Human Powered

What is it about reading and talking about a text like Plato's Allegory of the Cave that changes a person? “There's something magical about the humanities that allows adults, especially, to stop, reflect, think, and...

“History is an argument we have about the past and what it means for us in the present,” says Sergio González. He is an assistant professor of Latinx Studies at Marquette University and was the founding editor of...

Garrett Bucks is a writer and community organizer based in Milwaukee. In 2016, he launched the Barnraisers Project, which he calls a movement of neighbors, everywhere. It includes trainings described as "an outstretched...

Dylan Bizhikiins Jennings has dedicated his life to educating others about Native people. Through his work in language preservation, in making and performing music, and in natural resource management, Jennings connects...

Yia Lor is a storyteller, social worker, educator, Reiki master, and yoga teacher who believes that “we are all nature.” Nature is not someplace we go to but instead nature is what we are made of and how we heal. In...

In this episode of Human Powered, co-hosts Jessica Becker and Jen Rubin talk with longtime collaborator and award-winning Wisconsin Life producer, Maureen McCollum. They get to the heart of what makes WPR's Wisconsin...

We are kicking off 2026 with a special conversation with our neighbor in Illinois, Jane Beachy. Co-hosts Jen Rubin and Jessica Becker talk with Beachy about a program called Envisioning Justice from Illinois Humanities...

This season of Human Powered podcast launched in June of 2025 with a conversation with the Executive Director of Wisconsin Humanities, Dena Wortzel, just after the nonprofit reduced staff and paused programming due to...

Jay Salinas moved to a farm in the Driftless Region of southwest Wisconsin with his partner, fellow artist Donna Neuwirth, and learned to grow vegetables. Before long, they started inviting friends from Chicago to come...

We hear a lot about the ways nonprofits are preparing to cope with both new and perpetual challenges under the current Trump administration. Mary Beth Collins is the director of the Center for Community and Nonprofit...

Recent years have seen a startling rise in hate crimes and hate-motivated violence across the country. Wisconsin, too, has felt this pain. In this episode, special guest Benny Witkovsky talks about his work as a public...

In this episode, special guest Danielle Hairston Green breaks down the basics of how university extension programs combine advocacy, research, and academia in response to real community needs. Hairston Green directs the...

When Ben Grignon walks into a classroom on the first day of school, he starts with a good story. He is a Traditional Menominee Arts instructor at the Menominee Nation High School and has received numerous awards for his...

Food traditions are core to who we are and how we build community. In this episode, cohosts Jessica Becker and Jen Rubin talk with Qwantese Winters, the founder of A Bowl of Soul. Winter’s has been dubbed the Food Doula...

It is August of 2025 and record rainfall has caused catastrophic flash flooding in Milwaukee. Hosts Jessica Becker and Jen Rubin sit down with Milwaukee journalist and former Human Powered host Jimmy Gutierrez to talk...