To date, I have the honour of talking with psychologists, social workers, former MLA, lawyers, youth, Minister of cabinet, Vice Provost at a University, documentary film maker, former media broadcaster, and policy makers. Each episode ends with some calls to action so the listener can walk away with ideas they can think about, do, and do more of on their anti-racism journey.
Angie shares the importance of the representation of Asians in the workplace and the film industry. She identifies as Chinese and queer, and she came out in 2017 after deciding there was a need to have her voice heard in the acting space. She voices she would love for more people to speak up and share their stories of being Asian and for Asians to be included in various spheres.
Kellina shares how she became deaf at four years old and attended a deaf and hearing school. She discloses moments when a guidance counsellor and professor told her she couldn’t do what she wanted (which was to become a doctor). She went into the field of psychology to mentor those who have disabilities and those who don’t. She voices the importance of being yourself and following your dreams.
Lindsay shares that she moved from Vancouver to Winnipeg to pursue an assistant professorship and experienced the most racism she has ever known. She said she would be turned away from rental properties when the landlord said she could not afford it, and someone would always search her bag at stores, being suspicious she stole something. She states the importance of being aware of microaggressions.
LINDSAY WONG is the author of the critically acclaimed, award-winning, and bestselling memoir The Woo-Woo, which was a finalist for Canada Reads 2019. She has written a YA novel entitled My Summer of Love and Misfortune and a debut collection of short fiction, Tell Me Pleasant Things about Immortality, which was shortlisted for the Jim Deva Prize for Writing that Provokes. Wong holds a BFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia and an MFA in literary nonfiction from Columbia University. She currently teaches creative writing at the University of Winnipeg. Follow her on X/Twitter @LindsayMWong, Instagram @Lindsaywong.M, or visit www.lindsaywongwriter.com.
Emily shares how she grew up in Winnipeg and had to fit in with the dominant population. She discloses how her children changed her life when at 8 and 10 years old, they told her they want to learn Chinese and be more Chinese. She states the importance of paying attention, notice, listen, and be curious about people who are different from you.
Meenal shares that she was born in India into a privileged caste system. She said she moved to South Africa upon marrying her husband and then to Canada years later. She notes the importance of being introspective, learning, and unlearning. Here is her incredible creative work: https://meenalshrivastava.wordpress.com/
Dr. Meenal Shrivastava is Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Professor of Political Economy and Global Studies at Athabasca University, Canada. Her academic research examines the drivers and manifestations of globalization, and their impact on the institutions and practices of democracy, particularly in the context of the widening gulf between the peoples and the states. Consequently, her publications, courses, and public lectures cover themes related to varied aspects of democracy and public policy through the lenses of global history and gender studies, connected to the central thread of the political economy of our relentlessly globalizing world. Her research on these political economic processes has so far led to more than one hundred and fifty papers and publications, including three books. Currently, aside from serving on several professional and editorial boards, she has been learning to use creative relational stories as a methodology of research and dissemination to illustrate how individual lives intersect with broad social-political trends, and why it matters. Born in Jaipur, she now lives as an uninvited immigrant settler in the ancestral home of the Wsáneć Peoples in the unceded Coast Salish Territories, or what is also known as greater Victoria, BC.
https://meenalshrivastava.wordpress.com/
