J.T. the L.A. Storyteller

In our thirty-third episode, listeners meet Aditya Bhairi, a local program manager for a software company originally from Hyderabad, India, as well as the founder of Grass Roots East Hollywood (GREHO). We discuss Adi’s journey to life in the United States, beginning in Utah and culminating in none other than East Hollywood, Los Angeles, asContinue reading EPISODE 33 – GRASS ROOTS EAST HOLLYWOOD →

In our thirty-second episode, listeners meet Kendall Mayhew, an organizer for GroundGame-LA, People Organized for Westside Renewal, and most recently for the Nithya Raman campaign for City Council District 4. We discuss the origins of GroundGame-LA back in 2017, Mayhew’s political ‘awakening’ at Boston College, lessons drawn from the Occupy-LA movement, and what the futureContinue reading EPISODE 32 – KENDALL MAYHEW, GROUNDGAME-LA →

In our thirty-first episode, listeners meet Dr. Thelma Reyna, P.h.D., editor-in-chief of Golden Foothills Press in Altadena, California, and an accomplished author of more than ten books, including nonfiction, poetry anthologies, and more. Dr. Reyna describes her upbringing as a baby boomer, whose formative years were spent with her working-class family in the small conservativeContinue reading EPISODE 31 – THELMA REYNA, GOLDEN FOOTHILLS PRESS →

For our thirtieth episode, listeners are treated to a simple, yet succinct analysis of the various propositions on the ballot for California this upcoming November 3rd, 2020. Listen to the episode while you sit down to fill out your ballot, or while on your way to your local polling station. If you live in California,Continue reading EPISODE 30 – PROPOSITION THEY WANT TO DO WHAT →

In our twenty-ninth episode, listeners are treated to the second part of our interview with Matt Sedillo, for which Sedillo reads some poems right out of the pages of the new Mowing Leaves of Grass from Flowersong Press. We also talk about Matt’s writing process over ten years since Arizona’s disgraceful SB 1070 bill, orContinue reading EPISODE 29 – MATT SEDILLO, PART II →

In our twenty-eighth episode, listeners hear part one of a two-part interview with Matt Sedillo, a former National Slam Poet from Los Angeles and author of the new Mowing Leaves of Grass, an anthology of poetry that reads like an indictment of U.S. race relations, critiquing its expansionist ideologies over two-and-a-half centuries as well asContinue reading EPISODE 28 – MATT SEDILLO, PART I →

In our twenty-seventh episode, we chat with none other than Dante Mitchell, a Spoken Word artist, musician, and community organizer from South Los Angeles. Dante talks about his upbringing through the Open Mic scene in Los Angeles with the mentoring support of Mike The Poet, his community fundraiser with the famous Eso Won Books, asContinue reading EPISODE 27 – DANTE MITCHELL IN LEIMERT PARK →

In our twenty-sixth episode, we coin the term “gentrifination” for listeners, describing a gentrified “state of the union” due to the last four years of policy under the Trump administration, and consider how communities should prepare for the political season ahead with the presidential election just 42 days away on the cusp of the FallContinue reading EPISODE 26 – STATE OF THE GENTRIFINATION →

In our twenty-fifth episode, we chat with Madison Felman-Panagotacos, a researcher and doctoral candidate in the Spanish & Portuguese department at UCLA. Madison tells us about her teaching Latine instead of Latinx during her seminars for language students at UCLA, and how terms like “elles” can and do make a positive difference for non-binary peopleContinue reading EPISODE 25 – LATINE OR LATINX →

In our twenty-fourth episode, listeners meet Lisbeth Coiman, an Afro-Venezuelan poet and author of I Asked the Blue Heron: A Memoir (2017), which yours truly reviewed for the new page on PATREON. Coiman shares with listeners about growing up in Venezuela during the “Latin-American boom,” her thoughts on Hugo Chavez, leaving Venezuela for Canada, andContinue reading EPISODE 24 – LISBETH COIMAN →