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Welcome to Coming From Left Field, a conversation about politics, books, and current events.
Episodes
Wednesday Sep 08, 2021
Wednesday Sep 08, 2021
Greg and Pat welcome back Janice O'Mahony and Kevin Miller for a second round pf poetry reading. Also included is special guest, Derek Sheffield, nationally recognized poet, teacher and editor of Terrain.org. In this podcast we put pandemics, politics, and an over-heated planet on the back burner, and engage with some lighter verse.
Poem Index:
(0:16:31_Derek) Transcendentalism by Lucia Perillo
(0:22:57_Kevin) Racehogs by David Lee
(0:27:27_Janice) Patriarch’s Birthday Party Nine Days Away Blues by Janice O’Mahony
(0:31:55_Derek) For Those Who Would See 3 by Derek Sheffield
(0:37:00_Kevin) After Hearing Birdnote on the Song - Sparrow’s Double Scratch by Kevin Miller
(0:42:51_Janice) Year of the Monkey by Janice O’Mahony
(0:54:51_Derek) Sans Teeth by Dennis Held
(1:00:32_Kevin) A Retired Farmer Working as A Greeter at Wal-Mart by Leo Dangel
(1:04:48_Janice) Denim by Janice O’Mahony
(1:09:38_Derek) Ornithology Lesson by Jan Wallace
(1:13:25_Kevin) Sunset Knoll by George Bilgere
(1:15:47_Janice) Just the Facts by Janice O’Mahony
Books by Janice O'Mahony
Whidbey Island: Reflections on People & the Land (2014) by Elizabeth Guss, Janice O'Mahony, Mary Richardson (available at https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/ )
Books by Kevin Miller
Light That Whispers Morning (1994), Everywhere Was Far (1998), Home & Away (2008) and Vanish (2020) (available at https://www.kingsbookstore.com/ )
Books by Derek Sheffield
Through the Second Skin (2013), Dear America: Letters of Hope, Habitat, Defiance, and Democracy (2020) and Not for Luck (2021) (available at https://www.kingsbookstore.com/ )
Link to Greg's blog: ZZ's Blog
#GregGodels
#PatCummings
#JaniceOMahony
#KevinMiller
#Derekheffield
#PoetryReading
#Terrain.org
Tuesday Jul 27, 2021
Tuesday Jul 27, 2021
Greg and Pat have a one-on-one discussion about Biden's first six months as president. How is he doing at the end of his first semester? We discuss his executive orders, COVID, border crisis, economics, bipartisan cooperation, foreign policy, defense, media coverage, and a grade.
Link to Greg's blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com
#Biden6months
#GregGodels
#PatCummings
Wednesday Jul 21, 2021
Wednesday Jul 21, 2021
Greg and Pat welcome noted author, Geoffrey Fox, to discuss his soon-to-be-released book, "Rabble!" about the Paris Commune. The demise of the commune was both tragic and predictable. The events of 150 years ago lit a fire of reform and hope that still burns.
Some pictures of the Paris Commune 1871 from the Library of Congress:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/KZNWxJHEP5eB3wkE6
Geoffrey's new book, "Rabble!":
https://www.troubador.co.uk/bookshop/historical/rabble/
Background on the Paris Commune:
https://geoffreyfox.com/2021/05/the-paris-commune-and-the-crisis-of-imperialism/
Other books by Geoffrey Fox:
https://go.authorsguild.org/members/854
Link to Greg's blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com
#GeoffreyFox
#Rabble!
#ParisCommune
#GregGodels
#PatCummings
#1871
Tuesday Jul 13, 2021
Tuesday Jul 13, 2021
Greg and Pat welcome friend of the show, Richard Hollwedel, to discuss the Sven Lindquvist 1992 book, “Exterminate All the Brutes” which was recently made into a HBO four-part documentary series directed by Raoul Peck. The book and documentary delves deeply into the legacy of European colonialism from the Americas to Africa.
Link to Greg's blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com
#RaoulPeck
#SvenLindquvist
#KingLeopold
#ExterminateAlltheBrutes
Friday Jun 25, 2021
Friday Jun 25, 2021
Greg and Pat welcome Kay Tillow, a veteran union activist from Louisville, is executive director of the Nurses Professional Organization. She and the NPO have spent 21 years battling to organize nurses who work for Louisville-based Norton Healthcare, Kentucky's most extensive health care system. Most recently, Kay has turned her attention to supporting a single-payer health care system.
Link to Kentuckians for Single-Payer Health Care: http://kyhealthcare.org/author/kay
Information on July 24, 22021 March for Medicare for All: http://kyhealthcare.org/posts/louisville-and-20-other-cities-plan-march-for-medicare-for-all-july-24-2021
Link to Greg's blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com
Errata: (25:00) Pat said "63% of doctors support a public option". The correct percent is 73%.
#KayTillow
#Single-Payer
#Medicare for all
# kyhealthcare
Thursday May 20, 2021
Thursday May 20, 2021
Greg and Pat welcome Stephen Gowans, an independent political analyst from Ottawa and author of several acclaimed books: Washington's Long War on Syria (2017), Patriots, Traitors and Empires: The Story of Korea's Struggle for Freedom (2018) and Israel, A Beachhead in the Middle East: From European Colony to US Power Projection Platform (2019)
Link to Stephen’s blog: https://gowans.blog/
Stephen’s books:
https://www.barakabooks.com/?post_type=dd-product&s=Stephen+Gowans
Link to Greg's blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com
Errata: (17:32) Pat sai:
"We must stand AGAINST Israel against terrorists."
It should have been:
"We must stand WITH Israel against terrorism."
# A Beachhead in the Middle East
#StephenGowans
#StevenGowans
#What’sLeft
Tuesday May 18, 2021
Tuesday May 18, 2021
Greg and Pat welcome the poets Janice O’Mahony and Kevin Miller for conversation and reading of selective poems that cover current events, politics, and other matters.
Books by Janice O’Mahony
Whidbey Island: Reflections on People & the Land (2014) by Elizabeth Guss, Janice O'Mahony, Mary Richardson (available at https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/ )
Books by Kevin Miller
Light That Whispers Morning (1994), Everywhere Was Far (1998), Home & Away (2008) and Vanish (2020) (available at https://www.kingsbookstore.com/ )
Poem Index:
(05:24_Kevin) Alive So Who Is Complaining
(09:08_Janice) Just Wondering
(15:58_Kevin) After Pogroms Ending In River
(19:10_Janice) Intake At The Veterans Center
(26:00_Kevin) The United State Of Dog Fish
(30:56_Janice) Selma 1986
(36:08_Janice) I Got Nothing
(40:10_Kevin) Consider Religion
(42:11_Janice) The Poem That Led To My Arrest
(52:07_Kevin) Vanish
(53:52_Janice) Our Place
Poem Greg mentioned:
Bertholt Brecht: Concerning the Infanticide, Marie Farrar (1922)
Link to Greg's blog: ZZ's Blog
Wednesday Apr 28, 2021
Wednesday Apr 28, 2021
Greg and Pat welcome Dr. Toni Gilpin, author of "The Long Deep Grudge: A Story of Big Capital, Radical Labor, and Class War in the American Heartland." Dr. Gilpin is a labor historian, writer, and activist who holds a Ph.D in American History from Yale University. Her writing has been published in progressive media outlets and labor-connected journals like Jacobin and In These Times, and she was the recipient of the 2018 Debra Bernhardt Award for Labor Journalism.
Order the book:
https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1383-the-long-deep-grudge
Link to Greg's blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com
# TheLongDeepGrudge
#ToniGilpin
#UnitedFarmEquipmentWorkers
#FEUnion
Saturday Apr 24, 2021
Saturday Apr 24, 2021
Greg and Pat welcome Dr. Jennifer Berkshire, co-author with Dr. Jack Schneider of "A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door: The Dismantling of Public Education and the Future of School." Dr. Berkshire writes about education and politics for the Nation, the New Republic, the Baffler, and other publications. She and Dr. Schneider are co-hosts of the educational policy podcast "Have You Heard."
A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door: The Dismantling of Public Education and the Future of School: https://thenewpress.com/books/wolf-schoolhouse-door
Have You Heard Podcast: https://haveyouheardblog.com/have-you-heard/
Link to Greg's blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com
#AWolfSchoolhouseDoor
#JenniferBerkshire
#JackSchneider
Wednesday Apr 07, 2021
Wednesday Apr 07, 2021
Greg and Pat welcome an American historian Dr. Roger Keeran. Dr. Keeran is now Professor Emeritus of the Empire State College at SUNY after retiring in 2013. He has taught successively at Cornell, Princeton, Rutgers, and the New York State University. A specialist of Labor and Policy studies published, in 1980, The Communist Party and the Auto Workers Unions. Dr. Keeran demonstrates the extent to which the very formation of a solid and permanent industrial union in the automobile industry depended upon the dedication of a cadre of individuals whose own social vision far transcended the union movement itself.
- Dr. Keeran's book, The Communist Party and the Auto Workers' Union, is available from International Publishers
- 1976 BBC documentary regarding the Great Sit Down against General Motors in February 1937. Included: women's roles in settling the strikes.
- Link to Greg's blog: ZZ's Blog