On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes speaks with Sasha Waters about her new documentary, Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World, that premiered last week on PBS’s American Masters series. The film profiles the life and legacy of one of America’s greatest poets who passed away in 2019.

Waters says that the film has the structure of a musical, biographical insights interspersed with poetry readings by some of Oliver’s greatest fans, including Stephen Colbert and Jason Reynolds. Waters sourced readers, in part, by looking through TikTok videos of people with wild geese tattoos. The numerous readers create a dialog with Oliver’s vast catalog of poetry, both well-known and new.

Making a documentary about Mary Oliver was a difficult task because Oliver was very private for much of her life. But in her later life, Oliver became more outspoken, making comments about climate change and revealing her childhood sexual abuse. They also discuss Oliver’s attunement to vulnerability and politics of hope. 

You can view the documentary on PBS Wisconsin.

Sasha Waters has produced and directed nearly two dozen documentary, experimental, and short essay films, many of which originate in 16mm. She is also a Professor of Film at Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts in Richmond, Virginia.

Featured image of flying geese by Enoch Leung on Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

The post New Documentary Pays Tribute to Poet Mary Oliver appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today’s show, host Esty Dinur is joined by Amy Goodman and Tia Lessin to highlight their new documentary, Steal This Story, Please!. The film will screen at The Barrymore Theatre on Saturday, September 5 at 7:30 pm. 

The film presents Goodman’s career in journalism alongside touchpoints from Democracy Now!’s broadcast repertoire, like their early coverage of brutality in East Timor. The title Steal This Story, Please! comes from Goodman’s desire for Democracy Now!’s reporting to travel far and wide. Lessin calls it a “plucky” title that also describes the public’s right to truth and accountability. Over the years, the Democracy Now! team has seen their reporting lead to positive change, yet there have been times when it couldn’t do so.

They share memories of Dolly Parton and other musicians who have played on Democracy Now! over the years and how their family histories shape their work and values. Mainly, they discuss the importance of independent media. For Goodman and Lessin, amplifying voices, bearing witness, and mentoring other journalists make this work a moral practice. Goodman says that the media like Democracy Now! And WORT gives voice to the “silenced majority.”

Amy Goodman is the host and executive producer of Democracy Now!, a national, daily, independent, award-winning news program airing on over 1,400 public television and radio stations worldwide.

Tia Lessin is an Academy Award nominated filmmaker. Along with Carl Deal, she founded Elsewhere Films in 2007 to create documentary films of cultural relevance, social purpose and artistic integrity.

Featured image of the documentary, Steal This Story, Please!. 

The post Independent Media Gives Voice to the Silenced Majority appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

This week a Supreme Court decision has, in the dissenting words of Justice Ketanj Brown Jackson, contributed to “pre-election chaos” ahead of the Midterms. The decision upholds a March executive order that sought to limit mail-in voting and stoke fears about immigrants. However, Wisconsin election officials are moving ahead with their regular plan for administering the election. To make sense of the decision in historical context and how it could impact voters, host Bert Zipperer is joined by two local experts, TR Edwards and Kristin Hansen. 

Edwards describes the context of the recent SCOTUS decision, going as far back as the 1965 Voting Rights Act that enshrined the ideal of a pluralistic democracy. In the last ~20 years, Edwards says that we’ve seen an increasing lack of confidence in elections and a backsliding of the Voting Rights Act, culminating in the Louisiana v. Callais case.

Hansen says that voting early, voting by mail, and using drop boxes are more popular than ever. But conservatives are hard at work finding novel ways to disenfranchise voters, like using technology to gerrymander districts. In Wisconsin, elections are run at the municipal level, ensuring that they are secure and transparent. The rise of election denialism and outright conspiracies is nevertheless alarming, and at some point sowing chaos can turn into a form of voter suppression. 

They also discuss the  issue of Wisconsin’s Congressional maps and anti-competitive gerrymandering, the need for limits to direct campaign contributions, and more. 

You can still order an absentee ballot in Wisconsin at myvote.wi.gov. Nothing has changed about Wisconsin election administration at this time and the state has joined 25 other states in challenging this week’s SCOTUS ruling.

TR Edwards is Staff Counsel at Law Forward, Wisconsin’s only nonprofit, nonpartisan impact litigation firm focused on protecting democracy. A Milwaukee native and graduate of Marquette University Law School, TR began his career as a union organizer before becoming an attorney. He is also the proud father of three current college students. A former collegiate athlete, TR remains passionate about sports and competition, a competitive spirit he brings to his advocacy in and out of the courtroom.

Kristin Hansen is a professional voting rights advocate and a member of the board for Common Cause Wisconsin. She lives in Waukesha.

Featured image of a voter dropping a mail-in ballot into a drop box via Flickr (CC BY 2.0).

The post Wisconsin Leads in Election Security as SCOTUS Backslides appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today’s show, host Ali Muldrow speaks with the new Co-CEO and Chief People Officer for the Overture Center, Victor Patterson. They discuss the role of the arts in shaping Madison’s culture, how Patterson developed his philosophy of leadership, and the jazz music and gospel plays that shaped him.

Patterson describes how his upbringing in Chicagoland set him on a path to community building. Supported by his loving extended family and inspired by music and sports, Patterson says that he now makes decisions in order to build a strong legacy. 

Moving to Madison after decades working in corporate America, Patterson says that he stopped looking for bigger and bigger roles and instead chose Madison for the community. He says he’s ready to make a splash in this smaller pond and focus on creating seats at the table in Madison’s arts scene. 

Inclusivity and diversity are authentic realities for Patterson who wants the Overture Center to be the “social heartbeat” for communities of color in Madison and see the venue become a regional player in the arts. They also discuss how leaders build strong teams, remain open to feedback, and refuse to see harm in failure. 

Victor Patterson previously held senior human resources leadership roles with Lowe’s, H.B. Fuller and The Home Depot, where he led workforce planning, succession strategy, leadership development and organizational effectiveness efforts across regional and global teams. At Overture, Patterson  oversees the People & Culture function, influencing business strategy and driving inclusion, access and belonging initiatives as well as overall organizational culture. 

Featured image of Ali Muldrow and Victor Patterson courtesy of Sara Gabler/WORT. 

The post New Co-CEO hopes Overture becomes Madison’s “Social Heartbeat” appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today’s show, host Dana Pellebon speaks with Madison Police Chief John Patterson about the use of body-worn cameras in the Madison Police Department as well as how law enforcement can reduce bias in policing.

The issue of body-worn cameras is again in the news following the police killing of Corey Ruiz in late July. Currently, body cameras are used by MPD but only in select units. Though some have called for the city to fund their widespread deployment, others say they cannot be treated as objective sources of information, citing studies of bias in juries who review body camera footage.

Chief Patterson says that body cameras won’t end racial disparities, but they can be a useful tool if they’re accompanied by sound policy. He adds that body cameras can contribute to better transparency into first-person interactions between police officers and community members, greater opportunities for accountability related to individual performance and oversight, and improved training and professional development.

As Chief Patterson comes up on the anniversary of his first year in this role, he says he’d like to see better “quality assurance” in the way MPD trains new officers and provides professional development and ultimately a police force that fulfills procedural justice. They also discuss Madison’s district advisory boards, state statues around non-resident officers, the challenges of addressing conscious and unconscious bias in the police force, and the role of MPD in referring people to restorative courts. 

John Patterson is a 28-year veteran of the Madison Police Department and currently serves as the Chief of Police. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a master’s degree from Edgewood University. Chief Patterson has worked in every area and neighborhood of Madison. He has also been a member and held leadership positions on the Special Events Team and SWAT. Chief Patterson currently serves on the board of Safe Communities, is a member of the Rotary Club of Madison, and for many years served on the board of Madison Festivals, Inc. 

Featured image of a Minneapolis police officer wearing a body-worn camera via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).

The post Madison Police Chief Says Body Cameras Are a Tool, Not a Solution appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes speaks with renowned botanist and teacher Robin Wall Kimmerer about her new movement, Plant Baby Plant. While giving a talk a few years back, Kimmerer coined the movement in order to turn people away from the extractive logic of Drill Baby Drill and “raise a garden-gloved middle finger” to the MAGA mantra. Instead, Plant Baby Plant initiates a new cultural story that asks participants to “raise a garden and raise a ruckus.”

Kimmerer says that we need to “re-story” our relationship with plants, the land, and the rest of the non-human world. Plant Baby Plant seeks to catalyze restoration projects and revive and re-story the cultural imaginary. Kimmerer says that “the same forces degrading our natural environment are degrading our cultural environment. She wants people to trade the message of individualism we’ve been fed with one of common purpose.

Plant Baby Plant promotes people taking direct, physical actions, even small ones like converting your yard into a biodiverse carbon sink with native plants. Kimmerer calls this resistance with shovels and seeds. Yet, small acts aren’t enough. Kimmerer says we need to “raise a ruckus” by contributing to systemic change that moves away from extraction toward reciprocity. This work is urgent, and Kimmerer recommends “slowing down in our imagination and speeding up in our defense of the natural world,” following the example of organizations like The Understory Alliance.

Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, which has earned Kimmerer wide acclaim. Her first book, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses, was awarded the John Burroughs Medal for outstanding nature writing, and her other work has appeared in Orion, Whole Terrain, and numerous scientific journals. In 2022, Braiding Sweetgrass was adapted for young adults by Monique Gray Smith. This new edition reinforces how wider ecological understanding stems from listening to the earth’s oldest teachers: the plants around us. Robin’s newest book, The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World (November 2024), is a bold and inspiring vision for how to orient our lives around gratitude, reciprocity, and community, based on the lessons of the natural world.

Featured image of zinnia seedlings via BlueRidgeKitties on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). 

The post Raise a Garden, Raise a Ruckus with Robin Wall Kimmerer appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

<span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span>

Over a decade ago, Stephen Hawkins wrote that “Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, it might also be the last, unless we learn how to avoid the risks.” On today’s show, host Esty Dinur is joined by two AI researchers, Julie Derwinski and Kevin Lotto, to talk about the risks of AI and the need to stop the race for super intelligence.

Derwinski explains how AI is grown, not programmed and how much of the process is not well understood. Other forms of AI, more rudimentary and programmed, have been with us for decades. But the rise of large language models created by for-profit corporations is poorly regulated in addition to being poorly understood. Derwinski and Lotto advocate against super intelligence and work toward greater levers of consent and accountability for AI developers. 

Derwinski’s recent article reveals an instance when a “swarm” of AI agents acted in ways their creators didn’t anticipate by hacking into another company. She says that the chief danger of AI is its misuse, and this issue is front and center because of the “alignment problem.” Currently developers can’t get AI to align with human values, but if they could, there is still the problem of whose values would be prioritized. 

Lotto says that we’re watching a massive human experiment by tech companies unfold, and their goal is to shore up their power and change the world in their image. Because AI companies have trained their models to be agreeable and persuasive, he says there’s no better time than now to interact with other humans.

ControlAI Wisconsin Action Group has created a simple tool that people can use to contact their lawmakers, and they’re hosting their next meeting on August 26th at 6:00pm. You can also find the group at LaborFest and contact Julie Derwinski and Kevin Lotto on LinkedIn.

Julie Derwinski served as a Senior Staff Attorney for the Wisconsin Court of Appeals for over two decades. She now conducts AI research and education focused on governmental systems and stopping superintelligence. Her work includes co-founding ControlAI Action Group Wisconsin, a grassroots group aimed at stopping superintelligence, and collaborating with Indigenous communities to create the Tribal AI Governance Toolkit. She also works with the National Center for State Courts AI Implementer’s Forum. 

​Kevin Lotto is an AI researcher and software engineer based in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. He earned his computer science degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. ​His current focus is on AI safety and existential risk advocacy. Kevin is a public speaker and co-founded ControlAI Action Group Wisconsin with Julie Derwinski. He also volunteers for the Torchbearer Community as a digital communicator and trainer. Through these grassroots organizations, he drives legislative action and public awareness campaigns to prioritize human safety over the unchecked development of advanced artificial intelligence.

Featured image of an imagined artificial intelligence via Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0).

The post The Chief Danger of AI Is Its Misuse appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today’s show, Norman Stockwell speaks with journalist Dave Zirin about his new book, The People’s Historian: The Outsized Life of Howard Zinn.

Zinn was at the center of some of the most pivotal moments of the twentieth century, including the Great Depression, Spanish Civil War, Civil Rights movement, Vietnam, and more. Zirin says that not only was Zinn an observer of these grand canvases, he also joined in the fray.

Zinn’s legacy is that of a historian who played a role in making history. He got his start as a bombardier in the Spanish Civil War; but motivated by equal rights and anti-fascism, he was horrified by the experience of dropping bombs on civilians. He went on to say “There’s no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people,” after President Ronald Reagan bombed Tripoli. 

Zirin shares personal stories of Zinn’s life including that he was a Red Sox fan, that he gave an early draft of The People’s History of the United States to Matt Damon’s mother, and he describes the legacy of Zinn as an educator. Zirin responds to questions about how Zinn found hope amidst war and violence, saying that Zinn’s hope was rooted in a sense of history and the knowledge that people will always do surprising, unexpected things, like the mass student uprising in India.

Zirin will be participating in a celebration of the life of Howard Zinn in Madison on November 4 at 7pm at the Barrymore Theatre alongside Matt Rothschild, John Nichols, Norman Stockwell, and Maximilian Alvarez. 

Dave Zirin writes about sports for The Nation and The Progressive and hosts the Edge of Sports podcast and “Edge of Sports with Dave Zirin” on The Real News. He is the author of The Kaepernick Effect: Taking a Knee, Changing the World and The People’s Historian: The Outsized Life of Howard Zinn.

Featured image of the cover of The People’s Historian: The Outsized Life of Howard Zinn.

The post Dave Zirin Remembers Howard Zinn’s Legacy appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

This month, voters made their selections in the Fall primary election. At the top of the ticket, David Crowley will face off with Tom Tiffany in a bid for Wisconsin’s governor. To break down the results of the Fall election and preview the upcoming Midterm, host Ali Muldrow is joined by two local labor leaders, Molly Grupe and John Wedge.

When Grupe and Wedge were on A Public Affair after the Spring election, they discussed how the candidates they endorsed had been very successful. Grupe describes WEAC’s process of endorsing candidates for the Fall primary and why WEAC put their weight behind Kelda Roys based on her track record on public education. Wedge breaks down the pros and cons of endorsing a candidate early in the race. 

In the 77 days until the November Midterm, Wedge says that education will be the centerpiece of their messaging to voters. Though there’s a lot of focus on the governor’s race, the Midterm will also decide key races in the Wisconsin Senate and Assembly. 

They also discuss how perceived fragmentation affects Democratic politics, how Crowley can tap into Hong’s supporters, and how the unions can come together to send a message about the Democratic ticket. 

Molly Grupe is an early childhood speech-language pathologist in the Waunakee Community School District, and is the PAC chair of her teachers association. She lives in Monona, and served as an alderperson there from 2018-2022. She currently serves as the Chair of the WEAC Region 6 Political Action Committee, and as the Vice Chair of the WEAC state level PAC.

John Wedge is the Executive Director at WEAC Region 6.

Featured image of an absentee ballot dropbox courtesy of Chali Pittman/WORT News. 

The post Primary Postmortem and Midterm Preview appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

As college freshmen prepare to move into their dorms and apartments this Fall, they may face very different job opportunities than are available now. On today’s show, host Dana Pellebon speaks with journalist Jon Marcus who wrote a recent article about the future of the labor market for college graduates. 

Economists predict major labor shortages in fields like semiconductor production and healthcare because this work can’t be performed by AI. But getting more students to pursue these kinds of careers is a more complex story. Marcus points to decline in math education at the K-12 level and a decline in international student enrollment that lead to fewer students majoring in certain fields, particularly STEM. Marcus also points to declining birth rates, the decline of the US’s higher education system, and the looming retirement of an entire generation of baby boomers as also contributing to the state of the labor market. 

Marcus also studies these phenomena in other countries and discusses how the US compares to other nations. He then breaks down the relationship between federal and state funding of higher ed and predicts that more states will cut funding to higher education as they pick up the bill from federal cuts to Medicaid and SNAP. 

Jon Marcus is senior higher education reporter at The Hechinger Report. He also writes for The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Boston Globe and other magazines, newspapers, and websites, and was cohost of the award-winning NPR podcast College Uncovered. Marcus holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree from Bates College and attended Oxford University. He teaches journalism at Boston College and Northeastern University.

Featured image of students wearing regalia at a college graduation via Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0).

The post There’s a Mismatch Between Graduates’ Skills and AI Proof Jobs appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.