‘Dirty Work’ Raises Moral Questions
Tiny Spark
Journalist and author Eyal Press’ book 'Dirty Work: Essential Jobs and the Hidden Toll of Inequality in America' examines the morally troubling jobs that are done in our name, and shines a light on the workers who do them. Press argues that these workers are hidden by the powerful in society who want to keep the violence of prisons, slaughterhouses, and battlefields out of the public eye.
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How the Prison-Industrial Complex Undermines Immigrant Rights
Tiny Spark
As the federal government pours billions of dollars into private detention facilities, new research shows political donations from these for-profit companies are influencing policymakers to support legislation criminalizing undocumented immigrants. University of New Mexico associate professor Loren Collingwood talks about his findings, and emotionally shares why they matter.
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For This Art Curator, the Aesthetic is Political
Tiny Spark
‘There have been so many important critiques of the nude in art history,’ writer and art curator Macushla Robinson tells us. Her own critique, 'Every Rape at the Met Museum' digs into the way sexual violence has been publicly displayed and even artistically praised at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
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Community First! Tiny Homes, Big Intentions
Tiny Spark
As the U.S. deals with a severe crisis with up to 600,000 people experiencing homelessness each night, we tour the Community First! village in Austin. This unique community was established to provide affordable, permanent housing for the chronically homeless in Central Texas. Why do the residents think it works?
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Stanford Professors Take On Silicon Valley
Tiny Spark
We speak to the authors of System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong, and How We Can Reboot. The trio of Stanford professors use a cross-disciplinary approach to critique technologists and the outsized power they wield in society. By weaving together philosophy, engineering and social science disciplines, the authors make a compelling case that we need ethics and an active democracy to ensure tech serves the public interest above shareholder’s interests.
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Broadway’s Break: A Deep Breath For The Industry?
Tiny Spark
Broadway has returned after closing eighteen months ago. We speak to actors, writers and directors about what the break meant for their lives and work. One prepares to make his Broadway debut, another looks beyond the stage, and all tell us that they hope the future improves representation and equity in the theater.
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Tackling Erasures with a 'Radical Archive'
Tiny Spark
In light of troubling events in Afghanistan, we speak to collaborating artists Chitra Ganesh and Mariam Ghani on threats to the country's archives, the ‘radical archivists’ who have preserved them to date, and how this pair of artists practice radical archiving as way to confront and surface government erasures.
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Invisible by Default: What You Won't See on GoFundMe
Tiny Spark
For Nora Kenworthy, GoFundMe is “the research topic that I can't escape.” She recently studied 175,000 GoFundMe campaigns from the COVID era and discovered nearly half didn’t receive a single donation. We discuss the stark inequities around these platforms and ask whether crowdfunding can offer equitable relief during a complex public health disaster.
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The Women Forgotten in the Wars We Started
Tiny Spark
Are women and girls forgotten in crises and conflicts in Myanmar, Ethiopia and Afghanistan? We speak to women's rights activists about what drives them, and ask whether they feel women & girls are sidelined in these kinds of conflicts.
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'Missing and Maligned' No More, Muslims Push For Better Roles
Tiny Spark
The Pillars fund, run by young Muslim philanthropists, has teamed up with academics and Hollywood actors to gather data proving what they’ve long suspected: Muslims are poorly represented on screen. Pillars’ Arij Mikati and Kalia Abiade lay out the problem, and share their solutions to shift the narrative in order to pave a more inclusive path forward.
info_outlineWe speak to the authors of System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong, and How We Can Reboot. The trio of Stanford professors use a cross-disciplinary approach to critique technologists and the outsized power they wield in society. By weaving together philosophy, engineering and social science disciplines, the authors make a compelling case that we need ethics and an active democracy to ensure tech serves the public interest above shareholder’s interests.