The KKK experienced a "rebirth" in the early 1900's, growing virulently across the country, differently manifesting depending on the area. Dr. Michael Luick-Thrams is founder & director of TRACES Center for History and Culture, sponsors of the upcoming BUS-eum display & tour with 5 displays for 2020, Topic today is The White Cancer: America and its Ku Klux Klan, including the current 3rd wave which we are still in. Michael helps us see current events more clearly in the reflection of our history.
Robinlee Garber started out from New York, explored other cities & states while also exploring careers in creating art, stage production, and clinical art therapy, but she found home in Chicago, where she also found found fulfillment in adding music performance to her art therapy work. Her musical passions are life-long, centering around folk, blues, jazz, and what she calls torch-folk, although she only began performing music professionally in the last 15 years or so. She has released two albums, one of torch/jazz standards, and the other of folk/singer-songwriter character, with many more of her songs ready for studio recording when the opportunity presents itself.
Mike McCabe is a political reform activist. Farm-raised, Peace Corps-deepened, journalist-honed, Mike worked 15 years with the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. He ran in the 2018 Democratic primary for Wisconsin Governor, and shares the motivations, experiences, & lessons of that run in his new book, Unscrewing America: Hopes from the Heartland . He currently works with Our Wisconsin Revolution.
Laura Farley, along with her husband, Jym, are High and Rising, a duo from La Crosse, Wisconsin, getting ready to release their first CD. For some years now they, and up to 4 other people, are known as the Merry Weathers, playing folk/Americana, including bluegrass, folk, country, and rockin music, with a major emphasis on original tunes and including some long-loved covers.
Consummate journalist & author,Larry Tye shares about his new book, DEMAGOGUE: The Life and Long Shadow of Senator Joe McCarthy, full of lessons completely applicable to today, especially considering that the McCarthy playbook was passed directly to his assistant, Roy Cohn, and from Roy to Donald Trump. Larry Tye makes history accessible & enthralling, and serves it up for the betterment of the world. Larry worked at the Boston Globe and a number of other newspapers before writing 8 books (as of the present moment) and founding the Boston-based Health Coverage Fellowship.
Past/current religious/spiritual influences:
Jewish
Larry Heagle is an Eau Claire-centric, Midwest-roaming musician with a specially in comedy stand-up, who just published a memoir, of sorts, loaded with all the kinds of comedy & quirky world-view he's famous for. It's called Not Really Sane, Not Really Sorry: Tales of an Itinerant Performer and you better get ahold of Larry if you want a copy - not Amazon or anyone else. You can find Larry on Facebook or you can email Larry.
Carl Fields emerged from 16 years in prison with a passion & a gift for healing. In addition to his work a program manager with the Hospitality Center at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, he has been on the board of EXPO Wisconsin, heads ROC (Restoring Our Communities) with Racine Interfaith Coalition, and was just appointed to the new Mayoral Task Force on Police Reform for Racine, WI.
Past/current religious/spiritual influences:
Baptist, Buddhism, Non-denominational Christian
Peterson Toscano recounts the epic story of a "day in the life" of Jesus and the disciples as found in Mark chapter 5. There we see a demon possessed man, a herd of pigs, really pissed off towns people, and very frightened disciples. As an actor, Peterson is curious about the backstory of "the man who dwelt amongst the tombs." What brought him to this place in his life? What trauma did he experience that he feels safe among the dead while avoiding family and friends?" This raises questions for Liam about the way queer people, particularly trans people are treated by society and family.
“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.” -Albert Einstein.
As climate change advocates, our ability to imagine a better future sometimes requires supernatural skills. Still engaging our imagination is essential to stirring up the kind of hope and excitement that inspires others to action. We need to articulate what it is we are fighting for? What is the world we want to create? Through a mind-expanding thought experiment, three guests join us to help unleash our imagination potential. Imagine a world without fossil fuels. What does it look like? What does it sound like? What does it smell like?
Barbara Luetke recently retired after 10 years as the Outreach & Literacy Coordinator at the Northwest School for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children and decades more in the field. She's written a number of textbooks in that field. Her latest book is an historical novel, The Kendal Sparrow about Elizabeth Fletcher, an early Quaker teacher & activist in an century that did not empower 15-year old females to speak in public, especially as equal with male preachers.