MF GALAXY

LISTEN/DOWNLOAD    Maybe you’ve been chained at the centre of the earth and the mole-people have been jamming your wifi since you got there, and that’s why you don’t know about the breathtaking Marvel blockbuster Black Panther. If so, I don’t know how you’re hearing this podcast, but my sympathies to you and I’ll try to lower a pitcher of lemonade on a long rope. But for everyone else, as of February 21, not even a week after opening day, the $200M-budget movie has earned $441 million worldwide. The idea that a completely Africentric science fiction film with a pan-African cast, set in a fictional African country, with no major European stars, and written and directed by Africans, could achieve one of the biggest opening weeks ever was, even a few years ago, unthinkable. You could even say the idea of that success itself was Africentric science fiction. And now, it’s reality. Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole wrote it, Coogler directed it, and Chad...

WHY FIGHTING HIV-AIDS FORCES A CONFRONTATION WITH RELIGIOUS VALUES, CULTURAL NORMS, THE EDUCATION SYSTEM, AND THE POVERTY-TO-PRISON PIPELINE; HOW TRADITIONAL RURAL LEADERS AND CLERGY ARE JOINING THE STRUGGLE TO PROTECT THOSE WHO HAVE HIV AND PREVENT OTHER LISTEN/DOWNLOAD As shocking as it is in 2017, HIV-AIDS disproportionately afflicts African-Canadians in Alberta. The reasons are varied and complex, which means fighting the pandemic here is all the more difficult. But the reality is that in this province, African-Canadians are six times more likely to be living with HIV-AIDS than the general population, and comprise 26 percent of all new HIV infections despite being only 2.5 percent of the population. While some people might want to avoid the subject due to stigma or mortal fear, my guest today isn’t one of them, and she’s dedicated her life to stopping new infections and helping those already afflicted. Morenike Olaosebikan is a health scientist and the founder of Ribbon ...