A Public Affair

Madison poet laureate Steven Espada Dawson and Madison youth poet laureate Octavia Ikard discuss the role of poetry in self-expression and healing but also in response to political life. The post Local Poet Laureates Save Our Wednesday appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Laurel True discusses her process of designing the new art installation at the men's shelter and her career of community-based projects and creative placemaking. The post Creative Placemaking Through Mosaics at the New Men's Shelter appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

In Kate Marvel's new book, Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet, 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. The post Facts and Feelings are Both Needed to Fight Climate Change appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Raz Segal tells host Esty Dinur that the IHRA definition of antisemitism is not only vague but actually produces antisemitism contrary to its stated goal. The post Defining Antisemitism Won't End It appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Henry Giroux reflects on the state of US politics, the reality of neoliberal fascism, the weakness of legacy media, and how to find hope. The post We're Living on the Raw Edge of Violence appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Dana Pellebon discusses the history of maroonage in the Black diaspora with Amari Johnson, author of the new book, Under a Black Star: The Maroon Impulse in New Orleans.  The post The Maroon Tradition Endures After Katrina appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Today we are joined byMissy Jeanne and Ben Smith, two of the creators of GLEAM, the annual outdoor evening exhibit at Olbrich Gardens. The post GLEAM Art Exhibit Celebrates its 10th Anniversary at Olbrich Gardens appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Author and scholar, Dr. Sagashus T. Levingston, tells host Ali Muldrow about economic shame and the power of homeownership for her “little disheveled band of humans.” The post Mothering Doesn't Equal Martyrdom appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's program, host Dana Pellebon speaks with Alder Davy Mayer and Supervisor Heidi Wegleitner about the different ways that the city and the county have supported and can support the Dairy Drive community. The post The Future of Dairy Drive Could Be Decided Tonight appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Our guest, Paul Glastris, says that higher education excellence is not catering to the wealthy but meeting the needs of the average student. The post A Successful College Should Not Look Like A Country Club appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

In this two-part show, host Esty Dinur discusses the state of the US with Leader Stacey Abrams and reflects on the life of the peacemaker U Thant with his grandson Thant Myint-U.  The post Stacey Abrams and Thant Myint-U on How to Build Peace appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Today's guest, John Bellamy Foster of the Monthly Review, tells host Allen Ruff about Albert Einstein's legacy as a socialist. The post The Smartest Man Ever was a Socialist appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Journalist Haley Cohen Gilliland joins host Ali Muldrow to talk about her new book and the lessons we can still learn from the unrelenting grandmothers who fought to find their missing grandchildren. The post The Indomitable Spirit of Argentinian Grandmothers appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Rowan Childs of the Madison Reading Project tells host Dana Pellebon that it's important to teach kids not just how to read but how to love reading. The post Getting Joyful Books in the Hands of Kids appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Learning about your local environment is a great way to feel more at home. That's the message that Madison Public Library's latest Naturalist in Residence Andrea Debbink wants folks to understand. The post Do you know the birds in your backyard? appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Norma Wong advises listeners do small things to create a better world and not fixate on fighting everything that you are ideologically opposed to. The post Collective Acceleration Counteracts Modernity appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Oswaldo Zavala speaks with guest host Carlos Dávalos about the myth of drug cartels, the US's military occupation of Mexico, and his study of the Latin American author, Roberto Bolaño. The post How the Drug Trade Relies on the US Military appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Ali Muldrow welcomes Steven Olikara back to WORT to talk about building narratives with the power to unify the US political terrain. The post Reinventing Political Media Through Storytelling appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

When we talk about public education, we're talking about the heart of democracy, says today's guest Heather DuBois Bourenane, the Executive Director of the Wisconsin Public Education Network. The post Public Education is the Beating Heart of Democracy appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Alba Velasquez and Darin Von Ruden are experts in the US food system, and they tell host Douglas Haynes that they're concerned about the rising fear they see in immigrant communities in California and Wisconsin. The post Immigrants Are the Backbone of the Food System appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Listeners kept the phones ringing today during our open line show. Host Esty Dinur heard from callers concerned about vaccines and public health as well as the political health of the democratic party.  The post Open Line with Esty Dinur appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, we hear from journalist Nyki Duda who draws a line from anti-immigrant movements of the 1920s to the present. The post Repatriation is Just Deportation Dressed Up appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

If you're a mom on social media, you might know Kate from her Instagram profile, @motherhoodforgood. She joins host Ali Muldrow today to talk about parenting and women in democratic politics. The post Moms Are the OG Organizers appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Today we're rebroadcasting a show from December of 1998 in which host Dan Jaffee interviews Susan Nossal, an atmospheric physicist at the University of Wisconsin, and Nancy Cole of the Union of Concerned Scientists.  The post From the Archive: The Politics of Climate Change in 1998 appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Sara Gabler speaks with renowned theologian and social ethicist, Gary Dorrien, about his new memoir, Over from Union Road: My Christian-Left-Intellectual Life. The post The Intellectual Roots of Social Gospel Christians appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Mary Geddry joins host Esty Dinur to discuss how Trump's authoritarian chaos is only spreading and how the privatization of healthcare, infrastructure, and all the services that are essential to everyday life, is the antithesis of democracy. The post Privatization Poisons Democracy appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

In July, American Muslims for Palestine released a timely report that surveys efforts to suppress Palestinian solidarity movements. On the show today, host Allen Ruff is joined by the author of the report, Halah Ahmad. The post Christian Right Leads Attacks on Student Activists appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

In a world that wants women to be silent, or silent about certain topics, Myra McNair and Bianca Martin talk candidly about their careers and their triumphs as podcast hosts. The post The Journey from Chatterbox to Podcast Host appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, we reflect on a past that may feel all too familiar, as host Margo Robb discusses the US's bombing of Iraq in 1998 with Matt Rothschild and Erik Gustafson.  The post From the Archive: The US Bombs Iraq in 1998 appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Nicole Karlis offers a strong antidote to the cruelty and loneliness of modern life by championing acts of altruism. The post Altruism, the Antidote to Loneliness appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Esty Dinur is joined by Peter Hutchinson to tackle the overwhelming and slippery topic of neoliberalism and this ideology's impact on everyday life. The post The Invisible Doctrine of Neoliberalism appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Guest host Matvei Mozhaev speaks with Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan of Oh Joy Sex Toy about the importance of building a culture of communication, consent, and care through sex education. The post Sex Education Comics Are For Everyone appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Andrew Thomas speaks with Joshua Heter and Josef Thomas Simpson about their edited collection, Skateboarding and Philosophy: Essays Concerning the Life of the Grind, and how the sport gets us to think philosophically about what we do with our bodies in space. The post The Life of the Grind appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Journalist Lisa Held decodes the opaque realm of federal food and agriculture policy that impacts all of us, from the farmers who grow our food to the folks who help get it to our tables. The post Food Programs Scrounge While ICE Feasts appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

In today's two-part show, we're joined by two journalists: Branko Marcetic who gives an update on the Epstein case and Aman Abhishek who discusses the killing of Awdah Hathaleen by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. The post Corruption Feeds Violence from Washington to the West Bank appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Marc Rosenthal and Stephanie Spehar discuss the key commonalities between Line 5 and Gaza in terms of water, militarization, and sovereignty. The post From Line 5 to Gaza, Water is Life appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Guest host Dina Nina Martinez-Rutherford chats with Nicki Vander Meulen and Dr. Sami Schalk about disability and education, how Madison is doing in terms of accessibility, and how to find pleasure in life.  The post Disability Activists Find Joy and Pleasure in Community appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Craig Johnson tackles how to intervene before young men get swept up in the contemporary fascist movement. The post How to Inoculate Young Men Against Fascism appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Today's guest, David Couper, predicts that up to 80% of Wisconsin sheriffs will eventually sign agreements with ICE. He joins host Esty Dinur to talk about ICE and democratic policing in Madison. The post Former police chief says we can't have masked police appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Liz Pancotti joins host Allen Ruff to talk about her recent article for Rolling Stone, “Trump's Big Bill Will Make Americans Uninsured Again." The post An Imbalanced Bill appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Mayor Shaundel Washington-Spivey joins host Ali Muldrow to talk about his journey to becoming Mayor of La Crosse and what he hopes to achieve while in office. The post The Time For Change appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Last week, Trump signed a bill to cut federal funding to the Corporation of Public Broadcasting (CPB) over $1.1 billion dollars. Community radio managers in Wisconsin and beyond discuss how their local communities will be affected. The post The Impact of CPB Funding on Community Radio appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Host Esty Dinur is joined by advocates Lokita Singha and Apekshita Varshney to talk about the violence being done to the Adivasi people and their mineral rich lands and by anthropologist Ather Zia who discusses the state of colonialism in Kashmir. The post Colonialism and Ecocide in Bastar and Kashmir appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Today, host Allen Ruff is joined by journalist Joan Walsh to talk about her recent piece in The Nation, “The Abominable Sadism of Alligator Auschwitz,” in which she draws the comparison between the new camp and the Holocaust.  The post Joan Walsh Discusses the Cruelty of “Alligator Auschwitz” appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Today, host Ali Muldrow is joined by comedian Andrew Wegleitner to talk about how comedy is more important than ever. The post Is it Satire or Reality? appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, guest host Dana Pellebon breaks down a piece of legislation called the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act with two immigration experts, Cecilia Gillhouse and Huma Ahsan. The post Are our voting rights being protected by the SAVE Act? appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Omar El Akkad joins host Douglas Haynes to talk about his new memoir, which weaves the personal essay with cultural critique in order to grapple with the US's support of Israel's slaughter and starvation of civilians in Gaza. The post Genocide is an absolute line appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Grant Foster and Tom Lynch take a deep dive into Madison transportation policies like Vision Zero, the history of Madison's transportation department, and what could come next for the BRT line. The post The Past and Future of Madison Transportation appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, guest host Jonathan Pollack speaks with local non-profit leaders, Michelle Orge of Second Harvest, Jackie Anderson of Feeding Wisconsin, and Ellen Carlson of WayForward Resources about growing food insecurity in Southwest Wisconsin. The post Hunger Makes Everything Harder appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, journalist Isabeau Doucet shares how one state made an investment in universal childcare and changed its entire economy. The post A Proven Model of Universal Childcare Exists appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Esty Dinur speaks with Col. Lawrence Wilkerson about the decline of the American empire. Wilkerson says that on both the global and domestic fronts, the nation is doing very badly.  The post Trading Civil Liberties for Fascism appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.