CROSSING EAST - Raising Cane

You hear about Driveway Moments, but do you ever hear about Naive Moments? That's when, while listening to a radio program, you face up to the fact that you don't know a whole lot about something all around you. For example, I know nothing very substantial about Hawaii as a place where people have forged a history. This program features so much dedicated scholarship, stories and colorful detail that it has required a multitude of voices, actors mixing gently in with interview material and other sound. And yes, this is one of those projects with lots of people to acknowledge at the end - but the beautiful variety of the names in the credits somehow themselves make up a kind of poem testifying to this important effort.

These moments - of a history hardly mentioned in school or few Hollywood movies - these are the moments that public broadcasting owes its audience, I feel.

PS I also know very little about the history and contributions of Asian Americans in general. How about you? Why is that? Maybe I ought to listen to some other programs in the series.