Nonogirl Radio

The Girl from Empanada

President Obama’s 2009 Recovery Act includes $30 million for expanding the Small Business Administration’s Microloan program. These loans of less than $35,000 put money into the hands of small business owners who don’t have any collateral, but who stimulate the economy by putting money back into their communities.

Entrepreneur, Paula Tejeda could benefit from one of these microloans. She says a lack of working capital is the biggest challenge to running her small storefront where she sells Chilean empanadas.

These pocket-sized meat pastries are a popular to-go food in Chile and Paula says they’re best eaten with a glass of wine. This story shows you how that combination sparked an idea in Paula to take the empanadas out of her store and over to the local bars to stir up some business.

Blake is back!

I've spent a week in my new home and now that my Jawbreaker poster is up, it feels more like home.

And at the same time, a buzz has been spreading through the internet about Blake Schwarzenbach's new band, Thorns of Life! There are a couple videos on youtube from a Brooklyn houseparty. Can't wait until they tour!

Paintings, Posters and Propaganda: Artists Reflect and Connect with Community

I collaborated with RJ on this video, which is part of a series of events for KSW's APAture retrospective, called Shifted Focus.

One of the events is this panel I'll be moderating that ties in with both KSW's APAture Retrospective and Chinese Cultural Center's exhibit, Icons of Presence: Asian American Activist Art. The panel features visual artists (Nancy Hom, Leland Wong, Lenore Chinn, Choppy Oshiro and Richard Godinez) that reflect their communities, inspire movements, and envision new ways of being.

When: November 12, 2008
Time: 7-9 pm
Where: CCC Gallery
750 Kearny Street, 3rd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94108
Cost: Free for CCC members; $5 for KSW members; $15 for non CCC or KSW members

Visiting a Swing State

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Originally uploaded by nonogirl.

In my ongoing effort to create my own jouranlism school, I'm in Virginia this week on an environmental journalism fellowship.

After checking in to the hotel on Sunday I explored the downtown to find people preparing for an Obama rally with President Clinton. Thankfully, the EJ Boot Camp organizers were albe to push back our schedule to accomodate our viewig of the Clinton's visit.

The Roanoke Times reported that 3,500 people attended the rally. He spoke briefly about green jobs that Obama will create, but spent most of the time addressing the economy and Obama's "presidential moments": the first was in selecting Joe Biden for his running mate and the second was in his response to the economic crisis.

I'm excited to tune in to the television and radio to see how the campaigns are run in Virginia.

Friday Night NYT.com

Gay marriage legal in Conneticut

Striking at the heart of discriminatory traditions in America, the court — in language that often rose above the legal landscape into realms of social justice for a new century — recalled that laws in the not-so-distant past barred interracial marriages, excluded women from occupations and official duties, and relegated blacks to separate but supposedly equal public facilities.

Republican escandalo

A 263-page report released by lawmakers in Alaska on Friday, found that Ms. Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, had herself exerted pressure to get Trooper Michael Wooten dismissed, as well as allowed her husband and subordinates to press for his firing, as a result of a divorce proceeding between him and Ms. Palin’s sister in 2005.