My friend Bill Ayers stops by to talk about his time in the resistance against the war in Vietnam, imperialism and racism in America. We also discuss the psychology of the right wing and the danger of fascism. Bill Ayers tells us about the subjective nature of freedom and insight on how to empathize better in society. Bernadine Dohrn is in the background hooting emphatically watching the World Cup. This is an inspiring and intelligent conversation with a brilliant and compassionate human being.
Bill Ayers Website
https://billayers.org/
William Ayers, Distinguished Professor of Education and Senior Bill Ayers University Scholar at the University of Illinois at Chicago (retired), founder of both the Small Schools Workshop and the Center for Youth and Society, taught courses in interpretive and qualitative research, oral history, creative non-fiction, urban school change, and teaching and the modern predicament. A graduate of the University of Michigan, the Bank Street College of Education, Bennington College, and Teachers College, Columbia University, Ayers has written extensively about social justice, democracy and education, the cultural contexts of schooling, and teaching as an essentially intellectual, ethical, and political enterprise. He is a past member of the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate, and past Vice-President of the curriculum division of the American Educational Research Association.
Ayers’ articles have appeared in many journals including the Harvard Educational Review, the Journal of Teacher Education, Teachers College Record, Rethinking Schools, The Nation, Educational Leadership, the New York Times and the Cambridge Journal of Education.
His books include with Crystal Laura and Rick Ayers “You Can’t Fire the Bad Ones!” And 18 Other Myths About Teachers, Teachers’ Unions, and Public Education , Demand the Impossible! A Radical Manifesto, Teaching with Conscience in an Imperfect World: An Invitation, Public Enemy: Confessions of an American Dissiden, with Ryan Alexander-Tanner To Teach: The Journey in Comics, with Bernardine Dohrn Race Course: Against White Supremacy, with Rick Ayers Teaching the Taboo: Courage and Imagination in the Classroom (Teachers College Press, 2011), Teaching toward Freedom: Moral Commitment and Ethical Action in the Classroom, with Kevin Kumashiro, Erica Meiners, Therese Quinn, and David Stovall Teaching toward Democracy: Educators as Agents of Change, A Kind and Just Parent: The Children of Juvenile Court , Fugitive Days: A Memoir, On the Side of the Child: Summerhill Revisited , Teaching the Personal and the Political: Essays on Hope and Justice , The Good Preschool Teacher: Six Teachers Reflect on Their Lives, (Teachers College Press, 1989), and To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher, (Teachers College Press, 1993) which was named Book of the Year in 1993 by Kappa Delta Pi, and won the Witten Award for Distinguished Work in Biography and Autobiography in 1995.
Edited books include: To Become a Teacher: Making a Difference in Children’s Lives with Janet Miller, A Light in Dark Times: Maxine Greene and the Unfinished Conversation; with Pat Ford, City Kids/City Teachers: Reports from the Front Row ; with Jean Ann Hunt and Therese Quinn, Teaching for Social Justice: A Democracy and Education Reader; with Mike Klonsky and Gabrielle Lyon, A Simple Justice: The Challenge of Small Schools ; with Rick Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, Zero Tolerance: Resisting the Drive for Punishment; with Bernardine Dohrn and Jeff Jones, Sing a Battle Song: The Revolutionary Poetry, Statements, and Communiqués of the Weather Underground 1970 – 1974; with Gloria Ladson-Billings, Pedro Noguera, and Gregory Michie, City Kids/City Schools: More Reports From the Front Row; with Therese Quinn and David Stovall, the Handbook of Social Justice in Education; and with Caroline Heller and Janise Hurtig, Every Person is a Philosopher: Lessons in Educational Emancipation from the Radical Teaching Life of Hal Adams (Peter Lang, 2016).
He lives in Hyde Park, Chicago with Bernardine Dohrn, partner, comrade, friend, co-parent and grand-parent, inspiration, co-author, lover, and soul-mate for close to half a century.
Under the Tree Podcast
https://underthetreepod.com/
Fugitive Days
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/fugitive-days-a-memoir_bill-ayers/384353/#edition=3027004&idiq=27469
Key Moments
0:00 Intro
1:00 Weathermen Underground
10:00 The History of Oppression and imperialism
15:00 Transgender Rights
20:00 Slavery and Private Prisons
25:00 Fascism in America
30:00 Freedom is Subjective
34:00 Hyper Individualism
35:00 Loss of Community
40:00 Everyone Can Be a Millionaire
45:00 Mutual Indifference
50:00 Climate Change
53:00 Books, Podcast and Wisdom
55:00 Outro