Feet In 2 Worlds

Until last October, many people believed NYC's Comptroller, John Liu, was on the road to becoming the city's first Asian American mayor. Then the NY Times revealed that a number of people that Liu identified as campaign contributors denied giving him money, and one of his leading fundraisers was arrested. Now the FBI and the US Attorney's Office in Manhattan are investigating whether Liu violated federal law by accepting contributions from foreign donors. This week, FI2W's John Rudolph speaks with Stella Chan, reporter with the Chinese language newspaper Sing Tao Daily, and Danny Shin, senior reporter at Korea Daily, about the controversy surrounding John Liu's political future.

FI2W's John Rudolph is joined by Valeria Fernandez and Pilar Marrero, two journalists who covered the Iowa caucus for La Opinion and are now in New Hampshire for this week's primary.

If you’re looking for the center of community life for Polish immigrants in Brooklyn you should check out the local pharmacy. Polish pharmacies in Greenpoint, Brooklyn help immigrants negotiate life in their new home while maintaining a connection to Poland.  In this podcast we’re digging into the Feet in Two Worlds archives for an intimate visit to a Polish pharmacy with journalist Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska.  Ewa is a reporter for the Polish Daily News and a frequent contributor to public radio.  This story, produced in 2005, was Ewa’s public radio debut.

Relations between the U.S. and Pakistan are said to be at an all time low.  The current crisis is yet another challenge for Pakistani immigrants in the U.S. - already torn between their native country and their adopted home. Ever since the November 26th NATO air-strike that killed at least 25 Pakistani soldiers near the border with Afghanistan, the relationship between the two countries has been on a downward spiral.  The government in Islamabad has placed new restrictions on US military and intelligence operations in Pakistan, while at the same time accusing NATO of deliberately staging the fatal attack.  The U.S. says it was an accident. Pakistani immigrants are keenly aware of the dangers posed by this latest crisis, and some are trying to figure out how the immigrant community should respond.   Joining FI2W's John Rudolph is Mohsin Zaheer is the founder and editor of the Pakistani Newspaper an online publication, and editor of Sade e Pakistan.

Latino voters – socially conservative, ready to vote Republican.  At least that’s the argument you’ll hear from many GOP leaders.  But a new poll suggests that’s more myth than fact. On this podcast we are talking about at the results of a new poll that looks at the role of religion and faith in the preferences of Latino voters.   And later we’ll talk about the leading Republican presidential candidates’ evolving positions on immigration and how they might be perceived by Latino voters. Joining FI2W's John Rudolph is Matt Barreto from the polling firm Latino Decisions. His firm conducted the poll with Impremedia, the leading publisher of a Spanish-language newspapers in the US. John also speaks with Pilar Marrero, Senior Political Writer and Columnist for La Opinion, the Spanish-language daily in Los Angeles and a frequent contributor to Feet in Two Worlds.

In this Food in Two Worlds podcast episode, Von Diaz tells the story of Chef Zarela Martinez and her pivotal role in bringing sophisticated Mexican cuisine to New York.  Also Mariana Suarez, co-founder of Gourmet Latino discusses the challenges facing today's Latino chefs.

In some New York City public schools, learning English doesn’t mean giving up your native tongue. There are about 90 dual language schools in New York City that aim to make students proficient in two languages. Categorized as bilingual programs, these schools are intended to strengthen students’ native language development while simultaneously teaching them English. 91 percent of the students at P.S. 24 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn are Latino and almost half are designated 'English Language Learners.' The school has won the trust of immigrant families by immersing the students in both English and Spanish, but its D.O.E report card was mixed. While the school struggled to meet D.O.E. standardized test goals, it won accolades for its success in child development. Fi2W reporter Ramaa Reddy Raghavan investigated the school's dual language program and in this podcast episode, she speaks to Fi2W executive producer John Rudolph about the challenges facing the immigrant students and their teachers.

The Muslim Community Report just launched as both a newspaper and website. FI2w's John Rudolph speaks with the paper's editor, Arao Ameny and publisher Sheikh Moussa Drammeh about the mission and target audience of the new venture.

The nation’s toughest law against undocumented immigrants is in Alabama.   Now the state is seeing an influx of visitors - people coming from around the country to oppose the law. On Tuesday a group of immigrants who are in the US illegally held a civil disobedience protest at the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery.   Feet in Two Worlds reporter Aswini Anburajan spoke to protestors who had been arrested and then released by authorities. On Monday some 10 members of Congress – all Democrats from around the country -will hold a hearing at the Alabama State Capitol to highlight their opposition to the law. It was enacted earlier this year by Alabama’s Republican controlled legislature and signed by Republican Governor Robert Bently. Representative Yvette Clarke expects to be part of the congressional delegation, and she spoke with FI2W's John Rudolph.

Chinatown in lower Manhattan is not just about great dumplings and shopping. A new hyper-local news website aims to provide a fuller picture of the community and its residents. Jeff Yang, one of the creators of OurChinatown.org, joins FI2W's John Rudolph to talk about the project.

A lot of people think of Jackson Heights, Queens, as Little India. But it’s a lot more than that. Within just a few square blocks you can find food from virtually every corner of South Asia. As part of our series Food in Two Worlds, we’re in Jackson Heights where the variety of restaurants and food markets tells the story of South Asian immigrants in New York.   On 73rd and 74th Streets off Roosevelt Avenue you can see and taste how people from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and other countries have made their mark and adapted to life in the U.S.

The immigrant rights movement is changing.  Just a few years ago its main focus was convincing Congress to pass a comprehensive overhaul of the nation’s immigration system.   That never happened, and today the emphasis has shifted to the DREAM Act, a bill that would provide a path to legal status for millions of young, undocumented immigrants.  Many of them were brought to the US as young children, and only learned they were in the country illegally when they tried to apply for a drivers license or a college loan.   The movement’s new leadership is drawn from their ranks.  In this podcast, you’ll hear from three of these young activists:

Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, who decided to reveal his illegal status in the New York Times Magazine.  He created an advocacy group called Define American.

Tanya Matos, a leader of the New York State Youth Leadership Council, a group that is pushing New York to pass a state version of the DREAM Act.   A year and a half ago she decided to publicly announce that she is an undocumented immigrant.

Juan Escalante, the communications director for Dreamactivist.org, who spoke to us by phone from Florida State University in Tallahassee, where he's in his 4th year of study.

Latino voters are just starting to focus on candidates running for President, but so far, they're not very excited by the choices. FI2W's John Rudolph talks to Pilar Marrero of La Opinion about Impremedia's latest poll of Latino voters.

South Asian women are taking to the stage and publicly talking about their sexuality in Yoni Ki Baat.  Inspired by Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monolgues, Yoni Ki Baat, is a grassroots movement of everyday women writing and performing stories about their relationships with sexuality in relation to their bodies, their culture and their lives.  In this podcast, Feet In Two Worlds reporter Aswini Anburajan is joined by Vandana Makker, who has helped write and produce Yoni Ki Baat performances for the past eight years out of San Francisco.

A modern day Mahatma Gandhi, Anna Hazare, has inspired a movement and led hunger strikes and mass protests to pressure the Indian government to pass a powerful anti-corruption bill. Joining FI2W reporter Aswini Anburajan to talk about the India Against Corruption movement is S. Mitra Kalita, a journalist and author, and Atul Kumar, who helped organize the first protests in support of the anti-corruption movement here in New York.