The people’s of the world are on the move, migrating across regions and continents. Many, due to wars, oppression and violent circumstances, come as refugees with little salvaged from their past lives. In Los Angeles, California, there is an organization called the INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE that works in tandem with the offices of the State Department of the Federal government. The Institute takes responsibility for resettling individuals, families and unaccompanied minors from the moment they land at the airport.

In this episode, we hear from the President and CEO of the International Institute of Los Angeles (IILA), Cambria Tortorelli, not only about the organization’s history but about all their resettlement efforts with those fleeing from Afghanistan in 2021, and the Ukraine in 2022. Cambria explains their menu of services and the additional programming of the Institute that provides such needs as legal services for immigrants and support for victims of human trafficking and low income residents, as well as other projects.

To learn more, and to make a donation - go to the website

Www.iilosangeles.org

Tracy Newman came to comedy writing by being a founder of a Los Angeles improvisational organization called The Groundlings. It was located on the famous Melrose Avenue, and it was during the heyday in the 1960’s for these kind of entertainment venues. The Groundlings, which still operates today, became a training ground where aspiring actors could learn how to create jokes and how to respond to a live audience when creating comedy. Many members of the group went on to have stellar careers like Tracy and her younger Sister, Lorraine, who became part of Saturday Night Live.

Incredibly, Tracy’s television career as a sitcom Writer began on the CHEERS program at the time when it was, and still is, one of the most popular programs for T. V. ever created. From there she continued joining with her partner John Stark, what is called the Writers’ Rooms, with many of the most famous television sitcoms such as the Drew Carey Show and The Nanny. She won an Emmy with other Writers, the highest award in Television in the U. S., for the script for the ELLEN Show where Ellen announced to the world that she was a Lesbian. At the time, that was a risky and radical career decision for a popular entertainer.

In this episode, Tracy takes us into the world of the typical Writers’ Room of a sitcom comedy, a place she left years ago to return to songwriting and singing. She gives us an insight into the history of how television comedy was made and evolved.

To hear her music, see her videos and purchase CDs, go to the website,

www.tracynewman.com

Evelina Fernandez, actress and Playwright, is a founding member of the Latino Theatre Company, one of the premier theatrical groups telling the stories from the growing Latino community in Los Angeles and around the United States.  The Company took residence in the Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC) in California, an important part of this major cultural center.  From the onset in the mid 1980s, LATC was dedicated to showing how the arts could address community problems and become a place for provoking audiences to consider solutions.  

           In 2007, the Latino Theatre Company took over the management of the cultural center and continued the tradition of LATC using this artistic platform in service to the greater Los Angeles community.  In this podcast episode Evelina describes some of the rewarding initiatives operating in this organization.  They include the following:

LatinX Playwriting Circle - made up of new and aspiring Latino Playwrights sharing the development of their works which will encourage the future of Latino plays

Latino Theatre Initiative HUB - LATC was chosen to manage various Foundation’s funds and is the center for Latino Theatre organizations around the U. S. to apply for grants

Community College Links - offering classes to students at these two year colleges to students who often come from poor communities or even may be homeless.  The students are given free tickets to LATC programs

          In conclusion, we learn about the exciting and diverse season of plays planned for the year 2023, and the plans for the future of the Los Angeles Theatre Center.   

           To contact:   LATC, 514 So.  Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013

                   Website - www.thelatc.org  Tel. 1 (213) 489-0994

                    Evelina Fernandez - [email protected]

Understanding the brain, how it functions and its impact on our individual destiny is an endless quest.  Dr. Steven Siegel, Chair of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine and Chief Mental Health and Wellness Officer for Keck Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC), in Los Angeles, has spent years conducting brain research.   It is a research that continues to be a frontier of learning, much like the exploration of space. 

         The challenge with understanding the human brain is the unbelievable complexity of its millions of cells.  The amazing fact is that Dr. Siegel explains how in embryo our brain is created with an individual pattern which sets the foundation for our nervous system, and our responses to our environment and stresses throughout life. 

          Dr. Siegel urges us to cease the artificial separation of mental illness from physical illness and allow for more comprehensive organic care. The legal and political challenges are embedded in the issues of one’s rights to choose. The contradiction is that in mental illness, the organ that makes decisions about choosing care, the brain, is the organ that is in disrepair and in need.  The answer to this dilemma is still hanging and unresolved.  According to Dr. Siegel, the younger generation who he is seeing at the University is melting away the stigma of mental health and approaching mental illness the same as physical illness.  It gives hope for more humane and effective policies in the future.  

To Contact Dr. Steven Siegel, email - [email protected]

It appears that what holds American society together has some serious cracks.  These fissures are the seemingly unchecked spread of extremism expressed in acts and words of hate and racism.  In this episode, Rev. Najuma of the University of Southern California’s (USC) Center for Religion and Civic Culture (CRCC)addresses the recent recording of four Los Angeles, California, civic leaders released to the public which revealed disgusting and racist commentary while detailing a plot to manipulate voting districts.  This conversation broadcast to the local community played into the recipe for social chaos when leaders depended upon betray the public.  At the moment in American society there is the mix of a diminished faith in political leaders and certain segments of the society questioning the very legitimacy of elections.  Much is at stake in the coming months and years which will challenge America’s viable future. 

At CRCC, the great spiritual leader, Rev. Cecil R. Murray wrote, “our actions in these troubled times must be guided by A Declaration of Interdependence”. 

For more information about the CRCC programs at USC, contact Rev. Najuma by email, [email protected]

In the wake of a leaked recording of a conversation by four Civic officials in Los Angeles, California, full of racist and demeaning words, many community leaders have stepped forward to respond. In this episode listeners will hear from Hyepin Im, the founder and President of FACE, Faith and Community Empowerment. It is an important and inspiring service organization connected to the 5000 Korean Churches, with a long menu of programming for all who are in need. Their efforts for others to promote home ownership, to secure employment and to help youth, contribute to a better community.

At the same time that FACE’s President Im is adding her voice to the outcry insisting that the officials on the recorded conversation resign their leadership positions, she is pleading for justice for those who committed most recently in Los Angeles a murderous attack against a defenseless Korean Shopkeeper, Tommy Lee, who lost his life during a robbery. Violent attacks against Asians continue as they have these last years. The despicable recorded conversation leaked to the public that has caused a civic crises in the City, feeds into the dehumanizing of certain groups undermining the very spirit that makes Los Angeles a diverse, dynamic array of people from all parts of the world.

To contact the FACE organization - go to their website, www.facela.org

Like many places in the world, Los Angeles is in a phase of great transformation.  At the same time that old structures are being torn down and replaced by modern, new buildings, there is an ongoing humanitarian crisis with tens of thousands of people and families who are homeless.   It means that as the City experiences this physical transformation, it is imperative that housing becomes a priority, especially affordable housing.  

In this episode you will hear about the West L. A. Commons, a new kind of Civic Center replacing a core thar has been languishing for decades.  Lara Regus, Senior Vice President of Development for Abode Communities and William Lee, Vice President of Development for AvalonBay Communities, describe a model that brings private and public entities together.  The revitalization will bring a wide range of housing options and local retail to a major community hub in the Westside of Los Angeles.

Fernando Guerra is the Founder and Director of The Center for the Study of Los Angeles started in 1996, at the campus of the Loyola Marymount University,(LMU), located in a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. In addition to growing the Center in its breath of research, he has continued in the position of Professor of Political Science and Chicano Latino Studies for almost 40 years. He arrived at LMU after completing his Doctorate at the University of Michigan.

From the very beginning of his teaching he focused his classes on Los Angeles. The inspiration for the creation of such a Center came from the 1992 riots civil unrest which erupted in response to the lack of conviction of the Police Officers who had brutally beaten Rodney King, a Black man. Fernando saw the Center as a place to understand the people of Los Angeles in hope of creating a more equitable City through information from research, student mentorship and engagement with residents and leaders.

Fernando explains that the central technique at the Center is to survey the L. A. population about their views of civic issues and events and in essence become the City’s pollsters, amassing data that leaders and decision makers can use when considering policies and community programs. Given the dynamic quality of the City of Los Angeles, California, there are new challenges to survey for years to come. He discusses some of their findings and surprises from the past and for today.

- To contact Dr. Guerra, email, [email protected] or [email protected]

Hillel, on campuses across the United States and internationally, takes their place with other religious centers on college campuses, to enrich the lives of young people during their academic experience. In particular, the purpose of Hillel is to serve Jewish students at a pivotal time in their lives to foster learning about Jewish values and to promote their commitment to social justice as a lifelong cause.

At the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) what is unique is the presence of a significant art center initially endowed by the late David Dortort, a renown television producer, inspired by the former UCLA Hillel Director, Rabbi Chaim Zeidler-Feller, and continued with the support of the current Director, Rabbi Aaron Lerner. It is called the Dortort Center for Creativity and the Arts at UCLA Hillel. And it is one of a kind, with 550 Hillels around the world, it is the only campus organization with a significant commitment to the arts for inspiration and for deepening learning experiences.

Perla Karney, the Artistic Director of the Center for the last 18 years, has provided the kind of leadership and dedication that has demonstrated how a Hillel and other campus organizations can use the power of the arts in all its variety to expand the education of college students and engage the greater community as well. With her direction, painters, writers, photographers, actors as well as academic experts can bring people together in the common quest to make a better world. In the breadth of her programming for the UCLA Center both on campus and internationally, she has become a beacon of artistry as an arts administrator.

For more information, or to propose an arts project, email:

The thread of Fred Kaplan’s long career as a stellar Journalist has culminated in the last twenty years as the WAR STORIES Correspondent for Slate.com. It seems war is a topic for a lifetime career, and now in the year 2022, the war in Ukraine has no end in sight.

Kaplan, besides being a Pulitzer Prize winning Defense Correspondent, is the author of six books, displaying his deep knowledge of the military issues that surround us. His latest book is, THE BOMB: Presidents, Generals and the Secret History of Nuclear War.

He comes to this podcast episode with a keen assessment of how and why the war in Ukraine came about and where it is today. Looking at the geopolitical and historical perspective between Russia and the Ukrainian area, he is also able to draw upon a career highlight as the Boston Globe Bureau Chief in Moscow for three years. No one has a crystal ball and as Fred Kaplan explains, it is hard to know when the end of the war will come and what that will mean. In a global world, war or peace sends ripples far and wide.