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I speak with Andrea Hightower, who directs the Cuba Reality Tour for Global Exchange. Drea and I discuss the conditions Cubans now face under the current blockade. She also gives us an idea of what to expect on a Cuba Reality Tour. Learn more at: https://globalexchange.org/travel-to-cuba/

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I celebrate May 15, Utah Phillips' birthday. For the last two years I've been researching and writing about Utah. This year marks the 91st anniversary of his birth.
My first guest is his old and dear friend Mark Ross. Utah met Mark in Greenwich Village in 1969, and they remained friends until Utah's death in 2008. Mark shares trivia and remembrances about Utah with us.
My second guests is Utah's younger son Brendan. Brendan shares memories of his father as well as details about an exciting project he's working on. He's currently restoring Utah's old flanger car, transforming it into the Utah Phillips Library.

For more information or to donate to Brendan's project:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/restore-utah-phillips-caboose-and-library?lid=lwlp5hn0n00i&utm_medium=email&utm_source=product&utm_campaign=t_email-campaign-update&

For more information on the Black Butte Center for Railroad Culture: https://www.bbcrc.org

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Welcome everyone, to Episode Twenty-Five of the podcast. The month of May is Utah Phillips month here on the pod, since he was born on the 15th and left us on the 23rd of May. On this episode, I’m honored to speak with author and labor historian Patrick Murfin, an old and dear friend of Utah Phillips. Patrick wrote the final chapter of the book The IWW: Its First Seventy Years. He once worked as a labor writer for the Chicago Seed and was an integral part of the Chicago industrial labor movement in the 1970s, as was Utah Phillips. Fifty years later, Murfin still writes prolifically for his blog called Heretic, Rebel, a Thing to Flout:https://patrickmurfin.blogspot.com

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Coming up May 1: The month of May is Utah Phillips month here on the pod, since he was born on the 15th and left us on the 23rd of May. On this episode, I’m honored to speak with author and labor historian Patrick Murfin, an old and dear friend of Utah Phillips. Patrick wrote the final chapter of the book The IWW: Its First Seventy Years. He once worked as a labor writer for the Chicago Seed and was an integral part of the Chicago industrial labor movement in the 1970s, as was Utah Phillips. Fifty years later, Murfin still writes prolifically for his blog called Heretic, Rebel, a Thing to Flout:https://patrickmurfin.blogspot.com

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Celebrating National Poetry Month and Earth Day: Poetry Sustains with Maryam Barrie

Show Notes for Poetry Sustains 4/15/26

Maryam and I read and discuss the following poems:

“A Short Story of Falling” by Alice Oswald

“Ichthysaur Speaks: Notes from the Benthos” by Kyle E Miller/An excerpt from his novel The Idiot’s Garden

“Trying Hard Not to Become a Nature Poet” by W. Joe Hoppe

“Exhausting Weather” by Maryam Barrie

“Between” by J.C. (Chris) Olander

“A Litany for Survival” by Audre Lorde

“A Shadow Under the Boughs” by Maryam Barrie

From “The Cure of Troy” by Seamus Heaney

For comprehensive show notes, see my YouTube channel: Carolyn Crane and Whimsy Farm

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Celebrating National Poetry Month and Earth Day: Poetry Sustains with Maryam Barrie

Show Notes for Poetry Sustains 4/15/26

Maryam and I read and discuss the following poems:

“A Short Story of Falling” by Alice Oswald

“Ichthysaur Speaks: Notes from the Benthos” by Kyle E Miller/An excerpt from his novel The Idiot’s Garden

“Trying Hard Not to Become a Nature Poet” by W. Joe Hoppe

“Exhausting Weather” by Maryam Barrie

“Between” by J.C. (Chris) Olander

“A Litany for Survival” by Audre Lorde

“A Shadow Under the Boughs” by Maryam Barrie

From “The Cure of Troy” by Seamus Heaney

For comprehensive show notes, see my YouTube channel: Carolyn Crane and Whimsy Farm

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I speak with author Nell Bernstein about her latest book, In Our Future We Are Free, "an astonishing story of resistance and change" about the "dismantling of the youth prison" system.

Bernstein is the Directing Advocate at the Youth Law Center in Sacramento, California. The details below are taken from the back page of her new book.

"Nell Bernstein is the author of All Alone in the World, a Newsweek Book of the Week, and Burning Down the House, winner of the American Bar Association's Silver Gavel Award. She is a former Soros Justice Media Fellow, a MacDowell Fellow, and a winner of the White House Champton of Change award. Her articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Glamour, Salon, Mtoher Jones, and other publications."

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On April 1, I speak with author Nell Bernstein about her latest book, In Our Future We Are Free, "an astonishing story of resistance and change" about the "dismantling of the youth prison" system.

Bernstein is the Directing Advocate at the Youth Law Center in Sacramento, California. The details below are taken from the back page of her new book.

"Nell Bernstein is the author of All Alone in the World, a Newsweek Book of the Week, and Burning Down the House, winner of the American Bar Association's Silver Gavel Award. She is a former Soros Justice Media Fellow, a MacDowell Fellow, and a winner of the White House Champton of Change award. Her articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Glamour, Salon, Mtoher Jones, and other publications."

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