Art of Power

By WBEZ

They changed the world. So can you. Each week, award-winning journalist Aarti Shahani meets fascinating humans who've done big things. They answer two questions: (1) How does power work in the real

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· Society & Culture

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FAQs about Art of Power:

How many episodes does Art of Power have?

The podcast currently has 48 episodes available.

Art of Power episodes:

March 10, 2022 Vladimir Putin hates her: Meet Daria Kaleniuk of Ukraine
In this week’s episode of Art of Power, host Aarti Shahani sits down with
the woman who helped build Ukraine’s fledgling democracy.
Daria Kaleniuk is the executive director of Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Action Center.
She has spent a decade building sweeping anti-corruption infrastructure, much to
Russia’s chagrin. As Vladimir Putin invades her home, you may have seen her calling
out U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a recent press conference that went
viral.
In our conversation, Kaleniuk questions the value of her life’s work: “We are being
executed by Russia for fighting corruption and building rule of law,” she tells
Shahani. “Those allies which helped us…are betraying us. They are not providing
means to protect our democracy.”
To understand the war in Ukraine, you need to understand her story: where she grew
up, the uprising that shaped her, and the threat that she poses to Vladimir Putin.
We discuss her early childhood in the post–Soviet state (1:43), her protest work
during the Maidan Revolution (7:00), Putin’s recent speech that cited the
organizations she helped create as a pretext for his invasion (27:37), and her call
to action for Western governments (32:02).
Editor’s note: This interview was recorded on Monday, March 7, 2022. It provides
vital context for understanding Russia's attack on Ukraine, but does not reflect the
latest developments on the ground.
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46min
March 03, 2022 Jameela Jamil wants vengeance
Jameela Jamil has been revered and despised as the internet’s loudest
anti-fat-shaming activist, a social media Candyman out to get the diet industry. But
whatever the public opinion, she couldn't care less.
In this week’s episode of Art of Power, host Aarti Shahani sits down with the
premiere social media activist of a generation. We discuss her unexpected career
launch in the U.K. (1:40), a life-threatening discovery that shook her into upending
her life (2:41), her unfiltered social media battle with entertainment giants
(7:17), her decades-long battle with depression and suicide (18:20), the origin
story of her media company, I Weigh (30:09), how her Brown girl identity has shaped
her career trajectory (38:51) and her deadly phobia of bees (0:00).
“I will die fighting the f***ing diet industry,” she says.
If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the National Suicide
Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (En Español: 1-888-628-9454; Deaf and Hard of
Hearing: 1-800-799-4889) or the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.
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46min
February 24, 2022 ‘I am literally nonbinary, and not just in gender’: Taiwan Digital Minister Audrey Tang on COVID, democracy and identity
Audrey Tang is a genius, a hacktivist, and a software engineer who
protested Taiwan’s government during the 2014 Sunflower Movement – and then became
an insider, as the first nonbinary and openly transgender cabinet member in the
world.
Tang and host Aarti Shahani talk about Taiwan’s COVID-19 “miracle”; the platform
they helped create to democratize Taiwan’s fragile democracy; a rare childhood heart
condition and Taoist meditation; and how their personal identity is a metaphor for
the way they publicly lead.
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44min
February 17, 2022 Living between war and peace: Azmat Khan on the personal toll of war reporting
America’s air campaign against terrorism in the Middle East was one of the
most precise in history, according to military officials and media reports at the
time. But award-winning investigative journalist Azmat Khan did not believe what she
read in the papers. So, she decided to find the truth for herself. She put her body
on the line and crisscrossed war zones to figure out how America’s wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan were actually going.
We discuss tricks of the trade: how Azmat shook off Iraqi officials who were on her
tail, how she distinguished between ISIS fighters and civilians, and how she built
relationships with her sources. We meet the most important source in her life, Basim
Razzo, an Iraqi man who lost his family in a U.S. drone strike. He was labeled,
incorrectly, as a member of ISIS.
We also go to a place Azmat does not like to visit (at least not in public): her
inner life. Living between war and peace takes a real emotional toll.
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49min
February 10, 2022 How Big Tech silences dissent: Timnit Gebru’s insider account
Google hired computer scientist Timnit Gebru to sniff out bias and other
unethical practices in the company’s sprawling artificial intelligence work. After
she drafted a paper that did just that, she says, the company moved to fire
her.
In this episode of Art of Power, Gebru walks host Aarti Shahani through the twists
and turns of life that led her to Silicon Valley. A refugee from Ethiopia, she
migrated to Massachusetts as a teen, and then headed to Stanford University (though
her college guidance counselor didn’t think she was Stanford material).
Gebru became a different kind of tech unicorn – a woman and an under-represented
minority in the industry. Her departure from Google is one of the most high-profile
exits that Big Tech has ever seen. She reflects on what her personal story means for
a larger public that’s grappling with the unchecked power of a handful of companies.
She also explains how she’s working to light little fires everywhere.
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47min
February 03, 2022 Olympic champion Allyson Felix in her own shoes ... literally
Allyson Felix used her legs to become the most decorated track athlete in
American history, with more world titles than Usain Bolt and Carl Lewis. Though it
wasn’t until her journey into motherhood that she found and used her voice.
In this episode, host Aarti Shahani talks with Felix about her metamorphosis – from
quiet superstar to unexpected activist. The daughter of a pastor and a teacher, she
discusses her early years, when she avoided politics (and also happiness!). We
dissect just how she found herself in the center of a massive battle over maternal
rights … and why exactly she took on her corporate sponsor, the biggest name in
footwear: Nike.
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44min
November 18, 2021 Journalism is not a ‘neutral profession’: Nikole Hannah-Jones on ‘The 1619 Project’
Nikole Hannah-Jones won the Pulitzer Prize for creating The 1619 Project, a
series from The New York Times that reframes American history by placing the
institution of slavery at the center of the national narrative. The project was
released as a book this month.
On this episode of WBEZ’s Art of Power podcast, Hannah-Jones tells host Aarti
Shahani how she dreamt up the project while on sabbatical, what the backlash has
taught her about how power works, and why journalism is not a neutral profession.
“I want you to feel deeply disturbed and hopefully guilty by the time you finish my
work so that then you will feel the desire to do something differently,” she said.
We also trace her journey from dutiful education reporter at a small town newspaper
to, well, firebrand.
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46min
October 14, 2021 How will you fix this broken world?
The inaugural season of WBEZ’s Art of Power podcast comes to a close after
nearly 30 episodes. In our season finale, Aarti asks listeners to take stock,
internalize lessons learned and make a commitment: What am I doing — or going to do
— to fix this broken world?
We, the creators and listeners of Art of Power, are not just in the business of
learning. We are in the business of learning in order to do. To help you, Aarti and
her producers share their favorite power lessons. And she publicly shares a
commitment she is making — one that may go very, very badly.
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33min
October 07, 2021 ‘You Cannot Take From Me What Is Mine’: Tarana Burke, ‘Me Too’ Movement Founder
Tarana Burke created the “Me Too” movement 15 years before #MeToo went
viral in the wake of the 2017 Harvey Weinstein scandal.
On Art of Power, she tells host Aarti Shahani how she did it. Burke, author of the
new memoir Unbound, said she had to fight with herself before she could even say the
words “me too” out loud. She had to build a grassroots movement in the shadows, in
defiance of movement leaders who wanted her to fight against racism, not gender
violence and sexism. And she had to reclaim her movement after it appeared to be
hijacked by the white Hollywood establishment.
Overwhelmed by the visibility and attention of #MeToo, Burke said, “I really
shrunk.” It took time to realize her only limits were the ones she put on herself.
Though, she jokes, “that would have sounded like Kumbaya nonsense to me before.”
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48min
September 30, 2021 ‘You Don’t Even Know You’re Invisible’: Margaret Cho Forces A Generation To Be Seen
Margaret Cho, an elder stateswoman in comedy, began touring the stand up
circuit as a teenager. She dropped out of school and, at age 23, launched the very
first TV sitcom about an Asian-American family, All American Girl.
The show bombed. And in the immediate aftermath, she looked in the mirror
(literally) and blamed the failure on her inability to lose weight. Years later, she
realized she was missing the historical context of the era and the “invisibility”
that Asian-Americans were dealing with.
Today, Cho is host of The Margaret Cho, a podcast on the EARIOS network, where she
dedicated a season to discussing anti-Asian violence. Cho talks with Art of Power
about her mistakes, including how she mistakenly looked up to a white male leader
who was later convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the death of his wife. She also
gives a mini-master class on what makes a joke funny (in case you wanted tips).
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49min

FAQs about Art of Power:

How many episodes does Art of Power have?

The podcast currently has 48 episodes available.