Month: July 2012

“The Newsroom”–A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Cable TV News

Written by diana on July 30, 2012. Posted in Television reviews. 12 Comments on “The Newsroom”–A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Cable TV News

In the opening episode, veteran news anchor Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels) is asked by a fresh-faced journalism student what makes America the greatest country on earth. Cajoled into giving a substantive response by the moderator, Will McAvoy throws caution aside and proceeds in a blistering monologue filled with statistics to explain why America isn’t. The collateral damage becomes significant. His boss (Sam Waterston) considers the episode a meltdown. The meltdown forces him to reassess his former self–a time when news reporting was about defending the ideals of a culture and truth...

“The Stoning of Soraya M”–Let He Who Is Without Sin….

Written by diana on July 23, 2012. Posted in movie reviews, Unhealed Wound. 3 Comments on “The Stoning of Soraya M”–Let He Who Is Without Sin….

“The Stoning of Soraya M. (2009) cuts into the soul with its fierce, unflinching narrative of Soraya Manutchehri, a 35-year-old woman stoned to death in a small Iranian village in 1986 after being convicted of adultery. Her death was the subject of Freidoune Sahebjam’s 2009 novel, La Femme Lapidée, a book banned in Iran. This award-winning indie film lovingly caresses the beautiful, wounded face of Aunt Zahra (breathtakingly played by the luminous Shohreh Aghdashloo) who is devastated by the stoning of her niece Soraya (perfectly portrayed by Mozhan Marno). Zahra pleads with a...

Community Colleges– A Change Is On the Way?

Written by diana on July 16, 2012. Posted in Monterey Peninsula College. 5 Comments on Community Colleges– A Change Is On the Way?

California community colleges have some of the lowest tuition fees in the country. And for decades, the community college system has taken great pride in being a “social equalizer”: operating under several mandates, one of which is to provide inexpensive postsecondary education. But budget cuts have forced campuses to dramatically scale back what they offer. The paradigm has begun to shift. Is it possible our tuition is too low? How should the community college system follow its other mandate: to prepare students for a career path? And what about “non-traditional”...

“Scottsboro”–The Inexcusable

Written by diana on July 10, 2012. Posted in movie reviews, Television reviews, Unhealed Wound. 2 Comments on “Scottsboro”–The Inexcusable

“Scottsboro: An American Tragedy” is a 2001 PBS documentary in the American Experience series about the notorious trials of nine black teenage boys accused of rape in Scottsboro, Alabama in 1931. The landmark trial magnified rampant racism, denial of a fair trial, and the continued North-South animosity that existed almost 70 years after the Civil War had ended. The miscarriage of justice on the part of several judges, jurors, and witnesses belies the assumption that justice will prevail in the face of truth and obviously false testimony, including the recanting by one of the...

Month: July 2012

“The Newsroom”–A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Cable TV News

“The Stoning of Soraya M”–Let He Who Is Without Sin….

Community Colleges– A Change Is On the Way?

“Scottsboro”–The Inexcusable

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