Youth and Radio: Helping the High School Interns at KALW's Crosscurrents

Check out the great work -- the first radio pieces ever -- by Burton High School students created this summer as interns for KALW's Crosscurrents.  I got to spend some days with them, nudging these stories in the right direction.  Lucky me!

http://www.kalw.org/post/paintball-so-good-it-hurts

http://kalw.org/term/leland-house

http://www.kalw.org/post/bay-area-bboys-what-it-takes-stay-top-their-game

http://www.kalw.org/post/young-chinese-american-rethinks-significance-portsmouth-square

Profile: Burgeoning Activist Eduardo Guevara

Aired on The California Report on Wednedsay, July 31, 2013.

http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201307310850/b

The unincorporated community of Mecca, in Riverside County, struggles with a host of environmental problems, from arsenic in the well water to toxic dump sites. For years after moving to Mecca from Mexicali, Mexico, Eduardo Guevarra was not particularly worked up about it. But then his wife was hospitalized for asthma, twice.  Guevarra says his wife's suffering prompted him to get some answers.

Heat Stress and Farm Workers Across California

Aired on The California Report Magazine on July 19, 2013:
http://latinousa.org/2013/07/26/heat-stress/

and on Latino USA on July 26, 2013.
http://latinousa.org/2013/07/26/heat-stress/

We've had some record-setting heat around the state this summer -- it's more than just an annoyance for those who can't take refuge because the outdoors is their office. Recently when temperatures in California soared above 100 for almost three weeks, three farm workers died. State regulators are investigating those deaths to see if employers violated heat illness prevention laws.

The Last Days of Duroville: Farmworker Housing, Mobile Home Parks and the Eastern Coachella Valley

Aired on the California Report Magazine on May 3, 2013.

http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201305031630/d

And on NPR's Latino USA on May 10, 2013.

http://www.futuromediagroup.org/lusa/2013/05/10/last-days-of-duroville/

In the eastern Coachella Valley, an agricultural region east of Palm Springs, the land is rich, but most of the people are not.  Mobile home parks make up a significant amount of housing for the area's workers, and conditions vary widely.  I went down to look into the closing of a notorious park, Duroville, but found it was the tip of the iceberg.

Money Diaries

In the fall of 2012, I got to work with young adults at Game Theory Academy, a non-profit that teaches financial literacy to youth in Oakland.  They recorded their lives, and in collaboration I produced their radio diaries about their relationship with money.  KALW's Crosscurrents aired some of the results. 

Dillon: The Cost of a Breakup:

http://www.kalw.org/post/money-diaries-cost-breakup

Josh: Unemployed and on Food Stamps

http://www.kalw.org/post/money-diaries-unemployed-and-food-stamps-0

Keva: Living at Home While Finishing School

http://www.kalw.org/post/money-diaries-living-home-while-finishing-school

Caelin: Next Year Will Be Better

http://www.kalw.org/post/money-diaries-next-year-will-be-better

Zakiya: Confessions of a Shop-aholic

http://www.kalw.org/post/money-diaries-confessions-shop-aholic

Jabari: When Money Comes at a Cost
http://www.kalw.org/post/money-diaries-when-money-comes-cost

Salinas Hospital Trains Interpreters to Serve Immigrant Population

Aired on The California Report Magazine on February 8, 2013.

http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201302081630/b

and on NPR's Latino USA on February 22, 2013.

http://www.futuromediagroup.org/lusa/2013/02/22/the-languages-of-natividad/

In the Salinas Valley, small farm towns like Soledad and Greenfield dot highway 101. Most farmworkers here are from Mexico, and an increasing number are indigenous people from Oaxaca and other Mexican states. In fact, almost one quarter of all indigenous Mexicans in California live in this region. They speak languages like Mixteco, Zapoteco, and Triqui. If they speak Spanish at all it's as a second language. That can create complex language barriers in work, school, and healthcare.  In Salinas, one hospital is trying to serve them.

From Soldier to Activist

Aired on The California Report Magazine on December 28, 2012.

http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201212281630/b

A lot of us are multitasking these days. But Emily Yates takes it to a new level. The 30-year-old U.C. Berkeley student is also a musician, a writer, a photographer and an activist. All of these parts of her identity developed out of the intense experiences she had after answering a fateful phone call when she was just 19.