At the top of the show, we shared information for Bring the Noise - Make Noise Today, an AAPI Student Scholarship Contest and Exhibition. This year's theme is Mental-Health Wellbeing. The deadline for submissions is March 3rd.  

We share our thoughts on Year 1 of the miseducAsian podcast and what we're looking forward to in Year 2. 

In this episode, we connect with Katie Yue-Sum Li and Go Sasaki. As educators, historians, and organizers, Katie and Go share their journeys, as individuals and as partners, for how they have and continue to make meaning about what it means to be Asian American and Asian more broadly, in various contexts. We discuss how and why our stories have been erased and made invisible, what "ethnic studies" really is vs what it has often been co-opted to be, and our relationship with colonialism.   
 

In this episode, we visit the Chinese American Museum, Los Angeles, with Dr. Gay Yuen, the museum's Board Chair. A lifelong educator, Dr. Yuen shares how her early days as a non-English speaking student in Los Angeles, influenced her to become a trailblazer in multi-lingual learning in southern California, and the real difference between language learner and language immersion programs.   

Dr. Yuen offers her unique perspective on gentrification in Chinatown, her appearance on an episode of Broken Bread with Roy Choi, and how she navigates the tensions between development and preserving her community's identity.     

Finally, we learn more about the history of LA's Chinatown and the Chinese Massacre of 1871, one of the worst and least-known atrocities in Los Angeles' history, and the role she'd like the Museum to play in sharing its story.   

In Part 2 of our conversation with Archana Patel, we learn more about Jeremiah Program, what calls her to this work centering the experience of mothers, how this shows up in her personal and professional lives, and why she believes it to be a game-changing approach to systems change. We also talk leadership, how we view ourselves as leaders (or not), and the immense pressure many of us grapple with whether we are currently in or aspire to be in those seats. 

Also in this episode, Archana experiences a moment of real discomfort as she grapples with Asian kryptonite, praise from another. 

This is a special 2-episode conversation with Archana Patel, VP of Parent Programming at Jeremiah Program. In Part 1, Archana shares her story, why she feels called to center the stories of women and mothers now more than ever, and how the current climate is increasing the appetite and desire for activism and civic engagement in South Asian communities. 

We unpack the challenges of wanting to celebrate our parents, families, and cultures, while also wanting to evolve to better reflect our own priorities and values, and how we navigate the differences along the way. We share stories of hard or awkward conversations we've had with our parents, and what keeps more of us from doing so.