12/23/2006 Community Gumbo

Democracy Now (12/18/06)

Howard Zinn on The Uses of History and the War on Terrorism.

Pledge your support for Democracy Now during their holiday pledge drive.

Literacy Project Celebrates New Orleans Neighborhoods (re-broadcast)

Ashley Nelson and five other students from McDonough Senior High School celebrated their communities in books published just before Hurricane Katrina as part of the Neighborhood Story Project, a program sponsored by the University of New Orleans and the Literacy Alliance of Greater New Orleans.

Listen to Ashley talking about her book, The Combination, and about her love for the Lafitte housing development were she grew up, at New Orleans Indymedia.

Music bed after interview: Me'Shell Ndegeocello, "Mary Magdalene."

Abram Himelstein, along with Rachel Breunlin, was a writing coach in the Neighborhood Story Project, a program designed to inspire students to further explore their creative talents by writing stories about their New Orleans neighborhoods.

Listen to Abram talking about the project, and about New Orleans post-Katrina, at New Orleans Indymedia.

The Neighborhood Story Project books are available at your neighborhood bookstore.

Visit the Neigborhood Story Project for more information about the program.

Related: Learn about the intractable problems of poverty in New Orleans caused in large part by a broken school system -- Left Behind: The Story of the New Orleans Public Schools.

Music played:

Young and Sexy, "Santa Claus Likes Rich Kids Better," It's a Team Mint Xmas, Vol. II.

James Andrews, "Christmas in New Orleans," New Orleans Christmas, Putumayo, 2006.