Dear Adam Silver

New Orleans based artist Abdi Farah is back on the show to discuss many things including the highs of bubble basketball, the lows of sideline interviews and how it all relates to current happenings around the rest of the country. 

As a note, we recorded this episode before it was announced that the Big Ten and the Pac-12 will be postponing their fall athletic season. 

You can view and learn more about Abdi's artwork here. 

Professors Kyle Green, Stephen Cho Suh and Alex Manning are on the pod to discuss their collectively written paper entitled Discursive Footwork on the Hardwood.  This piece of writing focuses on four NBA players speaking out on the topics of cultural appropriation and both systemic and individual acts of racism through essays published on The Player's Tribune. The paper unpacks the possibilities and limitations of working to address and dismantle racism within the institution of the NBA,  which is known to be a more progressive space in comparison to other major sports leagues in the United States. 

The four essays that are referenced and analyzed in the paper are linked to below.

We also get into ALL of the WNBA/NBA reopening news, including how players and leagues will go about continuing their activism once they are on the court.

Kyle Green is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at SUNY Brockport. Check out his website and learn more about his podcast Give Theory a Chance here. 

Stephen Cho Suh is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Women’s & Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. 

Alex Manning is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Hamilton College. 

We all remember when Laura Ingraham told Lebron and KD to "Shut up and dribble." Her words, infused with racism and hate, were meant to keep two African-American men from speaking out on issues they care about, beyond their sport.  The Speak Up and Dribble movement is a direct response to those racist comments as well as the ongoing protests against police brutality and in support of Black Lives Matter. The organizers gather children and adults to dribble basketballs through the streets and focus on the bounce of the ball as the heartbeat of those we have lost to systemic racism.  I had the absolute pleasure to speak with the founders (six out of seven!) of this brilliant movement who have organized protests in their home city of San Francisco as well as offering support for similar happenings around the country.

Please follow these wonderful groups that are using basketball to create change and foster community  @speakupdribble and @the.hooper.mentality

Kyle Depew is an activist,  the owner of Brooklyn Film Camera, a wonderful photographer and a dear friend from my time living in New York City. Kyle and I first met when we worked together at The Impossible Project, which is a company that made new film for vintage Polaroid cameras (now known as Polaroid). After we both left Impossible, Kyle started his own company and shop called Brooklyn Film Camera in Bushwick where they sell film and film cameras of all types. In addition, BFC organizes events for image makers and film enthusiasts and their staff is available for photographing events. Kyle uses his love for photography to create and foster community and tell stories. He was a wonderful coworker and I'm grateful for his thoughtfulness and care. 

Check out and support Brooklyn Film Camera for all your film and camera needs (seriously, get an SX-70)! And follow them on instagram @brooklynfilmcamera. 

Please note that Kyle and I spoke over two weeks ago so, of course, much has happened since then that is not included in our discussion. 

Isaac Scott is a Master of Fine Arts candidate at Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University in Philadelphia where he is studying ceramics.  During the recent protests in response to the murder of George Floyd, Isaac turned to photography and began documenting various scenes and instances he saw unfolding in the streets. A friend of mine tagged me in a few photos of his on Instagram that showed police officers playing basketball with protesters on a hoop set up in downtown Philadelphia. His images speak to the ferventness of our current uprising and the need we have for storytellers who live in the place they are choosing to document. The photographs show the depth of how broken our system of policing is as well as the strength and resiliency of protesters. Thank you to Isaac for coming on the pod and his willingness to share his experiences during the past 7 weeks. 

Your can read the New Yorker essay about his images here and an article from his hometown of Madison, WI here. Also, read more about his ceramic work featured at The Clay Studio here. 

Your can follow Isaac on Instagram @thisisphotography2020 and @this_is_ceramics 

Blake Gillespie is on the pod (again!) to discuss the first letter I wrote to Adam Silver, back in the early fall of 2017, regarding the rule that the NBA had/has in place that requires players to stand for the National Anthem. 

Blake Gillespie is a former journalist and current writer who thinks and makes work about basketball as a force larger than the game itself.  Blake is the writer, editor and creator behind Sacred: On Devotion to Spiritual Hoops, a publication that looks at the meditative and mental value of the game. He is based in Sacramento, CA. You can read and learn more about Sacred here and follow him on instagram here. 

Blake and I reference a couple things throughout the course of the conversation. Here is a link JJ Reddick's discussion with Taylor Rooks and here is a link to a conversation between Dave Zirin and Craig Hodges (you can also find their conversation in the Edge of Sports podcast feed). Also, an article that address the portal that Blake and I spoke about can be found here.  

Tay Butler is a multimedia artist based in Houston, TX. He is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, where he is focusing on photography. 

Tay and I had the chance to discuss our frustrations with mainstream outlets using photography as an often misleading form of representation and his ongoing series of collages where he repurposes found imagery to create new narratives. And of course, we discussed the NBA reopening, predictions for the rest of the season and Tay's time playing basketball in Kosovo + beyond. 

You can view his artwork here and follow him on Instagram here.

Noel W. Anderson is a visual artist and Area Head of Printmaking at New York University’s Steinhardt Department of Art and Art Professions. He has an MFA in Printmaking from Indiana University and an MFA in Sculpture from Yale University. 

Our conversation focuses on Noel's practice and work, much of it in the context of the murder of George Floyd and the mass protests that have followed. Noel's work is heavy,  both in physical material and concept.  Heavy, and also weightless as his pieces and ideas embody and span a range of time periods, critical theories and visual temptations. 

You can view Anderson's artwork and find his writings here and you can follow him on Instagram here. 

Gina Adams is a multimedia artist who lives in Vancouver, Canada where she is an Assistant Professor of Art at Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Adams' studio work includes the reuse of antique quilts and broken treaties between the United States and Native American tribes, sculpture, ceramics, painting, printmaking and drawing. She is a descendant of both Indigenous (Ojibwe) and colonial Americans. Her work speaks to her own identity as well as the historical and ongoing injustices preserved and perpetuated by the United States government. Adams' work has been exhibited widely throughout the U.S. and beyond and her work has been featured in many publication, including The New Yorker and Hyperallergic. 

Adams' work is both delicate and heavy, stagnant and fluid, which speaks to the complexity that comes from looking back, while being present and considering the possibility of a better future. 

Thank you to Gina Adams for coming on the show. 

You can find more of Gina's work on her website here and you can follow her on Instagram here 

About a week ago, Blake Gillespie reached out to me with a letter he had written to Adam Silver regarding the reopening of basketball. The letter, written so carefully and tenderly, is about much more than the game.

Blake Gillespie is a professional writer. He began his career contributing to Impose Magazine, an independent music and culture publication based in Brooklyn. He was a partner in the publication from 2012 to 2016, serving as an Associate Editor on the West Coast. He has contributed to numerous online and print publications including; Vice Sports, Bandcamp Daily, The Sacramento Bee, The East Bay Express, and The Sacramento News & Review. Blake is also the author and publisher of Sacred, a literary journal dedicated to basketball's universal language. Sacred is his first book and encompasses sports, art and spirituality. He is based in Sacramento and enjoys the game of basketball on many levels. . 

https://www.sacredhoopsbook.com/shop/sacred-vol-1

You can follow Blake on instagram @scaredhoopbook and @busygillespie