Freedom of Expression/Limitations/Censorship: Image courtesy of Max Pixel and licensed under Creative Commons
Jon Nelson hosts this episode of the Old Mole, which features the following segments:
Mourning, resilience, and resistance: The Story of the Celilo Wy’am: As a follow up to our May 22 show, we hear the second half of a reading by Celilo Wy-am activist Lana Jack, Celilo Wyam activist from her short memoir “We are Here: The Story of the Celilo Wy-am is one of mourning, resilience and resistance,” which appears in the Spring edition of Oregon Humanities. Jack’s story homes in on the ongoing criminalization of Native fisher people on the Columbia River, the intergenerational trauma inflicted on Native families as the result of violence at government-supported residential schools charged with eradicating Native languages and cultures. And her story speaks also to the ongoing struggle to reconnect with– and revitalize– Indigenous languages, cultures, and First Foods, and to protect water, from Standing Rock to the Columbia River basin. The full reading will be posted following the show.
The Attack on Education: In part two of a two part interview, Bill Resnick discusses with Harry Feder the radical right’s attack on the public schools that is succeeding in conservatizing textbooks and teaching (especially on racism, sex ed, and U.S. History), as well as tightening school discipline of working class kids. Harry and Bill then discuss how the left need respond to the radical right attack. They conclude discussing how the right’s upsurge impacts the organization FairTest that Harry directs in its struggle, up to now slowly succeeding, to replace high stakes testing with what they call authentic evaluation of student learning and skill development. Part one of the
Another World Is Possible: Norm Diamond finds surprisingly interesting politics in two major productions in the Portland arts scene: a dance performance and a Shakespeare play. From a recognition of racism and the horrors of late capitalism in Petrushka to a new take on sexual politics in A Midsummer’s Night Dream, thoughtful politics are appearing in unexpected places.
The Taste of Ginger: Book Mole Larry Bowlden reviews the 2021 novel by Mansi Shah, entitled The Taste of Ginger. It’s a lovely novel about an Indian family who brings their children to the US for greater opportunities, but then wants them both to successfully assimilate and yet remain true to Indian traditions and culture, a culture that includes arranged marriages. Readers of Jhumpa Lahiri will love this author. This review originally aired on August 1, 2022.
- KBOO