8 O'Clock Buzz

Today on the Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Dr. Damita Brown, Mike Bernhard, a longtime Madison activist and union member joins us to talk about the Movement for People’s Party, the new political party that he is working with, born in the ashes of the Sanders campaign for president and looking to move the country forward in better and positive ways!

More on Movement for a People’s Party and to sign up and get information about the local group: https://peoplesparty.org/ 

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Mike Bernhard comes from a long line of working class rowdies.   In 1942, when his father asked his prospective father-in-law If he would be welcome at the dinner table, the reply was “if there is a union ticket in your pocket.”  His mother’s parents were Townsend Plan (precursor to social security) supporters and his father helped break the color barrier in his local union (IBEW 357 Las Vegas) in the mid 1950’s. 

His military experiences (being stationed in Memphis before the civil rights and voting rights laws were passed and then serving in Vietnam) formed his views on the U.S. and its foreign and domestic policies.   

Fast forward to Madison 1993:  Mike is a member of IBEW 159, delegate to South Central Federation of Labor, Apprenticeship instructor at MATC, member AFT 2100, building steward, member of the stewards council, steward representative to the executive board, member of the bargaining bargaining committee and a national convention delegate. 

He retired in 2012, after the Act 10 law was passed because no one was willing to fight the injustices.  Currently, he is working with The Movement for People’s Party a new emerging political organization that rose from the ashes of Senator Sanders 2016 run for the presidency.   They are not officially a party yet, but it is their goal.

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Today on the Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Dr. Damita Brown, Jessica Gilkison, a volunteer with the Literary Arts Team at Arts + Literature Laboratory joins us to talk about her story, her writing, and all about the Lab and its programs!  Arts Lit Lab is open to the public.

More on Arts + Literature Lab:https://artlitlab.org/ and ALL Review: https://artlitlab.org/all-review

Selections from 200+ Upcoming Events at The Lab:

Saturday 3/26 – Poetry reading and dedication of the Mezzanine and Small-press Library in honor of Ellen Kort: https://artlitlab.org/events/ellen-kort-celebration 

Summer Camps: https://artlitlab.org/summercamp 

Watershed Reading Series on the Third Saturday of each month: https://artlitlab.org/programs/literary-arts/readings 

Writing (and drawing) workshops for all genres from graphic novels to screenplays to novels and memoirs: https://artlitlab.org/programs/literary-arts/writing-classes-workshops 

An excerpt from Jessica’s memoir: https://catapult.co/users/stories/excerpt-from-even-and-especially-12-month-memoir-generator-jessica-gilkison/edit 

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Jessica Gilkison was born and raised in Madison by a mom who showed her it was never too late to start writing. First, though, she drove the Wienermobile, went to law school, worked in health and disability advocacy, and taught graduate and professional students. Now, Jessica volunteers on the Literary Team at Arts+Literature Laboratory where she hosts online Write-Ins and is the editor of ALL Review. She writes personal essays, flash nonfiction, and is working on her first book, a memoir. Jessica’s work has appeared in the anthology, The Walls Between Us: Essays In Search of Truth. She and her husband have two dogs and a kid in college.

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Despite Biden’s campaign promise to end support to Saudi Arabia in their war against Yemen, little has been accomplished to fulfill that promise, according to Hassen El-Tayyab, Legislative Director for Middle East Policy for the Friends Committee on National Legislation. The U.S. continues to provide logistic, weapons, and political support to the Saudi bombardment of Yemen, where 400,000 children suffer from malnutrition and lack of clean water. But two lawmakers, Reps. Pramila Jayapal and Peter DeFazio will be introducing a new Yemen War Powers Resolution to re-assert Congressional war authority on March 25th, the 7th anniversary of the Saudi war against Yemen.

And the media is blatantly displaying racism by only adequately covering a war between white people.

Call 1-833-STOP-WAR to voice your support.

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Currently located in the suburbs of Kyiv, Andre Kamenshikov is a representative of Nonviolence International, and has been an activist in the peacebuilding field in conflict areas of the ex-USSR since 1992 and as such worked in the regions of Transnistria, Abkhazia, Chechnya and others. He gives insight to the war in Ukraine, which, contrary to popular belief, has been waged for over 8 years by Russian meddling resulting in civil war and the annexation of Crimean Peninsula by Russia.

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Today on the Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Dr. Damita Brown, Sunnivie Brydum, Editorial Director of Yes! Media, publishers of Yes! Magazine.  She joins us to talk about her story, solutions journalism, Yes! Magazine, their movement into other media, the fight against corporatization and globalization, and the importance of consuming and supporting independent journalism!

More on Yes! Magazine: https://www.yesmagazine.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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Sunnivie Brydum (she/they) is the editorial director at YES! Media, where she leads the editorial team and manages daily operations. Prior to joining YES! in 2019, Sunnivie made a name for herself as an award-winning investigative journalist, covering numerous aspects of LGBTQ equality, both in the U.S. and abroad. As managing editor of The Advocate, she led coverage of the nationwide embrace of marriage equality, and was one of the few out journalists on the ground covering the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando. Her writing has appeared in outlets ranging from Vox and Bustle to Religion Dispatches, among others. She graduated from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, and speaks English and Spanish.

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Join the Senegambia Women’s Association and their virtual celebration of the 8th Annual International Women’s Day on March 5th, 2022, from 4-6PM. Jainaba Sissoho talks about the event, their keynote speakers, Angela Russel, Teddie Potter, and Ayomi Obuseh. More information is on their Facebook page.

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The Wisconsin Women of Color Network (WWOCN) brings together women of color throughout the state to share their successes in the community. Carrie Braxton from WWOCN joins Jan Miyasaki to talk about the upcoming Women’s History Month Achievement Awards Event, honoring leaders in public service, education, business and industry in Wisconsin, being held in-person on March 26th from 10:30-2:30. More information can be found on their website.

The 2022 honorees and their respective field of achievement are:

Martha Stacker, PhD, African American, Public Service

Nicole Soulier, American Indian, Education

Deepika Rajesh, Asian American, Business & Industry, Community Service

Nancy Gallegos, Latina, Workforce Management, Business & Industry, Pubic Service

A Lifetime Community Service Award will be presented to Dana Warren, Retired.

Valentina Ahedo will receive a Special Recognition Award for Exemplary Leadership.

 

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Today on the Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Dr. Damita Brown, Lisa Henner from Driftless Writing Center joins us for the whole hour to talk about writing, inspiration, chickens and what she’s working on.

More on Driftless Writing Center: https://www.driftlesswritingcenter.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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Lisa Henner prepared to write fiction by working as a hotel desk clerk, a hog futures trader, an English teacher, a wealth manager, an organic chicken farmer, and by raising two children. She holds a BA from Washington University in St. Louis; her graduate work at De Paul University, Chicago,  focused on teaching writing to middle school students. 

Originally from the Chicago area, Lisa now lives in Viroqua, Wisconsin, with her husband and two dogs. She co-founded the Driftless Writing Center in 2010 to support writers of all ages and stages of craft. She’s currently working on her first novel.

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In this February 2022 episode, Sikowis catches up with guests, Evette Padilla and Kate Keller, about the Zapatista community in Chiapas. Due to harsh living conditions created by colonial oppression, in January 1994, the Indigenous Zapatista Army of National Liberation declared war on the Mexican Government, demanding “work, land, housing, food, health, education, independence, liberty, democracy, justice and peace. Here in the US, there have been several groups across the nation that have supported their move towards sovereignty such as the Chiapas Support Committee, a grassroots collective based in Oakland, California that serves as a center for education and information about Chiapas, the Zapatista communities and Mexico. They have worked with Indigenous Zapatista communities since 1998 to support and accompany their process of constructing autonomous (self-governing) institutions such as health care, education and economic production.

The Chiapas Support Committee supports the Zapatista autonomous education system through the construction of schools, providing supplies for teachers and students. They also support the production of indiginous foods by purchasing from Zapatista cooperatives in Chiapas at the price the co-op members set, selling those products in the San Francisco Bay Area and returning any profits to the Zapatista communities. The committee even assists and accredits applicants to study at the Oventik Language School, a language school for activists to study either Spanish or a Mayan language. 

More on Chiapas Support Committee at https://chiapas-support.org/

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

Guests

Evette Padilla is Chumash and Civil Rights ParalegalI who lives in Oakland. She is a Board Member of the Chiapas Support Committee who instantly admired and respected the work of The Zapatistas upon first learning about them in her undergraduate studies in 2003. Their existence and resistance helped her understand who she was supposed to be and she dove deeper into better understanding her own indigenous identity and strength. Almost 20 years later, that deep admiration, love and profound respect has grown ever stronger and her commitment to their endurance will be lifelong.  

Kate Keller has spent most of her life in western Montana on the ancestral territories of the Seliš, Q’lispe and Ktunaxa peoples. Her serendipitous acquaintance with the Zapatista communities in 1997-98 has shaped nearly every aspect of her life since, from activism in food and environmental justice to her current work. In addition to her work in  solidarity, she is an orchardist, growing apples and pears.

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Pete Ramand, Project Assistant at the Havens Wright Center for Social Justice, talks about an upcoming virtual talk by grass-roots organizer Kali Akuno, co-founder and co-director of Cooperation Jackson, a group supporting cooperative development, the introduction of eco-friendly and carbon reduction methods of operation, and the promotion of human rights and international relations for the city of Jackson, Mississippi. The event will be live on-line on February 23, at noon, and will be recorded and posted at the Havens Wright website at a later date.

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