Hyphenated Lives

This is the final episode of the Hyphenated* podcast. For this episode we discuss some of our highlights of the show, and why we are deciding to end the show, centering around a final question- "Is POC Solidarity Even Possible?" We are so grateful for all of your support over the last year and a half and hope you enjoy the final episode. Also, we are trying to raise $135 for our webhosting to keep the podcast online for the coming year. If you loved the podcast and want to see it stay online as a resource for you and your friends, please consider donating to www.tinyurl.com/hyphenatedlives2. Kari is especially strapped for cash right now, so any and all support is super appreciated to keep the podcast online after February 15.

In our previous episode, we discussed abusive relationships and how many abusive elements in relationships are normalized in our society, in part because of racism, sexism, and so forth. This week, we talk about how to end the cycle of abuse and how to build loving, healthy relationships. We also discuss discuss the Antonio Martin case, and our personal New Year’s resolutions as well.

For this week we’re talking about abuse and how its various forms are normalized in society. From the fact that counseling and psychiatry have racist/sexist/ableist views baked in the cake to gaslighting; abusive behavior is normalized and very often marginalized people are the ones who bear the brunt. We also address signs of abuse in relationships, and in the context of family life as well.

Mike Brown, Eric Garner, Protests, Black Organizing, White "Allies" , Obama's (non) response & More. In this episode we delve into what's been happening over the past two weeks in the US.

For this week’s episode, Kari (back from hiatus) and Chuks take on the idea of “Asian Privilege.” Why do so many people, from white people to People of Color, believe and propagate this idea? But first: Michael Brown’s parents are to stand at the U.N. and the circus surrounding Rasmea Odeh’s trial. Listener questions this week come from rosieisrising with regards to why someone would chose to partake in the imperialist machine that is the U.S. armed forces and givingyoutheflick about Australia.

How do schools and our education system reproduce inequality and teach us lies like the "bootstraps myth" when we all know that as POC we have to work twice as hard to get half as much? How important is mentorship for students of color from teachers of their respective backgrounds? For this episode (Kari is gone for the week), Chuks talks with Shirley, an Asian American public school teacher, to explore these questions and more.

There’s this pervasive cultural narrative that deliberately and consciously aims to depoliticize love (e.g. the cries of "Love is love!" and "But love is pure!")—it could even be called a national project in this age of "color blindness". The implications of this are far and disturbing. Love is not just love, and who we choose to love is tied into systems of domination like white supremacy and patriarchy. Love, whether we like it or not, is incredibly political, especially when we (as POC) date white people. In this episode we dive in to discuss these messy racial dating politics of dating white people as a POC. We are joined for this discussion by Chuk's friend Shirley (onetoc on tumblr), and we also discuss for short news: #FergusonOctober, Vonderrit Myers, Gay Marriage and "How To Get Away With Murder"

"We are never going to get anywhere as long as our economies of attraction continue to resemble, more or less, the economies of attraction of white supremacy." Junot Diaz In this episode, Kari and Chuks joined by two special guests- John (ninjaruski) & Khadee (rococobutter), use this Junot Diaz quote as a jumping off point to discuss decolonial love. We also discuss US imperialism, ISIS and Emma Watson's "feminist" speech and answer a question about AAVE appropriation and boundary policing.

What is a feminist killjoy? Kari and Chuks discuss this idea coined by Sara Ahmed for this week’s episode. We start off by discussing a terrible op-ed in The Age, an Australian newspaper, that demonizes the women caught in the Hollywood nude photo privacy breach. Then, onto anonymous questions about the APIA designation in American racial politics and further commentary on the ALS ice bucket challenge.

For H*33, Kari is back! We start off with some quick news--the Queen’s birthday, Michael Sam being cut from the St. Louis Rams, and the ceasefire from Gaza--before moving into the main topic of ableism. What are some ways in which ableism is commonly perpetuated in our society? When it intersects with race and class and gender? For this week’s asks and submissions from listeners, we read uneclochette’s submission about codeswitching, an anonymous ask about our recording style, and nicejewishqueer’s submission regarding anti-Semitism in anti-Zionist movements.

What is "code switching" and what’s it like navigating white spaces in America as a black man and Asian American woman from very different backgrounds? What are the types of bodies which have more or less ability to move through white spaces and how do we codeswitch without constantly centering whiteness and an implicit desire to comfort white people? Chuks along with special return guest Lucy (ragstoreverie) - Kari is out for the week- address these questions and more on this week’s episode of Hyphenated on “Code Switching & Talking to White People”

Kari and Chuks met for the first time in person this past weekend, so we kick off the episode introducing our guest this week, Ryan, and ragging on each other. In the news this week: Rihanna’s appropriative spread for W magazine, Miley Cyrus’s photoshopping herself over Nicki Minaj, the bombing of Iraq, and Michael Brown. Ryan joins us this week for our main topic of how to move the conversation on class forward. So often the conversation and movements surrounding class are dominated by white men. How do we work to move them forward so that a larger movement inclusive of all those who need it happens? For listener asks, we answer an anonymous ask about our future programming; bitches-dont-know-why-i-just’s asks about responding to friends who don’t want to come to consciousness; Joyced’s ask about the neo-imperialism that is teach English at international schools.

What the hell happened in Ferguson? (x, x, x, x, x)

Chuks, Kari, and special guest Homam (you can find him @homamzituni on Twitter) discuss Beyonce and Nicki Minaj’s ***Flawless remix before moving onto discussing about Israel and Palestine. In the news, we hear and don’t hear a lot about what is going on in Gaza. Why do we hear certain narratives? What is manufacturing of consent and corporate media, and how does it inform our opinions and eventually foreign policy? Listener asks come from preppymarxist about talking about why anti-zionism without anti-semitism; scspeak about the problematics of “Lunar New Year” festivals; notcoral about Jack & Jill class politics.

Kari and Chuks are joined by Lindsay, who blogs under the handle Ichumato, to talk about class divisions in POC communities. Where are the divides? How do they form? And most importantly, how do we work across them? But first, in the news: the continued violence in Gaza and the history Scarlett Johanssen is making with “Lucy” (as well as how problematic the movie is). For listener asks this week, we answer an anonymous ask about other Asian-American media stars we didn’t touch upon last episode; another anonymous ask about our analysis of Beyonce and Jay Z’s relationship; i-kool-kat’s ask about how to deal with people and conversation of “but not all ____.”

This week for H*28, Chuks and Kari are joined by ragstoreverie to discuss Asian-American Media. In the last few years, especially the rise of YouTube stars, Asian American media has boomed with Wong Fu Productions, Fung Brothers, KevJumba, JK Films/David So, Jabbawockeez, and many more. They play an important role in the community--needed representation and control of production, for example--but they are not without their problems. For asks this week, we answer an ask from Sarah about access to social justice movement, butchrobot about developed/developing nation terminology, and 2goldensnitches about fighting with family members over the Gaza-Israel conflict.

After a month-long hiatus (sorry y’all), Kari (now blogging at voguedissent and heauxchinoise) and Chuks are back! We open this episode with a quick discussion about Beyonce and Jay Z’s potentially impending divorce, Gaza, and the children at the border. This week’s main discussion centers on what has happened in our lives lives in the past month, namely thinking about the role of our (obscene) class privileges and what that means for the work we do. For listener questions, we have anonymous questions about how we record, getting involved in anti-oppression advocacy work in high school, and analyzing Jewish guilt about Israel and Palestine, and an ask from jezebelwasunbothered about our lack of discussion regarding the accessibility of higher education when we talked about the Ivory Tower in a previous episode.

John, who blogs under the handle ninjaruski, joins Chuks and Kari as special guest this week. We first discuss the shots fired between TLC and Rihanna and “homeless spikes” that have popped up in London. Then, to the main topic: “can we really talk about feminism and racism in a meaningful way in academic institutions that have inherently made by white supremacist patriarchal capitalist structures?” (x, x, x, x. x). For listener asks, we answer an anonymous ask about television shows with POC-dominated casts; i-kool-kat’s submission regarding intra-POC solidarity; all-the-pieces-matter451’s asks regarding our lack of inclusion of indigenous/native peoples in the discussion about intra-POC solidarity.

Kari and Chuks, for H*25, start things off with talking about all the teeny-boppers dropping the n-word and the attack on V. Stiviano outside of an exclusive Manhattan hotel. From there we move onto paying our respects to Maya Angelou and Yuri Kochimaya. Their passing brings into question where intra-POC solidarity is now and the future of the fight for civil rights. We field a thanks from an anonymous asker; catlovesmochalike’s submission regarding Harry Potter and media representation; an observation from an anonymous asked regarding all-POC television casts.

Chuks and Kari kick things off with Elliot Rodgers and the #YesAllWomen movement that’s sprung up as a result. We then move onto a discussion about examples of POC appropriating other POC and unpacking what the implications are. For asks this week, we field three anonymous asks: one about the legitimacy of feminism, anti-racism, etc. classes in universities; traveling the world as a Black woman and dealing with the ramifications of global oppression; experiencing possible racism abroad as a POC.