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ASIAN AMERICA: THE KEN FONG PODCAST

Ken Fong gets to the heart of Asian American culture, history, and spirituality. Through interviews with culture-makers and -shapers in the Asian American community -- some you know, others you've never heard of before -- prepare to laugh, cry, and be amazed.
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ASIAN AMERICA: THE KEN FONG PODCAST
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Now displaying: 2020
Aug 18, 2020

Bao Nguyen, director of ESPN documentary film "Be Water" on the life of Bruce Lee, shares what makes his perspective on Lee's story unique as an Asian American filmmaker, and what we could learn from Bruce Lee regarding American systemic racism today. (Intro: Missing The Life Moments)

Aug 11, 2020

Susan Park lives with a mission to give as much as she can to those who are in need. Not only is she the founder of AA4H (Asian Americans For Housing), her family-owned restaurant Revolutionario serves meals to the homeless on Skid Row, and she plans to one day operate a mobile food pantry. (Intro: Living Room Update)

Aug 4, 2020

In "The Last Cherry Blossom", author Kathleen Burkinshaw honors her mother's survival of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima as a young girl through the lens of historical fiction, and hopes her book will help young readers learn about the damages of nuclear war and the healing of empathy and forgiveness. (Intro: Water Bill)

Jul 28, 2020

Dr. Alexander Jun and Reverend Wendy Tajima discuss how living out the Christian faith includes recognizing one's complicity in anti-black racism alongside showing solidarity for the black community, and invite you to attend the AAPI Christians for Black Lives prayer vigil in Los Angeles on August 1st. (Intro: A Bridge Too Far)

Jul 21, 2020

Speaker, strategist, and standup comedian Simmone Park shares about her journey to find herself, her identity as a strong and confident Korean Canadian woman, and how her desire to create a positive impact and speak the truth about what she sees in the world led her to comedy. (Intro: The NEOWISE Comet)

Jul 14, 2020

Angie Kim talks about how her experiences as a Korean immigrant, a former trial attorney, and a mother of a "submarine" patient led her to write her first novel, the award-winning legal thriller "Miracle Creek". (Intro: Into An Ice Age)

Jul 7, 2020

Lucas Kwan Peterson, award-winning columnist and video producer for the Food section of the Los Angeles Times, shares some of his favorite food spots in LA and Las Vegas, as well as the experiences that led him to a career built on loving food. (Intro: A New Way Of Togetherness)

Jun 30, 2020

In a world full of noise, is silence more than just the absence of sound? Filmmaker Patrick Shen shares what he's learned while making his latest film "In Pursuit Of Silence", a meditative exploration of our relationship with silence and the impact of noise on our lives. (Intro: It's Time To Move On)

Jun 23, 2020

Valerie Soe comes by the podcast to talk about her documentary feature film "Love Boat: Taiwan" that explores how a small government sponsored cultural program to promote Taiwan became a coming-of-age experience for many Chinese and Taiwanese Americans to hook up and find romance. (Intro: This Father's Day)

Jun 17, 2020

As a writer-director who grew up closeted in the conservative church, Steven J Kung couldn't find stories about Asian American men in leading roles or exploring LGBTQ+ identity, so he created his own: his feature film A Leading Man and the Koreatown episode of HereTV’s Falling For Angels. (Intro: Not An Agenda Pt. 2)

Jun 9, 2020

Ella Baker shares her journey of coming out as a transgender woman shortly after she turned 30, navigating her life as a person of faith as well as a queer transgender woman, and how she plans to use her experience as an educator to uplift transgender students. (Intro: Is This A Calling Bullshit Moment In History?)

Jun 2, 2020

Actor Michael Tow talks about his role in the newly released film "Lucky Grandma" and the cultural easter eggs in it that await Asian-American audiences. He also reflects on his seasoned career as an actor and producer, and how casting calls for Asian-American roles in Hollywood have changed over time. (Intro: 8 Minutes)

May 26, 2020

Victoria Vang Rivera, host of the podcast "American Born Hmong", reflects on her experience as a Hmong American and her mission to spark dialogue within the Hmong community through the stories of healing and personal growth that she shares on her podcast. (Intro: Searching Individual) 

May 19, 2020

(Part 2 of 2) Al & Jane Nakatani share about how gun violence and HIV/AIDS led to the deaths of each of their three sons, Glen, Greg, and Guy. After their deaths, Al and Jane formed the non-profit, "Honor Thy Children, Inc.", to honor their memory. (Intro: Not An Agenda)

May 12, 2020

(Part 1 of 2) Al & Jane Nakatani talk about the systemic and societal failures that contributed to the deaths of all three of their sons and how they arrived at their lifelong mission of educating parents and institutions how to affirm the inherent value and diversity of children and youth. (Intro: Try New Things, But Also Do What's Helpful)

 

May 5, 2020

It's a special episode to kick off our 6th year of the podcast! We get an extensive overview of the new PBS documentary series "Asian Americans" from showrunner and senior producer Renee Tajima-Peña, as well as a look at the unique curriculum created for the series with educator Nick Yeh. (Intro: Welcome to Los Angeles)

Apr 28, 2020

Michelle Hanabusa, Bryan Pham, and Tammy Cho talk about creating #HateIsAVirus, a social media campaign raising $1 million to support small Asian-owned businesses and bringing awareness of racism in the community due to COVID-19. (Intro: An Acute Pain Felt All Over)

Apr 21, 2020

Nina Wallace, communications coordinator at Densho, addresses why Andrew Yang's Op-Ed for The Washington Post, particularly his reference to Japanese Americans serving during WWII, is a problematic one. She also discusses Yang's recent response to the criticisms towards his controversial remarks. (Intro: Back Pain)

Apr 14, 2020

From his musical influences, the story behind how he chose his artist name, and how he plans to expand his career path after graduation from Wesleyan University, it is clear that rapper Son of Paper (Kyle Jae Shin) applies thoughtful intentionality in everything he does. (Intro: The Limits of Sympathy).

Apr 7, 2020

Psychotherapist, former journalist, and spoken word poet Sam Louie returns to discuss the problematic racialization of the COVID-19 pandemic on AAPIs, including President Trump's use of the term "Chinese Virus" to describe the virus. (Intro: Andrew Yang, You're Not Helping).

Mar 31, 2020

Infectious diseases MD Dr. Scott Kim offers his informed view on what may lie ahead with the novel COVID-19 pandemic and what the United States needs to do effectively right now, as well as his predictions of how long the pandemic will last depending on what action is taken. (Intro: Masks). 

Mar 24, 2020

Hana Wu shares her journey to becoming an actor after a life in academia, discovering along the way her own definitions of calling, faith, and success. She also opens up about her personal struggle with depression and practicing self care in a competitive acting industry. (Intro: An Unexpected New Friend).

Mar 17, 2020

Shandra Woworuntu recounts how she became a survivor of human trafficking after coming to the US from Indonesia. Not only did she eventually escape her captors and help convict her traffickers, she now serves as an advisor and founder of organizations fighting for human rights. (Intro: Care During Coronavirus)

Mar 10, 2020

Ken invites physician Dr. Leana Wen and sociologist Dr. Rosalind Chou to discuss the current impact of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), including clearing up misconceptions about the virus and fighting against awakened xenophobia towards Asians and AAPIs. (Intro: Debunking The Myth)

Mar 3, 2020

Husband and wife team Larissa Lam and Baldwin Chiu return to the podcast to talk about how their award-winning short documentary film "Finding Cleveland" turned into full-length documentary "Far East Deep South" that is currently on the festival circuit. (Intro: That's Not Teriyaki)

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