Pod and Market

This is a very special episode. After more than a year of recording remotely, we had the opportunity to record onsite and in-person. And what a place to launch our first in-person recording in such a long time. ODR Studios sits in the heart of the Ironbound and is a gorgeous place. It is a curated 4,500 square foot industrial loft about a five minute walk from Penn Station that offers a wide array of studio services for filming, photography, and audio production. It also has a 5,000 square foot workshop below the studio space. ODR has been the setting for music videos, documentaries, fashion shorts, and a whole host of other productions. Alex Hodgkinson is the founder of ODR Studios and joins the podcast to talk about what he loves about the space, how he manages it, and his story.

Guest:

Alex Hodgkinson—Alex is the founder of ODR Studios. He has also played rugby professionally for the Sacramento Express. He is a graduate of Syracuse University.

Background & Articles:

ODR Studios Webpage: here

Kulture Klub Article on Alex: here

Dua Lipa/Mark Ronson Music Video filmed on site: here

So Far Sounds Webpage: here

“Framing Britney Spears” Documentary: here

Quote:

“Toward the end of his life, Roth would walk (very slowly) from his Upper West Side apartment to the Museum of Natural History and back, stopping on almost every bench along the way—including the bench on the museum grounds near a pink pillar listing American winners of the Nobel Prize. ‘It’s actually quite ugly, isn’t it?’ a friend observed one day. ‘Yes.',’ Roth replied, ‘and it’s getting uglier by the year.’ ‘Why did they put it there anyway?’ Roth laughed: ‘To aggravate me.’“ Blake Bailey, Philip Roth: A Biography

In 2017, Newark First Fridays launched as an inclusive community event to showcase emerging artists, makers, artisan food vendors, musicians, and street performers. The event was meant to address the death of open air markets in the city’s downtown while also attempting to connect disparate shows and events in the area. On the first Friday of each month, the program would host a downtown artwalk, as well as dozens of artisanal food and crafts vendors, augmented by street performances and workshops, specially highlighting local businesses, galleries, and creative spaces who would open their doors during these evenings. Over the last five years, Newark First Fridays has grown to include photo launch parties, wine tastings, a monthly comedy show, and countless after-parties. Several guests of the podcast have been featured as a part of Newark First Fridays, whether it was Gabe Ribeiro or Samantha Katehis selling their products at vendor booths in Military Park or Marcy DePina DJing a party during one of the Fridays or John Ward hosting a wine tasting. Despite the COVID-19 crisis, Newark First Fridays continued online with cocktail class livestreams, Zoom interviews, and other virtual events. In time for its 5th year, Newark First Fridays will come back for a mix of virtual, in-person, and hybrid events later this spring.

Guest:

Isaiah “Zay” Little—Zay is the creative director and founder of GalleryRetail and Newark First Fridays. He is a creative entrepreneur, technologist, urbanist, and public servant who brings his passion for design and for community-building into all this projects.

Background & Articles:

Official Website: here

Newark First Fridays Monthly Installation at Halsey Co. Eventbrite: here

Gallery Retail website: here

Zay’s Twitter: here

Quote: “Because I could not stop for Death/He kindly stopped for me/The Carriage held but just Ourselves/And Immortality.” Emily Dickinson, Because I Could Not Stop For Death (479)

Marcy is a force in the Newark community. Aside from leading several major nonprofits in the city, she is also a noted content producer, best exemplified by her weekly show FORSA!. FORSA! explores the music of African and the Diaspora and “raises the frequency of our world through the arts and provides a platform for voices and conversations that promote cultural awareness and understanding.” The show has been a mainstay in the music community and operates as a forum for discussing important issues in Newark and the broader world through the lens of music.

Marcy came on to discuss her own story, how she came to make her show, and what it and her story mean to her.

Guest:

Marcy DePina—Marcy is the founder of FORSA! Media Group LLC, executive director for Newark Riverfront Revival, and president of the Board of Newark Arts. She also produces podcasts for iHeartRadio, is an expert in public relations, marketing, and social media, and actively involved in several community based nonprofits including the Newark Chess Club. She was featured in PSEG’s “100 People of Newark” for her work in the arts and environmental justice sector. She is originally from New Bedford, MA and has been a resident of Newark for the last 25 years where she lives with her son.

Background & Articles:

FORSA! Episodes: here

FORSA Media Group Website: here

Newark Museum of Art: here

PSEG 100 People Page: here

Newark Arts: here

Contrapoints: here

Quote: “TO A CRITIC: My dear critic, Some pages ago, upon saying that I was fifty years old, I added: ‘You’ll already have noticed that my style is no longer so nimble as in its first days.’ You may find this incomprehensible, given my present state; but I would call your attention to the subtlety of my remark. I do not mean that I am older now than when I began the book. Death does not age one. What I do mean is that at every stage of the narration of my life, I experience the corresponding sensations. So help me God, I have to explain everything!” Machado de Assis, Memorias posthumas de Braz Cubas (trans. Flora Thomson-DeVeaux)

Aries Clean Technologies has proposed the construction of the Newark Biochar Production Facility near an existing site on Doremus Avenue in the Ironbound Section of Newark. If it becomes operational, it will be able to process up to 430 wet tons of domestic wastewater treated biosolids a day from New Jersey and New York. The resulting product will be sold as a concrete thickener to construction companies.

The announcement has ignited a fierce backlash from members of the Ironbound and Newark community, including several nonprofits in the city. In response to the push back, city leadership has held virtual meetings to discuss the issue, and the city planning board adjourned its meeting in February where Aries was scheduled to present its proposal for approval.

At the center of this resistance is the Ironbound Community Corporation (ICC). The ICC, aside from providing direct services to residents of the East Ward, has had a rich history in environmental activism and social justice work. Among the many accomplishments of the organization are the cleaning up of the Passaic River, the creation of Riverfront Park, and the continued resistance of pollution and environmental degradation in Newark. Maria Lopez-Nunez and Christian Rodriguez are deeply enmeshed in this fight and came onto the podcast to share their thoughts on why this proposal should not be allowed, how they have organized around this issue, and their hopes for a just and equitable Newark.

Guests:

Maria Lopez-Nunez—Maria is a Bushwick native and Deputy Director of Advocacy and Organizing at the Ironbound Community Corporation, where she fights the bad and builds the new while challenging the current political system, holding power brokers and polluters accountable while fighting for environmental, housing, immigrant, and racial justice. She has organized and helped the passage of historic and landmark city and state legislation, including the Right to Counsel, the Civilian Complaint Review Board, and the Environmental Justice Cumulative Impacts Bill. She was also featured in the documentary, The Sacrifice Zone and is a member of Right to City, Grassroots Global Justice, JUST Transition, Down Bottom Farms, and a whole host of other community-centered nonprofits.

Christian Rodriguez—Christian is a Newark native, raised in the Ironbound, and a Community Organizer with the Ironbound Community Corporation, where they advocate for the right to breathe clean air, have access to clean water, to healthy food, safer housing, as well as advocating to stop racism and capitalism under the White supremacist system. They are also a youth organizer/mentor, working with young adults throughout the neighborhood, and an Urban Farmer at Down Bottom Farms, where they teach the community how to to appreciate the land and soil for healthy agriculture.

Background & Articles:

Ironbound Community Corporation Main Site: here

Aries Clean Technologies Main Site: here

TAPinto Article on Proposed Site (February 4, 2021): here

City Zoom Meeting on Proposed Site (March 4, 2021): here

“Stop The Sludge” (ICC): here

The Sacrifice Zone (Documentary): here

Women’s Herstory Month Virtual Celebration: here

Quote: “Cities are an immense laboratory of trial and error, failure and success, in city building and city design. This is the laboratory in which city planning should have been learning and forming and testing its theories. Instead the practitioners and teachers of this discipline (if such it can be called) have ignored the study of success and failure in real life, have been incurious about the reasons for unexpected success, and are guided instead by principles derived from the behavior and appearance of towns, suburbs, tuberculosis sanatoria, fairs, and imaginary dream cities—from anything but cities themselves.” Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities

This episode, we turn the tables around. As part of our season finale, my friend, donmexlar, thought it would be fun to ask me some questions about the podcast and Newark. At first, I was hesitant, as, despite my best efforts, I am always trying to push the focus of the show off me and onto the subject at hand. I warmed up to the idea though, as it would give me a chance to reflect on the show after two years of hosting and producing it. This is a bit free flowing as episodes go, so please excuse the slightly different format. You are in store for a really interesting conversation.

donmexlar—donmexlar is as mysterious as he is insightful. Many listeners will have no idea who he is, but he has been a loyal listener to the podcast and a contributor in ways that many of you have not seen.

Background & Articles:

My Dinner with Andre: here

Aaron Burr & Newark: here

Quote: “In the days following Jane’s death, Karl got a call from Franklin Ford, dean of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Dean Ford offered Harvard’s full support without reservation. Half a century later, Karl would recount the story to me at our first official interview, grinning over the plateful of chicken liver he’d just ordered: ‘He didn’t even ask me if I did it.“—Becky Cooper, We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard And A Half Century of Silence

At the corner of Prospect and Ferry Streets, a restaurant had a quiet opening. The usual fanfare around grand openings had to wait. The Ironbound was in the grips of a pandemic that brought the usually bustling thoroughfare to a mute standstill. Nevertheless, SIhana set its tables and opened its doors to the community, presenting a fresh new take on a space to eat, hang out, and absorb art.

Kreshnik Berisha, one of the founders and owners of Sihana, joins the pod to discuss the unique mission of Sihana and what it is like to open a space during what may be the most challenging epoch in this city’s history—at least in the last 50 years..

Guest:

Kreshnik Beresha—Kreshnik is an owner and founder of Sihana. Originally from Albania, he grew up in New Jersey and has spent time in other cities like Boston/Cambridge. He is currently a Newark resident.

Background & Articles:

Sihana’s Facebook Page: here

Quote: ““To tell the truth, this was one of the few cases in which she had not told him just what she was thinking. Usually, she let him know whatever thoughts happened to come to her, and indeed he never took it amiss if she let slip a word that might pain him, because when all was said and done that was the price one paid for sincerity.” Broken April,, Ismail Kadare

The COVID-19 crisis has upended many annual events and programs; many have been canceled, a few have postponed until the next year. However, there are still many that are adapting to the times and moving their events to virtual venues. The process has not been easy, but the results can break new ground in how we approach the crisis. Schools That Can is an example of how organizations have changed how they approach their core events.

Schools That Can partners with schools to deliver engaging Education to Employment content that connects teachers and students to the world of work. Their programs provide schools with historically marginalized students with the capacity to prepare them for careers or college, and all of their programming builds direct connections between students and volunteers from a variety of professional fields. Every year for the past four years, Schools That Can has held its Design Challenge which brings together middle schoolers, teachers, corporate executives, and community leaders to engage in a real-world design experience, that is, transforming urban public school buildings into smart, green, and efficient structures. The project is a collaboration with the Panasonic Foundation and allows students to research the current functionalities of their school buildings and create a concept and design plan for a smart, green school using renewable energy. 

This year, the Design Challenge has been moved online. The program’s Executive Director for Newark, Erin Sweeney, will explain how Schools That Can has met this change and what it means for the event.

Guest:

Erin Sweeney—Erin Sweeney is the Executive Director of Schools That Can for Newark. She has worked as Director of Strategic Initiatives for STC Newark school, St. Benedict’s Prep, and is an alumna of Leadership Newark and Emerge NJ. She earned her Masters in American Studies focused on Newark and migration at Rutgers-Newark, Masters in Public Policy & Urban Planning from Harvard Kennedy School, and Bachelors in Public Policy from University of Chicago. She can’t seem to get enough school, so Erin is studying part-time for her J.D. at Rutgers Law, where she wants to dig into legal issues plaguing families in her community.

Background & Articles:

Schools That Can official website: here

Article on the Design Challenge: here

Gretchen McCulloch website (on language and generational differences): here

Quote: “At that moment, Karl seemed to hear some sound, sense danger; he glanced over his shoulder, began to pedal furiously, bending low over the handlebars. There was still the lonely sentry on the bridge, and he had turned and was watching Karl. Then, totally unexpected, the searchlights went on, white and brilliant, catching Karl and holding him in their beam like a rabbit in the headlights of a car. There came the see-saw wail of a siren, the sound of orders wildly shouted. In front of Leamas the two policemen dropped to their knees, peering through the sandbagged slits, deftly flicking the rapid load on their automatic rifles.---The East German sentry fired, quite carefully, away from them, into his own sector. The first shot seemed to thrust Karl forward, the second to pull him back. Somehow he was still moving, still on the bicycle, passing the sentry, and the sentry was still shooting at him. Then he sagged, rolled to the ground, and they heard quite clearly the clatter of the bike as it fell. Leamas hoped to God he was dead.”—The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, John Le Carre. 

Newark Symphony Hall remains one of the most iconic performance venues in Newark, as well as in New Jersey. Constructed in 1925 at a cost of $2M, the space has been the home of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the New Jersey State Opera, McDonald’s Gospelfest, the New Jersey Ballet, the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, and the Newark Boys Choir School. Performers over the years have included Judy Garland, Bob Dylan, Patti Labelle, Richard Pryor, Amalia Rodrigues, Gladys Knight, the Rolling Stones, Parliament Funkadelic, Tony Bennet, and Eric Clapton. It has even been used for state funerals of prominent Newarkers (including Amiri Baraka and Jerry Gant) and weddings that have been featured in the New York Times.

However, Symphony Hall is also a reflection of the city itself. The space hit a sustained period of disinvestment and funding shortages over the last few decades (the space was definitely not neglected). Though the space is in dire need of renovation and capital investment, it is still an active performance and community space.

Taneshia Nash Laird, CEO and President of the venue since 2018, has undertaken an ambitious campaign to bring renewed attention to Symphony Hall and to restore and update the building. She is unique, as she is the only Black woman leading a performing arts center in the state. She is a self-professed entrepreneur, social change agent, and community developer, with a background in economic development and the arts, having led the Arts Council of Princeton and served as a director of economic development in Trenton. She is also an adjunct professor at Drexel University (in their entertainment and arts management program).

Guest:

Taneshia Nash Laird—Taneshia Nash Laird is a social change agent and community developer who centers cultural equity in her work. She is the President and CEO of Newark Symphony Hall, a historic performing arts center located within the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Newark, NJ. Since her appointment in November 2018, she has expanded programming to respond to community needs and announced plans to restore the 1925 vintage concert hall in a $40 million renovation and leverage it for neighborhood revitalization in a process she calls Symphony Works.

Background & Articles:

Newark Symphony Hall’s Official Page: here

Nonprofit Finance Fund Interview with Taneshia: here

CBS Piece on NSH: here

“The Soul of Newark Symphony Hall”: here

New York Times Profile of Wedding Held in NSH: here

Amalia Rodrigues’ Performance at Symphony Hall [believed]: here

Quote: “Science, knowledge, logic and brilliance might be useful tools but they didn’t build highways or civil service systems. Power built highways and civil service systems. Power was what dreams needed, not power in the hand of the dreamer himself necessarily but power put behind the dreamer’s dream by the man who it to put there, power that he termed “executive support”.”—Robert Caro, The Power Broker

Kai Campbell left the world of Newark politics and development to try his hand at a venerable city tradition, food creation and service. Kai was no stranger to this area of work, coming from a long line and tradition of chefs and restaurant managers in his family. He has since flourished and is the impresario behind three newly minted Newark institutions: Walla, a South Asian style burger join; Bragman’s, a decades old Jewish deli in the South Ward; and the Yard, a soon to open outdoor eatery and bar. Kai comes on the pod to discuss how he came to this business, his hopes for the city, and what it will take for more restaurants to flourish.

Newark has always been a city with a rich food tradition. It's now at the crossroads of maintaining that tradition while expanding into new fields. Charlie Shelton, head chef at Barcade, joins the podcast to talk about what's good to eat, what Newark should do to support its food culture, and what it takes to be a food-centric city.