Patt Morrison Asks
190 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 year ago - ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsA companion podcast to L.A. Times columnist Patt Morrison's weekly interview series "Patt Morrison Asks." Patt Morrison is a longtime Los Angeles Times writer and columnist who has a share of two Pulitzer Prizes. Her broadcasting work has won six Emmys and 11 Golden Mikes. Her book about the Los Angeles River was a bestseller, and she was the first woman in nearly 25 years to be honored with the L.A. Press Club’s lifetime achievement award. Pink’s, the legendary Hollywood hot dog stand, named its veggie dog after her.
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Episodes
Thinking of un-borders: author Luis Alberto Urrea and the nature of the US-Mexico "border planet"
March 12, 2019 17:33 - 15 minutes - 15 MBPatt Morrison talks with author Luis Urrea a Mexican American poet, novelist, and essayist.
California water messager Niki Woodard: selling the drought after the deluge
March 05, 2019 17:25 - 13 minutes - 31.6 MBPatt Morrison talks with Niki Woodard Deputy Assistant at California Department of Water Resources.
California water messager Niki Woodard: selling the drought after the deluge
March 05, 2019 17:25 - 13 minutes - 12.9 MBPatt Morrison talks with Niki Woodard Deputy Assistant at California Department of Water Resources.
Tax whisperer Anne Alstott: what our tax code reveals about our national character
February 26, 2019 18:02 - 17 minutes - 16.2 MBPatt Morrison talks with Anne Alstott an expert in taxation and social policy.
Author Richard Beck: what underlies the child sexual abuse hysteria, from McMartin to Pizzagate
February 19, 2019 17:22 - 15 minutes - 14.3 MBPatt Morrison talks with Richard Beck the author of We Believe the Children: The Story of a Moral Panic.
Author Barbara Ehrenreich takes on the contradictions of “successful aging”
February 12, 2019 17:48 - 14 minutes - 14 MBPatt Morrison talks with American Author and political activist Barbara Ehrenreich about her new book "Natural Causes".
Author Craig Coenen on the NFL’s rise from scruffy, small-town sport to Super Bowl glory [ go, Rams]
January 29, 2019 17:08 - 17 minutes - 16.7 MBPatt Morrison talks with Craig Coenen.
Jodie Evans brings her esthetic, her politics, and her CodePink thinking to the California Arts Council
January 22, 2019 17:22 - 13 minutes - 12.9 MBPatt Morrison talks with Jodie Evans a political activist, author, and documentary film producer. Jodie is the co-founder and director of CODEPINK and the co-founder of the after-school writing program826LA.
Energy whiz Severin Borenstein: keeping the lights on and the fires out after PG&E bankruptcy
January 15, 2019 18:05 - 15 minutes - 14.2 MBPatt Morrison talks with Severin Borenstein a Professor at UC Berkeley Haas School of business and Faculty Director of the Energy Institute at Haas.
Historian Ellen Fitzpatrick: A Hundred-Year Hurrah for Women’s Votes
January 08, 2019 18:29 - 17 minutes - 16 MBPatt Morrison talks with Ellen Fitzpatrick a professor and scholar specializing in modern American political and intellectual history.
Mike Madrid's New Year's resolution to save the California GOP: start all over again
December 24, 2018 20:02 - 15 minutes - 14.1 MBPatt Morrison talks with Mike Madrid's on what New Year's resolutions California Republicans can make to save their party.
Linguist George Lakoff on why the GOP is better at messaging, and how Democrats can close that gap
November 27, 2018 18:45 - 13 minutes - 13 MBPatt Morrison talks with George P. Lakoff an American cognitive linguist and philosopher.
California law makes locking up guns easier than locking up possibly dangerous gun owners
November 20, 2018 17:30 - 16 minutes - 15.1 MBPatt Morrison talks with Das Williams, an American politician who currently serves as County Supervisor on the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors.
Historian Mario T. Garcia: pioneering LA sanctuary priest Luis Olivares is worthy of sainthood
November 13, 2018 17:29 - 16 minutes - 15.2 MBPatt Morrison talks with Mario T. Garcia a professor of History at UC Santa Barbara. Professor Garcia's new biography is about the amazing untold story of the Los Angeles sanctuary movement's champion, Father Luis Olivares.
Harvard's Yochai Benkler: analyzing the "propaganda feedback loop" of rightwing media
November 06, 2018 17:43 - 18 minutes - 17 MBPatt Morrison talks with Yochai Benkler an author and the Professor of Entrepreneurial Legal Studies at Harvard Law School.
Harvard's Yochai Benkler: analyzing the "propaganda feedback loop" of rightwing media
November 06, 2018 17:43 - 18 minutes - 41.7 MBPatt Morrison talks with Yochai Benkler an author and the Professor of Entrepreneurial Legal Studies at Harvard Law School.
Author Leo Braudy charts the family tree of Halloween monsters that we love to scare us
October 30, 2018 16:36 - 15 minutes - 14.2 MBPatt Morrison talks with Leo Braudy about his most recent book Haunted: On Ghosts, Witches, Vampires, Zombies, and Other Monsters of the Natural and Supernatural Worlds. Leo Braudy is a professor at the University of Southern California, where he teaches 17th- and 18th century English literature, film history and criticism.
Starman Neil deGrasse Tyson on the overlap of astrophysics and the military
October 16, 2018 15:53 - 21 minutes - 19.7 MBPatt Morrison talks with Neil deGrasse Tyson an astrophysicist, and the author of "Accessory to War: The Unspoken Alliance Between Astrophysics and the Military", about what role astrophysicists played in advancing military technology.
Susan Orlean "The Library Book," about the Los Angeles fire that made us love libraries better
October 09, 2018 16:56 - 18 minutes - 17.3 MBPatt Morrison talks with Susan Orlean, author and staff writer for The New Yorker about her book "The Library Book," the story of the Los Angeles Public Library fire, how it started, and how it ended.
Historian Nicolas Wey-Gomez on how Columbus' exploits inspired early human rights laws
October 02, 2018 16:39 - 18 minutes - 17.1 MBPatt Morrison talks with Caltech History Professor Nicolas Wey-Gomez about the odd legacy of Christopher Columbus. Nicolas Gomez is the author of The Tropics of Empire: Why Columbus Sailed South to the Indies.
Songwriter Burt Bacharach , at 90 , composes a music video plea to stop school shootings
September 25, 2018 21:15 - 14 minutes - 13.6 MBPatt Morrison talks with Burt Bacharach about and American composer, songwriter, record producer, pianist, and singer. Burt composes a music video plea to stop school shootings. He is considered one of the most important composers of 20th-century popular music.
Former Secretary of State John Kerry on the "disarray" created by Donald Trump, and fixes for our "broken" politics
September 18, 2018 18:26 - 20 minutes - 19.5 MBPatt Morrison talks with former Secretary of Sate John Kerry about his thoughts on the approaching midterms, and President Trump. John Kerry, author of the book "Every Day Is Extra", tells the story of his remarkable American life.
Superfan Eliyannah Amirah Yisrael wants you to love the Harry Potter books - and Hermione Granger - as she does
September 04, 2018 22:56 - 15 minutes - 14.6 MBPatt Morrison talks with Eliyannah Amirah Yisreal about her love for the Harry Potter books.
Immigration judge A. Ashley Tabaddor: Justice Department could make judges "prosecutors in judge's robes."
August 28, 2018 18:39 - 13 minutes - 12.7 MBPatt Morrison talks with immigration judge Ashley Tabaddor. Judge Tabaddor is the president of the National Association of Immigration Judges, and talks about the rare step of making a labor grievance public.
Author Tom Lutz on how vacation season brings out Americans' inner slacker-- and inner workaholic
August 21, 2018 16:44 - 15 minutes - 14.8 MBPatt Morrison talks with Tom Lutz an American writer and literary critic. Tom Lutz is the editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Review of Books. Lutz wrote a book called "Doing Nothing: A History of Loafers, Loungers, Slackers, and Bums in America"
Street artist Thrashbird takes his work to the streets - and on billboards above them
August 14, 2018 16:29 - 13 minutes - 13 MBPatt Morrison talks with LA based graffiti and street artist Thrashbird. Thrashbird is known for his billboard takeovers, stencils and wheatpastes.
Kids TV expert Dale Kunkel : FCC deregulation could nearly wipe out children's broadcast educational TV
August 07, 2018 15:40 - 17 minutes - 16.7 MBPatt Morrison talk with Dale Kunkel an expert on children's media topics, and the affects of television violence, sexual content, and advertising on young people. Dale Kunkel talks about how the FCC deregulation could wipe out children's broadcast educational TV.
Filmmaker Kimberly Reed: a documentary thriller on the Big Sky State vs. big "dark money"
July 31, 2018 16:28 - 15 minutes - 14.8 MBPatt Morrison talks with Kimberly Reed an American film director and producer about her latest film Dark Money.
Filmmaker Boots Riley: the spectacle and the power of movies versus movements
July 17, 2018 17:21 - 15 minutes - 14.9 MBPatt Morrison talks with Boots Riley, an American rapper, producer, screenwriter and film director. Boots is the lead vocalist of The Coup and Street Sweeper Social Club. Riley is the writer and director of his first film Sorry to Bother you.
Political analyst Bill Schneider sizes up "America the Ungovernable"
July 10, 2018 18:50 - 13 minutes - 12.9 MBPatt Morrison talks with Bill Schneider an American journalist about New America and Old America. Bill Schneider has a new book called "Standoff : How America Became Ungovernable." For nearly 20 years he was CNN's political analyst.
International scholar Ann Kerr: working to open the world, in spite of bans and walls
July 03, 2018 17:00 - 16 minutes - 15.2 MBPatt Morrison talks with Fulbright Enrichment Coordinator Ann Kerr. Ann Kerr has dedicated her professional life to cultivating an informed understanding of the Middle East Mong Americans.
Former immigration chief Doris Meissner: border security shouldn't mean separating families and shutting out the world
June 26, 2018 18:35 - 19 minutes - 18 MBPatt Morrison talks with Doris Meissner former commissioner of U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Doris Meissner is a Senior Fellow at Migration Policy Institute, where she directs the Institute's U.S. immigration policy work.
Lawyer Daniel P. Tokaji on whether the right to vote is a use-it-or-lose-it proposition
June 19, 2018 16:32 - 17 minutes - 16.3 MBPatt Morrison talks with Daniel P. Tokaji on whether the right to vote is a use-it-or-lose-it proposition. Daniel Tokaji is a professor at The Ohio State University Moritz College of law and Senior Fellow of Election Law. He teaches courses on Election Law, Constitutional Law, Federal Law, Civil Procedure, and Legislation.
Equal Rights Amendment leader Jessica Neuwirth: not one more year's wait, let alone one hundred
June 12, 2018 16:20 - 17 minutes - 16.2 MBPatt Morrison talks with Jessica Neuwirth, an Equal Right Amendment leader. Jessica is a co-founder of the international women's rights organization Equality Now, and author of "Equal means Equal: Why the Time for an Equal Rights Amendment Is Now"
Photojournalist Boris Yaro: the 50-year remembered pain of photographing the assassinated RFK
June 05, 2018 16:53 - 15 minutes - 14.3 MBPatt Morrison talks with Boris Yaro, a photojournalist, about the night of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, on June 5, 1968.
Free-range kids advocate Lenore Skenazy: Stop thinking children need to be tracked like FedEx packages.
May 29, 2018 22:28 - 16 minutes - 15.4 MBPatt Morrison talks with Lenore Skenazy, a columnist, author, and reality show host, about what outdoor liberties to allow there children and that the risks are exaggerated. Skenazy is the founder of the book, blog, and movement "Free Range Kids"
Women's and men's rights author Warren Farrell: what underlines the "incel rebellion"?
May 15, 2018 18:05 - 16 minutes - 17.4 MBPatt Morrison talks with Warren Farrell, a high profile pioneer of feminist men, about his thoughts on why incels turn out the way they do. Warren Farrell is also an author of seven books on men and women's issues, including "The Myth of Male Power" and his latest book "The Boy Crisis: Why Our Boys Are Struggling and What We Can Do about It"
California’s air quality chief: if Trump’s EPA gets its way, we’ll be “fumigated” again by pollution
May 08, 2018 06:17 - 17 minutes - 16.5 MBAs chair of the Air Resources Board, Nichols wields "rock star" status. Nichols plays a central role in deciding where Californians get their energy, what fuel goes in their cars and how their homes are built. Nichols has held the post since 2007, when she was appointed by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Author Richard Powers’ novel about humans’ war against trees - and why both sides could lose
May 01, 2018 19:14 - 18 minutes - 17.7 MBPatt Morrison speaks with Richard Powers, author of "The Overstory," a monumental novel about trees and people by one of our most "prodigiously talented" (The New York Times Book Review) novelists.
Since Jordon Dyrdahl-Roberts quit his job rather than give data to ICE, life has taken a turn
April 17, 2018 20:26 - 12 minutes - 12.2 MBJordon Dyrdahl-Roberts is a husband, father, writer and – after quitting his job at the Montana Department of Labor and Industry rather than share information with ICE – an unintentional immigration advocate. “I loved my work at the Labor Department, but I can't be a part of breaking up families,” Dyrdahl-Roberts wrote in The Washington Post. Patt Morrison talks with Dyrdahl-Roberts about the unusual turn his life has taken since he took a stand against ICE.
For "tax day," UC Berkeley’s Dacher Keltner on how tax cuts affect the rich and poor differently.
April 10, 2018 19:44 - 14 minutes - 13.9 MBPatt Morrison talks with Dacher Keltner, professor of psychology at University of California, Berkeley, where he directs the Berkeley Social Interaction Lab. He is also the founder and faculty director of the Greater Good Science Center.
Anchor Judy Woodruff on the dare-to-be-boring PBS NewsHour in the era of Twitter and “fake news”
April 03, 2018 16:58 - 15 minutes - 14.7 MBJudy Woodruff, anchor and managing editor of PBS NewsHour, reflects on changes in the news media at a time when, more than ever, the public needs accurate and reliable sources.
Could Facebook throw an election? “Of course they could,” cautions Silicon Valley’s Aza Raskin.
March 27, 2018 18:52 - 17 minutes - 16.1 MBPatt Morrison talks with interface designer Aza Raskin. Raskin's work with Mozilla, Firefox and numerous innovative startups, as well as having grown up the son of human-interface expert Jef Raskin, gives him rare insight into Facebook's recent data theft debacle.
Author Steven Pinker’s long, uplifting view of human progress -- even in spite of humans themselves
March 20, 2018 01:00 - 16 minutes - 15.1 MBPatt Morrison speaks with Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker. In his new book, “Enlightenment Now: the Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress,” Pinker makes the case against doom and gloom-ism, especially in academia, and tribal know-nothing-ism in politics.
Senator Dianne Feinstein -- the assault weapons foe considers whether Donald Trump can really be the man who can carry gun control reform over the goal line.
March 07, 2018 08:00 - 13 minutes - 13.1 MBPatt Morrison speaks with Senator Dianne Feinstein.
Joan Baez's fabled voice has changed over her 60 years of singing, but her passion for civil rights and human rights has not.
February 21, 2018 00:49 - 23 minutes - 21.7 MBJoan Baez talks about her new album, her upcoming farewell tour, the current state of protest music and how Trump inspired her to write a new song.
LAPD commissioner Sandra Figueroa-Villa on choosing a new police chief for Los Angeles
February 07, 2018 20:33 - 15 minutes - 14.7 MBThe Los Angeles Police Commission already has its hands full being upbraided by protesters at its public meetings over questionable police shootings and the use of drones. Now it has to find a replacement for LAPD Chief Charlie Beck. Commissioner Sandra Figueroa-Villa speaks to Patt about the tasks at hand.
Maimuna Syed: A big Trump ballot backlash means prepping more women candidates to run for office
January 22, 2018 18:42 - 14 minutes - 13.4 MBPatt Morrison talks with Maimuna Syed, executive director of Emerge California, about how the organization prepares women to run for office.
Maimuna Syed: A big Trump ballot backlash means prepping more women candidates to run for office
January 22, 2018 18:42 - 14 minutes - 8.17 MBPatt Morrison talks with Maimuna Syed, executive director of Emerge California, about how the organization prepares women to run for office.
Comedy writer Laurie Kilmartin’s book “Dead People Suck” also shows how much the living suck at handling death, and tells us how to do better.
January 02, 2018 02:22 - 14 minutes - 13.8 MBLA Times columnist Patt Morrison talks with author Laurie Kilmartin about death, dying and what to do with your stuff before you go.