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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 the gumshoe reporting the gossip rags. First the news. From NPR News in Washington I'm Louise Schiavone.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged six former executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with fraud and P.R. as Jim Zarroli reports that the six are accused of misleading investors about the number of high risk loans the agencies had on their books. Among those charged were three former Fannie Mae executives including ex CEO Daniel Mudd former Freddie Mac CEO Richard siren was also charged as were two of his former colleagues. The FCC says the two mortgage giants told investors that their exposure to subprime mortgages was substantially smaller than it really was. They did this in FCC filings public statements investor calls and media interviews. And the commission says this was done with the knowledge support and approval of the defendants. The FCC is seeking civil penalties against the defendants including financial penalties and repayment of ill gotten gains. The defendants had no immediate response to the charges.

Jim Zarroli NPR News. Well the clock ticking on federal spending congressional negotiators have agreed to a one trillion dollar spending bill designed to avert a weekend federal shutdown. Also under construction a plan to extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits. A House vote is expected shortly. The Senate may not vote until tomorrow. GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is getting the support of a key conservative leader. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. NPR's Kathy Lohr has details. After a solid performance in the last debate before the Iowa caucuses Romney won the endorsement of Nikki Haley in the key early voting state of South Carolina. Haley is a Tea Party favorite and a rising star in the Republican Party. She supports Romney because Haley says the country needs a leader who can deal with a broken Washington. The South Carolina governor also says Romney is the one the president is focusing on. Which proves that she made the right decision to support him.

Polls show Newt Gingrich has a big lead over Romney in South Carolina. But the governor's endorsement could help swing voters away from the former House speaker. Kathy Lohr NPR News. An assistant football coach for Penn State is testifying he saw former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky sexually molesting a boy and a university locker room nine years ago and that he told university officials about it. Was it intercourse. Mike McQueary says he's not 100 percent certain. A Euro pole investigation of child pornography spanning 20 countries has resulted in the arrests of 19 people in Denmark. Police officials there say the suspects all men aged 24 to 55 years old are facing preliminary charges on Wall Street at this hour the Dow is down 37 points. The NASDAQ up 11. This is NPR News. In the political give and take required to forge a spending compromise it looks like the standard incandescent light bulb has survived among the efforts surrendered to reach a compromise.

The Obama administration's rule on energy efficiency standards. GOP critics had argued it would make it tougher to buy an old fashioned light bulb. The GOP in turn gave up language that would have blocked the president's liberalized rules for Americans who want to visit or send money to Cuba. Switzerland has suspended some trains and boats in preparation for a heavy storm. Eleanor Beardsley reports the storm's already battering northern France. Many French regions are on orange alert as Storm Iachimo merges from the Atlantic and sweeps across Western Europe. Nearly half a million homes are without electricity along the French West Coast. And a cargo ship carrying fuel oil has capsized off the coast of Brittany. Your cames 93 mile an hour winds will sweep over Alpine regions later today and are expected to bring heavy and sudden snowfall. Forecasters have warned of avalanche danger in the out. Switzerland has suspended taxi boats on Lake Geneva. For NPR News I'm Eleanor Beardsley in Paris. Many merchants are making free shipping available today to help take some of the bite out of Christmas shopping several retailers are

participating says Kendall Paris Free Shipping Day dot.com. I think what really hits home for us are the small business merchants who have responded saying that they you know got 20 orders in one day when they're just used to. One order per day or if they were really excited to see their love go up next to big name Marchant she says it helps when shipping costs as much as the gift. I'm Louise Schiavone NPR News Washington. Support for NPR comes from the pajama Graham company offering the footie PJ's footed pajamas with a hood at pajama Graham dot com. Good afternoon I'm Kalee Crossley This is the Calla 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. On the agenda today the state takeover of Lawrence schools a youth violence symposium. Harvard researching its slave history past and migrants day. I am

joined by Howard Manley the executive editor of the Bay State Banner and Marcella Garcia managing editor of welcome back how I go. Marcella Let's start with you. Willy Lam to ask for the state to take control of the schools in Lawrence That's the mayor are willing to. Yes he did. By now it's everybody knows that. The schools in Laurens were taken over by the state in a move that apparently was being. Well it was asked what you said correctly by lengthy will but the reality of it is that the school system was had been plagued with a lot of problems since a year ago. It's been it's going to be almost two years since the school system had been without a superintendent the last one will forever level who were who had been a superintendent for nearly 10 years in Lawrence was famously ousted or fired because he was charged with embezzlement and fraud charges. So since

then since the boy stepped down which was in last year in April the school committee were cited by L.A. who of course had been unable to either conduct a search or a find a good candidate to replace him. Then of course the problem is that the schools were having its incredible you had the worst graduation rate in the state. The 90 percent of the students there are Latino and 77 percent. Speak other language than English as their primary language so obviously had a lot of challenges but with the problems again were not addressed by the school committee for over a year now that the state's board of elementary and secondary education had been recommending or suggesting some sort of measures during this past year to the school committee which the school committee didn't address which is why the state had to take over the schools in L.A. Well you know obviously he had to ask

for help but but it but it's this two things happen at the same time he had to ask for help because they were unable to to correct the problems. Yeah yeah. So so that's the thing now is that the. State Commissioner of Education Mitchell Chester has to approve a reason to appoint a receiver. So Monday is going to be working closely with this. Any names no names yet I think he has to. He is conducting a search or he's I guess considering some names and because the timeline is that he needs to name somebody by the end of the year because this person is this you. Yeah. Oh so three weeks yeah and I think yeah he needs to name it soon because this receiver has to start working by generally first. Well thank God for that because writing this is been a disaster Lord for the last couple years and even under the boy. Oh yeah let's remember him that he was the guy that failed the teacher's exam and I think he later went on after the third term had passed it. But then the embezzlement thing it is just one more example of Lawrence really really needing

some intervention and they got it coming in terms of the state whether they're effective over the long haul I don't know. But right everyone I think you know Lauren seemed optimistic parents teachers in particular teachers were very adamant that he was a good of course it's a good move in the light of all the problems I was that they were having. But the most important thing is that they were happy that now the schools were going to be away from the politics. There you go. So that's what they they felt that he was important. Now the parents and the students they felt some of them feel bad. A public hearing was needed that nobody asked the opinion of the parents of the students but the situation was so dire that even if you had a public hearing the the conclusion would have been the same Somebody had to step in and local input is key when you deal with education and I think the state will have some public hearings at some point but I don't know what the I think the legal and I think that the

receiver would have public hearings so they could hear direct community about what the issues have been ongoing. So now how does this play because this is against an environment where Mayor Willie Lynch is. There's been several recall efforts. I don't know does it help him that he asked for help. Does it hurt him does that make no difference. That's a very good question let's remember that right now the fourth attempt at recalling him is under way and he just this week earlier this week he reported that three of her his tires had been slashed. It's a disaster you know and you know in a way I think he. I hope this takes away you know him from the focus of Lawrence you know because he has been the focus whether it is corruption allegations whether it is he's somebody trying to run him over. It's always about him. And we think we seem to or tend to forget that the situation there is horrible whether you look at the schools whether you look at the police the police department actually now is this week also issued a statement.

You know the association of Lawrence police officers issued a statement that they support the recall. So yes there is a lot of political heat there and I think that takes away from the real issues and the real problems which is he has exam schools in you I think they will be the major concern of the mayor but he's smart with all these other extracurricular activities. Meanwhile after all these happened he is going on Fox News on on all he's going on this media. And let's not forget that he's not entirely happy of going or speaking to the media and now he is just because he wants to. The perception out there I think is that he wants to. You know portray himself as the savior of the schools. That's why I wondered if you know what kind of look and what will be will see me and I own it and I and who appoints a receiver by the way the state commissioner of education gets a letter. Yeah that'll be very interesting yeah where he goes with that. All right moving over to you Howard in the Bay

State Banner got a really extensive story about a symposium addressing youth violence sponsored by the State Street Foundation this is the third annual symposium. It seems like everybody was in the room. Yes and that's one of the points of this symposium that they have is to bring all the sort of stakeholders everyone from the kids on the street to the funders to the experts who sort of develop the programs and what it is a way for everyone to meet talk and see what the actual impact is. Programs that have been funded by the corporate philanthropist So I think some of the students get to tell their sort of story about the trauma that goes on in certain neighborhoods how they overcome that. And it's not just the sort of liberal feel good thing it's a real hands on. How do you maintain a job. You know here's the discipline that you need in school and

everyone from the mayor particularly is very very headstrong about getting corporations to take a part in all kids lives and so he harps on them to create more jobs. The training programs are set up so that they can perform these jobs and go on with their lives despite sort of the real issues that come up around violence and we should what we should say that the reason that the jobs part of it was so big is that it's been identified as one of the solutions. Do you think that's exactly right. And it's there. And aside from that I mean that you sort of have the mental health issues around this. You have family dysfunctional issues that are around this and so what they are stressing and having everyone there is the comprehensive holistic approach to getting folks. What an upward in the twenty second century.

I was actually surprised to hear that states has been having these for three years I haven't. I did not know about these type of programs that corporation tax the streets are involved in. I would be very happy to know what has been accomplished or or the progress of this or of the aftermath you know whether they are able to follow up or how they follow up if any. Because three years is you know it's remarkable for a corporation like states you know it is a major major player here and has done a good part and been a good partner for the city in terms of jobs. I'm sure they're tracking in that was one of the points how do you measure success in these programs because we don't from their point of view their money company they want to see that their money is getting a bang for the buck. And I don't know if three years is long enough for them to do any sort of real studies and impact but they do have anecdotal evidence for some of the kids that have come on and talked about how these programs have changed their lives and they're now going on to college and all that. And I know estates are partners with I don't know if it's City year or year up I think it's City Year in they they do provide a lot of internships for 4

urban kids. Giving them a taste of what corporate a corporate job is like and I think that's remarkable. And the other part is that Carl switches to so how can you help me now. You know I'm about done all this of going to school here and but now I need help. And so I think those are components that are being discussed as well. Well I think Marcellus question speaks to a larger question I think a lot of people would ask in the light of the kind of violence that we saw just this past year you know very brutal back again lots of discussions with the folks who have been out on the front lines of trying to reduce this violence saying there needs to be bigger broader more comprehensive programs. Here's the mayor is very front and center at the symposium. But how do you measure it then if you are we are still covering those kinds of stories that appear for those of us who are not doing a scientific survey to be just as intense as they were the year before. So how do you measure that.

Well some of those measurements. Are good and you can just go by the homicide count. And then what neighborhoods they are and all that. I don't know quite sure you do that you know I mean it's just one of those things that you can work at. And the more folks involved tends to lessen the actual need for folks to resort to violence. And again it goes back to the schools and how do you resolve conflicts and all that sort of stuff but my idea of the day you're making a difference in 5 10 15 lives of kids I think it's worth it but at the but at the same time you want to have some sort of a measurement that tells you you're on the right track. You maybe do it. Maybe they need to get more involved in the community not just about the money but oh yeah yeah yeah. Maybe you have to be out there really. But. We'll see. Well it's Menino talked about three goals in the prevention of youth violence in your piece. Social support system connection the health and social services mentor ship and a connection to caring adults over a long period of time not an in and out

thing and access to meaningful employment and as we've stated his focus is on these summer jobs initiative which we should point out was cut last year. So you know maybe that's I may answer my own question and maybe that's why some of that there was an increase because that definitely I know there was a lot of effort I mean yes on the mayor's part and others to ask for summer jobs for particularly these at risk areas. And it just because the economy just didn't happen and I don't want to be in a position where we have to say look if we don't get jobs we're going to balance industry you know I don't think anyone should be told that they shouldn't be killing folks. But it's one of the things that is part of this that is not really getting a lot of attention is what do you do with folks who made a mistake in their lives. A summer job is not going to cover their expenses after they've done two years and in prison. And so what do you do with those kids. They're still relatively young. So

those are other unanswered questions right now. All right well. That will be interesting to see next year perhaps they'll have some you know harder data about what's been happening but that's the State Street Foundation in its youth violence symposium. You are listening to eighty nine point seven WGBH an on line at WGBH dot org. I'm Kelly Crossley and we're taking a hyper local look at this week's news with Howard Manley of the Bay State Banner and Marcella Garcia of El planeta. And you're on WGBH Boston Public Radio. This program is on WGBH thanks to you. And Portsmouth Abbey School in coastal Rhode Island providing a rigorous academic curriculum in a caring co-educational Catholic Benedictine boarding school environment. You can visit Portsmouth Abbey dot org for more information. And Dedham savings

striving to offer the bank products you need with the technology you expect for your personal and business banking. For more than one hundred eighty years Dedham savings your bank you can learn more at Dedham savings dot com. Sprucing up Occupy Wall Street's public image. What would Don Draper do. You know they look like freeloading squatters and their kind of unkempt and dirty. I would turn that around and I would make them the new freedom fighters on the war against greed. Monday Morning Edition recasting the Occupy movement. One eighty nine point seven. WGBH Boston Public Radio. Leave it to WGBH to deliver the programs you love. But did you also know you can actually

leave it to WGBH. I'm Erica Webb director of gift planning and I'd love to talk to you about the many ways you can support WGBH like leaving a gift through your estate. Let me help you plan your legacy also ensuring the legacy of WGBH the number is 800 to 2 0 7 1 2 2. And thanks. Brian O'Donovan Come join me every Saturday at 3:00 for the good old fashioned session on a Celtic So you're not on any 9.7 WGBH. I'm Calla Crossley and this is the Calla Crossley Show. If you're just tuning in we're looking at the week's local news that went under the radar. Joining me to talk between the headlines are Howard Manley the executive editor of the Bay State Banner and Marcella Marcella Garcia conflating your name and the managing editor

of Elle. So Marcella you're writing about something that actually I had not heard about but the U.N. and several intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations are observing international migrants day on Sunday and there are plans here in Boston to note that. Yeah the U.N. and formally I guess were officially named Sunday which is December 18th as the international migrants day as you stated in here. A bunch of organizations mainly organizations that work with immigrants like me to and a group of artists do that do work with immigrants. They are organizing a public performance and I think this is what's interesting about this story or this celebration rather that they're using are to call attention to the plight or the experiences of immigrants not just here mind you but all over the country and all over the world. In fact there are a number of celebrations

planned all over the world to know the day so here these group of artists they're going to be on south at South Station on Sunday starting at 2:00 I think and they're going to use a suit case to as a symbol of the movement or the way every migrants live is determined by movement or everything is in movement like a bad bad symbol is what represents the dreams applied to the struggle of immigrants all over all over the world so. Everyone is asked to bring a suitcase or to move a suitcase so it's going to be actually quite interesting. I think public art or performance is a great way to get people involved and to get people aware of immigrants so. So you know we'll see that they're also asking everyone to wear red is a Red is a color. Of course I think so. Courage of course is very present in immigrants or migrants lives. And so yeah they're hoping that they're going to get a good

reception and and we'll see. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon wrote about this when their rights are violated when they are marginalized and excluded migrants will be unable to contribute either economically or socially to the societies they have left behind or those they enter. However when supported by the right policies and human rights protections migration can be a force for good for individuals as well as for countries of origin transit and destination. And also be sure before I forget it's important too to know that they're not Joe doing this only for Latinos or Hispanics that they're focusing on him and immigrants in general. So one of the artists involved was not Latino or anything said something to us it's very very very important. All of us are migrants. You know unless you're Native American right. So that people tend to forget that so I think that this action wants to call attention to that. It's a great moment to just give that sort of sharing of humanity to

come to a whole nother country. Right now the language and all the sort of social pressures that are your blame for the end of the world basically right now and no one wants to address the immigration policy so right you haven't but I just want a human level I think that's a great shout out. I actually think also public art as you've said Marcella can sometimes get people talking about issues in ways that just any other kind of talk or lecture or story just cannot write right. And I think having it in South Station will be very interesting to see. Right right because they said that they had chosen South Station just because of the historical context that it represents a need since it's a stations where people leave and where people take off from. So it's going to be interesting. All right well speaking of transit but these folks did not come here on their own power Harvard is examining its historical roots in slavery. And this is quite interesting Howard.

Well one of the things that you sort of tie in with immigration is such a part of the culture. Just my grants and then back in the day. Sixteen hundred and 700 slavery was just the course the normal way of life so it's not surprising that slaves that some of the work in Harvard Yard. It's not surprising that some of the Presidents early in the day own slaves. But what I found very very interesting at a school known for its robust debate on issues is how they tried to suppress talk about abolition and balsams claim to fame particularly before the Civil War was this sort of home of radical thought. And at Harvard a couple professors a joint couple evolutionist groups and they were shunned upon. And in fact one was fired. Another was sort of chased away and then ultimately resigned. Harvard ultimately did the right thing and it wasn't a sort of blanket thing and that's the sort of interesting thing about like immigration and slavery. There was always these pockets of good folks. And so even at Harvard there was a stop at the Underground

Railroad and one of the buildings whose name I can't remember there was a great sort of attitude to free the slaves and get rid of some of the money that they had collected from wealthy plantation owners So I mean Harvard's record stands to note that this study came as a result of the landmark study that was done at Brown under Ruth Simmons who wanted to explore that university's route to slavery. And couple the undergraduate at Harvard said wait a minute. Well let's take a look at Harvard and so a professor conducted a seminar and they just started digging up all these archives and following here it is. Well Ruth Simmons it should be noted is African-American she's the president of Brown University. She actually when she first came to Brown some years ago made a comment about just exploring the history of the school with regard to its slavery past got a lot of attention and said it's really important if you don't know your past you just really can't go forward. And because there was some confessional about why you look at

that and she's like yeah. You know I think it is one of those things that you know that happened a long time ago but I think it's important to sort of look at those and just see how pervasive and how and some of those. Issues still remain and unresolved I mean one of the things that you all look at now is just this whole idea of debating uncomfortable topics. You know so we're not just debating but really I did not know about this I had no idea that this that this was a topic that Harvard not only was exploring now but that you had to deal with that. It was very interesting just from the historic point of view that three years after Harvard was founded you know they had slaves working there and it was exactly right. Three of the early Harvard presidents Increase Mather Benjamin Wadsworth and Edward Holyoke own slaves. The seminar by the way is being taught by Sven Bechard on the topic on the subject of Harvard's slave history which was explored as we've said about these graduate students. Harvard and slavery seeking a

forgotten history is the title of the work that they have done. It's really interesting that this is the part of the piece that I thought was fascinating. This student's research shows five men involved with the trade gave Harvard nearly $500000 between 1900 and 1850 half the total in major donations received during that period. Harvard even made loans to other traders from its endowment. Thank you. It's the money that's been a part of it was money money back of the day for basically free indentured labor. And if it should be noted that not just Ruth Simmons and not just Harvard at this point but also University of Maryland the College of William and Mary in Virginia and Emory University in Georgia also explained their history. And from a media standpoint I mean let's put us on the table. It was just in the last within the last 10 years where a number of news organizations that either refused to report it or ignored it have come forward or you know and found it on the

money buy slaves have come forward to say you know this is history that we should acknowledge even higher reading 1838. They refused to have a debate on population yet they would have been open to the public. Well I mean that's more understandable than I knew. So now you understand. Yeah OK all right. So that's Harvard's history and we'll be hearing more about that. Marcello you're talking about in the helpline at the census showing that one or two people are poor or low income. We've been doing a lot of pieces here in the Cali gruffly show about income inequality and of course those kids down at Occupy wherever they are have been raising this is an issue but boy this is a stark example of one in 20 people when I read that headline I was like did I just read that correctly I had to do a double take because one in two people you don't read that type of headline here and do you as in Latin America maybe but not here so.

But then what happened is that I think the census revised the measurement how they measure poverty and to include several other factors and what happens is that you know wind of into people falling into poverty or and this is where it gets interesting. Or are scraping by in earnings I classify them as low income. So what's happening is that the middle class is shrinking. And even people that have a job or even people that have two jobs at the time they're struggling and that sort of puts them into these group and classifies them into poverty and the other thing is that some of these people may not qualify for the safety net for food stamps for medical help or whatever. So that also puts them at much more. You know they're just struggling much more obviously somebody that's poor poor buy buy buy. You know the regular standards you can go get food stamps you can get help but these people are not getting help so that you know it's even more strain on them. So it's really really impressive it's just you know a lot of people are struggling and I

think I remember I don't know if it was 60 Minutes or which TV news magazine did a story on how people that had a car that had you know great TV that they were struggling to find to buy groceries you know that was just really really bad in my mind so this is this is the measure that the census is now using to calculate this. You know I think those numbers and this is what I thought was astounding as well as the. For a family of four it's $45000. They can't make it on their own hard way to go and I don't remember what the median income is across the country. He's around 30 right for a family of four and talking about you know spousal or whatever you want. But it's really really challenging. They surveyed through the U.S. Conference of Mayors just people's using of emergency food aid because in 29 cities as mayor said listen

people are new. We don't have enough people are getting what they need. Here's an interesting statistic among those requesting emergency food assistance 51 percent were in families 26 percent were employed. Nineteen percent were elderly and 11 percent were homeless. So we're talking working people in families and some of whom are elderly the most vulnerable folks. Now having said all of that I have to give this quote by Robert Rector a senior research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation and he was questioning whether some people who are classified as poor or low income. Are actually suffering from what he would call material hardship. He said a lot of safety net programs have helped many Americans but people are described as poor living in decent sized homes drive cars and own wide screen TVs and here's his quote. There is no doubt the recession is drawing a lot of people out of work and incomes have fallen. But as we come out of the recession it will be important at these programs to promote self-sufficiency rather

than dependence and encourage people to look for work. It is a great point. It is fun. That's probably why Also when you look at this city spandex lead the pack with seven more than 70 percent of Hispanics under this measurement after blacks. I am sorry. And then after them blacks come in and other ethnicities but. But I think he makes a good point. Maybe we you know we should be focusing on this other areas to make sure that people that have cars and that are not doing that bad also are not struggling to find something to eat for their kids. Your comment. Well I mean it's just you know. Fraud is certainly an always an issue when it comes to government programs. But I think the legislature legislators down in Washington have to make a decision and I think this is one of the splits. Does the government perform the role of a safety net. And what does that mean in a tough economy. We can't just keep complaining that these folks are just freeloading off the system when they are and many times have in dire straits and have

paid into the system. And to suggest that everyone is looking for the hand me out I don't think. Now Sharpton made this point years ago about. No one's really proud to get $200 a month in free government cheese. I mean they want to go out and get jobs and they in fact have jobs is just that. It's very difficult to make ends meet especially in a bad economy. Rents as high as they are. And did I mention parking in Boston. Yeah. They are living in Boston that's right. Just last thing here you have an interesting story. Howard about the milking Institute. Oh yeah and filling a gap in the community. Yeah that's a good one. It's name from Elmo has a sort of unofficial role there but is a good group sponsored by MIT and what they do is they take community issues and folks who want to work in that world of development and improving the community from the ground up. And they give them the technical expertise to

sort of handle how do you write a grant letter how do you how do you manage the money. What are your group's assets so they get into the nitty gritty of it all and also sort of gets them thinking of the larger picture. How do you function within a school district in it and all these components that make a good neighborhood vibrant and attractive and folks want to live there. So they're one of a kind and they definitely have the expertise to carry this out given the king's long distinguished career in public service. People who don't know him he was a longtime community organizer ran for mayor at one point state rep urban planner of some note and was recognized over to MIT for those skills. So you were saying well yeah I was wondering I didn't know they were sponsored by name. What is that I mean is that the only initiative these kind of things in the community.

I don't know but really if you are you know relationship over there right. So you're there so that would make sense one of the key founding partners according the article is mass housing and it should be noted that when people come into the Institute they're not just fall off the turnip truck no. They have skills already. You're talking levels and right right right right. So you've got someone who's going into a nonprofit who's been at a private company for years and can handle the books but now they get a whole different set of challenges dealing with the nonprofit world. The public input level working with government agencies you just can't walk into those jobs and then given everyone's need to find results and impact you've got to be able to measure. Right now you've got this increasing standards so how do you do all that. You know sounds like a good motto. Oh it is actively. Well with seconds to go I want to wish Howard a Happy Kwanzaa because I know what my son is going to receive as a fake on without him. I don't. Know you or whatever you know. People have. You all heard I had my hand out I had to

stand up for the black people's holiday that Marcella believes leave a. Happy holiday at the least Now do you do my stuff. Why not. OK now we've got to make now is about unity people. Brush back my heated race. Last year two more in 2012. We've been talking news with Howard Manley executive editor of the Bay State better and Marcella Garcia managing editor of Elle Panetta thank you from Lubbock Nine's we turn to the latest pop culture headlines you're listening to the Callen Crossley Show on eighty nine point seven. WGBH. This program is made possible thanks to you.

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WGBH. This year WGBH listeners were talking about protesters in many parts of the Arab world Sconce in state capital. Occupy Wall Street death of Osama bin Laden Steve Jobs any White House all U.S. troops will leave Iraq. The Euro Zone what's happening in Libya unemployment rate Gabrielle Giffords to the 2012 campaign trail helped fuel the conversations of 2012 by making a tax deductible gift right now. Be a part of what's next called 8 8 8 8 9 7 9 4 2 4. Great question her that's a great question and that's a great question. It's a great question. Rick great question on FRESH AIR. You'll hear unexpected questions and unexpected answers this afternoon at 2:00 here on eighty nine point seven. WGBH. It's rag time. A look at popular culture the salacious the

ridiculous and everything in between. But this being public radio we'll conduct our review with the help of some highbrow analysts 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. Hello again. Merry Merry. I think almost marrow mistery. Well let's start this way on this very show the two of you said the new reality show on TLC All American Muslim wouldn't go very far because it's boring. It's all about just regular Americans being Muslim and where was that going to go. Well this week it turned into be a controversial show because some of the attention paid to it by a group a religious group citing that they thought that the show did a disservice by showing boring Muslims and that it should in fact show a broader

range of Muslims and include folks that they thought would be. Potentially violent. So before we engage in our conversation just remind people what this was all about. This is a trailer to the reality show All American Muslim. After 9/11 the environmentalists was a bit more hostile. They say we're Muslim we're barbaric or we're terrorist towelheads. It got bad. You know our community is complicated. And even within our own families we don't always agree. We live our lives like everybody else in law enforcement for 19 years. The most important things are my family and coaching football so you guys get to do this. So you fight till the end. I really am American There's no ifs ands or buts about it. So Rachel some disagree with that. Lolo's was persuaded the home home improvement store to rich draw its ads from the show. And that was followed by others including kayak the website that one uses to put travel

together. Your response. Well you know that there have been. Sort of threatened economic pressures from interest groups says at least since the beginning of the film industry that that sort of formed one of the kinds of censorship of movies and now we see television and the interesting thing is right now this actually sort of speaks to the special position of Muslim Americans but it also is it's also doesn't in that the censorship the most recent censorship based on this kind of pressure has been about religious questions not so much about sex or violence or crime the way it used to do say you know in the 1930s. But you know if you think about the same sort of pressure brought to bear on the movie The Golden Compass because of claims that it was anti religious or you know it's somewhat more provocatively with The Passion of the Christ. So you know there's a way in which this is entirely

in keeping with with the way censorship. This is television but you know with the motion picture industry generally and then at the same time there is a ways in which it still speaks to you know post 9/11 blaming. They're getting some pushback lows at least and I don't know about his kayak is pretty recent. And Russell Simmons stepped in. Hip hop mogul and businessman to buy up all the ads that Lowe's really didn't buy anymore to say hey I'm making a stand. I should note that Simmons is chairman of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding which promotes racial and interfaith harmony. What I was interested to read in comments online about the story was anger by people who don't like the show at Lowe's for bringing attention to the show that it otherwise wouldn't have gotten And now there's an or there's an organized boycott of Lowe's because they brought so much attention to the show. Again this is as we discussed the show hasn't changed it's still people going through their mundane

lives. But now there's a focus on it as sort of this cultural emblem either of people who see this as quote the enemy unquote or other people who see it as it's just normal Americans. Why can't we all just get along. Unfortunately in our polarized culture the people who say why can't we all just get along are bludgeoned and the anger the angry people the strident people will find this make this a cause to rally around. I should know that people who say why can't we all just get along we're literally bludgeoned. That's what you're saying yes but you know I was just listening to you Tom and I was thinking you know well way to prove their point right that and the clip you just played where they're saying you know we recalled these names that got really bad people don't want to see that we're regular Americans that. Everything that's happened you know couldn't be planned wetter. Better to prove that point. I want to note that the president of kayak said the his there complained had nothing to do actually with the lows that it was just unfortunate timing that they were going to

pull their ads anyway because quote mostly I just thought the show sucked. Unquote. That's his quote he said I thought it was boring and so we would have done this if we had known and they were obviously trying to set us up and blah blah blah. That's what that's that's what advertisers care most about is it isn't just taste have to do with a hundred times that it's extraordinary. OK well moving on. Michael Jackson's young daughter Paris was only really seen talking when right after his funeral. But now she's in the spotlight of her own choosing she's agreed to be in a movie about a children's book that's coming out next year. And she sat down with Ellen. So here is Paris Jackson speaking with Ellen the generous and in this clip Ellen has asked Paris what she thought about having to wear masks when she was younger. Yeah I'm like stupid when we were in there. Right. But yeah. I think I kind of realized the older I got like you know only trying to protect. And he explained that to us too. The most memorable saying that your dad said to you was he said if I

die tomorrow always remember what I told you. And I took his advice and I remembered everything. Surprised by her she was calm normal kid OK well spoken to articulate but unfortunately I had a sense of dread watching the interview because she really brightened up the most when she talked about going to the high school where no one knew who she was and she could find to be normal and I thought to myself and you were telling this to you know 100 million people and you're about to launch a movie career. You know are you looking down the tunnel saying Oh oh here comes the sun. You know it's that it's a freight train. Same same response Ridgwell All right I just have to call attention to one thing that just occurred to me as we're sitting here the movie that she's going to be in is called London's bridge and the character she's playing is is named London but her name is Paris. It's pretty good that they're OK. And his incident and the movie movie looks totally totally bizarre and

sort of misshapen. But then again I thought you know the the couple of movies Her father was in were totally bizarre and there's one the main one I am. It came out like 2004 and it's called miss something or other and the island girls and it was this spoof of all different kinds of movies and genres sort of lumped together so you know that there that that's in keeping a little bit but you know she's she's adorable. You know she is there we'll see what happens. Oh well we have to play a classic tune to set up our next story so here goes. I guess maybe granite. Will. Be on til bang. We are. In the U.S.. But school of shame. He's run into a band. Of it.

Then. That's in tribute to Elizabeth Taylor's jewelry connection fetching one hundred fifteen million dollars and eight point eight million of that went for her diamond ring given her by Richard Burton. Thomas is that what you get your wife. Boy I you know when I was growing up I associated Elizabeth Taylor with this huge diamond. People talked about it all the time and Richard Burton they used to make the circuit of the talk shows talking about how they got it and how drunk he was when he first saw it needs a term he's going to give a tour and. I see people often look nostalgically back at all the good old days of talk shows and wasn't society more literate back then and what I remember that kind of a story and even though Burton had been a Shakespearean actor by the time he was in the sixties buying jewelry for Elizabeth Taylor and but by the time Elizabeth Taylor was getting that kind of Julie she was in the two of them one flop after flop after flop and they really set the mold for celebrities who were celebrities because their

films tanked one after another. And so this way of promoting themselves via jewelry or gift giving or fighting in public and so forth really has set the mold Europe for today's 21st century celebrities. Rachel you know I'm also thinking back to just talking about Michael Jackson and how somebody had recently bought like a some pieces of his hair and made it into a roulette a ball for roulette roulette wheel hoping that would need to bring some kind of luck it's us. It is a strange. I'm trying to figure out like there is you know maybe admiration on the one hand and then there is like some kind of like metaphor grave robbing on the other hand and you know where does this lie in there sort of like creating the the fetish out of somebodies belongings or their person. What one of the top pieces was a gift from Michael Jackson to Elizabeth Taylor that sort of Hugo is all Michael Jackson. Well I'd have to bring up that the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. It's getting this money so this is great you know part of the proceeds and that's that's I mean a lot I

mean that Cali great Elizabeth Taylor spent the latter part of her career really doing tremendous work for AIDS and a lot of other organization and any part of a hundred fifty million dollars is good part if you're a charity organization so I have to say that's a great thing. All right. Nobody knew I certainly didn't until it was brought to my attention that there was fighting among the Trekkies and the star. I didn't know I like them both so what can I say. But Cal I mean while they say that he had his head high like what I said. Can't they just get along and they get along stepping into the void to create peace however. Is George stick a he was an original senator of the Star Trek Mr. sumo and he called this week for peace a unification against Twilight here is what's needed today no more than. That is stalling. Or there is an obvious mutual threat to all sides and its goal.

It is revealing really that gun is in the sense of heroism camaraderie or in this place we have that said sport go to high school. Let's say worst of the three. I just love what he had to say yeah yeah this is a terrific Larry and I particularly love the way that he is quite self mocking. Yes because he you know he makes fun of his own you know sort of habit for our recent recitation and he says that Twilight is really really bad. Yeah. Yeah but there's a serious point that he does make in there and that is that speculative fiction serves a really important purpose of allowing people to think about possibilities and whole worlds that they that can't be imagined otherwise. And so if as he goes on to say you know the only plot point in a device that points or the only message seems to be like does

my boyfriend really really like me. Then it is definitely more limited and closed off than either Star Trek or Star Wars. Though I can't imagine that it could past your attention that it was like a great deal of rivalry there. Oh never the twain shall meet. It's also interesting that. It's been a long time before since a new science fiction series or set of characters have captured the public imagination the way Twilight has or walking dead or even going back to Harry Potter which still is much more recent I mean Star Trek goes back to the 60s and the SAR wars from the 70s. I mean they certainly have their fans. But I do agree George Takei is mocking but I think serious science fiction fans do feel left out of the this this decade. Well they need to take the reels out of that. Yeah yeah yeah. And it takes a weaver shoppes course over at Harvard a vampire in literature and film to see the elevation of the fire but I take his point.

Meanwhile Meryl Streep is gracing the cover of Vogue. This comes on the heels of her star at latest starring role as Margaret Thatcher in an new movie called iron lady but she was really quite candid about being an older woman in Hollywood and being selected to be on that cover Were you surprised Rachel. Was I surprised. Well you know I I guess the levels of surprise if I'm not surprised that Meryl Streep was the one because you know she is often sort of gotten more of a pass than norm than than most aging Hollywood actresses. My you know I sigh. It's interesting you sort of think about how how many actors and actors have been on the cover of Vogue and the sort of like fashion celebrity it's all big one ball of wax and you know I I I I I want you know some version of Martin Luther King's dream that actresses we judged by the content of their character and not the elasticity of their skin.

Maybe this is the first step for me. You know the only film of Meryl Streep's that unequivocal enjoyed was Mamma Mia. I am not American. To me I just see her enrolled in the false humility trope whenever she makes a pub Devil Wears Prada you don't want money I want if I'm done ok I'd like to be ours. Yeah. Yes they are so good. Or is the music you know Streep push her out the window. But this. Again the way she's taking on the mantle of all women of a certain age and being on the cover of Vogue we've talked about this before. I wish people would just stop looking at these magazine covers as anything other than as a preview of ads to come and the press has any say this is any sort of cultural or social milestone is just now it's a date let's right it is a slow creation of ISO sort of trying to say this whole notion of celebrity for celebrity sake. And she and also the thing though that my particular gripe is that people that you do hear people who sort of say well it's OK if Meryl Streep has like America to get old because she does accents.

Yeah. That is just crazy but really it's really attack. But you know with the celebrity culture just you have to say that every other celebrity has been on the cover of Vogue has been way younger way or Way Gone grandees Oh yeah you know. So that's you know that's important in some way even if it's a it is but infomercial I decided it would be worth it Meryl Streep would be the one. Yeah OK. Well all right well that's you. There you have it another great edition of ragtime Professor Rachel Reuben and Professor Thomas Connelly. Thank you for joining us. And you can keep on top of the Calla Crossley Show WGBH dot org slash Calla Crossley follow us on Twitter or become a fan of the callee cross the show on Facebook. Today's show was engineer by Jane pic produced by Chelsea murders. Will Rose live and Abbie Ruzicka the Calla Crossley Show is a production of WGBH radio.