Jody Avirgan

When you look at Queens Village, you have a couple square blocks in which there are 400 residents from Central and South America; 300 from south Asia; 300 from southeast Asia; almost ...

This Sunday, during the Academy Awards, join WNYC and WQXR hosts, producers, and fellow fans for a live chat. As you watch the broadcast, chat here about the movies you loved, the outfits you're seeing, and the awkward acceptance speeches. Joining throughout the night will be WNYC's Brian Lehrer, Jad Abumrad, WQXR's David Garland, Naomi Lewin, Midge Woolsey, Elliott Forrest and many more. We'll also be pulling in tweets from The Takeaway's Kristen Meinzer. Your (very) informal hosts for the evening are Brian Lehrer Show producer Jody Avirgan and Director of Digital Content Kathleen Ehrlich.

Chat starts right here and on the WNYC homepage a little before 8pm on Sunday.

It's A Free Country's The Mix, where we take some of the notable clips and other voices found on WNYC this week and mix 'em up. Voices are in bold, connections are in italics.

It's A Free Country's The Mix, where we take some of the notable clips and other voices found on WNYC this week and mix 'em up. Voices are in bold, connections are in italics.

Sometimes you come across audio that's so good, you just have to lead with it. So, apropos of nothing (important) that happened this week, The Mix begins with Donald Trump at the CPAC conference, where he reminded us that - among other things - the "United States needs a winner." And while he wasn't exactly ready to decalare outright victory, Wael Ghonim displayed true leadership this past week, and talked to 60 minutes about his message to dictators throughout the Arab world. That was a message echoed by President Obama in his press conference, where he expressed hope for protesters. Things went from hopeful to scary at the end of the week, though, and new Press Secretary Jay Carney had to walk a fine line in the administrations response to violence in Bahrain. The week's other big story was the fiscal situation here at home. It's budget season, and it seems like everyone offered a proposal that on the one hand made "tough choices" but at the same time cast blame up the chain of command. So we walk that chain, starting at the city level with Speaker Christine Quinn griping about Mayor Bloomberg; who in turn was unhappy with Albany and Governor Cuomo; who in turn is trying to face a future without the Obama administration's stimulus support.

Because of its position at the start of the primary calendar, Iowa voters have a chance to set the national agenda for the 2012 elections. But we at It's A Free Country know that you vote on what matters to you, not what you think the nation wants. So, we're asking: Where is your vote coming from? What are the issues that matter in your life? Once you submit your story, it'll show up on our interactive map.

Explore the Map and Story Archive»»

(or add your story using the form below)

There's no doubt we could devote the entirety of this week's Mix to developments in Egypt. This was an historic week, and on WNYC several guests and callers - and President Obama - echoed the importance of the moment. But...let's not get completely carried away. So we've also included some of the big news closer to home, too. Andrew Cuomo's budget presentation was a stark reminder of New York's State's fiscal crisis, and Mayor Bloomberg came out guns blazing in advance of the speech, claiming that the state's education funding formulas could lead to massive teacher layoffs. But Bloomberg also took on public employee unions this week too, painting an either/or scenario when it comes to retaining workers versus meeting pension obligations. And, finally, New York continued to add public health regulations to the books, voting to ban smoking in public parks, plazas, and other outdoor areas.

[beats from rjd2]

Welcome to It's A Free Country's The Mix, where we take some of the notable clips from this week's news and mix 'em up. Remember the State of the Union address? This week felt like it was split in two - pre- and post-game for President Obama's big speech; and then all attention turned to the Middle East, where pro-democracy protests spread from Tunisia to Yemen and then, on Friday, rocked the streets of Egypt.

The Mix reflects this week's two halves, with clips from our coverage of the State of the Union followed by the reaction to the Arab protests from Hillary Clinton; Yemeni blogger Walid Al-Saqaf offering a word of caution;Steven Cook of the Council on Foreign relations talking about the implications of Egypt's protests; and write Mona Eltahawy with an optimistic view of the spread of democracy.

[beats from Sabzi and J. Cole]

On the night of the State of the Union, It's A Free Country is hosting a party at WNYC's Jerome L. Greene performance space. Before the speech, we'll be listening to a playlist of songs about these United States. Can't join us in NYC? Never fear, here's the playlist...

This project is over, see the results below!

For our State of the Union watching party, It's A Free Country is teamed with the Story Pirates to gather stories written by kids and turn them into musical sketch comedy performance. The stories were gathered online and in schools, and the Story Pirates performed them on the night of January 25th in front of a live audience at the Jerome L. Greene Performance Space.

We asked kids...

Each year, for the Brian Lehrer Show news quiz, we write more questions than we can get to on-air. So here are some of the remainders, along with a few of our favorites that did make the broadcast. Take the quiz and see how much you were paying attention during 2010. And -- no googling!

Brian Lehrer Show producer Jody Avirgan discusses some of the posts coming into the Rut Or Recovery project from listeners striking out on their own to start a business. Then, Annie Lowrey, reporter on economics and business for Slate, explains why old people make better entrepreneurs than young ones.

Welcome to It's A Free Country's The Mix, where we take some of the notable clips and other voices found on WNYC this week and mix 'em up. This week we highlight young callers and contributors to the Rut or Recovery project. Brian Lehrer hosted an open phones for recent ...

Images and notable quotes from a recent symposium on Wikileaks and Internet Freedom, sponsored by the Personal Democracy Forum in New York City.

Today is the first day of a new project, Rut or Recovery, in which we take stock of the economy in your life and your neighborhood two years after the economic collapse. Brian Lehrer Show producer Jody Avirgan helps explain the project, and takes calls from merchants and consumers on the question How's Business?

Add Your Story To The Rut/Recovery Project and Explore The Interactive Map»»

Welcome to It's A Free Country's The Mix, where we take some of the notable clips and other voices found on WNYC this week and mix 'em up. This week, a look at a magical (or at least, other-wordly) week in political theater, from Sarah Palin to Charlie Rangel. As always, characters in bold, connections in italics; link for more information.

Welcome to It's A Free Country's The Mix, where we take some of the notable clips and other voices found on WNYC this week and mix 'em up. This week, a look back at election night - we begin with the agony of defeat, and then the thrill of victory.

[Thanks to resident running experts Alex Villari and Sarah Gilligan for helping to think this through.]

We are now gathering your Marathon Meet-Up stories. Did you see any of our runners along the course? Run into any fellow WNYC listeners? Or even if you just have a good story about your marathon experience, post it below! 

We have our runner database up and running! We'll do our best to update again before race time, keep tuned to facebook and twitter for the latest. Don't forget, take a listen to our very own Rex Doane demonstrating how you can cheer on fellow Brian Lehrer Show fans during the race, using the special phrase "It's A Free Country"

Are you running the marathon and wish there was someone to cheer you on? Are you watching the marathon and wish you had someone to cheer for? We're going to link up Brian Lehrer show runners and fans for this Sunday's marathon.

Runners: Check out the map below - this shows you where to keep your ears open for fellow WNYC fans who will be cheering you on.

Watchers: Check out the database below, print it out and bring it with you to your viewing spot. Want to take it the next level and track one of our runners online or through your iphone app? Information at the NYRR home page

We'll be tweeting updates and posting to facebook whenever we have more information on this site.

And don't forget, whether you are running or watching, snap pictures of any fateful encounters you may have!

 

Welcome to It's A Free Country's The Mix, where we take some of the notable clips and other voices found on WNYC this week and mix 'em up. Here's what we've got on tap. Voices are in blue, connections are bold, links to explore.

Welcome to It's A Free Country's The Mix, where we take some of the notable clips and other voices found on WNYC this week and mix 'em up. Here's what we've got on tap. Voices are in blue, connections are bold, links to explore.