Conversations With Two and a Half Asians

Oh boy, we're back! After a long hiatus that saw us sitting and having a long hard think about what we've done, we decided that it is indeed ok for us to be spewing these thoughts into the aether. So the microphones went hot again and caught us muttering about being cogs in the capitalist machine. Or as my film teacher used to say: we're all whores in the capitalist gangbang; we're just bickering over price.In this week's episode! We are joined by our close friend Chris Abbas who is, much to our stunned surprise, also half-Asian. Chris is a Canadian expat living and working in the United States. We get into what it's been like for him to make his home in a country and culture that seems to not fully want to count him amongst its own. What does being in a leadership role look like? How does working in a predominantly white workplace affect you? Why are assholes seemingly hand-picked to be managers? Wait, are WE assholes too?

Let's get down to brass tacks --- the hell are we even doing here?In this week's conversation! Why are we doing this? Who are we doing this for? Why is typing up episode notes so difficult? We are not looking for fame, or money, but maybe something more important and elusive. If podcasts are art and art is to inspire, what are we trying to inspire? Ann asks us a great question --- and we have answers, we think. Also, Daddy Bezos, if you're listening... just waiting on that TV show offer.

Bonus stage! This episode is a golden nugget offering while we work on next week's episode. Alayna tells us a cringy sex story and we discuss casual sex.In this week's conversation! Do Asians have shelf-y butts? Maybe? Does Ann have a nice butt? Yes. We don't often tell graphic, cringy sex stories on the show. BUT SHOULD WE? Enjoy this short romp through the annals (hehe) of our wayward youth.

Growing up Asian in America means you grow up, like everyone else, entrenched in a culture and society built upon a foundation of white supremacy. But unlike those whom the system was built for, minorities struggle to be part of a system and structure that doesn’t fully accept them.In this week's conversation! We look at aspects of ourselves we didn't even THINK of examining until fairly recently. Being Asian American means that often the white-adjacent privilege afforded to us also blinds us from examining the system that grants it --- it's a force that both giveth and taketh. We touch on beauty standards and Dawson's Creek, stories that  are supposedly formative, and the dominant culture where you WATCHED STAR WARS AS A KID, RIGHT??!!

Ever date an Asian person? What kind of partner were you to them? And was race a factor in your relationship? Join us as we talk about our dating lives and how utterly cringy, sad, and amusing it all is to date while Asian in America.In this week's conversation! Alayna comes across a polyamorous lifer driving the last rotary-engined car Mazda ever made. Ann examines the power of American men's fetishization of East Asian women. And Thai wishes BTS was around when he was in high school. If you've ever dated while being Asian or dated an Asian person while being a non-Asian person, our guess is you'll find something to relate to in this week's conversation.

Part two of our episode on trauma. What does it say that we had to make this episode a two-parter? Come join us as we do some more excavation of our pasts and see what kind of skeletons pop out.In this week's conversation! The scars of the past shape our growth and in part two of our trauma episode we continue our examination of them. Do our traumas make us better human beings? Does assimilation play a part? Does wanting to look like Burt Reynolds damage your self-image? WE DON'T KNOW! Wait, do we??

Growing up in an immigrant family entails its own unique set of difficulties. This week we dig up old childhood traumas. Trigger warning: descriptions of child abuse.This week's conversation! Part one of two. Every family has their issues. All too common among immigrant families there exists pressures that produce lasting inter-generational trauma. Add in the competition of East Asian and American culture and now you've got yourself a volatile mixture. This week we discuss the defining traumas of our youth and there is no way around it --- this episode, and the next one, will be heavy and is largely devoid of levity (aside from some discussions of Sybian sex toys?) and comes with a trigger warning for descriptions of child abuse. It's a lot of darkness but we promise you can better see the light because of it.

Our inaugural episode! Allow us to introduce ourselves, your friendly neighborhood Asians! This seems like the start of a beautiful friendship, yes??In our first conversation! We discuss all sorts of stuff related to existing as an Asian person in America. Everything from our origin stories, to how growing up in white America as the Chinese kid will do a number on you, to how many people you can stuff into a tiny two bedroom condo and still find room to masturbate.We didn't say this would be mature, but at least it should be interesting.