Hello, good people of the internet! You know what time it is. It is time to meet the Angry Reader of the Week, spotlighting you, the very special readers of this website. Over the years, I've been able to connect with a lot of cool folks, and this is a way of showing some appreciation and attention to the people who help make this blog what it is. This week's Angry Reader is Quincy Surasmith.
Who are you?
I'm Quincy Surasmith -- Jack-of-all-trades artist, public radio nerd, and community guy.
What are you?
I'm a second-generation Thai-Chinese-American -- first in my family to be born stateside. My Chinese ethnicity is Teochew. I've come to really embrace a general Asian American identity too. I'm a believer that folks have space for all sorts of intersecting and overlapping identities; we don't have to split percentages or "prove" our identity-ness.
Where are you?
I recently moved to Alhambra so I'm embracing my new San Gabriel Valley home. My days bring me all over Los Angeles and I spend tons of my time in Little Tokyo, so on aggregate, the "LA area."
Where are you from?
I'm from Cerritos, home of a very shiny steel library, Guppy Teahouse (not "Guppy's"), and a mildly known auto sales area. But I went to school in Santa Cruz (go Banana Slugs!), have friends all up and down the coast, and find myself all over the LA area all the time, so I like to think of myself as Pan-Californian.
What do you do?
Too much. I'm an assistant producer working in public radio at KPCC, producer/organizer with Tuesday Night Project (which presents the nation's oldest currently running Asian American mic series, the Tuesday Night Cafe and is in the middle of our fundraising campaign), a producer/editor for the #GoodMuslimBadMuslim podcast, actor, comedic improviser, photographer, and I cook an experimental pop-up supper club called Eat Kune Do. My latest big project is my new podcast Asian Americana, a show about slices of distinctly Asian American culture and history. It's the source of that boba/bubble tea survey being shared around!
What are you all about?
Well produced podcasts and audio storytelling (Stephanie Foo and Sean Rameswaram are two of my heroes). Fun genre fiction (like sci-fi, superhero, and crime mystery). Improv comedy. Poetic lyrics and vocal harmonies. Mid-century modern design. Colored pants. I'm a really good friend-matchmaker and I love connecting people to become BFFs; sometimes I feel like that's my actual greatest skill.
What makes you angry?
People who lack empathy, consideration, and understanding of others. Getting acclaimed for mediocrity in presenting someone else's culture. Andy Ricker. The temptation to settle for mediocrity. Respectability politics. Strawman arguments. Fighting for the few media representation opportunities instead of getting to build many more of our own.
