Facing Our Reality

Facing Our Reality

By Wayne HeimbachNewsArtsPoliticsHistoryPerforming Arts
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Facing Our Reality episodes

  • Surrealism @ 100

    Surrealism came from the social discontent that existed after WWI. Andre Breton wrote the first Surrealist Manifesto in 1924. It grew to a powerful artistic, political and philosophical movement that still has a strong intranational following today.

    Penelope Rosemont has been a guiding force in this movement since the 1960s. In this interview she discusses the origins of the surrealist movement, its growth and relationship to economic depression and war, and its organizational crisis after Breton's death in 1966. She also looks to a vibrant future for the movement as it continues to inspire adherents with an increasing international reach.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    46 min
  • Carl Sandburg - Four War Poems

    Carl Sandburg wrote numerous poems during the 1916-18 period about war and the burdens of war falling on working people. We will look at four of these poems in this episode - Buttons, And They Obey, Wars, Grass - which are not specific to World War I but are about the relationship of those who fight and those who lead them.


    Sandburg was in the army during the Spanish-American War of 1898 and he combines his experiences then to the horrors of war in general and to the specific events of the "War to End All Wars". He identified as a socialist during this period and his poems reflect this humanistic reaction to world events.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    10 min
  • Dartmouth Prof Arrested at Gaza Demo
    We’ll talk to Professor Annelise Orleck who became an unwitting celebrity on social media with a video of a sucker punch take down by a Hanover police officer. Possibly less well known is the sucker punch take down of Professor Orleck by Dartmouth as it forces her to keep off campus – unless of course she teaches her well attended classes at the university.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    33 min
  • Percy Shelley - One. Angry. Poet.

    Percy Shelley, one of Britain's greatest poets, was tremendously affected by the events of 1819 when the British army and local militia attacked a peaceful demonstration of working people at St. Peter's Field in Manchester. 18 died and hundreds were wounded. This event was called the Peterloo Massacre - a nod to the army helping to defeat Napoleon at Waterloo four years earlier.


    Shelley was already a critic of British politics but this event heightened his disgust. The four short poems used in this episode show the extent to which his criticism of British government became revolutionary.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    15 min
  • Myanmar - from Myawaddy to Rohingya
    This is a second interview with Michael Sladnick on the current situation with anti-regime groups in Myanmar. It starts with a discussion of the ongoing battle between the military government forces and resistance forces for control of the important economic and trade city of Myawaddy. It continues as a very insightful discussion of grassroots movements in the country and the problems they face. It ends by describing the complexity of the situation of the Rohingya population that still resides in Myanmar.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    42 min
  • Go Fund Me for Gaza Story

    Kyle Gilbertson, a social justice advocate in Chicago, set up a go-fund-me campaign to help a family in Gaza a couple years ago. Here he discusses his story on feeling secure in the process - and what to look for. He follows this discussion with a short report on an action he and others organized to confront a military contractor at a conference in the city,


    We end our program with the sound of children singing to oud music at a service center in Gaza. This happened in early April.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    26 min
  • Myanmar Military Conscription
    This episode of Facing Reality 4 Social Justice concerns the recent conscription order by Myanmar's government. The interview is with Michael Sladnick, a social justice activist living in the area, who gives us context to the ongoing national resistance to the country's military government and specifically to its recent conscription order. #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    35 min
  • Podcast Introduction
    This is our introductory episode - what we're about and where we want to go. We are about human rights in all its forms and with a concern with world politics. We will also introduce our poetry section with a poem by Percy Shelley from 1817 - Ozymandias.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    5 min

About Facing Our Reality

From the publisher's feed

Touch an issue and you'll get a response - sometimes a shock. Let's take this walk together, getting answers to questions about social issues we may have and listening to those who can help us…