The Breakup Theory

On this episode Shuli talked to Aidan Khamis, a Palestinian student at Indiana University Bloomington, about the student encampment established on the campus in solidarity with Gaza (and still existent as of the recording of this episode). Aidan gives a rundown of the initial stages of setting the camp up, the waves of violent repression from the administration and police, as well as the positive...

This episode was slightly delayed by the amazing work students around the world have been doing in the encampments! In today's episode, Caroline and Shuli hit the mailbag again to respond to listener's relationship problems! They talk about three situations: the first deals with breaking up with Christianity, Mormonism in particular, and what spiritual remains we can hold on to. The second is abou...

Content warning: we talk about sexual assault and rape, though not in detail. On today's show, I talk with my dear friend Girl Cock about the breaking up of Femboys Against Fascism. We had previously spoken about the group on an episode of The Final Straw Radio in May of 2023. The group was formed to counter anti-migrant rallies taking place in Liverpool. However, the group decided that it was bet...

Welcome to the Breakup Theory Agony Letters. This is our first episode where we respond to listener submissions over phone and through our online form. We talk through four submissions in today's episode, all dealing with different issues. The first letter deals with a relationship going long distance and poly at the same time. That starts at 3:44. The second call deals with a confusing break up i...

On today's show, I talk with one of my favorite people, Jamie Theophilos, a dear friend and comrade. Jamie teaches and studies the politics of digital technology and is a long time organizer, anarchist, as well as video editor/videographer, graphic designer, and motion graphics artist. Jamie also has an essay, "Ways of Seeing: Radical Queerness," in the book I co-edited, Surviving the Future: Abol...

In this episode, Shuli talks with the wonderful carla joy bergman, a transdisciplinary artist who collaborates with humans and more than human friends. she co-wrote Joyful Militancy and edited Trust Kids! She formerly made the podcast Grounded Futures with her son Uilliam, as well as the On Belonging audio series with Jamie-leigh Gonzalez. The conversation ranges through the beginning and ending o...

In this episode, Shuli talks with Conner Habib, author of the novel Hawk Mountain and host of the podcast Against Everyone with Conner Habib. The discussion goes into many different places, with certan themes about the connection between relationships and politics running throughout. We start this discussion talking about "breaking up with the state," an idea Conner discussed on a couple of his po...

In this conversation Shuli talks with Sebastian Merrill, whose debut collection GHOST :: SEEDS was selected by Kimiko Hahn as the winner of the 2022 X. J. Kennedy Poetry Prize, and published by Texas Review Press in November 2023. GHOST :: SEEDS was recently named a winner of 2024 Stonewall Honor Book - Barbara Gittings Literature Award from the American Library Association and was selected by Ell...

This episode has two segments: in the first, Caroline, River, and Shuli address the escalated genocide in Gaza in the wake of October 7, giving more context to some of the references in the previous discussion. In the second, River and Shuli grapple with feelings of despair and hope as an astonishing worldwide, massive solidarity movement rises up and those who govern could care less. We delve int...

In this episode, Shuli, River, and Caroline discuss the breakup theory, borrowing lessons from anarchism to think about how to engage in our relationships for mutual liberation. We aim for collective liberation and mutual autonomy. Anarchism can teach us how to end things. But how do we get over ourselves? Here you multiverse of hosts set up the way this podcast will mix theories of liberation wit...