“I believe that how a community views and observes death speaks volumes for its values.”
-Wisconsin Public Radio’s Brian Bull
Welcome to the NPR Station Showcase with PRX. I’m Aaron Henkin. Each week on this podcast I feature an outstanding radio story from one of the hundreds of NPR stations around the country. And this week, our tour takes us into the Midwest, where Wisconsin Public Radio broadcasts to the region through a network of 27 affiliated stations. Brian Bull works as Wisconsin Public Radio’s News Director, and he’s the producer of this week’s featured story, part of an award-winning series about Hmong culture. This eight-minute radio piece introduces us to a growing immigrant community and takes us inside one of the group’s most intimate religious rituals. Here’s a short Q & A with Wisconsin Public radio’s Brian Bull about the story…
Tell us a bit about your background and what brought you to Wisconsin Public Radio…
Public radio has always been my passion. I gravitated towards cultural reporting after spending my childhood growing up in rural Idaho, where I was one of the few Native Americans living in an off-reservation border town. Many residents didn’t exactly see my Nez Perce heritage as an asset, and I was often subjected to a lot of ignorant perspectives by my classmates and locals. I see reporting on cultural issues as a way to help dispel stereotypes. Also, oral tradition plays a huge part in my culture, so it’s not too much of a leap to work in broadcast news. I did a series of internships and short-term assignments with a number of networks and member stations, until landing a full-time job as news director for South Dakota Public Radio in 1999. It was a great place for enterprise stories, as many journalists don’t exactly set out to work in that particular pocket of the Midwest. But I found it was a perfect situation to cut my teeth, and NPR and other networks loved getting pitches from that region. But after nearly five years, I felt it was time to explore new opportunities, and I thought working in Madison would be a great coup if I could land it….and…here we are!
What was it that inspired you to put this story together in the first place?
Death and dying touches all people and cultures. I believe that how a community views and observes death speaks volumes for its values. And what some of my relatives call the “Great Unknown” is deeply fascinating. So when I was still living in the Twin Cities, I’d pass by this particular Hmong funeral home while on my way to work. I couldn’t help but be curious, and it was only 5 minutes away. When I was accepted into the NPR Diversity Initiative and told to adopt a feature idea for part of the curriculum, I knew this was the story to do. A few phone calls later, I set foot in the Hmong funeral home of St. Paul and began recording.
Did you find it weird to be in a ‘cultural reporter’ role at an event as intimate as a funeral?
I found it very weird at first. I should also mention that this was my very first feature ever — and so I was very unsure of myself. But I did my best to be respectful, courteous, and not pry too deeply into the more solemn aspects of the funeral. And the Xiong clan of St. Paul were great….many of them were pleased that someone cared enough to visit and ask them about their traditions and practices. I think they recognized my effort as one that would educate many non-Hmong people about their customs, and hopefully spark better understanding of their culture.
You did a great job getting your interviewees to speak candidly with you about very personal spiritual matters — I wonder, was it tough getting them to trust you and your intentions?
There were several who didn’t want to talk, and I wasn’t about to pressure someone who was grieving for an interview. A few times I had to ask around as to who a good person was for talking about the funeral rituals, and was referred to many friendly, outgoing folks such as Dao Xiong, who was a constant reference and guide. If I wasn’t interviewing relatives, I was shadowing them so that other mourners could see I was there with the consent of the family. Most of the people were fine once I explained the purpose of my visit, and that I wasn’t there to sensationalize or trivialize their culture, as has happened with other media encounters.
What sort of a socio-economic role does the Hmong community have in St. Paul? Are they a pretty insular group?
The Hmong are a strong, growing, and thriving community in St. Paul. It’s striven to build its standing in the business and political sectors, and I know many families are stressing education as a way to succeed in America. They’re steadily trying to maintain their cultural identity yet open up to the non-Hmong community around them. Efforts can be strained by prejudice and violence — I’m thinking back to when a Hmong truck driver from St. Paul shot and killed several local hunters in Northern Wisconsin a couple years back — but I think relations have certainly improved since the first wave of Hmong refugees arrived back in the late 1970s. Minnesota, Wisconsin, and California are home to the largest Hmong communities in the U-S, so I’ve had many opportunities to see their adjustment first-hand.
Has putting this story together made you think differently at all about the way modern Americans go about their funeral rites?
I really enjoyed the community feel to the Hmong funeral. While there was some grieving, there was also a lot of socializing, eating, and play. To many attendees, this was a celebration as they felt Ying Xiong’s spirit was now traveling to an ancestral homeland in a rejuvenated state, complete with vigor, companionship, and wealth. I think in many modern American rites, we don’t regard death so much as a new chapter in a spiritual journey, but more like the epilogue. We don’t seem to focus on what can’t be readily observed, so we dismiss matters of the soul and afterlife. So covering this story made me contemplate what else lies beyond this world of ours, and how can we best prepare for our own departure? To the Hmong, the funeral ritual is one of the most important in its culture….and the care, sentiment, and commitment (four days of ceremony!) really illustrates that high regard for the deceased. I’ve done hundreds of stories since this feature, but it probably remains my personal favorite.
…Wisconsin Public Radio News Director Brian Bull. You can hear more work from Wisconsin Public Radio online at The Public Radio Exchange, where radio-makers from around the world share their stories. Write your own reviews and help influence what ends up on the radio at www.prx.org.