Kevin J Barnum

United States

Lead Producer at Disrupted

Lead Producer at Connecticut Public

Producer @wnpr, Writing @Pod_Review (he/him/his) https://t.co/xQ3qcvJ3nZ

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Articles

Hand-crafted bookcases are filling prisons. They’re made in CT by formerly incarcerated workers

3 days ago | ctpublic.org | Kevin J Barnum

At a workshop in Hamden, Michael Byrd and James Flynn are standing at their stations, smoothing thin slabs of wood with sandpaper. It’s the first step in building a bookcase. Their work is part of Freedom Reads, a Connecticut-based nonprofit that delivers hand-crafted bookcases full of new books to prisons across the country. Building these bookcases is personal for Byrd and Flynn — both craftsmen have served time in prison. “I’m doing a lot of things that I never thought I could do,” Byrd said.
Julia Bullock and Terence Blanchard are changing how we understand opera

1 month ago | ctpublic.org | Mini Docs |Kevin J Barnum

Legendary trumpeter Terence Blanchard is the first Black composer to have had an opera performed at the Metropolitan Opera. But, as he says, he isn't the first Black composer qualified to do so. This hour, we talk to musicians who are changing the face of opera by bringing new stories to the fore. GUESTS:Terence Blanchard: Executive Artistic Director at SF Jazz and Multiple Grammy Award-winning trumpeter and composer.
Martha S. Jones explores racial identity by looking at her own family history

2 months ago | ctpublic.org | Mini Docs |Kevin J Barnum

By Kevin Chang Barnum, Khalilah Brown-Dean, Robyn Doyon-Aitken , Meg Dalton, Megan Fitzgerald Published March 28, 2025 at 2:46 PM EDT Historian Martha S. Jones was looking through a book one day when she found a section mentioning her grandfather. It referred to her grandfather as white. But in reality, her grandfather’s father was a free man of color, and his mother was born enslaved.
COVID has exacerbated existing inequities in race and disability

2 months ago | ctpublic.org | Kevin J Barnum

By Kevin Chang Barnum, Khalilah Brown-Dean, Robyn Doyon-Aitken , Meg Dalton, Megan Fitzgerald Published March 21, 2025 at 1:20 PM EDT Five years ago, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. Since that time, the world has changed dramatically, from the way we think about public health to the way we socialize to the way we watch movies. But those changes haven't had the same impact on everyone.
Why mothering is 'Essential Labor' with Angela Garbes

2 months ago | ctpublic.org | Kevin J Barnum

By Kevin Chang Barnum, J. Carlisle Larsen, Emily Charash, Khalilah Brown-Dean, Meg Dalton, Catie Talarski Published March 14, 2025 at 10:10 AM EDT This hour on Disrupted, we're challenging long-held assumptions about parents and caregivers. First, Angela Garbes, author of Essential Labor: Mothering as Social Change, explains how care workers are undervalued.
To understand homeownership inequities today, Bernadette Atuahene takes us back generations

Mar 7, 2025 | ctpublic.org | Kevin J Barnum

By Kevin Chang Barnum, Khalilah Brown-Dean, Robyn Doyon-Aitken , Meg Dalton, Megan Fitzgerald Published March 7, 2025 at 1:23 PM EST Bernadette Atuahene initially moved to Detroit, Michigan to study squatters rights. But she discovered a more urgent issue once there— that many Black residents were losing their homes. The reason was property tax foreclosure, and it came as a result of property taxes that were illegally inflated.
What Black History Month means in today’s political climate

Feb 28, 2025 | ctpublic.org | Kevin J Barnum

By Kevin Chang Barnum, Khalilah Brown-Dean, Robyn Doyon-Aitken , Meg Dalton, Megan Fitzgerald Published February 28, 2025 at 11:59 AM EST Every February, the United States celebrates Black History Month. But this year, the celebration might feel a bit different. On January 31st, the Department of Defense announced it would no longer use official resources to celebrate cultural awareness months, including Black History Month, which began the following day.
From romance to organizing, a look at how love can be political

Feb 14, 2025 | ctpublic.org | Kevin J Barnum

By Kevin Chang Barnum, Khalilah Brown-Dean, Robyn Doyon-Aitken , Meg Dalton, Megan Fitzgerald Published February 14, 2025 at 6:30 AM EST When you think about love, what comes to mind? Maybe a movie like Love Actually or Love & Basketball. Maybe Dolly Parton or Whitney Houston singing "I Will Always Love You." Love shows up a lot in our pop culture— but what about in our politics?
Actor and director Brandon J. Dirden says art is about problem solving

Feb 7, 2025 | ctpublic.org | Kevin J Barnum

By Kevin Chang Barnum, Khalilah Brown-Dean, Robyn Doyon-Aitken , Meg Dalton, Megan Fitzgerald Published February 7, 2025 at 5:30 AM EST Joan Marcus. / Yale Repertory TheatreChristina Acosta Robinson and Heather Alicia Simms in a scene from Eden, a play by Steve Carter, directed by Brandon J. Dirden. Yale Repertory Theatre, January 16-February 8, 2025. Brandon J.
How the legacies of James Baldwin and Martin Luther King Jr. resonate today

Jan 31, 2025 | ctpublic.org | Kevin J Barnum

By Kevin Chang Barnum, Khalilah Brown-Dean, Robyn Doyon-Aitken , Meg Dalton, Megan Fitzgerald Published January 31, 2025 at 5:30 AM EST James Baldwin and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were two of the most influential thinkers of the Civil Rights Movement. This hour, we reflect on their legacies as we think about our present political moment. Kyle Bass wrote the play Citizen James, or the Young Man Without a Country, which will be performed in Hartford in February.