We Are All Americans

In episode seven of season three*, Anuradha Vikram, the first in her family to be born in the US, speaks with her mother Dr. Revathi Vikram, a Naturalized Citizen from India, and her 9 year old daughter Nadja Vikram Bugaj, about how 9/11 shifted the South Asian-American role in racial politics and activism and what Kamala Harris’ nomination for Vice President of the United States means to them.

We Are All Americans is a podcast series Inspired by the fact that my Russian great-grandfather gained his US citizenship after serving in the US Army and my Lithuanian (or Austrian, or Russian, or Latvian - depending on who is telling the story) great-grandmother entered the US on fake passport. Each episode is a different recorded conversations about how family stories are passed down from generation to generation and what it means to be American in the contexts of multiculturalism, immigration, military service, black lives matter, white privilege, and indigeneity.

*Recorded on Aug. 21, 2020 at the ICA LA as part of Field Workshop: Action Projects, in the midst of the global COVID 19 pandemic and the reinvigorated Black Lives Matter movement after the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd. 

In episode six of season three,* Holly M. Crawford and Michele Jaquis share their individual family stories about love, trauma, illness, protest, silence, and believing versus questioning… all while grappling with the question of what do we do with the stories we hold and their effects on our present day relationships.

We Are All Americans is a podcast series Inspired by the fact that my Russian great-grandfather gained his US citizenship after serving in the US Army and my Lithuanian (or Austrian, or Russian, or Latvian - depending on who is telling the story) great-grandmother entered the US on fake passport. Each episode is a different recorded conversations about how family stories are passed down from generation to generation and what it means to be American in the contexts of multiculturalism, immigration, military service, black lives matter, white privilege, and indigeneity.

*Recorded on Aug. 21, 2020 at the ICA LA as part of Field Workshop: Action Projects, in the midst of the global COVID 19 pandemic and the reinvigorated Black Lives Matter movement after the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd. 

In episode 5 of season 3* Yrneh Gabon tells the story of how he followed his grand-uncle from Jamaica to Los Angeles to pursue his American Dream of working in Hollywood. Despite much success, he also laments his experiences being questioned by campus police while pursuing his college and graduate degrees as a Black man who was older than the typical college student.

education and engagement plays in combating fear and collectively telling stories that move society towards a better place, despite our human nature of not always wanting to talk about the bad things. 

We Are All Americans is a podcast series Inspired by the fact that my Russian great-grandfather gained his US citizenship after serving in the US Army and my Lithuanian (or Austrian, or Russian, or Latvian - depending on who is telling the story) great-grandmother entered the US on fake passport. Each episode is a different recorded conversations about how family stories are passed down from generation to generation and what it means to be American in the contexts of multiculturalism, immigration, military service, black lives matter, white privilege, and indigeneity.

*Recorded on Aug. 21, 2020 at the ICA LA as part of Field Workshop: Action Projects, in the midst of the global COVID 19 pandemic and the reinvigorated Black Lives Matter movement after the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd. 

In episode four of season three*, Asuka Hisa and Michele Jaquis talk about the important role education and engagement plays in combating fear and collectively telling stories that move society towards a better place, despite our human nature of not always wanting to talk about the bad things. 

We Are All Americans is a podcast series Inspired by the fact that my Russian great-grandfather gained his US citizenship after serving in the US Army and my Lithuanian (or Austrian, or Russian, or Latvian - depending on who is telling the story) great-grandmother entered the US on fake passport. Each episode is a different recorded conversations about how family stories are passed down from generation to generation and what it means to be American in the contexts of multiculturalism, immigration, military service, black lives matter, white privilege, and indigeneity.

*Recorded on Aug. 21, 2020 at the ICA LA as part of Field Workshop: Action Projects, in the midst of the global COVID 19 pandemic and the reinvigorated Black Lives Matter movement after the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd. 

In episode three of season three*, Marjan Vayghan talks about the challenges and inadequacies of her American education as a new immigrant from Iran in the mid-nineties, and her uncle’s disappearance after arriving at LAX from Iran during Trump’s travel ban in 2017, while also asking Michele about the optimism of bringing a child into this messed up world.

We Are All Americans is a podcast series Inspired by the fact that my Russian great-grandfather gained his US citizenship after serving in the US Army and my Lithuanian (or Austrian, or Russian, or Latvian - depending on who is telling the story) great-grandmother entered the US on fake passport. Each episode is a different recorded conversations about how family stories are passed down from generation to generation and what it means to be American in the contexts of multiculturalism, immigration, military service, black lives matter, white privilege, and indigeneity.

*Recorded on July 27, 2020 via Zoom, in the midst of the global COVID 19 pandemic and the reinvigorated Black Lives Matter movement after the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd. 

In episode two of season three*, Beverly Naidus talks with Michele about “the pleasure of being able to blend into the world of otherness that I never had growing up in a white town where I was always an outsider.”

We Are All Americans is a podcast series Inspired by the fact that my Russian great-grandfather gained his US citizenship after serving in the US Army and my Lithuanian (or Austrian, or Russian, or Latvian - depending on who is telling the story) great-grandmother entered the US on fake passport. Each episode is a different recorded conversations about how family stories are passed down from generation to generation and what it means to be American in the contexts of multiculturalism, immigration, military service, black lives matter, white privilege, and indigeneity.

* Recorded on July 17, 2020 via Zoom, in the midst of the global COVID 19 pandemic and the reinvigorated Black Lives Matter movement after the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd.

In episode one of season 3* Cole M. James talks with Michele about how zie collects stories of Black migration from the south to Chicago and Los Angeles by sitting with the elders at family reunions. “They sacrificed a lot, and they made it through a lot, for us to be right back in it.”

We Are All Americans is a podcast series Inspired by the fact that my Russian great-grandfather gained his US citizenship after serving in the US Army and my Lithuanian (or Austrian, or Russian, or Latvian - depending on who is telling the story) great-grandmother entered the US on fake passport. Each episode is a different recorded conversations about how family stories are passed down from generation to generation and what it means to be American in the contexts of multiculturalism, immigration, military service, black lives matter, white privilege, and indigeneity.

* Recorded on June 22, 2020 via Zoom, in the midst of the global COVID 19 pandemic and the reinvigorated Black Lives Matter movement after the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd.

In episode nine* of season two, Claudia J. Hernández Romero tells Michele Jaquis about her childhood experience of her father's death and the subsequent decision of her middle-class family to leave El Salvador and come to the US via plane.

We Are All Americans is a podcast series Inspired by the fact that my Russian great-grandfather gained his US citizenship after serving in the US Army and my Lithuanian (or Austrian, or Russian, or Latvian - depending on who is telling the story) great-grandmother entered the US on fake passport. Each episode is a different recorded conversations about how family stories are passed down from generation to generation and what it means to be American in the contexts of multiculturalism, immigration, military service, black lives matter, white privilege, and indigeneity.

* Recorded on October 28, 2019 at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, CA.

In episode eight* of season two, Maria Laura Hendrix shares stories of her childhood growing up first in Mexico and then on a citrus ranch in Ventura County, CA, and the disappointment that she feels that despite her Naturalized US citizenship and American education (she is about to complete her MFA degree) she may always be seen as not American enough.

We Are All Americans is a podcast series Inspired by the fact that my Russian great-grandfather gained his US citizenship after serving in the US Army and my Lithuanian (or Austrian, or Russian, or Latvian - depending on who is telling the story) great-grandmother entered the US on fake passport. Each episode is a different recorded conversations about how family stories are passed down from generation to generation and what it means to be American in the contexts of multiculturalism, immigration, military service, black lives matter, white privilege, and indigeneity.

* Recorded on November 26, 2019 at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, CA.

In episode seven* of season two, Maria Elena speaks of her assumed indigenous ancestry and shares stories of her life after immigrating to the US from Guatemala some fifty years ago.

We Are All Americans is a podcast series Inspired by the fact that my Russian great-grandfather gained his US citizenship after serving in the US Army and my Lithuanian (or Austrian, or Russian, or Latvian - depending on who is telling the story) great-grandmother entered the US on fake passport. Each episode is a different recorded conversations about how family stories are passed down from generation to generation and what it means to be American in the contexts of multiculturalism, immigration, military service, black lives matter, white privilege, and indigeneity.

* Recorded on October 22, 2019 in West Hollywood, CA.