DIY Democracy

Gendered Citizenship

An interview with Rebecca DeWolf (@outofthetowerh), author of Gendered Citizenship: The Original Conflict Over the Equal Rights Amendment, 1920-1963

How you can push back against big money in politics

An interview with Tom Moore of the Federal Election Commission about some creative solutions to reduce the influence of big money in politics. 

The Purpose of Politics

An interview with Eitan Hersh on his book Politics is for Power: How to Move Beyond Political Hobbyism, Take Action, and Make Real Change. Music by Evan Schaeffer 

Citizenship stripping and what that means

An interview with Professor Amanda Frost (@amanda_frost1 on Twitter) on her new book, You Are Not American: Citizenship Stripping from Dred Scott to the Dreamers. Music by Evan Schaeffer.

Juneteenth's Role in the American Story

An interview with Annette Gordon-Reed (@agordonreed) on her new book, On Juneteenth. She will speak at a Detroit Public Library virtual event on Juneteenth (Sat., 6/19, @ 1 pm EDT) For more Juneteenth resources, see Penn Law's resources on Juneteenth.  Music by Evan Schaeffer

Threats to Democracy and the Groundwork for Insurrection

An interview with Professors Suzanne Mettler (@SuzanneMettler1) and Rob Lieberman (@r_lieberman) on their book, Four Threats: The Recurring Crises of American Democracy. Another podcast that I listened to as I was preparing to post this was Bill Moyers's interview of Heather Cox Richardson the day after the coup attempt. I highly recommend listening to it. Music by Evan Schaeffer.

Turning Attention to Georgia

An interview with Byron Stokes (@byst on Twitter), trying to figure out how best to support election efforts in the Georgia Senate election run-off. Some organizations Byron highlighted:  Fair Fight Project South New Georgia Project Sister Song   Music by Evan Schaeffer.    

Episode 42: Choosing Rural Prosecutors

The final episode in a series on electing, or in this case choosing, prosecutors - an interview with Maybell Romero, on rural prosecutors. For more, see her bio: https://www.niu.edu/law/about/directory/romero.shtml and follow her on Twitter: @MaybellRomero For The Appeal's work on prosecutors: https://theappeal.org/topics/prosecutors/  Music by Evan Schaeffer.

Episode 41: Washtenaw County Prosecutor Candidate Eli Savit

An interview with Eli Savit, candidate for Washtenaw County (MI) prosecuting attorney. For more on the candidate, find his website here: https://eli2020.com Music is by Evan Schaeffer

Episode 40: Washtenaw County Prosecutor Candidate Arianne Slay

An interview with Arianne Slay, candidate for Washtenaw County (MI) prosecuting attorney. For more on the candidate, find her website here: https://arianneslay.com  Music is by Evan Schaeffer

Episode 39: Washtenaw County Prosecutor Candidate Hugo Mack

An interview with Hugo Mack, candidate for Washtenaw County (MI) prosecuting attorney. For more on the candidate, find his website here: Hugoforprosecutor2020.com    Music is by Evan Schaeffer

Episode 38: Prosecutors & the "Assembly Line Justice" of Misdemeanors

The fifth in a series on electing prosecutors - an interview with Alexandra Natapoff on misdemeanors in the criminal justice system. Find her book on Bookshop: Punishment Without Crime For more, see her website: https://alexandranatapoff.com and follow her on Twitter: @ANatapoff Music by Evan Schaeffer.

Episode 37: Prosecutors & Conviction Integrity Units

The fourth in a series on electing prosecutors - an interview with Valerie Newman of the Wayne County Prosecutor's office, on starting and running a Conviction Integrity Unit. The Wayne County Conviction Integrity Unit can be found here: https://www.waynecounty.com/elected/prosecutor/conviction-integrity-unit.aspx Music by Evan Schaeffer.

Episode 36: Prosecutors & Juvenile Incarceration

The third in a series on electing prosecutors - an interview with Nell Bernstein about juvenile incarceration and what to know and what to ask candidates for prosecutor on that topic. Follow Nell Bernstein on Twitter: @nellbernstein Her website: http://www.nellbernstein.com Burning Down the House on Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/books/burning-down-the-house-the-end-of-juvenile-prison-9781620971314/9781620971314    Music by Evan Schaeffer

Episode 35: Prosecutors & Elections

The second in a series on electing prosecutors - an interview with Carissa Hessick about elections for prosecuting attorneys and what to know and what to ask candidates for that office. North Carolina's Prosecutors and Politics Project can be found here: https://law.unc.edu/academics/centers-and-programs/prosecutors-and-politics-project/    For more of her bio: https://law.unc.edu/people/carissa-byrne-hessick/   Music by Evan Schaeffer

Episode 34: Prosecutors & Politics

The first in a series on electing prosecutors - an interview with Rachel Barkow about the role that politics plays in electing prosecutors, and what to know and what to ask candidates for that office. Her book, Prisoners of Politics, can be found here: https://bookshop.org/books/prisoners-of-politics-breaking-the-cycle-of-mass-incarceration/9780674919235   For more of her bio: https://its.law.nyu.edu/facultyprofiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=profile.biography&personid=20660   Music by...

Episode 33: A Citizen's Interview with Congressional Candidate Solomon Rajput (MI-12)

An interview with Solomon Rajput about his campaign for the Democratic nomination in Michigan's 12th District.  Find his campaign website here:  https://www.solomonrajput.com   Music by Evan Schaeffer

Episode 32: Anxiety & Politics

An interview with Shana Gadarian about the role of anxiety in democratic citizenship. Find her book with Bethany Albertson here: Anxious Politics Music by Evan Schaeffer

Episode 31: Understanding the Rule of Law

An interview with Lawrence Lessig about what the rule of law is, in order to be a better defender of and advocate for it. Music by Evan Schaeffer

Episode 30: Ida B. Wells & Michelle Duster

An interview with Michelle Duster about her great-grandmother, Ida B. Wells and her work as an activist today. http://idabwellsmonument.org/ https://mldwrites.com   Music by Evan Schaeffer

Episode 29: Long Term Fiscal Outlook, or How I learned to stop worrying and talk about the national debt

An interview with Hillary Allen and Joseph Paul Javier of It's Up to Us, discussing the national debt and what they're doing to improve the conversation surrounding it. Music by Evan Schaeffer

Episode 28: Free Minds

An interview with Julia Mascioli of Free Minds. https://freemindsbookclub.org Music by Evan Schaeffer

Episode 27: Tutoring in prisons

An interview with Samantha Thoma about tutoring incarcerated individuals in prison.  Blog post: https://uvalawpublicserviceblog.org/2018/04/01/from-serial-to-uva-a-1ls-pursuit-of-criminal-justice/comment-page-1/ Petey Greene: https://www.peteygreene.org   Music by Evan Schaeffer

Episode 26: Contingent Magazine, and supporting historians

An interview with Erin Bartram, co-founder of Contingent Magazine. Check it out at: https://contingentmag.org   Also for your reference, the Max Boot column we discuss: Americans’ ignorance of history is a national scandal   Music by Evan Schaeffer

Episode 25: Medicaid & work requirements

An interview with Lisa Ruby of the Michigan Poverty Law Program on recently passed Medicaid work requirements in Michigan. Update: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/12/21/work-requirements-approved-michigan-medicaid/2388961002/   Music by Evan Schaeffer

Episode 24: Medicaid, Federalism, and Democracy

An interview with Jamila Michener about her book Fragmented Democracy: Medicaid, Federalism, and Unequal Politics.   Music by Evan Schaeffer

Episode 23: A citizen's interview with Michigan Supreme Court candidate Sam Bagenstos

An interview with Sam Bagenstos about his campaign for Michigan Supreme Court. Music by Evan Schaeffer

Episode 22: On marching

Interviews with Dr. Erica Chenoweth about marching as a nonviolent tactic and with Sana Shahid about organizing the Houston Women's March. https://www.houstonwomensmarch.org Music by Evan Schaeffer

Episode 21: A civil rights teach-out

An interview with Margo Schlanger about her upcoming teach-out on civil rights. It's online and free, starting May 21. http://ai.umich.edu/teach-out/ https://www.clearinghouse.net [email protected]   Music by Evan Schaeffer

Episode 20: A citizen's interview with gubernatorial candidate Shri Thanedar

An interview with Shri Thanedar about why he's running for governor.   And the articles I referred to in the show: https://theintercept.com/2018/04/06/shri-thanedar-michigan-millionaire-bernie-sanders-republican/ https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2017/11/14/governor-hopeful-lawsuit-company-sale/107691348/

Episode 19: Guarding against tyranny

An interview with Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, on what people can do to guard against tyranny. Music by Evan Schaeffer

Episode 18: Fact-checking for the Michigan Truth Squad

An interview with David Zeman ([email protected]) from Bridge Magazine in Michigan about the Michigan Truth Squad, and how citizens can contribute. Music by Evan Schaeffer

Episode 17: Learning about government-backed segregation

An interview with Richard Rothstein, author of The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America.  Music by Evan Schaeffer

Episode 16: SafeHouse Center & a fundraiser for Enough SAID

An interview with Barbara Niess-May, executive director of SafeHouse Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Additionally, we're partnering with Vault of Midnight to host a fundraiser for Enough SAID, so they can process the backlog of unprocessed rape kits in Detroit. We'll have two game nights coming up on February 20, at Conor O'Neil's in Ann Arbor, and February 22, at Pop Off World in Detroit.    Music by Evan Schaeffer

Episode 15: South Oakland Shelter

An interview with Abby Adair of South Oakland Shelter. Music by Evan Schaeffer

Episode 14: Opting in to the fight for immigrant rights

An interview with Bill Lopez and Maria Ibarra of the Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights. https://www.facebook.com/WICIR/   Music by Evan Schaeffer  

Episode 13: Mitigating the harm from bail

An interview with Simon Cecil of the Minnesota Freedom Fund (https://minnesotafreedomfund.org), who has worked to provide bail for all amounts < $1000 in Hennepin County, Minnesota. Music by Evan Schaeffer    

Episode 12: Putting gerrymandering on the ballot

An interview with Katie Fahey, founder of Voters Not Politicians, on their efforts to put gerrymandering to the vote in Michigan.

Extra Event Episode: #MeToo Storytelling Salon

A brief interview with Sara Vos about her group's December 20th event: the #MeToo Storytelling Salon at Pointless Brewery in Ann Arbor, Michigan.   Music by Evan Schaeffer

Episode 11: The Problem of Gerrymandering

An interview with David Daley, author of Ratf**ked, on the topic of gerrymandering - what it is, how it got that way, and what might be done about it. Music by Evan Schaeffer

Episode 10: An intro to campaign finance & knocking on doors for criminal justice reform

Interviews with Craig Mauger of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network (mcfn.org) on money in politics, and with David Brauer on door-knocking as a strategy to change minds on criminal justice reform. Music by Evan Schaeffer

Episode 9: A discussion from the Women's Convention

Breaking down the Women's Convention at its conclusion, discussing motivations for being there, and next steps.   Music by Evan Schaeffer, https://soundcloud.com/evanschaeffer

Episode 8: Interviews from the Women's Convention

Meeting and interviewing attendees of the Women's Convention in Detroit to learn more about their activism and why they attended.

Episode 7: Fighting to desegregate public schools in Chicago and Getting Out the Vote!

An interview with activist Niketa Brar, of Chicago United for Equity, about fighting public school closures: http://www.chicagounitedforequity.org Some references she noted: http://books.wwnorton.com/books/The-Color-of-Law/ https://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/562/the-problem-we-all-live-with-part-one  A second interview with Priyal Amin of Progressive Turnout Project, on how you can get involved on the Get Out the Vote campaign in this week's Virginia election....

Episode 6: Issue-based activism with Planned Parenthood and a Raise the Age event in Ann Arbor

Interviews with Amanda Vogelsang about Planned Parenthood activist nights, and with Lauren Trimble about an event to support the Raise the Age campaign in Michigan. Music by Evan Schaeffer, https://soundcloud.com/evanschaeffer

Episode 5: An intro and an invitation to the Civic Action Network

Episode 4: Getting Involved in Campaigns and Party Politics

An interview with Isaac Epstein on his first campaign involvement, as well as an interview with Chris Savage about openings the Washtenaw County Democratic Party. Music by Evan Schaeffer, https://soundcloud.com/evanschaeffer

Episode 3: Raphael Wright on Community Grocery Stores

An interview with Raphael Wright, a Detroit entrepreneur currently fundraising to open a grocery store in the city of Detroit.

Episode 2: Carol Lee on Solidarity Sundays

An interview with Carol Lee, the Ann Arbor host of Solidarity Sundays, on what they do and how to get involved with them.

Episode 1: Arthur Lupia

An interview on civic knowledge generally with political science professor Arthur Lupia