Hanging Question Marks

This episode is a conversation with Ryan Watson, recorded on September 5, 2020. Ryan is an activist and a member of Socialist Alternative. This is a far-ranging conversation about the work of the Socialist Alternative, the relationship between the economic justice and racial and social justice, the two-party system, America's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, apathy vs. activism, disaster capitalism,  questions of strategy concerning the use of "the s-word" in American politics, and much more. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did. Some links to check out: 2020: A Historic Indictment of Capitalism: https://www.socialistalternative.org/2020/08/12/2020-a-historic-indictment-of-capitalism/ [https://www.socialistalternative.org/2020/08/12/2020-a-historic-indictment-of-capitalism/] The Role of the Working Class in Fighting Racism: https://www.socialistalternative.org/2020/06/26/the-role-of-the-working-class-in-fighting-racism/ [https://www.socialistalternative.org/2020/06/26/the-role-of-the-working-class-in-fighting-racism/] Ryan's speech at a Justice for George Floyd rally in June: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CD-J6KSJQ1y/?igshid=pt6dovrgjtub [https://www.instagram.com/tv/CD-J6KSJQ1y/?igshid=pt6dovrgjtub] Website of the International Socialist Alternative: https://internationalsocialist.net/ [https://internationalsocialist.net/] Music for this episode: Good Night by Siobhan Dakay (c) copyright 2019 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/SiobhanD/60107 Ft: MyVanillaworld Episode art: Yours truly.

This episode is a conversation with my long-time friend Chris Dart, recorded on August 29, 2020. Chris lives and works in Oregon, and we begin our conversation by talking about how different the response to COVID-19 has been in sparsely populated Oregon from the response in cities like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. From there, the conversation jumps around to the simple life, music in general and movie music in particular, authenticity, materialism, purposeful living, and the truism that quantity does not equal quality. This is a fun conversation, and perhaps a bit more light-hearted than previous episodes. Enjoy. Music for this episode: Good Night by Siobhan Dakay (c) copyright 2019 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/SiobhanD/60107 Ft: MyVanillaworld Episode art: Photograph by yours truly.

This episode is a conversation with Jacob Torbeck. Jacob is a PhD candidate at Loyola University in Chicago's Integrated Studies in Ethics and Theology program. Jacob and I have crossed paths many times over the past 20 or so years, but have never gotten to know each other well. In this conversation, we talk a bit about his background, then turn to a host of other topics: Jesuits and liberation theology, the unity and diversity within Catholicism, Jake's faith and his reasons for pursuing theology as an academic discipline, teaching theology and ethics to college students, faith, and the relationships between faith and science, faith and institutions, and faith and today's party politics. Enjoy. Things to Check Out (shared by Jacob): The Left Side of the Church (article published in Jacobin, available here: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2018/12/church-liberation-theology-latin-america-left [https://www.jacobinmag.com/2018/12/church-liberation-theology-latin-america-left]) The Violence of Love: Quotations from Archbishop Romero (free book, available here: http://www.romerotrust.org.uk/homilies-and-writings/violence-love [http://www.romerotrust.org.uk/homilies-and-writings/violence-love]) Silence by Shusaku Endo (book, available here: https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?cm_sp=SearchF-_-topnav-_-Results&kn=Endo%20Silence&sts=t [https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?cm_sp=SearchF-_-topnav-_-Results&kn=Endo%20Silence&sts=t]) Book debunking the "skills gap" myth: About halfway through our conversation, I got sidetracked talking about STEM and the myth of the "skills gap." If you're interested in that topic, check out the book Why Good People Can't Get Jobs: The Skills Gap and What Companies Can Do About It by Peter Cappelli (available here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/why-good-people-cant-get-jobs-peter-cappelli/1110912284 [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/why-good-people-cant-get-jobs-peter-cappelli/1110912284]) Music for this episode: Good Night by Siobhan Dakay (c) copyright 2019 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/SiobhanD/60107 Ft: MyVanillaworld Episode art: Photograph by yours truly.

This episode is a conversation with Sherry Nelson, recorded on August 16, 2020. Sherry is a long-time activist and a teacher for Chicago Public Schools. She teaches 8th grade in Little Village, a Chicago neighborhood in which the vast majority of the residents are of Mexican descent. The conversation begins with Sherry's background as an educator and then quickly turns to U.S. foreign policy in Central and South America. Sherry has been an activist most of her life, and saw first-hand the effects of U.S. foreign policy in Nicaragua (which she visited briefly in the late 1980s) and in El Salvador (where she lived for 1 and 1/2 years in the mid-1990s). While in college, she also studied abroad in Ecuador and Mexico. During the last half hour of the show, we turn to current events—specifically COVID, the "virtual" re-opening of Chicago Public Schools in the fall, and what it means for parents, teachers, and students. Enjoy. Music for this episode: Good Night by Siobhan Dakay (c) copyright 2019 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/SiobhanD/60107 Ft: MyVanillaworld Episode art: Photograph by yours truly.

This episode is a conversation with Cortney Ritsema. (Twitter: @CRitsem [https://twitter.com/critsem]) Cortney is my neighbor—and more importantly an activist, a mother, a clinical psychologist, and more. In this episode, we talk about political activism, Cortney's work over a decade ago as a counselor at a detention facility for "unaccompanied minors," and finally the reopening of Chicago Public Schools in the fall. If you want to jump around, here is a brief overview of our conversation with approximate begin times. 6:40 – Our conversation begins. We discuss how we met and Cortney's activism, including her work with the Bernie Sanders presidential campaigns. 17:00 – We begin discussing Cortney's previous work as a therapist at a detention facility for "unaccompanied minors"—immigrant children who are in the United States unlawfully. 57:40 – The conversation turns to how Chicago Public Schools is dealing with the COVID pandemic and CPS's plans for virtual instruction this fall. 1:22:00 – Mostly a rant about the economy  and politics (for people who are into that sort of thing). You get to hear me butcher the GINI index (I spell it "ginny" in the episode) and basically confuse it with the happiness index.  (See Wikipedia article on the Gini coefficient/index here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gini_coefficient [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gini_coefficient]; and info on the World and Happiness Report 2020: https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2020/ [https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2020/]) Things to Check Out (shared by Cortney): Raise your Hand Illinois (https://www.ilraiseyourhand.org/ [https://www.ilraiseyourhand.org/]) is a coalition of parents, educator's, and community members that engages, informs and empowers parents to protect and strengthen public education for all children in Chicago and Illinois, eliminate inequities in public schools, and work at the grassroots for the public good that is public education. Here is the video that Cortney references in the episode. In the video, she talks about her experience working as a therapist at a detention facility for "unaccompanied minors": https://www.facebook.com/LaVillitaSolidaridad/videos/2600880970169863/?extid=vSFifFqJ7RJKmbDS&d=null&vh=e [https://www.facebook.com/LaVillitaSolidaridad/videos/2600880970169863/?extid=vSFifFqJ7RJKmbDS&d=null&vh=e] Becoming Better Beckys (https://www.facebook.com/groups/273580743477751/?ref=share [https://www.facebook.com/groups/273580743477751/?ref=share]) is a Facebook group that Cortney started 2 years ago. It's an online forum for white women who are ready to acknowledge their own aspects of "Beckyness" and begin to do the very difficult, but  necessary work of addressing issues of white privilege, racism, and  white supremacy. Music for this episode: Good Night by Siobhan Dakay (c) copyright 2019 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/SiobhanD/60107 Ft: MyVanillaworld Episode art: Photograph by yours truly.