484. Mercedes Schneider

484. We talk to Mercedes Schneider about school 'reform'.  According to Mercedes, “'Corporate reform' is not reform at all. Instead, it is the systematic destruction of the foundational American institution of public education. The primary motivation behind this destruction is greed.

483. Tison Pugh

483. We talk to Tison Pugh about his Confederacy of Dunces article entitled, "Systemic Racism, Queer White Privilege, and the Carnivalesque Humor of John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces." "In the disparate circumstances facing his primary Black character, Burma Jones, and his primary gay White male character, Dorian Greene, Toole contrasts the imprisoning effects of systemic racism to the liberating pleasures of queer White privilege.

482. Ted Schirmer, "Defiance," part 2

Episode 482. Part 2 of our interview with Ted Schirmer about his memoir, Defiance. In the '70s, even twenty years after Brown v. Board of Education, LSU was still refusing to give up its racist past. While most students attending LSU were primarily focused on obtaining a better life through getting a college degree, some could not turn their backs on injustice.

481. Ted Schirmer, "Defiance," Part 1

481 Part 1 of our interview with Theodor "Ted" Schimer about his memoir, Defiance. In the '70s, even twenty years after Brown v. Board of Education, LSU was still refusing to give up its racist past. While most students attending LSU were primarily focused on obtaining a better life through getting a college degree, some could not turn their backs on injustice.

480. James 'Jed' Dobson

480. We talk to James 'Jed' Dobson on Samuel Clemens. Mark Twain wrote Life on the Mississippi, a memoir about his time as a cub river boat pilot. Twain's version of the Mississippi River has colored the way the nation looks at the river.

479. Katy Morlas Shannon, part 2.

479. Part 2 of our interview with Katy Morlas Shannon.Katy is returning to the podcast to talk about her new book, Antoine of Oak Alley: The Unlikely Origin of Southern Pecans and the Enslaved Man Who Cultivated Them. We also talk about here research into the portrait of Bélizaire and the Frey Children, which had the young black man Bélizaire painted out and then restored.

478. Katy Morlas Shannon, Part 1

478. Part 1 of our interview with Katy Morlas Shannon. Katy is returning to the podcast to talk about her new book, Antoine of Oak Alley: The Unlikely Origin of Southern Pecans and the Enslaved Man Who Cultivated Them. "The story of Antoine is emblematic of countless enslaved people whose lives and contributions have been overlooked. Antoine, the enslaved gardener of Oak Alley Plantation, was the first person to successfully propagate the pecan tree yet he exists only as a footnote in the bigger story of Oak Alley Plantation.