A Conversation with Norman B of Tampa NPR About My Memoir

8 Comments Post your own

1. dienne77 says:

   January 16, 2026 at 1:18 pm

   Sorry, off-topic, but I can’t resist asking, what do you think of Machado giving her Nobel Prize to Trump? I mean, what more could she possibly do to convince you that she is nothing more than a right-wing grifter? What true “brave freedom fighter” would grovel before a narcissistic carnival barker like that?

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2. Roy Turrentine says:

   January 16, 2026 at 6:17 pm

   I too grew up without Air conditioning. Summer nights were sleepless affairs ruled by the incessant itching of chiggars and ticks. When I consider the civil rights movement from the view of a hot night in the costal plain, it makes it look very painful. I can imagine the hot days and tempers that had to be endured

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3. jcgrim says:

   January 18, 2026 at 10:54 am

   Every day I read the news my heart sinks a little further into despair. I’m hoping that trumps spectacle regime will fall apart—though Russ Vought & Stephen miller are trying hard to institutionalize it all. So many thanks to you, Diane. This interview gives me hope that this reign of terror can be defeated. And this quote made me happy:”I’m 87. It’s not a good time for me to die. I need to stay & fight!” Indeed!

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   • dianeravitch says:

     January 18, 2026 at 2:00 pm

     Jcgrim,

     Some day this nightmare regime will come to an end.

     It will take many years to repair the damage it wreaked in our country, our alliances, our sense that we were the “good guys.”

     Think of it as being occupied by the KKK.

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4. retired teacher says:

   January 18, 2026 at 10:58 am

   Interesting chat. Your mother like so many other mothers was the glue that held the family together.

   I am still doing my small part to stand up for public education on social media, when the topic turns to education. My most recent term for vouchers, which by the way forces the right wing think about them differently, is to call vouchers socialism for the well-to-do. Lots of right wing Floridians have libertarian leanings, and they despise the idea of socialism. It makes them think about the whole so-called choice movement differently and how vouchers are a reverse Robin Hood scheme.

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   • dianeravitch says:

     January 18, 2026 at 1:58 pm

     RT,

     I have used the same term.

     Vouchers are:

     Socialism for the rich

     And

     Welfare for the rich

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5. bootstrims2m says:

   January 18, 2026 at 4:53 pm

   Incredible background I’ll have to buy the book. I can relate to early childhood without TV because I grew up in another country with an outhouse as a bathroom. 😉 war torn country/ religion, of course.
   My mom turns 89 this year.
   Your mom and my mom are very similar. I sent an article to you via you were speaking engagement contact. I didn’t know how to get in touch

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   • dianeravitch says:

     January 18, 2026 at 11:35 pm

     Hi Boots,

     I’d love to get your reaction to the book.
     Re speaking, I have cut back on travel.

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