So Where Are You From?

We chat with Sarah Ngu, former deacon at Brooklyn’s Forefront Church and writer with bylines in Vice, Jacobin, and Sojourners (she also has not-bylines as a ghostwriter). We talk about her family’s journey from Malaysia to New York as part of a church planting movement; how writing sermons differs from journalism differs from ghost writing; and the varying merits of animal proteins.

We chat with Pavan Yedavalli, a Ph.D. candidate at Berkeley who’s researching the implications to urban planning if cars could fly (seriously). We talk about why public transit is messed up, NIMBYism, and ridiculous superstitions that we definitely still follow.

Kate’s in LA, Yoko’s in New York. We learn that Kate knows all the words to Amagigoe by enka singer Sayuri Ishikawa, and have our minds blown discussing “99 Ranch” vs. “Ranch 99” and “lie-chee” vs. “lee-chee.”

We're joined by Paul Jochico and Robespierre Dornagon, two of the three founders of the NYC-based dance studio House of Movement. We talk about how they founded their own studio, how the definition of hip hop has evolved, and which Marvel characters they'd make Asian.

We’re joined by Jenny Acosta, food-embedded designer and native Brooklynite. We talk about her Hainanese mixed heritage, food as a love language, and living with parents as an adult. Also, Kate makes her boyfriend try a bunch of new food, and Yoko pops a question.

A lot has happened while we were on break: Yoko got engaged. Kate turned 30. A million podcasts about being Asian have surfaced. Plus, hella/mad Asian movies! Wow! It’s really great to be back ♥️

Kate went on a road trip with her boyfriend, Yoko is thinking about going on a staycation.

Our guest this episode is Fei Liu, researcher in residence at NEW INC. We talk about how she saw whiteness as Asian Americans after moving to the US from Harbin, China at age 6; how she grew interested in the intersection of art and activism after living in China after graduating from college; filial piety; and our shared traumas from going to weekend language school.

Plus, we got a couple listener emails! Thank you for writing us, Lyna and Grace ❤️

Write us at [email protected]!

Kate and Yoko are joined by middle school teacher, and esteemed food writer Noah Cho. We talk about Noah's childhood and growing up with a white mom, what it's like teaching middle school kids, and white chefs who cook Asian cuisine. We also circle back on a model minority and our hot takes on Isle of Dogs.

Kate and Yoko are joined by ethnographer and people organizer Christina Xu. We talk about Christina’s relationship with the internet, and how she creates channels for enabling other people to do their most ambitious work . Also, Kate’s officiating her second wedding and conducted a survey about love (by the way, she’s got a man now. Y’all slept on that).

Kate’s in LA, Yoko’s in NYC. They talk about Yoko’s recent trip to Iceland, Kate visiting home, and how they’re both turning into their parents.