Vindaloo

Georgia Blues no more

Georgia's finally joined the rest of the "bible belt" in allowing local authorities to decide where booze can be bought on Sundays. It's proving relatively uncontroversial vs Culture War staples like marriage and abortion, but it signifies interesting shifts in the power of Christian conservatism. Listen to my Radio 4 piece: 

Download Georgia Sunday BBC story

Jesus is #OWS

The faith component of OWS in downtown Manhattan is surging. A political strategist would say it's the Religious Left's big moment. For the faithful, Zucotti Park is where you'd find Jesus, Mohammed, Elijah, Buddah - in short, it's a congregation under the watchful and approving eye of god. This piece of mine just ran on the Sunday programme, Radio 4. 

Download OWS religion story

Reality and art blur in post-Wire Baltimore

It's straight out of an imaginary Wire Season 6: A group of Iraq and Afghan vets move into the Oliver neighbourhood to drive out the drugs, one block at a time. The police, now obsessed with getting guns off the street, not mass-arrests, give their blessing. Local politicians duck for cover, waiting to see how it plays. Well this time it's real. I went to meet them, and this ran on the Radio 4 PM programme. 

Download Vets Baltimore remix WELLS

Fear and loathing in Alabama

They're needed but no longer wanted: Latino "illegals" fear the future under the hastily-devised immigration bill, where racial profiling by police is inevitable. Echoes of the pre-Civil Rights South, mingle with the certainty that the one thing Alabama's depressed economy needs, is a lot more immigration. This for BBC Radio 4, focussing on how the Catholic church has been standing up for its children (not simply protecting its own priests, as with the on-going outrage of clerical child-abuse).

Download Alabama immigration law story

  

The King of Country Returns

Hank Williams died at 29, in a tragic and wasteful fashion that leads all the way to Amy Winehouse. He left four tattered notebooks with fragments of verse and music. Twelve musicians led by Bob Dylan have brought them to life, including Hank Snr's own grand daughter, Holly. Another piece for the Today programme:

Download Hank Williams notebooks

 

Dying Languages of the World, Unite

Every two weeks, a language slips into oblivion. New York is home to 800 of them. A group of soft-spoken linguists are trying to empower the tiny clusters of speakers (mainly in Queens) to preserve their vanishing words for the future. Today and Newshour ran the story: 

Download Dying languages NY