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McMaster University

E434 with IRA WELLS

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Hey everyone. Who’d have thought this would be an issue in 2025? Well. Ira Wells joins me to talk about his latest in the Biblioasis Field Notes series, On Book Banning: Or, How the New Censorship Consensus Trivializes Art and Undermines Democracy. Read it and listen in! But not necessarily in that order.

E433 with PETER DARBYSHIRE

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This week we have a great conversation with author Peter Darbyshire, about his reissued (and ongoing) Book of Cross series, especially the first one, The Mona Lisa Sacrifice since that’s the one I read hahaha. Tune in! And also read on…

Even if you’ve never actually listened to 93.3 FM or cfmu.ca the importance of local and independent media continues to expand. Here in Hamilton, local media has been hit so badly that, technically, CFMU/The Silhouette is the largest newsroom in Hamilton. I’m being serious. In a better world we’d have trained journalists and do more hard news (look for more of that, though, come September). In the meantime, we do the best we can with our amazing student staff and community/campus volunteers.

We are NOT owned by a hedge fund company that’ll cut us for lack of profit. We are NOT a talented, well-meaning blogger who simply can’t keep up the pace or afford to quit the day job. We have resources. We can do more. BUT NOT WITHOUT YOUR HELP.

PLEASE consider donating to 93.3 CFMU. We’re not doing as well as we usually do because a few major donors had to scale back. We need the community to step up more than we ever have. $5. $10. $20. $30 gets you a Friends of CFMU card. Every bit helps.

cfmu.ca/fundraising

Thanks friends

E431 with JASON PARGIN

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Okay, remember when there “websites?” When you’d go to your favourite website and read articles, instead of, you know, doomscrolling? Back then, I would check out cracked.com, largely for the work of David Wong. His essays were hilarious, human, and insightful; he had a rational way of looking at the world that resonated deeply.

Fast forward: cracked.com is not the same. The current top story is “29 Inopportune Times People Farted” (okay, the title did make me laugh, but it still suggests a downward slide). On the other hand, Wong – aka author Jason Pargin – has gone on to much success. He has written the John Dies At The End series, the first book of which as famously released for free on his blog (and made into a film by legend Don Coscarelli). Then came the successful Zoey Ashe series. Now he has published a stand-alone novel called I’m Starting To Worry About This Black Box of Doom. It is one of my favourite books of 2024, if not the favourite. And I read about sixty books last year.

It was strange to see Jason in horizontal format (I follow him on Tik Tok, what can I say) but a true pleasure to talk to him about this book. Which you should read. Now.

Listen in!