Here at The New Sincerest, I’m very excited to announce a new regular series. You’re now listening to Ecopunk, a music and talk show program aiming to highlight the intersection between the arts and environmental perspectives. Ecopunk will air on Thursdays from 12pm-1pm on KHOI Story City/Ames, except for the last Thursday of each month, and will be archived here on this Substack.
I’m your host, Connor Ferguson. I am a creative writer based out of Ames. My work largely considers the intersection of urban environments, natural environments, and human environments in relation to queerness, cultural criticism, and mysticism.
For this week’s episode of Ecopunk, I’m excited to introduce Seemi Choudry, a peer of mine in MFA in Creative Writing and Environment program at Iowa State University. Seemi Choudry is a Pakistani-Venezuelan American Muslim writer whose work explores themes of migration, identity, and community. For over a decade, she has worked alongside fearless leaders across the country to ease the burden of resettlement for immigrants and refugees. As an immigrant and first-generation South Asian Latina, she intimately understands the complexities of navigating spaces not built with people of color in mind. Her writing seeks to amplify the authentic stories of marginalized voices, driven by the belief that literature is a tool for liberation. Through her work, she hopes to challenge narratives, foster understanding, and create space for untold stories to have a platform.
In this episode, Seemi Choudry reads two excerpts from her autobiographical novel Akeela is Trying, discusses the importance of self-identity reflected in media and culture, considers how ancestry and family is part of the creative environment, and much more!
Song Selections:
“Move on Up” - Curtis Mayfield
“Just the Way You Are” - Bruno Mars
“Kick, Push” - Lupe Fiasco
“I Like It” - Cardi B, Bad Bunny, J Balvin
“Lo Que Construimos” - Natalia Lafourcade
“Yeh Dosti Hum Nahin” - Kishore Kumar
I’m Different” - 2 Chainz
“Golden” - Jill Scott
“Jai Ho” - A.R. Rahman
“Safe and Sound” - Capital Cities
“Ay Vamos” - J Balvin
“Soy Yo” - Bomba Estéreo
“De Donde Vengo Yo” - ChocQuibTown
“Pineapple Skies” - Miguel
“See You Again” - Tyler, the Creator (feat. Kali Uchis)
About Ecopunk
The title of the program comes from its definition as a literary genre: Ecopunk is a subgenre combining science fiction with themes of sustainability, conservation, and reparation; it explores how humans can symbiotically and respectfully interact with the environment and adapt to climate change. Ecopunk is also a design aesthetic that embraces a positive outlook on the future. While the definition does relate it to fiction as a genre, I think it’s a philosophical concept that can be applied to any creative work, since it champions the imagination of a better world in our current climate crisis.
Each week on Ecopunk, I will invite a locally based creative to come onto the show to discuss their craft, how philosophical perspectives on the environmental imagination informs their work, and how the arts can connect and collect our community. After our conversation, the guest will curate a selection of music that is conversation with their craft.
Ecopunk is produced in collaboration with KHOI’s partnership with the BeWild/ReWild program, a loosely-knit group of volunteers with a passion for wildness, reconnecting with the natural world, and curiosity about what lifestyle changes are necessary for us to live within the bounds of sustainability. Here at Ecopunk, we invite you to imagine a better, more sustainable world through the arts.
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