Hana Baba

Learning music and playing it is one thing, but teaching it is whole other can of worms, especially when you’re teaching kids – and especially when there are 850 of them.

That’s what Ivan DeSouza does every week. He’s been the music teacher at Delaine Eastin Elementary School in Union City since its birth 12 years ago. It's part of New Haven Unified School District that recently won $29 million  in the President's Race to the Top program.

StoryCorps founder Dave Isay joined KALW’s Hana Baba live by phone to revisit some memories recorded in San Francisco.

"I went to this meditation class recently…and I meet this woman and she's like, 'My name is Jennifer, but I prefer if you call me by my Sanskrit name, "Shavasana,'" opens comedian Dhaya Lakshminarayanan during one of her comedy sets. "Okay Jennifer, maybe you didn't know this, but Shavasana in yoga class just means lie flat on your back. Did your boyfriend give you that name?"

Lakshminarayanan performs with Samson Koletkar. Koletkar's stage name is Mahatma Moses, claiming he is "the only living Jewish Indian comedian in the world."

Older generations often want to teach lessons to those that follow. Sometimes, though, those discussions break down and younger generation are left to fend for themselves. Chris Johnson found this to be a particular struggle for black men.

Tonight is opening night for the San Francisco International Film Festival – the longest running film fest in the Americas is in its 56th year, and this is its first run under the executive direction of film producer, Ted Hope, the new head of the San Francisco Film Society. Hope produced or executive produced 69 films over a span of four decades, including American Splendor, 21 Grams, and In the Bedroom. He is considered by many to be a father of the independent film movement in the U.S. He came by our studios to talk with KALW’s Hana Baba about independent films and what’s in store at the festival.