Episodes

  • Urban Roots: Madam Walker and the Rise & Fall of Indiana Avenue

    Urban Roots: Madam Walker and the Rise & Fall of Indiana Avenue
    Jan 24 2025
    Madam C.J. Walker was a brilliant entrepreneur who built a haircare empire and became the first African-American woman millionaire. You might have heard about her, but not many people know that her headquarters used to be located in Indianapolis, along a once vibrant Black corridor called Indiana Avenue, a place that today is known for parking lots, high-speed traffic, and uninspiring university buildings. Why do so few people know this story? Because, over decades, government planners and private developers slowly and systematically erased Indiana Avenue’s history. Luckily, however, some Black Hoosiers are working to uncover, and reclaim, what almost disappeared without a trace. In this episode, we tell their, and the Avenue’s, story. GUESTS: A’Lelia Bundles, Journalist and Madam C.J. Walker biographer Susan Hall Dotson, Indiana Historical Society Claudia Polley, Urban Legacy Lands Initiative Wildstyle Paschall, artist and community advocate Devon Ginn, Walker Legacy Center Mr. Thomas Hart Ridley, centenarian and Indiana Avenue author The post Urban Roots: Madam Walker and the Rise & Fall of Indiana Avenue appeared first on KPFA.
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    30 mins
  • Art from the Inside: Why We Need More Art By And About Incarcerated Women (encore)

    Art from the Inside: Why We Need More Art By And About Incarcerated Women (encore)
    Jan 17 2025
    On today’s show, we look at how art can highlight the struggles of incarcerated women, build solidarity with them across prison walls, and fight against the erasure and censorship inherent to incarceration. First, we’ll hear about a dance performance called “If I Give You My Sorrows” that’s built around the complex ways incarcerated women relate to their beds. Then, we’ll learn about an art exhibition, The Only Door I Can Open, that’s curated and created by incarcerated artists, writers, and poets inside Central California Women’s Facility. GUESTS: Jo Kreiter, artistic director of Flyaway Productions and creative director of If I Give You My Sorrows Betty McKay, formerly incarcerated advocate and organizer Tomiekia Johnson, incarcerated writer and co-curator of The Only Door I Can Open Chantell-Jeannette Black, incarcerated artist and co-curator of The Only Door I Can Open Rahsaan “New York” Thomas, executive director of Empowerment Avenue The post Art from the Inside: Why We Need More Art By And About Incarcerated Women (encore) appeared first on KPFA.
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    30 mins
  • Dividing Lines: What Are Borders and Why Do We Have Them? (encore)

    Dividing Lines: What Are Borders and Why Do We Have Them? (encore)
    Jan 10 2025
    What are borders, and why do we have them? And how is violent border enforcement at the U.S.-Mexico border connected to Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza? And what happens when borders cross living land and communities? We’ll dig into these questions in this week’s episode with the help of Heba Gowayed, sociology professor at CUNY Hunter College and Graduate Center. And then we’ll hear a story brought to us by In Confianza, with Pulso about one time when the natural boundary between two countries changed, and what happened to the people caught on the other side. GUESTS: Heba Gowayed, sociology professor at CUNY Hunter College and Graduate Center and author of Refuge: How the State Shapes Human Potential and the forthcoming The Cost of Border. Charlie Garcia, writer and producer of the story “The Border is Alive!,” from In Confianza, with Pulso. The post Dividing Lines: What Are Borders and Why Do We Have Them? (encore) appeared first on KPFA.
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    30 mins
  • Jenny Odell on Saving Time (encore)

    Jenny Odell on Saving Time (encore)
    Jan 3 2025
    On this week’s episode, we speak with Jenny Odell, author of Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock, about how the ways we think about time shapes our lives. We take a critical look at productivity culture and the idea that time is money. Then we hear how to begin to disentangle our daily concept of time from its capitalistic and colonialist roots in order to liberate and expand our relationship to time. The post Jenny Odell on Saving Time (encore) appeared first on KPFA.
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    30 mins
  • Art from the Inside: Why We Need More Art By And About Incarcerated Women (encore)

    Art from the Inside: Why We Need More Art By And About Incarcerated Women (encore)
    Dec 27 2024
    On today’s show, we look at how art can highlight the struggles of incarcerated women, build solidarity with them across prison walls, and fight against the erasure and censorship inherent to incarceration. First, we’ll hear about a dance performance called “If I Give You My Sorrows” that’s built around the complex ways incarcerated women relate to their beds. Then, we’ll learn about an art exhibition, The Only Door I Can Open, that’s curated and created by incarcerated artists, writers, and poets inside Central California Women’s Facility. GUESTS: Jo Kreiter, artistic director of Flyaway Productions and creative director of If I Give You My Sorrows Betty McKay, formerly incarcerated advocate and organizer Tomiekia Johnson, incarcerated writer and co-curator of The Only Door I Can Open Chantell-Jeannette Black, incarcerated artist and co-curator of The Only Door I Can Open Rahsaan “New York” Thomas, executive director of Empowerment Avenue The post Art from the Inside: Why We Need More Art By And About Incarcerated Women (encore) appeared first on KPFA.
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    30 mins
  • Art from the Inside: Why We Need More Art By And About Incarcerated Women

    Art from the Inside: Why We Need More Art By And About Incarcerated Women
    Dec 20 2024
    On today’s show, we look at how art can highlight the struggles of incarcerated women, build solidarity with them across prison walls, and fight against the erasure and censorship inherent to incarceration. First, we’ll hear about a dance performance called “If I Give You My Sorrows” that’s built around the complex ways incarcerated women relate to their beds. Then, we’ll learn about an art exhibition, The Only Door I Can Open, that’s curated and created by incarcerated artists, writers, and poets inside Central California Women’s Facility. GUESTS: Jo Kreiter, artistic director of Flyaway Productions and creative director of If I Give You My Sorrows Betty McKay, formerly incarcerated advocate and organizer Tomiekia Johnson, incarcerated writer and co-curator of The Only Door I Can Open Chantell-Jeannette Black, incarcerated artist and co-curator of The Only Door I Can Open Rahsaan “New York” Thomas, executive director of Empowerment Avenue The post Art from the Inside: Why We Need More Art By And About Incarcerated Women appeared first on KPFA.
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    30 mins
  • Special Holiday Fund Drive Programming

    Special Holiday Fund Drive Programming
    Dec 13 2024
    Today’s episodes of Making Contact and Pushing Limits are preempted by special programming for KPFA’s 2024 Holiday Fund Drive. To support our mission, please donate here or call (800) 439-5732. The post Special Holiday Fund Drive Programming appeared first on KPFA.
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    30 mins
  • Special Holiday Fund Drive Programming

    Special Holiday Fund Drive Programming
    Dec 6 2024
    Today’s episodes of Making Contact and Pushing Limits are preempted by special programming for KPFA’s 2024 Holiday Fund Drive. To support our mission, please donate here or call (800) 439-5732. The post Special Holiday Fund Drive Programming appeared first on KPFA.
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    30 mins