What's Left To Do?

Brett Wilkins. Esteemed writer at Commondreams.org & Collective 20, and author. Brett Wilkins is also a fellow SF Berniecrats e-board member that I be cuttin up with during meetings lol. Brett has come a loooooong way, from being an ardent conservative. It took lots of international travel, reading the right books, and a George W Bush presidency to get him Up From Mental Slavery 😅

I, for one, was scandalized when he was talking about the issues facing college students 😱. But I'm glad that the right man (that would be Josh)is on the case, fighting for students!

(He had better win this damn race)

I'm going to ask you to look at the thumbnail picture and marvel at that head of hair 😍

I'm also going to ask you to send my boy good vibes as he runs for President of Associated Students at San Francisco State University!

Go, Josh!

In Part 2 we explore the very rough time Roz endured at the end of college, and how she was able to emerge from it to become A FORCE as an activist and organizer.

Very illuminating discussion on prisons and the role they play in perpetuating sexual violence & violating bodily autonomy in our society. As well as how our current conception of justice falls short because it doesn't center survivors and their healing.

If you'd like to get connected to Roz, you can find her on Instagram @__RosalindJones__, you can find Operation Period on Instagram & Twitter @OperationPeriod.

Roz is an activist based in SoCal whose organizing work is primarily focused on sexual violence (she serves on the board of the Me Too Foundation) and menstrual freedom (which is a new term for me!).

She has come a long way from the adolescent struggling to find her voice and know her worth. I mean, just look at the thumbnail photo for this episode. Does it look like she's the one to be f*cked with? I think not!

P.S. how she briefly touches on the need for abolishing the police and prison abolition (more on that in part 2) is especially timely in the wake of the renewed discourse this week.

This is a bit of a wild ride, for my man has LIVED.

Also, my bad for messing up either the recording or file saving (not sure where I dropped the ball). The last (and now, lost) part of our interview was really intense with emotion🥺

The internet has, once again, ruined a word (by defanging it of any meaning by over and misusing it). That word is "colonize." 🙄

This bonus episode is of Alex retelling the history of colonization and near genocide of the Chamorro people in his father's native Guam, that, in many ways, has set the stage for much of his life.

To be colonized, or subject to colonization, is inherently geopolitical and violent in a material sense (as you will hear). What it is NOT is some individualized habit (i.e. calls to "decolonize your _____") reducible to some non-specific notion of diversity as a remedy. 😏

/rant

Note: Part 1 will make way more sense after listening to the Bonus episode.

Our dear Alex's early life was marked by being kinda different from other people he grew up with in Colorado Springs, as the child of non-Evangelicals, along with being biracial. Though growing up in Colorado still managed to make him be All-American dude (sports, patriotism, etc).

His adolescent years were especially difficult due to a number of factors, and it is nothing short of a miracle that he made it out onto the other side ❤️

In Part 2 we explore the transition pains he experienced with his entrée into the corporate world, his "love affair" with SURJ and what it was like canvassing in GA in 2020.

Oh, and I promise I don't beat up on him this much IRL 😏

First off, I would like you all to know that I *strongly* considered making the title of his episode: "Grumpy Gus: Look ma, no pants!" 😂😂😂 (it'll make more sense after you listen to Part 1)

Little Catholic Dan would probably have never guessed that the arc of his life would go something like:

STL > SF Bay > Boston > Around the world in his 20s > Back to the Bay > 5 hour interrogation, I mean, interview with yours truly 😇