Hello supporters of Talking Radical!
For many of us, the new year is a time when we reflect on the year
just past and the changes that lie ahead. In that spirit, I want to
share with you some big news about what is coming up for me and for
the Talking Radical project.
As of the end of February 2023, Talking Radical Radio will have been
running for ten years. Over that time, I have done more than 500
interviews with people engaged in activism, organizing, and other
kinds of change work, and I have brought at least 50 episodes per
year to community radio stations across the country and to a range
of online platforms. I have benefited immeasurably from getting to
speak with so many people doing interesting and important work whom
I would never otherwise have encountered, and I am constantly
humbled by how generously people have shared their stories. Even a
decade in, it is satisfying work and it feels like a politically
useful way to employ my time and my skills.
However, after extensive reflection and lots of conversations over
the last six months, I have decided that once Talking Radical Radio
reaches the 10-year mark at the end of February, it will be ending
its weekly run. There are lots of reasons for this, and I may go
into more detail in a future email/post, but a lot of it boils down
to the fact that the show takes by far the biggest chunk of my work
time each week and each year, and I want to have that time to take
on new challenges and to make other things.
For the next two months, the show will still reach you every week in
whichever of the many ways you listen. As for what comes after –
there are a few things I know for sure, and plenty more that I look
forward to exploring, but I do not want to say much more than that
just yet. Certainly, the Talking Radical project as a whole is not
over. As a sort of container for my work grounded in the voices of
activists, organizers, and other people engaged in collective
struggle, it began long before the radio show, with the oral history
project that resulted in the
two
books I published with Fernwood Publishing in 2012, and it
will continue after the show. At the moment, I don't know exactly
what form that will take, or what other directions my work as a
whole will go – a desire to reconnect with that sense of broad
possibility is part of the point of this change – but it seems
likely that struggles for collective liberation will remain a
significant focus of what I do. It is even possible that Talking
Radical Radio is not gone for good, as I am leaving open the
possibility of returning to it as a podcast-only project with
periodic, time-limited seasons – I'm not committing to that, but it
is a possibility.
Thank-you so much for listening and for supporting the show over the
years! And I look forward to continuing to share the work that I do
in this area via this list and social media.
Solidarity and best wishes in the new year,
Scott 8)
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Links to work & social media at
https://scottneigh.ca