Andrew Noz is the blogger behind Cocaine Blunts & Hip-Hop Tapes, one of the internet's most successful hip-hop blogs. He's also a contributor to NPR, Complex and The Washington City Paper, among other outlets.

The College Years is a look deep into the vaults of The Sound of Young America. Take a journey with us every week as we post a new program or two from our salad days.

Today's theme: It's All Politics!

First up, Jesse Thorn and guest-host Maria Schell welcome writer Kristin Gore. Kristin talks about her book, Sammy's Hill, her beginnings in comedy with Harvard's National Lampoon, and her time as a writer at Futurama.

Following that, Jesse interviews the great Art Spiegelman. Listen as Mr. Spiegelman reveals some of his motivations for his book about 9/11, In the Shadow of No Towers. It is fantastic. Do yourself a favor and find more of his work.

Lastly, Jesse talks to friend of the show, Patton Oswalt. In the world's shortest interview, Patton drops some funny, Jesse tries to demonize the Chipmunks, and Maria describes what she's wearing. Owe yourself another favor and go to one of his upcoming shows.

Nathan Rabin and Josh Modell join Jesse to recommend the best of popular culture. Nathan chooses Louis CK's Louie and the new film The Kids Are All Right. Josh Modell chooses Inception and Children's Hospital.

Standup comedian Nick Adams is the author of Making Friends with Black People and a writer on the upcoming NBC sitcom Perfect Couples. He performed this set at The Sound of Young America Presents: Laugh Night at Art Share in Los Angeles.

Samantha Bee is the Daily Show's longest-tenured correspondent, having joined the program in 2003. She's also the author of a new memoir, I Know I Am But What Are You?

Bee grew up in an unusual tripartite family, splitting time between a matronly grandmother, a conservative, re-married father and a bohemian, Wiccan mother. She met her husband, the Daily Show correspondent Jason Jones, while working in a Sailor Moon-themed stage show at the Canadian National Exposition.

She talked with us from New York City.

The College Years is a look deep into the vaults of The Sound of Young America. Take a journey with us every week as we post a new program or two from our salad days.

Today's theme: Chosen People

Chris Jackson can be described as a sort of pop culture activist. With H.O.P.E. in America, Chris protests the mediocrity prevalent in the entertainment landscape. For example, he ruined Paris Hilton's book signing.

Following that, Jesse and Kathi interview Count Bass D. Listen in as Count Bass D talks about music, his artistic collaborations and making art in Nashville. Check out his latest work.

Lastly, Jesse speaks with his comedy crush Sarah Silverman. Between the flirting and passing of love notes, Sarah reveals her comedy origin story and describes Jesus is Magic as only she can.

Great Americans

The brilliant comedian Louis CK has been a guest on our program on a number of occasions over the years. As I recall, the first time he appeared was nearly ten years ago, promoting the DVD release of "Pootie Tang." More recently, he's become a repeat guest on one of our favorite public radio shows, Fresh Air. In fact, we liked his last interview so much that we embedded it on this here blog.

Unfortunately, it seems that the folks at Mississippi Public Broadcasting didn't like the interview as much as we did. In fact, they disliked it so much that they pulled Fresh Air from their stations. This was reportedly prompted by the fact that the station plays as the "hold music" on the University telephone system, and a caller to the University who was put on hold happened to jump into the Louis CK conversation just as Gross was asking if he always kept his shirt on during sex. This one person was SCANDALIZED, and it led directly to an appropriate and proportional reaction on the part of MPR: dropping one of the best radio shows in the world.

This was the statement that MPB Executive Director Judy Lewis released to explain the decision:

Mississippi Public Broadcasting strives to deliver educational, informative, and meaningful content to its listeners. After careful consideration and review we have determined that Fresh Air does not meet this goal over time. Too often Fresh Air’s interviews include gratuitous discussions on issues of an explicit sexual nature. We believe that most of these discussions do not contribute to or meaningfully enhance serious-minded public discourse on sexual issues.

Of course, this thesis is absurd on its face. Fresh Air won a Peabody - the most prestigious award in broadcast news - because it's very, very, very "educational, informative and meaningful." Gross also won an Edward R. Murrow award, the most prestigious award in all of public broadcasting, in 2003. If you still need convincing that Gross and Fresh Air meet the goal of "educational, informative and meaningful content," check out this video of another of our heroes, Ira Glass, giving Gross a National Book Award.

This incident is of particular concern to us here at The Sound of Young America not just because we create a show with a format similar to Fresh Air's, or because Terry Gross is a personal hero of mine, but also because much of our show is focused on humor, and that seems to be the real target of the ban. Louis CK is, in my professional opinion, the single most insightful, "meaningful" comic working today, and he is no less insightful and "meaningful" in an interview context. Ms. Lewis' statement, to our eyes, seems to imply the age-old falsehood that the work of a comedian, because it's funny, doesn't "contribute to or meaningfully enhance serious-minded public discourse." That's directly contrary to the values upon which we've built this show. I've often said that one of our goals on The Sound of Young America is to demonstrate that you needn't be "serious" to be "serious-minded." In my mind, one of Fresh Air's most redeeming attributes is Gross' warmth and openness to the insights that can come from humor, though she herself is not a humorist. That's certainly one of the attributes I have most tried to emulate.

For these reasons, we'd like to stand with Fresh Air and our colleagues and heroes Louis CK and Terry Gross, and we've come up with a plan.

For as long as Mississippi Public Radio continues to unjustly bar one of broadcasting's best programs from its air, The Sound of Young America is hereby banning itself from Mississippi Public Radio. Mississippi Public Radio doesn't carry The Sound of Young America, and they probably weren't considering carrying it, but that won't stop us from snipping any potential consideration of carriage that might occur in the bud, should it happen to unexpectedly appear. WE'RE JUST THAT PRINCIPLED.

That's right: you mess with Louie and Terry, YOU MESS WITH US. Whether you KNOW WHO WE ARE or whether you are COMPLETELY UNFAMILIAR AND UNINTERESTED IN US AND OUR PROGRAM.

Consequences be damned.

We've started an "I'm Banning Myself From Mississippi Public Radio" Facebook page, so if you're ready to join us, sign up!

Once again Jordan Morris joins us to inform us of what's hot and what's not for July of 2010.

This month's list:
5) Wolfman on DVD
4) The Bronze Age
3) Rhyming Words
2) Kissing
1) The Burrito

Colson Whitehead is one of America's most acclaimed novelists. He was the recipient of a MacArthur "genius" grant for his fiction, which includes Apex Hides the Hurt and John Henry Days. His latest novel is Sag Harbor, about the African American beach enclave.

We talk with Whitehead about why he chose to write a coming-of-age novel without any grand revelations - no bodies found in caves, no one hit by cars. We also chat about why he made such a firm turn away from high-concept fiction towards unassuming naturalism, and how he overcame his fear of teenagers and his own teenage years.

Jose James is an acclaimed jazz and soul singer. He has two new albums - a forward-looking, genre-hopping record called Blackmagic and a collection of piano-and-vocals standards called For All We Know. The former features collaborations with producers like Moodymann and Flying Lotus. The latter features duets with the Belgian pianist Jef Neve. James, a native of Minneapolis, lives in London, and has been championed by the influential English DJ Gilles Peterson. He talks with us about the connection between jazz and hip-hop, what one learns in jazz school, and returning to standards after years singing more contemporary fare.