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Culture Shock: Q&A with For Colored Nerds

By Brittney Seegers | April 17, 2017

Join Friends of the High Line on April 22 for Culture Shock, the High Line’s 2017 programming season kick-off. Culture Shock will bring the park to life with music, comedy, stories, and family activities from 1-6 PM. All events are free with RSVP and open to the public.

Leading up to the event, we’ll be sitting down with performers contributing to the Culture Shock line-up. As we count down to April 22, be sure to check back here for more exclusive Q&As.

On the For Colored Nerds podcast, co-hosts (and best friends) Brittany Luse and Eric Eddings examine the race, sex and gender dynamics at play in the news we consume and the pop culture we love. In addition to producing For Colored Nerds, Luse and Eddings work in podcasting full-time at Gimlet Media, a podcast network.

For those unfamiliar with your work, how would you describe it?
FCN: The tagline of the show is “the conversations that Black people have when white people are not in the room,” which is pretty accurate, but the show is so much more than that. With For Colored Nerds, we give Black contributions to popular culture and history the deep-dive they deserve, from Boomerang to Kendrick Lamar to Ida B. Wells. And although FCN is essentially a culture podcast, the show is also an accurate reflection of our friendship; there’s plenty of teasing, the occasional disagreement, and lots of laughter.

What kind of stories do you feel your work tells?
FCN: For Colored Nerds tells the story of how and why we love, critique, and consume Black culture, and it’s also the story of how we see the world.

How does your work speak to the NY community?
FCN: Though neither of us is from New York, the way that our conversations have expanded and progressed over the years wouldn’t be possible without our living here. For Colored Nerds is really just an expansion of the conversations we’ve had in this city as transplants, as young people figuring it out, and as Black people.

Tell us a little about what you have planned for Culture Shock.
FCN: We have a dynamic conversation planned with three deeply creative Black women: novelist Naomi Jackson, New York Times Magazine staff writer and podcast host Jenna Wortham, and founder of Well-Read Black Girl, Glory Edim. Though their work is different, each woman seems to use her work as a means of connecting people.

What makes the High Line as a venue unique or challenging to you and your work?
FCN: We typically record in-studio, so anytime we do the show in front of a live audience, that changes the nature of the show in a good way. Doing our show outdoors at the High Line will bring in a whole new energy that will definitely add to our conversation.


SUPPORT

Culture Shock is generously supported by The India Center Foundation and by Goldman Sachs Gives, at the request of R. Martin Chavez.

Public programs on the High Line are supported, in part, with public funds from the New York City Council, under the leadership of Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito.

High Line Families is supported, in part, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council.

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