Episodes

  • Yoknapatawpha and Faulkner Conference in Oxford, Mississippi

    This is the longest continually running literary conference in the United States dedicated to the work of one author. This is the 50th Anniversary of the Conference, first held in 1974.

    Square Book Store, Oxford, Mississippi

    Square Books is a general independent bookstore in three separate buildings (about 100 feet apart) on the historic town square of Oxford, Mississippi, home of the University of Mississippi and many great writers, including William Faulkner, Barry Hannah, Larry Brown, and, for a time, both Willie Morris and John Grisham. The main store, Square Books, is in a two-story building with a cafe and balcony on the second floor; Off Square Books is a few doors down from the main store and has lifestyle sections such as gardening and cookbooks; Square Books, Jr., the children's bookstore, is in a building on the east side of the square; above it (in the site of the original bookstore) is the more recently opened Rare Square Books, which feature collectible, vintage, first edition books across a broad price range. Square Books is known for its strong selection of literary fiction, books on the American South and by Southern writers, a large inventory of reduced-price remainders, and its emphasis on books for children. The store hosts the popular Thacker Mountain radio show and over 150 author events a year.

    University Press of Mississippi


    University Press of Mississippi tells stories of scholarly and social importance that impact our state, region, nation, and world. We are committed to equality, inclusivity, and diversity. Working at the forefront of publishing and cultural trends, we publish books that enhance and extend the reputation of our state and its universities.

    Dr. Jay Watson

    Howry Professor of Faulkner Studies Jay Watson, a native of Athens, Georgia, received his B.A. degree from the University of Georgia (1983) and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University (1985, 1989). He joined the English department at the University of Mississippi in 1989, was promoted to Professor of English in 2007, and became UM’s second Howry Professor in 2010. During the 2002-2003 academic year he served as Visiting Fulbright Professor of American Studies at the University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University in Turku, Finland, and he has since been honored with the UM Faculty Achievement Award (2012), the UM Liberal Arts Professor of the Year award (2014), and the UM Humanities Teacher of the Year award (2014). In 2013 he was a finalist for the Southeastern Conference Professor of the Year Award, and in 2018 he was the fall convocation speaker at UM.

    Elizabeth Howard, Producer and Host of the Short Fuse Podcast

    Elizabeth Howard is the producer and host of the Short Fuse Podcast, conversations with artists, writers, musicians, and others whose art reveals our communities through their lens and stirs us to seek change. Her articles related to communication and marketing have appeared in European Communications, Investor Relations, Law Firm Marketing & Profit Report, Communication World, The Strategist, and the New York Law Journal, among others. Her books include Queen Anne’s Lace and Wild Blackberry Pie, (Thornwillow Press, 2011), A Day with Bonefish Joe (David Godine, 2015) and Ned O’Gorman: A Glance Back (Easton Studio Press, 2016). She leads reading groups at the Center for Fiction in Brooklyn, New York. @elizh24 on Instagram

  • Elizabeth Howard began hosting and producing the Short Fuse during the pandemic years. Those days when we were shuttered in our rooms. Displaced. Disoriented. Since then she has hosted 33 conversations, created a YouTube channel for online Short Fuse reading groups, and held live events at P&T Knitwear in New York, the Harvard Bookstore in Cambridge, and at the Portsmouth Athenaeum in New Hampshire. You can find all of the Short Fuse conversations on the Short Fuse website.

    Dell'Aria Cafe is at 232 East 111th Street in East Harlem. An authentic cafe with roasted Italian coffee ... and conversation.

    Jasmine Rice LaBeija is a Drag Queen, who can often be found performing in New York City.

    Rev. Michael Curry is the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States. He spoke at the memorial held for Archbishop Desmond Tutu at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.

    Ann Kjellberg is the founder of Book Post.

    Bill Marx is the founder and Editor of the Arts Fuse, the online journal of arts commentary and criticism.

    Kyle Dacuyan is a poet and the director of the Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church in the Bowery.

    Valena Beety is the author of Manifesting Justice and works with Tasha Shelby.

    Frank Young is the artist who created the collage for this episode.

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  • The Arts Fuse is an on-line magazine designed to preserve the craft of professional arts criticism, while also looking for ways to explore new and innovative ways to evolve the cultural conversation and bring together critics, readers, and artists. Substantial criticism -- by sparking lively, contentious dialogue about the strengths, weaknesses, and contributions of the arts -- plays an indispensable role in the cultural ecology. Smaller, newer organizations are fostered by debate and evaluation. When they are ignored, as they are by the mainstream media, they fade away.

    SUBSCRIBE to the Arts Fuse weekly e-newsletter

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  • Justice Malala, is one of South Africa’s foremost political commentators and commentators and the author of the bestseller We Have Now Begun Our Decent: How to stop south Africa losing its way. He has been a columnist for the Times in SA, and written for the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Guardian and the Financial Times. He now lives in New York.

    Jonny Steinberg is the author of several books about everyday life in the wake of South Africa’s transition to democracy. He is a two-time winner of the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award, South Africa's premier literary prize, and an inaugural winner of the Donald Windham-Sandy M. Campbell Literature Prizes. Until 2020, he was professor of African studies at Oxford University. He currently teaches part-time at the Council on African Studies at Yale University's MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies and is visiting professor at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WISER) in Johannesburg.

    Alex Waters is the technical producer, audio editor and engineer for the Short Fuse Podcast. He is a music producer and a student at Berklee College of Music. He has written and produced music and edited for podcasts including The Faith and Chai Podcast and Con Confianza. He writes, produces and records music for independent artists, including The Living. He lives in Brooklyn can can be reached at [email protected] with inquiries.

  • Ann Kjellberg founded Book Post, a newsletter-based book review, in 2018. Book Post publishes short book reviews by distinguished figures in literature, history, science, social sciences, and the arts. Kjellberg also reports for Book Post on the book industry, journalism, and the state of writing and ideas. Her essays have appeared in The New York Review of Books, The Observer, The Browser, and LitHub. She was on the editorial staff of the New York Review of Books from 1988 to 2017, and from 1985 to 1987 she was an editor at Farrar, Straus & Giroux. She is the literary executor of the poet Joseph Brodsky and editor of several editions of his work. She founded the literary magazine Little Star and has taught literary journalism at Bryn Mawr College.

    The Short Fuse Podcast hosted and produced by Elizabeth Howard, are conversations with artists, writers, musicians, and others who have a lens on contemporary thought and stir us to seek change. With their art, their music, their performances, and their vision they lead us through the social and environmental transformations sweeping across the globe.

    “Artists are here to disturb the peace.” James Baldwin.

    The Short Fuse is distributed through the Arts Fuse, a journal of arts criticism and commentary.

    Alex Waters is the technical producer, audio editor and engineer for the Short Fuse Podcast. He is a music producer and a student at Berklee College of Music. He has written and produced music and edited for podcasts including The Faith and Chai Podcast and Con Confianza. He writes, produces and records music for independent artists, including The Living. He lives in Brooklyn can can be reached at [email protected] with inquiries.

  • Jasmine Rice LaBeija the International Godmother of the Royal House of LaBeija is an iconic and respected entertainer. In 2017, she was one of the leading cast members in the documentary series Shade, Queens of New York City, on Fusion Network. She has been a host of Dragged, which won a Shorty Award in Diversity and Inclusion for Verizon's network In the Know and she was the face of New York City's 2020 Pride. Jasmine is a graduate of the Juilliard School and made her opera debut at the Shell with the San Diego Symphony as a special guest soloist with Megan Hilty, Rob Fisher conducting. This year, she was invited back to the Guggenheim Museum for a solo recital and she appeared at Lincoln Center.

    Works & Process Described by The New York Times as “an exceptional opportunity to understand something of the creative process,” for 35 years as New Yorkers have been able to see, hear, and meet the most acclaimed artists in the world, in an intimate setting unlike any other. Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, has championed new works and offered audiences unprecedented access to generations of leading creators and performers.

    Elizabeth Howard, host and producer of the Short Fuse Podcast.

    Alex Waters is the technical producer, audio editor and engineer for The Short Fuse Podcast. He is a music producer and a student at Berklee College of Music. He has written and produced music and edited for podcasts including The Faith and Chai Podcast and Con Confianza. He writes, produces and records music for independent artists, including The Living. He lives in Brooklyn can can be reached at [email protected] with inquiries.

  • Justice Malala is one of South Africa’s foremost political commentators and the author of the #1 bestseller We Have Now Begun Our Descent: How to Stop South Africa Losing its Way. A longtime weekly columnist for The Times (South Africa), he has also written for The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, and Financial Times, among other outlets. The former publisher of The Sowetan and Sunday World, he now lives in New York.

  • Kyle Dacuyan is a poet, performer, and translator. His poem have appeared in DIAGRAM, Lambda Literary, Foundry, and Best New Poets, among other places. He is the recipient of scholarships from Poets House, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and the Academy of American Poets. Prior to joining The Poetry Project, he served as co-director of National Outreach and Membership at PEN America, where he led the launch of a nationwide community engagement fund for writers. Previously, he served as associate director at the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America.

    The Poetry Project

    American Academy of Poets

    St. Mark's in the Bowery Church

    Poetry Foundation

    The Paris Review

    O, Miami

    Alex Waters is the technical producer, audio editor and engineer for the Short Fuse Podcast. He is a music producer and a student at Berklee College of Music. He has written and produced music and edited for podcasts including The Faith and Chai Podcast and Con Confianza. He writes, produces and records music for independent artists, including The Living. He lives in Brooklyn can can be reached at [email protected] with inquiries.

  • Joshua Whitehead

    Joshua Whitehead is a Two-Spirit, Oji-nêhiyaw member of Peguis First Nation (Treaty 1). He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Calgary where he teaches Indigenous literatures and cultures with a focus on gender and sexuality. His book of poetry, full-metal indigiqueer (Talonbooks 2017), was shortlisted for the inaugural Indigenous Voices Award and the Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry. His novel, Jonny Appleseed (Arsenal Pulp Press 2018), established Joshua Whitehead as one of the most exciting and important new literary voices on Turtle Island. Jonny Appleseed was long listed for the Giller Prize, shortlisted for the Indigenous Voices Award, the Governor General's Literary Award, the Amazon Canada First Novel Award, the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award, and won the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction and the Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction. In Making Love With the Land (University of Minnesota, 2022), a book of essays, he writes in prose that is evocative and sensual, unabashedly queer and visceral, raw, autobiographical, and emotionally compelling. Whitehead shares his devotion to the world in which we live and brilliantly—even joyfully—maps his experience on the land that has shaped stories, histories, and bodies from time immemorial. His work is published widely in such venues as Prairie Fire, CV2, EVENT, Arc Poetry Magazine, The Fiddlehead, Grain, CNQ, Write, and Red Rising Magazine.

    Robin Wall Kimmerer

    University of Minnesota Press

    Johnny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead

    Alex Waters is the technical producer, audio editor and engineer for the Short Fuse Podcast. He is a music producer and a student at Berklee College of Music. He has written and produced music and edited for podcasts including The Faith and Chai Podcast, Con Confianza and The Stand Unshaken Podcast. He writes, produces and records music for independent artists, including The Living. He lives in Brooklyn can can be reached at [email protected] with inquiries.

  • Free Tasha Shelby is the website where you can learn more about Tasha's case.

    To support Tasha:

    Governor Tate Reeves: C Governor’s office, call 601-359-3150/ email [email protected].

    Lynn Fitch, Mississippi Attorney General: 601.359.3680/P.O. Box 220, Jackson MS 3920

    Valena Beety is a law professor, an innocence litigator, and a former federal prosecutor. She has exonerated wrongly convicted clients, founded the West Virginia Innocence Project, and obtained presidential grants of clemency for drug offenses. She served as an appointed commissioner on the West Virginia Governor's Indigent Defense Commission. She is currently a professor of law at Arizona State University's Sandra Day O' Connor College of Law and the deputy director of the Academy for Justice, a criminal justice center at the law school.V

    Tasha Mercedes Shelby is a writer and an advocate for incarcerated women. Tasha was wrongly convicted of a crime that did not occur on June 16, 2000 in Biloxi, Mississippi. In her twenty-two years of incarceration, she has earned her GED, taken classes at Millsaps College through the Prison to College Pipeline, and developed as a writer and as an artist. She continues to fight her wrongful conviction and you can learn more about her struggle at Free Tasha Shelby.

    Alex Waters is the technical producer, audio editor and engineer for the Short Fuse Podcast. He is a music producer and a student at Berklee College of Music. He has written and produced music and edited for podcasts including The Faith and Chai Podcast and Con Confianza. He writes, produces and records music for independent artists, including The Living. He lives in Brooklyn can can be reached at [email protected] with inquiries.

  • Bloomberg Public Arts Challenge

    Audio used in the episode has been contributed by Bloomberg Philanthropies' Public Art Challenge.

    Artist David Best's Temple of Time brought the communities of Parkland and Coral Springs, Florida together on the one-year anniversary of the school shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

    The Greenwood Art Project in Tulsa, Oklahoma commemorated the centennial anniversary of the 1921 massacre of a thriving Black community, known as Black Wall Street. The history of the massacre had been buried, and these art projects marked the community's resilience and recovery through installations by local artists who told the story of Black Wall Street's past, present, and future..

    Bloomberg Philanthropies believes in the power of arts and culture to inspire creativity and spark collaboration. The Arts program supports artists and cultural organizations and improves audience experience to strengthen the creative landscape and quality of life in cities around the world. These efforts include facilitating collaborations between artists and local governments to address civic issues, building capacity for small and mid-sized cultural institutions, and increasing and enhancing visitor engagement through the integration of digital technology.

    Data on projects over the five most recent Public Challenge Projects underscores their impact, including catalyzing more than $100 million in economic benefits for local communities. Cities can apply for Public Art Challenge grants until February 15, 2023.

    Stephanie Dockery brings more than 12 years of experience in arts management to her role as a member of the Arts Team at Bloomberg Philanthropies. Currently, Stephanie manages Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Public Art Challenge, a national competition supporting temporary public art projects that address significant civic issues and demonstrate an ability to generate public-private collaborations, celebrate creativity, and strengthen local economies. She also manages partnership teams on the Bloomberg Connects portfolio app, a free app with guides to 160 cultural organizations.

    Elizabeth Howard is the producer and host of the Short Fuse Podcast.

    Alex Waters is the technical producer, audio editor and engineer for the Short Fuse Podcast. He is a music producer and a student at Berklee College of Music. He has written and produced music and edited for podcasts including The Faith and Chai Podcast and Con Confianza. He writes, produces and records music for independent artists, including The Living. He lives in Brooklyn can can be reached at [email protected] with inquiries.

  • Diane Glancy is a poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, and professor emeritus at Macalester College. Her works have won the Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry. and the Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oklahoma Center the Book, among other awards. In 2018, Publishers Weekly named her book Pushing the Bear: A Novel of the Trail of Tears one of the ten essential Native American novels.

    Turtle Point Press introduces readers to outstanding literature by classic and contemporary writers from around the globe. We promote the work of emerging and neglected authors alongside those who are better known. The mix creates a publishing program that is both iconoclastic and challenging, revealing lives not usually seen in books that are playful, poignant, and poetic. Our writers work with some of the best editors in publishing and are treated to exquisitely designed and produced books. We are especially dedicated to supporting women, the LGBTQ community, and writers whose first language is not English.

    Elizabeth Howard is the producer and host of Short Fuse Podcast. She engages individuals in lively and provocative conversations around how the arts can affect social change. As a creative director and communications consultant she is recognized for her creative approach in working with clients and assisting them in their messaging, branding and media, as they stride past boundaries in search of the new. Her portfolio includes authors, artists, and cultural organizations; business leaders, universities, nonprofit organizations; and professional service firms, including high-profile architectural and design firms, often with international practices.

    Alex Waters

    Alex is the technical producer, audio editor and engineer for the Short Fuse Podcast. He is a music producer and a student at Berklee College of Music. He has written and produced music and edited for podcasts including The Faith and Chai Podcast and Con Confianza. He writes, produces and records music for independent artists, including The Living. He lives in Brooklyn can can be reached at [email protected] with inquiries.

  • Diane Alters

    Diane Alters is a lecturer in journalism at Colorado College. She has worked as an editor or reporter for several publications, including the Boston Globe, the Sacramento Bee and the Denver Post and is co-author of Media, Home and Family (Routledge 2004). Her exquisite book of poetry, Breath, Suspended, (Finishing Line Press 2022.) was described by a critic as, “What it means to write at the aperture of grief.”

    Edward Hirsch

    Edward Hirsch is a beloved American poet. Gabriel: A Poem, published in 2014, is a book-length elegy for his son. He has written 10 volumes of poetry and is the author of five prose books. His most recent book is 100 Poems to Break Your Heart. Edward Hirsch has taught creative writing and is president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, a position he has held since 2002.

    Sarah J. Purcell

    Author, Spectacle of Grief, Public Funerals and Memory in the Civil War Era and L. F. Parker Professor of History at Grinnell College.


    Alex Waters

    Alex is the technical producer, audio editor and engineer for the Short Fuse Podcast. He is a music producer and a student at Berklee College of Music. He has written and produced music and edited for podcasts including The Faith and Chai Podcast and Con Confianza. He writes, produces and records music for independent artists, including The Living. He lives in Brooklyn can can be reached at [email protected] with inquiries.

  • Valena Beety is a law professor, an innocence litigator, and a former federal prosecutor. She has exonerated wrongly convicted clients, founded the West Virginia Innocence Project, and obtained presidential grants of clemency for drug offenses. She served as an appointed commissioner on the West Virginia Governor's Indigent Defense Commission. She is currently a professor of law at Arizona State University's Sandra Day O' Connor College of Law and the deputy director of the Academy for Justice, a criminal justice center at the law school.V

    Tasha Mercedes Shelby is a writer and an advocate for incarcerated women. Tasha was wrongly convicted of a crime that did not occur on June 16, 2000 in Biloxi, Mississippi. In her twenty-two years of incarceration, she has earned her GED, taken classes at Millsaps College through the Prison to College Pipeline, and developed as a writer and as an artist. She continues to fight her wrongful conviction and you can learn more about her struggle at Free Tasha Shelby.

    Alex Waters

    Alex is the technical producer, audio editor and engineer for the Short Fuse Podcast. He is a music producer and a student at Berklee College of Music. He has written and produced music and edited for podcasts including The Faith and Chai Podcast and Con Confianza. He writes, produces and records music for independent artists, including The Living. He lives in Brooklyn can can be reached at [email protected] with inquiries.

  • Amy D. Clark, PhD,

    Amy Clark is a professor of Appalachian and Communication Studies at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, where she is the founding co-director of the Center for Appalachian Studies, and founding Director of the Appalachian Writing Project. She is author and co-editor of Talking Appalachian: Voice, Identity, and Community (University Press of Kentucky). Her work on Appalachian dialects has appeared in the New York Times and NPR, among other publications. She co-hosts the podcast Southern Salon: Culture and Communication Podcast which includes a new series on Talking Appalachia.

    Jayne Moore Waldrop

    Jayne Moore Waldrop is a western Kentucky native, She is the author of Retracing My Steps, a finalist in the 2018 New Women's Voices Chapbook Contest, and Pandemic Lent: A Season in Poems. Waldrop's work has appeared in the Anthology of Appalachian Writers, Still: The Journal, Appalachian Review, New Madrid Review, Deep South Magazine, New Limestone Review, Women Speak, and other literary journals. She lives in Lexington, Kentucky.

    University Press of Kentucky

    The University Press of Kentucky has a dual mission—the publication of academic books of high scholarly merit in a variety of fields and the publication of significant books about the history and culture of Kentucky, the Ohio Valley region, the Upper South, and Appalachia. The Press is the statewide nonprofit scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, serving all Kentucky state-sponsored institutions of higher learning as well as six private colleges and Kentucky’s two major historical societies.

    The Short Fuse Podcast

    Hosted and produced by Elizabeth Howard. Learn more at Elizabeth Howard.

    The Arts Fuse

    The Arts Fuse was established in June, 2007 as a curated, independent online arts magazine dedicated to publishing in-depth criticism, along with high quality previews, interviews, and commentaries. The publication’s over 60 freelance critics (many of them with decades of experience) cover dance, film, food, literature, music, television, theater, video games, and visual arts. There is a robust readership for arts coverage that believes that culture matters.

    Courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways

    Smithsonian Folkways Recordings is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution, the national museum of the United States. We are dedicated to supporting cultural diversity and increased understanding among peoples through the documentation, preservation, and dissemination of sound. We believe that musical and cultural diversity contributes to the vitality and quality of life throughout the world. Through the dissemination of audio recordings and educational materials we seek to strengthen people's engagement with their own cultural heritage and to enhance their awareness and appreciation of the cultural heritage of others. Smithsonian Folkways is part of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

    Alex Waters

    Alex is the technical producer, audio editor and engineer for the Short Fuse Podcast. He is a music producer and a student at Berklee College of Music. He has written and produced music and edited for podcasts including The Faith and Chai Podcast and Con Confianza. He writes, produces and records music for independent artists, including The Living. He lives in Brooklyn can can be reached at [email protected] with inquiries.

  • Meredith Hall

    Meredith Hall's memoir Without a Map was instantly recognized as a classic of the genre and became a New York Times bestseller. It was named a best book of the year by Kirkus and BookSense, and was an Elle magazine Reader’s Pick of the Year. Hall was a recipient of the 2004 Gift of Freedom Award from A Room of Her Own Foundation. Her work has appeared in Five Points, The Gettysburg Review, The Kenyon Review, The Southern Review, The New York Times, and many other publications. Hall divides her time between Maine and California.

    Godine Publisher

    Godine is an independent publisher located in Boston, Massachusetts. In 2020, with new titles that range from Shaun Bythell’s memoir, Confessions of a Bookseller to Thomas W. Gilbert’s groundbreaking history, How Baseball Happened: Outrageous Lies Exposed! The True Story Revealed. Founded in 1970, Godine is home to the Black Sparrow Press, founded in 1966 and relaunched in Spring 2020 with titles including Wicked Enchantment: Selected Poems by Wanda Coleman, edited by Terrance Hayes, and Summer Solstice: An Essay by Nina MacLaughlin.

    The Portsmouth Athenaenum

    The Portsmouth Athenaenum is a library, gallery and museum founded in 1817 and located in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Membership libraries were first created in the 18th century. While there were once hundreds of membership libraries across America and today there are fewer than 20. Today, the Portsmouth Athenæum maintains a library of over 40,000 volumes, an archive of manuscripts, photographs, objects, and ephemera relating to local history and sponsors exhibitions, concerts, lectures, and other educational and cultural programs.

    Alex Waters

    Alex is the technical producer and editor for the Short Fuse Podcast. He is a music producer and a student at Berklee College of Music. He has written and produced music and edited for podcasts including The Faith and Chai Podcast and Con Confianza. He writes, produces and records music for independent artists, including The Living. He lives in Brooklyn can can be reached at [email protected] with inquiries.



  • Mark Goldsmith, author of From Madison Avenue to Rikers Island: The Making of a Social Entrepreneur, is founder and CEO emeritus of Getting Out and Staying Out, a nonprofit that provides educational, vocational, job readiness, counseling, and other services to young men who have been incarcerated. Prior to his nonprofit work, Goldsmith was an executive in the cosmetics industry for more than 35 years, rising through the ranks at companies including Revlon, Yves St. Laurent, and Almay before starting his own company, Inventory Management Systems, specializing in trading excess inventories of well-known brand names for media time at similar values.

    John Gonzalez was raised and grew up in New York City (Washington Heights). He got involved with the wrong people, which changed the course of his life, and led him into the Criminal Justice System, from 1999-2005 on multiple occasions. He met Mark Goldsmith in 2005 and got involved in Getting Out and Staying Out (GOSO) which changed his life.

    John went from Rikers, to 116th Street, where GOSO, was located. With Mark Goldsmith's support he was able to find employment, get married and begin a new life. He bought his first house at age 23 in Portland, PA. He is now operations manager for a trucking company, in charge of 30 trucks in the Northeast, and has maintained his sobriety and a clean record since 2007.

    Getting Out and Staying Out (GOSO). The vision of GOSO is world where neither a person’s race nor contact with the legal system determines their future. The mission of GOSO is to partner with people impacted by arrest and incarceration on a journey of education, employment and emotional wellbeing and collaborates with NYC communities to support a culture of nonviolence.

    Alex Waters is a technical producer for the Short Fuse Podcast. He is a music producer and a student at the Berklee College of Music. He has written and produced music and edited for podcasts including The Faith and Chai Podcast and Con Confianza. Alex writes, produces and records music for independent artists, including The Living. He lives in Brooklyn can can be reached at: [email protected]

  • Gwendolyn Brooks: A Poet's Work in the Community opened at the Morgan Library on January 28 and will be on view through June 5, 2022.

    Comprising more than forty manuscripts, broadsides, and first editions, the exhibition explores Brooks’s roles as a poet, teacher, mentor, and community leader. The exhibition traces the effect of the resulting relationships on her work and the work of other creatives, such as Dudley Randall, Sonia Sanchez, and Jeff Donaldson. It takes us through the story of Brooks as a young poet, her early published poetry and establishes her relationship with the Black arts and publishing communities of the 1960s and ’70s. We learn of her contributions as a mentor to future writers through her children’s books and self-published guides for young poets. Nic Caldwell's exhibition comes at an important moment in our collective history, providing us with a blueprint for building community as an essential part of creative growth.

    The Poetry Project

    Thank you to the Poetry Project for allowing us to use the recording of Gwendolyn Brooks reading at
    The Poetry Project in 1981. The program included Ntozake Shange, the American playwright and poet. best known for her play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf. The reading was just after the premiere.

    Library of America

    Edward Hirsch's essay on Gwendolyn Brooks can be found in The Heart of American Poetry, published by Library of America. Elizabeth Alexander edited wrote the introduction to The Essential Gwendolyn Brooks also published by Library of America.

    DuSable Museum of African American History

    Student readers

    Timia McCoade is a senior at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School. This recording was arranged through Alwin Jones, chair, the English Department and director of the Fieldston Summer Academic Program.

    Alex Waters is a technical producer for the Short Fuse Podcast. He is a music producer and a student at the Berklee College of Music. He has written and produced music and edited for podcasts including The Faith and Chai Podcast and Con Confianza. Alex writes, produces and records music for independent artists, including The Living. He lives in Brooklyn can can be reached at: [email protected]

  • Charlie Bennet is a Swedish-born photographer based in New York City. He specializes in still life and lifestyle photography and has worked with editorial and advertising clients such as The New York Times, Nike and Wallpaper. Bennet has published five books prior to ON PAUSE and has exhibited his work both in the United States and Europe.

    Helena Gustavsson is a Swedish journalist based in New York. She reports mainly for Swedish media on politics, social issues, and arts and culture. Helena has covered two presidential elections and profiled a number of U.S.-based authors, including Salman Rushdie, Siri Hustvedt, and Colson Whitehead. She has written several pieces on how the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted America and has also interviewed “Sweden’s Dr. Fauci,” Anders Tegnell. Helena lives in Brooklyn, New York.

    https://www.onpausebook.com

    Alex Waters is a technical producer for the Short Fuse Podcast. He is a music producer and a student at the Berklee College of Music. He has written and produced music and edited for podcasts including The Faith and Chai Podcast and Con Confianza. Alex writes, produces and records music for independent artists, including The Living. He lives in Brooklyn can can be reached at:

  • Sumaya Hisham is a freelance photojournalist based in Cape Town. She is passionate about capturing images of people in their daily lives. She covers news and cultural events for a variety of clients, including news agencies such as Reuters, the European Press Photo Agency, and Getty Images. Her work has appeared in Washington Post, LA Times, Times UK, Irish Times, Guardian, and Newsweek. She works with the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation to continue to share his legacy of compassion, forgiveness and resolving conflict through peaceful means.

    Eric Miller is a documentary photographer who has worked in South Africa and across Africa. He began his career during the struggle against Apartheid in the 1980's, working during that period for the progressive photo collective Afrapix, documenting Apartheid's oppression. In the post-Apartheid period, he has worked across Africa on assignment for many publications in North America and Europe and has been widely published in publications ranging from Time and Newsweek to newspapers including New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, among many others.

    The hymn used at the end of the conversation is "Thato ya hao." We are told it was Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s favorite hymn. You can find a video featuring Imilonji Kantu Choral on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm9PlOz3MOE.

    Alex Waters is a technical producer for the Short Fuse Podcast. He is a music producer and a student at the Berklee College of Music. He has written and produced music and edited for podcasts including The Faith and Chai Podcast and Con Confianza. He writes, produces and records music for independent artists, including The Living. Alex lives in Brooklyn. You can reach him at [email protected].