Driveway moments aren’t just for driveways anymore. Louisville Public Media’s podcasts go wherever you want to listen. And our podcast incubator puts community voices and stories in your pocket.
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LPM Podcasts
Our podcasts have a little something for everyone. Check them out, and follow your favorites!
Words for the People

Each episode features an established writer and an emerging writer, sharing their wisdom to help you free your own story. “Words for the People” is hosted by Crystal Wilkinson, Kentucky’s Poet Laureate.
On this episode, Kentucky Poet Laureate Crystal Wilkinson peers underneath deep joy to expose roots of heartache and struggle. Author Tracey Michae’l Lewis-Giggits, who grew up in Louisville, reveals that “grief and trauma live in the same place as joy.” Her most recent publication is the critically-acclaimed book, “Black Joy: Stories of Resistance, Resilience, and Restoration,” about how joy has evolved in the midst of hardship in her own life story.
This episode’s emerging author is our youngest guest yet! Ten-year-old King El-Amin is a creative writer and artist from Lexington who shares how he experiences joy from his family, wet kisses from his amazing dog, and wearing a fabulous crown. “It gives me a boost of confidence,” he explains, and that helps him boost everyone around him. You won’t want to miss King reading his award-winning poem, “Black Boy Joy!”

Where Y’all Really From

What’s the one universal question Asian Americans are asked at least once (but more like a million times) in their lives? “Where are you from?” “No, but where are you really from?” Where Y’all Really From focuses on the tens of thousands of folks whose answer is, “Kentucky!” Hosts Charlene Buckles & Dan Wu chat with and share the diverse stories and perspectives of Asian American and Pacific Islanders living, learning, and loving in the bluegrass state.
Sure, our season’s over… but we miss you already! So in this bonus mini episode, our hosts Dan Wu and Charlene Buckles reflect on season one, which ran the gamut from interpersonal decolonization to Doritos and buttermilk. We’re gonna go work on season two now, so let us know what you want to hear more about at wyrf@louisvillepublicmedia.org or at whereyallreallyfrom.org. Thank you so much for being part of our inaugural season!

Butter Pecan

A podcast about race, food, and racist food. Join Kelly Nusz and Darryl Goodner in discussing the wild and ridiculous racist tropes in the food you know, and probably love. While also dismantling those tropes and creating something new.
How do you take your coffee? Cream? Sugar? Or do you drink it Black? As the world’s second most traded commodity (next to oil) it’s hard to have your morning fix without coming to terms with the origins of your favorite drink. It’ll probably come as no surprise that coffee as a long history of slavery. We discuss our own relationship with coffee as we tell of its origins and early history.

Dig

Louisville, Ky. once made ambitious promises to transform its police department and mend its relationship with the Black community. Five years later, Louisville police killed Breonna Taylor in her home, kicking off a protest movement unlike anything the city had seen in decades.
In a joint KyCIR/Newsy investigation, insiders and documents reveal the systemic barriers and choices made by city leaders and the Louisville Metro Police Department that led to its failure to meaningfully change. How did Louisville go from a national leader in policing to an epicenter of the movement for racial justice in the United States? Find out on Dig Season 2: The Model City.
So much has changed since Louisville first proclaimed itself a model city for policing reform: the police chief was fired. The city was upended by protests and grief over Breonna Taylor, and David McAtee. But some things are the same: The anger. The frustration. The disconnect between the police and the community. In our season finale, city leadership makes a very familiar set of promises. Could 21st Century Policing work this time? Is it too late?

Earth and Spirit

The Earth and Spirit Podcast fosters engaging conversations with change-makers working at the intersection of meditative spiritual practice, social healing, and ecology. It is a production of the Passionist Earth & Spirit Center (www.earthandspiritcenter.org), a nonprofit, interfaith spirituality center located in Louisville, Kentucky.
Jeanette Prince-Cherry had careers in the Air Force and as an industrial engineer before dedicating her life to Zen Buddhism. A Zen priest and instructor, she divides her time between the Louisville Zen Center and the Rochester Zen Center in New York. In this episode, Jeanette explains the basics of Zen, how it is similar to and different from secular mindfulness, and how it provides tools and resources for mental health, resilience, and the strengthening of communities, especially in a post-pandemic world. This episode is from the archives and was originally released July 31, 2021.
Earth & Spirit Center homepage: www.earthandspiritcenter.org
Louisville Zen Center homepage: https://www.louisvillezen.org/
Rochester Zen Center homepage: https://www.rzc.org/

Five Things

How do the objects we love define us? What can we learn from the things we treasure? And how can we discover a life story through those objects? Five Things, from 89.3 WFPL and Louisville Public Media, explores those questions and more. +
Clarence Bucaro is a singer-songwriter and a one-time stay-at-home dad. He’s been making albums since 2000, with some twists and turns along the way. He’s also in a two-person book club with his mom. #goals +

Great Podversations

Great Podversations features nationally-recognized writers in conversation. These candid discussions invite the listener to learn about literature, politics, history, economics, science, and culture through the voices of compelling authors and experts. NPR’s Robert Siegel introduces each pair of fascinating guests. Great Podversations is produced by the University of Louisville Kentucky Author Forum, and distributed by Louisville Public Media. For more information, please visit kentuckyauthorforum.com.
Politician and author Charles Booker discusses his book, “From the Hood to the Holler: A Story of Separate Worlds, Shared Dreams, and the Fight for America’s Future,” with writer and Professor Eddie Glaude.
Charles Booker represented the 43rd District in the Kentucky House of Representatives, where he served on the economic development and workforce, judiciary, and natural resources and energy committees. A graduate of the University of Louisville and its Brandeis School of Law, Booker is a Bingham Fellow and a Bloomberg Innovation Delivery Team fellow. He is the founder of the advocacy group Hood to the Holler, which continues the work of his campaign, building bridges between previously siloed communities.
Eddie S. Glaude Jr. is the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor and Chair of the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University. He is a former president of the American Academy of Religion. Glaude is the author of several important books including “Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul.” Glaude is a columnist for Time magazine and an MSNBC contributor on programs like Morning Joe, and Deadline Whitehouse. He also regularly appears on Meet the Press.

Here Today

This is a pivotal moment for west Louisville. There’s a track & field complex planned, a new YMCA in the works, and the renovation of Beecher Terrace. But as property values rise, so do property taxes, and that can be a hardship for the people already living there. Is this revitalization? Or gentrification? Here Today will track the changes in Louisville’s West End, and tell the stories of the people who call it home.
Earlier this year, we set out to take a deep look at why Louisville’s West End is changing — and how. In this last episode of Here Today, we address the uncertainty that lies ahead, and how that could affect the people who live west of Ninth Street.
Here Today is a listener-supported project. You make it possible for us to hold the people in power accountable for the promises they make. Click here to chip in: wfpl.org/supportheretoday
