Time To Say Goodbye

Hello from the angry depths of our work-from-home souls! This Valentine’s Day week:0:00 – Big, hearty thanks for subscribing and supporting us through our Patreon. Don’t miss the raucous Discord chat or bonus episodes with Anakwa Dwamena and Jiayang Fan. 4:40 – Why are women shouldering the extra work of the pandemic? Why are they the first to lose their jobs and get stuck with multiplying jobs at home? We talk about the NYT’s “Primal Scream” package of stories, the neoliberalism/second-wave-feminism debate between scholars Nancy Fraser and Melinda Cooper, and the radical, unfinished challenge of the welfare rights and Wages for Housework movements. 44:50 – More discussion of recent street violence in the Bay Area, thanks to solid reporting through a partnership between The Oaklandside and Oakland Voices. (+ part two here). Is this a Black–Asian thing? What’s the economic/pandemic backdrop? How do we avoid carceral thinking? (link to Oakland Voices piece here.1:11:11 – Thanks to Stephanie for her question about identity-obsessed East Coast Asians versus “gentle, confident” West Coast Asians (lol). We talk about ethnic enclaves like Cerritos, the making of Flushing, and Andy’s time in Plano, TX. Thanks again for listening and sharing. Reach out anytime at @ttsgpod or timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com. Plugs!Read Oakland Voices! On Wednesday (4.17) at 1230P ET: And on Thursday (4.18) at 8P ET: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

Hello!This week, fabulous guest Darren Byler. Plus, three questions from our very smart listeners.0:00 – Friend of the show Darren Byler returns (don’t miss his earlier episode, from July, where he discusses his research on Xinjiang with Tammy and Andy) to reflect on what he (and Andy) heard on Mandarin Clubhouse over the weekend. There was a brief burst of discussion among Mandarin speakers of various ethnicities around the world, including many in the PRC, about what’s happening to Uyghurs in Xinjiang. Clubhouse has since been banned in the PRC, but the rooms continue to operate. Those interested in Darren’s work should read this recent piece on surveillance capitalism in Xinjiang. Darren had also written about the types of stories told by Han Chinese residents of Xinjiang, which are similar to those that emerged on Clubhouse this weekend. 39:40 – As promised, we answer listener questions about: – Anti-Asian violence in the Bay Area (Cathy) +– Asians and the return-to-school debate (Matteo) + – How to push the Biden administration left? (Milos)Stay in touch! timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com / TTSG on Twitter This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

Good snowy morning from Andy and Tammy, while Jay wears shorts!This week, we talk about cultures of luck, public schools, tankieism, Myanmar, and Corky Lee. 2:15 – Andy explains the freaky, punny “Bling Empire.”12:12 – Our inevitable takes on GameStop, Robinhood, and the global, neoliberal casino of our financial system. For more: stories by Noah Kulwin, Kate Aronoff, and Doug Henwood. Andy recommends this episode of Slate Money podcast. 46:58 – David Brooks gives us hives, but so does most of the coverage of school reopenings. Why this anti-union, anti-parent campaign—and in the name of “Black and brown kids”? For more: a sharp analysis by Rachel Cohen; NYT’s recompense for Brooks’s editorial.1:07:10 – We respond to listeners who think we’re too dismissive of pro-China takes as tankieism. 1:16:11 – In Tammy’s sad news corner: What’s happening in Myanmar? 1:21:31 – Another preventable COVID-19 death hits close to home. Rest in peace and power, Corky Lee! For more: Hua Hsu’s tribute and the NYT obit.** 1:24:43 – A way to help us keep going—and with better sound: We’re launching a TTSG Patreon! Please sign on as a supporter, and tell all your friends! **Thanks for tuning in and supporting us. timetosaygoodpod@gmail.com@TTSGpodQuick plug: Andy helped organize a series of talks this month by professional historians but intended for public audiences. The theme is “decolonizing decolonization”: extending discussions about decolonization from Euro-America to looking at experiences in the “rest” of the world. Tomorrow (2/3) at lunchtime (ET) is Adom Getachew from U. Chicago, talking about Black internationalism from the 50s to 70s (apropos Black history month). Register and check it out!Next week (2/10): Turkey and Latin America and ChinaFollowing week (2/17): China, India, Xinjiang, and Kashmir This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

Bonus ep!This past week, the Asian Arts Initiative in Philly (AAI) hosted a short conversation about the question of representation in media and politics. AAI’s exec. director Anne Ishii (@ill_iterate) MCed the event, which featured myself (Andy) and Bakirathi Mani, a fellow academic in the region (Swarthmore college, check out her new book Unseeing Empire, with the discount code E20EMPR). We talk: * Kamala and Andrew* south and east Asian comparative diasporas* Asian versus Asian American studies* why the search for representation is always just a little bit “off”? (there’s also a Youtube version of the in-person conversation here!)Check out AAI on twitter: @asianartsphillyAs always, follow us @ttsgpod and email us at: timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

Hi from Obama’s third term!This week, we welcome the wonderful, brainy Rozi Ali, a journo friend who writes about Islamophobia and the US “war on terror.” We also dish about basketball and a kimchi-based spat between South Korea and China.1:10 – Why Rozi gave up on the Warriors.3:35 – Korea and China are fighting again. Over kimchi. Not sponsored content: the offending Li Ziqi video (kimchi at the 13:20 mark: judge for yourself!)17:45 – Biden started his presidency by reversing Trump-era actions on immigration, including the Muslim ban. Rozi puts these moves in context of foreign policy and the forever wars. Shout-out to the Quincy Institute and anti-war activism; plus: Jay and Rozi still don’t know who Fran Lebowitz is. 54:30 – The South Asian diaspora in the US tends to vote very Democratic, but some of its members have big blind spots around class concerns as well as the government in India. We discuss all this in the context of Arun Venugopal’s recent piece in The Atlantic, “The Truth Behind Indian American Exceptionalism.”>> If you’re free tonight, Tuesday, Jan. 26, join this US–Canada event on transnational “movement lawyering,” organized by TTSG friends. Tammy is in the mix: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/asian-american-asian-canadian-perspectives-on-movement-lawyering-tickets-135937527805 Thanks for tuning in and supporting us. Next time: lots of reader questions!We’re on Twitter way too much, at @ttsgpod. And on email: timetosaygoodbye@gmail.com. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

Greetings from the deep state in our heads! This week, we talk some oldish politics (January is moving so fast…) and welcome back our first repeat guest, Hua Hsu, to dig into classic Asian-American cinema.0:00 – Andrew Yang is running for mayor of New York City. Last we saw him, he was buying Ito En green tea at a bodega and calling the worker “bro.”8:20 – The better Asian Andrew, our Andy, wrote about the 1.6.2021 Capitol attack in our newsletter last week. We talk fascisms and how to combat right-wing extremism without further expanding our military-police industrial complex. Plus: this short Samuel Moyn essay in The Nation.41:00 – In part two of our film club, scholar and critic Hua Hsu joins us to discuss director Wayne Wang’s classic, Chan is Missing (1982). (Check out Hua’s essay from way back when.) Wang is better known for The Joy Luck Club and Maid in Manhattan (J.Lo, anyone?), and more recently made a documentary on Cecilia Chiang, the godmother of stateside Chinese haute cuisine, as well as an adaptation of an essay by Chang-rae Lee. But Chan is Missing is totally weird and singular—and changed Jay’s life, he explains. Bonus: check out “Juke and Opal,” a sketch by Richard Pryor and Lily Tomlin that Tammy sees as a precursor of a key scene in Chan is Missing. (Hilton Als has written beautifully about it.) And here’s A.K.A. Don Bonus, a Spencer Nakasako documentary Hua loves.Thanks for supporting and tuning in. Send us your questions and comments, as audio or text, to timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com or @TTSGpod. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

This week’s theme, courtesy of Tony Soprano: “Is the U.S. over?”Both Tammy and Jay have new pieces out on our failure to curb the spread of Covid-19 in nursing homes. The country has seemed unable to tackle complex problems. Have we learned anything? What now? 0:00 – We talk about the vaccine rollout in the U.S. and our ominously poor start to distribution. Tammy hates on federalism and the States counterplan (debate joke). Plus: should health care workers have the right to refuse the vaccine?23:45 – At the end of 2020, Beijing-based economic analyst Dan Wang offered this year-in-review newsletter full of global, historical observations of the U.S., spurring much chatter on China Twitter. Is Chinese society experiencing the equivalent of the U.S.’s “golden age of capitalism”? How do most Americans imagine the life of an “average” person in China—you know, like Pangzai? And is the U.S. in a “declining empire” / “rentier” stage of its history?1:09:30 – A listener question from Swoo: What were some of your favorite reads in 2020? * Tammy: James Baldwin, “Stranger in the Village” (essay)* Andy: Nancy Fraser, “Feminism, Capitalism, and the Cunning of History” (paper)* Jay: Greg Kot, I’ll Take You There; Mark Kram, Jr., Ghosts of ManilaThanks for tuning in. Please subscribe and spread the word! Keep in touch via @TTSGPOD and timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

HNY from the heart of Times Square!0:00 – This week, we welcome JoAnn Lum, the director of NMASS (the National Mobilization Against Sweatshops), a “multi-trade, multi-ethnic workers center” located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.Though COVID-19 has recently shone a light on horrifying working conditions in healthcare, nursing homes, restaurants, and delivery, JoAnn describes how “essential workers” have faced steadily worsening prospects for decades, and relays her members’ disappointment in the government response. She also talks about how immigration law has been used to divide workers, and explains NMASS’s “Ain’t I a Woman” campaign, which is challenging the 24-hour workday for home care attendants. (Tammy wrote about this around-the-clock work for Businessweek two years ago [a sobering read!].) Unsurprisingly, the pandemic has only exacerbated the urgency of NMASS’s organizing. Learn more and contribute here!34:30 – In the second half, we discuss a bundle of listener questions about “diversity:” employment initiatives, diversity statements, even children’s books! How do we navigate between “good” and “bad” versions of diversity? What are the right categories to describe them? Thanks to Adriana, Amy, and Helen for the excellent questions! Keep your queries and comments coming! We’d love more recorded audio bits, too, which you can send by email: timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com. On Twitter, we’re doomscrolling at @TTSGpod.Finally, pass the podcast onto your friends! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

0:00 — We welcome friend of the show Tommy Craggs, enterprise editor at Mother Jones magazine. We first get Tommy’s thoughts on last summer’s inadvertent strike in the NBA and assess the future of our favorite beleaguered sports league.25:10 — We discuss Tommy’s new piece, “What’s the Matter with Cultural Politics?,” in which he interrogates the “culture contra” stalemate: the idea that what the Democrats need to do is drop the “culture” and “identity” stuff and get back to (white) meat and potatoes. Should we defend “woke” culture? How to distinguish between “good” (materialist) versus “bad” (coopted) identity politics? Can we even tell the difference?Send us your comments and questions!Timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.comOn Twitter @TTSGPOD This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

Today, Doctors Liu, Kang, and Kim are joined by Doctor Sarah Leonard, publisher of the soon-to-launch Lux magazine (named after socialist extraordinaire Rosa Luxemburg).0:00 – We respond to accusations of COVID-19 denialism by comparing the US’s lockdown + welfare policies to those of the rest of the (Euro-American) world: Tammy on Canada’s robust wage subsidy and deficit spending; Andy on Sweden’s controversial decision to do voluntary lockdowns (even leftists are fighting over it); and Jay on the German advantage of strong infrastructure.39:45 – Sarah talks about why she created Lux magazine, a socialist, feminist glossy! (Think: Marxist Vogue.) We discuss girl-boss corporate feminism, why there should be more than one socialist outlet, the virtues of social reproduction theory, and who deserves pleasure. Preview issue one here! Subscribe here! Subscribe to TTSG here: https://goodbye.substack.com/aboutSend audio questions and regular-old comments to timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com and @TTSGpod! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe