Stubborn is as stubborn does
you do you, boo (or maybe not)
ROCK PAPER RADIO is a dispatch for misfits & unlikely optimists by your favorite hapa haole, beet-pickling, public radio nerd. It’s a weekly email newsletter and podcast that shares three curiosities every Thursday - something to hold on to (that’s the ‘rock’), something to read (that’s the ‘paper‘), and something to listen to (you guessed it, that’s the ‘radio’). Themes include but are not limited to: rebel violinists, immortal jellyfish, revolution. Thanks for subscribing and spreading the word. Learn more at RockPaperRadio.com.
SOMETHING TO READ
Right now the world is watching to see what happens when stubbornness and ego are taken to the extreme. Could go nuclear. Or maybe we all will collectively learn the power of saying, you know what, actually this was a bad move, let’s stop all this nonsense. Who knows. Seems like we’ll find out soon enough.
In the meantime, I’d love it if you read this month’s Readers Write section from The Sun. The theme is Being Stubborn.
I have a brief story included—it’s the second to last contribution in the collection. It’s about being a sister, and a public radio staffer, and a person who loves people big and hard even when I disagree with them deeply.
When I first heard from the editor that my piece was going to be included, it was because she wanted to make sure that I had my sister’s permission for the magazine to share her health history. (Shout out to this kind of editorial integrity.) I called my sister. And then, as awkward it was, we went through the piece together, line by line. In my family growing up, this kind of direct, complicated conversation was not the norm. I resubmitted the piece with the edits she and I agreed on together. We’re both still digging in our heels, but we’re closer now for sure.
All of this is to say that I’m reaching deep into my cautious optimism a lot these days, like all of us have to. Hang in there friends, and hang on to your people, even when they’re maddeningly unmovable. They might just need you the most when they’re pushing back the hardest.
SOMETHING TO LISTEN TO
For many of us in Asian families, food—and the question have you eaten yet in particular—is our love language. That was true at home for second generation Korean American musician Philip Lee. Loyal readers, you know him by his stage name, Old Chingu.
In this week’s 2-minute Odd One In teaser, “Have you eaten yet?”, Lee shares what it was like growing up feeling like a misfit living in a different world from his parents, whose affection he craved even if they always made sure he was well fed.
If you missed the first part of Old Chingu’s story, listen here: Faith and hip hop saved his life.
SOMETHING TO HOLD ON TO
Just a few weeks ago, Ukrainian artist Volo Bevza was looking forward to the opening of his solo show in Kyiv. On the morning of the opening, Russian forces plowed into Ukraine. Joining thousands of their fellow Ukrainian refugees, Bevza and his girlfriend Victoria Pidust (also an artist) fled west to Lviv to escape the bombings.
Now, Bevza and Pidust are putting their creativity to work in new ways. Bevza, along with other crafty volunteers, are sculpting metal anti-tank obstacles to scatter across Ukraine in hopes of deterring Putin’s ground attacks. Bafflingly, these guerrilla warfare obstacles are called—you are not ready for the cuteness of this—hedgehogs.
Pidust is documenting it all through her camera’s lens. The images are are not just unsettling, but also sort of…beautiful? Here’s to more art as not just activism, but literal resistance. Hyperallergic has the story with Pidust’s striking photos: Ukrainian Artists Are Building Anti-Tank Obstacles.
SOMETHING TO CELEBRATE
That’s a wrap for issue 74, friends. Thanks for reading, listening, holding on.
And thank you to all of you excellent misfits who have filled out our first RPR Subscriber Survey! Your kind words in your testimonials mean so much to me. Thank you, thank you, thank you. For real, thank you so much.
I will be sharing your shout outs on our Instagram in the coming weeks. The survey will be up until 10am PST/1pm EST this Saturday (3/12) so there’s still time left to take it and be entered to win a copy of this month’s The Sun magazine and/or a note from me on a card I hand-pressed myself with actual little metal letters on paper that feels like a coaster from a fancy bar. The survey should take 5 minutes tops.
So many high fives and awkward virtual hugs to all of you out there reading and listening every week, even if surveys aren’t your jam. The world is on fire and our brains are all pandemic-scrambled (happy two-year anniversary?) and so I especially appreciate you taking the time with our misfit dispatch and beaming out your good vibes. I can feel them.
See you next Thursday.
K.
The song you heard in this podcast teaser is Brighter Days by Old Chingu, featuring artist Kudasaibeats.