Sunday, July 20, 2008

A Few Radio Pieces I've Filed This Summer

The other day I grabbed some of my radio stories from the station's computers.  Here are a few clips. 

This first one follows the story of two teenagers enamored with 2Pac. They, along with many Georgian youth, love Gangsta Rap.


The next story follows Tbilisi's booming car market.  Want to be a car salesman? Just grab some friends, take a road trip to Germany, buy some Beemers and drive them back to Georgia. Fsyo!





If you're interested in why Georgia is on the brink of war with Russia, this piece with Georgia's premiere foreign policy wonk will clear things up.  If you're not interested, this clip will bore you to death.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

The Weekend's Heart-melting Moment

I'm sitting in a patch of dirt outside Tbilisi's local journalism school.  It's closed today but I can still connect to their wi-fi.

As I'm looking over next week's assignments three curious little 6-year-old girls walk cautiously up to me.  They stop short at about 3 feet and pause.  They are adorable.  As one starts whispering Georgian in her friend's ear, I send them a big goofy "hey kids!" smile.  

With that the kids ambush me—jumping on my shoulders, tickling arm pits and squealing like pigs. I give into their horseplay.

To catch my breath I open the Apple Photo Booth application to avert their attention.  As soon as the girls see their distorted faces on the screen their faces explode in ecstasy.  Below is a little sampling of the fun.