Early in the 20th century, in which has been named the Great Migration, millions of Black southerners moved North, looking for opportunity and an escape from Jim Crow. The vibrant jazz community centered around Chicago is well-known. But like all people, African Americans have diverse interests and music is no exception. In this mini episode based on our full episode, “Not Forgotten Anymore,” we focus on Black composers of concert music who thrived in Chicago. Check out the full episode show notes for links and information …
Sometimes all it takes is one question to spur a revelation that inspires a movement. The African American Composer Initiative started with a question and has become a thriving nonprofit, discovering, performing, and recording underappreciated concert music by Black composers …
Interviewing a doula about natural childbirth was an intensely personal experience for Babblery host Suki Wessling. She’d planned on natural birth—twice. But the American system of birth isn’t set up to allow births to take their own unusual paths. While doula Anne Wallen talks about what could have happened, we explore what did happen, first in a birth led by an obstetrician, then with a midwife. “ I hesitate to tell my birth stories to women thinking of having children when they ask. I’m likely to say, The great thing about birth is at the end, you get a baby out of it!” ~ Suki Wessling “ No OB wakes up in the morning and says, I want to ruin someone’s birth today. Like, whose birth can I wreck today? Like, that’s just not how they got into this job, right?” ~ Anne Wallen Share and comment on Substack! …
In praise of natural birth In this mini version of the full episode, “Trusting our Survival Mechanisms with Doula Anne Wallen,” we focus on doula Anne Wallen’s trust in the natural process of birth. Anne points out that most practicing obstetricians have never seen a fully natural birth in a home or homelike setting, “and so they don’t know it’s trustworthy.”  ”When you’re able to just gently allow your body to do its thing, your body will do it slowly and gently—the way that you would think that a baby would want to be born, and the way that you would think a woman would want to let a baby out of her body.” Access the full episode for links and more information …
Anne Wallen now trains women in the art of the doula. How a teen mom evolved into a proponent of natural childbirth is a quietly stunning American love story …
From Babblery host, Suki Wessling:  On my radio show, the Babblery, I talk to women of all ages and backgrounds about their work and life experiences and how those experiences shaped their worldview. The conversations I have are always thoughtful, but they are never more intimate than when we talk about mothering. In this short version of the full episode, environmentalist Shilpi Chhotray reflects on how motherhood changed her career trajectory and her personal life forever. Visit the full episode, “Finding Community in Environmental Justice with Shilpi Chhotray,” for show notes and links …
Shilpi Chhotray is a storyteller with a purpose. An environmentalist from an early age, her perspective has developed and deepened during her career. Having found inspiration in the social justice movement, she and her production team are now embarking on a project to tell stories about environmental justice through “A People’s Climate.” The new podcast is hosted by The Nation Magazine and features interviews with many of the important figures in the movement. “I have massive concerns with the conservation movement as it is because they’re leaving the people part out of it and to be extremely explicit, they’re leaving the indigenous people out. You can’t protect land from the people that have stewarded it from generations and expel them from it.” In our interview, we talk about Shilpi’s work in environmentalism, the great personal changes that led her to cover environmental justice, and the focus on community that keeps …