Hello from an East Bay movie theatre! 

This week, it’s just us, trying to dodge yet another COVID surge. (A note from our producer, Mai: Lots of people are getting sick, and testing is hard to come by and not always accurate. It’s never too late to mask up again—if not for yourself, then for your more vulnerable neighbors!) 

(3:25) Jay went to see “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” with his daughter, Frankie. We talk about the film’s pleasing animation style and nostalgia-packed soundtrack. (24:45) Next, we address a recent New York Times investigation into lefty tech millionaire Neville Roy Singham’s ties to China and consider, yet again, how a good leftist should avoid both McCarthyism and Tankieism.

In this episode, we ask: 

Has Madeline (of the Madeline children’s books) been canceled yet?!

Should Jay spend hours systematically indoctrinating his kids into musical connoisseurship? 

Is it possible to critique U.S. hegemony without being called a brainwashed propagandist? 

For more, see: 

* CoComelon, or the stuff of every parent’s nightmares 

* Why Neil Diamond is cool Dad Rock, by Tammy

* Previous episodes on the tankie problem, from June 2020 (Tankies! with Brian Hioe, New Bloom Magazine) and November 2020 (Vaccine apartheid, tankies redux, and the TTSG manifesto) 

Thanks to everyone who’s come out to recent meet-ups in NYC and Chengdu! Check out the Discord for upcoming events in Texas and other IRL hotspots. 

Subscribe on Patreon or Substack to join our Discord community, and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. You can email us at [email protected]. 

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

Hello from a freezer full of “non-human biologics”! 

This week, we speak with Arielle Angel, editor-in-chief of Jewish Currents and known alien stan. (3:30) We get her thoughts on last week’s Congressional hearings (nothing a true believer like Arielle didn’t already know) and what aliens are up to when they visit Earth. (26:15) In our main segment, we discuss the democratic crisis in Israel spurred by Netanyahu’s far-right coalition and (34:00) what this moment could mean for the Palestinian national movement, both in Israel/Palestine and the U.S. diaspora. (43:00) We also hear how Arielle arrived at her current politics. 

In this episode, we ask: 

If aliens are real, why didn’t Trump tell us?!

Have the centrist protests against the Israeli government made BDS seem less extreme? 

What can the Jewish left teach us about doing identity-based organizing while simultaneously denouncing the validity of identitarian nationalism? 

For more, see: 

* The 2017 Times story that convinced Jay that aliens are real

* Some background on the Roswell incident from the History Channel 

* Ezra Klein’s interview with U.F.O. reporter Leslie Kean

* Explainers from Jewish Currents on the ongoing judicial crisis in Israel (by Elisheva Goldberg) and the Israel-Palestine rift within DSA (by Alex Kane)

* A forced apology from Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal after she called Israel “a racist state”

* Arielle’s article on grievance politics from last fall, and our episode discussing the piece: Grievance politics, why we love “Mo,” and the YYYs’ return 

* Our previous conversations with the lovely folks at Jewish Currents, from May 2021: 

* Sheikh Jarrah and What Feels Different This Time about Israel/Palestine with Josh Leifer of Jewish Currents 

* Jewish Currents in Conversation with Time To Say Goodbye! 

If you’re feeling extra inspired, you can read Arielle’s fiction, Jay’s novel, and Tammy’s poetry. 

Thanks for listening! Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, and email us at [email protected]. 

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Hello from Jay’s final week in paradise! 

In this bonus episode, we answer questions from subscribers. 

Hello from the diasporic battleground! 

This week, we’re joined by investigative journalist and filmmaker Anjali Kamat to discuss Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s red-carpet state dinner and the spread of his Islamophobic, anti-democratic Hindutva ideology. (1:45) We start with a short history since Modi was elected in 2014, (12:20) dig into the conspiratorial lynchings that mirror right-wing campaigns in other countries, and (26:15) consider how Indian diasporic communities help maintain (and challenge) Modi’s power. We also track the responses of U.S. politicians, from Trump’s “Howdy Modi” rally in Texas, celebrating the Prime Minister’s reelection in 2019, to progressive Representative Ro Khanna’s unwillingness to critique and Obama’s surprising willingness to do so. 

In this episode, we ask: 

What differentiates the last nine years under Modi from previous periods of large-scale sectarian violence in India? 

Why do the myths around Modi persist, despite cracks in the facade of him as an efficient and non-corrupt leader? 

What was the dream of Indian multiculturalism?

How do Indian diasporic communities influence Modi’s ability to consolidate power? 

For more, check out: 

* Aparna Gopalan in Jewish Currents, on how Hindu nationalists are using the pro-Israel playbook

* An opinion piece by Maya Jasanoff: Narendra Modi Is Not Who America Thinks He Is

* Background on the rise of Hindu nationalism in the U.S. 

* The first installment in our White House State Dinner critique series, from May: Karaoke soft power + left media cowardice 

🎧 Heads-up: Next week’s episode will be a subscriber-only listener Q&A! Subscribe on Patreon or Substack to ask a question and hear the episode. 

Thanks for listening. As always, you can follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, and email us at [email protected]. 

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

Hello from Honolulu! 

It’s just us this week, trading places: Tammy is home in humid Brooklyn, and Jay is on the road, visiting family in Hawaii! (6:00) First, we discuss the planned release of 500 swimming pools’ worth of radioactive(?) wastewater from Fukushima, which has spurred lousy takes from Beltway types and a run on salt in South Korea. (19:10) Next, we look at Vivek Ramaswamy’s long-shot candidacy for President and try to discern what the entrepreneur brings to a flailing Republican Party. 

In this episode, we ask: 

Was “Mad Men” a good show? 

How does the Fukushima conversation serve as a barometer for China–Japan–South Korea relations? 

Is Trumpism analogous to Modi-ism? 

Are we doomed to have an amoral, debate-brained candidate in every Republican primary? 

For more, dig into: 

* Regional reactions to the wastewater plan at Fukushima 

* Images of Vermont’s floods and the proximate climate apocalypse 

* Sheelah Kolhatkar’s jealousy-inducing profile of Vivek Ramaswamy for The New Yorker

* DeSantis’s jump-the-shark hate ad

* Our May ep about the American Prospect’s Tucker Carlson piece (and its backlash): Karaoke soft power + left media cowardice 

Thanks for listening! Subscribe on Patreon or Substack, and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. Email us at [email protected]. 

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

Hello from the South Korean Ministry of Culture’s Brooklyn satellite office! 

This week, Tammy welcomes back Jenny Wang Medina, our resident scholar of Korean cultural exports and semiotics, for a record-tying fourth appearance on TTSG / third-anniversary spectacular! We talk about a few recent Korean/Korean American/Asian American productions: (8:30) the Netflix hit “Beef,” with Ali Wong and Steven Yeun; (31:40) the new transnational A24 flick “Past Lives,” starring Greta Lee; and (1:03:00) Hansol Jung’s adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, featuring an all-Asian American cast (which recently had a run in NYC). We tried to avoid spoilers, but couldn’t avoid some “Past Lives” reveals! 

In this episode, we ask: 

What makes “Beef” feel so authentically West Coast Asian American? 

How do you know when Shakespeare is Asian American?

Who’s behind today’s transnational TV and film productions? 

What will the next “untranslatable” Korean concept be?!

For more, see: 

* Jenny’s previous TTSG appearances: Korean wig stores (October 2020), A feminist(?) K-drama about abortion (June 2022), and ​​​​Fantasies of progress on K-TV (September 2022)

* The sexual assault allegations against “Beef” actor David Choe and a look at his cult-like online community 

* Jenny’s latest K-drama rec: Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938

Also, Tammy highly recommends “Behind Every Star,” the Netflix K-drama remake of the excellent French comedy “Call My Agent.”

Thanks for listening! Subscribe on Patreon or Substack, and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. Email us at [email protected].

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

Hello from the East Bay! 

It’s just Jay this week, chatting with friend of the pod Darrell Owens, a Berkeley-based housing expert. We discuss a new study from the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative at UCSF on the causes and consequences of homelessness in California. 

In this episode, we ask:  

Can the revelations in this study—or any new evidence, for that matter—finally move the needle on reducing homelessness? 

How do “Housing First” advocates address the desire for immediate solutions to a crisis that has been decades in the making? 

Why are people who are older, disabled, and from certain racial and ethnic groups so vastly overrepresented among the homeless population? 

For more, see: 

* The full UCSF study, Toward a New Understanding: The California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness 

* Our previous episode with Darrell, from July 2021: The Fight to End Single Family Zoning and the YIMBY/NIMBY/PHIMBY War

* The book Homelessness Is a Housing Problem, by Gregg Colburn and Clayton Page Aldern 

* California YIMBY’s December 2022 report on Housing First policies 

Thanks for listening! Subscribe on Patreon or Substack, and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. Email us at [email protected].

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

Hello from the Hill! 

This week, we’re joined by Ligia Guallpa, executive director of Workers Justice Project (WJP), a group that organizes low-wage, immigrant workers in New York City, including the app-based delivery workers who call themselves Los Deliveristas Unidos. WJP and the Deliveristas just won the passage of a mandatory minimum wage, a huge improvement for e-bike and car delivery workers on GrubHub, Uber Eats, and other platforms. (13:30) Ligia details the unique dangers that spurred the emergence of the Deliveristas as COVID hit New York and (31:00) offers some lessons learned from going against these big-tech titans and their algorithms. 

In this episode, we ask: 

How substantial was the shift towards app-based gig work during COVID, and what did that mean for  workers?  

Is it necessary to focus on fighting worker misclassification?

How did delivery workers overcome the immense challenge of organizing in a disparate, deliberately siloed workforce? 

For more, read: 

* A 2021 piece in The Verge about the early days of organizing among Los Deliveristas Unidos 

* Another horrific fire this week that may have been caused by improperly maintained e-bike batteries

* A report on the backlash that threatened to derail WJP’s minimum-wage fight 

* News that the NLRB recently reverted to an Obama-era test that could make it easier for gig workers to organize 

Thanks for listening! Subscribe on Patreon or Substack, and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. Email us at [email protected].

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

Hello from clear-skied Brooklyn! 

Thank you to everyone who attended our (first) third-anniversary TTSG summer picnic! And thanks to all who subscribe, listen, spread the word, and otherwise support the show. 

It’s just Tammy and Jay this week, unpacking some complex cultural shifts in Asian American food and education. (5:15) First, Tammy guesses which Asian cuisines dominate Asian restaurants in the U.S. (according to a recent Pew Research Center study). We also discuss what it means for food to be “elevated,” Americanized, kept “authentic,” or *gasp* made into some kind of “fusion.” (24:40) Next, we go cynical on the likely end of affirmative action and debate the merits of other methods of increasing diversity at universities and beyond.  

In this episode, we ask: 

Why has Thai food proliferated in the U.S. while other Asian cuisines trend and fade? 

What’s behind the idea that “authentic” Asian food should be cheap? 

What does the lack of energy around affirmative action tell us about racial solidarities and class recognition? 

For more, see: 

* A dispatch from last week’s apocalyptic smoke in NYC

* The full Pew study about Asian restaurants in the U.S. 

* Zak Cheney-Rice on affirmative action's past and present, plus Jeannie Suk Gersen on The Secret Joke at the Heart of the Harvard Affirmative-Action Case 

* An older piece from Jay about the long, slow death of affirmative action 

* Tammy on the recent Supreme Court ruling that could dampen workers' right to strike 

And, if you find yourself in Portland, visit some of Tammy’s favorite authentic(?) Thai spots: Eem and Hat Yai! 

Support TTSG on Patreon or Substack to attend future subscriber events like last weekend’s picnic! Keep in touch via Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, and email us at [email protected].

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

Hello from Montréal! 

🥳 Reminder: Join us THIS SATURDAY, June 10th, in Brooklyn, for our subscriber picnic! Subscribe on Patreon or Substack for more details. 

This week, we welcome back our friend Max Read—dad, Twitter lurker, hat seller, and creator of the incredible Read Max newsletter—for an anniversary chat. (12:30) We speculate about the next phase of A.I. ascendancy and (28:25) large language model pioneers, and (44:00) unpack the labor dimensions of these technological shifts. Speaking of labor, (45:30) we get Max’s inside perspective on the WGA strike (in which, again, A.I. …) and express solidarity with the Insider journalists who just went on strike for a fair contract! 

In this episode, we ask: 

Will the next generation be expected to know how to write? 

Who will ChatGPT threaten to (awkwardly, inadequately, terrifyingly) replace? 

Is A.I. doing to writing what earlier technologies did to the music industry? Are we getting schooled in notions of collective authorship? 

For more, see: 

* Max’s newsletters on the WGA strike and A.I.: 

* Why I'm on strike

* I cannot believe the s**t that morons are getting up to with ChatGPT

* Yet more of what I'm reading about A.I., a great mixed-reality TV show, and a great new music newsletter

* His previous TTSG appearances! 

* Crypto fraudsters with Max Read

* TTSG disinformation campaign with Max Read 

* John Herrman’s New York piece about Google’s in-search generative A.I. experiment

* Our last episode about A.I., in which Ben Recht gets skeptical: What can’t A.I. replace

Thanks for listening! Keep in touch via Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, and email us at [email protected].

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe