Podcasts about wort fm

The hot summer months often mean full immersion in the natural world for those who grow their own food. On today's show, host Douglas Haynes speaks with master gardener and social media star, Toni Farmer, who has made it her life's work to educate people about the joys of gardening and solutions to the broken food system.  Farmer's work is deeply personal, and often her videos take place in her own backyard vegetable garden where she shares tips and tricks and invites viewers to commiserate about daily struggles with pests or the weather. Home gardens were once the norm, but went out fashion post WWII when Americans prioritized convenience. “All the skills of growing food went away in a single generation,” says Farmer.   But people want to regain that knowledge, and Farmer showed up at the right time with the right knowledge to feed that hunger. Her social media accounts went viral in January 2025 when the Trump administration first implemented tariffs. Now, her posts educate people about the immediate and long-impacts of policy decisions like tariffs and the war with Iran. Her recent series “The Plan” has garnered hundreds of thousands of views. In it, Farmer prepares her audience for the looming global food crisis and encourages them to work with their neighbors to build food security.  Farmer says she's alarmed by the possibility of price shocks in the fall and is concerned by a recent social media trend of conflating conventional and organic farming. She also discusses how regenerative agriculture is the antidote to the cruel and extractive aspects of commercial agriculture and how immersion in your home garden is an antidote to the isolation of our digital lives. At the end of the day, it shouldn't be a privilege to eat healthy food, says Farmer.  Toni Farmer is an adjunct professor at both the University of Pennsylvania and Rowan University in the department of Earth and Environmental Science. At Penn, she teaches Regenerative Agriculture and Integrated Pest Management and at Rowan she teaches The Future of Food, a class about the impact of climate change on agriculture. She holds a Masters of Environmental Science from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master Gardener certification from Rutgers. Toni provides the garden video content for SJMagMedia, winning “best of” for 2021. She appears every Tuesday on Fox29 Philadelphia at 3:30pm helping tri-state regional viewers with garden tips. Learning to grow food is a critical tool for healthy food access. You can find her on Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook as ToniFarmersGarden. Featured image of a community garden via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post How a Thriving Garden Can Counteract a World on Fire appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

WORT 89.9FM Madison · Follow the Money: WI Governor Campaign Finance Reports Michelle Ellinger Linley When the Watergate scandal was breaking in the 1970s, the White House anonymous source code-named “Deep Throat” famously advised Washington Post Reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward to “follow the money.” Neighborhood activist, long time organizer, and self-described “campaign finance nerd” Michelle Ellinger Linley has taken it upon herself to do just that. Michelle joined Monday Buzz host Brian Standing on July 20, 2026 with an in-depth analysis of how Wisconsin's gubernatorial candidates earned and spent their campaign cash. Featured image: pile of cash (Photo by 401(K) 2012, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons) Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Follow the Money: WI Gubernatorial Campaign appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

WORT 89.9FM Madison · “The Park People” Film to Showcase Madison Locations Back in 2024, WORT welcomed a University of Wisconsin student film crew into our studio to shoot a short called “Tuned In,” which takes place in fictional community radio station WALE.  Prop posters for made-up local bands still grace the walls of our Combo A studio.  The director of “Tuned In,” Corey Holl has graduated with a degree in film and graphic design and has stayed in the Madison area, forming the video and film production company “Cut the Deck Creative.”  Cut the Deck's latest film, “The Park People,” currently in production,  will be shot entirely in Madison.  Producer and director Corey Holl joins us in the studio, along with co-producer and cinematographer David Guenther. Corey Holl(Photo courtesy Cut the Deck Creative) David Guenther(Photo courtesy Cut the Deck Creative) Featured image: On location for the filming of “The Park People” (Photo courtesy Cut the Deck Creative) Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Cut the Deck Creative Presents “The Park People” appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

WORT 89.9FM Madison · Democratic Gubernatorial Primary in Chaos Shawn Johnson(Photo courtesy Wisconsin Public Radio) With less than a month to go before the August 11th primary election, the race to succeed Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers erupted in chaos last week.  On July 8, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley announced he was dropping out of the race, after doing poorly in public-facing polls.  At the time, Crowley did not endorse another candidate. Then, on July 12, sitting Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez reported that she had fired her campaign manager for “serious mismanagement and inaccuracies” in the campaign's financial reporting. Five days later, Rodriguez announced she was suspending her campaign entirely.  The very next day, Crowley re-entered the race, armed with a new endorsement from outgoing governor Tony Evers, who up until then had declined to endorse anybody, including either of his former lieutenant governors.  Joining us on the phone now to help us make sense of all this is Shawn Johnson, Capitol Bureau Chief for Wisconsin Public Radio. Wisconsin Gubernatorial candidates (from left to right) Sara Rodriguez, Andrew Manske, Kelda Roys, Francesca Hong, Joel Brennan, David Crowley and Mandela Barnes at a June 22, 2026 candidate forum in Pewaukee, Wisconsin.(Photo by Brian Standing) Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Democratic Gubernatorial Primary in Chaos appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, host Esty Dinur speaks with Sasha Abramsky about his recent article for the Nation Magazine, “Trumpworld's Global War on Multiracial Democracy.” Sasha Abramsky is the Nation Magazine’s Authoritarian Watch columnist and a frequent feature writer for the magazine. His work has also been published in the Atlantic, New Republic, New York Review of Books, the Guardian, Rolling Stone and many other venues. He is the author of 11 books, including, most recently, American Carnage: how Trump, Musk, and DOGE Butchered the US Government. Abramsky teaches writing at UC Davis. Featured image of Sasha Abramsky from 2023 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Trump's Propaganda Masquerades as Policy appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Arcatao, El Salvador is a small town in the mountains on the border of El Salvador and Honduras. On today's show, host Bert Zipperer speaks with Barbara Alvarado, TJ Hinds, and Claudia Enz about the Madison Arcatao Sister City Project. They talk about the history of the organization and their upcoming 40th anniversary celebration. The Madison Arcatao Sister City Project was founded in 1986 during the Salvadoran Civil War by concerned Madisonians in defense of human rights. The relationship continued after the 1992 Chapultepec Peace Accords that ended the 12 year war during which an estimated 70,000 people were disappeared.  They discuss the US's role in the Salvadoran Civil War and how the people of El Salvador were brutally oppressed. The Sister City Project worked with Salvadoran churches that were steeped in liberation theology to support the people of El Salvador to rise up. Alvarado shares a Salvadoran saying, “solo el pueblo, salva el pueblo,” or only the people can save the people. The current president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, has revived the oppression of the Salvadoran people, under the rhetoric of being tough on crime. Alvarado, Hinds, and Enz discuss the lack of due process in El Salvador and how the Bukele is using taking political prisoners and creating industrial-scale prisons like CECOT.  Featured image of a sign outside a church in Arcatao, El Salvador via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).  Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post 40 Years of the Madison Arcatao Sister City Project appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

When Black women mobilize, democracy wins, says Atima Omara. She's written a new book called The Instigators: How Black Women Have Been Essential to American Democracy (And What We Can Learn from Them) and joins host Ali Muldrow to talk about how Black women have fought against racism and sexism and instigated for a more just society. As voters prepare to cast their ballots in the upcoming state and federal elections, the future of our multi-racial democracy stands in the balance. Omara says it's important to work within the Democratic party in order to make it even more inclusive, like Fannie Lou Hamer did. She says the most effective politicians are the ones who stay focused on everyday people.  Omara wrote this book with other Black women and people of color in mind. She wanted to decenter the voices of people who are white, male, cis-gender, wealthy, raised in cultural centers on the coasts, etc. They also talk about the recent wave of democratic socialist candidates, white comfort and patriarchy, and how Black women are to thank for so many intellectual and cultural touchstones.  Atima Omara is the Founder and Chief Strategist of Omara Strategy Group—a progressive political and advocacy consulting firm—and the author of the new book The Instigators: How Black Women Are Essential to American Democracy (And What We Can Learn from Them). Featured image of the cover of The Instigators: How Black Women Are Essential to American Democracy (And What We Can Learn from Them). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post When Black Women Mobilize, Democracy Wins appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Today on the Too Turnt Up Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Tara Wilhelmi featuring Jackie “Brodean” Morris, Urban Triage Director of Programming Janise Judon and board member Alex Lindenmeyer, as well as Andrea Shorter Amos, CEO and Founder and Creative Events and Creating a Village  join us to talk about their upcoming events, raising up Black children, wrap-around coverage, community advocacy, and much more! Check in with Urban Triage for more information on the Black Brilliance Brunch coming up Sunday, July 19 at Madison Club: https://www.urbantriage.org/ Check in for more information on Andrea's Daddy/Daughter Dance coming up July 26 at Hayes Place: https://www.facebook.com/p/Creative-Events-100064956222599/  Keep your eyes and ears out for more information on Tara's next event at the Elks Club, coming up July 25th! Save the date for Chris Davis Sr Day on August 31st, more info coming up on the Buzz soon! Music from today's show: https://spinitron.com/WORT/pl/22723028/Tuesday-8-O-Clock-Buzz  Listen in Madison at 89.9FM or online anywhere at wortfm.org.  Support your community radio with a donation online at wortfm.org! Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Black Brilliance Should Be In Every Space appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Because of the US's war with Iran, people around the world are experiencing food and price shocks. On today's show, guest host Patty Peltekos is in conversation with environmental historian Kate Brown, author of the new book Tiny Gardens Everywhere: The Past, Present, and Future of the Self-Provisioning City, to talk about how people living in cities can contribute to their own food sovereignty.  Modern zoning laws too often prevent people from creating gardens in cities. Brown talks about how it once was: people farming the commons using what we would now call regenerative agriculture. That was before the invention of private property, consumer culture, and the enclosure movement in Europe that transformed land and labor. But people are pursuing tiny gardens as an antidote to industrial agriculture. From Washington, DC to Berlin, Brown profiles the ingenious ways people are growing tomatoes instead of turf grass, defying unjust laws, and sharing their bounty with neighbors. And states as different as Maine and Florida are creating legislation to make it easier for people to create their own tiny gardens.  If you want to start gardening, Brown says the first thing to do is find a friend to garden with. They also talk about migrant labor in the US, how Brown decolonized her research, and how industrial equipment, fertilizers, and insecticides are waging war on the environment. Kate Brown is the Thomas M. Siebel Distinguished Professor in the History of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is the author of several prize-winning histories, including Plutopia: Nuclear Families in Atomic Cities and the Great Soviet and American Plutonium Disasters (Oxford 2013) and A Biography of No Place: From Ethnic Borderland to Soviet Heartland (Harvard 2004). Manual for Survival: A Chernobyl Guide to the Future (Norton/Penguin Lane, 2019), translated into eight languages, won the Marshall Shulman and Reginald Zelnik Prizes for the best book in East European History, plus the Silver Medal for Laura Shannon Book Prize. It was also a finalist for the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Award, the Pushkin House Award and the Ryszard Kapuściński Award for Literary Reportage. Brown was a Guggenheim Fellow in 2009, a Carnegie Fellow and winner of the American Academy's Berlin Prize in 2016. Her latest book, Tiny Gardens Everywhere: The Past and Present of Urban Self-Provisioning was published by Norton in February 2026. Brown's work on Tiny Gardens has been supported by fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies. She has published a short segments from this work in the New Yorker, Mother Jones and Lithub. Featured image of the cover of Tiny Gardens Everywhere: The Past, Present, and Future of the Self-Provisioning City. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post What If Urban Gardeners Could Feed Us? appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, host Douglas Haynes highlights a unique Wisconsin education program called the Driftless Field School at Thoreau College. He speaks with two educators, Benjamin Bernard-Herman and Margot Higgins about how their program engages the most pressing questions of our time, like climate change and inequality, and teaches students to revitalize their relationships to land and communities. The Driftless Field School is a five-and-a-half week long summer immersion program that offers place-based environmental education. They focus on the “bioregion” of the Driftless, the unique area of the Midwest that was never glaciated. Rather than imagining places as defined by state boundaries or urban centers, bioregions emphasize biological, geological, and cultural similarities. In the Driftless, this means engaging students on issues of energy and ethanol, issues that are deeply rooted in the region but are equally global environmental issues. They also talk about how their courses engage students in developing ecological literacy, the ability to notice the world around them. Students learn to sleep outside, take care of sheep, grow their own food, and more, all with an eye toward reciprocity. They also learn how to conduct oral histories, sing, and be a citizen in a place no matter where they go. Benjamin Bernard-Herman is a PhD candidate in the department of anthropology at the University of Illinois, Chicago. His research is based in Wisconsin’s Driftless Region, and focuses on the values that sustain small-scale farmers in conditions of economic and environmental precarity. He earned an MA in the social sciences, with a concentration in anthropology, from the University of Chicago, and a BA in sociology and anthropology from Swarthmore College. He was the 2023-24 scholar-in-residence at Thoreau College, and has returned to Thoreau College to teach every year since; this is his third year teaching for the college’s Driftless Field School program. Dr. Margot Higgins is a professor in the Sustainability and Environmental Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, where she instructs courses on topics including Environmental Justice, Food Politics, Political Ecology, and Environmental History. She earned an MA in Human Development and a PhD in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management from the University of California-Berkeley, as well as an MS in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana, and a BA in American Studies and Art from Colby College in Maine. In addition to her focus on the Driftless Region, Margot's research and teaching have taken her from Norway and California to Montana and Alaska, where she first started teaching college students in a backcountry field program in 2005. This is her second summer teaching the summer field course at Thoreau. Featured image of students at the Driftless Field School. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Teaching Eco-Literacy in the Driftless Bioregion appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

WORT 89.9FM Madison · Used Bicycles Heading to Gambia Elijah McCloskey(photo courtesy Unbroken Chain bike shop) When he was 16, Elijah McCloskey found himself homeless and unemployed.  After visiting the Freewheel Bicycle Cooperative, he was able to build himself a free bicycle.  A bicycle meant mobility, and mobility meant he could hold down a job.  Elijah served as executive director of that same Freewheel shop until 2020. His latest project involves collecting donated bicycles and shipping them for kids to use in Africa.  Elijah McCloskey joined the Monday Buzz on July 13, 2026. Featured image: Gambian man hauling goods with a bicycle (Photo by Olatz Artola, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons) Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post “Unbroken Chain” Delivers Bicycles from Madison to Gambia appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

WORT 89.9FM Madison · Finding Home on Highway 14: Episode Nine Nicole Gruter (photo courtesy Nicole Gruter) Once a month, we check in with the Monday Buzz's roving reporter Nicole Gruter.  Nicole's been tracing the route of historic U.S. Highway 14, one of the first U.S. Highways originally built in the 1920s.  Nicole documents the stories of those who live and work along the historic roadway. Today, Nicole brings us a story from Westby, WI, population 2,332. Nicole Gruter joined Monday Buzz host Brian Standing on July 13, 2026 with the latest installment. All photos by Nicole Gruter. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Finding Home on Highway 14: Episode Nine appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

WORT 89.9FM Madison · Immigrants Face Arrests, Work Injury in WI Paul Kiefer (photo courtesy wisconsinwatch.org) President Donald Trump and his adviser Stephen Miller paint a picture of non-white, non-English speaking immigrants to the United States as violent criminals intent on wreaking havoc on American society.  In truth, however, most undocumented migrants to this country have no criminal record, and are more likely to be the victims, not the cause, of exploitation, discrimination and violence.  Paul Kiefer covers immigration issues for Wisconsin Watch. He joined the Monday 8 O’Clock Buzz on July 13, 2026. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Immigrants Face Arrests, Workplace Injuries in Wisconsin appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, host Esty Dinur is in conversation with two guests, Dr. Feroze Sidhwa and Emmaia Gelman.  Sidhwa discusses the condition of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a pediatrician and neonatologist, who has been imprisoned and tortured by Israel for the past 18 months. Abu Safiya is not alone; the Israeli prison system under Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir commonly uses torture and starvation, says Sidhwa. Israel has targeted healthcare workers at an alarming rate and the healthcare system in Gaza is completely broken. A petition to free Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya is circulating online. Closer to home, Gelman says the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has been a “chief weapon against the anti-genocide movement in the US.” Gelman's new book, The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State, looks at how this organization has facilitated the movement of capital and weapons from the US to Israel and how the ADL has been successful at positioning itself as a defender of democracy and civil rights, but is actually using claims of antiracism to do conservative work. Gelman says that US imperialism and Zionism are shared projects and that we shouldn’t be surprised about the ADL's collusion with the government given their history of spying on other groups.  Emmaia Gelman is the author of The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State, a critical history of the Anti-Defamation League as a Cold War neoconservative institution (UC Press, 2026). She is the founding director of the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism, and co-hosts the podcast Unpacking Zionism.  Feroze Sidhwa is a trauma surgeon in California who volunteered in Gaza twice and was blocked from going a third time in November.  Featured image of the cover of The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State by Emmaia Gelman.  Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post The Realities of Gaza and How the ADL is Implicated appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, former A Public Affair host, Zoltán Grossman, is back behind the mic in conversation with political anthropologist, David Vine. They talk about the on-again-off-again war between the US and Iran, the proliferation of US military bases around the world, and the scale of the US military budget. Vine's scholarship shows how US military bases are the linchpin of the expansion of the US empire, creating the conditions for perpetual war. Gulf States have hosted US bases for decades, making them targets in the US war with Iran. US bases encircle the globe and more are planned for construction in the Philippines. Contrary to the claims that these bases protect US democracy, in reality, they ramp up geopolitical tensions and harm the local communities they impose on. With an erratic and dangerous president at home, Vine says that we need to start closing down these bases because they continue to operate as launch pads for unjust wars. Close the bases, bring the troops home, and build up diplomacy, says Vine. With the $100 billion the US spends on these bases, Vine says we could be funding universal healthcare and free college education.  David Vine is a political anthropologist and author of a trilogy of books about war and peace, including The United States of War: A Global History of America's Endless Conflicts, from Columbus to the Islamic State, Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World, and Island of Shame: The Secret History of the U.S. Military Base on Diego Garcia. Vine was a professor of anthropology at American University in Washington, DC from 2006 to 2024. He recently co-authored the Project On Government Oversight report The True Total U.S. Military Budget.  Featured image of a map of US military bases in the Middle East via Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post The Network of US Military Bases Provoke Endless Wars appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

And all the men and women merely players.  This is certainly true for American Players Theatre (APT), a professional theatre located outside Spring Green, WI, that has received the prestigious 2026 Regional Theatre Tony Award.  Sara Young, managing director of APT, speaks with the 8 O'Clock Buzz host, Eli Wilz, about the theatre company's history and current productions, and what it means to be recognized by the American Theatre Wing and the Broadway League.  This above all: to thine ownself be true. Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post All the World’s a Stage appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

The memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed three weeks ago by Donald McRonald and the Iranian president has been thrown out as the US president and Iranian theocrats have renewed hostilities over the Strait of Hormuz.  Norm Stockwell, publisher of the Progressive Magazine, joins the Thursday edition of the 8 O'Clock Buzz to talk about the fragile relationship between Iran and the US that has existed ever since the US president and Israel's prime minister chose to attack Iran in February of this year.  The MOU was always a flimsy agreement with the US president agreeing to a cessation of aggression by Netanyahu's military in Lebanon, whose compliance the US president is afraid to enforce, and the Iranian theocrats insistence on total control of shipping in the strait. Image by Bergadder from Pixabay Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Further Adventures of Donald McRonald appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

In an oppressive and hateful society, joy is an audacious form of resistance. Today on the show, we're celebrating Pride in July. Host Ali Muldrow is joined by two guests in the studio, Alexandria Delcourt and Sean O'Brien. They tell stories about LGBTQ Wisconsin, what's hopeful and harmful in our political moment, and how not to let fascism rain on your Pride parade. They reflect on Pride events last month, including the state's first two spirit pow wow that Delacourt profiled for Our Lives magazine. O'Brien says that he's seen a growth in Pride festivals in small towns all over Wisconsin, debunking the idea that queer folks aren't welcome except in metropolitan areas. Meanwhile, policies related to healthcare and education make it hard for people just to be people in Wisconsin. Some hospitals aren't providing gender affirming care right now, due to a Trump administration change in funding. Just this spring, the Watertown school board canceled a student performance of “A Mother of a Revolution,” an instrumental song that pays tribute to trans activist Marsha P. Johnson. A lack of education and understanding drives hate, and the antidote is advocacy and representation. There are three LGBTQ+ candidates running for state office this season. Alexandria Delcourt is a writer and editor based in Madison. She earned her MFA in fiction in 2014, taught English and Creative Writing at UW-Whitewater, co-produced the Moth StorySLAM, and now works as an editor for Our Lives. Sean O'Brien is the Policy and Advocacy Director at Fair Wisconsin, the state's only LGBTQ+ civil rights and political advocacy organization. He is also serving his first term on the Madison Common Council. Featured image of a Pride memorial outside The Stonewall Inn Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post We're Celebrating Pride All Year appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Today on the Too Turnt Up Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Lacee Blair featuring Alan Robinson, Madison's Interim Independent Police Oversight Monitor Aeiramique “Meeka” Glass joins us for real talk about policing in the City of Madison, and to tell some of her story getting where she is. More information on the Office of the Independent Police Monitor, the Police Civilian Oversight Board, or to file a complaint about police behavior, visit: https://www.cityofmadison.com/independent-police-monitor  To register your opinion about police oversight, contact your City Alder to make sure they know how you feel: https://www.cityofmadison.com/council/council-members  Check in with Urban League at https://ulgm.org/calendar/ and https://ulgmhub.org/calendar/  for info on resume and job seeking workshops, banking workshops, home ownership clinics, information on Expungement, childcare assistance, fatherhood support, healthcare administration, food safety and trades training, and more! Keep your eyes and ears out for more information on Tara's next event at the Elks Club, coming up July 25th! Save the date for Chris Davis Sr Day on August 31st, more info coming up on the Buzz soon! Music from today's show: https://spinitron.com/WORT/pl/22686800/Tuesday-8-O-Clock-Buzz  Listen in Madison at 89.9FM or online anywhere at wortfm.org.  Support your community radio with a donation online at wortfm.org! Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Oh No! Checks and Balances? appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, host Dana Pellebon is in conversation with Lindsay Christians about local food and culture and her recent article for the Cap Times about local public art.  Christians reported on the Madison Public Art Project–an independent nonprofit–after a number of artists “expressed varying levels of frustration with the nonprofit, citing issues with micromanagement, condescending communication, poorly written contracts, lack of credit for their work and payment complications.” Conversations about equity, access, and pay can be hard for artists to have because they often are slow to raise issues out of fear that they won't get work. Christians also talks about the evolution of her writing and editing career and how food journalism is a positive and hopeful way to tell the stories of the diverse people in our community. Christians has watched the food cart culture in Madison expand beyond Campus Mall and sees it as a way for small-scale entrepreneurs to work out ideas.  Lindsay Christians is the food and culture editor at the Cap Times. She has been covering the arts in Madison since 2008. She currently writes a weekly food and culture newsletter with restaurant news, book recommendations and tips on what to do each week around the city.  Featured image of the public art project Cows on Parade in Madison via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Stand Up for Public Art appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Last week, Madison's Office of the Independent Police Monitor released a new finding: that police violence played a role in the death of a man in custody in 2024, contrary to the county's medical examiner's autopsy report. To talk about the place of medical examiners in the criminal justice system, host Dana Pellebon is joined by scholar, Terence Keel, author of The Coroner’s Silence: Death Records and the Hidden Victims of Police Violence. Keel researches the relationships between medicine, science, race, and religion, with a focus on how the science of medicine in the US has been used to perpetuate racial injustice and inequity, especially when it comes to state monitoring and surveillance. He says that coroners are an overlooked piece in the criminal justice puzzle and that death investigation systems provide cover for violent state systems.  In 2013, the Death in Custody Reporting Act made it possible for Keel to look at the numbers. He found that in the twenty-year period after the Act, over 32,000 people were killed in police custody, leading him to argue that dying in custody has become the new capital punishment. They also talk about the history of the coroner role, one that dates back to the Colonial era, the rise of civilian oversight commissions, and the impact of coroner's reports on Black and Brown communities. Terence Keel is a professor of human biology, society and African American studies at UCLA. His latest book is The Coroner's Silence: Death Records and the Hidden Victims of Police Violence. Featured image of the cover of The Coroner’s Silence: Death Records and the Hidden Victims of Police Violence. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Dying in Custody Has Become the New Capital Punishment appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

A group of local historians are hard at work unearthing and preserving the rich histories of Madison's neighborhoods. Using maps and oral histories, Make History Madison is a crowd-sourced, place-based public history initiative that encourages people of all ages to contribute photos, research, testimonials, and observations about the places in Madison that matter to them. On today's show, host Douglas Haynes speaks with four guests involved in the project, Martín Alvarado, James Levy, Angela Richardson, and John Wedge. As much as their work involves celebrating Madison's vibrant history, they also tell the painful histories of dispossession and displacement that are part of our shared past. Alvarado discusses the displacement of African Americans from the Greenbush neighborhood to Madison's South Side, and Richardson describes the experience of learning about the Shenk-Atwood neighborhood as a layer cake. You can learn about your building or block using archival tools at the Madison Public Library and their Living History collections. Alvarado says that small newspapers are a treasure trove of our ancestors' oversharing. Richardson describes the process as “collective remembering” and this work is an “antidote” to the Trump Administration's “airbrushed history,” says Wedge. As the contributions of Black, LGBTQ, and Indigenous peoples have been scrubbed from federal websites, the work of local historians to preserve the past is more important than ever. Ultimately, Make History Madison isn't just about documenting the past, but about using the past to engage with the present and the future, says Levy.  On Tuesday, June 23, 2026, Make History Madison presents Music Venues We Have Loved at The High Noon Saloon in association with WORT 89.9 FM and Madison Public Library. Martín Alvarado is a Community Engagement Librarian at the Madison Public Library and host of Global Revolutions on WORT 89.9 FM. James Levy is the founder and Executive Director of the Race and Place Coalition and the Whose Land? public history project. A scholar trained in African American history and former Associate Professor of History at UW-Whitewater, his projects employ oral history and collaborative community research to foster public dialogue about the connections between race and geography. Dr. Levy's current book project, forthcoming from the University of Wisconsin Press, is titled The Color of Farming in the Heartland: A History of Land and Race in Wisconsin since 1800. Angela Richardson is an artist, educator, and passionate “hyperlocal historian.” Her primary research focuses on the Schenk-Atwood neighborhood and Madison’s near east side. John Wedge is a historian, labor advocate, and public arts organizer. Originally from London, he has a Ph.D. in American History from the University of Illinois. He is Executive Director for WEAC Region 6, and singer, guitarist, and co-founder of northern soul/rock band The Periodicals. Prior to Whoseland.org and Make History Madison, he co-produced The Greatest War: World War I, Wisconsin, and Why it Still Matters. Featured image of the Make History Madison logo. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post You Can Make History with Make History Madison appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

WORT 89.9FM Madison · The Data on Remote Work: Productive but Lonely Emma Harrington(Photo courtesy University of Virginia) The global COVID-19 pandemic wrought a variety of social and economic changes.  Some, like social distancing, were temporary.  Other changes remained in place long after the most acute crisis subsided.  According to U.S. Census data, prior to the pandemic, people who worked from home accounted for about 3% of the working population.  After peaking at 20% during the height of the omicron COVID outbreak, that percentage has stabilized at about 17% of employees – some 27 million people work partially or entirely from home.  The issue has become a point of contention in labor relations, with many managers seeking to institute “back-to-the-office” policies, with resistance from labor organizations and individual employees.  Much has been made of the productivity of at-home workers, but less attention has been paid to the isolation of workers working from home.  Emma Harrington is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Virginia.  Her new book “In Person: How Working Together Fuels Creativity, Productivity, and Growth” will come out in October from Crown Currency Press.  Emma Harrington joined the Monday Buzz– remotely – by phone, on June 22, 2026. Featured image: Working from Home animation (Image by Aapriano, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons) Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post The Data on Remote Work: Productive but Lonely appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

This week on Mel & Floyd: The Juneteenth episode; A solution for the reflecting pool; Schrodinger's peace deal; A four ton elephant communicates its feelings at a GOP convention; Odd man out at the G7,  And other random topics; Notice something missing?  For the complete Mel and Floyd Experience, buy the CD “The Very Best of James Brown” and play it on your Hi-Fi while listening to this podcast!  Or listen live at 89.9 FM or wortfm.org/listen-live/ every Friday from 1 to 2 PM Central Time. Photo courtesy Becky Phan  on Unsplash Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post When the Circus Came to Mel's Backyard appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, host Esty Dinur celebrates Juneteenth, “America's second Independence Day,” with Dr. Timothy Golden. They talk about the symbolic importance of this federal holiday and how the US still struggles to make freedom meaningful for Black people. Juneteenth was made a federal holiday in 2021 after decades of campaigning by former teacher Opal Lee. Dr. Golden says that Juneteenth becomes “hollow” when we juxtapose the recognition of emancipation with Congress's inability to pass meaningful police and voting rights reform. The spirit of celebration is “neutralized” by the treacherous and tragic reality that enslaved Black people in Texas were kept enslaved after emancipation and the bad faith of our federal institutions who will not pass legislation that would support symbolic celebrations like Juneteenth.  In the wake of emancipation, Dr. Golden says that we think of freedom too narrowly. He points to the work of Reconstruction that was ultimately undercut in the way that racial terror continued under state law. He says that full democratic participation continues to be deferred for Black Americans because of mass incarceration and voter suppression. They also discuss Dr. Golden's experience as an actor, the “white gaze,” and the philosophy of Ida B. Wells.  Timothy J. Golden is Visiting Professor of Philosophy at Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA. His areas of philosophical specialization are Africana Philosophy (African American Social and Political Thought, Critical Race Theory, and Black Male Studies), Philosophy of Religion, and 19th and 20th Century European Philosophy. His books include Frederick Douglass and the Philosophy of Religion: An Interpretation of Narrative, Art, and the Political (Lexington Books, 2022), and Racism and Resistance: Essays on Derrick Bell’s Racial Realism (State University of New York Press, 2022). He is also a lawyer with more than 20 years experience concentrating in criminal defense, and he is an actor in local theater with solo performances in the stage plays Thurgood (portraying Thurgood Marshall) and How I Learned What I Learned (portraying August Wilson), and performances in  Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice (Shylock), The Winter’s Tale (Leontes, King of Sicily), and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Peter Quince).  Tim earned his Juris Doctor from the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University and his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Memphis.  Featured image of a Juneteenth parade in Denver, CO via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Celebrate Juneteenth, But Keep Working appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

June is a high milk production month called “the flush” by dairy farmers. On today's pre-recorded show, hosts Bert Zipperer and Pete Hardin of The Milkweed highlight the Dairy Month. They break down cheese consumption trends, the history of the dairy industry in the state, and hear from two Wisconsin dairy farmers, Jan Shepel and Adam Faust.  Shepel and Faust say they wish more people understood how hard they work. They share stories of the highs and lows–the droughts and floods–that they've seen over the years and how they've given names to their cows. The Wisconsin dairy industry contributes $50-55 billion to the economy annually but sits at a historic low of 5,000 dairy farms in the state.           They also dive into the role of cooperative creameries, the trend of cross-breeding beef and dairy cows, consumer demand for dairy protein in the form of whey and cottage cheese, and the rise of cheese prices.  Featured image of dairy cows in Vernon County, Wisconsin via Flickr (CC BY 2.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Honoring Dairy Month with a Farmer Roundtable appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

If you have ever been asked “What's your sign?” you have Linda Goodman to thank—or blame. She was America's first New Age celebrity, and today host Ali Muldrow is joined by her biographer, Courtney Ann LaFaive, to talk about her legacy. They discuss LaFaive's new book, Follow the Signs: Searching for Linda Goodman, America’s Forgotten Astrology Queen. Linda Goodman was a literary celebrity publishing accessible books on astrology and relationships, like Love Signs, a massive volume about heterosexual coupling. LaFaive discovered Goodman's books as a teenager, decades after Goodman was popular, and found in them a way to “decode the mysteries of adulthood.” She learned to understand how people have different relationships to their inner world and how to understand intimacy and connection. She also gained a language for compatibility in relationships and a feminine knowledge counter to patriarchy. Through the language of cycles, LaFaive says you can find a more feminine way of thinking about how life unfolds, returning to face challenges again and again.  LaFaive says that astrology is both scientific and quasi-religious: it's something that can be seen scientifically through astronomy and people relate to it through faith. It's also political and Goodman's story is a cautionary tale for how our society deals with misinformation and illusion. In writing this book, LaFaive fell out of love with Linda Goodman but still strove to tell a compassionate story.  LaFaive will give a reading next Tuesday, June 23 at 6pm at A Room of One's Own.  Courtney Ann LaFaive is the author of Follow the Signs: Searching for Linda Goodman, America’s Forgotten Astrology Queen published by the University of Iowa Press in May 2026. She is a native of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and teaches creative writing at the University of North Dakota. Featured image of the cover of Follow the Signs: Searching for Linda Goodman, America’s Forgotten Astrology Queen. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Decoding the Mysteries of Adulthood through Astrology appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, host Dana Pellebon is in conversation with Dr. Mary Fariba Afsari about her new memoir, Labor: One Woman’s Work. Dr. Afsari is a child of Iranian immigrants, a working mother, and the founder of a mobile health clinic, bringing reproductive healthcare to rural patients in the Pacific Northwest. In 2015, Dr. Afsari literally mobilized her practice to meet women where they are. Her clinic on wheels–FemForward Health–travels throughout rural Oregon because too many of these communities lack full-scale OB-GYN services. Dr. Afsari says that people have started driving to find her because they've been recommended by word of mouth. It's a sign of how broken the healthcare system is that a mobile RV clinic is providing better care than industrial medicine to women of color and rural women. Post Dobbs, Dr. Afsari says the fight for reproductive justice is more important than ever.  Dr. Afsari's memoir chronicles her career serving women like her grandmother who died of a pregnancy related complication. She says she wants readers to get a sense of the range of experiences she has from obstetric emergencies to joyous births. They also discuss Dr. Afsari's philosophy of meeting patients with curiosity, how race plays a central role in whether a woman will survive a pregnancy, the lack of gender-affirming care, and the criminalization of OB-GYNs post Dobbs.  Residents of Dane County may be aware of a similar service providing  mobile forensic nurse exams. Mary Fariba Afsari, DO, is a board-certified OB-GYN and the founder of FemForward Health, a mobile women’s health clinic in Portland, Oregon. She completed her medical school at Touro University college of Osteopathic Medicine, her Obstetrics and Gynecology residency at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and holds an MS in Health Communication from the Tufts University/Emerson College joint program. Dr. Afsari is a passionate advocate for healthcare equity and reproductive justice. She speaks widely on the intersections of medicine, identity, and systemic healthcare reform. Her debut memoir, Labor: One Woman’s Work, was published by Avid Reader Press in April.  Featured image of the cover of Labor: One Woman’s Work. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post One Mobile Clinic Practices Reproductive Justice in Rural Areas appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Last night Russia killed 11 civilians and attacked a historic cathedral in Kiev. On today's show, guest host Yuri Rashkin is in conversation with journalists Zarina Zabrisky and Jason Jay Smart, as well as politician Lev Parnas to talk about Russia's ongoing war on Ukraine and the status of support for Ukraine in the US. Zabrisky is a war correspondent currently living in Kherson, a city with more than 250,000 people located in an active “red zone.” She documents the phenomena of “human safari” drone strikes in which Russian troops use small drones equipped with cameras to identify targets. Zabrisky says that even though the people of Kherson experience violence on a daily basis since the start of the war, the city is still their home and they have complex reasons for staying. The people of Kherson have responded to Russia's use of fiber optic drones by covering parts of the city in fishing lines.  Smart says that Russia's attacks on churches, like the one bombed last night in Kiev, is a strategy of destroying symbols of the shared history between Russia and Ukraine. He's noticed that Russia has shifted its language around Ukraine from being a place that has “gone astray” to one that is full of “heathens.” This religious rhetoric is helping Moscow attract far-Right US agitators like Candace Owens and perpetuate an idea of Russia as a Christian nation upholding the faith. Zabrisky and Smart say that Ukraine is far from achieving peace and safety. But Smart predicts a paradigm shift in Russia in the near term.  Parnas joins the conversation to discuss the “love fest” between Washington and Moscow and the status of support for Ukraine within the Trump administration. He also discusses his role during the first Trump administration and what he predicts from Todd Blanche as Attorney General. Featured image of a street in Kherson destroyed in a Russian attack in 2024 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).  Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post A Kaleidoscopic View of Ukraine at War appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

WORT 89.9FM Madison · Purchase With Purpose Offers Tips for Avoiding Big Tech Kyle Bradley (photo courtesy LinkedIn) Media activist, professor and author Bob McChesney used to say that if you're getting something for free on the internet, then you're the product.  Data harvesting cookies, bots, apps, devices, AI chatbots  – even kitchen appliances – spy on you 24 hours a day, reporting their findings back to the corporations such as Google, Apple, Meta and X.  These little bits of spyware are so pervasive that even the most vigilant privacy advocates have trouble avoiding them altogether.  Kyle Bradley has spent his career writing about data-driven tech and artificial intelligence, and is the director of Purchase With Purpose.  He joined the Monday 8 O’Clock Buzz on June 15, 2026. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Purchase With Purpose Offers Tips for Avoiding Big Tech appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

WORT 89.9FM Madison · Summer Programs Out of Reach for Many Parents Randy Neve (photo courtesy Wisconsin Out of School Time Alliance) Jennifer Smith (photo courtesy Wisconsin Out of School Time Alliance) With school out for the year, working parents struggle to find a summer program to keep the kids busy, entertained and safe over the hot summer months.   A new survey by the Afterschool Alliance suggests that nearly half of all parents seeking summer programs fail to find an appropriate slot for their kids.  Wisconsin Out of School Time Alliance Network Lead Randy Neve and Program Coordinator Jennifer Smith joined Monday Buzz host Brian Standing on June 15, 2026. Featured graphic courtesy Afterschool Alliance. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Summer Programs Out of Reach for Many Parents appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

WORT 89.9FM Madison · “Edward IV” Brings Elizabethan Drama to the Playground Sarah Z. Johnson (photo courtesy Linked In) Kia Karlen (photo courtesy Madison Children’s Museum) For every kid who's ever run around a playground pretending to be a pirate getting in swordfights, Madison Shakespeare Company and Madison Children's Museum have the play for you.  This month, MSC will mount a production of “Edward IV” by Elizabethan playwright Thomas Heywood, performing on the Madison Children's Museum's elaborate wonderground playground.  Kia Karlen, co-CEO of the Madison Children's Museum and Sarah Z. Johnson from Madison Shakespeare Company joined Monday Buzz host on June 15, 2026. Featured image: Wonderground playground (photo courtesy Madison Children’s Museum). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post “Edward IV” Brings Elizabethan Drama to the Playground appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

This week on Mel & Floyd: Pants has a puppy [and some unfortunate dreams];  Mulitple studio visitors and a presentation from “Cosmic Carl”; Hegseth blocks some promotions of women and minorities; An existential threat to wind power;  “A very special baby”; Residual algae in reflecting pool;  And other random topics; Notice something missing?  For the complete Mel and Floyd Experience, buy the CD “The Very Best of James Brown” and play it on your Hi-Fi while listening to this podcast!  Or listen live at 89.9 FM or wortfm.org/listen-live/ every Friday from 1 to 2 PM Central Time. Photo courtesy Anna Kumpan on Unsplash Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post A Beagle With Every Pledge? appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Donald Trump continues to boast that he will bring about the fall of Cuba, and Marco Rubio continues to assert that Cuba poses a national security threat. On today's show, host Esty Dinur is in conversation with Marc Becker about the latest signs of US aggression toward Cuba.  Becker says that Trump is “turning the screws” on Cuba via more blockades on petroleum and more sanctions on select members of the Cuban government. This leads pundits to say that a US military attack on Cuba is inevitable, but Becker says the conclusion is not inevitable. On the ground, the US blockades are causing diesel fuel shortages leading to lack of sanitation services. There's also mass hunger and energy shortages and the infant mortality rate is rising. This is all adding up to a crisis point.  They also discuss tourism apartheid, humanitarian flotillas, and China's increasing influence in Cuba. Becker says that the crisis raises a fundamental question: how much of the revolutionary aspirations do Cubans give up for the revolution to survive? And if you've given up everything that the revolution promised, do you give up on it? Marc Becker is professor of history at Truman State University. He studies the Latin American left with a particular interest in race, class, and gender within popular movements in the South American Andes. Among other works, he is the author of Contemporary Latin American Revolutions (Rowman and Littlefield, 2022); The CIA in Ecuador (Duke University Press, 2020); The FBI in Latin America: The Ecuador Files (Duke University Press, 2017); and Indians and Leftists in the Making of Ecuador’s Modern Indigenous Movements (Duke University Press, 2008. He has served on the executive committees and has been web editor of the Peace History Society (PHS) and Historians for Peace and Democracy (H-Pad). Becker is currently working on a project on Philip Agee and the CIA in Ecuador in the early 1960s. Featured image of a map of the 1962 US blockade of Cuba via Wikimedia Commons. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post The Crisis in Cuba Jeopardizes Revolutionary Aspirations appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Chef Patrick O'Halloran has been cooking for Madison for decades, and his latest business, The Deliciouser, blends spices, classes, and global cuisine. O'Halloran was just named Madison Magazine's Chef of the Year, and executive producer Hayley Sperling chats with him  about how the spice lab and the restaurant go hand in hand. Plus, Emily Tucker, host of WORT-FM's Stuff Yer Face, explains what is in a cookie salad and why sweet “salads” have a chokehold on Midwest culture. 

Today is the first day of the largest FIFA World Cup in history. And this weekend, the UFC is staging a cage match on the White House lawn to celebrate President Trump's birthday. Guest host Norman Stockwell takes a close look at these two events with sports writers Dave Zirin and Adam Szetela.  Zirin's latest article for The Progressive chronicles Donald Trump's influence on the World Cup tournament. He argues that the World Cup is no stranger to authoritarian governments, from Russia to Qatar and that Trump is using the event to stage his own authoritarianism. From travel advisories, Trump's threats against Iranian players, $5700 tickets, and the climate of ICE abductions, Zirin says that this World Cup is a “joyless” one. Szetela discusses how Donald Trump championed the UFC in the early 2000s such that now the sport has become synonymous with right-wing politics. One of the things that makes the UFC different from other sports leagues is that the fighters aren't unionized, meaning that many UFC athletes make as little as $3000 a match. Though it might be tempting to say that mixed martial arts appeal exclusively to the raw and ruthless violence of the MAGA crowd, Szetela says that the sport has a wider popularity. Zirin and Szetela also discuss their latest book projects.  Adam Szetela earned his Ph.D. in English from the Department of Literatures at Cornell University. Before that, he was a visiting fellow in the Department of History at Harvard University. He is the author of That Book Is Dangerous! (MIT Press) and writes for The Washington Post, The Guardian, Newsweek, and other publications. Dave Zirin writes about sports for The Nation and The Progressive and hosts the Edge of Sports podcast and “Edge of Sports with Dave Zirin” on The Real News. He is the author of The Kaepernick Effect: Taking a Knee, Changing the World and the forthcoming The People’s Historian: The Outsized Life of Howard Zinn. Featured image of an MMA cage via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Blood Sports on the White House Lawn appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

WORT 89.9FM Madison · The Line Between Recreation and Medication is Finer than You Think Today Professor Nicholas Powers joins Ali Muldrow in a conversation about his new book, Black Psychedelic Revolution. Psychedelics such as LSD and ketamine are beginning to gain popularity as increasing evidence supports promising treatments of psychological conditions, trauma, and changing one's autobiographical narrative. They also heard from callers who shared transformational personal experiences while using psychedelics. What is the difference between recreation and medication? Powers suggests that the line may be finer than you think. The idea is that recreational activities like art, poetry, or even psychedelic drugs can be healing. Powers also noted that the most safe way to have a psychological experience is in a controlled and safe environment with a guide. If a person is in a state of trauma or depression, the chemicals from these drugs might lead to a further inability to cope once the trip is over, and that is when these drugs can become addictive. However, Powers emphasized that it's the prior state of trauma that creates the addiction rather than the drug itself. Powers said that the way these psychedelic drugs work is by inhibiting the ego, which leads to questioning core beliefs and the stories you were told about your life. This is why after a psychedelic trip, people often change their previously held beliefs. It is also why people tend to change their beliefs the most during college. During the transition period between being reliant on your parents and becoming an independent adult, young people question the stories that they were told. Powers encourages this kind of discussion in his college classrooms and asks his students to try to find the truth in their experiences. Additionally, there is a surge in the glamorization of drugs and removing the stigma associated with them. Drugs such as ritalin or adderall are given to children at younger ages reducing the stigma for using drugs to treat mental health, but there is still a sense that they are necessary. Powers says there is a delicate balance between maintaining a healthy skepticism about the medical industry without denying its benefits entirely. He encourages people to always think about who is profiting, whether from criminalizing marijuana or giving ritalin to four year olds. The discussion ended with the positive experiences that can come from having a controlled psychedelic experience. Some examples included helping alcohol addiction, understanding the core reasons why a marriage ended, finding peace and answers within the counterculture of the 1960s, and becoming a more compassionate person.  Nicholas Powers is an Associate Professor of English at SUNY Old Westbury. Powers has presented talks and reports from the Psychedelic Renaissance since 2017. He has written for numerous psychedelic publications from Lucid News to Double Blind. Alongside published articles, he has given talks at Naropa University and Chacruna. Powers has published three books with Upset Press. The first is a book of poetry, the second a mix of reportage from disaster zones, protests, and Burning Man. The third is a political vampire novel. He regularly attends Wild Seeds Writers Retreat and Cave Canem Black poetry workshops. Powers lives in Brooklyn with his son. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post The Line Between Recreation and Medication is Finer than You Think appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

WORT 89.9FM Madison · We Need Nutrition Security, Not Just Food Security Today host Douglas Haynes is joined by Kris Tazelaa of Second Harvest Food Bank, and Melissa Bublitz professor of human ecology at UW Madison. Second Harvest Food Bank of Southern Wisconsin distributes 26 million pounds of food to over 300 partners and programs, including local food pantries, mobile food pantries, youth programs, and many more.  The language around access to food centers on “food insecurity,” but the conversation often omits the need for healthy food. Bublitz highlights the importance of nutrition security, an effort to provide communities with not just food to survive, but the food necessary to thrive. One of the ways Second Harvest is addressing nutrition security is by partnering with local farmers to provide fresh, local and nutritious food. The majority of the 16 counties that Second Harvest serves are rural, so Second Harvest Food Bank buys excess food from farmers to make sure the local producers also have the support they need. The fresh food is often distributed the very next day. For a lot of families, there is a patchwork of sources necessary to get the food they need. Rather than going to the grocery store for everything, they rely on state programs, local food pantries, and FoodShare (SNAP) benefits. Although SNAP is a critical lifeline for many people, it is intended to be supplemental, and has not kept up with the rate of inflation. The program is not enough to provide everything, but Bublitz and Tazelaa said it is still the most efficient way to address food insecurity while also improving the local economy. For every SNAP dollar spent, $1.60 is created in the local community.   There are myriad sources of mental and physical stress on families without food security. There is still a stigma attached to swiping the green SNAP card at the grocery store and shopping at local food pantries. Many people in small communities travel 20-30 miles away to avoid being recognized by neighbors at their local pantries. There is the added stress of government paperwork and figuring out eligibility for food programs. Bublitz and Tazelaa reference feeling “hangry,” emphasizing the importance of being fed to increase your quality of life and reach your highest potential, and how nutritious food will make a world of difference. Kris Tazelaa is a Wisconsin native who has been with Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin for nearly 15 years, currently serving as the organization’s Media and Public Relations Manager. Melissa G. Bublitz, Ph.D. is the Liz Kramer Professor of Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research focuses on understanding and influencing consumer behavior to promote the well-being of individuals and families as well as in the communities where they live and work. Her research studies food and nutrition access, social entrepreneurship, sustainability,  and public policy to increase consumer well-being. Utilizing qualitative and participatory research methods, her research is characterized by a strong commitment to creating real-world impact and is often conducted in partnership with social impact organizations. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post We Need Nutrition Security, Not Just Food Security appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

This week on Mel & Floyd: Pledge drive show on Esty's Birthday; Professional headphone detangler sought; Esty, ‘Pants and Mel's ages revealed!; Return of the screw worm; Studying Mars' atmosphere [or lack thereof]; Andrew Jackson and banks; And other random topics; Notice something missing?  For the complete Mel and Floyd Experience, buy the CD “The Very Best of James Brown” and play it on your Hi-Fi while listening to this podcast!  Or listen live at 89.9 FM or wortfm.org/listen-live/ every Friday from 1 to 2 PM Central Time. Photo courtesy Dmitry Dreyer  on Unsplash Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Friday Afternoon Gummies appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's pledge drive edition of A Public Affair, host Esty Dinur is in conversation with former host, Zoltán Grossman about grassroots resistance to creeping dictatorship in the US and the resilience of Indigenous communities around the world. They dedicate the program to the memory of Dr. Al Geddicks, who Grossman calls “the quintessential scholar-activist.” He was the driving force behind the anti-mining movement and author of Resource Rebels.  They discuss where Grossman finds hope, including in the backlash against ICE raids and detention centers. He says that there is a growing break in the longstanding bipartisan consensus for military and intelligence spending, even though the Senate passed the ~$70 billion budget reconciliation package for immigration enforcement. He calls this “anti-weaponization” fund another form of “internal repression” that will fund paramilitary militias.  Grossman is also optimistic about ecological and Indigenous resilience in Western Washington where he lives and teaches. He describes the wins for resource co-management and resistance to US military interventions, and why these actions seem more possible in Washington than they do in Wisconsin. They also discuss Palestine, Grossman's Hungarian lineage, and the fall of Viktor Orbán. Note: This pledge drive interview was edited to remove parts of the show dedicated to station fundraising. We thank our listeners for their generous support. Zoltán Grossman has since 2005 been a Professor in Geography and Native American ​ Indigenous Studies at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, and previously taught at UW-Eau Claire.  He earned his Ph.D. in Geography and Graduate Minor in American Indian Studies at UW-Madison in 2002. He is a longtime antiwar, antiracist, and environmental organizer, and was a co-founder of the Midwest Treaty Network in Wisconsin.  He is a past co-chair of the Indigenous Peoples Specialty Group of the American Association of Geographers. He was co-editor of Asserting Native Resilience: Pacific Rim Indigenous Nations Face the Climate Crisis (Oregon State University Press, 2012). He is author of Unlikely Alliances: Native Nations and White Communities Join to Defend Rural Lands (University of Washington Press, 2017). Featured image if the removed Glines Canyon Dam in Washington via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).  Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Grassroots Organizing Works with Zoltán Grossman appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

From the first Piggly Wiggly to automated self-checkout machines, the supermarket is a microcosm of modern food systems, labor, and the idea of convenience. On today's pledge drive edition of A Public Affair, host Bert Zipperer speaks with Ann Larson about her book, Cleanup on Aisle Five: Essential Work, Poverty Wages, and the View from Behind the Supermarket Register. Larson got a job at a supermarket at the outset of the COVID pandemic after spending a few years on the margins of the professional class in New York City. She worked for over a year at a grocery store before leaving and writing her book. Her main takeaway from that experience is that there is no such thing as unskilled labor. Supermarket cashiers, like herself, need patience, technical and communication skills, product knowledge, and more. They're also likely to develop repetitive stress and muscular-skeletal disorders, workplace injuries that increasingly go un-investigated due to cuts to OSHA. The second lesson of Larson's book is that all laborers have dignity. When workers–like cashiers–are underpaid, they become devalued. In our culture, status is tied to pay, but Larson wants to bust the myth that so-called “low-skilled” workers deserve low pay. She says that unfortunately we seemed to have quickly forgotten the lessons about essential work that the pandemic taught us.  From her time cashiering, Larson saw the supermarket function as a community space where people could escape from the heat or cold, for example. But it's also a place of precarious labor. On top of that, the shift to self-checkout machines in the name of “convenience” shifted labor from their employees to their customers. They also discuss the issue of Piggly Wiggly, the lack of unionization among retail workers, and the need to enforce anti-trust laws.  Note: This pledge drive interview was edited to remove parts of the show dedicated to station fundraising. We thank our listeners for their generous support. Ann Larson's writing on education, debt, and low-wage work has appeared in The New Republic, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Fast Company, and The Nation, among other publications. She is coauthor of Can't Pay Won't Pay: The Case for Economic Disobedience and Debt Abolition and is a fellow with the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. She lives in Salt Lake City, UT. Featured image of the cover of Cleanup on Aisle Five: Essential Work, Poverty Wages, and the View from Behind the Supermarket Register. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post There's No Such Thing As Unskilled Labor appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's pledge drive edition of A Public Affair, host Ali Muldrow is in conversation with scholar Tara Mulder about her new book, A Womb of One’s Own: Lost Histories of Childbirth in Ancient Rome. Mulder tells the story of birth from pre-conception to post-partum based around women's stories of trying to get pregnant, of being pregnant, of terminating pregnancies, and beyond. Her book is an alternative history of Rome–which is typically centered around war, death, and sex–through childbirth. Mulder combed through primary texts for pieces of birthing stories and investigated funerary inscriptions, medical tools, and magical amulets to form a composite story of birth in ancient Rome. She found that abortion isn't a modern phenomena but a part of the reproductive experience common in the ancient world. Yet it was during this period that the narrative that women are wicked or vain for having an abortion emerged, and the same language that is deployed today. Prior to this point, pregnancy was seen as healthful and the domain of women, and afterward pregnancy was medicalized under the purview of men.  Though at the population level, birth has gotten better since ancient times, it would be wrong to attribute that progress to tools. Instead, improvements in medical care non-specific to childbirth have revolutionized healthcare broadly, from germ theory to the regular use of antiseptics. And still, Milwaukee has one of the worst maternal and infant mortality rates in the world. They also talk about the role of capitalism and private equity in determining how hospitals treat pregnancies and the safety of homebirths and midwifery. Note: This pledge drive interview was edited to remove parts of the show dedicated to station fundraising. We thank our listeners for their generous support. Tara Mulder is Assistant Professor of Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies with affiliation in Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. As the daughter of a homebirth midwife, she has assisted in more than two dozen births. Featured image of the cover of Tara Mulder's book, A Womb of One’s Own: Lost Histories of Childbirth in Ancient Rome. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post The Story of the Roman Empire through Childbirth appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's pledge drive edition of A Public Affair, host Dana Pellebon is in conversation with Rev. Staci Marrese-Wheeler and Rev. Tim Schaefer about the phenomena of white Christian nationalism and how their congregations are choosing to follow a table-flipping Jesus. Rev. Schaefer is part of a coalition of clergy in Wisconsin working against Christian nationalism. He says that this political ideology gets framed in theological terms by a small group of people who interpret scripture in a narrow way in order to uphold their power and control. Rooted in white supremacy, Christian nationalism threatens democratic norms and threatens churches because it doesn't allow for pluralism in either space, says Schaefer. Rev. Marrese-Wheeler says that this ideology is rooted in fear and a scarcity mindset, but she follows Christian teachings of abundance. She pastors a small, progressive congregation where people have been exposed to justice-framed understandings of the Gospel. “Patriarchy is baked into church DNA,” says Marrese-Wheeler, though there have been denominations that ordain female clergy. Schaefer says that he brings feminist, womanist, and queer theologies into his sermons, following the model of a social-justice, table-flipping Jesus.  “More and more, faithful people are being asked to create more power and more wealth for people who don't follow Jesus,” says Marrese-Wheeler. Instead, she looks to Christian traditions in Central America and Africa that preach community instead of individualism. Note: This pledge drive interview was edited to remove parts of the show dedicated to station fundraising. We thank our listeners for their generous support. Rev. Staci Marrese-Wheeler (She/Her) is Pastor at Common Grace. Staci is an ordained pastor of the Moravian Church of North America. Staci has an undergraduate degree in Education and a Masters of Divinity from Moravian Theological Seminary in Bethlehem, PA. She has served on the eastside of Madison for 17 of her 33 years in ministry. Staci’s role at Common Grace is  called “Community Development Pastor.” She also serves as Co-Director of the Eastmorland Community Center on the east side of Madison. Rev. Tim Schaefer has served as pastor of First Baptist Church since November 2020. Prior to relocating to Wisconsin, he served as Minister to Youth at Royal Lane Baptist Church in Dallas, TX, where he was ordained in early 2019. Tim holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Boston University and a Master of Divinity degree, as well as, a degree certificate in Gender and Sexual Justice from Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University. In addition to his pastoral role, Tim co-founded and continues to co-lead the Wisconsin Coalition for Religious Freedom, a broad collective of Wisconsinites dedicated to disrupting the rise of white Christian nationalism in our state. Featured image: of Christian LGBTQ pride flag with cross hanging in a Metropolitan Community Church via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).  Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Following a Social-Justice, Table-Flipping Jesus appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

The Yahara Lakes define this region where people flock to the water year-round for recreation. But algae blooms, Madison's continued growth, and the warming planet are changing the makeup of our waterways. On today's pledge drive edition of A Public Affair, Douglas Haynes is in conversation with James Tye of Clean Lakes Alliance and Jake Vander Zanden of the Center for Limnology about the 2025 State of the Lakes report, the annual checkup of the Yahara watershed. The central issue facing the Yahara lakes is phosphorus. A single pound of phosphorus can lead to 500 pounds of algae, leading local groups to double their efforts to remove phosphorus from the waterways. The issue of phosphorus is compounded by other factors like microplastics and climate change. The Center for Limnology also tracks chlorophyll, water clarity, zooplankton, and animal and fish populations, including the invasive spiny water flea. This is the 15th year of the State of the Lakes report, and Tye says that next year they will include information on the number of acres of cover crops, rain gardens, and green roofs in order to show how what we do on land is connected to the health of our waters.  Note: This pledge drive interview was edited to remove parts of the show dedicated to station fundraising. We thank our listeners for their generous support. James Tye is the Founder and Executive Director of Clean Lakes Alliance. His connection to the lakes runs deep, as he grew up swimming, waterskiing, and sailing on Lake Mendota. As a lifelong Madison resident, he has seen many changes in the Yahara lakes over the years, and is excited to have the opportunity to work on their behalf. Jake Vander Zanden is professor of Integrative Biology and Director of the Center for Limnology at UW-Madison. His research focuses on the threats to healthy lake ecosystems. He works on Wisconsin lakes, as well as lakes and rivers around the world. Jake has trained scores of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in his 25 years at UW-Madison. Featured image of a algae bloom via Flickr (CC BY 2.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Phosphorus, That's What's in the Lakes appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

This week on Mel & Floyd: Memories of school days; The new feudalism; A running list of cat names; Corporations can vote in Delaware??; Cash for moms-to-be improves outcomes; Thanksgiving on steroids in Antarctica; Mosquitos learning to like insect repellant; Pigeon navigation; Bratfest results; And other random topics; Notice something missing?  For the complete Mel and Floyd Experience, buy the CD “The Very Best of James Brown” and play it on your Hi-Fi while listening to this podcast!  Or listen live at 89.9 FM or wortfm.org/listen-live/ every Friday from 1 to 2 PM Central Time. Photo courtesy Loan on Unsplash Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Doin' the Cat Thing appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, host Esty Dinur asks listeners to pick up their phones and share their thoughts on local and global issues. We hear from folks who are staying aware and vigilant about international news, finding hope and comfort in making your own food, the Democratic primary for governor, and the value of collective self-determination.  Featured image of a bright blue phone via Pexels. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Open Line with Esty Dinur appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, host Bert Zipperer is in conversation with Elie Mystal, The Nation's justice correspondent and columnist, about the Supreme Court's recent decision in Louisiana v. Callais that gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Mystal says the “most important legislation in US history” that ended 100 years of apartheid is now “effectively dead.” The Voting Rights Act didn't deliver a post-racial utopia, but it was “the start of the American experiment” for Black people, says Mystal. And it has been successful at increasing Black representation in government: before 1965 there were 4 Black members of Congress and that number grew to 9 in 1969 and 67 today. But a certain cadre of white people don't support this, including Chief Justice John Roberts, who argued against the 1982 voting rights expansion that defined racism by a law's effects not intent. The ruling in Louisiana v. Callais rolls it all back, requiring lawyers to prove intentional discrimination, something that is near impossible to do. Mystal calls the gerrymandering in Louisiana “surgical discrimination” because white democratic neighborhoods were not gerrymandered, but Black democratic neighborhoods were. They also discuss how blue states are trying to “fight fire with fire,” how the Trump administration wants to destroy federalism, how the Callais decision could affect the midterm elections, and how to fix democracy with more democracy. Elie Mystal is The Nation's justice correspondent and a columnist. He is also an Alfred Knobler Fellow at the Type Media Center. He is the author of two books: the New York Times bestseller Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy's Guide to the Constitution and Bad Law: Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining America, both published by The New Press. He also writes the newsletter “Elie v. U.S.” Featured image of the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 via Wikimedia Commons. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post The Voting Rights Act is “Effectively Dead” appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

This week on Mel & Floyd: Floyd comes back from assignment to fill in for SmartyPants who's checking out the stars at Harvard; Who doesn't go to their son's wedding?; Looking for “medium-size Walter”; Firing top infectious disease officials in time for Hantavirus; Coming soon: The Bay of Piggy fiasco; And other random topics; Notice something missing?  For the complete Mel and Floyd Experience, buy the CD “The Very Best of James Brown” and play it on your Hi-Fi while listening to this podcast!  Or listen live at 89.9 FM or wortfm.org/listen-live/ every Friday from 1 to 2 PM Central Time. Photo courtesy Biblioteca Valenciana Nicolau Primitiu on Unsplash Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Apparently We Have a Lot of Blimps appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

This week on Mel & Floyd: Smarty Pants' visit to the British Museum and the “dear leader's” visit to China; Multiple data centers being considered in Alliant Energy territory; 1890's now referred to as the “First Gilded Age”; Absurd hantavirus conspiracy theories; And other random topics; Notice something missing?  For the complete Mel and Floyd Experience, buy the CD “The Very Best of James Brown” and play it on your Hi-Fi while listening to this podcast!  Or listen live at 89.9 FM or wortfm.org/listen-live/ every Friday from 1 to 2 PM Central Time. Photo courtesy Rapha Wilde on Unsplash Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Why Mosquitos Prefer SmartyPants appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

This week on Mel & Floyd: The latest on “Don Snore-leone”; Problems with Canvas educational software; Mel is back on his bike!; Chief Justice Roberts laments correct public perception; War crimes prosecution as a growth industry; $850 Million tax dollars to cancel wind power projects;  Cheetah poplation increases in Iran; And other random topics; Notice something missing?  For the complete Mel and Floyd Experience, buy the CD “The Very Best of James Brown” and play it on your Hi-Fi while listening to this podcast!  Or listen live at 89.9 FM or wortfm.org/listen-live/ every Friday from 1 to 2 PM Central Time. Photo courtesy OGenius Aficionados on Unsplash Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Back in the Saddle Again! appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.