August 07, 2011

Broadcast Date: 
Aug 7 2011

The debt ceiling fiasco and its fallout; a look across the nation at the latest in draconian anti-immigrant legislation; Ghita Schwartz's debut novel, Displaced Persons; plus the multi-mythological pop art of Siona Benjamin. 

Episode segments
  • Life After the Debt Ceiling Debacle
    Domestic Policy
    Ethan Pollack is a senior analyst at the Economic Policy Institute.
    Marissa Brostoff and Kiera Feldman

    Just how bad is the debt ceiling bill signed by President Obama? Ethan Pollack gives us his postmortem.

  • Immigration Policy: What's Happened Since Arizona's SB-1070?
    National Politics, Domestic Policy
    Elise Foley is a reporter for the Huffington Post.
    Kiera Feldman

    July marked the one-year anniversary of the passage of Arizona's SB-1070, one of the most infamous anti-immigrant laws in U.S. history. What draconian legislation do other states have up their sleeves? What are the prospects of comprehensive immigration reform?

  • Displaced Persons
    Arts & Culture, Literature
    Ghita Schwartz is an immigration rights lawyer and novelist.
    Alan Levine

    What does it mean to be displaced? Ghita Schwartz's debut novel, Displaced Persons, tells the story of a group of Holocaust survivors living in Queens decades after the war.

  • Krishna and Lilith
    Visual Art, Arts & Culture
    Siona Benjamin is an artist whose work is currently showing at the Manhattan JCC and the Flomenhaft Gallery in Chelsea.
    Marissa Brostoff and Kiera Feldman

    Inspired by the eclectic influences of her childhood in Bombay's Bene Israel Jewish community, the world of Siona Benjamin is populated by the heroines and heros of the Jewish, Hindu, and Muslim scriptures. Her work is now showing in New York.