Sociologists Talking Real Sh*t

Join Celene Fuller and me as we discuss alternatives to monogamy.  Professor Fuller breaks down open relationships and polyamory.  Celene Fuller is a doctoral candidate at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and specializes in the sociological subfields of gender and sexuality and social psychology, emphasizing stigmatized sexual and gender identities. Celene’s dissertation research centers on the experiences of sexual and reproductive health stigma surrounding access to abortion and reproductive healthcare in Nevada. She is currently working with several nonprofit organizations to conduct sociological research that may be used to support and influence policies aimed at increasing access to reproductive healthcare at the state level.

Dr. Paul E Calarco Jr. joins me to discuss COVID vaccinations, being a White ally, and so much more.  Paul is a Ph.D. sociologist with a specialization in gender, he has dedicated the majority of his academic career to addressing inequality and through his true passion lecturing undergraduates, attempting to elicit social change through expanding their minds, unblocking their creativity and imagination, and making them sharper, more mindful citizens.

Nadia Kim joins me to discuss her new book "Refusing Death: Immigrant Women and the Fight for Environmental Justice in LA."   We talk about the central role that courageous Asian and Latinx immigrant women play in the environmental justice movement in Los Angeles. 

Nadia Y. Kim is Professor of Sociology and of Asian & Asian American Studies at Loyola Marymount University. Her research focuses on nativist racism with respect to Korean/Asian Americans, South Koreans, Latinx groups (esp. women), Los Angeles, and environmental racism and classism. Throughout her work, Kim’s approach centers (neo)imperialism, transnationality, and intersectionality. Kim is the author of the multi-award-winning Imperial Citizens: Koreans and Race from Seoul to LA (Stanford, 2008) and of Refusing Death: Immigrant Women and the Fight for Environmental Justice in LA. She has (co)authored articles in anthologies and volumes of Social Forces, Social Problems, International Migration Review, and The Du Bois Review. She and/or her work have also appeared on National and SoCal Public Radio, Radio Korea and in The Washington Post, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Boston Globe, The Korea Times, and NYLON Magazine. She's a music and animal lover, singer and avid karaoke-er, and ocean-worshipper; and has lived in Seoul, Newfoundland Canada, Florence Italy, and comes from a family of South Koreans and Korean Brasilians.  

Dr. Michael Messner joins me to discuss his new book "Unconventional Combat: Intersectional Action in the Veterans’ Peace Movement."  We discuss the way in which veterans who are women, racial, and sexual minorities have affected the military and the Veterans for Peace movement.  We also discuss how these transformations serve as a cautionary tale to all social justice movements. 

Michael Messner is a professor of sociology and gender studies at the University of Southern California. He has been honored with the Pursuit of Justice Award from the California Women’s Law Center for his research and advocacy for girls and women in sport; the Feminist Mentoring Award from the Sociologists for Women in Society; and the Jessie Bernard Award from the American Sociological Association in recognition of contributions to the understanding of women’s lives.  Messner is the author or editor of nineteen books, and has in recent years focused his research on U.S. military veterans who become lifelong advocates for peace and social justice. The first book based on this research, Guys Like Me: Five Wars, Five Veterans for Peace, was published by Rutgers University Press in 2019. The new book, Unconventional Combat: Intersectional Action in the Veterans’ Peace Movement is hot off the press from Oxford University Press. The website is https://unconventionalcombat.com

Professor Renato Jimenez and I talk about our relationships with our fathers and sociology and how it shapes us as men and fathers.  

Renato Jimenez is an associate professor of sociology at East Los Angeles College. He identifies as a 1.5 generation immigrant from Guatemala. Renato was raised in Santa Ana, California, attended Santa Ana College, UC Irvine (B.A. Sociology), and CSU Fullerton (M.A. Sociology). His research interests include sociology of families, sociology of sports, gender, sex and sexuality, and racially/ethnic identities. He teaches the only class offered in the LACCD on masculinities entitled Issues of Manhood in the U.S. He is currently working on developing biweekly equity-minded podcasts for ELAC through the office of professional development. He is an avid lover of music and vinyl record collector. He is the proud father of two young boys, ages 5 and 6. 

Dr. Nicole Wilms and I discuss women in sports, transgender women’s participation in sports, and the attack on critical race theory. 

Nicole Willms received her B.A. in Sociology/Anthropology and Spanish from Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Virginia. She later completed her studies at the University of Southern California, where she received her Master's and Ph.D. in Sociology, with a certificate in Gender Studies. 

Willms' research focuses on the intersection of gender and race in American Sports. Her 2017 book, When Women Rule the Court: Gender, Race, and Japanese American Basketball, explores a community context that produced stellar female athletes and new understandings about gender and sport. 

Born in Seattle, Washington, and resident of Spokane, Washington since 2011, Willms considers herself a Northwesterner at heart. Her favorite activities are jogging, kayaking, reading fiction, spending time with friends and family, and dabbling in her favorite sport, basketball, as a player, fan, or coach.

Join me in a reflexive conversation with Dr. Cara Gillis on the cannons of philosophy and sociology, teaching our disciplines to working-class students of color and women kicking men's ass in sports! 

Dr. Cara Gillis is a philosopher who specializes in ethics, particularly in the areas of animal ethics, environmental ethics, and the problem of harm.  She’s currently examining the relationship between moral psychology and motivation as it applies to biocentric and ecocentric conceptions of environmental ethics. She received a BA in philosophy from the University of Western Ontario, MAs in philosophy from Cal State Long Beach and UC Irvine, and a Ph.D. in philosophy from UC Irvine.  She’s taught in the Community College, Cal State, and University of California systems and is currently a professor of philosophy at Pierce College, where she’s also the Chair of Philosophy and Sociology Department.  Although born and raised in the Canadian Maritimes, she moved to southern California in the early aughts to evade the cold and pursue a “career” in road cycling.  Her life motto is “How hard can it be?” It turns out some things, particularly the self-reflection and introspection necessary to be an effective educator, are very hard indeed.

Join Dr. Rashawn Ray and me as we discuss how we actually get police reform.  Will the conviction of Derek Chauvin bring reform?  How do we not just hold police officers responsible but the policing system itself accountable?  If we cant pull the rotten tree of policing up at the roots, how do we begin to trim its rotten branches? 

Robert Wonser and I reopen our conversation about the Republican Party's war on “cancel culture."  We ask why now and how we can reach across the ideological rift.  

Robert Wonser has been teaching sociology since 2006. He earned his BS in Business Administration with an option in Marketing and his MA in Sociology from California State University, Northridge. He is an Associate Professor of Sociology at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, CA. He teaches numerous sociology classes and is one of the coordinators for COC's Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. His research interests include culture, mass media, subcultures, popular culture, youth culture, consumerism, social stratification, gender, criminology, education, and social psychology. 

He has co-authored with Dr. David Boyns a book chapter in Cinematic Sociology 2nd Edition ‘The Caped Crusader: What Batman Films Tell Us about Crime and Deviance” and an article in The Sociological Quarterly called “Between the Living and Undead: How Zombie Cinema Reflects the Social Construction of Risk, the Anxious Self, and Disease Pandemic.”

Former Los Angels and Seattle City Planner Dick Platkin and I discuss how cities ignore the reports of their own city planners to the benefit of real estate developers, dealing with the homeless crisis, and the lack of low income affordable housing. 

Dick Platkin is a retired Los Angeles city planner with graduate degrees in city planning (University of Washington) and sociology (University of California Los Angeles).  Since retiring from the City of Los Angeles, he taught undergraduate classes at University of Southern California and California State University Northridge.  He also worked for community groups in Los Angeles as a city planning consultant and writes a weekly on-line Planning Watch column for CityWatchLA.  In his column, he draws on his training in sociology and his experience is working in and teaching about urban planning.  As a sociologist his interests were political sociology (fascism), racism and nationalism, and urban sociology.