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I am so honored to present this episode with my longtime mentor and friend, Elaine Gurian.  Elaine, along with her daughter Eve, will tell an important story of family, heritage, and an object that connects through multiple spaces and across decades, including Spain, Germany, the Holocaust, and a chance encounter with an object at a vacation home that becomes a family heirloom.  

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In this special music-themed 'OPO' remix, I’m joined by Kil Kilpatrick (Apartment 5B Podcast) to revisit a definitive coming-of-age album: Common’s One Day It Will All Make Sense. We’re breaking down the legacy of this 1997 classic and why it still resonates with us today.

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Welcome back to OPO (Other People’s Objects). I am honored to speak with Omar Eaton-Martinez, a leader in the museum field. He will discuss an object he inherited from his father that has been a guiding compass for his career. We will also share a message about how museum missions should serve as guiding lights during these uncertain times.

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In this episode, I'm sharing a personal story that offers more insight into who I am. It revolves around a Bible I took from a hotel, which represents much more than its Christian teachings. For me, this Bible symbolizes a time of loss, discovery, and the strong bond I share with my mother.  We will also examine how museums can innovate by extending their influence beyond their walls.

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In this episode, I have the privilege of speaking with a very dear friend who possesses an old saxophone. It was passed to me, and then I passed it to him, and I'm glad to say it's still in use today. We will talk about family, friendship, and the ways in which an object can connect people over generations.   

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Today, we're back with OPO, or Other People’s Objects, and I have the privilege of speaking with a familiar name to listeners of the show, Joseph Yusuf. He is the producer of The Curator’s Attic, and he will discuss his Funko Pop collection, which he has built over the years, and its connections to his life.  

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Have you ever felt the sting of being left out? Now imagine that feeling not just as a social snub but as a legal, everyday reality. It's the sense that your own community and country are actively working to deny you a place within them. This was a common practice in our nation's capital and in many other urban areas across the country, creating a system of race-based systemic denial that made exclusion a public and legally sanctioned injustice. The object we will discuss, a racial restrictive covenant, hits close to home. We also discuss why it is so important for museums to make themselves accessible to everyone. This episode delves into the story of The Covenant.

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Today, we're diving into a fan-favorite series that we're bringing back for a special episode: Songs in the Key of Jon. In this series, we explore how music can unlock our memories and past. For this episode, we’re using a single object as our key—an old record—that takes me back to a memory I'm not even sure is real. So, for today’s episode, we're using one song as our key to that memory as we explore the story of "The Record (My First Memory)."

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We're kicking off an exciting new segment called OPO: Other People's Objects! This idea sprang from the iconic 1991 Naughty by Nature hit, "O.P.P.".  While we usually dive into items from my own collection, OPO will explore the fascinating stories behind objects belonging to others.

For our inaugural OPO feature, I'm thrilled to chat with a dear friend and colleague. She'll be sharing a cherished object deeply connected to her family history and her incredible work as an ethnomusicologist. You won't want to miss the unique insights and personal narratives this new segment promises to bring!

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This episode highlights a gift from an unsung artist and fabricator who contributed to some of the 20th century's most iconic large-scale sculptures. It also emphasizes the importance of properly acknowledging every team member involved in the art production and curatorial process.

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