For this special weekend podcast – John chats with Simon Moya Smith and Julie Francella for their “We’re Still Here” segment. Simon is an Oglala Lakota and Chicano journalist. He’s a contributing writer at NBC News and TheNation.com. Julie is a mental health professional with over 30 years of experience in handling complex trauma with Indigenous youth and families. She is an enrolled member of the Ojibway of Batchewana First Nation Reserve, and teaches Indigenous Studies at Durham College, focusing on the impacts of colonization on First Nations people. Then, he interviews Mehran Khaghani who is another comedian from the Boston region, but born in London and raised, in part, in Turkey and Iran aka the Boston of Western Asia. He’s been on on Maz Jobrani’s “Brown and Friendly” comedy tour, Last Comic Standing, Comedy Central, High Maintenance, and many more.
