Rightnowish KQED

Tomas Moniz's novel All Friends Are Necessary explores the profound depths of friendship and the unique ways in which love is expressed. The book is chock-full of remedies for grief, sweet moments between friends, observations about Mother Nature and shoutouts to some key Bay Area landmarks and cultural institutions — all of which we discuss on this week's episode of Rightnowish.
 Tomas Moniz will read and sign copies of his new book at Doña (3770 Piedmont Ave., Oakland) on June 13, 2024 at 6:30 p.m. and at Green Apple Books (1231 9th Ave., San Francisco) on June 18, 2024 at 7 p.m.
Also, Moniz is a big fan of exchanging letters. He can be reached at P.O. Box 3555, Berkeley, CA, 94703.  
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Jazz and hip-hop are technically two different genres of music, but for bassist and composer Giulio Xavier Cetto, the connection between the two is indivisible. Both genres seamlessly compliment each other as they show up in the music Cetto listens to as, as well as the music he makes. On this week's Rightnowish, San Francisco's own Cetto discusses the story behind his Instagram handle, his favorite Bay Area music venues, and what it's like to lead Big Trippin, a band that features drummer Thomas Pridgen, saxophonist John Palowitch and pianist Javier Santiago.
 This story was originally published June 30, 2023 as part of “Liner Notes” a five-part series, about jazz in Bay Area.
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This week we revisit a story that was originally published September 2, 2022 as part of “Permanent Behavior: Getting Tatted in the Bay” , a four-part series, about local tattoo artists.
 Miguel "Bounce" Perez is a visual artist who owes a lot of his talents to childhood memories with his family. His mother introduced him to sketching, as she'd draw “chola-style” portraits of women with feathered hair and sharp brows. His uncles taught him the art of lettering in "Cali-Chicano" Old English script. And Bounce's father was part of a car club in West Berkeley, a neighborhood that was also home to a number of graffiti murals. Through these interactions Perez was introduced to what he does today: spreading culture through murals and tattoos.
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This week on Rightnowish we take a little dive into family history and explore the big concerns of the next generation with published poet, educator and youth advocate, Michelle "Mush" Lee. 
Lee is the executive director of the well renowned poetry organization, Youth Speaks. The organization boasts a long list of alums who are playwrights and poets, actors and activists. Just two years after its founding in 1996, Youth Speaks launched the annual youth poetry slam, Brave New Voices. This year, the three-day conference that pulls young poets from all corners of the country will be in the nation's capital, Washington D.C., just months before the presidential election.
As an organizer, Lee is looking ahead to this year's conference with a clear understanding of why young people's voices are so important right now.
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We love having conversations about culture, identity and place with local change makers and hometown heroes. If you appreciate the work that we do on Rightnowish, please visit https://donate.kqed.org/podcasts to support us.

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As we celebrate Mother's Day, we're taking some time to honor those who have strained relationships with their mothers, are missing their mothers or grew up without their mothers. We're also thinking about the mothers who are missing their children for one reason or another.
More than just thinking about them, we're hearing from them. This week we're passing the mic to our friends over at "Ear Hustle", a podcast from PRX’s Radiotopia. This special episode highlights the stories of elderly mothers who are incarcerated at California Institution for Women, a prison located in Chino, CA.
Their tales of aging behind bars, while yearning for family are gut-wrenching but necessary, for we can't grow as a people unless we understand the plight of those on the margins of society. And when it comes to ensuring that we grow as a people, that's something that mothers know best.
Happy Mother's Day from the Rightnowish family!
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