A Public Affair

Next month will mark 2 years since the Supreme Court stripped us of our federal right to abortion. What does reproductive autonomy mean without Roe? 

To answer this question, two scholar activists and editors, Krystale E. Littlejohn and Rickie Solinger, gather the strongest and most resilient voices in their recently published collection of essays, FIGHTING MAD: Resisting the End of Roe v. Wade. 

Littlejohn and Solinger discuss the criminalization of abortion care, the responses by religious leaders on the issue of bodily autonomy, the problems with codifying people’s religious faith into law, and the rage and hope fueling their work.

Pick up a copy of the book to read more about the vigorous resistance contributors are putting up and the multi-faceted impacts of the Dobbs decision, which has disproportionately affected poor people and people of color.

Krystale E. Littlejohn is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Oregon and author of Just Get on the Pill: The Uneven Burden of Reproductive Politics. She is a series editor of the Reproductive Justice book series from University of California Press.

Rickie Solinger is a historian, curator, and author or editor of many books about reproductive politics, including, with Loretta Ross, Reproductive Justice: An Introduction. She is the senior editor of the Reproductive Justice book series from University of California Press.

Image courtesy of University of California Press.

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The bus system is one of the most visible aspects of city infrastructure, and it’s one of the most rapidly changing aspects of life in Madison. On today’s show, WORT News Director Chali Pittman talks with two representatives of Madison Metro Transit as we near the 1 year anniversary of the system redesign.

Mick Rusch and Jessy Stammer reflect on some of the hiccups with the network redesign, including the removal of the transfer point system. And they celebrate the advancements that will give us the Bus Rapid Transit system starting in the fall. Once the bus charging stations are ready (sometime in July) Madison Metro Transit will announce an official launch date for the BRT.

Rusch and Stammer preview some of the changes that will come with the BRT. Riders can expect new automatic ticket machines and 62 new all electric articulated buses. Some of these buses are being tested on the roads, and drivers say they’re easier to drive because they take turns better. The new buses will be able to carry 120 persons (including standing room) compared to the current 80 passenger capacity per bus. 

Rush and Stammer also dive into the nitty gritty of gaps in Northside service, where you can store your bike on the new articulated buses (in the back of the bus!), better signage for upcoming rides, and the new GPS tracking platform. Overall, they say ridership is up, and in April Metro Transit served 954,000 riders!

Mick Rusch is the Chief Development Officer at Madison Metro Transit, and Jessy Stammer is Metro Transit’s Marketing and Customer Service Manager. 

Find out more about the BRT upgrades at mymetrobus.com and send your questions and comments to [email protected] 

Photo courtesy of Chali Pittman/WORT.

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MMoCA’s new Director, Paul Baker Prindle has Madison roots. He worked at the museum store 25 years ago and attended both Edgewood College and UW–Madison. Now, as he steps into his new role at MMoCA, he joins host Douglas Haynes to talk about how to find joy in the experience of contemporary art. 

During Baker Prindle’s first few weeks on the job, he’s been thinking about what it means “to museum.” He says that museums are buildings that have a community, and MMoCA has an important role to play in Madison’s vibrant downtown life. Baker Prindle and other museum staff believe it’s their responsibility to make sure that MMoCA is an inclusive, community oriented space and a resource for Wisconsin artists. 

For some folks, art museums are still rarified spaces. But Baker Prindle says that all are welcome at MMoCA. He advises that you don’t have to see all the art in one visit. Rather, take your time, look for patterns and repetitions, and trust your instincts on what you like and enjoy.

Currently on view at MMoCA is Entering the Unconscious, an exhibit curated by the eleven high school students that make up the Teen Forum. This program offers mentoring and training to young people so they can gain the professional skills to access museum work and the art world. Baker Prindle says he’s looking forward to this year’s Art Fair on the Square, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, July 13 and 14. Like MMoCA’s exhibits, the fair is free to attend. 

Paul Baker Prindle is the Gabriele Haberland Director of the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. Prior to starting this job, Baker Prindle was the Director of the Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum at California State University, Long Beach. Baker Prindle’s photography is even featured at MMoCA.

The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art is always admission-free. Its vision is to be an organization that fosters the exchange of ideas and creates experiences that will inspire a wide audience; be a nexus for the work of emerging and established regional, national, and international artists; serve as a catalyst for the continued development of a vigorous community of artists; and provide a forum that will encourage people to be challenged by, reflect on, and make connections between art and the world around them. 

Photo courtesy of Chali Pittman/WORT.

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On today’s show, we spend the first half of the program with two immigration lawyers working with the Project Immigration Justice for Palestinians. Project IJP is a coalition of organizations and immigration attorneys as an emergency response to the crisis in Gaza. Ban Alwardi and Amanda Gennerman join host Esty Dinur to talk about the opportunities available to Palestinian refugees and as well as outline the barriers they face. Project IJP accepts support here.

Then, Jewish Social Services of Madison‘s Refugee Resettlement Director Sunday Nzitatira joins Esty to talk about his experience as a immigrant from Rwanda and the support that JSS provides to refugees from any country.

Ban Alwardi is a California-based immigration law attorney. Ban serves as a Co-Coordinator for Project Immigration Justice for Palestinians and offers attorney support and pro bono representation for Palestinian US Citizens and Green Card holders who seek to be reunited with loved ones in Gaza through the immigration process. Ban is an anti-war, anti-imperialist life-long activist and also serves as a writing mentor for Palestinian students in Gaza through the We Are Not Numbers (WANN) campaign.

Amanda Gennerman is a Wisconsin based immigration law attorney practicing in the field ofsince 2003.  She is a partner at the Madison law firm Pines Bach LLP. Mandy serves as a Co-Coordinator for Project Immigration Justice for Palestinians. Mandy is likewise a Co-Founder and Board Member of the Community Immigration Law Center based in Madison, WI.  She serves as the Pro Bono Coordinator of the WI Chapter of American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). Her Pro Bono service has been recognized by the Dane County Bar Association, WI Chapter of AILA and State Bar of Wisconsin.

Sunday Nzitatira is Jewish Social Services of Madison’s Refugee Resettlement Director and oversees the transition for every client. He is originally from Rwanda and speaks 7 different languages.

Image by Karen Sandler from Pixabay

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In his recent piece for The New Yorker, Dan Kaufman writes about a progress bid for the U.S. Senate by  full-time community organizer Zach Shrewsbury. Kaufman joins host Allen Ruff to talk about the coal industry, it’s relationship with labor in West Virginia, and the how it has shaped the state’s politics.

Dan Kaufman is a contributor to The New York Times Magazine and The New Yorker. He is the author of The Fall of Wisconsin: The Conservative Conquest of a Progressive Bastion and the Future of American Politics.

Image by Pavlo from Pixabay

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Within the last couple of months, two of the most powerful women in the music industry dropped highly anticipated albums. At the end of April, Beyoncé hit us with her country album: Cowboy Carter. About 3 weeks later Taylor Swift released The Tortured Poets Department. These two albums came after they both went on massive tours in 2023: Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour and Taylor’s Eras Tour–which is still going on internationally.

Today, host Ali Muldrow talks about the financial power of these two stars and their loyal followers with Misty Heggeness.

 Misty Heggeness is an associate professor of public affairs and economics at the University of Kansas. Previously she worked as a principal economist and senior advisor for the U.S. Census Bureau. Misty is the creator of Swiftynomics 101, non-traditional and free economics curriculum and teaching materials. Her research focuses on poverty & inequality, gender economics, and the high-skilled workforce and has appeared in outlets like The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR, The Economist, and Science. Her forthcoming book is Swiftynomics: Women in Today’s Economy

Image by Ronald Woan on Flickr used under Creative Commons license

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[This show originally broadcast on March 20th, 2024]

In her latest book, Unshrinking: How to Face Fatphobia author Kate Manne uses intimate stories and sharp analysis to explain why anti-fatness has become a vital social justice issue. She joins host Richelle Wilson on today’s A Public Affair to discuss the harms caused by both blatant and subtle fatphobia.

“Between two thirds and three quarters of us by some measures are fat; and yet, we often regard ourselves as really a thin person waiting to emerge victorious after the next diet or exercise program,” Manne tells us. The feminist moral philosopher goes on to say that because of this perception, we don’t stand together in solidarity, instead  “we try to change ourselves rather than work on changing the systemic oppression that I argue is really what’s plaguing us.”

Kate Manne is an associate professor of philosophy at Cornell University, where she’s been teaching since 2013. Before that, she was a junior fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows. Manne did her graduate work in philosophy at MIT. Her previous books are Down Girl and Entitled.

Photo by Diana Polekhina on Unsplash

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From the first day in police academy to the last day on the force, police officers are told that they could be injured or killed at any moment. No traffic stop or neighborly dispute comes without the risk of violence. The day they let their guard home is the night they don’t go home to their families–or that’s what they believe. Through more than 100 interviews and 1,000 hours riding along on patrol, Michael Sierra-Arévalo outlines a culture that desensitizes violence and values officer safety above all.

Sierra-Arévalo joins host A Public Affair host Jade Iseri-Ramos to talk about The Danger Imperative: Violence, Death, and the Soul of Policing (Columbia University Press). The book is an on the ground report of modern policing. They discuss the training, networks of communication, and on the patrol experiences that further the use of violence by officers.  Sierra-Arévalo argues that in part, “violence is actually not unintentional in policing. That is that is the point of the institution.”

Michael Sierra-Arévalo is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Texas at Austin. His writing and research have been featured in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, GQ, Vox, NPR, and other outlets. From 2020 to 2023, he served on the City of Austin’s Public Safety Commission. He holds a PhD in sociology from Yale University.

Photo by AJ Colores on Unsplash

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It has been over a year since fighting broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces and its paramilitary rival the Rapid Support Forces. The war has caused millions to be displaced, with even more facing acute hunger and famine.

Dr. Khalid Mustafa Medani is the author of the recently published piece The Struggle for Sudan for the Middle East Research and Information Project. He joins host Esty Dinur to explain the the current state of the crisis in Sudan and the power clashing that caused it.

Dr. Khalid Mustafa Medani is Director of the Institute of Islamic Studies and Chair of the African Studies Program and  Associate Professor with Department of Political Science and the Islamic Studies Institute at McGill University. He is the author of the book Black Markets and Militants: Informal Networks in the Middle East and Africa.

Image used under Creative Common Licensing in the Public Domain via rawpixel.com

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In a recent piece for the American Friends Service Committee, Yousef Aljamal says that the population of Rafah has increased more than 5 times. With the Israel’s invasion on Rafah which began earlier this week, the Al-Mawasi Area has been designated safe for Palestinians. However, Aljaml writes, “Asking Palestinians to evacuate there will only increase their suffering and possibly lead to more deaths.”

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