Rightnowish

A few days ahead of April 15th -- 415 Day -- we're talking to two artists from San Francisco who have lived, fought, partied, and made art for their hometown. Jules Retzlaff (Cereal For The Kids) and Sachiel Rosen (Baghead) are the duo behind the film and album, Dedicated To Those Who. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jackie Keliiaa is a stand-up comedian raised in Hayward and based in Oakland. She's unapologetically Bay, and proud of her Yerington, Paiute and Washoe roots. She's also funny af. Building off Charlie Hill's legacy, Keliiaa cracks jokes about colonialism, Native culture and family, alongside her trials and tribulations with dating. Before the pandemic, you could catch her shows at Punchline San Francisco, Comedy Oakland and Tommy T's. She's featured alongside other Native comedians in the televised 'First Nation Comedy Experience'. She also produces events that showcase woman of color comics, and she just launched a podcast where she interviews creative friends. One of her latest endeavors includes contributing a chapter in the newly published book, We Had a Little Real Estate Problem: The Unheralded Story of Native Americans & Comedy. It's a deep dive into the under-appreciated legacy of Native comedians, taking its name from an iconic Charlie Hill joke, "My people are from Wisconsin. We used to be from New York... We had a little real estate problem." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Filmmaker Cheryl Dunye is a legend. She’s best known for her seminal film, Watermelon Woman, which takes a critical look at the depiction of Black women in cinema; 2021 marks 25 years since it debuted. In making that film, Dunye, a graduate of Temple University and Rutgers University, created her own style of filmmaking known as “Dunyementary.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oakland-based filmmaker Theo Hollingsworth knows about nerds. Back when he attended Howard University, he was given the nickname “spoken nerd” because of his personality and passion for poetry. More recently, Hollingsworth’s independently produced comedic sci-fi series, Sirius Lee: The Problematic Time Transplant, dives into its own nerdom with quantum physics while addressing outdated perspectives on masculinity, gentrification and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

San Francisco State graduates Alba Roland Mejia and Jon Warfield Harrison are in the early stages of their careers as filmmakers. They’ve released a handful of short films which are artistic, a bit experimental and occasionally include a dash of science fiction. Their first collaboration, My Own Mecca, looks at a day in the life of a young man at a crossroads, learning to navigate relationships, rent and the world around him. Their most recent work, Blackness is Everything, is an experimental film that features the faces and talents of some pretty well-known Bay Area-based Black artists. The short film, made possible with the support of BAYCAT, debuted in February and made for a quality visual experience in the middle of Black History Month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Maya Cueva makes documentary films that cover the heavy topics: immigration, reproductive justice and xenophobia. Cueva says her journey into professional storytelling began after covering current events at Youth Radio (now YR Media) as a teen. While attending Ithaca College in New York, she began work on her first film, The Provider, which follows Dr. Shannon Carr as she performs abortions in Texas in the midst of a heated battle for reproductive rights. That film led to another, On The Divide, which looks at the last abortion clinic on the U.S./Mexico border; the film is currently in production. Between creating those films, she's produced an animated film about her father’s immigration experience to the U.S. from Peru, Only the Moon/ Solamente La Luna. And earlier this month Cueva debuted Ale Libre. This story follows reproductive rights organizer and undocumented activist Alejandra Pablos in her fight against deportation. The film recently debuted at the Big Sky Doc Fest, and later this month will be showing at the San Diego Latino Film Festival, Salem Film Festival and the Thin Line Fest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tongo Eisen-Martin, San Francisco's eighth poet laureate, says it's not enough to simply be a poet. "The poet needs to just come on down to the trenches," he says. His suggestion for writers out there is to get involved in your community, whether that's passing out flyers or organizing a mutual aid program. "That experience is what you synthesize good revolutionary poetry from." This week on Righnowish, Eisen-Martin joins us for a brief but powerful interview that includes a performance of his poem, "A Sketch of Genocide." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Antoine Johnson stands at the intersection of hip-hop culture, HIV/ AIDS history, and the great institutions of higher learning in Northern California. A graduate of Oakland's Castlemont High School and Sacramento State University, Johnson is now a PhD candidate at UCSF where he's researching the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and how the community-- including a group of Black women in Oakland-- responded. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lyricist Champ Green is probably your favorite Bay Area rapper's favorite rapper. He's been putting in work for some time, and over the past calendar year he's been on a music-making mission. And he's not showing any signs of slowing. His clever wordplay and wisdom-filled rhymes can be found on a project with DJ Basta, a recent single and video with Mistah FAB, and multiple tracks with the Grand Nationxl collective. And next week he's scheduled to release Pleasantly Plump 2 with DJ Twelvz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Neo-soul and hip-hop artist Jada Imani gets her inspiration from a range of lived experiences: parking tickets, lessons from her parents, and Mac Dre lyrics. Despite the pandemic, Jada has been dropping three-track EPs every first Friday since October, and plans to continue to do so until March. It's a legacy of the collaborations and vibe she cultivated while organizing and hosting First Friday events at the Alan Blueford Center in Oakland for over 3 years. While honoring her origins, she's also incorporating inspiration from her new surroundings -- like Hawaiian tree frogs. This week on Rightnowish we talk to Jada Imani about astrology, 'high vibration clapbacks' and how music was her access to culture when she was a small girl in a small town. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the next month, Rightnowish will be featuring artists with local roots who are taking the sounds of the Bay to a national stage. YMTK is an R&B and hip-hop artist who grew up in Oakland and currently resides in Los Angeles. In his music catalog, you'll find his collaborations with P-Lo, IamSu!, Rexx Life Raj, and many more. YMTK has also written lyrics for emerging artists like the East Bay's Marteen and Compton's Gemaine. But while sheltering-in-place over this past year, YMTK says he's been exploring his creative process as an individual. "... when you are creating by yourself, it’s like really on you," YMTK says. And as a creative person, second guessing himself is common, but this time in solitude has proven to be a "swift kick in the ass to really focus on YMTK," he says. But, focusing on self and going through the process of doing soul work isn't a foreign concept to YMTK. He spent his childhood in the church and says it has given his music a foundation, no matter if it's a dance track or a prayer song. In addition to discussing the role spirituality plays in his life and art, we talk hoops, hanging with Mr. Cooper, and shooting your shot as a musical artist in the middle of a pandemic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nappy Nina is a lyricist with a smooth-sultry delivery that's almost jazz-like, especially when coupled with some signature Boom-Bap production. In her songs, she raps about breakups, missing Oakland, the disappointing produce in Brooklyn, and navigating rough financial waters. She's gotten mentions from the Grammys and Bandcamp. And she's been working on a streak of exciting projects. For an organization called Flocabulary, Nina was commissioned to pen a rhyme that tells the story of Toni Morrison. And this year, she's built on that momentum by dropping a new single,"Pandemy Stimmy," which features Stas Thee Boss. Soon, she'll release a new EP, Double Down, in collaboration with New Jersey-based producer, J Words. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dale Johnson grew up in East Oakland with stories of his grandfather riding horses on a Texas ranch. For years horses were just part of a family story. But one day, a pair of polo boots caught Dale's eye and he was brought back into the world of equestrians. Now Dale and his horse, Sunny, are deep in the horseback community. Last fall, they joined other riders, like Brianna Noble, to ride through San Francisco's Sunnydale Projects on Halloween dressed up like Wakandans . They were also part of the Ride Out to Vote campaign last November. This week on Rightnowish, Dale and I talk about what it means to be a polo player and an equestrian in the face of race and class stereotypes that come with being an African American man from East Oakland. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Breena Nuñez is an Afro Guatemalan-Salvadoran cartoonist who grew up on the Bay Area's peninsula. Now she lives in the East Bay. Nuñez's illustrations cover everything from commentaries about electoral politics to autobiographical comics about gender, sexuality and race. African ancestry in Central America is a through-line in Nuñez's work. Sometimes she explicitly brings it up in the captions, other times she subtly alludes to it through hairstyles or a character's skin tone. Earlier this year, Nuñez and her partner Lawrence Lindell co-founded Laneha House, a small press where they publish their work and the work of The BAYlies collective. And just this month, the two got married. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alex Trapps-Chabala is a young genealogist whose main focus is tracing the lineage of African American people. He grew up between Sacramento's Oak Park neighborhood and the Bay Area. But as preteen, his family sent him to live with with relatives in Alabama to get some discipline for an attitude problem. It was that time spent in the south that pushed Alex toward becoming a genealogist. Alex says that while in Alabama, his grandmother taught him about his family and showed him how to dig through archives and records in order to uncover more information. As he got more invested in genealogy, he saw gaps in how African American history is told, as well as opportunities to illuminate more Black family histories. Alex began pulling up vital records, census records and even digitizing records of home births. With the help of others in genealogists, Alex is compiling a database he hopes will be a resource for African American families. Now through his startup, The KinConnector, Alex is aiming to have an easy to use database that fills voids in African American histories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vincent-Ray Williams III is the Operations Coordinator at Oakland's LGBTQ Community Center. Through this position Vincent has a hand in developing the Center's Glenn Burke Wellness Clinic. The clinic, which is named after the Oakland A's player who was discriminated against for being the first openly gay major league player, is set to open early next year. Vincent says the clinic will focus on HIV/ AIDS testing and prevention. Vincent, who was born HIV positive, says dispelling negative notions of people living with the virus is the work he finds most purposeful. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Abdulalim A’Omer grew up in a tight-knit Muslim Eritrean community in South Berkeley. He says that experience exposed him to a little bit of everything-- fashion, basketball, family, politics, religion, technology and more. It all proved to be a foundational part of Abdulalim's multifaceted Everything brand, which wants to ask its users, what's your everything? Abdulalim, or Abdul for short, is the oldest of four boys. His parents immigrated from Eritrea, allowing him to become a college educated entrepreneur. Their sacrifices aren't lost on him and he maintains a connection to their homeland. But recently, he's watched Eritrea become enmeshed in a brewing civil conflict in the neighboring country of Ethiopia. In this week's episode of Rightnowish we talk to Abdulalim about how he is using technology and art to bring people into his world of culture, community and ... everything. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Deanna Van Buren is an architect, but she goes far beyond just designing buildings. She uses her craft to demonstrate new structures for justice in our society. Van Buren is the co-founder and Executive Director of Designing Justice, an organization that she says focuses on "ending mass incarceration through innovations in the built environment, using both finance and design together." Designing Justice has launched projects across the country: They're behind a Peace Making project in Syracuse, a restorative justice project in Detroit, and they're looking to convert an Atlanta jail into a community center. Locally, they've refurbished a MUNI bus to create a mobile school in San Francisco and in East Oakland, they've built a community center based in restorative justice practices. This week on Rightnowish, Deanna Van Buren discusses what it means to design for a more equitable society. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Comic Luna Malbroux loves to stay informed, and she also loves to laugh. By prioritizing joy in her life, she has the energy to confront racism, sexism and the stress of this election season. Just this week, Malbroux-- who is also a musician and sex coach in training-- spent election night co-hosting a live event for the San Francisco AIDS foundation. She brought the laughs and she brought some deep political knowledge. In this week's episode of Rightnowish, Luna's got jokes and wisdom on how to find pleasure in these tense times. Hit the play button to catch some serotonin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Denis Ivan Perez Bravo is an East Bay-based photographer and organizer who isn't shy about jumping right into the action. The images he captures on the front lines of protests in Northern California show the intense struggle of today's social movements. The risk of bodily harm can come from both sides of a scrimmage. While covering the news, Dennis has been hit by projectiles fired from police weapons and risks being trampled by crowds of protestors. On top of that, Denis is undocumented, so he's literally risking his freedom. But he says that his photos are worth it. Beyond capturing images from the front lines in the battle for justice and liberation, Denis also fills his camera rolls with shots of community sporting events and cultural affairs from his neighborhood in Richmond, CA. This week on Rightnowish, we talk to Denis about what it means to be on the front line, and why he sometimes crosses that line. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two years ago Tayleur Crenshaw and Maud Alcorn started the arts collective, Gold Beams. It began as an open mic Crenshaw hosted in her living room -- called Second Mondays -- which eventually grew into a larger monthly event at Red Bay Coffee headquarters in East Oakland. "It’s like emotional stories that they kind of leave at the altar at Second Mondays. And us as community aunties, we are there to rub the backs and to listen and be an ear. We’re just here for people’s emotional journeys," says Crenshaw. Since shelter-in-place orders came down this spring, Gold Beams has pivoted while staying productive. They're doing a filmed series of intimate performances highlighting Black artists, called Fourth Mondays. They're also working in collaboration with Welcome To The Table to produce a series of filmed conversations about relationships amongst Black artists in the Bay Area. It's called, In Real Life: A Conversation Between Black Men and Women. And if that's not enough, they've also mounted a photo exhibition, which largely features the work of Dorean Raye, myself and other photographers who've captured their events; the framed images are posted at Oakstop at 1721 Broadway in downtown Oakland. The exhibition is titled, Mondays Were Never the Same, and is open for timed reservations. But do it fast, it's only scheduled to be up until November 6th. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In January of this year, Cat Brooks and the Anti Police-Terror Project launched a service where trained professionals respond to mental health crises; it's an alternative to people calling the police to handle the situation. The service, Mental Health First, or M.H. First, initially launched in Sacramento, and began serving Oakland this summer. Brooks says that M.H. First's work is just one part of the effort to refund the community and divest from overspending on police. This week on Rightnowish, Brooks discusses M.H. First, the racism she encountered as a young person and she traces her origins in organizing back to the killing of Oscar Grant-- a case which was recently been reopened. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On 17th and Telegraph, on the backside of YR media's Oakland headquarters, there's a mural that stretches the length of the three story building. The colorful artwork was painted by Rachel Wolfe Goldsmith and shows two people: one with their fist raised to the sky wearing a shirt that says "they/them", and another person looking calmly at you, sort of inviting you in. The models for the mural are artist and musician Stoney Creation, and Yanni Brump, a non-binary model, party thrower and public speaker. I was familiar with both Goldsmith and Stoney Creation before, but I didn't know Yanni until I posted a picture of the mural. A friend tagged Yanni in the post, and looking at their page, I got a glimpse into all the things they do. I reached out to Yanni and learned how they went from shy, to living their life unapologetically. Now you can see them posing for Vogue, walking in New York Fashion Week, speaking at protests, using TikTok videos as a tool to teach self love and being the face of this HUGE MURAL in downtown Oakland. This week on Rightnowish, Yanni Brump gives us a crash course on finding the courage within to trust in yourself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

About two years ago photographer Scott La Rockwell started taking photos of longtime Oakland residents, and interviewing them about their roots in the Town. He published the pieces online, calling it: the Townfolk Project. He says he initially planned to take photos of 100 folks from a cross section of backgrounds and neighborhoods, but with COVID-19, things slowed down. He’s sitting on about 20 published interviews. But this past summer, when store owners boarded up their buildings to discourage any vandalism that might come after peaceful protests, Scott’s project got an unexpected canvas: the windows of a building on 13th and Broadway. Now about a dozen of Scott’s photos of artists, activists and folks who’ve been putting on for the greater good of Oakland are mounted on one of the most prominent corners of the city. This week, we talk to Scott La Rockwell about the importance of showing the community to itself, especially at a time when people are so divided. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Regina Y. Evans works with a team of folks to assemble altars on International Boulevard in Oakland, a hub for adult sex workers as well as the sex trafficking of minors. Regina says the goal of the work is to be present for the girls-- "Beloveds" as she calls them. The altars are decorated with art, flowers, letters and fabrics, and since the start of the pandemic, she's been adding hand sanitizer, condoms and PPE. Regina says her team builds these altars as an offering and that she doesn't directly approach the Beloveds, instead she allows the altars to be an opening for interactions. For Regina, spirituality, social commentary and artistry all weave together in her mission to abolish the sex trafficking of minors. You can see this in all her work: She owns the vintage boutique, Regina's Door, which also serves as a safe haven for at-risk youth and survivors of human trafficking. And in addition to designing costumes for stage shows, she writes and performs her own plays-- which are informed by the work she does on the streets of Oakland. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A few years back, Victor Harris Jr. was selling maple peach bourbon cheesecakes at an Oakland event. He says an older African American woman sampled a slice and he watched as her eyes rolled back in her head before they re-focused on on him. She asked Victor to come closer, so he leaned in and she smacked him softly in the face. Then she complimented his work and ordered a cake to go. Victor, who is DJ, a former race car driver, a poet and owner of Reuschelle's Cheesecakes, hasn't been working any events this year due to concerns around COVID-19, but he's still finding ways to bring his sweets to peeps. He's selling at the Castro Valley Farmers Market, and the Temescal Farmers Market in Oakland. He's also doing personal deliveries-- and he says that's his favorite part of the job. This week, I interview Victor about the origin of his cheesecakes and his poetry, which caught the ear of Rightnowish listener Rebecca Hensler, who suggested we interview Victor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ashleyanne Krigbaum spins vinyl at weddings and dive bars, sound designs museum audio tours, and was the founding producer of KQED's arts and culture podcast, Rightnowish. You might've heard of it. Ashleyanne, who can trace her East Bay roots back for a few generations, grew up along the Delta in the town of Bethel Island. And after calling Berkley home for the past couple of years, she's decided to move to the Los Angeles area, where she'll embark on a great career opportunity-- and also enjoy a new romantic partnership. Before Ashleyanne left the KQED team, we put her in the hot seat and asked her the hard questions. You know, like: what does it take to produce a weekly arts and culture show? What's her philosophy on creative collaboration? And what's the story behind her technicolor hair? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Erina Alejo is an educator, artist and cultural artifact keeper. But when asked how they self-identify, Alejo says they're, "a third-generation renter." Alejo's grand-aunt immigrated from the Philippines to the Bay Area in 1959. Soon after, other family members joined. They lived in the East Bay city of Pittsburg, before moving to San Francisco. They've been renters the whole time. Now Alejo, who spent their early years in the Mission District before being priced out and moving to the Excelsior, says they've been watching the story of gentrification unfold through a unique lens. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oakland's Joshua Johnson knows about the commitment, focus and strategy it takes to compete at a high level. He's a professional NFL quarterback with over ten years of experience in the league. And recently, he's taken those same qualities to the world of online gaming. Johnson is a co-founder of the Ultimate Gaming League (UGL), an e-sports platform where gamers compete, create community, and talk trash to one another. Beyond fun and games, Johnson says there are ample entrepreneurial opportunities in the world of digital gaming, especially when it comes to individuals branding themselves. Johnson's aim is to make sure folks in his community are taking full advantage of the platforms that are growing more popular by the day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With all that's going on in the world, some folks might overlook the presidential election that's in less than three months. But not Tracey L. Ross, and she's getting the word out about the importance of this election. Tracey, who was raised and politicized in Oakland, currently works as the Director of Federal Policy and Narrative Change at PolicyLink. This means she serves as a bridge between policy researchers and elected officials. She has a unique sense of America's national political landscape and she wants to make sure people are aware of what's at stake this coming fall, and how that will inform elections to come. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michael Muscadine was born and raised in East Oakland's Fruitvale neighborhood, where his family goes back several generations. Muscadine says that's where his grandfather, John Melendrez, instilled in him the idea of community oriented social activism. Now Muscadine works as a life coach at the Fruitvale-based nonprofit, CURYJ, which stands for Communities United For Restorative Youth Justice. Muscadine works directly with young folks-- many of whom have had run-ins with the justice system-- to assure that they have resources like food and housing. Muscadine also works at a community garden in the same neighborhood where he works and lives. Through gardening, and his work at CURYJ, he's literally planting seeds in the same place he has deep roots. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the Director of Homeless Services for the Alameda Health System and the Chief Clinical Officer with Health Leads, Dr. Damon Francis has his hands full. Before the pandemic, Dr. Damon performed heath checkups, tests, and provided resources for people living without shelter and those living with HIV. This year he's taken on treating people living with the virus and informing people how to prevent the spread of COVID-19. When he talks about quelling the spread of COVID-19, Dr. Damon relies on something he learned while working with people living with HIV/ AIDS: you can't demonize human behavior. He believes that people are going to be people; he just wants them to do so in the most informed and healthy way possible. So, when it comes to the ongoing conversation about gatherings in public spaces, like Oakland's Lake Merritt, Dr. Damon doesn't condemn people, instead he asks them to socialize in the healthiest fashion possible: wearing masks, washing hands, staying more than six-feet apart; he also suggests looking at the Alameda County Health Department's page for further information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amir Abdul-Shakur's Instagram page, AmirThePhotographer, looks like a community yearbook. His shots are mostly portraits of Black folks in Oakland, and show each individual in their own radiant light. His images, some of protests and others of parties, all seem to have an underlying joyous sentiment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dania Cabello is a former professional fútbol player, who now teaches the sport to young folks through the program Oakland Street Stylers. She was one of the main characters in the film Futbolistas 4 Life and is a producer on the series, The North Pole. But her most recent venture involves juicing marijuana leaves to make healing salves and bath salts; and her company is called Ojo De La Sol. After mastering her remedies in her kitchen, Dania says she went through the long bureaucratic process of filing paperwork, getting her products tested and when she finally got access to a space where she could mass produce, that's when the first shelter-in-place orders came down from Governor Newsom. Since then, she's struggled to get her products into stores, as meetings are hard to arrange while socially distancing. But nonetheless, she's managed to set up her online shop and sell her her salves and bath salts through a digital storefront. After all, this is a time where masses could use medicine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"I'm doing a flip off the boat," said Jarrel Phillips, breaking down last year's performance at Remembering 1619, a play directed by Joanna Haigood of Zaccho Dance Theatre, which acknowledges the first shipment of enslaved Africans reaching Virginia 400 years ago. "I'm one of the ones that decides, 'I'm not having this, yo, I'm out,'" says Jarrel, summarizing his character in the play. His onstage persona is much like Jarrel in real life: acrobatic, resilient and close to his roots. From the stage, Jarrel tells the story of Africans surviving in the Western hemisphere. In real life, Jarrel is part the story of how African Americans have survived on the West Coast of the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

DAGHE Digital is just about as unique as they come. He's a West Oakland kid, who's clear about his West African roots, as his family hails from Nigeria. He grew up a socialite who turf danced and threw "functions" for people who weren't old enough to go to legit clubs. He's grown to become a brand creator, clothing designer, music producer and more. But his main job? Going stupid on the turntables and microphone at some of the biggest events. I first sat down to interview him in Oakland last summer, and talked about the other side of DAGHE. You know, the cerebral side, the side that likes to have "business meetings" with himself while he runs the lake. Since shelter-in-place, he channeled his love of running towards a Peace and Wellness run to show solidarity with the protests. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is police reform actually achievable? That's the question I'm most interested in asking Regina Jackson. Ms. Regina, as she's often called, has been the Executive Director of the East Oakland Youth Development Center since 1994. That's where she perfected her system of mentorship and community engagement. In 2017, Ms. Regina was elected to a four-year term as the Chair of the Oakland Police Commission-- an independent review board that works outside of OPD to oversee policies and practices within the department. Ms. Regina's goal is to bring her philosophies on mentorship and community development to the Oakland Police Commission, in the hopes that it will result in substantial reform to the Oakland Police Department-- which has been under a federal monitor since 2003. Ms. Regina is powerful and competent, but given all that I've experienced with police in America, especially over these past few weeks-- with footage of George Floyd's Death and the tale of Breonna Taylor's death, I've grown more pessimistic about the potential of "reforming" police departments in America, Oakland's included. But if anyone is going to make a dent in police reform, it's going to be someone like Ms. Regina. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hadiyah Daché is an esthetician from East Palo Alto, who recently relocated her Fairy Glow Mother business to Oakland. Her skincare work covers everything finding remedies for acne to waxing intimate areas, and there's so much more to it. In this conversation, we touch on Hadiyah's roots in EPA, her entrepreneurial drive and why skincare is deeper than just applying sunblock-- which she suggests you do multiple times of day if you're outside in the summer months. Correction: Hadiyah's last name is Daché. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sydney Nycole is a singer and songwriter from Berkeley who has been making music since she was a teen. And although her father (and manager) Gary Reeves has been in the industry since the 1980s, Sydney found this passion on her own. Once it was established that Sydney, a free spirit who has no problem speaking her mind, was on the path to becoming an artist, it was on Gary to make sure he did his best to be there to support her and to know when to step back and let Sydney do her own thing. In this conversation, Gary talks about how his experiences working with the likes of Michael Jordan, Jamie Foxx and Blair Underwood informed what it's like to be a father in the entertainment industry. Sydney also offers some insight into what her father has done to help her on her path. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Poet Tiffany Banks is the host of Speak On It, a weekly poetry night that usually takes place at Liege Lounge in Old Oakland. But since California has been sheltering in place, the poetry night has taken to the digital realm-- and now the talented performers hop on a big Zoom call just about every Wednesday night to share their work. As the host of this event, it's on Tiffany to organize the video call, schedule performers, promote the event and, at times, influence bashful artists to share their hidden talents. In this episode of Rightnowish, Tiffany helps me to tap back into a passion I've had since a kid, writing poetry. And she even convinces me to perform. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Porsche Nicole Kelly is an Oakland based motivational speaker, poet and author of the book, 2 Kinds of Fire. For this week's episode of Rightnowish, I step back and let the wordsmith speak to us as only she can, through her poetic critique of race in society in the form of her poem, "Jokes." The poem grapples with cases of police brutality and white nationalist violence. Do what you need to take care of yourself. You can follow Porsche Nicole Kelly at "thepoetactivist" on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the past nine months, I've had the luxury of getting to know some of the most interesting artists and activists the Bay Area has to offer. As the host of the Rightnowish podcast, it's been my goal to give them a platform, while taking a step back. But this week, given all that has occurred in relation to police brutality and protests, I have something to say. Today's episode of Rightnowish is dedicated to the lives of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, and all of those who've lost their lives in the struggle to end police brutality and extra-judicial killings of African American people. I hope this piece creates critical thinking about the numerous ways in which this country shows its lack of value for the lives of African American people. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the past three months, San Francisco's Jamal Trulove has been working with UCSF’s Science Policy Group in order to get masks, hand sanitizer and information to groups that have been most impacted by COVID-19. You might've heard a little bit about Trulove's story. He's an actor, who played the role of Kofi in the 2019 film, The Last Black Man in San Francisco. He's a rapper, under the stage name 10MilliMilli, he's dropped a handful of songs, and is working on more. And last year he was awarded a multi-million dollar settlement in a case with the SFPD, after being framed and falsely imprisoned for a 2007 murder; a case that led to him serving over six years behind bars. Since then, he's been vocal about that case and the prison system. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chris Riggins has performed on stages across the Bay Area and beyond. And as his career was in mid-stride -- COVID-19 hit. Now Riggins is adjusting to a world where comedy performances, like many forms of art, are happening online. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sumayyah Monét Franklin is a birth rights activist, doula and owner of Sumi’s Touch. She gives advice to potential parents on conception, coaches new parents through postpartum and is with parents during the birthing process-- she's attended over 500 births and counting. As of late, caution around potentially being exposed to COVID-19 has made many people wary about even going to traditional healthcare facilities. Guidelines on how many people can be present for the birthing process have become strict, making more parents hesitant to go to a hospital. This might explain why Sumayyah says she's seeing an uptick in her business-- and she expects that trend to continue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Felicia Gangloff-Bailey and Karega Bailey's newborn daughter, Kamaiu, passed last year, the couple says they became "angel parents." It's a term that exemplifies their seemingly ever-present optimism and uplifting approach to dealing with grief. This mindset is something the duo brings to their professional life as well, working as educators and restorative justice practitioners. They're also musicians, making up half of the band, Sol Development, along with Brittany Tanner and Lauren Adams. Recently, the couple has worked to publish a book full of affirmations that can be used as a toolkit, of sorts, to give guidance to other people who are dealing with grief. The book is call Sol Affirmations. This week on Rightnowish, we're discussing the importance of understanding grief and how uplifting words help process the highs and lows that life can throw at you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mike Nicholls is the founder of Umber magazine, a publication dedicated to telling the stories of Black and Brown artists from the Bay Area. It's so invested in those narratives, the pages are brown and the ink is black. For the magazine's third issue, which was released last summer, the theme was Sound. Nicholls, who grew up with an intense stutter, says he's always found it easier to express himself through the written word—hence his passion for the visual arts. But he's always been interested in digging into sound, especially as a method for overcoming stuttering. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oakland MC Passwurdz 510 is a professional battle rapper. That means he gets paid to go on stage and publicly humiliate his opponents. It's an art form that dates back to the early days of Hip Hop and has been depicted in movies like 8 Mile. On top of being a competition of lyrical prowess, these battles provide comedic relief for audiences - and a cathartic release for artists, as well. Passwurdz, aka Pass, is also part of the duo ANML PLNT (along with Jordan Jennings, aka Apes), which released an album earlier this year, called "The Box." Now that people are dealing with the emotions of daily uncertainty, I figured it'd be a good time to get some tips from a professional about how to use battle raps to constructively release some pent up emotions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Paris Warr's dream job has always been to work in a mortuary. Now she's worried about how Covid-19 will impact her industry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Radio host DC is working non-stop during shelter-in-place, and he has a pretty good idea of how others in the entertainment industry are dealing with everything that is (and isn't) happening in the Bay Area. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices