Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's controversial immigration raids have turned Arizona into a battleground for national immigration issues. The US Department of Homeland Security recently stripped Arpaio's authority to arrest suspected undocumented immigrants, yet the Sheriff says he will continue the raids.
This week, the public radio program Making Contact features a story by Feet in Two Worlds reporter Valeria Fernández about the impact of an immigration raid on a family in Phoenix, Arizona. You can listen to the story on the Feet in Two Worlds blog, or, to find a radio station near you that carries the program, click here.
You can also read Valeria's post on producing the radio story, "Behind the Headlines About Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Immigration Sweeps," on the Feet in Two Worlds blog.
Many U.S. churches have declared themselves sanctuaries for
immigrants; others have lobbied for immigration reform. In New Haven,
Connecticut—a town with a history of progressive policies towards the
undocumented—one priest is teaching parishioners how to stand up for
their civil rights.
Feet in Two Worlds' reporter Aswini Anburajan profiles Father James
Manship for a piece airing on public radio stations nationwide on
NPR's Latino USA starting August 28, 2009. Click here to listen to the piece online from KUT public radio in Austin, Texas.
You can also read Aswini's post about producing the radio story on the Feet in Two Worlds blog.
Construction has just started in Warsaw on the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, which commemorates centuries of Jewish life and achievements in Poland. The project comes at a time when Poland is witnessing a more open dialogue on the complicated Polish-Jewish relationship.
Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska's story on the museum aired August 25, 2009 on PRI's The World. Click here to listen online.
Photo: Krzysztof Slomka
President Obama campaigned on a promise to address immigration issues in his first year but other pressing issues, such as the economy and healthcare, have caused him to postpone Congressional debate on immigration reform until 2010.
Feet in Two Worlds blog editor Diego Graglia appeared on The Brian Lehrer Show on August 17, 2009 to discuss the Obama administration's decision to table comprehensive immigration reform until next year and the reaction from Latino activists. Click here to listen.
You can also read Diego's blog post on the subject here.
The Motown sound is probably the most famous music to come out of Detroit. But two decades ago, the Motor City spawned another musical genre. Today, "techno" is instantly recognizable as the soundtrack for nightlife in clubs and discos from New York to Moscow, and the young black Detroit DJs who pioneered the style are now considered music royalty.
Inspired by legendary Detroit techno artists, the next generation of DJs began mixing traditional techno sounds with music from their Latin roots to form the subgenre of Latin techno. Feet in Two Worlds' Martina Guzmán reports on this burgeoning musical genre for WDET's "Detroit Today." The story aired on August 13, 2009. Click here to listen.
Photo: Merlijn Hoek/Flickr CC
Non-profit group Haiti Outreach, based out of St. Blase Church on Detroit's east side, sends physicians and medical supplies to Mirebalais, a remote town in Haiti.
Feet in Two Worlds and WDET journalist Martina Guzmán reports on the group and its missions to Haiti, where people "will do anything to see a physician," including standing in a mile-long line, say members Dominique Monde and Soledad Nelson.
"The relationship between both communities is mutually beneficial," reports Martina. "By helping a town in Haiti, Haitian-Americans help themselves maintain their identity."
Martina's story aired July 8, 2009, on Detroit Public Radio's Detroit Today show. Click here to listen online.
Photo: Haiti Outreach
Feet in Two Worlds blog editor Diego Graglia was interviewed Tuesday, July 7, 2009, on The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC, New York public radio.
Diego spoke about the mid-term elections in Mexico, where the PRI, the party that controlled the country for seven decades until 2000, has made a stunning comeback.
The election had a turnout rate of less than 50% and it saw almost 6% of voters casting nullified ballots as a protest against the political party system.
Click here to listen to the segment online.
Photo: tj scenes/Flickr CC
In recent years immigrant business owners have breathed new life into the North Shore of Staten Island—New York's least populated and least diverse borough—but now the economic downturn has left many of them struggling.
Feet in Two Worlds partnered with WNYC, New York Public Radio to produce a profile of Victory Boulevard, one of Staten Island's major thoroughfares, for the Main Street NYC series, which examines the recession's impact on neighborhoods across the city.
Click here to listen to the story by Feet in Two Worlds reporter Aswini Anburajan, which aired on May 12, 2009 during Morning Edition on WNYC.
Photo: Aswini Anburajan
Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska, reporter for Nowy Dziennik/The Polish Daily News, describes the changing attitudes of young Polish Americans toward their homeland and the United States. Older Polish immigrants idealized the U.S. for its political freedom and economic security, but younger Poles who grew up after the fall of communism now look toward Europe for economic opportunities. Armed with self confidence and mobility, this younger generation feels less tied to life in America than their parents and grandparents.
Ewa's piece aired April 24, 2009 on Latino USA. You can listen to it online on the show's website. The show airs locally Sunday morning on WNYC, New York Public Radio.
Photo: Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska
Martina Guzmán received the 2008 award for best individual reporting from the Michigan AP Broadcasters Association for her stories that aired on WDET, Detroit Public Radio. Her winning stories, produced by Feet in Two Worlds, included a profile of Detroit's newest private school, a piece on Palestinian-American Rashida Tlaib's campaign for the Michigan State Legislature and a piece on Hispanic-owned businesses thriving amidst Detroit's deteriorating economy.
Feet in Two Worlds blog editor Diego Graglia appeared on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show on March 3, 2009 to discuss President Obama's announcement on Spanish-language radio that he intends to begin work on immigration reform in the next few months.
In his interview with Los Angeles-based Eddie "Piolin" Sotelo, the President said he was "very committed" to having the reform passed in Congress. But the news was mostly ignored by English-language media. As we wrote after the interview, this is not the first time Obama shows this different approach, tailored to the Latino, pro-immigrant audience.
You can listen to Diego's conversation with Brian Lehrer on WNYC's web site.
Gustavo Dudamel, the 28-year-old Venezuelan, will soon take over as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He's already making waves in LA by bringing classical music to the city's under-served students. Pilar Marrero reports from south central LA, home to the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (YOLA), where Dudamel has started teaching and inspiring young people, many of them Latino, to appreciate classical music.
Pilar's piece aired February 21, 2009 on PRI's Studio 360 on WNYC, New York Public Radio. Click here to listen.
Brazilian immigrants make up about a third of the population of Framingham, Massaschusetts. Many ethnic newspapers, radio stations and businesses cater to these residents' needs but Brazilians desperately still want to learn English.
In a piece that ran on PRI's The World on February 16, 2009, Feet in Two Worlds journalist Eduardo de Oliveira reports that English as a Second Language (ESL) classes are in such high demand in Framingham—600 immigrants recently applied for 185 slots—that you have to win a lottery to get in.
Click here to listen to the segment on PRI's web site.
Photo: Eduardo A. de Oliveira
Handmade rugs from around the world have made their way into the homes of metro Detroiters, collectors and art aficionados across the United States thanks to the Hagopians, an Armenian family from Detroit.
Feet in Two Worlds reporter Martina Guzmán aired a report on January 30, 2009 on WDET, Detroit Public Radio about the Hagopian family's commitment to keeping the art of rug weaving alive and the annual rug design competition at the College for Creative Studies that has influenced hundreds of young artists.
Click here to listen to the story.
For decades Latino immigrants have achieved the American dream through the US auto industry. Manufacturing plants provided wealth, stability and the means to send their children to college. But now with General Motors, Chrysler and Ford near collapse, Hispanic autoworkers and business owners ponder their fate.
Martina Guzmán's radio piece on the experiences of Latinos facing the auto crisis aired January 14, 2009 on WDET, Detroit Public Radio. Click here to listen to the story. You can also read Martina's blog post on the same subject on the Feet in Two Worlds blog
Photo: MichiganMoves/Flickr CC
Poles going back to Poland, a trend that was first noticed two years ago, may be getting a boost from the economic crisis in the U.S. Speaking on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show on November 26, 2008, FI2W journalist Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska talked about the growing number of Poles who are returning to their home country for economic reasons.
A variety of factors have encouraged reverse migration, chief among them is Poland's admission into the European Union four years ago, which has opened up work opportunities for Polish citizens in a number of European countries. Ewa, who reports for Nowy Dziennik/The Polish Daily News, noted however that like the U.S., Poland is experiencing an economic slowdown, so the benefits of moving to the Eastern European country may not be as great today as they have been in recent years.
Click here to listen to the segment on WNYC's web site.
The crisis in the U.S. auto industry is among the many serious challenges facing Michigan's economy. People are moving out of Michigan at a higher rate than any state in the nation, and at 8.5 percent Michigan has the highest average annual unemployment rate in the U.S. Despite these trends, business in the state's Hispanic community is flourishing.
Feet in Two Worlds' Martina Guzmán reported on Detroit's thriving Latino businesses for WDET, Detroit Public Radio on November 12, 2008 and on February 6, 2009 for NPR's Latino USA, which reaches 172 stations in 31 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. You can listen to the story here.
Pilar Marrero and Aswini Anburajan joined Brian Lehrer on Thursday, September 25, 2008, on WNYC, New York Public Radio to discuss the impact of mortgage foreclosures and the financial crisis on immigrants in the US.
They also discussed how economic concerns may affect the election in battleground states like Nevada and Florida, which have large numbers of Latino voters. Click here to listen to the segment.
Photo: Michael Slatoff/Flickr CC
Almost two decades after the collapse of communism and four years after joining the European Union, Poland is booming. Even as that nation's economy lures young Poles homeward, anti-immigrant sentiment in the US and elsewhere reinforces their decision to return.
Feet in Two Worlds journalist Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska reports on the push and pull factors driving Poles back to Poland. Her story aired on September 18, 2008 on WNYC's broadcast of All Things Considered. Click here to listen online.
Detroit has the lowest high school graduation rate of any major city in the country. Cristo Rey, a new Catholic high school, is attempting to increase the odds for low-income African American and Latino teenagers with an innovative education model that combines rigorous academics with on-the-job training. Feet in Two Worlds reporter Martina Guzmán profiled the school and its students for WDET News. Her story aired on September 15, 2008. Click here to listen online.
"Polish Immigrants in a Changing City," a series of radio pieces produced last year by Feet in Two Worlds reporter Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska and Karen Frillmann of WNYC, is the first-place winner of the 2007 New America Award from the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ).
This is the fourth year for the award, which honors public service journalism collaborations that include ethnic media in order to explore and expose an issue of importance to immigrant or ethnic communities in the United States.
The winning work was a two-part series about New York's Polish immigrant community by Ewa for WNYC, New York Public Radio. The first story, "Feet in Two Worlds: Greenpoint, Brooklyn," examined the impact of gentrification on the residents of a Brooklyn neighborhood that is the hub of New York's Polish community. The second part in the series, "Asbestos Workers Who Toiled Near Ground Zero Sick 6 Years Later," focused on Polish workers and was broadcast as part of WNYC's coverage of the 6th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
You can read more about the New America Award here.
Feet in Two Worlds reporter and blogger Aswini Anburajan was interviewed on The Takeaway on WNYC Radio on July 28, 2008, where she discussed her blog post on divergent policies toward undocumented immigrants in New Haven and Danbury, Connecticut.
You can listen to the segment here.
Photo: Chris Garaffa/Flickr CC
Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska was profiled by the New York Daily News on April 8, 2008 for their weekly series, "Big Town, Big Dreams." Read the article online: 'In New York I actually rarely feel like an immigrant.'
There are so many Dominicans in New York today that the city is sometimes called the thirty-second province of the Dominican Republic. Feet in Two Worlds journalist Diego Graglia reports on the roots of the city's Dominican community—how they got here, how political activism shaped their early arrival, and how they have preserved what one person in Diego's story calls their community's "Dominicanness."
Diego Graglia is an Argentinean journalist who writes about the convergence of the U.S. and Latin America. His story, "Feet in Two Worlds: Dominicans in Manhattan," aired on November 5, 2007, during All Things Considered on WNYC, New York Public Radio. You can listen to it online on the WNYC website.
Photo: Bonnie Natko/ Flickr CC
In "Ground Zero May Be Making Even Well-Protected Workers Sick," Feet in Two Worlds reporter Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska describes the plight of Polish asbestos workers who participated in the cleanup after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. She reports that toxic chemicals at the site are suspected of killing an alarming number of these workers, and that many others have lost their jobs due to illness or changes in immigration laws that were implemented after 9/11.
Ewa is a reporter for the Polish Daily News, and her story aired on September 11, 2007, during Morning Edition, as part of WNYC's coverage of the 6th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
Photo: Terry Ballard/Flickr CC
In her first nationally broadcast radio story, Aswini Anburajan explores how H1-B visas issued by the government are being used in surprising new ways by high-tech companies and their Indian employees in the U.S. Instead of keeping to the traditional purpose of these visas—as the first step to getting a green card, which allows permanent residence in the U.S.—these workers are now using them to move around the world in search of adventure, corporate advancement and higher pay.
Aswini's story aired on July 30, 2007. You can listen to it on the Marketplace website.
Photo: phinalanji/Flickr CC
At a May 24, 2007, event, Same News Different Views, Bridging the Gap Between Ethnic and Mainstream Media, co-sponsored by the Center for New York City Affairs and WNYC, New York Public Radio, leading ethnic and mainstream media journalists brought new perspectives to the immigration policy debate in Washington.
You can listen to the radio broadcast of the town hall on WNYC's website.
More than 200 journalists, community organizers and members of the public attended the event hosted by WNYC's Brian Lehrer. Speakers included: Alberto Vourvoulias-Bush, executive editor of El Diario/LA PRENSA; Sree Sreenivasan, dean of students at Columbia Journalism School, tech reporter for WNBC-TV and co-founder of the South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA); Ti-Hua Chang, reporter for WCBS-TV; and Elaine Rivera, reporter for WNYC; Julia Preston, national immigration reporter for the New York Times; Roberto Lovato, writer for New America Media; Leon Wynter, writer and author of American Skin: Big Business, Pop Culture and the End of White America; and Muzaffar Chishti, director of the Migration Policy Institute's office at the NYU School of Law.
Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska's recent story on WNYC focused on long-time Polish residents of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, who are being forced out of their apartments by high rents and landlord harassment. She also reported that many in Greenpoint's Polish community welcome the recent changes to their neighborhood, including new businesses and a major infusion of city funds to revitalize McCarren Park.
Click here to listen to Ewa's story, which aired on May 23, 2007, and was WNYC's #1 most emailed story for the week of May 28, 2007. You can also read Ewa's article about the making of her story here.
To read what other websites are saying about the Greenpoint story and the issues it raises, click on the links below.
http://www.gothamgazette.com/blogs/wonkster/2007/05/24/waiting-for-help-in-greenpoint/
http://www.gothamcityinsider.com/2007/05/feet-in-two-worlds-greenpoint-brooklyn.html
http://nycslav.blogspot.com/2007/05/polish-greenpoint-endangered-cultural.html
Photo: Anna Majkowska/Flickr CC
After airing on May 31, 2007, reporter Aswini Anburajan's story, Feet in Two Worlds: Indian Immigrants quickly moved to the #8 spot on WNYC.org's most emailed list. In it, she explores some of the challenges faced by South Asian information technology professionals managing transnational work lives.
While most of the city sleeps, a growing number of New Yorkers get together late at night to dance tango. The tango parties are known as milongas, the Argentinean slang name for social tango dances born in Buenos Aires in the late 1800s. Two decades ago, only a couple of milongas existed in Queens. But today New York hosts up to five milongas any night of the week.
Feet in Two Worlds reporter Diego Graglia's story on the city's growing tango scene aired on WNYC, New York Public Radio on May 04, 2007. Click here to listen.
