Episodios

  • Answering the Call: Altadena Relief and Resources

    Answering the Call: Altadena Relief and Resources
    Sep 29 2025
    On this podcast episode of "Conversation Live: Altadena Rising" with James Farr — Freddy Sayegh. Fire survivor. Lost seven properties. Now leading Alta Design Works to help neighbors rebuild. Homes. Hope. Community.

    Victoria Williams joins next. Founder of the Black Education Expo, connecting students, parents, and educators with tools and support for fire survivors. Books. Career panels. Mental health resources.

    Two voices. One question: who will answer the call — bringing relief, resources, real aid to Altadena?
    Más Menos
    50 m
  • The Recovery Will Not Be Televised

    The Recovery Will Not Be Televised
    Sep 23 2025
    On this podcast, "Conversation Live: Altadena Rising" with James Farr, Andre Barnwell joins the conversation. A writer, producer, director, and fire survivor still displaced from his home, Barnwell is shaping a TV drama rooted in Altadena. Youth voices at the center. Local crews behind the camera. Production dollars are flowing back into the foothills.

    But Hollywood already moved. Kenya Barris, Mike Epps, BET Studios, and CBS green-lit a sitcom with the Altadena Eaton Canyon Fire as a backdrop. Too soon? Too far removed? The Recovery Will Not Be Televised — Or Should It?
    Más Menos
    52 m
  • Altadena Rising: Congresswoman Judy Chu. Ways. Means. LA Fire Aid Relief or Waste

    Altadena Rising: Congresswoman Judy Chu. Ways. Means. LA Fire Aid Relief or Waste
    Sep 15 2025
    On this podcast episode of "Conversation Live: Altadena Rising" with James Farr. Congresswoman Judy Chu will face the burning question: Will survivors ever see real relief, or will the system tax, delay, and deny them? She sits on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, shaping aid, safety nets, and recovery dollars. Eight months after the Eaton Fire, Altadena still waits for answers.

    And then, the money trail. The LA Fire Aid concert raised $100 million for survivors. A number that promised hope. But how was it spent? Which nonprofits got it? Why are families still struggling? Relief or waste — the report tells a story, and the community is demanding answers.

    Más Menos
    51 m
  • Altadena Rising — Truth. Resilience. Community. Love. With Dr. Cornel West Jr.

    Altadena Rising — Truth. Resilience. Community. Love. With Dr. Cornel West Jr.
    Sep 10 2025
    On this podcast episode of "Conversation Live: Altadena Rising" with James Farr—Dr. Cornel West. A Black prophetic voice. Scholar. Truth-teller. Together, we mark Altadena as sacred Black ground. Memory stands a weapon against erasure. Fire scarred it. Displacement tested it. Still, the people rise.

    We confront disaster capitalism. Carry Sankofa lessons forward. Ask tomorrow’s questions today. If Wakanda were real, Altadena would be one of its proud tribes—rooted, unshakable, rising.
    Más Menos
    48 m
  • Black Family Breaksground, Altadena: The Emersons Story

    Black Family Breaksground, Altadena: The Emersons Story
    Sep 3 2025
    Coming up on this podcast episode of "Conversation Live: Altadena Rising" with James Farr, seven months. Eleven days. After the Eaton Canyon Fire, Jarvis Emerson broke ground for his Black Altadena family’s home. A home lost to flames. Shovels in hand. Soil that once burned. He begins to rebuild. We were there. Witnessed the prayers.—the joy. The hope taking shape.

    In this conversation, we take you inside the groundbreaking ceremony—praises going up, blessings coming down. Recovery isn’t just bricks. It’s reunion. Roots. Restoring what fire tried to take. Jarvis shares the breaking point, the fight, the faith, and the prayers that bring his family home. For the Emerson family, their land in Altadena is not for sale.
    Más Menos
    52 m
  • Asset-Rich, Cash-Poor: Generational Wealth Re?Imagined

    Asset-Rich, Cash-Poor: Generational Wealth Re?Imagined
    Aug 25 2025
    On the podcast episode of "Conversation Live: Altadena Rising" with James Farr, Dr. Brent Musson joins us to ask the question Black Altadena is still living with thirty-two weeks after the fire: Generational Wealth Re?Imagined. Musson, an Altadena native, housing policy expert, award-winning researcher, former Town Council member, and TEDx Altadena organizer, brings insight shaped by expertise and lived experience: Asset-rich, cash-poor families. FEMA funds are still missing. Insurance is falling short. Rebuilding costs are stacking up. “…some may have to sell their land — not by choice, but by the force of limited options.

    Dr. Musson breaks down practical, complex, and maybe controversial solutions as we explore whether this moment can flip the script on wealth, legacy, and community. Together, we confront what rebuilding really looks like and whether generational wealth in Altadena can survive — or be truly re?imagined.
    Más Menos
    51 m
  • Brandon Lamar: Charity or Surrogacy? Seven Months After the Fire — The Politics of Disaster Relief

    Brandon Lamar: Charity or Surrogacy? Seven Months After the Fire — The Politics of Disaster Relief
    Aug 19 2025
    On this episode of "Conversation Live: Altadena Rising" with James Farr, seven months after the Eaton Canyon fire, who’s helping Altadena — and who’s just putting on a show? Pasadena NAACP President Brandon Lamar joins us to break it down. Neighbors are feeding and housing families with dignity, building systems that work.

    Even in success, there are lessons. From Hollywood and political candidates showing up with groceries — charity or political theater? — to fire survivors cast as extras in a campaign commercial, to the slow grind of recovery, Brandon and I explore what sustains a community, what resilience looks like, and what keeps hope alive when the system fails.
    Más Menos
    50 m
  • Working on a Building: Mayor Bass Leads L.A.’s Fire Recovery & Building

    Working on a Building: Mayor Bass Leads L.A.’s Fire Recovery & Building
    Aug 11 2025
    On this episode of "Conversation Live: Altadena Rising" with James Farr, rebuilding isn’t just brick and mortar. It’s power, politics, and who gets left behind. Mayor Karen Bass breaks down L.A.’s push after the Palisades fire — fast-tracking permits, cutting red tape, and President Trump's response. In Altadena, builder Joel Bryant has put a shovel in the dirt, helping a Black family start again on the same ground the flames tried to erase.

    But every recovery has a side play. Tiffany Haddish and California gubernatorial hopeful Stephen Cloobeck made a public gambit — a grocery giveaway that drew thousands, left hundreds baking in the sun, and quietly cast community members as extras in a campaign commercial. The crowd didn’t see that play. Charity… or political surrogacy dressed as goodwill?
    Más Menos
    49 m