In this episode of The Lens: Living Diverse, Ben chats with Sophia Alexander – a future social worker, passionate advocate, and proud Black woman of Grenadian descent. Sophia opens up about her experience being diagnosed with glaucoma and the impact of meeting other Black individuals with sight loss for the first time. She dives into the complexities of navigating vision loss in her personal life, career, and community, as well as the intersection of her many identities. Through vulnerability and strength, Sophia talks about how she came to embrace her sight loss and what self-acceptance looks like today. Tune in as Ben and Sophia celebrate resilience, representation, and the dynamic force that is Sophia – changing the narrative in every space she enters.

You can find Sophie on:
TikTok: @SophiaDynamic  
Instagram: @SophiaDynamic

The Lens: Living Diverse – Embracing Identity and Vision with Sophia Alexander

"These spaces are sacred." The Brooklyn trio reflect on 12 years of throwing parties that celebrate New York's queer community of colour.

New York nightlife has a truly unique ecosystem. And for the last 12 years, the art collective Papi Juice has been right at the center of it, hosting parties, workshops, artist residencies, performances and exhibitions that affirm and celebrate the lives of queer and trans people of colour. 

In this RA Exchange recorded during Pride Weekend in Brooklyn, reviews editor Kiana Mickles sits down with the Papi Juice trio—Mohammed, Adam and Oscar—to talk about intersectionality and how they've maintained their principles and political integrity by continuing to put their community first. The DJs and multimedia artists have been active in leading fundraisers for Black trans organisations and archiving queer nightlife in Brooklyn. They recently 
received an award from the City Council of New York for their contributions to culture and have partnered with institutions like The Brooklyn Museum, MoMA PS1, El Museo del Barrio, Creative Time, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art.

In this interview, Mohammed, Adam and Oscar reflect on meeting for the first time, navigating New York's cabaret laws, creating a distinct visual identity, learning to work through internal conflict and differences in taste, and working towards a shared vision across many years. Listen to the episode in full. -Chloe Lula

EX.772 Papi Juice

“These spaces are sacred." The Brooklyn trio reflect on 12 years of throwing parties that celebrate New York's queer community of colour.

New York nightlife has a truly unique ecosystem. And for the last 12 years, the art collective Papi Juice has been right at the center of it, hosting parties, workshops, artist residencies, performances and exhibitions that affirm and celebrate the lives of queer and trans people of colour.

In this RA Exchange recorded during Pride Weekend in Brooklyn, reviews editor Kiana Mickles sits down with the Papi Juice trio—Mohammed, Adam and Oscar—to talk about intersectionality and how they've maintained their principles and political integrity by continuing to put their community first. The DJs and multimedia artists have been active in leading fundraisers for Black trans organisations and archiving queer nightlife in Brooklyn. They recently received an award from the City Council of New York for their contributions to culture and have partnered with institutions like The Brooklyn Museum, MoMA PS1, El Museo del Barrio, Creative Time, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art.

In this interview, Mohammed, Adam and Oscar reflect on meeting for the first time, navigating New York's cabaret laws, creating a distinct visual identity, learning to work through internal conflict and differences in taste, and working towards a shared vision across many years. Listen to the episode in full. -Chloe Lula


CITB EP.1 - Blind boxes, shitty youtubers and everyhting in between

"der floor hatte einen roten faden. du hast den faden genommen, zerschnibbelt und konfetti draus gemacht" 

this one was really special to me. i drifted away from my original plan and followed the moment instead. i started in a heavy place, and you can hear how i slowly let go and allowed the music to carry me somewhere lighter.  i brought together many different genres, which has become something of a signature for me. i enjoy experimenting and testing how far i can take it, and that night felt like a peak of that approach. some of my emotional favorites found their place in here, and that made the set feel even closer to me.

the last half hour turned into an encore because the energy on the floor just kept going. sharing that sunrise with so many smiling faces made this set 1 fOr tHe bOokS.

thank you rau.ton for the invitation <3

tracklist:
kohra & midnight traffic – tantrik  
mmolotsi mabua – sinking echoes  
hedström & pflug – wings  
sicion & kuss – ego death  
linear system – fourt thirty  
peder mannerfelt – scouse  
franz jäger – gentle decka  
franz jäger – kotic  
yeiks – mixed feelings  
hertz collision – civiltà delle macchine  
oscean – echoes of chaos 
planetary assault systems – eden tide  
hadone – let the bodies hit the floor  
noname – 019  
marco shuttle – curve pericolose  
carlo vento – spacer_2600  
kevin ferhati – moons of jupiter  
paul hauck & iglo – early life  
sinistermind – chromalanguage  
dax j – sunrise in kyiv  
debba – feeling closer  
joy orbison – flight fm  
smiff – clipschwifter  
arctor – soulless  
ryan clover – stay by my side  
flat earth mafia – cece grooves  
bicep – chroma 001 helium  
sister zo – pump  
get physical music – pump up the jam (club mix)  
radio slave – stay out all night  
90 process – le phonk  
ryan clover – proper club attire  
debba – you & i  
oscean – chronorebel  
___
decoder – tenuous sentiment  
planetary assault systems – shine  
ryan clover – disrespectful  
stojche – metaphor  
radio slave – command z  
dxrvo – tripping hazard  
cirkle – tears of light  
marmion – t-dancer  
hadone – stranger at sunset  
bejenec – lick my nipps

↳ ੈ‧₊˚ ┊͙ fi_250726

From Get Out to The Babadook to Saint Maud: In his new book, Josh Gooch uses the horror film genre to expose the hostile conditions of life under capitalism, drawing connections between Marxist theory and contemporary narratives of psychological unease. Here, Gooch is joined in conversation with Jo Isaacson. This episode contains spoilers for multiple films (list below).


Joshua Gooch is professor of English at D’Youville University in Buffalo, New York. He is author of Capitalism Hates You: Marxism and the New Horror Film; Dickensian Affects: Charles Dickens and Feelings of Precarity and The Victorian Novel, Service Work, and the Nineteenth-Century Economy.

Johanna Isaacson is professor of English at Modesto Junior College and author of Stepford Daughters: Weapons for Feminists in Contemporary Horror. 


EPISODE REFERENCES:
Sianne Ngai
Michael Löwy / “critical irrealism”
Linda Williams on Psycho, essay in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho: A Casebook
Søren Mau
Nancy Fraser
Mariarosa Dalla Costa
Silvia Federici
Amitav Ghosh
Kim Stanley Robinson
Jason W. Moore
Ruth Wilson Gilmore
Sophie Lewis
M. E. O’Brien
Kathi Weeks
Lauren Berlant


FILMS DISCUSSED:
Psycho
Dracula
Nosferatu
Candyman
Sam Raimi’s Drag Me to Hell
Joe Lynch’s Mayhem
Robert Eggers’s The Witch
Gillian Wallace Horvat’s I Blame Society
Rose Glass’s Saint Maud
Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook
Ari Aster’s Hereditary
Jane Schoenbrun’s We’re All Going to the World’s Fair
Jordan Peele’s Get Out
Jordan Peele’s Us
Mariame Diallo’s Master
Tim Story’s The Blackening
Timothy Covell’s Blood Conscious
Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance
Romero’s Night of the Living Dead
Lamberti Bava’s Demons
The Ring
Jeremy Saulnier’s Murder Party
Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining


Praise for the book:
"Fiercely smart." —Annie McClanahan, author of Dead Pledges

"This is a book not just for fans of horror but for everyone interested in the ways films embed and communicate values, judgments, and affects." —Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, author of Gothic Things



Capitalism Hates You: Marxism and the New Horror Film by Joshua Gooch is available from University of Minnesota Press. Thank you for listening.

Capitalism Hates You: Horror film and Marxist theory.

This week, get ready for a powerful and insightful conversation as we welcome the incredible Juno Lux to the Twilight Tonic! Known on social media for his daily tarot readings, mystical insights, and witchy wisdom, Juno brings light to the shadows and a fresh perspective to the craft. Whether you’re a seasoned practitioner or just curious about the mystical, you won’t want to miss this conversation with Juno Lux—witch, mystic, and guide to the unseen.

Practically Magic: An Interview with Juno Lux

Practicing mindfulness is known to help with myriad mental and physical health issues, including those associated with addiction. Could having a meditation practice also help dismantle systems of oppression? 

Host Morgan D. Stewart sits down with Ablossi Tzaphkiel & Sara Bumpus of Recovery Dharma as well as Dave Creswell & Colleen of Madison Insight Meditation group to explore the connections between meditation, creativity, and recovery. It's a powerful, and deeply personal episode for Morgan, about how a search for inner peace led to finding belonging in recovery spaces.

Featuring segments originally heard on Wisconsin Public Radio's "Wisconsin Life".

Sponsored by Art Lit Lab in Madison, WI.

This project is funded in part by a grant from Dane Arts, the Madison Arts Commission, with additional funds from the Wisconsin Arts Board.

HOW TO FIND SOLACE IN SANGHA w/ ABLOSSI & COLLEEN

Live gong practice, unedited. Best with headphones or quality speakers.

Live gong practice sample

Community-oriented arts organizations are the lifeblood of their communities, and support for their work is more vital than ever. Yet, they are often the hardest for large funders to reach. The Wallace Foundation believes that intermediary regranting organizations, often overlooked, can play a pivotal role in bridging this gap to get support where it is needed most. 

As part of its Advancing Well-being in the Arts initiative, a five-year initiative supporting arts organizations rooted in communities of color, Wallace partnered with the six Regional Arts Organizations (RAOs) on regranting efforts that sought to better understand and alleviate the constraints intermediaries may face when undertaking equitable regranting efforts.

In this GIA podcast episode, we will hear from Juan Souki (Mid-Atlantic Arts), Anika Tené (Creative West), and Joy Young (formerly South Arts) in conversation with Bahia Ramos (Wallace Foundation).

This podcast was recorded on September 5, 2025

Podcast #59: Power in the Middle: Strategies for Effective Regranting

Hi, I'm Dorothy. 

I’m a trauma-informed integrative vibrational practitioner with a focus on sharing holistic wellness practices in accessible and marginalized spaces.

As a yoga teacher (RYT 500), meditation and sound therapy practitioner, a reiki master practitioner, holographic energy healer, writer and artist, I take an integrative approach to healing our individual and ancestral trauma.

I hold community classes and events, including meditations and sound journeys. I invite you to visit my website and join in for an in-person or online experience. https://nourishtheyin.ca/classes/

The CNIB Podcast Network is a collection of audio programming designed to give a voice to people across the CNIB community as they share their personal stories of life with sight loss. Listen to the episodes on any of the platforms listed below. If you enjoy what you hear, subscribe!

The weekly RA Exchange is a series of conversations with artists, labels and promoters shaping the electronic music landscape.

New tracks tagged #bipoc