Making Contact

What do our voices say about us? On this edition we explore voice and identity. We'll hear from someone who nearly lost their voice, the challenges that come with ordering a pizza with a speech generating device, and and how voice contributes to trans women's sense of safety and of self. Featuring: Mya Byrne, singer-songwriter Kathe Perez, creator of EVA app Samuel Sennott, assistant professor of special education at Portland University Bob Segalman, author “Against the Current, My Life with Cerebral Palsy” April Bryant, UC Berkeley student Hannah Simpson, Nika Jewell, Tela Love, 13th Philadelphia Transgender Health Conference, attendees. This show features Lateef McLeod, our 1st Community Storytelling Fellow. Donate now to help this year’s class of fellows tell their stories.

We go back to the night in June 1969 at the New York City Stonewall Inn that sparked the LGBT rights movement. On today’s show we’ll hear about the day that galvanized a generation and the continued fight for LGBT civil rights. The first Pride parades took place in June 1970 marking the 1st anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. Michael Schirker and David Isay bring us an oral history Remembering Stonewall: The Birth of a Movement. Editor at large of the Huffington Posts’ Gay Voices Michelangelo Signorile says while there have been a series of recent wins for the LGBT rights movement, bigotry remains a daily reality for many. At a New America NYC forum Signorile spoke with June Thomas, Culture Critic and Editor of Outward, Slate’s LGBTQ Section about what he calls “victory blindness”. It’s a central theme in his new book, “It’s Not Over, Getting to Beyond Tolerance Defeating Homophobia and Winning True Equality.”

We bring you to Alaska s Tongass Forest, where the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act turned tribes into corporations and sparked a lengthy logging frenzy. In this radio adaptation of the documentary film, Walking in Two Worlds, we meet a Tlingit brother and sister, who are trying to heal both the forest and their native community. Special thanks to Specialty Studios. Featuring: Wanda Culp & Bob Loescher, Tlinget brother & Sister Peter Coyote, narrator Mike Jackson, Tlingit tribal historian Ernestine Hanlon-Abel, Weaver & Activist Byron Mallott, Former Seaalaska CEO Israel Shotridge, Tlingit carver Tom Thorton, anthropologist Lydia George, Tlingit Clan Mother Joe Sebastian, Alaska Fisherman & guide Deny Bschor, former US Forest Service Regional Forester John Rowan, Tlingit carver Richard Nixon, President of the United States Rick Harris, Former Seaalaska Executive VP Rosita Worl, Seaalaska Board member

What is it like to be a student who has fought in a war? Producers at The Stanford Storytelling Project’s podcast, State of the Human asked six Stanford students and recent alumni, all veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to tell their stories about “Returning Home.” Featuring: Dustin Barfield, Chris Clark, Josh Francis, Annie Hsieh, Russ Toll, and William Treseder, military veterans Heidi Toll, wife of veterana More Information Returning Home from the Stanford Storytelling Project (full episode) Veterans for Peace Student Veterans of America Complexity of Student Vets Ten Things You Should Know About Today's Student Veteran

On this week's show we’re exploring how some women have been dehumanized to the point of indifference. We’ll learn how one community is undoing the silence around the violence women of color face. We’ll also hear about how serial killers were able to hunt down mostly Black women for three decades in South Los Angeles. Then we’ll take you to the Yucatan where pregnant indigenous women struggle under a health care system failing to provide proper medical care.

Black Lives Matter. This simple phrase has become the motto of a growing movement calling for true justice and equality for black people. Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, first typed out those three words back in 2013. In March of 2015, Alicia Garza visited the University of Southern Maine to tell the story of how Black Lives Matter came to be, and express her hopes for where it’s headed. We hear her speech. Special thanks to E.B.Leonard with Maine X Change. Featuring: Alicia Garza, Black Lives Matter co-founder Cephus Johnson, uncle of Oscar Grant Grace Anderson, protestor

Imprisonment, oppressive laws, and harassment of journalists - these are just a few means of censorship around the world. The use of these repressive tactics threaten freedom of expression and the public’s right to information. On this edition, we hear from journalists in Ecuador and Mexico, and learn about the most censored countries from the Committee to Protect Journalists. Featuring: William Morocho, Page Designer with Diario HOY Jaime Mantilla, Director of Diario HOY newspaper Carlos Ochoa Hernandez, head of Supercom Rosental Alves, Director of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas at the University of Texas in Austin Romel Jurado, Consultant for Supercom Gustavo Ruiz, Independent Photographer Edwin Canché Pech, Journalist Adrián López Ortiz, director of Northwestern newspaper Marcela Zendejas, Associate Officer on Alternative Media and Gender Issues at Article 19 MEXICO Courtney Radsch, Advocacy Director with the Committee to Protect Journalists

Making Contact partnered with the 2014 National Poetry Slam in Oakland, CA to produce this special open mic highlighting the power of thoughtful, truth telling, community focused poetry. Featuring Poets: Chris Cuadrado Lindsay Stone Jared Paul Caitlin Clark Queen T

Five years after the deepwater horizon oil spill in the gulf of mexico, not everyone is “back to normal”. On this edition, we follow BP’s trail from the Bayous of Louisiana to the fine art galleries of London. Featuring: Antonia Juhasz, investigative Journalist Monique Verdin & Beau Verdin, Houma tribe members David Gauthe, community organizer Thomas DarDar, United Houma Nation Chief Mark Miller, Southern Utah University History professor Mel Evans, author of Artwash: Big Oil and the Arts

Climate change is here affecting weather conditions and sea levels. In India it's also having a more surprising influence on the country's tigers. On this edition of Making Contact, reporter Daniel Grossman takes us to India in Heat of the Moment: Sea Level Rise. Heat of the Moment was originally produced for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and WBUR. Featuring: Pranabes Sanyal, former park director for the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve Amit Mallick, Sundarbans resident and man attacked by tiger Tushar Kanjilal, secretary of the Tagore Society for Rural Development Mohammed Sheikh Gafur, Sundarbans resident and tea shop owner Sugata Hazra, an oceanographer at Calcutta’s Jadavapur University Ainun Nishat representative to the International Union for Conservation of Nature Shafiqul Islam, director of a small college and founder of the Pani Committee Sheikh Nural Ala, chief engineer for this region of the Water Development Board Atiq Rahman, director of the Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies Daniel Grossman, journalist