Merry Christmas Eve! Today we'll hear about a deadly fungus threatening the world's banana crop, we'll hear from a UCLA nurse helping Filipinos recover after Typhoon Haiyan, and Dana Goodyear talks about her new book on the changing American palate. Plus, getting to know Dorothea Lange, the photographer behind "Migrant Mother," looking back at the year in music and much more.
UCLA nurse joins the Typoon Haiyan relief effort
It's been over six weeks since Typhoon Haiyan made landfall in the central and southern parts of The Philippines
It was the most powerful storms ever recorded to strike land, and it displaced more than four million people, many of whom are still in need of significant aid.
Today, we check in with one of the people who's helping out. Paolo Montenegro is a Neuro Trauma ICU nurse at UCLA. But for the past week, he's been traveling around various Filipino neighborhoods known as "Baranguys" on the central island of Visayas, providing care to those who need it.
Montenegro joins the show to talk about his experience and how the relief effort is progressing.
Deadly fungus threatening world's top banana crop
A recent article in the journal Nature says the world's most popular banana export is being threatened by a fungus that rots and kills healthy banana plants.
The fungus has already been found in plantations in Africa and the Middle Eas. Now banana growers and harvesters are racing to keep the fungus from spreading to Latin America, which accounts for 80 percent of the fruit's worldwide exports.
The fungus has a particularly devastating effect on the Cavendish banana, which is the most popular and widely exported variety. Further spreading of the fungus could be catastrophic.
Dan Koeppel, author of "Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World" and an expert on all things banana, joins the show to explain.
'Anything That Moves' traces the bizarre evolution of American cuisine
Extreme cuisine shows on reality TV have given foodies the roadmap to look past the corner diner for their next meal. Instead, they go in search of the most exotic or hard to find foods, even challenging traditional notions of what is actually edible with things like bugs, brains, whale or horse.
New Yorker food writer Dana Goodyear writes about this change in her new book, "Anything That Moves."
Tuesday Reviewsday: The best music of 2013, part I
In this edition of Tuesday Reviewsday, we're going to take a look back at the best of 2013 with
from Spin Magazine and
from The Hollywood Reporter. Next week we'll have two of our other regulars — music supervisor Morgan Rhodes and Oliver Wang — in to talk about their top picks.
Below we have the list of picks from Shirley and Chris, as well as a Spotify playlist so you can give some of the songs a listen.
Shirley's Picks
Best Album: Phoenix, "Bankrupt"
Best Artist: Arcade Fire
Best Song: "Stoned And Starving" by Parquet Courts
Best Trend: Minimalism (Ex: Lorde, no use of auto tune)
Least Favorite Song: "Work Bitch" by Britney Spears
Chris's Picks:
Best Album: Kanye West, "Yeezus"
Best Artist: Laura Marling
Best Song: "Get Free ft. Amber Coffman" by Major Lazer
Best Trend: House music, early 90s R &B revival (Ex: Disclosure)
Least Favorite Song: "Lose Yourself To Dance" by Daft Punk
2013 Review: The Affordable Care Act in the news
One of the most talked about issues this year has been our healthcare system and the pending changes under what has formerly been called Obamacare.
The Affordable Care Act is bringing about the biggest changes to health insurance since the advent of Medicare and Medicaid about 50 years ago. What happens in California has far-reaching implications both locally and around the country.
It continues to dominate headlines as the government extends the deadline to sign up for healthcare until midnight tonight for the federal healthcare.gov website.
Stephanie O'Neill is our health care correspondent here at KPCC and joins us now to recap all of the Affordable Care Act news of the past year.
What happens if Mary Landrieu ascends to energy post?
The U.S. Senate may be in for a round of musical chairs early next year — committee chairs, that is.
The Obama Administration has tapped Montana Democrat Max Baucus to be the next ambassador to China. If he is confirmed, that means he vacates his seat as chair of the senate finance committee.
Oregon's Ron Wyden would then ascend to that chairmanship, leaving his position as head of the senate energy and natural resources committee. In turn, Louisiana's Mary Landrieu would likely take the helm at energy. That could spell big change for the oil and gas industries, as well as environmentalists.
Coral Davenport covers energy and the environment for the New York Times.
2013 Review: A banner year for gay rights in the US
As 2013 closes out, we're revisiting with some of the most memorable voices that we heard throughout the year.
It's been a historic one for supporters of gay marriage. Even just this past week, New Mexico's Supreme Court formally recognized same-sex marriage, while a federal judge overturned Utah's ban on gay unions.
But the biggest news of the year came on June 26th, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned DOMA and California's Prop 8. Shaun Stent and John Catuara were ecstatic.
RELATED: SCOTUS rulings open green card doors to binational same-sex couples
Shaun is British, and John is American. They married in New York well before their union was recognized federally, or here in their hometown of Redondo Beach. When we talked last summer, Shaun explained that DOMA meant he couldn't get his greencard.
Santa's helpers lend a hand at LA post office
Every year, millions of children write letters to Santa. When he can't get to everything on a kid's wish list, Santa sometimes forwards the requests to helpers at the US Post Office. The program is called "Operation Santa" - and South Los Angeles is one of the areas with the highest number of letters in the nation. The California Report's Steven Cuevas has the story.
One of the largest receiving areas in the nation for these letters is in South Los Angeles.
The stacks of mail that arrive for Santa at the mammoth U.S. Postal Service center on South Central Avenue come from children across the region.
“I think this little girl is asking for Play-Doh. It says, 'Dear Santa, this year I have been nice. I want a play-doh-doh-doh,'” laughs Francis Chi, a teaching assistant at California State University, Los Angeles.
“I decided this was my week of Christmas giving,” says Chi. “I normally don’t have time to really help out in my community and this seemed like a good place to start.”
On a recent weekday morning, Chi joined about two dozen other people at the USPS center to select a handful of these letters and hopefully, says Operation Santa volunteer organizer Patrick Reynolds, make a sack-full of wishes come true.
“For 101 years, the USPS has been giving out letters to Santa Claus,” explains Reynolds, “often from needy kids asking for food and clothes. The public can come down and adopt a letter and send that child gifts. There’s no middle man, no charity involved when you volunteer in that way,” he says.
Some kids won’t get everything they ask for; like the one requesting nearly $2,000 in gift cards. Francis Chi finds a kid asking for a lot less, yet asking for much, much more.
The letter reads: “Hi, how are you Santa? I’m not getting anything for Christmas this year because I already have a beautiful family and beautiful cousins too. I just want you to give the orphans what they (want); a mom and a dad. For the homeless I want you to give them their family and of course food too.”
Chi says she’ll get a special gift for that child. And, she says, maybe even a handwritten letter of thanks from Mrs. Claus herself.
The USPS says people can pick letters from any kids they wish. But Patrick Reynolds prefers to steer people to the neediest. He launched an independent, grassroots effort 10 years ago “BeAnElf.org” to draw attention to Operation Santa and help publicize its mission.
He says the USPS does a great job running Operation Santa. But he wishes more post offices would participate. Only five postal centers in California (in Los Angeles, Santa Ana, Santa Clarita, Sacramento and San Francisco) have Operation Santa stations.
According to BeAnElf.org, 75 USPS branches participated in 2011. In 2012 that number dwindled to 25. And last year just 17 post offices across the country took part in Operation Santa.
“We want more people to know about it and volunteer,” says Patrick Reynolds.
“And if you’re alone and sad right now, get up out of your chair, come on down to the post office and you will catch the real spirit of Christmas.”
Choosing which kids to buy gifts for isn’t always so easy. Each one can tug at a person’s heartstrings. Like the one from a little girl asking for just one thing — some shoes for her brother. Another child asks for a rotating fan when it’s hot.
Many children give a peek into the struggles of families just trying to keep their heads above water.
“Dear Santa, I write to you this year because my parents don’t have any money to buy any presents,” begins one letter. “My dad lost his job and we are barely making it through. I was wondering if you could make my simple wish come true? Bring me a color Gameboy if it is not too much trouble.”
But not all the Santa letters come from children.
“Dear Santa Claus, my name is Guadalupe. I am 33 years old. I am a single mom and a housekeeper,” begins another. “I was planning to buy my kids new beds for Christmas. Unfortunately the ones we saw in the store are too expensive.”
The woman goes on to explain that she needs two twin-sized beds for her boys. She makes little money and struggles to pay her bills. She makes her appeal directly to Santa Claus, never once to the volunteer or postal worker who may actually read her letter.
“If you could help me I’ll be very thankful Santa, and God bless you for making people happy.”
One can imagine a parent sitting down to write a letter to Santa to indulge a child’s fantasy. Others may be aware of Operation Santa and hope some kind-hearted stranger may see their letter.
“The mothers aren’t writing because they're living in Beverly Hills,” says Patrick Reynolds. “They’re writing because they have real needs, and they seem sad and they’re in real need. And so I began answering the mothers' letters equally with the childrens,'” says Reynolds.
The USPS in Los Angeles estimates that it receives several thousand letters to Santa each year. Because of the sheer volume, just a fraction will get answered.
Even so, the elves of Operation Santa LA are on pace to deliver gifts to about 1,500 needy kids this year, nearly three times the number delivered last year.
Holiday Break: The case for letting your kids watch TV
As winter break nears, many parents are faced with a difficult decision: How much TV should I let my kid watch?
They should be outside playing or reading a book, right? Our next guest thinks that a little TV might not be such a bad idea.
Michael Petrilli is the executive vice president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, and he recently wrote a piece in The Atlantic, titled, "I refuse to feel bad about letting my children watch TV."
He argues that pop culture is just as important as the classics in making children well-rounded and educated people.
These programs offer something valuable nonetheless. Many of them portray valor, heroism, and bravery, all within story lines akin to the world’s great epics. I’m particularly smitten with 'Star Wars'—a child of the ‘70s am I—which, I think, deserves its place in the panoply of great epics right along with the 'Iliad' and 'The Odyssey', or more recent creations such as 'The Lord of the Rings.'
Petrilli joins the show to explain why he'll be letting his kids watch plenty of television this holiday season.
Catalina Island bison benefit from birth control efforts
If you think of bison, you probably think of Yellowstone National Park, but they're here in California, too, on Catalina Island.
In the 1920s, 14 of them were brought to island for a movie, and with no natural predators, their numbers rapidly increased. At one point, as many as 600 of the shaggy beasts roamed the island 25 miles off the Los Angeles coast. There were about 350 in 2003 when a study found that they had poor nutrition and health.
To control the numbers, bison were once shipped out for slaughter then later sent to Indian reservations for breeding.
But a new study published this month by the Catalina Island Conservancy has found a successful, cost-effective way to maintain the bison population, and it may be more similar to humans than you'd think.
Those who tend the herd now say that the birth control vaccine known as PZP has proven the best way to keep population levels at a healthy level.
"We learned that if we chose to have a herd, we should reduce the number to 150 since it's better for the bison and it's better for the habitat," said Ann Muscat, president and CEO of the conservancy, a nonprofit group that owns much of the island. "They're of great cultural and historical value to the island and we're very pleased that the program is working out as well as it is."
RELATED: Of bison, birth control and an island off Southern Calif.
Calvin Duncan is a wildlife biologist with the Catalina Island Conservancy and helped lead the research for this study. He joins Take Two to talk more about the birth control efforts and how they're benefitting both the island and the animal.
With contributions from the Associated Press
'Migrant Mother' and Beyond: Dorothea Lange's lifetime in photography
Photographer Dorothea Lange is best known for her intimate portraits of Depression-era migrant farmworkers.
Her most famous photo, "Migrant Mother", has become an icon of the Dust Bowl era, and of the plight of migratory farm workers in California in the 1930s. However, her life's work spans decades and continents.
Many believe her powerful images of suffering and despair were influenced by personal experience. Lange had childhood polio, and walked with a pronounced limp.
A new book called "Dorothea Lange: Grab A Hunk Of Lightning" takes a comprehensive look at her life in photographs. From her images of Japanese Internment during World War Two, to street scenes abroad in places like Korea, Nepal and Venezuela.
Author Elizabeth Partridge joins the show to talk about Lange's life and the legacy of her images.
Interview Highlights:
How did you get to be Lange's goddaughter?
"I was actually born into it. It was nothing volitional on my part. My dad decided at age 17 he wanted to be a photographer. His mother was a photographer, and she sent him out to work with a couple of what she called, her family friends. First, Ansel Adams and then Dorothea Lange. He really clicked with Dorothea, and although at first he was just an assistant for her, gradually he was kind of blended into the family and as all us children came along, we were called godchildren as a way of honoring this kind of extended loose family tie."
How did she get so close to her subjects?
"First of all, the Polio was huge because she walked with a very noticeable limp. So when she went into a migrant camp, these were people who have been busted by circumstance. Either the Dust Bowl, the weather had thrown them off the farm or financially they had run into trouble…They could take one look at her and realize she understood adversity in a very deep and personal way. She said it put her on a different level than if she had gone into a situation whole and secure. She just felt she could sort of blend into the background and she did."
Lange worked as a photographer for various government agencies. How much of what she did would you label propaganda?
"It was government propaganda what she did for the government, and she owned that. That was fine with her. In the '40s, when she photographed for the War Relocation Authority, she photographed the internment of the Japanese Americans. Now, probably what the government wanted was to show that we treated the Japanese Americans during this time with some care and respect, and that it wasn't a concentration camp like there was in Germany.
"She was forbidden to photograph the guard towers, the toilets, which were very open and public, and the barbed wire. She was not allowed to photograph any of that. So, she knew again she was being used for propaganda, but what she also tried to do was show the dignity of the people there and actually show how horrific the whole thing was because she was dead set against the interment. She thought it was absolutely an erosion of civil liberties that just was intolerable."
What's the story behind her most famous photograph, "Migrant Mother?:
"Dorothea had been working for about a month down in Los Angeles photographing. She was on her way home and she was immensely relieved that she was finished with her field work, she was heading home and she was exhausted. As she drove north through San Luis Obispo County in California, she passed a little handmade sign that said "pea picker's camp" and then unconsciously she just turned her car around and went back there and drove into the camp.
"She saw this woman with her children, just took her camera back out and took six or seven shots, asker her a few questions, you know, "What's going on here, why are you here? what's happening?" and found that that there had been a freeze the pea camps and the woman had nothing to eat and she had her children, and her husband had gone off to try to fix the car, so she got the story, she got back in her car, she got home, but she was dogged by the appalling conditions she had seen at that last pea picker camp.
"So she immediately developed that set of negatives and rushed some of them over to the San Francisco News and they were printed out the next day and the government got food supplies out to the pea pickers camp so people at least had something to eat."
Did she have a sense of where this photo would end up?
"No, she had absolutely no idea. In fact, what she said later in her life is, 'That photograph no longer belongs to me.' She just said it had taken on a life of its on, which she was willing for it to do. That was absolutely fine with."
How did international travel affect her work?
"She no longer had a frame of reference, she no longer had a job. She had nothing she had to propagandize for. She was just free to observe the world, and it was an amazing transformation for her because she couldn't assign value to what she was doing, she could only photograph it…She photographed things she knew and loved, but there was a freedom to her work."
What toll did photographing the pains of other take on her psyche?
"That's a very interesting question. I know in the long run, the effect it had on her was she had to try to distant herself to some degree...Dorothea would try to put away her feelings and thoughts about what she was photographing, but she had significant health problems that were in part generated by the stress of the work that she did. She had terrible ulcers that just got worse and worse and worse, and were significantly detrimental to her health. Partly, it was just how she reacted to what she was seeing."