Today is St. Patrick's Day, which may not have a lot to do with LL Cool J, but work with me here. St. Patrick's Day is one of the spots in the calendar when you tend to encounter a particularly large number of people with (ahem) accelerated personalities, who make themselves noticed even if they look like losers. In that sense, that's every day for presidential hopefuls -- 24-7-366 in an election year.
In advance of today's GOP primary in Missouri and the upcoming contests in Puerto Rico and Illinois, Melissa will take a good look at the "almost famous": the candidates (and even movements) who lose elections, but still manage to make the mark on the presidential race -- and on history. Scott Farris, author of Melissa's new favorite book, will join us along with former presidential candidate Ralph Nader, who is pretty much that "almost famous" guy.
We'll welcome another guest living out our topic in real time when we stick with politics, and discuss how women's rights and very lives become political footballs. Joining Melissa to discuss that will be none other than Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke, who has become quite famous lately for her House testimony about birth control (and subsequently, the misogynist vitriol directed at her).
I bet you're still wondering -- what does LL Cool J have to do with all this? Melissa will also delve into how the various ways radio (a-ha!) influences our politics still, and the NAACP's effort to expose the injustice of voter-ID laws before the United Nations.
And Melissa will offer some commentary on the tragic killing of Trayvon Martin, the Florida teenager who was shot to death three weeks ago by a neighborhood-watch captain in suburban Orlando -- a neighborhood-watch captain who remains free.
Also joining us:
- Allison Kilkenny, reporter for The Nation and In These Times, and co-host of Citizen Radio.
- Myrna Perez, senior counsel for the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice.
- Kemba Smith Pradia, author and advocate for the rights of formerly incarcerated people (of which she is one).
- Brian Lehrer, Peabody Award-winning host of his eponymous show on the nation's largest public radio station, WNYC.
- Esther Armah, New York-based radio host, journalist, and playwright.
Be sure to interact with us on Facebook and Twitter, using the hashtag #nerdland. See you all at 10am Eastern!