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Ingrid Rojas Contreras searches for the forgotten magic in immigrant stories
For all thirteen years as an immigrant I have collected answers to this question: When you traveled over what special item did you bring? A poetry book. A dress. A father’s bow tie. I used to ask this more when I lived in Chicago, where I often found myself in the wee hours of the night waiting for the owl bus, huddling with strangers under the shelter of one heat lamp. I remember a young Mexican bartender who told me a flag and a tall African man who said for him it was his mother’s white, leather slippers. A friend recently told me he knew...
read moreVoice Recognition: Does how we sound determine who we are?
What do our voices say about us? On this edition we explore voice and identity. Lateef McLeod, our inaugural Community Storytelling Fellow, explains the everyday challenges that come with using a speech generating device. We’ll hear from someone who nearly lost their voice, and we’ll look at how voice contributes to trans women’s sense of safety and self. Featuring: Mya Byrne, singer-songwriter Kathe Perez, creator of EVA app Samuel Sennott, assistant professor of special education at Portland University Bob Segalman, author...
read moreAfter 31 years in prison, Al Sasser is giving a voice to men still inside
My piece is everything about the relationships fostered while under the most traumatic circumstances of sensory deprivation, political pressure and uncertainty. The reality of human confinement is extremely difficult to describe adequately. However I will endeavor to share the Truth of our existence while we struggled to rise above it. I hope to honor each individual involved with the process of building us up. Encouraging us to discover the endless possibilities available to those of us who were willing to direct our courage in a positive...
read moreHelp our fellows tell real stories and diversify the media!
In 2014 we created our Community Storytelling Fellowship because media needs to be MORE diverse, MORE relevant and BETTER REFLECT THE COMMUNITIES THEY COVER. Over the course of a year our team worked with 3 vibrant, committed based storytellers. During their 10-week paid immersion in audio storytelling, each fellow turned their personal experiences into 8 minute radio segments-intense, moving stories you won’t hear anywhere else. We recently announced our 2nd class of fellows and have some big plans ahead for this year’s cohort,...
read moreBeyond Stonewall: The Push for LGBT Civil Rights
We go back to the night in June 1969 at the New York City Stonewall Inn that sparked the LGBT rights movement. On today’s show we’ll hear about the day that galvanized a generation and the continued fight for LGBT civil rights. The first Pride parades took place in June 1970 marking the 1st anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. Michael Schirker and David Isay bring us an oral history Remembering Stonewall: The Birth of a Movement. Editor at large of the Huffington Posts’ Gay Voices Michelangelo Signorile says while there...
read moreAnnouncing Making Contact’s 2015-16 Community Storytelling Fellows
In keeping with our mission of covering important issues and helping community media makers tell their stories, Making Contact is pleased to announce our 2nd class of Community Storytelling Fellows! Welcome Al Sasser, Alice Wong, Ivan Rodriguez and Ingrid Rojas Contreras! The fellows will work with us through early 2016 and will each produce an 8 minute radio segment in addition to blog posts and online content. This is a paid, 10 week experiment in collaborative media making. Each fellow brings their individual expertise and lived experience...
read moreWalking in Two Worlds
In this radio adaptation of the documentary film, Walking in Two Worlds, we bring you to Alaska’s Tongass Forest, where the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act turned tribes into corporations and sparked a lengthy logging frenzy. We meet a Tlingit brother and sister, who are trying to heal both the forest and their native community. Special thanks to Specialty Studios. Featuring: Wanda Culp & Bob Loescher, Tlinget brother & Sister Peter Coyote, narrator Mike Jackson, Tlingit tribal historian Ernestine Hanlon-Abel, Weaver &...
read moreMaking Contact’s Violence Against Women of Color Live Chat
“This hierarchy of human life where if you are a woman of color and you’re impoverished, you’re at the very bottom and your life is seen as not worth anything.” –Margaret Prescod Join us on May 21st at 3pm PST as we discuss domestic, healthcare and police violence against women of color. This conversation continues our ongoing coverage on the cultural and structural dimensions of how violence against women and is being produced in solidarity with the National Day of Action to End State Violence Against Black...
read moreEast Oakland Mural honors women effected by violence
Her Resilience, the arts organization featured in Not Throw Away Women is an art-based, women-centered project intended to honor, commemorate and celebrate the lives of women affected by violence in the Oakland community. The project was created by Hazel Streete in honor of Kimberly Robertson, a young Black woman who was raped and murdered in Oakland last spring. Participating artists include Kira Marriner, Melody Shaiken, Nicole Gervacio, Magick Monica, Joanne Ludwig, Summer April Lelia, Shana La Reina, Kate Klingbeil, Adee Roberson &...
read moreReturning Home: From War Fighter to Student
What is it like to be a student who has fought in a war? Producers at The Stanford Storytelling Project’s podcast, State of the Human asked six Stanford students and recent alumni, all veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to tell their stories about “Returning Home.” Featuring: Dustin Barfield, Chris Clark, Josh Francis, Annie Hsieh, Russ Toll, and William Treseder, military veterans Heidi Toll, wife of veteran Producer/Host: Andrew Stelzer Music: Original music composed by Eoin Callery. “Morning of the War Horn” (by Hellenica) from...
read moreA story and a call to action: It’s time to end domestic violence
I had internalized the belief that being Black and female automatically puts me at a disadvantage and the only way to change these odds was to tie the knot. Well, that knot was tight and uncomfortable and only added to my oppression not ease its burden. At nineteen, I wanted to be a wife. I’d had faith in the fairytale, the happy-ever-after meme, and was sure my life would be better for it. But to my surprise and dismay, getting married brought me out of my mother’s house and into the transitory life and punishing hands of a man who would...
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States of Censorship: Journalism Under Attack
Imprisonment, oppressive laws, and harassment of journalists – these are just a few means of censorship around the world. The use of these repressive tactics threaten freedom of expression and the public’s right to information. On this edition, we hear from journalists in Ecuador and Mexico, and learn about the most censored countries from the Committee to Protect Journalists. Featuring: William Morocho, Page Designer with Diario HOY Jaime Mantilla, Director of Diario HOY newspaper Carlos Ochoa Hernandez, head of Supercom Rosental...
read moreKatha Pollitt explains how to Reclaim Abortion
In these short excerpts taken from an interview with Rose Aguillar, noted writer Katha Pollitt talks about reclaiming the word “PRO,”using a Reproductive Justice framework, distorted media coverage and how lack of access to abortion healthcare in Texas is forcing women to cross boarder for dangerous alternatives. Pollitt is a columnist for The Nation magazine and a feminist essayist, poet, critic and a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at The Nation Institute. Her new book is titled “Pro: Reclaiming...
read moreThe Power of Poetry
Making Contact partnered with the 2014 National Poetry Slam in Oakland, CA to produce this special open mic highlighting the power of thoughtful, truth telling, community focused poetry. Featuring Poets: Chris Cuadrado Lindsay Stone Jared Paul Caitlin Clark Queen T More information: http://nps2014.poetryslam.com Thanks to Dahled Jeffries, Maureen Benson and the staff of the National Poetry Slam. Listen to the full 2 hour open mic Photos from the...
read moreBP Five Years Later: Deepwater Horizon and the Cost of Oil
Five years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, not everyone is “back to normal”. On this edition, we follow BP’s trail from the Bayous of Louisiana to the fine art galleries of London. Featuring: Antonia Juhasz, investigative Journalist Monique Verdin & Beau Verdin, Houma tribe members David Gauthe, community organizer Thomas DarDar, United Houma Nation Chief Mark Miller, Southern Utah University History professor Mel Evans, author of Artwash: Big Oil and the Arts Host: Andrew Stelzer Contributing Producers: Anna...
read moreLoretta Ross on Trust Black Women and the fight for Reproductive Justice
When such a racialized strategy is used to weaken the prochoice movement, as an African American women I felt the best people to respond would be the black women who were under attack. For over 20 years Loretta J. Ross has been fighting for the rights of women of color. As a co-founder of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective she organized women of color in the reproductive justice movement and was one of the creators of the term “Reproductive Justice” in 1994. In this 4-min interview exceprt, Ross talks about...
read moreHeat of the Moment: Sea Level Rise
Climate change is here affecting weather conditions and sea levels. In India it’s also having a more surprising influence on the country’s tigers. On this edition of Making Contact, reporter Daniel Grossman takes us to India in Heat of the Moment: Sea Level Rise. Heat of the Moment was originally produced for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and WBUR. Featuring: Pranabes Sanyal, former park director for the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve Amit Mallick, Sundarbans resident and man attacked by tiger Tushar Kanjilal, secretary of the...
read moreWhat can Nick Cannon and Nicki Minaj teach us about abortion?
One in three women will have an abortion in her lifetime, yet in pop culture accurate portrayals of real people’s stories are rare. In this special interview, two reproductive justice advocates listen and discuss two songs: Nick Cannon’s ‘Can I Live?’ and Nicki Minaj’s ‘Autobiography’, and ask: what messages are pop songs sending about reproductive health issues? Featuring: Alicia Walters, Movement Building Director at Forward Together Samara Azam-Yu, Executive Director at ACCESS Women’s...
read moreThe Controversial Nicaragua Canal
Officially opening in 1914, the Panama Canal connected the Atlantic and Pacific creating a short-cut for ships. It was the biggest infrastructure project of its time. But originally the United States wanted to build the canal in Nicaragua. The plans shifted largely after French engineer Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla convinced U.S. lawmakers otherwise. Well now the Nicaragua canal plans are back on the table. Nicaragua plans to build a $50 billion canal to connect the Caribbean and Pacific. Supporters argue it will create more than 250,000 jobs....
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