AirGo

avery r. young has a talent that demands the biggest stage–after decades creating brilliant art and dedicatedly pouring into the young artists of Chicago, he finally got the stage he deserves. The city's inaugural poet laureate, avery recently premiered his original opera Safronia at Chicago's Lyric Opera House. The opera will be playing at the Court Theatre in Spring 2027.

He rejoins the show about a decade after his first appearance (Ep 48!) to talk about the unique joy of this new piece, what it means to be "Unc" to so many of Chicago's brightest creatives, and how to be...

avery r. young has a talent that demands the biggest stage–after decades creating brilliant art and dedicatedly pouring into the young artists of Chicago, he finally got the stage he deserves. The city's inaugural poet laureate, avery recently premiered his original opera Safronia at Chicago's Lyric Opera House. The opera will be playing at the Court Theatre in Spring 2027.

He rejoins the show about a decade after his first appearance (Ep 48!) to talk about the unique joy of this new piece, what it means to be "Unc" to so many of Chicago's brightest creatives, and how to be...

Rich Wallace is a solid dude and brilliant organizer who has built EAT Chicago, a non-profit, community-led organization founded by and for post-incarcerated people, to build social and economic equity for Black workers engaged in the informal economy. He talks about his winding path to this revolutionary work, the joyous days as a member of legendary Chicago rap crew BBU, how to keep the work grounded toward reparation and healing, and how these nonprofits can end up screwing up that work for everyone. Plus, we break down the challenge of pants in this economy and ecology.

SHOW NOTES<...

No matter how politically focused AirGo gets, our roots are always in Chicago's music and arts community. As the scene shifts and new artists emerge, we try to keep an ear on who is making good music in our city, a task that's MUCH easier because of the excellent curation and coverage the Real Ones crew provides. A Chicago music discovery platform that produces events, hosts interviews, and covers the scene, Real Ones is a passion project driven by some very passionate curators and community members. We welcome a few of them–Ben, Alejandro, and Tyrel–to the studio to talk...

Tonika Lewis Johnson is about real repair. The photographer, social practice artist, and Macarthur genius grant recipient has spent the last decade building innovative, rooted projects that connect Chicagoans across racial divides, make legible the histories of structural violence, and create new versions of what healing can look like.

She joins the guys to talk about how her art has moved from documentation to actual repair, the unlikely connections that emerge when Chicagoans gather, and the beautiful reality that is Unblocked Englewood, a groundbreaking partnership with the Chicago Bungalow Association that addresses the personal and systemic consequences of...

How do most people learn about the world these days? And how do we, as a movement, make sure we're in their ears, gaze, and algorithm? Conscious Lee is an educator, facilitator, and content creator who has built a platform around direct, rooted critique of our culture. His work is rooted in transforming through consciousness-raising, using dialogue to uncover what needs to change.

We talk about Black masculinity and feminism, how he's making sense of our moment of decay, and which debate archetypes JD Vance and Ben Shapiro are.

SHOW NOTES
Follow Conscious Lee...

The histories of our city shape our lives as Chicagoans, whether we know it or not. City stalwart and self-taught historian Dilla has made a life and livelihood peeling back the layers of Chicago and showing us how dope and impactful the city has been around the world. He sheds light on the roots of his curiosity, what he discovered through doing his genetic ancestry testing, and some of the best hidden histories he's found about the Chicago phenomens we love and hate.

SHOW NOTES
Link with Dilla - https://www.instagram.com/6figga_dilla/

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AirGo fam, check out this brand-new podcast from our friends over at the Court Theatre. Court Theatre’s Spotlight Reading series celebrates its 10th anniversary from August 7–22, 2026, with A Century of Black Progress, a festival exploring the past, present, and future of Black storytelling through the lens of Chicago's cultural ecosystem. Get an up-close look at the inspiration, process, and creators behind one of Court's most popular programs in the Spotlight Reading Series companion podcast, Spotlight Turns Ten. On this first episode, take a deep dive into how the Spotlight Reading Series began, featuring Aaron Mays (playwright, director, and Spotlight co-f...

Do you ever feel daunted by the impending doom of climate collapse and social discombobulation? Relatable? Us too. That's why we were so glad to have Mikaela Loach on the show. Mikaela is a British climate justice activist, author and media personality. She has authored two books: "It's Not That Radical: Climate Action to Transform Our World" and "Climate is Just the Start," a companion for kids who want to face and address the climate crisis. She's also the cofounder of the AWETHU School of Organising, a transformative grassroots educational initiative based in the UK. She joins the guys to...

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is in the stu! A three-time AirGo guest (rarefied air) and longtime progressive presence in our city, Mayor Johnson reflects with the guys about how centering his values in the midst of the migrant crisis has made so much other good work possible, the lessons he's learned from the seat of power, and the ways his day-to-day policies are rooted in a politic of repair. We also get an EXCLUSIVE exposè on the origins of his frohawk...

SHOW NOTES
Check out our other convos with Brandon:

From the campaign trail in 2023...

Zayd Ayers Dohrn is the child of AirGo alums and lifelong radicals Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn (yes, we've interviewed his parents too lol). You may remember him as the creator of the podcast Mother Country Radicals.

Born underground, Zayd lived in fugitivity with his parents. All his life, they said his birth marked a clean break with violent revolutionary struggle, but in his new memoir, he discovers that story wasn’t entirely true. 

We talk about the messiness and murkiness he uncovered as he dug deeper into his story, the contradictions he grew up in, and...

Hey AirGo fam! We've got a new project we're hyped to share with you about a really big story happening right here in Chicago. Quantum Entanglements is a new multimedia investigative feature from Respair about South Side Chicago communities fighting for self-determination in response to potentially being poisoned, pushed out, and policed by an impending 9-billion dollar quantum computer on the shores of Lake Michigan. You can also check out the video version here: https://www.youtube.com/@respairmedia, and share the podcast with your people here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/respair-presents-quantum-entanglements/id1721426761

Over...

Hey AirGo fam! Here's the trailer for a new project, dropping this Thursday 6/18/26, that we're hyped to share with you!

Quantum Entanglements is a new multimedia investigative feature from Respair about South Side Chicago communities fighting for self-determination in response to potentially being poisoned, pushed out, and policed by an impending 9-billion dollar quantum computer on the shores of Lake Michigan. You can also check out the video version here: https://www.youtube.com/@respairmedia, and share the podcast with your people here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/respair-presents-quantum-entanglements/id1721426761

Over...

If you live in the 33rd Ward on the Northwest Side of Chicago, you already know the political magic that's been built by this Alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez and her comrades. For everyone else, it's pivotal to see how a group of grassroots socialist-leaning organizers have built power from the streets to the House of Representatives, while still doing the job of meeting people's everyday needs. Rossana returns to AirGo to talk about how this power base has been constructed brick-by-brick, the billionaire meddlers in Chicago's politics, and how she and so many others built new capacity for liberation in the...

On this episode the guys check in about living in a time of decay, dissonance, and maybe World War 3? They also dig deep into the new Louis Theroux docuseries Inside the Manosphere, and get into it about whether masculinity is savalgeable or whether we should scrap the whole concept to help humanity. Plus, some real topical takes about how good the movie Casablanca is.

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We have the privilege of welcoming four youthful hope-givers and fellow Chicago podcasters to the AirGo stu–JJ, Allen, Abee, and Matt of hit show the JAAM Podcast. In a little over a year, the guys have built a vibrant and very successful show sharing a razor-sharp voice and perspective on what's happening in our city, the news cycle, and beyond. Their show has welcomed guests like Hasan Piker, Chance the Rapper, Mayor Brandon Johnson, Deante Kyle, and many more. Yet they'd never told the origin story of their show and work together–until now!

We break down how...

Our good friends and collaborators over at Soapbox Productions & Organizing host a podcast that we think y'all should get in tune with! Bourbon 'n BrownTown is a conversation-based podcast that fosters radically imaginative dialogues on media, culture, politics, and our various social movements through a liberatory lens. With a Chicago focus, filmmakers and movement workers Caullen Hudson and David A. Moran unpack complex social issues and topics while building relationships with artists, activists, community organizers, educators, social entrepreneurs, and others working towards a better world. Together, BrownTown holds space to listen, learn, and liberate, all while sippin’ on sumpin’ good. Salu...

What do we do with the stories we're given? Do we accept them, or dig for the truth? Molly Crabapple is a visual artist, writer, and aesthetic fixture of radical social movements for the last decade-plus. Molly got her start as the house artist for New York’s most notorious nightclub. She became a journalist sketching the frontlines of Occupy Wall Street, before covering, with words and art, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Lebanese snipers, Guantanamo Bay, the US-Mexican border, Pennsylvania prisoners, New York cabbies, Greek refugee camps, and the ravages of hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. We dig in wi...

The guys have the privilege of hopping on the line with brilliant poet, artist, and cultural organizer aja monet. A longtime guiding light of the poetry and spoken word community, aja's debut album, when the poems do what they do, was nominated for a Grammy Best Spoken Word Poetry Album in 2024. She joins the show to talk about leading the way toward Black cultural solidarity with Palestine, the mentors that have poured into her, and her brief stay at the center of Chicago's hip hop renaissance in the early 2010s.

SHOW NOTES
Pre-order aja's new album The...

From time to time, a Chicago artist drops a new project that the AirGo crew is vibing with–when that happens, we get them in the mix for a special listening party episode! Using a few of the project's tracks as jumping off points for the conversation, we dive deep into process, creativity, and growth. We're excited to hop into Trench Baby Turned Farmer, the new project from artist, farmer, and Englewood native Heavy Crownz. On this thoughtful and vibrant album, Heavy finds pathways into his world that are accessible and resonant whether you grew up on his block or no...

Over the years, we've seen time and time again that healthy relationship are the glue that keeps our movements together. But it can be so hard, surprisingly hard, to build and maintain healthy relationships while struggling for a better world. Dean Spade is a longtime organizer and advocate for queer and trans liberation based in racial and economic justice. You may remember the name from his book Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During this Crisis (and the Next), which became a bible and handbook for so many during the 2020 uprising. His newest book and podcast, Love in a Fucked-Up World: How t...

When we listen to the remarkable hip hop that emerged from Chicago over the last fifteen years, it may not always be clear just how many hands had central roles in shaping the vibrant sound and community that pushed the limits of artistry and industry and crafted some of the best music of the 21st century. Renzell has been at the keys, on the boards, and on the ground as a collaborator and visionary force for a lot of this music, and has now stepped into his role as a spacemaker and mentor at his wonderful recording spot StudioShapes. He...

The guys are in a new studio with an old friend and mentor, the legendary Bill Ayers! A lifelong force for collective liberation, Bill was a cofounder of militant leftist group the Weather Underground, which was formed in opposition to U.S. imperialism in Vietnam and racial injustice. After living underground for years to avoid FBI arrest, he has been an engaged scholar and a peace and social justice activist who has written extensively about social justice and freedom, democracy and education, the cultural contexts of schooling, and teaching as an essentially intellectual, ethical, and political enterprise. He's also the...

AirGo is joined by Sarah Oberholtzer, a filmmaker, educator, community organizer, and Respair collaborator who has just put some excellent art into the world. Sarah is the creator of We Call Each Other, a heartfelt short film about a community moving through drought and environmental racism. Weaving nonfiction recorded audio into a scripted story, it features characters who lean on one another to build safety and repair without relying on prisons or police. Built through a collaborative abolitionist writers room, the project is a great example of what it looks like to make new political realities legible. Sarah and the...

Dame and Kiss hop back into the AirGo studio to kick off a new year of conversations. They break down how it feels to have Daniel's high school BFF and AirGo alum Zohran Mamdani ascend to the NYC mayoral seat, the remarkable organizing that took place across Chicago in the face of ICE and CBP kidnappings this fall, and the athletic exploits of two thirty-something rec leaguers (on the basketball court and the softball diamond, respectively). Lock in for another year of interviews reshaping culture for the liberatory and creative!

Watch this episode on our Youtube! - https...

We're hyped to share this interview that's part of a brand-new travel show we've created called One Million Experiments: In the Field! Check out the full episode here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckhn1KILcis

Nurtured in the lineage of visionary organizers Jimmy and Grace Lee Boggs, Dame and Kiss connect with today’s reimaginers who are building possibilities and keeping the Boggs’ memory alive.
You can check out the video version of this extended interview on our Youtube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@respairmedia

One Million Experiments: In the Field is a tr...

We're hyped to share this interview that's part of a brand-new travel show we've created called One Million Experiments: In the Field! Check out the full episode here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki3rwqOQlRs

In Seattle we cover the remarkable story of a duo, bound by deadly violence, who chose healing through transformative justice. You can check out the video version of this extended interview on our Youtube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@respairmedia

One Million Experiments: In the Field is a travel show about how people create safety without policing and...

We're hyped to share this interview that's part of a brand-new travel show we've created called One Million Experiments: In the Field! Check out the full episode here - https://youtu.be/0uDzr1_II5Q?si=dPc_QkfadDjYL42E

From the back room of Noname’s Book Club HQ to the soil of an urban farm, the guys learn about the importance of failure as a necessary step in growing abolition. You can listen to the audio version of our extended interview with Ali Anderson of Feed Black Futures here, and check out the video version on Youtube.

We're hyped to share this interview that's part of a brand-new travel show we've created called One Million Experiments: In the Field! Check out the full episode here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gB2PJ9Nq68

On the second episode we head to Kiss's childhood stomping grounds in the Bronx to explore how, when organizing for freedom, small sometimes equals strong.You can hear our extended interview with the Friendly Fridge founders Selma and Sara as well as Black Trans Travel Fund founder Devin Lowe here, and check out the video version on Youtube (https://www...

We're hyped to share this interview that's part of a brand-new travel show we've created called One Million Experiments: In the Field! Check out the full episode here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuKv7ozCYrA

On the first episode we head to Minneapolis, the center of the 2020 uprising, to explore what has grown from the ashes of righteous anger. In the episode we talk with poet Danez Smith and organizer Kandace Montgomery–you can hear the extended interview here, and check out the video version on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rvfBbG8ix4).

Congratulations to friend of the pod Zohran Mamdani for winning the NYC mayoral election! In honor of this historic win, we're re-running our 2020 episode with him. You can also check out episode 92 for another Mamdani interview. 

Original caption:
This episode heads to the East Coast to chop it up with Zohran Kwame Mamdani. Zohran is currently running for a NY State Assembly seat representing Astoria, Queens. He's been endorsed by DSA, and a wide swath of other progressive and to the root coalitions. He's also one of Kiss' oldest friends. Zohran talks about how he's shifted his c...

Sometimes you see some art that makes you stop, feel, and change your sense of reality. When that art is in connection to movements for liberation, the possibilities for transformation are endless.

Richie Reseda is a brilliant cultural organizer, social entrepreneur, creative director, and music, film, and content producer who was freed from prison in 2018. He is a central driving force behind Songs From the Hole, a remarkable film that is now available on Netflix about the art and struggle of his friend and collaborator JJ'88. A documentary built around a visual album of music created inside, the f...

We're honored to talk on this episode with Nachelle Pugh, a beautiful soul who we both have the deepest appreciation for. Nachelle is the Executive Director of the John Walt Foundation, an on-the-ground nonprofit founded in the wake of the death of her son Walter Long, Jr. aka John Walt. A pivotal member of Chicago's best rap crew Pivot Gang, Walt was taken from us in February 2017–in the years since, his mom Nachelle has devoted herself to building connective spaces for young artists and creators in Chicago while also providing direct mutual aid support for families across the city. Sh...

The guys are in good company with organizer and movement podcaster Niki Franco, aka Venus Roots. Niki is the co-director of Dissenters, a national youth anti-war organization, and is the host of podcast Getting to the Root of It with Venus Roots. She discusses how organizers need to look more rigorously to the global south for guidance and solidarity, the ways that social isolation have impacted power-building on the left, and the joy of building a space for conversation on-mic. 

SHOW NOTES
Find Niki's work - https://www.venusroots.com/about

Subscribe to her podcast - h...

We're hyped to share a new project we've been helping to build with our longtime comrades and collaborators over at OTV, a Chicago-based non-profit platform for intersectional television, supporting artists and marginalized communities. Beyond the Screen: Pushing Media, Imagination, and Legacy Forward is a 10-episode limited audio series celebrating a decade of intersectional media. Hosted by Elijah McKinnon and Dr. AJ Escoffery, the series reflects on the creative risks, community lessons, and radical care that shaped OTV’s journey over the past 10 years.

Each episode unpacks one of OTV’s “10 Lessons Learned,” weaving together intimate interviews, archival audio, and unsc...

Check out this sneak peek of Quantum Entanglements, a new podcast coming soon from AIrGo and Respair Production & Media! Over the four decades since the US Steel South Works steel mill shut its doors on the South Side of Chicago, the land it sat on has remained undeveloped as the surrounding communities heal from the physical, environmental, economic, and social wounds left behind by this industrial behemoth. Now, a coalition of public and private power players from all levels of government and different sectors of industry is preparing to break ground on a "Quantum Campus"–a multi-billion dollar sprawling facility of...

In over a decade of documenting the leading voices of Chicago's movement for collective liberation, we've seen the impact of the work of Rami Nashashibi in so many corners of our city. A true Chicago leader and visionary, Rami is the Executive Director of Director of Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN), a community-led organization that fosters health, wellness and healing in the inner-city by organizing for social change, cultivating the arts, and offering opportunities for holistic health. Their work has, in many ways, served as a testing ground and blueprint for the advocacy and power-building work that has transformed our...

As we wrap up this abbreviated Season 3 of 1ME, the squad hops back in the lab one more time to break down the learnings and takeaways from our convos with REP, Cambridge HEART, and Care-Based Safety. Dame, Kiss, Eva, and Deana explore the connections in what they heard and break down how we can all show up for each other in the crises surrounding us. Skill up and get inspired, and we'll see you back in the lab soon!

SHOW NOTES
Support REP - https://repformn.org/support-this-work/

Support Cambridge HEART - https://cambridgeheart.networkforgood...

The AirGo team is excited to bring you back into the lab of One Million Experiments, our partner project with Interrupting Criminalization exploring how we define and create safety in a world without policing and prisons. Over the next few episodes we'll be sharing Season 3 of the podcast, which dives deep with experiments around community crisis response.

One Million Experiments is back in your ear for Season 3, and we're diving deep with experiments around community crisis response! As our sociopolitical reality births crisis after crisis, the 1ME squad of Dame, Kiss, and Eva dig deep with three different...

The AirGo team is excited to bring you back into the lab of One Million Experiments, our partner project with Interrupting Criminalization exploring how we define and create safety in a world without policing and prisons. Over the next few episodes we'll be sharing Season 3 of the podcast, which dives deep with experiments around community crisis response.

One Million Experiments is back in your ear for Season 3, and we're diving deep with experiments around community crisis response! As our sociopolitical reality births crisis after crisis, the 1ME squad of Dame, Kiss, and Eva dig deep with three different...