June 18, 2009

Julie R Enszer and the Lesbian Poetry Archive

Today on Woman-Stirred Radio, Julie R. Enszer brings us the Lesbian Poetry Archives, a digital online project that collects and preserves the work of lesbian poets.

Julie R. Enszer is a writer and lesbian activist who holds an MFA from the University of Maryland and is currently enrolled in the PhD program in Women's Studies at Maryland. Her work has been published in Iris: A Journal About Women, Room of One's Own, Long Shot, the Jewish Women's Literary Annual, and the Harrington Lesbian Literary Quarterly.

Enszer's Lesbian Poetry Archive "is conceived as a place to digitally preserve lesbian poetry and its ephemera and present them to not only scholars, but also poets and general readers. With this launch in December 2008, there are three items, the introductory material to Amazon Poetry, published in 1975; the introductory material to Lesbian Poetry, published in 1981; and the complete chapbook A Movement of Poets by Jan Clausen, published in 1982" (Enszer 2008).

Woman-Stirred Radio broadcasts live on WGDR (91.1 fm) and online at wgdr.org every Thursday afternoon from 4 to 6 p.m. (eastern), with interviews, music, and guest commentaries from lesbian and queer activists.

We are funded in part by the Samara Foundation of Vermont, a non-profit, Burlington-based foundation that seeks to improve the quality of life for Vermont's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered citizens. Click on the link to find out more about Samara Foundation and its

June 04, 2009

Founders and Breadlines: Ray Raphael and Sasha Abramsky on Woman-Stirred

This week: Thursday June 4th: Ray Raphael at 4:15 and Sasha Abramsky at 5:00.

Founders: The People who brought You a Nation, is Raphael's closely focused exploration of the ordinary people who participated in the great experiment of American Independence. Raphael's sweeping narrative offers readers the fascinating stories of seven ordinary colonial Americans in a bottom-up study of Timothy Bigelow, Henry Laurens, Joseph Plumb Martin, Robert Morris, Mercy Otis Warren, and Thomas Young, with some delightfully scandalous behavior from George Washington to keep it all simmering along. In the words of noted historian Gary B. Nash, Director of The National Center for History in the Schools, historian Ray Raphael "teaches us more about the multiple dimensions of the American Revolution than one could ever have imagined." Ray Raphael has published books on subjects as diverse as male initiation rites, education, regional history (Northwest California), and timber politics. His first book, An Everyday History of Somewhere, won the Commonwealth Club award for the best book of the year about California. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate from Reed College, he holds masters degrees from the University of California at Berkeley (Political Philosophy) and Reed College (Teaching Social Science and History). In addition to teaching at Humboldt State University and College of the Redwoods, he has taught all subjects except foreign languages at a one-room public high school in his remote community. He is currently a Senior Research Fellow with Humboldt State University, working full time as a researcher and writer. He lives in the hills of northern California and kayaks whitewater rivers.

Breadline USA dives deep into the lives of working-poor Americans who find themselves trapped by the confluence of the housing market collapse, erratic, rising energy costs, and a health care system that mismanages, damages and ruins the lives it is supposed to enhance. Add to this mix their struggle to access nutritious affordable food. In Breadline USA Abramsky brings us the stories of Americans in all types of communities and how they manage at the end of the month when money runs out and the social safety net isn't there to catch them.

Sasha Abramsky is a freelance journalist. His work has appeared in The Nation, The Atlantic Monthly, New York magazine, The Village Voice, and Rolling Stone. Born and raised in England, Abramsky is a graduate of Oxford University, and holds a master's degree from Columbia University School of Journalism. In 2000 he was awarded a Soros Society, Crime, and Communities Media Fellowship, and he is currently a Senior Fellow at the New York City-based Demos think tank. In addition to Breadline USA: The Hidden Scandal of American Hunger and How to Fix It, (PoliPoint 2009), Abramsky is the author of: American Furies: Crime, Punishment, and Vengeance in the Age of Mass Imprisonment, (Beacon 2007), Hard Time Blues (2002) and Conned (2006). /a>

Woman-Stirred Radio is funded in part by the Samara Foundation of Vermont, a non-profit, Burlington-based foundation that seeks to improve the quality of life for Vermont's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered citizens. Click on the link to find out more about Samara Foundation and its programs.

May 27, 2009

The Poet and the Progressive: John Amen and Matt Rothschild

This Thursday, May 28, beginning at 4:15 pm (eastern), Merry Gangemi welcomes John Amen, editor of The Pedestal Magazine, and at 5:00, welcomes Matt Rothschild, editor of The Progressive Magazine, to Woman-Stirred Radio.

John Amen is the author of two volumes of poetry, More of Me Disappears (2005), and Christening the Dancer(2003).

Amen travels widely to give readings, performances, and workshops. In his spare time he is a folk/rock singer/songwriter, and a visual artist working primarily with acrylics.

Amen is editor of The Pedestal Magazine, an ezine widely respected for its content and layout.

At 5:00, Matthew Rothschild, editor and publisher of The Progressive Magazine, visits with Merry Gangemi to talk about Democracy in Print: 100 Years of The Progressive Magazine (University of Wisconsin Press), a recently released volume of articles and essays spanning 100 years of the Progressive's publication. Through his careful selections and editing, Rothschild brings to life the dialogues and participatory activism of notables Kurt Vonnegut, Paul Welstone, Noam Chomsky, Martin Luther King, Jr., James Baldwin, Huey Long, Allen Ginsberg, Adrienne Rich, Rita Dove, June Jordon and Frank Zappa. Voices that confirm The Progressive as a highly-respected and globally recognized community that continues the belief and actualization of peace and social justice in the United States.

Rothschild has made guest appearances on , C-SPAN, DemocracyNow!, Nightline, NPR, and The O'Reilly Factor. he is also a recognized commentator and has work in The Chicago Tribune, The L.A. Times, and The Miami Herald, among others.

Feel free to join in the conversation. The air-studio phone number is 802.454-7762.

May 21, 2009

Dickinson Electric Archives and Martha Nell smith

Today at 4:15 on Woman-Stirred Radio, Merry Gangemi welcomes Martha Nell Smith, author of Open Me Carefully: Emily Dickinson's Intimate Letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson and executive director of the most amazing Dickinson resource yet, the Electronic Dickinson Archives.

The Dickinson Electronic Archives (DEA), is a website devoted to the study of Emily Dickinson, her writing practices, writings directly influencing her work, and critical and creative writings generated by her work. The DEA is produced by the Dickinson Editing Collective, with an executive editor, a general editor, two associate editors, a project manager, and a technical editor working collaboratively with one another and with numerous coeditors, staff, and users.

The DEA provides access to Dickinson's correspondence and facsimiles of actual letters and drafts of poems; constellations of poems; recordings of well-known poets reading Dickinson's work and adding commentary on the influence of Dickinson on their work and lives as women who are poets; critical resources, and teaching aids.

So please tune in or listen online to Woman-Stirred Radio, Thursday, May 21st at 4:15 (eastern).

Call in with questions or comments! The air studio phone is 802.454.7762.