New year, new stuff. I’ve migrated all of you over to this substack account to keep you all in the loop of all the news about…me. Well, my writing, anyway.
The book proposal was sent out to a bunch of publishers in mid-December, hence the title of this post. We are anxiously awaiting word from most of them, though we have one positive talk and a few rejections. It’s a brutal business, y’all.
I went on a podcast spree, so you can hear me talk about my life and my stories of deconstruction on Asian America: The Ken Fong Podcast, The Beached White Male Podcast with Ken Kemp, and the deconstruction mother ship, Exvangelical with Blake Chastain. It’s been great talking in-depth with these hosts about my stories and observations of evangelical culture.
And finally, some actual, concrete content coming out: The Chapel Probation podcast will go up next week, probably on 1/11, since all the cool kids drop their content on Tuesdays. The first episode features a former student, Dez Revish, talking about being a black man at APU. Dez had one of the most unique experiences ever at that school, and his stories of fighting both personal and institutional racism will astound you. The second episode features BJ Karlik, and his story is probably the biggest nightmare for the APU folks. A conservative, straight, white male who flourished at APU, tells his story of how his experience led him directly into agnosticism and atheism. After that we’ll have Dacia Taleni, a Pacific Islander whose firey disposition and poetic awesomeness made her a force for social justice. One of her stories is honestly one of my favorite in my 15 years at APU. Then we have Sammie Howell, a former president of APASO, the Asian club at APU, who found her voice as an Asian American woman through activism and poetry. Then Ryan Chin and Anthony (last name withheld) give the insider views of science at APU. Or I should say, “science.” We spill all the tea about the odd relationship between evangelicals and science. Everyone being interviewed began deconstructing while at APU to some degree, and it’s been fascinating, so far, to go back into their stories.
I’ll be continuing interviews this month with five more episodes and then five more in February. Let me know if you have ideas for future topics, as we open it up to people outside APU to talk about about experiences in evangelical colleges and universities.
As always, my website, rscottokamoto.com is the hub for all the latest in podcasts, blog posts, and any news to report. I really appreciate you for joining me on this wild ride. I have stories, and I can write them, but I don’t really have a platform, yet. You are all helping me build that, and as much as I hate having to ask all of you to put up with all this, I am also eternally grateful.
I want to offer incentives for people who donate money or help spread the word to get more subscribers. Let me know if you have any ideas. Only 3 people asked about the tasteful nudes, so I need to step up the game. And for all of you who signed up to get a peak at the book, I’ll be sending you the first chapter once we get a book deal. Now to get that deal…
Happy New Year!