AirGo

This episode's guest, 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).

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 what it means to openly and honestly interrogate where and who yo...

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. 

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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...

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.

As our sociopolitical reality births crisis after crisis, the 1ME squad of Dame, Kiss, and Eva dig deep with three different experiments to learn how we can better show up in moments of communal and structural crisis. They also  are joined o...

The guys are joined by Graciela Guzmán, the State Senator for Illinois' 20th District on the Northwest Side of the city. A former organizer with a focus on health equity and economic justice, Graciela won her election last year over establishment candidate Natalie Toro, who had raised over four times as much as Graciela had. She joins the show to talk about the inner workings of the state legislature, how the fight for health care needs to be a centerpiece of all movement struggles, and her journey to find strength in her voice as a representative for her people.

This episode's guest Camille Sapara Barton, says that "grief is often a visceral and embodied experience that impacts us physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Despite increasing conversation about grief in the Global North, there are few spaces to publicly express grief, or practices we can rely upon to help us move through it. As a result, many of us can feel isolated when grieving because there is little space for our emotions to be welcomed and our loved ones often don’t know how to support us in meaningful ways."

In their work as a social imagineer, artist an...

The guys are joined by professor and Great Lakes champion Rachel Havrelock, whose Freshwater Lab at UIC leverages narrative and the humanities to raise awareness about water issues in the Great Lakes and empower people to claim and protect the most vital public asset. Rachel breaks down the pressing issues affecting our waterways, the absurd gift that is the Great Lakes, and what the history of our rivers and lakes can teach us about how to build stronger and more resilient societies. 

SHOW NOTES
Check out the UIC Freshwater Lab - https://www.freshwaterlab.org/

G...

The 1ME squad has some announcements to make to you, the public! First off–the One Million Experiments film is now available online on Apple TV, Google Play, and Youtube Movies–check out the film and spread the word.

Next, the podcast is coming back this summer for Season 3: Crisis, a suite of brand-new episodes focused on what we can learn crisis response in our communities to help us move through the sociopolitical crisis of this moment. 

And last but not least, we're hyped to announce 1ME: In the Field, a new travel show from Respair comin...

The sports arena is a microscope into our culture, and Dave Zirin is peering through the glass with a thoughtful and searing eye. A longtime sportswriter and commentator, Dave is the sports editor for The Nation, a weekly progressive magazine dedicated to politics and culture. He joins AirGo on this episode to chat about the role of sports as both distraction and prism in a time of fascism, how militarism has coopted sports culture, and his relationship to the sports discourse mainstream.

SHOW NOTES
Read Dave's work at The Nation - https://www.thenation.com/authors/dave-zirin/<...

The guys get back up with Olga Bautista, a longtime collaborator and  Environmental Justice leader whose work has reshaped the landscape of Chicago. The Co-Executive Director of the Southeast Environmental Task Force, Olga has been a leading force in the campaigns to defend the Southeast Side from environmental pollution, harmful development, and dangerous industry. She breaks down what EJ means in the era of Trump 2.0's attack on the movement, how its principles can serve as a guide as we fight for collective survival, and what's going on in her neck of the woods around the proposed "quantum campus" development o...

What the hell is actually happening in Congress in the midst of authoritarian takeover? The guys are joined by Rep. Delia Ramirez, the congresswoman for Illinois' 3rd District, who shares what it looks and feels like to walk into the Capitol under this administration, the ways that the ramp-up of Trump's deportation infrastructure harms us all, and how the lessons from building grassroots power on the northwest side of Chicago have the potential to reshape our political reality.

SHOW NOTES
Connect with Rep. Ramirez's office - https://ramirez.house.gov/

Watch this episode on Youtube...

The guys are joined by Antonio Gutierrez, an anti-displacement community organizer and leader in the multi-decade struggle for undocumented rights and protections here in Chicago. They are a co-founder of Organized Communities Against Deportations (OCAD), the Albany Park Defense Network, La Guayabita Autonoma Community Garden and the Autonomous Tenants Union. Woven into this web of community work is a deep insistence on the right to remain present and unapologetic in the city they've called home for over 20 years. They talk about the nuts and bolts of anti-deportation work in the city, the emotional weight they are carrying, and how they...

From time to time, a Chicago artist drops a new project that the AirGo crew is vibing with–when that happens, we get them on the line 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.

For this episode we get to celebrate the new project from our very own Damon A. Williams, who dropped his debut project In Process last fall. A long journey to create, the high-energy project explores the coexistence of joy and burden in a lif...