Hole in the Air

Participating in this this press conference concerning the Armenian Genocide (and a related resolution approved by the Los Angeles County Democratic Party and forwarded to the California Democratic Party for possible adoption by the state party) were resolution co-authors Caro Avanessian, Renee Nahum and Paul Neuman (all of Assembly District 43), and resolution sponsors* State Senator Anthony Portantino; Assemblymember Laura Friedman; Los Angeles County Democratic Party Controller Thomas Patrick O’Shaughnessy; Glendale City Councilmembers Vrej Agajanian, Paula Devine, and Vartan Gharpetian, Glendale Unified School District President Jennifer Freemon and Board Members Armina Gharpetian, Nayiri Nahabedian,  and Shant Sahakian; Burbank Unified School District President Dr. Armand Aghakhanian; L.A. Unified School District Boardmember Scott M. Schmerelson,; Aroutin Hartounian, Esq. Assembly District 43, Leonard Manoukian AD43, andTom Parsekian, Esq. *Titles and organizational names are  listed for identification purposes only.  Other resolution sponsors who were not able to attend the press conference that day include*:   L.A. County Democratic Party (LACDP), California Democratic Party  Region 11, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, State Senator Anthony Portantino, Assemblymember Richard Bloom, L.A City Councilmember Paul Koretz, L.A. City Councilmember Paul Krekorian, L.A. City Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell, L.A. City Councilmember David Ryu, L.A. City Councilmember Herb Wesson, Burbank Mayor Sharon Springer, Burbank City Councilmember Emily Gabel-Luddy, Burbank City Councilmember Timothy Murphy,  Glendale City Clerk Ardashes Kassakhian, Glendale Community College District Trustee Ann Ransford, Sierra Madre Mayor John C. Harabedian, Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees President Andra Hoffman, Los Angeles Community College District Trustee Mike Fong, Crescenta Valley Town Council Member Desiree Portillo Rabinov,  LACDP Chair Mark Gonzalez, Elen Asatryan AD43, Hrand Avanessian AD43, Dan Brotman AD43, Victor Castellano AD41, Norman Chramoff AD50, Laurie Collins AD43, Jocelyn Duarte (Executive Director, Salvadoran American Leadership and Educational Fund, Jeff Ebenstein AD50, Carol Fodera AD43, David Giron AD51, Marilyn Grunwald AD38, Ana Guerrero AD43, Tony Hale AD66, Shanna Ingelsbee AD43, Kathy Kensinger AD43, Luke Klipp AD43, Susan Mastrodemos AD43, Juliet Minassian AD43, Star Parsamyan, Kathleen Patterson AD41, Mark Ramos, Nicholas B.C. Schultz AD43, Susie Shannon AD46, Mario Solis-Marich, Rick Tuttle AD54, Emily K. Weisberg AD43, Jane Wishon AD54, Arcadia High School Young Democrats, AD41 Burbank Democratic Club, California Armenian American Democrats, Cañada Crescenta Democratic Club, Democrats for Neighborhood Action, East Area Progressive Democrats, Glendale Democratic Club, Stonewall Democratic Club, Unified Young Armenians (UYA). *ALL titles and organizational names are listed for identification purposes only.

Hole in the Air chats with TV great Sonny Fox, the legendary host of Wonderama, about his pioneering achievements in creating top quality entertainment for young people and others throughout his long and meritorious career.  Also discussed is his growing up in Brooklyn, and his experiences as a Jewish prisoner of war after being captured at the start of the Battle of the Bulge in World War II.  Sonny Fox's valuable autobiography -- But You Made the Front Page! Wonderama, Wars and a Whole Bunch of Life -- helps shape the conversation  Joining in the conversation is his granddaughter Rachel, who is a field deputy in a Los Angeles City Council office, and the two talk about how each seeks to help people and benefit society.  Opening and closing music by Fingers DelRey  .https://www.sonnyfox.tv

The Hole in the Air podcast team meets with Nicholas Schultz, president of Democrats for Neighborhood Action (DNA), and they discuss the club and its ongoing efforts and activism in the Greater Los Angeles area as well as Nick's own personal involvement in politics and government.  For more information about the club, one can visit the DNA website at https://www.dna-cadem.com.

Hole in the Air chats with Caro Avanessian, the president of the Glendale Democratic Club, and discusses the club's grassroots activism and how Glendale, California has experienced great demographic and political change.

https://www.salef.org,https://www.facebook.com/salefonline/, 

In this episode, Hole in the Air focuses on the border crisis by learning about the insights and experiences of one agency, the Salvadoran American Leadership and Education Fund (SALEF).  SALEF Executive Director Jocelyn Duarte, M.A., and SALEF Vice President David Giron describe efforts to help migrants in dire circumstances, many of whom have fled life-threatening situations only to be stuck in an inhumane political and legal purgatory not of their making.  SALEF is a much-acclaimed non-profit that for more than 20 years has helped many people and communities in Los Angeles and elsewhere; in addition to such work, during the current, heightened border crisis, SALEF personnel and additional volunteers have been traveling to the border area, particularly Tijuana, on their own time, providing much needed assistance -- food, supplies, medicine, clothing, friendship and guidance -- to very vulnerable people who remain in harm's way kept in what are often quite harsh and inadequate settings.  Those helped by SALEF include persons from the Northern Triangle (Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador), Venezuela, Haiti and Nicaragua, as well as internally displaced Mexicans from Southern Mexico.   

Also participating in this discussion are Hole in the Air's Renee Nahum and Paul Michael Neuman. The episode was recorded on September 15,  2019. 

Political and demographic changes in the Greater L.A. area have reshaped not just local & state ways of life but also present & future national trends. Recognizing how Southern California has evolved dramatically over the past quarter century. This podcast episode is a lecture/discussion mix, led by Vivek Swaroop Sharma, Vivek is a scholar of political order, conflict, violence, religion and societies near and far; is or has been associated with such esteemed places of learning as Columbia and Yale Universities; Pitzer and Pomona Colleges; the University of Copenhagen; and École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. Those joining in this conversation include Renee Nahum, Paul Michael Neuman and Erik Sanchez.

Vivek Swaroop Sharma heads this Hole in the Air conversation -- part lecture, part discussion -- about Gandhi and moral leadership. He details with great precision Gandhi's life, principles, challenges and endeavors, in turn providing illuminating insights into issues facing all of us today.  Vivek is a scholar of political order, conflict, violence, religion and societies near and far; is or has been associated with such esteemed places of learning as Columbia and Yale Universities; Pitzer and Pomona Colleges; the University of Copenhagen; and École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales.  In this podcast episode of Hole in the Air (recorded in mid-May, 2019), he is joined by Paul Michael Neuman and Gary De La Rosa. Their wide-ranging conversation touches on many things, including Gandhi's evolution on key issues and strategies; his stays in London and South Africa; Gandhi on the British Empire; non-violence; the caste system; Hindu-Muslim relations and violence; group identity and liberal politics; religion and pluralism; Nehru; Gandhi on race; Gandhi on Hitler; and possible lessons and legacies for today, including for people in the United States.  

https://www.facebook.com/events/lisa-derrick-fine-arts-961-chung-king-road-los-angeles-ca-90012/fast-and-bulbous-the-art-of-victor-hayden/383813668838933/,  https://ausgangart.com, http://www.beefheart.com/fast-and-bulbous-the-art-of-victor-hayden/, https://artillerymag.com/events/fast-bulbous-the-art-of-victor-hayden-curated-by-anthony-ausgang/, http://www.beefheart.com, http://pameladesbarres.comhttps://artillerymag.com/cat-call/, https://www.facebook.com/Cat-Museum-165817943577831/, https://www.lancastermoah.org

The Hole in the Air team talks with curator/artist/musician Anthony Ausgang about the late artist Victor Hayden AKA The Mascara Snake (of "Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band" fame). They discuss Hayden and a recent exhibition, curated by Ausgang, of Hayden's works, made available by Pamela Des Barres; Captain Beefheart, the Magic Band, and Trout Mask Replica; the curating of individual and group art shows; Cat Museum; the City of Lancaster and the Antelope Valley,; the City of Vernon and a beef-pork mural that once was there, and various other matters of art, music and culture.  Right when the podcast episode is wrapping up, it starts up again for a final portion, with the participants sucking on atomic fireballs. In retrospect, Paul of the podcast team feels quite apologetic for his meandering pontificating, which he maintains was a product of his nervous uncertainty about whether the audience might be largely Beefheart aficionados, or those who might know nothing about that music and scene. Also, making the episode available to the public, months after it was recorded, took longer than expected, oops.    The Hole in the Air Interlocutor and the sounds of Fingers DelRey are heard.

https://cd13.lacity.org, 
L.A. City Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell chairs the City's Homelessness and Poverty Committee. In this August 2019 discussion with Hole in the Air, he details how the City of Los Angeles is meeting the challenges of addressing homelessness, with a potentially increased State of California tie-in.  

Discussing the invaluable Stonewall Democratic Club and its progressive efforts and historic accomplishments are club president Lester Aponte and political vice president Jane Wishon, along with Renee Nahum and Paul Michael Neuman of Hole in the Air. https://www.stonewalldems.org/podcast,https://www.stonewalldems.org, https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB159