LISTEN / WATCH: Joe Zepecki on running for WisDems chair, "CYCLE" documentary world premiere, why the Abrego Garcia case matters, more
Dan Shafer guest hosted on Civic Media from 4-6 p.m., with guest co-host Angela Lang. Listen to podcasts and watch videos and livestreams from the show here.
The Recombobulation Area is a thirteen-time NINETEEN-TIME Milwaukee Press Club award-winning weekly opinion column and online publication founded by longtime Milwaukee journalist Dan Shafer. The Recombobulation Area is now part of Civic Media.
You may have heard that Civic Media is launching a new weekday News/Talk lineup on Wednesday, April 23. But before that new lineup kicks in, I guest hosted from 4 to 6 p.m. on Monday, April 21, live from Radio Park in Racine.
We had a great show, and you can listen to all of it here as a podcast, or watch the full livestream from the Civic Media YouTube channel.
Find the podcast on Civic Media’s website here, or stream it via Apple Podcasts or Spotify on The Recombobulation Area feed (Hour 1, Hour 2).
Angela Lang, executive director of Black Leaders Organizing for Communities (BLOC), joined as co-host for the show.
Our first guests were William Howell and Laura Dyan Kezman, the co-directors of the new documentary “CYCLE,” which has its world premiere at the upcoming Milwaukee Film Festival (April 24-May 8!), and tells the urgent and symbolic story of Ty’Rese West, an 18-year-old Black teenager from Racine, Wisconsin, whose life was cut short by a police officer in 2019. Watch the trailer for the documentary here.
Our second guest of the first hour was Joe Zepecki, who is running to be the next chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. We talked about messaging and communication strategies — a top priority for Zepecki — and immigration policy.
Watch a reel from our Instagram here, or watch the full interview below.
In the second hour, we were joined by Kevin Layde, immigration attorney and the managing partner of the Layde & Parra law firm, to talk about the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and why this case is such an important one as the Trump administration tramples the constitution and the rule of law to stress test the system in its efforts toward mass deportation.
Watch that full interview here.
Layde and Gabriela Parra joined us here at The Recombobulation Area earlier this year for a podcast on immigration in the Trump Era. Revisit that here.
We were also joined by Emily Tseffos, regular contributor at The Recombobulation Area and the chair of the Democratic Party of Outagamie County, to talk about her latest column on funding public schools with public dollars.
Read that one here.
Tune into the new, revamped Civic Media weekday lineup when it launches TOMORROW.
Details here:
Dan Shafer is a journalist from Milwaukee who writes and publishes The Recombobulation Area. In 2024, he became the Political Editor of Civic Media. He’s also written for The New York Times, The Daily Beast, Heartland Signal, Belt Magazine, WisPolitics, and Milwaukee Record. He previously worked at Seattle Magazine, Seattle Business Magazine, the Milwaukee Business Journal, Milwaukee Magazine, and BizTimes Milwaukee. He’s won 23 Milwaukee Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards. He’s on Twitter at @DanRShafer.
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Follow Dan Shafer on Twitter at @DanRShafer and at BlueSky at @danshafer.bsky.social.