http://www.radiocurious.org Fri, 10 Apr 2026 05:01:39 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.8.1 Welcome to the 20th year of Radio Curious, half hour interviews on a curiously wide variety of topics about life and ideas. All of the almost 400 half-hour archive editions on our website are free for you to enjoy, download, copy, share or rebroadcast as you wish. Please give credit to Radio Curious and let us know what you like about the program. www.radiocurious.org Radio Curious clean Radio Curious curious@radiocurious.org curious@radiocurious.org (Radio Curious) Creative Commons-Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Radio Curious Radio Curious, Interviews, Environment, Education, Chautauquan, Psychology/Psychaitry, Sex, Mendocino, Law, Religion, Feminism http://www.radiocurious.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/radio-curious-rss-logo.jpg http://www.radiocurious.org/category/film/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2024/02/15/zana-briski-ross-kauffman-brothels-of-calcutta-india-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2024/02/15/zana-briski-ross-kauffman-brothels-of-calcutta-india-2/#comments Fri, 16 Feb 2024 04:43:54 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=5244 http://www.radiocurious.org/2024/02/15/zana-briski-ross-kauffman-brothels-of-calcutta-india-2/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening.  - Originally Broadcast: March 15, 2007 - Born Into Brothels - “Born into Brothels” received the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2005. A tribute to the resiliency of childhood and the restorative power of... Click here to begin listening.  (https://www.radio4all.net/files/vogel@sonic.net/BRISKI_AND_KAUFFMAN%202.15.24%20IA.mp3) Originally Broadcast: March 15, 2007 Born Into Brothels “Born into Brothels” received the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2005. A tribute to the resiliency of childhood and the restorative power of art, “Born into Brothels” is a portrait of several unforgettable children who live in the red light district of Calcutta, where their mothers work as prostitutes. The most stigmatized people in Calcutta’s red light district however are not the prostitutes, but their children. In the face of abject poverty, abuse, and despair, these kids have little possibility of escaping their mother’s fate or for creating another type of life. In “Born into Brothels,” directors Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman chronicle the amazing transformation of the children they come to know in the red light district. Briski, a professional photographer, gives them lessons and cameras, igniting latent sparks of artistic genius that reside in these children who live in the most sordid and seemingly hopeless world. The photographs taken by the children are not merely examples of remarkable observation and talent; they reflect something much larger, morally encouraging, and even politically volatile: art as an immensely liberating and empowering force. Devoid of sentimentality, “Born into Brothels” defies the typical tear-stained tourist snapshot of the global underbelly. Briski spends years with these kids and becomes part of their lives. Their photographs are prisms into their souls, rather than anthropological curiosities or primitive imagery, and a true testimony of the power of the indelible creative spirit. You can learn about this film and Kids with Cameras at www.kids-with-cameras.org. I spoke with Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman in February 2005. Beginning the conversation first with Zana Briski, I asked her to explain what drew her to India before the concept of “Kids With Cameras” was even a dream. www.kids-with-cameras.org Zana Briski recommends “Secret Life of Bees,” by Sue Monk Kidd. Ignacio Ayala clean http://www.radiocurious.org/2023/02/23/mark-feeney-nixon-at-the-movies-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2023/02/23/mark-feeney-nixon-at-the-movies-2/#comments Thu, 23 Feb 2023 23:59:34 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=5058 http://www.radiocurious.org/2023/02/23/mark-feeney-nixon-at-the-movies-2/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening.  - Nixon at the Movies, A Book About Belief - Richard Nixon, and the movies he watched while he was president… On his third night in office, January 22, 1969 Nixon saw The Shoes of the Fisherman in the White House movie... Click here to begin listening.  Nixon at the Movies, A Book About Belief Richard Nixon, and the movies he watched while he was president… On his third night in office, January 22, 1969 Nixon saw The Shoes of the Fisherman in the White House movie theater. From then until August 1973, when he resigned the presidency Nixon watched over 500 movies in the White House, at Camp David, and other places he frequented. This is an average of 2½ movies per week during his presidency. The book, Nixon at the Movies, A Book About Belief, by Boston Globe journalist Mark Feeney examines the role movies played in forming Nixon’s character and career, and the role Nixon played in the development of American film. Ronald Reagan may have been the first movie star president, but Feeney argues that Nixon was the first true cinematic president. In this program, recorded in January 2005, Mark Feeney begins by commenting on the effect that the 500 plus movies that Nixon watched had on him and his presidency. Mark Feeney recommends “The Whole Equation,” by David Thompson. Originally Broadcast: February 22, 2005 Ignacio Ayala clean 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2022/06/09/eve-ensler-meet-the-author-of-the-vagina-monologues-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2022/06/09/eve-ensler-meet-the-author-of-the-vagina-monologues-2/#comments Fri, 10 Jun 2022 05:33:21 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4946 http://www.radiocurious.org/2022/06/09/eve-ensler-meet-the-author-of-the-vagina-monologues-2/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening.   - The Vagina Monologues - The Vagina Monologues, created and produced by Eve Ensler, tell the stories of women, their relationships, feelings, and, in some cases, abuse. In this edition of Radio Curious, Click here to begin listening.   The Vagina Monologues The Vagina Monologues, created and produced by Eve Ensler, tell the stories of women, their relationships, feelings, and, in some cases, abuse. In this edition of Radio Curious, we spoke with Eve Ensler about the origin of the the Vagina Monologues and the film, “Until the Violence Ends.” Eve Ensler recommends “Bush in Babylon,” by Tariq Ali. Originally Broadcast: January 27, 2004 Ignacio Ayala clean 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2022/06/03/robert-benton-the-human-stain-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2022/06/03/robert-benton-the-human-stain-2/#comments Fri, 03 Jun 2022 06:03:37 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4942 http://www.radiocurious.org/2022/06/03/robert-benton-the-human-stain-2/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening.  - Director of, The Human Stain - Robert Benton is the director of “The Human Stain,” which is based on the third novel of Philip Roth’s trilogy describing the turmoil of post-WWII America. Click here to begin listening.  Director of, The Human Stain Robert Benton is the director of “The Human Stain,” which is based on the third novel of Philip Roth’s trilogy describing the turmoil of post-WWII America. It exposes the life of Coleman Silk, a Professor of Classics at a small New England College, an eminent Jewish intellectual and a devoted husband. Roth describes Silk as “ensnared by a history he hadn’t quite counted on.” Originally Broadcast: November 1, 2003 Ignacio Ayala clean 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2018/10/09/donner-dr-stanley-origins-of-public-television/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2018/10/09/donner-dr-stanley-origins-of-public-television/#comments Wed, 10 Oct 2018 01:53:56 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4369 http://www.radiocurious.org/2018/10/09/donner-dr-stanley-origins-of-public-television/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - We all know that people listen to radio and watch television. The difference between radio and television is in the image. When you listen to radio, your mind creates the image for you. When you watch television, Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-10-09-18_Dr._Stanley_Donner_Published.mp3) We all know that people listen to radio and watch television. The difference between radio and television is in the image. When you listen to radio, your mind creates the image for you. When you watch television, a ready-made image is flashed before your eyes. The early days of television were days of great creativity, when the questions of “how” and “what should we do” were present at all levels of production, ownership and programming. In the early 1950s, a young professor from Stanford University named Stanley Donner was creatively engaged in the development of public television in San Francisco, California. In the last 50 or so years, Professor Donner has participated in and followed the development of this mind-boggling medium. Professor Stanley Donner in the Radio Curious Studios in September 1998 to share the story of how KQED was organized and successfully applied for funding within a very few days, just before the opportunity lapsed. Dr. Stanley Donner recommends “The Hedgehog and the Fox: An Essay on Tolstoy’s View of History,” by Sir Isaiah Berlin.   LeGov clean 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2018/08/01/rosenthal-ken-the-space-between-brilliance-and-madness/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2018/08/01/rosenthal-ken-the-space-between-brilliance-and-madness/#comments Thu, 02 Aug 2018 01:29:10 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4349 http://www.radiocurious.org/2018/08/01/rosenthal-ken-the-space-between-brilliance-and-madness/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - In this program we discuss cultivating beauty in the space between brilliance and madness with Ken Paul Rosenthal, an independent film maker based in San Francisco, California. - Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-ROSENTHAL_INTERVIEW_7-30-18_CA-final.mp3) In this program we discuss cultivating beauty in the space between brilliance and madness with Ken Paul Rosenthal, an independent film maker based in San Francisco, California. Rosenthal says his "work explores the geography of madness through the regenerative power of nature, urban landscapes, home movies, and archival footage from hygiene films." And his 2011 film "Crooked Beauty”, available on Vimeo, reveals his artistry and cinematography skills. Rosenthal's 2018 film "Whisper Rapture" is a musical and mental health documentary focusing on Bonfire Madigan and her cello. The music you are hearing now is by Bonfire Madigan on her cello, with permission. Not a stranger to demons of the mind, Rosenthal readily shares his personal experiences, and describes how communities of like-minded people can collectively ease the individual pain and find joyful creativity in the spaces between brilliance and madness. When Ken Paul Rosenthal and I visited by phone from his home in San Francisco, California on July 30, 2018, we began our conversation when I asked him to describe what many people call mental illness. The books Ken Paul Rosenthal recommends are both by David Abram: "The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World," and "Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology.” The film he recommends is "Leave No Trace," about a father and daughter who lived off the grid in the wilderness. Ken Paul Rosenthal’s website is http://www.kenpaulrosenthal.com . His 2018 film “Whisper Rapture” can be accessed here: http://whisperrapture.com/ His 2011 film “Crooked Beauty” can be seen here: https://vimeo.com/28315394 LeGov clean 28:56 http://www.radiocurious.org/2018/06/05/silha-stephen-the-puckish-whimsical-life-of-james-broughton-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2018/06/05/silha-stephen-the-puckish-whimsical-life-of-james-broughton-2/#comments Wed, 06 Jun 2018 01:04:14 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4331 http://www.radiocurious.org/2018/06/05/silha-stephen-the-puckish-whimsical-life-of-james-broughton-2/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - The puckishly whimsical life and times of poet and film maker James Broughton is the topic of this edition of Radio Curious in a visit with Stephen Silha, the producer and director of “Big Joy, Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-SILHA_STEVE_5-12-14_CA.mp3) The puckishly whimsical life and times of poet and film maker James Broughton is the topic of this edition of Radio Curious in a visit with Stephen Silha, the producer and director of “Big Joy,” a biographical film of the life and times of James Broughton. Broughton believed that in order to live an authentic life we each should follow our own weird. He says: "I don’t know what the left is doing said the right hand, But it looks fascinating." And: "I may be infecting the whole body said the Head but they’ll never amputate me." Stephen Silha and I visited by phone from his home near Seattle, Washington on Mother’s Day, 2014. He began our conversation by telling us what drew him to make a film about his friend James Broughton. The book Stephen Silha recommends is “The Man Who Fell in Love With the Moon,” by Tom Spanbauer. The music in this weeks edition of Radio Curious is "Twril" by Norman Arnold, from the movie, "Big Joy." LeGov clean 29:02 http://www.radiocurious.org/2017/08/17/most-stephen-documentary-filmmaker-stories-make-the-world-part-two/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2017/08/17/most-stephen-documentary-filmmaker-stories-make-the-world-part-two/#comments Thu, 17 Aug 2017 20:24:07 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4239 http://www.radiocurious.org/2017/08/17/most-stephen-documentary-filmmaker-stories-make-the-world-part-two/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - We continue with part two of “Stories Make the World,” with Stephen Most.  He’s a playwright, documentary film maker, and author of the book “Stories Make the World: Reflections of Storytelling and the Art of the Docume... Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-MOST_STEPHEN_2_8-16-2017_CA.mp3) We continue with part two of “Stories Make the World,” with Stephen Most.  He’s a playwright, documentary film maker, and author of the book “Stories Make the World: Reflections of Storytelling and the Art of the Documentary.”  Most presents vignettes of his mentors and experiences, and employs his personal art of storytelling to share who they are and what he has learned in his 54 year career as a writer and story teller. In part one Most discusses his experience with Peruvian Shamen and Curanderos as a young man when he lived on the north coast of Peru, and the art of documentary making.  Here, in part two, Most tells the story of biologist and conservationist Aldo Leopold, among others, and describes the art of listening. When Steve Most visited the Radio Curious studios on August 4, 2017, we began part two when I asked him about the art of storytelling. The books Stephen Most recommends are: “Human Condition” and “On Revolution,” by Hanna Arendt, and “Granada” by Steven Nightingale. Stephen Most's website is (http://stephenmost.com/). LeGov clean 29:01 http://www.radiocurious.org/2017/08/09/most-stephen-documentary-filmmaker-stories-make-the-world-part-one/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2017/08/09/most-stephen-documentary-filmmaker-stories-make-the-world-part-one/#comments Wed, 09 Aug 2017 20:21:39 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4237 http://www.radiocurious.org/2017/08/09/most-stephen-documentary-filmmaker-stories-make-the-world-part-one/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - Meaning, which comes from stories, is the topic of our two part series on how stories make the world. Our guest is Stephen Most, author of "Stories Make the World: Reflections on Storytelling and the Art of the Document... Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-MOST_STEPHEN_8-7-17_CA.mp3) Meaning, which comes from stories, is the topic of our two part series on how stories make the world. Our guest is Stephen Most, author of "Stories Make the World: Reflections on Storytelling and the Art of the Documentary." In this book, Most shares his experience as a playwright, writer, and creator of documentary films over the past 50 plus years. Steve Most and I first crossed paths in 1976. We soon determined we had both lived in Peru for several years ten years earlier, and have been friends since.  In his 2007 visit with Radio Curious http://www.radiocurious.org/2011/06/22/most-stephen-river-of-renewal-myth-history-in-the-klamath-basin/, Most and I discussed his book "River of Renewal: Myth and History in the Klamath Basin." "Stories Make the World" is a crucial account of the principles and paradoxes that attend the quest to represent reality truthfully.  Most shows how documentary filmmakers and other nonfiction storytellers come to understand their subjects and cast light on the world through their art. Steve Most visited the Radio Curious studios on August 4, 2017, to record this series on storytelling and the art of the documentary. The central theme of "Stories Make the World" is meaning comes from stories. We begin with Steve Most’s description of his initial experiences starting with his arrival to Peru’s north coast in 1964.  He contrasts information, including raw facts, and meaningful knowledge with a story. Stephen Most's website is stephenmost.com. To stream or download films in the "Stories Make the World" visit: www.videoproject.com/stories. LeGov clean 29:01 http://www.radiocurious.org/2017/02/28/sorel-edward-an-actress-her-lovers-and-a-daft-caricaturist/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2017/02/28/sorel-edward-an-actress-her-lovers-and-a-daft-caricaturist/#comments Tue, 28 Feb 2017 19:13:43 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4187 http://www.radiocurious.org/2017/02/28/sorel-edward-an-actress-her-lovers-and-a-daft-caricaturist/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - Edward Sorel, a satirical caricaturist, and cartoonist, whose first book is Mary Astor’s Purple Diary: The Great American Sex Scandal of 1936, is our guest in this edition Radio Curious. Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-Radio_Curious_-_20170228_-_Sorel.mp3) Edward Sorel, a satirical caricaturist, and cartoonist, whose first book is Mary Astor’s Purple Diary: The Great American Sex Scandal of 1936, is our guest in this edition Radio Curious. Claiming to be daft about Mary Astor for about a half a century, Sorel describes Astor’s career as a Hollywood-based actress who seemingly more than enjoyed a lustful and salacious life. Astor’s diary, which allegedly revealed the untold stories of her trysts and lovers, was the centerpiece of the sensational 1936 trial to determine the custody of her young daughter. Sorel, whose pictorial satires have appeared on the covers of forty-six editions of The New Yorker magazine, visited Radio Curious by phone from his home in Harlem, New York City, on February 27, 2017. The books Ed Sorel recommends are: Iron Dawn: The Monitor and The Merrimack, and the Sea Battle that Changed History, by Richard Snow; and Terrible Virtue, a Novel, by Ellen Feldman. LeGov clean 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2016/04/26/steifel-frank-ingelore-speaking-without-hearing/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2016/04/26/steifel-frank-ingelore-speaking-without-hearing/#comments Wed, 27 Apr 2016 00:13:40 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4094 http://www.radiocurious.org/2016/04/26/steifel-frank-ingelore-speaking-without-hearing/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - What would it be like for you if you were deaf? If you could not speak your first word until you were six? If you had three years of education, your first language was German, Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-STEIFEL_FRANK_4-26-16_CA.mp3) What would it be like for you if you were deaf? If you could not speak your first word until you were six? If you had three years of education, your first language was German, and you later emigrated to another country where they speak English? Ingelore is the first name of a woman who was born in Germany in 1934, and came to America in 1940 at the beginning of the Third Reich, right after Kristallnacht. The film “Ingelore” was made by Inglelore’s son Frank Stiefel, and it tells his mother’s story. In this edition of Radio Curious, we begin with Ingelore in her own words from the documentary “Ingelore.” As you hear her ability to articulate words in English it’s important to remember she cannot hear. This interview was recorded on May 29th, 2010 with Frank Stiefel from his home in Santa Monica, California. The books that Frank Stiefel recommends are “Hand Of My Father,” by Myron Uhlberg, and “The Road,” by Cormac McCarthy. LeGov clean 29:01 http://www.radiocurious.org/2016/04/19/feeney-mark-nixon-at-the-movies/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2016/04/19/feeney-mark-nixon-at-the-movies/#comments Wed, 20 Apr 2016 00:09:07 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4091 http://www.radiocurious.org/2016/04/19/feeney-mark-nixon-at-the-movies/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - Richard Nixon and the movies he watched while he was president is the topic of this archived edition of Radio Curious. On his third night in office, January 22, 1969 Nixon saw “The Shoes of the Fisherman” in the White H... Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-FEENEY_MARK_4-18-16_CA.mp3) Richard Nixon and the movies he watched while he was president is the topic of this archived edition of Radio Curious. On his third night in office, January 22, 1969 Nixon saw “The Shoes of the Fisherman” in the White House movie theater. From then until August 1973, when he resigned the presidency, Nixon watched over 500 movies in the White House, at Camp David, and other places he frequented. This is an average of 2½ movies per week during his presidency. The book, “Nixon at the Movies: A Book About Belief,” by Boston Globe journalist Mark Feeney examines the role movies played in forming Nixon’s character and career, and the role Nixon played in the development of American film. Ronald Reagan may have been the first movie star president, but Feeney argues that Nixon was the first true cinematic president. In this program, recorded in January 2005, Mark Feeney begins by commenting on the effect the 500 plus movies that Nixon watched had on him and his presidency. The book Mark Feeney recommends is, “The Whole Equation,” by David Thompson. This interview was originally broadcast on February 22, 2005. LeGov clean 29:01 http://www.radiocurious.org/2016/04/12/benton-robert-the-human-stain/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2016/04/12/benton-robert-the-human-stain/#comments Wed, 13 Apr 2016 00:06:28 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4089 http://www.radiocurious.org/2016/04/12/benton-robert-the-human-stain/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - This program is about “passing,” a term sometimes used to define a person of color who passes as white. From the 2004 Radio Curious archives we revisit a conversation with film director Robert Benton, Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-BENTON_ROBERT_4-10-16_CA.mp3) This program is about “passing,” a term sometimes used to define a person of color who passes as white. From the 2004 Radio Curious archives we revisit a conversation with film director Robert Benton, about his film “The Human Stain.” It's a movie about the life of Coleman Silk, an eminent Jewish intellectual and devoted husband; a professor of classics at a small New England college.  The truth about Coleman Silk, portrayed by Anthony Hopkins, is far more complex than expected or thought to be.  He hid behind a veil of lies, having masked his African-American origins in order to find a freedom he thought would otherwise be impossible to achieve.  But his world of deception unraveled after embarking on a romance with a much younger woman. Our guest, Robert Benton, is a three time Academy Awards winner for his work as the Director of “Kramer Vs. Kramer,” “Places in the Heart,” and “Nobody's Fool.” His film, “The Human Stain,” takes place in the 1990s and is based on the third novel of Phillip Roth's “American Trilogy” describing the post World War Two turmoil in America. The title “The Human Stain” emerges from the idea that no matter what a person does, a human being leaves a mark on the world, whether by rage, desire, ambition or accident, a kind of scar; stain that cannot be undone.  For Coleman Silk that stain is the deception and concealment he carried for decades. The human stain is the mark we leave on everything.  It speaks to the fact that we can't get through life without marking the world around us in some way. We have no choice. It's part of being human. Robert Benton and I visited by phone in the fall of 2004. The books Robert Benton recommends are “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night” by Mark Haddon and "The Manuscript Found in Sargossa" by Jan Potocki. LeGov clean 29:01 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/05/26/lowe-felicia-chinese-immigration-the-veil-of-secrecy-and-silence/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/05/26/lowe-felicia-chinese-immigration-the-veil-of-secrecy-and-silence/#comments Wed, 27 May 2015 02:50:41 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3682 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/05/26/lowe-felicia-chinese-immigration-the-veil-of-secrecy-and-silence/feed/ 0 Radio Curious visits with Felicia Lowe the producer of “Chinese Couplets” a documentary about Lowe's quest to learn about her ancestral history by tracing her mothers immigration to the United States from rural China. Secrecy of and revelation about the trip to America to secure a new life during the Chinese Exclusion era is the topic of this edition of Radio Curious.  Our guest is Felicia Lowe, whose film “Chinese Couplets” tells her mother’s story.  Felicia Lowe was met with refusals and silence when as a child she asked her mother about her childhood. This shroud of silence was lifted when Felicia Lowe’s daughter found an old family photograph taken in China and asked her grandmother to tell the story related to the photograph.  The film “Chinese Couplets” shows and tells the story of a childhood in rural China, the new identity to secure passage to America, the fear of deportation if the truth were known, and a prosperous and successful life of an immigrant Chinese woman in Oakland, California.   The film “Chinese Couplets” will be shown at the Mendocino Film Festival on Saturday, May 30, 2015 at 10 am in the Village of Mendocino, California. When Felicia Lowe and I visited by phone from her home in San Francisco, California, May 17, 2015, I asked her to tell us about her mother. The book Felicia Lowe recommends is “The Blues Eye,” by Toni Morrison. Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. LeGov clean 29:01 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/05/19/wallach-amei-art-outwitting-oppression-the-kabakov-story/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/05/19/wallach-amei-art-outwitting-oppression-the-kabakov-story/#comments Tue, 19 May 2015 20:31:40 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3677 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/05/19/wallach-amei-art-outwitting-oppression-the-kabakov-story/feed/ 0 Radio Curious visits with Amei Wallach, producer/director of the documentary “Ilya and Emilia Kabakov: Enter Here,” about the lives of a world renown artist, Ilya Kabakov and his wife Emilia, who fled communist Russia and returned after the fall of the... Amei Wallach, producer and director of the documentary film “Ilya and Emilia Kabakov: Enter Here,” about the lives of Ilya and Emilia Kabakov is our guest in this edition of Radio Curious. Amei Wallach met Ilya Kabakov in 1987, when she was in the Soviet Union investigating the effect of perestroika on the arts.  Unavoidably intrigued, eight years later she published the first biography of Ilya Kabakov, “The Man Who Never Threw Anything Away.”  "Enter Here" documents not only the lives and work of Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Russia’s most celebrated international artists, who are now United States citizens, but also the lives of the average Russian from the Stalin era to the fall of the Soviet Union.  The film will be shown at the Mendocino Film Festival May 31, 2015, at 12:30 pm, in the Village of Mendocino, California. Amei Wallach says her film documents how “art can outwit oppression.” When we visited by phone on May 10, 2015, she began with an explanation of how art outwits oppression.    The book Amei Wallach recommends is “Vermeer in Bosnia: Selected Writings,” by Lawrence Weschler.  Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. LeGov clean 29:01 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/05/13/schwartz-lacey-nobody-discussed-it-lacey-schwartz-and-little-white-lie/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/05/13/schwartz-lacey-nobody-discussed-it-lacey-schwartz-and-little-white-lie/#comments Wed, 13 May 2015 06:10:25 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3665 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/05/13/schwartz-lacey-nobody-discussed-it-lacey-schwartz-and-little-white-lie/feed/ 0 Radio Curious visits with Lacey Schwartz, director and producer of “Little White Lie,” a documentary about her experiences growing up as a white Jew and later learning that she is half black. The secret revealed in the life of Lacey Schwartz, born in 1987 to a white Jewish family in rural upstate New York, where she grew up, is that her biological father was black.  The few who knew her truth remained silent until after her first year of college when she asked her mother why she looked the way she did.  Lacey Schwartz is the producer and director of the film “Little White Lie,” which documents her family secret. "Little White Lie” will be shown at the Mendocino Film Festival on Friday, May 29, 2015, at 5:30 pm, in the Village of Mendocino, California. Lacey Schwartz and I visited by phone from her home near New York City, on May 11, 2015.  First we hear a clip of Lacey’s voice taken from the introduction of the film “Little White Lie,” and later intersperse our conversation with clips from the film.  The book Lacey Schwartz recommends is “How It Feels to Be Free:  Black Women Entertainers and the Civil Rights Movement,” by Ruth Feldstein. Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. LeGov clean 29:01 http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/11/12/levene-bruce-james-dean-in-mendocino/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/11/12/levene-bruce-james-dean-in-mendocino/#comments Wed, 12 Nov 2014 20:35:04 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3461 http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/11/12/levene-bruce-james-dean-in-mendocino/feed/ 0 Radio Curious discusses earthquakes with John Dvorak, Ph.D., a geophysicist and author of “Earthquake Storms: The Fascinating History and Volatile Future of the San Andreas Fault.” John Steinbeck's novel, “East of Eden” was published September 1952 and the movie-made soon thereafter-is the subject of this edition of Radio Curious. Our guest is Bruce Levene, author of “James Dean in Mendocino: The Filming of East of Eden.” The Mendocino Film Festival will screen "East of Eden" on Friday, November 21 and Sunday, November 23, 2014. Soon after “East of Eden” was published, plans began immediately for a motion picture. Warner Brothers bought the rights and director Elia Kazan hired playwright screenwriter, Paul Osborn to write the film script. After several attempts to encompass the sprawling 560-page novel, they decided to use only the last 90 pages—the story of Adam Trask, his sons Aron and Cal, their mother Kate, and the girl Abra. It's a story about the search for love, the desperate search for his father's love, by the son Cal, the fanciful search for his mother's love by Aron, and the futile quest by Adam for the love of all humanity. John Steinbeck wrote of his book, “The subject is the only one that man has used of his theme. The existence, the balance, the battle and the victory and permanent war between wisdom and ignorance, light and darkness, good and evil.” By 1954, when Kazan began searching for locale to use for the filming of “East of Eden,” neither Monterey nor Salinas, where the stories took place, looked much like California in 1917. Warner Brothers had made “Johnny Belinda” in Mendocino in 1947, which might have influenced the director. Or perhaps as one wire service reported:  “Like many other voyagers, he just wandered up the Mendocino Coast and found what he was looking for.” In late April, preparations for filming began and the fist day of shooting took place on May 27. In that amazingly brief time the Mendocino scenes were completed and by June 3, the Warner Brothers production team was gone, leaving local residents with fond remembrances. Bruce Levene writes, “I first saw “East of Eden” on the fan tail of a US Navy destroyer in the Caribbean in 1956. I'd read the book but never traveled west of Des Moines. California was unseen, Mendocino was unheard of. I thought "East Eden" had been filmed in Monterey and Salinas, wherever they were.” “East of Eden” became Levene's favorite motion picture. Not particularly because of James Dean, although he was certainly unforgettable. “Whatever the man was in real life, saint or sinner,” Bruce Levene writes, “we will never really know.  It's undeniable however, that in front of an audience or camera he was remarkable. And that, for an actor, is the best thing that can be said. Dean was just something else.” For Bruce Levene, it was how he felt about the whole movie—the shoreline, the town, it's people, the actors: Julie Harris, Joe Van Fleet, Raymond Massey and Burl Ives (Massey and Ives didn't go to Mendocino), and Leonard Rosenman's wonderful music. A totality in feeling, rare in motion pictures, was only enhanced to Bruce Levene when he moved to Mendocino in 1969. When Bruce Levene and I visited from his home in Mendocino, California, on November 11, 2014, I asked him what prompted him to write his book “James Dean in Mendocino.” The book Bruce Levene recommends is “The Immense Journey” by Loren Eiseley. Click here to listen or on the media player below. LeGov clean 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/05/27/dammann-dr-grace-dr-grace-dammann-in-her-own-words/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/05/27/dammann-dr-grace-dr-grace-dammann-in-her-own-words/#comments Tue, 27 May 2014 21:57:57 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3312 http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/05/27/dammann-dr-grace-dr-grace-dammann-in-her-own-words/feed/ 0 buddhism,disability Radio Curious visits with Dr. Grace Dammann, who is featured in the documentary “States of Grace,” which chronicles her recovery from a near fatal and life altering car accident. In our last interview we visited with the producers and directors of the film “States of Grace,” about the life of a woman honored by The Dalai Lama for her medical work at the height of the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco, Ca. In this edition of Radio Curious we visit with that woman, Dr. Grace Dammann.  Dr. Grace had a near death experience resulting from a head-on collision on the Golden Gate Bridge in 2008.  She awoke 48 comatose days later after multiple surgeries for, as she says, “trashed bones and internal organs.”  With her cognitive abilities in tact, she began rehabilitation and was able to go home a year later.  Now, in 2014 she has returned to work as the Medical Director of the Pain Clinic at the Laguna Honda Hospital in San Francisco, California, where she had previously worked as a physician for 18 years.  Notwithstanding her confinement to a wheelchair she proudly describes her legal efforts to urge the Golden Gate Bridge Authority to install a dividing barrier intended to prevent future head-on collisions on the bridge.  The installation is scheduled to being in the fall of 2014. Dr. Grace and I visited by phone from her home at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center, in Muir Beach, California on May 23, 2014.  We began our conversation when I asked her describe her current station on the continuum of her life’s experience.  The book Dr. Grace Dammann recommends is “The Last of the Just,” by Andre Schwarz-Bart.  Click here or on the media player below to listen. LeGov clean 29:01 http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/05/20/cohen-helen-lipman-mark-states-of-grace-difficult-to-imagine-impossible-to-comprehend/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/05/20/cohen-helen-lipman-mark-states-of-grace-difficult-to-imagine-impossible-to-comprehend/#comments Tue, 20 May 2014 20:12:10 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3304 http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/05/20/cohen-helen-lipman-mark-states-of-grace-difficult-to-imagine-impossible-to-comprehend/feed/ 1 disability Radio Curious visits with Helen Cohen and Mark Lipman, directors and producers of “States of Grace”, a film about Dr. Grace Damman, a physician who uses her buddhist practice to heal and accept a life altering disability caused by a car accident. On May 21, 2008 Dr. Grace Damman was crushed in a head-on collision on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.  Her abdominal organs were shoved into her lung cavity and her bones and muscles were extensively injured.  A practicing Buddhist, Dr. Grace engaged her spirituality to survive this crisis, heal and accept the new terms of her life.  Three years and 15 surgeries later, Dr. Grace Damman became the Medical Director of the Pain Clinic at San Francisco’s Laguna Honda Hospital where she had previously worked as a physician for 18 years. "States of Grace" is a documentary film about Dr. Grace Damman, produced and directed by Helen Cohen and Mark Lipman, our guests on this edition of Radio Curious.  We visited by phone from their home in San Francisco, California, on May 16, 2014, and began our conversation with Helen Cohen describing her friend, Dr. Grace. The films Helen Cohen recommends are “The Kiss of the Spider Woman” and “Guest of Cindy Sherman.” The film Mark Lipman recommends is “Sherman's March.” Click here or on the media player below to listen. LeGov clean 29:01 http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/05/13/silha-stephen-the-puckish-whimsical-life-of-james-broughton/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/05/13/silha-stephen-the-puckish-whimsical-life-of-james-broughton/#comments Tue, 13 May 2014 16:41:02 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3294 http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/05/13/silha-stephen-the-puckish-whimsical-life-of-james-broughton/feed/ 0 Radio Curious visits with Stephen Silha, the producer and director of “Big Joy,” a biographical film about the puckishly whimsical life and times of poet and film maker James Broughton. The puckishly whimsical life and times of poet and film maker James Broughton is the topic of this edition of Radio Curious in a visit with Stephen Silha, the producer and director of “Big Joy,” a biographical film of the life and times of James Broughton.    Broughton believed that in order to live an authentic life we each should follow our own weird. He says: "I don’t know what the left is doing said the right hand. But it looks fascinating.” And: "I may be infecting the whole body said the Head but they’ll never amputate me.” Stephen Silha and I visited by phone from his home near Seattle, Washington on Mother’s Day, 2014.  He began our conversation by telling us what drew him to make a film about his friend James Broughton.    The book Stephen Silha recommends is “The Man Who Fell in Love With the Moon,” by Tom Spanbauer. The music in this week's edition of Radio Curious is "Twirl" by Norman Arnold, from the movie, "Big Joy." Click here or on the media player below to listen. LeGov clean 29:02 http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/05/13/donahue-terry-alloy-orchestra-new-music-for-silent-films/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/05/13/donahue-terry-alloy-orchestra-new-music-for-silent-films/#comments Mon, 13 May 2013 20:37:00 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=2815 http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/05/13/donahue-terry-alloy-orchestra-new-music-for-silent-films/feed/ 0 Radio Curious visits with Terry Donahue, a member of the Alloy Orchestra, a group of multitalented musicians who provide live, in house, orchestral backup to silent films of the 1920's era. The Alloy Orchestra is a group of multitalented musicians with widely diverse abilities, based near Boston, Massachusetts.  This group provides live, in house orchestral backup to the Chaplin, Keaton and other classic silent films of the 1920s. Our guest in this edition of Radio Curious is Terry Donahue, an Alloy Orchestra partner, a skilled player of the accordion, musical saw, drums and bells, to name only a few. Terry Donahue and I visited by phone from his home near Boston Massachusetts, on May 10, 2013, and began with his description of the composition of the Alloy Orchestra. The book Terry Donahue recommends is “Accordion Crimes,” by Annie Proulx, and “Delicatessen” a French film. Click here to listen or on the media player below. Click here to download the podcast. LeGov clean 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/05/06/samuelson-kristine-20000-crows-in-tokyo/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/05/06/samuelson-kristine-20000-crows-in-tokyo/#comments Mon, 06 May 2013 18:02:20 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=2806 http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/05/06/samuelson-kristine-20000-crows-in-tokyo/feed/ 0 Radio Curious visits with filmmaker Kristine Samuelson, co-creator of the documentary film, “Tokyo Waka: A City Poem” about the 20,000 crows that inhabit the city of Tokyo, Japan and the human relationships with them. The more than 20,000 crows that inhabit the largest metropolis in the world, have come to be an imposing and sometimes harassing influence on the daily lives of the people with whom these clever birds share the city of Tokyo, Japan. "Tokyo Waka: A City Poem” is a film poem about these crows and their people. In this edition of Radio Curious we visit with filmmaker Kristine Samuelson, a Professor of Humanistic Studies in the Department of Art and Art History at Stanford University. She is the co-creator, along with her husband John Haptas, of the film “Tokyo Waka.”  Their website is Stylofilms. Our visit with Kristine Samuelson from her home in Berkeley, California on May 3, 2013 began when I asked her to describe the nature of their film poem. Kristine Samuelson recommends two films: “Oblivion,” and “Underground Orchestra,” by Heddy Honigmann, a Peruvian born Dutch filmmaker. Click here (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-SAMUELSON_INTERVIEW_CA_5-3-13.mp3) to listen or on the media player below. Click here (http://www.radio4all.net/responder.php/podcast/podcast.xml?program_id=68243&version_id=75684&version=1) to download the podcast. LeGov clean 29:01 http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/04/30/makepeace-anne-we-still-live-here-revival-of-the-wampanoag-language/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/04/30/makepeace-anne-we-still-live-here-revival-of-the-wampanoag-language/#comments Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:05:10 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=2795 http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/04/30/makepeace-anne-we-still-live-here-revival-of-the-wampanoag-language/feed/ 0 Radio Curious visits with Anne Makepeace, the writer and director of the documentary film, “We Still Live Here,” which chronicles the movement to reclaim the lost Native American language of the Wampanoag people. The film “We Still Live Here,” tells the story of the revival of an indigenous Native American language that was not spoken or written for over 100 years. Our guest in this edition of Radio Curious is Anne Makepeace, the writer and producer of the documentary film. The Wampanoag people of Southeastern Massachusetts ensured the survival of the Pilgrims in New England, and lived to regret it. After nearly 400 years of forced cultural assimilation the Wampanoags have brought their language home again. Radio Curious visited with Anne Makepeace from her home in northwestern Connecticut on April 29, 2013, and she began by pronouncing "We Still Live Here" in Wampanoag. The films Anne Makepeace recommends are “The Beasts of the Southern Wild” and “Dersu Uzala.” Click here to listen or on the media player below. Click here to download the podcast. LeGov clean 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/05/21/trimpin-music-and-thought-pushing-the-limits/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/05/21/trimpin-music-and-thought-pushing-the-limits/#comments Tue, 22 May 2012 00:39:30 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=2344 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/05/21/trimpin-music-and-thought-pushing-the-limits/feed/ 0 Radio Curious visits with Trimpin, a sound artist whose the topic of a documentary "Trimpin." Pushing limits in music and thought is the topic of this edition of Radio Curious as we visit with Trimpin, a man who makes music from unusual instruments.  He is the star of documentary film about his life’s work Trimpin, who uses a single word for his name received a Mac Arthur Genius Grant 1997. He asserts that he is trying to “go beyond human physical limitations to play instruments in such a way that no matter how complex the composition or the timing, it can be pushed over the limits.”  The music, he said, starts with a sound in his head.  He then transforms that notion for us to hear.  The film Trimpin will be show at the Mendocino Film Festival the first weekend of June 2012, in Mendocino California. I spoke with Trimpin from his studio in Seattle, Washington, on May 19, 2012, and asked him to comment on the characterization where he is described as a mad-scientist, a magician, or possibly a tour guide. Rather than recommending a book, Trimpin said that he gave up reading sometime ago and replaced it with thinking.  He’d “rather think than read," he said. Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. Click here to download the podcast. LeGov clean 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/05/15/arlyck-ralph-the-film-maker%e2%80%99s-film-following-sean%e2%80%a6-technique-and-life%e2%80%99s-stories/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/05/15/arlyck-ralph-the-film-maker%e2%80%99s-film-following-sean%e2%80%a6-technique-and-life%e2%80%99s-stories/#comments Tue, 15 May 2012 21:05:52 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=2319 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/05/15/arlyck-ralph-the-film-maker%e2%80%99s-film-following-sean%e2%80%a6-technique-and-life%e2%80%99s-stories/feed/ 1 Sean, a four year old child living with his parents in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco in 1969 was the star of a short film about his life. He spoke openly his free-spirited parents, his crash pad home, watching cops bust head, Sean, a four year old child living with his parents in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco in 1969 was the star of a short film about his life. He spoke openly his free-spirited parents, his crash pad home, watching cops bust head, and smoking pot.  Ralph Arlyck made the film while a student at San Francisco State University. Thirty years later he located Sean and his family, and created the film Following Sean. Ralph Arlyck, our guest on this edition of Radio Curious has produced and directed more than a dozen prizewinning films.  Following Sean, is a film as much about Ralph Arlyck’s life as it is about Sean’s.  It will be shown at the Mendocino Film Festival, held in Mendocino, California, the first weekend of June, 2012, where Arlyck will receive the Albert Maysles Award for Excellence in Documentary Film Filmmaking. Ralph Arlyck and I visited by phone from his home in Poughkeepsie, New York, on May 14, 2012, and began when I asked him how Following Sean also became a story of Arlyck’s own life. The film Ralph Arlyck recommends is “Patience (After Sebald,)” a British Film by Grant Gee. Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. Click here to download the podcast. LeGov clean 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/05/07/reuther-sasha-the-united-auto-workers-union-its-effect-on-america/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/05/07/reuther-sasha-the-united-auto-workers-union-its-effect-on-america/#comments Tue, 08 May 2012 00:53:15 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=2309 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/05/07/reuther-sasha-the-united-auto-workers-union-its-effect-on-america/feed/ 0 Radio Curious discusses “Brothers on the Line” a film about the Reuther brothers who unionized the auto industry and galvanized the middle class. Their descendent Sasha Reuther made the film and is our guest. As we all know every action has an equal and opposite reaction.  The reaction, however is not necessarily equal in time or unity.  It’s often spread over time with serial impacts. In this edition of Radio Curious we focus on the treatment of workers in the automobile industry in the United States beginning in the early years of the 20th century.  The story is portrayed in “Brothers on the Line,” a film about Walter, Ray and Victor Reuther, three brothers from West Virginia who organized the United Auto Workers Union beginning in the 1920s.  With access to the National Archives, the Wayne State University Labor History Library and family records, Sasha Reuther, Victor’s grandson, directed the film.  It chronicles the working conditions and the successful strikes at the big three auto plants in Michigan; the political power of the United Auto Workers Union, and its involvement in the civil rights movement.  It also explains why Detroit, Michigan became the richest city in the United States in the 1950s. “Brothers On The Line” will be shown June 3, 2012 at the Mendocino Film Festival, in Mendocino, California. Sasha Reuther and I visited by phone from his office in New York City on May 7, 2012.  We began when I asked him what happened once the automobile became a useful, if not necessary tool of life. The book that Sasha Reuther recommends is “U.A.W. and the Heyday of American Liberalism, 1945 -1968,” by Kevin Boyle. Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. Click here to download the podcast. LeGov clean 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/04/10/cherney-darryl-the-bombing-of-environmental-crusaders-who-bombed-judi-bari/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/04/10/cherney-darryl-the-bombing-of-environmental-crusaders-who-bombed-judi-bari/#comments Tue, 10 Apr 2012 22:34:52 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=2281 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/04/10/cherney-darryl-the-bombing-of-environmental-crusaders-who-bombed-judi-bari/feed/ 0 Radio Curious Assistant Producer, Christina Aanestad speaks with Darryl Cherney, an Earth First! activist who was car bombed with Judi Bari in Oakland, California in 1990. He recently made a documentary about his experience, “Who Bombed Judi Bari?” In 1990 Earth First! activists from Mendocino County were on a road trip to rally support for a summer effort to help protect old growth redwoods in Northern California. For years prior, logging practices took well over 90% of the original redwood growth in the area. Darryl Cherney and Judi Bari, the organizers, were in their car in Oakland, California, in May 1990 when a bomb exploded underneath the driver’s seat where Judi Bari sat.  She and Darryl Cherney were immediately arrested and suspected of bombing themselves. Although charges were never filed against the two, authorities have yet to locate the bombers.  Darryl Cherney and Judi Bari sued and won a jury award of four million dollars against the Oakland Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for violating their 1st and 4th amendment rights. The film, “Who Bombed Judi Bari?” produced by Darryl Cherney, attempts to answer the question posed in the title; it examines their struggle with law enforcement in finding the real bomber and chronicles the history of the local environmental movement here in Northern California. Christina Aanestad, the Radio Curious assistant producer spoke with Darryl Cherney about the film he produced and his experiences resulting from the bombing. They visited on March 29, 2011, at the studios of KMEC radio, inside the Mendocino Environmental Center, which has a long history of supporting social and environmental movements, including Earth First! They began when Christina asked Darryl Cherney to describe the attempted assassination against him and Judi Bari. The website for Darryl Cherney's film is www.whobombedjudibari.com. The book he recommends is, “The Alphabet Versus the Goddess” by Alan Shlain. Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. Click here (http://www.radio4all.net/responder.php/podcast/podcast.xml?program_id=59135&version_id=65957&version=1) to download the podcast. LeGov clean 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/03/20/cohen-jeff/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/03/20/cohen-jeff/#comments Tue, 20 Mar 2012 21:55:53 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=2254 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/03/20/cohen-jeff/feed/ 0 Who gets to be in the media and who doesn’t? That’s the topic of Radio Curious in a conversation with Jeff Cohen, co-founder of FAIR-Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. We discuss the dominant paradigm of debates and the censorship from within. Who gets to be in the media and who doesn’t?  That’s the topic of this edition of Radio Curious in a conversation with Jeff Cohen, co-founder of FAIR-Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. A commentator on Fox news, CNN and MSNBC, Cohen offers an insider’s critique of mainstream media today.  He is the author of “Cable News Confidential, My Misadventures in Corporate Media,” published in 2006.  We spoke in the studios of Radio Curious March 13, 2012 and began our conversation when I asked Jeff to discuss the subterfuge that exists in media today. Jeff Cohen’s website is www.jeffcohen.org. The book he recommends is Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States.” Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. Click here to download the podcast. LeGov clean 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/03/13/la-tigresa-one-womans-power-fortitude-and-poetry/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/03/13/la-tigresa-one-womans-power-fortitude-and-poetry/#comments Tue, 13 Mar 2012 22:42:58 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=2248 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/03/13/la-tigresa-one-womans-power-fortitude-and-poetry/feed/ 0 Radio Curious Assistant Producer, Christina Aanestad speaks with performance artist and poet, La Tigresa about art and activism. Radio Curious Assistant Producer, Christina Aanestad speaks with performance artist and poet, La Tigresa about art and activism. La Tigresa made national headlines in 2000 for blockading a logging truck bare breasted while reciting poems of the Goddess, to save old growth redwood trees in Northern California. The book La Tigresa recommends is "Pronoia is the Antidote to Paranoia," by Rob Brezsny. La Tigresa's website is www.latigresa.net. Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. Click here to download the podcast. LeGov clean 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/02/28/ensler-eve-the-vagina-monologues/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/02/28/ensler-eve-the-vagina-monologues/#comments Tue, 28 Feb 2012 22:32:52 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=2222 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/02/28/ensler-eve-the-vagina-monologues/feed/ 0 http://www.radiocurious.org/2011/05/23/les-blank-the-chef-of-film-making/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2011/05/23/les-blank-the-chef-of-film-making/#comments Tue, 24 May 2011 00:03:42 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=1794 http://www.radiocurious.org/2011/05/23/les-blank-the-chef-of-film-making/feed/ 0 Radio Curious visits with film maker extraordinaire, Les Blank, about his life's work including a documentary about folk/blues musician Lightning Hopkins and a film about garlic. In this edition of Radio Curious we visit with Les Blank, film maker extraordinaire. Les Blank will receive the Albert Maysles award at the 2011 Mendocino Film Festival where his films “Burden of Dreams” and "The Blues Accordin’ to Lightnin' Hopkins" will be presented.  John Rockwell, writing in The New York Times, describes Les Blank as, "…a documentarian of folk cultures who transforms anthropology into art." Though he had a long fascination with films, his career turned to film making after he saw “The Seventh Seal,” by Ingmar Bergman.   Our conversation, which was recorded by phone from his home in Berkeley, California on May 23, 2011, began when I asked him why he makes films. The films Les Blank recommends are “The Seventh Seal” and “Through a Glass Darkly,” both by Ingmar Bergman. Les Blank's website is www.lesblank.com Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. Click here (http://www.radio4all.net/responder.php/podcast/podcast.xml?program_id=51974&version_id=58219&version=1) to download and subscribe to our podcast. LeGov clean 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2011/05/12/frankel-davey-lakew-rasselas-he-twice-ran-and-won-olympic-marathons-barefoot/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2011/05/12/frankel-davey-lakew-rasselas-he-twice-ran-and-won-olympic-marathons-barefoot/#comments Thu, 12 May 2011 19:50:41 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=1778 http://www.radiocurious.org/2011/05/12/frankel-davey-lakew-rasselas-he-twice-ran-and-won-olympic-marathons-barefoot/feed/ 0 Radio Curious speaks with Davey Frankel & Rasselas Lakew, directors and producers of "The Athlete," a film about the life of Abebe Bikila, the first African to win an Olympic Gold Medal in 1960 when he ran barefoot. It is said that in the early part of World War II, it took 500,000 Italian soldiers to occupy Ethiopia, and one Ethiopian soldier to conquer Rome.  19 years later, this one Ethiopian soldier, Abebe Bikila competed barefoot in the 1960 Olympiad marathon foot race in Rome, Italy, leaving all other runners in the dust.  Winning the 42 kms, 195 meter race, Abebe Bikila became the first African to win an Olympic Gold Medal. Abebe Bikila, a shepherd from the plains of Abyssinia in rural Ethiopia, who had never been away from his family, stunned the world with his extraordinary victory.  He became the hero of Rome Olympiad and for years to come a national hero in Ethiopia.  Four years later he won the Marathon at the Tokyo Olympiad becoming the first person to win two Olympic Marathon Gold Medals. Beyond igniting East Africa’s dominance in long distance running, Abebe Bikila became a quiet champion of hope for a continent that was in the midst of its struggle for self-determination.  During his career Bikila won 12 of the 15 marathons he entered. Abebe Bikila died of a brain hemorrhage on October 23rd, 1972, two and a half years after his final race and victory in Norway.  He was 41 years old. In this edition of Radio Curious we visit by phone with the Davey Frankel, from his home in Berlin, Germany and Rasselas Lakew, from his home in New York City.  They are the writers, directors and producers of the movie “The Athlete,” the story of Abebe Bikila.  Rasselas Lakew portrays Abebe Bikila in the lead role of “The Athlete," and was born and grew up in Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia.  “The Athlete” which will be shown at the Mendocino Film Festival on Friday evening June 3, tells the powerful and tragic story Abebe Bikila, a quiet man, who in many ways meets the Homer’s description in the Odyssey: “… the distant Ethiopians, the father outposts of mankind, half of whom live where the sun goes down and half where the rises.” This interview with Davey Frankel and Rasselas Lakew, which was recorded on May 9, 2011, began when I asked them explain what prompted them to write and produce “The Athlete.” The movie that Davey Frankel recommends is “My Life Without Me,” directed by Isabel Coixet.   The movie that Rasselas La Lakew recommends is “Living Russian, Man With A Movie Camera,” directed by Dziga Vertov. Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. Click here (http://www.radio4all.net/responder.php/podcast/podcast.xml?program_id=51695&version_id=57924&version=1) to download and subscribe to our podcast. LeGov clean 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2010/06/03/weidlinger-tom-jim-thorpe-the-worlds-greatest-athlete/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2010/06/03/weidlinger-tom-jim-thorpe-the-worlds-greatest-athlete/#comments Thu, 03 Jun 2010 22:56:19 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=1173 http://www.radiocurious.org/2010/06/03/weidlinger-tom-jim-thorpe-the-worlds-greatest-athlete/feed/ 0 A sports icon of the first half of the 20th century, Jim Thorpe, was a Native American athlete who rose to athletic stardom at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, winning two gold medals at the 1912 Summer Olympics and continued, A sports icon of the first half of the 20th century, Jim Thorpe, was a Native American athlete who rose to athletic stardom at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, winning two gold medals at the 1912 Summer Olympics and continued, despite some controversy, to gain fame in professional baseball and football. In this edition of Radio Curious we visit with Tom Weidlinger, the director and co-writer and co-producer of the movie “Jim Thorpe, The World’s Greatest Athlete.”  Tom Weidlinger spoke from his home in the San Francisco bay area on Sunday, May 30th 2010.  I began by asking him “Who is Jim Thorpe?” The book  Tom Weidlinger recommends is “Cutting For Stone” by Abraham Verghese. Click here to begin listening. (http://www.radio4all.net/responder.php/download/43167/48720/64400/?url=http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-WEIDLINGER_TOM_INTERVIEW_5-30-10_HB_mono.mp3) LeGov clean http://www.radiocurious.org/2010/06/03/stiefel-frank-ingelore-speaking-without-hearing/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2010/06/03/stiefel-frank-ingelore-speaking-without-hearing/#comments Thu, 03 Jun 2010 22:44:23 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=1171 http://www.radiocurious.org/2010/06/03/stiefel-frank-ingelore-speaking-without-hearing/feed/ 0 What would it be like for you if you were deaf? If you could not speak your first word until you were six? If you had three years of education, your first language was German, and you later emigrated to another country where they speak English? What would it be like for you if you were deaf? If you could not speak your first word until you were six? If you had three years of education, your first language was German, and you later emigrated to another country where they speak English?  Ingelore is the first name of a woman who was born in Germany in 1924, and came to America in 1940 at the beginning of the Third Reich, right after Kristallnacht. The film “Ingelore” was made by Inglelore's son Frank Stiefel, and it tells his mother’s story.  This edition of Radio Curious begins with we a piece from the movie “Ingelore” in which she explains who she is and a little of her story. As we hear is her ability to articulate words in English it’s important to remember  she cannot hear. This interview was recorded on May 29th, 2010 with Frank Stiefel from his home in Santa Monica, California. The books that Frank Stiefel recommends are “Hand Of My Father,” by Myron Uhlberg, and “The Road,” by Cormac McCarthy. Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/responder.php/download/43165/48718/64399/?url=http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-STEIFEL_FRANK_INTERVIEW_5-28-10_HB_mono.mp3) LeGov clean http://www.radiocurious.org/2007/03/21/stephen-most-the-klamath-river/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2007/03/21/stephen-most-the-klamath-river/#comments Wed, 21 Mar 2007 08:03:22 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/16/stephen-most-the-klamath-river/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2007/03/21/stephen-most-the-klamath-river/feed/ 0 River of Renewal, Myth & History in the Klamath Basin Since the last Ice Age ended about 12,000 years ago, human beings have traveled along the Klamath River and it tributaries in the northwest corner of California and the coast of southern Oregon. River of Renewal, Myth & History in the Klamath Basin Since the last Ice Age ended about 12,000 years ago, human beings have traveled along the Klamath River and it tributaries in the northwest corner of California and the coast of southern Oregon.  Many people finding an abundance of food, have stayed. The main source of their food was salmon. The power of the myth of the salmon may derive from the fact that wild salmon spread out across the Pacific Northwest about the same time that human beings did, at the end of the last Ice Age. In this edition of Radio Curious we visit with Steve Most, author of “River of Renewal, Myth & History in the Klamath Basin,” a book that tells the story of the history of the Klamath River and the people who have continuously lived there for the past 12,000 years. Steve Most is a playwright and documentary storyteller. Among many other works, he wrote the texts of the audio voices and videos for the permanent exhibit of the Washington State History Museum. In this interview recorded in mid-March 2007, I spoke with Steve Most from his home in Berkeley, California. We began our conversation when I asked him to give a perspective of the geological and human aspects of the Klamath River and its place in history. Stephen Most recommends the "Essays and Letters of Ralph Waldo Emerson." Originally Broadcast: March 21, 2007 Click here to begin listening. (http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-20070331-MOST_WEB__INTERVIEW_3-16-07.mp3) LeGov clean http://www.radiocurious.org/2007/03/15/zana-briski-ross-kauffman-brothels-of-calcutta-india/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2007/03/15/zana-briski-ross-kauffman-brothels-of-calcutta-india/#comments Thu, 15 Mar 2007 08:05:10 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/16/zana-briski-ross-kauffman-brothels-of-calcutta-india/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2007/03/15/zana-briski-ross-kauffman-brothels-of-calcutta-india/feed/ 0 Born Into Brothels "Born into Brothels" received the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2005.  A tribute to the resiliency of childhood and the restorative power of art, "Born into Brothels" is a portrait of several unforgettable children w... Born Into Brothels "Born into Brothels" received the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2005.  A tribute to the resiliency of childhood and the restorative power of art, "Born into Brothels" is a portrait of several unforgettable children who live in the red light district of Calcutta, where their mothers work as prostitutes.  The most stigmatized people in Calcutta's red light district however are not the prostitutes, but their children.  In the face of abject poverty, abuse, and despair, these kids have little possibility of escaping their mother's fate or for creating another type of life. In "Born into Brothels," directors Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman chronicle the amazing transformation of the children they come to know in the red light district.  Briski, a professional photographer, gives them lessons and cameras, igniting latent sparks of artistic genius that reside in these children who live in the most sordid and seemingly hopeless world. The photographs taken by the children are not merely examples of remarkable observation and talent; they reflect something much larger, morally encouraging, and even politically volatile: art as an immensely liberating and empowering force. Devoid of sentimentality, "Born into Brothels" defies the typical tear-stained tourist snapshot of the global underbelly.  Briski spends years with these kids and becomes part of their lives.  Their photographs are prisms into their souls, rather than anthropological curiosities or primitive imagery, and a true testimony of the power of the indelible creative spirit. You can learn about this film and Kids with Cameras at www.kids-with-cameras.org. I spoke with Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman in February 2005. Beginning the conversation first with Zana Briski, I asked her to explain what drew her to India before the concept of "Kids With Cameras" was even a dream. www.kids-with-cameras.org (http://www.kids-with-cameras.org/) Zana Briski recommends "Secret Life of Bees," by Sue Monk Kidd. Originally Broadcast: March 15, 2007 Click here to begin listening. LeGov clean http://www.radiocurious.org/2005/02/22/mark-feeney-nixon-at-the-movies/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2005/02/22/mark-feeney-nixon-at-the-movies/#comments Tue, 22 Feb 2005 11:34:32 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/11/mark-feeney-nixon-at-the-movies/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2005/02/22/mark-feeney-nixon-at-the-movies/feed/ 0 http://www.radiocurious.org/2004/04/25/deborah-koons-garcia-the-future-of-food/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2004/04/25/deborah-koons-garcia-the-future-of-food/#comments Sun, 25 Apr 2004 22:44:36 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/16/deborah-koons-garcia-the-future-of-food/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2004/04/25/deborah-koons-garcia-the-future-of-food/feed/ 0 http://www.radiocurious.org/2004/01/27/eve-ensler-meet-the-author-of-the-vagina-monologues/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2004/01/27/eve-ensler-meet-the-author-of-the-vagina-monologues/#comments Tue, 27 Jan 2004 09:43:57 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/17/eve-ensler-meet-the-author-of-the-vagina-monologues/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2004/01/27/eve-ensler-meet-the-author-of-the-vagina-monologues/feed/ 0 Radio Curious revisits a 2004 conversation with Eve Ensler, creator of The Vagina Monologues, for Women's History Month. The Vagina Monologues The Vagina Monologues, created and produced by Eve Ensler, tell the stories of women, their relationships, feelings, and, in some cases, abuse. In this edition of Radio Curious, we spoke with Eve Ensler about the origin of the the Vagina Monologues and the film, “Until the Violence Ends.” Eve Ensler recommends "Bush in Babylon," by Tariq Ali. Originally Broadcast: January 27, 2004 Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. Click here to download the podcast. LeGov clean 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2003/11/01/robert-benton-the-human-stain/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2003/11/01/robert-benton-the-human-stain/#comments Sat, 01 Nov 2003 09:48:15 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/17/robert-benton-the-human-stain/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2003/11/01/robert-benton-the-human-stain/feed/ 0