#139 Helen Zuman “Mating in Captivity”

After some short technical difficulties, I finally connected with today’s guest, Helen Zuman, a tree-hugging dirt worshipper devoted to turning waste into food and the stinky guck of experience into fertile, fragrant prose. She holds a BA in Visual and Environmental Studies from Harvard and a Half-FA in memoir from Hunter College. Raised in Brooklyn, she lives with her husband in Beacon, NY and Black Mountain, NC.

She is the author of Mating in Captivity (She Writes Press 2018), a memoir of her five years, post-Harvard, in a cult with a radical take on sex and relationships. Mating in Captivity received a starred review from Kirkus, was named a Kirkus Best Indie Memoir of 2018, was a finalist in Creative Nonfiction for the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses’ 2019 Firecracker Award, and was both first runner-up in memoir and a finalist for First Horizon and Grand Prize honors in the 2020 Eric Hoffer Awards. Other work has appeared in The New Farmers Almanac, in Communities and Livelihood magazines, and on the Foundation for Intentional Community’s website (ic.org). 

Mating in Captivity: When recent Harvard grad Helen Zuman moved to Zendik Farm in 1999, she was thrilled to discover that the Zendiks used go-betweens to arrange sexual assignations, or “dates,” in cozy shacks just big enough for a double bed and a nightstand. Here, it seemed, she could learn an honest version of the mating dance – and form a union free of “Deathculture” lies. No one spoke the truth: Arol, the Farm’s matriarch, crushed any love that threatened her hold on her followers’ hearts. An intimate look at a transformative cult journey, Mating in Captivity shows how stories can trap us and free us, how miracles rise out of crisis, how coercion feeds on forsaken self-trust.

In addition to cults, we also talk about the journey to trust oneself, the “infinite growth myth,” gift circles, her connection to a well balanced eco-village that is doing intentional living well and how she takes care of herself (no social media!). I can personally highly recommend her book even for those not remotely curious about how one gets pulled into a cult. It’s extremely well written and uniquely empowering to hear some of the more difficult details of her story.

Looking for an intentional community or wondering about the health of one you’re currently in? Helen’s article may be of help to you. And if you do have friends, family or loved ones you fear are wrapped up in a cult, eh hm, political party, then Helen recommends some resources written by therapist and cult expert Steven Hassan. You can tune in to hear the best thing Helen’s Mom did easing her exit from the cult mind-control.

Today’s show was engineered by Nick Panken of Freedom Highway.

Our show music is from Shana Falana !!!

Feel free to email me, say hello: she@iwantwhatshehas.org

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#138 “Naturalist and Educator” Susan Hereth and Honoring the life of RBG

Susan Hereth is the Education Director at the Kingston YMCA Farm Project. Susan holds a BA in geography from SUNY New Paltz and an MS in education from University of Albany.  Susan’s strengths are in development and implementation of experiential learning opportunities for students of all ages as well as professional development workshops for educators. At the Kingston YMCA Farm Project, Susan’s role is to create, enrich, and supervise the youth development program which is focused on teen employment and learning using urban farming,  place based projects, the local environment, cooking, and social justice as the context for skill and job development.  She is the former Education Coordinator at Scenic Hudson and Education Director at Hudson Valley Seed. In 2010 she received the highest recognition from the US Environmental Protection Agency given to the public- an Environmental Quality Award. Susan is a certified Master Naturalist through Cornell University. Susan was the volunteer Chair of the Environmental Literacy Committee for the New York State Outdoor Education Association as well as co-chair for annual conferences in 2009, 2011 and 2015. She received the NYSOEA Service Award in 2009. Susan served as an advisor and resource for Teaching the Hudson Valley. Susan loves to explore vernal pools, count glass eels, and she is the steward of multiple bee hives.  She can be reached at susan@kingstonymcafarmproject.org.

Follow the work of the Kingston YMCA Farm Project:  Facebook  @Kingtson YMCA Farm Project or Instagram at @yfarmkingston

The Youth Crew at the YMCA Farm Project made a new video called, ”Truth Talk.” The premiere will be launched on You Tube at 7pm on Friday Sept 25, and be public after that. They have an event created on Facebook where they will post the link.

“Truth Talk” – content was written by the teens based on their antiracist work this summer. Directed, filmed, and edited by Alonzo “AJ” Jordan Jr..

The Summer Youth Crew worked on antiracist learning and action this summer. They read Stamped Remix, painted a Say Their Names utility box mural on Schwenk Drive, discussed and reflected on all they were learning, had guest speakers share their experiences, and teamed up with local florists and artists to share the Say Their Names Memorial along the fence at the greenhouse and farm. Visit the Memorial on Saturday Sept 26 or Sunday Sept 27, 12-5pm, for an opportunity to have a tour or ask questions of youth crew members.

In the second half of the show I pay homage to the Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg with a little help from Ruth herself, March Gallagher, Ruth Ungar and more.

Here is the information on this Sunday’s Healing event taking place at Academy Green Park in Kingston from 3-5pm. Come any time and stay as long or short as you’d like!

Today’s show was engineered by Manuel Blas of La Dosis Perfecta.

Our show music is from Shana Falana !!!

Feel free to email me, say hello: she@iwantwhatshehas.org

Leave me a voicemail with your thoughts or a few words about who inspires you! (845) 481-3429

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#137 Maria Elena Ferrer-Harrington “Artist and Consultant”

Maria Elena Ferrer-Harrington is the Executive Director of Humanamente — a diversity and inclusion consulting organization, Chair of the Athena Network New York — a psychosocial support network in the area of social services, health, and specifically in mental health, for immigrants experiencing psychological challenges related to the migratory process, a board member of the Family of Woodstock — a network of individuals whose mission is to provide confidential and fully accessible crisis intervention, information, prevention, and support services to address the needs of individuals and families, and a socially engaged artist.

Maria Elena has successfully facilitated migration-related workshops since 2004. As a member of the global Athena Network Association, Maria Elena has presented her work with immigrants at the network’s annual Migration and Mental Health congress in London, Rome, Berlin and Brussels. She introduced the concept of migratory mourning nationally in 2012, and has since led migratory-mourning panel discussions at several conferences.

She is a member of the Arts Mid-Hudson Advisory Board, and has been recently appointed by Kingston’s Mayor, Steve Noble, to the City Arts Commission. Maria Elena’s drawings and paintings were recently exhibited at the Muroff–Kotler Visual Arts Gallery at the State University of New York at Ulster awarding her the opportunity to show her artwork at highly regarded Plaza Gallery of the State University of New York in Albany in 2019. She juried the Cornell Creative Arts Center’s very first exhibition, “We’re All Humans,” and inaugurated The DRAW’s new studio at the Energy Square with her art installation, “Masking Identities: Rebuilding Deterritorialized Cultural Memories,” a deep dive into the complexity of the migrant’s narrative and experience. Both art shows are open to the public through October 2020.

Today she shares her own experience as a migrant, what migratory mourning is, the complexities of migration, rebirthing and of course ART!

Today’s show was engineered by Manuel Blas of La Dosis Perfecta.

Our show music is from Shana Falana !!!

Feel free to email me, say hello: she@iwantwhatshehas.org

Leave me a voicemail with your thoughts or a few words about who inspires you! (845) 481-3429

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#136 Gentrification

The subject of gentrification in our area has been an important one for several years and is reaching peak crisis now that there’s a great migration to our area from New York City. I wanted to better understand gentrification and how we can prevent its harmful effects and this show is highlighting what I’ve learned in pursuit of a better understanding of the situation. We hear from many women on this show via speeches I was able to source from the internet.

Stacey Sutton, Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Policy in the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs (CUPPA) at the University of Illinois Chicago. Her research focuses on worker cooperatives, economic democracy, equitable development, and racially disparate effects of place-based policy and planning. In a forthcoming study, titled “Cooperative Cities,” Stacey examines how municipal leaders are creating enabling environments for starting and sustaining worker-owned cooperatives and limitations of the local state in the cooperative movement. Other bodies of work focus on “Punitive Cities,” meaning the disparate impact of urban policies and place-based initiatives. This includes examining the impact of business improvement districts (BIDs) for small businesses in NYC and the impact of red light and speeding camera tickets on drivers across Chicago. Finally, Stacey examines interplay among race, gentrification and neighborhood change. This is reflected in an article on gentrification and racial transition in the Journal of Urban Affairs. It is also the premise of her book project titled, Buy Black: Race, Retail and the Politics of Neighborhood Business Survival, that examines neighborhood change through the lens of Black small business-owners. Stacey tells how business-owners were instrumental for revitalizing a Brooklyn neighborhood and how processes of gentrification, including the enactment and enforcement of land-use rules, building codes and other regulatory apparatus, hasten shop closure and upend community cohesion. Sutton holds a joint PhD in Urban Planning and Sociology from Rutgers University, and a MBA from New York University. Stacey Sutton, TedX NY 2015

Laura Flanders is an Izzy-Award winning independent journalist, a New York Times bestselling author and the recipient of the Pat Mitchell Lifetime Achievement Award from the Women’s Media Center. Laura Flanders Show on Radio Kingston. And in conjunction with Transformative Cities. Also, The Laura Flanders Show on Buffalo, NY and their 9 Points Vision for their city.

Makenna Marshall TEdX – New Urbanism and Privilege

The Real Kingston Tenant’s Union from the Walk for Black Lives in Kingston, NY on August, 26, 2020 with Rashida Tyler, Kwame Holmes and June Tienken.

Dr. Winifred Curran is an urban geographer. Her research has focused on understanding the effects of gentrification on the urban landscape, looking at labor, industrial retention, policing, environmental gentrification and the gendering of urban policy. She is the author if Gender and Gentrification (Routledge 2018) and co-editor, with Trina Hamilton, of Just Green Enough: Urban Development and Environmental Gentrification. 2016 TedX

You can get involved locally by joining the conversation at Say No to the Kingstonian PILOT.

Let me know if you have something to add to the conversation. We can do a part TWO if you want to!

Today’s show was engineered by Manuel Blas of La Dosis Perfecta.

Our show music is from Shana Falana !!!

Feel free to email me, say hello: she@iwantwhatshehas.org

Leave me a voicemail with your thoughts or a few words about who inspires you! (845) 481-3429

** Please: SUBSCRIBE to the pod and leave a REVIEW wherever you are listening, it helps other users FIND IT

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#135 “Universal Basic Income” with Keiko Sono and Diane Pagen

Today I am joined by Keiko Sono, artist and founder of Forged Art Collective, previously on the show last September, episode #87, who returns to talk more about Universal Basic Income (UBI) and the upcoming, Woodstock 20 March for the Future.

You can join in the Woodstock ’20: March for the Future by making art and music, and shape the future of humanity.

“On Saturday, September 19th, people all over the country will rise up and demand a society that is humanity first. No more profit over wellbeing. No more winners-take-all economy. No more accepting greed as the dominant force.

We demand Universal Basic Income, a fair share of the remarkable growth in productivity and wealth our world has enjoyed in the last 4 decades, most of it increasingly concentrated in fewer hands.

With UBI providing a secure base to hold us up, our potential will be free of the constraints that affect our mental and physical health, and we will not merely survive—we will thrive.

With our potential unleashed, we will create, share, and help each other, as the quarantine and pandemic cash aid showed. Universal Basic Income is an investment in our future with a big return—not ROI, but ROH: Return of Humanity.”

Keiko and I welcome Diane Pagen halfway through the show for your questions. She has been a social worker for New York City and a social policy analyst and writer for fourteen years. Diane was privileged to be mentored by and work with welfare expert and activist Theresa Funiciello from 2000 to 2008, and co-wrote The Adventures of Carrie Giver: The Cost of Caring with Theresa in 2007. Diane is a founding member of Basic Income Action and Basic Income NYC and working to build the Basic Income Movement with others. She writes and presents about the diversion of welfare block grants away from low-income people, and is meeting with people who are interested in stopping the systematic dismantling of the U.S. safety net. She has a BA in Languages from the Universidad de Puerto Rico and an Master of Social Work from Fordham University.

They answer questions about the importance of the “universal” in UBI, how it is to be funded, VAT, UBI’s effects on inflation, and more. They both shared many resources which I am listing below for your reference:

IncomeMovement.com

BasicIncomeMarch.com

BasicIncomeToday.com

BailOutThePeople.com

PoorPeoplesCampaign.org

Scott Santens on Inflation

Boston Basic Income (Alex Howlett)

Thanks ladies for doing this work and spreading this information!

Today’s show was engineered by Manuel Blas of La Dosis Perfecta.

Our show music is from Shana Falana !!!

Feel free to email me, say hello: she@iwantwhatshehas.org

Leave me a voicemail with your thoughts or a few words about who inspires you! (845) 481-3429

** Please: SUBSCRIBE to the pod and leave a REVIEW wherever you are listening, it helps other users FIND IT

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