Hey, what's up? It's Gustavo Oriano.

2021 is almost over, and we here at the times would be remiss in our holiday spirit.

If we didn't try to help the next generation of podcast producers get some episodes on the resume, you know?

So this week we're going to highlight some of the work of students from the Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California.

And here I have to say, go Bruins, because I graduated from UCLA.

Ha ha.

They learned well this semester from their profite, a time senior producer, Denise Guerra,

who's also a proud UCLA graduate.

Go Bruins again.

And today we give you Kari Spencer, an undergrad studying journalism and sociology,

and understanding her mixed identity.

Great job, Kari, and aye vamos.

All right, so here's the scene.

I'm in my bedroom in Minnesota, 17 years old at the time,

despite what the fairy castle decals I never removed from my walls might tell you.

And I'm having an identity crisis.

Having just come back from a trip to Taiwan where 7-11 cashiers automatically addressed me in English,

I'm questioning how Taiwanese I can really claim to be.

Back home, as one of two Asian girls at my school who teachers would mistake for each other,

my Taiwanese identity is salient, inescapable.

But in Taiwan, I felt like an outsider to my own heritage, a tourist at times.

How could I be Taiwanese if my Mandarin wasn't even good enough for me to tell my grandparents

...