I spent most of last week among dear old friends, introducing Red Vienna to them through a book talk at the UU, home of free thinkers, activists, and a good number of eternal optimists, and a talk radio interview with Dave Congalton, grand master of the genre and a true mensch.
You can listen to the interview here: https://www.920kvec.com/episode/hometown-radio-06-20-24-430p-eve-neuhaus-author-of-red-vienna/
Now, back to baby and toddler duty. What a joy to be California with my family!
Eve Neuhaus 
Eve, Your interview by radio host Dave Congalton was very informative. Dave expertly guided the brief 30 minute interview to help you cover the timely concepts that are politically relevant today. He is definitely a mensch:))
Thanks so much, Barbara. He’s the best!
It was both edifying and joyful to attend the gathering with you at the U-U Fellowship! Edifying because it was sobering to contemplate how a society genuinely building community around utopian ideals could find itself confronted with orchestrated madness that we know culminated in the ultimate dystopia, and that similar dangers threaten our much less utopian present; joyful because I sensed, in those assembled, a genuine commitment to do what is needed to heed history’s lessons and to build a community of resistance as effectively as we can. You are an inspiring author of historical fiction; we, all together, recognize our responsibility to be, not spectators, but dedicated co-authors of the shared story that is being written through our actions and the actions of those around us, whom it is our responsibility to uplift and inspire!
And it was a delight to have you there, Eric. Your comments, as always, moved us forward in our consideration of the subject. Can you share the piece of poetry you recited here? It was so appropriate.
Did I share a poem? Maybe I’m forgetting…I know I did share a few prose quotes, or rough paraphrases of quotes. From Wendell Berry: “A healthy society needs liberals and conservatives; liberals, to remind us that none of us are whole if we leave others behind, and conservatives, because as liberals rightly awaken our generosity, we cannot responsibly exercise that generosity without a genuine reckoning with carrying capacity.” This was in the interest of coalition building–in my part of the county, there are a number of good old fashioned conservatives who are VERY distinct from the toxically orchestrated groupthink right wing, but who also do not identify with many of the left’s favorite markers of membership in that faction. Most of these folks do not fancy Trump OR Biden. Most of them want to keep Diablo running, but are willing to listen to my different view. They don’t want to be loosey-goosey with the public purse and doubt the effectiveness of many of the programs and “services” beloved by liberals, while recognizing the good intentions behind them. Many of them question things like mandates for vehicle electrification and covid vaccines; unlike right-wingers, they are not mean or bigoted, being instead very fair minded, and they value free speech and a forthright exchange of views over campaigns against “misinformation.” Their concern with the US Mexico border (whatever their position on a “wall”) draws a clear distinction between humble folks seeking a better life, with whom they sympathize, and human traffickers and fentanyl runners, whom they wish to block, and whom many of them see as a dire threat. They sense as much threat to our liberty from technocracy as from any political faction. I have had many friendly conversations with such folks, traversing areas of agreement and disagreement, and sense that, when push comes to shove, they will stand on the side of liberty against orchestrated pogroms if we will stand with them and hold to an ethic of strengthening each other. The political spectrum should be irrelevant when we build coalitions against totalitarianism. Anyway, that’s why I shared that Wendell Berry quote or paraphrase. Then there was a piece of Yoruba wisdom about resistance to oppression, as shared by Bayo Akomolafe: “They tried to bury us, forgetting that we are seeds.” There was the Walt Whitman quote: “Question everything you are told. Dismiss that which insults your soul.” Did I also share an actual poem? If so, what do you remember about it?
I think I was remembering Whitman’s name and mixing it up with the paraphrase of Wendell Berry. That’s what I was remembering. Thanks, so wise!