Voice
17m
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Ten Thousand Things with Shin Yu Pai
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This is a story about the way we make a statement.
Alice Wong, a Chinese-American disability activist, came into her own as a public personality through creating and hosting a podcast on disabled voices. Her status as a person with a disability in an ableist world gave her access to a world of perspectives and voices that we don’t usually hear on public radio. And she prioritized putting disabled voices on the air. But losing her own voice and replacing it with an app forced her to reckon with a new relationship to voice.
Related links:
- Disability Visibility Project
- Disability Visibility Podcast
- Year of the Tiger by Alice Wong
- Resistance and Hope: Crip Wisdom for the People, edited by Alice Wong
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Ten Thousand Things is produced by KUOW in Seattle. Our host, writer, and creator is Shin Yu Pai. Whitney Henry-Lester produced this episode. Jim Gates is our editor. Tomo Nakayama wrote our theme music. Additional music in this episode by Jaylon Ashaun and Stan Forebee.
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Partial funding of Ten Thousand Things was made possible by the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture Hope Corps Grant, a recovery funded program of the National Endowment for the Arts, plus support from The Windrose Fund.
The episode Voice from the podcast Ten Thousand Things with Shin Yu Pai has a duration of
17:10. It was first published
More episodes from Ten Thousand Things with Shin Yu Pai
Settlement
Janet Lee, a freshman at Bryn Mawr, was heading home for Christmas break when she was detained by the police for alleged drug smuggling. Janet wasn’t carrying any drugs. But the treatment she received from the Philadelphia police department and from her own community would change her life forever. In this episode, we’ll explore the pain of being accused of being someone you are not and fighting to reclaim the story that sets the record straight.
Ten Thousand Things is produced by KUOW in Seattle. Our host, writer, and creator is Shin Yu Pai. Whitney Henry-Lester produced this episode. Jim Gates is our editor. Tomo Nakayama wrote our theme music. Additional music in this episode by Abigail Osborn, PRAANA, Wild Pony, Brique a Braq, Jordan Critz.
And of course, we don't exist without listeners like you. Support Ten Thousand Things by donating to KUOW.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Cage
Jenny Liou is good at many things. She is a poet, an English professor, and former MMA Cage Fighter. It would be easy to see the cage as a place of limitation. But for Jenny, the cage was a place of freedom, where she could showcase her athletic skills. It was a place where her jiu-jitsu training allowed her to stay grounded and see her opponent’s weaknesses. Jenny rose in the sport’s ranks while teaching college English, a symbiotic balance of mental and physical strength. But the pressures of the sport ultimately confined her, until she gained the strength to give up the fight and step out of the cage.
Ten Thousand Things is produced by KUOW in Seattle. Our host, writer, and creator is Shin Yu Pai. Whitney Henry-Lester produced this episode. Jim Gates is our editor. Tomo Nakayama wrote our theme music. Additional music in this episode by Deraj, Wild Pony, WOLVES.
And of course, we don't exist without listeners like you. Support Ten Thousand Things by donating to KUOW.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mask
We might wear a mask to fit in, to fulfill someone else’s expectations, or to navigate a white-centric world. For Shin Yu, the mask was real. It was a white plaster mold of her face that hung on her in-laws’ wall, a reminder of all the “saving face” she has done trying to fit in. Last year, she decided to ask for the mask back.This is a personal interview with Shin Yu about learning how to let down the mask, while embracing vulnerability and our true selves.
Ten Thousand Things is produced by KUOW in Seattle. Our host, writer, and creator is Shin Yu Pai. Whitney Henry-Lester produced this episode. Jim Gates is our editor. Tomo Nakayama wrote our theme music. Additional music in this episode by Wild Pony.
And of course, we don't exist without listeners like you. Support Ten Thousand Things by donating to KUOW.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Teardrop Lip
Leanna Keith knew the flute was her instrument. But she was discouraged from trying it in middle school by a white teacher who said her anatomy (a teardrop lip) would not allow her to master the instrument.Today, she is a professional musician, breaking the mold with her contemporary flute performances.This story looks at the uniqueness of our individual anatomies and what it’s like to be made to feel imperfect.
Ten Thousand Things is produced by KUOW in Seattle. Our host, writer, and creator is Shin Yu Pai. Whitney Henry-Lester produced this episode. Jim Gates is our editor. Tomo Nakayama wrote our theme music. Additional music in this episode by Dexter Britain. Sunborn, Red licorice, Vanra, Ezzy, AND Leanna Keith.
And of course, we don't exist without listeners like you. Support Ten Thousand Things by donating to KUOW.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Season 3 Trailer
This season on Ten Thousand Things:
We're back with season three! This season features the stories of trailblazing Asian American women and the resilience of Asian American communities, even in the face of endangerment. Three of this season’s stories take place in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District Neighborhood, with help from the Wing Luke Museum. Featured guests include poet and former MMA cage fighter Jenny Liou; Seattle chef Tiffany Ran; and flutist Leanna Keith; among others.
New episodes drop on Tuesdays.
Ten Thousand Things:
In many Chinese sayings, “ten thousand” is used in a poetic sense to convey something infinite, vast, and unfathomable. For Shin Yu Pai – award-winning poet and museologist – the story of Asians in America is just that. Ten Thousand Things is a podcast about modern-day artifacts of Asian American life and the stories they reveal, created and hosted by Shin Yu Pai and produced by KUOW (Seattle’s NPR station). Ten Thousand Things is a vibrant, diverse, and bittersweet celebration of Asian America ... and a challenge for us all to reimagine stories of the past and future.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.