Podcasts about marginalised

Francis is in the winter of his papacy. Even when his health rallies a bit, everyone from the Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher to his counterpart in New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, have said the same thing – a historic papacy has probably entered its finale.

In Political Voice: Protest, Democracy, and Marginalised Groups (Oxford UP, 2024), Aidan McGarry examines the agency of marginalised people, emphasizing the processes through which different communities around the world articulate their political voices. McGarry develops an innovative concept of political voice around three elements: autonomy, representation, and constitution. This conceptualization is illustrated through contemporary case studies of two persecuted and silenced groups: LGBTIQ activists in India and Roma mobilization in Europe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In Political Voice: Protest, Democracy, and Marginalised Groups (Oxford UP, 2024), Aidan McGarry examines the agency of marginalised people, emphasizing the processes through which different communities around the world articulate their political voices. McGarry develops an innovative concept of political voice around three elements: autonomy, representation, and constitution. This conceptualization is illustrated through contemporary case studies of two persecuted and silenced groups: LGBTIQ activists in India and Roma mobilization in Europe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

In Political Voice: Protest, Democracy, and Marginalised Groups (Oxford UP, 2024), Aidan McGarry examines the agency of marginalised people, emphasizing the processes through which different communities around the world articulate their political voices. McGarry develops an innovative concept of political voice around three elements: autonomy, representation, and constitution. This conceptualization is illustrated through contemporary case studies of two persecuted and silenced groups: LGBTIQ activists in India and Roma mobilization in Europe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology

In Political Voice: Protest, Democracy, and Marginalised Groups (Oxford UP, 2024), Aidan McGarry examines the agency of marginalised people, emphasizing the processes through which different communities around the world articulate their political voices. McGarry develops an innovative concept of political voice around three elements: autonomy, representation, and constitution. This conceptualization is illustrated through contemporary case studies of two persecuted and silenced groups: LGBTIQ activists in India and Roma mobilization in Europe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/lgbtq-studies

In Political Voice: Protest, Democracy, and Marginalised Groups (Oxford UP, 2024), Aidan McGarry examines the agency of marginalised people, emphasizing the processes through which different communities around the world articulate their political voices. McGarry develops an innovative concept of political voice around three elements: autonomy, representation, and constitution. This conceptualization is illustrated through contemporary case studies of two persecuted and silenced groups: LGBTIQ activists in India and Roma mobilization in Europe.

Donald Trump is picking fights on many fronts — China, Canada, and even Greenland. But his tough policies on immigration have raised the ire of another world leader, Pope Francis.

Time to meet Anjali Beames an 18 year old climate activist, co -coordinator of the Rising Tide caucus for People of Color, interviewed by Nicky Page from Radio Adelaide. “When People of colour shape what the movement looks like,it's not also just for the benefit of people of colour, but for the benefit of all marginalised identities and everyone in general"  Anjali Beames Hear about her involvement with  School Strike for Climate and Rising Tide and the campaign to cancel all new fossil fuel projects in our country  and close the coal port of Newcastle.  Understand why:  it's not cool to go round saying how pleasant it is to work with the police  or how cooperative they are.That's  only your experience and people of colour may have a much more unpleasant one.    Earth Matters #1485 was produced on the Traditional Country of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plain by Bec Horridge

In this episode, our host Lara Momesso interviews Yi-Fan Feng (馮一凡), the Deputy Chief Executive at Harmony Home Taiwan, to discuss the work that Harmony Home has done with some of the most marginalised people in Taiwan: people living with HIV/AIDS and undocumented residents and their children. In this chat, Lara and Yi-Fan explore how more than 40 years of activities by Harmony Home have contributed not only to help people living with HIV/AIDS and undocumented residents but also to change the way the Taiwanese government and society approached these groups. If you want to know more about Harmony Home, what they do and how to support it, follow this link: www.twhhf.org If you want to watch the documentary movie mentioned in the interview, Mimi's Utopia, follow this link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjVfVEl58WU Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In this episode, our host Lara Momesso interviews Yi-Fan Feng (馮一凡), the Deputy Chief Executive at Harmony Home Taiwan, to discuss the work that Harmony Home has done with some of the most marginalised people in Taiwan: people living with HIV/AIDS and undocumented residents and their children. In this chat, Lara and Yi-Fan explore how more than 40 years of activities by Harmony Home have contributed not only to help people living with HIV/AIDS and undocumented residents but also to change the way the Taiwanese government and society approached these groups. If you want to know more about Harmony Home, what they do and how to support it, follow this link: www.twhhf.org If you want to watch the documentary movie mentioned in the interview, Mimi's Utopia, follow this link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjVfVEl58WU Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies

In this episode, our host Lara Momesso interviews Yi-Fan Feng (馮一凡), the Deputy Chief Executive at Harmony Home Taiwan, to discuss the work that Harmony Home has done with some of the most marginalised people in Taiwan: people living with HIV/AIDS and undocumented residents and their children. In this chat, Lara and Yi-Fan explore how more than 40 years of activities by Harmony Home have contributed not only to help people living with HIV/AIDS and undocumented residents but also to change the way the Taiwanese government and society approached these groups. If you want to know more about Harmony Home, what they do and how to support it, follow this link: www.twhhf.org If you want to watch the documentary movie mentioned in the interview, Mimi's Utopia, follow this link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjVfVEl58WU Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/chinese-studies

In this episode, Mike hosted Emma Godman and Tallin Cowling, PhD and UG students respectively, at Cardiff Metropolitan University. They shared some of their experiences as marginalised individuals in sports and HE, and how these experiences informed their research projects.  Join us in this conversation!Follow us on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@CardiffMetSportsCoachingHubPodFollow us on Twitter/X: @thecoachinghubFollow us on Instagram: @thecoachinghubpodWebsite: https://www.cardiffmet.ac.uk/schoolofsport/research/Pages/Sports-Coaching-and-Pedagogy.asp 

From her humble beginnings in Malaysia to her move to Singapore as a teenager in search of a brighter future, this entrepreneur's journey reflects a profound transformation.  After leaving a successful banking career that left her unfulfilled, she now leads a social enterprise dedicated to uplifting marginalised communities through education and creative solutions. As a recipient of the SG-WEN Award and the ASEAN Women Entrepreneurs Network (AWEN) Awards, she stands as a testament to the impact of women entrepreneurs in Singapore and ASEAN. What insights can she share about her journey and the challenges of creating meaningful social change? Here's our conversation with Michelle Lim, CEO and Co-Founder, Make The Change.   Presented by Ryan Huang  This podcast is produced and edited by Anthea Ng (nganthea@sph.com.sg) She produces Mind Your Business, Biz-How-To and Breakfast Special segments on the Breakfast Show. Do contact her for topics: C-Suite, SME, Startups, Health-tech, Sustainability, Property, Intergenerational Family Business, Industry Outlook, Fintech and trending businesses in town.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fremantle Church Live 20/10/2024 Sermon: Christ Centred Relationships: Oppressed & Marginalised Scripture: Matthew 25:31-46 Pastor: Lee Hinkle Our Sermons can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Podbean. © Fremantle Church 2024

Thank you for tuning in for another episode of Life's Best Medicine. Raeanne Newquist is on staff at Mercy Ships—an international faith-based organization bringing hope and healing to the world's forgotten poor. As many as 5 billion people lack access to safe, affordable surgical and anesthesia services worldwide, and less than 6% of all operations are delivered to the world's poorest countries. Marginalised populations continue to suffer due to a lack of trained healthcare providers, inadequate infrastructure, and disproportionate out-of-pocket healthcare costs. Mercy Ships programs offer holistic support to developing countries striving to make healthcare accessible for all. Since 1978, Mercy Ships has delivered services to more than 2.71 million direct beneficiaries. The countries served by Mercy Ships are ranked as the poorest in the world by the United Nations Human Development Index. In this conversation, Dr. Brian and Raeanne talk about… The mission and work of Mercy Ships How Raeanne became involved with Mercy Ships Stories from working abroad with Mercy Ships How Covid impacted the work of Mercy Ships Physician burnout and why it is happening How emotional healing can be just as powerful as physical healing The history of Mercy Ships Volunteering for Mercy Ships For more information, please see the links below. Thank you for listening! Thank you for listening. Have a blessed day and stay healthy!   Links:   Raeanne Newquist: Website Instagram Mercy Ships   Dr. Brian Lenzkes:  Arizona Metabolic Health Low Carb MD Podcast   HLTH Code: HLTH Code Promo Code: METHEALTH HLTH Code Website   Keto Mojo: Keto Mojo

Lily Fontaine of 2024's Mercury Prize Winner English Teacher sits down to chat to Jamz about ‘The World's Biggest Paving Slab'.  Taken from their album ‘This Could Be Texas', the lyrics of the song were written by Lily while she was at university, and while originally penned to her hometown Colne (home of the World's Biggest Paving Slab), looking back, the song has become a metaphor for so many other things.  In this conversation, Lily and Jamz get into conversation about school, race and culture in small, predominantly white towns, and being creatively inspired by their mums.

In this episode of Alternative Convos, Charles talks to Dr Joyce Wangari Ngugi, a renowned consultant psychologist and researcher about the importance of inclusive practices that cater to the unique needs of diverse populations, particularly those with disabilities For more information about her work, click here: https://www.wangari.africa/ Alternative Convos Podcast is a dynamic and engaging talk show that aims to foster unity and drive positive transformation in Africa. It provides a platform for passionate activists, skilled practitioners, and creative thinkers to share their insights on important issues that shape Africa's progress. This podcast is a unique space where diverse perspectives are welcomed and valued, creating a safe environment for alternative viewpoints. Hosted by Charles Kojo Vandyck, Alternative Convos Podcast is your go-to source for thought-provoking conversations that inspire change. Disclaimer: “The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the guest's own and do not necessarily represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of the host. The material and information presented here is for general information purposes only”. Contact: Joyce via https://www.linkedin.com/in/joyce-wangari-a9105a1a8/

  In this week's Black World News, Kehinde Andrews makes plain the UK's week of White Race Riots highlighting the role of white rage in fuelling these incidents. He also delve into the complexities of immigration, tracing the roots of the current crisis to the British Empire's history of colonisation and exploitation.   This Week's guest is Nottingham based Doula, Chef and Activist Eshe Kiama Zuri. Eshe has Co-founded organisation like Vegans of Colour UK, Notts Activist Wellness, and UK Mutual Aid. They are also part of the steering committee for the Convention of African People (CAP) 2025 event, where they represent the marginalised identities group. The conversation covers; Eshe's background in Community-based mutual aid, food security, and gardening projects, The importance of creating space for marginalised identities in Black organising spaces, The challenges of organising inclusive spaces, especially for events like the Convention of African People, The role of doulas in supporting marginalised communities, particularly around pregnancy and childbirth. - BLACK WORLD NEWS LINKS We've heard too much of the voices of the racist riots by Kehinde Andrews https://make-it-plain.org/2024/08/05/weve-heard-too-much-of-the-voices-of-the-racist-riots/ - GUEST LINKS   Eshe's Personal website: https://eshekiamazuri.com/   Doulas Decolonising https://doulasdecolonising.noblogs.org/     Nottingham Nourishment Network IG : https://www.instagram.com/nottmnourishmentnetwork/     THE HARAMBEE ORGANISATION OF BLACK UNITY NEEDS YOU Harambee Organisation of Black Unity (Marcus Garvey Centre + Nicole Andrews Community Library, Birmingham, UK)https://www.blackunity.org.uk/ CAP25 - Convention of Afrikan People - Gambia - May 17-19, 2025 (Everyone's Welcome) On Malcolm X's 100th birthday, the Harambee Organisation of Black Unity is bringing together those in Afrika and the Diaspora who want to fulfill Malcolm's legacy and build a global organization for Black people. This is an open invitation to anyone.https://make-it-plain.org/convention-of-afrikan-people/ BUF - Black United Front Global directory of Black organizations. This will be hosted completely free of charge so if you run a Black organization please email the name, address, website, and contact info to mip@blackunity.org.uk to be listed. - SOCIALS Guest socials links: (IG) @eshekiamazuri Host: (IG) @kehindeandrews  (X) @kehinde_andrews  Podcast team: @makeitplainorg @weylandmck @inhisownterms @farafinmuso Platform: www.make-it-plain.org (Blog) www.youtube.com/@MakeItPlain1964 (YT) - For any help with your audio visit: https://weylandmck.com/ - Make it Plain if the Editorial Wing of the Harambee Organisation of Black Unity

Afro House is not something we've covered in depth on the show to date, but this week we welcome one of the UK's foremost exponents of the form.Kitty Amor was born in London, but cut her musical teeth running nights as a student Nottingham where she and her associates were instrumental in bringing the second wave of Grime, Funky, and other key London genres out of the capital.Her sound as a DJ was also developed during that stint in the midlands, and upon returning to London she made a success in establishing herself on the scene, and put herself in a great position to kick on when the international opportunities came knocking as they inevitably did. We discuss the challenges of getting started in the industry, the influence of musical parents, the peculiarities of running student nights, taking advantage of the time in lockdown, and the nature of the scene today.Kitty has some great stories and you're gonna enjoy this episode!If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features the show without ads, regular bonus podcasts, and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.You can also make a one-off donation to the podcast using a card, with Paypal, or your Ethereum wallet! Head over to scubaofficial.io/support.Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation in the public channels.Listen to the music discussed on the show via the Not A Diving Podcast Spotify playlistFollow Scuba: twitter instagram bandcamp spotify apple music beatport Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The diversity of the refugee, diaspora and First Nations experiences in Australia have been showcased in a multi-lingual poetry gathering. Participants say the experience has helped to build common ground in sharing experiences on challenging topics, including war and displacement, through the theme of finding freedom.

A heartfelt plea from Feroza Suleman from Built Environment Support Group reached the compassionate ears of East Coast Radio's Big Favour team. A community in Eshowe will receive some life-changing assistance thanks to this Non-Profit and Public Benefit Organisation shining a light on the situation. KZN slots steps in... Webpage

A heartfelt plea from Feroza Suleman from Built Environment Support Group reached the compassionate ears of East Coast Radio's Big Favour team. A community in Eshowe will receive some life-changing assistance thanks to this Non-Profit and Public Benefit Organisation shining a light on the situation. KZN Slots steps in... Webpage

This week, I discuss the derogatory term 'knacker,' used to refer to the travelling community in Ireland, its historical evolution and cultural implications. I look at the history and language of Irish travellers, highlighting the need for understanding and acceptance. Later, I touch on the importance of dropping perceptions, understanding and respecting different cultures and neurodivergent individuals, and the importance of inclusive communication. I share a story about Cathy Maguire, a well-known singer and TV presenter in Ireland, and my Mum, which taught me a life lesson about inclusion, especially for individuals from marginaliSed communities. Finally, I leave you with tips for supporting autistic individuals in the workplace and a poem called “The Irish Travellers.”Irish Words of Wisdom: https://thecraftyrock.com/products/irish-words-of-wisdom-gift-book Support the Podcast: Christine aims to make her online public speaking and pronunciation lessons available to the masses, so everyone has a fair chance to access training that has for years only been available to the "elite and upper classes." By supporting her work, you play a part in helping this dream become a reality. As a thank you, you'll also get access to her entire library of resources on “The Science of Speaking." Support the Podcast Here: https://bit.ly/Connected_Communication Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Singer-songwriter, guitarist, and didgeridoo player Scott Darlow uses his music to advocate for First Nations Aboriginal community in Australia.  On today's episode he shares about the opportunities he has had to perform in schools, prisons, and concert venues across the world bringing a message of Hope to combat the cynicism and tribalism of today's society.  Along the way he shares how his message is shaped by the teachings of Jesus and as well as some of his experience living in Hong Kong as a child.   Go Beyond the Pale with Scott Darlow!

Clinical psychologist Dr Olive Webb is nominated in the Local Hero category of the Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year awards. A strong defender of some of the most marginalised members of our community, she tirelessly advocated and revolutionised care for people with learning disabilities. Most recently she also gave evidence to the Royal Commission into the Abuse in State Care and supported others to tell their stories. Dr Webb released From Behind Closed Doors last year, a poignant reflection on her 50-year journey alongside individuals with intellectual disabilities.

The hypocrisy directed towards Christianity reveals more about society's moral confusion than the shortcomings of the faith.

Amrita Ghosh and Bhakti Shringarpure evaluate a year's worth of sports scandals impacting women athletes in India and ask if women in sports matter at all. Women the world over cope with being marginalised in a lucrative sports industry designed for men. In India, it is much worse with issues such as poor coaching and sports facilities, zero or negative media coverage, and offensive gender scrutiny are pervasive. Meanwhile patriotic films glorifying women athletes are very popular, pointing to the fact that sportswomen are hyped as symbols but not treated well in real life. Journalist, film critic and runner Sohini Chattopadhyay joins the conversation. She speaks about the challenges of pursuing running in urban India, a story that turned into the book The Day I Became a Runner: A Women's History of India through the Lens of Sport. She also weighs in on the recent debacles with the wrestling federation and offers an urgent solution for the sports industry. 

In this conversation, MBM's producer and host, Mariyam Haider speaks with Sulfath Laila and Gargi Harithakam, who are the co-founders of Vanaja Collective - that supports and helps couples from Kerala's queer community, overcome their families' resistance and find systemic avenues to bring them together. One of the successful cases that Vanaja Collective worked on was of Adhila Nasarin and Fathima Noora - who fought familial and legal challenges - to reunite and live together as a couple.As a queer Muslim woman, Sulfath shares their journey growing up in a household that was largely driven by men and followed patriarchal norms and expectations. Over the years, Sulfath notes how they have derived support and strength from the women in her family, fought patriarchal mindsets and come together to tackle Muslim stereotypes and unjust rhetoric in other spaces. Sulfath also shares how queer voices from within Kerala's Muslim community are emerging and voicing themselves in price marches and other public dialogues and initiatives.Gargi discusses how ill-practices such as ‘conversion therapy' continue to exist that harm the LGBTQI+ community and despite it being outlawed, is often used by families against their own kin. Gargi and Sulfath underline their commitment through Vanaja Collective towards expanding spaces of conversations and support for people from other marginalised backgrounds. We discuss how Malayalam cinema has a long way to go in showcasing stories with feminist characters and queer couples whose love stories do not end in misery or tragic circumstances. Finally, we engage in ways that listeners can support Vanaja Collective's fundraising efforts and stay connected with them. All details are mentioned on MBM's website.You can support Vanaja Collective's ongoing fundraiser by donating through the link here: https://milaap.org/fundraisers/support-the-organisation-4Episode notes:* Kerala student dies in Goa, death puts focus on inhuman 'conversion therapy' on queer people (Cris, The News Minute, May 2020)* ‘Conversion therapy' still continues in India, despite a ban (Sukanya Shaji, The News Minute, August 2023)* Kerala study reveals 45% prevalence of conversion therapy among LGBTQIA+ persons (Cris, The News Minute, February 2023)* Kerala's lesbian couples share heart-warming photos from a memorable get-together (Onmanorama, July 2023)* Queer Representation In Malayalam Cinema: The Past, The Present, And The Possible Future (Rhea F, Feminism In India, July 2023)* The youth of Kerala want to make gay marriage legal (Mathrubhumi, March 2021)* Malayalam films that tried to explore LGBTQ+ representation (Pooja Pillai, Pink Lungi, September 2023)* Movies discussed in the episode:* Desatanakkili Karayarilla (1986)* Sancharram (2004)* Moothon (2019)* The Great Indian Kitchen (2021)* Badhaai Do (2022)* Queerphobia in Kerala: A Student Fights For Gender Identity on College Campus (Smitha TK, The Quint, December 2022)* Kerala: Lesbian Couple's Harrowing Journey Shines Light on Continuing Dangers of ‘Conversion Therapy' (Mrudula Bhavani, The Wire, July 2023)* Kerala lesbian couple separated by parents, united by High Court, drops a viral bridal photoshoot (Shaurya Thapa, DailyO, November 2022)MBM visual identity design by Sunakshi Nigam || Music by Jupneet Singh This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mainbhimuslim.com

The reason they look for a scapegoat is simple. Whiteness is fragile and indefinable - it is constantly shifting and evolving to current and sometimes future needs and white privilege evolves with it.

'Waria' or trans womann is still a group that receives negative treatment within Indonesian society. They also find it difficult to obtain formal identity and employment. - Waria atau transpuan masih menjadi kelompok yang menerima perlakuan negatif di masyarakat Indonesia. Mereka juga sulit mendapatkan identitas dan pekerjaan formal.

This series explores finding your place in the mission of God. This week associate pastor Roxane Lawler looks at finding your place in caring for others. Having a look at Matthew 25.Welcome to the GBC Sermon podcast from Gymea Baptist Church in Sydney, Australia.  This message from our Sunday church service is part of the resources we provide as we seek to see lives changed by Jesus. You can also listen to our Big 3 Podcast, a conversation that unpacks three big questions raised from sermons like this one.We hope this message has challenged and strengthened you, encouraged you to pray and rely on God, and blessed you today. If you'd like to get to know some of our church community, you can listen to the We Are The Church Podcast - an open conversation with real people who call GBC home as they share stories of God at work in their lives and how their lives are being changed by Jesus. We'd love for you to join us for one of our services this weekend. For more information on upcoming services please visit www.gymeabaptist.org.auAlso, be sure to follow us on Facebook or Instagram to keep up with all we are doing.

Ensuring that we amplify marginalised voices is essential for promoting inclusivity, diversity, and social progress, which is something we talk about with Haramacy editor Zahed Sultan on the "How To Be Books Podcast."Please hit subscribe to hear the whole series on life skills and social change! It should be short and sweet. I look forward to journeying with you through this maze of hacks.Other wonderful guests who took part:Andrea Nero, PhD, founder and CEO of Nero Strategies Group and author of "Beggars and Kings: Marginalized People in the Discourses of Early American Scientific Societies."Harirata Diallo is a Community Engagement Executive at Imagen Insights, a Gen Z market research and insights platform and database.Jojo Mehta is the co-founder of Stop Ecocide International, chair of the charitable Stop Ecocide Foundation and convenor of the Independent Expert Panel for the Legal Definition of Ecocide.Other books/articles looked at:Mariam Khan: It's Not About the Burqa: Muslim Women on Faith, Feminism, Sexuality and Race

On Episode 24 of CBTalks, Dr Dan Duffy, Digital Health Scientist, Amwell speaks to Dr Austin O'Carroll, Dublin based GP, Founder Safetynet Ireland and Paralympian. In this conversation, they unpack the discriminations and access issues in marginalised communities and highlight how digital mental health is and can breakdown barriers to care.You can also follow SilverCloud by Amwell for more content on:Instagram: @SilvercloudhealthTwitter:@SilverCloudHLinkedin: SilverCloud Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Margaret Kelly Update I Robodebt: M.I.A. (Missing in Action) - Media, Bureaucracy, Overview Agencies I Robodebt: Culture Wars I Due Process??? I The Ever-Expanding Number of Working Poor in Australia I Illegal Legislation: Robodebt I Criminal Parliamentary Liability? I The Voice is The Only Issue. Or is it? I Royal Commission After Royal Commission Shows the Most Vulnerable are Ostracised, Marginalised and Criminalised I One Step At a Time: Diary of a War Criminal!!

Delighted to welcome the trailblazing changemaker Melanie Vaxevanakis from the Bristol based Mazi Project, on a mission to help marginalised 16-25 year olds gain better access to more nutritional food, food education and self-care - and in a nutshell, 'bring them to the Dinner Table', with all the mental health benefits that the power of sharing & community can bring.From FUMING to ACTION! A story about how the Mazi Project  was born, inspired by Mel's noticing the appalling quality of free school lunch provision being provided to families at the beginning of the Pandemic, to now shipping 70 boxes a day of fresh fruit, vegetables and a recipe card to young people who wouldn't otherwise have access or have been able to afford it.Now two-and-a-half years on, complete with Maisie Williams “Game of Thrones” Actress (who also grew up in Bristol) as Charity Ambassador on board, the Mazi Project is going from strength-to-strength.With Maisie Williams on board, it's not so much “Game of Thrones” as “Game of Nom-Noms”! (See what I'm doing there?!)You can also Watcvh/Listen To Melanie's episode here:https://vimeo.com/841229639More about Melanie:Pull up a chair and prepare to be inspired as we share a compelling conversation with the remarkable Melanie Vaxevanakis.  Drawing on her Greek roots and Bristol surroundings, Melanie, founder of the Mazi Project, passionately discusses her journey from documenting stories through film to creating a powerful initiative that dishes out 70 fresh, nutritious recipes a week to young people in need. Melanie's story is one of anger, transformation, and ultimately, impact - as she took her frustrations with inadequate government-provided food packages and channelled it into a project that nourishes bodies and minds.Finding solace in her 'Clearings' - the kitchen and the sea - Melanie reveals how these spaces nourish her creative energy and inspire her work with the Mazi Project. Beyond just providing sustenance, she's determined to build a community space that reduces social isolation, fosters confidence, and empowers every participant to feel extraordinary. While the Pandemic may have been the catalyst for Melanie's journey, it's also been a lesson in resilience and the importance of mental wellbeing, a lesson she's keen to share with her listeners.From the power of protests to the significant moment the Colston statue was dropped into Bristol harbour, Melanie's insights shed light on the potency of collective action and the need for continued social justice work. We also dive into personal distractions, strategies for overcoming them, and explore the transformative power of storytelling. Wrapping up the episode, Melanie shares her inspirational mantra and the best advice she's ever received. So tune in, listen close, and get ready to be mTune in next week for more stories of 'Distinction & Genius' from The Good Listening To Show 'Clearing'. If you would like to be my Guest too then you can find out HOW via the different 'series strands' at 'The Good Listening To Show' website. Show Website: https://www.thegoodlisteningtoshow.com You can email me about the Show: chris@secondcurve.uk Twitter thatchrisgrimes LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-grimes-actor-broadcaster-facilitator-coach/ FaceBook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/842056403204860 Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW wherever you get your Podcasts :) Thanks for listening!

"Most important thinking I've written", this is how Prof. Grimes describes his recent research on who benefits from free speech. Spoiler alert- it's not who you might think. We're often told that the marginalised, oppressed and poor need protection from free speech, probably provided by the State, to ensure that free speech doesn't oppress them. But in reality, free speech enables the powerless to undermine the powerful by insisting that ideas and speech should be challenged with dialogue and reason, not force. Jonathan Ayling and Adam Young from the Free Speech Union sit down with Prof. Arther Grimes to consider this important research, and look at why it is the poorer in society, the uneducated, and the vulnerable who benefit from the radical idea that even they should be free to speak.    Support the show

Do you struggle to use anger effectively?  Take heart, the ancient seers of Vedic times were with you! and in this episode, we're going to look at how even Gods struggle with anger.  We'll examine how Mars can be a source of empowerment and liberation for the marginalized, as well as a potential threat or obstacle. We're going to learn how we can use Vedic Astrology Mythology to understand our own relationship with Mars and how we can harness its power for positive change.  Join me and my fearless colleague Nisha Sankaran as we venture once again into the unchartered territory of Vedic Astrology Mythology.Nisha Sankaran entered the world at the beginning of the year and the end of the zodiac, and overtime she has come to love the point at which the poles meet, where beginning meets end, in the mystery of that hazy dawn.  She is a fan of the liminal, connection, healing, creativity and self-empowerment and knows that every human is boundless potential coming from the Loving Power that made us all.  Nisha has formal education in Business, Anthropology, Healthcare IT and has continued education with Vedic astrology courses, classes at the Jung center, poetry, travel, personal writing and the ups and downs of life.Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/d5vDBweYI7QJoin me at https://www.patreon.com/fionamarques to keep the conversation going - I can't wait to hear your take on the latest episode. Thanks for your support!Support the show

Slovak students competed at Enersol competition with their eco-inventions. Government Plenipotentiary for Roma Communities discussed integration of marginalised people. Organised hiking in Slovakia celebrates its 150th anniversary.

On Episode 381 of Impact Boom, Sonia Brown-Diaz from Yoga On The Inside discusses her experience in providing evidence-based yoga and mindfulness practices to people impacted by trauma and her key learnings from participating in the Elevate+ 2023 Accelerator program.

This installment of Sand in My Clam on The Labia Lounge podcast is all about the ways in which social media exploits, censors and sabotages many of us trying to do good work in the world. Marginalised groups, s*x positive and educational accounts, and body positive and feminist content is being censored, blocked, shadow banned, flagged and removed without warning, while fatphobia, misogyny, racism, hate speech and transphobia is being allowed to thrive on these heartless, money hungry platforms. Think I'm being over-dramatic? I think not. There's endless proof of this everywhere you look, and to those of us, like my guest Chloe Adriana and I, who work in an industry that is commonly hindered and targeted by the platforms, it's abundantly obvious.Chloe recently had her original accounts on all platforms erased without warning, and lost a huge part of her business and livelihood. I am constantly shadowbanned and on the brink being met by the same fate and being removed. All for trying to get correct and empowering s*x education out there for you to learn and benefit from. This is a constant and ongoing battle that has almost broken me over the years, and as I move towards phasing out social media from my life and business, I wanted to talk about it on the pod!Please, if you enjoy our content and want to support our mission, join our mailing lists as these are the only safe avenues for us to stay in touch with you and keep providing epic free content if/when things go tits up on these fickle platforms. One day my mailing list might be the only way I have of reaching you and staying in contact. And share, repost, and SHARE SOME MORE our content, this podcast, and our work to any and all to help us stay connected and spread the word to those who need it. Every bit helps and we never stop needing your support to continue reaching people with out work - in fact, we need all the help we can get against these odds!Join Chloe's mailing list: https://view.flodesk.com/pages/60e67a6293641f3036ff9947And mine is here: https://www.freyagraf.com/freebieMake sure you're subscribed for more LL action, and it'd absolutely warm my heart and tickle my clit if you'd leave a gushing review or five star rating for the poddy!*** Join my Labia Lounge Facebook group for extra content, Q & As, freebies from my guests, discounts and to be part of a rad and supportive community of labial legends! www.facebook.com/groups/thelabialounge/Grab a P*ssy Magnet and check out the new Labia Lounge MERCH over here (there's even fanny packs if the standard tote bags and tees ain't cuttin' it for ya!): https://www.freyagraf.com/productsonline-trainingsAnd chuck me a follow here: https://www.instagram.com/freyagraf_thelabialounge/AND here: (my backup account cos I keep offending the Algorithms-that-be) https://www.instagram.com/freya.graf/Or support me and the poddy by buying me an extra hot soy chai latte (yes, that is my coffee order cos I'm a bit of a tosser like that) here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/freyagraf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does it mean to be the underdogs? One of the economically marginalised? Unable to open a bank account, cash a cheque… all the things that most of us would take for granted?Geoffrey See - World Economic Forum Young Global Leader & serial entrepreneur - knows this well, because of his extensive work as a social entrepreneur in North Korea via Choson Exchange.But after 11 years, Geoffrey knew that it was time to move on. And in this episode (Part 2), we cover Geoffrey's journey into the Web3 space. Why his experiences working in North Korea and Vietnam opened his eyes to the potential of blockchain, what he's aiming to achieve with his new Y Combinator-backed startup, Poko, and his collaboration with the Kazakhstan government to provide the legal wrapper that many DAOs need but struggle to implement.Highlights:3:46 Introduction to Web36:33 Being economically marginalised10:05 Is the ethos behind blockchain flawed?12:18 What are DAOs?14:24 Investment DAOs versus a Traditional VC15:39 Reward mechanism18:19 Proposals20:22 Hallmarks of a successful DAO22:02 Working with the Kazakhstan government 27:20 Why pick the Astana International Financial Centre? If you'd like to learn about Geoffrey's childhood and his experiences working in North Korea via Choson Exchange (it was turned into a Harvard Business School case study!), do head over to STIMY 93 Part 1 for a listen!

Kim is a Writer, Director and Cinematographer. Her most recent work 'Pure Grit' is the intimate tale of an extraordinary young Native American woman…extreme bareback horse racing, young love, and hope when all seems lost.Check out Kim HEREHelp us help others by joining our Patreon...Why not become a Patron of the Two Norries to help us help you and others? We're always happy to receive donations which all go towards bills, production costs, maintenance and everything else it takes to keep the podcast alive.Donations can be as little as €1 or as much as you can afford. To sign up simply CLICK HERE, thank you. Two Norries Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode no. 86 I had the pleasure of speaking with John Lord, Co-founder and Chairman of long term sponsor of the podcast, Neota (formerly Neota Logic). We discuss: What John wants the world to know about no-code and why; Some unintended consequences of no-code including hybrid working models; How no-code supports the democratisation of information in both commercial and public interest contexts; The areas of law that are suited to apps, what can be built, and how they help; The scope of opportunity for legal technology both in terms of market and career choices; The genesis of the university program that Neota now operates in 18 universities around the world and its involvement with pro bono; Outcomes from university ‘Law Apps' courses including an example of how Neota's technology resulted in homes being repaired in a remote Aboriginal community; How an app assists people to have criminal records expunged in the United States; The meaning and relevance of the name ‘Neota'; and John's definition of legal innovation. Proudly sponsored by Neota Logic! Andrea Perry-Petersen – LinkedIn - Twitter @winkiepp – andreaperrypetersen.com.au Twitter - @ReimaginingJ Facebook – Reimagining Justice group

Drawing on newly released and digitized archival records, Houlihan's Theatre and Archival Memory: Irish Drama and Marginalised Histories 1951-1977 (Palgrave MacMillan, 2021) examines a pivotal period of social and cultural change in the history of Irish theatre, offering unique insights into the production and reception of Irish drama, its internationalization and political influences. From the 1950s onwards, Irish theatre engaged audiences within new theatrical forms at venues from the Pike Theatre, the Project Arts Centre, and the Gate Theatre, as well as at Ireland's national theatre, the Abbey. Incorporating the work of overlooked female playwrights like Edna O'Brien, Mary Manning, Carolyn Swift, and Mairead Ni Ghrada, this book argues for an inclusive historiography reflective of the formative impacts of marginalized performance histories upon modern Irish theatre. This study examines these works' experimental dramaturgical impacts in terms of production, reception, and archival legacies. Theatre and Archival Memory is framed by the device of ‘archival memory' and serves as a means for scholars and theatre-makers to inter-contextualize existing historiography and to challenge canon formation. It also presents a new social history of Irish theatre told from the fringes of history and reanimated through archival memory. Bridget English is a scholar of Irish literature and culture, modernism, and health humanities, based at the University of Illinois Chicago. She co-convenes the Irish Studies Seminar at the Newberry Library and is the Literature Representative for the American Conference for Irish Studies. On Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Drawing on newly released and digitized archival records, Houlihan's Theatre and Archival Memory: Irish Drama and Marginalised Histories 1951-1977 (Palgrave MacMillan, 2021) examines a pivotal period of social and cultural change in the history of Irish theatre, offering unique insights into the production and reception of Irish drama, its internationalization and political influences. From the 1950s onwards, Irish theatre engaged audiences within new theatrical forms at venues from the Pike Theatre, the Project Arts Centre, and the Gate Theatre, as well as at Ireland's national theatre, the Abbey. Incorporating the work of overlooked female playwrights like Edna O'Brien, Mary Manning, Carolyn Swift, and Mairead Ni Ghrada, this book argues for an inclusive historiography reflective of the formative impacts of marginalized performance histories upon modern Irish theatre. This study examines these works' experimental dramaturgical impacts in terms of production, reception, and archival legacies. Theatre and Archival Memory is framed by the device of ‘archival memory' and serves as a means for scholars and theatre-makers to inter-contextualize existing historiography and to challenge canon formation. It also presents a new social history of Irish theatre told from the fringes of history and reanimated through archival memory. Bridget English is a scholar of Irish literature and culture, modernism, and health humanities, based at the University of Illinois Chicago. She co-convenes the Irish Studies Seminar at the Newberry Library and is the Literature Representative for the American Conference for Irish Studies. On Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

Drawing on newly released and digitized archival records, Houlihan's Theatre and Archival Memory: Irish Drama and Marginalised Histories 1951-1977 (Palgrave MacMillan, 2021) examines a pivotal period of social and cultural change in the history of Irish theatre, offering unique insights into the production and reception of Irish drama, its internationalization and political influences. From the 1950s onwards, Irish theatre engaged audiences within new theatrical forms at venues from the Pike Theatre, the Project Arts Centre, and the Gate Theatre, as well as at Ireland's national theatre, the Abbey. Incorporating the work of overlooked female playwrights like Edna O'Brien, Mary Manning, Carolyn Swift, and Mairead Ni Ghrada, this book argues for an inclusive historiography reflective of the formative impacts of marginalized performance histories upon modern Irish theatre. This study examines these works' experimental dramaturgical impacts in terms of production, reception, and archival legacies. Theatre and Archival Memory is framed by the device of ‘archival memory' and serves as a means for scholars and theatre-makers to inter-contextualize existing historiography and to challenge canon formation. It also presents a new social history of Irish theatre told from the fringes of history and reanimated through archival memory. Bridget English is a scholar of Irish literature and culture, modernism, and health humanities, based at the University of Illinois Chicago. She co-convenes the Irish Studies Seminar at the Newberry Library and is the Literature Representative for the American Conference for Irish Studies. On Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literary-studies

Drawing on newly released and digitized archival records, Houlihan's Theatre and Archival Memory: Irish Drama and Marginalised Histories 1951-1977 (Palgrave MacMillan, 2021) examines a pivotal period of social and cultural change in the history of Irish theatre, offering unique insights into the production and reception of Irish drama, its internationalization and political influences. From the 1950s onwards, Irish theatre engaged audiences within new theatrical forms at venues from the Pike Theatre, the Project Arts Centre, and the Gate Theatre, as well as at Ireland's national theatre, the Abbey. Incorporating the work of overlooked female playwrights like Edna O'Brien, Mary Manning, Carolyn Swift, and Mairead Ni Ghrada, this book argues for an inclusive historiography reflective of the formative impacts of marginalized performance histories upon modern Irish theatre. This study examines these works' experimental dramaturgical impacts in terms of production, reception, and archival legacies. Theatre and Archival Memory is framed by the device of ‘archival memory' and serves as a means for scholars and theatre-makers to inter-contextualize existing historiography and to challenge canon formation. It also presents a new social history of Irish theatre told from the fringes of history and reanimated through archival memory. Bridget English is a scholar of Irish literature and culture, modernism, and health humanities, based at the University of Illinois Chicago. She co-convenes the Irish Studies Seminar at the Newberry Library and is the Literature Representative for the American Conference for Irish Studies. On Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/performing-arts

Great advances in medical treatments enable most people with HIV to live lives with life expectancy comparable to the general population. Unfortunately, stigma and negative social norms persist and must be tackled. The Elton John AIDS Foundation is a global grant-making foundation focused on ending the AIDS epidemic. They're based in London and New York, they fund services on the ground and organisations that are working in the field in up to 50 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, South East Asia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia; they are also active in the UK and US.  They are the fifth largest AIDS foundation in the world and were founded in 1992. Anne shares her very touching personal story that brought her to the field of HIV/AIDS; she speaks with passion about the innovative ways they're leveraging new technologies to reach those most marginalised individuals and communities; and she gives us a glimpse of what it's like to work with Elton John to improve lives and change mindsets. Thank you for downloading this episode of The Do One Better Podcast. Visit our website at Lidji.org for information on nearly 200 interviews with remarkable leaders in philanthropy, sustainability and social entrepreneurship. Please leave us a rating and a review to help others find this show.  

Episode 149 of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Respect", and the journey of Aretha Franklin from teenage gospel singer to the Queen of Soul. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a fifteen-minute bonus episode available, on "I'm Just a Mops" by the Mops. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Also, people may be interested in a Facebook discussion group for the podcast, run by a friend of mine (I'm not on FB myself) which can be found at https://www.facebook.com/groups/293630102611672/ Errata I say "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby to a Dixie Melody" instead of "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody". Also I say Spooner Oldham co-wrote "Do Right Woman". I meant Chips Moman. Resources No Mixcloud this week, as there are too many songs by Aretha Franklin. My main biographical source for Aretha Franklin is Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin by David Ritz, and this is where most of the quotes from musicians come from. I also relied heavily on I Never Loved a Man the Way I Loved You by Matt Dobkin. Information on C.L. Franklin came from Singing in a Strange Land: C. L. Franklin, the Black Church, and the Transformation of America by Nick Salvatore. Rick Hall's The Man From Muscle Shoals: My Journey from Shame to Fame contains his side of the story. Country Soul by Charles L Hughes is a great overview of the soul music made in Muscle Shoals, Memphis, and Nashville in the sixties. Peter Guralnick's Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm And Blues And The Southern Dream Of Freedom is possibly less essential, but still definitely worth reading. And the I Never Loved a Man album is available in this five-album box set for a ludicrously cheap price. But it's actually worth getting this nineteen-CD set with her first sixteen Atlantic albums and a couple of bonus discs of demos and outtakes. There's barely a duff track in the whole nineteen discs. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Before I start this episode,  I have to say that there are some things people may want to be aware of before listening to this. This episode has to deal, at least in passing, with subjects including child sexual abuse, intimate partner abuse, racism, and misogyny. I will of course try to deal with those subjects as tactfully as possible, but those of you who may be upset by those topics may want to check the episode transcript before or instead of listening. Those of you who leave comments or send me messages saying "why can't you just talk about the music instead of all this woke virtue-signalling?" may also want to skip this episode. You can go ahead and skip all the future ones as well, I won't mind. And one more thing to say before I get into the meat of the episode -- this episode puts me in a more difficult position than most other episodes of the podcast have. When I've talked about awful things that have happened in the course of this podcast previously, I have either been talking about perpetrators -- people like Phil Spector or Jerry Lee Lewis who did truly reprehensible things -- or about victims who have talked very publicly about the abuse they've suffered, people like Ronnie Spector or Tina Turner, who said very clearly "this is what happened to me and I want it on the public record". In the case of Aretha Franklin, she has been portrayed as a victim *by others*, and there are things that have been said about her life and her relationships which suggest that she suffered in some very terrible ways. But she herself apparently never saw herself as a victim, and didn't want some aspects of her private life talking about. At the start of David Ritz's biography of her, which is one of my main sources here, he recounts a conversation he had with her: "When I mentioned the possibility of my writing an independent biography, she said, “As long as I can approve it before it's published.” “Then it wouldn't be independent,” I said. “Why should it be independent?” “So I can tell the story from my point of view.” “But it's not your story, it's mine.” “You're an important historical figure, Aretha. Others will inevitably come along to tell your story. That's the blessing and burden of being a public figure.” “More burden than blessing,” she said." Now, Aretha Franklin is sadly dead, but I think that she still deserves the basic respect of being allowed privacy. So I will talk here about public matters, things she acknowledged in her own autobiography, and things that she and the people around her did in public situations like recording studios and concert venues. But there are aspects to the story of Aretha Franklin as that story is commonly told, which may well be true, but are of mostly prurient interest, don't add much to the story of how the music came to be made, and which she herself didn't want people talking about. So there will be things people might expect me to talk about in this episode, incidents where people in her life, usually men, treated her badly, that I'm going to leave out. That information is out there if people want to look for it, but I don't see myself as under any obligation to share it. That's not me making excuses for people who did inexcusable things, that's me showing some respect to one of the towering artistic figures of the latter half of the twentieth century. Because, of course, respect is what this is all about: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Respect"] One name that's come up a few times in this podcast, but who we haven't really talked about that much, is Bobby "Blue" Bland. We mentioned him as the single biggest influence on the style of Van Morrison, but Bland was an important figure in the Memphis music scene of the early fifties, which we talked about in several early episodes. He was one of the Beale Streeters, the loose aggregation of musicians that also included B.B. King and Johnny Ace, he worked with Ike Turner, and was one of the key links between blues and soul in the fifties and early sixties, with records like "Turn on Your Love Light": [Excerpt: Bobby "Blue" Bland, "Turn on Your Love Light"] But while Bland was influenced by many musicians we've talked about, his biggest influence wasn't a singer at all. It was a preacher he saw give a sermon in the early 1940s. As he said decades later: "Wasn't his words that got me—I couldn't tell you what he talked on that day, couldn't tell you what any of it meant, but it was the way he talked. He talked like he was singing. He talked music. The thing that really got me, though, was this squall-like sound he made to emphasize a certain word. He'd catch the word in his mouth, let it roll around and squeeze it with his tongue. When it popped on out, it exploded, and the ladies started waving and shouting. I liked all that. I started popping and shouting too. That next week I asked Mama when we were going back to Memphis to church. “‘Since when you so keen on church?' Mama asked. “‘I like that preacher,' I said. “‘Reverend Franklin?' she asked. “‘Well, if he's the one who sings when he preaches, that's the one I like.'" Bland was impressed by C.L. Franklin, and so were other Memphis musicians. Long after Franklin had moved to Detroit, they remembered him, and Bland and B.B. King would go to Franklin's church to see him preach whenever they were in the city. And Bland studied Franklin's records. He said later "I liked whatever was on the radio, especially those first things Nat Cole did with his trio. Naturally I liked the blues singers like Roy Brown, the jump singers like Louis Jordan, and the ballad singers like Billy Eckstine, but, brother, the man who really shaped me was Reverend Franklin." Bland would study Franklin's records, and would take the style that Franklin used in recorded sermons like "The Eagle Stirreth Her Nest": [Excerpt: C.L. Franklin, "The Eagle Stirreth Her Nest"] And you can definitely hear that preaching style on records like Bland's "I Pity the Fool": [Excerpt: Bobby "Blue" Bland, "I Pity the Fool"] But of course, that wasn't the only influence the Reverend C.L. Franklin had on the course of soul music. C.L. Franklin had grown up poor, on a Mississippi farm, and had not even finished grade school because he was needed to work behind the mule, ploughing the farm for his stepfather. But he had a fierce intelligence and became an autodidact, travelling regularly to the nearest library, thirty miles away, on a horse-drawn wagon, and reading everything he could get his hands on. At the age of sixteen he received what he believed to be a message from God, and decided to become an itinerant preacher. He would travel between many small country churches and build up audiences there -- and he would also study everyone else preaching there, analysing their sermons, seeing if he could anticipate their line of argument and get ahead of them, figuring out the structure. But unlike many people in the conservative Black Baptist churches of the time, he never saw the spiritual and secular worlds as incompatible. He saw blues music and Black church sermons as both being part of the same thing -- a Black culture and folklore that was worthy of respect in both its spiritual and secular aspects. He soon built up a small circuit of local churches where he would preach occasionally, but wasn't the main pastor at any of them. He got married aged twenty, though that marriage didn't last, and he seems to have been ambitious for a greater respectability. When that marriage failed, in June 1936, he married Barbara Siggers, a very intelligent, cultured, young single mother who had attended Booker T Washington High School, the best Black school in Memphis, and he adopted her son Vaughn. While he was mostly still doing churches in Mississippi, he took on one in Memphis as well, in an extremely poor area, but it gave him a foot in the door to the biggest Black city in the US. Barbara would later be called "one of the really great gospel singers" by no less than Mahalia Jackson. We don't have any recordings of Barbara singing, but Mahalia Jackson certainly knew what she was talking about when it came to great gospel singers: [Excerpt: Mahalia Jackson, "Precious Lord, Take My Hand"] Rev. Franklin was hugely personally ambitious, and he also wanted to get out of rural Mississippi, where the Klan were very active at this time, especially after his daughter Erma was born in 1938. They moved to Memphis in 1939, where he got a full-time position at New Salem Baptist Church, where for the first time he was able to earn a steady living from just one church and not have to tour round multiple churches. He soon became so popular that if you wanted to get a seat for the service at noon, you had to turn up for the 8AM Sunday School or you'd be forced to stand. He also enrolled for college courses at LeMoyne College. He didn't get a degree, but spent three years as a part-time student studying theology, literature, and sociology, and soon developed a liberal theology that was very different from the conservative fundamentalism he'd grown up in, though still very much part of the Baptist church. Where he'd grown up with a literalism that said the Bible was literally true, he started to accept things like evolution, and to see much of the Bible as metaphor. Now, we talked in the last episode about how impossible it is to get an accurate picture of the lives of religious leaders, because their life stories are told by those who admire them, and that's very much the case for C.L. Franklin. Franklin was a man who had many, many, admirable qualities -- he was fiercely intelligent, well-read, a superb public speaker, a man who was by all accounts genuinely compassionate towards those in need, and he became one of the leaders of the civil rights movement and inspired tens of thousands, maybe even millions, of people, directly and indirectly, to change the world for the better. He also raised several children who loved and admired him and were protective of his memory. And as such, there is an inevitable bias in the sources on Franklin's life. And so there's a tendency to soften the very worst things he did, some of which were very, very bad. For example in Nick Salvatore's biography of him, he talks about Franklin, in 1940, fathering a daughter with someone who is described as "a teenager" and "quite young". No details of her age other than that are given, and a few paragraphs later the age of a girl who was then sixteen *is* given, talking about having known the girl in question, and so the impression is given that the girl he impregnated was also probably in her late teens. Which would still be bad, but a man in his early twenties fathering a child with a girl in her late teens is something that can perhaps be forgiven as being a different time. But while the girl in question may have been a teenager when she gave birth, she was *twelve years old* when she became pregnant, by C.L. Franklin, the pastor of her church, who was in a position of power over her in multiple ways. Twelve years old. And this is not the only awful thing that Franklin did -- he was also known to regularly beat up women he was having affairs with, in public. I mention this now because everything else I say about him in this episode is filtered through sources who saw these things as forgivable character flaws in an otherwise admirable human being, and I can't correct for those biases because I don't know the truth. So it's going to sound like he was a truly great man. But bear those facts in mind. Barbara stayed with Franklin for the present, after discovering what he had done, but their marriage was a difficult one, and they split up and reconciled a handful of times. They had three more children together -- Cecil, Aretha, and Carolyn -- and remained together as Franklin moved on first to a church in Buffalo, New York, and then to New Bethel Church, in Detroit, on Hastings Street, a street which was the centre of Black nightlife in the city, as immortalised in John Lee Hooker's "Boogie Chillun": [Excerpt: John Lee Hooker, "Boogie Chillen"] Before moving to Detroit, Franklin had already started to get more political, as his congregation in Buffalo had largely been union members, and being free from the worst excesses of segregation allowed him to talk more openly about civil rights, but that only accelerated when he moved to Detroit, which had been torn apart just a couple of years earlier by police violence against Black protestors. Franklin had started building a reputation when in Memphis using radio broadcasts, and by the time he moved to Detroit he was able to command a very high salary, and not only that, his family were given a mansion by the church, in a rich part of town far away from most of his congregation. Smokey Robinson, who was Cecil Franklin's best friend and a frequent visitor to the mansion through most of his childhood, described it later, saying "Once inside, I'm awestruck -- oil paintings, velvet tapestries, silk curtains, mahogany cabinets filled with ornate objects of silver and gold. Man, I've never seen nothing like that before!" He made a lot of money, but he also increased church attendance so much that he earned that money. He had already been broadcasting on the radio, but when he started his Sunday night broadcasts in Detroit, he came up with a trick of having his sermons run long, so the show would end before the climax. People listening decided that they would have to start turning up in person to hear the end of the sermons, and soon he became so popular that the church would be so full that crowds would have to form on the street outside to listen. Other churches rescheduled their services so they wouldn't clash with Franklin's, and most of the other Black Baptist ministers in the city would go along to watch him preach. In 1948 though, a couple of years after moving to Detroit, Barbara finally left her husband. She took Vaughn with her and moved back to Buffalo, leaving the four biological children she'd had with C.L. with their father.  But it's important to note that she didn't leave her children -- they would visit her on a regular basis, and stay with her over school holidays. Aretha later said "Despite the fact that it has been written innumerable times, it is an absolute lie that my mother abandoned us. In no way, shape, form, or fashion did our mother desert us." Barbara's place in the home was filled by many women -- C.L. Franklin's mother moved up from Mississippi to help him take care of the children, the ladies from the church would often help out, and even stars like Mahalia Jackson would turn up and cook meals for the children. There were also the women with whom Franklin carried on affairs, including Anna Gordy, Ruth Brown, and Dinah Washington, the most important female jazz and blues singer of the fifties, who had major R&B hits with records like her version of "Cold Cold Heart": [Excerpt: Dinah Washington, "Cold Cold Heart"] Although my own favourite record of hers is "Big Long Slidin' Thing", which she made with arranger Quincy Jones: [Excerpt: Dinah Washington, "Big Long Slidin' Thing"] It's about a trombone. Get your minds out of the gutter. Washington was one of the biggest vocal influences on young Aretha, but the single biggest influence was Clara Ward, another of C.L. Franklin's many girlfriends. Ward was the longest-lasting of these, and there seems to have been a lot of hope on both her part and Aretha's that she and Rev. Franklin would marry, though Franklin always made it very clear that monogamy wouldn't suit him. Ward was one of the three major female gospel singers of the middle part of the century, and possibly even more technically impressive as a vocalist than the other two, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Mahalia Jackson. Where Jackson was an austere performer, who refused to perform in secular contexts at all for most of her life, and took herself and her music very seriously, and Tharpe was a raunchier, funnier, more down-to-earth performer who was happy to play for blues audiences and even to play secular music on occasion, Ward was a *glamorous* performer, who wore sequined dresses and piled her hair high on her head. Ward had become a singer in 1931 when her mother had what she later talked about as a religious epiphany, and decided she wasn't going to be a labourer any more, she was going to devote her life to gospel music. Ward's mother had formed a vocal group with her two daughters, and Clara quickly became the star and her mother's meal ticket -- and her mother was very possessive of that ticket, to the extent that Ward, who was a bisexual woman who mostly preferred men, had more relationships with women, because her mother wouldn't let her be alone with the men she was attracted to. But Ward did manage to keep a relationship going with C.L. Franklin, and Aretha Franklin talked about the moment she decided to become a singer, when she saw Ward singing "Peace in the Valley" at a funeral: [Excerpt: Clara Ward, "Peace in the Valley"] As well as looking towards Ward as a vocal influence, Aretha was also influenced by her as a person -- she became a mother figure to Aretha, who would talk later about watching Ward eat, and noting her taking little delicate bites, and getting an idea of what it meant to be ladylike from her. After Ward's death in 1973, a notebook was found in which she had written her opinions of other singers. For Aretha she wrote “My baby Aretha, she doesn't know how good she is. Doubts self. Some day—to the moon. I love that girl.” Ward's influence became especially important to Aretha and her siblings after their mother died of a heart attack a few years after leaving her husband, when Aretha was ten, and Aretha, already a very introverted child, became even more so. Everyone who knew Aretha said that her later diva-ish reputation came out of a deep sense of insecurity and introversion -- that she was a desperately private, closed-off, person who would rarely express her emotions at all, and who would look away from you rather than make eye contact. The only time she let herself express emotions was when she performed music. And music was hugely important in the Franklin household. Most preachers in the Black church at that time were a bit dismissive of gospel music, because they thought the music took away from their prestige -- they saw it as a necessary evil, and resented it taking up space when their congregations could have been listening to them. But Rev. Franklin was himself a rather good singer, and even made a few gospel records himself in 1950, recording for Joe Von Battle, who owned a record shop on Hastings Street and also put out records by blues singers: [Excerpt: C.L. Franklin, "I Am Climbing Higher Mountains" ] The church's musical director was James Cleveland, one of the most important gospel artists of the fifties and sixties, who sang with groups like the Caravans: [Excerpt: The Caravans, "What Kind of Man is This?" ] Cleveland, who had started out in the choir run by Thomas Dorsey, the writer of “Take My Hand Precious Lord” and “Peace in the Valley”, moved in with the Franklin family for a while, and he gave the girls tips on playing the piano -- much later he would play piano on Aretha's album Amazing Grace, and she said of him “He showed me some real nice chords, and I liked his deep, deep sound”. Other than Clara Ward, he was probably the single biggest musical influence on Aretha. And all the touring gospel musicians would make appearances at New Bethel Church, not least of them Sam Cooke, who first appeared there with the Highway QCs and would continue to do so after joining the Soul Stirrers: [Excerpt: The Soul Stirrers, "Touch the Hem of his Garment"] Young Aretha and her older sister Erma both had massive crushes on Cooke, and there were rumours that he had an affair with one or both of them when they were in their teens, though both denied it. Aretha later said "When I first saw him, all I could do was sigh... Sam was love on first hearing, love at first sight." But it wasn't just gospel music that filled the house. One of the major ways that C.L. Franklin's liberalism showed was in his love of secular music, especially jazz and blues, which he regarded as just as important in Black cultural life as gospel music. We already talked about Dinah Washington being a regular visitor to the house, but every major Black entertainer would visit the Franklin residence when they were in Detroit. Both Aretha and Cecil Franklin vividly remembered visits from Art Tatum, who would sit at the piano and play for the family and their guests: [Excerpt: Art Tatum, "Tiger Rag"] Tatum was such a spectacular pianist that there's now a musicological term, the tatum, named after him, for the smallest possible discernible rhythmic interval between two notes. Young Aretha was thrilled by his technique, and by that of Oscar Peterson, who also regularly came to the Franklin home, sometimes along with Ella Fitzgerald. Nat "King" Cole was another regular visitor. The Franklin children all absorbed the music these people -- the most important musicians of the time -- were playing in their home, and young Aretha in particular became an astonishing singer and also an accomplished pianist. Smokey Robinson later said: “The other thing that knocked us out about Aretha was her piano playing. There was a grand piano in the Franklin living room, and we all liked to mess around. We'd pick out little melodies with one finger. But when Aretha sat down, even as a seven-year-old, she started playing chords—big chords. Later I'd recognize them as complex church chords, the kind used to accompany the preacher and the solo singer. At the time, though, all I could do was view Aretha as a wonder child. Mind you, this was Detroit, where musical talent ran strong and free. Everyone was singing and harmonizing; everyone was playing piano and guitar. Aretha came out of this world, but she also came out of another far-off magical world none of us really understood. She came from a distant musical planet where children are born with their gifts fully formed.” C.L. Franklin became more involved in the music business still when Joe Von Battle started releasing records of his sermons, which had become steadily more politically aware: [Excerpt: C.L. Franklin, "Dry Bones in the Valley"] Franklin was not a Marxist -- he was a liberal, but like many liberals was willing to stand with Marxists where they had shared interests, even when it was dangerous. For example in 1954, at the height of McCarthyism, he had James and Grace Lee Boggs, two Marxist revolutionaries, come to the pulpit and talk about their support for the anti-colonial revolution in Kenya, and they sold four hundred copies of their pamphlet after their talk, because he saw that the struggle of Black Africans to get out from white colonial rule was the same struggle as that of Black Americans. And Franklin's powerful sermons started getting broadcast on the radio in areas further out from Detroit, as Chess Records picked up the distribution for them and people started playing the records on other stations. People like future Congressman John Lewis and the Reverend Jesse Jackson would later talk about listening to C.L. Franklin's records on the radio and being inspired -- a whole generation of Black Civil Rights leaders took their cues from him, and as the 1950s and 60s went on he became closer and closer to Martin Luther King in particular. But C.L. Franklin was always as much an ambitious showman as an activist, and he started putting together gospel tours, consisting mostly of music but with himself giving a sermon as the headline act. And he became very, very wealthy from these tours. On one trip in the south, his car broke down, and he couldn't find a mechanic willing to work on it. A group of white men started mocking him with racist terms, trying to provoke him, as he was dressed well and driving a nice car (albeit one that had broken down). Rather than arguing with them, he walked to a car dealership, and bought a new car with the cash that he had on him. By 1956 he was getting around $4000 per appearance, roughly equivalent to $43,000 today, and he was making a *lot* of appearances. He also sold half a million records that year. Various gospel singers, including the Clara Ward Singers, would perform on the tours he organised, and one of those performers was Franklin's middle daughter Aretha. Aretha had become pregnant when she was twelve, and after giving birth to the child she dropped out of school, but her grandmother did most of the child-rearing for her, while she accompanied her father on tour. Aretha's first recordings, made when she was just fourteen, show what an astonishing talent she already was at that young age. She would grow as an artist, of course, as she aged and gained experience, but those early gospel records already show an astounding maturity and ability. It's jaw-dropping to listen to these records of a fourteen-year-old, and immediately recognise them as a fully-formed Aretha Franklin. [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "There is a Fountain Filled With Blood"] Smokey Robinson's assessment that she was born with her gifts fully formed doesn't seem like an exaggeration when you hear that. For the latter half of the fifties, Aretha toured with her father, performing on the gospel circuit and becoming known there. But the Franklin sisters were starting to get ideas about moving into secular music. This was largely because their family friend Sam Cooke had done just that, with "You Send Me": [Excerpt: Sam Cooke, "You Send Me"] Aretha and Erma still worshipped Cooke, and Aretha would later talk about getting dressed up just to watch Cooke appear on the TV. Their brother Cecil later said "I remember the night Sam came to sing at the Flame Show Bar in Detroit. Erma and Ree said they weren't going because they were so heartbroken that Sam had recently married. I didn't believe them. And I knew I was right when they started getting dressed about noon for the nine o'clock show. Because they were underage, they put on a ton of makeup to look older. It didn't matter 'cause Berry Gordy's sisters, Anna and Gwen, worked the photo concession down there, taking pictures of the party people. Anna was tight with Daddy and was sure to let my sisters in. She did, and they came home with stars in their eyes.” Moving from gospel to secular music still had a stigma against it in the gospel world, but Rev. Franklin had never seen secular music as sinful, and he encouraged his daughters in their ambitions. Erma was the first to go secular, forming a girl group, the Cleo-Patrettes, at the suggestion of the Four Tops, who were family friends, and recording a single for Joe Von Battle's J-V-B label, "No Other Love": [Excerpt: The Cleo-Patrettes, "No Other Love"] But the group didn't go any further, as Rev. Franklin insisted that his eldest daughter had to finish school and go to university before she could become a professional singer. Erma missed other opportunities for different reasons, though -- Berry Gordy, at this time still a jobbing songwriter, offered her a song he'd written with his sister and Roquel Davis, but Erma thought of herself as a jazz singer and didn't want to do R&B, and so "All I Could Do Was Cry" was given to Etta James instead, who had a top forty pop hit with it: [Excerpt: Etta James, "All I Could Do Was Cry"] While Erma's move into secular music was slowed by her father wanting her to have an education, there was no such pressure on Aretha, as she had already dropped out. But Aretha had a different problem -- she was very insecure, and said that church audiences "weren't critics, but worshippers", but she was worried that nightclub audiences in particular were just the kind of people who would just be looking for flaws, rather than wanting to support the performer as church audiences did. But eventually she got up the nerve to make the move. There was the possibility of her getting signed to Motown -- her brother was still best friends with Smokey Robinson, while the Gordy family were close to her father -- but Rev. Franklin had his eye on bigger things. He wanted her to be signed to Columbia, which in 1960 was the most prestigious of all the major labels. As Aretha's brother Cecil later said "He wanted Ree on Columbia, the label that recorded Mahalia Jackson, Duke Ellington, Johnny Mathis, Tony Bennett, Percy Faith, and Doris Day. Daddy said that Columbia was the biggest and best record company in the world. Leonard Bernstein recorded for Columbia." They went out to New York to see Phil Moore, a legendary vocal coach and arranger who had helped make Lena Horne and Dorothy Dandridge into stars, but Moore actually refused to take her on as a client, saying "She does not require my services. Her style has already been developed. Her style is in place. It is a unique style that, in my professional opinion, requires no alteration. It simply requires the right material. Her stage presentation is not of immediate concern. All that will come later. The immediate concern is the material that will suit her best. And the reason that concern will not be easily addressed is because I can't imagine any material that will not suit her." That last would become a problem for the next few years, but the immediate issue was to get someone at Columbia to listen to her, and Moore could help with that -- he was friends with John Hammond. Hammond is a name that's come up several times in the podcast already -- we mentioned him in the very earliest episodes, and also in episode ninety-eight, where we looked at his signing of Bob Dylan. But Hammond was a legend in the music business. He had produced sessions for Bessie Smith, had discovered Count Basie and Billie Holiday, had convinced Benny Goodman to hire Charlie Christian and Lionel Hampton, had signed Pete Seeger and the Weavers to Columbia, had organised the Spirituals to Swing concerts which we talked about in the first few episodes of this podcast, and was about to put out the first album of Robert Johnson's recordings. Of all the executives at Columbia, he was the one who had the greatest eye for talent, and the greatest understanding of Black musical culture. Moore suggested that the Franklins get Major Holley to produce a demo recording that he could get Hammond to listen to. Major Holley was a family friend, and a jazz bassist who had played with Oscar Peterson and Coleman Hawkins among others, and he put together a set of songs for Aretha that would emphasise the jazz side of her abilities, pitching her as a Dinah Washington style bluesy jazz singer. The highlight of the demo was a version of "Today I Sing the Blues", a song that had originally been recorded by Helen Humes, the singer who we last heard of recording “Be Baba Leba” with Bill Doggett: [Excerpt: Helen Humes, "Today I Sing the Blues"] That original version had been produced by Hammond, but the song had also recently been covered by Aretha's idol, Sam Cooke: [Excerpt: Sam Cooke, "Today I Sing the Blues"] Hammond was hugely impressed by the demo, and signed Aretha straight away, and got to work producing her first album. But he and Rev. Franklin had different ideas about what Aretha should do. Hammond wanted to make a fairly raw-sounding bluesy jazz album, the kind of recording he had produced with Bessie Smith or Billie Holiday, but Rev. Franklin wanted his daughter to make music that would cross over to the white pop market -- he was aiming for the same kind of audience that Nat "King" Cole or Harry Belafonte had, and he wanted her recording standards like "Over the Rainbow". This showed a lack of understanding on Rev. Franklin's part of how such crossovers actually worked at this point. As Etta James later said, "If you wanna have Black hits, you gotta understand the Black streets, you gotta work those streets and work those DJs to get airplay on Black stations... Or looking at it another way, in those days you had to get the Black audience to love the hell outta you and then hope the love would cross over to the white side. Columbia didn't know nothing 'bout crossing over.” But Hammond knew they had to make a record quickly, because Sam Cooke had been working on RCA Records, trying to get them to sign Aretha, and Rev. Franklin wanted an album out so they could start booking club dates for her, and was saying that if they didn't get one done quickly he'd take up that offer, and so they came up with a compromise set of songs which satisfied nobody, but did produce two R&B top ten hits, "Won't Be Long" and Aretha's version of "Today I Sing the Blues": [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Today I Sing the Blues"] This is not to say that Aretha herself saw this as a compromise -- she later said "I have never compromised my material. Even then, I knew a good song from a bad one. And if Hammond, one of the legends of the business, didn't know how to produce a record, who does? No, the fault was with promotion." And this is something important to bear in mind as we talk about her Columbia records. Many, *many* people have presented those records as Aretha being told what to do by producers who didn't understand her art and were making her record songs that didn't fit her style. That's not what's happening with the Columbia records. Everyone actually involved said that Aretha was very involved in the choices made -- and there are some genuinely great tracks on those albums. The problem is that they're *unfocused*. Aretha was only eighteen when she signed to the label, and she loved all sorts of music -- blues, jazz, soul, standards, gospel, middle-of-the-road pop music -- and wanted to sing all those kinds of music. And she *could* sing all those kinds of music, and sing them well. But it meant the records weren't coherent. You didn't know what you were getting, and there was no artistic personality that dominated them, it was just what Aretha felt like recording. Around this time, Aretha started to think that maybe her father didn't know what he was talking about when it came to popular music success, even though she idolised him in most areas, and she turned to another figure, who would soon become both her husband and manager. Ted White. Her sister Erma, who was at that time touring with Lloyd Price, had introduced them, but in fact Aretha had first seen White years earlier, in her own house -- he had been Dinah Washington's boyfriend in the fifties, and her first sight of him had been carrying a drunk Washington out of the house after a party. In interviews with David Ritz, who wrote biographies of many major soul stars including both Aretha Franklin and Etta James, James had a lot to say about White, saying “Ted White was famous even before he got with Aretha. My boyfriend at the time, Harvey Fuqua, used to talk about him. Ted was supposed to be the slickest pimp in Detroit. When I learned that Aretha married him, I wasn't surprised. A lot of the big-time singers who we idolized as girls—like Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan—had pimps for boyfriends and managers. That was standard operating procedure. My own mother had made a living turning tricks. When we were getting started, that way of life was part of the music business. It was in our genes. Part of the lure of pimps was that they got us paid." She compared White to Ike Turner, saying "Ike made Tina, no doubt about it. He developed her talent. He showed her what it meant to be a performer. He got her famous. Of course, Ted White was not a performer, but he was savvy about the world. When Harvey Fuqua introduced me to him—this was the fifties, before he was with Aretha—I saw him as a super-hip extra-smooth cat. I liked him. He knew music. He knew songwriters who were writing hit songs. He had manners. Later, when I ran into him and Aretha—this was the sixties—I saw that she wasn't as shy as she used to be." White was a pimp, but he was also someone with music business experience -- he owned an unsuccessful publishing company, and also ran a chain of jukeboxes. He was also thirty, while Aretha was only eighteen. But White didn't like the people in Aretha's life at the time -- he didn't get on well with her father, and he also clashed with John Hammond. And Aretha was also annoyed at Hammond, because her sister Erma had signed to Epic, a Columbia subsidiary, and was releasing her own singles: [Excerpt: Erma Franklin, "Hello Again"] Aretha was certain that Hammond had signed Erma, even though Hammond had nothing to do with Epic Records, and Erma had actually been recommended by Lloyd Price. And Aretha, while for much of her career she would support her sister, was also terrified that her sister might have a big hit before her and leave Aretha in her shadow. Hammond was still the credited producer on Aretha's second album, The Electrifying Aretha Franklin, but his lack of say in the sessions can be shown in the choice of lead-off single. "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody" was originally recorded by Al Jolson in 1918: [Excerpt: Al Jolson, "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody"] Rev. Franklin pushed for the song, as he was a fan of Jolson -- Jolson, oddly, had a large Black fanbase, despite his having been a blackface performer, because he had *also* been a strong advocate of Black musicians like Cab Calloway, and the level of racism in the media of the twenties through forties was so astonishingly high that even a blackface performer could seem comparatively OK. Aretha's performance was good, but it was hardly the kind of thing that audiences were clamouring for in 1961: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody"] That single came out the month after _Down Beat_ magazine gave Aretha the "new-star female vocalist award", and it oddly made the pop top forty, her first record to do so, and the B-side made the R&B top ten, but for the next few years both chart success and critical acclaim eluded her. None of her next nine singles would make higher than number eighty-six on the Hot One Hundred, and none would make the R&B charts at all. After that transitional second album, she was paired with producer Bob Mersey, who was precisely the kind of white pop producer that one would expect for someone who hoped for crossover success. Mersey was the producer for many of Columbia's biggest stars at the time -- people like Barbra Streisand, Andy Williams, Julie Andrews, Patti Page, and Mel Tormé -- and it was that kind of audience that Aretha wanted to go for at this point. To give an example of the kind of thing that Mersey was doing, just the month before he started work on his first collaboration with Aretha, _The Tender, the Moving, the Swinging Aretha Franklin_, his production of Andy Williams singing "Moon River" was released: [Excerpt: Andy Williams, "Moon River"] This was the kind of audience Aretha was going for when it came to record sales – the person she compared herself to most frequently at this point was Barbra Streisand – though in live performances she was playing with a small jazz group in jazz venues, and going for the same kind of jazz-soul crossover audience as Dinah Washington or Ray Charles. The strategy seems to have been to get something like the success of her idol Sam Cooke, who could play to soul audiences but also play the Copacabana, but the problem was that Cooke had built an audience before doing that -- she hadn't. But even though she hadn't built up an audience, musicians were starting to pay attention. Ted White, who was still in touch with Dinah Washington, later said “Women are very catty. They'll see a girl who's dressed very well and they'll say, Yeah, but look at those shoes, or look at that hairdo. Aretha was the only singer I've ever known that Dinah had no negative comments about. She just stood with her mouth open when she heard Aretha sing.” The great jazz vocalist Carmen McRea went to see Aretha at the Village Vanguard in New York around this time, having heard the comparisons to Dinah Washington, and met her afterwards. She later said "Given how emotionally she sang, I expected her to have a supercharged emotional personality like Dinah. Instead, she was the shyest thing I've ever met. Would hardly look me in the eye. Didn't say more than two words. I mean, this bitch gave bashful a new meaning. Anyway, I didn't give her any advice because she didn't ask for any, but I knew goddamn well that, no matter how good she was—and she was absolutely wonderful—she'd have to make up her mind whether she wanted to be Della Reese, Dinah Washington, or Sarah Vaughan. I also had a feeling she wouldn't have minded being Leslie Uggams or Diahann Carroll. I remember thinking that if she didn't figure out who she was—and quick—she was gonna get lost in the weeds of the music biz." So musicians were listening to Aretha, even if everyone else wasn't. The Tender, the Moving, the Swinging Aretha Franklin, for example, was full of old standards like "Try a Little Tenderness": [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Try a Little Tenderness"] That performance inspired Otis Redding to cut his own version of that song a few years later: [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "Try a Little Tenderness"] And it might also have inspired Aretha's friend and idol Sam Cooke to include the song in his own lounge sets. The Tender, the Moving, the Swinging Aretha Franklin also included Aretha's first original composition, but in general it wasn't a very well-received album. In 1963, the first cracks started to develop in Aretha's relationship with Ted White. According to her siblings, part of the strain was because Aretha's increasing commitment to the civil rights movement was costing her professional opportunities. Her brother Cecil later said "Ted White had complete sway over her when it came to what engagements to accept and what songs to sing. But if Daddy called and said, ‘Ree, I want you to sing for Dr. King,' she'd drop everything and do just that. I don't think Ted had objections to her support of Dr. King's cause, and he realized it would raise her visibility. But I do remember the time that there was a conflict between a big club gig and doing a benefit for Dr. King. Ted said, ‘Take the club gig. We need the money.' But Ree said, ‘Dr. King needs me more.' She defied her husband. Maybe that was the start of their marital trouble. Their thing was always troubled because it was based on each of them using the other. Whatever the case, my sister proved to be a strong soldier in the civil rights fight. That made me proud of her and it kept her relationship with Daddy from collapsing entirely." In part her increasing activism was because of her father's own increase in activity. The benefit that Cecil is talking about there is probably one in Chicago organised by Mahalia Jackson, where Aretha headlined on a bill that also included Jackson, Eartha Kitt, and the comedian Dick Gregory. That was less than a month before her father organised the Detroit Walk to Freedom, a trial run for the more famous March on Washington a few weeks later. The Detroit Walk to Freedom was run by the Detroit Council for Human Rights, which was formed by Rev. Franklin and Rev. Albert Cleage, a much more radical Black nationalist who often differed with Franklin's more moderate integrationist stance. They both worked together to organise the Walk to Freedom, but Franklin's stance predominated, as several white liberal politicians, like the Mayor of Detroit, Jerome Cavanagh, were included in the largely-Black March. It drew crowds of 125,000 people, and Dr. King called it "one of the most wonderful things that has happened in America", and it was the largest civil rights demonstration in American history up to that point. King's speech in Detroit was recorded and released on Motown Records: [Excerpt: Martin Luther King, "Original 'I Have a Dream' Speech”] He later returned to the same ideas in his more famous speech in Washington. During that civil rights spring and summer of 1963, Aretha also recorded what many think of as the best of her Columbia albums, a collection of jazz standards  called Laughing on the Outside, which included songs like "Solitude", "Ol' Man River" and "I Wanna Be Around": [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "I Wanna Be Around"] The opening track, "Skylark", was Etta James' favourite ever Aretha Franklin performance, and is regarded by many as the definitive take on the song: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Skylark"] Etta James later talked about discussing the track with the great jazz singer Sarah Vaughan, one of Aretha's early influences, who had recorded her own version of the song: "Sarah said, ‘Have you heard of this Aretha Franklin girl?' I said, ‘You heard her do “Skylark,” didn't you?' Sarah said, ‘Yes, I did, and I'm never singing that song again.” But while the album got noticed by other musicians, it didn't get much attention from the wider public. Mersey decided that a change in direction was needed, and they needed to get in someone with more of a jazz background to work with Aretha. He brought in pianist and arranger Bobby Scott, who had previously worked with people like Lester Young, and Scott said of their first meeting “My first memory of Aretha is that she wouldn't look at me when I spoke. She withdrew from the encounter in a way that intrigued me. At first I thought she was just shy—and she was—but I also felt her reading me...For all her deference to my experience and her reluctance to speak up, when she did look me in the eye, she did so with a quiet intensity before saying, ‘I like all your ideas, Mr. Scott, but please remember I do want hits.'” They started recording together, but the sides they cut wouldn't be released for a few years. Instead, Aretha and Mersey went in yet another direction. Dinah Washington died suddenly in December 1963, and given that Aretha was already being compared to Washington by almost everyone, and that Washington had been a huge influence on her, as well as having been close to both her father and her husband/manager, it made sense to go into the studio and quickly cut a tribute album, with Aretha singing Washington's hits: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Cold Cold Heart"] Unfortunately, while Washington had been wildly popular, and one of the most important figures in jazz and R&B in the forties and fifties, her style was out of date. The tribute album, titled Unforgettable, came out in February 1964, the same month that Beatlemania hit the US. Dinah Washington was the past, and trying to position Aretha as "the new Dinah Washington" would doom her to obscurity. John Hammond later said "I remember thinking that if Aretha never does another album she will be remembered for this one. No, the problem was timing. Dinah had died, and, outside the black community, interest in her had waned dramatically. Popular music was in a radical and revolutionary moment, and that moment had nothing to do with Dinah Washington, great as she was and will always be.” At this point, Columbia brought in Clyde Otis, an independent producer and songwriter who had worked with artists like Washington and Sarah Vaughan, and indeed had written one of the songs on Unforgettable, but had also worked with people like Brook Benton, who had a much more R&B audience. For example, he'd written "Baby, You Got What It Takes" for Benton and Washington to do as a duet: [Excerpt: Brook Benton and Dinah Washington, "Baby, You Got What it Takes"] In 1962, when he was working at Mercury Records before going independent, Otis had produced thirty-three of the fifty-one singles the label put out that year that had charted. Columbia had decided that they were going to position Aretha firmly in the R&B market, and assigned Otis to do just that. At first, though, Otis had no more luck with getting Aretha to sing R&B than anyone else had. He later said "Aretha, though, couldn't be deterred from her determination to beat Barbra Streisand at Barbra's own game. I kept saying, ‘Ree, you can outsing Streisand any day of the week. That's not the point. The point is to find a hit.' But that summer she just wanted straight-up ballads. She insisted that she do ‘People,' Streisand's smash. Aretha sang the hell out of it, but no one's gonna beat Barbra at her own game." But after several months of this, eventually Aretha and White came round to the idea of making an R&B record. Otis produced an album of contemporary R&B, with covers of music from the more sophisticated end of the soul market, songs like "My Guy", "Every Little Bit Hurts", and "Walk on By", along with a few new originals brought in by Otis. The title track, "Runnin' Out of Fools", became her biggest hit in three years, making number fifty-seven on the pop charts and number thirty on the R&B charts: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Runnin' Out of Fools"] After that album, they recorded another album with Otis producing, a live-in-the-studio jazz album, but again nobody involved could agree on a style for her. By this time it was obvious that she was unhappy with Columbia and would be leaving the label soon, and they wanted to get as much material in the can as they could, so they could continue releasing material after she left. But her working relationship with Otis was deteriorating -- Otis and Ted White did not get on, Aretha and White were having their own problems, and Aretha had started just not showing up for some sessions, with nobody knowing where she was. Columbia passed her on to yet another producer, this time Bob Johnston, who had just had a hit with Patti Page, "Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte": [Excerpt: Patti Page, "Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte"] Johnston was just about to hit an incredible hot streak as a producer. At the same time as his sessions with Aretha, he was also producing Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited, and just after the sessions finished he'd go on to produce Simon & Garfunkel's Sounds of Silence album. In the next few years he would produce a run of classic Dylan albums like Blonde on Blonde, John Wesley Harding, and New Morning, Simon & Garfunkel's follow up Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme, Leonard Cohen's first three albums, and Johnny Cash's comeback with the Live at Folsom Prison album and its follow up At San Quentin. He also produced records for Marty Robbins, Flatt & Scruggs, the Byrds, and Burl Ives during that time period. But you may notice that while that's as great a run of records as any producer was putting out at the time, it has little to do with the kind of music that Aretha Franklin was making then, or would become famous with. Johnston produced a string-heavy session in which Aretha once again tried to sing old standards by people like Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern. She then just didn't turn up for some more sessions, until one final session in August, when she recorded songs like "Swanee" and "You Made Me Love You". For more than a year, she didn't go into a studio. She also missed many gigs and disappeared from her family's life for periods of time. Columbia kept putting out records of things she'd already recorded, but none of them had any success at all. Many of the records she'd made for Columbia had been genuinely great -- there's a popular perception that she was being held back by a record company that forced her to sing material she didn't like, but in fact she *loved* old standards, and jazz tunes, and contemporary pop at least as much as any other kind of music. Truly great musicians tend to have extremely eclectic tastes, and Aretha Franklin was a truly great musician if anyone was. Her Columbia albums are as good as any albums in those genres put out in that time period, and she remained proud of them for the rest of her life. But that very eclecticism had meant that she hadn't established a strong identity as a performer -- everyone who heard her records knew she was a great singer, but nobody knew what "an Aretha Franklin record" really meant -- and she hadn't had a single real hit, which was the thing she wanted more than anything. All that changed when in the early hours of the morning, Jerry Wexler was at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals recording a Wilson Pickett track -- from the timeline, it was probably the session for "Mustang Sally", which coincidentally was published by Ted White's publishing company, as Sir Mack Rice, the writer, was a neighbour of White and Franklin, and to which Aretha had made an uncredited songwriting contribution: [Excerpt: Wilson Pickett, "Mustang Sally"] Whatever the session, it wasn't going well. Percy Sledge, another Atlantic artist who recorded at Muscle Shoals, had turned up and had started winding Pickett up, telling him he sounded just like James Brown. Pickett *hated* Brown -- it seems like almost every male soul singer of the sixties hated James Brown -- and went to physically attack Sledge. Wexler got between the two men to protect his investments in them -- both were the kind of men who could easily cause some serious damage to anyone they hit -- and Pickett threw him to one side and charged at Sledge. At that moment the phone went, and Wexler yelled at the two of them to calm down so he could talk on the phone. The call was telling him that Aretha Franklin was interested in recording for Atlantic. Rev. Louise Bishop, later a Democratic politician in Pennsylvania, was at this time a broadcaster, presenting a radio gospel programme, and she knew Aretha. She'd been to see her perform, and had been astonished by Aretha's performance of a recent Otis Redding single, "Respect": [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "Respect"] Redding will, by the way, be getting his own episode in a few months' time, which is why I've not covered the making of that record here. Bishop thought that Aretha did the song even better than Redding -- something Bishop hadn't thought possible. When she got talking to Aretha after the show, she discovered that her contract with Columbia was up, and Aretha didn't really know what she was going to do -- maybe she'd start her own label or something. She hadn't been into the studio in more than a year, but she did have some songs she'd been working on. Bishop was good friends with Jerry Wexler, and she knew that he was a big fan of Aretha's, and had been saying for a while that when her contract was up he'd like to sign her. Bishop offered to make the connection, and then went back home and phoned Wexler's wife, waking her up -- it was one in the morning by this point, but Bishop was accustomed to phoning Wexler late at night when it was something important. Wexler's wife then phoned him in Muscle Shoals, and he phoned Bishop back and made the arrangements to meet up. Initially, Wexler wasn't thinking about producing Aretha himself -- this was still the period when he and the Ertegun brothers were thinking of selling Atlantic and getting out of the music business, and so while he signed her to the label he was originally going to hand her over to Jim Stewart at Stax to record, as he had with Sam and Dave. But in a baffling turn of events, Jim Stewart didn't actually want to record her, and so Wexler determined that he had better do it himself. And he didn't want to do it with slick New York musicians -- he wanted to bring out the gospel sound in her voice, and he thought the best way to do that was with musicians from what Charles Hughes refers to as "the country-soul triangle" of Nashville, Memphis, and Muscle Shoals. So he booked a week's worth of sessions at FAME studios, and got in FAME's regular rhythm section, plus a couple of musicians from American Recordings in Memphis -- Chips Moman and Spooner Oldham. Oldham's friend and songwriting partner Dan Penn came along as well -- he wasn't officially part of the session, but he was a fan of Aretha's and wasn't going to miss this. Penn had been the first person that Rick Hall, the owner of FAME, had called when Wexler had booked the studio, because Hall hadn't actually heard of Aretha Franklin up to that point, but didn't want to let Wexler know that. Penn had assured him that Aretha was one of the all-time great talents, and that she just needed the right production to become massive. As Hall put it in his autobiography, "Dan tended in those days to hate anything he didn't write, so I figured if he felt that strongly about her, then she was probably going to be a big star." Charlie Chalmers, a horn player who regularly played with these musicians, was tasked with putting together a horn section. The first song they recorded that day was one that the musicians weren't that impressed with at first. "I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You)" was written by a songwriter named Ronnie Shannon, who had driven from Georgia to Detroit hoping to sell his songs to Motown. He'd popped into a barber's shop where Ted White was having his hair cut to ask for directions to Motown, and White had signed him to his own publishing company and got him to write songs for Aretha. On hearing the demo, the musicians thought that the song was mediocre and a bit shapeless: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin "I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You) (demo)"] But everyone there was agreed that Aretha herself was spectacular. She didn't speak much to the musicians, just went to the piano and sat down and started playing, and Jerry Wexler later compared her playing to Thelonius Monk (who was indeed one of the jazz musicians who had influenced her). While Spooner Oldham had been booked to play piano, it was quickly decided to switch him to electric piano and organ, leaving the acoustic piano for Aretha to play, and she would play piano on all the sessions Wexler produced for her in future. Although while Wexler is the credited producer (and on this initial session Rick Hall at FAME is a credited co-producer), everyone involved, including Wexler, said that the musicians were taking their cues from Aretha rather than anyone else. She would outline the arrangements at the piano, and everyone else would fit in with what she was doing, coming up with head arrangements directed by her. But Wexler played a vital role in mediating between her and the musicians and engineering staff, all of whom he knew and she didn't. As Rick Hall said "After her brief introduction by Wexler, she said very little to me or anyone else in the studio other than Jerry or her husband for the rest of the day. I don't think Aretha and I ever made eye contact after our introduction, simply because we were both so totally focused on our music and consumed by what we were doing." The musicians started working on "I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You)", and at first found it difficult to get the groove, but then Oldham came up with an electric piano lick which everyone involved thought of as the key that unlocked the song for them: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You)"] After that, they took a break. Most of them were pleased with the track, though Rick Hall wasn't especially happy. But then Rick Hall wasn't especially happy about anything at that point. He'd always used mono for his recordings until then, but had been basically forced to install at least a two-track system by Tom Dowd, Atlantic's chief engineer, and was resentful of this imposition. During the break, Dan Penn went off to finish a song he and Spooner Oldham had been writing, which he hoped Aretha would record at the session: [Excerpt: Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man"] They had the basic structure of the song down, but hadn't quite finished the middle eight, and both Jerry Wexler and Aretha Franklin chipped in uncredited lyrical contributions -- Aretha's line was "as long as we're together baby, you'd better show some respect to me". Penn, Oldham, Chips Moman, Roger Hawkins, and Tommy Cogbill started cutting a backing track for the song, with Penn singing lead initially with the idea that Aretha would overdub her vocal. But while they were doing this, things had been going wrong with the other participants. All the FAME and American rhythm section players were white, as were Wexler, Hall, and Dowd, and Wexler had been very aware of this, and of the fact that they were recording in Alabama, where Aretha and her husband might not feel totally safe, so he'd specifically requested that the horn section at least contain some Black musicians. But Charlie Chalmers hadn't been able to get any of the Black musicians he would normally call when putting together a horn section, and had ended up with an all-white horn section as well, including one player, a trumpet player called Ken Laxton, who had a reputation as a good player but had never worked with any of the other musicians there -- he was an outsider in a group of people who regularly worked together and had a pre-existing relationship. As the two outsiders, Laxton and Ted White had, at first, bonded, and indeed had started drinking vodka together, passing a bottle between themselves, in a way that Rick Hall would normally not allow in a session -- at the time, the county the studio was in was still a dry county. But as Wexler said, “A redneck patronizing a Black man is a dangerous camaraderie,” and White and Laxton soon had a major falling out. Everyone involved tells a different story about what it was that caused them to start rowing, though it seems to have been to do with Laxton not showing the proper respect for Aretha, or even actually sexually assaulting her -- Dan Penn later said “I always heard he patted her on the butt or somethin', and what would have been wrong with that anyway?”, which says an awful lot about the attitudes of these white Southern men who thought of themselves as very progressive, and were -- for white Southern men in early 1967. Either way, White got very, very annoyed, and insisted that Laxton get fired from the session, which he was, but that still didn't satisfy White, and he stormed off to the motel, drunk and angry. The rest of them finished cutting a basic track for "Do Right Woman", but nobody was very happy with it. Oldham said later “She liked the song but hadn't had time to practice it or settle into it I remember there was Roger playing the drums and Cogbill playing the bass. And I'm on these little simplistic chords on organ, just holding chords so the song would be understood. And that was sort of where it was left. Dan had to sing the vocal, because she didn't know the song, in the wrong key for him. That's what they left with—Dan singing the wrong-key vocal and this little simplistic organ and a bass and a drum. We had a whole week to do everything—we had plenty of time—so there was no hurry to do anything in particular.” Penn was less optimistic, saying "But as I rem

Lived experience is a debate that comes up time and time again in our cultural landscape - should only gay people play gay roles on-screen? Should white people be able to tell people of colours stories? And should non-disabled people be allowed to portray those with disability? This week Ione and Halima are discussing this article, and all of the discourse surrounding our lived experiences. We're talking about whether the lived experience argument is based in fact, or is merely a myth conjured by those more privileged who feel oppressed by the limits of storytelling. And why instead of focusing on this age-old debate, we should draw our focus towards ways of actually letting our voices be heard. Pre-order Ione's book, Poor Little Sick Girls, here!Want to support the podcast? If you're a brand or organisation that could help us continue the show, Please fill in this form. Can't wait to hear from you!We'd love to know what you think about our podcast. Fill out this survey here to have your say