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It’s officially the holiday season. Lezli is joined by Detroit-based Iconoclast Dinner Culinary Honoree and owner of Flowers of Vietnam, George Azar. He shares a brief update on the most recent shutdown in Michigan and how he’s impacted as a restaurant owner. They also explore what it was like growing up as a Palestinian Christian in Southwest Detroit, George’s feelings on how being an Arab Christian impacted how the Arab-American community received him, and how his family celebrated as well as what was on the table during the two most important holidays in his home; Easter and Christmas.

Relevant and Recommended Reads:

• Christmas in the Palestinian Territories on whychristmas?com

• Millions of tourists visit Bethlehem every Christmas. But Palestinians who live there are struggling to survive.

• Religions – Christianity: Eastern Orthodox Church

Podcast Team = Lezli Levene Harvell (Host & Executive Producer) / Rez Nemorin (Producer) / Justin Bates (Sound Engineer)

Lezli and her ON THE YARD co-host Nava; Spelman College ‘23 continue the conversation around the historic Biden/Harris win “On The Yard” with Taylor Davis, Howard University ‘21, The 82nd Miss Howard University and a member of the Alpha Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. as well as Nia Page,Spelman College ‘20, Immediate Past Spelman College SGA President and National African-American Engagement and Program Coordinator for The Biden Campaign. They explore why they think there was higher civic engagement among their peers this election season, their thoughts on their peers that did not exercise their right to vote, and how the Biden/Harris win hopefully increases the cultural competence and interest around HBCUs and BGLOs. Nia also shares specifically how HBCUs and BGLOs were meaningfully engaged by the Biden campaign.

Relevant and Recommended Reads:

• Kamala Harris, supported by a sea of sisters

• An HBCU grad galvanized voters in Georgia and another one is making history as vice president-elect

Podcast Team = Lezli Levene Harvell (Host & Executive Producer) / Nava Levene Harvell (Co-Host) / Justin Bates (Sound Engineer)

Kamala Harris the first woman to hold the second-highest office in the land is an HBCU alumna and member of a BGLO. These groups were integral to the win. Stacey Abrams, another HBCU alumna who helped turn Georgia from red to blue. Lezli explores if this means aspects of African-American culture will move from the margins to the mainstream with Howard Alumna, Dr. Nadia E. Brown associate professor and University Faculty Scholar of political science + African American studies at Purdue University.

Relevant and Recommended Reads:

• Kamala Harris, supported by a sea of sisters

• An HBCU grad galvanized voters in Georgia and another one is making history as vice president-elect

Podcast Team = Lezli Levene Harvell (Host & Executive Producer) / Justin Bates (Sound Engineer)

Lezli and her ON THE YARD co-host Nava; Spelman College ‘23, chat with Tennille Mack; Spelman College ‘21, Assistant Editor of Arts & Entertainment for The Maroon Tiger and Shasa Revell; Howard University ‘21, reporter for The Howard Hilltop. They discuss what they’re watching and why, who’s winning the streaming war, fundamentals of what’s missing in content, and how they think Quibi missed the mark.

Relevant and Recommended Reads

• Quibi says it’s shutting down after six months

• ‘A Different World’ still inspiring my generation of Black college students

• ‘Living Single’ and the Whiteness of Urban TV Sitcoms

• An Homage to Iconic ’90s Black Sitcom Fashion and Influence

Podcast Team = Lezli Levene Harvell (Host & Executive Producer) /Zuri Levene Harvell (Co-Host) / Justin Bates (Sound Engineer)

Lezli closes out this theme with Tina Ngata, a Ngati Porou author and researcher from the East Coast of Aotearoa/New Zealand. Her work involves advocacy for environmental, Indigenous and human rights. They explore who the god Tiki is, and why he is so sacred to the Māori, WWII, R&R culture, and Elvis movies.

Relevant and Recommended Reads:

• 10 Things to Know about New Zealand Māori Culture Before Studying Abroad

• Pictures of WWII Comics

• Exhibition aims to dispel negative stereotypes of Māori women

Podcast Team = Lezli Levene Harvell (Host & Executive Producer) / Justin Bates (Sound Engineer)

The last of three volumes of “ON THE YARD” episodes inspired by the HOMECOMING HOLIDAY. Lezli and her ON THE YARD co-host Zuri; Spelman College ‘21, chat with Kennedie Batiste; The 90th Miss Southern University A&M College and Kaylan A. Tanner; The 85th Miss Dillard University about pageant culture at deep south HBCUs. They discuss the significance of campus royalty at HBCUs, their pathways to becoming queens, and the legacy that queens leave on their HBCUs.

Relevant and Recommended Reads

• Pageants a vital part of the culture at HBCUs

• Miss Hampton pageant is just one reason we have the #bestHBCUhomecoming

• Brown on Roberts, ‘Pageants, Parlors, and Pretty Women: Race and Beauty in the Twentieth-Century South’ | H-Florida

Podcast Team = Lezli Levene Harvell (Host & Executive Producer) /Zuri Levene Harvell (Co-Host) / Justin Bates (Sound Engineer)

Lezli continues this five-episode theme with Dr. Panivong Norindr, author of Phantasmatic Indochina French Colonial Ideology in Architecture, Film, and Literature, as well as Samia Errazzouki, Ph.D. candidate examining early modern Northwest African history, prior to which she was Morocco-based journalist. The three explore how French Imperialism bound their countries’ histories and people to each other, the 1992 Academy Award-winning film Indochine serving as a “French Gone With The Wind”, The Myth of Tangier, snake charmers, and static fictional narratives that preserve a colonialist fantasy of these regions that have endured in tourism, novels, films, and culinary culture.

Relevant and Recommended Reads:

• Morocco, From Coast to Desert

• Does a restaurant celebrating French colonialism belong in San Francisco?

• France is giving citizenship to the African soldiers who fought its wars over 50 years ago

• Indochine Style – Luxury Vietnam Tours

Podcast Team = Lezli Levene Harvell (Host & Executive Producer) / Rez Nemorin (Producer) / Justin Bates (Sound Engineer)

The second of three volumes of “ON THE YARD” episodes inspired by the HOMECOMING HOLIDAY. Lezli and her ON THE YARD co-host Nava Levene Harvell; Spelman College ‘23, chat about the shifting of power in college athletics with Sports Editor of The Howard University Hilltop, Kira Grant; Howard University ‘21, and Sports Photojournalist for The Hampton Script, Trey Wilson, Hampton University ‘22. The four explore the civic engagement of Makur Maker, Mikey Williams and how the new generation of 15 and 16 yr-old athletes can impact the future of HBCUs and the Black community at large.

Lezli continues this five-episode theme on historical nostalgia and romanticizing colonialism with Prof. Anthony Szczesiul, author of The Southern Hospitality Myth: Ethics, Politics, Race, and American Memory. Why did Southern Living magazine make its debut at the height of the Civil Rights Movement? What does “southern hospitality” mean? Benevolence, graciousness, refinement? Mmm, it’s complicated. They explore the racist origins of the phrase, the historical context of its emergence, and why this “regional virtue” has become part of the United States’ cultural memory and identity.

Relevant and Recommended Reads:

• The Dark Side of Thomas Jefferson | History

• Civil War-Era Parallels to the Sanctuary City Movement

• These Brands Are Still Tapping Into Nostalgia for Slavery

• Why Black Americans Are Not Nostalgic for Route 66

Podcast Team = Lezli Levene Harvell (Host & Executive Producer) / Justin Bates (Sound Engineer)

The first of three volumes of “ON THE YARD” episodes inspired by the HOMECOMING HOLIDAY. Lezli and her ON THE YARD co-host Zuri Levene Harvell; Spelman College ‘21, chat cultural memory in the African-American community with Leila Sampson; Spelman College ‘21, whose family has been attending Spelman and Morehouse since the 1890s and Jada Thorne, Spelman College ‘21, who is a third-generation Oak Bluffs Family, a legacy started by her grandfather who was one of the Tuskegee Airmen. The four explore the traditions they hope remain for forthcoming generations, how Spelman and summering on Martha’s Vineyard empowered them respectively, and why they feel they must continue this legacy.

Relevant and Recommended Reads

• Memories of Homecoming at Historically Black Colleges and Universities

• Education Steeped in African American Culture: Historically Black Colleges and Universities

• The Real Story of Black Martha’s Vineyard

• The Green Book: The Black Travelers’ Guide to Jim Crow America

Podcast Team = Lezli Levene Harvell (Host & Executive Producer) /Zuri Levene Harvell (Co-Host) / Justin Bates (Sound Engineer)