In 1964, Sam Cooke released a song that captured both struggle and hope with unusual clarity — offering not just expression, but a shared sense of identity and momentum. And it wasn’t an isolated moment. From the Vietnam War to the Arab Spring, art has repeatedly shaped how events are seen, felt, and, at times, acted upon. The power of a picture, the weight of a song, the bravery of a book — these have all been real forces that lead to reach change. Which raises a more difficult question: in the present moment, what exactly is art doing? What does it owe to itself, and the times we’re living in? 

Homegoings is a production of Vermont Public. Follow the show here.

This episode was hosted and reported by executive producer, Myra Flynn and mixed by Burgess Brown. Our video director is Mike Dunn and Emmanuel Dzotsi is our editor. Myra composed the theme music with other music by Blue Dot Sessions and Edwin Owusu. Kyle Ambusk is the graphic artist behind this episode’s Homegoings portrait.

Thank you for listening. You can see this episode on our YouTube channel.

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Mactar Mbaye loves real estate. He lives in Montreal, and he is working at his dream job — as one of the hosts of HGTV Canada's Hoarder House Flippers, along with his three brothers. While Mactar’s journey from real estate nerd to broadcast television was built on the chaotic spectacle of hoarding — messes he could sort, stack, and clear away — another, far more complicated moment in his life proved harder to tidy up.

Homegoings is a production of Vermont Public. Follow the show here.

This episode was hosted and reported by executive producer, Myra Flynn and mixed by Sarah Baik. Our video director is Mike Dunn and Emmanuel Dzotsi is our editor. Myra composed the theme music with other music by Blue Dot Sessions. Kyle Ambusk is the graphic artist behind this episode’s Homegoings portrait.

Thank you for listening. You can see this episode on our YouTube channel.

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We’ve been paying close attention to national and local coverage of recent protests, marches, and rallies — and frankly, some folks seem to be missing from those spaces. Black folks. So here on the show, we launched a mini-series to ask a direct question: If some Black people aren’t out in the streets, what are we doing instead? This is Part Two. It features a conversation with Lisa Woolfork — a sixth-generation sewist and host of the quilting podcast Stitch Please. Lisa unpacks the layered reasons she believes Black patience and Black forgiveness should never be treated as a renewable American resource. Maybe right now, marching isn’t the move. Maybe, in this moment, we’re quilting instead.

Homegoings is a production of Vermont Public. Follow the show here.

This episode was hosted and reported by executive producer, Myra Flynn and mixed by Burgess Brown. Our video director is Mike Dunn and Emmanuel Dzotsi is our editor. Myra composed the theme music with other music by Blue Dot Sessions. Kyle Ambusk is the graphic artist behind this episode’s Homegoings portrait.

Thank you for listening. You can see this episode on our YouTube channel.

To continue to be part of the Homegoings family:

While there isn’t any racial data published yet for 2026 protests, many reports from 2025 protests like Hands Off and No Kings described crowds that were mostly white and middle-aged..So, here on the show, we’ve launched a mini-series to ask: If some Black people aren’t out in these streets, what are we doing instead? This is Part One, and it includes a conversation with political consultant Tamia Booker. She believes we might just be hoping. Or praying. 

Homegoings is a production of Vermont Public. Follow the show here.

This episode was hosted and reported by executive producer, Myra Flynn and mixed by Sarah Baik. Our video director is Mike Dunn and Angela Evancie was our editor. Myra composed the theme music with other music by Blue Dot Sessions. Kyle Ambusk is the graphic artist behind this episode’sHomegoings portrait.

Thank you for listening. You can see this episode on our YouTube channel.

To continue to be part of the Homegoings family:

As you know, Homegoings is a show that invites you to eavesdrop on candid conversations with people who will challenge what you think you know. And this time — we were the ones having that candid conversation. In this episode, host Myra Flynn and producer/ director Mike Dunn reflect on the hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking, often beautiful and deliciously bizarre moments on the show in 2025. 

Homegoings is a production of Vermont Public. Follow the show here.

This episode was hosted and reported by executive producer, Myra Flynn and mixed by Burgess Brown. Our video director is Mike Dunn and Aaron Edwards is our story editor. Myra composed the theme music with other music by Blue Dot Sessions. Kyle Ambusk is the graphic artist behind this episode’sHomegoings portrait.

Thank you for listening. You can see this episode on our YouTube channel.

To continue to be part of the Homegoings family:

Musician Denitia Odigie has spent her career moving effortlessly between soul, folk, R&B, jazz, indie rock, and pop—earning a reputation as a truly genre-defying artist. But these days, Denitia has chosen a genre: Country music. And she’s hitting the scene full force. In this episode, Denitia opens up about why she chose country, how she stays authentically herself, and what it’s like to step into a genre that’s finally beginning to spotlight a wider range of voices and identities.

Homegoings is a production of Vermont Public. Follow the show here.

This episode was hosted and reported by executive producer, Myra Flynn and mixed by Burgess Brown. Our video director is Mike Dunn and Aaron Edwards is our story editor. Myra composed the theme music with other music by Blue Dot Sessions. Kyle Ambusk is the graphic artist behind this episode’sHomegoings portrait.

Thank you for listening. You can see this episode on our YouTube channel.

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Cailin Marcel Manson is a conductor, baritone opera singer, and longtime vocal studies teacher who’s performed on some of the world’s biggest stages — from the Conservatoire de Luxembourg to Carnegie Hall. In this episode, we talk with Cailin about what it means to command a space long dominated by white men — armed with Black skin, a bit of Philly swagger, and a corset.

Homegoings is a production of Vermont Public. Follow the show here.

This episode was hosted and reported by executive producer, Myra Flynn and mixed by Sarah Baik. Our video director is Mike Dunn and Aaron Edwards is our story editor. Myra composed the theme music with other music by Blue Dot Sessions. Kyle Ambusk is the graphic artist behind this episode’sHomegoings portrait.

Thank you for listening. You can see this episode on our YouTube channel.

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Nichole Hill is the award-winning showrunner and creator of Our Ancestors Were Messy, a 2024 Official Tribeca Audio Selection. Through her show, Nichole is pulling the rug out from under the pedestal we tend to put figures in Black history on. To her, people like Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston were huge contributors to Black culture. But...they were also just people. Sometimes messy people. In this episode we chat with Nichole about the great responsibility that comes with telling our ancestors’ stories truthfully — flaws and all.

Homegoings is a production of Vermont Public. Follow the show here.

This episode was hosted and reported by executive producer, Myra Flynn and mixed by Burgess Brown. Our video director is Mike Dunn and Aaron Edwards is our story editor. Myra composed the theme music with other music by Blue Dot Sessions. Kyle Ambusk is the graphic artist behind this episode’s Homegoings portrait.

Thank you for listening. You can see this episode on our YouTube channel.

To continue to be part of the Homegoings family:

One night at a lesbian bar in New York City changed everything for 20-something Tiq Milan. A stranger handed him a flyer for a party celebrating something he’d never heard of before — transmasculine top surgery. In that moment, Tiq realized: “Ah! This is who I am.” After spending half his life living as a woman, Tiq transitioned at 22 and became the man he always knew himself to be.

Homegoings is a production of Vermont Public. Follow the show here.

This episode was hosted and reported by executive producer, Myra Flynn and mixed by Sarah Baik. Our video director is Mike Dunn and Aaron Edwards is our story editor. Myra composed the theme music with other music by Blue Dot Sessions. Kyle Ambusk is the graphic artist behind this episode’s Homegoings portrait.

Thank you for listening. You can see this episode on our YouTube channel.

To continue to be part of the Homegoings family:

In 2019, artist Rigoberto Gonzalez painted a large-scale painting depicting immigrants crossing the border in south Texas. That painting grew popular. Won an award, traveled the world, even got to hang in the Smithsonian. Now, he couldn’t show his work there if he tried.

Homegoings is a production of Vermont Public. Follow the show here.

This episode was hosted and reported by executive producer, Myra Flynn. Our video director is Mike Dunn and Aaron Edwards edited this episode with help from Angela Evancie. Myra composed the theme music with other music by Blue Dot Sessions. Kyle Ambusk is the graphic artist behind this episode’s Homegoings portrait.

Thank you for listening. You can see this episode on our YouTube channel.

To continue to be part of the Homegoings family: