Hosts Lucas Spiro and Matt Hanson have their first married couple on the show to talk video games, micro-transactions, and fear and loathing at 2019 PAX East. Local writer, and newcomer to The Arts Fuse critics circle, Michael Costa, joins the show to report on PAX East, a major video game convention that your hosts know nothing about. He also happens to be Arts Fuse writer Deanna Costa’s husband. We explore questions related to video games as art, the economics of gaming, and just what the heck those kids are up to.

Then we welcome community organizer and children’s books author Jacob Kramer to talk about breaking the rules. His writing infuses revolutionary thought with childlike wonder, encouraging readers of all ages to consider what’s possible, and to challenge the cynics. His book More Bats is about the practical realities of what would happen if we “maximize bats” — more parks, better health care, and improved programs for education. (There is an insert in Jacobin’s “Childhood” issue.) His latest volume, Noodlephant, is about a pasta loving elephant who stands up to the injustice of an oppressive kangaroo regime. The parable sets out to convey the value of civil rights to a new generation.

You can read and order Jacob’s work on his website, jacobakramer.com.

10% of the proceedings from Noodlephant go to support the work of Black and Pink, a prison abolition organization. You can buy the book, donate directly, or both.

Michael’s latest pieces on The Arts Fuse are here and here.

Run time: 57:45

Lucas Spiro is a writer living outside Boston. He studied Irish literature at Trinity College Dublin and his fiction has appeared in the Watermark. Generally, he despairs. Occasionally, he is joyous.