America Has Its Own Ghosts: Kao Kalia Yang

10/07/20 • 51 min

Mid-Americana: Stories from a Changing Midwest

Kao Kalia Yang is an author, public speaker, and teacher. She was born in the Ban Vinai Refugee Camp in Thailand and settled with her family in St. Paul, Minnesota, when she was six years old. After graduating from Carleton College, she moved to New York to complete an M.F.A. at Columbia University. She moved back to the Twin Cities to launch her writing career and has been based there ever since.

Kalia has taught in K-12 schools in a variety of communities, as well as at many colleges and universities. She is the author of two memoirs, The Latehomecomer and The Song Poet, and editor of two anthologies, What God Is Honored Here? (coedited with Shannon Gibney) and Somewhere in the Unknown World. Kalia is also the author of three children's books, A Map into the World, The Shared Room, and The Most Beautiful Thing.

For more information about her writing, teaching, and availability for public speaking engagements, visit her homepage: https://kaokaliayang.com/.

For more information about her writing, teaching, and availability for public speaking engagements, visit her homepage: https://kaokaliayang.com/.

Previous Episode

The Gospel of Seed and Soil: Liz Garst

Liz Garst grew up in Coon Rapids, Iowa, in a family of agricultural pioneers. Her grandfather Roswell helped convert Midwest farmers to technologies like hybrid seed, nitrogen fertilizer, and mechanization. Liz shares childhood memories from Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev’s visit to their farm and how the family legacy inspired her own career in international agriculture and global development. After jobs with the Peace Corps and the World Bank, she came home in the 1980s, at the height of the Farm Crisis. Now she helps manage the family land as Whiterock Conservancy, dedicated to transforming farming again by promoting ecological restoration, outdoor recreation, and sustainable agriculture.

To learn more, read Lauren Soth’s 1955 Des Moines Register editorial, which won the Pulitzer Prize for inviting Khrushchev to Iowa, and check out the paper’s historic photos of his visit with the Garsts.

Next Episode

Stick to Your Roots: Pavel Polanco-Safadit

As a kid in the Dominican Republic, Pavel Polanco-Safadit fell in love with piano and spent hours each day perfecting his technique. This passion and skill eventually earned him a college scholarship to study music in the U.S., and he went on to earn a masters and doctorate in music. For years, Pavel taught music at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, where he continues to be a leader in the community as Executive Director of the Richmond’s Amigos Latino Center. In this episode, Pavel talks about his experience immigrating to the Midwest, his passion for Latin jazz, and the power of music as a bridge across cultures. He also shares more about Richmond, a small town with a surprisingly large role in the history of recorded jazz.

To hear more of Pavel’s music, visit the Facebook page for his band, Pavel and Direct Contact, which has videos of recent performances and information about upcoming shows. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the band has live-streamed several virtual performances together with Dominican jazz musicians. He maintains a strong relationship with his native country, returning each year to lead the Music Ed Fest, providing musical opportunities to a new generation of young Dominicans.

To learn more about Gennett Records, visit the Starr Gennett Foundation, dedicated to preserving the history of recorded jazz in Richmond, Indiana. For even more detail, check out Rick Kennedy’s book, Jelly Roll, Bix, and Hoagy: Gennett Studios and the Birth of Recorded Jazz or listen to this episode of the Everything Sounds Podcast. Middle Tennessee State University professor Charlie Dahan maintains a soundcloud playlist of Gennett recordings and a Gennett Records website with a bibliography and discography. Listen to him talk more about Indiana jazz history in this episode of the MTSU On the record podcast.