Glitter & Doom

It's our first episode and we've pulled out all the stops. Prolific writer and novelist, Walter Mosley is in the studio and he and MacKenzie talk about writing black male heroes, freedom of speech and his cousin Alberta.

Further in the episode we pay an auditory visit to Etheridge Knight (courtesy of the Lakawana Valley Digital Archives and the Scranton Public Library), we talk to a free speech attorney and give Nathaniel Hawthorne a well deserved 3-star rating.

Brooklyn is known for its small batch artisanal products, from hand-macramed hanging succulent planters to mayonnaise artfully blended with eggs from the freest of free-range chickens. And then, there's small batch artisanal erotica. MacKenzie speaks to a publisher and an author of racy lesbian love stories.

The play currently mounted at the Theater for a New Audience has been getting lots of attention. It won playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury a Pulitzer Prize. It's been playing for packed audiences, extended and extended again and all upcoming performances are nearly sold out. To talk about her role in the play is award-winning actor, Heather Alisha Sims.

Lisa Garbus’ two-part documentary, Who Killed Garrett Phillips?, outlines the series of events that led to a murder, a wrongful arrest and the police cover-up that almost took a man’s life. In the studio is his lawyer, Mani TK.

Earlier this month registered sex offender former Dalton teacher and incredibly wealthy degenerate Jeffrey Epstein was rearrested back in 2008. He was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor. This time the accusation was sex trafficking. But what exactly is sex trafficking and why is it such a rampant problem in the United States? We are joined by Aya Psaki, the Policy and Advocacy Manager at Womankind and Abigail Swenstein, Staff Attorney with the Exploitation Intervention Project at the Legal Aid Society.

The U.S. women's soccer team is the best in the world by a lot. And the men's team also exists. You would think the players on one of these teams will be paid a lot more than the other. Well you'd be right but not in the way that makes sense. Here to discuss gender pay equity in sports are Natalie Weiner, a staff writer at SB Nation and Lauren Betters, an attorney and the Director of Programs and Policy at the Gender Equality Law Center.

This year, Oklahoma! galloped back into broadway and straight back into our hearts. Tony Award Winner and Producer, Caleb Hammons joins MacKenzie to talk about the gritty reboot and serving chilli on stage.

Break-ups are rough, ask anyone. That stability you once felt, that comfort you once had, that reliable plus one, all gone in one fell swoop. But what about the aftermath? What’s the right way to break up? Are you really going to eat that clam pasta for breakfast? Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya’s column “For Your Consideration" on Autostraddle.com really wants you to consider it...among other things. Also, stick around for MacKenzie’s very own installment of "For Your Consideration."

Okay ladies, now let's get information...about Beyonce's place in the canon of black feminism. Author, Kevin Allred is in the studio to talk about his new book, Ain't I a Diva? Beyoncé and the Power of Pop Culture Pedagogy. Plus, Beyonce's Lemonade featured a Nigerian body-painter who tapped into the traditions of the Yoruba. We'll talk to local body-painter, Andy Golub, in advance of the sixth annual Body Painting Day.

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It’s summer here in Brooklyn, and you know what that means: time to put your phone down, your beach umbrella up and get your read on. Today on the show we are talking to author Helen Phillips about her new book The Need, breastfeeding, existential doubt, viscera, and howling elk. Then, Jessica Stockton Bagnulo, co-owner of Greenlight Books stops by to give us very specific summer reads recommendations.