Kaz Smith was unlike anybody Niva had ever met. He was sharp, positive, and independent. Their relationship built slowly, which at times was difficult. "He was measured in everything" Niva said. "I wanted to hang out more. I wanted to see him more than just on the weekends. But he set the pace."
After weeks of escalating symptoms, an MRI showed that Kaz had developed a rare form of brain cancer, and that his diagnosis was terminal. The premiere of Season Two of ARRVLS tells the story of Kaz and Niva, whose love was larger than the illness they fought together.
 

Produced by Jonathan Hirsch, Gabrielle Lewis, & Ben Kruse 
Music & Sound Design Jonathan Hirsch & Ben Kruse 
Associate Producer  Nora Linde 



Final Vows

This story was produced for KCRW's 24-hour Radio Race.

In the city of New Orleans - the Big Easy - it's a syrupy, sultry, slow passage of time. For Johnny Angel, time changes everything.

NOLA: Crawfish and Cowboys

Olivia Gatwood wants you to know that lucid dreaming isn't the superpower you think it is.

Double Chocolate Coasters: I Can't Dream Like Superman

TEAM ARRVLS: The Mandela Effect

For more information go to http://www.auralregions.com/2015/08/burnout.html

'Burn Out'

We'd like to believe that culture is something that evolves. That the current generation learns from the mistakes of the ones that came before them, and that we move, albeit in fits and starts, towards a more just, inclusive, and equitable society. But somewhere in the midst of this daily march forward, are the stories of our own complicated lives. And for some the most essential part of their identity remains misunderstood to most people. Today on the show: how one child taught their parent, who they really were.

"Mommy, something went wrong in your tummy. Put me back so I can come out a girl.”

Marlo heard these words from her four-year-old child. Despite being born with male organs, her child has insisted she’s a girl ever since she could form complete sentences.  Marlo discusses switching names and pronouns, clothes shopping, supporting her daughter’s decision on whom she does or doesn’t tell, and her own complicated and beautiful experience of having a child she once perceived as a little boy become a little girl.

Mama, I'm A Girl

For our recent episode "Mama I'm A Girl", Marlo Mack of the podcast How To Be A Girl, tells the story of raising her transgender daughter. 

At the end of our conversation, we wanted to know how Marlo has grown through the process of discovery of her child's identity, how her daughter has transformed her way of looking at the world, and whether or not she has advice for parents with children like hers. 

Listen to the ARRVLS episode "Mama, I'm A Girl": 
http://www.arrvls.com/arrvls-podcast/2015/8/12/mama-im-a-girl

What Version Of Human Are You?

Felix Neals is an 86 year old retired administrative judge. He is gentle and deliberate in his manner of speaking, and stands a towering 6 foot 6 inches tall. You wouldn't know it by talking to him, but Felix hardly spoke for the first 14 years of his life. He knew that he was different from most people. And across many states and decades, from a small subdivision on the border of the Everglade swamp to a rural college town in Idaho, Felix was in search of answers. Today on ARRVLS, a man's search for a name.

Felix The Different

For our recent episode "Felix The Different", Felix Neals chronicles his journey from being a quiet child in a small subdivision bordering the everglade swamp on the outskirts of Miami in the 1930's, to dodging harassment from the KKK while in college in Pocatello, Idaho. 

I met up with felix after our interview, at the Hudson River Park in Manhattan, and he shared with me a piece of writing that he hesitated to call a poem, but rather called it "reflections on a tin mirror".

Listen to Felix's story here: 
www.arrvls.com/arrvls-podcast/2015/8/27/felix-the-different

Thank You, White School Children

On September 11th, 2001, Ney Melo watched from the window of his office at Lehman Brothers as the first tower of the World Trade Center burned. The event stirred an already brewing sense deep within that he needed to make a change in his life. And it is this sense that took Ney on an inspiring journey of self-discovery from the stock market trading floor, to the milongas (or tango clubs) of Buenos Aires. 

Manhattan Milonguero

Stories of migration, transformation, and change. The program that explores what we do, when what we've done, is a thing of the past.