Interweaving: Recent Episodes
Weave News
Interweaving is a podcast from Weave News that explores underreported stories through fresh, timely conversations and independent investigation. We highlight the role of grassroots journalists, activists, and authors who are working to create a better information ecosystem and a more just world.
In this episode of Interweaving, host John Collins speaks with Catherine Tedford, curator of the Street Art Graphics digital archive. They discuss her work collecting and analyzing political stickers from around the world and look at examples of stickers expressing a wide range of views on social and political issues ranging from war and workers’ rights to refugees and the COVID-19 pandemic.
In this episode of Interweaving, host John Collins talks with media scholar Bill Yousman (Sacred Heart University) about recent trends in disinformation in the age of COVID and mass school shootings. They discuss how claims of secret conspiracies, facilitated by social media algorithms, can manipulate even the most critical media analysts and deflect attention away from much-needed structural analysis of corporate and state power.
In this episode of Interweaving, host John Collins speaks with Skylar Bergeron, author of three recent Weave News articles about the Chueca neighborhood in Madrid, Spain, a point of intersection for numerous political and cultural struggles. In addition to exploring the tensions between pinkwashing and queer liberation, they explore the increasing presence of fascism in the US and Spain and the importance of coalition building for resisting far-right attacks on “gender ideology.”
In this episode of Interweaving, host John Collins speaks with Camila Gonzalez Herrera, author of two recent Weave News articles about the 2021 Colombian National Strike. In addition to discussing the strike itself and how it revealed the power of the people, they also explore the limitations of establishment media coverage, the importance of independent media and social media for grassroots mobilization, and the impact of the strike on Colombia’s historic 2022 elections.
In this episode, we feature a roundtable discussion about the intersection of settler colonialism, ecological responsibility, and the rights of nature in northern New York/Haudenosaunee territory and beyond. In addition to exploring the past and present reality of dams and energy issues in the region, the conversation addresses broader ethical questions about how to move beyond our current system of extractive capitalism.
In this episode of Interweaving, host John Collins talks with Somdeep Sen, author of a recent article on how race and racism have shaped the field of international relations. They talked about how deeply racism is entrenched in the way we talk and think about geopolitics, both in general and in relation to stories such as the ongoing war on Ukraine.
In this episode of Interweaving, host John Collins talks with religious studies scholar Damon Berry about Christian nationalism and its relevance to the war on Ukraine. They discuss how Christian nationalists in the US see the world through a lens of white nostalgia, where their views connect with Vladimir Putin’s agenda, and why it is politically necessary to look closely at these views even if we find them abhorrent.
In this episode of Interweaving, host John Collins talks with Claudia Hoffmann (University of Miami) about how a critical understanding of race and xenophobia can help us understand public discourse surrounding Ukrainian refugees. Drawing on her experience in Germany, Hoffmann insists that European hypocrisy regarding migrants from different parts of the world can be overcome if we focus on the humanity of the migrants themselves rather than the polemical debates surrounding them.
In this episode of Interweaving, host John Collins talks with sociologist Mark Ayyash about how the war on Ukraine connects with the ongoing colonization of Palestine. Ayyash discusses how his experience as a Palestinian Canadian shapes his view of the Ukraine situation, the sudden liberal embrace of molotov cocktails and other methods of resisting military occupation, and the prevalence of racist and ethnocentric news coverage surrounding Ukraine.
In this episode of Interweaving, host Nicole Roché talks with author Pedro Ponce, who won the 2020 Don Belton Fiction Prize for his new short story collection, The Devil and the Dairy Princess. They discuss his narrative use of misdirection, “unreliable omniscience,” and much more. The book was published in October 2021 by Indiana University Press.
In this episode of Interweaving, host John Collins talks with St. Lawrence University professor Dr. Jon Rosales, who has served as an expert reviewer for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He discusses the urgent new IPCC report and what it means for efforts to minimize the already significant effects of human-induced climate change.
In this episode, we hear from seven university students in the United States and Pakistan regarding their recent experiences and the local effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. From the impact on food systems and education to the implications for local healthcare and human rights, we get a glimpse of some of the far-reaching changes that this global public health crisis has set in motion.
Cover image: Oa.coello / CC BY-SA ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)
In this episode, filmmakers Blake Lavia and Tzintzun Aguilar Izzo of the Talking Wings Collective take us on a journey to Coatepec, Veracruz (Mexico), where stingless bees embody the promise of regenerative agriculture for a world that desperately needs climate solutions. They also give us a preview of their upcoming film and the 2020 North Country Art, Land and Environment Summit.
In this episode, we continue weaving the world during a global pandemic with more “COVID-19 Diaries” from citizen reporters. What are they seeing and experiencing, how are their communities affected, and what are some of the larger issues at play? This episode features reports from Italy, Costa Rica, and Myanmar as well as reflections from two filmmakers who returned to the US from Mexico in the midst of the pandemic.
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread globally, we continue weaving the world together through first-hand testimonies from citizen reporters. What are they seeing and experiencing, how are their communities affected, and what are some of the larger issues at play? This episode features reports from Boston, Swaziland, France, and Michigan.
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread globally, we continue weaving the world together through first-hand testimonies from citizen reporters. What are they seeing and experiencing, how are their communities affected, and what are some of the larger issues at play? This episode features reports from New York City, China, Zimbabwe, and Guatemala.
In this episode, we hear from Avana Mohandesi in India, Amanda Barreto Salgueiro in Brazil, Emilia Mattila in Finland, and Khin Maung in Myanmar. What we learn from them is that the COVID-19 story is inevitably entangled with other ongoing stories about state power, worker safety, mental health, uneven access to information and health care, and the courageous efforts of ordinary people to build grassroots responses grounded in social solidarity.
In this episode, our COVID-19 Diaries series continues with reports from Aubrey Menarndt in Hong Kong, Brendan O’Keefe in Vermont (having just returned from Mozambique), Haneen AbdAlnabi in Gaza, Mamata Shrestha in Nepal, and Wafa Ramini in Jordan. These voices from diverse locations give us a sense of the differential impact of the global pandemic on individuals and communities.
In this episode, we continue weaving the world together in the midst of a global health crisis by hearing from Weave News contributors in Hong Kong, Bolivia, Australia, Thailand, and the Netherlands. How is COVID-19 affecting their communities? What are they seeing and experiencing? And what are some of the larger questions raised by this ongoing pandemic?
In this episode, we continue to weave the world together in the midst of a global health crisis by hearing from three Weave News contributors in Myanmar, Qatar, and Spain. How is COVID-19 affecting their communities? What are they seeing and experiencing? And what are some of the larger questions raised by this ongoing pandemic?
In this episode, we weave the world together in the midst of a global health crisis by hearing from four Weave News contributors in Argentina, the United States, and the United Kingdom. How is COVID-19 affecting their communities? What are they seeing and experiencing? And what are some of the larger questions raised by this ongoing pandemic?
In this episode, Nicole Roché speaks with two archaeology professors from the State University of New York at Potsdam about their recent work in New York State’s North Country region. Dr. Hadley Kruczek-Aaron and Dr. Tim Messner highlight how archaeology can be a powerful tool for challenging historical narratives that too often privilege the perspectives of the powerful.
In this episode, student journalists from St. Lawrence University offer a profile of We Are Not Numbers, a youth-run independent media organization in the Gaza Strip. In addition to project founder Pam Bailey, they speak with two WANN contributing writers, Basman Derawi and Ali Abusheikh. Ali also gives us an inside look at how ordinary Gazans experienced a recent period of Israeli airstrikes during the holy month of Ramadan.
In this episode, student journalists from St. Lawrence University take a look inside the independent media work of Project Censored, which has been promoting media democracy for more than four decades. We hear from Project Censored associate director Andy Lee Roth, Dr. Susan Rahman (College of Marin), filmmaker Doug Hecker, and Project Censored student contributor Isabelle Snow (College of Marin).
In this episode, John Collins and Terry DuBray explore local efforts in northern New York to build a grassroots movement in response to the urgent threat of climate crisis. They speak with activists at a climate vigil in Canton, NY, researcher Dr. Jon Rosales, and grassroots organizer Toni Kennedy about the challenges associated with trying to shift the conversation about climate change.
In this episode, Weave News editor Savannah Crowley speaks with Dr. Lisa Guenther about the “horizon” of prison abolition, and theater educator Rivka Rocchio shares some of the creative work she is doing to highlight the stories of correctional officers in northern New York. Rocchio’s work is part of the St. Lawrence Citizen Journalism Incubator (SLCJI) program.
In this episode, three St. Lawrence University students offer a profile of War News Radio, a unique independent media project based at Swarthmore College. We hear from one of the students who helped create War News Radio in 2004 as well as a current Swarthmore student who is part of the new generation of WNR journalists.
In this episode, Shanice Arlow interviews Sean Jacobs, a professor at The New School and founder and editor of the influential Africa Is a Country blog. They touched on US media representations of Africa, the current state of politics on the African continent, and much more. (Banner image courtesy of Africa Is a Country. Photo credit: Nicholas Rawhani.)
In the inaugural episode of our Interweaving podcast, John Collins speaks with Liliana Trevizan about Chilean arpilleras and the legacy of women’s resistance to dictatorship.