About the Pilot

The As I Am pilot features reports, analyses, and commentary on social, political, cultural and artistic topics seldom heard on traditional public radio broadcasts. Hosted by the award-winning journalist, author and scholar Helen Zia, public radio audiences will hear unique voices and perspectives on a variety of issues from across the country. The As I Am Pilot has also just recently received an award from the American Women in Radio and Television in the "Outstanding Special Category," for a segment that was previously aired on American Public Media's Weekend America.

The Pilot features up and coming author Min Jin Lee as she discusses her new book Free Food for Millionaires with Boston College's Professor Min Hyoung Song. As I Am's Paul Niwa reveals the effects of gentrification on Boston's Chinatown through one man's battle against his landlord's rent increase. American Public Media's Angela Kim's journey from California to the Midwest reminds us that no matter where we may move we are often searching for something, anything, to remind us of where we came from. Nationally recognized slam poet Regie Cabico performs a piece that challenges the notion that we can be easily defined by a census box. Known for his cookbooks and popular television show Yan Can Cook, Chef Martin Yan steps out of the kitchen to talk with the award-winning broadcast journalist Sydnie Kohara. A group of UMass Boston students' trip to the Gulf Coast is chronicled as they discuss rebuilding the Vietnamese American communities ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. And International Studies Professor at Trinity College Vijay Prashad comments on why his ideal home isn't in the present, it is in the future. You can hear these stories and more, on As I Am: Asians In America.

Musical consideration for the pilot has been provided by Boston Progress Radio a community-based online radio station and blog focusing on independent Asian American music and art. For more information on Boston Progress Radio please visit their website: www.bprlive.org.

Bio for Helen Zia

Helen Zia is an award-winning journalist and a Contributing Editor to Ms. Magazine, where she was formerly Executive Editor. She is the author of Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People (2000), which President Bill Clinton quoted at White House ceremonies and was a finalist for the prestigious Kiriyama Prize. She is coauthor, with Wen Ho Lee, of My Country Versus Me (2002). Their book reveals what happened to the Los Alamos scientist who was falsely accused in unsubstantiated front page stories of being a spy for China in the worst case since the Rosenbergs. Her articles, essays and reviews have appeared in numerous publications, including Ms., New York Times, Washington Post, The Nation, Essence, The Advocate, Curve, and OUT.

Ms. Zia testified before the US Commission on Civil Rights 1997 about inaccurate and biased news coverage of Asian Americans during the spotlight on campaign finance. She traveled to Beijing in 1995 to cover the UN Fourth World Congress on Women as part of a journalists of color delegation. Her work on the Asian American landmark civil rights case of anti-Asian violence is documented in the Academy Award nominated film, "Who Killed Vincent Chin?"

A second generation Chinese American, Helen Zia received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the Law School of the City University of New York and was the first recipient of the Suzanne Ahn Journalism Award for Civil Rights and Social Justice. She is an Expert Fellow with University of Southern California's Justice and Journalism program of the Annenberg School of Journalism, and is a Writer-in-Residence at New York University's APA Institute. She is a graduate of Princeton University and a member of the university's first graduating class of women. She quit medical school after completing two years, then went to work as a construction laborer, an autoworker, and a community organizer, after which she discovered her life's work as a writer.

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About the Pilot The As I Am pilot features reports, analyses, and commentary on social, political, cultural and artistic topics seldom heard on traditional public radio broadcasts. Hosted by the award-winning journalist, author and scholar Helen Zia, public radio audiences will hear unique voices and perspectives on a variety of issues from across the country. The As I Am Pilot has also just recently received an award from the American Women in Radio and Television in the "Outstanding Special Category," for a segment that was previously aired on American Public Media's Weekend America. The Pilot features up and coming author M...
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