May is Asian Heritage month. Rachel Lau and Paulina Chua, two members of CiTR’s women’s collective took to the airwaves of Lady Radio to talk about it. This is from Rachel:

“May 31st marked the end of another Asian Heritage Month. What began in America has now become a 14 year old tradition in Canada. Since 2002, folks have been celebrating Asian culture and the diverse contributions Asian-Canadians have made in Canada. From author Shyam Selvadurai to dancer Chan Hon Goh, there is so much to celebrate. What’s often left out of the conversation though is the reality of living as an Asian in Canada. A strong presence of Asians in Canadian arts and culture does not mean that we do not continue to face racism and discrimination.

On this special episode of Lady Radio, Paulina and I, Asian-Canadian folks of the Women’s Collective, share what Asian Heritage Month means to us. In the theme of celebration, we invite Jackie Wong, Asian-Canadian writer and Creative Writing professor at UBC, to talk about her recent contribution to Ricepaper Magazine’s anthology Alliterasian. Following Jackie’s interview, we have an honest round-table discussion about what our Asian identity means to us.

From our conversation we’ve gleaned that it’s not easy for most of us to fully embrace our Asian-Canadian identity. We confess that we’ve received questions like “Where are you from?” too many times to count, but we also relish in the joy of being able to engage in our Asian traditions such as speaking the language of our heritage. To complicate the matter, we discuss what it means to be an Asian woman and the expectations that come with it. As you may expect, our relationships with our Asian heritage is complex. But at the end of the day, we are proud of our who we are and we wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Here is the #asiangirlsrule podcast. Click through for more info on Lady Radio!