I’ve known Travis C. Lau since the beginning of the pandemic, as we follow each other on social media. My interview with him for this episode was the first real conversation I’ve had with him. From the moment I hit record, we hit it off like long-lost siblings discovering new things about each other. In this episode, Travis looks back on his complicated relationship with his parents and his relationship with the queer community during his college days, and how that affected his relationship to his own queer Chinese identity. We chatted about his poetry and how his disability and neurodivergence have impacted his work and a deeper understanding of himself. Travis talked about his friendship with the late Alice Wong, a disabled Asian American disability activist and author, and how he wants to remember her. Also, he treats us to a reading of one of his poems.

Travis Chi Wing Lau (he/him/his) is Assistant Professor of English at Kenyon College. His research and teaching focus on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British literature and culture, health humanities, and disability studies. Alongside his scholarship, he has been published widely in venues of public scholarship and poetry, including three chapbooks--The Bone Setter (Damaged Goods Press, 2019), Paring (Finishing Line Press, 2020), Vagaries (Fork Tine Press, 2022)--and a full-length collection of poems, What’s Left Is Tender (Harbor Editions, 2025). He is also co-editor of Every Place on the Map Is Disabled, an anthology of disability poetry and poetics, published with Northwestern University Press in 2026. He was the winner of the Christopher Hewitt Award for Poetry (2019), recipient of the Greater Columbus Arts Council’s Artists Elevated Award in Literature (2024), and the Ohio Arts Council's Artists with Disabilities Access Program Grant (2025). [travisclau.com]

IG: travisclau

Bio:

TW/CW: Discussion of G*nocide, State-Sanctioned V*olence, Racism

Jenny Chan, Executive Director of Pacific Atrocities Education (PAE), joins me as a guest for this week’s episode as we discuss the many parts of Asian American history during the 19th century to pre-World War 2 that have been forgotten in US History, and the racialized harm and v*olence that Asian Americans experienced during that time. Jenny dives into the Asian Pacific Wars that were happening during WW2, specifically imperial Japan’s atrocities, which include the Nanking Massacre, the Bataan Death March, and the Korean and Chinese comfort women. She brings up how necessary it is to share all of this history to gain a deeper understanding of what we are all seeing today in the US and across the globe. Tune in to learn more about this discussion.

Jenny Chan is the director of Pacific Atrocities Education (PAE), a San Francisco-based nonprofit she established in 2014 to raise awareness of World War II atrocities in the Asia-Pacific region, such as the Nanjing Massacre, Unit 731, and the "comfort women" system, through books, videos, and digitized archives that have engaged over 800,000 online visitors annually. Under her leadership, PAE's internship program—offering opportunities in research, community outreach, digital archiving, and oral history—has profoundly shaped participants' careers, with several former interns advancing to become professors and scholars.

Visit Pacific Atrocities Education

Instagram: pacificatrocitiesedu

Facebook:Pacific Atrocities Education

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To honor and celebrate Black History Month, I invited Chicago journalist and author Arionne Nettles to discuss her research and experience with Black Chicago’s long-lasting impact on Black culture through music, journalism, literature, politics, social justice, and so on. We talk about Chicago-based media magazine Jet’s impact on covering Emmett Till’s murder, which propelled the start of the Civil Rights Movement. From Buddy Guy to Gwendolyn Brooks, Kanye, to the Obamas, Nettles explains how Chicago has been the epicenter of creativity, innovation, and tenacity for Black creatives and leaders. We unabashedly talk about how Chicago is and will remain the best city in the world :-). Check

Get your copy of “We Are The Culture” now:

Available on: Chicago Review Press , Independent Publishers Group , Barnes and Noble

Also, please support Black-owned bookstores in Chicago:

@ callandresponsechi @ semicolonchi @undergroundbooks @ slantoflightbooks

Bio:

Arionne Nettles is a professor, culture reporter, and audio aficionado who serves as the Garth C. Reeves Eminent Scholar chair and instructor for digital journalism at Florida A&M University. As a journalist, her stories often look into Chicago history, culture, gun violence, policing, and race & class disparities, and her work has appeared in the New York Times Opinion, Chicago Reader, The Trace, WTTW, and WBEZ. She is the author of We Are the Culture: Black Chicago’s Influence on Everything, published by Lawrence Hill Books/Chicago Review Press.

Instagram: arionnenettles

Website: https://arionne.com/

TW/CW: Mentions of child exploitation, sexual violence towards women, fraud, and other potential community trauma.

For this special episode, I invited my good friend, past guest, and longtime Khmer American community leader, Sina Sam, to the show to discuss the allegations made against Khmerican founder, Phatry Derek Pan, involving financial grifting, child exploitation & predatory behavior towards the Cambodian community both in America and in Cambodia. It is important to note that Phatry has not been charged or found guilty of these allegations, and that the information we are sharing is based on the experiences and stories shared by community members, which will remain confidential for safety purposes. Sina and I also chatted about the pervasive nature of the predatory and toxic behavior of some of the Khmer leaders and members in community spaces, and how the people who have been the recipients of their harm are often not believed, forced to leave their community space(s) or exit out of the work that they have been doing in the community, and not be able to see their abusers be held accountable, and not to mention, the trauma they have to endure long after. Sina shares her reflection on what accountability can look like in community spaces and in supporting survivors. Many thanks to Sophia Sam for her contributions in this episode and for gathering stories from folks who have experienced harm in Khmer community spaces.

For additional resources, please check out the following:

Individual Khmer therapists: Recommended by Krystal from Mealea Collection:

1. Zona Keo (LCSW) at soulfulconnectiontherapy.org (U.S. based)

2. Sophay (Pai) Duch (LCSW) at sophayduchlcsw.com (U.S. based)

3. Sombok Psychology in Phnom Penh (Cambodia based, echoed by another Khmer person as “the only trusted therapy center in PH)

4. Yo Phon (LCSW) in Siem Reap (Cambodia based, recommended by Mealyann Nita Saing/Miss Cambodia USA)

Additional resources and support (provided by Sina Sam)

Feedback, questions on this episode?

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScB_aCuGzrqmaNvYVwt4jCoIaHPlzpVijix7nTIZCflfc3Osg/viewform

This week on The Banh Mi Chronicles, I did a total kiki with the multi-talented writer, dancer, and creative benedict nguyễn (she/her).

Benedict joined me as we dived deep into the genesis of her debut novel, Hot Girls With Balls (Catapult 2025). We explore the nuances of writing trans stories that center joy and athleticism, the reality of navigating social media as a public-facing creative, and why finding the right publisher and community spaces are essential for queer and trans writers of color.

In this episode, we discuss:

The Genesis of the Novel: How Hot Girls With Balls went from an idea to a USA Today National Bestseller.

Trans Athletes & Representation: Crafting a story that honors the reality of trans athletes beyond the headlines.

The Dancer Life: Benedict’s background as a dancer and how movement informs her writing.

Social Media & Community: Navigating the digital landscape and finding genuine connection through promoting her book.

The Publishing Industry: The importance of working with publishers who advocate and support QTPOC voices.

About benedict:

benedict nguyễn (she/her) is a #freelanceflailing dancer, writer, and creative producer. A Publishers Weekly 2025 “Writer to Watch,” Benedict is the author of the debut novel Hot Girls With Balls, an ABA Indie Next Pick and USA Today National Bestseller.

She has danced in projects by Sally Silvers, Kris Seto, and Monstah Black, and appeared in the short film Don’t Fck with Bà* (2024). As a producer, she has supported projects at the New York Botanical Garden, Danspace Project, and the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance! Her writing on labor and culture has appeared in The Baffler, Vanity Fair, and BOMB Magazine.

Connect with Benedict

Buy "Hot Girls With Balls" Here

Website:

https://benedict-nguyen.com/

Instagram: xbennyboo

Support The Banh Mi Chronicles

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! It helps other listeners find our community.

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(Trigger Warning: Mentions of S*xual Violence during this recording)

This episode is the last of 2025! It brings me great joy to invite former pin-up model and lead singer of Nylon Pink, who recently released her memoir, “Fetishized: A Reckoning with Yellow Fever, Feminism, and Beauty,” to wrap up the final podcast episode of 2025.

Kaila recounts her experience as a former pin-up model in the early 2000s, within the import car world that was closely associated with the Asian American “AZN” culture. Think of Fast and the Furious, the souped-up 1998 Honda Civic.

Bio:

Kaila is an author based in Los Angeles. Her debut memoir, ‘Fetishized: A Reckoning with Yellow Fever, Feminism, and Beauty,’ was published this past August with Penguin Random House’s Crown Publishing.

She is also a luxury travel, food, and culture writer and on-camera correspondent based in Los Angeles, who has written for The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Conde Nast Traveler, National Geographic, and more. She’s a certified PADI scuba diver, freediver, and mermaid.

Her former band, Nylon Pink, has toured in Australia: Melbourne and Sydney, played in Shanghai at the launch party for Havaianas in China, Costa Rica, played at the Hard Rock in Tokyo, Japan, Macau, China, and Penang, Malaysia.

Follow:

Instagram: kailayu

TikTok: kaila.yu

Website: www.kailayu.com

In this deep-dive episode, I chat with 2x Emmy-award winning producer and director, Jon Hill, Director of Creative Video at Fox Sports Digital.

We kick off with some spirited discussion on Chicago and Philly sports, before switching gears for a profound conversation about Jon’s award-winning feature film, Above the Clouds.

Jon shares the introspective journey of making his debut film, explaining how the filmmaking process became a source of healing after the loss of his father. He discusses how the project helped him solidify his Thai American identity and provided a powerful avenue for navigating grief over the years.

Bio:

Jon Hill is a 2x Emmy-award-winning producer and director living in Los Angeles. You can find him working at Fox Sports Digital as their Director of Creative Video.

His award-winning feature film, Above the Clouds, can be seen on Tubi, YouTube, Amazon, among others.

IG: jhill_aka_da_streaming_king