Making Contact

In 2012, the state of California declared water a human right. Yet nearly 400 water systems don't meet the state's drinking water standards. In the Central Valley, the community of East Orosi hasn’t had safe tap water in over 20 years. The water is full of harmful nitrates and other runoff from industrial agriculture. We visit East Orosi and talk to Berta Diaz Ochoa and others about what it’s like living without access to clean drinking water and how the community has taken action to find a solution. This episode originally aired in July 2023. Making Contact Credits Episode host and producer: Salima Hamirani Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Engineer: [Jeff Emtman](http://www.jeffemtman.com/)  Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain Voiceovers Amy Gastelum Bobbi James Ana Portnoy Brimmer Alex Corey Music Credits Komiku – Blue Monet’s Water Lilies Dark Rainy Day Water Drops, Sad Slow Piano Background Mother Womb piano Guracha Sonidera Cumbia Loops De Bateria Series II   Learn More:  Making Contact homepage | Community Water Center | Self Help Enterprises | State Water Resources Control Board  

Dr. Rebecca Crumpler was the first Black woman to become a physician in the United States. Working in the aftermath of the Civil War, she made immense contributions to public health, despite the racism and sexism she faced. We'll trace the course of her remarkable life and work with in a story brought to us by the podcast Lost Women of Science, hosted by Katie Hafner and producer Dominique Janee. Featuring:  Dr. Melody McCloud, Physician and author of Black Women’s Wellness Dr. Joan Reede, Dean for Diversity and Community Partnership at Harvard Medical School  Jim Downs, Historian and author of Sick from Freedom * Victoria Gall, with Hyde Park Historical Society and Friends of the Hyde Park Branch Library Making Contact Credits Episode host and producer: Lucy Kang Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Engineer: Jeff Emtman  Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain Music Credit: "The Road From Home" by Sergii Pavkin from Pixabay Lost Women of Science: "Dr. Rebecca Crumpler, America's First Black Female Public Health Pioneer" Credits Producer and host: Dominique Janee  Host: Katie Hafner Managing senior producer: Barbara Howard  Audio engineer and sound designer: Samia Bouzid  Published in partnership with Scientific American   Learn More:  Making Contact homepage | Listen to the full episode from Lost Women of Science  

For AAPI Heritage Month, we bring you an encore of our 2023 episode "Seeing Signs." With help from the Queens Memory Podcast, we'll learn about “Little Manila,” a Filipino neighborhood dating back to the 1970s that still struggles to find its political footing. We also hear from Filipino care workers about their experiences battling COVID 19. This episode first aired on Making Contact in May 2023. Featuring: Potri Ranka Manis: Nurse, Activist and Artist Joey Golja: Community Member Mary Jane de Leon: Community Member John Bahia: Community Member Steven Raga: Assemblymember for District 30, Queens, NY Jaclyn Reyes: Artist, Designer, and Cultural Organizer Gemma Balagtas: Community Member, Nurse Zenaida (Ida) Castillo: Community Member and Owner of PhilAm Food Mart  Making Contact Team: Episode host and producer: Amy Gastelum Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Engineer: Jeff Emtman Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain Queens Memory Podcast Team: Producers: Rosalind Tordesillas, Melody Cao, Anna Williams, and Natalie Milbrodt Mixing and editing by Cory Choy Music composed by Elias Ravin Voiceover work by Arianne Arreglado Learn More:  Making Contact homepage | Listen to Season 3 of the Queens Memory Podcast: NYC Libraries | Spotify | Apple Podcasts  

Composer, pianist, and vocalist Samora Pinderhughes tells us about The Healing Project. The Healing Project, a fundamentally abolitionist project, explores the structures of systemic racism and the prison industrial complex. The Healing Project takes action towards abolition with forms such as musical songs, films, an exhibition, community gatherings, live performances, and a digital library of audio interviews. At the center of the project are the intergenerational voices of people across the country, including folks incarcerated in prisons and detention centers. Their stories, experiences, and ideas serve as the foundation for The Healing Project’s vision for societal transformation. This story first aired in February 2023. Featuring: Samora Pinderhughes, composer, pianist/vocalist, and interdisciplinary artist Making Contact Credits: Episode Host: Anita Johnson Segment Editors: Jessica Partnow, Lucy Kang, Jacinda Abcarian Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Editor: Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong Engineer: Jeff Emtman  Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain  Music Credits: Borrtex – “Creeping” Samora Pinderhughes – “Process” Samora Pinderhughes – “Hope” Learn More:  Samora Pinderhughes | The Healing Project | Exhibition site | Tiny Desk Concert filmed live inside the exhibition | Exhibition films, “Masculinity” & “Hold that Weight” | Exhibition album  

In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, we bring you a story at the intersection of therapy, healing and social justice. We'll hear about one therapist’s work to bring the lens of radical therapy and community care into her practice. This piece was produced by the podcast Re:Work from the UCLA Labor Center. Featuring: Claudia Morales, therapist at Social Justice Healing Making Contact Team Episode host and producer: Lucy Kang Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Engineer: [Jeff Emtman](http://www.jeffemtman.com/)  Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain Music credit: "Documentary" by [Coma-Media](https://pixabay.com/users/coma-media-24399569/) via Pixabay Re:Work Episode "Radical Therapy" Credits Hosted and produced by Veena Hampapur and Saba Waheed Sound design and editing by Veena Hampapur  Mixing by Aaron Dalton Learn More:  Re:Work from the UCLA Labor Center Making Contact is an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio show and podcast featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world.

For Earth Day, we bring back a special environmental episode from our archives!  As we head into an ever warming world, some experts and politicians are embracing a possible solution to climate change called geoengineering. Theoretically geoengineering could slow down climate change, stop it, and maybe even remove carbon from the air. It sounds like the perfect answer for a global political system that just can’t stop burning fossil fuels even if it kills us all. But it might not be the easy fix we’re hoping for. We talk to scientists and activists about what geoengineering is and why it could actually be a dangerous way to tackle climate change. We also dive into the moral and ethical questions of testing geoengineering technology on Indigenous lands. This episode first aired in 2023. Featuring: Basav Sen, Climate Justice Project Director at the Institute for Policy Studies | Dr. Steven Zornetzer, Vice-Chair, Governing Board of Arctic Ice Project | Panganga Pungowiyi, organizer for the nonprofit Indigenous Environmental Network in Alaska  Making Contact Team: Episode hosts: Salima Hamirani and Jessica Partnow | Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang | Executive Director: Jina Chung | Engineer: Jeff Emtman | Editor: Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong | Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain Music Credits: Chris Zabriskie – Air Hockey Salon | Bio Unit – Industrial Zone | Chris Zabriskie – Take Off and Shoot a Zero | Doctor Turtle – Leap Second | Monplaisir – Ridiculous | Monplaisir – Juan Garcia Madero  Learn More:  Indigenous Environmental Network | Arctic Ice Project | Institute for Policy Studies Making Contact is an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio show and podcast featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world.

For Black Maternal Health Week, we celebrate the important work that Black midwives do in their communities. In this week's show, we'll hear a conversation about how one woman followed her calling to midwifery in a story brought to us by the podcast Re:Work from the UCLA Labor Center. Featuring Kimberly Durdin, licensed midwife and co-founder of Kindred Space LA and the Birthing People Foundation Making Contact Team Episode host and producer: Lucy Kang Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Engineer: Jeff Emtman Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain Music credit: "Documentary" by The Mountain via Pixabay Re:Work Episode Credits Hosted and produced by Veena Hampapur and Saba Waheed Learn More Making Contact homepage | Re:Work from the UCLA Labor Center Making Contact is an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio show and podcast featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world.

What is caste? According to author Thenmozhi Soundararajan, “caste is suffering. That one’s worth and fate are determined at the moment of birth. Forced to exist in a caste apartheid of segregated ghettos." On this week's episode, we talk to Thenmozhi Soundararajan the author of The Trauma of Caste: A Dalit Feminist Meditation on Survivorship, Healing, and Abolition. Examining caste from a feminist, abolitionist, and Dalit Buddhist perspective , Thenmozhi lays bare the grief, trauma, rage, and stolen futures enacted by Brahminical social structures on the caste-oppressed. This is an encore presentation of a show that first aired June 12, 2024. Featuring: Thenmozhi Soundararajan the author of The Trauma of Caste: A Dalit Feminist Meditation on Survivorship, Healing, and Abolitio   Making Contact Team Host: Anita Johnson Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Editor: Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong Engineer: Jeff Emtman  Digital Marketing Manager: Lissa Deonarain   Music: Blue Dot Sessions - "3rd Chair" Blue Dot Sessions - "Paving Stones"   Learn More:  The Trauma of Caste: A Dalit Feminist Meditation on Survivorship, Healing, and Abolition Thenmozhi Soundararajan / Dalit Diva Google’s plan to talk about caste bias led to ‘division and rancor’ Hindu Sect Accused of Using Forced Labor Dismantling the Caste System Making Contact is an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio show and podcast featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world.

On this week's episode, we speak with Bay Area based comedian Karinda Dobbins about the release of her debut comedy album, Black & Blue. In Black & Blue, Karinda shares personal stories - finding humor in the most ordinary moments of her daily life - including her girlfriend’s arbitrary policy on household pests, the changes hipsters have brought to Oakland, and a Black woman’s unique packing list for hiking. This is an encore presentation of a show that first aired August 14, 2024. Featuring: Karinda Dobbins, standup comedian, writer, and actor Making Contact Staff: Host: Anita Johnson Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Editor: Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong  Engineer: [Jeff Emtman](http://www.jeffemtman.com/)  Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain Music Credits: Dee Yan-Key "Hold on" Audiobinger "The Garden State"   Learn More:  Karinda Dobbins  Making Contact is an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio show and podcast featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world.

Ellie Mystal, a justice correspondent for The Nation and author of "Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy's Guide to the Constitution," dives deep into the implications of Trump's Supreme Court appointments. He discusses how Trump's restructuring has resulted in a powerful conservative majority, leading to major rulings like the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Mystal critiques Democratic failures to counter this shift and speculates on potential future nominations that could further impact our rights. He emphasizes the importance of grassroots activism for meaningful change.