Jean Shorts

Bio

Jean Shorts is a writer, bookstore owner, and dog aficionado who believes in the power of storytelling to preserve what history tries to bury. Inspired by their family’s Cambodian diaspora and shaped by life in Stockton, California; Chicago; and Detroit, they explore how memory and music help us survive, resist, and connect. With a background in community organizing and social justice, Jean brings care and curiosity to every story they share. As host of Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten on Passenger Radio, they trace global music histories—sounds nearly lost to displacement, censorship, colonization, or simply time. The show’s first episode begins with 1960s/1970s Cambodian rock and roll, eventually stretching outward to other cultures, exploring voices and rhythms that still echo across generations from different parts of the world. Jean is currently on the path to becoming an archivist, committed to safeguarding the cultural memory that lives in songs, stories, and the spaces we hold for one another.