Stevie’s Work

Raine, Kat, and Tina join the critically-acclaimed podcast CRAMPED for a conversation about how young people are experiencing period pain — and why schools so often fail to take it seriously. In this episode of CRAMPED, “Are the Young Crampers OK? Period Pain Education in High School,” host Kate Helen Downey spotlights Period Power Stories, TMI Project’s collaboration with the Kingston High School Period Power Club – and the student-led push for better education, support, and change. Learn more about CRAMPED: https://www.katehelendowney.com/cramped TMI Project is available to offer true storytelling workshops and performances for your school or workplace: tmiproject.org. If you believe in the power of true storytelling to change the world, support TMI Project with a donation today!  DONATE TODAY Links https://www.tmiproject.org https://www.instagram.com/tmiproject https://www.facebook.com/tmiproject https://www.tiktok.com/@tmiproject https://www.hudsy.org https://www.periodpowerclub.com

November 6th 2026 Yuriy reflects that he will turn 46 next week, having joined the army at the start of the full-scale war at 41, when he still had his teeth, plans, and faith in the future. Born on Veterans Day – unknown to him in the Soviet Union – he connects the date to Kurt Vonnegut, also born that day and critical of how Armistice Day became Veterans Day. Yuriy has written his first book and hoped to have it printed by his birthday, but Russian strikes on a Kharkiv printing house and subsequent attacks on power infrastructure have caused major delays amid outages across multiple cities. He will mark his birthday and Veterans Day without the printed book, which he dedicated to a friend killed early in the war, whose son now fights. Send Yuriy your letter of support fightingtherussianbeast@gmail.com  Yuriy’s Podbean Patron sign-up to give once or regularly: https://patron.podbean.com/yuriy   Buy Yuriy a coffee here: https://bmc.link/yuriymat  Subscribe to his substack: https://yuriymatsarsky.substack.com/  —-more—- TRANSCRIPT   It is November 6. Next week is my birthday. I am turning 46. When I joined the army at the very start of the full-scale war, I was only 41. Back then, I still had almost all my teeth, faith in a bright future, and a pile of plans. Now there is almost nothing left of any of it. I was born on a strange day, Veterans Day. Of course, nobody in the Soviet Union knew that back then. It was just another ordinary day in the gray, meaningless Soviet calendar, one you simply had to live through, and that was that. I only learned as an adult that in the normal world, this is a special date when veterans of wars are honored. By the way, my favorite writer, Kurt Vonnegut, who fought in the Second World War and was taken prisoner by the Germans, scolded his generation for taking the holiday away from the generation before it. Before it became Veterans Day, it was Armistice Day, marking the end of the First World War, and it was a day of honor only for the vets of the First World War. By the way, Kurt Vonnegut was also born on Veterans Day. Back then, it was still Armistice Day, of course. A shared birthday isn't the only thing that connects us. At least I like to think it isn't. Like Kurt Vonnegut, I also work in literature. Naturally, I can't even dream of Mr. Vonnegut's talent, print runs, or recognition. Still, I have already written my first book. I really wanted it to come out before my birthday. It would have been a kind of present to myself. But that's certainly not going to happen. First, the Russians bombed the printing house in Kharkiv where it was supposed to be printed, destroying the equipment. Then, once the equipment was replaced, they knocked out the electrical plants. The city now gets power for only a couple of hours a day. The same goes for Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, and plenty of other cities. Because of the long outages, the printing house can't finish all its orders on time. Still, the fact that it keeps working at all just a couple of dozen miles from the Russian border under constant bombardment is already a miracle. So I will celebrate my double holiday, my birthday and Veterans Day, without a printed book, but fully aware that sooner or later it will end up in my hands. I dedicated it to the memory of my friend who was killed in the very first weeks of the war. I have never met a kinder or more honest man. Now his son is fighting. This is the kind of war whose end of the war holiday the younger generation won't take away from the old because that holiday will belong to everyone. And I wish it would come sooner.

If you don't know Gretchen Peters, I will bet you definitely know some of her songs. From Independence Day (Martina McBride), Cloud #9 (Bryan Adams), On A Bus To St. Cloud (Trisha Yearwood), Rock Steady (Bonnie Raitt)… the list goes on and on.  So when I interviewed her for the first time (I was lucky enough to do it twice) I was READY. This is probably the interview I am the most proud of, we talked about sexism within the music industry, being an independent artist and finding your own path as a writer. We dig into the origins of one of her songs, "The Boy From Rye" and how it's the heart of her most recent album, Dancing With The Beast. Note: This interview was originally recorded and published in November 2019. —-more—- For two decades, Gretchen Peters (she/her) has been one of Nashville's most beloved and respected artists. "If Peters never delivers another tune as achingly beautiful as 'On A Bus To St. Cloud,'" People Magazine wrote, "she has already earned herself a spot among country's upper echelon of contemporary composers.” Inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in October 2014 by singer-songwriter Rodney Crowell, who called her "both a songwriter and a poet (who) sings as beautifully as she writes,” and said her song “The Matador”, "moved me so greatly, I cried from the soles of my feet”, Peters has accumulated accolades as a songwriter for artists as diverse as Etta James, Bonnie Raitt, The Neville Brothers, Patty Loveless, George Strait, Bryan Adams and Faith Hill. Her 2015 album, ‘Blackbirds’, debuted at #1 on the UK Country chart and in the top 40 UK pop chart, and was awarded International Album of the Year and Song of the Year. In 2015, The Telegraph named her one of the greatest 60 female singer-songwriters of all time. Her latest album, Dancing With The Beast, was released on May 18, 2018. https://gretchenpeters.com  

It is the end. And the end. And the end! Will Michael find the progenitor's technology? Will Moll be able to bring L'ak back to life? Will Rayner and DISCO be able to hold off the Breen? Will Saru be able to engage in diplomacy with Primarch Tahal? And most importantly: is there going to be a wedding at the end? Come for the science fiction, the pew-pew, and the fate of all the galaxy — stay for a cute wedding sequence. Hope everyone you love got out alive. It's time to say goodbye, old friends. Live long — and prosper.