Ruud Elmendorp: East Africa in Corona Times

Before there was youtube, twitter, or any other major platform for sharing video content, Ruud Elmendorp was producing content from the continent of Africa for the internet. His focus, then and now: everyday life.
With the onset of the global pandemic, Ruud is where he has been for the past two decades, trying to report on daily life from a region that doesn’t get the global headlines that North America and Europe do. Today on the podcast, Ruud Elmendorp joins us from Tanzania, to talk about life as a journalist in East Africa during corona times.

Videojournalist.nl

Ruud on Youtube

Ruud on Twitter

Note: Experimenting with Transcript Robots, today it is google and it is really not pretty. But, so it goes with experiments.

Tony Pierce: How LA Handles a Pandemic

Tony Pierce talks to people for a living. They tell him about how life is these days, what jobs they do, what challenges they face, and what they make of the crazy world around them. As a longtime resident of LA and blogger extraordinaire, who better to hear from during a pandemic to learn how life is for Angelinos. We discuss things like how LA feels today, what is good about working from home in this crisis, and how people are coping in different communities. We also look back on our glorious past and how we got here internet-wise. Also safe places to park your plane or new car. Today on the podcast, we spend the hour with the great Tony Pierce!

Catarina Gomes: The Wildfires of Portugal

Dynamic journalist and inspiring global citizen Catarina Gomes joins me at the kitchen table on the 1 year anniversary of the deadly wildfires in Portugal. What is going on today? What lessons have we learned? What is the road forward? Much to figure out and to do in the years to come. And you can hear all about it on today’s episode.

End of Summer Update

Remember when I used to record podcasts about social issues with guests from around the world? Well this is not one of those. I do discuss issues, in addition to things that have been going on; journeys, etc. All this from the comfort of my new home while making a dam fine cup of chai. If you enjoy me talking about life and the world for about 40 minutes, give this one a listen. Also you may enjoy Kate’s ukulele songs from hacker camp a few weeks ago. Well worth a listen!

Important announcement: a live podcast event this September 27th in Amsterdam! Yes. I’m launching the Realities Podcast (website almost ready), a production of citizenreporter, carrying on the tradition of this program’s candid, human conversations, only this time they will be done live with an audience! And you can be in that audience, if you can make it to Amsterdam in the coming month. Read all about it and sign up if you can be there for this most historic event.

A New Dawn Rises in Hamburg

If you’ve been alive for a few decades you’ve surely noticed how fast time passes and how things seem to change, sometimes even without us fully comprehending what has happened. Once a year, somewhere in Germany, several thousand enthusiastic individuals get together to consider those changes and look into what else is possible in the future. Beyond that, old and new friends get a chance to catch up, share knowledge, and maybe even get inspired.
This event, known as the Chaos Communication Congress, has brought me friends and acquaintences that I feel very fortunate to have and look forward to seeing year after year. Two such friends and fellow audiofiles, join me on today’s program to kickoff CTRP 2015 properly; by reporting from the congress and evaluating what this meeting is all about and how this thing connects to the big thing out there. Today on the program: Emmanuel and Kyle of 2600 Magazine, Off the Hook and Off the Wall.

Shaped By War: An Iraqi Journalist in Dubai

Imagine yourself at work one day when the boss comes to you, hands you a shovel, a gun, and says “the invasion is starting, you must defend your workplace.” It may sound implausible but that is exactly  what happened to my guest on the program today.

Ali Al Shouk was your average working chemist when the invasion of Iraq began in 2003.  It was then that a series of traumatic events and coincidences would begin, eventually leading him to a career in journalism and a place he did not expect to end up.

In between my taxi interviews Ali and I sat down together in Dubai to talk about his amazing experiences that made him who he is today.