About Spherio
Spherio is a weekly public affairs radio program with a Latin American and Carribean focus. We broadcast live from 6-7pm every friday on WMBR 88.1 in Cambridge, MA. Spherio is produced by a collective of MIT undergrads, graduates and boston-area community members. We feature music, news, announcements, and interviews on anything and everything of importance to our hemisphere -- the environment, women, community organizing, indigenous rights and autonomy, the emergence of Latin American socialism, radio and public communication, and lots more. Spherio highlights how people are making the Americas a better place, from reviving traditions to creating new ones. We invite popular organizers, artists, scientists, musicians and activists to come share ideas and struggles. Exploring our own backyard; seeing how Cambridge connects with the rest of the hemisphere.
We always love to hear from our listeners, so please comment on our shows or suggest topics by e-mailing us at spherio@wmbr.org
Listen to Spherio
There are many ways to listen to Spherio. Anywhere in the greater Boston area, tune in live to 88.1FM every friday from 6-7pm. You can listen to us live from anwhere in the world at wmbr.org . You can also listen to the most recent 2 episodes from this website as well.
We are currently in the process of uploading a complete archive of our past shows to Internet Archive. You can access these by searching for Spherio at internetarchive.org or by simply selecting the episode you want from the links below. These are direct links to the mp3's for you to download (they are typically around 60 mb).
Spring 2008
April 11th, 2008 MIT grad students work with first nations
Spherio hosts Kendra Johnson, Froylan Sifuentes, and Amy Battisti-Ashe interview two MIT graduate students who have recently done work with American Indian groups in the United States. Nick Buchanan is a doctoral candidate in the Program in Science, Technology and Society and is writing his dissertation on negotiating environmental management. He has primarily been working with the Klamath tribes in Oregon. Amit Sarin is a Masters in City Planning candidate in the department of Urban Studies and Planning who went to Navajo Nation over January of 2008 to explore how traditional peacemaking can help resolve conflicts over coal plants and point the way toward an alternative path of renewable infrastructure development. Over the course of the hour we explore different understandings of the environment, discuss the underlying social causes of environmental degradation, and examine the implications of working toward restoration and green energy development.
April 4th, 2008 Urban planning for community rebuilding in Peru
Spherio hosts Froylan Sifuentes, Kendra Johnson, and Amy Battisti-Ashe discuss the work of graduate students in MIT's department of Urban Studies and Planning to assist in the rebuilding of a community wrecked by an earthquake in Peru. Our guests include MIT Professor Phil Thompson and visiting scholar Sebastiao Ferreira who both work on the program.
March 28th, 2008 A human perspective on the combatants in the Colombian conflict
Spherio host Amy Battisti-Ashe discusses the Colombian conflict with Carlos Marin who just finished his doctoral thesis on why individuals join militant groups in Colombia. The results of his interviews are fascinating in that very few join because of a strong allegiance to the militant group's ideology, but rather because of social, family and community factors. Many are searching for a way out, but once they become part of a group they know too much and no longer have a choice but to stay.
March 14th, 2008 One year anniversary of New Bedford ICE raid
Spherio hosts Kendra Johnson, Jasmine Park, and Froylan Sifuentes share some segments of an event commemorating the one year anniversary of the
Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid in New Bedford, MA where 360 workers were detained because they could not prove their immigration status. We hear from lawyers working on the cases of detainees, activists, and a short excerpt from a documentary with the voices of detainees themselves.
March 7th, 2008 Colombia: free trade, plan Colombia, and attack on FARC in Ecuador
Spherio hosts Amy Battisti-Ashe, Kendra Johnson, and Froylan Sifuentes present news, opinion and analysis about Colombia's attack on a FARC camp in Ecuador on March 1st. Bush supports Uribe's actions, the Organization of American States called it a violation of Ecuadorian sovereignty and Venezuela points out the similarities between Israel and Colombia. For background we turn to the second half of last week's interview with Diana Gomez from Colombia. Diana is a member of the "Movimiento de hijos e hijas para la justicia y contra la impunidad" the movement of children for justice and against impunity. She discusses the effects of Plan Colombia on the country and the reasons she is against the proposed free trade agreement.
February 29th, 2008 The victims movement in Colombia
Spherio host Amy Battisti-Ashe presents an interview conducted by Kendra Johnson with special guest Diana Gomez from Colombia. Diana is a member of the "Movimiento de hijos e hijas para la justicia y contra la impunidad" the movement of children for justice and against impunity. She tells about her work with womens organizations in Colombian, the suspected murder of her father in 2006, and the work of the victim's movement to raise awareness and speak the truth. Unless without understand the past we cannot construct a better future.
February 8th, 2008 Physicians for Human Rights campaign against torture
Spherio hosts Amy Battisti-Ashe and Kendra Johnson interview Nathaniel Raymond, a senior communications strategist for Physicians for Human Rights. We discuss the efforts of the "No Torture Campaign" in the context of the growing focus on CIA torture policy in the news. Nathaniel shares his expertise on the history of the current "enhanced interrogation" policies, the magnitude of torture and its health impacts on the victims, and the role of psychologists and medical doctors working for the CIA. See the Physicians for Human Rights website for more information.
Fall 2007
December 14th, 2007 Salvadoran Liberation Front
Spherio hosts Amy Battisti-Ashe and Kendra Johnson discuss the current political situation in El Salvador with Ricardo Calderon of the Frente Sindical Salvadoreno, the Salvadoran Union Front. Topics include the recent anti-terrorism laws and resulting crackdown on activists protesting water privatization, the International Law Enforcement Academy, and Ricardo's hopes for US Congress to take action and end US support of ILEA and repressive Salvadoran policies.
December 7th, 2007 Cooperatives
Spherio hosts Lyndsay Carslile and Kendra Johnson discuss cooperatives with Lynn Benander, director of Coop Power. Cooperatives offer a model for member-owned business in which individuals can combine their resources to achieve together what the could not alone. Coop Power is a New England cooperative that applies this model to renewable energy projects, from installing solar water heaters in the tradition of barn raising to community wind, solar, and biofuel installations.
November 23rd, 2007 Immigrant Rights and the Other Campaign
Spherio hosts Froylan Sifuentes and Kendra Johnson interview Mexican native and organizer on both sides of the border, Mario Canek, along with Corry Banton from the Mexico Solidarity Network and three students who have participated in one of their study abroad programs. The discussion focuses on what is happening in Chiapas, the Zapatista model of organization, and what it can offer as a model of organizing from below and to the left.
November 16th, 2007 College Students Fight Against Global Warming
Spherio hosts Froylan Sifuentes and Kendra Johnson interview climate activists Alana Miller from Smith College and Jennie Hatch from Wellesley College about what youth are doing to fight for global warming legislation in Massachusetts. We discuss campus efforts such as the presidents climate commitment www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org and the recent national youth climate conference "Power Shift." Alana and Jennie also present information about a newly formed network called Massachusetts Youth Climate Action (MYCA) and their lobbying efforts in favor of the Global Warming Solutions Act sponsored by Senator Pacheco to pass in the Massachusetts Legislature. see www.gomyca.org for more information.
November 9th, 2007 Global Health Equity
Spherio host Kendra Johnson discusses health inequities here in the US and abroad with medical school student John Rose, Dr. Dan Palazuelos, and Dr. Michael Herce, two physicians in the Global Health Equity residency program at Brigham and Women's hospital in Boston. John, Dan, and Michael share their stories of how they became involved in issues of health inequities and their experiences working with EAPSEC (the team for community health and education) in Chiapas Mexico. They also share their perspectives on what role US physicians and international organizations like Partners in Health should take in providing health care to under-served communities. There is a new project that PIH is working to get going in La Sierra in Chiapas to support the community health promoters in that region. To make a contribution or get involved, you can visit the Partners in Health website: www.pih.org. For pre-medical and medical students, check out the American Medical Student Association www.amsa.org.
October 26th, 2007 Conversations with a Mayan Elder
Spherio hosts Kendra Johnson, Froylan Sifuentes, and Jennie Riley bring you all the usual spherio features -- news, announcements, a radialistas.net production, and immigration news -- plus an interview with special guest Juana Pacheco, a Mayan elder and healer from Guatamala. We discuss her role in the community as a teacher, historian, and healer, as well as the current threats facing the Mayan culture, with Juan Gonazales as the interpretor.
October 19th, 2007 Blue Energy
Spherio hosts Amy Battisti-Ashe, Kendra Johnson and Froy Sifuentes discuss renewable wind/solar energy in Nicaragua with Mathias Craig, MIT alumnus and founder and executive director of Blue Energy . Blue Energy is a nonprofit organization that has set up renewable electricity systems in 6 rural communities on the Caribbean side of Nicaragua. They manufacture the wind turbines locally, do the installations, give technical and administrative training, and provide ongoing support for the systems they put into place. As always, the Spherio hosts also discuss recent news, play some music, and share a Spanish language radialistas production.
October 12, 2007 Community Health in Chiapas, Mexico
Spherio hosts Froylan Sifuentes, Kendra Johnson, and Amy Battisti-Ashe interview guests from EAPSEC -- el equipo de apoyo en salud y educacion comunitaria (the team for support of community health and education), a community health organization in Chiapas, Mexico, working in collaboration with many international organizations, including Partners in Health. Dr. Dan Palazuelos is resident at the Brigham and Women's hospital in Boston and continues to work with EAPSEC in Chiapas, Mexico. Dan introduces and translates for his colleagues from EAPSEC: Leonel and Dagmar who share their story of the origins and ongoing activities of EAPSEC, focusing on the idea of health as something that must be built upon community rights and participation. EAPSEC does extensive training, especially for women, in everything from women's health and dental health to traditional herbal medicine. In their clinics, patients are able to choose the treatment methods they would like to receive, be they Western, the local herbal methods, or acupuncture and massage. For more information see this information on the Parnters in Health website.
September 27th, 2007 Radio in the Carribean
Amy Battisti-Ashe and Kendra Johnson interview former Spherio host Luis Melendez about his new radio project in Vieques, Puerto Rico. Also appearing on this show: guest Eugene Godfried discussing politics in the Caribbean and his audio visual project: Regi radio (regiradio.org).
October 5th, 2007 Che Guevara
Spherio hosts Froylan Sifuentes, Amy Battisti-Ashe, and Kendra Johnson July 26th Coalition's Charlie Welch about the timeless figure in the history of the Western Hemisphere: Che Guevara. As always, we also present some of the week's headline news stories, announcements, a radialistas.net radio production, and a "no your rights" interview the July 26th Coalition's Charlie Welch about the timeless figure in the history of the Western Hemisphere: Che Guevara.
September 20th, 2007 Reforestation in Tecpaco, Mexico
Spherio host Anna Bernsteyn and Kendra Johnson discuss with Froylan Sifuentes his work on reforestation in the small farming community in Tecpaco in Central Mexico. Froylan chose to work with this community because his home town of Huejutla, farther down in the same water shed, is now really suffering from water shortages as their rivers dry up. The principle cause of this is deforestation in the region. Froylan worked with the community to build a tree nursery and set up a reforestation project.
September 13th, 2007 Welcome Back
Spherio host Amy Battisti Ashe interviews returning co-hosts Kendra Johnson and Lyndsay Carslile about their summer work in Mexico and upcoming plans for the semester, including a project on affordable housing in Lawrence, MA.
Spring 2007
May 24th, 2007 Combating Domestic Violence
Spherio hosts Amy and Kendra discuss domestic violence and resources for survivors in the boston area. Domestic violence advocate "Melissa" and Sabrina, the director of organizing and education with "The Network/ La Red" share their perspectives and advice on issues of power and control in relationships -- not just heterosexual relationships but LGBT relationships as well.
Contact us: spherio@wmbr.org
