PODCAST · education
Past Forward
by pastforward.org
Civics and culture, from the past, forward.Past Forward is a national nonprofit dedicated to educational accessibility through broadcasting, publishing, and awarding creative work in service of civics and culture.
Episodes
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Benjamin Henwood
Benjamin Henwood, PhD, LCSW is the Albert G. and Frances Lomas Feldman Professor of Social Policy and Health at the University of Southern California (USC). He directs the Center for Homelessness, Housing and Health Equity Research at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work and also…
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Dr. Gioia Woods
Dr. Gioia Woods earned her Ph.D. in English with an emphasis in American and Environmental Literature from the University of Nevada, Reno in 1999. She is a Professor of Humanities in the Department of Comparative Cultural Studies where she teaches classes in environmental humanities; race,...
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Dr. Gioia Woods reads Dog by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Dr. Gioia Woods earned her Ph.D. in English with an emphasis in American and Environmental Literature from the University of Nevada, Reno in 1999. She is a Professor of Humanities in the Department of Comparative Cultural Studies where she teaches classes in environmental humanities; race,...
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Chapters: Season Five Introduction
This is an introduction to Season Five of Chapters. In this episode we document the year 2025, with context from our past, and we learn moving forward. Our goal with this new series is to explore the word incarceration as it relates to the experience of Japanese Americans following Executive…
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The Fire Problem: Season One Introduction
When we started this project in August of 2024 we were focused on the fact that 18 out of the 20 most destructive fires in California’s history have happened in the last 25 years, and 15 of them in the last 10 years. Everything changed when we started recording and fires spread all over the…
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Martin Puchner
Martin Puchner is the Byron and Anita Wien Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Harvard University, where he also serves as the founding director of the Mellon School of Theater and Performance Research. Puchner completed his BA at the Universität Konstanz; MA at the University of...
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Heidi Beirich
Heidi Beirich is the Co-Founder, Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. Beirich is also an Advisory Board Member of the Network for Hate Studies based out of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology and the former…
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Margaret Elysia Garcia
A Macondo fellow, Margaret Elysia Garcia is the author of the poetry collections Iconistas! (Lit Kit Collective, 2025), the daughterland poems (El Martillo Press, 2023), and Burn Scars, (Lit Kit Collective, 2022). She is the author of the short story collection Graft (Tolsun Books, 2022), and the...
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Kristi Lippire
Kristi Lippire is a Los Angeles–based sculptor and professor whose work investigates the intersections of material culture, urban infrastructure, and visual theory. A specialist in color theory, she conducts long-form research into the social, historical, and perceptual structures that shape the...
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Jaime L. Jacobsen
Jaime L. Jacobsen is an Assistant Professor of Journalism and Media Communication and the Director of the Center for Science Communication at Colorado State University. She is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker who has over a decade of experience collaborating with diverse communities across the…
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Ann Burroughs
Ann Burroughs is the President and CEO of the Japanese American National Museum. She is an internationally recognized leader in the field of human rights and social justice. She is the Chair of the Board of Directors of Amnesty International USA and was formerly Chair of Amnesty International’s...
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Kathryn Bannai
Kathryn Bannai was lead counsel in Gordon Hirabayashi's coram nobis case from 1982 to early 1985. Among other critical work, she successfully defeated the government’s effort to dismiss Hirabayashi’s case and persuaded the court to grant an evidentiary hearing. That hearing led to overturning...
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Tamiko Nimura
Tamiko Nimura, Ph.D., is an award-winning Asian American (Sansei/Pinay) creative nonfiction writer, community journalist, and public historian. She writes from an interdisciplinary space at the intersection of her love of literature, grounding in American ethnic studies, inherited wisdom from...
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Soji Kashiwagi
Soji Kashiwagi has been the Executive Director and Playwright of the Grateful Crane Ensemble since its founding in 2001. As a playwright, Soji's works such as "The Camp Dance: The Music & The Memories" and "Nihonmachi: The Place to Be" have been seen nationally at JACL conventions in Phoenix…
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John Mills
John Mills has changed the way we live with fire through his 501c3 non-profit organization Watch Duty. John spent many years in Silicon Valley focusing on underserved markets that had been overlooked by technologists. In 2012 he founded Zenput as CTO, focused on retail food services operations...
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Chessie Thacher
Chessie Thacher is a senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Northern California, where she devotes her time to First Amendment issues, government transparency, criminal justice reforms, and voting rights litigation. Prior to joining the ACLU, Chessie worked as an attorney at Keker, Van Nest &…
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Dr. Adwoa Opong and Dr. Justin de Leon
Dr. Adwoa Opong is an Assistant Professor of History at Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University. Dr Opong earned a BA in history in the study of religions from the University of Ghana. She continued at the University of Ghana to pursue an MPhil in History,...
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Takeo Rivera
Takeo Rivera is a specialist in performance studies with a focus on race, sexuality, and gender in U.S. American cultural production. He is currently an Assistant Professor of English at Boston University. His current project, Model Minority Masochism: Performing the Cultural Politics of Asian...
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Abdi Soltani
Abdi Soltani has served as the executive director of the ACLU of Northern California since 2009. During his tenure, he has pursued long-term priorities to deepen the ACLU’s presence in the California Central Valley and elevate the ACLU’s voice on state policy at the California state capitol....
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John Fischer
John Fischer has served as director of the Normal Public Library since 2023. In this role, Fischer leads teams responsible for the educational, cultural, informational and recreational resources provided by the library to enrich the quality of life for Normal citizens. Fischer has worked in…
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David Weinstein and Hugh Coxe
David Weinstein has been Trust for Public Land’s Western Conservation Finance Director for a decade. He advises local and state governments throughout the Western United States on how to design, pass, and implement legislative initiatives and ballot measures that create funding for land and water...
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Selicia Applegate
Selicia Applegate is the Workshop Manager at Palatine Public Library. With over 10 years at the library, Selicia helped grow the department from a traditional tech support desk into a bustling makerspace that can run over 20 pieces of equipment at once—especially during the holidays. “I focus on...
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Micol Hebron
Micol Hebron is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice includes studio work, curating, writing, social media, crowd-sourcing, teaching, public-speaking, and both individual and collaborative projects. She has been engaged in individual and collaborative projects in Los Angeles since 1992....
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Amy Vidlak Girmscheid
Amy Vidlak Girmscheid is a professional librarian with over 30 years of experience in public and special libraries. She has served the Library community as an archivist, Collection Development Librarian, reference librarian, library director and overall change agent. Without Libraries was created...
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Chief Brian Fennessy
Brian Fennessy became Fire Chief of the Orange County Fire Authority on April 16, 2018. Chief Fennessy began his career in 1978 with the US Department of Agriculture's United States Forest Service and the US Department of Interior's Bureau of Land Management working as a hotshot crewmember,...
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Alea Perez
Alea Perez is a Youth Services Manager in the Chicago suburbs and she has worked in libraries for 16 years (10 in management). Alea grew up in libraries while her mother served as a Youth Services librarian for 30 years, starting when she was in elementary school. "Everyone thought I loved to…
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Ricardo D. García
Ricardo D. García serves as the Los Angeles County Public Defender, the first and largest public defender agency in the United States. He received his Juris Doctorate in 1995 from the University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law, and his Bachelor of Art in Politics in 1991 from…
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Kate Buckson
Kate Buckson serves as the library director of St. Charles Public Library in Illinois. She has worked in public libraries for over twenty years. Without Libraries was created to provide librarians a platform to share stories about education, discuss current programs, and consider life without...
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Resa Mai
Resa Mai is a hands-on public library Director in Illinois. She facilitates partnerships within her community and across the state to create engaging exciting programs. Currently while negotiating a large library addition she is a Lions Club International Vice President and Management Mentor. She...
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Enyce Smith
Enyce Smith, born in Los Angeles, CA, is a multi-talented creator whose work includes music, dance, choreography, filmography, and ballroom MC known in the scene as “King of the West Coast.” Enyce has been voguing in ballroom since the age of 18 and writing and publishing music tracks for more…
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Dale Minami
Dale Minami is a partner with Minami Tamaki in San Francisco specializing in the area of Personal Injury for which he has been named a SuperLawyer in Northern California for each year from 2004 through 2017 and a Top Ten SuperLawyer for the last 5 years. He received a law degree at Berkeley Law...
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Dr. Ronald J. Rivera
Dr. Ronald J. Rivera is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of California, Irvine and the Associate Clerkship Director for emergency medicine rotations. He completed medical school at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, and residency at…
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Dr. Mark Skousen
Dr. Mark Skousen, Ph. D., editor of Forecasts & Strategies, is a nationally known investment expert, economist, university professor and author of more than 25 books. In July 2018 Dr Skousen was awarded the inaugural Triple Crown in Economics for his work in economic theory, history and…
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Mitchell Kaplan
Mitchell Kaplan is best known for the creation of the Miami Book Fair International, the largest community book festival in the United States and a model for book fairs across the country. Kaplan began his working career as a high school English teacher. Two years after opening an independent...
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Arianna Barrios
Arianna Barrios has spent her life living, working, and volunteering in her hometown of Orang where she serves on the Orange City Council, representing the Old Towne Orange area of the City in District One. Today, Arianna lives and runs a small business in the City’s historic district as the…
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Peggy Nagae
Peggy Nagae received her A.B., cum laude, from Vassar College in East Asian Studies, a J.D. degree with honors from Northwestern School of Law at Lewis and Clark College, a M.A in Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica, and a Bachelor of Illumination Sciences from the Jwalan...
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Nick Mott and Justin Angle
Nick Mott is a journalist and podcast producer. His podcast work has received a Peabody and two National Edward R. Murrow Awards. His print and audio reporting has been published in the Atlantic, NPR, High Country News, and the Washington Post, among many other outlets. Justin Angle is a…
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Donald K. Tamaki
Donald K. Tamaki received his BA, Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of California at Berkeley in 1973, and also received his JD from Berkeley in 1976. He is a Senior Counsel at Minami Tamaki LLP. Prior to January 1, 2021, he was the firm’s Managing Partner. From 1980 to 1983, he was Executive...
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John Vaillant
John Vaillant’s acclaimed, award-winning nonfiction books, The Golden Spruce and The Tiger, were national bestsellers. His debut novel, The Jaguar’s Children, was a finalist for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and the International Dublin Literary Award. Vaillant has received the Governor...
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Kirn Kim
Kirn Kim was a former honor student and son of a prominent physician in the Fullerton Korean community. However, at age 16, he was sentenced as an adult to life in prison as part of a high-profile case that became known as the “Honor Roll Murder.” He earned parole after serving 20 years. Kirn...
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Tarell Alvin McCraney
Tarell Alvin McCraney is Artistic Director of Geffen Playhouse. In this role, he is responsible for identifying, developing, and programming new works and re-envisioned classics. He sets the strategic artistic course for the Geffen's Gil Cates and Audrey Skirball Kenis Theaters. McCraney is an...
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Teresa Watanabe
Teresa Watanabe covers education for the Los Angeles Times. Since joining the Times in 1989, she has covered immigration, ethnic communities, religion, Pacific Rim business and served as Tokyo correspondent and bureau chief. She also covered Asia, national affairs and state government for the San...
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Judy Tzu-Chun Wu and Julia Huynh - Part II
Judy Tzu-Chun Wu is a professor of Asian American Studies, the director of the Humanities Center, and the director of Center for Liberation, Anti-Racism, and Belonging (C-LAB) at the University of California, Irvine. She received her Ph.D. in U.S. History from Stanford University and previously...
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Judy Tzu-Chun Wu and Julia Huynh - Part I
Judy Tzu-Chun Wu is a professor of Asian American Studies, the director of the Humanities Center, and the director of Center for Liberation, Anti-Racism, and Belonging (C-LAB) at the University of California, Irvine. She received her Ph.D. in U.S. History from Stanford University and previously...
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Li Wei Yang
Li Wei Yang is curator of Pacific Rim Collections at the Huntington Library. His first Huntington exhibition, “Y.C. Hong: Advocate for Chinese American Inclusion,” was on view in 2015. In 2020, Yang was part of The Huntington, Los Angeles Public Library, and the Library Foundation of Los Angeles...
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Glenn Kurtz
Glenn Kurtz is the author of Three Minutes in Poland: Discovering a Lost World in a 1938 Family Film (Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2014), which was named a "Best Book of 2014" by The New Yorker, The Boston Globe, and National Public Radio. The Los Angeles Times called the book " breathtaking, " and it...
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Dr. Regan F. Patterson
Dr. Regan F. Patterson is the Co-Founder of Black in Environment. She is an Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles and the Principal Investigator of the Engineering Environmental Justice Lab. Previously, Dr. Patterson was the...
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Addison Rose Vincent
Addison Rose Vincent (they/them) is a 30-year-old transgender and nonbinary advocate, educator, and influencer based in Los Angeles, CA. They garnered national attention in 2013 as the first openly transgender participant in the Chapman University sorority rush process, and again in 2014 as the...
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Christine Fugate
Christine Fugate is an award-winning producer and director whose work has been screened in theaters and broadcast on channels around the world. She has produced pilots and programming for networks including Discovery, VH1, Disney, A&E, Sundance, Travel Channel, PBS, and HBO. She has also spent…
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Cedric Tai
Cedric Tai is an undisciplinary artist born in Detroit, Michigan, residing in Los Angeles. They have an Art Education BFA from Michigan State University, and an MFA from the Glasgow School of Art. Their artwork and teachings focus on neurodivergent experience, labor, and politics. The artist also...
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Past Forward have?
Past Forward currently has 561 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Past Forward about?
Civics and culture, from the past, forward.Past Forward is a national nonprofit dedicated to educational accessibility through broadcasting, publishing, and awarding creative work in service of civics and culture.
How often does Past Forward release new episodes?
Past Forward releases new episodes frequently with a large back catalog of 561 episodes. Check the episode list for recent publication dates.
Where can I listen to Past Forward?
You can listen to Past Forward on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Past Forward?
Past Forward is created and hosted by pastforward.org.
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