Ngoc Bui

A conversation with Vietnamese-American puppet artist Oanh Vu about her latest piece, “Phantom Loss”, a “tragicomedy” filled with boiled chicken, wacky game shows, and a ghost dog named Chicken. Equal parts laughter and heartbreak, the show centers on the intergenerational impacts of deportation and displacement.

This episode documents a special dinner event where two chefs, Yia Vang and Colby Rasavong, use food to open conversations about the complex history between Hmong and Lao people, and explore how a new culinary vernacular can bridge generations.

It's been fifty years since the last cluster bombs were dropped in Laos — the most bombed country of any in the world. Over the span of almost ten years, the U.S. carried out 580,000 bombings on Laos. Aleena Inthaly discussed the work Legacies of War is doing to bring awareness to the ongoing impact of cluster bombs decades on.

Of COVID-related deaths among Asian Minnesotans in 2020, nearly half were Hmong. And because of pandemic restrictions, the large and often lavish days-long funeral ceremonies practiced by Hmong Americans were no longer possible. Hmong healer Xifu Yaj Ceeb Vaj shares that with the social aspect of the funeral custom stripped away, the centuries-old ritual became the focus -- giving younger generations an opportunity to connect with their cultural roots in a new way.