WORT 89.9FM Madison · Children’s Theater of Madison’s “Calabasas Street”

Children’s Theater of Madison’s production “Calabasas Street” is running now till Sunday March, 27th and is a story of unlikely friends, second chances and the transformative power of art. The theater reached out to Midwest Mujeres who helped them connect with a group of local third graders at Lincoln Elementary. The children were given workshops to help them learn about Latinx culture and the Spanish language while making 83 mini pinatas for the production.

Joining Friday Buzz host, Peter Haney, to talk about the production and the project to make the pinatas is Araceli Esparza, the founder of Midwest Mujeres, and Simona Simkins, the Associate Director of the production at the Children’s Theater.

 

 

(Image courtesy of Children’s Theater of Madison)

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WORT 89.9FM Madison · The Forced Relocation of Japanese and Japanese Mexicans during WWII

Last week, to parallel an exhibit at the Jewish Museum of Milwaukee – “Then They Came for Me: Incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII and the Demise of Civil Liberties” – the Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies organized a series of lectures to tell the stories of Japanese Latin American populations during the same time period.

Dr. Jerry Garcia, headed the series with “Inside an Invisible Iron Wall: The Forced Relocation of Japanese and Japanese Mexicans during World War II.” Dr. Garcia received his Ph.D. in Mexican and Chicano history from Washington State University and focuses his research on Chicana/o History, Labor, Latin American and Mexican History, Asians in the Americas, immigration, empire, masculinity, and race in the Americas. He joins Friday Buzz host, Peter Haney, to talk more about this.

 

 

(Images courtesy Hans on Pixabay and Jerry Garcia)

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WORT 89.9FM Madison · James Webb Telescope Is Ready to Look into the Darkest Reaches of the Universe.

On March 16th, the $9 billion James Webb telescope sent a test infrared image from its current orbit 930,000 miles from Earth. 

The simple image, focused on a single, brilliant star, represented the culmination of decades of planning, a dangerous and unpredictable launch, and months of painstaking calibration. 

Even this simple test image hints of why the Webb telescope has the astronomy community so excited: in the background you can make out what are clearly distant galaxies.

Dr. Kenneth Sembach joins today to discuss his work as the Director of NASA’s Space Telescope Science Institute, which oversees the James Webb mission.

Dr. Sembach received his doctorate in astronomy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and won the Newton Lacy Pierce Prize in astronomy in 2001. 

 

Image Courtesy: Aldebaran S / UNSPLASH

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WORT 89.9FM Madison · Exotic Pet Surrender Event in Wisconsin

Do you have a boa constrictor, a ferret, or an iguana that you can no longer care for? Don’t release the critter in the wild!

J&R Aquatic Animal Rescue and the Aldo Leopold Center have an exotic pet surrender event happening on April 9th.

J&R’s Director, John Moyles, joins to discuss what happens when people can no longer take care of nontraditional pets.

 

Image courtesy: Claudio Guglieri / UNSPLASH

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“Holding Israel Accountable” is the theme of the Rachel Corrie Commemoration, sponsored by Madison Rafah Sister City Project. Israel has been listed as an apartheid state by both Amnesty International and Human Rights watch, according to Cassandra Dixon and Rowan Attala from the Rafah Project. The commemoration, in honor of the 19th anniversary of the death U.S. peace activist who was crushed by an Israeli bulldozer while trying to peacefully prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home. Registration for tonight’s 7 PM virtual (March 16, 2022) commemoration, which includes a panel of presenters and a Q&A afterwards, can be found on the Rafah Sister City website.

 

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Bailout Watch monitors how the oil industry uses federal bailout money to their enrichment. Christopher Kuveke talks to Jan Miyasaki about a recent article showing how oil company executives have been taking advantage of high oil prices stimulated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine to cash out millions of dollars of their stocks.

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Despite hardened encasements at the nuclear plants in Ukraine, the facilities are not bomb proof, according to Kevin Kamps from Beyond Nuclear. Outside the encasements are electrical and water supplies which must be maintained or the reactors will overheat, and these were put at risk by recent Russian attacks at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plants. In addition, a workforce of 211 workers have been held hostage at the Chernobyl facility for two weeks with no relief to the workers.

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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/ 

Provided Photo

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 

Provided Photo

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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