Under the Surface

Charles Person was one of the original Freedom Riders from 1961. At the age of only 18, he rode a public interstate bus into the segregated South with an inter-racial group of young people to challenge the persistent non-enforcement of US Supreme Court decisions which ruled that segregated public buses and other public spaces were unconstitutional. Viciously attacked twice by white Klansmen in Alabama, he put his life on the line to challenge the status quo in an act of nonviolent protest. Learn about his unique experience and his perspective on the current widespread protests against police brutality in the wake of George Floyd's killing in Minneapolis.

Ella Vallone, the US mail carrier for Easthampton, MA has a fan club made up of all the different people who live along her route, which happens to be her very own neighborhood. Despite the challenge of walking 13 miles a day to deliver mail to 680 houses a day, the hardship of extreme weather and the weight of heavy loads, she has found the job rewarding. She says, "I am blessed with people who shower me with umbrellas, food, love and stories about themselves and the history of the town.”

Meet the embodied artist and creator of Shyanne Happens. Shyanne Happens is a life-size, living, breathing inflatable doll! A "Shyanne Happening" challenges the status quo by reclaiming the female body from the porn industry and placing it in the totally different context of climate change and gender equality activism. By dancing between the Sacred and the Profane, Shyanne invites us to question the nature of life as we know it by confronting us with the contradictions of our own culture in all its complexity and strangeness.

David Entin served in Vietnam from 1966 to 1968. But NOT as a soldier. Instead, he worked for USAID (United States Agency for International Development) in the province of Quang Ngai where he had some of the most memorable, paradigm-shifting experiences of his life. He experienced both the beauty of the Vietnamese countryside and the horror of war from the vantage point of a helicopter. He witnessed the hypocrisy of the war on a personal level too as it played out in his workplace role after the Tet Offensive.

Jess Batchelor shares her own experience of sexual harrassment and powerlessness in the workplace, the practicality of following guidelines for consent on college campuses, the conflict between 2nd and 3rd wave feminists on sexual expression (vs. exploitation) and the ways that we still remain blind to everyday sexism.

Kamil Peters creates highly distinctive metal art work in Holyoke, MA ranging from small intricate masks to massive sculptures of animals and insects, as well as large-scale commercial installations. But his passion also lies in teaching the art of welding to young people who find themselves lost in a school system and society that renders them invisible. "Everybody needs a place... a place to feel like home away from home," he says. "When you honor your children, they will honor you back."

Marjory Zaik, an Easthampton, MA native, had Polish immigrant grandparents who came to the US in the 1920's and settled in the small mill town of Easthampton without knowing how to speak a word of English. In this interview, Marjory reflects on her parents' desire to transcend Easthampton as well as her own. But after 3 decades in NYC, Marjory made the startling decision to return to her hometown. Here's why.

For the last day of 2017, I decided to look back at my life and create a solo episode on SEXISM. In particular, I reflect on my own personal experiences from childhood to adulthood. I also talk about how I internalized sexist ideas at a young age and how they formed my views on romance and the nature of "the real man." How can we break free of the sexist head trip of our culture while also remaining a part of it?

When I first heard Claire Dacey perform at an open mic about two months ago at Luthier’s in Easthampton, I was enthralled by the beauty and authenticity of her voice. In this conversation, Claire discusses the path that led her to create folk music as well as her background as a naturalist and ecologist. She also treats us to four of her breathtaking original songs!