Episode 37 — In Conversation with Acclaimed Writer Nana Ama; Immigration, Perspective and Truth

Episode 40 — Lucinda Williams on The Act of Creation, Success, and The Political Landscape

Three time Grammy award-winning singer songwriter, and creator of over a dozen acclaimed albums, Lucinda Williams [https://open.spotify.com/artist/60ht0hWRy1yjUDfNsLuHuP?si=vr9NUSCgTmSXqxVyQbNhMQ] sits down with Chloe Aftel to chronicle her journey in music, from being emotionally taken by the folk music of the 1960s, to creating her most recent album, “World’s Gone Wrong,” [https://www.lucindawilliams.com/] which responds directly to the current American political landscape. Shining through Williams’ anecdotes is an artistic integrity and self-honesty that has simultaneously created friction in her career, and pushed her to take her own gravel road to pioneer the Americana genre. From being inspired to write meaningful songs by Bob Dylan, to now performing with him on the world’s grandest stages, Williams meditates on how she maintains a healthy dynamic between her art, ego, and success. With passion, she makes it clear that politics and real life are never separate from her music, and makes a call for the necessity of civic engagement to counteract the growing trend towards apathy. It is this gusto and Williams’ buoyant spirit that reminds us that although there will never be a world without tears, we are all on Earth together.  Highlights:  * Williams discusses the impact her parents had on her music, and how the rebel spirit she learned from them continues to persist in her today  * She pinpoints the enduring themes of her work, and the critiques she received from the industry for being an artist that grapples with sorrow  * She reflects on the most difficult parts of performing, and how she’s improved as a singer songwriter with a growing audience  * She discusses her relationship to her guitar, and the hurdles she’s had to overcome now that she performs without it  Biographies:  Lucinda Williams [https://open.spotify.com/artist/60ht0hWRy1yjUDfNsLuHuP?si=vr9NUSCgTmSXqxVyQbNhMQ] is a Grammy award-winning American singer-songwriter with over 700,000 monthly listeners on music streaming services. Born in 1953 in Lake Charles, Louisiana to a father who wrote poetry and taught creative writing and a mother who spent long hours at the piano, Williams developed her love for writing and music as a young girl. By 1980 she had released two albums, “Ramblin on My Mind” [https://open.spotify.com/album/3HzbLgbtdRrFRyujsDZrmj?si=k52OypZuSOeLbvri1FpSnA] https://open.spotify.com/album/3HzbLgbtdRrFRyujsDZrmj?si=k52OypZuSOeLbvri1FpSnA(1979) and “Happy Woman Blues” [https://open.spotify.com/album/2jxxEF2IMr312jmiY9B8eb?si=qbQnBruARz-ck4I3lajhGQ](1980) to some critical buzz. However, it was the release of her third album, titled “Lucinda Williams” [https://open.spotify.com/album/4BEDvBtVumNz9YaFQaNXDa?si=5fM1RJMTTB-Ce9KEfFYm5Q] in 1988 that brought her tender heart into the national spotlight. In 1998, Williams broke through commercially with the release of “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, [https://open.spotify.com/album/3iC6dJobZulVXp0F4Bojig?si=0dunnQXaQmiICsCs1yq43A]” a genre bending album that carved out her unique style—one she says can be found in the crack between rock and country—and earned her a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Her most recent album, “World’s Gone Wrong,” [https://www.lucindawilliams.com/](2026) was created in response to the chaotic socio-political landscape of contemporary America. The album, once again, proves Williams’ masterful ability to marry hard truths with a voice evocative of a warm fire on a frigid day, motivating anyone listening to think about their civic role, and drop a few tears. Chloe Aftel [https://www.chloeaftel.com/] has spent her career working in commercial photography, photojournalism, and film. She’s an established name in modern photography with work featured in The New York Times, Mother Jones, Playboy, Dazed & Confused, Vogue Germany, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue Italia, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue, and more. Aftel has photographed victims of sexual violence, reported on COVID 19's impact on the trans community, and gained access as the first reporter in COVID wards of the West Coast’s hardest-hit hospitals. She has covered underground abortion providers, the impact of gender pronouns on daily life, and clergy abuse. Aftel's first book, Outside & In Between [https://www.chloeaftel.com/outside-inbetween], is an award-winning anthology covering gender non-conforming people across the United States. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-other-pod-with-chloe-aftel--6567483/support [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-other-pod-with-chloe-aftel--6567483/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss].

Episode 39 - Historian Ashley Farmer on Black power, remarkable women & the legacy of America

Ashley has spent her career researching and considering the Black revolutionary women of the last century. Her most recent tome is Queen Mother about Audley Moore. With Chloe, she goes in depth about not only who these women were and how they navigated the times during which they existed, but at what cost was their activism and how their lives inform our present world. Moving through the challenges of motherhood, the tools of white control, and possibilities of Black sovereignty, Ashley broadens our understanding of historical context and explains her style of writing usable history. Highlights * How to understand possibility of America being a failed experiment for Black people * How to create meaningful, painstakingly accurate biographies of marginalized leaders * What it means to think in the longue durée  Dr. Ashley D. Farmer is an Associate Professor in the Department of History and African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Numerous schools and foundations, including the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Whiting Foundation, have supported her research.  Farmer is also a co-editor of the Black Power Series [https://www.blackpowerseries.com/] published with NYU Press and the Black Women’s History Series [https://uncpress.org/black-womens-history-series-incubator/], published with UNC Press. Dr. Farmer earned a BA from Spelman College, an MA in History, and a PhD in African American Studies from Harvard University.  Chloe Aftel [https://www.chloeaftel.com/] has spent her career working in commercial photography, photojournalism, and film. She’s an established name in modern photography with work featured in The New York Times, Mother Jones, Playboy, Dazed & Confused, Vogue Germany, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue Italia, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue, and more. Aftel has photographed victims of sexual violence, reported on COVID 19’s impact on the trans community, and gained access as the first reporter in COVID wards of the West Coast’s hardest-hit hospitals. She has covered underground abortion providers, the impact of gender pronouns on daily life, and clergy abuse. Aftel’s first book, Outside & In Between [https://www.chloeaftel.com/outside-inbetween], is an award-winning anthology covering gender non-conforming people across the United States. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-other-pod-with-chloe-aftel--6567483/support [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-other-pod-with-chloe-aftel--6567483/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss].

Episode 38 — Novelist Marilynne Robinson on Writing, Memory, and Truth with host Chloe Aftel

American novelist and essayist Marilynn Robinson sits down with host Chloe Aftel to discuss the idea of writing as a practice of honesty, reflection, and attention to lived experience while allowing both real life and remembrance to help shape narratives. Robinson emphasizes the importance of truth in writing and frames her approach as taking in the world around you, and translating it into words. She views simplicity not as a limitation, but as a discipline that requires careful attention and sincerity. They also discuss the relationship between memory and storytelling, and how personal history informs perspective. Robinson reflects on writing as an ongoing practice, emphasizing that the act itself holds just as much value as the final outcome. Highlights: * Marilynn Robinson discusses her approach to writing, speaking about how evocation and lived experience informs a narrative * She describes the act of writing as an act of reflection rather than performance, requiring honesty on behalf of the writer * She discusses her perspective on simplicity in writing, viewing it as a way to make stories more accessible Biographies: Marilynn Robinson is an American Novelist born in Sandpoint, Idaho in 1943. She studied at Pembroke College for her undergraduate and later received her PhD in English from the University of Washington in 1977. She speaks about writing as an ongoing process of observance, remembrance, and expression, viewing it not as something to perfect, but something to practice. To her, writing is a way to process life, make sense of events and emotions, and preserve them in a form that remains both accessible and genuine. Her body of work highlights the value of authenticity and attentiveness in both writing and life, with some of her notable pieces include Housekeeping (1980), Gilead (2004),and Home (2008). She has won thePulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005, National Humanities Medal in 2012, and the 2016 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2009, National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction in 2004 & 2015, PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay in 1999 and others. Chloe Aftel [https://www.chloeaftel.com/] has spent her career working in commercial photography, photojournalism, and film. She’s an established name in modern photography with work featured in The New York Times, Mother Jones, Playboy, Dazed & Confused, Vogue Germany, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue Italia, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue, and more. Aftel has photographed victims of sexual violence, reported on COVID 19’s impact on the trans community, and gained access as the first reporter in COVID wards of the West Coast’s hardest-hit hospitals. She has covered underground abortion providers, the impact of gender pronouns on daily life, and clergy abuse. Aftel’s first book, Outside & In Between [https://www.chloeaftel.com/outside-inbetween], is an award-winning anthology covering gender non-conforming people across the United States. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-other-pod-with-chloe-aftel--6567483/support [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-other-pod-with-chloe-aftel--6567483/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss].

Episode 37 — In Conversation with Acclaimed Writer Nana Ama; Immigration, Perspective and Truth

Ghanaian American writer Meri Nana-Ama Danquah sits down with host Chloe Aftel to discuss immigration, mental health, and self preservation. They talk about Danquah’s experience having learned about her undocumented status as an adult, and how that severely impacted not only her life, but her mental health. She remarks on the irony of the fact that though she was highly regarded and often asked to speak on issues of mental health, she wasn’t able to speak on one of the key causes of her own depression due to the danger it would put her in. They discuss her writing process, noting that she writes about her experiences not to ruminate but to give other people the opportunity to understand and dissect what it means to exist as a person whose identity and life experience is inherently intersectional. Highlights: * Danquah talks about her own experience being an immigrant who spent many years of her life undocumented and how though the modern day anti immigrant rhetoric is both frightening and harmful, it’s also something that has always existed * They discuss her writing, with her stating that she believes that writing involves both responsibility and a willingness to tell the truth * They talk about California Proposition 187, an initiative that passed in 1994 that aimed to prohibit undocumented immigrants from accessing healthcare, social services, and education * Danquah discusses the suicide rates amongst activists and stresses the importance of self preservation and self care, and how community building is an inherent part of that * Danquah brings up the topic of gender identity and healthcare, going into depth about her own experiences with menopause, endometriosis, and the stigma that surrounds those topics Biographies: Meri Nana-Ama Danquah is an acclaimed Ghanaian American author, editor, journalist, and public speaker who is best known for her memoir entitled Willow Weep for Me: A Black Woman’s Journey Through Depression. Born on September 13, 1967 in Accra, Ghana, Danquah would immigrate to the United States at the age of six, three years after her mother had immigrated. She eventually learned as a young adult that she was undocumented, despite having come legally. After coming to terms with this information and following the birth of her daughter, Danquah relocated to Washington DC where she would then come to understand that she had been suffering from clinical depression, something she would start exploring more in her writing. She went on to be chosen by the National Health Association to act as spokesperson for their campaign on Clinical Depression. She then went on to earn her Master of Fine Arts degree from Bennington College and has taught at various universities across the globe. Chloe Aftel [https://www.chloeaftel.com/] has spent her career working in commercial photography, photojournalism, and film. She’s an established name in modern photography with work featured in The New York Times, Mother Jones, Playboy, Dazed & Confused, Vogue Germany, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue Italia, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue, and more. Aftel has photographed victims of sexual violence, reported on COVID 19's impact on the trans community, and gained access as the first reporter in COVID wards of the West Coast’s hardest-hit hospitals. She has covered underground abortion providers, the impact of gender pronouns on daily life, and clergy abuse. Aftel's first book, Outside & In Between [https://www.chloeaftel.com/outside-inbetween], is an award-winning anthology covering gender non-conforming people across the United States. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-other-pod-with-chloe-aftel--6567483/support [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-other-pod-with-chloe-aftel--6567483/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss].

Episode 36 — Alain Deneault on Corporate Accountability, Tax Havens, and the Ethics of Resistance

Description: French Canadian author Alain Deneault sits down with host Chloe Aftel to discuss what it means to hold multinational corporations accountable for the ecological harm and human rights abuses they enact, as well as the importance of organizing in the face of injustice rather than falling into a cycle of despair. They break down the difference between individualistic cultures versus collectivist cultures, and analyze the different philosophies that surround it. Deneault sheds light on Canada’s role in the development of tax havens and the impact that has on working class families citing his years of research. He emphasizes the importance of acting now and creating relationships with both the land and within your communities that aren’t exploitative but rather set a foundation for a more just and ethical world.  Highlights: * Deneault discusses how due to the fact that his work covers topics that can often times feel despairing, he has to take great care in how he presents the information as he aims to encourage people to organize locally, build connections with their communities, and understand the role that failure plays in achieving long term goals * He discusses how everything in our society from media and work culture to political and systemic structures are designed to not only exhaust and overwhelm the working class, but to lower their standards and to dissuade their ability to think too critically on the root causes of societal issues * Deneault states that he views philosophy as an opportunity to discover concepts that allow you to give meaning and understanding to different situations and contexts, without being dominated by it * They discuss the lawsuit that Barrick Gold sent to Deneault after the publication of Noir Canada: Pillage, corruption et criminalité en Afrique, along with his researchers and publisher, with many describing the lawsuit to be a strategic lawsuit against public participation and an attempt to silence those who are willing to speak out against these corporations and hold them accountable for the harm they cause Biographies: Alain Deneault is a notable French Canadian author who is best known for his book entitled Noir Canada: Pillage, corruption et criminalité en Afrique, a work which analyzed the impact of Canadian mining corporations in Africa and shone a light on the destruction they caused. Deneault was born in Outaouais, Quebec and went on to study at the Centre Marc Bloch in Berlin where he received his research doctorate, following it up with a PhD in Philosophy from Paris 8 University. He has written books on various topics such as corporate tax havens, mining corporations, banking, multinational corporations, and the oil industry. His goal is to present information in a way that is both accessible but not negligent to the complexities of the issues at hand, and to encourage people to organize and build relationships locally in order to have a global impact. Some of his other works include Offshore: Paradis fiscaux et souveraineté criminelle (2010), Gouvernance : Le management totalitaire (2013), and Bande de colons. Une mauvaise conscience de classe (2020).  Chloe Aftel [https://www.chloeaftel.com/] has spent her career working in commercial photography, photojournalism, and film. She’s an established name in modern photography with work featured in The New York Times, Mother Jones, Playboy, Dazed & Confused, Vogue Germany, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue Italia, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue, and more. Aftel has photographed victims of sexual violence, reported on COVID 19's impact on the trans community, and gained access as the first reporter in COVID wards of the West Coast’s hardest-hit hospitals. She has covered underground abortion providers, the impact of gender pronouns on daily life, and clergy abuse. Aftel's first book, Outside & In Between [https://www.chloeaftel.com/outside-inbetween], is an award-winning anthology covering gender non-conforming people across the United States. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-other-pod-with-chloe-aftel--6567483/support [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-other-pod-with-chloe-aftel--6567483/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss].