Air date: 6/15/2018 https://sarikadmehta.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/cymaspace_draft2.mp3 **Read the transcript of the feature: CymaSpace Transcript CymaSpace is a non-profit performance venue & technology incubator in Portland, Oregon. The organization is dedicated to making the arts accessible to Deaf and Hard of Hearing communities by providing …

Air date: 4/30/2018 https://sarikadmehta.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/lascafeteras_intersectionsradio1.mp3 Read the transcript of the episode: 051618 intersections with Las Cafeteras Las Cafeteras, the Chicano band from LA, and what I like to think of as unapologetic political folk music for the soul! Each of the band-membThey brilliantly mix tradit…

Air date: 4/30/2018 https://sarikadmehta.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/brendarufener_intersectionsradio.mp3 **Read the transcript of the episode: 051618 intersections with Brenda Rufener Brenda Rufener’s debut YA novel, Where I Live, follows the story of Linden Rose, a clever and witty teenager who lives at her school in successful secret. Despite th…

Nidhi Chanani is a survivor. She survived a traumatic childhood and the loss of her first baby. That doesn’t stop her from finding and celebrating the beautiful, everyday moments. That’s how she created her graphic arts website and artwork: Everyday Love. Her debut graphic novel, Pashmina, tells the story of a teenage Indian American girl navigatin…

Shanthi Sekaran, photo by Daniel Grisales Shanthi Sekaran is the author of the novel “Lucky Boy”, about adoption, immigration and motherhood, in Berkeley, CA. Two mothers’ paths cross unexpectedly due to their love for this boy, Ignacio – the lucky boy. One mother is documented and one not and the immigration system has heart-wrenching impact on th…

Celeste Ng, Kevin Day Photography The last time I spoke with Celeste Ng was for her debut novel, Everything I Never Told You, which won critical acclaim and in fact was featured in one of the first episodes of Intersections Radio. Last month she published her second novel, Little Fires Everywhere, and I suspect it will surpass the accolades of the …

Alia Malek, photo by Peter van Agtmael Alia Malek is the author of The Home that was Our Country: A Memoir of Syria, in which she she weaves the personal history of her family – particularly her maternal grandmother – and offers insights from Damascus. In 1970, her grandmother’s flat was occupied by a (legal) tenant who refused to leave. In the sam…

Back in August, the day before their latest digital album was released, Bomba Estéreostopped by Portland to start their extensive international tour. This new album, Ayo, differs from previous ones with heart-wrenching melodies such as in Duele, at the same time, bringing us great new videos including Internacionales and the viral single celebratin…

Rene Denfeld won critical acclaim for her first novel, The Enchanted, inspired by her experience as an investigator on death penalty cases. Her second novel, The Child Finder, is the story of missing children: the protagonist, Naomi, is an investigator who is searching for a missing child, Madison Culver, in the deep snow filled woods in Oregon. In…

Dr. Vanessa Grubbs is one of the rare few black doctors in nephrology (specializing in the kidney) and that’s just the beginning. She recently published a book looking at racial disparities in kidney transplantation and kidney disease. These issues were enveloped in a love story: she donated her own kidney to her now husband…before they were marrie…

Jonathan Sun, Photo by Alexander Tang Jonathan Sun is a doctoral student in Urban Studies at MIT – but he’s better known as @jonnysun, the alien character twitter phenomenon with nearly 500,000 followers. Jonny Sun’s profile self-describes as “aliebn confuesed abot humamn lamgauge”. It’s true, this creative spelling and exploration of human nature …

The Chicago Quarterly Review is a literary anthology that invites aspiring and established writers to submit fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Any writer can tell you the challenges of getting published and the topic itself has been discussed by so many authors on this show. The wonderful surprise of this latest issue, Volume 24, is that it’s The Sou…

The group of 12 Deaf and Hard of Hearing lawyers sworn in at the Supreme Court of the United States on April 19, 2016 Did you know that July is the anniversary month of the Americans with Disability Act (1990)? July is also the anniversary month of Intersections Radio (2015)! Zainab Alkebsi What better way to celebrate than airing an interview with…

Sandhya Menon is the author of the young adult romance novel When Dimple Met Rishi, her debut novel. The story follows two Indian American (Gujarati, in fact!) teenagers from the San Francisco Bay Area, during the summer before college who meet at the “InsomniaCon” 6-week summer camp app-development contest. Dimple and Rishi’s parents have agreed t…

Nina Diaz, lead singer of the indie punk rock band, Girl in a Coma has been on tour for her debut solo album, The Beat is Dead. This album tells the story of her struggles with addiction, rehabilitation and getting clean. We met at KBOO Community Radio for a delightful performance interview, including two songs: January 9th and For You. Nina talked…

Sometimes I have the opportunity to host badass South Asian artists in studio, and it is always a very good day. It’s one thing we get to take over the airwaves with this, but it’s even better when we take over the KBOO studio in Portland. Today was one such great day. “On Common Ground” is a collaborative effort between Artists Repertory Theatre i…

Boston-native Jennifer Yu has had quite an eventful year: She published her debut young adult novel, Four Weeks, Five People, just before graduating from college at the University of Pennsylvania. Getting to graduation wasn’t easy: after attempting to major in fields like Pre-Med and Economics (and “do the right thing”), she couldn’t deny her love …

Photo by Alexander Ryan Torres Last month, I had the wonderful opportunity to meet and chat with Malian blues guitarist extraordinaire: Vieux Farka Touré. Mali is home to so many outstanding blues and Tuareg artists and Vieux Farka Touré (yep, son of the infamous guitar virtuoso Ali Farka Touré) is in that spectacular group of musicians. Both Vieux…

Photo by Jose Leon Since moving to Los Angeles from her native Guatemala, singer-songwriter Gaby Moreno has achieved remarkable success as a musician. She has been nominated for a Grammy (2017) for her latest album, Ilusión, an Emmy (2010) for composing the theme song for NBC’s “Parks & Recreation” , and won the Latin Grammy for Best New Artist (20…

Jenni Monet’s mugshot, care of Morton County Sheriff’s Department The last time I talked about the protests at Standing Rock, ND, there was a victory of sorts: the Army Corps of Engineers had denied easement to build the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock and intended to reroute. That was back in early December of 2016. On February 1st, there …

Sarah Young Bear-Brown (taken from Facebook) One of the longest running stories of 2016 was the protest at Standing Rock, ND – to reroute the Dakota Access Pipeline. This protest gathered indigenous communities, environmentalists and allies from all over the world to support the water protectors – during a contentious presidential campaign. I spoke…

**This is the second episode in a two-part series that discusses the Deaf community’s complicated relationship with the Justice System. The Deaf community is at a unique intersection of linguistic minority and disability access. This is particularly complex and dangerous when considering Deaf inmates in the carceral system. Talila A. Lewis is an ac…

**This is the first episode in a two-part series that discusses the Deaf community’s complicated relationship with the Justice System. The Deaf community is at a unique intersection of linguistic minority and disability access. Amber Farrelly is a criminal defense lawyer who specializes in representing Deaf clients in various counties in Texas. Rec…

The group of 12 Deaf and Hard of Hearing lawyers sworn in at the Supreme Court of the United States on April 19, 2016 Anat Maytal is the president of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Bar Association and an attorney with Baker Hostetler in New York City specializing in Business Litigation. You might recognize her as one of the twelve Deaf and Hard of He…

Imam Daayiee Abdullah (from Twitter) **This is the second episode in a two-part series examining the intersection of sexuality with faith and ethnicity. You can listen to the first episode in the series here. Daayiee Abdullah is a religious and legal scholar based out of Washington DC. He’s the executive director of MECCA Institute, an online-inclu…

Sapna Pandya officiating a Hindu wedding **This is the first in a two-part series examining the intersection of sexuality with faith and ethnicity. I first met Sapna Pandya, very briefly, when she officiated my friend’s Deaf, gay, (“big, fat”) Indian wedding. Aside from my Interpreter-nerd curiosity of seeing Sanskrit mantras and my community’s tra…

Graphic by Mike Mort The disability community comprises of the world’s largest minority. Thanks to the efforts of Alice Wong, Gregg Beratan and Andrew Pulrang, the community has a political voice and base in this national election year with the social media campaign, #CriptheVote. Graphic by Mike Mort #CriptheVote is a nonpartisan campaign that was…

Photo by Fiona Aboud For my podcast, Intersections Radio, I’ve been doing a three-part series on South Asian comic/graphic/cartoon artists who use their talent and artwork for social justice. This is the last in the series: Vishavjit Singh Vishavjit Singh is a cartoonist whose alter ego you may know as Sikh Captain America. His origin story began a…

For my podcast, Intersections Radio, I’m doing a series on South Asian comic/graphic/cartoon artists who use their talent and artwork for social justice. You can check out the first episode. This is the second episode in the series: Adil and Kamil Imtiaz are Pakistani American brothers located in New Jersey and California, who created the superhero…

For my podcast, Intersections Radio, I’m doing a series on South Asian comic/graphic/cartoon artists who use their talent and artwork for social justice. This is the first in the series: Gauher Aftab is one of the creators of the Pakistani comic series, Paasban – The Guardian. The back story and intent of this comic is as impressive as the actual s…

Chaitali Sen is a writer from Austin, TX. Her debut novel, The Pathless Sky, is the story of a couple navigating their relationship through a country’s political turmoil. Although the country is fictional, we feel a sense of familiarity in the various challenges faced by the main characters in the novel. Her short fiction, reviews, and essays have …

D’Lo photo by Belo D’Lo is a queer/transgender Tamil-Sri Lankan-American actor, writer, and comedian. The first time we met was back in 2013 during the Dis/Orient/Ed comedy tour, which features all Asian American trans and female comics. D’Lo came back to Portland a couple of weeks ago as the keynote speaker for Lewis & Clark’s Gender Studies Sympo…

Nayomi Munaweera is a brilliant author whose writing draws from her life experiences in Sri Lanka, Nigeria and California. The first time I met her, we talked about her debut novel, Island of a Thousand Mirrors, which made waves across South Asia with its insight into life in Sri Lanka wartime. She returned to Portland with her second novel, What L…

David Perry One of the topics I’ve been exploring on this show is the relationship between police and people of color with disabilities – and the dearth of coverage in the media. For this episode, I spoke with Chicago-based journalist, David Perry, about this issue. He’s the co-author of the Ruderman white paper on Media Coverage of Law Enforcement…

For International Women’s Day this year, I am showcasing an interview with Virginia Espino: she’s UCLA scholar and Program Coordinator of Latino & Latina Studies and producer of the film, No Más Bebés. Last month, PBS Independent Lens screen the powerful documentary, No Más Bebés, which investigates tubal ligations given to working class Latina wom…

Anirvan Chatterjee doing street theatre of anti-Emergency protests. Photo by Ravi Shankar We’re closing out Black History Month and I wanted to feature another set of superstar Bay Area activists who have invested in recognizing our community’s history as a result of the Civil Rights Movement. Barnali Ghosh sharing histories of LGBTQ organizing. Ph…

Leroy Moore is a superstar disability justice activist and hip hop artist from the SF Bay Area and also, was a guest on the inaugural episode of Intersections Radio! Since then, he’s published a memoir in the form of poetry and lyrics – and it’s been making waves! So when I had a spontaneous trip to the Bay, of course we had to meet up in person an…

Something I love about interviewing authors is learning actual histories of different lands through the power of fiction. I had this opportunity again with author Tanwi Nandini Islam’s debut novel, Bright Lines. Tanwi Nandini Islam is the author of BRIGHT LINES (Penguin 2015). She is the founder of Hi Wildflower Botanica, a small-batch niche perfum…

Well it has been an awful year with regard to mass shootings around the US – and we’re not even finished yet. So it is timely that Deepa Iyer’s book, We Too Sing America, was the focus of my latest episode of Intersections Radio, the last episode for 2015. Deepa Iyer is a racial justice and immigrant rights activist, currently serving as the Senior…

Graphic by Adrean Clark People all over the United States are hunger striking for Deaf children’s education at Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf. This program has come under scrutiny due to its low Deaf representation in the school board and their insistence on using Simultaneous Communication (instead of American Sign Language) in the class…

Celeste Ng: Kevin Day Photography Celeste Ng‘s debut novel, Everything I Never Told You, has been making waves! This title won the New York Times Bestseller Book Review Notable Book award for 2014, the Asian American Award for Literature in Adult Fiction, amongst many other accolades. And with good reason – this is a beautifully written story. Ever…

Sara Nović is an impressive writer with a unique perspective on language and writing. She recently graduated from Columbia University with an MFA in Creative Writing and Translation Studies. Her debut novel, Girl at War tells the story of the Serbo Croatian war from the eyes of a young Croatian girl and her post-war life in the US. This story is a …

Courtesy of APANO Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians & Pacific Islanders are the fastest growing racial group in the United States, and have grown to over 220,000 in Oregon. Despite generations of contributions to our economy, culture and society, and growing political influence, we continue to have much to learn about their diverse communities. So …

I’ve had the fortune of talking to very cool people about Cuba, including journalist Julia Cooke and inaugural poet Richard Blanco. And I had the opportunity once again thanks to the Artists Repertory Theatre’s Broadway-scale production of Cuba Libre! Cuba Libre is the story of Alonso, who has a passion for Cuban timba music and wants to bring his …

Courtesy of the ISLRTC Autonomy Now! facebook page First things first: Read, listen to and watch everything here for the back story on the Indian Sign Language Research and Training Center and Deaf India’s fight to run this establishment. Now that you’ve done your homework, I can direct you to the GREAT news: Deaf Indians fought hard for their righ…

Deanna Fei is a writer, known for her debut novel, Thread of Sky. In fact, that’s how I came to learn about her in the first place, when she was a guest on APA Compass. She was unexpectedly back in the news when AOL’s CEO Tim Armstrong blamed employee benefit rollbacks on “two distressed babies”, which included Deanna Fei’s daughter (AOL was her hu…

Back in September, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued a call to action: Step it Up. In an effort to encourage a health lifestyle, he’s encouraging us to not only be outside walking more, he’s also working with urban planners to encourage walkable communities. I spoke to him about what this means for communities of color and people with mobility…

The Dyett 12. Courtesy of Twitter Chicago’s southside neighborhood of Bronzeville has been making waves: a group of parents from the community engaged in a 34 day hunger strike to fight for their neighborhood high school, Walter H. Dyett High School. Chicago Public Schools had slated Dyett to be phased out due to poor performance over the past thre…

Sonia Faleiro is a journalist and author of 13 Men, which investigates the brutal gang rape of a tribal woman in West Bengal, and the complex political intent involved in the story. She is based out of London and has written extensively on women’s rights, global violence against women and other related issues. She has previously appeared on KBOO, w…

Michele Friedner, Medical Anthropologist and author of Valuing Deaf Worlds in Urban India. She’s faculty at the StonyBrook School of Health Technology and Management and an expert in investigating Deaf Communities in India. This is one of the rare few ethnographic accounts from Deaf India. Additionally, Michele herself is Deaf and brings unique ins…