We celebrate freedom for all with a Juneteenth event that brings all of the community together. Arise for Social Justice has been honoring the holiday with a free celebration connecting folx of all walks of Springfield life with music food and services they may need and more. Executive Director Tanisha Arena joins us to talk about the party they’re throwing, and her journey to this work. 

We’re also looking at the immigrant experience through fiction and firsthand accounts. Restless books has just published the award winning collection People who live alone talk too much which highlights the incredible intimate moments of immigrants interacting with American culture in New York, and we speak with author Sofi Stambo about the appeal of short fiction, and how it can connect these snapshots to something greater. 

And as pride month continues, we look at the language surrounding the LGBTQIA2S+ community itself with word nerd Emily Brewster, because those words have come as long a way as we have, and the linguistic history of Gay and Queer are just as fascinating as the times and folx they have represented over the centuries.