Stateside Daily Archive

Last week, Facebook announced it was changing its name to Meta, and Mark Zuckerberg talked about the rebrand in terms of the metaverse and the future of the internet. But what exactly is the metaverse, and will we have to be customers of Facebook — or Meta — to go there? Today, on Stateside, a media and information expert fills us in on some, sci-fi, social media and social equity poin...

Three cities in southeast Michigan elected young Arab American men serve as mayor: Hamtramck, Dearborn Heights, and Dearborn.  The latter, home to one of the largest Arab American populations in the country, elected State Representative Abdullah Hammoud to replace longtime mayor John "Jack" O’Reilly. On today's episode, we talk to Hammoud about his historic election and his plans for th...

So many kids and families have been desperate to restore a sense of normalcy. Getting back to face to face learning has been a huge relief, even if fraught with complications. Many school districts are hanging on to normal operations by their fingertips with a shortage of staffers and increasing COVID-19 infections. Today, we talk to the president of Michigan's largest teachers' union, and to one...

State officials last week stripped Adams Township clerk Stephanie Scott of her of authority to run elections. The story behind why they did that reflects a broad shift in how national politics are playing out at your local ballot box. GUEST: Jonathan Oosting, politics reporter for Bridge Michigan . You can find more of Oosting's reporting on Stephanie Scott here. Looking for more conversations fro...

Since the Lewis College of Business closed in 2013, there hasn’t been a single historically Black college or university in the whole of Michigan. That is until now. Shoe designer and entrepreneur, D’Wayne Edwards, is helping to bring back Lewis College under a new name and mission. On today’s podcast episode, representation in design, opening doors, and maybe some broader lessons...

As November draws near, families around the state are preparing for Día de los Muertos. The holiday, which originated in Mexico, speaks to all of our feelings about lost loved ones, both sad and happy. Families create small altars, called ofrendas, that bear pictures, flowers, favorite foods, and lots of love. Today, we'll talk to three Michiganders about what the day and its traditions mea...

It’s getting colder out, and some Michigan restaurants are still struggling with operational costs and staffing shortages. Running a restaurant has never been easy, but this particular moment is loaded with a whole new set of challenges around staffing, procurement, and what happens at the front of the house. Today, a celebrated Detroit area chef talks about survival during and after the pan...

Jamon Jordan is an educator and a historian, and has been telling Detroit's story for a long time. Now the city has officially named him the city's historian.  GUEST:  Jamon Jordan, educator and Detroit City Historian Looking for more conversations from Stateside? Right this way . If you like what you hear on the pod, consider supporting our work. Stateside’s theme music is by 14KT...

Seven years after Flint's Water Crisis rocked Michigan, why are we seeing elevated lead levels in communities such as Benton Harbor? It's complicated, and Michigan Radio editor Lindsey Smith has been on the story for years. GUEST: Lindsey Smith is an editor at Michigan Radio, and has been following the Flint water story for many years. She produced an award winning documentary for Michigan Radio o...

Soon, Michigan will have new congressional and legislative districts. How those lines are drawn will have political consequences that last a decade. But before that happens, the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Council is seeking public comment on the set of draft maps they recently released. Today on the pod, we talk to one of the members of the commission about how that's going, and w...

An unusually warm fall means more time to grow your favorite summer crops—while adding in some veggies that love cooler temperatures, too. On this episode, Luke Marion, the creator of the wildly popular MIGardener YouTube channel, explains how to make the most of your fall garden.  GUESTS: Luke Marion , Michigan Youtube gardner Looking for more conversations from Stateside ? Right this...

Michigan’s legislature is moving a package of bills designed to streamline operations for the state’s beleaguered child care industry. Not only have day-to-day operations changed radically because of COVID, but the industry’s financial model has been thrown into chaos because of the statewide labor shortage. This episode, two perspectives on Michigan's child care crisis.&nbs...

Father Charles Coughlin's radio ministry was founded during the Great Depression, and based at this church in Metro Detroit, the Shrine of the Little Flower. He commanded tens of millions of listeners through hateful rhetoric. His conspiracy theories spun about Jewish bankers and global cabals informed a growing wave of intolerance and far right wing radicalism. Today, we dig into the history of t...

Twenty years after beginning his job as the Detroit Pistons’ PA announcer, beloved Detroit radio personality John Mason joined Stateside to look back on his work. From his “cartoon imagination” on the mic, to the essential Mason in the Morning show on WJLB, to playing a part of the the 2004 Pistons national championship, John Mason has seen a lot. GUEST:  John Mason, Detroit...

A recent study in Michigan found that schools without mask mandates have seen 62% more COVID-19 cases than in schools with enforced masking. Despite the date, the issue of masking in schools has become a political lightning rod. But there's a side of this story that hasn’t been at the forefront of the masking conversation...and it really needs to be. Today, we're talking about what COVID-19...

With great bookshelves come great responsibilities. For writer and critic Douglas Wolk, that means consuming some twenty-seven-thousand comic books – the entirety of Marvel Comics’ output spanning more than half a century. And he wrote a book about it: All of the Marvels published October 12.  GUEST: Douglas Wolk, writer, critic, and journalist Looking for more conversations...

For about a week, former Wolverine football player Jon Vaughn has been camped out in a small blue tent in front of University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel's house in Ann Arbor. He's there to protest how the university has treated survivors of sexual abuse by former U of M sports doctor Robert Anderson, including himself, during mediations over compensation. And he says he'll stay there unt...

At Detroit’s Fillmore theater this past summer, comedian Dave Chappelle performed four shows that became his current Netflix special "The Closer." Since then, Chappelle has been criticized for homophobia, transphobia and antisemitism. But his defenders say he is misunderstood and is pushing the bounds of comedy. GUESTS: Eric Deggans, television and media critic for NPR Bryce Huffman, reporte...

Members of county boards of canvassers don’t often find themselves in the political spotlight, but that changed after the 2020 election. Now, some local chapters of the Michigan Republican Party are looking at county boards as potential battlegrounds for the next election, too. GUEST: Craig Mauger, Detroit News reporter You can find Mauger's article about local GOP chapters remaking county b...

The pawpaw, an elusive and unique fruit native to the U.S.’s mid-Atlantic region, has been an important food to plenty of Native people for a very long time. But in modern times, it’s just now getting traction in the culinary scene. Today, we learn how to find, cook, and consume a pawpaw. GUEST: Sara Bir, chef and author of The Pocket Pawpaw Cookbook Looking for more conversations from...

Flint born-poet Jonah Mixon Webster’s collection Stereo(TYPE) got a second life this summer. It originally came out in 2019, published by ASADA Press, and this summer saw a reprint published by a much larger imprint, Knopf. If you’ve never read him before, you’re in for a totally immersive experience. GUEST: Jonah Mixon-Webster , poet and author Looking for more conversations fro...

Dr. David Pilgrim is a museum curator at Ferris State University's Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia. It's home to 14,000 mostly racist artifacts. Today we’re talking with Pilgrim about how this Michigan museum uses objects of intolerance to teach tolerance, and about the future of the museum with it’s $18.5 million expansion.  GUESTS: David Pilgrim , Jim Crow Museum of R...

Federal prosecutors and attorneys for an armed anti-government militia continue to lay groundwork for a trial set to take place next year. The group of mostly-Michigan men, the so-called Wolverine Watchmen, are accused of plotting last year to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer. The defense has indicated it will show jurors that the plot never would have happened, had FBI informants not drawn the mi...

President Joe Biden will be in Howell, Michigan tomorrow. And he’s coming to rally support for his infrastructure plan. The infrastructure bill passed in the Senate back in August. But the House vote has been pushed back again and again for months. On this episode, we’re digging into this infrastructure bill, how it could help Michigan if passed, and why it’s been delay...

Autumn is the season for pumpkin spiced everything. As for Stateside? We'll take all the apples instead. So we were distraught to hear that a few freezing nights in April hurt the crop at many orchards in the state. GUESTS: Jan Upston , owner of Wasem Fruit Farm in Milan Leandra King , owner of Detroit Farm and Cider in Detroit Looking for more conversations from Stateside? Right this way . If you...