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Seg. 1: 30 Americans | Seg. 2: Graffiti Festival | Seg. 3: Lullabies

Segment 1: Telling the American story through art by acclaimed African-American artists. 

There's no hyphen in 30 Americans, an art exhibition featuring masterworks by four decades of African-American artists. That's by design. Hear how Kansas Citians have made this traveling show their own, and why the curator who brought it to the Nelson-Atkins says it's "a long time coming."

Segment 2, begins at 15:12: Graffiti art now has its own festival.

The third annual KC Masterpiece graffiti and public art festival sets the scene for this conversation about the changing culture around graffiti in Kansas City and beyond.

  • Jesse "Chuey" Hernandez, graffiti artist and KC Masterpiece event organizer

Segment 3, begins at 31:18: How fatherhood changed a Kansas City musician, as revealed through an album of lullabies.

Simon Fink is out with a new lullaby album and accompanying songbook chronicling his early years as a father. Turning sleep deprivation into art brought him closer to his kids as well as his grandfather, a lawyer by trade who wrote lullabies for his own family.

People don't make cameos in news stories; the human story is the story, with characters affected by news events, not defined by them. As a columnist and podcaster, I want to acknowledge what it feels like to live through this time in Kansas City, one vantage point at a time. Together, these weekly vignettes form a collage of daily life in Kansas City as it changes in some ways, and stubbornly resists change in others. You can follow me on Twitter @GinaKCUR or email me at gina@kcur.org.