Marianne Williamson, a Democratic presidential candidate for the 2024 election, joins Andrew in the Ivory Tower Boiler Room. Marianne is a political activist, spiritual leader, and best-selling author. In total, she has published 15 books, 4 are #1 NY Times best sellers. In 1989, she founded Project Angel Food, a nonprofit organization that aims to deliver nourishing meals to those with serious illnesses who are home-bound. In 2004, she co-founded The Peace Alliance, a nonprofit organization that pushes for a U.S. Department of Peace. 

Marianne and Andrew discuss the current political and social climate of the United States, particularly the anti-LGBTQ+ policies that have been consuming the public. Marianne calls it an “explosion of mean-spiritedness.” She mentions the homophobia, racism, antisemitism, and other prejudices that are plaguing the U.S. and emphasizes the need to fight for justice. 

Marianne talks about the formation behind prejudices. They start as a thought, merge into a behavior, then manifest into a collectiveness of hatred. To combat this negative energy, Marianne explains that we need to harness the power of love in our politics! Love has been the driving force behind movements such as the women’s suffrage movement and the abolitionist movement.

On inequality, Marianne discusses how “democracy has not delivered on its promises” for decades. The power is in the hands of corporations, not the people, and that’s why we can’t get the same benefits as other advanced democracies such as universal healthcare, free tuition, and family leave. 

Marianne also recalls her past, revealing what she wishes she could tell her younger self: savor the present moment, enjoy youth, and believe that everything will one day fall into place. Undoubtedly, Marianne has left us with inspiring advice for our viewers. 

For bonus episodes and exclusive content from ITBR featuring a variety of academics, artists, and media personalities, join the ITBR Cafe for only $5 a month! patreon.com/ivorytowerboilerroom

Learn more about Marianne Williamson’s campaign for the 2024 presidential election by visiting her website: https://marianne2024.com

Be sure to follow Marianne on Instagram, @mariannewilliamson, Twitter, @marwilliamson, and TikTok, @marwilliamsonofficial. 

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Hey, true crime friends! This week we are diving into the fifth episode of ABC/Hulu's series Death in the Dorms.

Samantha Josephson was a senior at the University of South Carolina with a full-ride scholarship to Drexel University's law school when her life was tragically cut short. An opportunist allowed Samantha to get into his car and pretended to be her Uber driver before brutally killing her.

Sources:

Death in the Dorms- Episode 5

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The  “prodigiously inventive” and “galvanic” Karin Coonrod (as noted by the NY Times) joins Andrew in the ITBR to kick off the Spring 2023 season! Karin is a theater director that teaches at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. She has an academic background in English at Gordon College and Theater Directing at Columbia University. Additionally, she has founded not one, but two theater companies: Arden Party (1987-1997) and Compagnia de’ Colombari (2004-present). Karin’s show-stopping experience in theater grants us a chance to learn about her process of a play’s production and how the ancient Greek god Dionysus influences the way she sees theater.

Karin takes us back to her early days of theater, which started when she taught at an all-boys school. She reminisces about her production of a variety of musicals  such as “South Pacific” and “Man of La Mancha.” She also emphasizes her strong belief in producing a theatrical work  from scratch. Instead of duplicating Broadway’s productions, Karin believes in making a production your own.

Karin mentions how she views theater as the blurring of boundaries and identities. It is the place where people of all different backgrounds and talents come together to put on a show. She refers to Dionysus, the god of theater, and how he “shakes things up.” Therefore, she believes that we have the task of shaking up our environment in the world of theater.

In relation to shaking things up, Karin also leaves us an important piece of advice that she shares with her students: “Be polite offstage, but don’t be polite onstage.” Theater shouldn’t be a controlled environment– it should be chaotic, creative, and taking us to places we’ve never been before.

Head over to the ITBR Cafe, our Patreon, to savor the rest of the discussion between Karin and Andrew as they talk about the corporatization of Broadway and the need for more artist control… Only $5 a month (the price of a cup of coffee)! patreon.com/ivorytowerboilerroom

Follow Karin on Instagram, @karincoonrod and @compagniadecolombari. Read more about Karin’s compelling work on her website: https://www.karincoonrod.com/

Head to Broadview Press, an independent academic publisher, for all your humanities related books. Use code ivorytower for 20% off your broadviewpress.com order.

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Thanks to the ITBR team! Andrew Rimby (Executive Director), Mary DiPipi (Chief Contributor), and our Spring 23 Interns (Andrea, Kaitlyn, Rosie, Sara, and Sheila)

Hey, true crime friends! This week we are back with our Death in the Dorm series (streaming on Hulu now). This week we are covering the murder of Baruch College freshman, Michael Deng.

Michael Deng was the only child of Chinese immigrants in Flushing Queens, NY. His academic success landed him in one of the best local colleges- Baruch College. There, he wanted to discover himself and decided to pledge with an Asian cultural fraternity- Pi Delta Psi. Sadly, Michael because a victim of a particularly brutal hazing ritual that ended his tragically short life.

Soures:

Death in the Dorms- Episode 4

Head to Broadview Press, an independent academic publisher, for all your humanities related books. Use code ivorytower for 20% off your broadviewpress.com order.

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Thanks to the ITBR team! Andrew Rimby (Executive Director), Mary DiPipi (Chief Contributor), and our Spring 23 Interns (Andrea, Kaitlyn, Rosie, Sara, and Sheila)

To end our Winter 23 season, we’re so happy to welcome Dr. Vernon Rosario who has written extensively for The Gay and Lesbian Review! Rosario is a historian of science and Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA and joins Andrew to talk about the intersection between the LGBTQ+ community and psychiatry. Vernon and Andrew mention an array of historical figures such as Foucault, Freud, and Kinsey in their discussion. Is Freud still relevant among psychiatrists today?

Vernon dives into the climate of queer studies in the 90s– which was newly developing and politically charged. Vernon describes the support he was given as diving headfirst into the queer academic scene and not knowing what to expect when he attended the third gay and lesbian conference at Harvard in 1990. We learn that this dive into queer studies led Vernon to edit the first ever anthology to acknowledge the crossover between homosexuality and the medical field- Routledge’s 1996 Science and Homosexualities, 1st ed.

Vernon then transitions into discussing the steps it took to get to where we are today with gender and sexuality studies, which consists of many majors and minors across the U.S. He discusses the debate that went on in the 80s and 90s as to exactly how gender and sexuality should be incorporated into higher education. Should it be incorporated into pre-existing degrees, or should it be its own academic department?

Being a historian, Vernon of course talks about the history of homosexuality in the medical realm. He talks about the 19th century, and the rise of homosexuality being labeled as a disease.

Head over to the ITBR Cafe, our Patreon, to tune into the rest of the episode and hear more about the intersection between psychiatry, gender, and sexuality… Only $5 a month! patreon.com/ivorytowerboilerroom

Be sure to read Vernon Rosario’s 1999 article in The Gay and Lesbian Review, “Rise and Fall of the Medical Model” (republished in the Nov-Dec 2022 issue): https://glreview.org/article/rise-and-fall-of-the-medical-model-2/

Head to Broadview Press, an independent academic publisher, for all your humanities related books. Use code ivorytower for 20% off your broadviewpress.com order.

To subscribe to The Gay and Lesbian Review visit glreview.org. Click Subscribe, and enter promo code ITBR to receive a free copy with any print or digital subscription.

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Thanks to the ITBR team! Andrew Rimby (Executive Director), Mary DiPipi (Chief Contributor), and our Spring 23 Interns (Andrea, Kaitlyn, Rosie, Sara, and Sheila)

Hey, true crime friends! For this week's episode, I got to live out a pipe dream of mine. I sat down with not one-but 2 forensic psychologists- Dr. Lina Haji and Dr. John Delatorre. 

Dr. Lina Haji is a forensic psychologist working with prison inmates. She hosts a YouTube channel called Rise Psychology where she covers a wide array of mental health issues and she was recently featured in Lights, Camera, Murder: Scream. Dr. John Delatorre is a consultant and commentator on Court TV and the Law and Crime Trial Network- where he recently commented on the Alec Murdaugh trial. He is also an adjunct professor at ANM.

Head to Broadview Press, an independent academic publisher, for all your humanities-related books. Use code ivorytower for 20% off your broadviewpress.com order.

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Join The Ivory Tower Boiler Room Cafe, $5 a month, to watch the video interviews and listen to bonus episodes: patreon.com/ivorytowerboilerroom

Andrew continues his San Francisco Queer History conference episodes with Ben Miller, a writer, podcaster, and academic, who has made a splash with his new book, co-written with Huw Lemmey, "Bad Gays: A Homosexual History." Ben begins by explaining the origin story for how the "Bad Gays" podcast was created, and how he and Huw met. Andrew asks why the word choice "Bad" instead of say "Evil" was chosen? Don't worry, Ben has an answer. 

Ben opens up about the need for more mature, deep, conversations on queer topics. Something past Queer Theory "101." Right now, there's a need for collective conversations on what queer politics looks like and how to fight the backlash against the LGBTQ+ community. Ben and Andrew then discuss what obtaining a PhD means to them, and they discuss the common misconception that you're expected to become a professor after receiving your doctorate. What do we do about the crisis in academia regarding low pay and compensation of work? 

And then Ben returns to what makes "Bad Gays" such a thrilling podcast and book, how it's "part revisionist history and part historical biography." It "subverts the notion of gay icons and queer heroes and asks what we can learn about LGBTQ history, sexuality and identity through its villains and baddies."

Follow Ben on Instagram, @benwritesthings  and Twitter, @benwritesthings. And be sure to follow "Bad Gays" on Instagram, @badgayspod   and Twitter, @badgayspod. 

Be sure to get your hands on Ben and Huw's "Bad Gays" book here: https://badgayspod.com/book 

Head to Broadview Press, an independent academic publisher, for all your humanities related books. Use code ivorytower for 20% off your broadviewpress.com order.

To subscribe to The Gay and Lesbian Review visit glreview.org. Click Subscribe, and enter promo code ITBR to receive a free copy with any print or digital subscription.

Order from @mandeemadeit, mention ITBR, and with your first order you'll receive a free personalized gift!

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Thanks to the ITBR team! Andrew Rimby (Executive Director), Mary DiPipi (Chief Contributor), and our Spring 23 Interns (Andrea, Kaitlyn, Rosie, Sara, and Sheila)

Today, the ITBR gets sprinkled with sugar and spice– a diverse, opinionated commentary on arts and culture for Winter 2023. Join Andrew and Mary as they recap recent buzz in arts and culture including Prince Harry, Pamela Anderson, the Golden Globes, and the Oscars. Andrew and Mary dive deep into films such as "Avatar: The Way of Water"… Um, James Cameron, where is our "Titanic 2"?

Andrew and Mary have another 50 minutes of hot takes! Listen to the rest of this exclusive episode on our Patreon, ITBR Cafe! For the price of a coffee per month ($5), you get access to the rest of this episode as well as other exclusive material! Get caffeinated with us here: patreon.com./ivorytowerboilerroom

Head to Broadview Press, an independent academic publisher, for all your humanities related books. Use code ivorytower for 20% off your broadviewpress.com order.

To subscribe to The Gay and Lesbian Review visit glreview.org. Click Subscribe, and enter promo code ITBR to receive a free copy with any print or digital subscription.

Order from @mandeemadeit, mention ITBR, and with your first order you'll receive a free personalized gift!

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Thanks to the ITBR team! Andrew Rimby (Executive Director), Mary DiPipi (Chief Contributor), and our Spring 23 Interns (Andrea, Kaitlyn, Rosie, Sara, and Sheila)

Hey, true crime friends! This week, I sat down with author and former executive assistant to the chief medical examiner of Maryland- Bruce Goldfarb. Bruce is not only the first repeat guest here, but he is the FIRST GUEST EVER! Bruce has recently released his newest work- OCME: Life in America's Top Forensic Medical Center. It details his experience working at and the history of one of the country's best forensic medical centers. 

OCME: Life in America's Top Forensic Medical Center is out NOW!!! Go to your locally owned, small business bookstore and get your hands on this incredible book today!

Don't forget to follow Bruce Goldfarb on IG @eighteentinydeaths

Head to Broadview Press, an independent academic publisher, for all your humanities related books. Use code ivorytower for 20% off your broadviewpress.com order.

To subscribe to The Gay and Lesbian Review visit glreview.org. Click Subscribe, and enter promo code ITBR to receive a free copy with any print or digital subscription.

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Thanks to the ITBR team! Andrew Rimby (Executive Director), Mary DiPipi (Chief Contributor), and our Spring 23 Interns (Andrea, Kaitlyn, Rosie, Sara, and Sheila)

Hey, true crime friends! Here is a sneak peek of February’s Patreon BONUS episode! This month, we covered The Dating Game Killer aka Rodney Alcala.

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