Author: Time To Say Goodbye

Hello from karaoke! 

This week, we bring you more Olivia Rodrigo content–with Karen Tongson, USC professor, podcast co-host, and lover of all singable musics! [28:50] Jay and Tammy* go deep with Karen on her childhood with musician parents, AzNs in California’s Inland Empire, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), transpacific music circuits, and why it’s racist to pile on a twenty-year-old Pinay pop star. [3:25] But first, some takes on Hasan Minhaj’s “emotionally true” standup act. (*Sorry for Tammy’s absence partway, then fully halfway, through the ep… and all the water noise, lol. NY apartment life, what can you do?)

In this episode, we ask: 

* Why are Filipinos so often accused of copycat artistry? 

* How does Filipino music resist the long tail of American colonization?

* What makes Olivia’s music so delectable (and so suburban Asian American?!)? 

* When is race comedy funny?

For more, see: 

* A 2021 TTSG episode about the Inland Empire (Environmental justice, Amazon logistics, and immigrant workers, with Andrea Vidaurre) 

* Bruno Mars doing Pandora on SNL (at 23:50)

* Jay’s review of “GUTS” on behalf of Gen X dads 

* Karen’s newest book, out this November, Normporn: Queer Viewers and the TV That Soothes Us, and an earlier exploration of her namesake in Why Karen Carpenter Matters [excerpt here]

* More on Filipino performance and colonial histories in Puro Arte: Filipinos on the Stages of Empire, by Lucy Mae San Pablo Burns

* Clare Malone’s story on Minhaj and his slippery “emotional truths” 

Subscribe on Patreon or Substack to join our Discord community. You can also follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and X (Twitter), and email us at timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

Hello from British Columbia! 

This week, [4:15] we start with the latest concerning video of Mitch McConnell and whether the conversation around fitness for office can (and should) cut across party lines. [21:45] Next, we talk about the Korean fine-dining wave in NYC, the effect of soft power, and why you won’t see us at Naro anytime soon. [45:05] In our final segment, we discuss the Serial podcast “The Retrievals,” which explores questions of gendered pain and corrupt healthcare through the true stories of women deprived of pain medication during IVF. Jay takes us BTS of this caliber of narrative podcast. 

In this episode, we ask: 

Is it reasonable to expect basic verbal competency from our elected officials?

If you’re a leftist, are there some luxuries (like dining at $$$$$ restaurants) that should be off-limits? Or is that a needlessly moralistic stance? 

Why is women’s pain continually dismissed, and what’s the right punishment for the infliction of non-lethal harm? 

For more, see: 

* The older and more recent videos of Mitch McConnell, and some doctors’ hypotheses about the cause

* Pete Wells’s article about How Korean Restaurants Remade Fine Dining in New York 

* The Times investigation into A Deadly Epidural, Delivered by a Doctor With a History of Mistakes 

* Books on pain and how it’s addressed: Sick: A Memoir, by Porochista Khakpour, and The Body in Pain, by Elaine Scarry

* Past TTSG episodes we refer to: 

* A recent discussion on Asian food trends in the U.S., from June

* Lux magazine and lockdowns with Sarah Leonard, from December 2020

We’ll be off next week as our hosts attend to other business (their full-time jobs), but watch out for a non-audio note! 

Subscribe on Patreon or Substack to join our Discord community to chat about “authentic” Asian food, and to see footage of the noraebang you heard at the end of today’s episode! You can also follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and X (Twitter), and email us at timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

Hello from three far-flung cities! 

This week, we’re joined by our pal Vinson Cunningham, staff writer and theatre critic for The New Yorker. 

After briefly interrogating Jay’s recent pivot to dad-hiker fashion (pic for subscribers only), we hear Vinson’s take on the Trump mugshot. [4:05] The image gets us talking about aesthetic self-perception, the celebrity accused in popular culture, and the lack of a good analysis of Trump’s true appeal. [41:45] Next, we discuss last week’s G.O.P. primary debate, which causes Jay to confront what fascinates him about Vivek Ramaswamy, Tammy to question her EMILYs List impulses, and Vinson to call b******t on right-wing claims of populism. 

In this episode, we ask: 

How does the Trump mugshot, a visual anomaly in the history of presidential imagery, reflect on our political system? What’s the value of similar pix in countries where former leaders are regularly imprisoned? 

Is there any ceiling on this Trump thing? 

Why didn’t the G.O.P. primary debate feature more culture-war talk? 

For more, see: 

* Vinson’s recent piece about the Trump mugshot, plus older ruminations on presidential imagery: 

* From 2017: Pete Souza and the Politics of Looking at Barack Obama

* From 2018: The Politics of Race and the Photo That Might Have Derailed Obama

* Jay’s recent articles about integration in Shaker Heights, Ohio and Vivek Ramaswamy’s debate performance 

* A Q&A by Isaac Chotiner (apols for the New Yorker plugs) about the constitutional case for barring Trump from the presidency

* Previous TTSG episodes featuring Vinson: 

* “Tár,” a film for the chattering class (February 2023) 

* "Mare of Easttown" special impromptu episode! (May 2021)  

* Vinson Cunningham on the NBA, Yang, and IRL theatre (May 2021) 

And pre-order Vinson’s forthcoming novel! 

* Out of respect for our many repeat guests, we note that this episode marks Vinson’s fourth TTSG appearance, which ties him with Hua Hsu and Jenny Wang Medina. 

Subscribe on Patreon or Substack to join our Discord community (and see photo evidence of Jay’s newfound style). You can also follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, and email us at timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com. 

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

Hello from a Cessna! 

This week, it’s just us, on a grab-bag anthropological journey. [2:55] First, Jay unpacks his recent trip to Martha’s Vineyard and what he learned about the academic elite on a panel about affirmative action. [23:35] Next, we discuss Season 4 of “Love After Divorce”, in which Korean-American divorcees shack up and speak subpar Korean. [42:30] Then we catch up on the sad saga of former NFL player Michael Oher, who has claimed that the film purportedly based on his life, “The Blind Side,” misrepresented his story and unethically enriched his white "adoptive" family. [55:10] Last, we talk about the U.S. soldier who crossed into North Korea, allegedly because he was “disillusioned at the unequal American society,” and the trilateral summit at Camp David.  

On this episode, we ask: 

Is it wrong to eliminate legacy admissions just as Black students and other students of color stand to benefit? 

Are people becoming more tolerant of gyopos and their (our) broken Korean?! 

Will the Michael Oher claims force writers to be more critical of savior stories? 

What do we make of the U.S. perspective on Asia as a theater of war and deterrence? 

For more, see: 

* The panel Jay participated in last Thursday: ‘The Rise and Fall of Affirmative Action’ - The 2023 Hutchins Forum 

* Michael Oher’s claims against the Touhy family, and Blind Side author Michael Lewis’s subsequent comments defending the family

* Coverage of Travis King, the U.S. soldier who crossed over into North Korea, and the recent U.S.-Japan-Korea summit at Camp David 

* The latest TTSG appearance by K-drama expert Jenny Wang Medina, from July: K-content spectacular 

Subscribe on Patreon or Substack to support the show and join our Discord community. You can also follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter (RIP), and email us at timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com. 

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

Hello again from the ongoing climate crisis! 

Kaniela Ing is a Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) organizer and former state legislator who now works as the national director of the Green New Deal Network. Kaniela joins us just days after a fire ripped through the island of Maui, decimating the town of Lāhainā and killing a yet unknown number of people. (10:40) Kaniela tells us about his relationship to the affected area and community; (13:55) the systemic causes of this tragedy, including aging infrastructure, theft of land and water, and climate change; and (24:25) what needs to happen to both support people in acute crisis and put those same people at the center of our fight for a better world. 

In this episode, we ask: 

Is this a climate turning point in Hawaiʻi? 

Why is a narrative of resistance, not resilience, more appropriate to this moment? What is the role of Native people in this resistance? 

For more: 

* Donate to the Maui Fire Relief + Recovery Fundraiser 

* Watch Kaniela’s interview with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!

* Listen to a parallel TTSG discussion about Guam with writer Julian Aguon, from March 2021: Loving Guam, fighting empire

Subscribe on Patreon or Substack to support the show and join our Discord community. You can also follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, and email us at timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com. 

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

Hello from an East Bay movie theatre! 

This week, it’s just us, trying to dodge yet another COVID surge. (A note from our producer, Mai: Lots of people are getting sick, and testing is hard to come by and not always accurate. It’s never too late to mask up again—if not for yourself, then for your more vulnerable neighbors!) 

(3:25) Jay went to see “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” with his daughter, Frankie. We talk about the film’s pleasing animation style and nostalgia-packed soundtrack. (24:45) Next, we address a recent New York Times investigation into lefty tech millionaire Neville Roy Singham’s ties to China and consider, yet again, how a good leftist should avoid both McCarthyism and Tankieism.

In this episode, we ask: 

Has Madeline (of the Madeline children’s books) been canceled yet?!

Should Jay spend hours systematically indoctrinating his kids into musical connoisseurship? 

Is it possible to critique U.S. hegemony without being called a brainwashed propagandist? 

For more, see: 

* CoComelon, or the stuff of every parent’s nightmares 

* Why Neil Diamond is cool Dad Rock, by Tammy

* Previous episodes on the tankie problem, from June 2020 (Tankies! with Brian Hioe, New Bloom Magazine) and November 2020 (Vaccine apartheid, tankies redux, and the TTSG manifesto) 

Thanks to everyone who’s come out to recent meet-ups in NYC and Chengdu! Check out the Discord for upcoming events in Texas and other IRL hotspots. 

Subscribe on Patreon or Substack to join our Discord community, and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. You can email us at timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com. 

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

Hello from a freezer full of “non-human biologics”! 

This week, we speak with Arielle Angel, editor-in-chief of Jewish Currents and known alien stan. (3:30) We get her thoughts on last week’s Congressional hearings (nothing a true believer like Arielle didn’t already know) and what aliens are up to when they visit Earth. (26:15) In our main segment, we discuss the democratic crisis in Israel spurred by Netanyahu’s far-right coalition and (34:00) what this moment could mean for the Palestinian national movement, both in Israel/Palestine and the U.S. diaspora. (43:00) We also hear how Arielle arrived at her current politics. 

In this episode, we ask: 

If aliens are real, why didn’t Trump tell us?!

Have the centrist protests against the Israeli government made BDS seem less extreme? 

What can the Jewish left teach us about doing identity-based organizing while simultaneously denouncing the validity of identitarian nationalism? 

For more, see: 

* The 2017 Times story that convinced Jay that aliens are real

* Some background on the Roswell incident from the History Channel 

* Ezra Klein’s interview with U.F.O. reporter Leslie Kean

* Explainers from Jewish Currents on the ongoing judicial crisis in Israel (by Elisheva Goldberg) and the Israel-Palestine rift within DSA (by Alex Kane)

* A forced apology from Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal after she called Israel “a racist state”

* Arielle’s article on grievance politics from last fall, and our episode discussing the piece: Grievance politics, why we love “Mo,” and the YYYs’ return 

* Our previous conversations with the lovely folks at Jewish Currents, from May 2021: 

* Sheikh Jarrah and What Feels Different This Time about Israel/Palestine with Josh Leifer of Jewish Currents 

* Jewish Currents in Conversation with Time To Say Goodbye! 

If you’re feeling extra inspired, you can read Arielle’s fiction, Jay’s novel, and Tammy’s poetry. 

Thanks for listening! Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, and email us at timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com. 

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Hello from Jay’s final week in paradise! 

In this bonus episode, we answer questions from subscribers. 

Hello from the diasporic battleground! 

This week, we’re joined by investigative journalist and filmmaker Anjali Kamat to discuss Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s red-carpet state dinner and the spread of his Islamophobic, anti-democratic Hindutva ideology. (1:45) We start with a short history since Modi was elected in 2014, (12:20) dig into the conspiratorial lynchings that mirror right-wing campaigns in other countries, and (26:15) consider how Indian diasporic communities help maintain (and challenge) Modi’s power. We also track the responses of U.S. politicians, from Trump’s “Howdy Modi” rally in Texas, celebrating the Prime Minister’s reelection in 2019, to progressive Representative Ro Khanna’s unwillingness to critique and Obama’s surprising willingness to do so. 

In this episode, we ask: 

What differentiates the last nine years under Modi from previous periods of large-scale sectarian violence in India? 

Why do the myths around Modi persist, despite cracks in the facade of him as an efficient and non-corrupt leader? 

What was the dream of Indian multiculturalism?

How do Indian diasporic communities influence Modi’s ability to consolidate power? 

For more, check out: 

* Aparna Gopalan in Jewish Currents, on how Hindu nationalists are using the pro-Israel playbook

* An opinion piece by Maya Jasanoff: Narendra Modi Is Not Who America Thinks He Is

* Background on the rise of Hindu nationalism in the U.S. 

* The first installment in our White House State Dinner critique series, from May: Karaoke soft power + left media cowardice 

🎧 Heads-up: Next week’s episode will be a subscriber-only listener Q&A! Subscribe on Patreon or Substack to ask a question and hear the episode. 

Thanks for listening. As always, you can follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, and email us at timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com. 

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

Hello from Honolulu! 

It’s just us this week, trading places: Tammy is home in humid Brooklyn, and Jay is on the road, visiting family in Hawaii! (6:00) First, we discuss the planned release of 500 swimming pools’ worth of radioactive(?) wastewater from Fukushima, which has spurred lousy takes from Beltway types and a run on salt in South Korea. (19:10) Next, we look at Vivek Ramaswamy’s long-shot candidacy for President and try to discern what the entrepreneur brings to a flailing Republican Party. 

In this episode, we ask: 

Was “Mad Men” a good show? 

How does the Fukushima conversation serve as a barometer for China–Japan–South Korea relations? 

Is Trumpism analogous to Modi-ism? 

Are we doomed to have an amoral, debate-brained candidate in every Republican primary? 

For more, dig into: 

* Regional reactions to the wastewater plan at Fukushima 

* Images of Vermont’s floods and the proximate climate apocalypse 

* Sheelah Kolhatkar’s jealousy-inducing profile of Vivek Ramaswamy for The New Yorker

* DeSantis’s jump-the-shark hate ad

* Our May ep about the American Prospect’s Tucker Carlson piece (and its backlash): Karaoke soft power + left media cowardice 

Thanks for listening! Subscribe on Patreon or Substack, and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. Email us at timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com. 

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe