In this episode: we’re nerds! What can the Middle-Earth legendarium tell us about navigating this moment? We’re talking about Tolkien with our pal Rachel Field, a brilliant Tolkien nerd! We look at both fascist and resistance tactics from the Scouring of The Shire, Hurin’s hope for dark times (like literally being surrounded by orcs and hewing off all their arms) from the Silmarillion, and Gandalf’s analysis of false hope vs. true hope.

We want to hear from you! What are you struggling with in this moment? What questions would be useful for us to try to answer? How can this show practically serve you as you navigate surviving under oppressive systems, finding your place in the movement ecosystem, or making your organizing more effective?

Email us at themomentgiven@gmail.com

Thanks to Central Vermont Community Radio and WGDR for being the mothership for our show. They are doing great community building media work in central Vermont. Check out all the rad programming and consider supporting at WGDR.org.

Our theme song is the classic labor tune Which Side Are You On, as performed by Rude Mechanical Orchestra, a fantastic activist street band from NYC. Plus we smushed Gandalf in there.

This episode originally aired on 4/8/26

Welcome to our first episode! Woohoo! We introduce ourselves and our show! Also, what the heck is a “theory of change”? We interview Llu Mulvaney-Stanek, the badass station manager at WGDR where we record and air this show. We learn about WGDR’s theory of change, the ethos of community radio, and invite people to pitch in for the station’s FunDrive!

It’s our very first show! It’s kinda janky! We’re learning as we go! We say “um” a lot and ramble! I think it’s kinda endearing and there’s some good stuff there, but if you’re a little impatient and want something more polished feel free to skip ahead a couple episodes.

ALSO: We want to hear from you! What are you struggling with in this moment? What questions would be useful for us to try to answer? How can this show practically serve you as you navigate surviving under oppressive systems, finding your place in the movement ecosystem, or making your organizing more effective?

Email us at themomentgiven@gmail.com

Thanks to Central Vermont Community Radio for being the mothership for our show. CVCR is doing great community building media work in Central Vermont with the station WGDR. Check out all the rad programming and consider supporting at WGDR.org.

Our theme song is the classic labor tune Which Side Are You On, as performed by Rude Mechanical Orchestra, a fantastic activist street band from NYC. Plus we smushed Gandalf in there.

Music played:

‘Listen to the Radio’ by Nanci Griffith

‘Won't You Be My Neighbor?’ by Fred Rogers

This episode originally aired on 3/11/26