Forward Radio podcasts

Patty and I discuss mindfulness for the holidays!

K.A. Owens interviews author, activist, playwright Michael T. about the political context of the movie "Black Panther - Wakanda Forever".

Recorded Thursday December 22, 2022, 2PM.

**Carrie and I are taking a much needed holiday break. We will be back in Mid-January with all new episodes.Until then, enjoy some replay episodes.

This week we have a replay of our interview with the New York Times best-selling humorist Andrew Shaffer, author of the Obama Biden mystery series. He spoke with us in 2020 about his book Secret Santa, a 80’s horror satire about an office holiday party. Shaffer has a new book out called Feel The Bern, the first in his Bernie Sanders mystery series. **

We all probably need a good laugh right about now and our guest this week, humorist Andrew Shaffer, is the one to provide it. Andrew is the New York Times best-selling author of the Obama Biden series, a buddy detective mystery series which includes Hope Never Dies and Hope Rides Again. His new book that comes out in November is called Secret Santa and is a clash of the holidays ; Halloween and Christmas; a comedic book that combines horror and holiday vibes about a holiday office party gone bad. He is the author of 11 books in several genres but says that humor is the theme that ties all his books together.

Andrew talks to us about why he goes back to his comfort reads during the pandemic, why he thinks satire makes the medicine of heavy topics go down a little easier, and why he looks to the past for inspiration for book ideas even when there are so many crazy things in 2020 to poke fun at. He also tells us a pretty hysterical story about the worst job he ever had.

Books Mentioned in This Episode:

1- Hope Never Dies by Andrew Shaffer

2- Hope Rides Again by Andrew Shaffer

3- Secret Santa by Andrew Shaffer

4- Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love by Andrew Shaffer

5- Fifty Shames of Earl Grey by Fanny Merkin (aka Andrew Shaffer)

6- Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L.. James

7- The Day of the Donald by Andrew Shaffer

8- Jack Reacher series by Lee Child

9- A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift

10- Normal People by Sally Rooney

11- Solutions & Other Problems by Allie Brosh

12- Hyperbole & a Half by Allie Brosh

13- True Grit by Charles Portis

14- Riot Most Uncouth by Daniel Friedman

15- Literary Rogues: A Scandalous History of Wayward Authors by Andrew Shaffer

Matt Taibbi wrote "Hate, Inc." as a theory of how the media really works, as opposed to how we think it works, or how the media wants us to think about how it works.

Not like it was the good old days, but there was a time when the news media tried to appeal to the broadest possible audience. You wanted to not be at one extreme or the other. You wanted to hit the ball down the middle, to use a golf analogy.

Then along came cable news. Fox News targeted conservative audiences. Then MSNBC and CNN targeted liberal audiences. If you're only talking to one group or the other, your job is to make them hate one another, because that's how you get readers, viewers, clicks, etc.

Please join me in this discussion.

Hear the last part of our interview with Dr. Frederick 'Fritz' K. Hilton, of the University of Louisville Medical School. This time he discusses his career as both a scientist and an artist. To hear the first two installments of our talk with this fascinating scientist visit: https://soundcloud.com/wfmp-forward-radio/bench-talk-a-life-of-art-and-science-dr-frederick-k-hilton-part-1-nov-21-2022 and https://soundcloud.com/wfmp-forward-radio/bench-talk-early-in-vitro-ferilizaton-frederick-hilton-part-2-december-sky-dec-5-2022?in=wfmp-forward-radio/sets/bench-talk-the-week-in-science#t=0:00 . To view some of his paintings: https://www.koreartgallery.com/fredrick-fritz-hilton

Also, hear about 'Slow Birding' from Dr. Joan Strassman of Washington University-St. Louis. Thanks to the Groks Science Radio Show and Podcast for this excerpt: https://grokscience.wordpress.com/2022/11/09/slow-birding/

‘Bench Talk: The Week in Science’ is a weekly program that airs on WFMP Louisville FORward Radio 106.5 FM (forwardradio.org) every Monday at 7:30 pm, Tuesday at 11:30 am, and Wednesday at 7:30 am.

Visit our Facebook page for links to the articles discussed in this episode: www.facebook.com/pg/BenchTalkRadi…ef=page_internal

On this week’s show, your host, Justin Mog, gathers friends around the microphones for the first half of a two-part conversation about the threats posed to Bernheim Arboretum & Research Forest and its neighbors by the proposed LG&E gas pipeline through Bullitt Co. This week’s guests: Deborah Potts Novgorodoff, with PPL Shareholders for Energy Democracy, is part of a broad coalition of Kentucky environmental groups working to stop LG&E's pipeline (http://savebernheimnow.org/); Kimberly Brown is an adjacent landowner and part of a generational farm family that would be impacted by the pipeline; and Mark Wourms is Executive Director of Bernheim (http://bernheim.org/forestunderthreat).

The focus of this week’s conversation is on the immediate threats posed by the pipeline to Bernheim, ecological habitat, the Cedar Grove corridor, and to surrounding landowners. Next week, we’ll address the broader issues and climate change concerns with three different guests.

The timing of this conversation is critical. LGE-KU is taking Bernheim to court to condemn their property and the court date is January 10, 2023. Bernheim is using its scarce resources to fight this aggression, but the need your help. Here’s what you can do:

• Spread the word with a new “Save Bernheim Now!” yard sign available at the All Peoples Justice Center - email [email protected]

• Sign the new petition at https://bernheim.org/forestunderthreat/pipeline/?id=tog-contain2

• Make a special donation to Bernheim’s “Land Protection Fund” to help pay for legal fees at http://bernheim.org

• Join weekly protest gatherings – bring your signs, dress in costume, just come! Fridays at noon in front of LG&E, 220 W. Main, coming up on December 23rd and January 6th.

• Write a letter to PPL and LG&E: [email protected]; [email protected]

For more, watch the Save Bernheim Now! event held at All People's Church on December 4, 2022 at https://youtu.be/ANi0Kdd_Bts

As always, our feature is followed by your community action calendar for the week, so get your calendars out and get ready to take action for sustainability NOW!

Sustainability Now! is hosted by Dr. Justin Mog and airs on Forward Radio, 106.5fm, WFMP-LP Louisville, every Monday at 6pm and repeats Tuesdays at 12am and 10am. Find us at http://forwardradio.org

The music in this podcast is courtesy of the local band Appalatin and is used by permission. Explore their delightful music at http://appalatin.com

Each season we like to speak to someone from an independent bookstore, but this can be especially challenging during the December holiday shopping crush. We’re very glad Amanda Zirn Hudson from Bethany Beach Books in Delaware was able to make time to speak with us.

Bethany Beach Books started its own book subscription program several years ago called The Book Drop. Amanda tells us all about how she began the program and explains the process for selecting books and getting them out to members. Unlike other book subscriptions, this one is run by an independent bookstore, and the books they pick are what they consider “hidden gems.” Their program has been recommended by BuzzFeed, NPR, The New York Times, and USA Today.

The good news is that you still have time to order a subscription for yourself or a book-loving friend or family member before the holidays!

You can find Bethany Beach Books on social media at @bethanybeachbooks or their website at www.bethanybeachbooks.com.

Their subscription book service The Book Drop can be found on Instagram @the.book.drop or the website www.thebookdrop.com.

For show notes for any episode, go to our website at www.perksofbeingabooklover.com. We are also on Instagram @perksofbeingabookloverpod and on FB Perks of Being a Book Lover

Books mentioned--

1- The Christmas Tree by Julie Salaman

2- The Lost Ticket by Freya Sampson

3- The Inheritors by William Golding

4- Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel

5- Lark Ascending by Silas House

6- The Road by Cormac McCarthy

7- Southernmost by Silas House

8- Marrying the Ketchups by Jennifer Close

Movies mentioned--

1- Elf (2003)

2- National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

3- Spirited (2022)

4- The English (Prime 2022)

5- Wednesday (Netflix 2022)

6- The Bear (Hulu 2022)

7 - Outlander (Netflix 2014- present)

If you want to know how the State of Maine significantly reduced the influence of big money in political campaigns, listen to this interview! John Brautigan (attorney with over 25 years of experience in campaign finance and election law and former Maine State Representative) and Ann Luther (former President of the Maine League of Women Voters, long-time advocate of Clean Elections and Campaign Finance Reform, and host of the League's monthly radio show, The Democracy Forum) explain the Maine Clean Elections Act and Ranked Choice Voting and how these work in Maine to re-invigorate the democratic process of one person, one vote.

Mary-Wynn Ashford has been an activist since 1984. She is the former President of International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War and continues now as a Board member. The Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985. She has been a leader in the international peace and disarmament movement for over twenty years.

Mary Wynn-Ashford is Author of 14 Publications, co-author With futurist and sustainability consultant, Guy Dauncey "Enough Blood Shed: 101 Solutions to Violence, Terror, and War. 1996. New Society Publishers. Translated into Japanese, 1997; Korean 2010.

Kathy Kelly Kathy is an American peace activist, pacifist and author, and co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence. As part of peace team work in several countries, she has traveled to Iraq twenty-six times, notably remaining in combat zones during the early days of both US–Iraq wars.

Let's revisit what is possibly the greatest speech ever made by a US president on the subject of peace, i.e., John F. Kennedy's commencement speech at American University in June, 1963. Kennedy was advocating for a nuclear test ban treaty which--against all odds--was ratified by the Senate in the summer of 1963, a few months before Kennedy's death.

It is hard for political leaders, including our presidents, to push for peace. They get pressure from generals, from political supporters, from the public and from military contractors. But Kennedy felt the urgent need for peace, since we had come so close to a world-ending war the previous October.

In this speech, he says:

"I speak of peace … as the necessary rational end of rational men. I realize that the pursuit of peace is not as dramatic as the pursuit of war — and frequently the words of the pursuer fall on deaf ears. But we have no more urgent task.

Too many of us think it is impossible. Too many think it is unreal. But that is a dangerous, defeatist belief.

It leads to the conclusion that war is inevitable, that mankind is doomed, that we are gripped by forces we cannot control. We need not accept that view. Our problems are man made . Therefore, they can be solved by man.

Let us focus instead on a practical, attainable peace, based not on a sudden revolution in human nature but on a gradual evolution in human institutions, on a series of concrete actions and effective agreements which are in the interest of all concerned.

Peace is a process, a way of solving problems.

With such a peace, there will still be quarrels and conflicting interests, as there are within families and nations. World peace, like community peace, does not require that each man love his neighbor, it requires only that they live together in mutual tolerance, submitting their disputes to a just and peaceful settlement.

And history teaches us that enmities between nations, as between individuals, do not last forever. However fixed our likes and dislikes may seem, the tide of time and events will often bring surprising changes in the relations between nations and neighbors.

So let us persevere. Peace need not be impracticable, and war need not be inevitable."