World Views: Voices of Ethnic Identity

Stories

The Poet and the Rickshaw Driver (Weekend Edition, August 1997)
An Indian poet, Gagan Gill, describes her encounter with a homeless rickshaw driver on the streets of Delhi. Produced by Sandy Tolan.

Susan Walsh (This American Life, February 1997)
The story and profile of a New Jersey go-go dancer who disappeared and was never found. Produced by Sandy Tolan.

The Lemon Tree (Fresh Air, May 1998)
Bashir, an Arab, was six when his family was driven out of his old stone home in Ramle, in old Palestine, during the war with Israel in July 1948. Dalia, a Jew, was six months old when her family arrived from Bulgaria in October 1948, and moved into an old stone home in Ramle. Nineteen years later, after the Six Day War, Bashir went to visit his old home. He rang the bell. Dalia answered. Produced by Sandy Tolan.

The Stone and the Viola (Weekend Edition, May 1998)
A first-person profile of Ramzi Hussein, who, as an eight-year-old boy in a West Bank refugee camp, threw stones at Israeli soldiers during the intifada. Ten years later, he picked up a bow, and a viola. Produced by Sandy Tolan.

Alicia's Story (All Things Considered, December 1998)
Alicia Rodriguez speaks from a federal prison in California, where she is serving an 86-year-prison term for seditious conspiracy and other crimes related to a 1970's bombing campaign by the Puerto Rican independence group FALN. Four people were killed in one of the bombings, but none of the FALN defendants was charged with murder. FALN is the Spanish acronym for "Armed Forces of National Liberation." This documentary explores how Rodriguez, the US-born, middle class daughter of Puerto Rican immigrants, became a self-described freedom fighter for an island she first visited at age 21. Produced by Cecilia Vaisman.

Operation Pedro Pan: A Cold War Fight for the Hearts and Minds of Children (All Things Considered, May 2000)
In early 1960, just after the Cuban revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power, rumors spread throughout Cuba that the newly installed communist government would take children away from their parents and ship them off to work camps in the Soviet Union. Frightened parents started sending their children alone to Miami under a secret program run by a Catholic priest and financed in part by the US government. María de los Torres was six years old when she landed in Miami as part of this massive airlift. Produced by Cecilia Vaisman.

Cholera Diary (Public Radio International/The Savvy Traveler, October 1999)
Doctors without Borders is the world's largest independent, international medical relief agency. These physicians aid the victims of war and natural disasters who don't have health care because they live in remote areas of the world. The volunteers do everything from emergency surgery to vaccinating children to training local medical staff. Today, we hear the diary of Joelle Pouliot, a physician from Canada, who joined Doctors without Borders to help others...and ended up learning quite a bit about herself along the way. Produced by Joelle Pouliot.

Mucho Corazón (This American Life, February 1999)
The story of a Dutchman, a Cuban Woman, and true love in a Cuban factory for pipe organs. It is a story of love, music, and international politics. Produced by Chris Brookes and Michele Ernsting.

Me and Hank (Weekend Edition, August 2000)
The story of a boy and his hero, baseball slugger Hank Aaron, 25 years after Aaron's traumatic chase for baseball's all-time career home run record, and an exploration of the hatred Aaron endured in chasing a white man's record. Produced by Sandy Tolan.

Ethiopian Jews (Weekend Edition, June 2000)
A profile of Shula Mulah, an Israeli woman of Ethiopian descent, who came to Israel in 1984 as part of an airlift called "Operation Moses." She explores her dual identity and issues of race in Israel. Produced by Sandy Tolan.

Gloria Flora and the Elko Uprising (Living On Earth, March 2000)
Gloria Flora was a rising star in the US Forest Service, one whom many thought might become the first woman to head the agency. But her promotion to head a national forest in Nevada ended up scuttling her career. The story of Flora's downfall personifies the widening war between local citizens and federal natural resource managers over who should determine the fate of public lands. Produced by Alan Weisman.

Coming North (All Things Considered, May 2001)
In the wake of the deaths of Mexican migrants in the Arizona desert, a shelter on the Nogales, Sonora border serves as the place of last refuge before brave and desperate migrants continue their journey north. Produced by Sandy Tolan.

A Bean of a Different Color (Weekend Edition Saturday/American Radio Works, June 2001)
How a little-known bean spurred an international trade dispute and served as a metaphor for mounting intellectual property battles in the new global economy. Produced by Sandy Tolan.

Eco Pilot (Living on Earth, October 2001)
Barbara Ferry profiles Sandy Lanham, an unusual "eco-pilot" who helps Mexican environmentalists track endangered wildlife. Winner of the 2002 Gracie Allen Award.

Newfoundland Shipwreck Survivor (This American Life, December 2001)
This is a story about a young sailor from the Deep South, and an experience that changed his life. Lanier Philips was on a US Navy ship wrecked during a vicious storm off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, during World War II. More than 200 of Philips' shipmates died, but he was rescued. The treatment Philips received as he recuperated forever altered his life, opening his eyes to the possibility of a world without racism. Produced by Chris Brookes.

Roots of Resentment Part I
Roots of Resentment Part II(All Things Considered/American Radio Works, December 2001)
This story, produced in the wake of the September 11 attacks, explores the roots of anger in the Arab world toward the west in general, and the US in particular. Moving beyond the basic question, "why do they hate us?", the documentary explores through Arab voices the deep historical resentments of people in the Arab world. Produced by Sandy Tolan.

Runaway (This American Life, March 2002)
The chronicle of a family that unraveled. Debra Gwartney loved her two oldest daughters like she loved herself. And they loved her in return. But Debra got a divorce, moved the family to Oregon, and relations with her daughters got worse and worse. Finally, at the ages of thirteen and fourteen, they ran away. In this story, Debra and her daughters try and retrace what, exactly, went wrong. Produced by Sandy Tolan.

The Cross of Juárez (Latino USA, February 2003)
The wave of assassinations of women factory workers in Ciudad Juárez that began in 1993 shows no sign of abating. As accusations fly back and forth across the border, the situation has contributed to deteriorating trust between the twin cities of El Paso and Juárez and a climate of chronic fear. Produced by Cecilia Vaisman, Mario Mercuri, and Vanesa Robles.

Border Soldiers (Latino USA, April 2003)
How the US war in Iraq is affecting the Juárez, Mexico, families of US soldiers fighting overseas. Produced by Barbara Ferry.

Panorama, Texas (Latino USA, April 2003)
The misery of Mexican slum colonias has long been visible just across from many US border towns. Over the past decade, however, despite the economic promise of NAFTA, the phenomenon has spread to the US side. Today, a half-million Texans live in more than 1,500 colonias that lack running water and sewage treatment. In one of these, Panorama, Texas, we follow Mexican immigrant Oscar Solís as he organizes his community to fight for changes. Produced by Victoria Mauleón.

Tijuana Opera (Weekend Edition/Saturday, August 2003)
Tijuana has been known for bullfights and beer, but the Mexican border city also has a growing opera community. Recitals and lectures are frequent, Tijuana natives are studying and performing in opera's European citadels, and the city now has its first opera. Produced by Sam Quiñones.

Luis and Negra (This American Life, October 2003)
In the late 1970s, Luis Alberto Urrea was working in the slums of Tijuana and Ana María "Negra" Calderón was a barefoot young girl, the unschooled daughter of garbage pickers. Nearly 25 years later, Luis is now a celebrated writer, winner of the American Book Award, and a tenured professor in Chicago. Back in Tijuana, Negra is struggling to raise her children and those of her sister, who was killed by her husband. In this piece Luis travels back to Tijuana to see Negra after an absence of seven years. He explores his sometimes uneasy relationship and the obligations that "first world" writers have toward their "third world" subjects. Produced by Barbara Ferry, with Sandy Tolan, Alan Weisman, and Deborah Begel.