KPFA - Pushing Limits

The State of Our Bodies (& Minds)
The State of the World
The State of the Pacifica Network

We’re very proud to bring you a discussion with Susan da Silva, one of the newly elected listener representatives to KPFA’s local station board.

Get behind the headlines on far-right President Bolsonaro’s effect on Brazil.  Learn about a big financial challenge for the Pacifica network.  All that, and more as we talk to this dynamic intelligent woman.

Shelley Berman & Adrienne Lauby host.

photo:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/exchangesphotos/12956916555  Cindy Housner, photographer 

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We’re blowing up language, we’re blowing up humanity in talking about expansion of who we are. JOIN us!

Excerpts from the First Voice apprentice program’s Full Circle show on allyship. This show starts a conversation to re-imagine ourselves and our world…and teaches us A LOT! Jess Dene Schlesinger and Fresh! “Lev” White explore intersectionality and allyship with the LGBTQIA+ community and that of people with disabilities.

Also, news about the Gender Krip Planet event with Rapper AJ420, deaf poet Joy Elan, Lisa Ganser, Leroy F. Moore Jr. at LaPena Cultural Center in Berkeley, March 30 at 7 pm.

Cis gender: A person whose sense of personal identity and gender corresponds with their birth sex.

Cis hetero: A person whose sense of personal identity and gender corresponds with their birth sex AND they are attracted to people of the opposite sex.

Microaggressions: Brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative prejudicial slights and insults toward members of a marginalized group.

Ally: One who understands basic issues for a marginalized person or group and stands with them, especially when they are attacked or disparaged individually.

Accomplice: (as defined by our guests in this program) One who becomes an ally and also seeks to dismantle the systems that marginalize certain groups of people, one who tried to change institutional and governmental injustice toward a marginalized group that is not your own.

Trauma-Informed: A person-centered response focused on improving an individuals’ all around wellness rather than simply treating symptoms of mental illness or other difficult life experiences.

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Becky and Dena Taylor’s book tells the story of a girl with a quirky mind, an eccentric family, and oh yes, a disability.

Born premature, Becky was given the usual prognosis “probably going to be blind, deaf and retarded.” Yet, at age four she was doing calculus in her head. One day her dad sought to stump his daughter-the-math-whiz by asking, “Is infinity an odd or an even number?” She thought about it for a bit, smiled, then replied, “Tell me the number before infinity.

We talk to Becky and Dena Taylor about growing up with cerebral palsy and their book, Tell me the Number Before Infinity from Many Names Press. Alternating voices, this mother and daughter team explore the obstacles and harassment Becky faces as a person with a visible disability — the bullying, the teachers with inflexible rules and the lack of support even from some Disability Center staff. These are stories of a mainstreamed education told with humor, intimacy and frankness.

We also feature, Every Crumb, Every Minute, Every Day by John McCutcheon, a song he wrote after reading Becky and Dena Taylor’s book.

This fund drive special is hosted by Shelley Berman, Josh Elwood, Sheela Gunn-Cushman and Adrienne Lauby. Throughout the hour, we ask people to become members of KPFA and offer this singular book as a thank you gift. The number to call is (510) 848-5732, or toll free at (800) 439-5732.

“This book should be required reading for teachers and everyone in equity and critical disability studies.” –Gloria Filax, Professor of Disability Studies, Athabasca University

Becky Taylor lives in Santa Cruz where she vice-chairs the Commission on Disabilities, and is involved with other civic organizations. She is a UC Santa Cruz Computer Science graduate. Her mother, Dena Taylor, MSW, is retired from a career in social work and education. She is the author, editor, and co-editor of six books on women’s issues.

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