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Leah Merriman is a multi-media artist who may be the only encaustic painter in St. Louis — she paints with layers of wax. As she explains in the interview, it's a technique that dates back to antiquity (the word itself comes from the Greek enkaustikos; it was used in ancient Egypt for mummy portraits). Bauhaus artist Fritz Faiss revived encaustic painting in the 20th century, but it's still far from common. Leah often paints urban St. Louis landscapes: Art Hill, the Donut Drive-Thru on Chippewa, the riverfront, the bandstand in Tower Grove Park. In addition to encaustic, her body of work includes sculpture, prints, paintings and illustrations. She talks about apprenticing to sculptor Rudolph Torrini, staying in St. Louis, balancing art and motherhood, and how a trip to the Grand Canyon lead her to start doing encaustics. Leah's website http://stlwaxworks.com Leah's Instagram https://www.instagram.com/leahmerrimanart/ Green Door Art Gallery https://www.greendoorartgallery.com/leah-merriman.html "Familiar Layers: Encaustic Scenes of St. Louis, Part 1," at Third Degree Glass Factory https://thirddegreeglassfactory.com/now-on-display-familiar-layers-encaustic-scenes-of-st-louis-part-1-by-leah-merriman/

Dr. Andrew Hurley, professor of history at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, has written extensively about the environmental history of the St. Louis region. In this episode, he talks about his love of cities; how technology can help historians reach new audiences; and how he's helping communities build their resilience in the face of the droughts, floods, and heat waves that are accompanying climate change. Faculty Page https://www.umsl.edu/~umslhistory/Faculty/hurley.html Ask an Expert: Andrew Hurley examines history of climate and its impact on St. Louis https://blogs.umsl.edu/news/2018/08/27/ask-expert-hurley/ Common Fields: An Environmental History of St. Louis https://www.worldcat.org/title/common-fields-an-environmental-history-of-st-louis/oclc/36024068 Virtual City Project http://vcities.ite-stl.org Missouri Place Stories: Missouri EPSCoR https://placestories.missouriepscor.org

David Lobbig, Curator of Environmental Life at the Missouri History Museum and longtime board member at the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, talks all things Mississippi River — the Mississippian culture that once lived on its banks; how 19th-century riverboats not only impacted the river but contributed to climate change; flood plains; and "Mighty Mississippi," the exhibit he curated for MoHist that opened on November 23 and runs through April 2021. Cahokia Mounds https://cahokiamounds.org Grist: The Army Corps of Engineers and Mississippi River Management https://grist.org/series/the-corps-of-the-matter-on-the-army-corps-and-the-mississippi-river/ “Mighty Mississippi” at the Missouri History Museum https://mohistory.org/exhibits/the-mighty-mississippi/ Missouri Coalition for the Environment https://moenvironment.org Radical Cartography: Mississippi Meander Maps http://www.radicalcartography.net/index.html?fisk Scientific American: Mississippi River Flooding and Climate Change https://newrepublic.com/article/148352/can-rivers-people-too

Host Umar Lee talks by phone with "Mama Cat" a community activist and the official chef of the Ferguson movement. Mama Cat (Cathy Daniels) founded the group Pot Bangerz which has worked to feed, clothe and humanize those which society has chosen to make invisible, the unhoused. Potbangerz will be hosting their 3rd Annual Neighbors United Holiday Dinner on December 14th at Christ Church Cathedral (see their facebook group for more details).

Host Umar Lee talks with friend of the podcast, Richard Reilly. Richard talks about a range of topics with Umar including marijuana legalization, socially engaged art projects and photography--including his recent donation to the Missouri History Museum of thousands of his images taken during protest actions following the murder of Mike Brown in Ferguson Missouri.

Writer, producer, comedian (and Donnybrook tweeter-in-chief) Yale Hollander sat down at Atomic Cowboy to talk to Stef Russell on the opening night of the Flyover Comedy Festival. Topics touched on: lawyers; the logistics of doing standup on the Loop Trolley; bringing comedy to other unexpected places; comedian Twitter; the mind-bending depth and breadth of the St. Louis comedy scene; and the night he channeled Lenny Bruce. yalehollander.weebly.com https://twitter.com/yalehollander http://stlouiscomedy.com https://twitter.com/stlcomedyscene https://www.facebook.com/STLComedy/ https://www.flyovercomedyfest.com

Host Umar Lee chats with Marissa and Brian Southards about everything from life after Ferguson to their family art studio, blending portrait photography and traditional graphic/hand drawn artwork.

Umar Lee chats with Francis Horton of Carondelet about growing up in north county, joining the military and seeing the world! Beyond cliche, the conversation is rich in discussion of foreign policy, how the military prepares troops for interactions with people of other cultures (they don't!) and what Francis' podcast, A Hell of A Way to Die, is all about.

Stef Russell talks to Maryville University's Germaine Murray (Professor of English & Humanities) and Dana Levin (Distinguished Writer-in-Residence) as they walk us through "Whitman: Up Close," an exhibit at the May Gallery. The show, on view through October 18, is part of "Whitmania!", a semester-long celebration of all things Whitman on the occasion of his 200th birthday. Germaine and Dana talked about why Whitman considered himself more printer than poet, his love of technology, and his surprising ties to St. Louis. Note: because this is a field recording, there's some mic noise throughout, most noticeably at the halfway point; rather than pull that section (where mic noise overlaps voices), we left it intact, because we didn't want to lose the commentary about naked Walt Whitman (!) and the photographer Thomas Eakins. "Whitmania!" wraps up on November 3 with "Whitman Set to Song," a concert in the Maryville University Auditorium. Whitmania! https://www.maryville.edu/whitmania/ https://stlouispoetrycenter.org/whitmania/ The Morton J. May Gallery https://www.maryville.edu/about/news-and-events/morton-j-may-foundation-gallery/ The Walt Whitman Archive https://whitmanarchive.org

Artist Dail Chambers and poet Treasure Shields Redmond talk about their new project, the Fannie Lou Hamer House. Located in Belleville, it's a container for a multitude of creative people and creative projects. They also talked about their respective art practices; the importance of family and intergenerational dialogue within art; nature; the Mississippi River; the many other projects they're engaged in; and of course, Fannie Lou Hamer herself. https://www.instagram.com/FannieLouHamerHouse https://snccdigital.org/people/fannie-lou-hamer/ https://instagram.com/blackskilletfunders https://itshanapa.tumblr.com http://www.breadandrosesmo.org https://www.facebook.com/WUArcadeProjects/ https://femininepronoun.com https://www.whoraisedyoupodcast.com https://anchor.fm/treasure-shields-redmond

In 1969, a St. Louis teen named Robert Rayford became the first person in America known to have died of HIV/AIDS. His story was the starting point for Impact HIV/AIDS, a longterm initiative launched last year by the Griot Museum of Black History. The project combines art, culture, history, public health events, lectures and more, with the goal of documenting and raising awareness of the ongoing impact of HIV/AIDS on St. Louis' African American community. Stef Russell spoke with museum founder and executive director Lois Conley and museum assistant Ian Darnell about past events, the exhibit opening later this fall, and the future of the project. https://www.thegriotmuseum.com https://www.facebook.com/TheGriotTellsOurStory/ https://www.stlmag.com/history/architecture/the-historic-griot-museum-hosts-events/ http://drainmag.com/aids-1969-hiv-history-and-race/?fbclid=IwAR0kmBuWHw6pvr8BlQGnom_eHtY13Q6pGgKWASEgKxd10GYS_lGMGbxt1yM#ftn16 https://www.kff.org/hivaids/fact-sheet/black-americans-and-hivaids-the-basics/ https://www.stlmag.com/The-Pre-Pandemic-Puzzle/

Host Umar Lee chats with documentary filmmaker, Alana Flowers about her upcoming film "The Kinloch Doc" which will be screened August 15th at the Grandel (Hosted by Arch City Defenders).

Charles Klotzer, longtime free-speech activist and holocaust survivor joins host Umar lee on the St. Louis Speaks Podcast (available thru Spreaker). At 93, Klotzer has a lot to reflect on, from his family's flight out of Nazi Germany and settlement in a Jewish ghetto in Shanghai, to his storied publishing career in St. Louis.

Stef Russell talks to Che Applewhaite, Catie Barr, Kale Catchings and Saul Glist, a team of four Harvard undergraduates who have traveled from Boston to spend 10 weeks in St. Louis under the auspices of The Commonwealth Project. A Harvard initiative founded by Tef Poe and Walter Johnson, it models a new way for universities to engage with social problems through service and collaboration with professors, students, cultural producers, activists, attorneys and others. Also on deck was Commonwealth Project co-coordinator Robin McDowell, Ph.D. candidate in African and African American Studies at Harvard. The group talks about the projects it undertook this summer with its St. Louis partners, including EHOC (Metro St. Louis Equal Housing Opportunity Council). The Commonwealth Project https://warrencenter.fas.harvard.edu/commonwealth-project Metro St. Louis Equal Housing Opportunity Council https://ehocstl.org/ Equity Legal Services https://www.equitylegalservices.org/ RC Striders Track & Field Team https://www.instagram.com/rcstridersstl/ Organization for Black Struggle https://www.obs-stl.org/ The Griot Museum of Black History and Culture https://www.thegriotmuseum.com/ The Venable Park Coalition FB Page https://www.facebook.com/groups/738798083251934/

Stef Russell sat down with Belt Magazine founder Ann Trubek and St. Louis (Kirkwood) native, Ryan Lee Schuessler, editor of Belt's St. Louis Anthology for a great podcast. Stef leads listeners on a spoiler free exploration of some of the poems and short stories from the Anthology, Kinloch to Little Bosnia.

Guest host Stef Russell returns with a fascinating discussion with Harvard Professor Walter Johnson. The topic of the discussion is Johnson's new book (due to be released Spring 2020) which places St. Louis at the center of social upheaval and grassroots revolution in America from William Clark to Michael Brown.

Host Umar Lee talks with a panel of city residents who are hesitant to embrace the proposed BetterTogetherSTL merger of St. Louis County and St. Louis City. Panelists include Podcast regular and former city Comptroller, Virvus Jones, TEAMTIF co-founder Andrew Arkills, and ACS Data-Wonk, @stlrainbow. This is the first of several planned merger discussions for the St. Louis Speaks podcast.

Umar Lee discusses Brooklyn, American mosque culture, Muslim history and more with young Muslim scholar Asad Dandia.