Interview4Obama

Boy Meets Streets

2012-01-27T12:33:00.000-08:00

At age 14, Steven Roberts found everything he wanted working as a prostitute on the streets of Los Angeles. This is not an interview for voyeurs, but rather Steven's recounting of vivid memories and stories of his initiation into the life, how he felt about sex work and being a part of what he experienced as an ''amazing'' lifestyle.

This interview was recorded January 2012 and is 38 minutes long.

Listen at turquoise player at the top of the page or at Cyberears.

Feminist Community Worker--Nailasada

2011-11-06T20:08:00.000-08:00

Nailasada Alidina takes her feminism to the streets by working in a Montreal community center for South Asian girls & women. I talked with her about teaching boundaries, SlutWalk, Occupy Montreal, violence against girls & women, bad parenting, kids on leashes, cultural relativism and the many ways safety determines who we are and how we live.

Listen at the top of the page or at Cyberears.

31 minutes.

GuerrillaGirls ON TOUR

2011-10-30T11:53:00.000-07:00

I caught up with Guerrilla Girls On Tour at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, where they were in residence for the Rollins Feminist Forum, and talked with them about their "outrageous activist plays" and street theatre, as well as their improvised interactions with college students in the U.S. and audiences in China and Slovenia.

This podcast is 31 minutes long. Listen at the top of this page or at Cyberears.

Power Over Life and Death

2011-10-19T09:41:00.000-07:00

This podcast is a reading of excerpts from the book, The Sacrament of Abortion, by Ginette Paris. The author is a pagan and has an analysis of abortion that, whether or not you agree with it, will make you think about who gets to decide the most fundamental issue of living on this planet--who will live, who will die.

Listen via the player at the top of this page or at Cyberears.

Power Over Life and Death is 31 minutes long.

Ann Jones added to Mapping the Femisphere

2011-10-10T08:31:00.000-07:00

View Mapping the Femisphere, a Google map.

Listen to excerpts from Kabul in Winter: Life Without Peace in Afghanistan here.

Kabul in Winter--Ann Jones

2011-10-08T18:56:00.000-07:00

To mark the 10th anniversary of the United States' invasion of Afghanistan, I read excerpts from Kabul in Winter: Life Without Peace in Afghanistan, by Ann Jones, published 2006.

Jones spent four years in Kabul working in humanitarian aid--this is her report. She is the author of eight books, an authority on women and violence, and her work has been published by The New York Times and The Nation.

This podcast is 19 minutes long. Listen at the top of this page or at Cyberears.

3 Women Awarded 2011 Nobel Peace Prize

2011-10-08T09:18:00.000-07:00

Nobel Peace Prize Winners Added to Mapping the Femisphere: Tawakkol Karman/Leymah Gbowee/Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

PoemCast: The Layers

2011-09-09T15:10:00.000-07:00

This is a reading of The Layers, a poem by Stanley Kunitz, who was U.S. Poet Laureate in 2000. His distinguished career is not why I've chosen to record this poem--it has very personal meaning to me.

Listen at the top of the page or at Cyberears.

This PoemCast lasts 6 minutes.

Trauma Reporter--Scott Johnson

2011-08-28T12:59:00.000-07:00

Scott Johnson is currently the Violence Reporting Fellow for the Oakland Tribune. The past twelve years he worked as foreign correspondent for Newsweek and was the chief of its Africa Bureau from 2007 until its close in 2009. He spent most of the preceding decade reporting from the Middle East, covering wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He was Baghdad bureau chief for two years during the height of the insurgency from 2005 to 2007.

Listen at the top of this page or at Cyberears.

This podcast is 35 minutes.

Feminist Platform: A Powered Woman

2011-08-19T21:08:00.000-07:00

This is a reading of the Feminist Platform submitted to the 2008 Democratic Convention by Feminists for Obama.

Listen at the top of the page or at Cyberears.

This podcast is 19 minutes.

Lysistrata Scene Two--RUMBLE!

2011-07-26T15:56:00.000-07:00

At Lysistrata's command, armed women have taken over the Acropolis, while the Chorus of Old Women faces off with the Chorus of Old Men, hurling sexist and suggestive invective at each other. Is there going to be a rumble on the road to peace? The stalwart representatives of law and order arrive to put down the insurgency and to put women back in their proper place, but Lysistrata and her comrades stand their ground.

Listen via the player at the top of this page or at Cyberears.

This podcast is 44 minutes.

Radical Doula--Miriam Zoila Pérez

2011-07-08T11:37:00.000-07:00

Miriam Zoila Pérez is a writer, blogger and reproductive justice activist. She works with the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health and is an Editor at Feministing. She was trained as a doula in 2004 and her blog is RadicalDoula.com.

I spoke with Miriam about being a radical doula, an abortion doula, reproductive justice and the “Too Many Aborted” billboard campaign.

This podcast is 25:30 minutes. Listen at the Pickle Player at the top of this page or at Cyberears.

Lysistrata Scene One--SEX STRIKE!

2011-06-26T19:52:00.000-07:00

Lysistrata's brilliant plan to unite the women of individual Greek city-states in a sex strike proves a hard sell...to the women themselves...

This podcast is 37:13 minutes. Go to Pickle Player at the top of this page or to Cyberears.

SEX STRIKE! Intro to Lysistrata

2011-06-19T08:17:00.000-07:00

The country is always at war. The men are always away on military campaign or they come back having died a "glorious death." What's a woman to do? Lysistrata, Uber-Ancient-Greek-Activist, calls women to join her in a sex strike until desperation brings the men to their...senses. Lysistrata is the third and last of Aristophanes' peace plays, says translator Alan H. Sommerstein in his preface to the play: it was "conceived at a time when Athens was going through the most desperate crisis she had known since the Persian War."

As I say in this introduction to the play, although I've known about Lysistrata for decades, I'd always assumed it was a fairly grave play. Don't get me wrong--I prefer Greek tragedy to many forms of spectacle currently on Broadway! But Lysistrata is a bawdy comedy and, although one could argue that women would never achieve the solidarity necessary to carry off an effective sex strike, Aristophanes nails human foibles and stereotypes as recognizable to a listener today as to the audience of its first production in 411 B.C.

Stay tuned for the reading of LYSISTRATA.

This podcast is 16:11 minutes. Listen at the PicklePlayer, top of this page, or at Cyberears.

YidHop: O Patriarchy

2011-06-03T15:35:00.000-07:00

A hip-hopish scream of frustration, a full-throated protest and an African drumming backbeat...with my signature Yiddish accent. Drumming from African Tribal Music & Dances: Recorded Live, released by Legacy International. Lyrics & vocals by MadamaAmbi.

Listen via Pickle Player at top of page or at Cyberears. This podcast is 3:02 minutes.

Women Journalists Without Chains added to Mapping the Femisphere

2011-05-30T14:19:00.000-07:00

Mapping the Femisphere is a Google map.

Read the blog of Women Journalists Without Chains.

Iranian Feminist School added to Mapping the Femisphere

2011-05-29T17:55:00.000-07:00

Read more about The Iranian Feminist School, a women's movement, a campaign for one million signatures "to end discriminatory laws against women." See also the list of women activists who have been detained.

The Iranian Feminist School is on Facebook.

View Mapping the Femisphere, a Google map, here.

Manal al-Sharif added to Mapping the Femisphere

2011-05-28T11:05:00.000-07:00

Mapping the Femisphere is a Google map.

Women Must Be Heard in Budget Talks

2011-05-24T12:04:00.000-07:00

This is a recording of the following press conference, recorded & podcast with permission from NOW.

Task Force on Older Women's Economic Security to President:

Women's Issues and Voices Must Be Heard in Budget Talks
Telephone Press Conference, Tuesday, May 24, 11 a.m. E.T.

May 23, 2011

At a May 24 telephone press conference, members of the Older Women's Economic Security (OWES) Task Force of the National Council of Women's Organizations will demand that President Obama's budget negotiations include women participants and women's views in the discussion.

Members of the media are invited to call in.

Who:
Terry O'Neill, President, National Organization for Women (NOW)
Bobbie Brinegar, Executive Director, Older Women's League (OWL)
Cynthia Harrison, Vice-Chair, Women's Committee of 100
Gwendolyn Mink, Independent Policy Scholar

What:
OWES Task Force to request a meeting with President Obama and Vice President Biden to discuss ways to include women's viewpoints in the current budget discussions and to ask that members of the administration with expertise on women's issues be added to the White House's advisory team working on the budget negotiations.

When:
Tuesday, May 24 from 11:00 a.m. E.T. to 11:30 a.m. E.T.

Women are entirely absent from the meetings of the team Vice President Joe Biden has convened to address the federal budget, leaving the men behind closed doors with a real deficit in their discussions about issues critical to U.S. women, including health care and Social Security. Research has shown that women are gaining fewer jobs than men in the current economic recovery and are still suffering grave impacts from the recession; they also stand to lose disproportionately from the types of budget cuts being discussed.

Leaders of major women's organizations will call for the inclusion of women's concerns and voices in these discussions. Groups include: NOW, the Black Women's Health Imperative, the Business and Professional Women's Foundation, Dialogue on Diversity, the Older Women's League, U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce, Women's Committee of 100, Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement, the Women's Research and Education Institute, and the YWCA USA.

The National Council of Women's Organizations is composed of more than 200 women's organizations representing more than 12 million U.S. women. The Older Women's Economic Security (OWES) Task Force was formed in 1998 to study, monitor and act to enhance older women's economic security. NOW is a co-chair of the OWES Task Force.

This podcast is 24:35 minutes. Listen at Pickle Player, top of page, or at Cyberears.

I'M BLOGGING FOR MENTAL HEALTH

2011-05-15T16:54:00.000-07:00

See podcast "Feminism & Trauma," posted May 15, 2011.

Feminism & Trauma

2011-05-15T10:30:00.000-07:00

The American Psychological Association is sponsoring a Blog Party to mark Mental Health Month. This podcast is a reading from Judith Lewis Herman's book Trauma and Recovery: The aftermath of violence--from domestic abuse to political terror. In this Chapter, titled A Forgotten History, Herman discusses how the women's movement brought violence against women into public awareness and put it on the trauma spectrum. Today, as a result of feminist activism, we recognize that rape, domestic violence and incest result in post-traumatic stress disorder.

This podcast is 18:30 minutes.

Listen via Pickle Player at the top of the page or at Cyberears.

Roots of Collective Bargaining

2011-03-05T17:14:00.000-08:00

"The boss is hurrying the life out of me."

Rose Cohen and her father immigrated from Czarist Russia to the tenements of New York City, working exhausting schedules under harsh conditions to survive and to send for the rest of the family. In this podcast, I read an excerpt from Rose Cohen's book, Out of the Shadow: A Russian Jewish Girlhood on the Lower East Side, published in 1918. She tells of her first days as a child worker in a garment sweatshop.

My First Job by Rose Cohen is taken from Out of the Sweatshop: The Struggle for Industrial Democracy, edited by Leon Stein, published in 1977.

This podcast is 18:53 minutes. Go to the Pickle Player at the top of this page or listen at Cyberears.

Abortion Underground II--JANE

2011-02-18T12:00:00.000-08:00

"In the public discourse the fetus has been elevated to an equal status with a living, breathing human being. More and more, women are viewed as the enemy of children, requiring the State's intervention to protect their developing children from them. But, in reality, women still conceive, nurture, give birth to and, in most cases, are the primary caregivers of children. Women are being reduced, once again, to the incubators of future generations with total responsibility but no power. That is the same oppressive view that the women's movement sought to challenge. It is not just abortion, but women's power to control their destinies that is at stake."

These words were written in 1995 by Laura Kaplan, who was a member of Jane, the underground abortion service that developed in Chicago before abortion was legalized in Roe v. Wade. In her book, The Story of Jane: The Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service, Kaplan narrates an age-old story replayed in the context of the women's liberation movement of the 1960s and 1970s. The story reminds us that abortion has been and will always be a decision "rooted in the concrete conditions" of a woman's life.

"She will weigh her decision and then try to act on it. This is what women have always done, irrespective of the law or even of the risks to their own lives."

In this podcast, I connect The Story of Jane to the current abortion battles, and then read excerpts of Kaplan's introduction to this riveting and relevant story for all women.

Listen at Pickle Player at the top of this page or at Cyberears.

This podcast is 20:00 min.

Abortion Underground I

2011-02-14T14:58:00.000-08:00

What happens to poor women of color when abortion is a political football. This podcast is a reading of an article that ran in The New York Times on January 22, 2011, the 38th anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade.

Go to Pickle Player at top of page or listen at Cyberears.

This podcast is 8:13 minutes.

Social Media circa 1882

2011-02-04T21:05:00.000-08:00

Goodbye, cursive!

Last week a friend with young children in the public schools said "Did you know they're not teaching cursive in school anymore? How are my kids going to sign their names?" We scratched our heads; we didn't know. A few days after this, when my husband was going through boxes of his family's photos, documents and artifacts, he found a small, leather book that had belonged to his great-grandfather. Its aging, delicate pages were filled with poems and wishes to be remembered, all in cursive styles from days gone by. Here are five of them. Listen to the podcast to hear these poems and heartfelt demonstrations of friendship read aloud.

Go to the turquoise Pickle Player at the top of this page or listen at Cyberears.

This podcast is 20:53 minutes.

Reading Roe v. Wade--Part Two

2011-01-25T15:57:00.000-08:00

The second and final half of the Supreme Court's landmark decision finding that the right of privacy applies to a woman's right to abortion.

Listen at the Pickle Player at the top of this page or go to Cyberears.

This podcast is 37 minutes.

Reading Roe v. Wade--Part One

2011-01-21T12:59:00.000-08:00

On the eve of the 38th anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade, I realized that I had never read the full, original decision. In this podcast, I read aloud the opinion of the Court, which inquires into, "and in this opinion place some emphasis upon, medical and medical-legal history and what that history reveals about man's attitude (my italics) toward the abortion procedure over the centuries." Justice Blackmun discusses "Ancient Attitudes, The Hippocratic Oath, The common law, The English statutory law, The American law, The position of the American Medical Association, and The position of the American Public Health Association." I discovered many fascinating insights into the underpinnings of the current abortion battles still raging in 2011. Part Two to follow in the next day or so.

Go to the turquoise Pickle Player at the top if this page, or listen at Cyberears.

This podcast is 43 minutes long.

REALITY BITES BACK: The Troubling Truth About Guilty Pleasure TV

2010-12-12T09:13:00.000-08:00

Jennifer Pozner comes out swinging as she takes aim at the "Reality TV" industry and its ever-growing universe of so-called "harmless" shows in her book REALITY BITES BACK: The Troubling Truth About Guilty Pleasure TV, published by Seal Press. Pozner uncovers sexism, racism, classism, stereotyping, violence against women, phony psychological help and what really drives the content of TV we passively consume for entertainment. This is an important book, fun to read, and what Library Journal has determined "an essential read." Pozner's research and analysis are mind-blowing, but you really have to hear Jennifer Pozner in person to understand the passion and knife-sharp wit she brings to her work.

Go to turquoise Pickle Player at top OR listen at Cyberears.com.

This interview is 28:49 minutes.

VOTE TODAY--A Ditty

2010-11-02T10:18:00.000-07:00

A singable little song especially for Election Day!

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Or go to turquoise PicklePlayer at top of page.
1:15 minutes.

Gloria Feldt--NO EXCUSES

2010-10-12T08:15:00.000-07:00

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Gloria Feldt and I are feminists from the second wave of women's movement when the DIS-Parities (yes, shades of Mary Daly in my writing; cain't hep maself...) between opportunities for men and women pushed into the full flowering of public discourse. Women organized, women protested, women gathered in consciousness-raising groups, women wrote books about patriarchy and sexuality and new ways of valuing the work we do, our social/emotional skills, our movement "from margin to center" (find this feminist classic by bell hooks here). Young women went to Planned Parenthood to get the pill and, in my case, to get my one and only frank discussion about sex from a mature, kind, motherly woman. University departments in feminist studies/women's history were founded (not without the heroic perseverance of quite a few founding mothers in academia), Roe v. Wade established a woman's right to privacy, giving us ultimate control over our bodies, ourselves (find this updated feminist classic here). The list of barriers stampeded and demolished by women is a long one and, to some of the young feminists coming up in the world today, so long ago they don't realize how new and how fragile these gains are.

Gloria Feldt, former CEO of Planned Parenthood and now a stumper/speaker/social-media activist and teacher, says "You've Come a Long Way, Maybe." In the prologue to her new book, NO EXCUSES: 9 Ways Women Can Change How We Think About Power, she signs on to Ellen Goodman's grade of "Incomplete" for the revolution. I can think of a few other second-wavers voicing the same frustrations, including the formidable Loretta Ross of SisterSong, who was a panelist at a Feminist Town Hall meeting held the day after Obama won the presidential election. The chutzpah of organizers Jaclyn Friedman and The Center for New Words! Since I don't live in Boston where the panelists convened, I attended by streaming video. To the mostly thirty-something-ish crowd of women, Loretta said "Let's finish this revolution!" I resonated. Gloria was also in attendance virtually at that Town Hall. I think I'm safe in saying neither Gloria nor I were surprised by Loretta's battle cry, but I can tell you that I felt enormous relief upon hearing another woman speak my own frustration.

Older feminists who see how much still needs to be done are talking with younger feminists about how to do it. "If we give the fulcrum of parity one last heave-ho, it will very likely propel women to equal footing with men for good--ours and theirs," writes Feldt, who describes herself as a "practical activist" and a "movement builder." I had several "Aha!" moments while interviewing Gloria about No Excuses. I don't want to spoil it for you...BUT...Gloria Feldt is kick-starting again, this time with the wisdom of a mature warrior.

Listen to my interview with Gloria Feldt either at Cyberears.com OR the turquoise PicklePlayer at the top of this page. 26:43 min.

© Maryanne Russel

A Survivor of Domestic Abuse Tells Her Story

2010-08-03T08:15:00.000-07:00

Patty Sherman says that she "escaped" her abusive marriage in 2000. In June of this year, 2010, she passed the ninth anniversary of her freedom, healing process and the recovery of her self. Patty speaks out to educate the public because she knows that it's hard, if not impossible, to understand how it happens and how hard it is to leave an abusive marriage unless you have either lived through it or you have done intentional research about the pathologies that drive husbands to control and berate their wives.

In this interview we discuss how it's possible for an educated and skilled woman to fear her husband, to lose her confidence or the right to discuss dysfunctional dynamics in their marriage and to develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. In hindsight, Patty has come to understand some of the warning signs of the cycle of abuse and the traps victims can fall into, such as believing that "I had let it happen to me." Through therapy and self-education, she now knows she didn't deserve the abuse she received. Patty hopes that by speaking out she can help other victims realize that there is nothing they did to bring abuse upon themselves, nothing they can do to mollify a husband's need to control them, keeping them fearful and dehumanized, why it's hard to leave and how it's possible to get help.

go to Pickle Player or CyberEars to listen...41:50 min.

Acting in Your Jammies! July 22, 2010

2010-07-23T13:55:00.000-07:00

A lively & wide-ranging discussion of the characters, themes and issues raised by The Madwoman of Chaillot. To understand the play, we bring in psychology, politics, and philosophy.
go to Pickle Player to listen...41:58 min.

What is Acting? Why Do You Need It?

2010-07-21T08:29:00.000-07:00

What is acting? Why does it matter to non-professional, everyday people? We've finished reading the play & now we start to discover ourselves in the characters of this funny but bitingly relevant play, The Madwoman of Chaillot, written in Nazi-occupied Paris.

Tomorrow evening! 8:30pm Eastern/7:30pm Central/5:30pm Pacific & Mountain times.

ON TALKSHOE! Phone Number: (724) 444-7444 Call ID: 83128

Acting in Your Jammies on TALKSHOE: The Madwoman of Chaillot

2010-07-16T13:04:00.000-07:00

The mock trial gives The Countess all the reason she needs to exterminate The President, The Prospectors and the rest of the soulless people of the world. Joy is alive again and, as in all comedy, love is embodied in the revelation of a newly minted romance...

go to Pickle Player to listen...46:42 min.

ACTING IN YOUR JAMMIES! Community Theatre on TALKSHOE!

2010-07-08T11:26:00.000-07:00

We continue to rehearse The Madwoman of Chaillot, reading the mock trial scene. The poor are, of course, responsible for their poverty, but the rich? Can the rich help it if money worships them? In the end, though, The Countess gets the guilty verdict she needs...what else did you expect?????

go to Pickle Player to listen...30:22 minutes

We need actors with no or little experience! Email madama ambi at g mail dot com!

The Madwoman of Chaillot--Rehearsal July 1, 2010 on Talkshoe

2010-07-02T14:23:00.000-07:00

We begin reading Act II and discover existential issues at the heart of this comedy. What can seem fantastical or improbable can take on proportions of reality if you get enough people to participate and believe in it. This is how you create an alternative reality, but not without a bit of a power struggle, even among old, mad friends. Meet the Madwoman of Chaillot's fellow madwomen as they gather to determine the fate of humanity...

go to Pickle Player to listen...47:50 minutes

Madwoman Rehearsal June 24, 2010

2010-06-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

Final scene Act I in which The Countess gives her philosophy of life and The Ragpicker educates her on the pimp middle-men that have taken over the world. Shocked to discover the world is not happy, The Countess decides to save the world...eerily modern and relevant.

CALL FOR ACTORS TO JOIN THE TROUPE...show up for next rehearsal on TalkShoe, Thursdays 8:30pm Eastern, 7:30pm Central, 5:30 Pacific & Mountain times.

go to Pickle Player to listen...54 min.

Nora Shourd, Mother of Imprisoned Hiker in Evin Prison, Iran

2010-06-13T13:47:00.000-07:00

Where in the world is Sarah Shourd?

For the past ten and a half months she's been in solitary confinement in Evin prison, Iran. Before that she was traveling in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Ethiopia, writing about women in these cultures, struggling to understand them as she says in her blog title "Through Unfettered Eyes: Dispatches from Addis Ababa to Damascus." Before that, as a 20 year old, she traveled to Chiapas to learn about women in a revolutionary state, as well as to confront issues of femicide in Mexico. She was a student at Berkeley becoming sensitized to global issues. Her now husband-to-be, Shane Bauer (they got engaged while in prison), and friend Josh Fattal, are writers, activists and global citizens with a sense of responsibility to the world beyond the United States.

A few days ago I received a mailing from The Women's Media Center asking that people blog about Sarah, Shane and Josh. It said that the mothers had reached out to women's organizations asking for this. It said that Nora, Sarah's mother, was available for interview. Interviewing is my bag--I like to understand people, their stories, the decisions they made along the way, what it was like for them, how it changed them, what they will do with the new person they've discovered in themselves. It turned out that Nora was looking for that kind of interview, a place to tell the story of her daughter Sarah so that people will care about her imprisonment and work toward her freedom. I spent a day getting my head around the story and then we did the interview on Saturday. I had the interview up on Sunday and as of today, Tuesday June 15, 435 people have listened to the interview.

You can help get Sarah, Shane and Josh out of prison and back to work as global citizens by listening to this interview and passing it on to your networks. There are other ways to help--see freethehikers.org. I'm invested in Sarah's freedom not only as a human being but also as a feminist; I'm eager to see what Sarah Shourd does when she's back in the free world, unfettering her eyes. I think she's a global feminist to watch.

go to Pickle Player to listen...40 min.

2nd Rehearsal of THE MADWOMAN OF CHAILLOT

2010-06-11T20:24:00.000-07:00

We continue to read through the play. Tonight's reading covers Act I, Scene II and the introduction of The Prospector, a gentleman with a plan for oil-drilling under Paris. Needless to say, upon the Madwoman of Chaillot's first appearance, she and the forces of evil despise one another...

go to Pickle Player to listen...34 min.

1st Rehearsal of THE MADWOMAN OF CHAILLOT

2010-06-04T16:58:00.000-07:00

Our first read partly-through. Madwoman & Co., a small troupe of amateur actors, will rehearse the play THE MADWOMAN OF CHAILLOT by Jean Giraudoux, published 1945. Says cast member Susan T. Hessel: "What's interesting about the play is that it's about big business determined to make a bundle of money by manipulating stock prices...what makes the play meaningful in this summer of the oil geyser in the Gulf of Mexico is that The President and The Prospector are scheming to get the rights to drill baby drill right under a cafe in the middle of Paris.

go to Pickle Player to listen...33:29 min.

JOIN US ON TALKSHOE!

Introduction to THE MADWOMAN OF CHAILLOT

2010-05-28T16:39:00.000-07:00

"The threat is real," says the author of the brilliant essay accompanying this play by Jean Giraudoux, published in 1945, written during the Nazi occupation of Paris. Find out why Madwoman and Company will rehearse this play on MadamaAmbi's Community Opera hosted by TalkShoe. Join us June 3, 2010 at 8:30pm EDT, 6:30pm Central, 5:30pm Pacific & Mountain Time.

Renee Fleming vocals, Beau Soir by Debussy

go to Pickle Player to listen...7:47 minutes

FIREWEED: A Political Autobiography

2010-03-31T13:39:00.000-07:00

A dramatic reading of the Introduction to FIREWEED, historian Gerda Lerner's autobiography, published in 2002.

I have removed this podcast, which is a shame, since it was a joy to make, to read, and to inhabit for all of the 14 minutes it took. I sent it to Dr. Lerner, hoping she would like it, but stating also that if she objected I would take it down. She was incensed, saying I had no "right to use her work without permission."

At the level of my popularity, reading her work aloud is like reading it to a classroom of eager students. I don't make money from anything I do online, period. I gave it a beautiful reading and hoped she would hear the tribute in my voice, but she is dealing with her own battles and has no energy for her interpreters. It's sad, of course, but she has given the world an immense amount of scholarship and I will always be grateful to her for her work, her courage and her writing.

Feminist Classics of Yesteryear: Mary Daly's BEYOND GOD THE FATHER

2010-03-03T15:35:00.000-08:00

This is a voice collage of short readings from Beyond God the Father: Toward a Philosophy of Women's Liberation, written by Mary Daly, published in 1973 by Beacon Press, Boston.

GO TO PICKLE PLAYER TO LISTEN...20:24 minutes

Intimate Politics: How I Grew Up Red, Fought for Free Speech and Became A Feminist Rebel

2009-12-04T14:01:00.000-08:00

My interview with Bettina Aptheker about her memoir. Go to Pickle Player to listen. 39:29 min. You can buy Intimate Politics online.

Chant4theRevolution: We Are the Red-Throats

2009-11-14T15:34:00.000-08:00

CHANT UNTIL IT HURTS...

We Are the Red-Throats is meant to be sung with women and allies in protest, on strike, or courageously shouting their pain, betrayal and rage wherever they gather to change the world. Why are we the Red-Throats? Because we've been naming this pain for thousands of years...

go to Pickle Player to listen...2:55 min.

DIRTY VOTING--Do You Know Where Your Vote Went?

2009-11-03T12:42:00.000-08:00

''The closer you look, the dirtier it gets,'' says Brent Turner, of the Open Voting Consortium, www.openvoting.org.

Today is Election Day!
Do you know where your vote WENT?

Originally a civil rights activist, Brent has been ringing the alarm about the very systems in place that the average voter naively assumes make a fair, just and unmanipulated tabulation of the most basic cornerstone of democracy: voting. The piece of the puzzle most vulnerable is the software used to count our votes. Who manufactures it? Who knows how to manipulate it? How can there be public oversight of the final tabulations if the computers doing the counting are programmed secretly? DON'T GET CYNICAL. GET MAD.

go to pickle player to listen...58:12 min.

This interview was recorded April 2009.

D.C. Awakening--Jen Nedeau

2009-05-21T18:45:00.001-07:00

Jen Nedeau blogs about Women's Rights at Change.org. She's not a seasoned feminist who has it all figured out; in fact, her feminist awakening began only a year ago. But she understands that women of her generation have grown up with a "dangerous sense of equality" that does not sync with real-world politics. This interview was recorded in March of 2009.

GO TO PICKLE PLAYER TO LISTEN...54:50 min.

Mysterioso--Rachel

2009-04-18T12:26:00.000-07:00

Interview with Rachel Blum, recorded April 11, 2009, roughly a year since she began transitioning from living as a man to living as a woman. Although there is much to say about the issues presented in a story like Rachel's, I find that I am profoundly moved by what Rachel has shared with me, and can only frame this conversation with music that expresses my feelings. Very brief selections from a live recording of La Traviata with Alfredo Kraus and Maria Callas are included in this podcast.

GO TO PICKLE PLAYER TO LISTEN...64:39 min.

Womanist Musings: No Uplift on My Back

2009-04-04T12:24:00.000-07:00

The woman behind the blog, Womanist Musings, talks with Madama about parenting as a radical act, womanism as opposed to feminism, a social hierarchy of bodies, and the many forms of privilege that she consistently writes about on her blog. Always thinking critically, Renee also discusses her thoughts on victimology and how women must exercise power creatively and productively.

GO TO PICKLE PLAYER TO LISTEN...66 min.

This interview was recorded March 10, 2009.

Born Feminist/Veronica Arreola

2009-03-24T17:44:00.001-07:00

WAM! Bang! Blogher!

Born with an innate sense of fairness, Veronica organized her first protest in 2nd grade and by the time she was in high school knew she was feminist. Veronica is ubiquitous in the blogosphere as well as speaking at conferences this year, and our conversation covers her work in reproductive justice, the marketing of mommyblogging and her work on legislation in her home state of Illinois. This is a woman who was born knowing that she wasn't going to let other people decide what she could tackle...

GO TO PICKLE PLAYER TO LISTEN...45:34 min.

South Texas College Women's Studies 2009

2009-03-09T09:25:00.000-07:00

Confronting Sex Slavery in the 21st Century

April 1-3 2009

South Texas College Women's Studies 2009

Adele Nieves & SPEAK!

2009-03-08T12:02:00.001-07:00

My parents used to tell people that they discovered Barbra Streisand. They saw her in a small club in the Village and although she may have already put out her first album, it really was only my mother and father who realized that the gangly, shy girl with the amazing voice would very soon be huge!

Well, I didn't discover Adele Nieves and SPEAK!, but I do have that feeling of excitement and anticipation about where these radical women of color are going.

My interview with Adele about the CD she produced with the media collective, SPEAK!, ( group photo) is must listening for any woman who is on the women's team, and especially instructive for white women feminists and activists. Lately I've been listening to women of color politely tell me that it's time for white feminists to reach out to them, listen to them, acknowledge their leadership and their struggle. STFU & L? Gosh, that's what I've been saying to men who want to teach me what I just don't understand about feminism: shut up, sit down and listen!

This CD packs a punch, and you're welcome, you needed that. Powerful, lyrical, musical, beautiful, angry, strong and vulnerable, Adele Nieves and the women of SPEAK! are not sitting around waiting to be granted a seat at the table. They have discovered themselves. So, if you're ready to shut up, sit down and listen to radical women of color media makers, you can buy the CD at www.speakmediacollective.com. (Proceeds fund single mothers traveling to the 2009 Allied Media Conference in Detroit, MI).

The interview opens with Adele reading her piece, Why Do You Speak?, and our conversation ends with a taste of Wishful Thinking by Alexis Pauline Gumbs (photo). Watch for this poem set to music to be released as a single on iTunes! You will want it and you will want to give it to every woman you know.

Wishful Thinking will tell you something about yourself that you need to know, and that you need to know that you know. And on those days when you forget what you know you know, you'll want to hear Alexis remind you. I'm betting Wishful Thinking will be the anthem we'll all be speaking--all feminists, womanists, radical women of color, progressives, LGBT activists, anarchists and anyone who has ever wanted to be seen for who she really is.

GO TO PICKLE PLAYER TO LISTEN...57 min.

My 55th Birthday

2009-02-11T10:17:00.000-08:00

To help me celebrate my 55th birthday, I asked friends on Facebook to call my voicemail and read me a poem by a woman.

In this podcast, Cheryl Fasano reads a poem written by her daughter. Francine Beck reads a poem I assume she wrote just for me, and I am deeply moved by it. Next we hear Lady Lazarus, and I believe this was written by Sylvia Plath and is read to me by my friend Dahlia, even though she doesn't announce herself. Her reading of this poem cuts into me. Next is my friend Marla Turner reading a poem by Marge Piercy, about being a strong, vulnerable woman. Mary Nickum reads her favorite poem by Carl Sandburg.

Then I read two poems posted to my Facebook page. Kiku Botura posted a poem written for his daughter's teacher, and Charlene James posted a well-known poem by Maya Angelou. Finally, my friend Kathryn Remlinger posted a poem by Keats, read by poet Michelle Boisseau.

A quick note of apology for the fuzzy sound during my readings; my lavalier mic was turned into the fuzzy collar of my sweater and I didn't realize it. Fortunately, you can still understand what I'm saying, but it's not as clear as I would like. But, since I'm busy collectively running a revolution, I hope you'll understand why I must move on to my next task of the day, and not spend time perfecting what is already good enough.

Many deeply felt beats of my heart for these poems...

LOVE
Madama

scroll down to listen...22:00 minutes

Poeming to the Inauguration of President Barack Obama

2009-01-17T14:37:00.000-08:00

Track Five--Sections 12, 13, 14 and 15

Madama reads Walt Whitman's poem, Song of Myself, a long poem in 51 sections, as a way of poem-ing herself to the inauguration of President Barack Obama. She will probably not finish recording the last section on January 20, 2009.

This track begins with an introduction about...life...

scroll down to listen...18:59 min

Poeming to the Inauguration of President Barack Obama

2009-01-13T21:02:00.000-08:00

Track Four--Sections 9, 10 and 11

Madama reads Walt Whitman's poem, Song of Myself, a long poem in 51 sections, as a way of poem-ing herself to the inauguration of President Barack Obama. She will finish recording the last section on January 20, 2009.

This track begins with an introduction to get you in the mood...

scroll down to listen...11:23 min

"We're Not His Groupies"

2008-12-16T09:42:00.001-08:00

I just listened to Diane Rehm do an hour interview with 3 "experts" about how the Obama administration would "use" it's "grassroots army."

First of all, there were no supporters/volunteers on the panel, although two supporters called in to the show. Secondly, none of the experts convened, nor Diane Rehm herself, knew what the agenda of the house meetings held recently were supposed to accomplish. Further, they didn't know that supporters at house meetings were asked to identify their local needs/issues and then work with existing non-profits or other issue groups in order to address the problem.

So, here is, imo, a perfect example of how your own brain determines what you are capable of perceiving. Maybe it's Rehm herself, maybe it's NPR, maybe it's just that the whole system is set up to operate from the perspective of the experts to the exclusion of the people who can speak to their own needs. I don't know; I just know I recognize a gigantic disconnect when I see one.

On the plus side, the two people who called in (one was from Mesa, AZ) expressed my feelings about holding Obama accountable. The caller from Mesa said "we're not his groupies."

Where Are the New Jobs for Women?

2008-12-09T19:47:00.000-08:00

Op-ed today in NY Times by Linda R. Hirshman, author of Get to Work: A Manifesto for Women of the World. She writes that a public works project will mainly help unemployed men.

Poem-ing to the Inauguration of President Barack Obama

2008-12-02T21:32:00.000-08:00

Track Three--Sections 6, 7 and 8

Madama reads Walt Whitman's poem, Song of Myself, a long poem in 51 sections, as a way of poem-ing herself to the inauguration of President Barack Obama. She will finish recording the last section on January 20, 2009.

This track opens with Madama talking about smacking into art...

scroll down to listen...15:54 min

Poem-ing to the Inauguration of President Barack Obama

2008-11-30T17:07:00.001-08:00

Track Two--Sections 3, 4 & 5

Madama reads Walt Whitman's poem, Song of Myself, a long poem in 51 sections, as a way of poem-ing herself to the inauguration of President Barack Obama. She will finish recording the last section on January 20, 2009.

There is no intro or outro, only the raw poem.

scroll down to listen...10:21 min

Poem-ing to the Inauguration of President Barack Obama

2008-11-19T10:37:00.000-08:00

Track One--Intro, Sections 1 & 2

Madama reads Walt Whitman's poem, Song of Myself, a long poem in 51 sections, as a way of poem-ing herself to the inauguration of President Barack Obama. She will finish recording the last section on January 20, 2009. The poet of democracy first published Song of Myself around 1855. More about Whitman on Interview4Obama website.

scroll down to listen...10:14 min

What Do I Feel? It's All So New

2008-11-05T06:56:00.000-08:00

A woman is on her knees, her head in her hands. I am that woman. Jesse Jackson stands frozen in amazement, tear tracks from his eyes to his chin. I am Jesse Jackson. A couple of white dudes bounce up and down, arm in arm, waving flags, mouthing the ubiquitous O. I am those white dudes. A round-faced woman with gray hair and glasses presses up against the fence, O, O, O, O, O. I am that woman. Oprah leans on a man in front of her, rivers of glowing mascara streaking her cheeks. I am Oprah. Barack and Michelle stride onstage with their daughters. What. What. Oh that Sasha, she's too cute. Oh my god, Malia, Malia, Malia. So sensitive. Oh Michelle, what a style statement! Red and black so bold! Maybe it's navy blue? Hope it's black. Oh, Barack. Already I see the weight of it all settling on your shoulders. Maybe it's that your grandmother died yesterday. Obama tells us we can, yes we can, and it'll be hard but we can, we must. Yes we can. Ok, Boss. I like saying Ok Boss, as if Obama can hear me. He'd laugh. The Biden clan, the Obama clan. Cute, happy, happy, cute. Biden's mother, blinking in the limelight. Barack is not relaxing. He told his daughters that he loved them more than they will ever know. It keeps ringing in my chest. Barack Obama alone on stage, Michelle waiting for him out of the spotlight. I get it. He did it for Sasha and Malia. He is Sasha and Malia. He is every bright-eyed, innocent, adorable child, everywhere, anywhere. What do I call this full-bodied weeping I am doing? What do I feel? It's all so new.

video by Sally Anthony--Have You Changed or Are You Still the Same?

2008-10-25T09:45:00.000-07:00

STEAL BACK YOUR VOTE

2008-10-22T10:39:00.000-07:00

STEAL BACK YOUR VOTE

this is a link to a site with multiple ways to learn about vote suppression...if you don't have time to read/view (pdf. free download or you can donate), go to page 19 and look at the 7 Steps... If you have trouble accessing the pdf., email me and I will copy the relevant pages and send to you.

this is especially important to get out to the populations that are most targeted: new voters, black voters, elderly voters, voters in distress (foreclosed, homeless, etc.), voters who are least likely to know what to do if their right to vote is challenged...

would you please make people aware of this, especially those you know who have real penetration into vulnerable populations?...the Obama campaign will have poll watchers (lawyers, law students) at polls to advocate for people, but it can't hurt to give all voters a heads up to be prepared, not to get frustrated, not to give up, to be ready for a long day of making sure YOUR VOTE IS COUNTED!!!

a side note: my husband has been a poll worker for years, and recently got "promoted" to run a polling place in our small town, however, when I press him on what happens to the ballots and the machine tape once it's delivered to "HQ" he DOESN'T KNOW!!!...he has asked, and he's been told "next time you can come and watch"...(provisional ballots are not run through the machine and tallied; they are kept in a separate container, and until they have been adjudicated, they have not been counted)...

do I suspect the very nice, very polite Republican majority in my town of vote suppression and/or fraud?...well, NO and YES...I don't suspect my neighbors any more or less than I suspect everyone and anyone of conscious or unconscious serious mistakes and/or omissions...after all, this is a pitched battle...

my husband believes that people do the right thing and is pretty resistant to the idea that he has to be pushy, suspicious and in-your-face...I, however, have not lived a life of being a white man who has consistently been given promotions, positions of leadership, good salaries, and instant respect for just being a white male...know what I'm saying????...I have also hung around with people who were targeted, and as a result got targeted myself...

wake up America...political corruption is not limited to "those evil-doer" places...educate yourselves and get ready to fight it out if necessary...maybe it won't be necessary, maybe the Obama campaign has in place all of the protections and all of the votes we need in order to make sure the people get the leader they intend to elect...Robert Kennedy Jr. was on Rachel Maddow last night discussing these issues; he also said that polling places in minority neighborhoods have the oldest, creakiest voting machines, most likely to break down and work slowly, plus these polling places are usually under-machined and under-staffed. Please volunteer to work the polls on election day. It matters.

IT AIN'T OVER 'TIL IT'S OVER...BE READY TO CHALLENGE...

fiercely yours
Madama

Elect Obama Workout Video

2008-10-15T16:40:00.000-07:00

MadamaAmbi gets worked up over Big Hit Buda's anthem, Elect Obama (remix). Thanks, Buda. Obama in '08! Madama for Obama exercises her will & her power & her courage to hope.

Click Here to view

An American Boyhood: Obama in Hawaii

2008-10-07T10:50:00.001-07:00

DON'T MISS THIS DOUBLE FEATURE...

premiere of An American Boyhood: Obama in Hawaii...shown with The Real McCain...

WHEN: Friday, October 17 (that's 10 days out) at 7:30 pm

WHERE: ASU--DISCOVERY HALL (formerly the Ag Building)

http://www.asu.edu/map/interactive/?campus=tempe&building=DISCVRY

WHY: It's hard to plow through all of the hype and the smears to get an in-depth look at who these candidates are...plus, it's FREE !

more info here: The Big Picture Film Series

SIGN UP HERE (seating is limited)
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gsh43z

(the attached image is a poster I made using a photo from Obama's life, Barack as a boy playing with his grandfather on a beach in Hawaii...there are more photos at http://www.barackobamahawaii.com/

Hawking Obama

2008-10-06T09:58:00.000-07:00

MadamaAmbi reports about hawking a film festival at ASU/Tempe (double feature, one about Obama, one about McCain), about being recruited by a fellow member of Jews for Obama to call Florida, about DIGGing & Twitting, about voteforchange.com, about being old, tired & arthritic and about hanging in there these last few weeks of the campaign...

SCROLL DOWN to listen...14:35 min.

We Have To Be Tougher Now--Marjorie Larner reports from Boulder, CO

2008-09-18T10:53:00.000-07:00

"They have misjudged us. Just because our political heroes were murdered does not mean that the dream does not still live, buried deep in our broken hearts." Joe Biden September 1993 New Jersey State Democratic Convention, Atlantic City

To My Friends and Family--some of whom are freaking out or undecided or worried

Lately I’ve been struggling to bear the turn things have taken in the presidential campaign. Every time someone wants to talk to me about how horrible it is, show me more evidence of the terror in the polls, the lies of all kinds, tricks to forestall young and minority voters, I feel like a nail is pounded deeper into my heart. It’s been a long haul. I’m tired and crabby, and I only started volunteering in January. There are people who have been giving their hearts for 19 months.

So I have something to say. We are only weeks away from election day. We still have a brilliant tough strategic unblinking candidate with a vice presidential partner who can hold his own with anyone. (Let me know if you want to hear my story of listening to Joe Biden at a women’s economic round table discussion in Denver or excerpts from his biography).

I wonder why we seem surprised at the turn things have taken. Remember who we are dealing with and what they managed to do these last eight years? We know how well they’ve used fear to demoralize us, to shut us up and keep us feeling like there is nothing we can do against their power. I expect there is more to come that will further test our capacity to stand strong. We have to be tougher.

There is more happening in the world than we can know through the campaign played out for us in the media. I want to tell you that I’m seeing signs of our strength peeking out from the clouds of doom and panic in stories from the ground. I’m hearing more and more people say, “When I feel like I can’t stand it, I make phone calls, talk to a neighbor, knock on doors.” I’m once again seeing more stories about loving the work for this campaign, like “Knocking on Ohio’s Doors” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/fred-graver/knocking-on-ohios-door_b_125229.html, I’m seeing more stories again that show me there may be more of us than we realize like “PollsSchmolls: I Had the Most Amazing Encounter” http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/9/16331/66055/410/592511. Finally, an interesting view of what we can do in a "call to action." http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/10/14412/5545/170/593768.

Registering new voters is a salve on my anxiety and feelings of helplessness because whatever else happens, more people will expect their vote to be counted. Whatever else happens, I’ve hung out in a room with people of all ages making phone calls for the first time, getting over awkwardness, and sharing joy after a good contact. Whatever else happens, I know more of my neighbors and feel less alone in our community. I’ve even witnessed changes of heart based on evidence and facts.

I am aware that there is a harder edged battle being waged than the one I participate in here in our small city and still, this campaign is an opportunity for each of us to find what we can and want to do to contribute to a national effort because whatever else happens, it will be good for the people to be organized and active. A rummage sale organized by a local Obama supporters group made thousands of dollars in one day! There have been parades, prayers, dances. And parties. Several people are organizing dinners at local restaurants as fundraisers and also as a way of bringing people together--a common table for solo diners, which is a nice touch, yeah? People are registering voters in all kinds of places.

There have been some times in these last months, like on August 28, September 6 and yesterday at the Obama office, when I felt a kind of peacefulness because of being around all kinds of people who share "the dream that still lives, buried deep in our broken hearts." My son, Cass, pointed out to me that day at Invesco Field, that maybe the dream of the 1960's didn't really die, but is continuing now with an important difference because now it is not generation against generation but all of us together--even the music that day crossed generations.

If I ever think of giving up, sinking into hopelessness or outrage, I think of all the young people I have stood with who just keep on calling, walking, entering data, being pleasant and inclusive because they believe their efforts will make a difference for our world. I think of what happened these last decades after my friends and I gave up our own youthful idealism. I picture the older men and women walking out the door with canvassing lists given to them by 22 year-old field organizers and the little kids coming in with their parents hoping they can score a button or sticker. We share a yearning to rise up, accept responsibility, and fight for a sustainable future. I do not want our discipline, faith and hard work to be in vain.

Please do not despair. We have to be tougher now. We can do it.

Just remember, in the words of Bloody Mary in “Happy Talk,” from the post WWII musical, South Pacific:

“You got to have a dream…If you don’t have a dream…How you gonna have a dream come true?”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMORAZCog5A&feature=related (I hear the new version currently on Broadway is more culturally sensitive--another sign of possible progress!)

Love

Margie

P.S. If you need a good cry to get over the fear and anxiety, try “American Tune” by Paul Simon (by way of my sister).

Jane Smiley Gets It

2008-09-03T11:33:00.001-07:00

Following is what Jane Smiley wrote and published Sept. 2, 2008, on HuffingtonPost. What can I say? I couldn't have said it better, and I'm very happy that this is getting attention from women I'm talking with on Feminists4Obama and Jews4Obama.

These are not only important campaign issues, but issues that I've been working with and thinking about for 20+ years...and I'm thinking...(lightbulb?)...with the power of the internet, podcasting, blogging, YouTube, and so many other fabulous, creative and largely free venues for citizens to express their views, why not bring SexEd to its very own channel, right here?

Yeah, I'm thinking seriously about starting a new channel...hello SexEd???....
==================================================================

Sarah Palin and her church and her pastor have made themselves abundantly clear on issues of reproductive privacy -- there won't be any. In a Palin world, if my daughter wanted birth control, she wouldn't be able to get any, and if I wanted sex education to be taught in my son's school, I would be out of luck. If a girl I knew were raped and impregnated by her uncle and she elected to have an abortion, she would not be allowed to do so. She wouldn't even be allowed to take the morning after pill in case he got her pregnant. Maybe there's something you guys don't get about this. Bristol Palin's pregnancy is at the heart of what women and the right wing have been fighting over for thirty years, and it isn't abortion, it's privacy and the right to control your own reproductive choices. There will always be abortion, and there will always be choice, but Palin would like the choice to be illegal and punishable. Same with birth control.

I like you, Barack, but you don't get it either. The issues of birth control and abortion have been made into public issues by the right wing, and millions of women and girls have suffered because the right wing wants to impose its ideas of what women should do upon every woman in America including those who don't share and have never shared their values. So, Barack, I suggest that you, as a man, should do the backing off.

Bristol Palin's pregnancy, which her mother has known about for months, is at the heart of this battle. It has been shown over and over that abstinence education doesn't work, while sex education does work. Do I accept that teenagers have sex? You bet I do, and I tell the ones I have borne how to make it safe and what to watch out for and be careful of, girls and boys. Sarah Palin, for whatever reason, did not do the same thing, and yet she presumes, PRESUMES, to tell me as a mother and a woman what I can and cannot do with my body, and what I can and cannot provide for my children.

Sarah Palin has constructed her appeal to the right wing around this "social conservatism" in exactly the same way that John McCain has constructed his appeal around his aggressive foreign policy views. Both are equally political, and as political as Cheney's ideas about the unitary executive, for example. Women are citizens, too, and our privacy is a political football, and has been used as such to win elections for a generation, so I supposed you mean well, you guys who are telling me to back off, but you don't get it. So shut up.

read the article on HuffingtonPost

Danielle Was There

2008-08-31T18:17:00.000-07:00

While she's waiting for her shuttle to get her back to D.C., Danielle phones it in: her excitement about being at Invesco Field on the night of Obama's acceptance speech, her deepening sense of what it means to be a Democrat, how her faith informs her politics, and where she's going next...

SCROLL DOWN to listen...35:11 min.

People Like Me Blues--DemConvention

2008-08-28T10:28:00.000-07:00

Mashup of women speakers at DemConvention with MadamaAmbi vocals. These are the stories and the voices I understand and recognize. Summertime, from Porgy & Bess, was sung to me at bedtime by my mother, and is supposed to be a lullabye.

SCROLL DOWN to listen...8:15 min.

Code Pink Assaulted by Denver Police

2008-08-28T08:16:00.001-07:00

the following is reprinted from post by dashabove to Group Administrators for Obama

CodePink Protester Is Slammed To The Ground by Police in Denver

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/27-18

This is an outrage. Let's go global with it! This is horrifying! I was upset enough to look into contacting the Denver Police Department and then thought it will probably do no good, just one person calling or emailing about the gorilla attacking a small woman. But here's something I found that might make a difference if enough people call or write. I'm sure Code Pink will do something on a larger scale, but if you're feeling as infuriated as I am, this might be a good way to vent.

That policeman needs to be thrown off the force and made to go to therapy sessions (or jail!) before he's allowed in public again. By the way, this was taken from the Denver Police website:WELCOME TOTHE OFFICE OF THE INDEPENDENT MONITORFOR THE CITY AND COUNTY OF DENVEROIM Monitoring of Police Enforcement Activities at the DNCThe Office of the Independent Monitor (OIM) will be actively monitoring Denver Police (DPD) and Sheriff (DSD) law enforcement activities during the course of the upcoming Democratic National Convention (DNC).

The Independent Monitor will coordinate closely with Denver Police and Sheriff Command staff in order to ensure that the OIM is aware of any law enforcement actions taking place during the DNC which involve significant uses of force or significant police actions. OIM monitors will be accompanied by Internal Affairs supervisors or Police or Sheriff Command staff in order to observe law enforcement activities. OIM's goal is to ensure public confidence in any subsequent investigations or administrative reviews of such activities.The OIM will accept complaint and commendations regarding law enforcement activities during and after the DNC, on its website, located at www.denvergov.org/oim, and in its office, located on the 12th floor of the Wellington Webb Municipal Building, 201 N. Colfax Blvd., Denver 80202. OIM Complaint/Commendation forms are also available throughout the City, at all DPD District Stations, City Council offices, the Municipal and District Courts, the City & County Building and the City and County Jails. The OIM can also be reached by calling 720-913-3306 or via 311.Complaints should be filed in a timely manner in order to ensure efficient handling and quality investigations. Commendations for good police work are always welcome.

(Note from MadamaAmbi: I received this via listserve from dashabove, a member of Group Administrators for Obama and from Paul Currier, a member of San Francisco for Obama.)

Last Night Was Super, Super Amazing

2008-08-26T16:17:00.000-07:00

What it's like to be in your 20's and at the Democratic National Convention in Denver...highlights from Danielle...

SCROLL DOWN to listen...16:51 min.

Democratic Platform Blues

2008-08-25T16:39:00.000-07:00

Madama reads the Draft Democratic Platform. Part of Outside the Convention, Madama's "coverage" of the DNC from her home computer...

SCROLL DOWN to listen...32:34 min.

CodePink & Cate

2008-08-24T12:17:00.000-07:00

What CodePink is doing at the DNC, what a Feminist for Obama is feeling about the Obama/Biden ticket...

SCROLL DOWN to listen...14:00 min.

Biden Rocks Danielle to Denver

2008-08-23T15:55:00.000-07:00

Meet Danielle, 20-something African American woman moving out of her apartment in DC, headed for New Jersey, where she will do her PhD at Rutgers. She got a call from the Obama campaign to come to Denver & volunteer for the campaign, so she raised money from family & friends to make it happen.

This morning, her flight to Denver hit a little bump in the road...but news of Biden for VP really gets her going...

SCROLL DOWN to listen...20:00 min....

OUTSIDE THE CONVENTION/googling & talking

2008-08-23T11:53:00.000-07:00

Spieling, googling, interviewing, surfing and commenting will be how I "cover" being outside the convention with other outsiders.

Since February I've been inside the Obama online community, talking with other supporters, but now, as the action moves inside the Pepsi Center, I'm following a volunteer for the campaign, activists, listeners from home, and wherever else I can get from my computer.

SCROLL DOWN to listen...20:00 min.

Obama Only Hope Blues

2008-08-20T10:10:00.000-07:00

I'm back from my mental health vacation with the voices of 3 women who left me voicemail messages to podcast back in the early summer when I started this project.

I mashed them up with me singing Motherless Child in the background...yeah, it's plaintive and kind of sad...but, as Clarissa says, Obama is Our Only Hope...and I'll be way beyond sad if McCain becomes the next president...

SCROLL DOWN to listen...1:43 min.

CONVENTION - ish

2008-08-18T10:53:00.000-07:00

Are you going to the convention?

Maybe you'll have time to say why you're there, what you're doing, what you're observing...

Call 206-350-5368 to request a telephone interview.

Leave your phone number and I'll call you back.

We'll talk and I'll podcast our conversation.

Platform for Obama: A Powered Woman

2008-07-29T18:45:00.000-07:00

A Powered Woman: Feminist Platform for Obama

This Feminist Platform arises out of months of in-depth conversations that took place on the listserve of Feminists for Obama. Although some subscribers to the list tried to eliminate "personal" messages as well as discussion they deemed "off-topic," a core group of writers emerged who felt that the feminist saying "the personal is the political" applied wherever people are, even on a list of supporters of Barack Obama.

So, we kept talking. What emerged from our wide-ranging personal sharing is our collective desire to see changes made in the areas of education, sex education, abortion, parenting, child abuse, community process, Social Security, rape prevention, and domestic violence. This is not our ultimate or final list, but only where we begin. Since we intend to keep talking, and since the format we've chosen for our Feminist Platform is GoogleDocs, we will continue to develop our thoughts, statements, resolutions, etc.

Self-Imposed Mental Health Vacation

2008-06-24T10:40:00.000-07:00

Obamanialand is a fascinating place to hang out...the longer I did, the more immersed I became, the more friends I made, the more I podcast Interview4Obama, the bigger it got in my psyche and in my life...

and yet, I am not a political animal and have very modest expectations of what an Obama presidency can deliver...the intense either/or, the splitting of the universe into us/them, believers/trolls, sacred/profane, etc., was getting to me....

and then I snapped...it had become toxic to me...I knew I needed to back way, way off and remember why I had joined the fray in the first place...so, that's why nothing's happening...now...

but I will be back...

Crossing Boundaries--Jennifer

2008-05-25T12:36:00.000-07:00

How Hillary has crossed them and how Barack is bridging them, Jennifer's take on lines in the sand in this Democratic primary campaign might push a few of your own boundaries. She discusses Hillary's recent gaffe in the context of addiction, power & control, and the Clinton marriage. Hillary doesn't represent her. Obama offers real hope and will bring prosperity to America, she says.

SCROLL DOWN to listen to this episode...48:39 min.

Be The Change--Pamela

2008-05-15T15:39:00.001-07:00

If you don't understand this Obama campaign slogan, don't worry: Pamela explains the micro & macro of it all. She gets what it means at the molecular level, the sociopolitical level, and the global, sustainable level. Pamela is gearing up for a seat at the Obanomics table. Caution: Listening to this podcast could make you the 100th monkey.

SCROLL DOWN to listen to this episode...44:16 min.

Bubbe Takes Campaign Pulse--Part One

2008-05-08T19:48:00.000-07:00

This is one of those seemingly ordinary, rocking on the front porch, meandering conversations that could turn out to be the truest finger on the pulse of America, right here, right now. Bubbe is Yiddish for grandmother, and that's the name she used when she signed up to support Barack Obama for president. She speaks from a pivotal moment in history, and she knows why.

SCROLL DOWN to listen...36:55 min.

All In This Together--Deva--PartOne

2008-05-06T16:10:00.000-07:00

Wow. Sit up straight because Deva covers alot of territory, from childhood poverty to graduate school, from racism & sexism in her own family to confronting painful histories, from cynicism to activism & hopeful about Barack Obama as president, as well as the transparency in American government he will bring to The White House. Deva has an inspiring story & shares with Obama a patriotism rooted in equal opportunity for all.

SCROLL DOWN to listen...32.00 min.

Podsnack for North Carolina & Indiana

2008-05-05T14:40:00.001-07:00

Voicemails I've received recently from supporters of Barack Obama...a valentine from 5 voters to North Carolina and Indiana...

SCROLL DOWN TO LISTEN...4:07 min.

To The Ladies of The View--From A Feminist for Obama

2008-05-05T11:29:00.000-07:00

My visual brain sends me imagery when I'm not suspecting. This one keeps showing up: an image of Hillary sitting down at the very same desk, in the very same chair that her husband Bill occupied when Monica's dress got so famously shmutzed...for those of you not familiar with this word, substitute dirtied.

Maybe George W. has already had the chair and desk replaced. I mean, I'm not married to the guy and I wouldn't want to sit down at that desk in that chair. Or am I remembering it wrong, and it wasn't right there (you know, the "it" we don't talk about anymore)? See what I mean about my visual brain? What am I supposed to do with this valentine? Perhaps I should ask the ladies of The View if they know how the Oval Office gets cleaned, or redecorated. Even if Hillary gets to pick all new furniture (as long as it stays within the traditional Oval Office color scheme), I don't know how I am supposed to block out the most vivid, most lurid, most unwelcome visuals associated with Hillary, Bill, and the Oval Office IF they....are....ba-a-a-a-a-a-a-ck!

Let me assure you that I am not writing ironically. And I should also add that I'm a supporter of Barack Obama, not only for what I believe he can accomplish as a leader, but also because I don't want a repeat of any of the Clinton dynamics. I wouldn't watch more episodes of this drama if it were on primetime TV and I don't want this psycho-political-marital soap opera playing out anywhere near where the most serious, most consequential decisions will be made on the issues of war v. occupation, food v. starvation, human rights v. torture, freedom v. repeal of habeas corpus, pandering v. substantive relief of economic hardship & inequities.

I was once very excited and hopeful about Hillary in The White House, but as I watched her campaign I realized that I didn't really know her. I had assumed that she was more principled than her husband, more honest, more forthcoming, but did I get my assumptions thrown back in my face! When Bill showed up on the stump I realized that Hillary and Bill are joined at the hip in every way. Coming together to defend their embattled relationship and their political legacy is what drives the fierceness of Hillary's campaign. I perceive a need, almost an addiction, to power. Try to imagine Hillary or Bill NOT puffed up and you might see what I mean. We actually have had a few minutes of a real Hillary and I sincerely wish she had stayed with her smaller, realer self. Once upon a time, back there at Wellesley, Hillary was on the side of people who really need help, but today, her bank account, the infusions of money into her husband's library, Bill's business dealings with Dubai, and other disturbing indicators of a shift in allegiance, put Hillary and Bill into a class more like glamorous, beloved dictators who, it turns out, have been robbing the store and creating the underclass they need to worship them.

The people who get to write about the campaign in newspapers, and in the hot blogs of the day, don't write about how "real" a candidate is, although honesty is calibrated for every move some candidates make. Barack Obama has received "the lion's share" of the scrutiny this season in the Coliseum of our contest for the "highest" office in the homeland. Frankly, Ladies of The View, if the bullshit flies any faster or thicker, we will be just like the film "Idiocracy" predicts, and soon.

It doesn't bring me any pleasure to write this. A colleague of mine tells me she has waited her entire life for a woman in the presidency, but can't bring herself to vote for Hillary. My friend feels so disloyal to the feminist cause that she has nightmares about not voting for Hillary. I don't feel conflicted, even after a lifetime of being a feminist. I've also spent a lifetime studying people and I can tell when someone is looking me in the eye and when someone is assiduously avoiding every attempt at eye contact.

Maybe Hillary is more honest than Bill; at least she is unable to look people in the eye when she is spieling her campaign's up-to-the-minute promises and fairy stories. But, she has lost her bearings. It is painfully evident. Yes, she's a fighter, but she isn't fighting for progress, or for process. She's off on a very personal power trip with all of the trimmings her connections allow.

So, Ladies of The View, can we talk? Would you like to hear more from a Feminist for Obama?

Very truly yours,
MadamaAmbi, FEMINISTS FOR OBAMA

The Psychology of Wright in Obama's Life

2008-05-02T17:22:00.000-07:00

The Wright controversy has cast some confusing shadows over Obama's campaign, but, for me, not on Obama the man...right now I'm reading both Dreams From My Father and Audacity of Hope, switching back and forth between them...

My thinking is that you have to understand a very longterm and complex relationship with real son/father psychological dynamics woven in to understand how Barack has "seen" Jeremiah Wright. Wright was not only his mentor, pastor, (father surrogate?), but also central to Barack's organizing in Chicago, and arguably the major male figure in his life at that time, his 20's.

If you grew up with a father, you might not understand what it means to grow up without one, or even worse, one that has visited you only once. Oh, so painful. Barack alludes to the pain, doesn't portray himself as a waif, or wounded, but does make it clear that he was hungry for a father while at the same time not wanting anyone to step into the place he held for his real father.

What I read from this is that Barack held open, and waiting, a very alive place in his emotional structure for his father to come back into, and fill up, and catch him up on what he suspected he was missing...but sometimes you don't know what you're missing...

And then, at a critical juncture in his life, he meets Jeremiah Wright, a powerful man who answers so many of Barack's needs.

I have a very personal understanding of early loss of a parent and how children deal with these losses, and these issues can't be understood in the simplistic terms that campaign politics demand of people.

What would Barack say about my interpretation? Would he feel "seen" by me? Or would he scoff, knowing that his psyche is not the book and the book is not his psyche. Ok. I would agree. But, in the meantime, I hope that voters and especially the media will understand that this relationship can't be reduced to broad brush judgments. As a member of Jews for Obama recently reminded me, we do not hold the sons accountable for the sins of the fathers...

Listener-in-Chief Obama--Jess PartOne

2008-05-01T18:29:00.001-07:00

What does a mother of two very young children know about world peace & diplomacy? This mother, Jess, offers some indispensable lessons in the power of listening. The United States needs to realize it no longer holds sway over world opinion; it's time to stop operating from fear & show the world that while we may not give in, we are engaged in a process of listening. Jess trusts Obama to do this.

SCROLL DOWN to listen to this episode...22 min.

For the First Time in 40 Years--Patrick--PartOne

2008-04-29T20:25:00.000-07:00

Optimistic about the future, that is. He was involved in political campaigns as far back as 1968. Then came Vietnam and then Nixon & Patrick's cynicism took root...until Barack Obama came on scene & offered a reason to give up his cynicism, roll up his sleeves and get to work.

SCROLL DOWN to listen to this episode...21:07 min.

Madama Reads Obama--Dreams From My Father--Origins

2008-04-28T16:05:00.000-07:00

If you haven't already read Barack Obama's memoir, Dreams From My Father, here is an introduction to the book. Madama reads from Part One, Chapter One, a section of the book that Obama has titled "Origins." This is a lyrical, moving account of his multicultural childhood. Dreams From My Father published by Three Rivers Press, 1995.

SCROLL DOWN to listen...pages 36-41...16:30 min.

Dying to Hope Again--DesertDoveDan--PartTwo

2008-04-26T15:06:00.001-07:00

DesertDoveDan remembers growing up in California, how Bobby Kennedy's assassination figured big in his childhood consciousness, & what it means to invest hope in an Obama presidency. He sees how political process could be different...

SCROLL DOWN TO HEAR THIS EPISODE

Jeremiah Wright, Bill Moyers, Black Liberation Theology

2008-04-26T12:22:00.000-07:00

We need more of this kind of in-depth interviewing. One interview with Rev. Wright is not going to calm the waters, and how, really, could it be otherwise in this country? There is anger and hatred flowing between the races and there are so many streams feeding into this river that it will take a 10-year series by Moyers and other interviewers with gravitas to start to deconstruct our country's racial "madness." I hope Mr. Moyers will take it on; he's the only one who could, imo.

I think Rev. Wright is a brilliant, erudite, complex man and a communicator I sometimes could follow and sometimes could not. I'm not African-American and I'm not Christian, so maybe I got lost by not knowing scripture well enough. However, if I were interviewing him, I would want to get into the role of anger in the pulpit, especially in black liberation theology. It seems to be the elephant in the room...why can't we talk about it...???...anybody?...

Click here to watch the video of Bill Moyers interviewing Jeremiah Wright, 4/25/08 on PBS.

Michael Kinsley, Diane Rheem

2008-04-25T15:21:00.000-07:00

The landscape is changing...maybe...the hope/change thing is getting harder and harder to put out there because of mudslinging...and frankly, I'm starting to feel justified in pitching a few softballs of it myself...

Patrice, whom I interviewed about a week ago, wrote to me today to tell me that she and her family just received a foreclosure notice on their home in Florida.

While listening to Diane Rheem interview Michael Kinsley about the election, I heard both Rheem and Kinsley shut down conversation about Paul v. Clinton. I don't know if the case has merits, but I do know that a hearing was scheduled for today in Los Angeles. Look under "Peter Paul" if you want to know what plaintiff Paul is alleging.

What concerns me is how these two journalists shut down the conversation from a caller named Larry. If you go to the site, scrub over to 39:36 to hear just this interaction and tell me what you hear. And, if you know a reliable way to communicate with Kinsley, I'd like to know.

Click here to listen to Diane Rheem's interview of Michael Kinsley.

I would like to hear from both Kinsley and Rheem what that was all about...I fear I know exactly how they will defend themselves...how does Obama stay positive and hopeful?

So, I'm fixating on one little, insignificant issue? Could be. Here's the thing: I heard it myself. I am a Diane Rheem regular listener. I actually sit down to listen, to just listen, when something seems important. I was listening. I was following the conversation closely and I heard something disturbing, something I almost never hear Diane Rheem or a guest do. I'm talking about correcting a caller without exploring the possibility that the caller could be correct.

I ordered the CD of the interview because I was not able to download it. Had I jumped on this yesterday, it would have been available to download to my mp3. But I was really busy yesterday keeping up with my non-Obama life. You know: bills piling up, completely out of clean underwear, my hair so crazy that I'm starting to look like Albert Einstein...

Oy...I'm feeling old and cynical today...but, I'll be back with MORE INTERVIEWS from hopeful change-agents...lots more...

Obama Will Keep His Promise--Cate PartTwo

2008-04-21T14:32:00.001-07:00

Cate feels grief-stricken that she cannot bring herself to vote for Hillary, but she has to admit that she hasn't felt this excited since McGovern ran for president. This conversation was originally recorded March 2008, but is very relevant to the Pennsylvania primary happening tomorrow.

Click here to listen...or scroll down to the audio player on this page.

Hillary Can't Win: The Issue for Pennsylvania is Moral Authority

2008-04-21T10:06:00.000-07:00

How to make the argument that Obama is the better leader without arguing the merits of a woman in The White House? Try this one: Hillary Can't Win. Hillary does not have moral authority and the next president of the United States cannot win it back unless she or he has personal moral authority going into The White House.

I think Hillary is on a fantasy power trip...some have said she feels entitled to the presidency and I think there's truth in that, but I don't think this drives the picture home as vividly as it has appeared on our TV and computer screens very recently...there have been quite a few instances of Hillary's lying and the latest would be her heroic visit to Bosnia...I guess if you are for Hillary you will cut her some slack there...

Because of my background and training, I get my most reliable information about honesty from how people use eye-contact and body language, and what I saw in the ABC debate was disturbing...I wonder if you noticed it?...I'm talking about how Hillary's eyes went out of focus and roamed around like, forgive the metaphor, the eyes of people who have been blind all or most of their lives. I dated a blind man, so I had alot of opportunity to have conversations with someone who never made eye contact with me. It's normal in a blind person, but in a sighted woman who wants to be president, it's deeply disturbing to me.

I'm not saying that eye-contact is the only measure of a person's honesty and integrity, but I am saying that in the context of Hillary's career and her handling of her campaign, her wild-eyed performance the other night made me wonder if she has any integrity. She has shown that she is a fabulist...she can spin the flimsiest piece of dust into a full-blown story of epic proportions...and by epic, I mean variously being the righteous hero or the wronged hero, but never being the hero who takes full responsibility for her actions, looks herself in the eye, and sees how she can be a better leader.

Hillary's admission that she lied about Bosnia had strange phrases that twisted themselves in any direction but to say, "Yeah, I am responsible for my behavior." I have yet to see Hillary say, simply and humbly, yes, I behaved falsely. The closest she came was "I did not say what I knew to be true." Why didn't she? Oh, lots of reasons, but not because she realized that she had lost her bearings. She said she was "embarrassed."

I knew I would not support Hillary when I realized I wouldn't be voting for this woman whom I thought I knew, but rather would be voting for Billary and putting the Clintons back into The White House. I don't have a problem with women getting where they are with the help of their husbands, because, let's face it, successful men do depend on wives who make huge and completely unrecognized contributions to their careers as well as to their daily well-being.

But the Billary phenomenon is a different beast and I've even given it a name: Billary the Magic Dragon. IMO, Hillary and Bill are joined at the hip psychopolitically. Coming together to defend their embattled relationship and their political legacy is what drives the fierceness of Hillary's campaign. I perceive a need, almost an addiction, to power. Try to imagine Hillary or Bill NOT puffed up and you might see what I mean. We actually have had a few minutes of a real Hillary and I sincerely wish she had stayed with her smaller, realer self.

But, there I was, seeing Billary the Magic Dragon in contrast with this Barack Obama guy who could somehow move people and keep his bearings. It's critically important to have a president who does not and cannot lose his bearings, no matter what is being asked of her or him. I'm not talking about the stubborness of George W. Bush. I'm talking about knowing when you are coming from your deepest, best self, and knowing when you are bullshitting.

Hillary is so far gone, I have to liken her to an addict. Yes, I'm saying that she and Bill are addicted to lying "for the greater good" as well as to preserve themselves and the Clinton legacy. That's why I've started to say Hillary Can't Win. I think the Democratic party knows the difference between Hillary and Barack, and I think they see a leader/healer/uniter in Barack and a do-or-die politician in Hillary, case closed. We don't need more bullshit. Try to imagine Hillary making a speech the equivalent of Barack's race speech, Hillary speaking from what I call a naked, vulnerable, painful and extremely powerful place.

This naked and painful place I'm talking about is where you discover that you have real moral authority. Barack has it. Hillary does not. The United States has lost its moral authority in the world community, and for good reason, imo. Hillary cannot win it back. Barack can.

Authenticity in The White House--JordieGrrrl--PartTwo

2008-04-20T18:55:00.000-07:00

How the body politic might change when they believe there is authenticty in The White House and that their opinions count...this is JordieGrrrl PartTwo...originally recorded 03-30-08 but relevant to right now & the Pennsylvania primary coming up...

Click here to listen...22:09 min.

Obama Is Our Only Hope--Podsnack4Pennsylvania

2008-04-20T16:29:00.001-07:00

A woman who describes herself as homeless and with multiple disabilities calls to say why we need Obama for president...

Click here to listen...1:16 min.

We Won the War, Let's Keep the Oil

2008-04-20T14:35:00.000-07:00

When I push him on his statement that Hillary can't make peace in the mideast because she's a woman, Lee (who lives in Pennsylvania) admits that he can imagine a "Barackina" getting the job done...and a few other unusual solutions to this country's problems.

Click here to listen...18:43 min.

The title of this post "We Won the War, Let's Keep the Oil" quotes Leighton Scott in this interview.

Podsnack4Pennsylvania--My Father Died in Vietnam

2008-04-20T12:05:00.001-07:00

Her vote goes to Obama because he will start to undo the military industrial complex that Truman warned us about...

Click here to listen...1:35 calories

Podsnack4Pennsylvania--Advice from Hollywood

2008-04-19T21:14:00.000-07:00

Abraham Lincoln sets the record straight...and Billary the Magic Dragon sleeps for another one-hundred gazillion centuries...in the meantime, in the land of Obamerica, the people are truly democratic and happy and everyone prospers. Click here to listen.

The End