Personality Crisis

Episode 14: Jay Watts - Mexico Solidarity Part 2

Jay Watts is a photojournalist and editor of the English-language Mexican news site Mexico Solidarity, which also hosts the podcast Soberanía. The site is part of the Mexico Solidary Project, which aims to promote “people-to-people understanding across borders and to concentrate efforts to oppose the US dominance that undermines México’s national sovereignty.” In the second of two episodes, Jay talks with Dylan Ris, standing in for John Cole, who’s getting ready for his twice-yearly relocation.  Jay and Dylan talk about the role of the mañanera, the President’s daily press conference, in Mexican politics.  The conversation then turns to the recent discovery of CIA agents in Mexico and the threat to close Mexican consulates in the US. Here are Jay’s links: Mexico Solidarity Media:  https://mexicosolidarity.com/ [https://mexicosolidarity.com/] Mexico Solidarity Project: https://mexicosolidarityproject.org/ [https://mexicosolidarityproject.org/] Jay’s Site showcasing some of his excellent photography: https://jay-watts.com/ [https://jay-watts.com/]

Episode 13: Jay Watts on Mexico

Jay Watts is a photojournalist and editor of the English-language Mexican news site Mexico Solidarity, which also hosts the podcast Soberanía. The site is part of the Mexico Solidary Project, which aims to promote “people-to-people understanding across borders and to concentrate efforts to oppose the US dominance that undermines México’s national sovereignty.” In the first of two episodes, Jay talks with Dylan Ris, standing in for John Cole, who’s getting ready for his twice-yearly relocation.  Jay and Dylan have a wide-ranging discussion of the Mexican Left, the US-Mexico relationship, including the USMCA negotiation, as well as the recent revelations about the CIA’s involvement in Mexico. Here are Jay’s links: Mexico Solidarity Media:  https://mexicosolidarity.com/ [https://mexicosolidarity.com/] Mexico Solidarity Project: https://mexicosolidarityproject.org/ [https://mexicosolidarityproject.org/] Jay’s Site showcasing some of his excellent photography: https://jay-watts.com/ [https://jay-watts.com/]

Episode 12: Gary Trauner

Gary Trauner, three-time Democratic candidate for federal office in Wyoming, joins us again to discuss current politics. Today’s topics include Janet Mills dropping out of the Maine Senate race, Gary’s take on Jon Ossoff, who he thinks gets the message right, SCOTUS’ repeal of the Voting Rights Act, and Gary’s belief that parsing Trump’s nonsense is a fools’ game. Because John Cole was under the weather, DougJ (NYT Pitchbot) and mistermix interview Gary.

Episode 11: Dylan Ris on Hollywood

Episode 11 of Personality Crisis is a little different than our usual political fare.  This one has John Cole interviewing Dylan Ris, who is a creative writer and composer living in LA.  Dylan and John have a wide-ranging discussion about what’s keeping Hollywood from green-lighting anything but derivative copies of already successful franchises.  John also expresses his opinions about who should be in the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame, other than Oasis. Dylan’s latest project is a movie about what happens when a 70’s glam rock star becomes the host of a British television show: https://wefunder.com/rogerwodehouse

Episode 10: Mark Jacob on Journalism's Future

Mark Jacob is the former metro editor at the Chicago Tribune, and former Sunday editor at the Chicago Sun-Times. He’s the co-author of 11 books, mostly on history. In our second episode with Mark, he and John Cole talk about the future of journalism.  Topics include Mark’s advice to someone just starting out, the disparity in financing between left and right “influencers” and Mark’s current projects. Mark’s Substack Stop the Presses: https://www.stopthepresses.news/ [https://www.stopthepresses.news/] Courier is a journalism initiative that supports Mark’s Substack and other journalism:  https://couriernewsroom.com/ [https://couriernewsroom.com/] Mark’s recommended links: Jennifer Schulze’s Substack Indistinct Chatter: https://jenniferschulze.substack.com/ [https://jenniferschulze.substack.com/] Greg Sargent at The New Republic: https://newrepublic.com/authors/greg-sargent [https://newrepublic.com/authors/greg-sargent] Pro Publica: https://www.propublica.org/ [https://www.propublica.org/]