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Sabrina Artel's Trailer Talk can now be heard every Friday at 2pm on WJFF Radio Catskill 90.5FM in Jeffersonville, New York.
Trailer Talk is a public conversation that always includes many more people during the live event than are included in the audio program. In all cases the audio program which is the secondary component of the Trailer Talk project is only a portion of the conversations shared at my mobile kitchen table. I am grateful to all of the participants during Trailer Talk both inside and outside of the trailer. Everyone who participates in Trailer Talk is important to both the live and the recorded audio event. Thanks so much to everyone for joining in on the conversations!
If you like what you hear, please consider making a contribution to Sabrina Artel's Trailer Talk. Click on the donate button to make a credit card donation online via PayPal. Thank you!
Cars Cars Cars! 11.28.08
This week's road session:
This 70's wagon is very much like the station wagon that started my road trip desires. My mom would get up early to make a variety of sandwiches(PB & J yum!), gather the maps and then my sister, Great Aunt and I would all stake out our territory inside the roomy car. I got the way back.We'd spend summers crisscrossing the USA, singing songs and playing the "I see something" game. So in the spirit of adventure and spending time with loved ones have a wonderfully delicious holiday week. Safe travels!
I'm very rich in root vegetables that my generous neighbors have given me from their farms in Sullivan County, NY. How grateful I am to be surrounded by fertile land and so many organic farms. But as I share with you my piece Cars Cars Cars and my love of road trips I ask you to join the Trailer Talk family in helping the little Beeline and I get back on the road. You've all been so generous and because of your donations I'm almost there. I only need $5,500 more dollars to replace the broken down JEEP and get back on the road.Duration: 28:48
Download Cars Cars Cars! 11.28.08
Joan Osborne Queen of Rock 11.21.08
This week's road session: She rocks, sings the blues, she does jazz and even the Grateful Dead. This Tennessee born small-town girl spoke to me in Livingston Manor, NY. Her voice sang out over the Sullivan County Catskills, over the mountains and I understood why many call her, six time Grammy nominee, Joan Osborne, the Queen of Music. Please join me in celebrating her newest release, Little Wild One.
Duration: 28:42
Download Joan Osborne Queen of Rock 11.21.08
Hats Off Mimi Weddell 11.14.08
"Grace is... You dance as you walk through life. If you don't dance, you cannot aspire. You do not lift up from this earth." - Mimi Weddell
This week's road session:
Well, you see, perhaps she is always watching, and perhaps these elders in our life are more important than this society of ours claims. What if we valued the elderly even when they can't walk, even when they lose their speech, even when it's no longer convenient for this consumer, disposable culture of ours to consume the relationship?
What if we put our ear to their lips and gazed into each other's eyes more often? I don't know. Perhaps I'd free myself from my own fear of aging, my own definitions of success and failure, and that destructive belief that youth is the part of our life that is the most valuable. Join me in meeting Mimi Weddell, an amazingly gorgeous and inspiring 93 year old. Hats Off is a documentary film celebrating Mimi's life.
Duration: 28:53
Download Hats Off Mimi Weddell 11.14.08
Obama Wins 11.7.08
Oh yes we did show up and vote. Hope did win on Tuesday night and this is a new day for America and myself. We waited in lines and helped people who were waiting and knocked on doors and made phone calls. We text messaged and e-mailed, we marched, donated and prayed. Hell yes, we did turn out in record numbers to vote. The racism and sexism that got flung out there, although painful and often shocking has been necessary to confront and to talk about. I’m grateful to be a witness to history and to see the Civil Rights movement express itself so powerfully by the election of our first African American President. When Obama took Pennsylvania I gasped and hollered knowing that the spirits of the 1963 March on Washington, the March on Selma, Martin Luther King’s last speech forty years ago, the lines of first-time voters in South Africa to vote for Nelson Mandela were with us.
That oozy heavy film from eight years under the Bush administration is falling off. I hadn’t even realized how exhausted I have been from the betrayal of everything that I value and that makes me feel proud to be an American. The collective humiliation of our citizenry has been relentless but so has the mass organizing and sustained struggle.
Seeing Oprah and Jesse Jackson crying in the crowd estimated at one hundred and twenty-five thousand in Grant Park mirrored my personal experience of cheering and crying in Monticello, NY with two hundred neighbors.
It is stunning that a democratic country has such low voter turnout because of disenfranchisement, voicelessness and invisibility but in this election there was an eighteen percent higher voter turnout. In Ohio eight hundred thousand, yes 800,000 more people voted. Florida even went blue.
Just as the legal barriers that made it possible for us to have an African American President were passed in 1965 but it took many years of struggle for the psychological barriers to be broken that have now in this 21st century enabled us to have our first African American President we will need to continue the fight for the rights of the LGBT community and others allowing the transformation towards human rights to evolve.
Barack Obama Launches A New Website, change.gov, where you can share your story of the campaign, of election night and your ideas for the future of America. Amazing, am I dreaming?
Duration: 29:31
Download Obama Wins 11.7.08
Wally Lamb, "Couldn't Keep it to Myself" 10.24.08
This week's road session:
One in 100 people in the United States are in prison. What are the circumstances that lead to incarceration and what issues are facing women within this massive system? Statistics reveal that 70% of women within the U.S. prison system have been the victims of incest.
I'd like to share a conversation I had with author Wally Lamb about his book, "I Couldn't Keep It To Myself: Testimonies of Our Imprisoned Sisters" by Wally Lamb & the Women of York Correctional Facility, a maximum security prison in Connenticut. Wally talks about giving back and how fortunate he is to be hearing these women's voices. The conversation gives rise to many difficult questions: What kind of change is possible when we listen to the often ignored and voiceless? With knowledge comes responsibility, so what can we do to improve the often-inhumane situation of our prison system and the reasons that bring people there?
The book explores the power of writing to support the idea of rehabilitation in this prison industrial complex that is rapidly growing in America. Since Wally and I had our conversation, he's edited a second book of essays from the women of York Prison; and his highly anticipated next novel, "The Hour I First Believed" will be available November 11th. In case you haven't read Wally Lamb's novels, please run to your local bookstore and dive into his incredible stories that remind us that the heart is the center of the universe. Wally Lamb is the author of the best-selling novels, "She's Come Undone" and "I KnowThis Much Is True". His writing reminds us that humanity is often found where no one looks for it.
Some other people who are dedicating their lives to our voiceless neighbors are: Jody Lewen, Angela Davis and Rhodessa Jones. Thank you Robin Cullen and Tabatha Rowley, former inmates at York Prison, for so generously sharing your experiences with me, too.
Fortune cookie says: "More empathy, better world."
Duration: 29:27
Download Wally Lamb, "Couldn't Keep it to Myself" 10.24.08
Obama Rally Monticello, New York 10.17.08
This week's road session, Coming to you from small town America:
I live in small town America and want to make it clear that we here in these small towns are diverse and not singularly defined. The culture wars cannot simply be defined by ideas of urban and rural, and my experience of living in the country has been one of inclusivity, community care, complexity and organizing.
Since I was born in a large city (Houston), grew up in another mega-city (Los Angeles) and spent years in NYC before moving to sparsely populated Sullivan County in the Catskills of upstate New York, where my village of Liberty has 3,700 people, I have the perspective of being both an insider and an outsider and a non-local full-timer. With my Trailer Talk project I have been bringing conversation to the streets and the project continues to explore who we are, In These Mountains, On the Line and Looking for Liberty among them.
Over homemade treats at the kitchen table of my 1965 Bee Line travel trailer, I have been having frank conversations about issues that are important to us. Please join me for some of my recent talks. Last week I went to an Obama Rally at the Courthouse Square in Monticello (county seat), N.Y., where I was inspired by the community organizing, the performers and the hopefulness in these challenging times for the Obama/Biden ticket. I spoke to "staunch" Republicans who will vote for Obama. So if that's not hopeful, I don't know what is? On Sunday I went to the tiny hamlet of North Branch, N.Y. where a benefit was being held for the grassroots group Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy that formed around the concern about the possibility of natural gas drilling in our neighborhoods.
Next stop, the ENVIROFEST at the Black Bear Film Festival in Milford, PA. As always, all viewpoints are welcome, come on in.
Duration: 29:16
Download Obama Rally Monticello, New York 10.17.08
Elisa Young Speaks Out, No Coal is Clean, Kayford Mountain, WV 10.10.08
Photo by Donna Binder.
This week's road session:
"We're just going to have to work to create the kind of future we want", Elisa Young speaks out. Elisa joined me late one night this summer on Kayford Mountain West Virginia at the Mountainkeepers Music Festival hosted by Larry Gibson. This is a continuing series from the conversations on the mountaintop. Her Ohio hometown has four coal-fired power plants surrounding them and very high cancer rates. The coal companies (clean coal, NOT!) want to build five more, along with several other coal-dependent industries and intensive mining. If this happens it would become the largest concentration of coal plants in the USA. The grassroots group that she founded is fighting back.
Elisa is organizing a work session the last weekend of October where they are building a straw-bale house on her family farm. Elisa was awarded an international award in 2006 (Women's Peace Power Foundation) for community organizing efforts and taking media, activists, and those pushing for social change on "True Cost of Coal Tours." The straw-bale building will be used for sleeping and teaching space, in addition to being used as an educational space to strengthen the connection between the students who want to make a difference on the coal issues and her community in Southwestern Ohio by setting up community service projects, organizing work and seminars. If you want to bring Elisa to your neighborhood to speak about what the coal industry is really doing to people's lives please give her a call (740-416-2694). Thank you Elisa!
Duration: 28:23
Download Elisa Young Speaks Out, No Coal is Clean, Kayford Mountain, WV 10.10.08
They’re Back, NYRI: No Power Lines 10.3.08
This week's road session: Coming to you from Small Town America...Well, I've been talking to people about the elections, their worries and the economic crunch facing so many of us. Tomorrow I'll be at an Obama Rally in Monticello, NY. Even my little Bee Line is worried that we won't be able to travel to talk to folks because (just like me) the Jeep pulling the Bee is getting older. Amazing mechanic Kenny who can resuscitate anything is ready to give last rites to my towing vehicle. I may be the only one out there looking for a truck or SUV so if any one has a suggestion to keep us on the road, please give a holler.
i
So, they're back! Let your voice be heard.
The New York Public Service Commission is ready to start making a decision about NYRI and the Power Lines. The public hearings start on October 20th. Our elected officials are outraged. Looking at the connection between the Power Lines fight and the current land grab for natural gas drilling we have numerous environmental threats to our Catskills. I spoke to over 25 upstate NY residents late in to the night, including our lawmakers, Senator John Bonacic, Assembly Member Aileen Gunther and Congressman Maurice Hinchey's representative, Chris White. Four hundred people gathered at this grassroots effort to stop a private company, NYRI, from destroying the Delaware River scenic corridor with power lines and even charging local residents impacted by the destruction.
Is FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) corrupt?
Duration: 29:20
Download They’re Back, NYRI: No Power Lines 10.3.08
Farm Sanctuary - A Benefit for Compassion 9-26-08
This week's road session:
Oh yes, Moby "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?" Well, as I was singing to his music as I was putting this show together I'm thinking about how lucky I am during this very difficult time. The leaves are turning their gorgeous autumn colors in the Catskills and I'm bursting with the conversations I had with Moby, Gloria Steinem, Russell Simmons and Martina Navratilova at the Farm Sanctuary, "Benefit for Compassion" at the Jivamukti Yoga Center in NYC. Just being around people taking action for compassion was uplifting. Thank you Sharon Gannon and David Life of Jivamukti.
Duration: 27:28
Download Farm Sanctuary - A Benefit for Compassion 9-26-08
Ed Wiley on Kayford Mountain,WV Mountain Keepers Music Festival 9.19.08
Photo by Donna Binder
This week's road session:
Please let me introduce, Ed Wiley a former Massey Coal employee who has become an advocate for the environment and is now trying to stop Mountaintop Removal. He has seen and done what the Coal/Energy companies do and takes full responsibility for the lives he damaged and the unreported shortcuts he took while an employee of the energy industry. He set up Pennies of Promise to save the children of Marsh Fork Elementary in the Coal River Valley in West Virginia from the dangerous coal dust from the coal loading silo that sits next to the school. He's helped set up sister fundraising programs in other schools across the country.
Any takers?
We're footing the bill, once again for the bad decisions and the greed of the corporations. I'm no economist but I can see that we're in a big financial mess and we've got to stick together in our towns and neighborhoods to take care of each other. I cried with many of my guests when Trailer Talk traveled to the coalfields of West Virginia this summer. I was invited by concerned citizen (hero) Larry Gibson to his home on Kayford Mountain which is about half an hour outside of Charleston to see what the true cost of coal (substitute oil or natural gas here too) really is and what individuals are doing to fight back. In the middle of Appalachia (small town America!), I saw Obama signs everywhere and repeatedly the folks I met, whether a Marine, a retired coal miner, a former MTR employee, a church-goer or a mother stated that things have to change.
Please tune in!
Special thanks to The Homestead School in Glen Spey, New York, for their generous support which made my trip to West Virginia possible.
Duration: 29:30
Download Ed Wiley on Kayford Mountain,WV Mountain Keepers Music Festival 9.19.08
Good Catholic Girls 9.12.08
And again my conversation with Angela Bonavoglia, author of GOOD CATHOLIC GIRLS: HOW WOMEN ARE LEADING THE FIGHT TO CHANGE THE CHURCH because, I'm begging for the separation of church and state and am stunned at proof of all of the god legislation, of "more of the same", of fundamentalist views exploding as a viable possibility for the next administration. What does this mean for us as a country?
Duration: 28:12
Download Good Catholic Girls 9.12.08
Delaware Valley Raptor Center 9.12.08
This week's road session:
Have you ever looked in to the eyes of a tiny owl or heard that otherworldly hoot at night? I heard the song of an owl last night outside my window that was outlined by the shadow of the evergreens. It's not often that I hear their hooting cry and only once did I see the huge still eyes of a Barn Owl looking at me from the Hemlock tree. I had the delight of having Raptor Rehabilitator, Bill Streeter and Mortimer, a Sawwhett Owl from the Delaware Valley Raptor Center join me at the kitchen table.
I have been tossing and turning in a cold sweat since the RNC last week as I hear the deafening voices chanting Drill Baby Drill!, about people gathering to bring us more pipelines and nuclear plants, about a VP candidate fighting to ignore the cries of drowning polar bears as she sits with big oil. You see, a world without these white beasts and what they represent, without gentleness and understanding, without honesty and with shocking lies is unbearable, hence the sleepless nights. Thanks you Bill for the rescue work that you do and the appreciation and respect for wildlife that you share with us.
Duration: 14:55
Download Delaware Valley Raptor Center 9.12.08
Amy Goodman, The Exception to the Rulers 9.5.08
This week's road session:
As I get reports about police harassment at the RNC, arrests to non-violent protesters and credentialed journalists, here's a refresher: Bill of Rights Amendment I. Amy Goodman of Democracy Now, a fully credentialed journalist was arrested, along with two other Democracy Now journalists during the RNC on September 1, 2008, in addition to other journalists and concerned citizens.
Here's to the artists and the activists raising their voices, to the independent journalists mucking it out in the face of violence so that they can be our eyes and ears and bring us the critical information for keeping our democracy alive and to those taking action after a long work day, spending their own hard-earned money to get to the conventions and ensure that important issues remain on the table during this election year. Go, go, go...!
I spoke to Amy Goodman (and Malachy McCourt & Tim Robbins) about her book, The Exception to the Rulers.
Duration: 28:52
Download Amy Goodman, The Exception to the Rulers 9.5.08
Naked republicans 8.29.08
Wow, as they say a picture is worth a thousand words so, here's to putting our flag back in the right direction. I speak with author Shelley Lewis about her book, Naked Republicans A Full Frontal Exposure of Hypocrisy and Greed and Jimmie Morris who lost his home because of Hurricane Katrina; as we remember Katrina on its anniversary today.
We want to hear you: a little bit louder one, a little bit louder two...
Duration: 29:29
Download Naked republicans 8.29.08
Moving Mountains 8.22.08
Photo by Donna Binder
This week's road session:
O beautiful, for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties...
Trailer Talk traveled to the coalfields of West Virginia this summer. I was invited by concerned citizen (hero) Larry Gibson to his home on Kayford Mountain which is about half an hour outside of Charleston. Where do I begin? I've been struggling with what I saw and with the painful conversations I had during this July 4th weekend event which brought together Larry's family in a yearly family reunion, concerned citizens, environmental advocates and activists who are all being impacted by the Mountaintop Removal Sites that surrounded us up on Kayford Mountain. During the Mountain Keepers Music Festival on the mountain I spoke to people for three days as they shared their complex struggles; economic, spiritual and physical with me. I'm putting together programs from these conversations that I'll be featuring in the coming months. Jen Osha is one of the many inspiring people that I met on the mountaintop so I'd like to share with you excerpts from a CD, Moving Mountains: Voices of Appalachia Rise Up Against Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining that she produced. Please check out the CD, the proceeds benefit local WV activism. Thanks to all the people of Kayford for their hospitality and their dedication!
Special thanks to The Homestead School in Glen Spey, New York, for their generous support which made my trip to West Virginia possible.
Duration: 29:04
Download Moving Mountains 8.22.08
Gas Drilling Forum, Oh Catskills and Your Marcellus Shale Pt 2, 8.15.08
Okay, I'm back after last week's Radio Catskill Fund-drive with Part Two.
Marcellus Shale! These two words fill me with dread now. The energy companies and their land men are infiltrating my neighborhood and I'm very upset. It's like an army is approaching and we're the target. I was raised(on my Texan side) with the romantic notion of "finding oil" and laughing at The Beverly Hillbillies, Dynasty and so on; not understanding the true cost of any energy extraction. The "American Dream" of striking gold, of hitting oil on your land and of getting rich overnight still frames our desires. The land grab, gas play, and drilling speculation are on in the Catskills and it ain't pretty. Catskills residents share their fear, their concern and their frustration at being faced with a sense of inevitability about the presence of gas wells. The energy companies will do whatever it takes to profit so it's up to us to protect our land, and thereby our future.
I brought Trailer Talk to the Gas Drilling Forum at the Liberty High School in Liberty, NY that was co-sponsored by Catskill Mountainkeeper and the Sullivan County Division of Planning and Environmental Management where people joined me at the kitchen table for hours. What are the impacts? Pictured below are Ramsay Adams, the Executive Director of Catskill Mountainkeeper and Chris White, the Representative for Congressman Maurice Hinchey. Thank you all as we continue fighting to protect these precious mountains and our quality of life. We need to stick together and not allow the energy companies to divide us. Some other groups doing amazing work to keep the commuinity informed, Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy, an Damascus Citizens for Sustainability and the Delaware Highlands Conservancy
Duration: 29:01
Download Gas Drilling Forum, Oh Catskills and Your Marcellus Shale Pt 2, 8.15.08
Hillary Carlip 8.1.08
"Mouse Traps, Cheese, Mouse..." Do you ever wonder who is shopping next to you? Hillary Carlip's imagination is always inspiring to me. Artist Hillary Carlip really did find this discarded shopping list; and upon finding it, she knew the lists needed to come out of storage. I drove the Beeline down to the NYC book signing to talk with Hillary about her latest offering, "A La Carte: The Secret Lives of Grocery Shoppers." Since this piece first broadcast on 3.28.08 I've become more aware of my own shopping lists and realize quite a few of them may have ended up in the bottom of a grocery cart or even in the hands of a stranger!
Coming up: Great news, I've been awarded an Art Matters grant for the Trailer Talk, ON THE LINE project! I'll be traveling along the border between the USA and Mexico, with stops between Texas and California exploring the many volatile issues that surround The Fence. An anonymous donor has pledged money towards my project for a total of $9,000. I'm trying to match this funding by December 14th. Please help make this project happen so me and the little Bee can get on the road. Trailer Talk attempts to protect freedoms and liberty; allowing the silenced to be given a voice and participate in a dialogue that is dominated too often by the expected and controlled pundits. Trailer Talk investigates what's happening in our communities by the people living there. All donations, any amount will really really help, even one dollar is very helpful and gratefully accepted. Keeping it homemade and personal so we can come face to face talking about what is important to us. Trailer Talk is only possible because of your generous support-thanks so much!
Duration: 28:05
Download Hillary Carlip 8.1.08
Gas Drilling Forum, Oh Catskills and Your Marcellus Shale, 7.25.08
Marcellus Shale! These two words fill me with dread now. The energy companies and their land men are infiltrating my neighborhood and I'm very upset. It's like an army is approaching and we're the target. I was raised (on my Texan side) with the romantic notion of "finding oil"; laughing at The Beverly Hillbillies, Dynasty and so on, not understanding the true cost of any energy extraction. The "American Dream" of striking gold, of hitting oil on your land and of getting rich overnight still frames our desires. The land grab, gas play, and drilling speculation are on in the Catskills and it ain't pretty. Catskills residents share their fear, their concern and their frustration at being faced with a sense of inevitability about the presence of gas wells. The energy companies will do whatever it takes to profit so it's up to us to protect our land, and thereby our future. I brought Trailer Talk to the gas drilling forum at the Liberty High School in Liberty, NY which was co-sponsored by Catskill Mountainkeeper and the Sullivan County Division of Planning and Environmental Management where people joined me at the kitchen table for hours. What are the impacts? Pictured here are Ramsay Adams, the Executive Director of Catskill Mountainkeeper and Chris White, the Representative for Congressman Maurice Hinchey. Thank you all as we continue fighting to protect these precious mountains and our quality of life. We need to stick together and not allow the energy companies to divide us.
Duration: 29:27
Download Gas Drilling Forum, Oh Catskills and Your Marcellus Shale, 7.25.08
The Museum at Bethel Woods, Woodstock Then and Now 7.18.08
Do we still believe that we can change the world? Duke Devlin, the site interpreter joins me along with numerous others for opening day, June 2nd. I was excited to be at the opening of The Museum at Bethel Woods, which is part of the larger Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in the Sullivan County Catskills of New York. Being on the site of the 1969 Woodstock Festival is exciting and interesting as I ask why Woodstock symbolizes the dreams, desires and actions of a decade? "The Museum at Bethel Woods is an immersive and captivating multi-media experience that combines film and interactive displays, text panels and artifacts to explore the unique experience of the Woodstock festival, its significance as a culminating event of a decade of radical cultural transformation, and the legacy of the Sixties and Woodstock today." I spoke with visitors to the Museum at the opening day of The Museum at Bethel Woods. Not only does Bethel Woods celebrate the significance of Woodstock but also it is actively involved in the revitalization of my home in Sullivan County. Thanks Bethel Woods!
Duration: 28:28
Download The Museum at Bethel Woods, Woodstock Then and Now 7.18.08
Trailer Historian Al Hesselbart, Trailer Capital of the World 7.11.08
Campers, caravans, land yachts, travel trailers here I come! As I get ready to bring Trailer Talk to the Vintage Trailer Jam in Saratoga Springs this weekend, I'm pleased to share with you a conversation I had with trailer historian, Al Hesselbart(before yet another fuel crunch) from the trailer capital of the world, Elkhart, Indiana. Also, Elkhart is the birthplace of my little Beeline trailer!
I'm off to wash the Bee and bake some cookies as I prepare to camp at the Saratoga Automobile Museum at the Vintage Trailer Jam '08. Thanks for tuning in.
Duration: 27:31
Download Trailer Historian Al Hesselbart, Trailer Capital of the World 7.11.08
The Museum at Bethel Woods, Woodstock,The 60's & Beyond 7.4.08
During this Independence Day weekend I'm thinking about the ideals that lead to the writing of the Declaration of Independence; the dance between liberty and freedom and my responsibility in this participatory democracy of ours. Do we still believe that we can change the world? I was excited to be at the opening of The Museum at Bethel Woods which is part of the larger Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in the Sullivan County Catskills of New York. Being on the site of the 1969 Woodstock Festival is exciting and interesting as I ask why Woodstock symbolizes the dreams, desires and actions of a decade? "The Museum at Bethel Woods is an immersive and captivating multi-media experience that combines film and interactive displays, text panels and artifacts to explore the unique experience of the Woodstock festival, its significance as a culminating event of a decade of radical cultural transformation, and the legacy of the Sixties and Woodstock today." I spoke with Richie Havens, Vernon Reid and Jonathan Sebastian among others at the opening of The Museum at Bethel Woods. Not only does Bethel Woods celebrate the significance of Woodstock but it is actively involved in the revitalization of my home in Sullivan County.
Duration: 27:54
Download The Museum at Bethel Woods, Woodstock,The 60's & Beyond 7.4.08
Torpor: Chris Kraus 6.27.08
Home, home free, to reside, at home, bring home, to belong, the center of domestic affection, one's retreat, an asylum and more. Returning to my current home in the Catskills after visiting the place of my childhood, Los Angeles, has me contemplating the idea of home, location, and the tension of both belonging and not belonging somewhere. My longing to understand "home" results from the revisiting of a special place and the bittersweet experience of memories colliding with the present. Please join me for my conversation with writer Chris Kraus about her lyrical and terse novel, TORPOR.
Duration: 29:09
Download Torpor: Chris Kraus 6.27.08
Emancipation Day, Freedom Day... 6.13.08
Dating back to 1865, Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. L. Monique, a spoken word artist and the organizer of the Juneteenth Celebration, joins me along with many other amazing guests at the Community Center in Monticello, NY in the Sullivan County Catskills. Thank you all for your hospitality!
Duration: 28:41
Download Emancipation Day, Freedom Day... 6.13.08
Stop the Power Lines 6.6.08
Looking back at the connection between the Power Lines fight and the current land grab for natural gas drilling we have another potential environmental threat to our Catskills. Senator John Bonacic joins me along with 25 guests and 400 people at this grassroots effort to stop a private company, NYRI, from destroying the Delaware River scenic corridor with power lines. I’m getting the Bee Line ready to hit the road to find out more about the “valuable” Marcellus Shale and the natural gas prospectors setting up shop in our neighborhoods.
To find out more please go to: UPDC and Catskill Mountain Keeper
Duration: 29:20
Download Stop the Power Lines 6.6.08
Peeper Pond Walk 5.30.08
When the Peeper Frogs begin their chorus of exuberant song I welcome, with great relief spring and its rapid unfolding. After the harshness of this winter the tiny Peepers are the first audible yet invisible proof of life bursting and moving; of the wildlife world outside my windows at my home in Liberty, New York and the satisfaction that I feel knowing that even this little pond with its ephemeral pools sustains a multitude of life that I call home. Join me for a peeping peeper walk with naturalist Bill Cutler as he introduces me to the wildlife outside my kitchen windows and how important it is to protect these wild places.
Duration: 29:19
Download Peeper Pond Walk 5.30.08
Corporate Media and War 5.23.08
What are we doing? As we remember on this Memorial Day weekend, join me for conversations with actor
Duration: 28:10
Download Corporate Media and War 5.23.08
Coal Mining and Mountaintop Removal 5.16.08
The little Beeline and I traveled to the Poconos in Pennsylvania to participate in an Energy Symposium hosted by the Homestead School in Glen Spey, New York. What are we doing, Mountaintop Removal? It seems obvious that the framework we have created is killing us and/or our neighbors and our children. Moving from the city to the country has deeply impacted me. I'm constantly aware of the power and beauty of nature and its patterns as well as my dependence on it.; the paradox of it all. I'm thinking about our relationship to the Swarm and the Sequence Theories as we multiply and organize, as we war and as we create, as the glaciers melt and the polar bears die, as our mistakes and loving accumulate. What kind of collective intelligence and network is connecting and empowering every one of us? My heart broke as I spoke with the West Virginians about the destruction of their lives in coal mining territory and my participation in that devastation. Thank you Brenda and Amber McCoy, Larry Gibson, Jeff Barrie and the kids with an "alternate attitude" from the Green Power Alliance.
Duration: 28:08
Download Coal Mining and Mountaintop Removal 5.16.08
Marga Gomez 5.9.08
I was excited when amazing performer, writer and comedian Marga Gomez joined me at the kitchen table to talk about her solo show, Los Big Names in NYC's East Village after her performance. A self-identified queer Latina, Marga speaks about her autobiographical work. Robin William's called her a, "Lesbian Lenny Bruce" and "a Latina Lily Tomlin" says the Culture Clash. I say she's simply damn good.
Duration: 28:00
Download Marga Gomez 5.9.08
George Clinton 5.2.08
Photo Credit: Marcy G Photography
The (God)father of Funk, George Clinton himself.The Mothership has landed and I was there to jump on board for the fantastic journey. I was so excited to speak with the master himself after P-Funk's show in Middletown, NY. The amazing groov'in, rock'in and funk'in master of celebration, innovation and political conviction jammed with dozens of the P-Funk company. With over thirty years making music the experinece of being at a show is, of course, all Funk, theatrical spectacle, circus rock, happening and much more. Thanks to amazing guitarist and Parliament-Funkadelic member, Shaunna Hall , for making our meeting possible.
Duration: 29:21
Download George Clinton 5.2.08
Good Catholic Girls 4.25.08
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Oh religion and politics! I speak with Angela Bonavoglia author of, GOOD CATHOLIC GIRLS: HOW WOMEN ARE LEADING THE FIGHT TO CHANGE THE CHURCH. She has said that women have been the primary victims of Church policy. Angela writes in her Huffington Post blog: Women and the Church of Catholicism's Original Sin - "The belief that "natural law" on which the Church bases its opposition to birth control, condoms, emergency contraception, sterilization, infertility treatments, and pregnancy termination should apply not just to Catholics, but to everyone. This is a position that the Catholic Church alone among the world's religions can promote from its seat as a Non-Member State Permanent Observer at the United Nations."
Duration: 28:12
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Dear Allan 4.18.08
What do you think happens when we die? As devastating as it was to watch my dear Allan Berube die, being with him for his dying was his precious gift to me. Something has been transmitted which will continue to reveal itself. As spring is slowly rising here in the Catskills, the robins are nesting, the peeper frogs are starting their chirping chorus and the daffodils are pushing their way through the earth, I feel myself emerging from this long, violent winter. The end of last year was one of goodbyes, of the reminder yet again of the dance between life and death and how grateful I am for every day. Since Allan and I didn't get to play our annual December birthday Ms. Pacman playoff, I'm going to the diner this week to play a game in his honor.
Duration: 28:07
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Superhero Earth-Keepers 4.11.08
My neighbor and neighborhood in the Catskills! I, Sabrina, take you, Planet Earth, to be my friend, my lover, the mother/father of my children and my husband/wife. I will be yours in times of plenty and in times of want, in times of sickness and in times of health, in times of joy and in times of sorrow, in times of failure and in times of triumph. I promise to cherish and respect you, to care and protect you, to comfort and encourage you, and stay with you, for all eternity. Thank you Superhero Earth-Keepers: John Adams the Founding Director of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Barbara Yeaman, the Founder and Sue Currier, Director of the Delaware Highlands Conservancy and Peter Pinchot, Director of Milford Experimental Forest in PA; for protecting our precious Earth and rocking it with such care and fierce compassion. Go on now hug a tree today (no one's watching)! This program funded in part by a NYSCA Individual Artist Grant 2006
Duration: 28:21
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Hat's Off Mimi Weddell 4.4.08
Well, you see, perhaps she is always watching, and perhaps these elders in our life are more important than this society of ours claims. What is we valued the elderly even when they can't walk, even when they lose their speech, even when it's no longer convenient for this consumer, disposable culture of ours to consume the relationship? What if we put our ear to their lips and gazed into each other's eyes more often? I don't know. Perhaps I'd free myself from my own fear of aging, my own definitions of success and failure, and that destructive belief that youth is the part of our life that is the most valuable. Join me in meeting Mimi Weddell, an amazingly gorgeous and inspiring 93 year old. Hats Off is a documentary film celebrating Mimi's life.
Duration: 28:53
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Hillary Carlip 3.28.08
Mouse Traps, Cheese, Mouse... Do you ever wonder who is shopping next to you? So, this shopper Derrick's list upset me and made me think of serial killers and scary teenage boys. Artist Hillary Carlip really did find this discarded shopping list; and upon finding it, she knew the lists needed to come out of storage. I drove the Beeline down to the NYC book signing to talk with Hillary about her latest offering, "A La Carte: The Secret Lives of Grocery Shoppers."
Duration: 28:05
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George & Cisco Pt2 3.21.08
Did you know that 1 in 100 Americans is in jail? Thanks for joining me for Part 2 of this conversation with George, Cisco and their family to talk about Mark who is incarcerated in my neighborhood at the Woodbourne Correctional Facility. Their brother has spent most of his adult life in the prison system. Thanks George, Cisco and Joy for joining me in this conversation.
Duration: 28:04
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George and Cisco 3.14.08
Brothers George and Francisco and their family join me at the kitchen table for breakfast before they go visit their brother who is a "lifer" nearby. What does it mean to have a loved one incarcerated? This was a terrible time for me as I was grieving over the sudden death of my dear friend. Thinking of my neighbors without a voice reflected my own feelings of helplessness. Join me for Part 1 of a 2 part program.
Duration: 28:40
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Laura Flanders, Liberty and Justice for All? 3.7.08
Take some time to look around at what's happening in your neighborhood. That's what Laura Flanders did. It was after the Bicentennial July 4th Liberty Parade. I spoke to marchers, business owners and onlookers about "Life Liberty and the Pursuit of...? I also spoke with Laura about her timely and provocative book, BLUE GRIT (just out in paperback). Thanks Laura!
Duration: 28:47
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Cars Cars Cars 2.29.08
Okay, I admit that I love cars. I know it's complicated but I grew up in Los Angeles and was born in Texas, so what's a girl to do. Between road trips in my mom's Chevy wagon in California and my very first driving lesson at 14 in my dad's Fleetwood Caddy in southwest Texas I was a goner. So join me as I wrap my head around The Car. It was a crisp sky hot October 6th afternoon in Liberty, NY at the family owned M & M Auto Dealership on Mill Street.
Duration: 28:48
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Sullivan Renaissance Winter Conference 2.22.08
Ferndale, NY CVI Building February 9, 2008
It snowed so hard that I had to ditch the little Bee-Line at the event, the brownies were a hit with NY State Senator Bonacic and fifth graders ask us to sack the plastic bag. I speak with 5th grade Sullivan West school teacher Sue Mullally and her two students, Christine Lare and nephew Connor Mullally about their "Earth Sack' project. What does it take to live with more respect for our neighbors, our environment and the future?
Sullivan Renaissance
Duration: 28:29
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Junkyard Cabaret 2.15.08
Performer Peggy Shaw joins me in the trailer.
Junkyard Cabaret at the Roxbury Arts Center in Delaware County, NY
One of my first Trailer Talks! It was a gorgeous July day in 2003, and I shared the evening with my friends and mentors as the little Bee Line got her talking feet.
Duration: 29:23
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Past Trailer Talk Programs...
These programs broadcast on WJFF Radio Catskill 90.5FM, Making Waves, in Jeffersonville, New York and on both public stations and the Pacifica Network Nationally 2003-2008.
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Click Here to Listen (3.6MB mp3) Description: Actor Danny Glover was among those
interviewed by Sabrina. Glover speaks about the legacy
of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his own role as an
advocate for human rights. The weekend, January 12-14
presented strategies for winning the fight for better Sabrina's other guests included the founder of the National Civil Rights Museum, Judge D'Army Bailey, who speaks about founding the museum at the Lorraine Motel in downtown Memphis where Dr. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968. This program also includes Dr. King at Riverside Church in New York City, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Jr. and music by Sweet Honey in the Rock, Al Green's Gospel Choir and Mahalia Jackson.
Click Here to Listen (1.6MB mp3) Description: Sabrina Artel hosts Making Waves the
weekly magazine show on WJFF Radio Catskill in
Jeffersonville, New York. We hear Sabrina on the radio
hosting, doing live and studio interviews and on the
road from Trailer Talk.
Click Here to Listen (4.9MB mp3) Description: An interview with author and artist
Hillary Carlip about her hilarious memoir Queen of the
Oddballs and Other True Stories from a Life
Unaccording to Plan, about growing up on the edge of
celebrity in Los Angeles. Her book celebrates the
triumph of individuality and the surprising journey of
self-discovery. July 26, 2006
Trailer Talk: Peace in the Country Click Here to Listen (MB mp3) Trailer Talk: River Road Fair Click Here to Listen (4.1MB mp3) Description: What began as a town wide fundraiser for
the Barryville Methodist Church has become a tradition
for this Delaware River community as people come from
all over to find treasures. People join Trailer Talk
to speak about the history of objects and what it
means to make a home. Barryville, NY in Sullivan
County. July 8, 2006
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