Quote:

"It's a heated field." —Otto Pippenger

About:

A two-part story about a campaign trying to unseat Speaker Nancy Pelosi from her congressional seat leads to a much larger reckoning for the left.

Show Notes:

1. [00:30] “The Layers of Heaven” by Jovica
2. [01:10] “Coulis Coulis” by The Blue Dot Sessions
3. [03:45] On Senator Amy Klobuchar, sporks combs and salads 
4. [04:00] “Grizzlies” by Mary Riddle
5. [04:30] “The second most important race” to watch
6. [06:30] Full results of San Francisco’s 2020 Primary elections
   1. Respect to Craig Sager 
7. [06:45] h/t Dorris Burke
8. [07:30] Follow Jasper Wilde
9. [08:50] Read Jasper’s 4,300-word essay here
10. [09:20] “Vik Fenceta” by The Blue Dot Sessions
11. [10:30] Recent progressive wave in San Francisco
    1. San Francisco’s problem with needles
    2. Light reading on San Francisco’s homeless problem
    3. More on the Bay Area housing crisis
12. [11:30] Light reading on:
13. [12:35] “Dusting” by The Blue Dot Sessions
14. [13:00] Related: AOC’s shoes and sneakers
15. [17:05] Follow Otto Pippenger
    1. And a recent interview on the split within the Democratic party
16. [19:20] A past read on Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez
    1. Shahid’s reply
17. [22:10] Liz Croydon’s sexual harrasment allegations against Shahid Buttar
    1. from The Intercept
    2. from Mission Local
    3. from The San Francisco Chronicle and it’s earlier reporting
    4. from The Humanist Report
    5. from Rolling Stone’s Useful Idiots Podcast
    6. a counter-narrative to Elizabeth Croydon’s Medium essay
    7. a response from the Shahid campaign
18. [23:10] Coverage of the allegation:
19. [23:45] More from The Intercept’s Akela Lacy on the allegations and its impact on the Shahid Buttar campaign
20. [36:45] “Tarte Tarin” by The Blue Dot Sessions 
21. [37:15] Gloria Berry’s defense of Shahid Buttar
22. [42:00] Follow Akela Lacy for more political coverage
23. [44:30] Amy Klobuchar didn’t eat a salad with a spork, it was actually a comb
24. [54:20] “Swing That Horn” by Mary Riddle
25. more at thisissomenoise.com/ep-31

Quote:

"I'm a progressive, yeah." —U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

About:

A two-part story about a campaign trying to unseat Speaker Nancy Pelosi from her congressional seat leads to a much larger reckoning for the left.

Show Notes:

1. [00:30] “The Layers of Heaven” by Jovica
2. [01:00] Light reading on Agatha Bacelar
3. [01:05] “Coulis Coulis” by The Blue Dot Sessions
4. [01:45] Light reading on the progressive movement
5. [01:50] Light reading on Tom Gallagher
6. [02:00] Light reading on Medicare for All, The Green New Deal and US Militarism
7. [02:50] “Swing That Horn” by Mary Riddle
8. [04:15] A profile of Shahid Buttar (@shahidforchange / @Sheeyahshee)
   1. And the results
9. [04:45] That time Shahid Buttar ran against Nancy Pelosi in 2018
10. [05:20] “Exquisite Motion” by The Blue Dot Sessions 
    1. His EFF background
    2. A rapper and singer
    3. A poet
    4. A music producer and DJ
    5. His 2016 Buring Man DJ set
    6. His appearance on Russia Today’s “Breaking the Set”
11. [05:25] Light reading on Shahid’s background
12. [06:15] Related: Burning Man sucks Reason #1029492
13. [06:20] Related: “Freedom Music” by Irfan Rainy & Baba Israel
    1. And when it ended
14. [08:45] Remember the Bernie Sanders Presidential campaign 
    1. Mission Local
    2. His early coverage of Shahid’s campaign and here
    3. Spoiler alert: his later coverage of the campaign
    4. And a reminder to go back and listen to the Frisco series, Part I here
15. [09:20] More on Joe Eskenazi
16. [10:55] “Setting Pace” by The Blue Dot Sessions  
    1. The tearing up of speeches
    2. The #resistance movement
    3. The performative criticism
    4. What Shahid tweeted
17. [11:00] More on the clapback
    1. Related reading and viewing
    2. Her wheeling and dealing on Obamacare
18. [11:20] More on Nancy Pelosi’s history in politics
    1. More on her vote on Iraq War
    2. Related: Her handling of Bush impeachment
    3. Her votes on national security
    4. Her stance against progressive movement
    5. Her 2019 interview on 60 Minutes
19. [12:50] Her votes on Iraq Wars
    1. More on Green New Deal
20. [13:10] More on Medicare for All
21. [13:20] “The Cornice” by The Blue Dot Sessions
    1. Related Instagram trends
22. [16:45] h/t @doorsoftunisia
23. [18:20] Follow Otto Pippenger
24. [18:30] Light reading on SF Supervisor Dean Preston 
25. [18:45] Related: Rise of the DSA  
26. [21:00] Related: The recent drug overdose epidemic in the San Francisco Bay Area
27. [23:20] Light reading on San Francisco City College accreditation fight
28. [26:40] Follow Jasper Wilde 
29. [29:15] Light reading on Bernie Sanders 2016 campaign and feminism
30. [29:50] “Setting Pace” by The Blue Dot Sessions 
31. [30:00] For more on the specialty coffee scene, listen to “Bougie Coffee”
    1. Bay Area coffee roaster’s sexual assault and harassment scandal
32. [30:25] Related: SCAA’s expo in Dubai
33. [34:00] More on Shahid’s backstory
34. [34:30] Related: Pelosi’s support of government surveillance
35. more at thisissomenoise.com/ep-30
36. [38:15] Listen to Part II here

Quote:

“Where do you want to start?” —Farhad Azad

About:

Afghanistan has far too often been referred to as a place where countries go to die, it is a graveyard of empires.

This moniker has been cited so many times and for so long that it’s unclear who first said it. Even the Afghan community will recite this pride. But what a title like this fails to convey is that while this might be a country responsible for the many tombstones of others, it very well is also a moratorium of progress for itself, a state in perpetual arrested development.

This is also a cemetery for countless Afghans who, in more modern times, failed to see any empire rise.

Why do some countries get to debate their histories while others have their legacy determined by outsiders? And what gets lost along the way?

This is Part II of a multi-part story on how history, current events, and culture all complicate the Afghan identity. 

Show Notes:

1. [00:30] “The Layers of Heaven” by Jovica
2. [00:45] The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
3. [00:50] The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis
4. [01:15] Re: Is it hard to have fun when you have a library card?
5. [01:20] More on Jamil Jan Kochai (@jamiljankochai)
   1. Read his book, 99 Nights in Logar
   2. Read his New Yorker story
6. [01:35] The renovation project on the West Sacramento Public Library
7. [02:35] Listen to Part 1 here
8. [02:50] A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
   1. And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini 
9. [03:10] Sea Prayer by Khaled Hosseini 
10. [03:15] “Mirrored Seduction” by Walt Adams
11. [04:40] SparkNotes for The Kite Runner 
12. [05:05] The Kite Runner movie trailer
13. [07:50] “Attan-Khatme Zanzeri”
    1. s/o to the original “afghan-music.com” 
14. [09:50]  Books here:
    1. Afghanistan: A Short History of Its People and Politics by Martin Ewans
    2. The Dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle Lemmon
    3. Killing the Cranes: A Reporter's Journey through Three Decades of War in Afghanistan by Edward Girardet
    4. Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia by Ahmed Rashid
    5. Zinky Boys: Soviet Voices from the Afghanistan War by Svetlana Alexievichy
    6. Directorate S: The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Steve Cole
    7. Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of US Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan by Doug Stanton
15. [11:55] “Walk Like an Egyptian” cover by The Cleverlys
16. [12:20] Light reading on Napoleon’s conquest of Egypt
    1. Related reading here
17. [12:35] French Suite No. 2 in C Minor
18. [13:20] Light reading on the late Edward Said
19. [13:30] A recent review of Orientalism by Edward Said
20. [13:45] “Choose Your Outfit” by Colors of Illusion
21. [14:10] Edward Said with the Media Education Foundation in 1998
22. [15:20] More on Farhad Azad and afghanmagazine.com
23. [16:10] “Over the Dunes” by Jon Sumner
24. [16:55] Light reading on Nader Shah
25. [17:10] Light reading on the Pashtuns
    1. More on Pashtunwali
    2. Light reading on Ahmad Shah Durrani
26. [20:05] “Portobello Road” by David Celeste
27. [20:30] More on Dr. Nivi Manchanda (@ManchandaNivi)
    1. Her blog on the disorder of things
    2. Her book, Imagining Afghanistan: the History and Politics of Imperial Knowledge 
    3. A Q&A on her book
28. [21:00] Light reading on the British East India Company
29. [21:10] Light reading on the geopolitical context of the 1800s
30. [21:50] An Account of the Kingdom of Caubul, and its Dependencies in Persia, Tartary, and India
31. [22:30] Some of Dr. Manchanda’s other writings
    1. “The Imperial Sociology of the ‘Tribe’ in Afghanistan”
    2. “Queering the Pashtun: Afghansexuality in the homo-nationalist imaginary”
32. [23:45] “Fairy’s Fear” by Deskant 
33. [26:30] “Leavy Quickly” by Alan Carlson-Green
34. [26:35] Light reading on the US-Afghan war
35. [26:50] Light reading on the Great Game
36. [27:00] “Oh Motherland” by Sight of Wonders 
37. [27:25] “Devil’s Disgrace” by Deskant
38. [27:35] Light reading on the British Intelligence officer who coined the term “The Great Game”   
    1. Related: A 1901 review of Rudyard Kipling’s Kim
39. [29:05] See 'Remnants of An Army’
    1. Read some backstory of the painting here
40. [29:30] Light reading on William Brydon
41. [29:45] Technically, it was the winter of 1841-42, but more reading on that retreat here.
42. [31:20] Light reading of that first occupation in 1842
43. [31:25] ”Alive Without Breathing” by Deskant
44. [32:30] Light reading on Dost Muhammad Khan’s reflections on the British empire
    1. More on First Anglo Afghan War (1839-42)
45. [32:50] Light reading on Sher Ali Khan 
    1. More on the Second Anglo Afghan War (1878-80)
46. [33:50] Light reading on Abdur-Rahman Khan (aka The Iron Emir)
    1. Light reading on the state of the Hazara population
    2. Light reading on the Hazara genocide of the 1890s
    3. More reading on the Hazara genocide
    4. More reading on the Hazaras
    5. His rationale of his brutal reign
47. [33:55] “Pepper Seeds” by Rune Dale
48. [35:40] News of Afghanistan’s latest railroad here and here
49. [36:05] Light reading on the assassination of Habibullah Khan
50. [37:20] “Crusade” by Max Anson
51. [37:50] Light reading on the Third Anglo Afghan War (1919)
    1. Light reading on Ammanullah Khan
    2. Light reading on the bombings of Kabul
    3. Light reading on Afghan Independence Day
    4. Related: Independence movements in Egypt, Ireland and Malta
    5. Light reading on the Durand Line
52. [39:35] More on Wazhmah Osman
    1. And her book: Television and the Afghan Culture Wars
    2. And her film: Postcards from Tora Bora
53. [41:40] Light reading on Khushal Khan Khattak
54. [44:00] “Nothing in This World” by Telmo Telmo

"You've got boys flying kites again..." —George W. Bush

About:

Oh, the privilege. 

And what a privilege it is to publish a story about the broader theme of culture and identity, specifically for Afghanistan’s diaspora living in the States, like those on that third-culture-wave, when Afghans from the home country are left dealing with far harsher realities.

The diaspora’s dilemma pales in comparison (if you’re that foolish to try and compare the two) to their dilemma. No less, it is still a dilemma.

With that in mind, Part I of this multi-part story dives into that nebulous question...what does it really mean to be Afghan? Really, what does it mean to be from anywhere?

This is a tricky one.

Show Notes

1. [00:45] “The Layers of Heaven” by Jovica
2. [02:15] “I Know A Way Through” by Phillip Ayers
3. [03:30] “Afghan National Anthem”
4. [06:05] 2010 Census data on the number of Afghans in America 
   1. Related: Some of the other largest ethnic groups in America
   2. Related: Light reading on Dearborn, Mich.
   3. Related: Light reading on Egyptians in Jersey City (h/t @Saressaa)
   4. Related: Light reading on Iranians in Glendale / Tehrangeles
5. [07:10] More on the Kalacha
   1. On the real estate
   2. The surrounding area
   3. And some other stats
6. [07:50] “Don’t Say No” by Mike Franklin
7. [08:40] Light reading on Flushing
8. [08:50] Light reading on the local soccer club scene
9. [12:05] “Burnin’ Things” by Mike Franklin
10. [14:35] Light reading on Rumi
    1. Related:“I am not of India, nor of China, nor of Bulgaria, nor of Saqsín; / I am not of the kingdom of Irãqain, nor of the country of Khorãsãn.”
    2. And the debate over where Rumi is from 
11. [16:55] More reading on consumerism and American culture
    1. Here
    2. Here
    3. Here
    4. Here
    5. Here
12. [19:05] More on Jamil Jan Kochai (@jamiljankochai)
    1. Read his book, 99 Nights in Logar
    2. 2020 Pen Award finalist for debut novel
13. [19:20] Light reading on Logar, Afghanistan
14. [19:45] “Khaista Logar De” 
15. [20:05] Afghanistan by Mohammad Hassan Kakar
16. [21:45] “Antidote X” by Van Sandano
17. [21:45] George W. Bush announcement of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan on Oct 7, 2001
18. [21:50] President George W. Bush’s comments in December 2008
19. [22:25] President Barack Obama’s comments on drone strikes in 2013
20. [23:00] President Donald Trump comments on US Afghan war in 2019
21. [23:45] Rory Stewart’s two-part documentary series: Afghanistan: The Great Game 
22. [24:30] John Rambo’s history lesson of Afghanistan in Rambo III
    1. Related: this was propaganda
    2. Related: the Rambo musical score
23. [28:30] “Desert Hideout” by Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen
24. [31:00] “Wandering Soul” by Gabriel Lewis
25. [31:10] Light reading on the rise of the median home price vs the median household income
26. [31:20] Light reading on the increase of the cost of education
27. [31:30] Light reading on the rising cost of healthcare over the past few decades
28. [32:19]  “Playing Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain” by Jamil Jan Kochai
29. [32:25] Light reading on Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
    1. “Afghanistan is a big place”
30. [33:10] “The Early Eagle” by Jon Sumner
31. [35:25] Shout out to the prologue
32. [38:10] Light reading on Dari vs Farsi
33. [38:15] Light reading on the attan
34. [39:45] “Nysnö” by Sandra Marteleur
35. [40:00] Light reading on the history of slavery in the U.S.
    1. Related: Seeing White 
36. [41:15] Light reading on 
    1. Modern-day redlining
    2. The state of U.S. law enforcement
    3. The socioeconomic wealth gap
37. [43:25] “Mountain Solitude” by Moorland Songs
38. [44:00] The second-coming of the Bamiyan Buddhas 
39. [44:15] “Good words, good thoughts and good deeds.”
40. [45:10] John Gardner’s The Art of Fiction

This is a prologue to a multi-part series about the Afghan diaspora in America reclaiming their past and trying to grow from the present. It’s a story about culture, identity and authenticity.

Show Notes:

1. [00:30] “The Layers of Heaven” by Jovica
2. [00:55] Hit rewind. (freesound.org / cognitu perceptu)
3. [01:00] “Our Son the Potter” by The Blue Dot Sessions
4. [01:10] When LeBron James threw up his arms at J.R. Smith
5. [01:20] The hit song of Summer 2017
6. [01:30] Why the Game of Thrones finale was awful
   1. The teaser to Season 7 for old times sakes
7. [01:45] Brigette Gabriel’s call to “protest”
   1. More on Brigette Gabriel
8. [02:10] The Southern Poverty Law Center’s take on ACT for America
9. [02:15] Saturday, June 10, 2017, “anti-sharia protests” take place across the country
10. [03:15] Dispatch from an “anti-sharia protest” in Santa Clara, Calif. (h/t @SarRavani)
11. [06:25] More on the 2017 Portland train incident
    1. Related: The Story of a Hate Crime
12. [06:40] The surge of hate crimes that followed shortly after the 2016 election
    1. See here, here, here and here
13. [09:00] Light reading on no-go-zones.
14. [09:10] Light reading on Dearborn, Mich.
15. [09:40] “Cupcake Marshall” by The Blue Dot Sessions 
16. [12:15] Light reading on “white genocide”
17. [14:40] “Verdigris” by The Blue Dot Sessions
18. [16:20] This is a throwback to the original prologue of this podcast. It’s meta.
19. [16:50] Light reading on that third culture wave.
20. [17:20] Spoiler alert: no.
21. [17:30] Afghan National Anthem performed on TOLO TV

Quote: "We are all from Allah, and to Allah we return" —Surah Al-Baqarah, Verse 156

About:

In mere weeks, this country has seen COVID-19-related deaths rise past casualty totals for past wars and surprise attacks, sometimes passing those records daily. It seems like every day is filled with death.

But this isn’t the first time humanity has faced a pandemic. And this isn’t the first time society has reckoned with death. Is this a punishment? Or is God to blame?

In this latest podcast episode, we turn to the past for guidance on how to deal with our present—and it too is a trip.

Show Notes:

1. [00:30] More on “The Layers of Heaven” by Jovica
2. [00:45] Al-Mulk, verses 1-6
3. [02:00] Al-Baqarah, verses 155-56
4. [02:20] Light reading on the term nafs 
   1. As described by Oxford Islamic Studies Online
   2. More light reading
   3. A short talk on the subject
5. [04:10] “Keffel” by The Blue Dot Sessions
6. [04:20] Related: a list of other common arabic phrases
7. [05:10] More on David Sloane | (@dcsloane53)
   1. And his book, Is the Cemetery Dead
8. [05:50] The state of:
   1. Morgues
   2. Refrigerated trucks
   3. Funerals 
   4. And more funerals
   5. Cemeteries in areas like New York
   6. And in other places like Indonesia
   7. And the state of mourning
9. [06:30] Sayings of the Prophet Muhammad related to attendance and funeral prayers
10. [06:55] “Aloscape 2” by The Blue Dot Sessions
11. [07:00] Al-Qaf, verse 19
12. [07:40] More on Imam Zaid Shakir | (@ImamZaidShakir)
    1. More on Zaytuna College
    2. s/o to the Lighthouse Mosque in Oakland
    3. Part of his service at Muhammad Ali’s funeral ceremony
13. [08:25] Light reading on the Archangel Azrael
    1. Light reading on what happens when you die
    2. Light reading on the Angels Munkar and Nakir
    3. Light reading on the rites of the dead
14. [08:25] “Aloscape 1” by The Blue Dot Sessions
15. [10:10] More on Islamic burial laws in times of the coronavirus
16. [12:15] Light reading on the concept of the hereafter in Islam
17. [13:00] Al-Jumu’ah, verse 8
18. [13:15] “Clatl” by The Blue Dot Sessions
19. [13:45] More on AbdulKarim Yahya | (@abdulkarimyahya)
    1. And an old tv segment with a younger AbdulKarim
20. [15:10] Light reading on the timeline of the early Islamic days
21. [15:15] Light reading on what Mecca was like before Islam
22. [15:20] Light video lesson on early Islamic days
23. [15:30] Light context on the those early Islamic days
24. [15:45] Light reading on the Quraysh
25. [16:25] The sayings of the Prophet regarding martyrdom
    1. And another one
26. [16:45] On the history of the “quarantine”
    1. Not mentioned in the podcast: Ibn Sina’s 40-day ban
27. [17:30] On the Prophet Muhammad and times of pandemics 
28. [18:40] Light reading on Plague in Early Islamic History
29. [18:45] Light reading on Umar ibn al-Khattab
30. [18:45] Light reading on Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah
31. [19:05] “ZigZag Heart” by The Blue Dot Sessions
32. [19:25] More detail on the Umar ibn al-Khattab’s meeting in the desert
33. [19:30] Light reading on the Ansar
34. [22:15] More on the Prophet Muhummad’s parable of tying up your camel
35. [22:45] Al-Imran, verse 185
36. [23:00] “Lick Stick” by The Blue Dot Sessions
37. [24:00] More on Dr. Nükhet Varlik
38. [24:30] “Rainday Textile” by The Blue Dot Sessions
39. [24:30] Regarding the Black Death
    1. And how it compares to past pandemics
    2. And in another visual
    3. Its symptoms
    4. Its death toll and the silver lining 
40. [25:20] “Raskt Landsby” by The Blue Dot Sessions
41. [25:20] Trump soundbytes on 
    1. 2.29.20
    2. 3.23.20
    3. 3.25.20
42. [26:55] Light reading on the Venetian Plague Doctor
43. [28:10] “Campanula” by The Blue Dot Sessions
44. [28:30] More on Plagues, Medicine, and the Early Modern Ottoman State
45. [28:35] “Static City Drumline” by The Blue Dot Sessions
46. [28:45] Light reading on Khidr
47. [30:10] Light reading on Evliya Çelebi
48. [33:00] Al-Hadid, verses 22-23
49. [34:45] List of past pandemics revisited
50. [35:15] John Hopkins University COVID-19 Dashboard
51. [36:30] “Intercept” by The Blue Dot Sessions
52. [37:45] Super quick primer on materialism
53. [38:15] Super quick primer on the Islamic metaphysics
54. [39:15] “Where it All Happened” by The Blue Dot Sessions
55. [39:20] Light reading on…
    1. Transhumanism and a timeline of the movement
    2. The singularity
    3. Ray Kurzweil
    4. Shameless plug for an earlier episode of this podcast touching on technology debate
56. [41:50] Short video on income inequality in America
    1. Report on how billionaires keep on winning amidst the coronavirus
       1. Between January 1, 2020 and April 10, 2020, 34 of the nation’s wealthiest 170 billionaires saw their wealth increase by tens of millions of dollars. 
    2. Report on how 2,153 billionaires have more wealth than 60 percent of the world’s population of more than 4 billion people 
57. [42:40] “Cicle Ariel” by The Blue Dot Sessions
58. [42:50] Related: A Bay Area commute to work
59. [45:30] Related: Light reading on environmental racism
60. [45:50] Related: On the racial demographics of life and death as it pertains to COVID-19
    1. Another one
    2. And another one
    3. And another one
    4. And another one
61. [46:30] Related: On food deserts
    1. And another one
    2. And another one
    3. And another one
62. [46:40] Related: Overview of past tax rates
63. [48:45] Light reading on “death and taxes”
64. [50:42] Sufjan Stevens’ “Fourth of July” Cover by Constellation Men’s Ensemble and arranged by Kevin Vondrak
    1. They are a vocal group based out of Chicago dedicated to empowering the next generation of singers through educational engagement.
65. More on Imam Ali Mukasa
66. PODCAST RECOMMENDATION: American Submitter by Imran Ali Malik
67. More at thisissomenoise.com