I've been wrestling with my anger about the havoc Covid-19 has wrought in our country and the ineptitude that has typified how we've dealt with it. But, I still feel I don't know enough to have an opinion at all. So, in this episode, I turn to Michael Taylor, a Respiratory Therapist who works in the York, PA area. We talk about his career and, in the main, how his expertise is utilized in the current pandemic. I don’t posit Mike Taylor here as the definitive voice on the subject, and neither does he, though I surely present his perspective as a means of telling a certain kind of story in a certain kind of way. In short, I still think something needs to be done about how we as individuals and as a culture have responded (or not responded) to Covid-19. 

Music for this episode by Sherbanski.

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Once an aspiring Medieval historian, Jessica Edonick now serves as Dean of Students at the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design in downtown Lancaster, PA. She defines and redefines the position almost all the time, giving liberally of herself to students in need in a selfless, exhaustive way. As a member of the PCAD faculty, I work with her closely and refer students to her regularly. In a professional setting she is always kind, gracious and caring. In this more personal conversation, those traits prove to be the bedrock of her personality and identity.

Music by Jordan Capizzi of The Nielsen Family Band

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Osmyn Oree is an admissions counselor at the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design (PCA&D) and is a gradate of the college. He is also a photographer and an activist. We talk about the evolution of his work, his political consciousness, and a bit about his inner life amidst this turbulent time.

Osmyn Oree Photography

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Original music by Nick Peterson

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Of Lenny Bruce, Eric Bogosian said, "Saint Lenny, he died for our sins."

Over 60 years ago, comedian Lenny Bruce cracked wise about racism, corrupt power and American culture. His critique still reverberates, which means not enough has changed.

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Step 1: Unite. People of all skin colors, political agendas, genders and sexualities. All together as one.

Step 2: Get the police to join in.

Otherwise, it's utter bloodshed.

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My daughter records a message to herself at age 30 while getting trucks to honk at us; birthday present requests, and the glory of meatballs.

Music by Eliot White and Eyal Marcovici.

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At some point along the way, Leo DiSanto and I recognized we were dependent on alcohol and took steps to release ourselves from the hold it had on us. What we learned was that things got worse before they got better, Drinking quiets the hobgoblins of self-hatred, but only for a short while, and then they come back with a vengeance. It's at that point that the real work begins.

DiSanto is a local Lancaster musician who performed regularly around town until the Covid-19 outbreak. He now streams his performances live from a studio in his home, and is riding out the pandemic by sharing both his music and the music of others, and finding new ways to connect with human beings.

https://leodisanto.com

https://www.facebook.com/thisisleodisanto

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Dawn Cox at Prana Functional Manual Therapy (PranaPT.com) came to the PT profession later in her life, and brings to bear her experience connecting with human beings in various sectors of her life in her work now. At Prana, physical therapists treat the whole human being, and don't just reduce people to their injury or their diagnoses.

In the era of COVD-19, Prana is still helping people navigate and lessen their pain with Telehealth visits.

Music by Eliot White, recorded specifically for his ongoing Quarantine Song/Poem/Art Share project on Facebook.

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Bob Fenster is a social studies teacher and a musician. I met him a bunch of years ago at aconference on the Arab Spring in Philly. He's a New Jersey boy, born and bred, but I still retain enough (professional) respect for him that I felt like asking him a few questions about how he addresses controversial and contentious political issues in the classroom. Bob is the kind of teacher I aspire to be: self-reflective, both compassionate and vigilant, and clear-eyed. Over the years he's helped me with a number of queries about Model United Nations and curriculum. We talked back in November of 2019, and now we're both confined to our homes, teaching remotely when we can, eyeing the future with a skeptical but oddly optimistic eye.

If you like the music you heard in this episode, check out more of it here, https://bobfenster.bandcamp.com/. And tune into to his nightly live shows on FB. He takes (reasonable) requests.

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This is a crossover episode. These days I co-own 9 Panel Comics a comic book store with my friend Jon Darby. We buy and sell old and new comic books. We also produce a comic-related podcast. For this episode, I interview Lee Francis IV is the author of Ghost River, a graphic novel about the Conestoga, a native people who lived in what is now Central Pennsylvania, and the founder of Native Realities and Red Planet Books and Comics in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Lee opened Red Planet Comics to provide an outlet and marketplace for the work of native creatives, including books, comics and more.

Red Planet Comics

Riverbend Comcs

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