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Dear Listeners,

Thanks for your patience as we get used to working without the stellar strengths and abilities of our former sound engineer and producer, Ms. Jenna DiQuarto.

We made the call-out for new sound engineers and producers and women came! Please welcome our two newest members to the team, Freda Bear and Ann Castile. Ann took up the reigns this month and worked into the wee hours last night to finish up the production of this show. Great job, Ann!

Thistle too, is unsure about how much longer she can keep it up with the WLRN collective, so stay tuned for some big changes around here, sisters!

Thankfully, the younger generation is pickin’ up the slack and Ms. Lola Bessis took the reigns this month on the topic, the interview and even the commentary! Lola’s is a compelling voice clamoring for critical and free thought in a world full of an apocalyptic din. Thank you, Lola, for your work!

Dr Dina Siddiqi is a distinguished feminist anthropologist whose work delves into critical development, transnational feminist theory, and the anthropology of labor and Islam. Lola interviewed her for this episode that turns our attention to the regions of the world known as Israel and Palestine on this first anniversary of Hamas’ retaliatory invasion of Israel on October 7th.

In Lola’s commentary, she talks about her own life and what it means to her to think critically about the forces at work in the Palestinian people’s current situation. She begs the listener to do her research and look back at this region’s history, peoples, and cultures.

The music featured this month is “The Urgent Call of Palestine” by Zeinab Shaath.

The World News this month is written and delivered by Mary ONeill and edited by aurora linnea and Caroline Parks.

The poem by June Jordan that Dr. Siddiqi refers to at the end of the interview is embedded within this article.

The cover artwork is by WLRN member, Margaret. Her artist’s statement is below the image.

“This month’s design is based on the idea of reflections. There is the Israeli flag (with its Star of David – symbolizing the Jewish religion/ethnicity) in the sky – also ‘reflected’ in the water – that turns into Palestinian rubble. With the Palestinian Flag layered over the water and rubble.

Of course, there are questions of Whose land? Whose water? Who has what rights? Where did those rights come from? And all the various ways of interpreting that.”