Sherrilyn Ifill still believes in the future. The famed civil rights attorney reflects on her time with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LCD) fighting against systemic racism in the courts. And she also has thoughts about the legitimacy crisis of the Supreme Court.

Credits: Curtis Fox is the producer. Our researcher is Yessenia Moreno. Production help from Kaitlyn Adams and Meg Pillow. Theme music by Taka Yasuzawa and Alex Sugiura.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

June Diane Raphael on the psychological challenge of being a woman on TV and film sets, and why she’s leery of being “the good girl.” The comedian/actor/screenwriter/podcaster also talks about everything from menstrual moods to career ambitions. Plus, Roxane recounts the plot of one of her favorite bad movies.

Mentions:

• “Oh God, A Show About Abortion” https://www.ohgodshow.com/
• “Battleship” https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1440129/
• “How Did This Get Made” podcast https://www.earwolf.com/show/how-did-this-get-made/
• ” The Deep Dive with Jessica St. Clair and June Diane Raphael" https://www.earwolf.com/show/the-deep-dive-with-jessica-st-clair-and-june-diane-raphael/

Credits: Curtis Fox is the producer. Our researcher is Yessenia Moreno. Production help from Kaitlyn Adams and Meg Pillow. Theme music by Taka Yasuzawa and Alex Sugiura.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Designer and podcaster Debbie Millman on creativity, vanity projects, and how to inspire people to change. Also, she is Roxane’s wife, and Roxane tells us how they met and fell in love.

Mentions:

• Marcy Dermansky’s novel “Hurricane Girl” http://www.marcydermansky.com/hurricane-girl-book
• C.J.Hauser’s book of essays “The Crane Wife” https://cjhauser.com/
• “The Crane Wife” essay in Paris Review https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/07/16/the-crane-wife/
• “Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World’s Most Creative People” https://www.whydesignmatters.online/
• Design Matters Podcast

Credits: Curtis Fox is the producer. Our researcher is Yessenia Moreno. Production help from Kaitlyn Adams and Meg Pillow. Theme music by Taka Yasuzawa and Alex Sugiura.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Imani Barbarin uses humor and truth to bring attention to the increasingly dire plight of disabled people in America. The pandemic has revealed a broken system that keeps the disabled in poverty. She talks about how she personally deals with the injustice, and what might be done to improve things. Also, what makes a joke a good joke for the disabled?

Mentions:

●     Imani Barbarin’s Tik Tok feed: https://www.tiktok.com/discover/imani-barbarin?lang=en

Credits: Curtis Fox is the producer. Our researcher is Yessenia Moreno. Production help from Kaitlyn Adams and Meg Pillow. Theme music by Taka Yasuzawa and Alex Sugiura.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Actor, comedian and memorist Cameron Esposito is practicing vulnerability. Here she talks to Roxane about their gender-fluidity, about why performing feels normal for them, and about why it’s important not to be funny all the time.

Mentions:

●     Take My Wife on Starz https://www.starz.com/us/en/series/38334/episodes?season=1

●     Save Yourself https://www.esowonbookstore.com/book/9781538701362

●     A Million Little Things https://abc.com/shows/a-million-little-things

●     Rape Jokes https://www.cameronesposito.com/rape-jokes/

●     We Bare Bears: The Movie https://www.amazon.com/We-Bare-Bears-Eric-Edelstein/dp/B089DNJCFC

●     QUEERY https://www.cameronesposito.com/category/podcasts/

Credits: Curtis Fox is the producer. Our researcher is Yessenia Moreno. Production help from Kaitlyn Adams and Meg Pillow. Theme music by Taka Yasuzawa and Alex Sugiura.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Devotional artist Genesis Tramaine is painting some of the most striking portraits of our time. She talks to Roxane about her process and her practice, and how her faith informs it all. Also, Roxane reflects on her own religious upbringing.

Mentions:

●     Recent Gallery Show https://www.alminerech.com/artists/5928-genesis-tramaine

●     Genesis Tramaine’s Instagram Page https://www.instagram.com/genesistramaine

Credits: Curtis Fox is the producer. Our researcher is Yessenia Moreno. Production help from Kaitlyn Adams and Meg Pillow. Theme music by Taka Yasuzawa and Alex Sugiura.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Actor, producer and director Numa Perrier is making space for herself. Her autobiographical film “Jezebel,” about a young woman grieving for her mother while working as a cam girl in Las Vegas, breaks new ground in independent cinema for its complex candor. Roxane talks to her about how a girl from a Washington state farm ended up making TV and movies. Plus, Roxane on the hell that is contemporary air travel.

Mentions:

The Monet-Rothko Exhibit in France https://www.giverny-lareserve.com/en/monet-rothko-exhibition-at-the-musee-des-impressionismes-de-giverny/

“Jezebel” on Netflix https://www.netflix.com/title/81235729

App for Black and Sexy TV https://apps.apple.com/us/app/black-sexy-tv/id1050795028

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cultural critic Margo Jefferson deconstructs her nervous system… or at least explains to Roxane how the culture, not just family, has made her who she is. She talks about her new memoir, which situates cultural criticism alongside personal memories. Also, Roxane reflects on what memoirists reveal, and don’t reveal, to their readers.

Mentions:

●     C.J. Hauser’s essay “The Crane Wife” https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/07/16/the-crane-wife/

●     C.J. Hauser’s memoir “The Crane Wife” https://bookshop.org/books/the-crane-wife-a-memoir-in-essays/9780385547079

●     Margo Jefferson’s “Negroland” https://bookshop.org/books/negroland-a-memoir/9780307473431

●     Margo Jefferson’s “Constructing a Nervous System” https://bookshop.org/books/constructing-a-nervous-system-a-memoir/9781524748173

Credits: Curtis Fox is the producer. Our researcher is Yessenia Moreno. Production help from Kaitlyn Adams and Meg Pillow. Theme music by Taka Yasuzawa and Alex Sugiura.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

1980’s movie star Ally Sheedy is back with a plum role in a new TV series. She talks to Roxane about her other careers as an editor and teacher. Plus, Roxane speculates on why The Slap (at the Oscars ceremony) has grabbed so much of our attention.

Mentions:

●     Single Drunk Female https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13790652/?ref_%3Dfn_al_tt_1

●     Ally’s essay on Hollywood sexism that Roxane edited https://www.vulture.com/2018/05/ally-sheedy-on-hollywood-sexism-and-harvey-weinstein.html

Credits: Curtis Fox is the producer. Our researcher is Yessenia Moreno. Production help from Kaitlyn Adams and Meg Pillow. Theme music by Taka Yasuzawa and Alex Sugiura.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Roxane on the pleasures and perils of collecting art, and a conversation with one of the artists whose work she collects. Barbara Kruger came up through the magazine industry, where she applied her editorial design skills in the making of provocative, conceptual images, films and sculptures. She talks about her belated success, and how there’s not just one art world anymore.

 Mentions:

●     Barbara Krugers LACHMA exhibit https://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/barbara-kruger

Credits: Curtis Fox is the producer. Our researcher is Yessenia Moreno. Production help from Kaitlyn Adams and Meg Pillow. Theme music by Taka Yasuzawa and Alex Sugiura.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How Janicza Bravo turned a hilarious Twitter thread into a hilarious movie. Aziah King’s epic Twitter thread about a road trip gone bad took the internet by storm in 2015. Several years and a pandemic later, Janicza Bravo translated it into “Zola.” Here, she explains some of the creative decisions she made—like not showing the nudity.

Mentions:

●     Aziah King’s original Twitter thread. https://www.dontdiewondering.com/check-out-the-full-zola-twitter-thread-ahead-of-jaw-dropping-new-movie/

●     “Zola” the movie on IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5439812/

Credits: Curtis Fox is the producer. Our researcher is Yessenia Moreno. Production help from Kaitlyn Adams and Meg Pillow. Theme music by Taka Yasuzawa and Alex Sugiura.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.