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The Media & Policy Center has received a significant grant to begin work on America's Family Farmers.

Harry Wiland and Dale Bell have received California Greenworks' Environmental Leaders Award for their "...outstanding work in raising awareness for environmental sustainability through the PBS series Edens Lost & Found."

The first in a series of Edens Lost & Found Town Hall Meetings was held in Philadelphia early in 2008, and was broadcast by WHYY (Philadelphia PBS) in April. More details and excerpts from the broadcast are available here.

Harry Wiland and Dale Bell have been elected Ashoka Fellows and Purpose Prize Fellows.

Harry Wiland and Dale Bell win First and Third Prizes in NAAEE Environmental Film Festival.

Media & Policy Center: Bitter Tears

In Development

Program note: Harry Wiland's 1969 film production Johnny Cash: The Man, His World, His Music will be broadcast as part of PBS's P.O.V. series on August 5, 2008. "Fresh on the heels of his Folsom Prison album, Cash reveals the dark intensity and raw talent that made him a country music star and cultural icon.... [This film] paints an unforgettable portrait that endures beyond the singer's 2003 death."

Click here to learn more about Harry's collaboration with Johnny Cash and the 1969 production.

Johnny Cash's classic Bitter Tears album features 10 songs inspired by the struggles of Native American whose heritage was quickly disintegrating. In recalling their legacy, his words and music — through the passage of time and events, including, sadly, his passing — have acquired new meaning and remain today an evocative and powerful statement for our country's past as well as its future. We envision a project built around Bitter Tears as an American cultural celebration and as a direct response to the world's ever-increasing interest in our country's unique cultural heritage.

Our project will feature exclusive film of Cash performing original songs from the Bitter Tears album and meeting and traveling with Native Americans. Inspired by the lyrics of Bitter Tears and other new material especially commissioned for this film, we will travel with Native American performers to such sacred sites as Wounded Knee, Custer's Battlefield, the Badlands of South Dakota, the Navaho Country of Canyon de Chelly, and the Iroquois Nation along the Allegheny. We will film the beauty and majesty of the Native American landscape, and will dramatically re-enact some of the personal stories depicted in the songs' lyrics. Guest stars from the Native American and Anglo communities will include local and nationally known artists and musicians. An Indian choral group will be used to provide counterpoint to some of the film's more telling images. Once the performances are filmed and recorded, we will produce, with the guidance of our Native American advisors, additional historic and Native American cultural elements to be woven within the music sequences.

A companion book will be containing images from the project, lyrics from Cash's songs, behind-the-scenes anecdotes, journal excerpts, and other relevant material. Its publication will coincide with the U.S. television premiere broadcast. In addition, online educational "outreach" into schools and colleges nationwide will excerpt images and words from the television special, and be augmented by maps, histories, and other texts, and a suggested reading guide. Bitter Tears is designed to re-awaken in our country's school children an interest in, curiosity about, and respect for Native American Indian culture.

Other resources for Bitter Tears: