may 3 .2Û02 • J u t MC. 19
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o single word describes Barbara
Bernstein. A t the least, Just Out
settles on three: energy, creativi
ty and commitment.
The radio commentator,
musician, writer and activist is one of those peo
ple who seems to he in motion even when she is
sitting still. The host of KBOO-FM ’s weekly
call-in social justice program Locus Focus, she
has talents that run in several directions, some
times all at once.
Bernstein has created documentary programs
on a wide variety of subjects. Her collaborations
with videographer Elaine Velazquez, her partner
of 18 1/2 years, have been used to fight anti-gay
ballot measures. The women constantly are
planning new projects addressing social justice,
especially environmental, feminist and sexual
minority concerns.
They met in 1978, when Velazquez needed
someone to do sound for a project. Bernstein
looked into the job but wasn’t able to join in
because she was attending school.
The two reconnected in 1981 through Do
Jump! Theatre. Bernstein worked with
Velazquez doing sound for Moving Mountains.
“In the middle of it,” she says mischievously, “we
fell in love and she stopped paying me.”
Velazquez doesn’t share Bernstein’s focus on
radio, although she has helped with the produc
tion of her lover’s CDs, including the latest series,
Radio Tales /or the Road. Likewise, Bernstein fre
quently helps Velazquez with her video projects.
Music always has been important to Bern
stein. She plays a number of instruments— gui
tar, recorder, kalimba and bass— although her
favorite is viola.
She is still well remembered for playing a
mean fiddle in the Hester Street Klezmer Band.
R isk J ockey
Radio commentator Barbara Bernstein has made a living
by asking tough questions by P atricia L . M acA odh a
She also composes music in several genres,
singing her own compositions most recently on
her C D Maps of Memory.
Bernstein grew up in Worcester, Mass.,
which she remembers as “a dead place.” She
attended high school during the Vietnam era
and clashed with her parents for participating in
public anti-war activities.
Fortunately for her budding activist nature,
she was able to turn to her maternal aunt, Adele
Prager, for support. Divorced in 1960, the single
mother of three opened a window to Bernstein
“that pointed out the difference between how
she lived and how I lived.” Watching Prager
struggle sensitized her to the fact that not all
people were raised enjoying the same privileges.
To be a divorced woman at that time was to
experience social disapproval, but Bernstein’s
affection for her aunt led her to a different con
clusion. “My parents used her as a negative role
model, and I used her as a positive one,” she says.
While attending Barnard College in New
York City, Bernstein found herself happily in the
heart of East Coast political activism. Within
a week of arriving on campus, she was involved
in a demonstration along with more than a
quarter-million people.
But newscasters reported the event as having
far fewer participants. “I had my first taste of how
mainstream media can distort numbers,” she says.
While in New York, Bernstein became a vol
unteer with WBA1-FM, a sig
nificant move that would
begin her association with
public radio. She came to Ore
gon in 1971 and soon began
volunteering with KBOO.
A new project for the
award-winning journalist is
focused on the watersheds of
the Columbia and Colorado
rivers and how they are being
engineered out of existence.
The program, Rivers That Were,
Barbara Bernstein finds relief from her busy schedule by
will air sometime next fall.
trekking to the mountains whenever she can
About two-thirds of the mater
For escape, she travels to the mountains as
ial for the documentary has come from interviews.
Bernstein’s extensive experience with inter often as possible. “I have a lot of time for myself.
I’ve decided over the years I’m a Taoist. I’m a
viewing people includes a period of time grilling
tree-hugger,” she laughs.
Lon Mabon. She became well acquainted with
Bernstein’s stories reflect the path of a
the Oregon Citizens Alliance chairman while
dreamer turned activist turned future-looking
interviewing him for Pacifica Radio.
Mabon talked to her about his experiences in writer and performer. Her politics, spirituality
Vietnam and what he feared. “I have problems and creativity are merged together.
As she sings on “Dark Horse Lovers” from
with him being caricatured as a monster,” she says,
Maps of Memory: “It’s time to learn what we
but nevertheless is pleased about his recent arrest.
Bernstein has talked to many people whose don’t know, and face the overwhelming fears
that know no words, just tears.” JP1
views radically differ from her own. “When 1 go
as a journalist,” she says, “I need to suspend my
KBOO-FM's L o cu s Focus airs 7:30 to 9 a.m.
own beliefs.” She goes as far as she can with this,
respectfully listening as people share their feel Wednesdays on 90.7 in Portland; 92.7 in White
Salmon, Wash.; and 100.7 in Corvallis.
ings, concerns and needs.
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