K: So, lately I’ve been thinking about last week’s episode. I just can’t get it out of my mind.

C: It was immemorable. Or very memorable?

K: (laughs)

C: Unforgettable?

K: So, I have a lot of… ignorance and bias that I’m… working my way out of. And, so, my – one of the biggest spots of ignorance for me is geography. I do not understand where things are geographically at all. And I completely blame the U.S. 1970s California – Northern California – education system because it wasn’t until I met you – it wasn’t until in my 30s – that I learned that the United States and Canada are not geographically the same size. That… I always thought that the United States was half of North Cali- half of North America, rather. Half of North America. And that the United States was geographically bigger than Canada when you added Alaska and Hawaii. And I thought that the Pacific Islands – or Pacific nations – were all Hawaii. 

Like I didn’t know that Samoa was a different country and not part of Hawaii and not part of the United States. And, so, when I grew up – I think that the Philippines were still a territory.  Or at least, in my books – I was taught that the Philippines and Samoa – and Puerto Rico – were territories of the United States, and that Hawaii had recently been made a state is the way I remember it being taught to me in elementary school. And I also remember being taught that… all of North America was populated by Chinese people who had, during the Neolithic era, had crossed the land bridge from China to the United States. So, it wasn’t until you and I met that I found out that Russia is closer to Alaska than China. 

C: Yeah. 

K: So, I thought the land bridge connected China and the United States.

C: And the land bridge is where the Bering Strait is now. And the Bering Strait goes between Alaska and Russia.

K: But I was also surprised that you can’t just walk from China to Russia. That they aren’t connected. That they don’t share a border.

C: China and Russia do share a border.

K: Okay, I don’t feel like that’s right. I feel like that’s something I thought that was wrong. 

C: No, you’re right on that.

K: Okay. So, I’m so confused.

C: So, Russia is part of Asia. And, often, people will say, “well, it’s Eastern Europe.” And I think people want to call Russia Eastern Europe because “the people there are white, so it must be Europe, right?” 

K: Yeah, and you taught me – so, I watch a lot of U.K. television shows, and one day I commented on, “it’s super racist to call people from India Asians. Why are they calling them Asians?”

C: (laughs) Yeah.

K: I was like, “that’s so messed up. They’re not Asians, dude.” And you were like, “no, they are Asians.” And, so, I’ve asked my friends from India, “are you Asian?” And they were like, “yes, we’re Asian.” 

C: Yes.

K: “Like, we’re the subcontinent of Asia. That’s where we’re the subcontinent of.”

C: Yes. 

K: So, I don’t understand geography. So, I say ignorant things based on my misunderstanding of geography. Which is not the same as bias. So, I’m not biased against believing that the people who inhabited North America shared no ancestry with people from Asia. I’m not biased against that. What I learned is that they do. That, ethnically, that they do. That’s what I learned in school.

C: Right. 

K: So, if I’m wrong, I’m ignorant. Educate me. So, just so everybody knows, we haven’t gotten any backlash from the last episode, but you were just like – really just like, “wow, you are so off-base” afterwards that it made me like, “am I though?” 

C: Yes. You are.

(laughter)

K: See, I’m still feeling like, “am I though?” But I didn’t feel enough to even google it. I didn’t even google it.