Hi List, Please make sure you all check out KQED this month: http://www.kqed.org/tv/viewerservices/ Here's some of the programs that will be on the October Line-Up~ BLESSED MOTHER KATHERINE DREXEL 10/01 noon (56:46*) (DIST.: WHYY) Katharine Drexel - born into one of Philadelphia's wealthiest families - gave up her comfortable life for one of religion, poverty and abstinence. Mother Drexel, who entered religious service unsure of her abilities, worked tirelessly to promote the liberation of American Indians and African Americans, years before the birth of the civil rights struggle and the Native American movement. In 1891 she founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, which grew from its original 14 members to a sisterhood of over 500 women staffing 65 institutions nationwide. Mother Drexel also established a network of schools which served upwards of 25,000 Black and Indian children and founded Xavier University in New Orleans, the first predominantly Black Catholic university in the Western Hemisphere. This program describes Mother Drexel's progress toward sainthood, and uses her letters, personal diaries and family photos of her work as a missionary to create the rich tapestry that was her life. Beatified at the Vatican in 1988, she becomes the second American-born saint when canonized October 1, 2000. JEWS AND BUDDHISM: BELIEF AMENDED, FAITH REVEALED 10/01 6p (41 *) (A Local Bay Area Production) Examines the dramatic surge of interest among American Jews in spiritual teaching of Buddhism. Jews, who make up 2% of the population, account for some 30% of non-Asian American Buddhists. Many of them are among the leading expositors and scholars of Buddhism in America. Traditional Jewish practices are being modified in synagogues and among individuals seeking to incorporate the teaching of Buddhism into their spiritual lives. The striking resonance between Buddhism and Judaism has been remarked upon by writers and scholars and has generated many notable books and articles. This is the first film to interrogate in depth the reason for this phenomenon, explore it in the context of 20th century Jewish- American life, and consider its impact on contemporary Jewish thought and practice. This award-winning documentary includes rare footage of the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibet, as well as David Ben-Gurion, Alan Ginsberg, Silvia Boorstein and many others. Narrated by Sharon Stone. By Bill Chayes and Isaac Solotaroff. PLEASURES OF URBAN DECAY 10/01 6:41p (18:18) Novelist Ben Katchor finds poetry in urban landscapes, even in New York City's old skyscrapers, neglected warehouses and all-night cafeterias. TONY BROWN'S JOURNAL ongoing early Mons 10/02-10/30 1:30a (26:50*) CROSSROADS CAFE 10/03 start - Tues & Thurs 5a (26:43) (CC) An English as a Second Language series that presents six engaging characters and a neighborhood restaurant. The stories portray the humor and drama of the challenges, struggles and victories of everyday life. It features diverse ethnicity, real-world scenarios familiar to many ESL learners, and universal social and cultural issues for family members of all ages. CALIFORNIA'S GOLD #408 ANGEL ISLAND 10/03 2p (27:51) (CC) The largest island in San Francisco Bay is a heavenly sight to behold with its profusion of flora and fauna. But Angel Island also has a varied military history, including the detention of Chinese immigrants from 1910-1940. This episode examines this chapter of the island's past. GREAT WALL ACROSS THE YANGTZE 10/03 10p (56:46*) (CC) This documentary about the controversial Three Gorges Dam on China's Yangtze River states the Chinese government's case for building the dam while reviewing the project's many consequences: the displacement of 1.5 million people, the imminent threat to regional wildlife and the loss of ancestral burial grounds and centuries-old temples that will be forever submerged beneath the dam's immense reservoir. Martin Sheen narrates. MEXICO: ONE PLATE AT A TIME WITH RICK BAYLESS #115-118 ongoing Sats 10/07 - 10/28 8:30a (26:46) YAN CAN COOK: ASIAN FAVORITES #1105-1108 ongoing Sats 10/07 - 10/28 11a (26:46*) YIDL IN THE MIDDLE: GROWING UP JEWISH IN IOWA 10/08 6p (57:32) A look at growing up "different" in America. In this evocative, entertaining film, filmmaker Marlene Booth probes her Iowa-Jewish roots. Through home movies, period photos, her high school reunion, and current interviews, she examines the complicated process of negotiating identity - as an American, a Jew, and a woman. A compelling film, sure to provoke discussion. HONOR BOUND: A PERSONAL JOURNEY 10/08 11p (55:24) Local producer Wendy Hanamura documents the story of her father and his unit, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. He and his Japanese-American comrades fought valiantly in Europe while their families were imprisoned in U.S. internment camps. BURT WOLF'S GATHERINGS & CELEBRATIONS #118 THE MOON FESTIVALS OF CHINA, TAWAIN 10/11 1p (26:44) In Taiwan Burt explores the fascinating customs and beliefs that make this uniquely Chinese holiday so intriguing, including how the movements of the moon come to control the rituals of Chinese life. He also looks at: the Tomb-Sweeping Festival that connects each family with it's past and its future; seven habits of highly polite people at a Chinese meal; the dragon boat races that honor and ancient poet who stood against the corruption of his government; the beautiful princess of the Autumn Festival who saved her kingdom from an evil tyrant and ended up in the moon; and the foods that a part of each of these celebrations. BURT WOLF'S GATHERINGS & CELEBRATIONS #119 THE SPRING FIESTAS OF SEVILLE, SPAIN 10/12 1p (26:36) Seville is transformed from winter into spring amid this gigantic rite of passage as the procession of the ancient brotherhoods twists through the streets carrying three-ton floats of the Madonna and Christ. Burt takes a tour of Southern Spain and it's 5000 year history, the fair week that follows Holy Week, and the traditional foods of the two- week period that signify the end of Lent and the return to luxury. GEOGRAFIA GLOBAL (SPANISH) 10/13 4:30a-5a #101-102, 10/20 2 a-4a #103-110 (14:46 each) (Spanish) These programs, in Spanish, are based on five fundamental themes of geography: location, place, relationships within places, movement and regions. PEACE OF MIND COEXISTENCE THROUGH THE EYES OF PALESTINIAN & ISRAELI YOUTH 10/15 6p (56:46*) In 1997, a group of Palestinian and Israeli teenagers were each given their own video camera to document one year in their lives in Israel, the West Bank and the Palestinian Authority. Using cameras as video diaries, the youth turned the lens on themselves, their families, friends and communities, revealing the internal and external challenges each one of them faces as peace seekers in a fiercely divided conflict. SMALL BUSINESS 2000 #907 NAVARRO PHARMACIES early 10/17 1:30a (26:46*) (CC) When Jose Navarro's father was thrown out of his pharmacy at gun point by Castro's army, he managed to get out of Cuba. In Miami today, his two sons have built what he started into a 12-location operation generating $117 million in sales. Products for the Hispanic market and speaking the language help this company gross more dollars per square foot than any other pharmacies in the country. READING RAINBOW #107 LIANG AND THE MAGIC PAINTBRUSH 10/17 10a (29:25) (CC) Taken from an old Chinese legend, a poor boy who longs to paint is given a magic paintbrush that brings everything he paints to life. LeVar explores how art is integrated into many aspects of the Chinese American culture. He takes a trip to New York City's Chinatown and visits with an expert of Chinese calligraphy, a stonecarver who makes LeVar a name stamp, and a gourmet Chinese chef. He also takes viewers to the New York Institute of Technology where he is shown how to use computer graphics to create art. Then he participates in a Chinese parade. Feature Book: Liang and the Magic Paintbrush. Review Books: Emma, Ben's Trumpet, If You Take A Pencil (hardcover). NOVA #2705 MYSTERY OF THE FIRST AMERICANS 10/17 9p, early 10/20 1a (56:15) (CC) (DVS) In 1996, near Kennewick, Washington, a suspected murder victim was identified by forensic anthropologists as Caucasian - - but turned out to be almost 10,000 years old. For 50 years our picture of prehistoric America has rested on the premise that the earliest inhabitants of the Americas were east Asians of Mongoloid stock, the ancestors of today's Native Americans. But the discovery of the Kennewick Man, along with several other startling finds in recent years, has thrown that once widely accepted idea into question and revolutionized the science of paleo-anthropology. It has also embroiled scientists in a bitter conflict with Native American groups who want the scientific study of early Americans halted. Who and what do Kennewick Man and others represent? Nova is following the efforts of paleo-anthropologists working to decode the story in the bones of people who died 10,000 years ago. CALIFORNIA'S GOLD #505 STATE PARKS 10/18 2p (29:05) (CC) Explore two of California's most interesting State Parks: the Providence Mountain State Recreation Area, located in the Eastern Mojave Desert, to see the famous Mitchell Caverns Nature Reserve; and the Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park in the Sierra Nevadas, where we see a Miwok Indian legacy, in a vast rock covered with thousands of grinding pits. BURT WOLF: TRAVELS & TRADITIONS #103 BAJA: THE SEA OF CORTEZ 10/19 1p (26:42) (CC) Explore a group of remote islands that are only accessible by small craft, take a look at the unique plant and animal life, learn the secrets of some of the smallest creatures on our planet -- and the very largest. READING RAINBOW #110 GIFT OF THE SACRED DOG, THE 10/20 10a (29:24) (CC) A powerful, strikingly illustrated folk tale and Native American legend, about a boy who brought the gift of horses to his people and the significance of the horse to the Plains Indian. LeVar visits the Crow Agency in Montana and observes a special ceremony of the Old Elk family. He shows viewers how contemporary and traditional Native American life and traditions meet. Viewers also learn that some words we use have Native American roots. Feature Book: The Gift of the Sacred Dog. Review Books: Moonsung Lullaby, Suho and the White Horse, Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears. DEATH IN VENICE, CA 10/23 11:27p (30:32) A mysterious tenant moves into a boarding house in this "Lolita-like" tale with a twist. EXXONMOBIL MASTERPIECE THEATRE'S AMERICAN COLLECTI #101 CORA UNASHAMED 10/25 9p, 10/29 9p (1:56:46*) (CC) (DVS) Langston Hughes' haunting story of an African-American woman's confrontation with death, abortion and loneliness is set in rural Iowa in the early 1900s. Working as a domestic, she lives only for her daughter and the neglected child of her employers. Regina Taylor ("Strange Justice," "I'll Fly Away") and Cherry Jones (A Moon for the Misbegotten, The Cradle Will Rock) star. IN THE LIFE #1001 10/25 11p (56:46*) (CC) ITL offers the following five stories: The Millennium March on Washington: An Assessment Six Months Later - Last April, thousands turned out for the Millennium March on Washington for Equality. The event sparked both a renewed sense of pride for some within the community along with controversy as to the FBI investigation into lost funds and criticism of a lack of diversity and blatant commercialism. Melissa Ethridge, who attended both the march and the celebrations that took place the night before proclaimed "I think it's good for the community. I think it's good to energize these people. These people will go home and have a good sense about them and that's why I like being here." ITL interviews the event organizers, the people who attended and rally speakers, some of whom spoke out against the event from the main stage. Keith Boykin recalls "I saw a sea of white faces. I mean, I could probably have counted on both of my hands the number of black people I saw in the audience there. And this is in Washington, DC, a predominately black city." ITL also interviews members of the Ad Hoc Committee who boycotted the march. Activism in Puerto Rico: the Rev. Margarita Sanchez - This story examines the struggles of the current gay and lesbian movement in Puerto Rico through one of its key players, Margarita Sanchez. Sanchez has been working to overturn Article 103, Puerto Rico's Sodomy Statute, which makes it illegal for anyone in Puerto Rico to engage in what the law calls "the Crime Against Nature." ITL travels to Puerto Rico to talk with Sanchez about the difficulties gay and lesbian people face there. In reference to the weekly demonstrations she attends, Sanchez states "'we condemn homophobia in Puerto Rico, in our society and within it's structures, whether social or cultural. Even though we concentrate on homophobia, we understand that all social exclusions have the same roots". A New Spin for Gay and Lesbian Bookstores - With the increase in chain bookstores such as Barnes & Noble and Borders along with online outlets such as Amazon.com, smaller, specialty stores have taken a hit or two. For those that have survived, this segment examines the evolution of the various kinds of bookstores, which cater to and serve the gay and lesbian community by focusing on both the detrimental as well as positive effects this new bookstore landscape has on these community gathering places. ITL visits Amazon Bookstore and A Brother's Touch in Minneapolis, and A Different Light in New York City. Self Publishing Success E. Lynn Harris - Eleven years ago, E. Lynn Harris quit his lucrative job to publish his novel, "Invisible Life." From peddling the novel from the trunk of his car, Harris went on to become one of the success stories of the "do-it-yourself" publishing phenomenon and soon topped "New York Times Bestseller List". His work has been acknowledged by mainstream critics for shattering stereotypes about black gay men while it has been attacked by gay critics for its sympathy toward closeted characters. In this segment, ITL profiles Harris's life, work and where he goes from here. "It's always been my ambition to branch out, to not just be known as a black gay writer, but as a writer. I know to do that I was going to have to attack different genres and write different stories. Edmund White: A Visit with the Ground Breaking Author - ITL also profiles celebrated author Edmund White who has received international acclaim for his writings on growing up gay in the 1950's, the sexual revolution, and living with AIDS. White was one of the first gay authors to explore his sexuality in fiction, and he discusses with ITL his views on AIDS, sex and the gay publishing world. White reflects, "Not too long ago, 'a 19-year- old black man from South Africa came up to me and said to me 'It's amazing how your story is exactly like mine.'' I suppose if you go far enough inside yourself and really present those inner most doubts, fears, and longings that people really will be able to connect with that no matter how diverse their background from yours." In the Arts - ITL looks at the play "Avow", a play about two gay Catholic men who want to get married and the energy, engagement and "action" of the Elizabeth Streb Dance Company. Streb states "Coming out of the closet is one of the most dangerous acts you can do here, like jumping off cliffs and dealing with a huge amount of impact. There's no bigger impact than telling the truth about your sexuality and I think until I was able to do that, which was actually ten to twelve years ago, I wasn't able to come into my own as an artist or as a person." THERE ONCE WAS A TOWN 10/26 10p (1:25:19) (CC) This program follows a group of people who return to their childhood shtetl to share memories of their culture and lives before World War II; their escape from the massacre that destroyed the Jewish presence in the town; and their years of fighting for survival during the Holocaust. The documentary is based on the critically acclaimed book, "There Once Was a World: A 900 Year Chronicle of the Shtetl of Eishyshok," by former resident Professor Yaffa Eliach. Narrated by actor Ed Asner, a descendant of Eishyshok inhabitants, the program takes viewers on a journey that re-opens the door to the town, shedding new light on Polish-Jewish relations and the Holocaust. KARTENSPIELER 10/29 6p (16:06) Sammy's grandparents, Max and Maryasha, "old country" Russian Jews, have long warned the young man of the dangers of "kartenspieling" (cardplaying). Despite this advice, Sammy's weakness for cards lands him in hot water with a ruthless gangster and his gang of goofy thugs. Maryasha comes to the rescue in this comedic short. WARSAW STORY 10/29 6:17p (18:30) This award-winning short drama movingly recounts the true story of the escape of a Jewish family (the filmmaker's own family) from Poland in 1939, miraculously eluding the occupying Nazi forces and preserving their young son's innocence. Directed by Amir Mann (1996) SHIFTING TRADITIONS 10/29 6:36p (22:10) (A Local Bay Area Production) Local filmmaker Brett Schwartz examines the issue of intermarriage within the American Jewish Community. Through the diverse voices of interfaith couples and rabbinical leaders, the film reveals the contemporary struggle of many Jews to participate in a multicultural society and maintain a separate and unique identity.