Well, this is the last episode of The Banh Mi Chronicles Podcast. I am joined by my friend and podcast host of The Vietnamese, Kenneth Nguyen who interviewed me about the process of the podcast and what to look forward to next. Many thanks to my guests, past sponsors, and listeners for making the last 4 years a wonderful ride. Special thanks to Huythang Tran for designing the logo and season themes. Bio: Kenneth Nguyen served honorably as a former U.S. Marine (1993-97) and holds a B.A degree from USC in Visual Anthropology (2000) with an emphasis in Cinema Studies. He is a Los Angeles based podcaster with over two decades of in the Vietnamese film media space. Kenneth Nguyen was a founding partner of Wave Releasing, the first U.S. based Vietnamese language film distribution company. He managed marketing, theatrical and ancillary distribution on films such as OWL AND THE SPARROW, DE MAI TINH and SIX INCH HEELS. He currently is a founding partner at EAST Films. Kenneth hosts and produces a popular podcast called The Vietnamese with over 300 episodes recorded. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/banhmichronicles/support

My good friend and fellow Cambodian American Tola Livesey joins us for this episode as we talk about the effects of assimilation and her understanding and curiosity of her Cambodian identity and heritage. She also talks about her passion for archiving stories, and its importance to the Cambodian community and more! Bio: Tola is a 1.5 generation Cambodian American who currently lives in in the Los Angeles by way of Chicago. She completed her undergrad in anthropology at the University of Illinois Chicago and her master’s in library and information Science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She currently works as a librarian and archivist concentrating on preserving and archiving Cambodian American histories and stories. Tola has been a former board member and community organizer at the National Cambodian Museum and Killing Fields Memorial in Chicago and was the lead project coordinator for several community programming. Her passion for cultural preservation is the driving force for one day creating a Cambodian American digital archive that will provide a platform for Cambodians to preserve and share their stories. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/banhmichronicles/support

(S9, EP 8) Joined by my good friend and internationally acclaimed artist Anida Yoeu Ali, we talked about Anida's journey as a Muslim Khmer American, her years-long work as an artist, and the challenges she's experienced along the way including the forced disappearance of her Red Chador. Anida shared the process in developing her critically acclaimed Buddhist Bug that has been seen in exhibits across the globe, and her upcoming exhibition in Seattle in 2024. You won't want to miss this episode! Bio: Anida Yoeu Ali (b.1974, Battambang) is an artist whose works span performance, installation, video, images, public encounters, and political agitation. She is a first generation Muslim Khmer woman born in Cambodia and raised in Chicago. After residing for over three decades outside of Cambodia, Ali returned to work in Phnom Penh as part of her 2011 U.S. Fulbright Fellowship. Utilizing an interdisciplinary approach to artmaking, her installation and performance works investigate the artistic, spiritual and political collisions of a hybrid transnational identity. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/banhmichronicles/support

S9, EP 7. Pulitzer Prize winner Viet Thanh Nguyen is back on my podcast again, this time to talk about his latest book, A Man of Two Faces, the political and socio issues among Vietnamese Americans, and so much more! Bio: Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel The Sympathizer won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and numerous other awards. His most recent publication is his memoir, A Man of Two Faces. His other books are the The Sympathizer, The Committed; The Refugees, a short story collection; Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War (which was a finalist for the National Book Award in nonfiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award in General Nonfiction); and Race and Resistance: Literature and Politics in Asian America. He has also published Chicken of the Sea, a children’s book written in collaboration with his son, Ellison. He is a University Professor, the Aerol Arnold Chair of English, and a Professor of English, American Studies and Ethnicity, and Comparative Literature at the University of Southern California. Viet is a recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim and MacArthur Foundations, he is also the editor of The Displaced: Refugee Writers on Refugee Lives. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/banhmichronicles/support

Catching up with my friend Alec Phan about his experience as a Chicago stage actor in a queer/trans-centered production, and his mom's experience as a Vietnamese singer and how it influenced Alec's work as an artist, and more! Bio: Alec Phan (he/they) is a queer, trans, Viet-American theatre artist based in Chicago. He was last seen as Jon in an all-trans and gender non-conforming production of TICK, TICK...BOOM!, an autobiographical musical created posthumously from the solo works of RENT-creator Jonathan Larson. An actor, deviser, and musician himself, Alec believes in the power of collaborative storytelling to heal hearts and shift paradigms. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/banhmichronicles/support

Dolly Ave joined us for this episode as she talks about her recently released debut album, the impact of her mom's passing, and her life and vision as an artist. Bio: Dolly Ave has received radio airplay on powerhouse 103.5 KISS FM Chicago, influential KEXP and tastemaker station 88Rising Radio on SIRIUS XM. She has appeared at two major music festivals, and received press in Forbes, The NY Times, Paper and was named Live Nation One’s To Watch “Artist of the Week”. Dolly Ave has been placed on multiple editorial playlists on Spotify, YouTube, Vevo and Amazon Music. The artist’s 11-song full length debut is arriving this Summer via Sony Music’s The Orchard distribution. The album chronicles Dolly Ave’s journey growing up in Missouri and finding her voice after the death of her mother. The record is a coming of age story touching on personal growth topics including finding hope in even the darkest of times. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/banhmichronicles/support

In this week's episode, I chatted with journalist and author of her memoir, "Ma and Me", Putsata Reang. We talked about the process in writing her memoir, her queerness and Khmer identity and how that affected her relationship with her mother and more! Bio: Putsata Reang is an author and journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Politico, The Guardian, The San Jose Mercury News, and the Seattle Times among other publications.  Born in Cambodia and rural Oregon, Reang has lived and worked in more than a dozen countries, including Cambodia, Afghanistan, and Thailand.  She is an alumna of residencies at Hedgebrook, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, and Mineral School, and she has received fellowships from the Alicia Patterson Foundation and Jack Straw Cultural Center.  She is also the author of her current memoir, “Ma and Me” --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/banhmichronicles/support

(S9, EP 3) Rahimeh Ramezany discusses the lack of Muslim and religious groups in DEI work, and her advocacy in raising that awareness through her work. We talk about the current state of DEI, and Rahimeh shares important practices with listeners on how to be proactive as advocates and be an agency for change. Bio: Rahimeh Ramezany (she/her) is a multiethnic, neurodiverse, Muslim American woman, and a diversity, equity, inclusion, and intercultural practitioner. She founded her DEI business in 2021 in order to train organizations on how to include Muslims and religious identity in their existing DEI efforts, while developing nuanced understandings and practical DEI skills that can be applied across identity groups. Rahimeh leverages her lived experiences at the intersections of multiple marginalized and privileged identities, a master’s degree in intercultural communication, and years of professional DEI experience to address the often deeply uncomfortable but nonetheless essential work of making our spaces inclusive and equitable for all. For more: visit her at www.rahimehramezany.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/banhmichronicles/support

(S9, EP 2) Kahmora Hall chats about her upbringing as a queer Viet American, and the challenging conversations she had with her parents about getting into drag performance. She spoke about her experience being on RuPaul's Drag Race, the current drag ban and anti-LGBTQ legislation happening in recent times, and so much more! Bio: Kahmora Hall is a Chicago-native and Drag Artist of over 10 years. Known for her fashion, beauty and glamour; she competed on RuPaul's Drag Race Season 13, and was featured in Disney's Hocus Pocus 2. Since then, Kahmora has been an advocate for many social issues, a model, and brand influencer. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/banhmichronicles/support

Retired Chicago veteran news anchor Linda Yu kicks off my season 9 opener as we talk about her decades-long career in Chicago news television, what it was like to navigate the news media industry as an Asian American woman, and more. Bio: Linda Yu has been called a trailblazer, mentor and award- journalist. She recently stepped back from daily broadcasting after more than forty years in television news. Yu began her career in 1974 as a writer for the Los Angeles ABC station KABC-TV and then went on to become a writer/producer at KTLA-TV. In 1975 she stepped in front of the camera as a reporter for the ABC affiliate station in Portland, Oregon KATU-TV. Within months, she received an offer from ABC owned station KGO-TV in San Francisco as reporter and anchor, where Yu worked from to 1979. In late 1979, she was spotted by the NBC owned station in Chicago, WMAQ-TV, and moved to the Windy City as weekend anchor and reporter. Part of Yu’s motivation for accepting the position was that she would be the first Asian American to appear on a Chicago network station. Five years later, ABC won her back and she moved to Chicago’s ABC7, WLS-TV, to anchor the station’s newly created 4 p.m. news hour. Later, an 11 a.m. news hour was added to her anchor duties. Both news programs maintained their number one rating throughout her 33 year career at ABC7. Among the honors and recognition for Yu are six local Emmy awards, as well as induction into the prestigious “Silver Circle” of legendary Chicago broadcasters. She has been named one of Today’s Chicago Women magazine’s “100 Women to Watch” and has been awarded a National Gold Medal by the National Conference of Community and Justice. In her community service, Yu spent more than 30 years as the Advisory Board Chairperson for the Chinese American Service League. She is also a co-founder of the Chicago chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association. She has been an active supporter and volunteer for Common Threads, the Juvenile Protective Association and the March of Dimes. Yu is the author of “Living and Working in America”, a book published in Chinese and sold in China. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/banhmichronicles/support