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"title": "San Quentin Can Rebrand, But Prison Is Still Prison",
"headTitle": "San Quentin Can Rebrand, But Prison Is Still Prison | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Behind the concrete walls and steel bars of San Quentin State Prison sit more than 3,000 people, currently serving time. The facility itself sits on 432 acres of land in Marin County, one of the top five wealthiest counties per capita in the United States, where well-off residents walk their dogs and take in gorgeous views of the San Francisco Bay on a beach that’s just a stone’s throw from the 171-year-old complex.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the natural environment surrounding San Quentin is a reminder of why so many love this region, inside, the prison exemplifies one of the largest issues plaguing this country: a failed carceral system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13927021\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13927021\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/WhatTheseWalls.bay_-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"A man gazes toward a large concrete complex that sits near a bay of water.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/WhatTheseWalls.bay_-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/WhatTheseWalls.bay_-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/WhatTheseWalls.bay_-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/WhatTheseWalls.bay_-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/WhatTheseWalls.bay_-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/WhatTheseWalls.bay_.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Quentin State Prison, the subject of Adamu Chan’s new documentary, ‘What These Walls Won’t Hold.’ \u003ccite>(Courtesy of SFFILM)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 2020, San Quentin was home to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11825930/as-coronavirus-cases-surge-at-san-quentin-lawmakers-demand-an-explanation\">one of the largest COVID-19 outbreaks of any prison in the country\u003c/a>. Since then, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, San Quentin has been the site of \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/covid19/population-status-tracking/\">over 3,000 confirmed cases and 28 total deaths\u003c/a> directly related to the virus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just a few months after the initial outbreak at San Quentin, filmmaker \u003ca href=\"https://www.adamuchan.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Adamu Chan\u003c/a> was released from its gates. And in April, \u003ca href=\"https://sffilm.org/event/what-these-walls-wont-hold-how-we-get-free-sol-in-the-garden-cgv/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the San Francisco Film Festival\u003c/a> will screen Chan’s latest film, inspired by his experiences, titled \u003cem>What These Walls Won’t Hold\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13889012']Taking viewers into the United States’ massive prison system, the film focuses on how people rely upon each other in order to navigate the dehumanizing elements of a system that controls them and the facility that confines them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Throughout the story, Chan shares personal reflections about the circle of friends he developed inside of San Quentin, as well as the community outside of its walls. He details the contradictions between the harsh reality of being behind bars and the intrinsic beauty of the natural environment around the facility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Driving the story are written letters to and from Chan. Through these notes, viewers gain an understanding of Chan’s friendship with poet and organizer \u003ca href=\"http://isaborgeson.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Isa Borgeson\u003c/a>. And just as viewers see Chan’s own reentry process, the film covers the homecoming ceremonies of \u003cem>San Quentin News\u003c/em> editor \u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/stories-by-joe-rosato-jr/long-time-editor-of-san-quentin-newspaper-savors-freedom-after-23-years/2568246/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Richard “Bonaru” Richardson\u003c/a>, Ear Hustle co-host \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13924925/ear-hustle-podcast-co-host-rahsaan-thomas-is-free-from-san-quentin-prison\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rahsaan “New York” Thomas\u003c/a> and longtime San Quentin resident and restorative justice practitioner \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfweekly.com/archives/no-way-out/article_9ab986b7-eefd-54d0-9520-bdf921963b58.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lonnie Morris\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13927023\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13927023\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/WhatTheseWalls.hug_-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"A man with graying hair and a plaid shirt embraces a shorter woman, burying his head in her shoulders.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/WhatTheseWalls.hug_-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/WhatTheseWalls.hug_-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/WhatTheseWalls.hug_-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/WhatTheseWalls.hug_-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/WhatTheseWalls.hug_-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/WhatTheseWalls.hug_.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Quentin News editor Richard ‘Bonaru’ Richardson comes home in Adamu Chan’s documentary ‘What These Walls Won’t Hold.’ \u003ccite>(Courtesy of SFFILM)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Morris’ scene is especially poignant; after making his way out of San Quentin’s gates, he’s embraced with congratulatory hugs, comments of love, and praises of “you did it.” (He’s quick to correct people, saying “\u003cem>we\u003c/em> did it.”) Addressing the crowd with a speech that toes the line of a prayer, Morris speaks on the importance of living in the present moment, valuing those around you, and honoring the creator. As his speech winds down, someone in the crowd says “Now let’s get away from San Quentin!” — to which Morris vigorously agrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But just because you’re home doesn’t mean you’re \u003cem>free\u003c/em>, as Chan explains to me. When we talk, Chan — a \u003ca href=\"https://ccsre.stanford.edu/people/adamu-chan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2022 CCSRE Mellon Arts Fellow\u003c/a> at Stanford University — lets out a laugh of frustration and tells me he’s just gotten word that he was denied the ability to travel to New York, where he was scheduled to attend and present at a conference at Columbia University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chan’s disheartening call came days after Governor Gavin Newsom announced plans to change the model of San Quentin: from California’s oldest functional prison, with the largest death row in the nation, to a restorative facility largely based on prison models in Norway. The idea came after stakeholders, elected officials and people who’ve spent time in prison visited the Scandinavian country last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13904492']“Norway does a better job in certain senses,” says Chan, who was part of the Norway trip. He saw firsthand how prisons in the European country differ from the ones in the United States. But ultimately, he says, one thing remains the same: “It’s a prison system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chan recognized that he was on a guided tour, he tells me, and adds that “they will only show you what they want you to see.” San Quentin, which also offers tours to visitors, similarly offers a selective view.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“(San Quentin) is like a living museum, a show prison. They’ll show carceral practices of the past so they can show you how far we’ve progressed,” Chan tells me, using the example of the prison’s relatively new hospital, which sits atop a defunct dungeon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13927022\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13927022\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Whatthesewalls.camera-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Whatthesewalls.camera-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Whatthesewalls.camera-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Whatthesewalls.camera-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Whatthesewalls.camera-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Whatthesewalls.camera-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Whatthesewalls.camera-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Whatthesewalls.camera-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Filming ‘What These Walls Won’t Hold.’ \u003ccite>(Courtesy of SFFILM)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Inside of San Quentin, a wide array of programs are available, such as coding, theatre, restorative justice, and an award-winning newspaper. But space within those programs is limited, and not every person can benefit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chan, who did benefit from San Quentin’s programs, is in support of people inside having greater freedoms and access. But he questions the overall notion of rehabilitation coming from state-sanctioned isolation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the stuff he saw in Norway was moving — a full grocery store, spacious bunks — people there are still isolated, separated from friends and family, and controlled by a governing system. Fundamentally, Chan says, it’s no different than what people experience in the States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='forum_2010101888959']“What we need is better prisons?” Chan asks rhetorically, questioning the philosophy behind the proposed changes. “No,” Chan answers, “What we need is something that deals with the larger issues we’re up against. We need to question where violence comes from. We need to question, \u003ci>what is violence\u003c/i>?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the face of the sweeping natural hills that surround San Quentin, big claims of rehabilitation from elected officials, and resources permitted to San Quentin residents that aren’t accessible to folks in other prisons in California, Chan is clear about how he survived while incarcerated: community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The people that I was privileged to be around,” Chan tells me, “we benefited from building our own community, smaller systems of care and accountability, and supporting each other.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Chan is looking to share this story beyond the prison’s walls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘What These Walls Won’t Hold’ screens as part of the San Francisco Film Festival on Saturday, April 15 at 12pm and Sunday, April 16 at 2pm. \u003ca href=\"//sffilm.org/2023-festival-program/\">Details here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Behind the concrete walls and steel bars of San Quentin State Prison sit more than 3,000 people, currently serving time. The facility itself sits on 432 acres of land in Marin County, one of the top five wealthiest counties per capita in the United States, where well-off residents walk their dogs and take in gorgeous views of the San Francisco Bay on a beach that’s just a stone’s throw from the 171-year-old complex.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the natural environment surrounding San Quentin is a reminder of why so many love this region, inside, the prison exemplifies one of the largest issues plaguing this country: a failed carceral system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13927021\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13927021\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/WhatTheseWalls.bay_-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"A man gazes toward a large concrete complex that sits near a bay of water.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/WhatTheseWalls.bay_-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/WhatTheseWalls.bay_-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/WhatTheseWalls.bay_-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/WhatTheseWalls.bay_-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/WhatTheseWalls.bay_-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/WhatTheseWalls.bay_.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Quentin State Prison, the subject of Adamu Chan’s new documentary, ‘What These Walls Won’t Hold.’ \u003ccite>(Courtesy of SFFILM)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 2020, San Quentin was home to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11825930/as-coronavirus-cases-surge-at-san-quentin-lawmakers-demand-an-explanation\">one of the largest COVID-19 outbreaks of any prison in the country\u003c/a>. Since then, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, San Quentin has been the site of \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/covid19/population-status-tracking/\">over 3,000 confirmed cases and 28 total deaths\u003c/a> directly related to the virus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just a few months after the initial outbreak at San Quentin, filmmaker \u003ca href=\"https://www.adamuchan.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Adamu Chan\u003c/a> was released from its gates. And in April, \u003ca href=\"https://sffilm.org/event/what-these-walls-wont-hold-how-we-get-free-sol-in-the-garden-cgv/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the San Francisco Film Festival\u003c/a> will screen Chan’s latest film, inspired by his experiences, titled \u003cem>What These Walls Won’t Hold\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Taking viewers into the United States’ massive prison system, the film focuses on how people rely upon each other in order to navigate the dehumanizing elements of a system that controls them and the facility that confines them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Throughout the story, Chan shares personal reflections about the circle of friends he developed inside of San Quentin, as well as the community outside of its walls. He details the contradictions between the harsh reality of being behind bars and the intrinsic beauty of the natural environment around the facility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Driving the story are written letters to and from Chan. Through these notes, viewers gain an understanding of Chan’s friendship with poet and organizer \u003ca href=\"http://isaborgeson.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Isa Borgeson\u003c/a>. And just as viewers see Chan’s own reentry process, the film covers the homecoming ceremonies of \u003cem>San Quentin News\u003c/em> editor \u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/stories-by-joe-rosato-jr/long-time-editor-of-san-quentin-newspaper-savors-freedom-after-23-years/2568246/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Richard “Bonaru” Richardson\u003c/a>, Ear Hustle co-host \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13924925/ear-hustle-podcast-co-host-rahsaan-thomas-is-free-from-san-quentin-prison\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rahsaan “New York” Thomas\u003c/a> and longtime San Quentin resident and restorative justice practitioner \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfweekly.com/archives/no-way-out/article_9ab986b7-eefd-54d0-9520-bdf921963b58.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lonnie Morris\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13927023\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13927023\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/WhatTheseWalls.hug_-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"A man with graying hair and a plaid shirt embraces a shorter woman, burying his head in her shoulders.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/WhatTheseWalls.hug_-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/WhatTheseWalls.hug_-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/WhatTheseWalls.hug_-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/WhatTheseWalls.hug_-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/WhatTheseWalls.hug_-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/WhatTheseWalls.hug_.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Quentin News editor Richard ‘Bonaru’ Richardson comes home in Adamu Chan’s documentary ‘What These Walls Won’t Hold.’ \u003ccite>(Courtesy of SFFILM)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Morris’ scene is especially poignant; after making his way out of San Quentin’s gates, he’s embraced with congratulatory hugs, comments of love, and praises of “you did it.” (He’s quick to correct people, saying “\u003cem>we\u003c/em> did it.”) Addressing the crowd with a speech that toes the line of a prayer, Morris speaks on the importance of living in the present moment, valuing those around you, and honoring the creator. As his speech winds down, someone in the crowd says “Now let’s get away from San Quentin!” — to which Morris vigorously agrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But just because you’re home doesn’t mean you’re \u003cem>free\u003c/em>, as Chan explains to me. When we talk, Chan — a \u003ca href=\"https://ccsre.stanford.edu/people/adamu-chan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2022 CCSRE Mellon Arts Fellow\u003c/a> at Stanford University — lets out a laugh of frustration and tells me he’s just gotten word that he was denied the ability to travel to New York, where he was scheduled to attend and present at a conference at Columbia University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chan’s disheartening call came days after Governor Gavin Newsom announced plans to change the model of San Quentin: from California’s oldest functional prison, with the largest death row in the nation, to a restorative facility largely based on prison models in Norway. The idea came after stakeholders, elected officials and people who’ve spent time in prison visited the Scandinavian country last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Norway does a better job in certain senses,” says Chan, who was part of the Norway trip. He saw firsthand how prisons in the European country differ from the ones in the United States. But ultimately, he says, one thing remains the same: “It’s a prison system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chan recognized that he was on a guided tour, he tells me, and adds that “they will only show you what they want you to see.” San Quentin, which also offers tours to visitors, similarly offers a selective view.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“(San Quentin) is like a living museum, a show prison. They’ll show carceral practices of the past so they can show you how far we’ve progressed,” Chan tells me, using the example of the prison’s relatively new hospital, which sits atop a defunct dungeon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13927022\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13927022\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Whatthesewalls.camera-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Whatthesewalls.camera-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Whatthesewalls.camera-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Whatthesewalls.camera-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Whatthesewalls.camera-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Whatthesewalls.camera-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Whatthesewalls.camera-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Whatthesewalls.camera-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Filming ‘What These Walls Won’t Hold.’ \u003ccite>(Courtesy of SFFILM)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Inside of San Quentin, a wide array of programs are available, such as coding, theatre, restorative justice, and an award-winning newspaper. But space within those programs is limited, and not every person can benefit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chan, who did benefit from San Quentin’s programs, is in support of people inside having greater freedoms and access. But he questions the overall notion of rehabilitation coming from state-sanctioned isolation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the stuff he saw in Norway was moving — a full grocery store, spacious bunks — people there are still isolated, separated from friends and family, and controlled by a governing system. Fundamentally, Chan says, it’s no different than what people experience in the States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“What we need is better prisons?” Chan asks rhetorically, questioning the philosophy behind the proposed changes. “No,” Chan answers, “What we need is something that deals with the larger issues we’re up against. We need to question where violence comes from. We need to question, \u003ci>what is violence\u003c/i>?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the face of the sweeping natural hills that surround San Quentin, big claims of rehabilitation from elected officials, and resources permitted to San Quentin residents that aren’t accessible to folks in other prisons in California, Chan is clear about how he survived while incarcerated: community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The people that I was privileged to be around,” Chan tells me, “we benefited from building our own community, smaller systems of care and accountability, and supporting each other.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Chan is looking to share this story beyond the prison’s walls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘What These Walls Won’t Hold’ screens as part of the San Francisco Film Festival on Saturday, April 15 at 12pm and Sunday, April 16 at 2pm. \u003ca href=\"//sffilm.org/2023-festival-program/\">Details here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "‘Sansón and Me’ Examines a Life Before the Life Sentence",
"headTitle": "‘Sansón and Me’ Examines a Life Before the Life Sentence | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Sansón Noe Andrade, who came to the U.S. from Mexico without documents as an adolescent, is currently serving a life sentence without parole in a California prison for his role in a drive-by shooting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given that information, you may be surprised to hear that \u003cem>Sansón and Me\u003c/em>, the new film by Rodrigo Reyes, isn’t a social-issue documentary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Andrade wasn’t victimized by institutional injustice. His four felony convictions didn’t involve police corruption or fabricated evidence, prosecutorial misconduct or legal-defense malpractice. \u003cem>Sansón and Me\u003c/em> (opening Friday, March 17 at the Roxie Theatre in San Francisco) is neither an exposé of the criminal justice system nor a righteous remit in support of an innocent man.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13902293']Nor, for that matter, is this unusual, layered and unexpectedly enthralling film a dirge of Third World poverty and suffering laced with somewhere-over-the-border dreams (short-circuited, inevitably, by prejudice and lack of opportunity). Odd as it may sound, \u003cem>Sansón and Me\u003c/em> is simply a story. And, in my view, one without a moral.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This won’t strike you as odd if you’re primarily drawn to documentaries with a stranger-than-fiction quality. \u003cem>Man on Wire\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Searching for Sugar Man\u003c/em> are exemplars of this popular subcategory. The story’s the thing, the whole thing and nothing but the thing; you don’t need a moral or even a message to be satisfied.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the murder that sent its protagonist to jail, \u003cem>Sansón and Me\u003c/em> isn’t a sensational saga. Nor does it have the plot turns and jaw-dropping reveals (OK, there’s one) that give a doc that coveted word-of-mouth buzz. It is an ordinary story, the kind that’s rarely told, which is precisely why Reyes deserves props for going to extraordinary lengths to recount it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13926443\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/1-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13926443\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/1-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/1-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/1-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/1.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gerardo Reyes as adult Sansón in Rodrigo Reyes’ documentary ‘Sansón and Me.’ \u003ccite>(Courtesy Cinema Guild)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Let the record show how much skill and cleverness it takes to hold an audience’s interest with a commonplace biography. Reyes deserves praise above all for taking an invisible man (if confined prisoners aren’t the Forgotten Men and Women of the 21st century, who is?) and giving him a voice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Mexican-born, California-based director (whose previous films include the ambitious 2020 docufiction \u003cem>499\u003c/em>) was working his day job as a criminal interpreter when he met Andrade. Perhaps because Andrade had no previous record, and his participation in the crime seemed out of character, Reyes was moved to initiate a correspondence when Andrade’s trial concluded and he went to prison. After a time, as their friendship developed, Reyes asked if he’d be willing to collaborate on a film about his life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13917075']Sansón agreed, but the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation refused to allow on-camera interviews. So throughout \u003cem>Sansón and Me\u003c/em>, the title character is invisible, except for a couple photographs. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sansón and Reyes wrote dozens of letters to each other over several years, which the filmmaker uses to construct the film’s relationship between subject and filmmaker, as well as its narrative spine. But an actor reads Sansón’s lines, and his childhood in Mexico is poignantly enacted by his sister, brother-in-law, nephews and nieces living in Mexico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reyes cast Sansón’s family out of necessity and convenience, but it has unexpected side effects. They talk about gaining a better understanding, through the making of the film, of the sibling who left for America many years earlier. Meanwhile, the shoot itself complicates the family dynamic as neighbors and townspeople gather to witness the mystique and “glamour” of moviemaking. (We are briefly reminded of life before social media, when a local celebrity was a “viral” celebrity.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13926444\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/3-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13926444\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/3-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/3-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/3-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/3-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/3-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/3.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Antonio González Andrade as child Sansón in Rodrigo Reyes’ documentary ‘Sansón and Me.’ \u003ccite>(Courtesy Cinema Guild)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The behind-the-scenes sequences, juxtaposed with the enacted scenes of Sansón’s childhood, are edited and folded into the larger movie with impeccable clarity. We always know where we are, and at the same time Reyes is inviting us (if we are so interested) to contemplate when life is a movie, and when it isn’t. That is, he reminds us that a documentary is a representation of reality, as opposed to reality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Sansón and Me\u003c/em> never goes full meta, but Reyes repeatedly notes various ethical issues in passing. The starkest example is that the filmmaker always possesses the power (that’s the real meaning of “final cut,” you know, but even the verbal declarations “action” and “cut” don’t get put to a vote), but there’s really no debate when your subject and ostensible collaborator is in a prison cell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet there were periods when Sansón didn’t answer Reyes’ letters, and the filmmaker desperately needed his subject in order to move the film forward. The unspoken subtext — and I’m not judging Reyes or his motives, or raising the nasty specter of exploitation — is that grants from funders come with strings and expectations, and few things rattle a filmmaker more than being ghosted by their protagonist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_10144054']Back in Mexico, we learn that Sansón’s childhood in Tecomán was stable and happy (his father was a fisherman) until the sudden death of a parent. His world splintered and Sansón was unable to stay on his modest path. The film does not frame this period as an apologia or explanation for the later deeds that led to Sansón’s imprisonment; Reyes has zero interest in knee-jerk sociology or dime-store psychology other than to hint that patterns have a way of repeating.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So I don’t detect a moral we should take from Reyes’ sensitive and deeply felt film. We are not riled to rail against an entity or person, or really to take any action. Sansón himself says in one of his letters, “My life is like a ballad that has already been sung.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Sansón and Me\u003c/em> is a gutsy offering, especially with so many opportunists and bigots venting daily about borders. It is refreshing — and challenging — to be left without pat answers or emotional catharsis, and trusted to examine one’s expectations and biases. Eighty-three minutes in the company of Sansón and Reyes, contemplating larger issues than crime and punishment, is an invaluable experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12904247\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Sansón and Me’ opens Friday, March 17, at the Roxie Theatre, with Rodrigo Reyes present after the Friday evening and Saturday afternoon screenings. \u003ca href=\"https://roxie.com/production/sanson-and-me/\">Details here\u003c/a>. The film will also air later this year on PBS’s ‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/\">Independent Lens\u003c/a>.’\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Sansón Noe Andrade, who came to the U.S. from Mexico without documents as an adolescent, is currently serving a life sentence without parole in a California prison for his role in a drive-by shooting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given that information, you may be surprised to hear that \u003cem>Sansón and Me\u003c/em>, the new film by Rodrigo Reyes, isn’t a social-issue documentary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Andrade wasn’t victimized by institutional injustice. His four felony convictions didn’t involve police corruption or fabricated evidence, prosecutorial misconduct or legal-defense malpractice. \u003cem>Sansón and Me\u003c/em> (opening Friday, March 17 at the Roxie Theatre in San Francisco) is neither an exposé of the criminal justice system nor a righteous remit in support of an innocent man.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Nor, for that matter, is this unusual, layered and unexpectedly enthralling film a dirge of Third World poverty and suffering laced with somewhere-over-the-border dreams (short-circuited, inevitably, by prejudice and lack of opportunity). Odd as it may sound, \u003cem>Sansón and Me\u003c/em> is simply a story. And, in my view, one without a moral.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This won’t strike you as odd if you’re primarily drawn to documentaries with a stranger-than-fiction quality. \u003cem>Man on Wire\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Searching for Sugar Man\u003c/em> are exemplars of this popular subcategory. The story’s the thing, the whole thing and nothing but the thing; you don’t need a moral or even a message to be satisfied.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the murder that sent its protagonist to jail, \u003cem>Sansón and Me\u003c/em> isn’t a sensational saga. Nor does it have the plot turns and jaw-dropping reveals (OK, there’s one) that give a doc that coveted word-of-mouth buzz. It is an ordinary story, the kind that’s rarely told, which is precisely why Reyes deserves props for going to extraordinary lengths to recount it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13926443\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/1-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13926443\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/1-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/1-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/1-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/1.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gerardo Reyes as adult Sansón in Rodrigo Reyes’ documentary ‘Sansón and Me.’ \u003ccite>(Courtesy Cinema Guild)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Let the record show how much skill and cleverness it takes to hold an audience’s interest with a commonplace biography. Reyes deserves praise above all for taking an invisible man (if confined prisoners aren’t the Forgotten Men and Women of the 21st century, who is?) and giving him a voice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Mexican-born, California-based director (whose previous films include the ambitious 2020 docufiction \u003cem>499\u003c/em>) was working his day job as a criminal interpreter when he met Andrade. Perhaps because Andrade had no previous record, and his participation in the crime seemed out of character, Reyes was moved to initiate a correspondence when Andrade’s trial concluded and he went to prison. After a time, as their friendship developed, Reyes asked if he’d be willing to collaborate on a film about his life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Sansón agreed, but the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation refused to allow on-camera interviews. So throughout \u003cem>Sansón and Me\u003c/em>, the title character is invisible, except for a couple photographs. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sansón and Reyes wrote dozens of letters to each other over several years, which the filmmaker uses to construct the film’s relationship between subject and filmmaker, as well as its narrative spine. But an actor reads Sansón’s lines, and his childhood in Mexico is poignantly enacted by his sister, brother-in-law, nephews and nieces living in Mexico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reyes cast Sansón’s family out of necessity and convenience, but it has unexpected side effects. They talk about gaining a better understanding, through the making of the film, of the sibling who left for America many years earlier. Meanwhile, the shoot itself complicates the family dynamic as neighbors and townspeople gather to witness the mystique and “glamour” of moviemaking. (We are briefly reminded of life before social media, when a local celebrity was a “viral” celebrity.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13926444\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/3-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13926444\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/3-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/3-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/3-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/3-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/3-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/3.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Antonio González Andrade as child Sansón in Rodrigo Reyes’ documentary ‘Sansón and Me.’ \u003ccite>(Courtesy Cinema Guild)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The behind-the-scenes sequences, juxtaposed with the enacted scenes of Sansón’s childhood, are edited and folded into the larger movie with impeccable clarity. We always know where we are, and at the same time Reyes is inviting us (if we are so interested) to contemplate when life is a movie, and when it isn’t. That is, he reminds us that a documentary is a representation of reality, as opposed to reality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Sansón and Me\u003c/em> never goes full meta, but Reyes repeatedly notes various ethical issues in passing. The starkest example is that the filmmaker always possesses the power (that’s the real meaning of “final cut,” you know, but even the verbal declarations “action” and “cut” don’t get put to a vote), but there’s really no debate when your subject and ostensible collaborator is in a prison cell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet there were periods when Sansón didn’t answer Reyes’ letters, and the filmmaker desperately needed his subject in order to move the film forward. The unspoken subtext — and I’m not judging Reyes or his motives, or raising the nasty specter of exploitation — is that grants from funders come with strings and expectations, and few things rattle a filmmaker more than being ghosted by their protagonist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Back in Mexico, we learn that Sansón’s childhood in Tecomán was stable and happy (his father was a fisherman) until the sudden death of a parent. His world splintered and Sansón was unable to stay on his modest path. The film does not frame this period as an apologia or explanation for the later deeds that led to Sansón’s imprisonment; Reyes has zero interest in knee-jerk sociology or dime-store psychology other than to hint that patterns have a way of repeating.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So I don’t detect a moral we should take from Reyes’ sensitive and deeply felt film. We are not riled to rail against an entity or person, or really to take any action. Sansón himself says in one of his letters, “My life is like a ballad that has already been sung.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Sansón and Me\u003c/em> is a gutsy offering, especially with so many opportunists and bigots venting daily about borders. It is refreshing — and challenging — to be left without pat answers or emotional catharsis, and trusted to examine one’s expectations and biases. Eighty-three minutes in the company of Sansón and Reyes, contemplating larger issues than crime and punishment, is an invaluable experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12904247\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Sansón and Me’ opens Friday, March 17, at the Roxie Theatre, with Rodrigo Reyes present after the Friday evening and Saturday afternoon screenings. \u003ca href=\"https://roxie.com/production/sanson-and-me/\">Details here\u003c/a>. The film will also air later this year on PBS’s ‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/\">Independent Lens\u003c/a>.’\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Editor’s note\u003c/strong>: This story is part of \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop\">That’s My Word\u003c/a>\u003cem>, KQED’s year-long exploration of Bay Area hip-hop history, with new content dropping all throughout 2023.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Magic Mike is a Bay Area legend. In the early 1980s, before record label contracts were feasible for rap artists, Magic Mike and his partner Calvin T made their own homemade tapes and sold them on the street. What \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop/timeline#too-short-and-freddy-b-start-making-handmade-tapes\">Too Short and Freddy B were to Oakland\u003c/a>, Magic Mike and Calvin T were to Richmond. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When we decided to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13923938/thats-my-word-intro\">spend a year chronicling Bay Area hip-hop history for our series \u003cem>That’s My Word\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, we knew Magic Mike had to be in the mix. Thankfully, our compatriot in Bay Area history \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/dregs_one/\">Dregs One\u003c/a> recently sat down with Magic Mike for an in-depth interview for his \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrcnRVZo1Y9S-8xIlv8knxRcYwCqsu1OC\">\u003cem>History of the Bay\u003c/em> podcast\u003c/a>, which you can watch above. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What follows is a frank, honest discussion about rapping, hustling, pimping, prison, and the sometimes violent world of the streets in the 1980s. Years before N.W.A. and the rise of “reality rap,” Magic Mike and Calvin T put it all on tape, right here in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Magic Mike explains, he has regrets, especially around his treatment of women. While Too Short rapped about what he was seeing; Magic Mike rapped about what he was living. And, at a pivotal time when other rappers from the Bay Area were getting signed to major label deals, Magic Mike and Calvin T’s chances were repeatedly derailed by incarceration. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Watch the interview above, and find select excerpts below, edited for length and clarity.\u003cem>—Gabe Meline\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13925763\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/MagicMike.MAIN_-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13925763\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/MagicMike.MAIN_-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/MagicMike.MAIN_-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/MagicMike.MAIN_-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/MagicMike.MAIN_-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/MagicMike.MAIN_-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/MagicMike.MAIN_.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Magic Mike, interviewed by Dregs One, in a February 2023 podcast episode of ‘History of the Bay.’ \u003ccite>(Courtesy Dregs One)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>DREGS ONE: What made you run away from home when you were 14?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MAGIC MIKE\u003c/b>: I ran away from my mother’s house, two weeks before my 14th birthday, and started pimping. My mama came home one night and find a female in the house, and she said, “Get this tramp out my house.” I’m like, “Mama, she ain’t a tramp, she a young lady.” And she was just, “Get this tramp about my house.” I was gonna walk her home. “She live across the tracks, it’s dark, mama!” My mama said, “You leave out this house, boy, don’t come back.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m a Capricorn. I’m stubborn. I never came back, bro. And before she died, she told me I broke her heart because I never came back. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>So you left home that night with your female friend.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And never came back. I started stayin’ with her and her mama until that played out, and then I told her, like, “We need some money.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I was the youngest pimp from Richmond ever. Let’s put it like that. We ain’t talking about hanging around pimps — we’re talking about a 14-year old \u003cem>child\u003c/em> sending out grown whores. That’s how I got turned out. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>And you became a little heartless after that.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Completely. Completely heartless. Like, \u003cem>completely\u003c/em> heartless. I’m not gonna sugar-coat it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And then older dudes took a liking to me. They like, “You raw, we like you, Magic! And you’s rappin’ this shit too? Come on an’ ride with us, boy — get you somethin’ else to rap about!” ‘Cause me and Calvin T, all we’re doin’ is rapping what we livin’ and what we seein’ — we’re around pimps and hustlers and dope boys. So that’s all we rappin’ about, from 1982 on up, when we were in Juvenile Hall together. And by 1983, Calvin T and Magic Mike tapes was circulating.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13925767\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/MagicMike.inline-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13925767\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/MagicMike.inline-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/MagicMike.inline-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/MagicMike.inline-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/MagicMike.inline-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/MagicMike.inline-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/MagicMike.inline.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Magic Mike, interviewed by Dregs One, 2023. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Dregs One)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>When you and Calvin T were in Juvenile Hall together, did you make a plan for when you got out?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Calvin T went home before me. We had all this planned. “I’m going to continue to write in here, I’m going to mail it to you, spit this shit and get ’em used to it.” That lasted for like two months. And when I came home, Calvin had it crackin’. He had a little equipment with the little Casio keyboard, the beat machine, and the cassette tape for dubbing. He was ready! In Juvenile Hall, we was just spittin’ acapella. But when I came home, he already had the old-school Casio beats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>So y’all figure, “Alright, we’re gonna record tapes and start slangin’ ’em.” How does that idea come?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At first we dubbed just four or five tapes. Calvin’s house was on the hill, and we walked down the hill, three or four blocks to the little gas station in South Richmond — we didn’t even get past the gas station. The tapes was gone. So we had to bust a U and walk right back up the hill and dub some more tapes. So now we’re like, “We’ll do 10-15 tapes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>So those tapes was movin’ from Richmond to Vallejo, to Oakland…\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To everywhere! Pimp C, Rest in Peace — Bun B once said Magic Mike and Calvin T was one of UGK’s first influences [in Texas]. Cats was going to the military, to Germany, takin’ tapes with ’em. Or one dope boy would go to Vallejo to serve another dope boy, like “What you listenin’ to?” “That’s that Magic Mike and Calvin T!” They stealin’ that, and they gonna dub it. So young Mac Malls, and young Mac Dres, and young E-40s and B-Legits is hearin’ it. Those tapes went everywhere, man.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>So in 1989, on your first official tape, you have the tracks “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/P4H1pYVuFjM\">Nine Hoes Deep\u003c/a>,” “Pimp Pimp,” and “Get With My Pimpin’, Bitch.”\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you listen to that shit, bro, that’s how I was livin’. Man, I go back and listen to that, I’m like, “I don’t want my son to hear this shit.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was the devil. Don’t get it twisted. We proclaimed it to be game, but that ain’t game, man. Any time you gotta abuse anything, that ain’t game. I was wildin’ out, I was rebelling. Anything a grown man was doin’ in the ’80s, my young ass was doin’. Fifths of Hennessy, motel rooms, hot tubs, cocaine, weed, everything… at 14-15 years old. I’m like, “the fuck?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>But that’s what makes it raw. Even though you can make it sound fun and entertaining on a record, it’s still comin’ from a real place. \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But see, now, fast-forward 40 years later, I’m in a dilemma. Because part of my fanbase wants me to be OG Magic Mike and spit that pimp shit. But \u003cem>this\u003c/em> Magic Mike in 2023 been married for 19 years, and got daughters and granddaughters. You feel me? I’m not livin’ that. It wouldn’t be authentic. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What do you think the most important lesson you learned from the pimp game would be?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If I knew then what I know now, I would have \u003cem>never\u003c/em> been in that phase. I would have never abused a woman, put my hands on a woman, manipulated a woman — never. Because I realize that a woman, that’s our bone, that’s my life, that’s my breath… I wish I never would have abused a woman, ’cause now I look back and a woman is all I got. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Turntable.Break_-800x60.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"60\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-11687704\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Turntable.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Turntable.Break_-400x30.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Turntable.Break_-768x58.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Editor’s note\u003c/strong>: This story is part of \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop\">That’s My Word\u003c/a>\u003cem>, KQED’s year-long exploration of Bay Area hip-hop history, with new content dropping all throughout 2023.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Magic Mike is a Bay Area legend. In the early 1980s, before record label contracts were feasible for rap artists, Magic Mike and his partner Calvin T made their own homemade tapes and sold them on the street. What \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop/timeline#too-short-and-freddy-b-start-making-handmade-tapes\">Too Short and Freddy B were to Oakland\u003c/a>, Magic Mike and Calvin T were to Richmond. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When we decided to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13923938/thats-my-word-intro\">spend a year chronicling Bay Area hip-hop history for our series \u003cem>That’s My Word\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, we knew Magic Mike had to be in the mix. Thankfully, our compatriot in Bay Area history \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/dregs_one/\">Dregs One\u003c/a> recently sat down with Magic Mike for an in-depth interview for his \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrcnRVZo1Y9S-8xIlv8knxRcYwCqsu1OC\">\u003cem>History of the Bay\u003c/em> podcast\u003c/a>, which you can watch above. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What follows is a frank, honest discussion about rapping, hustling, pimping, prison, and the sometimes violent world of the streets in the 1980s. Years before N.W.A. and the rise of “reality rap,” Magic Mike and Calvin T put it all on tape, right here in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Magic Mike explains, he has regrets, especially around his treatment of women. While Too Short rapped about what he was seeing; Magic Mike rapped about what he was living. And, at a pivotal time when other rappers from the Bay Area were getting signed to major label deals, Magic Mike and Calvin T’s chances were repeatedly derailed by incarceration. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Watch the interview above, and find select excerpts below, edited for length and clarity.\u003cem>—Gabe Meline\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13925763\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/MagicMike.MAIN_-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13925763\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/MagicMike.MAIN_-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/MagicMike.MAIN_-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/MagicMike.MAIN_-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/MagicMike.MAIN_-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/MagicMike.MAIN_-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/MagicMike.MAIN_.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Magic Mike, interviewed by Dregs One, in a February 2023 podcast episode of ‘History of the Bay.’ \u003ccite>(Courtesy Dregs One)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>DREGS ONE: What made you run away from home when you were 14?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MAGIC MIKE\u003c/b>: I ran away from my mother’s house, two weeks before my 14th birthday, and started pimping. My mama came home one night and find a female in the house, and she said, “Get this tramp out my house.” I’m like, “Mama, she ain’t a tramp, she a young lady.” And she was just, “Get this tramp about my house.” I was gonna walk her home. “She live across the tracks, it’s dark, mama!” My mama said, “You leave out this house, boy, don’t come back.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m a Capricorn. I’m stubborn. I never came back, bro. And before she died, she told me I broke her heart because I never came back. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>So you left home that night with your female friend.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And never came back. I started stayin’ with her and her mama until that played out, and then I told her, like, “We need some money.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I was the youngest pimp from Richmond ever. Let’s put it like that. We ain’t talking about hanging around pimps — we’re talking about a 14-year old \u003cem>child\u003c/em> sending out grown whores. That’s how I got turned out. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>And you became a little heartless after that.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Completely. Completely heartless. Like, \u003cem>completely\u003c/em> heartless. I’m not gonna sugar-coat it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And then older dudes took a liking to me. They like, “You raw, we like you, Magic! And you’s rappin’ this shit too? Come on an’ ride with us, boy — get you somethin’ else to rap about!” ‘Cause me and Calvin T, all we’re doin’ is rapping what we livin’ and what we seein’ — we’re around pimps and hustlers and dope boys. So that’s all we rappin’ about, from 1982 on up, when we were in Juvenile Hall together. And by 1983, Calvin T and Magic Mike tapes was circulating.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13925767\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/MagicMike.inline-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13925767\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/MagicMike.inline-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/MagicMike.inline-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/MagicMike.inline-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/MagicMike.inline-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/MagicMike.inline-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/MagicMike.inline.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Magic Mike, interviewed by Dregs One, 2023. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Dregs One)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>When you and Calvin T were in Juvenile Hall together, did you make a plan for when you got out?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Calvin T went home before me. We had all this planned. “I’m going to continue to write in here, I’m going to mail it to you, spit this shit and get ’em used to it.” That lasted for like two months. And when I came home, Calvin had it crackin’. He had a little equipment with the little Casio keyboard, the beat machine, and the cassette tape for dubbing. He was ready! In Juvenile Hall, we was just spittin’ acapella. But when I came home, he already had the old-school Casio beats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>So y’all figure, “Alright, we’re gonna record tapes and start slangin’ ’em.” How does that idea come?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At first we dubbed just four or five tapes. Calvin’s house was on the hill, and we walked down the hill, three or four blocks to the little gas station in South Richmond — we didn’t even get past the gas station. The tapes was gone. So we had to bust a U and walk right back up the hill and dub some more tapes. So now we’re like, “We’ll do 10-15 tapes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>So those tapes was movin’ from Richmond to Vallejo, to Oakland…\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To everywhere! Pimp C, Rest in Peace — Bun B once said Magic Mike and Calvin T was one of UGK’s first influences [in Texas]. Cats was going to the military, to Germany, takin’ tapes with ’em. Or one dope boy would go to Vallejo to serve another dope boy, like “What you listenin’ to?” “That’s that Magic Mike and Calvin T!” They stealin’ that, and they gonna dub it. So young Mac Malls, and young Mac Dres, and young E-40s and B-Legits is hearin’ it. Those tapes went everywhere, man.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>So in 1989, on your first official tape, you have the tracks “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/P4H1pYVuFjM\">Nine Hoes Deep\u003c/a>,” “Pimp Pimp,” and “Get With My Pimpin’, Bitch.”\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you listen to that shit, bro, that’s how I was livin’. Man, I go back and listen to that, I’m like, “I don’t want my son to hear this shit.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was the devil. Don’t get it twisted. We proclaimed it to be game, but that ain’t game, man. Any time you gotta abuse anything, that ain’t game. I was wildin’ out, I was rebelling. Anything a grown man was doin’ in the ’80s, my young ass was doin’. Fifths of Hennessy, motel rooms, hot tubs, cocaine, weed, everything… at 14-15 years old. I’m like, “the fuck?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>But that’s what makes it raw. Even though you can make it sound fun and entertaining on a record, it’s still comin’ from a real place. \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But see, now, fast-forward 40 years later, I’m in a dilemma. Because part of my fanbase wants me to be OG Magic Mike and spit that pimp shit. But \u003cem>this\u003c/em> Magic Mike in 2023 been married for 19 years, and got daughters and granddaughters. You feel me? I’m not livin’ that. It wouldn’t be authentic. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What do you think the most important lesson you learned from the pimp game would be?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If I knew then what I know now, I would have \u003cem>never\u003c/em> been in that phase. I would have never abused a woman, put my hands on a woman, manipulated a woman — never. Because I realize that a woman, that’s our bone, that’s my life, that’s my breath… I wish I never would have abused a woman, ’cause now I look back and a woman is all I got. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>A co-host of \u003cem>Ear Hustle\u003c/em>, the Pulitzer Prize-nominated podcast produced behind bars, was released from San Quentin State Prison on Wednesday, a year after California Gov. Gavin Newsom commuted his sentence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rahsaan “New York” Thomas, 52, left the lockup near San Francisco and was greeted by his fellow podcast co-hosts Walter “Earlonne” Woods, who was freed in 2019, and Nigel Poor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re thrilled to welcome him home,” the podcast posted on its Twitter feed, along with photos of Thomas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/earhustlesq/status/1623392364394848258\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thomas’ sentence was commuted by Newsom in Jan. 2022 and the state parole board granted his release on parole in August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While in prison, Mr. Thomas has dedicated himself to his rehabilitation,” Newsom wrote in the commutation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thomas was serving a 55 1/2 years-to-life sentence for a second-degree murder conviction in 2000 and related charges after he fatally shot one victim and injured another during a drug deal. A Los Angeles County jury rejected his self-defense claim that he fatally shot a man who was trying to rob him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13847946']Since 2019, Thomas has been a co-producer and co-host of \u003cem>Ear Hustle\u003c/em>— named after prison slang for eavesdropping. He was also a regular contributor to the San Quentin News, along with publications outside prison walls. He served as chairman of the Society of Professional Journalists’ San Quentin satellite chapter and worked with several criminal justice reform groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former governor Jerry Brown in 2018 commuted the sentence of Woods, the podcast’s co-creator, leading to his release. Woods continues to work on the outside as a full-time producer and co-host for the podcast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Ear Hustle\u003c/em>, which began in 2017, bills itself as “the first podcast created and produced in prison, featuring stories of the daily realities of life inside California’s San Quentin State Prison, shared by those living it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Copyright 2023 AP. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the AP\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While in prison, Mr. Thomas has dedicated himself to his rehabilitation,” Newsom wrote in the commutation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thomas was serving a 55 1/2 years-to-life sentence for a second-degree murder conviction in 2000 and related charges after he fatally shot one victim and injured another during a drug deal. A Los Angeles County jury rejected his self-defense claim that he fatally shot a man who was trying to rob him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Since 2019, Thomas has been a co-producer and co-host of \u003cem>Ear Hustle\u003c/em>— named after prison slang for eavesdropping. He was also a regular contributor to the San Quentin News, along with publications outside prison walls. He served as chairman of the Society of Professional Journalists’ San Quentin satellite chapter and worked with several criminal justice reform groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former governor Jerry Brown in 2018 commuted the sentence of Woods, the podcast’s co-creator, leading to his release. Woods continues to work on the outside as a full-time producer and co-host for the podcast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Ear Hustle\u003c/em>, which began in 2017, bills itself as “the first podcast created and produced in prison, featuring stories of the daily realities of life inside California’s San Quentin State Prison, shared by those living it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Copyright 2023 AP. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the AP\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n 1949, Marie Mason Potts took on a role that would transform the latter half of her life. She became editor of \u003cem>Smoke Signal, \u003c/em>the first newspaper in California to be written, edited and controlled exclusively by Indigenous Americans. Potts took over just as a new, post-war wave of Native American activism was swelling. And what she did with the paper for the next 30 years would indelibly impact the lives of countless Indigenous people all over America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Smoke Signal\u003c/em> was first established by Potts’ youngest daughter, Kitty Flores, on behalf of the Federated Indians of California (FIC). Its first issue published in January 1948, when Flores was just 22. When Flores was forced to relocate for her husband’s job, Potts — who had contributed to the paper for the past 18 months — wasn’t about to let \u003cem>Smoke Signal\u003c/em> fall out of print. She remained dedicated to it, even during times of personal crisis, for the rest of her life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Smoke Signal’\u003c/em>s initial goal was to unify disparate Indigenous communities so that they could work together as one force. “In Unity, There is Strength” its masthead declared, issue after issue. However, the longer Potts worked on the paper, the more embedded she became in every aspect of Indigenous activism — something she had already been involved with since her teens. Potts’ work at the paper ultimately transcended the normal commitments of a reporter or editor, and stretched into the realms of personal advice and legal assistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13882943']When \u003cem>Smoke Signal’\u003c/em>s readers were struggling to deal with government officials or institutions, Potts sent them the forms they needed, instructions on how to file them and a list of official contacts who might be able to assist with land claims, civil rights issues and other legal battles. Potts’ willingness to be so hands-on provided essential support for Native communities in California — but her impact was much wider.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Smoke Signal’\u003c/em>s longevity was due not just to Potts’ knowledge and dedication to its readers, but to how successfully the paper reflected the communities it was serving. Potts recognized that writing about activism alone would not hold a large enough audience’s attention. So alongside news, analysis and regular columns, she made sure there were notices of obituaries, births and events — and, crucially, not a small amount of humor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“An Indian was being interviewed for a position,” one \u003cem>Smoke Signal\u003c/em> joke read. “Among the questions asked was, ‘Do you know a foreign language?’ His reply was: ‘Yes. English.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]P[/dropcap]otts knew the importance of levity during dark times. Indeed, she had endured plenty of her own. Potts was born in Big Meadow, Plumas County, the ancestral lands of the Northern Maidu. Today, we know it as Taylorsville, a name given to the area by white settlers during the Gold Rush. Potts’ birth, in fact, was the result of a rape committed by a white prospector. On the subject of her biological father and others like him, Potts once said, “They called the child a half-breed. I don’t know why they were ashamed of fathering a child. But that’s white society for you. My father was one of those sons o’ bitches.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At five years old, Potts was enrolled — terrified and convinced she would be murdered — at the government-operated Greenville Indian School. She attended alongside several cousins and her older sister and brother. (The three siblings were given the last name Mason while attending.) By the time Potts had graduated from Pennsylvania’s Carlisle Indian Industrial School in 1915, she had no homeland to return to. Big Meadow had been submerged under a new hydroelectric reservoir, \u003ca href=\"https://www.lakealmanorarea.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lake Almanor\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Potts never recovered from the loss of her homeland. But she captured its splendor in \u003cem>The Northern Maidu\u003c/em>, a book Potts wrote in 1971 to leave a permanent record of how her people had lived.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>How wonderful it was, lying awake at night sometimes, to hear the coyotes bark and the hoot owls uttering their calls among the trees. Sometimes there would be the running clatter of squirrels on the bark slabs above us; and in spring and summer, just as it grew light before the sun rose, there came the enchantment of the bird chorus, the orchestra of the Great Spirit all around us. That clean pine smell on the morning wind — where can we find it now?\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Though Carlisle was an institution founded on ideas of settler colonialism, Potts thoroughly enjoyed her time there. She was an eager student and a social butterfly who thrived because she was able to connect with Indigenous people from all over the country. Her circle of girlfriends included women from the Chippewa, Cherokee, Pomo, Cayuga, Konkow and Pawnee nations. Carlisle was also where Potts cultivated an interest in journalism, while contributing to the school’s two newspapers, the \u003cem>Arrow \u003c/em>and the\u003cem> Red Man.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13889944']Shortly after graduation, Potts married Hensley Henry Potts, of the Konkow nation. (“A branch of the Maidu, but we didn’t speak the same Indian language,” she later explained.) The couple quickly got to work building their family. Raising children would dominate the next two decades for Potts. The couple’s first daughter, Josephine, arrived in 1916. Then came Jeanne in 1918, William in 1920, Nora in 1921, Pansy in 1922 and Kitty in 1924.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the Potts’ large family, however, came much tragedy. William died in infancy, Kitty was killed in a car crash in her mid-twenties, and Josephine passed on before she’d reached the age of 30. Potts found great comfort in her 20 grandchildren and, of course, in fighting to improve the lives of those that remained around her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]O[/dropcap]nce her children were grown, Potts had more time to dedicate to her personal passions. She moved to Sacramento in 1942 and went to work lecturing at Sacramento State about her heritage, Native American history and cultural preservation. She gave speeches all over the country about Indigenous issues — and her years raising a family came in handy. That background enabled her to talk to groups of small children and at youth groups, after she’d given speeches at civic organizations and churches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Potts’ commitment to \u003cem>Smoke Signal\u003c/em> spurred on her activism everywhere else. Starting in 1950, she chaired the “Indian exhibit” at the California State Fair. During the Korean and Vietnam Wars, she ensured Native American veterans, and those still fighting overseas, received free copies of the newspaper. In the ‘60s, she was western regional vice president of the California League for American Indians, an organization that helped Indigenous people access higher education. She also assisted the National Congress of American Indians with their community outreach and activism. She planned and attended countless Indigenous conferences, providing detailed summaries of each for \u003cem>Smoke Signal\u003c/em> readers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13870041']When Potts’ grandson (one of Pansy’s children) took part in the occupation of Alcatraz, not only did she spend time on the island with him and his fellow protesters, she actively assisted them. She printed their “\u003ca href=\"https://libguides.uml.edu/c.php?g=945022&p=6878950#:~:text=Proclamation%20to%20the%20Great%20White,Indians%20by%20right%20of%20discovery.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Proclamation to the Great White Father and All His People\u003c/a>” on the front page of \u003cem>Smoke Signal,\u003c/em> along with a list of supplies and equipment that the occupiers needed. She helped to distribute and collect petitions in support of the occupation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just as Potts knew the importance of providing humor alongside the news in \u003cem>Smoke Signal\u003c/em>, she also understood that joy and revelry were useful tools in the struggle. In addition to traveling with Maidu dancers to demonstrate traditional dances and explain their significance to others, Potts had also enthusiastically assisted in bringing back the annual Bear Dance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003cem>The Northern Maidu\u003c/em>, Potts explained:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>From ancient times, the Maidu observed a Spring ceremony which took place when the first edible shoots came through the ground … It was an offering of thanks for having survived the winter, as well as an appeasement, not only to the bear spirits, but to the rattlesnakes … The grizzly bear was a symbol of life to us. If he had survived the winter, so had the tribe.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>It was after traveling to the Bear Dance in Janesville in June 1978 that Potts’ spirit took the “no looking back” journey to the great “unknown.” The location felt fated. It was just 25 miles from Potts’ birthplace in Susanville. She was 83. When Potts died, \u003cem>Smoke Signal\u003c/em> died with her. But the paper’s legacy lives on — a testament to a life lived passionately, thoughtfully and in a near-constant state of service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>To learn about other Rebel Girls from Bay Area History, visit the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/rebelgirls\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rebel Girls homepage\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>A book celebrating women from the Rebel Girls series, \u003ca href=\"https://citylights.com/politics-current-events-history/unsung-heroines35-women-who-changed/\">‘Unsung Heroines: 35 Women Who Changed the Bay Area,’\u003c/a> is available now from City Lights.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">I\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>n 1949, Marie Mason Potts took on a role that would transform the latter half of her life. She became editor of \u003cem>Smoke Signal, \u003c/em>the first newspaper in California to be written, edited and controlled exclusively by Indigenous Americans. Potts took over just as a new, post-war wave of Native American activism was swelling. And what she did with the paper for the next 30 years would indelibly impact the lives of countless Indigenous people all over America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Smoke Signal\u003c/em> was first established by Potts’ youngest daughter, Kitty Flores, on behalf of the Federated Indians of California (FIC). Its first issue published in January 1948, when Flores was just 22. When Flores was forced to relocate for her husband’s job, Potts — who had contributed to the paper for the past 18 months — wasn’t about to let \u003cem>Smoke Signal\u003c/em> fall out of print. She remained dedicated to it, even during times of personal crisis, for the rest of her life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Smoke Signal’\u003c/em>s initial goal was to unify disparate Indigenous communities so that they could work together as one force. “In Unity, There is Strength” its masthead declared, issue after issue. However, the longer Potts worked on the paper, the more embedded she became in every aspect of Indigenous activism — something she had already been involved with since her teens. Potts’ work at the paper ultimately transcended the normal commitments of a reporter or editor, and stretched into the realms of personal advice and legal assistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>When \u003cem>Smoke Signal’\u003c/em>s readers were struggling to deal with government officials or institutions, Potts sent them the forms they needed, instructions on how to file them and a list of official contacts who might be able to assist with land claims, civil rights issues and other legal battles. Potts’ willingness to be so hands-on provided essential support for Native communities in California — but her impact was much wider.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Smoke Signal’\u003c/em>s longevity was due not just to Potts’ knowledge and dedication to its readers, but to how successfully the paper reflected the communities it was serving. Potts recognized that writing about activism alone would not hold a large enough audience’s attention. So alongside news, analysis and regular columns, she made sure there were notices of obituaries, births and events — and, crucially, not a small amount of humor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“An Indian was being interviewed for a position,” one \u003cem>Smoke Signal\u003c/em> joke read. “Among the questions asked was, ‘Do you know a foreign language?’ His reply was: ‘Yes. English.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">P\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>otts knew the importance of levity during dark times. Indeed, she had endured plenty of her own. Potts was born in Big Meadow, Plumas County, the ancestral lands of the Northern Maidu. Today, we know it as Taylorsville, a name given to the area by white settlers during the Gold Rush. Potts’ birth, in fact, was the result of a rape committed by a white prospector. On the subject of her biological father and others like him, Potts once said, “They called the child a half-breed. I don’t know why they were ashamed of fathering a child. But that’s white society for you. My father was one of those sons o’ bitches.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At five years old, Potts was enrolled — terrified and convinced she would be murdered — at the government-operated Greenville Indian School. She attended alongside several cousins and her older sister and brother. (The three siblings were given the last name Mason while attending.) By the time Potts had graduated from Pennsylvania’s Carlisle Indian Industrial School in 1915, she had no homeland to return to. Big Meadow had been submerged under a new hydroelectric reservoir, \u003ca href=\"https://www.lakealmanorarea.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lake Almanor\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Potts never recovered from the loss of her homeland. But she captured its splendor in \u003cem>The Northern Maidu\u003c/em>, a book Potts wrote in 1971 to leave a permanent record of how her people had lived.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>How wonderful it was, lying awake at night sometimes, to hear the coyotes bark and the hoot owls uttering their calls among the trees. Sometimes there would be the running clatter of squirrels on the bark slabs above us; and in spring and summer, just as it grew light before the sun rose, there came the enchantment of the bird chorus, the orchestra of the Great Spirit all around us. That clean pine smell on the morning wind — where can we find it now?\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Though Carlisle was an institution founded on ideas of settler colonialism, Potts thoroughly enjoyed her time there. She was an eager student and a social butterfly who thrived because she was able to connect with Indigenous people from all over the country. Her circle of girlfriends included women from the Chippewa, Cherokee, Pomo, Cayuga, Konkow and Pawnee nations. Carlisle was also where Potts cultivated an interest in journalism, while contributing to the school’s two newspapers, the \u003cem>Arrow \u003c/em>and the\u003cem> Red Man.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Shortly after graduation, Potts married Hensley Henry Potts, of the Konkow nation. (“A branch of the Maidu, but we didn’t speak the same Indian language,” she later explained.) The couple quickly got to work building their family. Raising children would dominate the next two decades for Potts. The couple’s first daughter, Josephine, arrived in 1916. Then came Jeanne in 1918, William in 1920, Nora in 1921, Pansy in 1922 and Kitty in 1924.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the Potts’ large family, however, came much tragedy. William died in infancy, Kitty was killed in a car crash in her mid-twenties, and Josephine passed on before she’d reached the age of 30. Potts found great comfort in her 20 grandchildren and, of course, in fighting to improve the lives of those that remained around her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">O\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>nce her children were grown, Potts had more time to dedicate to her personal passions. She moved to Sacramento in 1942 and went to work lecturing at Sacramento State about her heritage, Native American history and cultural preservation. She gave speeches all over the country about Indigenous issues — and her years raising a family came in handy. That background enabled her to talk to groups of small children and at youth groups, after she’d given speeches at civic organizations and churches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Potts’ commitment to \u003cem>Smoke Signal\u003c/em> spurred on her activism everywhere else. Starting in 1950, she chaired the “Indian exhibit” at the California State Fair. During the Korean and Vietnam Wars, she ensured Native American veterans, and those still fighting overseas, received free copies of the newspaper. In the ‘60s, she was western regional vice president of the California League for American Indians, an organization that helped Indigenous people access higher education. She also assisted the National Congress of American Indians with their community outreach and activism. She planned and attended countless Indigenous conferences, providing detailed summaries of each for \u003cem>Smoke Signal\u003c/em> readers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>When Potts’ grandson (one of Pansy’s children) took part in the occupation of Alcatraz, not only did she spend time on the island with him and his fellow protesters, she actively assisted them. She printed their “\u003ca href=\"https://libguides.uml.edu/c.php?g=945022&p=6878950#:~:text=Proclamation%20to%20the%20Great%20White,Indians%20by%20right%20of%20discovery.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Proclamation to the Great White Father and All His People\u003c/a>” on the front page of \u003cem>Smoke Signal,\u003c/em> along with a list of supplies and equipment that the occupiers needed. She helped to distribute and collect petitions in support of the occupation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just as Potts knew the importance of providing humor alongside the news in \u003cem>Smoke Signal\u003c/em>, she also understood that joy and revelry were useful tools in the struggle. In addition to traveling with Maidu dancers to demonstrate traditional dances and explain their significance to others, Potts had also enthusiastically assisted in bringing back the annual Bear Dance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003cem>The Northern Maidu\u003c/em>, Potts explained:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>From ancient times, the Maidu observed a Spring ceremony which took place when the first edible shoots came through the ground … It was an offering of thanks for having survived the winter, as well as an appeasement, not only to the bear spirits, but to the rattlesnakes … The grizzly bear was a symbol of life to us. If he had survived the winter, so had the tribe.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>It was after traveling to the Bear Dance in Janesville in June 1978 that Potts’ spirit took the “no looking back” journey to the great “unknown.” The location felt fated. It was just 25 miles from Potts’ birthplace in Susanville. She was 83. When Potts died, \u003cem>Smoke Signal\u003c/em> died with her. But the paper’s legacy lives on — a testament to a life lived passionately, thoughtfully and in a near-constant state of service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>To learn about other Rebel Girls from Bay Area History, visit the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/rebelgirls\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rebel Girls homepage\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>A book celebrating women from the Rebel Girls series, \u003ca href=\"https://citylights.com/politics-current-events-history/unsung-heroines35-women-who-changed/\">‘Unsung Heroines: 35 Women Who Changed the Bay Area,’\u003c/a> is available now from City Lights.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "A Formerly Incarcerated Construction Worker Finds Freedom in the Kitchen",
"headTitle": "A Formerly Incarcerated Construction Worker Finds Freedom in the Kitchen | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[dropcap]E[/dropcap]very weekday, Jonathan Davis wakes up at 6am and heads into the yawn of morning light in his construction boots. As a full-time employee of WBE Traffic Control, he operates all over the East Bay, establishing safe zones for workers to repair power lines. It’s a systematized job, filled with rigid procedures, rules, and protocols that he and his coworkers abide by to maintain public safety.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Around 5pm he returns home to a three-year-old daughter who recently started preschool. He prepares dinner, watches \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Boys\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, then repeats his regiment the following day. It’s a churning livelihood that he embraces—even on Saturdays—in order to make ends meet, a prototypically American dedication to a grind that usually denies any form of extracurricular joy. The job isn’t glamorous, he tells me, but he’s grateful for it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s because working in construction provides the backbone of income that allows Davis to do what he actually loves the most: cooking for others. On Sundays, he busts out his favorite recipes and vends food from his home, using social media and word-of-mouth to feed his community, friends and neighbors around Oakland and beyond.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Cooking is like an artistic outlet for me,” says Davis, age 41. “I get to create things and I get to share that with my friends and family. When something doesn’t taste right, I get to improve it and make it better.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For years, Davis has been perfecting his favorite dishes. A proud Oaklander, he says he grew up with a deep appreciation of the Bay Area’s tapestry of Asian and Latinx flavors—a cultural richness that gave him the confidence to experiment with the soul food ingredients he and his family grew up eating, including shrimp and grits, salmon and fried chicken.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But he’s most known for his sandwiches—chopped cheese like you’d find in a Harlem bodega and whimsical creations like the “MacArthur Rib,” a play on the McDonald’s classic. The sandos have earned him a reputation around The Town and helped fuel a burgeoning catering business. They also inspired the chef’s nickname: \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/jdthesandman/\">JD the Sandman\u003c/a>.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yet, it wasn’t a culinary institute where Davis got his game from. And it wasn’t a Michelin-star restaurant that taught him the importance of fresh, diverse ingredients and food’s ability to connect people. It was elsewhere: behind the walls of the Federal Correctional Institution in Sheridan, Oregon.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Cooking from Scratch Inside a Federal Correctional Institution\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Prison is a reality that many Californians know very little about. For those who haven’t had first-hand experience, it’s often a figment of imagination largely based on movies and television shows, where violence is typically the primary focus. Most people know even less about what happens when a person re-enters society after serving their time. Occasionally, an investigative project like “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.facing.life/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Facing Life\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">” (which KQED staff writer Pendarvis Harshaw co-authored) can illuminate the complexities of life after incarceration. Otherwise, it’s a taboo, and usually avoided, subject.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Davis was no different in the way he saw prison as something intangible in his own day-to-day life. A middle-class son of college graduates, he says his own incarceration is something he felt ashamed of, particularly as a Black man.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I invalidated my parent’s efforts, especially knowing the narratives of Black families,” Davis admits. “They were involved in our lives. My parents did all this work for us, and I still ended up in prison.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13918519\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13918519\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57647_016_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Jonathan Davis looks out from the balcony of his apartment next to the freeway\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57647_016_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57647_016_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57647_016_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57647_016_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57647_016_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57647_016_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jonathan Davis stands on the deck at his apartment. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A former educational nonprofit employee in Oakland, Davis never thought he’d end up behind bars. In late 2010, he lost his job due to a disagreement with the principal after a student was expelled. In Davis’s telling of it, the incident had to do with race—he was pushing back in defense of Black students. After losing his job, Davis started to hang out with a crowd of people who introduced him to “scamming.” In that moment of financial need, he saw it as a quick way to turn a profit. In his eyes, he was hustling a governmental system rather than taking from individuals. But the scheme came crashing down in 2013 when the IRS raided his home, guns drawn.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I was a halfway criminal and didn’t cross my t’s or dot my i’s,” he says. “At that point in life, my faith in myself was weaker.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Davis faced up to 20 years in prison, but was ultimately sentenced to 30 months. He wound up serving 18 of those months at federal institutions in Nevada and Oregon. As soon as he was convicted, he accepted his role in his wrongdoing and decided to move forward with his life by facing the consequences of his actions.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size=\"large\" align=\"right\"]“It wasn’t a Michelin-star restaurant that taught [Davis] the importance of fresh, diverse ingredients and food’s ability to connect people. It was elsewhere: behind the walls of the Federal Correctional Institution.”[/pullquote]While imprisoned from 2014 to 2016, Davis’s good behavior landed him in a low-security environment, where he was given certain privileges. He joined a gardening program, frequently read about cooking and met people like \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/leasdef?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kasey Anderson, a Portland-based songwriter\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Despite a largely solitary prison experience, Davis discovered that food was a way for him to relate with others and represent his heritage. He began to cook for himself and his blockmates, including Anderson, who recognized his skills.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s tough to know who’s a good cook when you’re inside,” Anderson says. “Everyone’s all working with the same ingredients from commissary. You can see who is innovative and using flavors in ways others aren’t. JD would get creative with his food, and when he had a chance to work with [more ingredients], he could really express himself creatively through food. It’s cool to me that it became something for him that can exist outside. A lot of people do things inside to get by, but then go out and do what they need to go paycheck to paycheck. He isn’t limiting himself in that sense.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Davis explains how, at times, he had to get extra creative with the limited ingredients and lack of traditional cooking equipment available to him in prison.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“There was a sweat lodge, and we cooked a piece of pork in there [one time],” he recalls. “[Another time] we made pizzas with tortillas and barbecue sauce. That was my idea. During my time, I just made friends with the kitchen guys, and that helped to keep my sanity.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Peanut butter was one of the most popular, versatile ingredients in prison—Davis recalls drawing inspiration from a peanut butter stew he’d once seen a Cameroonian immigrant whip up in his neighborhood, years prior. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Despite having almost no experience working inside a formal restaurant—though he’d once bartended at Kincaid’s in Jack London Square—Davis was naturally drawn to the freedom the kitchen provided. In an environment where authority and separation is enforced by armed guards and selfhood is under vigilant regulation, cooking for himself and his peers became a source of restorative connection. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13918521\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13918521\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57636_005_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"two guests holding plates of shrimps and grits in an apartment kitchen\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57636_005_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57636_005_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57636_005_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57636_005_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57636_005_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57636_005_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two guests enjoying grits and shrimp prepared by Davis in his home. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After being released, Davis was unable to get hired back into the nonprofit world. That’s when he started working in construction—since, as Davis puts it, nonprofits “prefer to hire non convicts.” He maintained his obsession with cooking, though, and applied a sense of redemption towards his Sunday cooking routine.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Food for me became about honoring my family,” he says. “About giving back whatever I could.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 2020, when the pandemic hit, Davis joined Instagram and noticed an opportunity to share his food with a wider audience. He started by cooking dinner for family, friends and neighbors, who encouraged him to expand his menu and sell his dishes. Inspired by their suggestions and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13907726/e-40-goon-with-the-spoon-bay-area-rappers-food-entrepreneurs-hustle\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the success of other homegrown, independent food entrepreneurs\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in the Bay Area, Davis rolled up his sleeves and began to mess around more seriously with his side hustle. With each praised meal, he gained confidence, eventually introducing his first certified hit: the MacArthur Rib Sandwich.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A play on McDonald’s famously elusive McRib, Davis added his own touches by roasting “real meat” and incorporating better ingredients to deliver what would become a banger for his growing base of returning customers. He followed that up with an array of other in-demand sandwiches, including a cast-iron seared and baked salmon (Cajun spices, arugula, dill relish, mayo) and New York bodega-style chopped cheese (\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">ground beef, American deli cheese, chopped tomatoes, mayo and ketchup mix, sweet jalapeño)\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Davis says the pandemic’s slowdown gave him an opportunity to reconnect with how much food means to him. Since then, he’s been sharing edible comfort with his folks.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The way I’m doing this now, I can be independent,” he says. “This cooking allows me to do something I want and I’m grateful for that. It’s a release.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Catering for the Public\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Markesha Brooks is a lifelong Oakland resident who works as the head chef at Grand Lake Gardens. In her spare time, she runs her catering business, MB Soul, serving up fire plates of soul food at softball games, Southland Mall and Lake Merritt.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After meeting Davis over a decade ago, the two friends remained in touch. When he returned to Oakland on probation and eventually started his series of informal food events, he and Brooks decided to work together to leverage their mutual interest in cooking. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“He’s a foodie, I’m a foodie. We’ve actually grown really close around food,” says Brooks. “He likes to pick restaurants in different cities. We go have specific dishes that those restaurants are known for. He’s eager to learn.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With 18 years of experience, Brooks has been an ideal “coach” for Davis, critiquing his methods and offering advice on how to make adjustments. Currently, she assists Davis as a de facto sous chef whenever Davis is hired for large functions. Though he started out selling sandwiches exclusively out of his Lower Dimond apartment off MacArthur Boulevard, Davis’s business has since expanded—occasionally taking him out to Fairfield, Vallejo and even Sacramento. Bringing Brooks into the mix has allowed him to offer a more robust range of services. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the past six months, he has been hired to privately cater multiple events, including weddings and large birthday parties of more than 60 people. Brooks helps him steer the high pace of food service by handling meal prep, frying and plating, while Davis does the cooking and managing.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“He takes direction extremely well, and he knows how to take constructive criticism from me,” Brooks says about working with “Chef Jonathan,” as she calls him. “He’s creative and he has his vision. Lots of times in the kitchen, people think they can cook at home for a few people, but it’s different when you cook for the public. He’s really good at it though. He wants to get to that next level. I’m proud of his growth. I see it.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13918520\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13918520\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57640_007_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"a rib sandwich cut into fourths on a cutting board\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57640_007_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57640_007_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57640_007_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57640_007_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57640_007_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57640_007_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The MacArthur Rib sandwich is an ode to MacArthur Boulevard, where Davis lives. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Together, the Oakland duo is serving their community while having fun and playing to their strengths. Crowd favorites like Davis’s panko-and-eggs battered grits—which are deep fried for a crispy golden outer layer, doused in a spicy tomato-based sauce then topped off with shrimp—have resulted in them getting hired for Mardi Gras-themed parties and Southern-style cookouts all over the Bay.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Navigating Forward, New Recipes\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to recent \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/eprfp10.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">research conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, around 60% of formerly incarcerated Americans are unemployed. And even for those who have secured jobs, the data shows higher rates of turnover and rehiring. These trends reveal \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2022/02/08/employment/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a “labor market injustice”\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and point to a harsh truth: Once you’ve been marked by the carceral system, it’s hard to get back on your feet. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://prospect.org/special-report/new-jim-crow/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Discarding former inmates as “second-class citizens” when they re-enter society\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, the ravages of the prison industrial complex are undeniable. This is especially true for Black Americans, who—due to a variety of systemic, historical factors—make up a disproportionate amount of the incarcerated population in this country.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The probation shit is rough, and filling out forms for jobs as a felon is rough,” says Davis. “It’s not only related to Blackness, but also class and not having enough money for legal help.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13915489,arts_13916965,arts_13916044']The barriers preventing Davis—and many other formerly incarcerated folks—from being hired to work desirable positions are numerously stacked. The stigma around incarceration can be debilitating, offering no room for mistakes or missteps. In the Bay Area food scene, specifically, there are a handful of organizations that support aspiring foodmakers who were once incarcerated—such as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13916965/farming-hope-food-justice-non-profit-coffee-pop-up-guest-chef-mannys-sf\">Farming Hope\u003c/a> in San Francisco—but these are few and far between. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rather than trying to navigate these difficult institutional pathways, Davis recognized the most direct road to success in the kitchen was to take initiative and do it for himself.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I want to express what I want in the kitchen,” says Davis. “I’ve bartended at Kincaid’s. The guys back there are cooking, but their dream isn’t to make 57 crab dips per day. It’s conformity. You don’t have much control and there’s a lot of monetary pressure. The guy who makes turkey legs might not want to make turkey legs. This way, I can at least have my independence.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For now, food is a side gig for Davis, but eventually, if an opportunity presents itself, he would love to do it full-time. Until then, customers can reach him via text or DM. He’s always ready to slang a batch of sandwiches or pull up for an event.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13918528\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13918528\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57645_013_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Jonathan Davis holds a freshly prepared fried chicken sandwich in his hands\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57645_013_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57645_013_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57645_013_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57645_013_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57645_013_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57645_013_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Davis offers his fried chicken sandwich. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When I visited him with a small group of friends at his Oakland apartment, he hosted us with a sense of visible pride and passion for his cooking. We were in his living room, seated at his table, eating his homemade food. It’s unlike any experience I’ve had with a chef—an intimate level of trust and connection, built on the freedom of being able to move around someone’s space once invited. It became evident that his gratitude for ordinary decision making and simplicity are essential ingredients in his life.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">From a rotating panoply of freshly-made sandwiches, homestyle french fries, and of course, his famous grits and shrimp, we were fed like Bay Area royalty. The fried chicken sandwich, which was accompanied by \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">arugula, tomatoes and jalapeños on a sweet brioche bun, had a beautiful, understated crispness that exemplifies Davis’s well-executed takes on simple favorites. His love for local references—like the notorious MacArthur Rib, which uses country pork rib, Everett and Jones BBQ sauce, onions and pickles—also speak to Davis’s playfulness, adding a layer of appreciation to each flavorful bite.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It reminds me how my favorite chefs don’t measure their worth with abstract fine dining concepts or stylized presentations. Instead, they are focused on plating nourishment in the form of self care and community preservation. And sometimes, that’s shaped like a sandwich.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12904247 aligncenter\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/jdthesandman/\">JD the Sandman\u003c/a> is available for private orders and limited catering services via \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/jdthesandman/\">Instagram\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">E\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>very weekday, Jonathan Davis wakes up at 6am and heads into the yawn of morning light in his construction boots. As a full-time employee of WBE Traffic Control, he operates all over the East Bay, establishing safe zones for workers to repair power lines. It’s a systematized job, filled with rigid procedures, rules, and protocols that he and his coworkers abide by to maintain public safety.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Around 5pm he returns home to a three-year-old daughter who recently started preschool. He prepares dinner, watches \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Boys\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, then repeats his regiment the following day. It’s a churning livelihood that he embraces—even on Saturdays—in order to make ends meet, a prototypically American dedication to a grind that usually denies any form of extracurricular joy. The job isn’t glamorous, he tells me, but he’s grateful for it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s because working in construction provides the backbone of income that allows Davis to do what he actually loves the most: cooking for others. On Sundays, he busts out his favorite recipes and vends food from his home, using social media and word-of-mouth to feed his community, friends and neighbors around Oakland and beyond.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Cooking is like an artistic outlet for me,” says Davis, age 41. “I get to create things and I get to share that with my friends and family. When something doesn’t taste right, I get to improve it and make it better.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For years, Davis has been perfecting his favorite dishes. A proud Oaklander, he says he grew up with a deep appreciation of the Bay Area’s tapestry of Asian and Latinx flavors—a cultural richness that gave him the confidence to experiment with the soul food ingredients he and his family grew up eating, including shrimp and grits, salmon and fried chicken.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But he’s most known for his sandwiches—chopped cheese like you’d find in a Harlem bodega and whimsical creations like the “MacArthur Rib,” a play on the McDonald’s classic. The sandos have earned him a reputation around The Town and helped fuel a burgeoning catering business. They also inspired the chef’s nickname: \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/jdthesandman/\">JD the Sandman\u003c/a>.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yet, it wasn’t a culinary institute where Davis got his game from. And it wasn’t a Michelin-star restaurant that taught him the importance of fresh, diverse ingredients and food’s ability to connect people. It was elsewhere: behind the walls of the Federal Correctional Institution in Sheridan, Oregon.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Cooking from Scratch Inside a Federal Correctional Institution\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Prison is a reality that many Californians know very little about. For those who haven’t had first-hand experience, it’s often a figment of imagination largely based on movies and television shows, where violence is typically the primary focus. Most people know even less about what happens when a person re-enters society after serving their time. Occasionally, an investigative project like “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.facing.life/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Facing Life\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">” (which KQED staff writer Pendarvis Harshaw co-authored) can illuminate the complexities of life after incarceration. Otherwise, it’s a taboo, and usually avoided, subject.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Davis was no different in the way he saw prison as something intangible in his own day-to-day life. A middle-class son of college graduates, he says his own incarceration is something he felt ashamed of, particularly as a Black man.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I invalidated my parent’s efforts, especially knowing the narratives of Black families,” Davis admits. “They were involved in our lives. My parents did all this work for us, and I still ended up in prison.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13918519\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13918519\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57647_016_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Jonathan Davis looks out from the balcony of his apartment next to the freeway\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57647_016_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57647_016_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57647_016_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57647_016_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57647_016_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57647_016_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jonathan Davis stands on the deck at his apartment. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A former educational nonprofit employee in Oakland, Davis never thought he’d end up behind bars. In late 2010, he lost his job due to a disagreement with the principal after a student was expelled. In Davis’s telling of it, the incident had to do with race—he was pushing back in defense of Black students. After losing his job, Davis started to hang out with a crowd of people who introduced him to “scamming.” In that moment of financial need, he saw it as a quick way to turn a profit. In his eyes, he was hustling a governmental system rather than taking from individuals. But the scheme came crashing down in 2013 when the IRS raided his home, guns drawn.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I was a halfway criminal and didn’t cross my t’s or dot my i’s,” he says. “At that point in life, my faith in myself was weaker.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Davis faced up to 20 years in prison, but was ultimately sentenced to 30 months. He wound up serving 18 of those months at federal institutions in Nevada and Oregon. As soon as he was convicted, he accepted his role in his wrongdoing and decided to move forward with his life by facing the consequences of his actions.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>While imprisoned from 2014 to 2016, Davis’s good behavior landed him in a low-security environment, where he was given certain privileges. He joined a gardening program, frequently read about cooking and met people like \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/leasdef?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kasey Anderson, a Portland-based songwriter\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Despite a largely solitary prison experience, Davis discovered that food was a way for him to relate with others and represent his heritage. He began to cook for himself and his blockmates, including Anderson, who recognized his skills.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s tough to know who’s a good cook when you’re inside,” Anderson says. “Everyone’s all working with the same ingredients from commissary. You can see who is innovative and using flavors in ways others aren’t. JD would get creative with his food, and when he had a chance to work with [more ingredients], he could really express himself creatively through food. It’s cool to me that it became something for him that can exist outside. A lot of people do things inside to get by, but then go out and do what they need to go paycheck to paycheck. He isn’t limiting himself in that sense.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Davis explains how, at times, he had to get extra creative with the limited ingredients and lack of traditional cooking equipment available to him in prison.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“There was a sweat lodge, and we cooked a piece of pork in there [one time],” he recalls. “[Another time] we made pizzas with tortillas and barbecue sauce. That was my idea. During my time, I just made friends with the kitchen guys, and that helped to keep my sanity.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Peanut butter was one of the most popular, versatile ingredients in prison—Davis recalls drawing inspiration from a peanut butter stew he’d once seen a Cameroonian immigrant whip up in his neighborhood, years prior. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Despite having almost no experience working inside a formal restaurant—though he’d once bartended at Kincaid’s in Jack London Square—Davis was naturally drawn to the freedom the kitchen provided. In an environment where authority and separation is enforced by armed guards and selfhood is under vigilant regulation, cooking for himself and his peers became a source of restorative connection. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13918521\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13918521\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57636_005_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"two guests holding plates of shrimps and grits in an apartment kitchen\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57636_005_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57636_005_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57636_005_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57636_005_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57636_005_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57636_005_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two guests enjoying grits and shrimp prepared by Davis in his home. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After being released, Davis was unable to get hired back into the nonprofit world. That’s when he started working in construction—since, as Davis puts it, nonprofits “prefer to hire non convicts.” He maintained his obsession with cooking, though, and applied a sense of redemption towards his Sunday cooking routine.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Food for me became about honoring my family,” he says. “About giving back whatever I could.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 2020, when the pandemic hit, Davis joined Instagram and noticed an opportunity to share his food with a wider audience. He started by cooking dinner for family, friends and neighbors, who encouraged him to expand his menu and sell his dishes. Inspired by their suggestions and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13907726/e-40-goon-with-the-spoon-bay-area-rappers-food-entrepreneurs-hustle\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the success of other homegrown, independent food entrepreneurs\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in the Bay Area, Davis rolled up his sleeves and began to mess around more seriously with his side hustle. With each praised meal, he gained confidence, eventually introducing his first certified hit: the MacArthur Rib Sandwich.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A play on McDonald’s famously elusive McRib, Davis added his own touches by roasting “real meat” and incorporating better ingredients to deliver what would become a banger for his growing base of returning customers. He followed that up with an array of other in-demand sandwiches, including a cast-iron seared and baked salmon (Cajun spices, arugula, dill relish, mayo) and New York bodega-style chopped cheese (\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">ground beef, American deli cheese, chopped tomatoes, mayo and ketchup mix, sweet jalapeño)\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Davis says the pandemic’s slowdown gave him an opportunity to reconnect with how much food means to him. Since then, he’s been sharing edible comfort with his folks.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The way I’m doing this now, I can be independent,” he says. “This cooking allows me to do something I want and I’m grateful for that. It’s a release.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Catering for the Public\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Markesha Brooks is a lifelong Oakland resident who works as the head chef at Grand Lake Gardens. In her spare time, she runs her catering business, MB Soul, serving up fire plates of soul food at softball games, Southland Mall and Lake Merritt.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After meeting Davis over a decade ago, the two friends remained in touch. When he returned to Oakland on probation and eventually started his series of informal food events, he and Brooks decided to work together to leverage their mutual interest in cooking. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“He’s a foodie, I’m a foodie. We’ve actually grown really close around food,” says Brooks. “He likes to pick restaurants in different cities. We go have specific dishes that those restaurants are known for. He’s eager to learn.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With 18 years of experience, Brooks has been an ideal “coach” for Davis, critiquing his methods and offering advice on how to make adjustments. Currently, she assists Davis as a de facto sous chef whenever Davis is hired for large functions. Though he started out selling sandwiches exclusively out of his Lower Dimond apartment off MacArthur Boulevard, Davis’s business has since expanded—occasionally taking him out to Fairfield, Vallejo and even Sacramento. Bringing Brooks into the mix has allowed him to offer a more robust range of services. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the past six months, he has been hired to privately cater multiple events, including weddings and large birthday parties of more than 60 people. Brooks helps him steer the high pace of food service by handling meal prep, frying and plating, while Davis does the cooking and managing.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“He takes direction extremely well, and he knows how to take constructive criticism from me,” Brooks says about working with “Chef Jonathan,” as she calls him. “He’s creative and he has his vision. Lots of times in the kitchen, people think they can cook at home for a few people, but it’s different when you cook for the public. He’s really good at it though. He wants to get to that next level. I’m proud of his growth. I see it.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13918520\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13918520\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57640_007_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"a rib sandwich cut into fourths on a cutting board\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57640_007_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57640_007_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57640_007_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57640_007_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57640_007_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57640_007_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The MacArthur Rib sandwich is an ode to MacArthur Boulevard, where Davis lives. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Together, the Oakland duo is serving their community while having fun and playing to their strengths. Crowd favorites like Davis’s panko-and-eggs battered grits—which are deep fried for a crispy golden outer layer, doused in a spicy tomato-based sauce then topped off with shrimp—have resulted in them getting hired for Mardi Gras-themed parties and Southern-style cookouts all over the Bay.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Navigating Forward, New Recipes\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to recent \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/eprfp10.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">research conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, around 60% of formerly incarcerated Americans are unemployed. And even for those who have secured jobs, the data shows higher rates of turnover and rehiring. These trends reveal \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2022/02/08/employment/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a “labor market injustice”\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and point to a harsh truth: Once you’ve been marked by the carceral system, it’s hard to get back on your feet. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://prospect.org/special-report/new-jim-crow/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Discarding former inmates as “second-class citizens” when they re-enter society\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, the ravages of the prison industrial complex are undeniable. This is especially true for Black Americans, who—due to a variety of systemic, historical factors—make up a disproportionate amount of the incarcerated population in this country.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The probation shit is rough, and filling out forms for jobs as a felon is rough,” says Davis. “It’s not only related to Blackness, but also class and not having enough money for legal help.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The barriers preventing Davis—and many other formerly incarcerated folks—from being hired to work desirable positions are numerously stacked. The stigma around incarceration can be debilitating, offering no room for mistakes or missteps. In the Bay Area food scene, specifically, there are a handful of organizations that support aspiring foodmakers who were once incarcerated—such as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13916965/farming-hope-food-justice-non-profit-coffee-pop-up-guest-chef-mannys-sf\">Farming Hope\u003c/a> in San Francisco—but these are few and far between. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rather than trying to navigate these difficult institutional pathways, Davis recognized the most direct road to success in the kitchen was to take initiative and do it for himself.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I want to express what I want in the kitchen,” says Davis. “I’ve bartended at Kincaid’s. The guys back there are cooking, but their dream isn’t to make 57 crab dips per day. It’s conformity. You don’t have much control and there’s a lot of monetary pressure. The guy who makes turkey legs might not want to make turkey legs. This way, I can at least have my independence.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For now, food is a side gig for Davis, but eventually, if an opportunity presents itself, he would love to do it full-time. Until then, customers can reach him via text or DM. He’s always ready to slang a batch of sandwiches or pull up for an event.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13918528\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13918528\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57645_013_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Jonathan Davis holds a freshly prepared fried chicken sandwich in his hands\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57645_013_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57645_013_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57645_013_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57645_013_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57645_013_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57645_013_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Davis offers his fried chicken sandwich. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When I visited him with a small group of friends at his Oakland apartment, he hosted us with a sense of visible pride and passion for his cooking. We were in his living room, seated at his table, eating his homemade food. It’s unlike any experience I’ve had with a chef—an intimate level of trust and connection, built on the freedom of being able to move around someone’s space once invited. It became evident that his gratitude for ordinary decision making and simplicity are essential ingredients in his life.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">From a rotating panoply of freshly-made sandwiches, homestyle french fries, and of course, his famous grits and shrimp, we were fed like Bay Area royalty. The fried chicken sandwich, which was accompanied by \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">arugula, tomatoes and jalapeños on a sweet brioche bun, had a beautiful, understated crispness that exemplifies Davis’s well-executed takes on simple favorites. His love for local references—like the notorious MacArthur Rib, which uses country pork rib, Everett and Jones BBQ sauce, onions and pickles—also speak to Davis’s playfulness, adding a layer of appreciation to each flavorful bite.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It reminds me how my favorite chefs don’t measure their worth with abstract fine dining concepts or stylized presentations. Instead, they are focused on plating nourishment in the form of self care and community preservation. And sometimes, that’s shaped like a sandwich.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12904247 aligncenter\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/jdthesandman/\">JD the Sandman\u003c/a> is available for private orders and limited catering services via \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/jdthesandman/\">Instagram\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Farming Hope Believes Every San Franciscan Should Have Access to an Elevated Dining Experience",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the age of social media, the food industry can sometimes feel like a popularity contest. Who delivers the most Instagrammable dishes? What exotic ingredients can be touted? Where can the most outrageous decor and cocktail menus be found? And I agree, food should be fun. There isn’t any shame in mindfully enjoying the Bay Area’s abundance of flavors.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But food is also a baseline necessity, and accessibility to healthy, joyful food shouldn’t be an exclusive thing—but often it is. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://sfgov.org/scorecards/safety-net/homeless-population\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As one of the nation’s leading per-capita regions for homelessness\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://tippingpoint.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Taking-Count-2021-A-Study-on-Poverty-in-the-Bay-Area.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">income inequality\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, there is a warped sense of food in San Francisco. I’ve seen people eat out of trash cans in front of high-end restaurants and walked past people begging for meals while others take home leftovers provided by their generous employers. Though the experience of straddling those two extremes isn’t unique to the Bay Area, it’s more sharply edged around here.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This complex issue goes beyond any individual’s actions, of course, and the simple truth is this: All folks—regardless of age, background or life choices—deserve the benefits of our region’s wonderful culinary experiences. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://farminghope.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Farming Hope\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> was established by \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://dschool.stanford.edu/classes/feed-the-change-redesigning-food-systems\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Stanford FEED Design School Incubator\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> graduates Kevin Madrigal and Jamie Stark in 2016, this kind of equity in the food ecosystem is the tenet they chose to build upon. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13916972\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13916972\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/RS57457_003_KQEDArts_FarmingHope_07272022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"two men stand beside each other as founders of Farming Hope\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/RS57457_003_KQEDArts_FarmingHope_07272022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/RS57457_003_KQEDArts_FarmingHope_07272022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/RS57457_003_KQEDArts_FarmingHope_07272022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/RS57457_003_KQEDArts_FarmingHope_07272022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/RS57457_003_KQEDArts_FarmingHope_07272022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/RS57457_003_KQEDArts_FarmingHope_07272022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Co-founders of Farming Hope Jamie Stark (left) and Kevin Madrigal pose for a portrait at Reffetorio. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As a “garden-to-table” job training nonprofit, Farming Hope provides paid work opportunities to apprentices who might otherwise struggle to find stable, supportive employment in the food industry. Since it was founded in 2016, the organization has established various locations in San Francisco where it works with marginalized community members.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Based on three six-week training cycles at rotating venues—\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://welcometomannys.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Manny’s\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in the Mission, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.refettoriosanfrancisco.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Refettorio\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in Civic Center and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://farminghope.org/garden\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a community garden\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in Western Addition—the program passes down diverse skills, experiences and, most importantly, the love and knowledge of good, sustainable food to houseless, transitioning and formerly incarcerated individuals.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Our model was thinking about a modern soup kitchen,” says co-founder Madrigal, who currently serves as an advisor for Farming Hope. “It’s about actually being in community with each other, not just waiting to shove food down people’s throats then asking them to leave.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Over the span of six years, Farming Hope has been working to increase its services and adapt to the changing needs of those they serve. It’s something they’ve been able to sustain thanks to their tireless commitment to building community partnerships while providing regular event programming. An example of that is their weekly “in-house dinner.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It provides families a space to connect and share resources,” says Andie Sobrepeña, the program’s operations director. “We have food-insecure families who are invited. There is an area for kids, for parents, and we have volunteers and staff helping out. We do a three-course plated dinner and have volunteers serving the families restaurant style. It’s a really beautiful space. It’s less of a transactional experience of giving food and leaving. It’s a safe space intentionally built for families with a common ground to connect on. It’s meant to be a holistic experience, to break down barriers of who has access to nice dining experiences. We should all be comfortable in those spaces.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A San Francisco native who grew up working for her family’s independently owned business, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://www.foundationcafesf.com/#main\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Foundation Cafe\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, Sobrepeña is deeply committed to the nonprofit’s mission. Along with Kerry Rodgers, Sobrepeña is set to begin her tenure as Farming Hope’s co-executive director this August by launching a number of new programs to help apprentices navigate a COVID-impacted food industry.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size=\"large\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Andie Sobrepeña, on Farming Hope’s ‘in-house dinners’\"]“It’s meant to be a holistic experience, to break down barriers of who has access to nice dining experiences. We should all be comfortable in those spaces.”[/pullquote]One of those new initiatives is \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CgdGCCgp6Hd/\">Feel Good Coffee\u003c/a>, a coffee pop-up at Manny’s on Thursdays and Fridays—a program Sobrepeña says will allow apprentices to accumulate more hours by adding a morning shift that previously didn’t exist. It’ll also give them a chance to learn about pastry making and coffee culture, including specialty latte preparation. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Farming Hope is also rolling out a new guest chef dinner program, which will feature influential chefs working directly with apprentices to serve food insecure families and the general public. The first dinner was in June, featuring \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/goodgoodcultureclub/?hl=en\">Good Good Culture Club\u003c/a> chefs Brett Shaw and Kevin Keovanpheng and general manager Aimee Arcilla. The three restaurant industry veterans volunteered their time, collaborating with Farming Hope apprentices to create a menu that included halibut sashimi, green curry beef and calamansi chiffon cake. Former \u003cem>Top Chef\u003c/em> contestant \u003ca href=\"https://funraise.org/give/Farming-Hope/72c4f0be-8354-4138-bfb5-7a675bf10571/\">Tu David Phu is slated to be the next guest on August 8\u003c/a>.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13903133,arts_13907528,arts_13904861']Working with a panoply of eclectic chefs exposes apprentices to a wide set of beliefs and viewpoints in the kitchen, apart from Farming Hope’s own lessons.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The cool thing is that not everyone comes into our program wanting to be a chef, but no one regrets learning how to cook better,” Sobrepeña says. “It gives tools to learn how to eat healthier and support their personal values. There’s value in the garden-to-table process and understanding food systems, sustainability and cooking philosophies from different chefs. That all gets carried forward.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In addition, Farming Hope is in the process of formalizing an externship with Good Good Culture Club, where trainees can continue learning about service and cooking techniques in a real-world restaurant setting.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13916971\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13916971\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/RS57462_006_KQEDArts_FarmingHope_07272022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"corn is being roasted on a stovetop by an apprentice in the kitchen of Reffetorio\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/RS57462_006_KQEDArts_FarmingHope_07272022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/RS57462_006_KQEDArts_FarmingHope_07272022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/RS57462_006_KQEDArts_FarmingHope_07272022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/RS57462_006_KQEDArts_FarmingHope_07272022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/RS57462_006_KQEDArts_FarmingHope_07272022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/RS57462_006_KQEDArts_FarmingHope_07272022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Maria Burgos roasts corn at Reffetorio. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s a reminder that the local food industry can provide much more than just a night out or good eats—it’s an active network of support and sustenance. Farming Hope embodies that by providing a livelihood and pathway forward for those who never thought they’d be creating a plate of crying tiger shrimp with coconut-makrut cream and crispy butter beans.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Food is such a connector and a baseline need for everyone that it breaks down barriers in ways that not every job training program can,” says Sobrepeña, “It helps that our team enters this with open eyes and hearts; we’re all ready for the challenges of this work.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You can visit Farming Hope at one of their two San Francisco locations: Manny’s (3092 16th St.) or Refettorio (149 Fell St.). \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/farminghope/?hl=en\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Check their Instagram\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> for additional information on upcoming guest chefs and more.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the age of social media, the food industry can sometimes feel like a popularity contest. Who delivers the most Instagrammable dishes? What exotic ingredients can be touted? Where can the most outrageous decor and cocktail menus be found? And I agree, food should be fun. There isn’t any shame in mindfully enjoying the Bay Area’s abundance of flavors.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But food is also a baseline necessity, and accessibility to healthy, joyful food shouldn’t be an exclusive thing—but often it is. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://sfgov.org/scorecards/safety-net/homeless-population\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As one of the nation’s leading per-capita regions for homelessness\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://tippingpoint.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Taking-Count-2021-A-Study-on-Poverty-in-the-Bay-Area.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">income inequality\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, there is a warped sense of food in San Francisco. I’ve seen people eat out of trash cans in front of high-end restaurants and walked past people begging for meals while others take home leftovers provided by their generous employers. Though the experience of straddling those two extremes isn’t unique to the Bay Area, it’s more sharply edged around here.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This complex issue goes beyond any individual’s actions, of course, and the simple truth is this: All folks—regardless of age, background or life choices—deserve the benefits of our region’s wonderful culinary experiences. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://farminghope.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Farming Hope\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> was established by \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://dschool.stanford.edu/classes/feed-the-change-redesigning-food-systems\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Stanford FEED Design School Incubator\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> graduates Kevin Madrigal and Jamie Stark in 2016, this kind of equity in the food ecosystem is the tenet they chose to build upon. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13916972\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13916972\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/RS57457_003_KQEDArts_FarmingHope_07272022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"two men stand beside each other as founders of Farming Hope\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/RS57457_003_KQEDArts_FarmingHope_07272022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/RS57457_003_KQEDArts_FarmingHope_07272022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/RS57457_003_KQEDArts_FarmingHope_07272022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/RS57457_003_KQEDArts_FarmingHope_07272022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/RS57457_003_KQEDArts_FarmingHope_07272022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/RS57457_003_KQEDArts_FarmingHope_07272022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Co-founders of Farming Hope Jamie Stark (left) and Kevin Madrigal pose for a portrait at Reffetorio. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As a “garden-to-table” job training nonprofit, Farming Hope provides paid work opportunities to apprentices who might otherwise struggle to find stable, supportive employment in the food industry. Since it was founded in 2016, the organization has established various locations in San Francisco where it works with marginalized community members.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Based on three six-week training cycles at rotating venues—\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://welcometomannys.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Manny’s\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in the Mission, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.refettoriosanfrancisco.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Refettorio\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in Civic Center and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://farminghope.org/garden\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a community garden\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in Western Addition—the program passes down diverse skills, experiences and, most importantly, the love and knowledge of good, sustainable food to houseless, transitioning and formerly incarcerated individuals.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Our model was thinking about a modern soup kitchen,” says co-founder Madrigal, who currently serves as an advisor for Farming Hope. “It’s about actually being in community with each other, not just waiting to shove food down people’s throats then asking them to leave.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Over the span of six years, Farming Hope has been working to increase its services and adapt to the changing needs of those they serve. It’s something they’ve been able to sustain thanks to their tireless commitment to building community partnerships while providing regular event programming. An example of that is their weekly “in-house dinner.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It provides families a space to connect and share resources,” says Andie Sobrepeña, the program’s operations director. “We have food-insecure families who are invited. There is an area for kids, for parents, and we have volunteers and staff helping out. We do a three-course plated dinner and have volunteers serving the families restaurant style. It’s a really beautiful space. It’s less of a transactional experience of giving food and leaving. It’s a safe space intentionally built for families with a common ground to connect on. It’s meant to be a holistic experience, to break down barriers of who has access to nice dining experiences. We should all be comfortable in those spaces.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A San Francisco native who grew up working for her family’s independently owned business, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://www.foundationcafesf.com/#main\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Foundation Cafe\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, Sobrepeña is deeply committed to the nonprofit’s mission. Along with Kerry Rodgers, Sobrepeña is set to begin her tenure as Farming Hope’s co-executive director this August by launching a number of new programs to help apprentices navigate a COVID-impacted food industry.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>One of those new initiatives is \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CgdGCCgp6Hd/\">Feel Good Coffee\u003c/a>, a coffee pop-up at Manny’s on Thursdays and Fridays—a program Sobrepeña says will allow apprentices to accumulate more hours by adding a morning shift that previously didn’t exist. It’ll also give them a chance to learn about pastry making and coffee culture, including specialty latte preparation. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Farming Hope is also rolling out a new guest chef dinner program, which will feature influential chefs working directly with apprentices to serve food insecure families and the general public. The first dinner was in June, featuring \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/goodgoodcultureclub/?hl=en\">Good Good Culture Club\u003c/a> chefs Brett Shaw and Kevin Keovanpheng and general manager Aimee Arcilla. The three restaurant industry veterans volunteered their time, collaborating with Farming Hope apprentices to create a menu that included halibut sashimi, green curry beef and calamansi chiffon cake. Former \u003cem>Top Chef\u003c/em> contestant \u003ca href=\"https://funraise.org/give/Farming-Hope/72c4f0be-8354-4138-bfb5-7a675bf10571/\">Tu David Phu is slated to be the next guest on August 8\u003c/a>.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Working with a panoply of eclectic chefs exposes apprentices to a wide set of beliefs and viewpoints in the kitchen, apart from Farming Hope’s own lessons.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The cool thing is that not everyone comes into our program wanting to be a chef, but no one regrets learning how to cook better,” Sobrepeña says. “It gives tools to learn how to eat healthier and support their personal values. There’s value in the garden-to-table process and understanding food systems, sustainability and cooking philosophies from different chefs. That all gets carried forward.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In addition, Farming Hope is in the process of formalizing an externship with Good Good Culture Club, where trainees can continue learning about service and cooking techniques in a real-world restaurant setting.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13916971\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13916971\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/RS57462_006_KQEDArts_FarmingHope_07272022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"corn is being roasted on a stovetop by an apprentice in the kitchen of Reffetorio\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/RS57462_006_KQEDArts_FarmingHope_07272022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/RS57462_006_KQEDArts_FarmingHope_07272022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/RS57462_006_KQEDArts_FarmingHope_07272022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/RS57462_006_KQEDArts_FarmingHope_07272022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/RS57462_006_KQEDArts_FarmingHope_07272022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/RS57462_006_KQEDArts_FarmingHope_07272022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Maria Burgos roasts corn at Reffetorio. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s a reminder that the local food industry can provide much more than just a night out or good eats—it’s an active network of support and sustenance. Farming Hope embodies that by providing a livelihood and pathway forward for those who never thought they’d be creating a plate of crying tiger shrimp with coconut-makrut cream and crispy butter beans.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Food is such a connector and a baseline need for everyone that it breaks down barriers in ways that not every job training program can,” says Sobrepeña, “It helps that our team enters this with open eyes and hearts; we’re all ready for the challenges of this work.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You can visit Farming Hope at one of their two San Francisco locations: Manny’s (3092 16th St.) or Refettorio (149 Fell St.). \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/farminghope/?hl=en\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Check their Instagram\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> for additional information on upcoming guest chefs and more.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Theater Helped Him Feel Free at San Quentin—Now He’s Paying it Forward",
"headTitle": "Theater Helped Him Feel Free at San Quentin—Now He’s Paying it Forward | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Editor’s note:\u003c/strong> Two years into the pandemic, artists are charting new paths forward. Across the Bay Area, they’re advocating for better pay, sharing resources and looking out for their communities’ well-being. Welcome to \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/ourcreativefutures\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Our Creative Futures\u003c/a>\u003cem>, a KQED Arts & Culture series that takes stock of the arts in this unpredictable climate. \u003ca href=\"https://artskqed.typeform.com/Artist2022\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Share your story here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2020, Juan Meza thought he was going to die just a few months before he was due to be released from San Quentin State Prison after 24 total years of incarceration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His neck and back were aching, he had an out-of-control fever and his blood pressure was skyrocketing. Meza had COVID during the first wave of the pandemic and, as he sat in his cell, he lamented losing one of the few things that brought him joy in prison—the acting program he participated in with Marin Shakespeare Company. [pullquote size='medium' align='right' citation='Juan Meza, an actor who was formerly incarcerated at San Quentin']‘I was able to show that I am a director, that I am a choreographer, that I am an actor, that I am a set designer, that I am essentially an artist.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Acting, performing—doing these things were a release, a very lethargic process of getting stuff out that we needed to and everything. We didn’t have that avenue anymore and we didn’t know if we were going to get it back,” Meza says. “I think that was what was most disconcerting. It was just something that was devastating. Here’s something that we had worked towards, and now we couldn’t do anything again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.marinshakespeare.org/shakespeare-in-prison/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Marin Shakespeare Company\u003c/a> had been running programming in San Quentin—providing a vital creative, emotional and social outlet for those inside—for 17 years uninterrupted until the pandemic hit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The non-profit theater group has been working with incarcerated people since 2003. Today, they provide drama therapy-inspired acting classes to men, women and youth in 14 different California state prisons with the goal of fostering “self-reflection, self-expression, cooperation, compassion, and goal-setting” among class participants, according to their website.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915618\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13915618\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/juan-meza-composite-fred-greaves-800x240.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"240\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/juan-meza-composite-fred-greaves-800x240.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/juan-meza-composite-fred-greaves-1020x306.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/juan-meza-composite-fred-greaves-160x48.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/juan-meza-composite-fred-greaves-768x230.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/juan-meza-composite-fred-greaves-1536x461.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/juan-meza-composite-fred-greaves.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Since getting out of San Quentin State Prison in 2020, Colusa resident Juan Meza works in construction by day while continuing to pursue his passion for theater at Marin Shakespeare Company. \u003ccite>(Fred Greaves)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Lesley Currier, Marin Shakespeare’s managing director, says the men in San Quentin draw “a lot of positive benefits” from her organization’s affiliation with the prison. Among them are “people rediscovering their own creativity; rediscovering their own sense of play,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We hear so often: ‘Over the two and a half hours that I spent in the group, I felt like I was free. I didn’t feel like I was in prison,’” Currier says. “Doing something outside the box is really powerful, particularly for people who’ve been labeled, you know, ‘You are not someone who’s going to succeed. You’re a criminal.’ To do something else—to play, to have different roles—really makes you believe that you can do things that you hadn’t thought of doing before.” [aside postID=\"arts_13913890\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meza, who goes by the stage name Losdini, attests that the acting program helped him reveal another side of himself. He got involved with Marin Shakespeare when he transferred to San Quentin after 16 years at another facility. “If I had never stepped into that first class in San Quentin with Marin Shakespeare Company, I would not have been able to reveal my humanity,” he says. “In that I was able to show that I am a director, that I am a choreographer, that I am an actor, that I am a set designer, that I am essentially an artist.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915621\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13915621\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1148-800x1200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1148-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1148-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1148-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1148-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1148-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1148-1366x2048.jpg 1366w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1148.jpg 1667w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Juan Meza plays bass at home in Colusa, California on June 21, 2022. \u003ccite>(Fred Greaves)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But when COVID hit, Meza’s artistry was put on hold and Marin Shakespeare Company had to pivot their classes since their instructors were no longer allowed to visit the prison. First, they recorded a production of \u003cem>Romeo and Juliet\u003c/em>, put on by some of the formerly incarcerated actors who had been through their program, and sent them to the men in San Quentin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the prison prohibited them from sending more videos, the theater company distributed packets with writing exercises to stimulate the men’s creative skills. The prompts had Shakespearean themes that were also relevant to daily life during COVID, like plague, friendship, loyalty and self-care. After receiving the writing packages back, Marin Shakespeare posted the men’s writing to their website and even had some formerly incarcerated actors do dramatic readings of the writing that came from inside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915622\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13915622\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1105-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1105-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1105-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1105-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1105-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1105-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1105-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1105-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Juan Meza smokes a cigarette outside his home in Colusa, California June 21, 2022. \u003ccite>(Fred Greaves)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But even this makeshift programming wasn’t enough to distract from the hellish conditions inside San Quentin at the height of the pandemic. San Quentin had the worst COVID outbreak of any prison in California. Over 2,000 inmates were infected and 29 people died from the outbreak, which was caused by a \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-01-28/covid-prison-san-quentin-ruling\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">botched transfer of sick prisoners from Southern California\u003c/a>. The situation was then exacerbated by a lack of personal protective equipment in the prison and overcrowding, which made social distancing impossible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Meza, “there was a lot of fear, there was a lot of anxiety, there’s a lot of unknowns, there was a lot of misinformation going around,” he says. “In a matter of two weeks, we were now locked in a cell again, unable to move, scared, frightened.” [aside postID=\"arts_13913947\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Currier says when the Marin Shakespeare Company was finally able to come back to San Quentin in June 2021, they spent their first couple of classes talking about what the men had experienced during quarantine. Currier says COVID was “really scary for the men” since “everyone knew someone who had died or who had yelled ‘man down,’” the phrase spoken to alert prison personnel that someone needed immediate medical attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even today Currier says COVID continues to be used “as an excuse” to take away privileges from the men of San Quentin. Despite this, Marin Shakespeare Company was able to stage three performances in front of a live audience in December 2021 with the men of San Quentin, with a production of \u003cem>Henry IV\u003c/em> to come in August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915509\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13915509\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/GettyImages-1322090464-800x534.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/GettyImages-1322090464-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/GettyImages-1322090464-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/GettyImages-1322090464-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/GettyImages-1322090464-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/GettyImages-1322090464.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Members of Shakespeare at San Quentin along with Marin Shakespeare Company’s and Director Suraya Keating (second from bottom on right) gather backstage before they perform “Twelfth Night” at San Quentin State Prison on Friday, August 5, 2011 in San Quentin, Calif. \u003ccite>(Lea Suzuki/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>By the time Marin Shakespeare Company returned to San Quentin, Meza had been paroled. Today, he is continuing his passion for acting and directing (he \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-dF_hTiEE4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">co-directed his first production in May\u003c/a>) with Marin Shakespeare as part of their \u003ca href=\"https://www.marinshakespeare.org/returned-citizens-theatre-troupe/#:~:text=The%20mission%20of%20the%20Returned,understanding%20and%20communication%20through%20theatre.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Returned Citizens Theater Troupe\u003c/a>, a program Currier says gets at the essence of the importance of MSC’s work in prisons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For the last seven years, we have been hiring actors who have been able to get out of prison to tell their stories through theater,” Currier says. “Some of the conversations after those performances have been amazing as many people say to me, ‘Well, it’s just really changed my attitude about criminal justice in this country,’ because the goal is we need to change hearts and minds so that we can change our laws.” [aside postID=\"arts_13914030\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meza says his reasoning for returning to Marin Shakespeare Company post-incarceration is to pay forward what they did for him to the next person.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Now that I’m not incarcerated in prison anymore, I still want to go back to the humans that are inside to sit with them and say, ‘Look, we can do this,’” Meza says. “There’s a niche that I can be in where I understand, like no volunteer will, what it means to be incarcerated. … I have that knowledge, I have that experience. Where other people can only sympathize, I can empathize.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Read more stories from \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/ourcreativefutures\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Our Creative Futures\u003c/a>\u003cem> here. Have something to share? Tell us about how \u003ca href=\"https://artskqed.typeform.com/Artist2022\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the pandemic has impacted your art practice or community\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "A survivor of San Quentin's brutal COVID outbreak, Marin Shakespeare actor Juan Meza wants to help those still inside.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Editor’s note:\u003c/strong> Two years into the pandemic, artists are charting new paths forward. Across the Bay Area, they’re advocating for better pay, sharing resources and looking out for their communities’ well-being. Welcome to \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/ourcreativefutures\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Our Creative Futures\u003c/a>\u003cem>, a KQED Arts & Culture series that takes stock of the arts in this unpredictable climate. \u003ca href=\"https://artskqed.typeform.com/Artist2022\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Share your story here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2020, Juan Meza thought he was going to die just a few months before he was due to be released from San Quentin State Prison after 24 total years of incarceration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His neck and back were aching, he had an out-of-control fever and his blood pressure was skyrocketing. Meza had COVID during the first wave of the pandemic and, as he sat in his cell, he lamented losing one of the few things that brought him joy in prison—the acting program he participated in with Marin Shakespeare Company. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘I was able to show that I am a director, that I am a choreographer, that I am an actor, that I am a set designer, that I am essentially an artist.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Acting, performing—doing these things were a release, a very lethargic process of getting stuff out that we needed to and everything. We didn’t have that avenue anymore and we didn’t know if we were going to get it back,” Meza says. “I think that was what was most disconcerting. It was just something that was devastating. Here’s something that we had worked towards, and now we couldn’t do anything again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.marinshakespeare.org/shakespeare-in-prison/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Marin Shakespeare Company\u003c/a> had been running programming in San Quentin—providing a vital creative, emotional and social outlet for those inside—for 17 years uninterrupted until the pandemic hit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The non-profit theater group has been working with incarcerated people since 2003. Today, they provide drama therapy-inspired acting classes to men, women and youth in 14 different California state prisons with the goal of fostering “self-reflection, self-expression, cooperation, compassion, and goal-setting” among class participants, according to their website.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915618\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13915618\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/juan-meza-composite-fred-greaves-800x240.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"240\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/juan-meza-composite-fred-greaves-800x240.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/juan-meza-composite-fred-greaves-1020x306.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/juan-meza-composite-fred-greaves-160x48.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/juan-meza-composite-fred-greaves-768x230.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/juan-meza-composite-fred-greaves-1536x461.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/juan-meza-composite-fred-greaves.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Since getting out of San Quentin State Prison in 2020, Colusa resident Juan Meza works in construction by day while continuing to pursue his passion for theater at Marin Shakespeare Company. \u003ccite>(Fred Greaves)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Lesley Currier, Marin Shakespeare’s managing director, says the men in San Quentin draw “a lot of positive benefits” from her organization’s affiliation with the prison. Among them are “people rediscovering their own creativity; rediscovering their own sense of play,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We hear so often: ‘Over the two and a half hours that I spent in the group, I felt like I was free. I didn’t feel like I was in prison,’” Currier says. “Doing something outside the box is really powerful, particularly for people who’ve been labeled, you know, ‘You are not someone who’s going to succeed. You’re a criminal.’ To do something else—to play, to have different roles—really makes you believe that you can do things that you hadn’t thought of doing before.” \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meza, who goes by the stage name Losdini, attests that the acting program helped him reveal another side of himself. He got involved with Marin Shakespeare when he transferred to San Quentin after 16 years at another facility. “If I had never stepped into that first class in San Quentin with Marin Shakespeare Company, I would not have been able to reveal my humanity,” he says. “In that I was able to show that I am a director, that I am a choreographer, that I am an actor, that I am a set designer, that I am essentially an artist.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915621\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13915621\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1148-800x1200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1148-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1148-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1148-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1148-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1148-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1148-1366x2048.jpg 1366w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1148.jpg 1667w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Juan Meza plays bass at home in Colusa, California on June 21, 2022. \u003ccite>(Fred Greaves)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But when COVID hit, Meza’s artistry was put on hold and Marin Shakespeare Company had to pivot their classes since their instructors were no longer allowed to visit the prison. First, they recorded a production of \u003cem>Romeo and Juliet\u003c/em>, put on by some of the formerly incarcerated actors who had been through their program, and sent them to the men in San Quentin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the prison prohibited them from sending more videos, the theater company distributed packets with writing exercises to stimulate the men’s creative skills. The prompts had Shakespearean themes that were also relevant to daily life during COVID, like plague, friendship, loyalty and self-care. After receiving the writing packages back, Marin Shakespeare posted the men’s writing to their website and even had some formerly incarcerated actors do dramatic readings of the writing that came from inside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915622\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13915622\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1105-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1105-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1105-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1105-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1105-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1105-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1105-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/fg_san-quentin-theatre_2022_06_21_R5B1105-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Juan Meza smokes a cigarette outside his home in Colusa, California June 21, 2022. \u003ccite>(Fred Greaves)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But even this makeshift programming wasn’t enough to distract from the hellish conditions inside San Quentin at the height of the pandemic. San Quentin had the worst COVID outbreak of any prison in California. Over 2,000 inmates were infected and 29 people died from the outbreak, which was caused by a \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-01-28/covid-prison-san-quentin-ruling\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">botched transfer of sick prisoners from Southern California\u003c/a>. The situation was then exacerbated by a lack of personal protective equipment in the prison and overcrowding, which made social distancing impossible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Meza, “there was a lot of fear, there was a lot of anxiety, there’s a lot of unknowns, there was a lot of misinformation going around,” he says. “In a matter of two weeks, we were now locked in a cell again, unable to move, scared, frightened.” \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Currier says when the Marin Shakespeare Company was finally able to come back to San Quentin in June 2021, they spent their first couple of classes talking about what the men had experienced during quarantine. Currier says COVID was “really scary for the men” since “everyone knew someone who had died or who had yelled ‘man down,’” the phrase spoken to alert prison personnel that someone needed immediate medical attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even today Currier says COVID continues to be used “as an excuse” to take away privileges from the men of San Quentin. Despite this, Marin Shakespeare Company was able to stage three performances in front of a live audience in December 2021 with the men of San Quentin, with a production of \u003cem>Henry IV\u003c/em> to come in August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915509\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13915509\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/GettyImages-1322090464-800x534.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/GettyImages-1322090464-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/GettyImages-1322090464-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/GettyImages-1322090464-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/GettyImages-1322090464-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/GettyImages-1322090464.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Members of Shakespeare at San Quentin along with Marin Shakespeare Company’s and Director Suraya Keating (second from bottom on right) gather backstage before they perform “Twelfth Night” at San Quentin State Prison on Friday, August 5, 2011 in San Quentin, Calif. \u003ccite>(Lea Suzuki/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>By the time Marin Shakespeare Company returned to San Quentin, Meza had been paroled. Today, he is continuing his passion for acting and directing (he \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-dF_hTiEE4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">co-directed his first production in May\u003c/a>) with Marin Shakespeare as part of their \u003ca href=\"https://www.marinshakespeare.org/returned-citizens-theatre-troupe/#:~:text=The%20mission%20of%20the%20Returned,understanding%20and%20communication%20through%20theatre.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Returned Citizens Theater Troupe\u003c/a>, a program Currier says gets at the essence of the importance of MSC’s work in prisons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For the last seven years, we have been hiring actors who have been able to get out of prison to tell their stories through theater,” Currier says. “Some of the conversations after those performances have been amazing as many people say to me, ‘Well, it’s just really changed my attitude about criminal justice in this country,’ because the goal is we need to change hearts and minds so that we can change our laws.” \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meza says his reasoning for returning to Marin Shakespeare Company post-incarceration is to pay forward what they did for him to the next person.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Now that I’m not incarcerated in prison anymore, I still want to go back to the humans that are inside to sit with them and say, ‘Look, we can do this,’” Meza says. “There’s a niche that I can be in where I understand, like no volunteer will, what it means to be incarcerated. … I have that knowledge, I have that experience. Where other people can only sympathize, I can empathize.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Read more stories from \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/ourcreativefutures\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Our Creative Futures\u003c/a>\u003cem> here. Have something to share? Tell us about how \u003ca href=\"https://artskqed.typeform.com/Artist2022\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the pandemic has impacted your art practice or community\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "American Alchemy: The Bay Area Welder Who's Building Smokers and Changing Lives",
"headTitle": "American Alchemy: The Bay Area Welder Who’s Building Smokers and Changing Lives | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">KQED’s \u003c/i>\u003c/em>BBQ in the Bay\u003cem>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\"> is a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bbq\">series of stories\u003c/a> exploring the Bay Area’s multicultural barbecue scene. New installments will post every day from June 28–July 1. \u003c/i>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he term “American made” brings to mind images of Paul Bunyan types: pickup trucks, sledge hammers, plaid shirts and beer. It’s the idea of Rosie the Riveter—you know, prideful blue collar work to support this country’s wartime efforts. It’s athletes and entertainers like Babe Ruth, Marylin Monroe and Bruce Springtsteen. “American made,” it has a certain \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">brand\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Inside a single-story warehouse in the delta town of Suisun City, just 20 miles northeast of Vallejo, there’s a craftsman who makes uniquely refined barbecue grills—or rather, smokers, trailers and pits. He’s serious about his tools, knows all about the quality of his metal, and he’s a physicist when it comes to discussing how airflow and indirect heat impact the taste of ribs. His work has taken him from being down bad to b\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">eing on the up-and-up with some of the top dogs. His name is Garnet Geoffroy, and he’s the owner of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.gstackspits.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">GStacks Professional Smokers and Pits\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Geoffroy, or GStacks, has\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> locs that drape down to his muscular shoulders, black-framed glasses and beat-up, wheat-colored work boots. His hands are grease-stained and rough from years of labor, but still welcoming when exchanging that handshake we both instinctively know as Black men.“What’s up, King?” he says as he greets me.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He, too, is American made.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I’m a welder, a fabricator,” says Geoffroy in an unmistakably Bay Area accent. “And I speak life into people.” He’s a constant soul-searcher who holds near and dear his ability to create. And because of his spirituality, he knows that his mission is bigger than barbecue. But right now, he’s using that as his vessel. “In the food industry,” Geoffroy says, “so many of us have this God-given talent of being able to please somebody through food… and that’s priceless.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915537\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13915537\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/023_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022.jpg\" alt=\"Man looks up pensively as he works with metal equipment.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/023_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/023_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/023_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/023_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/023_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/023_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">G Stacks works on a custom BBQ smoker at his warehouse in Suisun City on June 16, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Before getting to Geoffroy’s larger life goals, though, you’ve got to understand his current success and where it all started. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I’ve got units at \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Vegan Mob in Oakland, KC’s BBQ in Berkeley, Smokin Woods, Flip N Soul, Ruby Jewels, M.C.M. Kitchen Vallejo,” Geoffroy says, naming well-known eateries as easily as Bubba rattled off the names of different types of shrimp in \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Forrest Gump\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Dawgie Dog’s in Vallejo, Pig in a Pickle in Corte Madera, River Rock Casino, Pacific Coast Producers, Local Q 707 in Petaluma—they’re great.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He mentions DJ’s Tri-Tip in Stockton and Tank House BBQ and Bar in Sacramento’s midtown, followed by the names of some of his high profile customers: Marshawn Lynch and E-40. Then he tells the story of working with a well-known rapper and producer from Long Beach.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“When I got the call, I looked at my phone and I was like, ‘Warren Griffin?’ Who’s got Warren G’s name?” Geoffroy jokes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That was 2016. Since then Geoffroy has produced eight different smokers for Warren G, a barbecue connoisseur and owner of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sniffingriffinsbbq/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sniffin Griffins BBQ\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. “The ninth one is in my shop right now,” he says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915532\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13915532\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/001_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022.jpg\" alt=\"A black and white barbecue smoker on wheels in an empty lot; a red smoker is behind it.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/001_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/001_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/001_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/001_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/001_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/001_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Custom smokers of various shapes and sizes sit outside GStacks’ warehouse.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I have to say that this is a very incredible unit,” says Warren G \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGt5CSVn-2U\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">in a 2017 video\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, where he’s standing next to a custom-made smoker that has a working sound system and a wood-grain steering wheel as a handle. Warren G praises the build out—and the chicken that GStacks cooked in it—noting that he had seen the smoker on Instagram, but that wasn’t enough: “I had to come and witness it.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Years before he was making barbecue trailers and smokers for the creator of the West Coast hip-hop subgenre of G-Funk, Geoffroy, who was raised in Vallejo, was in and out of incarceration. Over a span of seven years \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Geoffroy was locked up,\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> first in youth detention and then adult jail. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I didn’t do ‘lost time,’” Geoffroy says sharply. “I got wise. Every time I got locked up, I got into the welding program.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At 18, he was locked up in Fouts Springs Youth Facility. While there, he noticed a pattern: “The white boys would get up early and go to program. The Black boys in there would just kick it all day.” He made his choice to get up early and take classes with the white kids. He made his mistakes at times, like wearing the wrong welding hood– a safety issue that put his eyes in jeopardy, but corrections were made and the losses rapidly became valuable lessons. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915535\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13915535\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/012_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022.jpg\" alt=\"A man kneels on the ground welding something, as blue sparks fly.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/012_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/012_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/012_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/012_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/012_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/012_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A longtime employee at GStacks’ warehouse welds a steel frame for a BBQ smoker. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Three years later, \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Geoffroy spent\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> his 21st birthday inside Sacramento’s Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center, where he further refined his welding ability. After he got out, he found his path—but it wasn’t without a few twists and turns.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Geoffroy spent time in the streets, living the fast life and making money through channels he was familiar with given the environment he was raised in. A series of unfortunate events, including the deaths of a few close friends, led him to the church. That’s where things started to change.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Through the church he learned about Cypress Mandela Training Center, a vocational training program in West Oakland. He credits that community, specifically the older Black men who taught classes, for his full-blown introduction to the craft of welding.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Around 2005 he finished the pre-apprenticeship training program, got certified and became an ironworker. He did structural steel erection, assisting with the creation of bridges, colleges, hospitals and more.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He was in the Iron Workers Union for a year and a half before things went awry. “I got run over by a forklift by a drunk foreman on a night job,” says Geoffroy, pulling up his right pant leg to reveal a lengthy scar on his inner calf. “I almost lost my leg.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After surgery and rehabilitation, Geoffroy says, “\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">like a dummy I went back to work, because that’s all I knew.” And then, four years later, a second major injury occurred, this time to his back.\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He got workers’ compensation, but the cash wasn’t sustainable, and definitely not worth two lifelong scars. He hit a wall.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915534\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13915534\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/008_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022.jpg\" alt=\"A man looks up as he uses a band saw to cut a steel beam.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/008_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/008_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/008_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/008_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/008_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/008_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Geoffroy cuts steel beams for the frame of a smoker. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I went fishing for three years, sitting on the Bay in a boat, trying to figure out my next play,” Geoffroy reflects. A father of twin girls, he was also married at the time. His now ex-wife pushed him to find a new job. Geoffroy questioned, “How do I get a job when my body is mangled?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He went back to what he knows best: welding. This time for himself. He started in his garage, making a \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">welding cart to wheel around his materials and fix a neighbor’s boat trailer. Then, he got the idea to make barbecue pits. It was something he’d done as a side gig one time while he was still working in the union, turning a 55-gallon barrel into a grill for a brother who attended his church. He was underpaid for that one, but the seed was planted. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Years later, unemployed, injured and in a financial situation that had his back against the wall, he found some odd pieces—an old jet ski trailer and two water tanks from a seller in Santa Rosa—and made his first barbecue trailer, then posted it on Craigslist. It sold to a woman who smokes turkeys in Pittsburg, and from there the requests started rolling in. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This was 2012. Geoffroy started his business and the money was starting to come in. But even as his entrepreneurial endeavors began to grow, he came to the realization that he still had some work to do on himself.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915533\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13915533\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/006_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/006_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/006_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/006_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/006_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/006_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/006_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Plans and measurements for a future smoker. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">During a 2017 trip to Mexico for a cousin’s wedding, he hit rock bottom. Overweight and indulging in alcohol, he says he didn’t eat any food at the resort he was staying in because he had noticed that there was a clowder of cats living in one of the refrigerators the hotel was using. His friends neverminded it, but he couldn’t stomach it. So, he compensated by drinking more. “At that time I was 333 pounds,” says Geoffroy, pointing to pictures of himself from that era. “I had an epiphany that I can’t live like this.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After the trip he implemented portion-controlled diets and cut out alcohol and sugary drinks. Now his only vice is an order of chips and queso from Chipotle. Otherwise, he doesn’t do fast food, but he does do barbecue. And he’s a huge advocate for sea moss.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Beyond controlling his consumption, Geoffroy is ever mindful of how his time is used. Mondays and Thursdays are the only days he allows people to talk to him; otherwise, he’s working. His creations take time. Geoffroy says, “each smoker is different,” as they’re all handmade, often using quarter-inch to eighth-inch steel. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sometimes he and a duo of private contractors work to refurbish old units, remixing the elements that are already in place. He’s built pieces that funnel out the taste of charcoal and others that are completely electric. Some trailers have working water spouts and others have custom embroidery. He says he doesn’t rely on blueprints, but will take a measure of the customer and try to create a unit that speaks to their personality. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Again, Geoffroy stresses the time it takes to create these build outs. “I can’t just blow these things into existence.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[dropcap]W[/dropcap]arren G’s 1994 track “Do You See” starts with a sample of Gil Scott-Heron’s “Bicentennial Blues.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>But the blues has always been totally American\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>As American as apple pie\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>As American as the blues\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>As American as apple pie\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>The question is why?\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Why should the blues be so at home here?\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Well, America provided the atmosphere\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Scott-Heron recites the lyrics as a synthesizer hums in the background, right before the drums kick. In the song, Warren G goes on to rap about his environment and the ups and downs he and his circle of friends are facing, mentioning his cousin, Snoop Dogg, who was incarcerated at the time. On the final verse, the man who penned “Regulate” says:\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Well as time goes past, slowly we try to make it\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>But things are gettin hectic, I just can’t take it\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Should I A: Go back to slangin’ dope?\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Or should I B: Maintain and try to cope?\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Or should I C: Just get crazy and wild?\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>But no I chose D: Create the G-Child\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In this country, the ability to create and then recreate yourself, in spite of your environment, is more than just being “American made,” it’s American alchemy—just like barbecue itself is a form of alchemy. And \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Geoffroy\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> knows that it doesn’t end with him. He’s looking to pay it forward. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size=\"large\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Garnet Geoffroy\"]“I come from helping the ones who struggle, the ones who are wounded…I want to reach the sick, not the ones who are healed.”[/pullquote]He says his end goal isn’t to sell barbecue pits to famous people or make the best-tasting ribs on record. He wants to buy a youth facility, where he can introduce young folks to skilled trades, similar to the space where he learned how to weld at the \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fouts Springs Youth Facility. He even aims to work with the same population.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The ones whose backs are already up against the wall, that’s who I want to work with,” says Geoffroy in a voice that lets you know he’s been to church a few times. “I come from helping the ones who struggle, the ones who are wounded…I want to reach the sick, not the ones who are healed.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915539\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13915539\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/034_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022.jpg\" alt='A man seen through an opening in a a barbecue smoker emblazoned with the website \"GStackspits.com\"' width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/034_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/034_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/034_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/034_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/034_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/034_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">GStacks works on a BBQ smoker outside of his warehouse in Suisun City. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13915312,arts_13915387,arts_13915306' label='More BBQ']Beyond teaching craftsmanship, he wants to instill character and morale, and expose people to things they might not see in their immediate environment. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Business-wise, he’s competing with “American made” big names like Weber and Traeger. The latter of the two is based in the U.S. but manufactures its units overseas. “\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Their box is from America. My product is,” says \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Geoffroy.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Of course, even the saying “as American as apple pie” is a misnomer—the dessert was created in England. But Geoffroy, a person who had hiccups in American schools and spent time in American jails, has learned to make something out of nothing, the American way. And now he uses his creations to assist people in making food that has the power to heal. Well, that’s a tale as American as G-Funk.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Pendarvis Harshaw is the host of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/rightnowish\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rightnowish\u003c/a> on KQED-FM, a columnist at KQED Arts, and the author of OG Told Me, a memoir about growing up in Oakland.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Garnet Geoffroy, aka GStacks, counts E-40 and Warren G among his clients—but cares more about inspiring young people.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">KQED’s \u003c/i>\u003c/em>BBQ in the Bay\u003cem>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\"> is a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bbq\">series of stories\u003c/a> exploring the Bay Area’s multicultural barbecue scene. New installments will post every day from June 28–July 1. \u003c/i>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">T\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>he term “American made” brings to mind images of Paul Bunyan types: pickup trucks, sledge hammers, plaid shirts and beer. It’s the idea of Rosie the Riveter—you know, prideful blue collar work to support this country’s wartime efforts. It’s athletes and entertainers like Babe Ruth, Marylin Monroe and Bruce Springtsteen. “American made,” it has a certain \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">brand\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Inside a single-story warehouse in the delta town of Suisun City, just 20 miles northeast of Vallejo, there’s a craftsman who makes uniquely refined barbecue grills—or rather, smokers, trailers and pits. He’s serious about his tools, knows all about the quality of his metal, and he’s a physicist when it comes to discussing how airflow and indirect heat impact the taste of ribs. His work has taken him from being down bad to b\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">eing on the up-and-up with some of the top dogs. His name is Garnet Geoffroy, and he’s the owner of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.gstackspits.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">GStacks Professional Smokers and Pits\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Geoffroy, or GStacks, has\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> locs that drape down to his muscular shoulders, black-framed glasses and beat-up, wheat-colored work boots. His hands are grease-stained and rough from years of labor, but still welcoming when exchanging that handshake we both instinctively know as Black men.“What’s up, King?” he says as he greets me.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He, too, is American made.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I’m a welder, a fabricator,” says Geoffroy in an unmistakably Bay Area accent. “And I speak life into people.” He’s a constant soul-searcher who holds near and dear his ability to create. And because of his spirituality, he knows that his mission is bigger than barbecue. But right now, he’s using that as his vessel. “In the food industry,” Geoffroy says, “so many of us have this God-given talent of being able to please somebody through food… and that’s priceless.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915537\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13915537\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/023_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022.jpg\" alt=\"Man looks up pensively as he works with metal equipment.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/023_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/023_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/023_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/023_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/023_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/023_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">G Stacks works on a custom BBQ smoker at his warehouse in Suisun City on June 16, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Before getting to Geoffroy’s larger life goals, though, you’ve got to understand his current success and where it all started. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I’ve got units at \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Vegan Mob in Oakland, KC’s BBQ in Berkeley, Smokin Woods, Flip N Soul, Ruby Jewels, M.C.M. Kitchen Vallejo,” Geoffroy says, naming well-known eateries as easily as Bubba rattled off the names of different types of shrimp in \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Forrest Gump\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Dawgie Dog’s in Vallejo, Pig in a Pickle in Corte Madera, River Rock Casino, Pacific Coast Producers, Local Q 707 in Petaluma—they’re great.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He mentions DJ’s Tri-Tip in Stockton and Tank House BBQ and Bar in Sacramento’s midtown, followed by the names of some of his high profile customers: Marshawn Lynch and E-40. Then he tells the story of working with a well-known rapper and producer from Long Beach.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“When I got the call, I looked at my phone and I was like, ‘Warren Griffin?’ Who’s got Warren G’s name?” Geoffroy jokes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That was 2016. Since then Geoffroy has produced eight different smokers for Warren G, a barbecue connoisseur and owner of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sniffingriffinsbbq/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sniffin Griffins BBQ\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. “The ninth one is in my shop right now,” he says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915532\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13915532\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/001_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022.jpg\" alt=\"A black and white barbecue smoker on wheels in an empty lot; a red smoker is behind it.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/001_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/001_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/001_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/001_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/001_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/001_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Custom smokers of various shapes and sizes sit outside GStacks’ warehouse.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I have to say that this is a very incredible unit,” says Warren G \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGt5CSVn-2U\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">in a 2017 video\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, where he’s standing next to a custom-made smoker that has a working sound system and a wood-grain steering wheel as a handle. Warren G praises the build out—and the chicken that GStacks cooked in it—noting that he had seen the smoker on Instagram, but that wasn’t enough: “I had to come and witness it.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Years before he was making barbecue trailers and smokers for the creator of the West Coast hip-hop subgenre of G-Funk, Geoffroy, who was raised in Vallejo, was in and out of incarceration. Over a span of seven years \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Geoffroy was locked up,\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> first in youth detention and then adult jail. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I didn’t do ‘lost time,’” Geoffroy says sharply. “I got wise. Every time I got locked up, I got into the welding program.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At 18, he was locked up in Fouts Springs Youth Facility. While there, he noticed a pattern: “The white boys would get up early and go to program. The Black boys in there would just kick it all day.” He made his choice to get up early and take classes with the white kids. He made his mistakes at times, like wearing the wrong welding hood– a safety issue that put his eyes in jeopardy, but corrections were made and the losses rapidly became valuable lessons. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915535\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13915535\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/012_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022.jpg\" alt=\"A man kneels on the ground welding something, as blue sparks fly.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/012_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/012_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/012_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/012_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/012_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/012_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A longtime employee at GStacks’ warehouse welds a steel frame for a BBQ smoker. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Three years later, \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Geoffroy spent\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> his 21st birthday inside Sacramento’s Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center, where he further refined his welding ability. After he got out, he found his path—but it wasn’t without a few twists and turns.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Geoffroy spent time in the streets, living the fast life and making money through channels he was familiar with given the environment he was raised in. A series of unfortunate events, including the deaths of a few close friends, led him to the church. That’s where things started to change.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Through the church he learned about Cypress Mandela Training Center, a vocational training program in West Oakland. He credits that community, specifically the older Black men who taught classes, for his full-blown introduction to the craft of welding.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Around 2005 he finished the pre-apprenticeship training program, got certified and became an ironworker. He did structural steel erection, assisting with the creation of bridges, colleges, hospitals and more.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He was in the Iron Workers Union for a year and a half before things went awry. “I got run over by a forklift by a drunk foreman on a night job,” says Geoffroy, pulling up his right pant leg to reveal a lengthy scar on his inner calf. “I almost lost my leg.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After surgery and rehabilitation, Geoffroy says, “\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">like a dummy I went back to work, because that’s all I knew.” And then, four years later, a second major injury occurred, this time to his back.\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He got workers’ compensation, but the cash wasn’t sustainable, and definitely not worth two lifelong scars. He hit a wall.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915534\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13915534\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/008_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022.jpg\" alt=\"A man looks up as he uses a band saw to cut a steel beam.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/008_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/008_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/008_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/008_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/008_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/008_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Geoffroy cuts steel beams for the frame of a smoker. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I went fishing for three years, sitting on the Bay in a boat, trying to figure out my next play,” Geoffroy reflects. A father of twin girls, he was also married at the time. His now ex-wife pushed him to find a new job. Geoffroy questioned, “How do I get a job when my body is mangled?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He went back to what he knows best: welding. This time for himself. He started in his garage, making a \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">welding cart to wheel around his materials and fix a neighbor’s boat trailer. Then, he got the idea to make barbecue pits. It was something he’d done as a side gig one time while he was still working in the union, turning a 55-gallon barrel into a grill for a brother who attended his church. He was underpaid for that one, but the seed was planted. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Years later, unemployed, injured and in a financial situation that had his back against the wall, he found some odd pieces—an old jet ski trailer and two water tanks from a seller in Santa Rosa—and made his first barbecue trailer, then posted it on Craigslist. It sold to a woman who smokes turkeys in Pittsburg, and from there the requests started rolling in. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This was 2012. Geoffroy started his business and the money was starting to come in. But even as his entrepreneurial endeavors began to grow, he came to the realization that he still had some work to do on himself.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915533\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13915533\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/006_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/006_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/006_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/006_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/006_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/006_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/006_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Plans and measurements for a future smoker. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">During a 2017 trip to Mexico for a cousin’s wedding, he hit rock bottom. Overweight and indulging in alcohol, he says he didn’t eat any food at the resort he was staying in because he had noticed that there was a clowder of cats living in one of the refrigerators the hotel was using. His friends neverminded it, but he couldn’t stomach it. So, he compensated by drinking more. “At that time I was 333 pounds,” says Geoffroy, pointing to pictures of himself from that era. “I had an epiphany that I can’t live like this.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After the trip he implemented portion-controlled diets and cut out alcohol and sugary drinks. Now his only vice is an order of chips and queso from Chipotle. Otherwise, he doesn’t do fast food, but he does do barbecue. And he’s a huge advocate for sea moss.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Beyond controlling his consumption, Geoffroy is ever mindful of how his time is used. Mondays and Thursdays are the only days he allows people to talk to him; otherwise, he’s working. His creations take time. Geoffroy says, “each smoker is different,” as they’re all handmade, often using quarter-inch to eighth-inch steel. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sometimes he and a duo of private contractors work to refurbish old units, remixing the elements that are already in place. He’s built pieces that funnel out the taste of charcoal and others that are completely electric. Some trailers have working water spouts and others have custom embroidery. He says he doesn’t rely on blueprints, but will take a measure of the customer and try to create a unit that speaks to their personality. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Again, Geoffroy stresses the time it takes to create these build outs. “I can’t just blow these things into existence.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">W\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>arren G’s 1994 track “Do You See” starts with a sample of Gil Scott-Heron’s “Bicentennial Blues.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>But the blues has always been totally American\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>As American as apple pie\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>As American as the blues\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>As American as apple pie\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>The question is why?\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Why should the blues be so at home here?\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Well, America provided the atmosphere\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Scott-Heron recites the lyrics as a synthesizer hums in the background, right before the drums kick. In the song, Warren G goes on to rap about his environment and the ups and downs he and his circle of friends are facing, mentioning his cousin, Snoop Dogg, who was incarcerated at the time. On the final verse, the man who penned “Regulate” says:\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Well as time goes past, slowly we try to make it\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>But things are gettin hectic, I just can’t take it\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Should I A: Go back to slangin’ dope?\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Or should I B: Maintain and try to cope?\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Or should I C: Just get crazy and wild?\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>But no I chose D: Create the G-Child\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In this country, the ability to create and then recreate yourself, in spite of your environment, is more than just being “American made,” it’s American alchemy—just like barbecue itself is a form of alchemy. And \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Geoffroy\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> knows that it doesn’t end with him. He’s looking to pay it forward. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "“I come from helping the ones who struggle, the ones who are wounded…I want to reach the sick, not the ones who are healed.”",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>He says his end goal isn’t to sell barbecue pits to famous people or make the best-tasting ribs on record. He wants to buy a youth facility, where he can introduce young folks to skilled trades, similar to the space where he learned how to weld at the \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fouts Springs Youth Facility. He even aims to work with the same population.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The ones whose backs are already up against the wall, that’s who I want to work with,” says Geoffroy in a voice that lets you know he’s been to church a few times. “I come from helping the ones who struggle, the ones who are wounded…I want to reach the sick, not the ones who are healed.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13915539\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13915539\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/034_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022.jpg\" alt='A man seen through an opening in a a barbecue smoker emblazoned with the website \"GStackspits.com\"' width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/034_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/034_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/034_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/034_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/034_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/034_KQEDArts_GStacksCustomSmokers_06162022-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">GStacks works on a BBQ smoker outside of his warehouse in Suisun City. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Beyond teaching craftsmanship, he wants to instill character and morale, and expose people to things they might not see in their immediate environment. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Business-wise, he’s competing with “American made” big names like Weber and Traeger. The latter of the two is based in the U.S. but manufactures its units overseas. “\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Their box is from America. My product is,” says \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Geoffroy.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Of course, even the saying “as American as apple pie” is a misnomer—the dessert was created in England. But Geoffroy, a person who had hiccups in American schools and spent time in American jails, has learned to make something out of nothing, the American way. And now he uses his creations to assist people in making food that has the power to heal. Well, that’s a tale as American as G-Funk.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Pendarvis Harshaw is the host of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/rightnowish\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rightnowish\u003c/a> on KQED-FM, a columnist at KQED Arts, and the author of OG Told Me, a memoir about growing up in Oakland.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "As Roe Falls, Criminal Defense Lawyers Sound the Alarm About Mass Incarceration",
"headTitle": "As Roe Falls, Criminal Defense Lawyers Sound the Alarm About Mass Incarceration | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Picture a court of law, jury in place, set to determine the fate of a woman who has had a miscarriage. And she’s been charged with murder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This hypothetical is part of how the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) is training its members to prepare for a possible wave of criminal charges as the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Only it’s not a hypothetical—this \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/03/california-stillborn-prosecution-roe-v-wade\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">happened\u003c/a> in 2019. After a California woman delivered a stillborn baby at 8 months, she tested positive for meth at the hospital and the staff called the police. The Kings County prosecutor charged her with the “murder of a human fetus” and she spent 16 months in jail before the charges were dismissed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NACDL executive director Lisa Wayne watched the case with concern. She and her colleagues decided they needed to be proactive and start getting ready for what they felt was inevitable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Although, I don’t think you can ever say you’ll be totally prepared for this kind of watershed moment,” Wayne said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘Overcriminalization’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The NACDL published \u003ca href=\"https://www.nacdl.org/Document/AbortioninAmericaLegOverreachCriminalizReproRights\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a report\u003c/a> last August warning the public that, without the legal protections under Roe v. Wade, thousands of abortion laws could lead to a new chapter of mass incarceration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The invasion of privacy alone is a big concern to the NACDL. Anyone who needs or wants an abortion outside of the legal limits of their state is not only a target for criminal charges, but risks implicating others, too—by confiding in friends or family, crossing state lines for procedures, or even using a transportation app to get to an appointment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not just fines. We’re talking about prison time,” Wayne said. “We’re talking about minimum mandatory sentences—aiding or abetting someone who gets ultimately charged with manslaughter or murder, which is a life sentence.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And for those who think a future of mass incarceration is too unlikely, Wayne points to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9252490\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">War on Drugs\u003c/a>, starting in 1971.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Suddenly people who were being prosecuted for small amounts of drugs were now involved in larger and greater conspiracies with minimum mandatory sentences,” Wayne said. “People were looking at life sentences and still remain incarcerated to this day. You have to ask yourself, what lessons did we really learn?”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Who will actually pay the price?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The NACDL has tens of thousands of members. Actual feelings and opinions on abortion vary within the organization, as expected. But that’s not what this collective red alert is about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13912860,arts_11916720,news_11917541,news_11917111']Wayne says that despite a range of personal views, the membership as a whole is concerned about invasion of privacy, government overreach, and a massive stretch on legal resources if a wave of abortion-related criminal charges hits the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that pain won’t be distributed equally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Whenever you’re talking about overcriminalization, you’re talking about money,” Wayne said. “Rich people will always be able to lawyer up. They will always have access to attorneys. Poor people will be left behind.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She points to an already overwhelmed public defender system, which people can’t access until after their legal troubles have started.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t get a lawyer, if I’m poor, until I’m actually charged with a crime in this country in most jurisdictions,” she said. “So I have to wait until that moment until I get charged. If I have money, access to counsel, I get advice on the front end of being able to perhaps avoid the consequences that I would face if I didn’t have money.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The perfect victim\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>A future without Roe v. Wade ultimately leads back to that courtroom and jury, where the task at hand becomes navigating perception. The burden of being “the perfect victim” is nothing new when it comes to cases of \u003ca href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-local-correspondents/the-weinstein-trial-and-the-myth-of-the-perfect-victim\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">harassment\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.elle.com.au/culture/perfect-victim-sexual-assault-dangers-26952\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">sexual assault\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://time.com/6183505/amber-heard-perfect-victim-myth-johnny-depp/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">domestic violence\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To be a perfect victim of sexual assault, human trafficking or intimate partner violence, you cannot also struggle with addiction, poverty or mental illness,” wrote Amanda Rodriguez, a former federal prosecutor and the executive director of Baltimore’s rape crisis center, TurnAround Inc, in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/op-ed/bs-ed-op-0505-assault-victim-myth-20210504-yflhw5jh3zffddxbuwjqm664me-story.html\">2021 op-ed\u003c/a> for the \u003cem>Baltimore Sun\u003c/em>. “To be a perfect victim, you cannot accept a drink, engage in commercial sex or walk alone at night. You cannot wear tight clothes or have a criminal record. You cannot be human.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Except with a criminalized abortion, the “victim” isn’t pressing charges. They’re fighting them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At the end of the day, it’s going to be the bias going into the courtroom,” Wayne said. “The bias dealing with the district attorney who has preconceived notions of their own about how these cases should be prosecuted, the judges who oversee these cases and how they feel—and then ultimately go to the jurors’ bias.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that’s a main focus of NACDL’s training at the moment: preparing to help clients who have been charged with abortion-related crimes look sympathetic and relatable to a group of their peers (wherein the degree of difficulty varies, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2014/12/27/372916940/getting-tried-by-a-jury-of-your-peers-isn-t-as-simple-as-it-sounds\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">depending on your race\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in some cases, that might not be enough. More than a dozen states have trigger laws that immediately went into effect after Roe was lifted. The Supreme Court has just granted state lawmakers the freedom to ban abortion however they want.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So when a jury is asked to determine whether someone broke a law post-Roe, even a “perfect victim” might still be a guilty one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">visit NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=As+Roe+falls%2C+criminal+defense+lawyers+sound+the+alarm+about+mass+incarceration&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Picture a court of law, jury in place, set to determine the fate of a woman who has had a miscarriage. And she’s been charged with murder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This hypothetical is part of how the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) is training its members to prepare for a possible wave of criminal charges as the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Only it’s not a hypothetical—this \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/03/california-stillborn-prosecution-roe-v-wade\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">happened\u003c/a> in 2019. After a California woman delivered a stillborn baby at 8 months, she tested positive for meth at the hospital and the staff called the police. The Kings County prosecutor charged her with the “murder of a human fetus” and she spent 16 months in jail before the charges were dismissed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NACDL executive director Lisa Wayne watched the case with concern. She and her colleagues decided they needed to be proactive and start getting ready for what they felt was inevitable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Although, I don’t think you can ever say you’ll be totally prepared for this kind of watershed moment,” Wayne said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘Overcriminalization’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The NACDL published \u003ca href=\"https://www.nacdl.org/Document/AbortioninAmericaLegOverreachCriminalizReproRights\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a report\u003c/a> last August warning the public that, without the legal protections under Roe v. Wade, thousands of abortion laws could lead to a new chapter of mass incarceration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The invasion of privacy alone is a big concern to the NACDL. Anyone who needs or wants an abortion outside of the legal limits of their state is not only a target for criminal charges, but risks implicating others, too—by confiding in friends or family, crossing state lines for procedures, or even using a transportation app to get to an appointment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not just fines. We’re talking about prison time,” Wayne said. “We’re talking about minimum mandatory sentences—aiding or abetting someone who gets ultimately charged with manslaughter or murder, which is a life sentence.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And for those who think a future of mass incarceration is too unlikely, Wayne points to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9252490\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">War on Drugs\u003c/a>, starting in 1971.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Suddenly people who were being prosecuted for small amounts of drugs were now involved in larger and greater conspiracies with minimum mandatory sentences,” Wayne said. “People were looking at life sentences and still remain incarcerated to this day. You have to ask yourself, what lessons did we really learn?”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Who will actually pay the price?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The NACDL has tens of thousands of members. Actual feelings and opinions on abortion vary within the organization, as expected. But that’s not what this collective red alert is about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Wayne says that despite a range of personal views, the membership as a whole is concerned about invasion of privacy, government overreach, and a massive stretch on legal resources if a wave of abortion-related criminal charges hits the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that pain won’t be distributed equally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Whenever you’re talking about overcriminalization, you’re talking about money,” Wayne said. “Rich people will always be able to lawyer up. They will always have access to attorneys. Poor people will be left behind.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She points to an already overwhelmed public defender system, which people can’t access until after their legal troubles have started.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t get a lawyer, if I’m poor, until I’m actually charged with a crime in this country in most jurisdictions,” she said. “So I have to wait until that moment until I get charged. If I have money, access to counsel, I get advice on the front end of being able to perhaps avoid the consequences that I would face if I didn’t have money.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The perfect victim\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>A future without Roe v. Wade ultimately leads back to that courtroom and jury, where the task at hand becomes navigating perception. The burden of being “the perfect victim” is nothing new when it comes to cases of \u003ca href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-local-correspondents/the-weinstein-trial-and-the-myth-of-the-perfect-victim\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">harassment\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.elle.com.au/culture/perfect-victim-sexual-assault-dangers-26952\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">sexual assault\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://time.com/6183505/amber-heard-perfect-victim-myth-johnny-depp/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">domestic violence\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To be a perfect victim of sexual assault, human trafficking or intimate partner violence, you cannot also struggle with addiction, poverty or mental illness,” wrote Amanda Rodriguez, a former federal prosecutor and the executive director of Baltimore’s rape crisis center, TurnAround Inc, in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/op-ed/bs-ed-op-0505-assault-victim-myth-20210504-yflhw5jh3zffddxbuwjqm664me-story.html\">2021 op-ed\u003c/a> for the \u003cem>Baltimore Sun\u003c/em>. “To be a perfect victim, you cannot accept a drink, engage in commercial sex or walk alone at night. You cannot wear tight clothes or have a criminal record. You cannot be human.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Except with a criminalized abortion, the “victim” isn’t pressing charges. They’re fighting them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At the end of the day, it’s going to be the bias going into the courtroom,” Wayne said. “The bias dealing with the district attorney who has preconceived notions of their own about how these cases should be prosecuted, the judges who oversee these cases and how they feel—and then ultimately go to the jurors’ bias.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that’s a main focus of NACDL’s training at the moment: preparing to help clients who have been charged with abortion-related crimes look sympathetic and relatable to a group of their peers (wherein the degree of difficulty varies, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2014/12/27/372916940/getting-tried-by-a-jury-of-your-peers-isn-t-as-simple-as-it-sounds\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">depending on your race\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in some cases, that might not be enough. More than a dozen states have trigger laws that immediately went into effect after Roe was lifted. The Supreme Court has just granted state lawmakers the freedom to ban abortion however they want.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So when a jury is asked to determine whether someone broke a law post-Roe, even a “perfect victim” might still be a guilty one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">visit NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=As+Roe+falls%2C+criminal+defense+lawyers+sound+the+alarm+about+mass+incarceration&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The U.N. has called it “\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/02/25/971525846/how-the-legal-system-can-better-address-a-rise-in-domestic-violence-amid-the-pan\">the shadow pandemic\u003c/a>“: there’s been a notable but as-yet difficult to quantify increase in intimate partner violence over the last two years, according to experts, most likely due to a combination of mental health issues, income loss and isolation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s against this backdrop that filmmakers Natalie Pattillo and Daniel A. Nelson (the latter a San Francisco State University alum) made \u003ca href=\"https://andsoistayedfilm.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>And So I Stayed\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, a documentary about how the U.S. justice system treats survivors of domestic violence, and what happens to the people who are incarcerated, separated from their children and otherwise made to pay incredibly steep prices for fighting back against their abusers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The film follows three women, including Kim DaDou Brown, a formerly incarcerated survivor and activist who served 17 years in prison for killing her abuser in self-defense. Brown played a key role in passing New York’s Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act, which allows a court to resentence a survivor of sexual, psychological or physical abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM_wkVGr3oM\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For co-director Pattillo, the topic is an intensely personal one: a close family member was killed by an abusive boyfriend in 2010.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a survivor and woman of color, I believe that our film can uplift survivors in a culture where they are disbelieved and villainized rather than protected,” said Pattillo in a statement, describing the trauma-informed work that was necessary to build trust with the film’s subjects. “I believe it is my personal duty to not just make this film, but to make a searing, indelible impact on everyone who engages with it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘And So I Stayed’ screens at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco on Tuesday, April 12, at 6pm. Through a partnership with the Bay Area nonprofit \u003ca href=\"https://www.fivekeyshomefree.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Five Keys, Home Free\u003c/a>, local formerly incarcerated survivors will speak following the screening. \u003ca href=\"https://www.roxie.com/ai1ec_event/and-so-i-stayed/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Details here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The U.N. has called it “\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/02/25/971525846/how-the-legal-system-can-better-address-a-rise-in-domestic-violence-amid-the-pan\">the shadow pandemic\u003c/a>“: there’s been a notable but as-yet difficult to quantify increase in intimate partner violence over the last two years, according to experts, most likely due to a combination of mental health issues, income loss and isolation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s against this backdrop that filmmakers Natalie Pattillo and Daniel A. Nelson (the latter a San Francisco State University alum) made \u003ca href=\"https://andsoistayedfilm.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>And So I Stayed\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, a documentary about how the U.S. justice system treats survivors of domestic violence, and what happens to the people who are incarcerated, separated from their children and otherwise made to pay incredibly steep prices for fighting back against their abusers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The film follows three women, including Kim DaDou Brown, a formerly incarcerated survivor and activist who served 17 years in prison for killing her abuser in self-defense. Brown played a key role in passing New York’s Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act, which allows a court to resentence a survivor of sexual, psychological or physical abuse.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/uM_wkVGr3oM'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/uM_wkVGr3oM'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>For co-director Pattillo, the topic is an intensely personal one: a close family member was killed by an abusive boyfriend in 2010.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
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"order": 10
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
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},
"city-arts": {
"id": "city-arts",
"title": "City Arts & Lectures",
"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.cityarts.net/",
"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
"subscribe": {
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/City-Arts-and-Lectures-p692/",
"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
"id": "closealltabs",
"title": "Close All Tabs",
"tagline": "Your irreverent guide to the trends redefining our world",
"info": "Close All Tabs breaks down how digital culture shapes our world through thoughtful insights and irreverent humor.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/CAT_2_Tile-scaled.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
"meta": {
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"order": 1
},
"link": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
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"code-switch-life-kit": {
"id": "code-switch-life-kit",
"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnByLm9yZy9yc3MvcG9kY2FzdC5waHA_aWQ9NTEwMzEy",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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}
},
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
"link": "/forum",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"id": "freakonomics-radio",
"title": "Freakonomics Radio",
"info": "Freakonomics Radio is a one-hour award-winning podcast and public-radio project hosted by Stephen Dubner, with co-author Steve Levitt as a regular guest. It is produced in partnership with WNYC.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/4s8b",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
"rss": "https://feeds.feedburner.com/freakonomicsradio"
}
},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/381444908/podcast.xml"
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/series/423302056/hidden-brain",
"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510308/podcast.xml"
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510313/podcast.xml"
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
"imageAlt": "KQED Hyphenación",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
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"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC2275451163"
}
},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1492194549",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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}
},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
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"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
"meta": {
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"source": "pbs"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
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