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Episode Notes This month Let’s Grab Coffee features conversation with Dominic Lawson, host and creator of the award-winning Black Is America podcast. On today’s show, Dominic and I talk about the importance of storytelling - how we tell stories and the stories we tell. We listen to a very special award-winning episode of Black Is America highlighting Memphis's own, Tom Lee: The Everyday American Hero. The Black Is America podcast highlights little-known African-American figures and stories. This award-winning podcast helps tell the story of America through the lens of the African American experience. For more about Black Is America, visit blackisamericapodcast.com

Episode Notes This month Let’s Grab Coffee features conversation with Dominic Lawson, host and creator of the award-winning Black Is America podcast. On today’s show, Dominic and I reflect on how the past is ever present - on an individual and society level - but we can only connect the dots looking backwards. We also listen to a jaw-dropping episode of Black Is America highlighting Doris Miller: The American Defender. The Black Is America podcast highlights little-known African-American figures and stories. This award-winning podcast helps tell the story of America through the lens of the African American experience. For more about Black Is America, visit blackisamericapodcast.com

Episode Notes This month Let’s Grab Coffee features conversation with Dominic Lawson, host and creator of the award-winning Black Is America podcast. On today’s show, Dominic and I talk about the importance of courage. Dominic also drops some invaluable tips for current and future podcasters. We also listen to absolutely captivating Black Is America episode about Henry Johnson: The First American Hero of World War I. The Black Is America podcast highlights little-known African-American figures and stories. This award-winning podcast helps tell the story of America through the lens of the African American experience. For more about Black Is America, visit blackisamericapodcast.com

Episode Notes This month Let’s Grab Coffee features conversation with Dominic Lawson, host and creator of the award-winning Black Is America podcast. On today’s show, Dominic and I talk about Black Is America and the importance of storytelling. We also listen to the Black Is America episode about Sylvia Robinson: The Godmother of Hip Hop.   The Black Is America podcast highlights little-known African-American figures and stories. This award-winning podcast helps tell the story of America through the lens of the African American experience. For more about Black Is America, visit blackisamericapodcast.com

Episode Notes Today’s episode of Let’s Grab Coffee is a special show featuring the Conversation Piece podcast with Patrick Armstrong. I’m sitting on the other side of the microphone while Patrick interviews me about my new book, Out of Place: The Lives of Korean Adoptee Immigrants. While I’m normally the one interviewing authors about their books and what they know about the world around us, I wanted to share with you what the experiences of Korean adoptee immigrants tell us about race, family, and belonging. It was an absolute honor to be interviewed by a fellow Korean adoptee and to give you a glimpse into the lives of Korean adoptees. Over 150,000 Korean children have been adopted into U.S. families – typically white families – and while Korean adoption is often heralded as a type of “forever family” evidencing multiculturalism, in Out of Place I examine the policy failures and attitudes about race, immigration, and citizenship that made Korean children adoptable orphans and then later deportable adults.   Patrick Armstrong (he/him) is a transracial Asian American adoptee, podcaster, speaker, and community facilitator. He is the host of the award-winning podcast Conversation Piece with Patrick Armstrong, a show about the missing pieces of the conversations we're already having. He is also one of the hosts of the award-winning podcast Janchi Show, a show that explores and celebrates the experiences and stories of Korean adoptees everywhere. He is a cofounder of the Asian Adoptees of Indiana, a group dedicated to creating a safe, engaging community for all Asian adoptees who need it.  Episode mentioned: Ep 122. New Year Check In with Dr. Justin K Dodson

Episode Notes How is it that seemingly everyone – from liberals to conservatives, to celebrities, social media trolls, and your least favorite family member – has a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr quote or Civil Rights Movement reference at the ready? How is it that such disparate groups with various interests find meaning and support for their causes in Dr. King’s words? How is it that they can lay claim to his dream for their own visions of the future? Today I’m joined by Dr. Hajar Yazdiha to dig into how the Civil Rights Movement has become a readily available collective memory. She shares how groups reshape memory to make and contest political claims and the consequences of this reshaping. She also talks about how collective memory can be reworked to restore pieces of the past through processes of truth and reconciliation.   Hajar Yazdiha is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Southern California, faculty affiliate of the USC Equity Research Institute, and a CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar (2023-2025). Hajar researches the politics of inclusion and exclusion, examining the forces that bring us together and keep us apart as we work to forge collective futures. In addition to being the author of The Struggle for the People’s King: How Politics Transforms the Memory of the Civil Rights Movement, she is also a public scholar whose writing and research has been featured in outlets including The New York Times, LA Times, ABC News, The Hill, and The Grio.   Other episodes mentioned: Episode 112 Food Power Politics: The Food Story of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement with Bobby J. Smith II

Episode Notes It's the start of a new year, and unsurprisingly one of the most reported New Year Resolutions is fitness-related. According to a survey from Forbes Health/One Poll, respondents most frequently cited improved fitness as a goal. Every day we are bombarded with messaging from media, advertisers, friends, and family about what our bodies should look like and how we can take control of our bodies. Many of these messages are inaccurate and harmful, but how can we break free especially during the New Year when ads for new gym memberships seem to be everywhere? And, what is at the root of all of this focus on body management? Today I’m joined by Chrissy King, author of The Body Liberation Project: How Understanding Racism and Diet Culture Helps Cultivate Joy and Build Collective Freedom. We discuss how we can detach from society’s obsession with controlling our bodies and not just for our own personal well-being but as a component of collective liberation. If you’ve ever found yourself hating your body, believing that losing a few more pounds would lead to happiness, or frustrated that you can’t attain the latest body goals, then this is the conversation you’ve been waiting for. ** ** Chrissy King is a writer, speaker, strength coach, and educator with a passion for creating a diverse and inclusive wellness industry. She holds degrees in Social Justice and Sociology from Marquette University and has been featured in SELF, SHAPE, Health, Cosmopolitan, BuzzFeed, Muscle and Fitness, and Livestrong, among others.

Episode Notes Let’s Grab Coffee kicks off the new year with friend of the show, Dr. Justin K Dodson. As always, he gives us insightful questions to consider and prompts to help us get curious about our wants, needs, and feelings. Looking to make a change this year? Justin offers some practical strategies for following through on your new year goals.   Be sure to check out our previous conversations: Episode 72 The Gift of Vulnerability Episode 87 Tis the Season   Dr. Justin K Dodson is the owner of Navigating Courage Counseling & Consultation, L.L.C. He is a licensed therapist who specializes in helping adult males through individual therapy, 1:1 coaching, and group coaching. He also provides tailored consultation for organizations who are looking to improve their understanding and strategies related to neuropsychology and mental health issues. Learn more at https://www.navigatingcouragecac.com/ or connect with Dr. Dodson on Instagram and TikTok @itsdrjkeith

Episode Notes We spend a lot of our time on the road, commuting to work, running errands, meeting up with friends and family. In fact, maybe you’ll listen to this episode while you’re on the road. For all the possibilities that roads open up for us, it’s not without a cost. To talk more about how roads impact our lives – and the lives around us – for better and for worse, today I’m joined by Ben Goldfarb, author of Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping The Future of Our Planet. _ _ Ben Goldfarb is an independent conservation journalist. He’s the author of Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping The Future of Our Planet, which the New York Times named one of the best books of 2023. His previous book Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter, was the winner of the 2019 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. Ben’s writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Science, The Washington Post, National Geographic, and The New York Times, among others.

Episode Notes Have you ever expensed a lunch that wasn’t solely a business meeting or maybe added a little extra time on your timesheet? If so, that’s fraud. Fraud is not just identity theft, ponzi schemes, or embezzling millions of dollars. Fraud is all around us and maybe even happening to us without our knowledge. On today’s show, I sit down with Dr. Kelly Richmond Pope author of Fool Me Once: Scams, Stories, and Secrets from the Trillion-Dollar Fraud Industry. Kelly Richmond Pope is the Dr. Barry Jay Epstein Endowed Professor of Forensic Accounting at DePaul University in Chicago, IL. Her research on executive misconduct culminated in directing and producing the award-winning documentary, All the Queen's Horses which explores the largest municipal fraud in U.S. history. Her TED Talk entitled "How Whistle-blowers Shape History” has been viewed over 1.6 million times, translated into 20 languages, and serves as a resource to help organizations and individuals embrace internal whistleblowing.

Episode Notes In the U.S., we consume about 1 billion gallons of wine annually. Whether you prefer reds, whites, pinks, or bubbles, do you know what’s really in your go-to glass of wine? Wine’s history is filled with tales of deception, and today I sit down with Rebecca Gibb to dive into her latest book, Vintage Crime: A Short History of Wine Fraud. We’ll talk about some of the surprising additions to wine throughout time, including some rather deadly (though tasty!) ingredients, and why and how wine fraud continues to happen. Our chat ends with Rebecca’s wine picks for a variety of occasions.   Rebecca Gibb is a Master of Wine, business owner, and award-winning wine journalist. She is currently an editor for Vinous, an online wine publication, which has subscribers in more than 100 countries, publishing in-depth wine coverage and reviews. In 2015, Rebecca became the 384th Master of Wine in the world. In a record class of 24 graduates, she was awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award and the Bollinger Medal in recognition of outstanding tasting ability.

Episode Notes November is National Adoption Month, which adoptees have reclaimed as National Adoptee Awareness Month (NAAM). In honor of NAAM, this month on Let's Grab Coffee, I'm featuring conversations with authors of books that center adoptee voices. Who are you and how do you know? Much of our identity begins with our name and our family origin stories, but what happens when the stories you thought you knew begin to unravel? Questions of identity, family, and truth are at the center of Shannon Gibney’s latest novel - The Girl I Am, Was, and Never Will Be: A Speculative Memoir of Transracial Adoption. On today’s show I sit down with Shannon to discuss her book, some of the primary themes around adoption, race, and what we know or think we know, and how she’s creating new stories about herself and adoption. Shannon Gibney is an award winning author and university professor. Her previous novels include See No Color and Dream Country. She is co-editor with Nicole Chung of When We Become Ours: A YA Adoptee Anthology.