Friday, June 12, 2009

Award-Winning Writer and Editor Raphael Kadushin on Travel, Food, and the UW Press; Dennis Graham on Launchpad






On the June 14, 2009 show:




Award-winning editor and writer Raphael Kadushin, humanities editor for the UW Press, joins us for a wide ranging discussion, including a sneak peek at recently-released and upcoming titles. We'll also be revisited at the top of the show by Dennis Graham from Launchpad, a statewide, alternative music competition for Wisconsin high school students, previewing an exciting musical showcase for talented young people next Saturday in Madison.

More on Launchpad

Launchpad's culminating statewide competition will be occurring on Saturday, June 20, at 4:00 PM in the UW-Madison's Memorial Union - Wisconsin Union Theater, 800 Langdon Street. As Dennis has communicated to us with great enthusiasm during previous visits to the program, Launchpad provides support to aspiring young musicians in so-called "garage bands" of all shapes and musical styles from throughout the state.

Events have been occurring all year long in every corner of the state that are both highly competitive and highly collaborative. In other words, these are young people striving for the best, also thriving in a spirit of camaraderie and mutual support, building relationships that help launch many young musical careers, and often last a lifetime. For more info (including some great musical selections from young musicians), go to the Launchpad website, For ticket info, please visit the website of the UW's Memorial Union Theater.


More on the UW Press


Since its first book appeared in 1937, the University of Wisconsin Press has published and distributed more than 3000 titles. They have more than 1400 titles currently in print, including books of general interest (biography, fiction, natural history, poetry, photography, fishing, food, travel and more), scholarly books (American studies, anthropology, art, classics, environmental studies, ethnic studies, film, gay and lesbian studies, history, Jewish studies, literary criticism, Slavic studies, etc.) and regional books about Wisconsin and the Upper Midwest. See the UW Press website .

More on Raphael Kadushin

As the WI State Journal's Melanie Conklin wrote last fall, "Raphael Kadushin has a variety of enviable jobs. He is senior acquisitions editor for University of Wisconsin Press and as a freelance writer he travels the globe covering food and travel for such publications as Bon Appetit (he's a contributing editor), National Geographic Traveler and Conde Nast Traveler. Locally, his food reviews appear in Isthmus. Kadushin is a Madison native who lives on the West Side with his partner Thomas McGhee. He's charged with keeping tabs on a half-dozen international cities for Concierge.com. This summer he began writing a blog for Epicurious.com. Kadushin is also editor of a gay travel anthology due out in November called Big Trips and has an article in Best Food Writing 2008."

Follow these links to more background on Raphael, and some samples of his writing:

September 2008 WI State Journal interview by Melanie Conklin


Career Highlights

Food Reviews

Lyrically Beautiful Remembrance of Northern Holland, where his family once lived


Raphael and his colleagues at Isthmus Pick some of the Favorite dishes at Madison area restaurants


Philadelphia Gay News Article on “Big Trips: More Good Gay Travel Writing”

Please join us for a wide-ranging discussion with Raphael. Share with us your favorite UW Press book, your favorite restaurant, or favorite travel destination. Give us a call at 608-321-1670.

And then join us next week as Stephanie hosts a very special Father's Day edition of Forward Forum. (Appropriately enough, John will be at a Michigan lake with his father.)

Friday, June 5, 2009

"Director's Cut" Host Charles Monroe-Kane and Producer Mary Pokorney-Donelan






Forward Forum for June 7, 2009:

Please join us this week for a fun and wide-ranging discussion with WI Public TV's "Director's Cut" host Charles Monroe-Kane and producer Mary Pokorney-Donelan.

Click to Hear Archived Version of Show

We'll also be joined briefly at the top of the hour by NARAL WI director Lisa Subeck, describing a vigil/rally Sunday night at 8pm at Peace Park on State Street, solemnly marking the murder last week of Wichita abortion provider George Tiller, while celebrating the courage of all who have advocated for the rights of women faced with this difficult life decision. Click to Hear Lisa's interview

About "Director's Cut"

High-quality, locally-produced broadcast programming is a scarce and very precious resource. Wisconsin Public TV's "Director's Cut" epitomizes the value of such shows both through its own distinctive and highly-engaging perspectives, and through its role in illuminating the contributions of cutting-edge creative people throughout our community who are producing highly original, compelling and entertaining independent film. Recent studies confirm that communities that embrace and encourage the arts are the same communities likely to have a high quality of life, and this show's presence in Madison is an important means of living out that promise.

Director's Cut is a new studio-based television series from Wisconsin Public Television, hosted by Charles Monroe-Kane, and produced by Mary Pokorney-Donelan. This series features Wisconsin filmmakers and provides a venue to discuss and screen independent film. Each 30-minute episode provides an opportunity for guest artists to discuss the creative process and screen clips from their completed projects or works-in-progress. The show airs Saturdays at 6:30pm. For an archive of recent shows, go to http://www.wpt.org/directorscut/ .

Some of their guests who have also recently visited Forward Forum include Robert Lughai and Tashai Livington (Madcity Chickens), Ben Wydeven and Doug Gordon (The Zombeatles: All You Need is Brains), and Meg Hamel from the Wisconsin Film Festival.

Future guests this summer will include:

6/13 – Guests Frank Anderson and Barry Poltermann
“The Life of Reilly”

6/20 – Guests Melody Gilbert and Mitchell Lundin
“Disconnected”

6/27 – Guest Eric J. Nelson
“Fishin’ For Tradition: A Lutefisk Saga”

7/11 – Guests Tashai Lovington and Robert Lughai
“Mad City Chickens”

7/18 – Guests Civia Tamarkin and Steve Levin
“Jerabek”

7/25 – Guest Cathy C. Cook
“Immortal Cupboard: In Search of Lorine Niedecker”


Both Charles and Mary also have long histories of involvement in multiple creative realms, and in addition to a look at Director's Cut, we hope you'll join us for a wider-ranging discussion about the changing landscape nationally and locally for broadcasting and the creative arts. Please join in our conversation by calling us at 321-1670 (locally), *123 for US Cellular users, or 1-877-867-1670 toll-free nationwide.

About Charles Monroe-Kane



Charles Monroe-Kane spent almost a decade in Europe before starting his broadcasting career. While in Europe he worked on a variety of projects ranging from starting an Internet Café in Prague and running a record label in Amsterdam to anti-nuke activism in Belgium and running a circus.

Charles's radio background started in Chicago where he was producer and eventually executive producer of a daily, drive-time political call-in program on WCFJ AM dedicated to the issues of the LGBT community.

Charles is currently the marketing director and producer for To the Best of Our Knowledge, a program at Wisconsin Public Radio and distributed nationally by Public Radio International. He is also executive producer of WPR's Zorba Paster On Your Health and executive producer of Calling All Pets, distributed nationally by WPR.

Charles has appeared as a guest on This American Life and has done reporter pieces and essays for National Public Radio’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered.

About Mary Pokorney-Donelan



Mary Pokorney-Donelan's hometown is Yankton, SD. She received a BA in Broadcast Journalism at South Dakota State University, and Masters in Communication at UW-Superior.

After SDSU, she moved to Portland, OR for two years doing odd jobs, before deciding to return to the Midwest to get her Masters. While enrolled in UW-Superior, she landed a job as a videographer and editor at a local station, moving over the next couple of years into producing.

She and her husband Brett decided that they were tired of the cold of Duluth/Superior and had always enjoyed Madison. Thirteen years ago, she got a job producing the 6 o’clock news at WKOW, which lasted for about a year.

Then, 12 years ago, she obtained a position in the Wisconsin Public Television news and public affairs unit. She's worked at WPT for over 12 years in several different departments. Most of her current work centers around client-based productions, but she was also given the chance to produce Director’s Cut.

Mary and her husband Brett have two daughters – Quinn, age 9, and Shae, age 4.

(Longtime listeners of Forward Forum also know that Mary's sister--Quinn and Shae's loving live-in aunt--is our frequent guest and sometime guest host, community activist Jacque Pokorney.)

*******

Your feedback and suggestions for future shows are always welcome: please email us at ForwardForum@aol.com or call John at 608-213-8409.

On next week's show: Editor Raphael Kadushin from the University of Wisconsin Press, who will also update us on his ongoing adventures as a world-ranging food and travel correspondent.

Joan Breitung, Author of "Forgetting," "Understanding and Managing Dementia" and "The Eldercare Sourcebook"









On the May 31, 2009 Forward Forum:









Stephanie's guest is author Joan Breitung, author of "Forgetting: When To Worry, What to Do," "Understanding and Managing Dementia," and "The Eldercare Sourcebook." (John is away on family business this week, but will be returning next week.)

Memory problems and the accompanying confusion can have any number of causes. As the elderly population swells with the ageing of 77 million baby-boomers, Americans will increasingly face the challenge of trying to understand and cope with problems associated with cognitive decline.

"Forgetting: When To Worry, What to Do" is an
informative, user-friendly guide defines the kinds of memory problems that have straightforward explanations and remedies, as well as those that are more complex and ominous. Joan Carson Breitung, an expert on the mental health of the elderly, clarifies the difference between normal brain ageing and the onset of dementia.

Among the important topics included are: Mild Cognitive Impairment; Alzheimer's Disease; Late-Life Depression; Caregivers; Dementia; Falls. A goldmine of useful information, this popular reference work will help anyone facing the cognitive problems associated with ageing.

REVIEWS:

"The author provides detailed explanations on the differences between normal brain aging and dementia, and helps readers to understand options when it comes to assisted care, prevention strategies, risk reduction and environmental modification." -- SciTech Book News, March 2009

"Any health library will find this an excellent, basic consumer’s pick." -- The Bookwatch, The Midwest Book Review, March 2009


Friday, May 15, 2009

Coming May Events: Proud Theater Comes "Full Circle"; Perfect Harmony Chorus Celebrates Civil Rts; Colombia Support Network showcases human rights


Click to Listen to Archived Show

Please join us for the Sunday, May 17, 2009 show, when our special guests will be two youth leaders in Madison's Proud Theater troupe. Youth artistic director Dena Wessel and longtime member/graduating senior Olivia Wine join us to preview their upcoming Memorial Day weekend performances of "Proud Theater: Full Circle." The show title has double meaning in that the group is returning to the venue of its first major performance series, the March Play Circle, on the second floor of the UW-Madison's Memorial Union, 800 Langdon Street. Tickets are $10. Four shows are scheduled: three at 7:30pm on the evenings of of Thursday, Friday and Saturday (May 21-23), and a matinee at 2:30pm on Saturday. For further details, see below, or go to www.proudtheater.org .

At the top of the show, we'll also be previewing two other important events coming to Madison later this month, presented by the Perfect Harmony Men's Chorus, and the Colombia Support Network.






Perfect Harmony Men's Chorus presents their
2009 Spring Concert, "Equal, Not Special," on Saturday, May 30th at 7pm at Mills Concert Hall, in the Humanities Building (corner of Park and University) on the UW-Madison campus. “Equal, Not Special” is a concert retrospective of the civil rights movements of the United States. These include the anti-slavery movement, the movement for women's suffrage, the King era 1960s movements for black civil rights, and the 40 years of LGBT rights efforts since the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion. Follow this link for full details, of this, and associated concerts, later this month. Tickets can be purchased from members, at the door, or by going to this link.







The Madison-based Colombia Support Network, which has chapters and members nationwide, is holding its annual conference in Madison during the last week of May. A highlight of the conference will be a special event, open to the public, “Hope and Fear: Scenes from the conflict in rural Colombia,” a joint presentation by Garry Leech and Steve Cagan. Garry Leech is the author of several books on Colombia, his latest one being the thrilling and fascinating Beyond Bogota. Steve Cagan is a renowned artist and scholar, who as a Fulbright Scholar spent a year taking photographs in the Choco region. Gary Leech will present on Friday, May 29 at 7:30pm at the UW's Pyle Center, 702 Langdon Street, and Steve Cagan on Saturday, May 30 at 7:30pm at Fair Trade Coffeehouse, 418 State Street. Call (608) 257-8753 for more info.





More About Proud Theater
http://www.proudtheater/.org



Proud Theater is an award-winning, exciting and innovative youth theater program designed to foster self-expression and self-empowerment for Madison-area youth ages 13 to 19 who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer/questioning (LGBTQ), or who are the sons or daughters of LGBTQ parents, or allies of the LGBTQ community at large.


Founded in 1999 by Sol Kelley-Jones and Callen Harty, Proud Theater’s mission is to change the world in a positive way through the power of theater, theater arts and heart, art and activism. The teens of Proud Theater collaboratively create theatrical pieces and original music through improv, group discussion and guidance from Proud Theater Artistic Director Brian Wild and prominent adult members of the Madison community.
Proud Theater is currently a program of Outreach, Inc – Madison’s LGBTQ resource center. “Proud Theater: Full Circle’ is also sponsored in part by a generous grant from the New Harvest Foundation.


As with 2005’s critically acclaimed ‘Proud Theater: R Evolution’, 2007’s ‘Proud Theater: Plugged in’, and 2008’s ‘Proud Theater: Loud and Clear’, ‘Proud Theater: Full Circle’ tackles many of today’s issues that affect youth and does so with humor, heart and honesty. Sometimes outrageous, sometimes profound, the youth share their voices with the community in a no-holds barred and uncensored way. This year the youth look at personal acceptance, family issues, gender identity and much, much more!


‘Proud Theater: Full Circle runs May 21, 22 and 23, 2009 - 7:30 PM and a special matinee on May 23, 2:30 PM in the Fredric March Play Circle inside the University of Wisconsin Memorial Union, 800 Langdon Street in Madison, Wisconsin. Tickets go on sale May 1 at 11:30AM are 10 dollars each. They can be purchased by phone at (608) 265-2787, by clicking ‘buy tickets’ online at www.uniontheater.wisc.edu, or at one of the campus arts ticketing locations at 800 Langdon St or at 821 University Ave. Phone orders have a $2.50 per ticket and Online orders have a $3.50 per ticket convenience charge.

Doors for ‘Proud Theater: Full Circle’ will open at 7:00 PM for the evening performances and 2:00 PM for the Matinee performance.
For more info on the20show, contact Proud Theater at proudtheater@gmail.org, or visit www.proudtheater.org, or at www.uniontheater.wisc.edu.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Madison Nonprofit Affordable Housing Endangered While State Law Goes Unchanged

Pictured below: Activities now sponsored by the Vera Court Neighborhood Center, an offshoot of one of the affected housing projects, the Northpointe Apartment Complex. The center is home to community-building projects such as this carpentry workshop, and an empowerment project for neighborhood high school girls, with activities that include meal delivery for senior citizens.




Click to Listen to Archived Show

Please join us on Sunday, May 10th for a community conversation about a topic that will potentially negatively affect hundreds of Madison and Dane County families, and their ability to afford basic housing.



Our guests will be Linda Ketchum, Executive Director, Madison Urban Ministry (at podium in photo above at an April 10, 2008 press conference); and pictured below, Steve Verriden and Jason Glozier of the disability rights group, Wisconsin ADAPT; and Michael Basford, Program Director, Housing Initiatives Inc., representatives of an ad hoc group that is planning a "Tent City" rally this Tuesday (5/12/2009) at noon at the King St. entrance of the State Capitol. Further details are contained in the Housing Initiatives press release reprinted below.





Rally to highlight need to restore property-tax exemption for non-profit housing providers

An ad-hoc organization is planning a rally at the Wisconsin State Capitol’s King Street entrance on Tuesday, May 12th at Noon to highlight the need for state government to immediately restore the property-tax exemption for non-profit housing providers.

A recent court case last fall and a subsequent interpretation by the state’s Department of Revenue have changed which properties belonging to providers of affordable housing can continue to be property-tax exempt. As a result, municipalities all over Wisconsin are establishing procedures to assess properties owned and operated by non-profit housing providers and, in some cases, have already issued tax bills for several such property owners.

Unless the State Legislature and the Governor act to change the State Statutes, buildings that house thousands of low-income individuals and families will be subject to property taxation with possible devastating effects. “Right now, our budgets are stretched thin as they are,” said Dean Loumos, Executive Director of Housing Initiatives, Inc. of Madison. Housing Initiatives owns and operates 51 housing units for previously-homeless individuals and families who are affected by severe mental illness. Loumos added, “We have developed these properties under property-tax exemption rules that have been in place for decades. If the state doesn’t change them back to where they have been, we stand to receive a property tax bill of around $70,000. My agency and others like us cannot afford that kind of a hit. We would have to make some tough choices which may include reducing services and housing fewer clients.”

Housing Initiatives, Inc. is one of about 40 agencies operating in Madison alone that could be receiving property tax bills for nearly 1,700 housing units.

The main focus of the rally is to remind Governor Doyle, the State Legislature and municipalities around Wisconsin that during these tough economic conditions, where tent cities are starting to spring up around the nation as more and more people become homeless, they should not balance their budgets on the backs of thousands of low-income individuals and families who will be adversely affected and should instead act quickly to restore the property-tax exempt status.

For more information on Tuesday’s rally and the property-tax exemption issue, please contact Dean Loumos at 332-2095.

Further background:

As you may have read, the Madison Common Council recently tried to buy some time for these properties by granting them a grace period for payment of taxes, but this action was over-ruled by the City Attorney as beyond city government's mandate. (Ironically, the crisis is being inadvertently precipitated by the city attorney's defense of a Common Council decision to deny nonprofit status to a new housing development a couple of years ago.) It is hoped that the new state legislature will respond by changing state law in a way that restores the tax exempt status, but that's still up in the air.

Under any circumstances, affordable housing is not easy to find locally, and that's exacerbated at a time of national economic crisis and increasing underemployment and unemployment. And there are special challenges facing people on fixed incomes, including people with disabilities and the elderly.

Most of these housing units were constructed, and relatively affordable rent structures were set, under the understanding that these properties were tax exempt. So what happens now?. Under the worst case scenarios, some properties could go bankrupt, and rents could rise dramatically. While this crisis has been acknowledged publicly, action is needed by mid-summer.

Please join in our conversation this Sunday, to learn more about how you can make a difference. Please call us at 321-1670 with your questions and comments, or email us at ForwardForum@aol.com .

Still more background information can be found in this Cap-Times article, this Wisconsin State Journal article, and this recent "citizen journalist" blog entry of Common Council action by Brenda Konkel.

Below: the west side's Wexford Ridge apartment complex, one of nonprofit group Future Madison's projects endangered because of pending nonprofit legal status questions.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Author Lev Raphael on his book "My Germany" describes a journey begun in pain and grief that transforms into healing and forgiveness





On our May 3, 2009 show: Lev Raphael, author of "My Germany," joins us live on the phone from his home in central Michigan.

Click here to Listen to the Show




We'll be spending the full hour with Lev, and invite you to join in on our conversation by calling us at 321-1670. "My Germany" describes Lev's journey in coming to know Germany, a place he initially knew only as the source of profound pain and grief for his family. As described in the book review excerpted below, it is a journey that forces him to confront many painful truths, but ultimately one filled with healing and forgiveness as well.

"As the New York-born son of eastern European Jews who barely survived the Holocaust, Lev Raphael grew up in a world haunted by secrets and ghosts. Having spent years fleeing from his parents’ past, he decided to confront that past and, in the process, to come to grips with Germany, the country he blamed for the horrors visited on his parents and, indirectly, on himself. My Germany is part travelogue and part detective story, as Raphael sets out to trace what happened to his parents and their families during the war. Above all, it is a wholly enthralling, beautifully written story of healing and forgiveness, in which Raphael not only sheds his hatred and fear of Germany but comes to a deeper, richer understanding of his parents and Jewish heritage—and, above all, of himself."
—Lynne Olson, Author of Troublesome Young Men

Lev Raphael was in Madison this past December to deliver a memorable closing address for the visiting exhibit, "Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals,1933-1945" which had been on loan from the National Holocaust Museum, and on display at the UW's Memorial Library for two months. Lev, a Jewish gay man, spoke movingly about the intersection of those two identities. The son of Holocaust survivors, he also shared special insights into the commonalities and differences of the Nazi persecution against Jewish people and homosexuals. The exhibit was part of an extensive series of special presentations and film showings that offered transformative insights into the contemporary meanings behind this experience, against the backdrop of historical insights into the status of gay people in Germany throughout the twentieth century. It was brought to Madison as part of the public education efforts of the Gay Straight Alliance for Safe Schools. Special note: Please support GSA for Safe Schools "Celebration of Leadership" event, coming on Saturday, May 16th. Follow link above for more info.

The book also has a Madison connection, with its publication by the UW Press, one of the many outstanding examples of storytelling and memoirs that they bring to the world. (Look for a future show about featured new and upcoming books, later this summer.)

About Lev Raphael
(See http://www.levraphael.com/)






As the son of Holocaust survivors, Lev Raphael is a pioneer in writing fiction about America's Second Generation, publishing his first short story about children of survivors in 1978. Many of his early stories on this theme were collected in his award-winning book, Dancing on Tisha B'Av, while the best of those and newer ones appear in his second collection Secret Anniversaries of the Heart.

Raphael is the author of 17 other books including two novels about survivors, Winter Eyes and The German Money, and two memoirs, Journeys & Arrivals and Writing a Jewish Life. Raphael's fiction has been widely anthologized in the U.S. and Britain, most recently in the anthology Criminal Kabbalah, which contains Lev's latest story featuring a child of survivors: "Your Papers, Please."

Along with hundreds of reviews in papers from The Washington Post to The Detroit Free Press, Raphael has published dozens of essays, articles, and stories in a wide range of Jewish publications: Midstream, Hadassah, Psychology and Judaism, The Forward, Reform Judaism, Reconstructionist, Agada, Commentary, The Baltimore Jewish Times, The Detroit Jewish News, Inside, The Jewish Exponent, Jewish Currents, Tikkun, Jerusalem Report, and Slate.

Raphael has keynoted three international Holocaust conferences where he received standing ovations, as well as appearing at hundreds of invited lectures and readings in Israel, North America, and Europe at Jewish Book Fairs, Jewish Community Centers, synagogues and universities. Featured in two documentaries, he has been a panelist at London's Jewish Film festival. His stories and essays are on university syllabi around the U.S. and in Canada; his fiction has been analyzed in books, scholarly journals and at scholarly conferences, including MLA.

Born and raised in New York City, he received his MFA in Creative Writing and English at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst where he won the Harvey Swados Fiction Prize, awarded by renowned editor Martha Foley for a Holocaust-themed story later published in Redbook. Winner of the Reed Smith Fiction Prize and International Quarterly's Prize for Innovative Prose (judged by D. M. Thomas), Raphael holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from Michigan State University. Raphael taught at the university level in New York, Massachusetts and Michigan for 13 years and the first course he designed was a multi-disciplinary study of the Holocaust. He left teaching in 1988 to write and review full- time.


Lev has also been an outspoken advocate on behalf of LGBT youth, and has written several books seeking to support them in their journeys of self-discovery.

Please join us for a very special conversation this Sunday at 2pm on Forward Forum (WTDY 1670 am and http://www.wtdy.com/).

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

The Progressive Magazine's 100th Anniversary Celebration: April 30th Orpheum Benefit Concert and May 1-2 Conference at Monona Terrace








Click here for Conference Info

Click here for archived interview with Matt Rothschild








Our special guest on our April 19th show was Matt Rothschild, editor of the Progressive Magazine, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary with a series with an exciting series of events this week, and the publication of a new book, "Democracy in Print, the best of The Progressive 1909-2009." Matt joined us for a thought-provoking discussion that encompassed highlights from 100 years of progressive thought, resonance with history and modern days events, and his vision of the future that lays ahead for magazines and newspapers.




On Thursday, April 30th, there will be a CONCERT AT THE ORPHEUM THEATER in Madison, featuring performances by ANI DIFRANCO, THE INDIGO GIRLS, DAR WILLIAMS, MELISSA FERRICK, HAMELL ON TRIAL, CATIE CURTIS, AND PETER MULVEY.

The main event begins Friday: a once-in-a-lifetime gathering of progressive leaders from all over the country and the world, held at the Monona Terrace Convention Center in Madison on May 1-2. Speakers will include Robert Redford, Amy Goodman, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Senator Russ Feingold, Representative Tammy Baldwin, Howard Zinn, Cindy Sheehan, Jim Hightower, Barbara Ehrenreich, Katrina vanden Heuvel, Chuck D, Senator George McGovern, John Nichols, Robert McChesney, Adolph Reed, Martín Espada, Michael Feldman, Susan Douglas, Dave Zirin, Will Durst, Ruth Conniff, Elizabeth DiNovella, Amitabh Pal, Matthew Rothschild, …and many more!

Please click on the links above at the beginning of this post to learn more about the concert and conference, and to listen to a fascinating interview with Matt Rothschild.




Above: Progressive Magazine founder and progressive movement leader "Fighting Bob" LaFollette.

At left: Historic 1979 magazine cover in which The Progressive chose to publish Howard Morland's story about the so-called "H Bomb Secret" as a means of protesting the use of top secret classification by the government as a means of stifling debate about the government's nuclear weapons policy. The publication came after the first ever court-ordered case of "prior restraint" by the judiciary, which made the case into a major test of First Amendment freedoms. The case became moot when the Madison Press Connection (a paper that arose out of a strike by the employees of Madison's two daily newspapers) published the substance of tha article.

Below: a contemporary cover of the magazine, a detailed look at just how progressive the Obama administration is likely to be.