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Across the Margin: The Podcast
Episode 179: The Black Angels with Maria Smilios
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This episode of Across The Margin: The Podcast presents an interview with Maria Smilios, a New York City native who has a Master of Arts in religion and literature from Boston University, where she was a Luce Scholar and a Presidential Scholar. Smilios spent five years at Springer Science & Business Media as development editor in the biomedical sciences, and has written for The Guardian, American Nurse, The Forward, Narratively, The Rumpus, and DAME Magazine. Her book, The Black Angels — the focus of this episode — tells the untold story of the nurses who helped cure tuberculosis. Nearly a century before the COVID-19 pandemic upended life as we know it, a devastating tuberculosis epidemic was ravaging hospitals across the country. In those dark, pre-antibiotic days, the disease claimed the lives of 1 in 7 Americans. In the United States alone, it killed over 5.6 million people in the first half of the twentieth century. Nowhere was TB more rampant than in New York City, where it spread like wildfire through the tenements, decimating the city’s poorest residents and communities of color. The city’s hospital system was already overwhelmed when, in 1929, the white nurses at Staten Island’s Sea View Hospital began quitting en masse. Pushed to the brink of a major labor crisis and fearing a public health catastrophe, city health officials made a call for Black female nurses seeking to work on the frontlines, promising them good pay, education, housing, and employment free from the constraints of Jim Crow. Spanning the Great Depression and moving through World War II and beyond, The Black Angels puts these women back at the center of this riveting story by spotlighting the twenty-plus years they spent battling the disease at Sea View. Using first-hand interviews and never-before-accessed archives, Smilios details how they labored under inconceivable conditions, putting in 14-hour days caring for people who lay waiting to die or, worse, become “guinea pigs” to test experimental (and often deadly) drugs at a facility that was understaffed, unregulated, and marred by rampant racism. Their narrative is interspersed with the parallel story of the tuberculosis cure, a miracle of public health policy that couldn’t have happened without the work of the nurses at Sea View. In this episode host Michael Shields and Maria Smilios explore just how terribly tuberculous was riddling the United States (and particularly New York City) and the birth of the Sea View treatment center in Staten Island where a cure was eventually brought into being. They celebrate the Black Angels, Black nurses who worked at the hospital who answered a call to help, and eventually changed the world. They discuss how racial discrimination affected the nurses, both in the deep South also upon their landing in New York. They also discuss the drug trials that led to the cure, the patent wars that followed, and so much more.
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Episode 232: Kimball Gallagher & 88 International
26:58|This episode of Across The Margin : The Podcast features an interview with renowned pianist and composer Kimball Gallagher. Gallagher’s journey as a pianist has carried him far beyond the traditional concert hall. A Boston-raised musician trained at Juilliard, he began questioning the narrow path often available to concert pianists early in his career. That curiosity led him to launch an ambitious 88-concert tour across seven continents, funded by 88 supporters who each sponsored one key of the piano. These intimate, community-hosted performances brought classical music out of formal halls and into living rooms, cultural centers, and gathering spaces worldwide. Along the way he encountered communities where music served as a tool for leadership, inspiring him to found 88 International, a nonprofit that now runs youth-led music initiatives in Tunisia, Morocco, Senegal, The Gambia, Myanmar, and Taiwan. Its flagship program, Tunisia88, established student-led music clubs in all 592 public high schools in Tunisia, giving students space to write songs, organize concerts, and lead creative projects in their communities. Just weeks ago, that work came to life in the U.S. as the Tunisia88 Alumni Choir completed its first U.S. tour — a two-week East Coast journey where young musicians performed original songs, collaborated with university choirs, and shared how a post-revolution experiment in student voice grew into a global youth movement.
Episode 231: Pat Kelly's Hook
29:10|This episode of Across The Margin : The Podcast features an interview with Pittsburgh-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Pat Kelly. Pat recently released his fifth album, and his first for Glamour Gowns Records, entitled Hook, an enticing and cathartic set of songs that evokes self-doubt, delusional ambition, anger, and wistfulness. Pat’s lyrical prowess is exceptional. His wordplay and delivery brings to mind some of the greatest, from David Berman of the Silver Jews, to Bill Callahan and Leonard Cohen. In this interview host Michael Shields and Pat discuss some of the meaningful themes that manifest themselves throughout Hook, the tremendous musicians who helped Pat bring the album to life, the unique inspirations behind the songs on Hook, and more.Find Pat Kelly’s Hook here.
Episode 230: Nature’s Last Dance with Natalie Kyriacou
43:54|This episode of Across The Margin : The Podcast features an interview with Natalie Kyriacou, an award-winning environmentalist, charity director, and author. Natalie was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia and the Forbes 30 Under 30 honor for her services to wildlife and environmental conservation in 2018, and was recognised as one of The Australian’s ‘Top Innovators’ in 2022. She was the UN Environment Programme’s ‘Young Champion of the Earth’ Finalist and is LinkedIn’s Top Green Voice. She is a Board Director at the Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife and CARE Australia, the Founder of My Green World, a UNESCO Green Citizens Pathfinder, a member of the XPrize Brain Trust for Biodiversity and Conservation, and an Australian Delegate and Climate Justice Lead at the W20 (the official engagement group of the G20). Her book — Nature’s Last Dance : Tales of Wonder in the Age of Extinction — is the focus of this episode. Amidst the tragedy of wild species extinction lies a hidden world of survival and wonder. Conservationists are embroiled in a high-stakes clash with a drug cartel to save a porpoise. Scientists are fighting to save a flightless bird that romances rocks. Unconventional animals are upending 21st century beauty standards, and financiers are betting on whale poo to make its debut on Wall Street. Nature's Last Dance is a story of survival and extinction, of life and death, of curiosity and perversion, of unimaginable joy and harrowing sorrow. Set against the backdrop of a rapidly unfolding mass extinction event, Nature's Last Dance takes readers across hunting grounds, through jungles and oceans, inside communities, through trafficking rings and courtrooms, and into the heart of battles to survive against all odds.Grab a copy of Nature’s Last Dance here!
Episode 229: On Healing Land, Birds Perch with Naja Lockwood
28:46|This episode of Across The Margin : The Podcast features an interview with director Naja Lockwood. Naja has executive produced multiple documentary and narrative films focusing on social justice and is the founder of RYSE Media Ventures which supports stories of diverse voices. Born in Vietnam, Naja immigrated to Massachusetts during the Fall of Saigon. As a refugee, Naja continues to advocate for immigrants from her undergraduate years to her current work with the Governor's Workforce Services. She serves on the Committee for Ethnic Studies and Asian American Studies at Harvard University and The Coalition for Diverse Harvard. She is the Founder and CEO of Naja Lockwood Designs which supports female artisans of Southeast Asia. She is the director of “On Healing Land, Birds, Perch,” which is the focus of this episode. “On Healing Land, Birds Perch (Đất Lành Chim Đậu)” tells the stories behind the iconic photograph taken by Eddie Adams during the 1968 Tet Offensive titled “Saigon Execution.” The film presents an opportunity to delve into the complex narratives and the lasting impact of a single moment captured in time. The photograph of General Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing a Viet Cong officer, Nguyen Van Lem, has become a powerful symbol, often viewed as emblematic of the brutality of the Vietnam War. However, it also represents much more than the act of violence it depicts. It reflects the personal stories, struggles, and the human costs of war for generations that continue to reverberate today.Watch “On Healing Land, Birds Perch” here! *A correction to what’s said on the podcast: Malcolm Brown’s burning monk photo was taken in 1963, not 1968.
Episode 228: What Do You Do When You're Lonesome with Jonathan Bernstein
52:57|This episode of Across The Margin : The Podcast features an interview with Jonathan Bernstein, a senior research editor and writer at Rolling Stone, who before that was a freelancer for Oxford American, The Guardian, GQ, Vulture, Pitchfork, The Village Voice, Spin, Entertainment Weekly, and American Songwriter. His book, What Do You Do When You’re Lonesome : The Authorized Biography of Justin Townes Earle, is the focus of this episode. In What To Do When You’re Lonely, Jonathan Bernstein, with the full cooperation of the Justin Townes Earle estate, unravels a short but incredibly creative life, and reveals the backstories behind Justin’s greatest songs and what happened when it all fell apart while also capturing a shadow world of the neglected children of Nashville legends who wrestle with the legacies of their hard-living, road-weary, often absent parents.
Episode 227: Michael Townsend's Secret Mall Apartment
34:37|This episode of Across The Margin : The Podcast features an interview with artist and educator Michael Townsend. Michael is the founder of the Tape Art movement and for over 30 years, he has created hundreds of ephemeral murals and community projects around the world. His work includes the 9/11 Hope Project, the invention of the BOOM! Projector, and the now-legendary documentary Secret Mall Apartment. Directed by Jeremy Workman and executive produced by Jesse Eisenberg, the critically acclaimed documentary follows Michael and his collaborators, who, in 2003, secretly built and lived in an apartment inside Providence Place Mall for four years. What started as an underground protest against gentrification has become a cultural phenomenon, a story about art, resistance, and community. At the center of the film is Michael Townsend, the artist whose work sparked the story. Michael has found a way to live his art, and give back to his community and the country all the while, from teaching collaborative drawing in hospitals and schools, and building projects designed to disappear physically but endure culturally. The mall apartment was one project among many — a piece of protest art that happened to be documented, and in this episode host Michael Shields and Michael Townsend delve into Michael’s motivations, his enduring and inspiring work with Tape Art, the blended line between art and everyday living that defines Michael’s life, and so much more.
Episode 226: Plan C For Civilization with Ben Kalina
35:41|This episode of Across The Margin : The Podcast features an interview with award-winning director and producer Ben Kalina, whose work centers on the collision between human nature and the force of nature. In 2020 he produced and directed Can We Cool the Planet? for NOVA. His film Shored Up, the 2014 Sundance Institute LightStay Sustainability Award winner, explored rising sea levels and the politics of Climate Change in the U.S. in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. He was Associate Producer of A Sea Change, broadcast on Discovery’s Planet Green in 2009, and Two Square Miles, broadcast on PBS’ Independent Lens in 2006. Ben’s production company, Mangrove Media, is based in Philadelphia where he is an Assistant Professor in the Film and Television Program at Drexel University. His latest documentary — Plan C For Civilization — is the focus of this episode. Plan C for Civilization tackles the promise and peril of solar geoengineering with exclusive verite access to its protagonist David Keith and the SCoPEx project as well as the rogue geoengineers of Make Sunsets. From Bangladesh to Nevada, the extremely controversial promise of solar geoengineering is emerging after more than 60 years in the shadows, and with it, a new chapter of the Climate Change saga.
Episode 225: You're No Island with Andrew Daly Frank
33:03|This episode of Across The Margin : The Podcast features an interview with singer-songwriter and guitarist Andrew Daly Frank. Andrew is an inimitable songwriting voice and virtuosic guitarist, and his debut album, You’re No Island — the focus of this episode — is a gorgeous, affecting piece of art that is pacifying and vitalizing. Andrew is a guitarist who has lent his thrilling leads and delicate chordal touch to albums by Charlie Kaplan and released a series of beguiling EPs in the lead up to You’re No Island. Andrew’’s arrangements on You’re No Island are both intimate and expansive, and he emerges here as an auteur in his own right, a songwriter of uncommon wisdom and an architect of subtle musical effects. In this interview host Michael Shields and Andrew Daly Frank discuss the genesis of You’re No Island and the ways in which the songs on it took shape over the past five years. They talk about the cunning lyricism found on the album, Andrew’s musical influences, and so much more. Songs featured in the episode: “Alone in the Frame,” “Someone Somewhere,” “Lisbon.”
Episode 224: The 90s Jam Band Explosion with Mike Ayers
56:35|This episode of Across The Margin : The Podcast features an interview with author and seasoned music and culture journalist, Mike Ayers. Mike has had work published in Billboard, The Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, Time, Esquire, and Relix. His first book, One Last Song: Conversations on Life, Death, and Music came out in 2020, with Variety declaring it as one of the best music books of the year. His latest book, Sharing in the Groove: The Untold Story of the '90s Jam Band Explosion and the Scene that Followed, is the focus of this episode Sharing in the Groove is a rich examination of an underdog genre that helped define the 1990s musical landscape — a scene that paved the way for modern-day cultural institutions such as the Bonnaroo Music Festival and kept the Grateful Dead ethos alive. Beginning in the mid-’80s and traveling up to New Year’s Eve 1999, Sharing in the Groove covers milestones such as getting signed to record labels and working the club scenes to playing amphitheaters and arenas. Along the way, details emerge of the scene’s own cultural values and the desire to be unique in a world that wanted them to follow a prescribed path. Ultimately, it’s a DIY story of creativity and making music — and how that won over a huge audience. Filled with anecdotes and stories directly from the musicians, promoters, managers, roadies, producers, label executives, and fans who lived this scene, Sharing in the Groove is a fun, fast-paced oral history that will appeal to music lovers everywhere.