A Public Affair

After more than 10 years on A Public Affair, host Carousel Bayrd is stepping away from the show. To celebrate, we have a round table of colleagues and friends who work in different realms of local government. Analiese Eicher, Jenni Dye, and Ali Muldrow join Carousel to talk about the unique challenges they have each faced and why they keep showing up day after day.

Please email any parting messages for Carousel to [email protected]

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Today we are continuing our conversation about reproductive rights with an intuitive from University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health. The Collaborative for Reproductive Equity (CORE) conducts and translates rigorous, interdisciplinary research to inform policies and programs so that all Wisconsinites may live with reproductive autonomy.

CORE’s Zakiyyah Sorensen and Mfonobong Ufot join host Ali Muldrow to talk about the work and the reality of doing reproductive research in this political climate. 

About the guests:

Zakiyyah Sorensen is the Outreach Manager and Engagement Hub Director for CORE. She is a Registered Nurse (RN) and a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Nursing. She specializes in sexual and reproductive healthcare and public health. In her role at CORE Zakiyyah directs the strategic planning and vision for outreach and engagement and builds community stakeholder networks with organizations and individuals to support their reproductive health goals.  Her approach emphasizes reproductive and knowledge justice principles as guiding frameworks for collective liberation.

Mfonobong “Mfon” Ufot is the Research Program Coordinator for CORE. Mfon was born in Nigerian, raised in Maryland, and came to Madison for undergrad as a Posse scholar. She double majored in Agriculture & Applied Economics, International studies with a certificate in Gender & Women’s studies. Mfon’s primary role at CORE is to coordinate research activities, administratively support the center, and manage CORE’s undergraduate internship program.

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Between 2010 and 2020 the population in Madison grew by nearly 37,000 people according to census data; however, the city’s housing supply didn’t keep up. As we grapple with reality of housing access, and parse out the fight among home owners, renters, and developers, host Christina Lieffring brings the legacy of segregationist housing policies into the conversation. 

Economist and best selling author Richard Rothstein joins the show to talk about his latest book Just Action: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law. The book offers concrete answers and solutions to historical inequities. Just Action was co-written by Leah Rothstein, Richard’s daughter and housing policy expert in her own right.

Richard Rothstein is a Distinguished Fellow of the Economic Policy Institute and a Senior Fellow (emeritus) at the Thurgood Marshall Institute of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. He is the author of The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America.

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Our topic today: war.

We start the hour with Christopher Gunness in a discussion over the killing of aid workers and the role of refugee aid agencies in Gaza. He is Executive Director of the Myanmar Accountability Project, and former spokesperson for UNRWA, a Palestinian refugee relief agency that Israel, in recent days, has proposed dismantling in exchange for permitting more humanitarian aid in Gaza.

Then for the rest of the hour, we turn our sights closer to home, and speak to the troupe putting on a production of Mother Courage Alone ahead of their three-performance run this weekend. The play, from Fermat’s Last Theater Company, is an adaption of Bertolt Brecht’s 1939 antiwar play Mother Courage and Her Children. 

Director David Simmons, and professors Nam Kim and Marc Silberman join Esty in the studio to talk about the production. The play, they say, is “a searing portrayal on stage of what we now see daily in the media.” The play opens tonight, Friday April 5, at 7:30pm, and will be followed by a discussion with Nan Kim on the origins and causes for war.

It will have additional afternoon performances this weekend on Saturday, April 6 and Sunday, April 7 at 2pm. All performances are at the Arts + Literature Laboratory. Admission is free and open to the public. More information is at fermatstheater.org.

About the guests: 

Christopher Gunness is the former chief spokesperson for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine refugees.  He is the founder and Executive Director of the Myanmar Accountability Project, which works to build criminal cases against individual members of the Myanmar security forces. Gunness covered the 1988 democracy uprising in what was then Burma for the BBC, where he worked for 23 years. He later joined the United Nations as Director of Strategic Communications and Advocacy in the Middle East. You can follow him on Twitter @MyanmarAProject.

Marc Silberman is Professor Emeritus at UW-Madison, where he studies and teaches the history of German literature, culture, political theater and cinema. He has translated and edited many works on Brecht and German culture.

Nam Kim is an anthropological archaeologist interested in sociopolitical complexity, and an Associate Professor of Anthropology at UW-Madison. He is the co-author of the book Emergent Warfare in Our Evolutionary Past (Routledge, 2018).  He is himself a child of war — his Korean father met his Vietnamese mother during the Vietnam War, and they fled in the exodus of 1975.

David Simmons is the founder of Fermat’s Last Theater Company, which he has directed since 2013. The free theater never charges admission, and prides itself on documentary theater that confronts issues of political and social inequality.

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“The story of the American GIs’ opposing the war was very deeply buried under the mythology of an antiwar movement that hated soldiers–that spat on them when they came home… I really set out to correct the historic record. And I think it’s an extremely important correction because it completely changes people’s understanding of what happened in the 60s.”

That is filmmaker David Zieger speaking with host Allen Ruff about his GI antiwar movement film Sir! No Sir! The film, which came out in 2005, chronicles the resistance and antiwar activities of U.S. troops during the Vietnam War.

Zeiger will be attending a viewing of Sir! No Sir! on Wednesday, April 10th at 7pm at the Wisconsin Historical Society. This event is part of series called Waging Peace in Vietnam.

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Last week, the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that is attempting to limit access to Mifepristone. That’s the of of the medications that is used in a majority of abortions. This is the first case regarding abortion access that the court has heard since Roe was overturned in 2022.

Criminal Defense Attorney and some-times host of this show Jessa Nicholson Goetz joins host Ali Muldrow to talk about this case thus far and the legal unpinning of abortion access. Jessa is the founding partner of Nicholson Gets & Otis, S.C., and is widely regarded as one of the most skilled sensitive crimes defense attorneys in the State of Wisconsin.

Image by Robin Marty via Flickr. https://flic.kr/p/2dnWDGF

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In his forthcoming book, Seek Higher Ground: The Natural Solution to Our Urgent Flooding Crisis, Tim Palmer lays out the history and legacy in the US and explores the reality of worsening flood risks and impacts in light of the climate crisis. Host Sara Gabler welcomes Tim on this flooding episode of A Public Affair. Sara and Tim are also joined by  two representatives of the Coon Creek Community Watershed Council, a conservation non-profit based in Coon Valley, Wisconsin. 

Together they offer both a nation-wide and Southern Wisconsin specific perspective on the impact of flooding, the importance of understanding your flood risk, and the value of community efforts toward flood mitigation.

Tim Palmer is photographer, writer, and former land-use planner. He is the author of more than thirty books, and we’ll be discussing his last book, published this month by the University of California Press, called Seek Higher Ground: The Natural Solution to Our Urgent Flooding Crisis. Among many honors for his work and his books, he has received a Conservation Achievement Award from the National Wildlife Federation, the Ansel Adams Award for Photography from the Sierra Club, the Lifetime Achievement Award from American Rivers, and the National Outdoor Book Award.

The Coon Creek Community Watershed Council is a non-profit based in southern Wisconsin. Its mission is to continue the historic legacy of conservation leadership in the Coon Creek Watershed as stewards of the land, water, and air.

Nancy Wedwick is an educator, lawyer, organizer, grandparent, fifth generation Coon Valley resident, and president of the Coon Creek Community Watershed Council, a nonprofit she and her neighbors formed in response to increasingly severe flooding in their region. While generating flood resilience may be one of the Council’s immediate goals, Nancy ultimately sees her work as part of a movement to build collaborations within and across watersheds, and to imagine a safer and more sustainable future for her community. She is passionate about enhancing watershed literacy by nurturing the relationships linking people to each other and to the lands and waters they share.

Sydney Widell is the council’s Watershed Coordinator. She began collaborating with the council as a masters student at UW-Madison.

Photo by jim gade on Unsplash of Odana road in Madison in August 2018

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On today’s special A Public Affair we talk about three films coming to the Wisconsin Film Festival

We kick off the show with a conversation about Goodbye Julia with actress Siran Riak who plays the title character. Goodbye Julia is the debut film by Sudanese filmmaker Mohamed Kordofani, and tells the story of an unlikely friendship between a North Sudanese housewife and a South Sudanese maid. The film will have 2 showings at the Wisconsin Film Festival: Saturday, Apr 6th, 11:00 AM at Chazen Museum of Art and Monday, Apr 8th, 11:30 AM at Flix Brewhouse.

Then, we talk with Angels of Dirt creator and director Wendy Schneider. The movie charts the life and career of Flat Track racer Charlotte Kainz, who tragically died at the age of 20. Angels of Dirt is having it’s Wisconsin premiere on Sunday, April 7th at  7:00 PM at the Barrymore Theatre.

We finish our Film Fest preview with One With the Whale co-director Peter Chelkowski. One With the Whale follows one  Alaskan family’s struggle to find a way to live with Ancient Indigenous values, feed themselves despite the global climate crisis, and grapple with the cruel reality of social media. The film is showing in Madison on Friday, April 5th at 6:00 PM at Music Hall.

In the final 10 minutes, Esty Dinur talks with Halah Ahmad about the Uninstructed Campaign and the Listen to Wisconsin effort. Listen to Wisconsin is a grassroots effort to represent Wisconsin voters’ demands for a ceasefire and serious efforts towards peace in Gaza by voting in the Democratic Presidential Primary for an “Uninstructed Delegation” on Tuesday, April 2nd.

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How do we understand the contemporary global role of the US, the once reigning imperial superpower? Where might things be headed? These are the questions host Allen Ruff asks global historian Alfred McCoy on today’s A Public Affair. They talk in part about a recent McCoy wrote for Tom Dispatch “The American Empire in (Ultimate?) Crisis.”

Profressor McCoy will be moderating a panel discussion titled “Soldiers in Revolt” on Tuesday, April 2nd at the Wisconsin Historical Society Auditorium from 5pm to 7pm.

Alfred W. McCoy is the Harrington professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the author of In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of US Global Power. His newest book is To Govern the Globe: World Orders and Catastrophic Change (Dispatch Books).

Photo by Stéphan Valentin on Unsplash

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There are two referendums relating to the election process on the April 2nd ballot. If they are passed by voters, they would immediately amend the Wisconsin Constitution. Voters will see more referendums in August and November. They are part of an increasing reliance of ballot referendums by state Republicans to make constitutional changes and propel a conservative agenda. 

Today’s guest, journalist Jack Kelly tells host Jessa Nicholson Goetz that historically referendums were either government functions or very classically Wisconsin things. “Some of the previous amendments that we’ve seen were changing things about the way that fees were collected, or codifying the right to hunt and fish.” He goes on to say, “the amendments that we see now are rooted in policy arguments and policy disputes between the Republican controlled legislature and Governor Evers.”

Jack Kelly is the statehouse reporter at Wisconsin Watch. He previously was a Wisconsin Watch contributing reporter on judicial and environmental issues and covered the statehouse for the Capital Times. He has a bachelor’s degree from UW-Madison and a master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

Photo by Chali Pittman for WORT News

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