Poet Laureate

Poet Laureate

Top of Mind with Julie Rose

Angry America, Changing the Game, Emily Dickinson Lexicon

Episode: Angry America, Changing the Game, Emily Dickinson Lexicon

  • Feb 24, 2016 10:00 pm
  • 27:38 mins

Guest: Juan Felipe Herrera, US Poet Laureate  The life story of the first Latino U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera is a classic American story—he grew up the son of itinerant migrant farm workers, but through hard work and timely scholarships, was able to earn degrees from UCLA and Stanford. Always a writer, artist and teacher, he began his term last fall as the 21st poet laureate of the United States.

Other Segments

Human Rights Activism in China

24m

Guest: Nanfu Wang, Independent Filmmaker   To what lengths would you go to reveal injustice? Would you speak up despite disapproval from your neighbors? Use hidden cameras to document it? Would you be willing to face interrogation by national security agents? Filmmaker Nanfu Wang claims she witnessed all the above while filming “Hooligan Sparrow”, a human rights documentary which recently premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. It was filmed in 2013, when Wang returned to her native China to document a protest led by an activist who calls herself “Hooligan Sparrow.” It wasn’t long before Wang became a character in her own film, capturing on camera the lengths to which the Chinese government was willing to go to keep her from telling those human rights activists.

Guest: Nanfu Wang, Independent Filmmaker   To what lengths would you go to reveal injustice? Would you speak up despite disapproval from your neighbors? Use hidden cameras to document it? Would you be willing to face interrogation by national security agents? Filmmaker Nanfu Wang claims she witnessed all the above while filming “Hooligan Sparrow”, a human rights documentary which recently premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. It was filmed in 2013, when Wang returned to her native China to document a protest led by an activist who calls herself “Hooligan Sparrow.” It wasn’t long before Wang became a character in her own film, capturing on camera the lengths to which the Chinese government was willing to go to keep her from telling those human rights activists.