Do we have more in common than divides us? Thought-provoking conversations on the street & with special guests from the arts.
Episodes
Sunday Nov 22, 2015
Sunday Nov 22, 2015
Broadcast on 21 November 2015 on KSCO AM 1080, KSCO 104.1 FM, KOMY AM 1340, and KSCO.com Live Stream.
'It's A Question Of Balance' is a two hour show which balances the intellectual with the creative. The show combines a debate topic with an arts interview because discussion and creativity are two of the most vital ways we engage in the world.
Check out podcasts of the different topics and arts guests at www.itsaquestionofbalance.com
Hour 2: In-Depth Arts Interview with Bonnie Greenberg
This week as her special guest from the arts Ruth Copland is pleased to be interviewing Bonnie Greenberg award-winning music supervisor, executive music producer, and college professor. Bonnie, referred to by Michael Rogers as one of the elite superstar music supervisors, has been at the forefront of entertainment integrating music and motion pictures for over two decades. Bonnie has been integrally involved with over 80 films spanning all budgets and genres — from documentaries such as Marilyn, independent films such as Spanking The Monkey, Hairspray, Menace II Society, and Lars And The Real Girl, mid-budget independent and studio films such as Dead Presidents, The Best Man, The Mask, Rat Race, The Truth About Cats And Dogs, and Pleasantville, to major studio blockbusters including My Best Friend’s Wedding, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, What Women Want, The Santa Clause, Something’s Gotta Give, and It’s Complicated, to the hit TV series Desperate Housewives. She has worked repeatedly with established directors such as Jerry Zucker, Ron Howard, Malcolm Lee, P.J. Hogan, Nancy Meyers and The Hughes Brothers and consulted for Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, overseeing the music in all their original productions. Most recently she was one of the producers of the made for TV original musical film, Dear Dumb Diary, the independent film Halfway and the controversial documentary, The Hunting Ground about sexual assault on US college campuses. Bonnie also just completed post-production on another original feature film musical entitled Basmati Blues, starring Brie Larson, Donald Sutherland, and Scott Bakula. Bonnie features in the book How I Broke into Hollywood: Tales from the Trenches and also appears in many music documentaries including for CNN and VH1. She has produced or executive produced numerous gold and platinum soundtrack albums and received an NAACP award for album of the year for her work on The Best Man. Bonnie is a firm believer that music should enhance and support the visual images of film and is a frequent lecturer on the use of music in films as an adjunct professor at UCLA Graduate Film School teaching music supervision. Having started her career in the entertainment industry working as an attorney and then business affairs executive at MCA Records, Inc. and Paramount Pictures, she is on the advisory board of the Donald E. Biederman Entertainment and Media Law Institute at Southwestern University School of Law. She is a 30-year member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and is one of the founding members of the Guild of Music Supervisors. In addition to her entertainment career, Bonnie is a jewelery designer producing unconventional one-off pieces.
Tune in Saturday 9-10 PM to find out more about the life and art of Bonnie Greenberg. For more info and to hear previous shows visit www.itsaquestionofbalance.com
Sunday Nov 22, 2015
Sunday Nov 22, 2015
Broadcast on 21 November 2015 on KSCO AM 1080, KSCO 104.1 FM, KOMY AM 1340, and KSCO.com Live Stream.
'It's A Question Of Balance' is a two hour show which balances the intellectual with the creative. The show combines a debate topic with an arts interview because discussion and creativity are two of the most vital ways we engage in the world.
Check out podcasts of the different topics and arts guests at www.itsaquestionofbalance.com
Hour 1: Out And About – Conversations with People on the Street about Questions That Matter: ‘What Does It Take To Be An Active Bystander?’
This week we consider ‘What Does It Take To Be An Active Bystander?’ Virginia Tech states the following: “Bystanders, the largest group involved in violence, who greatly outnumber both perpetrators and victims have the power to stop abuse and to get help for people who have been victimized. Active bystanders are people who are aware of an abusive situation, and choose to speak up and say or do something without putting their own safety at risk.” Would you consider being an active bystander and what that would look like for you? What holds people back from intervening do you think? My guest this week in the arts hour of my show is award-winning music supervisor Bonnie Greenberg. She worked on the film The Hunting Ground (it airs on CNN 11/22 8 PM EST), which is about sexual assault on college campuses. This is a real problem, not least because colleges minimize it and try to sweep it under the carpet whenever possible. Research shows that only 8% of men on campus commit nearly all the sexual assaults so what do you think the majority can do to try to combat this problem? Many victims of sexual assault are met with a victim-blaming attitude. Is this something you can relate to? Have you ever found yourself blaming a victim when you have read about an event in the media? Or have you been blamed yourself or know anyone who has? Why do you think that people most often do not intervene when they see a situation that could escalate into a sexual assault? What does it take to be an active bystander?
What do you think? For more info on the show and to hear past shows visit www.itsaquestionofbalance.com
Tuesday Nov 17, 2015
Tuesday Nov 17, 2015
Broadcast on 14 November 2015 on KSCO AM 1080, KSCO 104.1 FM, KOMY AM 1340, and KSCO.com Live Stream.
'It's A Question Of Balance' is a two hour show which balances the intellectual with the creative. The show combines a debate topic with an arts interview because discussion and creativity are two of the most vital ways we engage in the world.
Check out podcasts of the different topics and arts guests at www.itsaquestionofbalance.com
Hour 2: In-Depth Arts Interview with Wallace Baine & Shmuel Thaler
This week as her special guests from the arts Ruth Copland is pleased to be interviewing Wallace Baine, award-winning journalist and writer, and Shmuel Thaler, award-winning photographer and author. Wallace and Shmuel have collaborated to produce a book The Creatives Among Us which celebrates the incredibly rich array of artists concentrated in Santa Cruz county in California.
Wallace Baine has been an arts writer, film critic, columnist and editor for the Santa Cruz Sentinel newspaper since 1991. He is a two-time winner of the national American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors ‘Excellence in Writing’ competition for his well-known Sunday column “Baine Street,” and has won several awards for his arts coverage from the California Newspaper Publishers Association. In addition, he was the winner of the City of Santa Cruz’s ArtWORKS Award for leadership in the arts in 2010. He has been host and director of the annual Gail Rich Awards, which started in 1997 honouring artists and arts supporters in the community in the Santa Cruz area. Wallace’s work has been syndicated in newspapers nationwide and his fiction has appeared in the Catamaran Literary Reader and the Chicago Quarterly Review. He is the author of the book Rhymes with Vain: Belabored Humor and Attempted Profundity and The Last Temptation of Lincoln, a collection of new short stories.” Wallace’s play, Oscar’s Wallpaper which premiered on stage in Santa Cruz in 2015 is adapted from one of the stories in this book.
Shmuel Thaler is an award-winning photographer who graduated from the film school at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. His photographs have been published in every leading newspaper in the United States as well as in numerous magazines including Time, Forbes and Business Week and viewed on CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News. He has been honored three times with awards in the prestigious National Press Photographers Association ‘Best of Photojournalism’ category, most recently in 2015, as well as receiving regional and state awards. Shmuel is the co-author of five children’s books, his photographs illustrating numerous books including his collaboration with George Levenson on ‘Bread Comes to Life’ and the classic ‘Pumpkin Circle’, which has more than 120,000 copies in print and is held by every major library system in the country. Shmuel’s photographic work has been exhibited in one-person shows and group shows. Shmuel has been a staff photographer at the Santa Cruz Sentinel newspaper since 1987.
For more info and to hear previous shows visit www.itsaquestionofbalance.com
Tuesday Nov 17, 2015
Tuesday Nov 17, 2015
Broadcast on 14 November 2015 on KSCO AM 1080, KSCO 104.1 FM, KOMY AM 1340, and KSCO.com Live Stream.
'It's A Question Of Balance' is a two hour show which balances the intellectual with the creative. The show combines a debate topic with an arts interview because discussion and creativity are two of the most vital ways we engage in the world.
Check out podcasts of the different topics and arts guests at www.itsaquestionofbalance.com
Hour 1: Out And About – Conversations with People on the Street about Questions That Matter: ‘What does it take to be a gentleman or a lady?'
This week on It’s A Question Of Balance with Ruth Copland we consider ‘What does it take to be a gentleman or a lady?’ Country Life magazine in Britain, which is aimed largely at the landed gentry but more broadly at country rather than city folk, recently published two lists of what is required to be a gentleman or lady. Some of the attributes are serious, some tongue-in-cheek and some very British. Is the concept of being a gentleman or a lady something you relate to? Do you associate these terms with a general chivalry and politeness that could still be useful in the modern age or do you think of them as promoting a certain kind of sexism? When you think of someone being a gentleman or a lady do you think about good manners and an honourable way of behaving or more about social conventions? What would be on your list of attributes of a true gentleman or lady today?
What do you think? For more info on the show and to hear past shows visit www.itsaquestionofbalance.com
Sunday Nov 08, 2015
Sunday Nov 08, 2015
Broadcast on 7 November 2015 on KSCO AM 1080, KSCO 104.1 FM, KOMY AM 1340, and KSCO.com Live Stream.
'It's A Question Of Balance' is a two hour show which balances the intellectual with the creative. The show combines a debate topic with an arts interview because discussion and creativity are two of the most vital ways we engage in the world.
Check out podcasts of the different topics and arts guests at www.itsaquestionofbalance.com
Hour 2: In-Depth Arts Interview with Leslie Vanderpool
This week as her special guest from the arts Ruth Copland is pleased to be interviewing founder and executive director of the Bahamas International Film Festival, Leslie Vanderpool. The Bahamas International Film Festival or BIFF is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing the local Bahamian community and international visitors with a diverse presentation of films from around the world. In addition to offering films that might not otherwise be released theatrically in the Bahamas, BIFF provides a unique cultural experience and set of educational programs and forums for exploring the past, present and future of cinema. Leslie launched the film festival in 2004 as a non-profit organization dedicated to creating a cine-literate arts community, bridging cultures, gaining knowledge, and attracting a targeted tourism sector through the film industry. The festival has showcased more than 800 films from countries around the world and has attracted such lumimaries as Johnny Depp, Nicolas Cage, Laurence Fishburne, Daryl Hannah, Sir Sean Connery, Debra Messing, Sidney Poitier, Danny Glover and many more. Leslie received a Bachelor's Degree in International Relations before going on to pursue her passion for theater and filmmaking. She studied at the Lee Strasberg Acting Institute and studied Shakespeare at Balliol College, Oxford University in England, where Alan Rickman, Fiona Shaw and many more honed her skills. In addition to spending over a decade planning and developing film festivals, Leslie has been innovative in taking filmmaking into schools where she has taught all aspects of filmmaking. She has also created unique cultural experiences such as 'Summer Films In The Square' and 'Theater In The Park.' Leslie is an entrepreneur with a strong background in marketing, branding, film production and sponsorship. She spends her time between California and The Bahamas advancing the film industry while partnering with startups and established film production companies.
For more info and to hear previous shows visit www.itsaquestionofbalance.com
Sunday Nov 08, 2015
Sunday Nov 08, 2015
Broadcast on 7 November 2015 on KSCO AM 1080, KSCO 104.1 FM, KOMY AM 1340, and KSCO.com Live Stream.
'It's A Question Of Balance' is a two hour show which balances the intellectual with the creative. The show combines a debate topic with an arts interview because discussion and creativity are two of the most vital ways we engage in the world.
Check out podcasts of the different topics and arts guests at www.itsaquestionofbalance.com
Hour 1: Out And About – Conversations with People on the Street about Questions That Matter: What qualities do you want in a world leader?
This week we consider ‘What qualities do you want in a world leader?’ Jenny Purt for the Guardian newspaper reports the opinion of Yuri Itoh, Hitachi manager, on leadership: “People tend to seek leaders who have a strong character, clear picture for the future, and talk fluently. They are often praised by the results. However, I think now people also care about the processes used to achieve the outcome. Therefore, future leaders… need to have qualities that were not required in the past. These are: enthusiasm to create a better world; strong principles whilst being flexible and realistic; patience; sincerity and fairness; collaborate and work together; take risks and give the fruits to people.” Do world leaders today need different qualities than in the past? Do you expect a world leader to hold high values in their personal life or do you see that as separate to their ability to lead? Do you feel different qualities are required to be the leader of America than other countries? Is it more important to you that your leader shares your exact beliefs or that they share your values?
What do you think? For more info on the show and to hear past shows visit www.itsaquestionofbalance.com
Sunday Nov 01, 2015
Sunday Nov 01, 2015
Broadcast on 31 October 2015 on KSCO AM 1080, KSCO 104.1 FM, KOMY AM 1340, and KSCO.com Live Stream.
'It's A Question Of Balance' is a two hour show which balances the intellectual with the creative. The show combines a debate topic with an arts interview because discussion and creativity are two of the most vital ways we engage in the world.
Check out podcasts of the different topics and arts guests at www.itsaquestionofbalance.com
Hour 2: In-Depth Arts Interview with Maira Kalman
This week as her special guest from the arts Ruth Copland is pleased to be interviewing one of America’s most celebrated illustrators, Maira Kalman. An illustrator, writer and product designer Maira has written and illustrated over 18 children’s books as well as producing award-winning books for adults and designing all kinds of objects such as fabric, bags, and clocks. Born in Tel Aviv, she moved to America at the age of four and was raised in the Bronx. She now lives in Manhattan. Maira is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker Magazine, and is well known for her collaboration with Rick Meyerowitz on the “New Yorkistan” cover in 2001 and “The New York City Sub-Culinary Map.” Maira has an amazing body of creative work which includes projects such as illustrating Strunk and White’s classic The Elements of Style; a small opera based on text composed by Nico Muhly; collaborations with designers like Isaac Mizrahi and Kate Spade; and two hugely popular monthly online columns she created for the New York Times, the first of which, The Principles of Uncertainty, was a narrative journal of her life; and the second, And The Pursuit of Happiness a year long exploration of American History and democracy. Both columns are now collected in book form. Maira has had eight exhibitions at the Julie Saul Gallery since 2003, and in 2010, The Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia organized a retrospective of Maira’s work entitled Maira Kalman: Various Illuminations (of a Crazy World). She has collaborated with Michael Pollan to illustrate his acclaimed Food Rules, and published Girls on Lawns, with text by Daniel Handler, which is the first of five books she will be doing with the photography department of the Museum of Modern Art. Her most recent book is Beloved Dog, a book of wise words and whimsical pictures which celebrates the sage lessons animals teach us.
For more info and to hear previous shows visit www.itsaquestionofbalance.com
Sunday Nov 01, 2015
Sunday Nov 01, 2015
Broadcast on 31 October 2015 on KSCO AM 1080, KSCO 104.1 FM, KOMY AM 1340, and KSCO.com Live Stream.
'It's A Question Of Balance' is a two hour show which balances the intellectual with the creative. The show combines a debate topic with an arts interview because discussion and creativity are two of the most vital ways we engage in the world.
Check out podcasts of the different topics and arts guests at www.itsaquestionofbalance.com
Hour 1: Out And About – Conversations with People on the Street about Questions That Matter: How Should We Teach Children About Sex?
This week we consider ‘How Should We Teach Children About Sex?’ ThinkProgress.org comments “in the U.S….researchers have warned that kids aren’t receiving accurate sexual health instruction at an early enough age. According to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), most American teens don’t receive formal sexual health instruction until after they’ve already become sexually active. That’s largely because the United States hasn’t implemented any national standards for comprehensive sex ed classes in public schools. For instance, just 18 states and the District of Columbia require sexual health courses to cover information about birth control”. Do you think children should be taught about sex and if so how? In school? At home? At what age? What do you think should be covered? Just the biological mechanics? The emotional/relationship side of sex and what that means? Contraception? Consent? Respect for our bodies and for our own individual wishes and experience? Abstinence? How did you find about sex? How do you feel your sex education could have been improved?
What do you think? For more info on the show and to hear past shows visit www.itsaquestionofbalance.com
Sunday Oct 25, 2015
Sunday Oct 25, 2015
Broadcast on 24 October 2015 on KSCO AM 1080, KSCO 104.1 FM, KOMY AM 1340, and KSCO.com Live Stream.
'It's A Question Of Balance' is a two hour show which balances the intellectual with the creative. The show combines a debate topic with an arts interview because discussion and creativity are two of the most vital ways we engage in the world.
Check out podcasts of the different topics and arts guests at www.itsaquestionofbalance.com
Hour 2: In-Depth Arts Interview with Omar Offendum
This week as her special guest from the arts Ruth Copland is pleased to be interviewing hip-hop artist, poet and peace activist, Omar Offendum. A Syrian-American, Omar was born in Saudi Arabia, raised in Washington DC and currently lives in Los Angeles. Graduating from the University of Virginia with a degree in Architecture, Omar worked in that field for a decade whilst moonlighting as a rapper, building his craft. Listening to American rap and hip-hop, Omar became aware of the parallels between this politically conscious art form and the Arabic tradition of oral story-telling. Known for taking audiences on a lyrical journey from the jasmine-tree-lined courtyards of Nizar Qabbani's Damascene homes, to the flooded riverbanks of Langston Hughes' Harlem Renaissance poems, Omar continues to be inspired by the experiences of black people in the US in terms of identity, immigration and displacement. His first ground-breaking album SyrianamericanA was released before the Arab Spring and ponders amongst other subjects, the destiny of immigrants and the parallels and differences between East and West. Subsequent critically acclaimed songs focus on the the unrest and then disaster in Syria and elsewhere. The video of a popular single released in 2012 called #Syria has received almost 250,000 views.
Omar has been featured on several major news outlets including the BBC, Yahoo, ABC News, Aljazeera, and PBS; has toured the world to promote his ground-breaking music; has helped raise thousands of dollars for various humanitarian relief organizations; and has lectured at a number of prestigious academic institutions including Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Columbia, American University of Beirut, NYU-AbuDhabi, and Qatar Education City. Omar’s current work and art revolves around raising awareness about the issues of Syria and supporting humanitarian organisations as well as collaborating with museums and cultural organisations that seek to build common ground between Muslims and Arabs and the ‘East’ and ‘West’. He most recently collaborated with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on their "Damascus Room" project, which is a meticulous and intensely beautiful recreation of an interior from the period of the Ottoman Empire. Omar helped curate some of the language / poetry that is featured in the exhibit video, is the main narrator and also wrote a special poetic verse about the space, which is included in the video. He has a busy tour schedule which includes participating in lectures and discussion panels as well as performing concerts around the world and in the US. Having just returned from performing at an international festival in Helsinki, Omar will participate next in Malaysia’s MOCAfest, a Muslim artists festival that coincides with the world Islamic Economic Forum.
Tune in Saturday 9-10 PM to find out more about the life and art of Omar Offendum. For more info and to hear previous shows visit www.itsaquestionofbalance.com
Sunday Oct 25, 2015
Sunday Oct 25, 2015
Broadcast on 24 October 2015 on KSCO AM 1080, KSCO 104.1 FM, KOMY AM 1340, and KSCO.com Live Stream.
'It's A Question Of Balance' is a two hour show which balances the intellectual with the creative. The show combines a debate topic with an arts interview because discussion and creativity are two of the most vital ways we engage in the world.
Check out podcasts of the different topics and arts guests at www.itsaquestionofbalance.com
Hour 1: Out And About – Conversations with People on the Street about Questions That Matter: Can We Be National and Global Citizens?
This week we consider ‘Can We Be National and Global Citizens?’ The first use of the term world citizen is ascribed to Diogenes of Sinope living two and half thousand years ago. When he was asked where he came from he responded ‘I am a citizen of the world.’ This was a radical claim at a time when a man’s identity and often security was tied to his citizenship of a particular city state. Today even though we have the ability to travel virtually anywhere in the world we are still very conscious of our national roots. In addition, with the amount of conflict and poverty in the world the number of refugees and would-be immigrants seeking a safe haven is increasing which is challenging people to consider what national identity means and how it should be protected or expanded. Bearing this in mind, I’m wondering do you think of yourself as a national citizen and a global citizen? What does being a global citizen mean to you? Do you think of global citizenship as requiring one world system or as being more about one planet where there are diverse cultures and ways of doing things but we are interconnected? What responsibility do you think we have to be part of a global solution to help the challenges facing people in other areas of the world? Are we all in this together or is it each country for itself?
What do you think? For more info on the show and to hear past shows visit www.itsaquestionofbalance.com