Homeboy Industries Hit by Layoffs – Nation 5/14

Homeboy Industries, the legendary L.A. anti-gang institution headed by Father Greg Boyle, laid off 300 people yesterday because of a financial crisis. The organization was founded in East L.A. in 1988 at a time when hundreds of gang members were killing each other annually;  Father Greg’s slogan was “Nothing stops a bullet like a job.”
. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE

Father Greg Boyle on Gangsters: KPFK Wed. 5/12

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The legendary FATHER GREG BOYLE, Jesuit pastor of Dolores Mission in Boyle Heights starting in 1986, has made it his mission to help gang members who want to quit.  He founded Homeboy Industries in 1988.  Now he has written a wonderful book: Tattoos on the Heart: Stories of Hope and Compassion. Father Greg will be in conversation with Celeste Fremon in the LA Public Library ALOUD series Thursday May 13, 7pm.

Plus: Do you wanna dance? ALICE ECHOLS talks about disco: how it carved out a haven for gay men; how it thrust black women onto center stage; how “disco sucks” expressed the worst in America. Alice teaches American studies at Rutgers. Her new book is  Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture. Alice will be reading and signing at Book Soup Monday 5/17, 7pm. Playlist: Bee Gees, “Stayin Alive”;  Barry White, “Can’t Get Enough”;  Sylvester, “You Make Me Feel”; Donna Summer, “Bad Girls.”

Also: Between Arabs and Israelis: Weeks before the Suez War of 1956, four-year-old KAI BIRD and his family moved to Jerusalem.  He lived between Arabs and Israelis for much of his life — in Jerusalem, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Lebanon.  Crossing Mandelbaum Gate is his personal history of growing up an American in the midst of three major wars in the Middle East. Kai is a contributing editor of The Nation; he won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for his co-authored Robert Oppenheimer bio. He will be speaking in the LA Public Library ALOUD series Monday May 17, 7pm.

Arizona and Immigrants: KPFK Wed. 5/5

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Are Arizona’s anti-immigrant laws going to help Barbara Boxer and Harry Reid win re-election?  In 1994, when California Republicans passed the anti-immigrant Prop. 187, Latinos started voting Democratic in overwhelming numbers. JOHN NICHOLS will comment; he’s Washington Correspondent for The Nation, and writes “The Beat” blog at TheNation.com — now redesigned and re-launched.

Also: Greil Marcus on Van Morrison, the wild and turbulent Northern Irish singer-songwriter who recorded the songs “Wild Night” and “Brown Eyed Girl” and the albums “Astral Weeks” and “Moondance.”  Greil’s new book is When That Rough God Roes Riding: Listening to Van Morrison.  Greil will be reading and signing Friday at 7:30pm Skylight Books , 1818 N. Vermont Ave.

Plus: yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the Kent State killings; and we’ll also have Your Minnesota Moment:  St. Paul’s mayor takes action against Arizona for its new anti-immigrant law.

Daniel Widener talks about culture and black struggle in postwar L.A. — he teaches history at UCSD and his new book is Black Arts West. We’ll also talk about the recent racist activity at UCSD — and the compendium of documents about it,  ‘Another University is Possible.’   Danny will be speaking at Eso Won Books on Fri. May 7, 7pm in Liemert Park.



Arizona Bans Ethnic Studies: The Nation 5/1

The Arizona legislature has passed a bill that will end ethnic studies classes in the state, according to the state’s top education official.

The bill bans classes that “promote resentment toward a race or class of people,” “are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group,” or “advocate ethnic solidarity instead of treating pupils as individuals.”

Also prohibited: all those classes that “promote the overthrow of the U.S. government.”

. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE

Honoring Walter Mosley: The Nation 4/29

Los Angeles’s Liberty Hill Foundation will honor Walter Mosley with its Upton Sinclair Award on May 20. Mosley, author of more than thirty books, is celebrated worldwide for his Easy Rawlins mysteries. Set in inner-city Los Angeles after World War II, they feature an out-of-work black war veteran who reluctantly becomes a private detective and confronts the city’s racism and corrupt police force. The best-known volume is probably Devil in a Blue Dress, which was made into a film in 1995 starring Denzel Washington as Mosley’s protagonist: “In a world divided by black and white, Easy Rawlins is about to cross the line.”
. . . Continued HERE.

Going After Wall Street: KPFK Wed. 4/28

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“The Goldman Sachs scandal has done the unthinkable,” says HAROLD MEYERSON of the Washington Post op-ed page: “It’s made it possible that legislation reining in Wall Street’s casino may actually be enacted.”
But the odds are still against real reform –And the problem isn’t just Republican opposition; there are also the Democrats.

Plus:  ROBERT KUTTNER talks about A Presidency in Peril: The Inside Story of Obama’s Promise, Wall Street’s Power, and the Struggle to Control our Economic Future.
Bob is a founder of The American Prospect, contributor to the Boston Globe and the Huffington Post and has worked as chief investogator for the Senate Banking Committee.

Also: REBECCA SKLOOT talks about how racism, poverty and science came together in the case of a poor black woman whose cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. Rebecca’s book is THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS.  Rebecca’s LA events: Thurs. 4/29 at 7pm at Eso Won Books in Liemert Park in L.A. – 4331 Degnan Blvd. in L.A.; Fri., 4/30 at 7PM: at Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena; more local events HERE.

BookFest at UCLA Preview: KPFK Wed. 4/21


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L.A. Times Festival of Books Preview: DAVID ULIN, book editor of the L.A. Times, talks about BookFest highlights, including his own sessions with Dave Eggers and Elif Batuman.  BookFest schedule, info HERE. Tickets required but free from Ticketmaster: HERE. My session: “Does the American economy have a future?”  Sunday 11:00 Rolfe Hall.

Plus ROBERT MEEROPOL talks about the 20th anniversary of the Rosenberg Fund for Children.  He also will report on new info on the Rosenberg case in the new  book Exoneration by Emily and David Alman.  Upcoming RFC events in LA:  Sat. in Santa Monica, 4:30-6:30: contact Henry Slucki 310-556-2529 or hslucki@usc.edu; Sun. 10:15am, “New Revelations in the Rosenberg Case” American Jewish Univ., 15600 Mulholland Dr., Bel-Air.  more info HERE.

Also: politics and photography – DOROTHEA LANGE took the photo called “Migrant Mother,” the iconic image of the Great Depression and the New Deal -0- and a lot of other photos the government censored.  LINDA GORDON will explain – her book Dorothea Lange, a Life Beyond Limits has been nominated for the LA Times Book Prize in biography. Linda’s session at the BookFest is Saturday 12:30pm in Young Hall.  (originally broadcast 11/4/2009)

A Historians’ Lies About Ike: The Nation 4/21

Stephen Ambrose, the best-selling historian who wrote or edited more than a dozen books about Eisenhower as general and president, based his fame in large part on what he said were his interviews with Ike – but now, eight years after Ambrose’s death, an official at the Eisenhower Library in Abeline says the interviews never took place.
Continued at TheNation.com HERE

Orlando Figes, Historian in Trouble: The Nation, 4/20

A prominent British historian has found a new way to get in trouble: Orlando Figes, a historian of Stalin’s Russia at Birkbeck College, London, and a contributor to the New York Review, has admitted that his wife has been publishing hostile comments about rival historians at Amazon.co.uk under a pseudonym.

The practice of using a pseudonym to post denunciations of rivals or critics on the internet is called “using a sock puppet.”   CONTINUED at TheNation.com: HERE.

David Remnick on Obama: KPFK Wed. 4/14

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 From the Center for Obama Studies at KPFK: DAVID REMNICK, editor of The New Yorker, talks about his new book The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama. He’s speaking Thursday at 7:30pm at the Writers Guild Theatre, 135 S. Doheny Dr., Beverly Hills– tickets are $20 at writersblocpresents.com.

Also: KPFK Sports! the Dodgers’ won their home opener yesterday 9-5 against the Arizona Diamondbacks –we’ll speak with MARK KURLANSKY about the Dodgers who started out in Dominican Republic. Mark’s new book is The Eastern Stars: How Baseball Changed the Dominican Town of San Pedro de Macoris. He’ll be at the BookFest at UCLA Sunday April 25 at 1:30 in Young Hall.

Plus: China today has more millionaires, more skyscrapers, and more internet users than any other country. But what happened to Mao? What happened to the Cultural Revolution?  Everything you need to know about China – but were afraid to ask: UCI historian JEFF WASSERSTROM will explain. His new book is China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know.
Jeff will be at the BookFest at UCLA on the China panel Sunday April 25 at noon in Young Hall.