Nostalgia Trap

Justin Rogers-Cooper returns to continue our series on the extraordinary historical moment created by the COVID-19 crisis. In this conversation we take on the rapidly evolving politics of the virus, reflecting on the public outrage at massive corporate bailouts while working people are saddled with unimaginable economic ruin. Can the left seize that energy to win electoral and ideological victories? We also speculate on the direction of U.S. government policy, social stability, and American popular culture as the crisis develops.

Preview of bonus episode 182: Contagion with Justin Rogers-Cooper.

Kevin Baker is a historian studying the ways policymakers use predictive computer models to map the future. In this conversation, he tells us about navigating the shock of class consciousness in the academy, describes his work researching artificial intelligence at Berkeley, and offers the peculiar story of The Limits to Growth, a 1972 study based on SimCity-like computer programs that predicted the collapse of industrial civilization by the year 2050.

Trap favorites KJ Shepherd and Bill Black return for a much-needed election year vibe check, in which we discuss our individual and collective moods in the context of Bernie Sanders' continued success in the Democratic primary. From online battles with Marc Maron and other toxic centrist dorks to the wider view of academic work in a collapsing humanities job market, KJ and Bill bring their characteristically refreshing perspectives to an increasingly chaotic historical moment.

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Alice Bag is a punk icon, the lead singer of legendary 1970s L.A. punk band The Bags, and now a writer, educator, and feminist archivist. In this conversation, she tells her story of overcoming a childhood in East L.A. wracked by poverty and domestic abuse, finding an outlet for her personal and political rage in the burgeoning Hollywood punk scene. In the years since that initial explosion, she's become one of the movement's chief historians, recovering the voices of women and people of color who are often left out of the mainstream punk narrative.

Rick Paulas is a journalist covering issues of housing and homelessness; his recent piece on Moms 4 Housing details what happened when a group of Black mothers occupied a vacant house in Oakland, California. In this conversation, we talk about America's housing crisis in the context of neoliberal capitalism, and explore the revolutionary political, social, and cultural implications of a more activist homeless population.