Past Forward

A.C. Thompson is a senior reporter with ProPublica and producer and correspondent for the PBS documentary series FRONTLINE. His work has helped lead to the exoneration of two innocent San Francisco men sentenced to life in prison, the prosecution of seven New Orleans police officers, and a Congressional investigation of the U.S. Border Patrol. His life was fictionalized on the HBO show “Treme.”Engaging the World: Leading the Conversation on People and Communities in Motion traces why we move and what happens to the places we leave, cross, and settle. Episodes cover immigration and migration, the building and dismantling of neighborhoods, the use of public space, and the point where a shared idea becomes collective action. In this series, we engage with activists, artists, authors, educators, and journalists to consider how people and communities respond to the cultural, environmental, political, and social forces that put them in motion, and how, through that movement, they transform the world around them.Guest: A.C. ThompsonHost: Jon-Barrett IngelsProduced by Past Forward in partnership with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University.Date recorded: October 22, 2026Past Forward is providing this podcast as a public service. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. Please read our Program and Product Disclaimer for more information.

Benjamin Henwood, PhD, LCSW is the Albert G. and Frances Lomas Feldman Professor of Social Policy and Health at the University of Southern California (USC). He directs the Center for Homelessness, Housing and Health Equity Research at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work and also holds a secondary appointment as a professor in the USC Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy. Professor Henwood also serves as director for the Homelessness Policy Research Institute, a joint operation of USC Social Work and the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy.Trained as a clinical social worker and researcher, Professor Henwood is an expert in health and housing services research whose work connects clinical interventions with social policy. He is a co-author of the book “Housing First,” published by Oxford University Press, and led the launch of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare's Grand Challenge to End Homelessness.Professor Henwood’s research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health (i.e., NIMH, NIDA, NIA), the National Science Foundation, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the Patient Centered Research Outcomes Institute and Google.org. He has also served as the methodological lead for the Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count since 2017, which is the largest unsheltered count in the United States. Professor Henwood received his MSW in 2004 and PhD in 2011 from NYU’s Silver School of Social Work.Engaging the World: Leading the Conversation on People and Communities in Motion traces why we move and what happens to the places we leave, cross, and settle. Episodes cover immigration and migration, the building and dismantling of neighborhoods, the use of public space, and the point where a shared idea becomes collective action. In this series, we engage with activists, artists, authors, educators, and journalists to consider how people and communities respond to the cultural, environmental, political, and social forces that put them in motion, and how, through that movement, they transform the world around them.Guest: Benjamin HenwoodHost: Jon-Barrett IngelsProduced by Past Forward in partnership with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University.Date recorded: September 16, 2026Past Forward is providing this podcast as a public service. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. Please read our Program and Product Disclaimer for more information.

Dr. Gioia Woods earned her Ph.D. in English with an emphasis in American and Environmental Literature from the University of Nevada, Reno in 1999. She is a Professor of Humanities in the Department of Comparative Cultural Studies where she teaches classes in environmental humanities; race, ethnicity, and gender; and cultural studies. Her ongoing scholarship and publications are in American and comparative literatures, ecocriticism, and mid-twentieth-century cultural production.  Since 2013 Dr. Woods has directed the Summer Sustainability Program in Siena, a faculty-led interdisciplinary program designed to explore the relationship between nature and culture in Italy’s Tuscany region. Dr. Woods is the Past President of the Western Literature Association, a former board member and project leader for the Arizona Humanities Council, and a recent Fulbright Lecturer at the University of Milan. Since 2017 she has served as the NAU Faculty Senate President.  She is the author of the Western Writers Series monograph Gary Paul Nabhan, co-editor of Western Subjects: Autobiographical Writing in the North American West, and editor of Left in the West: Literature, Culture, and Progressive Politics in the American West. Her latest book is City Lights: Lawrence Ferlinghetti and the Biography of a Bookstore. Medium History explores memories and moments through creativity and expression, capturing the cultural ethos of that time and place through storytelling and representation. Visual material culture, such as art, and other multimodal forms can elicit responses, emotions, and opinions—human expressions, tied to temporal and cultural aesthetics. This program explores how creative mediums provide context for history beyond dates, and names, and figures. Word Choice: The Structure, Form, and Discourse of History is a special series will explore how poetry consecrates the human experience during times of upheaval; civil unrest, climate crises, global conflict, and also in times of celebration; equity, freedom, progress. Poets capture the soul of history, giving words to the moments that leave us speechless. Produced with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University with support from the Orange County Community Foundation. Guest: Dr. Gioia Woods Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels Produced by: Past Forward Date recorded: March 12, 2025 Past Forward is providing this podcast as a public service. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. Please read our Program and Product Disclaimer for more information.

Dr. Gioia Woods earned her Ph.D. in English with an emphasis in American and Environmental Literature from the University of Nevada, Reno in 1999. She is a Professor of Humanities in the Department of Comparative Cultural Studies where she teaches classes in environmental humanities; race, ethnicity, and gender; and cultural studies. Her ongoing scholarship and publications are in American and comparative literatures, ecocriticism, and mid-twentieth-century cultural production.  Since 2013 Dr. Woods has directed the Summer Sustainability Program in Siena, a faculty-led interdisciplinary program designed to explore the relationship between nature and culture in Italy’s Tuscany region. Dr. Woods is the Past President of the Western Literature Association, a former board member and project leader for the Arizona Humanities Council, and a recent Fulbright Lecturer at the University of Milan. Since 2017 she has served as the NAU Faculty Senate President.  She is the author of the Western Writers Series monograph Gary Paul Nabhan, co-editor of Western Subjects: Autobiographical Writing in the North American West, and editor of Left in the West: Literature, Culture, and Progressive Politics in the American West. Her latest book is City Lights: Lawrence Ferlinghetti and the Biography of a Bookstore. Medium History explores memories and moments through creativity and expression, capturing the cultural ethos of that time and place through storytelling and representation. Visual material culture, such as art, and other multimodal forms can elicit responses, emotions, and opinions—human expressions, tied to temporal and cultural aesthetics. This program explores how creative mediums provide context for history beyond dates, and names, and figures. Word Choice: The Structure, Form, and Discourse of History is a special series will explore how poetry consecrates the human experience during times of upheaval; civil unrest, climate crises, global conflict, and also in times of celebration; equity, freedom, progress. Poets capture the soul of history, giving words to the moments that leave us speechless. Produced with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University with support from the Orange County Community Foundation. Guest: Dr. Gioia Woods Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels Produced by: Past Forward Date recorded: March 12, 2025 Past Forward is providing this podcast as a public service. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. Please read our Program and Product Disclaimer for more information.

This is an introduction to Season Five of Chapters. In this episode we document the year 2025, with context from our past, and we learn moving forward. Our goal with this new series is to explore the word incarceration as it relates to the experience of Japanese Americans following Executive Order 9066. We also want to consider the word incarceration and its effect on communities, families, and individuals through conversations with artists, community leaders, government officials, historians, journalists, lawyers, and nonprofit organizations.In this episode we highlight conversations with guests from this series, including Teresa Watanabe, a journalist at the Los Angeles Times for over three decades; Tarell Alvin McCraney, award-winning writer, producer, educator, and Artistic Director of the Geffen Playhouse; Kirn Kim, who, at 16 years old, was sentenced to 25 years to life as an adult; Donald K. Tamaki, a member of the pro bono legal team that reopened the landmark Supreme Court case Korematsu v. United States; Peggy Nagae, who served as lead counsel on the Coram Nobis case of Min Yasui 40 years after his conviction following Executive Order 9066; Dale Minami, coordinating attorney for the Coram Nobis case for Korematsu, Hirabayashi and Yasui, and lead counsel for Fred Korematsu; Ricardo D. García, Public Defender for Los Angeles County; Abdi Soltani, Executive Director of the ACLU of Northern California; Chessie Thacher, Senior Staff Attorney at the ACLU of Northern California; Soji Kashiwagi, Executive Director and playwright for the Grateful Crane Ensemble; Tamiko Nimura, co-author of the book, We Hereby Refuse, and author of the upcoming book, A Place for What We Lose, A Daughter's Return to Tule Lake; Kathryn Bannai, lead counsel for Gordon Hirabayashi’s Coram Nobis case which led to his conviction being vacated 40 years later; and Ann Burroughs, President and CEO of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles.Chapters is a multi-part series concerning the history and the lessons of civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices carried out against communities or populations—including civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices that are perpetrated on the basis of an individual’s race, national origin, immigration status, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.This project was made possible with support from Chapman University and The California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library.Guests: Teresa Watanabe, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Kirn Kim, Donald K. Tamaki, Peggy Nagae, Dale Minami, Ricardo D. García, Abdi Soltani, Chessie Thacher, Soji Kashiwagi, Tamiko Nimura, Kathryn Bannai, and Ann BurroughsHost: Jon-Barrett IngelsProduced by: Past ForwardDate recorded: December 16, 2025Past Forward is providing this podcast as a public service. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. Please read our Program and Product Disclaimer for more information.