Ellie 2.0 Radio (Archived Shows)
Saturdays 10-11 AM
We’re generally aware of hopeless idealists, but how many of us have ever actually heard from one?
Ellie 2.0 is all about idealism and the journey of one particular idealist—Ellie Krug—as she works to make the world a better place.
Only, there’s a slight complicating factor: Ellie’s a 61-year-old transgender woman.
That simple demographic sometimes makes things particularly interesting. Or daunting.
Where does the “2.0” come in?
Because in another life, when Ellie presented as a man and worked for big corporations as a trial attorney—the nickname was “Killer Krug”—there was no place for idealism.
Today, remade as her “true” female self, Ellie’s become a doer and believer in humanity and the common good. As she likes to say, “Ninety-nine percent of us want to do the right thing; it’s just that most are afraid to do what’s right.”
Usually, Ellie’s not afraid and most of the time, she does what’s right. Come along as she tries to lead the way, traveling America to make our country whole and truly great for all and everyone.
Ellie 2.0.
Engaging. Imaginative. Fun. And real.
Every Saturday from 10:00-11:00 a.m. CST by airwaves or livestream on AM950, the Progressive Voice of Minnesota
We’re generally aware of hopeless idealists, but how many of us have ever actually heard from one? Ellie 2.0 is all about idealism and the journey of one particular idealist—Ellie Krug—as she works to make the world a better place. Only, there’s a slight complicating factor: Ellie’s a 61-year-old transgender woman. That simple demographic sometimes makes things particularly interesting. Or daunting. Where does the “2.0” come in? Because in another life, when Ellie presented as a man and worked for big corporations as a trial attorney—the nickname was “Killer Krug”—there was no place for idealism. Today, remade as her “true” female self, Ellie’s become a doer and believer in humanity and the common good. As she likes to say, “Ninety-nine percent of us want to do the right thing; it’s just that most are afraid to do what’s right.” Usually, Ellie’s not afraid and most of the time, she does what’s right. Come along as she tries to lead the way, traveling America to make our country whol
We begin this week’s show talking about how there’s a push to ban books that make people “uncomfortable” or which contain “obscenity” (loosely defined as anything related to LGBTQ+ topics). Our featured idealists are four female Granbury, Texas high school students who bravely spoke out against their school’s efforts to review books for banning. The…
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Our featured idealist is Muhammad Ali, whose resistance to the Vietnam war and advocacy for the rights of black Americans is often overlooked; make sure you listen to the clip of Ali taking on white college students at the end of the segment. The Big Interview is with Danna Nelson, a 25-year-old woman who is…
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For this Live Show we begin with our featured idealist, Heather Abbott, a survivor of the April 2013 Boston Bombing. Heather lost her lower left leg in the incident and because health insurers provide only one minimally functioning prosthesis for amputees, Heather created a foundation to assist other amputees with their prosthetic needs. I then…
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This week’s featured idealist is radio host Joe Madison, who started a hunger strike (subsisting on liquids only) on November 8, 2021, to advocate for a federal voting rights bill being signed by President Joe. The Big Interview is with Kelsey Waits, whose 8-year-old nonbinary child was outed by persons opposing Kelsey when she ran…
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A Live Show! We begin with our featured idealist, bell hooks, who died this week. The author of Ain’t I a Woman? Black Women and Feminism and 30 other books, hooks wrote about growing up in Jim Crow Kentucky and covered social theory, critiques of patriarchy, white supremacy and capitalism. My regret is that I…
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Our featured idealist is Fred Guttenberg, the father to Jaime Guttenberg, who was one of the 17 people murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida on February 14, 2018. Fred has gone on to advocate again gun violence, and he’s worked to have Congress consider “Jaime’s Law” to require background checks for…
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This week’s featured idealist is Norma McCorvey, “Jane Roe” in Roe v. Wade. While Norma’s role in securing abortion rights for women was certainly idealistic, Norma’s life—filled with poverty and exploitation—points to her simply attempting to survive the Human Condition. The Big Interview is with Patrick Coolican of the Minnesota Reformer, an online local journalism…
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It’s episode number 200! Hooray! We celebrate with my producer, Brett Johnson, and me sharing clips from some of our favorite interviews, including that with Daryl Davis, a black musician who befriends Klu Klux Klan members, and John Blake, the CNN correspondent who talks about “radical integration” as a way to get people past their…
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This week’s featured idealist is Boyan Slat, founder of The Ocean Cleanup who has envisioned and worked to rid the world’s oceans of plastic waste. And he’s succeeding–https://theoceancleanup.com/oceans/. The Big Interview is a reprise of my January 2021 interview of Dr. Keith Mayes who speaks about structural racism in MN and the U.S. In my…
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We begin with me urging listeners to vote for incumbents on their local school boards in next week’s elections as a way to counter the conservative attacks on those boards. Then, it’s an expanded Big Interview with Sondra Samuels of the Northside Achievement Zone in Minneapolis—you won’t want to miss her exceptional discussion about systemic…
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