The Border: thoughts on place and identity
“There was a wall…Like all walls it was ambiguous, two-faced. What was inside it and what was outside it depended upon which side of it you were on.” ― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed I have been thinking a lot about borders. The borders I know come to being at the airport—at the security line where my belongings and body are scanned, at the booths of the immigration officers who take my fingerprints, my picture, my...
Not Throw Away Women: Black and Indigenous Women Disrupt Violence
On this week’s show we’re exploring how some women have been dehumanized to the point of indifference. We’ll learn how one community is undoing the silence around the violence women of color face. We’ll also hear about how serial killers were able to hunt down mostly Black women for three decades in South Los Angeles. Then we’ll take you to the Yucatan where pregnant indigenous women struggle under a health care system failing...
My Body My Message: women’s bodies as tools of self-empowerment
The female body as medium, and as message. How can a woman determine how she is perceived by the world, and even by herself? On this edition, we hear stories of women who are using their bodies for political protest, and as tools of self-empowerment…forcing everyone to reevaluate their perspectives on the female form. Featuring: Neda Topaloski & Xenia Chernyshova, Femen members Galia Ackerman, author of the book “Femen” Catherine...
Why we need more voices to speak the unspeakable.
My Community Radio Storytelling Fellowship with Making Contact (MC) has come to an end and I’m confident that my voice has been heard! I am happy to have had the opportunity to be one of the first cohort of fellows to participate in what was both a challenging and engaging project, which I want to dedicate to Kimberly Robertson (may she forever rest in peace) and to all of the black female (including transwomen)...
Alice Wong investigates interdependence between the disability and caregiver communities
I am a disabled person who uses personal assistance for almost every aspect of my activities of daily living. If I did not have paid and unpaid personal assistance (including family members), my life chances and opportunities would look drastically different. Without the usage of Medicaid-funded personal assistance programs such as IHSS (In Home Supportive Services) in California and family support, I know I would have to enter a...
Ivan Rodriguez is fighting the toxic effects of environmental racism in Southeast LA
Southeast Los Angeles is my home, it is also one of the most heavily industrialized areas in Los Angeles, a community about six and a half miles southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. My Making Contact story is about my experience of institutional environmental racism and the hidden effects it has on my community. The greatest challenge to the area is the large number of toxic polluters, superfund sites, brownfields and freeways. This so...
