Monday morning, a shooter entered a Christian Elementary school and killed six people—three children and three adults. This is only one of many incidents of gun violence in the U.S. this year. To discuss, we SPOTLIGHT Shannon Watts. The day after the Sandy Hook tragedy, Shannon started a Facebook group with the message that all Americans can and should do more to reduce gun violence. The online conversation turned into grassroots movement of American mothers fighting for public safety measures that respect the Second Amendment and protect people from gun violence. Moms Demand Action has established a chapter in every state of the country and is part of Everytown for Gun Safety, the largest gun violence prevention organization in the country, with more than three million supporters. Media includes: The New York Times, Associated Press, MSNBC, CNN, NPR.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a delay to the judicial overhaul that triggered mass protests across Israel. The protests escalated after Netanyahu fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for calling for the government to halt its judicial system overhaul. To discuss, we FEATURE Naomi Chazan. Chazan is a Senior Research Fellow at the Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, where she co-chairs the Center for the Advancement of Women in the Public Sphere (WIPS) which she co-founded with Professor Hanna Herzog. She was a visiting professor of government at Harvard University and the University of Chicago and a research fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard. Media includes: The Jerusalem Post, Israel Broadcasting Authority.
NATO has condemned Putin's nuclear rhetoric as "dangerous and irresponsible." To discuss, we FEATURE Linda Pentz Gunter. Linda is an environmental leader who founded the international advocacy nonprofit – Beyond Nuclear – in 2007. She serves as the organization’s international specialist. As such, she networks with other anti-nuclear groups around the world, with a particular focus on her home nation of Great Britain as well as Europe, Japan and elsewhere. She also for nuclear weapons abolition. In addition, she works to draw attention to the human rights and environmental justice violations of the entire nuclear power and nuclear weapons sector. Media includes: The Hill, Truthout, Counterpunch, The Morning Star, Pressenza.
President Biden has called a state of emergency after storms moved across Mississippi and Alabama. More storms, and the possibility of tornadoes, are expected. To discuss, we FEATURE Tonya Cross Hansel. Hansel is an expert on resilience, technological disasters, disaster preparation, social and behavioral research. She joined the faculty of the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Department of Psychiatry in 2007 and now holds the position of Program Director of Doctorate of Social Work and Associate Professor. Her research efforts center on evaluation of general trauma services, disaster response work in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and toward a better understanding of technological disaster following the Deepwater Horizon Gulf Oil Spill. Extensive media experience.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has signed a bill that would protect abortion access and gender-affirming care. To discuss, we FEATURE Erin Matson. Erin is co-founder and executive director of Reproaction, a national group using bold action to increase access to abortion and advance reproductive justice. She served as action vice president for the National Organization for Women, and at age 23 she was elected to be the youngest NOW state president in the country. Erin serves on the steering committee of the American Society for Emergency Contraception, the board of directors of Catholics for Choice, and recently completed three terms on the NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia Foundation board of directors. Media includes: Al-Jazeera, Rewire News, Rolling Stone. PBS’ To The Contrary, MSNBC, CSPAN, ABC, BBC.
Vice President Kamala Harris is on a historic trip to Africa where she will be strengthening partnerships across the continent. To discuss, we FEATURE Donna A. Patterson. Patterson is a Professor and the Chair of the Department of History, Political Science, and Philosophy at Delaware State University. She also directs the Africana Studies program. Her research has taken her to a number of countries in Africa, Europe, and the Caribbean with the bulk of her work taking place in Senegal, Ethiopia, and France. Patterson is on the editorial advisory boards of Africa Today and the World Medical and Health Policy Journal. She is an Associate Review Editor for the American Historical Review. Patterson is the editor of the Routledge Research in Health and Healing in Africa and the African Diaspora and a fellow at the Wilson Center. Media includes: Slate, The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Al Jazeera, Globe and Mail, South China Morning Post, San Diego Union Tribune, ABC, CBS, PBS.
A Florida principal at a Christian Charter School has resigned following outcry from parents after students were shown a photo of Michaelangelo's statue of David, which they deemed to be pornography. To discuss, we FEATURE Emily J.M. Knox. Emily is an associate professor in the School of Information Sciences (the iSchool) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her areas of expertise include information access, censorship, book banning, libraries and librarianship, and information ethics. Emily is the author of Book Banning in 21st Century America and contributed a chapter on religion and intellectual freedom to the Library Juice Press Handbook of Intellectual Freedom: Concepts, Cases, and Theories. Extensive media experience.
Friday is International Transgender Day of Visibility. To discuss, we FEATURE Zahara Green. Zahara is the Founder and Executive Director of TRANScending Barriers, a trans-led group whose mission is to empower the transgender and gender non- conforming community in Georgia through community organizing with leadership building, advocacy, and direct services. Zahara spends most of her time working towards the liberation of her people. She was a formerly incarcerated trans women of color who spent 5 years incarcerated with most of her time in solitary confinement. Zahara’s experience inspired her as an advocate, as executive director of TRANScending Barriers, Zahara specializes in reducing the harms of the criminal punishment on transgender people. She’s working towards the liberation of her people. Media includes: Buzzfeed, Rolling Stone, INTO.
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. To discuss, we FEATURE Andrea L. Pino-Silva. Andrea is a public scholar on issues of global gender based violence, media framing of violence, portrayals of gender and sexuality and Latinx identity, and narratives of survivorhood. She is co-author of “We Believe You: Survivors of Campus Sexual Assault Speak Out,” and Co-Founder of the national survivor advocacy organization End Rape on Campus, where she worked for over five years to support students in learning their rights under Title IX, and in changing their campus sexual assault and harassment policies. Her work and personal journey is prominently featured in the film The Hunting Ground, which premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, and she appeared alongside Lady Gaga and 50 other survivors at the 2016 Academy Awards. Andrea is currently doing doctoral studies in American Studies at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, pursuing research on the framing of gender-based violence survivor movements and global community led solutions to violence. Media includes: The New Republic, Vogue, New York Magazine, MSNBC.
To commemorate the last week of Women's History Month, we FEATURE Erin Hill. Hill worked in film development in New York and Los Angeles before undertaking study of the media industry. Her primary interest is in historical and contemporary media production in the United States, with particular focus on intersecting issues of gender, race and class in creative labor sectors. Her first book, Never Done: A History of Women's Work in Media Production, examines the role of feminized labor in U.S. film and television production from the 1890s to the present and draws connections to the ongoing struggles of women and people of color in integrating key creative fields in contemporary Hollywood. Hill is an associate professor at UCSD where she teaches courses on American film history, history of broadcasting, feminist production history, media industry labor, contemporary Hollywood business practices, and race, gender and labor in media production, cultures of production in creative industries, science fiction films, comedy on TV/in media, and media theory. Extensive media experience.















