a Good Refugee Podcast

On Oct 24, 2022, residents across Toronto will cast their ballots to select their councillors and mayor. We caught up with Chemi Lhamo, a proud Tibetan refugee and Parkdalian, on why she decided to run as a candidate for Parkdale–High Park, what she hopes to change in city hall, and how she plans on achieving that.The conversation was recorded on August 17, 2022. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit agoodrefugee.substack.com

Happy Sunday! Excited to share this long, sometimes heavy, mostly rambunctious conversation recorded last week (April 4). Gelek speaks with cyclist, entrepreneur and activist Arya Namdol about her early life in India and America (07:00); anti Asian racism (22:25); being an anarchist (36:06); what cycling means to her (47:00); creating BIPOC spaces and voices in cycling (56:16); plus tips on biking, memorable rides, etc. (89:25).BioArya Namdol is a first generation Tibetan settler on Turtle Island currently tending space in Machimoodus historically tended by the Wangunk people. The colonizers call this land East Haddam, Connecticut. She is a proprietor of RonsBikes.com and is a founder of WTF BX, now called RAR. Arya recognizes the bicycle as a vehicle for inner and outer peace, and works toward expanding what it means to be a cyclist in today's world. She loves decolonial frameworks, buddhism (with a lower case b), and wants to give deep thanks to the friends, family and peers who give her the courage to be courageous.InstagramEpisode notes* Arya intro, Machik talk, checking in with friends and relations lately. [01:10]* Early life in India and America: environmental justice work, activism, burnout. [07:00]* First bike, political formation, pushing leftist Tibetan discourse, Dalai Lama identifying as a Marxist, etc. [13:30]* Anti-Asian racism, reconciling identities (Tibetan and Asian) and values that aren’t always in sync with Stop Asian Hate. [22:25]* Responding vs reacting to traumas and oppressions (Highlander Center). [30:20]* An anarchist response to COVID, collectivism and community. [36:06]* Cycling as a lifestyle, a solace and a part of Asian identity. [47:00]* Creating bike packs and starting ronsbikes.com. [52:20]* Creating BIPOC spaces and confronting racism, anti-oppression in the cycling world, forming Radical Adventure Riders. [56:16]* Riding solo in America and around the world, full moon rides, avoiding wildlife and training courtesy of special Tibetan genes. [66:47]* Putting together a BIPOC team for the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route,  [81:40]* Craziest bike, tips for new cyclists, nastiest fall, most memorable ride, bike recommendations, Lance Armstrong being an ass. [89:25]Recommended readingBraiding Sweetgrass - Robin Wall KimmererA People’s History of the United States - Howard ZinnThe Conquest of Bread - Peter KropotkinHumankind: A Hopeful History - Rutger BregmanAsia's Unknown Uprisings Volume 1 & Volume 2The Black Foxes (all Black cycling team)Cycling Industry Pledge This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit agoodrefugee.substack.com

On March 16, 2021, a gunman opened fired at three different massage parlors in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. In less than three hours, 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long shot and killed eight people, six of whom were Asian women. Their names are:Soon Chung Park 박순정 (74 years old)Hyun Jung Grant [김]현정 (51)Sun Cha Kim 김순자 (69)Yong Ae Yue 유용애 (63)Delaina Ashley Yaun (33)Paul Andre Michels (54)Xiaojie Tan 谭小洁 (49)Daoyou Feng 冯道友 (44)Jane Shi and I had scheduled our March 17 interview weeks ago. We deliberated over whether we should go ahead, in light of the previous day’s event, and ultimately decided to talk about it. Jane and I discuss the March 16 Atlanta shooting (02:20); how class, citizenship, and the justice system interact in anti-Asian and sex worker violence (10:15); how people can meaningfully engage in the migrant sex worker issue (28:15); Canada’s Bill C-7 (30:27); Jane’s personal and political formation (38:00); and some of her other work and advocacy.Please note that Jane works as an outreach worker for SWAN Vancouver, an organization that supports and advocates for migrant women engaged in indoor sex work. However, for this interview, she is solely speaking on behalf of herself, and not her organization.BioJane Shi is a writer, poet, editor, community organizer, filmmaker, and dumpling-maker. These disciplinary hats converge in a lifelong interest in cultural reclamation, survivorship, and healing intergenerational trauma. She is a graduate of The Writer's Studio program at Simon Fraser University, and an alumni of English Honours and Asian Canadian and Asian Migration studies at the University of British Columbia. She is currently a submissions editor at Room. Her latest endeavour is infodumpling, a recipe zine that raises funds for #LandBack initiatives and Black reparation funds.Support her on Patreon. janeshi.orgTwitterInstagramEpisode notes* How Jane is feeling right now. [02:20]* Reciting the names of the victims that were released at that point. [04:52]* How people in Jane’s network are responding to the attack; prevailing sentiments, flattening of incident into anti Asian racism. [05:36]* How class, citizenship, and the justice system interact in violence against sex workers; Yang Song’s death; who gets humanized after a mass murder. [10:15]* Is there a connection between the Atlanta shooting and the constant vilification and/or criticism of China? [15:25]* Differences in migrant sex work situation and anti-Asian racism between Canada and the U.S. [18:20]* How the attacks have shifted Jane’s approach and work going forward. [24:00]* How people can meaningfully engage in the migrant sex worker issue: FOSTA-SESTA, decriminalize sex work, donate to Swan Vancouver, Red Canary Song, Butterfly Toronto. [28:15]* Bill C-7 (MAID). [30:27]* Jane’s early life, so far; decline of Shanghainese, different dialects. [38:00]* How Jane’s political worldviews formed: UBC, WAVAW; TMX Pipeline protest, land defender Stacy Gallagher sentencing. [43:00]* Questions from Jane to GRP: how Tibetan and Chinese diasporas can work together, how this podcast started. [49:00]* Closing: Twitter voices, online accessibility. [55:30] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit agoodrefugee.substack.com

This episode was recorded on March 8, 2021. I spoke with Caryma S’ad about her career as a lawyer and how she got into the legal field (05:25); her beef against BBQAnon guy Adam Skelly (19:00); her thoughts on cannabis law in Canada and how it intersects with the current discourse on police abolition (40:00); the housing situation in Toronto (58:25); and more. BioCaryma S’ad is a Toronto-based lawyer and entrepreneur. Her advocacy focuses primarily on housing, cannabis, and criminal law. She is also active on issues relating to politics, access to justice, poverty, racism, and the legal profession. She is the executive director at NORML Canada, a federal not-for-profit group that lobbies for fair, equitable, and sensible cannabis law and policy. Caryma graduated cum laude from the University of Ottawa in 2015. She was called to the Bar in 2016. Prior to attending law school, Caryma interned with a prominent human rights organization in India.In her spare time, Caryma likes to watch professional wrestling.carymarules.comTwitterLinkedInInstagramEpisode notes* How Caryma developed her unique and creative engagement style. [03:30]* Overview of Caryma’s practice, how she got into law, and how the legal world has shifted since she got called to the Bar (2016). [05:25]* The Stop SOP ordeal at the Law Society of Ontario. [14:00]* Caryma vs Adam Skelly aka BBQanon guy. [19:00]* Being on the wrong side of cancel culture: Caryma’s open air comedy show 2020. [26:05]* Documenting the weekly anti-mask rallies in Toronto. [30:00]* Caryma’s thoughts on prison and police abolition. [40:00]* Ontario cannabis rollout, decriminalizing pot offences, Julian Fantino, NORML Canada. [43:00]* Park encampment and the housing situation in Toronto, Encampment Support Network, Khaleel Seivwright. [58:25] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit agoodrefugee.substack.com

This episode was recorded on March 4, 2021. Gelek and Tsering speak with Mehmet Tohti and Ben Mauk about the situation in East Turkestan, aka Xinjiang. They speak about Ben’s New Yorker article, Inside Xinjiang’s Prison State (10:00), learn about the current situation there from Mehmet (18:10), the parallels of War on Terror between China and America (34:00), Adrian Zenz and the matter of one million Uyghurs detained (41:00), how people are staying connected within East Turkestan (58:00), and more.On February 22, Canada’s House of Commons passed a motion declaring China's treatment of its Uyghur and other Turkic minority populations as genocide. This was followed later in the week by the Dutch parliament passing a similar, non-binding motion. Canada and the Netherlands join the United States as three democratic countries that have now accused China of genocide vis-a-vis East Turkestan.BiosMehmet Tohti is a prominent Uyghur Canadian activist, campaigning for the rights of Uyghurs over a decade. He is a co-founder of the World Uyghur Congress and has twice served as vice-president. He is executive director of the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project, based in Ottawa. TwitterBen Mauk is a journalist and writer based in Berlin. He has written for The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Harper's, and the London Review of Books, among other publications. He is writing a book for Farrar, Straus and Giroux.He co-founded and directs the Berlin Writers' Workshop and is a contributing editor at The Ballot. He has taught English literature and writing at the University of Iowa. He is part of the mentorship collective PERIPLUS.ben-mauk.comTwitterBen’s New Yorker article, Inside Xinjiang’s Prison State, was published on February 26. It’s a meticulously and delicately compiled chronicle of individuals who have experienced detainment, surveillance and the crackdowns in East Turkestan. In addition to text, the article also features illustrations, animations and sound. It's very immersive and poignant at points. I highly recommend you read it, if you haven’t.Episode notes* Ben Mauk: early career, settling in Berlin, medievalism, art heists. [02:40]* Overview of Ben’s article: “Inside Xinjiang’s Prison State” [10:00]* How Ben got connected with the people featured in the article [13:30]* Mehmet Tohti: situation update, Xinjiang vs. East Turkestan [18:10]* Modern history of repression in East Turkestan, including Sept 11, 2001, the two Michaels. [24:10]* The parallels of War on Terror, Islamophobia and state surveillance between China and America. [34:00]* Adrian Zenz and the matter of one million Uyghurs detained. [41:00]* Manufacturing a New Cold War against China? [48:55]* How people are staying connected within East Turkestan, Truth and Reconciliation Clubhouse. [58:00]* Babymaking Uyghur machines. [64:10]* How Canadians can help in Uyghur campaigns. [65:50]* Ben’s article and short film: how it came about, the collaborative process, etc. [69:00]* Article feedback. [74:30]* Erbaqyt Otarbai singing. [79:05] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit agoodrefugee.substack.com

Hello. Hope February has been treating you well.In the second and concluding part of Gelek’s conversation with Lama Row Owens, they speak about the loss of magic and exploring Indigeneity (01:25); holding space for anger and violence in creating justice and peace (09:05); the weaponization of niceness (20:55); bodies, movement and breathing in the time of a pandemic (22:40); and more.If you missed part one of the conversation, click here.Episode notes* Loss of magic and exploring Indigeneity. [01:25]* Loving our anger. [03:56]* What Black History Month means to Lama Rod. [06:15]* Holding space for anger and violence in creating justice and peace. [09:05]* Discussing police, prison abolition, political systems and institutions in dharma teachings. [15:29]* Weaponization of niceness. [20:55]* Bodies, movement and breathing in the time of a pandemic. [22:40]* Lama Rod’s current and upcoming projects. [26:30]Interview transcriptYou have a chapter towards the end of [Love and Rage] where you speak about the loss of magic. Yeah, that’s part of my Indigenous work right now. This is work that I hope to present in the next couple of years—me connecting more to my African as well as Native American ancestry, and putting all of that in conversation with Tibetan Buddhism. For me, again, it’s a synthesis of what’s being created. I think “Love and Rage” was a good beginning step to demonstrate how I am transitioning into this space. As an American Black person, my Indigenous spiritual practice is hoodoo. Hoodoo derives from the practice of Africans coming on to the West, meeting Christianity, and developing the system of philosophy, ritual magic and so forth. It’s so related to tantra and Vajrayana in Tibetan Buddhism. I wanna understand how I can synthesize that even more so that it’s more authentic for me. I remember years ago, Rinpoche [Norlha] was talking about the magic of Native Americans. He was saying, “Native Americans were so strong that they survived genocide.” It really struck me when he said that. For me, that was just the way he recognized the validity of this community of people. He respected Native American gods and spirits. When Kundun [HHDL] makes his trip to North America, he always makes it a point to also have representatives or emissaries from the local First Nations or the Native communities to meet with them and speak with them. I always find it beautiful how there are these patterns of elemental rituals that’s consistent across hemispheres, cultures and Indigenous communities. I am reminded of, for instance, the whole myth or idea of how Buddhism was propagated by Padmasambhava [in Tibet], and him having to clash with nagas and deities. It’s very fascinating to actually look into those things, and I’m really excited for this project that you are undertaking. The title of the book itself, I was curious about that. When you placed “Love and Rage” in that order, was that intentional?Yeah absolutely. The title came first before the content.Like not “Rage and Love,” but “Love and Rage.” Was that intentional?Yes, because love holds the rage. Love leads. So, when I talk about this conversation between love and rage, it’s not a fight. It’s more about how love is holding the space for our rage to be there. Love is the container that holds everything. If there is no container of love then that rage actually becomes an expression of violence. “My anger is like a living being I am in partnership with.” And then a couple of pages later you say, “Loving our anger invites it into a transformative space where it emerges as the teacher.” That’s so profound. I wonder if you can expand on that a little bit.That’s rooted within the teachings around the manifestation of the guru. How the guru is manifesting in the phenomenal world. One of those manifestations of the guru is through emotions. Once we pay attention to the emotion, the emotion is actually trying to teach us how to be in relationship with it. For so much of our lives, we tend to be overreacting and running away from our emotional reality. But to turn our attention back to something like anger, we begin to hold space for it and to experience it, that experience begins to teach us about the nature of emotion. And of course the nature of emotion is the nature of the mind itself. Once we realize that, the guru emerges in that moment.You’re saying anger can be a vessel that helps take us to the ultimate reality.Well, anything can take us to the ultimate. The nature of the whole phenomenal world is of one essence. So if we recognize the nature of that phenomena—an emotion, an object, an idea, whatever it is—it unlocks the nature of all phenomena, and that opens us right into the ultimate.Does Black History Month hold significance for you?That’s a good question. It doesn’t hold significance for me because I feel like I’m always celebrating my history and culture. It’s not relegated to one month—the shortest month of the year, by the way. I just think that we have to establish a culture where we’re celebrating all the parts of our history; all the different groups and communities that have helped shape the world. We should have knowledge and an appreciation of that. And yes, I understand that there are histories that have been so silenced that we have to create and designate these periods of time to bring attention to it. But I really want to take it to a point where we don’t need to have a special time to think about these things. That it just happens naturally. That we think about Black folks, Asian American communities, queer history, Native American history… where we just know that. And we don’t. There’s so much history that has been erased.This is different from how some people then take that other approach where they say, “I don’t see race. I’m colour blind.” You’re not saying that at all. You actually have a passage—I can’t find it right now—in your book where you affirm and celebrate the different histories, traditions, lineages that we embody. Yeah, I see differences. I love that. Again, it goes back to the teachings of the mind. I can hold space for everything and notice everything. And I can look at the ways in which I have fixations on certain things. I can examine that. That fixation may also mean prejudice. It may mean resistance to certain things. I can look at that and hold space for it and allow it to be this immense amount of openness. We can hold all the difference in the world but the problem is our relationship to that difference. Is that relationship one of opening and acceptance or is it one of restricting and defining and pushing away?And asserting power.And asserting power, absolutely. Because we’re fixated on our sense of self and ego, right? But there has to be space for it too.Spaciousness is another theme that’s quite prevalent in your book. Early on in your book, you say (in speaking of anger): “In activist communities, our relationship to anger is immature, ill-informed and overly romanticized. We manipulate anger as a false sense of energy and inspiration.” The first image that came to my mind when I read that line is the burning of the 3rd Precinct building of the Minneapolis police department shortly after the killing of George Floyd. For me that was such a powerful, revolutionary emanation of what activism means but also what taking back justice means. Do you think your line and that image are in contradiction?I think that one of the things—and this is a really subtle, nuanced argument—that I’m always trying to push for, particularly with activists, is knowing what you’re doing, and not just reacting. If you’re gonna burn a building down, know that you’re burning it and know that you’re doing this in order to hopefully trigger freedom, liberation. Not just cause you’re pissed off. I know that’s a very nuanced thing. Our holding space for anger and reacting to anger may actually look like the same action. Often I’m trying to avoid violence, but at the same time, sometimes violence has… This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit agoodrefugee.substack.com

Losar Tashi Delek and Happy Lunar New Year!In this episode, a Good Refugee Podcast speaks with Buddhist teacher, activist and writer Lama Rod Owens on a wide spectrum of topics covering spirituality, silence and power (06:55); how class, race, wealth and justice intersect with Buddhism today (12:35); sexual abuse in dharma spaces (26:56); drawing boundaries between the teacher, student, sangha and social life (29:38); and mental health (40:00).This is part one of the conversation. Listen/read part two here.The full transcript of this interview is posted below, lightly edited for clarity and flow.BioLama Rod Owens is a Buddhist minister, author, activist, yoga instructor and authorized Lama, or Buddhist teacher, in the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism and is considered one of the leaders of his generation of Buddhist teachers. He holds a Master of Divinity degree in Buddhist Studies from Harvard Divinity School and is a co-author of Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love and Liberation, and Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation through Anger.Lama Rod will be hosting a seven-week online course and practice group based on his book “Love and Rage.” It starts on February 15. Sign up here. lamarod.comInstagramTwitterEpisode notes* Making sense of these times. [02:30]* How “Love and Rage” fits in this moment. [04:20]* Meditations on silence and power. [06:55]* The evolution of activism and dharma from when Lama Rod first began. [11:18]* How class, race, wealth and justice intersect with Buddhism today. [12:35]* Sexual abuse in dharma spaces. [26:56]* Drawing boundaries between the teacher, student, dharma and social life. [29:38]* Seeing the teacher as a mirror to your own wisdom. [32:58]* Understanding mental health from Buddhist, western and Indigenous perspectives. [40:00]Interview transcriptLama Rod thank you so much for joining us. Welcome. Tashi Delek!Thank you so much.Where are you speaking from?I am speaking from Atlanta, where I just relocated to. This is traditionally, historically the land of the Muskogee people and the Cherokee people. But I am originally from Rome, Georgia, so this is like returning home.And how are you doing at this moment?I’m ok. I’m a little tired, but for the most part, mentally I’m feeling clear, open and fluid which is really wonderful.Has it felt like lately there has been a much more ramped up conversation or discourse about existing and how to make sense of these times?Yes, oh absolutely. I think last year the beginning of quarantine and the pandemic really forced people to do intense discernment about exactly what they were doing in their lives. The beginning of the quarantine reminded me of my years in my three-year retreat where everything just kind of shut down and I was just really holding space in one place for an extended period of time. That kind of holding space for me always triggers this deep kind of contemplation and discernment about what my work is. Last year, I think a lot of folks just started waking up and realizing that they had to start making different decisions and choices about how they were living their lives. And of course, on top of that, the world continues. We continue to live within systems and institutions that are creating violence for a lot of different people. So we were having to negotiate racial injustice, economic injustice, climate instability [while] at the same time negotiating a pandemic. A lot of folks started waking up to the reality of these harmful systems.When you first started [Love and Rage], you wrote that there was this moment where you were giving a talk with your co-author of Radical Dharma [Rev. angel Kyodo williams], and there was this Black gentleman who spoke about anger, and that was kind of the genesis which started your writing of Love and Rage. When was this around?2017. Before that I was really avoiding writing a book on anger. I wasn’t really interested. But at that event, where this young Black man was just like, “What do I do with anger? How do I choose happiness?” I really realized that this would be an important teaching to offer. When you locate yourself back to that time in 2017 and how things just unfolded from that point on—understanding of course that so many of the injustices and violent things that we’ve witnessed and experienced have already been happening for many decades—and then this year has been such a collision of all those injustices. And then of course we have the pandemic. As I was reading through the book now, so many of those things were almost prophetic in some ways. Was that a realization that you had to also reckon with?I will say this: my experience as I was writing that book was an experience of feeling as if I—it’s hard to articulate. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I felt like I wasn’t talking about what was happening in the moment of writing the book. And this is why I didn’t really think the book was that interesting. When I wrote it, I was like who’s gonna actually resonate with this because I don’t think it’s actually talking about anything that’s happening now. On top of that, the book was supposed to be out much earlier than last summer [2020]. It was supposed to be out the fall of 2019 and I couldn’t meet the deadlines for getting the drafts in. I kept missing all these deadlines. Classic writer’s dilemma.Exactly. Finally, my publisher was like, you have to get it in at this date or we have to push it back like a year. And so I made that deadline and when the book finally was published a year later, then it kind of landed within this current… well, apocalypse.June 2020.Yeah, I had no idea. Absolutely no idea that 2020 was gonna be the way that it was.Silence, which I know has been an important piece in your practice, is a recurring theme in the book. It also coheres with how many of us have lived in isolation throughout this pandemic. Is that something you’ve meditated on length and spoken to others about?Yeah absolutely. For me, quarantine was something that I knew how to do because of retreat. And quarantine was something the majority of folks didn’t know anything about so I just felt like I was coming home to an old practice. For me, silence is also about stillness. A lot of folks didn’t have the privilege of being in the space that felt still and quiet. Many folks were kind of bound together in family units and other roommates and other kinds of living arrangements where it felt very crowded and intense and stressful. But even in that kind of stress and crowdedness there’s still this incredible way we can touch into this stillness within all that movement and constriction. So I’ve spent a lot of time meditating on silence itself and trying to understand what silence is. I’m really influenced by the work of Audre Lorde; she talks about silence and the transformation of language. For me what I began to understand is that silence helps me to understand language and all the different ways we communicate.If I may quote a passage from [Love and Rage], you say, “The transformation of silence into language is the migration from captivity into freedom or even the migration from invisibility into visibility. However, freedom and visibility come with the burden of confronting all those who don’t want you to be free or seen.”What I read from that, and understand from you, is you also wrestling with the complexity of silence and how that can also be weaponized on those who are oppressed into being silenced. Can you please expand on that?I think about another quote from Zora Neale Hurston who, among many things, also wrote “Their Eyes Were Watching God” and she has this quote where she says, and I paraphrase, if you don’t speak, they’ll kill you and say you enjoyed it. So that weaponization of silence is really about how silence is used to erase people and then to replace that erasure with a narrative that’s much more comfortable than the true reality of things. And so, I was doing two things: I was trying to figure out how to move into language as … This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit agoodrefugee.substack.com

Are you like many of us who feel trapped in this pandemic paradox where it feels like we have lots of time on our hands and yet unable to make our reading pile lighter? Then this episode is for you! Gelek speaks with writer, friend and fellow Nepali Torontonian Manjushree Thapa to get some insight into her reading projects (03:34), traveling across Colombia in the footsteps of Gabriel García Márquez (08:30), her writing process (26:11) and writing projects (35:15). They also mix in some spirited momo discourse, where Gelek tries to pitch Manjushree on his idea of co-hosting a Netflix show about these delectable Tibetan/Nepali dumplings (17:20).BioManjushree Thapa is a Nepali Canadian essayist, novelist and translator of Nepali literature into English. Her most recent novel “All of Us in Our Own Lives” is a beautiful story of strangers who shape each other’s lives in fateful ways, about Nepalis in Nepal and abroad, about human interconnectedness, about privilege, and about the ethics of international aid. Manjushree’s non-fiction books include a travelogue, a biography, and a collection of editorials and reportage on Nepal’s Maoist war and peace process, including “Forget Kathmandu.” Manjushree currently lives in Toronto, Canada with her husband, the irrepressible journalist Daniel Lak.manjushreethapa.comTwitterEpisode notes* Reading as a way to cope with the pandemic. [02:00]* Manjushree’s reading projects: audiobooks, research vs pleasure. [03:34]* First reading project: Chinese literature. [05:25]* Reading Colombian writers and tracing the footsteps of Gabriel García Márquez in Colombia. [08:30]* What would a Manjushree Thapa-themed reading tour look like? [13:24]* Momo discourse! [17:20]* Understanding Manjushree’s love of Proust. [23:35]* Manjushree’s writing process; typing vs writing by hand. [26:11]* Current reading projects: quantum theory, memoirs, poetry... [30:00]* Writing own memoir, about Nepali feminism, pandemic writing setup, and more process. [35:15]* Eden Robinson’s Trickster series and the matter of Indigeneity. [41:26]* Reading tips from Manjushree, plus painting. [48:54]Reading listAll of Us in Our Own Lives - Manjushree ThapaWomen Have No Nationality - Manjushree Thapa (Record Nepal)I Don’t Love You, Toronto: On Books and Cities - Manjushree Thapa (The Millions)Serve the People! - Yan LiankeLiving to Tell the Tale Reader’s Guide - Gabriel García MárquezIn Search of Lost Time Volume V The Captive & The Fugitive - Marcel ProustSon of a Trickster - Eden RobinsonMonkey Beach - Eden RobinsonAdditional linksTrembling Mountain - Kesang Tseten (2016; trailer)Trickster's 2nd season cancelled by CBC (CBC News)The Boyden Controversy is not about Bloodline - Robert Jago (The Walrus)The Real Education of Little Tree - Dana Rubin (Texas Monthly)The White Tiger (2021; Netflix) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit agoodrefugee.substack.com

Recorded on Jan 23, 2021 (which now feels like a lifetime ago), the GRP cast catch up to give a retrospective on 2020, and their most based and boring predictions for 2021. Everything from the shenanigans that unfolded on Jan 6 and Jan 21 (09:05), Gelek going nude on print (23:50), the biggest disappointments of 2020 (30:00), and what they think will happen in 2021 (49:00).Editor’s note: this episode was recorded prior to the GameStop and reddit/r/wallstreetbets situation, but the hosts of a Good Refugee Podcast were unfortunately not able to forecast that into their stock predictions. We regret this oversight.Episode notes* Choeyang and Tsering’s classes. [03:30]* How we processed the double events of Jan 6 and Jan 21. [09:05]* Tibetan cameo at Trump insurrection. [11:00]* How does the insurrection compare to other major events like 9/11? [14:20]* Tibetans vacationing in Mexico during a pandemic. [19:30]* Gelek’s Love Your Body photoshoot. [23:50]* Biggest disappointment of 2020: Centrist Dems conspiring against Bernie. [30:00]* Biggest disappointment 2: anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers. [34:20]* Biggest disappointment 3: tattoos (lack thereof). [35:30]* 2020’s most pleasant surprise: Zoom learning. [38:16]* Most pleasant surprise 2: gaming. [39:54]* Biggest flex of 2020: bleached hair. [44:36]* Biggest flex 2: squats! [47:42]* 2021 most boring prediction: collapse of bitcoin. [49:00]* Most boring prediction 2: lockdown and masks continue [51:34]* Most boring prediction 3: boring Biden bores on. [52:00]* Take most likely to get us cancelled: supporting another one of Gelek’s projects. [55:00]* Take most likely to get us cancelled 2: new Tibetan Sikyong not having any meaningful effect in the lives of regular Tibetans in exile and in Tibet. [56:56]* Take most likely to get us cancelled 3: lockdown! [59:15]* 2021 stock market prediction: Tesla gonna Tesla. [64:25]* Stock market prediction 2: cannabis high. [66:45]* 2021 wholesome prediction: going back home. [68:55]* Wholesome prediction 2: more solidarity and radical community building. [69:40] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit agoodrefugee.substack.com

Author and change-maker Annahid Dashtgard chats with Gelek about her life and work confronting racism (00:55), how the oppressed can become oppressors (09:00), healing work among racialized peoples (18:30), the limits of diversity trainings (25:00), adding justice to EDI work (36:22), the upcoming Anima Leadership Conference (40:00), and more.BioANNAHID DASHTGARD is author, change-maker and co-founder of Anima Leadership, a highly respected international consulting company specializing in issues of diversity and inclusion. Annahid has over 25 years of experience designing systemic change initiatives and coordinating programs at local, national and international levels. In her career, she has moved from organizing national political campaigns targeting broad scale change to studying the psychology of individual behaviour. She is the host of the podcast series Soundwaves of Belonging, and the director of two award-winning documentaries, Bye Buy World: The Battle of Seattle and Bread. Her memoir Breaking the Ocean: Race, Rebellion and Reconciliation launched August 2019 to rave reviews. On Jan 21 and 22, Annahid will be hosting Anima Leadership’s Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times Conference.Episode notes* Annahid intro [00:55]* Dismantling Canadian exceptionalism (homegrown white extremism, Proud Boys). [04:40]* How the oppressed can become oppressors. [09:00]* Reconciliation vs accountability [13:40]* Cancel culture and how do you meet in the middle with a white supremacist? [16:45]* Importance of healing work among racialized peoples. [18:30]* Channeling rage against injustice properly. [21:20]* The limits of diversity and representation politics. [25:00]* @arayabaker: racial justice is not about diversity, it’s about overthrowing power. [32:00]* Diversity trainings being used as a checklist by organizations. [34:10]* J.E.D.I.: justice, equity, diversity and inclusion [36:22]* Anima Leadership Conference 2021 [40:00] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit agoodrefugee.substack.com