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Lafayette School District Teachers SayThey Deserve More

Lafayette may have a reputation as being one of the top districts in Contra Costa County, but the teachers say their pay is among the lowest and they want more. With students, parents and aides at their side, a few dozen teachers stood in front of Lafayette Elementary Schools picketing with signs and stats. They have rejected the district's offer of a 12 percent raise, saying that in order to stay competitive with peers in the county, they need 14. 

Andres Alegria and Abel Sanchez sing (metaphorically speaking) ”A Song for Cesar”

What started as a simple song that Abel Sanchez wrote to commemorate the work of the late Cesar Chavez, who along with Dolores Huerta, organized the United Farmworkers Union, grew into something much bigger. With the blessings and perspectives of Maya Angela, Dolores Huerta and many others and the filmmaking partnership with Andres Alegria (who is the co-director), the song grew into a music video and then a feature-length film. The film takes on the question of what the role of music and art is in building and sustaining social justice movements as powerful as the United Farmworkers Union. 

Succeeding in life is about so much more than paying attention in class

In this piece, generations of community members involved with the Community Youth Center share their truth of finding a safe place to land and how their paths turned out differently than peers who didn't have the same access. 

Nobuko Miyamoto--120,000 Stories

It’s been some 80 years since 120,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated in internment camps across the Pacific Coast during World War II and 50 years after people of Japanese Descent came together to form the committee against Nihonmachi (the equivalent of Japan town) eviction, as Japanese Americans faced generations of discrimination and displacement even decades into the aftermath of the relocation and internment camp experience. It’s also been 50 years since the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California became a fixture in San Francisco. As the center celebrates its anniversary, singer, songwriter, dancer and author Nobuko Miyamoto is bringing a performance inspired by her latest album 120,000 to San Francisco on August 5, 2023.

June 18, 2023 Allyship-Pride Month-Connection Through Music & Laughter

Gina Brillon: Authentically & UnapologeticallyFunny:)

Gina Brillon has something for everyone! If you've ever stayed in the wrong place or with the wrong person for too long, had a conflict with literally anyone, felt out of place in a gym, or grappled with some of the woos of marriage, singleness, parenthood or any aspect of your identity, Gina's got something for you. She uses her own life experiences as her content platform and tells stories that are so relatable that you can't help but laugh. If therapy is too expensive or you just need to supplement it with a little something extra--go see Gina Brillon's show!

April 16, 2023 Newscast

Grace Wegener, Member of the East Nashtivists

From a mass shooting that claimed the lives of children and educators to the expulsion of two black legislatures and the reinstatement of them to an uptick in transphobia and acts of white supremacy, the East Nashtivists, an activist group in Nashville has plenty of work to do in fighting for a more just state and working toward a more just world.

Grace Wegener weighs in on the state of affairs in Nashville and on why she's staying in Tennessee for the long haul. 

Showing up as your authentic truth is an act of resistance

In working toward a more just world, we sometime find that for every two steps forward, we take one step backward. The good news is that we're still a step ahead of where we started from. As educational communities are doing more to make sure that all are included no matter what gender, racial or religious identity they may have, there is an increasing amount of transphobic rhetoric and misinformation being spread. This interviewee identifies as Christian, black and queer and uses he/they pronouns and is standing tall and proud in his/their intersectional identity. I'm sharing this story with their permission because stories are the one thing that offer the capacity to touch both hearts and minds.

International Women’s Day Special 2023

Angela Harrelson, aunt of George Perry Floyd and author of Lift Your Voice: How the Murder of my Nephew George Floyd Changed the World, Wanda Johnson, mother of Oscar Grant and founder of the Oscar Grant Foundation and other moms weigh in about their experience as aunts and mothers to adult children who have lost their lives to police violence.