Today on the Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Dr. Damita Brown…

Alexis Tardy is a lead activist for EmpowerED Families and founder and Chair of Call x Response.  She joins us from Indianapolis to talk about what she’s up to from healthcare to education and building community partnerships.

More about EmpowerED Families: https://empoweredfamiliesindy.org/ 

More about Call x Response: https://www.facebook.com/CallxResponse/ 

Alexis Tardy is a Minister who chairs the clergy activism group Call and Response. She also works as the Lead Organizer at EmpowerED Families. Before returning to Indianapolis in 2020, Alexis led as the Program Director at Faith and For the Sake of All, where she organized trainings and workshops to end racial disparities in Saint Louis. As a consultant for Urban Strategies, she mentored youth and worked with families and community leaders in Ferguson, Missouri. Alexis earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Public Affairs at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and a Master of Divinity Degree from Eden Theological Seminary in Saint Louis, Missouri. She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Ministry in Womanist Preaching at Memphis Theological Seminary. Alexis is deeply committed to justice and Black and Latinx families while working toward equitable communities. She resides in Indianapolis, Indiana with her dog KoKo.

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Today on the Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Dr. Damita Brown, co-facilitators of the 350 Madison Arts Collective, Dianne Brakarsh and Russ Bennett join us to discuss politically conscious art and using art as activism.  350 Madison Arts Collective is part of 350 Madison, dedicated to averting the climate crisis, through the use of creative, humorous and artistic means.

More info on the 350 Madison Arts Collective: https://350madison.org/ccampaigns/art-collective/ 

Listen in Madison at 89.9FM or online anywhere at wortfm.org.  Support your community radio with a donation online at wortfm.org!

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Dianne Brakarsh is a choreographer and long-time community dance organizer who has been creating performance pieces and flash mob dances for years, to amplify the messages of various social and environmental justice issues. 

Russ Bennett is an RN who worked as a community mental health nurse in Madison before recently retiring.

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If you were going to make a list of the world’s most difficult – and most essential – jobs, nurses would be at the top of most people’s lists.  Long hours, difficult working conditions, high stress and people’s lives quite literally in one’s hands – not everyone is cut out for the nursing profession, even under the best of circumstances.  With the healthcare system struggling to keep up with a global pandemic run amok, healthcare union busting and  a legacy of budget cuts, working conditions for nurses have deteriorated.  Small wonder then, that nurses who can are retiring in droves, exacerbating staffing shortages everywhere.  Add to that the expanding health demands of a rapidly aging population, and demand for nursing staff has never been higher.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the U.S. will need more than a million more nurses to meet demand by 2030.  In such an environment, you would expect nursing schools to be overflowing with new recruits.   Not so, says Rayna LeTourneau, Assistant Professor of Nursing at the University of South Florida and founder of WIRES Wellness, Intervention, Resources, Education and Support.

1918 Red Cross recruitment poster

Carl Rakeman, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

 

 

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WORT 89.9FM Madison · Voces de la Frontera Puts Pressure On Congress To Bring Immigration Reform

On Thursday, U.S. Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth McDonough struck a blow to Democrats’ hopes of getting immigration reform into the Build Back Better bill, saying that proposed immigration law changes could not go through the Senate majority-vote reconciliation process. This was the third attempt by Senate Democrats to include immigration reform in the bill and the third time their hopes have been dashed thanks to the ridiculously Byzantine rules of the Senate. Wisconsin’s Voces de la Frontera is not giving up, however, and is still pushing Congress to bring immigration reform home for the holidays. Armando Ibarra is a founding member of Voces de la Frontera’s Essential Worker Rights Network, and he joins Friday Buzz host, Brian Standing, to talk more about this.

 

 

(Image courtesy of Voces de la Frontera)

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WORT 89.9FM Madison · Charlottesville’s Robert E. Lee Statue To Be Recycled Into A Work That Will Reflect Racial Justice

In January of 2019 a 112 year old stone cenotaph containing the names of 140 Confederate prisoners of war who died at Camp Randall was removed from Madison’s Forest Hill Cemetery after a long debate.

The removal of Confederate monuments has been an ongoing process since the 1960’s but has recently began picking up steam due to events like the murdering of George Floyd in 2020 and the Charlottesville Unite the Right Rally in 2017. What is to be done with these multi-ton bronze white elephants once they come down is another topic of debate. In June earlier this year the City of Charlottesville announced that they would be giving the Robert E. Lee statue to the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center to be melted down to create public artwork that will “reflect racial justice,”

WORT Alum and the current General Manager of WTJU 91.1 FM at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Nathan Moore, joins Friday Buzz host, Brian Standing, to talk more about this.

 

 

(Images courtesy of James DeMers on pixabay and Nathan Moore)

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Today’s media over-emphasizes the issues surrounding white males in society and under-emphasizes the problems of women of color in the U. S., according to Andrea L. Press, co-author of the book “Media-Ready Feminism and Everyday Sexism“. In her book, she evaluates the portrayal of women in some of our popular media, including television (think about the comparisons of coverage of Trump vs. Hillary Clinton), Wikipedia (which favors the achievements of men over those of women), and even Tinder.

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Brynne McBride, COO/Public Interest Attorney for the non-profit ABC for Health, which provides advocacy and health benefits counseling, talks with Jan about the upcoming ACA open enrollment deadlines (December 15 for January 1 coverage, and January 15 for February 1 coverage). Their group works with individuals directly to wade through the plethora of options and help find the best coverage, including Medicaid and Badgercare Plus, for their personal needs.

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Today on the Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Dr. Damita Brown, Tynnetta Jackson and Pastor Charles Watkins, co-founders of Solomons Outreach and Urban Learning Sessions (SOULS) join us to talk about the work they are doing in Milwaukee, reaching out to the community through their cafes and working to reduce violence and change the climate of the city.

Keep up with SOULS on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/soulssessions/ or through Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice at http://www.wnpj.org/ 

Listen in Madison at 89.9FM or online anywhere at wortfm.org.  Support your community radio with a donation online at wortfm.org!

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Tynnetta Jackson co-founder and Director of Solomons Outreach and Urban Learning Sessions (SOULS) which host monthly community and virtual informational Cafes, and currently works with the Medical College of Wisconsin to host monthly science cafes. She has been a long time community leader, activist, organizer and motivational speaker. 

Pastor Charles Watkins is a graduate of Arkansas Baptist College, the Morris Booker Seminary, and a United States Air Force veteran, he is the pastor of King Solomon M.B.C. and co-founder of SOULS.

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Today on the Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Dr. Damita Brown, Dr. Crystal Ellis, Community Power Building Manager from Freedom, Inc joins us to talk about Freedom, Inc’s plans for the future, her research, and the impact on community organizing caused by the rulings in the trial for the murder of Amuad Arbery and of Kyle Rittenhouse for the murder of Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and wounding of Gaige Grosskreutz.

More on Freedom, Inc: https://www.freedom-inc.org/ or https://www.facebook.com/AboutFreedomInc 

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Community Power Building Manager, Dr. Crystal Ellis  (she/her/hers) is an organizer manager  within Freedom Inc. In addition to her work here, she is a writer and published author. Before coming to Freedom Inc. Dr. Ellis conducted research in Milwaukee, Nova Scotia, North Carolina and Washington D.C. Her research has focused on Black communities, Black liberation and community development. 

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WORT 89.9FM Madison · Eastside Winter Market

Just about a month ago, the beloved local publication Tone Madison announced that it would begin the process of converting to a worker-owned cooperative model. Now they are doing all they can to financially support that goal and turn the dream into reality.

Joining Friday Buzz host, Kai Brito, to talk about the Eastside Winter Market and subsequent fundraising concert is Scott Gordon and Jennifer Bastian. Scott is the Editor-in-chief of Tone Madison and Jennifer is the director of Communication Madison.

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