Cipriano Belser, Shizue Seigel, Micah Franklin, Joseph Jason Santiago LaCour, Celia Cruz, Arturo O’Farrill, Fred Wesley

[link to transcript]

s4e8
February 26th, 2026, April 30, 2026

Cipriano Belser joins Martha in the audio garden to talk about Black Lantern Books, in Englewood, California, which houses The Legacy Library, a collection of some 10,000 books curated by organizer, Kwazi Nkrumah. A co-founder of the bookstore, Cipriano shares the significance of the collection on Black Liberation, environmentalism and historical texts on fascism and civil rights and the ​backstory about this community hub for education, discussions, poetry readings and more. They have also begun re-printing some out-of-print texts.

Listen & Be Heard Intern, Micah Franklin offers his take on The Godfather, describing it as a family drama disguised as a crime epic in which loyalty is both noble and destructive.

From the L&BH Archives: Poets: Shizue Seigel & Joseph Jason Santiago LeCour

New Music: Hernán digs up live recordings with Celia Cruz, Arturo O’Farrill & Fred Wesley and the New JB’s, that you will only hear, here…

Martha gets down with her non-spending plans for her patio garden which include using what she has around her,. She confesses to her obsession with her paper shredder, planting pawpaw trees and her desire to grow food collectively.

CREDITS– CO-HOSTS & PRODUCERS: Martha Cinader, Hernán Ramiro Rodriguez Sierra, Tony Robles. FEATURED GUEST: Cipriano Belser. ALSO FEATURED: Micah Franklin. POETRY: Shizue Seigel, Joseph Jason Santiago Lacour, Martha Cinader. MUSIC: Exclusive live recordings of Jay Rodriguez with Celia Cruz, Arturo O’Farrill and Fred Wesley & the JB’s. ORIGNAL SOUNDTRACK, MIXING, MASTERING, SOUND DESIGN: Hernán Ramiro Rodriguez Sierra. Executive Producer, Martha Cinader.

Cipriano Belser is a low wage worker, turned Organizer, turned co-operative owner. Born and raised in the Bay Area, he has resided in Los Angeles for the last 15 years. In his time in LA he went from working retail jobs to becoming a labor organizer, which led him to want to use his organizing…

Shizue Seigel is a third-generation Japanese American writer, visual artist and community activist who explores complex intersections of history, culture and spirituality through prose, poetry and visual art.

Micah Franklin Johnson, an artist, athlete, and podcast producer from Brooklyn, embraces evolution in his creative journey. Raised in Harlem, he engages with the Summer Youth Program and finds inspiration in his explorations of Chinatown and Brooklyn, aspiring to impact the creative landscape despite his youth.

Meredith Leigh, with over 20 years in sustainability and food systems, has owned farms, a restaurant, and engaged in diverse consulting. An award-winning author of “The Ethical Meat Handbook” and “Pure Charcuterie,” she is transitioning back to the nonprofit sector while pursuing fiction writing in Asheville, North Carolina.

Joseph Jason Santiago LaCour is a Spoken Word and Hip-Hop Artist from the Midwest now living in Santa Cruz. Since 2017, he has been a resident of The Tannery Artist Lofts with his partner and fellow artist, Rica Smith De La Luz. Together they form Sacred Poets, sharing their practice through books, prints, and apparel.

“Our Spirits Carry Our Voices is a remarkable work: a travelogue in poetry, charting a journey that is spiritual as well as geographic. The linked poems are intensely personal, yet filled with historical and political resonance.

Guy Debord’s 1967 critiques consumer capitalism and modern media, asserting that social life is dominated by representations, or “the spectacle.”

The Listen and Be Heard Hour features episode s4e8 on February 26th, 2026, discussing “Anarchism and the Black Revolution,” a pivotal 1979 work by Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin. This text connects Black radicalism to anarchist theory, examining issues of race, class, and liberation from an anti-authoritarian perspective.

The Legacy Library and Black Lantern Books is an effort to preserve the life long collections of texts that Kwazi Nkrumah started collecting in the 1950’s. Near the end of his life, Kwazi wanted to make his collection an accessible resource for future generations of  organizers seeking to expand their knowledge and  skills while working…

“Bless the Blood” is a young adult memoir combining poetry and essays that reflects the author’s journey with leukemia. It challenges misconceptions about cancer and the healthcare system, while addressing intergenerational trauma. The work explores themes of violence, resilience, and systemic failures, highlighting personal and societal impacts.

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