This Is Hell!

We replay a listener chosen favorite interview from 2022 with Laura Mauldin who is a writer, sociologist, and interdisciplinary scholar based in New York City. The interview was initially recorded August 22, 2022 and discusses Mauldin's article "Care Tactics" published by the Baffler https://thebaffler.com/salvos/care-tactics-mauldin

The Listeners (you) chose this August interview with Heather Berg, Assistant Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies at Washington University St. Louis. Dr. Berg talked about her Boston Review article "Freedom, not Benefits: Sex Workers are the Vanguard of Labor. The Left ignores them at its own Peril." We also feature an somewhat new Past inside the Present, present this week's Question from Hell!, and then also give you this week's much needed Hangover Cure.

Michael Hawthorne is on to talk about his investigation into "Forever chemicals: They’re in your drinking water and likely your food. Michael is a Pulitzer-finalist investigative reporter who focuses on the environment and public health for the Chicago Tribune.

Our planned interview is rescheduled for tomorrow. Today we review Rotten History and new answers to the Question from Hell. We play back an interview with Maya Schenwar and Victoria Law, recorded August 5th, 2020. https://thisishell.com/interviews/1214-victoria-law-maya-schenwar

We welcome environmental scholar Leslie Kern to talk about her new book "Gentrification is Inevitable - And other Lies." We also present you this week's (long) Question from Hell!, and have another Icelandic hangover cure. Producer Sebastian has this week's Past Inside the Present, in which he details some of the reasons for Germany's awkward relationship with Israel.

Today's guest had to reschedule, so we replay a past episode, Lindsey has a hellride to work and is called to play back a musical episode featuring artist Wesley WIllis, recovered from the vaults by producer Dan Hill.

Lawyer and activist Flint Taylor returns to the program to discuss his recent article in the Police Misconduct and Civil Rights Law Report "The Wrongful Conviction of Johnnie Lee Savory. Taylor’s work in fighting against police torture in Chicago over the past 29 years has been instrumental in obtaining the conviction and imprisonment of police torture ringleader Jon Burge and the precedent setting decision that upheld the inclusion of former Mayor Richard M. Daley as a co-conspiring defendant in the Tillman civil rights case.

We welcome Associate Professor of Media and Communication Matthew Crain to the show to talk about his Boston Review article "How Capitalism and not a Few Bad Actors Destroyed the Internet." We also present this week's Question from Hell!, have a brand new Hangover Cure, and producer Sebastian talks about how railroad strikes getting cracked down upon by the government is a tradition in this country almost as old as railroads themselves in this week's Past Inside the Present. https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/how-capitalism-not-a-few-bad-actors-destroyed-the-internet/

Mick Dumke is a reporter for ProPublica. His work has focused on politics and government, including investigations of local and federal gun policies, secret police databases and corruption at Chicago City Hall. Mick is on to discuss his reporting on the growing Chicago Housing Authority scandal. Mick's most recent article on the topic at ProPublica is headlined, "Chicago Officials Withhold Key Financial Information as City Hands Public Housing Land Over to Wealthy Ally of the Mayor.

Chuck Mertz speaks with science writer Spencer Roberts and political economist Jan Dutkiewicz about their New Republic Article, "How the Meat Industry Undermines Effective Climate Policy". https://newrepublic.com/article/168766/meat-industry-lobbying-climate This week in Rotten History and new responses to the Question from Hell! Spencer Roberts is a science writer, ecologist, musician, and engineer from Colorado. His writing focuses on corporate greenwashing and science corruption. It is featured in places like Jacobin, Wired, and Current Affairs. @Unpop_Science Jan Dutkiewicz is a Visiting Fellow at Harvard Law School. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and comes to Harvard after Postdoctoral Fellowships at Johns Hopkins University and with the Swiss National Science Foundation. He is a political economist whose research focuses on large-scale conventional meat production and the emergent world of alternative protein. His work examines how business interests, ethical and environmental debates, and consumer behavior both shape and are shaped by the law, policy, and politics, and how this all influences what Americans eat. @jan_dutkiewicz