The Play Typer Guy

This is the continuation of my discussion with former political commentator Evan Barker. In this episode, we will continue talking about difficult conversations within the Democratic party. Go back to the previous episode to listen to our enlightening discussion.

Guest Info: 

Evan Barker is a political and cultural commentator who has worked in Democratic politics, primarily as a fundraiser for progressive US Senate, House, and DA campaigns. After attending the DNC in 2024, she left the party and became an Independent. Evan has been published in The Times, Newsweek, and The Free Press. She has appeared on System Update with Glenn Greenwald, Batya!, Cuomo, Jesse Watters Primetime and Fox News at Night. Evan writes on substack, hosts a podcast, and her first book, NOTHING LEFT is now available to purchase.

Links:

Evan’s Website: https://www.evanbarker.net/

Evan’s Substack: https://evanbarker.substack.com/

Evan’s Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHtWrIrkPmY

Evan’s Book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1668213176?ref=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cp_ud_dp_T6J7K2VZ9R6MB0KCV192&ref_=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cp_ud_dp_T6J7K2VZ9R6MB0KCV192&social_share=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cp_ud_dp_T6J7K2VZ9R6MB0KCV192&bestFormat=true

Connect with Stephen:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SER1897
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@ThePlayTyperGuy
Email: [email protected]

Join  the Player Typer Guy Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/stephenrobinson

Evan Barker is a former Democratic campaign operative and political strategist, whose new book Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative has not pleased mainstream Democrats or progressives. Evan joins me for a two-part discussion of some topics she covers in the book, which I do recommend reading, even if you’re tempted to find her positions heretical. Nothing is ever gained from shutting off communication. That’s how cults operate. 

You will hear:

• We discuss some of the backlash Evan has received with this book and why
• How the outward views of the Democratic party have shifted over time
• The intricacies of social justice politics and the Abolish ICE movement
• And more! Don’t forget to tune in to PART 2!

Guest Info: 

Evan Barker is a political and cultural commentator who has worked in Democratic politics, primarily as a fundraiser for progressive US Senate, House, and DA campaigns. After attending the DNC in 2024, she left the party and became an Independent. Evan has been published in The Times, Newsweek, and The Free Press. She has appeared on System Update with Glenn Greenwald, Batya!, Cuomo, Jesse Watters Primetime and Fox News at Night. Evan writes on substack, hosts a podcast, and her first book, NOTHING LEFT is now available to purchase.

Links:

Evan’s Website: https://www.evanbarker.net/

Evan’s Substack: https://evanbarker.substack.com/

Evan’s Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHtWrIrkPmY

Evan’s Book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1668213176?ref=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cp_ud_dp_T6J7K2VZ9R6MB0KCV192&ref_=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cp_ud_dp_T6J7K2VZ9R6MB0KCV192&social_share=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cp_ud_dp_T6J7K2VZ9R6MB0KCV192&bestFormat=true

Connect with Stephen:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SER1897
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@ThePlayTyperGuy
Email: [email protected]

Join  the Player Typer Guy Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/stephenrobinson

This week, we lost an absolute LEGEND - Judy Gumbo. I was fortunate enough to have interviewed Judy when her book, Yippie Girl, came out in 2022 and in her honor, I am posting that interview in full. In 1972, the FBI described Judy as "the most vicious, the most anti-American, the most anti-establishment, and the most dangerous to the internal security of the United States." She took on the FBI and beat them - putting an end to illegal wire tapping. Check out this amazing episode in honor of this badass human.

Copy from original 2022 YouTube episode posting:

Stephen Robinson interviews activist and all-around badass Judy Gumbo, whose new memoir YIPPIE GIRL details her time as a founding member of the Youth International Party (also known as The Yippies) and her tangles with the FBI, who didn’t extend to her the kid gloves Donald Trump treatment.

Judy and I discuss the ongoing struggle for freedom and what role activism can play in our current politics. I think you’ll enjoy it! 

Buy YIPPIE GIRL at your favorite independent bookstore or at an Internet near you.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/yipp...

https://www.amazon.com/Yippie-Girl-Ex... 

Connect with Stephen:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SER1897
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@ThePlayTyperGuy
Email: [email protected]

Join  the Player Typer Guy Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/stephenrobinson

This is Part Two of my discussion with author and activist Maya Contreras about the recent Democratic primary elections in Michigan and Wisconsin, and why some Democrats struggle with a true “big tent.”

Maya lives and works in New York City. She’s just finished a new book, The Language of Theft: How The Wealthy Fund Narratives That Rob America of Our Common Sense, in which she offers a blueprint of strategies Democrats can use to counter destructive, donor-funded right-wing narratives.

You will hear:

• A good portion of the Democratic party is out of touch and don’t know how to fix it (because they don’t see the problem)
• Trump is moving away from the word “Socialist,” in favor of the old classic — “Communism” because socialism isn’t the boogyman it used to be
• How both parties use race, specifically Black Americans, to attempt to gain their vote without actually caring about their wellbeing after the win
• Part of the problem is Democrats think if they can just get back into power, they can undo everything Trump has done and go back like it’s 2008, but that isn’t going to happen
• Why focusing on voter rights is so important and what happens when access to the ballot box is restricted
• The drive and desire for power is what is driving all of these issues—they want to get into powerful positions and rule with an iron fist instead of looking at and representing the needs of their constituents 
• And so much more!

Links:  

Maya’s Website: https://www.mayacontreras.com/

Maya’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mayatcontreras

Maya’s X: https://x.com/mayatcontreras

Connect with Stephen:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SER1897
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@ThePlayTyperGuy
Email: [email protected]

Join  the Player Typer Guy Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/stephenrobinson

Author and activist Maya Contreras joins me to discuss the recent Democratic primary elections in Michigan and Wisconsin, and why some Democrats struggle with a true “big tent.”

Maya lives and works in New York City. She’s just finished a new book, The Language of Theft: How The Wealthy Fund Narratives That Rob America of Our Common Sense, in which she offers a blueprint of strategies Democrats can use to counter destructive donor-funded right-wing narratives.

This is Part One of our discussion. Look for Part Two next time.

You will hear:

• Voter turnout in 2012 vs. 2020 in Wisconsin and how that impacted elections
• The Politics of Fear and how fear often stops us from voting for who we really feel is the best candidate because we are afraid (or have been told) that person isn’t strong enough to beat the MAGA candidate, so we vote for the “lesser of two evils” with a candidate better favored
• Instead of targeting people we don’t like or agree with, we should be lifting up the people we do agree with
• Americans are often not willing to look back at the things that have led to why things are the way they are when trying to affect change (example: what we did leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor)
• How can we bring people to the party when we are busy tearing each other down?
• And more!

Links:  

Maya’s Website: https://www.mayacontreras.com/

Maya’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mayatcontreras

Maya’s X: https://x.com/mayatcontreras

Connect with Stephen:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SER1897
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@ThePlayTyperGuy
Email: [email protected]

Join  the Player Typer Guy Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/stephenrobinson

This is the final act of my Angels in America discussion with Evan Stern from the Certain Thoughts Substack. Tony Kushner’s Roy Cohn has a lot in common with politicians whose animating philosophy is the pursuit of power. The late Lindsey Graham is a sobering example, despite the curious tributes to him by Democrats who should know better. Of course, as Belize says about the dead Cohn: “He was a terrible person. He died a hard death. So maybe . . . A queen can forgive her vanquished foe. It isn’t easy, it doesn’t count if it’s easy, it’s the hardest thing. Forgiveness. Which is maybe where love and justice finally meet. Peace, at least.”

Yet, forgiveness is not the same as forgetting. The latter is an insult to the injured. After Louis and Ethel Rosenberg’s ghost deliver a Kaddish over Cohn’s body, they say with justified disgust, “You son of a bitch.” I would’ve supported any Graham tribute that ended similarly.

In Part 2, you will hear:

• Examples such as Clarence Thomas and Lindsey Graham using positions of power against marginalized people, even though they are (or could be perceived as being) part of that marginalized community, because they see the power as greater than their connection to that community - HOWEVER… that is also a distraction and what we need to be focused on is the substance of what they are doing to harm the people and not the media circus surrounding their private lives
• Relationship closeness between a political party and its voters tends to impact how politicians are criticized because Republican voters see themselves as SAME to their politicians and therefore any criticism of the politician also feels like a criticism of self - Democratic voters do not typically have that same sense of closeness to their politicians (i.e., people tend to say whatever they want to them without worrying about stepping on toes)
• Trump coming into office didn’t make Lindsey Graham a terrible person; he just gave him permission to be the terrible person he has always been out loud
• Why you can’t just have a “difference of opinion” when it comes to things like fundamental human rights - Maybe it is time to do a little more dehumanizing evil people and calling them out
• And more!

Links:  

Evan’s Substack: https://substack.com/@therealevanstern/notes

Evan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealevanstern/

Evan’s Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/certainthoughts.substack.com

Stephen’s Substack Episode: https://www.playtyperguy.com/p/angels-in-america-lindsey-graham

Play Typer Guy YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0S-b-rReeY 

Connect with Stephen:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SER1897
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@ThePlayTyperGuy
Email: [email protected]

Join  the Player Typer Guy Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/stephenrobinson

Evan Stern from the Certain Thoughts Substack joins me to discuss my favorite play, Angels in America. Evan just saw the 2003 HBO miniseries adaptation of Tony Kushner’s masterwork, and we discuss how a play written in 1991 and set in the 1980s is both simultaneously a snapshot of the period while also offering a shocking preview of modern politics. In so many ways, Angels in America feels as if it could’ve been written today. 

In Part 1 of this two-part episode, you will hear:

• Getting Evan’s thoughts on his first introduction to Angels in America
• How the play humanized people affected most by the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, especially since society used this as a way to threaten an already marginalized LGBT+ community, specifically targeting gay men
• How this story differs from a lot of the stories of the time because Prior is alive at the end with a last word and a hopefulness, unlike stories like Philadelphia and Forest Gump where Andrew and Jenny are doomed to die
• The attention the story gives to real-life situations, such as how to deal with exposure to blood responsibly and safe sex between partners when one is affected with HIV/AIDS, etc.
• A look at the traits of the different characters in the story and how no one, including the “devil himself” Roy Cohn, is irredeemable
• The difference between the idea that someone does something awful, but learns and can move forward to someone who does something that fundamentally breaks what you have together and how that relates to our current political landscape
• And more! Make sure to check out Part 2!

Links:

Evan’s Substack: https://substack.com/@therealevanstern/notes

Evan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealevanstern/

Evan’s Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/certainthoughts.substack.com

Stephen’s Substack Episode: https://www.playtyperguy.com/p/why-angels-in-america-remains-shockingly

Play Typer Guy YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0S-b-rReeY 

Connect with Stephen:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SER1897
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@ThePlayTyperGuy
Email: [email protected]

Join  the Player Typer Guy Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/stephenrobinson

Joining me on the podcast today is Meg Reid, the executive director of the Hub City Writers Project in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and the publisher of Hub City Press, where she finds and champions new and overlooked voices from the American South, including Carter Sickels, Drew Lanham, Ashley M. Jones, and Anjali Enjeti.

An editor and book designer, Meg’s essays have appeared online in outlets like DIAGRAM, the Oxford American, and The Rumpus. She holds an MFA in Nonfiction from the University of North Carolina Wilmington, where she served as Assistant Editor of the literary magazine, Ecotone, and worked for the literary imprint Lookout Books. She was a Publishers Weekly Star Watch 2021 Honoree.

You will hear:

• The goal of the Hub City Writers Projects to expand underserved stories and introduce people to the new South
• How Meg came to the South
• Current trends in the book market and why it may be harder to find the book you need to read
• Aliteracy vs. Illiteracy - Well educated people who CAN read, but choose not to read - competing media (doom scrolling, streaming on demand, etc) and not taking the time to be alone in your head
• Getting people in bookstores to make reading less of a solo adventure
• And more!

Links:  

Meg’s Website: https://www.megreid.com/

Connect with Stephen:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SER1897
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@ThePlayTyperGuy
Email: [email protected]

Join  the Player Typer Guy Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/stephenrobinson

My friend Raven Snook is a writer, editor, performer, mom and all-around diva (in the positive sense of the word) who’s currently the editor in chief for TDF Stages and a contributing theater critic for Time Out New York. She joins me once again to discuss this year’s Tony Awards.

This is part two of our kibbitz session, and we discuss Death of a Salesman, the musical flop Queen of Versailles, and The Jellicle Ball, an actually good version of Cats.

Links:  

Raven's website: www.ravensnook.com

Connect with Stephen:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SER1897
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@ThePlayTyperGuy
Email: [email protected]

Join  the Player Typer Guy Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/stephenrobinson

My friend Raven Snook is a writer, editor, performer, mom and all-around diva (in the positive sense of the word) who’s currently the editor in chief for TDF Stages and a contributing theater critic for Time Out New York. She joins me once again to discuss this year’s Tony Awards, but first, we chat about Rocky Horror, Chicago, and the current state of musicals. (This was recorded before the sad announcement that my beloved Death Becomes Her is closing at the end of June.)

Raven’s work has also appeared in New York Magazine, Yahoo Parenting, the New York Post, The Village Voice, Bon Appétit, Better Homes & Gardens and Parents.com, among others.

We’ll be back next week for part two of our kibbitz session.

Guest Info: 

Raven Snook is a writer, editor, performer, mom and all-around diva (in the positive sense of the word) who’s currently the Editor of Creative Content for TDF and a contributing theater critic for Time Out New York.

Raven's work has also appeared in New York Magazine, Yahoo Parenting, the New York Post, The Village Voice, Bon Appétit, Better Homes & Gardens and Parents.com, among others.

Links:  

www.ravensnook.com

Connect with Stephen:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SER1897
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@ThePlayTyperGuy
Email: [email protected]

Join  the Player Typer Guy Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/stephenrobinson