KUCI: Ask A Leader

Clergywoman Dr. Terry LePage returns to Ask A Leader to offer another kind of Christianity, in these times where some brands of theology seem to be in crisis. We devote the full hour to this topic. Additional commentary from Terry is available at: http://justshine1.blogspot.com/.

For the full hour, refugee crises are made very personal, very real, with Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance and Lydia Natoolo, former U. C. Irvine Student Body President and current vice-presidential candidate for the Ugandan diaspora. While you are at it, help yourself to additional materials: https://www.haitianbridge.org/ and https://faithinaction.org/.

Jack Cheevers, Public Information Officer for Region 9 of the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, talks about the basics and intricacies of Medicare enrollment. In my second (minute 28:50), George Shea, playwright and children’s book author, George Shea, merges science with art as he talks about his play “Dr. Keeling’s Curve,” a subversive and lovely play for these times, for all audiences.

Ana Gonzalez, Public Affairs Director for the Community Action Fund of Planned Parenthood Orange and San Bernardino Counties, takes up the reach of their local advocacy efforts amidst legislative, executive, and electoral changes afoot. In the second segment (minute 29:10), Dr. Matthew Zahn, specialist in Pediatric infectious diseases, currently serving as a medical director of the Division of Epidemiology and Assessment for the Orange Co Health Care Agency, offers insight about childhood immunization policy and trends in and around Orange County.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez will look over the Party’s electoral map going into the 2020 Presidential Primaries. In the second segment (minute 27:45), Kayleigh Levitt, founder of Zero Waste Collective Orange County and member of Citizens' Climate Lobby; considers our options to trim our consumption. The Zero Waste Collective is an online community about all things zero waste, as well as sustainable and ethical living, including the work of Max Loboiron.

Plowing right into the headwinds and the moving targets of immigration policy are guests: Ana Ramirez, Coordinator of the Orange County Rapid Response Network; and Tim Burns, local activist, and community advocate for universal representation for immigrants facing deportation. See something, say something to the hotline: 714-881-1558. Details for how further to get involved are available at: https://resilienceoc.org/. We wrap the show (minute 38:38) with Carissa Macias, program coordinator serving up “Gourmet by the Bay,” a fundraising plein air dining experience this Saturday, July 20th, 6-9 p.m. at the nearby Newport Conservancy’s Interpretative Center.

Katie Kalvota, who’s recently founded a new political action campaign in OC, “Asian Americans Rising,” among other newly realized political talents, has the full hour, to explore them all as she institutionalizes these organizations right here, right now. Asian Americans Rising is a political action committee that elevates the political impact of the AAPI community through civic engagement, issue advocacy, and promotion of candidates at the local, state, and national levels who represent the interests of the American Asian Pacific Islander community in Orange County.

Rachel Bitecofer, political scientist and forecaster at the Wason Center at Christopher New Port University, returns to the show to bring her inestimable model of forecasting, fresh off the press, on what the electoral map will look like in 2020. In the second half (minute 19:53), Citizens’ Climate Lobby activists Mark Tabbert and Virginia Bernal talk about the heady times they had on Capital Hill this last June, and ways in which the political ground is shifting on climate policy on the municipal as well as the federal levels.