Covid Conversations: Life in a Time of Corona Center for Folklore Studies at the Ohio State University

Covid Conversations Episode 12 features two writers who created two public-facing journals during pandemic times.

Amanda Lewis is the Founder and Executive Director of Trillium Project, a small arts and culture non-profit serving Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia; Co-Founder of Watch Me Grow Ohio, a non-profit that provides community-based programming in sustainable agriculture, environmental awareness and community engagement; and Founder of The Wandering Journal Project.

Alejandro Alonso is a science and technology journalist and a writer of science fiction and fantasy. He lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina. During the lockdown in his country, he created a fantastical Diario de un Cuarentenado.

The two participants are joined by Rodolfo Vazquez, a Columbus-based flutist and Spanish/English interpreter and translator.

Covid Conversations is funded by an OSU Global Arts and Humanities Discovery Theme grant. It is produced and presented by radio producer and folklorist Rachel Hopkin. Episode 12 was recorded on July 23, 2021.

Covid Conversations Episode 11 features two composers and sound artists.

Brian Harnetty is an interdisciplinary artist and composer who uses sound and listening to foster social change. Rooted in socially engaged art, his work flows between the fields of performance and recording, installation and writing. Each project begins with communities and local archives, and moves outward to include intimate portraits of everyday people and landscapes of Appalachia and the Midwest. Harnetty’s forthcoming album, Words and Silences, is a musical portrait of Thomas Merton, a 20th century monk who lived in solitude in Kentucky, and will be released in January, 2022. Brian lives in Columbus, Ohio.

Päiví Takala works as a composer, musician and sound designer as well as a documentary film director. She was a violinist in Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra over 10 years. She then moved into film and film music through studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is the director of award-winning documentaries as well as an established musician and composer. Currently Ms. Takala is a professor in the Centre for Music and Technology at the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts, Helsinki. Päiví lives in Helsinki, Finland.

Covid Conversations is funded by an OSU Global Arts and Humanities Discovery Theme grant. It is produced and presented by radio producer and folklorist Rachel Hopkin. Episode 11 was recorded on July 7, 2021.

Covid Conversations Episode 10 features two artists who make and work with paper.

Aimee Lee is an artist and scholar who champions Korean papermaking in the English-speaking world and beyond. She is the author of the award-winning book, Hanji Unfurled, and built the first hanji studio in North America, located in Cleveland, Ohio, where she lives. She teaches, lectures, exhibits, and is collected internationally.

Barb Adams has been making paper for 21 years as an active member of Papermakers of Victoria in Australia and the International Association of Hand Papermakers and Paper Artists. She regularly leads workshops and has also exhibited widely.

Covid Conversations is funded by an OSU Global Arts and Humanities Discovery Theme grant. It is produced and presented by radio producer and folklorist Rachel Hopkin. Episode 10 was recorded on May 26, 2021.

Covid Conversations Episode 9 features two musicians and songwriters.

Floco Torres is a Hip-Hop artist based in Akron, OH and is one half of the duo Free Black! which he formed in 2018 with producer/drummer HR3. To find out more about Floco and his music, visit flocotorres7.bandcamp.com and nobodycaresnews.com.

Sebastian Arze lives in Asunción in Paraguay, where he is a member of the reggae-grunge band Deficiente. To learn more about the group, visit linktr.ee/Deficiente.

Covid Conversations is funded by an OSU Global Arts and Humanities Discovery Theme grant. It is produced and presented by radio producer and folklorist Rachel Hopkin. Episode 9 was recorded on May 4, 2021.

Covid Conversations Episode 8 features two visual artists and curators.

Cat Sheridan uses many different media in her artistic work, with a special focus on ceramics. Cat is also the director of the Ohio Arts Council’s Riffe Gallery which is based in downtown Columbus, the city where she lives.

Gabriel Amza is a Romanian photographer, curator, and community organizer. His work usually takes the form of long-term documentary projects and installations, often with themes relating to social justice and the environment. Gabriel lives in Timisoara, Romania.

Covid Conversations is funded by an OSU Global Arts and Humanities Discovery Theme grant. It is produced and presented by radio producer and folklorist Rachel Hopkin. Episode 8 was recorded on April 26, 2021.

Covid Conversations Episode 7 features two writers of YA fiction.

Natalie Richards is the New York Times bestselling author of seven books for young adults. She lives in Columbus, Ohio.

Fatima Sharaffedine is the award-winning writer and translator of books for children and young adults and also a writing tutor. She is from and is currently living in Beirut, Lebanon.

Covid Conversations is funded by an OSU Global Arts and Humanities Discovery Theme grant. It is produced and presented by radio producer and folklorist Rachel Hopkin. Episode 7 was recorded on February 25, 2021.