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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 the gossip rags. First the news. From NPR News in Washington I'm Lakshmi Singh. The unemployment

rate has dropped slightly to eight point one percent. Not exactly what economists were hoping for because as NPR's Yuki Noguchi explains fewer new jobs were added in April there were fewer jobs added last month a net gain of one hundred fifteen thousand which is well below the 160000 expected but February and March numbers were revised upward by more than 50000 jobs. The data suggest employers front loaded their hiring to earlier in the year because of the warmer weather. Still the slowdown in hiring this spring has economists concerned about a broader economic pullback. The unemployment rate declined not because people got jobs but because the good number stopped looking for work and that couldn't the labor force the percentage of adults working or looking for work is now at its lowest level in three decades. You can agree NPR News Washington. Way off. That's how Republican Mitt Romney is describing the rate of economic recovery campaigning in Pittsburgh today the GOP is presumed to have presidential nominees seized on today's

employment report to try to make his case. This is a sad time in America when people who want work can't find jobs. Romney was scheduled to meet today with former Republican rival Rick Santorum who spent his campaign denouncing Romney as out of touch with conservatives in his bid for re-election. The president campaign in the battleground state of Virginia where he pledged to press Congress on several initiatives to pick up the pace of economic recovery. I'm going to urge Congress as they start going back to work to take some actions on some common sense ideas right now that can accelerate even more job growth in Northern Virginia's Arlington The president also promised to keep certain student loan interest rates from rising. So today as in Catholic priests in Philadelphia will learn their fate today. NPR's Barbara Bradley Hagerty reports the archdiocese has been investigating accusations of sexual abuse. Last year a Philadelphia grand jury issued a scathing report saying that

37 priests had been allowed to stay in ministry after they had been accused of abusing children. Some of the priests had moved or were already out of ministry. But the archdiocese suspended more than two dozen priests while it investigated. Later today Archbishop Charles Chip Pugh will announce a findings in the case of at least some of the priests. Chuck you inherited the controversy last year when he was transferred to Philadelphia from Denver where he is credited with settling with victims and apologizing. Barbara Bradley Hagerty NPR News. At last check on Wall Street Dow Jones Industrial Average down 160 points more than 1 percent at thirteen thousand forty six. Nasdaq off nearly 2 percent at twenty nine sixty five and the S&P 500 down one and a half percent at thirteen seventy one. This is NPR News. Good afternoon from the WGBH radio newsroom in Boston I'm Christina Quinn with local stories we're following. Authorities say a woman has been found stabbed to death in her Burlington home and they're looking for her companion. Officers responded to a home at about 6:45 p.m. on Thursday for a

report of a stabbing. The victim 38 year old Kristen police Yana was pronounced dead at the scene. An arrest warrant for 39 year old Christopher Pierre to do as he was issued today he lived at the same address and is thought to be driving a brown Honda Civic with Massachusetts license plate 581 and C 8. Police consider him armed and dangerous. The search for Kelly and Harrison the missing toddler who disappeared from a Rock Port Beach last month will resume today. The Boston Globe reports that state and Rockport police are planning to check an area near Saratoga creek where a private citizens dog reacted strongly to something in a very specific area of the beach Thursday afternoon. Police were at the site on Thursday but were hampered by high tide. Today search will take place at low tide expected around 4:00 p.m. according to state police. One of the Vermont towns hardest hit during last summer's flood is looking for financial backers for a number of recovery projects. Vermont Public Radio reports the projects under consideration in Waterbury include a new municipal complex and Art Center affordable housing expanded recreational opportunities and energy efficiency projects. The producer of a

new Adam Sandler movie says he won't be filming in Marblehead after all. According to The Daily Item Barry Bernardi says he's withdrawing his request to film at the high school football field because too many people objected. The town would have received one hundred twenty five thousand dollars and it's game three of the playoff series tonight between the Celtics and the Atlanta Hawks the series is tied at one game apiece and the Baltimore Orioles are in town to play the Red Sox Jon Lester on the mound night and way engine as the starting pitcher for the Orioles. The weather forecast for this afternoon is a damp and cloudy one with a chance of showers throughout the rest of the day and highs in the upper 50s. Right now it's 54 degrees in Boston 60 in wester and 56 in Providence. Support for NPR comes from James and Nikki Grant in appreciation of NPR's coverage of global events. The time is 1 0 6. Good afternoon I'm Kelly Crossley This is the Kelly Crossley Show. Today we're hitting the rewind button on the week's local news with a look at the stories that went under the radar. I'm joined by Howard Manley the executive editor of the Bay State Banner and Marcella Garcia

managing editor of Elle. Welcome back. Thank you kindly. Hey thanks. I'm starting with you Marcella this is certainly one that was underneath my radar a sit in by a gentleman Geraldo Geraldo Ortiz protesting his foreclosure and he had this is just a really interesting story because I mean he done everything right. Same exactly. Yeah I mean we know that all this practice is by by Wall Street banks of predatory lending and targeting blacks and Latinos disproportionately But this case like you say is particularly it's different because he yes he house went on foreclosure. He's facing eviction right now so basically chase this is the bank that he was protesting against owner of his mortgage or his house now he's facing eviction but he is appealing his case to chase by he went out and talked and this is the only office by the way of Chase bank mortgages here in the area in Cambridge.

I didn't even know there was an office correct. So. The thing is that he got approved for another loan to rebuy or buy the house again from Chase Bank and Chase told him we're not interested in this offer. So he is like how is this. He's just he has no other options that he's going to lose his house. He has the money to buy to buy from the bank probably you know obviously with he needs to pay a lot. Who knows but the bank is not interested. What is Chase Bank going to do with this house. So anyhow he went and protested again more than a hundred people because he situation and he's not the only one. At least there's three people or three families in the same case and he's from him in Birmingham and out of the earth he's in there's another Latino from Lynn and then there's another family from Brockton. They're on the same circumstance and so they they got together they went and protested and they did because obviously they wouldn't they wouldn't see them when they got to chase bank. So they

decided to just sit in and not leave until they got a response from Chase. The police was called and they they got it he got arrested along with an organizer from the this group that is working with you know with people affected by Finland United for Change correct. And and so that's why he got arrested. Now since the protest and probably because of the pressure that the protest caused Chase bank has agreed to review his case. He hasn't gotten a positive response yet but I guess it's it's it's a good outcome so far the fact that at least Chase is going to see his case now and at least you know hoping for a good for the conclusion but then again it's it's important to know that he in the story he was really trying to convey the message you need to protest and you need to say I'm not afraid. You need to tell me or you need to help me. And and he was very adamant that or rather to try to transmit this message to other people that might be in the same situation and

how it is a lot of people in the same thing. Well it's a lot of people the situation you talk about stories that have sort of fallen off the main radar. This foreclosure and mortgage crisis that almost bankrupted the country five years ago six years ago. And you still have these sort of. Collateral folks trying to do the right thing trying to buy the house back and go through all the proper channels and you would try to think what's in the interest of the banks not to deal with this on a case by case basis I mean the public relations value along you know while there are some cases that may not be salvageable in these cases it would seem to me that it would be in the bank's interest to try to help folks. Given what I mean you look at the approval ratings of the president look at approval ratings for Congress I guarantee they don't even take over banks anymore. So this will be a good thing. It's a fair thing and it just creates a little bit better atmosphere between banks and the public. When you talk about public relations as well the Chase Bank has been on the record I think that there was a story late last month an executive publicly admitting that

Chase Bank was actively targeting Latinos and blacks or minorities for soft prime mortgages which is was which was which we know was what caused the the crisis. And they even had a name for they were the ghetto mortgages I think so it's just in everybody's best interest to help these cases and and I think that the part that got me is that he had followed up. You know there are several of these programs to try to allow people to adjust and adapt the payments he had done that he had from the bank itself a plan that they had approved and yet they wouldn't go through with it. Right I mean this is this is the kind of story that just can make you crazy right. Even you right. Before that's probably yes he negotiated with the bank before the foreclosure and they re-evaluated his payments and he only got a reduction of $12 you know monthly payments and for a family because I think this case is really heartbreaking because the mother in the family lost her job and so it's like all of these things in the mix. You

say How can these happenings happening you know at least these three people. My get chase to review the case hopefully with a good outcome. Well I think it does say that some of these as this foreclosure crisis is falling off the radar in general for a lot of people it's important to see the face of it for some people like this. Arad Ortiz So we'll wait to see what happens in the end. It looks like Chase is going to hear him at least so. All right. In the in the Bay State Banner How are the on going work with the Ferdinand building so the task force is hearing some projects and deciding what what may happen in that area. Well we know that it's going to be a mess for the next two or three years any construction project particularly a major one just creates all sorts. Inconveniences the folks but it's for the good of the whole and I hope everybody remembers that for the next three or four years when the entire block. And for those who have been it doubly Square. Just

imagine Kenmore Square all dug up with new buildings going around and the main road all the way down to say manual college. You've got a new sewer lines going and you have new bus transportation routes which means the side roads are going to have to be improved. All of this is going on at the same time. And so the community is going to be inconvenienced. Parking is going to be a nightmare. Traffic is going to be a nightmare let alone school buses that go through there. Not to mention the small business owners and and the debt streams that have to get to different jobs over there. But at the end it'll be worth it. Yeah yeah. Do you know where a dust mask Oh yeah. One of the things that I know because this is been an ongoing issue for a lot of people is and I know that community groups are staying on top of this is really being said and whenever these meetings are held the voices of people who want to move move into that retail

space it's going to be created that are heard. So I see that some of them are speaking up about wanting to be in that building. I can say in terms of development and openness and transparency I mean so far this project has been very very transparent letting people know when meetings are coming up. What specifically they're talking about. And it's from top to bottom just not just for the residents around there but also for people who want to have a place in the new construction. Those small business owners that want to stay in the area they've been very very at least it appears to me that it's been transparent the applications are coming in and everybody's going to seem to get a fair shot and I think that is a testament to Menino. I can tell you that much but you know not only that not only they're making sure that these voices are heard the community the business community but also that you guys are covering this and you are keeping a close eye on reporting what's happening because I don't see anywhere else in the news you don't see that.

This is we do it almost every week and it's a good point because and and if you can't make the meetings for whatever reason they have active websites that they will take comments and all that sort of stuff so it's a huge huge issues I mean this is doubly square in the furniture that has been around talked about improving for the last 30 years and it's finally happening. And we don't want to let that go away without. Yeah and it's not a sexy topic of course but yeah OK you can at this point it's not six yet right. Yeah yeah. So now does that mean anything your piece pointed out that they had yet to hire an asset manager I didn't realize that that's the person who manages the retail space. So I suppose that's the person who will filter all the requests exact is that should we take that to mean something right now that that person has yet to be hired No I don't think so there's so many steps before I mean you're still talking 2014 before you can actually get a store in there so. But that process is going on so I'm sure they and there's got to be even though the job is not filled. There's got to be places and someone to talk with about those sorts of issues before there's a final

point on that one. OK well there is a June 14th task force meeting and the issue totally is retail so they'll be there it will get a chance to hear some say here all the folks maybe or a good number of them who are interested in moving into that space and I'm I'm very interested in Cali Howard barbeques. Yeah that would be Cali. OK. Moving on this is a huge piece Marcello talking about this hundreds of Boston area Latino and Brazilian workers who are to get 1.3 million and back and overtime pay because of this bogus company. Yeah it's insane and it's this is another story that's been I guess when the Department of Labor concluded the investigation and sent out a press release informing of course it made the news of that day because you're talking about 34 Boston area restaurants and mind you these are some of the restaurants and we all know not your average Joe's around a record across who you're seeing on the news. Right.

For these allegations specifically. But but the shocking payout is what's really news it's 1.3 million going to four hundred seventy eight employees and again the majority are Latinos Hispanics or Brazilians. Now we also included in the process of investigating these fees. We found out about other investigations going on because. This thing happens all the time and we know that that this population because largely its own document is subject to the exploitation and really you find cases of people working 50 60 hours a week making no more than 500 600. And these are people who work in the kitchens of every Boston area restaurant. So we were just I guess what we wanted to do was show our audience which again is this people that work how the law works and what the process is to to demand payment and what you need to do. The other thing is that this is the part of labor investigation. It's just an order

for this restaurants to pay back. 1.3 million doesn't mean that it's already been paid because they have to identify those 478 employees. Some of them may not even be working at the same place. Some of them are probably on document they're working under a different name with a different social security. And that's where this company the apparel company that all these restaurants are blaming operational management group which is disappeared. Exactly right. So obviously the restaurants. Saying it was not our fault it's their fault because they all contracted this same payroll company to issue the checks to their employees. And so who knows who the culprit is ultimately the rest of us are going to get fined because it is ultimately their responsibility. And again it still remains to be seen how many of these people are actually going to receive the money back. It is a big thing that they have a rule 1.3 million to go back to them but hopefully Ill get to them all of it.

Well you know that that 1.3 million to the 470 employees is probably just a drop in the bucket. It was really actually. Oh and shame on the restaurant owners for just engaging in practice that you then turn around go to get you know I mean it's just cheap labor Yeah yeah yeah let me just say that at least what I think the miracle of science people said listen we engaged the company to pay correctly so you know it's not that we were avoiding trying to pay. We thought they were paying and operational management group ran off with you know the money that's owed to these people. I think the other thing to make clear is that even though that you have said that there are some number of people working in the kitchens that are undocumented a lot of people are not. All right. I just happen to be right you know growing Latino workforce and you know there are people walking around without the money that's over them and over time. Yeah and that's it I mean they think you know what their rights are. They don't know that the law is on their side and they can get their stuff that they can do to

protect themselves. Well the headline is pretty good. If they don't pay saying something right. So people need to know that they're not you know getting their their money to do this. Some of the other restaurants that we mentioned have not commented but I did mention that you know medical science would say look you know we this is what we're trying to do here. So this is something that I imagine may be going on in other cities as well. Oh OK. It's very interesting a lot of money. Oh yeah yeah yeah. Some of these restaurants have yeah it's outside the greater Boston area like not your average Joe's has locations all over Massachusetts right trauma such as this. So yeah. So Not Your Average Jones by the way also said they were victims of operational management group I want to be clear about that it was they who sat in on medical science people those other people have not come in right. Well you know I have a comment. Yeah there was a very good group hasn't been charged with anything. Well the disappeared never you.

Charged by the Department of Labor of dollars a day for each day to be able to cooperate. But if you disappear what does that mean I mean nothing you know. Yeah you're just absconded with not only the workers money but also Ronnie that's owed to the restaurants I mean oh it just goes on and on. Yeah there's a lady that owns the three Cambridge restaurant science partners you know the ones that say that they don't have any comment. All right well that was a huge piece you know one that's really quite eye opening and more ahead I'm Kelly Crossley and we're taking a ground level look at this week's local community news with Howard Manley of the Bay State Banner and Marcella Garcia. You're listening to WGBH Boston Public Radio. Funding for our programs comes from you.

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4:00 and here I'm going to 9.7 WGBH. I'm Brian MacRae from WGBH as classical Mandarin. Normally I think of summer as kind of a drag. So how would you like to escape to the clean crisp air of the Swiss Alps for six days of great food sightseeing and incredible live classical music with plenty of time left over for shopping or just relaxing. Then join us for a classical New England learning tour through the Swiss Alps August 25th through September 2nd. Space is limited and time is running out. Each year you secure your spot at WGBH dot org slash learning tours Celtic music best enjoyed with friends. Join me on Saturdays at 3 with the camp Anita 9.6 and WGBH. I'm Cally Crossley and this is the Cali Crossley Show. If you're just tuning in we're looking at the week's local news zeroing in on the stories that went under the radar. Joining me to

talk between the local headlines are Howard Manley the executive editor of the Bay State Banner and Marcella Garcia the managing editor of. So Howard Autozone pays a settlement for religious discrimination. This might be a precedent down the way. Oh this is a good story about a guy who stood up for his religious rights at a time when if you're Middle Eastern or perceived to be anything that in this particular case Mahoney Burroughs's unusual last name. Had fought in the military for the U.S. military and then he comes back and he becomes a Sikh. And so he got a little part time job at the Auto Zone the popular place where you get all your spark plugs and all that stuff and he's wearing his religious garb is I guess a turban and some necklace and that violated according to the Auto Zone bracelet the dress

code of the place which is you know out of collar shirt. And if you wear a head it's a baseball cap or something. Yeah right. So he doesn't want to do that and make a long story short he sues and ultimately wins. And part of the reason is that auto zone enabled his direct supervisors and other coworkers to just call him. Just the balance of things. On a regular basis and so he was not given a fair hearing on that level I mean the options were either you take your turban off or you go home and it's not like we can have a discussion about this how does this work out. And then the demands their auto zone was make and when they got well you proved to me that that's your religion and you are to dress what are we talking about here. So like I say the it ends up in court. He's awarded $75000 and an apology and Autozone employees have to go through training now sort of just power into 2012. I mean it's just

it never ceases to amaze me how ridiculous it could become at the workplace. Would people have the same rights as everyone else the freedom of religion. So let me just give one of the quotes that he articulated in court he said he was asked by. People around him including some of his managers. Have you joined al Qaeda. Are you going to blow up the store. You see this guy and you know that was as you can imagine very uncomfortable and it was also disrespectful and he was just to be clear he's doing the work. You know he has a bracelet and a turban and that's the only doesn't interfere with ones like war. And people think they probably think of it as a joke but it's so insensitive and not only that but on his son's request of providing document written documentation of his religious believes it's the fact they have to ask is just mind blowing. But hopefully it will set a precedent. Like you were saying earlier and for people who don't know about the Sikh religion religion

just to be clear for folks. Gentlemen wear the turban because they leave their hair uncut so it's wrapped and it's underneath the turban so it's you know a neat appearance afterwards and it's part of their tradition and they wear a something called a cara bracelet in about 20 million people in the U.S. practiced this religion so people have a sense of. And by the way it's the fifth largest religion worldwide. So yeah there you have it. And he just said that the lesson from his case is to stand up for yourself. Right well I think so yeah I mean it's it's America. All right. You're about to crush us. Marcello. I just have no words for this. You know around this time every year you've mentioned to us that we are celebrating a funny holiday or we have the wrong understanding about it. But Cinco de mio is coming up. It's tomorrow. It's huge it's certainly huge for the beer industry. There's all kinds of mariachi bands as we speak. Tuning up right now. Right now. And yet here is this huge piece about the background and the culture and the

history of Cinco de Milo and we learn that it's just kind of an American holiday. It's not exactly how they see this thing about I think my age has actually become my thing I guess maybe years. But I guess a Mexican is a new immigrant Mexican immigrant. I would always be amazed why simply in my it's not a holiday you know only one state celebrates that it's you know people go to work. Kids go to school nothing happens so the link as to why here in the United States was celebrated with such a good story and you know beers and obviously all the holidays that are subject to commercialization that you're going to have everything around that but still there was no Lincoln for the longest time. The explanation was that probably the Chicano movement in the 60s and 70s in California and Texas is where the US has had chow as they sort of like took the David versus Goliath narrative the battle that

this holiday actually represents or celebrates rather honors. It's a battle that happened even between the Mexican army against the French army. So the main way right way back when so actually this year is the 150th anniversary of the battle. So there was this missing connection and now. A new book has sort of like clear this link and it apparently dates back to the civil the Civil War era here where there were Latino Central Americans living here or moving here for the gold rush situation that happened so they they they heard about the news of the Battle of Puebla and then they started celebrating it during Civil War. It's just about for all history buffs out there it's really an interesting book and really explains a lot. But it just shows how the meaning of the holiday was changing from era to era until what we have now is like nobody no. Yeah. So at

least it's I guess what he has become is just a symbol or. A lot of people think it's the independence it's not but it's just a symbol of Mexican things I think you know I got to say this is written it's an Associated Press story written by a guy who has a sort of hostility for yeah very great grab in the name of that book says it all and it's written by David Hayes. But the stuff about you know he's a professor at UCLA and it's going to be an American tradition. You're underneath all of that is the great great history of Latinos in the civil war here in America and how they were on the union side and how they fought the French in this battle with Napoleon the third. It's just great great history that I did know so sicko did my I'm a fan of because it has opened my eyes to Mexican history right. Even you know it was for the wrong reasons.

And you can have a beer as well. OK. Les and I did not come or let you go. Well you know there are there I mean what's interesting about it is there are all these you know sort of cultural events happening doesn't necessarily speak to whatever happened you know one good example our favorite city councilor Tito Jackson he has this week in Chicago. How much OK. OK that's where we are already. Ok I am from a cultural standpoint and historical standpoint you know Howard you may relate to this. I wrote when I read this and was so shocked about how this was made up and when the people here finally in America got the word and then started celebrating it reminds me a little bit of Juneteenth where emancipation happened years earlier but the slaves in Texas didn't get the word until years later. So when they got it it was June and so that's it's now so I didn't know you right you know yes I think they were right about this exactly

right. You know this reminds me of that a little bit yeah that hurt that I didn't know about you and I always wonder why I don't throw what I now you know do this. You're listening to eighty nine point seven WGBH an online of WGBH Oregon Cali Crossley and we're talking local news this hour a lot of it went under the radar with Howard Manley of the Bay State Banner and Marcella Garcia of El plenty all right. HOWARD This brings me to this report that the Monroe Trotter Institute has I guess Commission about Governor Patrick just very interesting. The report essentially says that he contrary to what many people some of his critics have said actively represented black interests now you have to explain why. But black interests are and now that is true. Well yeah. Well you know that's one of the good things and this works in a number of different ways that's what sort of a fascinating study and I'm glad that the Trotter Institute commissioned it. We have Ken Cooper the editor of the Trotter Institute magazine and so he wrote this sort of

synopsis of it. What ultimately is that you know when you have any ethnic candidate who becomes governor in this particular case the concern on some side is whether he's going to be more focused on his group as opposed to the whole. And from within his group will be this thing will how much has he done really. So this report sort of. His hires his legislative acts where money has gone and come and so in all balance he's he stood up for what would be considered black rights in terms of affirmative action in terms of Cory re reform or reform. He's done those things and he's done it in a way that's made it not just an ethnic issue but a universal issue. So he's sort of one of the complaints about Governor Patrick was that he was going to racialize issues here in the state and he hasn't really done that he's he's made more hires than any other government governor for folks in his

administration that have been black. He's got money for like a hundred million dollars to improve the bus line through parts of Roxbury and Dorchester. He's gotten money for health centers and Afro-American museum all at the same time that this is good for the state. So there will always be complaints that he's doing too much and too less. But I think this is a very very good at least starting point for discussion about his. His legacy is governor of the state. I note this quote from Robbie Perry who was a politico is a political science at Clark University who did the research looking at you know all of these initiatives and going over the programs he says universalizing the interest of blacks is not a d racialized approach which you know for a lot of people they say in the group as you put it Howard felt as though he wasn't paying attention and I turned to you Marcella for comment because one of my favorite McDonald's that I go to you know have a

coffee. Yeah I've observed the conversation over several days with a group of black and Latino men who were really hard on the governor and all Latino legislate whores. They're like they're not doing anything for me that's not the word they used. But it was interesting to me is it listening to the conversation about how they felt that their interests were not being represented right and that it goes back to the question or the topic of representation you have to remember there's only three elected state representatives there are Latino just one senator Senator Sonia Chang DIA so not to justify them or anything but how much can they do if they are to represent the whole Latino community here. And to the point that Governor Patrick to his credit he has hired a lot more Latinos in his administration. But then you also have bills or things that he has and really you can argue that he has been

really taking a hard look at it which is the in-state tuition bill number one and driver's license for of course those are very thorny issues because they're going to run the topic of immigration but even this week or last week for the first time he was ever on the record with the harshest. Language against the Arizona immigration bill anti immigrant law that's being debated in the Supreme Court. He was at a speech in a top university and he made the blow but so you know obviously everybody was impressed by his harsh language but so I guess I can relate to that sentiment because that is the sentiment among the you know the Latino community. And again it may be because of other reasons it's not just immigration or. Or the fact that there's only three state reps or just one that you know Senator because then there's the black and Latino caucus in the Congress and that's just for Latino ZOG called I don't know if you've been he's the governor is one I think is an amazing statistic that Cooper wrote about which is the 70 pieces of legislation that Patrick introduced

15 serves specifically black answers. Of those only three passed and one of them finance. Affordable housing and was the other. And another one was to prevent home foreclosures so those bills do affect Latinos and blacks and anybody and everybody knows to run it's a good thing. And so a lot of folks will say no well you know then you probe a little deeper it's always well I apply for this job now to get it and it's right there for you know you're there. They're pretty they're Yes right. But this is why a study like this right interest right here I wish it was done over for the Latino community. Well there is something for the guest in this job. Well we're going to take a deeper look at this next week with Robbie Parry. Oh good I'm going to tune into the Kelly crisis show next week to hear exactly how he came up with the stats and some of the information we've been talking local news with Howard Manley executive editor of the Bay State Banner and Marcella Garcia managing editor of Elle Panetta thanks.

Thank you all right all right. Oh yeah oh yeah. Are they you know OK from love ok like we turn to the latest pop culture. You're listening to that Kelly Crossley Show on eighty five point seven WGBH. WGBH programs exist because of you and Greenberg Traurig an international law firm with offices in Boston and more than 30 other cities worldwide addressing the

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will conduct a review with the help of some. Brow analysts our 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 head over to noon. Ashton could your family Mr. Demi Moore is now in a lot of trouble for an ad an online ad featuring him. Well supposedly looking for love it's a dating parody plays several characters but there is one that got him in trouble here's a sample of what got Ashton Kutcher in a lot of heat. I'm brother should I move Bollywood producer I'm looking for the most delicious the good the planet Cardassian you know what I would give the dog a bone. This is always going to go on this but I want it. So there was Ashton Kutcher and he is now as people may know the

star of Two And A Half Men. And this is a pop chips ad a dating parody. And he's supposed to be portraying a South Asian man not funny to a lot of people. Rachel no not not not that funny I guess this is what phenomenon people have been talking about lately ironic hipster racism which some people are just calling racism. And so you know what was the main thing it shows I think is just the absolute the the weight of history. You cannot you cannot put on you know a black face or brown face and have it just be a neutral kind of way to be funny in American culture. You just can't. Just to be clear Ashton Kutcher is in brown face portraying a South Asian entity and put on makeup put on makeup. It's quite distinctive. And he you heard the accent. And so he's supposed to be you know it's supposed to be funny. That raises this raises the specter of minstrelsy when you're always standing just off stage right.

TOM Well people are saying and I don't buy this for a second. It's so bad that's why people are attacking him. That's not it at all it's just offensive from the get go this is one of these moments where you just slap your forehead and say What Were They Thinking. And it's interesting I was reading something from the Bloomberg Business Review criticizing Popchips for taking on Aston Kutcher who has a history of making bad decisions like this for advertising as their social media spokes person to thinking that this clever guy is going to be their link to you know quote youth culture unquote. And just how wrong headed he is and if you look at the arc of his career I mean never mind Mr. Demi Moore. This is not somebody I would want representing anything other than to you know excite controversy and that's what he's done. Well I was going to say that it would have been the intention I mean you know would we have had a series of these recently put out the offensive ad apologize pull it back after a lot of attention has been paid. Most recently the Belvedere Vodka rape looking one but you know there's been a

series of these. We talked about Mary J Blige as fright fried chicken and. Right. And we should say that this is. He plays for characters this was one of the characters the other ones. He's a he's a stoner. And then he's a tattooed southerner you know I suppose I suppose that's what I represent also this is I'm a Southerner that doesn't represent me. But OK. And on and on and there was a quote from a spokesperson for Popchips that said that this they were hoping that the company from the company that people could enjoy this in the spirit that it was intended as quote unquote. A lot of people don't think so. Now speaking of Ashton Kutcher on the show that he's currently on which is two and a Half Men as you know he replaced Charlie Sheen. He didn't replace Charlie Sheen's character over they created a different character and put him into the show. Well it's kind of funny because since Charlie Sheen left in a bad way if they ever want to reference the Charlie Sheen character they have to do something inventive and so they have so they hired Kathy Bates to be the spirit of

Charlie who was Charlie Sheen's character was killed off the show. And he appears to his brother who is still on the show with Ashton Kutcher. I have to say I looked at it and I thought it was pretty funny. What did you think. I think it's genius. I also think that it's deliberate revenge on the part of the producer who you know Charlie Sheen spent a lot of time attacking during his meltdown. But the idea to me it's inspired Kathy Bates who is such a brilliant actress and also represents the antithesis of everything that Charlie Sheen's character represents in his you know his demeaning attitude towards women and his demeaning attitude towards humanity. But to have her as this you know and also letting us know she's from hell he's in hell burning squatting on the coals where many of us you know think that character deserves to be anyway. But it's also interesting the way that this has been. Protected you know it's what you have to watch the show they've they've really kept a tight lid on what she's saying and what she's doing and I see that we see photographs in there some quotations and some people are saying it's not enough to save the show which is you

know what we just don't talk about Ashton Kutcher I mean I think that's what has brought the show down but I think this is a beautiful poetic justice. What do you think it is. Well I don't know it's either that or it's the producers of the show saying oh my gosh we shouldn't fire that guy we need his character how can we bring him back. You know I could see either way I like to think of it as Kathy Bates you know who has done this before taking you know just any crappy part. And you know saying I can make something of this sort of the way that you know jazz musicians used to take any piece of schlocky popular music and you know became almost a point of pride we can render this you know into something artistically valuable. Oh I think it would. They would be smart to make a recurring character if they can get her I mean she's hard to get so there you have it. And speaking of recurring characters the next James Bond movie is on its way out 23rd edition but this one's going to have a little twist because you can't remember let's get in the spirit here and there there.

The little. Area down there is James Bond Daniel Craig who has taken over the character in the last three films in this new one they're even They're going to hype up more. The dark side of the character appears. I didn't actually know this that when Ian Fleming wrote it the character always was very conflicted he wasn't just smooth and never had a problem. But now they're bringing up some of this as a part of the character development and I actually think that's a great idea Tom. Well I think it's interesting also in the context of all the 60s retro action we're getting from Mad Men that here is a real character from the 60s still going strong being. Well as you mentioned and they've gone back to the source they claim giving him some angst giving him some reticence about what he's doing. This in combination with the fact that he's also going to be swilling beer represents for many people.

Unfortunately my demographic a real betrayal of a James Bond this is the only movie that middle age men flock to apparently And apparently they're very upset that he's not going to be exclusively swelling his shaken not stirred vodka martinis. But this doubt about himself is also something I don't think people want to hear. They don't we don't want James Bond to have second thoughts. Think of a couple. Well I wonder if the Never Say Never Again in which Sean Connery had to go on a diet because he had high cholesterol. But you know Connery was capable of laughing at himself. Daniel Craig takes this very seriously. So this this is a I have a 21st century James Bond which is really taking in a new direction. Rachel what do you think. Well they've begun this new direction I mean the last movie he was really somewhat of a thug you know he couldn't watch that when he had to go to see that. Well there you go but I mean that seems more appropriate you know you're right he's doing awful things he should be conflicted. It's not surprising that the character needs to be reworked because the map has been reworked. You know this is James Bond in a post-Soviet era.

This is James Bond in a post you know. One would hope someone in the post you know women's liberation movement and so I think that he absolutely has to be re would be written and you know the letter being less attractive as part of that than the name of the movie is Skyfall by the way and he's going to have some like back and forth with him played by Judi Dench who is just my favorite favorite character in it so that that'll be worth going to see I'd be interested to see how that plays out. Hopefully she's not drinking a beer. And speaking of iconic franchises that get a redo. Here's a musical that gets an unlikely event. Maybe we. Should. Well I just think this is fabulous. The producers have figured out how to make an autism friendly performance of this show. The cast and members of

the cast and crew work with some experts in autism. They have autism experts on site and they bring in all these kids and show them put on a show that doesn't upset them. But I think it's wonderful. It also is indicative of the incredibly the exponentially growing sophistication of Broadway marketing. This is a great thing. I don't want to take anything away from reaching out to people to autism but it also shows that there I mean last week I was complaining that Barbra Streisand loves Broadway but this is something that life entertainment has that nothing else can. Yet I'm sure the technology will be catching up within months. But the show can be shaped and the audience can be shaped so that the live experience can fit the audience. Well that's interesting and I thought of that. This is something that I think we're going to see other variations on this I mean there are already people go to see show you know the Rocky Horror Picture Show and now they used to go to. The film versions of Sound of Music with captions.

Now they see live versions this way I think we're going to see more and more of this where the audience specialisation in the theater with a live performance will become the norm. And in fact this is the second time they've done it. They reduced all of the stimuli that upsets kids who have autism and we should mention that one in eight kids now diagnosed with autism. Rachel and also that it's OK for them to react to it so that I don't think that is really key right. It's OK for them to react and this does show an increased awareness of autism but it also shows us how culturally determined expectations for audience behavior are. And they seem like internal to us they seem natural but actually they're quite recent and they're quite fragile and limited. And you know have everything to do with saying you know keeping everyone in their place and saying who is supposed to be what you're supposed to wear you know who's welcome and who's not. Well I'll tell you everybody's who's in place with a book that has just gone through the roof with sales and that would be 50 shades of grey and

all of the sequences to that it's written by E.L. James who is a British television executive turned author. And some call it mommy porn. But we're not going to play the porn part but here is an excerpt. For people unfamiliar with E.L. James this is from the audio book 50 Shades of Grey. Book 1 I close my eyes and take a deep purifying breath. Trying to recover what's left of my equilibrium. No man has ever affected me the way Christian Grey has and I cannot fathom why is it his looks his civility wealth power. I don't understand my irrational reaction. I breathe an enormous sigh of relief. What in heaven's name was that all about. OK I would've gotten somebody a little sultry or but ok. Yeah that's what I do. Yeah I reckon I did I'm a generous you've got

your shot everyday here. Make fun of this novel and also the whole way of reading and it's absolutely hysterical. Also it's worth looking at the clips on line from The View where Barbara Walters leads the discussion as to what is attracting people and if it got will be Goldberg inspired again her reaction to Barbara Walters in a black leather jacket discussing domination is priceless. Rachel it's funny I mean you said that this is quite a you were quite accurate travels under the name mommy porn. And I think that the really the part of that to focus on isn't the porn part but the mommy part. More in a certain moment of cultural fixation on you know we have mommy blogs and mommy you know gun celebrity mommy photographs and politicians eager to show that they are mothers and so forth and in the New York Times has dubbed this the new mom ism. So I don't think that this is definitely sort of part of saying what a mom is. And it's quite quite a change from the original quote unquote mom

ism which was so the much more traditional vision of a mother dominating her children and making them grow up to fit you know social norms. But also it's interesting that the characters this time in this novel are not moms they're you know 20 somethings and it's going to three volumes now and it's an intern. It started as an Internet phenomenon. Now it's in hardcover and soft cover it's going to be filmed. And for people just interested in this is to take off from Twilight. So fanfic Yeah fanfiction the author just took it out of the paranormal and you know pumped up the characters and put into whips and chains on them and there you go later with you know took it out of the you know this sort of public domain right she sort of commercialized fan fiction. Oh there you go. Well. Again. Our. Man. On.

The. Right that's Titanic and that's Celine Dion in what is now an iconic song. And that's because an Australian billionaire is going to create another Titanic ship building one luxury almost to the exact measurements but of course with all modern technology and he can afford to do it. So he says Yeah I think it is not the first time a billionaire has said this there have been if you look there's a Wikipedia entry called replica of the Titanic. You know they announce are going to do it and they cancel the plans. But the interesting thing is that the Titanic was so noteworthy in its moment because it was bigger than any ship had been. Right now that's not really going to build the Titanic now and it's going to be little by you know compared to what we're used to so they might need to name it something else. Well that's because it's luxury is small I think now. Oh yeah and it also avoids a thousand fewer passengers but also below the waterline it will not be a replica below the waterline it will have modern technology it won't be a triple

screw you know steamship. And I think that will prevent a lot of Titanic a few you know toes from sailing on really. Also I think there are people who want to go on it and count the lifeboats and if there are enough lifeboats they'll get off. Well it won't be ready for it until 2016 so we'll figure out and it's going to make the same trek by the way from England to New York just like the original one so yeah maybe you're going to have to change the name Titanic. Small but more like curious. Well to most readers today is May 4th but if you're a fan of Luke Skywalker. This is a very special moment and that's because today is Star Wars day so we're going to go out on Star Wars written by Boston's own brilliant John Williams. And by the way on May 25th It's the 30th anniversary of it. But before we go I want to thank both of you. Tom Connelly and you Rachel Rubin for another edition of Time. MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU. Thank you so much. You can keep whatever the Kelly Crossley Show at WGBH dot org slash Kelly

Crossley follow us on Twitter I've become a fan of the Calla Crossley Show on Facebook. Today she was interviewed by Alan Madis produced by Chelsea Merz will Rose live and Abbey Ruzicka the Crossley Show is a production of WGBH Boston Public Radio.