A Song Called Life

In Episode #178, author Andrea Freeman joins Osi to discuss her book Ruin Their Crops on the Ground: The Politics of Food in the United States, from the Trail of Tears to School Lunch. They examine how U.S. food laws and policies have perpetuated racial and social inequalities from the colonial era to the present, and how the government and food industries have collaborated to maintain these disparities.

Andrea Freeman is a national and international expert on the intersections between critical race theory and food policy, health, and consumer credit. She is the author of Ruin Their Crops on the Ground: The Politics of Food in the United States, from the Trail of Tears to School Lunch (Metropolitan 2024) and Skimmed: Breastfeeding, Race, and Injustice (Stanford University Press 2019), in addition to book chapters, law review articles, and op-eds. Skimmed is currently in development for a documentary with Topic Pictures. Her work has been featured in publications including the Washington Post, New Yorker, Los Angeles Times, Salon, Huffington Post, USA Today, The Root, Yahoo! News, The Atlantic, NPR Shots Blog, Pacific Standard, The Conversation, Medium, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and National Library of Medicine, and she has done interviews with news outlets and programs including CBS News, PBS News Hour, The Takeaway, Here & Now, Point of Origin, Newstalk Irish National Radio, Heritage Radio Network, The Electorette, Hawaii Public Radio. She studied food inequality in the UK as the 2020-21 Fulbright King's College London U.S. Scholar. 

In Episode #177, philosopher Todd May joins Osi to discuss his thought-provoking book Should We Go Extinct?: A Philosophical Dilemma for Our Unbearable Times. Together, they grapple with the profound question, "Should humanity face extinction?" and examine the far-reaching implications of this dilemma. The conversation delves into the immense suffering humans inflict on nature and the non-human world, questioning whether the harm caused can be justified in light of humanity's merits and achievements.

Todd May is a philosopher and the author of eighteen books, including Should We Go Extinct?: A Philosophical Dilemma for Our Unbearable Times. As one of the original contributors to The Stone, the New York Times philosophy blog, May has written extensively on topics such as meaningfulness in life, friendship, nonviolence, death, and human fragility.

May served as the philosophical advisor for the television sitcom The Good Place and also advised showrunner Mike Schur on his book How to Be Perfect. Currently, he is a professor at Warren Wilson College. Available for speaking engagements at universities and public venues, May offers expertise in ethics, political philosophy, and meaningfulness in life, with most talks conducted online due to the climate crisis.

In Episode #176, Brea joins Osi to discuss her book Rooted: The American Legacy of Land Theft and the Modern Movement for Black Land Ownership. They discuss the profound impact of land theft and violent displacement on racial wealth gaps, how these injustices have shaped Black communities across generations, and more.

Brea Baker is a freedom fighter and writer (in that order) who has been working for more than a decade, first as a student activist and now as a strategist, to make our planet safer and healthier for Black people. As a writer, Brea comments on race, gender, and sexuality for publications like ELLE, Refinery29 Unbothered, Harper’s BAZAAR, Coveteur, and more. Her book, Rooted: The American Legacy of Land Theft & The Modern Movement for Black Land Ownership, delves into one of the nation’s first sins: stealing and hoarding the land. (One World, 2024)

What happens to our data after we die? In Episode #175, Carl Öhman joins Osi to explore his book The Afterlife of Data: What Happens to Your Information When You Die and Why You Should Care. Together, they discuss the implications of our digital identities persisting beyond death, who should have control over our digital remnants, and the profound impact these digital legacies can have on the lives and identities of future generations.

Andrea de Lancellotti is an entrepreneur, interior designer, and real estate agent based in Santa Monica, California. As the founder and owner of Ardor Home Lifestyle and Design, a thriving women-owned interior design firm, Andrea has built a reputation for delivering exceptional design services with a strategic, ROI-based focus. Her firm specializes in real estate, staging, and custom furniture design, setting itself apart by prioritizing the financial value that well-executed design can bring to a property.

Under Andrea's leadership, her company seamlessly blends aesthetics with investment wisdom, creating spaces that are not only visually stunning but also financially rewarding for her clients. With a passion for enhancing both beauty and property value, Andrea continues to redefine interior design as a powerful tool for real estate success.

In Episode #173, Hyeseung Song joins Osi to discuss her memoir, Docile: Memoirs of a Not-So-Perfect Asian Girl. They explore the challenges of balancing cultural identity with the pressure to assimilate into American society, the complexities of relationships within immigrant families—especially between ambitious parents and their children—and how the model minority stereotype affects Asian American communities, touching on both personal and societal expectations.

Hyeseung Song is the author of Docile: Memoirs of a Not-So-Perfect Asian Girl. She is an American representational painter best known for large-scale figurative oil paintings and prints whose visual idioms toggle between resolution and fragmentation. Her work explores creativity, psychological incipience, and the life of the artist.

Steven M. Sultanoff, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist and therapeutic humor-ist. As a professional speaker, he has presented his unique perspective on therapeutic humor to national, state, and local conferences, as well as, to numerous organizations and corporations. His programs are a blend of valuable information presented through cartoons, jokes, anecdotes, props, quotes, and experiences which illustrate how humor changes our feeling, thinking, behavior, and even our biochemistry in order to help us lead healthier and happier lives. He is the Past President of the Association for Applied andTherapeutic Humor.

Steve emphasizes how humor influences health, reduces stress, provides perspective, improves communication, energizes, enhances relationships, and generally makes people feel better. While Therapeutic Uses of Humor is his passion, he has also presented numerous workshops on Humor as it relates to Stress, the Workplace, Health, Healthy Relationships, and the Helping Professions to a wide range of organizations including hospitals, school districts, universities, medical facilities, community agencies, corporations, professional associations, etc.

In Episode #171, Samhita joins Osi to explore her new book, The Myth of Making It: A Workplace Reckoning. Together, they dive into the concept of "success," unpack the toxic elements of hustle culture, and discuss how we can redefine what it truly means to "make it."

Samhita Mukhopadhyay is the former executive editor of Teen Vogue and Feministing and the current editorial director at the Meteor. Her writing has appeared in New York, The Cut, Vanity Fair, Vogue, The Atlantic, and The Nation. Born in New York City, Mukhopadhyay lives between Putnam County and Brooklyn.

In Episode #170, Jess joins Osi to discuss her debut book, The Quiet Damage: QAnon and the Destruction of the American Family. They examine how the QAnon movement/conspiracy theory gained a foothold in the lives of many Americans, its far-reaching and devastating effects on families across the nation, and much more.

Jesselyn Cook is an award-winning reporter, author and journalism lecturer, as well as a 2025 Nieman Fellow at Harvard. Prior to covering the tech beat as an investigative reporter at NBC News, she was a senior reporter on the national enterprise desk at HuffPost. Her debut book, a work of narrative nonfiction called The Quiet Damage, is out now.

In Episode #169, Maureen Callahan joins Osi for an in-depth discussion of her latest book, Ask Not: The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed. Together, they explore how the Kennedy family's public image of integrity and glamour starkly contrasts with the darker truths unveiled in Ask Not. The conversation delves into recurring themes of physical and psychological abuse within the Kennedy family and reflects on what these revelations teach us about power, privilege, and accountability in contemporary society.

Maureen Callahan is an American columnist for the Daily Mail, renowned for her incisive opinion pieces on politics, feminism, pop culture, and current events. An accomplished author, Callahan has penned several influential books, including Ask Not: The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed (2024) and American Predator (2019). Her work consistently provokes thought and sparks conversations, making her a prominent voice in contemporary journalism and literature.