Jean’s Pick of the Week: Taqwacores: A New Way to be Muslim in the West. For anyone who has ever grappled with doctrinal religion, Michael Muhammad Knight’s very American, very punk rock take on Islam is really refreshing. His novel, The Taqwacores, about a group of punk rock Muslims who live together in a house in Buffalo, New York, really does read a lot like Catcher in the Rye. We didn’t talk much about sex, drugs, and rock and roll, but we did talk quite a bit about idolatry, the problems with organized religion, and how to relate directly with the Divine. Interestingly enough, callers connected not as punk rockers, but as seekers.
Monday, Memorial Day: An Ecology of Music: You’ll enjoy listening again, if you haven’t heard it before, to this program with John Luther Adams, one of our most original composers. It was one of my favorite programs of 2008. John Luther Adams lives in Alaska where he immerses himself in the primal, grandiose soundscapes of the arctic out of which he makes music that will make your hair stand on end.
Tuesday: What can you tell about a person from the way they die? In The Book of Dead Philosophers, Simon Critchley, Professor of Philosophy at the New School in New York, explores death, our last taboo, from a most unusual perspective. He recounts the demise of famous philosophers, revealing how their variously tragic, amusing, and bizarre ends can help us lead richer lives.
Wednesday: “Fugee” Soccer (as in Refugee) When New York Times journalist Warren St. John wrote about a soccer team in Georgia made up of child refugees from all over the world, Universal Studios jumped on the film-rights. Warren St. John’s new book about the team, Outcasts United: A Refugee Team, An American Town, chronicles the hard work and heroic journeys of the players and sheds light on what it takes to build a community when we seem to have little in common.
Thursday: Samuel Charters, one of the very first musicologists to study Afro-American music, has summed up his life's work in A Language of Song, which details his journey to Africa and to find Africa-influenced music in the United States, Brazil, and the Carribean.
Friday: Sex, Death, and Oysters: When food writer Robb Walsh discovered that the local Galveston Bay oysters were being passed off as Blue Points and Chincoteagues in other parts of the country, he decided to look into the matter. His new book, Sex, Death and Oysters: A Half-Shell Lover's World Tour, documents a five-year adventure that docks everywhere from oyster reefs to oyster bars and from corporate boardrooms to hotel bedrooms in a quest for the truth about the world’s most profitable aphrodisiac.
I’m going to be gone for a couple of weeks. Veronica Rueckert will be hosting Here on Earth until my return on June 8.
Have a great Memorial Day weekend!
Jean
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
May 18-22 Programs
Jean’s Pick of the Week: (I’ve reverted to referring to myself in the third person): Certainly Reza Aslan, very slick, very smart, very articulate and, I venture to say, one of our most trusted interpreters of Muslims and Islam. But, scholar of religions though he may be, he really goofed right at the end of Wednesday’s show when he misquoted Jesus in that much misunderstood line, “I come not to bring peace but a sword.” Jesus was a reformer, not a militant. Almost everything he said was intended as a spiritual message. The Christian gospel was spread not by the sword but by the blood of the early Christian martyrs, the “the seed of the Church.”
Monday: Going Back to Cuba: For decades, Cuba has been a place we were only allowed to imagine, but now, with small cracks in the formidable barrier between us, we find ourselves with a lot of catching up to do. So did journalist Carlos Frias, the American-born son of Cuban parents who went to Cuba for the first time in 2006 and wrote about his impressions in the memoir, Take Me With You.
Tuesday: Memoir as An American Art Form: I went to hear Natalie Goldberg read from her latest book about memoir writing, Old Friend From Long Ago, when she was at Border’s in Madison a short time ago. Natalie used to be a regular on my old show. When she talked about memoir as an American cultural phenomenon I knew I just had to bring her on Here on Earth. She’s my old friend from long ago, and once you hear her, she’ll be yours too.
Wednesday: Evicted From Eternity: Have you ever lived in a place you loved and thought you knew, and then gone back years later only to find it completely changed? That’s what happened to me when I revisited Trantevere, the oldest neighborhood in Rome where I lived for a year in 1968 when the little boys were still playing marbles and peeing in the street, just as they had been doing for thousands of years. How could it change? Harvard historian Michael Herzfeld wrote about the people of Monti, another Roman neighborhood that has undergone the same gentrification in his book with the soulful title, Evicted From Eternity: The Restructuring of Modern Rome.
Thursday: Taqwacores: Muslim Punk Rock: Michael Muhammad Knight is known as a provocateur, a rebel, and a heretic among many American Muslims for his book, The Taqwacores, which describes a group of Muslim punk-rockers living a religious yet fiercely individualistic lifestyle. The book gained notoriety as it went viral and inspired a movement. We’ll talk with the man himself, a convert to Islam who grew up as an Irish Catholic.
Friday: In Praise of Fat: People who have been listening to me for a long time know my iconoclastic streak. So when I heard that there’s a new James Beard Prize winning cookbook by Jennifer McLagan called Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, With Recipes, I jumped. It has a picture of one of the fattiest lambchops I’ve ever seen on the cover.
Jean
Monday: Going Back to Cuba: For decades, Cuba has been a place we were only allowed to imagine, but now, with small cracks in the formidable barrier between us, we find ourselves with a lot of catching up to do. So did journalist Carlos Frias, the American-born son of Cuban parents who went to Cuba for the first time in 2006 and wrote about his impressions in the memoir, Take Me With You.
Tuesday: Memoir as An American Art Form: I went to hear Natalie Goldberg read from her latest book about memoir writing, Old Friend From Long Ago, when she was at Border’s in Madison a short time ago. Natalie used to be a regular on my old show. When she talked about memoir as an American cultural phenomenon I knew I just had to bring her on Here on Earth. She’s my old friend from long ago, and once you hear her, she’ll be yours too.
Wednesday: Evicted From Eternity: Have you ever lived in a place you loved and thought you knew, and then gone back years later only to find it completely changed? That’s what happened to me when I revisited Trantevere, the oldest neighborhood in Rome where I lived for a year in 1968 when the little boys were still playing marbles and peeing in the street, just as they had been doing for thousands of years. How could it change? Harvard historian Michael Herzfeld wrote about the people of Monti, another Roman neighborhood that has undergone the same gentrification in his book with the soulful title, Evicted From Eternity: The Restructuring of Modern Rome.
Thursday: Taqwacores: Muslim Punk Rock: Michael Muhammad Knight is known as a provocateur, a rebel, and a heretic among many American Muslims for his book, The Taqwacores, which describes a group of Muslim punk-rockers living a religious yet fiercely individualistic lifestyle. The book gained notoriety as it went viral and inspired a movement. We’ll talk with the man himself, a convert to Islam who grew up as an Irish Catholic.
Friday: In Praise of Fat: People who have been listening to me for a long time know my iconoclastic streak. So when I heard that there’s a new James Beard Prize winning cookbook by Jennifer McLagan called Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, With Recipes, I jumped. It has a picture of one of the fattiest lambchops I’ve ever seen on the cover.
Jean
Sunday, May 10, 2009
May 11-15 Programs
My Pick of the Week: Rag and Bone. I can’t help it, even as a lapsed Catholic, I do love my relics. I’ve seen a good number of some of the best specimens too: Catherine of Siena’s blackened and shriveled head raised above an altar in her favorite church; St. John the Baptist’s baptizing finger on display at Topkapi Museum in Istanbul; frayed pieces of St. Frances of Paola’s robe and portions of his feet in Calabria. But I had an early start. When my dear Aunt Tootsie, my mother’s only sister, was dying, my mother took me on many pilgrimages all over New York City in search of healing relics and holy oils. Most impressive was the body of Mother Cabrini laid out in a glass coffin in her motherhouse, an image which later served me as the prototype for my Women of Spirit series. When Mother Cabrini was officially canonized, her body was dismembered, the head sent to Rome and other parts made into relics. Even I was appalled to learn about that.
Here’s what’s coming next week:
Monday: Bar Culture in Congo: If you were to major in French literature these days, you would undoubtedly come across the work of Alain Mabanckou, a Francophone writer from Congo Brazzaville who has been sweeping all the most prestigious French awards. His latest book to be translated into English is Broken Glass, a witty novel set in a bar called Credit Gone Away owned by the Stubborn Snail.
Tuesday: Harold Varmus, the Nobel Prize-winning cancer biologist who also serves as science advisor to President Obama is the author of the new book, . He’s coming to the UW-Madison to give a lecture and a reading at Borders. We get a sneak preview.
Wednesday: Reza Aslan, author of the bestseller No God But God, has become one of our most trusted defenders of Islam. His new book, How to Win a Cosmic War, recommends that we strip the religious rhetoric out of our “war on terror” and pay more attention to the war that can be won: the battle for the minds and hearts of young Muslim men.
Thursday: Not Now, Voyager: Lynne Sharon Schwartz’s memoir of her years as a reluctant traveler.
Friday: Forager’s Harvest: Gardens aren’t the only place where you can pick your own food. The trained eye can find all sorts of edibles in woods and backyards, from dandelions to mushrooms.
Happy Mothers’ Day from an old cowhand!
Jean
Here’s what’s coming next week:
Monday: Bar Culture in Congo: If you were to major in French literature these days, you would undoubtedly come across the work of Alain Mabanckou, a Francophone writer from Congo Brazzaville who has been sweeping all the most prestigious French awards. His latest book to be translated into English is Broken Glass, a witty novel set in a bar called Credit Gone Away owned by the Stubborn Snail.
Tuesday: Harold Varmus, the Nobel Prize-winning cancer biologist who also serves as science advisor to President Obama is the author of the new book, . He’s coming to the UW-Madison to give a lecture and a reading at Borders. We get a sneak preview.
Wednesday: Reza Aslan, author of the bestseller No God But God, has become one of our most trusted defenders of Islam. His new book, How to Win a Cosmic War, recommends that we strip the religious rhetoric out of our “war on terror” and pay more attention to the war that can be won: the battle for the minds and hearts of young Muslim men.
Thursday: Not Now, Voyager: Lynne Sharon Schwartz’s memoir of her years as a reluctant traveler.
Friday: Forager’s Harvest: Gardens aren’t the only place where you can pick your own food. The trained eye can find all sorts of edibles in woods and backyards, from dandelions to mushrooms.
Happy Mothers’ Day from an old cowhand!
Jean
Friday, May 01, 2009
May 4-8 Programs
My Pick of the Week: Martin Espada, Poet of Conscience. He says that he writes poetry “to make the invisible visible,” and told us early in the program that his grandmother was a spirit medium, so he comes by it honestly. But who can calculate the personal cost of putting one’s own psyche at the service of those Chileans who were interrogated, tortured, and executed during Pinochet’s reign of terror? Or to dare to speak for those 453 immigrant restaurant workers who lost their lives in the World Trade Center on 9/11? What a way to ring out National Poetry Month.
Monday: Rags and Bone: Okay, I admit it, you probably have to have a taste for the macabre, or at the very least have been raised Roman Catholic to appreciate the cult of relics; but Peter Manseau (Killing the Buddha) insists that he undertook his “journey among the world’s holy dead” to be reminded of how much he loves life.
Tuesday: Wings of Defeat: A new documentary reveals some startling insights into the make-up of Kamekaze pilots: many of them weren’t really all that keen about killing themselves in the name of their country, and some went out of their way to minimize the damage they caused.
Wednesday: Tune in to find out if our One Day Lalapalooza Pledge Drive will succeed. In between marathon pitches, I’ll be talking with John Nichols about international responses to President Obama’s 100 Days.
Thursday: Do American feminists tend to revert to old world values when they become mothers? We’ll ask Maria Laurino, author of the memoir, Old World Daughter, New World Mother.
Friday: Measuring it out by the teaspoonful, how many of us happen to know that vanilla actually comes from the bean pod of an orchid? Journalist Tim Ecott follows the history of vanilla from its cultivation by the Aztecs to the burgeoning of a multi-million dollar industry. It’s everything but vanilla.
Have a great weekend and here’s hoping it doesn’t rain.
Jean
Monday: Rags and Bone: Okay, I admit it, you probably have to have a taste for the macabre, or at the very least have been raised Roman Catholic to appreciate the cult of relics; but Peter Manseau (Killing the Buddha) insists that he undertook his “journey among the world’s holy dead” to be reminded of how much he loves life.
Tuesday: Wings of Defeat: A new documentary reveals some startling insights into the make-up of Kamekaze pilots: many of them weren’t really all that keen about killing themselves in the name of their country, and some went out of their way to minimize the damage they caused.
Wednesday: Tune in to find out if our One Day Lalapalooza Pledge Drive will succeed. In between marathon pitches, I’ll be talking with John Nichols about international responses to President Obama’s 100 Days.
Thursday: Do American feminists tend to revert to old world values when they become mothers? We’ll ask Maria Laurino, author of the memoir, Old World Daughter, New World Mother.
Friday: Measuring it out by the teaspoonful, how many of us happen to know that vanilla actually comes from the bean pod of an orchid? Journalist Tim Ecott follows the history of vanilla from its cultivation by the Aztecs to the burgeoning of a multi-million dollar industry. It’s everything but vanilla.
Have a great weekend and here’s hoping it doesn’t rain.
Jean
Friday, April 24, 2009
April 27 - May 1 Programs
Hi Everybody,
We’re still working on the line-up for next week’s shows, but it’s all fast falling into place:
Monday: With two thirds of Americans supporting investigations into the Bush administration’s use of torture, and 40 percent supporting criminal prosecutions, pressure on President Obama is mounting. The Center for Constitutional Rights is calling for the Attorney General to Appoint a Special Prosecutor. We’ll talk with CCR director Michael Ratner.
Tuesday: Well, it’s debt and evil bankers in Dickens’ Little Dorritt. Check your local listing for updates!
Wednesday: Gamorrah – Roberto Saviano’s expose of the Neopolitan Mafia, the book that shocked the Italian psyche and caused Saviano to go into hiding is now a feature film playing at the Orpheum in Madison. We’ll talk with a husband and wife team who know the scene in Naples firsthand.
Thursday: Prize-winning poet Martín Espada has sometimes been referred to as "the Pablo Neruda of North American authors." As a poet of justice, an advocate for those who remain unheard, Espada's work touches on the unrest of South America and the postcolonial conflict of Puerto Rico, the land of his ancestors.
Friday: If you haven’t yet discovered Vom Fass, (it means “From the Tap”) the German import store that features tastings of oils, vinegars, and now scotch right out of the barrel, you’re in for a treat.
That’s all Folks!
Jean
We’re still working on the line-up for next week’s shows, but it’s all fast falling into place:
Monday: With two thirds of Americans supporting investigations into the Bush administration’s use of torture, and 40 percent supporting criminal prosecutions, pressure on President Obama is mounting. The Center for Constitutional Rights is calling for the Attorney General to Appoint a Special Prosecutor. We’ll talk with CCR director Michael Ratner.
Tuesday: Well, it’s debt and evil bankers in Dickens’ Little Dorritt. Check your local listing for updates!
Wednesday: Gamorrah – Roberto Saviano’s expose of the Neopolitan Mafia, the book that shocked the Italian psyche and caused Saviano to go into hiding is now a feature film playing at the Orpheum in Madison. We’ll talk with a husband and wife team who know the scene in Naples firsthand.
Thursday: Prize-winning poet Martín Espada has sometimes been referred to as "the Pablo Neruda of North American authors." As a poet of justice, an advocate for those who remain unheard, Espada's work touches on the unrest of South America and the postcolonial conflict of Puerto Rico, the land of his ancestors.
Friday: If you haven’t yet discovered Vom Fass, (it means “From the Tap”) the German import store that features tastings of oils, vinegars, and now scotch right out of the barrel, you’re in for a treat.
That’s all Folks!
Jean
Friday, April 17, 2009
April 20-24 Programs
Jean is sick in the past few days, but we producers are proud to say that all shows are booked for next week.
Monday: Eco-Trip: Ever wonder how that gold ring got to your finger? Eco-adventurer David de Rothschild traveled the world to find the answer for this and other questions on his new TV show, Eco-Trip. It premiers next Tuesday on the Sundance Channel but you can talk with David and Jean Feraca about the true impact of our lifestyle.
Tuesday: Playing For Change: Mark Johnson and his film crew travelled to four continents to capture the music you’re hearing right now. Musicians from South Africa, New Orleans, Barcelona, India and elsewhere all singing the same song in the film and CD Playing for Change. We posted a link to a moving video clip of "Stand by Me" performed by musicians around the world.
Wednesday: The Greenwashing of Hollywood: Disney’s new movie Earth hits theaters Wednesday. It hopes to follow other nature films like March of the Penguins to box office gold. But are Americans ready to actually save the polar bear, or do we just like watching them on the big screen?
Thursday: Reggaeton: First it took Latin America, then the U.S., and now the world. It’s reggaeton, a music that meets at the crossroads of hip-hop and reggae. Jean Feraca talks to Raquel Rivera who co-edited a book on the subject, and she’ll take us to sweaty Puerto Rican clubs that gave birth to reggaeton.
Friday: Searching for Perfect Pizza: Peter Reinhart, a master bread baker, follows the trail from Italy to the States searching for the perfect pizzas and stories behind them.
Enjoy the spring. See you next week.
Lisa Bu
Web producer
Monday: Eco-Trip: Ever wonder how that gold ring got to your finger? Eco-adventurer David de Rothschild traveled the world to find the answer for this and other questions on his new TV show, Eco-Trip. It premiers next Tuesday on the Sundance Channel but you can talk with David and Jean Feraca about the true impact of our lifestyle.
Tuesday: Playing For Change: Mark Johnson and his film crew travelled to four continents to capture the music you’re hearing right now. Musicians from South Africa, New Orleans, Barcelona, India and elsewhere all singing the same song in the film and CD Playing for Change. We posted a link to a moving video clip of "Stand by Me" performed by musicians around the world.
Wednesday: The Greenwashing of Hollywood: Disney’s new movie Earth hits theaters Wednesday. It hopes to follow other nature films like March of the Penguins to box office gold. But are Americans ready to actually save the polar bear, or do we just like watching them on the big screen?
Thursday: Reggaeton: First it took Latin America, then the U.S., and now the world. It’s reggaeton, a music that meets at the crossroads of hip-hop and reggae. Jean Feraca talks to Raquel Rivera who co-edited a book on the subject, and she’ll take us to sweaty Puerto Rican clubs that gave birth to reggaeton.
Friday: Searching for Perfect Pizza: Peter Reinhart, a master bread baker, follows the trail from Italy to the States searching for the perfect pizzas and stories behind them.
Enjoy the spring. See you next week.
Lisa Bu
Web producer
Friday, April 10, 2009
April 13-17 Programs
My Pick of the Week (why have I been referring to myself in the third person?): Noam Chomsky. At eighty, surrounded by adoring sycophantic twenty year olds, this guy is the Tony Bennett of intellectuals. He was pretty hard on Obama, and, as it turned out, hadn’t had the time to read his speech from the Turkish parliament, but I really liked the answer he gave to my question, “Who are your mentors? How did Noam Chomsky become Noam Chomsky?”
Next Week on Here on Earth:
Monday: Take web-savvy pioneers, viewer-driven television and eco-friendly innovations and you have Planet Forward, a new series premiering on PBS next week. I'll talk with Emmy-winning host Frank Sesno about future green ideas and their genesis on web.
Tuesday: What a Billion Muslims Really Think: Dalia Mogahed is the Executive Director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies. She’s coming to campus as a guest of the Lubar Instittute for Abrahamic Studies to talk about the findings of Gallup’s unprecedented survey of Muslims worldwide.
Wednesday: Slow Money: First there was Slow Food, then came Slow Cities, and now Slow Money. Not surprising, investor Woody Tasch’s controversial book about the nature of slow money includes a forward by Slow Food patriarch Carlo Petrini and carries the sub-title: Investing as if food, farms and fertility mattered. Bottom line? “In soil we trust.”
Thursday: Klezmer Camp: Henry Sapoznik has been on the UW-Madison campus this semester as the 2009 Visiting Scholar on Yiddish and American popular culture. A four-time Grammy nominee, he won a Peabody for the series, the "Yiddish Radio Project". He promises to play klezmer on his banjo when he joins us on Thursday.
Friday: Curries: Are you ready for 660 Indian Curries? Raghavan Iyer, an award-winning teacher of the year, joins us to lead us through the sour, salty, sweet, pungent, bitter gateway to Indian cooking.
Happy Easter, and may you find many hidden treasures besides the eggs.
Jean
Next Week on Here on Earth:
Monday: Take web-savvy pioneers, viewer-driven television and eco-friendly innovations and you have Planet Forward, a new series premiering on PBS next week. I'll talk with Emmy-winning host Frank Sesno about future green ideas and their genesis on web.
Tuesday: What a Billion Muslims Really Think: Dalia Mogahed is the Executive Director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies. She’s coming to campus as a guest of the Lubar Instittute for Abrahamic Studies to talk about the findings of Gallup’s unprecedented survey of Muslims worldwide.
Wednesday: Slow Money: First there was Slow Food, then came Slow Cities, and now Slow Money. Not surprising, investor Woody Tasch’s controversial book about the nature of slow money includes a forward by Slow Food patriarch Carlo Petrini and carries the sub-title: Investing as if food, farms and fertility mattered. Bottom line? “In soil we trust.”
Thursday: Klezmer Camp: Henry Sapoznik has been on the UW-Madison campus this semester as the 2009 Visiting Scholar on Yiddish and American popular culture. A four-time Grammy nominee, he won a Peabody for the series, the "Yiddish Radio Project". He promises to play klezmer on his banjo when he joins us on Thursday.
Friday: Curries: Are you ready for 660 Indian Curries? Raghavan Iyer, an award-winning teacher of the year, joins us to lead us through the sour, salty, sweet, pungent, bitter gateway to Indian cooking.
Happy Easter, and may you find many hidden treasures besides the eggs.
Jean
Friday, April 03, 2009
April 6-10 Programs
Jean’s Pick of the Week: Rediscovering the Russian Classics: What could be better than talking for an hour about Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky with two of the world’s best Russian translators?
Here’s what we have planned for you in the first full week of “the cruelest month:”
Monday: Yanamono Medical Clinic: Dr. Linnea Smith took a trip to the Peruvian rainforest 16 years ago and ended up opening a medical clinic on the banks of the Amazon. This year the clinic, which was largely built by Rotarians from Duluth, was in danger of being swallowed up by the Amazon. So the intrepid Rotarians trooped back down to the rainforest and started all over again. Linnea joins us with more harrowing and heroic stories.
Tuesday: “If the Nuremburg laws were applied, then every post World War American president would have been hanged.” Noam Chomsky said that. He’ll be paying Here on Earth a visit during his stay on the UW-Madison campus next week.
Wednesday: The First Paul: Two of the world’s leading Jesus scholars – Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan – expose the church’s attempt to silence Jesus’ most radical disciple – Paul.
Thursday: Being Gay and Muslim: Writer, blogger and director Parvez Sharma is openly gay. He’s also identifies as a Muslim. He attempts to bridge the chasm between the two with his latest documentary, A Jihad for Love, a project which found Sharma talking with gay and lesbian Muslims all over the world.
Friday: Lori Skelton explores Passover Sweets – no easy feat since everything has to be made without flour.
Hope you pulled off your April Fool’s jokes. I tried to convince my husband that I had converted to Islam, but he just turned the joke back on me and said, “Oh good. Now we can both give up sausages!”
Jean
Here’s what we have planned for you in the first full week of “the cruelest month:”
Monday: Yanamono Medical Clinic: Dr. Linnea Smith took a trip to the Peruvian rainforest 16 years ago and ended up opening a medical clinic on the banks of the Amazon. This year the clinic, which was largely built by Rotarians from Duluth, was in danger of being swallowed up by the Amazon. So the intrepid Rotarians trooped back down to the rainforest and started all over again. Linnea joins us with more harrowing and heroic stories.
Tuesday: “If the Nuremburg laws were applied, then every post World War American president would have been hanged.” Noam Chomsky said that. He’ll be paying Here on Earth a visit during his stay on the UW-Madison campus next week.
Wednesday: The First Paul: Two of the world’s leading Jesus scholars – Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan – expose the church’s attempt to silence Jesus’ most radical disciple – Paul.
Thursday: Being Gay and Muslim: Writer, blogger and director Parvez Sharma is openly gay. He’s also identifies as a Muslim. He attempts to bridge the chasm between the two with his latest documentary, A Jihad for Love, a project which found Sharma talking with gay and lesbian Muslims all over the world.
Friday: Lori Skelton explores Passover Sweets – no easy feat since everything has to be made without flour.
Hope you pulled off your April Fool’s jokes. I tried to convince my husband that I had converted to Islam, but he just turned the joke back on me and said, “Oh good. Now we can both give up sausages!”
Jean
Friday, March 27, 2009
March 30 - April 3 Programs
Jean’s Pick of the Week: Eco-Islam: Darn it, if we didn’t have bad luck yesterday spoiling what might have been the best program in our Inside Islam series to date. Everything was lined up: a dynamite topic with universal appeal plus three internationally prominent hard-hitters for guests. The first blow came when we got word just before noon that world famous Sufi theologian Sayyed Hossein Nasr, the lead for the show, had been taken ill and would not able to join us; the second blow came when Fazlun Khalid, who had kindly agreed to step up to the plate, got caught in a thunderstorm that knocked out his telephone lines and left us with nothing but his cell phone which crackled and gulped and threatened to drop out through most of the show.
But we soldiered on anyway, because the content was so illuminating. Who knew that the Koran was green? Who knew that the Prophet Mohammed was an environmental visionary? I learned so much from this show that it gave me a whole new appreciation for the Muslim world.
Here’s what’s coming up on Here on Earth this week:
Monday: Football Under Cover: Get a pre-view of this film we’ve chosen from the Inside Islam Film Festival. It features an all female Iranian soccer team (the women play in their headscarves) matched for the first time against a German team.
Tuesday: The Russians Are Coming! If you’re a fan of 19th century Russian novels, and perhaps haven’t cracked the likes of War and Peace in a while, here’s a chance to catch up. We’ll be talking with a husband and wife team whose 21st century translations of the Russian classics are garnering a whole new readership. Guests: Richard Peavar and Larissa Volokhonsky.
Wednesday: Engaging the Muslim World: Can we win the war in Afghanistan? How do we engage with Iran and Pakistan? Western society, according to celebrated blogger Juan Cole, is suffering from Islam Anxiety – a hangover from the Bush years and a product of fearmongering and misinformation. He reveals howwe can repair the damage of the last eight years and forge a path of peace and prosperity with the Middle East. Juan Cole, Professor of History at the University of Michigan, author of Engaging the Muslim World.
Thursday: We’re working on a program about a Warsaw village band.
Friday: Cheese Wars: Taylor Pipes film compares Wisconsin's cheese heritage with its artisan roots to California’s mass production while also debunking the myth of the California "Happy Cow." Filmed in 2008 in locations all around Wisconsin, it premiers at the Wisconsin Film Festival on April 4.
Have a great weekend, Everybody!
And thanks for listening,
Jean
But we soldiered on anyway, because the content was so illuminating. Who knew that the Koran was green? Who knew that the Prophet Mohammed was an environmental visionary? I learned so much from this show that it gave me a whole new appreciation for the Muslim world.
Here’s what’s coming up on Here on Earth this week:
Monday: Football Under Cover: Get a pre-view of this film we’ve chosen from the Inside Islam Film Festival. It features an all female Iranian soccer team (the women play in their headscarves) matched for the first time against a German team.
Tuesday: The Russians Are Coming! If you’re a fan of 19th century Russian novels, and perhaps haven’t cracked the likes of War and Peace in a while, here’s a chance to catch up. We’ll be talking with a husband and wife team whose 21st century translations of the Russian classics are garnering a whole new readership. Guests: Richard Peavar and Larissa Volokhonsky.
Wednesday: Engaging the Muslim World: Can we win the war in Afghanistan? How do we engage with Iran and Pakistan? Western society, according to celebrated blogger Juan Cole, is suffering from Islam Anxiety – a hangover from the Bush years and a product of fearmongering and misinformation. He reveals howwe can repair the damage of the last eight years and forge a path of peace and prosperity with the Middle East. Juan Cole, Professor of History at the University of Michigan, author of Engaging the Muslim World.
Thursday: We’re working on a program about a Warsaw village band.
Friday: Cheese Wars: Taylor Pipes film compares Wisconsin's cheese heritage with its artisan roots to California’s mass production while also debunking the myth of the California "Happy Cow." Filmed in 2008 in locations all around Wisconsin, it premiers at the Wisconsin Film Festival on April 4.
Have a great weekend, Everybody!
And thanks for listening,
Jean
Friday, March 20, 2009
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
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
Friday, March 13, 2009
March 16-20 Programs
Jean’s Pick of the Week: Aroma-therapy: I never thought I would ever get to repeat on the radio what Napoleon allegedly said to Josephine: "I’m coming home in two weeks – don’t bathe." But, sure enough, the occasion presented itself in Wednesday’s program about the psychology and biology of smell with Brown University professor Rachel Herz, author of The Scent of Desire. Phew! What a hoot! I only regret we didn’t invite Diane Ackerman, who wrote A Natural History of the Senses.
Monday: Aereality: William Fox has climbed mountains, ridden in hot air balloons and flown airplanes, all with one purpose: to see the world from above. Nature Magazine says, “Fox gives us an enthralling guided tour of the human mind’s attempt to make space into place, and land into landscape.”
Tuesday: Michael Henderson hasn’t just written one book about forgiveness, he’s written nine of them! As a member of an Anglo-Irish Protestant family involved in reconciliation efforts with Irish Catholics, I guess he has a lot to forgive. His latest, No Enemy to Conquer, deals with the geopolitics of mercy and is chock full of examples of the best that people are capable of under the worst circumstances.
Wednesday: Philosopher Peter Singer, the animal rights advocate, has written a new book about charitable giving and makes his case for why you should give even in hard times in The Life You Can Save.
Thursday: Molly Peacock and I have decided to feature the poetry of Wisconsin poet Lorine Niedecker for this very last Here on Earth Spring Equinox Poetry Circle of the Air. Lorine spent most of her pared-down life writing extraordinarily spare poems while living in the flood plain on Black Hawk Island. Check our website for "My Life by Water," and other Niedecker poems and come join the circle with some soggy spring poems of your own choosing.
Friday: Hard Cider: Gary Nabhan, the founder of RAFT (Renewing America’s Food Traditions), is heading into Madison to lead a public workshop on heirloom fruits and heritage apple orchard restoration. And if you’re wondering, with all the emphasis on seasonal eating, why apples, his answer is “The old timers used to drink their apples at this time of year!” *If you would like more information about RAFT visit http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.php/programs/details/raft/
On a personal note, today is my son Dominick’s birthday. He was born on Friday the 13th at 13 minutes before midnight, just two and a half hours after I was plucked from Master Control during my evening shift at WGUC in Cincinnatti.
Thanks for listening!
Jean
Monday: Aereality: William Fox has climbed mountains, ridden in hot air balloons and flown airplanes, all with one purpose: to see the world from above. Nature Magazine says, “Fox gives us an enthralling guided tour of the human mind’s attempt to make space into place, and land into landscape.”
Tuesday: Michael Henderson hasn’t just written one book about forgiveness, he’s written nine of them! As a member of an Anglo-Irish Protestant family involved in reconciliation efforts with Irish Catholics, I guess he has a lot to forgive. His latest, No Enemy to Conquer, deals with the geopolitics of mercy and is chock full of examples of the best that people are capable of under the worst circumstances.
Wednesday: Philosopher Peter Singer, the animal rights advocate, has written a new book about charitable giving and makes his case for why you should give even in hard times in The Life You Can Save.
Thursday: Molly Peacock and I have decided to feature the poetry of Wisconsin poet Lorine Niedecker for this very last Here on Earth Spring Equinox Poetry Circle of the Air. Lorine spent most of her pared-down life writing extraordinarily spare poems while living in the flood plain on Black Hawk Island. Check our website for "My Life by Water," and other Niedecker poems and come join the circle with some soggy spring poems of your own choosing.
Friday: Hard Cider: Gary Nabhan, the founder of RAFT (Renewing America’s Food Traditions), is heading into Madison to lead a public workshop on heirloom fruits and heritage apple orchard restoration. And if you’re wondering, with all the emphasis on seasonal eating, why apples, his answer is “The old timers used to drink their apples at this time of year!” *If you would like more information about RAFT visit http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.php/programs/details/raft/
On a personal note, today is my son Dominick’s birthday. He was born on Friday the 13th at 13 minutes before midnight, just two and a half hours after I was plucked from Master Control during my evening shift at WGUC in Cincinnatti.
Thanks for listening!
Jean
Friday, March 06, 2009
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
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
Friday, February 27, 2009
March 2-6 Programs
Jean’s Pick of the Week: Mardi Gras! We managed to bring both the dark and the light side of Mardi Gras into the conversation – perfectly in keeping with the real essence of Fat Tuesday. I especially appreciated the wonderful callers from New Orleans and Mobile who added such a rich dimension to the show.
Pledge Report: We’re actually ahead of where we expected to be thus far into the drive, thanks to your incredibly generous support. The drive ends at 1:00pm on Monday, so here’s what’s coming up on Here on Earth in the week ahead:
Monday: Canadian Physicist Searches for the Next Einstein in Africa: Neil Turok is a TED prize winner who founded the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences in Cape Town. He’s working to promote math and science education in Africa so that the world’s next Einstein may be African.
Tuesday: Daughters of Shame: Jasvinder Sanghera, founder of Karma Nirvana, author of Shame and Daughters of Shame, helps women escape from forced marriages and honor-based violence.
Wednesday: Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, Waltz with Bashir is an animated documentary film written and directed by Israeli veteran Ari Folman. It tells the director’s own story of his attempt to piece together the lost memory of a massacre in which he participated during the 1982 Lebanon War. Folman himself joins us from Israel.
Thursday: Inside Pakistan: Real People; Real Lives: You may have noticed the buzz about Daniyal Mueenuddin’s collection of linked stories: In Other Rooms, Other Wonders and that’s because it’s a really terrific book that provides a window into a remote world rarely captured in fiction. Plus, the guy’s story is amazing – he grew up in Lahore, Pakistan and Elroy, Wisconsin!
Friday: Can anybody be a food critic? Maybe so, but not like Moira Hodgson, the daughter of a British foreign service officer, who discovered American food in Saigon, ate wild boar and snails in Berlin, and learned how to make potatoes 57 different ways from her Irish grandma. She serves it all up in her memoir, It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time: My Adventures in Life and Food.
Again, thanks so much for all your support this week. Your reward will be in heaven and so long as you keep listening to WPR!
Jean
Pledge Report: We’re actually ahead of where we expected to be thus far into the drive, thanks to your incredibly generous support. The drive ends at 1:00pm on Monday, so here’s what’s coming up on Here on Earth in the week ahead:
Monday: Canadian Physicist Searches for the Next Einstein in Africa: Neil Turok is a TED prize winner who founded the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences in Cape Town. He’s working to promote math and science education in Africa so that the world’s next Einstein may be African.
Tuesday: Daughters of Shame: Jasvinder Sanghera, founder of Karma Nirvana, author of Shame and Daughters of Shame, helps women escape from forced marriages and honor-based violence.
Wednesday: Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, Waltz with Bashir is an animated documentary film written and directed by Israeli veteran Ari Folman. It tells the director’s own story of his attempt to piece together the lost memory of a massacre in which he participated during the 1982 Lebanon War. Folman himself joins us from Israel.
Thursday: Inside Pakistan: Real People; Real Lives: You may have noticed the buzz about Daniyal Mueenuddin’s collection of linked stories: In Other Rooms, Other Wonders and that’s because it’s a really terrific book that provides a window into a remote world rarely captured in fiction. Plus, the guy’s story is amazing – he grew up in Lahore, Pakistan and Elroy, Wisconsin!
Friday: Can anybody be a food critic? Maybe so, but not like Moira Hodgson, the daughter of a British foreign service officer, who discovered American food in Saigon, ate wild boar and snails in Berlin, and learned how to make potatoes 57 different ways from her Irish grandma. She serves it all up in her memoir, It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time: My Adventures in Life and Food.
Again, thanks so much for all your support this week. Your reward will be in heaven and so long as you keep listening to WPR!
Jean
Friday, February 20, 2009
Feb 23-27 Programs
Our Winter Membership Drive just started today and we’ve put a lot of thought into a special line-up of topics and guests – and prizes! – designed to keep you tuned in:
Monday: Everybody gets a chance to win a state-of-the-art Ipod pre-loaded with some of our best programs when John Nichols joins us to talk about the Israeli elections and help us raise money! Nobody does it quite like John. He turns into a carny barker during Pledge.
Fat Tuesday: Nothin’ like a Mardi Gras party to shake those low down Winter Blues.
Wednesday: MAN ON WIRE! MAN ON WIRE! MAN ON WIRE! Here’s your chance to connect with world famous tightrope walker Philippe Petit who pulled off one of the greatest feats of all time when he walked a tightrope between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. He tells the whole riveting story in the DVD which can be yours for a pledge of support to Here on Earth. I’ve waited a long time for this one.
Thursday: Honeymoon in Tehran: Time magazine correspondent Azadeh Moaveni tells her tale of love and anguish in the Islamic Republic.
Friday: We’re wearing sackcloth and ashes this first food Friday in Lent, looking for a monk who can ladle out some simple wholesome tasty monastery food. Any ideas? Lean fare, but definitely not slim pickings.
I saved a little love leftover from Valentine’s Day – just for you!
Do help us meet those pledge goals and thank you, thank you, always, for all you do!
Jean
Monday: Everybody gets a chance to win a state-of-the-art Ipod pre-loaded with some of our best programs when John Nichols joins us to talk about the Israeli elections and help us raise money! Nobody does it quite like John. He turns into a carny barker during Pledge.
Fat Tuesday: Nothin’ like a Mardi Gras party to shake those low down Winter Blues.
Wednesday: MAN ON WIRE! MAN ON WIRE! MAN ON WIRE! Here’s your chance to connect with world famous tightrope walker Philippe Petit who pulled off one of the greatest feats of all time when he walked a tightrope between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. He tells the whole riveting story in the DVD which can be yours for a pledge of support to Here on Earth. I’ve waited a long time for this one.
Thursday: Honeymoon in Tehran: Time magazine correspondent Azadeh Moaveni tells her tale of love and anguish in the Islamic Republic.
Friday: We’re wearing sackcloth and ashes this first food Friday in Lent, looking for a monk who can ladle out some simple wholesome tasty monastery food. Any ideas? Lean fare, but definitely not slim pickings.
I saved a little love leftover from Valentine’s Day – just for you!
Do help us meet those pledge goals and thank you, thank you, always, for all you do!
Jean
Friday, February 13, 2009
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
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
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Feb 9-13 Programs
Just back from a week in the California desert, to hit the ground running…isn’t it awful how the ever accelerating pace of modern life leaves such precious little time for the little civilities…
Here’s what’s up the Here on Earth sleeve for the coming week:
Monday: Inside North Korea: Kim Jong Ill made headlines last week by threatening to start a war with South Korea. But there’s more to North Korea than its saber-rattling dictator. Join us as we meet the people behind North Korea’s Iron Curtain with Daniel Gordon and Nicholas Bonner, two British documentarians who won access to the world’s most isolated country.
Tuesday: The Betrayal/Nerakhoon: The epic story of a family forced to emigrate from Laos after the chaos of the secret air war waged by the U.S. during the Vietnam War. We’ll talk with Director Ellen Kuras who spent the last 23 years chronicling the family's extraordinary journey in this deeply personal, poetic, and emotional film.
Wednesday: There will be nation-wide events this year in celebration of Darwin Day, February 12. We’re tapping two of the best: acclaimed UW geneticist Sean Carroll, author of Remarkable Creatures, and James Moore, co-author of DARWIN’S SACRED CAUSE: How a Hatred of Slavery Shaped Darwin’s Views on Human Evolution.
Thursday: Do Muslims date? If they don’t date, how do they decide who to marry? Join us for Muslim Love Stories: The Changing Nature of Muslim Courtship: a pre-Valentine’s Day special in our ongoing series, Inside Islam: Dialogues and Debates, and check out www.insideislam.wisc.edu to share your story.
Friday: Taking Stock: Will This Romance Survive a Week in the Kitchen? Second to travel, the best test of a budding romance is to cook together. Lori and Bill, both food lovers, decided to spend their entire vacation tackling complicated recipes like soup stock and French terrines. Points scored? Pounds gained?
Let us know what you think of our programs. Our hotline is ready to record your comments 24/7. Just call 1-877-GLOBE07. And thanks.
Jean
Here’s what’s up the Here on Earth sleeve for the coming week:
Monday: Inside North Korea: Kim Jong Ill made headlines last week by threatening to start a war with South Korea. But there’s more to North Korea than its saber-rattling dictator. Join us as we meet the people behind North Korea’s Iron Curtain with Daniel Gordon and Nicholas Bonner, two British documentarians who won access to the world’s most isolated country.
Tuesday: The Betrayal/Nerakhoon: The epic story of a family forced to emigrate from Laos after the chaos of the secret air war waged by the U.S. during the Vietnam War. We’ll talk with Director Ellen Kuras who spent the last 23 years chronicling the family's extraordinary journey in this deeply personal, poetic, and emotional film.
Wednesday: There will be nation-wide events this year in celebration of Darwin Day, February 12. We’re tapping two of the best: acclaimed UW geneticist Sean Carroll, author of Remarkable Creatures, and James Moore, co-author of DARWIN’S SACRED CAUSE: How a Hatred of Slavery Shaped Darwin’s Views on Human Evolution.
Thursday: Do Muslims date? If they don’t date, how do they decide who to marry? Join us for Muslim Love Stories: The Changing Nature of Muslim Courtship: a pre-Valentine’s Day special in our ongoing series, Inside Islam: Dialogues and Debates, and check out www.insideislam.wisc.edu to share your story.
Friday: Taking Stock: Will This Romance Survive a Week in the Kitchen? Second to travel, the best test of a budding romance is to cook together. Lori and Bill, both food lovers, decided to spend their entire vacation tackling complicated recipes like soup stock and French terrines. Points scored? Pounds gained?
Let us know what you think of our programs. Our hotline is ready to record your comments 24/7. Just call 1-877-GLOBE07. And thanks.
Jean
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Feb 2-6 Programs
Here's what's coming up in the first week of February.
Monday: Elegant, heart-filled and mysterious, Mariachi music has travelled a long road from working-class Mexico to concert stages worldwide. Join Veronica Rueckert and her guests to uncover Mariachi's history and celebrate its best recordings.
Tuesday: Roy Bourgeois is a an American priest in the Maryknoll order of the Roman Catholic Church and founder of the human rights group SOA (School of the Americas) who’s facing excommunication by the Vatican for participating in a ceremony it considers illicit and invalid: the ordination of a woman. Meanwhile, the American Church is so short of priests it’s been forced to import them from Africa.
Wednesday: Japan’s Soft Power: Japan is quietly emerging as a global trendsetter in pop culture, as well as in green technology and environmental practices.
Thursday: Hidden Lives: The Women of Kandahar: A photojournalist teams up with an Afghan-American to tell the stories of Afghan women living in compounds behind the doors of the women’s quarters.
Friday: Science in the Kitchen: Join Jean with esteemed author Harold McGee, author of On Food and Cooking, and Herve This, the French founder of a new trend he calls "molecular gastronomy."
Jean
Monday: Elegant, heart-filled and mysterious, Mariachi music has travelled a long road from working-class Mexico to concert stages worldwide. Join Veronica Rueckert and her guests to uncover Mariachi's history and celebrate its best recordings.
Tuesday: Roy Bourgeois is a an American priest in the Maryknoll order of the Roman Catholic Church and founder of the human rights group SOA (School of the Americas) who’s facing excommunication by the Vatican for participating in a ceremony it considers illicit and invalid: the ordination of a woman. Meanwhile, the American Church is so short of priests it’s been forced to import them from Africa.
Wednesday: Japan’s Soft Power: Japan is quietly emerging as a global trendsetter in pop culture, as well as in green technology and environmental practices.
Thursday: Hidden Lives: The Women of Kandahar: A photojournalist teams up with an Afghan-American to tell the stories of Afghan women living in compounds behind the doors of the women’s quarters.
Friday: Science in the Kitchen: Join Jean with esteemed author Harold McGee, author of On Food and Cooking, and Herve This, the French founder of a new trend he calls "molecular gastronomy."
Jean
Friday, January 23, 2009
Jan 26-30 Programs
Jean's Pick of the Week: Reaching Out to the Muslim World. The fourth program in our Inside Islam series, broadcast just two days after Inauguration Day and featuring breaking news from the White House and three Muslim experts on what needs to be done to improve relations with the Muslim world. This program and all three that preceded it will be broadcast as a week-long series special Jan. 26 – 29, while I’m on vacation. We’d love to get your feedback. Does the series make sense as a series? Does it have a signature style and feel? Is it opening your mind and heart to a new way of thinking about Muslims and Islam? Does it make you want to learn more? Are there too many guests? What do you remember and take away from listening? Visit www.insideislam.wisc.edu to find out what’s coming up in future shows and how you can help us shape the programs. You can also leave a comment on our 24/7 hotline: 1-877-GLOBE07. And thanks you!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
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: : 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
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: : 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
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Jan 12-16 Programs
Jean’s Pick of the Week – which wasn’t everybody’s! – Godless Commies and Dirty Reds: When my friend Marcin Filutowitcz, who grew up in Communist Poland, tuned into Here on Earth last Tuesday and heard the all-too-familiar strains of the Internationale, he quickly switched us off. I can understand that. But for me it was a form of liberation to host a program about the American Communist movement with someone as unflappable and even-handed as Bob March who grew up in a Communist family in Chicago. I was also reminded in the course of the conversation that I myself have participated in at least two movements that I now recognize as heavily influenced by Marxism: Italy’s Slow Food Movement (founded by Carlo Perini) and the American Women’s Movement at its most strident. And now I say, so what if they are Marxist. It’s just another ‘ism’ like all the other ‘ismatic’ orthodoxies. As Satish Kumar is fond of saying, sooner or later all the ‘isms’ will become ‘wasms.’ Until that happens, the heretics will be kept busy.
Coming in February: (Can you tell I’m excited about this?) Philippe Petit, the Frenchman who once walked a tightrope between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, joins us February 10th to talk about his astonishing feat, the subject of the documentary film, Man on Wire.
This Week on HoE:
Monday: Don’t Sleep, There Are Snakes! Behind that sensationalized title is a truly original account of Amazonia written by a man, Daniel Everett, who went there as a Christian missionary expecting to convert the Pirahas, a tribe in Brazil, and was instead converted by them.
Tuesday: Gaza again, this time from the perspective of citizens affected. We’ll talk with moderates from both sides, explore their mutual frustrations, and what can be done to change the rationale for violence.
Wednesday: Slumdog Millionnaire, Danny Boyle’s highly praised film about an Indian boy from the slums who rises to fame and fortune by competing on a television quiz show. We’ll talk with the director and a Bollywood expert.
Thursday: Can you ever truly know who you are if you don’t know where you come from? Hannah Pool, a beauty editor for The Guardian, journeys to Eritrea to confront the poverty of the live that might have been hers in her memoir, My Fathers’ Daughter.
Friday: Science in the Kitchen: At the Stove, a Dash of Science, a Pinch of Folklore and something called "Molecular Gastronomy," a term coined by the French Chef Herve.
Check out our New HoE Hotline: In case you haven’t picked up on it, we have a new 24-hour hotline –- 1-877GLOBE07 –- that lets you respond to Here on Earth programs, suggest topics or guests for upcoming shows, or just sound off in general. Please let us hear from you. Your comment might just end up broadcast in our HoE mailbag.
And, as always, thanks for listening!
Jean
Coming in February: (Can you tell I’m excited about this?) Philippe Petit, the Frenchman who once walked a tightrope between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, joins us February 10th to talk about his astonishing feat, the subject of the documentary film, Man on Wire.
This Week on HoE:
Monday: Don’t Sleep, There Are Snakes! Behind that sensationalized title is a truly original account of Amazonia written by a man, Daniel Everett, who went there as a Christian missionary expecting to convert the Pirahas, a tribe in Brazil, and was instead converted by them.
Tuesday: Gaza again, this time from the perspective of citizens affected. We’ll talk with moderates from both sides, explore their mutual frustrations, and what can be done to change the rationale for violence.
Wednesday: Slumdog Millionnaire, Danny Boyle’s highly praised film about an Indian boy from the slums who rises to fame and fortune by competing on a television quiz show. We’ll talk with the director and a Bollywood expert.
Thursday: Can you ever truly know who you are if you don’t know where you come from? Hannah Pool, a beauty editor for The Guardian, journeys to Eritrea to confront the poverty of the live that might have been hers in her memoir, My Fathers’ Daughter.
Friday: Science in the Kitchen: At the Stove, a Dash of Science, a Pinch of Folklore and something called "Molecular Gastronomy," a term coined by the French Chef Herve.
Check out our New HoE Hotline: In case you haven’t picked up on it, we have a new 24-hour hotline –- 1-877GLOBE07 –- that lets you respond to Here on Earth programs, suggest topics or guests for upcoming shows, or just sound off in general. Please let us hear from you. Your comment might just end up broadcast in our HoE mailbag.
And, as always, thanks for listening!
Jean
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Jan 5-9 Programs
For the first week of 2009, I've taken to heart the criticism we received from one Here on Earth listener who, in responding to our program on the Stalin Archives, had this to say: "I was raised with American Communists many of whom had the best morals of any people I have ever known. My own parents, of course, became disenchanted with Russian Communism but not its ideals. They paid a heavy price for their beliefs during the McCarthy years, but never gave up the fight for peace and justice for all people. Until their deaths, they worked in the communities and were well liked by the people who knew them and understood them to be the fine people they were. I have known many like them.
"But whenever, you do a show on this subject i feel that you are still having a knee-jerk and not very well informed reaction to the subject as if you are still suffering from the fifities when people were afraid they'd find the "dirty reds" under their beds. please consider getting better informed. One suggestion: You might try to talk to my friend and your friend, Bob March, on this subject. "
Bob March will be on the show this Tuesday to talk about "Reds."
Monday: Global Voices: an internet media newsroom for on-the-ground reporting from the developing world, Global Voices is a website run by volunteers that collects, translates, and disseminates all the blogs in the developing world -- an excellent source of citizen journalism, what some critics are calling the wave of the future. Find out what bloggers in the Middle East are saying about events in Gaza, and hear from other global voices in-the-know when we talk with 3 GV editors.
Tuesday: "Reds:" What attracted so many Americans to Communist ideals and what caused them to go sour on the Party? Bob March, UW Professor Emeritus of Physics, grew up in Chicago during the heroic period of union organizing in the thirties. His father was an agitator who served on the Central Committee of the Communist Party and got his son involved in the Youth Movement.
Wednesday: This one's still up for grabs.
Thursday: How do good ideas go "viral?" For 25 years, the TED conference has featured some of the world's most influential thinkers -- Jane Goodall, Stephen Hawking, Al Gore. You may have seen their TED speeches on YouTube. We'll talk with TED curator Chris Anderson about "Ideas Worth Spreading."
Food Friday: Simon Says: Given the English reputation, the words "British" and "chef" put together might strike you as an oxymoron. But Simon Hopkinson is not just a first-rate chef whose recipes reflect all the great cuisines of the world, he's also a brilliant writer whose 2005 cookbook, Roast Chicken and Other Stories was voted "the most useful cookbook of all times." I first learned about Simon while in Beijing in the company of a mad Irishman who walked us nearly to death searching for an obscure Muslim restaurant that served first-rate eel.
I think I need an Irish coffee.
Happy New Year and let's keep talking!
Jean
"But whenever, you do a show on this subject i feel that you are still having a knee-jerk and not very well informed reaction to the subject as if you are still suffering from the fifities when people were afraid they'd find the "dirty reds" under their beds. please consider getting better informed. One suggestion: You might try to talk to my friend and your friend, Bob March, on this subject. "
Bob March will be on the show this Tuesday to talk about "Reds."
Monday: Global Voices: an internet media newsroom for on-the-ground reporting from the developing world, Global Voices is a website run by volunteers that collects, translates, and disseminates all the blogs in the developing world -- an excellent source of citizen journalism, what some critics are calling the wave of the future. Find out what bloggers in the Middle East are saying about events in Gaza, and hear from other global voices in-the-know when we talk with 3 GV editors.
Tuesday: "Reds:" What attracted so many Americans to Communist ideals and what caused them to go sour on the Party? Bob March, UW Professor Emeritus of Physics, grew up in Chicago during the heroic period of union organizing in the thirties. His father was an agitator who served on the Central Committee of the Communist Party and got his son involved in the Youth Movement.
Wednesday: This one's still up for grabs.
Thursday: How do good ideas go "viral?" For 25 years, the TED conference has featured some of the world's most influential thinkers -- Jane Goodall, Stephen Hawking, Al Gore. You may have seen their TED speeches on YouTube. We'll talk with TED curator Chris Anderson about "Ideas Worth Spreading."
Food Friday: Simon Says: Given the English reputation, the words "British" and "chef" put together might strike you as an oxymoron. But Simon Hopkinson is not just a first-rate chef whose recipes reflect all the great cuisines of the world, he's also a brilliant writer whose 2005 cookbook, Roast Chicken and Other Stories was voted "the most useful cookbook of all times." I first learned about Simon while in Beijing in the company of a mad Irishman who walked us nearly to death searching for an obscure Muslim restaurant that served first-rate eel.
I think I need an Irish coffee.
Happy New Year and let's keep talking!
Jean
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Dec 29 - Jan 2 Programs
Hi, everyone!
This is Lisa Bu, the web producer of Here on Earth, sitting in a very quiet office. We staff had a couple of cheerful gatherings at the station and in Jean's house in the past several days. I hope you're having a good time, too, despite the weather. For the coming week, we have cooked up a few shows accompanied by a couple of best Here on Earth encores. Enjoy!
Monday: Gay Rights: A Universal Principle? In many countries, the taboo against homosexuality seems to be eroding even as the debate rages on: proposition 8, the UN and the Vatican are keeping the issue on the front page. Should gay rights be included under the Universal Declaration on human rights?
Tuesday: Best Books in Translation. While the whole world is busy writing great books, fewer than three percent of them get translated and make American bookshelves. This prompted the New York Times five years ago to declare that "America Yawned" at foreign fiction, but is it still true? Raid your library and join Jean Feraca as we share the world's best books in translation.
Wednesday: The Dead Beat: The Art of Obituaries (encore). How would you like to be remembered? What do obituaries say about our culture? This hour on Here On Earth: Radio Without Borders, join Jean Feraca for a talk with two leading obituarists.
Thursday: Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy (encore). Eric Wilson tried jogging, yoga, tai chi, Frank Capra movies, and finally decided to embrace his gloominess and write a diatribe against the quintessentially American pursuit of happiness -– buoyed up by Prozac and shopping malls, the mass of men lead lives of shallow happiness, the superior man exults in his gloom. Which one are you?
Friday: Lore of Whiskey. Want a remedy for your New Year hangover? Join us for the history and lore of Whiskey.
Happy New Year!
Lisa Bu
Web producer
Here on Earth
This is Lisa Bu, the web producer of Here on Earth, sitting in a very quiet office. We staff had a couple of cheerful gatherings at the station and in Jean's house in the past several days. I hope you're having a good time, too, despite the weather. For the coming week, we have cooked up a few shows accompanied by a couple of best Here on Earth encores. Enjoy!
Monday: Gay Rights: A Universal Principle? In many countries, the taboo against homosexuality seems to be eroding even as the debate rages on: proposition 8, the UN and the Vatican are keeping the issue on the front page. Should gay rights be included under the Universal Declaration on human rights?
Tuesday: Best Books in Translation. While the whole world is busy writing great books, fewer than three percent of them get translated and make American bookshelves. This prompted the New York Times five years ago to declare that "America Yawned" at foreign fiction, but is it still true? Raid your library and join Jean Feraca as we share the world's best books in translation.
Wednesday: The Dead Beat: The Art of Obituaries (encore). How would you like to be remembered? What do obituaries say about our culture? This hour on Here On Earth: Radio Without Borders, join Jean Feraca for a talk with two leading obituarists.
Thursday: Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy (encore). Eric Wilson tried jogging, yoga, tai chi, Frank Capra movies, and finally decided to embrace his gloominess and write a diatribe against the quintessentially American pursuit of happiness -– buoyed up by Prozac and shopping malls, the mass of men lead lives of shallow happiness, the superior man exults in his gloom. Which one are you?
Friday: Lore of Whiskey. Want a remedy for your New Year hangover? Join us for the history and lore of Whiskey.
Happy New Year!
Lisa Bu
Web producer
Here on Earth
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Dec 22-26 Programs
Jean’s Pick of the Week: Discovering the New Russia: I liked this program primarily because I learned so much from it. Jonathan Brent, Yale University Press’s editor-in-chief and the author of Inside the Stalin Archives, has been messing around the archives and talking with Russians for the last fifteen years and it shows.
Monday: The history of Jewish culture in America has been told in many ways - through vaudeville, through the movies, and through literature, but not until now has it been told through VINYL. Join us for a wacky, wonderful Hanukkah special with Roger Bennett and Josh Kun, co-authors of And You Shall Know Us By the Trail of Our Vinyl.
Tuesday: Good Touch/Bad Touch: An article in Resurgence magazine inspired this program on cross-cultural differences in attitudes toward touch. The Asians are touch phobic; the Italians are touch-a-philiacs; and Americans don’t like it much either.
Wednesday: Navan, a Celtic music band, perform Celtic songs of the season. Sung in the original languages, the songs are mostly hair-raising, sometimes jazzy and mysterious that give fascinating insights into the pagan underpinnings of Yuletide.
Thursday: A Biography of Santa Claus: He hasn’t always been the jolly old elf we know today. He’s been a wanderer, a friend to prostitutes, a bishop, and a warrior, and his family tree goes back to Turkey.
Friday: Christmas in Auschwitz: Based on a true story by the great Italian humanist, Primo Levi, exquisitely delivered and interpreted by poet Ernesto Livorni, this is probably our best food show ever. Definitely worth another listen.
Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!
Jean
Monday: The history of Jewish culture in America has been told in many ways - through vaudeville, through the movies, and through literature, but not until now has it been told through VINYL. Join us for a wacky, wonderful Hanukkah special with Roger Bennett and Josh Kun, co-authors of And You Shall Know Us By the Trail of Our Vinyl.
Tuesday: Good Touch/Bad Touch: An article in Resurgence magazine inspired this program on cross-cultural differences in attitudes toward touch. The Asians are touch phobic; the Italians are touch-a-philiacs; and Americans don’t like it much either.
Wednesday: Navan, a Celtic music band, perform Celtic songs of the season. Sung in the original languages, the songs are mostly hair-raising, sometimes jazzy and mysterious that give fascinating insights into the pagan underpinnings of Yuletide.
Thursday: A Biography of Santa Claus: He hasn’t always been the jolly old elf we know today. He’s been a wanderer, a friend to prostitutes, a bishop, and a warrior, and his family tree goes back to Turkey.
Friday: Christmas in Auschwitz: Based on a true story by the great Italian humanist, Primo Levi, exquisitely delivered and interpreted by poet Ernesto Livorni, this is probably our best food show ever. Definitely worth another listen.
Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!
Jean
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Dec 15-19 Programs
Jean’s Pick of the Week: Al’ America! In spite of a few misgivings on my part about what looked on the surface like a flimsy premise propped up by pop culture, Jonathan Curiel managed to convince me that there are indeed deep Arabic and Islamic roots in American culture. It was a fun hour as well as an illuminating one. I was particularly fascinated by the connections he drew between Mississippi blues and the Call to Prayer. We forget that many of the slaves brought here from Africa were Muslim, some highly literate and deeply devout. So it’s not so much of a stretch, after all, to imagine that their Islamic influence would persist and survive, just as West African voodoo made its way to Haiti, and New Orleans, where it got mixed up with Jelly Roll Morton and Elvis Presley.
Monday: Cuba on the Threshold of its 5oth Anniversary: The speculation is that the election of Barack Obama opens the way to a thaw in Cuban-American relations. We’ll ask New York Times reporter Roger Cohen who wrote “The End of the End of the Revolution” in a recent issue of the Sunday magazine.
Tuesday: The Evolution of Faith: Parker Palmer traces his own journey with the Christian faith. Parker is unfailingly excellent in the way he delivers his message, and Jossey Bass has just re-issued his very first book, The Promise of Paradox: A Celebration of Contradictions in the Christian Life.
Wednesday: Gay Rights: A Universal Principle? During the last ten years there has been a growing acceptance of homosexuality - at least in the "Western" world. France recently proposed that gay rights be added to the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Vatican is opposed. There's a lot of public debate -- both for, against and in the fuzzy in-between. We’ll cover it all and get your views as well.
Thursday: The Winter Solstice Poetry Circle of the Air with Molly Peacock: Molly’s chosen a bright, upbeat poem for this darkest of times. Look for it on our website and join in with your favorite poem of the season.
Friday: Broccoli and Other Tales of Food and Love: It’s broccoli but it’s not really broccoli. It’s actually a collection of stories by the gorgeous Lara Vapnyar that links food to lonely, loveless dating among recent Russian immigrants – described by Publishers Weekly as a take on the poignant oddities of New York Russian émigré life that is universally palatable.
You can’t say we’re not eclectic.
Coming up in February: we’ve been promised a program with Philippe Petit, the crazy Frenchman who walked a tightrope between the twin towers of The World Trade Center –- one of my personal heroes and the star of Man on Wire, a documentary which has been nominated for an Oscar.
I’m outa here. Go crazy this weekend.
Jean
Monday: Cuba on the Threshold of its 5oth Anniversary: The speculation is that the election of Barack Obama opens the way to a thaw in Cuban-American relations. We’ll ask New York Times reporter Roger Cohen who wrote “The End of the End of the Revolution” in a recent issue of the Sunday magazine.
Tuesday: The Evolution of Faith: Parker Palmer traces his own journey with the Christian faith. Parker is unfailingly excellent in the way he delivers his message, and Jossey Bass has just re-issued his very first book, The Promise of Paradox: A Celebration of Contradictions in the Christian Life.
Wednesday: Gay Rights: A Universal Principle? During the last ten years there has been a growing acceptance of homosexuality - at least in the "Western" world. France recently proposed that gay rights be added to the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Vatican is opposed. There's a lot of public debate -- both for, against and in the fuzzy in-between. We’ll cover it all and get your views as well.
Thursday: The Winter Solstice Poetry Circle of the Air with Molly Peacock: Molly’s chosen a bright, upbeat poem for this darkest of times. Look for it on our website and join in with your favorite poem of the season.
Friday: Broccoli and Other Tales of Food and Love: It’s broccoli but it’s not really broccoli. It’s actually a collection of stories by the gorgeous Lara Vapnyar that links food to lonely, loveless dating among recent Russian immigrants – described by Publishers Weekly as a take on the poignant oddities of New York Russian émigré life that is universally palatable.
You can’t say we’re not eclectic.
Coming up in February: we’ve been promised a program with Philippe Petit, the crazy Frenchman who walked a tightrope between the twin towers of The World Trade Center –- one of my personal heroes and the star of Man on Wire, a documentary which has been nominated for an Oscar.
I’m outa here. Go crazy this weekend.
Jean
Friday, December 05, 2008
Dec 8-12 Programs
Jean’s Pick of the Week: Today’s Women and Shari’a with UW-Madison Law professor Asifa Quraishi, who can cut through the thickest Islamist patriarchal crap with her unfailing sense of equanimity and ever-ready razor sharp intellect. What a pleasure. I hope we changed some minds about the nature of Islamic law -- which actually favors women in its intention - and the reasons why Muslim women are so often subject to such cruel and barbaric practices. I am reminded of John Donne’s poem: “Ask not for whom the bell tolls…it tolls for thee.” Any woman’s death diminishes me.
Monday: The Goldman Sachs Foundation partnered with the Asia Society to encourage American high school students to study abroad. We’ll meet two of this year’s winners of the prize-winners for excellence in international education: a bouncy blonde from southern California who traveled to Nepal and found something underneath the poverty and privation that touched her deeply; and an African-American student from Atlanta who found deep resonances in South Africa with our own Civil Rights movement.
Tuesday: It’s not just Sarah Palin who thinks Africa is a country rather than a continent. To dispel ignorance and illuminate the hidden riches of the so-called "dark continent," join us with experts who really know the lay of the land and its peoples. It’s all part of Geography Awareness Week.
Wednesday: Al America! Think Muslims are only in the Middle-East? Think again. Jonathan Curiel, longtime staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, has written a fascinating cultural travelogue documenting America’s Arab and Islamic roots that incorporates everything from the Alamo to The Doors (Jim Morrison, that is.) Don’t miss this one.
Thursday: We've got the trailer, the tickets, and soon, we hope, Danny Boyle, the Irish director of Slumdog Millionaire, the movie about an Indian boy from the slums of Mumbai who’s in the hot seat in his country's version of the popular game show Who Wants to Be a Millionnaire? The film opens in Wisconsin next weekend.
Friday: Great cooking goes beyond following a recipe--it's knowing how to season ingredients to coax the greatest possible flavor from them. Join us with Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg for The Flavor Bible, drawing on dozens of leading chefs' combined experience in top restaurants across the country, and a chance for you to add your own flavor tips.
Oh, yes, and by the way, if you happen to pick up the current issue of New York magazine, check out the feature on indie music stores. Dominick Fernow, who operates Hospital Productions in the East Village (I’m headed there this weekend) just happens to be my son!
Ciao,
Jean
Monday: The Goldman Sachs Foundation partnered with the Asia Society to encourage American high school students to study abroad. We’ll meet two of this year’s winners of the prize-winners for excellence in international education: a bouncy blonde from southern California who traveled to Nepal and found something underneath the poverty and privation that touched her deeply; and an African-American student from Atlanta who found deep resonances in South Africa with our own Civil Rights movement.
Tuesday: It’s not just Sarah Palin who thinks Africa is a country rather than a continent. To dispel ignorance and illuminate the hidden riches of the so-called "dark continent," join us with experts who really know the lay of the land and its peoples. It’s all part of Geography Awareness Week.
Wednesday: Al America! Think Muslims are only in the Middle-East? Think again. Jonathan Curiel, longtime staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, has written a fascinating cultural travelogue documenting America’s Arab and Islamic roots that incorporates everything from the Alamo to The Doors (Jim Morrison, that is.) Don’t miss this one.
Thursday: We've got the trailer, the tickets, and soon, we hope, Danny Boyle, the Irish director of Slumdog Millionaire, the movie about an Indian boy from the slums of Mumbai who’s in the hot seat in his country's version of the popular game show Who Wants to Be a Millionnaire? The film opens in Wisconsin next weekend.
Friday: Great cooking goes beyond following a recipe--it's knowing how to season ingredients to coax the greatest possible flavor from them. Join us with Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg for The Flavor Bible, drawing on dozens of leading chefs' combined experience in top restaurants across the country, and a chance for you to add your own flavor tips.
Oh, yes, and by the way, if you happen to pick up the current issue of New York magazine, check out the feature on indie music stores. Dominick Fernow, who operates Hospital Productions in the East Village (I’m headed there this weekend) just happens to be my son!
Ciao,
Jean
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Dec 1-5 Programs
Jean’s Pick of the Week: Obama vs. Obama: I really enjoyed the muscular give and take between Dhuvan Shah and Doug MacLeod, and the callers. The perspective provided by Imam Talib from New York was truly illuminating.
Don’t miss the third program in our ongoing series Inside Islam: Dialogues and Debates coming up on Thursday, Dec. 4 on Women and Shari’a.
This is a short week and I’m rushing to get home to deliver a rabbit to a friend (!), so forgive the shorthand:
Monday: The Best of Italian Americana: I was part of a panel at this year’s AIHA conference in New Haven recently (AIHA stands for American Italian Historical Association) and once again, I found some very simpatico people – talented and clever writers – that I’m sharing with you in this program we’re calling Wild Dreams – the title of a new anthology of Italian writers. Guests: anthology editor Joanna Clapps Herman; performance artist Annie Lanzillotto (back again!); poet George Guida. Expect a good time.
Tuesday: Laser Monks! They live in Sparta, Wisconsin, and they’ve come up with a way to make ink cartridges that radically undersell the competition. Turns out monks are great entrepreneurs, basing their business acumen on the 15 hundred year old Benedictine rule.
Wednesday: It’s not just Sarah Palin who thinks Africa is a country. Lots of Americans do. The UW Geography Department is hoping to correct that by teaching kids all about the real Africa during National Geography week. We’ll find out how successful they’ve been.
Thursday: Women and Shari’a: You’ve probably been hearing some of the same horrifying stories about the fate of Muslim girls that we’ve been hearing: stonings, rapes, murders, even young Pakistani girls buried alive for opposing arranged marriages. We’ve invited Asifa Quraishi, a crack shot UW Law Professor to untangle what part of all this is Shari’a and what part tribal customs. And is there any way to separate them after all? Who speaks for Muslim women?
Friday: Olives and Oranges: a new take on Mediterranean cooking from a woman who’s been everywhere and loves it all.
I’m grateful to all of you,
Jean
Don’t miss the third program in our ongoing series Inside Islam: Dialogues and Debates coming up on Thursday, Dec. 4 on Women and Shari’a.This is a short week and I’m rushing to get home to deliver a rabbit to a friend (!), so forgive the shorthand:
Monday: The Best of Italian Americana: I was part of a panel at this year’s AIHA conference in New Haven recently (AIHA stands for American Italian Historical Association) and once again, I found some very simpatico people – talented and clever writers – that I’m sharing with you in this program we’re calling Wild Dreams – the title of a new anthology of Italian writers. Guests: anthology editor Joanna Clapps Herman; performance artist Annie Lanzillotto (back again!); poet George Guida. Expect a good time.
Tuesday: Laser Monks! They live in Sparta, Wisconsin, and they’ve come up with a way to make ink cartridges that radically undersell the competition. Turns out monks are great entrepreneurs, basing their business acumen on the 15 hundred year old Benedictine rule.
Wednesday: It’s not just Sarah Palin who thinks Africa is a country. Lots of Americans do. The UW Geography Department is hoping to correct that by teaching kids all about the real Africa during National Geography week. We’ll find out how successful they’ve been.
Thursday: Women and Shari’a: You’ve probably been hearing some of the same horrifying stories about the fate of Muslim girls that we’ve been hearing: stonings, rapes, murders, even young Pakistani girls buried alive for opposing arranged marriages. We’ve invited Asifa Quraishi, a crack shot UW Law Professor to untangle what part of all this is Shari’a and what part tribal customs. And is there any way to separate them after all? Who speaks for Muslim women?
Friday: Olives and Oranges: a new take on Mediterranean cooking from a woman who’s been everywhere and loves it all.
I’m grateful to all of you,
Jean
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Nov 24-28 Programs
Jean’s Pick of the Week: Every once in a blue moon it happens that a guest we’ve booked turns out to be a soulmate. That turned out to be true last Tuesday when I talked with Terry Tempest Williams about her amazing odyssey from Ravenna to Utah to Rwanda, described in her highly original book, Finding Beauty in a Broken World. This program was so moving to me that at times I found it difficult to talk.
Monday: Closing Guantanamo Bay: In his first televised appearance since the election, President-Elect Obama told CBS Sixty Minutes that he intends to close Guantanamo Bay prison and end the practice of torture. It turns out that’s not going to be so easy. There are 50 inmates at Guantanamo, some of them violent extremists. We’ll explore Obama’s options and look into the success rate of Islamist rehabilitation programs with Christopher Boucek in the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Foundation.
Tuesday: Can the Coral Reefs Be Saved? There’s at least one success story in Apo Island in the Phillipines that suggests we can. It’s told in the Wild Reef exhibit currently at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. We’ll talk with George Parsons, Director of Fishes at the Shedd about the Project Seahorse, an international group of marine biologists fighting to save the world’s underwater wonders.
Wednesday: Al Qaeda Insults Obama: A lot of people around the world are cheering Obama’s victory. Al Qaeda isn’t among them. Osama bin Laden’s top deputy went out of his way to insult the new President Elect with a racist remark last week, calling him a House Negro. We’ll talk with UW-Madison Journalism and Mass Communications Professor, Doug McLeod, about the implications of al Zawahri’s video.
Thursday: Happy Thanksgiving! To celebrate, we’re featuring an encore presentation of one of our favorite holiday programs: Listening is an Act of Love with Story Corps founder David Isay.
Friday: Definitely worth hearing again at the open of the hunting season, our wild and woolly Food Friday program, Got Moose?
And once again, let me say that one of the things I most grateful for, not just this Thanksgiving, but for the last 25, is your ears!
Jean
Monday: Closing Guantanamo Bay: In his first televised appearance since the election, President-Elect Obama told CBS Sixty Minutes that he intends to close Guantanamo Bay prison and end the practice of torture. It turns out that’s not going to be so easy. There are 50 inmates at Guantanamo, some of them violent extremists. We’ll explore Obama’s options and look into the success rate of Islamist rehabilitation programs with Christopher Boucek in the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Foundation.
Tuesday: Can the Coral Reefs Be Saved? There’s at least one success story in Apo Island in the Phillipines that suggests we can. It’s told in the Wild Reef exhibit currently at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. We’ll talk with George Parsons, Director of Fishes at the Shedd about the Project Seahorse, an international group of marine biologists fighting to save the world’s underwater wonders.
Wednesday: Al Qaeda Insults Obama: A lot of people around the world are cheering Obama’s victory. Al Qaeda isn’t among them. Osama bin Laden’s top deputy went out of his way to insult the new President Elect with a racist remark last week, calling him a House Negro. We’ll talk with UW-Madison Journalism and Mass Communications Professor, Doug McLeod, about the implications of al Zawahri’s video.
Thursday: Happy Thanksgiving! To celebrate, we’re featuring an encore presentation of one of our favorite holiday programs: Listening is an Act of Love with Story Corps founder David Isay.
Friday: Definitely worth hearing again at the open of the hunting season, our wild and woolly Food Friday program, Got Moose?
And once again, let me say that one of the things I most grateful for, not just this Thanksgiving, but for the last 25, is your ears!
Jean
Friday, November 14, 2008
Nov 17-21 Programs
Jean’s Pick of the Week: The World According to Sesame Street!
Monday: Fred Ho, a one-of-a-kind Chinese-American musician, composer, writer, political activist and leader of the Afro Asian Music Ensemble and the Monkey Orchestra, pre-views his upcoming performance of Revolutionary Earth Music…at the Wisconsin Union Theater on Nov. 22.
Tuesday:Finding Beauty in a Broken World: Starting from the mosaics of Ravenna, Italy, moving to her home in the American Southwest, and then to the rubble of the Rwandan genocide and elsewhere in the broken world, Terry Tempest Williams finds a way of making the world whole again using the metaphor of the mosaic.
Wednesday: The World in the Year 2033: Projections of the World Policy Institute in the next 25 years.
Thursday: The International Children’s Literature Conference is bringing Meshack Asare to campus this week. Born in Ghana, Asare is one of Africa's top children's writers and illustrators who has won numerous awards including the 1999 Unesco First Prize for Children and Young People's Literature in the Service of Tolerance.
Friday: Everything we eat is burdened with social, political, religious, and even militarized meaning. Cuisines of the Axis of Evil and Other Irritating States dishes out a saucy culinary feast of facts on ten controversial countries, their policies, and, of course, the food that unifies us all. Consider it a Dinner Party approach to international relations.
Tell us about your Pick of the Week on The Blog Without Borders: www.hereonearth.org.
And, as always, thanks for listening.
Jean
Monday: Fred Ho, a one-of-a-kind Chinese-American musician, composer, writer, political activist and leader of the Afro Asian Music Ensemble and the Monkey Orchestra, pre-views his upcoming performance of Revolutionary Earth Music…at the Wisconsin Union Theater on Nov. 22.
Tuesday:Finding Beauty in a Broken World: Starting from the mosaics of Ravenna, Italy, moving to her home in the American Southwest, and then to the rubble of the Rwandan genocide and elsewhere in the broken world, Terry Tempest Williams finds a way of making the world whole again using the metaphor of the mosaic.
Wednesday: The World in the Year 2033: Projections of the World Policy Institute in the next 25 years.
Thursday: The International Children’s Literature Conference is bringing Meshack Asare to campus this week. Born in Ghana, Asare is one of Africa's top children's writers and illustrators who has won numerous awards including the 1999 Unesco First Prize for Children and Young People's Literature in the Service of Tolerance.
Friday: Everything we eat is burdened with social, political, religious, and even militarized meaning. Cuisines of the Axis of Evil and Other Irritating States dishes out a saucy culinary feast of facts on ten controversial countries, their policies, and, of course, the food that unifies us all. Consider it a Dinner Party approach to international relations.
Tell us about your Pick of the Week on The Blog Without Borders: www.hereonearth.org.
And, as always, thanks for listening.
Jean
Friday, November 07, 2008
Nov 10-14 Programs
Attention, all you boomer Beatles fans who want to "give peace a chance!" Chances are you’ll enjoy listening to Monday’s program with Philip Norman, who just published anew biography of John Lennon:
Monday: Peace activist, edgy artist, international icon. It’s hard to sum up John Lennon and his influence on fans worldwide. Biographer Philip Norman takes an unflinching look, casting light on a man who shaped a generation’s outlook on politics, religion and art.
Tuesday: Bruce Laine’s Togo Project: French filmmaker Brice Laine spent the best years of his childhood growing up in the tiny West African country of Togo where he witnessed firsthand the dramatic impact of a locally run development project that brought a dying village back to life. He made a movie about it called “The Dancing Forest” which movingly illustrates The Value of Women.
Wednesday: Feeding Haiti: Following her husband’s untimely death, Margaret Trost visited Haiti hoping to heal her broken heart through service. She partnered with a local community and together they developed a program that now serves thousands of meals to those in need. On That Day Everybody Ate tells the story of her remarkable journey.
Thursday: The World According to Sesame Street: In Germany, everybody swears Burt and Ernie are German, and you haven’t lived until you’ve heard Rubber Ducky sung in Mandarin!
Friday: Fry, Baby: It's no secret that Americans love doughnuts but it might surprise to learn that the rest of the world loves them too. The Italians have zeppole, the Mexicans have churros, and the Greeks have loukoumades.
That’s it! I’m outa here!
Jean
Monday: Peace activist, edgy artist, international icon. It’s hard to sum up John Lennon and his influence on fans worldwide. Biographer Philip Norman takes an unflinching look, casting light on a man who shaped a generation’s outlook on politics, religion and art.
Tuesday: Bruce Laine’s Togo Project: French filmmaker Brice Laine spent the best years of his childhood growing up in the tiny West African country of Togo where he witnessed firsthand the dramatic impact of a locally run development project that brought a dying village back to life. He made a movie about it called “The Dancing Forest” which movingly illustrates The Value of Women.
Wednesday: Feeding Haiti: Following her husband’s untimely death, Margaret Trost visited Haiti hoping to heal her broken heart through service. She partnered with a local community and together they developed a program that now serves thousands of meals to those in need. On That Day Everybody Ate tells the story of her remarkable journey.
Thursday: The World According to Sesame Street: In Germany, everybody swears Burt and Ernie are German, and you haven’t lived until you’ve heard Rubber Ducky sung in Mandarin!
Friday: Fry, Baby: It's no secret that Americans love doughnuts but it might surprise to learn that the rest of the world loves them too. The Italians have zeppole, the Mexicans have churros, and the Greeks have loukoumades.
That’s it! I’m outa here!
Jean
Saturday, November 01, 2008
Nov 3-7 Programs
Jean’s Pick of the Week: What Do Vampires Eat? Really classy interaction between our Goth Prof, Neil Whitehead, and Charlaine Harris, the creator of The Southern Vampire Mysteries, a sweet southern belle who was born in a cotton field and surely knows her vampires. The conversation ranged from the scary to the hilarious, from horror to glee. We even had our token Roumanian call in at the end of the hour thanking us for honoring his country! What more can you ask from a talk show? Thanks to Joe Hardtke for producing this show, and to Brian Dunbar for suggesting that we book Charlaine Harris.
Monday: While Americans are getting used to the idea that Barack Obama may become our first African-American president, what is the rest of the world saying about it? We’ll ask a group of international journalists who are here in the States studying the election and filing their reports back home.
Tuesday: The World of Children Awards: Dubbed the “Nobel Prize for Children,” the World of Children Awards program searches the globe to find and support those individuals who are pioneering life-changing programs to benefit children – and some of the honorees are children themselves!
Wednesday: She’s a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, a campaigner for young girls, fair trade and human rights. And, in her spare time, she still manages to record and perform beautiful songs with political fire. I’m Jean Feraca, join us with Grammy-Award winning singer Angelique Kidjo.
Thursday: Honor Among Thieves: I spent a glorious week on the island of Crete last summer and so, naturally, I’ve been wanting to do a program about it ever since. But I could never have imagined the turn it’s taken: Michael Herzfeld, a renowned Harvard anthropologist has been studying the politics and ethics of animal theft – something that’s been practiced in the mountain villages of Crete for eons. What does it have to do with the way we live today? Plenty.
Friday: Cinnamon – Everybody’s Favorite Spice: Where it comes from, why it’s prized, and how to work kitchen magic with it.
Happy Halloween!
Jean
Monday: While Americans are getting used to the idea that Barack Obama may become our first African-American president, what is the rest of the world saying about it? We’ll ask a group of international journalists who are here in the States studying the election and filing their reports back home.
Tuesday: The World of Children Awards: Dubbed the “Nobel Prize for Children,” the World of Children Awards program searches the globe to find and support those individuals who are pioneering life-changing programs to benefit children – and some of the honorees are children themselves!
Wednesday: She’s a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, a campaigner for young girls, fair trade and human rights. And, in her spare time, she still manages to record and perform beautiful songs with political fire. I’m Jean Feraca, join us with Grammy-Award winning singer Angelique Kidjo.
Thursday: Honor Among Thieves: I spent a glorious week on the island of Crete last summer and so, naturally, I’ve been wanting to do a program about it ever since. But I could never have imagined the turn it’s taken: Michael Herzfeld, a renowned Harvard anthropologist has been studying the politics and ethics of animal theft – something that’s been practiced in the mountain villages of Crete for eons. What does it have to do with the way we live today? Plenty.
Friday: Cinnamon – Everybody’s Favorite Spice: Where it comes from, why it’s prized, and how to work kitchen magic with it.
Happy Halloween!
Jean
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Oct 27-31 Programs
The BIG NEWS in the week ahead: Please join us for Young Muslims and the Media, the second program in our Inside Islam series coming up this Wednesday, Oct. 29th. Reza Aslan will be our main guest along with videoblogger Baba Ali and other savvy young Muslims trying to confront stereotypes and change the face of Islam. Question: Can you really fight terror with YouTube?
Monday: Life in a Jar: If it hadn’t been for three high school girls in Kansas, we might never have known about the work of Irene Sendler, an unsung heroine of the Holocaust. A Polish Catholic social worker, she saved about 2,500 Jewish children from the Waraw ghetto. We’ll talk with one of the girls, Sendler’s translator and the state of anti-semitism in Poland today.
Tuesday: My Father’s Paradise: Ariel Sabar is one of a handful of people on earth who speaks Aramaic, the ancient language of Jesus. That’s because he is a Kurdish Jew. He tells the amazing story of his people who’ve managed to keep their faith, their language, and their culture alive over nearly three thousand years despite the greatest odds.
Wednesday: Young Muslims and the New Media: Way beyond Al Jazeera, the expansion of open media in the Arab world is changing the socio-political landscape of the region in dramatic ways. We’ll consider Noor - the Turkish soap opera likened to Dallas and dubbed into street Arabic that has become so wildly popular that imams in Saudi Arabia and Gaza have issued fatwas against anyone who watches it. Nobody pays attention. Or the work of Ali Ardekani, a 33-year-old videoblogger who cast as Baba Ali. He’s funny and hip and has a huge following. He’s one of a growing movement of young Muslims trying to change the face of Islam through new media. If Osama bin Laden were really smart, he’d be paying attention.
Thursday: Here on Earth Folklorist-in-Residence Harold Scheub joins us with his unique take on the folklore of Election 2008.
Friday: The fact that Halloween happens to fall on a Friday this year has not been lost on us. So our approach to food this week will be a bit deviant: You’re invited to join us at a table for the undead where you’ll find our favorite ghoul, Neil Whitehead. He can describe, with relish, just what vampires eat.
Jean
Monday: Life in a Jar: If it hadn’t been for three high school girls in Kansas, we might never have known about the work of Irene Sendler, an unsung heroine of the Holocaust. A Polish Catholic social worker, she saved about 2,500 Jewish children from the Waraw ghetto. We’ll talk with one of the girls, Sendler’s translator and the state of anti-semitism in Poland today.
Tuesday: My Father’s Paradise: Ariel Sabar is one of a handful of people on earth who speaks Aramaic, the ancient language of Jesus. That’s because he is a Kurdish Jew. He tells the amazing story of his people who’ve managed to keep their faith, their language, and their culture alive over nearly three thousand years despite the greatest odds.
Wednesday: Young Muslims and the New Media: Way beyond Al Jazeera, the expansion of open media in the Arab world is changing the socio-political landscape of the region in dramatic ways. We’ll consider Noor - the Turkish soap opera likened to Dallas and dubbed into street Arabic that has become so wildly popular that imams in Saudi Arabia and Gaza have issued fatwas against anyone who watches it. Nobody pays attention. Or the work of Ali Ardekani, a 33-year-old videoblogger who cast as Baba Ali. He’s funny and hip and has a huge following. He’s one of a growing movement of young Muslims trying to change the face of Islam through new media. If Osama bin Laden were really smart, he’d be paying attention.
Thursday: Here on Earth Folklorist-in-Residence Harold Scheub joins us with his unique take on the folklore of Election 2008.
Friday: The fact that Halloween happens to fall on a Friday this year has not been lost on us. So our approach to food this week will be a bit deviant: You’re invited to join us at a table for the undead where you’ll find our favorite ghoul, Neil Whitehead. He can describe, with relish, just what vampires eat.
Jean
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Oct 20-24 Programs
Want to know what’s coming up next week?
Monday: Obama supporters may be justifiably horrified by the racism that’s been incited by the McCain campaign. But what about the potshots aimed at Sarah Palin? Richard Harwood says we are all in this together and nobody gets to higher ground unless we all hold ourselves accountable.
Tuesday: British geography teacher Daniel Raven-Ellison had an idea: choose a city, walk across it, and take a photograph every eight steps. He’s done it now in London, Mumbai, and Mexico City. He calls his project “Urban Earth.”
Wednesday: Raphael Kadushin, the editor of a new anthology of gay travel writing called Big Trips, says gays make the best travel writers because they don’t get sidetracked by tourism trivia but focus instead of the stuff that counts: love, adventure, and a new sense of place.
Thursday: Well, I expect to be preparing all week for this one: The New York Times recently profiled Alaa al Aswany, the Egyptian journalist who is also the world’s best-selling Arab-language novelist. His new novel, Chicago, is set in The Windy City with a cast of American and Arab characters “achingly human.”
Friday: (thank God) Marcella Hazan, the duenna of Italian cooking who single-handedly introduced Americans to Italian regional cooking, swore she would never write another book, but she couldn’t help herself. Borrowing from Fellini, it’s called simply Amarcord: Marcella Remembers. Don’t miss it.
Jean
Monday: Obama supporters may be justifiably horrified by the racism that’s been incited by the McCain campaign. But what about the potshots aimed at Sarah Palin? Richard Harwood says we are all in this together and nobody gets to higher ground unless we all hold ourselves accountable.
Tuesday: British geography teacher Daniel Raven-Ellison had an idea: choose a city, walk across it, and take a photograph every eight steps. He’s done it now in London, Mumbai, and Mexico City. He calls his project “Urban Earth.”
Wednesday: Raphael Kadushin, the editor of a new anthology of gay travel writing called Big Trips, says gays make the best travel writers because they don’t get sidetracked by tourism trivia but focus instead of the stuff that counts: love, adventure, and a new sense of place.
Thursday: Well, I expect to be preparing all week for this one: The New York Times recently profiled Alaa al Aswany, the Egyptian journalist who is also the world’s best-selling Arab-language novelist. His new novel, Chicago, is set in The Windy City with a cast of American and Arab characters “achingly human.”
Friday: (thank God) Marcella Hazan, the duenna of Italian cooking who single-handedly introduced Americans to Italian regional cooking, swore she would never write another book, but she couldn’t help herself. Borrowing from Fellini, it’s called simply Amarcord: Marcella Remembers. Don’t miss it.
Jean
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Oct 13-17 Programs
My Pick of the Week: Go figure, but I have to admit that the most fun I had on the radio this week was with John Nichols who is an absolute wizard as a pitching partner. He managed to build so much momentum during yesterday’s program that, after setting an arbitrary goal of 50 calls, actually generated 74! By the end of the hour, we had raised altogether over $4000 which I didn’t think was possible. So thank you so much, all of you, for making Thursday a banner pledge day for Here on Earth.
We have an indigenous theme going next week:
Monday: Columbus Day, not such a big deal here in the Midwest, but a huge deal in New York where I grew up among Italian-Americans. Since coming to Wisconsin I have become sensitized to the way Native Americans think about Columbus Day, much like a Jew who discovers the Palestinian word for “The Catastrophe.” So we’re going to focus the program around the theme of Indigenous Intelligence and talk with the director of the film Whaledreamers, about an Australian aboriginal tribe fighting for its right to existence.
Tuesday: Uwen Akpan is a Jesuit priest from Nigeria who won a prestigious award for his first collection of short stories, Say You’re One of Them, which he completed while working on his MFA in creative writing at the University of Michigan.
Wednesday: Mami Wata (pidgin English for Mother Water) A major exhibit celebrating African water spirits is opening soon at the Chazen Museum of Art in Madison, honoring the essential sacred nature of water. We’ll talk with UW-Madison Professor of African Art Henry Drewell, curator and sailor.
Thursday: The gifted modern nomad Stephanie Elizondo Griest (Where in the World is Stephanie?) stopped her wanderings long enough to write a probing memoir titled Mexican Enough: My Life Between the Borderlines. She’s coming to Wisconsin to take part in next week’s Book Festival and she joins live on the air today at 3:00.
Friday: We’re working on a program with Chris Fair, a political analyst and the author of the intriguing (cook?) book, Cuisines of the Axis of Evil and Other Irritating States: A Dinner Party Approach to International Relations.
As Bugs Bunny says, That’s all, Folks!
Jean
We have an indigenous theme going next week:
Monday: Columbus Day, not such a big deal here in the Midwest, but a huge deal in New York where I grew up among Italian-Americans. Since coming to Wisconsin I have become sensitized to the way Native Americans think about Columbus Day, much like a Jew who discovers the Palestinian word for “The Catastrophe.” So we’re going to focus the program around the theme of Indigenous Intelligence and talk with the director of the film Whaledreamers, about an Australian aboriginal tribe fighting for its right to existence.
Tuesday: Uwen Akpan is a Jesuit priest from Nigeria who won a prestigious award for his first collection of short stories, Say You’re One of Them, which he completed while working on his MFA in creative writing at the University of Michigan.
Wednesday: Mami Wata (pidgin English for Mother Water) A major exhibit celebrating African water spirits is opening soon at the Chazen Museum of Art in Madison, honoring the essential sacred nature of water. We’ll talk with UW-Madison Professor of African Art Henry Drewell, curator and sailor.
Thursday: The gifted modern nomad Stephanie Elizondo Griest (Where in the World is Stephanie?) stopped her wanderings long enough to write a probing memoir titled Mexican Enough: My Life Between the Borderlines. She’s coming to Wisconsin to take part in next week’s Book Festival and she joins live on the air today at 3:00.
Friday: We’re working on a program with Chris Fair, a political analyst and the author of the intriguing (cook?) book, Cuisines of the Axis of Evil and Other Irritating States: A Dinner Party Approach to International Relations.
As Bugs Bunny says, That’s all, Folks!
Jean
Friday, October 03, 2008
Oct 6-10 Programs
Friday, October 3, 2008
Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, as the saying goes. The gift this week is that only two out of our five programs will be devoted to soliciting your support for WPR during this Fall Membership Drive. So if you’re as grateful for that reprieve, as I am, and you enjoy Here On Earth, especially when the programming is uninterrupted, how about a show of gratitude by pledging your support on line at wpr.org or calling in a pledge to 888- 202-2552. We are oh so grateful for your support.
Monday: Creationism Goes Global: Is creationism contagious? For years, this peculiarly American movement seemed to be contained within our borders. But in the last several years, creationism had become a global phenomenon, as readily exportable as hip-hop and bluejeans. Science historian Ron Numbers joins us along with WPR’s Steve Paulson who just returned from a trip to Turkey, one of the country’s where creationism is taking hold.
Tuesday: Refusing to be Enemies: Twelve women living in Ann Arbor, Michigan – 6 of them Arabs and the other 6 Jews – manage to accomplish together what world leaders have thus far failed to do: make peace across the great divide.
Wednesday: Monique and the Mango Rains: Years ago, when we first launched Here on Earth, we did a program with Kris Holloway, a Peace Corps volunteer whose assignment in Mali led to an extraordinary friendship with a midwife named Monique. Ironically, after Kris came back home, Monique died in childbirth, but that wasn’t the end of the story. Kris joins us with an update.
Thursday: John Nichols: A Global Perspective on the US Presidential Election.
Friday: Will Allen, ex basketball star turned urban farmer, joins to talk about Growing Power, his urban farm in downtown Milwaukee and what he plans to do with his MacArthur genius grant.
Don’t touch that dial! And don’t forget to pledge to WPR – wpr.org.
Thank you Thank you Thank you!
Jean
Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, as the saying goes. The gift this week is that only two out of our five programs will be devoted to soliciting your support for WPR during this Fall Membership Drive. So if you’re as grateful for that reprieve, as I am, and you enjoy Here On Earth, especially when the programming is uninterrupted, how about a show of gratitude by pledging your support on line at wpr.org or calling in a pledge to 888- 202-2552. We are oh so grateful for your support.
Monday: Creationism Goes Global: Is creationism contagious? For years, this peculiarly American movement seemed to be contained within our borders. But in the last several years, creationism had become a global phenomenon, as readily exportable as hip-hop and bluejeans. Science historian Ron Numbers joins us along with WPR’s Steve Paulson who just returned from a trip to Turkey, one of the country’s where creationism is taking hold.
Tuesday: Refusing to be Enemies: Twelve women living in Ann Arbor, Michigan – 6 of them Arabs and the other 6 Jews – manage to accomplish together what world leaders have thus far failed to do: make peace across the great divide.
Wednesday: Monique and the Mango Rains: Years ago, when we first launched Here on Earth, we did a program with Kris Holloway, a Peace Corps volunteer whose assignment in Mali led to an extraordinary friendship with a midwife named Monique. Ironically, after Kris came back home, Monique died in childbirth, but that wasn’t the end of the story. Kris joins us with an update.
Thursday: John Nichols: A Global Perspective on the US Presidential Election.
Friday: Will Allen, ex basketball star turned urban farmer, joins to talk about Growing Power, his urban farm in downtown Milwaukee and what he plans to do with his MacArthur genius grant.
Don’t touch that dial! And don’t forget to pledge to WPR – wpr.org.
Thank you Thank you Thank you!
Jean
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
