A Public Affair: Recent Episodes
Patty Peltekos, Carousel Bayrd, Ali Muldrow, Allen Ruff, & Esty Dinur
The early education program, Head Start, serves roughly 12,000 children in Wisconsin and about 800 in Dane County. On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes speaks with Jennifer Bailey, executive director of Reach Dane and president of the Wisconsin Head Start Association, about proposed federal cuts to and looming deregulation of this program.
Head Start is a comprehensive early childhood program that serves pregnant people and kids ages 0-5 years. It’s unique because of its wraparound services, from mental and physical health to family services. Bailey says that when parents are doing well, kids will do well. So they support parents to reach their goals, like getting a GED, finding stable housing, or going back to school.
Head Start is a federal-to-local program that also serves the most vulnerable families, those at 100% of the poverty level. Bailey says that she’s seen a rise of unhoused families in Madison and the kids who make it into Head Start “are living in trauma.” Reach Dane serves more unhoused children than any program in Wisconsin.
The Head Start program has faced other proposed cuts and challenges during the second Trump administration. About half of the regional offices have been closed, including one that served Wisconsin. And the recent proposed changes to the program would compromise the standards that have been put in place by many providers. New provisions would raise child-staff ratios and mandate English-only instruction, even though low child-staff ratios and multilingual education are supported by decades of research. They also discuss the broad-scale childcare crisis especially in rural areas, what Bailey envisions for a brighter future, and how people can leave comment on the proposed federal changes.
Jennifer Bailey is the executive director of Reach Dane in Madison which provides early childhood services to over 800 underserved children in Dane and Green Counties.
Featured image of children in a Head Start program via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).
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On today’s show we’re continuing our coverage of the police killing of Corey Ruiz. Producer Sara Gabler speaks with scholar and activist, Dr. Amadi Ozier. They talk about how the vigil at Baldwin and Willy Street served as a site of community and mutual aid, what leadership looks like in decentralized movements, how autonomous zones occupy space, and how people can get involved no matter their risk tolerance.
You can find Ozier’s writings about the Corey Ruiz vigil and other community-led movements at her Substack.
Amadi Ozier is an assistant professor of English at UW-Madison and a community builder with Madison Tenant Power in Madison, WI. She has previously worked with the Crown Heights Care Collective, which Ozier co-founded in 2022, and the Crown Heights Tenant Union in Brooklyn, NY. Their political priorities include housing and healthcare, including abortion access. Ozier’s scholarly research explores black identity, humor, and the black middle class.
Featured image from the vigil to Corey Ruiz, courtesy of Maria Segura/WORT.
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On the 81st anniversary of the US’s nuclear attack on Hiroshima, host Bert Zipperer is in conversation with Mari Faines of the Bulletin of The Atomic Scientists and Steve Leeper of Physicians for Social Responsibility.
They discuss all the human, ecological, and moral harms perpetuated by powers committed to a nuclear status quo. Faines writes, “There is no question the nuclear status quo upheld since 1945 is rooted in colonial systems of power and White supremacy that started centuries ago. But nuclear security scholarship that explicitly makes this connection and examines the harm resulting from this socio-political, cultural, economic, and ecological history is still incredibly limited.” Faines draws connections between militarism and justice movements and says that our current moment requires an intersectional approach to crises, local and existential.
Leeper advocates for a “peace culture” as opposed to the “war culture” he sees as driving nuclear proliferation and Trump’s MAGA movement. The path of peace, says Leeper, leads to universal health and well being, and that goes for all humanity and the non-human world. He will be speaking at a Lanterns for Peace event tonight, sponsored by Physicians for Social Responsibility.
They also discuss the doomsday clock that is currently set to 85 seconds until midnight, how there’s no such thing as a small nuclear weapon, nuclear power, and how to change the kitchen table conversation about nuclear weapons.
Mari Faines serves as a Board Fellow for the Bulletin of The Atomic Scientists. Just prior, Faines served as a strategic advisor and policy expert at the U.S. Department of State working on AUKUS, the trilateral security agreement between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Prior to joining the State Department, she spent five years in the United Kingdom completing graduate work in Peace and Security studies, while working as a project manager for an international solutions corporation. Upon returning to the United States, she continued working at the intersection of nuclear nonproliferation policy and social justice issues. Faines has written for a multitude of publications and was a former podcast host. She remains engaged in global policy issues by volunteering with various advocacy organizations and has been recognized for many of these contributions over the past decade. Faines holds a Master’s of Science (MSc) from SOAS University of London and a Bachelor’s from Colgate University.
Steve Leeper has spent about half of his 78 years in Japan. He began working as UN representative of Mayors for Peace in 2002. This led to his appointment in 2007 as chairman of the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation. He stepped down in 2013 to be a professor at Hiroshima Jogakuin University. He shifted from professor to visiting professor in 2015. He is co-founder of Peace Culture Village in Hiroshima and PEAC Institute in Montclair, NJ, Detroit, MI, and Atlanta, GA. He is a recipient of the Academia Prize from Kyoto University, the Tanimoto Peace Prize (Hiroshima’s highest peace award), and an honorary doctorate from Hiroshima Jogakuin University. His publications include Hiroshima Resolution (bilingual), Nihon ga Sekai wo Suku (Japanese), Hiroshima wo Tsutaetai America-jin (Japanese), and Kakuheiki Haizetsu e no Michi (Japanese).
Featured image of the aerial view of the flash of light from the Able Day explosion over Bikini Lagoon in 1946 via National Archives.
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Many in Madison woke up to the news today that Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway ordered the removal of the encampment at Baldwin and Willy Street. On today’s show, we hold space for the community to respond to this action as well as dispel misunderstandings about protests over the last week and a half. Host Dana Pellebon opens up the phone lines to hear from WORT listeners and then speaks with Myra McNair about how to heal in community.
Pellebon describes competing ways of looking at the situation, from those who view economic disruption as a movement tactic to those who view economic disruption as an attack. She clarifies several rumors, like one circulating that the city was financing the encampment, which it was not. Just like the Occupy movement changed the nation’s conversation about wealth, so too can other movements move the needle on justice. One thing people can do is ask, why aren’t there spaces for people to get the help they need?
Myra McNair discusses how people can maintain their mental and physical health after facing personal and communal trauma. She encourages people to find an activity that brings them peace, whether that’s being in nature or engaging in advocacy. In response to police violence, it’s hard for people to find healing because responsibility and accountability aren’t fully addressed by institutions and entities who cause harm. McNair says we need permanent monuments and memorials for Corey Ruiz and Tony Robinson. At the end of the day, McNair says “we heal in community.”
You can reach out to your elected officials with concerns here.
Myra Renee McNair is the founder, owner, and visionary behind Anesis Therapy and host of the podcast Making Progress.
Featured image of Willy Street from July 25, courtesy of Sara Gabler/WORT.
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On today’s show, guest host Patty Peltekos is in conversation with Andrew Flachs, author of the new book, Feeding the World as if People Mattered: How Small Farms Produce Value Beyond Yields. They discuss the importance of small-scale diversified farming and how to get to a world where small farms matter.
Globally, agriculture remains a sector where suicide is prevalent, says Flachs. That’s because farming isn’t just a profession; in many places around the world, including in Wisconsin, the family farm is a home, a place of generational ties. Flachs writes about India, where generations of farmers struggled for the right to land against legal codes that prevented them from owning their own.
In India, small family farms are threatened by the rise of genetically modified cotton seed, called Bt cotton. As the growth of this variety of cotton has spread and the imperative to increase production has ramped up, more and more small-scale farmers have stopped growing their own subsistence or trade gardens. The result has been a “cotton glut,” because overproduction has produced more cotton than can be spun into thread. Instead, Flachs advocates for diversified organic cotton farms.
Flachs also studies farming in Bosnia where he has seen people sustain their gardens, their farms, in the face of extreme violence. He says “if you want to know how to survive the end of the world, you have to talk to Bosnian grannies.” Food security is tied to biodiversity, and surviving isn’t just about botany, but about preserving lifeways. Flachs says that there’s a problem with a system that prioritizes an economic imperative to produce a single crop rather than to work to sustain and reproduce diverse lifeways.
Andrew Flachs is an associate professor of anthropology at Purdue University, a father of two children, and a semi-retired musician. His writing on sustainable farming has appeared in scientific venues including American Anthropologist, the Journal of Peasant Studies, and the Journal of Ethnobiology, as well as in public-facing venues like The Conversation, Salon, and National Geographic Magazine. His 2019 book Cultivating Knowledge discussed genetically modified and organic cotton farming in India.
Featured image of the cover of Feeding the World as if People Mattered: How Small Farms Produce Value Beyond Yields by Andrew Flachs.
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Many folks value Wisconsin’s scenic lakes and forests, and our state is known for its rich history of environmental stewardship. But we’re facing unprecedented threats to our environment from climate change and folks are already feeling the painful effects. On today’s show, guest host Isaia Ben-Ami speaks with Stephanie Robinson of 350 Wisconsin about the climate movement in the state.
Robinson says that climate change is an “everyone issue,” and she works to connect the big picture of global warming with peoples’ everyday lives, like their energy bills. The Trump administration’s rollback of environmental protections, like the repeal of the Endangerment Finding, are true threats to Wisconsin’s environment. Robinson says that there’s some good news in that the Wisconsin Public Service Commission has approved six new solar projects.
They also discuss how climate activism needs to include voting protections, new methane gas power plants planned to power hyperscale data centers, and how climate inaction will only create a more expensive future.
Stephanie Robinson has been on staff at 350 Wisconsin since 2018 and has served as Executive Director for the past three. Stephanie holds a master’s degree in urban and environmental planning and prior to her time with 350 Wisconsin, she led major environmental studies and directed air quality and clean transportation projects for local governments and regional agencies across the U.S.
Featured image of a solar farm in Wheatland, Wisconsin via Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0).
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On today’s show, guest host Zoltán Grossman is in conversation with Stephen Zunes about the on-again, off-again US war with Iran. They discuss the status of the Strait of Hormuz, the US’s nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia, and the shifting public opinion in the US about the war.
Despite the asymmetrical power of the US’s aerial arsenal, Zunes says that Iranian drones have been very effective at creating tactical advantages in the war. Though there have been many attempts at a ceasefire deal, Zunes argues that any version would have to include some concessions to Iran’s advantage. But he says that Trump would rather perpetuate the war than negotiate.
They discuss the many rippling effects of the war including a decline in the world petroleum market, more insecurity for US allies in the Middle East, and the creation of nuclear apartheid as the US comes to a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia. These issues, in addition to human rights abuses, are causing massive shifts in public opinion about the war with Iran and Palestine with young people especially.
Zunes connects the war with Iran to other global conflicts, from Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara to Palestine. He says that the Palestine solidarity movement should include Western Sahara and that The Odyssey film has created a rare opportunity to bring attention to the occupation.
Stephen Zunes is a professor of Politics and Director of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of San Francisco. He writes for The Progressive magazine, Truthout, Common Dreams, and other publications. His most recent book is Western Sahara: War, Nationalism, and Conflict Irresolution.
Featured image of a satellite image of the Strait of Hormuz via Flickr (CC BY 2.0).
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On today’s show, Sabrina Madison, president of the Madison Common Council, is in conversation with local elected officials and organizers about the recent police killing of Corey Ruiz on Madison’s Near-East side. She is joined by Dane County Supervisor Yogesh Chawla, community organizer Clyde Mayberry, and Madison Alder Davey Mayer. Supervisor Chawla and Alder Mayer represent the area of Williamson and Baldwin Streets where Ruiz was killed and where community members have constructed a memorial site and autonomous zone.
They discuss their reactions to the police killing of Ruiz. Mayberry says he was shopping nearby when he saw a video on social media of officers attacking Ruiz. He dropped his groceries and began organizing, encouraging young people to “use your voice” in situations of injustice. Alder Mayer has been present at the memorial site every day and has knocked on residents doors to understand their reactions and needs. Supervisor Chawla reminds listeners that the police killed Paul Heenan and Tony Robinson in the same area and the DA has never charged an officer in these shootings.
Supervisor Chawla says that “it’s going to take pressing on the system” to keep this from happening again. He says he’s working to respond to the situation the way the police should have, by providing support, services, and de-escalation. Pressing on the system looks like the DA waiving standard policies and procedures to press charges against the officer who killed Ruiz, says Mayberry. Alder Mayer and Supervisor Chawla say they’d like to see more counterbalances to policing, accountability, and justice. Alder Madison encourages more people to contact their state legislators and ask them to change the policies around how to fire police officers.
Issues of criminal justice are inseparable from public health, and the roundtable addresses how the city and county can better invest in mental health services and affordable housing. Mayberry is concerned that the city and county know the data–that Black people are disproportionately unhoused–but do not use this data to put money into Black households or Black-led organizations.
Featured image of a sign at the memorial site for Corey Ruiz at the corner of Baldwin and Willy Street, courtesy of Sara Gabler/WORT.
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Just this morning, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, who was in Washington DC for Lindsay Graham’s funeral, met with President Trump. The meeting was not recorded, but President Zelensky posted to X that the result was positive and they were able to make a deal in which the US would supply Ukraine with anti-ballistic defense technology.
On today’s show, guest host Yuri Rashkin is in conversation with James, an American in the Ukrainian National Guard who has been serving on the frontlines for nearly two years. He is head of the fiber optic and fixed-wing drone laboratory for his unit. He has family in Wisconsin and Minnesota and runs the YouTube channel Y Ukraine.
James moved to Ukraine before the war and joined the military as a civilian. He says “the war came for me.” He now works on drones using his background as an engineer and says that a significant portion of his lab, and military funding in general, is financed by donations. He discusses what it’s like to source materials for his lab and how the situation changes week by week and sometimes day by day.
There’s constant activity in the war with Russia, though some reports have described the situation as a “stalemate.” Lately Ukraine has focused on destroying Russia’s oil reserves and energy infrastructure. James says there is no single weapon that will end the war, and that there will be peace when Russia is held accountable for its war crimes.
Featured image of a Ukrainian vampire drone via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).
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The UK has a new prime minister, Andy Burnham, who replaced Keir Starmer after he resigned just two years due to general lack of support. On today’s show, guest hosts, Adrienne Pagac and Pete Ramand, are in conversation with David Jamieson about British politics, the future of the Labour left, and how all this corresponds to US politics.
Burnham promises to transform the UK economy, but he inherits all the same problems that plagued Starmer’s time in office. Many consider Burnham to be on the “soft left” of the Labour Party, but there are concerns that Burnham and his new team will liquidate the welfare state and funnel state funds into the arms industry.
Where does this leave the Labour left? Jamieson says the Labour Party has become very centralized as neoliberalism and regional inequality fracture voters, potentially pushing the left out of the party or into the Green Party. Jamieson says that the treatment of democratic socialists by the US Democratic Party is similar to the treatment of Jeremy Corbyn in the UK. He’s noticed a growing hysteria about democratic socialist candidates, but reflects that voters want authenticity and independent politicians.
They also discuss the phenomena of New Labour under Tony Blair, Burnham’s appointments like former defense secretary, John Healey, the US’s interference in UK politics, figures on the far right, and more.
David Jamieson is a journalist and socialist activist based in Scotland and co-editor of Conter.
Featured image of 10 Downing Street via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).
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On the show today, long time-host Esty Dinur celebrates 30 years on A Public Affair. We flip the script and instead of Esty sitting in the host chair, she sits in the guest’s seat to be interviewed about her time on the air by Norman Stockwell. She says her driving motivation has always been to focus on issues that aren’t covered by mainstream media and to cover issues from the perspective of the folks most impacted.
In 1984, Dinur arrived in Madison with a love of short-wave radio having listened to Radio Moscow, Radio Havana Cuba, FMLN, the BBC as well as Australian and German stations. She would transcribe these news shows and publish them in a newsletter that she distributed in Madison. And Esty got her start at WORT by calling in to share what she heard on other radio programs with WORT listeners. She had her first feature during the Gulf War, and WORT would tape her shows and send them through the mail to Radio for Peace International in San Jose, Costa Rica.
In 1995, Esty hosted her first show on A Public Affair, a show with Joel Beinin on the assassination of P.M. Rabin. In the years since she’s spoken with such esteemed guests as Kathy Kelly of Voices in the Wilderness, Earth First! and IWW activist Judi Bari on her bombing and trial, novelist Richard Powers, Gary Webb of the San Jose Mercury News, Vojislav Stojkovic on the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War, Noam Chomsky, and so many more!
You can listen to Esty’s shows on our website and listen to a roundup of her first 25 years at the station here.
Featured image of Esty Dinur and Norm Stockwell via Sara Gabler/WORT.
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On today’s show, host Allen Ruff is joined by award winning historian, Greg Grandin to talk about his new book, America, América: A New History of the New World. Grandin’s book tells the story of the Americas plural, and how the creation of concepts like humanity, sovereignty, abolition, and emancipation grew out of European conquest of the Western Hemisphere.
The book’s thesis is represented in its two word title, America, América. Grandin focuses on the period between Spanish conquest and the Monroe Doctrine and how the US came to understand itself as a nation in relation to the rest of the Western Hemisphere, not just to Europe. Grandin and Ruff discuss the ways that different colonial powers rationalized colonization and how this period gave rise to what Grandin calls the “liberal international order.”
Grandin describes how he wrote his new book in the time between the two Trump presidencies and how Trump threatens the liberal international order. He says that the problems that the US faces can’t be solved by asserting power over Latin America.
Note: This pledge drive interview was edited to remove parts of the show dedicated to station fundraising. We thank our listeners for their generous support.
Greg Grandin is the author of The End of the Myth, which won the Pulitzer Prize; The Empire of Necessity, which won both the Bancroft and Beveridge prizes in American history; Fordlandia, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award; and a number of other widely acclaimed books. He is the Peter V. and C. Vann Woodward Professor of History at Yale University.
Featured image of the cover of Greg Grandin’s book, America, América: A New History of the New World via Penguin Press.
Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post How Latin America Shaped US History appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.
We’re in week two of the government shutdown and the first week of Planned Parenthood not providing abortion care in Wisconsin, and WORT is no longer broadcasting the BBC. To make sense of the dramatic changes in our nation and in our backyard, host Ali Muldrow is joined by friend of the show, Lisa Graves. They discuss the role that Project 2025 is playing in Trump’s second presidency and how it’s no surprise that the Trump administration has been implementing Project 2025 from day one.
Graves says that the Trump administration is more than halfway through implementing Project 2025. That includes making good on his campaign promise of “mass deportations” which we’re seeing play out in Chicago this week. These are violent times, and Project 2025 fuels the violence with its perspective on incarceration, detention, deportation, and changes to “consent decrees.”
They also talk about how the destruction of the federal workforce and attacks on the free press are impacting regular people. Nevertheless, Graves says she is heartened by the ways folks are rejecting Trump’s authoritarianism, from the dance parties in Portland, governors who push back, and the ongoing No Kings protests.
Note: This pledge drive interview was edited to remove parts of the show dedicated to station fundraising. We thank our listeners for their generous support.
Lisa Graves is the executive director of True North Research, a national investigative watchdog group. She is also the board president of the Center for Media and Democracy.
Featured image of the cover of Project 2025 via Wikipedia.
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On today’s show, host Dana Pellebon speaks with Annie Laurie Gaylor of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the largest free thought organization in the nation. Gaylor and her mother got involved in the fight for women’s rights and abortion rights in the 60s and quickly saw that the organized response to abortion was from religious groups. She says that she realized that religion should not be allowed to influence laws about women or anything else.
Gaylor’s organization works to keep religion out of the government. They offer free advice and write complaint letters. Their team of legal staff has pursued over 100 lawsuits and are currently taking on laws that force schools to display the 10 Commandments in Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana. She says it’s been a good year, legally, because they’ve been winning these lawsuits.
When Gaylor started out, she and her mother were demonized on national television. But there’s a growing number of Americans who do not identify as religious, leading Gaylor to say that it’s a good time to be non-religious.
They also discuss the history of white Christian nationalism in the US, the psychological harm of rapture theology for young people, the intensification of Christian nationalism within the military, and how to get involved in free thought organizations. Gaylor says she sees too many people putting dogma over humanity.
Note: This pledge drive interview was edited to remove parts of the show dedicated to station fundraising. We thank our listeners for their generous support.
Annie Laurie Gaylor is the Co-President and the Co-Founder of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Served as the editor of Free Thought Today, and author of multiple books on women and religion.
Featured image of a billboard that says “Imagine No Religion” by the Freedom From Religion Foundation via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).
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Host Douglas Haynes regularly features ecology and environment stories on this program, stories that you may not hear often in other media. Today we continue that theme, highlighting grassroots climate leaders and the work of independent media organizations like Grist. Our guests are Jess Stahl, the Project Director of the Grist 50 and Deneine Christa Powell, one of the leaders featured on the list working toward community-based climate solutions.
Grist is a nonprofit independent media company covering the climate. Their work focuses on climate impacts and solutions. The Grist 50 is a reader-nominated list of leaders who are making change in their communities across the US.
Powell says that as words like equity, sustainability, and climate are under attack from the federal government, we have to change how we approach advocating for climate solutions. She likes to remind people what life would look like without sustainability. Our communities would lose not only recycling and composting, but local food systems and green infrastructure. She says that sustainability isn’t a luxury, it’s the quiet infrastructure that makes life possible, sustainable, and equitable.
They discuss the importance of independent media, the need to keep showing up for city council meetings and talking to your sustainability officers, and how messaging about clean air and clean water resonates with folks in urban and rural areas.
Note: This pledge drive interview was edited to remove parts of the show dedicated to station fundraising. We thank our listeners for their generous support.
Deneine Christa Powell is the CEO of the Urban Sustainability Directors Network, or USDN — a community of professionals working on sustainability at the municipal level across the U.S. and Canada. She also served as the leader of the grassroots nonprofit, Groundwork Milwaukee.
Jessica Stahl is the Executive Editor of Strategic Initiatives at Grist. She is also the Project Director of the Grist 50.
Featured image of a bioswale for stormwater management in Milwaukee via Aaron Volkening on Flickr (CC BY 2.0).
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On this strange Wednesday, the first day of the federal government shutdown, host Ali Muldrow looks to poetry and two local poets for respite and guidance. We’re joined by Madison poet laureate Steven Espada Dawson and Madison youth poet laureate Octavia Ikard. They talk about the role of poetry in self-expression and healing but also in response to political life.
Dawson says he’s still figuring out what it means to be a poet laureate, but he takes seriously the work of using writing to put reality into perspective. He reads the sonnet, “A River Is A Body Running,” from his collection, Late to the Search Party, a book about his mother and his brother who grappled with addiction. Dawson says that poetry helps him reach into the past and think about it differently. Writing about family can be challenging, but Dawson says that “the shadow of addiction is larger than the individual.”
Ikard describes what it’s like to be a writer at a time in life when you’re still figuring out who you are. They say that it takes honesty to investigate parts of yourself. They take inspiration from their elders, the Black women in the rural South who didn’t have access to writing poetry as such, but who were poets in their own lives.
They also talk about privilege and politicized identities, how art responds to and drives political life, the idea of selfishness and self-expression, how formal poetry can bring order to chaos.
Steven Espada Dawson is the author of Late to the Search Party (Scribner, 2025). From East Los Angeles and the son of a Mexican immigrant, he has received fellowships from the Academy of American Poets, the Poetry Foundation, and the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing. His poems appear in many journals and anthologies. He has taught creative writing at universities, libraries, and prisons across the country and lives in Madison, Wisconsin, where he serves as poet laureate.
Octavia Ikard is a creative writing major and First Wave scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. They are also the city’s current youth poet laureate. They got their start in spoken word clubs, and they write about moving far away from family and their experience as a young Black poet.
Featured image: photo of Steven Espada Dawson, Octavia Ikard, and Ali Muldrow courtesy of Sara Gabler/WORT.
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The new Bartillion Men’s Shelter in Madison will include an art installation created by mosaic artist, Laurel True. She joins host Dana Pellebon to discuss the process of designing this installation and her career of community-based projects and creative placemaking.
True says that she enjoys working on projects that bring art to populations that don’t typically have access to public art, like in shelters. She took feedback from community members, staff, and over 40 men’s shelter clients to make sure the installation would reflect the feelings they want the artwork to evoke and what messages they want it to send. They expressed a desire for art that reflects nature, hope, care, and possibility. One man asked for the installation to “make me fell like I can make it.”
True tells Pellebon about her work as an educator through the Institute of Mosaic Art in Oakland, California and the Global Mosaic Project. True taught her first mosaic class at the Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center in Madison and installed some of her earliest pieces at cafes along Willy Street.
True also describes how art fits into difficult spaces, drawing on her community work in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake. There, she and her students transformed Jacmel into a city of mosaics. Across her projects, True explores creative expression and wellbeing, finding that mosaics can have soothing and therapeutic effects.
Laurel True is a multi-disciplinary artist, educator and arts advocate. She has been exploring the intersection of creative expression and well-being for over thirty years. Her company, True Mosaics Studio, specializes in creative placemaking, public art and architectural mosaics. Through her professional studio and teaching practice, True has created hundreds of murals and sculptural forms in public spaces. Her work can be found in parks, hospitals, social centers, transit systems, and in commercial and residential spaces the US, Haiti, Latin America, Africa, and Europe
Featured image of one of Laurel True’s mosaics, courtesy of the artist.
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Last week in New York City, tens of thousands of people gathered for Climate Week, which was observed here in Wisconsin with a march at the state capitol. Despite the Trump administration’s anti-science and pro fossil fuel agenda, many people remain committed to the fight against ecological disaster. On today’s show, climate scientist Kate Marvel takes up this fight, saying that the knowledge that climate change isn’t a mystery helps her stay grounded and motivated so she can focus on solutions.
Marvel tells host Douglas Haynes about her new book, Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet. She reminds listeners that while humans are unpredictable, it is not human nature to be selfish. Instead, she looks to times when people have come together to fight ecological problems, like the killing of whales, the Clean Air Act, and the ozone hole.
Marvel breaks down how climate models work to study Earth systems and theorize what might happen to the planet if humans took different actions. She describes climate models as toy planets that live on computers. A key insight of Marvel’s book is that emotions are key to who we think about and understand climate change. She says there’s no conflict between getting the facts right and having feelings about them, feelings like awe and wonder, fear and anxiety, as well as hope and love.
Kate Marvel is a climate scientist and one of the premier science communicators working today. A former cosmologist, Marvel received a PhD in theoretical physics from Cambridge University. She led the “Climate Trends” chapter in the U.S. Fifth National Climate Assessment, has given a TED Talk, appeared on Meet the Press and The Ezra Klein Show, and testified before the U.S. Congress. She has written for Scientific American, Nautilus magazine, and the On Being Project. She lives in Brooklyn with her family.
Featured image of Kate Marvel’s new book, Human Nature, published by Harper Collins.
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A proposed bill getting bipartisan support in Wisconsin would require state agencies to follow the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism. Our guest today, Raz Segal, tells host Esty Dinur that this definition is not only vague but actually produces antisemitism contrary to its stated goal.
The IHRA working definition of antisemitism conflates criticism of Israel and its policies with antisemitism. It imagines there is one way to be a Jew and so it can be used to targeting anti-Zionist Jews or Jews who criticize Israel. The definition offers 11 examples of antisemitism, the majority of which focus on Israel and not on Jews. Segal says that the goal of the definition is to shield Israel from criticism.
They also discuss why the US government would be interested in regulating free speech about a foreign country. Segal says that if we came to terms with the atrocities that Israel is waging against Palestinians, we would have to face settler colonialism. Then, we’d have to face that settler colonialism is a reality in the US as well, says Segal. He argues that we don’t need the IHRA definition because there are already protections against discrimination and singling out antisemitism contributes to Israel and Holocaust exceptionalism. You can read more about the how the IHRA working definition threatens free speech here.
Dr. Raz Segal is Associate Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies and Endowed Professor in the Study of Modern Genocide at Stockton University, where he also serves as the director of the Master of Arts in Holocaust and Genocide Studies and founding coordinator of the Refugee Studies Initiative.
Featured image of a Jews for Peace rally in LA via Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0).
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On today’s show, host Allen Ruff is joined by friend of the program, Henry Giroux, who reflects on the state of US politics in the aftermath of the murder of Charlie Kirk. Earlier this month, Giroux wrote an article arguing that Kirk’s assassination is “a symptom of a national political culture in crisis.” This is a crisis of democracy, culture, politics, and social responsibility.
Giroux says that Kirk’s murder is a terrible thing, and it is symptomatic of fascism. As the president and other elected officials mourn his death and even celebrate it, they’re also at work institutionalizing violence at every level of society.
Giroux and Ruff also discuss the role of corporate and legacy media in stoking the flames of political violence at a moment that Giroux calls “the death rattle of democracy.” It’s particularly alarming that the Trump administration is working to erase the history of Black resistance and the history of slavery. This form of scholasticide is ushering in a resurgence of the Confederacy.
Giroux concludes by reminding listeners that hope is a way to imagine a democracy that actually works for everyone.
Henry Giroux is an internationally renowned writer and cultural critic who has authored or co-authored over 65 books. He is McMaster University Chair for Scholarship in the Public Interest and the Paulo Freire Distinguished Scholar in Critical Pedagogy.
Featured image: illustration of Henry Giroux by Jared Rodriguez / Truthout via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).
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On today’s show, journalist and author Rami Khouri joins host Christa Bruhn to reflect on the impact of President Trump’s significant victory in the US presidential elections on American foreign policy and unfolding events in the Middle East. They discuss the current moment in the context of Rami’s extensive experience covering the region and how the situation on the ground could unfold under a Trump presidency.
Rami Khouri is a Distinguished Public Policy Fellow at the American University of Beirut, a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Arab Center in Washington, DC, and a regular columnist for Al Jazeera Online. Rami has reported and published on the Arab region and its global relations for more than five decades. His most recent book co-authored with Helena Cobban is Understanding Hamas: And Why That Matters (2024).
By World Economic Forum – https://www.flickr.com/photos/worldeconomicforum/3545794430, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link
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On today’s program, Allen Ruff is joined by Palestinian Osama Iliwat and Israeli Rotem Levin, who are peace activists currently on a speaking tour. The pair have spoken at a number of conferences in Germany, Israel, the West Bank, Mexico and are now on a US tour. They join Ruff to discuss their experiences growing up in very violent and militarized worlds and their eventual paths to peace work.
This program comes just before Iliwat and Levin’s Madison speaking dates. They will speaking on November 19th at Christ Presbyterian Church (944 E Gorham St). Registration is requested.
More on our guests:
Osama lliwat was born in Jerusalem where is family is originally from and was displaced like so many Palestinians. He grew up in Jericho during the first Intifada. He has been in the peace world for more than 15 years and co-founder of Visit Palestine. He has dedicated his life to nonviolent resistance working with different organizations such as: Sulha Peace Project, Interfaith Encounter Association and IPCRI appearing in several documentaries including Objector and The Other and regularly speaking on peacebuilding at organizations and universities around the world. Osama has made a name for himself in the Peace world with his collective liberation perspective and opting for peaceful resistance. When Osama is not working for peace internationally, he helps his community of Jericho and other communities in the west bank, supporting them to stay on their land and rebuilding homes, parks and educating. He also offers political educational tours in the West Bank and goes to schools to talk with Palestinians and Israelis about, amongst other things, non-violent resistance and communication. Osama taught himself Hebrew in order to connect on the land. He also participated in trauma and healing work to support people on the land. Osama was a speaker for TEDx Jaffa at the beginning of his peace journey and featured in many television interviews
Rotem Levin was born and raised in Ein Vered. After his military service he participated in a transformational intensive dialogue program in Germany where he got to know Palestinians on a personal and intimate level. This instigated a change in perspective on the story he was born and raised with. After this experience he started organizing similar programs in Aqaba, Jordan where he offered the experience to other post-military Israelis and for Palestinians and Israelis medical workers. He is a committed activist and doctor by profession. While studying medicine at Ben-Gurion University, he dedicated himself to learning Arabic and building solidarity relationships with Palestinians. He also worked with different peace organizations. Rotem moved to Beit Jala, a Palestinian village in the West Bank in 2020 in order to get to know his neighbours’ reality of living under military occupation, understand their culture and improve his Arabic. When Rotem is not giving conferences for Peace internationally he invests most of his time creating healing spaces for Israelis and Palestinians on the land.
Image of dove by Kenky from Pixabay
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Last week, seven states expanded their access to abortion care via ballot measures. This comes more than two years after the US Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion care with the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. That ruling in June 2022, sent nearly half of the states into chaos with abortion providers and their patients facing sudden closures, new restrictions, and rapidly changing rules. States with abortion rights protect by state law saw patients cross their borders to receive care.
In her new book You Must Stand Up: The Fight for Abortion Rights in Post-Dobbs America, Amanda Becker tells the story of health care providers, lawyers, activists, and everyday people who mobilized to protect legal abortion in the year following the 2022 decision. Becker joins host Ali Muldrow to discuss the book and the state of abortion access in the US.
Amanda Becker is a 2023 Nieman Fellow and Washington correspondent for The 19th. She has covered the U.S. Congress, the White House, and elections for more than a decade. Becker previously worked at Reuters and CQ Roll Call. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, and Glamour magazine. Her political coverage has also been broadcast on National Public Radio.
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On today’s show, host Sara Gabler speaks with Professor Hahire Han about her new book Undivided: The Quest for Racial Solidarity in an American Church. The book, published by Knopf, profiles the Crossroads church in Cincinnati, Ohio, which launched a program in 2016 to foster cross-racial relationships and build racial justice organizing in their community. The program, Undivided, pushes church members to strive for racial solidarity in a moment of deep divisiveness in America. Han’s book offers a snapshot of the program through the lenses of four participants.
Hahrie Han is a professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University as well as the inaugural director of SNF Agora, an institute dedicated to strengthening global democracy. She has written for outlets like the New York Times, the Washington Post, and others. Her scholarly work has been published in outlets including American Political Science Review, the American Sociological Review, Nature Human Behavior, PNAS, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), and elsewhere. Han’s previous books include Prisms of the People: Power and Organizing in 21st Century America, How Organizations Develop Activists: Civic Associations and Leadership in the 21st Century, Groundbreakers: How Obama’s 2.2 Million Volunteers Transformed Campaigning in America , and Moved to Action: Motivation, Participation, and Inequality in American Politics
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On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes welcome back ProPublica journalist Melissa Sanchez to discuss her recent piece “What Happened in Whitewater.” The piece, which Sanchez wrote with Maryam Jameel, dives into the stories of some of the hundreds of people seeking asylum in Whitewater, Wisconsin. Sanchez and Jameel highlight the influx of immigrants, driven by political instability and economic hardship in Nicaragua, and their transition from rural farm work to urban factory jobs. Sanchez tells A Public Affair about the detailed the challenges faced by immigrants and the strain on local government. In light of the recent presidential election, Sanchez also discusses the looming threat of deportation and the fear and uncertainty many are facing.
Image: Whitewater Wisconsin Downtown Looking East, used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license
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In August 1999, lifelong socialist, union supporter, and activist for peace and social justice, Clarence Kailin joined Esty Dinur in the studio to talk about his effort to erect a monument to the 45,000 International Volunteers who fought for the Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War, including the 2800 Americans who served in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Kailin himself was a veteran of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. He speaks to Esty and a number of callers about his experience fighting against fascism. The monument Kailin was working on now stands to the right of the Gates of Heaven synagogue in James Madison park.
For more, Dinur wrote a cover story on Kailin for the January 2001 Isthmus. Following his death in 2009 The CapTimes published this piece about Kailin’s antifascism.
Image: Wisconsin volunteers (standing) Fred Palmer, Harry Lichter, Ray Disch; (seated) John Cookson, Clarence Kailin. Photograph provided to The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archive by Clarence Kailin. Used under fair use copyright, accessed via alba-valb.org
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In his most recent piece, “Harris lost because of Gas, Groceries, and Gaza. But the underlying reason was Ukraine,” today’s guest Arun Gupta says the economy was the biggest reason a majority voted for Trump. He goes on to argue that American’s a feeling finically squeezed while they see vast sums of money going to support Israel. “The wars and overseas aid hurt Harris in many different ways, and she avoided them because she is the candidate of war and Wall Street,” he writes. But the real economic hardship Gupta argues can be traced back to the sanctions the US imposed on Russia after the invasion into Ukraine.
On today’s show, Gupta and host Allen Ruff get into the economy, voter motives, and what Gupta calls the “utterly predictable” Trump win.
Arun Gupta is a journalist who has written for Intercept, the Washington Post, The Progressive, YES Magazine, The Nation, Raw Story, The Guardian, and Jacobin. His Substack can be found at arunnews.substack.com.
Image by Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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The Associate Press has called the 2024 Presidential election for Donald Trump at 5:34 a.m. EST on November 6th, 2024. At the time of this broadcast the unofficial results stand at 49.7% for Trump and 48.9% for Harris. If the margin holds, the results would be the fifth time in seven presidential elections that the state has been decided by less than a point.
April Kigeya, the 2nd Vice Chair of the Dane County Board and Sabrina Madison, Alder for District 17 on Madison’s Common Council, join host Ali Muldrow to grapple with a Trump victory. As three Black women in elected office, they unpack the moment and field calls from several impassioned listeners.
About our guests:
April Kigeya is the 2nd Vice Chair of the Dane County Board and has a passion for working with children, families, underrepresented communities and others who can’t advocate for themselves. Additionally, she sits on the Board of Directors for Dane Dances, is Chair of the Overture Center’s Community Advisory Board, and is a member of the Executive Committee for the Democratic Party of Dane County. She is also a member of the African American Opioid Coalition and the UW-Madison Black Cultural Center Advisory Board. April was also the first person of color to serve on the Middleton Police Commission and served as the Co-Chair from 2021-2022 and was named one of Wisconsin’s most influential Black Leaders in 2020.
Sabrina Madison is Alder for District 17 on Madison’s Common Council. She is committed to addressing systemic issues and advocating for equitable policies. Sabrina is also the founder and CEO of The Progress Center for Black Women. There Sabrina is dedicated to fostering a community where Black women can excel as influential CEOs, business owners, and community leaders. Sabrina is also a community organizer, poet, master collaborator, and mother. Sabrina has spearheaded transformative events like the Black Women’s Leadership Conference, the Conversation Mixtape, the Black Business Expo, and the Black Excellence Youth Conference. She has been recognized by Essence as one of 100 Woke Black Women, the Best of Madison Business | Brian Howell Excellence in Innovation Award, and acknowledgment as one of Greater Madison’s most influential figures by In Business Magazine.
Photo by Daniel Foster on Unsplash
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It’s election day! As people line up at their polling locations, plan their watch parties, and prepare for a long wait for presidential election results, host Bert Zipperer speaks with Political Analyst Anthony Chergosky. Chergosky joins the show show from UW-La Crosse where he is an associate professor of political science. He offers insights on trends of presidential campaigns, the poplar vote vs the electoral college, the perception from the global community, and more.
Polls are open until 8pm on Tuesday, November 5th. To find you polling place and see what is on your ballot, visit myvote.wi.gov. Same-day registration is available at all polling places.
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Wisconsin school districts are spending $3,200 less per student per year, adjusted for inflation, than in 2010 due to outdated funding systems and legislative failures. Because of this, voters in 122 districts across Wisconsin are facing ballot questions asking to raise property taxes. On today’s show, Dr. Julie Underwood and Dr. Christopher Saldana join host Douglas Haynes to discuss the financial struggles of Wisconsin school districts. They discuss the impact of revenue limits, declining enrollments, and the shift of funding to private schools. The conversation highlights the dilemma for taxpayers who support public schools but struggle with rising property taxes.
Images from AzamKamolov from Pixabay, and Kenny Eliason on Unsplash.
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As the now regional war between Israel and Hamas continues, more than 43,000 people in Gaza have been killed. At least 100,000 have been injured. These numbers are most definitely an under count. Today’s first guest is Wilhelmi Massay, a critical care and trauma nurse based in Omaha,spent 6 weeks treating the sick and injured in Gaza. He tells host Esty Dinur that “Israel is committing it’s final solution,” comparing the ongoing war to the Nazi Holocaust. Massay is one of the many health care workers who have signed a letter to President Biden and Vice President Harris demanding a ceasefire.
We continue the conversation with Raed Jarrar,advocacy director for DAWN. Jarrar enlightens us on the strategic plans that are being enacted by the Israeli military: blocking humanitarian aid, creating military corridors, using starvation as a method to drive out the remaining population, and consolidating Israeli control over Gaza through long-term settlement expansion. Jarrar calls the effort an ethnic cleansing.
Photo Israeli West Bank barrier, graffiti Montecruz Foto, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Earlier this year, the Jewish advocacy group Anti-Defamation League reported a record breaking 8,873 of antisemitic incidents in 2023. That is an increase of 140% compared to 2022. In light of this reality, host Ali Muldrow sits down with the director of Edot Midwest Regional Jewish Diversity and Racial Justice Collaborative Shahanna McKinney-Baldon. They discuss the reality of being both Black and Jewish in a time of rising hatred.
About our guest:
Shahanna McKinney-Baldon is the Founding Executive Director of Edot Midwest Regional Jewish Diversity and Racial Justice Collaborative. She is a longtime educator in Jewish and public school settings. In addition to leading Edot, McKinney-Baldon works at The University of Wisconsin-Madison Wisconsin Center for Education Research. Shahanna sits on a number of boards including the Executive Committee of the Board of Governors for Reconstructing Judaism and the Jews of Color and Allies Advisory for the Reconstructionist Movement.
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Early voting is open, and hundreds of thousands across Wisconsin have already cast a ballot. As presidential candidates rain down on Wisconsin in the lead-up to Election Day next Tuesday, we take a look at an item on your ballot: another constitutional amendment.
The referendum was authored and placed on the ballot by the Wisconsin Legislature. It would change a word in the Wisconsin constitution, flipping every to only US citizens allowed to cast a ballot. If approved by a simple majority of voters next Tuesday, the amendment would prevent municipalities from permitting people who are noncitizens from voting in local elections.
No municipality in Wisconsin currently allows noncitizens to vote. And people without citizenship are federally prohibited from voting in federal elections, like for President or Congress, by a sweeping 1996 law. A handful of municipalities in just three states permit people without citizenship to vote in local elections. So, too, in Washington DC, which in 2022 approved the measure.
But — should the right to vote in local elections be expanded? How does this measure in our nation’s long history of expanding suffrage? How does this ballot measure tie into false claims of illegal voting and anti-immigrant rhetoric during this presidential year?
“The struggle to expand democracy has always been a political fight,” says one of our guests, journalist John Nichols.
Wisconsin is one of eight states this November with the same ballot measure. UW-Madison professor Benjamin Márquez says in those states — which include Kentucky, Idaho, South Carolina, Missouri, Oklahoma, North Carolina and South Carolina— he expects voter approval to be “a clean sweep.”
About the guests:
John Nichols is associate editor at The Capital Times, national affairs correspondent for The Nation, and author of more than a dozen books, including It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism (co-authored with Senator Bernie Sanders). You can follow him on X at @nicholsuprising.
Benjamin Márquez is Professor of Political Science and Chican@ and Latin@ Studies at UW-Madison, where he teaches and researches on Latino and American politics and Mexican American social movement organizations. He’s the author of many publications, including a comprehensive political history of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC).
Professor Márquez mentions a book during the interview, he’s referring The Right to Vote (2000) by Alexander Keyssar.
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College Uncovered, from GBH News in collaboration with The Hechinger Report, is a podcast that pulls back the curtain on higher education and expose problems and struggles facing students, administrators, and professors living and working on campuses today. The podcast is on their third season. On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes speak with hosts Kirk Carapezza and Jon Marcus. They highlight the disproportionate impact of closures on rural areas, the debate over student loan debt forgiveness, and the politicization of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. They also touch on the importance of civil discourse in higher education and the potential consequences of the upcoming election on campus policies.
Kirk Carapezza is the Managing Editor and Correspondent for higher education at GBH News. Previously, Kirk has reported for Wisconsin Public Radio in Madison, and Vermont Public Radio in Montpelier.
Jon Marcus teaches journalism at Boston College and Northeastern University. He writes primarily on higher education. A former magazine editor, he has written for The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Wired, Medium.com and the Times (U.K.) Higher Education magazine, among others.
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez
Since the deadly attack on an Israeli music festival on October 7, 2023, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has ramped up to what is now a regional war and Hamas has become a widely vilified group. But what and who is Hamas? On today’s show, host Esty Dinur speaks with Helena Cobban, who co-authored Understanding Hamas: And Why That Matters with Rami G. Khouri. Cobban highlights Hamas’ origins in the as a political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, its rise due to dissatisfaction with the Oslo Accords, and its evolution from an anti-Jewish to an anti-Zionist stance
Helena Cobban is a writer and researcher on international affairs who lives in Washington DC. She is president of Just World Educational and former columnist for The Christian Science Monitor. She is the author or co-author of several previous books including The Palestinian Liberation Organisation (1984), Re-engage! American and the World After Bush (2008), and When the Rain Returns: Toward Justice and Reconciliation in Palestine and Israel (2007).
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With election day less than two weeks away, today’s show centers upon the choices presented to those on the left. With even John Kelly calling Donald Trump a fascist in recent days, Kamala Harris’s vice president position making her a key enabler for Israel’s ongoing war, and the election results hanging on the votes of just a few swing states, leftist are sitting with an either or neither decision.
In a recent article for Convergence Magazine, Max Elbaum writes that a reelection of Trump would “lead to reinforcing all existing anti-democratic structures and adding new ones.” He goes on to argue, “a MAGA defeat will make it possible to maintain the democratic space that social justice movements—especially the Palestine solidarity movement, the labor movement, the voting rights movement, and the reproductive rights movement– need to grow substantially.”Elbaum joins A Public Affair host Allen Ruff to discuss the piece and what is to be done, tactically and strategically, short and long term.Max Elbaum is a member of the Convergence Magazine editorial board and the author of Revolution in the Air: Sixties Radicals Turn to Lenin, Mao and Che(Verso Books, Third Edition, 2018), a history of the 1970s-‘80s ‘New Communist Movement’ in which he was an active participant. He is also a co-editor, with Linda Burnham and María Poblet, of Power Concedes Nothing: How Grassroots Organizing Wins Elections (OR Books, 2022).Image by fancycrave1 from Pixabay
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October is Domestic Violence Awareness month, and on today’s show, host Ali Muldrow explores what help is available and what measure are being taken to prevent homicide by an intimate partner. First she speaks with Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes about how police show up in cases of domestic abuse and the just announced the Family Justice/Sensitive Crimes Unit.
Then Muldrow, speaks with Domestic Abuse Intervention Services (DAIS) Executive Director Shannon Barry. DAIS offers a wide array of crisis intervention and prevention programs, including a 24-hour Help Line, legal advocacy, support groups, and emergency safety planning. DAIS is the only domestic violence shelter in all of Dane County. They discuss national and local trends and complexities of seeking help.
DAIS’s help line is (608) 251-4445 or text at (608) 420-4638
Photo by Bonnie Kittle on Unsplash
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Early in-person voting begins today in Wisconsin, and we are just two week away from election day. Voters across the region will decided on state-wide referendums, and weigh in on school district and municipal levy increases.
On the ballot for Madison voters, is the question:
Under state law, the increase in the levy of the City of Madison for the tax to be imposed for the next fiscal year, 2025, is limited to 2.97%, which results in a levy of $296,149,162. Shall the City of Madison be allowed to exceed this limit and increase the levy for the next fiscal year, 2025, for the purpose of funding police, fire, garbage collection, parks and library operations and other City services and operations, by a total of 7.4%, which results in a levy of $318,149,462, and on an ongoing basis, include the increase of $22,000,000 for each fiscal year going forward?
On today’s show, host Carousel Bayrd chats briefly with Mayor Satya Rhodes Conway about the referendum and Madison’s current budget deficit. Then, Bayrd really digs into the numbers with Madison’s newest alder, John Guequierre. He lays out what will be cut if the referendum fails, and how we arrived at such a critical moment. More information about the proposed budget and referendum can be found on the City of Madison website.
Photo by Josh Sorenson on Unsplash
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We’re joined on the show today by renowned Palestinian theologian Reverend Dr. Mitri Raheb, for a conversation on the moral and theological dimensions of the war on Palestine.
Rev. Dr. Raheb is the most widely-published Palestinian theologian to date. His latest is Decolonizing Palestine: The Land, The People, The Bible (Orbis Books, 2023), which examines Israel’s expansionist ideology and its misuse of biblical language to justify the oppression of Palestinians.
The Reverend Professor joins host Esty Dinur for his perspective on the genocide in Gaza. Dinur and Raheb delve into the parallels between Israel’s settler-colonialism and histories of genocide, as well as the complex dynamics of Christian Zionism. Rev. Dr. Raheb also deconstructs Israel’s expansionist ideology, taking aim at the genocidal theology referenced by Prime Minister Netanyahu along with Christian Zionists and the complicity of Western nations.
Rev. Raheb is also the Founder and President of Dar al-Kalima University in Bethlehem, the first and only institution of higher education in Palestine focused on the performing arts, visual arts, and cultural heritage. And, he’s the founder of several nongovernmental organizations, including the Christian Academic Forum for Citizenship in the Arab World (CAFCAW).
He is a founding and board member of the National Library of Palestine, and a founding member of Bright Stars of Bethlehem. He is an elected member to the Palestinian National Council as well as the Palestinian Central Council. You can find more at mitriraheb.org and follow him on Twitter at @RahebM.
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Just yesterday, the Nebraska Supreme Court ordered the state’s elections officials to let Nebraskans with past felony convictions vote.
The decision comes as a new report finds that four million Americans won’t be able to vote this year due to their felony convictions. That’s about one out of 59 adult citizens, or 1.7% of the total US voting eligible population. For African Americans, the rate is three times higher: one in 22 people of voting age is disenfranchised.
All states, except for Maine and Vermont, restrict voting rights based on criminal convictions. Half the states in the nation including Wisconsin deny voting rights to people on felony-level probation or parole. Ten states deny voting rights to some or all of the individuals even after they’ve finished out their prison, parole, or probation sentences and are “off paper.”
The report is titled Locked Out 2024: Four Million Denied Voting Rights Due to a Felony Conviction. It was released earlier this month by The Sentencing Project, a research and advocacy organization based in Washington D.C that works for a fair and effective criminal justice system.
Today on the show, host Allen Ruff speaks with Nicole D. Porter. She’s Senior Director of Advocacy at The Sentencing Project, where she focuses on state and local efforts to reform sentencing, voting rights, and confronting racial disparities in the criminal legal system. Her areas of expertise include research and grassroots support around challenging racial disparities, felony disenfranchisement, prison closures and prison reuse. You can follow her work on Twitter @nicoleporter.
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On today’s show host Ali Muldrow is joined by Black, queer writer and performer, Danez Smith. Their new collection, Bluff, was released in August, and it imagines life in a dissolving world. Danez wrote this collection after two years of artistic silence, during which the world came to a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Minneapolis became the epicenter of protest following the murder of George Floyd. The collection reckons with these events and the poet’s role in them.
In a raw, honest, and wide-raging conversation, Smith speaks to liberation from a Black, queer perspective that includes solidarity with Palestinian liberation. From the cost of taking a stand to the relationship between land and language, Smith uses poetry as fuel for inspiration and solidarity. Listen to Smith read from two poems: “anti poetica” and “The Slap.”
Smith will be giving a reading of Bluff as part of the Wisconsin Book Festival on Friday, October 18 at 9pm at the Madison Central Library.
Danez Smith is the author of three collections including Bluff, Homie, and Don’t Call Us Dead. They are the winner of the Forward Prize for Best Collection, the Minnesota Book Award in Poetry, the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry among several other honors. Danez’s poetry and prose has been featured in Vanity Fair, The New York Times, The New Yorker, GQ, Best American Poetry and on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. They live in Minneapolis near their people.
Feature image via Graywolf Press.
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Whether we like it or not, the internet has remade modern life. And we have to talk about how abuses of power and lack of accountability proliferate across the social media, technology, and entertainment landscapes.
On today’s show, host Sara Gabler is in conversation with journalist David Wolinsky about video games, misogyny, and his new book The Hivemind Swarmed:Conversations on Gamergate, the Aftermath, and the Quest for a Safer Internet. The book looks at a specific online harassment campaign called Gamergate that started in 2014 and has shaped how people behave online and in real life since.
David Wolinsky is an independent oral historian, a documentary researcher, and an author based in Chicago. Previously, he served as an editor at The Onion and NBC. Since 2014, he has conducted more than 600 interviews on the social impact of the Internet for his interview series Don’t Die, which is preserved by Stanford University. He is a recipient of the New York Videogame Critics Circle’s Journalism Award and the MIT Open Documentary Lab’s mentorship.
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It’s National Farm to School Month and National School Lunch Month. In Wisconsin that means that some students are participating in the Great Apple Crunch and folks are advocating for healthy school meals. Here in Madison, a local campaign is trying to get free school meals for all MMSD students.
To talk about the ways that educational and agricultural programs meet, host Douglas Haynes speaks with Dr. Jennifer Gaddis and Dr. Sarah A. Robert. Their edited volume, Transforming School Food Politics around the World, is available for open access from MIT Press. They want to reframe school lunches as learning experiences and challenge the fundamental assumptions people in the US make about school food programs.
Their research shows that in many places around the world school lunches are learning experiences. In countries like Brazil and Finland folks are using school food programs to transform food systems. And in Japan, students learn about the labor that goes into their school meals by serving each other their school lunches. From examples like this, Gaddis and Robert find hope that schools can teach skills and values through their lunch programs.
They talk about the collective work of changing public policy on food systems, research on the school food workforce, and Tim Walz’s track record on free school meals.
Jennifer E. Gaddis is Associate Professor of Civil Society and Community Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the author of The Labor of Lunch. She is an advisory board member of the National Farm to School Network.
Sarah A. Robert is Associate Professor at the University at Buffalo’s Graduate School of Education. She is the author of Neoliberal Education Reform; Neoliberalism, Gender, and Education Work; and School Food Politics. She is an Associate Editor for Gender, Work, and Organizations.
Photo courtesy of Sara Gabler/WORT News.
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The topic today: disasters.
First, Esty talks with Journalist Hanady Salman who joins us from Beirut where at least 22 people were killed in the latest strike. Salman explains that air raids have become a daily occurrence in Lebanon and that they are bracing for an invasion by the Israeli army.
Then, Esty pivots to hurricanes. This conversation comes just days after Hurricane Milton hit Florida’s Gulf Coast. Milton, which at one point reached a level five tropical storm, came just weeks after Hurricane Helene which claimed hundreds of lives in the Southeastern United States.
Esty talks with reporter Jonah Chester who covers flooding, sea level rise, and climate change in Charleston, South Carolina. He’s spent the last couple of weeks writing on the toll of Hurricane Helene, comparisons to past tropical storms, and spotting disaster misinformation online.
Finally, Esty speaks with environmental scientists Dr. Michael Mann about the reality of worsen storms, the need for leaders to address climate change, and the decades long impact of storms such of as Helene and Milton.
About our guests:
Hanady Salman is a senior editor at As-Safir Newspaper in Beirut, Lebanon. She contributed to the book Inside Lebanon with Noam Chomsky and others, based on Chomsky’s visit to Lebanon just before the 2006 invasion by Israel. The film “Letters from Beirut: the War of 33” is based on her writings. More of her work can be found in Jadaliyya.
Jonah Chester is based in Charleston, South Carolina, where he covers flooding, sea level rise and climate change for the Rising Waters Lab at the Post and Courier. He previously worked as a reporter at Wisconsin Watch and as the Assistant News Director at WORT.
Dr. Michael E. Mann is a Presidential Distinguished Professor of Earth & Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania with a secondary appointment in the Annenberg School for Communication. He is also director of the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media. Mann is the author of several books including his most recent work, Our Fragile Moment which will be out in paperwork on October, 15th.
ABI imagery of Hurricane Helene from NOAA’S GOES-16 Satellite, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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On today’s show, host Rebecca Kemble speaks about the Independent Police Monitor and the Police Civilian Oversight Board with Shadayra Kilfoy-Flores and Amelia Royko Maurer. Kilfoy-Flores is the current chair of the oversight board and the co founder of Moms on a Mission Madison. Royko Maurer is a founding member of Community Response Team and a public safety advocate. They discuss the landscape during which the program was created, the importance of community safety, and some of the hurdles the board and monitor have faced.
The conversation comes at the heels of the just released proposed City of Madison 2025 Operating Budget. The proposed budget slashes funding to the program being discussed. In the case that referendum to exceed the state property tax levy limit is approved by votes in November, the budget for the Office of the Independent Monitor will be reduced by $195,000. That money would be reallocated to the library system. In the case the referendum does not pass, the all funding for the Independent Police Monitor and the Police Civilian Oversight Board will be cut.
Image by Pexels from Pixabay
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On today’s show, host Ali Muldrow speaks with long-time radio personality John Sylvester. Most listener will know the guest as simply as Sly. He was a rock jock on WMAD and WIBA. There he hosted Sly’s Social Dilemma among other shows. Starting in the late 90s, Sly switched to talk radio on WTDY and WBGR. He was an instrumental voice during the Walker administration, giving blow-by-blow updates during the height of Act 10. He’s also the host of the podcast Sly’s Office.
Sly has always been willing to stir the pot, and today he and Ali continue a conversation they started while waiting for a campaign speech by Vice President Harris. Should there be police officers inside Madison’s public schools? Sly thinks yes.Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post A Debate Regarding School Resource Officers appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.
Madison voters will encounter two referendum questions, one for facilities and one for operations, on the November 5th ballot. If passed, they would incrementally increase property tax over the next 4 years. By 2028, the average Madison property tax will be raised by more than $1,300. (That’s based on the average Madison home valued at $457,300.) The operations increase will be used in part to recruit and retain educators, invest in 4k programs, and support multilingual education. The increase for facilities will address the repair and remodel needs for aging school buildings and update technology in elementary and middle schools.
On today’s show, host Carousel Bayrd is joined by Bob Solder, assistant superintendent of financial services, and Cindy Green, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning to discuss why the school district is asking for the levy and bond.
Find what is on your ballot at myvote.wi.gov
Image by WORT News Director Chali Pittman
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Last spring, protests sprung up at universities across the county. Pro-Palestinian protestors pushed their institutions to divest from arms manufactures and better support Palestinian students.. Several UW schools joined this movement, including UW-Madison, Milwaukee, and Oshkosh. At the flagship university, protestors set up tents on Library Mall, which were quickly called “unlawful” and forcibly removed. The police arrested dozens, including students, faculty, staff and people unaffiliated with the university. Four were later charged with felonies, while other students are still facing disciplinary action.
Just before the this fall semester began, the UW administration released new policies on free speech and protest, which they call expressive activity guidelines. To help us understand the guidelines and the backdrop under which they were written, host Sara Gabler speaks with first amendment expert Howard Schweber and student journalists Noe Goldhaber and Annika Bereny. They delve into the implications of these policies and potential chilling effect on free speech.
For more background, listen or read Sara Gabler’s recently published piece “UW anti-camping rule rarely used before police raid.”
Noe Goldhaber is the college news editor and former copy chief for The Daily Cardinal at UW-Madison. She is a Statistics and Journalism major and has specialized on a wide range of campus topics including protests, campus labor, student housing, free speech and campus administration.
Annika Bereny is Senior Staff Writer and the former Special Pages Editor for The Daily Cardinal. She has written in-depth for state and campus news.
Howard Schweber is a Professor of American Politics and Political Theory. He teaches courses focusing on constitutional law and legal and political theory. Schweber is the author of numerous books and articles and a frequent guest on Wisconsin television and radio programs, including WORT.
Image Gaza Encampment @ Library Mall via WORT News
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On today’s show, host Esty Dinur speaks with three authors who are coming to Madison during the Wisconsin Book Festival’s 23rd Fall Celebration on October 17th through 2oth.
First, she speaks with by Bill Adair about his forthcoming book Beyond the Big Lie: The Epidemic of Political Lying, Why Republicans Do It More, and How It Could Burn Down Our Democracy.
Bill Adair is an award-winning journalist and educator. He is the creator of PolitiFact and cofounder of the International Fact-Checking Network. In 2013, he became the Knight Professor of the Practice of Journalism and Public Policy at Duke University. His awards include the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting (with the PolitiFact staff), the Manship Prize for New Media in Democratic Discourse, and the Everett Dirksen Award for Distinguished Coverage of Congress.
Adair will be speaking with Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Editor Greg Borowski on Saturday, October 19th at 4:30 p.m at the Central Library, Community Room 302.
Esty’s second guest is Barbara Mcquade, author of Attack from Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America.
Barbara McQuade is a professor from practice at the University of Michigan Law School, her alma mater, where she teaches courses in criminal law, criminal procedure, national security, and data privacy. She is also a legal analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, and a co-host of the podcast #SistersInLaw. From 2010 to 2017, McQuade served as U.S Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. Ms. McQuade was appointed by President Barack Obama, and was the first woman to serve in her position.
Barbara will be speaking with award-winning journalist and author David Maraniss on Saturday, October 19th at 3p.m at the Central Library, Community Room 302. Copies of Attack From Within will be distributed for free to all attendees courtesy of the Wisconsin Book Festival.
Last Esty speaks with Barrett Klein, author of The Insect Epiphany: How Our Six-Legged Allies Shape Human Culture which is out on October 15th.
Barrett Klein is a professor of biology at University of Wisconsin – La Crosse where he spearheads Pupating Lab. He investigates mysteries of sleep in societies of insects, creates entomo-art, and is ever on the search for curious connections that bind our lives with our six-legged allies. Previously Barrett studied entomology at Cornell University and the University of Arizona, fabricated natural history exhibits at the American Museum of Natural History, and worked with honey bees for his PhD at the University of Texas at Austin.
Barrett will be speaking with poet and author Heather Swan on Saturday, October 19th, at 1:30p.m. at the Wisconsin Historical Society Auditorium.
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As we approach the one year anniversary of October 7th, 2023, Israel’s war on the Palestinians appears to be rapidly escalating into a broader regional conflict. Last Friday, an Israeli air assault killed Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut. As air strikes continued across the region, a heavily armored Israeli ground force began cross-border “ground raids” into southern Lebanon on Monday. On Tuesday, Iran launched a barrage of missiles aimed at Israel.Today, host Allen Ruff attempts to understand the evolving situation with Middle East analyst and commentator Mouin Rabbani. Rabbani is a Co-Editor of Jadaliyya and Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies. He is a semi-frequent guest on the program.Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Mouin Rabbani on the Escalating Crisis in the Middle East appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.
In the newly released book Flamboyants: The Queer Harlem Renaissance I Wish I’d Known, author George M. Johnson blends essays, poetry and personal narrative to tell stories of Black queer writers, performers, and activists from 1920s. Many of their sexualities were obscured or forgotten throughout history. The book is illustrated by Artist Charly Palmer. Johnson joins host Ali Muldrow to discuss the lives of the people in the book and the complexities of the writing a book about hidden sexualities.
George M. Johnson is an Award-Winning Black Non-Binary Writer, Author, and Executive Producer. They are the author of the New York Times Bestselling Author of the Young Adult memoir All Boys Aren’t Blue discussing their adolescence growing up as a young Black Queer boy in New Jersey through a series of powerful essays. George was listed on The Root 100 Most Influential African Americans in 2020. The Out 100 Most Influential LGBTQ People in 2021. And in 2022 was honored as one of the TIME100 Next Most Influential People in the World. Their second memoir We Are Not Broken was released in September of 2021.
Portrait photo by Vincent Marc
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In her new book, While You Were Out: An Intimate Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence, journalist Meg Kissinger introduces the reader to the family of her childhood. Kissinger grew up in Chicago in the 1960s as one of 8 children. From the outside, everything looked picture perfect; however, inside the home, the family was struggling with a number of metal heath crises.
Kissinger joins host Christina Lieffring to talk about about the book, and Kissinger’s two decades traveling across the country to report on America’s mental health system for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Kissinger is presenting at the Wisconsin Book Festival on Sunday, October 20th at 12pm at Central Library, Lower Reading Room. More information here.
Meg Kissinger teaches investigative reporting at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and was a visiting professor at DePauw University. Formerly, she was a journalist with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. A Pulitzer Prize finalist, she has won dozens of accolades, including two George Polk Awards, the Robert F. Kennedy Award, awards from Investigative Reporters and Editors, and two National Journalism Awards.
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Madison’s Youth Poet Laureate is Justin Festge Russell, a graduate of Madison East High School and a First Wave scholar at UW-Madison. The program is in it’s third year and is open to poets 13-19 years old. The Youth Poet Laureate is required to do three public readings with the current Madison Poet Laureate, and they have the opportunity to apply for the National Youth Poet Laureate role.
Festge Russell, who also produces music under the artist name Jexizis, joins guest host Angie Trudell Vasquez to talk about poetry and share some pieces.
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The Red Power Movement was a Native American movement for self-determination in response to years of Termination and Relocation policies in the U.S. The Warrior Women Project is bringing to light the often forgotten or ignored stories of the women involved in the movement. The project documents oral histories, maintains an archive, and produces media to be used in home communities and to educate through decolonial learning experiences.
Director Elizabeth Castle joins A Public Affair host Esty Dinur to talk about the project and the Warrior Women film which details the life of Lakota activist and community organizer Madonna Thunder Hawk. Warrior Women (2018) was a Peabody Award Nominated film and is available for rent or purchase on vimeo.
Dr. Elizabeth “Beth” Castle works at the intersection of media, scholarship, and activism as an anti-racist educator committed to liberating and sharing unknown histories of resistance. She started the Warrior Women Project (WWP) to preserve and make accessible the oral histories of Indigenous activists and disrupt the dominant historical narrative through research for her book Backbone: Women in the Red Power Movement. While completing her Ph.D. at Cambridge University, she worked at the White House for President Clinton’s Initiative on Race. She co-directed the Peabody Award Nominated film, Warrior Women (2018), and continues the collaborative work of the WWP in decolonizing curricula, activist archiving, and community media work.
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The new documentary Bad Faith exposes a political effort by Christian Nationalists to weaken and destroy American democracy and promote an authoritarian vision. It also highlights how secular and interfaith leaders are working to combat the push to fascism. Journalist Anne Nelson is a featured commentator in the film, and her book Shadow Network: Media, Money and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right is a source for the doc.
On today’s show, Nelson joins host Allen Ruff to give a history of Christian Nationalism and help us understand the current moment.
Bad Faith is showing today, Thursday, September 26 at 6:30 pm at Pinney Public Library
(516 Cottage Grove Rd) hosted by Concerned Citizens Against Christian Nationalism and on Tuesday, October 15th at 5 pm at Barrymore Theatre (2090 Atwood Ave) hosted by the Progressive Magazine, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, Community Shares of Wisconsin and the Center for Media and Democracy.
Anne Nelson is an award-winning investigative journalist who has written extensively about human rights and the defiance of totalitarian regimes. She is the author of Shadow Network, Media, Money and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right; the film’s unprecedented exposé of the covert Council for National Policy and its top secret membership rolls was made possible by her ground-breaking investigative work.Photo by Aaron Burden on UnsplashDid you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Christian Nationalism as a Anti-Democratic Force appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.
On today’s show, host Ali Muldrow speaks with community organizer and activist George Goehl. Goehl has a long history with organizing and been involved with campaigns as small as paving a road to large as reforming federal financial policy. He has now shifted his focus to teach the fundamental skills and concepts of organizing and tell stories of rural Americans’ organizing efforts.
Goehl is the author of the “Fundamentals of Community Organizing” Booklet–a 50 page guide to teach the fundamental skills and concepts of organizing. He is also the the host of the podcast “To See Each Other” which just launched a new season. Set in Wisconsin, this season features the fight to save a county nursing home.
George Goehl will be presenting at the Havens Wright Center today, Wednesday, September 25th from 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM. It’s a free hybrid event, and more information can be found on the center’s website.
Photo by Laura Seaman on Unsplash
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According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, on average 624 people in Dane County were experiencing homelessness on any given night in 2023. For people in their teens or early 20s, the barriers to housing can be greater and the outcomes more desperate. The Dane County Youth Action Board (YAB) is a diverse of folks between the ages of 14 and 24 with lived expertise of homelessness and housing instability. They are using their experiences to guide solutions. As part of the HUD-funded Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program, they (along with partner organizations) developed the 2022 Coordinated Community Plan with the goal to end youth homelessness in Madison and Dane County.
Guest host Sabrina Madison is joined by YAB members TaMaya Travis, Skye Gia Garcia, May Mahadevi Wilkins, and Program Coordinator for the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program Kayla Every. They discuss the unique barriers facing young people experiencing housing instability, the day to day of their work, and what is still needed in Madison and Dane County. They also talk about the opening of the new EverStrong Youth Drop-In Center.
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In early August, the 2024 Legislative Council Study Committee on Sandhill Cranes, met for the first time. The committee is tasked with recommending legislation to manage the sandhill crane population. They have heard reports on the crane population, reviewed damage claims, and explored mitigation options. The options include treating seeds to prevent cranes from eating them, paying farmers for lost crops, and allowing a crane hunt. The Cap Times reports that the yearly damage caused by sandhill cranes is estimated at $1.6 million.
On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes brings the conversation to the airways with guests David Drake and Rich Beilfuss. Drake is an UW-Extension Wildlife Specialist and Professor in the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology at UW-Madison. Beilfuss is the president and CEO International Crane Foundation. They join us to discuss the sandhill crane population growth and their impact.
We hear from several listeners throughout the hour.
Image by Marlin Greene from Pixabay
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According the to United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7th, 2023. Another 95,000+ have been injured. These numbers are certainly an undercount. The number of Gaza’s Silent Killings, or those who have died due to the crumbling medical infrastructure, continues to climb. Cases of polio have been found amongst Palestinian children. Communicable diseases are being spread due to a lack of sanitary infrastructure. People are been unable to access medical treatments for their critical, but treatable illnesses.
On today’s show, Esty Dinur talks with Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, a California-based trauma surgeon, who recently traveled to Gaza to provide care at Gaza’s European Hospital. He explains what he saw, and how chaotic things were inside one of Gaza’s few hospitals. Yara Asi, author How War Kills: The Overlooked Threats to our Health, also joined Dinur on the show to discuss the lasting impact war will have on mortality and health. Asi argues that even if a ceasefire happened tomorrow, the impact on health with continue for years and generations.
Image by Parentingupstream from Pixabay
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On today’s show, Yuri Rashkin steps into the host seat and talks with Madison-based Ukrainian activist Natalka Akulenko about Rashkin’s recent trip to Ukraine. They discuss the reality of Ukrainian life amid the ongoing war, Rashkin’s popular Youtube channel Rashkin Report, and finding joy and beauty in Ukraine.
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Next Wednesday, the Madison YWCA is hosting their annual Racial Justice Summit. This year, the 2024 Racial Justice Summit will occur virtually on September 25th and 26th and in-person at Monona Terrace on September 27th. The theme for the summit is Reflect, Connect, and Create New Worlds.
Ahead of the event, A Public Affair host Ali Muldrow is joined today by YWCA’s Race & Gender Equity team Libby Tucci, Myxee Thao, and Semaj Sconiers. They discuss what can be expected next week, the complexities of their work, and the ongoing pursuit of racial justice.
Registration for the in person events and workshops is closed, but tickets for the virtual keynotes can be purchased here.
Libby Tucci is the Interim Director of the Race & Gender Equity Team at YWCA Madison, and has been with the YWCA for almost 14 years. Libby’s work in the field of supporting survivors of domestic violence led her to become further connected and committed to the exploration of healing from the violence of white supremacy and patriarchy. She is passionate about working to dismantle white supremacy in all of its manifestations—inside of her, in the ways that she shows up in the world, and in our collective culture and structures. She believes that, not only can we all heal from the violence of white supremacy, patriarchy, and capitalism, but we can also nurture more liberated, interconnected, and compassionate ways of existing together.
Semaj Sconiers is a Race and Gender Equity Practitioners at YWCA Madison. In that role, she is an educator, wellness practitioner, and rest enthusiast She is also a mother, daughter, granddaughter, sister, friend, and phenomenal black woman thriving and surviving all at once.
Myxee Thao is Race and Gender Equity Practitioners at YWCA Madison. She is a racial justice facilitator, radical love practitioner, and passionate youth educator. Drawing on the ancestral wisdom of the HMoob people who she is descended from, Myxee holds storytelling, creative expression, and dreaming to the utmost importance. Her heart is eager to reimagine new, life-affirming, and emergent ways of being in community.Photos of the 2022 Summit, credit Hedi LaMarr PhotographyDid you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post What to Expect at YWCA’s 2024 Racial Justice Summit appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.
What are climate havens? They are seen as places with an abundance of freshwater that are cooler on average, and would benefit from milder winters. Wisconsin, and Madison in particular seem to fit that bill. In fact, this CBS News piece, holds Madison is stark contrast to Paradise, California which burned to the ground in 2018. Madison is toted as a place safe from–or even benefiting from–climate change. In her recent piece There will be no “climate haven”, Tone Madison News and Politics Editor Christina Lieffring writes that these narratives create “a false sense of security” and offers “potential easy answer to this crisis.”
Lieffring hosts today’s A Public Affair and goes more in depth with Professors Sumudu Atapattu and Richard Keller about the complex issue of climate-based displacement. Keller is the author Fatal Isolation: The Devastating Paris Heat Wave of 2003, and he argues that heat, even in cooler climates, can have drastic and deadly consequences when the infrastructure is not ready.
Atapattu, author of UN Human Rights Institutions and the Environment, offers that developing nations are disproportionately impacted by the rise in temperature, sea level, and natural disasters. She press that globally we must be prepared to relocate populations whose homes will become inhabitable.
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The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources calls the Waubesa Wetlands “one of the highest quality and most diverse wetlands remaining in southern Wisconsin.” This nature preserve, just south of Madison, is the location and subject of the new documentary film An Invitation to Wonder: Waubesa Wetlands.
Wetland scientist and UW-Madison Professor emeritus Calvin “Cal” DeWitt has lived on the edge for the marsh for more than 50 years. In An Invitation to Wonder, filmmaker and DeWitt’s grandson Ben Albert brings rich images and striking sounds scapes together with a story of intergenerational discovery. On today’s edition of A Public Affair, host Douglas Haynes is joined with DeWitt and Albert in the studio. They discuss the wetlands, the wildlife that lives there, and the making of the film.
More information about film screenings through the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies can be found here.
Image from Invitation to Wonder, used with permission
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On today’s two part show, host Esty Dinur talks about fighting for voting rights. First, we talk with author and journalist Greg Palast about his new documentary Vigilante Inc: America’s New Vote Suppression Hitmen. The film centers on self-appointed vote-fraud hunters or “vigilantes” who are challenging voter registration and blocking ballots from being counted. Vigilante Inc is now streaming here.
Then, we continue the show by recognizing the 30th anniversary of the 1994 Crime Bill. The extensive federal crime legislation authorized tougher convictions and granted money to states to expand correctional facilities, thus significantly contributing to mass incarceration and mass supervision across the United States.
People who are incarcerated or under supervision are unable to vote in Wisconsin. Dinur continues the theme of voting rights by talking to Jerome Dillard, Executive Director and one of the Founders of EXPO, Ex-incarcerated People Organizing. EXPO is leading the Unlock The Vote campaign by petitioning for change, educating around the issue, and helping to register people to vote following the completion of their sentence.
Photo Marchers with signs at the March on Washington, 1963 by Unseen Histories on Unsplash
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“I’m profoundly motivated this Labor Day,” Jon Shelton tells A Public Affair host Douglas Haynes. Shelton, Vice-President for Higher Education of the American Federation of Teachers-Wisconsin, joins the program to discuss the labor movement in Wisconsin’s public universities. We also hear from Daniel Leviton, co-president TAA-Madison, the labor union representing all graduate student workers at UW–Madison.
They have this conversation in light of a recent regent vote to lay off 32 tenured-faculty at UW-Milwaukee, the creation of new protest guidelines for UW-Madison, and five UW campuses shutting down.
Photo by Jonah Brown on Unsplash
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On today’s show, guest host Jeliel Peña de First speaks with Nindik Figueredo about the ongoing election crisis in Venezuela. On July 28th Venezuela held a presidential election in which opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez ran against President Nicolas Maduro. Despite many Venezuelans’ hope that they could get out from under the rule of Maduro, the National Electoral Council announced that Maduro won with 51% of the vote. However, the Council did not supply the printed voting machine receipts to support the win.
Meanwhile the opposition party has published thousands of receipts that support their belief that Edmundo Gonzalez is the winner. Their evidence shows Gonzalez receiving about 70% of the votes. Since election night, thousands of protesters have taken to the streets and more than 2,000 have been arrested and more than 20 people have been killed.
Figueredo stands in solidarity with the protestors. She shares her experience organizing a peaceful protest on August 17 in Madison. Figueredo and Peña de First also talk about the work of Maria Corina Machado who was the co-founder and leader of the vote-monitoring group Súmate as well as the founder of the Political Party Vente Venezuela.
Nindik Figueredo is from Barquisimeto, Venezuela where she studied law at Fermín Toro University. In 2017, facing the growing violence and repression in her country, Nindik decided to emigrate to the United States. Since 2021, she has been part of the team at Voces de la Frontera, where she serves as a community organizer for the immigrant workers network. In her role, she coordinates efforts to offer educational workshops on rights and protections for immigrant workers, significantly contributing to the empowerment of her community. She is also a mother and wife.
Image via Wikimedia Commons.
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As students, teachers, and families get ready for the 2024-2025 school year, host Allen Ruff speaks with social critic and educator, Henry Giroux.
They talk about how colleges and universities cracked down on student dissent and protest last spring in response to Israel’s war on Palestine and US universities’ complicity in that violence. Some students will arrive on campuses this fall and find that their ability to demonstrate and protest is more limited and potentially criminalized.
With this new reality in mind, Giroux and Ruff decipher the reactionary trend to discipline and punish, and Girioux says we can see the repressive state apparatus at work in the policing of students and faculty protestors.
Giroux says that young people understand that domination is economic, intellectual, and pedagogical. And he adds that educational institutions are crucial sites of struggle within democracy and they should be defended. He says that educators should be given more power and that students shouldn’t be treated as passive receivers in the education system.
Henry Giroux is an internationally renowned writer and cultural critic who has authored or co-authored over 65 books. He is McMaster University Chair for Scholarship in the Public Interest and the Paulo Freire Distinguished Scholar in Critical Pedagogy.
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The city of Madison is about to enter a new era of public transportation. On September 22, the long awaited Bus Rapid Transit or BRT is scheduled to launch the new East-West line. The BRT launch is the culmination of Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway’s MetroForward initiative made possible by federal funding for infrastructure development.
On today’s show, host Ali Muldrow is joined by Mayor Rhodes-Conway and Justin Stuehrenberg, the General Manager of Metro Transit. They talk about the Mayor’s vision for transportation in the city and how the BRT line developed even through the pandemic.
They inform listeners about the park and ride facilities at the East and West terminus, so if you’re driving in from outside Madison, you can still benefit from the BRT line and avoid parking downtown. Mayor Rhodes-Conway and Stuehrenberg also discuss how the BRT line was designed with high school students in mind. They say that the new electric buses are better for the environment and that having better transportation options is crucial for addressing housing concerns as well.
“Creating a good transportation choice will make life better for everyone,” says Mayor Rhodes-Conway.
Find out more about the BRT upgrades at mymetrobus.com and send your questions and comments to mymetrobus@cityofmadison.com.
Image courtesy of the City of Madison.
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Last month, the Milwaukee Inner-City Congregations Allied for Hope (MICAH), put on a rally the day before the Republican National Convention. The “We All Belong” rally was a multi-racial, interfaith, and ecumenical gathering that brought together over 750 participants who celebrated the idea of the Beloved Community.
It was at that rally that host Sara Gabler met today’s guest, Amanda Tyler. At the rally, faith leaders spoke about the ideology of white Christian Nationalism–an ideology that Tyler and others say has co-opted Christianity’s teachings by substituting the message of Jesus to “love thy neighbor” with xenophobia and a thirst for political power.
On today’s show, Tyler talks about how white Christian nationalism is an ethno-nationalist identity rather than a theological position. Christian nationalists want to enshrine a very contemporary and very exceptionalist vision of Christianity into American political and civic life. And they’re finding some success in states like Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma, as Tyler has written about. But Tyler shares how groups like Christians Against Christian Nationalism support the separation of church and state with theology and Biblical passages.
Amanda Tyler is the executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, also known as BJC. Tyler is the lead organizer of BJC’s Christians Against Christian Nationalism campaign and co-host of the BJC’s Respecting Religion podcast. She is a member of the Texas and US Supreme Court Bar, and she has worked in Congress, private practice, and as a law clerk for a federal judge. In 2022 and 2023, Tyler testified to Congress about the threat of white Christian nationalism, and she has a book called How to End Christian Nationalism coming out in October from Broadleaf Books.
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On today’s show, host Karma Chávez returns to chat with education scholar Rachelle Winkle-Wagner about her new book, The Chosen We: Black Women’s Empowerment in Higher Education. They talk about how, as a white woman, Winkle-Wagner built trust with the Black women she interviewed for the book, and how her relationship to Black feminist theory–especially the idea of collective liberation–developed over the years.
Winkle-Wagner also shares her findings on how Black women navigate race and gender at HBCUs and predominantly white institutions (PWIs). She offers suggestions for how PWI’s like UW–Madison can better support Black women, especially at a time of cuts to diversity, equity, and inclusion funding.
Winkle-Wagner’s book focuses on the role of community support and is drawn from research conducted over the course of a decade. It documents the experiences and oral histories of 105 accomplished, college-educated Black women who graduated between 1954 and 2014 from both HBCUs and predominantly white institutions. Winkle-Wagner’s findings demonstrate that maintaining connection and community among themselves—a Chosen We—has been the primary way that Black women have persevered and thrived in and beyond higher education for generations.
Rachelle Winkle-Wagner is Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She earned her PhD from Indiana University in Education Policy Studies with a concentration in higher education and minors in sociology and qualitative inquiry. Prior to coming to UW–Madison, she held positions on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Nebraska–Lincoln. She is the author of nine books, including The Unchosen We: Black Women and Identity in Higher Education.
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On today’s show, Esty Dinur hosted a roundtable about the side of the Democratic National Convention that doesn’t normally get talked about. First we heard from Halah Ahmad about the way the DNC avoided talking about the war in Gaza, and how the Harris campaign looks likely to continue the Biden Administration’s tepid response to the genocide. Then Nick Wylie from the Public Media Institute and WORT’s own news team of Chali Pittman, Faye Parks, and Carlos Dávalos shared what they saw during their reporting in Chicago, including the disconnect between the frustrated protesters and the jubilant convention-goers.
Halah Ahmad is an activist and spokesperson for Listen to Wisconsin. Nick Wylie is the managing director for the Public Media Institute based out of Chicago.
Image courtesy of Chali Pittman/WORT News Department
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The DNC is wrapping up this week in a celebratory mood, but with the Gaza War hanging over the convention. Guest Bill Ayers joins the show to talk about the state of left activism and protest in the light of the current moment. He points out that the situation is similar to the famous Democratic Convention of ’68, but has several key differences, including the speed and power of the peace movement in making its demands heard. The conversation also touches on the contradiction of movement making when it comes into contact with electoral politics, and how left-leaning people need to look beyond the vote to make their voices heard.
Bill Ayers is a Chicago-based organizer, a former fugitive, a retired education professor from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and an activist in the abolition movement. His book “When Freedom in the Question, Abolition is the Answer: Reflections on Collective Action” is available through Beacon Press.
Image Courtesy of Beacon Press
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On today’s show, guest Abigail Swetz sat down with Ali Muldrow to discuss the future of LGBTQ+ advocacy in Wisconsin. They talk about how public disparagement of queer joy creates a crisis of compassion, how being a teacher and being an advocate inform each other, and how difficult activism can be during the noise of an election year. Their conversation also explores the power of incorporating your own identity into your work, and on how demonstrations of support can bring more people to the table.
Abigail Swetz is the new Executive Director of Fair Wisconsin, a non-profit dedicated to advancing LGBTQ+ rights and acceptance. She previously worked as Communication Director for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. She is a former teacher and new parent.
Image Courtesy of Chali Pittman/WORT news department.
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On today’s show, guest host Jessa Nicholson Goetz sat down with Professor Aisha Beliso-De Jesús to discuss her new book “Excited Delirium: Race, Police Violence, and the Invention of a Disease.” Their conversation explores the history of “excited delirium syndrome” and its roots in religious bigotry, racist policing, and bad science. They talk about the way medical examiners put the onus of violence on the victims of police brutality, how our society racializes drug use, and the long history of fear toward Black and Brown bodies.
Aisha Beliso-De Jesús is a cultural and social anthropologist at Princeton University. Her work examines practitioners of the Santería religion, police officers, and police violence. “Excited Delirium” is available through Duke University Press.
Image courtesy of Duke University Press.
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On today’s show host Douglas Haynes sits down with Heather Swan to talk about her new book “Where the Grass Still Sings: Stories of Insects and Interconnections.” Heather Swan is a poet, writer, and lecturer in the University of Wisconsin – Madison’s English Department. Her book tells stories of human-insect connections through the lens of science and art, with a focus on the way we can connect across species.
Heather talks about the way insects have been categorized as pests, how honeybees and other pollinators are a great on-ramp to considering the larger world of insects, and how humility and openness can open your eyes to the awe-inspiring insects all around us.
Image courtesy of Ernesto Rodriguez/Pixabay.
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On today’s show, host Esty Dinur speaks with journalist Joe Conason about grift, Trump University, and what Conason says is the moral decay of conservatism. In Conason’s new book, The Longest Con: How Grifters, Swindlers, and Frauds Hijacked American Conservatism, he traces the long line of con artists leading up to the rise of Trump within the GOP.
Conason points to the Australian physician, Frederick C. Schwarz, who founded the Christian Anti-Communism Crusade, Robert Welch and the John Birch Society, Richard Viguerie and direct mail campaigns, and Jerry Falwell as key figures in the run-up to Trump. He says that Trump practices the same deception as conservative religious leaders preaching the prosperity gospel.
Conason also discusses how grifters profit off people’s fear and attack institutions like public education. Today we’re seeing some of the same themes and tactics that were used during the communist scare. From his mentors like Roy Cohn, Trump learned to position himself as the victim of a liberal conspiracy, says Conason. But Cohn learned this trick from Senator Joseph McCarthy’s philosophy of impunity.
Joe Conason is an American journalist and commentator. He is editor-in-chief of The National Memo, a daily political newsletter, and a senior fellow at Type Media Center. His articles have appeared in many publications around the world, including The New Republic, The Nation, The Guardian, Salon, and The American Prospect. He was executive editor of The New York Observer and a staff writer at The Village Voice. Two of his previous books, The Hunting of the President and Big Lies, were New York Times bestsellers.
Image courtesy of St. Martin’s Press.
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On today’s show, Armando Ibarra joins Allen Ruff to talk about the prevalence of anti-immigrant rhetoric in the GOP platform. Ibarra discusses what makes anti-immigrant narratives so appealing and how politicians use the language of “safety” and “invasion” to fuel racism and xenophobia in their base.
To counter the anti-immigrant narratives promulgated by conservatives, Ibarra tracks the long history of anti-immigrant political rhetoric, points out the huge economic gains that migrant laborers provide to the US, and says that unauthorized immigrants pay taxes and contribute to Social Security, a program that they won’t have access to. Ibarra asserts that unauthorized immigrants are the most vulnerable when states institute austerity practices.
Armando Ibarra is a Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor in the School for Workers at UW-Madison. He is the co-author of the award winning The Latino Question: Politics, Labouring Classes and the Next Left. Ibarra also works with Voces de la Frontera and Centro Hispano.
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On today’s show, Ali Muldrow hosts a late summer roundup. From the Madison Public Market to the new BRT system and the Madison Night Mares, there’s a lot going on that makes Madison a beautiful place to live.
We’re joined by Keisha Harrison, the new CEO of the Madison Public Market. Before Keisha came to Madison, she was the executive director of the Indianapolis City Market Corporation where she led activities related to the operation and restoration of the historic city market. In her new role, Keisha says it’s a priority to foster equity through entrepreneurship and make the market vendors representative of Madison as a whole.
Mick Rusch is Metro Transit’s Chief Development Officer, and he says that Metro’s new fast fare technology will create more access for folks with disabilities. Soon, folks will be able to purchase tickets online and won’t have to “make a trip to take a trip,” says Rusch. Find more info at mymetrobus.com/fares. And next spring, you’ll be able to take the BRT to the Madison Public Market.
Last week was the end of the Madison Night Mares inaugural season. Samantha Rubin, the General Manager of the Mallards and Night Mares reports that folks around Madison have embraced the new team. She says that the team is creating opportunities for collegiate women athletes to play and improve their skills over the summer season.
Image courtesy of Richard Hurd/Wikimedia Commons under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
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Today is primary election day in Wisconsin, and when you head to the polls, you can expect to see a number of partisan races and two proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot. Some voters may be electing new representatives because of Wisconsin’s new legislative maps. To break down what’s on the primary ballot and how the new maps might impact the election, guest host Abigail Leavins speaks with Nick Ramos of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
Ramos weighs in on the significance of the new legislative maps that many Democrats hope will end the partisan gerrymandering in the legislature. He unpacks the power of the Dane County Executive role. And he says that the two proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot are a kind of power grab and don’t make sense for Wisconsin.
Ramos says that this election is special because we’re seeing more competitive races on the ballot. The new maps are a sign of hope that candidates who before might not have campaigned now have a real shot to win in a general election. “People want to see choices,” says Ramos.
If you want to hear more on the election and hear the local candidates talk about their priorities, check out WORT’s primary voting guide. You can see everything on your ballot, and where your polling place is, at MyVote Wisconsin.
Nick Ramos is a lawyer, advocate, and community organizer who is currently serving as the Executive Director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. Prior to joining the Democracy Campaign, he served as the Wisconsin Voter ID Coalition Coordinator with VoteRiders, a non-partisan organization that works to ensure that all eligible voters have access to photo ID in order to cast their ballot and have it count.
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On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes takes a field trip to speak with Alex Booker at Badger Rock Urban Farm. Booker is the Madison Public Library’s naturalist in residence. The theme of his residency, Find Your Way Back to Nature, focuses on ways to reconnect with the ecosystems that surround us. Naturalist programming includes nature walks, tea blending, flower arranging, sound baths, and more.
Booker walks Haynes through the farm, from the food forest to the chicken coup. They chat about using all your senses when you garden, how to make pesto with weeds, books like Working the Roots: Over 400 Years of Traditional African American Healing, and how gardening can lead to liberation.
Alex Booker is a Madison native whose passion for nature began at a young age. Over the past four years, Booker has focused on food insecurity and urban agriculture. He has worked as the Manager of the Badger Rock Neighborhood Center, where he started out as an Assistant Farm Education Manager growing his skills as a program facilitator for all ages.
Photo courtesy of Sara Gabler/WORT.
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This week anti-immigrant rhetoric and online misinformation spurred riots in Great Britain following the fatal stabbing of three girls. The rioters attacked Muslim and migrant communities and immigration centers across the UK. Before that, at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Trump supporters waved posters and changed “mass deportations now.”
In addition to these very visible scenes, profit-seeking corporations and individuals are quietly targeting vulnerable people escaping violence, poverty, and climate change. To discuss this, Esty Dinur speaks with lawyer and anthropologist Petra Molnar. Her new book, The Walls Have Eyes: Surviving Migration in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, exposes the inhumane use of experimental surveillance technology on migrants around the world.
Molnar discusses the incursion of surveillance technologies into everyday life, the use of AI lie detectors used in courts, the normalization of Face ID and face scans during travel, the violence of the surveillance dragnet that pushes the border into dangerous areas of the Sonoran Desert, and the brave work of humanitarian activists like the group Battalion Search and Rescue.
Image courtesy of The New Press.
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Ismail Haniyeh, a top political leader of Hamas, was assassinated in Teheran, presumably by Israel, on Wednesday, July 31. The day prior, an Israeli air strike in Beirut killed Fuad Shukr, said to have been Hezbollah’s top military commander. Then, last Thursday, the day after Haniyeh’s death, the Israeli army confirmed that it had killed the commander of Hamas’ military wing Mohammed Deif in an attack in Gaza on July 13.
Coming amidst the ongoing Israeli onslaught and deteriorating conditions for the Palestinians of Gaza, these recent developments can only serve to further inflame the region’s conflict.
Returning to A Public Affair to share his perspectives and provide some context for these latest events and where things might be headed is the Palestinian commentator and Middle East observer, Mouin Rabbani.
Mouin Rabbani is a researcher, analyst, and commentator specializing in Palestinian affairs, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the contemporary Middle East. He is the Co-Editor of Jadaliyya.
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Project 2025 is the Republican plan to rapidly remake the US government if Donald Trump is reelected. It’s over 900 pages long and was created by the Heritage Foundation, an ultra conservative think tank. Project 2025 promises to abolish the US Department of Education and criminalize abortion pills, among other things. Though Donald Trump has claimed he doesn’t know anything about it, its authors include many people close to the former president.
Now democrats are trying to raise awareness of this document, and everyone from Joe Biden to Taraji P. Henson is talking about it. To break down what Project 2025 is and what it would do, host Ali Muldrow is joined by journalist Lisa Graves.
Graves says Project 2025 is an elite document written by Trump’s insider advisors who are trying to use the executive branch to impose unpopular policies.
Lisa Graves is the executive director of True North Research, a national investigative watchdog group. She is also the board president of the Center for Media and Democracy. Follow Lisa’s work on Project 2025 at project2025admin.com.
Image from Flickr.
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Assembly District 47 covers Fitchburg and parts of Southeastern Dane County, from Stoughton, McFarland, the towns of Rutland, Dunn, Dunkirk, Albion, and Pleasant Springs. It’s both urban and rural, with sprawling suburban subdivisions and dense apartment complexes.
Joe Maldonado is a candidate running to represent this area in the Wisconsin legislature. On today’s show, he speaks with host Carousel Bayrd about his priorities for the district. Maldonado currently serves on the Fitchburg City Council and has a background in youth development. He says he wants to be a voice for historically underrepresented and working class voters. And he believes that “youth have the ideas, and youth have the solutions.”
As Dane County grows, Maldonado says it’s important for municipalities to control their own transit systems and to find ways to use the 3 billion dollar state surplus toward youth programming, like the new teen center in Fitchburg. He wants to keep legislators from drawing gerrymandered districts again. Joe says that voters he talks to care about reproductive rights, legalizing cannabis, expanding healthcare, and supporting teachers and students.
Joe Maldonado was born in Milwaukee to a working class family. He participated in precollege programming through the YMCA in Milwaukee before becoming involved in youth programming himself. He has worked for the United Way of Dane County and now serves as the bilingual community youth development program manager for the University of Wisconsin-Extension.
Note: Candidate Randy Udell declined to be interviewed about the race.
Photo courtesy of Sara Gabler/WORT.
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“I want destination Madison to also be destination MMSD,” says new Superintendent Joe Gothard. He joins host Douglas Haynes today to talk about his vision for Madison Metropolitan School District, Wisconsin’s second largest school district which serves over 26,000 students.
Gothard returned to Madison last spring to take on this new role as Superintendent. The role comes with its challenges including a decline in student enrollment, a budget shortfall, and achievement gaps.
Their conversation touched on MMSD’s 10 community schools, the role of public schools in supporting youth mental health, school safety, and the two referenda on the November 5 ballot. If approved, these referenda would increase MMSD’s budget and enable the district to replace or renovate 10 campuses. One of the items comes with a steep price for Madison homeowners, but Superintendent Gothard says that increasing the district’s operating budget would make it possible to really invest in students’ futures.
Dr. Joe Gothard grew up on Madison’s east side and attended Elvehjem Elementary School, Sennett Middle School and La Follette High School. He launched his teaching career as a high school biology teacher at La Follette. Since then he has served as an educational assistant, a football coach, a principal, dean of students and as assistant superintendent for secondary schools in MMSD. Most recently, Dr. Gothard served as superintendent of St. Paul Public Schools (SPPS), a position he held for seven years before returning to Madison as MMSD’s new superintendent.
Photo courtesy of Sara Gabler/WORT.
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On today’s show, host Esty Dinur opens up the phone lines to hear from listeners. Callers weighed in on COVID, the upcoming Democratic National Convention, and the war in Gaza.
Have ideas for a future Friday edition of A Public Affair? Email talk@wortfm.org.
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Allen Ruff discusses Israel’s military complex with author and political activist, Jeff Halper. They cover Israeli armaments, including F35s and training programs in the US, like the one at Georgia State University. Halper has written about instruments of population control and the use of Gaza as a “laboratory” to create “permanent pacification.”
Halper argues that you have to understand settler colonialism to understand what’s happening in Gaza right now. He defines settler colonialism as what happens when one population arrives in a place with the intent to take over. The occupying group then invents a narrative about why they’re entitled to the land rather than the indigenous population. In combination with ethno-nationalism, narratives of entitlement form the basis for Zionism.
Settler colonialism is a “unilateral” project, says Halper, who adds that we have to adopt an anti-colonial language. That means getting rid of the idea that there are “two sides.”
Jeff Halper is an anthropologist, Israeli anti-occupation activist, and founder and director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. He is also the author of multiple books including, War Against the People: Israel, the Palestinians and Global Pacification (2015).
Photo courtesy of Pluto Press.
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On today’s show, guest host Christina Lieffring speaks with Kavin Senapathy. In their new book, The Progressive Parent, Senapathy writes about how the “In This House We Believe” yard signs originated in Madison following the 2016 presidential election. Senapathy says that “whether or not someone chooses to display it around their dwelling, there’s power in its message for parents if we also act intentionally on these shared core values: science, truth, equity, and justice.” Their book is an exploration of what it means to live those values and raise children according to those values.
In their conversation, Lieffring and Senapathy cover topics like breastfeeding, the “breast is best” slogan, and the formula industry. They delve into the ideology of biological essentialism and how this impacts trans rights, abortion rights, and racism. And they cover how the idea of biological essentialism appears at the Olympics. Overall, Senapathy’s book re-educates readers about the science of gender and sex, and it argues for antiracist parenting rather than colorblind parenting.
Kavin Senapathy is an award-winning science journalist whose writing appears in SciShow, Slate, Scientific American, SELF, The Daily Beast, Salon, Forbes, and more. Their book, The Progressive Parent: Harnessing the Power of Science and Social Justice to Raise Awesome Kids, comes out August 6th.
Featured image courtesy of Harper Collins.
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On today’s show, longtime host Carousel Bayrd comes out of retirement to interview the three candidates for Wisconsin Senate District 16. The seat is currently held by Melissa Agard who is running for Dane County Executive.
Because of Wisconsin’s new legislative maps, District 16 now looks a little different and represents a diverse group of rural and urban communities. It includes Sun Prairie, Cottage Grove, parts of North Madison, Fitchburg, Cambridge, Fort Atkinson, Stoughton, and even parts of Dodge and Jefferson Counties.
Representative Melissa Ratcliff says that protecting abortion access is her top priority. As a candidate she also promises to support education, take care of teachers, fight for the environment and prevent gun violence. Rep. Ratcliff is currently serving in the Wisconsin State Assembly.
Representative Samba Baldeh also serves on the Wisconsin State Assembly and before that served for six years on the Madison Common Council. He says that supporting immigrants, creating quality child care programs, and taking care of students and the elderly are top priorities. For Baldeh, access to broadband and clean water are issues that unite cities and rural communities.
Representative Jimmy Anderson is a longtime advocate for disabled folks in Wisconsin. He also advocates for healthcare, environmental causes (from PFAS to flooding), and education. Anderson has served in the Wisconsin State Assembly for eight years.
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Voters will see two proposed constitutional amendments on their upcoming August 13 primary ballot. To talk about what these proposed amendments mean and their potential impacts, host Douglas Haynes talks with Bill Davis of the River Alliance and Eileen Newcomer from the League of Women Voters. They say their organizations are opposed to both amendments because they would inhibit the governor from responding to emergencies like public health crises or natural disasters.
Newcomer says that the first proposed constitutional change stems from lawmakers wanting a more active role in how federal funds are dispersed, particularly in light of COVID funds. But, says Newcomer, the republican controlled legislature has been very inactive when it comes to responding to emergencies like COVID.
The second proposed change would make it impossible for the governor to respond to people’s needs in a timely manner, particularly to respond to natural disasters by disprusing federal relief funds. Because federal relief funds come from taxpayer dollars, Newcomer and Davis say that the Wisconsin government needs a speedy way to access and disperse these funds back to Wisconsin taxpayers.
The language of both ballot referendum questions is poorly worded, some say intentionally so. Davis and Newcomer are concerned that placing these issues on a primary ballot when voter turnout is historically lower, means that too few voters will have the change to weigh in.
To learn more about what’s on the ballot, go to myvotewisconsin.org.
Bill Davis is a Senior Legal Analyst at the River Alliance of Wisconsin.
Eileen Newcomer is the Voter Education Manager at the League of Women Voters.
Image courtesy of Rep. Mike Bare’s office.
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This week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received applause while addressing the US Congress. That’s despite the rising death toll in Gaza, which some analysts consider to be near 186,000. On today’s show, Jennifer Loewenstein joins host Esty Dinur to discuss the absurdity of Netanyahu’s visit to Congress. Loewenstein calls the genocide in Gaza a slow motion genocide and says that the US is “stoking the flames” of a major regional war in the Middle East by supporting Israel with military aid.
According to Loewenstein, Israel is significant to the US because it serves as an off-shore base and a branch of US power in the region. The state of Israel also enjoys a mythic power among the religious right in the US. But even democrats take part in the support of the Israeli state. Loewenstein says she’s not convinced that Kamala Harris’s presidential run will change the narrative on Israel among democrats. She predicts that there may be some “cosmetic” changes with the potential for Harris to express sympathy toward Palestinians, but she doesn’t expect policy changes.
Jennifer Loewenstein is an American activist, journalist, and founder of the Madison-Rafah Sister City Project. Her work has appeared in academic journals such as The Journal of Palestine Studies, and she is a regular contributor to the CounterPunch magazine.
Photo of Benjamin Netanyahu addressing the US Congress in 2015. Image via Flickr.
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Wisconsin’s prisons continue to operate in a state of “modified movement.” That’s how the Department of Corrections describes conditions that are commonly referred to as lockdown. During this period of “modified movement,” specifically from June 2023 to February 2024, four inmates died in Waupun Correctional Institution. On June 5, Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt arrested Waupun warden, Randall Hepp, and eight other Waupun employees. They face misconduct and felony inmate abuse charges.
Today, Allen Ruff speaks with professor Steven Wright who says that the problems at Waupun are just the tip of the iceberg. The Wisconsin prison population has increased over the last few decades. Meanwhile, following Act 10, there has been a rapid decline in the number of people willing to work for the DOC, says Wright. That means that Wisconsin prisons are overcrowded with understaffing rates as high as 60%.
The DOC’s solution to this understaffing problem has been to keep men in their cells and to cut back on social work staff and medical and rehabilitative services. Wright sees this as a lingering effect of Act 10. But, says Wright, we need to change the way that people conceive of the purpose of prisons in the US as well as address the ways that Black and Native individuals are policed, prosecuted, and sentenced in this country.
Steven Wright is a clinical professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School, where he directs the Constitutional Litigation, Appeals, and Sentencing Project. He is the former co-director of the Wisconsin Innocence Project and has litigated for the Voting Rights Act and other civil rights acts.
Image courtesy of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections.
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In today’s show, host Ali Muldrow talks with sociology professor Jessica Calarco about how women are shaped by multiple forces in our society to take up the role of mother, of homemaker, and of caregiver. They discuss how, from a young age, girls are trained to put others first, and to do emotional labor. That training spills over into adulthood, where ideas of gender shape the workplace, the division of labor in the family, and how people feel fulfilled. And in the end, women provide much of the labor that enables the public policy choices in the United States, acting as the true safety net for so many people.
Jessica Calarco is a professor of sociology at UW-Madison. She has a new book “Holding it Together: How Women Became America’s Safety Net.” In it, she recounts the patterns she observed in interviews with over 4000 parents over five years, and then traces those patterns back to public policies that have left so much care work to women.
Image courtesy of Penguin Random House.
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On today’s show, guest host Nada Elmikashfi talks with Professor Kevin L. Clay about his new book “The Promise of Youth Anti-Citizenship: Race and Revolt in Education.” He describes the way the current approach to citizenship does not adequately serve young people, who need greater political power than is available through mere voting. He also talks about the ways in which the current education system forces youth into a middle-class model of success, while simultaneously not providing the resources or support necessary to make that success possible.
Dr. Kevin L. Clay is an Assistant Professor of Black Studies in Education at Rutgers University. He co-edited his book “The Promise of Youth Anti-Citizenship” with Professor Kevin Lawrence Henry Jr., from UW-Madison. It includes essays on the subject of youth resistance to citizenship from a number of contributors.
Image courtesy of the University of Minnesota Press
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Getting a start in gardening can be a daunting process. In today’s show, host Douglas Haynes sat down with Lisa Johnson, a horticulture educator at UW’s Dane County Extension, and Nicholas Leete, Community Gardens Network Director at Rooted Wisconsin to share some gardening tips and tricks here in Southern Wisconsin.
The conversation covers how to get started gardening in Wisconsin, what fruits and vegetables are doing well this year, and what a changing climate means for the region. The guests also talk about the pests that come with a wet spring, new fruit varietals that are now options, and what to do about all those pesky mammals that find their way into your garden.
Photo courtesy of Elenaiks/Pixabay.
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As both political parties in the United States seem determined to continue American involvement in wars across the globe, it can feel like a daunting time to be part of the peace movement. On today’s show, host Esty Dinur talks with two peace activists about how they approach their work in these troubling times.
Coleen Rowley is a retired FBI agent who is a long-time member of Women Against Military Madness and Veterans for Peace. She recently protested at the RNC against the genocide in Gaza.
Matthew Hoh is a former Marine Corps captain who is currently the associate director of the Eisenhower Media Network.
Together the three of them discuss the political impasse Americans find themselves in, and where they still turn to find hope.
Image courtesy of Janne Leimola/ Unsplash
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Dark money is coursing through our political landscape, with massive amounts of money being spent without much public oversight or even public disclosure. To explain the problem, host Allen Ruff talks with Steve Macek, a professor of communication who serves as Chair of the Department of Communication and Media Studies at North Central College in Napierville. He has a recent article in the Progressive Magazine covering the issue.
Macek describes the legal money laundering that goes on within a vast web of different non-profits and PACs, as well as how a toothless FEC fails to properly investigate complaints. Meanwhile, the media coverage of the problem is tepid and often fails to convey the seriousness of the problem.
Image courtesy of S K on Pixabay.
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Today we rebroadcast host Ali Muldrow’s first show of 2024, where she welcomed back a show favorite to talk about the role abortion access will play in the upcoming election season. “It’s not just about voting. Right? Voting is the first thing you do, and then the rest of it is how do you participate in your own democracy,” comedian and activist Lizz Winstead tells Ali. “You’re voting for somebody who you can literally put pressure on to move in a better political direction.”
Lizz Winstead is a comedian and co-host of the podcast Feminist Buzzkills Live. Lizz is a prominent abortion rights activist, and one of the founders of Abortion Access Front. Which is a team of comedians, writers, and producers that uses humor to destigmatize abortion.
Photo by Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash
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The US Supreme Court had a momentous term this spring, with multiple far-ranging and momentous decisions handed down. One such decision was Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which ended the Chevron doctrine, a long-standing approach to federal regulations.
To help explain just how big of a change this may be, guest host Jessa Nicholson Goetz sat down with Steph Tai, a professor at UW-Madison who works on environmental and administrative law, and Evan Feinauer, a lawyer from Clean Wisconsin who works on water regulations. Together they explore just how murky the future is for federal regulations and administrative law in the wake of a judiciary that seems very confident in its ability to settle fine points of interpretation without much expertise in the underlying field.
Image courtesy of Andrew Martin / Pixabay.
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Last week a Wisconsin state legislature study committee held their first meeting to look at the University of Wisconsin school system. The committee will meet over the next few months before publishing their findings later this year.
Here to discuss the committee’s work is Representative Alex Joers, a democrat from Middleton who is serving on the committee, and Professor Neil Kraus, who works at UW-River Falls and has written a book about neoliberalism in higher ed.
In their discussion of the new committee, they touch on the way students and staff have been excluded from serving on the committee, how the rhetorics of austerity persist despite a large state budget surplus, and how the findings of the committee are likely to be skewed under the current Republican leadership in the legislature.
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NFT’s helped break the glass ceiling for digital art, says investigative journalist Zachary Small. And at the very center of the fast and loose history of NFTs, crypto, and high art, that Small captures in their recent book, Token Supremacy: the Art of Finance, the Finance of Art, and the Great Crypto Crash of 2022, is an age old question of the value of art–perhaps the very meaning of value itself.
On today’s show, guest host Nate Carlin talks with Small about the financialization of art and how speculation has always existed in this very decentralized and unregulated world. When crypto and NFTs entered the scene, some of the tools born in the traditional art market were filtered through Silicon Valley’s techno-optimism. And in this brave new mysterious world, some speculated that humans may just become gods.
In their conversation, Carlin and Small touch on the fame of Vera Molnár, algorithmic art, Justin Sun, collectability, the Bored Ape Yacht Club, shams and scams, and the crash of FTX that brought the world to a stumbling halt.
Image courtesy of Penguin Random House.
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Today on A Public Affair, host Allen Ruff opened up the phone lines to WORT listeners. Folks called in with comments about whether Biden should be the Democratic nominee for president or whether he should drop out of the race. Callers shared their opinions on the privatization of public services, the climate crisis, and how the Democratic party should address these pressing issues.
Thank you to all 18 of our callers!
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
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What unites the collaboration between Michael Jordan and Nike, Barack Obama’s meteoric ascent to the White House, and Kendrick Lamar’s historic 2018 Pulitzer Prize win? Hip hop culture.
That’s according to Dr. Todd Boyd in his new book, Rapper’s Deluxe: How Hip Hop Made the World. Rapper’s Deluxe is a collection of major moments in hip hop and American history that highlights the genre’s expansive influence on the world’s cultural canon.
Host Ali Muldrow and Dr. Boyd talk about Lauryn Hill’s critical acclaim and commercial success, gender and respectability politics, hip hop’s influence on fashion in iconic moments like Nicki Minaj and Anna Wintour seated next to each other at a fashion show, and much more.
Dr. Todd Boyd is the Katherine and Frank Price Endowed Chair for the Study of Race and Popular Culture and Professor of Cinema and Media Studies in the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. He has appeared in numerous award winning documentaries and has written over one hundred articles, reviews, and more. A media commentator, author, producer, consultant and scholar, Dr. Boyd is an intellectual and creative force who transcends boundaries and defies conventional categorization.
Image courtesy of Phaidon.
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Delegates from across the country will head to Milwaukee next week for the Republican National Convention, where the GOP will officially anoint Trump and adopt a party platform.
Meanwhile here in Madison, we’re fresh off a visit from President Biden, even as the whispers of discontent with the President as a presidential contender continue to swirl since his performance during the first debate.
On today’s show, Chali Pittman talks with John Nichols who says that Biden’s campaign is too “cautious” and “stage managed.” Nichols says this approach won’t cut it this time, but also says that the dial is pointing toward Biden staying in the race.
In their conversation, Nichols unpacks the ongoing concerns and nuances of the calls for Biden to step down as a candidate. And he previews what to expect from the upcoming RNC, including much theater and opulence as well as the Republican party avoiding mentioning Donald Trump’s recent convictions.
John Nichols is a political correspondent, associate editor of The Capital Times, and national affairs correspondent for The Nation. You can follow him on X @nicholsuprising.
Image of Milwaukee via Wikimedia Commons.
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Housing is the biggest issue facing communities across Dane County. Families are locked out of home ownership, lower- and middle-wage workers commute throughout the county increasing their transportation costs and employment turnover, older adults who can no longer maintain their homes have limited options, lower income households are increasingly sharing rental spaces, evictions are on the rise and so is homelessness.
To talk about what Dane County is planning to do about the housing crisis, host Douglas Haynes talks with three staff and committee members of the Dane County Housing Advisory Committee about the Dane County Regional Housing Strategy. Olivia Parry, a Senior Planner at Dane County says that “unstable homes make unstable communities,” and Dane County has a history of segregated housing that exacerbates housing inequities in the present.
Becky Binz, the Housing and Equitable Development Planner for the city of Sun Prairie, says that in her community people who want to can’t afford to live in Sun Prairie and that social services organizations are seeing an uptick in requests for assistance.
Alex Allon, the Community Development Director for the Village of DeForest says that folks in his community are making trade offs in order to afford rent. One local food bank serves 800 families who experience food insecurity, in part from the rising price of housing. That’s in a community with a total population of about 11,000 people.
To address housing affordability, communities are changing their zoning restrictions, using affordable housing funds, increasing the number of units, and creating incentives for developers to meet communities’ goals.
Image courtesy of Dane County.
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On June 28 the US Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 vote that the enforcement of laws in the city of Grants Pass, Oregon that punished homeless people for sleeping outside did not violate the Constitution’s 8th amendment prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment.
In the majority opinion, which included all six conservative justices, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that the causes of homelessness are many and “so may be the policy responses required to address it.” In a dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor criticized what she called the majority’s misprioritization of the needs of local governments over the safety of vulnerable homeless populations.
Guest host, Jess Miller, speaks with two guests about this decision and what it means for folks experiencing homelessness in Dane County where 737 people were experiencing homelessness on a single night in January of this year. That’s up 18% from 2023.
Eric Tars is the Senior Policy Director for the National Homelessness Law Center. He says that policing and criminalization don’t solve homelessness. Rather, an approach that includes universal housing, repairing existing housing programs, eviction prevention, and supportive services is the route to moving folks out of homelessness and into stable housing.
Andrea White, is a social justice advocate who works at Madison’s YWCA. She is a member of the Homeless Services Consortium of Dane County. Andrea says that the more advocates in the community the better. The more people talk to their neighbors and alders, the greater the impact they can have educating people about homelessness.
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The local partisan primary election is coming up on August 13, 2024. On the ballot are constitutional amendments, state legislative races, and the race for Dane County Executive–for a seat recently vacated by longtime Executive Joe Parisi. In our last episode speaking with candidates for Dane County Executive Chali Pittman is joined by Regina Vidaver.
Vidaver shares that her top priority for the county is housing. And, if elected, she plans to implement all 17 strategies in the recently released Regional Housing Strategy published by Dane County. That includes increasing affordable housing funds and creating affordable transportation. Vidaver’s background as a medical researcher shapes her approach to problem solving. She takes a hypothesis based approach to addressing policy issues like childcare and the food ecosystem.
Regina Vidaver was elected to Madison’s Common Council in 2021. She represents District 5 that includes midtown and the near west side–from the stadium to Hilldale. Before being elected as alder, she served on a variety of councils, committees, and work groups, including the Madison Food Policy Council, the Regional Agriculture and Food Sovereignty Work Group, and the Madison Metropolitan School District Advanced Learning Advisory Committee. Professionally, Alder Vidaver oversees statewide chronic disease and cancer prevention programs for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services Division of Public Health.
Photo courtesy of Chali Pittman/WORT.
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The movement to shutdown Line 5 in Wisconsin has been growing since the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa won a federal court case against Enbridge in 2023. That ruling requires Enbridge to decommission the segment of Line 5 that passes through the Bad River Reservation.
Tribal members and many locals in Ashland and Bayfield counties want the pipeline shutdown entirely, in opposition to Enbridge’s proposed reroute that would still be located in the Bad River watershed. According to Elizabeth Ward, the rerouted pipeline would lock us into a fossil fuel future that would only exacerbate the impacts of climate change we’re already experiencing.
On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes asks Ward and two healthcare professionals about the health effects of Line 5. Abby Novinska-Lois and Jan Penn say that pipeline construction and pipeline ruptures are linked to impaired immune systems, negative neurological and reproductive impacts, as well as upticks in human trafficking, especially in Indigenous communities.
These effects are well documented by communities in Wisconsin, as well as by folks in Minnesota, who have been reeling from the effects of an Enbridge reconstruction project since 2021.
The US Army Corps of Engineers are taking feedback on the proposed Line 5 reroute until August 4.
Abby Novinska-Lois is the Executive Director of Healthy Climate Wisconsin. Abby received her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science with a certificate in Environmental Studies from the UW- Madison, and has worked to reduce pesticide use in Wisconsin agriculture, among other advocacy projects before helping the Wisconsin Health Professionals for Climate Action become a nonprofit.
Jan Penn began nursing as an Ashland County Public Health Nurse in 1972 and moved into an Advanced Nursing role shortly after. Although she has now retired from her role as a Nurse practitioner after over 50 years of service, Jan carries on as a registered nurse and is an advocate for a healthy and vital community.
Elizabeth Ward is the Wisconsin Chapter Director of the Sierra Club, which works to ensure everyone has access to clean air, clean water, and public lands. Elizabeth works with hundreds of volunteers and leaders across the state.
Various Tribal, environmental, and youth organizations gathered in Ashland, Wisconsin on June 4 to tell the US Army Corps of Engineers to deny Enbridge’s pipeline permit. Image courtesy of Devon Young Coupery.
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On today’s show, journalist Tamara Pearson talks about how private real estate companies are changing the landscape of Mexico and harming people and the environment along the way. She calls the rapid changes a new form of colonialism because these developers’ economic interests conflict with the needs of local Indigenous populations and migrant populations as well as the needs of the environment. In Pearson’s recent article, she adds that the real estate industry is using intimidation tactics to harm local communities.
Tamara Pearson is a writer, journalist, and activist living in Puebla, Mexico. She is the author of The Butterfly Prison, and is currently working on her second novel. She also works with Central American migrants and refugees. Her writings can be found at her blog and on social media.
Photo of Puebla, Mexico courtesy of AdasArdor via Flickr.
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Last week, the US Supreme Court voted 8-1 to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers. In United States v. Rahimi the justices found that the federal law prohibiting domestic abusers subject to protective orders from possessing guns is constitutional under the Second Amendment. The Court’s decision affirms that individuals who pose a credible threat to the safety of another person should not be able to buy or possess a gun. The sole justice to vote against came from Justice Clarence Thomas.
Mariel Barnes, is a founding faculty member of UW–Madison’s Sexual Violence Research Initiative. She joined host Allen Ruff to talk about the Supreme Court case as well as statistics of domestic violence in Wisconsin, which Barns writes about in a recent article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Barns reiterates that persons with a record of domestic violence are likely to commit domestic violence again, especially if they have access to a firearm.
If you need help with or want more information on domestic abuse, you can contact Domestic Abuse Intervention Services (DAIS) at 608-251-4445 or at abuseintervention.org.
Mariel Barnes is an Assistant Professor in the La Follette School of Public Affairs at UW-Madison. Her work primarily focuses on the interaction between social and housing policies, and domestic violence.
Photo courtesy of Bart Everson via Flickr.
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June is Pride Month and on today’s show we celebrate the legal and social advancements made for LGBTQ Wisconsinites. In 1982 Wisconsin was the first state to make it illegal to discriminate based on sexual orientation in employment and housing.
Host Ali Muldrow is joined by Governor Tony Evers who talks about allyship from public officials, Judy Davidoff who reflects on the 2014 overturning of Wisconsin’s same-sex marriage ban (the year before the US Supreme Court’s marriage equality decision in Obergefell v. Hodges), and Steve Starkey who’s been an advocate and leader for social justice in Dane County since the 1970s.
Governor Tony Evers is a Wisconsin native and former educator. He was first elected to the governor’s office in 2018 and was reelected in 2022. Governor Evers was the first Wisconsin governor to raise a Pride flag over the state Capitol and has continued to do so every Pride Month since he took office in 2019.
Judith Davidoff is the editor of Isthmus. She and a team of Isthmus journalists won a Gold award from the Milwaukee Press Club in 2014 for their coverage of the overturning of Wisconsin’s same-sex marriage ban.
Steve Starkey is a longtime advocate for social justice causes in Dane County. Steve was the Founding Vice President of the Social Justice Center, and currently is the executive director of OutReach LGBT Community Center, where he has worked for 18 years. At OutReach, Steve advocates for clients who have been affected by anti-LGBT laws and who experience homophobic or transphobic culture across Wisconsin.
Image courtesy: Vicki Kenyon / WORT News.
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The local partisan primary election is coming up on August 13, 2024. On the ballot are constitutional amendments, state legislative races, and the race for Dane County Executive–for a seat recently vacated by longtime Executive Joe Parisi. And in this third episode of our series of interviews with candidates for Dane County Executive we’re joined by Meilssa Agard, who shares her goals for the county with News Director, Chali Pittman.
Agard wants voters to know that she champions working class issues and is committed to addressing the significant affordable housing shortage in Dane County. She says that “democracy is a verb” and that she’ll continue to advocate for cannabis reform, if elected. Agard also discusses Dane County’s leadership on climate change and the necessity of addressing the budget by tackling shared revenue in the state legislature.
Melissa Agard is a Dane County native and single mom to four sons. Before diving into politics, she owned a small business and worked in the private sector. Now, she’s been a lawmaker for over a decade, and is currently finishing out a stint as state Senator for the 16th district, representing the eastern part of Dane County along with parts of Jefferson and Dodge Counties. Before being elected to the state Senate, she served as a Dane County Board Supervisor and in the state assembly.
Photo courtesy of Chali Pittman/WORT.
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WORT’s Summer News Collaborative trains underrepresented journalists to become creators of and leaders in local media. The fellows in this first cohort will learn the basics of journalism, storytelling, and audio production, participate in field trips and workshops with guest speakers, and be introduced to a network of mentors in local media.
On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes interviews all of the Fellows about their backgrounds and what stories they want to tell on the radio.
WORT’s Storytelling Fellows:
Shyelle Aikens is a proud native of west Madison who brings a wealth of experience in trauma recovery education, sustainable farming, and Indigenous agricultural practices to her community endeavors.
César Gonzalez Paz is originally from the small country of Honduras. César is a photographer and DJ, and is married to the beautiful Mexican, Rocio Gonzalez. They have 4 beautiful children. César has been living in the city of Madison for 22 years and is proud to be part of this great work team that will be a great blessing to our community.
Yifan Ning speaks Mandarin and English. She is passionate about piano playing, building relationships, life sharing, and exercising. She just moved to Madison not long ago, and she’s thrilled to start a new journey here.
Jeliel Peña de First is a medical doctor from Caracas Venezuela who moved to Madison for love in 2011. Since moving here, she has been active in the Latino community with a focus on wellbeing and mental health. She is excited to participate in the Summer News Collaborative and learn to tell the stories of her community.
Faleshuh Walker, also known as Lashay The Artist!, is a resilient mother of four who embodies the spirit of creativity and entrepreneurship. She truly enjoys working with youth and encouraging positive change. Despite the challenges she faces, Lashay’s passion for art and her entrepreneurial drive propel her forward in life. As an artist with many facets of lived experience, she channels her emotions and experiences into her work, creating pieces that resonate with others on a profound level. Along with teaching art classes, she shares her way of expressing through poetry, motivational speaking, and hair styling. Her entrepreneurial spirit and drive to inspire others shines through in her ability to turn her passion into a thriving business, managing both the demands of motherhood and the responsibilities of running her own enterprise. Lashay is not just a mother; she is a beacon of strength, an active community liaison, who consistently displays creativity, and determination, while inspiring those around her to pursue their dreams against all odds.
Ze Yang is the Hmong Bilingual Community Connector for the City of Madison. She works in the Department of Civil Rights Social, Justice and Equity Division and is also a small business owner. She has been a resident of Madison almost all her life. She served on the Wisconsin Women Council for four years as the Governor’s Designee. She takes joy in gardening, cooking, traveling, and storytelling.
Diego Alegría was WORT’s 2023-2024 Community Access & Development Fellow. Diego is a poet, essayist and scholar from Chile.
Jade Iseri-Ramos is a radio and podcast producer based in Madison. She has been the producer of A Public Affair since October 2022, but is taking the summer off… Because she is currently the program manager of WORT’s Summer Journalism Program.
Photo courtesy of Sara Gabler/WORT.
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On June 5, Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt charged the Waupun Correctional Institution’s warden, Randall Hepp, with misconduct in public office. Eight other Waupun employees face charges of felony inmate abuse. Three of them are also charged with misconduct.
On today’s show, host Esty Dinur talks with Sheriff Schmidt about the arrests and ongoing problems at Waupun. We’re also joined by attorney Lonnie Story who represents the families of Donald Maier, Cameron Williams, and Tyshun Lemons who died in Waupun, and whose deaths are the cause of the arrests earlier this month.
At issue is the ongoing lockdown, which the state’s Department of Corrections calls “modified movement.” But Sheriff Schmidt says that the lockdown didn’t contribute to the deaths.
Attorney Story also represents the plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit. He says his clients are asking for restoration of medical, psychological, and dental treatment along with better conditions in the prison in general. Waupun is an over 125-years old facility that is infested with rodents and insects and where inmates are exposed to contaminated water. Since the warden at Waupun has been removed, attorney Story says a receiver should be appointed to run the prison.
Attorney Lonnie Story represents the families of three men who died in Waupun Correctional Institution in the last year. He also represents the 10 lead plaintiffs from Waupun who have filed a class action lawsuit demanding an end to the facility-wide lockdown.
Dale Schmidt is the Dodge County Sheriff, President of the Badger State Sheriffs’ Association and President, and the Dodge County Executive Law Enforcement Association.
Image courtesy of Wisconsin Department of Corrections.
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On today’s show, host Allen Ruff discusses Israel’s military complex with author and political activist, Jeff Halper. They cover Israeli armaments, including F35s and training programs in the US, like the one at Georgia State University. Halper has written about instruments of population control and the use of Gaza as a “laboratory” to create “permanent pacification.”
Halper argues that you have to understand settler colonialism to understand what’s happening in Gaza right now. He defines settler colonialism as what happens when one population arrives in a place with the intent to take over. The occupying group then invents a narrative about why they’re entitled to the land rather than the indigenous population. In combination with ethno-nationalism, narratives of entitlement form the basis for Zionism.
Settler colonialism is a “unilateral” project, says Halper, who adds that we have to adopt an anti-colonial language. That means getting rid of the idea that there are “two sides.”
Jeff Halper is an anthropologist, Israeli anti-occupation activist, and founder and director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. He is also the author of multiple books including, War Against the People: Israel, the Palestinians and Global Pacification (2015).
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The local partisan primary election is coming up on August 13, 2024. And in the second episode in our series of interviews with candidates for Dane County Executive, we’re joined by Wes Sparkman who entered the race in February.
News Director, Chali Pittman, spoke with Sparkman about his experience in leadership and management, including his work with Dane County, participation on several local advisory boards, and over 10 years working for the Madison Police and Fire Commission.
Sparkman says he’s running to ensure that “Everyone in the county gets an opportunity to grow and thrive.” This is a big task that he says will require lots of listening, helping communities throughout Dane County sustain their growth, developing social service programs for mental health and addiction, and finding more opportunities for subsidized and “fair” housing.
Wes Sparkman has worked in local government for over two decades. He’s the director of the Tamara D. Grigsby Office for Equity and Inclusion, where he works to implement equal employment, civil rights, racial and social justice, and organizational change to establish equity in public service.
Photo by Chali Pittman for WORT.
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REAP Food Group was founded in the late ’90s, and officially registered as a nonprofit in 2002. For the past two and a half decades, it’s worked to connect the community with local food producers.
You might know REAP best through the Farm Fresh Atlas, a directory that helps consumers find local food in Wisconsin. A print edition of the Atlas might be hanging on your fridge. It’s also now a web database, and the 2024 edition details over 400 farms, farmers’ markets, and producers.
The Farm Fresh Atlas is one example of REAP’s collaboration and understanding of regional food systems. Now, REAP is heading up a new, USDA-funded collaborative to create a food systems action plan for the Dane County region.
The action plan is dependent on input from local farmers, food retailers, institutional buyers, food banks and pantries, community organizations, and local residents. Our guests today liken the project to putting together a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle in order to build a more complete picture of our local food system.
REAP’s Executive Director Phil Kauth and Events Coordinator/Farm Fresh Atlas Cooardinator Noah Bloedorn join us in the studio for more on the action plan. Bill Warner, of Snug Haven Farm and the Dane County Food Council, also joins us for a conversation about growing south-central Wisconsin’s food systems.
We also talk about other new projects from REAP, including “Mosaic Dinners,” a storytelling and community-building project in partnership with Dane County Food Collective and UW-Madison Art Department Artist-in-Residence Marlon F. Hall.
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“I’ve never felt more Jewish than I do nowadays,” says A Public Affair host Esty Dinur near the end of an hour with radical ideas about combating antisemitism and divorcing it from Zionism. We start the show with Professor Omer Bartov who explains his personal journey from writing about the Holocaust to writing on Israel-Palestine and how the actions of Israel has led to an increase in antisemitism.
Then Esty talks with Ben Lorber and Shane Burley about their brand book Safety through Solidarity: A Radical Guide to Fighting Antisemitism. Ben and Shane will be doing a book talk at A Room of One’s Own on Tuesday, June 25th at 6pm.
Omer Bartov is Samuel Pisar Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies in the Department of History at Brown University. His many books include Israel-Palestine: Lands and Peoples (2021), a novel titled The Butterfly and the Axe, which was published in January 2023 and Genocide, The Holocaust and Israel-Palestine: First-Person History in Times of Crisis
Ben Lorber is senior research analyst at Political Research Associates, a social movement think tank, where he studies and publishes on antisemitism and white nationalism (analyst Chip Berlet was s guest on this show). He previously worked as national campus organizer with Jewish Voice for Peace, supporting justice driven young Jewish communities across the country, and has written extensively on antisemitism, Israel/Palestine and Jewish identity.
Shane Burley is the author of several books on the far-right and social movements, and has contributed to NBC News, Jewish Currents, Al Jazeera, The Baffler, The Daily Beast, Haaretz, In These Times, Yes! Magazine, Tikkun, and The Oregon Historical Quarter.
Image of Bartov by Bildungsstätte Anne Frank, CC BY 3.0, Link
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On June 4th and 6th, the U.S. Air Force and Space Force conducted tests of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The weapons were launched from the Vandenberg base in California and were pointed toward the Marshall Islands.In a piece for Jacobin, Emma Claire Foley writes that the ICBMs “are not only strategically impractical but a threat to the lives of millions.” Foley is a specialist on nuclear-weapons policy issues with RootsAction.org. RootAction is a member of Defuse Nuclear War, a coalition dedicated to reducing the risk of nuclear war. Defuse Nuclear War has condemned ICMBs, and called the tests a “wasteful, dangerous step backward for peace.”Foley joins A Public Affair host Allen Ruff to discuss the tests, the global state of nuclear weapons, and the pushback against nuclear war.
Emma Claire Foley is a writer and filmmaker based in New York. Her writing and commentary has appeared in Newsweek, NBC, the Guardian, and elsewhere.
Image by The Nation Museum in the Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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William Freeman was a 15-year-old in the the early nineteenth century who was convicted of a crime he insisted he didn’t commit. He was sentenced to five years of hard labor in Auburn prison in New York State. He, and the rest of the prisoners, worked without pay, and when Freeman challenged the system, it had violent repercussions.
In her latest book Freeman’s Challenge: The Murder that Shook America’s Original Prison for Profit, Robin Bernstein uses Freeman’s story to lay out the twisted history of anti-Black racism in the prison for profit industry. Robin joins host Ali Muldrow to talk about the book and the way the North invented profit-driven prison labor.
Dr. Robin Bernstein is the Dillon Professor of American History and Professor of African and African American Studies and Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Harvard University. She is the author of Racial Innocence: Performing American Childhood from Slavery to Civil Rights, which won five awards. Her latest book is Freeman’s Challenge: The Murder That Shook America’s Original Prison for Profit (University of Chicago Press, May 2024).
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Today, we kick off the first of our candidate interviews for Dane County Executive. The seat that longtime Executive Joe Parisi recently retired from in the middle of his term. Four candidates will face off in the August primary, and Dana Pellebon’s name will be the first on the ballot. Pellebon joins WORT News Director Chali Pittman to discuss her priorities for the county and highlight some of the biggest issues facing Dane County–including housing access, criminal justice reform, and county funding.
Dana Pellebon is the executive director of the Rape Crisis Center and formerly headed up housing and operations at Porchlight. Until this spring, she served as a Dane County Board Supervisor, representing much of Fitchburg for District 33. A theater professional for decades, Pellebon has directed, acted and produced many works and participated in theater groups across Madison.
Photo by Chali Pittman for WORT
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With the 2024 Madison Jazz Fest is in full swing, A Public Affair host welcomes some Madison locals to talk about two jazz legends with Wisconsin ties. First we talk with Dean Robbins about his new children’s book The Fastest Drummer: Clap Your Hands for Viola Smith! The book, which is illustrated by Susanna Chapman, offers a fun and bright biography of Smith, who started her nearly 100-year-long career at the age of 13 and is recognized as one of the few female professional drummers of the early twentieth century.
Then, Douglas is joined in studio by two folks behind the new documentary film String Theory: The Richard Davis Method. Artistic Director of the Richard Davis Foundation for Youth Bassists (RDYB) Peter Dominguez and RDYB Executive Director Catherine Harris join the program to talk about Richard Davis’s work, legacy, and impact on their own lives. The film is showing at Madison Museum of Contemporary Art on Thursday June 13th, 2024 at 7pm for free as part of the Jazz Fest.
Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash
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On today’s special pledge drive show, Esty Dinur talks with historian Lauren Benton on her new book They Called It Peace: Worlds of Imperial Violence. The book is a historical account of how imperialism has redefined war and peace. She joins Esty to talk about the ongoing impact of imperial violence on indigenous peoples worldwide and the unequal nature of truces and ceasefires.
Lauren Benton is the Barton M. Biggs Professor of History at Yale University and recipient of the Toynbee Prize for significant contributions to global history. Her books include A Search for Sovereignty: Law and Geography in European Empires, 1400–1900 and (with Lisa Ford) Rage for Order: The British Empire and the Origins of International Law, 1800–1850.
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On today’s pledge drive special, host Allen Ruff welcomes back listener-favorite Mouin Rabbani to help us understand the current state of the war in Israel-Palestine. They discuss the International Criminal Court’s warrant for arrest against Netanyahu, question Israel’s willingness to end the war, and highlight US involvement.
Mouin Rabbani is a researcher, analyst, and commentator specializing in Palestinian affairs, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the contemporary Middle East. He is the Co-Editor of Jadaliyya.
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Sunday, June 16th is Father’s Day. It is also open day for Madison’s very own top level softball team! For the first time, the Madison Night Mares will take the field at Warner Park. On today’s special edition of A Public Affair host Ali Muldrow is joined in the studio by Marketing and Operations Manager Savanna Rainey and player Rylee Rogers.
They shine a light on what fans can expect from the team and talk about the importance of coaching, role models, and supportive families.
Rylee Rogers (left) is from Belmont, Wisconsin. She is a freshman outfielder and catcher at Madison College.
Savanna Rainey (right) is the Marketing and Operations Manager for the Madison Night Mares. She is a former catcher from Verona who went on to play at UW-Madison and Howard University.
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Last spring, Madison received its first F-35 despite years of community resistance. The Air National Guard has eight that are currently stationed at Truax air field. That number is slated to more than double in the next year. For those of us living in the Madison area, especially on the Northside, the deafening sound of the fighter jets now interrupt life on a daily bases–often many times a day.
In light of this reality, host Sara Gabler chats with documentary film maker Karen Akins about her film The Quietest Year and the impact of sound on communities. Retired Air Force colonel and anti-F-35 activist Rosanne Greco, who is featured in the documentary, also joins the show to talk about resistance against the fighter jets.
This week, there are two more listening sessions for community members as part of “Madison F35 Community Connection.” They will be held at 6pm on Thursday, June 6th and 9:30am on Saturday, June 8th. You can learn more here.
Sara has has covered Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs’ community outreach program for WORT News. Those stories can be found here and here.Image: US Air Force / Ministerie van Defensie, CC0, via Wikimedia CommonsDid you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here
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Maria Cleaveland, one of today’s guests, says “coffee is often touched by nine separate hands before you consume the product.” From the people who grew, picked, milled, prepared for export, exported, imported, roasted, sold, and finally brewed, so much tenuous labor happens before the first sip.
Inspired by Anne Connor’s recent article “Climate Solutions for the Future of Coffee” for Civil Eats, host Douglas Haynes speaks with a panel of guests about sustainability challenges as well as gender inequalities facing the coffee supply chain. Maria Cleaveland, Blanca Castro, and Amaris Gutierrez-Ray explain all the complexities that go into your morning cup of coffee.
Former A Public Affair producer Richelle Wilson also joins the show to help fundraise!
About our guests:
Maria Cleaveland is a food & beverage and hospitality professional with business development, strategic planning, finance and operations expertise. A veteran of the early specialty coffee scene, she has built wholesale and licensing businesses at Starbucks, Peet’s & Equator Coffees. Notably, Cleaveland managed Starbucks’ initial expansion into US airports and brings an entrepreneurial spirit to every project. Currently she is advising BrewBird, a venture backed startup reinventing the “single- serve” coffee for the 21st century and serves as Sales Director for the Americas at Urnex Brands, the global leader in specialized cleaning for the coffee sector. In her roles, Maria advances sales with technical acumen while advancing gender equity in her volunteer leadership positions. She is a member of the Board of Directors for the US Women in Coffee, a chapter of the International Women’s Coffee Association (IWCA) and serves on the Leadership Council of the Coffee Technicians Guild.
Amaris Gutierrez-Ray is the VP of Coffee for Joe Coffee Company, a roaster and wholesaler in New York City that owns and operates 25 cafes in the 5 boroughs. She is also the founder of the Women in Coffee Project, and is a member of the US Chapter of the IWCA. A lover of stories and the people that tell them, she has always been interested in the culture and communities of the world in coffee. Both inside and outside the workplace, she’s focused on gender, equity, and positively shifting the human patterns that shape our world.
Blanca María Castro has 16 years within the coffee sector in marketing and trade. Blanca started as Marketing Coordinator for the National Coffee Association of Guatemala. As volunteer, supported IWCA Global projects in Central America and later as Coffee Consultant for the International Trade Center, supporting and forming IWCA Chapters in East Africa. These experiences strengthen her coffee awareness more. Fluent in English, French, German and Spanish, counts with a strong network and experience on public relationships, administration and communications, enabling her to identify needs and solutions to approach the coffee market. In 2016 signed contract with IWCA as first formal staff member, coordinating and guiding IWCA Chapter’s programs and projects as Chapter Relations Manager. Last September, when IWCA celebrated its 20thAnniversary, Blanca was appointed Executive Director of this non-profit organization, leading a new staff team of 4 members serving 34 IWCA Chapters in coffee producing and consuming countries… and counting!
Image provided by Blanca María Castro of a recent grafting competition
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On today’s two part, A Public Affair, host Esty Dinur is first joined by Robert Schoville who is best known in Madison as the founder of the Brazilian percussion group, The Handphibians. Robert has spent the last five years living on the Aegean coast of Turkey with his family. He joins us in the studio to talk with Esty about life under the current president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the role of the country in the Middle East, and much more.
Then, textile artist Laila Hasan joins us by phone. For many years she has brought women textile artists together to develop shared sales opportunities for their hand made items. Many of the artist now the sole economic support for their families. She talks with Esty about her art making as well as the current situation in the West Bank.
Laila will be presenting and selling art in Madison on June 9th from 1:30-3:30 at Madison friends meeting house: (1704 Roberts Court). There will be snacks. Learn more here.
Image “Turkey, Fairy chimneys, Natural landscape” by flaviospugna from Pixabay
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In a recent Truthout article, Stephen Zunes writes that the U.S.’s continued military aid to Israel violates both the Section 6201 of the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act and the 1999 Leahy Amendment. “The Biden administration refuses to abide by these laws and neither Congress nor the courts have been willing to enforce them,” he says. Zunes joins host Allen Ruff to discuss his latest piece and the global response to the war happening in Gaza.
Dr. Stephen Zunes is a Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco, where he served as founding director of the program in Middle Eastern Studies. He is currently serving as 2024 Torgny Segerstedt Visiting Research Professor at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Image of International Court of Justice in La Hague, Netherlands by Victor R. Ruiz. Used under the Creative Commons License.
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In May 2023, the COVID-19 public health emergency expired. The declaration had previously laid out all sorts of protocols and funding to combat the deadly respiratory illness. The end of the official public health emergency didn’t mean that COVID-19 disappeared. People are still getting newly infected, and millions now suffer from a complicated immune disease called Long Covid.
Today, host Chali Pittman marks the one year anniversary of the Biden Administration’s declaration that the COVID pandemic was over with guest Paula Tran. She’s Wisconsin’s State Health Officer at Department of Health Services, and the Administrator for the Division of Public Health. She’s the former director of a group at the Population Health Institute that worked to understand root causes of community health.
Chali and Paula talk about COVID illness, discuss the impact of vaccines and other preventive measures, and dive in to other public health threats as we are all more aware of community health.
Photo by CDC on Unsplash
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“What is the climate justice issue in Milwaukee? It’s not an issue of an of a sudden disaster. It’s not a flood. It’s about slow violence,” says Arjit Sen. “It’s something that has been happening historically over time, in which Black and brown communities in Milwaukee are not just segregated, but they’re seen as lacking value.” An exhibit currently showing at the Milwaukee County Historical Society and running through June 1st aims to shine a light on slow violence and the resilience of Milwaukee communities. It is a project of the Humanities Action Lab, a coalition of universities led by Rutgers University-Newark that creates traveling public projects on the past, present, and future of pressing social issues.
The show starts with the national exhibition “Climates of Inequality: Stories of Environmental Justice.” It is participatory public memory project that aims to share the histories of “frontline” communities who have contributed the least to the climate crisis but bear its heaviest burdens
The Milwaukee specific exhibit, “Unfinished Project,” features the work of the Buildings-Landscapes-Cultures (BLC) Field School, which has been an active partner in Milwaukee neighborhoods like Sherman Park, Midtown, Washington Park, and other areas. It is broken into to work up into three categories: Food Justice, Housing Justice, and urban guardians.
Arijit Sen joins host Douglas Haynes along with Camille Mays, founder of Peace Garden Project in Milwaukee and Wilmarie Medina-Cortes, exhibitions and program manager for the Humanities Action Lab. They discuss the significance of community gardens and public exhibits in addressing climate inequality and shared perspectives on community-led efforts for social justice, healing, and creating safe spaces in neighborhoods affected by violence.
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On today’s two-part show, host Esty Dinur is joined by translator Luke Leafgren and publisher Judith Gurewich to discuss Nasser Abu Srour’s book, The Tale of a Wall. Abu Srour is a Palestinian imprisoned in Israel. His book covers decades of imprisonment and the effect it had on his mind, body, and soul. It’s also a book about the history of Israeli occupation and the struggle of the Palestinian people told with great feeling, lyrical prose, and magical realism.
In the second-half of the show, historian and journalist Rick Perlstein talks about his recent essay, “The New Anti-Antisemitism.” Perlstein is the author of a four-volume series on the history of America’s political and cultural divisions, and the rise of conservatism, from the 1950s to the election of Ronald Reagan
In his article, Perlstein responds to the requests he gets to make historical parallels between current student encampments in protest of the war on Gaza and student protests in 1968. Perlstein says comparing the current encampments to 1968 takes the focus away from the issue at hand and distracts from recent trends in higher education, such as ongoing erosion of liberal institutions by conservatives. He says a closer comparison would be 1980s anti-apartheid protests.
Image courtesy of Penguin Random House/Other Press.
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In an attempt to silence criticism of Israel, accusations of “anti-Semitism” have increasingly been leveled against those protesting Israel’s Gaza war. To discuss this trend, on today’s show, host Allen Ruff is joined by critic and essayist Abba Solomon.
They talk about the history of Zionism from the nineteenth century on and how this movement had allies in anti-Semitic groups. Solomon shares his insight into strands of non-Jewish Zionism and how Zionism became such a hegemonic viewpoint in the US. Ruff and Solomon also discuss how younger generations of Jews in the US identify less with the state of Israel than older generations.
Solomon also weighs in on the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which would outlaw criticism of Israel and contribute to an effort to smear and intimidate the oppositional movement on US campuses and elsewhere. This position is often based on the conflation of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism.
While certainly not new, the claim that criticisms of Zionism and Israel are anti-Semitic has reached new heights as growing numbers of dissenting Jewish individuals and organizations such as Jewish Voice for Peace have been dubbed “anti-Semitic.”
Abba Solomon is a researcher of the history of American Jews and Zionism. He is the author of The Miasma of Unity: Jews and Israel and The Speech, and Its Context: Jacob Blaustein’s Speech “The Meaning of Palestine Partition to American Jews.”
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Next month will mark 2 years since the Supreme Court stripped us of our federal right to abortion. What does reproductive autonomy mean without Roe?
To answer this question, two scholar activists and editors, Krystale E. Littlejohn and Rickie Solinger, gather the strongest and most resilient voices in their recently published collection of essays, FIGHTING MAD: Resisting the End of Roe v. Wade.
Littlejohn and Solinger discuss the criminalization of abortion care, the responses by religious leaders on the issue of bodily autonomy, the problems with codifying people’s religious faith into law, and the rage and hope fueling their work.
Pick up a copy of the book to read more about the vigorous resistance contributors are putting up and the multi-faceted impacts of the Dobbs decision, which has disproportionately affected poor people and people of color.
Krystale E. Littlejohn is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Oregon and author of Just Get on the Pill: The Uneven Burden of Reproductive Politics. She is a series editor of the Reproductive Justice book series from University of California Press.
Rickie Solinger is a historian, curator, and author or editor of many books about reproductive politics, including, with Loretta Ross, Reproductive Justice: An Introduction. She is the senior editor of the Reproductive Justice book series from University of California Press.
Image courtesy of University of California Press.
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The bus system is one of the most visible aspects of city infrastructure, and it’s one of the most rapidly changing aspects of life in Madison. On today’s show, WORT News Director Chali Pittman talks with two representatives of Madison Metro Transit as we near the 1 year anniversary of the system redesign.
Mick Rusch and Jessy Stammer reflect on some of the hiccups with the network redesign, including the removal of the transfer point system. And they celebrate the advancements that will give us the Bus Rapid Transit system starting in the fall. Once the bus charging stations are ready (sometime in July) Madison Metro Transit will announce an official launch date for the BRT.
Rusch and Stammer preview some of the changes that will come with the BRT. Riders can expect new automatic ticket machines and 62 new all electric articulated buses. Some of these buses are being tested on the roads, and drivers say they’re easier to drive because they take turns better. The new buses will be able to carry 120 persons (including standing room) compared to the current 80 passenger capacity per bus.
Rush and Stammer also dive into the nitty gritty of gaps in Northside service, where you can store your bike on the new articulated buses (in the back of the bus!), better signage for upcoming rides, and the new GPS tracking platform. Overall, they say ridership is up, and in April Metro Transit served 954,000 riders!
Mick Rusch is the Chief Development Officer at Madison Metro Transit, and Jessy Stammer is Metro Transit’s Marketing and Customer Service Manager.
Find out more about the BRT upgrades at mymetrobus.com and send your questions and comments to mymetrobus@cityofmadison.com
Photo courtesy of Chali Pittman/WORT.
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MMoCA’s new Director, Paul Baker Prindle has Madison roots. He worked at the museum store 25 years ago and attended both Edgewood College and UW–Madison. Now, as he steps into his new role at MMoCA, he joins host Douglas Haynes to talk about how to find joy in the experience of contemporary art.
During Baker Prindle’s first few weeks on the job, he’s been thinking about what it means “to museum.” He says that museums are buildings that have a community, and MMoCA has an important role to play in Madison’s vibrant downtown life. Baker Prindle and other museum staff believe it’s their responsibility to make sure that MMoCA is an inclusive, community oriented space and a resource for Wisconsin artists.
For some folks, art museums are still rarified spaces. But Baker Prindle says that all are welcome at MMoCA. He advises that you don’t have to see all the art in one visit. Rather, take your time, look for patterns and repetitions, and trust your instincts on what you like and enjoy.
Currently on view at MMoCA is Entering the Unconscious, an exhibit curated by the eleven high school students that make up the Teen Forum. This program offers mentoring and training to young people so they can gain the professional skills to access museum work and the art world. Baker Prindle says he’s looking forward to this year’s Art Fair on the Square, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, July 13 and 14. Like MMoCA’s exhibits, the fair is free to attend.
Paul Baker Prindle is the Gabriele Haberland Director of the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. Prior to starting this job, Baker Prindle was the Director of the Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum at California State University, Long Beach. Baker Prindle’s photography is even featured at MMoCA.
The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art is always admission-free. Its vision is to be an organization that fosters the exchange of ideas and creates experiences that will inspire a wide audience; be a nexus for the work of emerging and established regional, national, and international artists; serve as a catalyst for the continued development of a vigorous community of artists; and provide a forum that will encourage people to be challenged by, reflect on, and make connections between art and the world around them.
Photo courtesy of Chali Pittman/WORT.
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On today’s show, we spend the first half of the program with two immigration lawyers working with the Project Immigration Justice for Palestinians. Project IJP is a coalition of organizations and immigration attorneys as an emergency response to the crisis in Gaza. Ban Alwardi and Amanda Gennerman join host Esty Dinur to talk about the opportunities available to Palestinian refugees and as well as outline the barriers they face. Project IJP accepts support here.
Then, Jewish Social Services of Madison‘s Refugee Resettlement Director Sunday Nzitatira joins Esty to talk about his experience as a immigrant from Rwanda and the support that JSS provides to refugees from any country.
Ban Alwardi is a California-based immigration law attorney. Ban serves as a Co-Coordinator for Project Immigration Justice for Palestinians and offers attorney support and pro bono representation for Palestinian US Citizens and Green Card holders who seek to be reunited with loved ones in Gaza through the immigration process. Ban is an anti-war, anti-imperialist life-long activist and also serves as a writing mentor for Palestinian students in Gaza through the We Are Not Numbers (WANN) campaign.
Amanda Gennerman is a Wisconsin based immigration law attorney practicing in the field ofsince 2003. She is a partner at the Madison law firm Pines Bach LLP. Mandy serves as a Co-Coordinator for Project Immigration Justice for Palestinians. Mandy is likewise a Co-Founder and Board Member of the Community Immigration Law Center based in Madison, WI. She serves as the Pro Bono Coordinator of the WI Chapter of American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). Her Pro Bono service has been recognized by the Dane County Bar Association, WI Chapter of AILA and State Bar of Wisconsin.
Sunday Nzitatira is Jewish Social Services of Madison’s Refugee Resettlement Director and oversees the transition for every client. He is originally from Rwanda and speaks 7 different languages.
Image by Karen Sandler from Pixabay
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In his recent piece for The New Yorker, Dan Kaufman writes about a progress bid for the U.S. Senate by full-time community organizer Zach Shrewsbury. Kaufman joins host Allen Ruff to talk about the coal industry, it’s relationship with labor in West Virginia, and the how it has shaped the state’s politics.
Dan Kaufman is a contributor to The New York Times Magazine and The New Yorker. He is the author of The Fall of Wisconsin: The Conservative Conquest of a Progressive Bastion and the Future of American Politics.
Image by Pavlo from Pixabay
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Within the last couple of months, two of the most powerful women in the music industry dropped highly anticipated albums. At the end of April, Beyoncé hit us with her country album: Cowboy Carter. About 3 weeks later Taylor Swift released The Tortured Poets Department. These two albums came after they both went on massive tours in 2023: Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour and Taylor’s Eras Tour–which is still going on internationally.
Today, host Ali Muldrow talks about the financial power of these two stars and their loyal followers with Misty Heggeness.
Misty Heggeness is an associate professor of public affairs and economics at the University of Kansas. Previously she worked as a principal economist and senior advisor for the U.S. Census Bureau. Misty is the creator of Swiftynomics 101, non-traditional and free economics curriculum and teaching materials. Her research focuses on poverty & inequality, gender economics, and the high-skilled workforce and has appeared in outlets like The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR, The Economist, and Science. Her forthcoming book is Swiftynomics: Women in Today’s Economy
Image by Ronald Woan on Flickr used under Creative Commons license
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[This show originally broadcast on March 20th, 2024]
In her latest book, Unshrinking: How to Face Fatphobia author Kate Manne uses intimate stories and sharp analysis to explain why anti-fatness has become a vital social justice issue. She joins host Richelle Wilson on today’s A Public Affair to discuss the harms caused by both blatant and subtle fatphobia.
“Between two thirds and three quarters of us by some measures are fat; and yet, we often regard ourselves as really a thin person waiting to emerge victorious after the next diet or exercise program,” Manne tells us. The feminist moral philosopher goes on to say that because of this perception, we don’t stand together in solidarity, instead “we try to change ourselves rather than work on changing the systemic oppression that I argue is really what’s plaguing us.”
Kate Manne is an associate professor of philosophy at Cornell University,where she’s been teaching since 2013. Before that, she was a junior fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows. Manne did her graduate work in philosophy at MIT. Her previous books are Down Girl and Entitled.
Photo by Diana Polekhina on Unsplash
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From the first day in police academy to the last day on the force, police officers are told that they could be injured or killed at any moment. No traffic stop or neighborly dispute comes without the risk of violence. The day they let their guard home is the night they don’t go home to their families–or that’s what they believe. Through more than 100 interviews and 1,000 hours riding along on patrol, Michael Sierra-Arévalo outlines a culture that desensitizes violence and values officer safety above all.
Sierra-Arévalo joins host A Public Affair host Jade Iseri-Ramos to talk about The Danger Imperative: Violence, Death, and the Soul of Policing (Columbia University Press). The book is an on the ground report of modern policing. They discuss the training, networks of communication, and on the patrol experiences that further the use of violence by officers. Sierra-Arévalo argues that in part, “violence is actually not unintentional in policing. That is that is the point of the institution.”
Michael Sierra-Arévalo is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Texas at Austin. His writing and research have been featured in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, GQ, Vox, NPR, and other outlets. From 2020 to 2023, he served on the City of Austin’s Public Safety Commission. He holds a PhD in sociology from Yale University.
Photo by AJ Colores on Unsplash
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It has been over a year since fighting broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces and its paramilitary rival the Rapid Support Forces. The war has caused millions to be displaced, with even more facing acute hunger and famine.
Dr. Khalid Mustafa Medani is the author of the recently published piece The Struggle for Sudan for the Middle East Research and Information Project. He joins host Esty Dinur to explain the the current state of the crisis in Sudan and the power clashing that caused it.
Dr. Khalid Mustafa Medani is Director of the Institute of Islamic Studies and Chair of the African Studies Program and Associate Professor with Department of Political Science and the Islamic Studies Institute at McGill University. He is the author of the book Black Markets and Militants: Informal Networks in the Middle East and Africa.
Image used under Creative Common Licensing in the Public Domain via rawpixel.com
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In a recent piece for the American Friends Service Committee, Yousef Aljamal says that the population of Rafah has increased more than 5 times. With the Israel’s invasion on Rafah which began earlier this week, the Al-Mawasi Area has been designated safe for Palestinians. However, Aljaml writes, “Asking Palestinians to evacuate there will only increase their suffering and possibly lead to more deaths.”
Aljamal joins host Allen Ruff to explain what is happening in Rafah and what is at stake for the people who are living there.Yousef Aljamal is the Gaza coordinator at the Palestine Activism Program at the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). Aljamal is a refugee from Al-Nusierat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. He recently received his PhD at the Middle East Institute at Sakarya University in Turkey.Image by hosny salah from PixabayDid you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here
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On May 1st, the Mount Horeb community experienced a district wide lockdown when a student came to the Middle School with what appeared to be a rifle–it was later determined to be a pellet gun. That student did not make it into the school and was killed by police.
Madison 365’s Robert Chappell was on the scene minutes after receiving a text from his son informing him of the threat of a shooter. He joins host Ali Muldrow to reflect on that day and how the community of Mount Horeb is picking up the pieces. We also speak with David Riedman, founder of the K-12 School Shooting Database, about what we have learned about the student’s intentions and how it fits with the national trends of school shootings.
Further coverage: News Producer Faye Parks talked with Mount Horeb’s Superintendent Steve Salerno about the district’s response and continuing support efforts.
Image by Corey Coyle, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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At the peak of the movement, about 30% of Americans were evangelical Christians. About a fourth of all Americans where white evangelicals–a term we hear a lot these days when discussing Trump’s base. National Political Correspondent Sarah McCammon says that people often talk about this demographic as if it is a fridge movement rather than a huge swath of Americans.
Today, we’re talking about the growing number former evangelicals have untangled–or deconstructed–their belief system and parted from the church as it has become politicized. Many have found solace in online communities and some call themselves “exvangelicals.” In McCammon’s new book The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church, she mixes journalism and memoir to tell a story about these adults who were once a part of the subculture, but left as they came of age in a far more interconnected world.
A Public Affair host Sara Gabler is one of these millennials who was raised with an evangelical belief system and has since deconstructed. McCammon joins Gabler to talk about The Exvangelicals. Gabler. They discuss purity culture, conservative childhoods, and the vast experiences of deconstruction.
Sarah McCammon is a National Political Correspondent for NPR and co-host of the NPR Politics Podcast. Her work focuses on political, social and cultural divides in America, including abortion policy and the intersections of politics and religion. She’s also a frequent guest host for NPR news programs.
Photo by Edwin Andrade on Unsplash
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The 2025 City of Madison operating budget, which funds the city’s daily operations, is facing at $27 million dollar deficit. The city is facing some tough choices as it balances the budget. Alders and city staff are hosting a number of citywide budget engagement sessions to share information about the budget and hear from residents.
A Public Affair host Douglas Haynes is joined in studio by Mayor’s Chief of Staff Sam Munger, Finance Director David Schmiedicke, and Alder Yannette Figueroa-Cole to begin to understand the budget issues, the limits of city’s power, and how much of your tax dollars truly go to the city.
The remaining session dates are as follows:
Westside – Thursday, May 16, 6pm at Vel Phillips Memorial High School
Southside/Near Westside – May 29, 5:30pm at Goodman South Library
Central – Thursday, May 30, 6pm at Madison Municipal Building or online
Northside – Wednesday, June 5, 6pm at Black Hawk Middle School
Photo by Chali Pittman/ WORT News
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All this week, students have been camped out on Library Mall to protest Israel’s war on Palestine. They join students nation-wide who are putting pressure theirs colleges and the US government to disinvest in the war and ultimate end the genocide in Gaza.
Wednesday morning, a combined police force attempted to remove the tents and protestors. Dozens of people were arrested and several sustained injuries. Since then, the police raids have stopped and Chancellor Mnookin has met with faculty and staff. Protestors have said they will not remove the tents until their demands are met.
Today Dahlia Saba, Lily Zyndorf Shell, and Abbie Klein join host Esty Dinur on the show. They are all University of Wisconsin-Madison grad students who have been participating in the encampment. They discuss the demands, their experience with the police raid, and the future of the encampment.
Dahlia Saba is a first year graduate student at the UW-Madison, and she is a member of the UW Madison chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. Her father is Palestinian and was born in Gaza. She had family members in Gaza until this past week, when they were fortunately able to evacuate to Egypt.
Lily Zyndorf Shell is a PhD student at UW-Madison who has been teaching undergraduate students there as a TA and lecturer for 6 years. She grew up in New York City and is the grandchild of holocaust survivors.
Abbie Klein is a first year PhD student at UW-Madison and a member of Students for Justice and other community and university organizations which are part of the encampment, where she has been since it was set up. She is an anti Zionist Jew raised in a Zionist family.
Photo courtesy of WORT’s Chali Pittman
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“We got out of the business of building new nuclear weapons and we haven’t done that in a generation, but all of that is coming back. This work is already underway.” That is W.J. Hennigan speaking with A Public Affair host Allen Ruff about the trillions of US dollars that are now being invested in nuclear weapons. Hennigan is the lead author of “At The Brink” series from the New York Times. The series explores the history of the world’s nuclear powers, breaks down the outdated Cold War safeguards, and imagines what world might emerge from a nuclear war.
W.J. Hennigan is a New York Times Opinion correspondent covering the U.S. military and national security issues from Washington, D.C. He writes about the U.S. military and national security issues in Washington, D.C. He has reported from more than two dozen countries across five continents, covering war, the arms trade, and the lives of U.S. service members.
Photo by Artem Zhukov on Unsplash
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Last week, the Federal Trade Commission announced a ban to noncompete agreements. Under the rule, most existing noncompetes would not be enforceable. The ban was almost immediately challenged by U.S. Chamber of Commerce. They argue that the FTC overstepped it’s authority with the ruling.
Joining us on today’s show is Assistant Professor Evan Starr from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. Starr’s research includes the use and impacts of noncompete agreements and their enforceability. He talks with host Yuri Rashkin about what the ban could mean for workers and employers.
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Today we spend the hour talking about wealth and income disparities with folks who are working on a solution. That solution? Putting cash in the hands of people who need it. Blake Roberts, Kathrine Cagat and Gina Stilp join host Ali Muldrow to break down the differences of universal basic income, guaranteed income and unconditional cash programs. They discuss the realities of living in poverty, the impact of having a safety net, and the truth of government subsidies.
Blake Roberts is the Program Manager for Madison Forward Fund. The Madison Forward Fund is a guaranteed income program that gives a monthly, non-strings attached payment to households for one year.
Kathrine Cagat is the Research and Program Manager for Mayors for Guaranteed Income (MGI) and Counties for a Guaranteed Income (CGI). MGI is a network of mayors advocating for a guaranteed income to ensure that all Americans have an income floor.
Gina Stilp is Executive Director of the Zilber Family Foundation. The foundation is a private, independent grantmaking institution. They are now accepting applications for Milwaukee’s first unconditional cash program: The Bridge Project.
Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
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Cap Times food editor and arts reporter Lindsay Christians, was on set as a diner and a dishwasher during the filming of season 21 of Top Chef . Now that the show is airing, she’s impressed with how well we come off on tv. “I’ve been talking a lot about the B roll of Madison and Milwaukee: just these beautiful like a drone shots coming into the city. It just it kind of made my heart swell the first time I saw it. I thought, ‘oh my god, it’s so beautiful.’ It’s just gorgeous,” she tells A Public Affair host Douglas Haynes.
This season of the hit reality television series is set at some of our own favorite restaurants and local landmarks. So far the chefs have been challenged to showcase Wisconsin hops, cheeses, and produce from the Dane County Farmers Market. We kick off today’s show with Top Chef producer Diana Schmedeman and co-executive producer Thi Nguyen about the process of scouting in Wisconsin and the work that goes on behind the scenes.
Then we turn to our in-studio guests Lindsay Christians and The Harvey House creative director and co-owner Shaina Papach. Shaina talks us about the experience of having an elimination challenge take place in her restaurant during the supper club episode. Lindsay is currently hosting a Top Chef companion podcast called “Corner Table: Top Chef Wisconsin.” You can learn more here and subscribe wherever you listen.
Top Chef airs on Wednesdays at 8pm CT on Bravo and can be streamed on Peacock
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Today, journalist Jacob Kushner joins host Esty Dinur to talk about his forth coming book, Look Away: A True Story of Murders, Bombings, and a Far-Right Campaign to Rid Germany of Immigrants. The book, which comes out May 7th, explains how of a group of young, radicalized Germans carried out a shocking spree of white supremacist violence and uncovers the way their actions went uncheck by the German government and it’s citizens.
Jacob will be giving talks in Wisconsin in mid-May. On Tuesday May 14th at 6pm, he’ll be at A Room of One’s Own in Madison. On Thursday, May 16th at 6:30pm, he’ll be at*Boswell Books* in Milwaukee.
Jacob Kushner is a foreign correspondent who writes magazine and other longform articles from Africa, Germany, and the Caribbean. His writing has appeared in dozens of publications, including the New York Times, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Economist, National Geographic, The Atavist, The Nation, Foreign Policy and The Guardian.
He is the author of China’s Congo Plan, which was favorably reviewed in the New York Review of Books. A Fulbright-Germany scholar and Logan Nonfiction Fellow, he was a finalist for the Livingston Award in International Reporting. He teaches and advises ambitious, young journalists at the Pulitzer Center, the Overseas Press Club, and several universities.
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A hundred years ago, Wisconsin’s U.S. Senator, Robert M. La Follette made his mark on national politics by running as an independent third party candidate for the White House. He captured a record breaking one-sixth of the popular vote. Historian Richard Drake joins host Allen Ruff to talk about “Fighting Bob” La Follette’s campaign and the legacy it left behind.
Drake is the author of author of The Education of an Anti-Imperialist: Robert La Follette and U.S. Expansion. He has a piece in the current edition of The Progressive Magazine titled “Lessons from the Progressive Campaign of 1924.” He will speaking at 2pm on Thursday, April 25th as part of the Progressive Magazine’s 4-day long celebration of the 100th anniversary of La Follette’s campaign. A full breakdown of events can be found here.
Richard Drake is the Lucile Speer Research Chair in Politics and History at the University of Montana. In addition to his book on Bob La Follette, Drake is the author of Charles Austin Beard: The Return of the Master Historian of American Imperialism.
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Philip Berrigan, American peace activist and Catholic priest, is remembered as courageous example of nonviolent resistance. Beginning in 1968, Berrigan organized against war, systemic racism, materialism, destruction of the environment, and nuclear weapons. His unyielding stances led to imprisonment and excommunication from the Catholic church.
In the recently published A Ministry of Risk: Philip Berrigan’s Writings on Peace and Nonviolence, editor Brad Wolf has compiled a collection of writings. Wolf asks readers to consider what insights Berrigan’s writings offer into the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, the climate crisis, a fraying social safety net, and desperate refugees at our southern border.
Wolf joins A Public Affair host Bert Zipperer to discuss the life and legacy of Philip Berrigan as well as the intersection of faith and resistance.
Brad Wolf is executive director and co-founder of Peace Action Network of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. A former lawyer, prosecutor, professor and community college dean, he writes for various publications.
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A 2019 study found that Wisconsin is has one of the worst racial disparities for Black children in the US. How does that pan out for student’s living in Madison? Importantly, what is the actual experience for Black people who get their education at our schools?
Today we are spending the hour with a group of Black scholars who are working to expose a more complete history of Black Madisonians’ experiences in education. In that work, the Black Madison Voices Project aims to advance anti-racist curriculum, policies, and practices in our K-12 and higher-learning institutions. At the heart of the project are interviews with Black folks who went to school in Madison.
Five members of the group join host Ali Muldrow to discuss why they got involved and what they have learned from interviewees so far.
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About our guests:
Dr. Maxine McKinney de Royston is an Associate Professor at UW-Madison in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction. Her teaching and scholarship focus on developing and sustaining learning spaces that support the intellectual thriving and holistic well-being of Black students.
Ruby Bafu is a 6th year PhD candidate in Sociology studying students’ experiences in online learning spaces.
Jalessa Bryant is a doctoral candidate in the Multicultural Education area of the Curriculum and Instruction Department at UW-Madison.
Dr. Aireale J. Rodgers is an Anna Julia Cooper Fellow and Assistant Professor of Higher Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis department.
Yanika Davis is a second year Master of Public Health student at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.
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April is National Poetry Month and as we approach the end of the month, we turn to the poets in our community. Host Douglas Haynes is joined by former Wisconsin Poet Laureate Kimberly Blaeser, current Madison Poet Laureate Steven Espada Dawson, and current Wisconsin Poet Laureate Nicholas Gulig. We hear a poem from each and discuss poetry in community, the impact of a poet laureateship, and what it’s like to be, as Steven puts it, poetry’s cheerleaders.
Event mentioned during the show:
You can learn more and register for the event here.
Kimberly Blaeser, past Wisconsin Poet Laureate and founding director of In-Na-Po—Indigenous Nations Poets, is a writer, photographer, and scholar.She is the author of six poetry collections including Ancient Light, Copper Yearning, and the bilingual Résister en dansant/Ikwe-niimi: Dancing Resistance. Blaeser edited Traces in Blood, Bone, and Stone: Contemporary Ojibwe Poetry and wrote the monograph Gerald Vizenor: Writing in the Oral Tradition. Her photographs, picto-poems, and ekphrastic pieces have appeared in exhibits such as “Visualizing Sovereignty,” and “No More Stolen Sisters.” An Anishinaabe activist and environmentalist, she is an enrolled member of White Earth Nation and grew up on the reservation. The 2024 Mackey Chair in Creative Writing at Beloit College and a Vassar College Tatlock Fellow, Blaeser is a Professor Emerita at UW–Milwaukee and an MFA faculty member for Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. Her accolades include a Lifetime Achievement Award from Native Writers’ Circle of the Americas. Blaeser splits her time between her home in rural Wisconsin and a water-access cabin near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota.
Steven Espada Dawson is a writer from East Los Angeles. The son of a Mexican immigrant, he received his MFA from Purdue University, where he studied under Kaveh Akbar, Marianne Boruch, Roxane Gay, Terese Marie Mailhot, and Donald Platt. He has served as a poetry editor for Sycamore Review and Copper Nickel. Recipient of a Pushcart Prize (XLVII), his recent poems have appeared in AGNI, Colorado Review, Gulf Coast, Kenyon Review, POETRY, and Waxwing. He is a 2021 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellow and the ’22 – ’23 Jay C. and Ruth Halls Fellow in Poetry at UW–Madison’s Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, where he teaches creative writing. He is the Poet Laureate of Madison, WI.
Nicholas Gulig is a Thai American poet from Wisconsin. He is the author of Orient (Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 2018), winner of the 2017 CSU Poetry Center Open Book Competition; Book of Lake (CutBank, 2016); and North of Order (YesYes Books, 2015). In 2011, Gulig was the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship to Bangkok. He is also a recipient of the Ruskin Art Club Poetry Award, the Black Warrior Review Poetry Prize, and the Grist’s ProForma Award. Gulig is an associate professor of languages and literatures at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and lives in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. In 2023, he was appointed poet laureate of Wisconsin through 2024. In 2023, Gulig received an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship.
Image by cromaconceptovisual from Pixabay
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Friday morning, Israel attacked Iran in the latest of mutual attacks. The first was an Israeli attack on April 1st of Iran’s embassy compound in Syria. Then on April 13th, Iran conducted a retaliatory strike of numerous missiles and drones, most of which were intercepted. These attacks have us all wondering if a Middle East-wide war is impending.
Joining host Esty Dinur to talk about the likely hood of a regional war is journalist Richard Silverstein and International Crisis Group‘s Joost Hiltermann.
Richard Silverstein is an independent journalist who reports on Israeli national security affairs, including the Israel-Palestine and Israel-Iran conflicts. He has published the Tikun Olam blog for the past 20 years.
Joost R. Hiltermann is Program Director, Middle East & North Africa for International Crisis Group. Tthe International Crisis Group is an independent NGO dedicated to preventing deadly conflict. Hiltermann is author of A Poisonous Affair: America, Iraq, and the Gassing of Halabja (Cambridge, 2007), and Behind the Intifada: Labor and Women’s Movements in the Occupied Territories (Princeton, 1991).
Image by BockoPix on Flickr, used under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Creative Commons License.
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While campus protests over Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza have continued in recent months, so have attacks on academic freedom and free speech at universities across the U.S. In his recent piece for Truth Out, “Israel Has Formed a Task Force to Carry Out Covert Campaigns at US Universities” activist and scholar William I. Robinson argues that the attacks are part of an Israeli government campaign to shape US public opinion and neutralize opposition to Israel’s war.
Robinson points to a report by Israeli news outlet Ynetnews, that says the government is behind the covert campaign to harass and intimate students, campus journalists, faculty, and administration. He tells A Public Affair, “The intent is to crush any dissent on U.S. campuses, any attempt at solidarity with Palestine, any attempt to oppose the genocide that’s being carried out.”
William I. Robinson is an American professor of sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He’s the author of a number of books including Can Global Capitalism Endure? (Clarity Press, 2022) and Global Civil War: Capitalism Post-Pandemic (PM Press, 2022).
Photo by Ian Hutchinson on Unsplash
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Project 2025 is a sweeping policy blueprint for the first 180 days of next Republican president, written by the Heritage Foundation and supported by more than 80 conservative organizations. The goal of the plan is to “rescue the country from the grip of the radical Left.”
The Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) calls the plan a threat to our democracy. President and cofounder Wendy Via joins host Nate Carlin to talk about the more than nine hundred page agenda. She argues that we have not recovered from the 2016 to 2020 presidency. “The idea that Americans can take for granted that our institutions will hold, that our democracy is so solid that nothing can happen to it. I think that is a mistake,” she tells listeners. “I do not want people to be afraid–I just want people to exercise their rights within our democratic process. Is it possible for a right wing president to get into office and destroy a lot of our democratic foundations? I think the answer is yes”
Wendy Via is an expert in the intersection of technology and far-right extremism and the effect on democracy as well as in achieving change and influencing narratives and actions around some of the most pressing civil and human rights issues of our time, including far-right extremism, systemic racism, economic inequality, immigration, criminal justice reform, and LGBTQ+ rights.
Image by David Peterson from Pixabay
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A 2017 Pew Research survey found that a quarter of Black Americans had faced online harassment due to their race or ethnicity. As our society moves more and more online, how do we cope with this reality?
In his new book, When the Hood Comes Off: Racism and Resistance in the Digital Age, Dr. Rob Eschmann analyzes a wealth of data, interviews with students of color, and millions of social media posts to unpack the influence of online communication on face-to-face interactions. He joins host Ali Muldrow to discuss online racism and the way people choose to respond to it.
Dr. Rob Eschmann is a writer, educator, filmmaker, and scholar from Chicago. He is an Associate Professor at the Columbia University School of Social Work and a Faculty Associate at at Harvard’s Berkman-Klein Center for Internet & Society. Rob wrote and directed “Choose Your Own Resistance”, an immersive, multi-perspective film about choosing to challenge racism. Additionally he writes on educational inequality, community violence, racism, social media, and youth wellbeing.
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Last week, President Biden unveiled his latest student loan forgiveness proposal while speaking at Madison College. He described a plan that would cancel debt for anyone who began repaying undergraduate loans more than 20 years ago and would cancel accrued interest for some borrowers.
Carole Trone and Benjamin Lee from the Wisconsin Coalition on Student Debt join host Douglas Haynes to talk about the proposed plan and the broader issues around student debt. The coalition is a nonprofit that aims to clarify student debt, college affordability, and loan repayment.
For confidential assistance, the Wisconsin Coalition on Student Debt help line can be reached at 833-589-0750. You can ask questions by email at studentloanquestions@debtsmarts.org
Additional support for student loan debt can be found at studentaid.gov
Carole Trone is the Interim Executive Director of the Coalition and Executive Director of Fair Opportunity Project, a nationally focused and student-led nonprofit organization with a mission to empower students to access and afford college. Prior to this role, she served as Senior Vice President for Educational Services at the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. She earned a Ph.D. in Educational Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has taught and served in various roles there. Carole earned her undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University and is originally from Washington, D.C.
Benjamin Lee is a board member of the Wisconsin Coalition on Student Debt. He is also Associate Counsel at Ascendium Education Group, a nonprofit organization making education and training beyond high school a reality for more people. Benjamin’s focus includes compliance, bankruptcy, incident response, and risk management, and he is a frequent trainer and presenter on student loans. Benjamin received his law degree from the University of Minnesota, where he studied nonprofit, corporate, and consumer law, and took on student loans of his own.
Photo by Dylan Gillis on Unsplash
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“We do not believe that we can sit by and watch as people are being slaughtered, as children are being starved to death, and as our governments refuse to do anything about it–except, you know, maybe some strong words here and there. We have a responsibility as global civil society to take actions when our governments fail, and we are going to do everything that we can to make sure that we are protected as much as possible.”
That is human rights attorney and social justice activist Huwaida Arraf talking about the upcoming Gaza Freedom Flotilla. She will be on traveling into Gaza on the flotilla which depart later this month. Cassandra Dixon, Madison-based activist, will also be on the flotilla.Their aim is to deliver 5,500 tons of humanitarian aid. Huwaida and Cassandra join host Esty Dinur to talk about logistics, risks, and motivations behind the trip.
Huwaida joined us in June 2010 after a flotilla led by Mavi Marmara that was attacked by Israeli forces. We played a short clip during the show, and the full episode can be heard here:
Then, we turn our attention to war tax resistance as the proposed federal budget for fiscal year 2025 allots nearly $850 billion for the Department of Defense. The National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC) says they oppose militarism and war and refuse to be complicit in paying taxes for such violence Esty talks with Paula Rogge who has been practicing war tax resistance for 39 years and organizes with NWTRCC.
Event mentioned during the show: The Madison-Rafah Sister City Project hosting Commemorating the Life of Rachel Corrie, on April 14th at 944 E. Gorham St from 1:30pm to 3:30 pm.
About our guests:
Huwaida Arraf is a Palestinian-American civil/human rights attorney and social justice activist. She has been involved in numerous legal and grassroots initiatives for Palestinian rights for the last two decades, including co-founding the Nobel Peace Prize-nominated International Solidarity Movement (ISM), and leading the Free Gaza Movement, which organized sea voyages to Gaza to confront and challenge Israel’s illegal blockade on the two million Palestinians living there. Huwaida currently practices civil rights law in Detroit and was a 2022 candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives for Michigan’s 10th Congressional District.
Cassandra Dixon is 65 and lives in Wisconsin, US, at a small catholic worker house providing overnight hospitality to women and children visiting a nearby federal prison.at Oxford, Wisconsin. She works as a residential carpenter in Madison and has volunteered regularly in the West Bank since 2006, helping to accompany schoolchildren and farming families whose lives have been impacted by the construction and expansion between their villages. She is a member of Madison Rafah Sister City Project, and has been involved in many events to raise funds for humanitarian aid, as well as congressional visits and other efforts to call for a ceasefire.
Dr. Paula Rogge is a board-certified family physician and former clinical assistant professor in the UW Department of Family Medicine. Since medical school, she has worked to educate the public about the importance of nuclear disarmament. She is a member of Physicians, Health Professionals and Concerned Citizens for Social Responsibility Wisconsin, the Interfaith Peace Working Group and the Friends Meeting of Madison. Over the last several years, she has been speaking out about the adverse health effects of the F35 fighter jet on East side residents. Since October of 2023, she has protested the US government’s role in providing financial and military support to Israel’s war on Gaza. She has been a war tax resister for 39 years, “redirecting” federal income taxes from war to organizations that feed and house people, that work for peace and justice.
Featured image from US Boats to Gaza.
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How do we help students and their families be healthy and successful? How do we address the social, emotional, and mental issues within our schools? It seems that school social […]
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During the most recent state budget process, Governor Evers proposed using $305 million of the state’s $7 billion surplus to stabilize a number of UW Campuses; however, the Republican-controlled joint […]
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Globally, wellness is a trillion dollar industry. From yoga classes and spin bikes, to supplements and natural skin-care products, it seems like wellness is all around us. But what is […]
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The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign (WDC) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan watchdog group that tracks money in politics on public database, and advocates for finance reform Last month, the WDC announced Nicholas […]
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Summer break is over and the first day of school for most Madison 4k through 12th graders was Tuesday. A Public Affair kicks off the school year with MMSD Associate Superintendent […]
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Early in his life, Jesus Salas and his brothers spent a decade working a migrant worker and eventually settled in Wautoma, Wisconsin. In 1966, at just 22 years-old, Jesus co-founded […]
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Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and CEO if the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is currently jailed and awaiting trial on conspiracy and fraud. Once one of the riches people in cryptocurrency, Bankman-Fried was the second biggest individual donor to the Democratic party ahead of the 2022 midterms. Today’s guest says Bankman-Fried was trying to buy politicians on both sides of the aisle.
William Black, an expert in white-collar crime, public finance, and regulation, tells A Public Affair, “he didn’t give overwhelmingly to Democrats. He personally gave to Democrats, but he made sure that his top associates gave largely to Republicans.” He goes on to say, “these are people who control a seemingly legitimate entity and use it as camouflage, a weapon and a shield. His enterprise was a fraud from the beginning.”
Black joins us to explain what happened with FTX and it’s sister company Alameda.
William Black is an American lawyer, academic, author, and a former bank regulator. He is the author of The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One: How Corporate Executives and Politicians Looted the S&L Industry. Black was the deputy staff director of the national commission that investigated the cause of the savings and loan debacle.
Attribution: Cointelegraph accessed on wikimedia.
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Qwantese Dourese Winters a doula, writer, agriculturist, mixed media artist, and now Madison Public Library’s Naturalist in Residence. She is also one of the hosts of “Let’s Grow Stuff” on […]
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The trauma and abuse that we experience as children can, and often does leave lasting impacts on us as adults. It can appear as anxiety, PTSD and depression. It might […]
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Last month, the US House Oversight and Accountability subcommittee heard testimony of UAP* evidence from former Defense Department employee, David Grusch. Grusch is a Air Force veteran and former member […]
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Halfway through her first year as Lieutenant Governor, Sara Rodriguez joins A Public Affair host Carousel Bayrd to talk about her new podcast “The Rodriguez Report.” The podcast is laid […]
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In 2022, Madison’s Poet Laureate Angela Trudell Vasquez created the Madison Youth Poet Laureate Program. It made Madison the first city in Wisconsin to become a part of the National Youth Poet Laureate program. The national organization honors teenage poets and provides them competitive opportunities to showcase their work and talent.
Earlier this summer, Maliha Nu’Man became the second Madison Youth Poet Laureate. Maliha is an upcoming sophomore, and when she was just 14, she self-published her first book titled, “Photograph.”
Maliha and Angie join host Ali Muldrow to talk about the role of the youth poet laureate, the power of mentorship, and the joy of performance.
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When Karen Hinton Robinson learned that her daughter was not being taught Black History in elementary school, she decided to put her life-long quilting skills to use. Ever since, she […]
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The Hanford Nuclear sight was built in Washington State on land that was confiscated from the Yakama tribe. Once home to the US largest plutonium production site, it is now […]
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For the 16th year in a row, the Wisconsin State budget failed to fund public education at the rate of inflation, leaving nearly 40% of public schools getting less funding […]
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When Justice Janet Protasiewicz was sworn in early this month, her presence flipped the court from conservative to liberal for the first time in 15 years. Now, state Republicans are […]
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Last Wednesday marked the hundredth day of striking for the Writers Guild of America union. Among their demands are an increase to minimum compensation, a limit on the use of […]
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“Until 2006 undocumented people in Wisconsin could get driver’s licenses,” says ProPublica reporter Melissa Sanchez. That changed when a federal anti-terrorism law called the REAL ID Act was enacted. Under […]
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Snapshot Wisconsin is a volunteer-based project wildlife year-round using a statewide network of trail cameras that provide data for wildlife management decision support. Volunteers can help identify animals on Zooniverse. […]
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‘Barbie’ surpassed $1 billion dollars at the box office this week, making Greta Gerwig the first woman director to be the sole directing credit on a billion dollar movie. The […]
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The Milwaukee Black Theatre Festival kicks off tomorrow, August 9th and runs through the 27th. The three-week-long event is a celebration of Black arts and culture, and features both free […]
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Imagine a you’re sitting down with a group of strangers. Everyone is drinking coffee or tea and nibbling on a pastry. You’re all here to talk about death. Accord to […]
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How does one community come together and face this disrupted future? How do we create a more resilient mutual aid culture? How do we welcome those refugees who have to […]
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This weekend, there are two events happening in the movement to halt the Enbridge oil pipeline “Line 5.” On Saturday, August 5th the Ashland Community Rally & Flotilla will start […]
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The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup is in full swing in Australia and New Zealand. The games are happening as Madison anticipates a pro women’s team. Today, we kick around […]
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This fall, YMCA Madison is hosting a 3 day Racial Justice Summit. Race & Equity Director Gery Paredes Vasquez joins us briefly to talk about the upcoming summit and then […]
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Earlier this month, the US Department of Agriculture issued a disaster declaration for 18 southern Wisconsin counties, including Dane County, due to unusually dry conditions. The extreme drought impacting our […]
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Two weeks ago, a subcommittee of the US House of Representatives released its draft appropriations bill for the next fiscal year. Included in the bill is a proposal to zero […]
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On July 7th, 2021, a group of men entered the Port-au-Prince home of Jovenel Moïse, the then president of Haiti. They killed him and in gravely injured his wife, First […]
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In 2021, artist Rosy Petri was named the inaugural Artist in Residence at the bell hooks center in Berea, Kentucky. On her way to that position, Rosy took a solo […]
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The power of fungi is a hot topic right now: from documentaries to books to a fictional post-apocalyptic world ravaged by a fungal outbreak. One international group is taking that […]
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Earlier this year, the Southern Poverty Law Center named Moms for Liberty an extremist hate group. This is after Moms for Liberty endorsed 275 winning school board candidates nationwide in […]
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While people of color are quickly becoming the majority of the US populations, the perspectives of white America still dominate the media that is made and consumed daily. Now media […]
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Solastalgia is the feeling of existential distress caused by environmental change. The term was coined by the Australian philosopher Glenn Albrecht, who describes it as “the homesickness we feel while […]
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On July 3rd, Israel launched a large-scale air and ground military aggression against the Jenin refugee camp, cutting off thousands of Palestinians, killing at least 12 Palestinians, injuring more than […]
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Today, host Allen Ruff talks with friend of the show Max Elbaum about his recent piece “MAGA Authoritarian Rule or Third Reconstruction?” in Convergence Magazine. Elbaum joins us to explain […]
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The US Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Christian web designer from Colorado at the end of last month. The court the courts conservative majority decided that the graphic […]
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On this A Public Affair episode, sub hosts and spouses Jade and Alex Iseri-Ramos interview the authors of the new book Baby Making for Everybody. The book is a how-to […]
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43 million people in the US collectively owe $1.7 trillion in student loan debt. More than 90% of that balance is owed to the federal government. As an attempted to […]
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How does your garden grow — and how can it grow to be more resilient in extremes brought on by climate change? We’re joined by Sally Morgan, organic gardener […]
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In Greg Mitchell’s new documentary, we learn the history of the Memorial Day Massacre — the day in 1937 when Chicago Police shot and killed ten unarmed demonstrators, and wounded […]
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With the end of June comes the end-of-term for the U.S. Supreme Court, and predictably, the nation’s highest court is out with several high-profile decisions impacting our everyday lives. Today […]
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Joy and happiness are not the same thing, says H. Melt, a Chicago-based poet, artist, educator, and documentarian of queer and trans communities. While “happiness is an individual and often […]
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It’s resilient, regenerative, and revolutionary for agricultural sustainability: it’s Kernza®. This time of the year, you might see Kernza about 3-4 feet high and starting to sprout yellow flowers. In […]
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What was the responsibility of the United States in bringing about the war in Ukraine? That’s an angle of the Ukraine invasion that’s received little attention in the mainstream press. […]
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When peace, or at least a halt on the invasion in Ukraine arrives, how will it come about? Could an ascendant China – perhaps the one power positioned to do […]
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Wisconsin is in the midst of a childcare crisis. It’s prohibitively expensive for families, if you can find a spot. But employees aren’t making competitive wages, and providers – facing […]
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Just over a year ago, the supreme court overruled Roe v Wade. The decision left us with zero federal abortion rights. Here in Wisconsin, our access to abortion is governed […]
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Earlier this month four Huitoto (also spelled Witoto) siblings were found in the Colombian jungle, after surviving a plane crash and 40 days on their own. Their Indigenous heritage and […]
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In his new book, Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right, historian Matthew Dallek argues that the Birchers’ extremism remade American conservatism. Dallek joins A Public Affair host […]
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Wisconsin election administrator Meagan Wolfe’s term is set to expires on July 1st, and due to election denialism following the 2020 presidential election, state Republicans are unlikely to reappoint her. […]
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Two historical events for transgender rights in Madison have or will happen before the end of pride month. First, at the beginning of June, the trans flag was raised for […]
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As sea levels rise, shorelines recede, and islands shrink and disappear, atlas are going to have to reflect the new reality. In her new book Sea Change: An Atlas of […]
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In his book, Drug Cartels Do Not Exist: Narcotrafficking in US and Mexican Culture, Oswaldo Zavala argues terms like “drug cartel” that we use to describe drug traffickers were deceitfully created […]
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Beginning in March and increasing in intensity this month, vast parts of Canada have been scorched by a record-setting series of wildfires. With the worst fire season in Canadian history […]
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” These things are probably going to be a little more common in the future, so we need to have some kind of safeguards built into the way we house […]
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It takes the average Latina, 12 extra months to earn what the average White, non-Hispanic man earns. That is because Latinas are only paid .55 cents to the dollar of […]
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Earlier this week, the Atlanta City Council approved an addition $31 million dollars for the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center. This was after more than 16 hours […]
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“The Philippines is under a new administration, but still the government’s case against de Lima hobbles along, a symbol of the country’s degradation from the Duterte years of violent populism […]
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Sold in headshops and on the grey market, “spice” or K2 is a way to get high while avoiding showing up on a drug test. Whether or not they’re legal […]
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On today’s show, Ali Muldrow is talking with the author of a new memoir that tells the story of a twenty-four-year-old who bought a one-way ticket from the midwest to […]
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As the school year comes to an end, we speak with Wisconsin’s top educator Dr. Jill Underly. She joins us to talk about the financial needs of the state’s K-12 […]
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In his new book Matt Huber argues that at its root, climate change is a class problem. He joins us on A Public Affair to highlight how the climate struggle […]
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Joining Allen Ruff on this summer pledge drive addition of A Public Affair is Jon Melrod. A life-long activist and organizer, Melrod is the author of the new book Fighting […]
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When Forward Theater Company’s Jen Uphoff Gray first thought about creating a festival featuring new plays, she was hoping to make Wisconsin a place that celebrates and welcomes playwriters and […]
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The birth of her own child sent Linda Janet Holmes on a journey to find a better way. In her forthcoming book, which Ms. Magazine has dubbed one of the […]
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This Memorial Day, guest host David Ahrens is joined by two of the musicians behind a historical rock and roll musical. Ken Fitzsimmons and Sean Michael Dargan were part of the production team that first performed “The Greatest War: World War I, Wisconsin, and Why it Still Matters” in front of a sold out crowd on November 11, 2018 at the Barrymore. They preformed a second show in 2019.
Today’s program is just a taste of what those audiences experienced. We play music from the show preformed by The Kissers, Hanah Jon Taylor, Sean Michael Dargan, The November Criminals, and The Viper & His Famous Orchestra.
Ken Fitzsimmons is the frontman for Madison-based Celtic band The Kissers. He is the Education Director at Madison Music Foundry. Ken’s interest in the WWI era grew from his study of Irish music and the significance of that time in Ireland’s history. Ken’s grandfather was a POW in WWII and his father was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War.
Sean Michael Dargan is a professional singer, songwriter, guitar player, and highland bagpiper. He has a deep interest in military history, and even was the piper for a British army reenacting group that portrayed WWI BEF units.
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Last Thursday, U.S. District Judge William Conley said it was unlikely he would rule to shut down Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline on the Bad River reservation. This is despite recent erosion on the river bank that has raised concerns of exposure and eruption of the pipeline. Conley claimed that the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa didn’t sufficiently prove the erosion was an emergency.
A history of Line 5 can be found on the Sierra Club website.
Joining us to talk about the pipeline and efforts to shut it down are Communities United by Water’s Barbara With, Midwest Environmental Advocates’ Rob Lee, and Sierra Club’s Elizabeth Ward.
Barbara With is the co-founder of Wisconsin Citizens Media Coop and Communities United by Water. She lives in Lake Superior on Madeline Island and has been reporting on water issues since 2011. She was part of Harvest Education Learning Project (HELP) Camp to protect Northern Wisconsin from an open mine, participated the effort in Standing Rock to protect the water from Dakota Access Pipeline, and was arrested on Enbridge Line 3 in the summer of 2021. Barbara is currently working to stop a devastating rupture of Enbridge Line 5 running through the Bad River Reservation.
Rob Lee is a staff attorney at Midwest Environmental Advocates, a non-profit environmental law center in Madison, Wisconsin, where he works on a variety of issues including oil pipeline regulation, wetland and waterway permitting, and protecting the Great Lakes.
Elizabeth Ward is the Director of the Wisconsin branch of the Sierra Club which works to prevent a climate catastrophe and protect Wisconsin’s lands, water, and wildlife.
Photo by Salomé Guruli on Unsplash
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Twenty states and the federal Bureau of Prisons currently detain over 6,000 people, mostly men previously convicted of sex offenses, in prison-like “civil commitment” facilities beyond the terms of their criminal sentence. They’re held – often indefinitely – “treatment” facilities after completing their criminal sentences, in a practice likened to “double jeopardy” or repeat punishment for the same crime.
Joining us to discuss this system will be the activist researcher, writer and editor Emma Peyton Williams. She is the author of a new overview report for the Prison Policy Initiative on civil commitment facilities. Emma’s survey research was conducted with Inside Illinois Civil Commitment.
Emma Peyton Williams is an activist, researcher, and educator. Emma’s work focuses on the intersection of social services and the criminal punishment system.
Photo by Andy Li on Unsplash
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About 16 million people in the US own one or more AR-15s according to The Washington Post and Ipsos. That is one in 20 people who own the semi-automatic weapon. A new reporting series by The Washington Post title AMERICAN ICON explores how the AR-15 became America’s favorite gun.
Joining us on today’s program is Alex Horton, National security reporter focused on the U.S. military, who coauthored “The gun that divides a nation” and “Flannel, muddy girl camo and man cards. See the ads used to sell the AR-15.”
Photo by STNGR Industries on Unsplash
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On Saturday, June 3rd gun owners can give new life to guns they no longer want. Former Pastor Jeff Wild is spending his retirement dismantling firearms and transforming them into garden tools. He joins us on A Public Affair to talk about this work. Also joining us is Dan Elsass, a member of the First United Method Church in Madison and is helping organized the Guns 2 Gardens event.
Unloaded guns can be surrendered on Saturday June 3rd from 8:30am to 12:30pm at the First United Method Church Parking Lot (203 Wisconsin Avenue, Madison). A second event will be held the following Saturday, June 10th from 9am to 12pm at Midvale Community Lutheran Church (4329 Tokay Blvd., Madison)
More information about the FUMC event can be found here. The flyer for both dates can be found here.
Jeff Wild is a retired pastor of Madison’s Advent Lutheran Church. He leads the Guns 2 Gardens movement in Madison.
Dan Elsass is a former city administrator, UW-Extension instructor, and Verona Area School Board member. He is a member of the Gun Violence Reduction team. In 2022 they began a campaign to lobby state and federal lawmakers to enact stricter gun controls.
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
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Sometimes it’s just nice to hear someone say the climate is in a death spiral. Dark comedy can give us the resolve to face the realities of climate change. Today’s guest, Aaron Sachs is the author of a new book that urges us to laugh our way towards solutions.
Stay Cool: Why Dark Comedy Matters in the Fight Against Climate Change gives historical context for the use of dark humor and offers environmentalists a way to use humor to boost moral and engagement.
Examples cited in Stay Cool and referenced on todays show include:
- Chris Rock’s 2016 Oscars Monologue: https://youtu.be/kqhVNZgZGqQ
- The Yes Men Impersonate Shell: https://youtu.be/nkqO-qOHFT8
- Weathergirl Goes Rogue: https://youtu.be/TmfcJP_0eMc
Aaron Sachs is Professor of History and American Studies at Cornell University. He is the author of The Humboldt Current: Nineteenth-Century Exploration and the Roots of American Environmentalism and Arcadian America: The Death and Life of an Environmental Tradition. With John Demos, he co-edited Artful History: A Practical Anthology.
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
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We start the show with co-founders of Myco Rising Aaron Cutler and Kacy Zander. They are attempting to clean up pollution in and around Starkweather Creek by using mycelium, the root-like structure of a fungus. Their project involves community members growing mushrooms at home and then returning the mycelium after harvesting. To learn more you can email mycorisingteam@gmail.com or find them @mycorisingup on Instagram.
Then, we speak with co-founder of the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Peace Committee of the National Capital Area, John Steinbach. In response to Joe Biden visiting Hiroshima for the G7 Summit, Steinbach wrote for the Institute for Public Accuracy that “the public is shockingly oblivious to the threat of global nuclear war.” He joins A Public Affair to tell us why.
Photo by Mason Unrau on Unsplash
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CMG United (OPEIU 39), the Union representing more than 400 employees at Madison-based insurance company CUNA Mutual Group, will be on going on strike this Friday, May 19th. In April, 92% of members voted in favor of allowing the Union’s bargaining committee to call a strike if deemed necessary. Despite mediation, the bargaining committee and CUNA Mutual were unable to reach an agreement and workers are now heading to the picket line.
Joining us to discuss the key issues and concerns are Sarah Larsen and Will Roberts. More information about the Union and strike can be found here.
The strike will begin at 8am tomorrow, Friday, May 19th at CUNA Mutual Group’s corporate HQ 5910 Mineral Pt. Road Madison, WI .
Sarah Larsen is an Administrative Assistant at CUNA Mutual Group and a member of the OPEIU 39 bargaining committee.
Will Roberts is a Multimedia Specialist and part of the union’s contract action team.
Photo by Patrick Perkins on Unsplash
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When Carousel’s daughter said “Everyone is on Instagram but me,” Carousel thought, “Certainly she’s exaggerating.” She wasn’t. Within an hour she was connected with 100 of her classmates. This led Carousel to realized how vital apps like Instagram have be come to her kids social circles. Expanding on this moment and the experience of parenting kids who are on social media, we are talking about youth on social media.
First, we talk with Representative David Steffen who has authored a new bill that would put a curfew on the hours minors can use social media. This would be the default, though parents can override the curfew. The bill is modeled after a new Utah law that will go into effect this summer.
Then, Dr. Megan Moreno, co-medical director of American Academy of Pediatrics Center of Excellence on Social Media and Youth Mental health, joins us to talk about research on youth and social media and to give current tools for parents.
Photo by ROBIN WORRALL on Unsplash
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Today’s guest is the author of a beautiful new book that features the stories of many people who had abortions and how each story is as unique as the person behind it. Hannah Matthews is the author of You or Someone You Love: Reflections from an Abortion Doula, and she joins Ali Muldrow to talk about the book, abortion access, and care.
Hannah Matthewsis an abortion doula and funder. She is a clinic worker, hotline counselor, and writer. Her writing has appeared in Elle, Esquire, Teen Vogue, McSweeney’s, Time, among others.
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Last month, five foxes were translocated from the Glen Golf Course by the UW Urban Canid Project. This project researches red foxes and coyotes living in Madison. They began with a pilot study in January 2014 and now the live-trap and radio-collar local animals in order to remotely monitor their locations without disturbing them. Blood, nasal, and fecal samples are also collected study what diseases are prevalent in wild canid populations. Researcher Dr. David Drake joins A Public Affair to educate us on Madison’s wild neighbors.
Red fox and coyote sightings can be reported on the Canid Project’s iNaturalist page. At the time of this broadcast, more than 23 hundred sightings have been reported.
David Drake is a Professor and Extension Wildlife Specialist in the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Image by Shingo_No from Pixabay
Fox Sound Effect from Pixabay
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SAY THE WORD, BLISS
when the gaudy sun routs
the curtains
& velvet
is
drawn back from window after window
to let the morning in
& night has yet to be imagined
This is from Jesse Lee Kercheval’s latest poetry collection, I Want to Tell You. In it, Jesse Lee wrestles with grief, loss, god, and the universe. She joins us on A Public Affair to read from the book and share her poem writing process.
Jesse Lee Kercheval is a poet, writer, and translator, specializing in Uruguayan poetry. She is the author of America that island off the coast of France and Dog Angel and the translator of Love Poems by Idea Vilariño and The Invisible Bridge: Selected Poems of Circe Maia. A bilingual Spanish-English edition of her selected poems, La crisis es el cuerpo, translated by Ezequiel Zaidenwerg, was published in Argentina and is forthcoming in Mexico. She is also the author of the Alex Award–winning memoir Space and the short story collection Underground Women.
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In the 1990s, the Fox River near Green Bay was dominate by paper mills and the pollution they caused. A new book, Paper Valley: The Fight for the Fox River Cleanup, tells the story of the tumultuous fight for the billion dollar, 20-year long Fox River cleanup that the polluting paper companies were forced to paid. Biologist and environmentalist P. David Allen II and environmental reporter Susan Campbell join guest host Catherine Garvens to discuss the book and the work behind the clean up.
P. David Allen II is a retired wildlife biologist and environmental consultant, who has worked for federal, state, tribal, and local governments in twenty-five states.
Susan Campbell is a former environmental reporter for the Green Bay Press-Gazette and the coauthor of Beyond Earth Day: Fulfilling the Promise, with the late Earth Day founder, Sen. Gaylord Nelson.
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In a piece for Truthout titled US Fascism Is Spreading Under the Guise of “Patriotic Education” Henry Giroux writes, “It is the attempt on the part of the GOP to control historical knowledge and extinguish democratic freedoms in the service of rampant white nationalism and white supremacy that fuels the attack on public and higher education and its dirty war against racialized populations.”
Giroux returns to A Public Affair to discuss that piece and talk about recent attacks on education from the far right.
Henry Giroux is an internationally renowned writer, cultural critic, and professor. He is the Chair for Scholarship in the Public Interest in the English and Cultural Studies Department and is the Paulo Freire Distinguished Scholar in Critical Pedagogy at McMaster University. He is a regular contributor to a number of online journals including Truthout, Truthdig, and CounterPunch. His recent books include American Nightmare: Facing the Challenge of Fascism (City Lights, 2018); The Terror of the Unforeseen (Los Angeles Review of books, 2019), On Critical Pedagogy, 2nd edition (Bloomsbury, 2020); Race, Politics, and Pandemic Pedagogy: Education in a Time of Crisis (Bloomsbury 2021); and Pedagogy of Resistance: Against Manufactured Ignorance (Bloomsbury 2022).
Photo by Redd F on Unsplash
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Phosphorous rich fertilizer has become an important tool in food production to feed the booming human population, but what happens when so much phosphorous enters our soil and waterways? In his new book, The Devil’s Element, environmental journalist Dan Egan explains how an over-reliance has led to toxic algae blooms and “dead zones” in waterways. He joins sub host Patty Peltekos on A Public Affair to talk about the new book and to lay out the history of phosphorous from discovery to diminishing access.
Dan Egan is the Brico Fund Journalist in Residence at the Center for Water Policy in the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences. Egan’s previous book is Death and Life of the Great Lakes. Previously, Egan was a reporter with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, covering the Great Lakes from 2002 until 2021.
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Earlier this year, the state assembly passed a set of bills that would mandate some schools to hire armed SROs and would require all schools to report incidents to the police. While the bills passed in assembly, they have not seen any movement in the Senate.
We spend the hour talking primarily about Assembly Bill 69 which states that “if 100 or more incidents occur in and on public school buildings and grounds during a school semester, and at least 25 of those incidents result in an arrest, the school must, no later than the first day of the next school year, employ or contract for the employment of a law enforcement officer as an armed school resource officer (SRO) to work at the school.”
Our guest today is Joanne Juhnke from Disability Rights Wisconsin (DRW). DRW is one of the organizations who oppose the bill.
Joanne Juhnke is an advocate with Disability Rights Wisconsin’s schools team. Disability Rights Wisconsin is a private non-profit organization that protects the rights of people with disabilities statewide. Joanne is an advocate and communications expert in mental health and disability policy, with extensive experience in non-profit organizations and the public sector.
Photo by Chali Pittman for WORT
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May 1st is International Workers’ Day and to mark the occasion on A Public Affair, we talk with some local labor organizers.
First, Michael Jones explains the main concerns facing educators: safety, staffing, and autonomy. Jones is the president of Madison Teachers Inc. (MTI), the union representing about 2,700 teachers and professional staff employed by MMSD. Last week, many MTI members spoke at the MMSD School Board to demand a cost of living adjustment. Jones says recently he’s seen “an educator and worker exodus from MMSD. They’re going out to the suburbs because they’re being offered higher salaries, more supports, and, in general, better working conditions.”
Then, we talk with Victoria Gutierrez and Ines Berna from the Service Employees International Union SEIU Healthcare Wisconsin, which is Wisconsin’s largest and fastest growing health care workers union representing over 5000 health care workers. They join the shortages caused by the pandemic, burn out, and moral distress. SEIU Healthcare Wisconsin is organizing a blood drive on Friday, May 12th at Madison Labor Temple in honor of Nurses’ Week. You can sign up here.
Image by sanjay k j from Pixabay
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Living with the threat of natural disaster and filtering through news stories about wildfires, droughts, species’ extinctions, melting ice caps, and rising sea levels can easily lead to a feeling of loss and despair. Today’s guest wrote a book that navigates the denial and doom with a different approach to our situation: with humor.
Andrew Boyd is aveteran activist, thinker and author of the new book, I Want a Better Catastrophe: Navigating the Climate Crisis with Grief, Hope and Gallows Humor.
He joins guest host Nate Carlin on a show studded with listener calls to talk about his new book and how the paradoxes of the current crisis can be a little funny.
Andrew Boyd is an author, humorist, and climate activist. His new book, I Want a Better Catastrophe: Navigating the Climate Crisis with Grief, Hope and Gallows Humor was published by New Society Press in February 2023. He is currently Chief Existential Officer of the Climate Clock, a global campaign that melds art, science, technology, and grassroots organizing to get the world to #ActInTime. His previous books include Beautiful Trouble, Daily Afflictions, and Life’s Little Deconstruction Book.
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25 year ago on April 10th, 1998 since the Good Friday Agreement was signed in Belfast, Ireland. Put simply, the agreement established a power-sharing government in Northern Ireland, where those who wanted to remain part of the United Kingdom and those who wanted a united Ireland would have a say in how the region was governed.
Dr. Kara Dempsey joins us to discuss the Belfast Agreement, how it came about, and how it has been utilized since. She also briefly but expansively lays out the past century of Northern Ireland history.
Kara is the author of the recently published book titled An Introduction to the Geopolitics of Conflict, Nationalism, and Reconciliation in Ireland.
Dr. Kara E. Dempsey is an associate professor of Geography and Planning at Appalachian State University. She is a political and cultural geographer with interests in nationalism, sectarian conflicts and reconciliation, international forced migration, spatiality and politics of religion, landscape policies and environmental change in Europe, as well as the implications of transnational medical care in Sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. Dempsey’s current work examines the geopolitics of international forced migration and asylum policies in Europe since 2015. She is also studying conflict and peacebuilding in Ireland as well as Brexit proceedings in Ireland and the UK.
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Last week, the Department of Workforce Development announced that the unemployment rate in Wisconsin fell to a record low of 2.5% in March. That’s a full percentage point lower that the national rate during the same month. A low unemployment rate is certainly good news for people looking for a job, but today’s guest says “it matters for all workers, because when the line at the door is short, it means they have more leverage to make more of their jobs.” Laura Dresser, Associate Director of Center On Wisconsin Strategy (COWS), says this is an opportunity for a rebalancing of power in the workforce.
Laura joins us to talk about collective action in a tight labor market, impacts of the pandemic on labor, and reality of low wage jobs.
Laura Dresser is the Associate Director of Center On Wisconsin Strategy (COWS). COWS is a UW Madison think-and-do tank where Laura has worked since 1995. She is also an Assistant Clinical Professor at the Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work.
Photo by Ernie Journeys on Unsplash
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National Library Week in from April 23rd to April 29th. In celebration of libraries and librarians, Barbara Alvarez joins us to talk about her new book The Library’s Guide to Sexual and Reproductive Health Information. The book introduces the basic concept of sexual and reproductive health as a human right and Barbara argues that libraries have the responsibility to provide information to their patrons.
Barbara Alvarez is an instructor in Library and Information Science and a PhD student in Information Science at UW-Madison. She is a former librarian in Wisconsin and Illinois. Her new book is The Library’s Guide to Sexual and Reproductive Health Information.
Barbara will be participating in a poster presentation tomorrow, Wednesday, April 26th at the Capitol in the North Hearing Room from 2pm-4pm.
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How can journalist effectively report on climate change? How do they convey urgency to the reader? A conference this Friday hosted by the Center for Journalism Ethics hopes to answer those questions. The 2023 Journalism Ethics Conference: ETHICS, URGENCY & CLIMATE JOURNALISM kicks off at 9am, Friday, April 28th. It is free and open to the public.
Joining us on today’s A Public Affair are keynote speaker Justin Worland, and panelists Mario Ariza and Ros Donald.
Justin Worland is a Washington D.C.-based senior correspondent for TIME covering climate change and the intersection of policy, politics and society.
Mario Alejandro Ariza is an investigative reporter and a Dominican immigrant. His byline has appeared in publications such as the South Florida Sun Sentinel, The New Republic, and The Atlantic. He is the author of Disposable City: Miami’s Future on the Shores of Climate Catastrophe.
Rosalind Donald is an assistant professor of Climate, Environmental Justice, Media, and Communication at American University. She researches how climate change communication can be made more just and effective, combining archival research, interviews, and document analysis to weave together the connections between histories of environmental injustice and today’s climate debate.
Photo used for SoundCloud by Malcolm Lightbody on Unsplash. Featured image by UW Journalism Ethics.
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In honor of Earth Day we rebroadcast last year’s Earth Day special. The original show post can be found here.
First Kata Beilin talks with host Esty Dinur about her documentary film, Maya Land: Listening to the Bees, which “tells the story of the conflict that erupted between Mayan beekeepers and the Mexican government in 2011, fomented by the planting of genetically modified soy in the Yucatan peninsula.”
Then, cultural historian Jenny Price talks about her book, Stop Saving the Planet! “Ninety-eight percent of the popular solutions refuse to challenge how our economy works,” she says—and until they do, we will continue to fail both the planet and the people who call it home.
Kata Beilin is a professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and faculty director of Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She is the author of In Search of Alternative Biopolitics in Contemporary Spain: Anti-Bullfighting, Animality, and the Environment in Contemporary Spain (Ohio State University Press, 2015) and co-editor of Ethics of Life: Contemporary Iberian Debates (Vanderbilt University Press, 2016). She recently directed and produced the documentary film Maya Land: Listening to the Bees (2022).
Jenny Price is a public writer, artist, and historian and a research fellow at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. She is the author of Stop Saving the Planet!: An Environmentalist Manifesto (W.W. Norton, 2021).
Photo by Dmitry Grigoriev on Unsplash. Music in the intro is Chopin – Mazurka Op7No5 by Blue Dot Sessions.
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On March 7th, Cassandra Dixon, a peace activist from Wisconsin, was attacked by Israeli settlers while visiting and volunteering in the Masafer Yatta area of the West Bank. She was struck in the heard resulting in a fractured skull and concussion. At the time she was with Ali Awad on his grandfather’s land. Ali and his family has been the victim of violence from Israeli settlers in attempt to remove them from the land.
Cassandra Dixon joins us into the studio and Ali Awad joins us by phone from the West Bank.
More information about the incident can be found on the Madison-Rafah website. Cassandra and Ali were also featured on the podcast Occupied Thoughts.
Ali Awad is journalist and activist from the village of Tuba in Masafer Yatta. He is co-founder of the new media project Humans of Masafer Yatta.
Cassandra Dixon is a residential carpenter in Madison, Wisconsin and lives near Wisconsin Dells at a Catholic Worker house that provides hospitality to low income women, and families visiting a loved one at a nearby federal prison. She is also a founder of Palestine Partners.
Photo by Levi Meir Clancy on Unsplash
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In 2021, President Biden announced an executive order to forgive student loans up to $100,000 for individuals with an annual income of less than $125,000. The state of Nebraska and five other states challenged the order and the case is now in front of the US Supreme Court. Another case to be decided by the Supreme Court challenges the Department of Education’s plan that forgives and additional $10,000 for borrowers who received a Pell Grant.
Joining us to talk about the cases are Dalié Jiménez and David Nahmias. The Supreme Court is expect to rule on the case this summer.
Dalié Jiménez is a Professor of Law and the Director of the Student Loan Law Initiative at the University of California-Irvine.
David Nahmias is a staff attorney with Berkley’s Center for Consumer Law & Economic Justice. He leads the Consumer Law Advocates, Scholars & Students (CLASS) Network.
Photo by Good Free Photos on Unsplash
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During the 2021-22 school year, more than 1,600 book titles were banned in schools and libraries across the country. According to a report by the group PEN America, the wave of bans represents a coordinated campaign to remove books with LGBTQ+ characters and storylines. They also target books involving characters of color.
Today’s guest is the author of two young adult memoirs. George M. Johnson’s first book, All Boys Aren’t Blue, has been banned in 29 school districts, making it the 2nd most banned book in the country. They joins us to talk about what it is like to have a critically acclaimed booked that is banned from schools and libraries.
George M. Johnson is an Award-Winning Black Non-Binary Writer, Author, and Executive Producer. They are the author of the New York Times Bestselling memoir “All Boys Aren’t Blue.” The book discusses George’s adolescence growing up as a young Black Queer boy in New Jersey. Their second memoir WE ARE NOT BROKEN was released in September of 2021.
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Last week, the Wisconsin legislature’s Joint Finance Committee held public listening sessions about the 2023-2025 state-wide budget. They will start rewriting Governor Evers proposed budget next month. In Evers budget, he includes at 15% increase to public schools, but the proposed funding for the UW-Systems falls more than $100 million short of what they asked for. This is all happening as the UW Systems Board of Regents approved tuition increases for the first time in a decade.
Today on A Public Affair we are breaking down to funding short falls and the financial realities of education funding for K-12 and the UW Systems. First we talk with Representative Kristina Shelton (D-Green Bay), the ranking Democrat on the Assembly Education Committee. Then we talk with Jon Shelton, associate professor and chair of democracy and justice studies at UW-Green Bay. Jon also serves as Vice-President for Higher Education of the American Federation of Teachers-Wisconsin.
Photo by Kimberly Farmer on Unsplash
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Environmental activist, lawyer and politician Fábio Feldmann joins us on A Public Affair to discuss climate change, Indigenous land rights, and the political realities in Brazil.
Fábio Feldmann is an environmental activist, lawyer, and political figure. He was elected Brazil’s Federal Deputy for three consecutive terms (1986 – 1998) and participated as Constituent Deputy in the drafting of the 1988 Constitution. He is largely responsible for the environmental language in the constitution. He also authored many laws regarding environmental protections.
Photo by Raphael Nogueira on Unsplash
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When Kyle Wiens was in college, he dropped his laptop causing damage that he was pretty sure he could fix, but when he went online to look for a manual–it didn’t exists. Turns out that company that manufactured his computer intentionally made it hard to fix it on his own. This sent Kyle on a journey to create iFixit.
iFixit is a source for more than 90,000 free repair guides for a wide-range of items–from tablets to coats, laptops to cars, oxygen machines to microwaves.
CEO Kyle Wiens joins guest host Patty Peltekos on A Public Affair to talk about the problem of planned obsolesces and the Right to Repair Movement.
Image by Jan Kuss from Pixabay
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The Communications Decency Act (CDA) is Title V of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which was enacted when the internet was just making its way into US homes. 26 words found in that act protect internet sites from the being held responsible for content created by their users. The fate of Section 230 of the (CDA) is now in the hands of the US Supreme Court Justices.
Associate Profess of Law Alan Rozenshtein joins us to explain Section 230 and offer his insight on what the court might decide.
Alan Z. Rozenshtein is Associate Professor of Law at University of Minnesota. He is a senior editor at Lawfare, a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a member of the Scholars Strategy Network, and a visiting faculty fellow at the University of Nebraska College of Law. He was previously an affiliate with the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.
Image by Andrzej Rembowski from Pixabay
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In his newly released book, Quinn Slobodian follows the journey of radical libertarians as they search for a place for capitalism to operated without being hindered by democracy. He joins guest host
Giuliana Chamedes to talk about Crack-Up Capitalism: Market Radicals and the Dream of a World without Democracyand what it can tell us about the future.
Quinn Slobodian is the Marion Butler McLean Professor of the History of Ideas at Wellesley College and will join the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University as a professor of international history in January 2024. He is also an associate fellow at Chatham House and co-director of the History and Political Economy Project. His previous book is Globalists: The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism. His work has also been featured in the New York Times, Guardian, and New Statesman.
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A food forest is a diverse planting of edible plants that attempts to mimic the ecosystems and patterns found in nature. By planting in a way that mimic a natural forest where the pants grow together vertically. The idea is to create a resilient, reliable, self-sustaining, and regionally-appropriate garden.
Joining us to talk about food forests, tree planting, and land stewarding are Brad Lancaster from Dunbar/Spring Neighborhood Foresters in Tucson, AZ and Emily Steinwehe from Wisconsin Food Forests in Madison.
Books mentioned in today’s show: Brad Lancaster’s Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond (more info can be found at HarvestingRainwater.com) and Wisconsin Food Forests’ F is for Food Forest: An ABC Book .Image by MegLearner from Pixabay
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There’s a human cost to getting the materials that power your cell phone, laptop, and electric vehicle. Part of that human cost is the immense toll of mining cobalt, a mineral essential to rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.
75% of the world’s supply of cobalt is produced by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where Congolese miners work in often harsh and dangerous conditions.
Activist and researcher Siddharth Kara has been investigating these brutal mining practices. His new book Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives (St. Martin’s Press, January 2023) exposes the human cost of cobalt mining and in turn, the cost of our device-driven lifestyle.
Kara joins Esty Dinur on this edition of A Public Affair to tell us the stories of the Congolese miners – some of whom are children – to mine hundreds of thousands of tons of cobalt a year.
Siddharth Kara is an American author, activist, and expert on modern-day slavery and human trafficking, child labor, and related human rights issues. He’s an adjunct lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and a Visiting Scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health. He’s the author of three previous books: Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery (2009), Bonded Labor: Tackling the System of Slavery in South Asia (2012), and Modern Slavery: A Modern Perspective (2017). You can follow him on Twitter @siddharthkara.
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Tuesday, Judge Protasiewicz won the supreme court seat in a very expensive race. Republican state Rep. Dan Knodl won the special election to represent the 8th District on the State Senate. What does this all mean? Joining us to understand the main takeaways is Wisconsin Democracy Campaign’s Matt Rothschild.
Matt Rothschild is executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. He was the senior editor of The Progressive magazine from 1994 to 2014. His latest book is 12 Ways to Save Democracy in Wisconsin (University of Wisconsin Press, 2021)
Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash
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Yesterday, Wisconsin voters elected Judge Janet Protasiewicz to the state supreme court. The liberal leaning judge secured the seat with 55% of the vote. The race received national attention, and set a record for campaign spending for a state Supreme Court Justice. While the election was technically non-partisan, the candidates represented two sides of the the abortion debate. Protasiewicz vocally supported abortion access while the opposing candidate Dan Kelly was endorsed by anti-abortion organizations.
On today’s show, we talk about what Protasiewicz’s win means as a mandate on abortion access from voters. Joining us for a round table discussion is Dr. Kristin Lyerly, an OBGYN who practices out of state following the overturn of Roe; Investigative Reporter Phoebe Petrovic, who has has been reporting for Wisconsin Watch on the intertwining of abortion access and the Supreme Court race; and Representative Lisa Subeck, a Democrat from Madison who introduced a bill to overturn the 1849 criminal abortion ban last year.
Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash
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It’s election day. If you haven’t voted yet–polls close at 8pm. Remember if you are in line at 8, stay in line! You can still vote. To find out what is on your ballot and where your polling place is, go to myvote.wi.gov
Joining us to talk about voter access, election integrity, and importance of voting is Debra Cronmiller from the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin. You can find the League’s voter resources, including candidate surveys here: https://my.lwv.org/wisconsin/voter-information/learn-more-about-candidates-issues
Debra Cronmiller is the Executive Director of the Wisconsin Chapter of League of Women Voters. The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization. They encourage informed, active participation in government and work to increase understanding of major public policy issues. They also influence public policy through both education and advocacy.
Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash
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Last month the EPA announced national guidelines for PFAS in drinking water. The current Wisconsin standard, which was adopted last year, is 70 part per trillion for PFOA and PFOS individually and combined. The proposed federal allowance is a fraction of that, at just 4 parts per trillion.
Joining us to interpret the new guidance, discuss the science behind PFAS, and offer solutions are Scott Laeser and Jorge Roman-Romero.
Scott Laeser is the Water Program Director at Clean Wisconsin. He leads the organization’s efforts to address agricultural pollution of Wisconsin’s water resources. He works with state and local officials, agricultural groups, and other environmental organizations to advance policies to improve water quality in the state’s water sources. Scott has served on Technical Advisory Committees for important rule-making efforts at the Department of Natural Resources.
Jorge Roman-Romero is an Equal Justice Works Fellow at Midwest Environmental Advocates. He uses legal and policy tools to advocate for disadvantaged communities facing disproportionate risks of harm from water pollution. Previously he worked as a clerk for the Environmental Advisory Counsel of the Attorney General of Ireland, the Oklahoma Court of Appeals, and Earthjustice.
Jorge will be speaking more on the EPA guidelines on Friday, April 14th at 12pm. You can find more information on Facebook or register for the event here.
Image by David Mark from Pixabay
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Candace Fujikane joins us on A Public Affair to explain how mapping abundance is a profoundly decolonial act, and how much is to be learned from Kanaka Maoli (native Hawaiians) in the face of climate change.
Candace Fujikane is Professor of English at the University of Hawaiʻi. She is a Japanese settler ally who stands for the protection of lands and waters in Hawaiʻi while supporting Hawaiian political independence. In 2020, she was awarded the Engaged Scholar Award by the Association for Asian American Studies. She has published Mapping Abundance for a Planetary Future: Kanaka Maoli and Critical Settler Cartographies in Hawaiʻi in 2021. She is working on her new book, Elemental Cartographies for a Changing Earth.
She’ll be giving the keynote address tonight at the GAFIS Symposium 2023, Living the Land: Global and Local (Trans)Formations.
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In a recent New York Magazine article Dan Kaufman writes about the “increasingly acrimonious” race for Wisconsin’s Supreme Court. He joins us on A Public Affair to talk how the outcome of the April 4th election could change the course of the entire country.
Dan Kaufman is a journalist who has written for The New York Times Magazine and The New Yorker. He is the author of the book The Fall of Wisconsin: The Conservative Conquest of a Progressive Bastion and the Future of American Politics.
Photo courtesy of Chali Pittman
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There are two seats open on the Madison Metropolitan School Board. Incumbent Nicki Vander Meulen is running unopposed for Seat 7, and there is a competitive race for Seat 6. We speak with both candidates for that seat on today’s A Public Affair.
First, we talk with Badri Lankella about his decision to run and what he sees a the board’s biggest hurdles.
Badri Lankella works as a computer engineer at the Department of Natural Resources, and holds a Masters in Business Administration at UW-Madison. He’s the father of two kids enrolled at Vel Phillips Memorial High School. He’s served on a variety of organizational and governmental boards. He’s running for Seat 6 on the MMSD Board of Education. You can find more about his campaign here: https://badrilankella.com/
Then, we are joined by Blair Mosner Feltham who tells us about her campaign and what she would bring to the table if elected to the school board.
Blair Mosner Feltham is a former Madison Metropolitan School District teacher with 12 years of experience in public schools. She worked in MMSD for 7 years, as a teacher, coordinator, and coach at West High School. Before that she worked in in two districts in California. Now, she works in a public school in a neighboring district and is running for Seat 6 on the MMSD Board of Education. You can find out more about her campaign here: http://bmf4mmsd.com/
Election day is Tuesday, April 4th. Early voting is happening now. You can preview your ballot at myvote.wi.gov
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Kadjata Bah has been named Wisconsin’s Journalist of the Year by Wisconsin Journalism Education Association (WisJEA). The award is open to high school seniors with student media experience. Kadjata has that and more. She is an education reporter and teen editor for the Simpson Street Free Press, which is where she got her start when she was 11. She has served as editor for East’s school newspaper and literary magazine.
She has also completed internships with The Cap Times and Madison Magazine, and he has written for the Eastside News.
Kadjata joins us on A Public Affair to tell us about being a young journalist and the joy of telling stories.
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Pulitzer on the Road is coming to the Overture Center tomorrow, Tuesday, March 28th at 7pm. The panel discussion will focus on the role of local journalism to keep residents and workers safe. Joining us on A Public Affair ahead the event is panelist and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Raquel Rutledge. Rutlege is a 2010 Pultizer Prize in Local Reporting winner for her reporting on the fraud and abuse uncovered in a child-care program.
Her 2021 investigation “Wires and Fires,” (co-reported with John Diedrich and Daphne Chen) was a 2022 Pulitzer Prize finalist. The series uncovers how electrical code violations and fatal fires are rampant in the Milwaukee’s poorest neighborhoods. Rutledge joins us to talk to us about that reporting and the importance of local reporting.
Raquel Rutledge is a public service investigative reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She is the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting winner.
Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay
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Madison is hosting the 20th Catholic Worker Midwest Faith and Resistance Gathering this weekend, March 24 – 27, 2023. It will be a weekend of relationship-building, reflection, music, art, meals and direct action opposing F-35 fighter jets, militarism and war.
It begins tonight, Friday 24th with the presentation of the documentary Theaters of War: How the Pentagon and CIA took Hollywood.
The weekend will culminate with a nonviolent resistance action to the F-35 fighter jets on Monday.
Updated event and location details can found on The Catholic Worker website or on Safe Skies Clean Water Wi’s page.
Joining us on A Public Affair are event organizer Janet Parker, and featured speakers Kathy Kelly and Brian Terrell.
Kathy Kelly is a peace activist, author, and board president of World BEYOND War. Kathy’s activism and writing are focused on Afghanistan, Yemen, Gaza, and domestic protests against US drone policy. In the past thirty-five years her activism has led to her arrests at home and abroad. She lived in war zones, notably remaining in combat zones during the early days of both US–Iraq wars.
Brian Terrell organizes with Strangers & Guests Catholic Worker and Nevada Desert Experience. He will be speaking this weekend on the international efforts of Catholic Workers regarding his resistance experience at the nuclear sharing bases in Europe, most of them set to receive F-35s soon.
Janet Parker is a mother, gardener, musician and war abolition activist in Madison, Wisconsin. Since last April, Janet and friends have held 27 War Abolition Walks in Madison to push for diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine, and all wars. With Stefania Sani, Janet co-coordinates the new Madison chapter of the international war abolition organization World BEYOND War
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One value of “How to Save Democracy: Advice and Inspiration from 95 World Leaders” is the hope and optimism it instills in readers. It brings poetry to the fight, but, as vital to triumphing over demagoguery and corruption, it outlines seven key principles of democratic success.
-Eli Merritt on his recently released book
Merritt joins on on A Public Affair to discuss the threats facing democracy and how we might combat them.
Eli Merritt is a political historian at Vanderbilt. His work has been featured in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times, Chicago Tribune, Newsday, and Philadelphia Inquirer, among others. His Substack, American Commonwealth, explores the origins of the United States’ political discontents and solutions to them.
He is the editor of How to Save Democracy: Inspiration and Advice From 95 World Leaders (Amplify, March 2023) as well as of The Curse of Demagogues: Lessons Learned from the Presidency of Donald J. Trump (Spotlight Press, 2022). His book Disunion Among Ourselves: The Perilous Politics of the American Revolution is forthcoming (University of Missouri Press, June 2023).
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There a few state wide referendums that are the spring ballot: two that would amend the state constitution and another that would gauge popular opinion. We cover them all in today’s program.
In the first half Dustin Brown from the UW Law School breaks down the two constitutional amendment referendums. The questions on the ballot address conditions of release before trail and the ability of a judge to impose cash bail. Dustin explains the process of amending the state constitution and what would happen if the referendums passed.
Then, we talk about the advisory referendum that asks “Shall able-bodied, childless adults be required to look for work in order to receive taxpayer-funded welfare benefits?” Equity and Justice Scholar Professor David Pater and Editor-in-chief of the Wisconsin Examiner Ruth Conniff join us to explain how welfare already works and point out that “able-bodied, childless” welfare recipients are already required to seek jobs.
To see what is on your ballot you can visit https://myvote.wi.gov/en-us/Whats-On-My-Ballot
Election day is April 4th, and state-wide early voting has begun.
Dustin Brown is a Senior Staff Attorney with the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School. Dustin joined the Initiative following four years on the law school’s Legal Research and Writing faculty and nearly a decade in private practice, most recently with Godfrey & Kahn in Madison. He has litigated in state and federal courts on matters ranging from electoral redistricting, public records access, and defamation to insurance coverage, products liability, and deceptive trade practices.
David Pate, Jr. is the Equity and Justice Scholar in-residence at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Human Ecology and an affiliate of the Institute for Research on Poverty and Collaborative Center of Health Equity at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Ruth Conniff is Editor-in-chief of the Wisconsin Examiner. Her book “Milked: How an American Crisis Brought Together Midwestern Dairy Farmers and Mexican Workers” won the 2022 Studs and Ida Terkel Award from The New Press.
Image by Yinan Chen from Pixabay
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Early voting in Wisconsin begins today, Tuesday March 21st. For Madison residents, early voting locations can be found here. For voters with an absentee ballot, they can deliver their ballots in person to these locations. Other cities, towns, and villages may vary on times availability.
Joining us to talk about early voting, the integrity of elections, and the changes he’s witness in his tenure is Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell.
Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay
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In a piece for The Progressive, Sage Lenier wrote: “Gen Z isn’t getting the education we need to survive and adapt to a climate-changed world.” She joins us to discuss the current education around climate change, the impact it has on mental health, and how we might do better.
Sage Lenier is the founder of Sustainable & Just Future, a youth-led educational nonprofit. She is also a Public Voices fellow with The OpEd Project in partnership with the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.
Image by Kevin Snyman from Pixabay
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On Monday, March 13th, the Biden administration approved the new enormous Willow oil drilling project in Arctic Alaska. This was despite Biden’s campaign promises to halt drilling on federal lands and despite the opposition of environmentalist and local indigenous groups. Opponents are raising concerns about the disruption in the arctic, including huge increases emissions, an endangerment to freshwater, and threats migratory animals that live in the region.
In light of this announcement, Bathsheba Demuth joins us on the show to talk about her awarding winning book Floating Coast: An Environmental History of the Bering Strait.
Floating Coast is a comprehensive history of Beringia, the Arctic land and waters stretching from Russia to Canada.
Bathsheba Demuth is an associate professor of History and Environment and Society at Brown University. She is also writer and environmental historian specializing in the lands and seas of the Russian and North American Arctic. Her interest in northern places and cultures began when she was 18 and moved to the village of Old Crow in the Yukon, where she trained huskies for several years.
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Twenty years ago today, on March 16, 2003, word came to us that our daughter Rachel had been killed in Gaza. She had been run over by an Israeli military-operated and U.S. made and funded Caterpillar D9R bulldozer, as she stood to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian family’s home in Rafah. Members of the family watched the bulldozer approach through a hole in their garden wall.
Our family’s journey without Rachel, but with her spirit large in our lives, began on that day.
-an expert from a letter from Rachel Corrie’s parents
Cindy and Craig Corrie join us on A Public Affair to share their daughters story and tell us how they continue to fight for justice and peace in Palestine and the middle east. More information about Rachel and the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Justice and Peace can be found here.
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Along side the Wisconsin Supreme Court, mayoral, and alder elections on the spring ballot are state-wide republican supported referendums. One is a non-binding referendum about welfare requirements while the other would directly amend the constitution regarding pre-trail defendants. We dig into the latter today.
The cash bail constitutional amendment referendum reads as follows:
“Shall section 8 (2) of article I of the constitution be amended to allow a court to impose cash bail on a person accused of a violent crime based on the totality of the circumstances, including the accused’s previous convictions for a violent crime, the probability that the accused will fail to appear, the need to protect the community from serious harm and prevent witness intimidation, and potential affirmative defenses?”
Senator Chris Larson joins us at the top of the show to explain what this amendment would change and why it is appearing on the ballot. Then, Advocacy Director Amanda Merkwae and Coalition and Relations Advocate Melissa Ludin from ACLU WI join us to discuss their opposition to the amendment and shine light on the inequity that is inherent to cash bail.
Image by Daniel Bone from Pixabay
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On Tuesday, April 4th, Wisconsin voters will elect a new supreme court justice, setting the tone of the court for the next 10 years. This Wisconsin supreme court will likely determine the fate of abortion access and partisan gerrymandering in the state. Joining us to talk about what is at stake is Megin McDonell from Fair Wisconsin and Carlene Bechen from Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition.
Megin McDonell is the Executive Director of Fair Wisconsin. Fair Wisconsin works to build a fair, safe, and inclusive Wisconsin for all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people who live here. They do this by advancing and protecting LGBTQ+ civil rights through lobbying, legislative advocacy, grassroots organizing, coalition building and electoral involvement.
Carlene Bechen is the Organizing Director for Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition. The Coalition’s mission is to ensure representative government for all, by advocating for and enacting an independent and nonpartisan redistricting process. They are also working to build a fair and accountable judiciary, and to secure fair and equal access to voting.
Photo by Brian Standing for WORT-FM.
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Since 2010, Madison Area farmers have been growing their farm businesses at the Linda and Gene Farley Center for Peace, Justice and Sustainability. The center supports aspiring farmers with land, tools, education, and marketing assistance. The collaborative farm is home to dozen farm businesses operated by immigrants and entrepreneurs from here and around the world. Many of the growers have CSA box subscriptions and/or sell at local farmers markets.
Joining us on A Public Affair today is Farm Manager Seth Riley, Sam Hsieh of Jumping Spider Farm, and Chandy Karnum of Ganni Moon Farm. Both Sam and Chandy farm at the Farley Center.
Image by LoveEarth from Pixabay
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A UW-Green Bay professor argues that linking education to economic well-being was not politically inevitable. Jon Shelton joins us on A Public Affair to discus his forth coming book The Education Myth: How Human Capital Trumped Social Democracy.
He talks with substitute host Nada Elmikashfi about the myth, American Democracy, and human capitol.
Jon Shelton is Associate Professor of Democracy and Justice Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. He is the author of Teacher Strike!Public Education and the Making of a New American Political Order, which was the winner of the International Standing Conference of the History of Education’s First Book Award in 2018.
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As the F-35 fighter jets are set to arrive in Madison this spring, some activists have been loudly opposed to their beddown. Steven Klafka, Jane H. Kavalosk, and Dr. Paula Rogge from Safe Skies Clean Water WI are some of those activists. They join us on the show to talk about their work and opposition to the F-35 Fighter Jets.
Safe Skies Clean Water’s mission is to stop the harm that the basing of F-35 fighter jets at Truax Field, Madison will inflict and to stop the negligent pollution of our waters and force the clean-up of existing contamination of the water supply emanating from the base.
The next Safe Skies Clean Water event is the 20th Catholic Worker Midwest Faith and Resistance Gathering on March 24 through March 27 at Madison Christian Community (7118 Old Sauk Rd, Madison, WI 53717).
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Madison Magazine just name Sean Pharr the 2023 chef of the year. Sean is the co-owner and chef at two Madison businesses: Mint Mark and The Muskellounge. He joins us in on A Public Affair to talk about food, making it through the height pandemic, and the Mint Mark’s upcoming move. We also have A Public Affair alum Patty Peltekos in the the studio to help us raise some money for the station!
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Earlier this year Madison Ballet announced that Artistic Director Ja’ Malik would step up as the company’s interim Executive Director. Ja’ Malik joins us in the studio to talk about his new role, his vision for Madison Ballet, and the career that led him to Madison.
Ja’ Malik in studio with host Ali Muldrow and pledge drive helper Maia Pearson
Ja’ Malik is Madison Ballet’s Artistic Director and Interim Executive Director. He built a career of executing commissions from nationally-renowned dance companies and advocating for representation of Black artists.
He founded New York City’s Ballet Boy Productions, whose mission is to create pathways for young Black men to thrive in a dance career. In 2019, Ja’ Malik collaborated with Tony-nominated Camille A. Brown on choreography for The Public Theater’s 2019 production of Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When The Rainbow is Enuf, and he has danced with companies all over the world.
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If you live downtown, you might have heard cheers erupting from Breese Stevens Field on the occasional weekend night. That might be due to the incredible community that’s been built by Forward Madison FC, Madison’s own professional soccer club.
Adopting as a mascot of a flamingo, Madison’s official bird, Forward Madison FC describes itself as an “an extension of the shared belief of Madisonians that community is built brick by brick and day by day with inclusion, transparency, and a communal desire to provide the best quality of life for all.”
The team played its inaugural season in 2019 and its games at Breese Stevens Field have since become a staple of downtown Madison life, drawing an average of more than 4,000 fans a game to the historic stadium on East Washington Avenue.
Today on the show, we’re joined by three staff members from the Forward Madison Flamingos as they enter their fifth season.
Meet the guests:
Zane Heinselman is Forward Madison FC’s General Manager and Vice President. He comes to Madison after spending the past nine years with the Saint Paul Saints, the AAA minor league baseball affiliate of the Minnesota Twins.
Jovan Chavez is Forward Madison FC’s Latino Outreach Manager & Senior Ticket Sales Representative.
Keith Tiemeyer is Forward Madison FC’s Director of Soccer Operations and Development. Previously, he worked as Assistant Coach with the UW-Madison men’s soccer team, and was honored as one of the top assistant coaches in the nation.
Learn more:
Forward Madison FC will open their home season on Saturday, April 15 at 6pm, against Greenville Triumph SC. Tickets and their full schedule can be found here. Find more information at their website, or follow them on Twitter and on Facebook.
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Blood Plasma extraction is a multi-billion dollar industry in the US. Americans are the source of a majority of the extracted plasma, with most people selling the blood component to make supplemental income. A new book out this week unpacks the history of plasma and tell the stories of the people supplying what is vital medicine to others.
Kathleen McLaughlin joins us to talk about Blood Money: The Story of Life, Death, and Profit Inside America’s Blood Industry. In the book, Kathleen follows the trail of plasma from China to Rexburg, Idaho to Flint, Michigan to the US-Mexico border.
Kathleen McLaughlin is a is an award-winning journalist who reports and writes about the consequences of economic inequality around the world. Her reporting has been featured in The Washington Post, The Guardian, The New York Times, BuzzFeed, The Atlantic, The Economist, NPR, and more.
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Historian Adam Hochschild joins us to talk about his latest book: American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy’s Forgotten Crisis. He shares stories from a deeply fragmented America in the 4 years after the U.S. entered the First World War. American Midnight was named a best book of the year by the New York Times, Washington Post, New Yorker, Chicago Tribune, Kirkus, New York Post, and Fast Company.
Adam Hochschild is an American author, journalist, historian and lecturer. His previous books include Rebel Cinderella: From Rags to Riches to Radical, the Epic Journey of Rose Pastor Stokes,Spain in Our Hearts: Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939, , Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire’s Slaves King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa and To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918. Previously, he was a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, a commentator on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” and a co-founder, editor, and writer at Mother Jones magazine.
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Do you know what 7 words you can’t say on the radio? We said them all on today’s show. Dennis Barron joined us on the program to talk about free speech and how the first amendment isn’t always applicable. Dennis’s latest book You Can’t Always Say What You Want: The Paradox of Free Speech puts today’s attempts to limit free speech into a historical perspective.
Dennis Baron is Professor of English, emeritus at University of Illinois He writes about the English language and the technologies of communication. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, among others. He has appeared on CNN, NPR, the BBC, the Voice of America, and the CBC.
Image by Pexels from Pixabay
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On the final day of Black History Month, and the second day of the WORT Winter Pledge Drive, we talk with Michael Jeffries about the struggles, the joys, and the mundane experienced by Black Queer college students.
In his forthcoming book Black and Queer on Campus, Michael P. Jeffries reveals the complicated everyday realities of college life for Black students who identify LGBTQ+. Michael (a Black, straight, cisgender author and professor) conducted in-depth interviews with students from both HBCUs and PWIs and shares their experiences while challenging stereotypes.
Dr. Michael P. Jeffries is Dean of Academic Affairs, Class of 1949 Professor in Ethics, and Professor of American Studies at Wellesley College. He holds a PhD from Harvard University and works at the intersection of race, culture, and politics.
Jeffries previous books are Behind the Laughs: Community and Inequality in Comedy (Stanford University Press, 2017), Paint the White House Black: Barack Obama and the Meaning of Race in America (Stanford University Press, 2013), and Thug Life: Race, Gender, and the Meaning of Hip-Hop (University of Chicago Press, 2011).
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Last year a study from Harvard found that natural gas used in appliances such as gas stoves and furnaces contains varying levels of dangerous chemicals. When these toxic chemicals are leaked and enter our homes, they are known to have negative health impacts, to be linked to cancer, and they can form secondary pollutants.
Dr. Sandra Steingraber joins is to talk about her new piece “Gas Stoves: The Fracking Tailpipe in Your Kitchen.” In the piece, she explores the history of the gas stove from the early promotion in the 30s to the current debate on gas stove bans.
Dr. Sandra Steingraber is an American activist, biologist, author, senior scientist, and cancer survivor. She is an expert on the environmental links to cancer and reproductive health. Her book “Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment” presents cancer as a human rights issue, bringing together data on toxic releases with data from U.S. cancer registries. She has appeared on the “Today” show, “Good Morning America,” “Now with Bill Moyers” and National Public Radio.
Image by Steven from Pixabay
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More than 47 thousand people have died in the earthquakes that devastated parts of Turkey and Syria earlier this month. Zahra Albarazi joins us from Turkey where she was during the February 6 earthquake. Zahra is the Research Director for Syrian Legal Development Programme. She tells us about the days right after the earthquake, the ongoing war in Syria, and the unequal aid victims in Syria received (or didn’t).
Zahra Albarazi serves on the Board of Directors of SLDP and is currently serving as Head of Research. She specializes in international human rights law, refugee law and specifically on the nexus between forced displacement and citizenship issues, as well as the interlink between discrimination and statelessness.
Image by ErikaWittlieb from Pixabay
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When an 8-year-old Nicaraguan boy tragically died on a dairy farm just north of Madison in 2019, a miscommunication led to the official police report incorrectly stating who was driving the machinery that killed him.
In a new piece from ProPublica investigative journalists Melissa Sanchez and Maryam Jameel uncover the truth behind young Jefferson’s death, share the journey his father, José María Rodríguez Uriarte, has been on to clear his name, and shine a light on the lack of officers who are actually proficient in Spanish.
They join us on A Public Affair to share the story.
Melissa Sanchez is a reporter at ProPublica. She joined ProPublica in 2017 and is focused on immigrants and low-wage workers. She previously worked for The Chicago Reporter, Catalyst Chicago, el Nuevo Herald in Miami and the Yakima (Wash.) Herald-Republic, and has received numerous local and national awards for her reporting.
Maryam Jameel is an engagement reporter working on community-sourced investigations out of ProPublica’s Washington, D.C. newsroom. Her reporting focuses on how federal policy affects workplace rights. Previously, she was a reporter with the Center for Public Integrity,
Melissa Sanchez and Maryam Jameel welcome tips here: https://www.propublica.org/getinvolved/help-propublica-journalists-investigate-the-dairy-industry
Image by alpineveg from Pixabay
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Earlier this month, a train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. The incident has drawn criticism across the board. Concerns have been raised from rail workers, environmental advocates, and people living on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. The real impact on human and environmental health may not be known for years, but Emily Jeffers joins us on the show to explain what we know about burning vinyl chloride.
Emily Jeffers is staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity and an expert on plastics manufacturing. Emily works in the Center’s Oceans program.
Image by StockSnap from Pixabay
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“The things that are worth writing poems about are the things that we have the hardest time speaking of in other language. And those tend to be the things that matter most to most people, or maybe even all people.” -Nicholas Gulig on A Public Affair
On today’s show we talk with the newly appointed 2023-2024 Wisconsin State Poet Laureate, Nicholas Gulig, about what it means to be the MVP (most valuable poet) and his life long journey writing poems.
Nicholas Gulig is a Fort Atkinson resident and UW-Whitewater associate professor. He is a Thai-American poet, husband, and father to two girls. He is the author of North of Order, Book of Lake, and Orient. Gulig has received additional accolades for his work including the Rushkin Art Club Poetry Award, the Black Warrior Review Poetry Prize, the Grist ProForma Award, and the CSU Open Book Poetry Prize.
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Degrowth is a movement and set of theories in which production and consumption is reduced within an economy with the goal of conserving natural resources. The Future is Degrowth: A Guide to a World beyond Capitalism co-author Aaron Vansintjan joins us to image a world that valued the environment and an equitable quality of life over economic growth.
Aaron Vansintjan is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Film, Media, and Cultural Studies at Birkbeck, University of London. He studies gentrification in Montreal and Hanoi. He is the co-founder of Uneven Earth, a website focusing on ecological politics.
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In his forth coming book, Injustice, Inc.: How America’s Justice System Commodifies Children and the Poor, Daniel Hatcher exposes how the systems that proport to care for poor children and families are actually making massive amounts of money off of them. Daniel joins A Public Affair to expose the hidden revenue schemes and the systemic racialized harm engrained in the the family, juvenile, and criminal justice systems.
Daniel L. Hatcher is Professor of Law in the University of Baltimore’s Civil Advocacy Clinic and author of The Poverty Industry: The Exploitation of America’s Most Vulnerable Citizens. A former Maryland Legal Aid and Children’s Defense Fund attorney. He has long been a scholar, advocate, and teacher on poverty and justice.
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There was this influx of investors who had come to me chomping at the bit, salivating, saying, “it feels like the early days of the internet.” [They were] just so excited to be able to get in and be able to see the profit that they could get in a three to five year timeline. I wanted to write about the alternative protein boom and bust from that perspective. [The billionaires and investors] are looking at it for profit–even if they are talking about how they’re interested in the climate. At the end of the day, these funds need their returns.
[Those investors] eventually realized that you can’t put a food company on a three to five year venture capital cycle timeline. Food is not a cloud company, it is not, you know, a creator company. At the end of the day, people only have one mouth, and they’re only able to eat so much. –Chloé Sorvino on A Public Affair
Chloé Sorvino joins us to talk about her recent book Raw Deal, and what she exposed in her reporting about the industrial meat industry and meat-alternative market.
Chloé Sorvino leads coverage of food, drink and agriculture at Forbes. Her debut book, Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed, and the Fight for the Future of Meat, is available from Simon & Schuster’s Atria Books. Her work has been featured by NPR, the Los Angeles Times and Fast Company.
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A proposed ordinance change would alter the definition of a “family” renting a house zoned as a single family home. The current ordinance defines a family as no more than 2 unrelated people. The proposal–which passed unanimously in the plan commission earlier this week–would allow up to 5 unrelated people to rent a single family home.
Alder Patrick Heck, who represents district 2 and is a sponsor of the change, joins us on A Public Affair to break down the reasons why he sees is as necessary.
Then we talk with Kori Schneider Peragine from the Fair Housing Council about the role of zoning laws in creating segregated housing.
We also hear from a caller who voiced opposition to the change, pointing to a website created by Neighbors from S Mills in the Greenbush Neighborhood.
Photo by Josh Sorenson on Unsplash
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“There are peaks and valleys, and that’s where some of the connection and communication and the problem solving can happen is when when you’re going through those peaks and valleys. For me, it’s also knowing when I’m able to have a compassionate conversation, and when I’m not.”
–Angela Russell on A Pubic Affair
On today’s Valentine’s Day edition, we get deep about how we can have rich conversations, and we recognize that we are all a work in progress. Joining Ali Muldrow are two good friends and well practiced conversation havers:
Angela Russell is the host of Black Oxygen, a podcast where she interviews Black folks who live in Wisconsin on their lives and journeys.
Dr. Toby Campbell is a thoracic medical oncologist and he is UW Health Chief of Palliative Care.
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Last year, US Immigration arrested more than 2 million migrants at the southern border–a historic spike. The Biden Administration has since announced it will make seeking asylum more difficult and other central American countries have tighten their migration policies. Joining us on A Public Affair to talk about the impact of these polices are Astrid Montealegre from Nicaraguan American Human Rights Alliance and journalist Jeff Abbott.
Astrid Carolina Montealegre is a Political Scientist and US Immigration Attorney. She is an advocate for Nicaraguan migrants seeking asylum in the United States.
Jeff Abbott is an independent journalist currently based out of Guatemala. “The Other Americans” is a column created by Abbott for The Progressive on human migration in North and Central America. His work has also appeared in NACLA Report on the Americas, Al Jazeera English, and In These Times
Photo by Katie Moum on Unsplash
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The US shot down a Chinese balloon last Saturday off the coast of South Carolina, saying it was a surveillance device. The Chinese maintain it was a weather-related airship. Since then, secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled his trip to China and the Chinese reportedly refused to take a call from the US, all bringing a further worsening of relations between the countries.
Joining us understand the landscape that lead to these tensions is Professor of political anthropology David Vine.
Photo by Lan Lin on Unsplash
David Vine is Professor of political anthropology at American University in Washington, DC. David’s newest book, The United States of War: A Global History of America’s Endless Conflicts, from Columbus to the Islamic State (University of California Press, 2020). His other books are Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World(Metropolitan/Henry Holt, 2015) and Island of Shame: The Secret History of the U.S. Military Base on Diego Garcia (Princeton University Press, 2009).
David has also co-written and compiled Militarization: A Reader (Duke University Press, 2019) and The Counter-Counterinsurgency Manual or, Notes on Demilitarizing American Society, (Prickly Paradigm Press, 2009). His work has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, Mother Jones, Boston Globe, Huffington Post, and the Chronicle of Higher Education, among others.
David is a board member of the Costs of War Project and a co-founder of the Overseas Base Realignment and Closure Coalition. David is a contributor to TomDispatch.com and Foreign Policy in Focus.
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President Biden announced on last month that the US will send 31 Abrams M1 tanks to Ukraine’s military. The move prompted Germany to drop its resistance to sending its own heavy tanks and cleared the way for similar moves by other NATO members. With the tanks en route, Ukraine’s President Zelenski has ramped up the call for Washington to provide F-16 fighter jets to Kiev.
Alongside that escalation, there’s been an enlargement of calls for Russia’s “total defeat” coming from hawkish circles in the US and NATO countries.Anatol Lieven joins us to further understand the current situation. Lieven is the Director of the Eurasia Program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. His recent writing can be found here.Image by enelene from PixabayDid you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here
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We are continuing our coverage ahead of the Spring Primary on Tuesday, February 21st.
First we talk with Judge Janet Protasiewicz. Protasiewicz currently is a Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge and previousl served more than 25 years as Assistant District Attorney. You can learn more about her campaign here: janetforjustice.com
Then, Judge Daniel Kelly joins us to talk about his campaign. Kelly served as Wisconsin Supreme Court from 2016 to 2020. He joins us to talk about why he is choosing to run again. You can learn more about his campaign here: https://justicedanielkelly.com/
Photo credit: Chali Pittman/ WORT News
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“The small group of investors who backed the Population Council’s drive to manufacture and distribute the drug since its earliest days have made a lot of money on the mifepristone business—tens of millions of dollars, according to court filings… As states have imposed ever-stricter limits on abortion access, their investments have generated hefty returns.”
–The Abortion Pill’s Secret Money Men
Hannah Levintova is an award-winning investigative reporter at Mother Jones. She is writes stories about money and influence, income inequality, and politics. She joins us on the show to walk us through the history of Danco Labs, mifepristone’s dramatic origin story, and the people who invested in it.
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In November, UW System President Jay Rothman announced that the Richland Center satellite campus of UW-Platteville will be shutting down this summer. Joining us to talk about the closure are three community members with a long history with the campus.
Dorothy Thompson was formerly the Public Relations Director for the Richland Center campus. Dion Kempthorne is the former dean and professor emeritus. John Poole was first a student at there the inaugural year (1967-68) and he spent more than 40 years of his career there, and retired as Assistant Campus Dean for Student Affairs (Emeritus).
Photo by Dorothy Thompson via Facebook
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As we see coups across the world, and as we watch the leaders like Putin, Bolsonaro, and Meloni, we wonder why is this happening? How did we get here? How do we stop the rise of fascism? On today’s A Public Affair, we ask Ruth Ben-Ghiat to help us answer these questions.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a historian who writes about authoritarianism, democracy protection, and propaganda. She is Professor of History and Italian Studies at New York University, the recipient of Guggenheim, Fulbright, and other fellowships, and Advisor to Protect Democracy. She is an MSNBC opinion columnist, a regular contributor to CNN and The Washington Post, and provides live commentary on CNN, MSNBC, and other networks. She publishes Lucid, a newsletter on threats to democracy. Her latest book is Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present (W. W. Norton & Company, 2020).
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Last week, UW-Madison announced a permanent center to expand on the work of the Public History Project. Joining us to talk about the expansion, their recent exhibit Sifting and Reckoning, and the role of public history is Project Director Kacie Lucchini Butcher.
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For the first half of the show, we talk with Cap Times Capitol bureau chief Jessie Opoien and Marquette University Political Science Professor Philip Rocco as we await the governor’s 2023-2025 proposed budget. We discuss school funding, flat tax, and the year of mental health.
Image by David Mark from Pixabay
Then we begin our coverage of the Wisconsin Supreme Court Judge race with Dane County Circuit Court Judge Everett Mitchell. He joins us to talk about respecting defendants, his passion to end the juvenile justice to prison pipeline, and his goals for Wisconsin.
You can learn more about Judge Mitchell’s campaign here: https://www.judgeeverettmitchell.com/
This race is headed to the primary election on February 21st.
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The remains of more than 100 thousand ancestors of indigenous people are currently being kept in US Museums and Universities. In 1990, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act called for all remains to be returned to descendants or tribal nations. However, in the more than 30 years since the passage of that law, many institutions have been reluctant to give them back.
A new investigation from ProPublica and NBC News has found that 10 institutions and government entities hold more than half of those remains. Joining us to to talk about the findings are ProPublica reporters Ash Ngu and Logan Jaffe.
Their interactive report can be read here.
Ash Ngu is a reporter, designer and developer with ProPublica’s news apps team. They previously worked at The New York Times and The Pudding.
Logan Jaffe is a reporter for newsletters at ProPublica. She previously reported and produced for The New York Times and Chicago Public Media. She is the creator of “Battle Flag,” an interactive documentary which questions the meaning of the Confederate battle flag in America.
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Continuing our coverage on climate change, we are joined by 350 Wisconsin‘s John Greenler and Emily Park. John is the Executive Director at 350 Wisconsin. Emily is the Communication Action Team representative on the Coordinating Council and also is a Fossil Free Fed Campaign Organizer with 350 US. They join us to talk about climate activism and approaches to climate activism and communication
350 Wisconsin (formerly 350 Madison) mobilizes grassroots power to change hearts and minds, laws and policies, and humanity’s massive systems to make transformational progress toward environmental justice and solving the climate crisis by 2030.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
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In their new book, Half-Earth Socialism: A Plan to Save the Future from Extinction, Climate Change and Pandemics, Drew Pendergrass and Troy Vettese imagine a utopian future and offer a plan to get there. They suggest that humans cannot control or fully understand the earth. However, by planning new energy and food systems, and enacting large-scale rewilding efforts, we can perhaps prevent a mass extinction.
They join us on A Public Affair to talk through the book and their provocative arguments for the future of humanity. You can your hand at saving the planet with their game by the same name: play.half.earth
Drew Pendergrass is a PhD student in Environmental Engineering at Harvard University. His current research uses satellite, aircraft and surface observations of the environment to correct supercomputer models of the atmosphere. His environmental writing has been published in Harper’s, the Guardian, Jacobin, and Current Affairs.
Troy Vettese is an environmental historian and a Max Weber fellow at the European University Institute, where he is affiliated with the ECOINT project. He studies the history of environmental economics, energy-systems, and animal life under capitalism. His writing has appeared in Bookforum, New Left Review, The Guardian, n+1 and many more publications.
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In his recent article, “What Price “Defense”? – America’s Costly, Dysfunctional Approach to Security Is Making Us Ever Less Safe”, William Hartung writes, “Forging a more sensible American defense strategy will, in the end, require progress on two fronts. First, the myth that the quest for total global military dominance best serves the interests of the American people needs to be punctured. Second, the stranglehold of the Pentagon and its corporate allies on the budget process needs to be loosened in some significant fashion.”
Leading Pentagon spending and arms industry critic Bill Hartung joins the show to talk about his article and how the American public’s view of safety needs to change.
William D. Hartung is a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He was previously the director of the Arms and Security Program at the Center for International Policy and the co-director of the Center’s Sustainable Defense Task Force. He is the author of Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex and the co-editor, with Miriam Pemberton, of Lessons from Iraq: Avoiding the Next War.
Image by Robert Waghorn from Pixabay
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Continuing our election coverage, Madison Mayor Candidate Gloria Reyes joins us in the studio to talk about her campaign and goals for the city if elected.
Gloria Reyes is the first Latina to run for Mayor in the City of Madison. Gloria is a former law enforcement officer for the City of Madison Police Department. She also served the city as deputy mayor. She is a former school board member and Madison School Board President. She was the first Latina to serve in this role. Gloria is the co-founder of Adelante, a political action group aimed to prepare and support candidates of color to run for political office. Her consulting business: Reyes Public Safety consults with the National League of Cities and Race Forward with a focus on race and equity in law enforcement.
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Artificial Intelligence has been slowly been making it’s way into our homes and work places over the last serval decades, but recently questions have been raised about AI stealing and replicating art, and a new AI system, ChatGPT, is being banned in schools. Joining us to discuss the moral panic (and the hype) around these bots is AI Theorist Robin Zebrowski. We cover the issues of AI biases, facial recognition, data mining, and more.
Robin Zebrowski is an AI theorist and a Professor of Cognitive Science at Beloit College. Her interdisciplinary research spans philosophy, psychology, and computer science. She works primarily on human concepts of embodiment, with applications in artificial intelligence, robotics, and cyborg theory. Her recent publications can be found here.
Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
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In September, residents from 48 townhouses in the Bayview Community along West Washington Avenue moved into 48 new apartments. This was the first phase of the Bayview Foundation‘s comprehensive re envisioning of the community which was built in 1971.
Joining us to talk about the move and Bayview’s work is Executive Director Alexis London and housing coordinator, Bayview resident, and foundation board member Xong Vang.
(Photo provided by Bayview Foundation.)
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Under the Trump Era “Zero-Tolerance” Immigration Policy, thousands of children were separated from their parents by ICE agents. As a human rights lawyer in Southern Texas, Efrén C. Olivares represented hundreds of theses families. He has now written a memoir that intertwines the stories of the people he has fought for with his own immigration experience.
Efrén joins us to discuss his new book, My Boy Will Die of Sorrow: A Memoir of Immigration From the Front Lines. He also tells us about what immigrants at the southern border are currently facing.
Efrén C. Olivares is the Deputy Legal Director of the Immigrant Justice Project at Southern Poverty Law Center. He was the lead lawyer in a successful landmark petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on behalf of families separated under the Zero Tolerance policy. He has testified before Congress and at briefings on Capitol Hill about immigration and border policies. He previously directed the Racial and Economic Justice Program at the Texas Civil Rights Project. His writings have been published by the New York Times, USA Today, and Newsweek.. Part of his work representing separated families was featured in the CBS News Documentary The Faces of Family Separation, released in 2019.
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“There is a particular attraction in the MAGA block to the most right wing governments around the world: Trump, Netanyahu, Modi in India, Duterte and now Marcos in the Philippines, and Putin, who [has] become a hero of the right as this defender of white Christian civilization, homophobia, anti gay, all that kind of thing. The Biden administration is no friend of ours on this, and one of the reasons they’re opposed to the MAGA block is that they don’t think it’s an effective strategy for long term US hegemony.
So we have a very tough situation on our hands, in terms of combating the rise of fascism in the United States, and rebuilding the kind of peace and international solidarity movement that can contend with the forces who are against the MAGA block, but who still are for US hegemony and intervention around the world.”
-Max Elbaum on WORT’s A Public Affair
Max Elbaum joins us to discuss his assessment of the current political and social terrain and the strengthening of the alt-right.
Max Elbaum is an author and long time left-wing activist. He is a member of the Convergence Magazine editorial board and the author of Revolution in the Air: Sixties Radicals Turn to Lenin, Mao and Che , a history of the 1970s-‘80s ‘New Communist Movement’ in which he was an active participant. He is also a co-editor of Power Concedes Nothing: How Grassroots Organizing Wins Elections.
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For today’s show, we continue our candidate interviews ahead of the spring 2023 election. On Tuesday April 4th, Monona residents will be voting for Mayor, City Council, and School Board. Incumbent Mary O’Connor joins us to talk about her 6 years as mayor and why she is running for another term.
Mary O’Connor was first elected as Monona Mayor in 2017. She is now running for her 4th term. Before she was mayor, Mary was an alderperson from 2012 to 2017. She sat on the Monona Library Board for 15 years. She also served on many foundation boards including the Monona Library Foundation and Monona Grove Education Foundation.
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For today’s show, we continue our candidate interviews ahead of the spring 2023 election. On Tuesday April 4th, Monona residents will be voting for Mayor, City Council, and School Board. Kristie Goforth joins the program to tell us about her campaign and what she hopes to accomplish if elected mayor.
Kristie Goforth is the executive director of the nonprofit Free Bikes 4 Kidz Madison. She was previously the executive director of the Monona East Side Business Alliance. Kristie served one term as a Monona alder before her first run for Mayor in 2021. Kristie has held a seat on the Dane County Parks Commission since 2020. She is a member of the Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians.
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This week students at East High School were going to hold a drag show, but when right-wing social media accounts caught wind of the event, it was postponed for safety.
Today on the show we have drag performers Anya Knees Thundercat and Bianca Lynn Breeze. We also talk with East High School Parent Pam Brandt and Project Lead for MTI Education Justice Center Natasha Sullivan.
Photo by Jesús Boscán on Unsplash
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Over the river, and through the wood,
To Grandfather’s house we go;
the horse knows the way to carry the sleigh
through the white and drifted snow.
Many of us are familiar with the poem “Over the River and Through the Woods” (also called “The New-England Boy’s Song about Thanksgiving Day”), but you probably don’t know who wrote it. Lydia Maria Child was an American abolitionist, activist, and writer. Her writings were widely read from the 1820s through the 1850s.
Lydia Moland joins us to tell us about the life and legacy of Child. Moland is the author of the new book Lydia Maria Child: A Radical American Life.
Lydia Moland is professor of philosophy at Colby College. Her scholarship in German philosophy, including Hegel’s Aesthetics: The Art of Idealism, has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the ACLS, and the American Academy in Berlin. Her work on Lydia Maria Child has appeared in the Paris Review, the Boston Globe, the Washington Post, and on National Public Radio.
Then we talk about Brazil and Former President Jair Bolsonaro’s stay in Florida with James Green. Green joins us from Rio.
James N. Green is Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Professor of Modern Latin American History at Brown University. He has traveled extensively throughout Latin America and lived more than a decade in Brazil. He was previously the Director of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Brown University and the Director of the Brazil Initiative. He has authored or co-edited of eleven books on Brazil and Latin America.
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Sunday, January 8th thousands of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro supporters invaded the Supreme Court, presidential palace and Congress. Some of these protestors had been camped out in Brasilia since Bolsonaro and others traveled from across the country. To help us understand what happened, we welcome CEPR‘s Alexander Main back to the program.
Alexander Main is the Director of International Policy at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC. His areas of expertise include Latin American integration and regionalism, US security and counternarcotics policy in Central America, US development assistance to Haiti, and US relations with Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Honduras and Venezuela. His analyses have been published in The New York Times, Foreign Policy, the Los Angeles Times, The Hill, NACLA, Dissent, Pagina/12, the Monde diplomatique, and more.
Photo by Raphael Nogueira on Unsplash
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“I’ve always loved Madison… and I strive to make the city a better place from all the positions I’ve had in the city.”
Today on the show, we speak with one of the three candidates for Madison Mayor this spring: Scott Kerr.
Kerr is a longtime employee for the City of Madison, working for the city for about forty-two years. He currently works as one of the city’s lead traffic engineer, and previously worked in the Parking Utility and Building Inspection agency. In his free time, he says, he’s a thrifter, cactus gardener and e-biker.
In this hour full of callers, Scott tells about his campaign stance on a variety of issues, from fiscal responsibility to facilitating constituent feedback, to affordable housing and transit infrastructure.
You can find more about Scott Kerr at his website, skerr4mayor.com. He invites those interested in his campaign to email him at s.kerr4mayor@gmail.com.
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“I’m fascinated with these shows that try to gamify and codify things that in our actual social lives are much more fluid and unobserved. They kind of turn the human experience into a sport. I don’t think watching ‘The Bachelor’ is that far removed from watching people fight in a gladiatorial arena. I think that we come to them for the same reasons–there’s a Bloodlust there.”
– Samantha Allen on A Public Affair
Patricia Wants to Cuddle is a horror-comedy novel set in Otters Island–a gorgeous ghost town that was big in the 90 in the gay community. The final four contestants of the reality dating show “The Catch” and the man they are all competing for, find themselves on the island with the production team and a mysterious shadow in the woods.
Samantha Allen joins us to talk about her greatly anticipated and highly praised new book.
Samantha Allen is the author of the horror-comedy novel Patricia Wants to Cuddle and Real Queer America: LGBT Stories from Red States. Samantha is also a GLAAD-Award winning journalist and editor, previously covering LGBTQ+ stories as a senior reporter for The Daily Beast and as a staff writer for Fusion. Her writing has been published by The New York Times, Rolling Stone, CNN, and more.
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The farm house and barn are still standing on the the Voit Farm on Madison’s eastside, but the development company working on the project is hoping to replace them with 1500 housing units and public park access. Today we are digging into those plans more with three stakeholders in the community.
We start the program by talking with District 15 Alder Grant Foster about how the city has been involved the development.
Then, we chat with Helen Bradbury from Stone House Development about the proposed plans for the land. Stone House and Threshold Development makes up Starkweather Creek, LLC: the group that is developing the Voit Farm property. Helen is president and co-owner with Richard Arnesen of Stone House: a Madison based full-service development company.
Finally, we talk with Colleen Robinson, interim president of Save the Farm, about the community input the group has received and the history of their organization. Save the Farm is a grassroots network of several hundred community members with a vision to “co-create a diverse, accessible community that nurtures the health of people and nature through economic justice, urban agriculture/local food access, and environmental sustainability” on the Voit Farm property
Save the Farm is holding a meeting tomorrow January 10th at 7pm on Zoom to discuss the proposed development and the future of the organization.
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January 6th, 2021 a massive violent mob invaded congress, erected a gallows, stole objects from elected officials’ offices, all with very little visible response by law enforcement. In the two years since there has been an investigation by a House Committee, nearly a thousands arrests of insurrectionists, and Trump has announced he will run again. Joining us to unpack the committee findings and the state of the right is David Armiak.
David Armiak is research director with the Center for Media and Democracy and its Insurrection Exposed website. David joined CMD in 2015, has conducted extensive investigations on dark money, corporate corruption, and right-wing networks, and is responsible for filing and analyzing hundreds of public records requests every year.
Photo by Obi – @pixel7propix on Unsplash
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2022 witnessed yet another spate of mass shootings. In 2022, students and teachers lost their lives in Uvalde, shoppers in Buffalo fell victim of a shooter, and patrons and bartenders of an LGBTQ+ club in Colorado Springs were the target of a lone shooter. These were just a few of the more than 600 mass shootings last year.
How do we understand this violence? And are there possible preventive solutions? Journalist Mark Follman joins us to think through those questions.
Mark Follman is the national affairs editor at Mother Jones and author of Trigger Points: Inside the Mission to Stop Mass Shootings in America.
Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash
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Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway joins us on A Public Affair to discuss her first term as Mayor and what she hopes to accomplish if reelected. She talks about housing access, transit issues, and equity, among other topics.
Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway was first elected in April 2019 as Madison’s 58th Mayor, the city’s second female mayor and the first out LGBTQ person to hold the office. Previously, she served as alder for Madison’s 12th District for six years. She was also the Managing Director of the Mayors Innovation Project for 13 years. She is a member of United Faculty and Academic Staff, AFT Local 223, and a former Board Member of the Democratic Party of Dane County
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How vacuums of misinformation lead to book bans, and how do those book bans limit access to reproductive health information? Barbara Alvarez recently published a piece with The Progressive Magazine titled Libraries: Where Abortion Access and Book Bans Collide.
Barbara Alvarez is a former public librarian in Wisconsin. She is currently a PhD student at UW-Madison. She is also an instructor in Information Science. There she is focusing on information access and reproductive health information. Her forthcoming book is “The Library’s Guide to Sexual and Reproductive Health Information.”
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To kick off the New Year, Ron Rindo joined us to talk about his new novel Breathing Lake Superior. The book tells the story of grief and healing on the shore of Lake Superior.
Ron Rindo is writer and a professor of literature and creative writing at the University of Wisconsin—Oshkosh. His previous books include Love in an Expanding Universe, Secrets Men Keep, and Suburban Metaphysics.
Image by standuppaddle from Pixabay
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Last month, Doug La Follette narrowly won his bid for an unprecedented 12th term as Wisconsin’s Secretary of State. That makes him the longest serving, non-federal, elected official in the US. He was first elected to the position in 1974 and was reelected in 1982. He has held the position ever since.
La Follette joins A Public Affair substitute host Nada Elmikashfi to talk about his career in the capitol.
Doug La Follette is the Wisconsin Secretary of State. He served a term as a state senator from 1972—1974. He was then elected Secretary of State. Doug has deep environmental roots in Wisconsin. He started Wisconsin’s Environmental Decade, now Clean Wisconsin. He helped the late Gaylord Nelson organize the first Earth Day in 1970 and was appointed by President Jimmy Carter as the Assistant Director to the Mid-American Solar Energy Complex.
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A set of twins born Nha Trang, Việt Nam in 1998 end up raised apart–one adopted by a biological relative in Việt Nam and the second adopted with another little girl from her orphanage by a family in Illinois. Through a sequence of events the twins are reunited but their story is one of complexities and nuances. In her recently published book, Somewhere Sisters: A Story of Adoption, Identity, and the Meaning of Family, journalist Erika Hayasakitells the story of these three young women.
Throughout the book Erika also contextualizes their experiences with the history of twin studies, intercountry and transracial adoption, and the nature-versus-nurture debate.
Erika Hayaski is a journalist based out of Southern California and a professor in the literary journalism program at the University of California-Irvine. She is the author of The Death Class stories. Her work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Wired, The Atlantic and other publications.
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Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Congress to continue their support in the war against Russian aggression. That was Zelenskyy’s first trip outside the United States since Russia invaded Ukraine. Ten months after the conflict started, where are we now?
On today’s show, guest host Yuri Rashkin continues his deep dives into the conflict in Russia and Ukraine. He’s joined by Russian music journalist Artemy Troitsky for a special focus on arts and culture in the region, along with insights into the nearly year-long conflict.
Yuri Rashkin is an educator and Rock County Board Supervisor. He is the producer and host of the Rashkin Report, a popular program examining foreign affairs from a Russian point of view.
Artemy Troitsky is a music journalist, author and frequent commentator. A prominent media contributor and educator at Moscow State University in the 90s and 00s, Troitsky left Russia in 2014 due to aesthetic and ideological incompatibility with Putin’s regime. Troitsky is the the author of several books of music criticism, including Back in the USSR: The True Story of Rock in Russia (Faber and Gaber, 1988), Tusovka: Who’s Who in the New Soviet Rock Culture (Omnibus, 1990) and Subkultura: Stories of Youth and Resistance in Russia (New Social, 2017). He lives now in Estonia, where he hosts a vlog series and lectures at various universities.
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WORT 89.9FM Madison · The state of Mexican journalism with author Katherine CorcoranRegina Martinez spent two decades breaking stories for for the Mexican magazine Proceso. She uncovered the corruption and abuse underlying Mexican politics. In 2012, shortly after Proceso published an article on corruption in Veracruz, Martinez was found murdered.
Katherine Corcoran, author of the new book In the Mouth of Wolf, joins us to talk about the life and murder of Regina Martinez .
Katherine Corcoran is a former Associated Press bureau chief for Mexico and Central America where she led an award-winning team that broke major stories about cartel and state violence and abuse of authority in Mexico and Central America. Her works has appeared in the Washington Post, the Houston Chronicle, and Univision Online, among others. She is currently codirector of Cronkite Noticias, the bilingual reporting program at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and of MasterLAB, an investigative editor training program in Mexico City.
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When disaster strikes, who profits? This is the driving question behind Antony Loewenstein’s book Disaster Capitalism: Making a Killing Out of Catastrophe (Verso, 2015), and a later documentary of the same name.
Today, a rebroadcast from October 2015, when host Esty Dinur spoke with Loewenstein about how governments and corporations profit from disaster.
Antony Loewenstein is an Australian independent freelance journalist, author, documentarian and blogger. His work has been published in The Guardian, Washington Post, Al Jazeera, Huffington Post, and many more.
Since this conversation, he’s continued to author more works. Pills, Powder and Smoke (Scribe, 2019) investigates the individuals, officials, activists, victims, DEA agents, and traffickers caught up in the drug war. And his next book, The Palestine Laboratory, on the technology of occupation, is slated to be released in May 2023. You can find more on his website, antonyloewenstein.com, and follow him @antloewenstein on Twitter.
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In 2018, students called on UW-Madison to remove the name of Fredric March – a UW alum and one of Hollywood’s most celebrated stars in the 1930s and 40s – from a theater in Memorial Union.
That came after a UW-Madison study, commissioned in the wake of the 2017 white supremacist march in Charlottesville, examined the history of student organizations in the 1920s.
That report found that as a student, March was associated with a campus student group that had no connections to white supremacy, but shared the same name as the Ku Klux Klan.
And while March’s involvement was not necessarily new information to some (other journalists and historians had reported March’s involvement over the decades), it galvanized the UW’s decision to rename the space.
In a letter published in the New York Times, then-Chancellor Rebecca Blank defended the decision, writing, “There are some things in our country’s history that are so toxic that you can never erase the stain, let alone merit a named space in our student union. Membership in a group with a name like that of the K.K.K. is one of them.”
But a growing number of scholars, actors, and civil rights advocates – including the NAACP – argue that decision was hasty, and should be reconsidered.
On today’s show — was UW-Madison’s decision too hasty? Our guests say yes. And, what to make of the findings from that 2018 report? Plus, how should we deal with complicated public history?
We’re joined by George Gonis, a freelance journalist, historian and UW-Madison alum who has been meticulously documenting March’s involvement in civil rights. Gonis has found that March, among other things, strategized with Harry Belafonte and Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered a keynote address to the NAACP, and advocated for singer Marian Anderson to perform at the Lincoln Memorial.
We’re also joined by journalist Bill Lueders, author of a recent piece in The Progressive magazine that calls for greater “sifting and winnowing” through the debacle.
Photo credit: artwork and photos courtesy Chali Pittman/WORT; publicity still of Fredric March in the film “The Road to Glory” used under public domain.
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On today’s show, guest host Karma Chávez is joined by Yasmin Nair to talk about the exploitation of trauma in feminist spaces and publishing. Yasmin’s recent Current Affairs piece dives deep in to problematic nature of forcing trauma narratives on women of color.
Yasmin Nair is a writer, activist, and academic. She is the co-founder of the radical queer editorial collective Against Equality, and the Policy Director of the Chicago queer radical collective Gender JUST.
Her writing has appeared in The Baffler, In These Times, Vox, and Electronic Intifada. She also has work in anthologies including Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex, False Choices: The Faux Feminism of Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Queer and Trans Migrations: Dynamics of Detention, Deportation, and Illegalization. You can find more about her at yasminnair.com, or on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
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Two weeks ago, voters in Georgia went back to the polls for a run election. With less than a 100 thousand votes incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock beat his challenger Herschel Walker for the U.S. Senate seat.
The youth vote in Georgia skyrocketed during the 2022 election season. Joining us to talk about the runoff election and organizing the young vote is Alex Ames.
Alex Ames is a Georgia Tech student who is studying social justice, public policy, and law. They are the co-founder and Organizing Director of the Georgia Youth Justice Coalition. The coalition spans 28 counties, thousands of students, and is responsible for countless victories. Alex and her peers have fought against racial gerrymandering attacks on school boards. They have worked to securing the best budget for Georgia Public schools in two decades. And they successfully stopped Georgia’s Don’t Say Gay bill. Recently Alex and the team at Georgia Youth Justice Coalition organized the Gen Z vote during Georgia’s recent runoff election.
Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash
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As we come to the end of 2022, we are joined by co-owner of A Room on One’s Own, Gretchen Treu to look back at some of our favorite books. We talk about the store’s first full year in the new location and what it is like to run an independent book store.
Books mentioned in today’s show:
- How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures By Sabrina Imbler
- An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong
- A Frog in the Fall by Linnea Sterte
- The World Keeps Ending and The World Goes On by Franny Choi
- Disorientation: A Novel by Elaine Hsieh Chou
- Legends & Lattes: A Novel of High Fantasy and Low Stakes by Travis Baldree
- I Love You Because I Love You by Muon Thi Van, Jessica Love
- Time Is a Mother By Ocean Vuong
- Braiding Sweetgrass: INDIGENOUS WISDOM, SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE AND THE TEACHINGS OF PLANTS by Robin Wall Kimmerer and Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults adapted by Monique Gray Smith
- A Is for Bee: An Alphabet Book in Translation by Ellen Heck
- Still True by Maggie Ginsberg
- Small Game: A Novel by Blair Braverman
- The Vermilion Emporium by Jamie Pacton
- American Crusade by Andrew Seidel
- Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs by Jennifer Finney Boylan.
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On December 7, Peru’s president Pedro Castillo announced that he had dissolved congress by presidential decree. Almost immediately, Congress declared this a coup and deposed him. He was then arrested, and his first vice president Dina Boluarte was declared president. Protests have erupted in many parts of the country with at least seven dead and many injured. Boluarte has now declared a month-long state of emergency.
Jo-Marie Burt joins us once again to explain what happened with Castillo and what is going on with the protests.
Jo-Marie Burt is associate professor of political science and Latin American Studies at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. At Mason, she has served as Director of Latin American Studies, Co-Director of the Center for Global Studies, and Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies.
Photo by Carlos Ruiz Huaman on Unsplash
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Following the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the Iranian morality police, women in Iran have been leading the demand for change. Joining us today is Catherine Sameh. She lays out the history of the fight for equality in Iran and shines light on what the current moment could mean for the future of women.
Dr. Catherine Sameh is an Associate Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies at UC-Irvine. Her research focus includes Iranian feminism, human rights, transnational feminisms, and gender and social movements in the Middle East and Muslim world. She is the author of Axis of Hope.
Photo by Artin Bakhan on Unsplash
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Last month, Senate Democrats unanimously voted Senator Melissa Agard (D-Madison) to serve as the Senate Democratic Leader. Senator Agard says “Senate Democrats may hold the minority of seats in the statehouse, but we hold the majority of hearts and minds of the people of Wisconsin.” Senator Agard joined us on the program to talk about her new role and to look ahead at the 2023-24 legislative session.
Melissa Agard is a lifelong Madison resident, East High and UW Madison graduate, and proud mom of four sons. Senator Agard was first elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in November 2012 and the Wisconsin State Senate in November 2020. She represents the 16th Senate District, encompassing much of the north, east, and south sides of Dane County.
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“Living in disconnection is hard: like everyone is against you, and that you don’t have the support that you need, and that you’re never gonna have enough. All of the sort of really stifling mindsets and dynamics that we’re already living in are really difficult, really painful, we’re really unhappy. That’s evident all over the world. So if it’s going to be hard anyway, let it be hard in service towards your freedom. Let it be part in service towards your liberation…
And that is what it is that I think this excavation, this illumination into our inner worlds offers us: is one step closer toward shattering all of those myths that our lives are built on.”
-Sonya Renee Taylor on A Public Affair
Joining on A Public Affair are two brilliant writers and thinkers to tell us about about their recent collaboration: Journal of Radical Permission. Based on the philosophies of radical self-love, emergent strategy, and pleasure activism, this journal gives you permission to love yourself, deeply, as you are.
adrienne maree brown is the bestselling author of Pleasure Activism. She grows healing ideas in public through her multi-genre writing, her music and her podcasts. She is the author–slash–editor of seven published texts and the founder of the Emergent Strategy Ideation Institute, where she is now the writer-in-residence.
Sonya Renee Taylor is a New York Times best-selling author of The Body Is No an Apology. She is also a world-renowned activist and thought leader on racial justice, body liberation and transformational change. Sonya is also an international award winning artist, and founder of The Body Is Not an Apology–a global digital media and education company.
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Leaders from around the world continue to meet in Montreal Canada this week for the UN Conference on Biodiversity (COP-15). They are discussing solutions to end biodiversity loss.
Joining us to talk about COP-15 and biodiversity more generally is Research Geographer Dr. Marla Emery and Campaign Coordinator with The Sierra Club’s Wisconsin Chapter Jadine Sonoda.
Dr. Marla R. Emery is Co-Chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. Her work focuses on the role of forests in providing food and sustaining cultures. She also leads efforts to integrate Indigenous and local knowledge.
Jadine Sonoda is the Campaign Coordinator for the Wisconsin Chapter of the Sierra Club. She is primarily responsible for supporting the pipeline work of the Tar Sands Team, the Water Team, and the Oak Creek and NTEC campaigns.
Image by Andreas from Pixabay
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In the nearly 3 months since Mahsa Amini died in the custody of the Iranian morality police, young women have protested her death, the mandatory hijab, and the existence of the morality police. Yesterday, the first protester charged with a crime during the protests was executed. Reportedly at least a dozen more people have been sentenced to death.
Joining us to talk about this moment and the history that lead up to it is Fariba Parsa. “Iranian people want regime change. Iranian people want a democratic, secular government. That’s the reason they continue, because they have a vision for a future Iran,” Parsa says. “People are done with this regime, and just look at the future–the future that’s so much brighter, so much better. That’s the reason they continue. Hope for a better future and the vision for a democratic, free Iran.”
The price for that hope has been high, but Parsa thinks this time is different because the world is listening to chants of “women, life, freedom.”
Fariba Parsa Ph.D., specializes in political ideologies of democracy and civil movements in Iran. She worked as an assistant research professor at George Mason University and has conducted research at Harvard University and the University of Maryland. Dr. Parsa was born and raised in Iran where she began her political activities at age of 15. She fled Iran at the age of 17, because of the threat from the Islamic Republic of Iran .
Photo by Albert Stoynov on Unsplash
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Today, our guest host Yuri Rashkin answers your questions about what is happening with the War in Ukraine. He answers question about Brittney Griner, misinformation, and the relationship between Trump and Putin.
Yuri Rashkin is the host and creator of the Rashkin Report with videos on Youtube and TikTok. (A playlist of English videos can be found here.) Yuri also serves as a Supervisor on the Rock County Board. He works as the Marketing Coordinator at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater at Rock County.
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Madison’s largest stretch of public Lake Monona access runs from Olin park to Willy St. The future of the 1.7 miles long waterfront is now being discussed by an ad hoc committee. The design has been narrowed down to 3 proposed master plans.
Joining us on the program today is Friends of Nolan Waterfront Vice President Tim Anderson, City of Madison Parks Division’s Mike Sturm, and members of the Ad Hoc Committee Chandra Fienen Miller and Raj Shukla. Raj is also a board member of Friends of Nolan Waterfront.
They tell us about how the ad hoc committee taking a community wide approach and focusing on equity, environmental health, and transportation.
Lake Monona Waterfront Ad-hoc Committee is holding a public hearing tonight at 6pm.
Photo by Brian Standing for WORT-FM.
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“It’s like men are people and women are a temptation. We punish men for what they’ve done. We punish women for what they might do to white men. So there are so many women in this history when I look at this prison who were incarcerated for things like having gonorrhea… These people did nothing at all to end up inside this system, and yet, because they were seen as a danger to white men who might get syphilis or gonorrhea… these women ended up in prison. That, over and over again, is how we treat women in the legal system and those that the legal system perceives as women. We don’t attend to their needs, their cares, what is harming them, what is dangerous for them. We perceive them as a threat to other people, as something to be managed.”
Hugh Ryan joins us on the program to talk about his latest book The Women’s House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison. The book tells the story of the folks with were held in the House of D, during it’s existence from the 1930s to the 1970s. Hugh joins us to tell us the heartbreaking history and overwhelming resilience of the LGBTQ+ community that surround the prison in Greenwich Village.
Hugh Ryan is a writer and curator, and most recently, the author of The Women’s House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison, which New York Magazine called one of the best books of 2022. His first book, When Brooklyn Was Queer, won a 2020 New York City Book Award, was a New York Times Editors’ Choice in 2019, and was a finalist for the Randy Shilts and Lambda Literary Awards. He was honored with the 2020 Allan Berube Prize from the American Historical Association.
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In Orchid Muse, Erica Hannickel lays out a history of orchids and their growers. Plus, she offers tips to cultivate thriving plants. Erica joins us on A Public Affair to explain why orchids are so special and to read from her forth-coming book.
The release of Orchid Muse has been pushed back to December 20th, but Honest Dog Books in Bayfield does have a few signed copies available now.
Image by annca from Pixabay
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This past Tuesday was the International Day of Solidarity with Palestinian People. On today’s Birthday Boost show, we talk about the big picture for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, the killings of Palestinian children, and clashes between Palestinians and the Israeli army. We also unpack what is happening politically in Israel.
Joining us on the issues is Iman Abid from US Campaign for Palestinian Rights and journalist Haggai Matar from 972 Advancements of Citizen Journalism and +972 Magazine.
Iman Abid-Thompson is the Director of Advocacy and Organizing at the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR). Prior to joining USCPR, Iman was the Regional Director at the American Civil Liberties Union of New York (ACLU of NY) for six years.
Haggai Matar is an award-winning Israeli journalist and political activist. He serves as the executive director of “972 – Advancement of Citizen Journalism,” the nonprofit that publishes +972 Magazine.
Image by Ben Kerckx from Pixabay
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A new WPR podcast spotlights some of the nearly 15000 Cuban immigrants who were sent to Fort McCoy in Sparta, Wisconsin as part of the Mariel Boatlift. Uprooted tells stories of boat journeys, life at Fort McCoy, and a longing to return to Cuba 40 years later.
The show is hosted by Wisconsin Life’s Maureen McCollum and UW-La Crosse Professor Omar Granados. They join on on today’s program to share these stories and shed light on the making of the podcast.
You can learn more about the podcast here.
Audio used with permission. Photo by WPR.
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“You start with what you can do today, and what you know today that will alleviate suffering. And you move from there. You never know where it’s going to lead you. None of us expected to do what we wound up doing, and yet we did.”
Today we are joined by the author of The Story of Jane: The Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service, Laura Kaplan. The book has recently gone back into print with Vintage Books. Laura tells us about the creation of Jane and stories from the women who provided abortions in the late 1960’s and 1970s.
Laura Kaplan was a member of Jane and a founding member of the Emma Goldman Women’s Health Center in Chicago. She has worked as lay midwife and an advocate of nursing home residents, and she has established a shelter for battered women. She was the managed care project director for Citizen Action of New York and sat on the board of the National Women’s Health Network. She is the author of The Story of Jane: The Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service which was first published in 1996.
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City Cast is a national network of local 15 minute news, culture, and conversion podcasts. The network now has a Madison podcast, and they launched their first episode today! The whole team, Molly Stentz, Dylan Brogan, and Bianca Martin, joins us in studio for the hour.
The show is hosted by Bianca Martin. Bianca got her start in radio at WORT, producing this very show. She has since helped create, launch, and produce several radio shows and podcasts for organizations including WBEZ Chicago, National Geographic, and NPR.
The team is led by veteran broadcaster Molly Stentz, who previously served as Interim Assistant Director of the Ideas Network of WPR, and News Director here at WORT.
Dylan Brogan is the podcast’s Audio Producer. Dylan was previously a staff writer at Isthmus, and he has been on air with WORT and Mid-West Family Broadcasting.
You can find the link to your podcast app of choice here.
Photos provided by City Cast Madison
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According to a report from the Natural Resources Defense Council, Wisconsin has the highest number of lead pipes per capita in the country. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will provide $700 million to address Wisconsin’s water access; however, activists want to ensure that funds go to areas who are most adversely impacted by unsafe water.
Joining us to talk about the issue of lead laterals in Milwaukee is Coalition on Lead Emergency Chairperson Richard Diaz. COLE’s mission is to to create a sustainable lead safe environment in Milwaukee by engaging a broad range of community partners. They focus on education, advocacy, and work-force development. They also work to support and empower parents who’s children have been impacted by lead poisoning.
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“The vast majority of children who are taken from their homes are not taken on grounds of physical or sexual abuse. They’re taken because of neglect, and states defined neglect, […]
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Last year, host Allen Ruff said he and Will had been doing this annual chat for 10, or maybe 12 years. This years he’s rounding up to 15 years. Regardless, […]
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In March 1922, a new organization called the Madison Community Union was founded. Its purpose was to consolidate the fundraising activities of various groups and charities, then allocate the money […]
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Many of us are getting ready to spend time with loved ones this week for the holiday. It’s the time of year where you visit with the people who you […]
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The World Cup kicked off in Doha, Qatar yesterday. The country was chosen as the host country in 2010. Since they were selected, they have faced criticism for their treatment […]
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Haiti has been experiencing political upheaval, a spike in cholera cases, a fuel blockade, and an uptick in gang activity. Joining us to talk about what is happening in the […]
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The Russian Revolution of 1917 has long been considered the radical event that changed 20th century world history. Yet the first social revolution of the era took place in Mexico […]
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Today we are talking about education–specifically the money that goes into schools, from pre-K to higher ed. First we are looking at K-12 with Education Reporter for the Cap Times, […]
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Since Elon Musk bought Twitter on October 27th, he has fired thousands of employees, loosened moderation rules, and charged $8 for a blue check mark. The fate of the company […]
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The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference or COP27 is wrapping up this week. World leaders and top climate scientists are meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt to discuss the crisis, […]
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In Brazil late last month, leftist former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva beat the far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in the presidential election. Center of Economic and Policy Research’s Alexander […]
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For today’s show, host Esty Dinur welcomes back renowned economist Richard Wolff for a discussion of ongoing crises of the day—including hurricane season, inflation and world economics, the war in […]
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“I want a politics in this country that’s rooted in the grassroots, that’s rooted in the people, and this year going to be an incredible test of that.” That’s John […]
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At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, writer and professor B.J. Hollars sent out a call to Wisconsinites to share their responses to pandemic life and to fill in the […]
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Today, Ali Muldrow continues her reproductive justice series with doulas from Cooperativa Raíces para el Cambio/Roots4Change Cooperative to talk about pregnancy, giving birth, and postpartum experiences in the Indigenous and […]
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What do you think of when you hear the word “mall”? The hustle and bustle of a food court? The scent of Orange Julius and Auntie Anne’s pretzels wafting through […]
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For today’s special pledge show, host Esty Dinur sits down with David Corn to talk about his new book, American Psychosis, “a fast-paced, rollicking, behind-the-scenes account of how the GOP […]
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Today, guest host Frank Emspak from Labor Radio joins us live from Paris for a conversation about ongoing developments in the labor movement in France with Daniel Cirera. Daniel Cirera […]
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You’ve probably heard the story: in 2014, two twelve-year-old girls in Waukesha, Wisconsin attempted to stab their classmate to death because they feared a shadowy online figure called “Slenderman.” The […]
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For today’s show, Ali Muldrow hosts a special multigenerational roundtable with an all-star lineup of feminist activists, from a “Raging Granny” who remembers life pre-Roe to Gen Z activists in […]
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“Who is Wisconsin? What publics are we serving? What publics aren’t we serving?” says Tim Frandy. Asking those questions “is very important to doing effective culture work.” Today, we kick […]
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Since the passing of Queen Elizabeth II last week, the world has been abuzz with commentary. While many mourn the loss of the queen, whose seventy-year reign was the longest […]
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Republican nominee for Wisconsin governor Tim Michels was involved in building Enbridge Line 3 in Minnesota and will be involved in the Line 5 expansion if it is approved. “Is […]
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Nurses at UW Health have voted for a three-day strike starting September 13. With hundreds of nurses prepared to walk out, it’s Wisconsin’s largest strike for union recognition in at […]
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Even as public opinion has quickly changed when it comes to previously controversial issues like gay marriage, opposition to legalized abortion has only grown—and has come to dominate conservative politics […]
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Even before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade earlier this summer, youth under age 18 already had limited options when it came to reproductive health and abortion access. As […]
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There has been a major uptick in risky, distracted, and aggressive driving since the onset of the pandemic, and it’s not just a bad case of road rage. Traffic deaths […]
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Ghost guns are privately assembled firearms made up of parts without serial numbers, creating an untraceable weapon. While this year’s highly publicized mass shootings in Buffalo, Uvalde, and Highland Park […]
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Today on A Public Affair, host Allen Ruff checks in on recent international news, focused on breaking political and environmental stories from Mexico and Haiti. His guest is journalist Maria […]
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Earlier this month, Madison Metropolitan School District was reporting 199 teacher vacancies and 124 vacancies for non-teaching staff. These numbers were similarly high in other districts around the state and […]
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Reproductive justice for disabled folx means “making sure that people have the right to make decisions about their bodies and their families and their futures,” says Ma’ayan Anafi, Senior Counsel […]
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The island country of Sri Lanka in South Asia has been in the midst of an ongoing economic and political crisis since 2019. Last month, thousands of people rushed the […]
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“There are long-term threats to democracy, including racism, capitalism, imperialism, the inequality of wealth and income, and failing media,” says Matt Rothschild from the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. “But the short-term […]
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“When you wake a teen up at 6 AM, it’s like waking an adult up at 3 AM.” That’s Kari Oakes, a healthcare reporter and founding member of Start School […]
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Today, host Ali Muldrow continues her special Reproductive Justice Month programming with a show about forced sterilization and the intersection of race, disability, confinement, and reproductive rights. Our guest is […]
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If you live in south-central Wisconsin, chances are you have spent time at one of the lakes along the Yahara chain of lakes, which includes Lakes Mendota, Monona, Wingra, Waubesa, […]
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Last week, right-wing radio host and prominent conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was ordered by a Texas court to pay out nearly $50 million in punitive damages for his insistence that […]
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“We need to stop calling the MAGA movement conservative,” says historian and education activist Alan Singer. “There is nothing conservative or traditional about [Trump’s followers]. Those labels just provide a […]
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Every August, the city of Madison has a big housing turnover, with many downtown leases starting on the 15th. This makes for hectic and crowded move-in/move-out days, to say the […]
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Even before this summer’s landmark Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, many pregnant patients were not receiving the care they need. Cultural, social, and economic environments shape how people […]
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When writer Melissa Faliveno went to fill out her tax forms one year, she paused at the marital status checkboxes. She wasn’t married, but as someone in a long-term partnership, […]
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As we approach the 77th anniversary of the U.S. nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, host Esty Dinur spends the first part of today’s show discussing the current and ongoing […]
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Yesterday was the third anniversary of the 2019 shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas that left 23 dead and 23 injured. The shooter was a far-right extremist and […]
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Wisconsin’s partisan primary election is coming up next week on Tuesday, August 9. Polls are open from 7AM to 8PM. For today’s show, Wendy Hathaway, executive director of the League […]
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“I’ve never seen you in a shirt that doesn’t say ‘abortion’ on it.” That’s Tuesday host Ali Muldrow talking to Lizz Winstead, founder of Abortion Access Front. With the overturning […]
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This summer, no continent has escaped extreme temperatures. Heat waves in the Pacific Northwest and Europe have been making headlines, but places all around the world are experiencing record-setting high […]
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The recent disappearance and murder of British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian Indigenous advocate Bruno Pereira in a remote area of the Amazon rainforest is part of a longer history […]
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According to 2021 a study by UCLA, more than a million adults in the US identify as non-binary. However, their stories are often not shared or told in their own […]
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Tomorrow marks the 32nd anniversary the Americans with Disability Act. Since its signing, the ADA has open doors for folks of various disabilities. On today’s A Public Affair, guest host […]
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After a presidential election in May where no candidate secured at least half the votes, Gustavo Petro won the run-off election. His win makes him the first left-wing candidate to […]
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Zayd Ayers Dohrn born to radicals and organizers in the Weather Underground organization. In 1970, years before becoming Zayd’s mother, Bernadine Dohrn was the most wanted woman in America. Now […]
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For the last two decades, Sondy Pope has represented Wisconsin District 80 in the state assembly. However, earlier this year, Pope announced her retirement and is leaving the seat for […]
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Migrant workers make up the majority of the dairy workforce in Wisconsin. However, because there is no federal program for year-round agricultural work visas, most people producing milk across the […]
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Today on the show, guest host Nate Carlin takes up West Virginia v. EPA, the recent Supreme Court decision that limits the power of the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate […]
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Former prime minister of Japan Shinzo Abe was assassinated last week. He was a leader of the country’s ultra-conservative movement and one of Japan’s most powerful political figures. Some have […]
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On one night in January 2022, a local point-in-time count identified 701 people experiencing homelessness in Madison and Dane County that very night. In addition to the structural supports needed […]
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“Nothing is easy or not messy when it comes to election administration in Wisconsin.” First up on today’s show, Tuesday host Carousel Bayrd learns about the latest drama surrounding the […]
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“We live in a culture built around the idea of white supremacy,” says writer Maud Newton. “Less than three of my lifetimes ago, my family was enslaving other people. What […]
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“Film changed our understanding of the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, just as film in 1915 changed our understanding of the Civil War,” says journalist Todd Brewster. Before the days of […]
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In honor of WORT’s summer pledge drive, today’s show is focused on the importance of community radio and the way it has touched all our lives. For this special hour, […]
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For today’s special pledge drive show, Thursday host Allen Ruff has a wide-ranging conversation with iconic prison abolitionist Ruth Wilson Gilmore about the meaning of geography, why abolition, the “changing […]
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To kick off WORT’s week-long summer pledge drive, Wednesday host Carousel Bayrd celebrates a few of the community organizations who recently received a Silver Lining Award from the Friends of […]
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One week ago, 21 people were killed at a elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. In light of the tragedy, we have two guests join us to unpack how we got […]
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Title IX, the federal civil rights law that protects against sex-based discrimination in schools, turns 50 in June. The US Women’s Soccer Team was just awarded equal pay with the […]
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On May 14, 2002, eighteen-year-old Payton Gendron walked into a supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York and opened fire. He killed ten people and wounded three […]
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For today’s Meet the Candidates show, Wednesday host Carousel Bayrd speaks with two candidates running for Wisconsin State Assembly District 46. Melissa Ratcliff currently serves on the Dane County Board […]
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“The problem is not these kids—the problem is a society that has a dynamic of competition and pushing out our very talented youth and telling them they don’t know anything, […]
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Continuing our celebration of Labor History Month here on the show, today guest host Karma Chávez is in conversation with labor journalist Kim Kelly about her new book, Fight Like […]
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“If the political leaders don’t want to or can’t bring peace, let the soldiers do it!” For today’s show, Friday host Esty Dinur speaks with Osama Elewat, board member […]
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“We’re in a really exciting labor moment,” says sociologist Erin Hatton. “Coming out of the trauma of COVID, this may be the silver lining that carries us out of it. […]
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For today’s Meet the Candidates show, Wednesday host Carousel Bayrd speaks with two candidates running for Wisconsin State Assembly District 46. Syed Abbas has served on the Madison Common Council […]
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In the wake of last week’s leaked Supreme Court opinion draft about the likely overturning of Roe v. Wade, a lot of advice circulated online telling people to delete their […]
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Continuing his coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine, today Allen Ruff speaks with Anatol Lieven from the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Getting past simplistic explanations of the war as […]
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The U.S. is facing a major affordable housing crisis. Why are rent and mortgage rates soaring? How long is this expected to last? What can be done? First up today, […]
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Let’s face it—making friends as an adult is hard. Making friends as an adult during a global pandemic can feel nigh unto impossible. And what about cultivating those friendships? Or […]
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Organized labor seems to be making a comeback, with major union movement happening in unexpected places like Amazon and Starbucks. “Behind those headlines, a lot of folks don’t know what […]
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Today’s show is dedicated to this week’s leaked Supreme Court opinion and the likely end of Roe v. Wade. First, Friday host Esty Dinur speaks to Jill E. Adams, executive […]
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For today’s show, Thursday host Allen Ruff turns his attention to the history of NATO with political scientist Harry Targ. They discuss the war in Ukraine, imperialism, the “global NATO,” […]
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Experts have declared a loneliness epidemic in the U.S. But how did we get here? Did the pandemic make things worse? What can we as a society do about it? […]
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“The Latinas and Black women I see here in Wisconsin, we’re one-of-a-kind.” That’s Araceli Esparza, the founder of Midwest Mujeres Collective, a women-led organization that provides networking, mentoring, financial education, […]
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Today, we shine a light on workers for our special May Day show, guest hosted by Norman Stockwell from The Progressive. First up, Armando Ibarra from UW–Madison’s School for Workers […]
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“Borders are intended to kill,” says migrant rights activist Harsha Walia. “They are intended to maintain the power relationships of race, class, caste, gender, and more.”
Today, Harsha Walia joins Thursday host Allen Ruff to talk about the history, politics, and ideology of borders and bordering through the lens of her latest book, Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism.
Harsha Walia is a community organizer and campaigner in migrant justice and anti-capitalist, feminist, and anti-imperialist movements, including No One Is Illegal and Women’s Memorial March Committee. She is the author of Undoing Border Imperialism (AK Press, 2013) and Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism (Haymarket Books, 2021).
Cover photo of the Tijuana border by Barbara Zandoval on Unsplash
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Since the start of the pandemic, the U.S. national parks have reported a record number of visitors. As more and more Americans venture out into public lands and shared green spaces, it raises new conversations about who gets to lay claim to the space and feel like they belong.
These questions of belonging are central to the history of how the national parks came to be. Theodore Roosevelt, the “conservationist president,” is known for establishing 150 national forests, five national parks, and eighteen national monuments on over 230 million acres of public land. He was also a white supremacist who believed that white settlers were better stewards of the land than Native Americans.
For today’s show, guest host Richelle Wilson talks about reckoning with this history of the parks and what they mean to us today with writer and environmental historian Daegan Miller.
In the final segment of the show, we present an audio narration of Daegan’s essay “Badwater,” which relates his formative encounter with a buffalo herd in the Badlands as an early twentysomething.
Daegan Miller is a writer, critic, and landscape historian. He is the author of the book This Radical Land: A Natural History of American Dissent (University of Chicago Press, 2018). His essay “Badwater” appears in the five-volume series Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations, published by the Center for Humans and Nature.
Thanks to the Center for Humans and Nature for giving us permission to air the audio narration of “Badwater,” which originally appeared on Edge Effects and was produced and edited by Justyn Huckleberry.
Cover photo of buffalo in Theodore Roosevelt National Park by Rich Martello on Unsplash
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For today’s book club show, Tuesday host Ali Muldrow spends a joyful hour with writer and voice actor Tajja Isen discussing her new book, Some of My Best Friends: Essays on Lip Service.
“It’s not a book that’s interested in call-outs or shaming,” says Tajja. She talks about how she infused the book with humor and pleasure while tackling important topics about racial justice, her choice of the phrase “some of my best friends” and its history, her experience voice acting, and more.
Tajja Isen will be in Madison tonight (Tuesday, April 26) for an in-person event with the Wisconsin Book Festival at 7 PM at the Madison Public Library’s Central Library (201 West Mifflin Street). More information available here.
Tajja Isen is a writer, editor, and voice actor. Her essays and criticism have appeared in dozens of outlets across the US and Canada. A voice actor for over two decades, Tajja can be heard on such animated shows as Atomic Betty, The Berenstain Bears, Super Why!, Go Dog Go, Jane and the Dragon, and many others. She is the editor-in-chief of Catapult magazine and author of Some of My Best Friends: Essays on Lip Service (Simon & Schuster, 2022).
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Spearfishing season for tribes in Wisconsin begins each April—and with it comes a long history of controversy and racism.
For today’s show, WORT assistant news director Nate Wegehaupt is joined by Larry Nesper, author of The Walleye War, and fishers from the Lac Du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians.
They talk about the Ojibwe tradition of spearfishing, the legal history of spearfishing and treaty rights, and the protests and harassment faced by tribal fishers in northern Wisconsin from the 1980s and into the present day.
Larry Nesper is emeritus professor of anthropology and American Indian studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and author of the book The Walleye War: The Struggle for Ojibwe Spearfishing and Treaty Rights (University of Nebraska Press, 2002).
Brooks Big John, Scott Smith, and Lyle Chapman are members of the Lac Du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians.
For more information on Ojibwe treaty rights or to report harvester harassment, visit the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission’s website.
Cover photo: Jason Bisonette, a member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe, goes fishing with his son Samuel. Screenshot from “Spearfishing: A Living History – The Ways” by PBS Wisconsin.
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“We shouldn’t try to save nature, we should try to co-exist with it.”
That’s professor Kata Beilin. She joins Friday host Esty Dinur for the first half of today’s special Earth Day show to talk about her new documentary film, Maya Land: Listening to the Bees, which “tells the story of the conflict that erupted between Mayan beekeepers and the Mexican government in 2011, fomented by the planting of genetically modified soy in the Yucatan peninsula.”
Then, cultural historian Jenny Price talks about her new book, Stop Saving the Planet!
“Ninety-eight percent of the popular solutions refuse to challenge how our economy works,” she says—and until they do, we will continue to fail both the planet and the people who call it home.
Kata Beilin is a professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and faculty director of Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She is the author of In Search of Alternative Biopolitics in Contemporary Spain: Anti-Bullfighting, Animality, and the Environment in Contemporary Spain (Ohio State University Press, 2015) and co-editor of Ethics of Life: Contemporary Iberian Debates (Vanderbilt University Press, 2016). She recently directed and produced the documentary film Maya Land: Listening to the Bees (2022).
Jenny Price is a public writer, artist, and historian and a research fellow at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. She is the author of Stop Saving the Planet!: An Environmentalist Manifesto (W.W. Norton, 2021).
Cover photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash
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For today’s special Earth Day preview show, Thursday host Allen Ruff speaks with local activists Emily Park and Seth Jensen from 350 Wisconsin about the recent “Banking on Climate Chaos” report, which takes a close look at the financial institutions that fund, insure, and invest in fossil fuel industries globally.
They talk about the key findings of the report, financial greenwashing and the pitfalls of net-zero thinking, local opposition to Line 5, and the importance of centering justice in climate work.
Madison Earth Day celebrations are taking place Friday, April 22 @ 5PM on the UW–Madison Library Mall and Saturday, April 23, tentative time 10AM @ Dane County Farmer’s Market, Capitol Square. More information available here.
Emily Park is communications lead at 350 Wisconsin, where she is involved with the climate justice and divestment campaigns. She is also an organizer with 350.org’s Fossil Free Federal Reserve campaign, which is focused on getting the US Federal Reserve System to end fossil fuel investment in the US.
Seth Jensen leads the Divestment & Defund team at 350 Wisconsin. Seth has participated in a number of campaigns for climate justice, including the White House sit-ins to stop the Keystone XL pipeline, the follow-up Pledge of Resistance, and related actions combating fossil fuel extraction.
Cover photo: Screenshot from the Banking on Climate Crisis Fossil Fuel Finance Report, 2021
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Earlier today, the Wisconsin state legislature held a public hearing on legalizing medical marijuana—yes, on 4/20.
First up on the show, state representative Dianne Hesselbein explains why she opposes the medical marijuana bill as it currently stands—and how it will impede broader legalization efforts in the state.
Then, Brandon Williams from Cabrini Green Legal Aid and POLITICO reporter Mona Zhang offer broader updates from neighboring Illinois and nationally about CBD, Delta-8, and the decriminalization movement.
Dianne Hesselbein is the state representative for Wisconsin’s 79th Assembly District, where she is serving on seven committees for the 2021–2022 legislative session.
Brandon Williams is criminal records supervising attorney at Cabrini Green Legal Aid.
Mona Zhang is the state cannabis policy reporter for POLITICO. Before that, she founded and edited the cannabis newsletter Word on the Tree.
Cover photo by Shelby Ireland on Unsplash
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“Other countries have social safety nets. The U.S. has women.”
That’s sociologist Jessica Calarco speaking with journalist Anne Helen Petersen in a widely shared interview from 2020. Today, she joins Tuesday host Ali Muldrow to talk about the unique challenges of parenting in the U.S., why so much care work (still) disproportionately falls to women, and the deeply unequal structures that perpetuate the gendered and racial dynamics of caregiving.
Jessica Calarco is an associate professor of sociology at Indiana University, where her research focuses on systems of inequality. She is the author of Negotiating Opportunities: How the Middle Class Secures Advantages in School (Oxford University Press, 2018) and A Field Guide to Grad School: Uncovering the Hidden Curriculum (Princeton University Press, 2020). Her forthcoming book, Without a Net, is about why the U.S. does not have an adequate social safety net—and what we lose without it.
Cover photo by charlesdeluvio on Unsplash
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The U.S. Department of the Interior is currently seeking public comment on replacement names for geographical features that include the offensive racial slur “s**aw.”
This comes after Secretary Deb Haaland signed Secretarial Order 3404 in November 2021, declaring the S-word a derogatory term and implementing procedures to remove the word from use on federal geographic features and lands.
Today on the show, guest host Bert Zipperer speaks with Dr. Lisa Poupart, professor of First Nations studies at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay and a member of the Lac Du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Anishinaabeg, to learn about the history of the S-word as a racial slur and why it’s so important that the U.S. publicly eradicates it from the map.
Along the way, they talk about slow changes to stereotypical portrayals of Native Americans in products and media, the mascot debate, raising awareness of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, the rise of land acknowledgments, and the First Nations program at UW–Green Bay.
Lisa Poupart is a member of the Lac Du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Anishinaabeg and an associate professor of First Nations studies, women’s and gender studies, and humanities at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay. Dr. Poupart’s work is concerned with healing First Nations generational historic trauma. She is also involved in a number of initiatives to standardize First Nations studies curriculum in K–16.
The public can submit comments about this issue to the Department of the Interior by April 25, 2022 by either of the following methods:
- Federal eRulemaking Portal: Submit written comments online at www.regulations.gov by entering “DOI-2022-0001” in the Search bar and clicking “Search.” You can also navigate directly to the comment page here: www.regulations.gov/commenton/DOI-2022-0001-0001
- Submit Comments By Mail To: Reconciliation of Derogatory Geographic Names, MS-511, U.S. Geological Survey, 12201 Sunrise Valley Dr., Reston, VA 20192.
Note: All submissions must include Docket Number DOI-2022-0001. All comments received will be posted without change to www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided.
To request additional information about this notice, please submit your question or request to SO3404_FRNquestions@usgs.gov, or contact Michael Tischler at 703-344-4348.
A list of the 664 place names under consideration for renaming can be found here.
Cover photos: S— Lakes, Oregon by Trougnouf, licensed under CC BY 4.0 (upper left); view of the Wasatch Mountains and S—- Peak by Intermountain Forest Service, public domain (upper right); S—– Cap in Fundy National Park by Chris M. Morris, licensed under CC BY 2.0 (lower left); Sign in S—- Ridge Lava Bed Wilderness Study Area by Bureau of Land Management Oregon and Washington, public domain (lower right)
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“Both Echo Maker and Bewilderment have strong ties to the ethos of a state where our present and our future are being hashed out and fought for. The vision of a healthier, a more rewarding, a more meaningful relationship to place and other creatures is very much central to Wisconsin politics, and that’s why I wanted Madison as the setting for my novel.”
For today’s show, Friday host Esty Dinur spends the hour with Richard Powers, the Pulitzer Prize–winning and #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Overstory and Bewilderment, which is set in Madison.
From Esty’s review in the Isthmus newsletter: “Bewilderment is not Richard Powers best novel—that honor is reserved for his masterpiece, The Overstory. Still, shorter and therefore an easier read, this excellent book speaks directly to the times we live in, in a million different ways. It tells about a scientist father and his autistic (or is he?) son, about the mysteries of space and advances in science, a president very reminiscent of a recent monstrosity, a dying planet, and personal loss. Special bonus: it happens mostly in Madison and at the UW. It left me in admiration of Powers and fear for our present and future.”
Richard Powers is an American novelist. His novels The Echo Maker won the 2006 National Book Award for Fiction, The Overstory won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2019, and Bewilderment won the Booker Prize in 2021. He currently lives in Tennessee near the Great Smoky Mountains.
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A plan to circulate a conservative-backed student survey regarding “free speech” on the University of Wisconsin System’s twenty-six campuses played a key role in Jim Henderson’s unexpected resignation last week as interim chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater.
The chancellor’s sudden departure raised questions about the survey, which was originally scheduled to be released last Thursday and has now been delayed until the fall. Numerous concerns have surfaced regarding the survey’s origins and content—and the political motivations behind it.
For today’s show, Thursday host Allen Ruff is joined by professors Tracy Hawkins (UW–Whitewater) and Jon Shelton (UW–Green Bay) to talk about why the survey has been so controversial and how it’s situated in the broader context of right-wing attacks on public education and the politicization of UW in the lead-up to this year’s election.
Tracy Hawkins is associate professor in the Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater. She currently serves as chair of the UW–Whitewater Faculty Senate.
Jon Shelton is associate professor and chair of democracy and justice studies at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay. He currently serves as vice president of higher education for the Wisconsin chapter of the American Federation of Teachers.
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Last week, the Senate confirmed Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court, making her the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.
For today’s show, Wednesday host Carousel Bayrd celebrates and reflects on this historic moment with Iman Davenport, Midwest Chair of the Black Law Students Association, and Amber Raffeet August from the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee.
Cover photo: United States Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson at the United States Senate on March 21, 2022 by C-SPAN, shared under public domain
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“You want your films to have truth in them,” says Bogdan George Apetri. “As a byproduct—because you’re not shooting in air, you’re shooting in Romania—[there will be social critique]. You don’t start with that, but hopefully you end with that.”
Set in a small, mountain town in northern Romania near the border of Ukraine, Unidentified and Miracle are the first two films in a planned trilogy from director, writer, and producer Bogdan George Apetri. Both have a crime at the center but are ultimately character studies, or a “microcosmos” of life in Romania—and both are playing at the Wisconsin Film Festival this week.
For today’s show, Bogdan George Apetri speaks with WORT news reporter Nate Carlin about his own creative process, the role of storytelling and music in film, and the importance of making room for all kinds of films and not just blockbusters.
Unidentified is showing at the Wisconsin Film Festival on Wednesday, April 13th at 5:00 PM and Thursday, April 14th at 12:00 PM. Both screenings are at AMC Madison 6. Tickets and information here.
Miracle is showing at the Wisconsin Film Festival on Wednesday, April 13th at 8:00 PM and Thursday, April 14th at 3:00 PM. Both screenings are at AMC Madison 6. Tickets and information here.
The director is scheduled to attend all four screenings for Q&A.
Bogdan George Apetri is a Romanian-born director, writer, and producer based in New York City. He is assistant professor of professional practice at Columbia University, where he teaches courses in filmmaking.
Cover images courtesy of the Wisconsin Film Festival guide
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The Wisconsin Film Festival is back! For today’s show, Friday host Esty Dinur previews two of the films playing at the fest next week.
First up, director Toby Amies calls in from the UK to discuss the documentary film In the Court of the Crimson King: King Crimson at 50. The film is screening Monday, April 11 @ 6:30 PM at AMC Madison 6. Full details here.
Then, director Maryna Er Gorbach on Klondike, a film about Ukraine’s Donbas War in 2014. The film is screening Wednesday, April 13 @ 7:45 PM and Thursday, April 14 @ 1:00 PM at AMC Madison 6. Full details here.
Cover images courtesy of the Wisconsin Film Festival guide
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The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently released a new report, with another one coming out on Monday.
To learn what’s in the latest report and what it means for the future of the planet, Friday host Esty Dinur speaks with sociologist Dana Fisher, who contributed research about the role of policymakers and civic activism in addressing climate change, and Debra Roberts, co-chair of the IPCC’s Working Group II calling in from South Africa.
Dana R. Fisher is professor of sociology at the University of Maryland, Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and president-elect of the Eastern Sociological Society. She contributed to chapter 13 of the IPCC’s Working Group III report, specifically about policy actors and how they contribute to mitigation and the role of civic activism and engagement in climate mitigation.
Debra Roberts is co-chair of the IPCC’s Working Group II. She holds a PhD in urban biogeography and is currently head of the Sustainable and Resilient City Initiatives Unit in eThekwini Municipality (Durban, South Africa). She was a lead author of chapter 8 (Urban Areas) and a contributing author to chapter 12 (Africa) of Working Group II’s contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Cover photo: San Francisco, 2020, after the Labor Day Fires by Patrick Perkins on Unsplash
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On today’s show, Thursday host Allen Ruff takes another close look at the war in Ukraine in terms that go beyond the mainstream narrative of “democracy versus autocracy” with political and social geographer Zoltán Grossman.
Zoltán Grossman is a professor of geography and Native American and World Indigenous Peoples studies at The Evergreen State College. He is the author of several books, most recently Unlikely Alliances: Native Nations and White Communities Join to Defend Rural Lands (University of Washington Press, 2017).
Cover photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
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The 2022 Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday created a lot of buzz because… well, you probably know why. But a lot of other stuff happened, too, including the historic wins of CODA for Best Picture, Troy Kotsur for Supporting Actor, Ariana DeBose for Supporting Actress, and Jane Campion for Best Director (the third woman to win this category in the Oscars’ 94-year history).
Year after year, the Oscars keeps making a bid for its relevance to the broader American public, changing up how the ceremony is structured and even the awards themselves. What can this tell us about the role of celebrity and cinema in Hollywood and in our own lives?
For today’s show, WORT producer Nate Carlin spends the hour with Vox film critic Alissa Wilkinson doing a deep, nerdy dive into these questions about the Academy, film in the age of streaming, the ever-evolving Oscars ceremony, and the magic of the movies.
Alissa Wilkinson is a film critic and culture reporter at Vox. Her work has been published in Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, Vulture, The Atlantic, and more. Alissa is also an associate professor of English and humanities at The King’s College in New York City.
Cover photo by GR Stocks on Unsplash
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As we approach the 50th anniversary of Title IX, today guest host Liz DiNovella and sports journalist Julie DiCaro discuss the latest news in women’s sports, including this year’s historic NCAA women’s basketball tournament, Brittney Griner’s detainment in Russia, and the U.S. women’s soccer equal pay lawsuit.
They also talk about how far we have—and haven’t—come since Title IX was enacted. “We’re so behind in terms of the access that the general public has to women’s sports,” says Julie DiCaro. “Let’s dump the same amount of time, money, and effort into women’s sports [as men’s] for fifty years and then see where we are.”
Cover photo: Brittney Griner, Minnesota Lynx vs Phoenix Mercury at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, July 14, 2019, by Lorie Shaull, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
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“These crime stories came to us. There were fake paintings hanging in galleries or being sold in auctions. There were robberies and looting. Somebody has to write about these stories about the dark side of the art world…” Tobias Timm tells us on today’s show. Tobias and his colleague Stefan Koldehoff are art journalists who found themselves experts in the world of art crime because Stefan says “once you start with it, you can’t let it go again.”
Stefan Koldehoff and Tobias Timm are the authors of a new book called Art & Crime: The Fight Against Looters, Forgers and Fraudsters in the High-Stakes Art World, released in a translated copy this year from Seven Stories Press.
Stefan Koldehoff is culture editor at Deutschlandfunk radio and writer for Die Zeit, the German newspaper of record. In 2008 he received the Puk journalist prize for his investigative research.
Tobias Timm is a writer for Die Zeit’s feature pages from Berlin on architecture, art, and crime. The two are co-authors of a previous book, released in 2012, called False Pictures, Real Money.
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Bitcoin legal tender in El Salvador. It uses more electricity than Finland. People are spending 2 million dollars on “Bored Ape Yacht Club” NFTs. Ukraine received millions in crypto currency to fight Russia. To explain these headlines and more, tech reporter Katie Notopoulos joins A Public Affair in this hour.
Katie Notopoulos is a senior technology report with BuzzFeed News. There she covers tech and internet culture.
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Millions have fled Ukraine in the last month, and President Biden announced today that the US will take in 100,000 of the displaced. To discuss how to help refugees and how to vet aid organizations is long-time refugee aid worker Ben Granby.
Since 2007 Ben Granby has been directly involved on the ground in various internationally recognized refugee aid efforts throughout the Middle East. Ben has overseen short and long term assistance projects for refugees and internally displaced persons, and has worked to assure that donated funds and material aid reach those for whom it is attended.
Ben recommends the following UN Agencies working in Ukraine now:
UN Central Relief Fund – A pooled fund to target immediate and reporting shortfalls aid needs
UNICEF – Mainly for children, protection, education and water/sanitation works. They have vastly more experience in managing small, individual donations
UNHCR – UNHRC can fill most gaps for refugees anywhere from shelter, basic livelihoods health subsidies, lost assets, much more
UN World Food Program – Basic food parcels, can be modified to buy local factory goods but just for kcal daily needs. WFP also had long term voucher or e-card monthly cash to buy specific food items from contracted shops – to flat out monthly cash for any shops, all of this is pretty new – yet helps restore some dignity
Red Cross International – They are a good choice for smaller donations, but they have huge international non-discretionary funds to send anywhere immediately.
As Ben and Allen talk about during the show, looking into organizations before donating is important. Here are Ben’s tools for looking at 3rd party evaluations/scoring:
Global:
NGO Advisor – for emergency and longer term actors in economic development
Devineo – publishes The Global Humanitarian Assistance Report which u publications, They can ran with a close eye to be most comprehensive – (e.g. how to evaluate oupi cmniting issues of working in the pandemic setting
ANLAP – focuses on evaluating NGOs and finances
CORE – standards for INGOs to agree upon, receive certification (usually shown on websites)
USA:
Charity Navigator – provides a general review of what American NGO in the past and and recent work
Charity watch – it ranks charities, non-profits financial efficiency, accountability, governance, and fundraising.
Consumer reports has annual ranks as well
Europe:
OnGood – has listings of many European non-profit actors. You can narrow your search, and even has a donation support tool, may help in knowing who can take donations and follow up
If you choose to donate to a relief agency, Ben suggests looking up in news to know of publicized corruption concerns, yet corruption is usually kept quiet. If you have questions not answered online you can contact UNHCR partners for feedback.
Ben Granby can be reached at bdgranby@gmail.com for further questions.
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For today’s Meet the Candidates show, Wednesday host Carousel Bayrd speaks with two candidates running in uncontested races.
First, we hear from Brian Blanchard, who is running for re-election for the District IV judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals.
Then, Diane Schlipper talks about her campaign for Judge in Dane County Circuit Court Branch 3.
Wisconsin is holding its 2022 spring election on Tuesday, April 5, 2022. You can learn more about upcoming elections and preview your ballot at myvote.wi.gov.
You can find WORT’s ongoing election coverage here.
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About a month ago, WORT producer Richelle Wilson started receiving tweets and emails saying “You have to read this!” and linking to an article in the New Republic. The piece, called “Ikea’s Race for the Last of Europe’s Old-Growth Forest,” tells the story of illegal logging in Romania—and reveals just how deep the problem goes, with environmentalists, journalists, and forest rangers being physically attacked and even murdered for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
We talk a lot on this show about both environmental issues and critiques of capitalism and major corporations. This story about IKEA and Romania’s old-growth forest links the two and brings to light the serious issues with what’s called “fast furniture” and, of course, illegal deforestation.
Today, Richelle guests hosts the show and spends the hour with journalist Alex Sammon, who reported this story. They talk about the economic and political histories that shaped how this old-growth forest came to be and why it’s under threat now, the challenges of regulating illegal logging in Europe, Alex’s own dangerous trip to Romania, and how IKEA and “fast furniture” are manifestations of the housing crisis.
Alex Sammon is a staff writer at The American Prospect.
Cover photo: Forest in Secăria, Romania by Nicusor Chiru on Unsplash
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“We need to help each other figure out how we’re going to survive the unsurvivable world.”
Today, Eric Stanley joins guest host Karma Chávez to talk about the recent wave of anti-trans legislation and threats to gender-affirming care in the context of Eric’s new book, Atmospheres of Violence: Structuring Antagonism and the Trans/Queer Ungovernable.
They talk about how violence has run in tandem with the history of advances in LGBT+ rights, trans misogyny and violence against trans women, Angela Davis’s concept of “abolition democracy,” and the importance of gender-affirming care, including and especially for unhoused people and people in jails and prisons.
Eric A. Stanley is an associate professor in the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.
In collaboration with Chris Vargas, they directed the films Homotopia (2006) and Criminal Queers (2019). Eric is co-editor, with Tourmaline and Johanna Burton, of Trap Door: Trans Cultural Production and the Politics of Visibility (MIT Press 2017) and Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex with Nat Smith (AK Press, 2015). They are the author of Atmospheres of Violence Structuring Antagonism and the Trans/Queer Ungovernable (Duke University Press, 2021).
Cover photo: WERK for Consent – A Queer and Trans Dance Protest, January 2018, by Ted Eytan, licensed under CC BY 2.0
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For today’s Meet the Candidates show, Wednesday host Carousel Bayrd speaks with the two candidates running for Madison Metropolitan School District School Board Seat 3: Laura Simkin and Shepherd Joyner.
Wisconsin is holding its 2022 spring election on Tuesday, April 5, 2022. You can learn more about upcoming elections and preview your ballot at myvote.wi.gov.
You can find WORT’s ongoing election coverage here.
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“There is no such thing as the last of the Mohicans. We are here. We are here to stay.”
For today’s show, guest host Bert Zipperer spends the hour with Shannon Holsey, president of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians, to talk about the tribe’s history in Wisconsin and her recent State of the Tribes address.
Shannon Holsey is president of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians. She has served in this role since being elected in 2015, following eight years as a member of the Tribal Council. Holsey also serves as vice president of the Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council (GLITC).
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In recent months, there has been a spate of journalists of color leaving their posts at NPR, including Audie Cornish, Lourdes “Lulu” Garcia-Navarro, and Noel King. This has raised questions about race at NPR, not only regarding staff but the broad American public they are supposed to be serving.
Since its inception in 1970, NPR has gone from “conceiving of listeners as a public to listeners as an audience to listeners as a market,” says media studies professor Christopher Chávez. He chronicles this change in his new book, The Sound of Exclusion: NPR and the Latinx Public.
Today on the show, he joins guest host Karma Chávez to talk about his book, the history of NPR, and the way public radio has standardized particular accents, voices, and stories at the exclusion of Latinx and other listeners.
Christopher Chávez is a professor of media studies and director of the Center for Latina/o and Latin American Studies at the University of Oregon. His research lies at the intersection of globalization, media, and culture. He is the co-editor of Identity: Beyond Tradition and McWorld Neoliberalism (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013) and author of Reinventing the Latino Television Viewer: Language Ideology and Practice (Lexington Books, 2015) and The Sound of Exclusion: NPR and the Latinx Public (University of Arizona Press, 2021).
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Today on the show, Anishinaabe and Cherokee writer Chris Stark shares excerpts from and discusses her new novel, Carnival Lights, which deals with topics like sexual assault, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, and the traumatic legacy of boarding schools.
Chris Stark is an Anishinaabe and Cherokee writer, researcher, and community organizer. Her first novel, Nickels: A Tale of Dissociation, was a Lambda Literary finalist. Her second novel, Carnival Lights, is a current Minnesota Book Awards finalist. She teaches writing at Central Lakes Community College and consults nationally about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.
Cover photo of Chris Stark from World Without Exploitation
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For today’s show, Thursday host Allen Ruff looks beyond the typical explanations and analyses of Ukraine offered by the mainstream media with political scientist and Eastern Europe expert David Ost.
David Ost is professor of political science at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, where he researches political transformations in Eastern Europe (particularly Poland), comparative labor and democracy, and globalization and political economy.
Note: This program has been edited to remove a segment dedicated to station fundraising at the end of the show. We thank our listeners for their generous support.
Cover photo by Tina Hartung on Unsplash
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Health is not an individual responsibility—it is shaped by environmental and social conditions. That’s been an important lesson of the pandemic and is the premise of Dayna Bowen Matthew’s new book, Just Health: Treating Structural Racism to Heal America.
Today, she joins Wednesday host Carousel Bayrd to talk about how structural racism, inequality, and social comorbidities affect health outcomes not only for individuals but entire populations—and what we can do about it.
Dayna Bowen Matthew is Dean and Harold H. Greene Professor of Law at the George Washington University Law School. She has also held many public policy roles, including serving as senior adviser to the Office of Civil Rights for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and as a member of the health policy team for Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan.
Her books include Just Medicine: A Cure for Racial Inequality in American Health Care (NYU Press, 2015) and Just Health: Treating Structural Racism to Heal America (NYU Press, 2022).
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Today on International Women’s Day and as the U.S. experiences a wave of anti-trans legislation, Tuesday host Ali Muldrow spends a powerful hour with Grayson Hunt.
They have a wide-ranging conversation about intersectionality, feminism, the LGBTQIA+ community, abortion, disability, and trans lives and experiences.
Grayson Hunt is an academic, administrator, community organizer, and actor who specializes in queer, trans, and disability diversity initiatives. He currently serves as Director of Equity Outreach and Resources at the University of Texas at Austin.
Cover photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash
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The global death toll from COVID-19 has reached six million—and nearly one million of those deaths are from the United States alone. Let’s do the math: that means the U.S. accounts for 4 percent of the world population but nearly 17 percent of its COVID deaths. Why is that?
“We should recognize that disasters can be better or worse depending on how those in government and those with economic power respond,” says journalist John Nichols. “They too frequently failed the American people [during the pandemic], and that’s why we have a higher death rate than other countries.”
Meanwhile, as vulnerable Americans have suffered devastating health and economic consequences from two years of COVID, the billionaire class has expanded.
It’s time to hold these pandemic profiteers accountable, says John Nichols. That’s the theme of his latest book, Coronavirus Criminals and Pandemic Profiteers: Accountability for Those Who Caused the Crisis. Today, he joins guest host Bert Zipperer to discuss.
John Nichols is the national affairs correspondent for The Nation, a contributing writer for The Progressive and In These Times, and the associate editor of the Cap Times. He’s the author of over a dozen books, including Coronavirus Criminals and Pandemic Profiteers: Accountability for Those Who Caused the Crisis (Verso, 2022).
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It’s long been the belief that humans have five senses: touch, sight, hearing, taste, and smell. But what if we told you there are more?
In her new book Sentient, wildlife filmmaker and writer Jackie Higgins uses examples from the animal kingdom to show how human sensory abilities can go far beyond what we’ve previously imagined. Today, she joins Friday host Esty Dinur and co-pilot Jonathan Zarov for a discussion.
Jackie Higgins is a graduate of Oxford University in zoology and has worked for Oxford Scientific Films for over a decade, along with National Geographic, PBS Nova, and the Discovery Channel. She has also written, directed, and produced films at the BBC Science Department. She is the author of Sentient: What Animals Reveal About Our Senses (Atria Books, 2022).
Note: The archive did not record the last minute of the show, so the audio ends abruptly. We apologize for any inconvenience.
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For today’s show, Thursday host Allen Ruff is joined by education policy journalist Jennifer Berkshire and education historian Jack Schneider to discuss the latest in the right-wing attacks on public schools, including the recent spate of book bans and Wisconsin’s new “parental bill of rights.”
Jennifer Berkshire writes about education and politics for the Nation, the New Republic, the Washington Post, and other publications. She teaches in the journalism program at Boston College and the labor studies program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is the co-author of A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door: The Dismantling of Public Education and the Future of School (New Press, 2020) and co-host of the education policy podcast Have You Heard.
Jack Schneider is an education historian and associate professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He is the co-author of A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door: The Dismantling of Public Education and the Future of School (New Press, 2020) and co-host of the education policy podcast Have You Heard.
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Since the beginning of 2022, more than a dozen historically black colleges and universities, or HBCUs, have received bomb threats, including eight last week at the start of Black History Month.
For today’s show, guest host Karma Chávez puts this news in historical context with Marybeth Gasman, professor of education and executive director of the Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions.
They talk about the important work of minority serving institutions, how HBCUs came to be and why they are still thriving, and what white Americans should be doing to support education for all.
Marybeth Gasman is the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Endowed Chair in Education, a Distinguished Professor, and the Associate Dean for Research in the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers University. She also serves as the executive director of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Institute for Leadership, Equity & Justice and the executive director of the Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions.
She is the author or editor of thirty books, including Educating a Diverse Nation (Harvard University Press, 2015 with Clif Conrad), Envisioning Black Colleges (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007), Making Black Scientists (Harvard University Press, 2019 with Thai-Huy Nguyen), and her forthcoming book Doing the Right Thing: How to End Systemic Racism in Faculty Hiring (Princeton University, 2022).
Cover image collage photos: Howard University School of Law (top left), Xavier University art student at work (top center), Stillman College Homecoming 2015 (top right), Bob Madison at Howard University in 1940 (center left), Florida A&M University graduation 2003 (center), Tuskegee University campus (center right), Walter Bernard Hill Hall at Savannah State University (bottom left), Graves Hall at Morehouse College (bottom center), Morgan State University Choir (bottom right)
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With Sámi National Day coming up this weekend on February 6, we spend today’s show learning about and celebrating Sámi history and culture with Troy Storfjell, Marja Eloheimo, and Tim Frandy.
Over a wide-ranging hour, they cover topics including the history of colonization in Scandinavia, their identities as Sámi and Sámi Americans, the construction of race and critical Indigenous theory, ethnobotany and connection to place, and more.
Troy Storfjell is a professor of Nordic Studies and the director of the Scandinavian Culture Center at Pacific Lutheran University. His work involves literature, film, and critical Indigenous theory. He serves on the executive board of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association.
Marja Eloheimo is faculty at the Evergreen State College, where she teaches and researches ethnobotany, Indigenous studies, and climate justice.
Tim Frandy is an assistant professor of folk studies at Western Kentucky University. Working predominantly with Sámi and Anishinaabe peoples, Frandy’s research includes revitalization and decolonization, pedagogies and public folklore, and the environmental and medical humanities. He is the editor and translator of Inari Sámi Folklore: Stories from Aanaar (UW Press, 2019) and co-editor, with B. Marcus Cederström, of Culture Work: Folklore for the Public Good (UW Press, forthcoming July 2022).
Cover photo courtesy of Anna Öhlund/imagebank.sweden.se
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In the United States, home of over 20 percent of the world’s prison population, the vast majority of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people are denied the right to vote. What’s the history behind this? And what can be done about it?
For today’s show, Thursday host Allen Ruff takes as close look at incarcerated voter disenfranchisement with Emmett Sanders, a formerly incarcerated researcher and writer with the Challenging E-Carceration Project from MediaJustice.
They cover issues like prison gerrymandering, electronic monitoring of parolees, how voting rights for prisoners fits into the broader abolition movement, and Emmett Sanders’ report “Full Human Beings: An Argument for Incarcerated Voter Enfranchisement.”
Cover photo by Manny Becerra on Unsplash
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First up on today’s show, we air Wednesday host Carousel Bayrd’s interview with CNN legal analyst Laura Coates about her new book, Just Pursuit: A Black Prosecutor’s Fight for Fairness.
Then, art professor Faisal Abdu’Allah along with curator Leah Kolb join to discuss Blu³eprint, an upcoming public art installation at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA).
Laura Coates is a CNN anchor and senior legal analyst. She hosts “The Laura Coates Show” on SiriusXM and is the author of You Have the Right: A Constitutional Guide to Policing the Police (2016) and Just Pursuit: A Black Prosecutor’s Fight for Fairness (Simon & Schuster, 2022).
Faisal Abdu’Allah is a is a British-born, Wisconsin-based artist and barber. He is professor of printmaking and the Chazen Family Distinguished Chair in Art in the Department of Art History at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. You can learn more about Blu³eprint in this recent story from the Cap Times. His upcoming exhibit at the MMoCA, DARK MATTER, will open this September.
Leah Kolb is curator of exhibitions at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.
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The pandemic has provided opportunities to raise awareness around disability justice and universal design. For today’s show, Tuesday host Ali Muldrow speaks with Martha Siravo and Anna Stevens, two women who have been advocating for youth with disabilities and sharing their stories in a group they founded called Madtown Mommas & Disability Advocates.
They talk about the impacts of virtual learning on special education students, caretaker burnout and the importance of school and community support for parents, and what it means to live in a just society with access and inclusion for all.
Martha Siravo is president of the mother-led organization Madtown Mommas & Disability Advocates. Martha is a community leader and was Ms. Wheelchair Wisconsin 2020–2021.
Anna Stevens is co-founder of Madtown Mommas and Disability Advocates.
Cover photo courtesy of Madtown Mommas & Disability Advocates Facebook group
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For her last show before signing off and moving on to new projects, Monday host Patty Peltekos spends the hour with Jonathan Malesic, a former tenured professor who left his dream job after noticing signs of burnout.
He decided to get to the bottom of it the way he knows best: research. The result is his new book, The End of Burnout, which explores the science, culture, and philosophy of burnout and investigates “how and why so many of us feel worn out, alienated, and useless in our work.”
During the show, Jonathan and Patty talk about changing definitions of burnout, how work exhaustion has manifested itself throughout history, the role of religion and spirituality in addressing burnout, and resisting the burnout culture that has come to define professional life in the United States.
Jonathan Malesic is an essayist, journalist, and scholar whose writing has appeared in the New York Times, The New Republic, Washington Post, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and elsewhere. He is the author of Secret Faith in the Public Square (Brazos Press, 2009) and The End of Burnout: Why Work Drains Us and How to Build Better Lives (University of California Press, 2022).
A farewell message from Patty:
Thanks to all the volunteer receptionists and volunteer engineers who have worked with me. A huge thanks to the producers I’ve had the pleasure of working with, especially Richelle Wilson, who has produced this show through the pandemic.
Thanks to news director Chali Pittman for juggling everything news-related and for the time she spent engineering A Public Affair during the first six months of COVID. And a shout-out to former news director Molly Stentz, who encouraged me to try hosting. Molly suggested that I might want to explore the topic of liquid manure. I had no idea of the many show ideas that blossomed from manure.
I also want to send a shout-out to Monday music hosts Martin Alvarado and Dan Tallmo of Global Revolutions and Alex Wilding-White of All-Around Jazz for giving me show ideas and for expanding my musical world.
Thanks to the WORT board, with special thanks to the WORT staff and volunteers who helped me during pledge drives, especially Susan and Karen. And thanks to all the guests who came on my show.
Finally, thank YOU, WORT listener. You are the one who makes shows like A Public Affair possible.
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As we approach the second anniversary of pandemic life in the United States, it’s starting to feel never-ending. Yet even though the U.S. is back to an average of over 2,000 COVID deaths per day, schools and workplaces are open and the government is offering an anemic response. How did we get here?
First up today, Friday host Esty Dinur talks with journalist Nina Burleigh about her book Virus: Vaccinations, the CDC, and the Hijacking of America’s Response to the Pandemic.
Then, Alex Kotch from the Center for Media and Democracy and Walker Bragman from The Daily Poster join to discuss their latest story, “How the Koch Network Hijacked the War on COVID.”
Cover photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash
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With one year in the rearview mirror, what have we learned about the events and players that led to the January 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol?
For today’s show, Thursday host Allen Ruff speaks with journalist Arun Gupta about the origins of the Capitol attack and where the far-right movement is headed.
Arun Gupta is a founding editor of the Indypendent and was a founding editor of the Occupy Wall Street Journal. He recently wrote a series about the origins of January 6 and the evolution of the far-right movement for Raw Story, which can be found here.
Cover photo: Crowd of Trump supporters marching on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 by TapTheForwardAssist, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
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Earlier this month, Madison365 launched Lasting Impacts, a year-long series investigating the local impacts of COVID, especially for communities of color.
For today’s show, Wednesday host Carousel Bayrd speaks with Madison365’s executive editor Robert Chappell about the first two stories in the series about how the pandemic reduced credit card debt in Wisconsin and how nonprofits weathered the early days of COVID—and, in some ways, have thrived.
Links
“A generation of savers:” The pandemic reduced our credit card debt. Will it stick?
“A cultural shift.” Nonprofits see lasting changes — some subtle, some seismic — coming out of the pandemic
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New year, new you! At least, that’s what all the weight-loss ads we’ve been bombarded with this January are telling us. But what if we told you there’s life outside of dieting and body shame?
For today’s show, Tuesday host Ali Muldrow spends a joyful and informative hour with author and activist Virgie Tovar, one of the nation’s leading experts on weight-based discrimination and body image.
She talks about what it looks like to reject institutional fatphobia and the glorification of the thin body, how diet culture is entwined with colonialism and racism, practical advice about receiving medical care as a higher-weight person, and why “this is a human rights issue, not a health issue.”
Virgie Tovar is an author, activist, and one of the nation’s leading experts on weight-based discrimination and body image. Her books include You Have the Right to Remain Fat (Feminist Press, 2018) and The Self-Love Revolution: Radical Body Positivity for Girls of Color (New Harbinger, 2020). She is a contributor for Forbes and hosts a podcast called Rebel Eaters Club. Cover photo of Virgie Tovar courtesy of Bustle
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