Judith Arcana returns to Woman-Stirred Radio

Please join Merry Gangemi in welcoming Judith Arcana back to Woman-Stirred Radio, this Thursday, February 19th, at 5:00 (eastern). They'll talk about Poetry and Politics and Grace Paley.

Born and raised in the Great Lakes region, living now in the Pacific Northwest, Judith Arcana is a writer of poems, stories, essays and books, as well as a scholar, teacher, and activist for reproductive justice.

Praised by writers & readers, reviewers and community leaders, Judith’s most recent publications are a signed/numbered edition five-poem broadside, POEMS) and a chapbook manuscript in an envelope, Family Business. Her most recent full-length book is What if Your Mother, a collection of poems and monologues examining a constellation of motherhood themes rarely offered with such richness, including abortion, adoption, miscarriage and the contemporary biotechnology of childbirth.

She is the author of two classic prose books about motherhood, both published in the US and the UK: Our Mothers' Daughters – one of the earliest feminist analyses of the mother/daughter relationship; and Every Mother's Son – the first feminist book about the mother/son relationship published in the USA.

Judith is also the author of Grace Paley's Life: A Literary Biography. Studying Grace and knowing her for many years gave Judith what she was wanting when she wrote, in that book’s Preface: “Where in literature are reflections of my experience, my sensibilities, my world view, my politics? When I read and write about John Keats, or D.H. Lawrence, or Beowulf, I am ranging far off, studying the history and possibilities of a distant ‘other.’ But when I study she-who-is-most-like-me, I learn what has been, and might be, possible for myself.”

Here's what Alicia Ostriker has to say about 4th Period English, Judith's new book, due out in the spring: "4th Period English is so wonderful, I feel privileged to have read it, and I wish it were part of every curriculum starting right now. Listen to Adelita, Vicente, Mikoor, Huynh Chinh, Kathy and Megan, Corazón, Jamayah, the teacher Ms Solomon and her neighbor Khatereh Jafari… you'll think you too were there in George Washington High School, Anywhere, USA, surrounded by The World. And you were. This is absolutely terrific writing."

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 and music; plus commentaries from British writer Nicki Hastie and guest commentaries from Julie R. Enszer, and Jan Steckel.

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.

Wage Theft in America

Wage Theft in America: Why millions of working Americans are not getting paid— and what we can do about it

In what has been described as "the crime wave no one talks about," billions of dollars worth of wages are stolen from millions of workers in the United States every year. The scope of these abuses is as staggering as it is wrong—paying employees far less than the legal minimum wage, purposefully misclassifying employees as independent contractors, illegally denying workers overtime pay—and only now are people beginning to take notice.

Nationally recognized activist Kim Bobo’s Wage Theft in America (The New Press) is an incisive handbook for organizers, workers, and concerned citizens on how to prevent the flagrant exploitation of America’s working people. Offering a sweeping analysis of the crisis and providing concrete solutions, with special attention to what the new presidential administration should do, Wage Theft in America addresses one of the most egregious and unfair practices affecting workers today.

"Kim Bobo has written an excellent and informative book on one of the most pressing issues facing millions of hardworking Americans. She offers bold, practical, and progressive solutions for how policymakers and advocates can end the growing crisis of wage theft in America" (Senator Edward M. Kennedy).

"This is a powerful, timely, and enormously important book for the religious community, social justice organizers, and all who care about justice in the workplace" (Reverend Nelson N. Johnson, Ex.Dir. Beloved Community Center, Greensboro, NC).

Kim Bobo is the founder and executive director of Interfaith Worker Justice and a columnist for the online magazine Religion Dispatches. She is the co-author of Organizing for Social Change, the most widely-used manual on progressive activism in the U.S. Bebo has given congressional testimony on the ineffectiveness of the Department of Labor’s wage enforcement work, which can be seen on YouTube.

So tune in (91.1fm) Vermont or stream it live from all over the world! Interview begins at 5:00 (EST).

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 and music; plus commentaries from British writer Nicki Hastie and guest commentaries from Julie R. Enszer, and Jan Steckel.

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.