In a completely random turn of events, I’m going to be on NPR tomorrow.
(WHAT?!)
Yeah, clearly I’m still digesting this news myself.
Here’s how it went down: I left a comment on the NPR website about being a halfie (see here) and next thing I know, someone is contacting me about recording the comment to put on air. Would I be interested? HECK YEAH I would! How cool is that?
So she called, we did a quick sound check, and then I recorded the comment (about 98% verbatim) and answered a few follow-up questions. I don’t think I sounded like an idiot, but either way I hope they work some editing magic. I’ll take the voice of Ming-Na Wen, the polish of Michelle Obama, and the beauty of Jessica Alba (brunette, please).
So what if you can’t see beauty through the radio?
Supposedly my comments will air tomorrow during the Tell Me More show, specifically their “Back Talk” segment. Unfortunately I don’t know what time, but I plan to listen all day, hahaha. And if I miss it somehow, it should eventually be available for download from their website (see here).
Crazy, right?
Too bad I didn’t think to plug my website or my writing…
Filed under: 
That’s awesome! (Did you say your full name? Because someone could still find you through google…)
lol! awesome. I would NOT be able to listen to myself if that happened to me..
That is awesome! Good for you!
I will definitely check it out.
.-= • Recent post by Todd Newton: Things have a way of …coming together =-.
Awesome! I was reading your comment on the article you posted. I’m not bi-racial, but I was born in Canada. I only ever once visited the Philippines where my parents are from. While I was there, I was the American kid. I wasn’t Asian enough. When I came back home to Canada, well, I was the Filipino kid. I wasn’t white enough. Now I’m married to a Greek guy from Albania, and sometimes I wonder, what in the world are our children going to speak?
.-= • Recent post by T.S. Bazelli: What is The New Weird? =-.
Alex-
I didn’t say my name at all, so I’m wondering if they will introduce me (or just not use names)… My full name is attached to my comment on the web, though.
(Although come to think of it, what are the odds that someone would search “Kristan Hoffman” instead of “Kristen” or “Kristin”?)
Aurora-
Haha, I don’t think it will be easy to listen to, but I’m too curious not to!
Todd-
Thanks!
T.S.-
Yeah, going back to the “motherland” is always weird. But strangely, I feel at home there too. (Well, it’s Taiwan for me, not the Philippines, but still.)
Believe me, I hear you on the kids being culturally confused thing. Me and Andy’s kids would/will be 3/4 Asian by genetics, but 3/4 American by culture! o_O
How cool for you ! That is totally awesome. :)
.-= • Recent post by sarahjayne smythe: In the end =-.
You should have contractually obligated them to introduce your comment with, “Here’s what Kristan Hoffman of kristanhoffman.com has to say:”
;)
.-= • Recent post by Sonja: In which my feelings about the dentist speak volumes about my feelings about my life =-.
You are my new hero! I love NPR! I have Sirius Radio mainly because I can get two NPR stations on it and one on my regular radio at any given time. Their website also rocks…congrats!
.-= • Recent post by Rachele Alpine: Rachele’s Top Ten Don’t When Querying Agents and Winners =-.
This is AWESOME!
.-= • Recent post by Angie: Take it or leave it =-.
That is so cool!! How excited are you?? Congrats and good luck!!
Sonja-
Hehe, I like it! (Although my last line was a joke… :P)
Rachele-
Haha, well I’ll only be on for about a minute or less, I’m sure. But yay! Hero status accepted!
Angie-
AND RANDOM, hahaha. I guess it does pay (sometimes) to have an opinion and a big mouth that wants to share it.
Kimberly-
SUPER. I canceled the blog post I’d written for today to write this one instead. :P
Kristan I’m so glad you did this and I was really interested to read your comment on the NPR site (and will be interested to hear the broadcast!). My son is a halfie and I want to be sensitive to his questions of identity as he grows up. I never want him to feel like he can’t be defined but I don’t know how to help him in that.
.-= • Recent post by Sierra Godfrey: Thursday 5: Earth Day 2010 =-.
That’s so cool! Congratulations! I ended up in Glamour magazine in much the same way once. It was an article about having small boobs. There’s a 15 minutes of fame I probably should have done without, huh? LOL.
Anyway, hope you had fun and you got to hear it live!
- Liz
.-= • Recent post by Liz Czukas: The Way Back Machine =-.
Sierra-
Ooo, what kind of halfie? Maybe we should email a bit. (You and me, I mean, not me and him.)
Liz-
HAHAHAHAHA. That’s awesome!
Good for you! That is awesome! NPR is hugeee, I would be so honored.
Best,
Hannah Katy
Kristan — YOUR kind of halfie :) Feel free to email me.
.-= • Recent post by Sierra Godfrey: Thursday 5: Earth Day 2010 =-.
For the record, your father does not consider you to be biracial. And, congrats!
What is with the random avatars?
Congrats! Is the segment up yet?
.-= • Recent post by Jon: The Writer’s Almanac =-.
Trisha-
Uh, haha, how is that even possible? It’s not exactly a matter of opinion…
And which random avatars? Basically anyone who doesn’t have an avatar set up gets a randomized patter one.
Jon-
It is! http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126219408
Thanks for the reminder to fix the link up in the post.
Exciting stuff! I’ll be listening too. I am eternally interested in bi-racial, but also the multi-cultural experience. My kids are both “white,” but they are dual-citizens of England and America. It’s important that they know both places. T.S.’s comments were very interesting and seem to be more of the norm as we all travel so much and are connected via technology. When I was teaching, I always found it very funny that I was an American teaching English to African (specifically from Ghana) students.
By they way, beauty certainly comes through on the radio…and beauty comes through the more we stir up this big melting pot of a world!
.-= • Recent post by Sarah: Who am I and What am I doing Here? =-.
{nods} I also love seeing how people adopt cultures as part of their identity. Like, I’m not Spanish by birth, but I ADORE Spain, and living there for a summer will always be one of my most treasured experiences. From talking with you, I think you feel something similar for England. (Which is only natural, especially given your husband and children!) So yeah, that’s another aspect of all this that I find fascinating: identity as something we construct, not just something we’re born with.
Isn’t it funny how life works sometimes. One thing can lead to another and that can lead to another. That’s awesome for you. Congrats!
Thanks, Eva! And yeah, haha, I love how life does that. Like a box of chocolates, right? “You never know what you’re gonna get.”
I just listened to the clip, very cool! At first I thought you were going to be included in the tea part supporters. :)
LOL “heck to the naw.”
Yay just listened to you about Mixed! (although the transcript totally spelled your name wrong)
.-= • Recent post by Angie: Recalibrating =-.
Kristan, that was awesome!! Good radio voice, too. :-) And you’ve won a blog award over at my blog – http://jayeckert.blogspot.com/2010/04/award-athon.html
.-= • Recent post by Jay Eckert: Award-athon =-.
Congratulations! That is so exciting. And next time, you will be prepared with the plug!
.-= • Recent post by Rebecca @ Diary of a Virgin Novelist: I’m not writing =-.
Angie-
Yeah, haha. Understandable, except for the fact that they emailed me as initial contact, so I know they know how to spell my name… I emailed them to correct it, but it’s not a big deal.
Jay-
Thanks!! I’m hopping on over. :D
Rebecca-
Lol seriously, it should have been so natural, seeing as my first novel (quarterfinalist in Amazon contest) dealt a lot with being half-Asian.
I read the transcript and just heard you online at the NPR site. Most impressive. I can now brag to folks that I know a multi-media celebrity.
Stay famous!
Arthur-
I dunno about “multi-media celebrity”… Lol.
sarahjayne-
Thanks, girl!
They didn’t give you much room to plug yourself, eh? Next time!
.-= • Recent post by Todd Newton: Trapdoor Books Mayday Puzzle Contest =-.