LISTEN online HERE— iTunes podcast HERE
GARY SHTEYNGART left Russia for the US in 1979, when he was 7 years old—part of the deal where Jimmy Carter gave the Russians American grain and Brezhnev gave the Americans Soviet Jews—win-win! Shteyngart’s story, told in his new memoir LITTLE FAILURE, is self-mocking, sarcastic, tender, and hilarious. Watch the trailer HERE. Gary will be reading Little Failure at the Skirball on Thurs Jan 16 at 8pm. Tickets $10 HERE.
Plus: The Los Angeles labor movement and its allies are campaigning for the highest minimum wage in the country: $15/hour. Even more amazing, we are likely to win. NANCY COHEN will explain; she wrote about it for The New Republic. #RaiseLA
Also: Breaking in to the FBI office in Media, PA: In 1971, unknown activists stole files from an FBI office outside of Philadelphia, and proceeded to expose Bureau abuse of power and illegal surveillance. Now the burglars have surfaced and told their story in the book The Burglary by Betty Medsger. SETH ROSENFELD will explain—he’s author of the award-winning SUBVERSIVES and spent two decades suing the FBI for their files on the Free Speech Movement. (Left: two of the burglars today, John and Bonnie Raines.) WATCH the video HERE.
