The Whimsy Farm Podcast

Send us a textToday I talk with Barb Barton, author of Manoomin: The Story of Wild Rice in Michigan. Barb is a woman of myriad talents, from singing and songwriting to filmmaking. She’s a scientist and a student of the cosmos. And she’s a passionate activist for social and environmental justice. She lives a couple hours from the farm in Lansing, Michigan’s capital. Support the show

Send us a textI talk with best selling biographer Larry Tye. His latest effort is The Jazzmen, How Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie Transformed America. And—because jazz reminds me of poetry--our resident poet and poetry expert Maryam Barrie will join us after we hear from Larry Tye. She and I will share poems about jazz and the Black experience on Poetry Sustains. Support the show

Send us a textComing August 1: I talk with Best Selling Biographer Larry Tye. His latest effort is The Jazzmen, How Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie transformed America. And—because jazz reminds me of poetry--our resident poet and poetry expert Maryam Barrie will join us after we hear from Larry Tye. She and I will share poems about jazz and the Black experience on Poetry Sustains. Support the show

In this enlightening conversation, philosopher Elizabeth Minnich delves into the critical importance of thinking in combating normalized evils. She distinguishes between intensive and extensive evil, stressing how societal pressures can lead to harmful behaviors through excuses like 'I'm just following orders.' Minnich emphasizes that love alone isn't enough to resist this normalization; clear thinking and community practices are essential. She also examines the seductive nature of careerism, the appeal of conservatism for young women, and the dangers of persistent lying in today's society.

Send us a textComing up July 15th on the Whimsy Farm Podcast, we talk about the life and death importance of thinking with philosopher Elizabeth Minnich. She recently released the expanded edition of her 2017 book The Evil of Banality. Minnich received her doctorate at The New School, where she was Hannah Arendt’s teaching assistant. For twenty-five years she was a professor at the Union Institute. She also wrote Transforming Knowledge, and with community organizer Si Kahn wrote The Fox in the Henhouse: How Privatization Threatens Democracy. Support the show

Send us a textItalk about gun violence and gun safety legislation.with two women, Gwendolyn LaCroix of Michigan and Amanda Wilcox of Colorado. Gwen and Amanda are mothers who suffered the most horrible loss. Each of them lost a child to gun violence. What’s incredible is that through this loss they became change agents, working as activists to help save the lives of other children. They share their stories with me, as well as what they are doing today to reduce gun violence. Support the show

Send us a textIn Episode 6 we talk about gun violence and gun safety legislation.with two women, Gwendolyn LaCroix of Michigan and Amanda Wilcox of Colorado. Gwen and Amanda are mothers who suffered the most horrible loss. Each of them lost a child to gun violence. What’s incredible is that through this loss they became change agents, working as activists to help save the lives of other children. They share their stories with me, as well as what they are doing today to reduce gun violence. Support the show

Send us a textWe continue our celebration of  Pride with a hyperlocal focus on the town of Milan in Southeast Michigan. We have four guests: Ash Eichner-Pendell from the organization ARC, an educational nonprofit that seeks to advocate, represent, and connect the community around LGBTQ+ issues. We’ll speak with Milan mayoral candidate Laura Russeau, who organizes Milan’s annual Pride Parade. We’ll learn about Ozone House in Ypsilanti, Michigan when we visit with Brie Nikora, its Pridezone Coordinator. And finally we’ll debut a new periodic segment of the podcast, Poetry Sustains with Maryam Barrie. Support the show

Send us a textWe continue our celebration of  Pride with a hyperlocal focus on the town of Milan in Southeast Michigan. We have four guests: Ash Eichner-Pendell from the organization ARC, an educational nonprofit that seeks to advocate, represent, and connect the community around LGBTQ+ issues. We’ll speak with Milan mayoral candidate Laura Russeau, who organizes Milan’s annual Pride Parade. We’ll learn about Ozone House in Ypsilanti Michigan when we visit with Brie Nikora, its Pridezone Coordinator. And finally we’ll debut a new periodic segment of the podcast, Poetry Sustains with Maryam Barrie. Support the show

Send us a textCarolyn speaks with Kathryn Bond Stockton. Kathryn is a distinguished Professor of English at the University of Utah. She is the author of Gender(s), Making Out, an (anti Memoir) and The Queer Child, or Growing Sideways in the Twentieth Century. We’ll talk with Kathryn about why she says gender is queer, by which she means strange. Why is gender strange even when it’s played straight, and how do race and money factor into the equation? How can we better understand the nuances of gender?Support the show