Show for April 10, 2011. Can Violence be Unlearned?
While criminal rehabilitation seems to have fallen out of favor in much of America’s penal system, San Francisco’s Resolve to Stop the Violence Project (RSVP) is bucking the trend. RSVP aims to reform violent felons in SF’s county jails, and the program appears to be working. In this broadcast, originally from 2009, we spoke to RSVP founder Sunny Schwartz (author of Dreams from the Monster Factory) and to Ramon Garcia, who participated in the program, first as an inmate and later as a teacher.
Click the “play” arrow above to listen to the interview, or download the MP3 here.
Pledge Drive Continues: Still Time to Give
Many thanks to those of you who made contributions during our pledge drive show yesterday. Same to all who’ve pitched in during this drive. And to those of you who haven’t (yet), there’s plenty of time. Just call 888-777-1507 or go to KUSP.org. It’s soooo easy. And tell them what your favorite shows are.
On yesterday’s 7th Ave Project, we aired some choice bits from the past year’s shows. An accidental (and pledge drive-relevant) throughline emerged. If you want to hear the full stories from which the segments were taken, here are the links:
- Knowing you’re right, before the majority does: interview with Frank Kameny, gay rights pioneer
- Knowing you’re right, even when you aren’t: Political Scientist Brendan Nyhan on people’s resistance to facts
- Dying for love: conversations from Juvenile Hall
- A change of heart: an ex-con looks back on his 38 years in prison (voices from the Poetic Justice Project)
- War without end: evolutionary biologist Barry Sinervo on genetically-driven competition among lizards
- Breaking the vicious cycle: neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky and the baboon commune
- War, peace and music: David Harrington of the Kronos Quartet on Alexandra Vrebalov’s …hold me, neighbor, in this storm…
Show for Oct. 17, 2010. From Prison to the Stage: The Poetic Justice Project
The Poetic Justice Project is a theater company for the formerly incarcerated, presenting stories of prison and jail by people who’ve been there. Members of the project discuss their lives behind bars and after parole, the impact of prison art programs and their performances in a new musical drama, Off the Hook, that’s been touring California.
Click the “play” arrow above to listen, or download the MP3 here.
Show for Apr 25, 2010. Spoon Jackson and Judith Tannenbaum: By Heart
He’s serving life in prison. She’s a poet and teacher. Spoon Jackson and Judith Tannenbaum discuss how they met, discovered a mutual love of writing, and forged a 25-year friendship. Their new memoir is By Heart: Poetry, Prison, And Two Lives.
Spoon Jackson at New Folsom Prison
Click the arrow above to listen. If you don’t have Flash player or have other playback problems, click this link for the MP3.
Show for Jan 3, 2010. Voices from Juvie
“The Beat Within” is a weekly magazine that collects writings by teens in California juvenile halls. I talked to kids in the Santa Cruz Juvenile Hall who participate in the program, and who told me about their lives, hopes and writing. Also: Beat Within workshop leaders Jill Wolfson and Dennis Morton.
Click the arrow above to listen. If you don’t have Flash player or have other playback problems, click this link for the MP3.
Show for Dec 20, 2009. After Exoneration: The Rick Walker Story, Pt 2 of 2.
Rick Walker spent 12 years in California prisons for a murder he didn’t commit. In the second of this 2-part story, Walker talks about his life after prison, and film makers Gwen Essegian and Mark Ligon discuss their new documentary about Walker’s fight to get restitution for the years he lost. Also, Lola Vollen, director of the Life After Exoneration project, on the plight of exonerees nationwide.
Show for Dec 13, 2009. When Justice Fails: The Rick Walker Story, Pt 1 of 2
Rick Walker spent 12 years in California prisons for a murder he didn’t commit. In the first of a two-part series, he talks about his conviction, his years behind bars and his release. Also, Alison Tucher, the attorney who spent years proving Walker’s innocence and gaining his freedom.
Photo: Pelican Bay State Prison. Credit: John Burgess, Santa Rosa Press Democrat
