The Takeaway: Video

After-Air: DJ Spooky and Keith Shocklee on 30 Years of 'Rapper's Delight'

takeawaydigital@gmail.com (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:56:08 PDT

Celeste Headlee sits down for an after-air conversation about the first mass-market rap single, "Rapper's Delight," which was released by The Sugarhill Gang 30 years ago this week. She's joined by hip hop musician Paul Miller (better known as DJ Spooky) and Keith Shocklee, who produced Public Enemy with The Bomb Squad.

How to Spot a Winner: The Ms. Senior America 2009 Pageant

takeawaydigital@gmail.com (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 08:05:44 PDT

The Ms. Senior America Pageant is not exactly your grandmother’s pageant ... because your grandmother could be in it! For 38 years the pageant has been promoting the idea that seniors are active, vibrant and useful members of society. Every year, state queens compete for the title of Ms. Senior America. The Takeaway’s Femi Oke reports from the 2009 pageant, held at Harrah’s Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

To find out more about senior pageants: www.senioramerica.org

All is Forgiven? New Student Loan Repayment Plan

takeawaydigital@gmail.com (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:19:30 PDT

Roughly 50 percent of all college graduates leave school with what can be years' of student loan debt. But relief is in sight. On July 1, a new income-based repayment plan goes into effect. For a look at who is eligible for this financial lifeline, The Takeaway is joined by personal finance expert Beth Kobliner. She is the author of The New York Times best-seller "Get a Financial Life." Also joining the show are two people who are saddled with student loan debt. Austin Light is a journalist who shares over $100,000 of debt with his wife. He joins us from Charlotte, North Carolina. Colleen Hansford joins The Takeaway form Colorado Springs. As a single mother of three, she is struggling to scale down the $66,000 in debt that she’s incurred.

Go to the Income-Based-Repayment site IBRinfo to get more information about this repayment plan.

"After 25 years, the government forgives all your debt."
— Beth Kobliner on income-based repayment of student loans

Everything Sounds Better with AutoTune

takeawaydigital@gmail.com (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 09:53:56 PDT

Let's say you're a musician and a news junkie, and you want to combine the two. If you were really talented, you might end up with something like the work of musical brothers Evan and Michael Gregory. They use the sound tool "Autotune," often used by rappers like T-Pain and Kanye West, to make music with the news. Evan and Michael, two of the four members of The Gregory Brothers, join us with more on how they Autotune the News.

Continue reading for the Gregory Brothers' remixing of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, news personalities, as well as John and Femi.

Smooth as B-U-T-T-E-R Milk!

takeawaydigital@gmail.com (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:30:50 PDT

If the food you served on your kitchen table were to star in a film, the cast would probably not be all that surprising.

Steak: lean, dark and juicy- obviously the romantic lead.
Chicken: any way you dress it- the comic relief…
And tofu: the shape-shifting villain willing to take on multiple forms…

But nowhere in the script is there a role for buttermilk. Unless that film is made by Joe York, starring Tennessee farmer Earl Cruze. Cruze and his buttermilk are the stars of York's documentary "Buttermilk: It Can Help," screening at this year's NYC Food Film Festival.

Takeaway producer Jesse Baker went to the opening night of the festival to gauge New Yorkers' response to Cruze and his buttermilk.

Click through to watch the buttermilk documentary, "Buttermilk: It Can Help."

Should You Get Off the Hook? The Ethics of Eating Fish

takeawaydigital@gmail.com (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:33:34 PDT

Food writer Mark Bittman's first book, "Fish: The Complete Guide to Buying and Cooking," explored the glory of piscine cuisine. But when offered the opportunity to revise the book, he declined. Overnight shipping of loads of fish cargo, farm-raising and over-fishing have turned buying and eating fish into an ethical and ecological quagmire. Mark Bittman joined The Takeaway to explain his reasons for being more selective about which fish end up on his plate.

Cooking with a pork pro

takeawaydigital@gmail.com (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Tue, 26 May 2009 12:16:28 PDT

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The Takeaway reclaims the mighty pig this Memorial Day and gets a cooking lesson from pork-loving restaurateur Craig Samuel at Peaches, his joint in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Learn how to make his signature "Watermelon Salad with Country Ham," shop for the best-tasting pork, and turn anyone into a pork lover.

Subway Riders with No Pants? It's 'Improv Everywhere'!

takeawaydigital@gmail.com (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Wed, 20 May 2009 07:26:25 PDT

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Networking technology has radically changed how we do many things -- including startling other people. The group Improv Everywhere uses it to pull off pranks—or, as they call them, missions. Two of their best known missions are the famous annual no-pants subway ride, and the Grand Central Station freeze. Now the Improv Everywhere guys have a book: Causing a Scene: Extraordinary Pranks in Ordinary Places with Improv Everywhere. It's part a documentation of their work, part a how-to manual. Co-author Alex Scordelis joins The Takeaway to discuss the group and its methods.

Elizabeth Edwards: We ask the question Oprah wouldn't!

takeawaydigital@gmail.com (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Wed, 20 May 2009 07:20:21 PDT

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Elizabeth Edwards lost her son Wade when he was 16. She is living with terminal cancer. She has been through two presidential campaigns. Now she is, very publicly, coming to terms with her husband’s infidelity. What it takes to get through these tough times is the subject of her new book: Resilience: Reflections on the Burdens and Gifts of Facing Life's Adversities. Elizabeth Edwards joins The Takeaway to discuss the message of her book and her decision to write it.

Sri Lanka: After War, What?

takeawaydigital@gmail.com (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Wed, 20 May 2009 07:23:26 PDT

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Yesterday, the Sri Lankan government declared victory in the 26-year civil war against ethnic Tamil rebels. After such a protracted struggle, many Sri Lankans know nothing but fighting; healing the nation will take a long time. Will the thousands who've fled the country come back? Today The Takeaway looks at the Tamil diaspora here in the U.S. We are joined by Ahilan Kadirgamar, a spokesman with the Sri Lanka Democracy Forum, a diaspora network pushing for a political solution in Sri Lanka.

The high cost of higher education: Is it worth it?

takeawaydigital@gmail.com (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Tue, 19 May 2009 06:10:49 PDT

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This year 3.2 million students are expected to graduate from high school and of those, roughly 70 percent will go on to get a college education. But with two-thirds of college graduates carrying debt—and the average student loan debt topping $20,000 dollars—is a college degree worth it? What does it get you in today's global economy?

Hillary Clinton's advice to graduates

takeawaydigital@gmail.com (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Fri, 15 May 2009 05:40:53 PDT

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Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke to the graduating class at New York University yesterday. Did she tell the new grads what they wanted to hear?

Save money and look good on the job: How to cook right at your office desk

takeawaydigital@gmail.com (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Mon, 25 May 2009 18:51:53 PDT

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It's a recipe for frustration. In tough economic times, many people are working too hard to take off for an hour-long lunch. And who wants to leave your desk empty when the threat of layoffs is looming? So we dine "al desko": a sandwich in one hand and the mouse in the other. The culinary cost of "just grabbing a sandwich" everyday quickly adds up. But the task of making lunch the night before can be daunting, and boil-in-bag food can be dull. Is there anything you can do at your desk to prepare or pep up your midday meal? New York Times food writer and friend of The Takeaway Melissa Clark has some tips.

Check out a video response from YouTube user BradyDale, who tells us the one condiment Melissa forgot to include!

From Stripper to Army Wife: Lily Burana on The Takeaway

takeawaydigital@gmail.com (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:01:26 PDT

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Military marriages are suffering as Americans in uniform continue to fight two ongoing wars. In 2007 more than 13,000 marriages failed among active duty soldiers and marines. In her latest memoir, I Love a Man in Uniform, author Lily Burana gives these statistics a human voice. Although her marriage has survived the military stress test, she and her husband were in no way immune to the trials and tribulations that came with living on a military base, living through a deployment, and the awkward emotional fumbling that accompanied her husband’s return from combat in Iraq. Burana’s acclimation to the military world was exacerbated by her and her husband’s cultural differences. Burana, a former stripper and punk with a penchant for writing alternative prose fell for a straight-laced military man. She joins us for a look into the military world and what it means to be a modern-day military wife.

Elizabeth Warren: On the trail of the TARP

takeawaydigital@gmail.com (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Fri, 08 May 2009 08:03:09 PDT

Try to imagine tracking $700 billion dollars as it moves out the doors of the United States Treasury Department and into the coffers of America's biggest banks. That's essentially the charge of our guest, Elizabeth Warren. Warren, the Gottlieb Professor of Law at Harvard University, is the Chairwoman of the Congressional Oversight Panel, which watches where the TARP money goes. When President Obama talks about transparency, she's the one who helps make it happen. She joins The Takeaway in advance of a new TARP report due out today.

How to save the pork industry

takeawaydigital@gmail.com (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Wed, 06 May 2009 07:59:28 PDT

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You can't get swine flu from eating pork. (And it’s not even called swine flu anymore—technically it’s H1N1 Influenza A.) Nonetheless, the pork industry can’t be happy about having its product associated with a frightening illness, even if that association is completely imaginary. Advertising consultant Cindy Gallop joins The Takeaway with her creative suggestions for resuscitating a product that has been sullied by circumstances.

What does "pandemic" mean?

takeawaydigital@gmail.com (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Mon, 04 May 2009 11:15:48 PDT

What does a pandemic mean? We hear it and we think panic. But strangely the word pandemic has no other synonym in the English language. The Takeaway asks Grant Barrett, lexicographer, dictionary editor and co-host of public radio program "A Way With Words," to break it down for us.

Kids on the economy

takeawaydigital@gmail.com (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 08:12:08 PDT

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The Takeaway's Femi Oke talks with middle school students in Brooklyn, New York, about how they’re dealing with the recession. The kids describe fewer trips to the movies and grocery stores, worrying about crime or becoming homeless and coping with their parents losing jobs. And, they offer some advice to stressed out grown-ups.

Daniel Goleman on how knowing what's in every product you use can make you a better consumer

takeawaydigital@gmail.com (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Thu, 07 May 2009 17:58:10 PDT

Taxpayers to GM and Chrysler: Hey, these cars are mine!

takeawaydigital@gmail.com (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:26:30 PDT

Trouble viewing this video? Check out the YouTube version.

The Takeaway's John Hockenberry heads over to the New York Auto Show to check out the cars his taxpayer bailout dollars have bought him.