Shows
A Public AffairState Budget Roundtable with Jessie Opoien and JR Ross
Every two years, Wisconsin goes through a grueling budget setting process. Last week, the GOP-led Joint Finance Committee cancelled their meeting despite the looming June 30 deadline for the next state budget. To make sense of the situation, host Douglas Haynes is joined by two veteran journalists, Jessie Opoien and JR Ross.
Issues like childcare and education are front and center for state lawmakers and for Wisconsin residents. Opoein says that spending for the UW System is a sticking point on both sides of the aisle. The proposed $87 million cut isn’t enough for some...2025-06-2353 minA Public AffairFostering Food Justice and Outdoor Education
The Annual Nourishing Minds, Sustaining Futures Summit will take place this Wednesday, June 18. Now, in its third year, the program aims to foster food justice and food education in schools and is open to the public. Host Douglas Haynes speaks with three of the organizers–Allison Pfaff Harris, Sonya Sankaran, and Kathy Oker–about the event’s speakers, workshops, and the importance of environmental education.
There’s a lack of equity in outdoor education and within outdoor spaces more generally, says Oker. She wants to help all people repair their relationship with the natural w...2025-06-1652 minA Public AffairFostering Food Justice and Outdoor Education
The Annual Nourishing Minds, Sustaining Futures Summit will take place this Wednesday, June 18. Now, in its third year, the program aims to foster food justice and food education in schools and is open to the public. Host Douglas Haynes speaks with three of the organizers–Allison Pfaff Harris, Sonya Sankaran, and Kathy Oker–about the event’s speakers, workshops, and the importance of environmental education.
There’s a lack of equity in outdoor education and within outdoor spaces more generally, says Oker. She wants to help all people repair their relationship with the natural w...2025-06-1652 minA Public AffairHow Aid is Being Weaponized in Gaza
On today’s program, Allen Ruff speaks with friend of the show, Mouin Rabbani, about Yasser Abu Shabab, the continuing genocide in Gaza, the chaos created by US-backed aid organizations, and Israel’s military and political interventions in surrounding states like Syria, Yemen, and Iran.
Rabbani describes how the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a joint US-Israel project, is weaponizing aid in order to gain control over the distribution of supplies. The GHF’s former leader, Jake Wood, was an exorbitantly paid US mercenary and well known Christian Zionist, resigned last month saying the organization couldn...2025-06-1200 minA Public AffairA Safe, Decent, Affordable Home for Everyone
On today’s show, guest host Matvei Mozhaev speaks with Maria Foscarinis, a principal architect of the 1987 McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, the first major piece of federal legislation to address homelessness. They discuss her recent book, And Housing for All: The Fight to End Homelessness in America, which details the impact of homelessness on people’s lives and argues that ending homelessness in the US requires the recognition of housing as a basic human right.
Foscarinis discusses the last four decades of the homeless crisis in the US. She started her career when Regan...2025-06-1151 minA Public AffairA Safe, Decent, Affordable Home for Everyone
On today’s show, host Matvei Mozhaev speaks with Maria Foscarinis, a principal architect of the 1987 McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, the first major piece of federal legislation to address homelessness. They discuss her recent book, And Housing for All: The Fight to End Homelessness in America, which details the impact of homelessness on people’s lives and argues that ending homelessness in the US requires the recognition of housing as a basic human right.
Foscarinis discusses the last four decades of the homeless crisis in the US. She started her career when Regan came...2025-06-1151 minA Public AffairWhat’s in Madison’s Water?
On today’s show, guest host Greg Michaud interviews Joe Grande, the Water Resources Manager at Madison Water Utility. They discuss what’s in Madison’s drinking water, how consumers can have confidence in their tap water and stop buying bottled water, and what Madison Water Utility does to determine if water is meeting standards, as is disclosed in the recent Annual Drinking Water Quality Report.
Grande describes how Madisonians get their tap water, which typically is sourced from 1-3 of Madison’s 20 wells. To produce their annual report, the Utility samples roughly 27,000 times ove...2025-06-1100 minA Public AffairWhat’s in Madison’s Water?
On today’s show, host Greg Michaud interviews Joe Grande, the Water Resources Manager at Madison Water Utility. They discuss what’s in Madison’s drinking water, how consumers can have confidence in their tap water and stop buying bottled water, and what Madison Water Utility does to determine if water is meeting standards, as is disclosed in the recent Annual Drinking Water Quality Report.
Grande describes how Madisonians get their tap water, which typically is sourced from 1-3 of Madison’s 20 wells. To produce their annual report, the Utility samples roughly 27,000 times over the...2025-06-1100 minA Public AffairAI Data Centers are Coming to Wisconsin
On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes unpacks the future of AI in the state of Wisconsin. He’s in conversation with Brett Korte who describes why big tech companies are looking to Wisconsin as the future home of their data centers. Wisconsin happens to be water rich, and these data centers require water. But Korte says that Great Lakes water is governed by compacts with lots of stakeholders, making water harder to access. Korte adds that data centers require rezoning, so there’s room for community action. Nevertheless, there’s been widespread support for these ce...2025-06-1052 minA Public AffairAI Data Centers are Coming to Wisconsin
On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes unpacks the future of AI in the state of Wisconsin. He’s in conversation with Brett Korte who describes why big tech companies are looking to Wisconsin as the future home of their data centers. Wisconsin happens to be water rich, and these data centers require water. But Korte says that Great Lakes water is governed by compacts with lots of stakeholders, making water harder to access. Korte adds that data centers require rezoning, so there’s room for community action. Nevertheless, there’s been widespread support for these ce...2025-06-1052 minA Public AffairMedia in the time of the American Empire’s Decline
On today’s show, economist Richard D. Wolff joins host Esty Dinur to talk about the state of the American empire and the state of independent media. We’re also joined in the studio by Norman Stockwell who reiterates that funding independent media is as important as ever in light of potential cuts to the Corporation of Public Broadcasting. Wolff says that we’re living through the decline of the American Empire and that decline is gathering speed. He says that we can’t accept that what has happened to every other empire won’t happen her...2025-06-0653 minA Public AffairMedia in the time of the American Empire’s Decline
On today’s show, economist Richard D. Wolff joins host Esty Dinur to talk about the state of the American empire and the state of independent media. We’re also joined in the studio by Norman Stockwell who reiterates that funding independent media is as important as ever in light of potential cuts to the Corporation of Public Broadcasting. Wolff says that we’re living through the decline of the American Empire and that decline is gathering speed. He says that we can’t accept that what has happened to every other empire won’t happen her...2025-06-0653 minA Public AffairTrue Community is a Subversive Thing
Today we turn the tables; Allen Ruff sits in the guest seat to talk about his life and times. Ruff has been hosting the show for over 20 years and logged over 1000 hours of tape over that time, many of which you can find on the WORT website. Guest host, Bert Zipperer, interviews Ruff about what brought him to Madison, how he developed his subversive analysis, and the early days of WORT.
In this rare interview, Ruff opens up about how his youth among the Jewish working class in New Haven and later education a...2025-06-0553 minA Public AffairTrue Community is a Subversive Thing
Today we turn the tables; Allen Ruff sits in the guest seat to talk about his life and times. Ruff has been hosting the show for over 20 years and logged over 1000 hours of tape over that time, many of which you can find on the WORT website. Guest host, Bert Zipperer, interviews Ruff about what brought him to Madison, how he developed his subversive analysis, and the early days of WORT.
In this rare interview, Ruff opens up about how his youth amidst working class radicals in New Haven and later education at A...2025-06-0553 minA Public AffairLife Lived on the Edge of Freedom
On today’s show, guest host Yuri Rashkin is joined by independent journalist, Jonathan Fink. These two popular YouTubers of the Rashkin Report and the Silicon Curtain (respectively) break down the recent development in the war in Ukraine and champion the work of independent media on the increasingly politicized topic of Ukraine.
They discuss Ukraine’s recent drone strike on Russian aircraft and how the world is starting to see that Ukraine has more cards in its hands. Fink calls this an “inflection” moment because Ukraine is acting from a position of strength and inno...2025-06-0452 minA Public AffairLife Lived on the Edge of Freedom
On today’s show, guest host Yuri Rashkin is joined by independent journalist, Jonathan Fink. These two popular YouTubers of the Rashkin Report and the Silicon Curtain (respectively) break down the recent development in the war in Ukraine and champion the work of independent media on the increasingly politicized topic of Ukraine.
They discuss Ukraine’s recent drone strike on Russian aircraft and how the world is starting to see that Ukraine has more cards in its hands. Fink calls this an “inflection” moment because Ukraine is acting from a position of strength and inno...2025-06-0452 minA Public AffairOn the Morality of Taxpaying
On today’s show, host Sara Gabler speaks with sociologist Dr. Ruth Braunstein about money and morality. They discuss her new book, My Tax Dollars: The Morality of Taxpaying in America, which was published on April 15, or Tax Day–an auspicious day that Braunstein calls an American “ritual.”
Braunstein says that tax paying is the most significant way that everyday people interact with the federal government. And people invest a lot of symbolic value (in addition to material value) in the act of tax paying. Groups like war tax resisters and anti-abortion activists resist pa...2025-06-0352 minA Public AffairBuilding Symbiotic Relationships with Beavers
In Wisconsin we don’t have a shortage of beavers, despite over hunting and over trapping in the nineteenth century. But their resurgence isn’t without friction, especially as development encroaches on their environments. On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes is joined by journalist Bennet Goldstein whose recent reporting covers the ways that people are living with beavers and learning how to mitigate floods and drought from them.
Goldstein describes how human-built dams were constructed around Wisconsin in the early twentieth century to mitigate floods in the very hilly Driftless region. An increa...2025-06-0253 minA Public AffairResisting Nuclear Energy in Wisconsin
On today’s show, host Esty Dinur is joined by two representatives from Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) to talk about the Point Beach Nuclear Reactor in Two Rivers, Wisconsin on Lake Michigan. Amy Schulz and Alfred Meyer discuss the potential relicensing of this power plant despite the reactor being past its lifespan and how to oppose this relicensing.
Meyer is concerned that the regulatory studies done on nuclear plants don’t account for the effects of climate change on these reactors. Meanwhile the Trump administration last week issued four executive orders that would...2025-05-3053 minA Public AffairAn Update from Cuba
On today’s show, host Allen Ruff speaks with three solidarity activists who recently returned from Cuba as part of a delegation to Santiago de Cuba called Levantate por Cuba. For decades, Cuba has been the target of a vindictive blockade, used as a punishment of the island’s people because they dared seize their own history and break free of neocolonialism from Washington DC and across the hemisphere.
Jordan Muhammad is a recent graduate, activist, organizer, and substitute teacher based in Chicago. On the solidarity trip Muhammad spoke with many people...2025-05-2900 minA Public AffairFocus on Housing with Briarpatch Youth Services and Porchlight
A few weeks ago, host Ali Muldrow spoke with State Senator Kelda Roys about the housing crisis in Madison and Dane County. As the average price of a home has soared to nearly half a million dollars, the number of kids experiencing homelessness in the city is also growing. Today we’re picking up that theme with two guests from local homeless services agencies: Karla Thennes of Porchlight and Jen Ripp of Briarpatch Youth Services.
From her over thirty years at Porchlight, Thennes describes how accessible housing has decreased over the years and th...2025-05-2853 minA Public AffairHow Health Became a Luxury Product
In 2023, wellness was a $6.3 trillion dollar industry, it’s also notoriously riddled with grifts and scams. As online wellness influencers drive the anti vax movement, white Christian nationalists and the Make America Healthy Again movement are transforming body purity into body fascism. On today’s show, host Richelle Wilson is joined by journalist Amy Larocca to talk about the world of wellness and her new book, How to Be Well: Navigating Our Self-Care Epidemic, One Dubious Cure at a Time.
Larocca started tracing the emergence of our current wellness movement when she noticed the ma...2025-05-2752 minA Public AffairThe Crises of Regional Colleges and Universities
On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes is joined by journalist Molly Parker to talk about the erosion of educational access in rural areas, the value of regional universities, and Parker’s recent article for ProPublica, “A University, a Rural Town and Their Fight to Survive Trump’s War on Higher Education.”
Parker describes her experience of going to college at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale and how this was an adventure for her as a young person from a rural environment. Schools like SIU are affordable and allow students to be closer to family. Th...2025-05-2652 minA Public Affair“You can’t put the oil back in the pipeline”
On today’s show, host Esty Dinur is joined by two legal experts from Earthjustice–Andre Segura and Stefanie Tsosie–to talk about the Trump administration’s attacks on the environment.
They discuss the reconciliation bill that was passed yesterday and what this billionaire’s bill will mean for the environment. Segura says that this bill is a huge giveaway to the oil and gas industry and will make it easier to drill and transport oil and gas, impacting ecosystems the world over. Increased drilling in the Alaskan Arctic, Gulf of Mexico, and beyond will...2025-05-2352 minA Public AffairHow to Build Civic Courage with Henry Giroux
On today’s show, social critic Henry Giroux discusses what he calls the “politics of cleansing,” the multi-pronged offensive currently being waged against civil liberties, dissent, and ultimately democracy by “American-style fascism.” He says that cleansing means to purify in the service of domination. And in his recent article in CounterPunch he seeks a language that is comprehensive enough to describe Trump’s assault on democracy.
From religious fundamentalism, to educational repression, the imposition of ideological conformity, and attacks on DEI, we’re watching racial cleansing unfold. That’s coupled with the hollowing out of government...2025-05-2252 minA Public AffairThe role of the artist is to sing
Continuing our focus on the arts as an antidote in times of political turmoil, today we’re joined by local poet Nate Marshall to talk about his most recent collection, Finna. His poems consider the brevity and disposability of Black lives, question how gendered language is related to violence, and explore the vastness of Black vernacular.
Marshall and Muldrow discuss the weight of writing about challenging moments in history. He says he remains curious about power, language, and masculinity. But too often readers have been primed to expect racialized suffering in Black American li...2025-05-2253 minA Public AffairRebroadcast of a Conversation with Ada Deer
On today’s show we’re rebroadcasting an interview from 2019 in which outgoing News Director Chali Pittman interviewed Ada Deer, the late Native American social worker, activist, professor, lobbyist, and author. They talk about Deer’s life, work, and American Indian history.
Deer grew up on the Menominee Reservation and graduated from UW–Madison with a degree in social work. She later taught courses that fused Indian history and social work. She also served as Assistant Secretary of the US Department of the Interior as the head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and was t...2025-05-2053 minA Public AffairGuaranteed Income Helps People Put One Foot Forward
On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes speaks with Dr. Michelle Robinson about the Madison Forward Fund 2.0, which was recently unveiled by the Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness. The guaranteed income program will focus on maternal-child health and support 42 families, each getting $500 a month for 12 months. This program builds off of the Madison Forward Fund that ran from 2022 to 2023.
Robinson provides insightful context on the history of income inequality, the interacting realities of racial and gender-based inequity, and the fact that there is precedent for these kinds of programs in our existing publi...2025-05-1953 minA Public AffairA Conversation on Seeds, Stories, and Solidarity
On today’s show, host Esty Dinur speaks with three panelists taking part in a program next week to celebrate World Day for Cultural Diversity. Dr. Claudia Calderón, Avexnim Cojti, and Cherie Thunder are part of a panel called Let’s Get Growing: Seeds, Stories & Solidarity happening on May 21 from 5-7pm at Aubergine on Willy Street.
As part of today’s roundtable, they talk about seed sovereignty, which is the right of people to use and exchange their own seeds in order to maintain the foodways and autonomy. This movement counters the bill...2025-05-1654 minA Public AffairSocial Security Is Affordable and Popular
On today’s show, host Allen Ruff speaks with Nancy J. Altman about the status of Social Security under the Trump administration. As the program enters its 90th year, Altman reflects on how it was created during the Great Depression but was meant to provide basic economic security (not dependent on wages) even in times of prosperity. Now, the program serves over 70 million people.
Altman has written about how Elon Musk and DOGE are trying to undermine the program by appealing to an old playbook of lies and misinformation. Contrary to false claims that...2025-05-1552 minA Public AffairWe’ve Got To Live Together
Good luck trying to find an affordable apartment or buy a home in Madison these days. As the city keeps growing, so does the cost of housing. To talk about the situation we’re in and what local and state governments can do about it, host Ali Muldrow is joined by Senator Kelda Roys.
They discuss the Ella Apartments and programs like the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA), zoning and accessory dwelling units, the very narrow pathways to home ownership, how hard it is for people to downsize and stay in the...2025-05-1453 minA Public AffairRoundtable on Black Leadership in Madison
On today’s show, Alder Isadore Knox Jr. hosts a roundtable discussion on Black political leadership in Madison. He says that this is a unique time for this conversation given the reduction of Black elected officials on the Madison City Council, from 9 alders to 5 in the current term. He’s joined by Richard V. Brown Sr., Sheri Carter, and Amani Latimer Burris. They talk about their reasons for running for political office as well as their civic accomplishments.
Latimer Burris says that she’s proud of asking tough questions at Council meetings and she’s...2025-05-1353 minA Public AffairRebroadcast: Status of Childcare in Wisconsin
Today’s show is rebroadcast of a show from April 28.
On April 17, a record breaking number of child care advocates marched on the Wisconsin state capital and sent a message to legislators that the state needs to invest $480 million in childcare. According to the Institute for Research on Poverty, without this investment, 1 in 4 childcare providers in the state could shut down.
To shed light on these changes, host Douglas Haynes is joined by Corrine Hendrickson and Ruth Schmidt, two child care professionals and advocates. Schmidt says that Wisconsin is one of six...2025-05-1254 minA Public AffairWhy Is Trump Still So Interested in Greenland?
“We need Greenland for national security and even international security,” President Trump said during his first State of the Union of his second term. “One way or the other, we’re going to get it.”
That bold claim set off a new wave of awkward diplomacy, including surprise visits from Donald Trump Jr., and Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha.
Acquiring Greenland is not a new obsession. Trump floated the idea in his first term. Numerous presidential administrations have floated the idea, at least privately. Even Truman made a secret offer...2025-05-0953 minA Public AffairNeoliberalism on Steroids
On today’s show, host Allen Ruff is joined by David McNally to reflect on Donald Trump’s first 100-ish days in office. They try to make sense of Trumpists’ multi-pronged offensive on immigrants, trade, DEI, and so much more. McNally says that Trump relies on shock, awe, and fear, but even within this climate, there are cracks that can be exploited.
While some are claiming that neoliberalism is over, McNally says that Trumpism is a natural outgrowth of neoliberalism that includes a weakening of organized labor and social movements and a celebration of big...2025-05-0851 minA Public AffairWhat are schools for? A Conversation with Eve L. Ewing
It’s a common refrain to hear that getting an education opens doors, even in a community like Madison with its huge achievement gap. But today on the show, host Ali Muldrow speaks with Dr. Eve L. Ewing, who argues that instead of creating equal opportunities, the American education system perpetuates inequality. Ewing is the author of Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children, in which she demonstrates how schools were designed to propagate the idea of white intellectual superiority.
Ewing asks a deceptively simple question, what are schools for? Th...2025-05-0752 minA Public AffairHow to put data over dogma
On today’s show, host Sara Gabler speaks with author, scholar, and prominent TikToker Dan McClellan about his new book, The Bible Says So: What We Get Right (and Wrong) about Scripture’s Most Controversial Issues. They discuss how Christians derive their notions of sexuality, gender, and authority by going straight to the source, the Bible itself.
McClellan uses an approach that he calls “data over dogma” in which he strives to put aside any of his own beliefs and assumptions in order to assess what the historical record and the texts themselves say. Inst...2025-05-0654 minA Public AffairThe Miraculous and Disastrous with Author Tamara Dean
The Kickapoo River Valley is one of Wisconsin’s most beloved landscapes. On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes speaks with author Tamara Dean about this magical region and the miraculous, disastrous, and difficult changes she observed while living on the land. Her new book, Shelter and Storm: At Home in the Driftless, is a collection of essays about what she learned from moving to this area in the early 2000s.
When she and her partner purchased a farm in the Driftless, she had many goals: of becoming an organic farmer, creating a poll...2025-05-0552 minA Public AffairPeace activists are shut out from getting aid into Gaza
On today’s show, host Esty Dinur speaks with a peace activist and a scholar about the humanitarian situation in Gaza. It has been two months since Israel began a full blockade of all aid to Gaza. In response, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, made up of volunteers from over 21 countries, attempted to open a sea-based relief route. Last night, their vessel was attacked by drones, and the vessel was substantially damaged. Cassandra Dixon joined us today from Malta to describe the attack.
We’re also joined by Jennifer Loewenstein who discusses the healthcare situ...2025-05-0253 minA Public AffairMay Day with Armando Ibarra
On today’s show, host Allen Ruff is joined in the studio by Armando Ibarra to celebrate International Workers Day or May Day, a day that has long been one of working class mobilization. Initiated in Chicago in 1886, May Day commemorates organized workers’ strength against oligarchs of the past and present.
While workers’ movements have made great gains since that first May Day, today’s plutocrats haven’t ceased in their efforts to take away workers’ gains. Across the country today, people are taking to the streets again, demanding dignity and fair treatment. Many events a...2025-05-0152 minA Public AffairA Roundtable of Black Women Leaders in Madison
On today’s show, host Ali Muldrow is joined by four accomplished Black women who are or have been in public office and who serve in organizations at the executive level. Brandi Grayson, April Kigeya, Sabrina Madison, and Dana Pellebon are local leaders who bring years of expertise and care to their work. However, they face an inordinate amount of scrutiny in their professional and personal lives.
Muldrow starts the show by reminding listeners of the words of Ida B. Wells, the investigative journalist and a founder of the NAACP, who said that the...2025-04-3000 minA Public AffairBonnie Raitt Day
Fifty years ago today, on April 29, 1975, Bonnie Raitt gave a benefit concert with Mose Allison for WORT at the Capitol City Theatre in downtown Madison. This was a major event in the history of our station. On today’s very special edition of A Public Affair, WORT’s Production Coordinator Aaron Scholz is behind the mic to explain why. In addition to a special message from Bonnie Raitt, we hear four interviews with folks who helped coordinate the benefit show, were at the show, or were involved with WORT before we went on the air over...2025-04-2953 minA Public AffairAn update on lawsuits brought against Standing Rock protesters
In late March, the climate advocacy group Greenpeace was ordered to pay $660 million in damages to Energy Transfer, the oil company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline. The grassroots protests against DAPL in 2016 and 2017 were organized by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Indigenous water protectors. Greenpeace peacefully supported the protests but was charged with defamation by Energy Transfer.
On today’s show, host Esty Dinur is joined by Cody Hall who reminds listeners of what happened at the Standing Rock protests and No DAPL movement against the incursion of the Energy Transfer oil pip...2025-04-2553 minA Public AffairA Robert McChesney Retrospective
On today’s A Public Affair we’re honoring the life and legacy of Robert McChesney who passed away on March 25. In addition to being a renowned academic and activist who fiercely advocated for independent media, McChesney was also a host on this show. In this episode from 1997, he interviews Allen Ruff about his first book, “We Called Each Other Comrade”: Charles H. Kerr & Company, Radical Publishers.
Featured image: photo of Bob McChesney.
Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post A...2025-04-2450 minA Public AffairLocal Poets Roundtable
Continuing our April theme of talking with poets and artists about the role of art in times of political turmoil, today host Ali Muldrow is joined by three local poets in the studio to talk about their craft and their work in the community.
juj e lepe, Jonny Teklit, and Andrew Chi Keong Yim talk about the competitiveness and performance of slam poetry, how art takes on a greater meaning in moments of social and political upheaval, how to address both human rights violations and joy within their craft, and the storytelling of...2025-04-2354 minA Public AffairThe Freedom of Biking with Artist Julia Bourdet
On today’s Earth Day edition of A Public Affair, host Patty Peltekos speaks with artist and writer, Julia Bourdet, about her decarbonized journey across the US. With a sketchbook in hand, Bourdet spent seven months traveling by boat, train, and bike from Europe and across the continental US. Along the way she met with environmental activists and Americans of all walks of life during the presidential election cycle of last Fall.
Bourdet says that traveling is an experience of self-discovery and that bicycling, in particular, is a form of freedom for her. She...2025-04-2253 minA Public AffairClimate Art with TetraPAKMAN
In the spirit of Earth Day, today’s show features an artistic wake-up call about the climate emergency. Host Douglas Haynes is joined by Madison artist, TetraPAKMAN, to talk about his role as artist in residence at the Madison Public Library. His current installation “Wake Up!” and exhibit “Doing Something” are on display at the Central Library through this week.
They talk about the meaning of “hacking,” the role of humor in communicating difficult subject matter, the recyclability of tetra pak material, and how people are manipulated by corporations and the media about what’s actually...2025-04-2152 minA Public AffairSkunk Hill Spring Gathering
This Spring, Fred and Germaine Pidgeon have reason to celebrate. On May 3, the Friends of Powers Bluff are hosting a Spring Gathering and Homecoming at present day Powers Bluff County Park in Arpin, Wisconsin, also known as Skunk Hill or Tah-qua-kik. This area was originally home to the Potawatomi, Ho Chunk, Ojibwe, and Menominee People. After years of work by the Pidgeons, the land is being preserved, and this will be celebrated with presentations, walks, crafts, and giveaways.
Host Esty Dinur outside the WORT station with Fred and Germaine Pidgeon.
The Pidgeons tell h...2025-04-1800 minA Public AffairVan Jackson on Zombie Economic Nationalism
On today’s show, host Allen Ruff is joined by Van Jackson to talk about Trump’s tariffs and their impact both on global trade and domestic labor. Aimed at China, these tariffs are part of a larger strategic project that many worry could lead to an economic downturn worldwide. They talk about how tariffs will hurt the working class, the rise of crony capitalism, the increasingly flagrant spoils system, and Arundhati Roy’s vision of civil disobedience.
Jackson puts Trump’s tariff regime in the context of international politics. He says we’re past th...2025-04-1753 minA Public AffairState of the Arts: Wisconsin Humanities Loses Funding
On today’s show, we’re continuing our April theme of highlighting the role of the arts in times of political turmoil. As federal cuts to arts and culture programs are hitting local organizations hard, host Ali Muldrow speaks with Jessica Becker and Jen Rubin of Wisconsin Humanities. Last week the organization was notified from the National Endowment for the Humanities that all of their grant funding had been canceled.
Becker says that their funding comes from a 53-year-old grant program that ended overnight when the Executive Director of Wisconsin Humanities received an unide...2025-04-1654 minA Public AffairMariel Barnes explains the “manosphere”
On today’s show, host Christina Lieffring speaks with scholar Mariel Barnes about misogyny online and in public life. They discuss the rise of what Barnes calls the “manosphere,” its rising influence on US politics, and how it leads to doxxing and violence.
Barnes studies how this form of online misogyny took off around 2008 with the emergence of Web 2.0. She says that the manosphere is made up of “a group of loosely connected websites, blogs, and forums that share the belief that men are oppressed in modern day society because of women, feminism, and gende...2025-04-1553 minA Public AffairUSDA Ends Farm to School Programs
Last month the USDA eliminated two programs that help schools, child care centers, and food banks buy food from local farms. This cut erased more than $1 billion in support, and a USDA spokesperson said these programs “no longer effectuates the goals of the agency.” Now, school districts and local organizations are scrambling to save these programs.
To talk about school nutrition and farm to school programs, host Douglas Haynes is joined by Erica Krug, the Farm to School Director at Rooted, Kaitlin Tauriainen, the President of the School Nutrition Association of Wisconsin, and Jenni...2025-04-1454 minA Public AffairThe Uhuru 3 Legal Victory
On today’s show, host Esty Dinur is joined by Chairman Omali Yesitela, the leader of the African People’s Socialist Party and the Uhuru Solidarity Movement, and Penny Hess, the Chairwoman of the African People’s Solidarity Committee. Uhuru means “freedom” in Swahili and is used as a greeting and a demand because of its historical significance in the struggle against colonialism.
In 2022, Chairman Omali and Hess, along with Jesse Nevel, were targeted by the FBI. Their homes were occupied, equipment confiscated, and financial records taken with military force. They were later charged, wi...2025-04-1153 minA Public AffairRachel Ida Buff on Birthright Citizenship and Due Process
On today’s show, host Allen Ruff is joined by scholar and activist Rachel Ida Buff to talk about the right to due process through the 14th Amendment and the Trump Administration’s goal to end birthright citizenship. She’s written a recent article on this topic for The Progressive, “As Trump Sets His Sights on Birthright Citizenship, Deported Mothers Fight for Their Children’s Rights.”
During the first Trump presidency, the idea of removing birthright citizenship was just a “twinkle in the administration’s eye,” says Buff. But now immigrant mothers, particularly women who give birt...2025-04-1052 minA Public AffairState of the Arts: Round 1
On this show we regularly talk with poets and artists about their work. And today host Ali Muldrow is joined by three professionals who work behind the scenes to make local arts programming happen. And they happen to be artists themselves.
At a time when arts funding is being slashed left and right, we wanted to make the time to highlight some important arts programming happening in our community. Karin Wolf is the Arts and Culture Administrator at the Madison Arts Commission. She says that the city’s youth poet laureate application will ope...2025-04-0952 minA Public AffairRobert McChesney Retrospective
On today’s A Public Affair we’re honoring the life and legacy of Bob McChesney who passed away on March 25. In addition to being a renowned academic and activist who fiercely advocated for independent media, McChesney was also a host on this show.
In an obituary written for the Nation, John Nichols says that McChesney “inspired generations of people to challenge corporate power and support a media reform movement that lives on.”
To pay tribute to McChesney and his legacy, today we’re re-airing an episode of A Public Affair from Decem...2025-04-0853 minA Public AffairWhat we lose when schools close their doors
In June the UW–Oshkosh, Fox City Campus will close for good. It will join 5 other associate-degree granting UW campuses that have closed since 2023. These closures are mandated by Universities of Wisconsin President, Jay Rothman. And these closures have locked out non-traditional students from higher education and the cost of this will stretch across generations.
To talk about the impact of these closures, host Douglas Haynes is joined by Ken Brosky, who directed the documentary, Closure: The Dismantling of Wisconsin’s Colleges. They talk about the mission of the University of Wisconsin colleges inclu...2025-04-0753 minA Public AffairEngaging Youth in the Legislative Process
In a time when public trust in government is near historic lows, today’s show highlights regional efforts to revamp civics education. Host Douglas Haynes is joined by Kate Ullman and Adah Lambeck to talk about two initiatives to educate and engage young people in the political process. Ullman and Lambeck discuss how focusing on policies not “politics” is the key to engaging young folks. Lambeck says that young people are motivated by local issues that impact them, like gun violence.
The Legislative Semester is a nonpartisan civics and government curriculum that engages student...2025-03-2454 minA Public AffairWorking Shoulder-to-Shoulder with Immigrants
On today’s multi-lingual show, host Douglas Haynes checks in with two representatives from Voces de la Frontera and Voces de la Frontera Action, Wisconsin’s leading immigrants rights organization. Luis Velasquez and Nindik Figueredo discuss the daily realities of immigrants and migrants in Wisconsin. They share their stories of joining Voces and talk about the status of DACA and Assembly Bill 24 which, if passed, would force county sheriffs to work with ICE.
Figueredo says she has been busy with community education projects because it’s more important than ever to inform and organi...2025-03-1754 minA Public AffairRolling Back Climate Regulations
You might have missed the Trump administration’s roll back of climate regulations in the flurry of executive orders and DOGE actions over the past few weeks. To get caught up, today host Douglas Haynes takes a comprehensive look at climate related actions on the federal and state levels. He’s in conversation with Marianne Lavelle of Inside Climate News and Brett Korte of Clean Wisconsin.
The Biden administration made historic investments in a clean energy transition via the Inflation Reduction Act, but what we’re seeing now is a historic disinvestment, says Lavelle...2025-03-1054 minA Public AffairPublic K-12 Education Under Trump
Already strapped public schools are scrambling in response to a letter sent by the Department of Education on February 14. The letter threatened loss of federal funding if K-12 schools and colleges don’t stop “race-based decision-making” within fourteen days. Meanwhile, the Trump Administration has been threatening to disband the Department of Education. To talk about how to teach history and truth at a time like this, host Douglas Haynes is joined by Jesse Hagopian and Kimber Wilkerson.
They discuss the Trump Administration’s intimidation of educators, book bans, the #TeachTruth movement, and the federal g...2025-02-2454 minA Public AffairThe Corporate University under the Trump Administration
Last Week a Time Magazine poll of about 100 university presidents revealed that almost all of them believe that the Trump Administration is “at war with higher education.” From the attacks on DEI, student activism, and free speech, it’s easy to see why. All of this is also happening in the context of the increasing corporatization of higher education, in which administrators and politicians exert control through bureaucratizing higher education.
To talk about the corporate university under Trump, Douglas Haynes is joined by Becky Dolhinow, Mike Gavin, and David Schultz. They discuss the history...2025-02-1054 minA Public AffairCivil Service Cuts and the Rise of Musk
It’s been a crazy week for the roughly 2.4 million civil servants of the nation’s largest employer: the federal government. From the Trump Administration’s so-called “deferred resignation” gambit to get federal workers to resign, to a lockout of all USAID staff, to a purge of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion workers, the Trump Administration is wreaking havoc among federal employees.
To make sense of all that’s happening, host Douglas Haynes is joined by Bob Hennelly, who says that neither is Elon Musk an elected official and nor is the Department of Government E...2025-02-0354 minA Public AffairIs Craft Beer in Decline?
From the closing of the 157-year-old Leinenkugel’s flagship taproom in Chippewa Falls to the closure of small taprooms like Herbiery in Madison, our guest today, Chris Drosner, takes stock of the state of the craft beer industry in Wisconsin. In his recent “Year in Review” for the Wisconsin State Journal, he says that closures are outpacing openings. The craft beer industry bubble was bound to burst, and this, says Drosner, places it more in line with standards in other industries. Some people feel very connected to specific beers and this can drive sales, but at the...2025-01-2754 minA Public AffairEnbridge Protesters and Listener Call-in Special
On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes opened up the phone lines to hear from our devoted listeners about what topics they want to hear more about in 2025. You told us you want to hear more about the upcoming Wisconsin Supreme Court elections, local transportation, issues older adults face, international news like Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and more.
You also told us you really cared about our coverage of environmental issues, including the effects of the climate crisis and the harms of the fossil fuel industry.
Several guests joined us from t...2025-01-1300 minA Public AffairCivil Eats year in review with Margo True and Lisa Held
In 2024 host Douglas Haynes tackled issues of wetlands, school lunches, sandhill cranes, and more. On today’s show, he brings his focus on local food ways and the environment into the New Year. Haynes is joined by two journalists from the non-profit digital news site, Civil Eats, to talk about the best of their reporting on food systems and agriculture from last year. “Food touches every aspect of our lives,” says editorial director Margo True. And Civil Eats strives to bring local perspectives and experiences of food policy, farming, health, and climate to the national conver...2025-01-0654 minA Public AffairBig Stories from 2024: Crawford County Independent & Kickapoo Sco...
On today’s show, we look back on 2024 by reviewing the biggest stories from our friends at small papers. First we talk to Charley Preusser and Gillian Pomplun from the Crawford County Independent & Kickapoo Scout. They tell Douglas Haynes about the history of the two papers and the biggest story in the region from the last several years: floods and the proposal to decommission flood control dams in the Coon Creek and West Fork Kickapoo watersheds.
Then, we turn our attention to the monthly Madison-based paper the Isthmus with editor Judy Davidoff. For the...2024-12-1653 minA Public AffairAct 10: What’s New and What’s Next
Last week, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Jacob frost struck down more than 60 sections of Act 10–the 2011 Wisconsin law that severely limits public employee unions. However, the implications of this ruling are complex, and it has already been appealed, making it too early for public employee unions to celebrate.
On today’s show, Douglas Haynes speaks with two guests about what the potential end of Act 10 could mean for public sector workers unions in Wisconsin and public services in the state. First he speaks with Jon Shelton, Vice President of Higher Education of the...2024-12-0900 minA Public AffairWhat to Know About the US Bill Threatening Nonprofit Status
On today’s show, journalist Isaiah Thompson and Associate Professor of Law Maryam Jamshidi join host Douglas Haynes to discuss HR 9495. The bill, passed by the US House of Representatives, would allow the Treasury Secretary to strip nonprofits of their status if deemed to support terrorism. It has faced significant opposition, particularly from Democrats, and will likely fail to pass this session. However, our guests say it will be back next term and be met with a different Senate majority.
Experts Jamshidi and Thompson explain the implications of the bill for civil society an...2024-12-0254 minA Public AffairContradictions of US democracy and empire with Rebecca Nagle
On today’s show, award-winning writer Rebecca Nagle says that the legacy of colonization is a problem not just for Indigenous peoples but a problem for US democracy. In her conversation with host Douglas Haynes, she highlights the tension between the US imagining itself as a democracy versus acting like an empire. The history of Andrew Jackson ignoring the US Constitution is a key example of this, and the subject of her new book, By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land out now from HarperCollins. In it, Nagle untangles th...2024-11-2554 minA Public AffairThe Role of Nonprofit Organizations and Community Collaboration to Add...
Construction of a new permanent men’s shelter on Madison’s Eat Side began earlier this year. The shelter, which is scheduled to open at the end of 2025, is one of several programs aimed at supporting a growing number of people experiencing homelessness. On today’s show, Douglas Haynes speaks with Karla Thennes, Executive Director of Porchlight, a nonprofit organization that is Dane County’s largest provider of low cost housing and homeless services and the organization that will operate the new shelter. Haynes is also joined by Alisha Henning, who’s Volunteer Coordinator with The Beacon...2024-11-1854 minA Public AffairImmigration to Whitewater Under the National Spotlight
On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes welcome back ProPublica journalist Melissa Sanchez to discuss her recent piece “What Happened in Whitewater.” The piece, which Sanchez wrote with Maryam Jameel, dives into the stories of some of the hundreds of people seeking asylum in Whitewater, Wisconsin. Sanchez and Jameel highlight the influx of immigrants, driven by political instability and economic hardship in Nicaragua, and their transition from rural farm work to urban factory jobs. Sanchez tells A Public Affair about the detailed the challenges faced by immigrants and the strain on local government. In light of the...2024-11-1154 minA Public AffairHow did we get here: School Budgets and Referendums
Wisconsin school districts are spending $3,200 less per student per year, adjusted for inflation, than in 2010 due to outdated funding systems and legislative failures. Because of this, voters in 122 districts across Wisconsin are facing ballot questions asking to raise property taxes. On today’s show, Dr. Julie Underwood and Dr. Christopher Saldana join host Douglas Haynes to discuss the financial struggles of Wisconsin school districts. They discuss the impact of revenue limits, declining enrollments, and the shift of funding to private schools. The conversation highlights the dilemma for taxpayers who support public schools but struggle with ris...2024-11-0454 minA Public AffairFree and Robust Discussions in an Environment of Learning
College Uncovered, from GBH News in collaboration with The Hechinger Report, is a podcast that pulls back the curtain on higher education and expose problems and struggles facing students, administrators, and professors living and working on campuses today. The podcast is on their third season. On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes speak with hosts Kirk Carapezza and Jon Marcus. They highlight the disproportionate impact of closures on rural areas, the debate over student loan debt forgiveness, and the politicization of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. They also touch on the importance of civil dis...2024-10-2854 minA Public AffairSchool lunches could be a learning experience for students
It’s National Farm to School Month and National School Lunch Month. In Wisconsin that means that some students are participating in the Great Apple Crunch and folks are advocating for healthy school meals. Here in Madison, a local campaign is trying to get free school meals for all MMSD students.
To talk about the ways that educational and agricultural programs meet, host Douglas Haynes speaks with Dr. Jennifer Gaddis and Dr. Sarah A. Robert. Their edited volume, Transforming School Food Politics around the World, is available for open access from MIT Press. Th...2024-10-1454 minA Public AffairSandhill Cranes: Population Boom and Agricultural Impact
In early August, the 2024 Legislative Council Study Committee on Sandhill Cranes, met for the first time. The committee is tasked with recommending legislation to manage the sandhill crane population. They have heard reports on the crane population, reviewed damage claims, and explored mitigation options. The options include treating seeds to prevent cranes from eating them, paying farmers for lost crops, and allowing a crane hunt. The Cap Times reports that the yearly damage caused by sandhill cranes is estimated at $1.6 million.
On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes brings the conversation to the air...2024-09-2354 minA Public AffairAppreciating the Waubesa Wetlands with Cal DeWitt and Ben Albert
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources calls the Waubesa Wetlands “one of the highest quality and most diverse wetlands remaining in southern Wisconsin.” This nature preserve, just south of Madison, is the location and subject of the new documentary film An Invitation to Wonder: Waubesa Wetlands.
Wetland scientist and UW-Madison Professor emeritus Calvin “Cal” DeWitt has lived on the edge for the marsh for more than 50 years. In An Invitation to Wonder, filmmaker and DeWitt’s grandson Ben Albert brings rich images and striking sounds scapes together with a story of intergenerational discovery. On today’s...2024-09-1653 minA Public AffairImmigrant Laborers take on Tyson Foods
Venceremos is a group of workers who are using theater and art to educate Tyson Foods workers about their rights. On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes speaks with journalist Alice Driver about these workers and their struggle for better safety conditions in Tyson meat packing plants in Arkansas.
Driver started her reporting on Tyson workers during the pandemic. At that time she noticed that workers who had lung injuries from chemical accidents were more vulnerable to COVID infection and death. Driver learned that workers in these plants face other health and safety th...2024-09-0953 minA Public AffairLabor Organizing in Higher Ed with Jon Shelton and Daniel Levitin
“I’m profoundly motivated this Labor Day,” Jon Shelton tells A Public Affair host Douglas Haynes. Shelton, Vice-President for Higher Education of the American Federation of Teachers-Wisconsin, joins the program to discuss the labor movement in Wisconsin’s public universities. We also hear from Daniel Levitin, co-president TAA-Madison, the labor union representing all graduate student workers at UW–Madison.
They have this conversation in light of a recent regent vote to lay off 32 tenured-faculty at UW-Milwaukee, the creation of new protest guidelines for UW-Madison, and five UW campuses shutting down.
Photo by Jonah Br...2024-09-0254 minA Public AffairThe Surprising Depth of Human-Insect Relationships With Heather Swan
On today’s show host Douglas Haynes sits down with Heather Swan to talk about her new book “Where the Grass Still Sings: Stories of Insects and Interconnections.” Heather Swan is a poet, writer, and lecturer in the University of Wisconsin – Madison’s English Department. Her book tells stories of human-insect connections through the lens of science and art, with a focus on the way we can connect across species.
Heather talks about the way insects have been categorized as pests, how honeybees and other pollinators are a great on-ramp to considering the larger wor...2024-08-1952 minA Public AffairGardening with All Your Senses: A Conversation with Alex Booker
On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes takes a field trip to speak with Alex Booker at Badger Rock Urban Farm. Booker is the Madison Public Library’s naturalist in residence. The theme of his residency, Find Your Way Back to Nature, focuses on ways to reconnect with the ecosystems that surround us. Naturalist programming includes nature walks, tea blending, flower arranging, sound baths, and more.
Booker walks Haynes through the farm, from the food forest to the chicken coup. They chat about using all your senses when you garden, how to make pesto...2024-08-1253 minA Public AffairDestination MMSD with Joe Gothard
“I want destination Madison to also be destination MMSD,” says new Superintendent Joe Gothard. He joins host Douglas Haynes today to talk about his vision for Madison Metropolitan School District, Wisconsin’s second largest school district which serves over 26,000 students.
Gothard returned to Madison last spring to take on this new role as Superintendent. The role comes with its challenges including a decline in student enrollment, a budget shortfall, and achievement gaps.
Their conversation touched on MMSD’s 10 community schools, the role of public schools in supporting youth mental health, school safety, an...2024-08-0553 minA Public AffairThe Potential Impacts of Two Proposed Constitutional Amendments
Voters will see two proposed constitutional amendments on their upcoming August 13 primary ballot. To talk about what these proposed amendments mean and their potential impacts, host Douglas Haynes talks with Bill Davis of the River Alliance and Eileen Newcomer from the League of Women Voters. They say their organizations are opposed to both amendments because they would inhibit the governor from responding to emergencies like public health crises or natural disasters.
Newcomer says that the first proposed constitutional change stems from lawmakers wanting a more active role in how federal funds are dispersed, p...2024-07-2954 minA Public AffairCultivate a Great Garden in Southern Wisconsin
Getting a start in gardening can be a daunting process. In today’s show, host Douglas Haynes sat down with Lisa Johnson, a horticulture educator at UW’s Dane County Extension, and Nicholas Leete, Community Gardens Network Director at Rooted Wisconsin to share some gardening tips and tricks here in Southern Wisconsin.
The conversation covers how to get started gardening in Wisconsin, what fruits and vegetables are doing well this year, and what a changing climate means for the region. The guests also talk about the pests that come with a wet spring, new...2024-07-2253 minA Public AffairWhat is Dane County’s Housing Strategy?
Housing is the biggest issue facing communities across Dane County. Families are locked out of home ownership, lower- and middle-wage workers commute throughout the county increasing their transportation costs and employment turnover, older adults who can no longer maintain their homes have limited options, lower income households are increasingly sharing rental spaces, evictions are on the rise and so is homelessness.
To talk about what Dane County is planning to do about the housing crisis, host Douglas Haynes talks with three staff and committee members of the Dane County Housing Advisory Committee about...2024-07-0854 minA Public AffairThe Consequences of Line 5 to Public Health and the Environment
The movement to shutdown Line 5 in Wisconsin has been growing since the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa won a federal court case against Enbridge in 2023. That ruling requires Enbridge to decommission the segment of Line 5 that passes through the Bad River Reservation.
Tribal members and many locals in Ashland and Bayfield counties want the pipeline shutdown entirely, in opposition to Enbridge’s proposed reroute that would still be located in the Bad River watershed. According to Elizabeth Ward, the rerouted pipeline would lock us into a fossil fuel future that would on...2024-07-0153 minA Public AffairGet to know WORT’s Summer News Collaborative Storytelling Fellows!
WORT’s Summer News Collaborative trains underrepresented journalists to become creators of and leaders in local media. The fellows in this first cohort will learn the basics of journalism, storytelling, and audio production, participate in field trips and workshops with guest speakers, and be introduced to a network of mentors in local media.
On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes interviews all of the Fellows about their backgrounds and what stories they want to tell on the radio.
WORT’s Storytelling Fellows:
Shyelle Aikens is...2024-06-2454 minA Public AffairJazz Legacies: Viola Smith and Richard Davis
With the 2024 Madison Jazz Fest is in full swing, A Public Affair host welcomes some Madison locals to talk about two jazz legends with Wisconsin ties. First we talk with Dean Robbins about his new children’s book The Fastest Drummer: Clap Your Hands for Viola Smith! The book, which is illustrated by Susanna Chapman, offers a fun and bright biography of Smith, who started her nearly 100-year-long career at the age of 13 and is recognized as one of the few female professional drummers of the early twentieth century.
Then, Douglas is joined in...2024-06-1054 minA Public AffairHow many hands touch your coffee before you drink it?
Maria Cleaveland, one of today’s guests, says “coffee is often touched by nine separate hands before you consume the product.” From the people who grew, picked, milled, prepared for export, exported, imported, roasted, sold, and finally brewed, so much tenuous labor happens before the first sip.
Inspired by Anne Connor’s recent article “Climate Solutions for the Future of Coffee” for Civil Eats, host Douglas Haynes speaks with a panel of guests about sustainability challenges as well as gender inequalities facing the coffee supply chain. Maria Cleaveland, Blanca Castro, and Amaris Gutierrez-Ray explain all...2024-06-0354 minA Public AffairExhibit Shines a Light on Slow Violence as a Climate Justice Issue
“What is the climate justice issue in Milwaukee? It’s not an issue of an of a sudden disaster. It’s not a flood. It’s about slow violence,” says Arjit Sen. “It’s something that has been happening historically over time, in which Black and brown communities in Milwaukee are not just segregated, but they’re seen as lacking value.” An exhibit currently showing at the Milwaukee County Historical Society and running through June 1st aims to shine a light on slow violence and the resilience of Milwaukee communities. It is a project of the Humanities Act...2024-05-2754 minA Public AffairMeeting MMoCA’s New Director Paul Baker Prindle
MMoCA’s new Director, Paul Baker Prindle has Madison roots. He worked at the museum store 25 years ago and attended both Edgewood College and UW–Madison. Now, as he steps into his new role at MMoCA, he joins host Douglas Haynes to talk about how to find joy in the experience of contemporary art.
During Baker Prindle’s first few weeks on the job, he’s been thinking about what it means “to museum.” He says that museums are buildings that have a community, and MMoCA has an important role to play in Madison’s vib...2024-05-2052 minA Public AffairThe City of Madison Want YOU to Engage with the Budget
The 2025 City of Madison operating budget, which funds the city’s daily operations, is facing at $27 million dollar deficit. The city is facing some tough choices as it balances the budget. Alders and city staff are hosting a number of citywide budget engagement sessions to share information about the budget and hear from residents.
A Public Affair host Douglas Haynes is joined in studio by Mayor’s Chief of Staff Sam Munger, Finance Director David Schmiedicke, and Alder Yannette Figueroa-Cole to begin to understand the budget issues, the limits of city’s power, and ho...2024-05-0654 minA Public AffairTop Chef in Madison: “We Look Really Beautiful”
Cap Times food editor and arts reporter Lindsay Christians, was on set as a diner and a dishwasher during the filming of season 21 of Top Chef . Now that the show is airing, she’s impressed with how well we come off on tv. “I’ve been talking a lot about the B roll of Madison and Milwaukee: just these beautiful like a drone shots coming into the city. It just it kind of made my heart swell the first time I saw it. I thought, ‘oh my god, it’s so beautiful.’ It’s just gorgeous,” she...2024-04-2954 minA Public AffairFor the Love of Poetry
April is National Poetry Month and as we approach the end of the month, we turn to the poets in our community. Host Douglas Haynes is joined by former Wisconsin Poet Laureate Kimberly Blaeser, current Madison Poet Laureate Steven Espada Dawson, and current Wisconsin Poet Laureate Nicholas Gulig. We hear a poem from each and discuss poetry in community, the impact of a poet laureateship, and what it’s like to be, as Steven puts it, poetry’s cheerleaders.
Event mentioned during the show:
You can learn more and regi...2024-04-2254 minA Public AffairThe State of Student Loan Debt
Last week, President Biden unveiled his latest student loan forgiveness proposal while speaking at Madison College. He described a plan that would cancel debt for anyone who began repaying undergraduate loans more than 20 years ago and would cancel accrued interest for some borrowers.
Carole Trone and Benjamin Lee from the Wisconsin Coalition on Student Debt join host Douglas Haynes to talk about the proposed plan and the broader issues around student debt. The coalition is a nonprofit that aims to clarify student debt, college affordability, and loan repayment.
For confidential assistance...2024-04-1553 min
An Arc Bender's Journal: The Last Will of Lucy SuttonAn Arc Bender's Journal with Douglas HaynesIn this episode of An Arc Bender's Journal: The Last Will of Lucy Sutton, we welcome guest Douglas Haynes, Vice Provost for Academic Personnel and Academic Programs for the University of California, Office of the President.
Tune in to this episode as Doug talks about:
* His current role at the University of California Office of the President
* His previous role at the University of California Irvine in DEI
* Helping people to thrive as a part of his mission
* Black Thriving Initiative
2023-05-1644 min
Bold Like Her PodcastSue Ellen Anderson-Haynes, Founder 360 Girls & WomenSue-Ellen Anderson-Haynes, is a mother, wife, co-author, health writer, recipe developer, health speaker, holistic plant-based women’s health registered dietitian. She has been featured in multiple media outlets including Harvard Health Publishing, CNBC, SELF and Huffington Post. Anderson-Haynes is a dietitian of over 15 years with specialties in diabetes, weight management, girls and women’s health, prenatal/maternal nutrition, vegan/vegetarian diet, integrative and functional nutrition and general health and wellness (cancer, heart disease, gastrointestinal disorders, etc). Sue Ellen founded 360Girls&Women® at 360girlsandwomen.com – a holistic health & wellness company for girls, whose mission...2023-02-2129 min
Anchored hosted by Pastor Reginald W. Sharpe Jr.I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS SHIFT (1 KINGS 17:1-10 NLT) REV. DR. FREDERICK DOUGLAS HAYNES IIIThe Summertime Chi Vibes continue with Rev. Dr. Frederick Douglas Haynes III. He preaches from 1 Kings 17:1-10 NLT to proclaim I am sick of this shift. God uses tension to stretch you, but it will propel and shift you forward beyond what your mind can imagine. Just keep the faith and prepare for the shift.2021-08-3049 min
Teaching in Higher EdInclusive Excellence, with Douglas HaynesDouglas Haynes shares about inclusive excellence on episode 338 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast.
Quotes from the episode
More universities and colleges across the country have articulated a real commitment to diversity in value statements, in offices and programs, and in initiatives and events. That’s a good start.
-Douglas Haynes
It is open to members of the campus community to learn together.
-Douglas Haynes
We’re going to confront anti-blackness as an institutional imperative.
-Douglas Haynes
Resources
UCI Offi...2020-12-0337 min
Team HumanBryan Walsh "Avoiding Apocalypse" + Adrienne Haynes "Community Empowerment"Playing for Team Human today, former TIME International Editor, Bryan Walsh & attorney and business woman Adrienne Haynes.Bryan Walsh shares his thoughts on why the end of humankind seems inevitable and the ways we might avoid imminent crisis. In his new book, End Times: A Brief Guide to the End of the World, Walsh explores how the threats of asteroids, super volcanoes, nuclear war, climate change, disease pandemics, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and extraterrestrial intelligence might actually be avoided through innovative news ideas and collective action.You can find out more about Bryan Walsh’s w...2019-09-1854 min