Shows
Wrestling DarknessThe truth about Hulk Hogan — Episode 12The most famous and emblematic American hero of his time, he defended us against the offenses of foreigners, fairies, and egoists. He abused illegal steroids, but denied it so he could be a good role model for generations of children for whom he recommended more traditional vitamins. Behind the scenes, he ratted out his fellow wrestlers as they sought healthcare and labor protections from a boss who exploited them. Disgraced and erased after leaked audio of his bigoted remarks surfaced in 2015, he was later redeemed and reclaimed, as attitudes shifted to make room for bigotry, even in...
2025-09-2845 min
Wrestling DarknessWhite genocide, Black fatigue — Ep.11In part 1 of my interview with Sisonke Msimang, I brought up the phenomenon of “Black fatigue” by telling her a story about a white man who had attended a Black Lives Matter rally during the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder. After the police shot him with a rubber bullet, he decided he would no longer attend such rallies.From there, Sisonke and I agreed upon a basic definition of “Black fatigue” — the expression of annoyance or exhaustion with the awareness and/or attempts to address the legacy of white supremacy. Confronting the past and the present in an honest...
2025-06-1933 min
Wrestling DarknessBlack fatigue, White genocide — Ep.10Attempts to address racism are fruitless unless we find paths that lead to healing. This is one of many epiphanies I found in reading Sisonke Msimang’s acclaimed memoir, Always Another Country. We talked at length about South Africa and the United States, our two, sister nations each struggling to free themselves from caste systems that date back to colonial times.The emotional heart of Always Another Country is in South Africa, but Sisonke’s revolutionary father and accountant mother raised their three daughters in exile during Apartheid. Born in Zambia, Sisonke also grew up in Canada and...
2025-06-1242 min
Wrestling DarknessRemarks prior to arrest at the U.S. Capitol by Rev. Dr. William J. BarberOn the evening of April 2nd, 2013, Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II proposed what would become the Moral Monday movement to an emergency gathering at a North Carolina church. Within three years, they had taken down a governor and transformed the national conversation about the role of morality in civic life.Today, Rev. Barber faces the challenge of his life as the leader of the Repairers of the Breach movement, which is organizing civil disobedience actions at the U.S. Capitol on the first Monday of each month this summer.“This sacred action is a bold response to an im...
2025-06-0321 min
Wrestling DarknessThis molten thing about interracial sex — Ep.9“This molten thing about interracial sex” was always at the core of fights about integration and equality, explains historian and author Dr. Timothy B. Tyson.“The Southern Rape Complex” fueled a century of hate crimes & white dominance of our political process. But this racist lie and covenant was gradually vacated by white women, and its simmering rage now targets women in general, as well as nonwhite men.The ritual of sexually charged political violence echoes throughout this episode as it does throughout American history, as it continues to deform our psyche and our culture. The historic...
2025-04-3044 min
Wrestling DarknessVirtual manhood, virtual rape — Ep.8Without hiding her pain or her vulnerability, Nina Jankowicz describes how hundreds of thousands of grotesquely sexual and violent online assaults have hurt her, frightened her, and impacted her life. We must “fight for a world that recognizes that our rights as women to free expression online are just as valuable as our abusers’,” she writes in her most recent book, How to Be a Woman Online. And fight she does, effectively and ferociously.In this episode we talk about how and why girls and women are attacked by virtual rape mobs, and how that might...
2025-04-2239 min
Wrestling DarknessSins of the Algorithmic Curator — Ep.7“A deluge of content sorted by incentivized algorithms and shared instantaneously among aligned believers has enabled us to immerse ourselves in environments tailored to our own beliefs and populated with our own preferred facts.”So writes Renée DiResta in the era-defining book Invisible Rulers. She traces the history of human-to-human influence from the local tavern in preindustrial times to the early days of radio and television, and the present day incentive structures on social media that cut in favor of nastiness, lies, and vilification.In a previous episode of Wrestling Darkness, Lawrence Lessig attributed this...
2025-03-2133 min
Wrestling DarknessThe stubborn illusion of the theatrical Ep.6When we buy a ticket to see a movie or a play, the worst that can happen is we’ll be bored, or disappointed, or we won’t be able to maintain our suspension of disbelief. As viewers, we do all we can to believe in worlds of make believe, and in return we get escapism, catharsis, a good cry, a laugh, or a scare.But what happens when the form of entertainment to which we have committed ourselves follows us into our communities and our homes? What if there’s no escape from the escapism? And what i...
2025-03-0945 min
First Time GoJeff ManWatch This Episode On YouTubeAttend A Screening Of PAPER MARRIAGE in Washington, DCTo paraphrase Walt Whitman, Jeff Man is a man that contains multitudes. He often plays a character, like in PAPER MARRIAGE (2024) and SANTA CLAUS (2017), that is reserved and unsure of himself, and the stories, at least partially, revolve around how he -- and the outside world -- reacts to those personality traits. During our conversation, he talks about how he grapples with these questions in his own life and utilizes his art to get to a greater truth.And...
2025-02-1134 min
Wrestling DarknessWhy wrestling fans boo Hulk Hogan — Ep.5A $5 billion dollar deal to stream World Wrestling Entertainment on Netflix kicked off on January 6, 2025 with 4 matches sprinkled across three hours of pageantry.But the headlines were stolen by Hulk Hogan. Boos and screams of “Nobody cares!” and “f***ing b******t!” drowned out his pitch for a beer brand he launched as part of a right wing backlash against a Bud Light commercial that featured a transgender woman.What does the Hulkster’s rude reception tell us about wrestling's past and America's future?Wrestling’s preeminent scholar, Dr Sharon Mazer, joins us along with w...
2025-01-0746 min
Wrestling DarknessThey faced down fear politics, and won: the story of 9500 LibertySeasons Greetings! The holidays have snuck up on me. I have added the documentary 9500 Liberty to the Wrestling Darkness feed as a bonus episode. In the opening seconds, you’ll understand how it relates to the podcast and to the present day. —EricArc of justiceIt looked pretty bleak for immigrant advocates in Prince William County, Virginia. On July 10th, 2007 the Board of County Supervisors had suddenly and unanimously passed “The Immigration Resolution,” legislation written for them by an anti-immigrant lobbying firm in Washington D.C.The Immigration Resolution required police officers to apply...
2024-12-181h 17
Wrestling DarknessThe Age of the Fantasist — Ep.4My guest in episode 4 of Wrestling Darkness is Professor Lawrence Lessig who explains in his essay, The Age of the Fantasist, how and why algorithmic media came to reward narratives that lie to us.“The fantasist doesn’t worry that he will not please everyone. He’s not aiming for everyone. Indeed, he is aiming precisely to avoid appealing to everyone. Division drives attention in a world of fragmented media.” —Lawrence LessigPerhaps you’re not prepared for a conversation that bridges artificial intelligence (AI) and professional wrestling. Don’t worry, neither was Professor Lessig! But we did arr...
2024-12-1435 min
Wrestling DarknessHow to please a demigod — Ep.3Oscar Keohan and Jacob Johns traveled from Australia to tour the U.S. in the weeks leading up to the 2024 presidential election. But an unexpectedly dark turn at a Trump rally in North Carolina overshadowed their de Tocqueville-like experience.Supplemented by video recordings, they share with us why they felt sickened by the way the president-elect manipulated his fervent supporters, and the way the crowd responded.Donald Trump’s journey from Wrestlemania to the White House and the truth-bending madness that has metastasized in politics, news infotainment, and online echo chambers is summarized midway through th...
2024-11-2034 min
Wrestling DarknessWrestling Has Infected Everything - Ep.2Abraham Josephine Riesman, author of the best-selling biography Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America., explains how the production of cheap, addictive entertainment such as pro wrestling, cable news, and reality TV, changed the culture of American.Our conversation traces a cultural transformation that began in the mid-1980’s, as the truth-bending madness of professional wrestling took hold in adjacent sectors such as cable news, Jerry Springer and similar talk shows, and reality TV.With Donald Trump's celebrated Wrestlemania appearance, followed by his emergence as the leader of the Birther movement, wrestling-style fandom would go...
2024-11-1229 min
Wrestling DarknessWoman Hating — Wrestling Darkness Ep.1Dr Sharon Mazer is the author of Professional Wrestling: Sport and Spectacle, and the only woman in the Netflix documentary Mr. McMahon, argues that Donald Trump’s political career and persona are direct outgrowths of his appearances in Wrestlemania and other professional wrestling programs, and that the structure and format of wrestling has “escaped the arena” and warped American culture.We drill down on "incels" — involuntarily celibate men, and other men who hate women — as a consumer group and a voting block in today's America, and how they were cultivated by mass media, wrestling first and foremost.The d...
2024-11-1228 min
Wrestling DarknessForgiving the fathers we lose to racismA woman once told me she got divorced because of a film I made. Seeing the film deepened her misgivings about her husband’s racism, and after years of questioning herself, she left him.The woman was Asian and her husband was white — just like my mom and dad, and just like a couple played by Ryan Kutrona and Takayo Fischer in American Knees.Above: Selected scenes from American Knees. Below: The message I intended.Love is allHank and Keiko take turns squeezing hands with Miles (Stephen Bishop), expr...
2024-10-0915 min
Wrestling DarknessThe Headless Klansman of SelmaThe Headless Klansman of Selma is the story of a Confederate monument that venerates the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Like the Trump political phenomenon, the statue originated as a backlash against the results of a free and fair election. The people of Selma, Alabama elected the city’s first ever African American mayor on September 12, 2000. The defeated mayor, a former segregationist, quietly approved the KKK monument as a message for his successor and those who supported him.The monument was vandalized in 2012, leaving it headless, and our film follows the ensuing ba...
2024-09-2716 min
Wrestling DarknessIf we don't speak up, the Senate will kill my childCourtney Hester-Green is a U.S. military veteran whose daughter was born with Edwards syndrome and not expected to survive a year. Today, at age 5, she has a full life thanks in large part to Medicaid.This is Courtney's impassioned plea to the United States Senate to block efforts to cut $716 billion from Medicaid — the largest cut in the program’s history — to pay for tax cuts for the super rich. This would be a death sentence for her child, she said, but not only hers."If we don't stand up for Medicaid now, hundreds of tho...
2024-09-0102 min
All Things SubstanceSubstance Use in the LGBTQ+ CommunityTrauma and substance use have a bidirectional relationship. According to my guest, Eric Sullivan, growing up gay is a form of complex trauma. The LGBTQ+ community faces a lot of factors that put them at risk for higher rates of problematic substance use. Today I’ll talk with Eric, a therapist and member of the LGBTQ+ community about what contributes to this risk, his professional and personal experiences.
2023-10-1050 min
Live from Mount OlympusMythlet: How to Become a Mythical MonsterWe love scary monsters – how about you? Greek mythology is FULL of terrifying monsters - and on Live from Mount Olympus, many of them are played by Ian Lassiter. In this mythlet, Ian reveals how he prepares to become the bloodthirsty sea monster Cetus, who menaces Perseus and Andromeda in Season One, and the imposing three-headed dog Cerberus who surprises Persephone in Season Two!We also want to invite you to share your scariest mythological monster impression! Call us at (646) 543-0799, leave your grown up’s contact info in case we have the chance to share your monste...
2022-10-2506 min
Live from Mount OlympusPersephone 10: When You Return, Everything Will Bloom AgainNever before has the Earth faced a challenge like this. Half the year with no harvest means half the year without food. Together, Persephone and Demeter must find a way to save humanity, and maybe learn a bit more about each other along the way.
Combining the artistry of foremost contemporary theater-makers with the timeless stories of Greek myth and the imaginative power of audio, Live from Mount Olympus is an adventure for tweens and families of all ages. This podcast is a production of the Onassis Foundation. The bold and original audio drama is created and...
2022-06-2818 min
Live from Mount OlympusPersephone 9: Six Pomegranate SeedsDemeter is overjoyed when Persephone returns, but horrified to learn that her daughter has eaten the food of the underworld. When the two goddesses finally agree to meet Zeus, they must all come to terms with how their lives will be forever changed.
Combining the artistry of foremost contemporary theater-makers with the timeless stories of Greek myth and the imaginative power of audio, Live from Mount Olympus is an adventure for tweens and families of all ages. This podcast is a production of the Onassis Foundation. The bold and original audio drama is created and produced by P...
2022-06-2120 min
Live from Mount OlympusPersephone 8: Are You Ready to Live in Both Worlds?When Iris returns to Olympus with bad news, Zeus must find a new approach. He asks silver-tongued Hermes to convince Hades to do something unimaginable for the powerful king of the underworld.
Combining the artistry of foremost contemporary theater-makers with the timeless stories of Greek myth and the imaginative power of audio, Live from Mount Olympus is an adventure for tweens and families of all ages. This podcast is a production of the Onassis Foundation. The bold and original audio drama is created and produced by Peabody Award-winning showrunner Julie Burstein, co-produced by the Brooklyn-based theater ensemble Th...
2022-06-0719 min
Asia StreamHuman Rights in Xinjiang: The U.N.'s China CompromiseThis episode, we discuss evidence of human rights abuses against Uyghurs in China's Xinjiang region as a new collection of leaked documents rocks the world and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet returns from a controversial visit to the region.
Monica Hunter-Hart interviews Michael Clarke, Adrian Zenz and Sophie Richardson about the history of Xinjiang, the Xinjiang Police Files leak and Bachelet's visit. She also talks to a Uyghur man who spent a month in pretrial detention in 2017. Then, Jack Stone Truitt interviews Darren Byler on Xinjiang's surveillance tech. Finally, Alice French sends in...
2022-06-0346 min
Live from Mount OlympusPersephone 7: All Our Fates Are Tied TogetherPersephone ventures deeper into the mists of the underworld, where she encounters a grieving soul with a fuzzy memory. As she helps this lost shade, the young goddess finds a new sense of purpose and faces her deepest fears - and some enormous monsters.
Combining the artistry of foremost contemporary theater-makers with the timeless stories of Greek myth and the imaginative power of audio, Live from Mount Olympus is an adventure for tweens and families of all ages. This podcast is a production of the Onassis Foundation. The bold and original audio drama is created and produced...
2022-05-3122 min
Live from Mount OlympusPersephone 6: We Are All HungryZeus must confront the disaster on earth that is unfolding because he gave Hades permission to marry Persephone without letting her – or her mother – know. So he sends Iris, goddess of the rainbow, to try to convince Demeter to let things grow again.
Combining the artistry of foremost contemporary theater-makers with the timeless stories of Greek myth and the imaginative power of audio, Live from Mount Olympus is an adventure for tweens and families of all ages. This podcast is a production of the Onassis Foundation. The bold and original audio drama is created and produced by Peabo...
2022-05-2420 min
Live from Mount OlympusPersephone 5: Lean Into the Darkness!Persephone is terrified when an enormous being appears from the depths of the rushing river. But could the River Styx have just the wit and wisdom Persephone needs to hear?
Combining the artistry of foremost contemporary theater-makers with the timeless stories of Greek myth and the imaginative power of audio, Live from Mount Olympus is an adventure for tweens and families of all ages. This podcast is a production of the Onassis Foundation. The bold and original audio drama is created and produced by Peabody Award-winning showrunner Julie Burstein, co-produced by the Brooklyn-based theater ensemble The TEA...
2022-05-1723 min
Live from Mount OlympusPersephone 4: We Thought You Were Just Some Regular Old Lady!Demeter is furious at Zeus and done with Olympus. So she disguises herself as an old woman to live among mortals. She finds a family that needs her help and tries to fit in – but it’s hard to keep her power under wraps.
Combining the artistry of foremost contemporary theater-makers with the timeless stories of Greek myth and the imaginative power of audio, Live from Mount Olympus is an adventure for tweens and families of all ages. This podcast is a production of the Onassis Foundation. The bold and original audio drama is created and produ...
2022-05-1021 min
Live from Mount OlympusPersephone 3: Are You Kidnapping Me?Wrenched out of the sunlit meadow, Persephone confronts Hades, ruler of the underworld, and his three-headed dog, the terrifying yet strangely affectionate Cerberus. Persephone runs away from Hades’ gloomy palace, but learns there is no way home.
Combining the artistry of foremost contemporary theater-makers with the timeless stories of Greek myth and the imaginative power of audio, Live from Mount Olympus is an adventure for tweens and families of all ages. This podcast is a production of the Onassis Foundation. The bold and original audio drama is created and produced by Peabody Award-winning showrunner Julie Burstein, co...
2022-05-0318 min
Live from Mount OlympusPersephone 2: Where is My Daughter?When she hears Persephone’s cry, Demeter runs to the meadow where Artemis and Athena are searching for their friend. But Persephone has completely disappeared. Demeter turns to Hecate, goddess of witchcraft, magic, and the night, for help. Together they stop Helios from taking the sun across the sky until he tells them what he knows. It’s worse than Demeter had feared. While Demeter mourns, the earth withers.
Combining the artistry of foremost contemporary theater-makers with the timeless stories of Greek myth and the imaginative power of audio, Live from Mount Olympus is an adventure for tweens a...
2022-04-2621 min
Live from Mount OlympusPersephone 1: You Don’t Trust Me to Strike Out on My Own!Persephone is tired of always being tied to her mother’s side. But when she runs off to attend a picnic with her friends Athena and Artemis, her curiosity leads to a terrifying fall and the beginning of a perilous journey.Combining the artistry of foremost contemporary theater-makers with the timeless stories of Greek myth and the imaginative power of audio, Live from Mount Olympus is an adventure for tweens and families of all ages. This podcast is a production of the Onassis Foundation. The richly imagined audio drama is created and produced by Peabody Award-winning showrunner Ju...
2022-04-1918 min
Live from Mount OlympusLive From Mount Olympus: Persephone: TrailerWhen a young goddess strikes out on her own for the first time, she is pulled into a terrifying journey, and must find her power in the darkness. Her mother fights to get her back – and the fate of all humanity lies in the balance.Combining the artistry of foremost contemporary theater-makers with the timeless stories of Greek myth and the imaginative power of audio, Live from Mount Olympus is an adventure for tweens and families of all ages. The podcast is a production of the Onassis Foundation.This richly imagined audio drama is created an...
2022-04-1201 min
Major League University Developmental PodcastChampions School Episode 5: The Pathway to College with Eric GardnerChampions School Episode 5: The Pathway to College with Eric Gardner by Austin Byler
2019-03-1352 min
Mini Spotlights - AfterBuzz TVKelsey Leon Interview – AfterBuzz TV Mini SpotlightAFTERBUZZ TV - AfterBuzz TV's Mini Spotlight edition, is a short form interview series featuring actors & artists discussing their roles and shows as well as their thoughts, passions and journeys. In this episode host Nick Mardi interviews Kelsey Leon.
Kelsey Leon was most recently seen on Latin Grammy Winner Nicky Jam’s music video ‘El Amante’ (Directed by Jessy Terrero) which has amassed over 725 Million YouTube views in the United States alone. She was also a principal in the Nintendo Switch ‘Just Dance’ commercial (Directed by Anthony Chirco and Eric Ro).
Kelsey has formal acting training with Brook...
2018-08-1613 min
The ConversationTrump's SoHo Hotel DramaTYT Politic’s Eric Byler interviews Shanna Cleveland, Senior Council for Speech For People. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
2018-04-1324 min
The ConversationDivest Trump SoHo Movement. Shanna Cleveland Interview with TYT PoliticsEric Byler (TYT Politics) interviews Shanna Cleveland, Senior Council for Free Speech For People. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
2018-03-1224 min
The ConversationSarah Posner InterviewEric Byler interviews The Nation’s Sarah Posner on her investigation on the rise of the Alliance Defending Freedom and the Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission case. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
2018-01-1911 min
The ConversationNorman Solomon InterviewEric Byler (TYT Politics) interviews journalist, media critic, antiwar activist, and former U.S. congressional candidate Norman Solomon. Eric and Norman discuss 'AUTOPSY: THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IN CRISIS' https://democraticautopsy.org/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
2017-12-1450 min