Vindaloo

Hidden history of Puritan New England

The reality of small-town life in colonial New England is being laid bare by a group of history detectives in Massachusetts. The Congregational Library in Boston will store, digitize and hopefully transcribe them all, allowing anyone to see how the earliest colonists thought, felt, lived and loved. Sunday on BBC Radio 4 just ran this, and World Service have it for their holiday hamper. I love doing stories like this. Enjoy. 

Hidden Histories BBC Matt Wells

A tale of two Rochesters

Rochester in the UK is likely to vote in an ultra-nationalist defector from the Tory party due to anger over immigration later this month. So what's the take on it in Rochester, New York? That was the assignment care of the BBC World This Weekend. I went to find out - and fear felt around the Dorchester suburbs over the undocumented, chimed pretty well with what I discovered during my trip to Arizona in August, at the other big border. Here's the view from the north: 

Rochester NY immigration BBC story

 

Bhopal, the disaster with no end

The 30th anniversary looms of the world's worst ever industrial disaster, a totally preventable horror of mass-poisoning, that nobody - to this day - has taken real responsibility for. Now comes a conscience-pricking movie from a native son of Bhopal, which has a lot going for it. The World Service ran this piece of mine a few days ago.

Bhopal The Movie BBC story Matt Wells

 

Newark: real signs of hope (really)

Can positive signs on sidewalks lift hearts, and foster powerful new hope? Killy Killford and Newark's wordsmith of a new mayor, think they can. Listen to the extraordinary story of how young people put their faith in words, aided by a new administration and a daper British artist. This aired many times today across shows on the BBC World Service. Love up, Listen up: 

Happy signs BBC story Matt Wells

Child migrants and faith on the border

My radio documentary looking at the faith groups who put compassion ahead of politics, along the febrile border of southern Arizona, for the BBC's Heart and Soul show. This summer's wave of child migration from Central America exposed the failure at the heart of a paralyzed policy. Click on the link below: 

Migration AZ BBC doc Matt Wells

Some images from the trip:

Partisan product picking

BuyPartisan, lets you know what political contributions lie behind the label of thousands of products. It's a scan-based data base, basically, which has researched the political backgrounds of company directors, and employees, so you have some idea where they stand politically. I road-tested it locally, and got some pretty interesting (and classic) Brooklyn feedback. One criticism? A lot of products I casually scanned, revealed no information whatsoever. Early days I guess.

Partisan app Matt Wells BBC

 

Bishops battle over a future American saint

Archbishop Fulton Sheen was the first televangelist, and a giant of C20th American religious life. Now New York and Illinois are in an unseemly tug of war over the body. There's even a miracle baby in the mix. Take a listen. This piece of mine ran on BBC Radio 4's Sunday show: 

BBC Matt Wells Sheen story

 

Atlantic City Gambled and Lost, for now....

It's an awful month to be working in the casino business in Atlantic City. Thousands unemployed with three big players gone by September 16, on top of a January closure and rumors swirling of bankruptcy soon for Trump Taj Mahal. Blocks back from the boardwalk, the empty lots testify to how little's really been invested in the place, beyond the mirage. My take on it all just aired on BBC flagship show, The World At One: 

AC casino crisis Matt Wells BBC

Ebola: the view from Staten Island's Liberians

There's no more historic national link between Africa and America than Liberia. The health crisis that the Ebola epidemic represents has special resonance for the Staten Island leadership here in NYC - most of them are refugees from the recent civil war. They want to do more to help back home but they lack resources. Here's their story from earlier this week, as told to me for the BBC World Service:

Liberians NY Matt Wells BBC

 

Mr Perfect: Jeter leaves the Yankees

I agonized over, and discussed with friends at length, WHO exactly is even similar to Jeter in the world of sport. There's nobody quite like him. Tenduklar is as close as you get, but he's married of course. So, the ambassador for baseball, and perhaps all of American sport, is going. As one exec at Yankee Stadium told me: there's life after Jeter for the Yankees, and life after the Yankees, for Jeter.... Here's my tribute for BBC World Service: 

Jeter retires Matt Wells BBC story