Rays of effing sunshine: Against the Grain

Looking for challenging, progressive audio content? I always am, as I listen on my phone most days when running or walking about taking photos.

I've just (re)discovered Against the Grain produced and hosted by Sasha Lilley and C.S. Soong. The radio show is on KPFA 94.1 FM in Northern California Monday through Wednesday, noon to 1pm. (I am not the regular KPFA listener that I once was; there is too much content that is too much like the anti-vaccination agitators for my current tastes.)

At the linked website, you can find at present a wide-ranging interview with Thomas Piketty (the French inequality economist), a discussion of just war theory in a post-modern, risk averse world; and a program on a slave revolt and a disheartened Herman Melville. This content is an intellectual feast.

I don't just say this because Rebecca Gordon, my partner and the author of Mainstreaming Torture, recorded an interview with C.S. Soong that will be broadcast in the future. I'm sure her discussion will be worth hearing whenever it comes along. But I've made Against the Grain one of my regular subscriptions. I don't want to miss an episode. My only complaint is that their feed downloads v-e-r-y slowly -- somebody get these people a faster server!

I don't want to just gripe here all the time. I do after all, quite frequently, encounter things and people that delight me. Hence this feature: occasional posts labeled "rays of effing sunshine."