From near-fisticuffs on the House floor to Kevin McCarthy’s concessions to win the gavel, the chaotic start for the 118th Congress has finally settled – with consequences for us all. In his bid for speakership, newly elected House speaker Kevin McCarthy made a host of promises to some of the Republican Party’s most extremist members – including Qanon conspiracists and election deniers. The future of the new Congress and what led to its formation serve as a lesson for where we stand in national p...
Jan 12, 2023•33 min•Ep. 243
The Great Resignation. Quiet quitting. These concepts allegedly defined the way we worked last year. Will anything change in 2023? Journalist Anne Helen Petersen, co-author of Out of Office: The Big Problem and Bigger Promise of Working From Home and host of the Crooked Media podcast Work Appropriate , has made a name for herself examining Americans’ relationships to work. She joins host Kai Wright to discuss these relationships and how they are shaping our culture, economy and politics. They al...
Jan 09, 2023•31 min•Ep. 242
Faith Ringgold’s art is an intimate dialogue and debate between generations of Black women, stretching from the formerly enslaved to today. Producer Rahima Nasa takes host Kai Wright to an exhibit displaying artist Faith Ringgold’s work. We learn about Ringgold’s story and the political beliefs that shaped her art, plus we hear about the impact of Ringgold’s work from her daughter, art historian and feminist scholar Michele Wallace. This episode was was originally published as ‘ Why We Can't (an...
Jan 05, 2023•19 min•Ep. 241
Afrofuturism is an old idea that’s reaching new people. Hollywood production designer Hannah Beachler walks us through some fantastical, imagined paths to Black liberation. There is a cosmic vision of Black freedom seen across universes from Seneca Village to Wakanda, exemplified across artistry from Sun Ra to Lil Nas X. Among the culture makers propelling the Afrofuturism movement is Hannah Beachler, an Academy Award-winning production designer and lead curator of the exhibit Before Yesterday W...
Jan 02, 2023•33 min•Ep. 240
Folashade Olatunde, a WNYC Radio Rookie, shares a series of open and honest audio diaries, inviting listeners on her journey to rebuild a relationship with her dad. Her dad went to prison when she was two years old. She used to go visit him all the time with her mom. Until her parents got divorced. Now, it’s been more than a decade since she saw her father. In this extended version of an installment of Radio Rookies , Olatunde shares a series of open and honest audio diaries and invites listener...
Dec 29, 2022•18 min•Ep. 239
For author Jason Reynolds, the key to writing compelling young adult literature is reconnecting with the formative childhood experiences that made him. He has become a rockstar among kids and young adults for books like As Brave As You and Ghost that tell honest stories about Black childhood. The author joins host Kai Wright to discuss his storytelling philosophy, successes, fears and relationship with his mother. Hear more from Jason Reynolds in Radiotopia Presents: My Mother Made Me . This epi...
Dec 26, 2022•33 min•Ep. 238
Throughout her career, American contralto Marian Anderson performed a repertoire well ahead of her time. At a time when the dominant art form was anti-Black minstrelsy, famed contralto Marian Anderson made a name for herself performing classical music. Host Kai Wright is joined by WQXR’s Terrance McKnight to discuss Anderson’s legacy, and her journey to global music stardom. Companion listening for this episode : Billy Porter on Bringing Blackness, Queerness and Fullness to Art (12/19/2022) What...
Dec 22, 2022•19 min•Ep. 237
What does a next level victory look like for an Emmy, Grammy and Tony winner? For actor Billy Porter - it’s an authentic sense of self. Actor and singer Billy Porter has spent decades bringing his full Black and queer self to his art. From Kinky Boots on Broadway to FX’s Pose, the actor credits his success to one huge victory–finding meaningful spaces for himself. But these spaces didn’t come until later in his life. Host Kai Wright speaks with Porter about his journey to healing, mental health ...
Dec 19, 2022•34 min•Ep. 236
The soundtrack to our winter holidays is dominated by standards. But among the songs most of us know by heart are bold new tunes by artists who hope to capture our hearts with lyrics and melodies that evoke both nostalgia and new traditions. Lindsay Kimball, Program Director for Minnesota Public Radio’s renowned music station The Current, joins host Kai Wright to talk about what she considers when curating music for the station’s holiday stream. Together, they make a live holiday playlist with t...
Dec 15, 2022•32 min•Ep. 235
From Broadway to Frozen, Idina Menzel has captivated young and old audiences alike. A new documentary about her journey as a performer reveals how she worked to land her dream gig. Actor and singer Idina Menzel has played a series of roles that inspire empowerment and a quest for identity. Her critically acclaimed turns on Broadway in Rent and Wicked and her voice work as Elsa in Disney’s Frozen have made her an intergenerational star. Now, a new Disney Plus documentary called “Idina Menzel: Whi...
Dec 12, 2022•23 min•Ep. 234
More than a million users have reportedly left the Twitter app since owner Elon Musk took over, but for some the decision to log off for good isn’t easy. Love it or hate it, Twitter has been a major stage for political unrest, pop culture pinnacles, social justice movements, and community engagement. Now, users who’ve found a home on the app are debating what’s next. Many have decided to leave in the wake of Elon Musk’s takeover of the platform, but that’s not an easy decision for everyone. Host...
Dec 08, 2022•39 min•Ep. 233
It’s been twenty years since five men who were convicted as kids in the “Central Park jogger case” were exonerated. Their story has resonance in today’s crime-panicked United States. In 1989, amid a national and local panic about crime, five Black and Latino teenage boys were accused of a raping a woman in New York’s Central Park. Despite inconsistencies in their coerced, false confessions and other evidence, they were convicted. Their images were held up in national media as representative of u...
Dec 05, 2022•12 min•Ep. 232
You could say all 50 states are in something of a long-distance relationship, and it’s long past the honeymoon phase. But if we’re so divided, should we just break up already? Whether it’s political disarray, an ever-changing spectrum of state laws or social unrest, some may feel like the United States is more divided than ever. But, history shows that our country’s actually been divided from the start. Host Kai Wright talks with author Richard Kreitner about his book, Break It Up : Secession, D...
Dec 01, 2022•42 min•Ep. 231
We’ve received a lot of messages from listeners in response to our recent episodes, especially our coverage of the recent midterm elections and our stories about dealing with life online. Host Kai Wright is joined by producer Kousha Navidar to open the listener mailbag and unpack some recent voicemails. Companion listening for this episode: What Keeps You Voting? (10/31/2022) Even amid a broken democracy we’re still told to “go vote!” But what do you do when voting doesn’t feel like enough? “Not...
Nov 28, 2022•10 min•Ep. 230
The leading man from beloved films like “Love and Basketball” and “Higher Learning” has entered the world of Young Adult fiction to inspire today’s youth and their fight against climate change. Since his breakout role in 1992 as Q in “Juice,” actor and producer Omar Epps has become known for portraying the scope of Black life on the big screen. He joins host Kai Wright to talk about his new co-authored novel, "Nubia: The Awakening" , which imagines a New York City ravaged by climate disaster, an...
Nov 24, 2022•19 min•Ep. 229
Meet Dr. Katharine Hayhoe – a climate scientist who happens to be an evangelical Christian. The climate crisis was on the minds of many Americans as they voted in the midterms, and Hayhoe offers insight about what productive action looks like in the critical years to come. She says we need to spend less time wringing our hands, and more time connecting the climate to each others’ values. As part of that conversation, producer Regina de Heer is joined by members of the Faith Alliance for Climate ...
Nov 21, 2022•33 min•Ep. 228
Far-right conspiracies and incitements to violence have found a comfortable home on the nation’s radio airwaves. This is the story of how. During the 2022 midterms, election-denying and pro-Trump candidates ran on a platform of falsehoods about voter fraud in 2020. But there's a much more present source introducing this narrative into American homes: the country's largest Christian conservative multimedia company. We learn how the far-right came to dominate Christian talk radio and we meet Salem...
Nov 17, 2022•30 min•Ep. 227
Keeping the voters in the midterm conversation: We invite callers to tell us what motivated them this election and what’s on their minds as news continues to unfold. Joan Walsh, national affairs correspondent for The Nation and a CNN political contributor, joins host Kai Wright to open the phone lines. They invite listeners to call in and share their perspectives on the developing news from the midterm elections. They also check in with reporters across the country who have been covering the rac...
Nov 14, 2022•50 min•Ep. 226
Of red ripples and blue walls. Host Kai Wright joins The Brian Lehrer Show to help digest election results. Why did Democrats defy predictions? And where does it leave the Republican Party? Other panelists include Alexis Grenell, columnist for The Nation and the cofounder of Pythia Public, and Charlie Sykes, founder and editor-at-large and host of a podcast at "The Bulwark," MSNBC contributor and author of How the Right Lost Its Mind (St. Martin's Press, 2017). The three help callers deconstruct...
Nov 10, 2022•51 min•Ep. 225
It’s often emphasized as a defining factor in electoral politics: the ‘Latino vote.’ But that simple phrase erases a far more complex political story. Maritza F élix, founder of the Spanish news service Conecta Arizona , has been covering the political evolution of Arizona’s Latino community over the past decade. She joins host Kai Wright to discuss the future of Latino politics in Arizona from party affiliation to policy reform and prove while the mythical ‘Latino Vote’ is constantly deemed inf...
Nov 08, 2022•19 min•Ep. 224
Trump-to-Biden voters may decide the upcoming midterms. So, who are they? And what do they want from candidates now? Sarah Longwell, publisher of The Bulwark , host of the podcast “ The Focus Group ,” and founder of the Republican Accountability Project , has studied voters throughout this midterm election cycle. There’s one group that she finds particularly fascinating: modern-day swing voters. These voters–who voted for Donald Trump in 2016, but Joe Biden in 2020– are a small population with s...
Nov 07, 2022•32 min•Ep. 223
Beauty. Everyone wants it, but only some are considered to have it. What steps can we take to democratize beauty? Journalist Tracie Hunte is trying to foster real and honest conversations about what it means to be beautiful, and who has access to the power that comes along with beauty. Hunte speaks with Tressie McMillan Cottom, a New York Times columnist and sociologist who has thought and written about the culture of “Big Beauty” in America for years. Her 2013 essay “When Your (Brown) Body is a...
Nov 03, 2022•19 min•Ep. 222
We’ve received a lot of messages from listeners in response to our recent episodes. So producer Kousha Navidar and host Kai Wright open the listener mailbag and one voicemail inspires a conversation with Dr. Carol Anderson, author of “ One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression is Destroying Our Democracy,” about the efficacy of voting and what we can do beyond it. And, we take your calls about what motivates you to keep voting. Companion listening for this episode : Your Vote Matters (9/12/2022...
Oct 31, 2022•32 min•Ep. 221
If you identify as conservative, what is at stake for you during these midterms? Which issues matter to you most, and how are you thinking about your place in the future of conservative politics? We’re looking for messages to use in our November 6th episode with guest Sarah Longwell. Here's how to talk to us: You can now record and send us a message right from https://www.speakpipe.com/notesfromamerica , or visit our website, notesfromamerica.org , and click on the green button that says “start ...
Oct 27, 2022•2 min•Ep. 220
Higher education has traditionally been a pathway to achieving the American Dream for people of color and immigrants, but the high cost of tuition has resulted in a deepening of the wealth divide as student debt continues to create an economic crisis. Borrowers, including show producer Rahima Nasa, share their stories of how student loan repayment drastically changed their financial picture. Plus, policy expert Heather McGhee, author of “The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can P...
Oct 24, 2022•51 min•Ep. 219
Young Black voters are the key to changing the politics of Georgia. What can the rest of the country learn from the civic engagement in that state? Georgia’s two big midterm races may be the most consequential this election year. One will likely determine control of the Senate. The other is a bellwether for American politics – and democracy – overall. Out of this, can political power shift in the South? The answer to that question might be in the hands of young, Black voters. Trymaine Lee, host ...
Oct 17, 2022•51 min•Ep. 218
Young Iranian Americans are witnessing a historic moment, as deadly protests in Iran continue over the death of a 22-year-old woman who died while in custody of the Tehran Guidance Patrol, better known as morality police. We invited some of them to share how they are processing these events and finding ways to participate from afar. Narges Bajoghli, Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, joins senior producer Kousha...
Oct 13, 2022•18 min•Ep. 217
Christian nationalism – the push to have laws, policies and social norms reflect Christian values – is a growing movement in the U.S. As its rise continues to influence contemporary politics, how should we consider and prepare for its impact on our government? Pastor and executive director of Vote Common Good, Doug Pagitt, walks us through the history of the movement, and tells us how he and other faith leaders are finding ways to combat the effects of Christian nationalism in their own faith co...
Oct 10, 2022•33 min•Ep. 216
Imani Perry introduces us to A Raisin in the Sun, the first show ever staged on Broadway written by a black woman – and the show’s legendary playwright, Lorraine Hansberry. In Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry, author Imani Perry pays tribute to one of the most pivotal Black playwrights in modern history. In Perry's 2018 biography of Lorraine Hansberry, we meet a talented writer whose mainstream success with A Raisin In The Sun often overshadows her strateg...
Oct 05, 2022•18 min•Ep. 215
Anti-Obama conspiracy theories and lies about the 2020 election still shape post-truth politics. What, if anything, is to be done about these conspiracies? It’s been more than a decade since Barack Obama moved into the White House and began his first term as U.S. President. But conspiracy theories about the history-making leader continue to influence today’s political landscape and polarize Americans. The theories run the gamut – from the familiar (Obama’s citizenship) to the familial (calling M...
Oct 03, 2022•31 min•Ep. 214
