Nonogirl Radio

End of the Road

I've been exploring the videos on Current.com and the work in their Vanguard Journalism section is impressive.

End of the Road is a solid piece of reporting by Jael de Pardo on the 60 mile break in the Pan American Highway. Although the tone is casual and verite, Jael conveys the danger in the area as well as the urgent challenges the people in the region face.

A brave, informative piece.

Same-Sex Marriage

My office is in tears. Why is the right for two loving people to be able to marry even in question?

To celebrate, I dug up one of the first pieces I produced on my own after attending Women's Weekend at the Russian River.

Community Organizing

From what I've heard about the Democratic Party from the 2004 elections is that they needed to get their act together.  Volunteers who went to swing states to get-out-the-vote were sent to Republican neighborhoods(!); given old voter registration addresses; or were sitting idle, waiting for an assignment.

But from what I've witnessed, social justice organizations know how to make the machine run. APEN has run several successful political campaigns where they've swung the vote through community organizing and phone banking.

This story on Morning Edition looks at how Barack Obama is employing lessons he has learned from his community organizing days to build a movement.

The best thing about this is that it's sustainable and scalable, so if he does win the Democratic nomination, he is in a good position to mobilize people to win the presidency!

As for the radio segment, it had some great scenes and great cuts, but I didn't care for the mix. One of the important cuts was a volunteer explaining why she got involved with the campaign and it was mic'd from too far away.

Tiger Victims Criminalized

What is going on here?! I don't care if they taunted the tiger. No one should be at risk of being chewed up by a tiger while at the zoo!

My friend, a former zoo employee, has first hand knowledge of the stupidity of the general public. Shoot, even I taunted the monkeys (or were they apes) while on an honor's field trip to the zoo in sixth grade, just because we heard that it would get them to throw shit at us. It worked.

I'm disgusted at how several media outlets report on their  criminal record. Even if they beat up a cop in the past or smoked pot before they came into the zoo, they shouldn't get attacked by a tiger!

My hero, David Zirin, wrote about how the media were quick to criminalize Redskin Sean Taylor, saying he "had bad judgment."

How different would the coverage be if my group of honors students, comprised mostly of whites and East Asians, had been mauled instead of South Asians and a Latino?

Under the Radar

I knew Theo Rigby as a photographer, but after viewing this audio slideshow, I now see him as a great interviewer and storyteller as well. We get an intimate look at one immigrant family and the challenges and fears they face living in the US without papers.

The SFAC recently awarded him with an Artist and Community Innovation Program grant where he's providing youth with cameras to photograph their surroundings while at the same time, he is photographing the youth. I look forward to see how this project turns out!

City's slow enforcement of billboard ban

Last week, my first story for El Tecolote posted. It's a continuation of an investigation I did while reporting on wheatpasted posters for Artery.

Basically, while the Department of Public Works views political posters as a cause of urban blight, they turn a blind eye to the same activity when it's done by corporations.

The article's format on El Tecolote's website is a little confusing, but I had a great experience working with the managing editor and look forward to developing my writing skills by producing more work for them!

Labor Notes: Song of the Month

Lately I've been concerned with the limits of my concrete knowledge of how our world works, politically. So I've been searching out websites to create my own little e-university of leftist politics. One of these sites is Labor Notes that "has been the voice of union activists who want to "put the movement back in the labor movement" since 1979."

I've always been drawn to music that captures the spirit of political movement and expresses the resilience of people's struggles. So I'm even more happy to see that Labor Notes features a song of the month, which acknowledges the role that music and culture plays in movement building!

They have quite a collection, so if you're ever in need of political music, check out this site!

Obama/Terrorist

Is it just me or does mainstream media often confuse Barack Obama with Osama Bin Laden?

I mean, there's this great image of Obama on the cover, but then in bold, it says "Terror's New Face" without any context.

A mistake? Or innuendo?

David Zirin

                   

The last minute BART across the Bay, the frantic peering for a cab in west Oakland and Lake Merritt, the white knuckled ride over the 980 to the 80 to Fourth Street were all worth it to catch the last few minutes of David Zirin.

I’m a fan of Zirin’s political writings about sports, but it was a whole ‘nother thing to see him live. Now I want him for an uncle. I want to see him at Thanksgiving with our plates piled high while the men gather around the tv for one football game after another. I want him for my future child’s little league coach. I want him for SF Supervisor. Shit, I want him for Mayor!

He has a sharp mind for sports history that is more impressive with his progressive analysis, all couched in a narrative more compelling than a This American Life show. AND a master understanding of sexism to the point of prioritizing questions from women in the audience.

It is rare for me to care about autographs, but last night, I had to have my two minutes with the man. Should I ask him about his tour schedule and if he planned to catch the All Star Game? Should I tell him how much effort it took to catch the last 20 minutes of Q&A given that he mis-publicized the location of his reading? I now wish I was more practical and asked the following:

I’m totally impressed with his firm grasp of his historical facts and his sharp analysis. As a fellow journalist, what are the concrete ways that you keep up with the news and do your research?

Go out and buy his new book for as he says, he’s got a three year old and “baby needs a new everything!”

Originally posted on nonogirl.vox.com

Reading up on Waste

I’ve been reading about trash and this book delves in deep. I learned about the Italian mafia’s control over New York trash and the corporate mafia’s take over. I learned about big business’s reframing of waste so that it’s the public’s problem of littering or not recycling rather than their problem for creating wasteful packaging.

And I can’t wait to get through my books set aside for Hawaii:

• John Henry Day he's supposed to be the next Ralph Ellison
  
• American Born Chinese catching up on graphic novels
• American Woman recommended by Mahru
• On Writing Well recommended by a former NPR trainer
• Making Time because it's about LA
• Dope recommended by Claire
• Finding George Orwell on loan from Pacific Time
• No Nonsense Guide to Free Trade on loan from Alex
• Paradise in Ashes to prepare for Guatemala!