On the Golden Goddess Affirmation Podcast, we invite Asian women to focus on our mental health. In this transformative episode, Trixi hosts mother, professor, and community organizer Kirin Macapugay.

Kirin chose "No one can take away my heritage or history. At the same time, it is up to me to discover and embrace that knowledge." from the Golden Goddess Affirmations deck. She explores the significance of “Igorota” heritage, its profound impact on identity, and how it informs so much of what she does.

[00:03:45] “I didn’t realize how Igorota I am.” - Kirin

[00:04:58] Episode Affirmation and sense of self

[00:05:30] SENSEI - Student Empowerment through Narrative Storytelling Engagement and Identity

[00:13:18] Cultural genocide and restricting languages

[00:17:54] The need for reclamation and rejecting forced cultural norms

[00:22:49] Every Filipina “has ripped out her own heart, loving everybody else.”

[00:27:00] Introducing mental health to family.

[00:37:22] Communal care and APICA forums

[00:41:40] Losing Filipinos to mental illness

[00:47:55] Advice for communicating to older generations

[00:49:25] Q: What does being Igorota mean to you? Like, what does it smell like?”

In 2015, Kirin started Asian Pacific Islander Community Actions (APICA). Now, she leads the Human Services and Social Work program at San Diego City College.

They talk about the need for culture reclamation and when people realized, “Trying to act American isn’t working.”

Some advice Kirin has for getting through to older generations, “Model the behavior you wish you had.”

Kirin is in the book Closer to Liberation: Pin[a/x]y Activism in Theory and Practice Edited by Amanda Solomon Amorao, DJ Kuttin Kandi, and Jen Soriano, which discusses what it means to be Pinay.

Follow Kirin on Instagram at [https://www.instagram.com/professorkirinmac] and learn more about her projects on her website [https://www.kirinmac.com/].

Find out more about Golden Goddess Affirmations at [https://thethoughtfulbeast.com/] and follow Trixi here [https://www.instagram.com/thethoughtfulbeast].

Music created by WINLOVE

https://www.instagram.com/winlovethethird

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This podcast is being produced by the Far South Border North grant [https://www.sandiego.gov/far-south-border-north]. Trixi received this grant with 59 other individual artists and a number of non-profits in the San Diego and Imperial Counties.