In this episode I talk about how life transformed nearly overnight as bear sightings, and more gravely, bear attacks skyrocketed in the urban areas of Akita prefecture. To be clear, though bears are a well established part of life here, this is taking place at a scale even lifelong residents are at a loss to understand. That, and some discussion of the latest market drawdown and some implications.

Here is a link to The Guardian piece I mention in the show. And the (open access) book I mentioned at the end of the show can be found here.

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Very excited for the opportunity to discuss the new edited volume Doing the Work of Equity Leadership for Justice and Systems Change with its co-editor, Prof. Ann Ishimaru, the Killinger Endowed Chair and Professor of Educational Foundations, Leadership and Policy at the University of Washington. In collaboration with co-editor, Dr. Decoteau Irby of the University of Illinois Chicago, Prof. Ishimaru worked for years to bring together a host of voices and perspectives, including both researchers and practitioners, working to bring new ideas and practices to this critical aspect of society.

There is so much to take away and consider by listening to Prof. Ishimaru insights and experiences across a range of important aspects tied to the continuing struggle for justice in education.

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The price of gold is way, way up at historic levels and save for those who bought into it some time back (but maybe even for them ultimately), it is a very troubling signal of a looming global financial calamity. Below is the chart (Gold prices USD/oz. since 1973) I discuss in the episode.

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Hopped on the mic to record some thoughts and analysis of the strange meeting Defense (War) Secretary Pete Hegseth called. As always, I try to take a step back in think about some of the wider context. TLDL: probably not good.

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Travel writer extraordinaire, Chris Tharp, joins us to discuss his first major work of fiction, The Cuttlefish. A novel that meets the utmost requirement of any novel, i.e., it tells a great story that you don’t want to stop reading. As Chris is a good friend you may want some additional independent endorsement before digging in. Well, as mentioned at the end of the episode, the glowing review from the folks at the well respected book review site The Metropolitan Review, can be found here. All that said, I think listening Chris describe the story beyond the story in this episode goes along way towards convincing you to check it out.

And of course, The Cuttlefish is available from all major book vendors including the ever lurching behemoth, amazon, which you can find here.

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In this episode we direct a critical gaze at the widely held narrative wherein the erosion of the American industrial base took with it the ‘good life’ and well-being provided by industrial work throughout the 1950s-60s. In this view, these socio-economic shifts led to a sense of abandonment and elite resentment that, in part, fueled the rise of Donald Trump. I think there is definitely some truth to this. But I also think this framing is misleading in ways that point us towards solutions that will not (even if successfully implemented) alleviate these problems or promote human flourishing. Rather, we peer into a key work of the self-educated metal worker, labor activist, & social theorist Harry Braverman, to put forth an alternative rendering of this narrative and a reconsideration of the supposed ‘Golden Age’ of American capitalism.

An excellent recent essay (mentioned in the episode) on the Braverman’s life and his massively influential book, Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century, can be found here.

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In this episode I try to think about what the simultaneous thriving of MAG7 companies and the burgeoning authoritarian Trump regime tell us about the purported symbiosis between “advanced” capitalism and democracy.

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In this episode I try to drop AI into a bit of a wider historical and political-economic perspective. More a series of propositions than any firm conclusions, but I hope it spurns some consideration on your part. Please share your thoughts in a comment or direct message. Thanks as always for listening and supporting the show.

Here are a few of the books I mentioned in the show, I highly recommend them all, but to me, Hao and Slobodian’s respective works are absolutely essential.

Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI By Karen Hao

Hayek's Bastards: Race, Gold, IQ, and the Capitalism of the Far Right Quinn Slobodian

and there is a pdf copy of Karl Polanyi’s Great Transformation available here!

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A second attempt at a video post, this time from the serene confines of the Akita countryside.

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Thoughts, analysis, and some (dark) projections.

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