WGBH Radio; The Callie Crossley Show

I'm Cally Crossley This is the Cali Crossley Show. Today we're hitting the rewind button on this week's news from the great lady's front pages to the stories on the small screen. And the reporting that went under the radar. It's a hyper local look at the news that was and wasn't. We'll be dropping in on online communities and alternative presses. For a look at the big stories from the small papers where today's neighborhood news becomes tomorrow's mainstream headlines. Well top of the hour venturing from the serious to the sublimely ridiculous with Greg time on tour of the tabloids and a roundup of this week's pop culture. Up next on the callee Crossley Show from gumshoe reporting to the gossip rags. First the news. From NPR News in Washington I'm Louise Schiavone. There was job creation in

September but the nation's unemployment rate remains unchanged. As NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports the jobs picture is far from rosy. One hundred three thousand net new jobs is a good sign for September. Better still because it turned out July and August added nearly 100000 more new jobs than previously reported. That means that rather than stopping and starting the economy has actually been adding jobs consistently in the past several months. On the other hand the number of long term unemployed people and the number of people working part time but looking for more work jumped last month. The number of people who've been looking for work for more than six months increased to six point two million. Yuki Noguchi NPR News Washington. The head of the National Economic Council says there's not enough good economic news for Congress to reject President Obama's jobs bill. Gene Sperling we're obviously pleased that the job numbers were better than expected. But let's be clear they're not nearly strong enough for us to be

successfully climbing out of the worst financial recession since the Great Depression. Sperling says without the measures outlined in the president's nearly 450 billion dollar bill the economy faces the possibility of stalling or having a downturn Mexican Marines have found thirty two more bodies in the Gulf Coast city of Vera Cruz. There were 35 corpses were dumped in the street two weeks ago and PR is Jason Beaubien has details. Mexican marines and police discovered the bodies in three houses in Vera Cruz. A spokesman for the Mexican navy says the killings appear to be the work of a new group that the that the killers those that those are one of the most brutal and most powerful criminal gangs in Mexico in messages posted on the Internet that the killers recently vowed to exterminate the rival cartel. Last month that the killers claimed responsibility for dumping 35 bodies on a busy roadway in Vera Cruz at rush hour. Officials say most of the dead in that massacre were convicted criminals and some had links to the.

After uncovering the new batch of bodies the Mexican marines arrested eight alleged members of the set to killers and 12 members of the set does themselves. Jason Beaubien NPR News Mexico City. The Obama Justice Department has filed a challenge in federal appeals court in Atlanta to block and force most of Alabama's new immigration law. The administration argues the new law is highly likely to expose people who are illegally in the country and colluding schoolchildren to new difficulties. The Alabama law allows authorities to question people suspected of being in the country illegally and hold them without bond and it lets officials check the immigration status of students in public schools. On Wall Street the Dow was down 52 at eleven thousand seventy seven. This is NPR. The protests continue in Washington's Freedom Plaza with demonstrators uniting around two issues the economy and the war in Afghanistan. As

NPR's Jackie Northam reports it was 10 years ago today that the U.S. invaded Afghanistan a few weeks after the 9/11 attacks. U.S. Special Forces with the help of Afghan militia spearheaded the invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to flush out Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. Later the U.S. and NATO began rebuilding the country training Afghanistan's security forces and fighting militants. Last year the number of American troops well to about 100000. But now the international effort in Afghanistan is winding down. That may have to do with the numbers. Eighteen hundred Americans killed more than 13000 wounded. The cost one hundred twenty billion dollars a year. Still there's no letup in the violence no headway in peace negotiations. The U.S. is expected to pull its last combat troops out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014. Jackie Northam NPR News Washington. Thirty four Muslim shuttle drivers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport have been suspended from their jobs it hurts for preying on company time. Hertz

says that under settlement reached two years ago with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission the drivers are required to clock out about three quarters of the hurt shuttle drivers are Muslims strictly observant Muslims pray five times a day. The New York Yankees are out of contention for the American League championship series that starts Saturday in Texas. It'll be the Detroit Tigers against the Rangers. I'm Louise Schiavone NPR News Washington. Support for NPR comes from IBM working to help mid-sized businesses become the engines of a Smarter Planet. Learn more at IBM dot com slash engines. Good afternoon I'm Kalee Grassley. Today we're hitting the rewind button on the week's news with a look at the stories that went under the radar today on our agenda. Protests in the street. Not the ones you may have heard about. And also Rhode Island approves in-state tuition for

undocumented students. I'm joined by Howard Manley the executive editor of Bay State Manor and Marcella Garcia managing editor of El Plata. Welcome back you two. Thanks for having us. OK Howard let's start with you. The banner has a huge story and I have to say I don't know where I was. I did not know about this. A thousand people in Dorchester protesting and some of them with a direct target Bank of America and of course the raising of the fees there. Yeah this is a. This sort of underscores is just international outrage over corporate greed. Bank of America particularly has taken a number of hits across the country for that policy that they're going to charge folks with only amounts to 60 bucks a year but if you get three million customers and you can see some accountant say hey here's a source of revenue we can do this and it's your money because the dentist. Well that's the thing that really makes it so you will go to the street. And the other issue is this whole foreclosure issue which in Dorchester particularly there are some

banks Deutschland Bank in particular that have not failed to compromise has failed to negotiate with folks who want to pay their mortgages have been paying their mortgage but they want to get adjusted rates and all that sort of stuff so there's a lot of frustration and across the country in particular in Dorchester where all these foreclosures hit particularly hard. Bank of America's got major major problems across the country. And they're occupying this Fowler street triple decker and they say they're not moving as a as a physical protest too. People who are about to lose their homes to foreclosure I just want to point out that more than 1000 people turned out for this rally and they're not leaving and they're going to keep going when they want. One of the things that is on the table is to sell than these houses have been foreclosed upon to non-profits who have a lot of money to pay this bill and then they would sort of ride it back to turn it into affordable housing and all that stuff just gets

lost in the cracks. And so people are taking to the streets they're upset about this. And politicians have been ineffective in sort of dealing with this problem. And I want to just make it clear that this is a whole different set of folk in the streets protesting than the people down on the Greenway. And what Occupy Boston so that is actually that you know that little bit right because didn't this march these people the people that started in Dorchester they marched on last Friday actually a week ago prior to this Occupy bus and it is kind of part of it you know Occupy Boston is obviously you know the larger picture kind of movement but he really comes from the same grass roots in Caracas yeah go back and have this love organize and then just protest and everything right now just no one has any money. They're not getting their issues resolved. And so they have no other alternative in their mind then to go to street and make their presence known. It's kind of remarkable because you can make a parallel for example what happened or would still happening in

Spain when when the youth took to the streets and it's basically the same type of movement or the same method of saying you know we're outraged you guys you need to do something. It's a testament I guess to to how you think of people without a job or people facing foreclosure actually taking it up to themselves and say listen to us and again the proof is right there Occupy Boston has been there for a week and the movement is gaining steam. Occupy Wall Street is also gaining a lot of steam and it's spreading to other cities Occupy Miami Occupy San Francisco. So it's very interesting to be very interesting to see how this develops in the next couple months. Spain is still having that movement in Chile the students also took it to the streets to protest some hikes and you know the rights were being created so it's kind of interesting to see the larger larger picture of what will happen in a global scale. It is not just Spain it's Greece it's right and it's all these places. And again the

sort of common theme at least in my mind is how government is picking these non-issues to spend a lot of time with which they don't solve either. And then the folks on the ground the people who just want to work educate their kids are suffering. And they have no redress and it's affecting everyone like Bank of America for example the FEC the bank is doing it now I got a letter the other day saying or notifying me of now my my the fee that I pay monthly is going up to whatever 30 dollars or something if I don't. So everyone is doing it and I feel the outrage too. And this is a direct result of their failure to manage money at the beginning of this financial crisis. And I believe in check cashing places. Yeah well I think a lot of people are moving to smaller banks or grand as a way to do their protests. I will say this and this is a comment I've made just looking you know on the outside obviously for Occupy Boston feels to be feels to me to be a lot of young people whereas this protest down in Dorchester feels like there was a

mix from young people and families and older people which is I think is important because people are characterizing the folks down in Occupy Boston as being sort of disaffected youth and you know maybe not with a purpose just in a sit down on the green way. And when you talk about other groups that were fueling this moment that movement if it is a movement at this point it's important to note that there are that there is a wide spectrum of ages and interests. Yeah yeah. Directly affected by it that underscores the importance of a you say quote unquote movement. Yeah and just for the record there are 12 houses in various stages of foreclosure on Fowler's Street which is where the demonstrators are so we'll be keeping an eye on that to see what happens and I'll be interested to see if the bank has any response to them. All right let's move on to Rhode Island and to a story that you have Marcella. This is something that's come up a lot actually in the most recently in the in the presidential

debates on the GOP side that's about in-state tuition for undocumented students. We're talking about kids who were brought here by parents they didn't bring themselves and they've managed to make it through high school. And the question is whether or not they should be eligible for in-state tuition in Texas Rick Perry got into a lot of trouble by saying that's what we do and we believe that's what should happen here in Rhode Island. The governor is on record for saying he would like to have the General Assembly vote on it. But before that the State Higher Education Board has voted unanimously to say this is exactly what they're going to allow to happen. Yeah this is actually the only state currently there are 12 states including now Rhode Island that have passed this this sort of benefit to undocumented students the other 11 states did it through legislation. And this is the only state that. I kind of went around to the legislature the state legislator and enact it on your own in-state tuition. The governor supports that

measure by all means and again it's a 12 state and it's an issue that here in Massachusetts has been very very controversial as well. It has failed to pass twice. Actually the first time that it was present it was vetoed by then Governor Mitt Romney. And the second time that it was attempted it was failed. So a lot of people say that this institution it's like a a light version of what would be the DREAM Act is the federal legislation which we support. Right. And in again this is all at the state level but I think the more states realize that it makes sense to enact this the more it will be easier I guess to pass the Dream which is ultimately what we or what undocumented immigrants or activist want because then the other thing about in-state tuition is that yeah you have a college degree but after you graduate you cannot do anything because you can get a job because your own document. So you might be able to go to a state university paying a reasonable or an affordable

rate. But once you graduate there's no way to get a job because you're still undocumented the DREAM Act would make it so that you would there's a path to citizenship. I think that is. Let me just let me just let people know the difference. So in-state undergraduate tuition at the University of Rhode Island is nine thousand eight hundred twenty four dollars for out of state students it's twenty five thousand nine hundred. So that's a huge difference it makes a difference about whether their ability and it should be also stated that even with the passage of this does not mean that these undocumented students have access to federal aid they do not correct they have to raise the money themselves. You were saying Yeah well there's a lot of different levels to this and as a parent of three kids in college a college tuition is killing America and these kids who come out if they graduate not only can they not find a job there's a legal citizens as well the illegal folks they're saddled with this just enormous debt that they have no way of paying back so that's on one side of the other side is again we've said there's a

lot of times over the years or so that comprehensive immigration reform. At some point the politicians in the state and federal level are going to have to sort of scratch their heads and come up with some kind of plan to have this stick and carrot approach if you will. There should be some path to citizenship for folks who are hard work and want to come to America have come to America and want to do well. And they're not criminals. And so this in-state tuition bill I think is a great thing for folks to get college educated because you can't compete. Without it you just can't. In Rhode Island actually this issue has when they when this was passed or approved by the Higher Education Committee there were a lot of protests against this because the people against people in Rhode Island against this measure. They use the argument that this actually motivates illegal behavior or rewards illegal behavior but that's not such a fake argument because

anything that that gives an easier path to college should be promoted. So anyone like Howard said this has a lot of levels but now there's 12 states in the country that offer in-state tuition. Of course Texas you were saying Cali. Rick Perry brought it into the national context because he supported in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants back in he helped pass this legislation and now he's going to like backtrack and say well what happened in Texas doesn't necessarily mean that it's good for every state. He's trying to get that out but in the GOP he's being criticized because of this and as you know seeing a soft on illegal immigration. So it's going to getting more interesting and yeah I think to Howard's point which is one he's made a lot of the states are moving on to do to take take up the rights initiatives. Right. I mean we've just heard that President Obama is about to protest what Alabama put into place as being too harsh and immigration. Met

measure so. But here's the thing. We know nothing's going to happen before the election grow there's no political will for at least another 13 months for anybody to do anything comprehensive or even to talk about it. Meanwhile the states are battleground so-called Right yeah and yeah. Case in point the ice debate we're developing very communities right. As makes the right Bird good point which is that they already are sharing information with. If you're arrested that information goes into the big database and the FBI looks at all that that's already happening. But there are some civil rights questions that should be answered by that. And the federal government going to put that in place anyway. So here's another little brushfire in the state of Massachusetts. And I don't know what they're doing in California about I don't you just don't know and so this is where you need instead of this patchwork you need some sort of compromise. But you're right it's going to be OK and I'm going to write. Well we've got a we have much more to talk about on the other side of the break. I'm Kelly Crossley and we're taking a hyper local look at this week's news with Howard Manley of the Bay State Banner and Marcella Garcia of El plan that

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We're running out of oxygen. I have so many people that I can trade the world. I mean it's not an easy decision for anyone to make. Coming up at 3:00 o'clock on an eighty nine point seven WGBH Boston NPR station for news and culture. I'm Cally Crossley If you're just tuning in we're looking at the week's news. Joining me to talk between the hyper local headlines are Howard Manley the executive editor of the Bay State Banner and Marcella Garcia the managing editor of Elle plain neta. So Howard there's an interesting analysis by Ken Cooper in your piece looking back at the district three preliminary election which had seven candidates this is Dorchester and huge district and it got down to two. John O'Toole who was endorsed by Maureen Feeney the outgoing incumbent. And also Kevin Baker who both of whom are long time Dorchester residents

what what they call around here OFDM rich. I really felt. Yes and Ken Cooper makes the point that this was a missed opportunity talk to us about this district very well for it's a preliminary election and it was not a lot of attention there was a lot of sort of fireworks around this political race. Well on this show it was but continue. And so the turnout was very very low. But the point that Cooper was making is that in all this sort of talk now about redistricting and minority elected officials that here in District 3 in Dorchester one the most diverse districts in the Commonwealth that has 55 percent minorities registered to vote to white candidates emerge as the two finalists. And it's not that they didn't have any black candidates they did come out. I think Stephanie Everett and Mary. But between them they only got 8 percent of the vote. So there's a combination of things here one you have this

big voting bloc that could be galvanized. But you also have to have the right candidate. And in this particular case Frank banker Frank Baker has it given him so yeah I think yes. Again 32 percent but Jonell tool is interesting because he's the father of the daughter that filed suit against Boston Latin and in their affirmative action program on diversity and so here you have a guy saying on one hand yes this is a diverse program this is a tool this is a diverse district. We believe in diversity everybody wants the same thing but you have this actual suit that filed in it was I forget the exact settlement but they can still boast of that and can still use race as an admissions factor. So it's you know what do you what do you say you have 55 percent of the vote and you get what you vote for. So that's I don't think that there's any question about the numbers on that one. And it's just again it was an opportunity. To have someone

and they did and District 2 were to send Lee in Chinatown. She was able to get the Chinatown boat in the south to be in a runoff against Bill Lenahan And again the race was November 8 so we'll see how it all shakes I think it's a challenge to get a diverse diverse population involved in a race like this but it's up to the challenge. Because this you've got to get them involved. But you have to have the cooperation of a lot of difference is the media. And I you know I blame the media which I'm part of because you really have to to to to make it a goal to get people involved. This race hasn't been covered. You know like you say you were one of the few local media outlets that spent and I you know I can say that I didn't spend enough time covering this even though part of my me and my audience lives there was an average as we did either. Right and you know I think we need to spend more time trying to understand this population.

They're Latino but you know who are the you know the Dominican of the program. This is on my this is my point of view but also the community organizations that work in that area. They need to have voting registrations drives voter registration programs or some sort of electoral initiative that gets them involved and gets them to believe that they need to vote. These people need to get educated in other wars. And again the media needs or bear some responsibility on that. It all the wise this is going to keep happening. You know the fact that not enough people that live there aren't registered to vote. Again it's a fault of the media we don't do a good job covering what it means to have somebody in a minority being elected. Chinatown did go with Stanley because they actually spent time educating voters there and making them aware of what this would mean to have somebody representing the actual neighborhood somebody from that neighborhood or even somebody that understands the needs of his neighbor I'm

not saying that this this to focus to white folks when it's just doesn't make any sense. Well there's a couple things to note. First as a result of Maureen Feeney stepping down as she did so voluntarily she had been in the post a city council for 18 years that means that there are only two women on the city council So there's one less now. So that may be a disappointment to some people. As we talked about when we looked at this district and talk to the candidates who the seven candidates who were running Dorchester and its environs are really several mini neighborhoods actually that this is not like one here. I mean it is one huge thing geographically but inside it go through and go from being a lot of different that's it and I think it just makes it and so to find a unifying thread to galvanize folks behind a candidacy. And you have to hit the issue that everybody is talking about. One of them is the home foreclosure issue. I mean that is driving folks as Cooper points out the

story. Health is a huge issue in that area but it doesn't have the same sort of sex appeal as so 60 people show up to a conference maybe three to four black folks car. So there. Is there a disconnect between what the everyday person believes that politicians can solve for them and that is sort of the disappointing part is that somehow state government city government is not providing those solutions is not providing that. So why would I want to write for you because it doesn't really make a difference. And so you know obviously you want people to be engaged civically but there's a good argument to say that nothing really gets solved. So you're going to see I think the turnout will be a little bit higher in the November 8th because you have some at large races which will be very very you have Yana Pressley the last you know yeah or pat downs and she's running against three other guys four other guys that like Bill for my

clarity is coming back into the race so we don't know how that's going to go but you can't wait until November 8th to get it all together so I was driving to Grove all the other day and I see Tito Jackson who is the district I mean District 7 7 city councilor Felix Arroyo who's running at large and Ayanna Presley doing a stand out. And so the politician you know standing outside talking and talking to folks you know in that rush hour and right and doing her thing. So they're taking it very seriously that they don't want to get behind the eight ball on this one so they're being pro active on this but. It turned out to be a hard one. Well it just goes to show that you know the change of power is does not come easily and people do have to be engaged to even understand what all the issues are so we'll be keeping an eye on that for sure. It's a very fascinating race to us we thought it's a great way your show is one of the great districts in the state right. Just because you have such a huge diversity right. Right.

And Frank Baker was pretty honest he said hey I got me and my I think is eight or nine brothers. We do a lot of people you know go secular you know a lot of people. OK so there you go. That's what we love. All right. Marcello I want to talk about this story which is very interesting and you know we're going to have to you know it's layered. Essentially you have some undocumented immigrants who have been ripped off. Right bottom line here and it's a local story that I I know nobody's talking about. So tell us what happened. Right. He's Boston has a lot of our listeners and as all of you know you know by a brand immigrant community there's a lot of Colombians a lot of Central Americans and it's been increasingly Latino for the past you know you've seen the growth there. There's a lot of Latino businesses. We came to.

We were we came aware of this situation happening there there was a money transfer agency operating in East Boston that was basically you know committing fraud or basically stealing people's money all of the alleged victims are undocumented and what would happen is that you would go and do a money transfer and the money would never get there. So after we got a few calls from people affected in again this is not the story that because of the amount of people involved or the amount of money being robbed that would generate interest from the mainstream press or whatever but for us it was very important to the exhibitor you know to to to tell the story of the undocumented people for them. It was a lot of money. That was the main victim or the main person that we quoted in the story said and almost $3000 to her sister to the sister in Colombia and the money never got there. So we started scratching the surface and a lot of other victims surface. No none of them wanted to be

interviewed. Most much less go to the police and file a police report which this original guy did the guy that was robbed of almost $3000 and that's how the ball started rolling. What happened was the woman in charge of this agency in is also was just not doing the the money transfers. After we covered the story and again it was very clear to us what we wanted to convey to our audience is that this cannot happen to you just because you're on documented they're very easily victimized only because they're vulnerable you know they're afraid and people for whatever reason are want to make any assumptions on this one but they just feel like they can prey on them and you know this thing happened for almost a month until he came out and say this is not right he went to the police file a police report started talking to the state authorities the division of banks for example is the authority that issues money transfer licenses and so they say he started pressuring and then we covered the story to my

reporter was also talking to them to the division of banks and they did realize that there was a a fair amount of people involved in this scam or or alleged scam. And ultimately the company that this woman or this business used to send you think about as the like a Western Union type of company because all these agencies use a larger It's almost like a bank they used to send the actual money they got involved as a company based in Miami huge company that does business all over the country and they started refunding money to some of the victims. Now they have so far they have refunded $9000 to a lot of victims and again you know it's $200 here $400 there but the woman actually pocketed this all this money there's a police report on new no charges have been filed. So I know her yeah she is and then you know she's on the run like nobody has heard of that of her. So she just left. She just left the money the the agency I'm sorry looks abandoned in the

estate issued ceased and this cease and desist order which just means that you have to close the business but there again no charges have been filed. But this is people that actually lost their money. The our main victim the $3000 guy he got his money refunded the week after we published the story you know just going siding with that so it's sad. I'm curious to know what kind of response you get because you know you're going to get people right away saying well he's here illegally. So you know. You're kidding. Yeah right that's what I'm put on table so you can and you're playing the devil's advocate answer the question yeah you know here regardless of the condition he is here working he's a construction worker actually. And when you think about the fact that he's undocumented here is irrelevant because there was a crime committed against him he's not committing any crime he just well some would say he already committed the crime. But see it as though it's a civil violation or did I say I

know I don't know how but I don't know what how to jump in whether the thing that remarkable about the thousands of immigrants that come to America illegally or not is that they make it a point every week to send a little bit of change back home and I know I go to the butterfly cafe and it's Somalia run. And that little 40 bucks that they send back to Somalia means the world is the reason why folks come here in the first place so that they can better their families back in their home countries and one of the things that is implicit in that is that this trust that I can go to this bank teller place they don't care whether you're illegal or not. It's all money. Cash all this. So she's not asking if you're legal and that she's just taking the money and send it back to them. I mean he sent it back to his sister three grand is a lot of money it's a lot of money. He's being paid. US employer that is you know hiring his services let's not go there.

So exactly you know the bottom line is that somebody stole the money right period right here and and this is a license business a business that apparently had been doing has been doing business in East Boston for a while and she was a trusted person in the community. And all these stories started surfacing on the radio Spanish language radio in Boston and then they called those some of the victims in there like I think you need to take a look at this. This is happening it's not fair it's not right. She needs to answer so again that we started investigating it and we're like you know this is this is legitimate. So do you think there are any other people doing this or is this is one who you think knows you cannot be sure because again undocumented are vulnerable and people feel that they can play on that fear of coming out and saying this happened to me. And you can say that about any type of domestic violence for example. So it's a big one. So I would be very surprised if it is happening.

Yeah it is. Quickly before we run out of time here is a big grant that community colleges here in Massachusetts. And you reported on in the Bay State Banner How are you all community college I forget the exact amount. Was it 20 million dollars in total. Do job retraining for folks who are at the community colleges at Roxbury Community College for example. There are they will be retraining folks to get into health field jobs. And what that means is that when say English may be a second language when you're doing your English lessons it will be in the context of the health field so you will learn English you also learn to sort of this trade and it will make you more attractive as a potential employee. This is the kind of thing that the federal government is needed to do. They have to do it in order to keep these jobs from going overseas. And the more training that you can get folks given that the college expense rate is so high. Yeah. Who's going to do the work.

And so these folks have to be trained the community colleges across the state are well-positioned to deal with those folks who don't have a lot of money to go to the big time colleges but do want to go to school and find active employment so this is a problem that the federal government is helping on. And this is a good thing and it should be applauded. And let me know that Western Community College submitted the proposal on behalf of all 15 of them. Yeah. So they all tell everybody yeah yeah which is going to get it. Yes Marcello at last know I was going to say this is money that's actually going back to the community because people are getting trained in fields where rocks we has a great need of health education health initiatives so it's money that's actually going going to go back to to the community a community in need. And overall across the country people are looking for retraining for those kinds of particular people from industries that you know there are no there's no work anymore. Is that the newspaper industry. All right on that note.

We have been talking with Howard Manley executive editor of the Bay State Banner and Marcella Garcia managing editor of Mehta. Thank you both for joining us. It's a scale. Thank you. Up next we take a turn from the serious to the sublimely ridiculous with ragtime. We'll be back after this break stay tuned to eighty nine point seven. WGBH. This program is on WGBH thanks to you.

And Fenway Alliance presenting opening our doors 2011 Monday October 10th the 10th annual day of free cultural experiences for the entire family. You can find more information online at Fenway culture dot org. A day of culture beyond compare. And accord of the museum and Sculpture Park WGBH is proud to be the media sponsor of the new exhibit. Andy Goldsworthy snow now through December 11th. You can learn more online at de Cordova dot org. And WGBH 44 which next week becomes the English Channel with all your favorite dramas from across the pond in one convenient place. It's the English Channel Monday through Wednesday at 8:00 on WGBH 44. Next time on the world. Afghanistan seeks a modern court system to replace traditional justice that can victimize women. It's called. They know it's spelled b a a d bad is a tribal practice in which a family atone for a crime with a gift not money or livestock but women and girls. Afghanistan tries to replace bad with something better. Next time on the world. Coming up at

3:00 here on eighty nine point seven WGBH. There are lots of ways to. Join the program and you might find yourself tour of Brighton studios helping out it's us answering the pledge. Volunteer. In Boston who is now the park manager at the Cape Cod Canal bicycles horses an off road vehicle. Local issues local talk Boston Public Radio. It's rag time. A look at popular culture the salacious the ridiculous and everything in between. But this being public radio we'll

conduct our review with the help of some highbrow analysts are pointy head of pop culture Thomas Connelly and Rachel Reuben Thomas Connelly is a professor in the Department of English at Suffolk University and Rachel Reuben is the chair of the department of American studies at UMass Boston. Welcome you to knowing Alec. Well of course the biggest news reverberating around the world not just in the United States is the death of Steve Jobs at 56 the former CEO of Apple but in this space we talk about popular culture so our conversation really is about the impact that he and all of the products that he helped bring to fruition had on popular culture. And I thought I would kick off our discussion with a clip from Steven Kull called Bear which I think once you get to Stephen's house you've made a mark in pop culture So here's Steven Kull there talking about the i-Pad to one of the Apple products that is most popular.

I got the new i pad too. I. Actually got it on day one the first chance I've had to talk about it look at so much then a look at Skinner you know I pad once then are OK I can check my email I can tweet. I can see my photos and everything my iPad did but this one is new. OK. Plus it has a camera has a camera here one is very low. They go for I don't know when the i-Pad 3 is coming very steep. What do you think Rachel about Steve Jobs and the impact on popular chrome if you're absolutely you know it really did it change the way we listen to music but I would say three words particularly important and those would be remakes re circulation and recontextualize ation. So you have everything you know in its constituent elements you know being being circulated around a new context on the Internet on

your shuffle iPod and so forth. So this whole idea of context is something very malleable. Steve Jobs. You know for pop culture you really really with Apple accomplished an important thing and that is making computing see beautiful to people. So you know computers of course. He didn't invent them but they were these sort of beige boxes with you know utilitarian purpose. And he was able to make people feel inspired about the computer. You know I try to think of an equivalent and I came up with was Harley Davidson where there's like the company can have its ups and downs but there's an important myth those that that speaks to some people. And I have a test for how things how important things are in popular culture and that is are people getting it tattooed on their bodies. And you know I did a quick look online and there are so many people getting apples and Apple logos and various you know various things about graphic images from Apple being tattooed on their bodies not Microsoft but Apple. So I think that says something there.

You know to Rachel's point about he didn't invent this stuff but he gave he adapted it like yeah yeah yeah. That's why they're carrying him to Henry Ford I'm in for did not invent the automobile but he made driving what it is today. Well I was thinking a lot about how people who have Apple products and when Mac came out you know you're Mac or are you PC. But it's gone way beyond that now and you know the fact that people are getting the Apple logo tattooed on them. I mean can you imagine somebody proud of IBM on their body you know but it really shows you the culture that's man created around his products I mean it's really it really is a way of life but even people who I mean I have an iPod. I don't have an Apple computer. But it you know what's a record album you know. What is a CD Why do you even need these things anymore. The other thing I have to mention is Pixar. Yeah. He's the real I didn't realize you know how extensively he was such a driving force behind Toy Story which is a cultural phenomenon on its own but it also sums up the joy of

living that he made so such an important part of his message and I'm sure we've all heard extensive excerpts from the now legendary speech he gave at Stanford where he outlines his life. And I think this is also part of the sort of the continuity of his role in popular culture the. Guru slash entrepreneur the hard knock life I mean he really he has all the classic Horatio Alger elements in his life that people can comfortably latch on to and I think that's another reason why people are getting Apple tattoo the apple his apple tattooed on their bodies and I have to say that I think that the underpinning of the success he loved pop culture so that was one of the reasons that made him able to take a company like Pixar when it was nothing and turn it into this giant thing with an impact across all movies that use computer animation. I mean it's amazing because he was into it and making these devices part of our lives rather than part of our work because ideally as he says in his speech you know you have to love your

work love your life at all it really it should all be about loving and what it means kind to me that is a little horrifying though I have to say that you know that this is one of the thing about these tools and loving then means is that you're sort of never off duty. You know and you're three if you're a little business you railed if they give you this device at work you know you don't have to pay for it on your own but it means you're tethered to work you know. Yeah well this is your workstation home is all the same now now. From that sort of joyous story even in death is one that's kind of interesting to me the Muppets have made it their business to introduce a loop issues and particularly social issues into both the format of the show and also through character's save. You have any number of characters to raise certain issues and give kids a chance to really talk about it with their parents and others whom they may know. So they're doing it again this Sunday they have a special and it's featuring a character who is hungry. They call it food insecure but that's what it means.

So let's listen to a clip from Sesame Street's Hope Against Hunger. And it features a new puppet. But this is also Elmo and Lily and I didn't know there were so many people. On the phone. When you don't even know whether you're going to your next meal or not. Let me carry on I. Guess. Well because sometimes I go with my family to the food pantry. That was Lily the pink new pink muppet. We don't know she's coming back again but at least for this special Her name's Lily and that's she's talking about. Been Hungry. Thomas pretty heavy for its mystery it is. I know it's appropriate and I'm glad they're doing it but I will. I mean you had to explain what food insecurity is when I read the headline I thought it was going to be a treatment of anorexia or bulimia which I also think they should should they should deal with. So I'm worried a little I've read a lot about this with comments and it's people pro and con

outraged in favor of it. But a lot of people aren't too happy with this term food insecurity which has been around for a while. But net net Be that as it may. The dialogue with Elmo indicates the level at which this is being approached and it is I believe the right level for children and their parents. With out you know it's not a machete effect it's not a hammer. But on the other it is pretty it is pretty stern which I am and that's I'm a little bit surprised because human summerise Sesame Street handles something it's a little bit softer but. So I think they make up for the food insecurity with the directness of the dialogue which is what ultimately matters what you think Rachel. I'm extremely happy with this approach because you know there is no way to talk really about any aspect of child children's wellness without talking about poverty. You know there is no point in my opinion talking about obesity without addressing poverty. There is no point addressing you know exercise without addressing

poverty or diabetes or asthma all of these things we talk about that are extremely pressing you know when it comes to childhood wellness have the same thing at their root. And so for Sesame Street to take it on this way makes me really happy. I also think about the little kids who would you know be the right age to be watching that. And I think they have something perfect that they a framework they have to understand this that kids can bring and I hope their parents will take note of. I'm imagining lots of little 4 year olds you know watching this and saying but that's not fair. Right and that's what they say. And that's incredibly profound and it's not it's not fair you don't really need to go that much further than that. They also have a subtle sharing undercurrent in the story because it's some point Cookie Monster shares his cookies with Lily who is hungry so I'll be interested to see their response. I think it's very brave of them and I hope that it's a continuing character actually. All right. So here is a theme song that I think a lot of

people may recognize 23 seasons of and here we go. That's been 23 seasons of The Simpsons. One of the Fox channels very very popular series. But it might not be on air soon because the producers of it wanted the actors the voice actors to take a 45 percent pay cut and up and the and the actors are pushing back and they're at a stalemate now there was a deadline set today where the producer said You better tell us by noon or otherwise we're taking the show off the air. There's a lot at stake here. Rachel is not just the show. The new season of shows but it's also the syndicated shows. Yes absolutely there's a lot of money and the question is if this money is being made off the show whose hands disappear long in you know at the same time it's very interesting to see press that you know this kind of pressing for concessions for wage cuts is reaching as far as

television and Hollywood. And I just the main thing I want to say is to me it's just again it speaks. It's one of life's like profound moments that this is taken up with what is probably the most prominent show about a working class family. And now this question of you know wage cuts is being is is defining the fate of this working class family that everybody knows. So I sort of hope that's what people will see in this moment. It's also evidence of the mechanization or industrial model completely overwhelming the arts. The argument is made by your voice actors it's just your voices you're not really the characters. But who looks at any of those images without immediately associating the voices. And there's also no indication that this show is suddenly losing money it doesn't have as many viewers as it had in the past but it's still a hugely profitable entity. So this is just you know naked greed on the part of Fox

thinking that you know they can hedge their bets and you know more power to the actors. Apparently some of the actors are saying I'm willing to let them cut my salary not just by 45 percent but by more than 70 percent. But all I ask in return is that I be allowed a small share of the eventual profits. And there are huge profits at stake here and syndication is more than being a first run show really. Yes you know the syndication is hugely important and there's all kinds of cross marketed products that you know you hear to and this is a long struggle that actors have had over syndication rights and so forth I mean the idea that you don't own it just because you're not performing it today is absurd. Well we'll find out what happens here and you know believe me I think a lot other production come to look at this quite closely. Oh yeah. This is Day to do so. Colombian singer she Cura we may remember her or some may during the World Cup she was but I had the hope one of the opening songs along with another singer as well there were two actually official songs of the World Cup

soccer tournament. She's also a very popular singer she's now been named by the Obama administration to a panel that will talk about and deal with education issues. That may sound like a far reach but actually she's been quite active in education issues on her own establishing some schools and doing some other things. Let's let people hear her. Perhaps most recognizable song this is the two thousand six hit hips don't lie. Baby when you talk. To women the man. Will be with. You. Thank you. To my buddy. Rich from. The tax cuts. All right so she has on her own established and founded the Barefoot Foundation in 1905. It funds schools in her native Colombia. When you think about this appointment. Well anybody who really knows the range of secularist career knows that

she is a magnificently eloquent spokesperson for all sorts of causes primarily education she has always been in the forefront of this. I thought this was a great move by President Obama and I was delighted that she accepted the appointment and I can only imagine that this is going to do wonderful things for raising awareness. What I've been disturbed by is the. Well ignorance of the people making comments who know nothing about her background know nothing about the breadth of her background and have no idea how articulate she is I mean she was at Harvard last year was a very inspiring speaker and this also to me shows you know I'm glad to see President Obama loosening up a little bit and reaching out beyond you know Wall Street or you know the Harvard board of overseers for some advice. I think that she Cura is a fascinating choice because you know being besides being Colombian She's also a Lebanese-American. And so if you think about it a

certain way he's picked as this figure this hopefully will turn out to be inspirational figure somebody who combines the anxieties of the 80s where people were first talking about the so-called browning of America with the anxieties of post-September 11th with could you know with Dick you're saying publicly that she wants to learn Arabic for family reasons and so forth. So in that way I think it could be really great. There's two ways in which cultural figures have can get sort of incorporated into an administration like that on the policy side of things the you know the example is you back to the book reveals you know who has his job just a miraculous things. But then on the inspirational side you know and I definitely think that she her background shows and her you know her is her subject position shows that she could be very important there not to be a tiny cynical note. If she's appointed officially to the President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics we do know that's a base that President Obama is looking to shore up. Well so I do have to you have to say that if that is the way they were.

Behaving just like to some other thing when it right but as I mentioned she's not only Hispanic she really is the I'm the. That's true physical literal embodiment of diversity. That's true and you know without self-consciousness I mean she just is. Which is why she was a good representative at the World Cup and soccer World Cup I mean everybody knew that. All right well that's reg time for this week and I appreciate your thoughts on the matter as always because we have a lot to say and we remind people that this this weekend is a Sesame Street special feature with the new character of Lily. So Professor Rachel Reuben Professor Thomas Conley thank you for joining us for another edition of ragtime and we're going to go out on strike here is 2006 hit hit hips don't lie you can keep on top of the Calla Crossley Show WGBH dot org slash Cal across Lee follow us on Twitter. Or become a fan of the Calla Crossley Show on Facebook today show was engineered by Allen Madison produced by Chelsea Mirza will rose up and have a Ruzicka the callee cross the show is a production of WGBH radio.

Gladys you know I wish it would be easier to use abusable tracks to go through but misused his middle name we both. Like him. To. Hear your. Comments. Yes. I guess. That's OK. Oh.