hmong

This episode is a recording of our September 19th live show, which was filmed at the Union Hmong Kitchen on Lake Street in partnership with SPAM.

We are so grateful to everyone at SPAM and Hormel who supported this event.  Everyone in attendance was treated to goodie bags and delicious appetizers, which came in the form of SPAM fried rice and SPAM musubi. both of which were made with their new maple flavor.

Our host, Chef Yia Vang, spoke with Los Angeles-based writer Phillipe Thao about his experiences growing up as a Hmong kid and how queerness plays a role in Hmong culture. Phillipe works at Netflix and is very much immersed in the world of media. But how does he retain his Hmongness? How does he value his heritage? Trust me, you’ll want to hear the whole thing. It’s a fascinating conversation.

Thanks as always for listening. Be sure to follow the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or whenever you get your shows. If you like what you hear, give us a five-star review! Also, be sure to find us on YouTube, and follow us on Instagram and Facebook @hmonglishpod

Welcome to Season 3, Episode 35. Today we talk about The History of the Hmong in America. The Hmong are a people without a country. An ethnic, indigenous minority that are believed to have originated in southern China, the Hmong diaspora are international but are predominantly in China, Laos, Vietnam, the US, and Thailand. We share the origins of the Hmong as well as their migration to the US after the failed Secret War in Laos and end of the Vietnam War. Hmong are known for their beautiful textiles and silverwork, and we highly recommend you seek out more information from places like the Hmong American Center in Wausau, Wisconsin, the Hmong Cultural Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, or online at Hello Hmong. We bring back What Are We Watching for our recurring segment, and we share our thoughts about the Netflix shows Nimona and Cowboy Bebop. For previous episodes and information, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or social media links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at info@aahistory101.com.

Segments

• 00:25 Catching Up and Discussing Our Hmong Memories
• 05:31 The History of Hmong Americans
• 25:45 What Are We Watching? Nimona and Cowboy Bebop

Hal and Craig return to watching some latter-career Clint Eastwood films, this time it's Clint's 2008 film GRAN TORINO, a movie made for old white people to feel okay about being racist! Fun? Discussion also includes:

• The new season of Black Mirror;
• Clive Barker's Faustian novel THE DAMNATION GAME;
• The best airplane movies;
• An update on the Tampa 5, the five people arrested in Tampa for protesting Ron DeSantis' anti-DEI efforts;
• Which of Clint Eastwood's children he dislikes the most; and
• A quick history of the Hmong people.

RESOURCES & LINKS:

More info on the Tampa 5:

• https://www.axios.com/local/tampa-bay/2023/06/22/tampa-five-usf-protest-diversity-lauren-pineiro-arrest

• http://www.fightbacknews.org/2023/4/19/florida-statewide-protest-demands-justice-tampa-5-drop-charges

• https://naarpr.org/updates/drop-the-charges-now-defend-student-activists-justice-for-the-tampa-5/

More info on the Hmong People:

• https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/chart/top-10-u-s-metropolitan-areas-by-hmong-population-2019/)
• https://www.hmongamericancenter.org/
• https://iimn.org/publication/finding-common-ground/minnesotas-refugees/asia/hmong/ 

Yia Vang is the Chef and Owner of Hilltribe Restaurant Group. Yia Vang immigrated to America with his parents when he was five. He studied PR and communications in college and eventually started cooking for church events. Once he was able to cook and prepare menus from his Hmong heritage, he knew he wanted to be a chef. He started pop ups, a food trailer, food halls, and he even worked with past RU guest Chef Gavin Kasen. Today there are four Hmong Union Kitchen locations and Yia has other concepts as well, such as retail and catering.

Show notes…

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Contact:

Instagram: @yiavang70 @unionhmongkitchen

Thanks for listening!

Thanks so much for joining today! Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

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Huge thanks to Yia Vang for joining me for another awesome episode. Until next time!

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Hey, folks! We're back to bring you a very special episode.

On May 23rd, we held our first live show at Yia Vang’s Hilltribe popup space in uptown Minneapolis. It was a resounding success and we are so excited to share it with you here.

Before we get into that, please know that we are working hard on creating future seasons and events for Hmonglish. Please sit tight, but in the meantime, keep up with us on Instagram and Facebook @hmonglishpod. There is also a video version of today’s show going on YouTube. Please consider subscribing to that channel!

Ok, here it is, Hmonglish LIVE!

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All music courtesy of a paid creative license with Artlist

Hey, folks!

You’re about to listen to the last episode of season 3. Don’t worry, we are already working on the foundation of season 4 and we’re even planning a live show in late spring. We’re going to be taking a break from regular episodes for a while, but we will drop bonus content in the meantime. And be sure to follow us on social media for updates. 

Today’s episode is one of our personal favorites. We’ve got Xee Reiter with us. She’s an artist based in Minnesota whose life trajectory started on a very traditional route. A traditional marriage. A traditional Hmong wife. But she refused to accept this as her destiny. She took her life into her own hands and threw herself into the art world.

Since then, she has produced an incredibly prolific body of work across art murals and exhibits – she’s even done some work with Yia. We think you’ll find her story inspiring and, hopefully, you’ll find plenty of opportunities to laugh because these two are hilarious when they get together. 

Hey, folks!

Today we have Judge Sophia Vuelo as our guest. This incredible woman was the first Hmong American judge in Minnesota and the second to be appointed in the country.

She arrived here over 40 years ago when her family fled Laos due to the Vietnam War. Her father died before she was born and her mother, with 7 children in tow, came to Eau Claire, Wisconsin to start a new life.

Her story is beautiful and awe-inspiring, but I’ll let you hear it from her.

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If you like the show, leave us a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, and be sure to subscribe. The same goes for our YouTube channel: if you like what you’re seeing, give us a like, a comment, and subscribe to the channel.

If you haven’t done so already, follow us on social media on Facebook and Instagram: @hmonglishpod.

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Support for Hmonglish comes from SolarPod, an Immigrant-founded and owned company that makes and installs the Z-Rack, no-roof-hole racking system.

Proudly manufactured in Shakopee, Minnesota, this product is designed to eliminate the use of fossil fuel compounds that are often used in solar installations. Not only that, but the z-rack preserves the integrity of your roof in the process.

The SolarPod Z-Rack: revolutionary solar innovation made radically simple.

Get a quote for your home or business at mysolarpod.com

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All music courtesy of a paid creative license with Artlist

Hi, folks. Welcome to episode 4 of season 3. Today we have Tou Lo with us, who is an incredible individual. Listen to this: the guy is both a former marine and a former firefighter. You don’t meet many of those!

Today, he is the owner of Yelo Autosports, which is an auto detailing service based in Little Canada, Minnesota.

He is a wonderful human being and he shared a lot with us during this episode, including his recent trip to Laos, in which he reconnected with his Hmong roots in order to really see and feel the place his parents came from.

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If you like the show, leave us a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, and be sure to subscribe. The same goes for our YouTube channel: if you like what you’re seeing, give us a like, a comment, and subscribe to the channel.

If you haven’t done so already, follow us on social media on Facebook and Instagram: @hmonglishpod.

-

Support for Hmonglish comes from SolarPod, an Immigrant-founded and owned company that makes and installs the Z-Rack, no-roof-hole racking system.

Proudly manufactured in Shakopee, Minnesota, this product is designed to eliminate the use of fossil fuel compounds that are often used in solar installations. Not only that, but the z-rack preserves the integrity of your roof in the process.

The SolarPod Z-Rack: revolutionary solar innovation made radically simple.

Get a quote for your home or business at mysolarpod.com

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All music courtesy of a paid creative license with Artlist

Hey folks, welcome back to Hmonglish.

This is episode 3, which means we are halfway through the season because we typically record the show in batches of 6 episodes.

As you know, we release the show on Wednesdays, so that means the next two episodes will be released on March 8th and March 15th.

Today’s episode is with Sheng Elizabeth Lor. It is just about impossible to describe this woman because she is so many wonderful things all at once, so what we'll say is this: she’s a good friend of Yia’s, she is based in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and she runs a company called the Social X Change project, which can be described as a digital creation platform that focuses on uplifting marginalized communities in arts and activism.

She is also an editor for the Hmong American Experience, which is the largest Hmong media organization in the world. This woman is so incredible and so inspiring, and we can’t wait for you to hear from her!

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If you like the show, leave us a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, and be sure to subscribe. The same goes for our YouTube channel: if you like what you’re seeing, give us a like, a comment, and subscribe to the channel.

If you haven’t done so already, follow us on social media on Facebook and Instagram: @hmonglishpod.

-

Support for Hmonglish comes from SolarPod, an Immigrant-founded and owned company that makes and installs the Z-Rack, no-roof-hole racking system.

Proudly manufactured in Shakopee, Minnesota, this product is designed to eliminate the use of fossil fuel compounds that are often used in solar installations. Not only that, but the z-rack preserves the integrity of your roof in the process.

The SolarPod Z-Rack: revolutionary solar innovation made radically simple.

Get a quote for your home or business at mysolarpod.com

-

All music courtesy of a paid creative license with Artlist

Hey, everyone! We’re hoping that you enjoyed last week’s episode and we’re super excited to bring you another one.

Today, we’re featuring Brian and Pahoua Yang Hoffman. Brian is an entrepreneur who currently owns Yeah Yeah Taco in Minneapolis. Pahoua is the Senior Vice President of Government & Community Relations for HealthPartners, which is a massive nonprofit healthcare provider based in Minnesota

Pahoua was with us last season and we really enjoyed our time with her. But this time, we wanted bring her husband along so that we could talk about relationships from a multicultural perspective.

Because, here’s the thing: Brian is white – he’s Jewish – and Pahoua is Hmong. When she was with us last season, she specifically spoke about how it was expected of her to marry a hmong man and so we wanted both her and her husband to dive into the nuances of this situation and many others.

Brian and Pahoua are brilliant individuals and they bring a lot of wisdom to the relationship conversation – which you’d expect from two people who've been married for almost 20 years.

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If you like the show, leave us a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, and be sure to subscribe. The same goes for our YouTube channel: if you like what you’re seeing, give us a like, a comment, and subscribe to the channel.

If you haven’t done so already, be sure to follow us on social media on Facebook and Instagram: @hmonglishpod.

-

Support for Hmonglish comes from SolarPod, an Immigrant-founded and owned company that makes and installs the Z-Rack, no-roof-hole racking system.

Proudly manufactured in Shakopee, Minnesota, this product is designed to eliminate the use of fossil fuel compounds that are often used in solar installations. Not only that, but the z-rack preserves the integrity of your roof in the process.

The SolarPod Z-Rack: revolutionary solar innovation made radically simple.

Get a quote for your home or business at mysolarpod.com

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All music courtesy of a paid creative license with Artlist

Thank you for stopping by to listen today! We are thrilled to be doing a third season of this show. We have been fortunate enough to step things up on the production side and we now film and record at an actual studio, called Muze, which is in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The studio is run by two Hmong women, Milly and Elmo, and they have been a major help in making this season look better than ever.

Speaking of looking better, we put a lot of work into the video content for this season, so please, if you are more of a visual person, hop on over to our YouTube channel to check that out.

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As for today’s episode, we have Tsai Thao, who became the first Hmong model to be featured on a billboard in Times Square in New York City. Not only that, but she has walked in New York Fashion Week and many other shows across the country.

She is with Yia today to talk about what it took to become a successful, nationally recognized model, and it might not be what you think.

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If you like the show, leave us a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, and be sure to subscribe. The same goes for our YouTube channel: if you like what you’re seeing, give us a like, a comment, and subscribe to the channel.

If you haven’t done so already, be sure to follow us on social media on Facebook and Instagram: @hmonglishpod.

We'd also like to offer a word from our sponsor, SolarPod, makers and installers of the revolutionary Z-Rack solar panel, proudly manufactured in Shakopee, Minnesota.

The Z-rack is designed to eliminate the use of fossil fuel compounds that are often used in solar installations and preserve the integrity of your roof in the process.

The SolarPod Z-Rack is solar made simple. Get a quote for your home or business at mysolarpod.com

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All music courtesy of a paid creative license with Artlist

Hey, folks. We're excited to bring you another segment of Hmonglish Shorts as we continue to work on season 3.

For those of you who don’t know, Hmonglish Shorts is a segment we created to give you some extra content in between full episodes. These were all recorded over the summer with our previous co-host, Gia Vang, and they are meant to capture the thoughts and opinions of Hmong people, out and about, as they live their lives.

All these interviews were recorded at Hmongtown Marketplace in St. Paul, MN, which is a hotspot for Hmong culture in the Midwest.

Today’s episode features three Hmong teenagers who have a lot of wonderful things to share about their culture, and we’re excited to give them a chance to speak.

As always, please be aware that this was recorded during a busy time at the market, so there is a bit of background noise.

Also, when speaking to these three teenagers, we gave each of them a mic. We did not have a fourth mic for Gia, so she is the background asking the questions. You can’t really hear her that well, so our producer Matt will be stepping in with voiceovers as her replacement.

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 If you enjoy the show, let us know by leaving a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Be sure to check out the show on Instagram and Facebook.

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Produced by Gleam Tower Media

All music courtesy of Artlist

How can you know someone else if you don't know yourself? He Huang has done the hard work, and her original, refreshing comedy is all the better for it. She was a grand finalist at the 2021 RAW Comedy Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and her breakout audition set on Australia's Got Talent complete with a standing ovation and GLOWING comments from David Walliams make her one to watch. 

Subcribe to He on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgOV8YtoJ7zNrMda9ILldmw. Follower her on Instagram @hehuangcomedy. Follow us on instagram @uncommongoodpod. Subscribe to us on YouTube: https://bit.ly/watchuncommongood. Thanks for joining us on the journey of (un)common good!

Hey folks! Welcome back to Hmonglish.

We are currently hard at work on season 3, so in the meantime, we wanted to release another segment of our Hmonglish shorts segment, which is an interview series conducted by our previous co-host, Gia Vang.

We spoke with a Hmong immigrant from Thailand, currently raising her family in Minnesota. She is also joined by her adorable daughter, who you can hear in the background.

As per usual, I want to let you know that these segments are recorded during peak business hours at the Hmongtown Marketplace in St. Paul, Minnesota, so there is a bit of background noise, but we felt it was an appropriate place to meet and connect with different Hmong folks in our local area.

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 If you enjoy the show, let us know by leaving a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Be sure to check out the show on Instagram and Facebook.

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Produced by Gleam Tower Media

All music courtesy of Artlist

Hey, folks!

First of all, thank you for your patience in waiting for this one. You’re about to hear the sixth episode of season 2, which marks the end of this season. We’ll be taking a short break after this but, don’t worry, we plan on being back for a third.

The second thing you should know is that today’s episode features one of the finest Hmong chefs in the Twin Cities: Thony Yang. He is the chef de cuisine at Mara, which is a restaurant in the luxurious Four Seasons Hotel in Minneapolis. It was really fun listening to him and Yia connect on food, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it as much as we did.

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If you enjoy the show, let us know by leaving a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Be sure to check out the show on Instagram and Facebook.

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Produced by Gleam Tower Media

All music courtesy of Artlist

Hey folks! Welcome back to another Wednesday.

Right off the bat, we have some great news. We finally scheduled a shoot date for season 2 episode 6 of the podcast, and we’re expecting to release it a week from today. This will be the final episode of season 2 and we're very excited to put it out because it’s gonna be a good one.

So in the meantime, we have another segment of Hmonglish shorts.

If you didn’t catch the full explanation last week, we will be periodically releasing short interviews with Hmong people that we recorded earlier this year at HmongTown Marketplace in St. Paul. These interviews were facilitated by our previous cohost, Gia Vang, and represent a snapshot of how Hmong people are thinking about their culture today.

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 If you enjoy the show, let us know by leaving a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Be sure to check out the show on Instagram and Facebook.

Oh, and our YouTube channel is finally here!

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Produced by Gleam Tower Media

All music courtesy of Artlist