Talk About Drama

A morning from hell.

A guest did not show up. We had no idea where he was, or what happened. We talked to him last night.

(Do men think like this? As a female, your first thought is, like, does he hate me? Why is he doing this to me? ... And then you get a grip.)

Our second guest had to carry the conversation for many minutes. Although she was not expecting to, she was a trooper. We redid the conversation for the second feed (for our afternoon stations), only to be beset by technical problems the entire way through. Again, the guests were total troopers.

Also, a film I have been trying to watch for days, in preparation for an interview, was so corrupted I could not see any of it (and, no, I did not buy it from a guy selling incense at the Metro station ... the nerve).

And, NPR.org, our Web site, crashed earlier.

The good news: the coffee was good this morning.

Sigh.

We decided we will, barring breaking news, do a conversation about the controversial short film from Denmark that some consider a deliberate provocation. We decided it's a media conversation. In other words, what's our job in this?

Also, we're still following events in Zimbabwe. ... And, might it not be time to check in on Kenya after all the post election drama there?

And Chad, which put down a coup attempt earlier this year?

There's some extra support from our Money Coach Alvin Hall today; he's got a special Q and A to try to answer your questions about the credit crisis. If you have any questions for him ... for the Mocha Moms, or questions for any of us, for that matter, send them our way. We might not get to them right away, but we will read them.

I'm dashing off to try to finish two books in preparation for conversations this afternoon.

... And, see if I can get some more of that coffee.

Michel Martin

4:30 PM ET | 04- 1-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

 

A Short Break from Politics

First let me say Happy Birthday to you, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. We are standing on your shoulders, and we can't help but wonder what might have been...

Today is the Michigan presidential primary. Most Democrats didn't campaign in Michigan because the party objected to the state's decision to move its primary day to an earlier date -- only Hillary Clinton and Chris Dodd (who dropped out of the race) are on the ballot there. It's considered a big test for the Republicans -- John McCain and Mitt Romney are both on the ballot, as well as Mike Huckabee.

Anyway, if you're wondering why we didn't go with more political news today, it's because many news organizations shy away from reporting on campaigns (except for color commentary) on the days when actual voting is taking place. The thinking is: what if we make a mistake? We can't fix it. It's hanging out there. It's not fair, etc., etc.

All organizations don't take that position. In the Internet age, they figure you can always update ... the news is always happening. It's a close call, so today we're following the guidelines set by news management here.

Not that it's easy, because there's a lot to talk about ... Waaah

We're still interested in that whole debate over race and gender. There's interesting stuff brewing on the blogs and other programs. If we can get the guests we want, we'll revisit the subject.

Big news on the financial markets, too, which we happened to catch because of a previously scheduled visit with our regular contributor Alvin Hall. He watches the big picture for us, as well as our (puny) wallets.

When you hear that Citigroup is writing off $18.1 billion because of bad loans, do you think, OK, that's them? Or, do you think, holy smokes?...

I think it's holy smokes time. Although analysts say it could be worse, it's a very important story with ripple effects throughout the economy. We are determined to stay on top of it...

Switching gears a bit, a sad local story in Washington ...

Continue reading "A Short Break from Politics" »

Michel Martin

4:44 PM ET | 01-15-2008 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post

 

Money, Money, Money...

Hello everyone, it's Cheryl Corley. I'm in from the windy city of Chicago ... subbing for Michel for a few days, so it's nice to be with you.

Money. Money. Money. Today was definitely a money show -- starting with our discussion about the rebuilding efforts taking place in Mississippi. The Mayor of Gulfport, Brent Warr, and Ashley Tsongas from Oxfam America were on the show. They have totally different views and had a spirited, but measured, discussion about how the money is being spent in Mississippi and who's getting it. Tsongas and a number of community groups say too many of the poor are being left out in places like Gulfport where the focus is on rebuilding shipping ports and helping people who are more well-off. As you might imagine, the mayor has quite a different take. Take a listen.

We continued our discussion about the Pew Charitable Trusts study that reported on the economic mobility of black and white Americans. Lots of folks weighed in with their thoughts about why so many middle class blacks spiraled downwards. There was the conversation with Chicago Urban League President Cheryle Jackson and author Omar Tyree, the Mocha Moms discussion and, of course, our money guy, Alvin Hall chimed in. It's an important conversation, so we thought it'd be a good idea for you to check everyone out.

Transferring wealth was one of the major issues raised in the PEW study and it's a concern more women will face. By some accounts today's women control more than half of the personal wealth in the United States and are set to inherit trillions of dollars as the World War II generation begins to shift its wealth to children. It's a subject philanthropist Abby Disney -- you know, the niece of Walt -- knows and she joined us today too. She heads an anti-poverty group in NY and she's asking women of means, whether they inherited their money or earned it, to join her in raising millions more for foundations which focus on providing help to disadvantaged women and girls.

And then there's the shopping to come after Thanksgiving. Black Friday it's called, and while merchants hope the sales will keep them in the black, money coach Alvin Hall says stick to a list and don't let your emotions sway you, so you don't end up in the red. Hard advice for some ... but Alvin says you'll be much happier after the holidays if you do.

More tomorrow,
Cheryl

Michel Martin

5:33 PM ET | 11-20-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post