Podcast appearances and mentions of Nikil Saval

Dayna Tortorici and Lisa Borst discuss The Intellectual Situation, a new anthology of writing from the literary magazine n+1. The anthology brings together writing from the period of 20014-2024, including contributions from people such as Gabriel Winant, Alyssa Battistoni, Tabi Haslet, Nikil Saval, and many others. In this conversation Lisa and Dayna discuss putting the collection together, how it feels to read back essays written during different political struggles from the last decade, and how they think about the relationship between writing and organising. EVENT: bit.ly/3ShrqCi  SUPPORT: www.buymeacoffee.com/redmedicineSoundtrack by Mark PilkingtonTwitter: @red_medicine__www.redmedicine.substack.com/

Episode 12 of Fragile Juggernaut turns the lens on the situation and activity of white-collar, professional, and creative workers in the 1930s and 1940s. Together with guests Nikil Saval (state senator from Pennsylvania and author of Cubed: A Secret History of the Workplace) and Shannan Clark (historian at Montclair State University and author of The Making of the American Creative Class: New York's Culture Workers and Twentieth-Century Consumer Capitalism), Alex and Gabe dig in on a few key sectors: office workers, journalists, academics and scientists, and workers in the culture industries—art, film, radio, theater, and publishing. How did the labor movement and the left conceptualize these kinds of workers and what role they might play? What was the relationship between their organization and struggle, on one hand, and the content and function of their work, on the other?Sonically, this episode is a bit of a concept album, interspersed with excerpts from Marc Blitzstein's 1937 musical play The Cradle Will Rock (actually a higher-quality 1964 recording). Inspired stylistically by the plays of Bertolt Brecht and institutionally sponsored by the WPA (until it panicked and backed out), The Cradle Will Rock is set in Steeltown, USA: a sex worker is thrown in jail after refusing a cop free service. There, she meets academics, artists, and journalists who have been arrested in a police mix-up at a steelworkers' rally, which they were monitoring as members of the anti-union Liberty Committee of steel baron Mr. Mister. While these anti-union professionals and creatives wait for Mr. Mister to come clear things up and bail them out, they explain how he recruited them to the Liberty Committee. Also with them in jail is steelworkers' leader Larry Forman, who warns them that the cozy “cradle” where they sit will soon fall.A correction: Gabe says in the episode that the Disney strike was in 1940. In fact, it was in May 1941.Featured music (besides The Cradle Will Rock): “Teacher's Blues” by Pete Seeger.Archival audio credits: “I Want to Be a Secretary,” Coronet Instructional Films (1941); Dan Mahoney Oral History, San Francisco State Labor Archives and Research Center; Oppenheimer (2023); “WPA Helping Theaters All Black Production of Macbeth”; Isom Moseley oral history, Federal Writers Project (1941); Dumbo (1941).Fragile Juggernaut is a Haymarket Originals podcast exploring the history, politics, and strategic lessons of the Congress of Industrial Organizations and the rank and file insurgency that produced it. Support Fragile Juggernaut on Patreon and receive our exclusive bimonthly newsletter, full of additional insights, reading recommendations, and archival materials we've amassed along the way.Buy Ours to Master and to Own, currently 40% off: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/366-ours-to-master-and-to-own

We return to Ali Velshi in conversation with The Welcome Party co-founder Lauren Harper, PA State Senator Nikil Saval, and former Republican Congressman Charlie Dent. Velshi begins by asking Nikil Saval at our most recent Ideas We Should Steal Festival if candidates on the left are making it harder for moderates to vote for Democrats.

In conversation with author and Pennsylvania State Senator, Nikil Saval In The Hollow Parties, Daniel Schlozman and Sam Rosenfeld present a comprehensive history of the rise of American mass party politics through the Jacksonian era up through the years of Barack Obama to the presidency of Donald Trump. They posit that today's Democrat and Republican parties, at once overbearing and ineffectual, have emerged from the interplay of multiple party traditions that reach back to the founding, and they offer a vision for how these groups might fulfill their promise. An associate professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University, Daniel Schlozman studies political parties, American political development, social movements, and political history. He is the author of When Movements Anchor Parties: Electoral Alignments in American History, a member of the Scholars Strategy Network, and a trustee of the Maryland Center for Economic Policy. Sam Rosenfeld is an associate professor of political science at Colgate University, where he researches party politics and American political development. He is the author of The Polarizers: Postwar Architects of Our Partisan Era, and his writing has also appeared in The American Prospect, The New Republic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Vox, among many other places. Because you love Author Events, please make a donation to keep our podcasts free for everyone. THANK YOU! (recorded 5/21/2024)

In conversation with author and Pennsylvania State Senator, Nikil Saval In Solidarity, Astra Taylor and Leah Hunt-Hendrix offer a comprehensive look at not just the popular and ethereal idea of solidarity, but how it can be used by political organizing movements to affect real societal change. Also a lively history of such movements from Ancient Roman revolts to Occupy Wall Street and BLM, it reveals the nuts-and-bolts methods through which solidarity is built and sustained. Leah Hunt-Hendrix earned a PhD in Religion, Ethics, and Politics from Princeton University, where she wrote her dissertation on the Ethics of Solidarity. In 2012 she co-founded Solidaire, a nationwide network of philanthropists who fund progressive movements; and in 2017, she co-founded Way to Win, an organization devoted to electoral strategy. A Senior Advisor at the American Economic Liberties Project and a member of the Board of Directors of the Solutions Project, she is an advisor to her family foundation, the Sister Fund. The cofounder of the Debt Collective, a union of debtors, Astra Taylor is the director of several documentaries and the author of The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart, Democracy May Not Exist But We'll Miss It When It's Gone, and The People's Platform, winner of an American Book Award. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, and n+1, among other publications. She sits on the editorial board of Hammer & Hope and is an advisor to Lux Magazine. Because you love Author Events, please make a donation to keep our podcasts free for everyone. THANK YOU! The views expressed by the authors and moderators are strictly their own and do not represent the opinions of the Free Library of Philadelphia or its employees. (recorded 3/19/2024)

In conversation with author and Pennsylvania State Senator, Nikil Saval In Live to See the Day, Nikhil Goyal offers a searing portrait of three Puerto Rican children struggling to survive in Philadelphia's impoverished Kensington neighborhood. Drawing on nearly a decade of reportage, he follows the youths' personal-but not unique-journeys through violence, homelessness, incarceration, and substance abuse as they strive to defy their designated fate in the modern U.S.' socioeconomic system. A sociologist and policymaker, Goyal served as senior policy advisor on education and children for Chairman Senator Bernie Sanders on the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and Committee on the Budget, among other policy roles. He has contributed articles to such publications as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Nation, and he has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News.  Because you love Author Events, please make a donation to keep our podcasts free for everyone. THANK YOU! (recorded 10/19/2023)

The Dig podcast talks with Helen Gym and Nikil Saval. Today's labor quote: Helen Gym. Today's labor history: First women's anti-slavery conference. @wpfwdc #1u #unions #LaborRadioPod @AFLCIO @thedigradio Proud founding member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.

The Dig podcast talks with Helen Gym and Nikil Saval. Today's labor quote: Helen Gym. Today's labor history: First women's anti-slavery conference. @wpfwdc #1u #unions #LaborRadioPod @AFLCIO @thedigradio Proud founding member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.

Featuring Nikil Saval and Helen Gym on how the history of Philadelphia social movements brought Nikil into the state senate and has made Helen, a long-time public education organizer, a frontrunner in the mayoral race.Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDigSubscribe to Dissent dissentmagazine.org/subscribeBuy Angela Davis: An Autobiography haymarketbooks.org/books/2001-angela-davis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Featuring Nikil Saval and Helen Gym on how the history of Philadelphia social movements brought Nikil into the state senate and has made Helen, a long-time public education organizer, a frontrunner in the mayoral race. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Subscribe to Dissent dissentmagazine.org/subscribe Buy Angela Davis: An Autobiography haymarketbooks.org/books/2001-angela-davis

Today we've got Pennsylvania state Senator Nikil Saval on to talk about the remarkable fact that he got a climate and affordable housing bill through a Republican-controlled legislature. What's up with that?? Other stuff mentioned in the episode: our previous episode with Nikil, his writing at n+1, and a run-down of Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano.

On this week's show: how the workplaces of the past shaped the offices we lost to the pandemic -- and what it means for the future of work. This week's conversation with Charlie Warzel: https://think.kera.org/2021/12/10/making-work-from-home-work-forever/ Krys' 2014 conversation with Nikil Saval: https://think.kera.org/2014/05/20/the-way-we-work/

Vad kännetecknar egentligen starka och väl fungerande marknadsteam, och vad är nycklarna till att bygga ett. Det och mycket mer djupdyker vi i det här avsnittet. För att bygga upp och leda ett marknadsteam är en stor utmaning. Med mig för att dela sina tankar och insikter kring ämnet har jag Björn Alberts från Arc och Curamando som har jobbat med frågorna under lång tid. Som marknadschef vilar ett stort ansvar på ens axlar att dels leverera bra resultat men också att skapa ett starkt marknadsteam med rätt mix av kompetenser. Man behöver ha koll på allt från hur man bygger upp teamet och sätter samman rätt kompetenser till att sätta upp tydliga mål som får alla att dra åt samma håll och skapa en vinnande kultur. Och som du kan läsa här nedan så är Björn helt rätt person att prata om det här då han har lång erfarenhet av både marknadsföring och att leda team samt gedigen erfarenhet som marknadschef. Han har dessutom lång erfarenhet av att arbeta med de här frågorna som konsult. Om gästen Björn Alberts är en marknadsförare och ledare med gedigen erfarenhet av både marknadsföring och affärsutveckling. Han är idag partner på Arc samt ledare och rådgivare på Curamando. Och han har arbetat med marknadsföring och internet sedan 1995 där han bland annat varit med och utvecklat en av Sveriges första internetbanker och en av de allra första apparna i Sverige. Björn har även erfarenhet av marknadschefsrollen från flertal bolag. Däribland från Volvo Ocean Race som är världens femte största sportevent där han var CMO och kommunikationschef. Om avsnittet Vi startar avsnittet med att prata om vad det finns för olika typer av marknadsteam och vad som kännetecknar ett bra sådant. Björn delar sedan sina tankar och insikter om vad som krävs för att bygga ett starkt marknadsteam. Och hur man startar den processen på ett bra sätt. Han berättar efter det om vilka roller och kompetenser som generellt behövs i ett modernt marknadsteam och ger sin syn på den ständiga frågan om specialister, generalister och t-profiler. Och hur man ska tänka kring byråer och externa partners. Du får dessutom höra vad Björn anser om: Hur man leder och styr marknadsteam effektivt Vad som krävs för att bli en bra marknadschef Och hur man växer och skalar upp sitt team Han delar med sig av mängder med bra tips och jag hoppas att du kommer bli lika inspirerad som jag blev. Det finns som vanligt länkar till de resurser som nämns i avsnittet. Björn har dessutom lagt till ett antal boktips dig som vill bli en bättre marknadsförare och ledare. Och efter länkarna hittar du tidsstämplar till olika sektioner i avsnittet. Länkar Björn Alberts på LinkedIn Curamando webbsida Curamando på LinkedIn Arc webbsida Arc på LinkedIn Harvard Business Review (resurs/webbsida) The ONE thing av Gary Keller, Jay Papasan (bok) Adlibris Bokus Influence av Robert Cialdini (bok) Adlibris Bokus The Art of Learning av Josh Waitzkin (bok) Adlibris Bokus The Wisdom of Psychopaths av Dr Kevin Dutton (bok) Adlibris Bokus How to Be a Positive Leader av Jane Dutton, Gretchen Spreitzer (bok) Adlibris Bokus The Five Dysfunctions of a Team av Patrick M Lencioni (bok) Adlibris Bokus The Confidence Game av Maria Konnikova (bok) Adlibris Bokus Insanely Simple av Ken Segall (bok) Adlibris Bokus Purple Cow av Seth Godin (bok) Adlibris Bokus Inspired av Marty Cagan (bok) Adlibris Bokus Do More Faster av Brad Feld, David Cohen (bok) Adlibris Bokus Superbosses av Sydney Finkelstein (bok) Adlibris Bokus Beyond Measure av Margaret Heffernan (bok) Adlibris Bokus Originals av Adam Grant (bok) Adlibris Bokus It's not the Size of the Data av Koen Pauwels (bok) Amazon Cubed av Nikil Saval (bok) Adlibris Bokus The Coaching Habit av Michael Bungay Stanier (bok) Adlibris Bokus Tidsstämplar [3:33] Björn inleder med att prata om vad det finns för olika team och vad som kännetecknar dem. Och vad det är som påverkar mest hur marknadsteam ser ut...

Senator Nikil Saval represents several neighborhoods of Philadelphia on the Pennsylvania State Senate. He has worn many hats, including author, editor, and community organizer, before he was elected as the first Asian American Ward Leader in Philadelphia. Tune in to learn about what inspires Senator Saval as he works hand in hand with social movements to push for progressive causes as an elected representative. To support Senator Saval's vision, consider learning about and donating to UNITE HERE!, a movement of people committed to changing lives in the hospitality industry by making sure jobs are safe, respected, and provide enough to live on.

Listen to audio from the following Democratic Senators talking about their disappointment in how the American Rescue Plan funding to PA is being spent: Senator Anthony Hardy Williams of Philadelphia; Senator Vincent Hughes of Philadelphia; Senator Nikil Saval of Philadelphia. (Audio is in one mp3, with speakers in that order.)

In this episode, Niki, Natalia, and Neil discuss the history – and future – of office life. Support Past Present on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pastpresentpodcast Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:  New York magazine published a sprawling collection of essays about experiences of office life. Natalia referred to this Atlantic article about the persistence of deep cleaning protocols despite evidence that the coronavirus does not spread on surfaces. Niki cited historian Jeanne Boydston’s book Home and Work: Housework, Wages, and the Ideology of Labor in the Early Republic. Natalia drew on Nikil Saval’s book Cubed: A Secret History of the Workplace and Anne-Helen Petersen’s Substack newsletter, “The Future of Remote Work is the Opposite of Lonely.”   In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History: Natalia discussed Katie Rosman’s New York Times article, “Girl, Wash Your Timeline”. Neil shared The Salt Lake Tribune’s obituary of Mormon scholar Michael Quinn, and historian Benjamin Park’s thread about his work. Niki recommended two Slate articles about writer Blake Bailey’s alleged history of sexual assault, one by Eve Crawford Peyton, and one by his former eighth grade students.

On today’s show I am thrilled to welcome State Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler and State Sen. Nikil Saval to the show. Rep. Fiedler represents District 184 in South Philadelphia, a seat she won against a deep-pocketed Democratic machine. Let’s face it, in significant sections of Philly, the Democratic Primary is where all the action is. She ran a strong general election campaign with two other members of PA’s own squad, Rep. Summer Lee and Rep. Sara Innamorato, who also won huge upset victories against Democratic machine politicians.  In 2020, State Sen. Nikil Saval won his election to represent the First State Senate District in Philadelphia. Sen. Saval’s district hugs the Delaware River from the Philly airport in the south to Sections of Port Richmond in the north. His election win set a new round of shock waves through the Democratic party establishment and state politics. Yes, Democratic party voters will elect an open socialist to office.  In a remarkable short period of time the progressive left is on the rise in PA and that’s made a huge difference in the political discourse - but perhaps more importantly, what we might call our political horizons. Suddenly things seem possible. What was once PA’s own progressive squad is becoming a battalion.  I wanted to have Rep. Fiedler and Sen. Saval on the show this week because it’s budget season in Harrisburg and they are both part of a renewed push for a People’s Budget along with the great folks at We the People - PA. This time around, however, progressives are exercising their muscles and pushing the political discourse. And not just in the State Capitol. They continue to work with the movements that they have been part of for years. So, it’s a progressive budget and progressive-left movements on the table tonight. Welcome to the show. 

On an Instagram Live broadcast Monday night, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told the world in detail about her harrowing experiences during the Capitol insurrection.  11 House Republicans join all House Democrats in stripping QAnon Representative Marjorie Taylor Green of committee roles.  Senate Democrats pass a budget bill in the wee hours this morning paving the way for passing Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package through reconciliation. The bill was passed only after Vice President Kamala Harris cast a tie-breaking vote.  Joe Biden fired all 10 members of the Federal Services Impasse Panel this week.  The FSIP is a labor panel that settles federal labor disputes between public unions and the different federal agencies, but under Trump, the Panel was stacked with Koch operatives and used to break federal sector unions.  Congressional Democrats are pushing Biden to cancel $50,000 in student loan debt. During the campaign Biden says he would support canceling $10,000 in student loan debt, but pressure led by Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren, Ilhan Omar, Ayana Pressley, Alma Adams, and Mondaire Jones seems to be having an effect. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki tweeted “Our team is reviewing whether there are any steps he can take through executive action and he would welcome the opportunity to sign a bill sent to him by Congress.” The good folks at the American Prospect have an “Executive Action Tracker” on their website as part of their #DayOneAgenda project.  Over 1,100 Columbia University students have pledged to go on a tuition strike, saying they refuse to pay full tuition for all on-line classes.  This Super Bowl Sunday General Motors will unveil their electrical vehicle line. GM has said they will eliminate all their combustion engine vehicles by 2035.  Governor Tom Wolf released his annual budget address on Wednesday.  The Governor called for an increase in the personal income tax and a tax credit program that will reduce taxes for 70% of working Pennsylvania families.  He also called for the legalization of recreational cannabis use and an increase in the $15 minimum wage. Nikil Saval released a response to Gov. Wolf’s budget proposal, saying that his budget “does much to move funding swiftly, and equitably, to those who need it most.” But, Saval wrote that the absence of vigorous environmental protection to respond to the climate crisis and the budget’s silence on dealing with the housing crisis, especially during the pandemic, represents “two missed opportunities.”  Former Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor has gone from political irrelevance to defending Donald Trump during the upcoming impeachment trial.  Castor managed to burn every bridge possible while serving as the Montgomery County District Attorney and as the Acting Attorney General of Pennsylvania.  Congratulations, Bruce? Kathy Boockvar steps down after a major screw up that set back the fight for a Constitutional Amendment allow abuse survivors access to justice.  Scott Perry’s faculty instructor at the Army War College pens an op-ed to the York Daily Record saying that he finds Perry’s behavior “troubling” and calls on Perry to “remove his name from any website that infers, in any way, that the Army War College considers him to be of the same stature” of some of the celebrated graduates of the college.  White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki could not say what the future of the Space Force will be under the Biden Administration. She promised to get together with the point of contact with the Space Force for more information. The Space Force flag was waving during the inauguration we should say.  On Super Bowl Sunday, SpaceX is launching a commercial for what it’s billing as the “first ‘all-civilian’ spaceflight” as part of their Inspiration4 project with billionaire Jared Isaacman. The commercial tells viewers they’ll have a chance to climb aboard. According to Space.com,  there are three non-billionaire seats available: “One seat is up for grabs in a contest to anyone who makes a donation to St. Jude's Children Research Hospital. Another seat will go to a St. Jude's healthcare worker, and the third will go to the winner of an entrepreneur contest run by Isaacman's Shift4Shop.” And in a major shift away from the Trump organization, Biden created a new role at NASA to prioritize Earth sciences to combat the climate crisis. The new Senior Climate Advisor position will report directly to NASA’s administrator. The head of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Gavin Schmidt, will be the acting senior advisor until they fill the role permanently.  Sean got shipments of pots this week. That’s pots, plural.  Free Will Releases Juice Money - Sour Ale with Plum, Black Currant, Cinnamon, Cardamom, Vanilla, and Milk Sugar. C.O.B. - Coffee Oatmeal Brown Ale brewed with flaked oats and a variety of dark malts, then later rested atop two pounds per barrel worth of freshly roasted coffee beans from Speakeasy Coffee Company.  Shout out to an old friend and the folks at Narragansett Brewery in Providence, RI.

Nikil Saval is a Pennsylvania state senator and the author of Cubed: A Secret History of the Workplace.

Nikil Saval is a writer, editor, activist, and the newly elected Pennsylvania state senator. He was previously a co-editor of n+1 and wrote about design, architecture, and urbanism for The New Yorker and The New York Times. In this episode, recorded right before the election, Jarrett and Nikil talk about the intersection of design and politics, how writing and editing are similar to legislating, and why he finds designers fascinating. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm/166-nikil-saval.

Office design was originally focused on getting the most productivity out of every worker, but as ideas like creativity and employee satisfaction began to gain prominence, changes needed to be made.And then the 2020 pandemic came along and changed everything.On this episode, you'll hear from Nikil Saval, Ryan Mullinex, Kate Lister, Ben Waber and Tanuj Mohan. These trailblazers are helping create and study the modern workplace.For more on the podcast go to delltechnologies.com/trailblazers 

Things have been pretty bleak across the US lately, so Meagan Day and Micah Uetricht were eager to talk to a socialist who actually won something recently: Nikil Saval, a democratic socialist who recently won the Democratic Primary for a state senate seat in Pennsylvania's first district. A profile of Nikil: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/05/pennsylvania-nikil-saval-rick-krajewski-reclaim-philadelphia Nikil's 2016 article about Bernie: https://nplusonemag.com/issue-26/the-intellectual-situation/canvassing/

We’re back in record territory when it comes to new COVID-19 cases. New cases are rising in 27 states with Texas, California, Arizona, and Florida showing some the most alarming increases. The enormous Texas Medical Center in Houston reached 100% capacity yesterday. The CDC now says that more than 20 million Americans could have contracted the virus - 10 times more than the official counts.  Unlike the initial explosion of COVID-19 cases that saw older Americans accounting for most cases, younger people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s The Voice of America is now Trump Radio.  Jamaal Bowman ousts Warhawk, Eliot Engle, in the Democratic Party Primary in New York’s 16th district which spans parts of the Bronx and Westchester County. Bowman won the nomination by 25 points.  In another huge exclamation point in growing progressive power in the Democratic Party, AOC blew out her corporate-backed challenger in New York’s 14th district by 51 points. 70% v. Michelle Caruso-Cabrera’s 19%. AOC took to Twitter following her victory to say: “Wall Street CEOs, from Goldman Sachs to Blackstone, poured in millions to defeat our grassroots campaign tonight. But their money couldn’t buy a movement. Thank you #NY14, and every person who pitched in for tonight’s victory. Here’s to speaking truth to power.” Charles Booker pulls ahead of Amy McGrath in the fight for the Democratic Party nomination to challenge Mitch McConnell in the Kentucky Senate race.  In New York’s 17th district, Mondaire Jones looks to be heading to Washington after blowing out a three-way race for the Democratic Party nomination. If his twenty-point lead holds, he’ll be one of the first openly gay black men in Congress.  Tik Tok and KPop help sink Trump’s great hope of sell-out crowds in Tulsa.  Bad news for Devin Nunes. A judge rules that he can’t sue Twitter because fake cow hurt his fufus on the platform. That’s a win for Devin Nunes’s Cow and Devin Nunes’s Mom.  There’s a giant dust cloud racing across the Atlantic.  I bet none of you had that on your 2020 bingo card? And...here we go...My Little Pony fans are kicking out the white supremacists from their fan pages. Yes. That My Little Pony.  New York Times releases a damning video that reconstructs the I-676 tear gassing and toruture the Philadelphia Police unleashed on protesters on June 1st.  The Philadelphia Police Department and the City of Philadelphia’s statements on the incident were discredited the day following the event, but the city and the police department drug their feet for 24 days before apologizing and banning the use of tear gas.  Mayor Kenney and Commissioner Outlaw were hoping that an internal investigation would have kept this in the dark.   Move over Bill De Blasio, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney still thinks his political career has any relevance.  He launched a statewide PAC that are leading many to believe that he’s gearing up for a 2022 run at the Governor’s seat.  Christopher Columbus statue in Marconi Plaza in Philly is coming down because the people defending the statue caused so much bullshit attacking black lives matter protesters that the city is removing it.  In a PA Grand Jury report released yesterday slams the PA Department of Environmental Protection for failing to protect people from the effects of fracking. The grand jury said the natural gas industry should bear the expense and risk of fracking, but the DEP “did not take sufficient action in response to the fracking boom.”  PA Stands Up held its 5th The Crisis and The Opportunity Virtual Forum last night featuring Shanna Danielson, Nikil Saval, Summer Lee, Elizabeth Fiedler, and Sara Innamorato. I got to listen in to most of the discussion. It was a great space and you can watch the recording at PA Stands Up Facebook page.   The State Senate passed on Wednesday a major plan that clears the way for the restructuring of the PA State System of Higher Education. The plan will give more power to the Board of Governors and the Chancellor to consolidate schools, eliminate programs, turn existing schools into branch campuses, create new schools, and share administrative services. And speaking of PASSHE, the state-owned universities are rolling out their “return-to-campus plans” this week. Kutztown University’s COVID-19 Public Relations campaign - I mean “Fall 2020 Planning COVID-19 Response” plan - is just loaded with goodies. Students will be required to come up with their own “Safety Plan;” students working in dorms as Community Assistants will now be responsible for the “emotional wellbeing, physical health, and social support,” of students living in their newly establish “KU Family Pod Area” (can’t make this shit up); students, faculty, and staff are encouraged to report suspicious COVID-like behavior to the administration; and, the university will use the pandemic as cover to increase the use of online teaching “even after the current COVID-19 crisis has abated.”  NASA names its headquarters after Mary Jackson, the first black woman engineer. You might remember her as one the three leads in the film Hidden Figures.  I’m on to the second book in Octavia Butler’s Earthseed series: The Parable of the Talents, published in 1998. It was more than freaky that Parable of the Talents takes place during the rise of a right-wing zealot - Senator Jarret from Texas - who whips up racism and promise to “make America great again.” I mean...those exact words.  It was Father’s Day this past weekend which means I got a chance to sample some awesome beer. The highlights from Free Will included the AMAZING Wild Blueberry Cobbler Mash and of course one of my favorites, Safeword.  Free Will also came out with a new release this week: Walk Awhile With Me - English style Pub Ale brewed with a base of Maris Otter and a bit of Crystal malt, hopped with Golding and Chinook. Notes of crispy toffee, biscuit, and herbs of the earth. 4.2% ABV I was also gifted two crowler’s from McAllister Brewing Company based in North Wales - Mandated Introvert, an “IPA Sour” and Shovel Buddy, a really nice New England IPA.

Hello! This is our freshest recording yet—part one made just hours ago. In this episode, we talk about the latest hotspot in the Black Lives Matter uprising: Seattle, near where Andy and Tammy grew up and where Jay has family; and Jay and Andy review the new ESPN documentary on Bruce Lee. We then welcome our special guest (and Andy’s friend and fellow Philadelphian) Nikil Saval, the presumptive winner(!) of a seat in the Pennsylvania State Senate. (There is no Republican in the race.) Follow the results with us here.3:24 - Jay packs his bags for the anarcho-socialist(?), abolitionist commune of Capitol Hill, Seattle. Why such radical resistance in Bezosland? Where does the uprising go from here? (Andy’s audio fails for a bit at 13:15; keep listening!)20:12 - Is Be Water, the Bruce Lee documentary, any good? Does it go beyond representational politics and potted history? Andy and Jay offer their thoughts. (Tammy hasn’t seen it but chimes in anyway.)30:08 - We speak with Nikil Saval (taped Sunday, June 7, 2020) about his recent primary election for State Senate district 1 in Pennsylvania. Nikil gives an update on the votes and talks about balancing his two lives as writer and as labor organizer.Also: Nikil explains how his South Asian background was brought into the campaign and how he had to parry his opponent’s nativist strategy. He discusses how Covid-19 and then the Floyd protests changed the tenor of the campaign. Get on the email list at goodbye.substack.com

Trump threatens to call out the military to suppress protests demanding justice for George Floyd and an end to run-away police violence. In a speech from the Rose Garden, Trump called protesters “terrorists.” In a call to the nation’s Governors, Trump urged them to crack down hard on protesters. In a surprise move, Trump told journalists that he has put U.S. Army General Mark Milley “in charge” of ending the protests.  Former Defense Secretary General Jim Mattis - the guy that Trump used to love to call “Mad Dog” to boost his testosterone levels - issued a scathing rebuke of Trump’s desire to call out the military to “dominate” protesters. Mattis wrote, "Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens —much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside." George Bush came out after Trump this week. He beat Nancy Pelosi to the punch. Why? Oh, yeah, the Democrats are on vacation.  Los Angeles mayor, Eric Garcetti, announced that the Los Angeles Police Department will see a budget cut between $100 and $150 million instead of an increase. The money from the LAPD cuts will be invested in communities of color instead. The city will invest in “jobs, education, and healing,” according to Mayor Garcetti.  Dr. Anthony Fauci, the most prominent member of the White House COVID-19 task force, told the American Medical Association that the U.S. should have 100 million doses of coronavirus vaccine by the beginning of 2021.  Protests to end police violence and systemic racism exploded across the state. Hundreds of people marched through small towns like Souderton, PA and thousands flooded the streets in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and other larger cities across the Commonwealth.  This week showed that pigs can actually fly. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney took down the 2000 lb Frank Rizzo statue.  In a huge win for Philadelphia progressive activists, Nikil Saval defeated Democratic Party establishment-backed candidate Larry Farnese in the primary for Pennsylvania’s First Senate District. Nikil Saval is the cofounder of Reclaim Philadelphia, a community activist, a DSA member, and an editor for N+1. Saval ran a campaign right out of the Bernie Sanders campaign platform and is now looking at a double-digit win of Farnese who has held the seat since 2009.  Bernie Sanders pulled in 20% of the vote in Pennsylvania.  But Nikil Saval was not the only big news. It looks like six other incumbents were shown their walking papers in Tuesday’s Primaries. Daylin Leach is behind by nearly twenty points to Amanda Cappelletti, a candidate endorsed by Elizabeth Warren. Summer Lee crushes her primary opponent Chris Roland by a 75-25 margin.  It looks like the building trades owes Summer an apology for wasting over a hundred thousand dollars to run someone against her out of spite. Progressive Emily Kinkead looks like she is going to oust conservative Democrat Adam Ravenstahl in House District 20 in the Pittsburgh area. Ravenstahl has frequently voted with conservative Republicans, especially when it comes to restricting women’s access to abortion and necessary medical care. Rick Krajewski, a West Philadelphia organizer, is narrowly ahead of Jim Roebuck in PA House District 188. Roebuck has held the seat since 1985. Krajewski was backed by Bernie Sanders, the PA Chapter of the National Organization for Women, National DSA, Sunrise Philadelphia, and the AFT Local 2026 among a long list of endorsers.  And as of today, all counties in Pennsylvania have moved into either the Green Phase or the Yellow Phase. Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lehigh, Northampton, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties were the last counties to remain in the Red Phase. They move to Yellow today.  Whitey’s on the Moon...OK, not the Moon, but the International Space Station. SpaceX and NASA successfully launched two astronauts to the ISS from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center last Saturday. It was the first crewed launch from U.S. soil since the Obama administration scrapped the Space Shuttle program in 2009. The fact the launch took place during some of the biggest civil rights uprisings in nearly a century has us relistening to some Gil Scott-Heron.  Looks like the whole 2024 Moon settlement plan hit a bit of a setback as SpaceX’s Starship Prototype exploded during a static-fire test of the massive rocket’s engines.  The Menzingers just released a new song, America Pt. 2. All proceeds from the song go to community bail funds. You can listen to and buy the song at bandcamp.com.  And, while we’re at it, Bob Mould just released a new song called “American Crisis.” It show that the anger from Gen X runs deep. Thanks to my friend Stu Ross for sending me that.  Free Will Brewing is opening up outdoor seating at their main Perkasie location and at Peddler’s Village tomorrow, Saturday, June 6. They had to push back today’s opening due to storms and flood warnings. They are turning a field next to the brewery into a beer garden with a pop-up bar, bathrooms, and sanitizing stations, in addition to our usual front yard space and courtyard.  Free Will also has a new release for the first time in a while. This one is a collab with Imprint Beer Company. It’s the Strawberry Lemonade Radfahrer - They took their Cream Ale base and mixed it with some slightly tart lemonade before a hefty addition of strawberry purée to top the whole thing off. 3.9% ABV⁣⁣.  

Antibody is a new narrative series about how Covid-19 has changed everything and nothing at all. In this episode: Zoom Canvass (featuring Nikil Saval) Hardwood Flesh (produced by Ari Mejia) Dial 3 to Admit Your Personal Failure (produced by Ian Lewis and Caroline Kanner) You Can't Go Home Again (written by Alex Press) The International Trans Person Helpline (produced by Cass Adair and Arlie Adlington)

Catching up with Nikil Saval during the homestretch of his primary challenge to State Senator Larry Farnese

Minneapolis burns, including a police station, as the demands for justice in the police murder of an unarmed black man, George Floyd. Four white police officers involved in the murder have been fired, but the video of one officer with his knee on Floyd’s neck for several minutes while he cried out “I can’t breathe” have the community calling for more widespread justice. Protests have started to spread across the nation as well.  Trump took to Twitter to help insight violence against Minneapolis protesters calling them “THUGS,” suggesting that the military should be brought in to suppress the protests, and threatening “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”  And it’s official. More than 100,000 Americans are dead from COVID-19. That horrific milestone was reached as states are planning on or have already opened up. Yet, as the Washington Post reported this week, rural areas are increasingly becoming the areas hit hardest by the coronavirus. And while those states hit hard by COVID-19 early in the outbreak are beginning to flatten their curves, the rest of the country’s numbers are continuing to skyrocket up.  Over Memorial Day weekend, the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri was the place to be, apparently. Thousands of people flooded pool parties and resorts in violation of the state’s and county’s COVID-19 restrictions. The Governor of St. Louis County had to issue a travel advisory after videos of the parties went viral urging “those who ignored protective practices to self-quarantine for 14 days or until testing negative for COVID-19.” What are the chances of that, do you think?  After aggressive efforts to combat the spread of the coronavirus, South Korea made the decision to reopen its schools. Now more than 500 schools have had to shut their doors again after spikes in new cases.  New York Rep. Eliot Engle, the hawkish Democrat who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee and who has ties to defense contractors, may just lose a primary challenge to Jamaal Bowman, a progressive champion for the district representing parts of the Brox and Westchester.  PA Republican leaders in the House were exposed for a COVID-19 cover-up in the Capitol.  House Representative Andy Lewis came down with the virus and tested positive on May 14th.  When he told leadership that he tested positive, leadership only told other Republicans to quarantine.  Who cares if the House Democrats get sick.   PA State Representative Brian Sims, unloads on Republican State House leadership after learning that House Majority Leader, Mike Turzai and other members of the House Republican leadership covered-up the fact that several Republican members had tested positive for COVID-19. Rep. Russ Diamond, who has been the biggest loudmouth about how everything is safe and that that Governor Wolf is a tyrant, was one of the Republicans who tested positive for COVID-19. The COVID coverup didn’t stop House Republicans from voting on Russ Diamond’s resolution to suspend Governor Tom Wolf’s emergency declaration. Oh, 8 Democrats voted for Russ Diamond’s bill to open up PA. This is AFTER the news broke of the PA GOP COVID-19 cover-up. Bernie Sanders endorses Daylin Leach’s Primary challenger Amanda Capaletti & endorsed Nikil Saval who is the editor of N+1 and running against Larry Farnese.   In another chapter of “you just don’t get it, do you,” Pennsylvania’s department of education is working with the Data Recognition Corporation to find ways of getting parents to give their kids standardized tests in the event that schools remained closed in the fall due to the pandemic. I don’t know about you, but I was really disappointed when my kids’ PSSA’s and other standardized tests were canceled this year. The good news is that Pennsylvania is not the only state attempting to push high-stakes testing into students’ homes.  Oh, and who’s Matt Brouillette again? Netflix’s Space Force starring Steve Carell premiers TODAY!  Wednesday’s attempt by SpaceX and NASA to launch astronauts to the International Space Station from U.S. soil for the first time in almost 10 years had to be postponed due to weather. The new launch date is set for tomorrow, Saturday, May 30 @ 3:22 pm. Sean bought a desk fan. Big news. He needed it after going down the YouTube rabbit hole on Nicholas Cage. If you’re looking for some excellent sci-fi pandemic reading, check out Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel.  I’ll report back on some of the new offerings at Free Will’s online store. I’ve had a chance to check out Haymaker Meadery’s Dandy - Sparkling Mead with Plum and Jasmine Green Tea - 6.5% ABV. And I also picked up a 4-pack of Relax and Chill, a hazy IPA Hazy Pale Ale Brewed with oats and hopped with Simcoe, Calypso, and Centennial- 5.5% ABV. You can check out all their stuff to pick up or get delivered at https://freewillbrewing.store/.

Today we've got Nikil Saval, candidate for the upcoming primary in the Pennsylvania First Senate District on June 2nd. We talk about how he got into organizing and politics, what it's like interacting with the Philadelphia Democratic machine, his advice for others considering a run for office, and more. Enjoy!

Nikil Saval is Philadelphia's Democratic Ward Leader of the 2nd Ward and is currently a Pennsylvania Senatorial candidate for the 1st District. He's also our guest for our pandemic quarantine Bluntcast #13. Nikil was born in Los Angeles, went to school in New York City, and now lives in Philly, where he plans to stay.... The post Nikil Saval – PA 1st District Senatorial Candidate appeared first on The Philly Blunt.

Writer, editor, activist, and politician Nikil Saval, who’s currently running as a Democrat for Pennsylvania State Senate, discusses the urgent need to build a society that cares for itself and the deeply entrenched problems he sees with healthcare, housing, and prisons in the U.S.

In conversation with Nikil Saval, an editor of n+1 and author of Cubed: A Secret History of the Workplace A professor of geography and urban studies at Temple University, Jacob Shell is the author of Transportation and Revolt: Pigeons, Mules, Canals, and the Vanishing Geographies of Subversive Mobility, a historical study of the connections between modes of transit and rebellion. Praised as ''fascinating'' by esteemed primatologist Frans de Waal, Shell's latest book explores the millennia-spanning working relationship between humans and elephants, journeying to the rugged and sometimes dangerous Southeast Asian forests where this partnership still exists. (recorded 6/11/2019)

This was our back to school episode, informed by the scholarship of Erin Twohig and Ursula’s “Hard Lessons: North African Writers on Education” at al-Fanar. We particularly talked about Mohamed Nedali’s Grâce à Jean de la Fontaine, a satiric and scathing account of the life of a schoolteacher in Morocco, and also Radwa Ashour’s writing on education, in her The Journey (translated by Michelle Hartman) and her later Spectres (translated by Barbara Romaine).The discussion also veered slightly to the interview and mixtape with Ma3azef magazine co-founder Ma’an Abu Taleb on Bidoun.Ursula’s summer reading included Mustafa Khalifa’s devastating novel The Shell, based on his experiences in Syria’s Tadmor prison, in which he reclaims and re-inscribes humanity. It has been translated to English by Paul Starkey.The death of V.S. Naipaul led to several interesting conversations about his work and legacy. Here is one, between Nikil Saval and Pankaj Mishra in n+1.And here is a piece by Teju Cole from a few years back about meeting the writer.Finally, Kuwaiti readers are pushing back against censorship -- you can follow the online part of the campaign at #ممنوع_في_الكويت and #صور_كتاب_ممنوع_في_مكتبتك. MA student Abrar Alshammari is writing up a longer essay on the current situation for Arablit, but for background, 'It's like they were selling heroin to schoolkids': censorship hits booksellers at Kuwait book fair at The Guardian and Leading Kuwaiti Writers Saud Alsanousi and Bothayna al-Essa on Pushing Back Against a Season of Censorship at ArabLit.

Nikil Saval, editor at n+1, on how gender, politics, and unions have affected the American workplace since the Civil War.

In 2006, Fortune magazine estimated that 40 million Americans worked in cubicles. How did the office cubicle, "reviled by workers, demonized by designers, disowned by its creator" (as Fortune put it), conquer our workplace? And were things so much better before? What forces have shaped the evolution of offices? Nikil Saval pondered all these questions when he was trapped in a cubicle, and finding no comprehensive history, wrote one himself.

Was there ever an age in which the office provided reasonable security for the worker? Is it possible for the office worker to be given respect and adequate compensation in the 21st century? We talk with Nikil Saval, author of CUBED, to figure out how a system designed to pit office workers against each other went wrong. It turns out that misguided philosophy, austere architectural developments, and a carefully manufactured belief culture against organized labor are all part of a very complicated narrative we all take for granted.

Slate critics Julia Turner, Dana Stevens, and David Haglund discuss the unexpectedly gripping real-time car ride movie Locke, the philosophical cartoon hit Adventure Time, and Cubed: A Secret History of the Workplace by Nikil Saval. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Slate critics Julia Turner, Dana Stevens, and David Haglund discuss the unexpectedly gripping real-time car ride movie Locke, the philosophical cartoon hit Adventure Time, and Cubed: A Secret History of the Workplace by Nikil Saval.