6.8: Fighting the Far Right's Attack on Public Education, With Dr Sam Myovich
Across the USA, the far right candidates have been getting themselves elected to local and county school boards. Their goals include financially choking public schools by diverting government funds toward charter schools, often religious in orientation. Tune in to hear what Dr Sam Myovich, retired history teacher turned school board candidate campaign field coordinator, has to say about what’s at stake, the far right’s deployment of fascist tactics in their fight to destroy public education, and what we ordinary citizens can do to fight back against them, save our schools, and protect our very democracy itself.
6.7: Restorative Justice & Reconciliation With Rev. Nora Jacob
Join us for a conversation with Rev. Nora Jacob on a better way to dispense justice than to subject offenders to a strictly brutal prison experience. A way that, by recognizing that hurt people hurt people, aims to empower, not just victims, but also offenders, to heal. This isn’t just showing mercy to incarcerated people, it significantly lowers the chances that they’ll end up back in prison after their release. That's a win for us all.
6.6: Emotional Literacy with Dr Tiffany Millacci
In this week’s episode, Ariel quizzes guest Dr Tiffany Millacci about emotional literacy. What is this relatively new phrase? How can being emotionally literate help us to navigate difficult conversations, awkward interactions, or even generally just having relationships in the first place? Isn’t all this talk of emotions just a different way for the self-help industry to get us to buy stuff?
Join us for a fascinating conversation about a complex topic - we barely skim the surface! But never fear, Dr Millacci has your back; listen in for some good places to start learning more.
Links:
Dr Millacci's author profile on positivepsychology.com
Emotional literacy in the context of applying it to relationships
Disclaimer: We’re coming from a white, western viewpoint and we recognize the limitations and strictures of that - even within the same cultures and societies (heck, within the same families) emotional expression can vary wildly according to personality, gender, neurodivergence, whatever your social location. This interview necessarily takes broad strokes to begin a conversation about how to better be in community with each other, and it is our hope that we can continue to showcase how this can vary, taking steps towards a solarpunk future where people can disagree - even on important topics like politics and religion - without violence or relationship rupture.
6.5: Teaching Hopepunk Fiction with Dr Tanis MacDonald
On this episode of the podcast, Ariel chats with Dr Tanis MacDonald about her upcoming course in winter 2025 on hopepunk. What exactly is so punk about this kind of hope? Can hopepunk even be said to be a genre in its own right, or is it an aesthetic or lens that we can use to think through just why the characters are deciding to have hope in bleak situations?
Tune in for recommendations of hopepunk novels (and poetry!), ruminations on political hope, the centrality of relationships and radical empathy to these stories, and more. Plus some academic theories informing the formulations of hope, of course.
S6E4: The Challenges and Joy of Fostering Rescue Animals
If you’re a no-kill animal shelter or an animal rescue group and you’ve got more animals than kennels to keep them in, or you’ve got dogs or cats with health or behavioral problems that need sorting out to render the animals adoptable, what are you going to do? You’re going to call an animal fosterer like Rena Curtis to take that animal in, de-traumatize it, teach it some manners, and get its health problems sorted out so it can go a-courtin’ its forever people. Tune in as we discuss this hard, sometimes frightening, occasionally heart-wrenching, but ultimately satisfying work, why there are so many more dogs and cats than homes to put them in, and what we can do to change that situation.
S6E3: Fully Automated! A Solarpunk RPG, with Andy Gross
This week on Solarpunk Presents, we’re bringing you an interview with Andy Gross, one of the brilliant minds behind Fully Automated! A Solarpunk TableTop RPG (Role-Playing Game). Don’t worry, you don’t need to know game jargon to follow along for this one - solarpunk storytelling comes in a lot of different forms, and this is yet another kind for people to use to imagine a kinder, greener future that strives towards a utopia … of sorts.
RPGs get a reputation for being all about fighting. How does that work if the RPG is solarpunk? Or utopian even? What is an RPG, in the first place? What is the usefulness of a solarpunk RPG? Join us as we discuss these questions and more.
You can find Fully Automated at https://fullyautomatedrpg.com/
6.2: Publishing Eco-horror & Solarpunk with Selena Middleton of Stelliform Press
This week on Solarpunk Presents Podcast, Ariel chats with Selena Middleton, Publisher and Editor of Stelliform Press, all about publishing eco-fiction. What is eco-horror, and how does it relate to solarpunk fiction? What are the hallmarks of a good solarpunk story, according to Selena? How does history fit into visions of the future, and what does character have to do with it? Join us as we discuss all this and more.