If you hadn’t heard about it, there is a great podcast from Gimlet Media, a Bronx-based production company recently acquired by Spotify for its great content and potential. Gimlet media produces both fictional stories such as The Horror of Dolores Roach and Homecoming (recently released as an Amazon Prime original starring Julia Roberts), and non-fictional ones such as Crime Town and The Clearing among many others. Among all of these excellent shows, Conviction is not the least interesting and well-produced.
Conviction is a true story that follows the life of Manny Gomez, a previous police officer turned into private investigator who tries to help Pedro Hernandez, a teenager awaiting for trial in Rikers Island and whose mother reports has been harassed by the police several times. This first season aired for the first time on February, 2019 and a second season might be coming up soon. I definitely recommend this podcast if you are interested in urban soundscapes and urban narratives related to social justice.
You can subscribe for free to Conviction on Spotify, Himalaya, or wherever you listen to podcasts. While you are there, remember to check out our own podcast: UCS Podcasts – urbanculturalstudies, by Professor Benjamin Fraser from the University of Arizona.
Resources
- If you want to learn more about the podcast, here is an excellent article by the LA Times.
- The Rolling Stone magazine also published an article on Conviction, which you can find here.
- If you want to know more about this real-life story, the NY Times article on Many Gomez here.
- If you want to learn more about Gimlet Media, you can find all their shows on their website here, and a YouTube interview with one of its co-founders, Alex Blumberg, here.
urbanculturalstudies 