Many wonderful people helped make and inform the Call Declined podcast. In this special bonus episode, we hear from three people who are very important in the stories of Aimee’s and Kamisha’s lives–their parents. Through our conversations across generations we hear echoes of trauma, abuse, and incarceration. And we see a system that too often declines calls for help. But we also find hope for a world where those calls are answered.   Additional Resources: Kamisha Thomas’s Portfolio:...

Starting a non-profit is a challenging and confusing process that also, sometimes, includes joyful shenanigans. In this episode, we get a behind-the-scenes look at how Aimee and Kamisha approached building The Returning Artists Guild. We learn how they met and formed a relationship with Melissa and we hear from a variety of philanthropic funders about why the arts are important to ending mass incarceration. Kamisha and Aimee speak candidly about their vision for the future and what it will...

Leaving prison can be overwhelming. The need to navigate societal and technological changes, rebuild relationships, find employment, and find housing can be disorienting and alienating. And the stigma we place on those who have been incarcerated is significant both in human interaction and in policies that make it hard to secure employment, housing, and reconnect with one’s community.   In this episode, we learn what the process of reentry was like for Aimee and Kamisha. And we learn how...

Why is it important to learn about prison from people who have been directly impacted? Well, in this episode, Aimee and Kamisha share their own stories about incarceration – and what they tell us reveals a lot about community services, mental health and substance use treatment, intergenerational family trauma, and mass incarceration in our country.    Aimee and Kamisha also explain how they got started making art in prison and talk about the people and opportunities that inspired them to...

Kamisha Thomas and Aimee Wissman are extraordinary–they are brilliant artists and the founders of The Returning Artists Guild, a non-profit organization that supports artists that have been in prison and some who are still inside. But they have had long and difficult journeys to get to this point.    In this first episode of our four-part series, Aimee and Kamisha share their personal stories. From where they grew up and the art they loved as kids to the ways that poverty, abuse, racism,...

Call Declined follows the story of two talented artists, Kamisha Thomas and Aimee Wissman, whose lives became intertwined in prison after the systems in place to ensure their well-being failed them. This story of fortitude, friendship, and the power of creativity takes listeners along on the pathways that led Kamisha and Aimee to prison, how they survived incarceration, and the journey to freedom that led to the creation of The Returning Artists Guild. Call Declined is hosted by Melissa Beck...

We’re dropping in your feed today to let you know about a gripping new series from Lemonada Media, BLIND PLEA. In 2017, Deven Grey, a young mother, shot and killed her abusive partner in a remote trailer in rural Shelby County, Alabama. She claimed self-defense and filed a Stand Your Ground claim. Instead of freedom, she was handed a “blind plea” – an option to take an unknown sentence in exchange for pleading guilty. As a Black woman who shot and killed a white man in Alabama, she did the...

Hey listeners! We’re dropping in your feed today to give you the first full episode of Lemonada Media’s brand-new show, Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus.   On the premiere episode of Wiser Than Me, Julia sits down with the one and only Jane Fonda. With a career spanning over six decades, Jane – now 85 years old – hits all the highlights: staying fit at any age, fantasizing about funerals, getting heckled on set by Katharine Hepburn…and something about a fake thumb.   The first two...

We’re dropping in your feed today to let you know that Last Day is back! But we’re doing things a little differently this time around, and we want to give you a sneak peek of what’s to come. Last Day is and has always been a show about the moments that change us, fundamentally and forever. So, each week, we’ll be bringing you a new story about someone’s “last day” — who they were before, and how they’ve found a way to exist in the after. We’ll laugh. We’ll cry. We’ll share real conversations...

We’re dropping in your feed today to let you know about a new Lemonada Media series, DISCARDED. DISCARDED tells the story of a modern-day Erin Brockovich, set on the Mississippi River in an area known as “Cancer Alley.” Her name is Sharon Lavigne, her community is St. James Parish in Louisiana, and her fight is to keep out one of the largest plastic manufacturing companies in the world. In this investigative four-part series, hosted by Emmy award-winning journalist Gloria Riviera, we unwrap...

The producers of this series wanted to share Lemonada Media’s new release with you. It’s called Uncared For. You’re more likely to die as a pregnant person in the United States than any other wealthy nation in the world. Why? This six-part series, hosted by award-winning journalist SuChin Pak (Add to Cart, MTV News), takes a deeply personal and wide-ranging look at maternal health care around the globe to find the answer. We start in the United States then travel to Germany, the Netherlands,...

The producers of this series would like to share with you another series they know you’ll love. BEING is reality TV for your ears, an innovative new audio format like no other podcast you've ever heard. This season, it’s BEING Golden -- a look inside the lives of four 60+ seniors living in LA. Meet Buzz, a 71-year-old former sales and marketing executive who drastically uprooted his life by moving out west to Los Angeles to pursue a lifelong dream of becoming an actor -- even if it means...

The producers of this series wanted to give you a listen to the latest season of The Untold Story. This season, they’re taking a look at a number of criminal justice failures happening right before our eyes. In the first episode, they go deep inside Rikers, a pretrial detention center. While people await their day in court, the conditions at the island are simply inhumane due to violence, overcrowding and inadequate medical care. Rikers is scheduled to close in 2027, but at the rate we're...

The producers of this series wanted to share another Lemonada Media podcast with you. Every day, the world seems on the brink of crisis. Join Andy Slavitt and experts, policymakers, journalists and thought leaders to stay informed, safe and … entertained. As a White House advisor, author, crisis response leader, non-partisan counselor to policymakers here and abroad, Andy has been called the ultimate outsider’s insider for a reason. In the Bubble with Andy Slavitt has new episodes every...

The producers of this series wanted to introduce you to another Lemonada listen, Funny Cuz It’s True with Elyse Myers. Each week on Funny Cuz It’s True, Elyse will be sitting down with her favorite creators, friends and comedians to find the stories that have stuck with them and changed their lives in small ways, and the not-so-funny moments that have become funny over time. She wants to know how they handled these situations and learned to laugh about them years later. How do they do it?...

The Letter is a new original true crime podcast hosted by award-winning journalist Amy Donaldson. This 8-part narrative series tells the story of the brutal murder of Zachary Snarr, which took place in Salt Lake City, UT, on August 28, 1996. The Letter weaves a story of forgiveness, guilt, and what happens after the headlines die down and the real story begins. On Zach Snarr’s last day alive, he got up early to help his father at work, he cleaned the kitchen for his mother and he made his...

Stigma is one of 988’s biggest hurdles. The other is widespread fear of first responders that has increased with every report of another police killing. The latter has led to pervasive misinformation online about how 988 works. But even if we set the record straight, how can we get to a place of public buy-in? It’s one thing to implement a new system for crisis response; it’s another to completely shift culture. How does 988 earn the trust of the people it’s trying to help? In this episode,...

Last week, we saw what happens when a mental health emergency falls into the wrong hands. So what happens when a comprehensive system, run by well-trained mental health staff, is in place? Today, Stephanie visits a state that exemplifies the gold standard of crisis response: Arizona. Yes, really. While Arizona is typically known for messy politics and scandalous policing, they have been quietly building a best-in-class mental-health response plan since the 1980s. With the roll out of 988,...

In 2019, Taun Hall’s 18 year-old son, Miles, was in the midst of a mental health crisis in their affluent, suburban community of Walnut Creek, California. The police responded, and within 30 seconds, Miles was shot and killed. What would have happened if Taun called 988 instead of 911? Would Miles still be alive? With insight from Taun Hall, Tom Insel, Dr. Altha Stewart, and Asantewaa Boykin, Stephanie explores how we got stuck with such a fractured system in the first place, the human toll,...

For far too long, the United States has put mental healthcare on the back burner. Through enormous advocacy and the initiation and rollout of the 988 hotline, a theoretical lifeline is now at the fingertips of every American. But in a country with a deep history of criminalizing mental health, will 988 live up to its potential? Today, Stephanie explores how 988 came to be, along with all the promise and peril it carries. Weekly special correspondent Zak Williams shares his personal mental...

988 is being promoted as a 24/7 national hotline to handle mental health emergencies. In theory, it could reimagine crisis response in America, minimizing police contact and connecting callers to mental health, substance use, and suicidal crises services. In reality, most states aren't ready for 988. On top of that, decades of criminalizing mental illness have caused widespread wariness of trusting the hotline. Call For Help uncovers what crisis response looks like in America, and what it...