Conversation #48: Matthew Haugen of HVDSA, Identity Politics, and More (July 22, 2018)

This week we have an interview with Matthew Haugen, co-chair of the Huron Valley chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (their slogan: “we fight for socialism over barbarism.”) We talk with Matthew about the chapter’s work, including their brake light clinics, but especially their new garden project. Gardens of any kind are near and dear to our hearts!

Then, we discuss several of the books that have been crammed into our mailbox recently, including a seven-volume set of Michael Moorcock’s Elric stories, and a cool omnibus of Arthur Machen’s weird fiction from Centipede Press.

Finally, we take a deep dive into the last chapter of Asad Haider’s book Mistaken Identity: Race and Class in the Age of Trump. Even though it’s a pretty short chapter, it’s jam-packed with big ideas, so this takes us a while. And of course Paul can’t keep from going off on tangents. And no, you didn’t miss our discussion of previous chapters in previous shows. Just like the golden snitch in the Harry Potter universe, we open at the close!

How to Listen

You can find the MP3 file here.

The Podcast feed is here.

The Podcast channel on YouTube is here.

Links

The Huron Valley DSA’s web page is here. You can also find them on Twitter here.

Matthew’s essay entitled “Natural Gas: A Bridge To Nowhere” can be found here.

HVDSA is supporting the following candidates:

• Steve Friday running to represent Michigan’s 7th Congressional District
• Shauna McNally running for Michigan State Representative, District 55
• Katie Scott running for Washtenaw County Commissioner, District 9
• Ryan Hughes running for Ann Arbor City Council, Ward 1

The web page for Asad Haider’s book can be found here.

The page for the Centipede Press volume of stories by Arthur Machen, part of their “Library of Weird Fiction” series, can be found here.

Paul mentioned the seven volumes of Elric stories from Gollancz/Orion, part of the recent definitive Michael Moorcock Collection. These books put the material in internal chronological order. The nine original stories are all there, but they are scattered between three different volumes. If you want to read the original stories in publication order, which Paul recommends, you might find it more fun to start with Elric: The Stealer of Souls, specifically the 2008 Del Rey omnibus edition with the lurid cover, ISBN 978–0–345–49862–5. It contains the original novelettes and novellas in publication order. And, honestly, you might consider just stopping there. For much more on this topic, see Paul’s recent blog post.

This Week’s Music

No music this week.