Peace Is Here with Avis Kalfsbeek

Ep 80 Pedro's 12% Revolutionary DNA (Baesamen Demands Genetic Testing) - Mono Mutante Excerpt CH 10

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 rallies and suspicious eye contact with farmworkers.

Then, we dive into Chapter 10, where Camas and Tilly’s mountain biking break leads to a wild idea: turning survivalist preppers into allies of the slow food movement. From MAGA victory gardens to “community sufficiency,” it’s satire, strategy, and unlikely alliances—served cold with a side of peaches.

📚 Get Mono Mutante → aviskalfsbeek.com/mono-mutante

💛 Follow my Kickstarter → aviskalfsbeek.com/kickstarter

🎵 Music: Dalai Lama Rides a Bike by Javier “Peke” Rodriguez

🎧 Bandcamp → javierpekerodriguez.bandcamp.com

🎧 Spotify → Listen here

Kitty O’Compost Music: Thanks to Nicholas Panek on Pixaby

Ep 79 Uplifting Satire in a Zone of Regulated Despair (Author Cited for Violations of the Clean Imagination Act) - Mono Mutante Excerpt CH 9

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 from Mono Mutante, where Camas tests out her festival jokes, Tilly counters with a pesticide-poisoning story, and the line between humor and heartbreak gets deliciously blurry.

From absurd regulations to the politics of who gets to tell hopeful stories, this episode blends comedy, conscience, and just the right amount of mischief.

📚 Get Mono Mutante → aviskalfsbeek.com/mono-mutante

💛 Follow my Kickstarter → aviskalfsbeek.com/kickstarter

🎵 Music: Dalai Lama Rides a Bike by Javier “Peke” Rodriguez

🎧 Bandcamp → javierpekerodriguez.bandcamp.com

🎧 Spotify → Listen here

Kitty O’Compost Music: Thanks to Nicholas Panek on Pixaby

Ep 78 The Great Grocery Crackdown (Books Banned Due to Excessive Potato Worship) - Mono Mutante Excerpt CH 1

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 interrupt our regularly scheduled program for a War of the Worlds-style bulletin you won’t forget.

First up: a breaking news alert about books banned for “excessive potato worship” and suspiciously wholesome eating habits. Then, an excerpt from Mono Mutante—a dirt-splattered, laugh-out-loud road trip through the monoculture Midwest, where Camas and Tilly debate beer, steak, and the politics of food deserts… or as they decide to call them, “food f----d.”

From absurd headlines to serious questions about who controls our food supply, this episode serves up equal parts comedy, conscience, and crunchy resistance.

📚 Get Mono Mutante: aviskalfsbeek.com/mono-mutante

💛 Follow my Kickstarter: aviskalfsbeek.com/kickstarter

🎵 Music: Dalai Lama Rides a Bike by Javier “Peke” Rodriguez

🎧 Bandcamp: javierpekerodriguez.bandcamp.com

🎧 Spotify: Listen here

Kitty O’Compost Music: Thanks to Nicholas Panek on Pixaby

Ep 77 Wolff Peace Finale - A tribute to Robert Paul Wolff: Lost innocence, living legacy

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 feeling when he published the book in a time of protest and upheaval—and what he continued to offer as a teacher, blogger, and lifelong radical thinker.

If you’re new to the Wolff Peace series, we invite you to begin with Episode 45.

🎓 Link to Robert Paul Wolff’s YouTube

📚 Full Wolff Peace Series: Episodes 45–77

🌱 Next series: The Great Disfarmament – coming soon.

Robert Paul Wolff’s Political Man and Social Man is available on Amazon (I’m not an affiliate)

Learn more about the series and my books at aviskalfsbeek.com

Follow my Kickstarter please: https://www.aviskalfsbeek.com/kickstarter

Music: Dalai Llama Rides a Bike by Javier “Peke” Rodriguez.

Bandcamp: https://javierpekerodriguez.bandcamp.com.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW

Try my voice clone “Amaya Calm” on Eleven Labs for your audio book or other creative project: https://try.elevenlabs.io/peace (If you use this link, I earn a small commission)

Ep 76 Wolff Peace - Recap 5: Conscience, institutions and the human spirit

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 George Homans, Erving Goffman, John Stuart Mill, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky—alongside peace pairings with Sophie Delaunay, Eleanor Rathbone, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Nelson Mandela—this episode honors those who dared to defend dignity from the inside out.

Robert Paul Wolff’s Political Man and Social Man is available on Amazon (I’m not an affiliate)

Learn more about the series and my books at aviskalfsbeek.com

Follow my Kickstarter please: https://www.aviskalfsbeek.com/kickstarter

Music: Dalai Llama Rides a Bike by Javier “Peke” Rodriguez.

Bandcamp: https://javierpekerodriguez.bandcamp.com.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW

 

Try my voice clone “Amaya Calm” on Eleven Labs for your audio book or other creative project: https://try.elevenlabs.io/peace (If you use this link, I earn a small commission)

Ep 75 Wolff Peace - Fyodor Dostoevsky & Nelson Mandela: The burden of freedom

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 challenge.

Robert Paul Wolff’s Political Man and Social Man is available on Amazon (I’m not an affiliate)

Learn more about the series and my books at aviskalfsbeek.com

Follow my Kickstarter please: https://www.aviskalfsbeek.com/kickstarter

Music: Dalai Llama Rides a Bike by Javier “Peke” Rodriguez.

Bandcamp: https://javierpekerodriguez.bandcamp.com.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW

Try my voice clone “Amaya Calm” on Eleven Labs for your audio book or other creative project: https://try.elevenlabs.io/peace (If you use this link, I earn a small commission)

Ep 74 Wolff Peace - John Stuart Mill & Eleanor Roosevelt: The duty of conscience

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 popular tyranny.

Together, they remind us that peace is not only the absence of war, but the assurance that every individual may live—and dissent—with integrity.

Robert Paul Wolff’s Political Man and Social Man is available on Amazon (I’m not an affiliate)

Learn more about the series and my books at aviskalfsbeek.com

Follow my Kickstarter please: https://www.aviskalfsbeek.com/kickstarter

Music: Dalai Llama Rides a Bike by Javier “Peke” Rodriguez.

Bandcamp: https://javierpekerodriguez.bandcamp.com.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW

Try my voice clone “Amaya Calm” on Eleven Labs for your audio book or other creative project: https://try.elevenlabs.io/peace (If you use this link, I earn a small commission)

Ep 73 Wolff Peace - Erving Goffman & Eleanor Rathbone: Behind the walls

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 available on Amazon (I’m not an affiliate)

Learn more about the series and my books at aviskalfsbeek.com

Follow my Kickstarter please: https://www.aviskalfsbeek.com/kickstarter

Music: Dalai Llama Rides a Bike by Javier “Peke” Rodriguez.

Bandcamp: https://javierpekerodriguez.bandcamp.com.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW

Try my voice clone “Amaya Calm” on Eleven Labs for your audio book or other creative project: https://try.elevenlabs.io/peace (If you use this link, I earn a small commission)

Ep 72 Wolff Peace - George Homans & Sophie Delaunay: The cost of conformity

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 on Amazon (I’m not an affiliate)

Learn more about the series and my books at aviskalfsbeek.com

Follow my Kickstarter please: https://www.aviskalfsbeek.com/kickstarter

Music: Dalai Llama Rides a Bike by Javier “Peke” Rodriguez.

Bandcamp: https://javierpekerodriguez.bandcamp.com.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW

Try my voice clone “Amaya Calm” on Eleven Labs for your audio book or other creative project: https://try.elevenlabs.io/peace (If you use this link, I earn a small commission)

Ep 71 Wolff Peace - Recap 4: Personality & Society

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 warriors like bell hooks, Jean Vanier, Etty Hillesum, and Nimco Ali, this episode invites us to reflect on what it means to build peace not only through policy, but through personality, presence, and care. The political is personal—and that might be where transformation begins.

Robert Paul Wolff’s Political Man and Social Man is available on Amazon (I’m not an affiliate)

Learn more about the series and my books at aviskalfsbeek.com

Follow my Kickstarter please: https://www.aviskalfsbeek.com/kickstarter

Music: Dalai Llama Rides a Bike by Javier “Peke” Rodriguez.

Bandcamp: https://javierpekerodriguez.bandcamp.com.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW

Try my voice clone “Amaya Calm” on Eleven Labs for your audio book or other creative project: https://try.elevenlabs.io/peace (If you use this link, I earn a small commission)