Rural Remix

This week on Everywhere Radio, Whitney welcomes Nikiko Masumoto, organic farmer,  memory keeper, and artist. Nikiko is Yonsei, a fourth-generation Japanese American, and works the same soil her great-grandparents worked in California. In an agricultural world where 86 percent of farmers are men, most landowners are white, and few are queer, she employs art and creativity to access her power as an organic farmer. Whitney and Nikiko discuss making art, family history, farming, and seeking wholeness rather than perfection.

This episode of Everywhere Radio features a conversation between Gladys Godinez and Norma Flores López, Chief Programs Officer for Justice for Migrant Women. From working in the fields at the age of 12 to advocating for Immigrants, Latine/x/os and migrant farmworkers in Washington D.C. today, Norma's story is inspiring. This episode, which first aired during Rural Women Everywhere, is brought to you by the Rural Assembly, Justice for Migrant Women, and United by Culture Media. Godinez recorded this interview for both Everywhere Radio and her own podcast, Courageous Mujer.

Connecting rural America to high-speed internet isn’t just about Zoom meetings and remote work. Reliable access can also make or break a farming operation. Just ask Meagan Kaiser of Kaiser Family Farms in Carrolton, Missouri. Meagan farms corn and soybeans along with her husband Marc, and she’s also a soil scientist and chief operating officer at Perry Agricultural Laboratory, Inc. She recently contributed to a comprehensive report that tells the story of broadband as an indispensable tool for farmers and the communities they serve. The report was produced by the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society and the United Soybean Board, where Kaiser is a member of the executive committee. This week on Everywhere Radio, Whitney talks to Meagan to learn about her journey into farming and soil science, and to find out what it’s like chatting with Vice President Kamala Harris.

On this episode, Whitney talks with journalist Aallyah Wright about her journey to journalism, reporting on issues of labor, race, and equity in her native Mississippi. Wright reports on rural affairs and leads race and equity coverage for Stateline. Previously, Aallyah worked for Mississippi Today, a digital nonprofit newsroom, covering K-12 education and government in the Mississippi Delta—her home region. As a member of the Delta Bureau, she investigated Mississippi’s teacher shortage, finding it was six times worse than in 1998 when the Mississippi legislature passed a bill to alleviate the crisis. She is a 2020 Mississippi Humanities Council Preserver of Mississippi Culture Award recipient, 2019 StoryWorks Theater Fellow, and 2018 Educating Children in Mississippi Fellow at the Hechinger Report. Wright graduated from Delta State University with a bachelor’s in journalism and minors in communication and theater.

On this episode of Everywhere Radio, Whitney talks with labor veteran Sandy Pope. Today, Pope is the Bargaining Director for the Office of Professional Employees International Union or OPEIU, an organization that represents more than 110,000 employees nationwide. With more than three decades of union organizing experience, Pope is perhaps best known for her 2010 campaign for general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, when she ran against a three-term incumbent, who happened to be the son of Jimmy Hoffa. Whitney and Sandy talk about what the future holds for rural workers — whether they're working in meatpacking, trucking, or manufacturing — as well as the communities that rely upon them.

This week on Everywhere Radio, Whitney talks with Sarah and Jan Pytalski, our first rural husband and wife team. Sarah is a senior associate at the global communications firm Burness, where she supports rural health equity work. And Jan is an associate editor at the Daily Yonder, and a colleague of Whitney's at the Center for Rural Strategies, which publishes the Yonder and produces this podcast. The three talk about yearning for rural life, honoring connections between people and the land, and much more.

This week, guest host Adilia Watson talks with Jazzmine Brooks, "The Rural Black Doula," about advocacy, mental health, and how doulas can improve birth outcomes in rural places.

This week, guest host Adilia Watson talks with Nelson Brooke, a Riverkeeper from rural Alabama. In that role, Nelson investigates pollution on the Black Warrior River and takes pictures of illegal polluting activity. His work was recognized by the Alabama River Alliance when they named him the 2010 Alabama River Hero. Don't miss this episode of Everywhere Radio, as we learn about the impressive biodiversity of rural Alabama and the importance of protecting our natural resources.

This week, Whitney talks with two young leaders investing their time and energy to create spaces, events, and intentional moments that foster community. LB Prevette is the Senior Community Partnerships Manager for the national nonprofit Lead for America. Michael Cooper is an attorney and journalist (and mayoral candidate) whose writing has appeared in a variety of local, state, and national publications. For this Everywhere Radio conversation, the trio talk about their work, shared Appalachian roots, and the kinds of people you want to go to a music festival and share moonshine with.

Whitney talks with Stephen Gong, Executive Director of the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), about making the experiences and contributions of Asian Americans visible in rural communities.