The Undefined Gen

This week I talk to Johnny5, the founder and director of TURFInc, a company in Oakland that teaches kids turfing. Turfing is a style of street dance that came out of hyphy in the 90s. TURFInc gives them opportunities to make money and helps them stay off the street by learning marketable skills. Johnny5 has worked with tons of big name artists, he's been featured and finds talent for Yak Films, the premiere dance film company in the world and he's an all around awesome guy with lots of stories about Oakland.

This week I talk to Lily Williams about her short film FINconceivable, an award winning informational short about the importance of sharks to our ecosystem. We talk about her upcoming illustrated children's book called If Sharks Disappear which will be published next year through Roaring Brook Press. Finally, we discuss her newly released web comic that she co-created with Karen Schneemann, called The Mean Magenta. The Mean Magenta seeks to destigmatize periods by providing entertaining comics as well as health resources.

This episode, Sylvee Esquivel talks about her journey from Tamal stand to food truck to her brick and mortar restaurant called Hella Vegan Eats in Downtown Oakland. She discusses the exciting food they have on their menu and the her love of intense flavors. We talk about how her business has evolved, how Hella Vegan eats helped her transition, and finally, her music. Photo By An Hoang

This week, Mogli Maureal who is a musician, sound designer, and photographer, talks about his band, Mad Noise. He talks about how their roots as street performers, their musical style, and their recent trip to West Africa with the US Department of State Program called American Music Abroad. Then we talks about his works with Radix, an experimental theater troupe. He does all of their music and sound design for their innovative theater and live performance works. Finally, we talk about his photography and his aspirations.

This episode, Alex Vlahov talks about his work with the New York Neo-futurists and their collection of 30 plays performed in an hour called Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind. We also talk about experimental theater in general and some of the plays that Alex has written and directed that have interesting approaches to topics that cover a range of social issues and humanity's dilemmas. Finally, we discuss Alex's latest play which is still untitled. The play is about Father Eric, a priest from our high school who was murdered in 2013.

This episode, Tia Lebherz talks in depth about saving water and other threats to our environment. First, we talk about her work at WaterNow Alliance and how WaterNow is bringing together people to find innovative ways to save water on the West Coast. Then we'll talk about her work for Food and Water Watch as the California organizer and the importance of banning fracking, specifically in California. Finally, we'll wrap up with a discussion of the Trans Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement signed in February that poses a serious threat to our access to safe food and water.

This episode, Eric Garcia talks about his drag performances and keeping a gritty low budget drag show in a changing San Francisco. We discuss his performance company, Detour Dance and their evolving mission and maturing body of work. We also talk about his work for Sean Dorsey, an acclaimed dancer and head of Fresh Meat Productions, a company devoted to transgender and queer arts. Finally, we get into identity and how Eric is using dance to explore himself as a person of color and as a gay man.

This episode, I talk with Elizia Artis about what it means to build a community around education. She works in Flint, Michigan for the Crim Fitness Foundation and works with the school and communities there to solve problems effecting the students and parents. Elizia was an AmeriCorps volunteer and now manages other AmeriCorps volunteers in Flint so she'll give some information about civil service and what some of those responsibilities look like. Lastly, Elizia explores some of her thoughts about issues effecting people of color and the Black Lives Matter movement.

This episode, David Lauer is interviewed about his experience at Contact in the Desert, a conference that focuses on aliens, paranormal activity, and high weirdness. David first gives background into the conference and then tells the story of a UFO sighting he had there and six possible explanations for what this sighting could have been.