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Amanda Holmes reads James Baldwin's “The Giver.” Have a suggestion for a poem by a (dead) writer? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you'll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman. This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This will come as a total surprise, but I really like James Baldwin. I know, it's shocking. I always kept it subtle, like how I named this podcast after his book The Fire Next Time, and how I have been bringing him up every other episode for years, and how I have a shelf that is just for books by him and about him. The reason I like James Baldwin is that I've found something for me in his work, something that I can not just relate to but also use to understand the wider world, including my own world. This is a curious thing in the context of Baldwin because he was, ultimately, an American writer. An African-American writer, to be exact of course, but his Americanness is something which he took to heart. Not in a weird nationalist way but rather in a sort of matter-of-factly kind of way. So how did I come to relate to him? That's one of the questions we explored here, but to be honest it's not even the main one. What I wanted to know, and what my guest John E. Drabinski has explored in his book So Unimaginable a Price: Baldwin and the Black Atlantic, is why did Baldwin, a man clearly concerned with the fate of the world, rarely engage with the Black Atlantic and might even be described as an ‘anti-diaspora' thinker, at least to some extent. This is a conversation about Baldwin, yes, but ultimately it is a conversation about shifting identities and perspectives in a rapidly changing world, one which seems to be changing even faster now than it did during Baldwin's time.John E. Drabinski is Professor in the Department of African American and Africana Studies, with a joint appointment in the Department of English. Along with Ashley Newby and Brie Gorrell, he co-hosts The Black Studies Podcast, which documents the history and future of the field of Black Studies from the perspective of students, professors, artists, and activists. He is both co-editor of Journal of French and Francophone Philosophy and co-editor of the book series Global Black Critical Thought on Cambridge University Press.Mentioned:James Baldwin ReviewBlack Cultural Archives, BrixtonBeing Black and British with David OlusogaThis episode was first released for Patreon supporters on 14 August 2026 and made public on 24 August 2026.------If you'd like to support The Fire These Times, the best way to do it is through Patreon.com/thefirethesetimes. In return, you'll get early access to everything I record, exclusive videos, the mini-series all at once, access to the monthly hangout, discounts on my classes and newsletter, the class recordings (all of them), an invitation to join the Discord chat, merch, personalised thank you cards, and more stuff to come.Registrations for the November class (online) on modern Lebanese history and politics are now open: https://thefirethesetimes.com/lebanonclass ------Social Media: Elia (Bluesky, Instagram), TFTT (Bluesky, Instagram)For feedback, requests etc: ayoub@thefirethesetimes.comEverything else is archived on the website.------Elia's recent piecesShadoMag: The Belfast pogrom was predictable972Mag: Lebanon walks into Israel's trapAlso, for HauntologiesReport from Belfast. Day 1.Recent Podcast interviewsIt Could Happen Here: The Media Context for the Belfast PogromIt Could Happen Here: Lebanon's Agreement with Israel------CreditsElia Ayoub (host, producer, episode design), the rosa artist (TFTT theme design), Wenyi Geng (TFTT theme design), Molly Crabapple (my profile pic), Rap and Revenge (Music), and Antidote Zine (Transcriptions)As always, thank you for listening and take care.
‘The very word “America” remains a new, almost completely undefined and extremely controversial proper noun,' James Baldwin wrote in 1959. ‘No one in the world seems to know exactly what it describes, not even we motley millions who call ourselves Americans.' Donald Trump's vision of Fortress America, at war with immigrants, shadowy globalists and itself, is a violent attempt to resolve what Baldwin called the ‘rich confusion' of American identity. But there are other possible Americas, some, like Baldwin's, described from voluntary exile. What can they offer at the present moment? From the LRB Subscribe to the LRB: https://lrb.me/subslrbpod Close Readings podcast: https://lrb.me/crlrbpod LRB Audiobooks: https://lrb.me/audiobookslrbpod Bags, binders and more at the LRB Store: https://lrb.me/storelrbpod Get in touch: podcasts@lrb.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode Dr. Oord engages with Steve Watson's new book entitled All Flesh Shalom: Larger, Freer, More Loving Readings of the Good News of JesusFrom the book description: So many of the forms of Christianity we have inherited have disappointed us. We've been offered a faith that seems to make people smaller, more rigid, and more violent. This is why James Baldwin once wrote, “If the concept of God has any validity or any use, it can only be to make us larger, freer, and more loving. If God cannot do this, then it is time we got rid of Him.”In this groundbreaking work of constructive Christian theology, Steve Watson takes Baldwin's challenge seriously. He dissects some of white Western Christianity's most narrow and misguided readings of the life and teaching of Jesus. And in conversation with leading open and relational and postcolonial, liberation theologians, Steve explores ways we can engage major themes in the gospels in the service of a larger, freer, more loving faith.
Today at 1pm on KPFA Radio's Women's Magazine I am featuring two segments both focusing on Buddhism, healing and spirituality. First I talk to Kithi Nath and Lata Mani about their two new films showing at the Elmwood Rialto cinema on Wednesday August 19th at 6:15 PM as part of a special one time program called “Cinema as Prayer: A Night of Queer South Asian Films.” This film program features “PARAMITA” by Kirthi Nath and “Longing Suite” by Lata Mani and Nicolás Grandi—two poetic films that move through longing, belonging and spiritual transformation. PARAMITA bears witness to Prajna Choudhury's 25-year journey of coming out to her traditional Bangladeshi mother. Told with intimacy and tenderness, the film invites us into a meditative experience as Prajna connects with Buddhist practice and nature as gateways for intergenerational healing. “Longing Suite” is a lyrical exploration of awakening to the feminine Divine. Building on a cycle of poems written by Mani in the 1990s, the film traces the arc of a heart-mind-body awakening to the sacred in all that exists. Together, these intimate, spiritual films invite us to experience cinema as prayer. The screening will be followed by a conversation and Q&A with the filmmakers, moderated by Madeleine Lim, Executive and Artistic Director of QWOCMAP (Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project). And then I talk with Dr. Rima Vesely-Flad, the author of “The Fire Inside: The Dharma of James Baldwin and Audre Lorde” — a book exploring the radical literary legacies of James Baldwin and Audre Lorde through a Dharmic lens. “The Fire Inside”reveals how two of America's greatest literary voices reflect — and expand — Buddhism's most timeless truths toward justice and liberation, showing that liberation depends not only on organizing and mass movements, but on the generative power of inner well-being, authenticity, art, and embodiment. It offers space for the kind of conversation our communities need: one that centers and celebrates Black, queer, radical thought, and doesn't shy away from difficult truths. That's 1-2pm on KPFA Radio at 94.1FM or online at kpfa.org where the show will be available afterwards to stream and download. The post Buddhism, Spirituality and healing from Racism, Sexism, Suffering appeared first on KPFA.
This week marks the birthday of the author and activist James Baldwin, and to mark the occasion we're heading into the Sewers archives for a conversation that touches on the expansiveness of Baldwin's writing. In 2022, I spoke with a guest named Jonathan about how literature helped him discover a larger world — which led to a lifetime of eye-opening experiences, from a brief marriage to a woman to enduring the impact of Hurricane Katrina.
Vince Fakhoury Horn speakswith Rima Vesely-Flad about The Fire Inside: The Dharma of James Baldwin and Audre Lorde—the silence she found in her own Buddhist community when she began writing about Palestine, Baldwin and Lorde's distinction between hatred that corrodes and rage that comes from the examined life, and the question they keep returning to: how to feel it all without causing more harm.Vince Horn: So, Rima, great to see you.I've been really loving getting to know you as a person and also your work. I've been reading your book. Unfortunately, I also spilled water on my copy, so it is a little... If you see me struggling to flip through the pages, that's ‘cause we had a bit of an accident here. But I've really enjoyed reading your work. Can't wait to get into it with you. Thank you so much for your time.Rima Vesely-Flad: Yeah. Thank you, Vince. It's been great to get to know you, too. We're so close. Amazing. Amazing.Vince Horn: Yes, and it's amazing as adults, we can carve out the time to hang out. So that's sometimes the hardest part. I feel like being in middle age is, like, making time to spend with cool people, so appreciate your time.Rima Vesely-Flad: Me too.Vince Horn: So let's talk about your new book. This is The Fire Inside: The Dharma of James Baldwin and Audre Lorde. Of course, before reading this book, I was familiar with you and your work. But it really struck me that you were writing in this book, like from the very beginning, you're writing about Palestine and Israel, which is not something I see many Buddhists really writing about or talking about in America.So it stands out just the fact that you're even talking about this subject. And then on top of that, you're bringing to bear these beautiful Dharma teachings and wisdom teachings from the Black tradition of James Baldwin and Audre Lorde, bringing them to bear on this topic in the first chapter of the book, which I thought was quite courageous.And I really appreciate it, you know, as someone who has Palestinian family members and people in the West Bank I care about. So just on a personal level, really am grateful that you centered this in your writing. And I thought maybe we could start with that first chapter if you're up for it.Rima Vesely-Flad: Absolutely. It was actually the very last chapter I wrote. I wrote this book of course over several years, but as I was concluding in real time, the genocide was taking place, and I just found myself absolutely in a state of grief and rage and was really politically active around it in ways that I hadn't been in quite some time.Like feeling very pushed to speak out and to contact the Biden administration and representatives, people here in North Carolina who might or might not speak in Congress, and just found that I needed ways to speak out, and this is my community. The people who self-identify as Buddhist claim these traditions, these lineages, these practices, these schools of thought, and yet there was so much silence, and I felt really compelled to speak into that silence. And I know that's something that you feel and understand in a deep way. And then also, I'm not by any stretch the first Black activist or academic or thought leader to make the connections between oppression of people of African descent whose ancestors were enslaved and people who are in a state of survival as their land is being taken in real time. So all of those connections were very present, and yet in the Buddhist world, there was so much silence, so much evasion or even erasure of what's taking place. And it felt like it wasn't separate from my practice, and I had to speak.Even though at the time I hadn't even visited the West Bank. I since have, but at the time I was thinking and writing and observing and feeling from afar.Vince Horn: Yeah. Okay. I didn't realize you'd gone to the West Bank. Wow, we'll have to talk about that sometime. Yeah, there's early on in the book, there's a quote here that's really echoing what you just shared.I thought I'd share this ‘cause it really moved me quite a bit. You said, “I, like many Black Americans, like Southwest Asian and North African Buddhists, observe that violent oppression of Palestinians can never bring safety and security to Jewish Israelis. And as a Buddhist practitioner, it's important for me to speak out against the violence sanctioned by my government, my tax dollars.The policies of the US government do not represent my commitments. I'm horrified by the massacres in Gaza day after day, by the constant terrorizing of Palestinians in the West Bank. I think daily of Baldwin's words, ‘You don't know what's happening on the other side of the wall because you don't want to know.'”Rima Vesely-Flad: Wow. Even just hearing Baldwin's words in that context again, it really brings me chills. And so prescient, right? So prescient in terms of just anticipating how much more extensive... At the time actually that Baldwin visited, there wasn't a formal occupation, although there was theft of land. But this— that was 1961, and then the wall— right now the walls, the checkpoints, the just sheer magnitude of aggression and violence. Like Baldwin anticipated that, and then the myopia in Israel and in the United States.Vince Horn: Yeah. I think at the same time though as I read through your writing on this, I was really also struck that you're really trying to hold multiple realities here at once.You know, both holding the suffering of the Palestinians and the apartheid state that you're describing. At the same time, you have a lot of, as I do, Jewish friends and people that you care about who may not be able to hold that reality in the same way or who are struggling to in some cases. Who...and you treat that with real compassion I think in your writing and in your words. As I try to, you know, my best. And it's, of course, important to differentiate between Jewish identity and Israeli identity, which is often, you know, merged intentionally by the State of Israel.And for many people it's the way they're inculturated. It seems like that was kind of an unconscious merger in a lot of folks' identity. At least I've noticed that with close friends and even students in the last few years where we've had conversations around this. There's been real tension.And anyway, I appreciate that you're holding it with compassion, both realities here, not trying to sort of demonize Israelis or Jewish people. And really being aware of the antisemitism that this whole issue is also bringing about. Or it's... I'm not sure if it's bringing about or giving excuse to people to be bigoted.So I think it's cool the way that you're trying to weave those different things. And I guess I'm curious if you could say a bit about how you're taking that approach or why that's important to you.Rima Vesely-Flad: Yes. I start off the book talking about a relationship I had with a, I would say a mama bear, a mother figure who claimed herself, who self-identified as my godmother, and she was born in France to a very well-known filmmaker who had the opportunity for asylum in the United States, and he and his wife were granted this opportunity to flee, but were told they couldn't take their daughter, who was my godmother Via–Vince Horn: Wow.Rima Vesely-Flad: –was sent to a convent in France. So a Jewish girl sent to a Catholic institution, and she was blamed for the war and has suffered horrific antisemitic abuse. And it scarred her indefinitely. When she came to the United States, she took off the first part of her name, just called herself Via.She died of cancer many years later, and the wounds of that period were still quite evident at the time. I just remember, I have such extraordinary memories of her and what she suffered. And so part of my compassion and empathy, which is real, is that this nation state we call Israel was founded as ostensibly a refuge for people like Via and her parents.And this is a nation state founded upon theft of land. And what it meant practically is that 750,000 Palestinians were driven from their ancestral lands, and they and their descendants still to date live in refugee camps, which I was able to visit when I went to the West Bank. These are no longer tents.They're now concrete buildings, but stacked very high, very crowded, very narrow passages for walking, no play space for children. One of the refugee camps I visited in Bethlehem has an entryway that consists of keys welded into an arc, and these are the keys for return. People still possess the keys to their homes they were driven from 75 years ago. So to recognize the terror that took place during the Holocaust in Europe, and then to recognize the consequent suffering that was inflicted upon Palestinians, I think is not simple. Yes, safety, but one thing Baldwin says that stays with me over and over is that Palestinians should not pay for the sins of Europeans.Europeans committed the genocide, the Holocaust, and Palestinians should not have had to pay for that and should not have been driven from their lands to establish what is supposed to be a state of safety. And yet the atrocities being committed by this government and other governments, not saying that this very right-wing government is the only government that has committed atrocities against Palestinians. To say that this is a state of safety for people whose ancestors were exposed to the horrors of the Holocaust is, I think, to be very myopic, very limited. And part of what I'm trying to wrestle with is such deep confusion, like a deep state of confusion of how, if your ancestors have experienced the Holocaust, could you inflict this upon another peoples?So that's some of what I wrestle with in this first chapter is just like—Vince Horn: Yes.Rima Vesely-Flad: —what? And I'm not the only one. Like Ta-Nehisi Coates starts off his book talking about the— the book is called The Message. And he starts off his book saying like, “I just don't get it.” And I feel that too. I just don't get it. But then also, I don't understand this claim to sacred land, and that's part of what's happening with the atrocities in the West Bank in real time. And you know, all of us know it has escalated dramatically in the past few weeks.Vince Horn: Yes.Rima Vesely-Flad: Like even worse than when I was there. And when I was there, that's when the farmers during harvest, the Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest were being terrorized.Vince Horn: Yes.Rima Vesely-Flad: Including many Jewish activists, similarly from the United States and from Israel were being terrorized, all of them. Everyone who was in the fields trying to harvest the olives.Vince Horn: Right.Rima Vesely-Flad: That was happening in October, but now it has escalated dramatically in a city called Nablus and its surrounds.Vince Horn: Yes.Rima Vesely-Flad: I actually went to Nablus. That was one of the places we spent some time.Vince Horn: Yeah. That's where my cousin is based. So yes. Oh, yeah. And I've heard that as well from her. So that's, in recent, like week or two, her house was broken into by the IDF and they destroyed one of the walls and were calling out for someone who they have no idea who it is.Yeah. And just, you know, like that's becoming more just kind of more standard. Like that's just happening all over the place. Yeah.Rima Vesely-Flad: It's becoming normalized.Vince Horn: Normalized, yeah, exactly.Rima Vesely-Flad: That aggression. Yes, so much. And one of the things I just sat with when I went, you know, I was in Jerusalem initially.There is coexistence. It's, you know, people are not separate. They are coexisting in real time. And yet, when I went to the West Bank and, you know, it's like I just don't understand. Jewish refugees were given 51% of the land by initially Britain and the United Nations then in 1948, 1947, 1948.Drove out Palestinians from their ancestral villages into refugee camps. Why do they want more? And one of the things I realized is that the West Bank consists or has many holy sites, both for Palestinians who practice Islam and for Jewish peoples who see these sites also as their holy sites. So I was based in a city called Al-Halil, and there's a mosque there that's called the Tomb of the Patriarchs, and that is one of the holy sites also for Jewish practitioners, people who are adherents.They have built settlements on top of Palestinian buildings, especially in the old village. So I saw all of this actually arrive just as there was an incursion of young people from these settlements into the city of Al-Khalil, which is also called Hebron. In any case, that claim to holy space in the sense, the idea, the narrative that God gave it to a certain peoples who are chosen and therefore all of the land is theirs, something I don't understand. And I have some real hatred— with regards to the atrocities taking place. And I feel that part of my practice is to really own that and feel that in my body, and then to work with it in such a way that it doesn't come out and get directed towards people.But I can feel that. And so part of what it means for me to claim these practices, like you, I'm in the Insight Diaspora, so we likely know many of the same practices. But part of it is working effectively with the body so much so that it's not targeted, it doesn't come out in random ways and cause further harm.But it's a hard practice, and some of what you see in that chapter or read is that muscle being flexed of like, how do I feel without it coming out in a way that causes harm? That is part of the wrestling. That is part of the practice.Vince Horn: Yes. And it's one that I noticed, like in my own training, I didn't get a lot of tools for that in the insight tradition because hatred was sort of like something we're trying to transcend or, you know, like notice and then counteract.That was usually the frame around hatred. It wasn't something like you can actually feel this anger and really feel rage. Like although sometimes people would, I think, give lip service to that, it never felt to me like a culture where people were actually doing that.And so I was just sort of repressing all this rage and sort of like carrying on. And now I realize that the wisdom of what you're saying is like, if you repressed all that rage it goes inward, it goes outward. It is not constructive. It's not generative. It's not healing. It's just kind of like a time bomb ticking.Rima Vesely-Flad: Yeah I think that's so wise. It causes anxiety and depression. It needs a place to land, and part of what I think we're meant to do with this work is cultivate that place to land, but do it in a way that's skillful so that we're not creating more harm. And I don't think that... is harmful, but I think it, when it's not effectively worked with, it does come out sideways, and then it can inadvertently or maybe—Vince Horn: Intentionally even.Rima Vesely-Flad: —intentionally create that. But I think part of it also is recognizing it, giving it space to be named—Vince Horn: Yes.Rima Vesely-Flad: —and legitimizing it. Like, it is a just rage. And hatred— actually Baldwin and Lorde both talk about hatred as corrosive. They talk about how it does actually impact us in ways that are not useful, and it does need to be worked with skillfully.But rage, they both say, comes from the examined life. It comes from legitimate and clear observation of patterns of oppression taking place and experienced in real time. And so that's energy that can be used, that can be directed in fruitful ways. And I think that distinction is really important, and it did inform my own experience of hatred.Of like, “Oh, it's here. How do I work with it in a way that doesn't corrode my spirit or it doesn't corrode relationships that matter to me?”Vince Horn: Yeah. I love what you're saying there. It seems like conflating hatred and rage would be one mistake there, to think like, “Oh, I shouldn't be experiencing this anger or this rage because somehow it's a sign that I'm, like, in this corrosive state of hatred.”But like, oh, it's real, and it's arising in response to something real. Like, I had never seen this quote from James Baldwin about how being a Black American means living with rage all the time everywhere, and that hit me so hard. I'm like, yeah, that's what it feels like as a Palestinian right now. I feel that and have always felt that.I didn't know that's what I was feeling for so many decades. But now that it's out in the open and it's like, oh yeah, like it's just this constant sense of rage at being constantly policed. You know, having your tone of voice policed, your words. Not being able to be a certain kind of emotive or, you know, loud.Like, all these things that are culturally, like what I grew up with. This was like the way that our family was. Like, it's not okay in this larger kind of white culture to display these kinds of things. And so you just like, you gotta tamp it down.Rima Vesely-Flad: And, you know, Foucault would say we learn to police ourselves to discipline ourselves. And I think part of our work then, in terms of recovery, is to name the ways that we self-oppress.Vince Horn: Yes.Rima Vesely-Flad: I would say that's a huge, huge part of my practice, ongoing.Vince Horn: Yes. That makes so much sense because it is, like you're saying, it's internalized.Like, I— yeah, it's like I only need to get a few social signals before I start to realize, ‘cause I'm a socially intelligent being, like we all are. Like, oh, like, this is not okay. And if I continue to do this, there's gonna be kind of repercussions. And I think the bravery and the courage to do it anyway, and to deal with those repercussions, like, that seems to be where your work lives here, and it's a hard place to live.Rima Vesely-Flad: It is hard, yes. I mean, one of the things I also talk about in this book more broadly is that I grew up in a family where I wasn't wanted. My birth was not welcome, and that was something I knew from a very early age. So I learned to adapt. I learned all of these ways of trying to be wanted, trying to be claimed, being exceptional.Vince Horn: Yes.Rima Vesely-Flad: So the idea that I would self-exile is, like, anathema. And that's where I start talking. And part of the way I use Audre Lorde's work in this first chapter in particular is to say, she calls us out, saying, “We must speak remembering we were never meant to survive.” But for me to speak in ways that might be confrontational or perceived as offensive is a very hard edge.But to self-silence is also to betray myself and my people. And that's the edge, right? To speak and to risk exile for someone like me, who has been exiled just because of the way I appeared in the world with dark skin, dark eyes, dark hair, curly hair. And then also to adapt in so many ways that I recognize a level of self-betrayal or a betrayal of the people to whom I'm accountable.And I do consider my people are people of African descent who have been oppressed because of their embodiment in this particular context, which has shunned people of African descent as unworthy, as less intelligent. Has seen a kind of embodiment as inferior. We come up against that. I came up against that in my own family.Vince Horn: Yes.Rima Vesely-Flad: It's a hard edge, and I think part of the work is to actually not be so alone, to find our people, to find people with whom we feel mirrored. That's also hard work, but it has come over time. I have found community, and that matters. And I think part of this work of sangha, which I think in our lineage is not so prioritized—Vince Horn: Right.Rima Vesely-Flad: —but if we take it on intentionally, we can truly honor it as one of the three jewels. Part of our work is really investing in sangha, even when it feels scary or even when it feels like, wow, I have to be held accountable for things that I say that might actually really harm somebody else. But to keep doing that work and to ask for that feedback and that accountability.Vince Horn: Yeah, that strikes me as so true, and I understand why sangha isn't prioritized when you have such an individualistic kind of culture of, you know, meditative achievement and self-work. It's like, oh yeah, well, of course if we're all just focusing on ourselves together, we're not gonna be focused on the bonds that connect us.And yeah, I found that to be a limitation really for many years now in that community. And sort of what drove me to like explore relational practices and other things that felt like they kind of help soften those boundaries and begin to kind of get a felt sense for like what interbeing feels like in real time.It's like this is what it actually is like to be connected to someone or to disconnect or to lose myself in someone else's perspective. I guess I wanted to honor too that like you're talking about all the reasons that one could not speak out even if there's injustice and one wants to speak out on behalf of people they care about and are identified with.That on top of the racial dimension of this, there's also imagine the gendered dimension of this for you as well. Like I see with my wife and other women I know who are raised in a more kind of gendered female way. Like it's just speaking up in general is hard to do. Or it's not something that's encouraged or, you know, people don't have...they're not offered that same level of training often when they're in a female body. So I guess I'm curious like is that also part of what you've had to work with in addition to the racial dimension of this?Rima Vesely-Flad: That's a really good question. I think initially, yes.Like, I was raised to watch and serve and people please. And that's how I got my goods, as my therapist would say. Like, I felt wanted when I—Vince Horn: Right.Rima Vesely-Flad: —gave people what they wanted, and I think that is a very, very gendered experience. I cleaned the house at an early age. I took care of my younger brother.I was with a single mother who worked a lot, so I held things together in the family home. And yes, I think that is a highly gendered experience that I've carried into adulthood. I think I have patterns that I'm still trying to work with around serving and adapting, people pleasing and what have you.I do also feel like there's some corrective, if you will, by becoming an academic. I think in my line of work, having jumped through a thousand hoops, I did three master's degrees, I did a PhD, I learned how to cite research and ask questions and back up and demonstrate. You see it in this book, right?Actually, the book initially was an academic book where I just took on Baldwin and Lorde and tried to show how they illuminate these incredibly important and timeless teachings that we now associate with Buddhism or call Buddhist. And I had a friend and a mentor, Ruth King, say, “Actually, we need your practice in this book.We need this to not just be through the third person, but we actually need your voice in this book,” which was really important and also incredibly hard. But part of why I felt I could take it on is that I was in a world in which I was expected to speak and facilitate, and I think there was a training not necessarily in the broader environment to which you're pointing, but in an academic environment where standing up and giving a talk or a lecture or doing Q&A on the spot was something I learned how to do.So in that way, I think there's more of a sense of, oh, I have this. I can do this. And that feels more, I would say, naturalized, for lack of a better word, just because it's been two decades of doing this so explicitly. And I've loved the academy, you know, being with people who read thick books.And I'm the kind of person, I'll walk into a store and I'll look at the endnotes before I look at the introduction, just ‘cause I wanna know who's cited and, you know, what research are they relying on? And like, who has informed this work? That matters to me even more so than the title or even the introduction.I wanna just know who, what school of thought is this author drawing upon. And I love being with people who also operate in that way. And I have this funny story of being a consultant for a book project for a friend of mine, and we were all taken out to Portland. It was my first time in Portland, and you know, beautiful city.And we hung out and talked and conversed and worked through these chapters, and then we sat in the hot tub and discussed Foucault. And, you know, it's just so, for me, natural to be in an environment where something like that is really fun. And that is, I think, a part of learning how to speak. I think the harder part, and this goes back to the gender question, is having been a Black girl in a white family and trying to figure out how to survive in such hostility.So yes, I do think that's both racialized and gendered kind of experience.Vince Horn: Yeah. Okay. Yeah, makes sense. I hadn't considered the training in academia would be such a sharp training. But it makes sense, yeah, that you'd sort of be expected to be able to receive critique and offer it and speak and debate.Yeah, that... I could see that both being kind of traumatizing and a very good training at the same time.Yeah. I appreciate it so much that you did bring your story into this book as well, because I feel like at least for me as a reader, it gives me something personally to connect with where I can sort of see, like, how the universal becomes personal, you know, in a way. Where it's like all these things that you're describing, and Baldwin and Lorde are describing, like, they make sense to me and I understand it.But then when you describe, you know, your experience of coming up with your grandparents and the specific ways, like not having your picture hanging up with the rest of your cousins, for instance. Like, that specific experience and the way that you shared it just made... It made all of the abstract universal stuff real for me in a way, you know, that I think it sticks with me, and it's like it lands in my heart, you know, in a way that is transformative.So I suspect that's probably true for others as well. So thank you for sharing that.Rima Vesely-Flad: Yeah, I would say that was hard in a way that academic citations and reading for ideas, making arguments is not so hard. Like, it actually comes very naturally. But the harder work of communicating the harm that was done and how I received it, and certainly because I was raised knowing them, my grandparents' rejection of me based on my skin color in particular was, it was deeply traumatizing, and I still work with some of my patterns of adapting, ways that still do not serve me.And then too, and this is something I'm more present with, is my experience of being abandoned by my father. Actually, yesterday was his birthday, August 2nd, also James Baldwin's birthday, and I found myself honoring James Baldwin, and having a really hard time honoring my father, who I had not seen at the time that he passed away for more than 40 years. And I also feel that, and the disconnection not just from him, but also my lineage. And a big part of this book is actually not attempting to reconcile with my grandparents or the members of my family that are still very overtly racist, and there are many, but actually to find my father's people and to cultivate a sense of lineage and belonging through my father's people who came from the Mississippi Delta.My grandmother moved north during the Great Migration, and I am in touch with those family members who descended from her. She's now deceased, but, and my father is also deceased. But to have some sense of connection and being claimed, to have visited the graves of my great-grandparents, in a certain way it's not full circle, but it is a sense of return, and by that I mean return to ancestors, biological ancestors who I now know the names of and have a place to go and now developing relationships with in terms of a broader family system. And those are folks who have claimed me.I, about a month ago, maybe just about three weeks ago, got to talk to the matriarch of my father's family, one of, uh, his youngest... Uh, not my father, I'm sorry. My great-grandparents, their lineage. I was able to speak to one of their youngest daughters, my great-aunt who turned 100 last December.Vince Horn: Wow.Rima Vesely-Flad: Who's now about 100 and a half, and I just think, wow, how amazing to have met her. That she knows my name, that I had some time with her, that she still wants to speak to me on the phone. That she sees me as a way to connect to her sister, my grandmother, who's, as mentioned, deceased. Sometimes I think that healing process is not attempting to reconcile with the people who have denied or rejected your existence, but to find people who claim you and who want to be part of you.I think that also speaks to this broader political environment. It's not about getting accepted by the people who have ideas of your inferiority. It's not about proving that you are, in fact, worthy of X, Y, and Z, but it's actually about claiming and developing and cultivating your own spaces. And I'll say this in a personal way, not so much about being accepted by a dominant white culture community, as much as cultivating the spaces that do feel supportive, in which I am mirrored.And I feel like both Audre Lorde and James Baldwin were oriented that way as well. Like Audre Lorde was part of the second generation women's movement, and they weren't, like, trying to fit into some stereotype of women. They created their own communities, and they had relationships with one another. She was a self-defined lesbian, and was with a community of women who honored their own sexuality and their gender, and who sought a kind of alternative to the broader dominant culture. I think that is so important. And Baldwin, as a gay man too, was oriented towards honoring his own sexuality and creating communities that essentially I don't want to use the word affirmed in, like, a tidy way, but just said, like, all of you, every part of you is welcome here.Vince Horn: Yes.Rima Vesely-Flad: And so I do think that is incumbent upon us as well, not to look for acceptance, not to be claimed, but rather to invest in communities that we want to be part of.Vince Horn: Yeah. So it's like you're getting your belonging needs met by creating or finding the kind of community that you can be yourself there and not have to be constantly seeking external validation from a culture that's not going to validate you, or probably not for the next few decades at least. Rima Vesely-Flad: We could even say that within our insight lineages.Vince Horn: Yeah, absolutely. I guess that's the need for diasporas is rooted there. You know, finding... I remember the early community of people I hung out with were mostly people that were unabashedly interested in, like, mastering the states and stages of the path, which is a weird thing to say now ‘cause that's not where I am at all.But yeah, it was like a subculture of people who were like, “Yeah, we're really interested in hardcore meditation.” And that wasn't the scene in the insight tradition. It was more like healing and kind of long-term retreat. So yeah, I can absolutely relate to what you're saying. I'm curious to go back a little to the part of the book where you talk about karma.Because this is, I think this is an area where I've always struggled with early Buddhist teachings. And I remember the first class I took at Naropa on the first turning with Judith Simmer-Brown. We really explored karma in depth there, and it became clear to me, like the early Buddhist vision of karma was very individualistic.It was like you are the cause of— it was primarily putting everything back onto the individual. So I thought it was interesting when you're trying to bridge that with collective understanding of karma as well, and seemed like you're trying to hold both the individual and collective perspectives together, like not kind of falling into one or the other.But I always found early Buddhism was like collapsed straight into the individual perspective. So I'm curious, like how do you work with... Is that true from your point of view and from, you know, your scholarship? And like how do you then work with a tradition that seems to be, I don't know, hyper individualistic when there are also deep teachings on interdependence and interbeing you can find in the tradition as well, though I haven't found them as prominently in the early Buddhist tradition.Rima Vesely-Flad: I think that's true. I mean, the sutta that I rely on at the beginning of the chapter, which I can put into the chat if that's helpful, is one of the few that explicitly says, oh, and there are other causes and conditions for suffering, and I actually, I'll read that.Vince Horn: That's cool. So it is there.Rima Vesely-Flad: Yeah. It's, so it's an early Buddhist teaching or sutta, the Moliyasivaka Sutta, and it says, “Bile, phlegm, and also wind.” So our bodies, what's around us, “imbalance and climate too—”Vince Horn: Wow.Rima Vesely-Flad: —”carelessness and assault, with karma result as the eighth.”And it's saying these are all reasons for suffering. But it's true. It's one of the few suttas that explicitly acknowledges causes and conditions as sources of suffering. Where I delve into collective karma is, it's true, I found it less in early Buddhism, more in Mahayana Buddhism, the focus on language actually.The fact that we come of age as very small beings and learn language, and our language is collective. We are learning certain meanings along with certain phrases, and that is collectively formed, and that is a part of our thoughts. That is something that a number of scholars within the Mahayana Buddhist lineage talk about in many very complex texts over actually several centuries.So it is to say that we find that less in early Buddhism, but we do find that, and it's with that analysis in mind that I talk about the fact that we are shaped by the collective, and also that we have agency.Some of the gleanings I have towards how we might employ karma in a very constructive way come from postmodern thinkers who claim Buddhism, but who are also broadly read with thinkers such as Marx, thinkers such as Foucault, and, you know, people who are making connections in ways that, of course, are very far removed from early Buddhism.But one of the things that is drawn out by now a wide range of postmodern Buddhist scholars, so people who both practice Buddhism and are scholars of Buddhist teachings, is that we have agency. We're not simply beholden to actions of the past or even the collective, that we actually can practice and cultivate our thoughts, cultivate our words, cultivate our actions in a way that allows us to break free of patterns that are harmful or do not serve us. So that's where I go with that chapter on karma.Vince Horn: Yeah.Rima Vesely-Flad: Wanting to say we inherit so much, and we do. We inherit language. We also inherit culture. We inherit ways of thinking, and it's hard to see that because we swim in the waters even as we are inheriting them, yet there is some capacity for agency.Vince Horn: Yes.Rima Vesely-Flad: And that is what we can do. And maybe that's the emphasis in early Buddhism, is that we can work on our minds. We can free our minds from these oppressive patterns.Vince Horn: Yes. Yeah, and that makes so much sense in the context of, like, Indian caste system and the emergence of this, like, other way of living that's kind of outside of that caste system.I mean, it seems like such a powerful move to claim agency when you're in a culture that's, like, so determined by birth and status.Rima Vesely-Flad: Yes.Vince Horn: And then now, but in 21st century America, it feels like in some ways that view prevents moving forward to me with some of the deep learnings that the postmodern theorists have offered us over the last decades, you know, around the way that power gets calcified and ossified in systems, you know, that we're embedded in, in cultures that we are raised in.You know, having grown up here in the rural South, you know, this is a lot of what I've reflected on when it's come to reading works like yours and looking at racialization. Is like how I can't separate myself out from the place that I came up in. And I can see even with a Palestinian mixed racial household, like I was in a sea of white Southern Baptist Christians mostly.And, like, it had a huge effect on the way I talked and the things I thought were acceptable to say or to think. And, you know, I can even see the ways that I was always... I was trying to bridge the gaps with folks who are different because my grandfather moved into the part of town where the only Black folks in the entire county lived.There were two students in my high school who were Black. They were both... We rode on the bus together. I was quite close friends with one person. And it's like growing up in the small little mini minority space I remember trying to make connections with folks and sometimes just like really messing up and not because of that inculturation.I remember one time I wanted to share this story, which I've never shared before. Which I think it... I want to meet you in your vulnerability here because you shared so much in the book. But I remember a friend of mine had a friend over, young Black girl, and she was, I forget her name, but she came over.We were hanging out and getting to know each other. And I remember this thing that I said to her as a... Really, my intention was to try to connect. And I said, sometimes me and my family, we're also called “sand,” and then I used the N word. And this was my— and I said it totally smiling, you know, like really assuming this would bridge some gap between us, and that she would see, like, I'm like her.But the impact that it had was totally the opposite. You know, it's like, it really bothered her. She was crying later. My friends were like, “What the heck is wrong with you? Why did you say that?” And I was like, oh my gosh. And it was just such a rude awakening to the reality of race, and I could see that even as an older adult, you know, asking people where they're from to try to connect, when I appear as white, has this impact of really causing people to feel paranoid or feel like I'm coming at them in a way that's racially biased.You know, where I'm trying to, like, figure out where they're from ‘cause they're not from around here, you know, and stuff like that. And I could see how even being well-intentioned when you're trying to connect across difference, it's very easy to, because of ignorance, to really harm people. And I can see that in the community of white Buddhist practitioners, you know, where a lot of very smart and well-intentioned people, as they engage with this work, like, we struggle to figure out how to do that in a way that's not perpetuating harm on a racial basis.It seems safer to just not talk about it sometimes. And I can see that this is a real problem. Like, it prevents learning and it prevents people from being able to kind of see their own conditioning and kind of acknowledge like, oh, this is really ugly. You know, it's really ugly that I thought it was okay to just, like, use that language and that it wouldn't have that kind of impact.Like, I thought for some reason it was neutral.Rima Vesely-Flad: Yeah. Yeah, that, I think that does speak to what we were just talking about with regards to karma and language and how we are socialized, how we inherit so much, and how even a word that has been weaponized with such vitriol and hatred over centuries in real time is still like a brick at the body.Like, it can land and it's almost... Yeah, I could even feel, like your reference to it, just how it landed, ‘cause it's still such a powerful word, and it does point to the fact that we do exist in conditions of such hatred and violence, that we are landed upon all the time, and we have to figure out, like, how to acknowledge that in ways that don't take us under or, frankly, if this is wanted on all sides, create rupture so that there can't be a way forward to acknowledge the weight of what's taken place.And I think for people who have had that hatred— and again, I'm thinking of both Baldwin and Lorde speaking to this with such clarity and self-empathy. For that hatred to be received over and over, especially in early years, but not exclusively in early years, and to have ways to acknowledge it and to come out of it, I think is something that we are all called to do.And to maybe to, and I say this with real tenderness, ‘cause I am still learning and asking for feedback all the time. With some tenderness to, if you notice that something has been, that some harm has taken place, that something has caused rupture, or if you're told that by other people to go in, not with some sense of defensiveness or a sense of needing to explain yourself, or even needing to clarify your intention, but to come in and to say with real humility, “I'm sorry, and I want to know what this is for you, and it matters to me that your inner being, that your wellbeing is cared for.”That's what matters. And actually, I had a moment a couple of weeks ago, not even quite that long, where I said something quite offensive to a friend of mine, and I noticed. I just— you know, noticed by reading facial expressions, and this is part of our work too, right? To observe. And so I asked, and was able to receive some feedback and to really hear it.And I think something that I struggle with, and I imagine for you, Vince, this is real as well, is we both are parenting young kiddos. You have an 11-year-old, I have a 10-year-old, about to be 11. We are really busy. We're running households, and I think some of what I come up against in my own work is, where is the time to do that inner work of reflecting, processing, synthesizing how we might have created harm, returning to the relationship?Like, where is the time to really do that? And that is something I'm sitting with, is if I have said something or not said something and it has created harm, where is the space to process that? And so this practice of sitting every day, of taking refuge, creating a kind of consistent place to land every day, I think that is some of the work as well, is to have a place where we can receive ourselves and how we are working with that harm that we have imputed upon someone else.And that's a big part of the practice as well for me, is just to create that level of consistency. And to feel into that remorse, to feel into that regret, to feel how it lands with us, and to hope that we might be able to convey that and to be received. And we don't always know. We can put ourselves out there.We may not be received, but just to have that sincerity of approach and to not make it about us, but to really focus on how it has landed for the other person, and then in our own practice to do our work. I think that, for me anyway, has been a way forward. Not that I could write a rule book or some set of instructions. I would not say that. But, you know, I take real guidance from Audre Lorde who said, like, “It's on me to see my heel print on another woman's face.” I have to do my own work even if I do self-identify as someone who has had that level of systemic and interpersonal harm coming at me.I'm also in a place where I can oppress other people. I'm doing real harm for other people. And it's not one or the other. It's not simplistic, but it involves a level, I think, of spiritual and emotional maturity to really see that for ourselves and to be open to whatever has arisen and whatever harm has been done, and then to be accountable, to put ourselves in a position of being accountable to a group or to another person it is really hard work. Really very hard work.Vince Horn: Yeah. Yeah. At the same time, I mean, I can see that's the only way to gain in wisdom is to be able to do that work and then be like, “Oh, yeah, now I know better. You know, I know a little better how to engage or be with folks in a way that's not gonna cause as much harm.It's going to, you know, support others.” So yeah, thank you for talking to me today and for exploring this with us here in the Insight Diaspora. I wanted to mention, too, that you're very generously offering up sort of in-depth content around this for sanghas and other communities and leaders that are kind of interested in bringing this work into their communities.I don't know if you wanted to mention that for those that are listening and might want to reach out to you and explore that.Rima Vesely-Flad: Oh, yes. And I can put... I have a couple of things I want to put in the chat, but I can put my website in, and the bottom of the page are these offerings. Yeah, so—Vince Horn: Please.Rima Vesely-Flad: I have recorded a number of Dharma talks, eight Dharma talks with two practices based on the book. And the hope is that this is a self-guided course, but the hope is that people can both listen and then practice. And the hope is in community that actually that can happen. And still trying to figure out exactly how to essentially package all of that.But at the moment, people can register for a self-guided course and listen to Dharma talks, some of which come from the book and are somewhat expanded, and some of which come from other work I've done. So there's one called The Dharma of James Baldwin and Audre Lorde, and then there are three that will be offered live with a good friend of mine, Rashid Hughes, who has put together a practice he refers to as rest.He is a lovely human. He's done restorative justice work for a long time. He also has a Master of Divinity degree and leads a sangha in DC. And so Rashid will offer practice spaces live, and I will record Dharma talks. The next one is called Buddhism and Black Liberation. That comes from a book I published in 2022.And then there will be one offered in January called The Discipline of Liberation, and I think that's my next project. I'm just starting to get my head around it, but it's informed and guided by the writings of bell hooks.And then there will be one that actually points to exactly what we were just talking about with regards to harm and conflict and how to work with it internally and how to be in community, and I think a lot of us don't have that training, and I'm still someone, even now, who if I receive something in a hard way, I will go to my cushion before I'll go to another person.And maybe that's okay, except if I don't ever get off the cushion and go to that person, that's not okay. So really trying to, this is in real time, also trying to learn, like, how to have these harder conversations and do repair. That's really what I'm pointing to, how to do repair effectively so that there isn't only rupture, but there's a relationship that's sustained. So there will be one self-guided course. It will open in about a month on Tuesday, September 1st, and then three live classes with my friend Rashid, and starting in October, and then in 2027, two classes. And my hope is that we start to create some spaces that are trainings and also collective spaces where we can be guided, especially by, in my case, I'm thinking of Black thinkers, although always in conversation with other lineages, but really wanting to bring the wisdom of Black thinkers to the center of Dharma practice.Vince Horn: Yeah.Rima Vesely-Flad: Palestinian voices as well. I am really invested in that, too. And a friend, Kareem Gandoor, refers to Palestinian dharma, and I think, yes, that really resonates with me.Vince Horn: So yeah, Kareem. I know Kareem. Good stuff. Yeah, I've recently just connected with Mohsen Mawdawi, who is the president of Buddhist Association at Columbia.I think— didn't you do your grad work at Columbia?Rima Vesely-Flad: I did one of those degrees there. Uh-huh. In the same program he was in, yeah.Vince Horn: Uh-huh. Yeah. And it's been so nice to connect with fellow Palestinian Buddhists. All five of us are now connected. So I feel a lot of solidarity with the work that you're doing, and the way that you're centering the wisdom of Black teachers in the Buddhist lineage, bringing that to bear.So thank you so much for that work. I hope you continue doing it for a long time.Rima Vesely-Flad: Well, thank you. It does feel like the right work, and I feel so grateful to be able to do it long term. I mean, that's I think where I'm going here. Actually, being able to work... I'm gonna put my website into the chat.Being able to organize some of these classes is an attempt to make this work more sustainable, in addition to being like it both informs the next project and is an outgrowth of the current project. Get full access to Buddhist Geeks at www.buddhistgeeks.org/subscribe
Wrong Kinda Disco EP002 with James Baldwin Show: Wrong Kinda Disco Artist: James Baldwin Air Date: 7 August 2026 Genre: House / Funky House / Tech House Episode 002 of Wrong Kinda Disco with James Baldwin, bringing you another hour of uplifting, energetic house music on Data Transmission Radio. As always, you can expect a blend of funky-inspired house music with tougher nods towards tech house along the way. This month's show is packed with new music discoveries, chunky grooves and plenty of feel good energy. This month's episode features music from Milk & Sugar and James Hurr, Jude & Frank, Kristofson, Alexander Som and more, alongside two of my own unreleased tracks - I Can't Get Enough and Accelerate. For more music, mixes and updates, you can find all my links here: www.jamesbaldwindj.com Tracklist: DJ Kone, Marc Palacios, ROMBE4T - Press Play Offplan - Life Groove P - He's Mine Milk & Sugar, James Hurr - I Like It James Baldwin - I Can't Get Enough Alexander Som - Out Of My Head Stylex (UK) - Movin' Kim Fai, Rue Jay - Let Me Tell U Something James Baldwin - Accelerate Kristofson - Luvin Francesco Capodaglio, Robbie Groove, Alex Ferrarini - In My House! Parker Gordon - Disco Thing ESSEL, Paul Richard - Shined On Me Jude & Frank - The Sound Of House Johan S - Go Back CASSIMM - Jackin Jewel Kid - Free Originally broadcast on Data Transmission Radio. Listen live and explore the archive: https://radio.datatransmission.co
Country artist Bryan Andrews with 4 million TikTok followers, a Billboard-charting single, and a brand-new mixtape; joins Joy for one of the most unfiltered conversations Two Personal has had. They get into the grift of performative conservatism in country music, what it's like being the "Town Democrat" back home, why small-town white men need to be the messengers for change in their own communities, Christian nationalism, patriarchy, and what real masculinity actually looks like. Chapters:00:00 – Intro & welcome02:03 – Country music's "conservative" problem04:00 – The grift: exposing fake conservative country stars08:37 – Bryan's political upbringing09:55 – Releasing "The Older I Get"12:01 – Small towns, inner cities, and the roots of the divide13:18 – "Cosplay hillbilly" backlash15:08 – Blame, scapegoating, and anti-politician fandom19:00 – Being the right messenger23:21 – Christianity and hypocrisy27:03 – Are we a Christian nation? 32:07 – Midterms and political commentary39:29 – Corporate taxes and small-town economics44:05 – "Yee Haw, Fuck the Law" & country's Black roots48:14 – What "alpha male" really means49:33 – Patriarchy and submission culture53:29 – New relationship, being a "sim"1:00:00 – Men's mental health and suppressed emotions1:06:20 – The James Baldwin quote he lives by1:08:26 – Tour, charity, and goodbye See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
After catching up on a week filled with unexpected twists—from work frustrations to car mishaps—Janine and Nicole dive into a relationship trend that's taking over social media: "monogamish." In this week's What's on Our Timeline?, the ladies unpack the growing conversation around relationships that blur the lines between monogamy and open partnerships. Is "monogamish" simply honesty replacing secrecy, or is it just infidelity with better branding? Janine and Nicole explore the importance of communication, boundaries, emotional intimacy, and whether some relationship arrangements create more complications than clarity. The conversation takes an even deeper turn when they read a heartfelt listener letter from a woman questioning whether the relationship structure she agreed to is slowly costing her the love—and the sense of self—she's worked so hard to build. As her partner develops an emotional connection with someone outside of their relationship, the hosts offer candid, compassionate advice about self-worth, intuition, healthy boundaries, and recognizing when compromise becomes self-abandonment. Drawing from Nicole's perspective as an OB/GYN and Janine's faith-centered approach to relationships, this episode tackles everything from emotional attachment and trust to sexual health, commitment, and the courage it takes to choose yourself. The episode closes with a powerful Motivational Moment from James Baldwin: "Love takes off the mask that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within." It's a reminder that real love requires honesty, vulnerability, and the courage to show up as your authentic self—even when the truth is uncomfortable. Until next time... Pray. Work. Slay. And show off your melanated excellence. Find more shows like this on the Mean Ole Lion Media app. Follow, rate, comment, and share!
Lo nuevo de Sylvan Esso nos deja con los sentidos amplificados, un relato que parece como un sueño, más si entra en juego el sampler de la canción “Svefn-g-englar” de Sigur Rós, que aparece como un destello. 'Concrete Glen' es la canción con la que anuncian su primer disco en cuatro años, se llamará Ow ∞ y llegará el 11 de septiembre. Vuestro Rayito de luz: 'Everyday Is Like Sunday' Morrissey Lecturas Pendientes: 'El cuarto de Giovanni' de James Baldwin Refugio Climático: El festival Sierra Sonora en La Rioja Playlist: Four Tet - Human VoiceDaphni - Hav U a SecBaxter Dury - SchadenfreudeNation of Language - Across That Fine LineJoy Division - DisorderBelako - LungsLos Punsetes - MabuseEl Columpio Asesino - A la Espalda del MarSabrina Carpenter - TasteChappell Roan - HOT TO GO!Taylor Swift - I Knew It, I Knew YouBleachers - We Should TalkDanny L Harle, Oklou, MNEK - Crystallise My TearsArca - FuturalityAddison Rae - Headphones OnArlo Parks - Floette (feat. John Glacier)Kelela, PinkPantheress - The BridgeNia Archives - VerticalSoleá Morente, Isa Triángulo de Amor Bizarro - DomingosDjo - Charlie's GardenThis Is Lorelei - Oh No Now MyPhoebe Bridgers - Lost BoysTroye Sivan - In My RoomHarry Styles - Late Night TalkingRusowsky - Johnny GlamourHofe, Natalia Lacunza - Esto No Es AmorJudeline, Amaia - Com VocêGirl Ultra, Buscabulla - MentirasmentirasMadonna - Love SensationThe Avalanches - Blue ShadowsSylvan Esso - Concrete GlenBon Iver - Skinny LoveBon Iver - re: StacksViva Belgrado - Súper FuturoPaco Te Quiero - Solo ContigoAlizzz - Ya No Siento NadaPaco Pecado - Rugío de SentirGuitarricadelafuente - Futuros AmantesRemi Wolf - TwiggyLily Allen - RuminatingKate Nash - FoundationsEscuchar audio
One more vacation episode! This episode was originally released on April 9, 2024.Happy Tuesday, Classmates! Did you survive all the earthquakes and eclipses?! Oh good, because do we have jam-packed show for you today! First up, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and The New Yorker theater critic Hilton Als, editor of the new book God Made My Face: A Collective Portrait of James Baldwin. We chat with Hilton all about the legacy of the legendary James Baldwin and the lessons his life and work can offer us today (0:18:14). After that, stay tuned for part 2 of Paige's Kinfolk conversation with Hannah Mayree of the Black Banjo Reclamation Project (0:45:53). Plus, the Morning Announcements with Emile (0:41:54) and a little Pure Black Joy (1:02:37) to get you to the end of the week. Take your seats, everybody. Class is in session!Hosts: Lee Bynum, Rocky Jones, Paige Reynolds (Mabolé Inawale)Guests: Hilton Als, Hannah MayreeContributor: Emilia MettenbrinkProducer: Rocky Jones--LinksHilton Als (Website)God Made My Face: A Collective Portrait of James Baldwin (Book) (Exhibition)Black Banjo Reclamation Project (Website)James Baldwin at 100 (Website)Sugar Hill Salon Chamber Music (Website)Ensemble Obiora (Website)--Hey hey, THE SCORE is now on social! Follow us @thescorepod on Instagram here and Bluesky here!--New episodes of THE SCORE drop every other Tuesday. If you like what you hear, please support us and SUBSCRIBE to the show on your favorite podcast app and be sure to SHARE our show with your friends. Also, leaving a 5-star REVIEW on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you're listening is a great way to help people find our show. Email your questions or comments to thescorepodcast2.0@gmail.com.Ways to Listen: Apple | Spotify | YouTubeFollow Your Hosts on Insta! Lee | Paige | Rocky
Brian DeShazor talks with author Josh Trujillo about The Legends and Loves of Baron von Steuben- Washington's Gay General. The rainbow rewinds to James Baldwin and Randy Shilts and in the news, a deadly vehicle attack targets Berlin's Christopher Street Day celebration, Poland's Constitutional Tribunal blocks recognition of same-sex marriages performed elsewhere in the European Union, Pennsylvania repeals HIV-specific criminal penalties, and a British court allows a controversial puberty-blocker study to proceed. Finally, the U.S. State Department apologizes for displaying an AI-generated map that scrambled Africa's geography, while the consequences of Trump administration cuts to global HIV programs continue to mount. Featured speakers: Alfonso Pantisano, Winnie Byanyima, Dr. Atul Gawande, James Baldwin, Randy Shilts, Josh Trujillo Credits: Associate Producer/Host Lucia Chappelle, Producer Brian DeShazor, News writer Jeb Backe, rainbow rewind written by Sheri Lunn and Brian DeShazor, feature producer Brian DeShazor, NewsWrap reporters Joe Boehnlein, Michael LeBeau music: Kronos ft. Nathalie Merchant and Kim Wilson
"Four Great Americans" by James Baldwin offers a captivating exploration of the lives of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Daniel Webster, and Abraham Lincoln, presenting their stories in a way that is both accessible to children and engaging for adults. Rather than focusing solely on their monumental achievements, Baldwin emphasizes the personal qualities and everyday experiences that shaped these iconic figures. This approach not only humanizes them but also highlights the enduring themes of perseverance, integrity, and the complexities of leadership.
Georgina Godwin meets writer Nicholas Boggs to trace the life of James Baldwin in his new biography ‘Baldwin: A Love Story’.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
America, U.S.A. by Eddie S. Glaude Jr. is a gripping exploration of the United States' history and its anniversaries. Eddie joins us to talk about storytelling, music, the semiquincentennial, language, W.E.B. Du Bois, James Baldwin and more with host Miwa Messer. This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang. New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app. Featured Books (Episode): America, U.S.A.: How Race Shadow's the Nation's Anniversaries by Eddie S. Glaude Jr. Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own by Eddie S. Glaude Jr. Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul by Eddie S. Glaude Jr. We Are the Leaders We Have Been Looking For by Eddie S. Glaude Jr. The 42nd Parallel: The U.S.A. Trilogy, Volume 1 by John Dos Passos The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families by J. Anthony Lukas Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 by Eric Foner Black Reconstruction in America, 1860-1880 by W.E.B. Du Bois Slave Religion: The "Invisible Institution" in the Antebellum South by Albert J. Raboteau Race Matters by Cornel West Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People by Imani Perry Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin The Evidence of Things Not Seen by James Baldwin How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith Featured Books (TBR Top Off): America, U.S.A.: How Race Shadow's the Nation's Anniversaries by Eddie S. Glaude Jr. The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein The War Within a War: The Black Struggle in Vietnam and at Home by Wil Haygood
SOCIALISM IS BLACK AND WHITE A poll came out of Michigan this week showing the socialist winning white Democrats and getting destroyed by Black Democrats in the same primary, and the explanation the internet landed on within the hour was that Black voters secretly agree but have been beaten into silence by a wicked country. We take that apart with a street in Detroit that no longer exists. Then we head to Europe, where a committee of publicly funded broadcasters just published twenty-three pages of cartoon diagrams instructing camera operators how to point a lens at a woman running, five years after that same continent fined a team of women a hundred and fifty euros apiece for putting shorts on. And the U.S. House voted 308 to 117 this week on what time it is, so we brought in Camellia Peterson to explain why the clock in Jefferson City is federal property.
Kirstine Taylor on her article “Racial Capitalism and the Production of Innocence.” James Baldwin’s concept of “racial innocence” has been understood as a matter of practiced unconsciousness about the reality of racism in the United States. Taylor revisits his essays highlighting racial capitalism to show how segregated urban space, racialized labor relationships, and policing contribute […]
Cornel West is coming to Theology Beer Camp with his neighbor, Gary Dorrien, this October, and this hour is the on-ramp. It also happens to be a full one-hour preview of the America 250 conversation every clergy person I know is currently trying to write a sermon around. Brother West walked us through 1776 as an interruption of empire that was itself built on the preconditions of Indigenous genocide and Black enslavement (not the moral lapses around the edges of the founding — the actual foundation of it); through James Baldwin on how a country can be guilty of its own innocence; through the walking nihilism, the decline of courage, and the syncretism with economism that F. O. Matthiessen, Solzhenitsyn, Christopher Lasch, and Byung-Chul Han diagnosed long before the algorithm made it worse; and through why the Black Christian tradition rescued a love-centered gospel that Protestant faith-obsession had quietly abandoned. The whole thing wraps at Richard Rorty, Walter Rauschenbusch's grandson, at the end of his life confessing his utopia was a world in which love is the only law. Cornel: it sounds very Rauschenbuschian to me, Brother Rorty. If you want thein-person hang and conversation with Gary, register for Theology Beer Camp 2026 in Kansas City, October 8–10. Cornel and Gary have been trying to steal away for coffee for fifty years. Come watch them get to keep going. You can WATCH the conversation on YouTube Join our Online Summit - Unsettled Ground: Faith & the American Story at 250 This summer, Diana Butler Bass and I are launching Faith at 250 — an online summit featuring scholars like Randall Balmer, Juan Floyd-Thomas, Elesha Coffman, and more, each offering their own take on religion and America at 250 years. We built it so faith communities have something honest and substantive to turn to when the nationalist narratives start flying. Sign up at www.TheologySummit.com to get access to every lecture, livestream, and discussion guide. The summit is donation-based, including 0. This podcast is a Homebrewed Christianity production. Follow the Homebrewed Christianity, Theology Nerd Throwdown, & The Rise of Bonhoeffer podcasts for more theological goodness for your earbuds. Join over 75,000 other people by joining our Substack - Process This! Get instant access to over 50 classes at www.TheologyClass.com Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
QWS S5E4 Dennis Altman and Troy Hunter TEXT
Wrong Kinda Disco EP001 with James Baldwin Show: Wrong Kinda Disco Artist: James Baldwin Air Date: 3 July 2026 Genre: House / Disco House / Funky House / Tech House The very first episode of Wrong Kinda Disco, hosted by James Baldwin, kicks things off with a full hour of uplifting, chunky house music, blending disco house, tech house, brand new tracks I'm loving, and a few tried and tested weapons I've been playing out in my sets recently. Tracklist: Costa UK - Dance All Night Jules Vic - Save Me Lizzie Curious - Hold On Marco Melissen - Disco Energy Cassimm - This Sound James Baldwin - Believe In My House Milton Shadow - Black Night Reza & JustGio - Back In The Day James Baldwin - Disco Dilemma Dino Sauce - My DJ Jude & Frank - The Sound Of House Antoine Clamaran, Agua Sin Gas - What You Do Sam Frandisco - Gotta Have It James Baldwin - Got Me Moving Earth n Days - The Groove Federico Scavo, MOYA - Set Me On Fire Originally broadcast on Data Transmission Radio. Listen live and explore the archive: https://radio.datatransmission.co
Send us Fan MailThis is an opportunity to observe whitewashing as it happened. The Texas State Board of Education has been revising social studies standards for students in K-12. One member wanted to remove a description of why Ruby Bridges was special in civil rights history. As the first Black child to enter an all-white school in the American South, Bridges helped open doors that are still opening.In this segment, I provide audio of the Board meeting which demonstrates the majority efforts to push aside minority concerns about the contribution of Bridges and representation in an accurate history. One of the board members who helped lead the successful effort to keep Bridges in the standards, Staci Childs Davis, joins me to talk about the meeting and her reactions to it. In the second half of this segment, I critique Donald Trump's patriotic education initiative and speak to Jemar Tisby about whitewashing on a national scale as we move through the 250th birthday of the nation. This segment is a highlight of the season. Produced, written, and hosted by Warren ThrockmortonMusic by Jonas Fair and Netop"James Baldwin was right about patriotism" by Jemar Tisby https://jemartisby.substack.com/p/james-baldwin-was-right-about-patriotism
From Marian Anderson's 1939 concert at the Lincoln Memorial to Marvin Gaye singing the National Anthem at the NBA Finals, the theme of patriotism can be heard throughout African American music. Benjamin Ross offers selections from this rich musical heritage. Also: Ann Petry's The Street, published in 1946, was the first million-selling novel by an African American author. Keith Clark says Petry deserves to be in the pantheon of other great American writers like James Baldwin or Toni Morrison. Later in the show: Poet Walt Whitman in 1862 went searching for his brother George, who had been wounded in a Civil War battle. Mara Scanlon and Brady Earnhart say Whitman was so moved by the carnage he found that he worked as a nurse for the rest of the war. Also: While Edgar Allan Poe is the master of the macabre, Jerome McGann says Poe was more charming and humorous than his famous dark fiction suggests.
Send us Fan MailWhen you first pick up the world's most famous work of philosophy, Plato's Republic, you might be surprised to find that it starts with Socrates describing a day trip he took with his friend Glaucon to check out a festival happening just outside Athens. Where are the syllogisms? Where is the metaphysics? It does not seem very grand, at least at first.Colin Redemer joins the podcast to kick off part 1 of a 10-episode series on Plato's Republic, to give some suggestions for how to read Plato, and to walk through the various definitions of justice we encounter in Book 1 of The Republic. In Book 1, we encounter a large cast engaged in discussion with Socrates about this very question. Is justice returning to others what you owe them? Benefitting friends and harming enemies? The advantage of the stronger? H.I. Marrou's A History of Education in Antiquity: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780299088149Plato's Republic (trans. Allan Bloom): https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780465094080Davenant Press's Reforming Classical Education: https://davenantinstitute.org/davenant-press/reforming-classical-education/Austin Hoffman's review of Reforming Classical Education: https://www.frontporchrepublic.com/2023/02/awkward-family-dinner-a-review-of-reforming-classical-education/Colin Redemer's response to Austin Hoffman: https://adfontesjournal.com/web-exclusives/revisiting-platonic-education-the-ever-sharable-feast/James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780679744726Two ways to support the show and unlock bonus episodes:Download and subscribe to Ekho: ancientlanguage.com/ekho/Subscribe to New Humanists+ for bonus episodes: buzzsprout.com/1791279/subscribeNew Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.comSupport the show
In this episode, I reflect on James Baldwin's powerful insight that “a human being can only be saved by another human being,” and why 4 a.m. can be one of the most dangerous times to be alone with our thoughts. I explore how love, connection, and even the quiet presence of others can help us recognize that our lives are deeply intertwined—and that simply staying alive may be the greatest gift we give to the people around us.Why emotional pain often feels most overwhelming in the middle of the nightWhat Baldwin meant by “the miracle of love”Why drugs, alcohol, work, and distraction can soothe us but cannot truly save usHow Martin Short's grandchildren gave him a reason to keep goingThe ripple effect of our lives on partners, family, friends, and strangersHow we influence one another through our habits, consistency, and simple presencePractical questions to ask yourself when you're struggling at 4 a.m.Thrive With Leo Coaching: If you want to reduce your psychological pain, regain your purpose and forge your own path, go to www.thrivewithleo.com to begin your journey.If you or anyone you know is considering suicide or self-harm, or is anxious, depressed, upset, or needs to talk, there are people who want to help:In the US: Crisis Text Line: Text CRISIS to 741741 for free, confidential crisis counseling. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255 or 988The Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386Outside the US:International Association for Suicide Prevention lists a number of suicide hotlines by country. Click here to find them.
In this episode of The Truth In This Art, the guest is Jacob Ming-Trent!About Jacob Ming-Trent: Acclaimed performer, playwright, and one of American Theater's people to watch. A celebrated artist bringing his solo play, How Shakespeare Saved My Life, to Washington, DC's Folger Theater, and later to The Public Theater in New York with Red Bull producing.In our conversation, Ming-Trent walks through his journey from a rough childhood in an abusive home to moving to New York at seventeen—having been homeless the previous year and recently dropped out of high school. He recalls the pivotal moment Shakespeare entered his life: at six years old, his father, an English major, mentioned the Bard alongside Amiri Baraka. Years later, he accidentally walked into the wrong classroom and was asked to read a Shakespeare speech. "It felt like home to me," he says. "The words were big enough to give context to my emotions that were inside."He digs into the origins of How Shakespeare Saved My Life, a play that poured out of him unexpectedly while working on a different project. The solo show follows a kid with a tough childhood who discovers Shakespeare and tries to use it to navigate his world—sometimes it works, sometimes it fails. "It's a raucous ride, it's outrageous, it's funny, it's sad, and in the end we experience some black joy," Ming-Trent shares. We discuss his decision to leave theater at 35 after feeling treated like "an affirmative action hire," his pivot to television in LA, and how a call from director Saheem Ali brought him back to the stage to lead Shakespeare in the Park in Merry Wives—which ultimately led to writing this play. He reflects on the influence of figures like Biggie, Tupac, James Baldwin, and Basquiat—all artists trying to save their lives through their work. He also talks about audience interaction, the differences between performing in Berkeley and DC, and why vulnerability and fear are necessary parts of telling personal stories.Be sure to follow Jacob Ming-Trent and catch How Shakespeare Saved My Life, running until July 5th at Folger Theater (201 East Capitol Street SE, Washington, DC). Tickets start at $20. The play is also published by Bloomsbury Publishing. After DC, the show heads to The Public Theater in New York. The Truth In This Art is supported by William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, the Maryland State Arts Council's Creativity Grant and Mayor's Individual Artist Award - Creative Baltimore Fund (Baltimore). Host: Rob LeeMusic: Original music by Daniel Alexis Music with additional music from Chipzard and TeTresSeis.Production:Produced by Rob Lee & Daniel AlexisEdited by Daniel AlexisShow Notes courtesy of Rob Lee and TransistorPhotos:Rob Lee photos by Vicente Martin for The Truth In This Art and Contrarian Aquarian Media.Guest photos courtesy of the guest, unless otherwise noted.Support the podcastThe Truth In This Art Podcast Fractured Atlas (Fundraising): https://www.fracturedatlas.orgThe Truth In This Art Podcast Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thetruthinthisart.bsky.socialThe Truth In This Art Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truthinthisart/?hl=enThe Truth In This Art Podcast Website: https://www.thetruthinthisart.com/The Truth In This Art Podcast Shop: Merch from Redbubble ★ Support this podcast ★
Have a comment? Send us a text! (We read all of them but can't reply). Email us: Will@faithfulpoliticspodcast.comWhy do racial myths continue to shape American politics, religion, and culture long after people claim to reject racism? Greg Garrett, author of White Lies: Dismantling Ten Cultural Myths About Race, joins Faithful Politics to explain how false stories about race have been used to justify slavery, segregation, voting restrictions, exclusion, and white Christian nationalism. Garrett draws from film, theology, law, politics, sermons, advertising, James Baldwin, the Lost Cause, The Birth of a Nation, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture to show how myths do real public work. They tell people who belongs, who leads, and whose suffering can be ignored. The conversation does not treat myth as harmless folklore. It asks who these stories serve, why they are still persuasive, and what truth-telling requires from Christians, citizens, and communities that want to do better.Book MentionedWhite Lies: Dismantling Ten Cultural Myths About Race by Greg GarrettBookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/a/112456/9780197652183Relevant Links & ResourcesGreg Garrett - Baylor UniversityURL: https://english.artsandsciences.baylor.edu/person/dr-greg-garrettGuest BioGreg Garrett is the Carole McDaniel Hanks Professor of Literature and Culture at Baylor University and Canon Theologian for the American Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Paris. He has written more than thirty books, including White Lies: Dismantling Ten Cultural Myths About Race, The Gospel According to James Baldwin, and A Long, Long Way: Hollywood's Unfinished Journey from Racism to Reconciliation. His work focuses on the intersection of faith, culture, literature, film, race, and public life, which makes him a strong guide for this conversation about the myths that sustain racial hierarchy in American religion and politics. Support Sarah Stankorb's work and preorder Damned If She Does: Why Women Quit Church and What It Means for the Future of Religion, Releases September 15, 2026. Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/a/112456/9798889837091Website: https://www.sarahstankorb.com/Support the showKeep the conversation going.Want to learn more about Faithful Politics, suggest a future guest, or connect with us directly?Visit our website:faithfulpoliticspodcast.comBrowse our bookstore, featuring books from many of our guests:faithfulpoliticspodcast.com/bookstoreSupport the show and help us keep these conversations going:patreon.com/cw/FaithfulPoliticsSubscribe for behind-the-scenes content, reflections, and updates:faithfulpolitics.substack.comContact the hosts:Josh Burtram, Faithful Host: Josh@faithfulpolitics.comWill Wright, Political Host: Will@faithfulpolitics.comFollow Faithful Politics:Instagram: faithful_politicsFacebook: FaithfulPoliticsPodcast
Everything Referenced in this Episode:Donate to code pink!https://www.codepink.org/support202Check out the book on goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/406235.Giovanni_s_Room?ref=nav_sb_noss_l_9James Baldwins revolutionary life;https://tribunemag.co.uk/2021/08/the-revolutionary-life-of-james-baldwinJames baldwins debate:https://youtu.be/dTEr7Cwc4cE?is=7Au4NjQUAf0FR8-1Baldwins FBI recordhttps://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/tip-sheet/article/65641-why-james-baldwin-s-fbi-file-was-1-884-pages.htmlBook recs:"Conflict is not abuse" by Sarah Schulmanin the dream house by Carmen Maria MachadoFeminism for the 99%Down Girl the logic of misogyny and Unshrinking by Kate ManneCheck out our socials!Twitter: https://twitter.com/LitLibPodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/literaryliberation/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@literaryliberation?lang=enKristen Twitter: https://twitter.com/krxxtxnInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/tenstbr/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tenstbr?lang=enMariah Twitter: https://twitter.com/hungryryeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/hungryrye/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hungryrye?lang=en
When life gives you Demons-Make Demonade Trickster, within us all responds: Speak Truth – Be Power Crazy Danger requires – Majnoun- “Trickster Crazy for the Divine “ Waxing Full Moon Mercury stationing, planetary Intellignces gliding into most powerful opportune and dangerous Summer guiding… The Guiding Mythic News of Now, with accomplices: James Baldwin – on love… and decisions on whom to be, Kinship across borders- Iranian Team and Mexico. Mamdani on AIPAC Judge Andrew Napolitanoa on war crimes of Netanyahu, trump,Hegseth Hannah Arendt on Don't sing with the crowd John Moriarty on “never mind a Republic- but an Aonlaith” – animistic country The post When life gives you Demons-Make Demonade appeared first on KPFA.
People keep asking me about The Apprentice. And I get it.But a moment is not a mission.I am built from Frederick Douglass, James Baldwin, Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, and Martin Luther King, Jr., men who didn't show up for cameras. Men who showed up because silence was not an option.People paid in blood for the right to speak. To waste that right would be a disgrace.That is the lineage I carry.That is the obligation I operate under.So when you find this channel, know what you're looking at.Not a contestant.Not a personality.Not a platform chasing relevance.A movement with a memory.Folkes Unfettered — Commentary That Cuts.
This week on This Way Out: in the second installment of our special Pride Month collaboration with Los Angeles' Get Lit – Words Ignite, young poets respond to the voices of James Baldwin and Urvashi Vaid with original spoken-word performances that bridge generations of LGBTQ history, literature, and activism. Plus, a Rainbow Rewind featuring Patricia Nell Warren and Harvey Fierstein, and in Newswrap: the Netherlands' ban on conversion therapy, a Trump administration lawsuit targeting the world's leading transgender health organization, cuts to LGBTQ veterans' health programs, Niger's expanding crackdown on LGBTQ people, and an openly gay referee making FIFA World Cup history. Featured speakers:, James Baldwin, Brian Sonia-Wallace, Urvashi Vaid, Allison Leiva-Reyes and Alina Sadibekova Credits: Associate Producer/Host Lucia Chappelle, Producer Brian DeShazor, News writer Jeb Backe, feature producer Brian DeShazor, NewsWrap reporters, Ava Davis and Nico Raquel, music by Raye and Kim Wilson
James Baldwin's former home in the South of France is a site that many visit hoping to feel the essence of the great African-American writer. But should it be? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
There is a state in New England where ancient mountains rise above the treeline into bare Arctic tundra, where sheer granite summits look out over oceans of forests, and where one of the fastest wind speeds ever recorded was once clocked here at 231 miles per hour. But New Hampshire is also the place where Thoreau came to reflect, Thornton Wilder was inspired to write his seminal play Our Town, and the oldest summer stock company in America stills performs in an 18th century barn. New Hampshire is art and adventure, natural wonders and quintessential charm. But most of all, like the state's nickname suggests, it is a place to live free and to the fullest.In today's episode we set off on a seven-day road trip through three of the state's most rugged and fascinating regions - from backpacking in the White Mountains and scrambling up waterfalls to discovering art inspired by nature, and nature infused with an artistic eye. Get ready for the Live Free Road Trip.Highlights include:Hiking the Presidential Traverse - three days, and four peaks above 5,000 feet, including Mt Washington, the highest (and windiest) summit in New England.Discovering the ‘business class of backpacking' staying in the Apallachain Mountain Club's backcountry huts - three-course dinners, epic views, and cosy beds.Finding out about the MacDowell Institute, a legendary artists' residency founded in 1907, whose past guests include Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, James Baldwin, Thornton Wilder and hundreds of other world-class artists.Hiking Mount Monadnock - reputedly the second most climbed mountain in the world after Mount Fuji, with views across New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts. Hear why this was one of Thoreau's favorite hikes!FIND OUT MOREProduced in collaboration with Lonely Planet: LonelyPlanet.comFind inspiration, itineraries and everything you need - including how to book this exact road trip - at visitnh.gov (Visit New Hampshire) or follow them on social at @VisitNHThank you to our guests:Marielle Fibish, senior outdoor guide at the Appalachian Mountain Club.Find out more at: outdoors.orgBen Cote, Newport local and outdoor fanatic. Connect with him at tracylibrary.orgMichelle Stahl, Executive Director at the Monadnock Center for History and Culture. Find out more at monadnockcenter.orgKnow Someone Who Needs This?If this episode lit something up in you, do me a favour — send it to just one person. One friend, one family member, one person who needs a little wonder in their life right now. Or go old school and tell someone about it over a cheeky pint. Every single share genuinely moves the needle.FOLLOW US:Instagram: @armchairexplorerpodcastFacebook: @armchairexplorerpodcastCONNECT WITH US:If you enjoy the show, please subscribe on whatever podcast player you're reading this on right now. It helps us grow the show, and continue to bring these stories to you.Armchair Explorer is written and presented by Aaron Millar. Audio editing and sound design by Charles Tyrie. Produced by Armchair ProductionsMentioned in this episode:Check out the Smart Travel PodcastThis week's show is supported by the new Smart Travel Podcast. Travel smarter — and spend less — with help from NerdWallet. Check out Smart Travel at the Link below:Smart Travel PodcastCheck out all of our other travel podcasts from around the worldThis podcast is part of the Voyascape Network, a collection of some of the world's best travel podcasts. Explore more at Voyascape.com. For advertising or sponsorship opportunities across the network, see the link below.Voyascape Podcast Network
Last year, political journalist Zerlina Maxwell did something that most of us only dream about: she moved to Sicily.She's been speaking truth to power for years as a radio and TV host but after losing her mom and seeing Trump elected for a second time, she knew she had to make a change. And now that she's living full-time in Italy, she's seeing America more clearly than ever.She's still hosting her radio show Mornings with Zerlina and contributing to the hard work of defending American democracy, but it all feels very different now. She's able to slow down, be more intentional, appreciate time with friends, and escape the hamster wheel of busyness and to-do lists.She's not the first Black American to seek refuge overseas; James Baldwin, for example, wrote much of his groundbreaking work while abroad in Turkey. Outside of the “haze of racism and hostility and oppression,” as Zerlina put it, she can find the clarity to really examine this moment in American history.Even if you can't move to Italy (and don't be so sure you can't!), you can learn from Zerlina's journey. Every day, you can do one soft thing and one civic thing. Have a dance party in your kitchen, or meditate, or grab a coffee or ice cream with a friend… and text your neighbors about an upcoming election, or attend a city hall meeting, or donate to an organization you believe in.We can't heal a broken country without healing ourselves — and that can happen from anywhere.For a transcript of this episode, please email comms@redwine.blue. You can learn more about us at www.redwine.blue or follow us on social media! Instagram: @RedWineBlueUSAFacebook: @RedWineBlueUSAYouTube: @RedWineBlueUSA
“Everyone you're looking at is also you.” That James Baldwin-inspired line sits at the heart of this conversation with flutist, composer, educator, and collaborator Anne Drummond. In Episode 243 of Walk Talk Listen, Maurice Bloem speaks with Anne about music, creativity, improvisation, community, and the people who shape our lives. Raised in Seattle by music educators and profoundly influenced by her middle school band director Robert E. Natt, Anne reflects on the experiences that helped form her unique musical voice. The conversation explores her journey from Seattle to New York, her collaborative approach to music-making, and the vibrant creative community she is cultivating through her recording studio and ongoing series of singles. Anne also shares the story behind her song People, inspired by the words and wisdom of James Baldwin. Together, Maurice and Anne discuss listening, learning, hope, neuroscience, creativity, and why music can help us reconnect with ourselves and one another. Topics include: • The influence of mentors and teachers• Finding a unique musical voice• Collaboration and creative community• Music, neuroscience, and learning• Improvisation and navigating uncertainty• James Baldwin and shared humanity• The story behind the song People• Why Anne believes that life itself is improvisation As Anne reminds us, music is more than performance, it is a language, a way of listening, and a way of understanding ourselves through others. Listener Engagement: Learn more about Anne Drummond and her work through her University website, her own website and her social media handles: Instagram. Anne is also on Linkedin. Share your feedback on this episode through our Walk Talk Listen Feedback link – your thoughts matter! Follow Us: Support the Walk Talk Listen podcast by following us on Facebook and Instagram. Visit 100mile.org or mauricebloem.com for more episodes and information about our work. Check out the special series "Enough for All" and learn more about the work of the Joint Learning Initiative (JLI).
In a special Pride Month feature produced by Brian DeShazor, young poets from Los Angeles-based Get Lit – Words Ignite respond to the words of LGBTQ trailblazers across generations. After listening to archival recordings by James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, and Quentin Crisp, the poets James Mondares, Candi aka Vonne, and Samantha Rios created original spoken-word pieces inspired by those voices and their enduring messages. The result is a moving intergenerational conversation that connects LGBTQ history, literature, and activism with the experiences of today's emerging writers, demonstrating how the power of queer storytelling continues to inspire new generations. This week on This Way Out, NewsWrap reports on growing concerns over proposed cuts to LGBTQ+ health research and federal grant programs under a new Trump administration plan. We also mark the tenth anniversary of the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, follow protests by transgender rights activists in the United Kingdom over new public-facility restrictions, report on a neo-Nazi disruption of Pride events in Athens, Georgia, and celebrate Broadway history as Qween Jean becomes the first openly transgender Tony Award winner. Featured speakers: Zohran Mamdani, Bruce Villanch, Brian Sonia-Wallace, James Baldwin, James Mondares, Audre Lorde, Candi aka Vonne, Quentin Crisp Samantha Rios Credits: Associate Producer/Lucia Chappelle, Producer/Host Brian DeShazor, News writer Jeb Backe, feature producer Brian DeShazor, NewsWrap reporters, Joe Boehnlein and Melanie Keller, music by Raye and Kim Wilson.
Full Plate: Ditch diet culture, respect your body, and set boundaries.
This week's episode is one I have been so excited to share. I'm joined by two brilliant, generous, and deeply thoughtful guests — writer, educator, and body liberation advocate Chrissy King, and creative and founder Claire — who have co-created the Child-Free Coven, a community and mutual aid space for people who are child-free, by choice or by circumstance.In this episode:*What the word “childfree” actually means — and why Chrissy and Claire are actively reclaiming it*Why being childfree is not anti-child, and the James Baldwin quote at the center of their community*Chrissy's story: ending a marriage, being the first woman in her lineage to have this choice, and what liberation actually feels like*Claire's story: knowing from her early teens, navigating a partner's uncertainty, and how 25 years of undiagnosed endometriosis is inextricably linked to her childfree journey*The things people say to childfree women and what to make of them*The connection between body liberation and the childfree experience*Race, reproductive justice, and how this conversation is profoundly different depending on who you are*The political moment we're in — bodily autonomy, forced birth, and what history tells us about these tactics*What it means to pour your love, attention, and energy into the world without motherhood as the vehicle*The difference between grief and regret*What Chrissy means when she says she wanted more than “fine”Resources:Find The Childfree Coven on Substack and InstagramChrissy's book: The Body Liberation ProjectClaire on Instagram and Chrissy on InstagramRachel Cargill / Rich Auntie SupremeResmaa Menakem, My Grandmother's HandsTricia Hersey / Rest is ResistanceSupport the show: Enjoying this podcast? Please support the show on Substack for bonus episodes, community engagement, and access to "Ask Abbie" at abbieattwoodwellness.substack.com/subscribeApply for Abbie's Group Membership: https://www.abbieattwoodwellness.com/circle-monthly-group Find the show on Instagram: @fullplate.podcastFind Abbie on Instagram: @abbieattwoodwellness This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit abbieattwoodwellness.substack.com/subscribe
Episode DescriptionIn this episode of Murder in the Black, the host reflects on Latasha Harlins' life, death, and legacy while connecting her story to racial violence, community grief, policing, and justice in America. She also shares her firsthand experience attending the Karmelo Anthony trial and examines how Black youth are viewed in courtrooms, media, and public opinion.Key TopicsLatasha Harlins' life, family, and tragic deathSouth Central LA in the 1980s and 1990sEula Mae Love, Rodney King, and LAPD violenceBlack and Korean community tensions in South CentralThe 1992 LA Uprising and its aftermathThe O.J. Simpson trial and distrust of the LAPDCyrus Carmack-Belton and ongoing racial violenceThe Karmelo Anthony trial and courtroom experienceRace, accountability, grief, and Black childhoodTimestamps00:00 - Witnessing the Karmelo Anthony trial00:23 - Latasha Harlins' story03:06 - Latasha's family and move to LA05:42 - Crystal Harlins' death09:15 - Black grandmothers and survival11:07 - Latasha's dreams13:14 - Black/Korean tensions in South Central14:19 - Eula Mae Love and LAPD violence17:15 - Rodney King21:34 - Latasha's murder23:22 - Sentencing and outrage26:21 - 1992 LA Uprising29:32 - O.J. Simpson and the LAPD30:24 - Cyrus Carmack-Belton31:03 - Karmelo Anthony case36:04 - Jury composition37:09 - Verdict impact42:19 - Race, grief, and accountability46:01 - James Baldwin reflectionResourcesLatasha Harlins case, Rodney King beating, 1992 LA Uprising, O.J. Simpson trial, Cyrus Carmack-Belton case, Karmelo Anthony case, James Baldwin quote.
durée : 00:26:29 - Les Nuits de France Culture - par : Albane Penaranda - James Baldwin accorda un long entretien à Eric Laurent en juin 1975. Il fut diffusé en cinq volets sur France Culture. Diffusion du 5ème volet dans lequel l'écrivain américain évoque son travail d'écriture, la politique, le racisme, sa vie en France... - réalisation : Mathias Le Gargasson, Antoine Dhulster, Rafik Zénine, Vincent Abouchar, Emily Vallat, Hassane M'Béchour, INA Vous aimez ce podcast ? Pour écouter tous les épisodes sans limite, rendez-vous sur Radio France
What's up, y'all? Welcome back to Damn We Grown! On this beautiful Wednesday, Mike and Tiff are sliding some serious soul into your feed, and they didn't come alone. This week, they are joined by the soulful, sultry, ready-to-save-the-world therapist extraordinaire, Shimeka Arnold!The couch gets real comfortable real quick as Shimeka drops absolute gems on everything from her early days as an elementary school conflict counselor (shout out to the yellow shirts!) to the profound impact of epigenetics and generational trauma in the Black community.But the real breakthrough happens when the conversion flips to relationships, mental health, and the specific pressures Black men face. Mike gets put in the hot seat about his own hesitation toward therapy, leading to a powerful, paradigm-shifting breakdown of what "strength" actually means. Shimeka completely deconstructs the colonizer-ingrained mindset that men have to carry everything alone, explaining why vulnerability isn't a weakness—and why a true partner is there to help share the emotional weight.From hilarious breakdowns of "energy vampires" and how to hit them with boundaries, to a legendary analysis of a classic James Baldwin and Nikki Giovanni discussion, this episode balances deep, therapeutic wisdom with the signature comedic chemistry you love.Plus, Shimeka leaves the listeners with some powerful, free energy-work mantras to help shift your mind, protect your peace, and transform your daily life.Contact Shimeka for all your therapy needs and energy work.www.LovelyDayFamilyTherapy.com@LovelyDayFamilyTherapy
durée : 00:30:47 - Les Nuits de France Culture - par : Albane Penaranda - James Baldwin accorda un long entretien à Eric Laurent en juin 1975. Il fut diffusé en cinq volets sur France Culture. Diffusion du 4ème volet dans lequel l'écrivain américain évoque notamment la France, l'Amérique, la politique, sa vie d'écrivain... - réalisation : Mathias Le Gargasson, Antoine Dhulster, Rafik Zénine, Vincent Abouchar, Emily Vallat, Hassane M'Béchour, INA Vous aimez ce podcast ? Pour écouter tous les épisodes sans limite, rendez-vous sur Radio France
durée : 00:33:25 - Les Nuits de France Culture - par : Albane Penaranda - James Baldwin accorda un long entretien à Eric Laurent en juin 1975. Il fut diffusé en cinq volets sur France Culture. Diffusion du 3ème volet dans lequel l'écrivain américain évoque le racisme, l'Amérique, sa vie d'écrivain... - réalisation : Mathias Le Gargasson, Antoine Dhulster, Rafik Zénine, Vincent Abouchar, Emily Vallat, Hassane M'Béchour, INA Vous aimez ce podcast ? Pour écouter tous les épisodes sans limite, rendez-vous sur Radio France
durée : 00:28:52 - Les Nuits de France Culture - par : Albane Penaranda - James Baldwin accorda un long entretien à Eric Laurent en juin 1975. Il fut diffusé en cinq volets sur France Culture. Diffusion du 2ème volet dans lequel l'écrivain américain évoque notamment le racisme, la France, l'écriture... - réalisation : Mathias Le Gargasson, Antoine Dhulster, Rafik Zénine, Vincent Abouchar, Emily Vallat, Hassane M'Béchour, INA Vous aimez ce podcast ? Pour écouter tous les épisodes sans limite, rendez-vous sur Radio France
durée : 00:29:54 - Les Nuits de France Culture - par : Albane Penaranda - James Baldwin accorda un long entretien à Eric Laurent en juin 1975. Il fut diffusé en cinq volets sur France Culture. Diffusion du 1er volet dans lequel l'écrivain américain évoque notamment sa jeunesse, la pauvreté, le racisme, sa vocation d'écrivain, l'arrivée en France... - réalisation : Mathias Le Gargasson, Antoine Dhulster, Rafik Zénine, Vincent Abouchar, Emily Vallat, Hassane M'Béchour, INA Vous aimez ce podcast ? Pour écouter tous les épisodes sans limite, rendez-vous sur Radio France
Conversation with Washington Post columnist and political scientist Shadi Hamid on American power, democracy, and the case for hegemony in the 21st centuryIs America a force for good in the world? It's a question that has become increasingly uncomfortable to ask—and even more uncomfortable to answer. In this episode of Due Diligence, I sit down with political scientist, columnist, and author Shadi Hamid to explore one of the central tensions of modern politics: how should we think about American power in a world where power is unavoidable? Drawing from his new book, The Case for American Power, Shadi argues that while America has often fallen short of its ideals, it remains the least bad option in a world where someone will inevitably wield power. Throughout the conversation, we wrestle with a question that sits at the heart of Due Diligence: How do we hold America accountable for its failures without losing sight of what makes the American project worth preserving? Whether you're skeptical of American power, broadly supportive of it, or deeply conflicted about both, this conversation offers a thoughtful exploration of democracy, empire, idealism, realism, and the future of the international order.(00:43) Meet Shadi Hamid(01:56) Why power must be embraced(04:14) Why America is morally superior among great powers(05:28) The Nirvana fallacy (09:28) Is American foreign policy responsive to democracy?(12:09) How Gaza became a progressive litmus test (15:13) James Baldwin's argument(17:37) Why Democratic pride in America collapsed (20:44) Pride in country vs. love of country(25:17) Why American hypocrisy is a feature, not a bug(33:50) Sincerity vs. propaganda(36:21) Why having ideals makes America different(37:53) Why presidents fold on their foreign policy promises(41:15) The Obama tragedy & disappointment(42:59) How Obama obstructed Arab democracy(45:37) The uncomfortable reason America doesn't support Arab democracy(48:02) When America chose the moral path (51:23) Why supporting democracy is in America's self-interest(54:27) Why China's rise has been overstated(59:43) The role of cultural values in democracy(01:03:50) Idealism vs. realism(01:06:35) The challenge of writing this book(01:08:54) Why America's advantage is immigrationAbout Shadi HamidShadi Hamid is a columnist at The Washington Post, where he focuses on culture, religion and foreign policy. He is also a senior fellow at Georgetown University's Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. Previously, he was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a contributing writer at The Atlantic. Hamid is the author of several books, including most recently, “The Case For American Power.” In 2019, Hamid was named one of the world's top 50 thinkers by Prospect magazine. He is also the co-founder of “Wisdom of Crowds,” a podcast, newsletter and debate platform. Hamid received his B.S. and M.A. from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and his PhD in political science from Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar.Subscribe & followDue Diligence SubstackDue Diligence InstagramDulma's Instagram
On today's show: we will recap the Charlotte Sim Racing Expo, why is IMSA now in eNASCAR?, what is James Baldwin up to?, more bad news from Nvidia, cable management to drool over, has MOZA nailed it with their latest wheels?, is the IMSA track selection too repetitive and the Season 3 Development Blog is out! So sit back, relax and join us on the iRacers Lounge Podcast. iRacers Lounge Podcast is available on iTunes and Apple's Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play Music, Spotify, Soundcloud, Podbean, Spreaker, Podbay, PodFanatic, Overcast, Amazon, and other podcast players. Sponsors: Hosts: Mike Ellis – https://x.com/mikedeanellis David Hall – https://x.com/dmixmage Greg Hecktus – twitter.com/froozenkaktus Donnie Spiker – https://www.instagram.com/spikerman19/ Brad Wrenn – https://x.com/bradwrenn John Kerley – https://x.com/KerleyJohnE Justin Pearson – https://www.facebook.com/justin.pearson.5811 Bobby Jonas – https://x.com/bjonas71 William Westbrook – https://www.facebook.com/william.westbrook.35 Kris Randall – https://www.signalcraftstudio.com/ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61579217706429 Links: Facebook – www.facebook.com/iRacersLounge/ Twitter – twitter.com/iracerslounge Instagram – instagram.com/iracersloungepodcast/ Web (Show Notes) – iracerslounge.com/
Subscribe to Inside Call me Back. ____ Subscribe to Ark News Daily ____ Can the Black-Jewish alliance be repaired, or is it irreparable? Coleman Hughes, host of The Coleman Hughes Show at The Free Press and author of The End of Race Politics, joins Dan to trace the history of one of America's most important political coalitions, and how it began to unravel. He looks at the forces behind that shift, from old neighborhood tensions and the Nation of Islam to campus politics and a worldview that treats America and the West as uniquely guilty. And - if the old alliance cannot simply be recreated, what would a healthier path forward actually require? Coleman's essay on Sapir: https://sapirjournal.org/friends-and-foes/2024/black-radicalism/ Coleman's Book: https://www.amazon.com/End-Race-Politics-Arguments-Colorblind/dp/0593332458 Coleman's podcast: https://www.thefp.com/listen/conversations-with-coleman In this episode: - How Black and Jewish Americans became allies - The tensions inside the civil rights alliance - James Baldwin's theory of Black antisemitism - Why Baldwin's explanation falls short - Nation of Islam, Farrakhan, and hip-hop - Jewish success and the resentment problem - October 7th and the campus view of Israel - BLM, allyship, and whether repair is possible More Ark Media: Want to join Ark Media? Check out our careers page for new openings. Explore Israel Votes Listen to For Heaven's Sake Listen to What's Your Number? Watch Call me Back on YouTube Newsletters | Ark Media | Amit Segal | Nadav Eyal Instagram | Ark Media | Dan X | Dan Dan Senor & Saul Singer's book, The Genius of Israel Get in touch Credits: Ilan Benatar, Brittany Cohen, Ava Weiner, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Yuval Semo
Today, we hear advocates defend their cases for San Francisco's competing tax propositions. We're getting into San Francisco props C and D. Then, we hear from a young South Bay organizer on how youth are feeling about voting this year. Then, how James Baldwin inspired this year's theme for the Bay Area Book Festival.
Mothers undeniably impact and shape history -- but their stories are often left out or misrepresented, says sociologist and author Anna Malaika Tubbs. This erasure limits policies to support mothers and their essential roles in society. Citing the remarkable lives of Alberta King, Louise Little and Berdis Baldwin (the mothers of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and James Baldwin, respectively), Tubbs emphasizes the need to shift the perspective on motherhood at a cultural level -- to better reflect the presence, power and influence of moms as our first leaders, caretakers and teachers. "Would the world be different today if we had been telling their stories all along?" she asks.(This episode originally aired in 2022.)Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Born into poverty in Harlem in 1924, James Baldwin rose to become a celebrated novelist, essayist, playwright, and poet, and a leading voice in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. In his debut novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, and in his essay collections, Notes of a Native Son and The Fire Next Time, Baldwin wrote eloquently and provocatively about race, religion, sexuality, politics and class. To distance himself from the racial hatred and discrimination at home, Baldwin spent much of his adult life in France, helping to create a vibrant community for other Black artists, such as Nina Simone, Miles Davis and Josephine Baker. But he returned to America often to provide a fearless and incisive testimony to the events that defined his tumultuous era.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.