Hi, welcome back to Eat Your Cross Podcast. I'm Crystal and I'm G-Soo.
So before we jump into the topic today, I kind of have a funny story to share.
So I've been trying to go back into the gym grind life and I went to the gym today and
over the loudspeakers, like they were bumping music and it was all K-pop and I was there for maybe
a little less than an hour or something like that. The whole time it's shuffling through like
twice and some male idol songs that I don't really know, but mostly like a lot of twice and I was
kind of like this is lit, like I love twice. Yeah and this is perfect because I was talking to
a close friend earlier this week and we were talking about how TikTok is kind of
rooting our attention span a little bit where TikTok has this whole thing about, you know,
you listen to like a voiceover story of a Reddit post or something and then there's like subway
surfers on the bottom. There's like you know two different clips matched together so that you can
visually focus on one while like listening to something else or whatever, but I was able to watch
a show while listening to the twice music in the back and I was like holy shit, this is like
amazing. Need this double audio to like keep my brain wired. How did you know what was going on
in the show? Well I'm just like listening to the dialogue in the show and then it's like almost like
the background music is basically the K-pop in the back and I was like amazing, like extremely
stimulated. I'm gonna be honest the first time I saw those things on TikTok where it's like you
know half screen is I don't know someone like shaving soap or something. I was so confused. I was
like I don't get it. What am I supposed to look at? Is this does this clip have something to do
with this like soap or something? But then later I realized it was like just extra stimulation.
Yeah exactly. That's wild to me. I think when I see that I actually just completely ignore
one of the parts and I just focus on like whatever the main clip is. Honestly that's probably
a little bit better for your brain because I feel like I'm so used to seeing either like the half
clips of the soap shaving or like slime you know whatever you're clipped with like the Kardashians
or something. Oh my god. But it's to the point where I have to be playing like a game while I watch
TV or YouTube. So I just know like it's almost like my attention span is getting segmented into like
two attention spans and like both things have to be engaged for like the engine to run. Oh my god
that is really something. Well there is a second part to this kpop gym story but I just thought it
was so funny because we went out of time where I think a lot of students were there because this gym
is kind of like a community college gym so a lot of students come after class work out whatever
but there was like you know where the benches are with like the free weights there was like a bunch
of gym bros it was definitely like a crowd of like five or six and they were like in a crowd like
talking to each other really loud doing like the broy thing of like this bumping or whatever.
I think just visually it was like a weird juxtaposition of like all these gym bros who are like
super macho and masculine and like the kpop in the background and then I hear one of the guys going
dude I fucking love that they're like playing kpop right now man. Oh my god I was like yeah I love
it so much dude I wish they played this all the time and I was like what the fuck. That is really
funny. So speaking of TikTok and kpop I have a theory to throw out for you to think about. I
looked up before like why do songs get stuck in your head. Something that I read said basically
when you listen to a song and you don't listen to it ending it'll get stuck in your head because
you want to hear more like you want to hear how it ends. I was kind of thinking about TikTok when
you were telling the story and in TikTok like there's only what 30 seconds usually with like the
you know song placed in the back. Lately there's been a lot of kpop songs as well being used as
the background song and so we just hear segments of that song but we never hear the full thing.
So maybe that is like causing songs especially like kpop songs to get stuck in our head and just
it is working in kpop's favor right now. Oh interesting. I guess also the segment that we listen to
of this song is usually like the most exciting or like has the most build up or is the chorus or
something so it's like you know your cherry picking the catchiest parts. True because I was kind of
thinking about kpop lately and I'm sure a lot of people have heard of this newer group that's
been like all over the place lately which is new jeans and I also discovered them on TikTok and
I feel a lot of people discovered them on TikTok and I was like why is it that they're just like
everywhere. It's crazy too because I can actually say to someone who I would have never known
listens to kpop you know maybe they just straight up don't and I'll be like you know I'm trying to
listen to like didddo by new jeans they'll be like dude I love that song. Oh shit really it's just
it's so interesting to like see. Dude that's crazy. I feel like also too with the rise of both Black
Pink and new jeans I think to me those two groups have incorporated the most English in their songs
and the English tends to have like perfect grammar and perfect pronunciation so maybe it doesn't
come off as like foreign seeming to people who aren't you know used to listening to kpop or
songs with different lyrics. Yeah and I feel like those two groups out of the girl groups like
lately have been pretty transcendent of like just the kpop crowd right. Yeah totally dude it's like
mainstream it's gym mainstream. Oh my god that's true I mean you said they were mostly playing twice
so that means twice is included in the like transcendence of kpop. Yeah yeah totally and it was
so funny too because I feel like the front desk people kind of control the playlist and neither of
them looked Asian just like visually so I was like oh this is like really sick actually. Yeah
you know it's just very cool that everyone's like open to it there's people enjoying the music at
the gym just like a strange experience like I wish my 10 year old self could witness this right now.
The next step would be a bunch of kpop on the radio. True New Jeans on the radio. Dude I do
remember back in the day BTS got played a bit on the radio with their like collab with Halsey.
Right. But I don't really listen to the radio so I cannot confirm or deny if they are still on the
radio. Sadly I still listen to the radio because my ox cable broke in my car recently but I have
it seen New Jeans yet on the radio. Hopefully soon. They need to make like a kpop hour. Dude that'd
be kind of sick or if they just like did a new station that's like kpop station right. True.
It's doable. Should we buy a frequency? I don't even know how it works like do we buy a frequency or what?
Yeah our next career path is gonna be radio hosts. Thank you for sharing your enlightening kpop
gym story this week. But speaking of kpop our topic this week is actually related to like Asian
representation. Kind of recently I was doing something that I don't remember anymore but I had a
thought popped up in my head that when I was younger I had like very few Asian American teachers
in school. I think I had a total of maybe two throughout my like you know elementary junior high
in high school time. I didn't even realize or know that I couldn't relate or not even couldn't
just like it was a little harder for me to relate to like the non-Asian American teachers
until I got my first Asian American teacher. Then I was like oh my god like why do I suddenly feel
so much more like comfortable or like maybe so bold as to like stay after class and ask questions
but normally I'm like okay bye guys like I'll see you when I see you. Yeah that's such a good point.
I thought it was so interesting because we had texted a little bit about this offline and I was
like yeah you're right. I guess the deepest connections that I've had with my teachers growing up
were my two Asian American teachers basically one and third grade who I loved Miss Kuhano
and one in like 10th grade she was the best Miss Che. It was just such a different connection
to where like I was so used to having mostly white teachers at school which I always found
interesting because I grew up in like the Bay Area for my whole life like all of my schooling was
in the Bay and it's a very Asian American spot but the number of Asian American teachers that I
had was still so low. Our school is probably like 50 60% Asian and I was always like that's so odd
like where are the Asian American teachers or why don't I at least have more. Very true. I can't
even explain it very well but like I do remember one of my earliest Asian American teachers she was
my fifth grade teacher for some reason just like being in her class made me feel comfortable
and maybe she just also had a really good personality because what's really funny is she would like
gossip about her life with us and we're just like a classroom of fifth graders and we would just
ask her questions about her life and I think she had like gotten proposed to that year so we were
like oh my god like what happened like tell us all about it and she's just like a story time
with her like fifth graders here and I think like we even broached topics like oh what language do
you speak at home that kind of stuff which was I guess like very refreshing and made me feel whether
I realized it or not made me feel kind of seen because I think that teacher who was Chinese she did
actually say that her Chinese was not very good so she was like I'm not about to talk to all your
parents in like Chinese during the parent teacher conference week but I guess like just being able to
even casually talk about that topic during you know like random class time was very impressionable I
guess yeah dude I feel like it's interesting because I've also had my fair share of really great
positive influence kind of white teachers as well plenty of them have been very like culturally
sensitive but I feel like it's also not just about treating cultures with respect like that's
definitely a huge important aspect but it's also just about like relatability right it's like
is this person someone that visually looks like me or I can kind of paste like my future self onto
or like just kind of understand and relate to when you're so young on like those fundamental levels
I remember in third grade when my teacher was Asian American I loved her so much that I was like
oh I want to be like a teacher in the future so I feel like that's yeah I feel like that's like
an example of like okay she was such a positive role model who visually looked like me culturally
related to me and therefore I could like see myself in her shoes later on basically dude so true
I'm remembering now like I loved my fifth grade teacher so much that I was like damn I want to be
as cool as her when I grow up it like really made me want to impress her get good grades and stuff
and be like yeah like look at me go but then for other teachers who are not Asian American I mean
I still tried to like do okay in class but I think I was just way less like I don't really care if
you like me that much or not I'm just gonna like get through this class I feel that I feel like
for me it even trickled down to college actually so one of my favorite classes in college was linear
algebra and my professor at the time was an Asian American professor a woman and I love her so much
like I didn't have the guts still to like go off and talk to her during office hours but I like
went to every single class I don't think I ever missed one like I always took notes never took
my laptop out and I learned so much in linear algebra which is just like a random GE for my like
major basically and I was like this is such a cool experience like I would love to have had more
of those experiences but even at UCSD I think a lot of my professors still tended to be white
dude that's crazy like we were so positively influenced by just simply having an Asian American
teacher yeah even in my job I think my company is really cool where a lot of the co-workers that
I have tend to be Asian American women and what's especially really cool for me is I feel like at
every kind of corporate rung of the ladder like I can see an Asian woman in like a certain position
like there's like an Asian woman director senior director like VP SVP all the way up to the C
suite there's Asian women in every spot basically I don't know how I would have felt at a different
company even if it were the similar like smaller's end of a company but because I can see people
who look like me and share like these cultural similarities to me in these higher positions I'm like
this feels a little bit more climbable and I can actually see myself wanting to do better at work
and like wanting to climb the ladder a little bit and get to those positions because it's like
visually achievable kind of um wait that's so cool you have so many Asian American co-workers
I actually have like none oh no like in your direct team or even the people that you work with
so my direct team there's no Asian Americans and then in the people that I work with
off the top of my head there was one person who I worked with like here in there last year
but this year she's become independent of me like she doesn't really need my help because we built
out of like a framework and like a kind of template so that she doesn't have to bother me all the time
not that it was ever a bother so now that she's gone from my like regular work projects
there's no other Asian American co-worker that I work with often or like regularly how does that
make you feel okay there's more that make you feel but like you know just the level of interaction
that you have with your team or like other co-workers and stuff having no Asian American co-workers
do you think that sort of changes the way you see work or the way you enjoy work at all or is it
more of like oh it would be nice to see more people who kind of look like me at work
mmm I haven't thought too much about it if I reflect on my actions I can see how it affects me a
little bit so it's definitely not causing me trouble or anything but it's more like I just get
really excited when there's an Asian American nearby like oh a little too excited
so for example that Asian American woman who I worked with a little bit last year
I was actually seated like right next to her at work when we were going back in the office
and I was really excited because I was like dude I get to sit next I think at the time I didn't even
understand why but I was like I have an affinity towards this girl like I want to be her friend
but then later my seat got moved because our team didn't all fit in that one little pod area
so we got moved to a different area still the same floor and area but we're just a little farther now
like I would have to purposefully walk all the way down to the end of the hall to like interact
with her you know when my seat got moved I was like kind of sad but it was for the good of the team
so I couldn't say anything you know they're like hey we're thinking about moving our desks so that we
can all sit together as a team and I was like yeah that's great but inside I was like weeping
I'm like I object but silently I was like I guess I won't be making this Asian American friend anymore
oh damn dude I don't know I think I felt like tech was more Asian than it actually is or you
know I'm sure there's a lot of diversity like depending on which company you are but I don't know
I guess just because I know so many engineers I'm like I just assume a lot of people in tech are Asian
yeah that's true I don't really work with engineers so that could definitely be a factor I think we
still have like pretty decent diversity but within the people that I work with there's definitely
like a majority that's white people there's a mix of other ethnic backgrounds so maybe it's just
the nature of like the area that I work in which is a little more towards the like business side
of things I guess but yeah I'm pretty jealous that you have so many Asian American co-workers
dude it's pretty lit I think it's also lit because we have like similar taste palettes kind of
if that makes sense so like office snacks tend to be more Asian oriented so we always have like
Japanese kid cats or you know some sort of Asian snack like sesame snack or whatever and I'm like
this is so nice it's not just like lays potato chips you know yeah that makes a lot of sense
I will admit though that you know the reason I don't have so many Asian American co-worker friends
is probably partially my own fault as well I'm literally a part of this like group at work called
the Asian network for our company by a part of it I just mean I subscribe to like the newsletter
and they do host events or you know like host certain things and try to like get the
group involved and make it a welcoming space but it's just I think the company is so large that
sometimes it's hard to like muster up the courage to be like okay I guess I'm just gonna go to
this thing and try to make some friends yeah that's true that's definitely pretty intimidating
to show up to kind of those big like sort of anonymous happy hours and try to network just
doesn't feel as organic sometimes definitely I think I feel bad to keep talking about this because
you're like oh I don't have as many Asians at my company that's all right I'll just say one more
thing so what I think is really cool at our company is because we have such a big proportion of us
about our Asian and just POC in general we do a lot of these like many presentations in our
company wide meetings where it's about like lunar new year or you know certain holiday or like
eat or holly and stuff like that and it's like really cool to kind of celebrate that and people
left to share photos if people dressed up and like traditional geared during certain holidays
on the slack channel and stuff and I'm like wow it's kind of nice to publicly celebrate it and not
in a smaller sense sort of because you know more American holidays are like widely celebrated
and we don't usually get that kind of visibility unless it's like just within the network sort of
it's been really cool and I think another thing that strikes me as important for like diversity
and relatability and things like that is you just don't have to explain as much
it's like you can talk about certain things and everyone has kind of the same or similar
cultural roots or fundamental background to understand it so you don't have to be like oh yeah
this is cooler important to me because blah blah blah whereas in school I feel like
there was sort of a lot of that going on I just remember I had a teacher who I was like talking to
about my relationship with my parents during the college application process which is rough for
everyone but we were kind of talking about it and I found myself like over explaining like the
Korean familial like background and like you know what that is culturally for us and then I was
like I'm like exhausting myself just talking about it but the premise is taking me so long that my
emotions are drying up I can't care about it but there's less of that when I talk to someone who
kind of directly understands it yeah that's a good point it would definitely be easier to like
delve into details about certain things that are happening in life or events that you went to
or participated in right if you know some people just already have like a bit of background knowledge
on it but then if it's like you're not sure if they do then it's a 50 50 right you're like oh I
could be really vague about this so no further questions or I could leave it open to questions but
then end up explaining myself for like an hour yeah yeah sometimes it's not even them you know it's
just like am I up for this challenge of like doubling this conversation basically
although I will say sometimes it was them I mean I don't know about you but I feel like there
are direct effects to having like your whole faculty be like basically a different ethnic background
or like a different race from your students sometimes teachers would make comments that lumped
all Asians in one bucket at school I remember during college app season you know especially like
junior year senior year where you're like really grinding your grades and in AP classes and stuff
it's stressful and people don't want like bees so there was often like a big push to get an A-
instead of a B-plus and just like students nagging teachers and stuff which I'm sure is just
super annoying and like a whirlwind of its own but I just remember one teacher was like
yeah like I don't care if your parents are tiger parents you know tiger moms tiger dads I don't
want them in my emails like blah blah and he was basically complaining about like parents submitting
complaints for their students grades which sucks but then I was just kind of like this feels a little
bit racial in a sense like I just feel like the term tiger parents is very loaded and at that time
it was kind of like one of the only aspects of Asian culture that was like really highlighted
especially through things like fresh off the boat kind of and just that was sort of like one of
the big general stereotypes for the Asian American group so it felt a little weird and then I was kind
of like that's really not okay it's one thing to be like I don't care if you have strict parents
but to be like I don't want your tiger parents in my inbox I was like okay that's an interesting
way to put it yeah that's a good point I can't remember if that word was ever used too often by
the faculty at my school but honestly like it could have been I think I just like didn't think
much about it at the time but now that you're like spelling it out you're right it is because it's
like obviously aimed at the Asian parents right so if they used a much more generic term it would
have been so much more inclusive because I mean like not just Asian parents can be strict like I've
seen strict parents from so many different ethnic backgrounds as well so you're right it's kind of
like very pinpointy to use that phrase totally I don't know I guess talking about this whole
teacher thing makes me look back a lot it also kind of reminds me of how I just had so much difficulty
even talking to my teachers who are white because I think a lot of the qualities that I had that
were celebrated in Asian culture so you know I tend to be more polite and you know really like a
stickler of the rules and cared a lot about certain things but wasn't super outspoken or confident
those things aren't necessarily seen as negative I think in at least Korean culture but I think
in American culture being polite becomes like being weak or like being like a goody goody and being
more shy and quiet is like immediately seen as negative sort of so I remember in like a lot of
my parent teacher conferences teachers would be like oh you know I wish Jesus spoke up more in class
but then in Korean school all my Korean school teachers would be like do you see as a polite kid
who excels at school and well you know and I was just like yeah I don't know who I am like who
yeah honestly I probably got comments like that too I'm like super shy around teachers in general
right like people who are a generation or two above me it's not their fault it's definitely my fault
a lot of the times I've just like don't know how to talk to them oh my god I feel that I think like
especially in Korean culture and probably similarly in other cultures the hierarchy is like a big deal
so you know like you have to use the honorifics and be super polite and do the bowing thing
and I could just never talk to my teachers the way some of my classmates could where they're like
you know they're so respectful but they're like playful and I'm like are you allowed to say that
to people who are like 30 years older than you dude yeah and sometimes people would be just like
in a sense like straight up friends with some of these teachers you know they're like so comfortable
with each other that they chat about regular things I've always been a little bit envious of people
who are able to do that because I'm like oh my god like I just I can't I just like default into like
some child mode or something yeah I know I guess it's also kind of weird because now that we talk
about the cultural differences a little bit I'm trying to imagine myself in like a real Korean
school like in Korea and I can confidently say that it would still be a huge struggle for me and
I probably would not survive there so 80% of this is also probably like a personality fault but
it's just weird like being in the middle sometimes where you're like I don't know which way to go
mm-hmm for sure and I guess like what I'm realizing here is that having a similar ethnic background
with someone you know who's a different generation than you just helps kind of break things down
so that you have one less barrier to like overcome during your communication so that's why it was
like oh I I loved and treasured these like Asian American role models whether it was like teachers
or like you know fellow co-workers in our lives yeah totally and I think it's also cool because
sometimes these role models that we have aren't even necessarily in our lives like in our social
circles I remember when Jeremy Lynn was getting really big in high school he was basically like a huge
phenomenon and I was thinking about it recently and I was like you know it's so cool now because we
have a lot of different Asian American faces and athletes who are stars in their field like Chloe
Kim and people in ice skating and things like that but I feel like at that time it was like not
as many Yao Ming was definitely huge for sure but maybe he was like slightly before our generation
like before we were like you know into sports and he was not Asian American and I feel like it was
kind of a revelation to see someone like Jeremy Lynn really excel in basketball and see like a
direct role model for us in sports not that I really like basketball that much but I was still like
yeah like Jeremy Lynn so true because I think that was a moment for all of us to be like
holy shit like as an Asian American kid I can do something other than STEM like there's someone
out there who is doing like sports and that's such a I think you're right like at the time
to do sports as an Asian American someone who's bored and raised in the Americas it was such a rare
sight because so many of us during this current time it's like our parents who immigrated over so
their focus was of course like we need to build out a base and like be able to have the minimum
amount of money for our survival so for our kids like you know hopefully they can continue building
the roots in America but you know of course there are families that have been here longer or maybe
like when they moved they had more resources at the time but I think like right now like where we
are right now 2023 there's more of a shift that you know maybe it's closer to 50-50 I don't know
I'm just throwing out numbers but like there's definitely more families that have had like one or
two generations growing up in America now and I guess that along with you know seeing more people
pop up in media whether it's TV media or social media I guess or you know like sports it just helps
kind of widen the horizon of possibilities for us yeah yeah like I'm so curious what the
trickle-down effect was when Jeremy Lingot really big and then was there sort of a revelation for
our community of like oh he's Asian-American he made it maybe this is a viable path for my kids
or for myself let's explore these opportunities because I think it made such a big impact and
I always go back to like you know when I'm growing up my available jobs are like what my parents
and their friends do kind of and I didn't have any older figures in my life who are Asian-American
or Asian and we're like full-time athletes but I feel like once you kind of see someone make it
it becomes a realistic path like something that you can actually walk down yourself and it's
very cool also just growing up at my schools there were definitely a lot of Asian students who
are very athletic for sure and did a lot of sports were really into tennis badminton you know
whatever sport that they were in but I guess I was maybe thinking of it as very simple or it's
also just the conversations that I had with you know my fellow students and classmates where they
were like yeah I'm mostly trying to do this to get into college and it was kind of like a means
to the path that they wanted to be on and not so much like the path and I think it's so cool now
that it's changing like one of the things that I notice now is sometimes when I talk to my friends
who are couples or just you know even James you know they have like these big dreams like James
like oh like our kids gonna be whatever athlete I'm like oh I don't know about that but it's like
interesting to have these conversations where it's not just like they should go down one path or
another yeah that's a good point it kind of reminds me of just like that joke that it's like
Asian parents will make you play piano for like 10 plus years and then the moment you say something
like hey I'm gonna be a music major for college they'll be like what the fuck like absolutely not
but luckily hopefully now that like you know we are the next generation and you know maybe
have a bit more stability and like understanding of life in America that we can dream big for our
kids and if they want to be a music major will be like go for it yeah exactly I think this also
kind of reminds me of like the whole Asian representation and media which we've definitely
discussed a lot but it's kind of like because we didn't have a ton of Asian actors and actresses
growing up that we saw on TV or movies regularly it's like you attach yourself to people who look
kind of Asian but are still white so I just remember like being like I Carly looks kind of Asian
oh my god so I stand in immediate stand it's so funny oh my god I'm trying to think if there was
anyone I guess like anyone with dark hair usually true right it'd be like hey they almost have
black hair so true and I remember loving like Trixie Tang from the fairly odd parents because
oh okay she's like explicitly Asian but I was like this is an icon and Asian American queen
wait but was she mean I kind of forget or was it just her friend who was mean I think her friend
was definitely more mean and she was just like rich or something rich and popular
wow I'm so glad they made the Asian girl a popular girl
along these lines of like representation and stuff I think it's also pretty funny but also very
heartwarming to see like specific Asian representation one example that comes to mind is like
when parasite like one at the Oscars I texted you I was like congrats to you Sue
because because you're Korean and I remember you said like oh my god I've been getting so many
texts from people saying like congrats because I'm Korean not that I like made parasite or
anything but it's like it's a win for like the Korean community and I think the same thing
kind of happened when like Chloe Kim won her gold medal I think I texted you for that too I was
like congrats to you Sue like another win for the Korean community you know I love that yeah
and I think it's just like nice to see specific community is getting their recognition along with
you like the overall Asian American community I'm like on my couch eating chips like oh yeah thank you
this is all me but yeah I totally agree it's like definitely cool to get Asian American
spotlights but also there's so many diverse communities even within the Asian American community
so I love even really specific memes about certain communities or like specific TikToks about
different ethnic groups and stuff like that and I'm just like this is so funny and it's relatable
because they're also POC if they might also be Asian but you can see like the different nuances
and the different traditions and stuff of every culture it's just awesome the most recent thing
was related to the world cup when Korea like made it to I forgot which round but it was like a big win
and yeah all of my like Korean American friends on Instagram story to it and I had the urge to be
like congrats to everyone that was beautiful we like landed in Korea basically hours after that
game ended and I was just like this is amazing everyone is so happy like the taxi driver was like did
you guys see all the flight that we watched like yeah that's so awesome it's like big moments like
those that really bond people I think regardless of if you like actually watch this sport or you
know like actually watch the show or if it's like a musical artist if you actually listen to their
music but it's just kind of like oh my god this is like a win for our people I know they carry like
big burdens on their back like the whole community just waiting for them to win dude yeah I think
it's so cool too it's just like there's a lot of big wins that we've been having a lot of big
moments but I also really love like kind of the smaller intimate moments too or like the smaller
sub-sex of the community that you're now able to see because it's so easy to post on like TikTok
or YouTube and sometimes I kind of find it interesting where like you know where Asian American
but we might see like very specific or very filtered representation of our community in the
motherland kind of so like I guess for me you know for example I try to keep up with like Korean
culture but what I was finding was because I was watching kind of these big produced dramas or like
TV shows that's like all I was seeing and then when YouTube got really big the world opened up and
I was like watching Korean college students vlog or something and watching how they party like
what their knives out looked like what they do in their free time they're cooking and eating habits
and stuff and I was like this is the power of I guess the democratization of content sort of
I can kind of see these different pools of the community and I was like wow they play a lot of
drinking games and career. Do you feel like you still relate as much to like Asian representation
versus Asian American so like the examples that you just said where you watch people just like in
Korea doing these different things does that give you the same kind of fuzzy feeling as seeing
Asian American representation? Ooh I think I do feel emotions you know when I do see like Asian
representation for the big moments for sure I like feel it a lot when there's huge victories
to celebrate in Korea or even like the tragic moments I still get really emotional about it but
for like the smaller things like you know watching Korean college students party or whatever
sometimes I feel like I'm watching what my life would have looked like if I didn't immigrate to
the US and I'm like this is the other Jesu Kim and like some sort of parallel world hanging out
with her friends in Korea. I actually do wonder that sometimes too like I even asked my parents before
like wow what do you think you would be doing if like you never left China? What would I be like?
What would a family be like you know and my parents are like I don't know dude it's crazy
but you know what really gets me hyped up? What? Asian Canadians?
True! Do you think specifically Chinese Canadian or like Asian Canadian as a
any Asian Canadian? I think like Canadian representation in general gets me hyped up like you know
the random like Canadian people from Hollywood and stuff I'm always like nice this one's Canadian.
So when it's like someone is Asian Canadian I'm like dude double nice.
Dude that is so funny and we actually do get a decent amount of listeners from Canada so say hello
to our listeners in your motherland well in your second motherland. Let's go!
Yeah also another example is like during the Olympics I actually don't really root for the US
that much I mostly root for Canada and then when there's like an Asian person on the Canadian
teams I'm like holy shit this person has to win like like freak the fuck out.
I'm like dude there's no one like I see no one else now is this person?
It's not like oh who's gonna get first it's like is this person gonna win or yeah
I guess like if there's an Asian American like US competitor I'll usually root for them
but like I'm not I don't sit down and I'm like all right which which US person's gonna win today.
Yeah yeah I think this is like one of the privileges of being Asian American, Asian Canadian,
whatever I can always pivot I can root for America if I want but you know I can also root for
the like OG motherland Asian teams or Asian Americans there's a lot of options up there.
Yep yep. Well this conversation actually has me feeling really hopeful and excited.
I think there's been a lot of major strides for our community and I know a lot of the people
in our community are like putting in the work and really being the change that they want to see
and I'm excited to kind of be a part of that change as well hopefully and I think what I'm really
excited for is you know one day when we have kids for them to kind of grow up in this cool sort
of newer modern more inclusive environment. I also just want to say that I have some friends who
are also Asian Americans and they are teachers now so that actually makes me really happy because
I'm like fuck yes like kids get to have more Asian American teachers like in the you know current
generation and upcoming generations. Love it that's what we need. Yeah definitely and for
our listeners out there if you guys had like a favorite Asian American teacher or something let
us know you can always reach us on social media at Eat Your CressPod and we also have email
eatyourcressPod at gmail.com and if you'd like to catch our other episodes then don't forget to
follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or any other podcasting platform we upload new episodes
every Wednesday morning. Thanks for listening and don't forget to eat your cussed.
