[music]

Male Speaker: Hello, Kai.

Female Speaker: Hi, Kai.

Elizabeth: Hi, Kai. And team, this is Elizabeth from Cleveland Heights.

Arthur: This is Arthur from New Haven, Connecticut.

Colton: Hi, my name is Colton from Helena, Montana.

Dan: Hi, I'm Dan in Wichita, Kansas.

Kelly: Hi, my name is Kelly, and I'm calling from Bakersfield, California.

Unas: Unas calling from Clemson, South Carolina.

Matt: My name is Matt, and I'm calling in from Norristown, Pennsylvania.

Nina: Nina from Fort Worth, Texas.

Terry: Hi, Kai. This is Terry from Cary, North Carolina.

Bryn: My name is Bryn from Dallas.

Wynn: Wynn, I'm in Denver, Colorado.

Shamika: Hey, this is Shamika calling from Durham, North Carolina.

David: My name is David out of Chicago.

Dori: Hi, Kai. My name is Dori, and I'm calling from Portland, Oregon.

Adina: Hi, my name is Adina. I'm calling from Brooklyn.

Cornelius: My name is Cornelius. I'm calling from Afton, Minnesota.

[music]

Kai Wright: It's Notes from America. I'm Kai Wright. Welcome to the show. My absolute favorite part of this program, and I'm being totally honest and genuine here, is talking to you, dear listeners. We do this for you, so thanks for all the insight and the feedback you've offered over the years of making this show. This week, we're going to start by, once again, opening our mailbag of messages. This is stuff you've sent in about our recent episodes. We haven't done this in a bit, but whenever we do it, I'm joined by our producer, Regina de Heer. Hey, Regina, what you got in the mail bag for us this time?

Regina de Heer: Hi, Kai. Happy holidays.

Kai: Happy holidays.

Regina: Thank you. We've gotten a huge response to our past few episodes, like this one from a listener in Chicago named Linda. Linda had a comment about our episode we did a few weeks ago about the loss our country will feel if we do experience these mass deportations that have been promised.

Linda: Hi, Kai. My name is Linda, and I'm calling from Chicago. I myself am an immigrant, Korean immigrant. I was listening to your last episode, aired Nov. 18. The discussion was about how immigrants help our economy and everything else, but nobody touched on the fact that how DACA and the sons and daughters of immigrants also joined the military to help protect this country, and just wanted to bring that point up. I mean, there's so many multiple ways how this country is made up of immigrants. Thank you for your show. I've been listening to you since 2016.

Kai: Linda, thank you for listening for all of those years. For those who don't know, this show began as a reporting project on the 2016 election, which was, sadly, yet another moment in which we were forced to debate the value of human beings who have migrated here. Linda, thanks for listening. What else you got, Regina?

Regina: We also got a message from a listener, Al in Atlanta, who responded to our recent episode about finding safety without police.

Al Cartwright: Yes, my name is Al Cartwright, old dude, baby boomer born in the mid-50s. Kai Wright, I thank you. I enjoyed that show. I did want to comment on that, and I got so much to say about that at nearly 70 years on the planet. I bet they've been trying to make me a criminal since I came out my mother's womb. Anyway, thank God it didn't work. But the show was great. I hope they replay that sometime. It was very educational.

The books that were named in the show by different-- of your guests, I loved it. I really enjoyed the show, and I won't lose this number definitely because it's good to be able to communicate with those of us that are not dot com, which 100 million baby boomers are not wired. Anyway, yes, thank God for your 844 number, and I really just called to see if I had wrote it down right.

I really enjoyed that show, and I will definitely keep my ears open to your future shows because I've been listening to public radio ever since I was probably six years old. All right. Hated it back then, but it always played in Mama's house and grandmama's house. All right, sir.

Regina: Before you respond, Kai, can I just say as the resident Gen Z, I totally agree with Al about loving our call-in option.

Kai: That's right.

Regina: It has brought us so many amazing voices like Al's.

Kai: Yes, indeed, Al, thank you for your love for our 844 number. I love it as well. But Al, friend, you are sadly a little late to the party. As regular listeners may know, we are now winding down this project. WNCY,, the station that makes Notes from America, will cease production of this show at the end of the year. Our last broadcast will be the final Sunday of the year as we head into New Year's Eve.

Regina: Kai, since you've been telling listeners that we're wrapping up the show, we've gotten a lot of responses to that news, and I want to share with you some of what our listeners had to say.

Pam: Hi, Kai. My name is Pam. I'm from Montclair, New Jersey. I just was hearing your announcement about the end of this show, Notes from America. I will miss this show. I will miss you and the guests and all your guest speakers. I miss the whole wonderful conversations you have, and I always enjoy hearing your voice and take comfort from it. So thank you so much, and I hope we keep hearing you out there in the sound universe. Thanks, Kai.

Male Speaker: Yes, hello. Just recently was exposed to Notes From America, and, you know, just also learned that be discontinuing the show. And so I just wanted to thank you for all the great work. I do look forward to exploring the archives, and again, was a little disappointed to know that it wouldn't be continued into the future, but wanted to salute the team that made it possible. Thank you.

Nayid: Nayid, New York City. I'm a longtime listener, and I just would say, please, please, please do not end this show. Now more than ever, America needs Notes From America.

Joe: Hi, my name is Joe. I'm calling from Pound Ridge, New York. I listen to your program often, and I know I've heard it before, but saying it today that your last show will be the end of the year breaks my heart a little bit. Thank you very much and good luck to you in the future, and thank you very much for all you've done.

Lauren: Hey, y'all, this is Lauren in Durham, North Carolina. This might be like the fifth time I've done this recording. I'm way behind because I just heard Kai say that the show is ending at the end of the year, and I'm just, like, gutted. This show is so important to me because I care about the things that you all report on. I learn from you both as a human being and as an aspiring producer and sound designer and social justice activist. I listen as a human but also as somebody who's studying how you do what you do, and I am so grateful for it. I love you all. Bye.

Dennis: Yes. Hello, Kai. This is Dennis. I look so forward to that Sunday evening program, and I've learned so much in the year or two that our local public station, WSKG and Binghamton, has carried your program, so a great disappointment to me, a great disappointment, especially at a time when, you know, it's dark now. The leaves are gone and Trump's President elect. I mean, there's a lot of dark stuff going on, and it's such an informative and educational program. I'm really going to miss it.

God, it's been good, but all good things come to an end, so what are we going to do? Okay, take care and all the best to you. I hope I connect with you on the radio at some point again in the future. All the best. Take care and thank you so much for all that you have given me and WNYC has given me through your program. Bye bye now.

Kai: Friends, you know, it's been an honor to sit here each week, and it's humbling to know that people are actually listening, honestly. Producers, like Regina, have worked really hard to find interesting people and big provocative ideas that I can introduce you to each week. One of our editors who helped create this show, she always had this way of judging whether we had succeeded in what we set out to do. When she was pleased, she'd say, it's a contribution, that we made a contribution.

That's what we've tried to do each week, just make a contribution to the public conversation. Thanks for joining us in that effort and thank you for sticking around for these last few efforts to make a kind of contribution. To the listener who mentioned the archives, by the way, yes, please do use them. They will live hopefully in perpetuity in your podcast feeds and @notesfromamerica.org, so every single podcast and every single radio episode is there waiting for you. Do dig in.

Regina: Before we move on, Kai, I want to share just one more message from Rebecca in Manhattan. She wrote this in. "I've listened to virtually every episode since the very beginning, and Kai feels like a trusted friend and mentor. As an upper middle-class white woman, this show has been absolutely instrumental in teaching me so much about the diversity of this country and its history, especially what was not taught in schools. I'm really going to miss episodes keeping me company every week. Best wishes to everyone as they move on to their next chapter, and thank you again."

Thank you. Rebecca, while we aren't making this show for one particular group, it always means the most to me personally when people share that they've learned something through our conversations, especially when that introduces them to people or stories that you never would have encountered otherwise. I've learned so much about myself through the process of making the show. And so listeners, thank you for learning along with us.

Kai: Yes, that is so true, Regina. For me, that learning often happens when I'm caught off guard, actually, like in a live moment, and I'm just more likely to be open to a new idea. With that in mind, as we wind down, Regina and I have been digging through back shows looking for some of our favorite live and interactive moments. Here's what we're going to do for the rest of this hour. We're going to revisit some of the bangers from Notes from America, including the many performances we've had on the show.

Stay with us. That's just ahead and to get it started, here is the Nigerian American singer and songwriter Lolade performing during our Juneteenth special in Houston last year. More to come.

[MUSIC - Loládé]

Dream on, dreamer

Dream on, dreamer

Don't you let the world tell you different?

Oh, my brother

Oh my sister

Darkness covers the light we'll find a way

Time again to go back to the place you began

oh, whoa, oh, ooh ooh

Dream on, dreamer

Dream on, dreamer

Don't you let the world tell you different

Oh, my brother

Oh, my sister

Darkness covers but light will find a way

Time again to go back to the place you began, no,

Don't you die with dreams in your heart,

in your heart

Kid: [sings] Jingle bells, jingle bell Jingle all the way.

Regina: It's the holiday season. A lot of different holidays correspond with this time of year. Is there a particular holiday song that brings back memories or a tradition for you?

Female Speaker: Yeah, last Christmas, because when I was in elementary school, and I'm from Norway, and so my English was just-- I don't know. I just thought it meant the last Christmas, the final Christmas ever. It made me really sad. It made me feel like it was a very layered song.

Female Speaker: That's funny.

Regina: Can you sing it for me?

Female Speaker: [sings] Last Christmas, I gave you my heart, but the very next day, you gave it away.

Regina: Beautiful, thank you.

Female Speaker: Thank you very much.

Female Speaker: Actually, yes. You know, the one that goes, "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas." That one is in my head in this season the whole time. I'm Dominican, but that's the English song that we feel that it sounds like Christmas, you know,

Female Speaker: Probably like chestnuts roasting by an open fire. It's not just good in December. It's great anytime, like feeling like you're waking up to warmth and just fullness of your family.

Regina: I'm going to put both you on the spot. Can you sing your song for me?

Female Speaker: [sings] Nuts roasting on a--

Regina: You did not let me get ready. Can you start over, please?

Female Speaker: Okay. [sings] Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose.

Kai: It's Notes from America. I'm Kai Wright. We are in the final weeks of this show, and our last broadcast will be at the end of the month. This week, we're revisiting some of our favorite live moments on the show from over the years. As luck would have it, friends, one of my absolute favorites was a holiday music call in that we did a couple of years ago. I was joined by Lindsay Kimball from The Current, which is Minnesota Public Radio's beloved music station.

We asked you to share and to sing one of your favorite holiday numbers for, you know, whatever end of the year holiday you celebrate. Here's a condensed version of that show, starting with Lindsay Kimball's take on what makes a good holiday song.

Lindsay Kimball: You want to have something that you can sing along to, but maybe something that surprises you, so maybe a different take on a traditional song or something from an artist that you really love, but it's got the holiday twist on it. So maybe Sufjan Stevens, who has a song called Get Behind Me, Santa.

[MUSIC- Sufjan Stevens: Get Behind me, Santa]

C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S, C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S

Lindsay: It's a fun way to think about the holidays in different ways.

Kai: Is that like a reference to the, like get behind me, Satan?

Lindsay: Yes. Yes.

Kai: Okay.

Lindsay: Yes. He's bringing a sense of humor to his holiday music.

[MUSIC- Sufjan Stevens: Get Behind me, Santa]

Christmas time,

Christmas time,

Christmas time,

Happy Christmas

Christmas time,

Christmas time,

Kai: Let's go to Alex here in Brooklyn. Alex, welcome to the show.

Alex: So happy to be here.

Kai: What's your recommendation, Alex?

Alex: Crabs for Christmas Crabs by-

Kai: Crabs for Christmas?

Alex: -by David DeBoy.

Kai: I don't know it. Sing it. Sing a beat or two of it for me, will you?

Alex: [sings] Oh, I want crabs for Christmas, only crabs will do. Oh, and with crabs for Christmas, my Christmas wish'll come true.

Kai: [chuckles] Yes. Thank you very much, Alex. We're going to have fun tonight here. Lindsay, do you know that song?

Lindsay: I do not know that song, but I tell you that what that reminded me of instantly is The Pogues, Fairytale New York. My favorite part is how that song starts off with singing about Christmas in the drunk take, so just sort of like a more jovial view of Christmas, you know.

Kai: [chuckles] Christmas in the drug take?

Lindsay: Yes.

Kai: We did ask people in our show's Instagram community for their favorite holiday song, and we got a ton of answers there. Anyway, we got some great voice notes. I'm going to keep our curation going with what was my favorite one from our Instagram community. I love all your answers, but this one, this one right here, this was my favorite, so check this out.

Pia: Hi, Kai. My name is Pia and my family and I listened to A Charlie Brown Christmas by Vince Guaraldri Trio in December. It is the best thing in the world, and it is the one my mom and dad listened to when I was born. I love it, and it's so great to listen to. I hope you enjoy it.

[MUSIC - Vince Guaraldi Trio: Christmas Time is Here]

Kai: Thank you so much, Pia for that. I will admit, Pia is a bit of a ringer. I know young Pia. She's a total delight. Yes, you may have noticed, we are going hard on the cute kids thing because we love cute kids and because we want you to join the fun. We know how to get your attention. Whatever you celebrate this time of year, call us up and tell us about it. Let's go to Michael in St. Paul, Minnesota. Michael, welcome to the show.

Michael: Thank you.

Kai: What's your recommendation, Michael?

Michael: My recommendation is The Christmas Can-Can by Straight No Chaser, an acapella group out of Indiana.

Kai: Oh, my home state, Indiana. Okay. Thank you for that. Do you want the opportunity to sing it or you don't want to be put on the spot?

Michael: I'm not sure anybody wants to hear me sing, though, but I'll take a whack at it.

Kai: Go for it.

Michael: It's my four and a half year old son's favorite Christmas song, so I think I have to now.

Kai: Give us a note or two.

Michael: [sings] Christmas, Christmas time is here. The sleigh bells-- Oh, wow. That went sideways on us. Let's just pretend that never happened on live radio.

Kai: [chuckles] That was great, Michael. Thank you. Oh, let's go to Olivia in Bayside Queens. Olivia, welcome to the show.

Olivia: I love the show.

Kai: What's your recommendation?

Olivia: Well, I selfishly have two. I'm a jazz nerd and Nat King Cole is my jazz dad, so you know, Christmas Song, Nat King Cole is a classic. Then I'm part Italian, and the Italian side of my family, we all get a good laugh out of Dominick, the Italian Christmas Donkey.

Kai: Dominick, the Italian Christmas-- I don't know this. I don't know that one.

Olivia: You don't know that one?

Kai: Help me out. Help me out, Olivia.

Olivia: Okay. All right. The main course basically goes, [sings] Ay, Jing-a-di-jing hee haw hee, it's the Italian Christmas Donkey. A jing-a-di-jing hee haw, hee haw, it's Dominick the donkey. Then it goes into a whole hilarious rhyming thing about Dominick helping Santa, and there's even pythons being thrown into one of the lines. It's very funny.

Kai: Thank you so much for that. I want to ask you, Lindsay. I got into a conversation over Thanksgiving with a musician friend of mine about Mariah Carey's the mega holiday song.

Lindsay: The hit, yes.

Kai: The hit. You know, we were of course in the sing along portion of our evening. Yes, that's the kind of holiday I have. We started asking, has there been a new massive holiday hit like that since Mariah's? I know there's been lots of music, but like such a big commercial and cultural hit. I couldn't think of one. Has there been one since then?

Lindsay: No. That song is almost 30 years old. It was recorded in August of 1994. In fact, Mariah Carey was like-- she's like, I got to get in the spirit before I record this Christmas record, which also was an aberration because a lot of people were making Christmas records after-- like when they're at the end of their career, and they just needed to gas it a little bit.

Kai: Like a cash grab kind of thing.

Lindsay: Yes, this was her fourth studio album, and it was kind of like, oh, she's breaking the mold here. It's summer 1994. She decorates her whole house in Christmas just to get in a festive spirit and then records this record. Whatever she did worked because this song has raked in almost-- I think when I saw the figure, I saw was $60 million in licensing.

Kai: Whew.

Lindsay: I know. [laughs]

Kai: Does that all go to Mariah Carey? This explains a lot.

Lindsay: That song is everywhere. The minute it's like Christmas, it's on every station. It's on a bunch of movies. It's all over the place. Man, she really penned a hit.

Kai: 60 Million dollars in licensing. Okay, Mariah. I have to chime in with my own new favorite. I have many songs I love, obviously, but the newest for me debuted in 2020. It was Daveed Diggs' Puppy for Hanukkah, which I loved it. I loved it. Can we play a few beats of that? Our live board engineer, Milton Ruiz is over here. What do you think? Can we hear some of that?

[MUSIC - Daveed Diggs: Puppy for Hanukkah]

So y'all keep stressing, be good, learn lessons.

But Hanukkah is the best fun

And you can laugh if you want to,

Laughin', laughin', laughin', laughin', laughin'

But I'ma to get a puppy for Hanukkah,

Kai: I'm get a puppy for Hanukkah. I mean, there's the Daveed Diggs of it all, of course. This was December 2020. I mean this was a dark year, and I think we all kind of needed a puppy for Hanukkah that year.

Lindsay: Yes, I'm going to get what I wanakkah. That just cracks me up. I mean Adam Sandler had the Hanukkah song that he did on SNL. It's been a minute since we've had a truly hilarious Hanukkah song. That one might show up Adam Sandler just a bit.

Kai: Well, I'm going to put my hand on the tilt to say it does, in fact, show up Adam Snyder just a little bit, but that's me. Let's go to Christine in Chicago. Christine, welcome to the show.

Christine: Thank you.

Kai: What is your recommendation, Christine?

Christine: My recommendation is Brenda Lee's I'm Gonna Lasso Santa Claus. Please don't ask me to sing it. Listen to Brenda Lee. She's much better.

Kai: Okay. I will not ask you to sing, but I will ask you why that song? What is it you love about it?

Christine: It was the dreaded 2020 quarantine, and I'm an essential worker. They let us into Palm Springs for a family vacation. We went to some deserted outdoor mall, and they were playing this song. My daughter went to school in Dallas that I fell in love with the whole kitschy Brenda Lee, I'm going to Lasso Santa Claus.

Kai: Well, thank you for that, Christine. Let's go to Ramona in Rolling New Hampshire. Ramona, welcome to the show.

Ramona: Thank you. Yes, my song has got a history to it in a way. [laughs]

Kai: Okay.

Ramona: My great grandmother. It is called Grandma Got Ran Over by a Reindeer.

Kai: Ohh. [laugh]

Ramona: [sings] Grandma got run over by a reindeer years years ago.

Kai: Was this true for you?

Ramona: Well, my great grandmother, she lived in Northern Maine. She lived out in the middle of nowhere, and a deer came after her once and almost ran her over. Gosh. [laughs]

Kai: [laughs] Well, I'm glad she survived.

Ramona: I mean, really, it was like, what? I mean she was out there giving the reindeer a hard time and get out of the yard. She was feeding her animals, and he came right after her. He almost knocked her down. When that song would come on, my grandmother would go, "That's not true."

[laughter]

Kai: Thank you for that, Ramona. Let's go to Tristan in Chicago. Tristan, welcome to the show.

Tristan: Hey, thanks for having me on. I have two songs that I really, really enjoy along the holidays. The first one is I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas, which is, of course, a classic. Around the house, though, we really like grapefruit soda, so it is a I want a hippo pomplemoose for Christmas. And then, of course, the classic is Barenaked for the Holidays by Barenaked Ladies. The entire album is really good.

There's a couple of good Hanukkah songs in there, too. But their rendition of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen is jazzy and upbeat and fun. That's one that everybody really likes no matter what generation is listening to it.

Kai: Thank you.

Lindsay: Didn't they do that with Sarah McLachlan on that track?

Tristan: That particular track, yes. She jumps in and does the refrains and does a couple of key changes with her. I could do a couple of bars if you like.

Kai: Oh, let's do it.

Tristan: [sings] God rest ye marry, gentlemen let nothing you dismay. Remember Christ our savior was born upon this day to save us all from satan's power When we were gone astray. Then they go on and on like that. It's really good.

Kai: Come on, Tristan. Bring it. Yes. Yes. Thank you so much for that. Okay. I want to share a couple more of the voice notes that we got from our Instagram community this week because these are good. The first one is about a holiday album in its entirety, so kind of like Tristan with the Barenaked ladies there. This is certainly foundational in my community, like among Black families. This is probably still the holiday soundtrack.

Nina: Hi, this is Nina from Montclair, New Jersey. When I think about Christmas music, there is nothing more Christmas, more holiday than the Jackson 5 Christmas Album. It speaks to the holidays, my childhood. I probably have not listened to the entire album in decades. I bet you $5, if that album dropped right now, I could pick up and sing every single lyric of every single song and probably do some of the Jackson 5 dance moves, too. It makes me happy. It makes me joyful. Jackson 5 Christmas Album, that is the epitome of holiday music.

[MUSIC - Jackson 5: The Little Drummer Boy]

Baby Jesus, parampapampam

Kai: Okay. That's one we got on Instagram that I know, and here's one that was new to me.

Jay: My name is Jay. I'm from Albany, New York, and my favorite holiday tune is Ocho Kandelikas is by the Josh Nelson Project. It's a Sephardic tune. As a music video, where a bunch of weird animated candles are hanging out in New York City for some reason, and I can just turn it on repeat on YouTube and stick my kids in front of it, and I don't have to talk to them for days. Days. The entire holiday season they will just watch this thing, and it is lovely. Thank you. Bye.

[MUSIC - Josh Nelson Project: Ocho Kandelikas]

Kai: Okay. Jay's getting a little free child care. They're out of holiday music. I'm not mad at you, Jay. Let's go to Dina in Manhattan here in New York. Hey, Dina. Welcome to the show.

Dina: Oh, thank you so much and happy holidays. Hanukkah [crosstalk]

Kai: Happy holidays.

Dina: Next Sunday night, Hanukkah, first night.

Kai: That's right.

Dina: Yes. There's the Boys Town Jerusalem are often boys. Every year, they have a wonderful little video of Rock of Ages, Maoz Tzur. [sings] Rock of ages, da, da, da. They do a great rendition of it. I was trying to connect it to play it for you, but I couldn't get my act together, unfortunately.

Kai: That's okay. We much prefer the bit that sang for us, Dina. Thank you very much. Let's go to Johanna in Mankito, Minnesota. Johanna, welcome to the show.

Johanna: Hi. Happy holidays.

Kai: Happy holidays. What's your recommendation?

Johanna: I know around the holidays, sometimes it can be a little bit depresso or sad sometimes. I lost my mom a couple of years ago. Whenever I hear the Carpenters, Merry Christmas, Darling, it reminds me that she's still here with me, and I love that song.

Kai: Oh, that's wonderful. Thank you. I have kind of the same relationship to The Temptations, whole holiday album. A lot of my relationship to holiday music is, of course, my family. My dad loved that album. He loved to get up and dance badly and sing off key. Every time I listen to that album, I think of him. That's lovely. Lindsay, what about you? We haven't gotten your actual recommendation. We've gotten your expertise here, but what would you put on the list?

Lindsay: Yes. My favorite stuff. I love the Sufjan Stevens box set that I already talked about, but Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings put together a holiday disc. If you want more of a soulful vibe to your Christmas, she's got a great album. Then JD McPherson, who's an Americana artist, has an album called Socks. Then Lizzo put together a song that's called Never Felt Like Christmas, and she's got her cool take on Christmas music.

There's just a big pile of amazing music out there that artists make. Just listening to everyone's recommendations, there's so much that I'm discovering just hearing what everyone else looks to listen to.

[music]

Kai: That was a little bit of our holiday sing along from 2022. In this moment, it's a celebration of all of your willingness to call us up and share some of your experiences and your lives and your literal voices each week in order to make this show happen. It's remarkable, so thank you. Just ahead, some of the stories you've told us about yourselves. Stay with us.

It's Notes from America. I'm Kai Wright, and this week, we're revisiting some of our favorite interactive and just really live moments from this show over the years, moments when you or our guests brought us something joyful or surprising, stuff like a time recently when a very important person let us in on just a really unexpected part of herself.

Justice Jackson: Cause he's black and poor, he's disappeared. The name was lost the games weren't played. Nobody tucks him in at night, wipes traces of cornbread and syrup from his fingers.

Kai: This is Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson reading a poetry mashup she created in high school, which she included part of in her recent memoir.

Justice Jackson: Every time the earth moves, it's me and all my friends flying underground, off to a soccer game or basketball, always running. I can make the earth move flying underground. As I recited the braided piece, I continuously altered my countenance and inflection back and forth to signal changes between the two different narrators. First Shange, followed by Giovanni. No ropes this time. No tar and feathers. Weren't no parades of sheets, fires and crosses. Nothing. No signs. Teacher says I do real good in school. I like to read books. I draw pictures with lots of sun and clouds.

Kai: Thank you for that. Justice Jackson shared this selection during our conversation with her live in front of an audience at The National Archives in Washington, D.C. It's something she created in high school, like I said, but in response to a horrible news story that had terrified both her and myself as kids. It was the story of a serial murderer who was targeting Black children in Atlanta.

For her poem, Justice Jackson blends together two separate poems, actually, works by Ntozake Shange and by Nikki Giovanni. That's part of why it's on my mind this week. The great Nikki Giovanni recently passed at the age of 81, and we will miss her voice. We were lucky enough to have her as a guest on Notes From America as well, a couple times, actually. We'll put a link to one of those episodes in the notes for this one.

Okay. Like I said, this week we're revisiting moments from our archives. I'm joined by our producer, Regina de Heer, who's been unearthing some of her own favorites.

Regina: Absolutely. That moment with Justice Jackson was one of the many live events we've done at the show that I highly recommend revisiting. Kai, in that conversation, I'm sure you'll remember the moment that followed. You asked her about a college application essay in which she declared her bold ambition in performing arts. Here's a bit of that exchange.

Kai: You have declared that you want to be on Broadway. Do you intend to be on Broadway still?

Justice Jackson: I would love to. I mean, you mentioned my essay. What I said was, I want to be the first Black woman Supreme Court Justice to appear on a Broadway stage. It's very important.

[applause]

Regina: Kai, I can report that her Broadway dream came true.

Kai: Okay.

Regina: She was just featured in a one night only performance of & Juliet. It's really cool that moments like that will continue to live on in our archives for listeners to look back on.

Kai: Go for it, Justice Jackson. We have covered a lot of ground in the course of making this show. As I keep saying, we ask you to contribute your voices to every single episode in some way, including by just stopping you in the streets. Each show begins with a collage of voices answering a question that we're going to take on in that week's show. Regina has been the real leader on our team in developing that segment. You have stuck your microphone in, I would say, hundreds of faces at this point, asking people on the street to kind of chime in on all kinds of stuff.

Regina: Yes. It's so true. I've had so many amazing experiences and gotten to hear from people during some real pivotal political moments. I was recently at Vice President Harris' concession speech the day after the election. I've quizzed people in Houston heading to a Meg Thee Stallion concert about black political history. I've spent a lot of time on the National Mall in D.C.

One that really affects me to this day, I was out in front of the Supreme Court building when protests erupted after news broke that the court overturned Roe v. Wade. We're out in front of the Supreme Court. What brings you out here today?

Female Speaker: I wish I could say it was a trip with my toddler to the museum to see dinosaur bones and stuff, but we've had to put that to the side and come out here to demonstrate support for protecting women's rights.

Female Speaker: My daughter's three months old. I want her to live a life that's everything that she wants it to be.

Female Speaker: I am heartbroken. Every one of these Supreme Court justices sat in front of Congress during confirmation and said that Roe v. Wade was settled law, and it appears they weren't truthful. Breaking that kind of trust, it's eye opening, it's hurtful. It is concerning.

Female Speaker: My mom came of age in the '70s and she just, like, can't believe the place that we're at now. She had hoped that the next generation and her grandchild's generation would never be seeing this happen.

Female Speaker: I already talked to my mom and my grandmother, and we're supposed to celebrate Mother's Day this weekend, but if there's a protest here, we're celebrating here.

Kai: Regina, another way you've helped make sure we hear from listeners is you've helped these listening sessions in advance of some of our live shows. You'll connect with a community group and they bring people together who have a particular life experience that we want to learn about, and they share their insights.

Regina: Yes, I'll never forget when we held a focus group for religious people whose spirituality or religion has encouraged them to change their lives due to climate change. We ended up holding space for an interfaith, intergenerational conversation, where we shared ideas on how to do our part in saving the world.

Female Speaker: I'm a Unitarian Universalist.

Male Speaker: Intern pastor at Rock Spring United Church of Christ.

Male Speaker: I'm a Buddhist.

Female Speaker: A naturalist.

Male Speaker: Pastor in the Lutheran Church.

Regina: Have you changed your life in any way due to climate change?

Female Speaker: I ran for office in 2007, and I was Climate Champ, one of the earliest in office. We created the first countywide energy strategy in the country.

Male Speaker: I retired so that I could spend full time working on climate change.

Female Speaker: Have done composting for years.

Female Speaker: My house is heated with a heat pump. I have an EV. I have solar panels on the roof.

Male Speaker: I had 437 acres out in West Virginia. I'm getting old, so rather than trying to sell it, I donated it to two local land trusts.

Male Speaker: I've been really focusing my ministry on climate justice and trying to move things into that lens.

Female Speaker: I bring up the climate catastrophe every day everywhere I go.

Male Speaker: It's going to take not just the head but the heart to address climate change.

Male Speaker: Joining with others in your faith community to act on the biggest moral challenge of maybe civilization.

Male Speaker: We have members from over 15 local congregations. It's been helpful both as a space to take action and also provide a space to process our feelings and bring other people into the conversation.

Male Speaker: Most of us, I think here, are at least reasonably well off and can contend with this crisis much more than the people in poverty or places that they can't move. We owe it to our fellow human beings to show the love towards them as well as everybody else that this is a crisis, and we will not survive as a people without working together on this.

Kai: What I love about this, Regina, is we have always invited listeners to speak with us in first person, like about themselves and their own experiences. We don't ask you to play armchair political operative or give opinions about really anything beyond your own lives. You've always been game for that, which just offers a whole different and, I think, more productive way into some hard conversations.

One example that stuck with me was when we started talking on the show about census data that revealed how many people now identify as biracial or through multiple races. That conversation, it naturally morphed into this whole thing about our names. We ended up collecting these interesting personal stories about your names, listeners. Let's take a listen to a few messages you left us.

Lauren: Hi, Kai. This is Lauren from Inwood, Manhattan. I'm a Black woman. I am met with surprise by people of all races when they finally meet me. I have found that, in white settings, I feel the need to prove that the person who has been talking with those people, either over the phone or in writing using the name Lauren is the person that they are now speaking to in person with my Blackness, with my locks. My name and the way that I speak might put me in a different cast, but as soon as I'm seen, I go back down and then have to reprove myself.

Nicole: I'm Nicole from Kew Gardens, Queens. I never really liked my name, but the story behind it is that my mom named me something different. My dad said, you got to name the last one just 14 months ago. I want to name this one. He named me Nicole. Having found out a year ago that my dad is not my biological father, it became much more special to know that my name was chosen by him, who may have subconsciously felt that maybe I wasn't his, and he needed a deeper connection.

As much as I haven't loved my name, my name will always have a connection to my dad, who raised me, who might not share my blood, but I'm so thankful for. I will gladly say my name is Nicole.

Evan: Hi, Kai. My name is Evan. I'm calling from Lincoln, Rhode Island. The part of the conversation that really stood out to me was the part about names and how that is used as a tool to either emphasize your race or maybe try to de-emphasize it as a survival tactic. Now, I was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and my mother's Black, and my father is white and Chicano.

My mom has never confirmed this, but I think she named me Evan as a sort of defense mechanism against racism. I do know that she's had a lot of trauma around race in America. What really, really struck me about it is I'm now married to a white woman, and our first child is due tomorrow, and we named him Kendi.

Part of that was after Ibram X Kendi, and part of it is just based on the meaning of the word in Kenya. I've really been thinking about the fact that, like, I don't know what my child is going to look like. Is he going to look Black at all with this African name? Or is he going to look very white with this African name? What kind of implications is that going to have in his life? I really wonder how he is going to connect with the concept of race as it's shaped. I love your show and thank you for doing what you do.

Regina: Wow. I absolutely remember Evan's voicemail, and that names conversation definitely sticks out to me as a really special episode. It was really entirely driven by listeners and what they wanted to talk about.

Kai: Well, another example I enjoyed was actually something you wanted listeners to talk about, and that's your annual summer music playlist in which you get listeners to crowdsource a playlist of summer jams. It's really fun. Which one was your favorite?

Regina: Well, it's hard to pick just one, but I think last year's was my favorite when we asked listeners to share a song that represents their own diaspora story. Because so many of us have families and personal histories in places beyond the United States, we got a really great range of responses and really got to get to know each other in a different way. Here are just two examples.

Male Speaker: I was born in Massachusetts, lived for a little bit in Brazil because that's where my family's from. Grew up most of my life in New Jersey, but now I'm currently residing in the great state of Arizona. My contribution would be [unintelligible 00:46:30] by a Brazilian band called Banda Calypso. The chorus essentially translates to, my love, pack my bag for me because I got to go.

[music]

Male Speaker: It's so fun. It is so silly, but it also taps into a deep-seated knowledge that I have that I don't belong here. I don't belong there. It is my destiny as part of the diaspora to always be on the go and to carry my home on my shoulders with me. It's a song that I sing to my family whenever it's time for me to go. In the song, there's also a feeling of longing and of affection towards our different homes.

Female Speaker: I am what Samoans call an afakasi, meaning I'm half Samoan and half white. Samoa is part of Polynesia, and that's where all the Pacific islands within the triangle formed by Rapa Nui or Easter Island in the east, Aotearoa, New Zealand to the west, and the Kingdom of Hawaii in the north. Polynesians are few but proud, with most of us not living in the islands where we are from.

Since there are so few Polynesians in the world, the music from all of our cultures marinates with each other along with reggae from the Caribbean to create a unique sound. As an Afakasi, I grew up with my white family in the American South. There weren't any other Samoans around, so I didn't grow up knowing much of my culture other than summer visits to the islands. I tried to assimilate in America, but I decided to go back to the islands and live there for a decade, working and learning about my culture.

The song I want to add to the Diaspora sounds summer playlist is Ue'i Ho Sino, the Fokaa Jr mega mix by DJ Noiz. DJ Noiz, N-O-I-Z, is a famous Polynesian DJ who's the master of island style remixes.

[MUSIC - DJ Noiz: Ue'i Ho Sino, the Fokaa Jr mega mix]

Female Speaker: This song is a mashup of three songs from different Pacific islands including Tonga, the Solomon Islands, Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Samoa. I love that it includes multiple languages from Oliver Pacifica. It's fun, catchy song that's often played at barbecues or other events where adult beverages are present. But be warned, it has an earworm and you will get it stuck in your head. Thanks so much for listening. Bye.

[MUSIC - DJ Noiz: Ue'i Ho Sino, the Fokaa Jr mega mix]

Kai: Thank you and every listener who has ever called, texted, emailed, sent a voice note, left a voicemail, or just talk back on social media. Thanks for sharing your voices. Notes from America is a production of WNYC Studios. This episode was produced by Regina De Heer. You can talk to her on Instagram @regina_deheer. That's D-E-H-E-E-R. Theme music and mixing by Jared Paul. Our team also includes Katerina Barton, Suzanne Gabber, Matthew Mirando, Siona Petros, and Lindsay Foster Thomas. I'm Kai Wright Happy Holidays.

 

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