Following the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the Iranian morality police, women in Iran have been leading the demand for change. Joining us today is Catherine Sameh. She lays out the history of the fight for equality in Iran and shines light on what the current moment could mean for the future of women.

Dr. Catherine Sameh is an Associate Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies at UC-Irvine. Her research focus includes Iranian feminism, human rights, transnational feminisms, and gender and social movements in the Middle East and Muslim world. She is the author of Axis of Hope.

Photo by Artin Bakhan on Unsplash

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Last month, Senate Democrats unanimously voted Senator Melissa Agard (D-Madison) to serve as the Senate Democratic Leader. Senator Agard says “Senate Democrats may hold the minority of seats in the statehouse, but we hold the majority of hearts and minds of the people of Wisconsin.” Senator Agard joined us on the program to talk about her new role and to look ahead at the 2023-24 legislative session.

Melissa Agard is a lifelong Madison resident, East High and UW Madison graduate, and proud mom of four sons. Senator Agard was first elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in November 2012 and the Wisconsin State Senate in November 2020. She represents the 16th Senate District, encompassing much of the north, east, and south sides of Dane County.

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“Living in disconnection is hard: like everyone is against you, and that you don’t have the support that you need, and that you’re never gonna have enough. All of the sort of really stifling mindsets and dynamics that we’re already living in are really difficult, really painful, we’re really unhappy. That’s evident all over the world. So if it’s going to be hard anyway, let it be hard in service towards your freedom. Let it be part in service towards your liberation…

And that is what it is that I think this excavation, this illumination into our inner worlds offers us: is one step closer toward shattering all of those myths that our lives are built on.”

-Sonya Renee Taylor on A Public Affair

Joining on A Public Affair are two brilliant writers and thinkers to tell us about about their recent collaboration: Journal of Radical Permission. Based on the philosophies of radical self-love, emergent strategy, and pleasure activism, this journal gives you permission to love yourself, deeply, as you are. 

adrienne maree brown is the bestselling author of Pleasure Activism. She grows healing ideas in public through her multi-genre writing, her music and her podcasts. She is the author–slash–editor of seven published texts and the founder of the Emergent Strategy Ideation Institute, where she is now the writer-in-residence.

Sonya Renee Taylor is a New York Times best-selling author of The Body Is No an Apology. She is also a world-renowned activist and thought leader on racial justice, body liberation and transformational change. Sonya is also an international award winning artist, and founder of The Body Is Not an Apology–a global digital media and education company.

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Leaders from around the world continue to meet in Montreal Canada this week for the UN Conference on Biodiversity (COP-15). They are discussing solutions to end biodiversity loss.

Joining us to talk about COP-15 and biodiversity more generally is Research Geographer Dr. Marla Emery and Campaign Coordinator with The Sierra Club’s Wisconsin Chapter Jadine Sonoda.

Dr. Marla R. Emery is Co-Chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. Her work focuses on the role of forests in providing food and sustaining cultures. She also leads efforts to integrate Indigenous and local knowledge.

Jadine Sonoda is the Campaign Coordinator for the Wisconsin Chapter of the Sierra Club. She is primarily responsible for supporting the pipeline work of the Tar Sands Team, the Water Team, and the Oak Creek and NTEC campaigns.

Image by Andreas from Pixabay

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In the nearly 3 months since Mahsa Amini died in the custody of the Iranian morality police, young women have protested her death, the mandatory hijab, and the existence of the morality police. Yesterday, the first protester charged with a crime during the protests was executed. Reportedly at least a dozen more people have been sentenced to death.

Joining us to talk about this moment and the history that lead up to it is Fariba Parsa. “Iranian people want regime change. Iranian people want a democratic, secular government. That’s the reason they continue, because they have a vision for a future Iran,” Parsa says. “People are done with this regime, and just look at the future–the future that’s so much brighter, so much better. That’s the reason they continue. Hope for a better future and the vision for a democratic, free Iran.”

The price for that hope has been high, but Parsa thinks this time is different because the world is listening to chants of “women, life, freedom.”

Fariba Parsa Ph.D., specializes in political ideologies of democracy and civil movements in Iran. She worked as an assistant research professor at George Mason University and has conducted research at Harvard University and the University of Maryland. Dr. Parsa was born and raised in Iran where she began her political activities at age of 15. She fled Iran at the age of 17, because of the threat from the Islamic Republic of Iran .

Photo by Albert Stoynov on Unsplash

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Today, our guest host Yuri Rashkin answers your questions about what is happening with the War in Ukraine. He answers question about Brittney Griner, misinformation, and the relationship between Trump and Putin.

Yuri Rashkin is the host and creator of the Rashkin Report with videos on Youtube and TikTok. (A playlist of English videos can be found here.) Yuri also serves as a Supervisor on the Rock County Board. He works as the Marketing Coordinator at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater at Rock County.

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Madison’s largest stretch of public Lake Monona access runs from Olin park to Willy St. The future of the 1.7 miles long waterfront is now being discussed by an ad hoc committee. The design has been narrowed down to 3 proposed master plans. 

Joining us on the program today is Friends of Nolan Waterfront Vice President Tim Anderson, City of Madison Parks Division’s Mike Sturm, and members of the Ad Hoc Committee Chandra Fienen Miller and Raj Shukla. Raj is also a board member of Friends of Nolan Waterfront.

They tell us about how the ad hoc committee taking a community wide approach and focusing on equity, environmental health, and transportation.

Lake Monona Waterfront Ad-hoc Committee is holding a public hearing tonight at 6pm.

Photo by Brian Standing for WORT-FM.

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“It’s like men are people and women are a temptation. We punish men for what they’ve done. We punish women for what they might do to white men. So there are so many women in this history when I look at this prison who were incarcerated for things like having gonorrhea… These people did nothing at all to end up inside this system, and yet, because they were seen as a danger to white men who might get syphilis or gonorrhea… these women ended up in prison. That, over and over again, is how we treat women in the legal system and those that the legal system perceives as women. We don’t attend to their needs, their cares, what is harming them, what is dangerous for them. We perceive them as a threat to other people, as something to be managed.”

Hugh Ryan joins us on the program to talk about his latest book The Women’s House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison. The book tells the story of the folks with were held in the House of D, during it’s existence from the 1930s to the 1970s. Hugh joins us to tell us the heartbreaking history and overwhelming resilience of the LGBTQ+ community that surround the prison in Greenwich Village.

Hugh Ryan is a writer and curator, and most recently, the author of The Women’s House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison, which New York Magazine called one of the best books of 2022. His first book, When Brooklyn Was Queer, won a 2020 New York City Book Award, was a New York Times Editors’ Choice in 2019, and was a finalist for the Randy Shilts and Lambda Literary Awards. He was honored with the 2020 Allan Berube Prize from the American Historical Association.

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In Orchid Muse, Erica Hannickel lays out a history of orchids and their growers. Plus, she offers tips to cultivate thriving plants. Erica joins us on A Public Affair to explain why orchids are so special and to read from her forth-coming book.

The release of Orchid Muse has been pushed back to December 20th, but Honest Dog Books in Bayfield does have a few signed copies available now.

Image by annca from Pixabay

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This past Tuesday was the International Day of Solidarity with Palestinian People. On today’s Birthday Boost show, we talk about the big picture for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, the killings of Palestinian children, and clashes between Palestinians and the Israeli army. We also unpack what is happening politically in Israel. 

Joining us on the issues is Iman Abid from US Campaign for Palestinian Rights and journalist Haggai Matar from 972 Advancements of Citizen Journalism and +972 Magazine.

Iman Abid-Thompson is the Director of Advocacy and Organizing at the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR). Prior to joining USCPR, Iman was the Regional Director at the American Civil Liberties Union of New York (ACLU of NY) for six years. 

Haggai Matar is an award-winning Israeli journalist and political activist. He serves as the executive director of “972 – Advancement of Citizen Journalism,” the nonprofit that publishes +972 Magazine.

Image by Ben Kerckx from Pixabay

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