It takes the average Latina, 12 extra months to earn what the average White, non-Hispanic man earns. That is because Latinas are only paid .55 cents to the dollar of […]

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Though Operation Metro Surge has officially ended, the Trump administration continues to abduct people from the Twin Cities. Three people were also taken from Madison this week, and Salah Sarsour, the president of Wisconsin’s largest mosque, was detained on April 3 and remains in ICE detention. In response, host Esty Dinur is in conversation with two organizers with Workers’ Solidary Circle–Kip Hedges and Cal Robinette–about the lessons other communities can learn from ICE resistance in the Twin Cities.

Reflecting on the last few months, Hedges says that they’ve achieved a “partial victory” against the Trump regime and its immigration policies. The victory is partial because racial profiling, police brutality, and the effects of living under occupation continue. Robinette says that the rapid response infrastructure is changing as the number of abductions decrease, but hyper-local organizing is still the focus of the resistance.

There is still work to do. Robinette describes the impending eviction crisis and how Minneapolis is attempting to build a $38 million “cop city” for training police and other first responders. They also discuss the role of labor unions like IBEW and teachers unions in organizing resistance.

Kip Hedges is a long time working class organizer, who worked for 30 years as a baggage handler for Delta Air Lines. He is a retired member of the Machinists Union and member of Workers’ Solidarity Circle and DSA.

Cal Robinette is a member of the IBEW and helped get an anti ICE resolution passed in his local. He is also a member of Workers’ Solidarity Circle.

Featured image from an anti-ice protest from January 2026 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).

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Earlier this week, the Atlanta City Council approved an addition $31 million dollars for the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center. This was after more than 16 hours […]

The post Cop City Explained with George Chidi appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

For decades the Christian Right has worked to “Christianize” the federal government, arm Israel, eliminate reproductive and civil rights, and they seem to be succeeding. On today’s show, Sara Gabler speaks with journalist Josiah Hesse about what it’s like to grow up inside an Evangelical world and then leave it. Hesse writes about his experience in his new book, On Fire for God: Fear, Shame, Poverty, and the Making of the Christian Right – a Personal History.

They discuss how Hesse’s training as a journalist informed his writing of the memoir, including how he approached interviewing friends and family members with curiosity. He says that he’s proud that the book has been marketed as “one part Educated, one part rebuttal to Hillbilly Elegy” because he wanted to convey the emotional world of growing up inside an extremist religious group as Tara Westover did but also counteract the blaming of people in poverty that J.D. Vance’s book participated in.

Hesse describes the overwhelming sense of fear and shame that he learned from his religious upbringing and how it has taken even longer to unlearn. Evangelicals have built an entire culture industry to make sure that their flocks don’t have to leave the fold–from schools to Christian radio and rock music, and more. He shares his pathway out of this world and how the ideology of rugged individualism keeps people trapped.

Josiah Hesse, author of On Fire for God, Runner’s High and the Carnality series, is a freelance journalist out of Denver, Colorado, covering everything from politics, science, and crime, to art, pop culture, and evangelical culture and theology. A regular contributor to The Guardian and Vice, his work has appeared in Esquire, Newsweek, Men’s Health, and Politico, among other publications.

Featured image of the cover of On Fire for God.

The post No Longer On Fire for God appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

“The Philippines is under a new administration, but still the government’s case against de Lima hobbles along, a symbol of the country’s degradation from the Duterte years of violent populism […]

The post Timothy McLaughlin on Leila de Lima and the cost of criticism in The P... appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today’s edition of “Ali’s Book Club,” we celebrate the publication of Baker’s Dozen by Dasha Kelly, a book that grapples with mortality, grief, and desire. Kelly says that her characters, like the lead character named Shay in Baker’s Dozen, find her on purpose and then she “quilts” them into the story.

Baker’s Dozen is haunted from beginning to end with the loss of Shay who takes her own life. Kelly says that it’s in moments of loss that people become the most empathetic, whether that loss is from death, a breakup, or the disintegration of a friendship. The other characters in the novel process their loss and what it means to be left behind all the while trying to destigmatize death and suicide.

Their conversation weaves through the ways that people experience grief, loss, and their own mortality. Muldrow asks, “would you rather know or not know when the end of your life will come?” Kelly says that we’re “all energy” and that parts of our loved ones and ancestors remain with us when they’re gone and how this shapes her writing. They also discuss the afterlife, the cosmos, ancestors, and how funerals can be the best celebrations.

Baker’s Dozen is on sale June 4.

Dasha Kelly is a writer, performance artist and creative change agent. She has authored award-winning poetry, essays and fiction. She is a mainstage storyteller and host with The Moth, an alum of HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, Poet Laureate Emerita for both the City of Milwaukee and the State of Wisconsin and a National Laureate Fellow with the American Academy of Poets. In 2024, Dasha was named a Living Legacy Honoree by the licensing agency for the legendary poet Gwendolyn Brooks. A skilled engagement practitioner and instructor, Dasha has facilitated initiatives in Botswana, Mauritius and Beirut as an Arts Envoy for the U.S. Embassy. Her nationally-touring stage show, Makin’ Cake, serves audiences a unique conversation on race, class and equity. Her documentary film of the same title premiered this spring. Her nonprofit literary arts organization, Still Waters Collective, recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. Dasha’s recent releases are a poetry anthology, A Line Meant (Jaded Ibis Press), a 10th anniversary reprint of Almost Crimson (Traitmarker Books), and a new novel, Baker’s Dozen (Jaded Ibis).

Featured image of the cover of Baker’s Dozen.

The post Writer Dasha Kelly Quilts a Story of Mortality appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Sold in headshops and on the grey market, “spice” or K2 is a way to get high while avoiding showing up on a drug test. Whether or not they’re legal […]

The post Synthetic Cannabinoids, the Analogue Act, and an Unprecedented Prosecu... appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today’s show, host Dana Pellebon is in conversation with April Kigeya and Linda Ketcham about their struggles doing anti-oppression work in majority white spaces. They focus on their work in the Madison chapter of the Rotary Club, an international service club, and the insidious forms of racism and sexism they faced there.

They joined Rotary because it is a good place to network, meet business leaders in the community, fundraise, and connect with members of the public. After joining, Pellebon and Kigeya say they were immediately met with racism and sexism. They describe the dominant white, male, and wealthy space as unwelcoming and culturally uninterested in repairing harm. They discuss a particular incident where a member used a racial slur and how the institutional response was to focus on damage control and protecting the reputation of the organization rather than accountability. They all worked on the organization’s DEI committee, but Pellebon and Kigeya found that trying to work for change within the organization came at too high a cost.

Linda Ketcham is the Executive Director of JustDane.

April Kigeya is a mother of four children and former Vice Chair of the Dane County Board. In 2020 April was named one of Wisconsin’s most influential Black leaders and was the first person of color to serve on the Middleton Police Commission, where she served as the Co-Chair from 2021-2022. She is currently attending Edgewood college where is a PhD candidate in Business Administration. She is also the author of Couch Confessions: The Chronicles of a Black Woman in Therapy.

Dana Pellebon serves as the Executive Director of RCC Sexual Violence Resource Center, in Dane County and coordinates community partnerships for county-wide sexual assault victim services through the Sexual Assault Response Team, the Commission on Sensitive Crimes, and the Domestic Violence and Sexual Violence Coordinated Community Response Team. She is also a theatre professional and former Dane County Board supervisor.

Featured image via Pexels.

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