Making Contact "Making Contact" By National Radio Project

Caste—one of the oldest systems of exclusion in the world—is thriving. Despite the ban on Untouchability 70 years ago, caste impacts 1.9 billion people in the world. Every 15 minutes, a crime is perpetrated against a Dalit person. The average age of death for Dalit women is just 39. And the wreckages of caste are replicated here in the U.S., too—erupting online with rape and death threats, showing up at work, and forcing countless Dalits to live in fear of being outed.
 Dalit American activist Thenmozhi Soundararajan puts forth a call to awaken and act, not just for readers in South Asia, but all around the world. She ties Dalit oppression to fights for liberation among Black, Indigenous, Latinx, femme, and Queer communities, examining caste from a feminist, abolitionist, and Dalit Buddhist perspective--and laying bare the grief, trauma, rage, and stolen futures enacted by Brahminical social structures on the caste-oppressed. Incisive and urgent, “The Trauma of Caste” is an activating beacon of healing and liberation, written by one of the world’s most needed voices in the fight to end caste apartheid.
 Learn more about the story and find the transcript on radioproject.org.
Making Contact is an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio show and podcast featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world.
EPISODE FEATURES: Thenmozhi Soundararajan, the author of “The Trauma of Caste: A Dalit Feminist Meditation on Survivorship, Healing, and Abolition” and a Dalit American artist, organizer, technologist, and theorist. Currently, Thenmozhi is the Executive Director of Equality Labs.
MAKING CONTACT: This episode is hosted by Anita Johnson. It is produced by Anita Johnson, Lucy Kang, Salima Hamirani, and Amy Gastelum. Our executive director is Jina Chung. 
MUSIC: This episode includes music from Blue Dot Sessions, including “3rd Chair" and "Paving Stones."
Learn More:
The Trauma of Caste: A Dalit Feminist Meditation on Survivorship, Healing, and Abolition
Thenmozhi Soundararajan / Dalit Diva
Google’s plan to talk about caste bias led to ‘division and rancor’ Hindu Sect Accused of Using Forced Labor
Dismantling the Caste System

As graduation approached this year, students around the country began protests after calls for divestment from Israel were initially ignored by university leadership. The campus encampments were met with physical violence and the mainstream press dismissed the students' demands as naive and immature. But, it turns out that there's a lot we should be asking about college endowments. 
We take a look at what an endowment is and how they’re invested. Then we learn why transparency around the endowment (and divestment!) might actually benefit the entire college community. 
We talk to Kelly Grotke, a financial researcher from Pattern Recognition, a research collective focused on financialized higher education. And, with Andrea Pritchett, we look at the links between the encampments today, and those from the 80s, when students protested South African Apartheid. 
Learn more about the story and find the transcript on radioproject.org.
Making Contact is an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio show and podcast featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world.
EPISODE FEATURES: This episode features Kelly Grotke, co-founder of Pattern Recognition, a research collective and Andrea Pritchett, former student organizer against South African Apartheid. Currently a middle school teacher and co-founder of Berkeley Cop Watch.

MAKING CONTACT: This episode is hosted by Salima Hamirani. It is produced by Anita Johnson, Lucy Kang, Salima Hamirani, and Amy Gastelum. Our executive director is Jina Chung. 
MUSIC: This episode features “Slinky” by Robert John, “Take Off and Shoot a Zero” by Chris Zabinske, “Leap Second” by Doctor Turtle, and “Blue” by Komiku.
Learn More:
https://patternrecognitionresearch.substack.com/
https://www.berkeleycopwatch.org/
 

What are borders, and why do we have them? And how is violent border enforcement at the US-Mexico border connected to Israel's brutal assault on Gaza? And what happens when borders cross living land and communities?
We'll dig into these questions in this week's episode with the help of Heba Gowayed, sociology professor at CUNY Hunter College and Graduate Center. And then we'll hear a story brought to us by In Confianza, with Pulso about one time when the natural boundary between two countries changed – and what happened to the people caught on the other side.
Learn more about the story and find the transcript on  radioproject.org.
Making Contact is an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio show and podcast featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world.
EPISODE FEATURES: This episode features Heba Gowayed, sociology professor at CUNY Hunter College and Graduate Center and author of Refuge: How the State Shapes Human Potential and the forthcoming The Cost of Border; Charlie Garcia, writer and producer of the story “The Border is Alive!” from In Confianza, with Pulso.
MAKING CONTACT: This episode is hosted by Lucy Kang. It is produced by Anita Johnson, Lucy Kang, Salima Hamirani, and Amy Gastelum. Our executive director is Jina Chung. 

MUSIC: This episode features "Documentary" by AlisiaBeats via Pixabay.
Learn More:
Heba Gowayed
In Confianza, with Pulso
“The Border is Alive!” full episode

This week on Making Contact we take a look at one of the most prolific Mexican artists, Frida Kahlo, and how she inspired the Latina artist collective, “The Phoenix Fridas.” “In Confianza, with Pulso” producer Anthony Wallace brings us the story of Thania Betancourt Alcazar. A member of  “The Phoenix Fridas,” Alcazar discovered a lifeline in the art of Frida Kahlo and her artistic message of resilience and empowerment.
Alcazar shares her experience being a Mexican immigrant, her feeling of being an outcast, and finally feeling seen as she saw herself and her culture reflected in the rising popularity of Frida Kahlo and her art in the U.S.
Learn more about the story and find the transcript on radioproject.org.
Making Contact is an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio show and podcast featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world.
EPISODE FEATURES: This episode features Anthony Wallace, the host of this episode; Thania Betancourt Alcazar, a member of The Phoenix Fridas and artist; Celia Stahr, an art historian at the University of San Francisco and the author of Frida in America: The Creative Awakening of a Great Artist.
MAKING CONTACT: This episode is hosted by Anita Johnson. It is produced by Anita Johnson, Lucy Kang, Salima Hamirani, and Amy Gastelum. Our executive director is Jina Chung. 
In Confianza, with Pulso Credits:
This episode was produced/hosted by Anthony Wallace 
Editor: Charlie Garcia
Audio Engineer and Mixing: Anthony Wallace and Charlie Garcia
Executive Director: Liz Alarcon

MUSIC: This episode features Original Music Composed by Julian Blackmore and Anthony Wallace.
Learn More:
In Confianza, with Pulso
Frida in America: The Creative Awakening of a Great Artist
The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait
The Frida Kahlo Museum in Mexico City

Have you ever really considered how we view time as a society? From work to leisure to appointments, we schedule every minute of our days, but how often do we think about why we treat time the way we do, our relationship to it, and why we value productivity over all else?
This week, we talk to Jenny Odell about the ideas behind her book Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock and How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy. We talk about how time shapes all our lives, question the idea that time is money, and look to understand the capitalistic and colonialist roots of the way we view time every day. 
 Learn more about the story and find the transcript on radioproject.org.
Making Contact is an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio show and podcast featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world.
EPISODE FEATURES: This episode features Jenny Odell, artist and author of Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock and How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy.
MAKING CONTACT: This episode is hosted by Lucy Kang. It is produced by Anita Johnson, Lucy Kang, Salima Hamirani, and Amy Gastelum. Our executive director is Jina Chung. 
MUSIC: This episode features music "Simonero" by Keyframe Audio via Pixabay, "Documentary Ambient Guitar" by William_King via Pixabay, and Clock sound effects by Pixabay and Semen Surin via Pixabay.
Learn More:
Jenny Odell
 

This week's Making Contact episode is about two strong women who survived historic trauma, and the stories they later told their families.  We start with the story of Katie Wilson. Born to an Orthodox Jewish family in Kiev, Ukraine, she grew up safe and comfortable - until the Russian Revolution. After holding it close for years to protect the next generation, she tells the story of the family she lost to her granddaughter. 
Then we hear about Helen Zia's experience as a Chinese-American and her mother's story fleeing Mao's Chinese Revolution. After years of silence in response to questions on the subject, Zia's mother finally shares her story and the burden of her trauma with her daughter. 
Learn more about the story and find the transcript on radioproject.org.
Making Contact is an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio show and podcast featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world.
EPISODE FEATURES: Helen Zia, a Chinese-American journalist and activist for Asian American and LGBTQ rights. She is the former Executive Editor of Ms. Magazine, and author of several books. Katie Wilson, a Ukrainian refugee. Chana Wilson, a radio/audio producer and host at Pacifica’s KPFA in Berkeley, CA and the award-winning author of the memoir, Riding Fury Home.
MAKING CONTACT: This episode is hosted by Anita Johnson. It is produced by Anita Johnson, Lucy Kang, Salima Hamirani, and Amy Gastelum. Our executive director is Jina Chung. 
LEARN MORE:
Helen Zia Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People
Chana Wilson
Riding Fury Home: A Memoir
Last Boat Out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao’s Revolution