April 5 - 9 Programs

Thursday, April Fools’ Day!

Jean’s Pick of the Week: Jamming with Wales: There’s something so delightfully whimsical about the idea of chasing whales around the world, playing your clarinet and hoping that the whales will jam with you. But David Rothenberg is quite serious about his interspecies musicianship, first with birds and now with whales, and he’s broken through some amazing barriers with his experiments in making music with animals. I think of him as a first-class 21st century man.



Monday: The Wall: The story of the West Bank Barrier separating Israel from the Palestinian territories, which will be completed later this year, is a sad tale. And we wouldn’t be telling it if we hadn’t found a Here on Earth angle: French journalist René Backmann has been covering the conflict for 25 years and has written a book about the wall from both sides. He joins us with an Israeli couple whose organization, Yesh Din, helps carry Palestinian grievances through the Israeli justice system.

Tuesday: Mixing the Races: In his first memoir, John Phillip Santos traced his father’s Mexican mestizo family back into an indigenous world that flourished before the Spanish conquest. In his new memoir—or, you could say the other half of his first—he turns his gaze to the conquerors—his mother’s ancestors. How far back do you have to look on your family tree to find someone of another nationality, allegiance, or race?

Wednesday: A Different Way to Fight Extremism: “Do I like the legacy I’m leaving behind?” After asking herself that question, Julia Bolz, who was once practicing law in Seattle, is now devoting her life to fighting extremism by building schools in Afghanistan.

Thursday: Islamic Feminism: A Sister-wide Global Movement: Saudi Arabia’s recent plan to remove women from praying near the Ka'ba was scotched by a huge global outcry coming from Islamic feminists, even from inside Saudi Arabia, claiming gender discrimination that violates the Qur’anic principle of equality. What does Islamic feminism have to offer? Where does it come from and where is it going? Expect some surprising revelations and illuminations to come from this next program in our Inside Islam series.

Friday: Corked: Kathryn Borel was like her father in every way but one: she just didn’t get it when it came to wine. So she decided to take him on a drunken father-daughter road trip through the French countryside, where they finally connected – over wine.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a believing Christian or not, this is one weekend to celebrate all that rises!

Happy Easter!

Jean