Airgo

While in DC to host an event for the Rising Majority that featured the brilliant Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Ayanna Pressley, Damon swung by Eaton DC, a new global hotel merging hospitality with progressive social change, to talk with a few student organizers from Howard University who are involved with the new national anti-militarism student organization We Are Dissenters. Check out Eaton DC: https://www.eatonworkshop.com/hotel/dc Peep We Are Dissenters: http://wearedissenters.org

Each month this year, we're going to revisit an episode from the 200+ episodes in the AirGo Archives and bring that conversation back to the forefront. This month, we're revisiting our convo with Dometi Pongo from 2018. Since his appearance on the show, Dometi has moved to New York, where he is a host and news correspondent for MTV. He is the host of the True Life documentary series, and a contributor to all of MTV's coverage. We talked about his then-current role at WGN, bringing Black Americans to Ghana, and much more. Follow Dometi: twitter.com/dometi_ Rate and review AirGo on Apple Podcasts: https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091?mt=2 Recorded 5/3/2018 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago

Dominique James is a word-based multimedia artist, educator, and teaching artist at Young Chicago Authors. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Howard University, and has completed research fellowships at the University of California-Riverside and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. After graduation, she was a TRIALS Fellow at Harvard Law School and a University of Chicago HBCU Bridge Scholar. She is also the matchmaker behind a pretty special relationship, a relationship that has some pretty big news to share on this episode… Follow Dominique here: http://twitter.com/niqjames Recorded 1/21/20 in Chicago Music from this week's episode: Chill Mode - Audiobinger

As part of our #BYPSpotlight series, Dame and Kiss talk with movement stalwart Jasson Perez. Jasson is one of the founding members of BYP-100, a labor organizing veteran, and a pivotal member of the Afrosocialist caucus within Chicago's Democratic Socialists of America chapter. He breaks down the lessons learned from organizing across movements, his alternative life as a rapper of legendary Chicago rap group BBU, and how the spiritual life of the recovery community have taught him how to build more loving and effective revolutionary movements. Check out the whole #BYPSpotlight at http://blackyouthproject.com Recorded 1/21/20 in Chicago: Kurt De La Rocha - BBU Music from this week's show:

Lynsey Ann Moxie brought her energy with her. She's a vocalist, performer, Chicago schoolteacher, and interdisciplinary artist from the South Suburbs of Chicago. She grew up in the Cantata choir as a 1st soprano, before finding her jazz roots at Spelman College, and then ultimately ending up back home in Chicago. She breaks down the wisdom she's found through craft, therapy, and the classrom, as well as a whole bunch of other quotable gems. Come along on this fun ride with the guys to kick off another year of AirGo! NOTE: Come through our Art and Activism series #TodayatApple series this month!: http://apple.co/artandactivism Recorded 1/14/20 in Chicago Music on this week's episode: Seasons - Lynsey Ann Moxie Bad MF - Pharoahe Monch

To kick off the new year, we're digging into the archives to launch our #GoBack series. Each month this year, we're going to revisit an episode from the 200+ episodes of the show and bringing that conversation back to the forefront. First up is our conversation with Jamila Woods from 2016, when she was just on the brink of the glow up that has been the last few years for the brilliant poet and musician. Come to our Art and Activism series at the Apple Store Michigan Ave! https://www.apple.com/today/collection/art-activism-airgo/michiganavenue/ Music from this week's show: Very BLK - @jamilawoods Black Girl Soldier - Jamila Woods The Joy - Milo and Otis

With the year and decade coming to a close, Dame and Kiss check in one last time in 2019–on Kiss's birthday, no less! They start beef with the 2010's, talk about the new exciting projects and partnerships launching in the New Year (a month of programs at the Apple Store, a talk show from the future, an Environmental Justice limited podcast series, a live event series about electoral politics and radical imagination called Unelectable), share some thank yous, and envision the 2030 of their imaginations. Plus, a call from a very special grandma guest... Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091 Buy an AirGo tee: http://airgoradio.com/store Recorded 10/17/19 in Chicago Music from this week's show: Sexy and I Know It - LMFAO

Lewis Raven Wallace is a trans journalist, movement worker, and the author of The View From Somewhere, a new book and podcast dispelling myths in journalism and issuing a call to action for journalists to account for their own biases, challenge power, and reshape journalism into a tool for liberation. While on book tour, Lewis stops by to talk about the book, their Chicago organizing days, how the field can be held more accountable, and how to commit acts of journalism with a new lens. Buy the book and listen to the podcast here: https://www.lewispants.com/the-view-from-somewhere Recorded 11/15/19 in Chicago Music from this week's show: Something Elated - Broke for Free

Jenna Anast will change up your whole energy. Jenna is an actor, filmmaker, comedian, singer, and community builder. She's the Head of Community for Open TV, and is a member of the #LetUsBreathe Collective. We talk about growing up as an adopted Black kid, reconnecting with her birth mom, being a part of the amazing film Sorry to Bother You, and much more. Learn more: https://www.journeyswithjenna.com/ Recorded 11/12/19 in Chicago Music from this week's show: Space Bump Alpha - MagicMusic

Black Youth Project has joined forces with AirGo for a year-long #BYPSpotlight series, featuring our favorite Black academics and activists. This month’s #BYPSpotlight episode features Asha Ransby-Sporn, an organizer, movement worker, and National Organizing Co-Chair for Black Youth Project-100. She also was one of the central organizers who pushed Columbia University to divest from private prisons over the past few years. We talk community organizing basics, what are some ways to bring people into the work, how we can begin to rethink our relationship to land, designing her hypothetical commune, and her relationship with her mom Barbara Ransby (who was the first #BYPSpotlight guest). Show Notes: BYP-100 - https://byp100.org/ Columbia Prison Divestment -https://www.columbiaspectator.com/the-eye/2018/04/24/asha-rosa-ransby-sporn-on-how-to-make-columbia-divest-from-private-prisons/ She Safe, We Safe: https://www.shesafewesafe.org/ NOTE: Please subscribe, rate, and review AirGo on your podcast app! Help Amplif

Tiff Beatty invites you into the circle. Tiff is the founder of Art is Bonfire, a seasonal open mic and cypher around a fire pit at Promontory Point in Hyde Park, and is the Programming Director of Chicago Humanities Festival, an event series bringing authors, thinkers, artists, and celebrities together in conversation around a central theme. The convo bounces between Tiff’s childhood in Washington State, her path to Chicago, building sacred space around the fire, transforming the humanities, and more. Recorded 11/13/19 in Chicago Music from this week's show: ArtiChoke - Tab Anitek

Third Coast International Audio Festival is a nonprofit arts organization that celebrates the art and craft of narrative audio storytelling. Every year, radio-makers from around the world converge in Chicago for a conference that explores the medium, the radio industry, and the creative bounds yet to be explored. AirGo talked with a crew of Chicago producers about their experiences making radio in the city, relationship to the medium, and the stories they're trying to figure out how to tell. Recorded 9/26-9/28/2019 in Chicago

Frank Bergh is as embodied as it gets. He's the founder of Beyond the Grid, a company that builds renewable energy microgrids in countries across the global south. He's also one of the founders of Emmaus House, a Catholic Worker community in North Lawndale, that has been instrumental in the work of the #LetUsBreathe Collective, and is the founder of Chicago's chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice, a national network of groups and individuals working to undermine white supremacy and to work toward racial justice. We talk about how his relationship to God and religion show up, how he found himself living in Lawndale, some lessons from working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and much more. Recorded 10/29/19 in Chicago Music from this week's show: Summer Dreams - Ryan Little

Monica Cosby is an organizer, activist, and mother who was incarcerated for 20 years in the state of Illinois. She now works for the Westside Justice Center, is the lead organizer of Moms United Against Violence and Incarceration, and is a wonderful and valuable spirit in the Chicago movement community. She talks about growing up in Uptown, the lessons about liberation and abolition she learned while inside, the transition after coming home, and a very special moment that makes Damon cry. Recorded 10/23/19 in Chicago Music from this week's show: Well and Good - Podington Bear

Black Youth Project has joined forces with AirGo for a year-long #BYPSpotlight series, featuring our favorite Black academics and activists. This month’s #BYPSpotlight episode is with Janae Bonsu, an organizer and scholar whose work centers the intersection of structural and gender-based violence. She recently stepped away from her position as National Co-Director, National Public Policy Chair, and Chicago Chapter Co-Chair of BYP 100, a member-based organization of 18 to 35 year old Black activists whose mission is to achieve economic, social, political, and educational freedom and justice for all Black people through nonviolent direct action organizing, education, and advocacy. She talks about learning stillness and finding peace, imagining new interventions when gender violence needs to be addressed, her cheese game, and much more. Check out the whole #BYPSpotlight here: http://blackyouthproject.com/byp-x-airgo/ Music from this week's episode: Mirror, Mirror - Diamond Ortiz

Kiss dusts off the turntables and brings y'all a new addition to his Cottage Groove DJ Mix series, with all kinds of goodness for you to vibe to. Music in this mix: Still Rude - @lulubeyene Jon Cena - Sho Madjozi Amnesia - Bas feat. Ari Lennox & KIDDOMINANT Passionfruit - Drake Education - Freddie Gibbs x Madlib feat. Yasiin Bey M'Baku Shit - Benjamin Earl Turner XO Tour Lif3 - Brasstracks DHL - Frank Ocean

The studio gets a lil' crowded this week, as a squad of collaborators behind the Chicago Black Social Culture Map, an interactive digital map documenting Chicago's Black social culture from the Great Migration through the end of the 20th century from blues to house. This project has evolved from the dance floor, to the internet, and now to event spaces across the city for conversations about how Black people in Chicago have created vibrancy, innovation, and joy in rooms across the city. You can check out the map here: https://www.honeypotperformance.org/chgpblksocialculturemap Recorded 10/8/19 in Chicago Music from this week's show: House Music Anthem - Frankie Knuckles Your Love - Jamie Principle

On the third AirGo Live episode, Damon and Daniel get everyone talking about how we can communicate in conflict with love. Plus a performance and conversation with musician and composer Akenya, and organizer and Assata’s Daughters founder Page May. And a special small furry guest joins us as well! Recorded 9/26/19 in Chicago Music from this week's show: Apache - Incredible Bongo Band Tribe - Bas

When Elijah McKinnon says the word manifest, they mean what they say. The multi-hyphenate creator is the new Executive Director of OpenTV, a web-based production and distribution channel for Queer TV, and is the cofounder of Reunion Chicago, an incubator and events space for Queer people of color. They run People Who Care, a consultancy that works exclusively with nonprofits and grassroots initiatives, including: AIDS Foundation of Chicago, Northwestern University, The Andy Warhol Foundation, Grindr for Equality, Raúl Anguiano Art Museum, Center for Disease Control and many more. They’re also a hoot. Recorded 9/24/19 in Chicago Music from this week's show: I Really Hope - Roger Plexico

Black Youth Project has joined forces with AirGo for a year-long #BYPSpotlight series, featuring our favorite Black academics and activists. This month’s #BYPSpotlight episode is featuring Danielle Roper, a professor and scholar at the University of Chicago. She talks about performances of Blackness across Latin America, navigating academia as a Black woman, the grassroots LGBTQ+ work she has been involved with in Jamaica, and much more. Plus, the introduction of a brand new game! Like TranswaveJa on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/transwaveja/ Support queer organization Wechange: https://wechangeja.org/ NOTE: AirGo Live is tonight! RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/airgo-live-with-akenya-and-page-may-tickets-71750286037 Recorded 9/18/19 in Chicago Music from this week's show: Money - Jahzzar