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Shaina Shealy

Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, Shaina Shealy has produced radio, text and photography stories addressing identity and conflict from Gaza City to Oakland.

Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, Shaina Shealy is a producer and journalist whose work focuses on religion, identity and women's health and safety. She currently produces radio stories at WNYC's Snap Judgment in Oakland, California.

Portrait of a Myanmar poet wearing a blue shirt.

A spoken word poet in Myanmar speaks out against hate and injustice

Arts, Culture & Media

Than Toe Aung faced years of discrimination and harassment as a Muslim in Myanmar. When he discovered the power of slam poetry, he decided to use it as a tool to speak out, unite and fight for justice.

Illustration of young woman sitting in car, arms folded in despondent pose, while older man is driving, with prayer beads hanging from rearview mirror and Buddha figurine on dash

How to deal when politics divide your family

Culture
Thet Thet Wai

This woman bodybuilder in Myanmar is using Facebook to advocate for harsher penalties for rape

Teklit Michael dreamed of running in the London Olympics. But his country, Eritrea, jailed him. So he fled to Israel.

A life of statelessness derailed this Eritrean runner’s hopes to compete in the Olympics

Conflict
After her third daughter was born, Faten decided to make sure that her fourth child would be a boy. She says she has a career and a family to take care of. She can't keep getting pregnant over and over again.

An Israeli woman traveled to the West Bank so she could be sure she’d have a boy

Medicine
Muna Assaf has been asking her reporters to talk with people on the street about catcalling. She men do it because they think they have the authority to do it.

A Palestinian radio station in the West Bank tackles catcalling, divorce and sex

Lifestyle

Muna Assaf used to work in public health. But when she went into Besan 101.9 to pitch a radio show, the owner made her station manager.

Kids at camp Anytown Alabama do an exercise on what it might mean to be undocumented, including the difficulty getting health coverage.

Learning what it’s like to be undocumented at an Alabama summer camp

Education

When I went to camp Anytown Alabama, the focus was on interracial dialogue. Now immigration is part of the camp curriculum.

In Buddhist Myanmar, there's a view that abortion is wrong because "human life happens only in a blue moon, so we shouldn't waste a life like this."

Providing safe illegal abortions in Myanmar is a ‘karmic balance,’ says one doctor

Health

Abortion is illegal in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar, but many women still seek access. Illegal abortions are a leading cause of maternal death there.

Hadassah Mount Scopus used to be a model of co-existence for Jews and Palestinians. But increasingly Jewish and Palestinian women say they're afraid to give birth there.

Mothers fear having babies at hospital once hailed for promoting Israeli, Palestinian coexistence

Conflict

Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem was once nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. But since October, Jewish and Palestinian women are both avoiding its shared maternity ward.

Linguists Arik Sadan (in his Israeli Army days) and Sobhi Bahloul. Sadan is an authority on the Arabic language. Bahloul authored the Hebrew curriculum for Gaza's Palestinians.

A tale of two linguists and the conflict that separates them

Culture

Israeli linguist Arik Sadan is an authority on the Arabic language. Palestinian Sobhi Bahloul is Gaza’s best-known Hebrew teacher. They share a love for the other’s native tongue. But these two linguists have never met.