GroundTruth
70 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 207 ratingsAt the height of the Vietnam War, a government insider named Daniel Ellsberg leaked 7,000 pages of classified documents to American newspapers. The Pentagon Papers revealed that Americans had been lied to for decades about the war. Fifty years later, Ellsberg reveals his evolution from Cold Warrior to Whistleblower in the GroundTruth Podcast series The Whistleblower: Truth, Dissent and the Legacy of Daniel Ellsberg.
Based at GBH in Boston, the award-winning GroundTruth Podcast has covered global affairs from the War in Afghanistan to rising populist nationalism through shoe-leather, on-the-ground reporting.
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Episodes
Special Message to Listeners
November 21, 2021 17:00 - 1 minute - 2.62 MBAfter 10 seasons of the award-winning GroundTruth Podcast, we’re excited about what might come next. But to find the best way forward, we want to hear from listeners like you: What stories do you feel are under-reported and need to be told? What questions do you have about the podcast? Give us your feedback and ask us questions about the GroundTruth podcast, about our mission and our vision and our service programs in the field Report for America and more newly launched Report fo...
The Whistleblower - Epilogue: Truth Is the First Casualty
September 10, 2021 10:54 - 18 minutes - 42 MBIn war, truth is the first casualty. It's a military maxim attributed to Aeschylus, the father of Greek tragedy. In the lead up to the 20th anniversary of 9/11 and ahead of the withdrawal from a war that became the longest in American history, GroundTruth's founder Charlie Sennott returns to Afghanistan and revisits a conflict he has covered on the ground since its first battles and its first casualties. Two decades later, amid an American departure from Afghanistan that many have...
The Whistleblower - Extra: Into the Archive
August 31, 2021 10:00 - 18 minutes - 42.2 MBA class of college students at UMass Amherst became the first group of researchers to take on Daniel Ellsberg's vast archive. For two students, it's more than a history project: It's a family story. We’d like to hear your thoughts about the podcast. Call us and leave a voice message with your feedback at (339) 365-3754. We listen to everything you send us and we might even share some of them on this podcast. As we look ahead to Season 11 of the GroundTruth Podcast, we want to fee...
The Whistleblower - Episode 5: The Doomsday Machine
June 23, 2021 12:00 - 40 minutes - 45.8 MBBefore he was helping plan the Vietnam War, Ellsberg was working at Rand Corporation as a nuclear war planner. In the late 1950’s and early 60’s, he came across a classified policy document that called for killing a fifth of the human population. “This, to me, was pure evil.” When he was facing trial for releasing the Pentagon Papers, he held another trove of secret documents on the Pentagon’s plans for nuclear war. His plan was to release these, most likely from prison. But in a st...
The Whistleblower - Episode 4: Most Dangerous Man
June 10, 2021 13:11 - 34 minutes - 39 MBNow facing a possible 115 years in prison, Daniel Ellsberg awaits his federal espionage trial. Meanwhile, Nixon unleashes his Plumbers in an attempt to silence Ellsberg, and Barbra Streisand sings for the defense! In this episode we trace the series of events that tied Daniel Ellsberg’s espionage trial to the fate of Richard Nixon’s presidency. This podcast series is part of a wider collaboration with UMass Amherst and GBH, including a two-day conference presented by GroundTruth an...
The Whistleblower - Episode 3: The Presses Roll
May 18, 2021 15:02 - 44 minutes - 50.9 MBOn September 30, 1969, Daniel Ellsberg opened his newspaper to a story out of Vietnam that would act as the trigger for copying the Pentagon Papers. We pick up on this wild ride when he offers the papers to members of Congress, who shrugged him off. He then went to the New York Times, the first publication of the papers landed on the front page on June 13th, 1971. Over the next 13 days, an FBI manhunt swept the Boston area for Ellsberg and his wife Patricia. Upon turning himself in,...
The Whistleblower - Episode 2: The Force of Truth
April 30, 2021 15:42 - 39 minutes - 44.7 MBDaniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers to the press knowing he could face the rest of his life in prison. But what turned this Cold War hawk into an anti-war dove? What were the motivating events and people who influenced his transformation? At 15, a tragic car accident would shape his sense of responsibility to the wider world. His time in the Marine Corps strengthened his dedication to serving his country. But in 1968 he would begin an unlikely encounter with another faction, ...
The Whistleblower - Episode 1: The Lying Machine
April 15, 2021 19:11 - 53 minutes - 60.7 MBIn the series premiere, we pick up on Ellsberg’s first day at the Pentagon, the day he became acquainted with what he came to call the “lying machine.” It was August 4, 1964. Contradicting accounts of an attack in The Gulf of Tonkin would give President Johnson the green light to lead the country into war in Vietnam based on a lie. We follow this thread, and the deception, through his time in the field in Vietnam, where he saw how the lies on the ground made their way back to Washin...
The Whistleblower: Truth, Dissent & the Legacy of Daniel Ellsberg TRAILER
April 02, 2021 15:20 - 4 minutes - 4.95 MBAmericans across the country opened their newspapers to the first reports based on classified documents leaked by a government insider, Daniel Ellsberg. Consisting of 7,000 pages of top secret documents, the Pentagon Papers revealed in cold, analytical detail how four presidential administrations lied to the American public: the reasons for entering the war, the failures of their policies, the low chances of success, and the reasons for staying the course. But for Ellsberg, the fact...
On the Ground: Election Episode – 2020 and Counting
October 31, 2020 15:18 - 46 minutes - 64.5 MBThe turmoil of the 2020 presidential election campaigns has raised questions about just what it means to vote. Who gets to pull the lever? How can someone cast their ballot? Will all of the votes be counted in time? GroundTruth’s Voting Rights Fellows share local stories of voters, activists and election officials working to preserve the process this Nov. 3. Explore our Election 2020 reporting: https://thegroundtruthproject.org/election-episode-2020-and-counting/ Keep up with ou...
On the Ground in Kentucky's District 67
October 29, 2020 14:13 - 12 minutes - 17.2 MBWhen you think about Kentucky's deep red politics today, it's likely the face of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his laconic drawl that comes to mind. But one northern corner of this solidly Republican state is streaked blue by its state house representation. Covering local government in northern Kentucky through our Report for America program, reporter Julia Fair with the Cincinnati Enquirer has been following this trend just across the Ohio River. It’s there, in Kentuc...
On the Ground in the Mississippi Delta
October 02, 2020 13:57 - 23 minutes - 31.7 MBThe origins of Blues music is a complex weave of traditions, and the genre echoes suffering and endurance through centuries of hardship. Evolving from blended musical forms brought to the United States by enslaved Africans, then taking on the rhythm of work in the fields and heart of spirituals, the oppressive environment of the Jim Crow South ultimately shaped the Blues as we know it today. Today, the Blues are more often romanticized as the ballads of down and out troubadours, ra...
On the Ground with Report for America: Woods Hole, Massachusetts
September 11, 2020 20:40 - 13 minutes - 18.1 MBFor most of us, it's hard to ignore the rising threat of climate change. But the sheer magnitude of the devastation it could cause is daunting. For those journalists trying to convey the sense of urgency to the public, it can become overwhelming. Living on Cape Cod, where towns and residents are trying to beat back rising tides with seawalls and sand, WCAI climate change reporter Eve Zuckoff is finding it difficult to build barriers of her own – between the existential threat she co...
On the Ground with Report for America: Chicago's South Side
August 28, 2020 21:04 - 19 minutes - 26.3 MBFor many growing up in Chicago, the barber shop is a refuge. Raised on the Windy City's West Side, Report for America corps member Manny Ramos knows that fact well. "Barbers do more than just cut hair," he says, "they record history." They hear about the aspirations of the people whose hair they trim, and whose major life events they mark together. Ramos' reporting shows us how the barber shop has come to play a key role as a "community center" in Chicago, and how the loss of one ...
On the Ground with Report for America: Inside Mississippi's Prison System
August 13, 2020 13:58 - 19 minutes - 26.6 MBIn August 2018, well before any thought of a pandemic sweeping the country, Mississippi’s prison system saw a spike in inmate deaths. Correctional officials attributed many of these to “natural causes.” But these deaths aren't the only concerns for inmates and their families. Conditions in some of these prisons – men sleeping five to a cell or the sparse and unappetizing meals they get on a day to day basis or what the showers look like – have come to light through documentation by ...
On the Ground with Report for America: Bird Singers of the American Southwest
July 31, 2020 19:44 - 24 minutes - 33.6 MBBird Singing is an oral tradition that has been passed down for centuries among the tribes across the American Southwest. These stories are sung by male members of tribes – from young boys to elders – whose only accompaniment is a gourd fashioned into a shaker. But the threat of COVID-19 has forced these traditions online, in isolation. See video of Bird Singers performing here: https://gtruth.co/2X4lyjh We’d like to hear your thoughts about the podcast. Call us and leave a voice ...
On the Ground with Report for America: Deadly Force--An Investigative Report
July 17, 2020 22:24 - 22 minutes - 30.4 MB“Deadly Force,” a new podcast series from Report for America host newsroom WPLN in Nashville, focuses on the trial of the first Nashville police officer to be charged with murder for shooting someone in the line of duty. Through newly uncovered documents, original interviews and audio footage, Deadly Force gets a glimpse into the mind of a police officer struggling to make sense of when to use his gun and the culture in Nashville surrounding the use of force. We speak with reporter ...
On the Ground with Report for America: Almost Independence Day
July 02, 2020 13:36 - 11 minutes - 15.2 MBJuly 3, 2018. It was almost Independence Day. Lee Eric Evans straightened a flag pole on his aunt’s front porch. He carefully unfurled an American flag so that it hung properly, making sure it didn’t touch the ground. Lee, who is 26 years old, was fussing over the flag for the 4th of July celebrations in the Farish Street Historic District which would happen the next day. I was working on a story about the importance of the District as a hub of black-owned businesses in the 1920’...
On the Ground with Report for America: Pandemic and Protest, Coast to Coast, Part 2
June 30, 2020 12:59 - 21 minutes - 29.6 MBReport for America corps member Chris Ehrmann continues on his road trip across America, picking up in St. Louis, where economic recovery depends on where you live. Chris listens to protesters from Denver to Los Angeles, in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, who are wondering, is this a tipping point? https://thegroundtruthproject.org/on-the-ground-with-report-for-america-pandemic-and-protest/ We’d like to hear your thoughts about the podcast. Call us and leave a voice messa...
On the Ground with Report for America: Pandemic and Protest, Coast to Coast, Part 1
June 19, 2020 21:36 - 22 minutes - 30.4 MBReport for America corps member Chris Ehrmann embarked on a road trip across America, literally, from Times Square to Los Angeles, California. He traced the new landscape of COVID-19 across time zones and state lines. He spoke to those whose loved ones have been directly impacted by the virus, squaring off against those impacted by a devastated economy. In the wake of the killing of George Floyd, his journey to witness a nation under lockdown was suddenly layered with thousands of p...
On the Ground with Report for America - Trailer
June 09, 2020 22:09 - 6 minutes - 14.6 MBThe 9th season of the GroundTruth Podcast is a playlist of stories from across America. We shadow our Report for America corps members as they bring us into their communities, and share the stories of people who’ve often felt unheard. Amid a pandemic and nationwide demands for justice and reform, the audio road trip begins with an actual road trip from coast to coast. We’d like to hear your thoughts about the podcast. Call us and leave a voice message with your feedback at *(339) ...
The Authoritarian's Playbook: Bonus Episode - Guardrails of Democracy
January 17, 2020 20:20 - 24 minutes - 33.6 MBAs a thick morning fog was still lifting over the hills here above the San Francisco Bay, Ellsberg sat at his dining room table, sipping a cup of coffee and reading The New York Times. It was Friday, December 13th, the House Judiciary Committee had just sent the articles of impeachment for a full house floor vote. It feels like deja vu, 50 years on. Dan Ellsberg was reflecting on then and now. To some, the whistleblower is a hero, to others, a traitor. But at their core, at least...
The Authoritarian's Playbook: Eroding Truth in America
December 26, 2019 20:02 - 34 minutes - 47.9 MBAs Donald Trump took the oath of office and became the 45th President of the United States, journalists’ role of covering the White House and the presidency was turned upside down. It started day one with the inauguration and the very first press conference. Sean Spicer: “This was the largest audience to ever watch an inauguration, period. Both in person and around the globe.” The next day, on Meet the Press Kellyanne Conway stepped forward to defend the president’s exaggerati...
The Authoritarian's Playbook: Dividing and Conquering in Poland
December 24, 2019 01:54 - 30 minutes - 42.5 MBLGBT communities face challenges in all parts of the world. But in Poland, the right-wing populist Law and Justice party spent the last year insisting that pro-LGBT stances were a western import meant to weaken Poland internally. They claim that progressive social values have no place in polish identity, and refer to values pertaining to the LGBT community as “LGBT ideology.” Law and Justice leader Jarosław Kaczyński describes it as a battle. “The LGBT ideology is an offensive. ...
The Authoritarian's Playbook: Exploiting Religion in India
December 15, 2019 21:03 - 35 minutes - 49.1 MBIn August, 1947, British colonial rule officially ended in India. Within 6 months, Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of India’s independence movement, was assassinated by a Hindu nationalist who rejected Gandhi’s openness to India’s Muslims. For more than 70 years, India more or less remained a constitutional democracy granting religious equality to all. In 2014, Narendra Modi was elected prime minister. In May of 2019, Modi and his BJP party swept the elections with an overwhelming majo...
The Authoritarian's Playbook: Rewriting History in Hungary
December 07, 2019 02:16 - 30 minutes - 41.3 MBIt is often said that journalism is the first draft of history. Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s dominance of Hungarian media gives him the power to not only write the first draft, but to rewrite history, in step with his own nationalist narrative. Over the past 9 years, media outlets in Hungary have fallen victim to Orban’s campaign to expand government control or to shut down independent media. Critics say Orban’s goal is to create his own media machine to control the political cli...
The Authoritarian's Playbook - Undermining Institutions in Colombia
November 28, 2019 04:37 - 30 minutes - 42.5 MBIn September, 2016, Juan Manuel Santos, the President of Colombia, and Timochenko Jimenez, the rebel leader of the FARC--the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia--signed a historic agreement that formally ended more than 50 years of conflict. It was a remarkable scene. Guests were dressed in white to symbolize peace, and a childrens’ choir sang Beethoven’s* Ode to Joy.* Timochenko spoke first. Near the end of his 30 minute speech, he made a plea to the entire country. “I would ...
The Authoritarian's Playbook: Undermining Institutions in Colombia
November 28, 2019 04:37 - 31 minutes - 42.9 MBIn September, 2016, Juan Manuel Santos, the President of Colombia, and Timochenko Jimenez, the rebel leader of the FARC--the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia--signed a historic agreement that formally ended more than 50 years of conflict. It was a remarkable scene. Guests were dressed in white to symbolize peace, and a childrens’ choir sang Beethoven’s* Ode to Joy.* Timochenko spoke first. Near the end of his 30 minute speech, he made a plea to the entire country. “I would ...
The Authoritarian's Playbook: Targeting Outsiders in Italy
November 14, 2019 21:23 - 32 minutes - 44.2 MBMatteo Salvini is one of Italy’s most popular politicians. His harsh rhetoric against migrants, the media, and cultural integration has resonated with Italians, especially the youth. His party is the Lega, or league in English, and in the last 6 years, their support among Italians under 35 has grown from 8% to over 20%. And even more broadly, Lega is now the second most popular party across Italy. In this episode, targeting outsiders in Italy, our global fellows Alessia Cerantola ...
The Authoritarian's Playbook: Weaponizing Fear in Brazil
October 31, 2019 19:39 - 36 minutes - 49.6 MBSince taking office in January, Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has weaponized the fear of widespread crime, and tapped into the country’s anger with the rampant corruption. The former army captain has given the police carte blanche to fight violence with violence. But his policy of “the only good criminal is a dead criminal” has also taken the lives of innocents in some of the poorest neighborhoods in the country. GroundTruth Fellow Leticia Duarte walked with the victims of poli...
Democracy Undone: Series Intro
October 17, 2019 20:30 - 3 minutes - 4.99 MBThe hallmarks of populist nationalism are gaining ground in many of the world’s largest democracies, from Modi’s India to Bolsonaro’s Brazil and Trump’s America. In these, and many other countries, elected leaders are flirting with aspects of authoritarianism in an extreme era of mass migration, digital disruption and the looming threat of climate change. In a six-month reporting project titled Democracy Undone: The Authoritarian’s Playbook, GroundTruth reporting fellows in India, ...
Coming Soon: Democracy Undone - The Authoritarian's Playbook
October 17, 2019 20:30 - 3 minutes - 4.94 MBThe hallmarks of populist nationalism are gaining ground in many of the world’s largest democracies, from Modi’s India to Bolsonaro’s Brazil and Trump’s America. In these, and many other countries, elected leaders are flirting with aspects of authoritarianism in an extreme era of mass migration, digital disruption and the looming threat of climate change. In a six-month reporting project titled Democracy Undone: The Authoritarian’s Playbook, GroundTruth reporting fellows in India, ...
Unheard in Appalachia
August 15, 2019 18:11 - 31 minutes - 43 MBCrossing the Divide is a collaboration with WGBH that brought together a team of five reporters from red states and blue states to travel across the country in a van, exploring issues that divide us and stories that unite us. In this episode, Unheard in Appalachia, we take you through beautiful, mountainous Eastern Kentucky, where local economies are struggling, coal jobs continue to disappear, and people are frustrated by decades of failed government programs that have done little...
New American Songbook: For My Ayeeyo
July 03, 2019 14:49 - 28 minutes - 38.5 MBSomalia is often called a land of poets, a place where everything from teenage romance to legal disputes has been recorded and passed down through poems. As conflict and drought have driven hundreds of thousands of Somalis from that homeland, the poetry has travelled with them. But here in the U.S., Somali-American poets must find new words and metaphors to describe their new environment. Amal Hussein and Hamdi Mohamed have a lot in common. Both were born in Kenya, where their pa...
Memorial Day Special - The Eleventh Hour
May 23, 2019 21:26 - 39 minutes - 54.8 MBIn honor of Memorial Day, we’re looking back at World War 1, the Great War. It’s been a century since the world powers gathered in Paris to hammer out terms for peace. No Germans were present. In fact, they were not invited to participate in the deliberations. But their worst fears were realized in the punishing terms of the treaty: Germany would pay dearly for its role in the war. There was great expectation that this would be the War to End all Wars. But the Treaty of Versailles ...
The End of Days - Part 3 - A New Jerusalem - Shaping Mideast Policy
May 03, 2019 16:52 - 24 minutes - 33.1 MBThe Dead Sea lies at the lowest elevation on earth. And in the arid valley that stretches to the salt lake's western shore sits Ein Gedi, a nature preserve and oasis that ranges from lush, spring fed gardens, to parched craggy rock, dotted with palm trees. Here, among this barren but beautiful landscape, a massive stage is perched amid the dusty rocks, complete with giant video screens and dazzling light displays. It looks more like a docked spaceship than a concert venue. What is n...
The End of Days - Part 2 - The Armies of Heaven - Inside the Movement
April 26, 2019 00:13 - 24 minutes - 34.1 MBIn the second chapter of this series, we go inside the Christian Zionist community in Jerusalem and the settlements in the West Bank. Micah Danney, our GroundTruth Fellow and guide for this episode, was a unique choice for this reporting assignment. He grew up steeped in Christianity. His father was a mainline Protestant preacher in Nyack, New York. As a teenager, he had gotten into some trouble. But he also really knew his scripture. Both of these parts of his past, his struggle wi...
The End of Days: How Christian Zionism is Transforming US Policy in the Middle East
April 17, 2019 21:34 - 29 minutes - 40.6 MBTwenty years ago, a movement known as Christian Zionism was on the furthest fringes in the land of Israel. Back then, mainstream theologians — Christian and Jewish alike — dismissed Christian Zionism as a dangerous interpretation of biblical prophecies; the ideology was flawed at best, at its worst, inherently anti-Semitic. Today, Christian Zionism has gone mainstream, with explosive growth in both fundraising and political power. Its journey is evident in today’s headlines in Isr...
The Eleventh Hour
December 07, 2018 03:39 - 39 minutes - 36.4 MBAfter four years of fighting, 20 million soldiers and civilians dead, and three collapsed empires, World War One ended and a new world order emerged. But the armistice held only temporarily and the promise to end all wars was repeatedly broken over the last 100 years. Charlie Sennott has been tracing how this war is the source of so many modern conflicts, many of them he’s covered as a correspondent over the last three decades. We look at the circumstances that led to that war, and ...
War Children
November 22, 2018 15:00 - 25 minutes - 23.4 MBA year after the city of Mosul was liberated from ISIS rule, kids across Iraq are not alright. The most vulnerable are often overlooked: orphans, the wounded, the kidnapped and returned, and those who fought for ISIS — whether by force or by choice. Boys are most at risk for future violence and recruitment to extremist groups.
What Ever Happened to Zika?
November 08, 2018 22:42 - 32 minutes - 29.6 MBBefore Hurricane Maria, the Zika crisis was already pushing Puerto Rico’s health care system to the limit. Then the storm came and crippled it completely — no more testing pregnant mothers for Zika, and no more tracking babies born to Zika-infected mothers. A year later, things are still not back to normal. And it’s becoming clear that many babies that seem fine may not be.
The Dancing Ghosts of Duffy's Cut
October 25, 2018 19:41 - 26 minutes - 24.5 MBWhen Bill and Frank Watson were kids, their grandfather told them a ghost story. Decades later, the brothers discovered the source of that story in their grandfather’s old railroad company documents. It raised questions about what happened to 57 Irish migrant workers in Pennsylvania in 1832, and it sent the Watson brothers on a search for a mass grave.
Hope (and Contraband) in a Bottle
October 11, 2018 16:10 - 29 minutes - 27 MBOn a South Korean island just eight miles from the shores of North Korea, Jung Gwang-il is trying to save lives with rice and USBs. He’s a North Korean defector who survived torture and concentration camps, and is now smuggling food and information, to try to help his starving people and weaken the dictatorship — even if it puts his own life in danger.
Refugees Lost in Translation
September 27, 2018 16:49 - 33 minutes - 30.5 MB*Refugees Lost in Translation * Three refugees — from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq — are working as interpreters for other refugees coming into Europe. With a foot in both worlds, they see things that refugees and Western media don’t: what’s being lost in translation, the profound consequences, and how the biggest barrier for refugees often isn’t a physical border, but language itself.
Unheard in Appalachia
September 20, 2018 14:14 - 28 minutes - 26.1 MBIn beautiful, mountainous Eastern Kentucky, local economies are struggling, coal jobs continue to disappear, and people are frustrated by decades of failed government programs that have done little to help with problems connected to poverty, hazardous work conditions and poor nutrition. On a reporting road trip across America, we hear from those who feel unheard.
Season 5 Trailer
September 14, 2018 20:57 - 3 minutes - 4.29 MBFrom Puerto Rico to Pennsylvania, a new generation of journalists is reporting on the ground, documenting the most important stories of their time. Hosted by Charles Sennott, founder of The GroundTruth Project, in partnership with WGBH News.
The New American Songbook: Nuevo Mariachi
November 16, 2017 05:00 - 23 minutes - 31.9 MBFor Omar Naré, mariachi is in his blood. His grandfather, a Mexican farm laborer, brought the music with him to California’s Central Valley, where he settled his family. Omar grew up hearing mariachi at family get-togethers and had a childhood career as a mariachi singer. After a hiatus and period of disillusionment with the music of his childhood, Omar returned to mariachi. He realized, to make mariachi that felt honest to his experience, he had to break the rules. But if you break...
The New American Songbook: Rhythms From Cyprus
November 09, 2017 05:00 - 24 minutes - 33.2 MBAt age 20, percussionist George Lernis sought to travel halfway around the world from Cyprus, to follow in the footsteps of the American jazz masters. He navigated a series of obstacles, and once his student visa expired, he faced an even more difficult challenge: qualifying for an O-1 visa — a special designation for “extraordinary artists.” It’s no easy feat to prove that you can make an extraordinary contribution to music in America. Explore photos and more
The New American Songbook: Making It In The HMI
October 19, 2017 04:00 - 27 minutes - 38.5 MBHMI stands for Haitian Music Industry, but its artists and fans are spread around the globe. Vladimir Mead immigrated to Boston 10 years ago at age 16. Since then, he’s built up a music career under the name Masterbrain — largely through YouTube and Facebook. His Creole freestyles and music videos have accumulated tens of thousands of hits, but he’s never returned to Haiti. We follow him as he prepares for his first trip back to Haiti, where he dreams of being a star. Explore photos...
The New American Songbook: For My Ayeeyo
October 05, 2017 04:00 - 26 minutes - 36.9 MBSomalia is the “land of poets,” a place where love, law, war and peace have been carried out in verse for centuries. This is a story of what happens when that tradition is driven far from the dry soil and open skies that inspire the poets’ metaphors. Two young Somali-American women in Boston are drawn together by poetry, and use it to connect with their grandmothers or ‘ayeeyo’ in Somalia. Explore photos and more