Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff

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Latest Episodes:

Part One: Lead Belly: How a Man Named Huddie Ledbetter Beat Everyone Who Tried to Keep Him Down Jun 29, 2026

Show notes

Margaret talks with Prop about the Texan musician who sung his way out of prison.

Bring Judgment Day: Reclaiming Lead Belly’s Truths from Jim Crow’s Lies, Sheila Curran Bernard: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/bring-judgment-day/63271E8000571D588BF52B0F7CA2121E (BJD26 for 20% off)

Sources:

Bring Judgment Day: Reclaiming Lead Belly’s Truths from Jim Crow’s Lies, Sheila Curran Bernard

https://www.nytimes.com/1962/05/20/archives/if-youre-woke-you-dig-it-no-mickey-mouse-can-be-expected-to-follow.html

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/2022/12/22/what-is-woke-meaning-naacp-leaders-talk-about-the-word-martin-st-lucie-indian-river-treasure-coast/8091099001/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/03/09/what-is-woke-meaning/11425775002/

https://www.vox.com/culture/21437879/stay-woke-wokeness-history-origin-evolution-controversy

https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/scottsboro-boys

https://www.history.com/articles/scottsboro-boys

https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/ledbetter-huddie-leadbelly

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CZM Book Club: Two Stories from Gaza Writes Back, edited by Refaat Alareer Jun 28, 2026

Show notes

Margaret reads you two stories and a poem from an anthology of young, Palestinian authors

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Part Two: The Gay Ottomans: Homosexuality in the Medieval Ottoman Empire Jun 24, 2026

Show notes

Margaret continues talking with Kaveh Hoda about the complicated history of homosexuality and homoeroticism in one of the most important empires of the medieval era.

Sources:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/41299403
https://www.thecollector.com/osman-i-ottoman-founder/
https://islamichistory.org/osman-gazi/
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/jmurj/vol9/iss1/4/
https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/homosexuality-ii/
https://www.webology.org/data-cms/articles/20220528061731pmwebology%2019%20(2)%20-%20670%20pdf.pdf
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6074556/
https://yoksis.bilkent.edu.tr/pdf/files/10.1177-0363199013519126.pdf
https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/164086
https://www.juancole.com/2025/12/literature-societies-homoerotic.html

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Part One: The Gay Ottomans: Homosexuality in the Medieval Ottoman Empire Jun 22, 2026

Show notes

Margaret talks with Kaveh Hoda about the complicated history of homosexuality and homoeroticism in one of the most important empires of the medieval era.

Sources:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

CZM Rewind: CZM Book Club: CZM Book Club Presents: The Revolutionary Fables of Ricardo Flores Magón Jun 21, 2026

Show notes

Margaret reads you several short stories written by the one of the ideological leaders of the Mexican Revolution

Original Air Date: 6.1.2025

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Part Two: The Movement Against the Corporal Punishment of Children Jun 17, 2026

Show notes

Margaret continues talking with Andrew Ti about the worldwide movement, backed by science, that is changing how we treat children.

Sources:

https://africapublicity.com/of-ancestors-and-amendments-rethinking-child-discipline-across-african-realms/
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/happiest-countries-in-the-world
https://endcorporalpunishment.org/reports-on-every-state-and-territory/usa/
https://www.right-to-education.org/sites/right-to-education.org/files/resource-attachments/CRC_1989.pdf
https://www.ursulakleguin.com/blog?offset=1437445500607
https://www.puyallupwa.gov/535/Domestic-Violence-Statistics
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7390231/
https://issop.org/2018/11/19/e-bulletin-35-2-3-changing-the-law-on-corporal-punishment-in-scotland/
https://news.utexas.edu/2021/06/29/evidence-against-physically-punishing-kids-is-clear-researchers-say/
http://www.jillianvanturnhout.ie/jvt1111/
https://www.jstor.org/stable/26938757?seq=6
https://ijcrt.org/papers/IJCRT2506708.pdf
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/383296874_Corporal_Punishment_From_Ancient_History_to_Global_Progress
https://medium.com/@rabittashahbaz/heres-how-ancient-indian-parenting-values-and-approaches-changed-over-time-4d861b489388
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/180595/20090210ATT48998EN.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty-first_Amendment_of_the_Constitution_of_Ireland
https://brilliantmaps.com/corporal-punishment/
https://endcorporalpunishment.org/reports-on-every-state-and-territory/usa/
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29261462
https://agefinder.org/world-age-culture/marriage-age-under-18-countries/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._ratification_of_the_Convention_on_the_Rights_of_the_Child
https://www.africanexponent.com/how-colonialism-deceived-africans-to-believe-hitting-children-is-african-tradition-it-is-not/
https://www.unh.edu/ccrc/sites/default/files/media/2022-02/corporal-punishment-current-rates-from-a-national-survey.pdf

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/corporal-punishment-schools-and-race-an-update/

https://www.morgan.edu/Documents/ACADEMIA/SCHOOLS/SSW/MSW%20publications/s12111-024-09646-9%20%281%29.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20160127213730/http://www.phoenixchildrens.org/sites/default/files/PDFs/principles_and_practices-of_effective_discipline.pdf

https://endcorporalpunishment.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/India.pdf

https://endcorporalpunishment.org/irelands-journey-why-didnt-we-do-this-years-ago/

https://link.springer.com/rwe/10.1007/978-3-319-89999-2_13

https://ijcrt.org/papers/IJCRT2506708.pdf

https://habevio.com/corporal-punishment-in-ancient-greece/

https://psycnet.apa.org/manuscript/2025-10635-001.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20110314161338/http://www.zona-pellucida.com/wilson02.html

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Part One: The Movement Against the Corporal Punishment of Children Jun 15, 2026

Show notes

Margaret talks with Andrew Ti about the worldwide movement, backed by science, that is changing how we treat children.

Sources:

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/corporal-punishment-schools-and-race-an-update/

https://www.morgan.edu/Documents/ACADEMIA/SCHOOLS/SSW/MSW%20publications/s12111-024-09646-9%20%281%29.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20160127213730/http://www.phoenixchildrens.org/sites/default/files/PDFs/principles_and_practices-of_effective_discipline.pdf

https://endcorporalpunishment.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/India.pdf

https://endcorporalpunishment.org/irelands-journey-why-didnt-we-do-this-years-ago/

https://link.springer.com/rwe/10.1007/978-3-319-89999-2_13

https://ijcrt.org/papers/IJCRT2506708.pdf

https://habevio.com/corporal-punishment-in-ancient-greece/

https://psycnet.apa.org/manuscript/2025-10635-001.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20110314161338/http://www.zona-pellucida.com/wilson02.html

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CZM Book Club: Poems by Incarcerated Authors -- with In The Belly Magazine Jun 14, 2026

Show notes

This week, In The Belly is doing a take over to feature the poems of incarcerated writers in their own voices

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Part Six: Harm Reduction: The Direct Action Movement that Changed How We Understand Addiction Jun 10, 2026

Show notes

Margaret concludes the story of the punks, hippies, and poets in Vancouver, Canada who pioneered the modern harm reduction movement

Sources:

Fighting for Space, Travis Lupick (https://firestorm.coop/products/11537-fighting-for-space.html?referral=killjoy)
https://www.addictionresource.net/heroin/types/china-white/
https://www.vice.com/en/article/poll-taxriot-anniversary-solomon-hughes-382/
https://abcbookworld.com/article/article-15099/
https://globalnews.ca/news/370804/income-by-postal-code/
https://immigrationnewscanada.ca/most-dangerous-cities-in-canada-mid-2025/
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/expo-86-evictions-remembered-1.3566844
https://riseupfeministarchive.ca/poster/la-quena-presents-inti-illimani-and-holly-near
personal correspondence
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/christopher-b-r-smith-harm-reduction-as-anarchist-practice
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/zoe-dodd-alexander-mcclelland-taking-risks-is-a-path-to-survival
https://inpud.net/who-we-are/
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/zoe-dodd-alexander-mcclelland-the-revolution-will-not-be-sober
https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/when-labour-organizing-and-harm-reduction-meet
https://www.drugpolicy.ca/insite-vigil-poem-by-the-late-bud-osborn/
https://www.toronto.com/news/harm-reduction-worker-remembered-at-leslieville-memorial/article_2e6eeeac-47de-57bd-88bc-aa9922ba1e5d.html
https://uppingtheanti.org/journal/article/20-you-get-exactly-what-you-fight-for-and-nothingmore
https://www.vice.com/en/article/meet-the-harm-reduction-worker-who-called-out-trudeau-on-the-opioid-crisis/
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/outintheopen/out-in-the-open-on-july-9-2016-addiction-1.3663909/harm-reduction-worker-by-day-fentanyl-user-at-night-one-man-s-story-of-recreational-opioid-use-1.3663917
https://www.straight.com/news/959286/vancouver-area-network-drug-users-looks-back-20-years-fighting-human-rights#
https://www.thesocialjusticecentre.org/blog/2018/1/14/fighting-for-space-travis-lupick-and-ann-livingston-on-drug-users-struggles-in-vancouver
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/07/13/619546120/watchful-eyes-at-peer-run-injection-sites-drug-users-help-each-other-stay-safe
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/dulf-compassion-club-guilty-drug-trafficking-9.6972135
https://www.stalbertgazette.com/health/stopping-overdoses-like-bailing-a-boat-with-a-thimble-bc-court-hears-11535161

https://filtermag.org/dulf-safe-supply-compassion-club-exemption/
https://thetyee.ca/News/2021/04/15/For-One-Day-BC-Activists-Handed-Out-Clean-Heroin-Cocaine/

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Part Five: Harm Reduction: The Direct Action Movement that Changed How We Understand Addiction Jun 08, 2026

Show notes

Margaret resumes telling you the story of the punks, hippies, and poets in Vancouver, Canada who pioneered the modern harm reduction movement

Sources:

https://filtermag.org/dulf-safe-supply-compassion-club-exemption/
https://thetyee.ca/News/2021/04/15/For-One-Day-BC-Activists-Handed-Out-Clean-Heroin-Cocaine/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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