Why Vulnerability Makes Better Art & The Thing About Falling - Tank Ball

In this powerful conversation, Ocean Vuong and E.M. Tran examine the people capitalism often pushes to the margins—immigrants, refugees, low-wage workers, caregivers, addicts, and elders whose lives rarely fit America’s preferred success story. Through The Emperor of Gladness, Vuong rejects the idea that dignity must come from wealth, upward mobility, or escaping poverty, arguing instead that lives built around work, survival, friendship, and care are worthy on their own terms. He challenges the mythology of the American Dream and asks us to look directly at the people whose labor keeps society moving, even when the systems around them barely see them. Order Ocean Vuong Books Here: https://bookshop.org/a/20190/9780593831892 Order Baldwin & Co. Merch Here: https://shop.baldwinandcobooks.com Learn more about Baldwin & Co. Foundation: https://bcofoundation.org This episode is part of the ongoing conversations hosted by Baldwin & Co., a Black-owned bookstore, café, and cultural institution based in New Orleans. Baldwin & Co. exists at the intersection of literature, ideas, and community—creating space for rigorous dialogue, storytelling, and intellectual exchange.

What really happened after Colin Kaepernick took a knee—and how much did the NFL, the media, and even other players work to contain the fallout? In this explosive conversation, Ryan Clark, Colin Kaepernick, and Eric Reid pull back the curtain on the fear, money, pressure, blackballing, media manipulation, and internal resistance surrounding one of the most controversial protests in sports history. Kaepernick and Reid reveal how many players privately wanted to support the movement but were unwilling to risk their careers, while openly discussing the enormous personal and financial price they paid for refusing to stay silent. Nothing is off limits. They discuss NFL owners, powerful incentives, the hijacking of the protest’s message, the players who backed away, the people who worked against them, and why Kaepernick still says he would do it all again. More than a conversation about football, this is a revealing look at what happens when athletes challenge the people who control the money, the platform, and the narrative—and what it really costs to speak when silence would be far more profitable. This episode is part of the ongoing conversations hosted by Baldwin & Co., a Black-owned bookstore, café, and cultural institution based in New Orleans. Baldwin & Co. exists at the intersection of literature, ideas, and community—creating space for rigorous dialogue, storytelling, and intellectual exchange.

Nicki Minaj’s political evolution has sparked a much bigger conversation about fame, power, loyalty, and Black cultural responsibility. Marcus Anthony Hunter and David Johns go beyond the headlines to ask a harder question: what happens when a Black celebrity’s politics begin to clash with the community that helped make them powerful? This is not just a conversation about Nicki Minaj or MAGA—it’s about influence, identity, accountability, and who gets to shape the culture in this moment. This episode is part of the ongoing conversations hosted by Baldwin & Co., a Black-owned bookstore, café, and cultural institution based in New Orleans. Baldwin & Co. exists at the intersection of literature, ideas, and community—creating space for rigorous dialogue, storytelling, and intellectual exchange.

The Trump administration just overhauled roughly $4 billion in homelessness funding, shifting emphasis away from permanent housing. Trump-backed changes to SNAP have coincided with about 4 million fewer Americans receiving food assistance. From food to housing, Gary Hoover asks the uncomfortable question behind “America Is Killing Poor People”: when the safety net gets smaller for people already struggling to survive, is poverty really their failure—or ours? Economist Gary “Hoov” Hoover, Executive Director of the Murphy Institute and professor of economics and law, argues that America doesn’t simply fail poor people—it often builds systems that keep them poor and then blames them for it. His warning lands at a critical moment: #GaryHoover #AmericaIsKillingPoorPeople #PovertyInAmerica #AmericanDream #EconomicInequality #IncomeInequality #SNAP #FoodStamps #HomelessnessCrisis #HousingCrisis #TrumpAdministration #TrumpPolicies #SafetyNet #WorkingPoor #PovertyTrap #EconomicMobility #WealthGap #BlackEconomics #PublicPolicy #SystemicInequality #TulaneUniversity #MurphyInstitute #BaldwinAndCo #NewOrleans #SocialJustice Order Gary Hoover Books Here: https://bookshop.org/a/20190/9780520402621 Order Baldwin & Co. Merch Here: https://shop.baldwinandcobooks.com Learn more about Baldwin & Co. Foundation: https://bcofoundation.org This episode is part of the ongoing conversations hosted by Baldwin & Co., a Black-owned bookstore, café, and cultural institution based in New Orleans. Baldwin & Co. exists at the intersection of literature, ideas, and community—creating space for rigorous dialogue, storytelling, and intellectual exchange.

Former U.S. Senator Carol Moseley Braun, the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Senate, offers a striking perspective on Kamala Harris and what her presidential defeat says about women and power in America. Braun argues that Harris was extraordinarily qualified, understood the issues, and “did everything right”—and rejects the idea that the loss should simply be placed at Harris’s feet. Drawing from her own experience breaking political barriers, Braun connects Harris’s treatment to deeply rooted attitudes about whether women are capable of holding ultimate authority, including serving as commander in chief. Yet she remains hopeful that those attitudes are changing as a new generation of girls grows up believing there are no positions beyond their reach. This episode is part of the ongoing conversations hosted by Baldwin & Co., a Black-owned bookstore, café, and cultural institution based in New Orleans. Baldwin & Co. exists at the intersection of literature, ideas, and community—creating space for rigorous dialogue, storytelling, and intellectual exchange.