Why are people walking and biking along the narrow shoulders of Routes 7, 23 and 41, and what would it take to give them a safe place to go? In this episode, we sit down with James Barnard, a Beijing-based history teacher (and the host’s son) with a passion for active transportation infrastructure: the paths and lanes that let us get around under our own power.
James draws on lessons from the Netherlands and Sweden, where systematic road-safety design has cut traffic deaths by about two-thirds, and makes the case that the Berkshires could benefit from the same thinking. He explains why bike paths cost a fraction of what roads do and last for decades, how the Massachusetts DOT has already mapped a Priority Trails Network, and why South County lags behind the progress on the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail up north.
The conversation also covers bike tourism as an economic engine, kids’ independence and mental health, the surprising shared history of the bicycle and the car, and the difference between e-bikes and e-motorcycles. Above all, James argues that a Berkshire Bike Path from Ashley Falls to Williamstown is within reach, for about 1% of what the state spends on roads, if residents build the political will to demand it.
10 Aug 2026
Hegel in Gaza and Iran
What would Hegel make of the current conflict in the Middle East? This episode reads two intertwined catastrophes — America's war with Iran and the devastation of Gaza — through the Phenomenology of Spirit, where history advances by contradiction. A superpower pleads poverty at home while spending billions on destruction; a fragile ceasefire opens one narrow diplomatic door. From the wreckage of the 2015 nuclear deal to the terms that might close every pathway to a bomb, we ask: can the modern world recognize its own face?
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0qvnk2ezp7o (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0qvnk2ezp7o)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Minab_school_attack (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Minab_school_attack)
https://www.aaronmate.net/p/with-epic-fury-regime-change-radicals (https://www.aaronmate.net/p/with-epic-fury-regime-change-radicals)
https://www.globalresearch.ca/israel-bleed-america-dry-discard/5866080 (https://www.globalresearch.ca/israel-bleed-america-dry-discard/5866080)
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/01/us/politics/national-debt-30-trillion.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/01/us/politics/national-debt-30-trillion.html)
https://www.mintpressnews.com (https://www.mintpressnews.com)
https://electronicintifada.net/content/how-complicit-media-tried-sell-genocide/51564 (https://electronicintifada.net/content/how-complicit-media-tried-sell-genocide/51564)
Brown University
https://consortiumnews.com/2026/06/15/watch-remembering-minab/ (https://consortiumnews.com/2026/06/15/watch-remembering-minab/)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AriUtA_pWW0 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AriUtA_pWW0)
16 Jun 2026
The Genocide was livestreamed...and denied.
This episode examines how mainstream American media didn’t just fail to cover the destruction of Gaza accurately, but actively participated in obscuring it. Drawing on two works released a decade apart, the 2016 documentary The Occupation of the American Mind and Adam H. Johnson’s 2026 book How to Sell a Genocide, the discussion traces how a public relations infrastructure built since the 1980s shaped Western coverage of Israel and Palestine. The conversation looks at specific journalistic patterns Johnson documents in outlets like the New York Times and CNN, including language choices, source selection, and what he calls “Moats of Rationalization.” Rather than blaming right-wing outlets, the focus lands squarely on the center-left press and the uncomfortable question of institutional complicity in shaping public understanding of mass atrocity.
1 Jun 2026
How to Keep up with the News and not Despair
In this podcast we explore the psychological toll of consuming distressing news, particularly coverage of the war in Gaza. Jason Brown and deputy editor of Consortium News Corinna Barnard with clinical psychologist Dr. Renee McCormick — examine how relentless exposure to traumatic news affects mental health.
Dr. McCormick draws on research from the American Psychological Association (APA), other research groups and her own experience as a trauma therapist to explain phenomena like secondary traumatic stress, doomscrolling, desensitization, and the “window of tolerance” — the psychological zone in which a person can process information without becoming overwhelmed or shutting down entirely. She notes that people respond to overload in one of two directions: hyperarousal (anxiety, anger, obsessive consumption) or underarousal (numbness, avoidance, apathy).
30 Mar 2026
From Cuba and Iran to Chicopee with US Congressional Candidate Nadia Milleron
Nadia Milleron, who is running as an Independent to represent the first congressional district of Massachusetts in the US House of Representatives, speaks with her neighbors and cohosts Jason Brown and Corinna Barnard about the local and national implications of current US foreign aggressions.
This conversation starts off with the U.S. imposition of a cruel energy blockade on Cuba, moves on to focus on Israel and the unconstitutional US war on
Iran and ends up early one recent morning outside the Westover Air Reserve base in Chicopee.
Along the way, Nadia makes the case for participatory democracy, voting Independent and breaking the Democratic-Republican duopoly control over Washington.
23 Mar 2026
Unhinged U.S. Militarism
In this podcast Jason Brown and Corinna Barnard discuss the vast and ever expanding US military budget and the proliferation of US military bases and facilities — beginning right here at home in the first congressional district of Massachusetts.
4 Mar 2026
Earth's Greatest Enemy - exploring Abby Martin's epic film about the toxic fallout of U.S. aggression.
Welcome to another episode of Culture Shift, where we explore an eye-opening documentary that reveals the concealed threats associated with the U.S. military-industrial complex. Titled "Earth’s Greatest Enemy," this film is the brainchild of journalist Abby Martin and Iraq War veteran Michael Prysner. It stands apart from traditional war documentaries, presenting a compelling narrative that intertwines antiwar advocacy and climate activism. Through striking imagery and poignant personal stories, it highlights the profound toll that militarization takes on people and the planet. In this episode, we'll delve into the film's insightful portrayal of those adversely affected by U.S. military actions—ranging from veterans facing housing crises to communities impacted by police militarization. Together, we will analyze how this cinematic work aims to inspire unified efforts against a common adversary. Tune in as we peel back the layers of this essential film and discuss its significance for the antiwar and climate movements.
25 Jan 2026
From Ground Zero: A discussion and reaction to the film with Nadia Milleron, Christine Fulton, Corinna Barnard and Jason Brown
An official selection of the Academy Awards, From Ground Zero confronts the shattered realities of the people of Gaza and shows the challenges of rebuilding. The characters in these 22 films face their demons, forge unlikely alliances, and rediscover the strength of the human spirit. We discuss these amazing films in context with the genocide happening now.
13 Jan 2026
Patrick Lawrence - Imperial Boomerang
The footage of an overzealous ICE agent killing Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis reveals the violence of the American empire turning inward to protect itself.
2 Dec 2025
Culture Shift: The Tearing Down of the Posters
Cafe Palestina is a venue that screens films about Palestine to create awareness of the effects of occupational genocide there. Yet posters promoting the event are being torn down in the town of Great Barrington. This podcast explores the phenomena.
22 Nov 2025
Sea Shanty aficionado Alex Harvey discusses the anachronistic culture of maritime music.
In this episode dynamic impresario and performer Alex Harvey shares his experience collecting and performing anachronistic maritime music known as Sea Shanties.
Alex is a popular traditional folklorist with a modern approach, filling rooms with his street ballads and maritime tunes through his project, Shinbone Alley. During his performances, audiences are invited to immerse themselves in the rich intercultural tapestry of 18th and 19th century sea music. This genre, with influences from distant corners of the world, was reinterpreted and woven together by sailors of diverse backgrounds both in ports and on the open water. Each tune serves as one of the earliest forms of collective healing. In this way, it's a nostalgic remedy for our chaotic modern times.
10 Sept 2025
Teach-in with Hazem Jamjoum discussion
Berkshires In Solidarity with Palestine (BISP) members Christine Fulton and Jason Brown discuss the upcoming event on 9/16 at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Pittsfield 175 Wendell Avenue, MA 01201
Topics include, apartheid, tech warfare, US complicity, genocide and more.
28 Jul 2025
Kerouac: A Talk with poet, musician and jazz critic Clark Coolidge.
Clark discusses Kerouac's writing style and the jazz music that influenced it.
27 Jul 2025
The Culture Shift podcast presents: The Cafe Palestina film festival reboots.
After a ten year hiatus the film festival reboots showing films made in and about Palestine.
26 Jul 2025
At The Theatre 2 Camino Real, Not About Nightingales, Get It Right
Camino Real by Tennessee Williams at the Williamstown Theatre Festival
Not About Nightingales by Tennessee Williams at the Williamstown Theatre Festival
Get It Right by Randolyn Zinn at The Living Room Theatre
26 Jul 2025
At The Theatre with Emily Edelman
We discuss A Bronx Tale-The Musical (Mac-Haydn Theater), The Bookclub Play (Dorset Theatre Festival), Fuzzy (Barrington Stage Company).
23 Jul 2025
David Rothstein Remembers The Music Inn.
This is the first episode of David Rothstein talking about the origins of the Music Inn in Lenox Massachusetts. The MI, an offshoot of Woodstock, showcased giants of Folk, Rock and Jazz such as The Modern Jazz Quartet, Coleman Hawkins, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Weather Report, Dave Brubeck, Taj Mahal, Jimmy Cliff, Bob Marley and Muddy Waters, The Kinks, the Byrds, the Eagles, America. Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Bonnie Raitt and Van Morrison.
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