What does it mean to be an Asian woman in America in 2017? In this special International Women's Day episode, the women of Pacific Underground explore what the Asian American experience for women is in a time when gender expression, identity, and sex are being defined more fluidly than ever. Listen along as we dive into the exploration of self and reclamation. We also talk to the comedy duo SJ and Ginny about their new YouTube series "Quiet Tiny Asian," where they present a hilarious look at what it's like to be constantly seen as tiny and explain why, as an Asian woman in America, you just can't win.

www.sjandginny.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwTVy4CG0zo

Theme music by @CHOPSmusic

Music:

"Quiet" by @MILCK

"Brushing by Heaven's Shoulder" by @kimmortal

Being an Asian American woman has it's set of challenges and New York based comedy duo SJ and Ginny have managed to capture the experience in their new YouTube series "Quiet Tiny Asian." This series of shorts explains the frustrations that come with having all your problems being perceived as "tiny" or always being seen as doing "asianthings." While Quiet Tiny Asian is hilarious, SJ and Ginny explain to us how the series aims to highlight those microaggressive moments that ultimately contribute to systemic racism and societal violence.

www.sjandginny.com

"Quiet Tiny Asian" - www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwTVy4CG0zo

Call them what you want: the Muslim ban; the travel ban targeting 7 majority-Muslim countries (but curiously not many that pose any demonstrable terror threats to the US); the immigration ban; the executive orders; etc....

We felt that we needed to have an off-the-cuff conversation about the state of immigration at this all-too-strange moment. We speak with Diana Fakhrai, and immigration attorney in California, and Romeo Sosa of community organization, Voz. With both a legal and more community perspective, we gain insight into the particular measures being taken to support the communities targeted by the most recent orders that've come down from the Loofa-in-Chief.

Immigration Attorney Diana Fakhrai talks to producer Jenna Yokoyama about the current state of immigration. They discuss what green card holders should know about travelling, changes in the refugee program, and what immigrants here in the United States should do to help protect themselves from policies that could affect their status. Diana Fakhrai was featured on our February 3 episode where she briefly touched on these topics. This is an extended interview that dives deeper into the issues.

Douglas Tsoi, founder of the Portland Underground Grad School (PUGS) talks about what's lacking in education and how PUGS helps build community. He also talks about his book "Why Are Conservatives Always Wrong?" Then the dance rock band, The Slants, talks to us about visiting Washington D.C. for their Supreme Court hearing and share their new album, "The Band Who Must Not Be Named."

Theme music by @CHOPS

Music:

"Imperialism Is Another Word for Hunger" - Yellow Pearl

"Grandma's Kitchen (ft Olivia Thai)" - @jasonchumusic and Joe Kye

"Quiet" - @MILCK

"Ue u muite aruko" by Kyu Sakamoto

The Portland based band, The Slants, have released a new album titled "The Band That Must Not Be Named," a reference to their recent Supreme Court case (and yes, Harry Potter). We talked with all four members of the dance-rock band while they were in Washington D.C. this last week to hear about what life in the Supreme Court spotlight has been like and to get a listen of their new EP. We also talked about their decision to decline an invitation to play for Trump's Asian Pacific American Advisory Committee Inaugural Ball, Simon's NPR fandom, and why the Courtroom of the Supreme Court may have the rarest Pokemon of them all. Music in this segment is from The Slants new album, "The Band That Must Not Be Named." Available now on iTunes, Amazon, and cdbaby.

Music-

Theme music by @CHOPS - "Wire Ties"

The Slants - "The Band That Must Not Be Named"

--"Fight Back"

--"From the Heart"

--"Endlessly Falling"

You do not have to always march in the street to be an activist. Different people come to activism and resistance of oppresion in different ways. We talked to Portland zinester A'misa Chiu and musician/dancer Nobuko Miyamoto about how they use their respective artforms to resist and protest. They also draw links from activists from the past on how it influences their work in the present and beyond. Thanks to CHOPS music, A'Misa Chiu, Nobuko Miyamoto, and Yellow Pearl music.

Congrats to everyone who made it through Thanksgiving family dinner relatively unscathed! Tabitha and Jenna take on what's happened since then including the Global Month of Action for supporting the water protectors in North Dakota; World's AIDS Day shines a light on the need for the API community to talk about the taboo; congress honors WWII Filipino vets; and Michelle Yeoh is going to command an "Asian sounding ship" on Star Trek that we all want to serve on. Music by @chopsmusic.

Where do we go from here? This is a question we've been asking ourselves a lot since the results of the presidential election were announced. To help give us some understanding about how we move forward in fighting oppression, we spoke with anti-fascist activist Scot Nakagawa of the grassroots political lab, Change Lab. Scot talks about his recent post on RaceFiles.com, "The Next Wave: Getting Ready For Trump’s America" and what the API community needs to consider in this time of polarization. Scot touches on a range of topics such as authoritarianism and how it relates to our current "call out" culture; how different communities can begin to find understanding; race as a verb and not a noun; the relationship between the model minority myth and anti-blackness; and how we need to protect the most vulnerable amongst us. Producers Jenna and Canaan also talk about their reactions to the recent elections and the heightened state of racial awareness America is in right now.

Theme music by @chopsmusic

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions

Links:

www.changelabinfo.com/

www.racefiles.com/

It's time for more post-election discussion. We're still trying to figure out what to do with all the feelings. Canaan, Tabitha, and Jenna dare to touch the dreaded safety pin debate and talk about what wearing it means; Megyn Kelly disrupts a Trump surrogate on Fox News which is calling the API community to action; we talk about how to engage the API community as a whole and whether or not that's useful at all; and Tabitha makes a plan to spend some time in Canada by dating a movie star. Music by @chopsmusic.