Howie’s Substack Podcast (private feed for howielisnoff@gmail.com)

About Howie’s Substack Podcast (private feed for howielisnoff@gmail.com)

I write from the point of view of the liberal/left. As a journalist over many decades, I’ve written about issues that the mass media doesn’t, or won’t, address. howielisnoff2024.substack.com (https://howielisnoff2024.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Howie Lisnoff

Category

society & culture · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

3 Apr 2024

Latest episode

19 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

285 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   19 Sept 2026

   Unionism

   Unionism I recently watched a short video by Chris Hedges, whom I greatly admire, about Democrats who align themselves with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), and capitulate to the neoliberal, or New Democrat, agenda. That agenda involves kowtowing to the corporate elite, militarism, and the destruction of the environment, with perhaps some halfhearted tinkering at the edges of the environmental disaster all around us. Chris Hedges rightly names unions and organizing as the two tools to push back against the darkness that has taken hold of this nation and government. Here are the numbers of union workers in the US: In the public sector, 32.9% of workers belong to a union, or about 7.3 million people. The private sector has about 5.9% of workers in unions, or 7.4 million members. That’s a total of about 10% of all workers in the US. Compare those numbers with 1954 figures when 35% of US workers were in a union and the 1979 total when 21 million workers were unionized. It’s no accident that 1979 marked the growth of the global economy, which hollowed out both unions and industrial centers in the US. I belonged to three unions during my working years, with the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers being the unions I belonged to the longest. The university/college union I belonged to was not much of a union for adjunct faculty like myself. The one time I needed the latter’s help, they were useless. Both the NEA and AFT were fairly dependable unions, although I pushed back against the AFT because of their support for war in the 1980s. The reaction of the union president in that case was vicious. When the government of Rhode Island, including all three branches of the state government, successfully supported the elimination of union members’ cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs), unions bent to the will of the government, and many union members gave away, or supported, the state government in taking away retirees legally guaranteed COLAs. Hundreds of public service workers like myself fought against the state’s draconian action in taking away the COLAs that allowed members to live with a measure of dignity. Unionism in the US was met with state violence during the late 19th and 20th centuries. While some unions were forward-thinking, others became staunch supporters of McCarthy-era anti-communism. The government entered the fray once again just after World War II with the Taft-Hartley Act (1947) that banned many strikes. Right-to-work laws would soon follow. I searched for one of the effects of the Supreme Court decision in Janus v. AFSCME (2018) on union dues for public sector workers and found that over 30,000 members of one major teachers’ union refused to pay the fees generally associated with collective bargaining. In other words, a union member could benefit from the negotiations of his/her union for better working conditions and pay but did not have to pay full dues for that representation. The resulting power of unions to influence elections was lessened. A few days after the Kent State Massacre of anti-war protesters in Ohio in May 1970, rampaging trade union workers rioted in the Wall Street area of Manhattan and went on a bloody attack against protesting students. During Donald Trump’s successful run for the presidency in 2024, he had the support of the majority of rank-and-file workers represented by the Teamsters Union. Thank you for subscribing. Share this episode (https://howielisnoff2024.substack.com/p/unionism?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=podcast&utm_content=share&action=share&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxNDkyMTQyMTEsInBvc3RfaWQiOjIxNjM4NDQxMCwiaWF0IjoxNzg5ODU0MjA4LCJleHAiOjE3OTI0NDYyMDgsImlzcyI6InB1Yi0yMzcyNzQ1Iiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.oLZfmNnG7FTtUwGNNhWHIYtaVx2dGmTzri-4yk27Qo8&utm_campaign=CTA_3).

2. 

   15 Sept 2026

   The Higher Education: Living Productively and Critically

   The Higher Education: Living Productively and Critically Summary: From 2010 to 2015, I taught remedial reading and individual studies courses at Hudson Valley Community College. Despite efforts, the program struggled with low graduation rates, challenging student behavior, and inadequate support for learning disabilities. I question the effectiveness of remedial programs and the overall impact of community college on student success. * Work Experience: I was an instructor at Hudson Valley Community College from 2010 to 2015, teaching remedial reading and individual studies courses. * Program Evaluation: The Individual Studies Program, aimed at enhancing student performance, seemed ineffective based on personal observations and graduation rate comparisons. * Program Replacement: The Individual Studies Program was replaced by the Graduation, Achievement and Placement (GAP) Program, which focuses on academic support and accelerating graduation rates. * Student Performance: Many students lacked the ability to succeed in remedial courses, raising questions about their suitability for community college. * Learning Disabilities Support: The learning disabilities program was inadequate, with substandard help and limited resources. * Attendance and Grading: Poor attendance and a system that allowed for passing students despite frequent absences made grading a challenge. * Remedial Education Funding: Former Governor Andrew Cuomo was rumored to not be a strong supporter of remedial college programs. * Community College Graduation Rates: Graduation rates are low, with only 22% graduating within three years and 28% within four years. * College Expenses: States spend $133 billion on college daily operations and infrastructure, the federal government spends $82 billion on financial aid and research, and students and families pay an average of $34,019 per year. Every fall semester, from 2010 through 2015, I drove the relatively quiet highways and side roads from the Berkshires to the southern tip of Troy, New York. I worked as an instructor in the Individual Studies Program at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy. I taught two courses during those semesters, a remedial reading course and an individual studies course. The former was a non-credit course and the latter was a three-credit course. Some students took both courses. Matriculating in the remedial program at Hudson Valley depended on the three entrance exams a student took in reading, writing, and math. Although I have major credits in literature and am a practicing journalist, I was only allowed to teach the two courses noted above using a master’s degree in reading. I looked at the status of the Individual Studies Program at Hudson Valley Community College and was not surprised that it no longer existed and had been replaced by the Graduation, Achievement and Placement (GAP) Program (https://www.hvcc.edu/studentservices/academic-support/academic-engagement/gap.html), which appeared to be more of an academic support program for traditional community college courses. The program’s goals were twofold: accelerated student graduation rates and academic support. When I look back at the six fall semesters I spent at Hudson Valley, it seems as if the program I was involved in, along with two full-time staff, and several part-time staff members like myself, achieved next to nothing in enhancing student performance. Several years ago I wrote an article comparing several community college graduation rates during my tenure at Hudson Valley and the results I saw in the classroom reflected the equally abysmal graduation rates of the schools I studied, with the vast majority of students failing to graduate. My personal classroom experiences were remarkable in many ways. There was a coterie of students who did not have the ability to succeed in the remedial course I taught. If a student could not succeed in a remedial college course, then the question must be asked about whether or not that student belonged in a community college. There were a high number of students whose behavior (I also have a graduate degree in counseling) was so aberrant and abusive that success in a community college classroom was not possible. There were some students with learning disabilities, and the help they received was substandard. The learning disabilities program seemed helter-skelter to me and it appeared as a learning assistance program of meager resources and personnel. There was an academic coaching system in place, much like is mentioned in today’s GAP program, but out of hundreds of students, not a single student actually received that coaching assistance. Attendance in classes was laughable. I had students who cut classes for weeks at a time and returned a week or so before the semester’s end inquiring if they could pass the course. At each semester’s end, my wife and I sat with my mark book attempting to develop multiple sliding scales to enter enough assignments and quiz scores to pass students. Passing students became a laughable exercise in attempting to make sense of a nonsensical system. Returning to the independent study course, there were a handful of students, perhaps two or three in each section, who could actually complete college-level work and did go on to other college programs. During the time I taught the remedial courses, a rumor was that the then-governor, Andrew Cuomo, was not a strong supporter of remedial college programs. From my experience and point of view, if in fact that was true, the former governor seemed to be a more balanced footing than those who worked in and administered remedial community college programs (“As Cuomo proposal rekindles free college movement, new research provides ammunition for skeptics (https://www.brookings.edu/articles/as-cuomo-proposal-rekindles-free-college-movement-new-research-provides-ammunition-for-skeptics/#:~:text=In%20early%20January,%20Governor%20Andrew,most%20students%20in%20the%20state.),” Brookings Institution, January 19, 2017). I use this citation because it was concurrent with my work at Hudson Valley Community College. In “The Catch-22 of Community College Graduation Rates (http://Within%20three%20years,%20approximately%2022%20percent%20of%20students%20graduate;%20within%20four%20years,%20the%20rate%20stands%20at%2028%20percent.),” (Community College Review, August 19, 2026), the article notes that “Within three years, approximately 22 percent of students graduate, within four years, the rate stands at 28 percent.” The two year figure is 13 percent. These figures don’t reflect the complex lives of community college students, whether or not their college lives were interrupted, and the effects of the economy on whether or not students graduate. It, the reporting, also does not assess the impact of poverty on community college attendance and graduation rates. According to the Pew Charitable Trusts, states spend $133 billion on college daily operations and infrastructure, while the federal government spends $82 billion of financial aid, grants, and scientific research. The lender Sallie Mae notes that students and families pay “an average of $34,019 per year on college.” The latter is extremely low given the escalating costs of a college or university education. Thank you for subscribing. Share this episode (https://howielisnoff2024.substack.com/p/the-higher-education-living-productively?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=podcast&utm_content=share&action=share&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxNDkyMTQyMTEsInBvc3RfaWQiOjIxNTgxNzA4OCwiaWF0IjoxNzg5NTIzNzU2LCJleHAiOjE3OTIxMTU3NTYsImlzcyI6InB1Yi0yMzcyNzQ1Iiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.-nF0m_FTnnGRDasQgypwmOXuxK2lM2piYQAhGb-MO7I&utm_campaign=CTA_3).

3. 

   9 Sept 2026

   One of Millions of Recollections

   One of Millions of Recollections After swimming at the local YMCA, I drove over to Nulman Park in Narragansett, RI, to relax and watch the surfers, of whom I had been one years ago, ride the waves on the clear September day in 2001. It was just after 9:00 when I pulled into our driveway. The news of the horror unfolding in NYC was on the screen of the TV in our family room. Horrific scenes followed upon each additional horror. I recalled standing on the roof of my graduate dormitory, Judson Hall, in late August 1970, and seeing the work lights of the towers, their green glow, across the relatively short distance from lower Manhattan to Greenwich Village. It seemed like the towers could be almost touched by reaching out across that expanse. They were so impressive. The first sign that there would be a massive response to the horror of that day was the case of a man who was removed from a train in Providence at the insistence of fellow travelers because of his traditional Indian outfit. It may have been a day after the attacks, but I have joined them in my mind. Within a week or so, a group, primarily, but not exclusively, supported by a student group at Brown University, formed a loosely connected organization in an attempt to call for a peaceful resolution in response to the attacks. From a personal perspective, I believed that a so-called brief “police action” to capture bin Laden and his followers was an intelligent response. The opposite and expected result took place, which led to endless wars in first Afghanistan and then wars of regime change championed by George W. Bush’s administration. Hundreds of thousands would die. Parallels can be drawn to today’s war in Iran, with the exception that Iran did not initiate this war. However, the history of Middle East and Southwest Asia’s wars extends back to the Gulf War and the earlier, 1980s, support for the mujahideen that the US supported to thwart the former Soviet Union’s war in Afghanistan. Response to the militarized frenzy that gripped the nation following the terror attacks was impossible to counter. Vengeance was unrelenting, and the years of military responses rather than any other response dominated everything. News media would be willing participants in this, and the leadership of our peace group that met at a church in a poor section of Providence finally decided that our efforts were not worthwhile. A few years ago, close to five, my wife and I met a woman on a walk whose husband had been killed in one of the two Twin Towers. A person cannot help but feel helpless and speechless in the face of such a horror, and our neighbor will have to live with what happened on that day for the rest of her life. Thank you for subscribing. Share this episode (https://howielisnoff2024.substack.com/p/one-of-millions-of-recollections?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=podcast&utm_content=share&action=share&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxNDkyMTQyMTEsInBvc3RfaWQiOjIxNDg4NDE5NSwiaWF0IjoxNzg4OTgzNzQ4LCJleHAiOjE3OTE1NzU3NDgsImlzcyI6InB1Yi0yMzcyNzQ1Iiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.KC_xPSNYW9mZFH4qniFF_BklZ6M4WqMc0JInTCeFIkE&utm_campaign=CTA_3).

Podcast Authority Score: 39 / 100

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