Episodes

Welcome to the Season 2 Recap of The Banh Mi Chronicles Podcast! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Final closing remarks about this past season 2 reflecting on the year "1975" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------...

(S2, EP 14) For this Season 2 finale centering on the theme, "1975", NY Times best seller and Pulitzer Prize winner Viet Thanh Nguyen joins in as a guest on the podcast. In this episode, Viet reflects on the growing hostility towards the API (Asian Pacific Islander) communities in the face of the Covid 19 pandemic, and how the API community can build solidarity and strength during this critical time. He also speaks about former presidential candidate Andrew Yang's recent controversial op-ed. Vie...

(S2, EP 13.2) For this week’s part 2 episode, I interviewed guest Sina Sam, a longtime Cambodian-American community leader from Washington State. She became the first Cambodian American woman to serve as the Commissioner for the Asian Pacific American Affairs for Governor Inslee’s office in Washington State. She is the co-founder of the Khmer Anti Deportation Group and is now serving as the Field Director for SEARAC otherwise known as Southeast Asia Resource Center. For part 2, she talked about ...

(S2 EP 13.1) Sina Sam, a 1.5 generation Khmer-American chatted with the podcast for our two-part interview. She became the first Cambodian-American woman to serve as the Commissioner for the Asian Pacific American Affairs (CAPAA) for Governor Inslee's office in Washington State. She is a co-founder of the Khmer Anti-Deportation Group (KHAAG) and currently the Field Director for SEARAC (Southeast Asia Resource Action Center). She shared her experience arriving in Seattle with her family during th...

(S2, EP 12) For this week's episode of The Banh Mi Chronicles Podcast centering on the theme "1975", Lao American writer and playwright Saymoukda Vongsay aka "Refugenius" joins in as a guest and shares her family's migration journey from Laos to Minnesota after the Laos Civil War. She shares her experience growing up with the Lao community in Minnesota, the process of finding her voice through spoken word / poetry, and creating plays centered on the Lao experience in the theatre community. She r...

(S2, Ep 11) For this week's episode of the podcast, Cambodian-American author Sambath Meas joins in as my guest. She's 1.5 generation Cambodian-American who grew up in the Chicago Uptown neighborhood. She is the author of two books, "The Governor's Daughter" and "The Immortal Seeds". We chatted about her upbringing in Uptown and delved deep into her complicated relationship with her parents. Sambath shared her experience writing her two books, and what she hoped to inspire for other fellow South...

(S2, EP 10) In continuing the 2nd season “1975" theme, I interviewed Kevin Yang, a 2nd generation Hmong American from the Twin Cities in Minnesota. Kevin is a multi-discipline artist which includes being a spoken word artist and filmmaker. In this interview, Kevin shares his family’s migration journey from Laos to Minnesota. He talks about his upbringing in Minnesota, and his relationship with the Hmong community there. In discovering his family’s refugee journey, Kevin became inspired to write ...

(S2, Ep 9) In this week's episode, Cambodian Artist and Musician, Punisa Pov joins me as my guest for the podcast. Punisa was born and raised in Cambodia. She has been living in the US, first as a college student in Iowa, and currently working as a resident musician and artist for the National Cambodian Heritage Museum the past few years. Punisa has been singing and playing music nearly her entire life, devoting her craft to honor Cambodian traditional music which was nearly destroyed during the...

(S2 Ep 8) In continuing the theme, “1975” for this 2nd season, Khemarey Khoeun joins me as my guest for this week's episode. Khemarey is a 1.5 generation Cambodian American from the Chicagoland area. Back in 2017, she became the first Cambodian American woman elected into public office for the Skokie Park District. Khem also serves as the board president for the National Cambodian Heritage Museum in the Chicago Lincoln Square neighborhood. In this interview, she talks about the difficulties in n...

(S2, EP 7) For this week's episode for the podcast's Season 2 theme, "1975", Tony Ho Tran, 2nd generation mixed Viet American writer / storyteller and genealogist, spoke about his journey to learn who his grandfather was through a DNA test he took through 23nme. Along the journey, he learned more about his mother and grandmother's difficult past during the time of the Vietnam War and their resettlement into the US. He talked about the impact of discovering his family DNA, and reflected back on h...

(S2, EP 6) Simone Cottrell, an independent multi disciplinarian theatre maker, shares her experience growing up as a mixed Khmer American in Bayou La Batre, Alabama and Mississippi before moving to Fayetteville, Arkansas. She reflects deeply on how art & theater can be important agencies that empower marginalized communities, specifically in rural communities, and how this has been put into practice to support anti-ICE raids that have affected undocumented Latinx communities, but also the Southe...

(S2, EP 5) It has been an emotionally difficult ordeal for all of us as we are grappling with the severity of the coronavirus pandemic. It has been a challenge to continue the 2nd season of the podcast, but I also realize how important it is to spend time shifting part of my focus away from the ongoing bad news that's happening now as part of my way of coping, and to also have an outlet for those who are seeking a temporary distraction. I thank you for your support for this podcast as always, an...

(S2, EP 4) Tung Nguyen joined me as a guest for this episode. Tung and I connected on Instagram when we discovered each other's podcast. Tung is a Vietnamese-American podcaster, engineer, and musician. He currently runs a podcast called Worksleeve which can be found on streaming services. In our conversation, Tung talked about the complexities of his own upbringing in rural South Dakota where his family's struggle to survive as refugees and navigating life in a mostly white community collided. H...

(S2, EP 3) I chatted with Vân Huynh , a queer Viet-American immigration attorney who splits her time between Atlanta and Chicago. In this conversation, Vân shared her struggles with assimilation and expectations that are set for 2nd generation Asian-Americans. She talked about her experience in the immigration movements, and her work with her clients who are facing deportation. She shared insight about what the deportation process looks like, and the current climate for immigrants today. Be sure...

(S2, EP 2) Meet Phanit Duong aka Hella Chluy for this week's episode. In his first-ever interview, Phanit chatted about his early upbringing in Washington state after his parents arrived there after surviving the Khmer Rouge. He reflected on his family's struggle in adapting to their new community, and learning to channel his own struggles through comedy, music, and martial arts. Phanit and I discussed about how comedy plays an important part in Khmer traditions, and like music and dance, how it...

(S2, EP 1) For the 1st episode for Season 2's "1975" theme, Viet-American bestselling author Thanhha Lai joined me as a guest for this episode. Thanhha recently released her critically-acclaimed fiction book, Butterfly Yellow. In our discussion, she shares her experience writing her latest book, as well as her upbringing growing up in Vietnam during the time of war before resettling with her 9 siblings and her mother in the American South. -------------------------------------------------------...

Welcome back everyone! To kick things off in the 2020 year, I decided to devote this second season revolving around the theme, "1975". It marks the 45 year anniversary of the end of the Vietnam and Laos Civil War, and the end of the US intervention in both countries. For Cambodia, it marked the beginning of the Khmer Rouge's ascension into power which led to the brutal terror in which over 2 million Cambodians were killed. 1975 represented a seismic shift in Southeast Asia where the first mass w...