What's Left To Do?

***Part 2 is up on the Patreon! If you enjoy this work and would like to support, you can go to patreon.com/whatslefttodo and for $5/month get early access to the Part 2 interviews. All episodes will be unlocked after 14 days, stay up to date with unlocks by hopping on our email list at whatslefttodo.com***

Like a fool, I thought this would FINALLY be the interview I could let my grandmother listen to, on account of me being on my best behavior speaking to a preacher 😇

WRONG. (And you'll understand why in Pt. 2) Rev. Melech walks in the tradition of radical religious leaders who study and think deeply about faith, justice and liberation.

But the road to becoming a renowned preacher was beset with setbacks throughout his early childhood, and chasing validation as a young minister coming into his own.

***Our interview with Assemblymember Alex Lee is up on the Patreon to accompany Chesa's episode! If you enjoy this work and would like to support, you can go to patreon.com/whatslefttodo and for $5/month get early access to the Part 2 interviews. All good if you're not able or willing to support just yet, all episodes will be unlocked after 30 days***

You see what I did there with this title? I would've loved to talk to DA Chesa Boudin longer, and really dive into how he made sense of his life's circumstances as a young child (we didn't have time to get into it, so just google it if you're not already familiar). But, alas, he's a very busy man these days.

Oh, and those recalls? (Not one, but two 😑) They're being funded and organized by deep pocket investors who'd like him to forget that workers' rights being violated are also a crime worth prosecuting.

***Part 2 is up on the Patreon! If you enjoy this work and would like to support, you can go to patreon.com/whatslefttodo and for $5/month get early access to the Part 2 interviews. All good if you're not able or willing to support just yet, all episodes will be unlocked after 30 days***

You'd be hard pressed to find a more committed thinker, writer, composer, epicurean, college educator and Atlanta Braves fan than one Dr. Joshua Myers. But his sports obsessed youth in Orangeburg, SC and period of being "anti-academic" didn't make his arrival, as such, a given. It took coming to Howard and missing out on a fancy summer internship to set him on his future path.

By this point, we've all heard of critical race theory, but Dr. Myers introduces me to critical university studies in Part 2. And how critical university studies informs the urgent need to dismantle the university (and racism).

***Part 2 is up on the Patreon! If you enjoy this work and would like to support, you can go to patreon.com/whatslefttodo and for $5/month get early access to my Part 2 interviews. All good if you're not able or willing to support just yet, all episodes will be unlocked after 30 days***

🚨If you have student loan debt, you're gonna want to listen to this episode, particularly Part 2! I repeat: if you have student loan debt you are going to want to listen to this episode!🚨

Melissa is one of the most outspoken advocates and organizers for getting student loan debt cancelled. There is, arguably, no one better for the job!

It struck me after our interview, when editing her episode's release, that one of the through lines of her life is identifying and fighting the injustices that poor kids are subject to in the course of getting an education. We learn in part 1, that she was that poor kid in Vineland, who had to fight for the educational rigor she deserved.

You can find Melissa on Twitter at @/MCByrne

***Part 2 is up on the Patreon! If you enjoy this work and would like to support, you can go to patreon.com/whatslefttodo and for $5/month get early access to my Part 2 interviews. Supporting the Patreon is especially important this week, as I'm pretty sure Jared's wife will demand many expensive gifts from me as penance for getting him to speak so publicly about some of the unsavory days of his youth 😬😆All good if you're not able or willing to support just yet, all episodes will be unlocked after 30 days***

Buckle up, friends! We're about to go on a wild ride with Parts 1 & 2 of Dr. Ball's story.

In Part 1 it should become clear that he was born into a family of radicals which, in a way, overdetermined who he would become and the work he would do later in life. In Part 1 it should also become clear that no matter how wild/aimless/mischievous one is in their youth, there's always time to turn it around 😅 Even if/when an "accidental crack rock" is involved (this really happened. just listen).

***Part 2 is up on the Patreon! If you enjoy this work and would like to support, you can go to patreon.com/whatslefttodo and for $5/month get early access to my Part 2 interviews. Don't worry, if you can't swing the Patreon, all episodes will be unlocked after 30 days***

I could have easily spoken with her for another 3 hours. Malaika is brilliant and precise, in a way that helps me level up my own analysis on a number issues. I'm so glad I met her all those years ago in Atlanta, as a young 20-something navigating the uncharted waters of the post-Great Recession era. Little did I know, we would reconnect about a decade later when 🎶I looked over to the left🎶 👈🏾(kudos if you know that song reference)

Hers is a fascinating story of how her life began steeped in Black Nationalism through the prism of Black Liberation Theology growing up attending The Shrine of The Black Madonna in Atlanta, which informed her future pursuits. Everything from her epiphanies on anti-capitalism in college, through her post-grad education, political writing, and work with Operation P.O.W.E.R.

You can find her on Twitter at @malaikajabali and her website malaikajabali.com

I am over the moon to be releasing this week's episode with your favorite cherubic Mensch From The Midwest, Kenzo Shibata.

Naturally, this interview took place outside of a school 😊

He was a punk rock kid long before he started doing his thing on the picket line for the Chicago Teachers Union. But I think you would all agree with me that Kenzo has, more or less, always been Kenzo.

Part 2 is up tomorrow on (my very first!) Patreon at: patreon.com/whatslefttodo

Don't worry, if you can't swing $5/month on Patreon, all Part 2 episodes will be unlocked after 30 days. Thank you for supporting this work!

Part 2 with Lydia on how her getting involved with Standing Rock was a result of how helpless she felt as a child watching everything that was happening at Wounded Knee.

And Lydia got some smoke for the GND (see what I did there?)

A one time Time Magazine covergirl, and all around taker of no prisoners, Lydia politely ignores my request for a detailed chronology of her life in exchange for a dynamic narrative on how her past and lineage influenced her arrival at being a water defender from SoCal to Standing Rock.

The orgs Lydia mentioned which are fighting Newsom's disastrous desalination plant plans are:

-Azul.com

-SoCal 350

-Sierra Club

-Sunrise

-Sunrise Water Watch

-Extinction Rebellion

In part 2 with Fayzan, we spend a good bit of time talking about something that soooo many friends/colleagues/associates have or are struggling with: the anxiety and/or depression that can come with being unfulfilled at a cushy corporate job. Kind of freaky how close his story is to my own 🙃

But confronting himself and ultimately what he wanted out of life lead him to leaving tech for political organizing. And now...his overachieving ass is about to become a medical doctor, in order to more effectively organize for M4A (among other things).

If you're interested in getting in touch with Fayzan he can be reached through his website at: fayzanrab.com

He can also be reached at his email address which is: [email protected]