Working People

Latest Episodes:

Mini-cast: You Don't Know the Half of It, Part 1 (w/ Lauren Schandevel) Mar 18, 2019

Show notes

We brought friend of the show Lauren Schandevel back on to vent about and break down last week's college admissions scandal. Lauren (whom we interviewed back in Season 1) is a brilliant, working-class student at the University of Michigan and she has some thoughts about rich people buying and bribing their kids' way into elite colleges and universities.

Additional links/info below...

Working People, Season 1, Episode 4, Lauren Schandevel
Lauren's Twitter page
Martin Slagter, MLive, "2 University of Michigan Students Help Create Nation's First Social Class & Inequality Minor"
Scott Jaschick, Inside Higher Ed, "Massive Admissions Scandal"
Nathan J. Robinson, The Guardian, "Meritocracy Is a Myth Invented by the Rich"
The Chronicle of Higher Education continuing coverage of the admissions scandal, "Admission through the 'Side Door'"
Malcolm Harris, NY Mag, "The College Admissions Ring Tells Us How Much Schoolwork Is Worth"
Being Not-Rich at UM guide
Jennifer Meer, The Michigan Daily, "University ranks last in economic mobility and diversity among elite public colleges"
Gregor Aisch, Larry Buchanan, Amanda Cox, & Kevin Quealy, The New York Times, "Some Colleges Have More Students From the Top 1 Percent Than the Bottom 60. Find Yours"

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"

Katelyn O'Brien Mar 15, 2019

Show notes

We chat with Katelyn O'Brien, a pipefitter working for a shipbuilding company in Virginia. Katelyn is a trans woman with a degree in History and an adorable cat named Merlyn—she's also, by her own admission, a comic book nerd. We talk all about how she came to work as a pipefitter out of college and what exactly goes into a day's work doing this difficult and quite dangerous job. We also have a frank and really important conversation about the struggles LGBT workers face in the workplace—from everyday harassment on the job site to systemic and legislative discrimination. And we talk about the work Katelyn and others have been doing to fight against these barriers to equality and acceptance.

Additional links/info below...

Katelyn's Facebook group, Positive Transgender Media Representation
Laura Vozzella, Washington Post, "Va. House Panel Kills Bills to Ban Anti-LGBT Discrimination in Housing and Jobs"
Graham Moomaw, Richmond Times-Dispatch, "Va. House Republicans Let LGBT Non-Discrimination Bills Die without a Hearing"
Kai Isaiah-Jamal, Broadly, "100 Easy Ways to Make the World Better for Trans People"
National Center for Transgender Equality, "Employment" & "Non-Discrimination Laws"
JUSTIA, "Transgender Discrimination in the Workplace"

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"
Derek Clegg, "I Have You"

Mini-cast: Worked to Death at FedEx (w/ Joe Allen) Mar 11, 2019

Show notes

We talk with labor writer and activist Joe Allen about his recent Jacobin article on the death of FedEx freight driver William L. Murphy.

Additional links/info below...

Joe's Facebook and Wikipedia page
Joe Allen, Jacobin, "Worked to Death at FedEx"
Joe Allen, The Package King: A Rank and File History of United Parcel Service
Amanda Woods, New York Post, "FedEx Worker Froze to Death Outside an Illinois Delivery Hub"

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"

Mini-cast: TV for the Working Class (w/ Naomi & Nick from Means TV) Mar 04, 2019

Show notes

We talk with Naomi Burton and Nick Hayes, the young socialist brains behind Means Media, the Detroit-based leftist media cooperative that produced the viral campaign video for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and is about to launch a "Netflix for the left."

Additional links/info below...

Means Media website, Twitter, and Facebook page
SIGN UP FOR MEANS TV!
Meagan Day, Jacobin, ""Trust the Rich Less, Trust Each Other More": An Interview with Nick Hayes and Naomi Burton"

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"

Rick Sturgill Feb 28, 2019

Show notes

We chat with Rick Sturgill, a retired coal miner and electrician from Letcher County in South East Kentucky. Rick is a straight shooter, he calls things like he sees them. And, having spent most of his life around coal, he has a lot of sobering things to say about working in coal and about the far-reaching effects the coal industry has had on cities and towns in Appalachia, on politics and the environment, and especially on the lives of coal miners and their families.

Additional links/info below...

Trillbilly Workers Party Twitter page and Patreon
Tom Sexton, The Baffler, "Going in for the Shill"
Tarence Ray, Popula, "A Way Out"
Elizabeth Catte, The Guardian, "Passive, Poor, and White? What People Keep Getting Wrong about Appalacia"
Elizabeth Catte, The Guardian, "Why 'Trump Country' Isn't as Republican as You Think"
Lou Martin, The Conversation, "Invoking Noble Coal Miners Is a Mainstay of American Politics"
James Green, LitHub, "A Day in the Life of a West Virginia Coal Miner"
Livia Gershon, JSTOR, "The Rise and Fall of Coal Miners' Unions"
Elyssa East, The Guardian, "Black Lung Disease Is Still Killing Miners. The Coal Industry Won't Hear It"

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"
Blue Dot Sessions, "Low Coal Camper"

Mini-cast: Alienated Labor (w/ Katy Slininger) Feb 25, 2019

Show notes

We talk with Katy Slininger about her latest piece for Popula magazine, "Alienated Labor," in which she explains--in heartbreaking detail--why it became impossible for her to continue working for the postal service once she got pregnant.

Additional links/info below...

Katy's Twitter page

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"

Mini-cast: Graduate Workers & Open Bargaining (w/ Jared Sacks & Buka Okoye) Feb 20, 2019

Show notes

We talk with Jared Sacks and Buka Okoye, two members of the Columbia grad union (GWC-UAW Local 2110 Graduate Workers of Columbia) about graduate student-workers' fight for more transparent, democratic representation.

Additional links/info below...

Jared Sacks, Columbia Spectator, "What Is "Open Bargaining" and How Will it Transform Columbia?"
Graduate Workers of Columbia website, Twitter, and Facebook page
Columbia Academic Workers for a Democratic Union website, Twitter, and Facebook page

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"

Evan Montgomery Feb 20, 2019

Show notes

We chat with Evan Montgomery, a third-generation grain farmer on the North Dakota side of the Red River Valley. Evan is also a trained musician--he has a degree in music, he sings classical music--and we talk all about his life growing up on the farm, getting into music, and finding a way to strike a balance and pursue both of those passions at once. We also talk about this year's "harvest from hell" and about the serious challenges facing family farmers today—from changing climate, to giant agribusiness conglomerates, to the dire struggle to find and train the next generation of farmers. And we talk about why Evan does what he does and why he wouldn't have it any other way.

Additional links/info below...

Evan's Twitter and Instagram pages
Jones Boat Facebook page (the Fargo-based choir Evan sings in)
Stetson Payne, Tulsa World, "State of Farming": Number of Family Farms Decreasing, While Average Farmer Is Aging"
Andrea Stone, National Geographic, "Family Farmers Hold Keys to Agriculture in a Warming World"
Elizabeth Kucinich, Huffington Post, "Monsanto: The Enemy of Family Farmers"

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"
NDSU Concert Choir, "There Is Sweet Music"
NDSU Concert Choir, "Avinu Malkeinu"

Mini-cast: Every Little Bit Counts (w/ Carl Slone) Feb 13, 2019

Show notes

Carl Slone is a coal miner who lives in Whitesburg, Kentucky, a town of about 1,200 people. He's never protested before. But when he saw a local establishment publicly shaming poor people in his community, he decided to do something about it.

Additional links/info below...