A look at what it means to transition publicly, how to broach the subject of racism with your kids, and how businesses are dealing with the drought
'Call me Caitlyn': The debut of Caitlyn Jenner
"Call me Caitlyn."
Those three words grace the cover of the new issue of Vanity Fair. They accompany a picture, taken by Annie Leibovitz, of the woman, the Olympic gold medalist once known as Bruce Jenner.
Making the transition from man to woman is hard enough, but doing so when you are a celebrity comes with its own set of challenges.
Public relations expert Howard Bragman addresses those challenges, and Jessica Dimmock, noted photographer and filmmaker who is working on a film about older transgender men and women, talks about what this transition is like for an older person.
Can talking to kids about race have educational and health benefits? A doctor weighs in
The achievement gap is a persistent problem in American schools.
When it comes to standardized tests and graduation rates, Latino and black students consistently underperform when compared with their white and Asian counterparts.
One way to get at the problem? Conversations between parents and kids about race and racism.
It's an area of research that Dr. Ashaunta Anderson, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine, has been looking into.
She and her colleagues at UC Riverside have been researching how minority parents talk to their kids about race. Dr. Anderson joined Take Two to discuss the effect those conversations can have on kids' educational outcomes and well-being.
To hear the full interview, click the link above.
A look at Sepp Blatter's FIFA resignation
Just after being elected to a fifth term as FIFA president, Sepp Blatter resigned from the role on Tuesday.
More than a dozen high profile arrests of FIFA's top officials shocked the soccer world last week, with charges ranging from corruption and money laundering.
While the other FIFA brass were indicted, Blatter was not named in the investigation. Even though German President Angela Merkel and UK Prime Minister David Cameron called for Blatter to step down, he refused, and went on to win the election.
Sean Wheelock, the U.S. soccer correspondent for the BBC, joined the show with more on Blatter's resignation.
Businesses adopt new conservation measures amid drought
California residents have had to adopt new water conservation measures following Gov. Jerry Brown's mandate. But what about businesses?
Places like hotels and restaurants can consume a lot of the wet stuff. But that has only inspired folks to get creative. Like John Cox, an executive chef at Sierra Mar restaurant at Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur, California. Rather than using water to rinse out plates, his restaurant uses compressed air to blow leftover food off the dishes.
"I was looking to store the compressor somewhere and I kind of found a little nook underneath our dish station and that's when it really clicked," says Cox.
Universities alike have sought new drought-friendly ways to keep their grounds looking fresh. California State University, Northridge President Dianne Harrison says students are among the staunches supporters of water conservation on campus. The campus has implemented turf removal, saving around 2.6 million gallons of water every year.
"We want our students to know, 'where does this water come from?' It's not just out of your tap," says Harrison.
Luxury hotels, like The Langham Huntington in Pasadena, with three lush gardens and a fountain in the front driveway, has also found new ways to save water. The property has planted succulents and cut back on irrigation to once a week. And as for the fountain? That's being drained and replaced with flowers.
"Guests are presented with our hotel newsletter...and on the newsletter it has information about the fact that we are in the drought and some of the conservation strategies that we've implemented just so there are no surprises," says Susan Williger, director of communications for the hotel.
Are backyard pools good for California's drought?
The pool and spa-industry is trying to put a drought-friendly spin on their products. Their claim? A pool could save water that would otherwise go to a lawn.
To discuss, we're joined by two guests: Kurtis Alexander, reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle who writes about water and drought and Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute, a non-profit research group based in Oakland.
Tracking who uses California's groundwater isn't easy
As California copes with the persistent drought, dwindling groundwater is a big issues.
Last year, Gov. Jerry Brown signed off on a package of laws to help the state better regulate groundwater use, called the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.
But as the Center for Investigative Reporting has found, there is a provision that could make it hard to track the biggest water wasters.
Lance Williams wrote about it in CIR's Reveal and he joined the show with more.
Why it's hard to spread homeless services outside of downtown LA's Skid Row
In Hollywood, a home for families who are transitioning out of homelessness is shutting down.
The L.A. Mission is closing a 45-unit apartment building it owns, saying residents must leave within two weeks.
The reason? The Mission's president Herb Smith told the LA Times it's because the building was too far from the services it offered in downtown L.A.'s Skid Row.
It points at a problem in tackling homelessness -- how to offer assistance to people without concentrating them in one particular neighborhood.
Joel Roberts, CEO of the organization People Assisting the Homeless (PATH) has more.
Tuesday Reviewsday: Ola Fresca, Monoswezi and Bomba Estéreo
It's time for Tuesday Reviewsday, our weekly new music segment. This week music journalist
joins Alex Cohen in the studio to talk about his picks.
Steve Hochman
Artist: Bomba Estéreo
Album: "Amanecer"
Songs: "Fiesta," "Soy Yo"
Notes: The song “Fiesta,” which opens the new album "Amanecer" by Colombian act Bomba Estéreo, starts as an Afro-Latin carnival parade stomp and then moves the fiesta around the world and out to space, those traditional rhythms to electro ambience to hip-hop power in its seamless march, all-encompassing, all-embracing in a joyous party. Well, the act’s name literally means Stereo Bomb, but it’s also Colombian slang for a wild, cool party. But with its fourth album, the group, revolving around the partnership of founder Simón Mejía and personality-plus vocalist Liliana Saumet, is parading that party out into the world.
"Amanecer" feels like the start of something new, something big, something very bright and fresh. And, in fact, the album title translates as “daybreak.” Not coincidentally, Bomba Estéreo has moved with this album from the world of indie record labels to the global powerhouse Sony Latin. The album was produced by Ricky Reed from the Oakland hip-hop collective Wallpaper, and comes in the wake of appearances at festivals all over the world, from Coachella to Glastonbury to Roskilde, with all that reflected in the new music. But it’s been accomplished without losing any of that coolness and sense of colorful invention that has marked it from the start.
Of course, Colombia’s music scene has long been among the most vibrant anywhere, from the psychedelic adaptations of traditional cumbia rhythms in the ‘60s and the rock ’n’ soul infusions from the essential recordings of the Discos Fuentes label in the ‘70s. At root, Bomba Estéreo is an extension of that. But with such songs as the frisky, hip-hoppy "Soy Yo," the group stands apart from the tradition, setting new standards all its own.
Bomba Estéreo will be at the Fonda Theater on June 6.
Artist: Monoswezi
Album: "Monoswezi Yanga"
Songs: "Matatya," "Lobola"
Notes: Monoswezi’s name explains a lot, a combination of Mo for Mozambique, No for Norway, Swe for Sweden and Zi for Zimbabwe — the four countries from where the musicians in the group originated. The project incorporates things from all four places, African rhythms and melodies woven with cool Scandinavian jazz, though it was recorded in the rather otherworldly setting of a small, isolated island off the coast of Sweden, and sounds like that too.
But at the center of the group’s second album is Hope Masike, from Zimbabwe. Her songs, interpreted from traditional Shona lore, make up the bulk of the repertoire, with her understated vocals leading the way. Though just as crucial to the sound is her mbira, the metal-tined thumb piano that is key in Shona traditions on a musical-spiritual level. The chimes-like patterns mark some of the album’s most compelling songs, such as "Matatya," the tale of a young girl looking for her prince in a world of frogs. It also adds a lively sense of hope and promise to "Lobola," celebrating a marriage.
The jazz elements, most explicitly held in Hallvard Godal’s saxophone, generally serve the African-derived rhythms and melodies, but also steer things into new territories. And at times when the balance is flipped, the results are some rather seductive Scandinavian atmospheres. It’s a perfect blend of worlds that don’t seem primed for blending. The result is less a mix of worlds than the creation of a new musical world, not the sum of the four countries involved, but a musical nation unto itself.
Artist: Ola Fresca
Album: "Elixir"
Songs: "El Niño de la Clave," "Pollitos de Primavera"
Notes: From Ola Fresca comes traditional sounds of another vibrant country: Brooklyn — though by way of Cuba and Miami. In a series of exciting albums over the last decade or so, group leader, singer and guitarist Jose Conde has explored a variety of musical combinations inspired by his New York neighborhood. On recent solo albums he’s taken more of a world pop approach. On "Elixir," reviving Ola Fresca for its first album since 2008, he’s very much, as one song puts it, "El Niño de la Clave," the son of the clave, the wooden-rod percussion instrument that are the heartbeat of Afro-Cuban music. This song imagines a baby born with that rhythm beating in his chest. Well, that’s Conde.
While much of his work takes a pan-Latin approach, drawing on styles from throughout South and Central America, the Caribbean and associated communities in North America — from African-rooted rhythms to electronic funk and modern jazz — with Ola Fresca he’s focused on his own Cuban roots, as came to him growing up in his native Miami.
"Elixir" sees him bringing together Cuba’s son, rumba and timba styles with elements of New York’s Puerto Rican salsa. In his time in the Miami and New York musical communities, he’s been dismayed by divisions between those respective cultures. This album is meant as, well, an elixir to heal that divide. Throughout the album, the band swings, truly, back and forth across that border, or more accurately, ignores it, blaring trombones and burbling percussion obliterating any supposed differences.
But enough with the philosophizing. Ultimately this is music for dancing and for, uh, other things. And if it didn’t succeed on that front, there’s be no point in us talking about it here. Take the song "Pollitos de Primavera," which features guest Juan Carlos Formell of controversial Cuban band Los Van Van on bass. The title means "Spring Chicks." And while this is just a guess, it might be possible that the song is not about poultry.
Reading by Moonlight: 'Valley Fever,' Lummis Day and more
Look up in the sky tonight and you will notice it's a full moon, which means it's time for our literary contributor David Kipen to come on to talk about the latest in literary news.
He's the founder of the lending library Libros Schmibros in Boyle Heights.
This week David talks about the novel "Valley Fever," Lummis Day, the Annual Outdoor Literacy and Arts Festival in Northeast San Fernando Valley and more.
And if you've ever dreamt of David reading you campfire stories, outside you can join him tonight. Click here for more details.
Listen to the embedded audio to hear the whole interview.
50th anniversary of first American spacewalk
On June 3, 1965, Edward H. White II became the first American to step outside his spacecraft and let go. For almost a half hour, White floated in space … weightless. We look back on that day in time, and find out why its such an important moment in space exploration.