In this episode, a long-time Las Vegas community partner Dana Lee and experimental writer Vi Khi Nao discuss how a pandemic brings out familiar–and unsettling–ways of talking about race.

Dana Lee has been a long-time Las Vegas community partner, supporting education, the arts, and social services. She holds a B.A. in Art History from Brown University and a Master of Arts Management from Carnegie Mellon University. 

Vi Khi Nao is the author of four poetry collections: Human Tetris (11:11 Press, 2019) Sheep Machine (Black Sun Lit, 2018), Umbilical Hospital (Press 1913, 2017), The Old Philosopher (winner of the Nightboat Prize for 2014), & of the short stories collection, A Brief Alphabet of Torture (winner of the 2016 FC2's Ronald Sukenick Innovative Fiction Prize), the novel, Fish in Exile (Coffee House Press, 2016). Her work includes drawings, poetry, fiction, film and cross-genre collaboration. She was the Fall 2019 fellow at the Black Mountain Institute. vikhinao.com  

DISCUSSED

Pandemic, desert animals, cancel culture, racism, Trump, otherness, American patriotism, George Floyd, misinformation spread online, Trader Joe’s, mistaken beliefs, flowers