5th Wave Radio

Alice Feiring is a journalist, essayist and author writing professionally since 1988. She was an early blogger, starting up in 2004. Since, she has published five books, Natural Wine for the People (Ten Speed, 2019), Dirty Guide to Wine (Countrymen Press, 2017), For the Love of Wine (2016), Naked Wine: Letting Grapes do What Comes Naturally (DaCapo Press, 2011), and her 2008 controversial debut, The Battle for Wine & Love or How I Saved the World From Parkerization (Harcourt). Scribner will publish her next one, To Fall in Love Drink This, this August. Her books have been translated into French, Georgian, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Slovakian, Spanish and Ukrainian. 

Known primarily for her work in natural wine and promoting organic viticulture, Feiring has received multiple awards—a James Beard and a Merit Agricole from the French Government among them. She started to publish her natural wine newsletter, The Feiring Line (thefeiringline.com) in 2013. New York Times 'Eric Asimov wrote, "Ms. Feiring is an uncompromising judge of wine and people who can no more stomach a lover’s preference for a wine she abhors than she can the presence of a microwave in her kitchen.” When she’s not tasting, traveling, writing books or articles, Feiring lives in New York City, dances the Morris, plays accordion and struggles with the fiddle.

Darwin Acosta (they/them) is Afro-Hispanic, first-generation American, and is from NYC. Darwin is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America with an Associates' Degree in Baking and Pastry and a Dual Bachelors' Degree in Culinary Science and Applied Food Studies. That is where they were introduced to formal wine education and wanted to pursue an interest within the world of beverage. As a result of living in Napa and noticing the lack of a collected queer community, especially in wine, Darwin created Co-Fermented, an organization dedicated to creating awareness and representation for LGBTIA folks in the wine industry.

Laura Talmus founded Beyond Differences along with her husband, Averell “Ace” Smith, following the unexpected death of their daughter Lili Rachel Smith in October 2009. 

Passionate about bringing awareness to the issue of adolescent social isolation, Laura is the full-time Executive Director of Beyond Differences, a student-led social justice organization dedicated to ending social isolation among middle school students. 

Beyond Differences’ Social Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum is now being used in over 9000 schools across all 50 states. They are best known for the national holiday, No One Eats Alone Day.

Before the COVID pandemic, Laura secured funding from the Marin Community Foundation to undertake a groundbreaking initiative to Advance Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in California in partnership with California Governor Gavin Newsom, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom and Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond. The Advance SEL initiative helped inform the California SEL Task Force 2.0, a state-wide coalition to address children’s mental health and social emotional learning needs, on which she served as a member. 

Laura has received numerous awards and recognitions including being selected as an AARP Purpose Prize Fellow, a Jefferson Prize Award winner, receiving the MLK, Jr. Humanitarian Award from the Marin County Human Rights Commission, the Courageous Leaders Award from the Jewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco, and the North Bay Business Journal’s Award’s Nonprofit Leadership Award. She is also a member of the Washington, D.C.-based organization, the Coalition to End Social Isolation and Loneliness (CESIL).

Laura and Ace live in Marin County, California. They have a son, Abram Smith (daughter-in-law, Aine Minihane-Smith), and two beautiful grandchildren.

DJ Pamelouie's interview with the filmmaker, Lauretta Molitor.

Lauretta Molitor works primarily as a location sound recordist for film and video. She first discovered her love of documentary in high school as an assistant editor and production assistant for her local Public Broadcasting Station in California. She settled into a career in sound as a freelance recordist and in all types of production, including commercials, industrials, television, and day playing on narrative features ranging from Pacific Heights to Milk. Many of the films she’s worked on were nominated for or received Academy Awards. She was personally nominated for an Emmy for Best Sound in Documentary for The Celluloid Closet. Lauretta has been fortunate to work with the most talented crew members and filmmakers in the rich film community of the Bay Area. In recent years she has also enjoyed mentoring younger directors and crew members. She serves as a guest speaker in several educational settings, including the UCSC Social Documentary program and the Graduate Documentary program at Stanford University.

Zeitgeist 1977: The First Festival was her directorial debut. Impresario is her first documentary feature.

Pamelouie in conversation with filmmaker Micheal Rice of Black As U R, and Darwin Acosta, founder of Co-Fermented. Rice’s latest film, Black As U R, a feature-length documentary, explores the misunderstandings of Black queerness and the trans experience. A timely and important work, Black As U R will be screened at the Frameline Film Festival on Sunday, Juneteenth, at the Castro Theater.