Be Bold With Beth Whitman

  Vasu Varadhan is a long-time friend of mine. We figured we’ve known each other for about 35 years. And though we haven’t stayed closely connected over those 35 years, we’ve stayed connected enough so that when I’m in NY or she’s in Seattle, we try to get together and have a laugh and a conversation. Vasu and I met when I was in college and she was visiting for special presentation, it was an event being held at the university that I attended in Pennsylvania. Vasu holds a PhD in Media Studies from NYU where she is currently a member of the faculty at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study. She’s taught a wide range of interdisciplinary seminars on media theory, identity in a multi-cultural world, ancient Indian literature and South Asian literature and we get into some of that in this conversation. I was really eager to chat with Vasu because she recently published her first book, On My Own Terms: A Journey Between Two Worlds. This is a memoir that chronicles not only the early years of her life which i