Culture Road

The team welcomes Nicole Cyrus, author and career coach. Nicole helps address intersectionality of workplace culture, justice, class, race, and gender. 

They discuss how writing and journalism changed over time, how they shaped the world we have today, and how our culture grows and changes with them. 

The team discusses the human right of the freedom of movement, as well as the current state of immigration in the United States. The current rights to freedom of movement is severely regulated through a system of visas. They touch on Vice President Harris's new immigration role and what that means for migrants today. The conversation flows into discussion of taxation, wealth, and the current rules in the United States.

George, Angela, and Phil discuss the recent epidemic of mass shootings and also how these shootings relate to today's events and how they affect people. George presents two pieces of art XTZ and ZVS and how they relate to the world we live in vs the world we would like to live in. The team also discusses gun regulation and how that would benefit the American society, how ghost guns are more prevalent with white nationalists, and why this is an absolutely terrible trend. In the last part of the episode, the team discusses police violence and particularly the recent wave of police shootings, and how they are affecting the people.   

In this episode, the hosts discuss death, mortality, and how death is seen in various cultures. They touch on The Death Cleaner documentary from the New York Times and how it shows death in this one person's life. Their different views on death illuminate some of the common views, fears, and feelings we all sometimes see in ourselves.

George, Angela, and Phil welcome Adam Kraemer and welcome back Dr. Eluemuno Blyden to discuss everything that's happened in a year since the rise of COVID-19 and the first lockdown. Adam Kraemer, a writer, editor and singer, joined the show from Los Angeles. He's currently the editorial manager at GSW Advertising, in charge of a lot of ads by pharmaceutical companies. He plays guitar, too.

The team welcomes Erin Latham to discuss the series "Amends" on Netflix and the effects of fascsim, slavery, and the civil war in the US and all around the world. 

Erin Latham is a concept driven installation artist, printmaker, and thinker,  living and working in Oklahoma. She received her Bachelors of Fine Art from the University of Oklahoma in 2008, Masters of Fine art from the Pratt Institute in 2012, and is currently a PhD candidate in Art Theory, Aesthetics, and Philosophy at the Institute of Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts.  

She has a passion for sharing art with others and has been a teaching artist for nine years. Latham is exploring the world around her-the environments within which she exists, both ecological and social- through an interplay of materials and processes, which include both theoretical and practice based work. 

Her work is predicated on research of subjectivity and nature, via the human reaction to the environment and the other. By using found and recycled objects and traditional media in sustainable ways she creates installations which immerse the viewer in specific environments and allow for moments of wonder. 

To see more of her work please visit: www.erinlatham.com  

George, Angela, and Phil welcome back Dr. Eluemuno Blyden and welcome for the first time Yan Chapman and Dr. Tshombe Walker.

Dr. Eluemuno Blyden, a U.K-educated scientist, has worked in biotechnology, education, food security and conservation. He has developed and patented unique technologies for manufacturing vaccines and other medicines using chicken eggs, and a vertical gardening system for urban food production.

Yan Tai, a veteran journalist, is Senior Vice President for Marketing at Delos, engaging the Asian market in promoting wellness in build environments. She worked as a reporter for Washington Times and a correspondent for United Press International. She also was a senior editor at World Journal in New York City. Before that, she was a college professor in Beijing. She is a graduate of Columbia University in New York City.

Tshombe R. Walker PH.D. is an Africologist, Cultural Analyst, Professor of African-American Studies, and Director of HOLLER AT A SCHOLAR, LLC. Over the years Dr. Walker has researched, written and lectured on the anteriority of African Civilization in World History and Hip-Hop Culture as an agent of social change.

They discuss the national recovery after the Trump era— recalling our past and looking into the future. They touch upon education - the calls for children to go back to schools, despite lack of vaccination, and review the teaching and writing of our history.

George, Angela, and Phil welcome Kakuna Kerina, a filmmaker, a writer, a human rights activist and a great storyteller, and share beautiful and touching Black History Month stories with each other. They also discuss the current covid-19 crisis and vaccination, and also touch up on current policies, politics, and who should be the next mayor of New York

Taped the morning after the inauguration, George and Phil welcome David Bogoslaw, a writer, and Dr Cheryl Pahaham, an urban sociologist and policy analyst to discuss the inauguration, the events that came before it, and the culture that shaped it all. 

Following the events of January 6th, the hosts had the pleasure to welcome Harry Spikes for an enlightened and interesting conversation about civics in the United States. As always, our topics are colored by current events. 

Harry Spikes is the newly appointed Executive Director for Bon Secours Community Works in West Baltimore City where he oversees a budget of over 7 million dollars to provide housing, workforce development, urban farming and early head start to low income families. Previously, Harry served in the office of the late U.S. Congressman Elijah E. Cummings who represented Maryland's 7th Congressional District.