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January 15, 2012
 

In This Issue
From the General Manager
KPFA Recall Debate?
Coming Events
Community Advisory Board Meeting
Pacifica Radio Archives First Book Project
Dream: Let's Make it Real - MLK Day Celebration
Nina Serrano - 50 Years at KPFA
Winter Fund Drive
Yvette Hochberg Passes Away
KPFA People
KPFA "Truth & Unity Forum" Jan. 30th
KPFA Links
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
From the General Manager

 

I have received many questions about a postcard many of you received in the mail concerning a recall election of a KPFA/Pacifica board member.

 

KPFA/Pacifica is required by law to allow our members to communicate with other members by mail regarding issues relevant to your "legitimate interests" as a member.  To protect your privacy, those mounting the recall challenge were, therefore, permitted to send their postcard through a mailing house, but were not given your mailing address. 

 

KPFA/Pacifica is prohibited by California law from previewing, editing, censoring or pre-approving the text of the material sent to you by those mounting the recall challenge.

 

KPFA/Pacifica management is not permitted under Pacifica's Bylaws to endorse or advocate for or against any candidate for election to our boards, or to permit any staff member to do so on our airwaves.

   

KPFA mangement is permitted, however, to correct factual misstatements concerning KPFA/Pacifica.

 

KPFA management wishes to clarify the following facts:

 

1)  KPFA's financial position has improved significantly over the past year since the cancellation of the former Morning Show.  In the fiscal year ending 9/30/10 KPFA lost $587k;  in fiscal year ending 9/30/11 KPFA lost about 37k.  Read more here about KPFA's financial recovery.

2)  At binding arbitration under the CWA union contract, the arbitrator ruled that the layoff of Aimee Allison was due to economic necessity and not "retaliatory" or a breach of the CWA contract.  Brian Edwards-Tiekert exercised his right to "bump" a less senior staff member, rather than take his layoff to arbitration. 

3) The National Labor Relations Board ruled in response to a CWA grievance that consulting with board members concerning layoffs is the right of management and not "tortious interference" with KPFA's union contract.

 

4) No "theft" or "misappropriation" of KPFA members' personal email addresses has occurred.  About a year ago, an email promoting the new Morning Mix program and raising funds directly for KPFA was sent by a Pacifica Director from an outside email server at the request of KPFA staff members.

 

5) No "election fraud" has occurred.  A year ago the Pacifica Natiional Board determined that under Pacifica Bylaws prohibitions against "public office holders" and "political appointees" serving on Pacifica's boards, Dan Siegel's acceptance of appointments to advisory positions in the Mayor of Oakland's administration disqualified him from the KPFA LSB and PNB.  Siegel and several KPFA LSB members took the matter to court.  On December 29th the court ruled that Pacifica's bylaws prohibitions should be narrowly construed to only apply to holders of "public office" as defined by California case law, and therefore that Siegel's political appointments do not disqualify him from Pacifica's boards.  An appeal of this decision may be taken in order to preserve Pacifica's bylaws protections against undue political influence and conflicts of interest on our local and national boards.

 

In addition, in my email to you on December 26th, I mistakenly stated that KPFA had spent more than $200k defending itself from the various grievances filed by CWA.  That figure was incorrect.  The actual figure is closer to $80k.  That's still a lot of money I wish we could have spent on something else. 

 

And, finally, I do not know when the recall ballots will be mailed.  That is in the hands of the Pacifica National Board.  I am informed that they are looking for, but have not been able to locate, an independent neutral election supervisor willing to take the job who is acceptable to all parties.  If you are interested in the job, please a send letter of interest & your qualifications to  the Pacifica National Board Chair, Summer Reese, at [email protected].

 

I personally find these disputes draining and demoralizing, and I believe I speak for many KPFA staff and listeners in saying so.

 

Sincerely,

 

Andrew Leslie Phillips

General Manager (Interim)

tel: 510-848-6767 ext. 203 

email: [email protected]

Andrew Phillips

 

 

 
On-Air Recall Debate?
 
We hope to have an on-air recall debate later this month with a neutral moderator where both sides can be heard.  Tracy Rosenberg has confirmed her willingness to participate.  We are waiting for confirmation from the recall proponents.  Stay tuned for more information.

Coming Events

 

Diane Ravitch Event

Diane Ravitch - The Death and Life of the American School System - January 19th, 7:30 PM -- Hosted by Phillip Maldari

 

Read more

  

Thomas Frank event

Thomas Frank -- Pity the Billionaire:  The Hard Times Swindle and the Unlikely Resurgence of the American Right - January 25th, 7:30 PM - Hosted by Richard Wolinsky

 

Read more

 

Michio Kaku
 
Michio Kaku -- Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives By the Year 2100 - Feb 23rd, 7:30 PM - Hosted by Philip Maldari

 

Read more

 
KPFA Community Advisory Board Meeting - Jan 21st, 4:30 pm, at KPFA
 
Open to the public.
 
If you have not already done so, please take a few moments to take the CAB listener survey -- tell us what interests you, your favorite radio programs, what you like about KPFA, how KPFA can be better.
  
To complete the survey click here.
 
Read more about the KPFA Community Advisory Board here.
Pacifica Radio Archives First Book Project

 

Coming out Feb 15, 2012 
 
Redefining Black Power:  Reflections on the State of Black America
 
Edited by Joanne Griffifths
Forward by Pacifica Radio Archives Director Brian DeShazor
Redefining Black Power Book Cover

 

Join the Pacifica Radio Archives and the Pacifica radio network for a series of special panel discussions throughout February, including

Wednesday, February 8, in San Francisco at the Museum of the African Diaspora & Thursday, Feb 9, at Marcus Books in Oakland. 

 

Dream:  Let's Make it Real 2012 
A KPFA-Sponsored Event

 

National Holiday Celebration.
 

Keynote: Dr. El�ora Webb,
President of Laney College
 

Honored Guest:
Dr. Matthew Fox
 

Mistress of Ceremony: Aimee Allison
 

Monday, Jan 16th

10:00AM to Noon
McClymond's High School
2607 Myrtle Street
Oakland,CA 94607
Nina Serrano -- 50 Years at KPFA
An Appreciation

 

By Emiliano Echeverria

  

Nina Serrano 2

I knew about Nina Serrano before we met. Nina had been a programmer at KPFA back in the early sixties who specialized in Children's and Drama and Literature programs. (At that time we had a children's programming department and a far more active Drama & Literature department.) Working in the Music Department and the Archives (which were then located within KPFA and the adjoining 2217 Shattuck) I found and occasionally heard programs she had made a few years previously.

 

However by the time I arrived at KPFA, Nina was involved in other projects, among others poetry, education, and filmmaking. She was a co-founder of Third World Communications. You can imagine my surprise when I met Nina at KPFA during a recording session that was a live, in-studio poetry-reading. This was in March 1972. Now Nina appears on KPFA as a poet. This reading, with poets from Third World Communications, recorded in our old Studio B, also featured Roberto Vargas, Avoctja, Alejandro Murgia, Serafin Seguia, Janice Mirakatani, Victor Hernandez-Cruz, and others.

 

We remained in intermittent contact the next few months when another momentous event occurred that would alter our lives and a special group of folks who came to be known as Comunicacion Aztlan.   I had invited her to be on our team covering the first La Raza Unida Party convention held in early September 1972. We collectively were seven of us:   Raul Torrres, our coordinator, Myself (Emiliano Echeverria) Engineer and technician, Andres and Isabel Alegria, Reporters, Nina Serrano, Rodrigo Reyes and Esteban Ramirez did correspondence, recording and photography respectively.

 

We were so impressed with the results that we became a collective and with the addition of Lillian del Sol, Chata Gutierrez, Daniel del Solar, Bernice Ramirez, Jose Maria Lopez and others from time to time, became a major part of KPFA's programming grid for the next two years.

 

By 1974, the collective had disbanded but all its former members continued in community work. Nina worked in Poetry in the Schools and was a founding member of Friends of Nicaraguan Culture throughout the later 70s and 1980s. In addition, in the 1970s, Nina was a co-founder of the Mission Cultural Center of Latino Arts, done, as always at no pay as a service to our community.

 

In 1979 she published her book of poems Heart Songs.   The early 1980s were very active ones for Nina and she continued throughout these years to appear on KPFA, as a guest and producer.

 

In 1987, I invited Nina to produce a monthly segment of Freedom is a Constant Struggle, which she called "The Cultural Perspective" which she produced for over eight years, highlighting the many cultural movements in people's struggles primarily but not limited to Latin America and the US.

 

Nina Serrano 3Since the conclusion of that program in 1995, Nina has been as active as ever in local arts groups and at KPFA. She is currently co-producer of La Raza Chronicles heard every Tuesday night at 7PM on KPFA and on the Internet.  

 

Now in her sixth decade of broadcasting, Nina continues to plan and participate in new projects. Now a very active senior, she shows no signs of slowing down.

 

Here's to you, Nina, Congratulations on not only achieving a half-century behind the microphone, but your ability to weather Pacifica's storms.

 

I close with this from Nina, one of my favorites:

 

Antepasados

 

We are one

because America is one continent

tied by the slender curves of Panama.

We are one people

tied by the buried bones of ancestors

the buried bones of ancestors         

from Asia to America

from Africa to America

from Europe to America

Back to the first mothers and the first fathers

back to the first gardens of flowers and fruits,

where vegetables grew wild.

The soft thick grasses

cushioned their bodies

when they lay down to love.

Warm water gurgled up from the earth

and spilled down into clear pools.

Feathers waved their heads

and floated across their bodies

as they strutted in the afternoon

But then the snake of greed grew

like a weed planted

the seed that

made one person think that to fill their

need or to succeed

they had to use someone else's labor

for their own profit.

Wars came.

Animals died.

Women and cattle became property,

Slaves were chained,

put to work,

endless work

that finally built factories and smog,

rich parts of town and poor

built on the buried bones of antepasados

the buried bones of ancestors.

Shake the bones

hear their ghostly moans.

We learn from our past

to build our future.

 

~By Nina Serrano, 1980
 
___________

  

Emiliano EcheverriaEmiliano Echeverria has been at KPFA for a few decades, too! 

Currently producer of:  Radio Cuba Canta, which is a monthly sub for Con Sabor Saturday evenings at 9 pm.
Co-founder: Comunicacion Aztlan Radio Collective & the former KPFA Third World Department
Former Producer:  Freedom is a Constant Struggle, Ahora, The Roots of Salsa, co-produced with John Santos, Reflecciones de la raza, Unidos,
The Paul Robeson Show
La Raza Chronicles Banner
 
 
KPFA Winter Fund Drive
February 1- 23

 Winter Wild Plum Tree

 

Goal:  $800,000

 

With your help we can make our goal this winter! 

 

Pray for Rain!  Please be as generous as you can be.  We rely on our big winter fund drive to carry us through the smaller spring and summer drives. 

 

Keep Free Speech Radio Alive! 
 
Thank you so much for your support!

 
KPFA always needs volunteers to help answer the phones during fund drives.

 

Register to Volunteer here

 

Please register today. Your help is needed! 

  

 

* * * * * * * * * * *

 

 
Annual KPFA Grateful Dead Fund-Raising Marathon, Hosted by David Gans
 
Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 9:00am until Sunday, February 5, 2012 at 1:00am

Live music, rare recordings from the archive, tons of thank-you gifts, a commemorative t-shirt, and more!

Planned live performance by the David Nelson Band beamed in from the Big Island. (Not yet confirmed)

Webcast on kpfa.org and also nugs.net, gdradio.net, and

* * * * * * * * * * * 
 
 

KPFA Benefit Auction - NOW thru Feb 1st 

 
Grateful Dead - Dead LettersDavid is also hosting a KPFA benefit auction of Grateful Dead photos and memorabilia on his blog  from now through Feb 1st. 
 
There's some great stuff, including Dead Letters: The Very Best Grateful Dead Fan Mail by Paul Grushkin, Autographed by the author, Eileen Law, Steve Brown, and GDTS workers Steven Marcus, Frankie Accardi-Peri, Tom Reed, and others.
 
 
David Gans
David Gams has hosted
(Wednesdays 8-10 p.m.) on KPFA's airwaves since 1995.
Outside KPFA, David is also a musician and songwriter, with the band Rubber Soldiers. More
info on David's other musical adventures at dgans.com

 

 
Yvette Hochberg
June 18, 1948 - January 8, 2012

 

Yvette HochbergLongtime KPFA Women's Magazine collective member Yvette Hochberg died at 9:05 am Sunday, Jan 8, of lung cancer and metastatic brain cancer.  She was 63 years old. 
 
Yvette embodied  the mission of KPFA through her life's work  by bringing many different  peoples together.  She helped to build Tibetan/Chinese friendship circles, and was a supporter and advocate for issues ranging from justice in the Congo as a founding member of Bay Area Friends of the Congo, to any number of issues affecting women and girls throughout the world, in Palestine, Eqypt and all over West Africa.  She was on the Board of the African Advocacy Network which promoted citizenry of African and Afro-Caribbean immigrants and refugees in the Bay Area.  She supported young musicians, filmmakers and poets through groups such as the Asian American Women Artists Association.

Yvette was a great advocate, and helped people in so many ways, big and small, but always with kindness and compassion.  She will be greatly missed.
 
A celebration of her life was held at La Pena on Sunday the 8th. Planned before her passing, Yvette had hoped to attend. 
 
Memorial donations can be sent to:
or The Women's Cancer Resource Center of Oakland

This poem, written for Yvette by Bonnie Kwong, was read at La Pena on Sunday.

 

If Hearing is the Last to Go
 
If hearing is the last to go,
I'll say this to you:
 
Beyond the reaches of war,
there is a light breeze.
Beyond the reaches of war,
there is a tree swaying in a light breeze.
Beyond the reaches of war,
there are children playing 'round a tree
swaying in a light breeze.
 
May the laughter of children be a mantra for peace.
 
If hearing is the last to go,
I'll say this to you:
 
Beyond the eyes of surveillance,
there is a feast.
Beyond the eyes of surveillance,
there are ribbons of music at a feast.
Beyond the eyes of surveillance,
there is laughter and stories exchanged,
over ribbons of music at a feast.
 
May the laughter of friends in many countries
be the words to thank you in the language of sleep. 

 

~ by Bonnie Kwong
 
 
KPFA People

 

Amy Grace CappelsVolunteer Amy Grace Cappels has worked the KPFA booth at the Green Fest for about five years.  She's in graduate school at San Jose State and teaches at Cesar Chavez Elementary School in San Francisco. 
 
Amy says:  "I wish I had more time to help at the station and to assist at events!  I teach an upper-elementary class for students who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing.  We teach all subjects and also enjoy Dance, Theatre and the study of Deaf Culture.  The students are so smart and creative, I am inspired by them every day!  I value KPFA because of its unparalleled diverse programming and emphasis on local issues.  I'm especially grateful for the broadcasts of Democracy Now! and Hard Knock Radio."
 
"Truth & Unity Forum" for KPFA Pacifica - January 30th, 7 pm

 

Hosted by the Social Justice Committee of the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists 

 

The Social Justice Committee of the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists is making an open invitation to all persons interested in the well-being of KPFA Pacifica to come to Historic Fellowship Hall on Monday, Jan 30, 2011 at 7 pm, one of the homes of free speech in Berkeley, CA. Fellowship Hall is at 1924 Cedar Street (at Bonita) in Berkeley, just a few blocks north of KPFA. It's one block east of MLK Way & 3 blocks west of Shattuck Avenue. It is wheelchair accessible.

 

Let's see if we can agree to disagree, but also work together to create a climate at KPFA Pacifica that serves our common goals and guides our spirits toward truth and unity! Let us create a healthier atmosphere that enables us to work effectively together to ensure that we have a creative, diverse, and participatory community radio station that can effectively support truth and unity in the peoples' popular movements that are taking on a corporate globalized world. Let's give it a try!

 

Respectfully offered to the KPFA Member & Listener Community, Pacifica Foundation, KPFA Management, and the Paid & Volunteer Staff of KPFA by the Social Justice Committee of the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists. We open our doors to you! But only you can make Truth & Unity!

 

For more information contact Vic Sadot, Chair of the Social Justice Comittee, BFUU, at [email protected]
 
NOT A KPFA OR PACIFICA-SPONSORED EVENT
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