Season 3, Episode 1 - Peace Corps China Didn't Kill Itself - Kelly Branyik (RPCV China 2014 - 2016)

In which your host and return guest Kelly Branyik take altogether too long to establish the day of the fucking week, then move onto broader topics: The Chonx (the largest city on Earth), the potential extermination of humanity by the Chinese coronavirus (endemic to Kelly's Xi'an, where she is currently held in a self-imposed lockdown), and the extermination of Peace Corps China, likely by forces external to the Peace Corps itself ⁠— whatever the Wall Street Journal or NPR or Axios or Senator Marco Rubio (@rubella) would have you believe. The convo ends on a heartwarming note, and Ms. Branyik invites y'all RPCV China volunteers to contribute your video snippets to her ongoing multimedia project to celebrate this bad-ass government-funded thing that we were all in some semi-coherent way a part of, once upon a time.

Intro Music: Touch Me I’m Sick - Mudhoney
Entrance Music: Gimme Gimme Good Lovin - Crazy Elephant
Outro Music: I Talk To The Wind - Bastian Schuhbeck

The Wall Street Journal: The Peace Corps Cuts and Runs
NPR: Peace Corps to End China Program

Email Kelly to contribute to her Peace Corps China video project!

Who Is Bullshitting You: The Peace Corps or Marco Rubio? - Keith Petit (RPCV China: 2009-2011)

After 26 years, Peace Corps China (under pressure from the United States government) is ceasing its operations this June. Your host posits a perplexing game show question: who, d'ye reckon, is bullshitting you, here? Is it The Peace Corps, or is it Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL)? The first listener to answer the question correctly will receive a 2016 FOX News Republican Primary Debate "Little Marco" commemorative pog.

Intro Music: Chinese Rock - RAMONES
Outro Music: 1983 - Nicholas Payton
Marco Rubio’s (False) Statement on Peace Corps’ Withdrawal from China
Peace Corps to withdraw volunteers from China: Axios
Your Host’s Thoughts on the Matter: Why the Peace Corps Belongs in China
Peter Navarro Invented an Expert for His Books, Based on Himself: New York Times

Full Statement by Currently Serving Peace Corps China Volunteers, in Response to Senator Rubio’s Remarks:

As volunteers in Peace Corps China, we are shocked and disappointed about the administration’s decision to discontinue the China program. This decision was made without consulting staff or volunteers in China, and appears to be a budgetary, politically motivated action that does not reflect the Peace Corps mission, nor the quality of work volunteers carry out in China. For twenty six years, as an apolitical volunteer organization, Peace Corps China has created invaluable person to person connections between our two countries. Those relationships are more important than ever in light of the current US-China relationship. This abrupt decision comes at a time when US diplomatic capacity and resources have been systematically hollowed out. We fear this is a continuation of that trend and are heartbroken by the news.

Expatriate Act - Year in Review (2019)

In which your host treats what remains of his audience to a multimedia extravaganza — a year in review in the form of a mashed-up montage of the best bits from 2019’s most memorable interviews — celebrates the lives of those lost in 2019, and explains his prolonged absence, his near brush with death, and his eternal struggle with alcohol, alcoholism, and alcohol withdrawal.

Intro Music: Ball of Confusion - The Temptations
Montage Music: Love Theme from St. Elmo’s Fire - David Foster
Santorni - Yanni (Live at The Acropolis)
One Shining Moment - Luther Vandross
Buttercup - Jack Stauber
Nugget - CAKE
I Wish That 9/11 Never Happened (Improvised) - David Liebe Hart
(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life - Bill Medley and Jennifer Warmes
Outro Music: Montevideo - Alfie
Big Brothers Big Sisters Fundraiser: Facebook Link
Catholic Charities: Diocese of Cleveland - Donate
Pete Tarantola: Obituary
Thomas Gannon: Obituary
Slate’s Hang Up and Listen: Searching for the Origins of Trash Panda

Season 2, Episode 29 - How the Hell Did We Get Here? - Julie O'Yang (People's Republic of China)

In which your host and the delightful Julie O'Yang (author of The Little Yellow Book) kick it old school and attempt to explain the current state of modern China by examining its not-so-distant past.

Intro Music: Time of the Season - The Zombies
Entrance Music: Mao Mao Yu - Li Minghui
Outro Music: Piss Up a Rope - Ween

DEATH BY CHINA: What the Fuck?
The Little Yellow Book by the majestic Julie O’Yang
A Brief History of Chinese Jazz, Courtesy of the BBC

Season 2, Episode 28 - Jerry Stiles (Arkansas/Georgia: The Country/China)

In which your host and his long-term travel droog discuss American politics: what it's like to be a flaming liberal in a red state, whether America is sinking into eternal division and permanent decline, and what (if anything) can be done to stitch together the ripped-apart nation in which the two of us goofs reside for the moment.

Intro Music: Herbert Harper’s Free Press News - Muddy Waters
Entrance Music: Freedom - Richie Havens
Interstitial Music: Spanish Bombs - The Clash
Outro Music: Southern Man- Neil Young

Season 2, Episode 27 - Oleg (Ukraine)

In which your host sits down with Oleg and his delightful accent to talk Ukraine, its recent and historical past, its relations with Russia over the years, and the circumstances that led to the current clusterfuck involving The Orange Blob and His Friends. Even as a Ukrainian-American Lieutenant Colonel undermines the defenses behind the schemes perpetrated by aforementioned Orange Blob, Oleg offers some levelheaded analysis of his own country, its complexities, and why its allegiance with the West is so damned important.

Intro Music: Even If You Don’t - Ween
Entrance Music: Knights of Cedonia - Muse
Outro Music: Cymbal Rush - Thom Yorke

Yes, You Can Loathe A Repressive Regime Without Hating Its People - Keith Petit (Omaha)

In which your host embarks upon an interplanetary journey for the sake of exposing what he perceives to be wishy-washy arguments in defense of authoritarianism.

Intro Music: Another Girl, Another Planet - The Only Ones
Outro Music: Ace of Spades - Motörhead

Season 2, Episode 26 - Haval (Iraqi Kurdistan)

In which your host engages with his guest, Haval, a current resident of Iraqi Kurdistan, for his ground-level perspective on the situation in northeast Syria, the current state of the Kurdish people, and what relations (should we be fortunate enough to maintain them) between the United States and the Kurds will look like in the future.

Intro Music: The Fever (Aye Aye) - Death Grips
Entrance Music: Lêde û Lêde - Efrin Tola Salan/Şêro Hindê/İbrahîm Feqe

In Memoriam: Pete Tarantola (1976-2019) - Episode 41 - RPCV: Kyrgyzstan (2007-2009), China (2009-2010)

Pete was universally beloved by his students and his cohorts alike.

A little over a year ago, I had the pleasure of sneaking the late Pete Tarantola onto my show and from the moment he picks up the phone — “Big Brothers/Big Sisters, this is Pete.” — to the clothes line saga that closes out our conversation, it remains one of the best interviews I have ever done. His selflessness is on display throughout, and his rare dedication to making the world a better place — the refrain of this interview, and the driving force behind the decisions he made with his life — is evident in both his words and his deeds.

Intro Music: Clothes Line Saga - Bob Dylan
Entrance Music: Ak-Bugu - Jumakadyr Kanimetov
Donations Go Here: Big Brothers/Big Sisters of West Central Illinois

RIP: Pete Tarantola (1976-2019)/RPCV Kyrgyzstan (2007-2009)/China (2009-2010)

In which your host addresses the passing of one of his fellow — and most beloved — Peace Corps volunteers. Like the rest of my cohorts, I am at a loss for words, so I shall let The Pogues tell it. So long, Pete. We will make this world a better place in your absence. Promise.

Donations Go Here: Big Brothers/Big Sisters of West-Central Illinois
Farewell Music: Body of an American - The Pogues

I Went To See Bob Dylan And All I Got Is This Reasonable, Rational Distrust of Authority - Keith Petit (Lincoln, NE)

In which your host narrates, as best he can, the genuine absurdity of being threatened with incarceration for attempting to attend a Bob Dylan show in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Intro Music: Police State - Dead Prez
Outro Music: The Guns of Brixton - The Clash

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, But Space Jam 5 Will Be - Keith Petit (Omaha)

In which your host, after stuttering and spontaneously coining the term “abroadcast,” assesses what he suspects are the real reasons lurking behind the NBA’s sudden reticence to talk human rights when it comes to Hong Kong. On a BCAA/creatine-fueled rant that takes him from Francis Fukuyama and the collapse of the Soviet Union to Space Jam 2 and the roles corporations play (or perhaps ought not to play) in advocating for social causes, your host finds himself in an ever more curmudgeonly mood when it comes to geopolitics, and perhaps on the verge of transmogrifying into Andy Rooney incarnate.

Intro Music: Space Jam Theme Song - Quad City DJs
Outro Music: Basketball - Kurtis Blow

Meanwhile in China …
Hong Kong protests: President Xi warns of 'bodies smashed' - BBC
Hong Kong Journalists Decry Police Violence Amid Questions Over Girl's Drowning - Radio Free Asia

Season 2, Episode 25: Special Foreign Correspondent Julie O'Yang - (People's Republic of China)

In which your host and newly minted Special Foreign Correspondent Julie O’Yang discuss the nuclear-tipped dong competition that was the Chinese Communist Party’s 70th birthday celebration, Xi Jinping’s quite deliberate emulation of Chairman Mao throughout the festivities, what this display of bravado signifies for the fates of Hong Kong and Taiwan, and the means by which young Chinese citizens make their ascent in the Party. Also detailed: Julie’s own trajectory as an author and a Chinese dissident, now happily situated in Europe.

This will be a recurring segment, as China is a vast, fascinating, and (above all else) strange place full of mystery and contradiction. Your questions will be warmly received at keithpetit@gmail.com, and they shall be answered posthastily.

Intro Music: 垃圾場 (Garbage Dump) - 何勇 (He Yong)
Entrance Music: 广场 (Square) - Carsick Cars
Outro Music: China Girl - David Bowie
The Author’s Work: The Little Yellow Book - Julie O’Yang
Macy’s National Day Parade: Only On CCTV
Some Shit Racist Hiphop from the Mainland - Gua Laowai
This Video was in No Way Financed by the CCP: Who is Xi DaDa?

Neither America Nor Europe Would Be Secure Without The Kurds - Keith Petit (Omaha)

In which your host lambastes the human lamprey his countrymen and -women call their president and that human lamprey’s most recent (and most grievous) decision: to subject the Kurds to genocide at the hands of Erdoğan’s pro-Russia, pro-Assad Islamist paradise. Other matters addressed: how to discuss politics with one’s parents (don’t), and some hype for our looming interview with Chinese dissident Julia O’Yang tomorrow morning at 8 AM sharp.

Fuck authoritarianism in all its forms. Long live Hong Kong, long live Taiwan, and long live liberal America.

Intro Music: Guns Before Butter - Gang of Four
Outro Music: Cunts Are Still Running the World - Jarvis Cocker
The Kurds Served Alongside Us in WWII: Twitter Link

The Semi-Annual State of the Podcast Address - Keith Petit (Omaha)

In which your host, for want of better options, delivers a totally unconvincing State of the Podcast Address, ruminates upon his recent streak of podcasting misfortune, the demise of the four seasons (the human-fueled deviation in our annual weather patterns, not Frankie Valli and company), the modern working world and how it ties into the broader fragmentation of our society, and how your host intends to maximize his week of socioeconomic worthlessness for the benefit of his audience.

Intro Music: If Only - Queens of the Stone Age
Outro Music: The Royal Scam - Steely Dan
Link to the Work of Our Upcoming Guest: The Little Yellow Book: Quotations from Xi Dada by Julie O’Yang
A Gratuitous Steely Dan Concert Review: Countdown to Empathy: The Latter Half of an Evening with Steely Dan - Yours Truly