Past Forward

Dr. Regan F. Patterson is the Co-Founder of Black in Environment. She is an Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles and the Principal Investigator of the Engineering Environmental Justice Lab. Previously, Dr. Patterson was the Transportation Equity Research Fellow at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) and a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research. She earned her PhD in Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research interests include air quality, sustainable transportation, community engagement, and environmental justice.

Engaging the World: Leading the Conversation on Health Equity is a series of interviews with activists, artists, educators, historians, and journalists about accessibility, cost, prejudice, and the human experience of healthcare in America.

Guest: Dr. Regan F. Patterson
Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by Past Forward in partnership with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University.

Addison Rose Vincent (they/them) is a 30-year-old transgender and nonbinary advocate, educator, and influencer based in Los Angeles, CA. They garnered national attention in 2013 as the first openly transgender participant in the Chapman University sorority rush process, and again in 2014 as the first openly transgender candidate in the Delta Queen pageant, leaving with the title of Miss Congeniality. 

Since graduating from Chapman in 2015 with a BA in Peace Studies, Addison has worked with various nonprofit organizations across the state and country advocating for the LGBTQ+ community, including the Victory Fund, Los Angeles LGBT Center, Strength United, TransLatin@ Coalition, Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team, and Nonbinary & Intersex Recognition Project. 

Addison currently serves as the Founder & CEO of Break The Binary, their consulting firm which provides DEI and LGBTQ+ training and supportive services to organizations, schools, and businesses around the world. Addison also serves as a Board Member for LA Pride and as the Project Director for History Reimagined, an organization focused on breaking cycles of domestic violence and the school-to-prison pipeline by empowering youth with their own family and community history.

Engaging the World: Leading the Conversation on Health Equity is a series of interviews with activists, artists, educators, historians, and journalists about accessibility, cost, prejudice, and the human experience of healthcare in America.

Guest: Addison Rose Vincent
Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by Past Forward in partnership with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University.

Christine Fugate is an award-winning producer and director whose work has been screened in theaters and broadcast on channels around the world. She has produced pilots and programming for networks including Discovery, VH1, Disney, A&E, Sundance, Travel Channel, PBS, and HBO. She has also spent time interviewing celebrities such as Johnny Depp, Tom Hanks, Julie Andrews, and Anne Hathaway. For her unscripted work, she was named one of Showbiz's Top 100 Directors. She is currently an Assistant Professor in Documentary and Narrative Film at Chapman University.

Engaging the World: Leading the Conversation on Health Equity is a series of interviews with activists, artists, educators, historians, and journalists about accessibility, cost, prejudice, and the human experience of healthcare in America.

Guest: Christine Fugate
Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by Past Forward in partnership with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University.

Cedric Taiis an undisciplinary artist born in Detroit, Michigan, residing in Los Angeles. They have an Art Education BFA from Michigan State University, and an MFA from the Glasgow School of Art. Their artwork and teachings focus on neurodivergent experience, labor, and politics. The artist also shares their perspectives through printed brochures such as 'How to Advocate for Yourself at the Doctors Office' and 'An ADHD Zine for/by Artists'. In their exhibit, @fakingprofessionalism, Tai gives experimental, provisional, and non-clinically proven answers that provide a middle ground between social media hot takes and inaccessible scientific discourse. Tai shares their personal journey through the American healthcare system, professional sphere, and art world.

Engaging the World: Leading the Conversation on Health Equity is a series of interviews with activists, artists, educators, historians, and journalists about accessibility, cost, prejudice, and the human experience of healthcare in America.

Guest: Cedric Tai
Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by Past Forward in partnership with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University.

Leslie A. Schwalm is Professor Emeritus of history and gender, women's, and sexuality studies at the University of Iowa, where she taught courses on women's history, slavery, emancipation, and the Civil War. She is the author of prizewinning articles, books, and chapters on women's experiences of slavery, emancipation, and the Civil War; the struggle for civil rights in the postwar nation; and popular memory of slavery and the Civil War.

Engaging the World: Leading the Conversation on Health Equity is a series of interviews with activists, artists, educators, historians, and journalists about accessibility, cost, prejudice, and the human experience of healthcare in America.

Guest: Leslie A. Schwalm
Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by Past Forward in partnership with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University.

Linda Villarosa is a journalist, an educator and a contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine. She covers the intersection of health and medicine and social justice. She is a journalist in residence and professor at the Craig Newmark School of Journalism at CUNY and teaches journalism, medicine and Black Studies at the City College of New York. Her book Under the Skin was published in June 2022.

Engaging the World: Leading the Conversation on Health Equity is a series of interviews with activists, artists, educators, historians, and journalists about accessibility, cost, prejudice, and the human experience of healthcare in America.

Guest: Linda Villarosa
Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by Past Forward in partnership with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University.

Nori Uyematsu was born in Cupertino, CA and grew up in Cambell, CA. His family along with over 100,000 others were forced from their home and relocated to what Nori refers to as 'concentration camps" following Executive Order 9066. Nori enlisted in the army and served in the Korean War. Nori Uyematsu was commander of the Kazuo Masuda Memorial VFW Post 3670 in Garden Grove, CA, where he served three terms.

Medium History explores memories and moments through creativity and expression, capturing the cultural ethos of that time and place through storytelling and representation. Visual material culture, such as art, and other multimodal forms can elicit responses, emotions, and opinions—human expressions, tied to temporal and cultural aesthetics. This program explores how creative mediums provide context for history beyond dates, and names, and figures.

Partnering with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University, this series will explore how comics, comic books, and graphic novels from and about the Japanese American Incarceration following Executive Order 9066, humanize the tragic experience, allowing the stories to live long past the lives of those who experienced it, and ensuring this never happens again. Supported by the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library, this series is designed to be a companion to the interactive web project, Images and Imaginings of Internment: Comics and Illustrations of Camp.

Guest: Nori Uyematsu
Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by: Past Forward

Janice Munemitsu is a third-generation Japanese American Sansei. A native of Orange County, California, Janice was raised on the family farm and worked there from age 5 through high school. She is a graduate of the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business and Biola University Institute for Spiritual Formation. Her family name, Munemitsu, 宗 光, means source of light in kanji. The Kindness of Color is her first book.

Medium History explores memories and moments through creativity and expression, capturing the cultural ethos of that time and place through storytelling and representation. Visual material culture, such as art, and other multimodal forms can elicit responses, emotions, and opinions—human expressions, tied to temporal and cultural aesthetics. This program explores how creative mediums provide context for history beyond dates, and names, and figures.

Partnering with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University, this series will explore how comics, comic books, and graphic novels from and about the Japanese American Incarceration following Executive Order 9066, humanize the tragic experience, allowing the stories to live long past the lives of those who experienced it, and ensuring this never happens again. Supported by the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library, this series is designed to be a companion to the interactive web project, Images and Imaginings of Internment: Comics and Illustrations of Camp.

Guest: Janice Munemitsu
Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by: Past Forward

Gordon H. Chang is professor of history at Stanford University and the Olive H. Palmer Professor in Humanities. In 2019, he published Ghosts of Gold Mountain: The Epic History of the Chinese Who Built the Transcontinental (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) and, as co-editor, The Chinese and the Iron Road: Building the Transcontinental (Stanford University Press). These books draw from more than seven years of work conducted by the Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project at Stanford which he has co-directed. His other books include Friends and Enemies: The United States, China, and the Soviet Union, 1948-1972; Morning Glory, Evening Shadow: Yamato Ichihashi and his Internment Writings, 1942-1945; and Fateful Ties: A History of America’s Preoccupation with China. He edited or co-edited Asian Americans and Politics; Chinese American Voices, with Judy Yung and Him Mark Lai; and Asian American Art: A History.

Medium History explores memories and moments through creativity and expression, capturing the cultural ethos of that time and place through storytelling and representation. Visual material culture, such as art, and other multimodal forms can elicit responses, emotions, and opinions—human expressions, tied to temporal and cultural aesthetics. This program explores how creative mediums provide context for history beyond dates, and names, and figures.

Partnering with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University, this series will explore how comics, comic books, and graphic novels from and about the Japanese American Incarceration following Executive Order 9066, humanize the tragic experience, allowing the stories to live long past the lives of those who experienced it, and ensuring this never happens again. Supported by the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library, this series is designed to be a companion to the interactive web project, Images and Imaginings of Internment: Comics and Illustrations of Camp.

Guest: Gordon H. Chang
Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by: Past Forward

Lupe D. Dunn is a first-time published author of The Book Poems, Short Stories, and Essays. Within twenty-six years, I taught elementary and incarcerated youths and adults. I am enjoying retirement while writing material for my second book.

The Book Poems, Short Stories, and Essays
Archway Publishing, 2023

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen to episodes on our website, Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a curiosity company dedicated to educational accessibility. We work with community leaders from academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, private corporations, and public agencies to document today, with context from our past, and learn moving forward.

Matthew Arnold Stern is an award-winning writer and public speaker. He has written professionally since 1983. He published four novels, including Amiga and The Remainders, and a guide to impromptu speaking, Mastering Table Topics.

The Remainders
Black Rose Writing, 2021

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen to episodes on our website, Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a curiosity company dedicated to educational accessibility. We work with community leaders from academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, private corporations, and public agencies to document today, with context from our past, and learn moving forward.

Barbara Pronin worked as an actress, a probation officer, a news editor, and a substitute teacher, which inspired her first book, a  guide to effective subbing. Her earlier mysteries, including three as Barbara Nickolae, earned kudos from best-selling writers Mary Higgins Clark and Tony Hillerman. Her latest mystery, “The Miner’s Canary,” was published last November. Her newest work, a World War II historical titled, “Winter’s End” will be released in early 2024.

The Miner's Canary
Touchpoint Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen to episodes on our website, Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a curiosity company dedicated to educational accessibility. We work with community leaders from academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, private corporations, and public agencies to document today, with context from our past, and learn moving forward.

Farnaz Calafi loves all kinds of stories! Whether fact-based & well-researched or fictional and out-of-this-world bizarre! She previously worked for the Los Angeles Times & her opinion pieces have been published in USA Today, San Diego Union-Tribune, & The New York Times. She's the author of a non-fiction book titled, 'All Things Coffee' and an upcoming children's book titled, 'Hazel and Her Sun'.

All Things Coffee
 Farnaz Calafi, 2020

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen to episodes on our website, Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a curiosity company dedicated to educational accessibility. We work with community leaders from academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, private corporations, and public agencies to document today, with context from our past, and learn moving forward.

Gayle Carline is the author of 16 books, from mysteries to fantasies, with humor spread liberally among them. When she is not writing, she is leading workshops on writing, speaking at events, or riding her horse. Gayle enjoys creating fascinating characters whom she can involve in everything from chasing a killer to sailing a pirate ship. She lives happily with her husband and a sassy Corgi. In addition, she has a son and two horses whom she thoroughly enjoys even if they don’t live with her.

New Dragon Soaring: Dragon Shadows Book 3
Dancing Corgi Press, February, 2023

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen to episodes on our website, Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a curiosity company dedicated to educational accessibility. We work with community leaders from academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, private corporations, and public agencies to document today, with context from our past, and learn moving forward.

Sylvia Chong is Associate Professor in English and American Studies and founding director of the Asian Pacific American Studies minor at the University of Virginia. She received her B.A. in English and Philosophy from Swarthmore College, her A.M. in Education from Stanford University, and her Ph.D. in Rhetoric from the University of California, Berkeley. She is the author of The Oriental Obscene: Violence and Racial Fantasies in the Vietnam Era (Duke UP, 2012), co-editor of (Re)Collecting the Vietnam War (AALR, 2015), and has written articles and book chapters on American exceptionalism, hopelessness, orientalism, the Virginia Tech shootings, and Samuel Peckinpah. She is currently working on a history of cinematic yellowface and racial performance.

Medium History explores memories and moments through creativity and expression, capturing the cultural ethos of that time and place through storytelling and representation. Visual material culture, such as art, and other multimodal forms can elicit responses, emotions, and opinions—human expressions, tied to temporal and cultural aesthetics. This program explores how creative mediums provide context for history beyond dates, and names, and figures.

Partnering with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University, this series will explore how comics, comic books, and graphic novels from and about the Japanese American Incarceration following Executive Order 9066, humanize the tragic experience, allowing the stories to live long past the lives of those who experienced it, and ensuring this never happens again. Supported by the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library, this series is designed to be a companion to the interactive web project, Images and Imaginings of Internment: Comics and Illustrations of Camp.

Guest: Sylvia Chong
Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by: Past Forward

Greg Robinson, a native New Yorker, is Professor of History at l'Université du Québec À Montréal, a French-language institution in Montreal, Canada. He is the author of the books By Order of the President: FDR and the Internment of Japanese Americans (Harvard University Press, 2001), A Tragedy of Democracy; Japanese Confinement in North America (Columbia University Press, 2009), After Camp: Portraits in Postwar Japanese Life and Politics (University of California Press, 2012), Pacific Citizens: Larry and Guyo Tajiri and Japanese American Journalism in the World War II Era (University of Illinois Press, 2012), and The Great Unknown: Japanese American Sketches (University Press of Colorado, 2016), as well as coeditor of the anthology Miné Okubo: Following Her Own Road (University of Washington Press, 2008). Robinson is also coeditor of the volume John Okada - The Life & Rediscovered Work of the Author of No-No Boy (University of Washington Press, 2018).

His historical column “The Great Unknown and the Unknown Great,” is a well-known feature of the Nichi Bei Weekly newspaper. Robinson’s latest book is an anthology of his Nichi Bei columns and stories published on Discover Nikkei, The Unsung Great: Portraits of Extraordinary Japanese Americans (University of Washington Press, 2020). It was recognized with an Association for Asian American Studies Book Award for Outstanding Achievement in History Honorable Mention in 2022.

Medium History explores memories and moments through creativity and expression, capturing the cultural ethos of that time and place through storytelling and representation. Visual material culture, such as art, and other multimodal forms can elicit responses, emotions, and opinions—human expressions, tied to temporal and cultural aesthetics. This program explores how creative mediums provide context for history beyond dates, and names, and figures.

Partnering with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University, this series will explore how comics, comic books, and graphic novels from and about the Japanese American Incarceration following Executive Order 9066, humanize the tragic experience, allowing the stories to live long past the lives of those who experienced it, and ensuring this never happens again. Supported by the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library, this series is designed to be a companion to the interactive web project, Images and Imaginings of Internment: Comics and Illustrations of Camp.

Guest: Greg Robinson
Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by: Past Forward

Stephanie Hinnershitz is an author and historian with the Institute for the Study of War and Democracy at The National WWII Museum in New Orleans. She has previously taught at Valdosta State University and Cleveland State University. In addition to her professorships, her research has been supported by grants and fellowships from the Social Science Research Council, the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities, the Office of Diversity at the United States Military Academy at West Point, the Library of Congress, and the American Council of Learned Societies.

She is the author of Race, Religion, and Civil Rights: Asian Students on the West Coast, 1900-1968, A Different Shade of Justice: Asian American Civil Rights in the South, and Japanese American Incarceration: The Camps and Coerced Labor during World War II, which won the 2022 Philip Taft Labor History Award from the Labor and Working Class History Association and Cornell University Industrial Labor Relations School.

Medium History explores memories and moments through creativity and expression, capturing the cultural ethos of that time and place through storytelling and representation. Visual material culture, such as art, and other multimodal forms can elicit responses, emotions, and opinions—human expressions, tied to temporal and cultural aesthetics. This program explores how creative mediums provide context for history beyond dates, and names, and figures.

Partnering with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University, this series will explore how comics, comic books, and graphic novels from and about the Japanese American Incarceration following Executive Order 9066, humanize the tragic experience, allowing the stories to live long past the lives of those who experienced it, and ensuring this never happens again. Supported by the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library, this series is designed to be a companion to the interactive web project, Images and Imaginings of Internment: Comics and Illustrations of Camp.

Guest: Stephanie Hinnershitz
Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by: Past Forward

Maggie Tokuda-Hallis the author Also an Octopus, illustrated by Benji Davies, The Mermaid, The Witch and The Sea, Squad, illustrated by Lisa Sterle, and Love in the Library illustrated by Yas Imamura with more books forthcoming. She has a BA in Studio Art from Scripps College, and an MFA in Writing from University of San Francisco.

Yas Imamura is an illustrator of many picture books for children, including Winged Wonders by Meeg Pincus and The Very Oldest Pear Tree by Nancy I. Sanders. She's also a product designer for clients such as Anthropologie, Papyrus, and Sanrio. She currently lives and works in Portland, Oregon.

Medium History explores memories and moments through creativity and expression, capturing the cultural ethos of that time and place through storytelling and representation. Visual material culture, such as art, and other multimodal forms can elicit responses, emotions, and opinions—human expressions, tied to temporal and cultural aesthetics. This program explores how creative mediums provide context for history beyond dates, and names, and figures.

Partnering with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University, this series will explore how comics, comic books, and graphic novels from and about the Japanese American Incarceration following Executive Order 9066, humanize the tragic experience, allowing the stories to live long past the lives of those who experienced it, and ensuring this never happens again. Supported by the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library, this series is designed to be a companion to the interactive web project, Images and Imaginings of Internment: Comics and Illustrations of Camp.

Guests: Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Yas Imamura
Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by: Past Forward

Kiku Hughes is a cartoonist and illustrator based in the Seattle area. Her work has been featured in Beyond Anthology volumes 1 and 2, Short Box #6 and the Alloy Anthology. She creates stories about identity, queer romance and compassionate sci-fi. Displacement is her first graphic novel, and it is a story she's wanted to share for as long as she can remember.

Medium History explores memories and moments through creativity and expression, capturing the cultural ethos of that time and place through storytelling and representation. Visual material culture, such as art, and other multimodal forms can elicit responses, emotions, and opinions—human expressions, tied to temporal and cultural aesthetics. This program explores how creative mediums provide context for history beyond dates, and names, and figures.

Partnering with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University, this series will explore how comics, comic books, and graphic novels from and about the Japanese American Incarceration following Executive Order 9066, humanize the tragic experience, allowing the stories to live long past the lives of those who experienced it, and ensuring this never happens again. Supported by the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library, this series is designed to be a companion to the interactive web project, Images and Imaginings of Internment: Comics and Illustrations of Camp.

Guest: Kiku Hughes
Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by: Past Forward

Frank Abe is co-author of the new graphic novel on Japanese American resistance to wartime incarceration, We Hereby Refuse (Chin Music Press: A Wing Luke Museum Book). He won an American Book Award for John Okada: The Life & Rediscovered Work of the Author of No-No Boy (University of Washington Press), and made the award-winning PBS documentary, Conscience and the Constitution, on the largest organized camp resistance. He is currently co-editing an anthology for Penguin Classics on The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration.

Abe contributed the afterword to Nisei Naysayer: The Memoir of Militant Japanese American Journalist Jimmie Omura (Stanford University Press), contributed a chapter to Frontiers of Asian American Studies (Washington State University Press), and has written for Ishmael Reed’s Konch, The Bloomsbury Review, Case Western Reserve Law Review, Amerasia Journal, International Examiner, Nichi Bei Weekly, Rafu Shimpo, and Pacific Citizen, among others.

Medium History explores memories and moments through creativity and expression, capturing the cultural ethos of that time and place through storytelling and representation. Visual material culture, such as art, and other multimodal forms can elicit responses, emotions, and opinions—human expressions, tied to temporal and cultural aesthetics. This program explores how creative mediums provide context for history beyond dates, and names, and figures.

Partnering with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University, this series will explore how comics, comic books, and graphic novels from and about the Japanese American Incarceration following Executive Order 9066, humanize the tragic experience, allowing the stories to live long past the lives of those who experienced it, and ensuring this never happens again. Supported by the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library, this series is designed to be a companion to the interactive web project, Images and Imaginings of Internment: Comics and Illustrations of Camp.

Guest: Frank Abe
Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by: Past Forward

Angelica Salas joined CHIRLA in 1995 and became CHIRLA’s Executive Director in 1999.  In her role, she has transformed CHIRLA into a mass membership immigrant-led organization that empowers immigrants and their families to win local, state, and national policies that advance their human, civil, and labor rights.  She has grown CHIRLA into one of the nation’s largest and most effective immigrant rights organizations that organize, advocates, educates, and provides legal services to all immigrants.

Angelica is a state and national leader in the advocacy for immigration reform and immigrant justice.  She was instrumental in the formation of and serves on the Executive Committee of the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) and the National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA), two of the country’s largest immigrant rights coalitions.

She graduated from Occidental College with a B.A. in History and a B.A. in Sociology in 1993.  In 2007, Occidental College awarded her an Honorary Doctorate for her many contributions making her one of the youngest persons to earn such an honor in the college’s history.

Chapters is a multi-part series concerning the history and the lessons of civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices carried out against communities or populations—including civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices that are perpetrated on the basis of an individual’s race, national origin, immigration status, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.

This project was made possible with support from Chapman University and The California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library.

Guest: Angelica Salas
Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by: Past Forward

Rebecca Tortes (Cahuilla, Luiseño, and Assiniboine Sioux) has worked with California tribal populations for over 20 years and recently served as the executive director for the California Indian Basketweavers’ Association (CIBA), a statewide nonprofit working to preserve, promote, and perpetuate California Indian basketweaving traditions.

Before joining CIBA, she worked as a tribal administrator, development manager, grant writer, and community liaison for many California-based tribes and tribal nonprofits. In addition, Rebecca has worked as a private consultant to several California tribal communities in developing, funding, and evaluating programs that support California Indigenous control and protection of traditional food systems, water, languages, traditional ecological knowledge, and land.

Rebecca received her Bachelor of Arts in human development and psychology and her master’s degree in public administration from California State University, San Bernardino, and earned a certificate in professional advancement in philanthropy from La Sierra University.

Chapters is a multi-part series concerning the history and the lessons of civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices carried out against communities or populations—including civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices that are perpetrated on the basis of an individual’s race, national origin, immigration status, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.

This project was made possible with support from Chapman University and The California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library.

Guest: Rebecca Tortes
Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by: Past Forward

Tony Hoang is the Executive Director of Equality California and Silver State Equality and a veteran of the LGBTQ+ equality movement. The son of Vietnam War refugees and the first person in his family to attend college, Tony is a proud first-generation immigrant who grew up understanding the marginalized intersections of sexuality, gender, race and immigration status. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Tony moved to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California. During college, he interned with the Pacific Council on International Policy and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor before joining Equality California as a field intern in 2009, beginning his long career with the organization.

Tony went on to serve as Equality California's Database and Volunteer Manager, Director of Operations, Chief of Staff and Managing Director prior to his selection as Executive Director-designate in 2021. During that time, Tony played a pivotal role in the passage of groundbreaking civil rights legislation in California, Nevada and Washington, DC, implementation of statewide public education campaigns and the election of hundreds of openly LGBTQ+ and pro-equality candidates up and down the ballot. Tony helped usher in a dramatic expansion of Equality California’s budget, staff, programming — especially the organization’s political work and efforts to advance racial justice — and growth to over 900,000 pro-equality members across the country.

Tony serves the City of Los Angeles as a Commissioner on the Innovation and Performance Commission. He also sits on the boards of Equality Federation, the national movement builder and strategic partner to state-based organizations advocating for LGBTQ people, and DTLA Proud. He is a member of the Center for Asian Americans United For Self Empowerment (CAUSE) Leadership Network and the Pacific Council on International Policy and serves as a mentor for the USC Lambda LGBT Alumni Mentoring Program.

Chapters is a multi-part series concerning the history and the lessons of civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices carried out against communities or populations—including civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices that are perpetrated on the basis of an individual’s race, national origin, immigration status, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.

This project was made possible with support from Chapman University and The California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library.

Guest: Tony Hoang
Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by: Past Forward

Skye Patrick is the Library Director of LA County Library, one of the largest public library systems in the nation, serving one of the most diverse populations. She was previously Broward County Library’s Director and held leadership roles at Queens Public Library in New York and San Francisco Public Library.

Patrick was appointed to the Executive Board of the Urban Libraries Council (ULC), the premier membership association of North America’s leading public library systems, in July 2017. ULC is on the cutting edge of library innovation, and Patrick has joined a dynamic team of leaders and works alongside the board to inspire libraries to evolve and grow.

In January 2019, Patrick was named Librarian of the Year by Library Journal, a national publication. The award honors outstanding achievement and accomplishment reflecting the service goals of librarianship, including free access to information for all, encouragement of reading enhancement and expansion of library services to all residents, and strengthening the role of the library within the community.

As the Library Director, Patrick continues to reinforce the Library’s role in the community as a civic and cultural center, a hub for public information and services, and an institution of literacy, innovation, and lifelong learning.

Chapters is a multi-part series concerning the history and the lessons of civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices carried out against communities or populations—including civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices that are perpetrated on the basis of an individual’s race, national origin, immigration status, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.

This project was made possible with support from Chapman University and The California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library.

Guest: Skye Patrick
Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by: Past Forward

Hoang Nguyen is the Director of External Affairs at AAPI Equity Alliance (AAPI Equity). Prior to joining AAPI Equity, Hoang served as a policy deputy at the Office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis, which has governing jurisdiction over more than 2 million residents within 20 cities and 23 unincorporated communities in LA County and 25 neighborhoods in LA City. While there, he oversaw a variety of policy and community issues such as immigration, AAPI affairs, older adults, redistricting, Census, and board operations. He was also the district’s representative and liaison for the areas of Chinatown, Little Tokyo, Historic Filipinotown and Thaitown. Hoang received a BA in Political Science from UCLA.

Chapters is a multi-part series concerning the history and the lessons of civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices carried out against communities or populations—including civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices that are perpetrated on the basis of an individual’s race, national origin, immigration status, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.

This project was made possible with support from Chapman University and The California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library.

Guest: Hoang Nguyen
Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by: Past Forward

Abdi Soltanihas served as the executive director of the ACLU of Northern California since 2009. During his tenure, he has pursued long-term priorities to deepen the ACLU’s presence in the California Central Valley and elevate the ACLU’s voice on state policy at the California state capitol.

Abdi has worked directly on a number of ACLU campaigns. Through 2015, he co-chaired the Blue Ribbon Commission on Marijuana Policy with then Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom, where he helped draft the blueprint for safe and equitable legalization of marijuana in California. He has also worked on campaigns for racial justice, criminal justice reform, voting rights, and immigrants’ rights.

Beginning in the mid 1990’s, the central arc of Abdi’s career as a civil rights advocate has been the transformation of California from a state that led attacks on civil rights to a state that is at the forefront of advancing equality. As an Iranian-American, Abdi is a champion of the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution, educating the public about its origins in the movement to abolish slavery and its impacts for equality and freedom for all of us.

Chapters is a multi-part series concerning the history and the lessons of civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices carried out against communities or populations—including civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices that are perpetrated on the basis of an individual’s race, national origin, immigration status, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.

This project was made possible with support from Chapman University and The California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library.

Guest: Mason Granger
Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by: Past Forward

Mason Granger is the Deputy Director at Get Lit. Originally from Philadelphia by way of Willingboro, NJ, Mason is a poet with 19+ years of professional experience on stage & in classrooms across 49 states and six countries as part of the performance poetry trio, The Mayhem Poets. In 2014, he created SlamFind, a digital platform to connect fans of poetry videos with the poets & live poetry venues where these videos are born. Connecting the poetry community to itself and the rest of the world continues to be the foundation of his work to this day.

Between 2016-2018, Mason was the official videographer for Poetry Slam Inc., producing several iconic poetry videos that continue to garner millions of views across multiple platforms. In the spirit of his mission of always keeping the ‘live’ in ‘live poetry’, he also hosted the weekly PoetNY open mic at Bowery Poetry Club in NYC from 2017-2019 while also serving as Executive Director of Bowery Arts & Science through 2019.

Now as a Los Angeles resident in his fourth year with Get Lit, Mason continues to pursue creative projects while helping to shape the future of spoken word poetry education in the state of California and beyond.

Chapters is a multi-part series concerning the history and the lessons of civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices carried out against communities or populations—including civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices that are perpetrated on the basis of an individual’s race, national origin, immigration status, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.

This project was made possible with support from Chapman University and The California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library.

Guest: Mason Granger
Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by: Past Forward

Charles (Chuck) Dickerson III is the founder, Executive Director and Conductor of the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles. He is also the founder, Executive Director and Conductor of both the South Side Chicago Youth Orchestra, and the Youth Orchestra of Tsakane, South Africa.  He also serves as Director Special Ensembles at California State University, Dominguez Hills, as Director of Music at Rolling Hills United Methodist Church, and as the Choir Director at Leo Baeck Temple in Bel Air, California.  He serves on the Board of Directors of the League of American Orchestras.  He was recognized in December 2019 as a Professional of the Year by Musical America.

He holds a Master of Music Degree with a focus on conducting from California State University, Los Angeles, and degrees from Howard University (B.S.) and American University (J.D.).  He has studied with esteemed Conductors Gustav Meier, Daniel Lewis, and Kenneth Kiesler. He formerly served as Music Director and Conductor of the Southeast Symphony (2004-2011) and as Director of Music at Holman United Methodist Church.  He has held important public and civic leadership positions in Washington DC and Los Angeles.

Chapters is a multi-part series concerning the history and the lessons of civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices carried out against communities or populations—including civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices that are perpetrated on the basis of an individual’s race, national origin, immigration status, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.

This project was made possible with support from Chapman University and The California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library.

Guest: Charles Dickerson III
Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by: Past Forward

Jacqueline Vogtman won the 2021 Dzanc Books Short Story Collection Prize for her book Girl Country. Her fiction has appeared in Hunger Mountain, Permafrost, The Literary Review, Smokelong Quarterly, Third Coast, and other journals. A graduate of the MFA program at Bowling Green State University, she is currently Associate Professor of English at Mercer County Community College. She has lived in New Jersey most of her life and resides in a small town surrounded by nature, which she explores with her husband, daughter, and dog. Girl Country is her first book.

Girl Country
Dzanc Books, 2023

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a curiosity company dedicated to educational accessibility. Our public podcast service, paired with millions of discounted books curated into topic-themed collections, provides guidance and tools to support lifelong learning.

Stephanie Takaragawa is a cultural anthropologist whose research examines cultural display. Her research broadly focuses on media, art, performance, exhibition, and theme parks and their relationship to racial representation. Much of her work specifically looks at the Japanese-American incarceration during WWII and how that is understood, represented and memorialized in the present. Her teaching areas include cultural anthropology and visual culture, Asian American studies and race and ethnic studies.

Chapters is a multi-part series concerning the history and the lessons of civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices carried out against communities or populations—including civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices that are perpetrated on the basis of an individual’s race, national origin, immigration status, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.

This project was made possible with support from Chapman University and The California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library.

Guest: Stephanie Takaragawa
Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by: Past Forward

Brian Niiya is the content director for Densho, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the history of Japanese Americans who were unjustly incarcerated during World War II. His professional life has been dedicated to Japanese American public history, having held various positions with the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, the Japanese American National Museum, and the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai’i that have involved managing collections, curating exhibitions, developing public programs, and producing videos, books, and websites. He has published many articles on Japanese American history in a variety of academic and mainstream publications and is the editor of the online Densho Encyclopedia.

Chapters is a multi-part series concerning the history and the lessons of civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices carried out against communities or populations—including civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices that are perpetrated on the basis of an individual’s race, national origin, immigration status, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.

This project was made possible with support from Chapman University and The California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library.

Guest: Brian Niiya
Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by: Past Forward

Taryn Palumbo serves as the Executive Director of Orange County Grantmakers, a regional association of philanthropic funders in Orange County. As Executive Director, Taryn provides strategic leadership, oversees and executes programming, communication, member services and community engagement, and supports the operations of the organization. Taryn joined OCG as a part-time Executive Administrator in January 2017 and was promoted to Executive Director in February 2018.

Prior to joining OCG, Taryn held roles in public policy, government affairs, education, small business engagement and community relations. She has also served as a consultant with United Way Orange County, helping to launch UpSkill OC, a middle skills job initiative and with The Olin Group, supporting a variety of nonprofit clients.

Before moving back home to Orange County, Taryn spent four years with the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, first as their Manager of Public Policy and later as their Director of Strategic Partnerships. In this role she created, grew and implemented UniteSF, an education/workforce development initiative, and co-chaired San Francisco’s Small Business Week Committee.

Taryn earned her Juris Doctorate from Chapman University School of Law and passed the CA Bar in 2011. She earned her B.A. from Loyola Marymount University. Taryn currently serves on the Executive Board of the OC Forum and is the proud mother of 3.5 year old boy and 1 year old girl.

Adjust Accordingly: Placing Equity into Practice is a series of discussions about personal experiences of inequity and how industries, organizations, and people are working to move equity forward.

Each conversation will highlight the challenges, opportunities, and strategies for confronting these issues in our communities while collectively progressing toward a more equitable future.

Produced with Orange County Grantmakerswith support from Orange County Community Foundation.

Guest: Taryn Palumbo
Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by: Past Forward

Keith Swayne, along with his wife, Judy, co-founded the Keith and Judy Swayne Family Foundation. Prior to retirement from his business career, he served as CEO of Case Swayne Co. a major developer and processor of specialty sauces and seasonings for the food service and industrial markets and the successor company, International Food Solutions, a subsidiary of BestFoods/Unilever. Since retirement he has remained active in the community, and business, serving on a number of private company boards and non-profit boards, including, most recently, as Chair of the Orange County Community Foundation Board of Governors.

Keith, in 1997, was a regional winner of the Entrepreneur of the Year Award and was recognized by the California Association of Human Rights Organizations for his work in the Human Rights field. He was named Philanthropist of the Year at National Philanthropy Day in 2019. He has received numerous other awards for his work in the non-profit field.

He has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Oregon and an MBA from UC Berkeley. He served as an officer in the Navy with duty in Vietnam. He was married 50 years to Judith, who passed away in 2014 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s. They have two children and one lovely granddaughter.

Anne Swayne-Keir graduated from the University of Oregon in 1997, received her teaching credential from St. Mary’s College in Moraga, California in 2002 and was a Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine in 1998.

Anne has served as a trustee on the board of her family foundation, The Keith and Judy Swayne Family Fund, since 2007. Nationally, she has worked with Exponent Philanthropy Next Generation Committee and Resource Generation Family Philanthropy Planning branch for 2 years on the planning committee for the Creating Change for Family Philanthropy Retreat. She is a certified family foundation consultant trained at 21/64.

Anne developed a local chapter of EPIP, (Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy). EPIP Hawaii was a chapter of a national organization that through a social justice lens, developed new leaders to enhance organized philanthropy and its impact on communities. She co-founded, Next Gen Hui. Next Gen Hui was an organization that focused on bringing together young donors and trustees in Hawaii to share ideas and learn and implement progressive and innovative methods of giving that contribute to systemic shifts in local philanthropy. Next Gen Hui organized and collaborated with other funders on several initiatives: Kukulu Switchboard and Funder Hui. Anne currently serves on the board of two funder initiatives: Hoi’wai Fund and  Funder Hui.

When Anne is not focusing on philanthropy, she enjoys volunteering her time to local nonprofits. She has served and is currently serving on the board of KUA, The Hawaii Arts Alliance, Hawaii Public Radio, The Merwin Conservancy, and The Hawaii Contemporary. Anne has presented on panels and workshops for the Hawaii nonprofit community and helped organize educational sessions for the annual HANO nonprofit conference.

Anne also enjoys her time with her 13-year-old daughter Linnaea, hiking in the Northwest and Hawaii, traveling, the arts, visiting the beach and reading.

Natalie J. Graham, a native of Gainesville, Florida, earned her M.F.A. in Creative Writing at the University of Florida and Ph.D. in American Studies at Michigan State University as a University Distinguished Fellow. Since moving to Orange County in 2013, Natalie has coordinated art-centered community events, workshops, and readings for hundreds of participants. She is Production Director of KayJo Creatives (@KayJoCreatives), an artistic event planning company; Director of the Institute of Black Intellectual Innovation (@IBIICSUF) at Cal State Fullerton; and an award-winning author and performer who has toured nationally with her collection of poems, Begin with a Failed Body. In August 2021, she was appointed Poet Laureate of Orange County.

Adjust Accordingly: Placing Equity into Practice is a series of discussions about personal experiences of inequity and how industries, organizations, and people are working to move equity forward.

Each conversation will highlight the challenges, opportunities, and strategies for confronting these issues in our communities while collectively progressing toward a more equitable future.

Produced with Orange County Grantmakers with support from Orange County Community Foundation.

Guest: Natalie J. Graham
Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by: Past Forward

Lindsey Spindle serves as President of the Samueli Family Philanthropies and Chief Operating Officer of H&S Ventures which oversees all the Samueli Family’s for-profit and not-for-profit activities. The philanthropic entities operating under the oversight of H&S Ventures include the Samueli Foundation, the Anaheim Ducks Foundation, the San Diego Gulls Foundation, the Irvine Ice Foundation, and The Rinks Foundation.

Spindle was President of The Jeff Skoll Group, where she connected and advised Mr. Skoll’s entrepreneurial portfolio of philanthropic and commercial organizations that include the impact entertainment company Participant, Capricorn Investment Group, and the Skoll Foundation. She was the first-ever Chief Communications and Brand Officer of Share Our Strength, a national nonprofit focused on ending childhood hunger in America through its groundbreaking No Kid Hungry campaign.

Before focusing on domestic hunger eradication, Spindle spent nearly 20 years in health care communications, policy, and government relations working for some of the nation’s most respected commercial and non-profit organizations. These include Georgetown University, Brookings, Avalere Health, and Porter Novelli. Lindsey currently serves on the Boards of Directors for the Skoll Foundation, World Central Kitchen, and advises the Shoah Foundation.

Erin Samueliserves as the Director of Social Justice Philanthropy for the Samueli Foundation. She leads the Foundation’s overall Social Justice portfolio with focus on its priorities to support grassroots organizing and organizations led by and for BIPOC and/or communities impacted directly at the intersections of gender/sexual justice, racial, economic and social justice, criminalization, reproductive rights and models for community justice. She also oversees the Foundation’s collaboration with partners and programs that promote diversity, equity, inclusion and access by building empathy, cultural competency and reducing stereotypes. 

Erin was born and raised in Southern California. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Science Education from Boston University in 2017, then a Master of Arts in Education from Stanford University in 2019. She was a middle school science teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area for a number of years and in her teaching, she focused on equity, anti-racist practices, and hands-on learning experiences. Aside from teaching, Erin began her philanthropy journey by joining the Maverick Collective, where she worked closely with a team in Ethiopia with the goal of integrating adolescent reproductive health care into the school system.  

Erin is passionate about reproductive justice, LGBTQ+ equality, racial justice, education, the environment, among more. She uses these social justice lenses as ways to view her work with the ultimate goal of leveling the playing field in America, and globally, so philanthropy is no longer a necessity. 

Adjust Accordingly: Placing Equity into Practice is a series of discussions about personal experiences of inequity and how industries, organizations, and people are working to move equity forward.

Each conversation will highlight the challenges, opportunities, and strategies for confronting these issues in our communities while collectively progressing toward a more equitable future.

Produced with Orange County Grantmakerswith support from Orange County Community Foundation.

Guests: Lindsey Spindle and Erin Samueli
Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by: Past Forward

Carlos Perea is an immigrant rights advocate and Director of the Harbor Institute for Immigrant and Economic Justice, a collaboration of movement academics and organizers. His work has focused on building the political power of undocumented immigrant communities in Orange County through community organizing, coalition building, advocacy campaigns and policy change. Some of the efforts he has worked on to address immigration enforcement along community and system stakeholders include Santa Ana’s Sanctuary Ordinance and Universal Representation Program. 

Carlos is also a public policy and strategy development consultant, he has supported local initiatives including the OC Opportunity Initiative and OC Grantmakers. He currently serves on Santa Ana’s Measure X Citizen Oversight Committee, which reviews the annual revenue and expenditures of funds from the tax authorized by voters of the city.

Adjust Accordingly: Placing Equity into Practice is a series of discussions about personal experiences of inequity and how industries, organizations, and people are working to move equity forward.

Each conversation will highlight the challenges, opportunities, and strategies for confronting these issues in our communities while collectively progressing toward a more equitable future.

Produced with Orange County Grantmakers with support from Orange County Community Foundation.

Guest: Carlos Perea
Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by: Past Forward

Tracy La is the co-founder and Executive Director of VietRISE. Raised by Vietnamese refugees in a large working class family, Tracy brings in 9 years of experience as a campaign strategist, organizer, and policy advocate who has built campaigns alongside community members for freedom from ICE detention and for immigrant and housing justice policies that strengthen protections and self-advocacy tools for renters and people facing deportation. At VietRISE, Tracy directs the organization’s campaigns, programs, cultural strategy, and operations. 

Prior to VietRISE, Tracy was a youth organizer and led campaigns for immigrant justice and to build electoral power for youth of color. As a student at UCI, Tracy was the elected Associated Students president where she co-developed the largest student-run voter registration program in Orange County in 2016. In 2018, she co-founded VietRISE. Tracy holds two B.A.s in Social Policy & Public Service and Political Science from UCI. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Harbor Institute for Immigrant and Economic Justice, a policy and movement building think tank in Orange County.

Adjust Accordingly: Placing Equity into Practice is a series of discussions about personal experiences of inequity and how industries, organizations, and people are working to move equity forward.

Each conversation will highlight the challenges, opportunities, and strategies for confronting these issues in our communities while collectively progressing toward a more equitable future.

Produced with Orange County Grantmakers with support from Orange County Community Foundation.

Guest: Tracy La
Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by: Past Forward

Wajahat Ali is a Daily Beast columnist, co-host of the "Democracy-ish" podcast, public speaker, recovering attorney, and tired dad of three cute kids.

His book Go Back To Where You Came From: And, Other Helpful Recommendations on Becoming American was published in January 2022 by Norton. He believes in sharing stories that are by us, for everyone: universal narratives told through a culturally specific lens to entertain, educate and bridge the global divides.

His essays, interviews, and reporting have appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The Guardian, and New York Review of Books. Ali has spoken at many organizations, from Google to Walmart-Jet to Princeton University to the United Nations to the Chandni Indian-Pakistani Restaurant in Newark, California, and his living room in front of his three kids.

Adjust Accordingly: Placing Equity into Practice is a series of discussions about personal experiences of inequity and how industries, organizations, and people are working to move equity forward.

Each conversation will highlight the challenges, opportunities, and strategies for confronting these issues in our communities while collectively progressing toward a more equitable future.

Produced with Orange County Grantmakers with support from Orange County Community Foundation.

Guest: Wajahat Ali
Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by: Past Forward

Susan Albert Loewenberg is founder and Producing Director of L.A. Theatre Works, a non-profit media arts and theatre organization. Ms. Loewenberg has produced award-winning radio dramas, plays, and films in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and London.

Under her supervision, LATW has created the largest library of plays on audio in the world, garnering numerous awards from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Writers Guild, The American Library Association, Publishers’ Weekly, and others. Ms. Loewenberg also serves as host and is the Executive Producer of LATW’s nationally distributed syndicated radio series, “L.A. Theatre Works,” broadcast on NPR stations nationwide.

A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, she has served on innumerable boards and panels, including the National Endowment for the Arts, California Arts Council, The Fund for Independence in Journalism in Washington D.C., and was co-chair of the League of Producers and Theatres of Greater Los Angeles.

Chapters is a multi-part series concerning the history and the lessons of civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices carried out against communities or populations—including civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices that are perpetrated on the basis of an individual’s race, national origin, immigration status, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.

This project was made possible with support from Chapman University and The California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library.

Guests: Susan Albert Loewenberg
Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by: Past Forward

Before developing a passion for middle grade and young adult fiction, Sonia Antaki had several careers—as a professional singer, a financial analyst, a Tony-nominated Broadway producer and an advocate for Arts and Native traditions. Red Dove, Run Through the Fire, Book Three of The Red Dove Trilogy, grew out of Sonia’s own experience of living between worlds, and the desire to bring them together. Of Swiss, British and Syro-Lebanese ancestry, she was born in Egypt and came to the U.S. as a child.

Red Dove, Run Through the Fire
Atmosphere Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a curiosity company dedicated to educational accessibility. Our public podcast service, paired with millions of discounted books curated into topic-themed collections, provides guidance and tools to support lifelong learning.

Blair Austin was born in Michigan. A former prison librarian, he is a graduate of the Helen Zell Writers’ Program at the University of Michigan where he won Hopwood awards for Fiction and Essay. He lives in Massachusetts. Dioramas is his first novel.

Dioramas
Dzanc Books, 2023

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a curiosity company dedicated to educational accessibility. Our public podcast service, paired with millions of discounted books curated into topic-themed collections, provides guidance and tools to support lifelong learning.

Chika Unigwe is a celebrated and highly acclaimed Nigerian-born Igbo author, whose honors include winning the Nigeria Literature Prize, the Sylt Fellowship for African Writers, and many other distinctions. Chika is Creative Director of the Awele Creative Trust, and she was a judge for the Man Booker International Prize in 2016. In 2016-2017, she was Bonderman Professor of Creative Writing at Brown University, Providence RI, USA, and then went on to lecture in creative writing at Emory University, GA. In 2020-2021, she will be joining Georgia College and State University's MFA in Creative Writing as a core faculty member.

Chika was born and raised in Enugu, Nigeria. She graduated from the University of Nigeria, KU Leuven (Belgium) and has a PhD from Leiden University, Holland. Author of The Middle Daughter, Unigwe’s previous work includes novels On Black Sisters Street and Night Dancer as well as the short story collection Better Never than Late. She was also a contributor to Of This Our Country: Acclaimed Nigerian Writers on the Home, Identity and Culture They Know; Lagos Noir; New Daughters of Africa; and Regiones Imaginaires. 

The Middle Daughter
Dzanc Books, 2023

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a curiosity company dedicated to educational accessibility. Our public podcast service, paired with millions of discounted books curated into topic-themed collections, provides guidance and tools to support lifelong learning.

B. Travis Wright, MPS is a 2022 Colorado Preservation Inc. State Honor Award recipient for his advocacy of Rollins Pass, President of the Board of the Grand County Historical Association, Vice Chair of the Gilpin County Historic Preservation Commission, and has written multiple academic works and published books about Rollins Pass and the Moffat Tunnel.

Travis is also co-founder of Preserve Rollins Pass. Preserve Rollins Pass strives to fulfill a Native American adage: “In every deliberation, consider the impact of decisions on the next seven generations.” As one of Colorado’s Most Endangered Places, prehistoric and historic preservation of Rollins Pass are paramount. Through partnerships with state and federal representatives, Native American tribes, special interest groups across the nation, archaeologists, historians, and university professors, Preserve Rollins Pass applies strategic pressures to protect the integrity of this national historic district.

Travis lives in the mountains of Colorado with his wife, Kate.

Rollins Pass: Past and Present
Arcadia Publishing, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a curiosity company dedicated to educational accessibility. Our public podcast service, paired with millions of discounted books curated into topic-themed collections, provides guidance and tools to support lifelong learning.

Erin Murphy is a fresh face in the music industry with a natural and sweet tone that goes hand-in-hand with her alternative pop singer/songwriter background. Her songs can be recognized by their subtle yet signature bluesy style which perfectly compliments Erin’s pop foundation. Getting involved in the music industry at a young age has boosted her career, writing and releasing her own single at the age of 15. Since then, Erin has released a second single while working alongside other artists, and last year independently released her debut EP titled "Real Life," which is a collection of songs based on her personal journey. Erin continues to work on new projects and collaborations.

Sounds + Stories is an eclectic music series featuring live performances and entertaining discussions with emerging and established artists. Produced in collaboration with Brew Sessions Live. Special episodes are filmed and edited into a short documentary compilation with the audio from each episode recorded and archived for podcast.

Guest: Erin Murphy
Produced by Past Forward in partnership with Brew Sessions Live.

Breaking down the walls of a cubicle, Jake Bernard shed his 9-5 to return to his positive, feel-good roots. Reflecting his inner-optimist, Jake's beach-pop sound meshes the more colorful sides of Jason Mraz and John Mayer, and he's appeared at the Hotel Cafe, The Peppermint Club, BMI's Acoustic Lounge (Genghis Cohen), The Levitt Pavilion (with American Idol's Nick Fradiani), and The Bitter End. The Huffington Post recognizes his beach-pop sound as "intoxicating," and his love letter and tribute to Philadelphia, "City of Love," was recognized by Mayor Kenney and the Philadelphia Phillies.

Sounds + Stories is an eclectic music series featuring live performances and entertaining discussions with emerging and established artists. Produced in collaboration with Brew Sessions Live. Special episodes are filmed and edited into a short documentary compilation with the audio from each episode recorded and archived for podcast.

Guest: Jake Bernard
Produced by Past Forward in partnership with Brew Sessions Live.

Rocky Kuner is a 20 year old singer songwriter from Orange County. She graduated from the Orange County School of the Arts in Santa Ana and studied Commercial Music and Music & Theater. She plays mulitiple instruments including guitar, dulcimer, bass, drums, cajón and piano. She is currently in a Rush Tribute band called YYNOT as the lead vocalist and has already traveled to play in Florida with them. They play originals and covers and their online fans are so kind and supportive. She plays her own music locally throughout OC and LA including The Troubador, The Mint, OC Fair’s Hangar stage, The Gaslamp, and many others. She plans to keep writing and recording and tour with YYNOT this year.

Sounds + Stories is an eclectic music series featuring live performances and entertaining discussions with emerging and established artists. Produced in collaboration with Brew Sessions Live. Special episodes are filmed and edited into a short documentary compilation with the audio from each episode recorded and archived for podcast.

Guest: Rocky Kuner
Produced by Past Forward in partnership with Brew Sessions Live.

Driven by their love of music Bright Is My Sun formed a group that would be inspirational and positive. As a collective, they have many different influences and use their experience and tastes as a tool for success in making music. Bright Is My Sun has the ambition and talent to settle into the industry just nicely… especially with their message of positivity, considering everything else is about drugs and violence. They have set out on a mission for a Hip Hop Intervention. “Dope inside, cant no one change it”. We truly love our fans and they are our Rays of Hope and inspiration to be better!

Sounds + Stories is an eclectic music series featuring live performances and entertaining discussions with emerging and established artists. Produced in collaboration with Brew Sessions Live. Special episodes are filmed and edited into a short documentary compilation with the audio from each episode recorded and archived for podcast.

Guest: Bright Is My Sun
Produced by Past Forward in partnership with Brew Sessions Live.

Dréa is a singer, songwriter, classical pianist, poet and spoken word artist. Her songs tell the story of a life lived thus far, encompassing a wide range of emotion and conviction.

Robert is an Oscar & Grammy winning, Emmy nominated Producer/Engineer/Mixer and owner of Defy Recordings. Recent clients of note include Paul McCartney, Lady Gaga, U2, Chaka Khan, Placido Domingo, Ingrid Michelson, Christina Aguilera, Alice Cooper and Duran Duran.

The “Prelude” album is available now on Amazon, iTunes, Spotify and GooglePlay, is the first collaboration of new artist Dréa and producer Robert L. Smith.

Sounds + Stories is an eclectic music series featuring live performances and entertaining discussions with emerging and established artists. Produced in collaboration with Brew Sessions Live. Special episodes are filmed and edited into a short documentary compilation with the audio from each episode recorded and archived for podcast.

Guest: Dréa and Robert L. Smith
Produced by Past Forward in partnership with Brew Sessions Live.

Krista Marinais an alternative pop singer/songwriter whose music displays jazz, blues, and sometimes folk, influences. Her interest in songwriting sparked from the various music genres she explored growing up. Although artists like Amy Winehouse, Alicia Keys and Hozier inspire her, Krista has a niche style that is evident in her music.

Sounds + Stories is an eclectic music series featuring live performances and entertaining discussions with emerging and established artists. Produced in collaboration with Brew Sessions Live. Special episodes are filmed and edited into a short documentary compilation with the audio from each episode recorded and archived for podcast.

Guest: Krista Marina
Produced by Past Forward in partnership with Brew Sessions Live.

Apollo Bebop, named after the Greek God of music and the intricately harmonic style of jazz, is a West Coast based band that formed in the summer of 2015 in Santa Ana, California. From the start, the group has aimed to revitalize the appreciation of Jazz music by incorporating the musicality of jazz with classic, yet contemporary, hip hop back beats. The quintet consists of drummer Donovan Cruz, bass and guitarist roles that alternate between Christopher Trimmer and Dominick Cruz, DeAndre Grover on tenor sax, and Brian “Brian to Earth” Gomez as the front man and Emcee.

Sounds + Stories is an eclectic music series featuring live performances and entertaining discussions with emerging and established artists. Produced in collaboration with Brew Sessions Live. Special episodes are filmed and edited into a short documentary compilation with the audio from each episode recorded and archived for podcast.

Guest: Apollo Bebop
Produced by Past Forward in partnership with Brew Sessions Live.

James Spaite has been performing internationally since the age of 18 having toured in Argentina, Belgium, Germany, Holland, Hungary, and the US. While majoring in Psychology in college and working full time, Spaite would tour during the summers and play local San Diego shows on the weekends.He is preparing for the recording and release of his second album, “Outside” projected to release this coming February/March.

JR Bishop is a composer, producer and arranger based out of Los Angeles. He believes in the power of music to bring people together and works to achieve that end with his music. His upcoming release “We Go Together” is a full-length album written and recorded entirely on his 1330-mile hike of the Pacific Crest Trail.

Sounds + Stories is an eclectic music series featuring live performances and entertaining discussions with emerging and established artists. Produced in collaboration with Brew Sessions Live. Special episodes are filmed and edited into a short documentary compilation with the audio from each episode recorded and archived for podcast.

Guest: James Spaite and JR Bishop
Produced by Past Forward in partnership with Brew Sessions Live.

Nasi Nassiri is a singer-songwriter of Iranian descent, born and raised in Germany. Fusing sounds of neo-soul, pop, R&B, and jazz, Nasi’s sound is all her own. With a strong presence in the Los Angeles and Orange County music scenes, she has performed at venues across Southern California, including The Mint, Bar Lubitsch, and has opened for artists like the Grammy-nominated Hot 8 Brass Band and Latin-Soul artist Alex Cuba.

In July 2017 Nasi wrote and performed on a track with the legendary rapper Bizzy Bone from the Grammy Award Winning rap group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. The single is set to be released by December 2017. In 2015, she also wrote and performed on the track “Endlessly” by renowned producer Excel Beats (Ne-Yo, Usher, Lady Gaga, Bone Thugs). She was additionally featured on Excel Beats’ track “All Mine.” Both songs were featured in promos for the Kendall + Kylie clothing line for Pac Sun by Kendall and Kylie Jenner. With a soulful voice, poetic lyrics, and stirring melodies, Nasi delivers a sound reminiscent of artists like Adele, Lana Del Rey, and Celine Dion. Her first single “Runaway” was released June 9th, 2017.

Sounds + Stories is an eclectic music series featuring live performances and entertaining discussions with emerging and established artists. Produced in collaboration with Brew Sessions Live. Special episodes are filmed and edited into a short documentary compilation with the audio from each episode recorded and archived for podcast.

Guest: Nasi Nassiri
Produced by Past Forward in partnership with Brew Sessions Live.

Bossa Zuzu is a neo-Bossa Nova group from Los Angeles that is reviving the classic Bossa Nova sound for the 21st Century. They seamlessly blend the aesthetic of Getz/Gilberto with influences of other Brazilian music such as forró, Afoxé and Brazilian popular music as well as American jazz and pop music. Bossa Zuzu's 2nd album "Under Leaves Under Sky" is produced by multi-GRAMMY winning jazz legend Peter Erskine.

Bossa Zuzu was formed in 2011 when Dan Reckard (sax, piano) returned from Bahia, Brazil and teamed up with Capital (guitar, vocals) to lead a group of some of LA’s brightest emerging jazz talent. They have since toured the U.S., Japan and Brazil to acclaim, including opening three tours for American Idol’s Crystal Bowersox, and have performed all over Southern California.

Sounds + Stories is an eclectic music series featuring live performances and entertaining discussions with emerging and established artists. Produced in collaboration with Brew Sessions Live. Special episodes are filmed and edited into a short documentary compilation with the audio from each episode recorded and archived for podcast.

Guest: Bossa Zuzu
Produced by Past Forward in partnership with Brew Sessions Live.

EMÆL is an eclectic quintet that has converged many genres of music ranging from their classical roots to indie/alt-pop influences. Orange County natives, they have shared their unique sound opening for artists such as Young the Giant, Diplo, David Benoit, Kansas, Juicy J, New Politics, Beat Connection and many more. Multi-instrumentalist frontman Emmanuel Ventura-Cruess assembled the band from his most talented friends in 2014. EMAEL has spent the last two years developing their debut album “Glasswork”, working with Grammy nominated producer/mixer Itai Shapira.

Sounds + Stories is an eclectic music series featuring live performances and entertaining discussions with emerging and established artists. Produced in collaboration with Brew Sessions Live. Special episodes are filmed and edited into a short documentary compilation with the audio from each episode recorded and archived for podcast.

Guest: EMAEL
Produced by Past Forward in partnership with Brew Sessions Live.

Miko Lee is an activist, storyteller and educator. She believes in the power of story to amplify voices. Miko is lead producer of APEX Express on KPFA Radio focused around AAPI activists and artists. She is Director of Programs for Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality and on the National Advisory Committee of Teaching Artists Guild. Miko’s career has been rooted in the nonprofit world, first as a theatre actor, director and writer and then as an artistic director and as an arts education leader.

Miko was executive director of Youth in Arts for over a decade and prior to that was Director of Arts and Public Education at East Bay Center for the Performing Arts. In addition to Teaching Artists Guild, Miko is an artsEquity BIPOC leader and serves on California’s Special Education + Arts Working Group and the Public Will Committee of CREATE CA. Miko’s extensive background in theatre includes working on shows at Berkeley, Seattle and South Coast Rep, Public Theatre, Mark Taper Forum and many others.

Annie Leeis the Director of Policy at Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, CA. In her role, Annie advocates for systemic change that protects workers’ and immigrants’ rights and promotes language diversity and education equity. CAA is a co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, and Annie develops policy solutions to address discrimination against the AAPI community.

Annie previously worked as a Civil Rights Attorney with the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights. She began her legal career as an Equal Justice Works Fellow at the National Center for Youth Law, where she specialized in foster youth education rights, special education, and school discipline. Her passion for serving students stems from her experience as an 11th grade United States history teacher in the Bronx. Annie is a graduate of Harvard Law School, Fordham’s Graduate School of Education, and the University of Pennsylvania.

Chapters is a multi-part series concerning the history and the lessons of civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices carried out against communities or populations—including civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices that are perpetrated on the basis of an individual’s race, national origin, immigration status, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.

This project was made possible with support from Chapman University and The California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library.

Guests: Miko Lee and Annie Lee
Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by: Past Forward

Aiden Thomas is a trans, Latinx, New York Times Bestselling Author with an MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College. Originally from Oakland, California, they now make their home in Portland, OR. Aiden is notorious for not being able to guess the endings of books and movies, and organizes their bookshelves by color.

Engaging the World: Leading the Conversation on Ethnic Studies is a series of discussions about race, ethnicity, indigeneity, and the strategies used in historical movements for social transformation, resistance, and liberation.

Guest: Aiden Thomas
Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by Past Forward in partnership with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University.

Kwame Sound Daniels' feverishly written forthcoming book, the pause and the breath from Atmosphere Press, is a meditation on Black trans identity and ancestry in the form of broken and re-imagined sonnets. Xir current book out now is Light Spun with Perennial Press, a collection of sonnets and free verse exploring queer love and Black American spirituality.

the pause and the breath
Atmosphere Press, 2023

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a public podcast service and book initiative. As a nonprofit organization, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our Re-Mind initiative focuses on educational accessibility. We collaborate with experts and curate book collections inspired by topics from our podcast. This program creates a path for curiosity and provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

Vishavjit Singh is a cartoonist, writer, performance artist (aka Sikh Captain America) and creator of Sikhtoons.com based in New York City. He is a public speaker expounding on diversity, inclusion, storytelling and power of art in schools, universities and companies across the nation. He currently works in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion in FDNY.

Engaging the World: Leading the Conversation on Ethnic Studies is a series of discussions about race, ethnicity, indigeneity, and the strategies used in historical movements for social transformation, resistance, and liberation.

Guest: Vishavjit Singh
Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by Past Forward in partnership with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University.

Manpreet Kaur Kalra (she/her) is a social impact advisor, educator, speaker, podcast host, and activist working to decolonize ethical storytelling. She navigates the intersection of impact communication and sustainable global development. Her activism focuses on the interconnectivity of economic, social, and climate justice. 

Engaging the World: Leading the Conversation on Ethnic Studies is a series of discussions about race, ethnicity, indigeneity, and the strategies used in historical movements for social transformation, resistance, and liberation.

Guest: Manpreet Kaur Kalra
Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by Past Forward in partnership with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University.

Janice Munemitsu is a third-generation Japanese American Sansei. A native of Orange County, California, Janice was raised on the family farm and worked there from age 5 through high school. She is a graduate of the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business and Biola University Institute for Spiritual Formation. Her family name, Munemitsu, 宗 光, means source of light in kanji. The Kindness of Color is her first book. 

Engaging the World: Leading the Conversation on Ethnic Studies is a series of discussions about race, ethnicity, indigeneity, and the strategies used in historical movements for social transformation, resistance, and liberation.

Guest: Janice Munemitsu
Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by Past Forward in partnership with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University.

Jerry Almendarez is the Superintendent of the Santa Ana Unified School District. Almendarez has a master’s degree in Educational Leadership from the University of Redlands, and a bachelor’s degree in business/finance from Cal State San Bernardino. Almendarez’ career in education spans 27 years, and includes experience as a classroom teacher, an assistant principal and a principal. He has also taught as an adjunct professor at Azusa Pacific University and the University of Redlands, and in March was named a 2019 Ted-Ed Innovative Educator.

Linn Lee is the History and Social Science Curriculum Specialist for Santa Ana Unified School District. Lee has a a master of education degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a bachelor’s degree in history from UC Santa Cruz.

The Santa Ana Unified School District is the 12th largest school district in the state of California. In June 2020, the Santa Ana Unified School District Board of Education voted unanimously to adopt a resolution creating a new graduation requirement that will mandate students to complete a one-year course of ethnic studies before receiving their diploma, making Santa Ana one of the first districts in the country to require this curriculum starting this school year of 2022-2023.

Engaging the World: Leading the Conversation on Ethnic Studies is a series of discussions about race, ethnicity, indigeneity, and the strategies used in historical movements for social transformation, resistance, and liberation.

Guests: Jerry Almendarez and Linn Lee
Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by Past Forward in partnership with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University.

Gerald Clarke is an enrolled member of the Cahuilla Band of Indians and lives on the Cahuilla Indian Reservation. When not creating artwork or serving as Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Riverside, Gerald oversees the Clarke family cattle ranch and remains heavily involved in Cahuilla culture. As a visual artist, Gerald has exhibited his work extensively and in numerous exhibitions as well as in major museum collections.

In 2007, Gerald was awarded an Eiteljorg Museum Fellowship for Native American Fine Art and served as an Artist-in-Residence at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2015. Earlier this year, Gerald received a Harpo Foundation Native American Fellowship to the Vermont Studio Center.

Engaging the World: Leading the Conversation on Ethnic Studies is a series of discussions about race, ethnicity, indigeneity, and the strategies used in historical movements for social transformation, resistance, and liberation.

Guest: Gerald Clarke
Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by Past Forward in partnership with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University.

Evette Davis is the author of 48 States and Woman King and Dark Horse, the first two installments of TheDark Horse Trilogy. When she’s not writing novels, Davis dispenses advice to some of the country’s largest corporations, non-profits, and institutions as a consultant and co-owner of BergDavis Public Affairs, an award-winning San Francisco-based public affairs firm. Before establishing her firm, Davis worked in Washington as a press secretary for a member of Congress and as a reporter for daily newspapers in the San Francisco Bay Area.  

48 States
Flesh & Bone Publishing, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a public podcast service and book initiative. As a nonprofit organization, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our Re-Mind initiative focuses on educational accessibility. We collaborate with experts and curate book collections inspired by topics from our podcast. This program creates a path for curiosity and provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

As a science writer and medical publisher, Stuart Chapman has written hundreds of articles and created medical journals for physicians on a wide array of clinical and medico-legal topics. During the 1970s, he founded a weekly newspaper in Northern California. A certified Master Gardener, he grows vegetables in Florida with his wife, Vivian.

The OCD Chronicles: Fear and Loathing on the Psychiatrist's Couch
Atmosphere Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a public podcast service and book initiative. As a nonprofit organization, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our Re-Mind initiative focuses on educational accessibility. We collaborate with experts and curate book collections inspired by topics from our podcast. This program creates a path for curiosity and provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

Jocelyn Holst Bolster lives in Colorado where she sleeps under a couple cats; plays the singing saw with her band, 2 Star Hotel; explores the world with her drummer; and loves, above all, reading with her two children every night.

Spindrift Love
Atmosphere Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a public podcast service and book initiative. As a nonprofit organization, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our Re-Mind initiative focuses on educational accessibility. We collaborate with experts and curate book collections inspired by topics from our podcast. This program creates a path for curiosity and provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

Tom David was born and raised in the Detroit area. He worked for a number of years in automotive and medical data analysis before turning to fiction.

Delivery
Atmosphere Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a public podcast service and book initiative. As a nonprofit organization, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our Re-Mind initiative focuses on educational accessibility. We collaborate with experts and curate book collections inspired by topics from our podcast. This program creates a path for curiosity and provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

Robin Rivers, an international award-winning former journalist, now helps young writers learn the craft as the CEO of Quill Academy of Creative Writing. Combining her quick and direct journalistic writing with a thriller tone and pace, Rivers crafts a story celebrating the romance and beauty of the historical feminine.

Woman On The Wall
The Sibylline Chronicles, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a public podcast service and book initiative. As a nonprofit organization, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our Re-Mind initiative focuses on educational accessibility. We collaborate with experts and curate book collections inspired by topics from our podcast. This program creates a path for curiosity and provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

Jeffrey Marshall is a writer and former journalist and the author of five books, including three novels, of which Squeeze Plays is the latest. He spent most of his career as a business and financial writer and editor, much of that in New York, and was editor-in-chief of two national business magazines. As a freelance writer, his work has appeared in publications as varied as The New York Times, High Country News, Nonprofit Times, and Tail Fly Fishing Magazine. Marshall has degrees from Princeton and Northwestern. He lives in Scottsdale, AZ, with his wife, Judy, and dogs Maggie and Blaze.

Squeeze Plays
Atmosphere Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a public podcast service and book initiative. As a nonprofit organization, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our Re-Mind initiative focuses on educational accessibility. We collaborate with experts and curate book collections inspired by topics from our podcast. This program creates a path for curiosity and provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

Howchi Kilburn is a long-term practitioner of meditation, Tai-Chi, yoga, psychotherapy, immersion in nature, and playing with his grandkids. A Northern California denizen, inspired by the non-fiction writings of Marija Gimbutas, The Living Goddess, and Riane Eisler, Sacred Pleasure, he has been writing stories based on their descriptions of human life in ancient times. He is the author of Monking Around and Another Butterfly.

Another Butterfly
Atmosphere Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a public podcast service and book initiative. As a nonprofit organization, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our Re-Mind initiative focuses on educational accessibility. We collaborate with experts and curate book collections inspired by topics from our podcast. This program creates a path for curiosity and provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

Lesley Wheeler, Poetry Editor of Shenandoah, is the author of five poetry collections, including The State She's In; The Receptionist and Other Tales, finalist for the James Tiptree, Jr. Award; and Heterotopia, winner of the Barrow Street Press Poetry Prize. Unbecoming, her first novel, appeared in 2020, and her most recent scholarly book is Voicing American Poetry: Sound and Performance from the 1920s to the Present. Her work has received support from the Fulbright Foundation, Bread Loaf, Sewanee Writers Workshop, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Wheeler's poems and essays appear in Kenyon Review Online, Poetry, American Poetry Review, Guernica, and other journals.

Poetry's Possible Worlds
Tinderbox Editions, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a public podcast service and book initiative. As a nonprofit organization, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our Re-Mind initiative focuses on educational accessibility. We collaborate with experts and curate book collections inspired by topics from our podcast. This program creates a path for curiosity and provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

A student of ancient Hebrew language and culture, Siegfried Johnson in 1990 earned a graduate degree in biblical Hebrew from the University of Michigan, after which he left Ann Arbor to enter ministry in the United Methodist Church, currently serving as Senior Pastor at Christ of the Hills in beautiful Hot Springs Village, Arkansas. He has continued to nurture his love for Hebrew studies by leading over thirty tours to the Holy Land and throughout the Mediterranean world, since 2010 serving as a Director of Travel Ministries for Educational Opportunities Tours, a faith-based travel company headquartered in Lakeland, Florida.

Dancing with David
Atmosphere Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a public podcast service and book initiative. As a nonprofit organization, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our Re-Mind initiative focuses on educational accessibility. We collaborate with experts and curate book collections inspired by topics from our podcast. This program creates a path for curiosity and provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

Estela González, author of Arribada (2022), holds an MFA in creative writing and a PhD in Latin American literature. As a binational and bilingual writer, she tells stories in English and Spanish about race, class, gender, and environmental justice. Growing up in Mexico, Estela regularly visited her family in Mazatlán, where decades-long intensive development has led to the demise of beaches and sea turtle colonies. Her research and support of fishermen protecting sea turtles in the Sea of Cortés deepen her reflections on environmental justice, race relations, and sexuality.

Her work is featured in the Barcelona Review, the Cobalt Review, Connotation Press, Cronopio, Flash Frontier, Flyway Magazine, Kudzu House, Label Me Latina, La Colmena, Luvina, the Fem, and the Revista Mexicana de Literatura Contemporánea, as well as in outstanding collections such as Best of Solstice Literary Magazine, Feminine Rising (Cynren Press, 2019), and Under the Volcano. Arribadawas a 2017 finalist for the Feminist Press’s Louise Meriwether Award.

Arribada
Cynren Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a public podcast service and book initiative. As a nonprofit organization, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our Re-Mind initiative focuses on educational accessibility. We collaborate with experts and curate book collections inspired by topics from our podcast. This program creates a path for curiosity and provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

Richard Paik lives in Marblehead, Massachusetts. A Thing or Two About the Game is his debut novel. Five seasons coaching girls’ softball served as inspiration, while providing insight into the tribulations and rewards of this benign activity. He is currently at work on his next book, a collection of linked stories, none of which are about softball.

A Thing or Two About the Game
Atmosphere Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a public podcast service and distributor, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our book initiative provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

Iwanna Twainbee attended St. Petersburg Missouri Community College where she mainly smoked cigars and got drunk with her friends. Mark Twain appeared during her seances, and, fortunately, he became her guru.

She is a heavy reader of literature and usually buys her books from brick and mortar independent bookstores. To sort the good from the bad she sticks to authors whose names provoke a tickle of recognition, and she focuses on novels still on the shelves fifty years after first publication.

She is gender fluid, moment-by-moment, but in connection with this book she has been and is all female.

Eternal Questions: A Maybe Interesting List: A Maybe Interesting List
Atmosphere Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a public podcast service and distributor, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our book initiative provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

Natasha Nelson is a single mother of two beloved children, living in the desert wilds of the Southwest. She grew up on Whidbey Island in Washington, a small Island in the Puget Sound most people have never even heard of. The ocean has always been a treasured part of her life, every adventure on its shores scattered throughout her memory like bits of sea glass winking from the beach. It is the one place she feels most at home, where she is free to be both wild and peaceful at once.

Winter & George: A Path Across the Sea
Atmosphere Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a public podcast service and distributor, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our book initiative provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

Growing up in Minnesota, Steve A. Erickson enjoyed playing baseball and drawing. When I realized that not being able to hit a curveball would probably keep me out of the major leagues, I followed my creative inclination and enrolled at Drake University. After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, I worked more than forty years in the advertising industry, first as an art director and then as a creative director.

Recently retired, I now live near my three sons in Cedar Rapids, Iowa with my dog Alex. As a boy, I was always intrigued by what might really be happening behind a closed refrigerator door. So, I decided to combine my creative talents and youthful curiosity by writing and illustrating “A Very Chilling Mystery” for my six grandchildren. I hope this book will inspire young readers to open the door to the possibilities of their own imagination.

A Very Chilling Mystery
Atmosphere Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a public podcast service and distributor, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our book initiative provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

Leah Thomas is an eco-communicator, aka an environmentalist with a love for writing + creativity, based in Ventura, CA. She’s passionate about advocating for and exploring the relationship between social justice and environmentalism. You could say she’s tryna make the world a little more equal for everyone and a little nicer to our home planet.

She is the founder of eco-lifestyle blog @greengirlleah and The Intersectional Environmentalist Platform, which is a resource + media hub that aims to advocate for environmental justice + inclusivity within environmental education + movements.

Her articles on this topic have appeared in Vogue,Elle,The Good Trade, and Youth to the People and she has been featured in Harper’s Bazaar,W Magazine,Domino,GOOP and numerous podcasts. She has a B.S. in Environmental Science and Policy from Chapman University and worked for the National Park Service and Patagonia headquarters before pursuing environmentalism full time. Learn more about Leah and her mission in this BuzzFeed video.

Engaging the World: Leading the Conversation on Environmental Justice is a series of informed, sustained, and enriching dialogues looking at how environmental toxicity and risk disproportionately impact populations based on race, ethnicity, nationality, and social standing. Environmental Justice brings awareness to these disparities, fighting to ensure that every voice is heard, every challenge is addressed, and every community has a seat at the table for a greener future.

Guest: Leah Thomas
Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by Public Podcasting in partnership with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University.

Jackson (Kanahashi) Bliss is the winner of the 2020 Noemi Book Prize in Prose and the mixed-race/hapa author of COUNTERFACTUAL LOVE STORIES & OTHER EXPERIMENTS (Noemi Press, 2021), AMNESIA OF JUNE BUGS(7.13 Books, 2022), DREAMPOPORIGAMI(Unsolicited Press, 2022), the digital novella, DUKKHA, MY LOVE, & the newsletter, MIXTAPE. Born & raised in Traverse City, Michigan until the age of fourteen, he spent his adult life in SoCal, the Pacific Northwest, & the Midwest with stints in Argentina & Burkina Faso. Jackson has a BA in comp lit from Oberlin College, a MFA from the University of Notre Dame where he was the Fiction Fellow & the Sparks Prize winner, a MA in English, & a PhD in Literature & Creative Writing from USC where he worked with Aimee Bender, Viet Thanh Nguyen, & TC Boyle. His stories & essays have appeared in the New York Times, Tin House,Ploughshares,Columbia Journal,Guernica,Longreads, Antioch Review,TriQuarterly, Fiction,Witness,Boston Review,Kenyon Review,Vol.1 Brooklyn, ZYZZYVA,Joyland,Santa Monica Review,Juked, Quarterly West,The Daily Dot, Pleiades,the 2012-2013 Anthology of APIA Literature, Arts & Letters,Fiction International,Hobart,Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, &3 am Magazine,among others. Jackson is the Distinguished Visiting Writer at Bowling Green State University. He lives in LA with his wife and two stylish little dogs.

Dream Pop Origami
Unsolicited Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a public podcast service and distributor, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our book initiative provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

Kathy Weyer is an author, artist, and animal lover. She was awarded first prize by the Palm Springs Writers Guild for both the fiction and memoir contests, and she has been published in several magazines. Kathy is on the board of directors for the Friends of the Palm Springs Library and the Palm Springs Writers Guild. Kathy lives in Palm Springs with her husband of 40 years and their rescued pets. She is the author of Stitches and its sequels, Canvas and Pages of the Heritage Art Park series. Through her fiction, Kathy shines a light on women’s issues, the foster/child welfare system, domestic violence, grief, and bereavement.

Pages
Atmosphere Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a public podcast service and distributor, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our book initiative provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

Born and raised in Minnesota, Warren W. Van Overbeke attended Cardinal Stritch University, the American Military University, and Michigan State University, attaining degrees in Business, International Relations, and Equine Management. He is a United States Air Force Veteran, and wounded warrior from the war in Afghanistan. Warren lives in Benona Township, Michigan.

Tholocco’s Wake
Atmosphere Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a public podcast service and distributor, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our book initiative provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

At age 9, Rick Rosenberg moved from the big city to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, aka the "Secret City." It was around then he had his first experience with the literary world, publishing a short story in Grit Magazine. He attended the University of Tennessee/Knoxville where he earned a Bachelors in Communications. Since then, he's lived in multiple cities and has won accolades for both copywriting and screenwriting. He has one child adopted from Vietnam, and he currently lives in Maplewood, NJ. Jewbilly is his first novel.

Jewbilly
Atmosphere Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a public podcast service and distributor, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our book initiative provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

Lance Hillsinger was a child protective services (cps) social worker for thirty-four years. The first five years were with Los Angeles County; the rest were with San Luis Obispo County. Hillsinger had held various assignments in cps. His longest and the most enjoyable assignment was that of a "court worker." As a court worker, Hillsinger personally filed over 600 petitions with the juvenile court, participated in hundreds of court-ordered mediations, and testified in court on numerous occasions.

Build a Better Bridge: Social Policy for The 21st Century
Westwood Books Publishing, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a public podcast service and distributor, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our book initiative provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

Dustin Grinnellis a writer based in Boston. His creative nonfiction and fiction combine medicine and the humanities and have appeared in many popular and literary publications, including Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine, New Scientist, Tendon Magazine, VICE, and Salon. He’s the author of The Genius Dilemma, Without Limits, and The Empathy Academy. He’s written about the therapeutic power of books for The Boston Globe, Writer’s Digest, and Hektoen International. He holds an MFA in fiction from the Solstice MFA Program, an MS in physiology from Penn State, and a BA in psychobiology from Wheaton College (MA).

The Empathy Academy 
Atmosphere Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a public podcast service and distributor, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our book initiative provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

Brett Shapiro is an American writer and the best-selling author of L’Intruso – a memoir published in Italy (Feltrinelli) that was later produced into an award-winning film and theatrical production. He is also the author of two children’s books, one of which was the recipient of Austria’s prestigious National Book Award. Several of his short stories have been performed in theatres throughout Italy, where he lived for 25 years, and his essays and articles have appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers in Italy and the United States. While in Italy, he made many guest appearances on Italian television, including as commentator for 60 Minutes, and was a regular guest lecturer at the University of Siena. Brett is a veteran writer for the United Nations and currently lives by the beach in Florida.

Those Around Him
Independently Published, 2019

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a public podcast service and distributor, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our book initiative provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

Angie Sage is an English author of children's literature, including the best selling Septimus Heap series, the TodHunter Moon trilogy, and the Araminta Spookie series. She attended the Art School in Leicester, studying Illustration and Graphic Design. After college she developed her passion and began writing and illustrating toddler books. Her debut novel was the first book in the Septimus Heap series: Magyk, published in March 2005, immediately becoming an international bestseller after it appeared at number one on the New York Times Best Sellers List.

Without These Books is a thank-you-inspired Video/Podcast. Each episode celebrates authors, books, and characters that changed us as writers, readers, and as people. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast. Watch on our YouTube channel or at pastforward.org.

Angie Sage selected King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green for her episode of Without These Books.

Born in Athens, Greece as an Air Force brat, Teri M. Brown now calls the North Carolina coast home. In 2020, she and her husband, Bruce, rode a tandem bicycle across the United States from Astoria, Oregon to Washington DC, successfully raising money for Toys for Tots.

Sunflowers Beneath the Snow
Atmosphere Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a public podcast service and distributor, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our book initiative provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

Amy Kim Kibuishi has been drawing and writing in earnest since she was ten years old. She graduated from the School of Visual Arts with a degree in Cartooning and is the creator of Sorcerers & Secretaries, a graphic novel duology. The first volume was a YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens selection. She was also a contributor to the acclaimed Flight anthology series edited by Kazu Kibuishi, and adapted a story for Goosebumps: Terror Trips by R.L. Stine. Amy lives near Seattle with her husband, Kazu, and their two crafty children.

Without These Books is a thank-you-inspired Video/Podcast. Each episode celebrates authors, books, and characters that changed us as writers, readers, and as people. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast. Watch on our YouTube channel or at pastforward.org.

Amy Kim Kibuishi selected A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle for her episode of Without These Books.

Barbara Reyelts worked as the News Director for both the NBC and CBS affiliate stations, and for the International Center for Journalists, under the auspices of the U.S. Embassy in Kazakhstan. Her awards include several Emmys, the Mitchell Charnley Award from the Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association, The Silver Circle honor from the National Academy of Television, and induction into the Minnesota Broadcast Hall of Fame. August 11, 2017 is named Barbara Reyelts Day in Minnesota. 

Dying to Live
Atmosphere Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a public podcast service and distributor, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our book initiative provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

Author and Illustrator Nina Mata is the #1 New York Times Bestselling Illustrator of "I Promise" by LeBron James (nominated for the 52nd NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literature). She is also a 2021Theodor Seuss Geisel Honoree for her work in "Ty's Travels, Zip Zoom by Kelly Starling Lyons".  Nina grew up a typical latchkey kid in Queens, New York. Her family emigrated from the Philippines when she was 6 years old. Because her parents worked and went to night school, Nina spent a lot (like a whole lot) of time drawing. Her after school activities usually involved watching Bob Ross, Reading Rainbow and looking for adventures in the library (which she still does). She now creates illustrations for childrens publishing and is passionate about representing the beauty and diversity of the world. She currently lives in New Jersey with her husband, their daughter and Tabi, the cat.

Without These Books is a thank-you-inspired Video/Podcast. Each episode celebrates authors, books, and characters that changed us as writers, readers, and as people. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast. Watch on our YouTube channel or at pastforward.org.

Nina Mata selected Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale by John Steptoe for her episode of Without These Books.

Dan Jason began writing professionally as a middle school English teacher in Albany, NY. Having taught in the inner city for nearly a decade, he desired to use literature as a platform to inspire and encourage others.  Through Jason's nonfiction works of faith and spirituality, finance, and children’s books, Dan has utilized words to impact the lives of countless people.  As a lifelong learner and community activist, he devotes his time to local and global missions serving those on the margins of society to bring the love of Jesus to people by journeying with them. Dan believes that sharing the struggles we face, hearing one another’s stories and building a community centered on trust is the key to making the world a better and brighter place. Knowledge is power and sharing books is a way to build a better tomorrow.

The Saint Next Door
Atmosphere Press, 2021

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Without Books®, a division of Heritage Future, is an author-centric book initiative. Our resources support writers and we provide access to millions of books for readers around the world.

Daryl Glinn-Tanner grew up in the hills above Los Angeles in a hippie household, parenting stoned adults. Now she lives life young at heart. Tanner didn’t know at a young age she suffered from dyslexia, never thought she’d author books. Always creative, she finds serenity in painting, spiritual poetry, and writing picture books to novels. She created DivineResponse and ran the successful FreshHair Studio. An exceptional chef, Daryl enjoys sharing her nutritional concoctions and loves to feed the soul with written words. She writes daily next to sun-loving cats, encouraged with apples by her beloved husband.

What Feeds the Heart
Atmosphere Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Without Books®, a division of Heritage Future, is an author-centric book initiative. Our resources support writers and we provide access to millions of books for readers around the world.

John Manuel is the author of a memoir, The Canoeist, and two previous novels, Hope Valley and The Lower Canyons (Atmosphere Press, 2020). His short stories have appeared in The Savannah Anthology and New Southerner. In addition to writing fiction, he has published numerous articles on environmental health, environmental policy, and outdoor recreation. John received his B.A. from Yale University and a Master’s Degree from the School of City and Regional Planning at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He lives in Durham, NC, with his wife, Cathy Murphy.

Solitario: The Lonely One
Atmosphere Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Without Books®, a division of Heritage Future, is an author-centric book initiative. Our resources support writers and we provide access to millions of books for readers around the world.

Judith Bice was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, where she has enjoyed a dual career as an educator and a musician. 

Hey, White Girl
Atmosphere Press, 2021

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Without Books®, a division of Heritage Future, is an author-centric book initiative. Our resources support writers and we provide access to millions of books for readers around the world.

Daniel Robinson is a retired lawyer from California. He has a BA from UC Riverside, an MA from Stanford, and a JD from McGeorge Law School. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Venezuela from 1966 to 1968. He’s married with two children and two grandchildren.

Hitchhiking Across America: 1963
Atmosphere Press, 2021

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Without Books®, a division of Heritage Future, is an author-centric book initiative. Our resources support writers and we provide access to millions of books for readers around the world.

Donna Peizer is a mother of three and holds a BS in nursing from the University of Colorado and a JD from the University of California, Berkeley. Now retired, she lives with her dog, Toby, in the beautiful Sierra foothills of northern California. She is a certified end-of-life doula and volunteers in her community and elsewhere.

Somewhere Different Now
Atmosphere Press, 2021

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Without Books®, a division of Heritage Future, is an author-centric book initiative. Our resources support writers and we provide access to millions of books for readers around the world.

Dr. William M. Tsutsui is an award-winning historian and teacher, frequent public speaker and media commentator, and a seasoned academic administrator with a record of innovation.  Born in New York City and raised in Texas, he holds degrees from Harvard (A.B. 1985), Oxford (M.Litt. 1988), and Princeton (M.A. 1990, Ph.D. 1995) universities. He began his academic career at the University of Kansas, where over 17 years on the faculty he served as acting director of KU’s Center for East Asian Studies, chair of the Department of History, founding executive director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Kansas, and associate dean for international studies in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. From 2010 to 2014, he was dean of Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences and professor in the Clements Department of History at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.  In June 2014, he assumed the presidency of Hendrix College, a top-tier national liberal arts college founded in 1876 and located in Conway, Arkansas.  He is currently Professor Emeritus of History at Hendrix.  During the 2020 to 2021 academic year, he is the Edwin O. Reischauer Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies and the Department of East Asian Languages & Civilizations at Harvard University.

Engaging the World: Leading the Conversation on Environmental Justice is a series of informed, sustained, and enriching dialogues looking at how environmental toxicity and risk disproportionately impact populations based on race, ethnicity, nationality, and social standing. Environmental Justice brings awareness to these disparities, fighting to ensure that every voice is heard, every challenge is addressed, and every community has a seat at the table for a greener future.

Guest: Dr. William M. Tsutsui
Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by Public Podcasting in partnership with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University.

Public Podcasting has partnered with Santiago Canyon College to produce these student podcasts. Student groups from the English 100 class at Santiago Canyon College researched topics and created scripts to record. Public Podcasting mentored the students in how to tell a story, how to share research, and how to personalize their episodes. Working with the students, we produced, recorded and edited their episodes. The three episodes, Crypto Space, Turning A New Leaf, and Teenage Addiction And Quitting have been combined in this special edition of our Creative and Cultural podcast.

This program is sponsored by the Santiago Canyon College Foundation. The mission of the SCC Foundation is to sponsor various gift‐giving opportunities, increase public awareness, and participate in campaigns needed to provide for the scholarships, programs, and capital needs of the College.

Guests: Turning A New Leaf—Zoe Lindberg, Melody Palacios, Aya Qahoush, and Samantha Santillan; Crypto Space—Nathaniel Cruz, Christian Martinez, Noah Ta-Perez, and Diego Torres; Teenage Addiction And Quitting—Luke Bannon, Amer Bishara, Ethan Richarte, and James Talbert
Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by Public Podcasting in partnership with Santiago Canyon College with support from the Santiago Canyon College Foundation.

Dr. Jason A. Douglas is an assistant professor of public health in the Department of Health Sciences within Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences. Leveraging community-based participatory research frameworks, Douglas works with community-based organizations and residents in underserved Black and Latinx communities to investigate social and environmental determinants of public health disparities.

His current research examines COVID-19-related health disparities, food and housing insecurity-related health disparities, the nexus of crime and violence and legal drug retail locations (e.g., tobacco shops, liquor stores), public park and physical activity disparities in underserved communities, and community organizing practices for advancing health and wellbeing. In his community-engaged research, Douglas has developed and adapted innovative participatory methods for public health, including structured observation and neighborhood mapping approaches for examining novel public health challenges.  

Douglas completed his environmental psychology doctoral training at the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York, wherein he worked with children from underserved communities in New York City and forest-fringe community residents in Jamaica to examine social and environmental inequities that challenge community health and wellbeing. He then honed his participatory research practice through a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded postdoctoral research fellowship in the Psychology Applied Research Center at Loyola Marymount University, where he worked with a national cohort of community-based organizations to evaluate community organizing strategies and practices for addressing health, education, and built environment disparities in underserved communities. He extended these research practices as an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Studies at San José State University before joining Chapman University.

Engaging the World: Leading the Conversation on Environmental Justice is a series of informed, sustained, and enriching dialogues looking at how environmental toxicity and risk disproportionately impact populations based on race, ethnicity, nationality, and social standing. Environmental Justice brings awareness to these disparities, fighting to ensure that every voice is heard, every challenge is addressed, and every community has a seat at the table for a greener future.

Guest: Dr. Jason A. Douglas
Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by Public Podcasting in partnership with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University.

Janet Kelley is a teacher, reader, writer, and feminist. A native of Hutchinson, Kansas, she studied Humanistic Studies and Religious Studies at Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana. She studied Historical Theology at the University of Notre Dame. She earned her teaching credentials from Indiana University at South Bend. Ms. Kelley currently lives in Boston and Budapest. Ms. Kelley believes that books are the cornerstone of freedom and justice. Her work to support survivors of sexual assault was inspired by the writer V and The Vagina Monologues. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this novel will be donated to The Trevor Project. Please consider a donation to The Trevor Project to support their crisis intervention and suicide prevention services for LGBTQ youth.

Taint
Atmosphere Press, 2021

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Without Books®, a division of Heritage Future, is an author-centric book initiative. Our resources support writers and we provide access to millions of books for readers around the world.