Beatroute Magazine BC Print Edition - September 2017

STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW
popular podcast asks questions, gives answers
KATHRYN HELMORE
On July 12, 1979, more than 50,000 people descended
on Comiskey Park in Chicago. Within a matter of
hours, the White Sox stadium lay in ruins. The field
was ripped to shreds and batting cages brought
to the ground, while signs were left charred and
scattered upon the turf.
This riot had nothing to do with sports. It was
inspired by a hatred for a single genre of music.
In what would later be known as Disco Demolition
Night, July 12 marked, for many, the end of western
culture’s short-lived love affair with disco.
So, why did thousands of people rush that stadium
in 1979? More importantly, how could people hate
something like a genre of music with such intensity?
These are all questions answered by Chuck Bryant
and Josh Clark in “How Disco Works” — just one of
over 900 episodes from a podcast series called Stuff
You Should Know.
The series, which kicked off in 2008, dives into a
huge variety of subjects from Nazis in Florida to the
battle over net neutrality. Since it’s inauguration,
SYSK has held a coveted spot as one of the Top 10
most downloaded podcasts on iTunes.
“Honestly, it’s still surprising how well the
podcast has done,” says Bryant. “But I guess people
just wanted it. People who listen are curious and
likeminded. They want to learn something.”
For some commentators, SYSK’s success satisfies
more than a curious appetite. Richard Fawal, former
Associate Vice President for Communications at the
Brookings Institution, dubbed the podcast “pure
explanatory journalism”: a style of journalism that
“explains an issue in straightforward, accessible style.”
He argued that this form of journalism is imperative
in a world of misinformation.
“We were honored when Fawal credited our
work as explanatory journalism,” says Bryant. “We
are professional researchers who talk about what
we find. To do this we really must go the extra mile.
After all, there is always another side to the story. In
our podcast, we always try to stop, think, and ask
THE MUSLIMAH WHO FELL TO EARTH
literary collection provides important, communal space for voices to be heard
photo by Minori Ide
The book includes stories from 22 different
Muslim women, sharing the diversity in their
interpretations and personal experiences.
Chuck Bryant and Josh Clark bring their vault of knowledge to Vancouver.
NOOR KHWAJA
The Muslimah Who Fell to Earth intimately debunks
the frequently stereotyped identity of the Muslim
woman. In it, women at varied degrees of religiosity,
sexual orientation, and ethic background work
together to share their interpretations, as well as
the hardships they have faced while searching for a
balanced sense of belonging. With personal stories
from 22 different women, the book explores many
angles of the shared faith and its truly malleable
nature.
One of the collection’s contributors, poet
Meharoona Ghani, explains, “the mainstream
assumption is that Muslim women are homogenous;
and they’re not. Every Muslim’s approach to Islam is
different.” Fellow contributor Azima Kassam expands
on this idea, saying that “this books fills a void that
shows that Muslim women are vocal, self-directed,
like many other women struggling with issues of
confidence.” She further adds, “the book was about
picking a group of diverse women across Canada…
to show that there is diversity in their interpretation,
in their views of Islam, and in the level of confidence
and self-awareness that is contained in this group.”
With this diversity comes an orchestration of
voices that truly exemplifies the nature of freedom in
expression. Ghani describes the connection between
this orchestrated freedom and the ideologies of
Canada. “Everybody’s pieces are different and the
beauty of the book is that…we don’t necessarily all
questions.”
Bryant and Clark will be showing off their
research skills in Vancouver on September 26. “This
is our second live show in Vancouver,” Bryant adds,
promising a funny evening with a few not-so-clean
jokes thrown in the mix. “The show, which usually
lasts around an hour and 45 minutes, is a mix of
standup and live podcast.”
Stuff You Should Know takes place on September 26 at
the Vogue Theatre.
agree. The fact that we can put our varied voices
to the writing… is what Canada really is,” she says,
warmly.
The variations in voice and interpretation not only
help to rid the general public of ignorant stereotypes,
but they also create a communal space for Canadian
Muslim women to be heard. “The book to represents
the voices of people that would not normally be in
the media,” Kassam says. The Muslimah Who Fell to
Earth’s editor, Saima Hussain, was able to achieve this
by encouraging women throughout the country to
share their stories and views on issues and themes
surrounding the faith.
Ghani’s journey to a career in writing stems from
her own experiences with racism, beginning as early
as age eight. She reveals details in her contribution
to the book, which stems from a larger individual
project of lyrical prose entitled Letters to Rumi. By
using some of Rumi’s quotes and writing letters to
him in lyrical prose (kind of like a call and response)
she’s able to illustrate her ideologies and unique
voice. The originality of her work helps to give a sense
of how truly diverse and personalized the voices in A
Muslimah Who Fell to Earth truly are.
“There have been moments where I don’t feel like I
belong,” Ghani says. “But it’s through the lost sense of
identity and re-finding ourselves that we establish a
sense of belonging.”
The Muslimah Who Fell to Earth launches at Banyen
Books on September 21.
LITERASIAN
north america’s first asian lit
festival celebrates culture,
history, storytelling
KATHRYN HELMORE
CITY
On the weekend of September 21, the streets
of Chinatown will play host to a literary
feast. On the menu is a collection of stories
exploring the Canadian experience. Yet this
isn’t the stereotypical western spread —
attendees will be diving into an often-untold
side of Canadian culture and history: the Asian
Canadian experience.
LiterASIAN, an annual festival of Pacific
Rim Asian Canadian writing, is the first Asian
literature festival in North America. Founded
by the late Jim Wong-Chu — his 1986 poetry
book, Chinatown Ghosts, was one of the
first published by an Asian Canadian — the
four day-long festival is packed with panel
discussions, workshops, and a variety of book
launches from acclaimed writers like Jen
Sookfong Lee.
“LiterASIAN is a grassroots festival that
celebrates Canadian diversity,” says co-founder
and Festival Director Allan Cho. “For a long
time, literature has presented the Canadian
experience as the British experience. This
means that many of us have not seen the
other side of Canada. Part of the festival is
to showcase unique stories, stories that find
their inspiration in Chinatown, Japantown,
and Little India. It intends to give a full-bodied
Canadian experience.”
Vancouver’s rich yet checkered history
with regards to Asian migration makes it
the perfect location for LiterASIAN. From
the discriminatory head tax to the 1907
Chinatown Riots, Vancouver has wrestled
ceaselessly with her identity amidst a growing
Asian population. “Vancouver is a unique city
in Canada,” Cho continues. “Considered by
many historians to be part of the Pacific Rim,
it has always been hit the hardest by Asian
migration. Anxiety regarding immigration is
therefore cyclical, it is not a onetime thing
that happens in a vacuum. We are seeing that
anxiety today due in part to unaffordable
housing. We remain a charged city with
burning tension.”
In addition to connecting aspiring Asian
writers to the literary community, LiterASIAN
hopes to dispel this anxiety and tension. “Art
helps us to heal,” says Cho. “What better way
than to have literature remind us of this?”
In the midst of the festival, as a building
initiative of the Asian Canadian Writers
Workshop (ACWW), a promising writer will
also be awarded publication through the Jim
Wong-Chu Emerging Writers Award.
“LiterASIAN is beneficial to anyone with
an interest in writing,” adds Cho. “Situated in
the heart of Chinatown and Downtown, it
allows us to walk the very streets where Asian
Canadian culture and history began.”
LiterASIAN runs from September 21 – 24 at
various locations.
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