Podcasts by We Want the Airwaves
Nia King's trying to figure out if her dream of making a living as an art activist is beyond reach. In this podcast, she seeks advice from other political queer artists, trans artists, and artists of color who seem to have figured out how to make art and make rent without compromising their values.
Further podcasts by Nia King
Podcast on the topic Gesellschaft und Kultur
All episodes
117: Ten Year Anniversary Episode, pt. 1 from 2023-04-02T22:35
We Want the Airwaves celebrates 10 years with a panel featuring six of the artists from Listen
116: No Hay Tos from 2021-11-25T08:00
In this very special CROSSOVER episode, I interview the hosts of the Mexican podcast No Hay Tos (in English after they interviewed me for their own show in Spanish). Beto and Héctor, both long-t...
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115: Simi Kadirgamar from 2021-03-08T03:50:06
Sri Lankan-American Tamil trans woman reporter and martial artist Simi Kadirgamar is the guest on this month's podcast episode. In it, we discuss her reported/illustrated zine on the Indian and ...
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114: Briyana D. Clarel from 2021-03-01T03:01:38
Singer, dancer, actor: Briyana Clarel is a triple threat! In this episode, the Black, nonbinary theater artist discusses growing up in South Jersey, racism at Princeton, and learning to love mus...
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113: Princess Harmony from 2020-10-18T23:00:17
Afro-Latina trans woman essayist Princess Harmony stops by the podcast to discuss her writing for Black Girl Dangerous, Wear Your Voice and Workers World. We also discuss what's missing in repor...
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112: Gabriela Watson-Burkett, pt 2 from 2020-09-21T00:30:08
In part two of my interview with Afro-Peruvian Brazilian filmmaker Gabriela Watson-Burkett, we discuss her second film, Baobab Flowers and her new organization, Presente! Media. Baobab Flowers f...
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111: Gabriela Watson-Burkett from 2020-09-06T23:30:29
Filmmaker and producer Gabriela Watson-Burkett makes work to connect people across the African diaspora. Her first film, Nosotros Afroperuanos, discusses Black history ...
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110: Mike Watkins and Teresa Ellis from 2020-08-17T01:00
How has coronavirus impacted the fitness industry? In this episode Nia chats with two queer Black business owners, athletic trainer Mike Watkins and Pilates instructor Teresa Ellis, to find out....
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109: Fèini Yĭn from 2020-08-02T19:27:21
At the intersection of political art and environmental science, queer nonbinary Chinese-American F Listen
108: Anna Vo from 2020-06-01T07:00
To say that Vo, a nonbinary trans masc Vietnamese immigant, is an artist is to dance to the arrhythmic tune of understatement: they are a traveler, social worker, and wizened anarchist soul who ...
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107: Ignacio Rivera from 2020-05-10T21:00:11
Black Boricua Taíno queer and trans artist Ignacio Rivera is a poet, performer and activist working to end child sexual abuse, or CSA. They are also a grandparent. In this interview, featuring t...
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106: Suzy X from 2020-04-19T13:38:56
Bisexual Latina writer, comics artist and musician Suzy X has gone from making zines to drawing comics for Listen
105: Rahul Mehta from 2020-03-09T02:00
Queer Indian-American author Rahul Mehta discusses his award-winning collection of short stories, Quarantine; growing up Asian in Appalachia; and how ...
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104: Alex Smith from 2020-02-03T03:00
Alex Smith is a queer, Black sci-fi writer, musician and visual artist. In this interview, we discuss his collection of short stories, Listen
103: BL Shirelle from 2019-12-16T00:26:01
BL Shirelle of Die Jim Crow Records discusses the challenges of recording and releasing music by incarcerated artists. She also shares stories of dealing drugs, doing time and raising kids with ...
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102: Oliver Spencer / St. Sol from 2019-11-03T23:00:02
Black queer Philadelphia-based musician and visual artist Oliver Spencer (known musically as Listen
101: Joyce Hatton from 2019-10-13T17:10:12
Black asexual zinester and cartoonist Joyce Hatton discusses their comic Locks and their zines ...
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August 2019 announcements from 2019-08-05T01:57:22
1.) I'm taking a break from the podcast. I'll be back in October.
2.) I'm moving to Philly. Please hit my up if you have leads on any jobs!
3.) The Listen
100: Mey Rude from 2019-07-05T00:52:40
Bisexual trans Latina writer Mey Rude discusses growing up in Idaho, getting kicked out of her church family, and how comics helped her find her queer- and trans-ness. Read the transcript at Listen
99: Aja Archuleta from 2019-06-10T04:00
Two-Spirit mestiza musician Aja Archuleta discusses growing up in a big Mexican family with deep Denver roots, discovering her Indigenous identity, and why "Two-Spirit" now fits her better than ...
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98: Kyle Casey Chu from 2019-05-06T02:38:31
Queer Chinese-American drag queen, filmmaker, and musician, Kyle Casey Chu talks growing up in SF, touring the South in...
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97: 6 Year Anniversary Episode! from 2019-04-08T02:00
Acclaimed author and artist Luna Merbruja interviews me (Nia King) about my pre-podcast life as zinester and cartoonist, turning the podcast into a book, and how the QTPOC art world has changed ...
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96: The Lady Ms. Vagina Jenkins from 2019-03-04T01:08:57
Black queer femme Southerner The Lady Ms. Vagina Jenkins may be best known as a burlesque performer, but she's also a stand-up comic, filmmaker, and taxidermist. In this interview, she discusses...
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94: Jocquese Whitfield from 2019-01-08T07:11:12
Black queer SF native and dancer Jocquese Whitfield discusses discovering vogue in college, his first ball in Oakland, performing with MIA and Azealia Banks, taking corporate money and giving ba...
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93: Arielle Twist from 2018-11-05T03:00
Indigenous trans woman poet Arielle Twist discusses her upcoming book Listen
92: Malcolm Lasalle from 2018-09-30T07:00
Is visibility ultimately a good thing for the artist with revolutionary intentions? For most artists, seeking to be visible to the mainstream mass media is key to economic survival. However that...
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91: Jackie Wang, pt 2 from 2018-09-18T03:58:05
Jackie Wang's book Carceral Capitalism helps draw a direct line between the Recession of 2008, the following calls for austerity, and the visible uptick in anti-Black police violence. I...
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90: Jackie Wang from 2018-09-03T17:49:45
Queer mixed-race writer Jackie Wang and I lived parallel lives in different parts of the country. In this first half of the interview, we reminisce about our teen years, spent listening to punk,...
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89: Chief Esparza from 2018-08-06T02:30:54
Chief Esparza is the founder and editor-in-chief of EFNIKS.com, an online magazine for queer and trans people of color. In this e...
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88: Rabih Alameddine from 2018-07-05T02:00
Gay Lebanese-American novelist Rabih Alameddine authored the Californi...
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87: Venus Di'Khadijah Selenite from 2018-06-04T02:30
Black trans dyke poet Venus Di'Khadijah Selenite discusses finding her voice in the Baton Rouge slam poetry scene...
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86: Joamette Gil, pt 2 from 2018-05-22T17:45:44
In part two of my interview with queer Afro-Cuban comics artist, editor, and publisher Joamette Gil, we get into the nut...
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85: Joamette Gil, pt 1 from 2018-05-07T02:00
Queer Afro-Cuban illustrator Joamette Gil and I discuss some of the many racial categories that exist in Cuban socie...
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84: André Pérez, pt 2 from 2018-04-23T02:00
Mixed-race Puerto Rican filmmaker and oral historian André Pérez discusses how he came to identify as a...
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83: André Pérez, pt 1 from 2018-04-09T02:00
Mixed-race filmmaker Andre Perez discusses growing up queer and trans in the South, being raised by a w...
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82: Teresa Ellis, pt 2 from 2018-03-26T02:00
In part two of my interview with Teresa Ellis, proprietor of PB&J: Pilates, Barre & Jams, we discuss sounding white, buying Black, and whether working out can actually help with chronic pain. Listen
81: Teresa Ellis, pt 1 from 2018-03-12T03:21:01
Black queer cis femme Teresa Ellis worked as a stripper at the Lusty Lady for 13 years (before and after it was unionized), founded one of the first Black burlesque troupes (Harlem Shake), raise...
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80: DJ YNG GMA from 2018-02-04T19:21:32
Biracial genderqueer DJ YNG GMA and I discuss how grandmas inspire their party philosophy, why they're not on social media, and the increasingly political hip-hop that's been coming out since th...
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79: Samar Habib from 2017-12-03T03:22:16
Palestinian scholar Samar Habib is the author of Female Homosexuality in the Middle East, Islam and Homosexuality, A Tree Like Rain, and Rughum and Najda. In ...
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78: Gabby Rivera, pt 2 from 2017-11-20T06:07:51
Queer Puerto Rican novelist and writer of Marvel Comics "America" series Gabby Rivera and I discuss white feminism, cis feminism, writing for X-Men's Storm and making a living off of writing and...
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77: Gabby Rivera, pt 1 from 2017-11-05T22:05:49
Queer Puerto Rican writer Gabby Rivera writes a series for Marvel Comics called America. The protagonist, America Chavez, is a Puerto Rican lesbian with two moms who punches star-shaped holes in...
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76: Paradise Khanmalek from 2017-10-02T04:33:52
Paradise Khanmalek draws fat, hairy, brown goddesses. In this episode, Paradise and I discuss the way capitalism segments the art world, the way Iranians are racialized in the US, and the spirit...
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75: Sarah Burke from 2017-09-03T15:06:50
Former managing editor of the East Bay Express, Sarah Burke and I discuss the exploitation of gallery artists and the masculinist nature of journalism. We also try to get to the heart of what ma...
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74: Anthony J. Williams, pt 2 from 2017-08-15T02:30:19
In part two of this interview with Black queer writer Anthony J. Williams, we discuss anti-Black racism in POC communities, analyze some common Bay Area social justice lingo, and identify a few ...
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73: Anthony J. Williams, pt 1 from 2017-08-08T03:18:19
Queer Black non-binary writer Anthony J. Williams and I discuss his time studying abroad in South Africa, growing up in a military family, and the lack of Black folks in Bay Area "POC" spaces. Listen
72: jia qing wilson-yang from 2017-07-04T20:03:07
Mixed-race Chinese and white Canadian trans lady novelist jia qing wilson-yang and I sit down to discuss her Lambda Award-winning novel, Small Beauty. Topics covere...
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71: Farzana Doctor from 2017-06-11T19:17:04
Indian-Canadian queer Muslim author Farzana Doctor and I discuss her three novels, achieving diversity without sacrificing quality, and being divinely inspired. Photo by Vivek Shraya.
Rea...
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70: Kai Cheng Thom from 2017-05-01T07:00
Chinese-Canadian trans poet and author Kai Cheng Thom and I discuss her new book, Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl's Confabulous Memoir, her fear of loving violence too ...
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69: Qwo-Li Driskill from 2017-04-03T02:31:53
Cherokee Two-Spirit artist, activist, and scholar Qwo-Li Driskill knows more about the history of indigenous people in the US than anyone I know. In this episode we discuss the complicated relat...
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68: Hasan Namir from 2017-03-05T19:11
Gay Muslim Iraqi-Canadian author Hasan Namir asked himself, “What would my life be like if I had never left Iraq?” He imagines the answer in his Lambda Award-winning novel, God in Pink....
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67: Kamal Al-Solaylee from 2017-02-04T23:22:25
Gay Muslim Yemeni-Canadian journalist Kamal Al-Solaylee traveled to ten different countries to report Listen
Hari Kondabolu Re-release! from 2016-12-25T07:47:36
Usually on We Want the Airwaves I interview queer and...
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66: Launch Party for Queer&Trans Artists of Color, Volume 2 from 2016-12-10T04:22:12
In this talk-show style live podcast recording, Nia interviews Elena Rose about how Sojourner Truth NEVER said "Ain't I a woman?", Juba Kalamka about meeting Kanye when he was fifteen, Lexi Adsi...
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65: Star Amerasu, pt 2 from 2016-10-31T06:00:51
Black trans woman musician and performance artist Star Amerasu discusses the ups and downs of her last few years, from sex working and living in a transitional housing program/SRO to touring Eur...
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64: Star Amerasu, pt 1 from 2016-10-10T04:01:28
Star Amerasu is a queer Black trans woman in a binary art world. In this interview, she discusses overcoming trauma through performance art, growing up in six different state...
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63: The Bollywood Project from 2016-09-03T19:00
Hani and Uzma are the co-hosts of my FAVORITE podcast, The Bollywood Project. In this interview, we discuss our fa...
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62: Trish Salah from 2016-08-08T02:35:12
Mixed-race Arab trans woman poet, educator, and activist Trish Salah has a lot of work to be proud of. In this talk, she maps out her trajectory, from being part of a militant labor union in gra...
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61: Sam Levin, pt 2 from 2016-07-16T21:43:23
East Bay Express-turned-Guardian reporter Sam Levin doesn’t consider himself an artist or an activist, but in this interview I try to convince him otherwise, while also trying to get him to teac...
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60: Sam Levin, pt 1 from 2016-07-02T20:19:21
Sam Levin didn't chose crime. Crime chose him. The baby-faced Daily News intern-turned-Guardian reporter talks what makes a good reporter and his own journey to becoming one: talking to people o...
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59: Neve Be(ast)/Lyric Seal from 2016-06-06T00:07:18
Multiracial, multigender, multimedia artist Neve Be(ast) discusses sex work, #branding, and being the disabled Black punk Lana Del Rey.
58: Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha from 2016-04-03T20:11:23
Sri Lankan/Irish queer disabled femme writer Leah Lakshmi and I discuss her new memoir, Dirty River, racism in t...
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57: Osa Atoe from 2016-03-04T03:28:25
- Queer Black zinester and punk musician Osa Atoe discusses writing a Black punk zine (Shotgun Seamstress), touring with an all girl band (The New Bloods), and growing up Nigerian-American i... Listen
56: Rob Fatal from 2016-02-08T18:03:22
Queer Chicano/Native filmmaker Rob Fatal and I discuss how we come to understand who we are when parts of our history are denied us. We also take an in-depth look at his film Mi Familia, about t...
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55: Achy Obejas from 2016-01-03T07:07:14
Cuban-American lesbian novelist and journalist Achy Obejas discusses growing up in the Midwest with her dad in a mental hospital, her racially-mixed mom trying to pass as white, and Confederate ...
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54: W. Kamau Bell from 2015-12-28T20:44:29
Comedian W. Kamau Bell discusses his past FX show (Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell), his upcoming CNN show (United Shades of America), moving his family back to the Bay Area,...
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53: Lynn Cyrin, pt 2 from 2015-12-22T04:24:51
In part 2 of my interview with tech activist Lynn Cyrin, we discuss anti-Black racism at Facebook, Google, Dropbox and Reddit. Lynn explains why Facebook won't change its "real names" policy and...
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52: Lynn Cyrin, pt 1 from 2015-12-05T20:05:39
Black trans woman tech activist Lynn Cyrin discusses being homeless in SF, crashing fancy tech events, and crowdfunding enough money to get a place her own (after moving to Portland).
Rea...
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51: Grace Rosario Perkins from 2015-11-01T07:15:02
Indigenous multimedia artist Grace Rosario Perkins discusses Thin Leather, a series of paintings she collaborated with her dad on, the whiteness/maleness of the music program at Mills College, a...
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50: micha cárdenas from 2015-10-09T03:08:23
micha cárdenas has been on the cutting edge of using technology for social change since the Myspace days. In this interview she discusses virtual sit-ins, designing an app to help immigrants fin...
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49: Monica Trinidad from 2015-09-06T21:19:09
Monica Trinidad is a Chicago-born, Chicago-based artist, activist, and prison abolitionist. In part one of this interview we discuss her work with Brown and Proud Press, Moms United Against Viol...
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48: Aamer Rahman from 2015-08-17T00:07:15
Back in April, I had the privilege of interviewing (straight) Australian comedian Aamer Rahman while he was touring the US. Rahman is perhaps best known as part of the comedy duo Fear of a Brown...
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47: Elena Rose from 2015-08-02T23:21:27
Elena Rose is a mixed-race, mixed-class, trans woman of color performance poet and minister. In this interview she described how her mom's working-class values shaped her ideas of womanhood, fin...
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46: Vivek Shraya from 2015-06-28T23:33:09
Musician. Author. Filmmaker. What doesn't Vivek Shraya do? Back in April, I sat ...
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45: Ajuan Mance from 2015-05-31T01:45:41
Ajuan Mance is a visual artist and my former literature professor. She has been an actively involved in The Art of Living Black for several years and draws a portrait series called 1001 Black Me...
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44: Texta Queen from 2015-05-01T07:24:17
Visual artist Texta Queen and I discuss the differences between the US and Australia in terms of racism, making a living as an artist, and organizing DIY events. Come see both of us at the Listen
43: Indira Allegra from 2015-04-05T21:49:14
34: Amir Rabiyah from 2014-09-01T19:00
Mixed-race queer Arab indigenous poet Amir Rabiyah and I discuss how to "respectfully reintegrate" parts of your racial/ethnic heritage that have been assimilated away, growing up mixed in Hawai...
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32: Miyuki Baker from 2014-07-03T19:00
Miyuki Baker spent fourteen months traveling to sixteen countries and making zines about the queer cultures she encountered in each place. In this interview we discuss how she found the funds to...
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30: Devi K from 2014-05-04T19:00
Devi K is the artistic director of Peacock Rebellion, a Bay Area-based queer and trans people of color performing arts organization. Peacock Rebel...
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29: Totally Radical Muslims from 2014-04-18T19:00
Totally Radical Muslim zine editors Shenaaz Janmohamed, Aliya Karmali, and Roxana Dhada discuss how to enable prisoners to participate in zine culture, tensions between Sunni and Shi'a Muslim co...
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28: Lexi Adsit from 2014-03-02T20:00
When trans women of color take over the world, Lexi Adsit will be to blame. This recent SF State graduate is currently co-organizin...
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22: J Mase III from 2013-10-09T19:00
Let's be honest. Relationships between queer communities and communities of faith are often icy at best, and outright antagonistic at worst. So where does that leave queer people of faith?
<... Listen
21: Kiam Marcelo Junio from 2013-09-17T19:00
Veteran. Fashion Designer. Yoga Instructor. This interview investigates the many lives of Listen
19: Van Binfa from 2013-08-18T19:00
Cartoonist. Nationally-recognized activist. Bookseller. This week I sat down with Van Binfa, co-founder of the Soy Quien Soy Trans Empowerment Collective to talk about learning to put himself be...
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12: Fabian Romero from 2013-07-01T19:00
Fabian Romero is a queer Chicano poet, performance artist and community organizer. In this interview, Fabian opens up about how getting sick, losing weight, and gaining thin privilege have affec...
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9: Love Corazón from 2013-06-03T19:00
Love Corazón is an incredibly wise (and accomplished) young woman who has just published her first book, Trauma Queen, about surviving childhood sexual abuse. In this interview, she shares some ...
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8: Julio Salgado from 2013-05-21T19:00
It's the radicals versus the assimilationists. But wait, are we talking about the queers or the DREAMers? In this case, it's both! Undocuqueer activist illustrator Listen
7: Ryka Aoki from 2013-05-11T19:00
Chemist. Poet. Fifth-degree black belt. Meet Ryka Aoki, author of the new Lamba Literary Award-nominated book of poetry (and more), Seasonal Velocities. In this interview, we discuss her previou...
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5: Magnoliah Black from 2013-04-15T19:00
Magnoliah Black hates Tyler Perry. This week I sat down with the burlesque performer, writer, ...
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3: Kim Tillman from 2013-03-13T19:00
Kim Tillman has been writing her Grammy acceptance speech since she was a little girl. Now that she's moved to LA to focus on her music career, she's closer to achieving that dream than ever. Sh...
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1: Virgie Tovar from 2013-03-12T19:00
Award-winning author. Sex educator. Radio host. What hasn't this woman done? In this episode, Nia sits down with Virgie Tovar, editor of Listen