Bob Queen, CEO, Creator and Event Coordinator for the Sessions at McPike Park came into the studio to talk to Gil Halsted about the August Sessions and the music and comedy planned to entertain us as we head toward September.

Gil prompts Bob to talk about Gambian artist Sona Jobarteh’s discovery of a Kora being used as wall decoration at her music school in London which prompted her to switch from playing the cello to concentrating on the kora. He also talks about her music academy in Gambia where she focuses her efforts when not performing.

Comedian Mary Mack joins Bob and Gil from Port Wing to talk about her part in the August 11th and 12th Sessions and preview some cartoon voice-overs she recently worked on. Check out Mary’s work and her appearances on the Jimmy Fallon Show on YouTube if you want to get an idea of what’s in store for the late-night sessions that start at 9:45.

Bob also talks about Sarah Borges and Sarah Shook, and he promises they will delight Sessions audiences. But then time ran out before he was able to discuss the full range of talent that will be on display on August 11th and 12th and on the 16th and 17th.  For full details, go to sessionsatmcpikepark.org.

Before he left, Bob reminded us all that Dakha Brakha will be back in Madison for their eighth visit on November 2nd at the Capitol Theater in the Overture Center and there will be a dance floor. Check with Bob for group tickets.

It's Not Over Yet!

Strides for Africa’s 14th Annual Run/Walk is a fun and family friendly event for all ages to participate and help make global impact. On August 19, 2023 at McPike Park in Madison at 10:00 AM, this event kicks off Africa Fest 2023. 

There are many options available to participants: a 5K run, a 5K walk, a unique Team Relay simulating gathering water in rural Africa, a 1.5 mile fun walk and a kids fun run. 

The Strides for Africa clean water, education and health projects in Africa provide participants a unique opportunity to fund positive outcomes in rural African communities. These outcomes include improved health, empowered youth, and ultimately transformed African communities. 

On the local level, participants and supporters have the opportunity to be global citizens while having so much fun.

Every dollar raised goes directly to water projects in Africa. Last year Strides for Africa carried out 9 community-driven, sustainable clean water projects in both East and West Africa with reliable local partners.

Read about them on the Strides for Africa website, www.stridesforafrica.org/ and sign up to participate or come to McPike Park at 9:00 AM for in-person registration. Then enjoy your choice of activities.

You can also get involved in helping with the race at the site or by emailing strides4africa@yahoo.com. Read about it at the website, https://www.stridesforafrica.org/runwal and scroll down to the bottom of the page.

Strides for Africa

14th Annual Strides For Africa August 19th

Pat Diehl is a gardener and organizer at the Leopold Park Community
Garden in Madison. 

Originally from California, she shares fond memories of
picking beans with her family, learning to garden, and starting school
gardens in Oakland. She also speaks of her love for the restorative power of
gardening.

Pat Diehl (English): Rooted In Land, Preserving Through Generations

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Iva Sidash was a young photojournalist living in Lviv, Ukraine, near the border with Poland. Waking to find her country at war, she went to the train stations to see crowds of Ukrainians leaving the country to seek safety. 

There were families with the belongings they could carry, parents sending their children to safety while they planned to stay, fathers saying goodbye to children before they went to fight, mothers with babies and all varieties of departures and leave-taking.

Rather than leaving and since Lviv was relatively calm, Iva decided to stay and use her camera to document the transformation of her country at war. She photographed faces in the windows of the departing trains, she went to the Polish border to see people waiting in long lines for interminable hours to enter Poland and talked to them and photographed them, she talked to friends and neighbors about what was happening and indeed did document the disruption of life as Ukrainians had known it into something new, different and disquieting.

Eventually she went further afield and spent time in combat zones and cities that had been lost but recovered by Ukrainian forces, ruined cities and rural areas pockmarked by combat, all the while speaking with the people she found at those sites and documenting their reality with her camera. 

She shared her photos on Facebook and Instagram and people began to notice. She has thousands of followers on social media and has exhibited her work and won awards and acclaim.

She got a scholarship to study photography in New York and a Facebook friend in Wisconsin invited her to visit and exhibit her photography here. She’s on that visit now and will open her first solo exhibit at UW-Whitewater on Tuesday, September 26th which will be up until October 20th. That will be in the Student Center at Roberta’s Gallery. 

On Thursday, September 28th she will give a talk at the UW-Madison in Room 206 Ingraham Hall on Bascom Hill (1155 Observatory Drive) at 4:00 pm and present and talk about her photos.

Iva's War

WORT’s World View longtime collective members Marc Becker and Norman Stockwell spoke with independent journalist Amelia Rayno, who is based in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Rayno talks about her transformation from print journalist at the Minneapolis Star Tribune to independent journalist, following her curiosity about humans and their condition and writing about it all. 

Since late 2022 she’s been living in Argentina, teasing out the reality of the Argentine condition with herself in the midst of it. 

She has created an online documentary series, “Dark Legacy,” about the history of U.S. involvement in Argentina and our government's role in precipitating the country's current financial crisis.

Amelia Rayno on Argentina

Wedding for Sophie 2024 

Is It Cold
Is It Cold In The Water
I'm Dreaming 
Is it Cold
In the Water
I love you Sophie

WEDDING FOR SOPHIE

Wedding for Sophie

Two Saturdays ago, Noble Knight Games, a Fitchburg game store, hosted an unusual tournament. 

The tournament pitted Star War fans against each other in a tabletop game. 

The winner gets a chance to compete in Adepticon - the world convention of table top games - in Schaumburg, Illinois later this spring.

Photo courtesy of Charlie Belawski and WORT News

Fitchburg Game Store Hosts Star Wars Tournament

An assortment of interviews and live music clips from Golden Fest in Queens NY, May 11, 2024, by WORT FM Madison WI "Global Revolutions" host Dan Talmo

Golden Fest Interviews

Last week a Wisconsin state legislature study committee held their first meeting to look at the University of Wisconsin school system. The committee will meet over the next few months before publishing their findings later this year.

Here to discuss the committee's work is Representative Alex Joers, a democrat from Middleton who is serving on the committee, and Professor Neil Kraus, who works at UW-River Falls and has written a book about neoliberalism in higher ed.

In their discussion of the new committee, they touch on the way students and staff have been excluded from serving on the committee, how the rhetorics of austerity persist despite a large state budget surplus, and how the findings of the committee are likely to be skewed under the current Republican leadership in the legislature.

Image courtesy of Brian Standing / WORT News Department

Rep. Alex Joers and Prof. Neil Kraus on the shortcomings of the new committee on higher education

Chali Pittman, News Director at WORT, joined Thursday 8 O'Clock Buzz host Tony Castañeda from the Republican National Convention for a recap of the Wednesday's events and speakers. The day's focus on foreign policy and immigration culminated with the appearance of Trump's VP pick Senator JD Vance (OH) who was, until recently, a vocal critic of Trump.

Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler joins Chali and Tony for the second half of the show, sharing his perspective on the GOP's new "pro-labor" position, their softened language on abortion, and promise of mass deportations of unauthorized immigrants. 

WORT's live daily coverage from the GOP convention is made possible through a collaboration with Milwaukee's Riverwest Ratio WXRW-LP, WBAI in New York and Pacifica Radio. For more information, check out We Decide: Live Coverage of the 2024 Election.

Photo credit: Sara Gabler

Live From Milwaukee, It's the GOP Convention!

Listener-sponsored, volunteer-powered, noncommercial community radio broadcasting to south-central Wisconsin at 89.9 FM and online at wortfm.org via our studios in Madison. 

We provide an outlet for communication, education, free expression, entertainment, training and access for the purpose of sharing music, information, news, and cultural experiences, and strive to give people underrepresented elsewhere in traditional media a voice. 

NOTE: Most of the content posted at this time are news stories or talk shows. 

MUSICIANS:  We NEVER look on our SoundCloud for music submissions, so it's not a very efficient way to contact us. Please go to www.wortfm.org and click on Music --> Music Submissions for our submission info and guidelines. Thanks and we look forward to hearing your music!

It's Not Over Yet!

WORT 89.9FM Madison

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