Dispatches from the Moth · Posted On: May 28, 2024

AAPI Month: Closing Ceremonies

by Jen Lue and Suzanne Rust

This past month shined the spotlight on the lives, accomplishments, and creativity of Asian American and Pacific Islanders. To continue the celebration, we have curated an array of creators who utilize various mediums to express themselves and share their stories. 

LISTEN

Host Shankar Vedantam combines science and storytelling in The Hidden Brain podcast.

Jay Kaspian Kang’s Time To Say Goodbye podcast looks at Asia, Asian America, and life during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Rotten Mango, hosted by Stephanie Soo, is true crime with an AAPI twist.


WATCH

Get your heartstrings tugged with Past Lives by Celine Song. 

Buckle up for Joy Ride, director Adele Lim’s wild and raunchy romp of a comedy. 

Grab the popcorn–and the edge of your seat–for a jolt of pure action in Dev Patel’s Monkey Man.

Road rage like you’ve never seen before is what you get with director Lee Sung Jin’s Beef.


READ

In Feeding Ghosts, a graphic memoir by Tessa Hulls,  three generations of Chinese- and Chinese-American women deal with mental health and inter-generational trauma.

Prachi Gupta’s memoir, They Called Us Exceptional, takes the "model minority" myth to task.

Cinema Love by Jiaming Tang is a novel about gay men in rural China and the women who marry them.

Gina Chung’s Green Frog is a story collection that explores mother-daughter relationships through the lens of myth and the animal kingdom.


VIBE

Raveena serves up dreamy and ethereal R&B music. Give a listen to “Sweet Time” and “Temptation” to get you started.

Throw it back to Asha Puthli’s old school R&B/Funk like "Space Talk," or her trippy cover of George Harrison's "I Dig Love.”

Sometimes you just need a strange concept album, and Doopee Time delivers. 

LOOK



Inspired by natural imagery, artist Sagarika Sundaram creates sculptures, relief works, and installations using raw natural fiber (felt is her preferred medium) and the results are breathtaking. Click here to see more of her work and learn about current and upcoming shows.

PLAY

For the youngest storyteller in your life!  After struggling to find Chinese learning books for their children, Lulu Cheng and Lacey Benard founded their company, Bitty Bao. Bilingual board books in Mandarin and Cantonese with titles like Lucky Lunar Animals and Time for Hot Pot, and wooden toys, like a dim sum set, make learning fun.