Vermonter Kiah Morris wants to know why Black folks have a history of carrying hot sauce in their bag. In this spicy Homegoings Shorty we dive right into it with Torrance, California, hot sauce maker Brittney McCray, and unpack how the Great Migration impacted the portability of this spicy condiment.
Don’t call it a rerun, call it a remix! In this remixed episode of ‘How do you cook YOUR greens?’ host Myra Flynn catches up with chef Harmony Edosomwan to see what’s new in her world of business — and her collard greens, since it came out last year. Along with a world-renowned chef and Myra’s mother, they explore how the history of a once undesirable food mimics the resilience, innovation and perseverance of a once considered undesirable people.
Here on the show, we ask a lot of our guests. We ask for their time, and a good amount of it, as most of these 40-minute Homegoings episodes are actually shaped after two-hour interviews! We unapologetically ask for their hearts. The things that make them beat, and the things that make them break. On a recent episode of the podcast Immigrantly (a show we consider a soul-sister in the world of race and identity), host Saadia Khan puts our own Myra Flynn in the hot-seat as an interviewee. This episode is personal, raw and If you’ve ever felt unseen or misjudged, this story will remind you that you’re not alone—and that it’s okay to embrace the contradictions that make you, you.
In our first Homegoings Shorty we get to go "Goth" as we answer a question from DonnCherie McKenzie about where the community of Black goths might be hiding in Vermont.
Juan Coleman, a Black man who lives in Vermont, voted for Donald Trump in the past and is planning to vote for him again in this election cycle. And he’s not alone. Though we won’t know the actual numbers until the election, there is an uptick of Black voters aligning with the GOP, Black men in particular. Why? In this season finale, we speak with Juan about his concerns for the Democratic party, and hear from CNN national politics correspondent Eva McKend about the history of the Black vote, and how no demographic is a monolith.
How do you talk about Black death, in the media, in a way that is consistent, and intentional? How do you memorialize and humanize Black grief without perpetuating trauma? Here on Homegoings, we believe the answer is, and always has been, art. In this episode, we revisit some of the very first episodes of Homegoings, and embark on a quest with Vermont-based musicians to find out: Does grief have a sound?
***A heads up: This episode contains strong language, unbleeped swearing and explicit adult content*** In our fourth and final episode of the special series “Stereo-anti-types,” we tackle one of the most “biggest” stereotypes out there about the Black body today: the myth of the big Black penis. Host Myra Flynn speaks with Black men, including a porn star, about how this myth affects their lives and their profession, and a female sexologist who knows a lot about the origin of this stereotype that plagues Black men. A heads up that this episode is explicit, and maybe even hard to listen to. But here on Homegoings we believe most of the important stuff usually is.
Dianne Bondy is a yoga teacher and social justice activist who works to make wellness accessible for everyone – no matter their shape, size, level of ability or ethnicity. In this episode Laura Cathcart Robbins, host of the podcast The Only One in the Room, speaks with Dianne to unpack the world of wellness, and the many barriers to it.
“Stereo-anti-types” is a special series from Homegoings examining some of the most troubling, most profound and most dangerous stereotypes that apply to Black men. In part three of the series, “The myth of the stupid Black person” host Myra Flynn speaks with Tinotenda Charles Rutanhira, who came to the United States as a refugee from Zimbabwe. When he arrived, he already had a bachelor’s of commerce in business and information systems from Rhodes University in South Africa, and went on to more schooling in the U.S. to obtain a computer science degree. And still — no one would hire him.
***A heads up: This episode contains strong language and unbleeped swearing*** “Stereo-anti-types” is a special series from Homegoings examining some of the most troubling, most profound and most dangerous stereotypes that apply to Black men. In part two of the series, “The myth of the scary Black man” host Myra Flynn speaks with Kris Brown, a 6-foot-2, former drug dealer who was nearly fated to become a life-long statistic in the prison system, until his life took a turn that surprised even him.
***A heads up: This episode contains strong language and unbleeped swearing*** “Stereo-anti-types” is a special series from Homegoings examining some of the most troubling, most profound and most dangerous stereotypes that apply to Black men. In this first episode, host Myra Flynn and colleague Bryant Denton get up close and personal with podcaster Pendarvis Harshaw and comedian Marlon Fisher to tackle the myth of the deadbeat dad. Both of these men have bucked societal bias and are anything but deadbeat – but as you'll hear, it wasn't always easy.
Back in January, host Myra Flynn sat down with Saidu Tejan-Thomas Jr. in front of a live audience at Vermont Public studios to practice what we do best here on Homegoings: They had a very candid conversation. Together they broke down the realities of what it’s like to be a Black podcaster in a “Post-Floyd era,” the differences in African and American Blackness, and their push-pull relationship with the ever mercurial New York City. They asked each other, well — just about anything and everything. That fruitful night became a two-part video series and now, this revealing podcast episode.
There’s some irony in freedom because freedom is inherently unfree. It’s something to be defended, fought for, stood up for. It’s been hard-won in a lot of our history. It’s also elusive. Sometimes you have it, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes, it isn’t even an option. So, what is freedom? How do you know when you have it? What does it sound like? How do you get more of it? This episode works to create some cognitive dissonance, on purpose, between the sounds of freedom and the reality of it. With the live sounds of Independence Day, and a candid conversation with Speech, lead MC and singer of the band Arrested Development. He is fighting for freedom in his own way.
***A heads up: This episode contains strong language and unbleeped swearing as well as discussions of sexual abuse*** In part two of “Stories from the spotlight,” we continue our deep dive into the problematic nature of the music industry, the roots of misogyny in hip-hop, and unpack what it takes to stay safe, healthy and true to yourself as a female musician of color.
***A heads up: This episode contains strong language and unbleeped swearing as well as discussions of sexual abuse*** Fame, or the idea of it, is deeply woven into our society. It’s currency — people knowing you, knowing your name, knowing your art — can be priceless for an artist. Something to spend your whole life seeking. But fame also comes at a cost, and for young women of color in the music industry, and those costs have names. They are: financial devastation, mental health challenges, violence and sexual assault. In this two-part episode of Homegoings, we’ll pull back the curtain and hear from three female musicians and an expert about what it means to be ambitious, broke and brown and Black in the music industry.
Earlier this year, we hosted a special night at the Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph, Vermont. Five of the artists featured in our podcast took to the stage for a magical evening of poetry, music, dance and comedy. On this episode of Homegoings, we’ll hear highlights from that one night in February.
***A heads up: This episode contains strong language and unbleeped swearing*** Tracy “The D.O.C.” Curry is the OG of hip-hop, one of the originators of the genre itself. In 1989, a horrible car accident damaged his vocal cords at the height of his career. On this episode of Homegoings, Tracy shares how he found his voice and his purpose again on the other side of tragedy.
“How do people who identify as Black but have a white parent identify with that part of them? What are the complicated issues, if any? How do you manage day to day?” These are the questions posed by listener Janice Solek-Tefft that we’ll seek to answer in this episode of Homegoings. Myra Flynn shares her own experiences and speaks with three other biracial individuals as they discuss what it’s like to hold two of the world’s most opposing races in one body.
***A heads up: This episode contains strong language and unbleeped swearing*** Forget about aging in place, how about aging in paradise? For the launch of season two, Homegoings goes out of the country, to Mexico, for a conversation with Angel Clouthier and her grandmother Jean, a duo who are defining elder care in their own creative and colorful way.
Homegoings is a show that invites listeners to be a fly on the wall, privy to candid and genuine conversations about race. Host and musician Myra Flynn explores themes that fearlessly straddle that line between necessary and uncomfortable, as she speaks with artists, experts and regular folks all over the country about their literal skin in the game — of everyday life. Homegoings is storytelling — with a heartbeat. No topic is off the table, and there’s no such thing as going “too deep.” These are the conversations that are our birthright to have, and the stories we are lucky to hear.