FOCAL POINT’s Raise the Last Glass follows two Waterford workers as they fight to save both their jobs and a bit of Irish heritage.

WIDE ANGLE multimedia producer Renee Feltz speaks about the loss of GM jobs in Pontiac with 36-year GM veteran worker, Brian Larkin. Larkin is Vice President of the United Auto Workers Union Local 594. He discusses how GM has employed his family for generations, the end of production of the iconic Pontiac brand of cars, and what the loss of GM jobs will mean for workers in Pontiac and the town itself.

Click here to listen to the interview:

I’m Irish, but I’ve lived away from the country for almost ten years. This has helped me recognize what is special about the people there.

The thing that struck me most about the workers at Waterford Crystal was their good humor at a time when they were under immense financial and emotional pressure. Even when things were at their worst the workers, who were not far from retirement, would joke about things like retraining as a pilot or an astronaut. There was constant storytelling and banter as well as endless cups of tea.

We spent most of our time with three men who had worked at the crystal factory since they were teenagers: Tom Power, Ian Paul and Liam O’Rorke. After forty years of hard but rewarding work, they were looking forward to a comfortable retirement for themselves and their families. But all of this has changed.

Such tragedy is now a common global problem, but meeting tragedy with humor is something quintessentially Irish. It may be a small thing, but I think it’s another piece of our cultural heritage worth holding on to.

Lauren Kesner

One of the first people I met when I arrived at the Waterford Crystal Visitor’s Center was Tom Power, a master glass cutter who had spent four decades with the company. He had also helped to lead an eight-week long sit-in to protest the factory’s closing. Power brought me to see his cutting station, switched on the engine, and demonstrated how he carved perfectly symmetrical patterns into glass.

Later that day, he brought us into the empty gallery store, lined with shelves of delicate vases, bowls and glasses and showed us a table where master craftsmen like himself had formerly autographed the crystal pieces for tourists. It turned out that Power was not only a skillful class cutter but also an ambassador of the historic Waterford Crystal brand. For years, he has traveled throughout America setting up tables at department stores where he would explain the crystal making process.

Sitting in the empty store, at an empty desk, it was clear Power wanted to tell the story of Waterford Crystal before it was too late. Fewer workers were showing up at the sit-in, and maybe he sensed the end was near. Like somebody recording a family history, he relived the glory days of learning and perfecting his craft, of cutting Super Bowl trophies, and of the friendships he made traveling across America.

Power’s pride was palatable. It made me want to buy my first piece of crystal, but the gallery store was closed. After the factory tour and glass cutting demonstration Power thanked me for having recorded his last and final cut.

]]> http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/raise-the-last-glass/filmmaker-notes/4899/feed/ 1 http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/uncategorized/meet-the-new-administration/4129/ http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/uncategorized/meet-the-new-administration/4129/#comments Thu, 22 Jan 2009 23:02:48 +0000 lauren feeney http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/?p=4129 What do Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, George Mitchell, Leon Panetta, Susan Rice, Dennis Ross, Gene Sperling and Tom Vilsack all have in common? They’re all expected to serve in high-level positions in the Obama administration, and they’ve all appeared as distinguished guests on WIDE ANGLE. Watch the videos below to hear what members (and potential members) of the new administration had to say on issues ranging from education in the developing world to the prospects for peace in the Middle East.

JOE BIDEN was sworn in as Vice President of the United States just minutes before Barack Obama’s historic inauguration. In the fall of 2004, then-Senator Biden spoke with WIDE ANGLE host Carol Marin about U.S.-Saudi relations.

On Thursday, January 22, the Senate voted 94 to 2 to confirm HILLARY CLINTON as the next Secretary of State. Here, Clinton discusses human trafficking, an issue she’s been working on since her days as the nation’s First Lady, with WIDE ANGLE host Jamie Rubin.

GEORGE MITCHELL, whose 2001 Mitchell Report became the basis of the “road map” to peace between Israel and Palestine, is expected to be named the new administration’s Special Envoy to the Middle East as early as today. Mitchell also helped negotiate a lasting peace in Northern Ireland. Here, he talks about ethnic and religious violence between Muslims and Hindus in India with host Jamie Rubin.

LEON PANETTA is Obama’s choice for CIA director. A CIA outsider, Panetta, as Chairman of the Pew Oceans Commission and grandson of a sardine fisherman, spoke to host Carol Marin about the state of the world’s oceans and marine life.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has endorsed SUSAN RICE as Ambassador to the United Nations, and she’s expected to be easily confirmed. Rice was the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs during the Clinton administration, and here, she talks with WIDE ANGLE host Mishal Husain about black economic empowerment in South Africa.

DENNIS ROSS is expected to be named Obama’s Special Envoy to Iran, a rumor that has angered Obama’s anti-war supporters –Ross says he will not rule out military action in Iran. In July 2006, Ross spoke to WIDE ANGLE host Daljit Dhaliwal about U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.

Assuming Timothy F. Geithner is confirmed as Secretary of Treasury, GENE SPERLING, a well-known veteran of the Clinton administration, is expected to be brought on as an adviser. As a senior economic fellow and director of the Center for Universal Education at the Council on Foreign Relations, Sperling spoke with host Daljit Dhaliwal about education in the developing world.

Promising to promote renewable energy as a means of boosting the rural economy, former Iowa Gov. TOM VILSACK was confirmed as U.S. Agriculture Secretary. Here, he discusses the politics of climate change with WIDE ANGLE host Aaron Brown.

Romania is a place where change and continuity collide. One of the EU’s newest members, Romania is working to follow in its European neighbors’ footsteps, trying to develop a strong economy, with viable industries that will provide its citizens with adequate jobs. The mining industry in Romania has historically been a steady source of economic benefit for the region, from the time of the Romans, who first plundered the mountains for gold, to the Hapsburg empire, and later the Communist era when workers were showered with high wages and benefits. But following the revolution of 1989, the state-subsidized industry collapsed – leading to widespread unemployment and poverty in mining villages. Rosia Montana, a 2,000 year-old mining community tucked away in the mountains of Romania, suffers from a 70 percent unemployment rate. This impoverished community is also sitting on 300 tons of gold and 1,200 tons of silver and stands to reap significant benefits if mining activities resume. The price of gold has nearly doubled over the past ten years: in 2007, an ounce of gold is selling for $700 in the world market. On the other hand, the renewal of mining would require the displacement of most of the village. Gold may bring prosperity to Rosia Montana – but a golden future has its price.

About the Film

Gold Futures is a David-and-Goliath story set in a scenic Romanian village in the heart of Transylvania. At stake: a massive deposit of gold ore – and a 2000-year-old village community that has existed since the ancient Romans founded a mining town on the edge of their empire. Now, as a Canadian company plans the largest open-pit gold mine in Europe, mineral wealth and badly-needed jobs compete with time-honored rural traditions and concerns about poisoning the environment. Set against the backdrop of Rosia Montana’s misty forests, Gold Futures captures the unfolding conflict between villagers who welcome the company’s buy-out offers and their neighbors who remain fiercely defensive of their way of life and anxious to maintain the stunning landscape of their homeland.

Film Transcript

In this episode’s essay, Christopher Caldwell examines the issues facing Turkish society in the new millennium, and gives his perspective on a country at a key turning point in its history.

“Mixed Blessings” looks at Ireland’s dramatic transformation from a poor nation of rolling green fields, farmers’ pubs, and devout Catholics to an urbanized, secularized and giddily flush society. In this program, WIDE ANGLE visits the city of Limerick. Once a slum known as “stab city” and the impoverished setting of the best-selling memoir ANGELA’S ASHES, the Limerick of today has all the main ingredients of change: foreign investment, a miniature property boom, a burgeoning services industry, childcare shortages, high levels of immigration from neighboring EU states, and shopping developments popping up like daffodils in spring.

The standoff came to a tragic end in a chaotic firefight in which several hundred children and adults were killed. In the premiere episode of its fourth season, WIDE ANGLE brings firsthand testimony and unprecedented video shot by terrorists inside the school, to examine the events that unfolded, the Russian government’s failed efforts to manage the crisis, and the legacy of the incident — for surviving hostages, bereaved families and Russia’s future stability.

Read this week’s briefing to learn about the historical roots of the Chechen conflict that led to the siege of Beslan and growing unrest in the region. Learn about the historic roots of conflict among the breakaway republics in the Photo Essay. Find out about the semi-autonomous republics of the North Caucasus in the Interactive Map. Read a firsthand account by Kevin Sim of his experience in Beslan in the Filmmaker Notes.

This episode of WIDE ANGLE chronicles the life of the Vatican in the days between the announcement of Pope John Paul II’s death and the election of the new pope by a conclave, the group of more than 100 cardinals who gather in Rome’s Sistine Chapel for this historic vote. Filmed over three weeks, White Smoke documents the process through the eyes of key inside players. A Vatican-based priest, a veteran journalist who has covered the Vatican for years, the Pope’s photographer and others in the inner circle portray the maelstrom of intrigue and politics that fuel the selection of the new leader of the l billion-member Roman Catholic Church.

France’s recent decision to ban the wearing of traditional Muslim headscarves in public schools — a law widely perceived in the Muslim community as an undemocratic expression of “Islamophobia” — has increased tensions between the French Republic and its largest minority population, numbering about five million people. WIDE ANGLE explores this conflict in the town of Dammarie-les-Lys, a racially diverse, working-class community on the outskirts of Paris, where young Muslim women face a choice to obey the ban – or flout it. Also featured is the local high school principal who, as a member of the commission charged with reviewing the use of religious symbols in public life, voted for the ban against headscarves. In nearby Evry, we see the rector of the grand mosque leading Friday prayers and conducting the conversion of a young French man to Islam. Europe’s Muslim population has doubled in the last decade, with the largest numbers settling in France. Their presence is challenging traditional French notions of nationhood and citizenship, and their increasingly vocal demands for integration and recognition — on their own terms — is creating a crisis in the republic. “Young, Muslim, and French” reveals the hopes, frustrations, and political aspirations of second- and third-generation French-born Muslims and explores their potential to alter the landscape of France’s national identity.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy. Photo by Alberto Ramella.

About the Film

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders recently ranked Italy at the bottom of the list for countries in the European Union on its press freedom index. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is not only Italy’s richest man, but also the unrivaled owner of a vast media empire. This combination of political power and personal ownership of a large sector of the private media in Italy has provoked questions about the independence of the Italian media. By following the travails of some of the country’s leading critical voices — including Marco Travaglio, one of Italy’s most famous investigative journalists — The Prime Minister and the Press examines Berlusconi’s rise to prominence, and explores what happens to public debate when extreme wealth and political power converge with media dominance. This story is especially timely, coinciding with Italy’s assumption of the Presidency of the European Union in July, 2003.

The most successful and most brutal European dictator since Hitler, Slobodan Miloseviç played the trump cards of nationalism and racism in his rise to power. Once in office, he performed an intricate balancing act, controlling information and the media to safeguard his reign and accomplish his ends — which included concentration camps and ethnic cleansing. How did he do it? Exclusive interviews wtih former Miloseviç associates — both dissenters and loyalists — include a remarkable encounter with his wife and political mentor, Mira. This investigative report will take the viewer inside the realm, and inside the mind, of one of the most effective and brutal tyrants of the past 50 years.

About The Film

Producer Paul Jenkins recently produced SOLDAT, an observational film about the Russian army, and co-produced with Director Leslie Woodhead SREBRENICA: A CRY FROM THE GRAVE. Woodhead’s two-hour film INVASION was the first British docudrama ever aired on American network television. He has filmed documentaries in Africa, Nepal, the South Pacific, and China, and has directed the film ENDURANCE for Disney.