Talking About Kids

Latest Episodes:

What LGBTQ+ activists want for all families Jul 01, 2024

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For the second year in a row, Talking About Kids was granted media access to all of NYC Pride’s events, including the 2024 NYC Pride March. At the press conference for the march, each of the Grand Marshals described their platforms and the changes they hoped their profiles would affect. I found it interesting that most of them used their time to address issues that impact all children and families, like this nation’s lack of affordable housing. In this episode you will hear:

- DaShawn Usher, Senior Director of Communities of Color and Media at GLAAD and Founder and Executive Director of Mobilizing Our Brothers Initiative (MOBI);

- Eshe Ukweli, writer, content creator, and digital strategist;

- Raquel Willis, transgender rights activist, the former national organizer for the Transgender Law Center, the former executive editor of Out magazine;

- Baddie Brooks, multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and champion for queer and transgender communities;

- Robin Drake, Afrolatino trans male, advocate, and professional with the Hetrick-Martin Institute;

- Miss Major, author, pioneering activist, and community organizer for transgender rights; and

- Michelle Visage, singer, producer, and permanent judge on RuPaul's Drag Race.

More information about these activists, including links to their organizations, is at talkingaboutkids.com.

How to support perinatal care for queer individuals with Bianca Sprague Jun 24, 2024

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It goes without saying that would-be parents who are supported have healthier babies. For this fourth Pride Month installment of Talking About Kids, I want to address the perinatal care that queer individuals receive because it can be stressful and dehumanizing in ways that have negative short-term and long-term consequences for them and their children. My guest to discuss this issue is Bianca Sprague. Bianca is a passionate advocate for perinatal care for marginalized communities, an author, an educator, and the founder of bebo mia, a training and mentorship organization that promotes “anti-racist, anti-oppressive, trauma-informed and intersectional” approaches to reproductive health. Bianca and her team assembled some materials just for Talking About Kids listeners. Those can be found at bebomia.com/aboutkids and at talkingaboutkids.com. In addition, Talking About Kids listeners receive 15% off of bebo mia resources when they use the code TAK15 at bebomia.com.

What you need to know about the rights of LGBTQ+ youth with Gaelle Esposito Jun 17, 2024

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During Pride Month, Talking About Kids is devoted to LGBTQ+ issues. This third installment is about the rights of LGBTQ+ youth. My guest is Gaelle Esposito, a Partner with the lobbying, government relations, communications, and legislative advocacy firm Creosote Partners. Gaelle and I discuss the current state of the rights of LGBTQ+ youth and what you can do to help ensure their access to health and mental health care and education. More information is at talkingaboutkids.com.

How to support Two Spirit and LGBTQ+ youth with Jerico Cummings Jun 10, 2024

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During Pride Month, Talking About Kids is devoted to LGBTQ+ issues. This second installment is about supporting Two Spirit and LGBTQ+ youth. My guest is Jerico Cummings. Jerico is a 2SLGBTQ+ Training & Community Engagement Specialist for the Paths (Re)Membered Project at the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board. The mission of the Paths (Re)Membered Project is to protect the health and wellbeing of 2SLGBTQ+ Indigenous people. Jerico will discuss the Two Spirit tradition, what all of us can learn from it, and how the needs of 2SLGBTQ+ Indigenous youth might differ from those of non-Indigenous youth. This episode was intentionally produced to support the formation and coordination of adolescent-centered care and services, so you also will hear from Vinny Chulani of the Arizona Alliance for Adolescent Health. It was recorded live using a webinar platform to encourage questions from alliance members and other listeners. More information is at talkingaboutkids.com.

How understanding history can help LGBTQ+ youth with Marshall Shore Jun 03, 2024

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In honor of Pride Month, Talking About Kids is devoting its June episodes to LGBT+ issues. This first installment is about how understanding history can help LGBT+ youth, and my guest is the “Hip Historian,” Marshall Shore. Marshall is known throughout the southwestern United States and beyond for excavating videos, news stories, and other lost artifacts from the distant and not-so-distant past and using them to make history come alive in engaging events. Along the way, Marshall has helped right some past wrongs that were done to LGBT+ Americans and brought attention to both their contributions and hardships they faced. In doing so, Marshall has comforted and inspired LGBT+ youth. He has advice for how you can do the same. More information about Marshall and how to bring him to your community is talkingaboutkids.com.

What kids learn from wordless novels and relief printmaking with George Walker May 27, 2024

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George Walker is an artist, educator, and historian, who is best known for his books about public figures ranging from Leonard Cohen to Tom Thomson. George tells these stories without words, using only images printed from wood he engraves. These wordless novels, as they are known, are in the tradition of works by Frans Masereel, Lynd Ward, and Otto Nückel, all famous artists who have inspired George and whom he has written about in his more academic books on creating relief prints and on appreciating wordless novels. I was excited to have George on the podcast because I think there is something profound about his art and his medium that can really benefit kids. First, wordless novels are accessible to everyone, regardless of their language or level of literacy. Children at every age can pick them up, engage their imaginations, and infer a story. As a child develops, a great wordless novel affords the inference of more nuanced stories or even different stories all together. Second, relief printmaking is an inexpensive technique that children can learn very quickly to make their own stories or individual art pieces, but, while it is easy to pick up initially, relief printmaking scaffolds perfectly, allowing infinite room for children to challenge and develop their skills. Of course, George explains all of this better than I do. More information about George and his art is at talkingaboutkids.com.

How to teach kids about hope and joy with Gina Prosch May 20, 2024

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As a writer, social media figure, and, now, children’s book author, Gina Prosch has focused on hope and joy. The second book in her Holly’s Choice series was just released. It is called, Hope! More Than Wishful Thinking. True to its title, it addresses hope, but, as you will hear, Gina’s conception of hope is not a Pollyanna one, but a practical and empowering one that, in my opinion, aligns with a growth mindset. More information about Gina and her books is at talkingaboutkids.com.

How mentors can support antiracist action in youth with Noelle Hurd May 13, 2024

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Mentors have come up before on Talking About Kids, but the work of my guest today, Noelle Hurd, challenges more traditional notions of how mentors are identified and recruited and their role in the life of a kid, especially a racially or ethnically marginalized one. Noelle is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia, where she also runs the Promoting Healthy Adolescent Development (PHAD) Lab. More information about Noelle is at talkingaboutkids.com.

How a healthy democracy can support healthy families with Sandra Gutierrez May 06, 2024

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Vot-ER is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that believes that a healthy and inclusive democracy makes for healthy communities. To that end, Vot-ER works to integrate civic engagement into healthcare. My guest this episode to discuss Vot-ER’s rationale, how it goes about promoting an inclusive democracy, and what you can to do to achieve similar goals in your community and for issues you care about is Vot-ER’s West Coast Deputy Field Director, Sandra Gutierrez. The episode was recorded live using a webinar platform to encourage questions from Alliance members and other listeners. If you would like to participate in the webinars, you can join the Arizona Alliance for Adolescent Health’s mailing list at healthyazyouth.org. More information about Sandra, Vot-ER, and the Arizona Alliance for Adolescent Health is at talkingaboutkids.com.

How faith communities build resilience in kids with David Myles Apr 29, 2024

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The website for the Center for the Developing Child at Harvard University lists the factors that “predispose children to positive outcomes in the face of significant adversity.” Among them is “sources of faith.” My guest this episode to help me understand how faith traditions build resilience is David Myles. David is an award-winning speaker, radio host, and professor who attributes his own resilience in the face of adversity to his faith. David generously allowed me to ask him some difficult questions about the role of that faith and the mechanisms of its impact. More information about David is at talkingaboutkids.com.

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