Economic Crisis Cinema: The revenge of The Happy Poet. Filmmaker Paul Gordon on the line to Arts Express from Chicago, about morphing into a pushcart man for his cutting edge social satire. And pondering how work, or the lack of it, informs our lives. As he probes the struggle to survive in economic hard times, while serving up a subversion of the Hollywood happy ending with relish.
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Memories of James Baldwin: Aisha Karifa-Smart, in a tribute to her late uncle’s legacy as enduring novelist, playwright and prophetic social critic, in the launching of The Year Of James Baldwin. And, an original reading by Baldwin, at his farmhouse kitchen table three decades ago.
Arts Express Poetry Corner: Coal miners, canaries, and capitalism. Labor movement and political poet Chris Butters, who has served as union rep and delegate for DC 37’s Local 1070, reads from his work. And Christopher Walken reinterprets Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven, in commemoration of the eminent writer’s 205th birthday on the show.
