The Village Building Convergence is a project for creating new public spaces in our cities through neighbors working together to create urban villages, some of which can be found in many Portland neighborhoods. Bill Resnick talks with two members of this movement, Kat Steele and Matt Philllips, who will be speaking at the VBC conference coming up in Portland May 23 - June 1.  Read all about it here. 

Movie Mole Brooke Jacobson uncovers what's  missing in the new Erol Morris documentary about the Abu Ghraib photos, "Standard Operating Procedure."   

Thabiti Lewis shines a light on several varieties of implicit racism in the Presidential campaign, coming from some of the candidates  and all of the mass media.   

Laurie Mercier talks with Olga Bonfiglio, from Kalamazoo, MI, about how ordinary citizens in Kalamazoo have persisted in their resistance to war.  Bonfiglio is the author of Heroes of a Different Stripe: How One Town Responded to the War in Iraq. 

Throughout this show there are  selections from songs by  the late great Phil Ochs, born in 1940, and who died in 1976 still youthful but leaving an incredible legacy of music protesting war and promoting social justice.  Bill Resnick talks about his life and music.   Phil Och was witty, poetic, and a humanist and activist, with deep thoughtful lyrics and a haunting voice. 

Hosted by Laurie Mercier, this show features the music of Phil Ochs.  We hear a conversation about Village Building Convergence, the movement to create community spaces in cities; a  review  of the Erol Morris documentary about the Abu Ghraib photos "Standard  Operating Procedure;" a commentary about racism in the  primaries; an interview about peace activists in Kalamazoo, Michigan; and a discussion of the life and music of Phil Ochs.  

You can hear the whole show by clicking on the arrow on this page.  Or hear individual pieces by clicking on their links below: