Out d’Coup Podcast

The Sit Down | We're Back! Talking with Matt Breidenstein and Ajay Joshi from PhillyProgressives.com

Welcome to the first 2017 edition of The Sit Down. In 2017 we are going to be focused on organizing and building power.

 

When I started teaching at Kutztown, some of my courses focused on rhetorics of globalization. It wasn’t long before students began showing up at my office hours saying they wanted to get involved with more activism, but that Kutztown was “too conservative” or “most students are apathetic” or “nothing is going on here.” Well, after a few weeks of a constant stream of students coming to me to say a version of that same narrative, it became pretty clear that the problems students were having was not about “apathy” it was about a lack of a network and the lack of experience building political networks. So, I began putting students in touch with each other - and helping them build their networks. In less than a year we had an active and successful United Students Against Sweatshops chapter, a student labor group, and we had build a network with student activists in the region.

The fact is that that one of the most important challenges we face on the left is that of isolation. And I see this again and again across Pennsylvania. That was one of the reasons, in fact, that I started Raging Chicken Press in 2011. That is why I was thrilled when Matt Breidenstein contacted me over a month ago about a project he and a group of other progressives were working on in the Philadelphia region: PhillyProgressives.com.

Today on the Sit Down I am pleased to welcome Matt Breidenstein and Ajay Joshi, two of the co-founders of PhillyProgressives.com to talk about the launch of their project to connect progressives and activists across the region.

Welcome Matt and Ajay!

Remember folks, we need you to help keep progressive, activist media going strong. Become a member of Raging Chicken for as little at $2/month! Simply go to RagingChickenPress.org and look for the Support and Membership tab. We are digging in for 2017 and Trumplandia. We need you - the progressive community - to help us deepen pull-no-punches, progressive media that will hold power accountable.  

• Become a member: https://goo.gl/OgYRW0
• Be a Patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rcpress
• Make a donation: https://www.paypal.me/rcpress

Colleen Clemens on Gender & the Olympics | Clip from August 16, 2016 episode of The Sit Down

* This clip is from the August 16, 2016 episode of The Sit Down. To listen to our entire discussion with Colleen Clemens, click HERE. 

We're back! Today on The Sit Down I welcome Dr. Colleen Clemens, associate professor of non-Western literatures at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. We talk about the ways that issues of gender are front and center at the Rio Olympics, despite some pretty atrocious media coverage. More women are competing in this year's Olympics than ever before. The are shattering some Olympic records, but still are only getting second-rate coverage in major media outlets.

Then we talk about teaching and working in higher education. Millennials may be getting a bad rap in the mainstream media and the "get-off-my-lawn" privileged class, but they are coming to college campuses with much more interesting relationships to gender than the binary gender roles of "traditional" American culture. We talk feministing in higher ed in the classroom and as a faculty member in the workplace.

Finally, we talk Trump, misogyny, and the last gasps of privileged white guys. Can we draw a line from Death of a Salesman, through Falling Down, right to The Donald? You bet we can. In the face of Trumpism, is there anything to be optimistic about in this year’s presidential election? Tune in to find out.

Check out Colleen Clemen’s piece on the media’s coverage of the Olympics, “Dear Olympic Media: Do Better by Women Athletes,” over at Teaching Tolerance. For more of her work, check her blog RIGHT HERE.

The Sit Down | Colleen Clemens is on talking gender and the Olympics; feministing in higher education; Trump and misogyny in the 2016 presidential election; and, more!

We're back! Today on The Sit Down I welcome Dr. Colleen Clemens, associate professor of non-Western literatures at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. We talk about the ways that issues of gender are front and center at the Rio Olympics, despite some pretty atrocious media coverage. More women are competing in this year's Olympics than ever before. The are shattering some Olympic records, but still are only getting second-rate coverage in major media outlets.

Then we talk about teaching and working in higher education. Millennials may be getting a bad rap in the mainstream media and the "get-off-my-lawn" privileged class, but they are coming to college campuses with much more interesting relationships to gender than the binary gender roles of "traditional" American culture. We talk feministing in higher ed in the classroom and as a faculty member in the workplace.

Finally, we talk Trump, misogyny, and the last gasps of privileged white guys. Can we draw a line from Death of a Salesman, through Falling Down, right to The Donald? You bet we can. In the face of Trumpism, is there anything to be optimistic about in this year’s presidential election? Tune in to find out.

Check out Colleen Clemen’s piece on the media’s coverage of the Olympics, “Dear Olympic Media: Do Better by Women Athletes,” over at Teaching Tolerance. For more of her work, check her blog RIGHT HERE.

The Sit Down | March for a Clean Energy Revolution in Philly ahead of the DNC. Interviews with activists and commentary

Kevin Mahoney was in Philadelphia for the March for a Clean Energy Revolution on the eve of the Democratic National Convention. It was an amazing march with a determination to deepen progressive social movements. Mahoney had a chance to talk to several people at the march and we bring those interviews you today in this special on-the-street episode of The Sit Down. Mahoney talks to:

• Kate Goodman from Socialist Alternative, Philadelphia
• Tim Judson, Executive Director of the Nuclear Information Resource Service
• Lynn Denton, a Philadelphia-based artist and her husband Charlie
• Tara Orlando, a Bernie Sanders activist from Virginia
• Jason Del Gandio, a scholar-activist and Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Public Advocacy at Temple University

Mahoney also gives his impressions of the march, the surprise HUGE turnout by Bernie Sanders activists, and so much more. Raging Chicken also has lots of photos posted up on our Facebook page and a bunch of videos on our YouTube channel, so check them out.

Oh, did we mention that it was freaking hot? No biggie. Mahoney will be back on the street tomorrow for more actions. Check out all the actions OUTSIDE the Democratic National Convention at DNC Action Committee.

The Sit Down | Amy Lynch-Biniek on the Need for Adjunct & Tenure-Line Solidarity in APSCUF Contract Fight

Today on the Sit Down, Dr. Amy Lynch-Biniek is back on the program to talk about the contract fight brewing in the PA State System of Higher Education (PASSHE). Amy is a faculty member in the English Department at Kutztown University and her research and writing engages questions of pedagogy, literacy, and labor studies. Her forthcoming book, Contingency, Exploitation, and Solidarity: Labor & Action in English Composition is a co-edited anthology with Seth Kahn & Bill Lalicker that explores the ways and means of labor reform on college campuses. She is the Chair of the State APSCUF Adjunct Faculty Committee and she is the current editor of Forum, a peer-edited journal from the National Council of Teachers of English.

The faculty union, APSCUF, has been working under an expired contract for almost a year. After refusing to negotiate for months, PASSHE negotiators showed up to the June 10th negotiation session with a contract proposal that seeks to fundamentally change - or “transform” labor conditions in Pennsylvania’s 14 state-owned universities. Currently, APSCUF’s contract is considered by many in the higher education labor movement to be the gold standard when it comes to issues of parity, stability, and justice for adjunct faculty members. PASSHE seeks to change that. 

In an episode Raging Chicken Radio’s Out d’Coup on June 15, I discussed PASSHE’s full proposal in detail if you’re interested in getting into the weeds a bit. At the core of PASSHE’s proposal is an attempt to divide and conquer the faculty - pitting tenured and tenure-track faculty against adjunct faculty.  Amy wrote a piece for her blog this past Friday,  “Why the Contract’s Treatment of Temporary Faculty Members Matters to Tenure-line Faculty,” that makes a case for solidarity among adjunct, tenure-track, and tenured faculty.  Her article is now available on Raging Chicken Press as well.  I’m glad to have her on the program once again to talk about her article and APSCUF’s contract fight.

For related coverage check out: Kevin Mahoney's article on APSCUF's call for a strike vote.

The Sit Down | Jason Del Gandio, Author of "Rhetoric for Radicals," on Communicating for Social Change, Bernie Sanders, and Activist Intellectuals in Academe

Today on The Sit Down we’re talking social movements and public intellectuals with Jason Del Gandio. We talk about the role of communication, language and rhetoric in building and sustaining social movements, the future of the political movement that coalesced around the Bernie Sanders campaign, and the role of activist intellectuals in higher education.

Del Gandio is a scholar-activist and Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Public Advocacy at Temple University. His scholarship focuses on the theory and practice of social justice, especially when it comes to activism and social movements.  He approaches these topics through the intersections of rhetoric, philosophy, and performance.  

His public writing has engages with issues such as corporate control, the rhetoric of the Obama and Bush administrations, immaterial labor, autonomy, performance art, the Occupy movement, spontaneous uprisings, and the relationship between neoliberalism and the university.  His writings have appeared in CounterPunch, Truth-out.org, Radical Philosophy Review, New Political Science, Dissident Voice, and the Journal of Aesthetics and Protest.  

In his book, Rhetoric for Radicals: A Handbook for 21st Activists, Del Gandio seeks to help activists focus on effective communication that is often lacking in even some more experienced activists. As he argues, radicals have important messages to deliver, but are often so caught up in the passion of their causes that they often suffer from a credibility gap because of their lack of coherent message and delivery. Rhetoric for Radicals is a guide that can help activists develop strategic communication skills to be effectively heard.

Jason is also the co-editor with Anthony Nocella of Educating for Action: Strategies to Ignite Social Justice, and The Terrorization of Dissent: Corporate Repression, Legal Corruption, and the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act.

The Sit Down | Marlana Eck of Lehigh Valley Vanguard Talking Millennial Radicalism, Bernie Sanders, Citizen Media, and Working Class Activism

Today on The Sit Down we’re talking with Marlana Eck is the Founder of the Lehigh Valley Vanguard and co-founder of Rag Queen Periodical. We're talking Millennial radicalism, citizen media,  Bernie Sanders, and working class activism.

The Lehigh Valley Vanguard resides at the intersection of art and politics. The Vanguard features narratives which speculate on late capitalism, the efficacy of mainstream politics, explorations of identity, and the fetishization of market relationships (neoliberalism). 

Rag Queen Periodical, co-founded with Kailey Tedesco, features writing about the embodiment of womanhood, regardless of how that's manifested one’s life. Rag Queen deviates from neoliberal, corporate feminism; focusing instead on subverting the erasure of female agency and identity. Nuance, intersectionality, and evocative storytelling are Rag Queen’s signposts. www.RagQueenPeriodical.com/

Marlana is also President of the Board and founding member along with Rick Smith and yours truly of the Citizen Media Center. 

Marlana has published extensively on issues of class, labor, feminism, marginalization, and precarity. A small sampling of her publications include: 

- "The Responsibility of Déclassé Intellectuals" in The Déclassé Intellectual

- "Jesus Can’t Save Us From Capitalist Patriarchy: a Memoir," in Rag Queen Periodical

- How to be an Adjunct (and a Cliché)," in The Chronicle of Higher Education

- Decolonizing Writing and Critical Participation: a Year of Publishing on the Margins,” in Hybrid Pedagogy

- "Property Over People, or, What We Can Learn from Baltimore,” in Raging Chicken Press

Marlana holds a Master’s Degree in English Language and Literature from Kutztown Univesity; a Master’s in Globalization and Educational Change from Lehigh University; and, she is currently enrolled in the PhD program in Literature and Criticism at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. 

The Sit Down | Interview with Karen Feridun of Berks Gas Truth on Failings of Obama's Clean Energy Plan and Mobilizing for Clean Energy Revolution in Philly!

Today on The Sit Down we’re talking with Karen Feridun, the founder of Berks Gas Truth, a Kutztown, PA based grassroots community organization of over 600 concerned citizens fighting to stop unconventional natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania and across the country. 

Check out Berks Gas Truth here. You can also connect with them on Facebook and follow @BerksGasTruth on Twitter. 

We’ll be talking about a critique of Obama’s Clean Power Plan by the coalition Pennsylvanians Against Fracking, of which Berks Gas Truth is a member.  We'll also get Karen's take on former PA DEP Secretary John Quigley's email rant against his "friends" in the environmental movement. And, finally, we'll look ahead to the March for a Clean Energy Revolution on July 24th in Philadelphia. That’s on the eve of the Democratic National Convention. 

To read Pennsylvanians Against Fracking's critique of the Obama Administration's Clean Power Plan, CLICK HERE.

Read John Quigley's email rant HERE.

 

Get the info on the July 24th March for a Clean Energy Revolution in Philadelphia RIGHT HERE.

And find a ride to the March RIGHT HERE. 

The Sit Down | UPDATED Interview with Dr. Amy Lynch-Biniek on contingent labor in higher ed and the "Indianapolis Resolution"

UPDATED: Corrected audio, 5/24/16 11:08 pm. Fixed errors and updated audio file. 5/25/16, 7:59 pm.

Today on the Sit Down, we’ll be talking with Dr. Amy Lynch-Biniek. Amy is a faculty member in the English Department at Kutztown University.  Amy writing pedagogy, literacy studies, and labor studies. Her forthcoming book,Contingency, Exploitation, and Solidarity: Labor & Action in English Composition is a co-edited anthology with Seth Kahn & Bill Lalicker that explores the ways and means of labor reform on college campuses. She is the Chair of the State APSCUF Adjunct Faculty Committee and she is the current editor of Forum, a peer-edited journal from the National Council of Teachers of English.

We’ve got Amy on the program today to talk about issues of adjunct and contingent labor in higher education and the Indianapolis Resolution, a resolution urging professional organizations in the field of Composition and Rhetoric to actively cultivate equitable labor conditions in academic departments across the country.

Check out the full text of the Indianapolis Resolution and sign on here: 

http://www.compositionist.net/indianapolis-resolution.html

Sorry for any confusion here. I made the newbie mistake of loading the unedited sound file in the first release of this episode of The Sit Down. Can I crawl into a hole now?

The Sit Down | Interview with Steve Horn of DeSmogBlog about investigating ExxonMobil and climate denial

Welcome to the first edition of The Sit Down - new project of Raging Chicken Radio! In addition to our regular weekly podcast, "Out d'Coup," Raging Chicken Press editor, Kevin Mahoney, will talk with activists, public intellectuals, and hell-raisers of all sorts. 

For our first episode, we sit down with Steve Horn, Research Fellow  at DeSmogBlog and freelance investigative journalist, to talk about his article "Exxon's Lawyer in Climate Science Probe Has History Helping Big Tobacco and NFL Defend Against Health Claims." This is one in a series of articles in which Steve digs into the on-going probe into ExxonMobil's role in stoking the climate denial industry. That probe is being headed by New York Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman. 

Be sure to check this article and all of Steve's work right here:

"Exxon's Lawyer in Climate Science Probe Has History Helping Big Tobacco and NFL Defend Against Health Claims."

http://www.desmogblog.com/2016/05/11/ted-wells-exxon-big-tobacco-nfl-concussions

Here's a link to all of Steve's writing on DeSmogBlog:

http://www.desmogblog.com/user/7018

Check out all the awesome investigative journalism focused on climate change on DeSmogBlog:

http://www.desmogblog.com/