New America Media - New America Now

NAM Radio: Democracy Now's Juan Gonzalez

2011-10-28T19:30:00Z

In over 35 years as an American journalist, Juan Gonzalez has done more than leave his mark -- he has played a pivotal and crucial role in changing the face of American journalism.

As co-host of the award-winning Democracy Now!, he and his team proved that not only is it possible to create a national news program that is independent of corporate and power structures, but that millions of Americans will like it and watch it.

He joined New America Now Host Shirin Sadeghi to discuss his new book with co-author Joe Torres of the Washington-based Free Press, called News for All the People: The Epic Story of Race and the American Media.

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New America Now is the radio program of New America Media. The program is hosted by Shirin Sadeghi.

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To visit the archives of New America Now, please click here.

New America Now is now available as a podcast on National Public Radio, so you can listen to the show on your MP3 player. Click here to subscribe.

NAM Radio: The German American Journey

2011-10-25T21:52:11Z

According to German American institutions, around 40% of all Americans have at least 25% German ancestry. It's a fact they are proud of and which is used to encourage and strengthen relations between Germans and Americans.

But so little of German culture seems to have remained in America. Author Simon Winder has spent years traveling to Germany and Austria. His new book, Germania, is a window into a Germany most Americans have long forgotten. He spoke with New America Now Host Shirin Sadeghi.

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To visit the archives of New America Now, please click here.

New America Now is now available as a podcast through KALW and National Public Radio, so you can listen to the show on your MP3 player. Click here to subscribe.

NAM Radio: A Social History of Iranian Cinema

2011-10-23T21:44:29Z

You may be familiar with Iranian cinema -- its post-revolutionary neorealist incarnation has made waves at international film festivals for three decades now. But Iranian cinema is nothing new -- it began, in fact, in 1897.

Professor Hamid Naficy of Northwestern University has seen the very first Iranian film ever made -- it was found in a tattered box in a closet of the Shah's old palace in Tehran. And the story of how it was made is just the begininng of his four-volume Social History of Iranian Cinema. He spoke with New America Now Host Shirin Sadeghi about his magnum opus on Iranian cinema that was 30 years in the making.

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To visit the archives of New America Now, please click here.

New America Now is now available as a podcast through KALW and National Public Radio, so you can listen to the show on your MP3 player. Click here to subscribe.

NAM Radio: Craig Thompson's Habibi

2011-10-21T16:00:00Z

If you see Craig Thompson's new book, Habibi, you will think it is a sacred book. It is bound is what looks like hardened brown leather and its spine and cover are gilded with ancient trims. But it's not a holy book -- it is, in fact, a graphic novel about Islam, Islamophobia, the environment and modern day slavery.

And it's all written by a young man whose own background as an evangelical Christian would seem to be the farthest thing from an artist who gracefully re-creates ancient Koranic verse. Thompson spoke with New America Now Host Shirin Sadeghi.

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New America Now is now available as a podcast through KALW and National Public Radio, so you can listen to the show on your MP3 player. Click here to subscribe.

NAM Radio: A Guide to Occupy Wall Street

2011-10-10T19:30:00Z

While America's airwaves, television screens and front pages have been duly preoccupied with massive street demonstrations and revolutions in the Middle East, the American people have been busy with their own protests.

One of the biggest nationwide protests in American history since the days of the Vietnam War is now taking place in America. To learn more about the movement and its players, New America Now Host Shirin Sadeghi spoke with Bert Cannavelli -- the organizer of OccupyThe Nation.com.

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New America Now is now available as a podcast through KALW and National Public Radio, so you can listen to the show on your MP3 player. Click here to subscribe.

NAM Radio: The Theatre of Armenian Genocide

2011-10-09T23:15:00Z

The Armenian Genocide began in the late 19th century and continued on through the first two decades of the the 20th. It was the first genocide of the 20th century and hundreds of thousands -- some say 1.5 million -- Armenian lives later, the Armenian Genocide had made its mark on history.

What remains is the story of their lives, told by those who came after. Torange Yeghiazarian is the founding director of Golden Thread Middle Eastern Theatre in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her theatre's production of Night Over Erzinga is a sparkling and moving adaptation of one family's story. She spoke with New America Now Host Shirin Sadeghi.

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To visit the archives of New America Now, please click here.

New America Now is now available as a podcast through KALW and National Public Radio, so you can listen to the show on your MP3 player. Click here to subscribe.

NAM Radio: 10th Anniversary of the War in Afghanistan

2011-10-07T16:00:00Z

It was exactly 10 years ago today -- just under one month after the 9/11 attacks, that the Long War began. That is, the war with Afghanistan -- the longest war in U.S. history. Now, nearly 12,000 U.S. military casualties and over 1,500 U.S. military deaths later and countless numbers of Afghan civilian deaths -- the lowest estimates are at 10,000 -- the war yet goes on.

New America Now Host Shirin Sadeghi spoke with Afghan American journalist Fariba Nawa, author of the new book Opium Nation: Child Brides, Drug Lords, and One Woman's Journey Through Afghanistan, about the war and its impact on Afghan Americans in particular.

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To visit the archives of New America Now, please click here.

New America Now is now available as a podcast through KALW and National Public Radio, so you can listen to the show on your MP3 player. Click here to subscribe.

NAM Radio: Manufacturing Immigrant Hysteria in America

2011-10-05T05:25:00Z

America is a melting pot -- a coming together of different peoples from different countries, religions, ethnicities and ideologies. It began with immigration and it moves forward with it. But it's never been easy being different in America.

Author Jay Feldman's new book takes a look at how difficult it has been for every kind of American minority you can imagine. His book is called Manufacturing Hysteria: A History of Scapegoating, Surveillance and Secrecy in Modern America and he spoke with New America Now Host Shirin Sadeghi about the history of American hysteria.

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To visit the archives of New America Now, please click here.

New America Now is now available as a podcast through KALW and National Public Radio, so you can listen to the show on your MP3 player. Click here to subscribe.

NAM Radio: The Legacies of Chemical Warfare in Vietnam

2011-10-03T10:40:00Z

We've all heard about Agent Orange. Some of us have even seen the pictures of what it's done. But most of us have very little understanding of how it came to be used in Vietnam and how it is still hurting people and the environment to this day.

Fred Wilcox has spent decades researching the history and impact of Agent Orange on American veterans and Vietnamese people and their land. He is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Ithaca College and his new book is called Scorched Earth: Legacies of Chemical Warfare in Vietnam. He spoke with New America Now Host Shirin Sadeghi.

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New America Now is now available as a podcast through KALW and National Public Radio, so you can listen to the show on your MP3 player. Click here to subscribe.

NAM Radio: Zahra's Paradise & the Iran Election Protesters

2011-09-30T16:00:00Z

Iran. In one word it elicits the highs and lows of reactions. It is a complex country with a complex people and it has been a mainstay of American news for a good 32 years and counting now. But news coverage of Iran, with its special interests and foreign policy implications, does not provide the whole picture.

Zahra's Paradise is a refreshing change to all that -- it is a graphic novel written by two young men, known only as Amir and Khalil, which chronicles the fictionalized story of a young Iranian protester who went missing after the June 2009 presidential elections. And it is not afraid to point out the good and the bad in many of the most important players in recent Iranian history. Author Amir spoke with New America Now Host Shirin Sadeghi.

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New America Now is now available as a podcast through KALW and National Public Radio, so you can listen to the show on your MP3 player. Click here to subscribe.

NAM Radio: Pakistani American Comedian Kumail Nanjiani

2011-09-29T22:20:00Z

If you think about it, people are all the same. We all want some clothes on our back, food on the table, a roof over our heads and…well…something to laugh at. And so it goes for a little boy growing up in Pakistan. Kumail Nanjiani is an immigrant to the United States -- he arrived when he was 18 years old but today he is laughing it up with the best of America's comedians.

In addition to his stand up comedy, Nanjiani stars in the TNT legal drama Franklin and Bash as the sci-fi nerd, Pindar Singh, who works with the two main lawyers.

He will be performing at the Punchline Comedy Club in San Francisco this weekend and he spoke with New America Now Host Shirin Sadeghi to shed light on life for a Pakistani American comedian.

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To visit the archives of New America Now, please click here.

New America Now is now available as a podcast through KALW and National Public Radio, so you can listen to the show on your MP3 player. Click here to subscribe.

NAM Radio: The Biography of Obama's Father

2011-09-28T07:25:00Z

His son is the most powerful African-American in history, but his story, you will find, is even more fascinating. Barack Obama Senior was a man who was too much for this world -- too intelligent, too charming and too idealistic.

In utter contrast to his son, Obama senior was a man whose public image was politically incorrect and rebellious -- he said and did as he wished, often without regard for his safety or his future. In the end, he died young, having only met his now-famous son once. New America Now Host Shirin Sadeghi spoke with Sally Jacobs, journalist and author of the biography The Other Barack: The Bold and Reckless Life of President Obama's Father.

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To visit the archives of New America Now, please click here.

New America Now is now available as a podcast through KALW and National Public Radio, so you can listen to the show on your MP3 player. Click here to subscribe.

NAM Radio: The Rise & Fall of the American Teacher

2011-09-26T08:00:00Z

He's that guy who takes care of your kids all day long everyday. She's the friend they need when they're alone. He's the authority they turn to when they need help. He or she is your child's teacher and teachers are a dying breed in America.

There are currently 3.2 million teachers in America, but in the next few years 1.8 million of them will be up for retirement. Of the other teachers, statistics indicate that 62% of them leave the profession within five years and it has nothing to do with not loving what they do.

Jonathan Dearman was a teacher in San Francisco for 5 years before he left the profession to go into his family business of real estate. He is one of a handful of teachers who are featured in the new documentary American Teacher and he told New America Now Host Shirin Sadeghi what it's like to be an educator in America.

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Click here to follow Shirin Sadeghi on Twitter.

To visit the archives of New America Now, please click here.

New America Now is now available as a podcast through KALW and National Public Radio, so you can listen to the show on your MP3 player. Click here to subscribe.

NAM Radio: Log Cabin Ranch

2011-09-25T13:30:00Z

In the hills outside of La Honda, California there’s an alternative juvenile probation program run by the city of San Francisco. It’s called Log Cabin Ranch, and the mission is to keep young men out of the more punitive detention programs by incarcerating them in a rural setting and providing them with a 6-9 month program of counseling, education, and vocational training. For a series we’re calling “Listen In at Log Cabin Ranch” We gave some of the young men microphones, and asked them to take us into their lives. Listen below to hear the stories of D, Franklin, AJ, Chino, and Chuc.

"Listen In at Log Cabin Ranch" was produced for New America Now by Lisa Morehouse, with support from Will Roy and The Beat Within. The program was funded by the Zellerbach Family Foundation and the City of San Francisco Probation department.

D's Story:

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Franklin's Story:

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AJ's Story:

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Chino's Story:

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Chuc's Story:

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New America Now is the radio program of New America Media. The program is hosted by Shirin Sadeghi and is broadcast on 91.7 FM KALW San Francisco on Fridays at noon and Sundays at 3 pm.

New America Now's Complete Show for September 23 and 25, 2011:

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To visit the archives of New America Now, please click here.

New America Now is now available as a podcast through KALW and National Public Radio, so you can listen to the show on your MP3 player. Click here to subscribe.

NAM Radio: A Hundred Thousand Poets for Change

2011-09-24T11:45:00Z

In ancient days and ancient lands, the poet was the guru -- the man and sometimes the woman, who the public turned to for wisdom, counsel and hope. In ancient Iran there were Hafez and Rumi, in England there was Shakespeare and the list goes on...until it fades, because today, the poet doesn't quite hold the same esteem.

Michael Rothenberg is out to change that notion. From his home in Sonoma County California he has managed to organize the biggest ever gathering of international poets to demonstrate to the world that the poet is alive and well and still the voice of change.

His event is called 100,000 Poets for Change and it takes place this weekend, Saturday September 24, in 450 cities in 95 countries to promote serious social, environmental and political change. He spoke with New America Now Host Shirin Sadeghi ahead of the event.

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Click here to follow Shirin Sadeghi on Twitter.

To visit the archives of New America Now, please click here.

New America Now is now available as a podcast through KALW and National Public Radio, so you can listen to the show on your MP3 player. Click here to subscribe.