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 round up 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 saying the soldier accused of slaughtering 16 Afghan men women and children in two villages nearly a week ago

is on his way back to the U.S. He's expected to be taken to Fort Leavenworth Kansas but the staff sergeant whose identity has not been released has yet to be charged. His attorney John Henry Browne told NBC that he thinks politics may enter into this case. I think there will be an effort to try to paint him as a rogue soldier rather than a focus on how we're treating our GEOS in general and whether we should be over there to begin with. A soldier a married father of two served three tours of duty in Iraq before he was deployed to Afghanistan. Warning that he is at the end of the rope over civilian deaths and injuries Afghan President Hamid Karzai accuse the U.S. of not sharing information about how the American soldier allegedly carried out the attack. Karzai has demanded that all NATO's troops pull out of rural villages. Well the White House says President Obama telephoned Karzai and that both leaders agree to talk further about the Afghan leaders demand. Turkey is urging all of its citizens in Syria to

leave the country and says it will hold consular services at its Damascus embassy next week. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports from Istanbul for now the Turkish embassy will remain open. The statement from Turkey's foreign ministry said the developments in Syria pose security risks to Turkish citizens in Syria and strongly urge them to return home. The statement added that consular services at the Turkish embassy in Damascus will cease on March 22nd. Turkey also has a consulate in the northern city of Aleppo which will remain open. For Persian Gulf States announced the closure of their Syrian embassies Oman Kuwait the United Arab Emirates and Qatar followed the lead of Bahrain in Saudi Arabia in withdrawing their diplomatic missions. Peter Kenyon NPR News Istanbul. Gas prices rose sharply rose steeply in February according to the latest government report on consumer prices. NPR's Annie Baxter tells us the jump in fuel costs was the main driver of inflation last month. The Consumer Price Index rose point four percent in February. That was the largest gain in ten months.

The Labor Department says most of the increase was due to higher prices at the pump over the last 12 months. Inflation has risen about 2.9 percent but the core inflation rate which strips out volatile food and gas prices grew at a much milder two point two percent rate. Mark Vitner is a senior economist with Wells Fargo. He says on the whole inflation does not appear to be a big problem. I think that the bottom line is from nothing to fear from the numbers in February Bittner notes that food prices were unchanged last month but will eventually reflect rising fuel prices. Annie Baxter NPR News. At last check the Dow was down two points at thirteen thousand two hundred fifty Nasdaq up slightly at 30 55. This is NPR News. Good afternoon from the WGBH radio newsroom in Boston I'm Christina Quinn with local stories we're following. Former Massachusetts House speaker Salvatore GMAC told a visitor at his temporary prison in Rhode Island that he testified for five hours before a federal grand jury that's investigating the hiring scandal in the state probation department. But The Boston Globe reports that

Macy insisted he did not provide significant information that prosecutors could use against current or former legislators anxiety levels reportedly spiked on Beacon Hill when it was revealed that the mazy had been brought here from a prison in Kentucky to testify about the probation scandal. An arbitrator has found no negligence by a Dartmouth nursing home in a lawsuit brought by the family of a 100 year old woman who prosecutors say was killed by her 98 year old roommate. A lawyer for Elizabeth Barry's family tells The Standard-Times he plans to appeal. A document from the Salem witch trials has sold for twenty six thousand dollars at auction and undisclosed buyer purchased the original court indictment of Margaret Scott Ereli widow who was hanged in 69 to auction officials tell the Salem News it was the first original document from the witch trials offered at auction in decades. In Maine there is a move to do away with the state's presidential caucuses and replace them with primaries according to Maine today media Republican Senate president Kevin Ray wants to change the state law to allow the press to allow a presidential primary one week after New

Hampshire's first in the nation primary in 2016 and a nonprofit group in Vermont helping with flood recovery in Wilmington has brought a flood damaged historic building downtown. Vermont Public Radio reports the Wilmington Fund wants to rejuvenate the local economy by renovating damaged buildings such as the Parmalee and how building in sports the Red Sox play Minnesota in an exhibition game in Fort Myers tonight and the Celtics are in Sacramento to play the Kings showers in the forecast for the afternoon and isolated thunderstorms in the forecast later on today with highs in the lower 50s. Right now it's 42 in Boston 41 in Wister and 43 in Providence. Support for NPR comes from the Poetry Foundation celebrating 100 years of Poetry magazine online at Poetry Foundation dot org. The time is one of six and this is WGBH. Good afternoon I'm Cally Crossley. This is the Cali Crossley Show. Today we're hitting the rewind button on the week's 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 Pletka. Welcome back you two and happy Friday. Thank you Have a Good Friday despite the weather yeah. Let's start with you Howard you got a piece about a bill which I'm telling you this is really under the radar which raises the mandatory school attendance age to 18. It's a good good thing I think. And I think Senator Sonia thought it was a great idea as well and what this is is a way to sort of act as a group or agency or mechanism that links the social agencies with the schools with other kinds of resources to identify students at risk for a variety of reasons are forced to either drop out or get way behind. And there's no other way for them to catch back up. So what they want to do is just build an infrastructure to sort of reduce that number which is not bad in general. At the state it's been going down for the last couple years but they really want to target African-American and

Latino students who are still falling behind in classes. And so by raising it from 16 to 18 it gives them a little bit extra. And I don't know exactly what the cost factors are in all of this just and I think that's sort of the next level where they're going with the state but it is a good effort to sort of combine all the resources that the state and city and social agencies can provide to identify kids and then try to help them along and get. I mean it's more important for them to graduate and be productive and you see those studies that show that high school graduates earn more than non has who graduate and all those numbers add up so. Well thank you. But help me understand how 18 is a magical number that does something this year by the way 8000 Massachusetts high school students drop out every year. So go ahead. But I'm not understanding. Well 18 as opposed to 17. I think it's just maybe a random number. OK. It could be 21 but at some point 18 I think it matches what the

legal requirement is. Oh I see. I think I don't know what the reason is to be honest with you for the 800 number but the bill I think it does more than just raising the age the age number. It also one of the things that I really that that sounds really really I guess what the bill does is it treats the dropout rate issue as a multilevel. Problem it's not just about the age or he's not. It has to do with economic social reasons of for example one of the things it does is it will appoint graduation coaches for example from people in the IBA matched graduation coaches to kids their risk of dropping out. So by having this connection you know there's going to be people there making sure that you do this. Why do you need what are you. They had this girl testified at the at the hearing saying if I you know I fell ill somebody from Hurst I think I was you have mononucleosis right behind right.

And she testified if I had had a graduation coach I would have probably made a more of a never I would have to help to actually graduate maybe the age limit thing provides much more time for them you know like you. So I think in a way by treating the dropout rate in the fall from by looking at it from all these different approaches I think that's the success of this really and it's very nice to see Senator senator trying the years behind. It sounds like she's really trying to do it. You know to target this problem and again like you say that you know some blacks the whites are being the more. The most the fact that they have a back to Keli's point again about the 16 I don't know what happens to a child at 16 and you're not. You just drop out and I guess that's illegal. I don't know what that distinction is. But I think Marcel is absolutely right. It's the comprehensiveness what they're trying to do to sort of reduce a problem they can get out of hand when you look at the dropout numbers regardless of age across the country a black and

Latino is it's horrendous. And so there has to be these steps for folks to get back on track especially when you need these jobs and all this other stuff. To your point Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz says the money is coming from the state and there is anticipation of saving money by having those students if they graduate. Of course then they're working and you know that are going to school or whatever paying taxes so there's you know you're not ending up in some other services having to pay out so it should be into in fact cost effective. All right. So. Marcella you have a report card study a study on a report card on the end BTA done by the Latino teens who are in the Hyde Square Task Force. We recall that they did their first survey back in 2010 complaining about violence or roughness with the officers and now they're bright game.

Yeah 18 months after they did this first survey they what they did back then in 2010 was just respond I guess to some of the comments and criticism that some of their members the high school task force that some of the members where were experiencing with the MBT police and so that they did this survey and road recommendations and and grade graded the behavior of the police towards the youth in the MTA so the MTA back there responded very well saying you know yeah we're going to implement some of this just in some of these trainings we're going to train some police officers and what they didn't know was to check. How this was going to happen right and what they found out is that they had they have noticed some improvement like 50 percent improvement and again this is based on a survey of 700 teens in the city that use a tee every day. So yeah they did notice that the image of the police in their behavior had improved but only to a certain extent not a lot. But what I think is great about this is that this is youth being

involved in this issue the other think too. Back then when we were reporting on this issue we got a couple of comments from a reader saying you know what it's also the youth that misbehave on that. And it's also them that sometimes goes you know the raucous and whatever why are you going to do about that so you know in telling them all this it's like well yeah but they have to put the example to the police and they have to be teaching us your good manners and this and that but. But you only know again I think it's a good example of how they can get involved in in a seemingly you know nontraditional situation like it's just teens and they misbehave so what. Well you know I remember when that report came out back in 2010 it was such a sort of outrage and there was also this sort of quiet so it's a victory that this grassroots group made up of teenagers who have all this sort of pent up emotions and anger and all that. You got to release all of that. In a community meeting with the police and so it's sort of two years later it's working out better in some respects because I think

I mean I've been on the TV when the kids come on and it can be a mess and yeah they did they did. I said that of course you're always going to have trouble makers but but this is an example of teens just trying to improve their environment and the public transportation they rely on it every day so they want to own it. Let me ask you about that because this is in the context of we've just finished the MBT hearings where you know 6000 people testified I'm sure many of them were kids as well prior to this. I certainly have talked to some teens who said that they could barely afford in fact they couldn't afford to see race as they were as they were. They were at that time and now they're going to probably go up to some extent. So I'm wondering if that's going to increase the tension with you know kids struggling to get the money to be on the TV. And we've just seen not teenagers but some old folks who are you know better fighting on the on the team. So you can see where the cops cops would be you know on edge as a lot going on right at the same

time I know that these teens and their second survey now. Gave a grade to the police a D-plus in race relations communication and behavior and effort and follow through on their promises to make changes. So what now. So what happens now. I think you say this is going to play out in the context of what happens with the the the deficit and how the NBA is going what is the fare going to be the cuts in service. Probably they're just setting the stage for that. No I think there's going to be more tension of course and I know that this group and other Latino youth organizations are very involved in the efforts to fighting back the hikes and protesting that at the hearings. So this is it is probably going to increase the tension and it's they're probably just setting the stage for what is to come and and you know did the police respond to the you know I can report no that's half the problem. You know and it was very which was very disappointing to them because they were

part of that first effort and no doubt made it a promise. Right right and now they didn't even bother so I guess it's probably it's probably the larger context of the most important. The mayor right now going on with the MTA but they didn't respond. OK so we'll see what happens there. So back over to you Howard. There's a job access bill addressing diversity. I just had a conversation this week about the renovations to come in Dudley Square. So this kind of job Bill is right at the heart of a lot of concerns of community folks who want to make sure that with multimillion dollar renovation and square that there are local people who are hired and that there are diverse folks diverse teams of folks working on these projects. Well that's exactly right and one of the things that's been a central element to all of the community meetings and all the sort of projects that are going on not only in the square but throughout Roxbury is the sense in perception that all the construction jobs are a good

portion of them come from or have folks that are coming from New Hampshire and Vermont and all that they want to see. Local folks who are qualified to be able to have access to those jobs to be able to get some of that multimillion dollar development money. And so one of the things yet again. So new change is implemented. Another bill that doesn't set quotas per se but again it's all about building the policies and the mechanisms to monitor and see who's doing what in terms of their diversity goals. All too often a lot of these companies come in and say we're going to higher higher higher. And then you find that a project that no one was hired. So this sets up a monitoring system. It also creates a process where folks in the community can have access to the actual job so if you were say a glass person or a carpenter or a plumber you would know specifically when that came up and then it would be a MOT and in order to get the bid to do these contracts there would be a way that they could review your past history. This is done in terms of the companies. To see if you've been sort of

compliant with these general goals. So it's a good thing. I think it's a great again. We always like to see cooperation between a city state and in a Folks out in the street. And this is one way to have a fair open and transparent process to make sure that that money is trickling down to folks that actually are going to be there and live there. We should note that in Boston the city policy requires that 50 percent of the jobs on city funded projects go to local residents 25 percent to minorities and 10 percent to women. And that they definitely have evidence of this increasing diversity on recent projects like the Kroc Center and the Whittier's Street Health Center and Roxbury. So this bill with Senators Sonia Chang-Diaz would aim to have this same sort of inclusion on state funded projects. Marcella Yeah it's particularly in this hard economic times when they really need all the help they can get so I hope that this bill moves forward and again I not to sound repetitive but I

really commend senators on it and the SFR it's on this issues of diversity and education because she's really trying to make a difference here. Right well more to come and a lot more under the radar and some right on front street. We're going to Lawrence when we come back I have challenged Crossley and this is the Kelly Crossley Show. If you're just tuning in we're looking at the week's news. 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 Elle plan etc.. We love our contributors. That means you. And Roger Williams University presenting an evening with Dave a Sobel author of Galileo's daughter on March 20 7th as part of the Presidents distinguished speaker series. More info at our Wu dot edu.

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and that's all thanks to WGBH sustainers a break there gifts down into monthly installments that automatically renew. That means you can plan better plans mean fewer fundraisers. If you like the sound of that sign on as a sustainer by calling 8 8 9 7 9 4 2 4. Joining me right now Donovan every Saturday at 3:00 for a session with him just like that on a Celtic sojourn here on eighty nine point seven. WGBH. I'm Kalee Crossley and this is the Calla Crossley Show. We're taking a look at this week's news with Howard Manley of the Bay State Banner and Marcella Garcia of El plan that they're helping me talk between the headlines today as we go under the radar looking at some hyper local stories but every now and then Marcella hyper local story becomes a big one.

And such is the case with me. We are Laurence group rallies this week. What's that all about. I guess it's a community effort aimed at improving the image of the city responding I guess to a very negative article. Published by Boston Magazine recently in the latest issue I guess India wasa magazine article I guess and largely mostly negative with with the headline city of the Damned and pretty much condemning Lawrence says this hole in the north of Boston so obviously the community responded very very defensively and are really trying to to raise awareness and I guess highlight the positive aspects of Lor's and the positive stories and the positive work that people in Lawrence are doing now. The Boston magazine article. Well yes it was it was mostly negative. I didn't really

report anything that it's not that hasn't been in the news or that it's not true. But I guess the problem that they had with it was that it's just focus on the negative we didn't really how delighted some of these other things that Lawrence had to to to say. So it's some of the issue also that a lot of the focus being negative was focused on the mayor. Mayor Willie Lynch around whom there's a lot of negativity. Right I'm Oh absolutely absolutely and I think the residents of Lawrence were trying to do is try to. To move the conversation away from the politics and into what Laura insists. And they they really I mean some of the people there in Mind you there. This is the most Latino city in the in the state. But but also there's a lot of resins are not Latino and that had been there for years whose families have been there for years it is an immigrant city and they are also the ones being part of this effort and saying you cannot make this city all about politics Yaz. There's a

lot of things to say or a lot of opinions to have about our mayor and yes he might be under investigation in this and that but this is also what Lawrence has to offer. So what they did they organize a march about 400 people including the mayor. You know the mayor didn't go. Although he wasn't because they had like a speaking program but he didn't want to have that. So he didn't speak or anything he just participated as a way of supporting the For that you know start as a community for so 400 people when they marched they had this they had this sign saying and using the word damn that was used in the headline sort of like taking taking or flipping it and say you know we're damn proud of being from Lawrence and you know like they took this word and flipped there which was pretty you know pretty clever I guess but where this is going I don't know I think where they're trying to do is protest directly against or outside Boston Magazine and they're planning on

doing that soon. Celso That's the second idea right. I always think it's a good thing for cities to show their civic pride no matter what. And I think they've also done and I get my you have not read the Boston Magazine story. I don't know if I'm interested read the Boston Magazine story because the problem with Lawrence the story that I want to read is how it's coming back how it's become the Paris of the new millennium. And it all comes back to that mayor's office and how he sort of handles this and galvanizes what clearly seems to be an outrageous case of slanted journalism to make it a better city but then you get Willy Lanty who can't help but to get out of his own way and is so I think there are some efforts that are being made. But this is the moment where he can sort of and that's interesting that he was at the parade. I mean at the march to sort of galvanize his own sort of political support. But there's just as many people that want to be out of office which is a good thing but you know more and more is what democracy are what I mean.

Yeah. OK it's not just saying I don't like the guy go out and vote against him or get a candidate to beat him. So that's the issue and then you get the schools to you know that do it as well and then even when he tries to do well they'll be the story in the paper about how he's doing these road improvements starting with his street first and so this is the air yeah the PR is just not good with the mayor at this particular time. But here's an opportunity for him to sort of jumpstart the opportunity I'm going to what I mean let me just go back to something you said you said the piece of slanted journalism that you have never read it but these if Marcella says everything it is true as I slanted Well it is late. You say that there are solutions to the problem is knowing just a little context too I mean the fact that all the things that he's saying is true doesn't make it a good piece of journalism because the context is what he should be looking at and if you this is one of the main criticism against this piece if you take a ride along a ride with the police at night you were are you going to see you're going to see crime. You know this is in

Boston this is in Lawrence this is in Providence is in every city so. So they clearly set out to do a specific type of story and that's the thing you know if you if you want to tell the story from one side that's fine but. But the context is what they missed you know that there is this but there's also this you know that that was the opportunity that they missed and maybe that's the type of thing that they do you know Boston magazine. Yeah but they claim that you could write the story on any story based on the numbers and say This town is all jacked up it's been horrible and we've known that that since we've known that for the last 40 years or more it's what would be new what would be something interesting. Why don't you go to a high school and find a program is getting kids to go to college why don't you find some sort of housing program to get people to fix up their houses and that and then you put it in the context of this political inertia that's going on. That's what I mean. Slanted you know they're there for what you know we got bad numbers we have people on the cops going along catch and drug dealers I mean

that doesn't help me and it doesn't certainly doesn't help. Lawrence and so as a media outlet in this one of the things that you know we can debate on and on. Right. Where are we going with this. You know just why do you stand there you know when so are you saying that the state should take over some part of war. How do we solve the problem. Well just well let me ask you this because you know what you're both speaking to is a holistic approach to a covering of the community in which some of the people who are at the we are Lawrence rallies were asking for. Now the mayor himself you know let's note he's you know under much attack our scrutiny for a lot of different things has said that he believes it's a little racially tinge that there's stuff going on. Maybe for people to talk about but because he's mayor it's more intense. Yeah you know I think he's just trying to take it to that area so that he can defend. OK and so he can argue self with this sort of like weapons you know

the racial racially charged you know you know we should know that the recall effort is led by a Latino right. OK. Playing the race card doesn't help you know either. Yeah no no no no I mean just because you're Latino doesn't mean they are perfect and we've said it here you know and then you look at the effort the effort to to to recall him one of the problems that they have had and the fact that it why they haven't been so successful because the kind you they have been like three or four African times for this is the fourth to you know they haven't been able to propose a solution. Who do you want leading the city. Yeah. You can be right. It's not enough to you know to say we don't like you we have to say oh so well this is an alternative or why don't we do this or why do we propose this or why do we you know groom somebody you know it's so. So there's a lot of problems with with that. And again it gets back to land to go and if your only defense is that the race card and you don't have anything to show when you're you know two or three or four years in office anything

positive that you have done that speaks to wild boars are still stuck in the city of the Damned Right goes right. You will continue to have this kind of PR and this kind of media coverage because you just have not been able to get this thing or at least move it in the right direction. Excited and takes a holistic approach. You know you've got to reach out to the state but then the last time we saw we went to a region that was to get two paychecks you know so you know in the e-mail to Howard. You're listening to eighty nine point seven WGBH an online adult dot org. I'm Kelly Crossley and we're talking hyper local news this hour with Howard Manley of the Bay State Banner and Marcella Garcia. So we can stop some of the e-mail flow to Howard let's turn to you again Marcella for some good news. Two Latinos were appointed to high level state positions this week. Yeah there's a bit of well one was highly noticed in the news because of the nature of the job

the Gambling Commission as you can. As you all know is having rather is gathering a lot of attention because of course they're going to decide the fate of gambling in the States so it's definitely a high profile appointment and it's it's in the you know and because Sonya. For Mexico actually an MBA from Yale MBA from yeah really educated with experience in urban projects and construction and stuff like that he used he was or is rather the executive editor at the state agency that deals water trusts and I'm sorry if I can't remember the name correctly but. But yeah this is water pollution a bit mean exactly so. So yeah he has some state level experience and it was very it was very well received in the community because it shows that of course he was not big because he was Latino but it shows a the power in the you know the representation of Latinos in the state so so that that was you know

also you know East Boston where this proposed casino or the slot machines and the softball downs. That's you know highly Latino a belated CD too so I'm sure he will bring all his experience and everything but he would also be able to see that with different eyes because he's going to have that sensibility so the other one was. One mayor who's been a tireless advocate for the team as a community organizer executive director center let the you know one of the most important community organizations in Chelsea serving Latinos. And he was appointed to the Chelsea Housing Committee authority I'm sorry the one in charge of overseeing the public housing units in Chelsea and as you can remember there was some controversy there too with the you know executive director getting paid astronomical amounts of money thousand All right. Right. The highest level in the country. You know so the state the Patrick

administration was pretty much cleaning the house in that agency so they appointed new members and one of them was one. And again it was very well received in the Latino community because there really is clear representation chances 50 something the percent let you know so you can imagine that a lot of the occupants of a public housing are Latino so. I should note that I meant I meant Mr. Juan Vega at the planets of our meter but never an idea that was going to ask if Mr.. Yeah he was there to know he was at the party but he's part of the list. So you have noted before they were appointed to these to these positions and they were powerful people in the Latino community. Right. As my fact Mr. Vega who was appointed to the Chelsea Housing Authority was telling me about his work organizing in Cheltenham that yeah. So imagine that he's very committed I do know that as much as I should. He's been to Haiti and everything you know really is very very very.

All right well that's good news. All right here's some good news for basketball fans. Now what are you going to let you know here it was so. Tommy Amaker who was the basketball coach at Harvard you did a piece about him because for the first time they got into the NCAA tournament briefly but you know what I got. Well that's I mean it's it goes Tommy Amaker has been there maybe four years now at Harvard Law School that had not been in the NCW tournament for 65 years and so they almost made it last year but they lost in a last second shot. And so this was a share that the Ivy League championship this year they win it outright and they get a berth to the greatest Big Dance March Madness hoopla. That's right now so they fly out to Albuquerque and next thing you know they plan against Vanderbilt another Brainiac team from the Southeastern Conference but they a little bit more athletic you know and Harvard Square and they lost unfortunately last

afternoon yesterday afternoon and now the game the upside is that it could've been a blowout where a team loses by 30 points. But at that critical moment when it could've went either way. The Harvard boys came back and got it within a respectable nine point loss. So that's you know there's an upside to that and it's an upside to the Harvard program and to all the work that Tommy Amaker has done and what he has accomplished over there. Maybe Harvard. That's good Paul. I know you have been there and let's not forget you and I don't plan on going was very many sanity here underneath here. Played with him while he was there that's exactly right. So much Tim. Yeah actually that's what I was trying to say OK I was wondering the same thing because yeah yeah All right so he's got some successes you know even though they didn't make it all the way round whatever those records are what I don't understand.

Right but but moving on this guy I know now I gotta let Marcel have the last word on this yet cause Casa de mi padre is opening. Will the barrels crazy movie which he speaks spam and everybody think they manage. Everyone seems to me to says hey yeah I nod to write some stuff happening in the car yet whether it was a brilliantly business move on his part or you know he's just him like pushing with thinking outside the box you know to use that cliche in comedy that's what he does he really pushes the boundaries and the limits of comedy and takes you to places that you're like you know what is this is the movie's besar the movie is funny. But he hired folks who are real you know. Absolutely but it is part of the show. But this is you know this is why this movie is so I think it's going to mark you know a before and after and I hope he really does but. But what he really works in very different levels mind you know why is a language that is completely in Spanish with English subtitles. I think that's the thing you know yeah I

think that yeah that's a big job but then it's almost as if he really is treating Latinos like we are in the joke for the first time you know we are not about Joe we are not you know being like trying to write you know we are in on the joke in fact most reviews have said that if you if you know Spanish and not just live if you speak Spanish you're going to find this movie a lot more funnier because because we you know you really are going to come out of it like oh my god it was so funny because you understand this other sublevels around and if you have to ask yourself what is this movie about you you know you don't go see this well you know you are wondering whether this could be interesting. Don't go see because it's often well you know it's based on a Tele novellas it's a love triangle on them plus some other genres I understand. But to you as well feral Spanish good. Well the funny thing is that he tries to make it you know good to make a funny.

OK. I know you write because you can't hear him if you don't speak Spanish you can hear him and to you he probably sounds perfectly fine but then he gets some of the things wrong on purpose. You will be able to tell. You know it's very very very very funny. OK well there you have it. OK we've been talking news and culture with Howard Mann play executive editor of the base Dave better and Marcella Garcia managing editor. Thank you both for joining us. They have a scale there from the local hyper local headlines we turn to the latest pop culture headlines coming up. You're listening to the Kelly Crossley Show one eighty nine point seven. WGBH. Coming. From. Funding for our programs comes from you. And UMass Memorial Medical Center and their

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Coming up at 3 here on eighty nine point seven WGBH. Hey Peter Segall here from WAIT WAIT DON'T TELL ME the NPR news quiz I'm all playing along at home has fun watching the game unravel before your very own eyes. Is extra special super duper fun or support for the gift of $250 right now. And I will say thank you with two tickets to see WAIT WAIT DON'T TELL ME. Recorded live at the city Performing Arts Center on Thursday April 12th. Full details at WGBH dot org. Morning is sensuous. In morning for later would you be a trade you know news from in Boston I'm Bobbsey with some of the local stores will start your day. Well informed Bobsy and MORNING EDITION here on WGBH radio. It's brag time. A look at popular culture the salacious the

ridiculous and everything in between. But this being public radio we'll conduct our review move with the help of some highbrow analysts are pointing head culture. Thomas Connelly and Rachel 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 I love her yeah right. Well if you're not hungry as in The Hunger Games you will be shortly. We're seven days away from what some are predicting the biggest biggest opening ever for those who don't know the hunger games were our young teen or guess what they call young adult novels. Several of them and they've been turned into the first movie I'm sure they'll be sequels and the excitement is not just in America it's worldwide. Here is a clip from The Hunger Games trailer and. Was approved to keep

you. With. This group from their news. Group tribute one young man and woman between the ages of 12. Leave. Me Free. To leave. There. Are. Still. A few. Things. To. Keep wishing I could think of a way to show them that they don't own me. I'm going to die I want to still be me. I want to point out that ticket sales are through the roof even though the movie doesn't open until next week you can preorder and if you do you'll get a complimentary song that's played in the movie on iTunes it's called tomorrow will be kinder by the Secret Sisters So with that. Rachel what do you think about Hunger Games fever. There have been a hunger pains hunger fever and it's completely fascinating to me. The premise of this movie is that teenagers are forced to fight to the death for the amusement. It's a reality television broadcast so it's for the amusement of an

audience it's a dystopian horrifying vision and then when you realize that everyone who goes to the movie is watching teenagers fight to the death for their amusement and entertainment. You know so just a quick reminder that. You know most of the time if there is a reader in a book or an audience in the movie then that's you right that's sort of where you're being slotted in watching. And the second thing is I if there is a great deal of like cultural context for catastrophizing teenage hood you know oh my god you're a teenager you might die you might hurt somebody and this I think it's sort of in that way it is a familiar thing and I was sort of remembering how when my son was about 13 or 14 and I'm embarrassed about this but I realize that when you are at Christmas all of us buying and presents had given him versions of things called you know how to survive as a teenager how to survive in the ones we had all sort of realized we were going through this. Oh my God you're a teenager. That's dangerous. So there's a little bit of that in

here too. Do you think it will resonate I mean this has a teen base obviously on L-Space. But more than what I'm interested in is the post-apocalyptic for that surrounds this. There are there's a lot of speculation online about you know is this really Gog and Magog from the Book of Revelation and so forth. It has a vague quote unquote Middle Eastern setting and you know that people are getting into that because of you know our various entanglements around the world. But also it's you know Lord Of The Flies you know for the 21st century. You know it's teen angst times a million. It's adults versus teenagers teenagers versus adults. It's you know Harry Potter gone mad gone bad I mean there are just some this is keyed into so many things that adults still don't want to hear about. When it when it comes to teenagers and now even that it's this this genre of young adult fiction is much bigger than it ever was before and it's taken much more seriously not necessarily by critics although they are too. But by the publishing industry that this is actually

the biggest growth aspect of Text Publishing in the world right now and being compared to Harry Potter and Twilight. Yeah actually I know what books for you. Yes I was there to pick up only what Thomas would think is actually a pretty direct rip off of the Japanese movie Battle Royale which is about a group of teenagers being forced to fight for the death for the entertainment of adults. Well there is some. Just to put a button on this there is some discussion certainly in Britain. Among some other groups about the age at which some kids because he is quite violent apparently Ike I'll tell you this adult is not looking or saying that so I may pass but we'll see. It's going to be a cultural phenomenon if it's not already one. So moving on from teenagers to dads Huggies made by Kimberly Clark really stepped in it this past week. They were doing an ad that they thought or an ad campaign they thought was really warm and fuzzy and they wanted to premier it in Austin where the South by Southwest big convention was but this was at a convention of Dad called Dad too

low. So what they had done was put together some ads which show dads lovingly taking care of their kids. I didn't come across so much so here is one of the ads that had dads fuming to prove these diapers and wipes can handle anything. We put them to the toughest test imaginable. Dad. Along with their baby in line house for five days. How did how these products hold up to daddy. No one is about to find out. So the ads literally use the line dads push diapers and wipes to the limit and this is not the worst one I should say. They pull that when you can't find that one. The worst one had the dad's watching sports while the kid's diapers got full. So so so that is you know what was really bad about it and you know what do you think. It's so infuriating. One of the things that I've always been aware of ever

since I was aware that there was such a thing as a male parental unit was that if that male parental unit is married he must be a complete incompetent idiot because every movie every television show every cartoon every reference to a married man with children is that he is completely not dysfunctional non functional. You could have you know the president of the United States give him a shopping cart and say buy diapers and the end of the sequence would be world war 3. I mean it's just unbelievable the way that men are degraded of course. Women have dealt with this on a much broader front. But just speaking personally I was just speaking about this with a friend of mine. We were looking at each other as though. People are amazed that a man changes a diaper and we looked at each other. You know so why who cares it's just it's just life. But the fact that this manufacturer thought they were doing fathers a favor just shows you how. Believe me I understand now better than ever. A woman who says who looks at a man

says you just don't get it. They just don't get it. Rachel They sent a representative down to the convention when one guy started a petition against it saying we are not idiots as Tom is you know very much our ticket late and we resent this greatly. And the guy was like oh no we didn't need it we didn't mean we didn't mean it so they they changed the ad they improved a little bit let me let me play this one for his the new ad that he's rolled out as part of their damage control camping to prove how these diapers can handle anything. We took them to the ultimate test. Dad. Alone with their babies. Has No. Time. After a very in the leak's day long two milk induced slumber rabbit dad and see for yourself. There you go Rachel. That's only the music you know. I am very very well aware. I think most people should be that. Sexism hurts men too. And if the petition campaign and

the pulling of the ad and all of this does call attention to sexism as a structure then I'm really happy I'm sorry that's what it took. I will say that and if you you know if you go into a supermarket aisle and look at a shelf wall of Huggies and other diapers they will be all sorts of babies on the front and if there is a parent it will be the mother and you know what that is saying is this is your job. This is your place and you know I don't. I've never heard Harvey's apologize. I've never heard Paris apologize for you know creating this sex attraction when it applies to women. The fact that they sort of put their tail between their legs and hustle down to that conference when men were angry. Good you know I'm glad I'm glad that that that if that's what it takes then I'm happy to get there. But I'm really sorry that you have to take it also it is money takes away the the entire respect for never mind married single. For families in general that there's something it's always somehow unusual that a baby has to be taken care of. It's never really normal anywhere who ever is doing it it's always

the butt of a joke. Or putting women as you said Richard putting women in their place. It's never just a given that this is a fact of biology and this has this exact one who comes up with this. But anyway moving on. We got word this week that Encyclopedia Britannica the printed version so much a part of people's households for years and years and years is going away and it will now only be online. Thought we let everybody here Stephen Colbert's take on Encyclopedia Britannica. I'm no fan of reality and. I'm no fan of encyclopedias. Who is Britannica to tell me that George Washington had slaves. If I want to say he didn't that's my right. And now thanks to Wikipedia. It's also a fact. I wasn't really differ this is a change huge right well to be honest I'm surprised that it took so long. OK I have never been a great fan of reference books since I left

elementary school because it seemed to me they were out of date almost as they got into print even back in the eighties. And I mean these this kind of multi-volume behemoth of facts is really a dinosaur and the ways that they tried to tweak the Britannica I mean anybody who's ever been to a convention has been corralled by one of their salesman. I particularly remember somebody telling me and my brother that the Britannica was a laser beam to knowledge as he laboriously went through the three different volumes you had to use to find the simple fact you were looking up. So while I very much believe in printed volumes and I'm very much opposed to Kindles and Nooks and all that stuff I I'm afraid I must risk blasphemy by saying I will not miss the Encyclopedia Britannica. Well you certainly will miss it if you want the final set is listed at thirteen hundred ninety five dollars Rachel. I don't know how many people will be buying that but that well knowing what they you know and that's always been true but

Thomas is right it sort of reminded me of nothing more if I can get morbid for a second then I'm sure everyone has this experience sometimes you read the obituaries and you see somebody who beat you where even your first thought is he was still alive right. So you know and Cole Bear's joke about Wikipedia like Alright that's sort of a familiar one now. But there are studies by librarians and academics showing that actually Wikipedia is just about as accurate accurate as a printed encyclopedia. And as Thomas points out it can be updated much more quickly right anybody who does have an encyclopedia set knows how often you have to sort of purchase those updates. Yeah right and there's something you know in the collective process of there's more checks on the sort of rampant ideology in things like Encyclopedia Britannica and World Book. So you know yeah not that sorry for this one either. All right well there you go. I think this is just funny. There is a site called College Humor and they put out a great etiquette rule book online for how people should not spoil the upcoming in your

war. Results of upcoming shows for other people. Here's a sample of some of the spoiler alert etiquette rules when recommending television. Then with those YASM is permitted. I can't believe you see wire. It's great. Pointed to Z as it however is strictly forbidden. You will believe it. Where does the end of season 3. I am. Spoiler spoken in pig latin jibberish or French will still be considered spoilers. He can't believe in G. I guess Mandarin. Who actually listened. No no I mean time some of the actors who are performing it are from the show as you know have had a lot of stereo particularly when it gets to the point of the particulars of the knife fight. Once someone has spoiled something for you. I mean even when even before the Internet I mean sport spoiling spoiling what was a phenomenon I mean particularly remember the movie Psycho and I'm not going to spoil it but I know that was one of the nastiest things you could do to somebody was deliberately letting them in on the secret.

But this is if this is done in such a multi leverage humorous way with the real characters and actually the end to spoil the end there's a start hander says Don't tell me what happened I haven't seen it yet and I'm talking about her character. I think I love it. Rachel do you think I think it's a cute thing. Yeah it is funny it's like not this is sort of as our own conversation is showing most of the time will people have conversations like this. There are going to be on line unfortunately right where the person said who's saying a thing of the person who's hearing the thing it doesn't take place at the same time and so you know for the most part there is a convention of writing spoiler alert at the top of your lungs online. But like that's where people are going to be getting their information. I loved it. Yeah. All right so public broadcasting junkies probably will recognize this. If you don't that's Charlie Rose's fame and he's making news instead of interviewing news makers because he's being sued by one of the internes and she says there are not fair wages if you work in terns for free

which actually is the point of internship I thought. But she's making the point and this is in New York that the number of hours that she works makes that untenable and there should be a real look at how interns are used on these jobs where there should be there absolutely should be it is free labor and it's not only that but it's free labor that depresses what paid workers can get paid to everybody should read the recent book I think it was last year 2011 in turn nation. If you want to see sort of historically how these were developed how generally little students who do them learn from them. Here at WGBH you have to get. Class credit I think that's to avoid this not getting any money situation. But what do you say oh the abuse has just increased exponentially in the past few years I mean it started out with there was some kind of payment but now people are paying to get in sometimes thousands of dollars and it is just unconscionable. I mean I'm sure Charlie Rose himself isn't personally to blame for this but if this

brings attention to the abuses of the system I mean not only do the interns themselves but as Rachel said to the labor market and you know people are professionals and people of all walks of life you're being deprived of of real jobs because you have this this inflation in turns which you know one time was just you know between semesters and summer for college students but now it's ongoing and you find people at all of all ages getting internships and sometimes bidding for them and the kickbacks It's unbelievable. Well I'll be interested to see how this comes out because it'll probably have some impact on internships across the country. There you have it. Thank you very much that's Professor Rachel Rubin and Professor Thomas Conley thank you for joining us for another edition of thread time. You can keep on top of the Calla Crossley Show at WGBH dot org slash Kelly Crossley follow us on Twitter and become a fan of the callee Crossley Show on Facebook today show was engineer by Jane pic produced by Chelsea murders will Rose live. Abby Ruzicka. The callee Crossley Show is a production of WGBH radio Boston Public Radio.