Upfront Talk

08/31 UPDATED: Here’s the radio feed for the show. (Streaming audio)

Enjoyed speaking with Sandip Roy on Wednesday on immigrants
in the U.S. and my recent trip to Lodi, CA. The show he hosts is called “Upfront” and you can hear it on 91.7FM. For Upfront viewers, here are the key articles to which I referred. You can hear a rebroadcast of the show on Sunday at 3pm

• Veena Dubal and Sunaina Maira’s excellent early piece
• My followup piece on the community.
• ASATA’s web-site with additional articles

A Day in the Life

Ishmael Reed and Esther Dyson co-star in Bay Area afternoon.

An African American produces a play that provides a lens into the internal dynamics of a modern-day Pakistani-American family. The play is directed by the producer’s Jewish wife. A talk about the future stars a tech doyen – a woman. She is accompanied at the talk by another woman – her mother, Verena – a mathematician who has to work to ensure we don’t forget the boy in the family, who, by the way is an accomplished historian and writer. Ishmael Reed and Esther Dyson starred in my Saturday afternoon, casually defying expectations and stereotypes. I did not construct the afternoon – it just happened as it does, in the Bayosphere. Read the rest on my bayosphere blog.

Mentaiko, mentaiko, mentaiko

Update: 2007: Mr Sushi is unfortunately closed

An unsatisfying Sunday found a stupendous close.

Walked over (okay, to all my friends that are gasping incredulously, I walked one block and drove the rest around the lake) to my local Sushi place (Mr Sushi) settled in at the bar, enjoyed the needlefish that only comes in once in a while. Then I started telling Kenny about how I’d told everyone in the world (okay, so everyone that reads Bayosphere and had been pulled into Noriko’s post) about Mr Sushi. Taking on a mock pained and saddened tone, I mentioned how I had told everyone about my love of Mentaiko but that he, Kenny, just didn’t get it anymore. And, this, I sighed, was how my favorite Sushi chef treated me – with not enough consideration to procure, for me, that orange glob of spicy bitter saltiness that I craved.

He had mentaiko! He looked at me quizzically, then said – “but I have Mentaiko today”. Thats it. No fanfare. Just the words. And I was speechless. Also speechless because my sushi orders came fast and furious – needlefish, mentaiko, fatty hamachi, mentaiko, mirugai and mentaiko handroll to top it off.

Mr Sushi is on Grand Avenue in Oakland. The main sushi chef is Kenny, his able and silent assistant is George. Sit at the bar and ask them what’s good. Tell them Mini sent you.