Feet In 2 Worlds

In 1938, San Antonio was the center of the pecan shelling industry and one man, known as the Pecan King, controlled 50% of pecan production. The shellers were mostly Hispanic women and children. When the Pecan King slashed their pay, they took to the streets to strike against the injustice. Producer Avery Thompson takes us to San Antonio, Texas to tell the story of the 1938 Pecan Shellers’ Strike.

Feet in 2 Worlds is back with our newest podcast series, The Hustle. On The Hustle, we share stories about the ways immigrants navigate a changing economy — today and throughout history. The series premieres on April 22, 2025.

Come November, an estimated 36 million Latinos will be eligible to vote in the U.S. presidential election. Across the nation, there are Spanish language radio stations invested in them as an audience — and content on those stations is targeting listeners with disinformation about the candidates, the parties and political issues. In this special episode of WNYC's Notes from America, host Kai Wright sits down with journalist Paulina Velasco from Feet in 2 Worlds to discuss “Frequency of Deception,” an investigation into the lies, rumors and propaganda that have been peppering Spanish language broadcasts in recent years. Velasco’s reporting includes egregious examples of attempts to manipulate listeners, ideas about who and what is behind these nefarious efforts, and a look at the ongoing push to combat the spread of misinformation and disinformation among vulnerable communities. This radio piece was produced as part of Frequency of Deception / Radiofrecuencia de engaños in collaboration with WNYC’s Notes from America. Frequency of Deception / Radiofrecuencia de engaños is an in-depth investigative series into misinformation and disinformation on Spanish-language radio in the United States. This series was produced by Feet in 2 Worlds in partnership with WNYC’s Notes from America, palabra and Puente News Collaborative.

Today’s episode comes from Living Planet, a podcast bringing you the stories, facts, and debates on the key environmental issues of our time. The story they shared with us is “Deep dive: The hidden toll of roadkill”—a phenomenon so great it’s throwing ecosystems out of balance and even threatening to wipe out whole species. In this episode, the Living Planet team investigates the best ideas out there for how we can make roads safer for wildlife, and even how to cook up roadkill, should you be tempted. You can learn more about Living Planet at: https://www.dw.com/en/living-planet/program-19028671 And listen to our season of Home, Interrupted from Feet in 2 Worlds at: https://www.fi2w.org/home-interrupted/

Your zip code can tell a lot about your health. Studies show that historically redlined neighborhoods can overlap with areas that flood the most, have the worst air quality, and experience the warmest temperatures. Our story takes us to California’s San Fernando Valley and to Newark, NJ, where immigrant families live in or near zones that have been redlined and experience health issues due to extreme heat and pollution.

Across New York City, workers are tearing out concrete and asphalt from schoolyards and replacing them with rain-absorbing surfaces that are more climate resilient. The redesigning of playgrounds in immigrant neighborhoods offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rethink how kids in the city relate to the outdoors. Producer Aria Young, an immigrant journalist from China, explores the recent transformation of New York City playgrounds in response to the climate crisis and what it means for children’s play.

In July of 2023, Efraín López García died picking fruit on a farm in Homestead, Florida. According to his family, extreme heat caused his death. At the same time, the Florida legislature was considering a bill banning local governments from enacting safety regulations to protect farmworkers. About 75 percent of farmworkers in the United States are immigrants. Allison Salerno reports on community organizations and scientists who are working to protect farmworkers from extreme heat in the absence of government protections.