ABC Café

Interview with Taylor Small, Director of the Health & Wellness program at Pride Center of Vermont and current candidate for the Vermont House of Representatives. We talk about healthcare and housing as a human right, minimum wage, education, and defunding the Vermont State Police as a practical means to provide better services for our community.

Interview with Vermont State Representatives Selene Colburn, Diana González, and Brian Cina on their recent open letter to legislative colleagues calling to defund the Vermont State Police. They make the case to reduce the police budget by 20% and use those funds for strategic re-investments in Vermont's underrepresented, marginalized, and disenfranchised communities.

Show links:

https://selenecolburn.org/2020/06/10/a-call-to-defund-the-vermont-state-police/

https://www.versobooks.com/books/2426-the-end-of-policing (eBook version is free at the time this was published)

https://www.mpd150.com/star-tribune-editorial-we-must-look-beyond-police-for-community-safety/

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-017-0211-5

https://vtdigger.org/2020/06/12/legislative-leaders-signal-unwillingness-to-consider-defunding-state-police/

Interview with Helen Scott on fighting UVM's budget cuts, which hurt the lowest paid faculty and staff, even as a bloated administration sacrifices very little. Further, the cuts threaten the sustainability of the university by eroding its infrastructure. She proposes an alternative approach that is democratic, transparent, and progressive. Helen Scott is Professor of English at UVM. She is a member of United Academics AFT/AAUP and is District Vice President for Chittenden County with the Vermont AFL-CIO.

UVM Against the Cuts
https://www.facebook.com/groups/556061698629743/

Helen Scott's Blog Post
https://champlainvalleydsa.org/blog/fighting-the-cuts-at-uvm

VSCS Thrive
https://vscsthrive.org/

Interview with Dayna Stimson on the pros and cons of Vermont's response to Covid-19. Dayna, of Burlington, is a family nurse practitioner and a member of the Champlain Valley Democratic Socialists of America and Community Voices for Immigrant Rights.

Show links:
https://ethics.harvard.edu/Covid-Roadmap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhRQxk9QA-o&t=25s

https://dfr.vermont.gov/about-us/covid-19/modeling

https://champlainvalleydsa.org/blog/no-one-is-illegal-not-one-left-behind-time-to-escalate-the-fight-for-immigrant-rights

Interview with Linda Olson, President of the Vermont State Colleges Faculty Federation, AFT Vermont. We talk about the recent proposal to close three campuses of the Vermont State Colleges System, the road that led us here, and what can be done in response.

Discussed on the show:
VSCS Thrive (https://vscsthrive.org/) - An organization and a movement to protect and ensure the vitality of the Vermont State Colleges in perpetuity.

Upcoming meeting with Vermont educators and organizers.
Fund Vermont's Future: Join the Fight for Public Education
Wednesday, May 6
https://www.facebook.com/events/716850312465746/

Interview with Kris Nelson, co-founder of Rescue Club (Zero Gravity's new non-alcoholic beer) and co-founder of Citizen Cider. We talk about his new project at Zero Gravity, the difficulties faced by bars and restaurants during lockdown, life after Covid-19, and the beauty of fall.

This podcast is available for free, but if you'd like to support a cause we care about, please consider supporting our partners Revelry Theater (revelrytheater.com/donations).

Interview with Keegan Albaugh, founder and board member of the Dad Guild in Burlington, Vermont. We talk about the purpose of the Dad Guild, educating fathers, and the effects of Covid-19 on parenting.

https://www.dadguild.org/

Interview with Burlington Tenants Union representative Charles Winkleman. We talk about the effects of Covid-19 for renters in Burlington, the power dynamics of renters and owners, and how you can get involved.

An abbreviated write-up in this show will be published soon on the Champlain Valley DSA website. You can also visit the Burlington Tenants Union website to find out more information or contact them directly.

We also discussed Amazon's treatment of Christian Smalls.

In this episode we talk to Jenna Emerson about her work as a health and sexuality teacher at the University of Vermont. You'll probably learn some things about the birds and the bees (we did) and you'll get to hear one of her newest parody songs.

Jenna also serves (along with Anthony) on the board of directors for Revelry Theater (https://revelrytheater.com/).

Currently there's no real way to support this podcast, but we'd love it if you could head over to VTDigger (https://vtdigger.org/2020/04/01/3000masksin30days/) and help them raise 3000 masks in 30 days. This podcast is in no way affiliated with VTDigger; we just saw what they were doing and wanted to spread the word.