Ensler, Eve –The Vagina Monologues
Radio Curious brings you an archived conversation with Eve Ensler, creator of the Vagina Monologues.
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Stewart, Maria W. – Sandra Kamusukiri – A Visit With a Free Black Woman – Boston 1840
Radio Curious brings you an archived interview with Maria Stewart, as portrayed by Sandra Kamusukiri. Maria W. Stewart, was a free black woman who lived in Boston, MA, from the 1820s to the early 1840s. She was the first American born woman to lecture in public on political themes and likely the first African-American to speak out in defense of women’s rights.
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Nawa, Fariba — Child Brides & Drug Lords
Imagine Darya, a twelve year old girl in a remote village of Afghanistan. Her father forces her to marry a drug lord as part payment for an opium drug trade. Her father is not home and she is about to be taken from her family. Desperately, her hands trembling, she implores you, a complete stranger: “Please don’t let him take me.”
In this edition of Radio Curious we visit Fariba Nawa, author of “Opium Nation: Child Brides, Drug Lords and One Woman’s Journey Through Afghanistan.” Fariba Nawa was ten years old when her family fled Afghanistan shortly before the Soviet invasion in 1979. Eighteen years later Fariba Nawa met twelve year old Darya when she returned to her native Afghanistan as an Afghan-American investigative journalist. Her book tells Darya’s story, and reveals what the Afghan opium drug trade is doing to her native land in the midst of war.
Fariba Nawa and I visited by phone from her home near San Francisco, California on January 23, 2012. We began with her description of coming to the United States and flight from Afghanistan.
Fariba Nawa’s website is www.faribanawa.com. The book she recommends is “Day of Honey: A Memoir of Food, Love and War,” by Annia Ciezaldo.
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Aanestad, Christina — Occupying the Port of Oakland
In response to the attempts to end “Occupy” movements in different parts of the United States beginning the November 2011, local people in and near west coast sea ports on Monday, December 12, 2011 gathered to occupy their local port.
Radio Curious Assistant Producer, Christina Aanestad, went to the Port of Oakland where she met with and interviewed organizers, participants and bystanders. Her journey began at 5:30 am on a cold Monday morning at the West Oakland Bart Station. The first person with whom she spoke was a woman cloaked in a bright blue tarp with the words “The People’s TARP” inscribed thereon.
Before we hear the voice of this woman it is important to remember that TARP is an acronym for the U.S. government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program established to purchase assets and equity from financial institutions purportedly to strengthen its financial sector to address the subprime mortgage crisis. TARP originally authorized $700 Billion Dollars in 2008 to cover unorthodox real estate loans. 50 year old Karen Mackley wore what she called the people’s tarp.
The books Christina Aanestad recommends are “Pronoia is the Antidote of Paranoia: How the Whole Workd is Conspiring to Shower You With Blessings,” by Rob Brezsny, and “Angry Women” by Andrea Juno.
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Dakin, Susanna — An Artist in the White House?
Imagine if you will an artist instead of a politician in the White House. This possibility existed in 1984 in reality, not in the George Orwell novel. Susanna Dakin, a sometimes resident of Santa Monica, California and sometimes of Mendocino County, California, a sculptor by training conceived of her national campaign for the presidency as a one-year durational art performance piece. Although Sue Dakin as she is now known, was defeated having been effectively overshadowed by the second term campaign of Ronald Reagan, Dakin has continued to practice what she calls “system sculpture” in her political, spiritual and art life.
This unusual episode in American Presidential Campaign History is revealed in Dakin’s book An Artist for President: The Nation is the Artwork and We are the Artists, published in 2011.
Maria Gilardin, host and producer of TUC Radio, and a friend of Sue Dakin and me, joined us in the studios of Radio Curious on November 25, 2011 in conversation with Sue Dakin about about her life and book. Maria Gilardin’s website is www.tucradio.org.
The book Sue Dakin recommends is, “The Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History,” by S.C. Gwynne.
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Aanestad, Christina — Gold, Oil and a Journalist’s Adventure in Ecuador
One of the things I learned in law school about bankruptcy was that if you have to borrow money to take a trip and then go bankrupt, the judge can’t take the trip away from you. In this edition we have a travel report from Christina Aanestad the Associate Producer for Radio Curious. Christina recently returned from a 6 week exploratory, journalist visit from Ecuador, a favorite country of mine.
We visited at the Radio Curious studios on August 29, 2011, to discuss her adventures and what she learned about oil drilling, gold mining and dam construction, as well as what motivated her to take this trip.
The books that Christina Aanestad recommend are, “Now is the Time to Open Your Heart,” by Alice Walker and “Pronoia is the Antidote to Paranoia: How the Whole World is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings,” by Rob Brezney.
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Dakin-Sadgopal, Dr. Mira — Midwifery in Rural India-Part 2
Join us for part two of an interview with Dr. Mira Dakin-Sadgopal, an obstetrician and gynecologist living and working in rural India and an organizer of the Jeeva Project, which in part, studies an indigenous midwifery practice that uses the placenta to revive newborn babies who are unable to breathe. In this two part series we discuss current and traditional midwifery practices in India’s rural countryside. For part one and more information on Dr. Mira Dakin-Sadgopal, visit our first interview here .
This second interview with Dr. Mira Dakin-Sadgopal was recorded in the studios of Radio Curious on September 6th, 2010.
The book Dr. Dakin-Sadgopal recommends is, “Anila’s Journey,” by Mary Finn.
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Dakin Sadgopal, Dr. Mira — Midwifery in Rural India-Part 1
Dr. Mira Dakin-Sadgopal is an obstetrician and gynecologist living and working in rural India and an organizer of the Jeeva Project, which in part, studies an indigenous midwifery practice that uses the placenta to revive newborn babies who are unable to breathe. In a two part series we discuss current and traditional midwifery practices in India’s rural countryside.
Dr. Dakin-Sadgopal is the Managing Trustee of Tathapi, a small center for ‘Women and Health’ Resource Development in India, where she has lived for over 3 decades. In the 1980s Dr. Dakin-Sadgopal provided medical relief to victims of the Union Carbide gas leak in Bhopal. She later collaborated with women members of a landless laborer’s union to run “Zaroori Dawai ki Suvidha” – “essential medicines facility,” a local village medical co-operative. She is the author of “In Our Hands,” and the editor of two books, “Her Healing Heritage,” and “Na Shariram Nadhi,” – “My Body is Mine.”
In 2007 Dr. Dakin-Sadgopal was the recipient of the Chingari Award for Women Against Corporate Crimes, which is given annually to a woman activist who has taken up the cause of a community fighting corporate criminal activity in India. Dr. Dakin-Sadgopal grew up in California and is now citizen of India. This, the first of two interviews with Dr. Mira Dakin-Sadgopal was recorded in the studios of Radio Curious on September 6th, 2010.
The book Dr. Dakin-Sadgopal recommends is, “Anila’s Journey,” by Mary Finn.
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Rand, Joanne — Folksinger
Sharing interpretations of the human condition and the love of music with lyrical power and determination is the artistry of Joanne Rand, our guest on this edition of Radio Curious. Currently based in Arcata, California, after growing up in the Georgia, and studying art, her passion as a singer – songwriter gripped and has shaped her life since.
I met Joanne Rand at a house concert in here in Ukiah soon after she released her tenth CD album “Snake Oil and Hummingbirds.” We visited in the Radio Curious studios on March 29, 2010 and began our conversation with recollections of her early memories and how they helped shape the woman she is now.
The book Joann Rand recommends is “Universe: A Journey To The Edge of The Cosmos,” by Nicholas Cheetham.
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Muldaur, Maria — Sing, Maria, Sing
Maria Muldaur is a name that has been familiar to my ears since I was a teenager, she could be familiar to your ears too on this edition of Radio Curious. After the popularity of her songs “I’m A Woman” and “Midnight at the Oasis” in the late 60’s and early 70’s she has explored her love of American “roots music.” During this conversation we discover what drew her to “roots” music, who influenced her and what “I’m A Woman” means to her. We began our conversation with her to sharing stories about her early life in Greenwich Village, New York.
The books Maria Maldaur recommends are: “The Game Of Life And How To Play It,” by Florence Scovel Shinn, “The Wisdom Of Florence Scovel Shinn,” “ The Power Of Positive Thinking” by Norman Vincent Peale and “The Code” by Tony Burroughs.
This interview was recorded in the studios of Mendocino College on April 19 2010. The books Maria Maldaur recommends are: “The Game Of Life And How To Play It” by Florence Scovel Shinn, “The Wisdom Of Florence Scovel Shinn,” “ The Power Of Positive Thinking” by Norman Vincent Peale and “The Code” by Tony Burroughs.
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