Unbuild It: Author discusses how Black leaders came to support a racist criminal justice system

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Articles by Mike Wold

Vendor Profile: Bradley Dean Noller

by Mike Wold | August 23rd, 2017

Bradley Dean Noller has worked a lot of jobs. “Construction tear-down, insurance auto work, warehouse work, order-picking, machine press work, work with machines that were robot-controlled, carwash duty, carnival rides.” Except maybe for carnival rides, “if...

Naomi Klein speaks in Seattle in Oct. 2015. Her new book, “No Is Not Enough” critiques strategies for resisting President Donald Trump and offers new solutions. Photo by Martha Tesema.

Book Review: ’No Is Not Enough: Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need’

by Mike Wold | August 16th, 2017

Naomi Klein’s title says it all: “No Is Not Enough” as we try to address “a naked corporate takeover, one many decades in the making. It seems that the economic interests that have long since paid off both major parties ... have decided they’re tired of...

Illustration by Jon Williams, Real Change

Book Review: ‘Nest in the Bones: Stories’

by Mike Wold | August 2nd, 2017

There’s often an element of the surreal and the macabre in South American literature. In the case of Antonio Di Benedetto, it’s more than an element. It’s the lens through which he examined modern society as it intersects with the older, more traditional...

Vendor Profile: Skip Davis

by Mike Wold | July 26th, 2017

Skip Davis grew up in Philadelphia. He says it almost killed him. “People getting killed every day. That never changed. It is a blessing that I am just alive, period.” He lived there almost 50 years. His family was there for a few generations. “I guess...

Vendor Profile: Yemane Berhe

by Mike Wold | July 12th, 2017

Born in Asmara, Eritrea, Yemane Berhe arrived in Washington, D.C., as a refugee. He spoke no English, but he was able to earn money helping his sister in a restaurant. He also drove a taxi, though language often was a problem. When Yemane came to Seattle...

Book Review: ‘Wolf Whistle Politics: The New Misogyny in America Today’

by Mike Wold | July 12th, 2017

Diane Wachtell’s collection of essays focuses on feminism and its effect on U.S. politics

There’s a trend in nonfiction book publishing these days toward picking titles that will boost sales, rather than accurately describe the contents of the books. That’s the case for “Wolf Whistle Politics” – it’s not focused on misogyny per se. Rather, it’s...

Vendor Profile: Tony Jeffers

by Mike Wold | July 5th, 2017

Last winter, Tony Jeffers flew to Cambodia. He knew there was a big demand for English teachers there. He figured he could find work. The only hitch was that he was on a blacklist in the Philippines. Because Cambodia, along with the Philippines, is a member...

Book Review: “Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy”

by Mike Wold | June 28th, 2017

The path to ‘lower ed’ can make getting a brain an arduous journey filled with fraud and deception

Tressie Cottom started out working as an “admissions counselor” — a recruiter — for a for-profit college. She struggled to justify to herself why she manipulated poor students into enrolling in expensive programs. In the midst of the 2008 financial meltdown...

Vendor Profile: Chris Eller

by Mike Wold | June 7th, 2017

Chris Eller likes to talk with his customers. “A lot of them talk about politics, a passionate subject; Trump, of course and ISIS and the Middle East. I read the papers every day. It’s important to be an informed citizen in this crazy world.” He’s not sure...

Unbuild It: Author discusses how Black leaders came to support a racist criminal justice system

by Mike Wold | May 31st, 2017

It is well documented how mass incarceration reinforces a racial caste system in America. But James Forman Jr., a longtime public defender in Washington, D.C., and now a Yale professor, points out that many African-American leaders supported the policies...