🏳️🌈 LGBTQ+ allyship 🏳️⚧️ and making sound(waves) with Adriana Cargill 🌊
Sounds Like Impact x Hurt Your Brain: A collaborative newsletter for audio and action - Vol. 9
Welcome to Volume 9 of Sounds Like Impact! This week we are collaborating with
, an internet playlist for people fascinated by the world, curated by Erik Jones. Read on for a guest curation and calls-to-action from Erik and an interview with Sandcastles creator Adriana Cargill.Announcements: Yessenia Funes, former Climate Director at Atmos has launched the new climate newsletter, Possibilities. Also, Grist–the nonprofit climate solutions media organization behind the science fiction content I mentioned last week–has launched a radio partnership with WBUR & NPR’s Here and Now (also a podcast.)
Monday was #WorldEnvironmentDay! Consider supporting these outlets and checking out the environmental calls-to-action curated on Sounds Like Impact.
💼 #jobsalert - The Chisholm Legacy Project: A Resource Hub for Black Frontline Climate Justice Leadership currently has four remote jobs open.
🙌 Keeping the faith: Down with drag bans in Tennessee! A federal judge ruled the ban on drag performances in public or in front of children was unconstitutional.
Read more from Reuters.
🎧 #AudioForAction | Guest Curation by Erik Jones
LGBTQ+ allyship in the workplace (and everywhere)
One of the best things I’ve done at my day job the past few years is to get involved in our LGBTQ+ Ally Program. It’s a way to learn, grow, and actively show support for the LGBTQ+ community, whether or not you consider yourself part of it. One of the most rewarding things is to hear new employees say they specifically joined the company and felt safe doing so because of the visible work being done by our employee resource groups (ERGs) like Pride and the LGBTQ+ Ally Program.
In the spirit of Pride month, I wanted to share some podcasts that could be great to share within your own company, or to listen to for your own growth. In my experience, some of the biggest gaps between what people assume and reality is around how gender works. Below is a selection that largely unpacks how experts and the LGBTQ+ community view the topic of gender and sex.
The foundation of being an ally (of any kind) is to start off by educating yourself in a safe space that doesn’t put the full responsibility onto those you are trying to be an ally to. Podcasts excel at this and it’s one of their many superpowers.
TED Radio Hour: The Biology of Sex [website] [pod.link]
The Big Idea: There is biological sex assigned at birth, and there is gender identity. The assumption might be that biological sex assigned at birth is a more cut and dry science, but that is far from the truth. This episode is an excellent exploration of the science of biologic sex and our still incomplete knowledge. Memorable quote from the episode: “The amount of intersex people born is around 2%, the same number of people with natural red hair.”
How to Be a Girl: THE FACTS (about transgender kids) [website] [pod.link]
The Big Idea: This is an amazing and honest discussion of the facts around kids who identify as transgender from a parent of a transgender girl.
Some Families: Questions From Our Straight Allies [website] [pod.link]
The Big Idea: This episode is a great way for allies to learn from LGTBQ+ parents around what to say and not say. To jump right to the main content of the episode, skip ahead to the 12:10 mark. The first twelve minutes are mostly banter.
Death, Sex & Money: A Trans Parent’s Adoption Journey [website] [pod.link]
The Big Idea: Liam and Marisa are incredibly honest about how they each felt about Liam’s transition throughout the early part of their relationship. We can grow so much by absorbing their generosity in sharing the struggles, realities, and also the joys of finding the right partner as a trans person. Not to spoil anything, but it’s ultimately a very happy story, and fair warning, the reveal around why it was surprisingly easy to make it through the adoption process might make you emotional.
99% Invisible: Remembering Stonewall [website]
The Big Idea: The Stonewall uprising in 1969 is widely considered as the catalyst for the modern Pride movement, and it’s an important piece of history to understand. You get an excellent sense of what happened and why. Hearing from the people who were there is powerful.
Get the podcast playlist on Spotify or Podchaser for wherever you may listen.
🚨 Calls to Action
Join: If you work in a medium-to-large company, there is a good chance there are at least a handful of ERGs already in place. Join anything that supports the LGBTQ+ community. Better yet, create one if you aren’t impressed by what you see! Even small companies allow the opportunity to engage, even if not in the same official capacity as an ERG. One of the easiest things you can do is offer to share podcasts that will make everyone a better ally. I started doing this and now I help run communications for the global ally program at my company on the side.
Reach out: If you want to share what your organization does or want to learn more about what you can do within yours, please reach out! Feel free to DM Erik on Twitter.
📣 Spotlight
Adriana Cargill is the host, writer, reporter, and producer of Sandcastles. She’s also the founder of Wave Maker Media, an independent podcast production house. Previously, she’s reported and produced stories for KCRW, NPR's All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Marketplace, Latino USA, LAist, Crooked Media, Wondery, VICE News, The Chicago Redeye and more.
Follow @Sandcastles on Instagram
👋🏾 Ayo here! Below is an excerpt of my interview with Adriana Cargill. Adriana and I had a great time talking about her work, our interest in surfing, and so went over our allotted time. While the written interview will be condensed, listen to the full interview to hear more of our conversation and about a documentary film Adriana is working on. 3-word hint: Women. Big Waves.
What would you say is your biggest takeaway from telling this story?
I think that that my biggest takeaway and also just the feedback that I've gotten from people is like, people love a hopeful story. I love telling a hopeful story. Like I've gotten a lot of feedback where they're like, I've never heard investigative journalists or climate reporting this relatable. You know, and I've gotten a lot of feedback that like, this is really something different and something that resonates with people and I really enjoyed doing it. So my biggest takeaway is like, I want to tell more stories like this, and I know they're out there.
⏭ Coming Up
Next week on Sounds Like Impact we dissect how social issues are covered in TV & film, and we will have an interview with Pippa Johnstone, the creator of Expectant, the hybrid fiction - nonfiction podcast featured in last week’s curation on climate emotions.
➡️ Pitch for upcoming curations.
🤗 An act of joy: Erik is sharing this week! He writes,
On Mother’s Day weekend, I went to the local zoo with my Mom, my son, and my 101 year old grandmother to see baby elephant twins. I shouldn’t have been, but I was surprised at how dang adorable they were!
➡️ Submit your own act of joy.
Take care of yourselves! And if you listen or take any actions, be sure to let me know in the comments or via email soundslikeimpact [at] unofficialsocialchair [dot] com.
 | A guest post by
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Thanks for letting me be part of Sounds Like Impact!