On Trump's obsession with and confederate statues. Recorded before the announcement that Trump would restore the confederate monument at Arlington and other monuments taken down in 2020.
References:
Cox, Karen.2019. Dixies Daughters: The United Daughters of the Confederacy and The Preservation of Confederate Culture. UP Florida. https://upf.com/book.asp?id=9780813064130
Southern Poverty Law Center map of confederate symbols, “Whose Heritage”: https://www.splcenter.org/whose-heritage-map/
A Pinterest of statue toppling images from 2020: https://pin.it/1vCPFbp6F
Clips:
CNN: Trump on Removal of Confederate General: Is George Washington Next? Aug 15 2017 https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10157182610776509
CNBC: President Donald Trump on Charlottesville: You Had Very Fine People on Both Sides. Aug 15 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmaZR8E12bs
Cover Photo by Ted Timmons, Edited by Colin McLaughlin-Alcock
Creative Commons License: https://tinyurl.com/y9dj772p
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/night-drift/pastel
License code: GQDFBFKOAKOQWZM5
Memorialize The Movement: Preserving Art From the George Floyd Uprising with Leesa Kelly and Amira McLendon. E02.
Episode 2
Saturday, September 6, 2025 • Duration 53:04
Colin interviews Leesa Kelly and Amira McLendon of Memorialize the Movement about their experiences as Black activists working to preserve art from the 2020 uprising in Minneapolis. Kelly and McLendon offer insight into the racial politics of art preservation.
Links and References:
Memorialize the Movement: https://www.memorializethemovement.com/
Art and Artifact: Murals from the Minneapolis Uprising: https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517918989/art-and-artifact/
Preservation for the People Podcast: https://blackartconservators.com/podcast/
Monument Lab’s National Monument Audit: https://monumentlab.com/audit
Jenn M. Jackson: “The Militancy of (Black) Memory: Theorizing Black-Led Movements as Disjunctures in the Normativity of White Ignorance.” https://doi.org/10.1215/00382876-9825933
Cover Photo by Ted Timmons, Edited by Colin McLaughlin-Alcock
Creative Commons License: https://tinyurl.com/y9dj772p
Music from #Uppbeat
https://uppbeat.io/t/night-drift/pastel
License code: WOMBEWKJI6OOODDO
Public Art On Trial E04
Episode 4
Monday, October 6, 2025 • Duration 01:04:00
Public Art On Trial:
In this episode, we examine the ways that major funders of public art in the US have often sought to use public art as a tool of social engineering. What did these funders hope that public art would achieve? And were they successful in their efforts to transform the social life of American cities? We will look at a number of high profile public art projects and controversies and attempt to evaluate the goals and impacts of public art in the US.
References:
Richard Serra Interview 1983: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgtcyuXQ4T4
The Trial of Tilted Arc: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxyhgUAYvB4
Kwon, Miwon. “One Place After Another: Site Specific Art and Locational Identity.” https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262612029/one-place-after-another/
For info on urban renewal and Calder Plaza: Michigan Live: Awash in concrete: How Calder Plaza came to be: https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/2016/10/grand_rapids_urban_renewal_exp.html
Header image based on photo by Gary Coronado: https://tinyurl.com/kdzxt5k
Pod logo based on photo by Ted Timmons, Edited by Colin McLaughlin-Alcock
Creative Commons License: https://tinyurl.com/y9dj772p
Music from #Uppbeat
https://uppbeat.io/t/night-drift/pastel
License code: UKJ7UN6PM4ANCNM9
Banksy in Palestine E03
Episode 3
Monday, September 22, 2025 • Duration 01:09:33
The internationally famous graffiti artist, Banksy, has made 3 trips to Palestine, where he has attempted to use graffiti art to build solidarity with the Palestinian cause. What are the possibilities and limits of this form of artistic solidarity?
References:
Dan Brooks “Banksy and the Problem with Sarcastic Art.” NYT. Sept 10 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/10/magazine/banksy-and-the-problem-with-sarcastic-art.html
Amahl Bishara. “Backstories: U.S. News Production and Palestinian Politics.” 2012. https://www.sup.org/books/middle-east-studies/back-stories
Shuruq Harb: “Don’t Confuse Me With The Monkey: On Banksy’s Walled Off Hotel.” Ocula. July 21 2017. https://ocula.com/magazine/spotlights/dont-confuse-me-with-the-monkey-on-banksys-wa/
Jennifer Lynn Kelly. “Invited To Witness: Solidarity Tourism Across Occupied Palestine.” 2023. https://www.dukeupress.edu/invited-to-witness
Channel 4 News. “Banksy documentary: Welcome to the Banksy art hotel in Bethlehem.” 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMS6Ds3qryY&ab_channel=Channel4News
BanksyFilm. “Make this the year YOU discover a new destination.” 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e2dShY8jIo&ab_channel=banksyfilm
The Guardian. “After Banksy: The Parkour Guide to Gaza.” 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuHsRm5FBvA&ab_channel=TheGuardian
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Episode Photo By Maureen from Buffalo, USA - West Bank wall at Kalandia, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=118005802
Cover Photo by Ted Timmons, Edited by Colin McLaughlin-Alcock Creative Commons License: https://tinyurl.com/y9dj772p
Music from #Uppbeat
https://uppbeat.io/t/night-drift/pastel
License code: KGPS35V2S9VLBQSZ
The Reactionary Politics of “The Best American Poetry” – with guest Nick Sturm. E07
Episode 7
Tuesday, November 25, 2025 • Duration 01:28:50
We invited Nick Sturm to join us to tell us about his recent Defector article, “Good Riddance to The Best American Poetry.” Nick tells us about the reactionary ideals which shaped the poetry anthology series and how these reactionary ideals influence American politics and the wider world of poetry.
Nick Sturm teaches at Georgia State University in Atlanta. His book “Publishing the New York School: Small Press Communities and American Poetry” will be published by Columbia University Press. Nick is also in the research stage on another book-length project, “The Poetry Business,” that examines the role of the state, nonprofits, universities, and philanthropy in the professionalization of American poetry. A few other forthcoming projects include a chapter on poet Frank O'Hara's publishing history in “Frank O’Hara in Context” from Cambridge University Press; editing “The Collected Poems of Jim Brodey” for Nightboat Books; and a chapter on the relationship between federal arts funding and small press editorial practices in “The Bloomsbury Handbook of Literary Editing.”
You can find Nick’s article, “Good Riddance to The Best American Poetry” here: https://defector.com/good-riddance-to-the-best-american-poetry
In our conversation, Nick mentions Jonathan White’s article, “Thinking Generations:” https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/49483/1/White_thinking_generations.pdf
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Header image based on photo by Gary Coronado:
https://tinyurl.com/kdzxt5k
Pod logo based on photo by Ted Timmons, Edited by Colin McLaughlin-Alcock
Creative Commons License: https://tinyurl.com/y9dj772p
Music from #Uppbeat
https://uppbeat.io/t/night-drift/pastel
License code: KRQMGNARPJLX0ICN
Weird Little Architects E06
Episode 6
Tuesday, November 4, 2025 • Duration 01:15:12
In this episode, we tell you about the weird little architects in Trump’s orbit and their plans to remake DC.
References
The National Civic Art Society: www.civicart.org
Website for Michael Curtis, the artist member of the NCAS https://theclassicalartist.com/statues
Video: Washington the Classical City: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LkKnhtOPnc
“Hegel’s Aesthetics.” In the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hegel-aesthetics/
Cole, Bruce. Art From the Swamp: How Washington Bureaucrats Squander Millions on Awful Art. https://www.amazon.com/Art-Swamp-Washington-Bureaucrats-Squander/dp/1594039968
Video: Roger Scruton: Why Beauty Matters. https://vimeo.com/549715999
Pod logo based on photo by Ted Timmons, Edited by Colin McLaughlin-Alcock
Creative Commons License: https://tinyurl.com/y9dj772p
Music from #Uppbeat https://uppbeat.io/t/night-drift/pastel
License code: RIGCP4AT5FQFWIGO
Style Wars Revisited: Graffiti Then and Now E05
Episode 5
Monday, October 20, 2025 • Duration 01:10:49
Colin and Mariel watch "Style Wars," a classic documentary about New York City graffiti in 1982, and explore what this documentary can tell us about the politics of today.
References:
Style Wars (1982): https://youtu.be/CO9YgJXzRmk?si=Alsm22cBTOlZxOY1
Footage of the Burning of the Bronx from the 1977 World Series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnVH-BE9CUo
Interview with Tony Silver and Henry Chalfant. Hip Hop Slam: https://www.hiphopslam.com/articles/artic_StyleWarsDVD.html
Map: “How the Burning of the Bronx led to the Birth of Hip Hop,” originally from “Nonstop Metropolis: A New York City Atlas” Joshua Jelly-Shapiro and Rebecca Solnit eds. Featured on Independent Lens. PBS. https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/how-the-burning-of-the-bronx-led-to-the-birth-of-hip-hop/
Rahn, Janice. “Painting Without Permission” https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/painting-without-permission-9780897898102/
Music from #Uppbeat
https://uppbeat.io/t/night-drift/pastel
License code: TBDYWEHRAAIK7W26
Header image based on photo by Gary Coronado: https://tinyurl.com/kdzxt5k
Pod logo based on photo by Ted Timmons, Edited by Colin McLaughlin-Alcock
Creative Commons License: https://tinyurl.com/y9dj772p
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