Podcasts about cool people who did cool stuff

action abc nazis brave abc news fascists clifton south bend antifascist stay dangerous it could happen here cool people who did cool stuff

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 16, 2024 17:37

This week Nathaniel talks about the latest clash with Nazis at The Well, and why we do it, and will keep doing it. Links to the Clifton hit piece and ABC tv news spot and the bandcamp for Bob Vylan who's song Pretty Songs ends the show. Real News Bullshit: https://realnewsmichiana.com/2024/06/11/video-lgbtq-activist-beats-teen-for-attempting-to-call-911-for-injured-father/ ABC News: https://www.abc57.com/news/fight-starts-outside-of-lgbtq-event-at-the-well-in-south-bend Bob Vylan: https://bobvylan.bandcamp.com/album/humble-as-the-sun Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lunetheband/message

It's Heavy Out There

america it could happen here cool people who did cool stuff

Play Episode Listen Later May 26, 2024 16:06

This week Nathaniel comes back to the mic. They talk about the absence of episodes and the current state of America. Then there's a song. Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lunetheband/message

S1E115 - This Month in the Apocalypse: April, 2024

Play Episode Listen Later May 3, 2024 61:16

Episode Summary This week on Live Like the World is Dying, Brooke, Margaret, and Inmn talk about some news from Gaza, the climate, hurricanes, University occupations, Texas' latest attempt to become a mini fief, abortion laws that are older than states, an update on an Arizona gun law, Taylor Swift, and TikTok. Host Info Inmn can be found on Instagram @shadowtail.artificery. Margaret can be found on twitter @magpiekilljoy or instagram at @margaretkilljoy. Brooke can be found on Twitter or Mastodon @ogemakweBrooke. Publisher Info This show is published by Strangers in A Tangled Wilderness. We can be found at www.tangledwilderness.org, or on Twitter @TangledWild and Instagram @Tangled_Wilderness. You can support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/strangersinatangledwilderness. Transcript Live Like the World is Dying: This Month in the Apocalypse: April, 2024 **Margaret ** 00:15 Hello, and welcome to Live Like the World is Dying, your podcast for what feels like the end times. Oh, wait. Brooke, you had a better... You wrote us a new jingle to sing, right? Why don't you do that right now? **Brooke ** 00:26 [Singing] I wrote us to do jingle to sing. Bling, bling, bling, bling, bling, bling, bling. **Margaret ** 00:36 And that's now our jingle forever. that doesn't even include our name in it. That's what happens when... Right before we hit record, we were like who's going to record the intro. And I was like, I'm going to record the intro because I have an idea. And my idea was to make Brooke come up with something to sing off the top of her head, because I'm a good person. But who's not a good person.... Wait, I'm not introducing the bad stuff yet. More good stuff. Also a host today is Inmn. Hi, Inmn. **Inmn ** 01:06 Hello, hello. I hope everyone is doing as well as they can in our in our great times. **Margaret ** 01:15 Statistically, at least one of you is punched a cop in the last week. So that's pretty cool. And also, we're a proud member of the Channel Zero Network of anarchist podcasts. And here's a jingle from another show on the network. [Singing] This is a new jingle for a show on the network. It goes like this. **Margaret ** 01:46 And we're back. So anything happened in the world this month, Inmn? **Inmn ** 02:22 Nope. Not at all. **Brooke ** 02:24 Everything was good. Bye, yall! **Inmn ** 02:26 Absolutely. Absolutely nothing has happened. Only sunshine. **Margaret ** 02:29 What if we just did updates about like the things that we saw on TV? I guess that's a different kind of podcast. It's the wildest thing. Velma got the Scooby Doo gang together... Anyway. **Inmn ** 02:43 We do This Month in the Apocalypse, but it's only it's only from the fictional worlds that we spend too much time inhabiting. [Everyone lauging] **Margaret ** 02:52 I conquered the entire world for my god. **Brooke ** 02:56 My child has been watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer because she's been curious about this show that was like my formative high school experience **Margaret ** 03:05 Aw, to like connect with you, watching old people shows like Buffy. **Brooke ** 03:09 Right? So that's what's happening in the world right now in my world. Yeah. Wow. **Inmn ** 03:14 You know, every once in a while it lines up though. Because, you know, I was recently watching, as part of my delve back to things I watched in high school, which is the Gilmore Girls, the family that I grew up with on TV. And they actually talk about Palestine quite often in the show. Or like they mentioned that... They mention that that stuff is happening, which lines up politically with like when the show was on the air and there was also a lot of bad stuff happening in Palestine. And but I don't think the show's creators were... They were kind of like adopting a neutral but mostly support Israel thing, which is, you know, it's-- **Margaret ** 04:07 Not our line here. **Inmn ** 04:11 Which is not our line here, but is... How much can you expect from mainstream TV? Like I wasn't surprised to rewatch it and discover this. **Margaret ** 04:24 So what's our Gaza update? **Inmn ** 04:27 Yes, this is my very funny segue into Gaza stuff. **Margaret ** 04:31 No, it's good. **Inmn ** 04:32 Yeah, so... Which, I mean, there's nothing absolutely nothing funny about this. But so there's like a big... There's like big kind of like ceasefire talks happening right now, which I feel like this is something... You know, obviously people have been wanting there to be ceasefire talks for a long time and they they sort of happen and then Israel's, like, "We're not doing ceasefire talks. Fuck everyone." But they're... In this more recent round, while people kind of like imminently await a ground invasion of Rafah, which like the last little southern piece of Gaza that pretty much everyone who lives in Gaza has been forced into. And Hamas has responded to a call for ceasefire negotiation talks, saying that in order to start negotiations, they need for there to be a ceasefire. And part of part of what they're asking for at this point is like, yeah, we're willing to talk about hostage stuff, because I think they are still like 130 hostages, or something-- **Margaret ** 06:03 Which is sort of--like from a pure detached point of view--like kind of impressive that they've still held on to these hostages, as the entire region falls? **Inmn ** 06:16 Yeah, yeah. And-- **Margaret ** 06:20 Like, tactically impressive. **Inmn ** 06:25 Yeah. And they. So, kind of what they're asking for is like, yeah, we're willing to play ball. We're willing to do... like, we're willing to release hostages. But what we what we need is for Palestinian people to have basic human rights, and to not get bombed, and for there to be a ceasefire. And what do you think Israel's response to these like, pretty, pretty basic requests were? **Margaret ** 06:56 Did they build a time machine to kill all the peoples'.... No, they probably already did kill all those people's parents. Nevermind. Something really disproportionately, impressively evil. That's my guess. **Inmn ** 07:12 Yeah, well, it's kind of like.... So you know how this thing happens in politics, sometimes, where people kind of talk up a response as being much more internally conflictual than it actually is? The same things kind of happening in Israel were awaiting Netanyahu's response, like all of the like defense, prime ministers and stuff have been like, "If you don't continue with a ground invasion, we're abdicating and your government's going to fall apart." And Netanyahu was has vowed multiple times that regardless of whether negotiations happen, or there is a ceasefire, that a ground invasion of Rafah will happen. So it's kind of like fake strife, like fake internal strife. You know? Cool. And, yeah, that's kind of the state of the ceasefire talks. And something... This is just a piece that I've been trying to learn a little bit more about, which is a topic on a lot of people's mind, which is like, "Jey, Egypt, what's up? Why aren't you letting people into Egypt to escape genocide?" And there's kind of a few different factors at place. And one interesting development on that is that Egypt has started to build a buffered wall zone. Like a border between the border kind of thing. Which is just like a giant concrete pen that can fit about 150,000, people that they're building in anticipation of the border between Rafah and Egypt rupturing during Israel's ground invasion of Rafah, which they've... which Israel's all but announced is imminently going to happen. And likepart of what Egypt has said about this is they have been saying like, "Oh, well, we don't want to let people cross over into Egypt because we don't want people to then not be allowed back into Palestine when the war is over." It's kind of like this farcical idea that Israel's gonna do a war, take care of Hamas, and then just like peacefully leave Palestinians to like go about their lives. **Margaret ** 09:47 Yeah, I mean, like, it is true that... It certainly seems likely to me that Israel will not let anyone back in after they leave because Israel seems pretty clear that their goal--and has been their goal since 1895. Can I tell you a thing I learned about this? Sorry. **Inmn ** 10:05 Yeah, absolutely, please. **Margaret ** 10:09 I'm not sure when this podcast comes out. I just recently recorded, and it'll be out around the same time, an episode of Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff about Palestinian resistance to the British Mandate of Palestine, basically the period between 1917 and 1948. Well, technically, the Mandate kicked in, in 1922. But after the British control started, right? And in that I learned a little bit more--like maybe a lot of the listeners already know this stuff--but everything that's happening now was in the diaries, and often public statements, of all of the founders of the State of Israel, down to very specifically like, "No, we are going to absolutely remove all of the--" they would never use the word Palestinians. They wouldn't even use the word Arabs. They specifically only said "non Jewish people" when they refer to the people who are already living in Palestine. And it's just really, blatantly clear that since the beginning, the project of Israel has been not just to create an Israeli State--or sorry, a Jewish state--but to remove non Jewish people. **Inmn ** 11:24 Yeah, yeah. And it's--yeah. Which it's like part of that, that makes it really confusing to see Egypt's response-- **Margaret ** 11:35 I mean, I'm sure they're still doing it because they're bastards. But that part about like, oh, well, no one would be allowed back. That's probably true. **Inmn ** 11:45 But it's probably true regardless. And like Egypt not wanting people to go into Egypt, I think is probably more based on Egypt's fear of being drawn into a military conflict with Israel or, as they've also stated, Hamas kind of like migrating to Egypt and like taking up the fight in Egypt. And so it's... they're kind of adopting a "tread on no one's feet and just kind of not let anyone in" kind of situation, all while saying that it's for the... it's better for Palestinian people to be trapped in the city. You know? **Margaret ** 12:30 Can I do one other random history interjection about all this because it's on my mind. **Inmn ** 12:34 Totally. **Margaret ** 12:36 Okay, so there's this huge revolt in 1936, where all of the--especially the Muslims and the Christians fought--against the Zionist takeover of their land, you know? And, and their main military enemy at this point wasn't the Israeli settler or the Jewish--the zionist settlers--it was the British, right? Because the British were in control. The British used human shields. The British invented the fucking Mad Max car. **Inmn ** 13:11 Oh my god. **Margaret ** 13:12 They actually invented it in Ireland where they strap a guy.... They invented it by, you take an Irishman and you strap him to the front of a car and now the other Irish are afraid to fucking shoot the car or blow up the car because they don't want to kill their own guy. And there's photos of this. There is a photo in Palestine of the British in an armored car with like kind of a... It's not like a guy crudely lashed to the front Mad Max style like totally, but it is instead almost worse. It's like they went and manufactured a little cart that sticks in front of the car with two guys tied up on it. Anyway, there's the whole like, every accusation is a confession thing, and I think no government in the world has ever been more guilty of that than Israel. **Inmn ** 14:05 Yeah, yeah. That's very, very true. But yeah, that's kind of the state of things in Gaza right now. And just because I was curious about this, I looked it up and like, for a lot of folks who are raising money for people to, for families, to get elsewhere from from Rafa, it's like those current... It's like that that is something that is possible to happen but it kind of involves...it involves a lot of bribing and involves a lot of waiting for a long time and a lot of just finagling political situations, and it costs anywhere from like 5000 to like $10,000 per person. So it's very expensive, but but it is something that's happening, but it's mostly available to rich people right now. **Margaret ** 15:02 And there's a lot of fundraising going on. And I wish I had a link more directly in front of me. There's people who have collected together spreadsheets where they keep track of all of the families that need to get out, and like what their specific fundraisers are and stuff like that. **Inmn ** 15:17 Yeah. But Margaret, what's kind of been happening with people's responses to stuff going on in Gaza here in the States? **Margaret ** 15:29 So one of the things about the way that we do the show is that there is a lag between when we record things and when we put things out, so don't... So we're not going to like do like the news about the occupation movement that's happening now in the US, we're going to kind of really briefly touch on it. But I'm guessing most of you all are more familiar already what's happening with that than this show, which will be a little bit out of date by the time you hear it. But there is a huge movement across the US, especially this week, as we record, of--maybe even more so in the future, you know, who knows, every social movement goes different directions--of students taking over their universities and demanding that their universities divest from Israel. And it's really shattered a lot of the.... The more pro-Zionist elements of the mainstream media are still touting the like, "And these are anti-semitic protests." But that line is failing more and more on.... Like, people aren't hearing it anymore. People are like, "That's so clearly not true. The people at the front of this are the Jewish Voices for Peace," like, you know? It's like more and more people aren't falling for it. And so there's a big culture war thing that's happening. I got really lucky in that I was scheduled to speak at the New School anyway last week, or something--I lose track of time, all the time--to some students who had read one of my books, and then the occupation had kicked off. So instead, I was sort of invited--like anyone from the occupation was invited to come--and we talked, instead of talking about my book, we talked about the directions that social movements go and how they succeed and fail. And I don't know, maybe we'll do a episode about that at some point. But those movements are fiery and interesting. Anyone who's listening who's part of them, don't let the fucking liberal sell you out, and don't let the fucking authoritarians take you over. And that's what's involved. And don't let the cops divide you into "good protestor, bad protester." Those are the ways that people try to sell you out. And you can not get sold out until you, at the very least, get the demands of divestment. And as we're recording, this is the stuff that might change. As we're recording, I think it's Brown University is starting to enter negotiations about divesting from Israel. Whereas Colombia, where a lot of this started, is promising suspensions. And everyone's like, "You don't understand. Stopping this genocide is more important to us than our stupid--" you know, like, I think people don't get.... And then in the right-wing, and even some of the Liberals, are all like, "I don't get it. This isn't even a war that's happening in the US?" and everyone is like, "Basic fucking empathy? Like what the fuck is wrong with you?" Another kind of protest that happened that I actually only found out recently is that around 50 Google employees were fired because of a non-violent protests that they took against a Google contract, a project called Project Nimbus, which is an AI that has been used by the Israeli government that was developed by Google. Google denies certain parts of their claims around project Nimbus. But the 50 employees are currently suing, I think through the Labor Board, to get their jobs back. And so there's other ways that people are standing up about this. And we've been, of course, seen some other ways all across the US for the past six months and all across the world. **Inmn ** 18:58 Yeah, and just to like shout out this thing real quick because I thought it was really cool. It's this trend of people kind of like...it's like fighting in any possible way they can to do something for people in Palestine. And like outside of university encampments and stuff, it's like finding ways to act in solidarity with those struggles or to just find other little gaps in the armor. But shout out to the bus drivers union in New York City for utterly refusing to transport a bunch of people who were mass arrested at at a demonstration. They're like, "No, no. We're not letting the NYPD commandeer our buses and make us their accomplices," and they just refused to transport people. **Margaret ** 19:57 I think this is a really important part of why.... Like, labor organizing fell out of style until--well, about five years ago picked back up again--but overall, there's this idea that like, "Oh, class, reductionism. And like, you know, it's boring. And that's the old way of doing organizing and shit." And there's like some problems with the way that labor organizing has been done, especially in the middle of the 20th century, when they created a bunch of corrupt organizations--that were still better jobs--but, you know, they lacked the fiery interestingness of early 20th century and late 19th century unions. But sorry, who knew I was just gonna talk about history this whole time. But this is the other thing about what unions are, is like in order to.... This is what is involved when we talk about building workers power, like building power among the people who actually have to work for a living versus the people who can make money off of the fact that we work for a living, like having the bus the union be like, "No, we're not transporting prisoners." and they can say that because they have power within their own workplace, even though they don't own their workplace, which is like the next step. That's what you want to build to after you build a union, you know? But anyway, unions. Fucking cool. Y'all ready to talk about climate? **Inmn ** 21:14 God, no. **Brooke ** 21:16 Never. **Margaret ** 21:16 Well--I know this is the thing I keep coming back to--this is the thing that always slips through the cracks of even radical news because it is easier to wrap our mind around things that feel incredibly direct and present. And that is not to say that these direct and present things don't deserve our attention. They absolutely do. But keeping in mind the climate context that we all live in, I think is important. So I'm gonna tell you some stuff about it. Almost the entire continental US is forecast to have a hotter than usual summer, surprising nobody. The only exception to this is basically North Dakota and some of the like areas that like--nature doesn't really care about our borders-- that might be the same. Everywhere else is expected to be hotter. In particular, the swath cutting across Eastern Oregon and Montana and then cutting all the way down through all of Texas, kind of at an angle, that is the huge swath of the country that is like extra expected to be way hotter. And southern Alaska is the only place in the US on the map that I saw--Hawaii wasn't on this map--where it might be colder than usual. But most of Alaska will still be warmer than usual. The Rocky Mountains are expected to be dry. And the East Coast, especially the South, is expecting a wetter than normal summer. The actual wildfire prediction map for this coming summer is mostly normal--new normal, so bad--but mostly new normal. With the Sierra Nevadas in Southern California, like LA and kind of that surrounding area, are actually less fire likely than normal. And then the more likely fire than normal is Idaho, like southern Idaho into Nevada and Utah. **Brooke ** 23:10 Was gonna say that a lot of Idaho has had a lot of fires a lot of years. **Margaret ** 23:15 But it's like this map is like not totally the map of where you look and expect wildfires, which is not to say there's not gonna be wildfires everywhere. It's just that's the current anticipation. The National Weather Service has put together a heat risk website that does a daily forecast and a weekly forecast that also shows like where people are more at risk for heat problems. And it takes into consideration the wet bulb temperature and access to all kinds of stuff. There's actually a fair amount of adaptation that is happening by scientists and some of our infrastructure to try and figure out how to handle.... Because like some people are taking climate seriously and some of those people have access to weather data and shit, you know? April, as of this recording on the last day of April, was probably the 11th straight month of the hottest of that month on record across the world. Which means that if we pull it off next year, every single month for a year will have been the hottest ever. There is a 55% chance that this year will top 2023 as the hottest year on record. The reason that we might not beat last year--I know everyone's rooting for us but we might not pull it off because the other side will be like "Well they had us in the first half." We're expecting a slightly cooler than normal fall and stuff because of La Nina weather patterns hitting. However, La Nina weather patterns are gonna fuck up a whole bunch other stuff. And okay, I know you all are ready to root for America, number one. so you want to hear something else that we are number one about across the world? **Brooke ** 24:57 No. **Margaret ** 24:59 Economic impact of natural disasters. Doesn't that kind of surprise you? **Brooke ** 25:03 What? Say more. **Inmn ** 25:06 I've heard a little bit about this. **Margaret ** 25:09 We are number two in our spending related to per capita wealth, but we're number one in total spending on this kind of stuff. It costs us about point .4% of our gross domestic product every year to take care of natural disasters. This is twice China and four times Canada. And, I mean, it's just because we suck and Capitalism sucks, is the is the reason why this is happening. Home Insurance went up 21% between 2002 and 2023. A ton of people are just going uninsured because they can't afford it anymore. Also, insurers are jacking up prices and/or entirely pulling out of certain areas. And now a lot of countries just kind of say, "Well, we kind of just can't build where there's fires and mudslides all the time." But America is like, "No way. This is our country. You can build wherever you want." And so there's also like fewer building codes and stuff around how to make houses that makes sense in your area in terms of disaster and climate and things like that. So that's something we're really good at, is spending money that we shouldn't have had to spend. There's been a whole bunch in the past couple months. In April there's been a whole bunch of tornadoes that have moved through Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and north Texas. However, we are currently lower than normal by a little bit on tornadoes. However, they've been a little bit more deadly than normal, I believe. And overall, this is expected to be a fairly more active than usual tornado season coming up. So if you're in the Great Plains and the tornado lands, which is of course, as I think we've talked about before, the tornado belt is like slowly moving east because of climate change. Speaking of the American South, it is facing some of the most rapid sea rise in the world. We, once again America is number one--I don't know if we're number one. We're actually not number one. But we're doing... We're doing pretty good. We have twice the worldwide average in sea level rise. Isn't that? Anyway... **Inmn ** 27:15 Which means that there's going to be a lot new beachfront property. **Margaret ** 27:22 I mean, a lot of the old, a lot the old beachfront property has gone away. Or rather, people are like struggling to hold on to it. A lot of places across the American south have already gotten four, six, or eight inches of sea level rise since 2010. The highest is Galveston, Texas with 8.4 inches. And the results of this, of course, are wetlands are drowning, which leaves areas more vulnerable to storms. We'll talk about the hurricane season in a second. Septic systems are backing up and contaminating waterways. Insurance companies are just dipping out entirely. And roads are now below high tide in plenty of places. People are periodically cut off. Why don't we hear about this more? Well, because the people who are affected are Black. That's why. Environmental racism is a real thing. A lot of these areas have had specific redlining policies in place, or used to be in place, or whatever. The economic landscape is such that people of color, and especially Black people, are living in the flattest areas that are the lowest to sea level and in the most risk, and it is largely poor places that people have already not cared about because this is where a lot of like pollution happens, you know? Other fun news... The kind of thing that like.... I feel like every week there's something that should have been big enough news for us to entirely overthrow the world order, but a whole bunch of-- **Brooke ** 28:51 I'm concerned about what you call fun, Margaret. **Margaret ** 28:54 You take it where you can find it, ya know? Okay, so I'll explain my idea of fun. The very beginning of the movie Gladiator, right? I don't give a shit about the rest of the movie Gladiator. But there's this is one scene where the Roman army, who are somehow the good guys in this situation (they're not the good guys), they're attacking the Goths. And obviously, the Goths are good because they're goths. **Inmn ** 29:20 Yeah, we love that. **Margaret ** 29:20 And at one point, the barbarians come out of the woods and they're like holding the Roman messenger's head and then they all grab their axes and run screaming into the Roman army. and to their own death-- **Inmn ** 29:34 Which is how no army ever fought ever. **Margaret ** 29:36 Yeah, I know. It's also not a very good way to fight, specifically, the Roman army. nd at least in the movie Gladiator, they all die horribly. There's a certain honesty to that. There's a certain honesty to just being like, "This isn't about winning or losing. This is about like, 'Can we fucking do this?"" But we can't because we don't have.... We're not in a revolution and individual actions don't.... This is the sketchiest thing I've ever said on the show. So anyway, a slew of documents came out, showing that oil companies in their private correspondence are like, "We're not going to bother meeting any of the Paris agreements. Why would we do that? There's nothing in it for us. We don't care." And they're just ignoring it in their private correspondence, while of course, they're all publicly like, "Oh, we're so committed to it." And it's just like, and the.... You know, and this isn't like weird conspiracy stuff. The Democrats introduced this in Congress, you know? And it's just like one of these things where it's just like, well the oil companies shouldn't be allowed to exist anymore. That seems fucking obvious, right? Anyway, I don't have a better tactical idea. And that didn't work in Gladiator. So I don't recommend it. Flash floods killed at least 169 people in Kenya in April. About 150,000 people in the country have been displaced by the rains. More than half of the country is facing intense flooding right now. Dubai got two years' worth of rain in one day at the end of April. It was 10 inches in 24 hours, the heaviest it's had in the past 75 years. The more center and center-right media is like, "Oh, it's because they're doing cloud seeding. They reap what they sowed." But the Washington Post article I read about this was like, "It wasn't fucking cloud seeding. It was fucking climate change." And that makes sense to me. Hurricanes. I promise you hurricanes. Colorado State University researchers are predicting a very active hurricane season this year. They're guessing there will be 24 named storms. And the way that we like named storms is that there's like 21 letters of the alphabet that we use. I don't know why it's 21 and not 26. I didn't bother looking it up. And then they're like, "Oh, fuck, we're out of things. And then they like do other shit, you know? Because when they first started naming hurricanes and tropical storms, they didn't really imagine that there would be more than 21 of them in a year. But now this is the third or fourth year. There's been like three years in the past couple of years where they've run out of names. And this one, they're expecting probably 24. They're guessing--again, this is all forecasting and this is not certain--that starting June 1st with hurricane season they're guessing it'll be about eleven hurricanes with five of them being major because the accumulated cyclone energy in the...mother of storms--it probably is a science name, but Mother of storms is cooler--is twice normal. And this is bad. It's like only a little bit worse than the new normal. So it's like bad, and the new normal is bad, but what I'm not saying is "2024 year is gonna be the worst ever, and we're all gonna fucking die in hurricanes. And everyone needs to leave New Orleans." is not what I'm saying. Although, maybe? But it's just the new bad and a little worse than usual, a little incremental. **Brooke ** 33:05 Maybe they need to give those four-five sidelines letters a chance at being part of the naming process and then-- **Margaret ** 33:14 What five letters is it? I bet it's like X-- **Brooke ** 33:17 Yeah, and Z. Give X a chance. **Margaret ** 33:21 What about Xereses? Does that start with and X? **Brooke ** 33:24 There we go. Zeus. **Margaret ** 33:26 Well, Xerxes is probably not in the Roman alphabet anyway. We can transliterate things however we want. **Inmn ** 33:36 It's kind of like the emergence of the new category six, the theoretical--we talked about it earlier this year--but the theoretical category six hurricane, which we might see this year. **Margaret ** 33:48 Cool. **Inmn ** 33:52 New albums about to drop! **Brooke ** 33:58 But Taylor Switft already put out a new album. What are you talking about? Oh, that's my news clip for the month. That's all I need to share. **Margaret ** 34:05 Oh, yeah. **Brooke ** 34:06 Taylor Swift put out a new album. **Inmn ** 34:08 I wonder... I wonder how many of our listeners are Swifties? **Margaret ** 34:14 I bet a good amount. **Inmn ** 34:15 Yeah, not a condemnation. Just a curiosity. **Margaret ** 34:18 I think about a quarter of my friends really like Taylor Swift. But the thing that I have said on Twitter that has been the most controversial and the thing that has most people thinking I'm a liar is when I said I cannot name a Taylor Swift song and would not be able to pick her out of a lineup. **Brooke ** 34:35 What? **Margaret ** 34:36 People think I'm lying. I'm not lying. **Brooke ** 34:38 I think you're lying. **Margaret ** 34:40 I'm not lying. **Inmn ** 34:41 I do not think Margaret is lying. [Laughing] **Margaret ** 34:44 If you put three 30 year old blonde, white singers in front of me, it would be a...I'd have a 33% chance of fucking picking Taylor Swift. Now, I'm certain I've heard some Taylor Swift songs, but I would not know they're Taylor Swift songs. And this is not like.... I'm not even saying this as a a point of pride. I mean, okay a little bit because I'm a fucking contrarian asshole, but that's not something I'm proud of. I'm not proud of my own pride about this. **Brooke ** 35:13 This is now going to be a Taylor Swift episode. Goodbye to the news. Hello to me singing Taylor Swift songs to Margaret. **Margaret ** 35:21 But then do like one of them that's not a Taylor Swift song in the middle and see if I can tell you which one it is. **Margaret ** 35:26 Totally. Yeah. **Margaret ** 35:29 [singing] "Where have all the flowers gone." That one's not her. **Inmn ** 35:33 That is not Taylor Swift. [Brooke singing unknow (presumably) Taylor Swift song in the background] **Margaret ** 35:37 Wait, we don't want to get sued. And I don't want to hear Taylor Swift. Oh my God, no, I actually am a bad person. There's nothing inherently good or bad about being interested in pop culture. Alright. But speaking of hurricanes, the East Atlantic's warmth is three months ahead of schedule for the average of the past four years. Not for the old average but for the new average. The East Atlantic's warmth is, on April 2nd it was as warm as July 2nd is on the average. And then there's one other piece of bad news. But then I have positive news. Or, then I have like neutral news. The one other piece of bad news is that, as of this recording, King Charles III has not died of cancer. [Disappointed grons] I also wouldn't be able to pick him out of a lineup. That's not... I don't know if that one's true. **Brooke ** 36:37 70 year old white man. Yeah, no. Yeah, probably not. At least not if he's in normal clothes. **Inmn ** 36:43 Um, well. Yeah, I absolutely believe all of that. Weirdly in.... I'm gonna say a controversial-- **Margaret ** 36:51 I thought you didn't believe me about Taylor Swift.said you believedno, I, I **Inmn ** 36:53 What? Margaret I believe you. **Margaret ** 36:56 Oh, that's right. It was Brooke that didn't believe me. **Brooke ** 36:58 Inmn trusts you about everything. **Inmn ** 37:00 I feel like I'm one of the few people that just very much knows this to be true in a real way. **Margaret ** 37:09 That's true. Inmn has seen me live in an off grid cabin in the middle of the woods. **Inmn ** 37:17 But, so, like, Arizona... I'm going to talk a little bit about Arizona. Arizona weirdly has been like, like we just had one of our wetter springs ever. And cooler springs. To the point where, there's like a big outdoor thing that happens in the last week of March every year, and we were scrambling to find new places...like an indoor venue for it because it was raining and we were all like, "When the fuck has it ever rained at the end of March?" **Margaret ** 37:49 Yeah, you're supposed to only get rain in the monsoon season in like what, Fall or something? **Inmn ** 37:56 It's in like July-August. And then like, we do have a winter rainy season. It's just hit or miss. But March? March is weird. Like it rained like four times in a week in March. And I was like, "What's going on?" And like, just because it was a big outdoor performance was the only reason I was like that asshole who's like "Why the fuck is it raining in this desert?" you know? [Everyone laughing] **Margaret ** 38:24 "I moved here for one reason: I hate water." **Inmn ** 38:27 Yeah. But I have some other updates from Arizona. Shout out to.... Shout out to Logan, who is a bud who always texts me like weird, really in-depth updates about headlines that we touch on and then is like, "Inmn, the story is so much bigger than you thought it was!" And I'm like-- **Margaret ** 38:48 That's cool. **Inmn ** 38:49 Please keep sending me these updates. So on a previous This Month, we talked about this expansion of kind of like Castle Doctrine in Arizona, which is like aimed at like, you can defend your...you can like essentially shoot and kill people without repercussions for trespassing, not only into your house, but on your property. And Logan was telling me that.... So the reason that this law was being pursued--you know, there's speculation about it being very anti-migrant--and it was actually in response to this criminal case where George Alan Kelly, who lives just north of Nogales, encountered some people crossing over his land, right near and along the Border, and he, suspecting them of being migrants, just held up an AK-47 and started shooting at them from 100 yards away. And he killed one of them. He killed Cuen-Buetimea, who was a 48 year old man who lived in Nogales. And some of the people in the group, who were then witnesses in the trial, attested to just, you know, crossing for work. And the person who was killed has two adult daughters who live in Nogales. And they were trying to pass this law ahead of the trial so that George Allen Kelly would not be accountable to wildly shooting a gun into the air and killing someone. But George Allen Kelly was...there was a mistrial due to jurors not being able to come to a unanimous decision. And it does not appear, as of right now, that prosecutors are going to try to refile charges. So yeah. Some other stuff going on in Arizona is.... So this is kind of like good news, bad news. And it's gonna start with some bad news. On April 9th, the Arizona Supreme Court made a ruling upholding an 1864 law that declares a near-total ban on all abortions, carrying a two to five year prison sentence for doctors who perform abortions except to preserve the life of the person giving birth. And yeah, so this is like from.... Prior to this, Arizona was a 15 week abortion ban. And currently, as we wait, we're like still waiting for this law to go into effect in like June, I think. But, so in June there will be a near-total ban on abortion in Arizona. But the Arizona House just passed a bill that would repeal this law from 1864. And this is a law that was passed before Arizona was a state. **Margaret ** 42:15 Yeah, that was like the first thing, when someone was like.... I didn't reshare this when I first came across it because I was like, "Arizona didn't exist. This is..." Because it's always like people come up with this horrible thing that's happening. And about half the time it's true and half the time it's not. Yeah, I totally didn't believe this one at first, because I was like, "There wasn't a state called Arizona. There was a territory and they had their territorial laws." **Inmn ** 42:16 Yeah. And the Arizona Supreme Court has somehow upheld this law. But the House just passed a bill to repeal it. And we're recording this on Tuesday. As of April 30th, tomorrow, Wednesday May 1st, the Senate is expected to pass the bill that would repeal this 1864 law. **Margaret ** 43:09 Didn't even Trump come out against that law? **Inmn ** 43:13 I don't know. **Margaret ** 43:14 I think I watched a video of Trump kind of being like, "Maybe that one wasn't the move." **Inmn ** 43:21 That would be wild. **Margaret ** 43:23 Because that one I think, was bad enough that I think that there's bipartisan anger at it. **Inmn ** 43:31 Yeah. Which is kind of how.... That's like how stuff has progressed in the House and the Senate is like it... It required bipartisan agreement in the House. And it will require like two Republican senators to get on board for the Senate vote, which there are two that are expected to vote for the bill that would repeal the ban. **Margaret ** 43:54 They're just trying to not get up put up against the wall. Anyway, Margaret's in a weird mood today. **Inmn ** 44:01 Yeah, and, you know, one last kind of bad world thing--bad politics--in the realm of some Republican-led states really trying to be their own little mini fiefs and like testing state-federal stress test, whatever shenanigans. So, Title IX regulations were just updated. And they were updated.... They were amended to include specifically protections against discrimination based on sexual-orientation and gender identity. Whereas previously, it was just based on being a woman, essentially. And for folks who don't know, Title IX regulations are for educational institutions that receive federal funding, they have to abide by certain regulations in order to receive that funding, which is, you know, most public schools. And big surprise, guess which three states? Florida, Tennessee, and Texas are all essentially either instructing their education systems to not listen to, to not uphold the regulations, or just straight out suing the Department of Education over it. And the rallying cry around that is, big surprise, sports and trans athletes. Surprisingly, the new Title IX regulations say absolutely nothing about sports. So it's like they're rallying around something that the new regulations have not even codified. **Margaret ** 45:55 I mean, literally, the only time that these people pay attention to women's sports is when they're worried about trans women existing. So it doesn't surprise me that, you know. **Inmn ** 46:08 Yeah. But Margaret, you have some maybe good things to tell us? **Margaret ** 46:15 I got neutral stuff first. TikTok has been officially... The law passed that TikTok is now--not immediately--banned in the United States. TikTok has been.... Its parent company, which is based in Beijing, has nine months to sell it. And so by any realistic standard, it'll be about a year before TikTok would do any disappearing. And then of course, obviously you can ban software. But that's not a easy thing to enforce. It would get taken down off of like the Google Play Store and the Apple Store and stuff like that, but people who had it still would have it. And then it would get buggier and buggier or in shittier and shittier as updates are unable to go out, unless people use VPNs to get from another country, etc, etc. **Margaret ** 47:02 There's ways around it? What? [Sarcastically] **Margaret ** 47:06 I know. It's also completely possible that since every one involved is a capitalist, they're probably like, "Alright, well, we'll sell the fucking thing. Like, who cares?" You know? That's like my guess. I don't know, I could be wrong about that. I would be surprised if TikTok ends up going away because of this. However, the actual thing that I think ties into this is there is a bipartisan bill that people are working on, called Kids Off Social Media Act, which wants to say that kids under 13 should not be on social media, and pass all kinds of like things about how like algorithms can't focus on anyone 17 and under. And just like lots of like, "social media is bad for kids." And now I think social media is probably bad for everyone. However, to me.... I haven't given us a lot of thought. It seems like a basic free speech issue. And also, like, old people fighting the future and screaming at clouds kind of moment. And the idea of banning TikTok, I'm like.... Okay, I'm not accelerationist. I don't think things should get worse before they get better. But the idea of some fucking 80 year old liches in Congress being like, "I don't like the tocks ticking around like that." And then like, it's like, incredibly popular. I think about half of Americans have a TikTok account. Like, telling half of Americans they can't do a thing sounds like a way to get people really mad. And I know I get really excited by the idea of like.... They have their bipartisan tyranny, and there's this idea that maybe one day we'll get over this fucking culture war and we can fight back in the class war that is waged against us. And like, if TikTok is the thing that brings it, I'm fear for it. I'm too old for TikTok. I have an account. I don't know how to use it. I've never uploaded a video. TikTok doesn't need me. But like, whatever anyway. But actually, I'm kind of curious, not having a child, Me--I'm the one without a child--Brooke, do you have thoughts on this no social media for the kids thing? Like am I...am I totally off base? Is it just protecting.... Like, I don't know. What's up? **Brooke ** 49:28 I mean I get where they're coming from with it, and all the research that's shown how negative social media is for--I mean, they've done particular studies for kids and how it affects them--but turns out it's actually bad for all human beings, the way social media has come for us and the atmosphere is it creates. So, I get where they're coming from with it. As a very involved parent, you know, my solution is always to pay attention to and engage with your children, which is not a reasonable thing for all people to have as much engagement as it would take really to have healthy social media interactions. But then, you know, the anarchist side of me says, "No, you don't get to ban things ever." **Margaret ** 50:18 Well and also like, I don't know, a lot of people are rumbling about how TikTok is why a new generation of people supports Palestine and doesn't buy into the myths about the Zionist project being a thing that represents all Jews, for example, right? And then anti-capitalism is spreading and being pro capitalism is 100% bipartisan for the ghouls who feed off of the youth and somehow live too long. This is the most ageist shit I'm ever going to say. Some people are capable of performing their jobs well into their later years and gain wisdom. The people who run this country are nightmare men. **Brooke ** 51:00 I feel like it's, you know, the same kind of things they've said about all new technologies that have come out over the last,, you know, whatever, 30 years. **Margaret ** 51:09 And like the only person who said this stuff, and was right, was a little man who had some bad strategic and ethical ideas, but wrote that "industrial society and its future have been a disaster for the human race." At least be consistent. **Inmn ** 51:31 I was researching this for another episode once, and I didn't end up talking about it because it was hard to learn too much about, but some of the lawmakers have specifically cited youth information spreading about Palestine as a reason for the TikTok ban. It's like a specifically listed reason from lawmakers. And the other thing about the Kids Online Safety, whatever it's called, is it's heralded as a way to protect children from pornography and from the proliferation of child pornography, which is the thing that lawmakers say all the time, and pretty much all these human rights organizations who are, you know, much more aptly trying to protect children from shit are like, "This is most asinine bullshit we've ever heard this. This bill is utterly absurd." And it has other implications, which are that it's trying to herald in this idea that you could no longer be like anonymous on the internet, and that the government has a lot more to...has a lot more agency to track your goings on on the internet. So it would.... It's like the bill would require you to essentially show a driver's license in order to engage with a lot of things on the internet, which I think is just trying to...I think it's capitalists' attempt to really make a thing like the internet something that is like more of a interacting with the government process and less a whatever the internet is, you know. **Margaret ** 53:24 That makes sense to me. and yeah, **Inmn ** 53:26 And it kind of falls in line with the our futuristic hellscape of like the "One app," for example. Like, you gotta scan your fucking fingerprint to log into Instagram or do anything on the internet. **Margaret ** 53:43 It's funny because sometimes they use a VPN just as a basic practice and sometimes I use a VPN that's set in Europe. And when you browse the internet as a European, every site you go to is like, "Hey, do you want us to track you?" And you're like, "No." And it's like, "Okay, fine." Because the EU has some good internet laws, you know? About restricting the tyranny part of it instead of the like.... Whatever. Okay, I'm gonna do my vaguely positive news at the end. Y'all ready? **Inmn ** 54:18 Yeah, what's good? **Margaret ** 54:21 People are sleeping more than average than before. **Inmn ** 54:25 Yay. I'm not. But good for them. **Margaret ** 54:28 25 minutes more on average for the same people--not like the same individuals, right. Because how often you sleep is dependent on how old you are and also very heavily dependent about whether you have children. But people are sleeping about 25 minutes more on average than they were in 2002. And the best guess is that it started picking up a lot recently because of remote work and a lower percentage of people commuting. The biggest cool thing, the FTC, the Federal Trade Commission, has banned non-compete agreements. 30 million people have been freed from non-compete clauses. **Brooke ** 55:07 Oh, nice. **Margaret ** 55:11 The EPA is banning most use of methyl chloride, which is a paint stripper that has killed like 88 people or something in the past couple of years and it's just bad. The EPA is actually, for the first time in a while, starting to get like...they're trying to stop forever chemicals. And there's like some shit that they're actually trying to do, right? They also--do you want to guess when asbestos was finally banned in the United States? **Margaret ** 55:39 It was late. It was like the 90s. **Inmn ** 55:41 Was it last week? **Margaret ** 55:45 March 2024. **Brooke ** 55:47 Oh, shit. **Inmn ** 55:50 I was right, sort of. **Margaret ** 55:52 Yeah, Inmn was closest. There's about six types of asbestos and one of them had been sort of.... Enough people, enough industries had been like, "But we want to use it." And so for the past 33 years, this particular type, people have been trying to ban. Because the 90s is an accurate assessment of when I think most of the others got--I don't know, I'm making that part of it up--all I know is that for 33 years, they've been trying to ban this fucking asbestos and they finally succeeded in March of this year. Also, the FDA did an emergency approval of pre-exposure prophylaxis for COVID called Pemivibart, which is a dumb name because it rhymes with farts. And nothing should rhyme with fart if it's a drug. And it is for the immunocompromised. So you would take this before, you know, if you're going into a situation where you're worried about getting COVID. And it's an emergency approval like the original vaccines were so it's not through all of testing, but it's important enough that they feel like it's safe enough. Also, recently passed phase three trials is a vaccine to pretend prevent UTIs, or urinary tract infections, which is the kind of thing that I never would have occurred to me you could run it against because it's usually, I believe, bacterial infections. But it's a really common problem. And that's cool if we can fucking solve it. **Brooke ** 57:22 And some people are super prone to them just based on, you know, bodily health or genetics or whatever. Like it's a thing. They have ongoing, chronic UTI kind of thing. So fuck yeah. **Margaret ** 57:37 It's kind of like when they finally got an HPV vaccine through and it was just like, oh my god, this is actually pretty fucking game changing, you know? I wish they would give it to fucking assigned male people. But yeah. **Brooke ** 57:47 And then conservative Christian types that were like, "Oh, we don't think that our children should have to have this vaccine." **Inmn ** 57:54 Any kind of person can get the HPV vaccine. **Margaret ** 57:57 Oh, interesting. Good to know. **Inmn ** 58:00 Yeah, it's a different vaccine, I think. But anybodied person can get it. **Margaret ** 58:07 That's good to know. And hopefully, next time, we'll have different news about King Charles III and cancer. But who knows? But that's This Month in the Apocalypse, which you have now listened to, or participated in if you are named Brooke or Inmn or Margaret. Unless your named Brooke, Inmn, or Margaret and you're not on the podcast, in which case you didn't participate in it. You just heard it. And then probably have a different kind of parasocial relationship with us if you share our names, especially if you're Inmn. Like, there's not a ton of you. And like, Inmn's pretty cool. So do you have like a different.... Please write in, Inmn's in the audience. Pretend to be our Inmn and we'll read a prepared script from you next time as if you're our Inmn. This is not true. I'm lying. **Margaret ** 59:08 But what I'm not lying about is that if you want to support this podcast, you can do so by supporting our publisher, which is Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness. And you can do that by going to patreon.com/strangersinatangledwilderness. And if you do, we put up zine and podcasts. We do a lot of fucking stuff. We are your source for all of your anarchy culture. And another way you can support us this week of all weeks, if you are listening to this during May Day week, like the first week of May in 2024. Although if you listen to it in a different May Day week. It'll probably be true again. We are doing a 50% sale off of everything on our website. And that includes stuff that's really expensive, like the hardcover of Penumbra City, which is a $50 book, but now it's only $25 book. And you use the code MAYDAY24 at checkout and get 50% off because we fucking love May Day and we care more about our stuff getting out there than anything else about it. And if you support us on Patreon, we might even shout you out like we're going to shout out allium and Amber, Ephemoral, Appalachian Liberation Library, Portland's Hedron Hackerspace, Boldfield, E, Patoli, Eric, Buck ,Julia, Catgut, Marm, Carson, Lord Harken, Trixter, Princess Miranda, BenBen, anonymous, Janice & O'dell, Aly, paparouna, Milica, Boise Mutual Aid, theo, Hunter, S. J., Paige. Nicole, David, Dana, Chelsea, Staro, Jenipher, Kirk, Chris, Micaiah, King Charles III--What?! And Hoss the Dog. Find out more at https://live-like-the-world-is-dying.pinecast.co

covid-19 united states america god tv american university texas tiktok canada black world new york city donald trump europe israel google china ai peace education house mother dogs fall state british americans speaking christians arizona european european union ireland tennessee south hawaii jewish utah irish congress new orleans portland taylor swift oklahoma jews states alaska republicans kansas dying southern california muslims washington post democrats flash nevada dubai senate hurricanes montana insurance kenya nebraska apocalypse idaho basic fuck israelis fda gaza east coast capitalism palestine strangers environmental beijing stopping border hamas buck palestinians north dakota goodbye mad max epa zeus scooby doo irishman mandate brown university ak fucking new school nypd benjamin netanyahu rocky mountains ftc gladiator disappointed liberals may day buffy the vampire slayer pretend vpn nevermind goth live like gilmore girls title ix hpv apple stores swifties arabs colorado state university aly sierra nevada galveston federal trade commission american south google play store king charles iii zionists uti bling utis vpns national weather service great plains weirdly xerxes nimbus septic la nina home insurance micaiah nogales jey arizona supreme court staro eastern oregon ben ben castle doctrine arizona house milica trixter british mandate marm project nimbus cool people who did cool stuff channel zero network jenipher

The Ship is Sinking Turns 10

ship sinking ltb it could happen here cool people who did cool stuff

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 10, 2024 34:32

This week Nathaniel talks a bit about the album LTB "went electric" on, and how things can get better. Oh, they also talk about class solidarity and how they work for their fellow worker and not the boss. Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lunetheband/message

Queer (Goodnight Nex)

queer goodnight it could happen here cool people who did cool stuff

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 27, 2024 33:28

This week Nathaniel talks about the murder of Nex Benedict, and the self-immolation protest of Aaron Bushnell. She then digs into the moment we are in, and what questions we should be asking ourselves. We aren't free until all of us are free. Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lunetheband/message

How To Rationally Prepare For The Apocalypse 02.13.24

The Daily Zeitgeist

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 13, 2024 62:21 Transcription Available

In episode 1623, Jack and Miles are joined by host of Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff and Live Like The World Is Dying, Margaret Killjoy, to discuss… Overview - Why Do We Think We Can't Help Each Other? The True Story of How Paramedics Were Invented, Don't Think It's All Going To Work Out Ok And That Somebody Else Is Going To Fix It For You and more! American Sirens: The Incredible Story of the Black Men Who Became America's First Paramedics by Kevin Hazzard LISTEN: Sal's Groove by Tanhai CollectiveSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Margaret Killjoy: Writing The Ambiguous Utopia

Last Born In The Wilderness

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 9, 2024 10:43

This is a segment of episode 357 of Last Born In The Wilderness, “The Ambiguous Utopia: Fiction, History, & Hope In A Dying World w/ Margaret Killjoy.” Listen to the full episode: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/margaret-killjoy-2 Learn more about Margaret's work: https://linktr.ee/margaretkilljoy Fiction, as Margaret Killjoy points to in this interview, isn't good at providing blueprints, it's about finding the aspiration of what to look forward to; fiction is better at asking questions than providing answers. A good piece of creative storytelling can make the reader feel what it's like to live in the “ambiguous utopia” of LeGuin's The Dispossessed or Killjoy's A Country of Ghosts, and take us to a place that may be difficult for us to imagine existing otherwise, as much as we may long for it. Such a creative exercise can help us see what subtle and complex problems may arise in such a situation, hence the ambiguity of the “ambiguous utopia.” Margaret Killjoy is a transfeminine author born and raised in Maryland who was spent her adult life traveling with no fixed home. A 2015 graduate of Clarion West, Margaret's short fiction has been published by Tor.com, Strange Horizons, Vice's Terraform, and Fireside Fiction, amongst others. She is the author of We Won't Be Here Tomorrow, The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion, and The Barrow Will Send What it May. She is also the host of the podcast Live Like the World is Dying and Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff on iHeartRadio. WEBSITE: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness DONATE: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast SUBSTACK: https://lastborninthewilderness.substack.com BOOK LIST: https://bookshop.org/shop/lastbornpodcast DROP ME A LINE: Call (208) 918-2837 or http://bit.ly/LBWfiledrop EVERYTHING ELSE: https://linktr.ee/patterns.of.behavior

Country Music Mixtape

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 29, 2024 33:13

This week Nathaniel talks more about the moment we are in, and where it might lead. Along with a heavier question about how, or when, Americans will wake up to this moments reality. They chase all that down with a subversive country mixtape. Hurray for the Riff Raff "Colossus of Roads" Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit "King of Oklahoma" Drive-by Truckers "Putting People on the Moon" Austin Lucas "Black Me Out" Margo Cilker "Brother Taxman Preacher" Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lunetheband/message

americans moon drive oklahoma roads mixtape country music colossus truckers jason isbell hurray riff raff it could happen here austin lucas cool people who did cool stuff margo cilker

New Year, same America

america new year babies mother anarchists sharptooth etid it could happen here austin lucas cool people who did cool stuff

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 21, 2024 34:09

Welcome to 2024!!!!! Nathaniel talks about things happening in their life, in the country, and in the world. Looking ahead into the darkness that is 2024 and asking some hard questions. They also do a little recontextualizing of history, and then we end with some music. We love you very much. Music: Idles "Mother" ETID "Planet Shit" Sharptooth "Hirudinea" Austin Lucas "Baby, I'm an Anarchist" Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lunetheband/message

#357 | The Ambiguous Utopia w/ Margaret Killjoy

Last Born In The Wilderness

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 15, 2024 76:34

Anarchist writer, musician, and podcaster Margaret Killjoy returns to the podcast to discuss the political act of writing fiction and imagining the “ambiguous utopia.” I ask Margaret to define what hope is or can be, and how her work communicating the stories of radical individuals and movements during pivotal moments throughout history on her podcast, Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff, can help us (re-)frame contemporary struggles for liberation, justice, and peace in the world today. Margaret Killjoy is a transfeminine author born and raised in Maryland who was spent her adult life traveling with no fixed home. A 2015 graduate of Clarion West, Margaret's short fiction has been published by Tor.com, Strange Horizons, Vice's Terraform, and Fireside Fiction, amongst others. She is the author of We Won't Be Here Tomorrow, The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion, and The Barrow Will Send What it May. She is also the host of the podcast Live Like the World is Dying and Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff on iHeartRadio. Episode Notes: - Learn more about Margaret's work: https://linktr.ee/margaretkilljoy - Subscribe to their newsletter: https://margaretkilljoy.substack.com - Purchase We Won't Be Here Tomorrow and A Country of Ghosts from Bookshop: https://bit.ly/47BuC0v / https://bit.ly/3TUAxL4 - Listen and subscribe to Live Like the World is Dying and Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.liveliketheworldisdying.com / https://tr.ee/bYJg6co7wh - Music produced by Epik The Dawn: https://epikbeats.net WEBSITE: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness DONATE: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast SUBSTACK: https://lastborninthewilderness.substack.com BOOK LIST: https://bookshop.org/shop/lastbornpodcast DROP ME A LINE: Call (208) 918-2837 or http://bit.ly/LBWfiledrop EVERYTHING ELSE: https://linktr.ee/patterns.of.behavior

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Here's To You, Dear Listeners: 2024 Q&A

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Play Episode Listen Later Jan 3, 2024 38:30 Transcription Available

On this special episode of Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff, Margaret and Sophie answer questions from you, the listeners! CBP is detaining thousands of migrants, including children and the elderly, in the desert without food, water or shelter when overnight temperatures drop below freezing. Support the mutual aid groups helping them tinyurl.com/borderaidgfm or https://www.gofundme.com/jacumba-migrant-campsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Blessed Yule (the rest of the top 10)

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Play Episode Listen Later Dec 25, 2023 43:05

This week Nathaniel finishes up their top ten most listened to artist of 2023. Alkaline Trio "Private Eye" Julien Baker "Something" Murder By Death "Chasing Ghosts" Boygenius "Satanist" Wilco "Impossible Germany" Joyhouse "Chameleon" https://joyhouse.bandcamp.com/ Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lunetheband/message

TEASER: The Ambiguous Utopia w/ Margaret Killjoy [UNLOCKED]

Last Born In The Wilderness

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 24, 2023 7:37

UNLOCKED: Anarchist writer, musician, and podcaster Margaret Killjoy returns to the podcast to discuss the political act of writing fiction and imagining the “ambiguous utopia”—à la Ursula LeGuin's The Dispossessed and Killjoy's A Country of Ghosts. I ask Margaret to define what hope is or can be, and how her work communicating the stories of radical individuals and movements during pivotal moments throughout history on her podcast, Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff, can help us (re-)frame contemporary struggles for liberation, justice, and peace in the world today. Listen to the full interview: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness

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End of year top 10 pt 1

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Play Episode Listen Later Dec 17, 2023 31:47

Nathaniel plays songs from their 5-10. It's only rock n roll, but we like it. Olivia Rodrigo "Vampire" Spanish Love Songs "Generation Loss" Phoebe Bridgers "Motion Sickness" Warpaint "Disco/Very" Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit "Cast Iron Skillet" Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lunetheband/message

Hedwig (the queer movies that made me)

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Play Episode Listen Later Dec 10, 2023 37:21

HI!!!!!! We are at it again!!!!! Nathaniel talks about a movie that felt like the messy complicated queer story that instantly spoke to them. Songs played: Angry Inch Wig in a Box Origin of Love Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lunetheband/message

Introducing: We the Unhoused

cool people who did cool stuff

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 6, 2023 2:56 Transcription Available

Hi, Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff fans! Here's a preview of a new podcast, We the Unhoused — Created by Theo Henderson with the goal of uplifting voiceless citizens. The show provides an intimate look at the unhoused experience that began while Theo was living on the streets of LA for over eight years. Listen here and subscribe to We the Unhoused on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bloodline Fest (and a new Lune song!!!!)

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Play Episode Listen Later Oct 22, 2023 34:27

Bloodline Fest is back! November 10th and 11th at The Well. Nathaniel talks a bit about violence and the state of the world, then dives into Bloodline Fest and ends with some music you'll hear there....and get your first listen to a song from the new Lune: The Band record!!!!!! Lune: The Band - Queer (featuring Joshua Hensley from the rutabega) Junia - Pal / Pal bandcamp: https://juniamusic.bandcamp.com/track/everythings-a-canyon Jagalchi - Before the Hunter Becomes the Hunted bandcamp: https://jagalchi.bandcamp.com/track/before-the-hunters-became-the-hunted Gaffer Project - Changed bandcamp: https://gafferproject.bandcamp.com/ Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lunetheband/message

Episode 41 - Honor, Responsibility, And Arming Those Who Benefit The Most, With Margaret Killjoy

The A Better Way 2A Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 20, 2023 77:50

Join us this Friday as we sit down with host of Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff and Live Like The World Is Dying, and founder of the black metal band, Feminazgûl, Margaret Killjoy. We discuss the responsibility we have as gun owners not only to ourselves, but our fellow gun owners, building a culture that doesn't rely on laws to prevent gun violence (imagine that), and why it's so important for marginalized people to be armed. We talk about how trauma can affect your views, and Jordan checks Magpie's "weirdo privilege". We had a ton of fun on this one and really think y'all are going to love it.If you like what we're doing and want to support the show, check out our Patreon HereIf you want to advertise on the show, reach out to us to discuss possible sponsorship opportunities!Live Like The World Is Dying PodcastCool People Who Did Cool Stuff PodcastMargaret Killjoy's Instagram

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Head Like A Hole (goodnight, Rani)

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Play Episode Listen Later Oct 9, 2023 32:17

This week Nathaniel talks about the loss of a friend. Then plays some NIN, which their friend would of almost certainly made fun of them for choosing such a mainstream band. Check on your people. Suicide prevention: https://988lifeline.org/ Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lunetheband/message

The Ship Sails On (alt-country mix tape)

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Play Episode Listen Later Sep 10, 2023 34:16

This week Nathaniel talks about recording a new LTB record, and then plays a little Alt-country mixtape. Mixtape tracks: Cracker "low" Bare Jr "Why Do I Need A Job" The Refreshments "Blue Collar Suicide" The Bottle Rockets "Indianapolis" Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lunetheband/message

Moody Mixtape (goodnight Meghan)

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Play Episode Listen Later Aug 23, 2023 34:13

This week Nathaniel talks about the sudden loss of Meghan Buell. They try and express the importance of giving to your community, and not giving in to the forces around us that want queer and POC erased. Then they dive into a mixtape full of moody songs for a moody moment. Trees, Inc: http://www.webetrees.org/donate Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lunetheband/message

Sinéad O'Connor (nothing compares 2 U)

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Play Episode Listen Later Jul 30, 2023 33:23

This week Nathaniel remembers a truly great artist, and soul. It is emotional, it is raw, and it's probably exactly how Sinéad would of wanted it to be. Fight the real enemy. Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lunetheband/message

Summer Hiatus - Re-Air - Margaret Killjoy

WitchLit Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 19, 2023 74:12

WitchLit is on a summer hiatus while we settle into our new WitchLit HQ and rather than leave a blank space in the feed, we're taking the old TV network approach and bringing you some summer reruns from our first two seasons. Today's rerelease is my conversation with Margaret Killjoy. We talked mostly about her book A Country of Ghosts and her Danielle Caine series. Since our conversation she has published two new books We Won't Be Here Tomorrow and Escape from Incel Island. With the Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness collective, she just completed a Kickstarter for Penumbra City, a role playing game set in "a world where money has lost its luster, and it is a character's reputation with the various gangs, factions, and coalitions that determine their access to resources." She is also busy with two podcasts: Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff, a history of organizers, activists, and anarchists, and Live Like the World Is Dying, a podcast with rotating hosts talking about community preparedness. Original episode show notes: Margaret and I chat about her writing, and her podcasting, and her music, and anarchism, but mostly about writing and her excellent book A Country of Ghosts and the Danielle Caine series of novellas. There may have been fangirling. Margaret's work is available wherever books are sold. A Country of Ghosts is available directly from AKPress and you can preorder We Won't Be Here Tomorrow and Other Stories. Find MargaretAt her website: https://birdsbeforethestorm.netOn her podcast Live Like the World Is DyingOn her other podcast Cool People Who Did Cool StuffOn Twitter: @magpiekilljoy Please support Black-, indigenous-, queer- and women-owned, local independent bookstores. Transcripts of all episodes are available to download at witchlitpod.com Follow WitchLit on Instagram and TwitterFind Victoria at https://readvictoria.com and https://1000voltpress.com and on Instagram and Facebook

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Lune The Band talks Audiofeed/New Record

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Play Episode Listen Later Jul 9, 2023 105:58

Everyone was in the same place at the same time, and we had a wonderful conversation about Audiofeed, and the next LTB record. Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lunetheband/message

Indiana Party's Hard (South Bend Anti-fascist Action Pt2)

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Play Episode Listen Later Jun 11, 2023 38:08

This week Nathaniel talks about the LGBTQ Center's drag show at The Well Friday night and all the bullshit that happened, BUT more importantly, how the South Bend community continues to stand together against the rise of Right Wing and Christian fascists. Let every chud fuck know that when it's time to party, we will party hard. LGBTQ Center: https://www.thelgbtqcenter.org/ The Well: http://thewellriverpark.com/ Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lunetheband/message

The Relationship of The Shape of Punk to Come (ATDI/Refused)

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Play Episode Listen Later May 30, 2023 46:38

This week Nathaniel talks about the state of things in America, and encourages us all to continue to build mutual aid and community. Then they dive into two bands that meant a lot to them on their journey from conservative christian kid to an adult with punk in their soul. Refused: https://refused.bandcamp.com/music Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lunetheband/message

Story time (and a 90's Mixtape)

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Play Episode Listen Later May 20, 2023 64:46

This week Nathaniel talks about their very last time in a church building as a believer. It's a weird layered story about a young person who felt very alone in their world. Then we listen to a few songs that were on heavy rotation for that very same young person. The Well Donations: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/RiverParkGrace Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lunetheband/message

S1E70 - Margaret on Go Bags Part II

Play Episode Listen Later May 19, 2023 63:18

Episode Summary On this week's Live Like the World is Dying, Margaret and Inmn finish their talk about go bags. They talk about important documents, knives, tools, sleeping systems, shelters, coping with isolation, food, water, firearms, specific situations you might need a go bag for, and of course, DnD. Host Info Margaret can be found on twitter @magpiekilljoy or instagram at @margaretkilljoy. Inmn can be found on Instagram @shadowtail.artificery. Publisher Info This show is published by Strangers in A Tangled Wilderness. We can be found at www.tangledwilderness.org, or on Twitter @TangledWild and Instagram @Tangled_Wilderness. You can support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/strangersinatangledwilderness. Transcript Live Like the World is Dying: Margaret on Go Bags Part II Inmn 00:14 Hello, and welcome to Live Like the World is Dying, your podcast for what feels like the end times. I'm your host Inmn Neruin, and this week we're continuing to talk about go bags. We have the second part of an interview with the founder of this podcast, Margaret Killjoy, where we continue our conversation from last week at literally the exact place that we left off. But first, this podcast is a proud member of the Channel Zero Network of anarchists podcasts. And here's a jingle from another show on the network. Doo doo doo doo doo. [Making noises like a song] So Margaret, we've gone through hygiene kit, survival kit, and... I immediately forgot the third part of it. Margaret 01:39 First aid. Inmn 01:39 First-aid kit. And so that wraps up kind of like an emergency pack? Margaret 01:44 Yep. Inmn 01:44 What what what else goes in a bug out bag. Margaret 01:47 So, now that we get to the bag itself, I would say the next most important thing is a water bottle. Specifically, I like--and I give to all my friends--single wall steel canteen style water bottles. And the reason that I like these is that you can boil water in them. The double wall vacuum sealed canteens, they rule for a lot of purposes, like actually, they're really good for like putting hot soup in your bag. If you're going out hiking for the day and you get to the top of the mountain you get to--as if I've ever climbed a whole ass mountain. By my standards where I live, the mountains are very short. And so when you climb up a whole ass Appalachian mountain, you can have your warm soup up at the top even when it's snowing and shit, you know. But overall, I use 32 ounce steel wall canteens. I like them a lot. And then you're also going to want to make sure that you have food in there, protein bars and other snacks. So that's the core. But then for the bag itself, it's really going to depend on what you're doing. So, I guess I'll go over the not camping stuff first, the kind of like...the stuff that is like...Okay, because there's all the camping shit. And that's really useful depending on your situation. But, things to put in your go bag: your passport. If nothing else, if you don't want your actual main documents in here, you're going to want to put photocopies and digital copies of your stuff in here, which is of course somewhat of a security risk. If someone steals your bag, they get this stuff, right. But for me, the threat model is that my passport is more useful to me in my backpack than it is at home in a safe when I'm 1000 miles away. So, your passport, which I would push anyone who was capable in the United States of making sure that they have an updated passport, especially these days. You want your important documents backed up. This could be some of your medical records. It could be your dog's medical records. It could be your children's medical records. And, you might want the deed to your house. You might want some of the vehicle registration stuff. You want your like stuff--not necessarily the originals in this particular case--but you want the documents of it in case you're like coming back later and need to prove some shit. You know? Because a lot of crises might disrupt a lot of the institutions of bureaucracy. And you would think that in times of crisis, bureaucracy will be like, "I guess we kind of get in the way of human freedom." But no, in times of crisis borders will still be like, "Oh, I don't know about you. You don't have the right document. I don't care that the road you're on is literally on fire." or whatever the fuck you know. Another way to back these up is to literally just to take pictures of them on your phone and have it on your phone. But I think it's actually a good idea to have a USB stick with these documents as well and you might want to consider encrypting that, which I don't know if all computers can do easily but at least my computer can do easily. And you probably want...you might want more of an expanded first-aid kit in this. I guess I gets into the other thing thing. And then the other thing that I think you're gonna want in your go bag is you want fucking entertainment. Like this gets over overlooked so much. But, when when Covid hit, the way that my mental health works I was very isolated, right? I could not put myself at risk to Covid because of my mental health. And so, I lived alone in a cabin without much electricity. And the best purchase I made was something called a Bit Boy, and I highly recommend it. It is this tiny...it looks like a tiny Gameboy and it has all of the Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, and everything else games like on it. And it uses almost no battery. It's rechargeable. It's a little finicky. If you like turn it off it like fucks it up because it's like a it's like a $30 thing full of pirated shit, right? So it's super finicky. But, I swear that this thing had a better mental health effect on me then like almost anything else during that time. And the other thing that got me through it was I had legally purchased downloads of TV. And so even though I didn't have internet, I once a week, once a day, like sat down and ate my cold soup and watched fucking Steven Universe, and that she got me through it. And so like a USB stick full of like movies, TV, also, specifically, a USB stick full of like survival guides and information about how to build things, fix things, all of that shit. I think it's a super useful thing for a bug out bag. And I leave it up to... Inmn 06:32 It's funny because I feel like this episode is something where we're covering a lot of stuff that--and I just want to start flagging things--we did a whole episode on how you can build a mesh network essentially to have things like libraries of entertainment, or Wikipedia downloads, or like survival bits. So, if you want to learn more about that then go check out that episode. I believe it's called Andre on Solar Punk. Margaret 07:08 Oh, yeah. I forgot we talked about some of the mesh network stuff. That shit's fucking cool. And yeah, so have a library with you. You know, keep a download of Wikipedia on your computer. My computer bag is an example of the kind of bag that theoretically I should be a little bit smarter and kind of keep next to the bug out bag when it's not in use, right? Because I'm going to throw my laptop into my bug out bag if I'm running, right? And so it's like people are like, "Oh, but where's your like giant knife." and like, don't get me wrong, I have a giant knife on my bag. But. I also now have a Nintendo Switch in there, which is an upgrade from the Bit Boy. And like, I am proudest of that of all of the things in my bug out bag. I see that as the most likely for me to use. And I remember before Covid, I remember thinking to myself as I was preparing a library hard drive. And as I was preparing--well I didn't have the Switch yet--but I was like, "Man, what kind of Apocalypse leaves you with free time?" And I'm like, "Oh, Covid." or the next pandemic or fucking hanging out in a refugee center for trans people in Canada or whatever the fuck horrible shit we're gonna have to deal with, you know? Inmn 08:24 Yeah, and just sorry, just to clarify, free time for a lot of people and an incredible amount of not free time for a lot of people. Margaret 08:33 Well, yeah, no, I I think I mean more about isolation. It's not like I like...maybe I'm just being defensive. But it's like at the beginning of the pandemic, my cabin did not sustain life. And so I had to put all of my work into plumbing it, solaring it, you know, washing all my clothes by hand, like doing all this shit, right? But, I think that especially in times of isolation there's like downtime that people don't expect. And I could be wrong, but I suspect that this would be true almost no matter the crisis is that there's like downtime you don't expect where turning your...where not thinking about the crises that are happening is incredibly important. No, it is funny. You're right because I think in my head there's like the beginning of Covid a lot of especially middle class people were like, "Oh, fuck, I'm stuck in my house and bored." Right? Versus a lot of working class people who are like, "Well, now I'm still working in the middle of this nightmare," you know? I think that like...but I would guess that...I dunno, whatever I'll stop being defensive. Inmn 09:41 Yeah, sorry, less of a push back and more just a bringing in this other piece of the piece of the context. But, you know, there were also overworked doctors who were separated from their families. And so, I imagine they also did have probably this weird amount of downtime where It's like, "Well, I'm not at work, but I'm not with my family. What am I doing?" Margaret 10:04 Yeah, and specifically for me, games are a really good anti-anxiety because I definitely hold by the, "Busy bee has no time for sorrow." But then you're like, "Well, it's dark out and I don't have lights in my house. Fuck am I gonna do?" You know? Okay, so that's some of the stuff from a bug out bag point of view. That's the kind of...like;, documents and things like that matter a lot. You're also going to want anything that you need for taking care of other loved ones and or animals that you might have to do. Like, my dog has a smoke mask. He does not like it. If we were in a wildfire situation, he would deal with it. You know? And so there might be like different stuff like...I should probably get a muzzle for my dog. I do not. I do not muzzle my dog on any kind of regular basis. But, I could imagine a situation in which like, everything is so stressful that it would be necessary, right? And you're gonna know better than us what specifically other other stuff you need. But I guess we'll talk about more of the expanded survival stuff that a lot of people are gonna put in their bug out bags, if that makes sense? Inmn 11:20 Yeah, totally. And sorry, just to keep flagging some things. So folks, if you want to learn more about other little pieces of this topic like how to prepare for needing extra medications in a world where like medication systems kind of break down, we do a whole episode on it. I'm blanking on what the episode title is. But I believe it's called "Taking care of your medical needs." Margaret 11:50 That sounds right. Inmn 11:51 And I forget who the guest was. But yeah, I love that we're having this go back conversation now. Because I feel like we can really tie a lot of larger topics that we've talked about before into it, which I'm really loving. Margaret 12:08 Yeah. And then maybe we'll go through, you know, kind of some more of this checklist type stuff and then talk more about the different situations in which one might need to go bag. How does that sound? Inmn 12:18 That sounds great. Margaret 12:19 Okay. So, for the bag itself beyond the emergency kit, you've now added your documents, you've added your water bottle, you've added snacks. And for snacks from my point of view, I recommend snacks that you don't like because otherwise you're going to eat them beforehand. If you're me. [laughs] I used to keep Clif Bars and not Builder Bars as my snacks because I didn't like Clif bars, but I ate so many builder bars as part of my regular life as being an oogle that now I'm kind of sick of them. So now it's like reversed. And Clif Bars are my regular protein bar and Builder Bars are my my snacks I throw in my bag, you know. And, everyone's gonna do this a little differently. And then that stuff is like...most of the stuff in here is...Like I also pick things that don't really expire, but food expires. And also so does that medication, although the medication tends to just lower its efficacy rather than become dangerous. Other things I keep in my bug out bag: a collapsible plastic water canteen. These are useful for a bunch of different things. Like if you just need to hold more water for a while, you might want one of these. I also have moved to a hydration bladder. A lot of people move away from them. I've recently moved towards them. People kind of go back and forth in the hiking world about hydration bladders. As an oogle, I never used them. As a hiker, I really like them because you can hands free or like minimal effort drink as you go, you know. And, you know, more water good except for the weight part of it, you know? And you're also going to want, to keep talking about water, you're going to want to filter in water. And I think that this is true in most circumstances. I think that this is like...you know, some of this like survival stuff is very back woodsy, but a lot of the survival stuff also applies to cities. And it applies to cities where like if you got to boil advisory... like I don't know, anyone who's not had a boil advisory where they live at some point or another, right? You know, every now and then they admit that the water isn't drinkable in your area, and also a lot of like urban survival stuff is like...whatever, I've like slept on a lot of rooftops in my life and shit, you know? Like shelter from the elements is often easier to find in a city but not necessarily a lot of other stuff. So for myself, there's a lot of different water filters. A lot of them are designed for backpacking and those tend to be pretty good. I use a Sawyer water filter. They're these little tiny ceramic water filters and they have a bunch of different attachment sense to them. I used one of these at the beginning of Covid for all of my water because I didn't have a great water source. And, I was just like basically like...I set mine up to a five gallon bucket system where I put water in the five gallon bucket, and then it goes through a hose into the Sawyer filter, and then it gravity drips into a five gallon jerrycan. That's like a stationary kind of thing. For a go bag, you use the same water filter, but it has like one bag of dirty water and one bag of clean water. You can also just rely on chemical filter...not filtration but like purification. Some people like the UV filter chemical things. I've never used one. I don't totally understand them. I mean, I understand the concept, but I don't...I can't attest to them. It seems like most people are picking ceramic water filters. There's also a LifeStraw. And a LifeStraw is a perfectly fine thing to have. I keep one in my hiking day bag. These are these cheap water ceramic filters--like 15 bucks often--and you just drink through it. Usually I go up to the stream and you stick this thing in it and you drink out of the stream. Inmn 16:09 It acts as a filter but also you can't get viruses or stuff? Margaret 16:14 Exactly, it's a ceramic filter that...Yeah, all of these filters are designed to take like mountain stream water and make it potable. Actually, the thing that they're bad at is filtering large stuff like mud. And these can get like clogged up. It's the biggest downside of a ceramic filter. What a lot of people do is they take their bandanna or their...if you're an oogle you use a banana. If you're a military bro, you use the...I forget what they're called. They're the like, giant bananas that...Folk...I can't remember the name of them. Folks in the desert and like, you know, Southwest Asia and stuff tend to use, I think. You use one of those. And then if you're a hiking bro, then you use your...what did I decide they were called? Buffs? Inmn 17:11 Yes. Margaret 17:13 So, you filter all the water through that if you want to keep the ceramic water filter lasting longer. I haven't done as much like hiking filtering, I usually just bring enough water because I don't go on really long hikes. But, I mostly have used the ceramic water filter in a stationary sense. So that's like my personal experience with it. But, that's what I carry. You can also add, if you would like, you can add these more ready-to-eat food besides just like bars and stuff. They make these...it's basically Lembas [like in "Lord of the Rings"] bread. They make these like military rations that are like vacuum sealed and are good for five or ten years. And it's just like oil and flour. And it tastes like nothing. And it's just calories. It's just like a block of calories. And your body can go a fairly long time without food compared to water, right? But like, for peak efficacy--and also to not be a grouchy asshole--you want to at least put calories if not nutrition in your body. A lot of the survival food isn't really focused on nutrition because like it's not the end of the world if you don't get your vitamins for a couple days. Inmn 18:21 Yeah, but obviously everyone has different, you know, body needs or like food requirements. Margaret 18:27 Yeah, totally. Inmn 18:28 And so this is like maybe a good time for folks with diabetes or just any any other kind of predisposition that requires to have more food around. Margaret 18:39 Yeah, and different types of food. And I think it's actually worth having a variety of types of food also for the people around you because I think a lot of this is going to be based on sharing, because greediness in times of crisis, people are like, "Oh, that's when you got to be greedy." And I'm like, "The single most useful tool you can have is another person." Like I can't imagine something I would rather have in a time of crisis than someone else. And so like, yeah, having a variety of types of foods, I think is great from that point of view. No, yeah. And like, yeah, everyone's going to need different things. Okay, so next, fire. In most people's day to day life, fire is not a big component of it. And honestly, most random overnight...like, when I was in oogle, I didn't like fucking stop and make a fire in the woods most nights, you know? And if I did, it was kind of like a celebration type thing, you know? However, from a survival point of view, there's a lot of situations where being able to have a fire is really useful specifically mostly for warmth, also for other like, you know, signaling purposes and for like...you know, if you make a wet fire, it'll smoke more and things like that. And for both boiling water to...another way to, you know, purify your water or whatever. And also for cooking. It's kind of a morale thing for cooking a lot of times. A lot of foods you can just eat them cold and that's especially the kind of stuff you might want to keep in your bag. But for fire, you might want to have additional fire methods, but you've already got a lot of them going on in the rest of your kit. The kind of thing that I always sort of made fun of, but now I understand, is the big fuck-off knife. I mean, you're a knife maker. So you probably think about knives more than the average person. But... Inmn 20:39 It's true and I think I'm curious what you have to say about the big fuck-off knife mostly because I've kind of worked my way back from it, because I used to have a big fuck-off knife all the time. Like when I was an oogle, I was that oogle with the big fuck-off knife. Margaret 20:57 The big fuck-off knife has two purposes. One, is to get people to fuck off. It's not even about drawing it, it's about fucking open carrying it. It's just about being like, "Yeah, I'm in a miniskirt. And I have a like seven inch knife on my waist." Like, people just fuck with you less when you have a big fuck-off knife. And so that's like one of the purposes. But then, bushcraft. I didn't understand why survival knives were big because I was like a big knife...I'm not a knife fighter. I think anyone who is a knife fighter is not thinking about how long they want to live. Like, that's why I mean having a big fuck-off knife is to make people leave you alone, not to like fight them with it. But just to like fucking get people to leave you alone. But the giant knife is really useful for bushcraft. It's really useful for processing wood especially if you don't have a hatchet or something with you. That's what I've like come to understand as to why survival knives are big and how specifically they're bladed on one side with a wide--you're going to know these words better than me--like spine. [Inmn mummers affirmatively] And they have a wide spine so that you can split wood with it. You can take a stick and you can put it on it on the end of the stick and then you can hit it with another stick or a rock. And you can push the knife through the thing. That's [Inmn interrupts] Inmn 22:18 Can I? Margaret 22:19 Yeah. You know more about knives than I do. Inmn 22:21 Yeah, yeah. Just to offer a little bit of re-contextualization. So you know, I'm not a bushcrafter by any means. I wish that I was. I'd be. God, I'd be so much cooler. But I do know knives pretty well and I've been asked to make bushcraft knives before and so you know, I did a bunch of research about bushcraft knives. And what I found was that and then what I found from use is that like the big fuck-off knife is not actually great for bushcrafting. Margaret 22:58 Oh, interesting. Inmn 23:01 Yeah, most Bushcraft knives are like they kind of max out at six inches. And a lot of people err more on the like, you know, four and a half to five and a half range. And what that gives you...because for bushcraft, it's like--you described batoning earlier--if you're batoning your knife through wood to reduce it you don't need a big knife for that. You need a sturdy knife for that. And with a smaller knife, you kind of get a lot more manual dexterity so you can do all of your other tasks. I love knives, I love big fuck off knives. I agree that the purpose of a big fuck-off knife is for people to fuck off. And, you know, I can imagine like survival knives are often longer because you might need them for heavier, larger tasks. But I'm honestly a fan of having a belt axe for that purpose because it's does that thing better. Sorry. That's my that's my segue into knife world Margaret 24:06 No, that makes a lot of sense. And if you ever want to lose a lot of your life--and I feel like you might have also--read people talking about survival knife versus axe versus saw versus machete, about what you're supposed to bring into the woods, you know? Inmn 24:27 Yeah. And what you're gonna learn is that knives...there's no single knife. That's good for everything just like there's no single bag that's good for everything. You need to pick the things that you're comfortable doing. And you need to pick the tasks that you need done. And then find the right tool for it. Margaret 24:48 No, that makes a lot of sense. I will say in terms of saws and knives and all that shit, I have found that the little wire saw is sort of bullshit. Have you seen these? Inmn 25:01 I always wondered. Margaret 25:03 But yeah, I think...and the one...I haven't used that much. I think I tried to use one once. The pocket chainsaw is not bullshit, which is basically a chainsaw blade with two loops on either end, and you loop it around a limb, and then you like, saw back and forth. You know, I think those are not bullshit. Although I think, personally, I'd rather have a folding saw. But they're bigger. So. Inmn 25:30 Yeah, yeah. And that's the key thing here is like if you want to build shelters, use the saw. Don't...You could use your knife for some of it. But yeah. You don't want to build a structure with like hacking 10,000 sticks into something. Get a saw. Margaret 25:51 No, I think you've convinced me. Because I've been like, I've been pondering my--I have a survival knife on my bag--and I've been pondering its actual usefulness versus its weight and stuff, you know? And like, besides the like, I keep it on the outside of my bag and it's a little bit of a like, leave me alone, you know? I think that I have been seeing...Yeah, like, yeah, I think I want to fuck with this more. Redefined my own...Because the knife that I use on a day-to-day basis is my folding pocket knife. You know? It's what I use for almost everything. I'm not going to baton wood with it. Well, I would. It just wouldn't do a very good job of it. Inmn 26:27 Yeah. And, you know, I say this as someone who is always going to have a big knife, probably. And I don't have a purely rational reason for that. But yeah, it makes me feel more comfortable. Margaret 26:45 No, and it's like, and I think it's telling that backpackers don't tend to have large knives. They don't tend to have survival knives at all. Backpackers also tend not to have axes or saws because they're not really...they're focused on getting somewhere and camping, not like building large fires or building structures and things like that. Yeah. And then like, I think more and more, I think fighty type people have been focusing more on smaller knives anyway. Like the karambit is a popular fighting knife or whatever and it's not a big knife. Inmn 27:19 Yeah, yeah. And if you see the...like a lot of the like, original from...I actually don't know where karambits come from. But, where they were developed, they're incredibly small knives. They're like inch and a half long blades. They're incredibly tiny. Margaret 27:36 It's Indonesian. I just looked it up. Yeah. Yeah, no, yeah. It's not a like...Like don't fight a bear. Like a general rule. Don't live your life in such a way where you're fighting bears. And then, if you are then use bear spray. If you're not using bear spray, use a 10mm handgun. Like, you know? Oh, we haven't really talked about firearms. Inmn 28:06 Anyway. Sorry. Derail into knife world over. Margaret 28:09 No, no, I think that...I'm really...It was useful. I learned some. It's probably worth carrying some kind of knife sharpener. If you suck like me, you can use the pull through style--that Inmn is probably going to be disgusted that I use because it destroys the initial original bevel. If you know how to sharpen a knife properly, you can bring a whetstone. It's a little... Inmn 28:31 But, whet stones are heavy. Margaret 28:33 I know. And it's also...or you can also bring a little diamond sharpener stick and stuff like that. Yeah, what would you...Okay, what would you suggest? What would you suggest as your portable knife sharpener? Light and transportable? Inmn 28:45 Yeah, so you know, a knife doesn't do much good if it's not sharp. And most people's knives are not very sharp. I would say that it is a great skill to invest in is learning how to sharpen a knife. There's a lot of stuff... Margaret 29:06 I've tried it so many times. I don't believe in it. I don't think it's real. Anyway, yeah, let's continue. Inmn 29:13 And yeah, like, you know, like what I have at home are these big series of benchtop whetstones. There's a million grits and...but one of the better things that you can have is a strop. Just a leather strop, which is just some like full grain leather. You want it to be fairly thick and use some green polishing compounds that you rub on it and you strop the edge, which helps maintain the edge. And, but as far as pocket sized sharpening devices, the strop doesn't sharpen the knife, the strap like helps redefine the burr on the edge. And there's a million different little pocket sized whetstones. But, the important part is that you want something coarse and you want something fine to like refine the bevel. And so like if I had to build a little to-go kit, I would get a little miniature like 400/1000 combo stone. That is probably not something ceramic because it's heavy. But, they make a bunch of different things. I'm actually less knowledgeable about these pocket things. Yeah, but you want something coarse and you want something fine. 400/1,000 are great grits and then a strop to kind of like polish out the edge with. With that you can't go wrong. Well, you can go wrong... Margaret 30:48 Yeah, I will go wrong. Inmn 30:49 I don't know enough to tell you how to go wrong. Margaret 30:51 No, I will successfully go wrong. I've been trying to sharpen knives my whole life. I will continue to do it. I can kind of do it. I actually use a little all-in-one pocketstone, a little bit larger than the like stick ones, and it's a longish yellow piece of plastic with two sides. And then also has a little fold out part that can be used for filing in the saw parts. And it has kind of a guide, has a little bit of an angle guide built into it, and that's the most useful part for me. So that's the only time I've been able to sharpen knives to where they like can shave. Inmn 31:28 Knife sharpening is is a skill. Don't...That would be my advice is don't think that you're going to...don't rely on learning how to sharpen your knife for the first time when you're in an in an emergency. Practice that now. Margaret 31:40 And I will say as someone who has used all knives for almost everything over the years, it's like, it's all right. I mean, it's not as good. But, I can still cut a cord with a shitty knife, you know? Inmn 31:54 Yeah, well, you know, the old knife making adage, "A dull knife..." or sorry, the old kitchen worker adage, "A dull knife is a dangerous knife." Margaret 32:02 Yeah, so live dangerously. Cut... Cut paper with your knives and never sharpen them. Yes. Okay, let's talk about sleeping systems. Inmn 32:06 Live dangerously? [laughing] Sleeping systems! Thank you for indulging my derailment. Margaret 32:20 It's what we're here for. And some of this we might kind of like...some of the like camping stuff we might not dive as deep into. We're already on episode two of what was going to be one episode. So, I believe in the sleeping bag. And that's leftover from being oogle. I would say that the one thing I would carry in any kind of bag is a sleeping bag. This is not always true. I don't always carry sleeping bag. But, it's like almost a comfort item. It's a like no matter what I'm warm kind of item. I believe in sleeping bags with a good stuff sack. I personally don't use down. Backpackers tend to use down. It's lighter. It compacts more for the same warmth. However, it doesn't insulate once it gets wet. And that is a big deal from my point of view, from a survival point of view. When everything is fine, I prefer a non down one. They're also cheaper. And that might be why I have that preference. And also, I don't know anything about how the birds who produce down are treated. So, sleeping bag super important. A lot of backpackers have now moved to backpacking quilts. And then a lot of old timers will actually just use like wool blankets and stuff like that. I love a sleeping bag. You're gonna want to get off the ground. However, that said, in an urban environment you can use cardboard. You just need to layer it a lot. And it's not as good as a sleeping pad. But it is still useful. And you're going to need a sleeping pad that is appropriate to weather and desired comfort. If you want to hear me learn more about sleeping bags and tents you can listen to me talk to Petra a year and a half ago. I don't remember the name of the episode besides Petra being the guest. And that's where I learned that the combo move of an air mattress and a foam pad is is often really good. For shelter, the sort of three choices kind of is a tent, a bivy, or a tarp. This is not necessarily in a lot of bug out situations. It is necessary in my bug out situation and it might be in yours. And the advantage of a tarp is that it is like only one object. It is light. It is kind of easier to hide in a lot of ways. And I actually, when I'm sleeping in dangerous situations--like a lot of oogle life is like trespassing--I don't like tents because tents, you can't see out of them. Like it's like a little bubble. It's why people do like tents is that they want to be in their little bubble and I totally get that. And I'll probably be a tent person moving on because it's like comfortable, and safe, and stuff. But when I was younger and everything was well, not easier, my life was fairly hard. But like whatever. It was easier for me to not bother with a tent so I used a tarp. And then the other option is the bivy. And a bivy is like a...It's like a waterproof sleeping bag. And there's like ones...like I have one that has like one pole, just to keep the head of it off your face, you know. And these compact really small. This is what a lot of people who are rucking, who are doing military shit, tend to prefer are bivys. They're not popular among backpackers. The kind of closest equivalent is hammocks. A lot of people also use, but that involves there being good trees in the right place. However, hammocks can be light, and good, and stuff, too. And these are all gonna be preferences. And the reason I no longer fuck with bivys is I have a dog. And he's coming with me. And so I'm now probably a tent camper. Because if I'm sleeping outside, I'm just leashing my dog to a tree. But, I don't want him to get rained on. I want him warm. So I'm probably going to be a tent camper from now on. And then some tents now, a lot of backpackers are moving to these tents where you use your hiking poles to keep them up and then they're super lightweight and they're actually kind of cool. And they're a little bit...like some of them are like almost halfway between a tarp and a tent. And... Inmn 36:06 I love as like camping technology evolves it just like...I feel like it gets more old timey and more oogley but with you know, fancy stuff. Margaret 36:17 The $700 oogle tent. Yeah. Some of these tents are like fucking $600-700 and made out of like, space material or whatever. Yeah. What's your favorite shelter for camping? Inmn 36:32 So this is funny. I once bike toured across the entire country. From the west coast to Chicago, I built a tarp tent every night. Margaret 36:47 Like an a-frame? Inmn 36:50 Yeah, I built like a little tarp tent every night, which I had to get really creative in the West. As you know, there's not a lot of trees everywhere it turns out. And then when I got to Chicago, I went out and bought the Big Agnes ultralight backpacking tent, which is like sort of halfway between....Yeah, it's halfway. It's like...It's not a bivy, but it doesn't have a much larger footprint than a bivy. And it was the best thing that I've ever spent money on. I'm embarrassed to say that I spent money on it. Margaret 37:28 Whatever. Whatever. Inmn 37:29 But, I did. Margaret 37:30 I'm revoking your oogle card. You didn't scam it from REI dumpsters? I can't believe you. Yeah, yeah. Fuck yeah. Inmn 37:41 All right. Yeah, but I love that thing. But, I would love to move to a bivy. Yeah. Margaret 37:45 Yeah, I think that..Yeah, honestly, like, I've only...I haven't slept a ton in my bivy. But I was like, "Oh, this works." The other downside of a bivy is that your bag doesn't fit in the tent with you. And so if you sleeping in a bivy in the rain, you're going to need to work on waterproofing your bag. But that is something that like as a backpacker, you're probably trying to do anyway. The main ways that people do it is 1) a pack cover that goes on the outside. And then 2) people often either put things in dry bags, or just like fucking contractor bags, like trash bags, inside their bag and let the bag itself get wet. And if you're, if you're bivy camping, you're accepting that your bag is getting rained on and you just need to work around that. Which, is I think part of why it's the tactical person's choice or whatever. Because you're like, "Comfort doesn't matter. Surviving to get where I need to go shoot somebody is what matters." or whatever, you know. Or not get shot or whatever. Which actually, you're going to have to take into mind when you when you choose what kind of color for all of these things you want. I personally would lean towards the camo type stuff for my...I live in a red state. I could imagine having to leave. Inmn 38:49 Yeah. Margaret 38:50 I'm gonna like I'm gonna like speed run the rest of the camping stuff. You might want a poncho or a raincoat. Some people like ponchos because you can also turn them into shelters or whatever, but I think sometimes it's a little bit just fucking carry what you like. You want additional socks in your go bag no matter what, no matter what you're...Even if it's not a camping go bag, put some fucking socks in there and some other...change of underwear and possibly like better soap, like camp soap, like more hygiene type stuff. My go bag has a fucking battery powered Waterpik so that I can floss with water at night because I have spent a lot of money on my teeth. They are not in great shape and water picks rule. I also have a portable battery powered electric toothbrush that I fucking love. You might want an emergency radio. If you're like good at radio shit, you might want a Baofeng. It's like an all channel and it can send as well as receive. It's called a transceiver. It's really easy to accidentally break the law with a Baofeng because you're not allowed to actually use any sending signals on it most of the time. But they're very useful crisis if you know what you're doing. On the other hand, I would just say get one of those like, your little battery powered weather AM/FM radio. Have and put it in there. At home, I keep one of those like hand crank solar panel everything survival radios or whatever. But they're like a little bit bulky and a little bit cheap. And so, I like don't quite trust it in my bag, but I keep one at home. But, other people feel differently. I like having a monocular or binoculars in a go bag. I like this because looking at shit is cool. And sometimes also, I could imagine there are situations where I would want to look at and see what's ahead and not go there. If I had money, if I was a money person, I would have at least a thermal monocular if not full on like night vision shit. But that's money. You want the rain cover, the dry bag, you want to beef up your first-aid kit a little bit. You probably want an ace bandage at the very least. There's some other stuff like moleskin and other things for like long distance walking that you might want. I've heard good things about leukotape--and I haven't used it yet--but as like...people use it as a replacement for moleskin for covering blisters and shit. You might want cooking stuff, which I'm just not gonna get into cooking stuff here. And you might not. You can also like cold soak your food and just like put it in like a peanut butter jar with water and fucking have it turned into food. Whatever. You might want hiking poles. You might want a solar charger. You might want, as we've talked about, a folding saw, a hatchet or machete. You might want more light. Like some people like the collapsible LED solar lanterns. They're not like a great bang for your buck in terms of like, I mean, they're actually really light and shit, but like, you know, you can use a headlamp just fine. But, like sometimes if you've got like a family and shit, it's like nice to have like a little bit of ambiance and niceness or whatever. Especially like maybe if you're in like a building right when the power's out, you know, like that's the kind of thing that like is a little bit more likely and is useful. You probably want a plastic trowel of some type for pooping outside or a little aluminum trowel for digging a hole so you can poop into it. And alright, guns really quickly, and then...My recommendation is only carry firearms if you train in them. Unlike everything else. Carrying something you don't know how to use is fine if you know you don't know how to use it and you get someone else to use it, like your first-aid kit. Like, my IFAK for gunshot wounds, If I'm shot in the belly, it's for someone else to use on me if at all possible. You know. I am trained in how to use it, but so guns are the exception to this. Do not carry a gun unless you can keep it secure at all times and you pay a lot of attention to the ethics and also the legality around firearms. Those have been covered a lot more in other places on this show. Specifically, my current recommendation that I'm a little bit this is like do what...Whatever, I haven't yet mastered this. The handgun that I keep near my bed in a safe, in a quick access safe, would go into my bug out bag in a moment of crisis or be on my person. And then in the bug out bag is additional magazines with 9mm ammunition. 9mm is by far the most common ammunition besides like .22LR, which is a survival round meant for hunting small animals. But, for a self defense point of view, I believe a handgun 9mm. And if you are the type who wants long guns, if your whole thing is you're gonna be surviving in the woods or whatever, you might want to consider some type of backpacking .22. They make, I think it's the AR-7 is one type of survival collapsible .22. And then the other one is a 10/22 with a backpacker's stock that folds. What I personally plan on carrying if it was a get out past the militia checkpoint the US government has fallen scenario or whatever is a folding 9mm carbine, which is a rifle that shoots nine millimeter rounds. A lot of people don't like these from a tactical point of view. It's not nearly as effective at long range stuff as say an AR-15 or other rifles that are meant to shoot larger rounds, right, or not larger but more powerful rounds. But, the ability to use the exact same magazines that I already use for my other gun and the exact same ammunition makes it worth it for me for specifically a bug out bag scenario. I don't have enough money to do this yet. That is why I don't have that. My only bug out bag gun is my handgun that is also my home defense gun. And now everyone knows what I have at home. Anyway, that's my firearms. Inmn 44:30 They know one thing that you have at home. Margaret 44:32 Yeah, totally. Or do they!? They think I have a 9mm but really I have a 10mm. Whatever. Oh, and then the other thing. Randomly. Okay, if your other threat model, if you're in like fucking Alaska or some shit, you might want a 10mm, but you already know this if you live in Alaska. 10mm is a round that's better at shooting really big animals. It doesn't really have any like particular advantage against people in it and shit, right, but like against grizzly bears and shit. One, bear spray more effective. There's a bunch of studies, bear spray is more effective at stopping a charging bear than any gun that exists. Whatever, I mean maybe like a bazooka or some shit, I don't know whatever. Oh, poor bear. And then also, you don't kill the bear. It's just trying to fucking scare you and live its life. Yeah, yeah, that's my bug out bag. Do you feel ready? And or do you wanna talk about, really quickly, like some some scenarios? Inmn 45:35 Yeah, I feel a lot more informed. I feel overwhelmed, Margaret 45:40 I should address the overwhelm. And I should have led with this. I'm so sorry everyone. You don't need all this stuff. This is the "I'm building a bug out bag. And I have all the time." You slowly build the bug out bag. You slowly get prepared. There's no one who's entirely prepared for all things. And the purpose of a bug out bag from my point of view is to ease your mind. When I first made my bug out bag and my cabin in the woods, I was able to say to myself, "If there's a fire in this forest, I know what I will do. And now that I know what I will do, I am not going to worry about a fire in this forest anymore." And so the first little bit that you get is the most useful. You get diminishing returns as you spend more money and more size and things like that. Massively diminishing returns. The everyday carry, your cell phone is the single most important object. You know, the pocket knife, the pepper spray, the the basic shit is the most important. If you have purse snacks and a water bottle, you are more prepared than almost anyone else. Yeah, I should have led with that. Inmn 46:57 Yeah. Oh, no, no, it's okay. I feel like, you know. We eased into it then it got real complicated. And I'm, grateful to think about the overwhelm afterwards. But, Margaret, so in thinking about a lot of these things, there's like...I'm like, okay, like, if I'm in real life DnD or if the literal apocalypse happens then I could see needing these things. But why else might one need a bug out bag? What is some threat modeling kind of stuff to think of? Margaret 47:42 Yeah, I mean, like, again, it's gonna depend on where you are. If I were to pick where I'm at, I can imagine gas supplies running out, right? I don't think...or like getting interrupted in such a way that, you know, suddenly, there's a lot of limitation to the amount of fuel that you can have, right? I could imagine grocery store stuff. I could imagine like, you know, supply chain disruptions. We're seeing supply chain disruptions. People might have to leave because of earthquakes. People might have to leave because of fires. Like, natural disasters is like probably the number one thing, right? And where you live, you will know what the natural disasters are. Where you live, personally, I would worry about drought. And I would worry about water war. But, and I would focus my prepping around rain barrels and you know, keeping five gallons of water in my truck or whatever. I didn't even get into the shit you should put your vehicle. Some other time will the vehicle preparedness. And but yeah, I mean, like there's scenarios where like...it was completely possible that January 6th type stuff could have happened on a much larger level, right? They tried to have it happen on a much larger level. We could have had a fascist coup in the United States, because they tried. And in that scenario, you might need to leave the country or you might need to move to a safer part of the country. Or you might need to move to a place so that you can prepare to defend. God, defend the country. But like, fight fascism, even if that means being like, "Alright, it's us and the Democrats versus fascism," or whatever, you know? Like, I can't imagine like the partisans in Italy were like, "Oh, no, you're a bourgeois capitalist. I'm not going to fight the Nazis with you." You know? Like, I mean, actually, that probably did happen. Inmn 49:46 Yeah, or how there's...there have been tons of anarchists who are fighting in Ukraine. Margaret 49:52 That is a...Yeah. Yeah, totally. And like if we were suddenly invaded by Russia, there would be like us and some patriots next to each other fighting on the same side, and it would be real awkward. Right? Real awkward, but like, you know. Okay. And so I think that it was entirely possible, at that moment, that my threat model included, "What if I need to get out of the south?" you know? And if I need to get out of the south, yeah, I'm driving until I hit the points where I start thinking that there's gonna be militia checkpoints. And then I'm in the woods, you know? Yeah. And like, so. It's not nearly as likely as other things. But, most bug out scenarios, yeah, are like, "I need to go spend a weekend somewhere." It could even literally be like, a go bag is like, if I got the call that my dad was in the hospital and I just need to get in my fucking truck and go see my dad, right? Like, nothing else bad is happening in the world. It's still real nice to have the bag that I am grabbing and walking out the door. You know? Yeah. Yeah. What are some of the scenarios that you imagine that you would worry about? Inmn 50:01 There's kind of, there's kind of a lot. I mean, there's, you know, there's a lot of scenarios, and I'm wondering if this is the potential for like, future episodes is like...You know, where I live, I do think about drought, I think a lot increasingly more about militia checkpoints, because I live in a--I mean, I feel like everyone lives in a place where there could suddenly be an active militia--but I think about those things. This is a whole episode that we should do. But, I think about friends who live in places where it floods, I think about friends who live in places where there's hurricanes. Margaret 52:01 And a go back is also getting to go...If you need to go help someone who's in a tight place of crisis, you know, like having your truck--don't drive your truck into standing water ff you don't know how deep it is-- but like, if you needed to get into a disaster zone to help people, if you're more prepared, you're more able to do that. Inmn 52:22 Yeah. Oh, and actually, could I suggest an addition to to go bags? Just as a thing. Yeah, I would love to heavily urge people to have in their go bags or to have this as a separate bag in your emergency kit is, you know, something that we're learning a lot from harm reduction communities and organizing right now is harm reduction supplies. Yeah, Naloxone or Narcan, fentanyl testing strips, drug testing stuff in general. And, you know, even if you don't use drugs, then I would suggest having stuff in case other people who do use drugs and need them to some extent or have complicated dependency around them, having that kind of stuff for someone else could be life saving to someone else. Margaret 52:29 Of course. No, everything I said is the only stuff you can use. Inmn 52:41 That is a really good point. Alright. Well, that's some stuff. Is there anything else we should talk about go bags. It's cool to have a go. That's what I'm gonna say. Don't let the right wing have it. It's fucking cool. Being prepared rules. People are gonna think you're cool. They used to make fun of you, but now...now they don't. I have two kind of silly questions, because I love rooting these discussions in humor and light heartedness. There's another word for it. Margaret 54:14 I famously hate joy. Inmn 54:16 Yeah. Okay, so we've just gone through this big list of stuff and do you remember Donny Don't from Crimethinc? Yeah, what is the Donny Don't of go bags? Margaret 54:33 Donny Don't is a, just so people know, it's the don't do with Donny Don't does. And what is the Donny Don't of go bags? It's probably the like crazy overkill versions. Like I probably don't need an ice axe in my go bag. Now that I say that I'm like, I mean, if I had to cross into Canada on the East Coast I would actually need an ice axe. So, but like, gear obsession, I think that and letting go bags be an endless bottomless non fun thing. If it is fun for you to geek out and find the the version of the thing that's two ounces lighter, do it--as long as you give away the old one or like, you know, maintain it in such a way that it's useful to somebody else. But yeah, I think that Donny Don't is the overkill, like a bag that you can't carry. Unless, I mean, some people can't carry certain amounts of weight that they would need and then they need assistance and things like that. That's actually okay too. But like, but overall. Yeah. Inmn 55:42 Cool. Yeah. And actually, that is my retrospective answer for which knife to bring is the knife that you will carry. Margaret 55:49 Yeah. Inmn 55:49 Is the knife that does not that does not impede you from caring it. And then my other comical question because I can't do a single interview without talking about it is: So in Dungeons and Dragons, you have the adventuring kit and what is the 50 foot of hempen rope, which every single adventurer uses at some point, and what is the like climbing like...not crampons. Pitons. What is the pitons thing that no one has ever used. If you use them, please tell us about it. Margaret 56:32 Everyone uses the the eating stuff. The spork, the utensils. Everyone uses...Yeah, the stuff that everyone uses is the tiny light cheap shit. You know? It's the fucking BIC lighter. And know what what no one uses is the magnifying lens to start the fire, which I didn't even include. I actually include tiny little magnifying lenses in the kits because they cost like five cents, like little Fresnel lenses size of credit card. But, it's mostly so you can read small stuff. And that weighs nothing. I like throwing it in. But the magnifying lens. That's the Yeah. Inmn 57:21 The piton thing. Margaret 57:25 Yeah. Whatever it is. Inmn 57:29 Cool. Thank you. Thank you for indulging my silly questions. Well, it seems like maybe we should do some more...Talk about this more some other time. Margaret 57:41 Yeah, you should ask me about vehicle preparedness sometime. And home preparedness. Inmn 57:46 Yeah, vehicle preparedness, home preparedness, like specific disaster preparedness. Yeah. Like, I know, we're gonna...we're planning on doing a hurricane thing at some point. Margaret 57:58 We're just gonna throw a hurricane. Inmn's a level 17 Wizard. Inmn 58:07 And, you know, maybe we like...do we eventually started talking about...Do we just throw you, Margaret, into situations and say, "How would you deal with this issue?" Like as an episode concept? Margaret 58:22 I thought you meant physically. Like, while I'm on tour, be like, "Sorry, Margaret, you're suddenly survivor lady." And I'm like, "Wait!" Inmn 58:32 No, no, I'm thinking of like, this funny episode concept where we come up with situations, almost like roleplay situations, but real life, and you tell us how you would prepare and deal it. Margaret 58:46 Okay. Yeah, we should do that sometime. I guess I'll have to get good at this. Usually, because I'm like...Well, my whole thing is I'm not quite an expert. At this point. I think I do know more than the average person. But my whole point was like, I'm not an expert. I find experts and ask them things. But, I guess at this point, there's a lot of this shit that I either sometimes have hands on experience and sometimes I just fucking talk to people about it all day. So. Yeah, sounds good. Well, Inmn 59:12 Well. Thanks so much for coming on this, what ended up being a two parter episode of your own podcast that I am a weird guest host of right now. Margaret 59:24 No, it's our podcast. It's Strangers' podcast at this point. Inmn 59:29 Yeah. Do you have anything that you would like to plug? Margaret 59:34 You can hear me on my podcast, Live Like the World is Dying, it's a community and individual preparedness podcasts published by Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness. You can also hear me talk about history. I spend most of my time reading history books and talking about it on a podcast called Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff on Cool Zone Media. It's very confusing that one of my podcasts is on CZN and one of my podcasts is on CZM, but that's the way it goes. And my most recent book is called "Escape from Incel Island." You can hear me talk about a shotgun that I used to really want, the Celtic KSG which is what Mankiller Jones carries. It's no longer that shotgun I lust after. Now I want to Mossberg 59A1. But, you know, I don't know whether I want to change what they're carrying. And I'm on the internet. @MagpieKilljoy on Twitter and @Margaretkilljoy on Instagram and you can also follow...I'm now trying to make people follow our social media, Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness. You can also follow us on social media @TangledWild on Twitter and then at something on Instagram. I'm sure if you search Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness it will come up. Do you know what it was? What is our Instagram? Inmn 1:00:48 It is @tangled_wilderness on Instagram. Margaret 1:00:51 We did a really good job of grabbing all the...we've been around for 20 years and we didn't fucking grab good Instagram handles at the beginning. Yeah, that's what I got. Inmn 1:01:00 Great. Great. Well, we will see you next time. Margaret 1:01:04 Yeah. Inmn 1:01:11 Thanks so much for listening. If you enjoyed this podcast, please go make a go bag and then tell us about it. But also tell people about the podcast. You can support this podcast by telling people about it. You can support this podcast by talking about it on social media, rating, and reviewing, or doing whatever the strange nameless algorithm calls for. Feed it like a hungry god. And, you can support us on Patreon at patreon.com/strangersinatangledwilderness. Our Patreon helps pay for things like transcriptions, our lovely audio editor, Bursts, as well as going to support our publisher Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness. Strangers and in a Tangled Wilderness is the publisher of this podcast and a few other podcasts including my other podcast, Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness, which comes out monthly and is usually our monthly feature of anarchist literature or something. We also put out the Anarcho Geek Power Hour, which is the podcast for people who love movies and hate cops. And we would like to make a special series of shout outs to some of our patrons in particular. Thank you Anonymous, Funder, Jans, Oxalis, Janice and O'dell, Paige, Aly, paparouna, Milica, Boise Mutual Aid, Theo, Hunter, Shawn, SJ, Paige, Mikki, Nicole, David, Dana, Chelsea, Kat J., Staro, Jenipher, Eleanor, Kirk, Sam, Chris, Michaiah, and Hoss the dog. I love that this list just keeps getting longer and longer and longer. And seriously, we could not do any of this without y'all. So thank you. I hope everyone does as well as they can with everything that's happening and we'll talk to you soon. Find out more at https://live-like-the-world-is-dying.pinecast.co

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May Day! (don't let them steal our history)

history state union capital steal may day it could happen here dkm cool people who did cool stuff

Play Episode Listen Later May 2, 2023 26:32

WE ARE AT IT AGAIN! Nathaniel talks about the history of May Day, and why the State, and Capital, don't want you to know about it, and then we listen to a DKM version of an old Union song. The Well Donations Page: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/RiverParkGrace Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lunetheband/message

Birthday Post Hardcore Mixtape

love kids state sharks mixtape mother mary post hardcore repeater by far it could happen here cool people who did cool stuff

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 9, 2023 34:33

WE'RE BACK MOTHER FUCKERS!!!!! This week Nathaniel gets older! They talk about the creeping fascist bullshit, and then go into a Post Hardcore Mixtape. We hope you are well. Love each other, and fight the State that is trying to kill us. Mixtape tracks "One Arm Scissor" by At The Drive In "5, 6 Kids" by Bear Vs. Shark "Everybody Says They Have A Little Irish in Them" By Canterbury Effect "Thorn Sharp" By Criteria "Mother Mary" By Far "Repeater" By Fugazi Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lunetheband/message

The Hook Brings You Back (Blues Traveler)

love american travelers hook blues traveler it could happen here cool people who did cool stuff

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 19, 2023 33:05

This week Nathaniel talks about the continued march to trans genocide, and a fascist American future, and then they talk about Blues Traveler.....because fuck it. Love each other, and be ready to help. Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lunetheband/message

What Ever Happened To The Emerald City?

feelings fuck emerald city it could happen here cool people who did cool stuff

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 5, 2023 22:30

This week Nathaniel talks about how they feel in this moment in time, and then briefly talks about the last deep dive song for Don't Give Up The Ship. With a simple acoustic version to end the episode. Feelings are felt. Things are said. We love you very much. Fuck every fascist forever. Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/lunetheband/message

They Target Street Medics (music by The Lowborn)

music chicago protect target fight medics it could happen here lowborn cool people who did cool stuff

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 25, 2023 31:30

We're back mother fuckers! This week Nathaniel talks about why cops target street medics, and people handing out food/community support. The system lashes out at anything that threatens change that doesn't need the system. Then we end the episode with two songs from Chicago hardcore band The Lowborn, and they absolutely fucking rip. Keep your head on a swivel. Protect trans kids. Fight every fascist everywhere. Street Medic talks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyPY8B6fzQISanctuary Camp Support Fund: https://avlsolidarity.noblogs.org/ The Lowborn Bandcamp: https://thelowbornwchc.bandcamp.com/album/new-year-new-demo Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/lunetheband/message

S1E58 - This Month in the Apocalypse: Jan 2023

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 10, 2023 55:44

Episode Summary Brooke, Casandra, and Margaret talk about some laws that the ATF just imposed and how you might soon be a felon, some bizarre tax proposals that have been in the works for the last quarter of a century, and check in our old friend, the Colorado River in This Month in the Apocalypse. Host Info Margaret can be found on twitter @magpiekilljoy or instagram at @margaretkilljoy. Casandra is just great and can be found at Strangers doing awesome layouts, and Brooke can be found on Twitter or Mastodon @ogemakweBrooke. Publisher Info This show is published by Strangers in A Tangled Wilderness. We can be found at www.tangledwilderness.org, or on Twitter @TangledWild and Instagram @Tangled_Wilderness. You can support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/strangersinatangledwilderness. Next Episode Hopefully will come out Friday, Feb. 24th Transcript This Month in the Apocalypse: Jan. 2023 Margaret 00:14 Hello and welcome to Live like the world is dying, your podcast for what feels like the end times. I'm one of your today's hosts, Margaret killjoy, and with me are also Brooke and Casandra. How are you too? Brooke 00:25 Hello. Casandra 00:26 Good. Margaret 00:28 Joining me in the background, hopefully that we can't hear, is my dog, Rintrah, scratching at the carpet. So, this is one of the This Month in the Apocalypse episodes, as you probably noticed based on the title of it, which was This Month in the Apocalypse, and it is for January 2020-- whatever year it is now. Three? Are we at three. It's 2020; It's part three. And this show is a proud member of the Channel Zero network of anarchists podcasts. And here's a jingle from another show on the podcast brought up about Jingle 01:03 what's up y'all I'm Pearson host of coffee with comrades. Coffee with comrades is rooted in militant joy. Our hope is to cultivate a warm and inviting atmosphere like walking into your favorite coffee shop to sit down with some of your close friends and share a heart to heart conversation. New episodes premiere every Tuesday, so be sure to smash that subscribe button wherever you get your podcast so that you never miss an episode. We are proud to be a part of the Channel Zero network. Margaret 01:56 And this show is a proud member of the Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness, sort of network, publisher thing. Here's a jingle for another show on this network or publisher. Boop boop boop boop, boop. Casandra 02:13 Since I don't have this yet, are you just gonna make one up right now? Margaret 02:19 You know, I think we might have jingles, but I'll make one up anyway. Do you like nerd shit? Are you a fucking loser? Do you spend more of your time thinking about the way that character classes in Dungeons and Dragons relate to the current meta of whatever game system you play? Do you know more about what I'm talking about than me right now? Then, you might like an Anarcho Geek Power Hour, which is a new show from Strangers in the Tangled Wilderness where we talk about nerd shit. The first episode is up already and there might be more, I don't know how, I'm not the one making them. First episodes is talking about all about that show Andor and there's gonna be a bunch of other shows that talk about other shows. If you're a fucking nerd and know what the word THACO means. Casandra 03:11 Wait, I'm a nerd and I don't know what that means. Margaret 03:13 I know it's a second edition Dungeon & Dragons thing. It's actually an are you an older millennial or Gen Xer, I think is the actual gatekeeping I just did there by accident. Really just ruining everything. It means "To hit armor class zero." What I Casandra 03:28 I started playing with third edition. Brooke 03:33 I have another new podcast idea to pitch to y'all. But we don't have to do it during This Month. Margaret 03:38 Okay, well, now this is an actual jingle. This...it actually exists. Okay. And that's the end of the jingle ba bop, bop, bop bop. Margaret 03:53 And we're back. Thanks, to the regular show called Live Like the World is Dying. I do too many podcasts. I'm gonna fuck this up at some point. Welcome to Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff. Today, the cool person we're talking about is at the end of the world. Brooke 04:14 This is what I get for declining to do the intro, isn't it? This is my reward? Margaret 04:19 Yeah. Brooke was like, "I'm tired." And I was like, I'm not. I'm wired on fake energy. Which, isn't even caffeine. I don't even drink caffeine. So what we're going to talk about today is we're talking about a bunch of different stuff. The main topic that I have to talk about today. Have y'all ever heard of this agency that thinks is in charge of us? It's called the government. Brooke 04:44 Vaguely vaguely familar with it. Yeah. Margaret 04:47 I think different geographical locations have different gangs that have gotten together and declared themselves in charge. And they all use the word government once they get bigger than the word gang. The United States federal government, which is the name of the largest gang operating in the territory of central North America has a has a subgroup and they are committed to, you'd think that they'd be really cool, because their name is Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. So, it sounds like fun, right? I mean, actually, these things don't go well together and the middle one mostly just murders you. Actually, all three of them are...Okay, I see why there's a regulating body that people set up. But the ATF are notorious for being kind of...I don't know a government body that comes after you, if you like, do things that they decide that they don't like. And they like to be very mercurial about that. And on January 13th, they announced a new rule that will turn millions of Americans into felons in 120 days, so. Rintrah is really concerned about everyone's gun rights. So, I have a very complicated relationship with guns. I, you know, as people know, I use them sometimes, and I carry them and have ever since I got doxxed, by the far right. And I believe that community defense is very important. I'm also however, very critical of a lot of things about guns. So, I just want to like preface. Before I talk about guns for a whole fucking chunk of this episode, I want to say that I believe very strongly that if your firearm is not on you, at any given moment, it needs to be locked up. And this is something that used to be more abstract for me and is not abstract anymore. And and I'm going to be on about this for a long ass time. That is the safe way, if you are carrying a firearm, you're probably doing so because you want you or your community to be safer and or better fed. And if you don't lock your guns up, when you're not holding on to them, you are not making your community safer, you're making your community less safe. And that is the kind of balance that everyone needs to have at all times if they choose to carry firearms, and if it fucking matters. So, that has nothing to do with the ATF. Because.... Casandra 07:25 I was preparing myself for it to be a rule about keeping guns locked up. Margaret 07:28 No, it has nothing to do with guns locked up. So y'all ever heard of the NFA? Or tax stamps? This is like, gun law bullshit? Brooke 07:41 Well, nope. Margaret 07:42 The National Firearms Act was passed in....And I'll cut to the chase, and then I'll go back and tell you the history. So there's this thing, where you can take a firearm, an AR style firearm is the most common gun by a substantial margin in the United States, as far as I understand at least rifle, and you can, if you have a shorter barrel on it, there's two different classifications, there's a short barreled rifle, which is illegal without specific and ATF approval, which I'll get to why that's actually bullshit shortly. And second, or you can have it be a pistol. And instead of putting a stock on it, you can put something called a pistol brace, which is originally designed so that people who have like, less mobility or missing a limb or things like that can successfully use this style of firearm. And these are fairly new objects, you have something called AR pistols, and they're very common. They're very popular. The ATF estimates that three to 7 million pistol braces have sold in the past 10 years since pistol braces came on the market in 2013. And when they first came on the market, it's okay, it's some loophole bullshit. Mostly, I mean, you can use it as is intended. Well, you could use it as is marketed, which is for being able to fire with one hand in a more stabilized way. Or you can use it as people tend to use it, which is to be able to shoulder a pistol, and so fire more accurately with something that is classified legally differently. Brooke 09:19 Makes sense. Margaret 09:20 Yeah. But before they like went ahead and like marketed this thing, they went and checked in 2013. They were like, "Hey, is this chill, ATF? Can we make this thing and sell it?" And the ATF was like, "Yeah," and then they went back and forth a couple times. By 2017, not only could you sell it, but it was also legal for people to shoulder a pistol in this way. And that that would not make you a felon by shooting this gun that you own legally. Casandra 09:48 What are the concerns like why? Why wouldn't it be a good idea or legal? Margaret 09:54 There's literally...there's fundamentally none, but we'll get...Okay. So I'll get to the where short barreled rifles come from as a classification. Okay, so and then on January 13, the ATF ruled that this is not true that this is not a pistol. If you have a pistol brace on an AR pistol, it is now a short barreled rifle. And this is on some level a reasonable thing, right? Because they are short barreled rifles, that's what they are. You, you shoulder them, you shoot them. Whatever, I don't, someone's gonna get really mad at me about this. But, we were all like, wink, wink, nudge nudge, I never fucking came anywhere near one of these things, because I was like this is gonna get...this is gonna go badly. So I never got one, right? Because it was perfectly legal. But now everyone has 120 days to either register the item with the government, destroy it, or turn it into the ATF, or put a longer barrel on the gun. And the thing that's really messy about this, is that they told people that this was fine. This was good. And everyone tried to cross their t's and dot their i's, which isn't what you're supposed to do. But that's what they tried to do. And and now basically, they like, you have to turn them in or you're in a lot of trouble. It's a 10 year. If you break the NFA it's a ten year felony. It's a 10 year felony. And if you're a felon, you can never use firearms, again legally in the United States. Which if you're the kind of person to collect firearms is a fairly major impact, besides of course, the 10 years that you might lose off your life. Casandra 11:28 Wait, so sorry. I'm not familiar with any of this. So short barreled rifles are disallowed? Margaret 11:36 Correct. Casandra 11:36 And they reclassified this other thing as a short barrelled rifle? Margaret 11:41 Yeah. And it's just this incredibly popular thing. And it's mostly.... Casandra 11:47 I didn't catch that short barraled rifles were disallowed, and was like it's just a classification, what matters? Brooke 11:51 Yeah, no, it's confusing. Margaret 11:55 So, the reason that short barreled rifles are disallowed is leftover nonsense. In 1934, the federal government was like, we want people to not really have guns in the US anymore, if at all possible. There's an amendment in the Constitution that prevents that from happening. So they were like, alright, well, we'll make it really hard. So, they passed this thing were called the the NFA, the National Firearms Act, where you have, you have to pay a $200 tax, you have to get buy a tax stamp. it's just a thing that says I paid $200, which was about $4,000 at the time. Equivalently. They didn't actually write into the law that this would escalate with inflation. So it's still $200 if you want an NFA iteam. And they specifically they were like, we want all the stuff that's used for crime by evil gangsters. So, they wanted to get rid of machine guns, which is honestly,reasonable. They wanted to get rid of pistols. And like all handguns, were going to be illegal. And then they were like, well, if we make our handguns illegal, then people are just going to chop chop down their their little rifle or shotgun, and they're going to suddenly have a pistol, right? So, we'll make short barreled rifles and short barreled shotguns also illegal, or things that you have to register with the government and pay a hefty tax stamp for. Then some people were like, but we have this thing called the Second Amendment. You can't outlaw these guns. So pistols got knocked off of it, but they didn't knock off short barreled rifles. Casandra 13:33 Why? Margaret 13:34 Because they didn't bother. Casandra 13:37 Interesting. Margaret 13:38 So a short barreled rifle is a like contraband item unless you go and you register it and you jump through all these hoops. The other thing is you have to fill out all this paperwork, and then wait like sometimes years in order to get this and the other thing they made illegal at this time was suppressors and suppressors, I will go to my grave believing should never have been. They are an element of gun safety. The ability to suppress the sound of a firearm makes it safer for everyone. It is a better object. It does not make the gun more dangerous. It also doesn't make it quiet. Everyone's like oh yeah, you can like run around James Bond style. It's just like not true if you shoot a suppressed gun. I mean, there's like a few tiny exceptions where if you like really work with subsonic, ammo and .22 And all this shit you can like, make it quiet. But like a suppressed gun just sounds like a gun. It's loud. It goes bang, you can hear from a long ways off. It just doesn't permanently destroy your hearing and give you tinnitus as much. Most of them you still have to wear ear protection for. It's just a fucking...anyway, whatever. That's not what we're talking about today. So, yeah, so that's why they made it....short barreled rifles illegal or much harder to come by. And it makes no sense. It never made any sense. Go ahead. Casandra 14:57 What is it? I know it doesn't make sense. Like it sounds I was like, someone who does paperwork was like let's reclassify this thing. But like, what is their justification? Like, why are they saying it makes sense? Margaret 15:10 Why are they reclassifying AR pistol to a short barreled rifle? Or why do they defend that short barreled rifles are illegal? Casandra 15:17 I think I understand the former. Maybe the latter. Margaret 15:21 So at the time, it literally was just it's closer to a pistol. That was the justification, they wanted to get rid of pistols, so that therefore they got rid of short barrel rifles. The argument being concealability. Casandra 15:36 But at this point in history, there isn't really a justification? Margaret 15:39 There's no justification. It's you can have a full length rifle and you can have a small handgun and you can't have in between. It is. Well, that's. So that's what I think that...there are a lot of cases to be made against guns and gun ownership. And I am like not trying to eventually become some like a gun nut talking head. But like, this is something that people whose primary concern or like one of their concerns is as firearms and firearm law. This is something that I think they wish people understood. The law is incredibly Kafka esque, and nonsensical, and labyrinth and like, just bizarre. And so whenever they're like, "Oh, we're gonna pass this new gun control law," everyone's sitting there being like, "Oh, God, it's going to be some other weird, crazy loophole, where if you don't do all of the following things, you're a felon." And what they've done now is they've gone back and made everyone felons in reverse. And I think it's fucked up. Casandra 16:43 That's wild that that's possible to retroactively make that many people felons. Brooke 16:50 It just it sounds like these these ATF peoples aren't very good at the F part of their ATF. Margaret 17:03 Like they're drinking and smoking, but they forgot to go shoot guns? Brooke 17:07 Yeah, like, I don't know about the A and the T shit that they do. But they sound like they're really fucking up the F part. Margaret 17:12 I mean, like, and this is like, the ATF is like all of the gun people's like boogeyman, right? Like, because they like, they keep track of people for potentially breaking specific laws, like, right, for example, like straw sales are illegal, I can't go to the store and buy a gun with the intention of turning around and selling it. Even though, in many states, and I think this is reasonable, that's fine. It's a way to skirt the law. In most, in many states, you can privately sell a firearm from one person to another. But if you go to a store in order to buy a gun in order to turn around and sell it, at this point, you're an arms dealer, and you like should have and so the people buying it from you should have to go through background checks and shit like that, right? At least from a legal point of view. So what the ATF sometimes does is they keep track of anyone who buys a whole bunch of guns at once, or a whole bunch of guns over some period of time. And they just like show up on that at your house and be like, "Hey, Where's all your guns? We wanna see them. And we want to prove you didn't sell any of them." Even though, if you buy a bunch of guns, for your own sake, and then turn around and sell some of them because you don't want them anymore, that is usually legal. And so there's kind of some like thought police stuff that has to go in because they have to prove intent and all this like weird shit. So the ATF is this like boogeyman that everyone's like weird about anyway. And then the other new thing that I'm a little bit less confident about, I've seen some stuff about this, that also has people up in arms is that with these NFA items, previously, NFA items being the short barreled rifle or a fully automatic weapon, right? It is legal as a as a citizen to own fully automatic weapons in certain contexts, right, if you fill out certain paperwork, you know, use them in certain environments, things like that. It's usually basically rich people have them because you have to buy ones that are from like before a ban and they so they there's like only a certain number of them that are available in the civilian market. So they just become more more expensive, which is always what the NFA was, of course was a tax on...so it was like poor people can have guns. Rich people get to have guns. And so there was this thing that the ATF...no go ahead. Casandra 19:26 I just think about how the justification originally was like, "We don't want mobsters to have access to these things," when when they were probably the only ones who could afford them at that point. Margaret 19:35 That's so true. Fuck. Casandra 19:38 We only want monsters to have these things. Margaret 19:41 Yeah. Yeah, if your shotgun cost $5,000....Yeah, only a certain class of people would have shotguns. No, that's such a good point. Okay, so one of the other things the NFA says that you can use...if I own...I do not On any NFA items, but if a hypothetical person were to own a short barreled rifle, if they are supervising, other people can shoot it. Because they're there. They're present, whatever. It's my short barreled rifle. And so you have this whole market of people who are like, "Yo, you want to go shoot a machine gun, like come to my range, you get to shoot a machine gun," which like sounds like fun. And these are very controlled environments, and it's perfectly fucking...Well, it's the safest shooting guns ever is. And now the NFA has like quietly changed in it's frequently asked questions of sorry, the ATF has changed on its frequently asked questions on its website, to just say, "No, only the only the person who has registered the item can be in possession of it. Can can use it." And so... Casandra 20:47 Weird. Margaret 20:48 Yeah. So like, if I have a suppressed rifle, which I don't, but I want one, I want to I want to go through the tax stamp paperwork in order to get one. Not only would it be illegal for me to let someone else use it, it would be illegal for me to store it in a way in which anyone else can access it. Like if I live somewhere and my husband has access to my gun safe, then that would be now a crime. This is more hypothetical. The other thing is very specific. And they released a fucking 300 page document about how they're going to turn everyone into felons. And everyone has 120 days. Casandra 21:26 They put so much thought into it. Margaret 21:27 Oh, yeah, they've been working on this for 10 years. And like fairly literally. This other thing is like a weird....And so the reason I want to talk about this is because like, this is a thing that is mostly being talked about in gun spaces, and is therefore mostly being talked about in center, right of center spaces. I don't want to just say right wing spaces, I think there's a lot of center and center right groups that are not like aggressively racist or something like that and are just like rural people who are into guns or whatever. And so people were really upset about it. And sometimes when we see certain types of people get really upset, we're like, "Haha, fuck you." But like, I think it is a completely legitimate thing for people to be upset about. I think this is fucked up. I think this is overreach. I think that this is like...the the sort of hope that people have is that at the very least, they'll just get rid of short barreled rifles off of the NFA list because it's nonsense. They shouldn't be there...in as much as....in as much as there's going to be a society I can imagine that society being like "There's a level of weapon we don't really want around here," right? Like I'm not like nukes for everyone kind of girl. And if I'm not a nukes for everyone kind of girl. Am I a machine guns for one kind of girl? I'm kind of not? I kind of just don't care. You know, like people would come at me, whatever. Like maybe it's hypocritical ofmyself, of me as an anarchist. I don't fucking know. Whatever but like, but I don't know. Whatever. That's my fucking weird gun rant. I've watched like so many like YouTube people rant about it. What's up? Casandra 23:02 That was a pristine conclusion. Margaret 23:07 It's so funny, because I'm like more anti gun this month than I am most months Brooke 23:14 Is it that you're anti gun? Or is it that you're anti ATF? Margaret 23:17 Yeah, I'm definitely anti ATF. Unless you're listening ATF, in which case I fucking love you. Don't come over, though. God that sounds sketchy than I meant it. I just....whatever. Anyway, that's the main thing I had that I had to talk about about January. This not the most important thing happening, but it is a big thing but you have some other stuff that you want to talk about, right? Brooke 23:42 I do and I like don't even know where to go to there from here. Oh, man. Well, I guess we can talk about.... Margaret 23:50 Well, speaking of tax stamps and tax.... Brooke 23:54 Yeah, well done. I was gonna go for like, ridiculous government nonsense. Margaret 23:59 Oh, that's actually better and more accurate. Casandra 24:01 That's taxes. Brooke 24:02 Yeah, there you go. Yeah. So there's this act has been proposed in Congress called the Fair Tax Act. And it's ridiculous and far fetched and is not going to go anywhere. But it has come up like three different times in my own life in the last week from from different people asking me about it and asking me what's up with it and I even had to kind of walked my mom through what was going on with this too, cuz she was talking about it. Hi, mom, if you're listening. Margaret 24:39 Hi, mom. Hi, Brooke's mom. Brooke 24:44 Nice. So this tax act is a Republican act. And the succinct version of it is that they want to abolish the IRS in its entirety and institute a 30% national Sales Tax. Margaret 25:01 See, I was with them for the start of that sentence. Brooke 25:04 First half is great. Stop there. We're good. Yeah, so that would get rid of income tax, and payroll tax, estate tax, gift tax. I mean, the whole stupid, ridiculous tax system that we have would go away. Casandra 25:16 I thought it was in addition to state taxes? Brooke 25:20 No. Casandra 25:21 Oh, interesting. Brooke 25:21 Well, I guess, I guess I don't know if they can regulate state income taxes and all of that. Margaret 25:26 Not without a war. Brooke 25:28 Yeah. So. Margaret 25:30 Anyway. Brooke 25:33 Anyway, and if so...so it's a 30% national sales tax on all goods and services purchased, which, interestingly, some of the Republicant's have tried to call it a 23% Tax. Because, they're playing with the way the math is presented. Alright, quick math lesson. Margaret 25:54 Oh, is it the which direction? Okay, yeah. Give us the math lesson. Casandra 25:57 Numbers. Numbers are arbitrary. Is that the lesson? Brooke 26:02 You can use math to lie. That's the lesson. Margaret 26:05 Yay! Brooke 26:06 Yeah. Yeah. So if you have to buy something that's $100. Let's say just for a nice round number, and there's a 30% tax on it, you're gonna pay $130 for that item. And most of us look at that and go, that's a 30% tax. Margaret 26:22 Right. Casandra 26:22 Cause it is. Brooke 26:24 Right. But... Margaret 26:26 If you reversed it. Brooke 26:27 Yeah, exactly. Casandra 26:29 What? Brooke 26:29 $30 is 23% of $130. Margaret 26:35 Heh, heh heh. Brooke 26:39 So if you just pretend that the item costs $130 Then you can claim that you're only charging a 23% tax. Margaret 26:46 Because 23% of that is tax Brooke 26:50 Of that $130. Casandra 26:53 I want to know how I missed the like stereotypical autistic person thing of understanding math. Brooke 27:03 Yeah, the thing that that was that some people were like, "Well, it's only 23%," but they're just lying with...they're just using math to lie. Casandra 27:13 23%? Was that only? Margaret 27:15 I know exactly. Like, that's a lot of my money. Casandra 27:19 Still doesn't make sense. I mean, there's been Brooke 27:21 130% I guess. Margaret 27:23 I mean, as a freelancer I pay some fuck off high percentage of my income in taxes. I don't even remember. Casandra 27:29 As an Oregonian, I don't pay sales tax. Brooke 27:32 Yeah, so any sale's tax is like "Fuck you you, world." Margaret 27:40 This is the real tyranny. So why do right wing people want this? Like, is it because it helps the rich because they're not paying a state tax or whatever and it's like... Casandra 27:49 And why is it repeatedly brought up? Brooke 27:51 Yeah, so it's...it would be a flat rate tax on like a current system, which is it's called a progressive tax system. And please don't confuse progressive with like the liberal sense of the word progressive, but progressive as in like graduated taxes we have now. Poor people pay less, richer people pay more. You pay tax as you progress in income. Casandra 28:13 So, this is a fuck poor people? Brooke 28:20 Well, the flat rate tax would be simpler than the progressive system. And allegedly, under the current proposal, low income individuals could apply once a month for a rebate on some of the tax that they spent. Margaret 28:34 Oh yeah, with all of that free time that poor people have. Brooke 28:37 Yeah, exactly. Casandra 28:38 What if I mean, if it were actually to pass, how much do you want to bet that the rebate would just be on like yachts? Brooke 28:48 Yeah, yeah. Under the system, everyone ends up paying more in tax except for the wealthiest 5% of Americans who actually end up paying less in taxes overall. But yeah, as you just alluded to Casandra, this is like not the first time this idea has come up. In fact, it has been introduced in Congress every single year since 1999. Casandra 29:12 Really? Brooke 29:14 Yep. Casandra 29:14 Why? Why. Margaret 29:15 Is it just some guy? Casandra 29:19 No, why are people making such a big deal out of it this time? Brooke 29:22 Yeah, solid question. Casandra 29:24 Because it's so Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Brooke 29:28 Hypotheses are welcome. It has no more chance of passing right now than it has the last 24 times it has been introduced. But there's a larger contingent of right wing extremists who are behind it like 30ish people this year. Margaret 29:43 Uuuuhm, 23..... Brooke 29:52 Okay, so it's, you know, there's enough support for it that it is garnering more attention. It's not just one or two people throwing it out there. And it anytime there's been kind of this larger contingent of more extreme right wing people in Congress it has gotten attention in the news media. So, like when the Tea Party folks came into Congress, it got proposed that year as it has every single year, and it made the news a little bit more than because they were more supportive than usual. Casandra 30:26 So is it just like Margaret said, is it just some guy is it? Is it the far right just like fucking with our understanding of normalcy, like the Overton window? Brooke 30:38 Yeah, probably. That's part of it. I mean, it made news in '99, when it was first introduced. And I couldn't tell you exactly how many times it made any kind of major news between then and now, except for when the Tea Party folks came into power. Casandra 30:54 Do youever look back and think like, we used to just have a Tea Party, you know? Brooke 30:59 Yes, do. Yeah, okay. So I couldn't...go ahead. Margaret 31:06 I, it's so hard, because it's like, there is a part of me, like, I hate how complicated our tax system is, right? So I could understand this appealing if you don't think it through, right? Because then you're like, well, it's just based on how much you actually spend, and not what you make at work or whatever, you know. Because like, I fucking hate turning around and giving some percent of my tax that I can never keep track of, to the government. Basically, just every April, I'm like, there goes all my money. And now every quarter there goes all my money. And like, so I get the appeal of it. And it's so frustrating, because I feel like they're tapping into something that's like real, which is people's frustration with the tax system in this country, like you explained to other....I am under the impression I have seen on the internet, that people from other countries are like, What the fuck is wrong with you? What do you mean the government just like? Because it's like, you go to a restaurant and you order food. And then they're like,"Alright, pay me now." And you're like, "How much is the food?" And they're like, "Yeah, I mean, you can figure that out. And if you get it wrong, you go to prison." That sucks. I'm never going to that restaurant again. Like, if the government and I know the government can can give me a bill with a number because sometimes I underpay and they send me a bill with a number. And sometimes I overpay and they send me money back. They know the number. Just fucking tell it to me and I will pay I will. I would begrudge taxes so much less if it wasn't just this weird dance of fucking death with the goddamn government. Anyway. Brooke 32:42 You're totally fair. I have spent countless hours getting tax stuff done. Now, I spent 10 hours yesterday doing tax stuff for various things. That's just what I'm going to do for the next few months is spend a whole lot of time with taxes. Margaret 32:58 Can we call it the Illuminati tax because the number 23? Or is that bad because anything related....anyway...conspiracies. Brooke 33:06 We can call the buddy tax. Because the fella whose turn it was to introduce it this year is Earl Leroy Carter, whose nickname is Buddy from Georgia. Casandra 33:17 Leroy. Leroy is such a good name. Margaret 33:21 But, Buddy is the name of someone who's too old to be in government. Brooke 33:25 Right! Like I had to look at a picture of the dude and he's exactly what you think he looks like. Margaret 33:30 If your nickname is Dick, you are too old to be in the government. If your nickname is Buddy, you're too old to be in government. Maybe. Okay, wait, wait I want to say older people deserve representation too. The entire government should not be run by people who are all of one generation that is much older. That's how I'm going to walk back from ageism. Yeah, totally anger issues Yeah. Brooke 34:03 Oh, I just it was Buddy's turn to draw the short straw I guess because he hasn't....It hasn't been him every year. it's been different folks in different years. He's only been in the US Congress for five or six years or something like that. So, I don't know if they just start off the governmenting season with a you know, drawing straws or... Casandra 34:30 It's some sort of hazing ritual. To be part of the crew you have to like propose this ridiculous thing and everyone will hate you for it. Margaret 34:43 Like I don't even want this. It's just literally their hazing. Brooke 34:50 Alright, whose turn is it to bring out the old Unfair Tax Act law and abolish the IRS this year. Margaret 34:58 Which is funny because it's like I mean, I just went on this rant about how we should abolish the ATF. Brooke 35:06 Anyway, yeah, Margaret 35:08 I get so frustrated by the..... Casandra 35:11 Like you're almost there. You almost reached to the point.. Margaret 35:15 Yeah, and they go on down this wild side path where they're like and and then they wander off into the fucking.... Brooke 35:24 The other part of it is that 30% probably is not quite enough of a tax to replace the income that they currently get from the tax system. So, it would probably actually have to be higher than that to work. Casandra 35:39 It's just while to be thinking about...whatever...how the fuck much we all pay in taxes and what happens with that money and what doesn't happen with money. And who doesn't pay taxes. Margaret 35:51 All of you listening who are anti gun, but pay taxes I have. I have bad news for you. You buy so many more guns than any like than anyone who lives in any other country. Because half of your money is just guns. Brooke 36:07 Fucking US military. Hey, speaking of government brutality. The second topic I have, is that there's some news that's gonna drop tonight. The night of the stay that we are sitting here recording this episode. It hasn't been released yet. Margaret 36:26 So it'd be like last week or the week before for you all? Brooke 36:28 Yeah, exactly. And it has the potential to spark some George Floyd esque levels of protests. It's the body cam video footage from early January of the traffic stop and the brutal arrest of Tyre Nichols, a 29 year old Tennessee man who died as a result of the brutality he experienced that day. The descriptions of the videos that have come out from those who have seen it in advance have likened it to the 1991 video of Rodney King being beaten by the Los Angeles Police and Tyre's mother, excuse me, who hasn't seen and is not going to watch the video said that her son was beaten to a pulp by the arresting officers, of whom they were five. He was pepper sprayed, struck by a stun gun, restrained, kicked and more. And the family's attorney described the beating by saying the Tyre was used as a human pinata. So, some caution in watching those videos. Of course, if you're listening to this, it's the week after the they've been released. So either they have sparked intense rounds of protests, or they've quietly flamed out and gone down as just another act of extreme police brutality. Casandra 37:43 I was reading this morning that they were like closing parts of Memphis. Margaret 37:47 Yeah, they brought in the National Guard, right? Brooke 37:50 Yeah, the governor declared a state of emergency in preparation for the protest that will follow the release of the videos. Yeah. Yeah. Casandra 38:02 I hate that it takes the release of a video, you know? Brooke 38:07 Yeah, yeah. The five arresting officers have all been fired, and they're facing a barrage of charges, including second degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression, which I didn't know official oppression was the thing that you could get charged with. But I think we can just go ahead and slap that on a whole bunch of government stuff while we're while we're using that one. Margaret 38:31 Yeah, that's what I say about them usually. It's like the inverse. There's a New York City law Criminal anarchy. Anyway, there you go. Casandra 38:44 I've already seen some like right wing commentary. Just people pointing out the fact that like, this is different. This isn't race based because the officers were also black. Yeah. Because systemic oppression apparently means nothing. Brooke 39:03 Yeah, and I've, you know, given in no position to speak to the race relations in this matter, and any of that, but you know, certainly is yet another example of police brutality and the indiscriminant violence that they visit upon us, Margaret 39:21 And still part of racist policing. I think that it is still fair to say that it's part of racist policing in this country, I feel like that's been laid out. This isn't like my idea. This coming from Black liberation movements for a long time that black police are capable of enacting racist violence or being part of a racist, racistly violence system. But of course, they'll use that to distract and they'll use the fact that they threw the cops under the bus, which I like wonder whether they would have thrown the cops under the bus if the cops were white. Casandra 39:54 Yep. Margaret 39:54 Yeah. And, you know, and either way they threw the cops under the bus because of trying to minimize...It's not because they don't feel good about this stuff happening because the police do. But because they like, want people to not riot. And sometimes, they'll, you know, that's how afraid they are. I feel like you can you can see how afraid the system is based on how it handles the cops who enact violence. It's almost they're afraid this time. Which is good. They should be. Brooke 40:32 Yeah, it sounds like it's going to be some real ugly video, and I am planning to watch it. But, a trigger warning on myself. Margaret 40:43 Yeah. Brooke 40:46 Well, I've got one more topic. It's kind of following up on on an old friend of ours, the Colorado River. Margaret 40:53 Oh, yeah. Brooke 40:53 Just because it was in the news a bit recently. Margaret 40:56 How he doing? He doing good? Brooke 40:58 Yeah, everything's great with with Old Colorado. He's feeding the seven states and, you know, everything's fine. So that's my update. Margaret 41:11 Great.Tell me the bad news. Brooke 41:13 Yeah. So, Lake Mead, which we've talked about, in at least a couple of episodes, it provides water to, and electricity to Arizona, Nevada, and just a little old area called Southern California. And currently, right now, it's at its lowest point that it has been since 1935. And it has been at its lowest point since 1935, for about two years now. And it keeps getting lower, which is the decline of the lake is consistent with the overall decline of the water levels in the whole river, which is a significant source of water, also for Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico. And the reason that it's extra in the news at the moment is that these seven states that all depend on the Colorado River, have collectively worked together for, I guess, more than 100 years to kind of manage the water and it's resources and decide how to allocate it. And the federal government has tasked them a couple of times in the last year, to come up with a plan for reducing their water usage and for, you know, kind of this emergency scenario, because it's getting so very low. And for the second time, in the last year, the states have failed to come up with a plan together despite their, you know, century of working together. So the Interior Department of the federal government is probably going to have to step in and impose water usage cuts on the states in order to prevent...well, I mean, it's still gonna be pretty devastating, but in order to, you know, mitigate, who's getting how much of the devastation. Margaret 42:52 Well I bet that will go smoothly. Brooke 42:54 Yeah, they're not already having, you know, legal challenges and, you know, threatens of sue, and lots of lawyers and private organizations and stuff involved. Margaret 43:05 And if there's one thing I mean, what's that saying? Thirsty people don't fight over water. Casandra 43:12 Exactly how it goes. Brooke 43:16 It'll be fine. Margaret 43:17 Yeah. Casandra 43:17 Meanwhile, in other parts of California there's like massive flooding. And they're already predicting a produce shortages for the rest of the year. Yeah. Brooke 43:27 Yeah, great. Need. So too much water in the north, too little water in the South? Crops? Fucked. Margaret 43:37 Yay! Brooke 43:38 Excellent. Yeah. Now the thing that people like to to raise the the alarm about, especially with Lake Mead is that it feeds the Hoover Dam. And if the water level gets too low in the lake, you're not gonna be able to power the dam. But it's not actually really looking like it's, that's going to happen soon. They're still probably a few years before it would get that low. And this is based on like me pulling all of the data and looking at the worst case scenarios of the water levels. And that's, you know, I'm not a climatologist. So I can't tell you about other things that might happen. But just in terms of the trends of the decline in the water. Now, of course, that means I'll have two years to ignore it, and then still freak out and panic and fuck everything up at the last minute. Margaret 44:29 No, no, they'll like, get it together. That's why we have governments that are really good at doing stuff in a timely fashion and addressing the big the big issues. Casandra 44:40 Governments make everything more efficient. Margaret 44:42 Yeah. Yeah. Without it it'd be total anarchy, Brooke 44:47 Lies, damn lies from governments. All right, what's happening in the world, Margaret? What's happening outside our little bubble? Margaret 44:58 It's about California. My first one. Alright, so California.... Casandra 45:04 None of us live in California, for the record. Margaret 45:09 So okay, what is it? There's a bill, Assembly Bill 92 in California. I have no idea whether this is likely to pass. This the thing. I think that I actually fall into this too. Whenever we see like, "Oh, there's this new bill, and it's fucked up." Everyone's like, "Oh, fuck, they're gonna," you know, there'd be a bill that's like, "Murder every seventh child," and people be like, "Oh, fuck," you know, and like, and then usually those bills don't pass. And so we feel a little bit like wolf cry'ey when we're like....like all the anti trans bills that are happening right now. Right? Like Virginia actually just shut one down. And I wish, I should have. I should focus more on some of the positive news for these things. Virginia, just shut one down. Like it didn't even go to vote. People were like, "Nah, we're good." And but, I don't even think it was a statewide one. I don't know, whatever. It's like, these things do get defeated all the time. But people propose all this wild shit, like, the 23 people tax. Well, I know. But if you start with the 30 people who propose it, and then you say, we'll pass the tax, if we get to execute seven of you. ...You know, I'd be willing to like give it a shot for a little while. Brooke 46:18 A shot. Margaret 46:21 Which, they'd be in trouble if they lived in California if this bill passes, because California is trying to pass a bill, or some people in California trying to pass a bill banning civilian possession of armor. Casandra 46:34 Body armor? Margaret 46:35 And I think that... Casandra 46:36 Which i'm just like, wow. Why? I always wonder how....like, they must have to have some sort of justification for proposing bills like this. And I just like, what is it? Margaret 46:47 So, there's justification for proposing this is that several other mass shooters have worn body armor in the past couple of mass shootings. This, to me is like, the crystal clear distillation of like, doing law wrong, you know, is like being like, well, you can't protect yourself from bullets beecause some people who want to kill people might protect themselves from bullets. Casandra 47:14 But if we pass a law about it, those people who want to kill people will definitely follow the law. Margaret 47:18 Yeah. That's the best thing about law is that the only people who follow it are criminals, and everyone else is free. Actually, what's really funny is in a weird way, because of selective enforcement, as it's like, you know, it's like, if you're breaking some other laws it's the only time you get in trouble for certain laws. But, yeah, so they're trying to pass a bill outlawing body armor, and I think it is fucked up. That's.... Casandra 47:44 That's wild. Most of the mass shooters are men. We could just outlaw them. Margaret 47:50 You know, I see no counter argument that can be made. Brooke 47:57 Let's put them in cages. Breeding stock only. Margaret 48:04 The 1960s called they want their science fiction back. But they can't have it because it's funny. So, there's that. There's a diabetes med that's in shortage called ozempic. And it's in shortage because a version of it got popular for weight loss. The same drug is used is produced by the same manufacturer at a higher dosage called wegovy. I don't know, the dumbest names in the world are the names of prescription drugs. Casandra 48:37 Yeah. That's someone's job Margaret 48:40 I know, I'm so jealous of whoever's job that is. Like, I write fantasy characters for a living, I could do that job. No, that's not true. Because like, fantasy authors always go for like, Alright, we're gonna take a normal name like John and we're gonna, like spell it weird. Or add an 'e' in the middle or something. And like, this isn't called like, 'insaloon.' You know, it's not just 'insulin' with a different pronunciation. It's fucking orginal. Ozempic? Wegovy? it doesn't even look like it's some other language. It just looks like...you look at that, and you're like, that's a prescription drug. Casandra 49:19 That means we need to hire a sci fi author to do the job. Margaret 49:23 Yeah, okay. All right. Well, since I'm out of that job. People at the World Economic Forum in Davos are predicting major cyber attacks in 2023 and or 2024, DDoS attacks, denial of service attacks, like where they flood an IP to shut it down. Those increased 79% last year. Brooke 49:44 Wow. Margaret 49:45 And something like 49% of like major economic things that do all the manufacturing etc. are like vulnerable or like, particularly not hardened to cyber attacks. You know, we had the thing couple years ago where like, you couldn't get couldn't get gas in part of the Mid Atlantic because of a cyber attack. Brooke 50:03 Oh, yeah. Margaret 50:04 So anyway, so there's that to look forward to. In the most depressing news that no one ever wants to admit or think about, Germany's Minister of Health says that all signs point towards COVID putting people at risk for incurable immune deficiencies. The studies are not final. But there's just more and more mounting evidence coming in from all different corners about how we should be taking COVID Seriously. And again, not to put that impetus on like, as much the individuals, but like, wouldn't it be cool if some of our tax money paid for i dunno, HVAC systems for schools? Brooke 50:43 Weird. Margaret 50:44 Wouldn't that be just like...Oh, yes. And the other thing that happened, I didn't write this in my notes. But one of the main things that I saw this fucking month is at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the windows were open, there was HEPA filters in every room, everyone tested at the door. The people in the audience wore masks, because the world leaders know that it's fucking real. Casandra 51:03 Yep. Brooke 51:05 But, but, but didn't we just decided it ended it here in the US? Didn't we just declare that? Margaret 51:10 Oh, no, we extended it till April. Brooke 51:13 Okay. Margaret 51:13 It's over in April. Yeah. Brooke 51:16 Except not the SNAP benefits. Margaret 51:18 No, the SNAP benefits. That is the next thing I had on my list. That's very good. The SNAP benefits, which I still in my head to call food stamps, but maybe you're not supposed to. But in case you're don't know what SNAP means the extended benefits that people got during the COVID pandemic are going to expire in March. So, February is the last month of the extended benefits. Sorry, sucks to be poor. Hope you don't die of the...this is me and my government voice not me and my voice....Hope you don't just...well, actually, we do want you to just go back to work and die for the economy. Speaking of people willing to die for the economy, Bolsonaro's right wing idiots stormed the Capitol after he lost an election. I don't have nearly as much as Brazil. I don't have nearly as much information about that as I wish I did prepared because...I...because this is the speed round. Speed Round. There should be like a little sound effect. Too too, zoo zoo. On the other hand, I like other people when they storm government institutions, and left wing people in Peru are doing are like also uprising. And I think that's good. Because I hate that we let....the when people are like "The insurrectionists and the seditioutionists," and I'm like "Hey, now. That's some of my best friends." What else? Oh, and Pakistan has been having massive, after their fucking floods that we talked about last year, they've been having massive blackouts. There was like to 220 million people without power for a while. And it's basically old fucked up infrastructure that is fucking them up. And that...either of you have Lightning Rounds? Brooke 53:05 No, I don't pay attention to the news. I'm doing taxes. Margaret 53:10 Oh, yeah. Okay, well, that's the end of our lightning round. Brooke 53:15 Pew pew peeew. Margaret 53:23 And that is This Month in the Apocalypse. And if there's something we missed, there isn't. And if you think something happened that was bad, it didn't happen. Or we would have covered it.I see no flaw in that logic and I think you all are gonna have to learn to understand that that's just the way it is. So, but if you want to hear us tell you everything that's happening and....whatever, if you want to support this podcast, you should do so by supporting us on Patreon. Our Patreon is patreon.com/.... not Live like the world is dying...shit. We are Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness. That's right Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness because this is published by Strangers in Tangled Wilderness. And if you support us on Patreon, we'll mail you a zine every month if you support is a certain level. Otherwise, you'll get like discounts on all our stuff including my new book that's probably out by the time y'all hear this called Escape from Incel Island, which is about people doing what it says on the cover. I tend to be fairly literal with some of my naming conventions, with amazing cover art by Jonas Goonface. And you can go get that from Tangledwilderness.org or wherever you buy books. I mean, eventually you can get from wherever you buy books. Right now you can...well I don't know book distribution's weird? So you should support us at Patreon: patreon.com/Strangersintangledwilderness and also in particular, we would like to thank some of our patrons we would like to thank Aly and Paparouna, Milica, Boise Mutual Aid, Theo, Hunter, Sean, SJ, Paige, Mikki, Nicole, David, Dana, Chelsea, Cat J, Staro, Jenipher, Eleanor, Kirk, Sam, Chris, Micaiah, Hoss the dog, and Hans, maybe Jan's, I usually write the pronunciation ahead of time. And I'm very sorry and it's especially embarrassing because you're new to the list and I really appreciate you in particular, Hans Vergennes for supporting us. And that's it. I'm gonna....done and I hope you all are doing great. Bye bye Find out more at https://live-like-the-world-is-dying.pinecast.co

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Time Moves On (content warning talk of suicide)

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 6, 2023 36:30

CONTENT WARNING: SUICIDE This week Nathaniel does a deep dive into the LTB song "Time Moves On". They talk bluntly about the dark thoughts they've had, and the different traumas that fed them. This is a frank and direct conversation about abuse and how that often leads to suicidal thoughts. Please, if you're thinking about harming yourself, talk to someone. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255) Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/lunetheband/message

talk suicide national suicide prevention lifeline ltb it could happen here cool people who did cool stuff content warning talk

Baby, I'm An Anarchist (for Tyre, and Tort)

america love live babies state capital tyre anarchists tort anti flag it could happen here cool people who did cool stuff

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 29, 2023 31:04

This week Nathaniel speaks to the moment we dwell in. The dark and violent times, where The State, and Capital allow racist and corrupt police to wield violence to keep the machine we call America moving. They pull no punches as they plead with us all to not look away, and not accept the norm, but for us all to rage against the dying of the light. There is power in community. There is power in solidarity. There is power in anarchy. Love harder. Live louder. Be what you need to be. Atlanta Forest Defense: https://linktr.ee/DefendAtlantaForest Against Me!: https://againstme.bandcamp.com/ Anti-Flag: https://anti-flag.bandcamp.com/ Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/lunetheband/message

Andor + Rogue One

The Spectacle

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 24, 2023 61:04

Io and Margaret go through the Star Wars narratives, Andor, and Rogue One, and talk about where they overlap historically with real resistance movements, what the narratives are commentating on about current resistance movements, where the representation falls short and generally why the Mon Calamari are the downest people in the universe to have on your side and why they should hangout with Roger Casement. Host Info Io can be found on Twitter @Bum_lung or on Instagram @Bum.Lung or you can find shirts and patches that they make on Etsy at https://www.etsy.com/shop/BumLung Guest Info Margaret can be found on twitter @magpiekilljoy or instagram at @margaretkilljoy. She is also the host of Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff and Live Like the World is Dying Publisher This show is published by Strangers in A Tangled Wilderness. We can be found at www.tangledwilderness.org, or on Twitter @TangledWild and Instagram @Tangled_Wilderness. You can support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/strangersinatangledwilderness. Transcript AGPH 1 Mon, Jan 23, 2023 10:18PM • 1:01:05 SUMMARY KEYWORDS fucking, people, revolution, rogue, empire, revolutionary, anarchists, star wars, insurrection, rebellion, shit, kill, big, irish, revolutionary movements, watch, doomed, sergey, throwing, character SPEAKERS Margaret, Io Io 00:45 Star Wars talking about Star Wars Margaret and I Oh, here we are podcast. Hello. Welcome to the anarcho geek Power Hour. It's a it's it's a podcast.We are just trying to do trying to do a fun, fun, fun little podcast for us. Come on this journey. Well, you are we talk about nerd bullshit with all and I got a pal right here and you just heard her and it's Margaret killjoy. Margaret. How's it going? Good. Hello. Um, thanks for having me on as a guest on your show. I'll probably be trying to talk my way into being on this particular show a lot because it's pretty cool premise. Oh, yeah. Cats. Yeah. And anytime door doors always open because we, cuz we're all living on the same fortified mountain compound. So yeah, the general premise of the show is just we're going to talk about nerd bullshit and Ooh, we got one right out right out the gate something. I'm just just over the moon about we got and or That's no moon. Yeah, no, it's a television show. And a fairly good one. Mark. Margaret, what's your what's your background with Star Wars? Margaret 02:07 I grew up not liking it as much as Star Trek to be real. But now that I'm older well actually both both franchises are really hit or miss. But I like a lot of the newer Star Wars stuff. And I particularly like Rogue One. So I was particularly excited about andorre Samah you well. Yeah, more more or less. Same though. Io 02:30 You know what, let's scale that back. I am captured by Star Wars. Star Wars has my ass for life because I like it for the same reasons. I like like the Ramones, like because I grew up with it and it's stupid and it's stupid and simple and it's easy and that's why I liked it. I'll watch I'll watch all that garbage. And would you believe they made a good they made a good Star War not just a good Star War but a good show about my favorite shit which is morally complicated resistance movements. It really is kind of a a gift specifically to you but to probably half the people listening to this too. Yeah, if you haven't well if you haven't seen Andora highly recommended pause pause this podcast and and returned to it. Maybe someday but go watch and because we are going to talk about spoilers Io 03:27 Yeah, the whole premise basically it's in a star war. You got your you got your Jedi you got your space lasers. Between all the all the Banthas and the R two D tos and the GES music you forget that the plot is about a rebellion and finally they're fucking doing something with it. I grew up really into Star Wars it was like my first it was my first fantasy sci fi anything and I read a lot of the extended universe which is no longer canon. Chewbacca is no longer canonically killed by a planet which is a real shame Margaret 04:06 when did they when did they retcon at all when did they take the extended universe out Io 04:11 when Mickey Mouse got his hands all over this franchise? None of that no, we're not dealing with any of that shit. So they just pick and choose the stuff from the extended universe they want to fuck with and some of it stays some of it when it's all it's all Calvin Ball in in the galaxy now but um yeah, even in the extended universe before though there were a few like really great like the Han Solo trilogy it's been you know, like a decade but I remember it really, really fucking whipping and these Margaret 04:48 are the books right? Yes, the books Io 04:53 and a couple of others deal with like, the rebellion but not not like not like This not and we're not going to. Well, Margaret, I don't know about you. I'm not here to argue that Rogue One is anarchists propaganda. Margaret 05:10 No one might argue that Andorra's bar anarchists propaganda. Io 05:13 Oh, yeah. Okay, well, I'm not here to argue and endorse anarchists propaganda made by made by the Mickey Mouse Corporation, but me as an anarchist and I'm really fucking enjoying it. And I just, I was trying to get everybody into this for so long because it's like, obviously coming from this place of knowledge of the continuum of revolutionary movements the writer said he was influenced by like Palestine and the Russian Revolution and the Haitian revolution. We watched Rogue one the other day, and you pointed out why does everyone have the slightest Irish Burr? I think because they were also influenced, especially in the funding about, especially in like the Mon Mothma funding of like, the Irish revolution, but okay, but yeah, let's, let's, let's get into it, get into it. We both recently finished. And or what do you think overall, Margaret 06:12 I liked it. And I'm kind of, I mean, I'll watch junk TV, you know, because life is short, and why not spend my short life watching it. Okay, I don't have a really good excuse for why I watch drunk TV. But I will happily watch drunk TV, if, you know when I need to turn my brain off or whatever. And so I kind of like go into almost any TV show sort of expecting that. And then instead, I found like, actual depth and like, a less one or two dimensional resistance movement than I see. Basically, anytime I watch, especially TV, but movies as well, like resistance movements are so always clearly painted by people who've never either read history or threw a rock at a cop. You know, and like, I don't want to make any criminal accusations towards anyone involved in writing this, but I will guess they've at least read history. If not throwing a rock at a cop. Yeah, there's toxic cops, kids. It's I'll do whatever you want. Io 07:13 I'll say it I got I got less the loose. Go empire. Yeah, yeah, fight the Empire. Everybody. Subscribe to our Patreon so you can see the video of me doing hand quotes Io 07:32 Yeah, it is a there's dimension in it that I was not expecting from Star Wars. I was and I didn't really expect from, from anything. It's like writing writing is a hard job being able to like Express, like the moral complexity of a of a gorilla. What a gorilla sell who's gonna go rob go rob a big bank on some on some fucking planet. But they did it they pull they pull it off really? Well. Margaret 08:10 Yeah. Tell me about tell me about the how this relates to the funding of the Irish revolution. I don't know if the other direction they want to take this but like, I'd be really interested in like, some of the more obvious or some of the historical parallels that we've picked up on. And I I would love to hear more about that. Io 08:31 I was noticing the fact that they had Mon Mothma up in the mix who is a character from the original Star Wars who's the one who's sort of she says many Bothans died bring in this as these plans and she's always given the given the spiel and bringing her back as like someone who's down for like she's not she's not involved, obviously. But she's like, doing whatever she can to like get the money to these people who are off fucking Killing cops across the galaxy. While still like sitting pretty in high society and like working in parliament in this in this very like subdued liberal way that is like toeing the line in a way that a lot of especially like Irish representation in England was and even in some English representation in England was and like it's definitely like No, there's nothing that's a one to one on on Pandora and I wouldn't say that but like the way the IRA and the like pre Ira revolutionary movements funded themselves with a lot from the Irish diaspora who like made it big in Boston and New York sending money back or, or straight up sending boats full of guns back. Okay, to see, to see not only the like the scrappy people in the woods, ready to do whatever For and the shadowy Stellan Skarsgard who I would love to get into because I I love the whole Skarsgard brood but still and especially to see not only the like the cloak and dagger part of things but the be able to have some fuckin Game of Thrones political intrigue was Yeah, was very fun. Margaret 10:27 Okay well and to go and continue with the Irish fundraising thing I'm sure someone out there fortunately I don't live in the parts of the Internet where people complain about the shit is like complaining that like two of our primary revolutionaries are in a gay relationship right? And you know two women who are who are dating and you know the tension in their relationship based on which one prioritizes love and which one prioritizes revolution but someone somewhere is like, Oh, they're making all these people gay or whatever it is no gay revolutionaries in history. First of all, it's like, obviously bullshit. But in terms of the Irish revolution, one of these such a good example of a character who does actually feel kind of a an and or Star Wars characters to some you heard of Roger Casement, the gay Irish night. If anyone's listening, there's this guy named Roger Casement, who was a big part of bringing down King Leopold from Belgium, the fucking monster who murdered millions and whatever is one of the worst on all of history of historical ghoul. Yeah, and there's just so there was this like, colonial Irish guy who was like part of the English colonization of Africa. And he was like, Oh, I'm on the wrong team, like absolutely on the wrong team. And he got like, really into Irish nationalism, as well as working really hard to fight against the exploitation of Africa and South America, actually. And then he like, went and spent his life and lost his life smuggling guns into Ireland for the for the Easter Rising, and he was so fucking gay. Just so completely, tragically gay. And I don't know, he feels like a very Star Wars character. I guess he's not again, he's not one for one. But yeah, these but he was part of the English establishment. He was a fucking Knight, you know? Io 12:15 Yeah. And there was plenty of those. I mean, in every, in every movement, you know, death to the bourgeoisie, whatever, whatever. But who you can get a lot done if you if you know it, if you know in your heart, what's right and your positions. And just as an as an aside, because I it because it wouldn't, it wouldn't do to zero in on this, but maybe on a later episode. Definitely on a later episode. But there Yeah, yeah, the queers have been in every revolutionary movement in the early in the 19th century, there's a quote from somebody from some open, openly queer person that says, if you want to be yourself, you go find the anarchists. Margaret 12:57 Yeah, I can't remember whose that quote is from. Yeah, no, totally. And, and so it makes sense that I really liked that we've entered a stage of gay representation in Hollywood or whatever, mainstream TV where it's not like the shocker. I mean, there's a little bit they play a little bit on the leg, oh, they're gay, but only like, the tiniest little bit, and no one is upset by it, you know, and that's nice. Io 13:23 Yeah, and I it's a little bit of a hobby horse of mine that I the great meaty, the big media establishment knows that. By and large, the people consuming things like liberal culture is very ascendant in, in media, we'll see how long that lasts, but they know that, you know, representation or whatever, like cells, you can sell a terrible movie on the concept of representation when you put a diverse cast that they're like, the right mushroom and, and the, and the people making the decisions are still Lily whites and straight, but they all they'll sell it to you with whatever. And Star Wars very famously was like, we got a gay kiss in this one. And it's like two women kissing in the background, very easy to edit out for whatever international audiences wouldn't allow something like that. They're like, dogshit this one where they don't, it's not a big deal. It's just a fact. It's not Yeah, it's just a fact of it, that they that they are lovers in a, in a struggle together and the tension being that like you said, one is market is not more committed to the cause, but like the relationship is is eclipsed by the cause certainly. Yeah. Is like like a great a great tension to play with and I'm excited to see like they at least have a season to play around with. Margaret 14:58 Yeah, I mean, it's kind of funny watching this because Just like well, you know how the characters end up? Like, yeah, you know, you know that andorre isn't ending up with Beck's in any way that like, at least like in any way that is worth note in, in Rogue One, you know? And then also, spoiler, they're all going to die. Well, at least at least Cassie and Endor is okay, well, my other historical parallel that I want to draw that I've been like thinking about a whole bunch since I saw it, there's this whole trope within it, and I really am curious to see what they'll do with it. I'm afraid they'll do it badly. But so far, they've kind of earned my trust more than most things. There's this thing about authoritarianism on the rebel side, right? There's this tension. I am incapable of remembering names. You've got your head honcho. Revolutionary guy, right. Who is the doomed revolutionary? What's his name? Skarsgard. luthan. Yeah, that's the actor's name. Io 15:59 The one who's who's a antique seller. Margaret 16:03 Yeah, you don't remember his name either. luthan. Something? Okay. luthan. So, you've got Lutheran and he is the tragic leader. And he specifically refers to himself as doomed at one point. And I think that this is probably consciously a reference to Catechism of the revolutionary bias organic net chef. And so again, that chef was this. This Russian revolutionary nihilist who actually if you want to hear me and I would talk about search, Sergey net, you have listened to my episode of cool people that have cool stuff on the Russian nihilists. Io 16:39 Find it anywhere you find podcasts, folks. Margaret 16:43 Yeah. And I fucking hate this guy, historical guy, Sergey, like he is trash. And he is absolutely the kind of guy who will get his friends arrested on purpose in order to advance the cause without asking their permission or telling them what's happening, right. And I think he has like, lost his ethics in what he's doing. And his whole thing he writes this book called Catechism of the revolutionary that is the revolutionary is a doomed man is one of the main concepts of this book, in which basically like, you don't have friends, you don't have lovers. You have the revolution and you will die. And it has like a romance to it has like a beauty to it. Right? I think fundamentally, it's a flawed concept. But what's really interesting to me is that in in andorre, you have a character who I believe is a conscious reflection of the Sergey model, although Sergey was not actually the leader of revolution he wanted to be but he was a fucking whatever he was also tried guy who fucking killed his own side more than he killed the other side and all around sucked. And so So luthan is almost this like, the positive incarnation of a Skynet ship so far, in that he's doomed. And he makes the hard calls and stuff. But he's not quite a fully authoritarian leader. You know, there's a couple points where he gives people full information and lets them make their own decisions. His assistant whose name I also don't remember clearly has a can exert a certain amount of power over him. He's not quite a dictator. And he's clearly tormented by the fact that in some ways, he is a dictator of, of the revolution. And the thing that I find interesting, almost some of his rant, and I'm really curious are your thoughts about it? The thing I find really interesting about it is how it compares to the manifesto that were being presented by the dead kid. Io 18:35 And he made the mix the fucking hot the hot space, the space twink the crime the crime think loving little revolution, the crime Margaret 18:44 prank. Yeah, the crime twink. Who rules and I love his character, because he's like, afraid, but he like does it anyway, even though it literally kills him. Like that is something to aspire to. I mean, I want to survive. Io 18:59 It's I aspire to be crushed by a metaphor for galactic capital myself. Yeah, Margaret 19:06 exactly. And in his manifesto, that we start exploring right at the end of the season, he talks about the enemy specifically as authority in a way that like, this is why earlier I was like, I will go to bat a little bit about andorre being anarchists propaganda, but only a little bit, right. But it's not the enemy isn't the Empire. The enemy has authority in what he what he is writing. And I'm wondering whether this will cause conflict in future episodes, or whether they kind of in this case mean authority mean like biggle authority like the Empire, not like scars, scars character, but I I'm really excited about that tension. I'm really excited to see what they do with it. Io 19:51 Yeah, me too. I love that he has his little his little monologue that beautiful, beautiful monologue. I've made my mind into a Unless place and I I work for a sunrise that I will never see and again for what I do and I'll and all that shit as he's talking to this this guy who infiltrated the the Empire to give them all information and he's prepared to preparing to sacrifice a squad of like nine people on his team just so the Empire doesn't get wise. Margaret 20:26 It's like 30 people I think it's a bunch of people up Io 20:31 to too many people. I'll I'll go ahead and say it. But yeah, he he does represent that very, like the revolutionary isn't doomed man. thing in a more competent braver way than, than that fucker. Yeah. But I love it. It's more, it's really, I mean, revolutions are morally complex, you're not going to get out of them with your hands clean. And I like that they're not like the original theory of the original Star Wars. Is, is Past is past the point where there's nothing you where the Rebellion has been built up. But to organize something at that scale in a galaxy of apathetic, or unorganized or unmotivated people is, is going to be a fucked process, especially when he's like, Yeah, we want, we want the Empire reacting, we want them. We want them cracking down and making people's lives miserable, like OB like, yeah, like, obviously, fuck that. And but acts of insurrection are going to make your enemy crack down in that way. And he's, he's preparing for that eventuality. Margaret 21:58 Yeah. So he once again, is presenting this like, like, there's a version of him that he could be like, full on accelerationist, right. accelerationism being the concept of like, kind of making things worse, so that people realize they're bad, and then try and make things better or whatever. Right. And, and he absolutely, he makes several statements about how like, look, it's going to get worse, right? But he's not quite so far. It's not like he's quite making things bad on purpose, so much as he's not stopping them from getting bad. And to me, and maybe I'm just like, I want to like him. Talk about luthan here. Yeah. But to me, this is a really big important difference, right? Like, people have been making the claim that you shouldn't do anything disruptive, because it'll like look bad. Or even more than that, it'll cause the police to crack down, right. And that claim stops people from resisting quite often, because realistically, people don't want bad things to happen. That's why we're interested in fictitional representations of revolution, is because we want a better world for our Star Wars characters. And since we want a better world, we want to take certain actions to try and get a better world. But when you turn it into a fight, the other side's gonna fight to. And so, you know, I don't think that it is ethically on the person who throws a brick at a window. I don't believe it is on them, the police crackdown on to resistance movements that could result from that write ethically, there's all kinds of arguments that people can make different ways about this. I think throwing the brick to make things worse, is fucked up. But I think throwing the brick, because it is the best expression in the best way that you are able to choose what to do when the Empire puts that moral weight on us as potential rebels and says it's your fault that we are hitting you. That is like, I mean, it's abuse of logic, and it's a real fucked up thing. And like, you know, you get into this like the very the climax of the entire season. Is that this kid who I have a shitty memory I think maybe his dad got killed by the Empire throws a bomb at the very end. And they did a what's good? Yeah, he does a hey, market for anyone who wants to listen to that episode about the market. And so first episode ever of cool people do cool stuff in which someone throws a bomb at some cops when the cops had been really fucked up and the cops opened fire and it causes this whole big fucking thing. Right? And, and I'm not mad at that kid. Was it the right move? I've literally no idea. Right and the world will never know whether or not it was the right idea because we only get the one thing that we saw happen. Yeah, I'm always Io 24:48 I'm almost 100% of the time on people who have the bravery to try. Try some shit and the others side, like the fascist playbook is to use our conscience against us for for in a in a Stop hitting yourself type of way. Margaret 25:12 Yeah. Io 25:14 That is not. Yeah, you can't. Like I can't imagine somebody even having the foresight to being like, Oh, I'm going to do this because it'll make it worse. But the argument of just like, what will the news say if this happened, or that this that and you're not going to get you're going to turn people off from our side is this is has, has failed for has failed for centuries? Now. Margaret 25:42 I will say, though, I don't sorry, look, Io 25:44 I just don't want to fuck with it anymore. Margaret 25:49 But I think of as an ethical argument, it is like a, I think it is a bad ethical argument to say like that that kid should have thrown the bomb, right in, in this fictional Star War that we're talking about. I don't care about the ethical argument against that. But if you're throwing a bomb at the oppressive force that is busy oppressing you, your conscience is clear. From my point of view, right? The strategic question is where it gets really interesting. And is it a good idea? Is a very different question from is it? justifiable? You know? And that's where it gets into, like, really messy stuff where it's like, well, that's just hard to know. I mean, the history of people killing tyrants in on Earth is a real mixed bag. Right, in terms of its efficacy, Io 26:43 it tends to assassinations do tend to have a tendency to get messy. Margaret 26:48 Yeah. And often, they make everything worse. And not just in a like, everything has to get worse before it gets better way. But sometimes it's like, no, everything just sucks now. And everything. Io 27:00 But but the extent situation was analysis was like unsustainable something. Yeah. Like, no one, no one can predict how things will play out. But there was a chance that they could have could have gone well, and if, if nothing else, you sure you've shown power to be vulnerable? Yeah. Which, which echoes through history? And I don't know, I guess the I guess that's a bigger question that we can keep getting into, but to bring it back into, into and or a little bit. Uh huh. As as for numix Little manifesto, every act of insurrection pushes our lines forward? Margaret 27:51 Yeah. Go ahead. Sorry. No, go on. Yeah, and they even use the term insurrection there. Right. Yeah. Which is like, Io 28:01 they got there. They get so explicit. I didn't expect them to. Margaret 28:04 I know, a manifesto for pure Io 28:07 rocks. Margaret 28:09 I know and like, and it's specifically like, I'm with I think it's Kropotkin I don't know I actually just mostly, I don't always read all of the, the old books by the people. I used to read books about the people. But you know, dead anarchists. Pokken I think it was him who was like, why do we have this like dichotomy between insurrection and revolution? It might have been Malatesta one of these fucking dead anarchists was like, What a useless dichotomy between insurrection revolution, like revolutions are made up of like, insurrections, that's what you know, as compared to this legging. You know, the traditional way presenting the dichotomy is that you need to have, you know, on a purely insurrection aside, like all that matters is the insurrection the larger overarching goal is not worth attempting to accomplish, or setting your sights on, right. And then on the purely revolutionary side, it's like, Oh, don't do the insurrections because they'll diffuse our energy or the wake the sleeping dragon or they'll, you know, cause the cops to crack down on us or whatever, right? All that matters is building up the mass to have the one big, glorious revolution. And like, history, at least the history of revolution is like no, no, no insurrections or that manifesto is right, like an andorre. They want to have a revolution. What that revolution should look like there is not a agreement upon which kind of rules Io 29:34 Oh, that's the bet that's the best part of the show when he when he goes to me. Saga reira mine yeah, man. The cool yeah, the cool guy. He's talking about so anarchist. Yeah, I don't, I don't I'm I'm not gonna fuck with that guy. He's a he's a human supremacist, and those guys are separatists for et cetera, et cetera. And they're there. I'm the only one Just think pure ideology here. Yeah. And I'm like, Yeah, I've been in a room with him. Margaret 30:06 Yeah, totally. But his, but then they say his ideologies like, well, anarchy is not an ideology or I don't remember the actual quote. Io 30:15 Yeah. And his response is just a shrug because like, Whatever dude, I'm not, I'm not here to convince you. I'm off. He's on. Maybe Maybe I'm just projecting what I want to see. But he's on the like, yeah, you know, there's there's action and then there's whatever other useless surrounds what, what action is being taken? And I'm like, yeah, yeah, he's right. Yeah. Well, this is all like laying this ideological bedrock that eventually morphs into the same neoliberal government that easily falls to Deathstar. Three and Force Awakens. Like you've got we can keep on this but maybe we should talk about Rogue One and in a second because we just watched that a few nights ago, like the early days of a revolution are ya so spicy? Margaret 31:15 Yeah, that's when I like everything is still possible. And but to use Sagar era to tie us into Rogue One, you know, by the time Rogue One comes around saga gara is basically just like the terrorist who's still like, who's still just been like, No, I know where the Empire is. So I'm gonna fuck them up. You know? He's not like trying to think like fourth dimensional chess or whatever he's just trying to fuck up the Empire and like I think that fucking rules and I think that yeah, I I like him. I mean, obviously by the time Rogue One comes around he's like his neuro divergence has continued in a way that makes him probably unsuitable to be a leader have Io 32:02 a bit of a Chase had a hard he's had a hard go of it. Margaret 32:05 Yeah, he is. He does not mind revolutionary suicide. He is perfectly content with revolutionary suicide. By the time he gets his chance. Io 32:15 Yeah, how Yeah, how could you not and they the plot of Rogue One is they need to get close to Sagar era they so they break. I forget her. I forget her name. The main the main character of the movie. Yeah. To get her close to saw because they want they just want to kill sock cats there. Because he's making them look bad, essentially. Yeah. And because they're developing into Yeah, like liberal revolutionaries hmm And so and saw is still is still out there on Jetta. Just just like stealing shit from the Empire blow blowing shit up. They can't get to him. Margaret 33:00 When I thought they were there to kill him. They thought they were there to kill protagonist, dad. And they just needed to get to saw in order to find out what protagonist dad was. Io 33:10 Like, right before they and or gets on the ship. There. They're just like, Alright, remember that thing that we told her? Fuck that no kit when you see saw Calum? Oh, I think that though, I think maybe they do the same thing with Matt's Matt's Mickelson's character. Margaret 33:27 Okay, so that ties into what you're talking about, about. You've got into like, hard choices guy luthan. Right. And he's presented as like, the real radical in in andorre. But it's the same attitude of kill people who are making us look bad because you're thinking about the big picture that leads us into the liberal state stage of revolution that you're talking about right where they you know, are just going to end up being like the sort of like less interested in revolution revolutionary movement and I think that those are related I think that the cold hard calculating leader is absolutely the person who's going to be like alright kill saw All right, kill protagonists dad. Because because they think they're thinking about strategy instead of ethics. And I know ethics is like a word that people have a million different thoughts and feelings about but like what I mean like doing what's right, rather than like, what is believed to be the most strategic I think is and that's what I like about saw is he does what's right which is fight the Empire. Yeah, Io 34:35 I see him as an ideological insurrectionary anarchist and luthan as just a straight up insurrectionary who, like a like an insurrectionary who wants to get extremely Sun Tzu about it all. Margaret 34:51 Yeah. So if I can, I mean a nihilist in like the Russian sense not in the like anarchist sense, you know? Because It's not a coincidence that most of the Russian nihilists were like Social Democrats at heart. Maybe that's getting a little too off. So, Io 35:08 yeah, like I don't I do see I see a lot of people trying to square this to as like Disney published like anarchists propaganda that's like this and that and I'm like, I don't think they did that it's it's in its set in outer space. It's it's a thing, but it's obviously made by people who like, give a shit about these things like and like you and me care about, like the historical stories and context of revolutionary movements. Yeah. And it's from its from that perspective of people who like who are interested in also think it's just think that fighting cops is the coolest thing you can do with your life? Yeah, and making a show about cool people fighting cops, and that is cool to me. Yeah. But uh, do you want to do you want to talk a little bit about about Rogue One? Sure. So well, I guess we were I guess we were already kind of kind of on it. Saw he lives in the holy holy city of Jeddah where the Jedi began as a society of monks and they were guardians against galactic tyranny and fascism, but eventually became a liberal military arm of the Republic or whatever the fuck, and a bunch of other shit happens, but where I think, oh, where this movie really starts screaming is you get to this fucking this stupid. General Assembly is suddenly ready to pack it up. Because suddenly they're up against these overwhelming odds and like, you remember that? That nerd? This fucking nerd shouts What is she proposing? And everyone's just like, oh gosh, crumbs? Well, I guess I guess we're done for packet in everybody. But luckily we plucky heroes. This platoon of doomed men who say fuck this they go rogue because a man with nothing to lose in a sharp stick can take the day and they're the last chance to to save the galaxy to do some overwhelming violence against the Empire against and go against all this bureaucratic cowardice is just a big they all pack into one shitty spaceship. Huddled bunch of cuddle puddle revolutionary saying fuck it life sucks book the Empire. Let's do a cool suicide. And do they Margaret 37:42 wanted to get out? I'm sure they did. Yeah, Io 37:46 they do. It was not. It was not likely. And yeah, it wasn't for this. This is a part of canon. This is the part of the Extended Universe candidate that has transferred over the Mon Calamari you all know Admiral Ackbar it's a trap, etc. Um, that that planets and and race of like people involved in the rebellion are like the most ready to throw down. And I'm glad that that transferred over a Rogue One. Everyone else is just like, beans. Well, I guess the Empire wins. And Mon Calamari was like, Oh, we've got Rogue One. Awesome. Love those guys. Margaret 38:30 Totally. I mean, and that's why I like Rogue One so much right? Yeah. As because you have your doomed revolutionary cuddle puddle that goes off to go do massive violence and steal some plans. And then the like, solidarity that it will kill you is like what breaks my heart more than anything else. If you want to see me cry in a movie, like the second Lord of the Rings movie when the right of the row Hyrum went Rohan shows up to support condor is a safe space for nerd for being a nerd. So when when they roll up, and they yell a red day, a blood day and it's actually this Norse maybe not Norse is the Scandinavian poem. That's the Tolkien's ripping off but it's fucking beautiful. And then they like scream like death death death and then like run charging into the forces of Mordor. Right? To have the backs of Condor that's when I start crying the most consistently in in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. And so Rogue One operates on the similar principle of the like, Well fuck it, I guess will show up like like sometimes when all your friends are jumping off a bridge like you should probably show up to support them anyway. You know? And like, Io 39:48 would you rather die all at once rather than piece by piece? Margaret 39:52 Yeah, yeah, totally. Which is you know from and or, and then there's also a quote from Blackhawks speaks, which I haven't read in a long time and so I Um, I apologize for possibly paraphrasing this badly but in the war against the colonization of what later became the United States or whatever, right? You know, a bunch of people are sitting around being like, well, we should go to war against these fucking white invaders. And someone is like, No, we shouldn't write because it's useless. If we do it, we'll die. It's like killing mosquitoes. You can kill them, but they keep coming in. There's, there's no point to it. And then the rest of the council is like, alright, well, we're doing it. And this isn't fiction. This is a nonfiction piece. And, and the same guy who was like, well, we shouldn't do this as like, well, I'm coming with you. Because I'm not a coward. You know, and I, I really like that concept within Rogue One. The like, well, this isn't how we wish it had gone. This wasn't what we planned. But we're not going to fucking just let you go out and do there. On your own. We're not cowards. Obviously, some of the people in that council chamber were cowards. Yeah, a Io 40:59 lot of people didn't show up. And I think a lot of other people were invested in the in the assembly or didn't invested in the in building an army against the Empire, rather than we can get we can really get a lot done with some sabotage. We can get a lot done with with a plucky group of fuckers. Yeah, just plop it plopping down and, and putting on some weird uniforms. Margaret 41:31 Yeah. And it, it was considered right. Like, I think a lot of what we're talking about about like, insurrections are what pushed us forward. You know, it wasn't like, like, let's just, I know, where we can go throw a bomb, let's just go throw a bomb randomly. They were like, What are we going to do? You know, like, the first big action and AND, OR is like, we're gonna steal all this money because we need it. Right. And so all of the actions have a purpose, they tie into a strategy and I love. That's one of the things I love about Rogue One, right? It's like, you know, all right, well, against all odds, we're gonna go get the Deathstar plans. You know, rather than just we're gonna go explode a thing, because the Empire has lots of things. You know, Io 42:22 I got a lot, they got lots of things. And I'm, I think that I think that there's a, there's a poetry in an affirmation of life in attacking something symbolically. But yeah, what you've got, you got a symbol and a rush of adrenaline and a, and a huge danger to yourself and everyone else around you, if you're going to put some danger out there. Be sure of it. And I don't know, maybe, maybe have some maybe have a little bit more more payoff? Yeah. Yeah, like, in Minecraft? Margaret 43:00 It's totally like, in Star Wars, you should, you know, think about like, if you're gonna gamble at all, you should wait till the pot is sweet. I don't know, whatever. Yeah, no, it's Io 43:15 go bigger, go big, and then go home. Margaret 43:18 Yeah. Through your safe house. I do think that the Star Wars rebellion in general, does relate to a style of revolution that is less the style of revolution that I would guess the average person listening to this, like, thinks about, like, the history that they're drawing from, at least based on what you were saying is like, national rebellions for against an oppressive outside force, right. You know, we haven't seen we've seen revolutionaries on the capital planet, but we haven't seen them being like, here's how we're going to take the Capitol planet, you know, as ours, right, because we're from here, whatever. Instead, you see all of these colonized forces, these colonized people, being like, we don't want to be colonized anymore. So we're now in this alliance of all these colonized people to fight against this oppressive force. Io 44:12 Oh, that's just another thing that I like. I like a lot about andorre in that the end of the end of row of not row one of A New Hope is just this like, Lily, this this Dyess of of lily white heroes of the rebellion that might as well be out of like Triumph of the Will and like cheering and Chewbacca doesn't get a medal. I know that's well trod territory, but like, justice for my man AND and OR has very few white characters making up the the core of the rebellion. Margaret 44:57 Yeah, yeah. And just under this funny problem that we're running into, from a cultural point of view that all of a sudden we're watching all these prequels, right? Or at least like I watched the game of thrones show, the new one house of dragons. And I liked it. I liked it a lot. I liked it possibly more than I like Game of Thrones. I've literally no idea what that's a statement that drew everyone mad at me or not. Io 45:20 And dragons. You can't argue with that. Margaret 45:23 Yeah, and it's less white. It's still majority white. But it is like markedly less white. And there's something kind of depressing about watching these prequels that are less white. Io 45:35 Something very, something very bad must have happened between then and then. Margaret 45:40 Yeah, even though what we're actually watching of course, is that, you know, the media that better choices getting made. Yeah, exactly. I don't know just something I think about when I watch that kind of shit. Io 45:55 This one This one sort of maps to my, you know, my, my, my headcanon of like, obviously, it's just the casting choices are better now. But it also maps to like successful revolutions. And especially like the one that installs like Princess Leia, Princess into like, royalty into positions of power in like a new Neo lib chorus on seated government eventually were like the people who did the dirty work saga Pereira and Andorra and whoever else are long forgotten, we're just we're all just cannon fodder for this respectable and hard they they fought hard, but they but they were put in an impossible position but like let the let the lower castes get their hands dirty in a way that every successful revolution winds up winds up doing which is why like, like, you know, I'm obviously interested in in a in massive change but the thing that really interests me is not the end result but the the process the affirmation of life of being able to resist in your modern day and live for Me and artistically. But just live rebelliously in the time you are in not for some far off future not what am I supposed to do put put all my put all my fucking plans and morals on hold because I hope that the the proletarian revolution is going to come off some way. Come on, come around. If I if I just joined enough DSA chapters. Here's your sign. Margaret 47:52 I mean, I feel like andorre gets into this kind of stuff in a useful way with the whole prison sequence, right? Where they're in prison or Prison Break. I know and so they're all in prison and they're all doing prison labor. And, you know, is a brutal regime very controlled, it does the thing where like, part of the systems of control it's very panopticon ish, like, part of the systems that control is also that the, I guess in that Fukui way or whatever, right where like people are controlling themselves because they, you know, the prisoners are in charge of the prisoners on some level. Right. Io 48:32 And you got Gollum is the boss. Margaret 48:37 Yeah, and oh, I thought you were telling me we watch this together. I thought you were telling me that the really old guy was Gollum. Io 48:47 The no Andy Serkis. The other prisoners the guy who did mocap for for the one who literally literally call them I wasn't making I wasn't being ageist. Margaret 49:02 But I thought you were saying the old man was the person who did the motion capture for Gollum. Io 49:06 Oh, he used to be very spry. Margaret 49:10 Okay, okay. I mean, so, so go we all you know and and so, you know, so you have Gollum who is the sergeant essentially, he was telling everyone what to do on the cellblock. And then as soon as they know that they're doomed men. They're able to be free. Right? And as a very literal metaphor in this particular context, that as soon as and then the fact that they're like, What is freedom mean? Freedom means jumping into the water even if you can't swim and trying. Right? Is a very non subtle, and they just express it as beautiful. They just have this beautiful scene of everyone jumping in the water. They don't have a grandeur. land they don't hold the guards hostage in order to get I mean to be clear might have been smarter if they had held the gods hostage in order to get like an escape vehicle but whatever Io 50:09 oh they would they would they would have just bought bombed the planet. Margaret 50:13 I know mainly but yeah, that's true. That's you know, like, Io 50:16 like modern you know, a modern prison uprising will hold Guards, guards hostages for the sake of like the people who are holding the guards hostage hostage are going to get extra years on their mobile a ton of extra time on their sentence, if not outright killed by it, but could win could wind up winning better conditions for people inside I don't have I don't have faith that prison officials were uphold their end of the bargain. But yeah, a resistant resistance is is beautiful, no matter. The end result somebody somebody slipped Andy Serkis a copy of blesses the flame. And they're all like, fuck it. Let's go. Yeah, no, let's go for a dive. Margaret 51:06 Totally. And like the ones who die immediately while throwing a wrench at the second armed guard are just as like beautiful and free as the people who swim to safety, you know? And like? No, I really like that whole long extended metaphor that they did around what it means to just actually be free. Which is why I do hold that. The I don't know. I mean, I guess the real question would be to know the writers and you know, because like, people talk about, oh, Disney made this like, no, no, Disney didn't make this Disney put their name on it. It was made by people in the same way that like workers make all value. You know, the the writers and the actors and the directors and all of these people like made and or? And yeah, exactly. So I don't know I don't know where I'm going with that. But Io 52:08 we'll I had a if you want to if you want to think about it a bit I had. I wish I could remember who said this so I would credit them but somebody put out that when Disney was making was making the Lion King and Pocahontas at the same time, they put all their stock into Pocahontas and really micromanage the entire project. I've never seen Pocahontas it sounds like it's a decent movie. But Lion King undoubtedly turned out awesome. Because the because all the writers and artists involved got creative control of it because they didn't have they didn't have Walt over their shoulder the whole time. Same thing happened with Star Wars because Andorra was being developed at the same time that Obi Wan Kenobi, A, A and nobody, and nobody asked me, but the show was good. I did not have a good time watching goon McGregor do his thing again. But yeah, they really micromanage that and they were just like a thing that's like rogue wants share proceed and makes me a little nervous about season two because they'll see that this is is like it and I read I don't really know much about the writers I know that they were interested in like Palestinian resistance and the Haitian Revolution and things like that, which you can see in the show and that the next season is going to get more into like the the ship that I was so excited about, which was like the internal politics of rebellions like I would love I would love to see saw Guerrera talk some more shit about about space to Kunis or whatever. But yeah, yeah, fingers fingers crossed, they'll they'll realize that it was successful because they didn't get their fucking fingerprints all over it. Margaret 54:02 Well, maybe next year, we'll be sitting down to do another episode and we'll be we'll know whether or not everything went to hell or whether it pulled it off. Io 54:12 You'd be like No, they weren't they brought a AR two d two is there for some reason. That's another that's another great thing about this. Like it was like I think it's great because the rebellion never really got its do it's like the entire plot of Star Wars and nobody ever really like fucks with it. It's just like the just like the scenery. But also we don't have we don't have to hear anything about space lasers and the Jedi and Mother I guess there is a wisecracking droid, but I love that little guy. Margaret 54:48 Yeah, nice. And he's, I don't know. I mean, you need the wisecrack. Enjoy in the same way that you need. The animal who sits around and tells jokes or you know, whatever like that is a good is a good character that gets added to TV and movies. Yeah, bring up at Ewoks. But it still was like, way more. I mean, it's essentially it's it's more proletarian than like, we're working class or whatever jargon word I supposed to use here. Instead of like space nights and space princesses and space royalty and you know, all that shit. It's just like, fucking people in the muck getting it done. Io 55:28 Yeah the space the space serfs out there, perfectly capable of braiding a stormtrooper? Yeah. As good as Luke Luke Skywalker. Yeah. Well, I think we did it. We talked about everything AND and OR. But, Margaret, any final thoughts? Margaret 55:46 I'm just, I'm excited for the quality of the storytelling that we like now have available to us as we go forward, because the world is in very dire conditions right now. And we need better stories are so little Gwen has the story of is the quote about like, we need authors who can remember freedom, you know, and I think that we're like, we're starting to see those stories. And we're starting to see him, including in mainstream places. And I think that's like one of the most promising things that I've ever seen as a radical or whatever. So I'm excited. Who knows, maybe it'll all go off the rails, but for now, is good. Io 56:28 There will always be small examples and whether it erupts soon. Being that freedom as a pure idea, or we just have to keep settling for these little diamonds in the rough. I don't know. I'm excited. Yeah, there does seem to be a lot more good stuff recently. But that's us. That's the anarcho geek review. We did it folks. Margaret 56:52 In our cooking, or our Io 56:54 that's the one. That's what Margaret 56:58 this is where anyone is listening. We used to have a blog called a narco geek review. And that's not what this show is called. Io 57:07 No, not related to the anarcho geek review. We disavow we Margaret 57:12 know that Reza vacco splitters they're split out yeah, we've Io 57:17 split we split off from them. They were ideologically unserious. Yeah. Margaret, you want to tell people where where they can find you? Margaret 57:27 Yeah, I've got some podcast once called cool people did cool stuff. I referenced it like three times this article, I asked to talk about individual and community preparedness on another podcast by the same strangers network called live like the world is dying. And until well, by the time you listen to this, I might not be on Twitter anymore, but I'm currently on Twitter at Magpie killjoy Instagram at Margaret killjoy all that shit. I Oh, what about you? Io 57:53 I'm, as of this recording, still still on Twitter, at bum lung. And I'm also on Instagram at bum lung. And if I get on any other social media fingers crossed, they won't have to. It'll probably be under that as well. And before we go, I would I would love to thank we have a Patreon patreon.com/strangers In a tangled wilderness and I would love to thank some of our Patreon supporters. Right now. Hoss the dog. That's a good boy. Mike, aka mkhaya Kaya, thank you. Like I Margaret 58:33 say yeah. Oh, actually. Actually, that's funny. That's right MC. Mikayla, actually my a veteran, right. Make Io 58:42 that McCain or mkhaya. Please settle this bet and whichever one wins I was the other a coke. Chris Sam Kirk. Eleanor. Jennifer Starr Oh, cat J. Chelsea. Dana. David. Nicole. Mickey. Paige, S J. Shawn Hunter, Theo. Boise. Mutual Aid. Milica and Papa Runa. Hope I got that one. Right. Thank you. Thank you all for your support. Big hugs and kisses out to all of you. And thank you everyone who listened. And yeah, to tune in next time when we'll talk about some other nerd bullshit and I'll see you at the movies. 59:40 The times when the struggle seems impossible. I know this already. And then, I'm sure both by the scale of the enemy. Remember this? Freedom is a pure idea. It occurs spontaneously and without instruction. Random Acts of insurrection. are occurring constantly throughout the galaxy, there are a whole armies, battalions that have no idea that they've already enlisted in the course. Remember that the frontier of the rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward. And then remember this imperial need for control is so desperate because it's so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort, it breaks, it leaks. Authorities brittle oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that and know this. The day will come when all the skirmishes and battles has moments of defiance will have flooded the banks of the Empire's authority and then there will be one too many. One single thing will break the siege remember this try

united states tv love new york world english hollywood earth disney internet freedom england talk star wars africa russian ireland irish game of thrones empire killing cats star trek saga triumph south america lord of the rings belgium capitol fuck republic express knight ob rebellions palestine strangers jedi etsy palestinians lion king minecraft beck rogue revolutionary tolkien mcgregor haitian new hope obi wan kenobi io tyranny rogue one sj neo mickey mouse pereira han solo authorities scandinavian boise andor force awakens norse live like lung ramones lutheran general assembly guards chewbacca kaya blackhawks power hour death star skynet mccain reza pocahontas prison break ewoks mordor gollum catechism princess leia andorra andy serkis endor ges condor sun tzu random acts dsa sergey magpie jeddah russian revolution calum mutual aid hoss mickelson sagar haitian revolution guerrera jetta social democrats mon mothma easter rising stellan skarsgard malatesta because it admiral ackbar hyrum extended universe milica skarsgard king leopold kunis fukui huddled samah calvinball i oh mon calamari bothans shawn hunter dyess roger casement andora banthas cool people who did cool stuff

Squirrel Nut Zippers (and all that jazz)

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Play Episode Listen Later Jan 15, 2023 42:18

This week Nathaniel talks about the Squirrel Nut Zippers and how this odd jazz band was lumped into the neo-swing revival of the 90's, and was their doorway into the large complex world of jazz. Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/lunetheband/message

Episode 140: Margaret Killjoy

Gender Reveal

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 9, 2023 57:42

Tuck speaks with author and podcast host Margaret Killjoy (she/they). Topics include: What to consider before moving to a queer off-grid land project Suing RENT (2005) to get credit for playing melodica!? The secret rules of writing heterosexual romance novels Easy, actionable ways that we can all prepare for disasters Plus: Feminazgûl, high school GSAs, anarchism, and exploding the czar This Week in Gender: It's our fifth anniversary, baby! Find Margaret on Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff and Live Like the World Is Dying, and at birdsbeforethestorm.net. Her books are available from AK Press. Tickets for our Feb. 1 Brooklyn live show are on sale now! Do you have an advice question that you'd like answered on the show? Submit questions anonymously via this Google form. Join our Patreon (patreon.com/gender) to get access to our monthly bonus podcast, weekly newsletter, and other fun perks. Find episode transcripts and a full list of grant winners at genderpodcast.com. We're also on Twitter and Instagram @gendereveal. Senior Producer: Ozzy Llinas Goodman Logo: Ira M. LeighMusic: Breakmaster CylinderAdditional Music: “Hope and the Forester” by Blue Dot Sessions Sponsors: Bluestockings and DeleteMe (promo code: TUCK20)

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Tequila Sunrise

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Play Episode Listen Later Jan 9, 2023 35:20

We're at it again!!!! This week Nathaniel takes a deeper dive into "Tequila Sunrise" off of Don't Give Up The Ship. They stumble through an explanation of how finding someone attractive doesn't mean you get to put that on them, or think they care. It's a messy explanation of some important and messy ideas. Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/lunetheband/message

Here's To You, Dear Listeners: 2023 Q&A

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Play Episode Listen Later Jan 4, 2023 52:20

On this special episode of Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff, Margaret and Sophie answers questions from you, the listeners!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

End Of Year Music Mix

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Play Episode Listen Later Dec 26, 2022 53:32

This week Nathaniel doesn't talk much (for Nathaniel), but they do bring a mix of music to vibe to. Morphine "Super Sex" Fugazi "Argument" Blitzen Trapper "Black River Killer" Fiona Apple "Paper Bag" Butt Hole Surfers "Pepper" Bear Vs Shark "Song About Old Roller Coaster" Deer Tick "Ashamed" Lisa Loeb "Stay (I Miss You)" The Specials "Ghost Town" Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/lunetheband/message

Nathaniel's Top Five

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 11, 2022 69:17

On this week's episode, Nathaniel talks about his end of year top five most listened to, and about how saring music is cool. Wilco: https://wilcohq.bandcamp.com/album/cruel-country Murder By Death: https://murderbydeath.bandcamp.com/ Phoebe Bridgers: https://phoebebridgers.bandcamp.com/ The Rutabega: https://theseknottylines.bandcamp.com/music Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/

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A Very Special Lune The Pod

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Play Episode Listen Later Nov 24, 2022 50:01

This week Nathaniel attempts something special, an Acoustic set. This is a free flowing, at times sloppy, walk down some LTB songs. Remember we all live on stolen land. Stand With Standing Rock: https://standwithstandingrock.net/ Colorado Springs GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/c/act/colorado-springs-club-q-shooting Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/

We Mourn Our Dead

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Play Episode Listen Later Nov 20, 2022 14:22

This is a short one. Last night (11/19/22) there was a shooting at a Queer night club in Colorado. Nathaniel talks about that briefly, and then plays a Gillian Welch song. Tell someone you love them. Let someone tell you they love you. Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/

We Should Talk About Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff with Transfeminine Author, Activist and Podcast Host, Margaret Killjoy

We Should Talk About That

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 14, 2022 44:47

Jess and Jess have an interestingly exploratory conversation with fellow podcast host, Margaret Killjoy, centered specifically around cool people who did cool stuff throughout the course of history, and how her podcast intends to "drag up the wildest rebels, the most beautiful revolts, and all the people who long to be—and fight to be—free." Margaret candidly shares about her activism, and patiently explains anarchy in relation to pacifism to TTJ(es) and how she uses her work as a podcast host and writer to advocate for communities caring for one another through less mainstream methods and approaches. A different conversation for Jess and Jess, but educational, entertaining and massive food for thought. Meet Margaret Killjoy:Host, Margaret Killjoy is a transfeminine author, activist, and podcaster whose work explores what it means for communities to, together, learn to be free. She is currently living in the Appalachian mountains with her dog and her instruments. Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff will be available on iHeartRadio and all major podcast platforms on Monday, May 2nd, with new episodes releasing every Monday and Wednesday. Support the show

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Mix Tape: Sad Mood Vol 1

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Play Episode Listen Later Nov 13, 2022 48:43

This week Nathaniel finds themselves in a bit of a mood.....so They kick it old school and puts a mixtape together for it. Come along on a ride through some sad, or darker, songs that all absolutely rip, 1. Lucero "Kiss The Bottle" 2. Murder By Death "Spring Break 1899" 3. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds "Into My Hands" 4. Punch Brothers "Don't Get Married Without Me" 5. The Avett Brothers "Murdered In The City" 6. Townes Van Zandt "Pancho & Lefty" 7. Vic Chesnutt "Flirted With You My Whole Life" 8. Lune The Band "Falling Off The Wagon" Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/

Let's Talk About Sex..ualizing Without Seeing The Human (and a really cool song by Metric)

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Play Episode Listen Later Nov 7, 2022 35:50

That is a long fucking title. This week Nathaniel talks about an interaction with a drunk guy in an Indianapolis bar, and how it show the symptoms of a disease in the hearts and heads of men in America (probably everywhere). They dig into the shit and talk about a lot of uncomfortable things, in a soft spoken, obscenity riddled, way that you've come to love. Then we all get to listen to a beautiful song by the band Metric (as a treat). WE ARE AT IT AGAIN, MOTHER FUCKERS. Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/

Introducing: Internet Hate Machine

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 2, 2022 2:30

Hi, Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff fans! Here's a preview of a new podcast, Internet Hate Machine. Bridget Todd explains how bad actors use the internet to target and silence women, especially Black women. Excluding them from discourse and desensitizing us to sexist, racist attacks makes us all less safe. Bridget talks with women who have been the targets of coordinated attacks, activists who are fighting back, and experts to help break down the deliberate agenda behind it. Listen here and subscribe to Internet Hate Machine on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Guns....Lets Talk About Them (CIV)

guns white america civ it could happen here cool people who did cool stuff

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 30, 2022 46:20

TRIGGER WARNING: SUICIDAL THOUGHTS This week Nathaniel talks about guns. Why some folks may want to use them. How the government is probably not going to take them away, and what it means to own a firearm. There's talk about mental health, and suicidal thoughts. It's a frank talk about a thing that is built into White America. Then They talk about listening to folks in marginalized communities when they tell you things. Then we end with the Posi New York Hardcore of CIV. Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/

Indiana (South Bend anti-fascist action)

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Play Episode Listen Later Oct 23, 2022 26:09

This week Nathaniel talks a bit about the hubbub at The Well Friday night (October 21, 2022). They spread some positive thoughts and love, and then play a very very very very rough version of a BRAND NEW LTB SONG. (its super rough, please be nice) The LGBTQ Center: https://www.thelgbtqcenter.org/ The Well: https://thewellriverpark.com/ Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/

The Ship Is Sinking (the most punk LTB song)

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Play Episode Listen Later Oct 16, 2022 38:15

This week Nathaniel takes another dive into the dark waters of their younger self. Talking about the meaning behind the lyrics of the fastest LTB song to date. It's another heavy(ish) one. ps Go listen to the new the rutabega song!!!!!! the rutabega: https://theseknottylines.bandcamp.com/album/leading-up-to Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/

186) Necro Batman

Grand Rapidians Play Video Games

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 8, 2022 44:07

In this episode we drink & review Firework flavor Faygo and Chuggasus IPA from Shorts Brewing Company. RLXP includes painting and puking. We've played Batman: Arkham Knight (XB) and NecroMerger (Android). Our reccos are How I Died and Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff. Links - Cool People Who Did Cool Stiff - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cool-people-who-did-cool-stuff/id1620562792 How I Died - https://audiohmmedia.com/howidied/ GRPVG links - linktr.ee/grandrapidians --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/grandrapidians/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/grandrapidians/support

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Another EBCS story (Bad Girls Do It Better)

bad girls ltb it could happen here cool people who did cool stuff

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 2, 2022 41:39

This week Nathaniel is hijacked by a thought that leads to a memory from high school. They talk about it, the hardship of feeling alone in the wake of abuse, how that leads to the abused person doing shitty things themselves, and the importance of crying, of loving art, of talking about your feelings....and so much more. It's a rambling thing, which is how we fucking do it here on team LTB. Also, we get to listen to MIA's Bad Girls, which fucks. Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/

Episode 176: "The Power of Story" ft. Margaret Killjoy

Coffee with Comrades

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 20, 2022 71:52

Today, we're sharing an interview with the all-around-badass Margaret Killjoy. Margaret is a writer of fiction, a musician in multiple bands, and she is also the host of two great podcasts: Live Like the World is Dying and Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff. And that's an inexhaustive list. Margaret joined me to talk about her new book, We Won't Be Here Tomorrow, which is a delightful anthology of short stories collected for the first time together in this brand new edition for AK Press. Pick up a copy of We Won't Be Here Tomorrow. Support Margaret on Patreon and follow her on Twitter and Instagram! Support Coffee with Comrades on Patreon, follow us on Twitter and Instagram and Mastadon, and visit our website. Pick up a Coffee with Comrades shirt or coffee mug at our official merch store. Coffee with Comrades is a proud member of the Channel Zero Network. Coffee with Comrades is an affiliate of the Firestorm Books & Café. Check out our reading recommendations! Our logo was designed by Nathanael Whale.

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Be Your Own Pet (and a listener question)

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 18, 2022 39:10

TRIGGER WARNING: DESCRIPTIONS OF SEXUAL ABUSE, AND PHYSICAL ABUSE This week Nathaniel answers a listener question, which takes him back down the road of his childhood abuse. He doesn't get graphic, but it is discussed at length. Then a hard pivot to a couple of songs by the Nashville garage rock band Be Your Own Pet. It's a hard honest, and hopefully good episode. Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/

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Falling Off The Wagon

wagon falling off ltb it could happen here cool people who did cool stuff

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 12, 2022 35:23

This week Nathaniel does a dive into the LTB song "Falling Off The Wagon" from 2011's Don't Give Up The Ship. It's a very honest look at a song that has some not great things to say about the person who wrote it (it was Nathaniel, Nathaniel wrote it). Nathaniel also briefly touches on some current events. Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/

The Queen, The Heat, The Spit, and EVEN MORE News

Some More News

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 9, 2022 63:31 Transcription Available

Hi. Margaret Killjoy (@magpiekilljoy), host of "Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff," joins Katy and Cody to talk about the Queen's death, climate disasters around the world, and the fascination with the drama surrounding the film "Don't Worry Darling." Please fill out our SURVEY: https://kastmedia.com/survey/ Check out our new series SOME THIS! - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkJemc4T5NYbcqTbNmyH3uqutwcj8fHf3 Support us on our PATREON: http://patreon.com/somemorenews Check out our MERCH STORE: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/somemorenews?ref_id=9949 SUBSCRIBE to SOME MORE NEWS: https://tinyurl.com/ybfx89rh Subscribe to the Even More News and SMN audio podcasts here: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/some-more-news/id1364825229 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ebqegozpFt9hY2WJ7TDiA?si=5keGjCe5SxejFN1XkQlZ3w&dl_branch=1 Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/even-more-news Find your new favorite shoes for sunny days and upcoming travel at ALLBIRDS.COM. Get 15% off your first set of sheets when you use promo code MORENEWS at BOLLANDBRANCH.COM.Support the show!: http://patreon.com.com/somemorenewsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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The Queen, The Heat, The Spit, and EVEN MORE News

Some More News

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 9, 2022 61:31

heat survey spit don't worry darling merch store allbirds smn bollandbranch margaret killjoy some more news cool people who did cool stuff

Warpaint (and a LTB record update)

record warpaint it could happen here cool people who did cool stuff

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 4, 2022 39:30

This episode finds Nathaniel trying to explain whats happening in the land of Lune The Band, while also forgetting exactly what they're saying. Then they pivot to talking about the band Warpaint and cool indy vibes. Matt Darling: https://badvibes4lyfe.bigcartel.com/ All Hail The Black Market: https://allhailtheblackmarket.com/ Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/

Earth Over Debt with Esteban Servat & Margaret Killjoy (Ep 151)

The Bitchuation Room

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 31, 2022 78:47

How can global south countries invest in stopping climate change when they're strapped with international debt? Debt that often requires them to keep exacting resources. Organizer Esteban Sevant of the Debt for Climate movement explains why we the best way to stop global warming is to cancel IMF and World Bank debt. Plus, did Trump's classified document mishandling lead to the death of CIA assets abroad? Signs point to ... possibly! And Biden gets his groove back and uses the F word for the first time. Finally, how would you fake your way into Mar-A-Lago. Margaret Killjoy (Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff) joins to discuss that AND stays on for a BONUS BISH where we watch the hilarious trailer of a Breitbart-backed film that proves how hard the right is for Hunter Biden. For access become a patron: www.patreon.com/bitchuationroom. Featuring:Margaret Killjoy: https://twitter.com/magpiekilljoy, her podcast Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360Esteban Servat, organizer with Debt for Climate: www.debtforclimate.orgThe Bitchuation Room Streams LIVE every TUESDAY (now!) at 1/4pmEST on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/franifio and Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/franifioFollow The Bitchuation Room on Twitter @BitchuationPodGet your TBR merch: www.bitchuationroom.comSupport The Bitchuation Room by becoming a Patron: www.patreon.com/bitchationroom or via Venmo: @TBR-LIVE Cash-App: @TBRLIVE Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Earth Over Debt with Esteban Servat & Margaret Killjoy (Ep 151)

The Bitchuation Room

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 31, 2022 78:47

donald trump earth signs twitch climate debt cia hunter biden world bank imf mar a lago breitbart tbr margaret killjoy cool people who did cool stuff

28 How we got purged (and what we did after)

Aftonomia

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 29, 2022 62:55

Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://open.spotify.com/show/0Qptn7pM3Pzi01rKVBvjG4 Behind the Bastards on the Irish Great Hunger Part 1: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4UK8G1xkfE7UB8dCpTptyS?si=Zuc4dj69QMyAfL60ZO0hlw Behind the Bastards on the Irish Great Hunger Part 2: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1RgbCvYJ1y8V9lfOnJN9BA?si=kXlA6dHBTKqZTfXX_4Bi3g Behind the Bastards on the Irish Great Hunger Part 3: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6twhzMzYGHyouxjp0YBfCT?si=pdX9_adDTr2JUTYjAoTEyA

bastards purged cool people who did cool stuff

But It Is (how we found rock n roll, and the darkness within)

shit trigger warnings rock n roll darkness within stop the bleed ltb it could happen here cool people who did cool stuff

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 21, 2022 47:12

TRIGGER WARNING: there is talk of sexual abuse, physical abuse, drug and alcohol abuse, along with suicidal thoughts. Nathaniel talks about opening song "But It Is" from LTB's third album "The Ship Is Sinking". He digs into the musical evolution of the band, and the lyrics. Shit gets real. Also a brief discussion of where we are as a country. Indiana Abortion Fund: https://abortionfunds.org/fund/hoosier-abortion-fund/ Stop The Bleed video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGLLXy3AsBQ The LGBTQ Center: https://www.thelgbtqcenter.org/ Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/

The Cure (and abortion bans)

indiana cure abortion bans it could happen here cool people who did cool stuff

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 7, 2022 31:56

This week Nathaniel talks about the now signed into law abortion ban in Indiana. What might change that, what almost certainly won't, and what we all need to be thinking about and doing. Lune The Band has a show coming up on August 12th at The Well Basement, and then we listen to a couple of songs by The Cure, because it's hard right now, and The Cure is beautiful. Indiana Abortion Fund: https://all-options.networkforgood.com/projects/33316-support-the-hoosier-abortion-fund The Well Basement: https://www.facebook.com/TheWellBasement/ SHAM: https://shamalamajamjams.bandcamp.com/album/sham Modern Losers: https://soundcloud.com/garagegypsies Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/

They Killed John Henry So I Became An Anarchist (Justin Townes Earle & Drive-by Truckers)

dna class killed anarchists john henry joe hill drive by truckers justin townes earle it could happen here cool people who did cool stuff

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 24, 2022 41:50

This week Nathaniel talks about two songs about the folktale of John Henry, and how it communicates the Class struggle that has been burned into this country's rotten DNA. Joe Hill: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Hill_(activist) Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/

Old 97's & Those Darlin's (summer jukebox continues)

roots jukebox darlin it could happen here cool people who did cool stuff

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 17, 2022 29:21

This week Nathaniel talks about a couple of bands that he first got into in the mid 2000's and were a part of his departure from the metal scene he had been a part of, and into the Roots music scene he would strive to be in, the Old 97's and Those Darlin's. Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/

S1E45 - Margaret and Casandra on "How To Get Started Prepping...Or Getting Prepared"

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 15, 2022

Episode Notes Episode summary Margaret and Casandra talk about some of the basics of preparedness and how to get started even if you don't have a lot of money or skills. They go through their lists of things they always consider when preparing for crises, whether that be a natural disaster, "the bomb", food shortages, inflation, the further advancement of Fascism, or any of the other of the various multi-faceted horrors contributing to our slow apocalypse. They talk about community preparedness vs individual preparedness, 'stuff focused' preparedness vs response focused preparedness, bunker mentalities, and a lot of other great stuff, like how potatoes prove once again to the be the only wholesome thing, why you shouldn't trust rich people trying to sell you shit, and how again Hope is maybe the only real strategy we can count on. This is a new format for the show that we'll be exploring more soon! Next Episode: We'll have a special episode coming out next week on July 22nd from the Four Thieves Vinegar Collective. Host Info Casandra can be found on Twitter @hey_casandra or Instagram @House.Of.Hands Margaret Killjoy can be found on twitter @magpiekilljoy or instagram at @margaretkilljoy. Publisher Info This show is published by Strangers in A Tangled Wilderness. We can be found at www.tangledwilderness.org, or on Twitter @TangledWild and Instagram @Tangled_Wilderness. You can support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/strangersinatangledwilderness. Transcript How To Get Started Margaret 00:14 Hello, and welcome to Live Like The World is Dying, your podcast for what feels like the end times. I'm one of your hosts today, Margaret killjoy. And, left implicit in that statement is that I have another host today, because instead of doing a normal interview format, I'm going to have my friend Casandra, who also works on this podcast, usually more behind the scenes on to join me in conversation. How are you doing today? Casandra? Casandra 00:41 I am okay. I think the day started out rough. But we've been chatting for a while and I'm feeling a lot better now. Margaret 00:48 Yeah, we're recording this on the day that Roe v. Wade was officially overturned in the United States. Casandra 00:56 Yep. Margaret 00:57 Hooray. But that's not what we're talking about today. We have other content that more directly relates to that on this show. But today, we're talking about crises and how to prepare for crises. But, more importantly, today, we're telling you that Live Like The World Is Dying is a proud member of the Channel Zero Network of anarchist podcasts. And here's a jingle from another show in the network....[waiting expectantly for Casandra] You gonna make the noise? Casandra 01:39 Ba ba da da daaa. [laughing] Okay, I did it. Margaret 01:59 Yay! Chanel Zero Network Jingle Margaret 02:32 Okay, we're back. So, yeah, we're basically going to kind of ask ourselves as though we're a panel, we're both going to be interviewed by you in absentia. You the listener. Because we've been getting a lot of questions for this show. And so we're gonna kind of talk through some of them. And hopefully, it's going to turn into a very coherent and brilliant introduction to preparedness that will be useful for all people. Casandra 03:01 Oh, that's my cue. Margaret, what, what are the first steps that you take in preparing for a crisis? Margaret 03:11 It's funny, you should ask that. I wrote down a list. You told me you were going to ask me that. So I mean, the first and most important thing is you have to think about what the crises you're preparing for are right? We can't prepare for everything. Like you can slowly...you hit this point of diminishing returnsfor preparedness, but you're like, you know, where you live, maybe a tornado is more likely then a tsunami, right. And so you'll probably prepare more for tornado if you're in Tornado Alley, and less for tsunami. But at some point, once you're prepared for tornado, maybe you'll start preparing for [a tsunami].....don't prepare for tsunami, if you live in the middle of the country, that's pointless. But you know, like, theoretically, you could start focusing on the crises that are less likely, like nuclear disaster is substantially less likely than a large number of other crises. Right? So I wouldn't start there. And where I would start is with doing a sort of preparedness audit, figuring out what you need, or what you have, and what you would like to have in terms of preparedness, not necessarily items, but in terms of plans or access to resources or like relationships with people or skills necessary to confront these different things. And, you know, so, to just go through that list, I guess, I would say, you know, start with like, temperature, right? If there was an immediate, you know, you lose power and you suddenly lose your ability to...or you don't have air conditioning or you don't have heat, right, what are the sources of climate control that you rely on? As an individual like the clothes that you wear, as well as any structure that you you generally reside in. If you live in a tent, how do you heat and cool the tent? If you live in a truck? How do you heat and cool the truck? If you live in a house? How do you heat and cool the house? So that would be the first thing, right? Temperature. Just think about that. And the next is shelter, protection from elements. That kind of relates, you know, what systems do you have in place for shelter? And then what are your backup systems for shelter? Right? Like, you know, if you...do you have a vehicle you can take shelter in if your house is no longer accessible? Do you have a tent? Do you have, you know, tarps to put up if you....whatever, you just think about all the different things that protect you from the elements. This one is less likely to be like, directly...you're probably not going to be changing that much about your shelter, but it's just worth thinking about. Next is water. You know, we need water on a pretty regular basis, almost daily, in fact, do we require water. So. [Casandra laughs] Actually, I drink water every day. That's how on top of it, I am. [Casandra still laughing] So, water, okay, where does your water come from? What do you do when that water source stops? This is a really good example for me, because a lot of people that I know live in places where they rely on municipal water, and fairly regularly have boil advisories right. Fairly regularly, there's going to be some sort of contact, that's going to be like, "Hey, you have to boil your water, because there might be something nasty in it." And so if that's something that happens where you are, having some extra water around might mean you don't have to boil your water, you just go to the 10 gallons of water that you keep, or you make sure that you know you have a way to boil that water. And with any of these things, you want to think about it first in sort of the very immediate, like, what would you do if you suddenly, you know, were without water for five hours, and then go from there to like three days and go from there to like two weeks and you're slowly looking to build up. You know, I'm not necessarily recommending that everyone who's on municipal water like also dig a well or come up with some like solar distill thing where it automatically takes the moisture in the air and gives you drinking water. Like all that's just really cool, right? But it might not be your first step. Eventually, everyone who listens to this needs to have a personal water tower. [Casanda laughs] Okay, maybe not. Okay. Casandra 07:34 I'm imagining a water tower on like an apartment balcony somehow. Margaret 07:39 Yeeeeeeah, totally. And that way it's pressurized. You know, you can use it as a battery for power because gravity is its own battery. Okay, anyway. Oh, go ahead. Okay, Casandra 07:53 I just breathed. That's all. Margaret 07:56 We didn't actually talk about that one, air. [Casandra laughing] Let's somehow include that was shelter? I don't know. Think about your air filtration systems. Again, that's only... Casandra 08:07 Oh I mean, I live in wildfires. Yeah, so we think about that a lot. [Margaret laughing] Margaret 08:13 Yeah, fair enough. It's pretty clear I wrote this here in Appalachia where the air quality is like, "I dunno [made into a mumble sound] It's too humid." Okay, so then, from there food, right? You know, on the simplest level, keeping some fucking protein bars in your backpack or purse or whatever, right? And you can build up from there, you can build up. What would you do if suddenly, the way that you accessed food is no longer available? For a few hours? Or a few days? Or a few weeks? Or a few months? Or a few years? You know, start with the simplest ones. Health is after that, like stuff that affects your long term health. This gets into, you know, things like medications, whether over the counter or not. I don't know, whatever. Then go through community. Who are your neighbors? Do you know who your neighbors are? Do you know who you could trust? Or who you specifically need to avoid? Or have you started talking to them about like, figure out if you're on similar pages about having preparedness, you know, and you could do this with neighbors you don't even like friends with you know, you can still be like, "Hey, if something happens, I have your back," or whatever, right? And then of course, you could build out from community and to community mutual aid organizations, right? There's nothing so prepared as a resilient community. This is a very long winded first answer. Okay, so then there's a couple more. Getting there. Security is after that, right physical security. How do you defend yourself? How do you defend your communities? What weapons and or training do you want to have available to you? Transportation, more important in different places than other places, but in general, what are the systems by do you get around? Are there more that you can have as backup? Like, if you have a gas powered vehicle, that rules. What if gas is no longer available? What's your plan? You know, do you have a bicycle like, in some ways a bicycle is a better preparedness. I'm saying this as someone who does not have a bicycle. [Casandra laughs] I was actually better prepared when I lived in a van because I had a bicycle in my van. And that's what I have on my list of the things that you should audit. That is my first step and preparedness for people is audit yourself. What a good word "audit" and everyone's positive associations with the word "audit." Casandra, what do you think the first steps in preparedness are? Casandra 10:42 Um, I love that you just broke that down into like, a list and steps because that's how my brain works. But that's not how I how I've taken my first steps, because I find it totally overwhelming, just like the scope of it is...my brain kind of shuts down. So, first steps for me have looked like doing something, anything, little things often. So, like, I saw some big five gallon water containers on sale at Walmart a few years ago was like, "Ah, a step I can take!" Margaret 11:26 Yeah. Casandra 11:27 And bought a few of them or like, each time I go shopping, I get a thing, that's shelf stable, that's extra, and put it in my cupboard. So, it's not systematic at all. But it's doing something. Does that make sense? Margaret 11:45 I would like to change my answer. [Both laughing] Yours is a better first step. Do what Casandra's said first. And then later, if you decide this is something that you're going to like, step into more, that's maybe where the audits and stuff makes sense. No, I, that makes sense to me the like....go ahead. Casandra 12:08 I just think it's a both, a both 'and', you know? Margaret 12:12 Yeah. Casandra 12:12 Like what you're describing is so important. But, I still haven't done that. Because I...my brain sort of shuts down-- Margaret 12:19 Yeah. Casandra 12:20 ---when I try to. Margaret 12:21 Yeah, and maybe just... Casandra 12:23 I feel so unprepared. Margaret 12:26 I know. Okay, so that is a big disadvantage. I mean, but it's like, you know, I look at this, and I'm like, "Well, I've been doing preparedness for a long time now." or whatever. And I don't know, there's a ton of this shit that I still don't have, right? Like, I feel like it's important to think about preparedness not as a...there's no perfect preparedness, you know, there's always just like, steps you can take to have a little bit more of this one thing in case this one thing happens. And then and then it's like really annoying, because like everyone thinks you're the prepared one. And then you're like, you don't have a flashlight on you. And people are like, "What the hell we've been relying on you to have a flashlight on you." This is clearly not a specific anecdote. Casandra 13:07 There's also that like, I mean, we're we're experiencing constant catastrophes and crises, right. And so each time there's a crisis. And I you know, gather things together, I need to get through that crisis. I don't just like get rid of them afterward. That...those things become a part of my life and a part of my process. So we had like a massive freeze last year. Was that last year? Margaret 13:37 I lost track of time a while ago, I don't know. Casandra 13:40 Me too. What is time? Anyway, we had a massive freeze. And I was without power for I think, 10 days. And so, people were doing a lot of work like sharing firewood with each other and stuff like that. And I didn't just like, stop collecting firewood after that, you know, something like that's going to happen again. So that's become integrated in my like, process of preparing constantly. Margaret 14:08 Yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense. And leads me perfectly into my next question. What we get asked is we get asked, how to anticipate crises. How do you...how do you think about what you want to prepare for, Cassandra? Casandra 14:27 Oh, I think I underestimated like how easily overwhelmed I'd feel in this conversation. I have a child. So, when I think about anticipating crises for myself, often it feels manageable. But, then when I think about how to anticipate crises in a way that would like make a child comfortable, I start to get super overwhelmed because it's a lot more. That's a lot more effort. But logically for me, I just look at the crises that I've experienced in my bio region in the last five or ten years. So, flooding, really intense freezes, really intense heat waves, algae blooms in our water supply is now like a constant issue. Margaret 15:20 That sounds wild. Casandra 15:21 And then wildfires. Right? Yeah. Yeah, so we can't even boil water. Like boiling doesn't get rid of the toxins. Margaret 15:27 Oh, my God, what do you do? Do you have to filter it also, or? Casandra 15:31 I just have 15 gallons of water stashed. Margaret 15:35 What are people expected to do? That's...so you just don't have water for a while? Casandra 15:40 Yeah. I mean, people are expected to go buy water by the gallon at the store. But then the stores get cleared out really fast. Margaret 15:49 Ah, okay. Casandra 15:49 So. We could go off on a whole tangent about like how few filters actually clear out cyanotoxins. It's pretty wild. Margaret 15:58 Yeah, I've actually...I've I've heard people talking about that. I heard people talk....Like, one of those things that I'm like, as someone who lives off of well, water where I don't even know if it is an issue. Maybe it is an issue, and I just haven't paid enough attention to it. Are there filters that can get rid of cyanotoxins? Casandra 16:18 When I was looking into after that happened, the filters I found that, at that time, maybe it's changed in the last few years. But the big like Berkey...is that the brand? The big giant expensive... Margaret 16:29 Yeah, that's the one. Yep. Yeah. Casandra 16:33 Which I just haven't been able to afford. So, that's why I, I use a basic filter and just keep 15 gallons of water. Margaret 16:41 Yeah. Casandra 16:43 On hand all the time. Margaret 16:44 Yeah. Casandra 16:45 [dispasstionatly] Whoo. I don't remember what I was saying. Oh! Yeah, I look at what tends to happen in my bio region and that's how I prepare. Yeah. And then there are things that people catastrophize about. I'm on the west coast, so earthquakes and tsunamis. Those seem like the main things I have to prepare for. How about you, Margaret? [Laughing] Margaret 17:11 You know, not to jinx myself, but I live in a a more stable by region than most I believe. There's not a lot of...the non coastal Mid Atlantic does not have a ton of earthquakes does not have a ton of tornadoes. It has it has tornadoes, that's the thing. I'm not worried about tsunamis, I'm not worried about...we catch the tail end of hurricanes. But, I worry about...well, I worry about people deciding to murder all the trans people in mass. And, I worry about the, the need to confront people attempting to take the United States in a fascist direction. A more fascist...whatever, I'm not trying to throw that word around, like, super loose. But clearly, we're not necessarily headed in good directions right now. And, I worry a bit about forest fire. I think that a lot of the changing climate is changing what crises look like in different places. But I, I mostly worry...well, it's less about what I worry about, right? Because in some ways, I try to think of preparedness as a way to not worry about things. I remember, you know, my last house, I lived off grid, like really in the woods where far more likely of a problem than forest fire was like, the dead branch above my house falling on it or something, right? But overall, like if I was worried about forest fire in the, in the woods I lived in, I thought through what to do about it, which in this case, since I wasn't going to clear the forest, the best I could do was have a go bag, and make sure that my you know, truck has at least half a tank of gas at any given point. And make sure to not stay so completely isolated from communication channels that I wouldn't get an update from a weather update or something, right? And once I did that, I stopped worrying about forest fires, because I was able to sort of check it off in my head about being like, "Well, I've done what I can." Every now and then I might catastrophize about it and be like, spend the night looking into how to dig fire shelters and you know, things like that. But for the most part, I try to view this as a way to turn off anxiety, be like, you think about a crisis. You think, "What can I do about it?" You do those things. And then, and I know this doesn't work for everyone, but I'm actually a reasonably anxious person and this has helped a lot. I then stop worrying about those individual things because I fucking did what I could. Casandra 19:57 What about...what about... I'm Just thinking about crises that aren't natural disasters, or like...I guess forest fires can last for a long time, but that aren't such a huge immediate impact, so like, rising food prices and food shortages. Margaret 20:20 Yeah, no, that's a...fuck, that's such a good one. And I mean, one of the things that's kind of weird to say is that with with, with massive inflation, and everything, everything shelf stable is like a good investment. Right? Like, a jar of honey is cheaper today than it's going to be three weeks from now. Casandra 20:42 Right! Margaret 20:43 So, cash is less useful to me right now than a jar of honey is, you know, in terms of a thing that holds its value, not necessarily in terms of like, I'm not going to turn around and sell the honey at a profit. Both like, you know... Casandra 21:02 But it's a worthwhile investment. Margaret 21:05 Yeah, for me, I am less concerned about my retirement savings, and more concerned about my ability to have access to like... it's actually one of the reasons why I try and prioritize tools, right, so that I can like, make the things that I feel like I need, but that has to do with like, my own personal skill set. And, like, the place I live, you know, rurally having more access to like land and like, if need be, I could like cut down a tree to get the fucking wood or whatever. Although, I say that as if I had a sawmill and I don't, I don't even have a chainsaw mill, I really need a chainsaw mill. And then I need a covered place to store the wood for...it's a year per thickness...for a inch of thickness is how long you have to store wood to cure it before you can use it as lumber. Anyway, I've definitely looked into all that stuff. Sustainability, pushing towards sustainability with it without like being like, I guess I could say my, my personal goal is it would rule to like be like, I don't need to get anything from the store. I have everything I need or whatever, right? But that's nonsensical as an individual to desire. There's a reason we have societies. And, I would only want that in the context of a community that shares resources. But yeah, I don't know, I guess, figuring out as food prices rise and all that stuff, how to supplement my, my food buying with more gardening, how to supplement different things. I don't know, you're actually you're actually better at this question. So it was unfair that you asked me and so I will ask you instead. Casandra 22:48 I could ask you a different question that you basically just let us into. Margaret 22:52 No, well now I'm just asking you this question. What what foods? Should we, you know, how do you get started with with storing food or getting food? Food, question mark. That's my question. Casandra 23:11 Well, I already talked about it a little bit, right? Like when...every time I go to the store, I get one thing, at least, that I don't need immediately that's shelf stable. So that can be like a can of beans, or a bag of rice, or a jar of peanut butter. We do this very differently. I think. So, I'm curious to hear what you have to say as well, because I don't do like, what's it called, deep storage? Margaret 23:38 That's what I've been calling it, I don't know. Casandra 23:40 I don't do deep storage. I get things that I'm going to actually eat and cycle through. So, instead of getting freeze dried food and putting it into deep storage or things like that, I'm getting like a 50 pound bag of black beans and actually working through it and eating it before I get a new one. Margaret 24:02 Yeah. Casandra 24:06 I feel like gardening is a whole other a whole other topic. Margaret 24:11 Well, but that's actually one of the things that really interests me about. I think the way that you came to your system of preparedness is that you are creating, you are growing food, you are...anyone who's listened to previous episodes has heard Casandra talk about canning, and so you're, you're getting food and you're putting it in jars so that you can eat it later. You know, and I don't know, and so it seems like a very natural thing to combine gardening with with this style of, of cycling through different foods. Casandra 24:42 Yeah, yeah, I think it is too, you're right. The way I do it is that...so I live close to an organic farm. And I have a CSA and so we haven't gotten to the what distinguishes community preparedness from individual preparedness question yet, but there are certain foods that I don't really ever have to worry about growing or, or buying from the store, like if it's a food that can be grown, if climate changes is, is it a point where if food can still be grown, I can I can get those certain foods pretty easily. So what I'm interested in is growing foods that I can store long term whether that's through, like curing, or drying, or canning. So like potatoes, beans, tomatoes, winter squash, onions, garlic, things like that. And also perennial perennial foods. Margaret 25:41 So rather than things that grow once, things that just keep on giving. What are good examples of perennials? Casandra 25:48 Depends where you live. Margaret 25:49 What are some that you do? Casandra 25:51 For my bio region, lots of berries, huckleberries, currants, things like that. I think root vegetables are really important for me and the way that I have to eat because I can't really have grains. So, I've done a lot of experimenting with, like, Ground Nut, Tiger Nut. Camus is a local perennial food crop. There are lots of ornamentals that you can eat the roots of, so Jerusalem artichoke, Day Lily...oh my gosh, my brain just went blank. My favorite one I can't remember the name of. Anyway. Learning which roots you can eat and planting a shitload of them, because if it's perennial, it will just be in the ground and grow until you need it.,right? Casandra 25:52 Oh yeah. Okay, because it's no longer perennial. Once you dig it up and eat the root. Casandra 26:48 Well, you can split...like for a lot of them, you can split it and replant part of it. So, think of like a potato. You plant a chunk of potato, which isn't perennial, but as an example you plant a chunk of the potato and get a whole ton of potatoes. At the end of the season all you have to do is replanted chunk. Margaret 27:13 Yeah. Casandra 27:14 Yeah. Margaret 27:15 Okay. I'm not convinced that all of the plants that you just listed are real. [Laughing] For anyone listening, I am convinced that Casandra every now and then makes up a new plant to tell me about. Sure of course those are all real. [skeptically and slowly] "Potatoes." Casandra 27:34 I can even send you pictures as proof. [Laughing] Margaret 27:36 [Laughing] It could be any plant! What do i know of plants? And so...so which ties into...my ignorance about plants is actually how I ended up with my take on all of this stuff. I haven't had...no I haven't like lived in a rooted way, pun not intended, until more recently in my life and I guess it's so recent that I could not really claim to be rooted now either, because I haven't lived where I live for even a year, but so I've tended to be towards more packaged foods right and I've tended towards...in my mind I think a health the healthiest possible way of handling food for someone to be prepared would be a combination of these things where you cycle through them, right, you have your pantry, your pantry foods, your the canned stuff, the jars of peanut butter, all of that that have several years shelf life in general. And you know, yeah, you do the thing where you when you get the new one it goes to the back and then you take the oldest one out to eat, right? I have a little cool cheap plastic rack system where I dropped the cans in and it feeds me the oldest one so that... Casandra 28:56 Oooooh, fancy! Margaret 28:57 I call them "first in first outs"...I don't know, they have some fucking fancy word, but... Casandra 29:03 Oh, it's for like a cans you buy at the store, not like canned jarred food? Margaret 29:10 Yeah, although you could,,,no, I guess mason jars are a little bit not round enough to roll properly. Casandra 29:15 Yeah, you probably don't want to store them on their side either. Margaret 29:18 Okay, it would work with wine and just...because you're supposed to store that on its side...no it would probably all break. Okay so... Casandra 29:25 Wine for the apocalypse. Margaret 29:27 I don't even drink on a regular basis, but I definitely have both hard alcohol and wine. But not beer because it goes bad sooner. I think I don't, I don't know that much about alcohol. I want to start making my own at some point. I just need to...what I do is when I want to learn how to do something is I have a guest on the show and have them explain it to me. And so I need to do an alcohol episode at some point. But.... Casandra 29:55 So we can like track Margaret's interest in projects based on who you have on the show. Margaret 29:59 Yeah, totallly. At some point recently...yep, I don't know. Yep, I get too personal, okay, so. So what I've done more historically, is instead of focusing on like jars and things, but instead stuff with like 30 years shelf life, right, and you can, you can go out and buy it, you can go out and buy...different brands will sell you apocalypse food where it's dried beans that are stored in such a way usually basically stored in such a way where the, there's oxygen absorbers within that, in order to give it a shelf life of 30 years. And that leads to really weird things where like brown rice doesn't last as long as white rice, because it's almost impossible to store fats long, for long periods of time. And so there's like, it only provide certain amounts of good. And so, usually, people are storing dried beans, dried rice, lentils, sometimes like powdered peanut butter, and then freeze dried food. Freeze drying, much more technologically involved, but it has a very different texture that I actually don't like very much to be real. But, it can last substantially longer than like regular dried food, which regular dried food lasts long enough, right? Several years is long enough. You could...if you have food for several years, you would at that point, try and put food in the ground. But I really like shit that I can just like leave in the corner and forget about, just to be like, "Oh, well, there's a bucket." So in case of i'm ever fucked, I could go to the apocalypse bucket and get some food. So, that's why I like that whole thing. So, that's food. Now I'm supposed to ask a question. Okay, maybe the thing that... Casandra 31:57 We just covered everything there is to cover about food. Margaret 32:00 That's right. Casandra 32:01 Sorry. Margaret 32:01 All you need is potatoes. One potatoe becomes many potatoes. Freeze dry potatoes. Yeah. I don't even know if he can do that. It doesn't...I'm sure you can. Casandra 32:11 Yep. Don't store jars on their side. Okay, we're good. Margaret 32:18 Yep. Casandra 32:18 Check. Margaret 32:19 Yep, everything you need to know. Okay, so the question that comes up probably the most is, well, "What the fuck, I don't have a ton of money. How the hell am I going to be prepared?" And I think that this comes from how we keep seeing, like traditional, especially kind of Right-wing and even centrist preparedness stuff is so stuff focused. And this episode is a little bit stuff focused. But basically, people are like, "I can't afford to get into preparedness. What do I do?" Casandra, what should people do? Casandra 32:53 I just realized this ties into the other question, which I'm also going to ask now, which is "What's the difference between community preparedness and individual preparedness?" Margaret 33:01 Right. Well, I asked first, so you have to answer both of them first. Casandra 33:06 Right. I mean, I think one of the best ways to prepare for different variables when you don't have...space is another issue, right? So, not having enough space or not having enough money, is to do it as a community. So, if Margaret has the sawmill. Margaret 33:24 One day. Casandra 33:25 And I have, right and I have the garden, then and we live close enough to each other, then I don't also have to have a sawmill. And maybe she doesn't have to have a garden, right? Margaret 33:38 Yeah, besides some herbs. Casandra 33:41 Right. Or maybe you do and it's just... Margaret 33:43 Basil. Casandra 33:44 Or maybe, you know, you don't like gardenin, so you like let me garden at your house or something. But... Margaret 33:52 And then in exchange I have to do the sawing. Okay, yeah. Casandra 33:55 Yeah. I said I would try to be more wordy. But that's that's, I mean, my other like, "If you don't have money thing," I've already said twice, which is just like, do a little bit of something. Margaret 34:11 Yeah, Casandra 34:12 Each month, or each time you go to the grocery store, or whatever, like chip away at it. There's so many variables, but I know and where I'm living, there are different options. So, there's a group in my area that's like a buying club. They call themselves a co-op, but we can do bulk orders through them so we can get bulk dried goods at wholesale prices. CSAs, or like preferred befriending farmers in your area, or befriending people who work at grocery stores so you can use their discount to get cases of things. Dumpster diving, and my brains obviously on food, but those are the things that come to mind. Check. Margaret 35:01 I mean, so much of the immediate simple stuff around preparedness is food, right? I mean, some stuff is like cheap, right? Like a LifeStraw is cheap. It's not the best water filter, but it's a brand of water filter that's like regularly on sale for like $9. Where, and sometimes it's like a two pack. So that gets into community preparedness right there. Casandra 35:25 That's what I have. Margaret 35:27 Yeah, a Lifestraw is a brilliant, useful thing for not dying in certain situations and it is a terrible thing for maintaining any sort of access to water on a regular basis, because it's not particularly convenient. You literally use it like straw, like the name implies. But...but yeah, I guess Okay, so in terms of the difference between individual preparedness, community preparedness, you know, the, the traditional preparedness space is just flooded with individual preparedness stuff. And so sometimes it, it can be really overwhelming. And it's really easy to think of preparedness as guns, Faraday bags, bunkers, and wilderness survival skills, right? That's all there is to preparedness. And I'm a little bit more on this traditional preparedness side, because I do the like, fill my basement with dried beans and shit. And, you know, I've spent my time like, looking into how to bury ammunition and gold. But! Casandra 36:33 But you do that because you want to share your beans with people, not because you want to use guns to keep people away from your beans. Margaret 36:43 Right! Totally. No, and that is, that is the difference, right? Because even when I'm trying to do these sort of individual steps, I tend to do it because I have often sort of as an as an anarchist, whenever I work as an activist or whatever, I tend to personally do my own thing, and then plug it into larger frameworks. That is like how I've gone about, you know, a lot of my work has been as a writer, or even at demonstrations, and I do not recommend this, I tend to go alone, and I've been doing it for 20 years is why I feel comfortable going alone. But, I find ways to be useful to a larger crowd, as an individual, whether it's like maintaining exits, or scouting, or you know, whatever. And, and so I tend to view my own preparedness in a similar way, I tend to be like, alright, well, especially since when I first started, I couldn't convince anyone else to care about this shit, then for some reason, COVID and all kinds of other stuff happened, and few more people care about it. But yeah, I tend to see like, like, I used to live in a community environment where no one else wanted to do any preparedness in terms of what I was interested in. And so I was like, fuck it, I'm gonna have six months food for 10 people stored, because I can't afford to get a year's worth. And also, realistically, if something happened, it would suddenly be...it probably wouldn't be 10 people six months, it would probably be I can't do the math off the top my head, it would be 60 people's one month. That's probably not how math works. You know, because because I, because sharing is really useful. Sharing is not only caring, but it is like it's the most direct and useful fucking preparedness thing is this is how it ties into also being poor and doing this, right. It's like, like, people and access to people. That is the best resource, right? Because people are how things happen. I don't know. I never fucking understood it, where people would be like, "Oh, I have mine. So fuck you." and be like.... Casandra 38:43 I don't understand. Margaret 38:45 No, go ahead. Casandra 38:46 I think like, who would want to survive without... Margaret 38:52 Live alone on a pile of beans? Casandra 38:54 Right, like, why? Margaret 38:57 Yeah, totally. Casandra 38:57 What's the point then? Margaret 39:00 Yeah. Casandra 39:02 Aside from the fact that it's harder and less efficient, and you know, dangerous, and all these things like, why? Margaret 39:09 Totally and, and I think, not to go grandiose, but I think that's one of the most important questions of our time, because I think crises are going to continue to happen and I think they're gonna get worse. And as they do, I think people are going to shake out polarizing on one of two sides, which I will call Nationalist and Internationalist, just for lack of a better immediate terminology. And one, if you imagine a walled off city an "I got mine, fuck you city," and then a like "Refugees Welcome city." The "Refugees Welcome City" is going to have some immediate problems as the immediate stockpiled resources are drained. But, like even from an economics point of view, even if I was a capitalist, it just makes more sense. People grow the economy, right? Like more gets done when there's more people doing it. I mean like have you ever tried to move on your own it's fucking pointless. Just get people to help like...[Casandra laughing] Casandra 40:11 I want to know where this where the like hyper individualists bunker types get all their energy. Like I would just be too tired, you know, maybe because I have a chronic illness, but I would never survive [laughing] be like actually it's naptime. Margaret 40:28 Yeah. Casandra 40:29 Oh God. Margaret 40:31 Spite alone, I think is how half of them are planning to get by, Casandra 40:36 I think they envision themselves in like a movie. But, when they get...when they actually get to that, whoo, I almost threw my computer. When they actually get to that point and realized that no one's like watching them be their like ideal badass or whatever. It's gonna get really boring. Margaret 40:52 Yeah, totally. Casandra 40:53 Yeah. Margaret 40:54 No, that makes it makes a lot of sense. And like. So, in terms of cheaper ways to prepare, you brought up dumpster diving and I think dumpster diving is it's fantastic, and what I would...okay, this is not actually cheap, but in a community sense, right? I'm always obsessed with these, like more technological solutions. It's sort of like, like, I like hydroponics as much as I like traditional gardening, especially once I found out you can make your own nutrients for hydroponics, you know, you don't just have to like buy store bought stuff. But, with compost. But we want resources. The trash is full of resources. So if you had a freeze dryer, and then dumpster dive, [interuptted by Casandra laughing] okay, so no, no, no, no, no. So the problem is freeze dryers... Casandra 41:45 Margaret's on a mission. Margaret 41:46 Yeah, I really want a freeze dryer and I can't afford one. Casandra 41:49 You don't even like the texture of freeze dried food! Margaret 41:54 Okay, but my plan is to just go around and be the like freeze dried food fairy where I show up in towns, in order to build mutual aid networks, or I show up and be like, "Look, I've been dumpster diving. Here is a god awful amount of strawberries, just a god awful amount, but they last for 10 years. So you can just fucking eat them if you liked the texture or wait for the apocalypse if you don't." Because a lot of people do like the texture, because they're wrong. And so. So I think I think dumpster diving, even without the freeze dryer, like regular drying is also very good. And also eating the food directly... Casandra 42:34 Everyone loves strawberry jam. Margaret 42:35 Yeah, totally. Casandra 42:36 Make that shit into canned jam. Margaret 42:38 Yeah. And so I think that, yeah, and I think that we people get lost in the and I do it too, right. And I'm like, "If only I had a $4,000 Freeze dryer." Like cans of beans are still at 89 cents or whatever, at the grocery store near me. And you know, you need a lot of them to survive a day. And you probably don't want to only canned beans, but I don't know, starting small, focusing more on relationships and skills, if that is like if you feel really not in a good place to get resources. There's also just other ways that people gather resources. Some of them are crime, which I would never advocate, because that's the...not because it's morally wrong, because I think legality and morality are entirely divorced as concepts. There's no correlation or negative correlation between the two. Plenty of cool shit is legal, plenty of uncool shit is illegal, but whatever. So, crime is a way that people gather resources, dumpster diving, which technically probably counts as crime, but in the "Who fucking cares level of it", depending on your...I mean, as long as you can afford to interact with police, you know, if you can't afford to interact with police, then dumpster diving is a much harder thing to do, right? But I don't know. Someone should write grants for this sort of shit. I don't know, create mutual aid organizations. And especially as you're doing things on a community level, I think people would come forward. I've seen it happen a lot, because I think there are people who do have resources, financial resources, who would like to be part of developing mutual aid organizations. And really, what is community preparedness, but mutual aid? That's my long winded answer. Casandra was like, "I don't talk long," and I was like, I don't talk short. Casandra 44:40 But when you talk long, then it reminds me of other things. So... Margaret 44:42 Oh, good. Casandra 44:43 I'm thinking about how...I'm thinking about doing things on the cheap. And I know I've occasionally looked up like, "10 items, you must have to be prepared," or whatever. And I think those lists are really pointless and overly expensive if you follow them exactly, because like what I need to be comfortable is not the same as what other people need to be comfortable. And what I need to survive is not the same as what other people need to survive. Still using food as an example, like I'm not gonna...why would I spend money on a bunch of, I don't know, wheat products, which is what all of those like premade freeze dried buckets are like really high in like wheat and dairy and sugary things that I can't eat. Like, why would I spend money on that when I can put resources into other things? So just like not getting the gadgets and the shit that you don't need, which it feels...we talked about this at the very beginning. You mentioned something before we started recording about some YouTuber, it doesn't really matter who, but how it feels like they're trying to like sell the apocalypse. Margaret 46:02 Yeah. Casandra 46:05 And often also trying to sell like products along with it, which you didn't say, but I just inferred Margaret 46:11 It's true. The one that I was talking shit on absolutely sells products. Yeah. Casandra 46:14 Really? Margaret 46:15 Yeah. Casandra 46:15 [Mocking] "You need this product to survive?" [not mocking] Probably not. You know? Margaret 46:19 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, one of the one of the best piece of advice is that I've ever heard is, don't ask for gear recommendations from rich people. Casandra 46:33 Right! Margaret 46:34 Just don't, because they will always have a reason they will be like, like, if you...firearms is a black hole of money, right? And people are like, "Oh, you need this gun belt. You will die if you don't have this $80 gun belt. And if you don't have this gun light that costs $350 You're basically already dead. I actually don't know how you made it this long, Casandra without a $350 gun light." Casandra 47:06 For a gun I don't have... Margaret 47:07 Although I will say from a self defense point of view, I would absolutely in most situations...well, I actually do on most situations have a tactical flashlight on me and not a gun, because I think in most situations, lethal force is not warranted. And if you shine a really bright light in people's eyes, it confuses them, and you can get away. The like tactical flashlight as the like "This is so you can fight with it," I'm like, "No, no, no, just a flashlight that clips into your pocket that's really bright. That's..." Casandra 47:37 Yeah. Margaret 47:38 Anyway. And yeah, and, like, if you want a $50 knife, you can go out and have a $50 knife. And if you use knives all the time, you might appreciate how it stays sharp and how you never need to tighten the little folding mechanism and shit. But you know what, have a $3 folding knife and like, a $3 folding knife is fine. It cuts things. It opens boxes, it kills ticks. Those are the only things I use my knife for. Casandra 48:09 I have a $15 Mora knife that does not fold. But in my head, the boxes is it ticks are like "It splits weaving material." Margaret 48:18 Yeah, exactly. Casandra 48:19 "I can prune with it." Margaret 48:21 Exactly. Like, yeah. So, don't take advice from rich people. That's my number one tip. Casandra 48:31 Except your light sources. Margaret 48:34 Yeah. Yeah, totally. And, and don't see it as a like, if you can't be fully prepared, there's no point. You know? Casandra 48:45 Yeah. Margaret 48:45 Because there's just times when you're like, like, most of the time I use my emergency kit it's because like someone's like, "Does anyone have any Advil?" And I'm like, "I do have Advil," you know, and like, I don't know. And so a little tiny emergency kit gets used a lot more than...and the first, the first five gallons of water that I store are the only ones that I've had to personally use now that I live on grid, right? Like when I lived off grid, I used all of my 150 gallons on a regular basis. But the first the first five gallons of water is the most important. The first extra jar of peanut butter is the most important. The first $3 knife is the most important. So all the expensive shit, whatever. Casandra 49:39 Yeah. Yeah. Margaret 49:45 Well, this ties into the question, "Why prepare rather than just deciding that the apocalypse is when you die?" Hey, hey this wasn't on the list. But I get asked this... Casandra 50:03 Do I have to go first, or do you go first? Margaret 50:07 If you are able to, you should go first. But if not, I can go first. I just get asked this a lot. Casandra 50:15 I mean, I think two reasons. The short answer for me is that I have a child that I have to take care of. So, I can't just... like if it was just me, I might possibly say like, "Eeeeeh, I mean, maybe I'd rather go when the apocalypse happens." So that's reason number one. Number two is that I don't think the apocalypse is like a singular, like, quick event. I think we're in the midst of it. So you know, yeah. I'm here already doing it. Margaret 50:43 Totally. Yeah. I was reading something. I read a lot of history now for my my other podcast, it's called Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff, if you want to hear about history. And, one of the things that's like, come up a couple of times is this idea that like, even during, like really wild shit, where tons of people are dying, they're still often singing and dancing, right? There's still often beauty. There's still often love. You know, there's all of these things. And so yeah, we're like, we're living in a slow apocalypse now, and I really, I don't like the slow apocalypse. I really like my life, you know. And then the other thing is that is a friend of mine who survived the fall of the Soviet Union as a teenager is the one who always reminds me that most people survive the end of their way of life. So there are apocalypses is that where most people don't survive, right? I live on territory in the United States, that is the result of such an apocalypse where I mean, it was not complete. And those people are... you know indigenous people are still here. And I'm not trying to erase that. But, I'm, it was a devastating apocalypse of conquest and murder. But, most ends of ways of life, people survive. Most people survive. We can get focused on all the people who died. And on some level we owe it to the people who died. But... Casandra 52:30 Yeah, that, that made me think...if this is too grim, it can be cut, but that made me think of the story. I want to say it's from Poland during the Holocaust, a Jewish community was...the story is that a Jewish community was rounded up and they were, you know, lined up in a field to be shot. And the soldiers. were, like, taunting them. And and I believe the soldiers were like, "Dance for us," you know. And so the Jews started singing “Mir veln zey iberlebn, iberlebn, iberlebn” , which is "We will outlive them." They were like, "Alright, fuck you!" Yeah. Margaret 53:13 Yeah, and you're still here. Casandra 53:16 Right. Yeah. Margaret 53:18 That's cool. Casandra 53:18 They were shot. But... Margaret 53:21 Right, but there's also kind of a...I don't know, maybe this is just also on this kind of grim page, but it's like, it was a quote, I think it's George Jackson, I think but I'm not entirely certain, that's basically like, "I don't care how much longer I live over this, I have no control." I'm completely paraphrasing really rudely. But, it's a quote I think about constantly, "I have no control over how much longer I live. I have control over how I live." You know, and I'm already...I'm already as old as like medieval peasants get, right? Or medieval royalty! Really kind of anyone before before fucking antibiotics. Like, I'm doing alright. And I don't know, i was like a 'no future' punk kid. And then after every birthday after 30 I'm kind of like, "Sweet borrowed time," you know, like, and so I kind of I don't know when I think of the like, alright, like, just to completely horribly paraphrase various quotes, I think this one actually comes from the Quran. It was a big part of activist culture when I first got involved, it was like, "If the world would end tomorrow I would still plant a tree today." And I believe that the original source of that is the Quran, I learned after writing an essay about this particular quote and how much it means to me. But, it just means a lot to me because it's just like, alright, well, we like do the things that we care about doing. And the reason I prepare is because I'm like, well, I'm hedging my bets. I still want to try and live long if I can, you know. This guy way darker than I originally... Casandra 55:13 it's hard to talk about, like, climate collapse without a certain mix of like you know realistic grimness and also hope. I don't think there's really any other way to talk about it, personally. Margaret 55:27 Yeah, maybe that's why I like hate the Doomer versus like Bloomer. Maybe I misunderstand this debate, but this kind of this like, idea that, you know, either everything's gonna be fine....Okay, I guess the bloomers aren't this, but like, people...I mostly run into people who are either like stick their heads in the sand because thinking about the apocalypse is too much, which is a completely understandable response. And people use the like, stick your head in the sand really pejoratively. And maybe I shouldn't so much, right? It's a very understandable response to just not pay attention to something until you have to, right. Or this, like doom and gloom, we're all going to die, so buy these products thing. Casandra 56:11 Yeah. Margaret 56:13 And I don't like either of them. I like looking as soberly as possible at what seems possible, and how we can best manage it? And then just do that? I don't know. That's, that's what being a responsible human looks like to me is you look at problems and then you try to solve them. I don't know, like, am I wrong? Casandra 56:42 No, you're not wrong. Margaret 56:44 Like if there's a problem, give up? Or there's a problem, don't look at it. Casandra 56:49 Yeah, I don't even know if it's conscious for a lot of people. Like we're, I was talking with my therapist about this a few weeks ago, actually, not in terms of climate collapse, but just, you know, crisis in general, and how our nervous systems are, like not built to handle what we have to handle right now, just in terms of like, how much input we have constantly. Yeah. But you know, if my neighbor, if something were to happen, and my neighbor hasn't been in a place where they can process what's going on in the options, like, hopefully, I'll have some extra beans for them. So that's good. Margaret 57:31 Totally, because I think a lot of those people, some people I love very dearly fall into this category, and I'm not going to name them because there's so many negative connotations here. Like, some of those people are some of the best people in crisis, right? So they're not necessarily good before the crisis, at anticipating the crisis and averting the crisis. But sometimes, the like weird, weird is not the right word, but this like mono focus on like, "Okay, now this thing is happening, and I'm going to deal with it. And then I'm not going to think about any other time." You know, maybe yeah, like, you've done a lot of prepared. You've done a lot of preparedness. And then as the thing happens, maybe your neighbor is like, not burned out. And is like, "Okay, what do we got to fucking do?" Maybe I'm giving too much credit to your neighbor. I don't know. Casandra 58:24 No, even thinking about recent crises, like the the I won't be too specific, but like the Big Freeze. I was fine. Even though I didn't have power for 10 days, but my seven year old was not going to be fine. Margaret 58:43 Yeah. Casandra 58:44 And someone in my family who got power sooner than me...whatever, that. I'm not sure where I was going with that anecdote. I mentally froze not because I couldn't take care of myself, but because I couldn't figure out how to make it comfortable for my child and someone who doesn't think about preparedness as much as I do was able to be helpful. Margaret 59:09 Yeah. Casandra 59:10 Yeah. Margaret 59:11 That makes sense to me. Okay, one of the other questions that we get asked a lot is kind of like, well, "How can I be useful? I am poor or I am a tech worker and I don't know shit about starting fires, or I have the following different types of disabilities or, you know, I'm old or I'm young or these things that society says you're outside the realm of like, the cool bearded guy who can live in the forest, eating squirrels with a hatchet?" Casandra 59:47 Chops with a hand and videotapes it. Margaret 59:49 Yeah, totally. Yeah. But literally with his with his hands, you know? Casandra 59:54 Yeah. Margaret 59:55 Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, I get asked and Live Like The World Is Dying gets asked like, "What do we...or what do I do?" Or like...and I don't know, to me that's almost like, one of the most like, fun questions. I know it's kind of weird, say "fun," but... Casandra 1:00:18 No, it's fun. Margaret 1:00:19 There's just so many things. Casandra 1:00:20 So many things. Margaret 1:00:22 Yeah. Casandra 1:00:24 Can you organize a buying group so people can get bulk goods? Do you have room in your house so someone else can store shit? Margaret 1:00:31 Yeah, if you can, if you can throw a party, you can probably like, organize people to get something done. And if you hate parties, there's probably something else you focused on. You know? Even like, I don't wanna say even as if it's this like other, but I don't know, I think about my friends who are like, specifically really good at Magic the Gathering and video games... Casandra 1:00:55 Oh, my God, they can watch people's kids while other people do stuff. Margaret 1:00:59 Yeah totally! Casandra 1:01:02 Perfect. Margaret 1:01:04 Also, good at strategy. Yeah, if you feed them the right rules. Now I'm just I'm thinking about one of my specific friends. I'm not trying to make broad statements. But, I'm like, well, you're very good at taking this like systems and apply and figuring out how to like, maneuver through it in order to accomplish a goal. You know, whereas when I play games, I'm like, "I don't know, hit the button!" And then I die. And then I'm like this games awful. Casandra 1:01:32 Also, like we need games in order to survive, right? Margaret 1:01:36 Yeah. Casandra 1:01:37 And stories and things like that. Otherwise, what's the point? Margaret 1:01:40 Yeah, totally, totally. And like, folks who you know, are, like, older have a lot in terms of things that they've seen happen before and what's worked and what's not worked? And then people who are a lot younger, have energy unclouded by the knowledge of what has failed before. And both of these things are really useful. Casandra 1:02:05 Yeah. Margaret 1:02:06 But you're so right about childcare. And like, I don't know, it seems like when revolutionary movements start, they start like getting good once there's like mutual aid childcare. Casandra 1:02:18 Yeah, that's like a whole other topic. Margaret 1:02:25 Totally. I mean, honestly, it's one we should do on this show at some point is like, literally, like, I'm like, there's a lot of non kid having adults in this generation, I say, this generation, as if everyone listening to this generation, but I'm a millennial. And, you know, a lot of a lot fewer of us have children and don't know how to take care of children, and therefore sort of try to avoid taking care of other people's children, which is bullshit, because that should be a shared responsibility. So we should do an episode on how to take care of other people's kids. This is clearly just the like Margaret tries to find people to ask in order to answer questions that she has. Okay. Casandra 1:03:16 Did you have any other secret questions you were hiding for me? Margaret 1:03:20 Yeah, there's one final question. Casandra 1:03:21 Okay. Margaret 1:03:22 Final question is: Casandra, what gives you hope about all of this kind of stuff? Casandra 1:03:27 Okay, I think the thing that gives me hope is that we know things are in the process of changing drastically. And with change is always the potential to like create a different, and who knows, maybe in some ways better future. Margaret 1:03:43 Yeah, I think about how the good apocalypse books...or the ones that I like, and movies are basically stories of hope. Because people don't like the current society. There's a lot of reasons to dislike the current society. And so, I don't know, like one of the things that I think plagues the current society is loneliness and isolation. And I mean, frankly, it's a question we didn't get to. And hopefully, we'll get to, again, do a similar thing is like people ask all the time, like, "How do I get involved? How do I meet people? How do I make connections? How do I? How do I have a community?" You know, because most people don't beyond very limited contexts in the current world. And what gives me hope is that disaster disaster studies shows that time and time again, when disaster happens, people get their shit together and hang out with each other and do things together. That's what gives me hope. I hope that we pull through this and come out, come out in a better a better future. A bright future dawning over there. Casandra 1:04:56 Here, here. Margaret 1:04:57 Yeah. You Well, thanks for listening to our different style...It turned into more of a question and answer than a specific like, "How to begin preparedness," but I think it...I hope that this is a good style of podcast. And if you enjoyed listening, you should maybe tell us that this one was good and support our show. Casandra 1:05:35 How can they support our show, Margaret? Margaret 1:05:38 Well, that's a it's funny that you ask. They can support our show by supporting the publisher of this show, which both Casandra and I work with, called Strangers In A Tangled Wilderness, which is an anarchist collective, committed to the cultural side of resistance and basically trying to create things for people who didn't know where they fit in. And lots of other people too. But, we tried to make cultural things and we make this podcast and you can support us on Patreon at patreon.com/strangersinatangledwilderness. And that money will go to help produce this show. It'll go to help send out all kinds of content. If you back us at $10 a month you'll get a physical zine in the mail every month, anywhere in the world. And in particular, I want to thank some of our patrons, Hoss the dog, who is a dog. The rest of these are presumably people, but Hoss, the dog, is a dog who supports us. Very grateful. Hoss, the dog is maybe our longest running...Although some of these other people are also very long running. I'm not trying to disparage them. Hoss, the dog, Chris, Sam, Nora, Micaiah, Kirk, Natalie, Eleanor, Jennifer, Staro Chelsea, Dana, David, Nicole and Mikki. Thank you so much. And thanks everyone who doesn't support us financially, but just listens and does this stuff, because we do this not for the support, we do this because we want people to take care of each other and selfishly I do it so that other people take care of me in the apocalypse times. Any final final words? Casandra 1:07:26 Oh, for me? Margaret 1:07:26 Yeah, why not? Casandra 1:07:26 No. Margaret 1:07:28 Okay. Casandra 1:07:30 I was trying to be very quiet so you could close. Margaret 1:07:33 Oh, well, we ruined that. We will talk to you all very soon, because now we come out every two weeks. Casandra 1:07:40 Whoo! Find out more at https://live-like-the-world-is-dying.pinecast.co

It's A Vibe (with Wilco & Phish)

music vibe phish wilco it could happen here cool people who did cool stuff

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 3, 2022 31:19

The fucking world is a dumpster fire, and we all could use a few minutes to vibe out. This week Nathaniel plays a couple of songs that help him do just that. Short community update at the top of the episode, and just a brief bit about both bands, mostly, its music. Music is nice. Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/

Jagged Little Toxic Masculinity

toxic masculinity jagged little pill jagged it could happen here cool people who did cool stuff

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 19, 2022 56:05

This week Nathaniel dives into 1995's smash hit Jagged Little Pill, specifically the song "Head Over Feet" and how it added to a decade of toxic messaging to men about how they should function in society. We're gonna keep unpacking this shit till it's all unpacked Lune Show At The Well: https://www.facebook.com/events/706224400457133/?active_tab=discussion Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/

Warped Tour 2001/2002 (and some news)

warped tour it could happen here cool people who did cool stuff

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 12, 2022 57:24

This week Nathaniel talks briefly about the news and taking a break last week. Then dives into the start of a series on all The Warped Tour's he's been to, and the times had at them. Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/

Pride Is a Riot: Podcast Recommendations

Feedback with EarBuds

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 7, 2022 14:56

Welcome to Feedback with EarBuds, the podcast recommendation podcast. Our newsletter brings you five podcast recommendations each week according to a theme, and curated by a different person. Our podcast is an audio version of the newsletter. Subscribe to the newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/cIcBuH This week's theme is Pride is a Riot. The curator is Adell Coleman, chief operating officer of DCP Entertainment.Why did Adell choose this theme? "Happy Pride! It's important to support the LGBTQ+ community now, more than ever — especially to align to fight against the political and legal assaults on LGBTQ+ rights. We should be celebrating and highlighting the many dope and diverse voices of podcasters and storytellers within the LGBTQ+ community!” This episode is brought to you in part by Focusrite:Focusrite's Vocaster is here! Vocaster features Auto gain, to set levels quickly and easily; Enhance, to get your voice sounding its best in one click; and connections for your phone, camera, and so much more! Focusrite interfaces sit at the heart of more studios than any other. Now, let your voice be heard like never before. Learn more about Focusrite at https://focusrite.com/en. We are also proud to be sponsored this week by The Woo Lab: What is the meaning of life? Is there an afterlife? Are we alone? Tune in to The Woo Lab podcast with hosts Chelsea and Mishaun, researchers and longtime friends, as they search for answers to life's big questions at the intersections of science, psychology, the paranormal, and spirituality. Listen to The Woo Lab at https://www.woolabpod.com/.We are also brought to you this week by Ignite Your Podcast Start!Do you have a podcast idea but the next steps are overwhelming? Do you wish you could talk to an expert for personalized step-by-step guidance? For the first time ever, Christina Barsi (Avant Haüs Media) is teaching a five-person podcast development class. Starting June 23, 2022.Apply here: https://thebarsi.typeform.com/to/LyGU2BzA Links mentioned in this episode:- Stonewall Riots Timeline: https://www.history.com/news/stonewall-riots-timeline- Stonewall Inn PBS: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/stonewall-inn-through-years/- Why Did The Mafia Own The Bar? https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/stonewall-why-did-mafia-own-bar/ - The Night The Stonewall Inn Became a Proud Shrine: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/27/nyregion/stonewall-inn-nyc-1969.html - DCP Entertainment: https://www.dcpofficial.com/ - Studio71: https://www.studio71.com/us/ - Apply to be featured in our Pridecasts section: https://962udey3mps.typeform.com/to/zZadg6y2 - Podcasts Marking Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee: https://www.earbudspodcastcollective.org/blog/queen-elizabeth-ii-platinum-jubilee-royalty-podcast-recommendations - Podcast Bestie: https://podcastbestie.substack.com/welcome Find this week's podcast recommendation list here: https://www.earbudspodcastcollective.org/pride-is-a-riot-pride-month-podcast-recommendations Here are this week's podcast picks from Jessica:- WokeAF Daily- Edges- AfroQueer- Date with Daddy- TransLash Podcast with Imara JonesThis week's podcast spotlight is "Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff.”Description: As long as there's been oppression, there've been people fighting it. This weekly podcast dives into history to drag up the wildest rebels, the most beautiful revolts, and all the people who long — and fight — to be free. It explores complex stories of resistance that offer lessons and inspiration for us today, focusing on the ensemble casts that make up each act of history.Listen: https://pod.link/1620562792. _______________________________________________ Apply to have your podcast spotlit: https://www.earbudspodcastcollective.org/podcast-spotlights EarBuds Blog: http://earbuds.audio/blog Curate a list: https://www.earbudspodcastcollective.org/earbuds-podcast-curators-form Follow us on Twitter @earbudspodcol: https://twitter.com/EarbudsPodCol Follow us on Facebook at EarBuds Podcast Collective: https://www.facebook.com/earbudspodcastcollective Follow us on Instagram @earbudspodcastcollective: https://www.instagram.com/earbudspodcastcollective/ Website: http://earbuds.audio/ Tee Public: https://www.teepublic.com/user/earbuds-podcast-collective

media pride lgbtq auto recommendations riot enhance happy pride curate teepublic earbuds podcast recommendations adell focusrite studio71 earbuds podcast collective vocaster cool people who did cool stuff dcp entertainment adell coleman podcast bestie

ACAB (and Depeche Mode)

timeline uvalde depeche mode acab mishawaka it could happen here cool people who did cool stuff

Play Episode Listen Later May 29, 2022 57:39

We're going to talk about the Uvalde shooting. It's going to suck, but we need to not become numb to this. Then we're going to talk about Depeche Mode and queer culture in Mishawaka. We keep us safe. The Timeline: https://abc11.com/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-massacre-timeline-robb-elementary/11901101/ Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ Mymedic: https://mymedic.com/collections/first-aid-kits/products/tfak-trauma-first-aid-kit I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/

Starbucks Gaslight Special, Hope From History 05.23.22

The Daily Zeitgeist

Play Episode Listen Later May 23, 2022 65:53

In episode 1253, Jack and Miles are joined by author, activist, musician, and host of Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff, Margaret Killjoy to discuss Jan 6….still lookin into that Starbucks Anti-Union Tactics Are Embarrassingly Self-Incriminating and more! Jan 6….still lookin into that? Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court justice, pressed Ariz. lawmakers to help reverse Trump's loss, emails show Starbucks Anti-Union Tactics Are Embarrassingly Self-Incriminating Starbucks Is Playing With Fire How Howard Schultz Left a Bitter Taste in Seattle's Mouth LISTEN: A Mallacht by Feminazgul See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At It Again (the moment is the art)

it could happen here cool people who did cool stuff

Play Episode Listen Later May 23, 2022 33:49

This week Nathaniel waxes poetic about At It Again, from the album Don't Give Up The Ship. Detuned Radio: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy83M2U2MjRhNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw/episode/YjIwYTE2ODItNzFmYy00NzY4LWEwZjgtYTI4ZTA2NjY3ZDY5?hl=en&ved=2ahUKEwj7pIH20Pb3AhVGG4gKHfqUB_IQjrkEegQIHRAF&ep=6 Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/

S1E41 - Casandra on Mediation

Play Episode Listen Later May 20, 2022 64:20

Episode Notes Episode summary Margaret and Casandra talk about the importance of learning mediation skills, what mediation is and what different processes look like. Guest Info The host Margaret Killjoy can be found on twitter @magpiekilljoy or instagram at @margaretkilljoy. This show is published by Strangers in A Tangled Wilderness. We can be found at www.tangledwilderness.org. You can support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/strangersinatangledwilderness. Links Mediate.com The Little Book of Conflict Transformation (little books series also has books on different types of mediation and restorative Justice) Getting to Yes The Promise of Mediation Transcript Margaret 00:14 Hello, and welcome to Live Like The World is Dying, your podcast for what feels like the end times. I'm your host, Margaret, Kiljoy, and I use 'she' or 'they' pronouns. And today we're going to talk about something that everyone has requested. Just kidding, no one actually bothers request this because they don't know they need it. That's actually not true. People actually haverequested this. We're gonna be talking about conflict mediation, and we're going to be talking about when conflict mediation isn and isn't the way to handle different types of situations. And when we'll be talking to Cassandra about that. And I'm very excited to hear what they have to say. This podcast is a proud member of the Channel Zero network of anarchists podcasts. And here's a jingle from another show in the network. Margaret 01:40 Okay, if you could introduce yourself with your name, your pronouns, and then I guess kind of your background, both professionally and non professionally with what we're gonna be talking about today with conflict mediation. Casandra 01:52 Yeah, my name is Cassandra, I use 'they' or 'she' pronouns. I'm a volunteer mediator at a community mediation center. I trained in mediation...What year is it right now? I don't know, eight years ago? Margaret 02:08 It's 2022, right now, Casandra Johns 02:09 Nine years ago, something like that. And I also worked at my local mediation center, at the beginning of the pandemic, as program coordinator for one of the counties. Margaret 02:25 So what is conflict mediation? This is when when you don't like someone, you just respond passive aggressively to them and or cancel them, right? Casandra 02:36 Yep, and block them on Twitter. Margaret 02:39 That's important. Casandra 02:42 Conflict mediation is where a third party is called in to be present during discussion about a conflict. So, in its most basic form, that could mean asking a friend who isn't like a stakeholder in a conflict to come sit in while you talk with someone who you have issues with. Through the mediation center, like on a, on an organizational level, we deal with all different sorts of conflicts. So community conflicts, like neighbors disputing property lines. We also do family mediation, parent/teen, stuff, things like that, we do a certain amount of mediation through the court system. So people in my area can opt to do mediation instead of going to like small claims court, which is pretty cool. Margaret 03:32 So like if you're mad at your neighbor for hitting your car with their bicycle. I don't know that's not a good example. Instead of suing them, you can, like go hash it out with someone. Casandra 03:49 Yep. Yeah. Margaret 03:50 How do you then maximize your personal profit? Casandra 03:54 Well, that's a good question. I mean, the chance if you go before a judge, there's a chance that they'll say, Nope, you don't get this money. Whereas in mediation, you get to talk to the person and explain to them why you need the money, and they explain to you why they can't pay the money, and then you work out a plan, which usually benefits both people. Margaret 04:14 Well it just doesn't lead very easily to feeling righteous and better than everyone, though. So it seems like a disadvantage. Casandra 04:21 Yeah, I mean, I think if you want to feel righteous, you should probably just sue someone and okay, and not worry about mediation. Yeah. Margaret 04:29 So what were you gonna say before, i said weird sarcastic things? Casandra 04:32 The center where I work, also has this really cool program, where we do restorative justice processes for youth offenders. So, rather than going through the usual punitive process, some juvenile offenders have the option to do restorative justice instead. Margaret 04:52 Give me an example of like, not a "John did this," but I like what that might look like? Casandra 04:59 Yeah, Let me think. I have to be vague. So I'm remembering a case where one teenager punched another teenager, like the, I think they were at the movies or something, this was pre-pandemic, and was charged with assault. And so rather than having to go through a punitive process and have that assault charge on their record, they have the option to do this restorative process instead. So that would look like sitting down with the person who was harmed or with a proxy, we use proxies as well, if the victim doesn't want to be present, and talking about the impact of their actions and then coming up with a plan for making amends, which can be really varied. Like it can be, It can be as simple as like, "I will go to therapy." Or it can be direct remediation, like "I will pay you money or do yard work for you," you know, it, people get really creative. But it's a cool option. Margaret 06:04 Okay. What is the difference between, outside of a legal or court system, what is the difference between conflict mediation and restorative justice? Like, when is one thing appropriate? And when is the other thing appropriate? Casandra 06:20 Yeah, I think of mediation as a part, like an aspect of larger alternative justice processes. So it's like a tool you can use in alternative justice processes. But alternative justice processes are intended for instances where harm has been caused. So it's not just a you and me on equal footing having a conflict or disagreement, actual harm has been done. Does that make sense? Margaret 06:46 Yeah, so like, basically, if I'm trying to...if someone within my same social circle sexually assaulted me, and then I don't want to go and sit down have a like samey samey conversation with them about like, how we all have feelings. Instead, I can....instead restorative justice as the more appropriate thing, then specifically, mediation in that circumstance. Is that what you're saying? Casandra 07:11 Yeah, or probably transformative justice. But yeah. Margaret 07:15 What's the difference? Casandra 07:17 Sure. So. Margaret 07:19 Sorry. Casandra 07:20 No, that's fine. Restorative justice was developed, I think in the 70s, I want to say, and that's what the mediation center where I work...that's what we use in conjunction with the court system. And it's dealing more with individuals. So, this individual has harmed that individual, and we're going to figure out how to make amends as best as possible between the two of them. Transformative justice, I think, was developed in the 90s. And it's a more systemic approach. So it's acknowledging that people often cause harm. Because of trauma, because of a lack of resources, you know, it acknowledges that we're all a part of these larger systems of oppression. And so through this transformative process, it seeks to heal both people. Often communities are brought in as part of that as well. Margaret 08:22 Okay. So like, everyone who's involved with the thing shows up, and has a say in it. Casandra 08:31 Maybe not for all parts. But, you know, the hope is to bring in as many people as possible, because the idea is that, that creates more sustainable change. Margaret 08:42 So how does one...How does one go about doing this, right? Like to focus maybe more on mediation than restorative and transformative justice? We obviously within our communities come up with like ad hoc means quite often, and we just sort of try weird things all the time. And sometimes those things don't work very well, like passive aggressive notes. Or, you know, Casandra 09:11 Wash your dishes! Margaret 09:13 Yeah, totally. Yeah. You know, like, how does one do this? Like, if I'm starting to feel like I'm either having conflict with someone that I'm in community with, or I'm watching a conflict develop within the community that I'm part of? What are some steps to notice that that's happening and work to resolve it? Casandra 09:35 I feel like that shouldn't be a big question, but because we're so conditioned to be conflict avoidant, not just on an interpersonal level, but like, society, you know, we live in a....part of liberal democracy, part of representative democracy is like creating these abstractions when it comes to conflict and creating institutions to deal with it, instead of even acknowledging that the conflict exists. Now I have to remember what your question was. Margaret 10:09 So what the fuck do you do when you're like, really pissed off that your roommate won't do the dishes, and is like, snubbing you at parties and this pretending like you don't exist. But they think that it's happening because you borrowed their guitar without asking. Casandra 10:31 I mean, mediation doesn't have to be a big formal thing, right? Like, you can just ask a mutually trusted friend to be...Well, first of all, you can just talk to them. So, so mediation is just a tool in our toolkit. But there's something about having a third person present, who isn't like a stakeholder in a conflict. And even if they don't say anything, just having a third person present and witnessing is sometimes really helpful. One of my favorite mediators at the center rarely says anything. He just has this presence, he'll sit there with his hands in bold and just like exists, and somehow people are like, Oh, well, shit. Now I have to... Margaret 11:13 Just like quietly judging you? Casandra 11:16 No, just like, holding this like, calm space. He's, yeah. Margaret 11:23 Quietly judging you! Because like, well not in a bad way, right? Because like, yeah, if I'm like, if I feel really, like, justified and you know, like, bah, blah, blah. But then as soon as I realized I'm saying it to a third party, I'm like, "Oh, this might not make sense." Like when I say to a third party? Yeah, yeah, no, okay. Okay. Casandra 11:41 Yeah. And anyone can do that. Right? Anyone who isn't a stakeholder and who's comfortable being around, conflict can be in that role. Obviously, there's more that you can do to like develop those skills. That's why trainings and mediation centers exist. Margaret 12:00 Most of the time, I've tried to do this. It's gone very badly when I've been asked to mediate things, but I think that's usually because the people...because I did everything, right, and the people involved id everything wrong. But, it seems like people got really defensive and kind of entrenched in their positions. And it stayed a really like, "No, I'm right. Fuck, you," "No, I'm right. Fuck you," kind of thing? How do you break that up? Casandra 12:31 Yeah. Have you heard the analogy of like, if you draw a heart on a piece of paper, and place it between two people, and they're like standing on opposite sides of it, and ask them to describe what they see, they're going to describe totally different things, but they're looking at the same image, you know? Margaret 12:50 Oh, because it's like, not symmetrically positioned between them. Casandra 12:53 Yes. Margaret 12:54 Okay. Casandra 12:55 I think that...Well, first of all, I think it's okay for people to just not agree, tight? Part of getting over our conflict avoidance, as a society, I think is acknowledging that, like, we're not going to agree and that's not only okay, but positive. Like we need to have people around us who we disagree with, in order to like, examine our own opinions and things like that. But, the second thing is that conflict isn't bad or scary. Like, I feel like part of people's fear around not agreeing with someone is that the assumption is that if you and I don't agree, then we can't have any sort of relationship or function. Like we're so conflict avoidant, that if we don't agree, we just simply can't function. Margaret 13:46 Oh, yeah, totally. And then we just like ice each other out completely. Casandra 13:49 Yeah, which is really common and unfortunate. And obviously, like, there, I'm gonna disagree with a Nazi, right? Margaret 13:58 Right. Casandra 13:59 We're not just going to agree to disagree, but I'm gonna ice them out. But, that doesn't have to be the case for everything. Margaret 14:06 No, that makes sense. I kind of...I kind of do this thing where I have, like, one set of values that I hold myself to, and one set of values that I hold other people to, you know, so like, I'm trying to come up with a good value to to use this for. I don't want to get...Okay, so like, but if there's if there's something that I believe I shouldn't do, it doesn't necessarily mean...even though kind of in the abstract, I wish no one would do it. Like okay, like lying, right? Like I have a very, very strong sense of never lying to anyone that you're not trying to control or hurt, right? And I, I will, like live or die by this as a person, but I recognize that not everyone I surround myself with holds the same value, and it like rubs me the wrong way. But, I can agree to disagree about it because I recognize that this is a value that is not shared by everyone. Um, and I'm on my own, like, wing nut paladin and kick or whatever. Andk but then yeah, like, there's other values like, you know, "don't be like", I don't know, "don't be fucking, like racist or whatever, like, don't be a fucking Nazi," that or...is that kind of what you're kind of what you're saying, like learning to have different standards for yourself versus other people or I guess that's not just the only way to...how do you how do you personally decide which things you are allowed to disagree about and which things you're not allowed to disagree about? Casandra 15:39 Oh, I don't feel like I'm in total agreement with anyone, like literally anyone. And that's great. Yes. The world would be really fucking boring. If I was. There's this, there's this essay called "In Defense of...." shoot, am I going to forget it while we're recording? No. In Defense of Arguing. Margaret 16:05 Okay. Casandra 16:05 Like an anarchist theory of arguing or something like that. And the author talks about these like larger things, like how social democracy...how the how liberal democracy as a larger structure encourages us to to not be in direct communication, and to avoid conflict. Margaret 16:24 Well, okay, so, how does this I guess my question is like, okay, we know that Nazis are on the far end of one...you know, like, God gave us Nazis, so that we have enemies. You know, there's this, like pure representation of bad right, that most of society used to agree on and it's no longer the case, but like, we have this pure representation of bad over on one end, and then you have like, you know, "John Barrows, my guitar without asking sometimes, and thinks it's okay, that he does." Or someone is has a different interpretation of some political analysis or, you know, like, like, shit that I might feel really directly personally strongly about, but is at the end of the day, not a big deal. You know, so that...Is the answer, "Everyone's just gonna draw those lines in different places?" That's my instinct is that everyone's going to draw the lines of like, well, I can be in community with someone who I don't know, like, sometimes as a like grouchy libertarian on some issues. Or some other people will be like, "Oh, I can be in community with Marxists," or something, right? And then other people will be like, "No, we've seen where Marxism leads to. So fuck them." So people are going to draw these lines in different places. Is it just, is it just alright, that people are going to draw those lines in different places. Casandra 17:53 Yes. And that, thank you. Yeah. So it's alright, that people are going to draw this lines in different places. And that reminds me why I brought up that article, which is what...not only is it okay to draw those lines, but having actual dialogue about where we draw those lines and why, and how they might be different from where other people draw those lines is ultimately productive. Margaret 18:15 That makes sense. Casandra 18:18 Because that's how we, you know, interrogate our own boundaries, right? And our own ideology. Margaret 18:26 It was interesting. I was like, this thing is gonna be very, like nuts and bolts episode Are we like talk about like, really specific practices, but... Casandra 18:32 I mean, we can but... Margaret 18:33 No, we should do it too, but I, what I really like thinking about this stuff around...Yeah, the how we build diverse communities and how we avoid, you know, I would argue that echo chambers are one of the things that destroys communities of resistance more effectively than even sometimes outside pressure. You know, as soon as everyone starts...go ahead. Casandra 18:55 Oh, I was just gonna say that like moral homogeneity is also what leads to these like, fundamentalist movements that were opposing, right. . Margaret 19:04 Yeah. And then yet, like, people were like, well, you know, you can't let 'something something' in because it's a slippery slope. And I'm, I'm on this like, crusade against slippery slope as a useful phrase, because, well, it's a useful phrase, be like, "Hey, that's a slippery slope," should mean like, so be careful when you walk it not like boarded up, none shall enter like, you know, maybe like put handholds along the way to like, help people like navigate complicated ethical terrain. Casandra 19:31 Cautionary signage. Margaret 19:32 Yeah, exactly. Like instead of being like, well, everyone who likes the following philosopher who died 100 years before Nazis came about is a Nazi, even though like, you know, both Nazis like this guy and some Nazis hated this guy and some non Nazis hated this guy. I'm actually not trying to defend Evola right now at this time. That's not the path I'm trying to go down right now. Maybe Nietzsche is how I'm trying to...But I don't even want to defend Nietzsche... anyway. Casandra 20:04 They can both go to the sun as far as I'm concerned. Margaret 20:08 But like, but you know, where we draw these lines might be different about like, okay, so like, fuck this guy, but is it fuck everyone who is inspired by this guy? And is it fuck everyone who's inspired by people who were inspired by this guy, you know? Because, like how many how many layers removed from something do we still hate it? You know? Casandra 20:33 Yeah. Yeah, totally. Margaret 20:37 So nuts and bolts of conflict resolution? Casandra Johns 20:42 Can I first... Margaret 20:43 Yeah, please do. Casandra 20:44 Before we move into specifics. I think the like overarching stuff is really important because every so often I see these pushes in radical spaces to develop more skills around things like transformative justice, but no one talks about conflict resolution, no one talks about mediation, which is wild to me. Like, the reason I trained as a mediator is because I saw it is like one of the building blocks of these larger structures. But it's just not something that seems to be valued or discussed on the left for the most part. And that's baffling to me, considering how much divisiveness we face and how we all seem to agree it's a huge issue. But haven't put in the work to develop the skills to like, deal with it. Margaret 21:35 So what we're doing is we're jumping straight to the like justice framework, which is, you know, far more, it's not inherently punitive, but like, it's more antagonistic and implies far more heavily that there's like harm that's been done. And it's one directional, right like, which is often the case, I'm not trying to claim that this is not the case quite often, but but we're jumping to that rather than a lot of things that could be headed off way before they get really intense through mediation, or even things that are really intense are still a mediation type thing rather than a transformative justice type thing is that right? Casandra 22:12 So yeah, even just as abolitionists, if we're talking about divesting from the current system as a whole, people don't just go to court because they've been abused, you know, they go because they're in conflict with someone and want an authority figure to decide who's right and who's wrong. And so that's something we have to replace as well. Margaret 22:36 Yeah, I know that makes sense. Casandra 22:36 And ideally without the authority figure. But even like, it doesn't have to be some intense formal, heavy thing. You know, like I've mediated for friends, and it's just been like a very casual conversation. I think that normalizing it, talking about it at all would be great as the left, but then normalizing these practices, Margaret 23:02 Just normalizing going to your roommate, your housemate, the third person and being like, "Hey, like, we keep arguing about the fact that I want to leave my socks in the living room." Casandra 23:16 Will you just be present while we chat through this? Margaret 23:18 Yeah, Casandra 23:19 Like yeah why not? You know. Margaret 23:22 Okay. I'm coming up with silly examples, but I'm like, mostly because I'm just not feeling very imaginative off the top my head, but Casandra 23:28 I've had housemates, I know how it goes. Margaret 23:31 It starts feeling really personal at a certain point. Casandra 23:33 It does! Margaret 23:35 Yeah, and sometimes it's really easy to be really, really angry at this, like, heavier stuff than the larger framework of what's happening. Casandra 23:46 Yeah, totally. I have a child, I understand that. I'm taking your lack of folding your laundry personally at a certain point. Margaret 24:01 That's because you're the authority. No, I don't want to get into that that's a different conversation. Casandra 24:07 Abolish bedtimes? Margaret 24:12 Yeah, okay. So like, well, actually, I mean, I mean, this would be an appropriate, like mediation would be an appropriate thing to do with, like, between you and between a parent and a child at various points also, or is that? Casandra 24:26 Yeah, yeah, one of my favorite types of mediation that I do through the center's parent/teen. There are different types of mediation. And the type I was trained in was..is somewhere between what's called facilitative and transformative mediation. So, in some scenarios, we're just hashing through a specific problem. And the people aren't going to have a relationship after that. And then in other scenarios, we're actually trying to shift the relationship to make it healthier, which I prefer. And Margaret 24:58 Yeah. Casandra 24:59 The Family mediations tend to go in that direction. But there's a power dynamic, right. And so part of the mediators job is to level out power imbalances, which can be really tricky. But also really cool to watch. Margaret 25:17 Well that's cool, because I think that critiques of power are necessary, but there's always going to be different types of relationships between people with power imbalances, right? Even when, like two adults are dating, you know, there's going to be power imbalances based on like, different levels of societal privilege, or, you know, heterosexual relationships have a massive power imbalance to start with that they have to deal with...either overcome or like learn to address. So it makes sense to, like... Casandra 25:46 I think personal history and like communication style cnn create that Margaret 25:52 In terms of like, if someone has a more aggressive communication style, and another person has like a style that is triggered badly by that style of communication, is that kind of what you're getting at? Casandra 26:03 Yeah, things like that. Margaret 26:05 Okay. I remember thinking about how this has to, like, sort of be taught and developed, I remember being at a workshop once at a conference about this issue....Pardon me, as I pull a tick off of my head and cut it with a knife Margaret 26:23 But ticks aside, you know, the way the way that this needs to be taught was really laid clear to me, I was at this, this workshop, and we're going through and, you know, the person teaching the workshop was teaching about conflict resolution and things and, and a friend of mine, who was a, I believe, a kindergarten teacher, I'm not entirely certain worked with very young kids. And my friend was explaining it was like, "oh, when two kids get in a conflict, like they both want a toy, you know, it's recess, and only one of them gets the toy. And they, they both want it, they get really excited, and they run up and they're like, "Teacher, Teacher, we have a conflict, we have to resolve it."" You know, and it was this really amazing heartwarming story. And, unfortunately, most of the people at the workshop, because they didn't have enough context for what was being told in the story were like, Ah, yes, this is the wisdom of children. You know, we should all just learn from children. And then my friend came up to me later, and was like, that was really frustrating. The kids do that, because we taught them how to, Margaret 26:23 Oh God! Casandra 26:29 Yeah, yeah. Margaret 26:33 And it... And there was a certain amount of like wisdom of children, and that they hadn't specifically developed other bad habits, like, you know, I have a lot of bad conflict habits that I don't love about myself that are ingrained to me for various purposes. But, it seems like we still have to, like...go ahead. Casandra 27:47 Even that approach, that they were excited to talk about it...like they knew where to turn. They knew where their resources were, and they were excited to resolve it. Like imagine feeling that way about disagreeing with someone. One of my teachers says that every mediation is a success, meaning that regardless of whether or not people come to an agreement, the fact that they've shown up to talk about it shifts something in their relationship. And that is in and of itself a success. Margaret 28:16 That makes a lot of sense. And then also might lead to kind of my next question, which is like, when? Well, as I had a phrased was like "when conflict resolution fails," you know, but it seems like sometimes you would go and be like,"Oh, we've heard each other out. And we fucking hate each other. or we're fucking mad about this thing." Casandra 28:39 We've heard...like feeling hurt, being able to say your piece to someone, and knowing that you're in this contained space where they have heard you. And then still not agreeing with them is still a form of resolution, you know, like, we're not going to agree on this. But, I've had the opportunity to, like, say my part. And that's something. Margaret 29:03 Yeah. No, that makes sense. It's like, asking nicely before you ask meanly, in terms of like, on like, a social change level, right? You know, we're like, "Hey, give us our rights." And they're like, "No, we don't give you your rights." and we're like, "Well, we asked, now, we're not asking anymore." And that. And that's sort of assuming one person is like, right in this mediation whereas theoretically, probably both parties think they're right, but I don't know. Yeah, I feel like sometimes I've been asked to kind of mediate informally, which i don't have nearly the background you do, but I like rambling. And I've kind of ended up leaving with this result with like the, you know, no one's really asking my opinion, necessarily, but I'm like, oh, probably the answer is that they hate each other. That the answer is that like both people feel totally justified and from their own perspective, they are totally justified. And probably this won't be settled and they should stay away from each other.I don't know. Casandra 29:59 Which like, at least they knew that afterward, you know? Margaret 30:02 Yeah. Casandra 30:03 Yeah. I mean, I've had many...or I've been present for.... I've been present for many more mediations than I've actually actively mediated just because of the job I had. Which is awesome, because I get to see the way other people mediate and learn from that. But I've witnessed really shocking mediations where it seems like the people walk in hating each other, and they don't come to an agreement. They're not going to agree. But they... the sense in the room at the end is peace. You know, they're like, "Ah, well, we both know, we're not going to agree and why. And at least we know that." Margaret 30:43 Yeah. Yeah. Casandra 30:45 Which is real. Right. Yeah. Margaret 30:49 No, I like that. Because it's like, it's not trying to... Casandra 30:53 Kumbaya? Casandra 30:53 I've already said this but, yeah, they're not trying to solve everything, you know, like some things just don't get solved. But, but at least everyone knows what's happening. Casandra 31:04 And there's that detachment to, you know, the idea that one person's right and the other is wrong is something that if you're mediating, you can't, that can't be in your brain. It's not your job to decide who's right and who's wrong or to even have an opinion about it. And there's something freeing there, because suddenly, you can see why both people feel they're right, like where the rightness is in, in both stories, which is pretty interesting. Margaret 31:30 Well does that end up leaving the mediator like, hated by both sides often? Because like, this person, this staying neutral when clearly I'm right? Casandra 31:31 No, and maybe this is important to talk about, but like part of, especially in a formal setting, when I open to mediation, some of the things I explain include, like confidentiality and mandatory reporting stuff, but I also explain that my role is to be neutral. I'm not going to take aside, I'm not going to make decisions or offer opinions or advice, like, all I'm there to do is to help them communicate productively. Yeah. Margaret 32:07 And I actually, I would guess, that the average, not...no training mediator of the things that you just said that they might fail at, would be the not offering advice part, right? So it's not like showing up to the council of elders or whatever the people who are going to, like, offer their wisdom down onto you. Instead, it's really just about helping the people involved, develop their own communication as relates to it. So it's not a...you're a no way like a judge or an arbiter. Is that kind of what you're saying? Casandra 32:39 No, there are. So there are different types of mediation. Arbitration is involved in certain types, but not the type I do and not the type that I think is useful in like, community and interpersonal settings. Yeah, and it is hard sometimes to not give advice. Margaret 32:59 Yeah, I know when I'm like, I think people might have failed that. I'm like, No, that's probably what I failed at.When I have attempted to mediate things, because I'm like, " Ah! I now, see, because I have all of the information. Now I will clearly explain because I'm so wise." And then I'm like, "Why isn't this working?" Casandra 33:13 Okay, no, it's it's really hard. And it takes a lot of practice. Honestly, the...when in mediations where I take a more active role, because in some mediations, I don't have to people are...people don't really need much guidance sometimes. But, when they do, I find myself almost like teaching healthy communication skills through example. And there's really not any time for me to think about offering my opinion or something like that. I'm like, so busy trying to help them untangle the communication. Margaret 33:50 Okay. Which seems like, in a similar way that like facilitating consensus in a large group is absolutely not about your own opinions about what should happen. And basically by being a facilitator in a large group you like, kind of like, get your own voice removed from that particular decision. Casandra 34:12 Yeah, I see it as a spectrum of skill sets, the like facilitator, the mediator and then whatever we want to call these transformative or alternative justice. Margaret 34:21 Judge Dredd? No, we have no movie about that. Okay. Okay, so which brings me to this idea like, right, you're like, oh, you know, you're gonna come in assuming neutrality as mediator, not that both sides are equal, but assuming your own neutrality to help foster communication. What about when it is...like, this sounds like it would be really unhealthy if I was forced to do it with an abuser, right? And so I'm under the impression that you would not use this in situations of abuse is that? Casandra 34:59 Mediation? Margaret 35:00 Yeah. Casandra 35:01 Yeah, yeah. And, and maybe before that, it's expected that if a mediator doesn't feel that they can maintain appropriate neutrality, they just don't mediate the case, they pass it to someone else. So that's, you know, people are gonna have strong opinions, and feel triggered by different scenarios. And that's real and fine. Margaret 35:27 Oh, I meant I meant as a participant, I wouldn't, you know, I wouldn't want to be called...am I wrong in thinking that it would, that I wouldn't want to be called into mediation with my abuser, you know? Casandra 35:42 Well, I mean, the easy answer is no. But both restorative and transformative justice, have mediation type processes, that can be a part of these larger processes. Margaret 35:59 Okay. Casandra 36:00 So, and maybe we don't call it mediation, maybe we call it like, a facilitated dialogue or something? Margaret 36:06 I don't know. Casandra 36:09 I think it's, it's a tool, right? Like mediation is a tool. And you have to do it differently when there's a vast power imbalance like that, or when harm has been caused. But.. Margaret 36:25 So I guess...how do you judge...How do you judge when to use mediation versus transformative justice? Like, how do you decide when a given thing is the right means? Casandra 36:42 That's a really big question. Because ideally I don't, right? So I can tell you at the Center, how it works, which is that if the courts contact us and are like, "We have decided that someone harmed another person, therefore this is going to be restorative process." Like that's how we know. Margaret 37:00 Right. Casandra 37:01 But in this larger project on the Left of developing these these alternative systems, that's something we have to figure out. And I don't think it can happen without intact communities. Because, I don't think it would be an individual process. Margaret 37:21 Yeah, okay. Casandra 37:23 But as a mediator, if I'm in a session...maybe this is a much simpler way to answer it, If I'm in a session, and someone says something about, like, causing physical harm to the other person. That's a like, "Oh, we got to stop this and shift" moment. Margaret 37:39 Okay. That makes sense. That is kind of one of my questions is like, do you ever like, yeah, escalate up the like, response ladder? It's a terrible way of phrasing it. But yeah, Casandra 37:53 There are plenty of cases that get called...so that so the Community Mediation Center, it's all free, right? Like anyone can call in with anything and be like, can you help me with this, which means there are plenty of cases that we can't mediate, that we say, "Oh, that's, that's not an appropriate topic for us. But here's some other resources." Margaret 38:11 And that would be usually cases of like, clear harm having been caused? Casandra 38:15 Yep. Or like certain types of conflicts, just because of the way the legal system is set up. Like, custody disagreements, we don't do it our center, it's just bureaucratic bullshit. But I think it would be similar in a community setting where different mediators are comfortable mediating different types of cases. And if something comes up within a mediation that either signals that harm has happened or that isn't suitable for that particular mediator, you just stop and find someone else to help. Margaret 38:49 Okay. Casandra 38:50 Like, we all have different skill sets, you know, Margaret 38:52 And what you said about it requires an intact communities to be able to, to effectively do this kind of thing, as a, you know, the more transformative justice element of it. It's kind of interesting to me, right? Because then that's something that... it seems to me that intact communities relies on conflict, resolution, and conflict resolution, and mediation and all of the things we've been talking about. So it's sort of a... Casandra 39:19 Chicken, egg? Margaret 39:20 Oh, I was thinking almost of a like, like, building a building, you know, like, a pyramid, a traditional representation of hierarchy. But, in this case, representing bottom up, you know, where like, the strong base of a community is not it's like justice system, but instead it's like, conflict resolution and the ability for diverse opinions to coexist. And there's the general ability for people to coexist, because people implies diverse opinions unless you live in some hellscape. Ideological bubble. Casandra 39:54 Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Margaret 39:57 Now, it's interesting because then this answers the question of how do you supplant the justice system? which is an important question. Casandra 40:05 You support people in developing skill sets like this, which I was thinking about it before this interview and remembering when I was...so I don't get paid to mediate as part of the neutrality, nut the initial 40 hour training, I took cost money, because it's a non profit, very poor mediation center. And you're one of the people who who you gave me like 50 bucks or something. Margaret 40:32 No. Casandra 40:32 And you said, you messaged me, you said something to the effect of like, "Oh, I'm giving you money. This is like a skill that I think we need in more radical spaces." And I was like, "Fuck, yeah, this Margaret person seems really cool." Margaret 40:44 Cool. Yeah, I don't remember that. But, I believe you. I don't remember a lot of things, dear, listener. That's one of my skill sets is that I don't remember things. Casandra 40:59 That can be a blessing, I suppose. Margaret 41:02 Sometimes, it's like I, you know, it helps me really live in the present, you know, because it's all just fog in front of me and behind me. I have impressions, impressions of what's ahead and impressions of what came before. No, that's great. I mean, how common are these types of organizations? Like, you have one in your town? Is it? Do I have one in my...well, I don't have one in my town. There's 500 people who live in my town. Casandra 41:28 I'm only really familiar with my state. So, I'm in Oregon. And we have a network of Community Dialogue Resource Centers [CDRC]. I'm so bad at acronyms. There's a whole network all over Oregon. And each center works, to some extent with the current justice system, depending on where they are in the resources, but they also offer free community mediation, and it's really easy in my state to get training. Like at my center, you can, if you speak Spanish, and are willing to volunteer, as a bilingual mediator, you can get training for free, like it's a pretty accessible thing, but I'm not sure about other states, like the agreement we have with the Justice System to do these restorative processes for youth offenders is pretty unique, apparently, like it's a it's a test...test run, that's been going on for years. But I don't think that's necessarily common. Margaret 42:31 I mean, it's so basically, a way that some elements of the Justice System are trying to move towards an actual reasonable model away from the incarceration and punitive model is that right? Casandra 42:43 Yep. Yeah. And it's been because people at these Community Dialogue and Resource Centers have pushed really hard for the state to implement these programs here. But it's also...I mean, mediate.com has really good classes, you can just take on mediation. You can get, I have a whole...I'm looking at it, I realized this is not a video recording, but I have a whole bookshelf full of books on mediation, AK has presses put out...you know, there, there are lots of resources on mediation that are accessible. If people want to explore the skill set. Margaret 43:22 Would you be able to provide a few of those links for our show notes? Casandra 43:27 Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Margaret 43:29 Thanks. So okay, my last question, I want to I want to take with take you on this journey, where we imagine you know, a society without the state, whether because we win or because we lose, depending on how you know, like, like, Casandra 43:47 How you want to look at it? Margaret 43:48 Yeah, I mean, you know, obviously, like, this is a, it's not gonna be like some wingnut thing for people, for me to suddenly be like, "What if there was an apocalypse?!" right? Y'all are listening to Live Like The World Is Dying. I kind of want to ask you about the role of, and I know a lot of it's implied, but we talked about, but like, the role of conflict resolution in terms of community preparedness, if you have like thoughts around that? [That] didn't really end with a question mark. Casandra 44:18 That's fine. That's hard for me to answer because it feels like a given. Like, community preparedness means that we need functional, intact communities, which means we have to have systems that could look all sorts of different ways, right? But we have... Margaret 44:34 Like passive aggressive notes? Casandra 44:36 That's one way. But we have to have systems for working through conflict or else we do not have functional communities. And maybe different communities choose to do that in different ways. This is just like one particular tool or skill set that's very adaptable. Margaret 44:54 So if the state is abstraction of power, right, away from ourselves, basically the existence of the state, the long standing existence, the state is probably a huge part of what leads us to this conflict avoidance that you talk about, like causes these problems, we're so used to relying on the state to handle our conflicts for us by calling armed people who like putting people in cages. And so basically...do you ever have those moments where like, you've been an anarchist for a long time, and then you still end up with these, like, obvious epiphanies that like, seem really obvious when you say them out loud, but still feel like epiphanies? That's what I'm having right now about this, because I'm like, "Oh, this is everything. This is the foundation," which is also what you just said, I'm saying this back to you. Casandra 45:39 That's why it's so baffling to me that I've searched for years for collectives, groups, any, any individuals, anyone offering these skills in radical spaces, and it's so hard to find. And that's wild to me. It's so wild. And that doesn't, people aren't doing it. Margaret 46:00 Right. Casandra 46:01 But it just doesn't seem to be of high value. Margaret 46:04 I wonder if it's like, because people...because I have seen a lot of groups, and I'm glad there are groups that focus on transformative justice, right, but that's the top of this pyramid of needs...my hierarchy of needs that I've created because I love hierarchy. Casandra 46:19 Such a good anarchist. Margaret 46:21 I know. I wonder if it's kind of similar to how like, it's a lot easier to find like armed anarchist organizations that will teach you how to shoot guns and like harder to find ones that'll teach you how to like immediate conflict resolve, like someone angrily comes into your...you know, I and often I'm...the individuals do this, right? Like, there was a time. I don't know if this person listens to this podcast, but a friend of mine was at some anarchist screening at some info shop and some angry guy comes in and starts yelling this and that about I think trans people. And my friend who's trans was just like, "Hey, man, you want to go outside and have a cigarette with me?" And just like, went outside and talked to the guy. And he calmed down and left, and like, and my friend carries, right. But like, it's so much easier to find information about the nuclear option the the, you know, the escalated version than it is to find resources about the "Hey, man wanna step outside with me and have a conversation." Casandra 47:26 Yeah, those soft skills are really devalued because of the way our society... Margaret 47:32 What?! What if there was like a word to describe type of...We should call it patriarchy? Casandra 47:38 I mean, who did people used to go to? Right? Was it like, grandma? Or like, gr... you know, the people, we devalue? e? Margaret 47:53 Yeah. Margaret 47:55 Well, I, you know, it's hard. I don't know where to go from, okay like, now we understand the entire basis of an anarchist society, without the state, basically means that we have to learn how to stop putting this not on other people, because obviously, we need other people, we need society to help us do this, but stop putting it on this, like, legalized abstraction that's off in the distance. Casandra 47:55 Yeah. Casandra 48:23 So there, I mean, there are interpersonal skills, we all need to develop right around communication? But if we're talking about people actually filling these roles that we need, we have to actually figure out how to support people in developing those skills and like value their skill set. Margaret 48:40 Yeah. So how do we how do we do that? Casandra 48:44 Well, you did it for me, I was like, Hey, Internet, I need money for this training. And you were like, "Here's 50 bucks. This is important." I was like, "Thanks!" Margaret 48:58 Best part is that was probably a couple of years ago when I had substantially less ...and like I've, since I think people who listen to this know that I've since like, started a nonprofit job and like, have more money than I used to. Casandra 49:09 Oh, this was like 2016. Margaret 49:11 Yeah, okay. Yeah. Okay. But okay, so like, so people can go and get trainings and people can bring this kind of information to their communities, both by doing it, but also by maybe like spreading the skills that people could be setting up like informal collectives or formal collectives are something to kind of like, work on fostering these types of skills like what else can we do? Casandra 49:38 Just talking about it more. I mean, I remember who was I...Oh, I guess I can't talk about this on the internet. I was doing seasonal labor that grants one a lot of spare time to talk and the people I was doing this.... Margaret 49:53 Blueberry harvest. Casandra 49:55 Yes, blueberry harvest. The people that I was doing the seasonal labor with were like, "Hey, what if we listen to Rosenberg's lectures on non violent communication and practice, because we got time to kill." And we were like, "Alright," so we all... I mean, and there's a lot to say about NVC and its flaws, but we agreed to do this as a group and she sat around and practiced arguing using NVC until we got comfortable like, I, it's hard to, it's hard to, like, write us a prescription for people to normalize something like this, right? But the, the solution is that we have to normalize it somehow.. Margaret 50:35 No, that makes sense. Do you have any any final thoughts on conflict resolution or things that we didn't talk about that we should have talked about? Casandra 50:46 Um, it's really important, we won't function as a society without it whether it's mediation or some some similar skill. I don't know, Google "mediation centers" where you are. Chances are there there's one somewhere in your state, or wherever you're listening from. Margaret 51:08 Yeah, I think we sometimes try to reinvent the wheel all the time, within radical subcultures. I can't speak to other ones besides the anarchists ones, because it's the one I participate in the most. But, we I think sometimes we like only look to existing anarchists projects as like, the realm of what's possible. And that seems nonsensical. Casandra 51:29 Yeah, actually, that reminds me...so that the center where I work is not politically affiliated, right. I'm like the youngest person there. It's mostly a bunch of retired folks of various political leanings, which we don't talk about. And there's something to be said, for working in spaces like that, and learning these skills in spaces like that, because we don't live in an anarchist society right now. Which means that we need to be able to navigate conflict with people who aren't anarchists. And so if two people are in conflict, and they aren't anarchists, and I approach them and say, "Hey, I'm an anarchist mediator," then suddenly I'm not neutral or like a useful resource, right? Margaret 52:16 Right. Casandra 52:17 So it's not that I think we shouldn't have anarchists mediation collectives. I'm just saying that. I don't think people should shy away from these a-political resources, because they really valuable still. Margaret 52:31 There's this thing I learned yesterday while doing research for my other podcast that you can check out, it's called Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff that comes out every Monday and Wednesday. Okay, and um... 52:41 I know what you're going to say, and yes. Margaret 52:43 Yeah, well, okay. So like, I learned about this thing where, you know, I have infinite respect for the Jane Collective, right, the people who in the late 60s, early 70s, in Chicago were in this collective that ended up including more than 100 different people; women working as Abortionists illegally before Roe v. Wade. And for some reason that's on a lot of people's minds right now. But then I discovered looking back that in the 1920s and early 30s in Germany...Cassandra's already heard this...there was all of these non politically affiliated organizations of illegal birth control advocates and Abortionists all over Germany. There's more than 200 of these groups, and they were non politically aligned. But it was almost all syndicalists, anarchist syndicalists coming from a specific union, the acronym of which I forget off the top of my head. FAUD actually, I now remember it. And it's like the Free Workers Union of Germany or something. And even though they did a lot of organizing and propaganda as anarchists in the rest of their lives, the abortion clinics, were not an anarchist project, because that wasn't the point of it. And they weren't there to recruit. And they weren't...they were just there because people needed to have access to birth control and abortions. And I could imagine mediation....you know, if I was forming an anarchist mediation collective, if it was like, "We are the anarchists mediation collective," it would maybe be for the anarchists, but if it was like, "We are anarchists doing this mediation collective and we're willing to tell you, we're anarchists, but it is not about anarchism." I don't know is that? Casandra 54:23 Yeah, totally. I mean, I remember during my first training, going up to one of the directors and asking, I don't remember what question I asked, but it was something about like, "What we're talking about sounds like prison abolition," you know, and like, there's a particular mediation center in my area that is politically affiliated, and I was asking him if I should try volunteering with that center or with one of the non affiliated centers, and he said, "Definitely one of the non affiliated centers because the whole point of this if we're actually abolishing the prison industrial complex is to get everyone to divest from it, which means everyone needs access, which means we don't want to turn them off because we say we're liberals or anarchists or whatever." Margaret 55:17 Yeah. Casandra 55:18 I say liberal because he was probably a liberal, but surely, yeah. Margaret 55:23 Yeah. No, that that makes a lot of sense to me. It's interesting challenges a lot of like, the presuppositions I have about like when it isn't, isn't useful to identify projects politically. But, I think that makes a really strong case. Because, the point has never been, from my point of view to create little weird pure bubbles, cause, as we talked about creating weird pure bubbles is just....they're just going to destroy themselves, much like bubbles, when you blow bubbles, they don't last. Casandra 55:54 Well and even like if you create this weird pure bubble, what if someone..what if you're in conflict with someone outside that bubble? Is that person going to trust a mediator who is strictly inside that bubble? Margaret 56:08 No, then we'll just go break their windows, no matter what happened. Even if our friends are the one at fault. Casandra 56:15 You know, if I get in an argument with my Catholic, Republican, anti-semitic neighbor across the street, even if I might prefer an anarchist mediator, that's not something he's going to agree to, therefore, the mediation won't happen, and therefore it's not productive. Margaret 56:33 Right. Yeah. And, and even then, like, if you have a mediator who specifically there to be on your side, you don't have a mediator, you have an advocate, I guess. Casandra 56:42 Which is important. Advocates are really important. But that's different. Different skill set. Margaret 56:50 Yeah. No, totally. I mean, and then you get into the like, since you can't enter someone into transformative justice, if they don't want to, and if they're not part of a community, you know, sometimes like, I remember there was an instance where to abstract this as far as I possibly can with the story is still making sense, where an anarchist went on a really bad date with a guy who wasn't an anarchist, and then, like 30, people in black bloc, showed up outside his house with megaphones, and scared the everLiving shit out of him. And I think he was a little bit more careful from then on. But... Casandra 57:28 Different techniques for different scenarios, right? Margaret 57:31 Exactly. Exactly. Like, not everything should resort to violence or the threat of violence, but also, not everything...I think that is...I think that's one of the things that turns people off from a lot of mediation is that I think that people see it applied at times when sometimes like,"No, maybe just like direct conflict is the actual answer to certain types of problems," you know, but not that not that many of them. Casandra 57:56 Well in mediation when it's done well, I see the same argument around nonviolent communication, which I think Rosenberg was brilliant, I think that...or is? he like... Margaret 58:07 I don't know. Casandra 58:08 Anyway, I don't know, I think the way it's applied often is horrible. But, I see this a similar argument around mediation and NVC and where those tools can be utilized to like tone police or silence people, etc. But mediation, one of the foundations of mediation is that it's a consensual process. Which means that if someone's in a mediation, and is like, "Oh, this doesn't feel good to me anymore. This is like some boundaries been crossed, or I'm not comfortable with the way I'm being asked to communicate," or whatever. They just stop the process. That's it. Margaret 58:50 Yeah, no, that makes sense. Yeah, I wish I could have done that with like...I have such negative connotations for NVC, because I feel like the times it just gets use...it's, it's just been like weaponized against me by people who are like, making me cry and then asking why I'm communicating so meanly while I'm crying because of the things that they're saying to me or whatever, you know? Casandra 59:10 Same, same. When I when I actually read Rosenberg, I'm like, oh, yeah, that's not what he was describing. Margaret 59:20 Yeah. Casandra 59:23 Yes, yeah. Margaret 59:24 And the spirit of the law, the spirit of the idea often gets stripped away and left with the letter of it. Casandra 59:31 I've also had so many jobs where I've had so many bosses who were like, hippies using NVC to just like gaslight the shit out of you, you know? Like, "Yeah, I hear you feel this way. But I'm still your boss and will fire you." You know? Margaret 59:52 Yeah. All right. Well, I think we've covered every single thing about mediation and... Casandra 1:00:01 Ever. Yep. And even can go and mediate now I'm sure. Margaret 1:00:04 Yeah, totally. Just make sure to stick your own opinions in. Anyone is free to leave at any point all they...they will just be excised from the community. And, passive aggression is the logical response to everything. What else, did we cover everything? Casandra 1:00:20 Gossip with your friends about everything you hear in a mediation so they can cancel each other. Margaret 1:00:24 Oh, yep, definitely. And it's really good to not only block people on social media, but then yell at everyone else to block the person on social media. Getting anything? I sarcastically make fun of things that people do in order to defend themselves from really bad things that happen. I understand why people do these things sometimes. It just gets out of hand. Casandra 1:00:49 Different different tools for different scenarios. Margaret 1:00:51 Yeah, totally. All right. Well, thank you so much for coming on. Is there anything you want to shout out or plug or draw people's attention towards here at the end of the episode? Casandra 1:01:05 Um, maybe this...I don't know publishing project called Strangers In A Tangled Wilderness. Margaret 1:01:12 Oh, are you part of a publishing project? Casandra 1:01:13 Have you heard of that? Margaret 1:01:15 Is it Strangers In A Tangled Wilderness at Tangledwilderness.org? The publishing collective that you and I are both part of? Casandra 1:01:24 Yeah, yeah, we could call that out. Margaret 1:01:27 Yeah, if...this podcast is published by Strangers In A Tangled Wilderness, and we also publish a monthly zine. We're publishing a bunch of books this year. And we're really just...it's a project that's been around in one incarnation or another for about 20 years. But we're like really, kind of kick starting it. No pun intended with the company this year and trying to give it a good push and we have a bunch of stuff coming out. Casandra 1:01:54 If you like podcasts, now, there's an audio version of each zine each month. Margaret 1:01:58 Oh, yeah. What's it called? Casandra 1:02:01 Oh, shit, isn't it's just called Strangers [In a Tangled Wilderness]? This is our job. Margaret 1:02:10 We're very professional. All right. Well, thank you so much for coming on. Casandra 1:02:18 Thank you. Margaret 1:02:19 Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed this podcast, you should learn how to mediate or don't learn how to mediate and just walk like a wrecking ball through communities and tell everyone what you think. I guess I've already made enough sarcastic jokes this episode. Mediation is really cool. And you should look into it. You can also support this podcast. The main way you can do that is by telling people about it. You can tell people about it on the internet, or in person. Those are the only two spaces that exist I think. But either way you'd be helping us out. You can also support us directly by supporting us on Patreon. Our Patreon is patreon.com/strangersInatangledwilderness, and depending we put up content every month, we have now two podcasts, this one and the podcast Strangers In A Tangled Wilderness. We publish a lot of fiction, we will be publishing some poetry's, and role playing game content, also some essays, memoir, history, you name it. And in particular, I'd like to thank Mikki, Nicole, David, Dana, Chelsey, Staro, Jennifer, Elena, Natalie, Kirk, Micaiah, Nora, Sam, Chris, and Hoss the dog. You all are amazing and make all this possible. Strangers...well, this podcast used to be just me. But now it's going to be coming out more regularly, thanks to all the hard work of all the people who work behind the scenes. So thank you for supporting them and thank you people who are behind the scenes for doing that also Anyway, I hope you're doing as well as you can with everything that's happening and I will be back soo Find out more at https://live-like-the-world-is-dying.pinecast.co

White Men Be Killing (Nazis and the Supremes)

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Play Episode Listen Later May 15, 2022 23:43

This week Nathaniel cry rages their way through some shitty fucking things. Nazis killing people, and live streaming it, and the Supreme Court overturning Roe. This wasn't fun to record, it'll probably not be fun to listen to, but you should. We're all in this together. The LBGTQ Center: https://www.thelgbtqcenter.org/ Whole Woman's Health: https://www.wholewomanshealth.com/ MyMedic: https://mymedic.com/collections/first-aid-kits Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cool-people-who-did-cool-stuff/id1620562792

Introducing: Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff

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Play Episode Listen Later May 7, 2022 1:51

Hi, It Could Happen Here fans! Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff is aweekly podcast exploring all the complex stories of resistance that offer inspiration for us today--all the Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff. About Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: This weekly podcast dives into history to drag up the wildest rebels, the most beautiful revolts, and all the people who long to be—and fight to be—free. It explores complex stories of resistance that offer lessons and inspiration for us today, focusing on the ensemble casts that make up each act of history. That is to say, this podcast focuses on Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff. New episodes of Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff, drop every Monday and Wednesday. You can listenhere and subscribe on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Introducing: Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff

Part-Time Genius

Play Episode Listen Later May 6, 2022 1:51

Hi, Part-Time Genius fans! Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff is a weekly podcast exploring all the complex stories of resistance that offer inspiration for us today--all the Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff. About Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: This weekly podcast dives into history to drag up the wildest rebels, the most beautiful revolts, and all the people who long to be—and fight to be—free. It explores complex stories of resistance that offer lessons and inspiration for us today, focusing on the ensemble casts that make up each act of history. That is to say, this podcast focuses on Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff. New episodes of Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff, drop every Monday and Wednesday. You can listenhere and subscribe on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Introducing: Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff

Behind the Bastards

Play Episode Listen Later May 2, 2022 1:51

Hi, Behind the Bastards fans! Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff is a weekly podcast exploring all the complex stories of resistance that offer inspiration for us today--all the Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff. About Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: This weekly podcast dives into history to drag up the wildest rebels, the most beautiful revolts, and all the people who long to be—and fight to be—free. It explores complex stories of resistance that offer lessons and inspiration for us today, focusing on the ensemble casts that make up each act of history. That is to say, this podcast focuses on Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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May Day Special with Margaret Killjoy

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Play Episode Listen Later May 2, 2022 2:48

We are taking May Day off, but go listen to Margaret's new podcast "Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff" to hear a special story about this day. iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/episode/introducing-cool-people-who-did-cool-stuff-96003369?cmp=ios_share&sc=ios_social_share&pr=false Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cool-people-who-did-cool-stuff/id1620562792 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2e7z3M0mRcH9MGaMhghfUB?si=UmYkLGHDRpeqi0jV7iVO0g Stitcher: https://listen.stitcher.com/yvap/?c=sharelink&af_dp=stitcher://episode/202645219&af_web_dp=https://www.stitcher.com/episode/202645219&deep_link_value=stitcher://episode/202645219 Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/episode/f1781bae-7329-4bad-811a-4cfb29efb088 Overcast: https://overcast.fm/+5O9SuZDJs Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9vbW55LmZtL3Nob3dzL2Nvb2wtcGVvcGxlLXdoby1kaWQtY29vbC1zdHVmZi9wbGF5bGlzdHMvcG9kY2FzdC5yc3M See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Introducing: Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff

The Bechdel Cast

Play Episode Listen Later May 2, 2022 1:51

Hi, Aack Cast fans! Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff is a weekly podcast exploring all the complex stories of resistance that offer inspiration for us today--all the Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff. About Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: This weekly podcast dives into history to drag up the wildest rebels, the most beautiful revolts, and all the people who long to be—and fight to be—free. It explores complex stories of resistance that offer lessons and inspiration for us today, focusing on the ensemble casts that make up each act of history. That is to say, this podcast focuses on Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Introducing: Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff

My Year in Mensa

Play Episode Listen Later May 2, 2022 1:51

Hi, My Year in Mensa fans! Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff is a weekly podcast exploring all the complex stories of resistance that offer inspiration for us today--all the Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff. About Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: This weekly podcast dives into history to drag up the wildest rebels, the most beautiful revolts, and all the people who long to be—and fight to be—free. It explores complex stories of resistance that offer lessons and inspiration for us today, focusing on the ensemble casts that make up each act of history. That is to say, this podcast focuses on Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff. New episodes of Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff, drop every Monday and Wednesday. You can listenhere and subscribe on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Introducing: Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff

Lolita Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 2, 2022 1:51

Hi, Lolita fans! Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff is a weekly podcast exploring all the complex stories of resistance that offer inspiration for us today--all the Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff. About Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: This weekly podcast dives into history to drag up the wildest rebels, the most beautiful revolts, and all the people who long to be—and fight to be—free. It explores complex stories of resistance that offer lessons and inspiration for us today, focusing on the ensemble casts that make up each act of history. That is to say, this podcast focuses on Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Introducing: Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff

Dressed: The History of Fashion

Play Episode Listen Later May 2, 2022 1:51

Hi, Dressed fans! Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff is a weekly podcast exploring all the complex stories of resistance that offer inspiration for us today--all the Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff. About Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: This weekly podcast dives into history to drag up the wildest rebels, the most beautiful revolts, and all the people who long to be—and fight to be—free. It explores complex stories of resistance that offer lessons and inspiration for us today, focusing on the ensemble casts that make up each act of history. That is to say, this podcast focuses on Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Introducing: Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff

Hood Politics with Prop

Play Episode Listen Later May 2, 2022 1:51

Hi, Hood Politics fans! Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff is a weekly podcast exploring all the complex stories of resistance that offer inspiration for us today--all the Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff. About Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: This weekly podcast dives into history to drag up the wildest rebels, the most beautiful revolts, and all the people who long to be—and fight to be—free. It explores complex stories of resistance that offer lessons and inspiration for us today, focusing on the ensemble casts that make up each act of history. That is to say, this podcast focuses on Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff. New episodes of Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff, drop every Monday and Wednesday. You can listenhere and subscribe on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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The Japanese Anarchists Part 2

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Play Episode Listen Later Apr 29, 2022 45:24

We're once again joined by Margaret Killjoy, host of the new podcast Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff, to look at the syndicalist vs pure anarchist divide that shattered the Japanese anarchist movement. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Japanese Anarchists Part 1