A lookahead to the Democratic debate, ways to give more attention to your family, Sonia Manzano's new memoir, 'Becoming Maria.'
The Democratic debate gets a virtual reality twist
For the first time ever, Tuesday’s Democratic debate is being broadcast in virtual reality, giving viewers at home the chance to experience the same freedom as those who are physically attending the debate.
DJ Roller is one of the founders of a company called NextVR. They’re the company responsible for bringing the technology to the debate.
"The promise of VR really gives audiences a chance to be in a place that they likely could never go or wish they could go, meaning you can go beyond the front row seat," Roller said. "If you're at the debate tonight, in the front row, the cameras with VR are actually up on the stage and around the candidates, so you can have a point of view that you've never been able to have before on television or being their in person."
While watching an event like a political debate may not be as thrilling as surfing giant waves or speeding down a mountain on skis, Roller says that this virtual reality broadcast is a way to experience a debate in a whole new way.
To listen to the full interview, click on the blue audio player above.
Despite population clout, Asian-Americans lag in political participation
Asian-Americans make up the fastest growing demographic in the U.S., but Asian-American representatives are a minority in state and national legislatures.
Take Two's Alex Cohen spoke about the disparity with Karthick Ramakrishnan, associate dean of Public Policy at the University of California Riverside and director of the National Asian-American Survey.
According to Ramakrishnan, Asian-Americans make up roughly 15 percent of California's population, but only one in 10 vote. He says one reason for low voter turnout is that many are foreign-born.
"That makes a difference," says Ramakrishnan. "It is much more likely that if someone was born and raised in the United States to be socialized into thinking about the party system."
When it comes to a career in public service, Ramakrishnan says that some Asian populations are more likely to see professions like medicine, engineering and business as more prestigious pursuits.
To listen to the full interview, click on the blue audio player above.
The Brood: Are our phones getting in the way of family time?
Our phones and electronic devices help us take care of all sorts of everyday tasks, but they can also cause some trouble.
Doing something "worthwhile" like reading a book or sending an important email to your child's teacher on an iPhone can, to an outside observer, look like you're doing something like watching a cat video or scrolling through Twitter.
It's a problem that writer Susan Dominus explored recently in a piece for the New York Times Magazine, called "Motherhood, Screened Off."
"I think that what happens when parents are on the phone (or anybody's on the phone around other people) is that not only are you checked out, you're not giving them your attention, but you're also operating in secrecy, not intentionally, but nobody ever knows what you're doing," Dominus says. "And there are many things that are complicated about that."
It can mean that a child won't see good examples of their parents reading a book or keeping up with the news, "but on top of that, I think for children, it's very disempowering, and also it's frustrating and a little bit threatening, because they feel you could be doing something trivial and ignoring them."
One solution she's found is narrating out loud to her kids what she's doing on her phone, while she's doing it. The other solution, of course, is making sure to just put the phone away during things like dinner time or game night.
But are parents today really any more distracted than parents were in generations past? Dominus says she doesn't think so.
"I think our generation of parents are extremely involved in our children's lives," Dominus says. "I think what's different [today] is that there's a sense of loneliness. So that, when my mother was paying bills, all the checks were on the table, I could sit with her and chat with her and see what she was doing and be with her. But there's just something so isolating about cellphone use."
For parents who are having trouble putting down their cellphones and disconnecting, Annharriet Buck, a stress management specialist at the Golden Door Spa, has some suggestions:
- Practice mindfulness: "Three times a day, deliberately bring yourself to a moment where you bring all of your senses to your environment and really see and smell and feel and hear where you are."
- Start a gratitude journal: "I love to have people write a gratitude list every night, and this a beautiful thing to do with children as well. Where you pick out three things that happened today that brought you great joy and great happiness, sort of like gathering a bouquet of beautiful moments during the day that you then write down by hand -- not on a device!"
- Make a "digital detox box": "It's the place where the devices go during important family time, during meals, and at bedtime. And so you sit down with the kids and design this box and decorate it and then everybody knows what it's for."
To hear the full interview with Susan Dominus and Annharriet Buck, click the link above.
Nic Harcourt talks about new music from Hinds, John Grant, and Editors
If you love new music, but you don't have the time to keep up with what's hip and new, we've got the perfect segment for you: Tuesday Reviewsday. Every week our music experts bring in their top picks, which we promise, will keep you and your musical tastes relevant. This week broadcast journalist joins host A Martinez in the studio to talk about his selections.
Nic Harcourt
Artist: Hinds
Album: "Leave Me Alone"
Song: "Garden"
Artist: John Grant
Album: "Grey Tickles, Black Pressure"
Songs: "Down Here," "Disappointing"
Artist: Editors
Album: "In Dream"
Songs: "Life is A Fear," "Salvation"
For Sonia Manzano, 'Becoming Maria' on 'Sesame Street' was fate
For nearly 45 years, Sonia Manzano has been known to the world as Maria from "Sesame Street."
Manzano has won 15 Emmys for her writing on the series and received two acting nominations. But how did she get to "Sesame Street"?
It's a topic she writes about in her new memoir, "Becoming Maria: Love and Chaos in the South Bronx."
Manzano was inspired to write her own memoir after reading "Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt.
"His childhood was so miserable, yet he was able to depict it with wonder and humor," she said. "And I thought to myself, 'I had a miserable childhood. I have wonder and I have humor' ...and I wanted to try my hand at seeing if I could portray my childhood in as a sincere manner as he portrayed his."
She eventually found her way to "Sesame Street" after honing her talents as an actress, and turning down stereotypical roles during a time when she says Latinos were the butt of tacos jokes on television.
"It was a perfect storm. I found a lot of comfort from my tumultuous childhood watching television of the 1950s, so I think it's interesting that I ended up being a comfort zone for children watching television for comfort as I did," Manzano said.
Manzano has many favorite memories from all her years on the show, including getting married, having a baby, addressing death and having musical guests like Stevie Wonder and salsa singer Celia Cruz.
"I really thought that we had arrived, because nobody knew about Latin music," she said.
To listen to the full interview, click on the blue audio player above.
No more nudes for Playboy
Playboy recently announced that they will no longer be featuring nudes in their magazines -- a significant announcement, considering that the company owes much of its success to just that. The redesign will hit newsstands in March of 2016.
The decision comes as an attempt to boost the magazine’s dwindling circulation. The Alliance for Audited Media reports the magazine now has about 800,000 subscribers. In 1975, during Playboy’s heyday, the magazine had about 5.6 million subscribers.
Jean Twenge is a professor of psychology at San Diego State University, and author of “Generation Me.” She tells Take Two that the country has changed a lot since Playboy got started over six decades ago.
Press the blue play button above to hear more.
California law ending Redskins mascot stirs debate
Under a new law, California schools will have to drop the term Redskins for sports teams or mascots.
The law, known as the California Racial Mascots Act, says that a "racially derogatory" and "discriminatory term" goes against the mission of providing an equal education for all.
One of the schools that currently uses the term is Tulare Union High School. Sarah Koligian, superintendent of Tulare Joint High School District, joined the show with more.
To listen to the full interview, click on the blue audio player above.
Lack of electric car etiquette: The new kind of road rage
Electric cars may be a growing market, but the infrastructure to keep them charged hasn't kept pace.
wrote about this issue in the New York Times. He notes that situations like being sufficiently charged up overnight but not knowing when you'll encounter a charging station can lead to "range anxiety."
"And then, when you do find a charging station, unlike with gas, which takes minutes to fill, these can take 30 minutes to four hours to fill, and so you don't know if you'll find a charger, and whether it will be available," he said.
That's only the beginning. There are also instances when drivers will park non-electric vehicles in charging spaces (called ICE Holes), or fellow e-car drivers will take the plugs from other e-cars that are in the midst of charging.
Until drivers get used to sharing the open road -- and open parking -- with electric vehicles, Ritchel says there are some solutions to help in the meantime. One former Google employee is creating the EV etiquette survival kit, which allows drivers to hang signs in their cars that give permission to unplug or call the car's owner.
"I do think in the end, market forces will play a big role here, and you'll start to get supply and demand pricing," he said. "But don't forget, we're here at a tiny percentage of cars, particularly nationwide but also in California, and so that diminishes how much people are going to worry about this outside the community of users."
To listen to the full interview, click on the blue audio player above.