Homegoings

Homegoings is a show that invites listeners to be a fly on the wall, privy to candid and genuine conversations about race. Host and musician Myra Flynn explores themes that fearlessly straddle that line between necessary and uncomfortable, as she speaks with artists, experts and regular folks all over the country about their literal skin in the game — of everyday life. Homegoings is storytelling — with a heartbeat. No topic is off the table, and there’s no such thing as going “too deep.” These are the conversations that are our birthright to have, and the stories we are lucky to hear.

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Rachel Anne Dolezal became infamous when, in 2015, while deep in her work as an activist for Black and civil rights, a local TV news crew interviewed her and asked: “Are you African American?” Rachel froze. Turned from the camera and walked away. At the same time, Rachel's parents, Larry and Ruth Dolezal, outed Rachel as being born biologically white. While Rachel acknowledged this was true, she doubled down on her chosen identity, which she describes “racially as human and culturally as Black.” In this two-part final episode of season one of Homegoings, we catch up with Rachel to hear what’s changed in her world since then, and what hasn’t. And challenge the idea of race as a social construct — can it be deconstructed?

Homegoings is a production of Vermont Public. Follow season 1 here.

This episode was mixed, scored and reported by Myra Flynn. Myra also composed the theme music. All other music is by Jay Green and Blue Dot Sessions. Saidu Tejan-Thomas Jr. edited this episode, and Jane Lindholm did some of that, too. James Stewart contributes to so many things on the backend of making this thing come to life. Digital support from Elodie Reed, who also creates all our Homegoings artist portraits.

Special thanks to Corey Dockser, Shannon Ayers and Brittany Patterson.

This two-part episode marks the finale of season one of Homegoings. Whew! We did it. As always, you are welcome here.

To continue to be part of the Homegoings family:

Rachel Anne Dolezal became infamous when, in 2015, while deep in her work as an activist for Black and civil rights, a local TV news crew interviewed her and asked: “Are you African American?” Rachel froze. Turned from the camera and walked away. At the same time, Rachel's parents, Larry and Ruth Dolezal, outed Rachel as being born biologically white. While Rachel acknowledged this was true, she doubled down on her chosen identity, which she describes “racially as human and culturally as Black.” In this two-part final episode of season one of Homegoings, we catch up with Rachel to hear what’s changed in her world since then, and what hasn’t. And challenge the idea of race as a social construct — can it be deconstructed?

Homegoings is a production of Vermont Public. Follow season 1 here.

This episode was mixed, scored and reported by Myra Flynn. Myra also composed the theme music. All other music is by Jay Green and Blue Dot Sessions. Saidu Tejan-Thomas Jr. edited this episode, and Jane Lindholm did some of that, too. James Stewart contributes to so many things on the backend of making this thing come to life. Digital support from Elodie Reed, who also creates all our Homegoings artist portraits.

Special thanks to Corey Dockser, Shannon Ayers and Brittany Patterson.

This two-part episode marks the finale of season one of Homegoings. Whew! We did it. As always, you are welcome here.

To continue to be part of the Homegoings family:

Sweeney Grabin wants to know how to maintain her family’s Indian and Jewish cultures for her 2-year-old daughter, Maya, while living in Vermont, a predominantly white state. This episode originally appeared on Vermont Public’s show Brave Little State – and now we’re sharing it here with you.

Homegoings is a production of Vermont Public. Follow season 1 here.

This episode was reported and mixed by Myra Flynn, James Stewart and Josh Crane. The Brave Little State team is Burgess Brown, Sabine Poux and Josh Crane, and the show's executive producer is Angela Evancie. Digital support from Sophie Stephens and Elodie Reed. The music you heard today in this episode is from Blue Dot Sessions, Jay Green and Myra Flynn. Thanks to Elodie Reed for our Homegoings artist portraits.

Special thanks to Corey Dockser, Marlon Hyde and Erin Baker.

See you in two weeks, for the final episode of season one of Homegoings. As always, you are welcome here.

To continue to be part of the Homegoings family:

***A heads up: This episode contains real conversations about suicide..*** Grief. It’s a word with certain acceptable adjectives attached. Words like: layered and complicated, hard and complex. Sad. But there are other words some might feel too scared to admit belong in the conversation describing grief. Words like: liberation, ease and even relief. In this episode, we speak with three Latina women in southern California who have lost someone recently. In a lot of ways, these stories are about the people they lost. But in many ways, they’re also about the them they have found after.

Homegoings is a production of Vermont Public. Follow season 1 here.

This episode was mixed, scored and reported by Myra Flynn. She also composed the theme music. Mark Davis edited this episode and James Stewart contributes to so many things on the backend of making this thing come to life. Thanks to Elodie Reed including our Homegoings artist portraits.

See you in two weeks, for another episode of Homegoings. As always, you are welcome here.

To continue to be part of the Homegoings family:

Powdered wigs, white men, aristocracy — these are just a handful of images and stereotypes historically associated with the world of classical music. But what if we’re wrong? In this episode, guest hosts James Stewart and Adiah Gholston talk with teenagers, composers and professors to unpack some of our assumptions around classical music: Where its roots really lie, who it’s made for, and where it’s headed.

Homegoings is a production of Vermont Public. Follow season 1 here.

This episode was mixed, scored and reported by James Stewart and Adiah Gholston. Myra Flynn composed the theme music. Other music by James Stewart, Maurice Ravel, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Igor Stravinsky and Blue Dot Sessions. Brittany Patterson and Myra Flynn edited this episode and Elodie Reed contributes to so many things on the backend of making this thing come to life, including our Homegoings artist portraits.

Special thanks to educator Christine StClair and the principal and students of Tuttle Middle School in South Burlington, Vermont for sharing their thoughts with us.

See you in two weeks, for another episode of Homegoings. As always, you are welcome here.

To continue to be part of the Homegoings family:

***A heads up: This episode is gonna get real. There will be some unbleeped swearing, and conversations about mental health issues and suicide..***

Ash Diggs is funny. So funny in fact that one of his jobs is to make people laugh. He’s a stand-up comedian who grew up in the South, moved to Queens, New York in 2021 but hails from Vermont. We speak with Ash about the relationship between comedy, addiction and depression, and how art can be both an enabler and a healer.

Homegoings is a production of Vermont Public. Follow season 1 here.

This episode was mixed, scored and reported by Myra Flynn. She also composed the theme music.Other music by Blue Dot Sessions and Jay Green. Brittany Patterson edits the show, and James Stewart and Elodie Reed contribute to so many things on the backend of making this thing come to life, including our Homegoings artist portraits.

Special thanks to Radio Bean in Burlington Vermont, for the recording of Ash’s live set, “Unexpectedly Human.”

Due to the holidays, see you in three weeks, this time, for another episode of Homegoings. As always, you are welcome here.

To continue to be part of the Homegoings family:

Audra McDonald, singer, broadway and television star — is a household name. As well as being the winner of six Tony Awards, two Grammys and an Emmy, The 53-year-old is also a bit of a truth-teller, to say the least. Earlier this summer, we sat down with Audra for a conversation on life, activism and navigating an artistic career in traditionally white spaces.

Homegoings is a production of Vermont Public. Follow season 1 here.

This episode was mixed, scored and reported by me, Myra Flynn. I also composed the theme music.Other music by Blue Dot Sessions and Audra McDonald. Brittany Patterson edits the show, and James Stewart always contributes to so many things on the backend of making this thing come to life.

Special thanks to Kevin Sweeney, at the Flynn Theater in Vermont who graciously helped to orchestrate this interview with Audra. Also thanks to Elodie Reed, who is the graphic artist behind all of our Homegoings artist portraits.

As always, you are welcome here. To continue to be part of the Homegoings family:

***A heads up: This episode contains strong language and unbleeped swearing*** In America, birth is a business; a cultural, political and for-profit system. And currently that system, for Black women, is in crisis. In this episode, host Myra Flynn speaks with a midwife, a doula, and swaps birth stories with two Black women. Together they discuss the joy, the trauma and the needed reckoning to address the racism baked into the pregnancy-industrial complex.

Homegoings is a production of Vermont Public. Follow season 1 here.

This episode was mixed, scored and reported by me, Myra Flynn. I also composed the theme music.Other music by Blue Dot Sessions and Derick Rice. Brittany Patterson edits the show, and James Stewart always contributes to so many things on the backend of making this thing come to life.

Special thanks to Corey Dockser, our data journalist here at Vermont Public, Tim Sonnefeld, my producer on Mama Song, Gregory Douglass, and Amanda Brydell. Also thanks to Elodie Reed, who is the graphic artist behind all of our Homegoings artist portraits.

The CDC is working to help stop this crisis and save Black mothers. If you are in need of more information, or help, give them a call, at 1-800-232-4636. You do not have to navigate this alone..

As always, you are welcome here. To continue to be part of the Homegoings family:

Host Myra Flynn sits down with artist Stephanie Wilson in her first interview since her double mastectomy and breast cancer diagnosis. Together they talk about her ongoing journey toward healing, and her work to break the generational cycle of secrets she believes made her sick in the first place.

Homegoings is a production of Vermont Public. Follow season 1 here.

Special thanks to Tim Heaghney, Derek Rice and Stephanie Wilson who together make up their band: Acqua Mossa. And double thanks to Derek Rice, offered up some original compositions to score this episode with.

Also, this episode is a vodcast! That’s right. A first for Homegoings, we experimented with putting out a podcast and video version of this conversation with Stephanie. So pick your flavor: listen or watch. Or both!

A huge special thanks to Mike Dunn at Vermont Public, who directed and edited this video, and co-produced it with Myra Flynn. Also thanks to Joey Palumbo for filming, and Peter Engisch, for the live musical mix of our deep listen. And as per usual, thanks to Elodie Reed, who is the graphic artist behind all of our Homegoings artist portraits.Stephanie’s is especially breathtaking, as she allowed Elodie to capture her as she is in this moment — scars and all. Check out her brave portrait at homegoings.co.

This episode was mixed, scored and reported by Myra Flynn. Myra also composed the theme music. Other music by Blue Dot Sessions, Acqua Mossa and Derek Rice. Brittney Patterson and Mark Davis edited this episode, and James Stewart contributes to so many things on the backend of making this thing come to life.

As always, you are welcome here. To continue to be part of the Homegoings family: