Podcasts about Housing Works

In this episode of The Cannabis Business Coach Podcast, Michael Zaytsev (aka Professor Z) speaks with Sasha Nugent, Vice President of Retail for Housing Works Cannabis Co. (HWCC)—the first licensed adult-use cannabis dispensary to open in New York State. With over 20 years of retail experience and a decade-long tenure at Housing Works, Sasha shares the behind-the-scenes story of launching and scaling HWCC's dispensary operations from the ground up. Their conversation covers hiring, procurement, regulation, and how to lead with mission in a competitive and volatile industry. More than a cannabis retailer, Housing Works channels 100% of dispensary proceeds into its social enterprise mission—supporting housing, healthcare, job training, and harm reduction services for vulnerable New Yorkers. This episode offers a rare and inspiring look at what it takes to build an equitable cannabis business that's truly community-driven. Topics Discussed:

This week PDD returns to the podcast a year and a half after originally coming on. Since then, Mike and the boys have started a monthly improv show called “Please Don't Birbiglia” at UCB. The group talks about what it's like to improvise together, the unsparing roasts PDD did of Mike when they opened for his show "The Good Life," and the creation of PDD's Jon Hamm pizza sketch—from Monday's pitch in Lorne's office to airing live on SNL. Plus, the unlikely thing that shows up in more than one PDD member's Instagram algorithm.Please consider donating to: Housing Works

Rob vists the first legal dispensary in NYC - Housing Works at 750 Broadway NYC! ~  on the store's second year anniversary! Rob sits down with pioneering staff member and VP of Retail ~ Sasha Nutgent to talk about the history of Housing Works, NYC legal cannabis and trends in NY market. Guest IG - @hw.cco

Feb. 6, 2025 - We examine efforts to reduce the transmission of hepatitis C in New York with Sarah Cushman, senior manager for Hep C and community prevention services at Trillium Health, and Zaida Aguilar, a Hep C peer advocate at Housing Works.

Lipi Roy, MD, MPH, FASAM, shares what piqued her interest in the field of addiction medicine and how she expanded her work into media outreach and appearances. Dr. Roy talks about creating her YouTube channel, Health, Humor, and Harmony, how she started her company, SITA MED, and what it takes to prepare for a media appearance. She describes her experience as chief of addiction medicine at Rikers Island Correctional Facility in New York and discusses why she feels so compelled to speak about the issues of stigma and loneliness and how they intersect. Finally, Dr. Roy offers advice for the next generation of addiction medicine providers. Dr. Roy is a physician, international speaker, media personality, entrepreneur, and host of the YouTube series, Health, Humor and Harmony. In July 2023, she founded SITA MED, a health speaking company addressing stress-related conditions such as addiction and anxiety, and has trained doctors, judges, journalists, executives, and beyond. Dr. Roy served on the frontlines of the pandemic as the medical director of COVID Isolation and Quarantine Sites for Housing Works in New York City. She also treated patients with opioid use disorder at a harm reduction clinic in the Bronx while working at multiple COVID vaccination sites. As an MSNBC and NBC medical contributor, Dr. Roy made over 350 live television appearances discussing COVID-19. Dr. Roy's work spans academia, clinical medicine, homeless health, social and criminal justice, public speaking, media and entertainment. As the former chief of addiction medicine for Rikers Island, Dr. Roy oversaw substance use treatment and recovery services at the nation's 2nd-largest jail complex. Dr. Roy also sees patients at Greenwich House Center for Healing and serves as clinical assistant professor at NYU Langone Health. Previously, Dr. Roy served as a primary care doctor to Boston's homeless population among whom the leading cause of death was drug overdose. She also served as an attending physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and as faculty at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Roy completed her medical and master's in public health degrees at Tulane University, followed by residency training in internal medicine at Duke University Medical Center. Dr. Roy's mission is to educate and empower the public to make healthy decisions. As a Forbes contributor who has interviewed medical experts such as Dr. Peter Hotez and celebrities such as Mary J. Blige and Ice-T, Dr. Roy is one of the world's trusted experts in health communication. She has appeared on multiple media outlets including CNN, The Tamron Hall Show, CBS New York and PIX11, and has been featured in The New York Times, Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, Cooking Light, Oprah.com, and many others.   Health, Humor, and Harmony SITA MED Articles as Forbes contributor On social media at Twitter/X, Instagram, and TikTok   If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, you are not alone. Treatment is available and recovery is possible. Visit ASAM's Patient Resources page for more information. The information shared in this podcast episode is for educational purposes only and should not be taken as medical advice. The views expressed in this podcast may not be those of the host or ASAM management.

Since 1990, Housing Works has been actively supporting NYC's unhoused population and people with HIV/AIDS through advocacy, mutual support and entrepreneurship. Two years ago, the once radical organization was awarded the city's first recreational cannabis license, and quickly opened a beautiful, inclusive, welcoming dispensary in lower Manhattan that serves the community while giving back to those in need. On this weed's episode, we get the inside story on all that from Sasha Nutgent, Housing Works' Director of Retail Cannabis. While Bean, our host, recalls his own "great moment" of buying legal weed just blocks from where he was arrested for smoking a joint. ALSO: HAPPY 7/10 TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE Check out our 7/10 Holiday Episodes from Years Past: Celebrate Hash's High Holiday w/ Roger from Puffco Psychedelic Surfers Invented Dabs Celebrating Hash High Holiday w/ an IRL Sesh PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video versions of this podcast and private seshes, plus cool rewards like a signed book. And it truly helps us make the best show possible  EPISODE ARCHIVE Visit our podcast feed for 120+ episodes of Great Moments in Weed History, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.

On today's episode, the ladies reconvene at Lauren's fire Airbnb to discuss all of the biggest cultural happenings: the Oscars, Carey Mulligan's incredible outfit, Kate Middleton's disappearance, Rolling Stone's Queer Eye expose (Team Bobby!), the feminine urge to buy JVN haircare, Sean McGirr's universally panned McQueen collection, Chemena Kamali's much more well-received Chloé debut, women of a certain age on the runway, THAT Kate Moss impersonator, Kristen Stewart's sartorial pivot, and fabulous new collections from Loewe, Rick Owens, Miu Miu, and more! Plus: Chelsea report's back from Madonna's Celebration tour. Today's episode is brought to you by Clarins. Go Clarins.com/Outfit and get Multi-Active Day & Night Cream for 10% off as well as a free welcome gift and free shipping on your first order. As well as, Housing Works. Housing Works now has an eShop! And as a special offer for Every Outfit listeners, you can use code OUTFIT to get 20% off your order at eshop.housingworks.org.

In this final episode, we turn to people living with HIV today — longtime survivors of a plague who, despite their pain, frustrations and desires to just be done with it, realize they can't be done with it. These are people like Kia LaBeija, an artist who has been HIV-positive since birth, who turned to photography at 16, shortly after her mother died, to help make sense of her story. And they are people like Phill Wilson, an activist who still bears the scars of his decades fighting in the HIV and AIDS trenches; Valerie Reyes-Jimenez, the proudly positive woman we met in the first episode, who talks about what it's like to age as a HIV-positive woman; Victor Reyes, one of the children who went through Harlem Hospital and lived long enough to grow up and start a family of his own; and Lizzette Rivera, who who lost her mother to AIDS in 1984 and spent decades trying to find her mother's burial spot so that she could properly mourn and honor her. Together, these five remind us that the HIV and AIDS epidemic is not over — and there is still so much we need to do to bring it out of the shadows.Voices in this episode include:• Kia LaBeija, a former mother of the House of LaBeija, is an image-maker and storyteller born and raised in Hell's Kitchen in the heart of New York City. Her performative self-portraits embody memory and dream-like imagery to narrate complex stories at the intersections of womanhood, sexuality and navigating the world as an Afro Filipina living with HIV.• Warren Benbow is a drummer who has worked with Nina Simone, James “Blood” Ulmer, Betty Carter and Whitney Houston, among others. He grew up in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, and went to the High School of Performing Arts. Warren is Kia's father.• Phill Wilson is the founder of the Black AIDS Institute, AIDS policy director for the city of Los Angeles at the height of the epidemic, and a celebrated AIDS activist in both the LGBTQ+ and Black communities since the early 1980s.• Valerie Reyes-Jimenez is a HIV-positive woman, activist and organizer with Housing Works. She saw the AIDS crisis develop from a nameless monster into a pandemic from her home on New York City's Lower East Side.• Victor Reyes was born at Harlem Hospital Center and spent much of his childhood receiving treatment and care at the hospital's pediatric AIDS unit. He is the director of an after school program at a grade school in Washington, D.C. He also does research at the Global Community Health Lab at Howard University.• Lizzette Rivera is a data analyst who remains haunted by her mother's death in 1984. Rivera spent years trying to find the whereabouts of mother's burial site on Hart Island. She finally succeeded in 2020. She now visits her mother's grave regularly.Blindspot is a co-production of The HISTORY® Channel and WNYC Studios, in collaboration with The Nation Magazine.A companion photography exhibit by Kia LaBeija featuring portraits from the series is on view through March 11 at The Greene Space at WNYC. The photography for Blindspot was supported by a grant from the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, a nonprofit organization that promotes coverage of social inequality and economic justice.

NYC Now presents a special episode from Season 3 of Blindspot: The Plague in the Shadows. Valerie Reyes-Jimenez called it “The Monster.” That's how some people described HIV and AIDS in the 1980s. Valerie thinks as many as 75 people from her block on New York City's Lower East Side died. They were succumbing to an illness that was not recognized as the same virus that was killing young, white, gay men just across town in the West Village.At the same time in Harlem, the 17th floor of the area's struggling public hospital was filling up with infants and children who arrived and then never left. Some spent their whole lives on the pediatric ward, celebrating birthdays, first steps and first words with the nurses and doctors who had become their surrogate family. Welcome to Harlem Hospital at the height of the HIV and AIDS epidemics.When the nurses and doctors at this community hospital first began to see infants suffering from an unusual wasting disease, they were alarmed. They had heard that a strange new illness was killing gay men, but no one was talking about women and children. Soon, however, it became clear that HIV was sweeping through Harlem, sickening mothers who then passed it — unknowingly — to their kids. As the crisis grew, AIDS turned the pediatrics ward of Harlem Hospital into a makeshift home — and a makeshift family — for kids who were either too sick to go home, or who no longer had families to go home to.You can listen to more episodes of Blindspot: The Plague in the Shadows here.Voices in the episode include:• Valerie Reyes-Jimenez is an HIV-positive woman, activist, and organizer with Housing Works. She saw the AIDS crisis develop from a nameless monster into a pandemic from her home on New York City's Lower East Side.• Dr. Margaret Heagarty was a doctor who ran the pediatric department at Harlem Hospital Center for nearly 20 years. She died in 2022. Archival interview with Margaret Heagarty comes from the Columbia Center for Oral History.• Dr. Stephen Nicholas was a pediatrician at Harlem Hospital Center for two decades.• Maxine Frere, a lifelong Harlem resident, is a retired nurse who spent the entirety of her 40-year career at Harlem Hospital Center.• Monica Digrado was a pediatric nurse at Harlem Hospital Center.• Victor Reyes was born at Harlem Hospital Center and spent much of his childhood receiving treatment and care at the hospital's pediatric AIDS unit.Blindspot is a co-production of The HISTORY® Channel and WNYC Studios, in collaboration with The Nation Magazine.A companion photography exhibit by Kia LaBeija featuring portraits from the series is on view through March 11 at The Greene Space at WNYC. The photography for Blindspot was supported by a grant from the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, a nonprofit organization that promotes coverage of social inequality and economic justice.

Valerie Reyes-Jimenez called it “The Monster.” That's how some people described HIV and AIDS in the 1980s. Valerie thinks as many as 75 people from her block on New York City's Lower East Side died. They were succumbing to an illness that was not recognized as the same virus that was killing young, white, gay men just across town in the West Village. At the same time, in Washington, D.C., Gil Gerald, a Black LGBTQ+ activist, saw his own friends and colleagues begin to disappear, dying out of sight and largely ignored by the wider world. In the first episode of Blindspot: The Plague in the Shadows, host Kai Wright shares how HIV and AIDS was misunderstood from the start — and how this would shape the reactions of governments, the medical establishment and numerous communities for years to come. Listen to more episodes and subscribe to Blindspot here. Voices in this episode include: Valerie Reyes-Jimenez is an HIV-positive woman, activist, and organizer with Housing Works. She saw the AIDS crisis develop from a nameless monster into a pandemic from her home on New York City's Lower East Side. Dr. Larry Altman was one of the first full-fledged medical doctors to work as a daily newspaper reporter. He started at The New York Times in 1969. Dr. Anthony Fauci was director of the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease from 1984 to 2022. Known most recently for his work on Covid-19, Dr. Fauci was also a leading figure in the fight against HIV and AIDS. Gil Gerald is a Black HIV and AIDS activist and writer, who co-founded the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays. Phill Wilson is the founder of the Black AIDS Institute, AIDS policy director for the city of Los Angeles at the height of the epidemic, and a celebrated AIDS activist in both the LGBTQ+ and Black communities since the early 1980s. Dr. Margaret Heagarty ran the pediatrics department of Harlem Hospital Center for 22 years. She died in December 2022. Blindspot is a co-production of The HISTORY® Channel and WNYC Studios, in collaboration with The Nation Magazine. A companion photography exhibit by Kia LaBeija featuring portraits from the series is on view through March 11 at The Greene Space at WNYC. Photography by Kia LaBeija is supported in part by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. Tell us what you think. Email us at notes@wnyc.org. Send us a voice message by recording yourself on your phone and emailing us, or record one here. We're also on Instagram and X (Twitter) @noteswithkai.

Valerie Reyes-Jimenez called it “The Monster.” That's how some people described HIV and AIDS in the 1980s. Valerie thinks as many as 75 people from her block on New York City's Lower East Side died. They were succumbing to an illness that was not recognized as the same virus that was killing young, white, gay men just across town in the West Village.At the same time, in Washington, D.C., Gil Gerald, a Black LGBTQ+ activist, saw his own friends and colleagues begin to disappear, dying out of sight and largely ignored by the wider world.In our first episode of Blindspot: The Plague in the Shadows, we learn how HIV and AIDS was misunderstood from the start — and how this would shape the reactions of governments, the medical establishment and numerous communities for years to come.Voices in the episode include:• Valerie Reyes-Jimenez is an HIV-positive woman, activist, and organizer with Housing Works. She saw the AIDS crisis develop from a nameless monster into a pandemic from her home on New York City's Lower East Side.• Dr. Larry Altman was one of the first full-fledged medical doctors to work as a daily newspaper reporter. He started at The New York Times in 1969.• Dr. Anthony Fauci was director of the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease from 1984 to 2022. Known most recently for his work on Covid-19, Dr. Fauci was also a leading figure in the fight against HIV and AIDS.• Gil Gerald is a Black HIV and AIDS activist and writer, who co-founded the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays.• Phill Wilson is the founder of the Black AIDS Institute, AIDS policy director for the city of Los Angeles at the height of the epidemic, and a celebrated AIDS activist in both the LGBTQ+ and Black communities since the early 1980s.• Dr. Margaret Heagarty ran the pediatrics department of Harlem Hospital Center for 22 years. She died in December 2022.Blindspot is a co-production of The HISTORY® Channel and WNYC Studios, in collaboration with The Nation Magazine.A companion photography exhibit by Kia LaBeija featuring portraits from the series is on view through March 11 at The Greene Space at WNYC. Photography by Kia LaBeija is supported in part by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.

Another interview from our time in Las Vegas for MjBiz. Sasha Nutgent serves as Retail Store Manager for the Housing Works Cannabis Co.  Prior to her role now at Housing Works Cannabis Co., Nutgent enjoyed a previous relationship with the company where she started out working in their thrift store before being promoted to manager of the store 6 months later. She's taken the skills she built in retail to help grow their cannabis arm. Everything from recruitment and training to inventory management, she does it all. We had a few minutes to speak with Sasha while in the press room this earlier this month about her role at Housing Works, what a retail manager does at dispensary, the grey market, piff and more. Listen now Support the showPresident and co-founder of LOCKGREEN Sarah Kiah Morton sat down with us to discuss how the idea of LOCKGREEN came to life, how this business is a family affair, and more.

In this special mini-episode of Hit Parade, recorded live on at Housing Works bookstore in New York City, host Chris Molanphy is joined by Dan Charnas—author of the New York Times bestseller Dilla Time, The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, and the acclaimed The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop. They discuss Chris's new book Old Town Road—how he came to write it, what made the song exceptional, and how decades of chart and genre history led to Lil Nas X's breakthrough. Podcast production by Kevin Bendis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this special mini-episode of Hit Parade, recorded live on at Housing Works bookstore in New York City, host Chris Molanphy is joined by Dan Charnas—author of the New York Times bestseller Dilla Time, The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, and the acclaimed The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop. They discuss Chris's new book Old Town Road—how he came to write it, what made the song exceptional, and how decades of chart and genre history led to Lil Nas X's breakthrough. Podcast production by Kevin Bendis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this special mini-episode of Hit Parade, recorded live on at Housing Works bookstore in New York City, host Chris Molanphy is joined by Dan Charnas—author of the New York Times bestseller Dilla Time, The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, and the acclaimed The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop. They discuss Chris's new book Old Town Road—how he came to write it, what made the song exceptional, and how decades of chart and genre history led to Lil Nas X's breakthrough. Podcast production by Kevin Bendis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New Jersey's Lieutenant Governor Sheila Oliver, standing in for vacationing Governor Phil Murphy, is hospitalized, causing a temporary void in her roles. Also, Housing Works' legal cannabis dispensary reports a surprising $12 million revenue in its first six months. And, Mayor Adams' war on rats continues and starting tomorrow, city food businesses must dispose of trash in hard containers with tight lids. Finally, a shortage of lifeguards and functioning public pools leads to long lines and crowded lanes for New Yorkers seeking to cool down, a topic discussed by Katie Honan from The City with WNYC's Michael Hill.

Lakeysha Sowunmi, Director of Achieve for Community HousingWorks, is joined by her colleague, Arrod Mohammadian, Digital Fundraising Specialist, to discuss the organization's mission; its Study Stars Afterschool Program; I-ready online academic software; and parent engagement.

In this excellent episode, Nancy and Jose are joined in the studio by Sean Spear, President and CEO at Community HousingWorks. Hear Sean discuss childhood memories of memorizing and reciting literature and his background and experience in acting classes and how it helped him with presentations.The Community HousingWorks focuses on providing affordable housing and resident services. These services include education programs for children, financial counseling, and health and well-being support for seniors and individuals with special needs.Hear Nancy and Jose mention their visits to Community HousingWorks locations and their impressions of the organization's commitment to improving residents' quality of life. Sean explains the organization's approach to community development and its emphasis on creating a stable home environment for residents to pursue their long-term goals.Sean discusses the challenges faced during the pandemic and how Community HousingWorks adapted its programs and provided support to residents, including emergency rental assistance and food distribution. Sean highlights the importance of resident services and collaboration with other community providers to address the specific needs of residents.An excellent episode on filling gaps in the community with Sean Spear. Here are some other takeaways from the interview:What makes Community HousingWorks specialThe services offered by Community HousingWorks and some of the challenges they faceThe long-term impact and goals of Community HousingWorks (buckets)The answers to the rapid-fire questionsAn excellent interview from a passionate gap minder. Thank you, Sean, for your contributions in San Diego, and for joining us on The Gap Minders.Enjoy this episode and be sure to subscribe to the show.If you have any questions or want to contact Nancy or Jose, please send an email to podcast@uwsd.org. Thank you for listening.To learn more about the two social impact organizations making The Gap Minders possible, please visit www.TheGapMinders.org.

Klara and Jag - BAS, RÖK  DÅRAR (Sweden) Anna of the North - Swirl (Norway) Fieh - Judy Law (Norway) Dirty Projectors, Bjork - On and Ever Onward (Live from Housing Works 2009) (USA, Iceland) Gusgus - Into the Strange (Iceland) Emiliana Torrini and The Colorist Orchestra - You Left Me in Bloom (Iceland, Belgium) Aasma - Even in the Shadows (Sweden) Paul Bäcklin - Ungulates (Radio Edit) (Sweden) Ask Carol - Ohio (Norway) NAYAD - Lights (Sweden) NEA EINI - Pretty Boy (Sweden) 7ebra - Done With the Day (Sweden) Hajk - Not Your Last (Norway) Cornelia Jakobs - Bloody Mind (Sweden) JFDR - The Orchid (Iceland) Soluna Samay - Swelling Heart (Denmark) CHIVVY - Kiddo (Sweden)

Tuesday, April 25th was New York's first ever Transgender, Gender Non-Conforming, Non-Binary, and Intersex Advocacy Day at the State Capitol. Groups such as New Pride Agenda, NY Transgender Advocacy, Make the Road, Housing Works, and LGBT Center NYC rallied in support of various bills, including the Stop Violence In The Sex Trades Act; Safe Haven For Trans Youth & Families; and The Gender Identity Respect, Dignity, and Safety Act (GIRDS). The group also wanted to increased state budget funding to expand the Lorena Borjas Transgender & Non-Binary Wellness & Equity Fund. We hear Make the Road NY, NY Transgender Advocacy, Assemblymembers Harvey Epstein and Deborah Glick, and Senator Brad Hoylman. By Mark Dunlea for Hudson Mohawk Magazine.

In this episode, Mark speaks with Andrew Greene from Housing Works. Andrew is the Chief Operating Officer of Nonprofit. Housing Works mission is to end the dual crisis of homelessness and AIDS through advocacy, life-saving services, and entrepreneurial businesses that sustain its efforts.  1:18                 Andrew starts with Fund-raising, public media, events3:37                 Housing Works Thrift Store Events5:02                 Design on a Dime beginnings9:09                 Ground Breaker Award11:20               Fashion Fraction event12:40               Breaking AIDS 300-mile bike ride21:26               New York City & New York State 1st Legal Cannabis Store26:00               Housing Works Founding Story29:11               Upcoming Events, July 14th 30:20               Housing Works Next Gen Leaders Changes31:09               New Housing Works Hotels coming32:20               Ways to Support Housing Works34:26               Housing Works Bookstore  Andrew Greene Instagram @housingworks https://www.housingworks.org/  Mark Testa https://www.markstephenagency.com info@markstephenagency.com https://www.linkedin.com/company/mark-stephen-design-&-production/ Instagram @markstephenea https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK13o22i4RxQvbAgwwlh9tQ?view_as=subscriber

New York's rapidly evolving cannabis space has constantly been in the news post-legalization, so this week we've put together the most important stories to bring you up to speed on legal weed's progress in the Empire State! From the proliferation of unlicensed shops, Mayor Adams' joint task force to crack down on them, the report sponsored by the Medical Cannabis Industry Association that accuses their traditional market competition of tainted products and inaccurate test scores to the state's robust social equity initiatives, potential conflicts of interest in the Social Equity Fund's management, and a look at Housing Works, the non-profit that opened the first retail dispensary in NY state in Dec '22, the Gentleman has you covered. Want more? You got it, boss! Community interest in the inaugural New York Grower's Cup was intense, with over 90 samples submitted by local cultivators. Roger Boofington joins the show to share an inside view of the competition and a local perspective on navigating New York's flourishing cannabis scene.

Rob visits Housing Works Cannabis in NYC at 750 Broadway to purchase legal herb at the first government official dispensary in Manhattan.  Rob hangs out in Washington Square for a few bowls of Back Home Cannabis/Space Queen and talks about going about life in 2023. Ep. 200 IG Rob88Cantrell 

A new year a new podcast! Light up with us as we discuss current events like that Andrew Tate chode being served up a little karma. We talk about barely making it on New Years and our plans to set You Tube a blaze! For News Nugs we celebrate New York's first legal and OPEN dispensary which happens to belong to the non-profit group Housing Works. We look to New York to set the standard for licensing, as they have started with those most impacted by the war on drugs. Snoop Dogg kicks off Death Row Cannabis and we watch a clip of him on NYE talking about all the places he has ever smoked! In Colorado Psilocybin therapy is finally legal, but they are letting the professionals handle treatments at the moment. For local Miami news: an MMJ Doc that we had previously reported getting his privileges taken away from him gets cleared from wrong doing. Thanks to our sponsors and patron! Come back 2/15 for our special Livestream premiere episode! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/potsmokingmoms/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/potsmokingmoms/support

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://thecitylife.org/2022/12/21/new-york-states-first-recreational-cannabis-dispensary-housing-works-cannabis-co-opens-dec-29-in-manhattan/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/citylifeorg/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/citylifeorg/support

This week, we are thrilled to welcome Amy Loewenberg, Senior Relations Manager for NY NOW, SF NOW & American Handcrafted. Amy considers herself to be a champion for people, for product and for paving new lanes for mutually beneficial and treasured relationships that celebrate the love for what we do and why we do it. This is her past, her present and her future.Her passion for product grew exponentially when she returned to NYC and was purchasing for an iconic NYC paper and gift store known as Kate's Paperie to a 130-location mini department store known as Blue Tulip to foster the first ever purchasing program for the non-profit Housing Works. She drank the Kool-Aid! Whether she was buying greeting cards and invitations, homewares, tabletop, or textiles, she was enamored with everything from paper to cement and the impact they made on her business.It was a no brainer for her to move into her role for NY NOW, a market she has been attending for decades. Her high-level and firsthand experience helps her to not just be a resource for all who attend, but it allows her to highlight our remarkable community.Michelle & Amy talk trade shows, challenges and exciting changes that will make for an even greater experience for attendees!This week's episode sponsored by Fines Lines Company, a west coast wholesale rep agency with showrooms in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Seattle representing over 50 fabulous gift, fashion + home lines.WebsiteInstagramFacebookTwitterLinkedInNY NOW PodcastBulletin

This week's episode is all about harm reduction. There's a lot of stigma and misinformation surrounding harm reduction, in and outside of recovery spaces. In an effort to understand more about what harm reduction is, and is not, I sat down with an expert in harm reduction.  Dr. Delores Blackwell is a multijurisdictional licensed clinical social worker,  master addiction counselor,  certified trauma professional and a certified compassion fatigue professional. She has held numerous administrative and clinical positions within both the addictions and mental health disciplines. She is currently the Director of OASAS Services at Housing Works. She is also an adjunct professor at both Touro College and at Hunter College Silberman School of Social Work where she teaches advanced clinical courses and the practice lab.If you are suffering with addiction, you do not have to suffer in silence or alone. Resources mentioned in the episode:-Call or text 988 for Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, Hours: Available 24 hours. Languages: English, Spanish-Visit https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/harm-reduction to learn more about programs and services offered with the Harm Reduction Approach-https://healthcare.housingworks.org/services/behavioral-health-substance-useThank you for listening to this podcast. If you want to watch this interview please visit https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn10zHObzJiRA5PBilZeXDQ this episode will be available for your viewing pleasure on 08/11/22. Follow @the.soberbutterfly on Instagram or email Nadine at hello@thesoberbutterfly.comPlease leave a review if you enjoyed this episode! See you next week :)

Jackson Howard is an editor and writer from Los Angeles who lives in Brooklyn. He's an Editor at Farrar, Straus and Giroux and its imprint MCD, where he acquires and edits a broad range of fiction and nonfiction. Writers he publishes include Judith Butler, Brontez Purnell, Sarah Schulman, Catherine Lacey, Fernando A. Flores, Susan Straight, Venita Blackburn, Imogen Binnie, Thomas Grattan, Missouri Williams, Jonathan Escoffery, Kaitlyn Tiffany, and many others. As a writer, his reviews, profiles, and essays have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Pitchfork, The Cut, Rolling Stone, The Ringer, them., W., ELLE, i-D, office, Document, and elsewhere. He regularly visits undergrad and MFA programs for workshops and talks, and judges for fellowships; he's also spoken on panels for the Miami Book Fair, One Story, and the New York Foundation for the Arts, and he's read at Housing Works and MOMA PS1. He is also part of the team behind the FSG Writer's Fellowship, and is passionate about efforts to increase transparency and access within publishing at large. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 2016 and is very much a Taurus.

This week, Chris catches up with the woman at Indeed who launched the $10 million project called “Essentials to Work".  The multi-prong investment to help struggling job seekers in the U.S. get access to technology, transportation, and criminal record-clearing services.Parisa Fatehi-Weeks, who is on the board of Housing Works, Austin, and the Workers Defense Project, speaks about the goals set by the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) team at Indeed– to help 30M job seekers facing barriers get hired.

An exceptional Photographer, Creative Director and Visual Storyteller known for his signature style with Beauty, Celebrity & Fashion Photography. His list of clients include Cardi B, Billy Porter, Priyanka Chopra, Lewis Hamilton, Ruby Rose, Kim Kardashian, Katy Perry, Prince, Taraji P. Henson, Jim Parsons, Queen Latifah, Betty White & Kelly Clarkson. He has gone on to direct music videos for Kelly Rowland, Vanessa Williams & Erika Jayne. Mike made his feature film directorial debut with RuPaul's uproarious comedy Starrbooty. He was recently named creative director and principal photographer for L'Officiel Fashion Book Australia, L'Officiel Fashion Book Monte Carlo and PhotoBook Magazine. Mike supports the Ali Forney Center, GMHC, The Trevor Project, Housing Works, It Gets Better Project, Live Out Loud, Project Angel Food, Stand Up for Pits Foundation and GLAAD. He serves on the honorary board of the “Let There Be Hope” research foundation. On this episode he shares what it was like shooting with Prince at Paisley Park, he explains his rich fantasy life as a kid and how the discovery of his first camera allowed him to express his vision of the world. To learn more go to MikeRuiz.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ali Velshi is joined by Dr. Ebony Hilton, Critical Care Anesthesiologist at University of Virginia, Rep. Susan Wild, Democrat of Pennsylvania, Dr. Lipi Roy, Medical Director of COVID Isolation & Quarantine Sites for Housing Works in New York City, Andy Slavitt, Fmr. White House Senior Advisor for COVID Response, Andre Perry, Senior Fellow at Brookings Institution.

Paris shares her experience of growing up in Atlanta and starting to “live her truth” at a young age. She recalls finding reassurance in a community of other Black trans women for the first time and getting involved with parts of the Atlanta Black Queer and Trans scene. Professionally, Paris has spoken on panels about LGBT issues, worked as a music librarian at Morehouse College, and engaged in sex work. She currently works as a case manager at Housing Works in New York City. Paris weaves connections and highlights differences between her experiences and communities in Atlanta and in New York City. Throughout her accounts of journey and place, Paris shares about her own values regarding work ethics, relationships, gender roles, and activism. (Summary by EJ Coolidge.)

Episode 38 and Wendi and Dfernando's guest interview is with muliti-award winning television host/personality, businesswoman and author Bevy Smith.   Bevy Smith is the host of SiriusXM’s BEVELATIONS on Radio Andy and a former co-host of Bravo’s FASHION QUEENS and the entertainment news show PAGE SIX TV.  She has been regularly featured on WATCH WHAT HAPPENS LIVE with Andy Cohen, BETHENNY, THE VIEW and with Wendy Williams on WENDY'S STYLE SQUAD.  Quintessential Harlem girl and lifelong New Yorker, Bevy was born, raised, and still lives in (and LOVES) Harlem, New York.Bevy was living what seemed like a glamorous dream as a fashion advertising executive, blazing a lucrative career for herself in the whitewashed magazine world. She jetsetted to Europe for fashion shows, dined and danced at every hot spot, and enjoyed a mighty roster of lovers.So it came as quite a shock to Bevy when one day, after arriving at her luxury hotel in Milan, she collapsed on the Frette bedsheets and sobbed. Years of rolling with the in-crowd had taken its toll. Her satisfaction with work and life had hit rock bottom. But Bevy could not be defeated, and within minutes (okay, days) she grabbed a notepad and started realizing a truer path—one built on self-reflection and, ultimately, clarity. She figured out how to redirect her life toward meaningful creativity and freedom.  At 38, she quit a six-figure job as an advertising executive at ROLLING STONE Magazine to pursue on-camera work. The transition left her “dead broke” for a time, but it was worth it.In her debut memoir BEVELATIONS, Bevy candidly shares how she reclaimed her life’s course and shows how we too can manifest our most bodacious dreams. From repossessing her bold childhood nature to becoming her own brand to envisioning her life’s next great destination (which will feature natural hair, important charitable giving, and a mid-century house overlooking the Pacific Ocean), Bevy invites listeners along on the route of her personal transformation to reveal how each of us can live our best lives with honesty, joy, and, when we’re in the mood, a killer pair of shoes.For the past several years, Bevy has hosted “Fashion for Action,” an annual fundraiser for Housing Works, a New York-based thrift store chain and advocacy group that helps find appropriate housing for people living with HIV and AIDS. In 2017, Bevy was named Community Champion of AIDS Organization Harlem United. Additionally, Bevy is on the board of Cool Culture, a charity devoted to raising awareness among underprivileged children.  Bevy is also both a formal and informal mentor to many, and she takes great pride in being a part of WEEN (Women in Entertainment Empowerment Network).And on Episode 38, Wendi and Dfernando talk about the just announced HBO MAX reboot of SEX AND THE CITY, the new comedy film BARB & STAR GO TO VISTA DEL MAR and the renewal of the Disney Channel animated series BIG CITY GREENS.  On the RIPE & ROTTEN REPORT there's the new FOX sitcom CALL ME KAT, acid reflux, the 1988 film MYSTIC PIZZA and plantar fasciitis.  Follow us on our Instagram: Wendi McLendon-CoveyDfernando ZarembaGENERATION RIPE...  and our guest Bevy Smith, her Twitter and her Facebook.   Remember to subscribe, rate & leave a reviewfor GENERATION RIPEVisit Dfernando Zaremba's website: dfernandozaremba.com

My guest for Episode 87 is the absolutely delightful Amanda O’Callaghan. Her career as a top-tier wedding planner began at Housing Works, a NYC-based non-profit fighting AIDS and homelessness. At that point in time, Amanda  simultaneously began developing byAmanda Event Studio, which officially grew into The Union Studio in 2020. We take a deep-dive into the development of The Hudson Valley as the new epicenter of the NY tri-state area weddings,  the relationship between producing weddings and conceiving a theatrical play, her artistic pursuit of singing and dancing on Broadway, and so much more. I truly hope you enjoy meeting Amanda as much as I did. She’s truly amazing. Stay Safe! Enjoy! Doug

Thanks for listening to Episode 13 of Smoke Til It’s Gone Or Die! This week, your hosts get high as a kite and talk about bodies buried under the floor...Rylee tells the tale of the unsolved murder of James Gilmore Junior, a California boy buried under his parents bedroom floor almost sixty years ago. With unreliable perspectives and witness accounts, this on-going investigation leaves you with more questions than answers. Patty teases with what will be the FIRST of a TWO-PART SERIES chronicling the early life and crimes of Fred and Rosemary West. This murderous duo wreaked havoc on the city of Gloucester England. Patty leaves you on a huge cliffhanger! You’ll have to tune in next week to hear the rest of the story! For our Probable Cause this week, we ask you NOT to donate to The Salvation Army this Holiday Season. Instead, consider donating to the following causes that are doing work to protect, uplift, and support those in the LGBTQIA+ community. Housing Works at https://www.housingworks.org/ The Ali Forney Center at https://www.aliforneycenter.org/ Sylvia Rivera Law Project at https://srlp.org/ The Audre Lorde Project at https://alp.org/ TGI Justice Project at http://www.tgijp.org/ The Trevor Project at thetrevorproject.org Find your local LGBT Center at https://www.lgbtcenters.org/LGBTCenters Thanks for listening! If you're on the edge of your stoned little seat, please take a moment to rate, review, and subscribe to our podcast on your favorite streaming platform. You can find us on Instagram @stgdpodcast, our email is stgdpodcast@gmail.com, and you can become a patron at patreon.com/stgdpodcast. Tell your friends about us! Under Massachusetts’ Chapter 94G and California’s Proposition 64 Bills it is legal for us two assholes to possess and consume MaryJane, medically known as cannabis, in our respective states. We do NOT condone the illegal consumption, possession, or sale of cannabis in places it’s not supposed to be smoked, man handled, or acquired from a legal dispensary. But we DO condone what the awesome humans at Marijuana Policy Project are doing to support legislation at the state and federal level to decriminalize cannabis across the country, and advocate for those who have been incarcerated for cannabis possession. Visit mpp.org for more details. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stgdpodcast/support

Last weekend, I went through absolutely everything in my apartment. By the end of weaving through every closet, corner, and nook, I set aside 10 bags of donations (which I brought to Goodwill and Housing Works) and felt a whole lot lighter. For today's episode, I'm talking you through that process, and sharing an important lesson that I was reminded of during the 7-hour work day. SOCIAL @hurdlepodcast @emilyabbate Hurdle Feedback Survey MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE READ (+ WATCH): The New York Times: “I Achieved My Wildest Dreams. Then Depression Hit.” WATCH: Happiest Season on Hulu LISTEN: New Mindset, Who ‘Dis? 50 Shades of ‘OK’ Relationships BUY: Lululemon Scuba Oversized Sherpa ½ Zip ($168) OFFERS LMNT | Head to DrinkLMNT.com/hurdle to check out my go-to electrolyte beverage today. My favorite flavor? Orange citrus is a MUST-TRY! Athletic Greens | Head to AthleticGreens.com/hurdle to get a year’s receive five free travel packs AND a free D3/K2 wellness bundle with your first purchase. Beam | Go to BeamTLC.com and use code "HURDLE" at checkout for 15 percent off. CHECK OUT: HURDLE SESSIONS All past Sessions are now available on the Hurdle website. Use code "PODCAST" for $5 off, limited to first 25 redemptions, on the below: End of Year Goal Setting Workshop, December 16 @ 1 p.m. JOIN: THE *Secret* FACEBOOK GROUP --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/hurdle/message

What does it mean to be living well with HIV? Artists J. Amaro and A. Andrews share their thoughts on this question with Johnny Guaylupo, an HIV advocate working with Housing Works. Spoiler: it's more than just a pill! Read the comic at visualaids.org/comics Transcript available at https://visualaids.org/blog/podcast-ep1

Theresa Robbinson, Matthew Schneeman, Jasmin Smith, and Emily Scott discuss retaliation for an effort to unionize at Housing Works, Bob Woodward's new revelations about Donald Trump and the pandemic, an extreme new punishment for those convicted of rape in Nigeria, and a bipartisan effort in the U.S. Senate to phase out the usage of a greenhouse gas.

In this episode host, Dennis Velco chats with Fabrice Houdart about LGBTQ equality and corporate responsibility. Fabrice has had a fascinating career championing for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer rights and equality. Currently, he is the Managing Director, Global Equality Initiatives at Out Leadership. 01:00 Fabrice Houdart's introduction - exploration at the World Bank how LGBTQ rights impact the economic development of businesses and the economies of countries 02:45 Joins the Office of High Commissioner on Human Rights at the United Nations in 2016 00:30 Describes how he works toward helping corporations to understand LGBTQ rights 06:30 Explains how children suffer by not being able to be themselves with family and at school 11:00 Corporations and employers have a rare opportunity to have a positive impact on society 14:00 Only around 17,000 persons in the US gives more than $1,000 a year to support LGBTQ non-profits 16:00 LGBTQ rights are the "canary in the coal mine" for broader human rights issues 17:00 How the employees/public/consumers/investors play a role in influencing employers/companies 18:00 The current struggle between conscience social responsibility versus only focused on profit over all else 23:00 The complexity of companies can be confusing where they can be leaders in one area while in other areas seem quite opposite. 26:15 Examples 27:00 The LGBTQ equality footprint is Pro-LGBTQ support minus anti-LGBT support. 29:30 OutBuro LGBTQ employer ratings have the potential to be an impact for good where all win Fabrice Houdart was previously Human Rights Officer at the United Nations in New York, and for the past four years, he worked on Free & Equal, an unprecedented United Nations campaign for LGBTI equality. He co-authored and led the United Nations Global LGBTI standards of conduct for Business, the largest corporate social responsibility initiative on LGBTI issues in the World. To date, more than 270 of the largest companies in the world have expressed support for the initiative. From 2001 - 2016, Fabrice was Senior Country Officer at the World Bank. At the Bank, he authored economic development analyses on Yemen, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Tunisia and provided contributions to the 2012 Gender World Development Report (WDR) and the 2011 Conflict, Security, and Development WDR. He holds a B.A. in economics and management from Dauphine University in Paris and an MBA from American University in DC. Fabrice volunteers on the Board of Outright Action International, Housing Works, the NYC Gay Men's Chorus, Alturi, the KindRED Pride Foundation, Witness to Mass Incarceration, and the Institute of Current World Affairs (ICWA). In 2019, he received the Golden Gate Business Association Award, the IGLTA Pioneer Award, and the Alan Turing LGTBIQ Award for his work on LGBTI rights. He was ranked 2nd by Yahoo Finance among LGBTI public sector executives globally in their 2019 Outstanding list. He was interviewed by The Economist, quoted in the New York Times, Foreign Policy Magazine, and The Guardian on issues pertaining to the human rights of LGBTIQ people. He lives in New York City with twin sons 6-year old Maxime and Eitan. Connect with Fabrice on OutBüro at https://www.outburo.com/profile/fabricehoudart/ Join Fabrice on OutBüro, the LGBTQ professional and entrepreneur online community network for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, a.lies and our employers who support LGBTQ welcoming workplace equality focused benefits, policies, and business practices. https://www.OutBuro.com Would you like to be featured like this? Contact the host Dennis Velco. https://www.outburo.com/profile/dennisvelco/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/outburo/message

Equality New York (EQNY) is an advocacy organization that unites and amplifies the social and political voices of the LGBTQI communities throughout New York State. They work to advance equality and justice for LGBTQI New Yorkers and their families. EQNY uses an intersectional lens to ensure equitable outcomes for our community. Learn more about legislation they are working on including Loitering AKA "Walking While Trans" and the Transgender Jail & Prison Protection Bill. Explore their Advocacy Institute. ------------------------ Sign Up here to learn more about advocating for the right of LGBTQI folx and continue to educate (y)ourself on how legislation affects the LGBTQI community through posts such as: NYS 2021 Budget: What Does This Mean for the LGBTQI Community? Instagram!: @tanyaasapansa, @equalitynewyork, @the_babine Twitter!: @equalitynewyork Learn more about the lawsuit filed on the behalf of Tanya and Cecilia Gentili by the Human Rights Campaign against the Trump Administration challenging a recent rule change which strips away anti-discrimination protections in the Affordable Care Act. -------------------------- Tanya Asapansa-Johnson Walker Tanya is a U.S Army Veteran and the co-founder of New York Transgender Advocacy Group (NYTAG). She currently facilitates the Transgender Women’s Group at SAGE, in their Midtown Manhattan location. Tanya fought for the expansion of LGBTQ rights in New York both working on campaigns focused on passing SONDA & GENDA. She lobbied the Assembly and Senate in Albany for 17 years, helping get gender identity added to existing human rights legislation through GENDA. Tanya helped create the Transgender Transitional Housing Program (TTHP) at Housing Works and helped to develop program protocols which included affirming documentation, life skills, and holding cultural sensitivity competency trainings for both staff and clients. Tanya is proud member of NYC Metropolis Council with A Wider Bridge a Jewish American LGBT organization. She has been awarded the Legacy of Life Award by New York City Councilman Richie Torres; Woman of Distinction from the New York State Senate Senator Brian Benjamin, the Marsha P. Johnson award, and many more awards. ------------------------ Amanda Babine Amanda has been working in the social sector for the last 10 years, focusing on leading impactful campaigns and programs using an equity lens. She has been committed to improving policies and programs that will impact communities and believe that accomplishing this goal is dependent on developing strong research findings, transferring knowledge, and shaping sound policies. Amanda joined Equality New York after being the Director of Policy & Programs at the New York Transgender Advocacy Group (NYTAG). At NYTAG, she led advocacy and organizing programs, a state-wide coalition, and a gender diversity know your rights curriculum development. During her time there, the coalition assisted in passing 4 landmark pieces of legislation that helped us move towards our goal of creating a more equitable state for all LGBTQI New Yorkers. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/communitea/support

In the third episode of the Betches Sup series “Queerantine History,” Bryan is joined by Chris Burns (aka Fat Carrie Bradshaw) to interview Eric Sawyer, long term AIDs activist & one of the founding members of ACT UP, co-founder of Housing Works, and formerly of the United Nations AIDs program. They discuss the beginning of the AIDs epidemic, how both the community and the government’s response has changed over time, what early Pride celebrations looked like. Plus, they discuss the similarities and differences of the ACT UP protests and the current Black Lives Matter movement. Bryan and Chris will be hosting a live Pride variety show on Monday, June 29th at 8PM ET! Get your tickets now at: betches.co/pride Feals: Become a member today by going to Feals.com/sup and you’ll get 50% off your first order with free shipping RoboKiller: Stop spam calls 2020. Head to robokiller.com/sup on your mobile device now to download the app and get RoboKiller free for 7 days. 

On this episode of the en(gender)ed podcast, our guest is Julie Raskin, Executive Director for the Foundation for New York's Strongest, the official non-profit partner of the NYC Department of Sanitation.  We speak with Julie today about her work leading NYC's efforts to reduce waste and promote zero waste through the organization's co-hosting of ReFashion Week, its promotion of sustainable brands and products, and its advancement of policies and practices that help us build a cleaner and greener city.  During our conversation, Julie and I referenced the following resources and topics: The Foundation's efforts reducing food waste and to send zero waste to landfills through initiatives such as the NYC Food Waste Fair The role of Donate NYC to help achieve zero waste and its app for city The Department of Sanitation's efforts to build a Sanitation museum and the "Treasures in the Trash" collection The Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island The Department of Sanitation's partnership with Housing Works called "Refashion Bins" NYC's recent single use plastic ban The Foundation's partnership with Parley for the Oceans Fashion designer Heron Preston's collaboration with the NYC Department of Sanitation The Ellen MacArthur Foundation's #WearNext campaign to make fashion circular The work the Center for Health Equity in NYC is doing to advance racial equity and social justice --- Thanks for tuning in to the en(gender)ed podcast! Be sure to check out our en(gender)ed site and follow our blog on Medium. Join our feminist community of survivors, advocates and allies! Consider donating because your support is what makes this work sustainable. Please also connect with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Don't forget to subscribe to the show!

This week’s episode is an important conversation with social worker and head of Housingworks' Re-Charge program, Kristopher Thorpe. In this episode, Crystal Meth is the subject of conversation. We're talking about the rising numbers of gay/queer people who are using the drug with negative outcomes and how we can slow this health epidemic. For our #ActionSteps in this episode: Support Harm Reduction efforts in your community. Remove the stigma. Ask your friends and loved ones about their experience, knowledge, and history with Crystal Meth. Support LGBTQIA organizations; these orgs are most likely to be dealing with this epidemic first and most often. Your support will go a long way to ensure they're ready and able to do good work when the time comes. Support/Donate to Housingworks and/or Ballroom, We Care. Two amazing organizations doing work with folx who need support around Crystal Meth use. "What Do I Do?" can be found at WhatDoIDoPod.com, Facebook @WDIDPod, Twitter @WDID_Pod, & Instagram @WDID_Pod. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

(Zencastr has been a headache lately and there's a couple of sound glitches throughout the episode that I couldn't fix.) We talk a bunch about good things you should watch before eventually getting around to talking about the Resistance Finale. We cover The Outsider episode for (time code: 1:07:10-1:28:00) Steele sends us a voice message without 3 months of build up! What does Harrison Ford do in his spare time? Emily's CATS fundraiser for Housing Works: https://www.gofundme.com/f/make-us-watch-cats If you have questions or comments you'd like us to read on the show you can email us at cantobightpod@gmail.com. You can also send audio files. And send us possible Top 3 topics or F/M/Ks. If you enjoy the show, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Soundcloud. It helps grow the show. You can find us on Twitter and Instagram: @cantobightpod @eflind

Insightful and incendiary Sagittarian prince Tommy O'Malley joins David to talk about his new podcast project Dear Family, which explores the dual histories of O'Malley's biological family, and the larger queer community which we all belong to. David and Tommy cover Sarah Schulman, Larry Kramer, Fire Island, Twitter feuds, the Housing Works strike, Rose McGowan, Sam Smith and much, much more. For an enhanced experience, be sure to read Sarah Schulman's 'The Gentrification of the Mind.' You can follow Tommy and learn more about Dear Family @tommyomalley on Twitter and @tommyofaggy on Instagram. And if you enjoyed this episode, please share/rate/review on ITunes. You can follow David @goldberghawn, and get updates from his site, davidgoldberg.online. Be sure to subscribe, so we can deliver you chic interviews every single Tuesday. MWAH! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When I first heard about Jerome Harris' exhibit "As, Not For: Dethroning Our Absolutes," I knew I had to interview him for the podcast. I was thrilled to hear him speak at this year's Black in Design Conference back in October, and this conversation follows directly after that event.Jerome does it all — he's a graphic designer, an educator, a writer, a curator, a DJ, and even a choreographer! We touched on all those aspects in this interview, starting off with talking about his current work at Housing Works. From there, we discussed the trajectory of Black graphic design, and how that guided him through his studies at Temple and Yale and inspired his exhibit. Jerome also shares some of his current influences, and we step into the future a bit and look at what Jerome would want to work on in 2025.Keep an eye out for Jerome — his perspective and candor are a refreshing antidote to current design discourse, and I think we'll see a lot more from him soon!Jerome Harris' WebsiteJerome Harris on Instagram"As, Not For: Dethroning Our Absolutes" on Instagram32counts on InstagramFacebook Design is a proud sponsor of Revision Path.The Facebook Design community is designing for human needs at unprecedented scale. Across Facebook’s family of apps and new product platforms, multi-disciplinary teams come together to create, build and shape communication experiences in service of the essential, universal human need for connection.To learn more, please visit facebook.design.This episode is brought to you by Abstract: design workflow management for modern design teams.Spend less time searching for design files and tracking down feedback, and spend more time focusing on innovation and collaboration.Like Glitch, but for designers, Abstract is your team's version-controlled source of truth for design work. With Abstract, you can version design files, present work, request reviews, collect feedback, and give developers direct access to all specs — all from one place.Sign your team up for a free, 30-day trial today by heading over to www.abstract.com.Like this episode? Then subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, SoundCloud, Spotify, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.Subscribe and leave us a 5-star rating and a review! Thanks so much to all of you who have already rated and reviewed us!Revision Path is a Glitch Media Network podcast, and is produced by Maurice Cherry and edited by Brittani Brown.You can also follow Revision Path on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Come chat with us! And thanks for listening!Powered by Simplecast. Sign up today for a 14-day free trial!

Brenda Clement, Executive Director of HousingWorks RI. #WPRO The annual release of the group's housing factbook highlights the difficulty both buyers and renters face in being able to afford housing in Rhode Island. https://www.housingworksri.org/

Brenda Clement, Executive Director of HousingWorks RI. #WPRO The annual release of the group's housing factbook highlights the difficulty both buyers and renters face in being able to afford housing in Rhode Island. https://www.housingworksri.org/

When looking to change things in your world, how do you let pleasure be the force that guides you? How do you fulfill desire while you fight for change? How do you take care of yourself while you transform? And how do you allow organic, sustainable change to emerge in your life - without feeling like you have to force things? Today we’re speaking with author, activist, and healer adrienne maree brown. Her most recent book, the New York Times bestseller “Pleasure Activism”, leans into black feminist traditions to challenge you to rethink the groundrules of how to facilitate change in your own life, and in the world around you. In this episode, you’ll hear more about how adrienne came to this work, and her thoughts on how to be imperfect, yet honest, in relationship. You’ll learn how to bring true integrity into your relationships - and ways to ensure that your health and wellbeing aren’t compromised while you grow and transform.  As always, I’m looking forward to your thoughts on this episode and what revelations and questions it creates for you. Please join us in the Relationship Alive Community on Facebook to chat about it! Sponsors: Beautiful jewelry, exquisite craftsmanship, sustainable sources, and affordable prices. Get $75 OFF your purchase at hellonoemie.com when you use the coupon code "ALIVE". With free overnight shipping and free returns, you can see something online today, and try it on tomorrow risk free. Find a quality therapist, online, to support you and work on the places where you’re stuck. For 10% off your first month, visit Betterhelp.com/ALIVE to fill out the quick questionnaire and get paired with a therapist who’s right for you. Resources: Visit adrienne maree brown’s website to learn more about her books and her other projects. Pick up a copy of Pleasure Activism by adrienne maree brown on Amazon. Listen to Episode 12 on the Healing Justice podcast for a Somatic Centering practice. FREE Relationship Communication Secrets Guide - perfect help for handling conflict and shifting the codependent patterns in your relationship Guide to Understanding Your Needs (and Your Partner's Needs) in Your Relationship (ALSO FREE) Visit www.neilsattin.com/amb to download the transcript, or text “PASSION” to 33444 and follow the instructions to download the transcript to this episode with adrienne maree brown. Amazing intro/outro music graciously provided courtesy of: The Railsplitters - Check them Out Transcript: Neil Sattin: Hello and welcome to another episode of Relationship Alive. This is your host Neil Sattin. I want to start by saying that I believe in the power of synchronicity. I believe that when synchronicities happen it means something. And so to me it meant a lot when I was walking into a bookstore with a new friend of mine in New York City and she grabbed this book off the shelf and she said, "Given what we've just been talking about how you want to make this huge impact with your work and with the Relationship Alive podcast you need to read this book." And she handed me a book called "Emergent Strategy" by adrienne maree brown.  adrienne maree brown: Oh wow.  Neil Sattin: Yeah. And after reading that book and being so moved by what I read there both in terms of the promise that it holds for how our lives can unfold in a way that's really organic and natural and suited to who we are as people and also how that can impact the communities that we form whether it be our micro communities our family, our friends, or our larger communities, the movements that we become a part of and how we create change in this world. It was just super inspiring to me and I was delighted to see that adrienne was coming out with a new book called "Pleasure Activism," which just hit the New York Times Bestseller List and I thought you know what, like, I have to talk to this person and hopefully they'll talk to me. So. So I reached out and fortunately here we are today to talk to adrienne maree brown, who is a social justice facilitator, focused on black liberation, a doula, healer and a pleasure activist and a coach. And the list goes on and on. And honestly I can relate and I love that about...  adrienne maree brown: Yeah.  Neil Sattin: About her work. And so we're gonna be here to talk about emergence and pleasure and how this all unfolds in the world of relationship. The relationship you have to yourself, the relationship you have to your beloved or beloveds, and the relationship you have with the world. As usual we will have a detailed transcript of today's episode which you can get if you visit Neil Sattin-dot-com-slash-A-M-B as in adrienne maree brown or you can always text the word "passion" to the number 3 3 4 4 4 and follow the instructions. And that will get you the transcript and the show notes and all that good stuff.  adrienne maree brown: Oh cool.  Neil Sattin: I think that's it. So adrienne, thank you so much for being here with us today on Relationship Alive.  adrienne maree brown: Thanks for having me now. I'm excited that a podcast it's about relationships in this way, exists. So I'm like yay! Let's talk about it.  Neil Sattin: Awesome. Yeah I've been thinking about a good way to dive in without asking you like a ridiculously broad question, but I might have to start with a ridiculously broad question.:.  adrienne maree brown: You're like, I tried! I can't. It's ok. What's the  ridiculously broad question.  Neil Sattin: Well. Yeah. So let's start with this idea about pleasure and activism and what does it mean to have pleasure be the center of how one operates in the world? adrienne maree brown: For me, you know, I got this terminology, was taught to me and I learned the words from an organizer named Keith Cyler, who was the founder of something called "Housing Works," that's based in New York that raises resources and all kinds of resources like financial resources, but also does trainings and other things like that for people who are dealing with house-lessness, dealing with HIV, AIDS. And I was really moved by his genius and his work. But, one time we were just sitting around having a good time and he talked to me about this terminology "pleasure activism," and it stuck with me over the years so I kept being like "Oh. Like what could that mean? What could that mean? What could that mean?" And especially as I I grew, you know, I've always been very aware that there's a lot in the world that is broken that is hurting that is traumatized, and inside of that reaching for how are we meant to connect with each other? And somewhere in there this idea of pleasure activism kept returning to me as I was doing voter organizing, returning to me as I was learning about harm reduction, returning to me as I was supporting people to do direct action, nonviolent civil disobedience. It just kept coming back. And when I was working on my last book emergent strategy, I had to include it as a concept and I wasn't sure at that point like am I going to flesh this all the way out? Like there's a lot here. But then at some point I was like, "Let me just.... Like what would it look like." You know, what would it look like to actually flesh this out? And I had been reading Audrey Lorde's text "the uses of the erotic:: as power," which I got permission to reprint in this book. And I really loved her use of the erotic. And yet I just kept coming back to this idea of pleasure. Like that pleasure includes the erotic, but also includes a lot of things that may or may not be erotic, and so I was like, what is pleasure. And I looked up and its just like happy, joy and satisfaction. And I was like, "Gosh it seems so simple and yet there's so much resistance to it. There's so much fear of it there's so much control of it. And. And for those of us who are like actively trying to change the world in some way there's a denial of it, right? Like it's like, "We are not allowed to have that. We need to be fighting for this you know future that's off in the future somewhere.".  Neil Sattin: Right.  adrienne maree brown: And I just remember landing and like. Wouldn't it be so radical to listen to Audrey Lourde had taught us about engaging the erotic now, engaging our full aliveness, in this moment. And for black women who, you know, that's who is at the front of my mind when I wrote this text, you know, I was like there's a lot that has intentionally cut us off from our relationship with joy and happiness and pleasure and contentment and satisfaction. It's been trained into us that we're not allowed to have those things so I got very... Then I got very light lit up with this idea, that I was like, "Oh what if we could have these things? Like what if it's a measure of our freedom to reclaim pleasure?" And so that kind of sent me off down this path that has been really exciting. And you know it's interesting because activism in general is not where I land right? Like I, I've often been like I'm an organizer! And for me the distinction you know, I think activists or folks who are really like advocating for something like using their public sphere to advocate for something, going and talking to friends. Organizers to me or folks who are like, "I'm actually trying to move a strategy amongst the people." Right? Like I'm going to go find those who are not going to just easily be reached and I'm going to knock on their doors and I'm going to find out what they need and and build an analysis and a vision together. And so you know it's like, "OK is activism OK for this? And it felt like actually for this, it is it is important that as many people in the world as possible begin to come out and advocate for all of our rights to have pleasure to have pleasure be an organizing principle of how we structure our relationships in our society. And then it starts with reclaiming our own, and moves out from that place. So I'm excited that it exists. I'm excited that it came together and then I've been really blown away by the responses. So I'm like, OK this... I really for a while was like, "This is not the time to be putting out right now. We need something about justice or we need something about like you know I kept having this strategic idea around if this current administration is starting fires all over the place. I kept thinking like, how do we conjure up water? How do we vaporize ourselves in some way to come up and over and rain down on them? And I was like, I got to go write that strategy book or whatever. And then I realized I was like, "Oh this is actually it," in a way?  Neil Sattin: This is that book.  adrienne maree brown: This is actually that book and that's been clicking to me that I'm like: This is it. This is the way that we become more powerful through pleasure, through what we can release rather than what we can contain. So. Yeah.  Neil Sattin: I love it. It's to me... What was I mean there are so many threads that came together for me as I was reading the book, and even just in hearing you speak right now. Primarily, that way that people are so.... Many people, I should say are so exhausted right now, with with just the state of affairs and....  adrienne maree brown: That's right.  Neil Sattin: ...that's political, it's environmental it's economic. There is a lot that's taxing us and that's something that regenerates us when we can find the sources of pleasure within us and in how we connect with the world that I think allows us to bring more of ourselves to the world and and also highlights the places where we are denying ourselves or denying others that inalienable right for...  adrienne maree brown: That's right.  Neil Sattin: ...the experience of joy.  adrienne maree brown: That's right.:I mean it blows my mind to really think about, like, what people what people have survived, like often when I stand in a room of people and I'm giving a speech or a talk or a training or something. There's a lot of me that's present with that moment but then there's also a part of me that's kind of thinking about all the lineages of all these human beings and how some of them in this moment have landed in a place of power, or privilege, and some of them haven't ended up in a place that's not that. But that those lineages all include some survival, some fighting to exist some taking a risk, some you know, moving out into the world with an unknown response you know, like we don't know what's going to happen here. We don't know if we're heading the right way. We don't know if we're going to survive and that there have been so many things that have have you know, like so much of our human history has just been about surviving, right? Just like can we make it? And so there's something interesting to me now to be like, I think I think we have shown that like oh we could make it like we could figure this out. We could be on this planet technically. But what is the life worth making it for? Like, what is worth surviving for?: Neil Sattin: Yeah.  adrienne maree brown: And now I think we're actively in that question. That is like, all of us deserve this relationship to pleasure. And when you look at like who thinks they deserve it or who is encouraged to have it, it's actually a very narrow small grouping of human beings. And I think that's because of capitalism. You know, I really think that as an economic system, capitalism thrives when we believe that we are not good enough and that we need to buy something outside of ourselves in order to experience pleasure. And I love the trick of it which is like, if you actually just drop down into your own body, which is the only thing in your entire life that you ever truly have, from the beginning to the end, if you just drop down into it, it's wired for pleasure. And those wires may have been crossed, you know, there may be some like dysfunctional parts of it because of trauma, because of pain, because of... which I now, also when I meet everyone, I'm like, 'I know you have some trauma," right? Like, I know you have some.  Neil Sattin: Yeah no one escapes that.  adrienne maree brown: Yeah. I don't know what it is. I don't know how severe or central it is to your life, or your life story it is to your life, or your life story. I don't know if you had the resources to recover or not, but I know it's there. And so I think like, "oh." What we're dealing with is like, what is the relationship between that trauma that's everywhere. And this system that's telling us that we can't heal ourselves we shouldn't even feel ourselves. We should just kind of outsource that to something we can purchase. And, and, then how in that do we find a way to be in RIGHT relationship with each other on this planet. Right? So that's the stuff I keep, I keep floating around with us like I want to, I want to leave a world behind me that people like I like I feel very compelled. I want to be here. It feels good, right? And that doesn't mean that I think we will solve the climate crisis in my lifetime because I do think... You know...  I really believe in Gopal Dayaneni, 1who works over at Movement Generation and talks about, like, there's things that we have already set in motion that we are gonna have to face the consequences of as a species. And I don't deny that that's what's coming to us but inside of that I think we also have to be actively fomenting pleasure and actively fomenting like reconnecting ourselves to land and to each other because as the changes happen we're still going to need to be able to feel, feel pleasure, feel satisfaction feel like being here. Otherwise we'll just depress and numb and you know kind of slip away. And I think that would be an unworthy end to our species.  Neil Sattin: Totally agree with you and a word that popped into my mind that I would like to add to that, is resilience.  adrienne maree brown: Yeah.  Neil Sattin: The more that we're embracing our capacity for resilience in terms of how we heal our lineage of trauma. Or present moment traumas in terms of how we make things right when they've gone wrong, and do that in the context where what we're shooting for what we're envisioning is something joyful blissful like that actually has ease and pleasure connected to it.  adrienne maree brown: Yeah. Yes.  Neil Sattin: Then that that makes it worth it and gives us kind of a... I hate to use the word technology, but like a technology of continually adjusting to get there.  adrienne maree brown: Yeah.  Neil Sattin: You talk in "Emerging Strategy," about adapability... Yeah.  adrienne maree brown: Exactly. Yeah exactly. Yeah. Well, I was just going to say, I was like, yeah. You know, like, to me emergent strategy and pleasure activism really go together like they're holding hands, dancing across the field of ideas and I really think that this this idea of resilience. You know I have a teacher Alta Starr who's always pushing me to be like you know, resilience is beyond even harm, right? It's sort of like this natural capacity we have to learn to adapt, to like grow, to learn from whatever changes come. And it's hard for me because I'm still like "Well. But also when someone hurts us, you know we had to be resilient." And you know it's hard in a city like Detroit because you know resilience can be weaponized. Like if people like you bounce back from anything, like, we'll just keep doing anything to you. Like you know we'll add an incinerator to your neighborhood or whatever you'll be fine. And so I think there's something about, Oh to me, like how do we have a transformative resilience right. How do we have resilience that is not just like we can recover back to conditions that we weren't very happy with in the first place. And being like oh you know when I look at like what am I recovering? I'm recovering something that's beyond my own origin, you know like I need to recover something that goes back past the many hours that my grandmother overworked, and I need to recover something that goes back past my enslaved ancestors, and recover something that goes back past my kidnapped answers, and you know, ancestors, like I feel this long, long, long arc of the work that I'm in right now where I'm like. Almost everyone that came before me was trying to work towards some joy some freedom some sense of safety for their children themselves. And now I am awakened so like I am aware of all of that and I have an option in front of me to be resilient across time and space right. And that feels very exciting. You know, I think as hard as it is to live in this age of hyper connectedness because I think it is really hard. My friend angel Kyoto Williams talks about this, that like, we we are given access to so much more information than we've ever had access to before but we're not given the tools to handle it all, right? Like we're not taught here's how to meditate. Here's how to pass what's overwhelming back to the earth or back to God or back to whomever you trust with it. We're not given those those technologies, right? So we kind of flailing a lot of the time of like, I'm receiving all this, I'm trying to care about all of it and we find ourselves stretched so far but I also think the really beautiful thing about that is like we can see how many people believe what we believe, how many people are trying to practice what we're trying to practice so we can find each other. You know you and I would have never found each other if it wasn't for this modern state of connection. And to be able to say like, "Oh you're out here in Maine fomenting these ideas and I'm out here in Detroit fomenting these ideas and we have very different lineages. And yet we both have arrived in this place where it's like this is a path. This is a way to move forward it's important. Paying attention to relationship is important." And so that you know, that gives me hope inside of the the struggle of this overwhelming moment where there is so much that is hard. It's also there's so much that is overwhelmingly beautiful and overwhelmingly good and there's so many ways that you know also we live on such a resilient planet. So, I often think about this that I'm like, you know, and I feel like I'm trying to remember whoever first said this idea, because I was a Oh snap! That's a game changer! It's like, the Earth is gonna be OK.  Neil Sattin: Yeah.  adrienne maree brown: Right? Like the earth is gonna be OK. Like, it might be, she might go through an Ice Age or something, but like if we're not here she'll still be OK. And like if we're not here she'll recover from whatever we've done. Like how we've remixed her nature into other kinds of things. And, I don't know if you saw this story came out last week about the white-throated rail, did you see that?  Neil Sattin: I hadn't but I saw you wrote about it on your on your blog. Yeah. adrienne maree brown: I was so moved by this. So this like little bird...:The debate is basically this bird re-evolved, right. Like it went extinct at 136,000 years ago, roughly. Because like,  these things are hard to track but like... Now this bird has has re-evolved has come back into existence. The same little -- it's a flightless bird. There's something about that that just I, I read it and I really was like moved in a way I was like, I didn't know I needed to know that that was possible. But, I was like, I need to know that that level of resilience is possible, like somewhere down in the programming of this planet. There's there's some code that's just like white throated rail.: And just because we can no longer see the creature, it doesn't mean that it's, it's disappeared like there's some aspect of it that DNA that's in there. And yeah, it made me feel like OK. Like there's mysteries on mysteries on mysteries when it comes to this planet. And there's so much that we can't understand. And so inside of that I'm like, you know, I love thinking really big grandiose thoughts. But then I try to bring them back down into very small tangible practices. Small ways of being with each other because I'm like, I can't imagine how we'll get through the climate catastrophe that we're in right now. But I can imagine being in right relationship with the planet around me and making better choices about this local place that I'm in and being place based and loving. Even though I travel a lot but I'm like rooting myself into the soil in Detroit in all the ways that I can. Like this is where I bury my compost. This is where I play with children. This is where I go find like where's the Detroit grown foods every summer and I am really cautious now. I've made a major shift in my life around how I produce waste. Like what kind of waste I will put out so that I tried to really shrink down my garbage waste to the, like the very very you know, it's like if I can rinse it and I can clean it off and it can be recycled. It's gonna be recycled if it's food if it can go into compost it goes into compost like I used to have a massive garbage bin that I was putting out. And I'm like I live alone. You know all of that with stuff that like other things can be done with. And now it's like you know a huge portion of what comes out of my home is gonna be recycled and reused again. And, I'm aiming at zero waste. I'm constantly trying to figure out where is and where other places where I can... I just bought this new set of like ziplocks reusable kind of Ziploc thingies, that so you know because I'm a, I'm a fan of Ziploc bags like I'm like you've put anything in a Ziploc bag. You can go anywhere you have it I carry like in my suitcase there's always like five Ziploc bags just like folded just in case because you just never know what you're gonna need a Ziploc bag for. And so I'm like, oh that's a next frontier that I need to like, you know, figure out a way to advance through and I'm like, oh I can do this, right. So anyway all of that to say to me I'm trying in my personal life to get in right relationship with nature and my body is a huge part of that. Like if I'm not in right relationship and respecting the miraculous, like, Stardust nature of my body then how can I even begin to be in my relationship with the rest of the living world.  Neil Sattin: Yeah.  adrienne maree brown: Yeah.  Neil Sattin: So, OK. So first, I'm so moved when I hear you talk about not really being able to read the code but seeing the expressions of the code like..  adrienne maree brown: Yeah.  Neil Sattin: ...the bird coming back into existence from extinction and even when you were describing how you and I could be doing different work in different places and yet here we find ourselves together having this conversation.  adrienne maree brown: Yeah.  Neil Sattin: To me that is an expression of the power of something that's ineffiable, that like we can't understand but if we're willing to to follow that path and and follow the ways that it's growing and things are emerging then, then at least that inspires hope in me that there's like an antidote to disconnection, to destruction.  adrienne maree brown: Yes.  Neil Sattin: To...  adrienne maree brown: Yeah.  Neil Sattin: ...all the forces that were that were working against and in terms of relationship the ways that people are, you know, experience this desire for closeness and connection. You know part of our, our wiring as you were mentioning earlier is to be connected to each other.  adrienne maree brown: That's right.  Neil Sattin: And yet, it becomes such a source of pain partly because we either intentionally or unintentionally traumatize each other and then also because of the social structures and their impact on us. When you talk about pleasure and relearning pleasure, getting in touch with your body and and I like that stand that you take for for the personal being political that fractal nature of...  adrienne maree brown: Yes. Yeah.  Neil Sattin: ...transformation. I think about how many of us are just kind of following the script of romance and love and sex and pleasure and needing...  adrienne maree brown: When did you become aware that there was a script?  Neil Sattin: Oohh. Well that's it's been an unfolding for me, for sure. And I think probably I became most aware of it when I inadvertently hurt someone. And like had no idea that that was happening for them and found out later and then you know, thankfully we've had our moments of amends and talking and all of that. But, in restoring ourselves. That was probably the inception of it. And then all through college.  adrienne maree brown: Yeah.  Neil Sattin: And then in my current relationship, I'm so blessed to be with someone who's taken a strong stand for her own boundaries around her own healing, her own trauma. And it forced me to even go even deeper into like, "Well, what am I looking for in relationships?".  adrienne maree brown: Right.  Neil Sattin: What am I looking for in sex? Would it like what is this rejection, quote-unquote, that I'm experiencing in this moment and what is that really about? And and so that has forced me to ask deeper questions, and to get progressively more and more honest with myself and with her, to a point where fairly recently I feel like I've hit ground zero. But it's it's a process it's definitely been an unfolding and watching those layers fall away. And then once they do being like, All right well how do I replace this? If I'm going to do sex the way that I thought I should? Or you know I think it was an essay that you wrote where you mentioned a babysitter who was watching Porky's when you were...  adrienne maree brown: Yes.  Neil Sattin: Yeah. And the way those things inform our sense of, of what's what's erotic, what turns us on, all of that. Once I peel those things away and come back to, this moment and what's real. Well...  adrienne maree brown: That's right.  Neil Sattin: Yeah. That's what my journey has been like and I've, I've certainly tried to surface that a bunch here on the podcast and and I'm really excited to hear your thoughts about that unfolding for yourself and, and you mentioned meditation earlier. Yeah. What are the the pathways into, kind, of breaking down the, the unhealthy learnings? And coming back into right relationship with with ourselves as relational, sexual, erotic, pleasure oriented being?  adrienne maree brown: Beings, right? I feel like... a couple of things. I mean I think one is, there was a period of time where I was, I was really convinced that sex didn't have anything to do with me or what I was feeling. Like, I was really like what is the other person feeling and like that's that's what's important right now. And like my job is to make sure that that experience is a whole good one. Right? And, and I feel like, I remember like, there's just moments in most of its relational right. Like most of it is like just other people reflecting something back. And it's like "Girl, it doesn't had to be like that." You know? People talking to me, reading stuff. I remember reading the work of Andrea Dworkin. Have you read her? Like she she talks pretty scathingly about marriage and pornography and like, a lot of things that I was just I took for granted, were like those are good things that you try to get to in life. And, I don't agree with everything, you know, I feel like there's a lot of brilliant thinking in what she said and I feel like there's also not a lot offered of like here are other true pleasures, you know, like here's the ways to get them.  Neil Sattin: Yeah.  adrienne maree brown: But there was something that blew open for me where I was just like, I want to be able to consider this. I want to be able to consider that everything I was told about where pleasure in my life would come from and, or,  was, was and wasn't allowed. That maybe all that is wrong. Right? And then Audrey Lorde's writing, Octavia Butler's writing. There were just all these different people who were giving me. It was never just about sex. It was never just about the body. It was alway, have a revolution about how you think about how things work in the world. Start to ask questions and get curious about who benefits from these systems. Right? So, I remember, I remember having a quest-, you know, a conversation with a friend about marriage and just being like, who benefits? Who benefits in marriage, right? And, uh, and being pretty like oh my gosh. No one should ever get married. I was like, "No woman should ever get married!" Like I felt very strongly like, Nope it's not, it's just not a good idea. Like you will work forever in a labor that will never ever get acknowledged. You will not be able to pursue passion, work, things that you actually care about. You'll not be respected in the process. And then you know, and then he'll cheat on you. Like this is the arc of  it, right? Because you know he'll need something younger and prettier and he's worked you out, right? And I remember having that conversation as like, NO! You know? Like, and then be like well no that's just one way that's a model that is... The system that benefits from that is patriarchy. And if I can understand that then I can be like let me target patriarchy. Let me... And like I, I'm very lucky that I came across the work of Grace Lee Boggs where she really is like: Transform yourself to transform the world. And this is something I say probably every day of my life. There's some place or some way in which I say this to someone else or to myself. So I was like oh Where is patriarchy in my own practice? Where is patriarchy is showing up in how I'm approaching a relationship? And some of the interesting places were how quickly I would be dishonest for the sake of connection. And I say connection in quotation marks there, right? That I was like Well I don't want to be alone and, like, being alone is a sign of someone who's not a good person or whatever. Right? You have to be like with someone to be like a part of the human experiment or whatever. First you know, that that is...  I no longer believe that, but like you know. But at the time I just like, ok, I don't want to be alone. So I would go out on a date or someone, you know, I feel like I was I feel like I came up like right at the end of dating, also. So it's like right at the end of like when you would actually say, "Let's go on a date to a place and get to know each other." For maybe three or four times we would do that before we are actually alone in either of our places. And you know something else would happen right. I'm like I come from what feels like almost a chaste time before the apps kind of popped off into, just your place or mine. Like what's good? You know? And I talk about apps as if I know what I'm talking about I've never really used that apps to, that's just not how I meet people. But, but, I know that the majority of people in my life that's now how people connect. But so you go out and you're having these initial conversations and my practice was to just kind of listen for what I thought the other person really wanted to hear and then delivered that somehow. And you know, I grew up as a military brat. I moved like roughly every two years, so you get really good at figuring out like what is the, what are the rules here, and how do I adapt to be safe within them? And it can be hard when you get good at that to also be like. And then what is what is fundamental to me like what is the me that I'm also carrying to each place that needs to adapt? And the same thing in dating like what is the me that's showing up? And like might adapt in some relationship but like why am I rushing to not just adapt, but like completely contort into something? Why am I so desperate for being in relationship that I won't even be there? Like I wanted it to be me that shows that. Yeah. So I feel like I had rounds and rounds of that and it never worked. I kept having this heartbreak, that was really almost never about the other person. But it was about facing how much I had contorted to get in the door, and then how little I actually wanted to be inside that house, right?  Neil Sattin: Yeah, yeah.  adrienne maree brown: Whatever house it was. And so, I feel like I took...  Neil Sattin: Which by the way is a super common problem that people have.  adrienne maree brown: It's every, it's everywhere. You know when, I do a bunch of you know like you said coaching and mediation and stuff like that, and I find like that is the number one thing. That's the number one thing is that people are like you're just not who you've said were.  Neil Sattin: Right.  adrienne maree brown: And how could you not be who you said you were? And how could you not uphold the promises that you made? And it's just like I was lying. I was, I wasn't even there. Like I don't even know I'm sorry. You know.  Neil Sattin: Right. And then there's that additional layer of oh wait a minute. Now we also have to deal with your shame around who you... around your truth. yeah.  adrienne maree brown: Exactly. And it's the shame and the still absence of yourself. Right? So, so often. Now I've been doing a lot of support for people who are in their mid 30s to 50s and a lot of the folks I'm supporting are going through major breakups of fundamental relationships. And it's interesting because they're like who am I? Like, who am I? You know like so much was defined in relationship to this other person? And that's how so many people get trained to become themselves. It's like now, now I'm ugly, I'm half of something, and now that's who I am. And so much of the work is being like; "You're a whole something. You're a whole something." And I think the thing I'm always watching out for is not to send people all the way to the other side of the pendulum, right.:To me the personal is political only as it relates to being part of a collective effort to be political about what is personal, right? So I feel like this is you know someone was asking me I did an interview yesterday, and they're like what about the GOOP, like what about the like white women taking bathes, or whatever. And I was just like "Yeah. Like you know that so much of self care is about that. It's like white people with privilege go off to the spa and that's when you know, often, I mention to people they're like, I'm not about all that, you know? And I'm just like, "Yeah I I don't think that that's political, necessarily, either right?" I think it becomes political in relationship to your identity. I think it becomes political in relationship to the community you're a part of and how you're making sure that everyone has access to the beautiful good parts of life, right? And so you know I'm part of a community. I'm part of many communities. And there's a particular community I call the goddesses. And it's a bunch of women, we all went to school together. Right now everyone's like slaying dragons in all these different fields of life, and we have started to really, like, have each other's backs and hold each other down in a way that like we didn't know how to necessarily do back then. Right. But we've rediscovered each other and been like we need to like all you know like how about half of us, half of the people are moms. And so it's like we need to go places where like everyone here gets to relax and be taken care of. That we get to be part of something that's close knit and intimate, but that we get to have massages or we get to be in a hot tub or we get to you know just cook for each other or take each other out to the best places we can find to eat. And like, there's so many small pleasures that feel really important, like it wouldn't be great for me if I was just like I'm over here living my best life and all my sisters were out here struggling. Like, I don't think that that's a way towards freedom, right? For me it's very important that as I have access, I increase access for everyone else and I particularly increase access for those who have less access than me. Like that to me as part of the political commitment I'm in for my lifetime.: Neil Sattin: Yeah.  adrienne maree brown: Yeah.  Neil Sattin: Yeah. There's... I'm just thinking here about the, uh, the commodification of self care and I think that's part of what you're talking about, right? Is that like...  adrienne maree brown: Yes. Capitalism! Neil Sattin: You actually have to... Yeah. There it is again. There it is again. adrienne maree brown: it's always there. Yeah.  Neil Sattin: One thing that popped up for me when you were talking about structures and like, I would never get married! And you know and then and then that sense of like well OK. It's just the system and who does it benefit and maybe there's a time and a place. What popped up for me was this question around the dance between safety and I think it was because you mentioned, you know, when going out on a date, like part of what's happening there is deciding, Am I safe with this person?  adrienne maree brown: Exactly. Yeah.  Neil Sattin: And. And then that because safety is right up there with connection in terms of something that we, that we require in order to function as humans. That's right. So and that's interesting as you start pulling apart the structures because one thing that marriage can be really good at...  adrienne maree brown: Is safety.  Neil Sattin: ...is supporting safety. Exactly. And so how do you start to loosen those tethers in a way that still supports people being held. Because if you're not feeling safe, you're not growing in a way that's probably generative for you you're just like scrambling back to safety for the most part.  adrienne maree brown: That's right. You know I think I love this question, Neil. I think this is like, this is an essential one. To me it's like, OK how do we balance these things. And a couple of thoughts leap to mind. One is that I think people feel like they have to choose between safety and like, being their whole selves or being their, being in their dignity, like all of it. And that first part, that feels like it's not true. Right, I'm like that's part of the lie that we've been told is that you have to choose. So you can either be safe in a marriage where you don't get to be fully realized as yourself or you can be fully realized as yourself. But like, you know, without that stability and I've seen it, I've seen the case more often than not be that you find that deep safety within yourself. It's a feeling not a story that you're telling about your life, right. Or a projection you're giving for someone else but it's actually like some, a felt sense, like I feel it in my life. Most of my life now, I feel safe right? And I can feel when that changes. Like sometimes I'll be in a space where there's just too many people, too much energy, something's off, you know? And I can feel it and it heightens my senses, it heightens my awareness, it makes me pay attention to what's happening around me. But then I think something like marriage, it's that kind of commitment, what I see so often happening is that people get into it and then they're like, "This isn't the safety that I thought it was going to be," right? Maybe it is for the first month or the first year or even until the first child or whatever, you know. But then there's some moment where that falls away because what you, what you thought you had, was like, I know you and you know me. And what's really happening is you're changing and I'm also changing and so I've officiated a few weddings and one of things that's been exciting is that the people asked me to officiate are like we want to commit to changing together, right. That to me is the kind of commitment that I can get behind where people are like I know this person again and I'm not going to change but I'm so curious about who they are and who they will become and I want to be there for that ride. And so it's not about marriage as entrapment and like catching you into one single identity, or any relationship, because now I'm like, you know I had to get married to be trying to trap someone in your web and I really like the model which I'm sure you've heard of of relationship anarchy. I don't think anything is perfect perfect thing that I really like it because so much of it is like, you know safety. You know, I think you were talking about with safety to me so much of that is rooted in trust.  Neil Sattin: Mm hmm.  adrienne maree brown: Right. It's like, Oh I trust that you're gonna do what you say you do. You say you're gonna do. And I trust that I can tell you my truth or whatever it is. And in relationship anarchy, which I think is like someone in Sweden, Andie Nordgren or something like that.  Neil Sattin: Yeah I forget.  adrienne maree brown: Yeah I have to go look at her name but there's you can look a bit like a "relationship anarchy manifesto." Right. And I love it because it's like trust is something that we build together over time, and like we start out with a default of trust like rather than starting out with the default of like, you've got it, you know like your trust is at zero and you have to like somehow bring it up to a hundred and never let your stuff like, never fuck up like never ever break my trust in anyway, or I'm gonna hold that against you for the rest of time. And I'm like instead you start from a place of like I have an abundant sense of trust for like my place in the world, for what I'm up to in the world, for like the work that I'm here to do, my purpose and then I meet you. And I'm just gonna offer you trust as a human being and what I am counting on is that if you break my trust, then we'll figure out how to recover together. Right? And sometimes that breaking of trust might be, we're not supposed to recover together. You know, like we're sometimes, the breaking of trust will expose something like, you're more committed to... uh... Like I see this happen sometimes where people are like in an open relationship, but still do cheating type behaviors. And I'm like, Oh, OK like great. That's good information, right? Like you're still very committed to a certain kind of secrecy. Maybe that's what turns you on is the forbidden. Something along those lines. And that's not compatible, right, with the kind of relationship that I'm trying to build or whatever kind of relationship this person is trying to build. And so I get really excited about stuff like that, because I like then you in a, you know, then it's like we just got clear about it and like we can trust each other to take the step back and transition into some other form of relationship. Versus, I think what happens now which is like, I offered you a false trust that you could never live up to that I was waiting for you to somehow live up to, you broke it and now I don't, I never want to see your face again. Right? Like you let me down so thoroughly, that I just I don't even want you to exist and I'm like I don't think we have enough people for that way of being with each other. Right? That we can just keep being like if you're not perfect, perfectly trustworthy then I kick you out of my community forever. And I say that you know the same thing you said is that you learn some of this from causing harm. And I'm like I learned from breaking people's trust. Right?  Neil Sattin: Yeah.  adrienne maree brown: There are people who I love and care about and I, I broke their trust and I have, I've had to do like a lot of work, a lot of work around like, Am I a trustworthy person? If the answer is No. How would I become a trustworthy person? Right. And again so much of that initial line of inquiry was just like about other people. Like how can I let them know how can I show how can I prove that I'm trustworthy? And of course the answer is I have to be trustworthy. Like I have to be able to feel in myself. And I'll tell you I'll tell you a little example of this.  Neil Sattin: Sure.  adrienne maree brown: I was in the airport like last week and I was running through and a lot had been happening and I went and sat down on a bench and there was this coat next to me and I asked around like, "Hey anybody is this your coat." And everybody was like no, you know whoever this coat is they just left this coat here. There's no bag there's nothing else around it. So I let it sit there for a little while and then I'm like Oh the nice coat. It's a nice coat. And so I picked it up to look at it and it's like a designer coat and it happens to be my size, right? So I'm like, This is a very nice gorgeous designer coat that someone just left here on this bench and like who knows if they're ever going to make it back, right?  Neil Sattin: For you!  adrienne maree brown: But, that, yeah part of my brain was like a gift from the universe! And I was like. And I picked it up and I looked at it and was like that would not be a trustworthy behavior to just take this coat and move on with life. Right. Like there's a chance that that person is still in this airport and that they're like running back here to get their very expensive, nice coat. Right? Or and, right. They'll call Delta. Like do you know where my coat is? Or whatever it is. So I took it over to the, um, you know where they check you in for the plane. I took it over to one of the guys there and I was like this was left over there. They're like, oh my goodness. You know like that's so sweet, you know. And it was just like, I felt the burden lift off my system that I'm like oh I was about to really just take someone's coat. But I didn't. And it is a small thing, like it's a really small thing that like no one would have known if I had done the wrong thing...  Neil Sattin: Except you.  adrienne maree brown: But I would have known. And like trying to get to that place in my life where like I don't make the mistake because it would hurt my integrity and my wholeness and my dignity outside of anyone else's. And even if I know it, that creates a shadow. Like how do I turned to my lover and tell this story? How do I walk into a room where I'm offering people, like let's be trustworthy people, and I'm standing there in a coat that I stole from some poor stranger, right? So to me it's that. It's like is my relationship with myself intact? And then from that place can I be in contact with another person and say, now this is intact? And if it gets harmed I commit to helping us get to intactness and sometimes that looks like a boundary. I keep repeating these words my friend, Prentis Hemphill, made this, made this, had this thought last week and then spread it all over the world basically, but its boundaries are the distance at which I can love you and me, simultaneously.  Neil Sattin: Mm hmm. I love that.  adrienne maree brown: And I keep thinking about that that I'm like sometimes... Right? Isn't it beautiful. And sometimes it's like that. It's like sometimes in tactness is at a great distance. It's like we're good as long as you're two thousand miles away from me. We're fine. It's good. Like don't cross that boundary and it's all good.  Neil Sattin: Right.  adrienne maree brown: And so I think about that I'm like, you know that's one of the things I talk about in "Pleasure Activism" is like our "No,"  makes a way for our "Yes." Like the good boundaries are actually so crucial for the good relationships.  Neil Sattin: Yeah. What seems contained too, and what you're offering, is the necessity for healing, like, to recognize like, OK if we're not in right relationship we're all each on a healing journey to getting there.  adrienne maree brown: Yes.  Neil Sattin: It's probably rare, the person who's learned, who's reached their 30s or 40s or more, you know, and hasn't experience some sort of disruption of their integrity.  adrienne maree brown: That's right.  Neil Sattin: So there's the healing component. There's also the compassion component. Like if I, if I expect you to be perfect and you fail me, and then that becomes this huge breach, then that's a much different problem than I'm trusting you. And I'm also wanting you. Like I'm, I'm willing to be okay with where you and I aren't perfect as long as we can be in full disclosure about that together.  adrienne maree brown: Yeah. That's right.  Neil Sattin: That's the honesty piece.  adrienne maree brown: I like that. I like that. I feel like that', you know, because I also think about this. Like for people who are like, "Oh no you know I'm sure they're someone's not me I'm good. You know like I know what you're talking about. I don't lie to myself or whatever." Or like, so often the people who seem to be, who have it all together, who have it altogether. Are are in some ways damaging themselves the most like I feel like now I have stopped doing to myself the harm of trying to pretend I am perfect, right?  Neil Sattin: Yeah.  adrienne maree brown: And I see it. I mean I feel like that you know when people watch Beyonce's Homecoming, right? Like what was intriguing to me is that she was like I was pushing for perfection and it meant having to like learn all the stuff that I would never do this again. It wasn't perfect it was actually too much that I harmed myself. And but, I pulled this off, but I harmed myself and didn't... Like, there's even stuff like that. Right? I'm like, "Yeah, what are you denying of yourself. That's where you're creating a prison, right, for yourself. You're containing that part of you that wants to be alive and free and moving around. And I'll say I'm part of the generative somatics teaching body. And for me, Somatics has been the healing pathway that has opened so much. And there's a really beautiful episode of The Healing Justice podcast, that has a woman named Sumitra on it, as it was that, they basically the Healing Justice podcast, they do an offer and then they do a practice to follow up on that. And so it's a 30 minute practice something less than that but it's basically this, the core practice of Somatics which is just centering learning how to actually drop into your body and feel and center in real time. And the idea is that you don't center to feel calm or better you center to feel more. that if you can feel more...  Neil Sattin: Yeah. To feel what is.  : That if you can feel more, feel what is and feel more of it then you start to have actual agency in real time over the choices you make, over the connections you move towards, over the connections you can start to set real boundaries around, like I can feel when someone is not a good energy to have around me, right. That doesn't mean they don't deserve to have people around them. But it's not going to happen here, right.  Neil Sattin: Right.  adrienne maree brown: I'm gonna move towards those people who are like the right energy for me for, for me growing them. And for them growing me. Yeah. Yeah. So I want to offer that because when it comes to healing, I think it helps to be fairly tangible. Like, there's, there's some you know, I feel like that for me. Like I went to talk therapy for a decade or whateve, right? And I've been able to move so much more through being able to feel, because I feel like talk therapy I was still able to stay in my head and tell my stories and tell my lies. And like you know you know, you can do it if your therapist has to be on to you just move on to the next one like, here's my, here's my story, right, or whatever it is. And I just think there's something so beautiful about dropping in and being like I'm feeling, I'm in a community of people who hold me accountable to being able to feel myself. And even now like I've been touring this book I land in a new city, and I run into someone who's also a Somatic practitioner and they hold me and they're like Are you good? Are you centering? Are you good? How are you feeling? You know and I know that they really care and they want to know. And in that moment I can feel the connection and my aliveness just expand.  Neil Sattin: So important.  adrienne maree brown: Yeah.  Neil Sattin: adrienne maree brown thank you so much for your words today for joining us. I know we could talk for easy another hour. You don't have the time, at least not today. Hopefully we can chat again at some point. That would be special.  adrienne maree brown: Yay. Thank you so much for having me on. I really appreciate being a guest on the show and I hope it's of use to people.  Neil Sattin: It is my pleasure and I just want to encourage everyone who's listening to check out all your work but especially your latest book: Pleasure Activism, Emergent Strategy. They're both written with such care and and I really felt them speaking to me and my unfolding and I know it would be a gift to any reader who's here with us. And it feels like a fun footnote that the friend that I met who introduced me to you and your work.  adrienne maree brown: Yeah.  Neil Sattin: We were actually both attending a somatic experiencing workshop with Peter Levine.  adrienne maree brown: Yay. That's awesome! Neil Sattin: So I love how it came back into Somatics here at the end.  adrienne maree brown: Full circle.  Neil Sattin: So far so important to find that truth of who you are and your experience in your body in this moment, and so much aliveness comes from there.  Neil Sattin: Thank you Neil.  adrienne maree brown: adrienne, if people want to find out more about your work, what can they do?  adrienne maree brown: They can go to the website: allied-media-dot-org-slash-ESII. That's where you can get trainings, workshop, stuff like that. And then I'm on Instagram  @adriennemareebrown, and I, that's where I mostly post things into the world.  Neil Sattin: Great. Well we will make sure there are links in all our stuff. And thank you so much for being with us today. And with me.  adrienne maree brown: Thank you. Have a good one.  Neil Sattin: Take care, adrienne.  adrienne maree brown: All right. Peace.  Neil Sattin: Same to you.  Neil Sattin: And just as a reminder if you want a detailed transcript of today's episode, you can get that by visiting Neil-Sattin-dot-com-slash-AMB, adrienne maree brown, or you can text the word passion to the number of 3 3 4 4 4 and follow the instructions. And we will have links to everything that we mentioned here in today's episode as well as to The Healing Justice I think is what adrienne said the The Healing Justice podcast episode that she mentioned, as a gift for you.  Neil Sattin: All right, take care.   

Jerome Harris is a designer, educator, and curator. He’s currently the design director of Housing Works and recently taught at MICA and curated the show As, Not For, a survey of African American graphic design. In this episode, Jerome and Jarrett talk about his background as a flyer designer and dancer, , how thinking about design history changed his own approach, and why we need to include as wide a range of work as possible when teaching design. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm.

Sydnee Washington and Marie Faustin have stolen the show on Broad City, Viceland and beyond, and rule the NYC stand-up scene. The two stunt queens and hosts of the Unofficial Expert podcast joined David for a live conversation at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe. After talking about confidence and comedy, the duo gave the Housing Works audience some killer advice about showing up for yourself. Follow them @justsydbw and @reeezy and @unofficialexpert, and be sure to catch them every Sunday at Comedy at the Knitting Factory.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This BCR episode is a conversation with Michael Kink of Strong Economy for All - a coalition of healthcare and education unions and community activists groups working for a moral budget for all NYers. Kink is the Executive Director is a public interest attorney who had worked for Legal Aid and Housing Works, Inc.. We tried to decrease the wonk and get at the experience of this dedicated worker in the field of social justice who is dedicated to moving one of the largest state budgets in the U.S. in a progressive direction.This BCR episode was recorded at Gebhard's Beer Culture Bar. Subscribe to our podcast wherever you listen to podcasts -- and let us know what you think -- topics you'd like us to pursue -- barcrawlradio@gmail.comCatch the best conversations happening at your neighborhood bar. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We review Ben Shapiro's book "The Right Side of History". Tickets for our Cornell show on 4/26: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/union-days-2019-presents-chapo-trap-house-live-at-cornell-tickets-60348589255 Come see our May 1 Trivia Night at Housing Works in NYC: https://chapomaydaytrivia.splashthat.com/ Dates, venues and tickets for our European tour will be posted soon at: http://www.chapotraphouse.com/tour/

For our second episode, we’re tackling the first half of the 1998 Tony Awards. In this episode we explore whether Ragtime is the Show Boat of the 90s, the American Les Miserables, historical fanfiction, or all of the above; scream about the insane alternate second act Julie Taymor pitched for The Lion King; and shout out Seth Rudetsky, the Muppets, and American Girl Magazine. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram (@mylittletonys) for additional content about this season’s shows! Works referenced/cited: Brantley, Ben. “THEATER REVIEW; Cub Comes of Age: A Twice-Told Cosmic Tale.” The New York Times, 14 Nov. 1997. DeVries, Hilary. “Julie Taymor: Giving Theater a Touch of Cross-Cultural Whimsy.” The Christian Science Monitor, 31 Oct. 1986. Gussow, Mel. “The Looking Glass World of Julie Taymor.” The New York Times, 22 Mar. 1992. Green, Jesse. “A Web and a Prayer.” New York Magazine, 21 Nov. 2010. Kantor, Michael, director. Broadway: The American Musical. PBS, 2004. Lyman, Rick. “Season's Last Hurrah, Live From Radio City.” The New York Times, 5 June 1998. Martin, Douglas. “Disney Seals Times Square Theater Deal.” The New York Times, 3 Feb. 1994. Rich, Frank. “Conversations With Sondheim.” The New York Times, 12 Mar. 2000. Rose, Frank. “Can Disney Tame 42nd Street?” CNNMoney, 24 June 1996. “Intercultural Theatre and Puppetry in the Works of Julie Taymor.” Intercultural Puppetry, 15 Dec. 2014. Patinkin, Sheldon. "No Legs, No Jokes, No Chance": a History of the American Musical Theater. Northwestern University Press, 2008. Bloom, Ken, and Frank Vlastnik. Broadway Musicals: the 101 Greatest Shows of All Time. Black Dog & Leventhal Pubs., 2010. Filichia, Peter. Broadway Musicals: The Biggest Hit & the Biggest Flop of the Season 1959 to 2009. Applause Books, 2010. Paller, Rebecca. “NY Times' Brantley Dissents on Ragtime.” Playbill, 19 Jan. 1998. “Ragtime – Original Broadway Cast 1998.” The Official Masterworks Broadway Site. Brantley, Ben. “THEATER REVIEW; 'Ragtime': A Diorama With Nostalgia Rampant.” The New York Times, 19 Jan. 1998. Brantley, Ben. “I Hear America Singing, in Syncopation.” The New York Times, 15 Nov. 2009. “Take Two: Hear the Fascinating History of Side Show from the Original Stars & Creators.” Broadway.com. Pride of The Lion King | Behind the Scenes Documentary (Making of) The Lion King: A Pre-Broadway Special Julie Taymor: Spider-Man, The Lion King and life on the creative edge Thomas Schumacher Chats About The 20th Anniversary Of "The Lion King" Stephen Flaherty, Lynn Ahrens - How They Work Stephen Flaherty, Lynn Ahrens - Ragtime (Live Performance) Creating Broadway's Ragtime - PBS 1998 American Theatre Wing. “Production: ‘Ragtime’ (Working In The Theatre #272).” “1776.” Muppet Wiki. Fierberg, Ruthie. “9 Secrets Director Julie Taymor Revealed about The Lion King.” Playbill, 28 Jan. 2017. Production: ‘The Lion King’ (Working In The Theatre # 270) Morris, Hugh. “The Curious History of Times Square – and Why You Should Visit, despite the Chaos.” The Telegraph, 25 June 2018. “A Conversation with David Henry Hwang and Julie Taymor.” Housing Works. Evans, Greg. “A View From the Bridge.” Variety, Variety, 15 Dec. 1997.

Brenda Clement, Executive Director of HousingWorks RI, which issued its annual Fact Book. #WPRO It finds a critical shortage of affordable and multi-family housing in Rhode Island. https://www.housingworksri.org/

Brenda Clement, Executive Director of HousingWorks RI, which issued its annual Fact Book. #WPRO It finds a critical shortage of affordable and multi-family housing in Rhode Island. https://www.housingworksri.org/

Bonus Episode of One Week Only from the LA Film Festival! "The Advocates" is a documentary about the issue of homelessness in Los Angeles, and follows the dedicated social workers helping people to get off the streets & secure funding for affordable housing. It premiered at the LA Film Festival this year in the LA Muse section, and Conor was able to interview director Rémi Kessler, as well as Rudy Salinas of the non-profit Housing Works, about how the film came to be & why they're excited to see the film reach theaters this October, thanks to Cinema Libre. Hosted by Carlos Aguilar & Conor Holt. Music by Kevin MacLeod at www.incompetech.com

You might have read what Roger Federer had to say about why there hasn't been an openly gay male tennis player in on the ATP Tour. Now, hear his words, along with those of Kevin Anderson, as both speak on what can be a tricky and challenging issue. Plus, our chat with Nick McCarvel about the upcoming event he's hosting (in partnership with No Challenges Remaining) to kick-start the conversation of "being queer and out in pro tennis," featuring the out retired player Brian Vahaly.   1:00 Talking about LGBTQ issues in tennis - why now? 6:25 Roger Federer speaks on the possibility of a male player coming out on the ATP Tour 14:20 Kevin Anderson expands on his previously stated support for LGBT athletes, and why he was compelled to speak in the first place 18:00 What are some of the barriers for an ATP player coming out? 24:50 Our chat with Nick McCarvel, host of the upcoming Open Playbook event with Brian Vahaly in NYC   Open Playbook: Being Queer and Out in Pro Tennis - at Housing Works Bookstore, Soho, NY on August 23 Event benefits Housing Works and New York Junior Tennis & Learning

This week we go to New York to catch up with Miles Redd, and his design partner in crime David Kaihoi. Miles has been featured in Vogue, W, House Beautiful, Architectural Digest and now he brings his one of a kind style to outdoor furniture at Ballard Designs. We talk with Miles and David about the inspiration behind the new collection, which offers beautifully designed quality pieces that look expensive and high end but are affordable and functional. What You'll Hear on This Episode: Decorating should be fun, and not a source of stress or pressure.How Miles and David overcome a creative dry spell or artistic lull and get in touch with their inspirationThe importance of feasting your eyes on beautiful homes to gather ideas, even if it’s just on vacationWhat it’s like to see things again with wonder and newness from the fresh eye of childrenThe role of performance fabrics and durability in a home with kidsThe balance of giving their younger clients what they want between what is functional and makes the most senseTheir new self storing cushion chair in the outdoor furniture collection blends stunning aesthetic with practical usage.Their special dining room tables that feature options and versatilityThe colors and materials that they love enough to bring in to their new office,Their work with Housing Works and Design on a Dime to help people get back on their feet and feel comfortable in societyTheir special theme of color and wallpaper for the booth this year, and their inspiration behind itA quick and easy way to decorate using wall sculpturesHow Miles switches from designing for clients and interior design to product development and designMiles and David’s propensity for adding in ebony or chalky white furniture to add an elegant and high end touch

“Culture is the only human practice that can actually dig into the root of a trauma and try to undo it in the first place. And this is why people are so afraid of culture, and in particular theatre. ‘Cause when there’s a human being in front of you having an experience, it’s very difficult to ignore them. It’s hard to ignore a play.” — Dan Fishback Dan Fishback and Motaz Malhees both made waves in the New York theater scene this fall with plays about Palestine. Motaz performed with the Freedom Theatre of Jenin in "The Siege," at the NYU Skirball Center. Meanwhile, Dan's play "Rubble Rubble" was abruptly and controversially cancelled by the American Jewish Historical Society. In this joint interview, Dan and Motaz talk about their work, and explain why culture is their weapon of choice against the injustices of the occupation. This episode of Unsettled is hosted by Max Freedman. Original music by Nat Rosenzweig. Recorded at The 'cast Sound Lab in Brooklyn, New York on November 6, 2017. Edited for length and clarity by Ilana Levinson.  Photo credit: Sammy Tunis Dan Fishback is a playwright, performer, musician, and director of the Helix Queer Performance Network. His musical “The Material World” was called one of the Top Ten Plays of 2012 by Time Out New York. His play “You Will Experience Silence” was called “sassier and more fun than 'Angels in America'” by the Village Voice. Also a performing songwriter, Fishback has released several albums and toured Europe and North America, both solo and with his band Cheese On Bread. Other theater works include “Waiting for Barbara” (New Museum, 2013), “thirtynothing” (Dixon Place, 2011) and “No Direction Homo” (P.S. 122, 2006). As director of the Helix Queer Performance Network, Fishback curates and organizes a range of festivals, workshops and public events, including the annual series, “La MaMa’s Squirts.” Fishback has received grants for his theater work from the Franklin Furnace Fund (2010) and the Six Points Fellowship for Emerging Jewish Artists (2007-2009). He has been a resident artist at Kelly Writers House at the University of Pennsylvania, the Hemispheric Institute at NYU, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center, Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, and BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange, where he has developed all of his theater work since 2010. Fishback is a proud member of the Jewish Voice for Peace Artist Council. He is currently developing two new musicals, “Rubble Rubble” and “Water Signs,” and will release a new album by Cheese On Bread in 2018. Motaz Malhees is a Palestinian actor born in 1992. He received his professional training in Stanislavsky, Brecht and Shakespeare at The Freedom Theatre in Jenin Refugee Camp (Palestine), and in Commedia dell’Arte at Theatre Hotel Courage in Amsterdam (Holland). Motaz has trained with internationally acclaimed directors such as Juliano Mer-Khamis and Nabil Al-Raee (The Freedom Theatre), Di Trevis (Royal Shakespeare Company), Thomas Ostermeier (Schaubühne Theatre), and Katrien van Beurden (Theatre Hotel Courage). His stage credits with The Freedom Theatre include: “Alice in Wonderland” (2011), “What Else – Sho Kman?” (2011), Pinter’s “The Caretaker” (2012), “Freaky Boy” (2012), “Courage, Ouda, Courage” (2013), “Suicide Note from Palestine” (2014), “Power/Poison” (2014), and most recently “The Siege” at the NYU Skirball Center. Motaz has also acted in films, including: “Think Out of the Box” (2014, dir. Mohammad Dasoqe), which screened in Palestine, Germany and Mexico; and “Past Tense Continuous” (2014, dir. Dima Hourani). As a versatile actor, Motaz has performed in multilingual plays as well as in scripted, devised, physical, epic and fantasy theatre. Motaz also produces and performs in short films about social issues in Palestine, which have received a wide following on social media platforms. Having grown up in Palestine, and experienced the economic and political hardships of life under occupation, Motaz has been actively interested in acting since he was nine years old. He lives through theatre, and believes in the potential of art to transform people’s ideas and lives. REFERENCES "Arna's Children" (dir. Juliano Mer-Khamis, 2004) "The Life and Death of Juliano Mer-Khamis" (Adam Shatz, London Review of Books, November 2013) "Center for Jewish History Chief Comes Under Fierce Attack By Right-Wingers" (Josh Nathan-Kazis, Forward, September 6, 2017) "Jewish Center Faces Backlash After Canceling Play Criticized as Anti-Israel" (Jennifer Schuessler, New York Times_, _October 11, 2017) Program note by Oskar Eustis for "The Siege" at NYU Skirball Center (October 2017) Indiegogo campaign for Dan Fishback's "Rubble Rubble" "Return to Palestine"(The Freedom Theatre, 2016) in Arabic without subtitles Theatre of the Oppressed NYC Housing Works  "All Your Sisters" (Cheese On Bread, 2017) danfishback.com @motazmalhees thefreedomtheatre.org TRANSCRIPT DAN: So many people warned me against making work like this. And yeah, I got canceled, but in the process, I have tremendously powerful friends now that I didn't make before. MOTAZ: Doesn't it make you stronger after they cancel it? DAN: Yeah, of course. Yeah. MOTAZ: Didn't it make you more like want to do it? DAN: Oh, yeah. MOTAZ: That's a good thing, then.   [MUSIC: Unsettled theme by Nat Rosenzweig]   MAX: Welcome to Unsettled. My name is Max Freedman, I’m one of the producers of Unsettled and your host for today’s episode. Now when I’m not working on this podcast, I’m a theater artist, and I know how hard it can be to make a life in the theater and get your work out there. However hard you think it is, imagine you’re trying to tell stories about the occupied West Bank. Enter Dan Fishback and Motaz Malhees. Dan and Motaz both made waves in the New York theater scene this fall with plays about Palestine. Motaz was in New York performing with the Freedom Theatre of Jenin in “The Siege,” a play about the Israeli siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, during the Second Intifada. Dan, on the other hand, made waves because of a play that didn’t happen, rather than one that did. His play, “Rubble Rubble,” was supposed to go up at the American Jewish Historical Society, but they cancelled it. I’ll let him tell you why -- and what happened next. Dan and Motaz didn’t know each other before, but I had the privilege to get them in the same room to talk about their work and as you’ll hear, they had a lot in common. In preparation for this interview, I dug through years of old journals and found my entry from the day I first met Motaz, when I was in Jenin, three summers ago. Really big and underlined a few times, I had written two words: CULTURAL RESISTANCE. So that’s our theme for today. Quick note: besides the three of us, at one point you’ll hear the voice of my co-producer Ilana Levinson. I think that’s all you need to know, so, let’s get started!   MAX: Welcome to Unsettled. Uh, why don't you start by introducing yourselves? MOTAZ: Eh, first of all I am so happy to be here with you guys that's before I introduce myself. I am Motaz Malhees, so I am an actor from Palestine, I used to work with the Freedom Theatre since 2010. I do a lot of politics theatre but also the same time I do also for community, I do like for kids show. But I feel like, whatever needs, I give, like...it’s not important the type of theatre I do. But nowadays I'm freelance, and I work like with all theatres in Palestine, my country, because I don't want to be just involved with one place -- even that's I always say that the Freedom Theatre, that's my place and my home. DAN: I’m Dan Fishback, I’m a...I make performance and music and theatre in New York, I’ve been here since 2003 -- I don't know, what do you want to know? MAX: Where’d you grow up? DAN: Oh my gosh! I grew up in a pretty normal American Reform Jewish family, outside Washington, DC in Maryland. In a family that...was essentially a liberal Zionist family, although I don't think they would have necessary articulated themselves like that, they just imagine themselves being normal. And I heard growing up, “If only the Palestinians were nonviolent, then they would get what they want. Because they're asking for something reasonable, but it's because they're violent that things are problem....that that's the reason why there's a problem.” And like, the older people around me as I was growing up were always saying, “If only there was a Palestinian Gandhi” -- that was like the refrain, over and over again. And now I find myself 36 years old, going back to my communities and being like, “There’s this huge non-violent Palestinian movement! And it’s international and we can be part of it, it’s boycott, and blah blah blah.” And everyone’s like, “Oh no, no no, this makes us uncomfortable too.” I'm like, “This is what you were begging for my whole childhood! And now it’s here! Why aren’t you excited? Why aren't you as excited as I am?” That’s where I’m from. MOTAZ: That’s cool. DAN: And it’s an honor to be here with Motaz, whose performance in “The Siege” was absolutely amazing. MOTAZ: We not sure, but there is like people who really want to bring it back to the U.S. again, because it was a really successful show like for the Skirball Theatre, even like they almost sold out. MAX: Let me back you up a second, because, I want you to imagine that I have never heard of “The Siege,” have never heard of the Freedom Theatre. Can you tell me -- tell me what it was, tell me what it is. MOTAZ: “The Siege” it's a story about the invasion happened in 2002 in Palestine. There was like eh...invasion for the whole West Bank: in Jenin, in Nablus, all the cities. Like, one of them was Bethlehem, and in Bethlehem there was like a group of fighters, freedom fighters, who fight and defend back from their homeland. They have like many guns defending themselves, and they have in the other side -- the Israeli side -- there is tanks, Apache, Jeeps, all kind of guns you can imagine your life, heavy guns. And they were like around 45 fighters, 250, 245 civilian -- priests, nuns, children, women, and men, from both different religions -- who’s like stuck inside the Nativity Church for 39 days. With the like first five days they have food, after that they have no food. And they surrounded with around 60,000 soldiers from the Israeli army. They want, like, to finish it. So they, they have pressure, they don't wanna -- even the fighters, says khalas, it’s enough. Their people are suffering, their families are suffering outside because of that. So, they sent them like a paper, they have to write their names, the number of their IDs they have, and their signature. So, the fighters sign on it, and they know that's thirteen going to Europe and twenty-five are going to Gaza. They don't know even where they going. So, they sent them to exile the same day. DAN: When my friends and I were leaving the theatre, all we were talking about is, we were so curious about what their lives would be like after fifteen years of exile and we couldn’t wrap our minds around it. MOTAZ: I know one of them is personally, and he told me a lot about it. And it’s really important to bring this piece because of one reason: they didn't choose. Even they signed the paper that say they have to go to exile, but like they was under pressure, and they thought it's temporary and that they would return. And eh, I know how much they are really broken from inside. They never show this to people.But from inside, if you know them personally, they are really broken, and they just...all they want, just to see like at least their families. Some of them, they can’t. Their family, like they can't get the visa to go to visit them -- like, for example, the two guys, Rami Kamel, and Jihadi Jaara who living in Dublin, they haven't seen their families at all. One of them, like Jihadi he have a son that's his wife give birth like after one week he was sent to exile. He didn't even touch his son, he's fifteen years old, like...at least, like, okay, you don't want to send him back to Palestine. Let his family visit him! Like, this is the minimum of humanity. And eh...a really important point we have like always to say: those people was in their homeland, they was in their own city, and they fight back. They didn't went to...yeah, to Tel Aviv to fight, or to somewhere inside Israel, to fight the people over there. They was fighting the…defending themselves from the Israeli army. MAX: How did you get started with the Freedom Theatre? MOTAZ: Woo hoo! Since I was like, eh…fourteen I heard about it, or thirteen -- and I was dreaming about to be in there cause I’m, since like eight, nine, I start doing acting. It's like something I really love from inside, like I really really want to be an actor. Not because like I wanted a name. Because I can hold the stories, I can share stories for all over the world, I enjoy it, it's something beautiful and strong in the same time. So when I was sixteen, I heard about the hip-hop workshop, dance hip-hop workshop in the Freedom Theatre. So I went there and I apply for it, and I get involved with the workshop, and the last few days Juliano just came and he said, “We open a new class for theatre.”   MAX: Juliano, who Motaz just mentioned, is Juliano Mer Khamis, who started what is today, the Freedom Theatre. Real quick, I want to tell you the remarkable story of the Freedom Theatre of Jenin. During the First Intifada, Juliano’s mother, a Jewish Israeli Communist named Arna Mer, came to Jenin, where she helped to establish housing and educational programs for children in the refugee camp there -- and eventually a children’s theatre called The Stone. Arna died of cancer in 1995, and during the Second Intifada, the Stone Theatre was destroyed. Arna’s son Juliano returned to Jenin for the first time since his mother’s death in the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Jenin, and made an incredible film called "Arna’s Children" -- Motaz will tell you more about this in a bit, but it’s on YouTube and I highly recommend it. It was after finishing this film that Juliano returned again to Jenin to found the Freedom Theatre. In 2011, Juliano was assassinated, but the Freedom Theatre has persisted. Alright -- back to Motaz.   MOTAZ: So I get involved and I put myself in that place since 2010. And it’s been like around...now, now you could say like eight years almost. It is...hard and eh, good in the same time. It is, ‘cause you face emotion, a lot of different emotion. But I love it. It's like, it’s become my home now. I’m always there. Even if I have nothing, I go pass by drinking coffee there like, chill, see what's going on, if they need help or something, because I'm part of the family. MAX: Well we met because I went to visit the Freedom Theatre. And you were just hanging around and we sat there and talked for an hour. MOTAZ: Yeah yeah. MAX: Alright, so, Dan. DAN: Yeah. MAX: Tell me about your work and particularly tell me about “Rubble Rubble” and the genesis of that project. MOTAZ: I wanna hear about it. DAN: Well I've been working for the past decade on a trilogy of plays that sort of explore the inner life of the Jewish left in the United States over the past century. And this last play, “Rubble Rubble,” which I've been developing for the past few years, starts in the West Bank in an Israeli settlement. And you find this family that I've been writing plays about -- which is a very far leftist socialist radical family -- you see that that family has split off, and there's like a right-wing side of the family that has become settlers. And the left-wing anti-Zionist member of their family travels to visit them, after they haven’t spoken in twenty years. MOTAZ: Whoa. DAN: And the family confronts each other over his huge chasm, where one person is like a Palestinian solidarity BDS supporter and the rest of the family are like... MOTAZ: Pro-Israel. DAN: They're like settlers! Like living on stolen land, even though, but they’re middle aged American Jews who in the sixties were like radical New Left, you know, people. I’m fascinated by how many American-Israeli Jews were like super far on the left in the United States and then became these horrible oppressors in Israel. It blows my mind that it's possible to make that transition within the course of one life. And so, and that's where the play starts, and um…and I've been developing it for a few years, I went to Israel-Palestine to research for the play, I spent two weeks with interfaith peace builders traveling all through the West Bank and meeting with different non violent Palestinian and Israeli activists. I spent a week interviewing settlers, which was extremely disturbing. Um, and then I’ve been developing this play, and it was gonna have its first public reading at the American Jewish Historical Society in Manhattan and, um, a couple weeks ago -- I guess now around a month ago -- we went to their offices for a meeting and everything was very positive, they were very excited to have us, the staff was very supportive of the work. And we heard that there was a right-wing smear campaign against the organization's new CEO. And we were told, “This is all happening but don't let it bother you. We might have to cancel that other thing, but we're not going to cancel your play, because we, we're really excited about it.” And literally the conversation we had was about raising the budget for our play. Eight hours later, I got an email saying that the play had been canceled. MOTAZ: What? Was there any explanation about it? DAN: Well, I knew that it was... The institution itself never sent me like a formal letter or anything, but I knew that it was because of this right-wing Zionist pressure campaign that they were being pressured to fire their new CEO, and in order to try to get rid of that critique, they were just going to get rid of us. And the staff of the American Jewish Historical Society was very supportive of me, and I don't see them as my enemies at all. It was the board of directors, or at least a small group from the board, met in the middle of the night and made this decision. And this is what happens all the time in Jewish organizations: the people actually doing work are willing to make brave choices, and the people who are funding that work are not willing to let anyone make those choices. MOTAZ: Yeah yeah yeah, this happened with the same thing almost with us. DAN: Yeah, at the Public, right? MOTAZ: Yeah yeah yeah, it's almost the same, I like, I don't know who’s stand with us or who is against us, but we had this question for Oskar, which is the Artistic Director of the Public Theater, and his answer was really diplomatic answer and I respect -- no Oskar, he’s really great guy and he was one of the supporters to bring this play over here, and the most important thing, he says, that's to bring “The Siege” for the New Yorker people and we did it. It’s not about the place. DAN: Well, that was interesting about Oskar Eustis and “The Siege,” is that it was supposed to be at the Public Theater, the board canceled that choice. But Oskar, who is the Artistic Director of the Public Theater, he had notes in the program for “The Siege” production at the Skirball Center. And I was like, this is so unusual that you open the program and you see notes from the director of the theatre that canceled the play! MOTAZ: Yeah yeah. But, I want to hear more about Dan play, man. DAN: Sure, yeah. MOTAZ: I would like to know what is the story? DAN: Well, I can tell you about the story of what happens in the play, but what I also want to say is that, after we were canceled, the New York theatre world became incredibly supportive of us. And people really came out of nowhere to offer support and offer help. We raised our budget that had been canceled from American Jewish Historical Society within three days. MOTAZ: Whoa. DAN: Yeah. And we were offered resources that we couldn't have ever imagined. And to me, that was a huge sign that the people who are trying to censor dissident voices around Israel-Palestine are going to fail in humiliation. Because our work is stronger than ever after having been canceled, because people are so angry about it. People who are, who don't really know very much about it, are angry about it. And there are left-wing Zionists in my life who don't agree with me, but who are so angry that the play was canceled -- and it’s put them in a situation where they are more open to my ideas, and more open to considering the ideas of the play. So, I mean -- and we’re going to do the reading of the play, it's going happen next year, the details aren't confirmed, but it's going to be bigger and more interesting and more spectacular than it would have been if it hadn’t been canceled in the first place. Which is interesting. The play itself -- it’s funny because the people who canceled it never read it. And it's weird, like if they read it I think they'd be like, “Oh, this is weird.” It's a weird play. The first act is like a very traditional living room drama in a family. So, there's the aunt and uncle, who are middle-aged formerly left-wing radical American Jews who live in a settlement. There's their radical nephew, who shares my politics but is not a sympathetic person. He’s kind of...nasty and annoying and neurotic. And he’s there with his partner who’s Colombian and has no context for any of this. So I really wanted there to be a character who doesn't really have any stake in the game, doesn't have any history with Israel-Palestine, just comes from another part of the world entirely, but who has...a personal history of violence. Because he grew up in a part of Colombia that experienced a lot of violence. Whereas, I think a lot of white American Jews, violence, revolution, all these ideas are abstract concepts, and we don't experience them in our real lives. So he's coming at -- that character, who in a way is the central character of the play -- is coming at things from a totally different context. And I don't want to give anything away, but by the end of the first act, things go horribly wrong, and the first act ends with an enormous disaster. And the second act begins, and it's a musical, and it takes place in Moscow in 1905. And it's the same family, but a century before, and the matriarch of the family is building bombs for the socialist revolution of 1905. MOTAZ: So it’s almost flashback? DAN: It’s like a flash -- it's like an ancestral flashback. MOTAZ: That’s interesting. DAN: So you see the ancestor of the same family, and she's like a socialist revolutionary. She's building a bomb, she wants to like blow up the Tsar. And...and the ideas of the first act are sort of filtered through the music of the second act, where you see her with her socialist comrades. And what I want to ask is: How did this family go from here to there? How did it get from one place to the other? And, and the other question that I'm really interested in asking is like: Once you learn that there's an enormous injustice around you, how far are you willing to go to stop it from happening? How much violence are you willing to accept in order to stop something? Which is a huge question, I think, for anti-Zionist Jews when it comes to Palestine, like how...what are we supposed to do, knowing this horrible thing is going on? It's a huge question within Palestinian society, obviously, like what are you willing to do to stop this from happening? And it’s been a huge question throughout Jewish political history, which is full of violent resistance to injustice, and we act like were so horrified by violence, but Jewish history is full of it. So, those are the questions that I'm dealing with, and I don't think that the play offers any straightforward answers. And that's the interesting thing about the play being canceled or censored, is that the play itself is about what happens when two sides of a Jewish family can't communicate, and shun each other. And that’s what’s happened with the play, that we were being shunned just like family members are being shunned. And when I was in Israel, researching the play, and I would tell people what the play was about -- you know, it's about a Jewish family that's separated over Israel, and the Israeli side doesn't talk to the American side -- and every single person I talked to was like, “Oh, that's just like my family. That's my family, that happened to us.” And I was like, oh, right. This is bad for everybody. This destroys families, this injustice is destroying everybody involved in it. MOTAZ: Yeah, I mean like, even if it’s happened, like something like, my grandparents, whatever it takes place, I will not do the same thing in a different place. DAN: Right? This is the big Jewish catastrophe of the twentieth century, that you take one of two decisions, right? You either, you take all the trauma and you say, “This will never happen to us again, and we will do anything to protect us.” Or you say, “This will never happen to anyone again.” MOTAZ: What, like, Jewish used to live in Yemen, Morocco, Egypt, Palestine, many Arab countries, there was normal to see like this Muslim, Christian and a Jewish neighbor and eh, like an atheist beside him, and all of them are living in the Arab world like normally, like -- let's be honest, even though the Arab history is not clear, like there is many bad things from the Arab history also like... But eh, we used to live like together, so the thing is not religion. I don’t believe it’s religion, it’s mentality. It’s... DAN: I was talking, I was having an argument in a restaurant a couple years ago with a Zionist Jew, and we were fighting really passionately. And someone, a stranger came up to our table and said, “Guys, stop fighting about this. It's an ancient struggle that's been going on thousands of years.” And we both looked at him, both of us agreed, we were like, “No, it isn't! This is new, this is in the past like less than 200 years that this has happened, come on.” We were like, “Go sit down. Finish your lunch, hon. Get out of our faces.” There's so many lies about it. But this is...I feel like this is the work, this is the cultural work of American Jewishness right now. We've been brought up with such a distorted understanding of the world. And it's gonna take so much cultural work to undo it all. MOTAZ: Yeah, and it's gonna make a lot of enemies at the same time. DAN: Oh yeah. But I think my situation proves that it's also gonna get…it's not gonna be completely a disaster. You know, everyone -- so many people warned me against making work like this. And yeah, I got canceled, but in the process, I have tremendously powerful friends now that I didn't make before. MOTAZ: Doesn't it make you stronger after they cancel it? DAN: Yeah, of course. Yeah. MOTAZ: Didn't it make you more like want to do it? DAN: Oh, yeah. MOTAZ: That's a good thing, then. Okay, what’s the next question? MAX: So, for both of you, why is culture your weapon of choice? MOTAZ: Woo hoo! Because eh… Dan, you go ahead. DAN: ‘Cause its more powerful! Like…violence only ever creates more violence. I think this, like, even when it's necessary, it ends up being true. Culture is the only human practice that can actually dig into the root of a trauma and try to undo it in the first place. Um, and this is why people are so afraid of culture, and in particular theatre. ‘Cause when there's a human being in front of you having an experience, it’s very difficult to ignore them. It's hard to ignore a play. And, and so many…especially, so many American Zionist Jews are under -- on an emotional level, understand that their perspective is impossible. ‘Cause if you ask most American Jews, “Do you believe that it is right for a country to privilege one ethno-religious group over others?” Most of them will say, “No, that’s wrong. That is a wrong thing.” And then you say, “Well, what about Israel?” and they'll go, “Uhhhhhh…” But the fundamental truth, the deeper truth is that none of us actually support this. It's, the the support for Israel is the more superficial belief. The deeper belief is that this is wrong. Good plays, good art, good visual art, good music, good anything about this will help strip away the sort of superficial attachment to the, to the story of Israel, and help people get to the deeper belief that supremacy is wrong. No matter who is supreme in any given situation, it will always be wrong. ILANA: Sorry, I just wanna um, in the conversation about Zionism, I’m wondering... DAN: Do you want me to define that? ILANA: Yeah, I’m wondering specifically if you think any form of Zionism involves supremacy and that kind of thing. DAN: You know, I identify as an anti-Zionist Jew, and a lot of people, a lot of people will say, “Oh, don't say that, because it’s icky, it makes us uncomfortable to say you're anti-Zionist. Because, 'cause what does that really mean.” And for me, if it was the early 1900s, maybe I would have identified as like a Cultural Zionist. But to me, the way the word Zionism functions in the world, it’s support for a Jewish state of Israel. And to me, that means that Zionism inherently requires one to believe that Jews should reign supreme in this land, and I think that that's an untenable option. MAX: I…I sort of wanna respond. DAN: You wanna get into it, Max? MAX: No, I don't -- no, I don’t wanna argue with you…that's not… I will confess that I am skeptical of people who call themselves anti-Zionists who are not Jewish and not Palestinian. I... DAN:  Yeah yeah yeah, me too. I think that part of the, part of what it means to liberate Jews in the world, is to liberate us from our trauma, and to liberate us from that pain that…that distracts us from the reality of the world. And that requires our friends to help us get through that trauma, and to help us liberate ourselves from that trauma, and that requires non-Jewish people who oppose Zionism to make sure that we are emotionally capable of, um, of joining with them and being in community with them. And to me that's always like a challenge to my non-Jewish friends and comrades to be like, if we’re gonna do this together you need to understand that we’re…we just barely made it alive into this century, and a lot of us have like legitimate fears for our lives. I mean, we’re living in the United States where there's like a Nazi problem, right? Like our fear of violence is real and legitimate and um, when people say there's like no anti-semitism on the left in the United States, to me that's like so foolish. Like obviously, there's some anti-semitism in any part of the world, in any community. MOTAZ: Of course, of course…that's true. DAN: And when we pretend it doesn't exist, then we’re...I think we make so many other Jews feel unsafe joining us in this movement, because we're saying something that's obviously untrue and they don't trust us ‘cause it sounds like we’re lying to them. From my perspective, we need to say it: yeah, there's totally some anti-semitism on the left. And we need to deal with it, and our non-Jewish comrades need to deal with it, so that we can see that this is a safe place for us to be. MOTAZ: Nobody called you before, like you are anti-semitic after all the things you did? DAN: Oh yeah. MOTAZ: And you are Jewish. DAN: Oh yeah. Motaz, I need to tell you, I've gotten a lot of hate mail in my life and it's never as aggressive as other Jews. They’re the ones that tell me I should die. What they always say is, “You should go to Palestine, where they’d kill you.” They say this all the time, and I’m like, “I’ve been to Palestine, dude!” MOTAZ: So if some of the guys gonna hear this interview, Dan, you more than welcome in my house in Jenin. Nobody gonna kill you, you gonna love it. So come back to the first question? MAX: Yes, yes, finally... MOTAZ: Why cultural... Because I'm fed up. I have seen like many people got killed in this entire world since I was born. And see blood everywhere, why it’s need to be violent? Why that question? Why don't we turn the opposite question: why we have to be violent? Because it's like, we fed up, we are like, we are human. There is many people that think, like, “Oh, they was born like this.” No, they was not born like this. There is something happen to them. Like, if you watch there is a really important and good movie, it’s called “Arna’s Children,” Little kids, he talking about this story a lot, little kids. And they was dreaming about to be a Romeo of Palestine, them want to be Juliet, one of them he want to be Al Pacino. They wanna be actors. Suddenly, in a moment in 2002, you see those people got killed. And they became a freedom fighter before. Why? One of them his mother got killed by a sniper. One of them, after they bomb a school, he went to the school and he grabbed the body of a girl and she was almost alive, while he was running through the hospital, she died. So, his...of course he was gonna have a flip in his mind, and he gonna hold the gun and fight. So those people, they didn't like came from nothing. There is a reason always to do this. Even like I'm not into like guns or things, that's why I choose also art because I believe art is more stronger than a gun. And I don’t want to see any person on earth suffer. Like death is coming anyway, like you gonna die, but why we have to kill each other? Destroying, destroying. Like, I can make art which is strong, I can bring the messages, not just from my place, from all over the world and develop it to the stage. And eh… I think it's, let's make it, let's be cultural more. Let's let the art talk. And eh, we not gonna fake history, we not gonna fake stories, we gonna bring the story as it is. DAN: And this is why they’re so afraid of theatre. MOTAZ: Yeah! DAN: Because theatre shows the reasons why a person does something, and they don't wanna look at the reasons. MOTAZ: Man, I start to believe in this thing in 2012. I was going to the theatre in a taxi and there was checkpoint, and they stop me. ‘Cause I have no ID. I told him, like “I’m late for my theatre.” And he said, “Oh, you’re going to the Freedom Theatre.” He said like, “Come on man, they killed Juliano, they could kill you too.” And I said like “Why?” He said like, “Art will not change anything man. Why you need it?” And I said, “It's fine, for you it's nothing, but for me...” And he told me, “If you don't have your ID next time, you go to prison. And I promise you.” So since that time I just realize how much art is strong, and how much they afraid from art.   MAX: Here’s Motaz in a scene from “Return to Palestine,” devised by graduates of the Freedom Theatre acting school. [Excerpt from "Return to Palestine," in Arabic]   MAX: So, the work I do here in New York City is mostly with an organization called Theatre of the Oppressed NYC. MOTAZ: Yeah, I know. MAX: Where I work with a lot of different groups of people. Right now I’m working at Housing Works, which is an organization that um…I think this is the blurb from their website, “works to end the twin crises of HIV/AIDS and homelessness.” MOTAZ: Whoa. DAN: Easy. MAX: Yeah, right? I’m working with a group of folks from Housing Works on a play that they created about their experiences trying to keep and get affordable housing, with housing vouchers that they have because of their status. And… that’s just one example, I’ve worked on a lot of plays, and the way that sometimes I think about what those plays are meant to do, is is kind of in two areas: there’s the sort of, I mean, the way that I talk about it with my family, which is very much in the kind of like raising awareness camp, in the sense that people come to see these plays, they don’t know anything about tenant harassment in New York City and they learn about it. And then, really what it was designed to do by the folks who came up with this stuff in Brazil in the seventies, which is to build capacity in that community. Um, these theater tools are tools for people to work together to make change. I’m wondering if that resonates with you at all, and sort of -- what do you see your work in theater doing? DAN: Obviously I like plays that do all of these things at the same time. MOTAZ: Yeah. DAN: But, as a playwright, if you go into a project with too much of a vision of like what kind of responses you want from your audience -- an audience knows when you’re trying to manipulate them, and at the end of the day, an audience knows when something is authentic. So, being a playwright is about balancing your vision for what you want to happen in the room, and your relationship to your own imagination and your own impulses. MOTAZ: And the thing is like, if you don’t believe it, the actors will never believe it, then the audience will never believe it. DAN: Yeah, totally, and a lot of political theatre gets a bad rap, because I think a lot of political theatre is only thinking about, how can we make an impact with this audience? And it feels false. MOTAZ: I’m interested to know about, Dan, like -- normally, when you write, you give solution for the people? Or you give them a question to find the solution? DAN: I don’t give solutions, no. MOTAZ: You give a question. DAN: I give the questions. Yeah yeah yeah yeah. MOTAZ: Good, yeah. DAN: If I feel like I know concretely an answer to something, then I don’t need to write the play. I will just write an essay.   [MUSIC: Cheese on Bread, “All Your Sisters”]   MAX: Motaz had to leave, and I got to talk to Dan for a little while longer about the difference between boycott and censorship, and why he wants to start identifying as a “liberationist Jew.” If you’re not already subscribed, SUBSCRIBE to Unsettled on your podcatcher of choice -- because, in a couple weeks, you’ll get a bonus episode with the rest of our conversation. In the meantime, you can find Dan’s work at his website, danfishback.com, and follow Motaz on Instagram @motazmalhees, that’s M-O-T-A-Z-M-A-L-H-E-E-S. The song you’ve been hearing is "All Your Sisters" by Dan Fishback’s band, Cheese On Bread, from their forthcoming album "The One Who Wanted More,” coming out next year. You can find the song, a full transcript of the episode and other resources at our website, unsettledpod.com. Unsettled is produced by Emily Bell, Asaf Calderon, Yoshi Fields, Ilana Levinson, and me. This episode was edited by Ilana Levinson. Original music by Nat Rosenzweig. We recorded this episode in a studio for the first time -- shout out to Cast Sound Lab in Brooklyn, New York. Go to our website, unsettledpod.com, for more show information. We want to bring you more content in more different forms, and to make that happen, we need your support! So you can become a monthly sustainer at Patreon.com/unsettled. You can like Unsettled on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Overcast, or wherever you get your podcasts, to make sure you never miss an episode of Unsettled.

“Culture is the only human practice that can actually dig into the root of a trauma and try to undo it in the first place. And this is why people are so afraid of culture, and in particular theatre. ‘Cause when there’s a human being in front of you having an experience, it’s very difficult to ignore them. It’s hard to ignore a play.” — Dan Fishback Dan Fishback and Motaz Malhees both made waves in the New York theater scene this fall with plays about Palestine. Motaz performed with the Freedom Theatre of Jenin in "The Siege," at the NYU Skirball Center. Meanwhile, Dan's play "Rubble Rubble" was abruptly and controversially cancelled by the American Jewish Historical Society. In this joint interview, Dan and Motaz talk about their work, and explain why culture is their weapon of choice against the injustices of the occupation. This episode of Unsettled is hosted by Max Freedman. Original music by Nat Rosenzweig. Recorded at The 'cast Sound Lab in Brooklyn, New York on November 6, 2017. Edited for length and clarity by Ilana Levinson.  Photo credit: Sammy Tunis Dan Fishback is a playwright, performer, musician, and director of the Helix Queer Performance Network. His musical “The Material World” was called one of the Top Ten Plays of 2012 by Time Out New York. His play “You Will Experience Silence” was called “sassier and more fun than 'Angels in America'” by the Village Voice. Also a performing songwriter, Fishback has released several albums and toured Europe and North America, both solo and with his band Cheese On Bread. Other theater works include “Waiting for Barbara” (New Museum, 2013), “thirtynothing” (Dixon Place, 2011) and “No Direction Homo” (P.S. 122, 2006). As director of the Helix Queer Performance Network, Fishback curates and organizes a range of festivals, workshops and public events, including the annual series, “La MaMa’s Squirts.” Fishback has received grants for his theater work from the Franklin Furnace Fund (2010) and the Six Points Fellowship for Emerging Jewish Artists (2007-2009). He has been a resident artist at Kelly Writers House at the University of Pennsylvania, the Hemispheric Institute at NYU, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center, Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, and BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange, where he has developed all of his theater work since 2010. Fishback is a proud member of the Jewish Voice for Peace Artist Council. He is currently developing two new musicals, “Rubble Rubble” and “Water Signs,” and will release a new album by Cheese On Bread in 2018. Motaz Malhees is a Palestinian actor born in 1992. He received his professional training in Stanislavsky, Brecht and Shakespeare at The Freedom Theatre in Jenin Refugee Camp (Palestine), and in Commedia dell’Arte at Theatre Hotel Courage in Amsterdam (Holland). Motaz has trained with internationally acclaimed directors such as Juliano Mer-Khamis and Nabil Al-Raee (The Freedom Theatre), Di Trevis (Royal Shakespeare Company), Thomas Ostermeier (Schaubühne Theatre), and Katrien van Beurden (Theatre Hotel Courage). His stage credits with The Freedom Theatre include: “Alice in Wonderland” (2011), “What Else – Sho Kman?” (2011), Pinter’s “The Caretaker” (2012), “Freaky Boy” (2012), “Courage, Ouda, Courage” (2013), “Suicide Note from Palestine” (2014), “Power/Poison” (2014), and most recently “The Siege” at the NYU Skirball Center. Motaz has also acted in films, including: “Think Out of the Box” (2014, dir. Mohammad Dasoqe), which screened in Palestine, Germany and Mexico; and “Past Tense Continuous” (2014, dir. Dima Hourani). As a versatile actor, Motaz has performed in multilingual plays as well as in scripted, devised, physical, epic and fantasy theatre. Motaz also produces and performs in short films about social issues in Palestine, which have received a wide following on social media platforms. Having grown up in Palestine, and experienced the economic and political hardships of life under occupation, Motaz has been actively interested in acting since he was nine years old. He lives through theatre, and believes in the potential of art to transform people’s ideas and lives. REFERENCES "Arna's Children" (dir. Juliano Mer-Khamis, 2004) "The Life and Death of Juliano Mer-Khamis" (Adam Shatz, London Review of Books, November 2013) "Center for Jewish History Chief Comes Under Fierce Attack By Right-Wingers" (Josh Nathan-Kazis, Forward, September 6, 2017) "Jewish Center Faces Backlash After Canceling Play Criticized as Anti-Israel" (Jennifer Schuessler, New York Times_, _October 11, 2017) Program note by Oskar Eustis for "The Siege" at NYU Skirball Center (October 2017) Indiegogo campaign for Dan Fishback's "Rubble Rubble" "Return to Palestine"(The Freedom Theatre, 2016) in Arabic without subtitles Theatre of the Oppressed NYC Housing Works  "All Your Sisters" (Cheese On Bread, 2017) danfishback.com @motazmalhees thefreedomtheatre.org TRANSCRIPT DAN: So many people warned me against making work like this. And yeah, I got canceled, but in the process, I have tremendously powerful friends now that I didn't make before. MOTAZ: Doesn't it make you stronger after they cancel it? DAN: Yeah, of course. Yeah. MOTAZ: Didn't it make you more like want to do it? DAN: Oh, yeah. MOTAZ: That's a good thing, then.   [MUSIC: Unsettled theme by Nat Rosenzweig]   MAX: Welcome to Unsettled. My name is Max Freedman, I’m one of the producers of Unsettled and your host for today’s episode. Now when I’m not working on this podcast, I’m a theater artist, and I know how hard it can be to make a life in the theater and get your work out there. However hard you think it is, imagine you’re trying to tell stories about the occupied West Bank. Enter Dan Fishback and Motaz Malhees. Dan and Motaz both made waves in the New York theater scene this fall with plays about Palestine. Motaz was in New York performing with the Freedom Theatre of Jenin in “The Siege,” a play about the Israeli siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, during the Second Intifada. Dan, on the other hand, made waves because of a play that didn’t happen, rather than one that did. His play, “Rubble Rubble,” was supposed to go up at the American Jewish Historical Society, but they cancelled it. I’ll let him tell you why -- and what happened next. Dan and Motaz didn’t know each other before, but I had the privilege to get them in the same room to talk about their work and as you’ll hear, they had a lot in common. In preparation for this interview, I dug through years of old journals and found my entry from the day I first met Motaz, when I was in Jenin, three summers ago. Really big and underlined a few times, I had written two words: CULTURAL RESISTANCE. So that’s our theme for today. Quick note: besides the three of us, at one point you’ll hear the voice of my co-producer Ilana Levinson. I think that’s all you need to know, so, let’s get started!   MAX: Welcome to Unsettled. Uh, why don't you start by introducing yourselves? MOTAZ: Eh, first of all I am so happy to be here with you guys that's before I introduce myself. I am Motaz Malhees, so I am an actor from Palestine, I used to work with the Freedom Theatre since 2010. I do a lot of politics theatre but also the same time I do also for community, I do like for kids show. But I feel like, whatever needs, I give, like...it’s not important the type of theatre I do. But nowadays I'm freelance, and I work like with all theatres in Palestine, my country, because I don't want to be just involved with one place -- even that's I always say that the Freedom Theatre, that's my place and my home. DAN: I’m Dan Fishback, I’m a...I make performance and music and theatre in New York, I’ve been here since 2003 -- I don't know, what do you want to know? MAX: Where’d you grow up? DAN: Oh my gosh! I grew up in a pretty normal American Reform Jewish family, outside Washington, DC in Maryland. In a family that...was essentially a liberal Zionist family, although I don't think they would have necessary articulated themselves like that, they just imagine themselves being normal. And I heard growing up, “If only the Palestinians were nonviolent, then they would get what they want. Because they're asking for something reasonable, but it's because they're violent that things are problem....that that's the reason why there's a problem.” And like, the older people around me as I was growing up were always saying, “If only there was a Palestinian Gandhi” -- that was like the refrain, over and over again. And now I find myself 36 years old, going back to my communities and being like, “There’s this huge non-violent Palestinian movement! And it’s international and we can be part of it, it’s boycott, and blah blah blah.” And everyone’s like, “Oh no, no no, this makes us uncomfortable too.” I'm like, “This is what you were begging for my whole childhood! And now it’s here! Why aren’t you excited? Why aren't you as excited as I am?” That’s where I’m from. MOTAZ: That’s cool. DAN: And it’s an honor to be here with Motaz, whose performance in “The Siege” was absolutely amazing. MOTAZ: We not sure, but there is like people who really want to bring it back to the U.S. again, because it was a really successful show like for the Skirball Theatre, even like they almost sold out. MAX: Let me back you up a second, because, I want you to imagine that I have never heard of “The Siege,” have never heard of the Freedom Theatre. Can you tell me -- tell me what it was, tell me what it is. MOTAZ: “The Siege” it's a story about the invasion happened in 2002 in Palestine. There was like eh...invasion for the whole West Bank: in Jenin, in Nablus, all the cities. Like, one of them was Bethlehem, and in Bethlehem there was like a group of fighters, freedom fighters, who fight and defend back from their homeland. They have like many guns defending themselves, and they have in the other side -- the Israeli side -- there is tanks, Apache, Jeeps, all kind of guns you can imagine your life, heavy guns. And they were like around 45 fighters, 250, 245 civilian -- priests, nuns, children, women, and men, from both different religions -- who’s like stuck inside the Nativity Church for 39 days. With the like first five days they have food, after that they have no food. And they surrounded with around 60,000 soldiers from the Israeli army. They want, like, to finish it. So they, they have pressure, they don't wanna -- even the fighters, says khalas, it’s enough. Their people are suffering, their families are suffering outside because of that. So, they sent them like a paper, they have to write their names, the number of their IDs they have, and their signature. So, the fighters sign on it, and they know that's thirteen going to Europe and twenty-five are going to Gaza. They don't know even where they going. So, they sent them to exile the same day. DAN: When my friends and I were leaving the theatre, all we were talking about is, we were so curious about what their lives would be like after fifteen years of exile and we couldn’t wrap our minds around it. MOTAZ: I know one of them is personally, and he told me a lot about it. And it’s really important to bring this piece because of one reason: they didn't choose. Even they signed the paper that say they have to go to exile, but like they was under pressure, and they thought it's temporary and that they would return. And eh, I know how much they are really broken from inside. They never show this to people.But from inside, if you know them personally, they are really broken, and they just...all they want, just to see like at least their families. Some of them, they can’t. Their family, like they can't get the visa to go to visit them -- like, for example, the two guys, Rami Kamel, and Jihadi Jaara who living in Dublin, they haven't seen their families at all. One of them, like Jihadi he have a son that's his wife give birth like after one week he was sent to exile. He didn't even touch his son, he's fifteen years old, like...at least, like, okay, you don't want to send him back to Palestine. Let his family visit him! Like, this is the minimum of humanity. And eh...a really important point we have like always to say: those people was in their homeland, they was in their own city, and they fight back. They didn't went to...yeah, to Tel Aviv to fight, or to somewhere inside Israel, to fight the people over there. They was fighting the…defending themselves from the Israeli army. MAX: How did you get started with the Freedom Theatre? MOTAZ: Woo hoo! Since I was like, eh…fourteen I heard about it, or thirteen -- and I was dreaming about to be in there cause I’m, since like eight, nine, I start doing acting. It's like something I really love from inside, like I really really want to be an actor. Not because like I wanted a name. Because I can hold the stories, I can share stories for all over the world, I enjoy it, it's something beautiful and strong in the same time. So when I was sixteen, I heard about the hip-hop workshop, dance hip-hop workshop in the Freedom Theatre. So I went there and I apply for it, and I get involved with the workshop, and the last few days Juliano just came and he said, “We open a new class for theatre.”   MAX: Juliano, who Motaz just mentioned, is Juliano Mer Khamis, who started what is today, the Freedom Theatre. Real quick, I want to tell you the remarkable story of the Freedom Theatre of Jenin. During the First Intifada, Juliano’s mother, a Jewish Israeli Communist named Arna Mer, came to Jenin, where she helped to establish housing and educational programs for children in the refugee camp there -- and eventually a children’s theatre called The Stone. Arna died of cancer in 1995, and during the Second Intifada, the Stone Theatre was destroyed. Arna’s son Juliano returned to Jenin for the first time since his mother’s death in the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Jenin, and made an incredible film called "Arna’s Children" -- Motaz will tell you more about this in a bit, but it’s on YouTube and I highly recommend it. It was after finishing this film that Juliano returned again to Jenin to found the Freedom Theatre. In 2011, Juliano was assassinated, but the Freedom Theatre has persisted. Alright -- back to Motaz.   MOTAZ: So I get involved and I put myself in that place since 2010. And it’s been like around...now, now you could say like eight years almost. It is...hard and eh, good in the same time. It is, ‘cause you face emotion, a lot of different emotion. But I love it. It's like, it’s become my home now. I’m always there. Even if I have nothing, I go pass by drinking coffee there like, chill, see what's going on, if they need help or something, because I'm part of the family. MAX: Well we met because I went to visit the Freedom Theatre. And you were just hanging around and we sat there and talked for an hour. MOTAZ: Yeah yeah. MAX: Alright, so, Dan. DAN: Yeah. MAX: Tell me about your work and particularly tell me about “Rubble Rubble” and the genesis of that project. MOTAZ: I wanna hear about it. DAN: Well I've been working for the past decade on a trilogy of plays that sort of explore the inner life of the Jewish left in the United States over the past century. And this last play, “Rubble Rubble,” which I've been developing for the past few years, starts in the West Bank in an Israeli settlement. And you find this family that I've been writing plays about -- which is a very far leftist socialist radical family -- you see that that family has split off, and there's like a right-wing side of the family that has become settlers. And the left-wing anti-Zionist member of their family travels to visit them, after they haven’t spoken in twenty years. MOTAZ: Whoa. DAN: And the family confronts each other over his huge chasm, where one person is like a Palestinian solidarity BDS supporter and the rest of the family are like... MOTAZ: Pro-Israel. DAN: They're like settlers! Like living on stolen land, even though, but they’re middle aged American Jews who in the sixties were like radical New Left, you know, people. I’m fascinated by how many American-Israeli Jews were like super far on the left in the United States and then became these horrible oppressors in Israel. It blows my mind that it's possible to make that transition within the course of one life. And so, and that's where the play starts, and um…and I've been developing it for a few years, I went to Israel-Palestine to research for the play, I spent two weeks with interfaith peace builders traveling all through the West Bank and meeting with different non violent Palestinian and Israeli activists. I spent a week interviewing settlers, which was extremely disturbing. Um, and then I’ve been developing this play, and it was gonna have its first public reading at the American Jewish Historical Society in Manhattan and, um, a couple weeks ago -- I guess now around a month ago -- we went to their offices for a meeting and everything was very positive, they were very excited to have us, the staff was very supportive of the work. And we heard that there was a right-wing smear campaign against the organization's new CEO. And we were told, “This is all happening but don't let it bother you. We might have to cancel that other thing, but we're not going to cancel your play, because we, we're really excited about it.” And literally the conversation we had was about raising the budget for our play. Eight hours later, I got an email saying that the play had been canceled. MOTAZ: What? Was there any explanation about it? DAN: Well, I knew that it was... The institution itself never sent me like a formal letter or anything, but I knew that it was because of this right-wing Zionist pressure campaign that they were being pressured to fire their new CEO, and in order to try to get rid of that critique, they were just going to get rid of us. And the staff of the American Jewish Historical Society was very supportive of me, and I don't see them as my enemies at all. It was the board of directors, or at least a small group from the board, met in the middle of the night and made this decision. And this is what happens all the time in Jewish organizations: the people actually doing work are willing to make brave choices, and the people who are funding that work are not willing to let anyone make those choices. MOTAZ: Yeah yeah yeah, this happened with the same thing almost with us. DAN: Yeah, at the Public, right? MOTAZ: Yeah yeah yeah, it's almost the same, I like, I don't know who’s stand with us or who is against us, but we had this question for Oskar, which is the Artistic Director of the Public Theater, and his answer was really diplomatic answer and I respect -- no Oskar, he’s really great guy and he was one of the supporters to bring this play over here, and the most important thing, he says, that's to bring “The Siege” for the New Yorker people and we did it. It’s not about the place. DAN: Well, that was interesting about Oskar Eustis and “The Siege,” is that it was supposed to be at the Public Theater, the board canceled that choice. But Oskar, who is the Artistic Director of the Public Theater, he had notes in the program for “The Siege” production at the Skirball Center. And I was like, this is so unusual that you open the program and you see notes from the director of the theatre that canceled the play! MOTAZ: Yeah yeah. But, I want to hear more about Dan play, man. DAN: Sure, yeah. MOTAZ: I would like to know what is the story? DAN: Well, I can tell you about the story of what happens in the play, but what I also want to say is that, after we were canceled, the New York theatre world became incredibly supportive of us. And people really came out of nowhere to offer support and offer help. We raised our budget that had been canceled from American Jewish Historical Society within three days. MOTAZ: Whoa. DAN: Yeah. And we were offered resources that we couldn't have ever imagined. And to me, that was a huge sign that the people who are trying to censor dissident voices around Israel-Palestine are going to fail in humiliation. Because our work is stronger than ever after having been canceled, because people are so angry about it. People who are, who don't really know very much about it, are angry about it. And there are left-wing Zionists in my life who don't agree with me, but who are so angry that the play was canceled -- and it’s put them in a situation where they are more open to my ideas, and more open to considering the ideas of the play. So, I mean -- and we’re going to do the reading of the play, it's going happen next year, the details aren't confirmed, but it's going to be bigger and more interesting and more spectacular than it would have been if it hadn’t been canceled in the first place. Which is interesting. The play itself -- it’s funny because the people who canceled it never read it. And it's weird, like if they read it I think they'd be like, “Oh, this is weird.” It's a weird play. The first act is like a very traditional living room drama in a family. So, there's the aunt and uncle, who are middle-aged formerly left-wing radical American Jews who live in a settlement. There's their radical nephew, who shares my politics but is not a sympathetic person. He’s kind of...nasty and annoying and neurotic. And he’s there with his partner who’s Colombian and has no context for any of this. So I really wanted there to be a character who doesn't really have any stake in the game, doesn't have any history with Israel-Palestine, just comes from another part of the world entirely, but who has...a personal history of violence. Because he grew up in a part of Colombia that experienced a lot of violence. Whereas, I think a lot of white American Jews, violence, revolution, all these ideas are abstract concepts, and we don't experience them in our real lives. So he's coming at -- that character, who in a way is the central character of the play -- is coming at things from a totally different context. And I don't want to give anything away, but by the end of the first act, things go horribly wrong, and the first act ends with an enormous disaster. And the second act begins, and it's a musical, and it takes place in Moscow in 1905. And it's the same family, but a century before, and the matriarch of the family is building bombs for the socialist revolution of 1905. MOTAZ: So it’s almost flashback? DAN: It’s like a flash -- it's like an ancestral flashback. MOTAZ: That’s interesting. DAN: So you see the ancestor of the same family, and she's like a socialist revolutionary. She's building a bomb, she wants to like blow up the Tsar. And...and the ideas of the first act are sort of filtered through the music of the second act, where you see her with her socialist comrades. And what I want to ask is: How did this family go from here to there? How did it get from one place to the other? And, and the other question that I'm really interested in asking is like: Once you learn that there's an enormous injustice around you, how far are you willing to go to stop it from happening? How much violence are you willing to accept in order to stop something? Which is a huge question, I think, for anti-Zionist Jews when it comes to Palestine, like how...what are we supposed to do, knowing this horrible thing is going on? It's a huge question within Palestinian society, obviously, like what are you willing to do to stop this from happening? And it’s been a huge question throughout Jewish political history, which is full of violent resistance to injustice, and we act like were so horrified by violence, but Jewish history is full of it. So, those are the questions that I'm dealing with, and I don't think that the play offers any straightforward answers. And that's the interesting thing about the play being canceled or censored, is that the play itself is about what happens when two sides of a Jewish family can't communicate, and shun each other. And that’s what’s happened with the play, that we were being shunned just like family members are being shunned. And when I was in Israel, researching the play, and I would tell people what the play was about -- you know, it's about a Jewish family that's separated over Israel, and the Israeli side doesn't talk to the American side -- and every single person I talked to was like, “Oh, that's just like my family. That's my family, that happened to us.” And I was like, oh, right. This is bad for everybody. This destroys families, this injustice is destroying everybody involved in it. MOTAZ: Yeah, I mean like, even if it’s happened, like something like, my grandparents, whatever it takes place, I will not do the same thing in a different place. DAN: Right? This is the big Jewish catastrophe of the twentieth century, that you take one of two decisions, right? You either, you take all the trauma and you say, “This will never happen to us again, and we will do anything to protect us.” Or you say, “This will never happen to anyone again.” MOTAZ: What, like, Jewish used to live in Yemen, Morocco, Egypt, Palestine, many Arab countries, there was normal to see like this Muslim, Christian and a Jewish neighbor and eh, like an atheist beside him, and all of them are living in the Arab world like normally, like -- let's be honest, even though the Arab history is not clear, like there is many bad things from the Arab history also like... But eh, we used to live like together, so the thing is not religion. I don’t believe it’s religion, it’s mentality. It’s... DAN: I was talking, I was having an argument in a restaurant a couple years ago with a Zionist Jew, and we were fighting really passionately. And someone, a stranger came up to our table and said, “Guys, stop fighting about this. It's an ancient struggle that's been going on thousands of years.” And we both looked at him, both of us agreed, we were like, “No, it isn't! This is new, this is in the past like less than 200 years that this has happened, come on.” We were like, “Go sit down. Finish your lunch, hon. Get out of our faces.” There's so many lies about it. But this is...I feel like this is the work, this is the cultural work of American Jewishness right now. We've been brought up with such a distorted understanding of the world. And it's gonna take so much cultural work to undo it all. MOTAZ: Yeah, and it's gonna make a lot of enemies at the same time. DAN: Oh yeah. But I think my situation proves that it's also gonna get…it's not gonna be completely a disaster. You know, everyone -- so many people warned me against making work like this. And yeah, I got canceled, but in the process, I have tremendously powerful friends now that I didn't make before. MOTAZ: Doesn't it make you stronger after they cancel it? DAN: Yeah, of course. Yeah. MOTAZ: Didn't it make you more like want to do it? DAN: Oh, yeah. MOTAZ: That's a good thing, then. Okay, what’s the next question? MAX: So, for both of you, why is culture your weapon of choice? MOTAZ: Woo hoo! Because eh… Dan, you go ahead. DAN: ‘Cause its more powerful! Like…violence only ever creates more violence. I think this, like, even when it's necessary, it ends up being true. Culture is the only human practice that can actually dig into the root of a trauma and try to undo it in the first place. Um, and this is why people are so afraid of culture, and in particular theatre. ‘Cause when there's a human being in front of you having an experience, it’s very difficult to ignore them. It's hard to ignore a play. And, and so many…especially, so many American Zionist Jews are under -- on an emotional level, understand that their perspective is impossible. ‘Cause if you ask most American Jews, “Do you believe that it is right for a country to privilege one ethno-religious group over others?” Most of them will say, “No, that’s wrong. That is a wrong thing.” And then you say, “Well, what about Israel?” and they'll go, “Uhhhhhh…” But the fundamental truth, the deeper truth is that none of us actually support this. It's, the the support for Israel is the more superficial belief. The deeper belief is that this is wrong. Good plays, good art, good visual art, good music, good anything about this will help strip away the sort of superficial attachment to the, to the story of Israel, and help people get to the deeper belief that supremacy is wrong. No matter who is supreme in any given situation, it will always be wrong. ILANA: Sorry, I just wanna um, in the conversation about Zionism, I’m wondering... DAN: Do you want me to define that? ILANA: Yeah, I’m wondering specifically if you think any form of Zionism involves supremacy and that kind of thing. DAN: You know, I identify as an anti-Zionist Jew, and a lot of people, a lot of people will say, “Oh, don't say that, because it’s icky, it makes us uncomfortable to say you're anti-Zionist. Because, 'cause what does that really mean.” And for me, if it was the early 1900s, maybe I would have identified as like a Cultural Zionist. But to me, the way the word Zionism functions in the world, it’s support for a Jewish state of Israel. And to me, that means that Zionism inherently requires one to believe that Jews should reign supreme in this land, and I think that that's an untenable option. MAX: I…I sort of wanna respond. DAN: You wanna get into it, Max? MAX: No, I don't -- no, I don’t wanna argue with you…that's not… I will confess that I am skeptical of people who call themselves anti-Zionists who are not Jewish and not Palestinian. I... DAN:  Yeah yeah yeah, me too. I think that part of the, part of what it means to liberate Jews in the world, is to liberate us from our trauma, and to liberate us from that pain that…that distracts us from the reality of the world. And that requires our friends to help us get through that trauma, and to help us liberate ourselves from that trauma, and that requires non-Jewish people who oppose Zionism to make sure that we are emotionally capable of, um, of joining with them and being in community with them. And to me that's always like a challenge to my non-Jewish friends and comrades to be like, if we’re gonna do this together you need to understand that we’re…we just barely made it alive into this century, and a lot of us have like legitimate fears for our lives. I mean, we’re living in the United States where there's like a Nazi problem, right? Like our fear of violence is real and legitimate and um, when people say there's like no anti-semitism on the left in the United States, to me that's like so foolish. Like obviously, there's some anti-semitism in any part of the world, in any community. MOTAZ: Of course, of course…that's true. DAN: And when we pretend it doesn't exist, then we’re...I think we make so many other Jews feel unsafe joining us in this movement, because we're saying something that's obviously untrue and they don't trust us ‘cause it sounds like we’re lying to them. From my perspective, we need to say it: yeah, there's totally some anti-semitism on the left. And we need to deal with it, and our non-Jewish comrades need to deal with it, so that we can see that this is a safe place for us to be. MOTAZ: Nobody called you before, like you are anti-semitic after all the things you did? DAN: Oh yeah. MOTAZ: And you are Jewish. DAN: Oh yeah. Motaz, I need to tell you, I've gotten a lot of hate mail in my life and it's never as aggressive as other Jews. They’re the ones that tell me I should die. What they always say is, “You should go to Palestine, where they’d kill you.” They say this all the time, and I’m like, “I’ve been to Palestine, dude!” MOTAZ: So if some of the guys gonna hear this interview, Dan, you more than welcome in my house in Jenin. Nobody gonna kill you, you gonna love it. So come back to the first question? MAX: Yes, yes, finally... MOTAZ: Why cultural... Because I'm fed up. I have seen like many people got killed in this entire world since I was born. And see blood everywhere, why it’s need to be violent? Why that question? Why don't we turn the opposite question: why we have to be violent? Because it's like, we fed up, we are like, we are human. There is many people that think, like, “Oh, they was born like this.” No, they was not born like this. There is something happen to them. Like, if you watch there is a really important and good movie, it’s called “Arna’s Children,” Little kids, he talking about this story a lot, little kids. And they was dreaming about to be a Romeo of Palestine, them want to be Juliet, one of them he want to be Al Pacino. They wanna be actors. Suddenly, in a moment in 2002, you see those people got killed. And they became a freedom fighter before. Why? One of them his mother got killed by a sniper. One of them, after they bomb a school, he went to the school and he grabbed the body of a girl and she was almost alive, while he was running through the hospital, she died. So, his...of course he was gonna have a flip in his mind, and he gonna hold the gun and fight. So those people, they didn't like came from nothing. There is a reason always to do this. Even like I'm not into like guns or things, that's why I choose also art because I believe art is more stronger than a gun. And I don’t want to see any person on earth suffer. Like death is coming anyway, like you gonna die, but why we have to kill each other? Destroying, destroying. Like, I can make art which is strong, I can bring the messages, not just from my place, from all over the world and develop it to the stage. And eh… I think it's, let's make it, let's be cultural more. Let's let the art talk. And eh, we not gonna fake history, we not gonna fake stories, we gonna bring the story as it is. DAN: And this is why they’re so afraid of theatre. MOTAZ: Yeah! DAN: Because theatre shows the reasons why a person does something, and they don't wanna look at the reasons. MOTAZ: Man, I start to believe in this thing in 2012. I was going to the theatre in a taxi and there was checkpoint, and they stop me. ‘Cause I have no ID. I told him, like “I’m late for my theatre.” And he said, “Oh, you’re going to the Freedom Theatre.” He said like, “Come on man, they killed Juliano, they could kill you too.” And I said like “Why?” He said like, “Art will not change anything man. Why you need it?” And I said, “It's fine, for you it's nothing, but for me...” And he told me, “If you don't have your ID next time, you go to prison. And I promise you.” So since that time I just realize how much art is strong, and how much they afraid from art.   MAX: Here’s Motaz in a scene from “Return to Palestine,” devised by graduates of the Freedom Theatre acting school. [Excerpt from "Return to Palestine," in Arabic]   MAX: So, the work I do here in New York City is mostly with an organization called Theatre of the Oppressed NYC. MOTAZ: Yeah, I know. MAX: Where I work with a lot of different groups of people. Right now I’m working at Housing Works, which is an organization that um…I think this is the blurb from their website, “works to end the twin crises of HIV/AIDS and homelessness.” MOTAZ: Whoa. DAN: Easy. MAX: Yeah, right? I’m working with a group of folks from Housing Works on a play that they created about their experiences trying to keep and get affordable housing, with housing vouchers that they have because of their status. And… that’s just one example, I’ve worked on a lot of plays, and the way that sometimes I think about what those plays are meant to do, is is kind of in two areas: there’s the sort of, I mean, the way that I talk about it with my family, which is very much in the kind of like raising awareness camp, in the sense that people come to see these plays, they don’t know anything about tenant harassment in New York City and they learn about it. And then, really what it was designed to do by the folks who came up with this stuff in Brazil in the seventies, which is to build capacity in that community. Um, these theater tools are tools for people to work together to make change. I’m wondering if that resonates with you at all, and sort of -- what do you see your work in theater doing? DAN: Obviously I like plays that do all of these things at the same time. MOTAZ: Yeah. DAN: But, as a playwright, if you go into a project with too much of a vision of like what kind of responses you want from your audience -- an audience knows when you’re trying to manipulate them, and at the end of the day, an audience knows when something is authentic. So, being a playwright is about balancing your vision for what you want to happen in the room, and your relationship to your own imagination and your own impulses. MOTAZ: And the thing is like, if you don’t believe it, the actors will never believe it, then the audience will never believe it. DAN: Yeah, totally, and a lot of political theatre gets a bad rap, because I think a lot of political theatre is only thinking about, how can we make an impact with this audience? And it feels false. MOTAZ: I’m interested to know about, Dan, like -- normally, when you write, you give solution for the people? Or you give them a question to find the solution? DAN: I don’t give solutions, no. MOTAZ: You give a question. DAN: I give the questions. Yeah yeah yeah yeah. MOTAZ: Good, yeah. DAN: If I feel like I know concretely an answer to something, then I don’t need to write the play. I will just write an essay.   [MUSIC: Cheese on Bread, “All Your Sisters”]   MAX: Motaz had to leave, and I got to talk to Dan for a little while longer about the difference between boycott and censorship, and why he wants to start identifying as a “liberationist Jew.” If you’re not already subscribed, SUBSCRIBE to Unsettled on your podcatcher of choice -- because, in a couple weeks, you’ll get a bonus episode with the rest of our conversation. In the meantime, you can find Dan’s work at his website, danfishback.com, and follow Motaz on Instagram @motazmalhees, that’s M-O-T-A-Z-M-A-L-H-E-E-S. The song you’ve been hearing is "All Your Sisters" by Dan Fishback’s band, Cheese On Bread, from their forthcoming album "The One Who Wanted More,” coming out next year. You can find the song, a full transcript of the episode and other resources at our website, unsettledpod.com. Unsettled is produced by Emily Bell, Asaf Calderon, Yoshi Fields, Ilana Levinson, and me. This episode was edited by Ilana Levinson. Original music by Nat Rosenzweig. We recorded this episode in a studio for the first time -- shout out to Cast Sound Lab in Brooklyn, New York. Go to our website, unsettledpod.com, for more show information. We want to bring you more content in more different forms, and to make that happen, we need your support! So you can become a monthly sustainer at Patreon.com/unsettled. You can like Unsettled on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Overcast, or wherever you get your podcasts, to make sure you never miss an episode of Unsettled.

Jack Mackenroth is most widely known for his participation as a fashion designer on season 4 of Project Runway. He became one of the nations most visible HIV activists when he disclosed his positive HIV status on the show. It was the first public television disclosure since Pedro Zamora in 1994. Jack currently works as a media strategist for Housing Works in New York. There he art directed the New York based #PrEPheroes campaign to promote PrEP and he is currently promoting the Housing Works fundraiser, Braking AIDS Ride. He also plans to personally raise $75,000 and participate in the 300 mile bike ride in September. (He raised $56,000 in 2014) In 2013 he was the creator of the multi-media anti-stigma and HIV testing initiative, “HIV Equal”. On World AIDS Day 2014, he conceptualized and launched the HIV Shower Selfie Challenge with the hashtag #weareALLclean, which went globally viral in multiple countries with over 26 million social media impressions and translations in over 10 languages. From 2014 to 2016, Jack was the Senior Communications Officer of MSMGF—The Global Forum On MSM and HIV.Jack has two bachelor’s degrees from the University of California at Berkeley and one from Parson School of Design. He has been HIV positive for 28 years, since the age of 20. 

Matthew Desmond - author of "Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City" was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. #WPROIn its citation, the Pulitzer judges described Evicted: "For a deeply researched exposé that showed how mass evictions after the 2008 economic crash were less a consequence than a cause of poverty." In September, 2016, Desmond was the keynote speaker at the HousingWorks conference in Providence.

Amy Virginia Buchanan's faith in herself and the energy of New York changed her life. She jumped from a job at HousingWorks to pursue acting, singing and perhaps most surprisingly a creative partnership called Spring Street Social Society. As artistic director, she helps plot one-of-kind events with musical entertainment in unconventional settings for the group's members. On today's podcast, Buchanan reveals a vulnerable brilliance and uncompromising approach that are essential to her success.

Coming in a few days early to help with Post-election let down (And because our producer will be traveling this week) Fight-ing crime, try-ing to save. The. World. This sweet little children's cartoon always seemed to have a lot of adult humor and appeal but today we're asking: The Power Puff Girls, Is It Transphobic? Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=3853144 In WI on Nov 16? Check out Ashley's one person show! https://www.facebook.com/events/1277265782291986/ Theatre of the Oppressed NYC and Housing Works present "Things $ Can't Buy" http://www.tonyc.nyc/housingworks_20161122 Ashley's shows in December http://www.step1theatreproject.org/upcoming --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/isittransphobic/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/isittransphobic/support

Franz Nicolay is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, true punk philosopher, and now…an author.The Humorless Ladies of Border Patrol chronicles Nicolay and his wife Maria’s tour through the underground punk/DIY scene of Russia and the Ukraine and is unlike any travelogue that has come before it. Immersive, poignant, and a treat for the senses , Ladies is the next step in an already vital career for Nicolay that is required reading for fans of music, punk, or just gaining a new perspective on the world we all share.But enough of us gabbing. How about we let Franz tell you all about it…Show NotesLearn more about Andrey MakarevichOfficial Site | FacebookLISTEN ON: Spotify | Apple Music Franz NicolayTake the trip and get The Humorless Ladies of Border Control out 8/2 everywhere, all over the world!LinksOfficial SiteFacebookTwitterBandcampInstagramListen OnSpotifyApple Music Upcoming Book Events9/2 - Tattered Cover, Denver CO9/7 - Housing Works, NYC9/12 - Kramerbooks, Washington DC9/16 - The Hideout, Chicago IL, in conversation with William Nickell (co-sponsored by Seminary Co-op Bookstore and the Center for Eastern European and Russian/Eurasian Studies at U. of Chicago) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Topics: The Rent Guidelines Board and the need for a rent rollback this year; Gov. Andrew Cuomo's failure to follow through on funding housing for people with HIV/AIDS Guests: Ben Kallos, City Council Member for District 5 (benkallos.com) Charles King, President and CEO of Housing Works (3347-473-7400)

Mike Ruiz is a world-renowned photographer, creative director and director. Mike was born and raised in Montreal, Canada, and at the ripe age of 20, he moved to the United States with just $300 bucks in his pocket and a desire to be in the entertainment world. After working for more than a decade as a successful model, his true calling came into focus one Christmas morning, when he received a gift of a lifetime: his first camera. Wide-eyed, he took the camera out of the box, and in the blink of an adept eye, his whole life was about to change. With focused determination, Mike immediately took to his new present–taught himself the intricate mechanics of the camera and to this day, he hasn’t stopped clicking away. Perhaps it’s only when you might hear him say, “we got it!”, that there is but the slightest of pauses to an otherwise very hectic shooting schedule. Sharing with the world the images that he captures is tantamount to poetry. Whether it’s Kim Kardashian, Betty White, Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry or Prince, Mike has seen and shot them all.Like everything he touches, Mike is a man who brings to life the fantastical, which in turn, is inspired by his brilliant optimism. His lens has done a lot of zooming in and out, while the world keeps a keen focus on his high-impact, surreal brand of celebrity and fashion photography. He has successfully branded himself across platforms, including print and video, which expands his appeal in the industry. His clients include L’Oreal, Garnier, Jafra and AlfaParf. Mike’s work has appeared in Conde Nast Traveller, Elle, Interview, Paper, Flaunt, Spanish & Brazilian Vogue, Citizen K, Vanity Fair, Verve, and other publications. He is also a regular contributor to the following magazines: YRB (USA), Rouge (Russia), Prestige (Hong Kong), Spot (Mexico).Throughout it all, Mike’s hard work, dedication, and passion behind the camera gives him the opportunity to bring his message of hope to the forefront of all his efforts. Mike has a true sense of social responsibility and is always intent on giving back to the community. Among the countless organizations he supports, are GMHC, The Trevor Project, Housing Works, It Gets Better Campaign, Live Out Loud, Project Angel Food, GLAAD, and he is on the honorary board of the “Let There Be Hope” research foundation. Mike is also the communications consultant on The Men’s Sexual Health Project 36:00:00 for NYU School of Medicine, as well as a recurring motivational speaker at New York University, The Harvey Milk School, Art Center College of Design, Brooklyn International High School and the College of Design in Sacramento. Mike was recently awarded a Proclamation from the City of New York for his contribution to the arts and his philanthropic effort. His efforts extend to our 4 legged friends as well. Mike has become an advocate the protection and adoption of abused and abandoned pitbulls working closely with Los Angeles rescue, Bullies and Buddies.In addition to his photography and humanitarian work, Mike Ruiz has branched out as a director and television personality. He has produced music videos for artists, such as Vanessa Williams, Kelly Rowland, Jody Watley, Kristine W., Shontelle, The Blonds among others. Back in 2007, Mike took on a passion project for himself when he directed one of his role models, RuPaul, in an indie film entitled, Starrbooty.Mike has recently launched an APP for the iPad, iPhone and Android devices which will be a digital interactive extension of his book, Pretty Masculine. Versions of the all will soon be available for the iPhone and Android devices. The online promotional video has won him a Telly Award.VISIT MIKE RUIZ WEBSITE: WWW.MIKERUIZ.COM

Dale Raoul (from True Blood and Under the Dome) talks about her upcoming appearance in the reading of Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory, also starring veteran actor Michael Kearns and Raymond Thompson -- Lighting Director for The Young & Restless as well as Dale's husband.  It  takes place on 11/22/15 at the Huffington Center at St. Sophia Cathedral. For more information about the 11/22 HO HO HOUSING WORKS Christmas event, see the following link:   http://events.kroq.cbslocal.com/losangeles_ca/events/ho-ho-housing-works-michael-kearns-dale-raoul-/E0-001-088868637-1

We're still on podcast hiatus, but here's a bonus full episode from one of our recent favorite live shows. And be sure to come to the November 13th show at Housing Works!   Back with new episodes soon.   Info at www.askroulette.net

We're still on podcast hiatus, but here's a bonus full episode from one of our recent favorite live shows. And be sure to come to the September 25th show at Housing Works. Info at www.askroulette.net

While co-hosting a special benefit show for Housing Works with Blaise Allysen Kearsley, Brad Lawrence told an anecdote about following a girl to New York. Recorded at Housing Works, NYC, November 2013.

Check out our fourth and final episode of our "Let Me Ascertain You: LGBTQ All Out!" podcast series. This was recorded live at the Barrow Street Theater in NY where actors performed various real people we interviewed about their experiences related to sexuality and gender. One of our special guest performers that night was Laverne Cox who stars in the TV show "Orange Is the New Black." She performs an interview we did with a staff member at Housing Works which is a NYC non-profit healing community of people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. (http://www.housingworks.org/) Then Mike Brun and Alyse Louis perform "Barricade" another song by Robin Eaton and Jill Sobule from our upcoming musical “Times Square” that will feature music from Robin and Jill with book by Tony-nominated writer Jim Lewis about two teenage runaway lesbians who form an underground punk band in 1980s seedy Times Square! To close out this special podcast series, Stephen Plunkett performs an inteview he did for our show "This Beautiful City" about Colorado Springs. Colorado Springs has a number of military bases and this interview was done a number of years ago before the repeal of "Don't Ask Don't Tell." Interviews for this podcast were conducted by Stephen Plunkett and Dan Domingues. Be sure to subscribe to stay in the loop about other amazing stories from our investigations! For more, please visit http://www.thecivilians.org.To leave a comment, please visit The Civilians' blog http://blogforthecivilians.blogspot.com/!

On this episode of MyFixitUpLife talk show we're at HousingWorks' Design On A Dime event, New York City's wildly popular interior design benefit. With more than 50 of the world's top interior designers, Design On A Dime has a heart—and a goal—bigger than the Big Apple itself: to help those living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. On the guest list, HGTV's Genevieve Gorder host of Dear Genevieve and judicious Design Star judge. Good Morning America anchor, designer, and New York Times best-selling author of "I Brake for Yard Sales" Lara Spencer dives into this glimmering pool of talent and imagination. Evette Rios, craft and entertaining expert from ABC's The Chew gives us a taste for design with a heart. And Yetta Banks, Vice President of Design and Construction for Viacom builds beauty with heart. It's a night on a mission, just Ask Patrick Hamilton, taste-maker and humorist designer with unstoppable style who has lent his considerable talents HGTV's Small Space, Big Style and Rate My Space. From a little taste to jumping in with both feet, we hold dear the those that leave the world better than they found it. Tune into this episode on Friday, May 17 at 2pm.

On this episode of MyFixitUpLife talk show we're at HousingWorks' Design On A Dime event, New York City's wildly popular interior design benefit. With more than 50 of the world's top interior designers, Design On A Dime has a heart—and a goal—bigger than the Big Apple itself: to help those living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. On the guest list, HGTV's Genevieve Gorder host of Dear Genevieve and judicious Design Star judge. Good Morning America anchor, designer, and New York Times best-selling author of "I Brake for Yard Sales" Lara Spencer dives into this glimmering pool of talent and imagination. Evette Rios, craft and entertaining expert from ABC's The Chew gives us a taste for design with a heart. And Yetta Banks, Vice President of Design and Construction for Viacom builds beauty with heart. It's a night on a mission, just Ask Patrick Hamilton, taste-maker and humorist designer with unstoppable style who has lent his considerable talents HGTV's Small Space, Big Style and Rate My Space. From a little taste to jumping in with both feet, we hold dear the those that leave the world better than they found it. Tune into this episode on Friday, May 17 at 2pm.

Ask Roulette is turning one year old! Over the last year, we did seven shows at Housing Works Books, with 22 special guests, and (we think) 63 audience members live on stage, asking questions. And all twelve episodes of the Ask Roulette podcast add up to 2:32:20... This supercut features, alongside audience members: Negin Farsad, Brooke Gladstone, Baratunde Thurston, Dan Rollman, Dave Hill, David Carr, Eli Bolin, Robert Krulwich, Kurt Braunohler, AJ Jacobs, Chris Gethard, Starlee Kine Thanks to all of you who attended a show, subscribed to the podcast, or just said hello. If you're in New York City on Wednesday, January 9th, come to our one-year birthday show at Housing Works. More information about Ask Roulette, including future events: www.askroulette.net Subscribe (please rate and review!) to the podcast on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/ask-roulette/id527319855 Follow us Twitter.com/askroulette | Facebook.com/AskRoulette

Larry is Director for National Organizing of Housing Works, the nation's largest minority controlled HIV & AIDS non profit organization. Larry works to develop and support grassroots advocacy and activist networks which influence politicians and policy that lead to addressing the factors that lead to ending the HIV & AIDS epidemic in the United States and abroad. Diagnosed himself while a freshman football player at Norfolk State University, Larry has a distinct passion that flows far beyond just spreading awareness - actions must be derived through education, purpose, and passion which ultimately and unapologetically lead to measurable outcomes. A native of Washington DC, Larry is an aspiring professional photographer specializing in non-profit photography, essay work, and civil/social justice photojournalism. His shots allows us to see the humanity in art by illustrating the art in humanity - from complex to creative, passionate to passive, the human spirit is featured throughout his work and gives us something far below the surface. Larry, who was recently named one of Poz Magazine's 'The Poz 100' has one son attending college and currently lives in the Historic Capitol Hill neighborhood in NE Washington D.C. Learn more at www.housingworks.org

Tree Alexander was diagnosed with HIV in 2006 and bacame a storng advocate shortly after. Now 23 years old Tree has made a complete change in the way he lives his life. Tree has committed himself to HIV/AIDS care and prevention.Tree Alexander is currently working as a Direct Observation of Therapy (DOT) specialist in Housing Works’ access to care department, where he provides one-on-one medical case management for clients

Being diagnosed with HIV can be a traumatic experience. Whether you're 15 or 55, the emotions that accompany an HIV diagnosis can be overwhelming -- as can be the millions of questions, small and large, that start shooting through your mind. Questions such as: How could this have happened to me? How will my life change? Who should I tell? Will anyone still love me? Will I have to take treatment for the rest of my life? In This Month in HIV, we've brought together four individuals to offer concrete tips for coping with HIV, whether you've just been diagnosed or you've been living with it for years. Our guests are: Dr. Robert Remien, a prominent HIV researcher and clinical psychologist based in New York City. His research focuses on mental health and support for people with HIV, including mixed-status couples and gay men. Larry Bryant, a semi-pro football player turned HIV-positive political activist. A 20-year survivor of HIV, Larry is now the national field organizer for the HIV advocacy group Housing Works in Washington, D.C. Sherri Lewis, who lives in Los Angeles and speaks out about HIV in her podcast series "Straight Girl in a Queer World," hosted by Here! TV, a gay television network. She's also a performer and writer who was diagnosed with HIV in 1987. Michael McColly, a Chicago-based author, writing instructor and yoga teacher. He recently published his memoir, The After-Death Room: Journey into Spiritual Activism. Michael tested positive for HIV in 1996.