Brooklyn, USA BRIC RADIO

The idea of a cooperative, or co-op, where everyone who works at a company is also a part-owner, is nothing new. New York state is home to more co-ops than anywhere else in the country. To wrap up our series on work and labor, we’re checking in with Brooklynites who are organizing and maintaining worker co-ops, and in the process creating a less exploitative, more equitable workplace, way of life, and world. • Brooklyn, USA is produced by Emily Boghossian, Shirin Barghi, Charlie Hoxie, Khyriel Palmer, and Mayumi Sato. If you have something to say and want us to share it on the show, here’s how you can send us a message: https://bit.ly/2Z3pfaW

• Thank you to this week from Yvonne Marquez.

• Transcript: https://bit.ly/3k81smR

Historian Benjamin Hunnicutt has called the push for more free time the “forgotten American dream"; but somewhere along the way the pursuit of that happiness was replaced by the idea that work and wealth are ends in themselves. This week, we're imagining the utopian and dystopian futures of work. • Brooklyn, USA is produced by Emily Boghossian, Shirin Barghi, Charlie Hoxie, Khyriel Palmer, and Mayumi Sato. If you have something to say and want us to share it on the show, here’s how you can send us a message: https://bit.ly/2Z3pfaW

• Thank you to Alisha Bhagat, Muhammad Floyd, Rob Cameron, Brad Parks, James Earl King, Carlos Luis Delgado, Christopher Lazariuk, and the Kaleidocast podcast.

• Transcript: https://bit.ly/3CH73XL

They say, “love your job, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” But what happens when you turn a hobby or interest into a profession? This week, we spoke with members of the Nets Gaming Crew – a professional NBA2K team affiliated with the Brooklyn Nets, and the founder of CoExist gaming – a hub for professional gamers in the NYC area, about what happens when play becomes work. • Brooklyn, USA is produced by Emily Boghossian, Shirin Barghi, Charlie Hoxie, Khyriel Palmer, and Mayumi Sato. If you have something to say and want us to share it on the show, here’s how you can send us a message: https://bit.ly/2Z3pfaW

• Thank you to Kuye Youngblood, Alex Bernstein, Ian Curtis, Letta J, and Mike Ren.

• Transcript: https://bit.ly/3GTLrtr

The COVID-19 pandemic demanded more of workers: longer hours, angrier customers, and increased exposure to disease. Now, workers across the country — from baristas to warehouse workers to nurses — are organizing to demand safer, fairer workplaces. Workers in New York City are leading this wave of action, unionizing more workers than anywhere else in the country. Producer Melanie Kruvelis spoke to striking workers, elected officials, and community members to understand what's at stake for New York City's workers — and how organizing in the five boroughs impacts working people across the country. • Brooklyn, USA is produced by Emily Boghossian, Shirin Barghi, Charlie Hoxie, Khyriel Palmer, and Mayumi Sato. If you have something to say and want us to share it on the show, here’s how you can send us a message: https://bit.ly/2Z3pfaW

• Thank you to Melanie Kruvelis, Zach Lennon-Simon, Lee-Sean Huang, Cara Levine, Megan, and striking workers everywhere!

• Transcript: https://bit.ly/3VEENfb

Art has long been a lever for working class solidarity and social justice. It’s also a collaborative form of labor that props up some workers and devalues others. This week, we're taking a long, hard look at two works of art: Rodrigo Valenzuela: New Works for a Post Worker’s World, an exhibition on view at BRIC House through December 23rd, and 7 MINUTES, a play produced by Waterwell that premiered at HERE Arts Center last spring. • Brooklyn, USA is produced by Emily Boghossian, Shirin Barghi, Charlie Hoxie, Khyriel Palmer, and Mayumi Sato. If you have something to say and want us to share it on the show, here’s how you can send us a message: https://bit.ly/2Z3pfaW

• Thank you to Justin Bryant, Elizabeth Ferrer, Marc Enette, Waterwell, Lee Sunday Evans, Arian Moayed, Andrew Tilson, and Matthew Munroe aka Superlative Sain.

• Transcript: https://bit.ly/3ATfJZS

This season, we’re taking an in-depth look at work and the history and future of labor organizing in Brooklyn. To kick off our series, we spoke with Dr. Joshua Freeman, CUNY professor and author of Working-Class New York: Life and Labor Since World War II; Celeste Headlee, NPR journalist and author of Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving. • Brooklyn, USA is produced by Emily Boghossian, Shirin Barghi, Charlie Hoxie, Khyriel Palmer, and Mayumi Sato. If you have something to say and want us to share it on the show, here’s how you can send us a message: https://bit.ly/2Z3pfaW

• Thank you to Melanie Kruvelis, Ashley Sandberg, and Zakiya Gibbons.

• Transcript: https://bit.ly/3AEHkOG