March 9-13 Programs

Jean’s Pick of the Week: Daniyal Mueeenuddin. If you love a well-written story and you want to know about the real Pakistan, get yourself a copy of In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, and you’re in for a treat. I loved having the chance to talk with Daniyal directly, but there was so much more to say about the book and the topic. I really wish the conversation could have continued and would encourage any of you who know Daniyal’s work – he’s published in The New Yorker, Zoetrope, and Granta – to tell us what you think of it by going to www.insideislam.wisc.edu or calling our hotline: 1-877-GLOBE07.

Monday: Europe is From Venus: I just had a very interesting conversation with Geert Mak, the Dutch author who traveled all around Europe visiting key historic landmarks and talking to survivors and eye-witnesses in order to write his bestseller, In Europe, a living history. “Never walk backwards into the future,” he says, “Never become a victim of the past, but history is a continuity – there are ghosts all around us - pay attention to the patterns that repeat.”

Tuesday: The Population Bomb: The global population is increasing by a billion about every 15 years, but because practically all that growth is in poorer countries there’s a certain taboo that makes it difficult to talk about. Population Media Center is one organization that has come up with some ingenious ways to break the taboo. We’ll talk with director Bill Ryerson.

Wednesday: The Smelly Show: Rachel Hertz, a researcher and the author of The Scent of Desire sheds light on how and why smell affects our emotions, preferences, memories, health, sexuality, relationships, and even food cravings.

Thursday: Despite appeals from Rome and the personal intercession of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Dominique Green, the subject of Tom Cahill’s latest book, A Saint on Death Row, was executed by lethal injection in Huntsville, Texas on Oct. 26, 2004. What was it about this young man’s life that caused Cahill to change his mind about the death penalty and turn him into a crusader for racial justice?

Friday: Chili: The All-American Comfort Food: What makes people passionate about chili? Where did it come from? Is there an orthodox way to make it or just a hundred heresies?

Looking Ahead: Molly Peacock joins us for our very last Spring Equinox Poetry Circle of the Air on March 19. After ten years of faithful service to poetry and to WPR, Molly’s decided all good things must come to an end. We’ll miss her, but don’t miss her swan song.

Enjoy the lovely spring weather!

Jean