
Episode 29 - Ann Kaneko & Jin Yoo-Kim - “We Are the Children”
Photo Credit: Todd Gray
[Image Description: Ann is pictured from the chest up. She wears a black, long-sleeved top and a gold necklace. Her black hair is cut into a short bob and her head is titled slightly to the side. She looks to the camera as she stands against a beige and white blurred background.]
Photo Credit: Jin Yoo-Kim
[Image Description: Jin is pictured from the chest up. She wears bright red lipstick and has shoulder lengthed black hair. She wears a graphic print shirt that has a black background with swirly, multi-colored shapes. She stands against a white background in front of some foliage.]
In this episode, I speak with director, producer, and writer Ann Kaneko and producer Jin Yoo-Kim about their latest project, Manzanar: Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust. We chat about Ann’s very impressive matchmaking skills, their work on K-Town ‘92 and their reflections of the 1992 Rebellion, and how they successfully weaved the stories of environmentalism, the Indigenous, and Japanese-Americans into a beautiful tapestry. This episode’s song is classic, “We are the Children” by Chris Iijima, Nobuko Miyamoto, and "Charlie" Chin. The song was one of the first bits of artistry that defined the Asian-American identity. And the chorus is a call for all of us to unapologetically embrace every aspect of our beings. It reads, Sing a song for ourselves, What have we got to lose, Sing a song for ourselves We’ve got the right to choose.”

Episode 28 - Adam Benzine - “What's Happening Brother”
Photo Credit: Alison Boulier
[Image Description: Adam is pictured from the torso up. He wears a dark-colored long-sleeved sweater over a light-colored button-down shirt. He holds a white mug in his hands just beneath his chin. He gazes to the left. The photo is in B&W.]
n this episode, I speak with Oscar-Nominated, United Kingdom-born, and Canada-based filmmaker Adam Benzine. During the episode, we chat about his career in journalism, his move to Canada, his critically acclaimed work, Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah, and his latest documentary project, The Curve, which is about the first 90-days of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Because in so many ways the battles we are facing now so closely resemble those are parents and grandparents fought in the past, this episode’s song is Marvin Gaye’s timeless classic, “What’s Happening Brother.” Adam specifically connects to the following lyrics from the song, “When will people start gettin' together again? Are things really gettin' better, like the newspaper said? What else is new my friend? Besides what I read. Can't find no work, can't find no job, my friend. Money is tighter than it's ever been. Say, man, I just don't understand What's going on across this land.” Our conversation was recorded in July 2021.