Iven Hale reviews Colson Whitehead's 1999 novel, "The Intuitionist." Set in a big city during a period of racial integration,Whitehead and Iven both explore the racial implications of the elevator as a metaphor for "social-uplift", the black female protagonist who is the first non-white male elevator inspector in the city, and the dueling methods for testing the functioning of the elevators that so deeply structure society: intuitionism and empiracism. Hale thinks Whitehead bites off more than he can adequately chew, but compares the novel to Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man" and remarks positively on how Whitehead treats blindness caused by privilege.

Bill Resnick talks with writer and Portland-area teacher, Bill Bigelow, about how his book "Rethinking Columbus" was removed from Tuscon-area schools because it violates Arizona Law concerning teaching ethnic studies in Public Schools.

Joe Clement hosts this Old Mole, which because of membership drive breaks shows up as being about30% shorter than normal. We hear about the crack-down on ethnic studies in Arizona, about what's going on in Jobs with Justice, and a review of The Intuitionist. In the middle of the show, we heard Pete Seeger's rendition of Ralph Chaplin's "Commonwealth of Toil" from the Wobbly Little Red Songbook.

Pleasure and joy are sacred states.

In a society in which pleasure is denied and commodified, taking pleasure seriously is a revolutionary act.

Gary Okhiro is professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University, and receipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Studies Association. He is known for his writing, teaching, and institution building in Asian American Studies.  In this interview with APA Compass' Andrew Yeh, Professor Okihiro speaks about the post September 11th environment, the bullying of APAs, and the unexpected influence of Hawaiians on the mainland.