Lilly Burgess is an indie musician who doesn’t fit in. Feeling outcast by a lack of mainstream representation, she began playing backyard shows to create a safe space for her community in Whittier, CA.
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Remember aerosol cans? No? That’s because this man discovered they were emitting chemicals that destroy the ozone layer into the atmosphere.
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For our latest episode of Sea of Change, we meet Melody Klingenfuss, a 24-year-old organizer and activist.
Born in Guatemala, Melody came to the states as a 9-year-old girl and only found out she was undocumented while applying to college. She ended up graduating with a masters at 22 and becoming one of the youngest organizers at CHIRLA, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights. Today, she dedicates her time to towards fighting for comprehensive immigration reform.
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In this episode of Folkslore, we share how Margaret Renteria, also known as Nini, got better after being cleansed by a healer–with an egg!
The ritual is sometimes called “limpia de huevo.” It is a practice where one spiritually cleanses the body.
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“It doesn’t matter where you come from, or where you live, or who you are. It’s just us bonding over skating.”
In this episode of Be You, BESE joins Sailor Gonzales at The Rock, a roller skating park that’s part boxing gym and part active church. We talk camaraderie, jam skating and representation in the roller derby community.
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The LGBTQIA+ movement we know today was not always so inclusive. There was a time when trans people had to fight for their voices to be heard, even amongst their gay brothers and sisters. Learn more about the fearless trans activist who put the T in LGBTQIA+.
Learn more about her here.
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“Because I’m blind, I’m more aware of where I am in the water.”
After major hip surgery, Letticia Martinez, a multi-record breaking, blind Paralympian swimmer, is back in the water for her first competition since the surgery.
In this episode of Point x Point, BESE joins Letticia at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs to understand what it takes to be on top.
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It’s a sentiment that’s all too common with children of immigrants—our parents brought us here for a better life and thus we must choose “stable” and “safe” careers. It’s hard enough to make it as an artist in this country, but even harder without the support of your family.
Yasi, an Iranian-American musician who migrated to the US as a child, shares with us what it took to defy the status quo and follow her dreams.
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One of the Harlem Renaissance’s great minds was a Puerto Rican named Arturo Schomburg.
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Before Columbus came into the picture, Puerto Rico was known as Borinquen and its people were known as the indigenous Taino people.”
“When Keigh Crespo, a native to the island, learned about her Taino roots, she was shocked that none of her family, except for her abuelas, had been in touch with their ancestral traditions. As a response, Keigh created Dos Abuelas, a Taino food truck based in Denver, Colorado geared at educating people on Taino cultura through food.
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In our second episode of Folkslore, a series which explores the experiences of Americans living between two cultures, we share the first time Sean Billings watched his mother make a deal with San Pascual Bailón–a Catholic saint.
An old tradition carried from Puerto Rico, Sean’s mom promises to dance for San Pascual in return for help finding a very important object.
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The 2018 US Men’s National Team not making it into the World Cup left a lot of people asking why. According to experts, one of those reasons is because of the inaccessibility of soccer on the youth and inner-city level. The steep costs of joining club and academy teams keeps away talented players who would otherwise excel in the sport.
Joseph Koroma, a 16-year old from Harlem, has managed to beat those odds.
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In our latest episode of Hidden Figuras we share the story of Mabel Lee, a Hong-Kong born immigrant who helped the NY suffragist movement gain the support of the Chinese-American community. Her advocacy is one of the nation’s first examples of intersectional feminism.
Despite the fact that women across the nation won the right to vote in 1920, it is unknown if Mabel Lee ever voted herself. Due to the Chinese Exclusionary Act, a federal law barring Chinese immigrants from becoming citizens, many Chinese women never gained citizenship nor did they benefit from the suffrage movement.
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