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 7.1.17
The Rant: The police officer who arrested Sandra Bland has been absolved even of perjury even though he lied about the circumstances surroundng why he arested her in the first place.
The Conversations: Filmmaker Larry Hott recommends “Cries from Syiria,” a documentary on the war there. Trailer: criesfromsyria.com/the-film
Matt Szafranski, founder and editor in chief of the best local blog on what’s happening in our region, Western Mass. Politics and Insight, (wmasspi.com) on Springfield Mayor Dominic Sarno and the particularly hostile language he’s been using lately in relation to undocumented immigrants and the new casino going on in East Windsor, CT.
Gricel Martínez Ocasio and Nicole Lashomb, founders and editors of The Rainbow Times (therainbowtimesmass.com), New England’s largest LGBTQ monthly and online news outlet.
Final rant about Trump and his tweets about the media.
We are sung out by Estrella Morente, “Coquinas.”
Vaya Con Muñoz 6.24.17
Barton Byg is founding director of the DEFA Film Library, a film and video collection of East German films that he curates at UMass-Amherst. Larry Hott and I talk with Barton about the collection, which has more than 100 films, and which are avalable to the public.
En español, Lillian Torres nos habla sobre cómo podemos acabar con la violencia doméstica. Primero, hay que tener ganas.
La curadora Waleska Santiago nos comenta sobre una frase que está vigente en estos días — apropiación cultural. ¿Es una queja válida? Waleska es la curadora de la exhibición fotográfica “Cuba en trasición” que estará en la Galería A.P.E. en la 129 de la calle Main hasta mañana. El fotógrafo norteamericano Mark Guglielmo fue a Cuba y regresó con una imágenes espectaculares.
We are sung out by El Chicano with the lovely ballad “Sabor a mi.”
Image of a scene from the film “Carla,” whcih was presented by the DEFA Library last October.
Vaya Con Muñoz 6.17.17
An extended conversation with filmmaker Lary Hott on “Get Me Roger Stone,” a documentary about the power behind the Republican Party’s transformation from the traditional party of Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan and Bush into what it is now. As they say on Fox, you decide. Trailer here: youtube.com/watch?v=5IPyv4KgTAA
Also, photographer Mark Guglielmo and curator Waleska Santiago on racism, education, everything really, and transition in Cuba, as part of the exhibit “Cuba in Transition: Narrative and Perspective,” currently at the A.P.E. Gallery, 129 Main St. in Northampton. Today at 2 pm there will be a bilingual discussion with members of the Cuban Diáspora; on June 22 at 6 pm, Mark and Waleska will talk with the public about the exhibit. More info here: northamptonartscouncil.org/2017/04/mark-guglielmo-cuba-in-transition.html
We are sung out by Beny Moré of Cuba singing “Mucho Corazón,” lyrics by Mexican Emma Elena Valdelamar.
Image with permission by Mark Guglielmo.
Vaya Con Muñoz 6.10.17
Today is all about Puerto Rico: The 60th Annual Puerto Rico Day Parade tomorrow, as seen through the eyes of local Puerto Ricans Diane Alverio, founder and editor of Connecticut Latino News (link here: ctlatinonews.com), based in Hartford; and Lillian Torres, from Ponce and living in Holyoke.
Should Oscar López Rivera, formerly a member of a violent group that advocated for Puerto Rico’s independence, and who was pardoned by President Obama been selected as the parade’s grand marshal? In the end, he opted out, seeing that the honor was dividing the Puerto Rican community, as well as politicians and a slew of big businesses that pulled their sponsorhsip of the parade.
We are sung out by Juan Luis Guerra of the Dominican Republic with “El Costo de La Vida.”
Vaya Con Muñoz 6.3.17
Liz Roberts, chief exceutive officer at The Springfield-based Valley Venture Mentors, which supports innovative startups, talks about the 12 startups that were awarded a total of $150,000 in prize money last week.Among the winners:
• Genoverde Biosciences, Incorporated: Engineering trees with increased CO2 (carbon dioxide) capture capabilities to combat global climate change. $25,000
• New England Breath Technologies: Pain-Free Diabetic Monitoring; Just a Breath Away $25,000
• MEANS Database: Waste less, feed more. Nonprofit tech devoted to business-friendly food recovery. $22,500
• Ernest Pharmaceuticals: Programmed bacteria to treat metastatic breast cancer $12,500
• M1 Tapes: The M1 SmartScribe is the best tape measure in the world. Measure and mark 3X faster, no pencil needed! $12,500
• Lumme: Cracking the code to beat addictive behavior $10,000
A complete list, and more information about VMM, here: valleyventurementors.org/news/
Also, Brooke Mead, executive director of the Berkshire Immigrant Center in Pittsfield talks about its fund-raiser this month and the work it does to help about 800 immigrants and refugees a year. More info here: BerkshireIC.com.
At the beginning and end I rant on sexism and how it played a role in the 2016 presidential election. Unfortunately, sexism never gets old.
We are sung out by Concha Buika, “Mi Niña Lola.”
Image of Berkshire Immigrant Center by the center.
Vaya Con Muñoz 5.27.17
Larry Hott reviews “Risk,” a documentary by Laura Poitras, who most famopusly directed “Citizenfour” (2014) about Edward Snowden, the former CIA contrator who leaked classified information about surveillance programs on average American citizens and people abroad. “Risk” is about Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who recently beat rape charges against him by Sweden by staying safely out of reach esconsed in the Ecuadoran Embassy in London. Trailer here: youtube.com/watch?v=g7icupYSOJ8
Ariadna Goenaga celebra la genialidad del director austriáco-norteamericano Billy Wilder, y tres de sus películas: “Some Like It Hot,” “Sunset Boulevard” y “The Apartment.”
David Silva, executive director of the Puerto Rico Culture Center (prccmass.com) updates us on cultural events. He also talks about being Puerto Rican in the United States.
Gricel Ocasio Martínez, founder and publisher of the largest LGBTQ publication in New England, on the awesome support she has received over its 10 years of existence, thorugh thick and thin. Read online here: therainbowtimesmass.com
Shakira sings us out with “Lo hecho está hecho.”
Image of “Risk” from official trailer video
Vaya Con Muñoz 5.20.17
Filmmaker Larry Hott recommends a podcast called “S-Town”.Link here: stownpodcast.org/. Listening to it, you will see a maginifent film created by your imagination based the true story of an Alabama man.
En español, la curadora Waleska Santiago comparte su perspectiva sobre la pintura “Ataúd abierto”, por la pintora blanca alemana Dana Shutz, de Emmett Till, un muchacho negro de 14 años que fue golpeado y ahorcado en 1955 por racistas en Mississippi.
Laura Lovett, U.S. women’s history professor at UMass, and Maurianne Adams, retired social justice professor at UMass, and journalist Marla Goldberg (amherstspectator.com) on the push to create a new historic dsitrict in Amherst based the people who lived in the North Prospect-Lincoln-Sunset area.
Santana sings us out with “Everything’s Going Our Way.”
Image by Natalia Muñoz Google Maps
Vaya Con Muñoz 5.13.17
For a still mysterious reason, UMass-Boston was about to award the Chancellor’s Medal to Puerto Rico former Gov. Pedro Rossell_ó, whose administration is considered by historians and political observers as the most corrupt in the island’s history. Dozens of his administrators and Cabinet secretaries were imprisoned for stealing millions of dollars from the departments of health, education, public works and others. More than 1,400 academics from UMass, many of them Puerto Rican, denounced the award. Under pressure by its own community and in social media, UMass-Boston rescinded the award. But they haven’t answered why Rosselló was considered in the first place — and for a second award.
From the corrupt to the clean: We also check in with state Rep. José Tosado of Springfield on some of the projects he has been working on to benefit his community.
Filmmaker Larry Hott on filmmaking in the age of Trump.
We are sun out by Chamber and Jarabe de Palo, “Déjame Vivir.:
Photo of email sent by UMass-Boston to Natalia Muñoz.
Vaya Con Muñoz 4.29.17
We start off with the Northampton commemoration of Martyrs’s Day, held every April 24 to remember the genocide of 1.5 million Armenians. We hear from the event’s organizer, Gina Ayvazian, we hear the Armenian national anthem sung by Mr. Popken, and a moving story from Michael Garjian about his aunt Mabel.
Also, Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Larry Hott on independent filmmaking in the Age of Trump.
Film critic Ariadna Goenaga on “Hell or High Water,” directed by David Mackenzie and screenplay by Taylor Sheridon. Trailer here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQoqsKoJVDw.
José Feliciano sings us out with “Qué será.” Not the Doris Day hit, but a different song about yearning for better days for one’s homeland.
Photo of Michael Garjian, holding a photo of his aunt Mabel, by Natalia Muñoz
Vaya Con Muñoz 4.22.17
Gina Ayvazian leads the annual commemoration of Armenian Martyrs’ Day, when 1.5 million Armenians were systematically killed by the Turkish government starting in 1915, a genocide. All are welcomeand asked to ear black at the event, which takes place April 24 at 5:30 pm at the garage behind Thornes Marketplace.
Emmy-award winning filmmaker Larry Hott reviews “Street Fight,” about Cory Booker’s 2002 succesful 2002 Newark, NJ, mayoral campaign. Trailer here: youtube.com/watch?v=u6EkpsYtrsE
Larry also reviews the documentary about desforestation activists “If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation.” Trailer here: youtube.com/watch?v=WRwN-crcQrI&feature=youtu.be&list=UU-pvs6x9N_SPOrT3ESNJ8qQ
Manuel Frau Ramos, founder and editor of monthly bilingual El Sol Latino, talks about his impressions of a conference about Puerto Rico that was held at UMass in Amherst this month. This segment es en español.
My rant: Why it took many women and millions of dollars before Fox fired sexual predator, Bill O’Reilly.
We are sung out by Mercedes Sosa and Milton Nascimento, “Inconciente Colectivo.”
Image courtesy of Gina Ayvazian.
