About Us

Sonali Kolhatkar

Sonali Kolhatkar is the host and producer of KPFK Pacifica’s popular morning drive time program Uprising, based in Los Angeles, California. She has reported nationally from the Democratic National Convention, President Bush’s second inauguration, and various political conferences, and internationally from Brazil, India, Afghanistan, and the United Arab Emirates. Currently a weekly version of Uprising is syndicated to various community radio stations nationwide. Sonali has been awarded by community organizations such as the South Asian Network, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the Korean Immigrants Workers Advocates, and Sunset Hall (Los Angeles) for her work in media. In 2004 she was given the Phenomenal Woman Award by the Cal State Northridge Women’s Studies Department.

Before turning to public radio, Sonali was an Applications Developer at the California Institute of Technology, testing software for a NASA space telescope. She has a Master of Science in Astrophysics from the University of Hawaii (Manoa), and a Bachelor of Science in Physics and Bachelor of Arts in Astronomy from the University of Texas (Austin).

Sonali is also the Co-Director of the Afghan Women’s Mission, a US-based non-profit solidarity organization that funds the social, political, and humanitarian projects of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA).

Sonali has spoken widely at college campuses, conferences, community centers, churches, etc, about US policy in Afghanistan and their impact on the people, and particularly, women of Afghanistan. She is also a speaker on issues of media justice, women in media, and political activism. She has taught workshops on radio production and interviewing at various media conferences.

Sonali has been published widely in online journals such as Foreign Policy in Focus, Commondreams, Alternet, Znet, and Counterpunch, and print journals such as the Berkeley Women’s Law Journal, Z Magazine, Frontline Magazine (India), Briarpatch (Canada), Loudmouth, and make/shift Magazine. She has contributed to the following books: “September 11, 2001: Feminist Perspectives,” and “Stop the Next War Now! Effective Responses to Violence & Terrorism.” Sonali and Jim visited Afghanistan in February 2005 and published their first book in September 2006: “Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence” (Seven Stories).

In her spare time, Sonali likes to tinker with web design, cooking, singing, sewing, painting, and other creative pursuits.

Although she is a citizen of India, she was born and raised in the United Arab Emirates and has been an immigrant all her life. She has been waiting for the results of an FBI background check since August 2005 to complete her US citizenship application.

Jim Ingalls

Jim Ingalls is a Staff Scientist at the Spitzer Science Center, which is part of the California Institute of Technology. The work of the Spitzer Science Center is focused Spitzer Space Telescope, an Infrared telescope which is the fourth and final element in NASA’s family of Great Observatories. Jim has a PhD in Astronomy from Boston University. Jim is also the co-Director, with Sonali, of the Afghan Women’s Mission, a US-based nonprofit that works in solidarity with the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA). He has written extensively about US policy in Afghanistan and is the co-author of Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence, published by Seven Stories Press in September 2006.

Jim’s writings have appeared in publications such as Z Magazine, Foreign Policy in Focus, Commondreams, Alternet, Znet, and Counterpunch. He presented a petition to his Congressional representative Adam Schiff with 1,000 signatures from members of the Caltech community against the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, and criticized him for his support of the war. He has done numerous radio and print interviews about his analysis of US policy in Afghanistan.

Jim is also an accomplished self-taught guitar player and singer/song-writer, computer programmer, and web-designer.

Jim was born and raised in the Boston area where his family still resides.

Sonali and Jim

Sonali and Jim met in June 1998 at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society which was held in San Diego, California. After realizing their common values and vision, they decided to marry later that year and moved to Pasadena, California in December 1998. Since then, they have built a home, run a non-profit organization, traveled to various countries, attended many demonstrations and participated in political activities, published political commentary and analysis, created various websites, run this blog, written a book, raised two cats, and had a child.