The Ballad of the Expat

In this episode, Jenn and Daren dive into the heart of Blackness in the American South, exploring its cultural richness, historical complexities, and the unique qualities that make it a cornerstone of Black identity in the U.S. They begin by sharing their personal experiences and revelations about the South, particularly through the lens of climate change and its impact on Southern communities. Jenn recounts her recent travels and the profound connection she felt to the land and its people, while Daren reflects on the resilience of the South in the face of historical and present-day challenges.

In The Conversation, they pay homage to the South's enduring spirit, acknowledging both its struggles and its triumphs. They discuss the legacy of slavery, anti-literacy laws, and the systemic barriers that have shaped the region. Still, they also celebrate the South as a cradle of Black culture and activism, home to influential figures and movements that have left an indelible mark on history.

In The Reflection, Jenn and Daren turn their attention to the culinary treasures of the South, using the metaphor of "salt grits versus sugar grits" to illustrate the diversity and depth of Southern cuisine. They share their appreciation for the flavors and traditions that are unique to the region, emphasizing the importance of preserving these cultural touchstones amidst the pressures of gentrification and modernization.

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Podcast Summary:
This is an accidentally funny podcast about the realities of Blackness and adult life. We do “adult” differently. We are That Black Couple. Our goal is to create a space for Black millennials to discuss and embody adult life on their own terms. We aren’t beholden to “traditional” gender or parenting roles, queerness is fluid and present in the ways we show up in our relationships and in the world, and we want to build community with other 30-something Black folx who are trying to figure this ish out.

S7E8 - The South: Salt Grits vs. Sugar Grits

Public schools are one of the last remaining universal public goods in the United States—and are also some of our most unequal institutions. In Unsettling Choice, Ujju Aggarwal explores how the expansion of choice-based programs led to greater inequality and segregation in a gentrifying New York City neighborhood during the years following the Great Recession, mobilizing mechanisms rooted in market logics to recruit families with economic capital on their side while solidifying a public sphere that increasingly resembled the private. Here, Aggarwal is joined in conversation with Sabina Vaught.





Ujju Aggarwal is assistant professor of anthropology and experiential learning at The New School. She is author of Unsettling Choice: Race, Rights, and the Partitioning of Public Education and coeditor of What’s Race Got to Do with It? How Current School Reform Policy Maintains Racial and Economic Inequality.

Sabina Vaught is professor at the University of Pittsburgh and director of the Kinloch Commons for Critical Pedagogy and Leadership. Vaught is coauthor of The School-Prison Trust and author of Compulsory: Education and the Dispossession of Youth in a Prison School.  



REFERENCES:
Ruth Wilson Gilmore
Christina Heatherton
Cindy Katz
Selma James
João Costa Vargas
Morgan Talty / Fire Exit


Praise for the book:

“A must-read to understand the racialized violence inherent within one of the most fundamental aspects of education in the United States: the logic of choice.”
—Damien Sojoyner

“Read this book, and be moved and transformed.”
—Sabina Vaught



Unsettling Choice: Race, Rights, and the Partitioning of Public Education by Ujju Aggarwal is available from University of Minnesota Press.

The partitioning of public education

In this interview, Caroline Castillo Cortez, a Dominican immigrant and long-term Bushwick resident, discusses the profound changes her neighborhood has undergone due to gentrification. 

Interviewed by Aaliah Hamilton Gibbons as part of the Cities for People, Not for Profit oral history project, on October 21, 2024.

Interview with Caroline Castillo Cortez

A young woman leaves her village for the first time to sell flowers in the city.

Crossing the Track

La Fièbrve is an immersive performance that intertwines live painting, sound, and mixed reality to explore the theme of gentrification, drawing inspiration from the writings of Henri Lefebvre. The title, a wordplay between la fièvre (fever) and the philosopher’s name, reflects the feverish tension of the gentrified city— a living organism that burns and suffocates under the pressures of the capitalist system. Just as fever is the body’s response to an infection, the city reacts to its imbalances, revealing signs of distress and alienation.

This performance, curated and performed by Andrea Barbara Romita for Onirica and Dimensions DAO, takes place on February 8, 2025, during Arte Fiera Bologna 2025, Bologna ArtCity 2025, and Bologna Art Night 2025.

The sound art, composed specifically for the performance using the 3D sound databending technique, serves as a compass guiding me throughout the act, marking the passage of time and anchoring me to the present (especially in the disorienting context of wearing a VR headset). Simultaneously, it narrates the performance to the audience, unfolding like a story— a sonic narration that enhances the details and intensifies the pathos of the experience.

La Fiebrve

THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Joe's "favorite" sparks a question that nearly destroys the entire podcast

Heart - On a Bed of Harts

The extended cut , with scenes that were “too freakin’ controversial for TV!” Get geto geto gadeetmon!!
(Brapfreewonah)

Braphejonna (Sarcasm Song) [SING-ALONG EDITION]

Le Logis Floréal est une coopérative de locataires qui octroie des logements sociaux à Watermael-Boitsfort. Suite au départ de la classe moyenne (gentrification), cette commune conviviale se retrouve tiraillée entre deux profils bien différents d'habitants. Quelles sont les conséquences ? Et surtout, quelles sont les solutions ? 

Le Logis Floréal va-t-il devenir un joli ghetto ?

Nous sommes deux jeunes reporters partis à la découverte de Saint-Gilles et de sa transformation croissante depuis quelques années. Equipé de notre seul micro et de notre curiosité, nous sommes allés rencontrer des riverains qui nous ont parlé de leur commune qu'ils apprécient tant.....

Saint-Gilles en mutation : à la rencontre des riverains

Schaerbeek… Quartier populaire, quartier en mutation. Entre authenticité et rénovation, entre habitants de toujours et nouveaux arrivants, la gentrification est en marche.
Dans ce podcast, on plonge au cœur de Schaerbeek pour comprendre les dynamiques qui façonnent son avenir. Balade, témoignage et analyses … Bienvenue dans Mosaïque - la gentrification à Schaerbeek.


Mosaïque - la gentrification à Schaerbeek

Fripes, vinted, boutiques vintage, … Ces dernières années, le marché de la mode de seconde main a explosé. Mais comme souvent en économie, quand la demande augmente, les prix font de même. La fripe, victime de son succès ne serait-elle pas devenue malgré elle un moteur de gentrification ? 

Friperie: l'étoffe des nouveaux riches ?

may16 fever flip

John Sanzone's plea deal sparks debate on police misconduct, theft from homeless individuals, and accountability. The case highlights restitution gaps, law enforcement misconduct, and systemic racial disparities in justice. Plea bargains often avoid jail time, raising concerns about police accountability and vulnerable communities' rights.

Unjust Sanzone Plea Deal Exposes Police Loophole

Buy 'Gentrification' - https://www.beatport.com/release/strictly-electronic-lp-sampler/5107835

The first ever artist album on Mustard Music is here and presented to you by Bristols finest, Kidsonic! 

Featuring on the sampler, Mr Sonic teams up with long standing microphone veteran Voice MC for some new school killer combo funk! The track titled Trojan has been doing the rounds globally smashing dances from London to Melbourne. Gentrification is on the B side, another favourite cut taken from the album that represents Kids thirst for killer samples, clean drums and a heavy bottom end.

↪ https://soundcloud.com/kidsonic_official
https://www.instagram.com/kidsonicofficialdnb/

↪ https://soundcloud.com/mustardmusiccollective
https://www.instagram.com/mustardmusic_/

Kidsonic - Gentrification

Between the Lines explores the intersection of local and national issues. This episode discusses Newburyport's gentrification -- its positives and negatives, and what it means for the city's culture. We also discuss cultural evolution on a national scale, and why despite objectively positive change, people always seem to long for the past.

Host: Eben Diskin
Editor, The Townie

Guests:
James Charles Roy is an author and historian with 8 books to his credit, and a new one coming out this fall. He's also written articles in both academic and popular journals. Some viewers might remember him for his biweekly newsletter, The Newburyport Liberator, that he launched mainly to annoy the then mayor, which he succeeded in doing. He has been deeply involved in the community: he sat on the board of the Newburyport Library renovation committee; spent thirty frustrating years as chair of the mayor's Parking and Traffic Committee, whose triumphant finale was the creation of the downtown parking garage, the whole point of which was to remove cars from the waterfront. Today's wonderful park by the river is the direct result of that effort. And he co-chaired the committee that created Newburyport's only Local Historic District.

John Giordano is a visual artist, writer, and coach. He started Ramp Coaching in 206, while he was a professor at Merrimack College. He has started numerous community-based educational access programs in Philadelphia and Boston focused on college access for first generation college students. He has served as board president of Theater in the Open, and has volunteered for many arts education organizations, as well as local political campaigns. John is the co-founder of Indivisible, a Newburyport area group focused on strengthening democracy. He is currently working on an initiative to create access to coaching for a wide array of people.

Link to video version: https://youtu.be/ETbM93ft5B0

GENERAL DISCLAIMER: All opinions expressed by the Program Participants are solely their current opinions and do not reflect the opinions of NCM Hub, PortMedia, and WJOP 96.3 FM​

Training & Resources Provided by the Public Access Facilities of PortMedia, a division of the Newburyport Community Media Hub. © Diskin 2025

Between the Lines, Episode 1: Gentrification, and Newburyport's Cultural Evolution

SNB124 - https://li.sten.to/noge

Skankandbass is a leading record label for the best newcomer talent in drum & bass music, as well as a renowned YouTube channel supporting the highest quality underground cuts in the genre. 

Strictly underground, strictly heads.

This is an accidentally funny podcast about the realities of Blackness and adult life. 

Our goal is to create a space for Black millennials to discuss and embody adult life on their own terms. We aren’t beholden to “traditional” gender or parenting roles, queerness is fluid and present in the ways we show up in our relationships and in the world, and we want to build community with other 30-something Black folx who are trying to figure this ish out.

We do “adult” differently. 


-About Daren and Jenn-

Jenn is a queer, Black feminist from Oakland. Daren is an introverted nerd and novelist from Anaheim.

They are boo’ed up and have been since 2002 when they bonded over a mutual love of Brian McKnight’s “Never Felt This Way”, their favorite Brandy lyrics, and nineties TV like Family Matters, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and Living Single. It was a shared obsession with Black cultural icons, histories, and artistry that drew Jenn and Daren to one another even though they are actually completely different personality-wise.

Jenn and Daren have always said to themselves, “Wouldn’t it be cool if we had a show?” Well, no major networks have reached out yet. So, until that happens, you can find the them here, sharing their views on race and culture and everything in between.

They are young thirty-somethings who have been married since for over a decade. Jenn and Daren have three beautiful, brilliant, radical, snarky kids who play no games.

Word iz tha God got knowledge of self & has been f**king up tha industry & punishing wack MCs ever since

Three friends agree to watch every episode and movie of the television hit Hart to Hart to determine once and for all if Hart to Hart is a good show. Join Ellen Ito (the devoted lover) Erik Blood (the nostalgic acquaintance) and Joe Garber (the dubious virgin) on a journey filled with fabulous fashions, furious fistfights, and of course MURDER!

New tracks tagged #Gentrification