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PODCAST

Peace Is Here with Avis Kalfsbeek

Peace Is Here explores global peace light-hearted touch and a scholar’s heart. Join Avis Kalfsbeek, writer of environmental fiction, for a layperson"s curriculum of peace. She explores peace treaties, nature’s quiet wisdom, and the down-to-earth creativity required for #TheGreatDisarmament. From deep-dive series on peace heroes to fiction stories and personal riffs, Avis looks beneath the surface to see the peace that is already here.

society & culture philosophy

All Episodes

10:20

Ep 83 Confessions in the Seed Swap (A Trojan Horse of...

Peace Is Here with Avis Kalfsbeek ·

2025/08/29

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 she wrote the book as a Trojan Horse of hope. Officials warn the manuscript could spark “direct action,

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7:53

Ep 82 Steak Futures and BeefCoin (Council Warns of...

Peace Is Here with Avis Kalfsbeek ·

2025/08/28

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 finance like a new pickup. A whistleblower even warns of “synthetic nostalgia,” bottled to make your

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9:19

Ep 81 Emergency Meeting of the Council on Narrative...

Peace Is Here with Avis Kalfsbeek ·

2025/08/27

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 alert about fiction accused of reducing productivity by making people… hopeful. Then, an excerpt from Mono

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7:47

Ep 80 Pedro's 12% Revolutionary DNA (Baesamen Demands...

Peace Is Here with Avis Kalfsbeek ·

2025/08/26

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

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7:00

Ep 79 Uplifting Satire in a Zone of Regulated Despair...

Peace Is Here with Avis Kalfsbeek ·

2025/08/25

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

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8:26

Ep 78 The Great Grocery Crackdown (Books Banned Due...

Peace Is Here with Avis Kalfsbeek ·

2025/08/24

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

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09:35

Ep 77 Wolff Peace Finale - A tribute to Robert Paul...

Peace Is Here with Avis Kalfsbeek ·

2025/08/23

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

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09:05

Ep 76 Wolff Peace - Recap 5: Conscience, institutions...

Peace Is Here with Avis Kalfsbeek ·

2025/08/22

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

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05:26

Ep 75 Wolff Peace - Fyodor Dostoevsky & Nelson...

Peace Is Here with Avis Kalfsbeek ·

2025/08/20

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

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05:18

Ep 74 Wolff Peace - John Stuart Mill & Eleanor...

Peace Is Here with Avis Kalfsbeek ·

2025/08/18

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

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06:48

Ep 73 Wolff Peace - Erving Goffman & Eleanor...

Peace Is Here with Avis Kalfsbeek ·

2025/08/15

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

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06:47

Ep 72 Wolff Peace - George Homans & Sophie Delaunay:...

Peace Is Here with Avis Kalfsbeek ·

2025/08/13

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

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07:46

Ep 71 Wolff Peace - Recap 4: Personality & Society

Peace Is Here with Avis Kalfsbeek ·

2025/08/12

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

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06:29

Ep 70 Wolff Peace - Erik Erikson & Nimko Ali: When...

Peace Is Here with Avis Kalfsbeek ·

2025/08/11

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 reclaiming identity can become an act of peace. Her fight to end FGM and empower girls challenges systems

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07:17

Ep 69 Wolff Peace - David Riesman & Etty Hillesum:...

Peace Is Here with Avis Kalfsbeek ·

2025/08/08

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 ask what it means to be fully human in an age of distraction and despair. Robert Paul Wolff’s Political

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06:47

Ep 68 Wolff Peace - Émile Durkheim & Jean Vanier:...

Peace Is Here with Avis Kalfsbeek ·

2025/08/06

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

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06:08

Ep 67 Wolff Peace - Plato & bell hooks: The state,...

Peace Is Here with Avis Kalfsbeek ·

2025/08/04

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

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08:05

Ep 66 Wolff Peace – Recap 3: The Nature of Man, The...

Peace Is Here with Avis Kalfsbeek ·

2025/08/02

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, Leymah Gbowee, and Arundhati Roy, we reflect on how our assumptions about “what people are like” shape

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06:07

Ep 65 Wolff Peace – Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels &...

Peace Is Here with Avis Kalfsbeek ·

2025/08/01

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 the series and my books at aviskalfsbeek.com Follow my Kickstarter please:

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05:56

Ep 64 Wolff Peace – Karl Marx & Ella Baker: Power of...

Peace Is Here with Avis Kalfsbeek ·

2025/07/30

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 Political Man and Social Man is available on Amazon (I’m not an affiliate) Learn more about the series and

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