On Hand

Acclaimed actor, playwright, musician and Michigander Jeff Daniels talks about his latest album “Alive and Well Enough” and tackles all the political and pandemic feels of the past year.

GUEST:

Jeff Daniels is an American actor from Chelsea, Michigan.

 

NOTES:

Stateside theme music is by 14KT.

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions.

If you like what you hear on the pod, consider supporting our work.

Looking for more conversations from Stateside? Right this way.

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Late last week, President Joe Biden signed an executive order directing the US Department of Agriculture to increase food stamp benefits for millions of Americans. The action comes as more Michiganders are struggling to pay for basic necessities like housing and food during the pandemic. So how do we get food on the table for folks—both right now and in a post-COVID world?

On today’s episode, we’re talking with a few people who have helped create new models for tackling hunger and nutrition needs in their communities.

GUESTS:

Oran B. Hesterman, president and CEO of Fair Food Network

Alita Kelly, founder of South East Market in Grand Rapids

Stateside’s theme music is by 14KT.

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions.

If you like what you hear on the pod, consider supporting our work.

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Every year, the Library of Michigan puts out their list of Michigan Notable Books, featuring books that are about or set in Michigan or written by Michigan authors. 

These lists always have a nice Zeitgeist-y feel in addition to being great reads. Today we're talking about some favorites on the list. So if the opening weeks of 2021 have you ready to dive under a blanket with a book for the rest of the month, this is the episode for you. 

GUESTS:

Tim Gleisner, manager of special collections at the Library of Michigan

Jessica Trotter, librarian with the Capital Area District Library

Alice Randall, author of Black Bottom Saints

Stateside’s theme music is by 14KT.

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions.

If you like what you hear on the pod, consider supporting our work.

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President Joe Biden signed a stack of executive orders on his first day in the Oval Office, kicking off his agenda in the White House. Included in that stack was an end to the Trump-era travel ban on several Muslim-populated countries. The so-called Muslim Travel Ban. And a temporary halt of deportations. 

GUESTS: 

Ali Harb is a political reporter with the Middle East Eye.

Maria Ibarra is an advocate with We the People in Michigan. 

Stateside theme music is by 14KT.

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions.

If you like what you hear on the pod, consider supporting our work.

Looking for more conversations from Stateside? Right this way.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

 

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In a flurry of pardons and commutations in President Donald Trump’s last hours in office, one name in particular stuck out to Detroiters: their former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. On today’s episode, we’ll talk to a longtime Detroit journalist about the mark Kilpatrick and his conviction left on the city and what might be next now that he’s a free man.  

GUEST:

Chastity Pratt, education bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal

Stateside’s theme music is by 14KT.

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions.

If you like what you hear on the pod, consider supporting our work.

Looking for more conversations from Stateside? Right this way.

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Many Americans watched in horror as rioters stormed the US Capitol on Jan 6. That includes immigrants to this country. That day, many of them saw the same kind of political instability they came here to escape.

Today, voices and sentiments from immigrants in the Detroit area on the insurrection at the Capitol, and some of their hopes for the inauguration. 

GUEST:

Beenish Ahmed, Michigan Radio reporter

NOTES:

Stateside’s theme music is by 14KT.

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions.

If you like what you hear on the pod, consider supporting our work.

Looking for more conversations from Stateside? Right this way.

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Martin Luther King's time at the Detroit Walk to Freedom in June of 1963 came several months before the famous March on Washington. And yet, this was the place where people would first hear some of the language and themes that would power the iconic "I Have a Dream" speech, and galvanize the nation for change.

GUEST: 

Ken Coleman, Detroit journalist and author of On This Day: African-American Life in Detroit 

Stateside’s theme music is by 14KT.

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions.

If you like what you hear on the pod, consider supporting our work.

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Detroit’s Martin Solis, a Tejano music pioneer, never recorded any of his songs. Or at least that’s what most people thought. Now Third Man Records (Jack White’s label) is releasing some of those recordings. On Today’s episode we’ll talk about the legacy of Martin Solis and his band Los Primos.

GUESTS:

Frank Solis, son of Martin Solis

Eddie Gillis, Third Man Pressing

Music by Los Primos courtesy of Third Man Records.

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions.

If you like what you hear on the pod, consider supporting our work.

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Today, former Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and several people in his administration face criminal charges for their parts in the Flint Water Crisis. On today’s episode, we’ll talk about the legal case against the former state officials and what it might mean to Flint residents who have been waiting for justice for nearly seven years. 

GUESTS: 

Noah Hall is a professor of law at Wayne State and a former state prosecutor who was involved in the initial investigation of state officials for the Flint Water Crisis case.

Anna Clark is a reporter with ProPublica. She's the author of The Poisoned City: Flint's Water and the American Urban Tragedy.

Stateside’s theme music is by 14KT.

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions.

If you like what you hear on the pod, consider supporting our work.

Looking for more conversations from Stateside? Right this way.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Now that teachers are eligible for COVID-19 vaccines, Governor Gretchen Whitmer says she wants schools to start offering in-person learning for students by March. But that depends on those vaccines actually getting to educators. On today’s episode, we’ll talk to a reporter about how quickly that might actually happen. You’ll also hear from teachers themselves about what this year of pandemic learning has been like for them.

GUESTS:

Sarah Cwiek, Michigan Radio reporter based in Detroit

Teachers:

Jessyca Matthews, English teacher at Carmen Ainsworth High School in Flint, Michigan  

James Kelly, English Language Arts teacher for 9th and 10th graders at the Early College Alliance in Ypsilanti

Samantha Cherwalk, high school English teacher in the Wayne-Westland Community Schools district

Janine Scott, math teacher at Davis Aerospace Technical High School in Detroit 

Tara Cleveland, middle school choir teacher in West Michigan

Stateside’s theme music is by 14KT.

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions.

If you like what you hear on the pod, consider supporting our work.

Looking for more conversations from Stateside? Right this way.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.