Commoning Our Cities: Mary Miss, Silvia Federici, Peter Linebaugh

What most Americans know about Puerto Rico is based on a colonial fantasy, says journalist and Columbia University professor, Ed Morales. This fantasy, and the reality it obscures, is the subject of his new book, Fantasy Island. In this episode, Laura interviews Morales and scholar/activist Rosa Clemente about the personal and political implications of the island's ongoing debt crisis, recovering from Hurricane Maria, and #RickyRenuncia, the intersectional protest movement that led to the resignation of Governor Ricardo Rosselló in the summer of 2019.

Award-winning poet, performer, novelist, and activist Staceyann Chin has just published her first anthology of poems. She has been featured on Broadway, HBO, and Russell Simmons’ Def Poetry Jam and her latest one woman show, MotherStruck, was adapted for film and premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2019. In this episode, Laura interviews Chin about the anthology, Crossfire, and her relationship to a cannon dominated by white men.