Sidewalks

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. accepting the Nobel Prize for Peace on December 10, 1964 in Oslo. Full speech here: https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/king-acceptance_en.html I recently encountered excerpts from the speech underneath the waterfall at the Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco. I thought it was worth sharing on this Martin Luther King Day.

My Grandpa Sol passed away earlier this week, so I'm re-sharing this episode... The audio comes from a shoddy 2012 iPhone recording I made when home for my last summer before college graduation. I was trying to interview people about how the Bay Area changed in their lifetime. It was generally a dumb idea for a project—you can't really describe a place beyond your own experience of it—but Grandpa Sol sat patiently through my fumbling questions. Even though I hadn't set up the interview to ask for advice, he overflowed with it, and stuck pearls of wisdom wherever he could in his answers. This is a small selection of those pearls.

“Lose a hero. Befriend a cat.” by Tobias Butler

Sorry that Sidewalks has been pretty inactive in the past few months. I’ve been busy, but I’ve also felt really confused about the show’s purpose in an uncertain world. As I record this, it’s the week Donald Trump was elected President of the United States, and everything about this world feels even less certain. From the beginning, Sidewalks has been about experimenting in short little bursts with what radio can be. What does it mean to listen? What does it mean to capture a moment? When I started the show I wanted to come up with a new answer to those questions every single day somewhat randomly with whatever felt right. Right now, I feel like everything we do needs purpose. There are too many forces fighting for hate, greed, and ignorance. We need to consciously and actively work for love, generosity, and wisdom. Sometimes that might mean making things to warm the heart, and sometimes that might mean facing ugly truths. It also, for now, means letting go of the super-short restriction of this show when

Sunrise by sidewalks

Telling It Like It Is: On terrible truths & beautiful truths. *Produced by Molly Jean Bennet @mollyjeanbennett / @mollyjeanbee Adapted from an essay Molly wrote on Medium. Inspired by Michael Schmeltzer @mschmeltzer01 And by Donna Minkowitz @minkowitz Photo by Molly Jean Bennett

Gettysburg by sidewalks

Hello, don't forget your spirit.

I turned 25 last week.

A turtle and a toad go for a walk.

QGIS vs. ArcMap

Searching for a cat interpreter. * Produced by Colleen Leahy

I tried to do some spring cleaning.

I'm really excited about Nintendo's new app.

Almost every webcomic made the same joke today for April Fool's. We made an audio version. Art by Colleen Leahy

Searching for common ground.

You want to go push your stroller?

I walk around dressed up like the black swan... * Produced by Colleen Leahy

The band Sauna, while on their last tour, tells the story of their first.

Trying to stay weird.