Airgo

We're honored to talk on this episode with Nachelle Pugh, a beautiful soul who we both have the deepest appreciation for. Nachelle is the Executive Director of the John Walt Foundation, an on-the-ground nonprofit founded in the wake of the death of her son Walter Long, Jr. aka John Walt. A pivotal member of Chicago's best rap crew Pivot Gang, Walt was taken from us in February 2017–in the years since, his mom Nachelle has devoted herself to building connective spaces for young artists and creators in Chicago while also providing direct mutual aid support for families across the city. She talks about her own childhood in the 'Go, the embrace that she received from Chicago's hip hop community after Walt's death, the disgust and grief of moving through the trial of his murderer, and much more.SHOW NOTESSupport the John Walt Foundation - https://www.johnwaltfoundation.org/recurring-donationGet a ticket for Dinner with John, their annual fundraiser on Oct 16 - https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/dinner-with-john

The guys are in good company with organizer and movement podcaster Niki Franco, aka Venus Roots. Niki is the co-director of Dissenters, a national youth anti-war organization, and is the host of podcast Getting to the Root of It with Venus Roots. She discusses how organizers need to look more rigorously to the global south for guidance and solidarity, the ways that social isolation have impacted power-building on the left, and the joy of building a space for conversation on-mic. SHOW NOTESFind Niki's work - https://www.venusroots.com/aboutSubscribe to her podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/6qXh3yHWkY0GeBBwzbPwYZPlug in with Dissenters - https://wearedissenters.org/Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events Bring us to your community by hitting us up - contact@respairmedia.com CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío SantosEngagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi V

We're hyped to share a new project we've been helping to build with our longtime comrades and collaborators over at OTV, a Chicago-based non-profit platform for intersectional television, supporting artists and marginalized communities. Beyond the Screen: Pushing Media, Imagination, and Legacy Forward is a 10-episode limited audio series celebrating a decade of intersectional media. Hosted by Elijah McKinnon and Dr. AJ Escoffery, the series reflects on the creative risks, community lessons, and radical care that shaped OTV’s journey over the past 10 years.Each episode unpacks one of OTV’s “10 Lessons Learned,” weaving together intimate interviews, archival audio, and unscripted commentary from the people who helped build the platform from the ground up. From artists and collaborators to cultural organizers and curators, Beyond the Screen offers a behind-the-scenes look at how OTV redefined indie media—and what’s next for intersectional storytelling. Check out the trailer, and make sure you go subscribe to Bey

In over a decade of documenting the leading voices of Chicago's movement for collective liberation, we've seen the impact of the work of Rami Nashashibi in so many corners of our city. A true Chicago leader and visionary, Rami is the Executive Director of Director of Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN), a community-led organization that fosters health, wellness and healing in the inner-city by organizing for social change, cultivating the arts, and offering opportunities for holistic health. Their work has, in many ways, served as a testing ground and blueprint for the advocacy and power-building work that has transformed our city and beyond. We talk with Rami about his path to organizing, how he's struggled for wholeness between different selves, and the power of Black-Palestinian solidarity.SHOW NOTESSupport the work of IMAN - https://www.imancentral.org/Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events Bring us to your community by hitting us up - contact@respairmedia.

As we wrap up this abbreviated Season 3 of 1ME, the squad hops back in the lab one more time to break down the learnings and takeaways from our convos with REP, Cambridge HEART, and Care-Based Safety. Dame, Kiss, Eva, and Deana explore the connections in what they heard and break down how we can all show up for each other in the crises surrounding us. Skill up and get inspired, and we'll see you back in the lab soon!SHOW NOTESSupport REP - https://repformn.org/support-this-work/Support Cambridge HEART - https://cambridgeheart.networkforgood.com/Support Care-Based Safety - https://secure.givelively.org/donate/non-profit-nonprofit-enterprise-at-work-inc/care-based-safetyWatch the 1ME film - https://www.respairmedia.com/one-million-experimentsCheck out 1ME online - millionexperiments.comLearn more about Respair - respairmedia.comFollow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events Bring us to your community by hitting us up - contact@respairmedia.com CREDITSHosts & Exec. Produc

The AirGo team is excited to bring you back into the lab of One Million Experiments, our partner project with Interrupting Criminalization exploring how we define and create safety in a world without policing and prisons. Over the next few episodes we'll be sharing Season 3 of the podcast, which dives deep with experiments around community crisis response.One Million Experiments is back in your ear for Season 3, and we're diving deep with experiments around community crisis response! As our sociopolitical reality births crisis after crisis, the 1ME squad of Dame, Kiss, and Eva dig deep with three different experiments to learn how we can better show up in moments of communal and structural crisis. They also  are joined on every episode’s Peer Review by special guest Deana Lewis, a founding member of Just Practice Collaborative–a group that builds communities’ capacities to respond to intimate partner violence and sexual assault without relying on state-based systems. As we figure out what redefining and creat

The AirGo team is excited to bring you back into the lab of One Million Experiments, our partner project with Interrupting Criminalization exploring how we define and create safety in a world without policing and prisons. Over the next few episodes we'll be sharing Season 3 of the podcast, which dives deep with experiments around community crisis response.One Million Experiments is back in your ear for Season 3, and we're diving deep with experiments around community crisis response! As our sociopolitical reality births crisis after crisis, the 1ME squad of Dame, Kiss, and Eva dig deep with three different experiments to learn how we can better show up in moments of communal and structural crisis. They also  are joined on every episode’s Peer Review by special guest Deana Lewis, a founding member of Just Practice Collaborative–a group that builds communities’ capacities to respond to intimate partner violence and sexual assault without relying on state-based systems. As we figure out what redefining and creat

The AirGo team is excited to bring you back into the lab of One Million Experiments, our partner project with Interrupting Criminalization exploring how we define and create safety in a world without policing and prisons. Over the next few episodes we'll be sharing Season 3 of the podcast, which dives deep with experiments around community crisis response.As our sociopolitical reality births crisis after crisis, the 1ME squad of Dame, Kiss, and Eva dig deep with three different experiments to learn how we can better show up in moments of communal and structural crisis. They also  are joined on every episode’s Peer Review by special guest Deana Lewis, a founding member of Just Practice Collaborative–a group that builds communities’ capacities to respond to intimate partner violence and sexual assault without relying on state-based systems. As we figure out what redefining and creating safety look like under the carceral conditions of our time, it’s just as true as ever that we don’t need one answer to how we g

The guys are joined by Graciela Guzmán, the State Senator for Illinois' 20th District on the Northwest Side of the city. A former organizer with a focus on health equity and economic justice, Graciela won her election last year over establishment candidate Natalie Toro, who had raised over four times as much as Graciela had. She joins the show to talk about the inner workings of the state legislature, how the fight for health care needs to be a centerpiece of all movement struggles, and her journey to find strength in her voice as a representative for her people.SHOW NOTESConnect with State Sen. Guzmán - https://gracielafor20.com/Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events Bring us to your community by hitting us up - contact@respairmedia.com CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel KisslingerAssociate Producer - Cin Pimentel Engagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles 

This episode's guest Camille Sapara Barton, says that "grief is often a visceral and embodied experience that impacts us physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Despite increasing conversation about grief in the Global North, there are few spaces to publicly express grief, or practices we can rely upon to help us move through it. As a result, many of us can feel isolated when grieving because there is little space for our emotions to be welcomed and our loved ones often don’t know how to support us in meaningful ways."In their work as a social imagineer, artist and somatic practitioner interested in co-creating networks of care and livable futures, Camille helps individuals and organizations build tools to befriend their grief and support themselves to move through challenging emotions. Their debut book, Tending Grief: Embodied Rituals for Holding Our Sorrow and Growing Cultures of Care in Community was published in April 2024 by North Atlantic Books, and they join AirGo to talk with the guys abou

The guys are joined by professor and Great Lakes champion Rachel Havrelock, whose Freshwater Lab at UIC leverages narrative and the humanities to raise awareness about water issues in the Great Lakes and empower people to claim and protect the most vital public asset. Rachel breaks down the pressing issues affecting our waterways, the absurd gift that is the Great Lakes, and what the history of our rivers and lakes can teach us about how to build stronger and more resilient societies. SHOW NOTESCheck out the UIC Freshwater Lab - https://www.freshwaterlab.org/Get Rachel's book The Joshua Generation about Israel and militarism - https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691198934/the-joshua-generationFollow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradioFind us live! - www.respairmedia.com/eventsBring us to your community by hitting us up - contact@respairmedia.com CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel KisslingerAssociate Producer - Cin Pimentel Engagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Pro

The 1ME squad has some announcements to make to you, the public! First off–the One Million Experiments film is now available online on Apple TV, Google Play, and Youtube Movies–check out the film and spread the word.Next, the podcast is coming back this summer for Season 3: Crisis, a suite of brand-new episodes focused on what we can learn crisis response in our communities to help us move through the sociopolitical crisis of this moment. And last but not least, we're hyped to announce 1ME: In the Field, a new travel show from Respair coming Fall 2025! Five years after uprising, hosts Damon and Daniel get out of the lab and into the field to reconnect with the experiments featured on the 1ME podcast, explore the spaces and places these local organizers call home, and showcase the vibrant, joyful conversation creating new possibilities for wellness and protection. Continuing the work of the podcast and film, the series makes tangible and irresistible the community-built definitions and strategies for safety th

The sports arena is a microscope into our culture, and Dave Zirin is peering through the glass with a thoughtful and searing eye. A longtime sportswriter and commentator, Dave is the sports editor for The Nation, a weekly progressive magazine dedicated to politics and culture. He joins AirGo on this episode to chat about the role of sports as both distraction and prism in a time of fascism, how militarism has coopted sports culture, and his relationship to the sports discourse mainstream.SHOW NOTESRead Dave's work at The Nation - https://www.thenation.com/authors/dave-zirin/Peep his site Edge of Sports - https://www.edgeofsports.com/Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradioFind us live! - www.respairmedia.com/eventsBring us to your community by hitting us up - contact@respairmedia.com CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel KisslingerAssociate Producer - Rocío SantosEngagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles

The guys get back up with Olga Bautista, a longtime collaborator and  Environmental Justice leader whose work has reshaped the landscape of Chicago. The Co-Executive Director of the Southeast Environmental Task Force, Olga has been a leading force in the campaigns to defend the Southeast Side from environmental pollution, harmful development, and dangerous industry. She breaks down what EJ means in the era of Trump 2.0's attack on the movement, how its principles can serve as a guide as we fight for collective survival, and what's going on in her neck of the woods around the proposed "quantum campus" development on the old US Steel South Works site.SHOW NOTESSupport Southeast Environmental Task Force - https://www.instagram.com/se_taskforce/?hl=enFollow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradioFind One Million Experiments on tour! - www.respairmedia.com/eventsBring us to your community by hitting us up - contact@respairmedia.com CREDITS Hosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel KisslingerAssociate Produc

What the hell is actually happening in Congress in the midst of authoritarian takeover? The guys are joined by Rep. Delia Ramirez, the congresswoman for Illinois' 3rd District, who shares what it looks and feels like to walk into the Capitol under this administration, the ways that the ramp-up of Trump's deportation infrastructure harms us all, and how the lessons from building grassroots power on the northwest side of Chicago have the potential to reshape our political reality.SHOW NOTESConnect with Rep. Ramirez's office - https://ramirez.house.gov/Watch this episode on Youtube! - Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradioFind One Million Experiments on tour! - www.respairmedia.com/eventsBring us to your community by hitting us up - contact@respairmedia.com CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel KisslingerAssociate Producer - Cin Pimentel Engagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles

The guys are joined by Antonio Gutierrez, an anti-displacement community organizer and leader in the multi-decade struggle for undocumented rights and protections here in Chicago. They are a co-founder of Organized Communities Against Deportations (OCAD), the Albany Park Defense Network, La Guayabita Autonoma Community Garden and the Autonomous Tenants Union. Woven into this web of community work is a deep insistence on the right to remain present and unapologetic in the city they've called home for over 20 years. They talk about the nuts and bolts of anti-deportation work in the city, the emotional weight they are carrying, and how they are anticipating their personal world shifting in the face of future deportation.SHOW NOTESSupport the work of OCAD - https://www.organizedcommunities.org/sponsor-a-casePlug into Albany Park Defense Network - https://www.facebook.com/albanyparkdefense/Organize with Autonomous Tenants Union - https://www.autonomoustenantsunion.org/Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradioFind On

From time to time, a Chicago artist drops a new project that the AirGo crew is vibing with–when that happens, we get them on the line for a special listening party episode! Using a few of the project's tracks as jumping off points for the conversation, we dive deep into process, creativity, and growth.For this episode we get to celebrate the new project from our very own Damon A. Williams, who dropped his debut project In Process last fall. A long journey to create, the high-energy project explores the coexistence of joy and burden in a life of freedom making. Dame and Kiss are joined by guest cohost Jacoby Cochran, the host of wonderful podcast City Cast Chicago, who helps the guys listen with love to a handful of tracks from the project. Get in process with the crew!SHOW NOTESStream In Process - https://symphony.to/damon-a-williams-1/in-process-albumPeep the video for Unrecognizable - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJXs37EwIFgFollow Damon - https://www.instagram.com/damon_af/Follow AirGo - instagram.com/ai

What do you do when you see something happening that you know to be wrong? When its something seemingly intractable and massive that will negatively impact you and your neighbors? If you're Dixon Romeo, you start organizing. Dixon is the Executive Director of Southside Together, a new organization building power by organizing Black, poor, and working-class community members in Woodlawn, South Shore, Greater Grand Crossing, Park Manor and all adjacent neighborhoods, to secure economic stability and advance human rights.Dixon returns to AirGo to talk about how the new organization was birthed from two brilliant organizations merging together, give updates on some of their biggest fights, and break down the emergent campaign around the proposed "quantum campus" on the contaminated US Steel South Works site. A great way to learn about the city from the ground up!SHOW NOTESPlug in with Southside Together - https://www.southsidetogether.org/Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradioFind One Million Experiments on tour

On this episode the guys connect the global dots with Alex of Dissenters, a national organization of young people leading the fight to reclaim our resources from the war industry, reinvest in life-giving institutions, and repair collaborative relationships with the earth and people around the world. As co-director of the organization, Alex has helped guide chapters on campuses across the country as they respond to and fight against militarism, genocide, and colonialism. They join the show to talk about their pathway to the work, how the lens of opposing militarism is helpful in this moment of overwhelm, and the value of some quality sabbatical time as well.SHOW NOTESLearn about and join Dissenters - https://wearedissenters.org/Sign up for Hazel's Seeds - https://www.respairmedia.com/help-this-garden-grow Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradioFind One Million Experiments on tour! - www.respairmedia.com/eventsBring us to your community by hitting us up - contact@respairmedia.com CREDITSHosts & Exec. Produc

Dame and Kiss have the honor and pleasure to talk with Stanley Howard, a survivor of torture at the hands of the Chicago Police Department and a brilliant force for justice in the struggles for both torture reparations and the abolition of the death penalty in IL. As a self-taught jailhouse lawyer Stanley created the Death Row 10, a group of torture survivors on death row who began the collective push for both their freedom and the end of state-sanctioned murder. Since getting out a little over a year ago, Stanley has been actively advocating for and supporting people on the inside through his work with the Uptown People's Law Center. Come learn from Stanley with us–this is a special one!SHOW NOTESBuy Stanley's book "Tortured by Blue" - https://www.semcoop.com/tortured-blueSign up for Hazel's Seeds - https://www.respairmedia.com/help-this-garden-growFollow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradioFind One Million Experiments on tour! - www.respairmedia.com/eventsBring us to your community by hitting us up - contact@re