Walter Podrazik is co-author of ten books on media that focus on television history. He’s a graduate of Northwestern University. He has taught media history and journalism courses at the Communications Department of the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has been a consultant on numerous media history projects. He has helped media news organizations plan their coverage of important events such as national political conventions. He saw up close President Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver last summer, and was there for Obama’s swearing in this January.

This post-show discussion immediately followed the performance of American Ethnic, a spoken word and hip-hop infused exploration of how the media shapes the way we see race, gender and ourselves. American Ethnic was written and performed by hip-hop theater artist Usman Ally, NEA Award-winning performer Idris Goodwin and three time HBO Def Poetry Jam performer Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai. It was directed by Remy Bumppo Artistic Associate Nick Sandys.

Remy Bumppo’s thinkTank features short dramatic works with a focus on provoking timely conversation about a social, political or economic issue in which Chicago citizens have a stake. A post-show discussion follows, led by speakers from the community representing various viewpoints on thinkTank’s theme. Past topics include immigration (2007) and national security (2008).

Recorded Thursday, March 26, 2009 at The Greenhouse Theater.