Latest Content for Old Mole Variety Hour

The Old Mole's Literary Critic Larry Bowlden review  Portland writer Tom Spanbauer's 2006 coming of age novel Now Is the Hour about a boy growing up and away from his small hometown.  Larry finds that Spanbauer "captures both the humor and the heartache of trying to grow... Read more

Joe Clement hosts and we hear: Bill Resnick talks with Yong Zhao of the University of Oregon. They compare and contrast the Chinese and US response to the failure of high-stakes testing and the neoliberal education paradigm. Frann Michel and Iven Hale review the l... Read more

Joe Clement speaks with two communist organizers, Stephanie Martin and Daniel Frontino Elash, about their plans to hold a meeting at Central Library 801 SW 10th (and Yamhill) on Monday June 23rd from 6-7pm in the US Bank Room. They are calling for local independent commu... Read more

Bill Resnick talks with Yong Zhao about high-stakes testing and related neoliberal education paradigms in China, and why there is resistance to it. They consider the danger of narrowing education with definitions of success tied to tests and quantifiable methods. Yong Z... Read more

Frann Michel and Iven Hale take a second critical look at the latest season of Orange is the New Black (click here to hear season one review). They discuss its potential merit, including just increasing the exposure of the prison industrial complex in popular culture, bu... Read more

Joe Clement hosts this episode about neoliberal education in the Chinese context, the latest season of Orange is the New Black, We Are BRAVE (a reproductive rights & justice project aimed at serving women of color), and a proposed Communist Party of Cascadia. Bill R... Read more

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Jan Haaken talks with Sophie Smith of People Helping People about their work with No More Deaths providing aid to migrants near the Us-Mexico border, and monitoring US Border Patrol Interior Checkpoints. They discuss the militarization of the border through the 1990s O... Read more

Bill Resnick reviews the players in current events, including the fundamentalist ISIS and secular Baathists, united for the moment against the corrupt Maliki government, but unlikely to remain united; he considers the questions of regional partition and resource control;... Read more

Jan Haaken talks with participants and organizers of an upcoming dance and drumming event, The Village, a collaboration among  Kukatonon Children’s African Dance Troupe, Sebe Kan West African Dance Company, & Baramokono Drumming Ensemble. They discuss the value of arts ... Read more