recommendations: a podcast episode + a video

[queenlua]

This American Life: Eight Fights (episode transcript)

Really good podcast episode. The host interviews various members of a large family that's split across the Russian-Ukranian border, recounting the family's history over the course of eight different "fights," both well before the war, and after the war breaks out. Mostly, the fights are the kinds of little fights all families have—what kind of school should we put the kid in, what's an appropriate gift for this kid, and so on. Except, before the war, questions of who feels more Ukranian versus Russian are only a matter of only theoretical import, but after the war breaks out and the family is scattered across Europe, those same fights fights become understandably more... heated. And painful. (It's very clear everyone loves everyone else! which is what makes these kinds of things so hard.)

A really good listen. And it does end on a surprisingly uplifting note, despite everything.

Naomi Wu, Why Do I Look Like... This?

In the past, I'd watched a few videos by Naomi Wu, a Shenzhen-based maker/hacker and YouTuber. She seemed like a generally intrepid & cool hackertype, even though my interests lie more in software and hers more in hardware.

So I was dismayed to learn, recently, that she and her girlfriend have run into some trouble with the CCP—always a risk for a Chinese media personality with a large western audience, a risk she was well aware of and pretty outspoken about. And you could tell she was so careful to avoid direct criticism of the CCP even while living a pretty bold & unconventional lifestyle. (She also certainly wasn't anyone's patsy, be it the CCP or westerners or anyone else—she was pretty outspoken when dealing with, e.g., western feminists who made stupid assumptions about what progress in China should look like, or biting back against westerners who acted like she was an arm of the CCP simply because she sometimes thought their policies were sound or sensible. I didn't even always agree with Naomi! but holy hell did I respect her for always speaking her mind.)

In light of that news, I wound thumbing through her YouTube channel, and I stumbled on this video I hadn't seen before, and...

...wow. Most her videos are focused on technical details, 3D printers and Raspberry Pis and the like, so I was honestly expecting, like, technical details for how she made her clothing or got her boob job or something. What I wasn't expecting was this very vulnerable & honest bit of biography—there's some Complicated Gender Stuff that she talks about in detail in the video, as well as how that fit in with her own introduction to & then life within the Chinese LGBTQ community. (Also there's a bit about Dolly Parton that I liked a lot, haha.)

I learned some things & was also quite moved. Recommended.

Comments

[kradeelav]

can't get into naomi wu's article given the paywall but holy /hell/ thank you for linking that youtube video she made. talk about a very vulnerable but honest bit of history about her upbringing there and how she's managed to make those worlds work for her. hearing her say that her 10-year old self would be estatic to see who she is today was so heartwarming. T_T learned a ton.

thank you as always for the link. <3

[queenlua]

fyi, that article isn't hard paywalled—if you get the popup saying to sign up or something, you can just click "continue reading" in graytext and it'll let you see the whole article!

(and yw, of course~)

[kradeelav]

aaaaah shoot, totally my bad, and thank you for the heads up there! I was in a hurry there and thought it was one of those paid-only substack articles. x)

ah damn though. what a razor sharp existence to be in. i cannot imagine what her girlfriend's going through right now what with being in that sort of quasi-famous position but also knowing what she must know....

[helicoprion]

Man I pretty much never watch videos as long as that Naomi Wu one but she's so friggin charismatic? That was really lovely and informative, thanks for the link!

[queenlua]

right?? same here, i'm not much of a youtube vid person but this one really grabbed me.

[mozaikmage]

Reading the podcast transcript like "wow it's cool that they explained this to Americans" lol
like I'm Jewish on my mom's side right and both my mom's parents' families necessarily originated from The Place Where Jews Could Live In The Empire which means modern-day Belarus and Ukraine, so we still have relatives in Ukraine now but then my aunt and cousin and dad's family are all in Moscow, which really is the privileged heart of the empire.
And the like nationality question, that's been a thing forever, especially if you're also Jewish because Jewish and Russian (and Ukrainian) used to be separate categories. My step dad's Soviet passport said "ethnicity: Jew" on it.
Also Masha Gessen! I've read a lot of their books, major inspiration to me as a fellow Russian American Jewish lesbian Masha who writes about that sometimes. My uncle claims to be acquainted with them but hasn't introduced me yet :(
I'll have to check the Naomi Wu video out!

[queenlua]

i had never heard of Masha Gessen before this podcast! but they really impressed me; i'll have to look at some of their books sometimes. that's such a cool background to share with them~

hope you enjoy the naomi wu vid as well!

[lavendre]

Naomi Wu! <3

I followed her on twitter waaaay back in the day for her commentary and I had no idea this video existed. It was such a surprise to see her name pop up again. Thank you for linking! I love learning more about LGBTQ communities outside of the U.S, gonna watch this asap.

[queenlua]

hope you like the vid!!! :D