Shows
Vietato FumareVietato Fumare #37: Se recomienda en videoEste podcast es patrocinado por "Mocoso creativo" IG @mocosocreativo En este episodio que hoy sale en video, nos dedicamos a jugar con la ayuda de Pacho Vélez. ¿Adivinará usted el personaje? -------------- Nuestros mecenas son: Javier Alejandro, Daniel Monclou, Giovani López , Martín Jaramillo, Javier Tabima,Carlos Hurtado, Luis Ariel Urrego, José E. Palencia, Andrés Tamayo, Yair Calderón,Esteban Sosnitsky, Andrés Charria,Sara Piña, Johny Roldán, David Durán, Daniel León, Christian Muñoz, Juan Basto, Santiago Fajardo, Miguel Ramírez Lovera, Juan David Rojas Bonilla, Alejandro Molina, Carolina Ardila, Carlos Felipe Forero, Katerine V...2023-07-3114 min
The Mixed Creator with Maris LidakaJulián Esteban Torres López | We Are Erasing OurselvesJulián Esteban Torres López, a multi-hyphenate artist, is the founder of The Nasiona, managing director of consulting and strategy at Conscious Thrive, and architect of numerous other initiatives.
We discuss his move from Columbia to the United States, carving his own path in a binary industry, and how there are more opportunities that ever before.
https://www.jetorreslopez.com/
https://www.instagram.com/je_torres_lopez/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/julianetorres/
LEAVE A REVIEW if you liked this...2023-07-291h 33Vietato FumareVietato Fumare #36: Llegó el alemánUn podcast con mucho contenido. Chismes, ejercicios de memoria y enfrentamientos en Twitter -------------- Nuestros mecenas son: Javier Alejandro, Daniel Monclou, Giovani López , Martín Jaramillo, Javier Tabima,Carlos Hurtado, Luis Ariel Urrego, José E. Palencia, Andrés Tamayo, Yair Calderón,Esteban Sosnitsky, Andrés Charria,Sara Piña, Johny Roldán, David Durán, Daniel León, Christian Muñoz, Juan Basto, Santiago Fajardo, Miguel Ramírez Lovera, Juan David Rojas Bonilla, Alejandro Molina, Carolina Ardila, Carlos Felipe Forero, Katerine V., Alexander Rodríguez, David Durán, Juan Sebastián Camelo, Santiago J., Jonathan Chavés, Álvaro Echeverri, Katherine...2023-07-2722 minVietato FumareVietato Fumare #35: El spoiler de BarbieUna nueva entrega de cultura filmográfica en este podcast que te educa y te explica de qué se trata la taquillera película "Barbie" con Margot Robbie -------------- Nuestros mecenas son: Daniel Monclou, Giovani López , Martín Jaramillo, Javier Tabima,Carlos Hurtado, Luis Ariel Urrego, José E. Palencia, Andrés Tamayo, Yair Calderón,Esteban Sosnitsky, Andrés Charria,Sara Piña, Johny Roldán, David Durán, Daniel León, Christian Muñoz, Juan Basto, Santiago Fajardo, Miguel Ramírez Lovera, Juan David Rojas Bonilla, Alejandro Molina, Carolina Ardila, Carlos Felipe Forero, Katerine V., Alexander Rodríguez, David Durán, Juan Seba...2023-07-2415 min
Vietato FumareVietato Fumare #34: ¿Cómo es su ombligo?Un corto viaje por un montón de temas que van desde la paz hasta bañarse los pies. ----- Nuestros mecenas son: Daniel Monclou, Giovani López , Martín Jaramillo, Javier Tabima,Carlos Hurtado, Luis Ariel Urrego, José E. Palencia, Andrés Tamayo, Yair Calderón,Esteban Sosnitsky, Andrés Charria,Sara Piña, Johny Roldán, David Durán, Daniel León, Christian Muñoz, Juan Basto, Santiago Fajardo, Miguel Ramírez Lovera, Juan David Rojas Bonilla, Alejandro Molina, Carolina Ardila, Carlos Felipe Forero, Katerine V., Alexander Rodríguez, David Durán, Juan Sebastián Camelo, Santiago J., Jonathan Chavés, Álvaro E...2023-07-2017 minVietato FumareVietato Fumare #33: Sommerlier de oloresCristian Mejía desfila como el experto que es para hablar de los humores y olores corporales con la altura que lo caracteriza ----- Nuestros mecenas son: Daniel Monclou, Giovani López , Martín Jaramillo, Javier Tabima,Carlos Hurtado, Luis Ariel Urrego, José E. Palencia, Andrés Tamayo, Yair Calderón,Esteban Sosnitsky, Andrés Charria,Sara Piña, Johny Roldán, David Durán, Daniel León, Christian Muñoz, Juan Basto, Santiago Fajardo, Miguel Ramírez Lovera, Juan David Rojas Bonilla, Alejandro Molina, Carolina Ardila, Carlos Felipe Forero, Katerine V., Alexander Rodríguez, David Durán, Juan Sebastián Camelo, Santiago J., J...2023-07-1717 minVietato FumareVietato Fumare #32 :Mixto de tres carnesChristian Solano se sale de casillas después de un pésimo servicio. Nicolás Samper y Jorge Balaguera, acompañan esta letanía ----- Nuestros mecenas son: Giovani López , Martín Jaramillo, Javier Tabima,Carlos Hurtado, Luis Ariel Urrego, José E. Palencia, Andrés Tamayo, Yair Calderón,Esteban Sosnitsky, Andrés Charria,Sara Piña, Johny Roldán, David Durán, Daniel León, Christian Muñoz, Juan Basto, Santiago Fajardo, Miguel Ramírez Lovera, Juan David Rojas Bonilla, Alejandro Molina, Carolina Ardila, Carlos Felipe Forero, Katerine V., Alexander Rodríguez, David Durán, Juan Sebastián Camelo, Santiago J., Jon...2023-07-1318 minVietato FumareVietato Fumare #31 :Emergencias aéreasRevisamos un tema que teníamos pendientes y es el de los viajes en avión. ----- Nuestros mecenas son: Giovani López , Martín Jaramillo, Javier Tabima,Carlos Hurtado, Luis Ariel Urrego, José E. Palencia, Andrés Tamayo, Yair Calderón,Esteban Sosnitsky, Andrés Charria,Sara Piña, Johny Roldán, David Durán, Daniel León, Christian Muñoz, Juan Basto, Santiago Fajardo, Miguel Ramírez Lovera, Juan David Rojas Bonilla, Alejandro Molina, Carolina Ardila, Carlos Felipe Forero, Katerine V., Alexander Rodríguez, David Durán, Juan Sebastián Camelo, Santiago J., Jonathan Chavés, Álvaro Echeverri, Katherine Solano, Luis Fe...2023-07-1016 minVietato FumareVietato Fumare #30 : Así era mi abuela + El extranjeroDos cosas que ustedes pedían con insistencia se reúnen en este nuevo Vietato Fumare ----- Nuestros mecenas son: Giovani López , Martín Jaramillo, Javier Tabima,Carlos Hurtado, Luis Ariel Urrego, José E. Palencia, Andrés Tamayo, Yair Calderón,Esteban Sosnitsky, Andrés Charria,Sara Piña, Johny Roldán, David Durán, Daniel León, Christian Muñoz, Juan Basto, Santiago Fajardo, Miguel Ramírez Lovera, Juan David Rojas Bonilla, Alejandro Molina, Carolina Ardila, Carlos Felipe Forero, Katerine V., Alexander Rodríguez, David Durán, Juan Sebastián Camelo, Santiago J., Jonathan Chavés, Álvaro Echeverri, Katherine Solano, Luis Fe...2023-07-0616 minVietato FumareVietato Fumare #29 : Se abre el consultorio éticoNicolás Samper y Christian Solano abren el consultorio radiofónico para atender a los dilemas éticos de nuestros seguidores, patrocinadores y oyentes.------------ Puede ser parte fundamental de "Vietato Fumare" con su donación en nuestro Vaki: https://vaki.co/es/vaki/VietatoFumare Nuestros mecenas son: Giovani López , Martín Jaramillo, Javier Tabima,Carlos Hurtado, Luis Ariel Urrego, José E. Palencia, Andrés Tamayo, Yair Calderón,Esteban Sosnitsky, Andrés Charria,Sara Piña, Johny Roldán, David Durán, Daniel León, Christian Muñoz, Juan Basto, Santiago Fajardo, Miguel Ramírez Lovera, Juan David Rojas Bonilla, Alejand...2023-07-0415 minVietato FumareVietato Fumare #28 : Experto en poesía eróticaNicolás Samper y Christian Solano abordan el terrible caso de un hombre y su miembro. Además, comparta usted los versos recitados del experto en poesía. ------------ Puede ser parte fundamental de "Vietato Fumare" con su donación en nuestro Vaki: https://vaki.co/es/vaki/VietatoFumare Nuestros mecenas son: Giovani López , Martín Jaramillo, Javier Tabima,Carlos Hurtado, Luis Ariel Urrego, José E. Palencia, Andrés Tamayo, Yair Calderón,Esteban Sosnitsky, Andrés Charria,Sara Piña, Johny Roldán, David Durán, Daniel León, Christian Muñoz, Juan Basto, Santiago Fajardo, Miguel Ramírez Lovera, Juan...2023-06-2918 minVietato FumareVietato Fumare #27 : Libros, Rock y GodarriaEn este episodio volvemos a la cultura y nos entregamos a nuestros pensamientos más godos. Conservadores y Laureanistas cómo debe ser. ------------ Puede ser parte fundamental de "Vietato Fumare" con su donación en nuestro Vaki: https://vaki.co/es/vaki/VietatoFumare Nuestros mecenas son: Giovani López , Martín Jaramillo, Javier Tabima,Carlos Hurtado, Luis Ariel Urrego, José E. Palencia, Andrés Tamayo, Yair Calderón,Esteban Sosnitsky, Andrés Charria,Sara Piña, Johny Roldán, David Durán, Daniel León, Christian Muñoz, Juan Basto, Santiago Fajardo, Miguel Ramírez Lovera, Juan David Rojas Bonilla, Alejan...2023-06-2617 minVietato FumareVietato Fumare #26 : Respondemos sus preguntas IDe vez en cuando estaremos respondiendo a todos los cuestionamientos que nos lancen a través de redes sociales porque este es el podcast de ustedes. ------ Puede ser parte fundamental de "Vietato Fumare" con su donación en nuestro Vaki: https://vaki.co/es/vaki/VietatoFumare Nuestros mecenas son: Giovani López , Martín Jaramillo, Javier Tabima,Carlos Hurtado, Luis Ariel Urrego, José E. Palencia, Andrés Tamayo, Yair Calderón,Esteban Sosnitsky, Andrés Charria,Sara Piña, Johny Roldán, David Durán, Daniel León, Christian Muñoz, Juan Basto, Santiago Fajardo, Miguel Ramírez Lovera, Juan David Rojas...2023-06-2224 minVietato FumareVietato Fumare #25 : Urna virtual ¿Sanitario o Caneca?Aquí nos hicimos periodistas para abordar los temas que la sociedad no quiere tocar. El periodismo no conoce de censura,pero sí de valentía. Christian Solano y Nicolás Samper ponen un serio debate sobre la mesa ------ Puede ser parte fundamental de "Vietato Fumare" con su donación en nuestro Vaki: https://vaki.co/es/vaki/VietatoFumare Nuestros mecenas son: Giovani López , Martín Jaramillo, Javier Tabima,Carlos Hurtado, Luis Ariel Urrego, José E. Palencia, Andrés Tamayo, Yair Calderón,Esteban Sosnitsky, Andrés Charria,Sara Piña, Johny Roldán, David Durán, Daniel León, Christian Mu...2023-06-2017 minVietato FumareVietato Fumare #24 : ¿Cómo lavar un baño?Con la experiencia de la limpieza, Vietato Fumare forma un tridente hoy con Nicolás Samper, Christian Solano y Jorge Balaguera con el objetivo de determinar cuál es la mejor manera de lavar un baño. ------ Puede ser parte fundamental de "Vietato Fumare" con su donación en nuestro Vaki: https://vaki.co/es/vaki/VietatoFumare Nuestros mecenas son: Giovani López , Martín Jaramillo, Javier Tabima,Carlos Hurtado, Luis Ariel Urrego, José E. Palencia, Andrés Tamayo, Yair Calderón,Esteban Sosnitsky, Andrés Charria,Sara Piña, Johny Roldán, David Durán, Daniel León, Christian Muño...2023-06-1618 min
The Nasiona PodcastWomen of Color Writers’ Authentic Voices: Natalie Obando, Part 2We continue with the second part of my conversation with Natalie Obando, the current national president of the Women’s National Book Associatio and first Latina to take the helm. They continue to discuss the Authentic Voices Fellowship Program, her experiences and thoughts about the White Gaze in publishing and storytelling industries, how she uses her influence to transition us out of it so we can become more authentic and reflect a more realistic representation, and much more. They also dissect the harmful urge to center the comfort of others by anglicizing our names, thereby decentering ourselves at the ou...2022-02-111h 10
The Nasiona PodcastWomen of Color Writers’ Authentic Voices: Natalie Obando, Part 1Today’s 2-part conversation is the first of The Nasiona’s new series showcasing the authentic voices of Women of Color writers. The Nasiona teamed up with the Women’s National Book Association’s Authentic Voices Fellowship Program and the Women of Color Writers organization to publish their inaugural first anthology, entitled The Roots That Help Us Grow: An Authentic Voices Anthology, Volume 1. Check our website at thenasiona.com for more information on the anthology. For our podcast series, I interviewed everyone we published in the anthology to present you with an in-depth exploration of their individual literary journ...2022-02-111h 25
The Nasiona PodcastRelationship Between Psychological Trauma and Physical IllnessWhat is the relationship between psychological trauma and physical Illness? Co-producer Nicole Zelniker joins Julián Esteban Torres López on the podcast to interview Molly “Marco” Marcotte to answer this question. Molly “Marco” Marcotte (they/them) is program designer, evaluator, and consultant in their eighth year of work in the anti-violence field. They have co-implemented and evaluated over 30 county-level sexual violence primary prevention initiatives, co-authored multiple state-level and organizational change models and corresponding evaluation plans, designed culturally relevant programming and evaluation for colleges across the Southeast, and have helped construct 50 research and evaluation instruments. Existing as a multiling...2022-02-0550 min
The Nasiona PodcastBlue Blood: Challenging the Rhetoric that Trans People are ‘Unnatural’ “I don’t want to make sense anymore,” Robin Gow wrote in Blue Blood, “I just want to exist.” "These days we only seem to talk about trans people in the news when we talk about bathroom laws. Our bodies are made political. Somedays I just want to exist. I want to crawl into the corn fields before harvest and just be alone with my skin," wrote Robin Gow. On today’s episode, I speak with Robin Gow and showcase some of the pieces found in their new essays and poetry collection Blue Blood, published by The Nasion...2021-12-161h 02
The Nasiona PodcastDecolonizing & Indigenizing Storytelling, Part 2In this episode, we share the second part of a virtual public event Julián Esteban Torres López gave on November 10th, hosted by the Department of Language, Literature, and Arts at Texas A&M University, San Antonio. Be sure to check out Part 1, where Julián gives a talk on what it means to decolonize and indigenize storytelling. For this final part today, Dr. Alexandra Rodriguez Sabogal, interviews Julián, followed by a Q&A with the audience moderated by Dr. Katherine Gillen, the Chair of the Department of Language, Literature, and Arts. We discuss: the relati...2021-12-141h 24
The Nasiona PodcastOn Healing, Transformation, & Reclaiming Authority of Your AuthenticityWhat does it mean to show up as you beyond the you you were told to be? Christine Cariño joins Julián Esteban Torres López to discuss the philosophy of authenticity, how getting over trauma often means finding your way back to that person you were before the trauma, and the transformative process of rerooting and replanting yourself and reclaiming deferred dreams. This episode is about healing, empowerment, and giving ourselves permission to say yes to ourselves, to allow ourselves to feel, and to create the conditions we need to fully become ourselves. Christine Cariño is...2021-12-081h 22
The Nasiona PodcastDecolonizing & Indigenizing Storytelling, Part 1Colonization has not ended. We are not in a post-colonial age in a similar way that we are not in a post-racial age. Colonization has simply become normalized, perpetuated by dominant culture narratives, and accepted by the majority as part of life. On this episode, we share a virtual public talk Julián Esteban Torres López gave entitled "Decolonizing and Indigenizing Storytelling," hosted by the Department of Language, Literature, and Arts at Texas A&M, San Antonio. Julián centers the talk around several questions: What does it mean to decolonize and Indigenize storytelling? How do institutionalized Eur...2021-11-2645 min
The Nasiona PodcastBeing Latina/e/o/xOn today’s episode, we center, elevate, and amplify our stories from our own mouths. We take you on a tour of what it means to be Latina/e/o/x through the voices of previous The Nasiona Podcast guests. Our stories are complex, nuanced, and deserve to be heard. In the show notes, you can find links to the previous guests’ episodes, if you want to listen to the entire conversations and learn more about all guests. Also, we have a magazine series at TheNasiona.com that specifically focuses on personal essays, memoirs, and poetry about what it mean...2021-11-1728 min
The Nasiona PodcastGrowing up Black and Brown in a White TownWhat’s it like growing up Black and brown in a predominantly white town? Joe Sparkman and Julián Esteban Torres López share their experiences of growing up together in the 1990s as teenagers in Nashua, New Hampshire. If you are a fan of the show The Office, you may know that Nashua is the location of one of Dunder Mifflin’s branches—the very branch where Holly Flax was working out of before she got transferred to the Scranton branch. Others may be familiar with Nashua as having been the place where JFK launched...2021-10-031h 23
The Nasiona PodcastThe Nuyorican Hallway: Belonging & Living Between WorldsMy guest today is J.L. Torres (no relation), the author of Migrations, the inaugural winner of the Tomás Rivera Book Prize. His previous publications include another short story collection, The Family Terrorist and Other Stories; the poetry collection, Boricua Passport; and the novel, The Accidental Native. He has also published stories and poems in many journals and magazines. A Fulbright recipient, he recently retired as a scholar and professor of American literature, Latinx literatures, and creative writing. Born in Puerto Rico, raised in the South Bronx, he now lives in upstate New York. His work f...2021-08-231h 54
Smooth PodcastCreating space to be vulnerable with Julián Esteban Torres LópezJulián is all about opening up space for mistakes because he finds a lot of growth there; This is the continuation of this week’s two-part special with Julián Esteban Torres López. This incredible human being is here not only to give his advice towards podcasting but towards life. He reckons it is important to approach people with open arms and create a safe space for them. This way guests will feel comfortable enough to be very vulnerable.
Julián gives us a gift in this episode. He talks so openly about mental health and wh...2021-07-3022 min
Smooth PodcastCreating community through podcasting with Julián Esteban Torres LópezJulián Torres’ mission is to showcase the stories and experiences of cultures that have been undermined and othered.
By means of getting as far as possible from traditional academia and journalism, Julián landed on podcasting as a platform to achieve his purpose. He knows that politics, economics, and any other social environment can change faster when culture is transformed. “Humanize the other” is the Nasiona’s tagline, and they want to help communities be heard. Julián truly knows how to create and use his platforms to center, elevate, and amplify the voices of the oppressed.2021-07-2928 min
The Nasiona PodcastTaboos: Trauma, Resistance, & HealingAngela Rideau and Julián Esteban Torres López explore taboos, their relationship to trauma, and how our taboo resistance is both a revolutionary act and a step toward healing. Angela Rideau is a London-based British-Indian Spoken Word Poet. She is the host of Poems From My Heart, a spoken word podcast sharing stories and poetry that explores taboos and difficult topics such as colonialism, body image, living within the diaspora, and feminism through poetry. Her debut autobiographical poetry collection, honeybee, is an exploration of trauma, identity, growing up within the South-Asian diaspora, healing, motherhood, and fem...2021-07-061h 31
The Nasiona PodcastColorism in Latin American and South Asian CommunitiesDuring the last episode, my good friend Kanchan Gautam and I discussed our experiences as Third Culture Kids and cultural appropriation. Today, we explore the deep roots of colorism in our South Asian and Latin American communities, along with dating and making friends while brown in predominantly white spaces. Kanchan Gautam is a novice birdwatcher, myco-enthusiast, and amateur naturalist. She is proud of her Nepali heritage and she spends time exploring identity and cultural narrative in Oakland, occupied Ohlone territory. I had the pleasure of speaking with Kanchan Gautam on July 12th of 2020. This is t...2021-06-301h 12
The Nasiona PodcastThird Culture Kids, Cultural Appropriation, & IdentityBefore the pandemic lockdown, my good friend Kanchan Gautam and I would meet at different San Francisco cafes and parks to discuss our experiences as brown immigrants in the United States. She’s one of my favorite people to speak with, and today Kanchan and I allow you to listen in on a couple of our conversations. We first discuss our experiences as Third Culture Kids, which then evolves into a conversation about cultural appropriation. Next week we’ll discuss the deep roots of colorism in our South Asian and Latin American communities, along with dating while brown in pred...2021-06-261h 23
The Nasiona PodcastBlended Future ProjectAccording to the Blended Future Project, even though multiracial and multiethnic identity can absolutely be a fluid and difficult road to understand, Blended Future Project would like to create a platform to initiate that understanding. To start this process, the Blended Future Project is creating a new cultural identity where multiracial and multiethnic people are understood and free to develop and collaborate their own unique culture(s). They believe this would not only benefit the growing population of multiracial and multiethnic peoples, but also adopted individuals who may not even know their racial or ethnic backgrounds, or third culture...2021-06-221h 17
The Nasiona PodcastDeconstructing & Rebuilding Our Education System, Part 2How can we reimagine school systems to fit the concerns of students in the 21st century? On our last episode, I spoke with Dr. Kimberly Douglass and Dr. Robin Harwick to identify the pain points of our education system, and to explore how we can deconstruct and rebuild it anew. They are the co-authors of the book YOU are the Revolution! Education that Empowers your Black Child and Strengthens your Family, and also are at the center of the innovative The Pearl Remote Democratic High School. Today we continue the conversation by going behind the scenes of The Pearl a...2021-06-1756 min
The Nasiona PodcastDeconstructing & Rebuilding Our Education System, Part 1On today’s episode, I speak with Dr. Kimberly Douglass and Dr. Robin Harwick to identify the pain points of our education system, and to explore how we can deconstruct and rebuild it anew. They are the co-authors of the book YOU are the Revolution! Education that Empowers your Black Child and Strengthens your Family, and also are at the center of the innovative The Pearl Remote Democratic High School. I had the honor of speaking with both Dr. Kimberly Douglass and Dr. Robin Harwick on the 9th of August, 2020. This is the first part of our tw...2021-05-281h 19
The Nasiona PodcastInside the Afro-Latino Actors Studio, Part 2On today’s episode, we re-enter the Afro-Latino Actors Studio with Carlos Carrasco: actor, filmmaker, and director of the Panamanian International Film Festival. Last week, in part 1 of our conversation, Mr. Carrasco took the lead on stage, then gave us the VIP tour backstage, behind the curtains, where we glimpsed into what it is like to be an immigrant Afro-Latino in acting in the United States, and how this experience impacted his identity and drove him to also dedicate his time to social impact causes for Latin actors, theatre, and film. In today’s conversation, we examine the heart of a...2021-05-2654 min
The Nasiona PodcastColombia * Anti-Uribista: Plan Colombia and Uribe's Democratic Security and Defense PolicyLast week, I published an episode entitled “Colombia’s Historical Lack of Hegemony and Institutionalized Violence,” where I provided a thorough historical recap so you can better grasp the current Great Colombian Uprising and the predictable violent government response to it. (Listen to the episode here.) Though I covered two centuries of history, I stopped in the early 1990s because I lost my voice. Today, I want to fill some important gaps. Go on social media and type the hashtag #AntiUribista and you will find photos of cities in Colombia (and around the world) declaring themselves Anti-Uribistas as the...2021-05-161h 18
The Nasiona PodcastInside the Afro-Latino Actors Studio, Part 1Today we take you inside the Afro-Latino Actors Studio with Carlos Carrasco: actor, filmmaker, and director of the Panamanian International Film Festival in Los Angeles. Mr. Carrasco will take the lead on stage, then give us the VIP tour backstage, behind the curtains, where we glimpse into what it is like to be an immigrant Afro-Latino in acting in the United States, and how this experience has impacted his identity and drove him to also dedicate his time to social impact causes for Latin actors, theatre, and film. Born in Panamá City, Panamá, Carlos Carrasco has appeared as...2021-05-131h 54
Poems From My HeartS1 Episode 4: Identity and Activism through poetryIn today's episode, I speak with Julián Esteban Torres López, creator and culture architect of The Nasiona: a movement that centers, elevates, and amplifies the personal stories of those Othered by systems of oppression and dominant cultures. We discuss: identity activism and Ninety-Two Surgically Enhanced Mannequins: A Micro-Poetry CollectionBefore we jump into listening to Julián explore his new poetry book: Ninety-Two Surgically Enhanced Mannequins, we explore the social constructs of identity and how to shape our world.You will get to hear Julián and I recite on them...2021-05-1044 min
The Nasiona PodcastColombia’s Historical Lack of Hegemony and Institutionalized ViolenceColombia’s history is marked with many of its people treated merely as a mean to an end. Laura Yusem and Herbert Braun, respectively, were right in recognizing that “In Latin America, we learn early that our lives are worth little” and that “[i]n the struggle for land, human life in Colombia has been devalued.” Human rights activist Manuel Rozental was correct to paint Colombia’s history with the following pattern: people are massacred or enslaved, displaced, the land is freed, and the élite, foreign powers, and multi-national corporations come in to exploit the land and the labor force. 2021-05-081h 45The Nasiona PodcastBIPOC Musical Artists Showcase - Volume 1: PetrichorToday we play for you the entirety of our first musical compilation album, entitled Volume 1: Petrichor, from our BIPOC Music Series. The collection encapsulates all the glorious highs and the searing lows of navigating the world as an empathetic, curious individual. The works contained in this volume — from mournful piano compositions, dazzling spoken word, spellbinding vocal layered-songs, to beautiful instrumentals — express the intricacies of being an artist of color in a too-often indifferent world; and like the scent that lingers long after the downpour, these masterpieces ask you to sit awhile, to close your eyes, to pay attention. Album musi...2021-04-241h 04The Nasiona PodcastThe Nasiona's Earth Day ManifestoJulián Esteban Torres López lays out The Nasiona's Earth Day Manifesto: "We are standing on a fault line. We’re at what can become a historic crossroad and turning point, or simply a return to the status quo … a status quo that will only continue to degrade our planet and the vast majority of its inhabitants. Our soil is ready for a new harvest. Our seeds need to be watered." The Nasiona Podcast amplifies the voices and experiences of the marginalized, undervalued, overlooked, silenced, and forgotten, as well as gives you a glimpse into Oth...2021-04-2123 min
The Nasiona Podcast'You Look Like a Terrorist' & Other Racial Traumas, Part 2 (Deconstructing Dominant Cultures)During last week’s episode, I spoke with Dr. Parisa Mehran, founder of Women of Color in English Language Teaching (also known as WOC in ELT), to explore how white supremacy is at the heart of ELT and how the industry functions as a racist propaganda machine. We finished the first part of our conversation discussing passport privilege and the barriers for international students. Today, we continue where we left off, and also speak about obstacles to legal immigration, why POC international students may not finish university, and we share our own experiences of the impact of being called te...2021-04-011h 19
The Nasiona PodcastRacism and Racial Trauma in English Language Teaching, Part 1 (Deconstructing Dominant Cultures Series)Today we discuss the intricate relationship between racism and English Language Teaching (ELT). We explore how white supremacy is at the heart of ELT and how the industry functions as a racist propaganda machine. We discuss how native-speakerism and passport privilege can be forms of racism. We also dissect how native-speakerism damages the profession of ELT, and what steps we can take to tackle, dismantle, and reconstruct. We also shine a light on some of the detrimental consequences of racism in ELT, such as racial abuse and its effects on mental health. The damage and trauma people of color...2021-03-261h 17
The Nasiona PodcastDesign Thinking & Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Part 2 (Deconstructing Dominant Cultures Series)In our previous episode, I spoke with Vanessa Weathers, Founder and Principal Consultant at Conscious Employee Experiences, to explore design thinking and its relationship to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Today, she joins me again. This time we talk about how people best positioned for leadership roles may be those who have been marginalized. We also discuss how leadership is a title you earn, like you earn trust, and where power is truly rooted in organizations; we explore how to redesign local politics to get the best results and to get people in the right roles; Vanessa dissects ho...2021-03-1558 min
The Nasiona PodcastDesign Thinking & Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Part 1 (Deconstructing Dominant Cultures Series)Most environments are not designed to include and value everyone, and as a result such designs fail to center the concerns of those in the bottom rungs of our class and caste systems. So, if we really want to value and include everyone in our teams, in our communities, in our societies, in our politics, then we have to be intentional in the way we design our worlds. We must be intentional in the way we invent environments and opportunities so we may create different relationships with the self, with the other, with our environments, with our work, and...2021-03-011h 13
The Nasiona PodcastThe Philosopher of Authenticity: Fernando González (Deconstructing Dominant Cultures)Given the centering of Euro and Anglo authors, thinkers, artists, etc., and the deliberate attempt to conceal unpleasant and incriminating facts about history and other content taught K-12 and beyond, our education systems in the United States and Canada are still forms of forced colonial assimilation and propaganda. In the spirit of decolonizing our education, we introduce to Fernando González, who has been regarded at one time or another as the philosopher of authenticity, the philosopher of somewhere else, the philosopher of South America. Fernando González was a Colombian writer and existentialist philosopher who...2021-02-2328 min
The Nasiona PodcastIntersecting Oppressions of Race, Disability, and Mental Health During COVID-19 (Disability & Mental Health Series)Today, I introduce you to one of my oldest friends, Joe Sparkman, one half of The Nasiona Podcast’s music production team, The Heavyweights. We’ve got Joe and Marcus Allen to thank for our new musical vibe. Later in February, Aïcha Martine Thiam and I are going live with our new The Nasiona music series, where we will center, elevate, and amplify Black, Indigenous, and People of Color musical artists, and shed light on their experiences. Be on the lookout for music by William Broughton, Whitney & The Saying Goes, Stephanie Henry, Tony Tennyson, Isabella Fong, Chromic, Beezy Monta...2021-02-1755 minThe Nasiona PodcastMobs, Insurrections, & the Radicalized (Deconstructing Dominant Cultures Series)In the United States, we’ve been radicalized to assume ourselves as great, at the detriment of ourselves, our country, and the world. Our collective arrogance, self-absorption, and superiority complex will be our downfall if we do not course-correct immediately. A turbulent future is here and on the horizon. The intensity of that turbulence will depend on how we prepare and act today. On today’s episode, I share an editorial I wrote following the January 6th insurrection at the US Capitol entitled, “The Right Wing May Have Lit the Fire, but the Left Wing May Dig the Gra...2021-02-1348 min
The Nasiona PodcastKwatsáan: Ancestral Land, Myths, & Reparations (Deconstructing Dominant Cultures Series)A citizen of the Quechan (Yuma Indian) Nation, Deborah Taffa’s writing can be found at dozens of outlets including PBS, Salon, The Huff Post, Los Angeles Review of Books, Brevity, A Public Space, The Boston Review, and the Best American Nonrequired Reading. Her memoir manuscript won the Santa Fe Writers Project Literary Award in December, 2019. She teaches creative writing at Webster and Washington University in Saint Louis, MO, and lives on the island of O’ahu. Today’s episode is broken up into two acts where Deborah Taffa shares with us two of her personal essays: “Moon of...2021-02-0457 min
The Nasiona PodcastIn Between: Races, Languages, & Religions (Being Mixed-Race Series)"When you're mixed-race, someone's always telling you who you're not." That's the first line from Tamara Jong's personal essay, "In Between," which succinctly captures the essence of what it means to be mixed-race. After experiencing the essay—and I did experience it because I could relate to it with my entire being—I wanted to speak with Tamara about her experience of being in between races, languages, and religions. We spoke in November of 2019 about growing up in these liminal spaces and her journey to find a footing, an identity, and a community. After our conversation, Tamara messaged me to say that...2021-01-2947 min
The Nasiona PodcastSerenidad y Paciencia: Un misterioso sendero entre la vida y la muerteNuestras industrias del entretenimiento tienden a destacar y mostrar historias de profesionales, pero es más raro que le demos una plataforma a la gente común para que hable. Como resultado, perdemos no solo algunas historias verdaderamente extraordinarias, sino también la sabiduría que brindan estas vidas vividas. De vez en cuando, te encuentras con alguien que lo tiene todo: la experiencia vivida, la sabiduría y el talento para contar una historia de una manera tan atractiva que crees que debe hacer esto para ganarse la vida, pero no es así. Mi papá e...2021-01-1955 min
The Nasiona PodcastThe Sisterhood of Teatro Luna, Part 1 (Being Latina/o/x Series)When speaking about the series of original short stories from Latinas across the states, entitled Talking While Female and Other Dangerous Acts, co-producer of the Audible original book, Alexandra Meda, says: “They are all little jewels, little lessons on how to live bravely, how to get up after a failure, how to love yourself more, and how to spread the love with others.” Her words describe the book perfectly, and also capture the essence of Teatro Luna — the group that put out the book. Teatro Luna is an ensemble of Latina/x femmes and Women of Color. It is a r...2021-01-091h 26
The Nasiona PodcastIsolation, Grief, and Sisterhood While Incarcerated, Part 2 (Womanhood & Trauma Series) On episode 34, Ra Avis joined me to discuss incarceration and prison abolition. We unpacked how prisons create many social problems, what some of the biggest barriers to prison abolition are, and what people should know about the prison system that most do not. On today's episode, Ra Avis joins me again, this time to discuss how people do not rehabilitate via isolation alone, her experience dealing with grief and trauma while incarcerated, and the shocking aspect of realizing that one of the only women-run societies in the world is a women's prison, which was one aspect of...2020-12-201h 12
The Nasiona PodcastIncarceration and Prison Abolition, Part 1 (Deconstructing Dominant Cultures Series)Do prisons get rid of social problems, or do they create a lot of them? Should we abolish the prison system? What are the biggest barriers to prison abolition? What should people know about the prison system that most do not know? This is part 1 of a 2-part interview where I speak with Ra Avis to get a glimpse into incarceration and prison abolition for our Deconstructing Dominant Cultures series. Ra Avis is an award-winning blogger, and the author of Sack Nasty: Prison Poetry (2016), Dinosaur-Hearted (2018), and Flowers and Stars (2018). She is a once-upon-a-time inmate, a reluctantly-optimistic widow, and a generati...2020-10-191h 13The Nasiona PodcastJourneys: Inbound, Outbound (Inside Look Series)In case you didn’t know, before there was The Nasiona Podcast there was (and still is) The Nasiona Magazine. On August 29th, we celebrated the magazine’s 2-year anniversary. We continued the celebration this week with our previous episode highlighting one of our authors, Carl Boon, and his imaginative biography poetry collection, PLACES & NAMES, published by The Nasiona Publishing House. We continue this celebration on today’s podcast by showcasing the work of two essayists — Stephen D. Gutierrez and Morelle Smith. We selected these pieces to share with you today for two reasons. First, because our editorial...2020-09-091h 16The Nasiona PodcastImaginative Biography: PLACES & NAMES (Diaspora & Immigration Series)The poems in Carl Boon’s debut collection, PLACES & NAMES, coalesce two kinds of history—the factual and the imagined—to produce a kind of intimacy that is greater than either fact or imagination. It is this sense of intimacy that brings the poems to life. We encounter real places sometimes—places we see on maps and highway signs—but also places that exist only in the imagination. We encounter names that are both recognizable and almost—or barely—remembered at all: Jorge Luis Borges next to an unknown boy from Clarita, Oklahoma, who himself would become a poet someday; a man...2020-09-0457 min
The Nasiona PodcastGlobal International African Arts Movement, Part 2 (Deconstructing Dominant Cultures Series)In the second episode of our 2-part conversation, Tori Reid and Patrick A. Howell of storytelling company Victory & Noble continue to unpack what it means to be a prophet in the Global International African Arts Movement, as well as what it means to be an evangelist, a seer, and a manifestor; they open up about their most memorable conversations with cultural icons and how these conversations transformed them; Tori and Patrick reveal their humanity and tells us how they became who they became; they explore how as creatives we are always best when we have the courage to be com...2020-09-011h 07
The Nasiona PodcastGlobal International African Arts Movement, Part 1 (Deconstructing Dominant Cultures Series)It was a pleasure to speak with the two complementing spirits behind Victory & Noble, a storytelling company. In this 2-part conversation for our Deconstructing Dominant Cultures Series, Tori Reid and Patrick A. Howell — children of cultural and intellectual icons — reveal their own legacy project, and their energy and determination are sure to inspire, educate, and transform. Both Tori and Patrick — with Victory & Noble, with their podcast and books, and all of their projects under development — move us forward with a critical optimism rooted in both the real struggles of our past and our present, but also a futurism...2020-09-011h 17
The Nasiona PodcastProtesting the Publishing Industry's White Gaze (Deconstructing Dominant Cultures Series)In the previous episode, Lisa D. Gray, the founder and curator of Our Voices Our Stories SF, joined me to interrogate the publishing industry’s white gaze. In today’s episode, we discuss how we can protest the industry, and other institutions, and how we can gain power and find power in our everyday lives to dismantle and rebuild the world anew, even when under the yoke of systems of oppression like racism. We ended the first part of our conversation in the last episode on how poets are the soul of our societies, and that fascist regi...2020-08-281h 20
The Nasiona PodcastInterrogating the Publishing Industry's White Gaze (Deconstructing Dominant Cultures Series)Beware of the white gaze. In this episode, Lisa D. Gray, founder of Our Voices Our Stories SF, joins me to stare down this omnipresent white gaze, which is prevalent in every space, in every industry, in every community of this white supremacist country. In particular, we place the publishing industry in the interrogation room and make our list of demands. We discuss how we can hold those wielding power in the industry accountable when they say that publishing does not have a diversity, equity, and inclusion problem. We examine how Black and other women of color writers can...2020-08-251h 08The Nasiona PodcastTo the Border Crossers (Being Latina/o/x Series)On 8 March 2019, The Nasiona‘s co-Founder, Julián Esteban Torres López, was the keynote speaker at “Cruzando Fronteras”—an event on immigration and border crossing, hosted by Central Americans for Empowerment (CAFÉ) at California State University, Chico. Julián’s speech tackled the role of storytelling as a tool of empowerment that can disrupt the status quo, confront caricatures, change politics by first changing culture, and help shape new paradigms. "Cruzando Fronteras" was an event that hoped to provide a safe space to talk about the seeking of refuge and the many harsh trials and tribulations that our famili...2020-07-2733 min
The Nasiona Podcast‘Where Are You From?’: The Wrong Passport (Diaspora & Immigration Series)In this in-depth interview with Yaldaz Sadakova—creator of Foreignish.net and author of The Wrong Passport: Memoir Stories About Immigration—we unpack the dreaded question "Where are you from?", its limitations, how it's a micro-aggression, and a better question to ask; Yaldaz speaks to how she found new emotional and intellectual anchors after leaving her birth country and how she found her creative voice in a foreign land; her feelings of shame and distress about forgetting her mother tongue; becoming estranged from her Turkish Muslim heritage; we interrogate our hesitation to correct people when they mispronounce our names; she...2020-07-081h 22
The Nasiona PodcastRound-Table Discussion on Race (Being Mixed-Race Series)Nasiona podcast producers and editors Aïcha Martine Thiam, Nicole Zelniker, and Julián Esteban Torres López explore why it's so difficult to discuss race, how race differs in different countries, race in publishing, share personal anecdotes, and give our take on Jordan Peele's "documentary" Get Out. The podcast series is the companion to Zelniker's book, Mixed, published by The Nasiona and available in paperback on Amazon, on Amazon Kindle and on Barnes and Noble’s website. In both the book and the podcast series, Zelniker spoke to dozens of mixed-race families and individuals, as well as experts...2020-03-051h 21
The Nasiona PodcastTono Latino (Being Latina/o/x Series)My guest today is the founder of Tono Latino, Sylvia Salazar. Sylvia is a Colombian immigrant and a computer engineer turned political activist. Her passion is helping other people understand what is going on in the world of politics and to encourage them to become more politically involved and vote. She is determined to change Latino representation in politics and in media. Tono Latino is a progressive platform that informs and educates Latinos about politics in the United States and encourages them to become more involved and vote. In this interview, we explore why Sylvia...2020-02-241h 06
The Nasiona PodcastTraces of Home (Diaspora and Immigration Series)Chicago-based filmmaker Colette Ghunim’s passion lies at the cross-section of social impact and visual storytelling. Her first documentary, The People’s Girls, received worldwide attention for its bold spotlight on Egypt’s issue of sexual harassment. With recognition by major international outlets, The People’s Girls trailer enticed over 2 million views. Colette is currently working on Traces of Home, her first feature-length film documenting her journey back to Mexico and Palestine to locate her parents' original homes, which they were forced to leave decades ago. She is also the co-founder of Mezcla Media Collective, a nonprofit organizati...2020-01-2243 min
The Nasiona PodcastWhy Would I Mispronounce My Own Name? (Being Latina/o/x Series)When Irma Herrera gives her name its correct Spanish pronunciation, some people assume she’s not a real American. Her play, Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name?, is one woman’s journey from a small segregated South Texas town to California's multicultural mecca. In this wide-ranging interview we explored many topics, such as the difficulty to access safe spaces for those of us deemed second-class citizens, her Chicana identity, colorism and racism, linguistic isolation, cultural hybridity, internal refugees in the United States, class migration, how her play is relevant to our current socio-political and cultural climate, and we g...2019-11-101h 24The Nasiona PodcastEducation and Race (Being Mixed-Race Series)Most people know about Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 landmark case that integrated US schools for the first time. What many people don’t realize—especially if they’ve been brought up in very white communities—is that race is still a contentious topic in education. In fact, we’re more segregated today than we were in the late 1960s, according to The Atlantic, PolitiFact, Vox, and others, but most people wouldn’t know that from their high school history classes. Race is still something we don’t teach in school unless it’s firmly placed in the past, lik...2019-11-0435 minThe Nasiona PodcastBrown White Black Family (Being Mixed-Race Series)Most TV and movies portray adoption as a white parent adopting a child. This is true in such mainstream shows as Friends, Glee, 90210, Modern Family, Sex and The City, Grey’s Anatomy, and Parenthood. This representation is often how people think of adoption, something that can get frustrating for Nishta J. Mehra, an Indian woman with a white wife and black adopted child. As a child, Nishta grew up as one of the only Indian children in a predominantly white neighborhood, something she talks about in her book, Brown White Black. Now, she’s writing about her own...2019-10-2630 minThe Nasiona PodcastMinimalism and the 6-Month-to-Live List (Inside Look Series)Minimalism is intentionally living with only the things you really need. Minimalists maintain that there are benefits to minimalist living, like reduced anxiety, lower expenses, increased productivity, and living a more fulfilling life. But not all minimalists go so far as to reduce their possessions to live out of a van ... for years ... intentionally. My guest today is author David Soto Jr. and he is (or maybe was) one of these van life minimalists. David is a retired U.S. Air Force Master Sergeant who didn't realize until reaching his forties that he was a writer. He h...2019-10-2343 min
The Nasiona PodcastParenting a Mixed-Race Child (Being Mixed-Race Series)In addition to being multiracial, many mixed-race Americans are also multicultural. For example, in The Nasiona’s book Mixed, Nicole Zelniker wrote about Kazu and Lynda Gomi. Kazu is Japanese, from Japan, and Lynda is a white US American. Naomi Raquel Enright is one such person, and she writes about her own experience with race and racism in her book, Strength of Soul. Interwoven with her own story of being born to a Jewish American father and an Ecuadorian mother in La Paz, Bolivia, Naomi also proposes her own strategies for how to fight racism and introduces re...2019-10-1535 min
Write, Publish, and Shine#36 The Nasiona—Persuade with Julián Esteban Torres López“Editing is a position of power that I take seriously. I’m a writer, author, creative in different ways and I experienced the negativity of being a victim of systems of oppression,” Julián Esteban Torres López.Julián Esteban Torres López is a Colombian-born journalist, publisher, podcaster, and editor. Before founding the nonfiction storytelling organization The Nasiona, he ran several cultural and arts organizations, edited journals and books, was a social justice and public history researcher, wrote a column for Colombia Reports, taught university courses, and managed a history museum. He’s a Pushcart Prize and Best Small Fictio...2019-10-1245 minThe Nasiona PodcastWriting from Experience (Being Mixed-Race Series)Publishing has a race problem. Entertainment Weekly reported that only 7.8% of romance authors using a traditional publisher were people of color in 2016. For that same year, NPR found that only 22% of all characters in children’s books were characters of color. This, in a country where people of color are expected to make up more than half of the population by 2044 according to The Center for American Progress. For this reason, writers like Anika Fajardo, who is Colombian and white, and F. Douglas Brown, who is African American and Filipino, are more important than ever. Both were co...2019-09-3041 minThe Nasiona PodcastThe Beiging of America (Being Mixed-Race Series)In 2017, editors Sean Frederick Forbes and Tara Betts, along with co-editor Cathy Schlund-Vials, published a volume of essays entitled The Beiging of America: Being Mixed Race in the 21st Century. This collection joins others such as Jesmyn Ward’s The Fire This Time and A Race Anthology, edited by Dan Moulthrop and R.A. Washington. Still, books about race, especially about being mixed-race, are few and far between. In this collection, nearly 40 authors told their stories about being mixed-race in the U.S. Sean Frederick Forbes is an Assistant Professor-in-Residence of English and Director of th...2019-09-2836 min
The Nasiona PodcastMemoir as a Political Act (Being Latina/o/x Series)How can memoir be a political act? When living under oppressive systems, the simple act of standing up and sharing personal stories that go against the mainstream is a political act. Mireya S. Vela and Julián Esteban Torres López meditate on this issue, which is an essential part of each other’s work. Vela speaks from the perspective of an author, while Torres López forwards his experience as a publisher. Through their work, they both explore systemic inequities and injustice and use memoir to challenge, expose, and defiantly try to break down structures that have traditionally margin...2019-09-251h 16The Nasiona PodcastDisability Inclusion, Intersectionality, and Activism (Being Mixed-Race Series)Much of the already small disability representation in the media focuses on white people, and often men. This includes Artie Abrams from the TV show Glee, Jack Hodgins from the TV show Bones, and Jake Sully from the film Avatar. Although we would never know it from TV and movies, the CDC reports that 19.67% of people of color have a disability compared with 20% of white people. In many spaces, people with disabilities aren’t welcome regardless of race, often unintentionally. Even Ali Stroker, a white woman and the first person in a wheelchair to win a Tony Aw...2019-09-1328 min
The Nasiona PodcastPassing as White (On Being Mixed-Race Series)Since European settlers brought enslaved Africans to the United States, there has been passing. In terms of race, passing means presenting as a race you don’t identify as, such as when an escaped enslaved person pretended to be white to avoid being sold back into slavery. More recently, former Spokane NAACP president Rachel Dolezal made headlines when it came out that she was a white woman passing as black for many years. Not all passing is intentional, however. Sam Manas, for example, is white and Panamanian, although because he is much lighter-skinned than most people from Pa...2019-09-1335 minThe Nasiona PodcastMixed-Race Relationships (Being Mixed-Race Series)In 1958, Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter married in Washington D.C., having left the state of Virginia to do so because of the Racial Integrity Act that had been in place in their home state since 1924. Upon their return, the couple, being mixed-race, were charged with, quote, “cohabiting as man and wife, against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth." They pleaded guilty in 1959 and spent one year in jail, after which they had to leave the state. In 1964, the couple sued the state of Virginia. Their case reached the Supreme Court in 1967, and the court struck do...2019-09-1334 minThe Nasiona PodcastMixed-Race Families Matter (Being Mixed-Race Series)Mixed-race families are becoming more and more commonplace, as evidenced by everything from The Pew Research Center’s data to the latest Census reports. In this episode, we continue to talk about the experiences of those who come from mixed-race families, like Katie Bullard and Jesse Chen. Katie Bullard, who is Chinese, lives with her parents, both white, and her younger brother Jacob, who is Vietnamese, in Brevard, North Carolina. Her two older siblings, Gio and Jessie, are both mixed-race and also adopted. Bullard graduated with a degree in English from Guilford College in 2017, and hopes to so...2019-09-1330 min
The Nasiona PodcastWhat It Means to be Mixed-Race (Being Mixed-Race Series)Mixed-race U.S. Americans are one of the fastest-growing populations in the United States, according to The Pew Research Center. In 2017, 10% of all children in the U.S. were mixed-race, up from just 1% in the 1970s. Evidence from The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry indicates that this number will only go up: In 2016, they reported that “47% of white teens, 60% of black teens, and 90% of Hispanic teens said they had dated someone of another race.” It is for these reasons that interviewees Justyn Melrose’s and Danielle Douez’s experiences are becoming more common. Justyn is Costa Ri...2019-09-1233 minThe Nasiona PodcastDaughterhood (Womanhood & Trauma Series)Four daughters lose and find their mothers, engage and disengage with them, learn and unlearn who these women are and who they were before they came along. These daughters, intentionally and unintentionally, look for meaning and identity in the women who gave them birth; because whether we like or barely tolerate them, whether we love or reject them entirely, whether they put us together fragment by careful fragment, or whether they undo us with the tug of an errant string, who they were tells us everything about who we will become. And so we keep prying underneath...2019-08-2451 minThe Nasiona PodcastThe Elusive Burmese from Liminal Space (Diaspora & Immigration Series)A portrait of a Burmese woman's quest to piece together the fragments of her identity and how she's helping empower the people of Myanmar with social and emotional intelligence through her psychological consulting firm so they can heal, transform, and grow to reach their fullest potential and contribute to the development of their country. Author, educator, psychologist, and social entrepreneur Su Su Maung was born in Burma, grew up in Singapore, immigrated to Canada, and settled down in California. Her professional training was in Counseling Psychology. She teaches courses on psychology at Myanmar Clinical Psychology Consortium. She c...2019-06-282h 04The Nasiona PodcastMotherhood (Womanhood & Trauma Series)Motherhood has often been considered a pinnacle of wisdom and serenity, a sort of joining together of all those parts of ourselves that were supposedly, until this point, in lesser focus. But in truth, more often than not, motherhood opens more doors than it closes. It is an endless series of complications and ambiguities that are put into sharper relief by the arrival of a daughter. What emerges from the following four stories is this precise push and pull, that aforementioned ambiguity, pondered through the lens of devotion and loss, of privilege and resentment, of injustice and f...2019-06-011h 04The Nasiona PodcastThe Imperfect Art of Medicine (Inside Look Series)Why is it so hard to change people’s minds and behaviors with new facts? We explore this question by looking at it through the lens of pediatrics. More specifically, we focus on new information about infant food allergy. Dr. Ron Sunog joins me to discuss his new book, Eat The Eight: Preventing Food Allergy with Food and the Imperfect Art of Medicine, published by The Nasiona and available now on Amazon. In 2015, after a landmark medical study proved that the early inclusion of peanut in the diet of infants prevents peanut allergy, Ron Sunog, MD, set ou...2019-05-2245 minThe Nasiona PodcastTransracial Adoption (Being Mixed-Race Series)We continue our episode 3 discussion on mixed-race families by digging into transracial adoption. Nicole Zelniker—whose book, Mixed, was the focus of that episode—joins me to interview Leah Whetten-Goldstein about her experience being adopted from China into a white, Jewish family in North Carolina. We discuss side-effects, critiques, misunderstandings, and assumptions surrounding transracial adoption, as well as the beauty of being in a mixed-race family. We get a glimpse into Whetten-Goldstein's struggle to find an identity growing up in a predominantly white community as an adoptee, and she shares the wisdom she's gathered along the way.2019-04-2656 min
The Nasiona PodcastSystemic Abuse of Women (Womanhood & Trauma Series)Today’s episode is a continuation of episode 2 of our podcast. In that episode, we spoke with Mireya S. Vela about the life experiences that were the soil that nourished her book, Vestiges of Courage: Collected Essays, published by The Nasiona. Vestiges of Courage is a collection of personal essays that explores inequities and injustice. Raised between two cultures and two languages, Mireya S. Vela discusses how the systems in her family and in society worked to create an abusive environment that felt crushing, confusing, and hopeless. In her book, Ms. Vela delineates her experience of living thr...2019-04-121h 08The Nasiona PodcastMixed-Race Families (Being Mixed-Race Series)The definition of families is widening, whether it's because of mixed-race relationships, interracial adoption, or numerous other factors. Today, it is important to hear from a growing population about race, their shifting identities, and what family means to them. At the heart of the issue are the mixed-race families. Many mixed-race children have had difficulties fitting in, whether with one race or the other. In mixed-race relationships, one partner may face racism, while the other may not, or else they will experience racism in different ways. Children who have been adopted into families that identify as a...2019-04-101h 07
The Nasiona PodcastMireya S. Vela's Vestiges of Courage (Womanhood & Trauma Series)What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life? Mireya S. Vela is that woman. In this long-form interview, we discuss her art, creative nonfiction, social justice, motherhood, womanhood, being marginalized in the United States, and her new book, Vestiges of Courage: Collected Essays, which we, The Nasiona, are happy to be publishing in April of 2019. Vestiges of Courage is a collection of personal essays that explores inequities and injustice. Raised between two cultures and two languages, Vela discusses how the systems in her family and in society worked to create an abusive environment...2019-03-261h 39The Nasiona PodcastIM John Donaldson’s Chess World (Inside Look Series)Do the stereotypes about chess and chess players have any validity at all? Through the eyes of John Donaldson (International Master and chess writer, journalist, coach, and historian) we get a behind-the-scenes look at the most popular game of all time to see if chess really does transcend language, age, race, religion, politics, gender, and socioeconomic background. We also get some interesting anecdotes about Bobby Fischer from his biographer, as well as try to answer the following questions: Is chess a sport, art, or a science? What is the role of computers in the game? How much do privilege...2019-03-061h 18