Peace Is Here with Avis Kalfsbeek

When was the last time you heard joy described as a public health threat? In today’s satirical bulletin, the Centers for Control of Happiness warn of dangerous “joy clusters” linked to Mono Mutante readings—and propose emergency bans on shared laughter in community gardens. Then, in our excerpt from Mono Mutante, we meet Lova Saskatoon, a Canadian farmer whose battle against a GMO giant became a l...

In today’s War of the Worlds–style satire, the Department of Culinary Compliance issues a national security alert after “unpermitted lettuce” is detected in public school lunchrooms. We go live to the scene of a kale salad confiscation, before it can “radicalize the spinach.” Then, it’s an excerpt from Mono Mutante—a dirt-splattered, laugh-out-loud eco-satire about food, farming, and the fight for...

What happens when your novel gets outed for “tucking impossible optimism into every chapter”? In this launch-week episode for Mono Mutante—a dirt-splattered eco-satire through the monoculture Midwest—we bring you a breaking bulletin from the Bureau for Imaginative Compliance. A compostable thumb drive has been unearthed at the Decorum seed swap, carrying a handwritten confession: the author admits...

What happens when meat leaves the dinner table and enters the stock exchange? In this launch-week episode for Mono Mutante—a dirt-splattered eco-satire through the monoculture Midwest—we cut to a breaking bulletin from the Council on Consumable Compliance. The charge? Corporations have launched BeefCoin™—the world’s first meat-backed cryptocurrency—and are marketing Freedom Cuts™, beef you can fin...

What happens when your novel gets dragged before the Council on Narrative Morality for “uplifting satire in zones of regulated despair”? In this launch-week special for Mono Mutante—a dirt-splattered eco-satire through the monoculture Midwest—we interrupt our regularly scheduled program for a War of the Worlds–style bulletin on the dangers of “dangerous inspiration.” First up: a breaking news aler...

What happens when your dog gets accused of “carrying genetic traces of historical dissenters”? In this launch-week episode for Mono Mutante—a dirt-splattered eco-satire through the monoculture Midwest—we break in with a bulletin from the Baesamen Institute for Genetic Purity, demanding a DNA test on Pedro. The charge? He’s allegedly “up to 12% revolutionary.” The evidence? Tail wags at peace ralli...

What happens when your imagination gets flagged for “unsanctioned acts of hope”? In this launch-week episode for Mono Mutante—a dirt-splattered eco-satire through the monoculture Midwest—we break in with a Bureau for Imaginative Compliance bulletin, charging the author with “uplifting satire in zones of regulated despair” and “inciting optimism without a license.” Then, we dive into an excerpt fro...

Potatoes, Pedals, and the Great Grocery Crackdown (Books Banned Due to Excessive Potato Worship and Unauthorized Bike Conversions) – Mono Mutante Excerpt CH 1 What happens when your novel gets accused of promoting “an unlicensed faith in root vegetables and other soil-based ideologies”? In this launch-week kickoff for Mono Mutante—a dirt-splattered eco-satire through the monoculture Midwest—we int...

Final episode of the Wolff Peace Series (Episodes 45–77): A tribute to Robert Paul Wolff (1933–2025). In this closing episode, Avis reflects on the life and legacy of Robert Paul Wolff, whose 1966 anthology Political Man and Social Man framed a rich, 33-episode journey through thinkers, peace warriors, and the struggle to live a life of principle. We explore what Wolff might have been seeing and f...

In this final recap before our closing tribute, we explore Section VI of Robert Paul Wolff’s Political Man and Social Man, where the focus shifts to conscience, control, and the institutions that shape us. From workplace studies to prison systems, moral philosophy to haunting parable, this section asks: How do we remain fully human within structures built to constrain us? Featuring reflections on...

Is freedom too heavy for the human heart—or the only path to peace? In this episode of the Wolff Peace series, host Avis Kalfsbeek pairs Dostoevsky’s philosophical parable The Grand Inquisitor with the life of Nelson Mandela, whose forgiveness and leadership transformed a nation. Dostoevsky doubted humanity’s ability to handle freedom. Mandela embodied what it looks like when we rise to the challe...

Why does society so often punish difference—and how can we defend conscience in the face of pressure? In this episode of the Wolff Peace series, host Avis Kalfsbeek explores John Stuart Mill’s classic argument against social conformity and Eleanor Roosevelt’s life of compassion-driven defiance. She stood for human dignity, no matter how unpopular; he wrote that liberty demands protection from popu...

What happens when institutions replace identity with obedience? Sociologist Erving Goffman explores how total institutions—like prisons or asylums—reshape human behavior. British MP Eleanor Rathbone responds with a lifetime of advocacy for human dignity, social reform, and women’s autonomy. Together, they ask: can peace survive bureaucracy? Robert Paul Wolff’s Political Man and Social Man is avail...

When do people stand up—and when do they go along? In this episode of Peace Is Here, host Avis Kalfsbeek explores the insights of sociologist George Homans and humanitarian leader Sophie Delaunay. From factory floors to war zones, we examine how human behavior is shaped by groups—and how peacebuilders can model new forms of belonging. Robert Paul Wolff’s Political Man and Social Man is available o...

In this special recap episode of the Wolff Peace Series, we explore Section V of Robert Paul Wolff’s Political Man and Social Man—a powerful turn from systems to souls. What kind of people make a society? And what kind of society shapes a person? We revisit four key thinkers—Plato, Durkheim, Riesman, and Erikson—who each reveal how politics lives inside us, not just around us. Paired with peace wa...

In this episode of the Wolff Peace series, host Avis Kalfsbeek explores the psychological terrain of identity and violence. Through Erik Erikson’s The Legend of Hitler’s Youth, we confront how early emotional wounds, when left unaddressed, can become the foundation for radical, destructive movements. Paired with the activism of Nimko Ali—a survivor, feminist, and political changemaker—we see how r...

What happens when we lose our inner compass? In this episode, host Avis Kalfsbeek pairs the sociological insight of David Riesman with the spiritual brilliance of Etty Hillesum. While Riesman outlines the emergence of the “other-directed” self—shaped by peers and media—Hillesum offers a luminous example of peace found in the quiet center of the soul, even in the darkest of times. Together, they as...

Host Avis Kalfsbeek explores Émile Durkheim’s groundbreaking essay Three Types of Suicide—a sociological diagnosis of disconnection—and pairs it with the gentle, revolutionary work of Jean Vanier, who created inclusive communities of belonging for the intellectually disabled. Together, they reveal the profound relationship between society, suffering, and the peace that comes from being held. Rober...

In this episode of the Wolff Peace series, host Avis Kalfsbeek contrasts Plato’s vision of a collapsing ideal state with bell hooks’ call for love as a revolutionary ethic. Together, they invite us to rebuild public life with care, justice, and soul. In this episode: Plato’s “The Fall of the Ideal State” bell hooks’ philosophy of love as a practice of freedom Reflection questions on inner order an...

In this recap episode of the Wolff Peace series, host Avis Kalfsbeek explores Part Two of Robert Paul Wolff’s Political Man and Social Man—The Individual and Society: Classical Images of Man. Through thinkers like Aristotle, Hobbes, Bentham, and Marx, we explore philosophical portraits of human nature that undergird political theory. Paired with peace warriors like Malala Yousafzai, Satish Kumar,...

In this episode of the Wolff Peace series, host Avis Kalfsbeek pairs Marx and Engels’ theory of human production with Arundhati Roy’s lived resistance. Together, they challenge us to see peace not just as the absence of war—but the presence of dignity in how we live, work, and create. Robert Paul Wolff’s Political Man and Social Man is available on Amazon (I’m not an affiliate) Learn more about th...

In this episode of the Wolff Peace series, host Avis Kalfsbeek explores Karl Marx’s concept of alienated labor and pairs it with the real-life work of Ella Baker, civil rights organizer and community-based changemaker. Together, they help us understand the importance of meaningful work, grassroots power, and reclaiming our full humanity in the face of dehumanizing systems. Robert Paul Wolff’s Poli...

In this episode of the Wolff Peace series, host Avis Kalfsbeek contrasts Jeremy Bentham’s philosophy of “the greatest good” with Leymah Gbowee’s people-powered fight for peace in Liberia. From theoretical utility to street-level courage, this episode asks us to rethink what really sustains peace—and whose happiness we’re measuring.   Robert Paul Wolff’s Political Man and Social Man is available on...

In this episode of the Wolff Peace series, host Avis Kalfsbeek explores the tension between Thomas Hobbes’s vision of human nature and Satish Kumar’s path of spiritual ecology. Hobbes believed that peace required submission to state power. Kumar believes it arises from harmony with one another—and the Earth. Robert Paul Wolff’s Political Man and Social Man is available on Amazon (I’m not an affili...

In this episode of the Wolff Peace series, host Avis Kalfsbeek revisits Aristotle’s enduring vision of the political life: one rooted in virtue, participation, and civic education. But with that vision came exclusion—women, slaves, and foreigners were barred from the polis. Enter Malala Yousafzai, who defied a Taliban bullet to fight for girls’ education and global citizenship. Through her story,...