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WNYC Guest blogger: Young Jean Lee

Young Jean Lee, photo by Raul Vincent Enriquez

I'm a Korean-American playwright/director, and I've spent the past two years working on a black identity-politics show called THE SHIPMENT (you can read the Times review here). Nothing excites me more than a masochistic challenge (my artistic mission is to make the last show in the world I've ever want to make), and the goal was to collaborate with a black cast to make a show that addressed racism against black Americans in a way that a jaded and defensive audience couldn't dismiss. Usually it takes me a year to make a show, but this one was so difficult that it took two. I worked on it for a year and ended up throwing out everything I'd worked on and starting over from scratch. (I documented this second process in a blog).

I mistakenly thought that the biggest challenge in making the show was going to be the fact that I'm not black. Bizarrely, that ended up being the least of my problems. As soon as the cast knew that the show was going to be collaborative and that that had full creative agency, they were on board and my race never came up as a problem. When we did the show (first at the Wexner Center in Columbus, OH and now at The Kitchen in NYC) there wasn't a single audience member, black or white, who brought up the fact that I wasn't black. Maybe it's because the show never attempts to achieve any kind of cultural 'authenticity' (whatever that means).

The Shipment, (c) 2009 Paula Court

WNYC Guest blogger: Michael K. Lavers

Michael K. Lavers

Does President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration on Tuesday mark the merciful end of an abusive relationship that has lasted eight tortuous years? The majority of my LGBT brothers and sisters would arguably agree with this assessment.

George W. Bush’s decision to use marriage for same-sex couples as a wedge issue to drive his socially conservative base to the polls in the 2004 presidential election remains an unforgiveable act of political cynicism. The Democratic takeover of Congress in 2006 almost certainly indicated this strategy backfired, but the Bush administration’s decision to use it proved yet again it was all too willing to throw gay and lesbian Americans under the bus in order to sustain its discriminatory and exclusionary ideology.

Photo by NYPD Sgt. Kevin Hayes, DCPI

The stern of an NYPD Harbor vessel is filled with parts of US AIR Flight 1549 that police officers recovered from the Hudson River on Thursday January 15, ...

Rescue workers assist a New York City Fire Department boat. (Getty)

WNYC's Bob Hennelly received audio and transcripts for US Air Flight 1549 911 calls:

January 15, 2009. Time: 15:29

Bernard Madoff walks out from Federal Court after a bail hearing in Manhattan January 5, 2009. (Getty)

On Thursday night, at the Yivo Institute for Jewish Research, there was an overflow crowd for a talk entitled 'Madoff: A Jewish Reckoning'. For ...

Studio 360 asked some of their favorite artists what they wanted from our president-to-be. Listen to voicemail messages of their answers - no holds barred.

Cintra Wilson

The NYPD press conference (Photo by Bob Hennelly)

NYPD Spokesman Paul Browne gave the following account in an e-mail message to WNYC' s Bob Hennelly:

'Just after the plane hit the water, NYPD Harbor ...

A US Airways pilot ditched his disabled jetliner into the frigid Hudson River after a collision with a flock of birds apparently knocked out both engines. Rescuers pulled all 155 people on board into boats.
More>>

William Duckworth and his wife Nora Farrell saw the plane go down ...

Join us on Inauguration Day for coverage of the ceremony, cultural analysis, live music and all the familiar voices you've come to trust: John Hockenberry and Adoara Udoji, Brian Lehrer, Leonard Lopate, Andrea Bernstein, Jon Schaefer and Terrance McKnight. Highlights include an early start to the Brian Lehrer Show, a ...

About two million people are expected to attend President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration in January 20, a record number. For many Americans, this marks a historic event--one marked by a mix of hope and crisis.

WNYC wants to know what inauguration day means to you. Phone in your 30-second message at ...

New York, NY —

Investors in the financial sector are feeling the pain of zigzagging stock prices in the wake the demise of banking giants Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch.

Business school student Robert Cestola started investing overseas eight months ago and says he wants to keep his investments there ...

New York, NY —

Firefighters had a lot of trouble communicating by radio when they fought a fire last year at the former Deutsche Bank building at the World Trade Center site. Firefighters made more than 30 distress calls from inside the burning building, but not all of them ...

New York, NY —

Most city restaurants are complying with new rules requiring them to list calorie counts on their menus, according to state health officials.

City inspectors cited just nine restaurants for failing to post calorie counts in the first week after they began enforcing the rule on July ...

On the eve of the centennial convention, WNYC looked into its archives for some historical perspectives:

>> Marian Anderson on the Lincoln Memorial, April 9, 1939

Radio Lab hosts Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich face off over which medium is superior -- television or radio -- with Ira Glass, whose program, This American Life, is both a radio show and TV show, acting as referee.

New York, NY —

Have you ever wondered what's on the mind of the crowd that always votes -- senior citizens? WNYC's Amy Pearl brought a microphone to a bagel brunch in her mother's condo in a self-described "over 50" community in Newtown, Connecticut.

WNYC's Amy Pearl with ...

New York, NY —

The city Health Department is taking a new approach to an old problem. In an effort to rid the city of rats -- or at least seriously limit their numbers -- health officials are testing a program to "proactively" examine infested neighborhoods.

REPORTER: Assistant Commissioner for ...

New York, NY —

The families of 2 firefighters who were killed in a blaze at the former Deutsche Bank building plan to sue the state and the city for $180 million dollars.

They claim that the incompetence of multiple agencies caused the deaths. Among those agencies - the Lower ...

New York, NY —

The New York Attorney General has expanded his investigation into mortgage fraud to include companies that buy loans from banks.

REPORTER: Andrew Cuomo has subpoenaed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - seeking information on how the companies have handled property appraisals.

CUOMO: The initial fraudulent process, in ...

New York, NY —

It's Election Day and the polls are open. In New Jersey, all the seats in the state Senate and Assembly are up for a vote. There are also some big referenda on the ballot. One asks whether all money generated from last year's sales tax ...