Friday, April 26, 2013

Decade War

To download an audio file (save it on your hard disk): Click on this link for instructions.

New World Notes News
Vol. 6, No. 17 -- April 26, 2013


This week in New World Notes, radio program #269, April 30, 2013

Decade War

"Obama in Vietghanistan," by George Latuff (2009)

In brief

March 2013 saw the tenth anniversity of the US-led war against Iraq. So this seemed like a good time to air selections from Decade War--Skidmark Bob's 2011 audio collage on the horrors and futility of the US's recent wars.

We'll hear an engaging mix of Hollywood film clips, TV news, new and old music--and a good British documentary about the experiences of soldiers, in a doomed outpost in Afghanistan, slowly being wiped out by the Taliban.

Musical highlights include a stunning update of Country Joe's "Feels Like I'm Fixin' to Die"--plus original (1965) and punk-rock versions of "Eve of Destruction."

Bob's original audio extravaganza is here shortened, edited, and (after some deft censoring) suitable for radio broadcast.


Notes, credits, & links

Skidmark Bob produces the radio show & podcast, PoP dEFECT RADIO. More info. and download links at his blog, http://popdefectradio.blogspot.com/ .

The uncut and uncensored hour-long version of Decade War is available via the installment's blog page.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "thumb") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford.

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. The show is archived at both radio4all.net and (from #90 onwards) The Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio. See the gray sidebar on the right ("CONTENTS [Links]") for a table of contents.

Series overview:
Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.

 Baghdad, March 2003

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • May 7 -- TBA
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):
A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net

Friday, April 19, 2013

Love and Death

To download an audio file (save it on your hard disk): Click on this link for instructions.

New World Notes News
Vol. 6, No. 15 -- April 19, 2013


This week in New World Notes, radio program #268, April 23, 2013

Love and Death


In brief

A cockeyed look at love and death--from 10 Downing Street to the mean streets of Steubenville, Ohio.

For Death, we look at the late UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, her awful legacy--and how millions of Brits celebrated her passing by driving "Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead" nearly to the top of the pop charts. And we play parts of a newly-released musical bashing of Thatcher by Chumbawamba.

For Love, we read a great essay on the Steubenville rape case--and why gays should think twice before adopting the heterosexuals' institutions of sex, courtship, and marriage.

"Heterosexuality in high school is not pretty," advises
Joanne Wypijewski--and Steubenville is Anytown, USA.

Notes, credits, & links

I've edited and condensed Joanne Wypijewski's essay on Steubenville, "Primitive Heterosexuality." The uncut original is here.

I'm told that Chumbawamba recorded "In Memoriam: Margaret Thatcher" in 2005 and released it upon her death (April 8). The complete version is available on radio4all.net.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "table") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford.

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. The show is archived at both radio4all.net and (from #90 onwards) The Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio. See the gray sidebar on the right ("CONTENTS [Links]") for a table of contents.

Series overview:
Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.

Chumbawamba

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • April 30 -- Skidmark Bob on the Iraq-Afghanistan Wars
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):
A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net

Friday, April 12, 2013

Puberty Rites

To download an audio file (save it on your hard disk): Click on this link for instructions.

New World Notes News
Vol. 6, No.14 -- April 12, 2013


This week in New World Notes, radio program #267, April 16, 2013

Puberty Rites

A public part of the puberty rites for girls of the
Ashanti ethnic group of Ghana

In brief

Our culture lacks--and very much needs--"puberty rites" for adolescents, such as civilized societies have. These ceremonies
  • teach kids adult roles
  • reinforce community values
  • celebrate sexuality
  • define the licit and illicit
  • increase social cohesion
  • help teens through a difficult period
  • justify a big party
  • honor the gods
  • etc.
I'll describe the rites of Ghana's Ashanti people, play 2 songs and a 1958 health-class movie for girls, and discuss why puberty rites won't soon be coming to the U.S.

Christian "Confirmation" class in the United States. Confirmation is a sort of "coming-of-age" ceremony but a really poor excuse for a puberty rite. The white gowns are a tip-off.

Notes, credits, & links

This program was originally broadcast in September 2008 (as NWN #31--no blog entry available).

Includes 2 songs of comic satire: Tom Lehrer, "Be Prepared!"; Roy Zimmerman, "Nothing But the Best [For Our Little Girl]"

Movie is Molly Grows Up (1958)

The complete article on puberty rites in Ghana (which I read in part) is here: http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/tribes/puberty_rites.php .

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "First Floor") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford.

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. The show is archived at both radio4all.net and (from #90 onwards) The Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio. See the gray sidebar on the right ("CONTENTS [Links]") for a table of contents.

Series overview:
Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.
The worst puberty rite ever: the parental "birds and bees" lecture.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • April 23 -- TBA
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):
A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net

Friday, April 5, 2013

A World Without Cheap Oil: Changes We Need to Make

New World Notes #266, for Tuesday April 6 (WHUS):

Broadcast Quality MP3 from our normal server (radio4all.net).

In case of difficulty, here's another copy from a different server (archive.org).

J.H. Kunstler in (he believes) a doomed setting: Suburbia

In Brief:

In this classic speech, urbanist JAMES HOWARD KUNSTLER explores some of the changes America will have to make to deal with a world of less oil and much more expensive oil. All these changes will be difficult--but some sound better than what we have now. Commuter rail lines, Main Street stores, and no more Wal-Mart? Sounds OK so far. (Conflict with China over who gets Canada's oil? Possibly not so good.