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“More than a Feeling” would be a good theme song….
Glad you are back on the air.
For some reason, “Life During Wartime” popped into my head as a good theme song.
On the theme song front, may I be so bold as to nominate “This Is Why We Fight” by the Decembrists? It’s a great, catchy song and definitely “on theme” (pardon the pun).
…And I didn’t know New England was Ground Zero for so many Progressive ideas. I guess I thought their points of origin could vary, from New England to Marin County, CA to Madison, WI to Canada to Western Europe to various campuses in between.
Finally, it’s wonderful having you back Michael! Of course I wish it was still on a daily basis, but I’ll take what I can get.
See you next week! (And please give some thought to that song! The chorus is perfect for what you’re looking for, because — in addition to everything else — the phrase “Behind the Blue Wall” suggests pure stubborn defiance. And trust me, so does that song.)
I’ll check that out at least. Is The Decembrists one of Jack White’s projects?
Michael’s right. New England has so many schools and they have a high proportion of kookiness. California has a lot of schools too, but historically a lot of the UC system was relatively pragmatic. I’m not sure if that holds the same way now. California now is so different from California c. 2000. I don’t think that extending the sequence of how the ideas spread works quite how you suggested, just because you put Europe at the end. Traditionally New England is ground zero for the U.S., but the kooky ideas didn’t all originate in our country.
Interesting. I read it as being cut off from one’s own and maybe even away from one’s true home rather than as defiance. You may be right. I’d have used ‘Behind Enemy Lines’ for defiance, though.
No idea about the Jack White thing, sorry. (Great song though!)
And the UC system passed pragmatic decades ago and is now certifiably insane. It is absolutley terrifying. Good lord.
And perhaps you’re right that the name “Behind the Blue Wall” does not suggest defiance — but the podcast itself sure does. Michael’s like a brave partisan crouched before a shortwave in a darkened basement somewhere, supporting the Resistance.
That’s too bad. My mom’s from Massachusetts, and there are schools I’ve heard stories about – places where there were arguments over co-ed showering facilities 50 years ago! Of course, those schools tended to attract well to do families who weren’t necessarily thinking the same way other people would about the value of education.
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Massachusetts also had much less expensive schools, like where my mom went to get her teaching degree, where it was understood that college was an investment. They were pretty practical no-nonsense places, as one would expect. My dad was at Riverside and from what I’m told most of the UCs used to be that way too: places where pursuing a degree was viewed in that practical way…
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except Berkley of course.
So glad to hear an MG podcast again!
Michael – I kinda miss hearing this song once a week https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK5CLplRIno ;)
Rockville, Connecticut’s own Gene Pitney: “I’m Gonna Be Strong“
Kinda retro, kinda ironic