The Outsiders
Outsiders are not the norm–they often live and recreate outside of mainstream society. For today’s show, we meet people who are outsiders in the communities where they live, places where they work and in the sports that they play.
We’ll visit students at the California School for the Blind who are being trained for work in the service sector. And we’ll hear from a woman who was born outside the US, but forced to move here during World War II. We’ll speak to people participating in a variation of soccer. They hope to raise America’s underdog profile on the international soccer stage. And we’ll hangout with another group of Bay Area athletes. Only these wheelchair rugby players have redefined expectations for people with physical disabilities.
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Today's producer was Tyler Sipe. Our executive producer was Ben Manilla. Our studio engineer was Angela Kilduff. The anchors were Melanie Mason and Clayton Trosclair. Our Web producer is Tyler Sipe. Music for this week includes "Outsider" by The Ramones, and "Writing to Reach You" by Travis.
Futsal
Soccer is rapidly gaining popularity in the United States, and the country is also becoming a respected name in the sport. Last week, the men's national team qualified for their sixth straight World Cup, and thousands of Americans have already booked their tickets for the host nation of South Africa. However, American players are widely perceived as lacking the necessary skill and technique to compete against rivals from Africa, Latin America and Europe. The introduction of futsal, a close-control version of indoor soccer, may just give Americans the necessary tools to develop truly world-class players. Ali Winston reports for North Gate Radio on the sport's growth from Hayward, Calif.
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Photos by Ali Winston
Wheelchair Rugby
Reporter Dara Kerr spent time on the sidelines of one of San Francisco's wheelchair rugby games. All of the participating athletes are quadriplegics, which means that they have some type of impairment in their upper body. Some have use of their arms, while others don't. Dara also learned that just like traditional rugby, these players like crashing into each other. For information on how to join the YMCA's wheelchair rugby games go to their Web site.
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photo courtesy of Nils Jorgensen Scott Pope, foreground, barrels through competition at a wheelchair rugby game.
Web audio extras:
To hear Scott Pope's story about becoming quadriplegic click below.
One-on-One Conversation with Bruce Benderson
Bruce Benderson's latest book Pacific Agony is about a New Yorker hired to write a Tocquevillian travelogue of the Pacific Northwest. It's a journey that will drive him mad. Japhet Weeks reports.
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New York City author Bruce Benderson
The Rocket Shop
The unemployment rate in America is about 9-and-a-half percent. But for blind people, it’s estimated to be 70 percent. The California School for the Blind is trying to change that, with the opening of a new café where high school students are getting ready for retail jobs.
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Photo by Clayton Trosclair Mocha Shelton (left), a teaching assistant, and Karen Courtemanche, a job developer, stand behind a register at the Rocket Shop, a newly opened retail store at the California School for the Blind in Fremont.
Japanese-Peruvian Internees
During World War II, over a dozen countries in South and Central America deported some of their citizens with Japanese ancestry to U.S. internment camps. Peru sent more than 1,700 Japanese and Japanese-Peruvians to an internment camp in Crystal City, Texas. About 300 internees stayed in America after the war. Many of them relocated to the Bay Area.
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Photos by Tyler Sipe
Libia Yamamoto was born on a hacienda in Peru. She and her family were deported to an internment camp in Texas during World War II.
Libia visits with a friend during a Sunday church service in Richmond.
Grace Shimizu holds a portrait of her father Susumu Shimizu. Susumu was a Japanese-Peruvian sent to America's World War II internment camps.
Grace embraces her mom Yoneko Shimizu following dinner at their home in El Cerrito. Grace started the Japanese-Peruvian Oral History Project in 1991. The organization is dedicated to telling stories from Japanese-Peruvians and their internment experience.
Art Shibayama holds a portrait of his family taken in Peru. Art was born in Lima, but deported to an American internment camp during World War II.
Art's parents immigrated to Peru from southern Japan.
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