i'm ken paulson. back next week with another conversation about the first amendment, the arts, and american culture. i hope you can join us then for speaking freely. captioning provided by the freedom forum first amendment center captioning by captionmax www.captionmax.com i was just driving around minding my own business... when it came out of nowhere. suddenly, there were lights all around me. i'm like, "they're coming for me!" yeah, it was crazy. i just never thought they'd find me. not out here. it doesn't matter where you drive. if you don't buckle up, you will get caught. cops are cracking down all across the country. click it or ticket.

i'm ken paulson. back next week with another conversation about the first amendment, the arts, and american culture. i hope you can join us then for speaking freely. captioning provided by the freedom forum first amendment center captioning by captionmax www.captionmax.com i was just driving around minding my own business... when it came out of nowhere. suddenly, there were lights all around me. i'm like, "they're coming for me!" yeah, it was crazy. i just never thought they'd find me. not out here. it doesn't matter where you drive. if you don't buckle up, you will get caught. cops are cracking down all across the country. click it or ticket. hey, yo, check out this chef, right? right? that's so gay. that's really gay. dude, look at those pants. please don't say that. what? don't say that something is gay when you mean that something is dumb or stupid. it's insulting. it's like if i thought this pepper shaker was stupid, and i said, "man, this pepper shaker is so 16-year-old boy with a cheesy mustach

i'm ken paulson, back next week with another conversation about free expression, the arts, and americay the first amendment center, funded by the freedom forum. captioning by captionmax www.captionmax.com >> with my artists, eight of them are working in tehran, iran, the capital city, and one is an iranian american based in san francisco. the problem is really a collective exploration in the day and the life in tehran. it is the largest city in the middle east. for the gallery, one of the first pieces you see is one piece which is a laser-cut peace, it taken directly from the map of the city itself -- a laser-cut piece. it represents the geography of the city. it is positioned right next to another work by an artist who took a 77 taxicab runs and let the potholes and the city turns of tehran dictate how the city would be portrayed. >> [singing] >> one of the other pieces that to experience in the one-day exhibition is from another artist, a recording of state radio from tehran, and is played for four speakers. >> [speaking foreign language] . >> [speaking foreign language] >> [speaking

i'm ken paulson. our guest today has been both a pioneer and a driving force behind hip-hop. he's the founder of def jam records, chairman of rush communications. he's russell simmons. thanks for joining us here today. thank you for having me. i read very recently-- i think it was salon that described you as "not the inventor of rap but the man most responsible for its success." guilty as charged? well, i would say that i have been part of a process, that i don't--i don't believe it would have been a problem for it to spread without my input, but i was a part of the process, and it was--it's been an amazing ride over the last 20-some-odd years, and i've watched it evolve. you've got a fascinating new book called life and death: sex, drugs, money, and god, which covers pretty much everything there, and it tells the story-- not necessarily in that order. well, it tells the story of your career, including the first moment you heard hip-hop and your reaction to it. could you talk about that? i was in a club on 125th street, charles gallery, and i walked in, and there was this guy

i'm ken paulson, joining you today from nashville. we're honored today to welcome an academy award-winning director, a highly successful actor and producer, a fervent supporter of independent films, and a champion of the environment, robert redford. [applause] we're delighted to have you here, both for the remarkable body of work you've done and-- and for the fact that very, very few of our guests have ever been hung in effigy. [laughter] that had to be a wake-up call for an emerging activist. i hope there's not a sequel to that. you've dedicated your life both to your art and to what you believe in. have you paid a price, trying to balance being-- between being an activist and an actor? yeah, i have. i think there's always a price to be paid when you step out and speak up on anything, because there's always another side to the issue. so, yes, i've paid a price, and i've been rewarded at the same time. i mean, if you speak out because you believe in something or you feel that there's the danger of the loss of a voice, which everyone s

i'm ken paulson. our guest today is a highly respected actress, activist, and citizen; susan sarandon, welcome. thank you. i know you've spent your entire career, your entire life balancing art and activism. when was the first hint that you would some day be the kind of woman who was arrested for her beliefs? well, i was--i was just lucky to come of age at a time when your, i think, natural sense of need for justice and need for equality and all those things had issues that were very clear. i mean, there was the war. there was, you know, the rise of women wanting equal pay. there was voter registration in the south, desegregation. and there wasn't quite as much ability-- at that time, the media wasn't owned by just a handful of people, and so you were getting a lot of views, and they hadn't yet figured out not to allow the press in. so you had pictures. you had-- part of being young and being idealistic meant, you know, looking for a better way around the violence, looking for a better way for everybo

ken pitchered is in the sierra and will -- pritchard is in the sierra and will have a report by 5:00. >>> we keep tell you about the rain that's heading our way. steve paulson has been tracking this. it looks like it's gonna be a pretty good-sized storm. >> it does. no doubt about it. we are looking for the system to move in. it's already producing light rain. now most locations say light rain. had cloudy skies this morning. a little band of rain went in early. there are some missing satellite images here but they reappeared and you can see the system on the north coast and stretching and stretching and it's on its way. there is a lot there and it continues to -- it continues to develop rapidly. so your forecast calls for cloudy skies giving way to light rain and then the rain rate will pick up later on. the flash flood starts this afternoon, evening and goes into the north bay. heavy rain tonight and also very windy conditions along with colder air. the best news could be a f ast- moving system. we don't expect it to slow down or stall. showers will be with us tomorrow and then much colder air, you can see how things are starting to pick up here. as we go

i'm ken paulson. we're joined today by a singer with a great heart and a great voice: judy collins. [applause] (collins) thanks, ken. nice to see you. good to see you. thank you. i say "a great heart," because you are probably as well-known for your commitment to social causes as your singing career. and you've been pretty successful at both. how many times have you been arrested? [light laughter] i've actually been arrested three times,

i'm ken paulson. our guest today has written challenging and provocative plays over the past four decades, earning three pulitzer prizes, two tonys, and a reputation for art with an impact. please welcome edward albee. [applause] i was struck by the number of times people have objected to your work. and yet, i've sat here with people whose careers have been marked by censorship and challenges. i'm not sure i've ever met anyone whose very first work at age 12 was censored by his adoptive mother. what was that about? well, you see, i started writing poetry when i was about eight, and she didn't read poetry. but when she found out that i'd written a three-act sex farce...

i'm ken paulson, executive director of the first amendment center. our guest today is a talented actress, whose work has been honored time and again. jane alexander received a tony award for her role in the great white hope. she received an emmy award for her performance in playing for time. and along the way, she's picked up four academy award nominations and a television critics' circle award. and then in 1993, in what can only be described as a courageous career move, jane alexander signed on for the toughest role of all: chairman of the national endowment for the arts. she's here today to talk about her new book detailing her experiences with the n.e.a. it's called command performance: an actress in the theater of politics. thanks very much for being here. i've enjoyed your book very much. it's a-- it's a terrific read both for people who care about the theater and those who have a commitment to free expression. i-i was struck, though, by a lot of the content of the book where this appeared to be a dream job in some ways for you. but in other way