Feb 16-20 Programs

Jean’s Pick of the Week: It’s been a long time since I’ve had quite the mental workout that James Moore (Darwin’s Sacred Cause) and Sean Carroll (Remarkable Creatures) gave me in our program Darwin’s Tree of Life last Wednesday. Altogether a fascinating exercise in blending biology-history-anthropology that left me with a whole new understanding of Darwin and an appetite for more. Turns out Darwin, Huxley, Dickens, Lincoln, and even Walt Whitman, (whose Leaves of Grass was published just four years before On the Origin of Species) were all contemporaries who, in Sean Carroll’s words, “threw off the shackles of the old order.” Now that’s something worth pursuing.

I also greatly enjoyed talking with Ellen Kuras on Tuesday about her beautiful and poignant film, The Betrayal, which follows the epic story of a Laotian family forced into exile as a result of the undeclared war the US waged in Laos during the Vietnam War.

NB: Our next program in the Inside Islam series on Love and Dating in the Muslim World which was originally scheduled for Feb. 12 has been re-scheduled for this coming Wednesday, Feb. 18.

Here’s what’s coming up this week:

Monday: I’ll be hosting an Open Line, asking for feedback on our recent programming, including our Inside Islam series, and suggestions about upcoming shows.

Tuesday: Under the Blue Flag: My Mission to Kosovo: Philip Kearney, A restless DA in San Francisco leaves a comfortable career to take to the lawless streets of Pristina, Kosovo, in an attempt to bring some very deadly criminals to justice just two years after a NATO bombing campaign had brought a halt to the conflict between Kosovo and Serbia.

Wednesday: Love and Dating in the Muslim World: True Stories of Finding Love: I have to say we’ve had a lot of fun gathering these stories from Muslims in the Madison community: newlyweds, seasoned couples, young men, and new converts. They’ll be edited for broadcast in the live program, but you can listen to the unedited version on our blog: www.insideislam.wisc.edu.

Thursday: The February pledge drive starts today, but Here on Earth won’t be actively soliciting your support until Friday, “Bread Day.” During World War II, European Jews were commonly portrayed as sheep led to the slaughter. Some groups, however, managed to defy certain death. Nechama Tec is the author of Defiance, the book on which the movie is based. It tells the story of hundreds of partisans who survived the war by finding temporary refuge in the forest and resisting the people who wanted to kill them.

Friday: Give Us Bread!: our web producer Lisa Bu found Peter Reinhart on TED: Peter is a master breadmaker and a theologian (they so often go together); co-founder of the award-winning Brother Juniper’s Bakery in Sonoma, California, author of five books on bread baking including the latest: Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor. It’s a big, gorgeous book, our gift to you for a pledge of support of $175.

And to keep you tuned in throughout the drive: you won’t want to miss John Nichols on Monday, Feb. 23, and Philippe Petit, star of Man on Wire, the mad Frenchman who walked a tightrope between the World Trade Center Towers, Wednesday, Feb. 25.

Happy Valentine’s Day, Lovers All!

Jean