wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Not Enough Indians

Harry Shearer, a former Saturday Night Live cast member and the voice of over a dozen characters on The Simpsons, shares his debut novel, the satirical Not Enough Indians. The book takes place in the fictional town of Gammage, New York, which is on its way to bankruptcy until it petitions for tribal status and opens a casino. The trouble is, not a single Native American lives in Gammage.

Not Enough Indians is available for purchase at amazon.com

• Comment
• Email
• Save

Underreported: Outsourcing Political Activism?

Dana R. Fisher, an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Columbia, tells us about her research into political canvassing in progressive politics. She claims that the left is outsourcing political activism—sending paid workers out to do the work of grassroots outreach. And she argues that it’s destroying the left’s political infrastructure, and holding back the Democratic Party.

Activism, Inc.: How the Outsourcing of Grassroots Campaigns is Strangling Progressive Politics in America is available for purchase at amazon.com

• Comment
• Email
• Save

Underreported: The Power of Documentaries

Film Forum is hosting a retrospective celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the Soros/Sundance Documentary Fund. We ask Bruni Burres, director of the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, and Gara LaMarche, vice president of the Open Society Institute (who also sits on the board of the Sundance Documentary Fund), if documentaries really can make a difference. They talk about some of the fund’s groundbreaking films that have succeeded in raising awareness for human rights issues. And they’re joined by filmmaker Antoin Kattin, who discusses his new short “There are Women in Russian Villages.” The film focuses on the lives of two women in rural Russia—where poverty and domestic violence are often a part of everyday life.

• Comment
• Email
• Save