01. Land Acknowledgement
Transcript | This episode contains un-beeped curse words.
DIRECTED AND EDITED BY
Sara Ortiz and Joshua Wolf Shenk
PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS
Vera Blossom and Layla Muhammad
SOUND DESIGN
Nicole Kelly
CONTRIBUTORS
Soni Brown, Claire Mullen, and Kyle Paoletta
MUSICIAN-IN-RESIDENCE
Jeremy Klewicki
ILLUSTRATION
Jesse Zhang
MADE AT
KUNV-FM 91.5 on the campus of UNLV
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
For many Indigenous people, land relates to all aspects of existence—culture, spirituality, language, law, family, and identity. Las Vegas writer Soni Brown interviews indigenous writers and artists about the history, impact, and challenges of land acknowledgements. Featuring Fawn Douglas, Toni Jensen, endawnis Spears, and David Treuer.
AURAL HISTORY
History usually emphasizes dates and documents—the official stuff. But through oral history we learn, first-hand, how people felt, what they saw, and what they care about. “Aural History” is an audio collaboration between Black Mountain Radio and the Oral History Research Center at UNLV Libraries Special Collections & Archives. Together, we are bringing to air the often-unheard voices who know Las Vegas, and who are Las Vegas.
In this first “Aural History” collaboration, Black Mountain Radio’s Layla Muhammad presents an oral history from the Nevada Test Site Oral History Project, in which we hear from Southern Paiute tribal member Kenny Anderson.
CITY SOUTHWEST
In an essay for The Believer, the Black Mountain Institute’s flagship magazine, the writer Kyle Paoletta declares that there is a singular ethos of what he calls the City Southwest. In the essay, adapted for audio by producer Claire Mullen, Kyle explores the distinct literature of these urban spaces. In what follows, you’ll hear Kyle’s narration—plus a conversation with one of the artists featured in his essay, the poet Jimmy Santiago Baca.
5X5
Black Mountain Radio’s Vera Blossom invites Las Vegas residents to help us understand their experience of one of the most misunderstood places on earth. Vera did this by asking the same five questions of five Las Vegas locals—and while she was at it, she also turned the mic on herself.
We hear from a transplant (Marta Meana), a nomad (Sreshtha Sen), an indigenous person, (Jonnette Paddy), a first-generation Las Vegan (Vera Blossom), and a fourth-generation Las Vegan (Mikayla Whitmore)
BONUS MATERIAL
“POET’S PRAYER” BY JIMMY SANTIAGO BACA
Jimmy Santiago Baca reads “Poet’s Prayer” from his most recent book, Laughing in The Light. Baca is an award-winning American poet and writer of Chicano descent.