Rhea Mann: The Asian Canadian and Asian migration studies program would like to acknowledge that this podcast was recorded on the traditional unceded ancestral homelands of the Musqueam Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. We hope that as we continue to facilitate these conversations about Asian diaspora communities, we also engage in the critical dialog about what it means to be uninvited guests and settlers on these lands.
Rhea Mann: The ACAM dialogues podcast, would like to thank the Kwan Lee Excellence Fund for Asian Canadian and Asian migration studies, as well as the kind donations we received in the ACAM fund during UBC’s 2025 Giving Day. Thank you for your support. Welcome back to the ACAM dialogues podcast. My name is Rhea, and I’m excited to welcome you back to this episode, our first one back from summer break, and today is extra special, because I got to welcome our newest member of the ACAM team onto the podcast, Devon Meadows. And Devon is not only just new to the ACAM team at large, but he’s actually going to be joining the podcast team this year, and it was really great to get to know him a little bit better, and his story at UBC and journey here, as well as his family’s migration story, his passion for storytelling, as well as Some plans that he has for the podcast this year. He also got to ask me a couple questions as well. So we got into a really great discussion, and towards the end of the episode, we talked about some current events and things going on in the city that we’re looking out for. So take a seat back, relax and enjoy the episode.
Rhea Mann: Hello and welcome back to the ACAM dialogues podcast. I am your host, Rhea, and today I am joined with Devon Meadows, the newest member of our ACAM team. Welcome Devon.
Devon Meadows: Thank you, Rhea. Very excited to be here, first podcast, first time speaking on a podcast, big day for me.
Rhea Mann: So very exciting. So to start off this specific podcast episode, we’ll start the way we always do. You can first tell us a little bit about yourself, your year, your faculty, and then let us know how you got in with ACAM.
Devon Meadows: I am in my fourth year of Kinesiology in the neurophysiological stream. So there’s three streams, multi disciplinary, something else that I forgot, and then mine. So yeah, more into the physiology side and the mechanics of everything. And I’m on the track team here at UBC. Been doing that for pretty much my whole life, It’s fun. You know, a lot of friends get to live with them, which is nice, nice at times, usually. I got involved in ACAM because last year, in second semester, I took Alejandro Yoshizawa’s ACAM 350 which was the filmmaking course. And then throughout that course, we made a bunch of things, and then the main project was a documentary at the end. And I did a short documentary on BaldyLox Vintage who, he’s a Chinese store owner who has a shop in Chinatown, and he’s a pretty big influencer as well. And I just reached out to him, showed him my portfolio of things, and he was like, super cool. Would love to work. So then, yeah, we just did that for like a month, edited that, and then there was a screening for all the students’ films. Then after that, Szu reached out to him (Alejandro), asking if there were any students in that class that would be a fit for a new podcast coordinator. And then he referenced me as someone with good technical skills and stuff like that. Yeah. So then they emailed me, and then I had not – I knew nothing really about ACAM or the podcast itself. But then after they emailed me, I looked into the program and the podcast, and it was all really cool. So then I was interested. We chatted for a bit, talked it through, and now I’m here.
Rhea Mann: Nice, and we are so happy to have you. My tech skills are not the best, like I could pretty much set these mic up today, and that’s it. So I’m really excited to see what you can bring to the podcast with all your skills, which we will get to soon. But my next question is the question we ask every single guest. It’s a question I’ve answered myself. Our previous co host Nathan, answered as well, which is, what is your migration story to UBC, to Canada? However you interpret the question?
Devon Meadows: Well, I was born here, and so were my parents. So the migration story, I guess I’ll focus on my mom’s side, which is the My Chinese side, and how her parents came here. And it’s a pretty long story. So it was around, it was post World War One, and then my grandpa, on my mom’s side, he came here because there was a lot of famine and poverty in mainland China where they were. And then he came here in 1951 and my grandma didn’t come until 1958 because he had to come here to save up enough money so he could pay for her to come here. And he also had a lot of friends that were already in Vancouver at the time, so he had a bit of a small community here. Once he came here, he worked a lot of jobs at restaurants and stuff. And even until even once, like my mom was born. She worked at some of his restaurants growing up when she was like, 13, 14, and yeah, and so my grandma wasn’t able to join him until 1958 because he needed the money to bring her over. And my grandma, at this point, she said she couldn’t stay in China long due to the starvation and famine in the mainland. Her parents were also landowners, so this was doing the land reform movement of the CCP, so there was a lot of pressure on her family. So then she moved to Hong Kong for two years before she came here, because it was under British rule, so they were kind of safer from that. And in doing so, she left her siblings and parents behind to be with her husband. And then once they got here, they lived in a friend’s room for a long time, until they even had two kids, which are my mom’s older siblings. So there were four people in just one bedroom for a while. And then when my grandpa was here, before my grandma came, he was staying in one of the, like, clan associations in Chinatown, which basically just had a bunch of people that came here from China and just a way of having community. My grandma worked as a seamstress in a Gastown factory for a while, and then they kept saving, and then they bought a small house to have a family in, and they saved more, and then they got a house that was more appropriate for their family size, because then they had three kids, including my mom. And then once they saved more money, they were able to sponsor their siblings and bring them over here. The journey to Vancouver. Really all starts with my grandparents and then saving enough money to bring their family over here, and that’s how my mom got here. My mom went to school in Vancouver at Van tech, learned English through just being in Vancouver and being in school, spoke Chinese at home, because my grandparents don’t really speak English. And then now, pretty much my mom’s first language is English, and she talks like me and I try to learn, but I’m not very, not very good at Chinese, but it’s hard. My grandma really tries to get me to say things, and I can have, like, a small conversation with her, but definitely something I want to improve on. And my dad also went to Van Tech High School with my mom. They didn’t know each other because she was older, and then they met a couple years after graduation. They met at a club, actually. My dad pulled some smooth moves or something. I think he handed her his wallet to write her phone number on, and then, happily ever after. Well, they moved to Coquitlam because they wanted to start a family, and then they figured Coquitlam was the best place, because it was, like a 35 minute drive and good traffic to either downtown Vancouver or, like Maple Ridge, so very central, pretty chill suburb, and that’s where I grew up, until I came to UBC. And now I’ve lived at UBC for about four years, and it’s great now I’m here.
Rhea Mann: That was a very good, comprehensive Devon Meadows history. I appreciated that family history. Something I like about all of the Migration Stories is like, there’s very there’s things that make them very distinct, but it’s also like everything kind of does fit, or like there’s certain patterns that are familiar, that I even like could think of my own grandparents stories coming to Canada. So it is, it is cool to kind of like, see how we all are connected here at the ACAM team, we all have a migration story, and it’s always cool to hear everyone’s and yeah, and like being on the podcast, you’ll get to hear more Migration Stories as well. And specifically to the podcast, I know you mentioned it a little bit earlier, but is there any other reasons, or anything else you want to speak to about why you decided to join our podcast team.
Devon Meadows: I think a lot of it comes to the fact, like, when I was learning more about my grandparents immigration story, it’s really interesting to see how, I have it so easy relative to how they got here, but their effort was really the framework for how I’m here and how I’m doing my thing, and having things, you know, pretty chill for me. So I think just learning more stories is very eye opening, and it’s really cool. So I would love to, just talk to more people about similar things, and just important Asian Canadian culture and histories and how that shapes what we’re doing today. In being in kinesiology, I feel like my mindset towards like, studying and learning is very different compared to how I felt when I’m in like an ACAM class or talking to the ACAM students and staff. So it’s very different vibes. And I also do a lot of like storytelling through like videography and photography. I’m pretty passionate about that, and a podcast is just another medium of storytelling, which is really cool to do. And I’ve never really done something like this before, so it’s really cool opportunity.
Rhea Mann: Yeah, very cool. Yeah, I like to hear that. And so while you’re working on the podcast with me and the rest of the kind of the ACAM team, is there anything specifically you have goals, any goals in mind, or things you want to achieve while working on the team this year?
Devon Meadows: I want to do my best to, yeah, to learn, because it’s a little intimidating. A lot of the times when we’re doing, ACAM events and stuff, and everyone seems to be very knowledgeable, because they’ve taken ACAM classes, and they’re very involved in the program. And I’m relatively a newbie. So something that I want to make sure that I’m putting in a lot of effort to learn everything that way, I’m coming to the podcast prepared, especially when I’m editing and just researching stuff, it’s really important that I’m staying in tune with everything. And there’s a lot of cool events coming up, like I looked into ACAM 320J and their class, and the projects that they’re doing with communities. And it seems really cool to have a class like that, where it’s smaller, but you’re doing really meaningful outreach and community work, which I don’t really get to see in a lot of my classes, and their basketball. Event that’s coming up on the 29th Yeah, excited about that one. And I’m also in an ACAM class this year, ACAM 320D with Professor Danielle Wong. It’s a great class, small class, but a lot of it is, you know, rooted around Asian identity and migration and history, and how it intersects with Western discourses in technology, and how it’s not just technology, but everything that we see online, like it, is very deeply rooted in race and in history and power. And that’s a very interesting class. Get to watch a lot of cool films and just like, look into histories and how they intersect with those films and different forms of media. So that class has been really fun. Really cool to do all the research there.
Rhea Mann: That is cool. Yeah, I’m excited to kind of work with you a bit more. Since this is our first official episode, this is only like the beginning of what we’ll be able to accomplish together. So it is, it is exciting to see what will come next.
Devon Meadows: Okay, Rhea, I have some questions for you now. Okay, since this is your second year doing the podcast, and you’ve already done your introduction podcast last year, what was your biggest takeaway from doing it last year and like, or just something that you’ve learned, or how you’ve grown from last year till now?
Rhea Mann: Yeah, that’s a really good question. When I started last year, I was kind of similar to you. I just took it because, like, I took the opportunity because it just seemed so special, and like, how rare like to come across something like this, where you can tell stories, and it’s still associated with the department and with school and kind of all these things which I really value. The biggest thing I took away, though, is probably just to really just take any chances with, like, finding people to talk to or connect with and be more brave when it comes to socializing at these events that we go to, I feel like I’m a pretty introverted person, even though I do like talking to people doing this kind of thing is a little bit next level, of course, because you’re recording conversations and having to speak strategically and be more aware of your likes and ums and all those things, because you have to listen to this back. And I just said, um, so maybe I’m not better. But yes, I would say, taking more chances, being more comfortable in uncomfortable situations, and yeah, just being open, I would say, with what you can do, especially even though our platform is relatively small and our audience maybe is not as wide as we would like it to be, right now, I know we can get it to be bigger, and even if it stays the same, I’m still happy because I’ve been able to work on topics and projects that I’m personally really passionate about, and I wouldn’t have had any other opportunity to do so.
Devon Meadows: I was gonna ask if you had any advice for me, but I feel like you really summed up what I should be doing. So thank you.
Rhea Mann: Yeah. I mean, like I could answer that too. Advice would be Yeah, to just, if you have an idea, we can find a way to make it work. Even last year, Nathan and I realized the first time we met, we just really liked movies, and so that’s how we integrated the watch list thing, which we’re kind of going to do a little bit later in this episode as well. So yeah, it was just something we were both passionate about, and we found a way to integrate it and also talk about Asian Canadian films and actors and creatives on the podcast. So, yeah, just take chances. I would say-
Devon Meadows: What’s your favourite movie?
Rhea Mann: My favorite? It’s not related to anything Asian Canadian, but it’s La La Land. That’s my favorite. Yeah. I would say that is my favorite. What is your favorite movie?
Devon Meadows: I really like the Truman Show that, I’ve seen it like probably 10 times.
Rhea Mann: I don’t think I can watch it more than once, really.
Devon Meadows: I Just love re watching because every time you watch it, you like, see something new.
Rhea Mann: That is true. maybe I should re watch it, because I think I first watched it when I was, like, 12 or 13, so, like, a while ago.
Devon Meadows: Yeah, and it can be interpreted in a lot of ways. When you’re trying to see, like, when does he really figure it out?
Rhea Mann: So true. Maybe I need to re watch that.
Devon Meadows: One more question for you. What are you excited about for this year?
Rhea Mann: Oh my gosh. What am I excited about? It’s to kind of keep on doing what I was doing last year, because I feel like I was getting more open with ideas, maybe in the second half. And I was also away the second half of the school year because I was on exchange. So I feel like I missed out a little bit on some events and really like UBC topics. So I’m looking forward this year to be here the full year and to really like absorb everything to do with the podcast and kind of just my last year of undergrad as well, and to see what you do as well and like work with you, because your skill set is new, and it’ll be exciting to create new promo. So follow us on Instagram, because a lot of the cool stuff Devon makes will probably be on Instagram.
Devon Meadows: At UBC ACAM.
Rhea Mann: To end off this episode, Devon and I wanted to talk about some current events and just things that are going on that we’re watching kind of akin to the watch list, but not so film centric. I guess. The first thing that I kind of was watching this month was Karan Aujla his new album, P pop culture, standing for Punjabi pop came out on August 22 but on September 9, he performed on the Jimmy Fallon show, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, and he was actually the first Punjabi Canadian to do so, which was really cool. I watched it with my dad and my mom, and it was awesome. And it was just kind of like a reminder of how cool it is to see Punjabi songs and culture on like, a big stage. And especially like watching with my dad. It’s cool because he used to do competitive Bhangra when he was a teen, and so, like, he is almost like a young kid as well, watching all this happen. And he’s like, just as excited as I’m sure he would have been if he got to see these things happen when he was younger. So, yeah, I just find that really cool.
Devon Meadows: What was that that your dad did competitively?
Rhea Mann: Bhangra, so like Punjabi dancing.
Devon Meadows: Oh, cool.
Rhea Mann: Yeah. Like folk dancing, yeah. He performed with his team at Expo 86 when we had it at World Expo 86 it says that’s his biggest like claim to fame with that. But yeah, so that’s just cool to see all that kind of happening, and especially with the Canadian connection. My next thing is another Punjabi Canadian story. It’s Kiran Rai and Bali Singh’s short film, Time, which is now available to stream on YouTube. It was doing some select kind of theater showings over the summer, and I believe they also came to Vancouver and talked about their film, but not the hugest kind of budget. So that was about it. And now you can stream for free on YouTube, and it’s it’s about this elderly Punjabi woman, Sujit, who’s navigating grief after the loss of her husband, and it kind of just shows her routine, the loneliness she deals with, and how she moves forward by creating some friendships. So yeah, time available to stream on YouTube, and I will pass it to you. What are you watching or looking out for?
Devon Meadows: Well, I was looking into what’s going on right now at the Vancouver art gallery, because I’m very interested in all forms of art. And on October 3, there’s a new exhibition starting called Enemy Alien by Tamio Wakayama, and it’s a photography exhibition. So definitely something that I’m going to want to check out, because I’m very into photography and how it can capture stories and emotions. I’ll actually pull it up so I can show, show you a bit of it. So this is some of his work. He began with his photographs of the civil rights movement in the southern United States, and then documented a lot of social justice movements in the 60s and 70s. So this exhibition also highlights documentation of indigenous communities in Saskatchewan and in eastern BC. Looks like it’s going to be a really interesting exhibit that I’m excited about and it’s going until February. The exhibit will also have a short film called between pictures by Cindy Mochizuki. It’s a 70 minute film, and it’s mostly about Wakayama’s journey to the American South. It’s gonna feature, like, archival footage, animations, interviews about him, and just like his journey with photography and documentation. Really looking forward to looking at that. Also yesterday, guys, I don’t know if any of you were there. There was the Japan fall market at Robson square! I wasn’t able to go because I had a race, unfortunately, but there’s another one coming in November, and it’s basically just Robson square has a bunch of vendors, Japanese vendors, great food, lots of trinkets and art and clothing pieces.
Rhea Mann: Is this like a yearly thing? I’ve never heard of this.
Devon Meadows: I don’t know how long it’s been going on for, but they do a lot of, like, kind of pop ups at different areas, I think. Yeah, Robson square for this year. Yeah, lots of locally made, and imported products and food by Japanese artists and stuff. So definitely check that out.
Rhea Mann: That is super cool. That pretty much wraps up our list of things that we’re watching. The short list, I should say we had a couple other things. One of the other things that Devon did mention is the We Are Basketball exhibition that’s happening here. I don’t believe there’s a location for that yet, but it’s going to be on campus, and it’s really cool event that kind of focuses on the relationship between Punjabi communities and Filipino communities with basketball, and the people heading it are Sharanjit Sandhra, who goes by Sharn and so that will be happening on October 29 on Campus. As I said, Yeah, we’re really excited to see how it goes. We’re also gonna be featuring it on our podcast a little bit, so that’ll be coming soon.
Devon Meadows: Excited to talk to Sharn about that, yeah.
Rhea Mann: And that, that pretty much wraps us up. So any last kind of words, Devon, before we sign off?
Devon Meadows: Um, yeah, I feel like I’m just really excited to be a part of this. It’s. Definitely more I want to say, but it’s hard to have that come to my mind in the moment. I’ll Do it in post. What’s up guys – Editing from my computer here.
Rhea Mann: Thank you for joining us, Devon
Devon Meadows: Thank you for having me.