i'm maria hinojosa, this is one on one. melissa harris-lacewell, it's so good to have you on the show! >> it is incredibly wonderful to be here. >> hinojosa: so your book, barbershops, bibles, bet, is kind of a very important book in terms of understanding african- american political thought and formation in this country, but you have said that you have moved on from that book. >> ( laughing ) yeah. >> hinojosa: that you love what you did there, but that you kind of have moved to a place where you're looking at things now more from the perspective of an african-american feminist. so who are audience in... you know, you don't hear a lot of talk on mainstream television about african-american feminism and feminists. >> no. you know, it's so interesting to hear people respond to that first book, 2004. you know, i started that book as a dissertation, right? it was sort of a set of a set of explorations, of ideas-- me trying to figure out a lot of how i thought the world worked in terms of race and politics- buvery mh inform not

hinojosa: why do you think...now, again, every country that i've been to around the world-- most recently, bangladesh-- somebody wearing a che t-shirt. >> oh, yeah. >> hinojosa: what is it about che? i mean, you spent time with the young che. >> yeah. >> hinojosa: what do you think about the fact that so many people... and actually, do you think that people now actually know what che really stands for? >> stood for, yeah. i don't believe they do. i mean, when i see the t-shirt, i almost immediately think it's a fashion idea as opposed to a political idea. you know, i mean, he... you know, it's... he stood up to the united states, basically, as a latin american man, saying, you know, "latin america-- chile-- should run the mines in chile." you know, "in argentina they should be run by the argentines," you know, that's what he said. he said, "hands off our country. nds off our resources and our land," to the united states. not a very popular message, and i think around the world that message still resonates, because

>> uh-huh. >> hinojosa: el barrio means... neighborhood. >> totally, mm-hmm. >> hinojosa: it means community> mm-hmm. >> hinojosa: but in new york, el barrio meant puerto ricans, really. i mean, there was a sense that el barrio ( speaking spanish ). it was a kind of puerto rican town. >> it was home. i mean, i think i would even go futher. i think it meant home, and as we were saying earlier, el museo in its growth, then now, on this corner-- fifth avenue, 104th street-- it's the best of both words. it's really the integration of the highest museum concentration in the world of the best quality of the museums going from the met, the guggenheim, the jewish museum, the design museum, the cooper-hewitt. you know, you have all of those museums lined up, and so now, the city museum of new york, which is our neighbor, and then el museo del barrio has a home from which to really propel our culture. >> hinojosa: but the truth is is that there was a long time, once el museo kind of gets off and running, that el museo del barrio was kind of seen as, you know, as that kind of arts institution up there

i'm maria hinojosa. this is one on one. junot, welcome to the show. >> thank you for having me, maria. >> hinojosa: so, a pulitzer for the brief wonderous life of oscar wao. are you still on the pulitzer high? >> no. i don't know if i ever got the pulitzer high. >> hinojosa: no. >> yeah. well, i mean, it's just more about my personality. again, my friends pointed out that i never had a party or even a celebration for it. i just kept working. so that's usually the way i am. but you know, it's been a great ride. i've had a lot of fun. >> hinojosa: okay, so when you called your mom, what did you say? i mean, i want you to say, like, the exact words-- (speaking spanish) >> i didn't call my mom. i was at her house. >> hinojosa: oh! so what did you say to your mom? >> nothing. i just said... i mean, not nothing. i said, "mother... (speaking spanish)" and she's... my mother's very practical, you know? she's like, you know, "(speaking spanish)" i said, "(speaking spanish)," and she laughed. she was like, "oh, well, divide $10,000 b

i'm maria hinojosa, this is one on one. ming tsai, it's great to have you on this show. >> thank you; it's great to be here. >> hinojosa: so people know you because of your televisions show simply ming, they might know you because of your books, or they might know you because of your restaurant blue ginger. but here's the question that i have for you. so you are third-generation yalie... >> correct. >> hinojosa: but you... even though your grandfather studied at yale, he went back to china. your dad studied at yale, and then ended up... >> and stayed. >> hinojosa: ...staying here. >> yup. >> hinojosa: you're then born... >> i was born in newport beach, california. my brother and i. >> hinojosa: and you grow up in dayton, ohio. >> and we ended up in dayton, ohio. culinary capitol of the world. >> hinojosa: you know, i didn't know this about dayton, ohio! >> ( laughing ) yeah, no; not so much. >> hinojosa: but the questions was how was it, you know, growing up-- and you were the first chinese family in dayton, or one of the f

>> yes. >> hinojosa: six days a week. >> yes, ma'am. >> hinojosa: and the... >> the difference would be children would want to be there, because it would be more exciting than not being there. teachers... we'd have two sets of teachers-- the morning teachers and the afternoon teachers. we'd have doctors there, we'd have the services that support children. if a child became pregnant, they wouldn't be put out of school. their child would become a part of the school. my belief is that we need to teach every child more than one language, that school should be fun. we have children... >> hinojosa: but how long, judge harris, how long have we been saying that, "school has got to be fun"? and yet the dropout rate is so high. >> we talk about leaving no child behind. but we don't meet the needs of children. i never understood the mental health issues, the social issues that children were faced wtih until i became a judge and had to start addressing some of those issues. >> hinojosa: so paint us a picture of what we're not seeing, what we don't understand. i mean, you talk about mental health

i'm maria hinojosa, this is one on one. eve ensler, playwright, author, activist; welcome to our program. it's great to have you here. >> well, i'm so happy to be here. >> hinojosa: so if people don't know, the thing that you are most well-known for is your play the vagina monologues, and what's amazing is-- because as i was prepping for this, i was thinking and i was reading everything and i was like, "my god, you know, ten years ago, that word-- 'vagina'-- would have not been said, you know, on public television." so when you sit back and you think, "wow, i really have had an impact," i mean, on many levels, but on that particular issue-- the fact that you have changed how one word about a woman's most intimate anatomy is seen and discussed. what does that mean for you? >> you know, it's really hard to evaluate what you've done, you know, and it's actually not for me to figure out... >> hinojosa: and you're such a humble person, i know that, but... >> what i feel good about is that people seem to say the word more, and wh

i'm maria hinojosa. this is one on one. >> so, ray, you're the senior correspondent at the news hour. everybody also knows you from talk of the nation on npr. but i want to ask you this-- when i was growing up in chicago, i remember seeing john quiñones on television. i remember seeing geraldo on television, doing reporting. and i thought maybe i could. but who did you see? when was the spark? >> well, growing up at the... around the same time in new york, when i turned on channel 2, i could see j.j. gonzales, aida alvarez who worked for channel 4 in new york. she's from my father's... >> she was on television there? >> yeah, from my father's hometown. so there were a few. i mean, this is a metropolitan area with two million latinos. and there were very few models of that kind. david diaz... >> so these guys were around when you were growing up in new york city? >> late '60s, early '70s, yeah. >> and did you actually say, "okay, there's someone out there who's latino who's on television, and so therefore

hinojosa, five minutes? >> thank you, madam chairman. >> thank you, madam chairman.

hinojosa, five minutes? >> thank you, madam chairman. profesr elizabeth warren, thank you for your valuable advice to the u.s. treasury and to our president. i have had lots of meetings with representatives of financial services. i want to say that texas this is the overt act fees. banks also are concerned they might this another key source of revenue. having seen how consumers are struggling with t increase in the cost of groceries, gasoline, many having lost their jobs and homes, i cannot help but want to troot for your work and say that consumers need protection. they do not have the lobbyists and we have been congress working to protect the representatives of all the financial-services. tell us what we can do in congress to ensure that this law is implemented and that it will help our consumers get jobs and hopefully put our country back into what we experienced during the 1990's. >> thank you. that is a heartfelt question. i wrestle with the issues you describe everyday. america's families have been on the r opes for a long time. ma

hinojosa, five minutes? >> thank you, madam chairman. professor elizabeth warren, thank you for your valuable advice to the u.s. treasury and to our president. i have had lots of meetings with representatives of financial services. i want to say that texas this is the overt act fees. banks also are concerned they might this another key source of revenue. having seen how consumers are struggling with the increase in the cost of groceries, gasoline, many having lost their jobs and homes, i cannot help but want to troot for your work and say that consumers need protection. they do not have the lobbyists and we have been congress working to protect the representatives of all the financial-services. tell us what we can do in congress to ensure that this law is implemented and that it will help our consumers get jobs and hopefully put our country back into what we experienced during the 1990's. >> thank you. that is a heartfelt question. i wrestle with the issues you describe everyday. america's families have been on the r opes for a long time