March 23-27 Programs

Happy Spring!

Here’s what’s coming up on Here on Earth this first week of spring:

Monday: Nashi: The Putin Youth Movement: Ilana Ozernoy left Russia with her refusnik parents in 1988 to settle in the U.S. She went back as a journalist to study the Putin Youth Movement and discovered after living for a week in Summer Camp with a deeply disaffected group of young people, a whole new way of understanding Russian society.

Tuesday: Traveling Disabled: Craig Grimes was paralyzed by a fall twelve years ago. Since then he has traveled to thirteen countries, started the first online booking engine for disabled travelers, and founded Access Barcelona and Access Nicaragua, websites that provide invaluable information disabled travelers.

Wednesday: Living with the Tribe: Oliver Steeds spent over a year living with indigenous tribes in Papua New Guinea and Peru. He’s filmed documentaries about the people of Burma, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Scandinavia, and has just returned from making a film about North Korean refugees on the China-North Korea border.

Thursday: Eco-Islam: The Greening of the Muslim World: Muslim theologians and clerics are fast developing an environmental ethic based on ancient Islamic principles and practices drawn from the Qu’ran and the people of the Arabian desert. Guests: Sufi theologian Sayyed Hossein Nasr; Saleem Ali, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Vermont; visiting fellow at the Brookings Research Center in Doha, Qatar; author of Islam and Education: Conflict and Conformity in Pakistan’s Madrassahs.

Friday: Maple Syrup: When the sap starts running in the Upper Midwest, spring has truly arrived. The tradition comes down to us from Native Americans and the early colonists, and in many parts of Wisconsin, is still being collected the same way. Guests: Derek Duane, DNR, manager of the MacKenzie Center, and Ruth Ann Lee, lead educator for the Wisconsin Wild Life Federation, who co-manages the Center.

Here’s to a New Day - Happy Nowruz!

Jean