In this episode of 6.5 Minutes, C21 Graduate Fellow Jamee Pritchard speaks with Dr. Kitonga Alexander, Milwaukee native, educator, community organizer, and Executive Director of the Bronzeville Histories Institute. Dr. Alexander's work centers on preserving Milwaukee's Black cultural heritage and supporting community members returning home after incarceration. He also coordinates the Welcome Home Project, created the Walk of Truth initiative, and teaches history and ethnic studies at UW-Milwaukee and Marquette University. He is a Positively Milwaukee Inspiring Teacher Award recipient.

Dr. Alexander discusses his community-based initiatives aimed at reducing recidivism and promoting holistic slow care. After witnessing a disturbing incident at the Wisconsin State Fair, he founded United for Progress and Productivity to address systemic harm and create meaningful pathways for community change.

The Welcome Home Project focuses on high-risk probationers ages 14–24, offering trauma-informed care, employment opportunities, housing support, and life-skills development. Dr. Alexander emphasizes a legacy of productivity, the idea that healing, stability, and community contributions can interrupt cycles of incarceration and build a future grounded in dignity.

Learn more:

• Milwaukee Bronzeville Histories
• Positively Milwaukee: Kitonga Alexander
• UWM student 'brings his full brilliance, heart and soul' to community service
• An Inspiring Teacher Making a Difference
• 'We believe that they can come home and be a positive force for change:' How one program helps people transition out of incarceration

In the season premiere of 6.5 Minutes with C21, Jamee Pritchard talks with Milwaukee storyteller and community historian Adam Carr about what it means to practice slow care in a world that moves too fast. Reflecting on what he calls our "wounded landscape of care," Carr shares his walking practice, his weekly ritual of eating soup by the lake, and the quiet rebellion of being purposefully inefficient. Through these small acts of attention – walking, listening, pausing – he finds a balance between doing and being, reminding us that care begins when we slow down enough to notice what's around us.

Drawing from his recent Story Cart: Attention workshop, known as Beach Class, Carr reflects on what the water teaches:

"The lake is really good at what it does. We've stopped being good at what we do. We've become distracted, bad animals. We've only made it as animals to where we've gotten by our ability to form community, and we're so distracted we're really terrible at that right now. I thought the lake could just be a little bit of an antidote to the hurried mind."

From his attention experiments to his reflections on storytelling, technology, and collective care, Carr invites listeners to rediscover the art of presence and the possibility of community that emerges when we move at the pace of being human.

Notes:

Guest: Adam Carr — Independent writer, artist, journalist, and community historian based in Milwaukee; former Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Milwaukee Parks Foundation and longtime producer at 88Nine Radio Milwaukee.

Host: Jamee Pritchard, Graduate Fellow, Center for 21st Century Studies (C21)

Jean Creighton, director of the Manfred Olson Planetarium, explores the concept of slow knowing by emphasizing the importance of making complex astronomical knowledge relatable by stripping down details, connecting concepts to daily life, and highlighting their cultural relevance. Her current work includes a program called "Scale of the Universe" that uses analogies to explain cosmic scales. She also collaborates with diverse cultures to explore celestial connections.

For further exploration of the stars, explore UWM's Manfred Olson Planetarium website for upcoming events (https://uwm.edu/planetarium/) and the "Stars Have Stories" educational programming at https://uwm.edu/planetarium/astronomy-resources/stars-have-stories/

In this episode of C21's "6.5 Minutes with…," graduate fellow Jamee Pritchard interviews Robert Smith, Director of the Center for Urban Research, Teaching, and Outreach (CURTO) at Marquette University. He discusses his journey in community-based research and engagement by emphasizing the importance of "slow knowing" in his work, which, he explains, involves deliberate reflection and sustained inquiry.

Smith highlights his projects, including a transatlantic study on legal activism against racial colonialism and a prison education program. He stresses the significance of local history and community engagement in shaping his research and teaching that are guided by initiatives like MKE Roots and the BLEST Hub, which focus on place-based learning and community-driven education.

Media Recommendations (with links):

Smith recommends a variety of media in understanding slow knowing, from the classroom to board games. He particularly mentions programs like CURTO's McNeely Prison Education Consortium, MKE Roots, and the BLEST Hub. For prison education, the medium is the classroom; for MKE Roots, it is Milwaukee; and for BLEST Hub, Smith says that the "medium is whatever the young people tell us the medium ought to be."

McNeely Prison Education Consortium:

"We're always welcoming the folks who are system impacted to become a part of our on campus courses, and then those who are inside facilities. We teach courses inside correctional facilities within a blended model, with our Marquette students as well. We're also looking for folks who want to be instructors in those classes too. These are transformational learning experiences, not just the students who are being transformed, but the instructors are being transformed as well."

MKE Roots and BLEST Hub:

"There's a civics lesson right down the street and around the corner from you" Smith continues. "You know that our city, cities in general, but particularly this city, has some important local history, some important lessons about the urban experience, the Midwestern experience, the immigrant experience, the industrial experience, there's some really great histories that are right here locally that with MKE roots, we're engaging with teachers to help our young people understand the importance of place, and the importance of local history helping to serve as a foundation, for our young folks who are making those jumps from high school to the workforce or high school to college, our BLEST Hub, we're looking to find you where you are."

Board Games:

Smith also suggests two board games: Chess and Wingspan - a game about birds and all their splendor. He explains that they both have taught him patience and deliberation at very different moments of his life.

In this episode of C21's 6.5 Minutes With…, graduate fellow Jamee Pritchard interviews Samira Payne, an educator and outdoor enthusiast, who discusses her journey into hiking and her role as a volunteer leader for Outdoor Afro, a nonprofit organization that reconnects Black people to nature. She emphasizes the importance of slow care and defines it as being present and actively listening to one's surroundings. Payne highlights the benefits of nature for self-care, health, and community building, encouraging newcomers to start with simple outdoor activities and gradually engage in group hikes.

You can find more information about Outdoor Afro by visiting outdoorafro.org or following the organization on Facebook and Instagram.

Join one of Samira Payne's hikes by connecting with the local group via Facebook or Meetup.

Additionally, if you are interested in Payne's other form of self-care, yarncrafting, visit her Instagram page @livelybysamira.

She describes crocheting as a meditative activity that calms her anxiety: "I'm able to focus better because it's this repetitive behavior that calms my mind and helps me slow down and be more present to where I am in that moment. So I'm a better listener when I'm crocheting, I am less anxious when I'm crocheting because I'm not running through my to do list. I feel like I'm getting something accomplished."

Samira's Book recommendation:

Wild Life: Finding My Purpose in an Untamed World by Dr Rae Wynn-Grant

In her memoir, Rae Wynn-Grant explores the relationship between humans, animals, and the earth through her personal journey to becoming a wildlife ecologist. The memoir follows Wynn-Grant on her adventures and explorations in some of the world's most remote locales. With a nearly twenty-year career in the wild, she's created a niche as one of very few Black female scientists and her story recounts the challenges she had to overcome, expectations she had to leave behind, and the many lessons she learned along the way. Spanning the Great Plains of North America to the rainforests of Madagascar, Wild Life sheds light on our pivotal relationship and responsibility to the natural world and the relatives―both human and otherwise―that we share it with.

C21 Graduate Fellow, Jamee Pritchard, interviews Charmaine Lang, Ph.D, a certified healing centered coach and organizational development consultant, about her work on slow care. Lang helps clients find joy and balance in their personal lives and careers and specializes in creating sustainable, people-centered operations and cultures of care. Her work is deeply rooted in Black Feminist Praxis. Charmaine earned a Ph.D. in African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Lang defines slow care as intentional pausing and community support, a practice she observed in her dissertation on Black women activists in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, titled "Learning to Take the Excess Baggage Off": An Ethnographic Study of Black Women Activists' Self-Care Practices.

She emphasizes the importance of self-care practices like meditation, therapy, and journaling, and acknowledges the difficulty that many Black women face in asking for help due to societal expectations. As a healing-centered coach, Lang supports her clients avoid burnout by encouraging them to meditate and reflect on their needs to foster their healing journey.

For further information on the topic of slow care and healing, check out the following recommedations:

1. In Our Mother's Gardens (2021), directed by Shantrelle P. Lewis, is a 2021 documentary that celebrates the resilience, strength, and healing practices of Black women across generations. The film highlights how Black women have passed down love, wisdom, and resilience through their matrilineal lines, emphasizing how they care for themselves and their communities despite enduring trauma and oppression. The documentary features stories from Black women across the African diaspora, particularly in the United States and the Caribbean, showcasing how these women have preserved their mental, spiritual, and emotional health through practices rooted in cultural traditions and communal care. This documentary is available on Netflix.

2. How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell challenges the relentless drive for productivity in a capitalist society by advocating for intentional withdrawal of attention from exploitative systems. Blending philosophy, nature writing, and cultural critique, Odell emphasizes the importance of observation, presence, and deep engagement with the natural world. She argues that resisting the attention economy is an act of reclaiming personal autonomy and creativity. Through concepts like ecological attention and collective care, the book offers a powerful framework for slowing down, reconnecting with ourselves, and finding fulfillment beyond constant productivity and societal expectations.

Desiree McCray, a womanist scholar, explores the intersections of race, gender, class, and Black religion and culture. She advocates for "slow knowing" and "slow care" in education, public theology, and activism, emphasizing intentionality, community, and radical empathy.

McCray describes slow knowing as a radical act of resistance against the frantic pace of modern life, promoting rest and mindful engagement. Slow care, she explains, involves resisting the urge to overload students with information, instead fostering an inclusive space for critical engagement.

She highlights the value of patient observation, deep listening, and embracing unanswered questions in her scholarly practice. In her teaching, she incorporates journaling, guided meditation, and moments of silence to encourage reflection and personal connection to learning.

In public theology, McCray resists the pressure to have all the answers, embracing humility and openness as essential to meaningful discourse.

McCray's Reading Recommendations:

Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey

Hersey challenges grind culture, advocating for rest as a form of radical resistance, particularly for Black communities. She redefines rest as a reclaiming of time, dignity, and liberation, emphasizing that slowing down disrupts capitalism's demands and fosters healing, creativity, and collective well-being.

We Will Rest!: The Art of Escape by Tricia Hersey

Inspired by hymnals and abolitionist pamphlets, this work offers a sacred guide to self-care, refusal, and transformative escape.Blending poetry, storytelling, and art, Hersey subverts capitalism's demand for productivity, advocating rest as liberation.

Mark Freeland, Director of the Electa Quinney Institute and Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, discusses the cyclical nature of time in indigenous worldviews, particularly among the Anishinaabe. He contrasts this with the linear time concept in Western cultures, emphasizing the importance of place and relationships in indigenous understanding. Freeland highlights the challenges of translating indigenous concepts into Western languages and the need for dialogical knowledge production. He also addresses the intergenerational process of decolonization, stressing the importance of creating spaces for indigenous culture and language in universities and society.

Further Reading:

1. Mark Freeland, Aazheyaadizi: Worldview, Language, and the Logics of Decolonization

Freeland explores Anishinaabe philosophy, language, and ways of knowing as a means of resisting colonial structures and advancing decolonization. The book examines how Anishinaabe concepts shape identity, relationships, and governance, emphasizing the importance of language in preserving Indigenous worldviews. Freeland critically engages with colonial impacts while advocating for the revitalization of Indigenous knowledge systems and self-determination.

2. Albert White Hat Sr., Life's Journey―Zuya: Oral Teachings from Rosebud

Life's Journey—Zuya: Oral Teachings from Rosebud by Albert White Hat Sr., compiled and edited by John Cunningham, shares traditional Lakota wisdom, philosophy, and cultural teachings. The book explores the concept of zuya (life's journey) through oral storytelling, covering topics like spirituality, language, history, and personal growth. White Hat, a respected Lakota educator and elder, provides insights into Indigenous perspectives on life, emphasizing balance, respect, and connection to the natural world.

In this episode, Jennifer Johung, director of the Center for 21st Century Studies, spends 6.5 minutes with Yevgeniya Kaganovich, a Belarus-born, Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based artist, whose hybrid practice encompasses jewelry and metalsmithing, sculpture, and installation. She is also a professor at the Peck School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

Kaganovich discusses her on-going projects and installations at the Lyden Sculpture Garden and explains the implications of tree time, earth time, and human time within the context of C21's theme of Slow Knowing. Her collaborative research and art project, Slow Growing in the Time of Trees, explores three archetypes – trees, paper, and chairs – through their own unique perspectives. She asks speculative questions in search of physical answers. Like, does paper remember being a tree?

Check out the links below for more information about C21's collaborative with Slow Growing in the Time of Trees, Kaganovich's Tree Intuit Chair project, and further reading about the agency and perspective of non-human objects.

Lyden Sculpture Garden Events:

Tree Intuit Chair

In Tree Intuits Chair, artist Yevgeniya Kaganovich grows saplings into sculptural chairs, imagining how a tree might perceive its own transformation into furniture.

Slow Growing in the Time of Trees: Tree and Mushroom Walk:

Artist Yevgeniya Kaganovich and Lynden land manager, Robert Kaleta, lead a walk exploring the symbiotic relationship between trees and mushrooms.

Recommendations for Further Reading:

Vibrant Matter

Author Jane Bennett argues that non-human objects, from trees to trash, possess a form of vitality or agency, challenging anthropocentric views of materiality. She calls for a political and ethical shift, urging us to recognize and engage with the vitality of matter to address ecological and social issues.

Allien Phenomenology, or What It's Like to Be a Thing

Author Ian Bogost explores the idea of "object-oriented ontology," which asserts that objects, whether human or non-human, exist independently of human perception and have their own experiences. He advocates for a shift in philosophy to consider the subjective experience of all things, encouraging us to think about the world from the perspective of objects themselves.

UWM Professor of Sociology, Jennifer Jordan, talks about her book project, Before Craft Beer: Lost Landscapes of Forgotten Hops, and the importance of studying the history of the interactions between commodity, craft, and landscape.