Let's Grab Coffee

Episode Notes This month Let’s Grab Coffee features conversation with Black Is America host and creator, Dominic Lawson. On today’s show, Dominic and I talk about the importance of trailblazers, like one on today’s featured Black is America episode - Marian Anderson. Before listening to the episode together, we talk about the importance of community support in achieving our dreams. And, like Maria...

Episode Notes This month Let’s Grab Coffee features conversation with Black Is America host and creator, Dominic Lawson. On today’s show, Dominic and I discuss the ongoing connection between past and present focusing on the fight for Civil Rights. One objective of the Civil Rights Movement was desegregation of leisure spaces and today’s featured Black Is America episode highlights the lengths one...

Episode Notes This month Let’s Grab Coffee features conversation with Black Is America host and creator, Dominic Lawson. On today’s show, Dominic and I talk about the motivation behind Black Is America and how he creates each episode. We also listen to the Black Is America episode on Tom Lee. Many Memphians will be familiar with Tom Lee Park but may not know the heroic actions that led to his bein...

Episode Notes What music do you like? How do you know? And how does your favorite music streaming app know – or not? Questions of music taste and how the people creating music recommender systems define it motivate Nick Seaver’s book, Computing Taste: Algorithms and the Makers of Music Recommendation. On today’s show, I’m joined by Nick to discuss his book, his own taste in music, and what he lear...

Episode Notes Who are you and how do you know? Much of our identity begins with our name and our family origin stories, but what happens when the stories you thought you knew begin to unravel? Questions of identity, family, and truth are at the center of Shannon Gibney’s latest novel - The Girl I Am, Was, and Never Will Be: A Speculative Memoir of Transracial Adoption. On today’s show I sit down w...

Episode Notes It’s that time of year where everything is supposed to be merry and bright, yet the holidays are often one of the most stressful times of year. With deadlines looming, expectations for extravagant gift-giving, family gatherings, too many social events, or loss of loved ones, you may be feeling less than joyful. Today I’m joined by Dr. Justin K Dodson of Navigating Courage Counseling...

Episode Notes The Supreme Court is currently hearing Brackeen v Haaland, a case that challenges the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). ICWA was meant to preserve Native American families, traditions, and cultures and protects tribal sovereignty by granting tribal nations “exclusive jurisdiction” over their enrolled members and their lands. Accordingly, the impact of the outc...

Episode Notes In 1995, President Clinton proclaimed November as National Adoption Month but in recent years adoptees have reframed it as National Adoptee Awareness Month recenter adoptee voices, experiences, and expertise, which have historically been marginalized. On this episode, SunAh sits down with Patrick Armstrong to discuss the importance of this reframing, current adoptee issues, and how h...

Episode Notes Notes go hereClassical music is for everyone, including you; you just might not know it yet. In “Declassified: A Low-Key Guide to the High-Strung World of Classical Music,” Arianna Warsaw-Fan Rauch demystifies classical music, breaking down the massive genre into its compositional periods, giving insights into the attitudes and everyday life of musicians and composers, and helping cl...

Episode Notes Hidden in history are countless stories of everyday people who did extraordinary things. In “Tien Fu Wu: Freedom Warrior,” Dawn K. Wing tells the story of how Tien Fu Wu escaped child slavery during the Chinese Exclusion Act era to become a humanitarian worker, helping other enslaved women and children. On this episode of Let’s Grab Coffee, SunAh is joined by Dawn K. Wing to learn mo...

Episode Notes Friends! How many of us have them? Friendships are crucial for our well-being yet making friends as an adult can be difficult. Luckily, Dr. Marisa G. Franco’s book,  Platonic: How The Science of Attachment Can Help You Make—and Keep—Friends , provides practical applications for how to make friends, including how to overcome our own relationship insecurities and defense mechanisms. On...

Episode Notes Children often feel pressured to live up to their parents’ dreams, but for the children of immigrants this pressure is particularly acute. So, what happens when who you are and what you desire conflicts with your parents’ visions of success that are constrained within heteronormative constructions of family, children, and career? On this episode, SunAh chats with Dr. Anthony Christia...

Episode Notes What are some key events, places, or people in Asian American history? If you struggle to come up with an answer, you’re not alone. Asian American history is a history of erasure and not-knowing. On this episode, SunAh is joined by Dr. Catherine Ceniza Choy, whose latest book,  Asian American Histories of the United States,  brings to the forefront the many stories of Asian American...

Episode Notes “Birth control” is for women and condoms are for men, or at least that’s the general approach to contraceptives. These gendered expectations around types of birth control methods put the primary responsibility for preventing pregnancy on women with crucial consequences for women’s reproductive health, women’s bodily autonomy, and gender inequality. On this episode, SunAh sits down wi...

Episode Notes Colleges and universities provide more than an academic curriculum. For many students, college serves as a crucial space shaping ideas of who they are and how they fit into the world. For the men who graduate from Morehouse College, the nation’s oldest historically Black college for men, they not only attain college degrees but they become Morehouse Men. But what happens when manhood...

Episode Notes Jokes are meant to be funny, and studies show the multiple mental benefits of laughter. But, what happens when jokes target marginalized jokes? On this episode, SunAh sits down with Dr. Raúl Pérez, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of La Verne and author of _The Souls of White Jokes: How Racist Humor Fuels White Supremacy. _Dr. Pérez shares some of the ways that humo...

Episode Notes On this episode, SunAh is joined by Dr. Victor Ray, Associate Professor in the Departments of Sociology and Criminology and African American Studies at the University of Iowa and author of  On Critical Race Theory: Why It Matters & Why You Should Care.  Over the past year, we’ve seen a moral panic around “critical race theory” resulting in changes to K-12 curriculum and legislati...

Episode Notes On this episode, SunAh sits down with Michelle Pegues, a certified life coach specializing in happiness and fulfillment and the host of “Real Talk with Michelle,” the podcast about purpose. Earlier this year a Gallup poll found that only 38% of Americans say they are happy. Even with all the massive changes happening in our society and perhaps personal lives as well, there are still...

Episode Notes On this episode, SunAh welcomes Audrey S. Geyer, a Fertility Awareness Method Educator & High-Performance Women's Health Coach. Audrey details the hormonal changes that happen throughout your menstrual cycle and how that knowledge can help folks who menstruate to use their hormones to their advantage so they can achieve more of their health, personal, or professional goals with l...

Episode Notes June is Men’s Health Month and mental health is one crucial component of health, though often a taboo topic. On this episode, SunAh is joined by Dr. Justin K. Dodson, licensed therapist and founder of Navigating Courage counseling and consultation. Dr. Dodson talks about some of the misconceptions around seeking mental health services, particularly for men. He also describes some of...

Episode Notes On this episode, SunAh sits down with Dr. JaeRan Kim, Associate Professor and BASW chair in the School of Social Work and Criminal Justice at the University of Washington – Tacoma. Dr. Kim sheds light on why adoption is not a solution to the rollback of reproductive rights. She discusses what popular adoption tropes such as “forever family” conceal about the adoption industry. Import...

Episode Notes On this episode, SunAh welcomes Dr. Nicole Bedera, expert on intimate partner violence and sexual violence prevention. Dr. Bedera provides important context for the Johnny Depp – Amber Heard defamation trial, including breaking down myths about mutual abuse, “perfect victims, and “perfect perpetrators.” She also details some of the structural changes needed to protect survivors and a...

Episode Notes On this episode, SunAh chats with Caitlin Behle, community builder, design researcher, facilitator, and board member for the Asian American Cultural Association of Cincinnati (AACAC). While Cincinnati’s Asian American population is relatively small, at about 2 percent, over the past few years AACAC has been focused on making Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month more pro...

Episode Notes On this episode, SunAh sits down with Dawn K. Wing, Reference and Instruction Librarian at Metropolitan State University in Saint Paul (MN) and founder of Water Pig Press. Dawn shares some of the story of Tye Leung Schulze, the first Chinese American woman to vote in a major U.S. election and to hold a federal government job. There are so many contemporary connections between Tye’s s...

Episode Notes On this episode, SunAh is joined by Sarah Houston, Executive Director of Protect Our Aquifer. Memphis is the largest U.S. city that relies 100% on groundwater to meet its needs, and the Memphis Sand Aquifer or Sparta Aquifer makes that possible. Sarah talks about what makes this water source so unique, and why we must protect it. She shares ways that we can all be part of preserving...