State of Mind: Living with My Depression

Spoken word poet Hood Profet shares an honest piece about his complicated relationship with depression and how he finds healing. He believes people need to be given more tools to cope with mental illness, and that poetry can be one of them. Share your story in the comments below or tag someone who you think would appreciate this piece.

Folkslore: Three Kings Day

Christmas Day isn’t the only important holiday for Americans. In this episode of Folkslore, Inez Franco remembers Three Kings’ Day, also known as Epiphany, Denha, Little Christmas, or Theophany. If you have a Folkslore story, share it with us! Call 1-833-GOT-LORE or send us a message at stories@bese.com.

Be You: Sebastian Hernandez

In this episode of Be You, we take a visual journey into Sebastian Hernandez’s multi-faceted art practice. They show us how the complexities of the brown migrant experience and trans femme identity inform their material based performances in an effort to challenge traditional perceptions of space and the brown body.

BESE Explains: Asylum

Thousands of Central Americans have arrived at the southern border to seek asylum in the U.S. But what exactly is asylum and how does one get it? In this episode of BESE Explains, Zoe Saldana takes a closer look at the issue and its role in American history. For more information on how to help get supplies to asylum seekers at the U.S. Mexico border, visit https://www.borderangels.org/.

Folkslore: The Cold Spot

In this episode of Folkslore, an anonymous caller recounts the time his mother-in-law fixed a cold spot in his house with some Caribbean know-how.

Old School Soul with Jasper Bones | Local Noise

In this episode of Local Noise, Chicano/Guatemalan solo-artist Jasper Bones opens up about the childhood moments that shaped him and his Oldies-inspired music. At the young age of 20, Bones has already gained recognition from artists like Kali Uchis and Cuco, and has become part of a new wave of emerging Chicano musicians.

State of Mind: My Thoughts of Suicide

Suicide rates have increased by 25% in the last 17 years. That’s nearly 45,000 Americans that took their lives in the year 2016. For Latinx, this number was at its highest in 2015 among young Latinas. Slam poet Poetic Moment shares her past struggle with suicide. It’s time to talk about our mental health issues. Share your story in the comments below or tag someone who you think would appreciate this piece.

Hidden Figuras: Althea Gibson

In 1957, Althea Gibson became the first black woman invited to Wimbledon. She left with multiple wins and broke down barriers for athletes of color like Arthur Ashe and more.

Sea of Change: Living on the Line

This school is tackling the poverty cycle by giving kids a real chance to succeed.

BESE Explains: Representation in Politics

American politics is more diverse than ever, but there’s still a lot of work to do.

Women, LGBTQIA people and non-white communities shattered records during the 2018 midterm elections, but was it enough? In this episode of BESE Explains, Zoe Saldana breaks down how diverse American politics truly is.

Folkslore: Breaking Milk

Can RBF spoil milk? This grandmother thinks so.

Local Noise: The High Curbs

Dive into Chino’s garage rock scene with The High Curbs.

State of Mind: My Battle with Anxiety

Women are twice as likely as men to live with daily anxiety. In the first episode of our new series on mental health, poet Aman K. Batra shares her story through “The Art of Rising.”

Hidden Figuras: Private Felix Longoria

In a small town in Texas, a controversy surrounding the burial of a WWII veteran ignited the Mexican American civil rights movement.

BESE Meets: Melissa Barrera and Mishel Prada

Vida, a six-part series on Starz written entirely by a group of Latinas, has become a crucial milestone in the push for Latinx representation on television. In the show, sisters Lyn and Emma, played by Melissa Barrera and Mishel Prada, respectively, return to their home on the Eastside of Los Angeles to pick up the pieces after the sudden death of their mother. The show tackles queerness, gentefication, colorism and predatory loans in a subtle yet unapologetic voice.

BESE met the Vida co-stars in Prada’s backyard, where the two opened up family, queerness and the intricacies of playing complex personalities.

BESE Meets: Lilian Martinez

Lilian Martinez was the first of her siblings to be born in the United States. Growing up, she didn’t feel like she quite fit in to either culture. From this intersection of identities, her art was born. The Chicago-raised artist now takes things that resonate from her childhood and mixes them with classical elements to create idyllic worlds that celebrate brown bodies. The artist also runs BFGF, a small business where she sells woven blankets, pillows and towels that she designs digitally. Knowing that not everyone can afford expensive paintings, BFGF is her way of making more accessible art objects that people can integrate into their daily lives. On this episode of BESE Meets, we catch up with the artist at her studio in Los Angeles, CA.