Mykal Slack grew up in rural Georgia in an enormous extended family of aunts, uncles and cousins. He was raised as a girl — the sex on his birth certificate — but from a young age he remembers crafting imaginary worlds in which he had a boy’s name.

What is News?

In this episode Los Angeles Hip-Hop Artist, De'Wayne Jackson says,  

"I feel like at times hip-hop can be news for a lot of kids. We just have to continue to give our voices to the world and hope the kids that are listening can make a change."

What is news? 

In this episode we also ask Katherine Gan "Can hip-hop be news?"

In January President Donald Trump issued an executive order that capped the number of refugees who could enter the United States at 50,000. That number more than halved the quota the previous administration had advised resettlement agencies to prepare for. 

In 1975 thousands of women from across the world gathered in Mexico City to discuss the state of the feminist movement. The U.N. had declared 1975 “International Women’s Year,” and a governmental conference in Mexico City served as the capstone event. 

Meanwhile, an NGO tribune took place in the city at the same time and drew some of the key leaders in feminism like Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem. The tribune and governmental conference also included women from poorer countries whose views of feminism were often at odds with their American counterparts.

The word ‘che’ is ubiquitous on the streets of Argentina. It is a term of endearment that people use often in casual conversation – similar to a word like buddy in American slang. So when North Carolina native Joe Troop decided to form a band in Buenos Aires with a group of his students, he found it fitting to characterize themselves using the term ‘che.’ The band Che Apalache is comprised of four musicians from three countries who fuse Appalachian folk with Latin American music.