The Mash-Up Americans

Today are the five remembrances from the Upajjhatthana Sutta (“Subjects for Contemplation”). They are meant to be recited each day. This Lunar New Year we’re trying something different - 30 days of short daily episodes with art, poetry, and words of wisdom and humor. Happy Year of the Fire Horse everyone!  https://bookshop.org/lists/mash-up-lunar-new-year-daily-podcast-book-list See Privacy P...

A meditation from Thich Nhat Hanh, from No Mud, No Lotus, published in Parallax Press in 2014. Learn more at plumvillage.org. This Lunar New Year we’re trying something different - 30 days of short daily episodes with art, poetry, and words of wisdom and humor. Happy Year of the Fire Horse everyone!  https://bookshop.org/lists/mash-up-lunar-new-year-daily-podcast-book-list See Privacy Policy...

Mary Oliver's Why I Wake Early   Published by Beacon Press in 2010. Learn more at  maryoliver.com. This Lunar New Year we’re trying something different - 30 days of short daily episodes with art, poetry, and words of wisdom and humor. Happy Year of the Fire Horse everyone!  Books by authors featured at https://bookshop.org/lists/mash-up-lunar-new-year-daily-podcast-book-list See Pri...

Today, a poem by Gayle Brandeis. Learn more at gaylebrandeis.com .  This Lunar New Year we’re trying something different - 30 days of short daily episodes with art, poetry, and words of wisdom and humor. Happy Year of the Fire Horse everyone!  Find books by Gayle Brandeis at https://bookshop.org/lists/mash-up-lunar-new-year-daily-podcast-book-list See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/...

 A few words of wisdom from the great Irish wit Oscar Wilde.  More from Oscar Wilde https://bookshop.org/lists/mash-up-lunar-new-year-daily-podcast-book-list This Lunar New Year we’re trying something different - 30 days of short daily episodes with art, poetry, and words of wisdom and humor. Happy Year of the Fire Horse everyone. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and Calif...

Writer and food expert Matthew Kang (Eater) joins the Big Korean Energy realm to unpack the current Korean food moment, from fine dining in Dallas to gochujang bottles at Ohio motels. We talk about Korea’s soft power, the delicious Mash-Ups shaping Korean American cuisine, and how one dish, Pyongyang naengmyeon, connects Matthew to his family’s roots and the longing behind every bowl. See Privacy...

The Korean Vegan’s Joanne Lee Molinaro joins us to talk about the cultural power and the politics of Korean joy. How can scarcity become abundance? Look to Korea! From budae jjigae to K-Beauty, Joanne traces her path from attorney to author, and why she believes Big Korean Energy isn’t just a trend, it’s a declaration power: If you love our food, love our people. See Privacy Policy at https://art1...

What makes something feel Korean? Journalist Tommy Craggs joins us to unpack Big Korean Energy, from the ’88 Seoul Olympics to Son Heung-min, Cubs fandom to K-pop Demon Hunters. We dig into how sports and culture shaped his Korean consciousness, how today’s global K-wave ties back to the trauma of war and occupation, and what it means to raise a Korean kid without turning into a samchon. See Priva...

Bestselling novelist R. O. Kwon joins us to explore Big Korean Energy in literature and how she writes her desire (and freedom) onto the page.  She shares what it was like growing up in a mostly Korean town in L.A., why Squid Game still feels astonishing, and the relationship between Koreanness, Christianity, and sexuality. Also: An extremely high stakes game of F*ck, Marry, K*ll.  See P...

From bootleg VHS tapes to a Tony-winning Broadway musical and Netflix megahits, Koreans have gone from “who?” to “whoa!” In this episode of our Big Korean Energy season, we sit down with Phil Yu, creator of Angry Asian Man, and talk about the seismic shift of K-culture going global, what it feels like to win Olympic gold alongside Queen Yuna, and owning our stories is SO important.  What’s at...

We’re living in Big Korean Energy. From Kdramas to ramen hacks, skincare routines to fandom rituals, Korean influence is everywhere, shaping how we connect, celebrate, and imagine the world. This season, we unpack what makes something feel Korean (whether or not it actually is), why that feeling resonates globally, and what it all means for Mash-Up America. Featuring Phil Yu, R.O. Kwon, Joanne Lee...

If we're lucky, we're constantly growing, learning and telling new stories about ourselves. Writer Anna Holmes is here talking about starting new things in your 40s and 50s and finding community. What do we say no to? What can we demand now that we are grown? How much magnesium should we take to sleep? See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.c...

How do we learn from the youth? MacArthur Genius and co-founder of United We Dream Cristina Jiménez join us to talk organizing and creating youth-led movements. And about repair through the eyes of young immigrant kids. She talks about the moment her young son got his first passport and the generational transformation that brings for her as a formerly undocumented person. Anyways, the youth are in...

Winning gives the push to do more - a light and hope and a sense of power. You have to acknowledge the little and big wins, to give you energy for the bigger and longer fights. We’re joined by longtime activist and community George Goehl. He’s also in a 5 year strong group chat with Amy and Rebecca. With a career spanning over three decades, George has tackled everything from federal financial ref...

Today to launch our season on tikkun olam, we sit down with Rabbi Susan Goldberg, the founder of Nefesh in Los Angeles and Rebecca’s very own rabbi-on-speed-dial. We laugh with our bellies and dive into the difference between healing and repair, how to make peace with our ancestors, and the utmost importance of making space for repair in yourself, in your family, and in your community. Amy also ge...

What do you do to repair your corner of the world? This season of The Mash-Up Americans we’re talking to a Rabbi, an Immigrant Justice activist, a Community Organizer and a Writer about how we can help the world and ourselves, especially when the world feels so chaotic. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

In January 2023 , Saadia Khan sat down with Amy Choi and Rebecca Lehrer for her weekly podcast Immigrantly. The conversation centered on their series on grief. The interview focused on grief, how we can understand it without over-pathologizing the sentiment, and why it’s both universal and personal. What is most remarkable about the conversation is that the trio kept it light and honest. See Priva...

It’s our last episode of the season(!) and we’re talking hospitality — what it looks like, what it means, what it does for our souls — and we can think of no better expert to turn to than Pierre Thiam, the trailblazing chef, author, and activist. He talks about how sharing food is a literal blessing, how it can transcend borders, and he also reveals his firm stance on who makes the best jollof. An...

As people who care deeply about many things in this world (inequity, climate change, diversity, you get the idea), we could definitely learn to give less of a sh*t about other stuff — like whether or not people get offended by what we say and do. Enter: Liza Treyger. The hilarious comedian, unapologetic straight talker, and abider of many a bubbe meise joins Rebecca and Amy to talk about the rewar...

Never meet your heroes? Fie, we say. The magnificent author, editor, and queen of Queens Min Jin Lee joined Rebecca and Amy on stage at The Greene Space to kick off The Mash-Up Americans residency, and lucky for us she’s even more generous and staggeringly brilliant than we imagined. From discussing the power of authorship to sharing how being pleasant and difficult has helped her in life, we cove...

To know us at The Mash-Up Americans is to know we love to be told how to do things well — how to be less racist, how to make a killer apple strudel, and so on. So it’s fitting that this week, our pal Zak Rosen invited both Rebecca and Amy on his show, The Best Advice Show, to share a few words of wisdom about small, delightful, maybe unusual ways to make life better — like starfishing. (Just liste...

If San Giving, aka Thanksgiving, isn’t the mashiest American holiday of all, we’d be pressed to think of anything else that even comes close. It’s when American culinary traditions (turkey, stuffing) combine with those of our families (kimchi, tortillas) to be that rare holiday that seems to belong to everyone. So as a nod to Thanksgiving and all the different ways we celebrate, we’re revisiting a...

Millennials will never know a world without hip hop, and frankly, we’re all better for it. Author, journalist, scholar, and all-around visionary Jeff Chang joins Amy and Rebecca to share about his first introduction to hip hop, how it serves as a guide to liberation and how it’s just a part of who we all are now. He also weighs in on which album is better: The Low End Theory or Midnight Marauders?...

Where there are boundaries, there’s also healing, love, grief, and acceptance, explains Dr. Pooja Lakshmin — but getting there is often a painful, awkward journey. The board-certified psychiatrist and bestselling author joins Amy and Rebecca to talk about boundary-setting as self-liberation, fake vs. real self-care, and the endless mash-up guilt that comes with saying no. See Privacy Policy at htt...

Does having money make you a classhole? And what does that even mean? Producer, reporter, and Classy podcast host Jonathan Menjivar joins Amy and Rebecca as they tackle the awkward topic of class, how it butts into the many facets of our lives and our identities, and how we can come to terms with our status — especially when it changes how we perceive ourselves. See Privacy Policy at https://art19...