AirGo

From the isolation of our homes, AirGo is presenting a series called On the Line, which focuses on the COVID-19 pandemic and the people putting their bodies on the line to help us all survive and heal. Since early April, we've been hopping on the line with front line workers in different spheres to talk about what their work looks like right now, and what we can do to help as we isolate our physical bodies at home. This week's guest is Emmy Colon. Emmy is a certified death doula–don't worry, she explains what that means, just in case you've never heard of it before. She describes what her work entails, how the rituals and industries around death are impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, how grief as a collective process extends far beyond losing someone you love, and some thought processes that can help all of us understand how we may be grieving in this time.

Learn more about her work (updated Aug 2025): www.soyemmy.com/
Connect with Emmy (updated Aug 2025): @la_soy_emmy
Recorded 5/19/20 in Chicago Music from this week's show: Park - Isaiah Rashad

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CREDITS
Hosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger 
Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío Santos
Video Post-Production Producer - Troi Valles
Lead Editor - Troi Valles
Digital Media Producer - Troi Valles
Engagement Producer - Rivka Yeker

From the isolation of our homes, AirGo is presenting a series called On the Line, which focuses on the COVID-19 pandemic and the people putting their bodies on the line to help us all survive and heal. Over the next few weeks, we'll be hopping on the line with workers in the health care, educational, governmental, organizing, and prison abolition spheres to talk about what their work looks like right now, and what we can do to help as we isolate our physical bodies at home. This episode's guest is Zama, one of the founders and lead organizers of DCH1 Amazonians United. He and his comrades have been bringing together workers and fighting for better conditions in the Amazon Fulfillment Center on 28th and Western here in Chicago. He talks about how the work evolved, connecting with other Amazon worker groups around the world, and how they've been forced to push the fight forward during the COVID-19 pandemic. Follow DCH1 Amazonians United: https://www.facebook.com/DCH1United/ Recorded 5/13/20 in Chicago Music from this week's show: Park - Isaiah Rashad

Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio
bsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.social

Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events

Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] 

CREDITS
Hosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger 
Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío Santos
Video Post-Production Producer - Troi Valles
Lead Editor - Troi Valles
Digital Media Producer - Troi Valles
Engagement Producer - Rivka Yeker

From the isolation of our homes, AirGo is presenting a series called On the Line, which focuses on the COVID-19 pandemic and the people putting their bodies on the line to help us all survive and heal. Over the next few weeks, we'll be hopping on the line with workers in the health care, educational, governmental, organizing, and prison abolition spheres to talk about what their work looks like right now, and what we can do to help as we isolate our physical bodies at home. This episode's guest is Asiaha Butler, the cofounder of the Resident Association of Greater Englewood, aka RAGE. Asiaha talks about the pandemic-related shift in the communal development of the mind RAGE does, how she's built a food distribution system for the seniors in Englewood, and how she creates communal development while fighting against displacement. Big thanks to AirGo Alum Tonika Lewis Johnson for the connection! Support the work of RAGE Englewood: https://ragenglewood.org/ Recorded 5/9/20 in Chicago Music from this week's episode: Park - Isaiah Rashad

Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio
bsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.social

Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events

Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] 

CREDITS
Hosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger 
Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío Santos
Video Post-Production Producer - Troi Valles
Lead Editor - Troi Valles
Digital Media Producer - Troi Valles
Engagement Producer - Rivka Yeker

From the isolation of our homes, AirGo is presenting a series called On the Line, which focuses on the COVID-19 pandemic and the people putting their bodies on the line to help us all survive and heal. Over the next few weeks, we'll be hopping on the line with workers in the health care, educational, governmental, organizing, and prison abolition spheres to talk about what their work looks like right now, and what we can do to help as we isolate our physical bodies at home. This episode's guest is Pura of the Little Village Solidarity Network/Red de Solidaridad de La Villita. Pura and her comrades have led the fight to raise awareness and demand the shutdown of a series of immigrant youth detention facilities run by influential Chicago nonprofit Heartland Alliance, in which COVID-19 has been running rampant. Pura details the information they've gathered about the carceral conditions inside, how the dozens of documented COVID-19 cases have changed life inside these baby jails, the direct action tactics and strategies that LVSN takes, and how we can contribute to this urgent fight. Learn more and support LVSN: https://www.facebook.com/LaVillitaSolidaridad/ Recorded 5/7/2020 in Chicago Music from this week's episode: Park - Isaiah Rashad

Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio
bsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.social

Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events

Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] 

CREDITS
Hosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger 
Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío Santos
Video Post-Production Producer - Troi Valles
Lead Editor - Troi Valles
Digital Media Producer - Troi Valles
Engagement Producer - Rivka Yeker

As the pandemic's stay-at-home orders have come under fire from conservatives and industrialists, a whole buncha whites have been descending on state capitol buildings, weapons in hand, to demand that these necessary communal rules be lifted. While waiting for a late guest, Dame and Kiss dove into a deep, loose, and pretty damn thorough exploration of what the hell is going on with white people, why, and what might help address this centuries-long crisis of consciousness. Recorded 4/20/20 in Chicago Music from this week's show: No Vaseline - Ice Cube photo courtesy of Rosie Fitz. Find her yts highlight at http://instagram.com/sensitiveplanttt

Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio
bsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.social

Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events

Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] 

CREDITS
Hosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger 
Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío Santos
Video Post-Production Producer - Troi Valles
Lead Editor - Troi Valles
Digital Media Producer - Troi Valles
Engagement Producer - Rivka Yeker

From the isolation of our homes, AirGo is presenting a series called On the Line, which focuses on the COVID-19 pandemic and the people putting their bodies on the line to help us all survive and heal. Over the next few weeks, we'll be hopping on the line with workers in the health care, educational, governmental, organizing, and prison abolition spheres to talk about what their work looks like right now, and what we can do to help as we isolate our physical bodies at home. This episode's guest is Antonio Gutierrez, an architect, organizer with Organized Communities Against Deportations, and a co-founder of the Autonomous Tenants Union. They delve into how ATU supports tenants as they fight against the violences of eviction and displacement, how this current crisis has both created enormous strife and brought many new renters into the conversation, the connections between the violence of eviction and that of deportation, and what a culture of de-commodified housing could look like. Sign ATU's petition demanding a rent freeze in Chicago now!: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/rent-freeze-in-chicago-now Get information about how you and your neighbors can exercise your rights as tenants: https://autonomoustenantsunion.org/covid19 Recorded 4/28/20 in Chicago Music from this week's show: Park - Isaiah Rashad

Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio
bsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.social

Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events

Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] 

CREDITS
Hosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger 
Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío Santos
Video Post-Production Producer - Troi Valles
Lead Editor - Troi Valles
Digital Media Producer - Troi Valles
Engagement Producer - Rivka Yeker

Each month this year, we're going to revisit an episode from the 200+ episodes in the AirGo Archives and bring that conversation back to the forefront. This month, we're revisiting our conversation with KAINA, a vocalist, songwriter, and community staple here in Chicago, from back in 2017. Since then, she has put out a dynamite full-length album called Next to the Sun and has toured with the likes of Sleater Kinney, of all people. She was slated to play this year's Pitchfork before the pandemic descended, and has been continuing to make great songs, work hard, and love her city. Listen to Next to the Sun: http://smarturl.it/NextToTheSun Recorded 4/27/2017 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago Music from this week's episode: The Circuit - Juju Exchange Honey - KAINA Petals - KAINA Perspective - KAINA

Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio
bsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.social

Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events

Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] 

CREDITS
Hosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger 
Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío Santos
Video Post-Production Producer - Troi Valles
Lead Editor - Troi Valles
Digital Media Producer - Troi Valles
Engagement Producer - Rivka Yeker

Black Youth Project has joined forces with AirGo for a year-long #BYPSpotlight series, featuring our favorite Black academics and activists. This month’s #BYPSpotlight episode is with New Yorker columnist, professor, and organizer Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, who hops on the line with us in the midst of this shelter-in-place period. We discuss the relationship between her writing and her organizing work in Chicago, understanding the ways that racism is at the core of COVID-19's destruction, the implications of pegging human needs to profit motives, and much more. Read Keeanga's excellent piece The Black Plague in the most recent New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-black-plague Recorded 4/24/20 remotely Music from this week's show: Park - Isaiah Rashad

Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio
bsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.social

Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events

Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] 

CREDITS
Hosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger 
Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío Santos
Video Post-Production Producer - Troi Valles
Lead Editor - Troi Valles
Digital Media Producer - Troi Valles
Engagement Producer - Rivka Yeker

From the isolation of our homes, AirGo is presenting a series called On the Line, which focuses on the COVID-19 pandemic and the people putting their bodies on the line to help us all survive and heal. Over the next few weeks, we'll be hopping on the line with workers in the health care, educational, governmental, organizing, and prison abolition spheres to talk about what their work looks like right now, and what we can do to help as we isolate our physical bodies at home. This episode's guest is Zain Bullie, a high school teacher and mentor at Uplift High School, a social justice CPS school in Uptown. Bullie breaks down what the transition to online learning has been like, how he and his fellow teachers have adapted to be there for both their students and their students' families, some of the humanizing potential of this crisis, and more. Check out Kuumba Lynx: https://www.kuumbalynx.com/ Learn about Uplift Community HS here: https://uplifths.cps.edu/ NOTE: AirGo has created the COVID Stimulus Redistribution Plan! Find some direct methods to redistribute your $1200 to those who are being denied the means needed to survive this crisis. See the resource list at http://airgoradio.com/covid Recorded 4/20/20 in Chicago Music from this week's episode: Park - Isaiah Rashad

Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio
bsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.social

Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events

Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] 

CREDITS
Hosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger 
Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío Santos
Video Post-Production Producer - Troi Valles
Lead Editor - Troi Valles
Digital Media Producer - Troi Valles
Engagement Producer - Rivka Yeker

Climate Changemakers is a 5-part podcast series, showcasing and celebrating leaders in equity work and climate action across Illinois, presented by Elevate Energy. This episode's guest is Juliana Pino, the policy director at the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO) in Chicago. At LVEJO, Juliana analyzes, researches, and advocates for environmental justice, climate justice, and economic justice in local, state, and federal environmental policy. Recorded back in Early March, Juliana discusses the challenges that COVID exacerbates in Little Village and other environmentally unjust communities. NOTE: This was recorded before the recent demolition of the HILCO smokestack in Little Village. Juliana discusses the site of the demolition, but the devastating demolition had not yet happened. To learn more about the demolition and it's effects, check out this recent episode of the Hoodoisie, featuring Juliana: https://www.facebook.com/thehoodoisie/videos/1122529154767343/ Learn about Elevate Energy and their 20th anniversary: www.elevateenergy.org/ Check out LVEJO: www.lvejo.org

Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio
bsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.social

Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events

Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] 

CREDITS
Hosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger 
Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío Santos
Video Post-Production Producer - Troi Valles
Lead Editor - Troi Valles
Digital Media Producer - Troi Valles
Engagement Producer - Rivka Yeker