Podcasts: Vaya Con Muñoz
Vaya Con Muñoz
Vaya con Muñoz is hosted by Natalia Muñoz, a multimedia journalist from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Interviews and rants and raves on politics, culture and media, in English and en español. Airs Saturdays 10-11am and Sunday nights at 7pm.
Vaya Con Muñoz 9.16.17
Hillary Clinton is promoting her book, “What Happened,” and we hear a tidbit from a conversation from the podcast “With Her.”
Filmmaker Larry Hott reviews “Chasing Trane,” about music genius John Coltrane.Trailer here:coltranefilm.com/trailer.
Northwest District Attorney David Sullivan on why implicit bias is an important topic for police and prosecutors to delve into.
Matt Szafranski of the Western Mass. Politics and Insight blog on former state Rep. Cheryl Coakley Rivera wthdrawal from Springfield City Council race.
Mary J. Blije and Bono sing us out with “One Love.”
Vaya Con Muñoz 9.9.17
Having biases is a human condition. UMass Deputy Police Chief Ian Cyr trains police officers to recognize their own biases and make decisions that are not based on those pre-conceived notions.
Politicaly motivated heinous crimes against humanity were the daily bread in Guatemala not so long ago. In 1982, soldiers raped and murdered more than 200 people from a small village. Director Ryan Suffern goes on an investigative journey to uncover the massacre and the key is in “Finding Oscar.” Award winning filmmaker Larry Hott reviews the documentary. Trailer here:www.nytimes.com/2017/04/13/movies/finding-oscar-review.html?referrer=google_kp
Notes on Hurricane Irma and how the Puerto Rico govenor is making a bigger deal of it than in was on the island in order to secure more federal aid. Rant on people who criticize Hillary for writing a book. OMG.
We end with the soundtrack from the 1964 movie “Zorba The Greek,” for my uncle Minás, another positive Greek like the one portrayed by in the movie by the Mexican Anthony Quinn. He predicted correctly that Hurricane Irma wasn’t going to be as destructive in Puerto Rico as it was elsewhere. Music by the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Image of “Finding Oscar.”
Vaya Con Muñoz 9.2.17
Florence resident and award-winning filmmaker Larry Hott on the free speech issues raised by the documentary “Nobody Speaks,” about the Hulk Hogan sex tape lawsuit against Gawker.com, which resulted in the website closing down.
La crítica de cine Ariadna Goenaga nos reseña “Dunkirk” por el director Christopher Nolan. Corto aquí: youtube.com/watch?v=F-eMt3SrfFU
Matt Szafranski, founder and editor of Western Mass Politics and Insight (wmasspi.com) on the Springfield Police Department response to an officer’s crude posting in the aftermth of the Charlottesville protests in which a young woman was killed by the white supremacist. Also, the answer to the question: Where is Congressman Richie Neal?
La Lupe from Cuba sings us out with “No me quieras tanto.”
Image of director Christopher Nolan on the set of “Dunkirk.”
Vaya Con Muñoz 8.25.17
The rants: On Hillary Clinton haters, Mexican-American history in Tucson’s public schools, having fun at the air show in Westfield and what happens when your name is Robert Lee means and you are a sports announcer.
Filmmaker Larry Hott reviews “Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press,” about the Hulk Hogan lawsuit that closed down Gawker.com for showing a sex tape. Trailer: youtube.com/watch?v=PHow1B32WZw
Ariadna Goenaga reviews en español “Get Me Roger Stone.” Corto aquí: youtube.com/watch?v=5IPyv4KgTAA
Rosemary Woods, director of Art for the Soul Gallery, and Dean Nimmer, one of the artists featured inthe exhibit “Coming Togeher: An Artist Collective” that runs through the end of October. Gallery is on second floor of Tower Square, Main Street, Springfield.
Sung out by “The Fight Song,” Clinton’s campaign song.
Image of Art for The Soul Gallery in Springfield.
Vaya Con Muñoz 8.19.17
The Rant: How about Republicans stop distancing themselves from Trump one day and then the next praising his policies?
Filmmaker Larry Hott reviews “LA 92,” a documetary about the 1992 uprising following the beating Rodney King, a black man, by white police officers in Los Angeles. There is a thick thread that connects that time to this time. Trailer here: youtube.com/watch?v=DcFuY_lPwh8
No tinc por: No tinc por is Catalan for I am not afraid. Our film critic, the Catalan Ariadna Goenaga of Barcelona, tells us about how the country is responding to the terrorists attacks this week in Las Ramblas promenade in dowbtown Barcelona. More than 130,000 people marched against terrorism in Barcelona on Friday. En español.
We are sung out by Ariadna’s compatriot singer/composer Joan Manuel Serrta, singing a poem by Puerto Rican poet Juan Antonio Corretjer, “En la Vida Todo es Ir.”
Image from “LA 92.”
Vaya Con Muñoz 8.12.17
The Rant: Wish there were many, many, many more people at the protest on Tuesday to show Gov. Baker that he should not make the terror that undocumented immigrants live under greater by pushing to have local police departments detain them.
On the street interviews with protesters and one of the organizers, Rose Bookbinder of the Pioneer Valley Worker’s Center, which has taken a lead role in helping immigrants.
Filmmaker Larry Hott brings longtime television newsmagazine producer Jeffrey Diamond to talk about the state of the media and Diamond’s new book.
Lillian Torres, la ponceña por excelencia y yo hablamos sobre inmigración.
Juanes sings us out with “No Siento Penas.”
Photo by Natalia Muñoz
Vaya Con Muñoz 8.5.17
The First Rant: Before Sen. John McCain cast the decisive vote that ended the cruel healh care bill, Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, Republicans of Alaska and Maine, respectively, set the bill on its doomed path. Also, how one Northampton email list serv handled a delicate disagreement about airplane noises.
Award-winning filmmaker and Florence resident Larry Hott reviews “The Settlers,” about the controversial settements in Israel that drive a searing wedge among Israelis, Palestinians and Jews in the U.S. Trailer here: settlersfilm.com/
Matt Szafranski, founder and editor of Western Mass. Politcs and Insight [wmasspi.com], unpacks the municipal elections in Holyoke and Springfield, and what the return of former Springfield state Rep. Cheryl Coakley Rivera means for her city now that she is running for City Council.
Rant 2: The trumpster fires continue, with his backing of an immigration bill that would redefine who’s a worthy immigrant.
We are sung out by Maná, “Eres Mi Religión.’”
Image from the documentary “The Settlers.”
Vaya Con Muñoz 7.29.17
Filmmaker Larry Hott reviews “Oklahoma City,” about the white supremacy movement that was reactivated in the 1990s. Trailer here: youtube.com/watch?v=bcJ7P-nxQGo
Dr. Shirley Jackson Whitaker took it upon herself to mourn all the African Americans who were lynched in the United States with a homegoing that she has presented twice so far, most recently at St. John’s Congregational Chycrh in Springfield. “Ashes to Ashes” are the final words in typical African American funeral services. Many of those who were murdered by the Klan to maintain the reign of white supremacy never received their “Ashes to Ashes.” The goal of this project is to acknowledge and mourn the African Americans who were racially terrorized during the Jim Crow era after the Civil War and until this very day. Some endured lynching and other forms of brutalization and, therefore, they never received a proper burial. More about Dr. Whitaker’s work here: ShirleyWhitaker.com
La ponceña Lillian Torres y yo hablamos de todo un poco sobre la política en Puerto Rico, y en EEUU.
We are sung out by the Gypsy King, “Tu Quieres Volver.”
Image of “Ashes to Ashes” by Natalia Muñoz.
Vaya Con Muñoz 7.115.17
Felicia Lunquist, director of Multicultural Affairs at Springfield College, on helping students in this age of Trump, the role of social justice as part of college education and environmental justice also means affordable fresh produce.
Filmmaker Larry Hott on being an insider who becomes the outsider and how he brought marginlaized people into his films. His films, “Through Deaf Eyes,” and “Rising Voices” [risingvoicesfilm.com/] are solid examples of what happens when people with access invite people who are the centerof the story to be part of its telling.
Lillian Torres sobre el referendum que el partido pro-estadid celebró en Puerto Rico, y que cuyo resultado apuntada a que el boicoteo del mismo habla por sí solo.
We are sung out in Italian! For my birthday, I dedicate “Non e la pioggia,” sung by Claudiio Villa – who I think she had a crush on — and one of my mother’s favorite songs to my mother.
Image from “Rising Voices, a film by Lawrence Hott. With premission.
Vaya Con Muñoz 7.8.17
Fillmaker Larry Hott reviews “Shot: The Pscyho-Spiritual Mantra of Rock,” about the rock (not geologist!) photographer Mick Rock. Trailer here: youtube.com/watch?v=ws8zPuCnb2o
Journalist Marie Grady analizes how Trump has influenced the media and the public’s perception of reality. “The right wing won the messaging war, not with news, but with opinion,” she says. So what is the circular firing squad aka liberals to do?
Multimedia artist Shirley Whitaker talks about her paintings, many a visual reconstruction of her experiences as a black girl and woman from southern Georgia. Her website: ShirleyWhitaker.com
We are sung out by Juan Luis Guerra, “Ojalá que llueva café.”
Image of painting by Shirely Whitaker, “Usher Board.” With permission.
