6.5 Minutes With... | C21

Center for 21st Century Studies

A small podcast with BIG ideas. Short audio introductions by the experts and community leaders hosted by the Center for 21st Century Studies at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee.

  1. 11/25/2025

    6.5 Minutes With... | Kitonga Alexander

    In this episode of 6.5 Minutes, C21 Graduate Fellow Jamee Pritchard speaks with Dr. Kitonga Alexander, Milwaukee native, educator, community organizer, and Executive Director of the Bronzeville Histories Institute. Dr. Alexander's work centers on preserving Milwaukee's Black cultural heritage and supporting community members returning home after incarceration. He also coordinates the Welcome Home Project, created the Walk of Truth initiative, and teaches history and ethnic studies at UW-Milwaukee and Marquette University. He is a Positively Milwaukee Inspiring Teacher Award recipient. Dr. Alexander discusses his community-based initiatives aimed at reducing recidivism and promoting holistic slow care. After witnessing a disturbing incident at the Wisconsin State Fair, he founded United for Progress and Productivity to address systemic harm and create meaningful pathways for community change. The Welcome Home Project focuses on high-risk probationers ages 14–24, offering trauma-informed care, employment opportunities, housing support, and life-skills development. Dr. Alexander emphasizes a legacy of productivity, the idea that healing, stability, and community contributions can interrupt cycles of incarceration and build a future grounded in dignity. Learn more: Milwaukee Bronzeville Histories Positively Milwaukee: Kitonga Alexander UWM student 'brings his full brilliance, heart and soul' to community service An Inspiring Teacher Making a Difference 'We believe that they can come home and be a positive force for change:' How one program helps people transition out of incarceration

    10 min
  2. 10/29/2025

    6.5 Minutes With... | Adam Carr

    In the season premiere of 6.5 Minutes with C21, Jamee Pritchard talks with Milwaukee storyteller and community historian Adam Carr about what it means to practice slow care in a world that moves too fast. Reflecting on what he calls our "wounded landscape of care," Carr shares his walking practice, his weekly ritual of eating soup by the lake, and the quiet rebellion of being purposefully inefficient. Through these small acts of attention – walking, listening, pausing – he finds a balance between doing and being, reminding us that care begins when we slow down enough to notice what's around us. Drawing from his recent Story Cart: Attention workshop, known as Beach Class, Carr reflects on what the water teaches: "The lake is really good at what it does. We've stopped being good at what we do. We've become distracted, bad animals. We've only made it as animals to where we've gotten by our ability to form community, and we're so distracted we're really terrible at that right now. I thought the lake could just be a little bit of an antidote to the hurried mind." From his attention experiments to his reflections on storytelling, technology, and collective care, Carr invites listeners to rediscover the art of presence and the possibility of community that emerges when we move at the pace of being human.   Notes: Guest: Adam Carr — Independent writer, artist, journalist, and community historian based in Milwaukee; former Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Milwaukee Parks Foundation and longtime producer at 88Nine Radio Milwaukee. Host: Jamee Pritchard, Graduate Fellow, Center for 21st Century Studies (C21)

    9 min

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A small podcast with BIG ideas. Short audio introductions by the experts and community leaders hosted by the Center for 21st Century Studies at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee.