Behind the Scenes at NPR’s Talk of the Nation
During my brief summer as an intern at NPR in Washington, D.C., I worked with the NPR Ombudsman, Alicia Shephard and her assistant Lori Grisham to produce a multimedia story on Talk of the Nation. The idea for the multimedia piece, which would be a first for Alicia, came out of the many …
Operation Recovery: The War on Food Waste
Waste—it’s a part of daily life in American homes, stores and restaurants nationwide. We throw away a shocking amount of food. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 25 percent of all food produced yearly is thrown away. Jonathan Bloom, author of the blog Wastedfood.com, says Americans are pretty good at …
Amidst Controversy, a Call for Unity, Tolerance, and Understanding Among Vietnamese-Americans
Brian Doan, 40, was born August 22nd, 1968 towards the end of the Tet Offensive in the Central Vietnam city of Quang Ngai. The Tet Offensive was a turning point in Vietnamese history marking the end of the Vietnam War and the beginning of what would be a new kind of struggle for an entire [...]
Living and Growing in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – In the district of Praça Onze, around the corner from Rua Marquês de Sapucaí where the world-famous Rio Carnaval makes its annual procession, the presence of Crescer e Viver, or “Living and Growing,” is unmistakable with its prominent blue-and-white striped circus tent. The tent is fenced off in an almost [...]
Celebrating the Word: The Story of Friendship Baptist Church
On Sunday mornings, when Bishop James D. Carrington stands before his congregation at Friendship Baptist Church, he sees the old women in scarlet gabardine and boys in faded jeans, heads bowed in prayer. He hears the soaring gospel riffs from the choir [...]
Passing on the Mantle: Tibetans of Southern California
Downtown Los Angeles, March 10th, 2009: “What do we want?” asks a rally leader on a megaphone, “Justice!” responds a group of about a hundred marchers. These are the voices of Southern California’s Tibetans in exile. Their chants remain loud and in uniform, their vibrant red, blue, and yellow national flags flutter briskly in the [...]
No First Name: A Tibetan in Exile
When Tsering Dolma first arrived in New York City in 2004, she barely spoke a word of English. She came only with a determination to survive and support her family still living in the Tibetan refugee villages of India. Like many other older, less-educated Tibetan women in exile, she went to work as a nanny [...]