Alek and Doug welcome poet, community activist, voice actor, author, and Watershed Voice columnist and board member Aundrea Sayrie. The long awaited interview with one of Watershed’s founding members doesn’t disappoint as Aundrea talks the origin story of Three Rivers Open Mic, her Black History Month series on WSV and why she decided to change the format this year, her ongoing health concerns and how they have changed her outlook on life, and an upcoming book she’s written about professional voice acting.

Watershed Voice columnist Aundrea Sayrie writes, “Although there has been much recognition of the historical trauma experienced by people of color in this country, there has never been a time that these racist institutions have been tossed out and rebuilt. They have only been reimagined and enforced in ways that continue to oppress people of color. Racial inequalities exist in financial, educational, judicial, medical and social constructs.”

The United States Supreme Court recently heard arguments in the case of a 27-year-old Sturgis man who is seeking the right to sue Sturgis Public Schools for financial damages under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). On Wednesday, January 18, Supreme Court justices listened to oral arguments and appeared sympathetic toward Miguel Luna Perez, a deaf man who claims the school district provided him an inadequate education by failing to assign him a qualified sign-language interpreter.