It was one of at least a dozen stories like it that my aunt, my father’s sister, told me when she visited. Each of her stories would start with something like “when we moved and needed to…, we met the nicest person!”
My uncle, who is far less exuberantly friendly, would shake his head, and with a small smile on his face he mumbled: “You always say that.”
When I saw the trailer for her movie, Listen Closely, I had to reach out to speak with her. Alana started her young adult years as a Can Can dancer in the Dawson City in the Yukon Territory, northern Canada. She stayed there for three months, and came back for four seasons. After her first summer there, she realized she was in love with the north and ended up living in a trailer with an outhouse one of those seasons.
In this conversation, Angie shared how being raised in a family where racism was subtle but cruel made her more resilient. Her mother is Thai and met her father when he was serving during the Vietnam war. Her mother moved to Appalachia with her new husband when she was around 19 and slowly tried to fit herself into a very small, very white, very conservative town and family.
Joey Held's background is broadcast journalism, and as he has continued in his career in writing, sales, and a variety of other jobs, that background has served him well. After all, being able to ask the right questions at the right time simply opens doors.
He's a very curious guy, especially about people and the way their minds work.
