The Nature of Phenology 3/7/20: Sumac

Producers: Hazel Stark & Joe Horn
Host: Hazel Stark

Highbush cranberries with their outrageously bitter and sour berries are one such fruit that will linger long into February, but it would appear that the dry fuzzy berries of sumac win as the least desirable and longest storing fruit of summer past, despite the fact that for us humans, sumac berries make a refreshing summer drink just as soon as they are ripe.

Photos, a full transcript, references, contact information, and more available at thenatureofphenology.wordpress.com.

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Change Agents 3/5/20: Discrimination and the Maine Human Rights Commission

Producer/Host: Steve Wessler
Studio Engineer: John Greenman

-Which types of discrimination can the Maine Human Rights Commission work on
-What is the impact of discrimination on it’s victims
-This work is hard but has its rewards

Guests:
Amy Snierson, Exec. Dir. Maine Human Rights Commission
Jeff Young, Lawyer who represents people who believe they have been discriminated against

About the host:
Steve Wessler will soon will be starting his 28th year of working on human right issues. He founded the Civil Rights Unit in the Maine Attorney’s Office in 1992 and led the Unit for 7 years. In 1999 he left the formal practice of law and founded the Center for the Prevention of Hate. The Center worked in Maine and across the USA. He and his colleagues worked to reduce bias and harassment in schools, in communities, in health care organization through workshops and conflict resolution. The Center closed in 2011 and Steve began a consulting on human rights issues. For the next 5 years much of his work was in Europe, developing and implementing training curricular for police, working in communities to reduce the risk of hate crimes, conflict resolution between police and youth. He has worked in over 20 countries. In late 2016 he began to work more in Maine, with a focus on reducing anti-immigrant bias. He continues to work in schools to reduce bias and harassment. Wessler teaches courses on human rights issues at the College of the Atlantic, the University of Maine at Augusta and at the School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University in northern Virginia.

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