"The State of Things" on WUNC

01/01/2021

Quilla explained how s*x, pleasure, and biological cycles wove into her original music for . The Greensboro electro-vocalist's newest album is "The Handbook of Vivid Moments."

Anna Luisa Daigneault, known as Quilla , is the audio muse that makes the Embodied podcast sparkle. WUNC collaborated with Quilla to craft the theme for

01/01/2021

The State of Things ended today. But will continue! You can still catch Anita Rao every Friday 12-1 on North Carolina Public Radio - WUNC talking about s*x, relationships, and health.

Back in November, WUNC chose to discontinue “The State of Things,” North Carolina’s only live public radio program heard in the mountains, on the coast and

31/12/2020

Host Frank Stasio looks back at one of his favorite interviews from his time at The State of Things with this 2003 interview of Little Brother. At that time they had just broken through with a video on MTV and the release of their first record "The Listening.”

In 2003, Frank Stasio spent time in North Carolina guest hosting The State of Things, and one of the conversations from his early days on the show is one

29/12/2020

A look at the state of unions and workers' rights in North Carolina, past and present.

Union membership in the United States is at a record low. About 10% of workers nationwide are currently union members, and only 2.7% of workers in North

28/12/2020

If you could write a letter to your future self, what would you say about 2020?

A group of UNC-Chapel Hill students wrote letters to themselves in March for a class. Today, two of those students and their instructors reflected on their words through conversation with host Anita Rao.

https://www.wunc.org/post/has-world-ended-yet-students-reflect-letters-future

28/12/2020

Our thanks go out to the NC libraries who kept us supplied with audiobooks, ebooks, and the good ol' paper and ink this year.

Hear host Anita Rao talk with two librarians about staying connected to their communities in 2020:

This March, our world turned digital. Zoom meetings, virtual school and video chats dominated work, school and home life. To ease this transition to

24/12/2020

This conversation stood out to Frank because "Cecilia is reaching back into her own ethnic heritage even as she points the way forward for new immigrants with stories much like her own family's."

Cecilia Polanco’s parents did not dream of their daughter owning a food truck when they emigrated from El Salvador to the United States in the early 1980s.

22/12/2020

"[Surfing] puts you in an environment where regardless of your belief system, you are engaged with a higher power. And it's unpredictable and it demands your attention."

For Maia Dery, sitting still has never been much of an option. Her teacher had her sit out in the halls to not disturb other students, and as soon as she

21/12/2020

We talk to members of the Carolina African American Writers' Collective about this anthology of their work.

Twenty-five years ago, renowned poet Lenard D. Moore invited a group of his peers into his basement for a session of writing critique. That monthly

21/12/2020

A personal journey into his family's past is the inspiration behind Asheville musician Ben Phantom's new song and music video "Saigon."

Hear his reflections on his trip to Vietnam with his father, who fled the country at the end of the Vietnam War: https://wunc.org/post/ben-phantoms-music-video-saigon-documents-his-fathers-return-vietnam

21/12/2020

Activist Skip Gibbs called for Durham to defund the police this summer.

Now, he has a different idea: build a community that doesn't need the police.

Listen to our interview with WUNC reporter Will Michaels about his visit to Brightwood, a Black economic development zone in rural Durham county: https://www.wunc.org/post/black-economic-development-zone-grows-rural-durham-county-0

And check out the beginnings of Brightwood in the video below, created by Natalie Dudas-Thomas.

18/12/2020

"Jane believes you have to follow her rules, and that if you don't, you may get cancer, become a drug addict - something bad is gonna happen to you. And if you're not following her rules, there's a reason and those reasons are demons."

When former schoolteacher Jane Whaley and her husband, Sam, founded Word of Faith Fellowship in Spindale, NC in 1979, no one could have imagined all that

17/12/2020

Today we featured Frank's 2017 conversation with Bree Newsome Bass.

"I remember this conversation well for the way Bree was able to chart her own growth as an artist and an activist...and to understand the unique and at the same time inseparable roles each play in the development of an individual and a community."

Activist Bree Newsome Bass gained national attention in the summer of 2015 when she was arrested for scaling the flagpole at the statehouse in Columbia,

17/12/2020

Our last conversation on SOT. 😭

Academy Award-winning director Steve McQueen took over a decade to fully realize his vision of a collection of stories about the West Indian community in

15/12/2020

"This conversation from four years ago is among the shows that I chose to replay before I go, because of the many ways it shines a light on the history of the place where we live...a history that began long before anyone called it North Carolina."

Malinda Maynor Lowery is a Lumbee Indian whose family goes back more than 10 generations in Robeson County. Lowery was born in Lumberton, N.C. but raised

11/12/2020

Women who choose not to have children are often accused of selfishness or not being whole.

Today on , three women shared their reasons for living child-free and how it's radically changed the ways they love.

Sarah of Soulful Nutrition told her mom to stop bugging her: "You’re not getting grandkids, but I'm taking care of grandpa."

Samhita of Teen Vogue asked: "What is our role in ensuring that the children that exist on the planet right now are being fed?"

RDU jet mechanic Uriah Rex explained why she chose sterilization: "Now I never have to worry about birth control. I never have to worry about having restricted access to abortion. And that particular procedure also reduces the risk of ovarian cancer. So, yay!"

Check out the whole conversation below:

There will be no COVID baby boom in the United States. In fact, a decrease in childbirth is expected, with existential fear prevailing over hormones and

11/12/2020

Positive COVID-19 case numbers are twice what they were 10 weeks ago in NC state prisons.

Facilities are ramping up staff testing after a recent order from a NC Superior Court judge.

Hear more about COVID-19 in prisons from our conversation with Ames Alexander, investigative reporter for the Charlotte Observer.

Increased coronavirus case numbers and deaths in North Carolina have taken a lethal toll on people inside state prisons. The number of coronavirus-related

10/12/2020

Frank spoke to Branford Marsalis many times over his years as host...but this one stuck out to him.

Saxophone master and Durham resident Branford Marsalis has never shied away from a challenge when it comes to tackling music. In 2008, the jazz legend