Shin Yu Pai
Host, Ten Thousand Things
About
Shin Yu Pai [pronounced Shin Yee Pie] is the current Civic Poet for The City of Seattle (2023-24) and host of KUOW's podcast Ten Thousand Things (formerly The Blue Suit). Shin Yu is a 2022 Artist Trust Fellow and was shortlisted for a 2014 Stranger Genius in Literature. She is the author of eleven books of poetry, including most recently Virga (Empty Bowl, 2021). From 2015 to 2017, she served as the fourth Poet Laureate of the City of Redmond. Her essays and nonfiction writing have appeared in Atlas Obscura, NY Times, Tricycle, YES! Magazine, The Rumpus, Seattle Met, Zocalo Public Square, Gastronomica, City Arts, The Stranger, South Seattle Emerald, International Examiner, Ballard News-Tribune, Seattle’s Child, Seattle Globalist, and ParentMap. Shin Yu’s work has appeared in publications throughout the U.S., Japan, China, Taiwan, The United Kingdom, and Canada. She is represented by Tyler Tsay at The Speakeasy Project.
Stories
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Gazing into the mysteries of the galaxy with poet Sharon Hashimoto
Sharon Hashimoto's poem "Theodor Jackson Observatory" shines the light on a beloved local observatory that keeps track of astronomical time and educates the general public on astronomy.
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Rhythmic shoes and prose: J.W. Marshall captures the ennui of Harborview
Drawn from his book Meaning a Cloud, "The Nightshift Nurse Brought Her Shoes to Work in a Paper Bag" is part of a larger poetic sequence shaped around J.W. Marshall's experiences of surviving and recovering from a life-changing injury.
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An ode to the city skyline from West Seattle by poet E.J. Koh
Poet E.J. Koh chose West Seattle as her home, where she could live near Alki Beach and see the Seattle skyline rising in the distance across the water. As a place, Alki has appeared in much of her work, from her poetry to her nonfiction writing.
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Clam-digging for 'Soft Edible Bodies': Poet Carol Levin on a quintessential Pacific Northwest experience
Carol Levin's poem "Soft Edible Bodies on April Fools Day" depicts the quintessential Pacific Northwest experience of razor clamming and speaks to the ways in which the unique region where we live can shape our experiences and memories of place.
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A blue suit becomes history
The story behind the viral and historic blue suit that inspired this podcast.
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Califone
The vintage Califone record player allows sound artist Paul Kikuchi to access and share songs that he inherited from his great-grandfather and other 78rpm records that were left behind by Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II.
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Chinese-English Dictionary
After his father's death, Byron Au Yong turned to paper folding.
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A childhood stuffie goes missing
The Blue Suit's host, Shin Yu Pai, revisits an object from her own life.
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Vitrified Glass
In a small clear box, Etsuko Ichikawa keeps a small piece of vitrified glass that was given to her on a tour of the Hanford nuclear site.
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The objects that define us: Shin Yu Pai on her new podcast, 'The Blue Suit'
Objects can sometimes tell complicated stories. An old collection of papers might be destined for the recycling, or it might tell us how someone lived and what they loved most. Plant clippings might be a hobby, or they might show a connection to home, the life of a transplant.