Mid Pacific

How often do you think about Asian Americans and country music? In this bonus episode, you’ll hear an excerpt from the “Asian Americana” podcast hosted by Quincy Surasmith that explores one Lao American man's complicated relationship with the genre.

How would your identity be shaped if you had to escape your home country by boat? Sarah speaks with fellow podcast host Tracey Nguyen Mang, who fled Vietnam with her family at the age of 3. Hear her journey to uncover her family’s story.

How do our relationships with our parents affect our sense of self? And why does the mother-daughter relationship seem so complex? Sarah explores the issues behind the "in between feeling" that seems to define that particular relationship.

How does our relationship to food shape our Asian American identity? And how does our identity influence the food we make? Sarah takes on food appropriation and the issues that comes with “ownership” of certain foods.

What does it mean to be in solidarity with other races? For some, the pandemic was the first time they considered their identity through this lens and how they were being positioned against others. What lessons can we learn from the LA Riots?

Can Asian-American political identity be defined? What issues unites us? Sarah examines some recent examples of powerful political organizing, including a school board recall in San Francisco, the Oakland Mayor’s race and at the State Capitol.

For Chinatowns, Japantowns, K-Towns, and other Asian-American communities in the United States, the only constant these days is change. But our need for cultural connection remains the same. Take a tour with Sarah to see what these spaces mean today.

What does being Asian and American mean to us? Short answer? It’s complicated. You’ll hear a wide range of perspectives on the term “Asian American” and learn the history of the term, as well as how Bruce Lee influenced the name of this podcast.

Mid Pacific explores what it means to be Asian American and the feeling of being caught between two worlds. Host Sarah Mizes-Tan brings you stories of food, politics, family and more and shows how those experiences influence our ideas of identity.