A blue suit, a record collection, a well-worn Chinese/English dictionary, and something less tangible but just as precious — one’s name.
Poet Shin Yu Pai is the host and creator of “Ten Thousand Things,” a National Public Radio podcast that examines everyday things that touch people’s lives and “the uncommon people that transforms them into something remarkable.”
“We consider our emotional kinship with everyday objects to reflect together on what we own, what we inherit and what we cherish,” she said. “From everyday objects owned by Asian Americans, we can learn personal and cultural values and tell stories that are deeply humanizing. We’re connected.”
Pai (her full name is pronounced Shin Yee Pie) first titled the podcast “The Blue Suit,” a nod to the suit worn by Congressman Andy Kim on Jan. 6, when he was photographed collecting trash following the United States Capitol insurrection. The suit has since become part of the Smithsonian’s collection, a found object to add to Asian American history.
Renamed for this new season, “Ten Thousand Things” debuted on May 1. New episodes release weekly on Mondays on NPR One, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other platforms.
The new name refers to many Chinese sayings, where “ten thousand” is used in a poetic sense to convey something infinite, vast and unfathomable. For Pai, the story of Asians in America is just that.
From a search to replace “PooPoo,” a beloved childhood stuffed toy, to the dictionary an ancestor used to acclimate to a new country, the podcast celebrates and highlights Asian American stories and challenges listeners to re-imagine attitudes about their own experiences.
This season’s first episode featured transgender and non-binary poet and educator Ebo Barton, talking about the power names. Other guests this season include Alice Wong, host of the “Disability Visibility Project” podcast; and Eason Yang, founder of Not Entirely Dead, which helps young cancer…
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