Author and unschooling advocate Dayna Martin is the guest this week and we discuss her book Radical Unschooling – the revolution has begun, the idea of an intellectual or literary canon, the pros and cons of television, and Captain Von Trapp’s whistle. This episode also contains ignorant chickens, vanished messengers, and reminiscences about family life with a Titanic fanatic. Also I thank everyone who has backed my “Pick Your Battle” Kickstarter project. You can download this episode at dietsoap.podomatic.com.

Michael Parenti is the guest this week and we discuss his book “God and His Demons.” Cornel West has said of Parenti “[He] is a towering prophetic voice in American life. We need him now more than ever.” Also featured is Pete Seeger singing Joe Hill’s “The Preacher and the Slave,” the theme from the film Skidoo, and a youtube piano cover of REM’s Losing My Religion. And let’s not forget a factoid about religion aboard the Titanic. You can download this episode at dietsoap.podomatic.com.

Artist and activist Daniel Shea is the guest this week and we discuss the Vietnam war, post-traumatic stress, and the need for social change. You’ll also hear the themes from the Mickey Mouse Club, MASH, and Foxtrot Tango Alpha. Jane Fonda and Slavoj Zizek can be heard in this podcast. I also read aloud the names of those who have pledged to the writing of my psychogeographic, foraging, (anti)self-help book and Kickstarter campaign, and I show up for the Titanic factoid and describe our overdetermined Titanic dream. You can download this episode at dietsoap.podomatic.com.

Short story writer Brett Cox is the guest this week as we discuss publishing, ‘zines, and romanticism. Also this week is music from Steve Reich and theme music from the PBS children’s program Reading Rainbow and the BBC’s Rainbow. The voices of Philip K. Dick, Robert Crumb, and Isaiah Berlin can be heard. In the end I thank those who have pledge to my Kickstarter campaign in Romper Room fashion, and introduce Miriam with her Titanic Factoid. You can download this episode at dietsoap.podomatic.com.

The guest this week is the author Shannon Hayes and we discuss her book Radical Homemakers which leads to more conversation about the need to make real world connections as we seek community as a solution to the multi-dimensional crisis we find ourselves enmeshed in. Also featured are sound collages set to television theme songs from the 70s. You’ll hear the theme to Wonder Woman, Rhoda, and Laverne and Shirley along with a Titanic Factoid from the boiler room. Donations to the Pick Your Battle Kickstarter campaign are still welcome and encouraged, and I want to say hello to the Vanished Messenger and to the people behind the Fifth Estate. In the weeks to come keep your ipods tuned to this station as I will be releasing a few supplemental podcasts on the subject of urban foraging, fruit trees, and the politics of an escape pod. You can download this podcast at dietsoap.podomatic.com.

Journalist Margaret Kimberly from blackagendareport.com is the guest this week and we discuss her essay “Americans afraid to fight the powers that be“. Also this week you’ll hear the voice of Slavoj Zizek, the music of Hussalonia, and the pop hit “Simon Says” from the 1910 Fruitgum Company.
Can we escape from the ideology of capitalism? Simon Says put your hands on your head. Put your hands on your hips.
The Kickstarter campaign for my radical self-help book “Pick Your Battle” is coming right along, and if you’re interested in getting out from under the taker/extractive/capitalist economy that dominates you then pitch in. Perhaps I’ll come up with something at the last minute. Donating a buck will still get you a copy of my short story Noam Chomsky and the Timebox.
Also this week Miriam discovers that the managers of the Titanic disaster were money grubbing pigs. You can download or subscribe to this podcast at dietsoap.podomatic.com.

Stephen Duncombe, the author of the book Dream: Re-imagining Progressive Politics in an Age of Fantasy is the guest this week and we discuss the notion of ethical spectacles, progressive dreams, and the imagination as a political tool. The music of Chris Isto White is featured again this week, including the surreal nonsense song Ceci N’est Pas L’Isto. You’ll also hear collaged up versions of Fame and Dream a little Dream. Plus a child’s view of the Titanic disaster. The Kickstarter campaign for my surreal, new age, fantastical, fruity, transitional, self-help book Pick Your Battle is coming right along. If you look to your right you’ll see it’s almost 30% funded. Pledges are most welcome. You can download the episode at dietsoap.podomatic.com.

Reverend Billy from the Church of Life After Shopping is the guest this week, and I end up putting my hands on my computer screen and receiving the spirit of real life as Billy speaks in tongues. The music this week includes the Beatitudes of Buylessness by the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir and the Not Buying It Band, kokoro86’s Amazing Grace on the harmonica with feeling, Hussalonia’s Everybody Should Stop Doing Everything and his song Buy Me, and the theme song for the Price is Right. You’ll also hear an excerpt from Martin Luther King’s prophetic last speech, and Reverend Billy push praying to Mickey Mouse. Miriam answers the question, “Could passengers shop on the Titanic?” You can download the podcast at dietsoap.podomatic.com.

Abduction Researcher and Abstract Expressionist painter Budd Hopkins is on again this week as we conclude our discussion of his book Art, Life, and UFOs. We delve into the abduction subject this time, and even discuss some of my own unusual dreams from childhood. Chris Isto White’s “Let’s Build a Sandcastle to the Moon” is heard, along with Steve Reich’s Violin Phase, the Blue Danube, and the theme from the original Day the Earth Stood Still. I have taken down the paypal button and direct those who want to help out with a few dollars to my kickstarter campaign instead. Anyone who pledges a dollar or more to the “Pick Your Battle” project will receive a copy of the story “Noam Chomsky and the Time Box” (or if you prefer to get a story about alien abductions I’ll send you my story “Music Lessons” if you email me the request). If you’d like to call the Diet Soap hotline and get heard on the podcast ring me at 971-285-4604. This week during the Titanic Factoid Miriam answers listener mail. Subscribe to the podcast at iTunes or download this episode from dietsoap.podomatic.com.

Abduction Researcher and Abstract Expressionist painter Budd Hopkins is the guest this week. We discuss his book Art, Life, and UFOs and focus on art for the first part of what turned into a two part interview. We talk about Jackson Pollack, Robert Motherwell, Mark Rothko, Franz Kline, Piet Mondrian, the Suprematists, Surrealists, and more. After receiving a great response to my offer to give my story “Noam Chomsky and the Time Box” as a thank you for donations I have taken down the paypal button and direct those who want to help out with a few dollars to this kickstarter proposal instead. Anyone who pledges a dollar or more to the “Pick Your Battle” project will receive a copy of the story. If you’d like to call the Diet Soap hotline and get heard on the podcast ring me at 971-285-4604. Also please listen to this week’s Titanic Factoid. You can download this episode at dietsoap.podomatic.com, or subscribe at iTunes.