Parenting has never been easy.  Merging your politics with your parenting decisions can be even more challenging. 

On this edition, fathers…and mothers…on fatherhood and how it’s changing. Traditional ideas about what a dad is supposed to be are slowly disappearing, but what will take their place?

Featuring:

• Tomas Moniz, Rad Dad creator
• Airial Clark, Sex Positive Parent blogger
• Janine Macbeth, Oh Oh Baby Boy author 
• Brent Ramos, Danny Gutierrez, Craig Elliot, Jeremy Smith, Jeremy John, Jason Oppy, fathers

Penny Rosenwasser is an activist and author of “Hope Into Practice: Jewish Women Choosing Justice Despite our Fears.” 

On this edition of Making Contact she reflects on her personal journey to embrace her identity as a Jewish woman while fighting for human rights for all. Listen to stories, history and poetry that explore internalized anti-Semitism and racism, victimization and privilege, and Jewish politics around Israel and Palestine.

In 1948, Zionist militias expelled over 700,000 Palestinians from their villages and towns.  The event, and the ongoing destruction and occupation of Palestine are referred to as the Nakba – the catastrophe.  How did the events of 1948 shape Palestine and its diaspora?   And generations later, how are Palestinians fighting to return home?

On this edition of Making Contact we reflect on the Nakba, the Naksa, and the future of Palestine.

• Rami Almeghari, FSRN reporter
• Ghazi Misleh, author of I Am from There and I Have Memories
• Rabab Abdulhadi, Professor of Ethnic Studies and Senior Scholar of the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Initiative at San Francisco State University
• Dina from Rammun
• Mohannad from Ramle
• Remi Kanazi, poet and author of Before the Next Bomb Drops.

The root causes of migration vary widely. Some people migrate and return to their homes depending on the season. While others migrate and never return. Often, people are forced to leave or flee their homes indefinitely because of poverty, extreme environmental events, armed conflict, social strife, political turmoil, and economic hardships.

On this edition of Making Contact, we hear stories from Central American migrants that take on oppressive debts or face challenges in schools in the U.S. We also hear from Cuban migrants stuck in limbo on the route to the U.S.

We often hear from the upper middle class, educated youth of Iran complaining about the dictatorship. But what about the majority of youth, the working class young people who live in South Tehran and similar neighborhoods?

Reese Erlich explores how young people compare President Rouhani’s government with the populist rule of Ahmadinejad. We’ll also hear about how they are responding to conservative hardliners who are tapping into frustrations with high unemployment, and threatening to cancel the nuclear deal.

Thank you to the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting for granting Reese Erlich funding to produce this piece.

In 1973 the Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade established the legal right to abortion in the United States. Since then, state legislative and executive bodies have battled to restrict access to abortions. Federal law banned the use of federal funds for most abortions in 1977, and public funding for abortion remains a contested issue.

One recent study in Texas found that more than 200,000 women performed abortions on themselves because they weren’t able to find clinical services. From restrictive laws to a lack of information to violent attacks, the blocking of abortion access is eroding the reproductive rights of women.

On this edition, we hear from women at the New Orleans Abortion Fund and Ibis Reproductive Health, as well as experiences from a doctor who provides abortions and a woman that sought abortion access in New Orleans, Louisiana.

• Jessie Nieblas, New Orleans Abortion Fund
• Liza Fuentes, Ibis Reproductive Health
• Natalie, teacher in New Orleans
• Diary excerpt from Dr. Susan Wicklund, an abortion provider under attack, as performed for Making Contact by Words of Choice with Actor Claudia Scheider, Directed by Francesca Mantani Arkus,Created and Produced by Cindy Cooper

Among the effects of climate change are more extreme weather

Hollywood has had a long history of whitewashing and

On this edition of Making Contact we’ll meet people confronting

Immigration comes up in every U.S. presidential election cycle. It’s been that way pretty much since the dawning of the country. In keeping with that national tradition, immigrants throughout history have also been the target of racist rhetoric and efforts to exclude them from voting and political influence.

And the 2016 elections have proven no different.

This edition of Making Contact is Part I of our special series examining how immigrants are responding and participating in elections and politics today.

From Dreamers in Arizona to Muslims in Michigan, we’ll meet immigrant communities upholding democracy. We’ll also have a conversation with the Brennan Center for Justice President and author of the Fight to Vote, Michael Waldman about how immigrants throughout history have expanded the right to vote.

The vast majority of care recipients are exclusively receiving unpaid care from a family member, friend, or neighbor. The rest receive a combination of family care and paid assistance, or exclusively paid formal care.

Whether you’re a paid home care provider, or rely on personal assistance to meet your daily needs, or a family member caring for a loved one, the nature of the working relationship depends on mutual respect and dignity. On this edition of Making Contact, we’ll explore the dynamic and complex relationship of care receiving and giving.

Featuring: