Tagged: Under the Sun

Fifty years ago, North Miami Senior High School students lived in neighborhoods where most kept their doors unlocked at night. They say they felt safe riding their bicycles throughout town – some streets weren’t even paved. Today, many students at the school say they don’t feel safe in their school or their neighborhoods.

North Miami Senior High’s demographics have also changed. In 1960, the segregated school was all white. Today, most students are of Haitian descent. According to the school, 31 out of 2,700 students are white.

Journalist Frank Deford spends every winter in Key West with his wife. They rent a house, take long walks and breathe in the island air. Under the Sun producer Sammy Mack listens to Deford marvel at the view from his front porch, a relic of a bygone era. He loves the lushness of the island, so green and beautiful. To him, Key West is soft and peaceful. But above all, it is a warm escape.

Author Diana Abu-Jaber, who teaches at Portland State University, splits her time between Portland and Miami. In her ode to Miami, she compares the city to a disheveled party girl – beautiful but not the kind you settle down with. Before she came to Miami, people warned her that the city was a vacation destination, not a place to call home. Sure, everyone sees the superficial, but few see the heart and mind beneath the flash. For this Arab-American girl who couldn’t sit still in one place, the city understood her. Those who don’t quite fit in anywhere else, somehow do in Miami.

Getting a jury summons in the mail is not cause to rejoice for most people. It means missing a day or more of work and sitting for long periods of time waiting for your name to be called while watching bad movies in a large, cold room. If you do get chosen for a jury panel, however, you get to see the legal system in process.

One of the aftereffects of the earthquake in Haiti is that local journalists have found new freedom. Many are now airing the kinds of political commentary and criticism that used to invite violence and censure– even death.

The shift comes across loud and clear on Haiti’s airwaves, where most people get their news.

Jennifer Maloney brings us the story of Haitian radio host and reporter Makenson Remy, known to listeners as “Four-by-Four” because of his rugged brand of go-anywhere reporting.