Jan 19-23 Programs

Jean’s Pick of the Week: Don’t Sleep, There Are Snakes: Daniel Everett’s experiences with the extraordinary Pirahã people of the Brazilian Amazon who seem to be completely content with their way of life, live entirely in the moment, and lack any real curiosity about the rest of the world (i.e. they have no interest in being like us!) brought back my own experience in the Peruvian Amazon (which, frankly, blew my mind, and which I wrote about at length in my book, I Hear Voices).

Other highlights: Slumdog’s director, Danny Boyle talking about his enthusiasm for Mumbai; and Hannah Pool’s description of meeting her long lost Eritrean family. And although Tuesday’s program about Gaza was overbooked, we’ve had very positive feedback from Jews who appreciated our perspective.

We have a big week ahead of us, with Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and the Inauguration, and another Inside Islam program. Here’s the dope:

Monday: The Business of Modern Slavery: While we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. and the American civil rights movement, let’s also remember that slavery has once again reared its ugly head in the form of sex trafficking. For a completely original approach that strikes at the economic heart of prostitution, we’ll talk with Siddharth Kara, a former investment banker and author of Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery.

Tuesday: What Obama Means: Now this is a coup: directly following NPR’s live coverage of the Inauguration, Here on Earth gets to talk with (and this means you too!) celebrated cultural critic Jabari Asim, whose book The N Word made such waves. He’s the perfect guest coming at the perfect time on the perfect occasion. Join us!

Wednesday: Green Urbanism Down Under: city gardens in Melbourne; a koala-friendly housing development; solar lights that send electricity back to the city’s power grid – all transportable ideas that may hold a global solution to our environmental headaches. Guests: Timothy Beatley and Peter Newman.

Thursday: Reaching out to the Muslim World: On January 20, Barack Hussein Obama will be sworn in as the 44th president of the United States. What is the state of relations between the United States and the Muslim world? How can the new president alter the course of the Bush administration and reach out to Muslims? What are the chances that dialogue and diplomacy will take precedence over a call to arms? What steps do Muslims think the new president should take to repair damages and rebuild trust?

Friday: Bagels Go Global! Boiled and baked, bagels as we know them originated in Poland, but just like the Jews themselves, you can find them all over the world – even in China where the Chinese break them into pieces and put them in their stir-fries!

I hope you’ll be listening – it should be a great week!

Jean