The Blue Record

More Human than Human?: AI and Reimagining Modernity

What does it mean to be human in the age of AI? Hosts Makayla Rivera and Jocelyn Baker sit down with Professor Fernando Suarez for a dynamic conversation on the rapidly evolving role of artificial intelligence in our society. From classrooms to political systems, they explore how AI is reshaping the structures that guide our daily lives. Together, they unpack how emerging AI technologies are redefining our relationship to labor, capital, and even leisure-challenging notions about identity, creativity, and value. This dynamic episode dives into the ethical tensions surrounding AI while reimagining the future ahead. As the line between human and machine continues to blur, the conversation invites listeners to reflect on where we’re headed, and what we stand to gain or lose along the way.

The Sisterhood and the Necessity of Black Women’s Intellectual Spaces

In 1977, some of the most influential Black women writers of the twentieth century began meeting in a Brooklyn apartment. Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, June Jordan, Audre Lorde, and others formed a collective they called The Sisterhood. They gathered monthly to share meals, exchange drafts, confront publishing barriers, and sustain one another as Black women intellectuals navigating racist and sexist institutions. Join the Blue Record archives team as we revisit The Sisterhood, explore what they built together, and unpack why their meetings still matter. Through archival materials, letters, and literary connections, we examine how collaboration disrupts the myth of the solitary genius and reveals intellectual community as infrastructure. What does it mean to name sisterhood as an intellectual space rather than just an emotional one? And what are the implications for our own Black women’s intellectual space at Spelman? This episode invites us to see ourselves not just as readers of these women, but as participants in their lineage.

TBR Intern Takeover

In this episode of the Blue Record, our first-year interns have taken over the mic! Interns Mari, Lillian, and Morgan sit with host Makayla Rivera to question what constitutes as service, and interrogate ways in which rest, collectivism, and respectability politics shape how students conduct service in and beyond our campus.

For The Record: Unraveling Lesbian Herstories at Spelman

In the spirit of the Ghanaian adinkra symbol Sankofa, which means “return and get it,” in this episode, Archives team members Denim and Gabrielle will guide you through the fabrics of Spelman College as a site of lesbian/sapphic love since its origination and engage with contemporary voices such as students, memory workers, and faculty. They uplift Black feminist foremothers such as bell hooks and Audre Lorde, who provided us with philosophies like “love ethic” and taught us the importance of establishing “authority over our own definition.” This episode aims to encourage the urgency of love, particularly lesbian/sapphic love, by way of illustrating the complexity and depth of remembering and resistance.

Turbulent Weather: Ice Brutality and Community Advocacy

In this episode, editorial staff Amel Mohdali meets with TBR Director Jasmine Patrick. MLK Jr. Day reflections turns into a critical discussion of ICE brutality and its ties to white nationalism and xenophobia. Tracing back to Trump’s Big Beautiful Wall, The Blue Record examines the evolution of border militarization into a full scale domestic assault, from raids and killings in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and Minnesota to media wars grappling to make sense of a “perfect” victim. This episode also confronts tensions between Black and Brown communities and begets the question of what solidarity and resistance means in this moment, before closing with essential know your rights information and examples of how communities are organizing to survive and fight back. Edited by: Jordan Grant