Uncommon Conversations With Maryam Zar And John Harlow

In this week’s episode of Uncommon Conversations we discuss global freedom in retreat with Sarah Rapucci from Freedom House (freedomhouse.org), and have an exclusive interview with Sean Ryan, Marie Colvin’s last Editor at the Sunday Times, who now works at Save the Children (savethechildren.org).; Freedom house has found global democracy in retreat for the 13th year in a row, and we discuss why - from war and conflict to democratic systems and press freedoms, we delve into the report: freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2019 And we discuss the life and times of Marie Colvin along with the two films that portray her last assignment - the one that likes her amid the brutal fighting in syria that has besieged civilians for nearly a decade. thetimes.co.uk/article/a-private-war-review-wwmgvwq0s Before we close, we treat our listeners to a reggae love ballad by XOrasta Ricci and the Tic Tac Toes. Their song Wakayo won the reggae song of the year! Click here to support them: gofundme.com/ricci-and

In this week’s Uncommon Conversations Maryam Zar and John Harlow talk with USC psychologist Dr. Ayeshi Madni on identifying healthy relationship that children have with adults, and understanding when to step in when those relationship become disempowering or unhealthy. We also talked to millennial activist, Claire Tacherra-Morrison, Deputy Campaign Director at Sunrise Movement which campaigned for the election of progressive candidates in state houses as well as Congress, and was instrumental in developing the impetus behind the Green New Deal that was introduced by Senator Markey and Congresswoman Ocasio-Cotez on Feb. 7, 2019. We also had Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian on to discuss the recent visit by Gabby Giffords to Sacramento, and the renewed commitment that State legislators have to enacting sensible gun laws in CA. ASM Nazarian has introduced AB-18 (along with ASM Levine and Bonta), which promises to fund violence prevention programs with taxes collected on certain gun sales. Ultimately he believes sta

Join us for a discussion about homelessness, with Alisa Orduna, former LA City Homelessness Policy Director to Mayor Eric Garcetti, and now working for the City of Santa Monica as the Sr. Adviser to the City Manager on Homelessness. We are then joined by Larry Gross, Director of the Coalition for Economic Survival, and region 12 CADEM Director (encompassing Assembly Districts 39 - Luz Rivas, 45 - Jesse gabriel, 46 - Adrin Nazarian & 50 - Richard Bloom).

Tune to hear about the Women's March LA, and the movement underway to empower women, craft policies to improve their quality of life, and elect more to local elected positions in municipalities across LA county, as well as nationally. the Honorable, Lindsey Horvath, former West Hollywood Mayor and CA State Delegate, and current candidate for WeHo City Council is our gust for that segment. Then we turn to international news and events with a discussion of BREXIT, led by John Harlow, with out guest from Brussels, Nicholas J Cull, historian and the director of the Master's in Public Diplomacy program at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California.

Topics included the LAUSD/UTLA teacher strike, local ADEM elections, and Brexit. At air time on Jan 17th, the teachers strike enters the end of a first week, with no breakthrough hailed imminent yet. We talked to Nick Melvoin, LAUSD District 4 Board member & Board VP and Kaye Steinsapir, a local mother, lawyer and opinion leader among school parents. Our ADEM discussion centered around the engagement of residents in districts across this taking part in a hyper-local democracy that plays out across America in small communities with real, grassroots, activists. Assembly District Election Meetings (ADEM) are elections where local residents have a say in how their state political party shapes the narrative of the local legislature. We had Steve Bott, running in AD50 in the Grassroots slate leading the conversation along with Lauren Perotti running in AD46, Sudi Farrokhnia in AD 73, and political consultant and former ADEM candidate, Michael Soneff.