Bourbon 'n BrownTown
by Caullen Hudson & David A Moran
Powered by SoapBox Productions and Organizing, Bourbon ‘n BrownTown is a conversation-based podcast that fosters radically imaginative dialogues on media, culture, politics, and our various social movements through a liberatory lens. With a Chicago focus, filmmakers and movement workers Caullen Hudson and David A. Moran unpack complex social issues and topics while building relationships with artists, activists, community organizers, educators, social entrepreneurs, and others working towards a better world. Together, BrownTown holds space to listen, learn, and liberate, all while sippin’ on sumpin’ good. Salud!Visit SoapBoxPO.com/Podcast; follow @BourbonnBrownTown on Facebook/Instagram, @BourbonnBrwnTwn on Twitter; and @SoapBoxPO on all social media.
Episodes
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Ep. 134 - 2026 Chicago Budget SZN ft. H Kapp-Klote
BrownTown chops it up with H Kapp-Klote, a Chicago communications strategist and creator of Chicago 312, a weekly newsletter and video series on Chicago municipal politics. If budgets are moral documents, then how is the City of Chicago planning to live up to its mandate to take care of its 2.7...
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Ep. 133 - Public Education in Chicago ft. Hilario Dominguez
BrownTown discusses the history and current state of public education in Chicago with Hilario Dominguez, special education teacher and candidate for the President of the Chicago Board of Education. He is running on the Public School Champions platform which includes universal full-day pre-K...
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Ep. 132 - Coalition-building & Looking at Logan Correctional with No New Prisons ft. Monica Cosby & Chez Rumpf
BrownTown talks with comrades Monica Cosby and Chez Rumpf about No New Prisons Illinois (NNPIL), a campaign fighting the state’s plan to spend nearly a billion dollars building two new prisons. Like many carceral reforms, this was in response to yet another death in Stateville Prison due to...
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Ep. 131 - Debunking the Manniverse & Fitness Against Fascism 3.0 ft. Colin Davis
BrownTown finally takes on the manniverse through a Fitness Against Fascism lens with internet homie Colin Davis, fitness coach and Lefty content creator. Contrary to what gyms, popular workout trends, or wellness influencers may tell you, physical fitness has always been political. Over the past...
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Ep. 130 - Chinga La Migra: Organizing under a MAGA Regime ft. Rey Wences & Any Huamani
BrownTown continues the "Chinga La Migra" series discussing how ICE ain't shit with Rey Wences of Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) and Any Huamani of Brighton Park Neighborhood Council (BPNC). Fast-forwarding from the last conversation in summer 2025 focusing on the...
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Ep. 129 - Whiskey & Watching: "Life" (1999) ft. trina reynolds tyler & Maira Khwaja
BrownTown discusses "Life" (1999) with trina reynolds tyler & Maira Khwaja of TM Productions and the Invisible Institute. The double duo breakdown the cult classic's coverage of US incarceration through the decades, respectability politics within Black and Southern white culture, the...
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128 - Palestinian Liberation: Artistic Expression through Film, Music, & Identity ft. Dina Amin
BrownTown shares virtual space with Dina Amin (AKA Dinamiin), Palestinian filmmaker and singer-songwriter to talk all things art, storytelling, and resistance. Dina shares her journey exploring identity and home through her genre-fluid music and deeply personal yet relatable film work. As the...
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Ep. 127 - New Years 2026: A Retrospective ft. Kiera Battles, Kassandra Borah, & Jamie Price
BrownTown on BrownTown. The podcast's audio engineers Kiera Battles and Kassandra Borah, and for the first time Jamie Price, assistant producer, step to the mics to talk all things BnB 2025! Last year we dropped our first show trailer; had our first live event since 2018; started our new "Wrap…
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Ep. 126 - *LIVE AT CH DISTILLERY* Reproductive Justice & Abortion Care In This Moment ft. Alicia Hurtado & Qudsiyyah Shariyf of Chicago Abortion Fund
BrownTown heads over to CH Distillery | Jōtō Sushi in Chicago's West Loop for their second-ever live recording with Alicia Hurtado and Qudsiyyah Shariyf of Chicago Abortion Fund. In a moment of further descent into fascism on the federal level, built on decades of policy maneuvers and reactive...
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Ep. 125 - Funding Public Transit ft. Sadie Soto
BrownTown shares space with Sadie Soto, consultant, organizer, policy savant, lifelong Chicagoan, and devoted CTA rider. The gang chats about the fall 2025 CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) and RTA (Regional Transportation Authority) budget crisis and the role and responsibility of mass public...
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Ep. 124 - The Wrap Up: "No Cop Academy: The Documentary" (2023) ft. Debbie Southorn & Destiny Harris
BrownTown debriefs No Cop Academy: The Documentary (2023) with campaign organizers, interviewees, and producer/curator of the film, Debbie Southorn and Destiny Harris. The team reunites to discuss the creation, process, and impact of the one-hour SoapBox-produced film and the #NoCopAcademy…
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Ep. 123 - America: The Good, The Bad, and The Fascist
BrownTown sits down for a follow-up conversation to earlier this year, analyzing the shock and awe strategy of the Trump-Musk aligned agenda and how we got there. Fast-forward to fall 2025, BrownTown speaks candidly on Trump's war on Chicago. While the lies and terror of ICE kidnappings…
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Ep. 122 - Organizing against Displacement with the Obama Community Benefits Agreement 2.0 ft. Kiara Hardin & Infiniti Gant
BrownTown chops it up with Kiara Hardin and Infiniti Gant, multifaceted organizers with the Obama Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) coalition. Ten years since the announcement of the Obama Presidential Center (OPC) on Chicago's South Side and five years since the passing of the Woodlawn…
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TRAILER - Welcome to Bourbon 'n BrownTown!
Welcome to Bourbon 'n BrownTown! Since 2017, BrownTown has fostered radically imaginative dialogues on media, culture, politics, and our various social movements through a liberatory lens. With a Chicago focus, filmmakers and movement workers Caullen Hudson and David A. Moran unpack complex…
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Ep. 121 - Chinga La Migra: Understanding Your Rights under a MAGA Regime ft. Khiabett Osuna
BrownTown talks all things immigration under Trump 2.0, June protests in Los Angeles, and how ICE ain't shit with immigration attorney and new homie Khiabett Osuna. As Trump tests the waters of his draconian federal policies, financially backed by the Big [Fucking Ugly] Bill, and using ICE as his...
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Ep. 120 - Black Researchers Collective ft. Dr. Glenance Green & Shari Runner
BrownTown decolonizes the ivory tower approach to research with Dr. Glenance Green & Shari Runner, Co-Founders of the Black Researchers Collective (BRC). The Chicago-based capacity-building collective takes research to the streets, designing, activating, and mobilizing communities to use research...
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Ep. 119 - Palestinian Liberation: Chicago Palestine Film Festival ft. Nina Shoman-Dajani, Justin Mashouf, & Hamzah Furqani
BrownTown shares space with Chicago Palestinian Film Festival (CPFF) Executive Director Nina Shoman-Dajani, filmmaker Justin Mashouf, & protagonist of the short film $17.74, Hamzah Furqani. The team discusses the inner-workings and impact of the longest running Palestinian film festival in the...
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Ep. 118 - The Wrap Up: "One Million Experiments" (2023) ft. Damon Williams & Daniel Kisslinger of Respair Production & Media
BrownTown brings back Damon A. Williams and Daniel Kisslinger of Respair Production & Media, a movement journalism and media hub creating and supporting the media needed to reshape culture toward liberation. The double duos discuss the creation, process, and impact of their half hour experimental...
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Ep. 117 - Whiskey & Watching: "La Plataforma 2" (2024) ft. Alderpersons Rossana Rodriguez & Jessie Fuentes
BrownTown takes on "La Plataforma 2" (2024) with Alderhomies Rossana Rodriguez (33rd) and Jessie Fuentes (26th) about a vertical prison where those inside are fed off of a descending platform, leaving only the diminishing leftovers for those below. BrownTown and the alderhomies breakdown the…
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Ep. 116 - America: The Last Dance?
BrownTown finally talks Trump 2.0, local collective resistance, the election blame game, and the half century of neoliberalism got us here. As the news cycles have been dominated by Trump, tariffs, Musk, and the MAGA mess, BrownTown speaks candidly on the the first few months of the new (yet old)...
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Ep. 115 - New Years 2025: A Retrospective ft. Kiera Battles & Kassandra Borah
BrownTown on BrownTown. BnB audio engineers Kiera Battles and Kassandra Borah hop off the 1's and 2's and onto the guest couch to help BrownTown breakdown the podcast's episodes of 2024. Last year we continued our Palestinian Liberation series, gave analysis on local and federal elections…
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Ep. 114 - Distilling Dialectics at CH Distillery ft. Tyrus Yamagiwa
BrownTown travels to CH Distillery in West Loop, Chicago to talk drinking, distilling, and dialectics with Head Blender Tyrus Yamagiwa. Tyrus walks BrownTown through his journey blending bourbon for Jeppson's Bourbon who acquired the Chicago famous Malört beverage in 2018. The gang discuss…
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Ep. 113 - Palestinian Liberation: Divestment, Encampments, & Institutions ft. Amoona
BrownTown shares space with Amoona, Chicago-based Palestinian student organizer, to further the conversation on Palestinian liberation, focusing on the student encampment movement in spring 2024 and how institutions have responded since. After 140+ college campuses put on demonstrations for Gaza...
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Ep. 112 - Democratic National Convention: From 1968 to 2024, Pt. 2 ft. Nesreen Hasan & Nadiah Alyafai
BrownTown talks all things DNC aftermath with US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) organizers Nesreen Hasan and Nadiah Alyafia. The new friends breakdown DNC week from the formal mass March on DNC protests, autonomous disruptions, anti-war/genocide political education programming, to the...
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Ep. 111 - Palestinian Liberation: Anti-Zionism & Jewish Solidarity ft. Rabbi Brant Rosen & Lesley Williams
BrownTown invites Rabbi Brant Rosen and Lesley Williams of Tzedek Chicago, a proudly anti-Zionist intentional Jewish congregation based on core values of justice, equity, and solidarity. In this installment, they discuss this current moment in the struggle to Free Palestine with special regards…
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Ep. 110 - Democratic National Convention: From 1968 to 2024, Pt. 1 ft. Bill Ayers
BrownTown is honored to be joined by an OG in the game -- activist, organizer, and professor Bill Ayers. The gang discusses the similarities, differences, and peculiarities of Chicago hosting the Democratic National Convention in 1968 and in 2024. Bill bears witness to the socio-political context...
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Ep. 109 - Existential Quandaries on Hope, Relationships, & Resistance to American Hegemony ft. CA Davis
BrownTown gets philosophical with return guest CA Davis, multimedia storyteller and creator of a LATTO Thought, an audio docuseries revolving around the history of race in America. Halfway through 2024, the team discusses intimate journeys of introspection in the context of fractured and…
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Ep. 108 - Whiskey & Watching: "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" (2022) ft. Alderpersons Rossana Rodriguez & Jessie Fuentes
BrownTown takes on “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (2022) with Alderhomies Rossana Rodriguez (33rd) and Jessie Fuentes (26th) in the first for Whiskey & Watching installment of 2024! BrownTown and the return guests breakdown the film and its predecessor’s social impact and commentary on...
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Ep. 107 - Creative Jobs, Life Balance, & Working towards a Liberatory Future within Capitalism 3.0
BrownTown on BrownTown. Once again, our comrades build on previous discussions from 2019 (Ep. 39) and 2020 (Ep. 59) on the interrelationship between working within and outside of the movement media landscape while balancing a healthy personal life, financial well-being, and everything in between....
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Ep. 106 - Independent Media Creation in the Age of Spin (& Memes) 2.0 ft. Camila Cuevas
BrownTown talks memes, mass mobilization, and more with Camila Cuevas (AKA @ComradeCami), Chilena expat living in Florida, USA. She uplifts liberation struggles and provides social movement resources through memes and social media via what she calls "thirst-trapping the masses into class...
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Ep. 105 - Bring Chicago Home ft. Dixon Romeo
BrownTown chops it up with Dixon Romeo, Executive Director of NotMeWe and organizer with the Bring Chicago Home campaign. On March 19th, 2024, Chicago voters have the opportunity in the state primary elections to restructure the already existing, one-time Real Estate Transfer Tax (RETT) "on...
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Ep. 104 - Voter Guides, Electoralism, & the 2024 Cook County Primaries ft. Stephanie Skora & Raeghn Draper
BrownTown sits down with co-authors of the "Girl, I Guess" Progressive Voter Guide, three-peat guest Stephanie Skora and newcomer Raeghn Draper to talk all things 2024 Cook County Democratic Primary Elections. From ethics and attitudes in long-form opinion journalism to new endorsement standards...
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Ep. 103 - New Years 2024: A Retrospective ft. Kiera Battles
BrownTown on BrownTown. BnB audio engineer Kiera Battles is back with her behind-the-scenes insights on the podcast as the team discusses the episodes of 2023. Last year brought the continuation of the Whiskey and Watching series, a host of episodes surrounding the 2023 Chicago Municipal…
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Ep. 102 - Palestinian Liberation: In This Moment ft. Muhammad Sankari
BrownTown invites Muhammad Sankari from the US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) to discuss this current moment in the struggle to Free Palestine. The gang frames Israel's genocide in Gaza and assault on the other territories in historical context with regards to the long history of…
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Ep. 101 - Hood Empathy & The Chicago Creative Wave ft. Isiah "ThoughtPoet" Veney
BrownTown shares space with frequent collaborator, Isiah “ThoughtPoet” Veney, photographer, A&R, organizer, and overall creative from Chicago's South Side. ThoughtPoet and BrownTown unpack the Afro-futuristic and "hood empathetic" themes of his photography work, his and SoapBox's collaboration in...
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Ep. 100 - It's a BnB Celebration! ft. Samantha Grund-Wickramasekera & Camille Williams
BrownTown on BrownTown. Join Caullen and David as they celebrate BnB's 100th episode with guest hosts and homies Samantha Grund-Wickramasekera and Camille Williams. Sam is a long-time listener and SoapBox board member while Camille was one of the first podcast guests. As collaborators and friends...
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Ep. 99 - Whiskey & Watching: "I Like It Like That" (1994) ft. Ricardo Gamboa & Mia Carbajal
BrownTown again chops it up with the Hoodoisie fam, co-host Ricardo Gamboa and Executive Director Mia Carbajal for "Whiskey & Watching." The team deconstructs the darling 90's comedy-drama "I Like It Like That" (1994), the first large studio film directed by a Black woman. The film centers around...
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BONUS - #NoCopTOBER ft. Freedom X
BrownTown shares space with Chicago Southsider and former #NoCopAcademy organizer Freedom X as they reminisce about the height of the campaign and discuss what the new feature documentary means to them in this moment. Come see the film this #NoCopTOBER and be on the lookout for future screenings…
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Ep. 98 - Coalition-building & Water Solidarity ft. Avalon Betts-Gatson & Tommy Hagan
BrownTown talks water access, water solidarity, and abolition as presence with Avalon Betts-Gatson and Tommy Hagan, organizers with the Coalition to Decarcerate Illinois (CDI). From indigenous land back struggles to fighting for clean drinking water for incarcerated peoples, water is the most…
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BONUS - Help This Garden Grow, Episode 1
BrownTown is delighted to -- for the first time -- share a new series from our movement media fam over at AirGo. Help This Garden Grow is a new six-part podcast documentary series telling the story of Hazel Johnson, a visionary of the Environmental Justice movement and a resident of the Altgeld...
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Ep. 97 - Progressive Latinas in the New Chicago City Council ft. Alderpersons Rossana Rodriguez & Jessie Fuentes
BrownTown chops it up with Alderhomies Rossana Rodriguez (33rd) and Jessie Fuentes (26th) in the inaugural recording within the Harambe Studios at the SoapBox office. Chicago City Council is now the most Black and Latine, the most queer, the most politically left, and with the most female leaders...
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Ep. 96 - Advertising in the Activist Resurgence (& So-called "Wokeism") 3.0 ft. Justin Stillmaker
BrownTown sits down with the original "Ad Man" Justin Stillmaker to reflect on the role of advertising as propaganda, its attempts to co-opt social movement language and optics throughout the past half decade, and the odd trajectory of the term "woke" (and the right-wing obsession with hating…
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Ep. 95 - Home
BrownTown on BrownTown. As SoapBox (the film and movement media hub that powers Bourbon 'n BrownTown) moves into its first-ever office, Caullen and David discuss their journeys finding and curating spaces to call home, personally and professionally. BrownTown affirms housing as a human right…
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Ep. 94 - Police Abolition 2.0 ft. District Councilors David Orlikoff & Ashley Vargas
BrownTown breaks down the relationship between police abolition and state-sanctioned police accountability measures with newly elected Police District Councilors David Orlikoff and Ashley Vargas. The guests square their PIC abolitionist organizing roots with the new accountability structure,...
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Ep. 93 - Coalition-building & Growing Solidarity with #StopCopCity ft. Chelle Sanders & Jasmine Burnett
BrownTown virtually visits Atlanta and chops it up with Chelle Sanders and Jasmine Burnett, organizers with #StopCopCity. Chicago’s #NoCopAcademy and Atlanta’s #StopCopCity movements are part of the same struggle: to end violent policing, protect the environment and defend Black and brown lives.…
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Ep. 92 - Whiskey & Watching: "Everything Everywhere All At Once" (2022) ft. Ricardo Gamboa, Charles Preston, & Mia Carbajal
BrownTown shares space with the Hoodoisie hosts Ricardo Gamboa and Charles Preston and Executive Director Mia Carbajal in the return of "Whiskey & Watching." BrownTown and the Hoodoise deconstruct the Oscar Best Picture "Everything Everywhere All At Once" (2022): When an interdimensional rupture...
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Ep. 91 - Narratives in Media & Documenting Movements 2.0 ft. Morgan Elise Johnson
BrownTown reflects on the 2023 Chicago municipal elections and the importance of disrupting dominant media narratives with Morgan Elise Johnson, filmmaker, publisher, and co-creator of the TRiiBE, an award-winning digital publication and production company dedicated to reshaping the narrative of...
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Ep. 90 - Electoral & Radical Politics 4.0 ft. Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez & Alderperson-elect Jessie Fuentes
BrownTown continues to dialogue about the relationship between electoral and radical politics with Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez and Alderperson-elect Jessie Fuentes. With the historic 2023 Chicago municipal elections in the rearview, the team situates what this never-before-seen cohort of…
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Ep. 89 - The Politics of Dress, Pt. 2 ft. Hannah Linsky
BrownTown again invites Hannah Linsky (she/her), vintage stylist, seller, educator, and liver and breather of all things fashion to unpack the politics of dress. In part 2, the friends go macro and discuss fashion within current and historical social movements and its impact on policy and popular...
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Ep. 88 - New Years 2023: A Retrospective ft. Kiera Battles
BrownTown on BrownTown. Now-BnB audio engineer Kiera Battles makes her debut bringing in behind-the-scenes insights to the podcast as the gang unpacks the episodes, new series, and various recording environments that made up 2022. For better or worse, here's to 2023! With 11 total full episodes,...
About this show
Powered by SoapBox Productions and Organizing, Bourbon ‘n BrownTown is a conversation-based podcast that fosters radically imaginative dialogues on media, culture, politics, and our various social movements through a liberatory lens. With a Chicago focus, filmmakers and movement workers Caullen Hudson and David A. Moran unpack complex social issues and topics while building relationships with artists, activists, community organizers, educators, social entrepreneurs, and others working towards a better world. Together, BrownTown holds space to listen, learn, and liberate, all while sippin’ on sumpin’ good. Salud!Visit SoapBoxPO.com/Podcast; follow @BourbonnBrownTown on Facebook/Instagram, @BourbonnBrwnTwn on Twitter; and @SoapBoxPO on all social media.
Hosted by
Caullen Hudson & David A Moran