More Radio

I was on Ujima again yesterday. Paulette has an education-themed show on Thursday mornings and Paul Jacobs, the Service Director for Education at Bristol City Council, has kindly agreed to come in once a month to talk to listeners. I needed to see Paul about next year’s LGBT History Month plans, and this seemed like a good time for a meeting. Of course Paulette saw it as a good chance to interview me.

So I ended up guesting with Ujima Chairman, Roger Griffith, talking about our experiences of education: me as a trans girl in the days before trans was even talked about, him as a black boy in a mostly white school. You can listen to that here. In the second hour Paul bravely took questions from a group of kids from a local school.

While I was on air Judeline phoned in sick, so I offered to take her place in the What the Papers Say panel on the following show. I had time to flick through a few of the day’s papers during the second half of the education show and immediately zeroed in on an article by Dave Aaronovitch in the Times where, in defense of Germaine Greer’s transphobia, he had the cheek to accuse students today of being Stalinists. Anyone who was active in student politics in the late 70s and early 80s will know just how ironic that is. Of course these days Aaronovitch is a shill for Rupert Murdoch. Doubtless he somehow manages to claim that his politics haven’t changed.

Anyway, I may have had a little rant about Greer.

I also made reference to this blog post by Radio Bristol presenter, John Darvall, who has been complaining about how the local media, including the BBC, have reported the death of his daughter. Sadly I don’t think it will change anything. The mainstream media will always hide behind the excuse that they have to simplify everything for the benefit of their listeners, and that the wishes of those whose lives they are reporting, not to mention the truth, always come a distant second.

That segment of the show is available here, and of course don’t forget that in the second hour Paulette and Zuzana reported on their trip to Calais to bring supplies to the refugee camp.