Strange Fruit

Sports! They're a big deal to a lot of people. But we just don't know that much about them. So our intern Brandon is taking over part of this week's show. Brandon and his homey KJ talk about Colin Kaepernick and other athletes kneeling during the National Anthem, and the NFL's response. They also dig into news stories involving Cam Newton and LaVar Ball (sports-related people, from what we understand). And a conversation about Kentucky's own Rupp Arena brings up bigger issues about places and things named to honor people with racist histories. Did Intern Brandon shoot a home run, or strike out in the fourth quarter? Let us know what you think!

Coming up on this week's episode... Intern Brandon takes over with a show about sports news. Will he shoot a home run or strike out in the fourth quarter?

What does it mean to be bisexual? That you're attracted to both men and women? What about gender non-conforming people? Intersex people? When it comes to human identity and desire, things can get complicated. Educator and activist Robyn Ochs crafted this definition of bisexuality: “I call myself bisexual because I acknowledge in myself the potential to be attracted — romantically and/or sexually — to people of more than one sex and/or gender, not necessarily at the same time, in the same way, or to the same degree.” She'll be in Louisville next week to present her program, Beyond Binaries: Identity and Sexuality, at Spalding University and the University of Louisville. She joins us on this week's show to talk about her decades of work in bi visibility, and the challenges involved in being bi in a non-binary world.

If you're intrigued by the supernatural, or just like scary stories, a ghost tour can be a fun way to see a city and learn about its history. But ghost stories tend to be about people who experienced violence while they were alive, or had unfinished business that caused them to come back as a spirit. And we all know what group of people were historically subjected to violence in the American south. And that's how black trauma ends up repackaged as entertainment on southern ghost tours. Tiya Miles was visiting the Sorrel-Weed House in Savannah, Georgia, when guides presented the tale of Molly, who supposedly haunts the historic home. Molly was described as a "slave girl" who was the "mistress" of the home's patriarch, and was killed by his wife when she discovered their relationship. Not only is this a very real and very ugly historical phenomenon presented as entertainment, but the terminology implicates Molly in her own fate, wrongly casting her as a willing participant in a consensual affair. Tiya Miles is the author of “Tales from the Haunted South: Dark Tourism and Memories of Slavery from the Civil War Era." She joins us this week to talk about what she's learned about ghostly folklore, and how the story of Molly sheds light on what we tend to remember - and forget - about our history.

Of you spent any time at all on social media this week, you saw it all over your timeline: #metoo Some found it empowering. Some found it traumatizing. But one thing it definitely wasn't? New. Activist and organizer Tarana Burke actually started the "me too" movement ten years ago. It gained traction this week when championed by Alyssa Milano, but Tarana's story got lost in the shuffle, and many assumed the movement was brand new. Tarana Burke joins us on this week's episode to talk about the origins and importance of "me too," and the work she still does to support survivors.

Coming out isn't what it used to be. These days, even the most sheltered people generally have at least some basic understanding of what it means to be gay. But for people living in certain communities, in certain countries, and with certain identities, coming out can still be dangerous - or even life-threatening. And, of course, no one just comes out once. In many ways, we're all coming out all the time. October 11 was National Coming Out Day, so in this week's episode, we talk about what it means to be out - for queer folks, trans folks, and especially people of color. Our guest is Aaron Weathers, who was on our very first episode in 2012, when we talked about coming out to our mamas.

A man who makes a living performing in drag is probably pretty woke about trans issues, right? Sadly, it ain't necessarily so.  Former RuPaul's Drag Race contestant Willam Belli recently made some transphobic remarks on her YouTube show "Suck Less." "Just because someone says they’re a boy doesn’t make them a boy," Belii says on the show. "Just because you cut your t****** off and take testosterone, that doesn't change your chromosomes." Fans and critics were predictably upset by this seeming dismissal of the right and ability to self-identify. But it's not the first time we've seen transphobia in drag spaces. Lashes, lipstick, and platform heels can make it easy to forget many drag queens are still cisgender white men on the inside.  It brings to mind the times we've seen white drag queens using racist humor as part of their comedy routines (remember Shirley Q. Liquor?).

Have you ever joked with a little boy about whether he has a girlfriend? Did your birds-and-bees talk include the words, "a mommy and a daddy?" The way we talk to kids can reinforce gender binaries, stereotypes, and heteronormativity. And of course, "having the talk" means something else entirely for black parents. That's why journalist Jenn Jackson calls parenting as a black queer person an inherently political act. She joins us this week to talk about how she teaches her kids to think critically about social norms, gender performance, and the expectations people have of them based on their gender and race.

It's been in the headlines and all over social media. But we wanted to find out how the repeal of DACA would affect our friends and neighbors here in Louisville. Two activists from Mijente Louisville, a grassroots Latinx organization, join us on this week's show. We talk about the sanctuary movement, and what it would look like if Louisville were declared a sanctuary city.

Yasss, kween! Werq. Slay. What do these phrases have in common? They come from the gay black community — specifically drag and the house ball scene — and have since been co-opted by mainstream culture, with little credit to their originators. Jefferey Spivey writes the blog "Uptown Bourgeois," and recently wrote a piece about this phenomenon for the LGBTQ website SOULE, In it, he calls out Elle magazine for publishing a photo gallery from this year's Latex Ball without including any of the performers' names (just captions like "Sickening," and "You betta work.") Spivey joins us this week to talk about appropriation and erasure.