MAKING CONTACT Sun 5-5:30 pm
In this week’s episode, we take a look at how over six decades after the Korean War, South Korea processed the most international adoptions in history and how the demand for a “domestic supply of (adoptable) infants” may be playing a role in increasing threats to autonomy over pregnancy in the US. Featuring: Independent Producer and Founder of Rowhome Productions, Alex Lewis Producer, Schuyler Swenson Registered…
CA Lawmakers Consider Making End of Life Options Act Permanent
In 2023, more than 12-hundred terminally ill Californians obtained prescriptions for medical aid in dying and 69 percent took the medication.
The State Assembly is considering a bill to make permanent the law that authorizes medical aid in dying. The measure was already passed by the state senate in May. Comments from Dan Diaz, widower of well-known patient Brittany Maynard and an advocate for the bill, and Leslie Chinchilla), California state manager, Compassion & Choices Action Network.
California’s law legalizing medical aid in dying could be made permanent if lawmakers approve a bill currently before the State Assembly. Senate Bill 403 would eliminate the sunset clause in the 2015 End of Life Options Act. The law allows mentally capable, terminally ill patients with less than six months to live to get a prescription to end their life. Advocate Dan Diaz says his wife, Brittany Maynard, moved Oregon in 2014 to make use of the state’s Death With Dignity Act.
| “Brittany is gone, so now I’m fighting for all terminally ill individuals that might find themselves in Brittany’s predicament, so that they don’t have to do what she did, of leaving their home state, after being told you have six months to live.” |
The End of Life Options Act is currently set to expire in five years. Medical aid in dying is legal in 11 states plus Washington D-C, but California is the only jurisdiction with a sunset provision.
| “The California Department of Health does a yearly report on medical aid in dying. There has been no instance of coercion or abuse, and really the law is working as intended.” |
— California News Service, A Bureau of the Public News Service
CUSTOM TAYLORED with TIM TAYLOR Sun 11am-Noon
Custom Taylored is a chronological journey of the popular music that influenced rock and roll. Today’s show is part of a subseries on the music that led to post war urban blues. Featured are some acoustic blues, some early rhythm and blues, and some classic jazz. All of the songs in the episode were first recorded or released in 1940. You’ll hear Big Joe Williams, Lil Green and The Ink Spots, among others.
TALK OF THE TOWN with Mike Aguirre Fri 3pm
DAVID LOY: THE FIRST AMENDMENT–FREEDOM OF SPEECH
TODAY’S show is a reprise of a conversation Mike had with David Loy, Legal Director of the First Amendment Coalition.
David became the First Amendment Coalition’s legal director in 2022. David is an experienced free speech and open government litigator. He has defended the First Amendment rights of reporters, photographers, bloggers, students, teachers, activists, protesters, musicians, Marines, and motorcycle club members. He has fought for public disclosure and governmental transparency for over 20 years.
Before joining FAC, David served as legal director of the ACLU Foundation of San Diego & Imperial Counties for almost 16 years. He also worked as a staff attorney with the Office of the Appellate Defender in New York City, a public defender in Spokane, Washington, and a staff attorney with the Center for Justice in Spokane.
He received his A.B. in History and Chinese Language from Brown University, where he was photo editor of the Brown Daily Herald. After college, he worked for a law firm in San Francisco, taught English in China, and served as the legal assistant for a Chicago legal services office. He graduated from Northwestern University School of Law in 1994 and clerked for Judge Dolores K. Sloviter of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
David is an active member of the California and New York bars, with inactive status in Washington and Illinois. He has served on the Southern District of California lawyer representative committee and the boards of California Appellate Defense Counsel and American Constitution Society, San Diego Lawyer Chapter.
EAST COUNTY MAGAZINE with Editor and Investigative Journalist Miriam Raftery Fri 5pm, Sat 8am, Monday 5pm, Tues 8am
About East County Magazine. Our mission is to provide in-depth news, views and events coverage for the inland areas in San Diego County, reflecting the broad diversity of people and issues in our region, particularly those under-represented in other media. As nonprofit media, we reflect the public interest—not special interests, with a strong commitment to covering social justice issues, diverse and mulicultural voices,community concerns, environmental/land use issues, and nonpartisan political stories in our region’s urban, rural, mountain and desert communities. We also celebrate our region’s attractions and rich cultural heritage, with special sites such as Best of East County, Tribal Beat, People Power, Refugee Voices, Arts and Music, and more.
East County Magazine also founded and operates East County Wildfire & Emergency Alerts, keeping people safe and informed throughout San Diego County via e-mail and Twitter alerts. In addition we produce the East County Magazine radio show on KNSJ 89.1 FM.
Editor and Founder Miriam Raftery has over 35 years experience as a journalist and editor. She has won more than 400 major journalism awards, including the American Society of Journalists & Authors’ national Arlene Award for community journalism and San Diego Press Club’s Best of Show award prior to founding ECM.
She has covered major news stories including the California wildfires, Congressional and presidential elections, and Hurricane Katrina, as well as topics ranging from politics and election integrity to health, nutrition, homes and gardens.
A former columnist and freelance writer for the San Diego Union-Tribune, she has also worked as an editor of a national nutrition journal and a literary magazine as well as senior national investigative reporter for RawStory.com. Her works have appeared in many national and regional publications, from Woman’s Day to Arizona Highways, as well as in many local community newspapers and magazines. An East County native, she takes pride in exploring East County’s back roads and byways, leaving no stone unturned in the quest for news and feature stories.
SAN DIEGO SCREENWRITERS STUDIO with Gail Stewart Fri 4-4:30 pm
San Diego Screenwriters Studio teams up with a local filmmaker who is making it happen!
“Local filmmaker Ted Holmes has never taken a screenwriter class, didn’t know hard it is to get a show on a streaming service, yet he wrote a television pilot, got a grant, put together a crew, filmed a pilot and, got an agent who launched it Amazon.
“Turn and Burn” is Ted Holmes’ comical half-hour pilot which pokes fun at working in the service Industry, the dating scene, and also surviving roommates…that hate you.”
HAPPY JUNETEENTH
Freedom Day, for African descendants of American Chattel Slavery, June 19th, 1865. On this day, Union Army Major General Gordon Granger delivered General Order No. 3 in Galveston, Texas, announcing the freedom of enslaved people in Texas. We honor the unbelievable scenes of jubilation and celebration of the formally enslaved Africans, to General Granger’s enactment of President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of 1863.
What most people don’t realize are the milestones it took to get to this point–from the conscience of a nation to the sacrifice of her righteous residents, and the victims of her shameful oppression.
We (ASD/KNSJ) are standing in solidarity and with confidence in the continued struggle to make the United States of America live up to a more expanded and inclusive version of itself. Who initially promised freedom to a few, as we struggle to make true freedom, accessible to ALL. —Yusef Miller
Yusef Miller is the Executive Director of Activist San Diego, and African-American Historical Researcher and lecturer. A Social Justice Activist, involved in many forms of struggle pertaining for Equity and Justice for all, in Local, State and National arenas.
A guest on Susan Taylor’s The Electric Picnic, a program about poetry, spoken word, prose and other creative arts, Olivia shares two of her poems with KNSJ.
–By Permission from Olivia Mercedes
Olivia Mercedes is a perpetually overwhelmed human who relies on creative mediums to process the intense spectrum of her conscious experience. Her poetry has been published, her artwork has been exhibited, her voice has been featured, but her most beloved accolades are the moments of real-life connection in response to her authenticity. She finds hope and gratitude in inspiring someone to feel, to question, to learn, to heal, to express, and ultimately to be more fully human.
instagram: @oliviamercedesart
how to write a poem
first, gather your materials:
you’ll need something to write with,
something to feel with,
something to think with,
and enough vulnerability to actually use these.
you’ll need a language
adequate enough to transpose the sparks of synapses
setting fire to your imagination–
oh yes, you’ll need an imagination.
if capitalism has taken yours hostage,
you might be able to bargain with your inner child.
just make sure you use an encrypted messaging app,
the oppressor doesn’t like us to think
let alone imagine,
what this world might be like
if we all listened to poetry
instead of those in self-appointed power.
you’ll also need power,
but not the kind that’s harnessed inside an ego
the kind that’s harnessed inside every atom of the universe.
the universe that made everything before you
everything after you
and everything
you
are.
and chances are,
once you realize that,
once you realize that what qualifies you to write
is that which qualifies you to be human,
your pen will no longer feel foreign or like a burden,
rather it will appear as the instrument you’ve known how to play all along.
you will realize that a poem is not something you write
it’s something you witness.
and the words you use to capture it
are merely a photograph
documenting the reason we exist at all.
the hardest part of writing a poem
is noticing it.
noticing not only that it exists,
but that you exist inside of it.
the fact that you are asking how to write a poem
proves that you are one,
and the part of you that knows this
is simply asking for your attention
in the language of curiosity.
it’s existence itself
begging you
to experience it so fully, you can’t help but write it down.
like a message you know must be delivered, must be heard.
and in this way
you don’t write a poem, the poem writes you.
and if you so choose to surrender to its demands,
to allow your blood to dance like ink,
let your authenticity spill across the page,
your soul scream its unfiltered truths,
you will find yourself doing more
than writing poems
you will find yourself living them.
and what better way to exist,
than to live.
what better way to write,
than to be.
what better way to be,
than poetry.
What goes in a backpack? (From a conversation Olivia had with Susan during her interview on The Electric Picnic poetry show)
Olivia: okay Sue, I’ve written the second half of this poem, but not the first half, so I need your help with
the beginning. Can you help me brainstorm things that go in a backpack?
Sue: chapstick?
Olivia: that’s a great one, but the owner of this backpack doesn’t have any of their toiletries around.
What’s something else?
Sue: a pen?
Olivia: oh I wish, but their school actually isn’t in session, they don’t have their pens or notebooks right
now. What else?
Sue: a cell phone?
Olivia: ah unfortunately they lost their cell phone and all their electronics already. Anything else?
Sue: dog treats?
Olivia: oh sadly their dog has passed away…
Sue: a water bottle?
Olivia: I wish, but there’s no access to clean water or food where this person is right now. Ugh, I know
this is hard, this is why I needed your help! Thank you for helping me brainstorm, Sue. And before I
finish this poem, I’d like to preface this by saying I wish I didn’t have to do this.
I wish this were simply an exercise for us to stretch our imaginations,
but this is actually me using my imagination
to communicate to you
what is happening to our humanity.
because the owner of this backpack
is a little boy in Palestine named Ismael,
who was wearing his backpack on his chest
as he stepped out of an ambulance
and a journalist asked him what he had in his backpack.
and as blood dripped heavily
from the bottom of his blue bag
ismael answers,
“in my backpack i have Ahmed,
my dead baby brother.”
my dead
baby
brother.
when i asked you a moment ago
to brainstorm things that belong in a backpack,
there is a reason
you did not suggested that as an answer,
and that’s because
it’s not supposed to be one.
WOMEN’S RADIO HOUR with Patricia Law Wed 5pm, Sat Noon, Sun 6pm
SELF CARE: AN ACT OF POLITICAL WARFARE
GABRIELLA RESNCK joins Patricia this week in conversation about self care and political activism and more
GABRIELLA SAYS: Hi all! My name is Gabriella Resnick (she/her), and I am a gay, cisgender woman. I graduated back in 2022 with my Bachelors in Psychology and a minor in Women and Gender Studies from California Polytechnic State University, SLO, and I am currently in my final semester of my Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy program at Alliant International University here in San Diego. My passions intersect within the mental health/nutrition/political activism realms, and I feel lucky to have had this opportunity with Patricia to dissect “self care” and how patriarchy, capitalism, and classism have taken a hold on an idea inherently political in nature.
