KUCI: Ask A Leader

”Spirit Possession” Comes To OCCCA AND More Lanes Won’t Save Us

Today our first guests will be Thomas Fynn and Tom Lamb, collaborating photographers bring “Spirit Possession a Celebration of Ghanaian Faces, African Culture and Heritage.” This exhibition continues through June 29th at OCCCA. In the second segment (minute 30:17) we hear from Susan Handy U.C. Davis professor of environmental science who researches the relationships between transportation and land use to talk about how freeway expansions don’t work. An extended portion of her interview is available on this same day. Music credits: Chimora, “Africano Americano,” Sounds of Africa - album; Hyskuul Band Gh Enoch Owuraku; Kamasi Washington, “Change of the Guard,” The Epic - album.

Our Neighbors and Families Forward AND A Special 2024 Commencement Exercise

Returning to the show are both guests. Madelynn Hirneise, CEO of Families Forward, speaks about her organization’s current efforts - before the holidays, well before chestnuts start roasting on the winter open fire. Housing is top of mind. She invites prospective volunteers to call 949-552-272 7 or check out: https://www.families-forward.org/volunteer-opportunities/. In the second segment (minute 39:27), “AAL” resumes the annual tradition of having a graduating senior from the KUCI staff take stock of their UCI years; Kalisee Ajlouny takes the Class of 2024 out this year, the class that took a lot of public health and political lumps. Hit it Maestro Elgar! Music credits: Chimora, “Africano Americano,” Sounds of Africa - album; A. Ray Fuller, “Work To Do,” The Weeper - album; Blue Claw Philharmonic, “Pomp & Circumstance,” Hip Hop Remix.

Visalia Mom Scholar Graduates at UCI 2024

My guest for the full program is Michelle Story, a non-traditional student, mother of five soon to collect her diploma at UCI’s School of Social Sciences, before she pursues a graduate degree in clinical psychology. Listen to what breaking a mold sounds like as she talks about her institutional arrangements and studies at UCI after transferring from the community College of the Sequoias. Music credits: Chimora, “Africano Americano,” Sounds of Africa - album; José Antonio Rodríguez, “El Regalo,” Adiós Muchachos – album.

Continued Health Challenges Post ”Dobbs”

Our featured guest is Sadaf Rahmani, the public affairs director of Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties. She speaks about the challenges of delivering reproductive health services in today’s complex regulatory framework, post SCOTUS’ “Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization” decision on June 24, 2022. With all the headwinds in which Planned Parenthood is navigating, public health trends are concerning: availability of emergency birth control methods, young adults seeking sterilization, and Fontana’s City Council imposing a moratorium on permitting a downtown Planned Parenthood care center. It is an enormously changed world since the previous public affairs director at Planned Parenthood was on this program July 30, 2019. Details for upcoming events are available: https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/community-action-fund-planned-parenthood-orange-and-san-bernardi. Music credits: Chimora, “Africano Americano,” Sounds of Africa - album; Lorraine Klaasen, “Jolinkomo,” Free At Last – album; and Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, “Flight of the Cosmic Hippo,” Flight of the Cosmic Hippo – album.

”China’s Age of Abundance”

My guest for the full hour is UCI social scientist and one important demographer, Professor Wang Feng. We focus on his latest publication, especially as it helps us appreciate what China’s got to work with under current conditions. "China’s Age of Abundance; Origins, Ascendance, and Aftermath,” published by the Cambridge University Press, explores China’s rise to material wealth, current predicaments and future challenges. Demographers . . . the ones with lots of receipts. Music credits: Chimora, “Africano Americano,” Sounds of Africa - album; and Jodi Proznick Trio, “The Moon Represents My Heart,” Jasmine Jazz collaboration at Vancouver International Jazz Festival 2022.

Bringing All Young Voters To The Electoral Finish Line

For the full hour is Joey Forsyte, an LA based, award-winning filmmaker and visual artist. She focuses on works that build community, political awareness and activism. She is the owner of Velocity Filmworks as well as the founder and executive director of A Band of Voters. Civics is on her front burner as she works with institutions that reach out to the youngest of eligible voters: CA Student Civic and Voter Empowerment Act of 2019, the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE), and the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), to name a few. Interested parties can reach Joey et. al. by emailing them at: adoptacollege2024@gmail.com. This is a reminder for all eligible voters to register to vote and keep confirming their registration as many primaries continue, in the run up to the 2024 general election this November 5th. Music credits: Chimora, “Africano Americano,” Sounds of Africa - album; and Kamasi Washington, “The Magnificent,” The Epic – album.

New, Improved Citizenship Process AND

We begin with Rosaisela López Cienfuegos, a lead coordinator at Orange County Communities for Responsible Development, talking about the naturalization process that they’re overseeing, always looking for takers. Recent changes to the application and associated fees lower some of the earlier barriers; the processing time have been reduced get newly naturalized citizens into the voting booth sooner than was possible a few years ago. She sets you up with citizenship clinic training, in upcoming events. The next training at the OCCORD office is 5/3 and 5/4, 6-8 p.m. The next clinic is 5/18, with shifts starting at: 9 a.m., 11 a.m. and I p.m. More details: https://occord.org/. In the second segment (approx. minute 25:00) is playwright and screen writer Eleanor Burgess. Fresh from last year’s South Coast Repertory Pacific Playwright Festival, her world premiere of "Galilee, 34" is being performed now through May 12th, at SCR's Argyros Stage at the Segerstrom Center for Performing Arts. Details are available at: https://www.scr.org/plays/productions/23-24-season/galilee-34/. It’s an audacious interpretation of “none of it ever happened and it’s all true.” The host aimed for a spoiler free treatment of this play during these very fraught times. Music credits: Chimora, “Africano Americano,” Sounds of Africa - album; Dana Landry Trio, “Transfusion,” Memphis Skyline – album; Marcel Khalife, “I Shall Name You,” Stripped Bare – album.

“In Search of the Third Feather of Simurgh: Contagious Dictatorship and Fragile Democracy”

My guest for the full the hour is mixed media artist Soheila Siadate, with an extraordinary solo exhibition at the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art in Santa Ana, “In Search of the Third Feather of Simurgh: Contagious Dictatorship and Fragile Democracy” on view now through 4/26th. Details are available at: https://www.occca.org/EXHIBITIONS.html. This is her most expansive exhibit yet. On the radio: she leads us through layers of culture, history, and the special media with which she works. On your visit: the hours are Mon-Thursday by appointment only; open Friday-Saturday noon to 5 p.m., 117 North Sycamore St., downtown Santa Ana at the corner of 2nd and Sycamore. Music credits: Chimora, “Africano Americano,” Sounds of Africa - album; and Hossein Omoumi and Madjid Khaladj, “Tasnif.”