Author: Time To Say Goodbye

Hello from Tammy’s undisclosed location! 

The hosts start with a brief discussion of Leanna Louie, a law-and-order Democrat running for District 4 Supervisor in SF. What might she represent for the future of Asian-American politics? 

Then Jay and Tammy are joined by investigative journalist Ali Fowle to discuss Myanmar. The country’s military regime recently killed four prisoners, including well known pro-democracy activists Phyo Zeya Thaw and Ko Jimmy. These judicial executions, the first since the 1980s, shocked even those inside Myanmar, where extrajudicial murders and widespread arrests have been commonplace since the February 2021 military coup. 

Ali describes her experience reporting from Myanmar in the decade leading up to the coup, the culture of fear and violence used to suppress last year’s popular uprising, and what the resistance movement looks like today. We ask why the coup in Myanmar has not broken through internationally in the way Russia’s assault on Ukraine has, and what message the recent executions are meant to send. 

Be sure to watch the short documentary Ali produced last year with Al Jazeera (warning: graphic content), and give a listen to Phyo Zeya Thaw’s music. 

Please subscribe and stay in touch via Patreon and Substack, follow us on Twitter, and feel free to 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 walk-up apartment! 

This week, Tammy and Jay invite food-and-culture writer Wei Tchou to discuss trends in plant-based meat and beverages. Wei has written beautifully about fermenting tempeh, making her own soy sauce, and learning to love baijiu. 

In our first investigative segment (lol), we send Jay out on the streets of Norcal. The U.S. chain Peet’s Coffee has proclaimed this the “Summer of Jelly,” dropping a new “boba-like” drink addition that’s been deemed cultural appropriation by some, harmless bobafication by others. Jay ventures to the original Peet’s in Berkeley to find out: Is the jelly any good? 

Then, Wei shills for Big Fake Pig! Could Impossible Pork be the answer to her tireless search for a veg alternative in cooking Chinese? How do new vegan meat products fit into food landscapes that have long used plant-based substitutes? Could vegan pork be an ecological and ethical cure in regions where meat consumption is still on the rise? Plus: David Chan’s unique brand of service journalism and Wei’s problematic cookbook fave. 

Check out our subscriber Discord for bonus items from Jay’s Peet’s odyssey and Wei’s kitchen.

And, on August 25, we’ll be having a subscribers-only book club with the great novelist Lisa Hsiao Chen, author of Activities of Daily Living. Come on through! 

Thanks as always for your support! Please subscribe and stay in touch via Patreon and Substack, follow us on 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 mild SF and summerpocalypse NYC! 

This week, Jay and Tammy discuss what’s been on their minds this week: the state of the Democratic party and the shifting culture around drug use in the United States. Plus: Jill Biden on tacos and bogadas! 

We read New York mag columnist Jonathan Chait’s critique of Biden and ask why the administration has such a failed legislative strategy. What, if anything, is keeping Democrats from taxing the rich? What does a recent poll tell us about the party as the midterms approach? 

Then, inspired by “How to Change Your Mind,” a new show (and book) from Michael Pollan that explores the history of psychedelics, we consider society’s reassessment of so-called “hard” and “soft” drugs. Have we fully disavowed the War on Drugs? What should we make of this increased acceptance of drug use in a time of huge numbers of opioid and fentanyl overdoses?

Thanks as always for your support! Please subscribe and stay in touch via Patreon and Substack, follow us on 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! 

This week, Tammy and Jay remember John Bennet, a former New Yorker editor and Columbia journalism professor who passed away this week: 

They are then joined by policy analyst Paul Williams to discuss the concept of social housing and its potential in the United States. How did we arrive at a political consensus so averse to public housing of any kind? Can other countries’ programs help us reclaim housing as a social good rather than a market commodity? What can we learn from current social-housing proposals across the U.S.? 

For more, read Paul on “Public Housing for All” and the California bill that made it further than expected, as well as the initiatives being floated in Rhode Island and Seattle and the project underway in Maryland. 

Thanks for your support. Please subscribe and stay in touch via Patreon and Substack, email (timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com) and follow us on Twitter!

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

Resending because of a tech glitch. Thanks for your patience.

Hello from Cleveland! 

This week, we speak with friend of the pod Danny Bessner, an historian of U.S. foreign relations and co-host of the podcast American Prestige. 

Danny discusses his new Harper’s essay, which argues for a departure from American exceptionalism, once and for all. He lays out the two main camps in U.S. foreign policy: liberal internationalists, who advocate for the maintenance of U.S. global hegemony, and restrainers, who argue that the country’s influence should be reduced. 

We also explore how war and politics have changed since the 1950s, the decimation of academic history and other disciplines in the humanities, how the U.S. regulatory apparatus insulates elite decision-makers from public opinion, and what’s needed to fight back. 

Thanks for listening, and stay in touch via Substack, timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com, https://twitter.com/ttsgpod, and/or https://www.patreon.com/ttsgpod!

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 Jeju-do!

This (harrowing news) week, the podsquad welcomes repeat guest Jenny Wang Medina—Emory professor, TV addict, literary translator, and hallyu expert—for a discussion of Jay’s favorite recent K-drama, Our Blues.

We talk about abortion, matriarchal haenyeo, regionalism, debt, and goose fathers. What makes Jeju-do such a compelling site for fiction? How are dreams deferred in the East Asian Tigers and other sites of rapid capitalist development? Plus: Jenny’s analysis of the Korean linked-novel form (연작 소설), Chevy product placement, and Tammy’s crush on Kim Woo-bin:

If you’re in NYC, come to OG TTSG Discord member (and ceramicist) Stephanie Shih’s art opening on the LES tomorrow night:

Thanks for listening! Please subscribe and get in touch via Substack, timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com, https://twitter.com/ttsgpod, and/or https://www.patreon.com/ttsgpod!

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

Hi from Chicago!

This week, Jay and Tammy talk about a rising tide of worker organizing, rising gas prices (ugh), and a new, very timely TV show.

Tammy reports back from her trip to Labor Notes (along with pod listener Matt), starring Amazon Labor Union, Starbucks Workers United, and Tío Bernie. What kind of union moment are we in?

Then, what’s the relationship between inflation and the labor market, and what does it mean for electoral politics in the US (and around the world)? How can the left, or even liberals, frame inflation in terms of corporate theft instead of punching down the working class?

And we’re starting to watch David Simon’s new show on HBO, based on Justin Fenton’s book of the same title, “We Own This City.” What are cops for?

Finally, a quick update on the future of the pod. (Sorry about Tammy’s sound this week; she didn’t have her usual equipment with her on the road.)

A couple other things we’re watching:

* The WTO met recently and quashed any hope of getting generic Covid vaccines, tests, and medicine distributed around the world.

* Very cool about the new Colombian president and vice president!

IRL fun: We’re gonna have a send-off for Andy this Sunday in New York. If you’re a subscriber, log into the Discord to get the details and RSVP!

Thanks for listening! Please subscribe and reach out to us via Substack, timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com, https://twitter.com/ttsgpod, and/or https://www.patreon.com/ttsgpod!

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 Andy’s couch!

We take a break from the NBA finals to record Andy’s last ep as co-host : (

Per his request, the podsquad talks Amy Chua’s now decade-old book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother—and argues about everything in it. Is the Chinese Tiger Mother actually a thing? Does it matter that Chua is an upper-class second-generation parent? What kind of Asian America does the book describe? Can the satirical bent of the book erase its meanness and cultural essentialism? (Note: we focus pretty narrowly on the memoir and don’t get into her husband’s suspension from Yale for sexual harassment or her own professorial misconduct… but yeah, a lot there.)

Then, we send Andy off with thanks and <3 notes from our listener community. Thank you, Andy, for an amazing two-plus years!

And thank you for listening. Spread the word, and reach out to us via Substack, timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com, https://twitter.com/ttsgpod, and/or https://www.patreon.com/ttsgpod! Jay and Tammy will see you next week.

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 24-hour layover!

Tammy returns from her travels and tells us about hanging out with cool Asians at the International Federation of Journalists conference in Oman.

Then, we discuss the latest on the Uvalde shootings and the increasingly outrageous reports that local police officers and government officials are bullying parents and evading even the tiniest bit of accountability. How does the Uvalde massacre bolster arguments for police defunding and abolition? Where does abolition intersect with calls for gun control? How pessimistic should we be about the right-wing deadlock of the national government?

Finally, an announcement from Andy and some reflections on the two years since the podcast began, roughly 133 episodes(!) ago.

Thanks for listening! Please subscribe and reach out to us via Substack, timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com, https://twitter.com/ttsgpod, and/or https://www.patreon.com/ttsgpod!

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

Tammy’s off for the week!

Jay and Andy are joined by The New Yorker’s Isaac Chotiner to talk about his viral interrogations of subjects from John Mearsheimer to Amy Wax to that unhinged Covid conspiracy theorist from spring 2020; checking in on the bleak pessimism surrounding last week’s horror in Uvalde, TX; and a wide discussion of this year’s NBA playoffs featuring the Boston Celtics and the Golden State Warriors, tipping off this week!

Thanks for listening! Please subscribe and reach out to us via Substack, timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com, https://twitter.com/ttsgpod, and/or https://www.patreon.com/ttsgpod!

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