Monday, December 24, 2018: Women Saving Our Own Lives, The Legend of Rhodessa Jones

Women Saving Our Own Lives, The Legend of Rhodessa Jones

One constellation of guiding lights for guest host Cat Petru's cultural production organization "We Rise" are Toni Cade Bambara’s words: “The role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible.” Rhodessa Jones is this artist. On today's show we delve into her latest show When Did Your Hands Become a Weapon? and celebrate 40 years of Cultural Odyssey and 30 of The Medea Project. Guests include company members Fe Bongolan, Lisa Frias, Uzo Nwankpa and Chibueze Crouch.



Please note that we discuss rape culture and violence against women in this #metoo moment. The sharing is often intimate. Please take exquisite care of yourself as you listen.

Click here to listen to the show. 59:50 min

ABOUT OUR GUESTS
Rhodessa Jones is Co-Artistic Director of the acclaimed San Francisco performance company Cultural Odyssey. She is an actress, teacher, director, and writer. Ms. Jones is also the Director of the award winning Medea Project: Theater for Incarcerated Women and HIV Circle, which is a performance workshop designed to achieve personal and social transformation with incarcerated women and women living with HIV. During fall 2017 and winter 2018 Rhodessa was a Frank H. T. Rhodes Visiting Professor at CORNELL UNIVERSITY and a MONTGOMERY FELLOW at DARTMOUTH COLLEGE conducting lectures and workshops at these prestigious institutions. In December 2016 Rhodessa received a THEATRE BAY AREA LEGACY AWARD presented to individuals that have made “extraordinary contributions to the Bay Area theatre community.” In 2014 she received The Sui Generis Foundation Achievement Award for “one of a kind contributions which benefit society in unique ways.” More at https://themedeaproject.weebly.com/.

Fe Bongolan (performer, dramaturg) 2018 marks Fe’s 26th year with The Medea Project as core member actor, writer, singer, dramaturg, and musician. Her prior performing experience includes the Asian American Theater Company, Teatro Ng Tanan, and Campo Santo Theater’s “Trail of her Inner Thigh” by Erin Cressida Wilson, which won the Will Glickman Award for best new play in 1999. She currently co-facilitates the Medea Project’s audio theater workshop in San Francisco County Jail.

Uzoamaka (Uzo) Nwankpa (performer) is a fourth- generation descendant of women healers
from Enugu, Nigeria, West Africa. She is a first generation immigrant to the west and dedicated to the preservation and restoration of the Igbo culture. She is a performing artist, dance facilitator, choreographer, educator, researcher, registered nurse and an advocate for healing through the use of the arts. As an advocate for communities that use the arts to heal, Uzo is dedicated to creating and exploring diverse ways to combine ancient practices with innovation.

C. Chibueze Crouch (performer) is an actor, writer and teaching artist. She has performed internationally, across the Eastern US and around the Bay Area using theater, film, movement, and song in her multidisciplinary creative practice. Recent performances include PARADISE: Belly of the Beast at Brava Theater, LIONS at Stanford University and mouth full of sea at the African American Arts & Culture Complex. In her free time, she teaches drama to Oakland youth at Destiny Arts and does freelance grant writing. Chibueze joined the Medea Project in June of 2018.

Lisa Frias started performing with The Medea Project in 1995. She’s a dancer, choreographer, actor, and singer, and teaches middle school dance in Daly City. She’s honored to be working with Medea for over 2 decades.

You can reach Cultural Odyssey at:
www.culturalodyssey.org/
facebook and instagram: @medeaproject
rhodessa@culturalodyssey.org
415.292.1850 Cultural Odyssey office

You can reach We Rise Production at:
www.weriseproduction.com
instagram and twitter: @weriseproducers
email: weriseproducers@gmail.com

Monday, February 5, 2018: Creating Cultures of Consent and Safety in the U.S.

Shifting the US culture of violence - Affirmative consent

We look at the culture of gendered violence in the US and Bolivia, and hear from feminists working to shift the perceptions about survivors. The recent reports of a woman's harrowing night with Aziz Ansari has sparked debates around consent and agency. Feminist activists and scholars are pointing out the gaps in understanding of the relationship between sexual repression and sexual violence.

In this segment, we listen to an interview with Amita Swadhin, an activist, educator and Just Beginnings Collaborative Fellow dedicated to fighting interpersonal and sexual violence against youth. They spoke with KPFA's Preeti Mangala Shekar of KPFA's APEX Express about a vision for society in which everyone is capable of articulating their own desires and having them respected.

From Just Beginnings Collaborative:

About Child Sexual Abuse
Child sexual abuse occurs at shockingly high rates in our society, affecting 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys. However, due to social taboos, very few survivors share their stories publicly. The majority of survivors never report their abuse to authorities, and many never tell anyone at all. Yet the numbers suggest that each of us knows at least one survivor, even though we may not realize it.

The silence around this violence has devastating effects for the individuals directly harmed, for the people perpetrating this harm (who are rarely held accountable or given tools to help them change their behavior), for families, and for society in general.

Child sexual abuse is inherently an abuse of power. It is a cornerstone of oppression and cyclical violence. Survivors can experience long-term adverse health effects such as addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, suicide, eating disorders, and subsequent sexual and domestic violence. Research also suggests that child sexual abuse can be a significant barrier to one’s economic security.

Toward a Movement to End Child Sexual Abuse
There is a growing consensus that ending child sexual abuse will require more than individual healing for survivors and punitive measures for abusers. To end child sexual abuse we need a broad-based movement and it begins with a core group of strategically aligned individuals, organizations and funders working together. The Just Beginnings Collaborative is that core—the seed from which this movement is taking root and growing.

We believe that ending child sexual abuse is possible. Moreover, our work is grounded in the belief that ending child sexual abuse is one of the most strategic things we can do to end violence and create safe, thriving communities.


Hosted by Kate Raphael and Corinne Smith


Click here to listen to entire show. 59:50 min



Also on today's show:
Bolivia - Creating Cultures of Consent and Safety

Monday, October 16, 2017: The Space Between Women and Mental Health/Mental Illness

Jovelyn Richards hosts her live call-in show, The Space Between Us. Today the theme is the space between us, mental health and mental illness. Jovelyn's guests are Diane Jeanette who created Women and Spirituality and Sylvia Toy St Louis, artist and co-founder of Jump! Theatre. They talk about they personal experience with mental illness.

In the second half of today's show Tracy Camp, mathematics professor at Laney College and Kathleen Tarr, lecturer of Writing and Rhetoric at Stanford University join the Space Between Us to talk about the play, Thomas and Sally currently showing at Marin Theatre Company. Guests and callers explore the extreme controversy surrounding the exploitation and rape of children and women that the play romanticizes. Today's show is also joined by an Anonymous guest who auditioned for the role of Sally. Kathleen Tarr with five others comment on the play in the HuffPost article Reflections on the Rape Of a Slave Girl.

Click here to listen to the entire show. 59:50 min

Monday, August 22, 2016: Rethinking Sexism, Gender, and Sexuality

What if schools were places where children could explore their identities and passions without worrying about gender roles? This question and more are addressed in today's show.

"Whenever you teach oppression you have to teach resistance."

Educators Jody Sokolower, Liza Gesuden, Candice Valenzuela and AJ Jennings discuss methods and opportunities for introducing conversations and curricula about sexism, patriarchy, intersectionality, gender identity and sexuality with kids from preschool to high school.  The four women are all among the 50+ contributors to a new anthology from Rethinking Schools.  The book and the interviews are chock-full of information and ideas that will be helpful to teachers, parents, students, relatives and friends of young people all over this country.

Click here to listen to entire show. 59:50 min