ChatChat - Claudia Cragg

You may not, till now, have heard of ', The untold story of 7,000 bicycles and the rise of a borderland empire. Here, journalist  () talks to KGNU's Claudia Cragg (@KGNUClaudia) about how he followed the trail of the border bikes through some of Mexican society’s most powerful institutions, and, with the help of an unlikely source, he reconstructed the rise of one of Tijuana’s most innovative coyotes. Touching on immigration and globalization, NAFTA, "mercadores", as well as the history of the US/Mexico border,Taylor tells ITE the tale of The Coyote’s Bicycle which is at once an immersive investigation of an outrageous occurrence and a true-crime, rags-to-riches story.

#KGNU 's Claudia Cragg (@KGNUClaudia) speaks here with Mark Sundeen (@SundeenMark) about his latest book, 'The Unsettlers'.  On a frigid April night, a classically trained opera singer, five months pregnant, and her husband, a former marine biologist, disembark an Amtrak train in La Plata, Missouri, assemble two bikes, and pedal off into the night, bound for a homestead they’ve purchased, sight unseen. Meanwhile, a horticulturist, heir to the Great Migration that brought masses of African Americans to Detroit, and her husband, a product of the white flight from it, have turned to urban farming to revitalize the blighted city they both love. And near Missoula, Montana, a couple who have been at the forefront of organic farming for decades navigate what it means to live and raise a family ethically.    A work of immersive journalism steeped in a distinctively American social history and sparked by a personal quest, The #Unsettlers traces the search for the simple life through the stories of these new pioneers and what inspired each of them to look for — or create — a better existence. Captivating and clear-eyed, it dares us to imagine what a sustainable, ethical, authentic future might actually look like. SEE LESS

#KGNU 's Claudia Cragg (@KGNUClaudia) speaks here with Elizabeth F Schwarz () about her new book, Before I Do.  Elizabeth Schwartz has been practicing law since 1997 and is a nationally recognized advocate for the legal rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. She is the author of Before I Do: A Legal Guide to Marriage, Gay and Otherwise (The New Press, 2016), and her Miami-based law practice focuses on estate planning, probate, family formation (adoption, insemination, and surrogacy) and dissolution. In her book, she raises the issues that not long ago, same-sex couples had to jump through endless hoops to make their relationships even close to legal. For the most part, those days are over. Same-sex couples no longer have to operate as outlaws--they too can have in-laws! But here's the rub: many gay and lesbian couples, accustomed to living off-grid, are so thrilled to have the benefits of marriage that they gleefully jump into marriage without fully understanding the consequences. Here she spells out the range of practical considerations couples should address before tying the knot especially in the face of the incoming Presidential administration. She explores the rights marriage provides and those it does not. With cameos from some of the most prominent LGBT professionals, Schwartz explains all of the implications of marriage from name changes and getting a license to taxes, insurance, Social Security, and much more. Substantial chapters on estate planning, pre- and post-nuptial agreements, and organizing finances make Before I Do relevant for all couples, young and older, and a crucial handbook for anyone considering marriage--because, as Schwartz explains, just because you can get married does not mean you should.

To listen to the interview, please click the 'pod' icon next to title.  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays one and all.  KGNU's Claudia Cragg speaks here with Douglas Abrams about his work with His Holiness The Dalai Lama and Reverend Desmond Tutu on 'The Book of Joy'. They have survived more than fifty years of exile and the soul-crushing violence of oppression. Despite their hardships or, as they would say, because of them they are two of the most joyful people on the planet. In April 2015, Archbishop Tutu traveled to the Dalai Lama's home in Dharamsala, India, to celebrate His Holiness's eightieth birthday and to create what they hoped would be a gift for others. They looked back on their long lives to answer a single burning question: How do we find joy in the face of life's inevitable suffering? They traded intimate stories, teased each other continually, and shared their spiritual practices. By the end of a week filled with laughter and punctuated with tears, these two global heroes had stared into the abyss and despair of our time and revealed how to live a life brimming with joy. We hear from Doug Abrams how the book offers us a rare opportunity to experience their astonishing and unprecedented week together, from the first embrace to the final good-bye. They explore the Nature of True Joy and confront each of the Obstacles of Joy from fear, stress, and anger to grief, illness, and death. They then offer us the Eight Pillars of Joy, which provide the foundation for lasting happiness. Throughout this wonderful work, they include stories, wisdom, and science. Finally, they share their daily Joy Practices that anchor their own emotional and spiritual lives.

The incoming US administration may abolish Medicare and will most certainly radically alter Obamacare. In this interview with George Lakey, KGNU's Claudia Cragg explores for #ItsTheEconomy how Nordic countries boast the world’s happiest, most productive workers, and explains how, if the US could enact some of the changes that the Scandinavians fought for surprisingly recently, the US too, can embrace equality in economic policy. George Lakey co-founded Earth Quaker Action Group which won its five-year campaign to force a major U.S. bank to give up financing mountaintop removal coal mining. Along with college teaching (at Swarthmore mostly) he has led 1,500 workshops on five continents and led activist projects on local, national, and international levels. Apart from this book on 'Viking Economics', Lakey has written many other books and articles, and is also author of “” in David Solnit’s book Globalize Liberation (City Lights, 2004).

KGNU's Claudia Cragg speaks here for KGNU Fall Fund Drive ( for the Denver/Boulder Area and beyond) with , the former Greek Finance Minister.  In his latest book,  Varoufakis (“the most interesting man in the world” according toBusiness Insider) offers a potted history of post-war global finance, the rise of the euro, and its spectacular fall, along with his own prognosis and solution for the interminable crisis of European capitalism. As is explained in the book, the rather clunky title comes from Thucydides’ Peloponnesian War, in which the vainglorious Athenians assert their right as victors to do as they please with the vanquished Melians: “The strong actually do what they can and the weak suffer what they must”. The Melians’ reply is that it is in the interest of the strong to show mercy to the weak lest their own fall “would be visited by the most terrible vengeance, watched by the whole world” - an argument which Varoufakis reproduces in relation to the treatment of Greece by their mighty German creditors. For Varoufakis, the key to redressing the contradictions and imbalances implicit in the Eurozone (and any system of fixed exchange rates for that matter) is for “the strong”, i.e. Germany, to rule in “enlightened self-interest” by providing a stimulus to the Greek economy (and all other deficit states) rather than the current programme of devastating austerity. The example given by Varoufakis is that of the intervention of the United States’ Federal Bank to prop up the state of Nevada after the 2008 crash. It is the lack of this “political surplus recycling” mechanism which, according to Varoufakis, has condemned the Eurozone to its present crisis-ridden state.

'Cashless society', says Brett Scott, is a euphemism for the "ask-your-banks-for-permission-to-pay society". Rather than an exchange occurring directly between the hotel and me, it takes the form of a "have your people talk to my people" affair. Various intermediaries message one another to arrange an exchange between our respective banks. That may be a convenient option, but in a cashless society it would no longer be an option at all. You'd have no choice but to conform to the intermediaries' automated bureaucracy, giving them a lot of power, and a lot of data about the micro-texture of your economic life.

's Claudia Cragg speaks here with 's about the first ever 'Decelerator' they are hosting in Boulder next month. He and the organization suggest fixing the economy from the ground up, starting with food. He argues that if you believe your health, that the economy’s health and the environment’s health would all be significantly improved if there were a million new small and mid-sized organic farms in the United States, then the time to make a start is right now.

A groundbreaking book that upends conventional thinking about autism and suggests a broader model for acceptance, understanding, and full participation in society for people who think differently. What is autism? A lifelong disability or a naturally occurring form of cognitive difference akin to certain forms of genius? In truth, it is all of these things and more—and the future of our society depends on our understanding it. WIRED reporter Steve Silberman unearths the secret history of autism, long suppressed by the same clinicians who became famous for discovering it, and finds surprising answers to the crucial question of why the number of diagnoses has soared in recent years. KGNU's Claudia Cragg speaks here with Steve Silberman - - an award-winning science writer whose articles have appeared in Wired, the New York Times, the New Yorker, the MIT Technology Review, Nature, Salon,Shambhala Sun, and many other publications. He is the author ofNeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity (Avery 2015), which Oliver Sacks called a “sweeping and penetrating history…presented with a rare sympathy and sensitivity.” The book became a widely-praised bestseller in the United States and the United Kingdom, and won the 2015 Samuel Johnson prize for non-fiction, a California Book Award, and a Books for a Better Life award. It was chosen as one of the Best Books of 2015 by The New York Times, The Economist, The Financial Times, The Boston Globe, The Independent, and many other publications. In April 2016, Silberman gave the keynote speech at the United Nations for World Autism Awareness Day. He has given talks on the history of autism at Yale, MIT, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Imperial College London, and many other major institutions. His TED talk, “The Forgotten History of Autism,” has been viewed more than a million times and translated into 25 languages. His article “The Placebo Problem” won the 2010 Science Journalism Award for Magazine Writing from the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Kavli Foundation, and was featured on The Colbert Report. His writing on science, culture, and literature has been collected in a number of major anthologies including The Best American Science Writing of the Year and The Best Business Stories of the Year. Silberman’s Twitter account @stevesilberman made Time magazine’s list of the best Twitter feeds for the year 2011. He is proud to be a member of the PEN American Center. Silberman also won a gold record from the Recording Industry Association of America for co-producing the Grateful Dead’s career-spanning box set So Many Roads (1965-1995), which was Rolling Stone’s box set of the year. His liner notes have been featured in CDs and DVDs by Crosby, Stills, and Nash, the Jerry Garcia Band, and many other groups. As a young man, he was Allen Ginsberg’s teaching assistant at Naropa University. He lives with his husband Keith in San Francisco.

s Claudia Cragg speaks here with Andy Lazris, MD ( ). He is the author of 'Curing Medicare' () and is a practicing primary care physician who experiences the effects of Medicare policy on a daily basis. As a result, he believes that the way we care for our elderly has taken a wrong turn and that Medicare is complicit in creating the very problems it seeks to solve. Aging is not a disease to be cured; it is a life stage to be lived. Lazris argues that aggressive treatments cannot change that fact but only get in the way and decrease quality of life. Unfortunately, Medicare’s payment structure and rules deprive the elderly of the chance to pursue less aggressive care, which often yields the most humane and effective results. Medicare encourages and will pay more readily for hospitalization than for palliative and home care. It encourages and pays for high-tech assaults on disease rather than for the primary care that can make a real difference in the lives of the elderly.