MF GALAXY

On the previous episode, we heard all about the controversial Bradford Reading Challenge . It shouldn’t be controversial at all, of course. Author, tech-reviewer, and fandom activist K. Tempest Bradford suggested in an xoJane.com opinion piece that readers should branch out beyond the extremely typical, self-imposed restriction of straight, White, able-bodied, and presumably English-speaking male authors. That’s right: thanks to the educational and media systems and cultures of Canada and the United States, that author category is default for way, way, way too many readers. So how about, said Bradford, for one year, open up your minds and eyes to encounter the whole universe of writers beyond? To hear all about the outrageous and even vicious backlash Bradford got for suggesting people read books to make themselves happy, download episode 18 of MFGALAXY from iTunes. But tonight, let’s pick up the Bradford Reading Challenge ourselves, and hear suggestions from: Canada Reads host...

Before I tell you about editor, tech reviewer, FluidArtist.com blogger, and fandom activist K. Tempest Bradford and what she did, I want to ask you, a typical reader, to do a thought experiment.  Since you’re a typical reader, I know that in any given year, 90 to 100% of the books you read are by Buddhist lesbians from Beijing . Now, I know that Buddhist lesbians from Beijing have written many, many excellent novels. I would never claim otherwise. But since you’re already so familiar with books by Buddhist lesbian writers from Beijing, I’m thinking, hey, how about for the next year, you try reading books by authors from the rest of humanity? Like, Buddhist gay writers from Beijing? Or Buddhist lesbians writers from Shanghai? Hey, they don’t even have to be Buddhist. Or lesbian. Or from any Chinese city at all. Because… there’s a planet full of writers. I’m sure you’ll find a few—maybe dozens, maybe thousands—that you’ll like, especially since you’ve been unconsciously o...

z Wab Kinew is the 2015 host of CBC’s national book competition Canada Reads . He’s an award-winning hip hop artist and journalist, a correspondent for Al-Jazeera America, and perhaps best known to Canadians as the advocate for Joseph Boyden’s The Orenda , the winning book for Canada Reads 2014. SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE ON iTUNES SUPPORT MF GALAXY ON PATREON Last year on CBC’s Canada Reads , Wab Kinew electrified listeners with his opening book defense that name-checked each rival book in the competition while building to his defense of The Orenda . And he did it all in just under his allotted 60 seconds, memorised, and in verse. He began the competition by demolishing his competitors, some of whom, like runner Donovan Bailey , failed to use even half his accorded time, perhaps forgetting that you couldn’t win this contest by finishing early. Despite numerous achievements and awards, merit alone wasn’t enough to get Wab Kinew his new gig as moderator of Canada Reads ...

Palestinian-American comedian, speaker, commentator, writer, and attorney Amer Zahr is the author of collection Being Palestinian Makes Me Smile and the blogger behind The Civil Arab . Zahr has produced and headlined the 1001 Laughs Comedy Tour , the We're Not White! tour , and the In 1948 tour , and he produces the annual 1001 Laughs Dearborn Comedy Festival in Michigan at the Arab American National Museum. LISTEN/DOWNLOAD FOR FREE SUBSCRIBE ON ITUNES FOR FREE - See more at: http://ministerfaust.blogspot.com/2015/03/rashid-masharawi-on-palestinian-mobile.html#sthash.3BJRyLDw.dpuf SUBSCRIBE ON ITUNES FOR FREE LISTEN/DOWNLOAD THIS EPISODE FOR FREE SUPPORT MF GALAXY   SUPPORT MF GALAXY ON PATREON LISTEN/DOWNLOAD FOR FREE SUBSCRIBE ON ITUNES FOR FREE - See more at: http://ministerfaust.blogspot.com/2015/03/rashid-masharawi-on-palestinian-mobile.html#sthash.3BJRyLDw.dpuf LISTEN/DOWNLOAD FOR FREE SUBSCRIBE ON ITUNES FOR FREE - See more at: http:/...

Palestinian director Rashid Masharawi is a maverick filmmaker of documentaries and features presenting the heartbeat of a national liberation struggle and a people’s path to democracy. LISTEN/DOWNLOAD FOR FREE SUBSCRIBE ON ITUNES FOR FREE Born in 1962 in Ash-Shati refugee camp in Gaza, Rashid Masharawi is the director of several documentaries and fiction films, including Love Season, Makloubeh, Haifa, Behind the Walls, Tension, Rabab , and Curfew . He is also the winner of many international prizes, including the UNESCO Award at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival . That year, Masharawi founded the Cinema Production Centre in Ramallah, West Bank, which aims to improve and develop the Palestinian movie industry by encouraging and training young Palestinian movie-makers. An innovative artist, Masharawi created the Palestinian Mobile Cinema which has allowed thousands of children to enjoy local and international films. This edition of MF GALAXY features Minister Faust's ...

In January 2009, then-53-year-old Palestinian infertility specialist and peace activist Izzeldin Abuelaish was employed at an Israeli hospital. He took pride in building the personal basis for trust and peace between Israelis and Palestinians. As he told the New York Times in 2009, “I wanted every Palestinian treated in [our hospital] to go back and say how well the Israelis treated them.” But on January 16, the day after Martin Luther King’s birthday, and 22 days into the 2008 – 2009 Israel-Gaza war that killed 13 Israelis and 1400 Palestinians (during which time newly-elected US president Barack Obama was almost whisper-silent on Palestinian deaths), Israeli tanks twice shelled the house of Abuelaish. After having recently lost his wife to leukemia, in one moment he lost his niece and three of his daughters. LISTEN/DOWNLOAD FOR FREE SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE ON ITUNES “Who is going to be killed [among] my children?” says Abuelaish via Skype from his office in Toront...