Strange Fruit

Lambda Award-winning writer and activist Michelle Tea has always considered herself “radical queer,” – those outside-of-the-mainstream LGBTQ folks who have nothing left to lose and make their own rules about everything.

As she describes it in an essay for Buzzfeed, for Tea and the queer friends she shared a radical subculture with, “that meant prioritizing freedom, glorifying poverty, experimenting with our bodies in every way possible. The possibility of having children was raised only to highlight how absurd that would be….[we] mostly viewed kids as a potential drag on [our] liberties, or simply an impossibility.”

 Later in the show, Chicago-based rapper and actor Mykele Deville stop by the studio to discuss his role as Verb in the rousing production of Idris Goodwin’s “Hype Man: A Break Beat Play” at Actors Theatre of Louisville, which runs thru October 13th.

From its practical and everyday uses, to Black celebrities and fashion icons donning it on red carpets, the durag is finally getting its just due. Fashion & beauty editor Jamé Jackson of TheBlondeMisfit.com joins us this week talk to us about her essay, "How the Durag Became a Political Statement." It illuminates the cultural and political significance of the durag, and how it’s always represented much more than just a hair accessory.

Later in the show we switch gears and turn our attention -- and the conversation -- to last spring’s Met Gala where fashion theme was “Camp: Note on Fashion.” Jackson explores the queer, black and urban roots of camp, and argues that ideas around and performances of camp belonged to Black and queer communities long before it became popular at the annual ball.

In our Juicy Fruit segment, we’re surprised by just how long many Americans will go without changing their underwear.

The official end of summer and LGBTQ pride season is fast approaching, but there’s still time to have some fun at some events in the region.

Now in its third year, OUTLOUD Musical Festival in Nashville features 14 LGBTQ+ artists across two stages, including headliners Greyson Chance, Kim Petras and Gia Woods.

OUTLOUD creator and producer Jack Davis joins us at the start of this week’s show to tell us what to expect at the festival happening on September 14.

We also speak with friend to the show Mike Slaton, Executive Director of the Louisville Pride Foundation, about the Louisville Pride Festival coming up on September 21. The event is free and this year's headliner is performer Todrick Hall.

In our feature interview, we explore the notoriously segregated history of swimming pools and other public spaces dedicated to leisure and enjoyment. Dr. Victoria Wolcott joins us to discuss her insightful piece “The Forgotten History Of Segregated Swimming Pools And Amusement Parks" published by The Conversation, and her book “Race, Riots, and Roller Coasters: The Struggle over Segregated Recreation in America.” 

As the host of Strange Fruit we’ve often wondered why pants made for men have plenty of pockets while most pants designed for women are pocketless. This week we discuss about the problematics of the gender binary when it comes to fashion and clothing and speak with Washington Post writer Samantha Schmidt about a Washington, DC area sewing class designed to deconstruct the gender rules in fashion and reconstruct clothing that better meets form and function for the queer and trans participants.

Later this month, Louisville plays host to the second annual Midwest Queer Comedy Festival, a showcase designed to expose audiences to comedic voices from the LGBTQ community. Starting August 21st, the MQCFest will be five nights of shows, showcases, podcasts, and after parties. This year's line-up is stacked with nearly 75 acts, including headliner Sampson McCormick.

McCormick is an award-winning Black queer comic who first joined us for a conversion about breaking barriers last December. He’s back this week to talk about his upcoming appearance at MQCFest and about his new movie A Different Direction with Darryl Stephens from TV’s “Noah’s Arc.”

Also joining us to discuss all things queer and comedic is comedian Keith McGill, who is an associate producer of the festival, and MQCFest creator and executive producer Dwayne Duke.

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This week we’re joined by writer and reproductive justice activist Quita Tinsley. In her recent piece "Why I Refuse To Leave the South as a Queer Black Person," Tinsley argues that while the potential for violence or discrimination against queer and trans folks in the South can be higher than other regions, the entire nation is unsafe for those same people. And when she visited northern “Gay Meccas” like New York and San Francisco, she felt isolated and experienced overwhelming levels of anti-blackness that exceeded what she felt in the South. We discuss how she learned to embrace and celebrate her identity as a Southerner.

Later in the show we shift the discussion from regional space to “gayborhoods,” an area of a city or town characterized as being inhabited or frequented by LGBTQ folks. In his feature article “Won’t You Be My Gaybor?” for Richmond, VA’s RVA Mag writer Wyatt Gordon discusses the city’s lack of a gayborhood — the absence of gayborhoods in many southern cities — and examines if it is a sign of social repression or in fact a reflection of progress.

In our Juicy Fruit segment, we honor the legacy of literary giant Toni Morrison who died this week.

This week we’re joined by Tarell Alvin McCraney, chair of play writing at the Yale School of Drama, 2013 recipient of a MacArthur Fellows Genius Grant, and the 2017 Academy Award winner for Best Adapted Screenplay for Moonlight.

McCraney’s newest endeavor is his first television project, an original scripted series for Oprah Winfrey’s OWN Network called David Makes Man. The compelling lyrical drama will premiere on August 14. 

David Makes Man centers on a 14-year-old prodigy from the projects of South Miami who is haunted by the death of his closest friend, and relied on by his hardworking mother to find a way out of poverty. We discuss the show, its phenomenal ensemble cast, his life since Moonlight, and how important it is for him to create Black art for Black people. 

Later in the show we speak to culture writer Beandrea July about the new documentaryToni Morrison: The Pieces I Am. We discuss the themes of the documentary, Morrison’s legacy as a writer, and the resistance and criticism Morrison encountered from many other writers when it came to celebrating and honoring the brilliance of her work.

In our Juicy Fruit segment this week, the model who cried “trans.” And even the bell can’t save “Saved By the Bell” actor and Extra TV host Mario Lopez from the backlash after his recent commentary that supporting trans children is “dangerous.”