A Caller From Melbourne

Friday, February 16

Gung Hay Fa Choy! That's Happy New Year in Chinese. I just learned that from today's program with famous Chinese chef (Yan Can Cook) Martin Yan. I co-hosted the program with our own Lisa Bu who comes from Hunan Province - Martin is from Guangzhou (formerly Canton) - both in the south. It was a delightful experience and I learned a lot about the place of food in Chinese culture.

Yesterday was a banner day. John Nichols was in studio, commenting on the fracas that went on all week between Australian prime minister John Howard and Barak Obama. Toward the end of the program we actually got a caller from Melbourne, an Aussie named Noel Knoll who told us he's a regular listener. When it's 3:00pm in the Midwest, it's 10:00 tomorrow morning in Australia. What a thrill to think we're actually growing a global public radio community. That was my dream in starting Here on Earth. Thank you, Noel! I hope we'll be hearing more from you.

On another note, next Wednesday I'll be giving a presentation on my trip to Liberia at the Center for African Studies in Ingraham Hall, UW-Madison campus. It'll be a brown bag at noon and I'll be showing slides, some of them my own, some that Swanee Hunt took herself. It's free and open to the public so I'm looking forward to seeing some of you there.

Have a great weekend.

Jean