Radio Aula Mundi

Two questions for Shelly Ruzicka, communications and development director of Arise Chicago... “What is your favorite taco or tortilla like?” “How do you situate your organization's activities in Chicago's history and in Chicago today?” Shelly  Ruzicka is the communications and development director of Arise  Chicago, a membership-based community resource for workers, both  immigrant...

Grant Troyer is a Chicago-based filmmaker, writer, and executive producer. He  started 'Kernel Productions' in 2020 and was inspired to make a movie  entitled 'Tagged' during the social justice protests in the summer of  2020, after he had watched a street artist paint a mural in Logan  Square, one of the neighborhoods of Chicago. Jake Prine is another  filmmaker who joine...

Joe Policastro, a jazz musician based in Chicago, gives a reading  performance of a poem entitled 'Home', written by Carl Sandburg, and  then matches it with a song from one of the most recent releases of the  Joe Policastro Trio, the band he leads as a bassist, composer, and  arranger, featuring guitarist Dave Miller and drummer Mikel Avery.  Beyond Chicago, the band has...

Asher George and his musical project known as Walcot started out in  Chicago in 2016. Asher is now based in Charlotte, North Carolina, but  plans on moving back to Chicago anytime soon to continue to pursue his  career as a songwriter and performer. --- https://open.spotify.com/artist/78Xf0s3DdP3vZzKgP8rnfS https://soundcloud.com/musicbywalcot https://www.facebook.com/musicbywalcot...

Fast is one of the founding members of the Fun Lovin' Criminals, a  New York City band, best known for hits like 'Scooby Snacks'. Fast currently lives in London, UK, which is where he is speaking from. In  September 2022, the Fun Lovin' Criminals released a new EP entitled  'Roosevelt Sessions' featuring a hit song called 'Shake It Loose'. --- https://www.funlovincriminals.co/ https...

Kim Campbell and Darcy Whitecrow are the founders of Grey Raven Ranch  on the Seine River First Nation, in Ontario, Canada, about 20 miles  north of Voyageurs National Park, in far northern Minnesota. They  use Ojibwe horses, also known as Lac La Croix Indian Ponies, to run  educational programs with aboriginal and non-aboriginal youth in Canada.   --- https://greyravenran...

Quinquis, aka Émilie Tiersen, is a multi-disciplinary artist from Brittany, France. After  a long time of self-questioning, she has recently reinvented herself  and started various creative collaborative projects with the British  producer Gareth Jones and the French composer and musician Yann Tiersen,  her husband. Here she introduces herself in Breton, English, and French, be...

Américo Mendoza Mori currently works as a researcher and teacher of  Latin American and Indigenous Studies at Harvard University. He is an indigenous Quechua speaker from Peru and introduces himself in Quechua at the beginning of this clip. His  work and research were featured in the New York Times and at the United  Nations. He has also worked as a cultural consultant for Paramount...

Topher White is a National Geographic explorer, conservation  technologist, and founder of Rainforest Connection, an organization  whose goal is to save rainforests with the help of a global network of  indigenous communities and partners-on-the-ground. The idea is to  prevent illegal deforestation using bio-acoustic monitoring technologies  that also give an international...

Dorianne Laux is a multiple award-winning American poet. She has  recently retired from her teaching position at North Carolina State  University's creative writing program. Now she lives in Richmond,  California. --- https://www.doriannelaux.net/ https://poets.org/poet/dorianne-laux https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/dorianne-laux --- At the moment, Radio Aula Mundi is an evolv...

Jim Bachor is a graphic designer and mosaic artist based in Chicago.  His artwork combines contemporary mosaics with traditional techniques.  One of his most recent projects consists of installing mosaic art in  potholes on the streets of Chicago and elsewhere. --- https://www.bachor.com/ https://www.instagram.com/jimbachor/?hl=en https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Bachor https://bea...

Nico Albert is a renowned chef, caterer, storyteller, and promoter of  traditional indigenous cuisine, cooking, and food practices. She  belongs to the Cherokee Nation and lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she  runs 'Burning Cedar Indigenous Foods', a community-based catering  service that highlights healthy eating as a form of social healing. --- https://www.burningcedar.com/ ht...

Michal is the founder and singer of the Polish rock band The Other Place. Here  he speaks to Radio Aula Mundi from his home in Warsaw. First, he  introduces himself in Polish and in English before answering a question  about his music. --- https://open.spotify.com/artist/1hZXzYxZf7eeEGx6bZRCIC?si=DIk5VOaVR6muXOfMP3TkEQ&nd=1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxHmR_W1PoU&list=PL...

Ellen Jones is a British literary translator from Spanish to English,  an editor, and an occasional writer based in Mexico City. One of her  most recent books, ‘Language in Motion: Translating Multilingualism  Across the Americas', is out now from Columbia University Press. --- Twitter: @ellen_c_jones www.ellencjones.com --- At the moment, Radio Aula Mundi is an evolving podcast sta...

Daniela De Paulis is an interdisciplinary artist and former contemporary dancer from Italy. She also works as a researcher and radio operator. Her  artwork and installations are the results of teamwork with other  artists and scientists in all kinds of fields, including neuroscience,  astronomy, acoustics, and literature. --- https://danieladepaulis.com/ https://www.seti.org/air/dan...

Yungchen Lhamo is a singer and performer from Tibet. She currently lives in the United States. Her  most recent record, 'Awakening', is out now, on 'Real World', Peter  Gabriel's record label. Yungchen Lhamo's performances and career include  collaborative work with musicians and artists such as Peter Gabriel,  Natalie Merchant, Annie Lennox, and more... Some of Yungchen Lhamo'...

Rosa Vasquez Espinoza is a Peruvian chemical biologist, National  Geographic explorer, traveler, researcher, educator, conservationist and  award-winning artist. As part of her doctoral studies at the  University of Michigan, she has created 'MicroAmazon', a  multidisciplinary project focusing on the microscopic universe of  extreme natural environments in places such as Y...

Al Rose is a musician and singer-songwriter born and raised in Chicago. In addition to that, he runs Kopi Café, on Clark Street, in Chicago. His new album, 'Again The Beginner', has been released in July, 2022. It is available online on CD Baby, Bandcamp, Amazon, etc. --- https://alrosemusic.com/ https://alrose.bandcamp.com/ --- At the moment, Radio Aula Mundi is an evolving podcast station where...

Andrea Martinez is the owner and manager of 'Next Evolution', an  indigenous coffeeshop in Schurz, Nevada. Out of her own experience and  journey of healing, she has created a coffeeshop mostly serving Native  foods and drinks, with contemporary creations, all based on natural  ingredients. --- https://www.nextevolutioncoffeeshop.com/ https://www.facebook.com/nextevolutioncoffe...

Doctor Dorene Wiese is the president of the American Indian  Association of Illinois (AIAI), which is located in Chicago, her  hometown. The focus of her work is social justice through education,  especially by learning traditional indigenous cultural practices and  stories. As an Ojibwe woman who grew up witnessing stereotypes,  racism, and poverty in Minneapolis, she bel...

Jhane Myers belongs to the Blackfeet Nation and to the Penetuckah  (sugar eater) and Yaparucah (root eater) bands of the Comanche Nation.  With a background in fashion design, she makes authentic jewelry,  traditional dolls, beadwork, and dance regalia, among others... She was raised in a traditional way by her grandparents. Jhane  was a Sundance/ Time Warner Storyteller Fellow...

Benjamin Dittbrenner is an aquatic ecologist at Northeastern  University in Boston. He and a team of scientists relocated beavers from  lowland areas upstream, into the mountainous region of the Skykomish  river, in the state of Washington. Largely thanks to the construction of  dams by most of the animals, water temperatures cooled by about 2.3°  Celsius, even during the...

Delbert Anderson is a Diné (Navajo) Jazz musician and trumpet player. With  his band, the Delbert Anderson Trio, he keeps fusing traditional and  contemporary styles. One of his projects, by the name of DDAT, combines  Jazz with spoken word performances and Rap. This conversation took place  in two sessions, right before and the day after a studio session for a  new record...

Harold Blacksmith is a Dakota elder and storyteller. Thanks to  his grandparents, who raised him and kept him out of the residential  school system, he grew up speaking Dakota, a close relative to the  Lakota language. Dakota is a highly endangered indigenous language  in North America.  As a  cultural activist, Harold Blacksmith tries to revive and revitalize the &nb...

DJ Adrian Washika is one of Africa's most legendary and iconic DJ's. He performs at all kinds of events and has worked as a community leader and teacher. He has performed internationally in many places, including Chicago. He  currently lives and works in Nairobi, Kenya, where he is speaking one  of his native languages, Swahili, before answering a question with a  splendid idea... -...