What the Folk

The power of vulnerability and going with the flow are at the top of the conversation menu with guest Samantha Hart, author of a new memoir, Blind Pony: As True A Story As I Can Tell, about her unconventional journey from traumatized teenage runaway to creative force in the Hollywood music and film industry. Sam shares her thoughts on independent marketing, self-publishing, and disrupting the book industry, and Joy and Sarah follow up with a healthy discussion about intuition, the 100th Monkey, and whether life is a paradox, or we are just high. Listen to the end for a sneak peek of Joy’s new single!

FOLLOW SAMANTHA and buy her book at

www.samanthahart.net

FEATURED MUSIC: “It’s All Right (To Not Be Okay)” by Joy Damiani

As part of our extended Veteran’s Day of Our Discontent celebration (er, we’ll call it that, sure), Joy sits down with fellow writer, musician, and veteran Rosa del Duca to discuss the various strategies they have both undertaken to unfuck their minds from the Army’s fuckery. As a conscientious objector, Rosa’s journey through the star spangled unlearning is an especially enlightening and inspiring one. Stay tuned after the convo to discover the reason for Sarah’s mysterious absence, hear the gals try some “light banter” (goes about as well as you’d expect), and come up with a million dollar Kickstarter idea. Well, technically, Frank Herbert came up with the actual idea in Dune but we came up with the idea to crowdfund it -- and, no, it’s not the spice melange. But, if anyone has the spice hookup, hit us up.

Featured songs are: “Orion,” “Painting the Roses Red,” and “White Lies” by Hunters, courtesy of the artist.

FOLLOW ROSA (and buy her book!)

https://www.rosadelduca.com/

This episode features the incredible, and incredibly real, Jenny Pacanowski, founder/director of Women Veterans Empowered and Thriving, in a conversation that explores moving beyond organizations that serve as trauma-swaps, the challenge of incorporating ritual into collective spaces, and much more. After singing the praises of Jenny’s ever-evolving, holistic approach to community-building, Joy and Sarah discuss art as a container for complex reality, the facade of “apolitical” organizations, and preferable ways to acknowledge vets on Veterans Day -- featuring appearances by some basic Howard Zinn quotes and, as per usual, weird accents.

Featured poetry is “Combat Dick” by Jenny Pacanowski. Featured music is “Try Not to Be a Dick” and “Smoke Break” by Joy Damiani (released under Emily Yates).

FOLLOW JENNY

https://www.womenveteransempowered.org/

https://www.jennywarriorpoet.com/

The fabulous Lola Jean Darling returns for this episode! We go on a journey through the NOLA mutual aid response post-Hurricane Ida, discuss why adaptability is better than planning, consider how to turn anxiety into art — and even find time to casually side-eye René Descartes. Extra laughs and extra realness abound in this one. Afterward, Joy and Sarah dive into their shared fed-up-ness with the vaccine discourse and their shared loathing of comic sans font, while wrestling with various issues of human nuance. If you stay till the end, you will be rewarded with some questionable Canadian accents too!

FOLLOW LOLA

Insta: @lolajeandoesart

Bandcamp: lolajeandarling.bandcamp.com

NOLA MUTUAL AID

Lex Lindell: Venmo @Lex-lex *indicate mutual aid*

Bayou Disaster Kitchen: Venmo @SusiQ-Beck *indicate disaster kitchen*

Lola & Onishona: Venmo/Cash App @theloladarling, PayPal: [email protected] *indicate Lola or Ona*

FEATURED MUSIC: “Waves” and “The Years” by Lola Jean Darling, courtesy of the artist

For this joint, we're joined by anthropologist and filmmaker Marty Otañez to dive into under-discussed labor issues in cannabis, using digital storytelling to disrupt academia, and how anthropology can inform public policy. There’s a lot of hope in this episode, as well as lots of drug discourse, which is truly our favorite type of discourse. Afterward, Joy and Sarah discuss the shouldn’t-be-that-surprising revelations about Facebook, ponder whether algorithms have sentience yet, and generally do an awesome job navigating the English language.

FOLLOW MARTY:

Twitter @otanezm

https://twitter.com/otanezm

GETTING HIGH ON ANTHROPOLOGY

https://fsandgreen.org/

NALOXONE CHAMPIONS

https://clas.ucdenver.edu/anthropology/naloxone-champions

CANNABIS WORKERS’ UNION

https://www.ufcw.org/who-we-represent/cannabis/

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

The Women of Weed

https://maryjanesfilm.com/

Breaking the Grass Ceiling: Women, Weed & Business

https://bookshop.org/books/breaking-the-grass-ceiling-women-weed-business/9781541096592

FEATURED MUSIC: “In a Major Key” by Joy Damiani (released under Emily Yates)

We’re baaaaack! Our couple weeks off turned into three months but what is time during the apocalypse anyway? For our triumphant return to your earholes we are joined by Crash Barbosa, a recording artist and activist based out of L.A. We dive into his horrifying, politically motivated arrest story, mental health activism, unlearning systematic oppression from the inside, and why you should always call authority figures by their first names. Afterward, Joy and Sarah discuss their respective breaks, look back at 9/11 and Occupy Wall Street, and pay tribute to Norm Macdonald by discussing the right-on class politics of “Dirty Work.” Note to self: you won’t want to miss this episode!

FOLLOW CRASH @ crashbarbosa on Twitter and Instagram

FEATURED MUSIC: “Activism” and “Solidarity” by Crash Barbosa

carla bergman, co-author, with Nick Montgomery, of Joyful Militancy, joins us for this episode. We dive into the writing process of this inspiring, must-read book, as well as how we resist our own radically rigid tendencies, why joy and melancholy often skip hand-in-hand, and why we should let the youth lead us. We hope you leave this convo with a full cup since we certainly did! Afterward, Joy and Sarah talk about revolution as a way of being and how to break out of our self-imposed cages.

We’re taking a vacation break but will be back with more Folkery in July! Thanks for putting up with all our puns and made-up words for a whole year (wow!!), we love you!

JOYFUL MILITANCY

https://joyfulmilitancy.com/

FOLLOW CARLA

http://joyfulthreadsproductions.com/

@ joyfulcarla on the socials

FEATURED MUSIC: “I’ve Always Loved the Monsters” by Time, Maudlin Magpie & A Thousand Vows, and “Love Yourself” by Joy Damiani (released under Emily Yates), courtesy of the artists.

CHECK OUT OUR FEATURED ARTISTS

https://thisistime.bandcamp.com/album/nighthawks-at-mccoys

http://joydamiani.com/

Why do all the research and rhetoric around drug use focus on the small percentage of problematic users, leaving the vast majority of drug users out of the conversation? Why are we so shitty at talking about pleasure in America? Why don’t more people take their cats camping? Dr. Ingrid Walker is here to help us tackle these questions, as we explore drugs, pleasure, trauma, menopause, and bad portrayals of getting high in popular culture. After the interview, Joy and Sarah talk about sex for a hot minute.

Note: We would like to apologize to rock n roll for its exclusion from this episode.

FOLLOW INGRID

https://ingridkwalker.com/

Ingrid’s Ted Talk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p4zw4_qgUw

High: Drugs, Desire, and a Nation of Users

https://bookshop.org/books/high-drugs-desire-and-a-nation-of-users/9780295742328

FEATURED MUSIC: “Dreaming Awake” and “The Waking World” by Lola Darling, and “miseraine” by Lauren Flynn, courtesy of the artists.

LOLA DARLING

https://lolajeandarling.bandcamp.com/album/dream-queen

https://www.instagram.com/lolajeandoesart/?hl=en

LAUREN FLYNN

https://www.laurenflynnwastaken.com/

https://laurenflynn.bandcamp.com/album/outside-one-girl

Tarot! Cats! Comedy! Material vs cultural approaches to politics! Horror stories of the weirdest Warren stans! This conversation with the fabulous Kate Willett has it all. High witch vibes all around. Afterward, Sarah and Joy touch on Terence McKenna, white feminism, Palestine, and BDSM as they go down the leftist stoner chick rabbit holes you’ve come to know and love from this podcast.

FOLLOW KATE

https://katewillett.com/

Kate’s article referenced in the interview

https://www.elle.com/life-love/a30551979/bernie-sanders-medicare-for-all/

Our guest on this episode is the well-traveled, well-spoken, and unapologetically outspoken musician Mark Rubin. From co-founding the influential Americana trickster band The Bad Livers to being a leader in the contemporary klezmer scene, Mark’s storied career strands weave together perfectly in this latest release, The Triumph of Assimilation. We talk about the new album, his experiences as a Southern Jew, the intersectional fascism reboot, cultural appropriation do-nots, and Yiddish songwriter/poet Mordechai Gebirtig.

Featured music is “It’s Burning,” “A Day of Revenge“,”Royal Street Shuffle” and, just in time for Revenge of the 5th, “The Dark Side Has Doughnuts,” by Mark Rubin, courtesy of the artist.

FOLLOW MARK AND PRE-ORDER HIS NEW ALBUM

https://www.jewofoklahoma.com/

LEARN MORE ABOUT MORDECHAI GEBIRTIG

At Home with Mordechai Gebirtig

https://ingeveb.org/texts-and-translations/at-home-with-mordecai-gebirtig

"Our Town is Burning" and "A Beam of Sunlight"

https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/language-literature-culture/yiddish-translation/our-town-burning-and-beam-sunlight

Mordechai Gebirtig Memorial (link is to English translated page from original Polish)

https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=pl&u=https://mordechaj-gebirtig.pl/&prev=search&pto=aue

Wiki Page

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordechai_Gebirtig

P.S. SARAH AND JOY WERE REMEMBERING THAT THING ABOUT THE COLOR BLUE CORRECTLY!

https://www.iflscience.com/brain/when-did-humans-start-see-color-blue/