ASIAN AMERICA: THE KEN FONG PODCAST

If you're one of the fortunate people who know who Tyrus Wong was and what a pivotal role he played in getting the classic Disney film "Bambi" made, I think you'll still be blown away by what Dr. Karen Fang has revealed in her recent book, "Background Artist: The Life and Work of Tyrus Wong." I'll give you two hints: Christmas cards and custom kites.

In this episode seminary professor Dr. Soong-Chan Rah reiterates that the Trump administration's dismantling of USAID should serve as a serious wake up call to American Evangelical Christians because now Christian relief agencies will no longer receive gifts in kind  from the federal government. However, if they continue to celebrate USAID's demise, they are telling us that they really aren't "evangelicals," who take the Bible and Jesus quite seriously. 

As a nod to this being Black History Month and also as a form of pushback against the current dismantling of meritocracy in the U.S. Military by the Trump administration, I invited Dr. Roger Newman to talk about his latest novel Boys, a work of historical fiction based on what he learned about his Black Uncle Alex growing up in the Jim Crow South and facing systemic racism while serving in Army during World War II and beyond.

In this latest episode in the Two Kens collaborative series on American politics and Christian nationalism, Fong and Kemp point out the jarring historical parallels with how Germany's Hitler and Hungary's Orban were able to dismantle their countries democracies so quickly. This episode is a call to action and resistance for every American who is now seeing the clear signs of decay in our democracy. Transition and outro music credit to The Isley Brothers and their "Fight the Power" anthem from 1975.

Celebrated playwright, director and producer Chay Yew is once again directing Lauren Yee's Cambodian Rock Band, this time in its Los Angeles debut at East West Players David Henry Hwang Theater in Little Tokyo from February 13-March 9, 2025.  A poignant new classic of the Asian American theater canon, Cambodian Rock Band explores the story of a Khmer Rouge survivor as he returns to his homeland after thirty long years. While his daughter prepares to prosecute one of the country's most notorious war criminals, the ghosts of their shared past begin to stir. This deeply moving story weaves back and forth through time as father and daughter confront history, turning to music as a path towards healing. You can listen to my 2018 interview of Lauren Yee when her play was first being produced at the South Coast Repertory Theater: https://asianamericapodcast.com/2018/03/ep-141-cambodian-rock-band/ Please go to www.eastwestplayers.org to find a performance that fits your schedule.

Hawaii-based writer Chris McKinney has edited Honolulu Noir, the latest in the Akashic Noir series of location-based dark short stories. Comprised of stories about the people of the city, written by those who know this place best. The volume opens with a story featuring Chang Apana, the Native Hawaiian/Chinese real-life cop who was the inspiration for the controversial Charlie Chan. It ends with a supernatural journey from the Philippines to Hawaii. In between, readers will find multicultural tales of invasion (whether yakuza, ISIS recruiters, or vampires), madness, addiction, and murder—all the stuff that many people don’t know happens here. Unbeknownst to the rest of the country, Honolulu can be a very dangerous place. Here, even the alluring crystal-blue waters might kill you.

Doreen and Ken were high school sweethearts more than half a century ago. (You can hear more about their love story in EP 496.) But they parted ways in 1973, met and married their spouses, and had children. Doreen's marriage ended in divorce 27 years ago, and Ken's marriage ended in July 2023 when cancer took his wife Snoopy from him. Her dying wish was that he remarry and find happiness again. Since they were living in different halves of California, Ken phoned Doreen and asked if she'd be open to getting "reaquainted" after all these years. She quickly said "yes," and on January 18th of this new year, they got married!  In this special edition of the podcast, Doreen and Ken open up about what was extra special about their ceremony and how their relationship now feels even closer after getting married to each other.

My longtime friend and fellow podcaster Ken Kemp (The Beached White Male) lives on the far end of Orange County, so his house is far from the fires in SoCal. But many of his out-of-state friends don't know this, so they've been reaching out to he and his wife for reassurances of their safety. They've suffered several days-long power outages due to the high winds, though, so it's not like he's been spared. Knowing that our house is in one of the areas threatened by the Eaton Fire, he called first to hear how Janessa and I were doing. Once he heard that my family and my house were fine, he then suggested that we should do an episode about this current conflagration. Of course I agreed. We also compared notes on the legacy of Pres. Jimmy Carter, who'd recently died at the age of 100. In editing this episode, I realized that Kemp and I had confused two previous California wildfires. He talks about the Paradise Fires in 2003, and I was referring to the fire in Butte County that destroyed the town of Paradise in 2018.

Dr. Noël S. Harmon is the President and Executive Director of Asian Pacific Islander American Scholars (APIA Scholars), which is America's largest nonprofit dedicated to supporting Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) students. Their newly revamped scholarship application process is aimed at reducing financial barriers to higher education for students most in need, while also ensuring greater flexibility and accessibility for a diverse range of scholars. Now with this much more inviting application and process, APIA Scholars is once again setting a bold new standard in scholarship delivery by addressing the evolving nees of AANHPI students, many of whom face financial challeges, systemic inequities, and unique cultural pressures. Dr. Harmon says, "We are committed to empowering AANHPI students by ensuring that financila barriers do not stand in the way of their educational aspirations." www.apiascholars.org

Author Ellie Yang Camp and I first crossed paths 24 years ago at a triennial Christian conference for college students. I was the main speaker that week and she was a student leader of her InterVarsity chapter @ Cal. We never met that week, but when her debut book Louder Than the Lies crossed my desk and I read her bio and then saw what she had to say about the insidious and pervasive problems of white supremacy and whiteness, and how they continue to oppress and brainwash many of us Asian Americans, I immediagtely knew I had to bring her on my show. And with Trump having been re-elected to the White House, Ellie's book should be required reading. You can find her on social media @eeewhysee and you can find her book anywhere great books are sold. #whiteness #whitesupremacy #aanhpi #defeatingracism