March 21, 2025 • 28 mins
In this month's SpeakOut with Angela Giampolo, aka Philly Gay Lawyer, we explore pressing issues affecting the LGBTQ+ community. This episode the latest executive orders impacting the community and the elimination of over 200 words on government websites that not only impact LGTQIA+ but individuals in the wider community.
Giampolo Law Group
X: @Philly Gay Lawyer
Instagram: @yourgaylawyer
TikTok: @gaylawyer
Author, filmmaker, and producer Curtis Chin is coming to the Free Library of Philadelphia on Tuesday, March 26 at 7:30 PM to talk about his new memoir, Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant. This humorous and heartfelt book reflects on his experiences growing up as a gay Chinese American in 1980s Detroit, with his family's Chinese restaurant serving as the cultural and emotional centerpiece of his story. Chin’s storytelling explores themes of identity, family, community, and resilience with both wit and warmth. Don’t miss this special event at the Free Library, where he’ll share insights from his book and his journey as a writer and activist.
For event details, visit: Free Library Author Events
Follow Curtis Chin and learn more about his work at www.curtisfromdetroit.com, and on social media @curtisfromdetroit (Instagram) and @curtischin (Twitter/X).
Giampolo Law Group
X: @Philly Gay Lawyer
Instagram: @yourgaylawyer
TikTok: @gaylawyer
Author, filmmaker, and producer Curtis Chin is coming to the Free Library of Philadelphia on Tuesday, March 26 at 7:30 PM to talk about his new memoir, Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant. This humorous and heartfelt book reflects on his experiences growing up as a gay Chinese American in 1980s Detroit, with his family's Chinese restaurant serving as the cultural and emotional centerpiece of his story. Chin’s storytelling explores themes of identity, family, community, and resilience with both wit and warmth. Don’t miss this special event at the Free Library, where he’ll share insights from his book and his journey as a writer and activist.
For event details, visit: Free Library Author Events
Follow Curtis Chin and learn more about his work at www.curtisfromdetroit.com, and on social media @curtisfromdetroit (Instagram) and @curtischin (Twitter/X).
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, Welcome to What's going On, a show about
empowering our community. I'm Lorraine Ballardmorrow. Author, filmmaker, and producer
Curtis Chin is coming to the Free Library of Philadelphia
to talk about his book Everything I Learned I Learned
in a Chinese Restaurant, a memoir. It's a humorous and
thoughtful reflection on his experiences growing up as a gay
(00:21):
Chinese American in nineteen eighties Detroit, with his family's Chinese
restaurant at the heart of the story. But first we
bring you our monthly feature focusing on issues related to
the lgbtqia plus community, topics that impact us all. Joining
me as she does once a month every month more
or less, is Angela Gianfolo. She is with Gimpolo Law Group,
(00:42):
that is her company. She is an extraordinary advocate in
the lgbtqia Plus community and has a blog called Philly
Gay Lawyer. And we talk about issues once a month
that impact the lgbtqia plus community, but also we talk
about how those issues also impact the rest of us.
Thank you so much for joining us today. So much
(01:02):
talk about where do we start go?
Speaker 2 (01:05):
I don't even know We'll start with You know, this
has been a particularly tough time for the LGBTQ community
post inauguration. More happened on day one, January twentieth than
I thought would happen over six months to a year.
I don't think anyone expected the fire hose of executive
(01:27):
orders that came on inauguration day, and we are still
seeing the effects the impact of that. Several executive orders
that directly impact the LGBTQ community. One of the biggest
that I think will continue to have a ripple effect
over time on other folks within the umbrella of LGBTQ
(01:48):
plus ia is defining sex federally as solely male female.
And so obviously the immediate impact of that was felt
on trans folks, binary folks, and gender diverse folks immediate impacts,
but will eventually, my opinion, see that trickle down even
to impacting marriage equality and the federal benefits that flow
(02:09):
from marriage, because then they'll say, oh, the federal benefits
that flow for marriage will only go two traditional families
as made.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Up of a male and a female. Right, so we're
not there yet.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
But and then.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Passports and again, all federal documentation flowing from that executive order,
all federal documentation can only have an F or an
M ultimately visceraating and removing any trans folks, non binary folks,
and gender diverse folks, forcing them to choose, and no
longer being allowed to have X on their passports. So
(02:45):
I've had a lot of phone calls from folks. If
you currently have X on your ID or on your passport,
it will remain. But when they go to renew their passports,
or if they're trans and they've updated all of their
other documentation to reflect, when they go to get a passport,
it doesn't matter. They will get their sex assigned at birth.
(03:07):
So I've had a lot of phone calls from folks
with upcoming and pending international travel that no longer feel
safe to do. So they stopped all funding for HIV AIDS,
They've banned trans folks from participating in sports. That executive
order is under judicial scrutiny at the moment, So all
of these orders, at the end of the day, we'll
go through judicial scrutiny. But like what we saw Saturday
(03:31):
with the plane holding alleged you know, gang members, and
that Trump violated judicial order. So even if the courts
ultimately come back and say that's not constitutional.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
You can't do that.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Can you explain a little further what you meant by
the plane?
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Right?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
So a plane was heading to I don't know what
country with alleged gang members on it and being deported.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Oh, the Venezuelan deportations. Yeah, okay, exactly.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
And Trump was told he couldn't do that, and it
happened anyways, And so now we have we've been looking
at since February twelfth, was one of the first judicial orders,
but it wasn't a final order that he disobeyed, but
it wasn't considered a constitutional crisis at the moment because
it wasn't a final order, and so he continued to
(04:22):
do the thing. For instance, one order that he's violating
and has been is moving trans prisoners from the prison
that they're currently at to the prison again matching their
assigned sex at birth. And so that's been deemed unconstitutional,
but not a final order, so he's continuing to do
it pending a final order. We have the makings of
(04:46):
a constitutional crisis. Harvard scholars don't know where that ends,
let alone me.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Well, I guess the question is when you talk about
the different branches of government. You've got, you know, the
executive branch, You've got Congress, you've got judicial and a
president who's essentially ignoring a judicial edict that this plane
shouldn't be going off, it shouldn't be taking these venezuelans
(05:13):
to god knows where. So he's openly defying court orders.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
What does that mean?
Speaker 1 (05:21):
I mean that just seems like, where is this America?
What's happening?
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Right?
Speaker 2 (05:26):
The executive director of the ACLU was interviewed a couple
of weeks ago on this.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
This has been growing. This isn't brand new.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
This one caught the news and so now it's in
everybody's you know, daily conversation. But if you know, if
you google constitutional crisis, are we there yet? It goes
back to February twelfth, It was back to over a
month ago, but this caught the news cycle.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
So, yeah, you have the three branches of government. You
have Congress that makes the laws.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Then you have the judiciary that decides whether or not
they're legal, and then you have the executive branch, which
can also create executive work but ultimately not make law.
There's always then Congress that says, okay, yes you can
do that, and then the judiciary that's legal or it's
not constitutional or not. And we've never had a president
ever defy a judicial order. And so where does that
(06:15):
leave us? The Constitution would say it's on Congress to
then impeach. How many times has he been impeached? I
think we've gone down that road. How has that worked
out us?
Speaker 4 (06:27):
Not well?
Speaker 2 (06:28):
So Anthony Romero, the executive director of the ACLU, sees
a collapse of US government. That where does it end
if Congress won't do what it's supposed to do, which
is keep the president in check. The framers of the
Constitution did anticipate this. There is something that should be happening,
(06:48):
but that's Congress that then is supposed to keep the
president in check. So then it would be the military,
and quite frankly, the military is not on his side.
There's a great video a couple of weeks ago of
events and Trump walking out in something in the military
supposed to play music and they were playing Lemsy and
they had no idea what Lebas was, and so they're
(07:09):
clapping and they're like, Yay, this is great.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
They're playing music for us, and.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
It's about the revelation.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Right.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
I want to go back to something you said before
we started this conversation, and that was the president's elimination
of over two hundred words. And we talk about and
we talk often about how issues impacting the LGBTQI plus
community really do reflect issues that impact us all. I
wonder if you can tell us more about what that
(07:38):
is that he did and what the implications are.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Yeah, over two hundred and seventy words have been deleted
from all federal websites, regardless of what agency. Everything from
the words equality, indigenous, latin X, racism.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Pollution, women, the term just women, all women.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Uterus that form uterus, black and pregnant, from pollution to pregnancy,
to women's uteruses, to LATINX to indigenous folks, to just
a quality on a whole, ally ship, activism, biologically female.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
I can go on and on.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
There's a lot of words on that list.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Two hundred and seventy wo words.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
Yeah, and by no means are.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
These words woke.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
These make up citizens of the United States of America,
and we get pregnant, and we have uteruses, and there's pollution,
and there's racism, and these are.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Things that impact everyone.
Speaker 5 (08:41):
You know.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
One of the over fifteen years that we've known each other.
One of the poems that we keep going back to
is you know that, and then they came for me.
So it starts with they came for the socialists. I
wasn't a socialist. I didn't stand up, and they came
from the trades folks. I wasn't a trade person, so
I didn't stand up. Then they came for the Jews,
and I was a Jew, so I didn't stand up.
(09:01):
And then they came for me, and there was nobody
left to stand up to speak for me, right, And
so I've chose we are literally at that point where
there is nobody not on the menu, and so everybody
needs to get to the table because if you're not
on the table, you're on the menu.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
Everybody.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
And I've said this since the election, everybody is an
ally to somebody. Everybody is an ally to somebody, and
so really reaching out and being there for the folks
around you that are in need of support right now,
and that extends far beyond LGBTQ plus IA folks.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
This is everybody.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Yeah, I mean, you're seeing a lot of people who
voted for Trump who were laid off because of the
reduction in the federal workforce, so, yes, what's happening is
impacting everybody.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
I had a gentleman called me yesterday who voted for
Trump and his wife got deported.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Wow. So I guess a lot of people are kind
of in a state of despair, not knowing what to do,
and I think that that's probably going to persist for
a little bit longer. But obviously actions can be taken.
You talk about supporting those who need support, and of
course we believe in that, being allies, that's who we are.
(10:23):
But what else can people do?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Some that not everybody can do, but some things that
with privilege, if you have the ability to take these
things into your hands. You mentioned, you know folks who
voted for Trump that were then laid off, some very
very impactful things that if you have the control over them,
that you can do. Is where you work and where
you live. The government, all these things are happening, and
(10:46):
there is unfortunately nothing that we can do to control
what is happening at the federal level. If you have
any control over where you work, and that workplace is inclusive.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
And kind and is aware and of everything that's happening.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
We spend a lot of time at work, so having
a place, a safe place to go to work.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Not everyone can control that, but if you.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Can, and then obviously where you live, and so if
you're listening to the show, you live somewhere fairly inclusive
and safe. And then really monitoring your news intake. At
the end of the day, these things are going to
keep happening. You do not have control over that. Also
told a client of mine also, stop she's watching the
news and her stocks at all.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
Oh yeah, fifteen times a day.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Oh not a good thing for the mental health, right.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
It won't help go up or down or the news
to get any better. And so then that goes back
to allyship and being intentional getting off Facebook, getting off
Instagram and actually physically going to see the folks that
you love and being actually in an environment with real
life people and sharing in the things that you concerned about.
(12:00):
What Lorena is concerned about is different than what I'm
concerned about, which would be different than what someone else
is concerned about. But all together, energetically being in the
same place and off of social media really goes a
long way again to your point for mental health.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Yes, and we have to mention as we do, especially
the last couple of months and that is if you
are married or in a partnership, get your will, get
your all the legal stuff in place, because that could
be impacted. And that's not just for the LGBTQIA plus community,
that's for everybody. Everyone needs to have a will, Everyone
(12:36):
needs to have a medical all the different terms that
I am not a lawyer, So yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Well, I mean I got passionate around this topic with
the Terry Shaibo case twenty years ago. She's married couple,
he was not her health care power of attorney, she
didn't have an advanced directive. So yes, every America needs
to have these documents, more so the LGBTQ community because
we're only considered married in thirty seven countries out of
one hundred and ninety five. The fly flag and soon
(13:01):
not here either, so very very important. As well as
if you're in a family, doing your confirmatory adoptions and
getting that taken care of, and if you still have
documents that you can update your name on. As for
with trans folks, not better your folks and gender diverse folks,
get as many of the documents uniform that you that
(13:22):
you can aside from the federal.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Right, and that is your speciality If people want to
find out more, where do they get in touch with you?
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Absolutely?
Speaker 2 (13:29):
You can call my office two on five six four
five twenty four fifteen, or go to my website lawyer
dot LGBT Lawyer dot LGBT dot dot com.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
And you have a blog where do we find Thank you.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Phillygaylawyer dot com. Bought that domat in college. Probably the
only person who became a lawyer to fulfill a business model.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
But Phillygaylawyer dot.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Com and I write frequently also on social media Gay
Lawyer TikTok and your gay lawyer on Instagram.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Yes here you have quite a few followers on TikTok,
which is very delightful. Angela Giampolo Giampolo Law, Philly Gay Lawyer.
Thank you as always for coming with us to speak out.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Thank you Lured.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
The race is on to get your tickets so the
Mars Animal Refuges for Ball Friday, March twenty eight, from
six pm to eleven pm at the Simulon Foundation Automoti
Museum in Philadelphia. All proceeds benefit the shelter's homeless animals.
Race to get your tickets at Phillyfurball dot com Phillyfurball
dot com.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
You're listening to What's going on. Curtis Chin is an
award winning author, filmmaker, and co founder of the Asian
American Writers Workshop. His memoir Everything I Learned I Learned
in a Chinese Restaurant has garnered critical acclaim, and his
documentaries have been screened worldwide. With a career spanning TV
journalism and social justice, filmmaker Jin continues to shed light
(15:02):
on underrepresented stories and he is going to be in
Philadelphia very soon. So I'm delighted to be speaking with you.
Curtis Jin. Thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Well, your memoir, Everything I Learned I Learned in a
Chinese Restaurant explores your experience growing up as a gay
Chinese American in nineteen eighties Detroit. Although this centers around
your family restaurant, this memoir reflects on identity, community, and
resilience while addressing the themes of race, sexuality, and the immigrant experience.
(15:35):
I wonder if you can talk more about the inspiration
for the book and what you're hoping that people gain
from reading it.
Speaker 6 (15:43):
Well, thank you so much for having me on your show.
At the end of the day, I just want people
to have a good time reading my book. It's a
humor book, but it actually looks at a very unique
time period in American history. As you mentioned, eighties in
Detroit very difficult. The auto industry was ruggling, There was
crack cocaine, there was aids. I knew five people murdered
(16:04):
by the time I was eighteen years old.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
But despite that, we had this fabulous.
Speaker 6 (16:08):
Chinese restaurant where my parents gave us the best Chinese
food and all the lessons we needed to live and get.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
On with our lives.
Speaker 6 (16:15):
And so I think that the book is a celebration
of family, It's a celebration of good Chinese food, and
it gives us an opportunity to have some thoughtful discussions
about very important issues going on in our country right now.
The way I talked about it, you know, with my
friends when I was first writing about it, was that
we live in a very divided country right now. Right
we have these little silos where we don't talk to
(16:36):
each other. But Chinese restaurants are one of the few
places where you can go in and see somebody from
a different race or our socioeconomic background, or religion or
sexual orientation. And maybe if you just you know, leaned
across the table next to you and ask like, hey,
what are you eating? Maybe those are the baby steps
that our country sort of needs to take to sort
of start healing these things, because we can't even seem
(16:57):
to be civil and make small talk with each other anymore.
And so I wanted to take that opportunity in writing
this book. There are lots of fun stories, there's lots
of humor, but yet it addresses important things. And so
as I again, as I said, it's like come for
the egg grows, but stay for the talk.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
On racism.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Social justice is a theme that you return to in
so many different formats, whether it's your book or whether
it's your documentaries. And I wonder if you can talk
what draws talk about what draws you to these topics.
Speaker 6 (17:26):
Well, it's actually a pretty serious incident that happened when
I was a kid, because when I was a young kid,
I loved growing up in that Chinese restaurant, and it
was actually one that was founded by my great grandfather
in nineteen forty, so I had a long history and
I actually thought that I would just inherit the restaurant
from my dad. You know because by that time he
was a third generation in the family and it seemed
(17:49):
like a good life, right, But then sadly a family friend,
Vincent Chin, And I know your listeners know about that murder,
but it's a very pivotal moment for Asian Americans. If
you want to, can go into it. But needless to say,
it was a vicious hate crime against the Asian American.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
And terribly the judge.
Speaker 6 (18:08):
These guys never had to serve a single day in
jail because judge said, you don't put these type of
people in jail. You know, when you're a fourteen year
old kid and you know somebody that's in the hospital
fighting for their life, and then you know, after the
family had to pull the plug months later, when the
judge comes down with the sentence, you realize that there's
this uneven distribution of justice in our country. I felt like, okay,
(18:31):
you know, maybe the reason the judge gave these guys
this light sentence is because he didn't understand Vincent. Maybe
he didn't see Vincent as a human being who you know,
deserved a quality. That's when this idea of telling our
stories became really important to me.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
And I think that when we talk about examining these
issues from the lens a cultural lens, it offers us
the opportunity to understand people other than ourselves, but also
to find the humanity and the shared experiences that we
all have together. And you kind of explore that not
(19:08):
only in your book but also in your documentaries as well.
Speaker 6 (19:11):
I think it's unique being an Asian American because oftentimes
you find yourself as the only one in the room, right,
or a minority or whatever, and that forces you to
understand other people's perspectives, right, because you've got to figure
out in terms of how to get along. And I
see that as maybe a good skill set that I've
(19:31):
developed understanding both the African American and Black community and
the white community. Being a Buddhist in a predominantly Christian
Judeo society, right like, you oftentimes have to learn about
how other people think and why they think certain ways.
And if you can learn to appreciate that and then
(19:52):
also understand the way you think and the way you
were raised, then that helps with the conversation of bringing
us together because you're not just being knee jerk about things,
or you're not being reactionary, but there's a little bit
more empathy that you can bring to the table.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
I've been noticing pop culture has embraced Asian culture in
a way that's quite interesting. More and more we're seeing
Asian men and women being allowed to be more three dimensional, right,
in terms of how they're allowed to be depicted and portrayed.
What do you think about things that are evolving? Obviously
(20:26):
we have a ways to go. Representation is a journey,
but I have seen some positive impacts in terms of
how Asian Americans are portrayed in the media. That's starting
to really evolve.
Speaker 6 (20:40):
Yeah, no, I mean representation is very important. But I
actually have a story about that in my book. One
of the chapters is that as a little kid, at
twelve year old, I was trying to stay in the
closet and one of the things I was trying to
do is find a good Asian American male role model, right,
And I would check the TV movie stuff like that,
(21:01):
And it's about Bruce Lee, right and like seeing him
on the film for the first time and being a
role model. But then the story ends where one night
at our restaurant, actor Jul Brenner, who was like this
Oscar winning actor was coming into town for this musical
called The King and I. He had booked our restaurant
for that whole night to do his cash party, and
(21:21):
my dad got so excited because he thought, like, oh,
Chinese restaurants don't get the respect that they deserve, but
this big, a list highlywood star was coming to our restaurant,
and so he immediately did everything he could to make
it a wonderful night for you know, Jil Brenner and
his team.
Speaker 4 (21:37):
He made us clean the place.
Speaker 6 (21:38):
He bought ice cream for him, and he never bought
ice cream for me, but my dad bought ice cream
for Jil Brenner. At the end of the night, my
dad asks jil Brenner to just take a photo, you know,
with him, and jil Brenner said no, and if my
Dad's heart. The moral of that tale was that here
I was trying to look for an Asian American male
role model outside, but I had one right in front
(22:01):
of me. Here was my dad, the Chinese who was
working so hard to make these people have a great time.
And so, yeah, it's important that we have better Hollywood representation,
but it's also important that we recognize the heroes in
our lives, the daily heroes that really can teach us
good role models and values and those I think are the.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
True heroes in life.
Speaker 6 (22:23):
But back to your point, Yes, there have been more
I always say positive role models of Asian American men.
Definitely more diverse images, which is great because you also
don't want to get into one stereotype of like the
Asian martial arts expert, right, you want to be able
to see us in all types of professions and careers
(22:43):
and different socio economic backgrounds, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
All right, that's what representation is all about.
Speaker 4 (22:49):
Now.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Your upcoming docuseries focuses on the history of Chinese restaurants
in America. What was one surprising discovery you made during
your research.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
My next one is actually for PBS.
Speaker 6 (23:00):
I'm doing a piece for them for American Masters, which
I'm in post production on, so that technically is my
next film. But the project that I'm currently raising funds for,
which will hopefully be the next film after that, is
a docu series called for Here or to Go, and
it looks at the history of Chinese restaurants in America,
and each episode looks at a different wave, starting with
(23:22):
say the first episode, which looks at the Chopsui joints right,
that came in the eighteen hundreds up until nineteen forty
the Chinese Exclusion Act. It's a very very unique type
of cuisine, right. And then the next wave was after
the Exclusion Act ended. Suddenly you had people coming from Taiwan,
but they weren't Taiwanese. They were actually Hunan and Sechuan.
(23:42):
You know, people from Hunan and Sechuan who escaped China.
And so you know, you brought that cuisine and in
nineteen sixty five when the US changes immigration laws, right,
you suddenly had Beijing food. And so it's really interesting
how you can chart the geopolitics and immigration history of
the Chinese American community through the food that was available.
(24:03):
Even looking at now where the most recent wave are
like high end restaurants like didn't Tiphung?
Speaker 5 (24:08):
Right?
Speaker 6 (24:08):
Does that say about Chinese immigration and balance of power
soft power right between the two countries? And so that's
the next next, the next thing. What have I found?
So I've done some filming because I'm just sort of
shooting as I raised money. So I've filmed about three
restaurants so far. What have I discovered just how much
I love Chinese food, just how great Chinese food is.
(24:30):
I mean, it's so wonderful, and how how much Chinese
food has actually impacted how we eat food in America.
I think that's something that we take for granted, whether
it's the idea of you know, fast food service right
or delivery, to the idea of open concept restaurants. You know,
how like you go into a restaurant, now you can
see the kitchen. Well, that's a direct result because they
used to accuse Chinese restaurants it's serving dog meat, so
(24:52):
they kept them open so people could see what was
going on.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
Or the idea of special order because you.
Speaker 6 (24:57):
Know, the way you cook Chinese food is that you know,
you chop up all the ingredients in the morning, right,
and you're just really just throwing them into the walk
when the customer comes in. All these custom order type things.
That's something that I think that the Chinese restaurants brought
to food eating in America because prior to Chinese restaurants,
restaurant eating was very limited in America, right, you really
(25:18):
only went out for special occasions, and oftentimes, you know,
you just went in you ordered what they served. Et cetera,
et cetera. But that's been the most fascinating thing to me,
is like how much Chinese restaurants have actually influenced how
we eat food in general in America.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Yeah. Plus it's a refuge for those on Christmas Day
and Thanksgiving who don't have your traditional dinners at home.
I've had Chinese food on Christmas Day, delightful. So and
certainly your book is extraordinary in the sense that it
does look at identity, community and resilience. And you are
coming to Philly tell us more.
Speaker 6 (25:53):
Yeah, I've been on this massive tour. I've done over
three hundred events.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 6 (25:59):
Yeah, from Camp Humphrey in Korea to Dusseldorff University in Germany.
It's just been crazy the response to this book because
Chinese food is really global, and I think because of that,
there is this audience. But I'm going to come back
to Philadelphia for four events, three that are public. So
I have events at the Free Library on Monday, May
(26:22):
twenty fourth. All this information is on my website. Curtis
from Detroit dot Com. It's a free event and they're
actually catering for food.
Speaker 4 (26:28):
So if you want to.
Speaker 6 (26:29):
Have some Chinese from Sanki Restaurant. Come on Monday, the
twenty fourth. Tuesday, I'm going to be at Temple University.
That's a noontime event, and I also think they have food.
There's a theme to all this. There's food at all
these events. And then there's this evening event that sadly
is a private event, but it's going to be held
at a Chinese restaurant. And it's one of those Chinese
(26:51):
restaurant tours that I've been doing, because I've been doing
talks at Chinese restaurants where I actually, instead of talking
about my book, I interview the owner and I find
out their history about, you know, how they got started
with their favorite restaurant or what their favorite foods are,
who their customers are, and then they're going to bring
up a bunch of Chinese restaurant kids to share their stories.
That's like a private event for like sixty people, and
(27:13):
you know, but that's going to be fun for me.
And then on Wednesday, I'm going to be doing a
major lecture at U penn and so that'll be fun
as well. I'll be talking to one of the students
on stage. So it's just a lot of fun, I mean,
and then my big thing next is that in May,
I'm going to Europe for twenty readings, including Oxford University.
So I'm feeling like a really super smarty pants at
(27:34):
that point.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
So well, well.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Well deserved an excellent book, getting lots of critical acclaim.
The book is called Everything I Learned I Learned in
a Chinese Restaurant. Curtis Jim, Award winning author, a filmmaker,
co founder of the Asian American Writers Workshop, thank you
so much, Thank you for having me. You could listen
to all of today's interviews by going to our station
website and typing in Keyword Community. You can also listen
(27:59):
on the iHeartRadio so app Keywords Philadelphia Community podcast. Follow
me on Twitter and Instagram at Lorraine Ballard. I'm Lorraine
Ballard Morrel and I stand for service to our community
and media that empowers. What will you stand for? You've
been listening to what's going on, and thank you
Good morning, Welcome to What's going On, a show about
empowering our community. I'm Lorraine Ballardmorrow. Author, filmmaker, and producer
Curtis Chin is coming to the Free Library of Philadelphia
to talk about his book Everything I Learned I Learned
in a Chinese Restaurant, a memoir. It's a humorous and
thoughtful reflection on his experiences growing up as a gay
(00:21):
Chinese American in nineteen eighties Detroit, with his family's Chinese
restaurant at the heart of the story. But first we
bring you our monthly feature focusing on issues related to
the lgbtqia plus community, topics that impact us all. Joining
me as she does once a month every month more
or less, is Angela Gianfolo. She is with Gimpolo Law Group,
(00:42):
that is her company. She is an extraordinary advocate in
the lgbtqia Plus community and has a blog called Philly
Gay Lawyer. And we talk about issues once a month
that impact the lgbtqia plus community, but also we talk
about how those issues also impact the rest of us.
Thank you so much for joining us today. So much
(01:02):
talk about where do we start go?
Speaker 2 (01:05):
I don't even know We'll start with You know, this
has been a particularly tough time for the LGBTQ community
post inauguration. More happened on day one, January twentieth than
I thought would happen over six months to a year.
I don't think anyone expected the fire hose of executive
(01:27):
orders that came on inauguration day, and we are still
seeing the effects the impact of that. Several executive orders
that directly impact the LGBTQ community. One of the biggest
that I think will continue to have a ripple effect
over time on other folks within the umbrella of LGBTQ
(01:48):
plus ia is defining sex federally as solely male female.
And so obviously the immediate impact of that was felt
on trans folks, binary folks, and gender diverse folks immediate impacts,
but will eventually, my opinion, see that trickle down even
to impacting marriage equality and the federal benefits that flow
(02:09):
from marriage, because then they'll say, oh, the federal benefits
that flow for marriage will only go two traditional families
as made.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Up of a male and a female. Right, so we're
not there yet.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
But and then.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Passports and again, all federal documentation flowing from that executive order,
all federal documentation can only have an F or an
M ultimately visceraating and removing any trans folks, non binary folks,
and gender diverse folks, forcing them to choose, and no
longer being allowed to have X on their passports. So
(02:45):
I've had a lot of phone calls from folks. If
you currently have X on your ID or on your passport,
it will remain. But when they go to renew their passports,
or if they're trans and they've updated all of their
other documentation to reflect, when they go to get a passport,
it doesn't matter. They will get their sex assigned at birth.
(03:07):
So I've had a lot of phone calls from folks
with upcoming and pending international travel that no longer feel
safe to do. So they stopped all funding for HIV AIDS,
They've banned trans folks from participating in sports. That executive
order is under judicial scrutiny at the moment, So all
of these orders, at the end of the day, we'll
go through judicial scrutiny. But like what we saw Saturday
(03:31):
with the plane holding alleged you know, gang members, and
that Trump violated judicial order. So even if the courts
ultimately come back and say that's not constitutional.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
You can't do that.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Can you explain a little further what you meant by
the plane?
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Right?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
So a plane was heading to I don't know what
country with alleged gang members on it and being deported.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Oh, the Venezuelan deportations. Yeah, okay, exactly.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
And Trump was told he couldn't do that, and it
happened anyways, And so now we have we've been looking
at since February twelfth, was one of the first judicial orders,
but it wasn't a final order that he disobeyed, but
it wasn't considered a constitutional crisis at the moment because
it wasn't a final order, and so he continued to
(04:22):
do the thing. For instance, one order that he's violating
and has been is moving trans prisoners from the prison
that they're currently at to the prison again matching their
assigned sex at birth. And so that's been deemed unconstitutional,
but not a final order, so he's continuing to do
it pending a final order. We have the makings of
(04:46):
a constitutional crisis. Harvard scholars don't know where that ends,
let alone me.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Well, I guess the question is when you talk about
the different branches of government. You've got, you know, the
executive branch, You've got Congress, you've got judicial and a
president who's essentially ignoring a judicial edict that this plane
shouldn't be going off, it shouldn't be taking these venezuelans
(05:13):
to god knows where. So he's openly defying court orders.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
What does that mean?
Speaker 1 (05:21):
I mean that just seems like, where is this America?
What's happening?
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Right?
Speaker 2 (05:26):
The executive director of the ACLU was interviewed a couple
of weeks ago on this.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
This has been growing. This isn't brand new.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
This one caught the news and so now it's in
everybody's you know, daily conversation. But if you know, if
you google constitutional crisis, are we there yet? It goes
back to February twelfth, It was back to over a
month ago, but this caught the news cycle.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
So, yeah, you have the three branches of government. You
have Congress that makes the laws.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Then you have the judiciary that decides whether or not
they're legal, and then you have the executive branch, which
can also create executive work but ultimately not make law.
There's always then Congress that says, okay, yes you can
do that, and then the judiciary that's legal or it's
not constitutional or not. And we've never had a president
ever defy a judicial order. And so where does that
(06:15):
leave us? The Constitution would say it's on Congress to
then impeach. How many times has he been impeached? I
think we've gone down that road. How has that worked
out us?
Speaker 4 (06:27):
Not well?
Speaker 2 (06:28):
So Anthony Romero, the executive director of the ACLU, sees
a collapse of US government. That where does it end
if Congress won't do what it's supposed to do, which
is keep the president in check. The framers of the
Constitution did anticipate this. There is something that should be happening,
(06:48):
but that's Congress that then is supposed to keep the
president in check. So then it would be the military,
and quite frankly, the military is not on his side.
There's a great video a couple of weeks ago of
events and Trump walking out in something in the military
supposed to play music and they were playing Lemsy and
they had no idea what Lebas was, and so they're
(07:09):
clapping and they're like, Yay, this is great.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
They're playing music for us, and.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
It's about the revelation.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Right.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
I want to go back to something you said before
we started this conversation, and that was the president's elimination
of over two hundred words. And we talk about and
we talk often about how issues impacting the LGBTQI plus
community really do reflect issues that impact us all. I
wonder if you can tell us more about what that
(07:38):
is that he did and what the implications are.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Yeah, over two hundred and seventy words have been deleted
from all federal websites, regardless of what agency. Everything from
the words equality, indigenous, latin X, racism.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Pollution, women, the term just women, all women.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Uterus that form uterus, black and pregnant, from pollution to pregnancy,
to women's uteruses, to LATINX to indigenous folks, to just
a quality on a whole, ally ship, activism, biologically female.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
I can go on and on.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
There's a lot of words on that list.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Two hundred and seventy wo words.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
Yeah, and by no means are.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
These words woke.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
These make up citizens of the United States of America,
and we get pregnant, and we have uteruses, and there's pollution,
and there's racism, and these are.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Things that impact everyone.
Speaker 5 (08:41):
You know.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
One of the over fifteen years that we've known each other.
One of the poems that we keep going back to
is you know that, and then they came for me.
So it starts with they came for the socialists. I
wasn't a socialist. I didn't stand up, and they came
from the trades folks. I wasn't a trade person, so
I didn't stand up. Then they came for the Jews,
and I was a Jew, so I didn't stand up.
(09:01):
And then they came for me, and there was nobody
left to stand up to speak for me, right, And
so I've chose we are literally at that point where
there is nobody not on the menu, and so everybody
needs to get to the table because if you're not
on the table, you're on the menu.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
Everybody.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
And I've said this since the election, everybody is an
ally to somebody. Everybody is an ally to somebody, and
so really reaching out and being there for the folks
around you that are in need of support right now,
and that extends far beyond LGBTQ plus IA folks.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
This is everybody.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Yeah, I mean, you're seeing a lot of people who
voted for Trump who were laid off because of the
reduction in the federal workforce, so, yes, what's happening is
impacting everybody.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
I had a gentleman called me yesterday who voted for
Trump and his wife got deported.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Wow. So I guess a lot of people are kind
of in a state of despair, not knowing what to do,
and I think that that's probably going to persist for
a little bit longer. But obviously actions can be taken.
You talk about supporting those who need support, and of
course we believe in that, being allies, that's who we are.
(10:23):
But what else can people do?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Some that not everybody can do, but some things that
with privilege, if you have the ability to take these
things into your hands. You mentioned, you know folks who
voted for Trump that were then laid off, some very
very impactful things that if you have the control over them,
that you can do. Is where you work and where
you live. The government, all these things are happening, and
(10:46):
there is unfortunately nothing that we can do to control
what is happening at the federal level. If you have
any control over where you work, and that workplace is inclusive.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
And kind and is aware and of everything that's happening.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
We spend a lot of time at work, so having
a place, a safe place to go to work.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Not everyone can control that, but if you.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Can, and then obviously where you live, and so if
you're listening to the show, you live somewhere fairly inclusive
and safe. And then really monitoring your news intake. At
the end of the day, these things are going to
keep happening. You do not have control over that. Also
told a client of mine also, stop she's watching the
news and her stocks at all.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
Oh yeah, fifteen times a day.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Oh not a good thing for the mental health, right.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
It won't help go up or down or the news
to get any better. And so then that goes back
to allyship and being intentional getting off Facebook, getting off
Instagram and actually physically going to see the folks that
you love and being actually in an environment with real
life people and sharing in the things that you concerned about.
(12:00):
What Lorena is concerned about is different than what I'm
concerned about, which would be different than what someone else
is concerned about. But all together, energetically being in the
same place and off of social media really goes a
long way again to your point for mental health.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Yes, and we have to mention as we do, especially
the last couple of months and that is if you
are married or in a partnership, get your will, get
your all the legal stuff in place, because that could
be impacted. And that's not just for the LGBTQIA plus community,
that's for everybody. Everyone needs to have a will, Everyone
(12:36):
needs to have a medical all the different terms that
I am not a lawyer, So yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Well, I mean I got passionate around this topic with
the Terry Shaibo case twenty years ago. She's married couple,
he was not her health care power of attorney, she
didn't have an advanced directive. So yes, every America needs
to have these documents, more so the LGBTQ community because
we're only considered married in thirty seven countries out of
one hundred and ninety five. The fly flag and soon
(13:01):
not here either, so very very important. As well as
if you're in a family, doing your confirmatory adoptions and
getting that taken care of, and if you still have
documents that you can update your name on. As for
with trans folks, not better your folks and gender diverse folks,
get as many of the documents uniform that you that
(13:22):
you can aside from the federal.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Right, and that is your speciality If people want to
find out more, where do they get in touch with you?
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Absolutely?
Speaker 2 (13:29):
You can call my office two on five six four
five twenty four fifteen, or go to my website lawyer
dot LGBT Lawyer dot LGBT dot dot com.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
And you have a blog where do we find Thank you.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Phillygaylawyer dot com. Bought that domat in college. Probably the
only person who became a lawyer to fulfill a business model.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
But Phillygaylawyer dot.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Com and I write frequently also on social media Gay
Lawyer TikTok and your gay lawyer on Instagram.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Yes here you have quite a few followers on TikTok,
which is very delightful. Angela Giampolo Giampolo Law, Philly Gay Lawyer.
Thank you as always for coming with us to speak out.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Thank you Lured.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
The race is on to get your tickets so the
Mars Animal Refuges for Ball Friday, March twenty eight, from
six pm to eleven pm at the Simulon Foundation Automoti
Museum in Philadelphia. All proceeds benefit the shelter's homeless animals.
Race to get your tickets at Phillyfurball dot com Phillyfurball
dot com.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
You're listening to What's going on. Curtis Chin is an
award winning author, filmmaker, and co founder of the Asian
American Writers Workshop. His memoir Everything I Learned I Learned
in a Chinese Restaurant has garnered critical acclaim, and his
documentaries have been screened worldwide. With a career spanning TV
journalism and social justice, filmmaker Jin continues to shed light
(15:02):
on underrepresented stories and he is going to be in
Philadelphia very soon. So I'm delighted to be speaking with you.
Curtis Jin. Thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Well, your memoir, Everything I Learned I Learned in a
Chinese Restaurant explores your experience growing up as a gay
Chinese American in nineteen eighties Detroit. Although this centers around
your family restaurant, this memoir reflects on identity, community, and
resilience while addressing the themes of race, sexuality, and the immigrant experience.
(15:35):
I wonder if you can talk more about the inspiration
for the book and what you're hoping that people gain
from reading it.
Speaker 6 (15:43):
Well, thank you so much for having me on your show.
At the end of the day, I just want people
to have a good time reading my book. It's a
humor book, but it actually looks at a very unique
time period in American history. As you mentioned, eighties in
Detroit very difficult. The auto industry was ruggling, There was
crack cocaine, there was aids. I knew five people murdered
(16:04):
by the time I was eighteen years old.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
But despite that, we had this fabulous.
Speaker 6 (16:08):
Chinese restaurant where my parents gave us the best Chinese
food and all the lessons we needed to live and get.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
On with our lives.
Speaker 6 (16:15):
And so I think that the book is a celebration
of family, It's a celebration of good Chinese food, and
it gives us an opportunity to have some thoughtful discussions
about very important issues going on in our country right now.
The way I talked about it, you know, with my
friends when I was first writing about it, was that
we live in a very divided country right now. Right
we have these little silos where we don't talk to
(16:36):
each other. But Chinese restaurants are one of the few
places where you can go in and see somebody from
a different race or our socioeconomic background, or religion or
sexual orientation. And maybe if you just you know, leaned
across the table next to you and ask like, hey,
what are you eating? Maybe those are the baby steps
that our country sort of needs to take to sort
of start healing these things, because we can't even seem
(16:57):
to be civil and make small talk with each other anymore.
And so I wanted to take that opportunity in writing
this book. There are lots of fun stories, there's lots
of humor, but yet it addresses important things. And so
as I again, as I said, it's like come for
the egg grows, but stay for the talk.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
On racism.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Social justice is a theme that you return to in
so many different formats, whether it's your book or whether
it's your documentaries. And I wonder if you can talk
what draws talk about what draws you to these topics.
Speaker 6 (17:26):
Well, it's actually a pretty serious incident that happened when
I was a kid, because when I was a young kid,
I loved growing up in that Chinese restaurant, and it
was actually one that was founded by my great grandfather
in nineteen forty, so I had a long history and
I actually thought that I would just inherit the restaurant
from my dad. You know because by that time he
was a third generation in the family and it seemed
(17:49):
like a good life, right, But then sadly a family friend,
Vincent Chin, And I know your listeners know about that murder,
but it's a very pivotal moment for Asian Americans. If
you want to, can go into it. But needless to say,
it was a vicious hate crime against the Asian American.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
And terribly the judge.
Speaker 6 (18:08):
These guys never had to serve a single day in
jail because judge said, you don't put these type of
people in jail. You know, when you're a fourteen year
old kid and you know somebody that's in the hospital
fighting for their life, and then you know, after the
family had to pull the plug months later, when the
judge comes down with the sentence, you realize that there's
this uneven distribution of justice in our country. I felt like, okay,
(18:31):
you know, maybe the reason the judge gave these guys
this light sentence is because he didn't understand Vincent. Maybe
he didn't see Vincent as a human being who you know,
deserved a quality. That's when this idea of telling our
stories became really important to me.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
And I think that when we talk about examining these
issues from the lens a cultural lens, it offers us
the opportunity to understand people other than ourselves, but also
to find the humanity and the shared experiences that we
all have together. And you kind of explore that not
(19:08):
only in your book but also in your documentaries as well.
Speaker 6 (19:11):
I think it's unique being an Asian American because oftentimes
you find yourself as the only one in the room, right,
or a minority or whatever, and that forces you to
understand other people's perspectives, right, because you've got to figure
out in terms of how to get along. And I
see that as maybe a good skill set that I've
(19:31):
developed understanding both the African American and Black community and
the white community. Being a Buddhist in a predominantly Christian
Judeo society, right like, you oftentimes have to learn about
how other people think and why they think certain ways.
And if you can learn to appreciate that and then
(19:52):
also understand the way you think and the way you
were raised, then that helps with the conversation of bringing
us together because you're not just being knee jerk about things,
or you're not being reactionary, but there's a little bit
more empathy that you can bring to the table.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
I've been noticing pop culture has embraced Asian culture in
a way that's quite interesting. More and more we're seeing
Asian men and women being allowed to be more three dimensional, right,
in terms of how they're allowed to be depicted and portrayed.
What do you think about things that are evolving? Obviously
(20:26):
we have a ways to go. Representation is a journey,
but I have seen some positive impacts in terms of
how Asian Americans are portrayed in the media. That's starting
to really evolve.
Speaker 6 (20:40):
Yeah, no, I mean representation is very important. But I
actually have a story about that in my book. One
of the chapters is that as a little kid, at
twelve year old, I was trying to stay in the
closet and one of the things I was trying to
do is find a good Asian American male role model, right,
And I would check the TV movie stuff like that,
(21:01):
And it's about Bruce Lee, right and like seeing him
on the film for the first time and being a
role model. But then the story ends where one night
at our restaurant, actor Jul Brenner, who was like this
Oscar winning actor was coming into town for this musical
called The King and I. He had booked our restaurant
for that whole night to do his cash party, and
(21:21):
my dad got so excited because he thought, like, oh,
Chinese restaurants don't get the respect that they deserve, but
this big, a list highlywood star was coming to our restaurant,
and so he immediately did everything he could to make
it a wonderful night for you know, Jil Brenner and
his team.
Speaker 4 (21:37):
He made us clean the place.
Speaker 6 (21:38):
He bought ice cream for him, and he never bought
ice cream for me, but my dad bought ice cream
for Jil Brenner. At the end of the night, my
dad asks jil Brenner to just take a photo, you know,
with him, and jil Brenner said no, and if my
Dad's heart. The moral of that tale was that here
I was trying to look for an Asian American male
role model outside, but I had one right in front
(22:01):
of me. Here was my dad, the Chinese who was
working so hard to make these people have a great time.
And so, yeah, it's important that we have better Hollywood representation,
but it's also important that we recognize the heroes in
our lives, the daily heroes that really can teach us
good role models and values and those I think are the.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
True heroes in life.
Speaker 6 (22:23):
But back to your point, Yes, there have been more
I always say positive role models of Asian American men.
Definitely more diverse images, which is great because you also
don't want to get into one stereotype of like the
Asian martial arts expert, right, you want to be able
to see us in all types of professions and careers
(22:43):
and different socio economic backgrounds, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
All right, that's what representation is all about.
Speaker 4 (22:49):
Now.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Your upcoming docuseries focuses on the history of Chinese restaurants
in America. What was one surprising discovery you made during
your research.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
My next one is actually for PBS.
Speaker 6 (23:00):
I'm doing a piece for them for American Masters, which
I'm in post production on, so that technically is my
next film. But the project that I'm currently raising funds for,
which will hopefully be the next film after that, is
a docu series called for Here or to Go, and
it looks at the history of Chinese restaurants in America,
and each episode looks at a different wave, starting with
(23:22):
say the first episode, which looks at the Chopsui joints right,
that came in the eighteen hundreds up until nineteen forty
the Chinese Exclusion Act. It's a very very unique type
of cuisine, right. And then the next wave was after
the Exclusion Act ended. Suddenly you had people coming from Taiwan,
but they weren't Taiwanese. They were actually Hunan and Sechuan.
(23:42):
You know, people from Hunan and Sechuan who escaped China.
And so you know, you brought that cuisine and in
nineteen sixty five when the US changes immigration laws, right,
you suddenly had Beijing food. And so it's really interesting
how you can chart the geopolitics and immigration history of
the Chinese American community through the food that was available.
(24:03):
Even looking at now where the most recent wave are
like high end restaurants like didn't Tiphung?
Speaker 5 (24:08):
Right?
Speaker 6 (24:08):
Does that say about Chinese immigration and balance of power
soft power right between the two countries? And so that's
the next next, the next thing. What have I found?
So I've done some filming because I'm just sort of
shooting as I raised money. So I've filmed about three
restaurants so far. What have I discovered just how much
I love Chinese food, just how great Chinese food is.
(24:30):
I mean, it's so wonderful, and how how much Chinese
food has actually impacted how we eat food in America.
I think that's something that we take for granted, whether
it's the idea of you know, fast food service right
or delivery, to the idea of open concept restaurants. You know,
how like you go into a restaurant, now you can
see the kitchen. Well, that's a direct result because they
used to accuse Chinese restaurants it's serving dog meat, so
(24:52):
they kept them open so people could see what was
going on.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
Or the idea of special order because you.
Speaker 6 (24:57):
Know, the way you cook Chinese food is that you know,
you chop up all the ingredients in the morning, right,
and you're just really just throwing them into the walk
when the customer comes in. All these custom order type things.
That's something that I think that the Chinese restaurants brought
to food eating in America because prior to Chinese restaurants,
restaurant eating was very limited in America, right, you really
(25:18):
only went out for special occasions, and oftentimes, you know,
you just went in you ordered what they served. Et cetera,
et cetera. But that's been the most fascinating thing to me,
is like how much Chinese restaurants have actually influenced how
we eat food in general in America.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Yeah. Plus it's a refuge for those on Christmas Day
and Thanksgiving who don't have your traditional dinners at home.
I've had Chinese food on Christmas Day, delightful. So and
certainly your book is extraordinary in the sense that it
does look at identity, community and resilience. And you are
coming to Philly tell us more.
Speaker 6 (25:53):
Yeah, I've been on this massive tour. I've done over
three hundred events.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 6 (25:59):
Yeah, from Camp Humphrey in Korea to Dusseldorff University in Germany.
It's just been crazy the response to this book because
Chinese food is really global, and I think because of that,
there is this audience. But I'm going to come back
to Philadelphia for four events, three that are public. So
I have events at the Free Library on Monday, May
(26:22):
twenty fourth. All this information is on my website. Curtis
from Detroit dot Com. It's a free event and they're
actually catering for food.
Speaker 4 (26:28):
So if you want to.
Speaker 6 (26:29):
Have some Chinese from Sanki Restaurant. Come on Monday, the
twenty fourth. Tuesday, I'm going to be at Temple University.
That's a noontime event, and I also think they have food.
There's a theme to all this. There's food at all
these events. And then there's this evening event that sadly
is a private event, but it's going to be held
at a Chinese restaurant. And it's one of those Chinese
(26:51):
restaurant tours that I've been doing, because I've been doing
talks at Chinese restaurants where I actually, instead of talking
about my book, I interview the owner and I find
out their history about, you know, how they got started
with their favorite restaurant or what their favorite foods are,
who their customers are, and then they're going to bring
up a bunch of Chinese restaurant kids to share their stories.
That's like a private event for like sixty people, and
(27:13):
you know, but that's going to be fun for me.
And then on Wednesday, I'm going to be doing a
major lecture at U penn and so that'll be fun
as well. I'll be talking to one of the students
on stage. So it's just a lot of fun, I mean,
and then my big thing next is that in May,
I'm going to Europe for twenty readings, including Oxford University.
So I'm feeling like a really super smarty pants at
(27:34):
that point.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
So well, well.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Well deserved an excellent book, getting lots of critical acclaim.
The book is called Everything I Learned I Learned in
a Chinese Restaurant. Curtis Jim, Award winning author, a filmmaker,
co founder of the Asian American Writers Workshop, thank you
so much, Thank you for having me. You could listen
to all of today's interviews by going to our station
website and typing in Keyword Community. You can also listen
(27:59):
on the iHeartRadio so app Keywords Philadelphia Community podcast. Follow
me on Twitter and Instagram at Lorraine Ballard. I'm Lorraine
Ballard Morrel and I stand for service to our community
and media that empowers. What will you stand for? You've
been listening to what's going on, and thank you
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!