Peace Corps: Interview with Aimee Munroe and Sandor Callahan

This week on People You Should Know, I focused truly on "People" in the plural. The United States Peace Crops.

On Tuesday May 2, I sat down with Peace Corps Veteran and correspondent Aimee Munroe who serves as a resource and interviewer for the Peace Corps on the UC Santa Cruz campus. Aimee spoke about the application process, what the Peace Corps means to her and her experience living overseas in the Muslim country, Niger, for over two years where she worked as a medical assistant.

With Aimee, came Sandor Callahan. An energetic senior graduating this spring at UC Santa Cruz who was recently accepted into the Peace Corps and will be serving in China teaching English. He leaves two weeks after graduation. Sandor spoke about his excitement for the upcoming journey, as well as his extensive application process all applicants must undergo.

Overall it was an engaging interview that made me both appreciated a government run organization in a new light and also reevaluate what it means to help another, and how these two people, along with all of those associated with the Peace Corps, are truly dedicated to bettering the world around them.

On a personal note, Sandor Callahan was my Resident Assistant (RA) my freshman year in Stevenson dorms and if it counts for anything, since he showed me the ropes of college, I can say with confidence that teaching English in Mandarin should be a breeze.

The interview was aired on Thursday, May 5th, 2011, and below is the 24 minuted edited segment that was played.
Peace Corp Interview with Aimee Munroe and Sandor Callahan

Below is a picture of Sandor Callahan taken while on his trip to Israel, the place he first knew Peace Corps was for him.

Below is a picture of Aimee Munroe in the deserts of Niger.

Following this interview I played the song that both volunteers believed could be the motto for the Peace Corps, Cat Stevens "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out"

To find out more about the Peace Corps on the UCSC Campus you can visit the Facebook page linked below

UCSC Peace Corps on Facebook

The iSafebag: Interview with Edric Sizemore

The iSafebag, invented and created by Edric Sizemore, is the only personal security bag on the market. Varying in styles, and sizes the iSafe bag is a bag with an alarm and strobe light connected to it. In any circumstance that someone needs to draw attention to themselves, they pull a pin to activate the alarm device.
Inventor Edric Sizemore first got the idea of the iSafebag in 2000 when he heard a story of a woman who was attacked and brutally raped on her way home from work.
He then began to think, "we have person security systems for our homes for our cars but none for ourselves" and thus the iSafebag came into existence.

Edric and I spoke on a long distance call from Chicago about what improvements the iSafebag could undergo, where the future of the company is headed and how in short- the iSafebag is a bag for everyone.

To visit the iSafebag website click on the link below
isafebag website

To listen to the full interview click on the link below
Interview with Edric Sizemore 4/21 Live Show

Save the Frogs: Interview with Dr. Kerry Kriger

Save the Frogs.
That's what you should take away from this half-hour interview with Dr. Kerry Kriger.
Dr. Kriger founded the non-profit organization, Save the Frogs in 2008, which has since grown to be the largest amphibian awareness day on the planet.
Save the Frogs Day, on Friday April 29th, 2011 seeks to raise awareness about the rising extinction of frogs by providing activities and information about amphibians.
During our conversation, we spoke about many simple ways in which people can help the frogs and the environment as a whole.

To listen to the full interview (and part of the show before) aired on April 14th, 2011 click on the link below. Our interview interview begins at minute 10 after the introduction songs.

Save the Frogs: Interview with Kerry Kriger

Interview with Jordan Bower: Walking to Mexico

I met photographer, walker and alleged "love-wallah", Jordan Bower, at Sitar Indian food restaurant after I finished my last final for winter quarter. Indulging in a well deserved meal after 2 weeks of studying I overheard a conversation coming from the table behind me.
"Well I started in Vancouver and I've been walking for about six months now..."

After introducing himself to my friend and I after we inquired about his journey, Jordan Bower presented us with a stack of photographs from a trip he took to India and requested we choose one for ourselves to keep, the only exception was we had to take a picture with the chosen photo- so that in a metaphorical sense we could be united to this person we had never met. I, of course, posed with a rose between my teeth, my Indian woman stood at a fried food stand with "chat center" in yellowing paint across the withering wooden booth.

Once Jordan and I got to talking, he started to explain his ideal for the trip, what he wanted to learn teach and spread as he walked. Lets face it, it's not everyday that you meet someone who has been walking for the last 6 months, has a college degree, a paying job, speaks eloquently and happens to be free at 7:00 on that Thursday night (the time of my show).

So I picked up photographer and self-proclaimed "love-wallah" in my Plymouth Voyager Minivan, showed him the inside of KZSC and conducted an interview about the differences in Indian and American culture, what it means to be a dependent person, and how the appreciation he has gained for humans in his journey.

Our interview recorded live and aired March 17th 2011 can be listened to here (The Interview begins at 4:27)

Walking to Mexico: Interview with Jordan Bower

To learn more about Jordan's mission click on the link below

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/904479314/walking-to-mexico-an-experiment-in-cross-cultural

His collection of photographs can be viewed here

http://www.walkingtomexico.com/

A Collection of Interviews

"How does one become a DJ on KZSC?"

A common question for those looking to start their career at the radio station, and a question I once asked more than a  year ago.

One must volunteer for 20 hours, apply for the Intro to Radio class, pass the class and then apply for a show.

In the Intro to Radio Class (which was a highly enjoyable and rewarding experience) students are required to produce a seven minute interview of a person they find worthy as their final project in the class. 

After listening to a few of the projects I realized that many of these pieces were wonderfully excecuted and simply needed a venue to play them.

Therefore- after listening to hours of the interviews from past classes I decided on three with the greatest range of subject- but all equally interesting.

Lucie Arnaz Luckinbill
The first piece by Quincy Ross, an interview with Lucie Arnaz Luckinbill, daughter of Lucille Ball and Ricky Arnez from the hit TV Show of the 50's "I Love Lucy." She speaks about her own career, as producer and director, and how she has learned from her parents.

Lucie Arnaz Luckinbill is photographed below with her brother Desi Arnaz Jr. and her mother Lucille Ball.

UCSC Student Recently Diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma 
Next, "Cody" (who prefers to remain anonymous) spoke with a UC Santa Cruz student recently diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma cancer. Their talk focused on how his friends and family are dealing with the news and how his life has changed since.

Below is a photograph of a petri dish of Hodgkin's Lymphoma under a microscope.

Jack Passion
And last, but most certainly not least is Eileen O'Grady's enjoyable interview with Jack Passion, a professional beard grower and UCSC alumni.

Below is a photograph of Jack Passion, with his most valuable commodity.

Although it may appear to be a hodge-podge collection of subjects, each student edited with respective piece with attention and respect for their guests.

Congratulations to Eileen, Cody and Quincy whose pieces I chose to air.

Click to listen to the collection of interviews aired on 3/10/11
http://soundcloud.com/honey-bee-kzsc/a-collection-of-interviews

Cinequest Film Festival: Interview with Alyson Stoner

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of interviewing Halfdan Hussey, Director of the Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose.

After the interview aired, Halfdan contacted me about the show. Because he enjoyed the way I conducted our talk, he invited me to be a moderator for one of the events in Cinequest- something I was unfamiliar with. However, he explained to me that when special guests arrived at the film festival I would lead an interview with them on stage in front of a large audience in order to expose some engaging insights into these artist's lives.

I happily accepted.

As the event drew closer I found I was to interview Alyson Stoner, actress, dancer and singer, best known for her work in Cheaper By the Dozen, Step Up, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and on the Disney short, "Mike's Super Short Show".
Alyson was to receive the Maverick Spirit Award which honors actors and actresses whom continue to take risks in the industry.

The event would take place Saturday March 5, 2011 at the San Jose Reparatory theater.
I would be lying to say I was not nervous.

However, once I met the 17 year old and we began talking, stories flowed naturally out of her and the interview was an overall success. My favorite story of hers was when she was speaking about her experience as a dancer in a Missy Elliot Hip/Hop Rap music video with guest artist Ludacris.
After her grandmother accompainied her on the set (Alyson was 10 at the time) she went back home to tell her friends she met "the world's greatest rapper, Ridiculous!"
It was truly a joy and a pleasure to have that opportunity.

Still attempting to find the video footage of the event but will update it as soon as possible.

Such a great experience!

Below is a photo of Alyson accepting the award from Jon M. Chu, director of Step Up 3D and Justin Bieber's Never Say Never. From left to right: Alyson Stoner, Casey Coughlin, Jon M. Chu

Photograph of Alyson Stoner at Disney event and below, Director Jon M. Chu With Justin Bieber at the premiere of the film Justin Bieber Never Say Never

Below is another link of myself during the interview, here I am listed as "Host from Santa Cruz"

http://www.flickr.com/photos/consultingpractices/5502109990/in/photostream/

To watch "Cinequest Connecting" in which part of the interview is showcased click here

Interview with Siobhan Fallon

Author Siobhan Fallon's recently released novel is a collection of short stories about the army base Fort Hood in Austin, Texas.
In her book You Know When the Men Are Gone, she focuses on the often underrepresented aspects of war. The battle for sanity on the home front.
A truly engaging novel by a truly engaging person, Siobhan spoke about the difficulties of being a military wife, and the life that accompanies it.

Because I am a a student of literature, one of the most exciting aspects of this interview to me was to actually speak with the source. I am currently enrolled in the class Theory & Interpretation taught by Professor Jody Greene which centralizes around the idea of authorship and questions if the author is necessary when determining intent or hermeneutics. Although many of the theorist believe that an author should be removed from a text, I found it helpful to speak with Siobhan about her influences when writing the text- especially when they were not explicitly referenced.
When reading "You Know When The Men Are Gone" I was struck with the parallels between her writing and that of "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien. When I brought this comparison up, she  admitted she had hoped the novel would be something of the female version of O'Brien's famous text and was thrilled I had made the connection. She said no one had made the observation of the similarities between the two books that she had intended and thought was obvious.

Overall it was an insightful interview. I found it particularly intriguing when she revealed that many of the characters represented her in different stages of her life. The idea that one can channel emotions and opinions through fictionalized characters is a fascinating concept.

Siobhan moves to Saudi Arabia in a few weeks, where she is optimistic she will find more writing material; perhaps even a new novel, which I eagerly await.

Click Below to here the full interview aired 3/3/11
Interview with Siobhan Fallon

Blast from The Past: Vinton Cerf and Mai Vu

I first began volunteering at the radio station in the fall of my freshman year and quickly became intrigued by the public affairs program. Although I never considered myself a journalist, I enjoyed speaking with others about various events in the community and editing the recordings together to produce radio pieces.

For the better part of that year I produced 5-10 minute news pieces for the KZSC News which aired every Thursday night. The more I produced pieces, the more I realized how much I enjoyed strictly interview based pieces and moved towards longer, "features" pieces which centralized around one person.

Vinton Cerf: Father of the Internet

The first of these was my interview of Vinton Cerf, Vice President and Chief Evangelist of Google. This man created the first e-mail, and is known as "the father of the internet". In December 1997, President Clinton presented the U.S. National Medal of Technology to Cerf and his colleague, Robert E. Kahn, for founding and developing the Internet. In November 2005, President George Bush awarded Cerf and Kahn the Presidential Medal of Freedom for their work. The medal is the highest civilian award given by the United States to its citizens. No big deal. 

In December, 1994, People magazine identified Cerf as one of that year's "25 Most Intriguing People."

It was truly a privilege to interview him and during our talk we focused on the current state of Google and what projects the company has for the future. 

The interview originally aired May 5th 2010 but was re-aired as a throwback on February 24, 2011

Click to listen to the Vinton Cerf interview

Interview with Vint Cerf

Below is a photograph of Vinton Cerf "Godfather of the Internet" 

Mai Vu: Vietnam Escapee

The other interview I chose to re-air highlighted one of the untold stories of an immigrant.

I spoke with Mai Vu who escaped Vietnam after the communist revolution during the war. At ten years old Mai and her family pushed off into the Pacific Ocean in a tug boat with 30 others in the middle of the night and was eventually rescued by a Japanese cargo ship.

Although it's been nearly 35 years since her escape, Mai speaks about the event in vivid detail. We also spoke about some of the challenges immigrants faced in the past and present day along with the differences of cultural change. 

The piece originally aired on May 27th 2010 and was re-aired with Vinton Cerf's piece on February 24th, 2011.

Click below to listen to the original interview of Mai Vu

Interview with Mai Vu

Below is a photograph of Mai Vu practicing yoga at "Downtown Yoga" in her hometown of Pleasanton, California

Interview with Jenna Purcell: Random With a Purpose XIX

A conversation does not necessarily need words.

Although I spoke to Jenna Purcell hours before the opening of the student run, student choreographed student produced dance show, Random With a Purpose, I felt I only truly understood her when I saw her perform her dance.
Jenna Purcell, director of the production, spoke with me about the history of random, the importance of having a dance program on the UC Santa Cruz campus and how the the sense of community that "Random" provides has made this an enjoyable experience for her.

I went to see one of the dress rehearsals so I could speak with Jenna privately and was blown away by the amount of talent within my peers. I was recognized a few of the dancers from past classes and was shocked and delighted to see them express their talent and to have an outlet to do so.

Below is a photograph of Jenna Purcell during her solo performance during this year's production.

Click here to listen to the interview with Jenna Purcell about Random With a Purpose XIX aired 2/17/11
Interview with Jenna Purcell

Interview with J Michael Mahoney: Schizophrenia: The Bearded Lady Disease

On Saturday January 22nd, 2011 I traveled over the hill to meet with psychologist J. Michael Mahoney.

Mr. Mahoney recently released a controversial theory dealing with the origins of the mental disease, Schizophrenia. In his book Schizophrenia: The Bearded Lady Disease he suggests that all mental illness -specifically schizophrenia- stems from the repression of sexual urges.
Although this may come across as a jarring notion, in his book, Mahoney has spent nearly 40 years collecting nearly 700 pieces of evidence from various studies of schizophrenic patients that he believes proves his theory.

In the interview we spoke about the then recent Arizona shootings by Jared Laughner, an individual suspected to be mentally unstable. Mahoney believes he had not come to terms with his sexuality and was thus driven to insanity.
We also spoke about his poem dealing with circumcision, which is still a subject of controversy in current day.

All proceeds from the book are donated to a scholarship foundation at Yale University so that young adults can continue to question the world around them.

Overall, J. Mike Mahoney was a kind, elderly gentlemen who often drew parallels to himself and Darwin. He said, "Darwin developed a hypothesis and spent his whole life collecting information to support it, that's all I'm doing!"

He also, unsurprisingly, is a student of Freudian theory. I had to move a pillow with Freud's face on it aside in order to sit comfortably on his couch in Larkspur, California.

Click to listen to our interview which aired February 11th, 2011
Interview with J. Michael Mahoney

Photographed below is J. Michael Mahoney. When I met him he was wearing a red button down shirt. The same goes for this picture. And every photograph taken of him. Ever.

Below is a link to his website in which one can view the book and his other works.

http://www.schizophrenia-thebeardedladydisease.com/

Interview with Halfdan Hussey

On Thursday, Februrary 3, 2011 I traveled over the hill, out of safe Santa Cruz to San Jose, where I met with director of the film festival, Cinequest, Halfdan Hussey
Cinequest is a non-profit film festival that showcases dozens or independently sponsored films as well as awarding Maverick spirit award for those who have particularly influenced the independent film community.
After I interviewed Halfdan at the Cinequest headquarters, he offered me the privilage of interviewing a celebrity that will come to accept the Maverick Spirit award. More to come on that.

This audio segment was taken off the KZSC blog. The first half an hour is my interview and then the rest of the file moves into the KZSC news. It begins with the song "Let's go to the Movies" from the musical, Annie.
Click on link below to listen to Interview with Halfdan Hussey, the segment aired Thursday February 3, 2011
Interview with Halfdan Hussey

Below: Halfdan Hussey, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Cinequest

Interview with Terrence Roberts

Terrence Roberts one of the original Little Rock Nine speaks of racism, prejudice and other issues in current day American society.

Doctor Roberts was one of the first nine black students to integrate into a largely white high school in Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. 

Although they were within their rights since the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision overturned the original ruling of Plessy v. Freguson which enforced segregated schooling as long as they were “separate but equal”. Brown ruled that they were inherently unequal and thus legalized integrated schooling. However, old habits die hard. The state of Arkansas disapproved of this ruling so adamately that when the nine students attempted to exercise their right of getting an education, the National Guard barred them from entry on orders of the governor. Some weeks later after the nine students were continuously refused entry, President Eisenhower ordered the National Guard to protect the students in order to uphold the law.

It was truly a pleasure to interview someone who is so essential to the Civil Rights Movement, a movement that Roberts believes is still going on and will continue to go on until the public begins to change their ways of viewing others.

Truly an intriguing talk by a gifted speaker.

Click below to listen to the Interview with Terrence Roberts aired January 27th, 2011.

Interview with Terrance Roberts

Below is a photograph of Terrence Roberts waiting outside Little Rock High School waiting for admission and being faced with resistance by the state police. This photograph was taken in 1957.
Terrence was 15 at the time

Interview with Larry Johnson

Yesterday, January 20th 2011, I sat down with Larry Johnson, founder of KZSC radio station in 1967, to talk to him about his experiences with radio and how radio "plays" into our lives in present times.

Larry started KRUZ, now KZSC, out of the basement of Stevenson 2 dorms, where he blasted music from a trash can as an antenna and egg cartons lining the walls as insulation.
He spoke about starting it up, some of the legal trouble, and the entire feel behind the era.
In the second part of the interview we focused on what it means to be a DJ in current times. Why is broadcasting a novelty?

Overall very successful and a great way to kick off the new show.
Interview is in the second half of the show.

Cheers!

Click here to listen to the interview that aired 1/20/11

Interview with Larry Johnson

Below is a Photo of Larry Johnson and myself after the interview.