Citizen Reporter

John Aravosis has been fighting for a better country and a better world for over 30 years. As a journalist and a commentator, despite all his experience, he says there has never been anything as confounding and threatening as the current president of the United States. Scary times in America. Yet somewhere in the madness, John also talks about where he finds hope, possibility, and humor. Today on the podcast we hear about what he's seeing in Washington DC, and talk about the state of the media and his personal experience from legendary blogger to a rising force in the podcast world. Listen and enjoy!

South Africa is not a place where keeping a distance from one another matches the traditions of how communities have survived and thrived for generations. But since March of this year, the nation has lived with restrictions, lockdowns, closures and limits of social activities familiar to many people around the world. Meanwhile, the ongoing struggle with gender based violence rages on, though it is not clear if this is a new chapter with real change on the horizon or just a continuation of injustice as usual.

The longest running mashup podcast in the world started in London under the name Radio Clash where to this day Tim sits behind the mic. A member of the original podcasters generation, he has seen trends emerge and disappear, crises, change, the good the bad… the odd.. all of it. And then came Covid19. Today on the podcast, from Lockdown London, it's Tim from Radio Clash to talk music, politics, culture, gentrification, London, BLM, and more.

Cornelius Kibelka somehow got on the last flight from Europe to Brazil before they closed the border earlier this year. Upon arrival he was greeted by a São Paulo under lockdown, and a nation deeply divided about how to deal with a virus along political lines. Today on the podcast he tells us what he is seeing, feeling and hearing in the most populous city in Brazil and what it all might mean for the weeks and months to come.

Before there was youtube, twitter, or any other major platform for sharing video content, Ruud Elmendorp was producing content from the continent of Africa for the internet. His focus, then and now: everyday life. With the onset of the global pandemic, Ruud is where he has been for the past two decades, trying to report on daily life from a region that doesn't get the global headlines that North America and Europe do. Today on the podcast, Ruud Elmendorp joins us from Tanzania, to talk about life as a journalist in East Africa during corona times.

Mexico City is big, heavily populated, exciting, dangerous, and poluted thanks in part to all of the above. Along came a pandemic. Today on the podcast Lorena de la Parra takes us through her daily life and what she sees happening in CDMX, from the price of masks to the phenomenon that is López-Gatel. Listen and enjoy.

Tony Pierce talks to people for a living. They tell him about how life is these days, what jobs they do, what challenges they face, and probably much more. As a longtime resident of LA and blogger extraordinaire, who better to hear from during a pandemic to learn how life is for Angelinos. Today on the podcast, we spend the hour with the great Tony Pierce!

During this time of Corona around the world, there are some stories you hear over and over; political manuvering, some scientific explanations, the occasional story about a medical worker in a well known metropolitan area. Then there are the stories you will rarely hear: about cities with less than 1 million people, about professions like librarians - who play an essential role in daily American society during non pandemic times. Today on the podcast we hear from my good friend Leanne Kubicz in Kansas City, Missouri; about her work as a librarian and what happens to her city and members of her community when a pandemic comes to town.

Fiona Krakenbürger knows her home town of Berlin under normal circumstances and now knows it during Covid19 times. Whats the difference? Today on the podcast we get into Berlin over the past weeks as well as uncovering what has been going on in DC over the past months (for her). Along the way we talk about Planet Money, sourdough, serious concerns for at-risk groups, hackerspaces, ultimate frisbee, and home office politics. Very pleased to have this podcast with Fiona to share with all of you. Have a listen!

If you told me while I was visiting Mumbai some years ago, that in 2020 a city of 20 million people would have deserted streets and closed restaurants, I would have argued that such a thing is simply not possible. Yet here we are. Mumbai, like the rest of India, is self-isolating and battening down the hatches for what is sure to be a very difficult battle with Covid-19. The award winning writer and journalist Dilip D'Souza is experiencing this hard-to-believe reality first hand from his living room, and he joins us today to talk about life, math, and other possibly virus inspired things to consider about humanity.

If you want to talk about decolonizing museums and other knowledge institutions in this world then you need to speak with those who preserve, produce, and pass on culture. In the fascinating and complex case of the Maasai and their engagement with museums in the UK, it is women who play an essential role in knowing about what an artifact is, how it is made, and why it is important. Despite this fact, in this growing global conversation, the voices we more often hear are male.

Jay Dedman joins me on the podcast today from his home in Western Virginia, where land is plentiful and incomes are on average a bit lower than in the big city. What is happening in rural America during this global emegency, what does he see and what can we decipher when comparing countries, cities, counties, leaders, culture… any and all of it. Also zombies.

As someone living with terminal cancer, Matthew Dons is not one who would panic in the face of a global pandemic. From his home in Tokyo he joins us on the podcast today to talk about what is happening in Japan, but also what it is like to be a person with a compromised immune system in the midst of the international corona virus crisis. Listen and enjoy and then go support his Health Fund to help him continue to live.

Almost three years ago Samwel Nangiria paid a visit the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford. While there he was presented with objects gathered from his culture around 100 years ago. To his shock the collection included items that would normally never have made it into a museum or out of the hands of specific members of the Maasai community. He would eventually express his feelings to the museum, and what follows has become a fascinating and at times emotional engagement to de-colonize museums and empower the Maasai to tell their own story of who they are as a living culture today. Today on the podcast we explain the process from the unlikely way it began to the interesting ways it has evolved. With help from Nick Lunch - Director of Insight Share, Dr/ Laura from Broekhoven - director of the Pitt Rivers Museum, and Samwel Nangiria of the Pan-African Living Cultures Alliance.

Still retracing my audio steps from the recent United States visit, this time on the Garden State Parkway, looking out at all the cars and development and whathaveyou. Listen in as I simultaneously dodge dead deer while giving a socio-political analysis on the state of the states.

The Maasai people of Kenya and Tanzania have a long tradition of living in harmony with nature. However, for the past century they have also seen their land and way of life targetted by encroaching intiatives related to nation-building, development, tourism, mining, etc. As a new decade begins the Maasai are once again being pushed off their lands and told their way of life must end in the name of "progress" or "development". Today on the podcast, we hear from three members of that community who explain their way of life and the reality they face on the ground today. It's the story of the Maasai and their struggle to survive.

Somehow the end of a year (and a decade this time) doesn't feel right if I don't find myself at the dinner table in Boston sitting across from Christopher Lydon. The voice of the world's first podcast, he's been my north star ever since I started this thing long before itunes had podcasts or NPR knew what to do with the internet. As luck- or perhaps fate- would have it, Chris and I have become close friends over the years and the annual "where are we, what happened, where are we going" podcast conversation are among my most favorite rituals. (right after oatmeal, working on an episode of ROS with Mary and the team, and a historical walk around a neighborhood of Boston). This year we can't help but talk about the socio-policial state of the world, as well as the environmental crisis we continue to march towards. Then there's music, books, conversations that have been important to us which may shed some light on why all this is happening and what there is to appreciate or condemn when all is said and done. Las

Identity. Land. Displacement. Trauma. History. Struggle. Fear. Anger. Future. Environment. Income. Danger. Knowledge. Loss. Curiousity. Safety. These are a few of the words that came to mind listening back to this very special round table discussion recorded in South Africa with 3 South African friends. The major topic was identity in this age of information. From the city to the rural areas. From the past to the present and beyond, we discuss what is happening for many people around the topic of identity. This was a spontaneous, beautiful conversation recorded a few weeks ago at the V4C gathering in Boschendaal. Furthermore, as our dear guests ask at the end of the program, it would really mean something to hear back from you about what you think, feel and experience around these issues.

There is a force referred to as development that has arrived in Northern Kenya. It brings highways, wind farms, pipelines, cables, standardized education, and new towns where the government wants people to live and work. What it also brings is pollution, inequality, disappearing cultures and languages, an end to nomadic lifestyles that have existed for hundreds of years. While all this is happening, extreme weather has also arrived, taking people who have long known how to live in balance with the environment and thrusting them into the uncertainty and destruction climate change leaves in its wake.

This month I had the great honor of being present at the Video 4 Change gathering in South Africa. This meeting brought together indigenous activists from different parts of the continent, as well as allies and friends from the rest of the world. The topic: the struggle for indigenous rights in a globalized world where in the name of profit and development, people who have long lived in harmony with their environment are being forced to discard their identity and physically pulled from their ancestral land. How is this happening in an era of sustainable development goals and human rights? What can be done to help communities defend themselves and be heard on a national and international scale?