At that time, I couldn't even get into Asian American theater festivals, Asian American

women's performance festivals because I wasn't doing the Amy Tan thing.

I'm Asian American, I'm dating a white boyfriend because I hate myself.

And then at the end of my journey, I go to China, stand on my grandmother's grave.

She comes to me in a dream in the form of a cricket, and then I realize I am more Chinese

than I thought.

Welcome to episode eight of the unspeakable podcast, a place where we talk like no one's listening,

except for the fact that I really hope you are listening.

I'm your host, Megan Down. My guest this week is

writer and performer Sandra Singh Lowe. Sandra is the author of six books, most recently The Mad Woman

and the Rumba, My Year of Domestic Mayhem. She has contributed to lots of magazines over the years,

including The Atlantic, and has written and performed numerous solo theater shows.

Her first love, however, is performance art, and in the 1980s, she became an established figure in the Los Angeles alternative art scene.

As the avant-garde scene dissipated and the creative economy forced artists to think more like entrepreneurs,

Sandra remained true to her core artistic vision, even if it meant living the kind of scrappy, quirky life she writes about in her books and essays.

In this conversation, she talks with me about the realities of making art in the current economic and cultural landscape and how

to avoid selling out, even when sometimes you would love nothing more than to sell out,

not to mention that selling out means something different today than it used to. Please note that

an extended version of this interview is available for subscribers on the Patreon page. In the meantime, here's my conversation

with Sandra Sing Lowe. Sandra Sing Lowe. Thank you for being on The Unspeakable.

I'm so happy to be with you. Congratulations on the book.

The Mad Woman and the Rumba.

...