Dear Here-on-Earthlings,
My pick of the week was last Monday’s show with John Luther Adams, the solitary composer who is endlessly inspired by Alaska. The best way to listen to his cosmic soundscapes is alone in your car, as I was last Saturday while driving to Fond du Lac, or on headphones. I’m going to try listening to his CD In the White Silence meditating. It’s music that makes me feel as if I have whole chains of mountains rising inside me.
We have a short week coming up after Labor Day, and some surprises in store for you:
Monday, Labor Day: While you’re grilling those brats, you can be listening to one of the Here on Earth team’s favorite summer shows: The Sound of Dub with reggae master and poet Kwame Dawes.
Tuesday: Diversity on the Runway: With New York City’s fashion week just around the corner, we decided to do a program prompted by the phenomenal success of the July issue of Vogue Italia which featured all black models and sold out in the United States.
Wednesday: Although her work was once criticized as “pseudoscience”, Monica Turner was just named a MacArthur Fellow for her tremendous contributions to the pioneer field of landscape ecology.
Thursday: Descending the Dragon: (Can we really do a program about Vietnam without talking once about the war?) We’re working on a program with National Geographic adventurer and author Jon Bowermaster who set out to discover a new Vietnam by kayaking along its coast in an unprecedented 800 mile voyage. (Not yet confirmed)
Friday: Bless the Garlic! The Egyptians worshiped it, the Greeks detested it, the Romans ate it with delight. Garlic, with its unique odor, qualities, and folklore, belongs to a league of its own among foods. Melissa Clark’s family is obsessed with garlic, even tried to make garlic ice cream. I'll talk to her, a food writer for the New York Times.
Jean
Friday, August 29, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
Aug 25-29 Programs
Hi Guys,
Hope you caught the show on The Girls of Riyadh. I had no idea what was going on behind those black abayas.
Here’s what’s in store for next week – and by the way, we still could use some help booking Food Friday.
Monday: What would Alaska sound like if it were a symphony? Composer John Luther Adams creates music inspired by the Alaskan landscape. Glacial cool?
Tuesday: Sometimes it really is All In The Family. Sadia Shepard, a young Indian American filmmaker, grew up in a Muslim/ Christian household made even more complicated by the revelation that her Pakistani grandmother was actually Jewish! So let’s see – that makes her a Jewish Christian Muslim Hindu, right? Her parents tell her, “You choose.”
Wednesday: Did the Beijing Olympics change your mind about China? Let us know before Wednesday and we can use your comments to lead off this show. Guests are two NPR reporters, one who was willing to get up for us at 4:30am in Beijing. Send comments to hereonearth@wpr.org; or post them on my blog, or the brand new The Blog Without Borders. You’ll find a link to it on the front page of www.hereonearth.org. Better yet, leave your comments at our Here on Earth hotline: 608- 890-0269. Very cool.
Thursday: Neal Karlen makes a command second appearance, this time to talk about the way Yiddish has been used in movies. A great end of summer HoE program. Your reward for hanging in there with us.
And once again we have no Food Friday program booked yet, although Carmen is working on Comfort Food for Breakups.
Thanks for all your help, especially you, Kevin, for suggesting the cheese makers.
This Open Sourcing stuff is really fun. I’m only sorry it took me so long to get the hang of it.
Ciao,
Jean
Hope you caught the show on The Girls of Riyadh. I had no idea what was going on behind those black abayas.
Here’s what’s in store for next week – and by the way, we still could use some help booking Food Friday.
Monday: What would Alaska sound like if it were a symphony? Composer John Luther Adams creates music inspired by the Alaskan landscape. Glacial cool?
Tuesday: Sometimes it really is All In The Family. Sadia Shepard, a young Indian American filmmaker, grew up in a Muslim/ Christian household made even more complicated by the revelation that her Pakistani grandmother was actually Jewish! So let’s see – that makes her a Jewish Christian Muslim Hindu, right? Her parents tell her, “You choose.”
Wednesday: Did the Beijing Olympics change your mind about China? Let us know before Wednesday and we can use your comments to lead off this show. Guests are two NPR reporters, one who was willing to get up for us at 4:30am in Beijing. Send comments to hereonearth@wpr.org; or post them on my blog, or the brand new The Blog Without Borders. You’ll find a link to it on the front page of www.hereonearth.org. Better yet, leave your comments at our Here on Earth hotline: 608- 890-0269. Very cool.
Thursday: Neal Karlen makes a command second appearance, this time to talk about the way Yiddish has been used in movies. A great end of summer HoE program. Your reward for hanging in there with us.
And once again we have no Food Friday program booked yet, although Carmen is working on Comfort Food for Breakups.
Thanks for all your help, especially you, Kevin, for suggesting the cheese makers.
This Open Sourcing stuff is really fun. I’m only sorry it took me so long to get the hang of it.
Ciao,
Jean
Thursday, August 21, 2008
The Girls of Riyadh or Sex and the Saudi
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Today's show with Rajaa Alsanea, the twenty-something author of The Girls of Riyadh who might turn out to be the Betty Friedan of Saudi Arabia, was really eye-opening. Who knew what goes on behind those veils? I was fascinated by the fleeting remark she made about Saudi Arabia being basically a society made up of Bedouin tribes that got rich all of a sudden and hasn't yet had the time to rid itself of its tribal ways. She reminded me of my own immigrant background, growing up in an Old-World southern Italian family only one generation removed from hanging out the sheets to prove the bride is a virgin. What also struck me was how earnest she was, speaking her truth out of a clear sense of social responsibility, quite in contrast with that saucy devil-may-care narrator of hers.
Today's program provides the perfect opportunity to introduce an upcoming Here on Earth new media series we're all really excited about. It's called Inside Islam: Dialogues and Debates, and the first program - Heavy Metal Islam - will be broadcast on Thursday, September 25. Mark Levine, a scholar/musician who wrote the book by the same name, will be the primary guest, but we're hoping to get a lot of other voices - preferably Muslim -into the program and we're hoping for help from our friends. All suggestions and ideas for how to make this program and its successors really hot are most welcome.
Today's show with Rajaa Alsanea, the twenty-something author of The Girls of Riyadh who might turn out to be the Betty Friedan of Saudi Arabia, was really eye-opening. Who knew what goes on behind those veils? I was fascinated by the fleeting remark she made about Saudi Arabia being basically a society made up of Bedouin tribes that got rich all of a sudden and hasn't yet had the time to rid itself of its tribal ways. She reminded me of my own immigrant background, growing up in an Old-World southern Italian family only one generation removed from hanging out the sheets to prove the bride is a virgin. What also struck me was how earnest she was, speaking her truth out of a clear sense of social responsibility, quite in contrast with that saucy devil-may-care narrator of hers.
Today's program provides the perfect opportunity to introduce an upcoming Here on Earth new media series we're all really excited about. It's called Inside Islam: Dialogues and Debates, and the first program - Heavy Metal Islam - will be broadcast on Thursday, September 25. Mark Levine, a scholar/musician who wrote the book by the same name, will be the primary guest, but we're hoping to get a lot of other voices - preferably Muslim -into the program and we're hoping for help from our friends. All suggestions and ideas for how to make this program and its successors really hot are most welcome.
A Day in the Life of Your Local Cheese Maker
Thursday, Aug. 21, 2008
Thanks to Kevin who responded to my call for help on this week's Food Friday, we're going to be doing a program about local cheese-making with two of the best in the trade - Felix Thalhammer (Capri cheese) and Mary Falk (LoveTree Farm) way up in Grant County where she has to chase the wolves away from her sheep. Odd thing is all three of the Wisconsin cheese makers we contacted either have injuries or are ailing - hazards of the trade - we'll pursue that theme tomorrow. And thanks, Kevin! Looks like this blog stuff is actually working, now that I've caught on to it. Anybody else out there with suggestions for food topics with an international twist, by all means, keep those cards and letters coming.
Thanks to Kevin who responded to my call for help on this week's Food Friday, we're going to be doing a program about local cheese-making with two of the best in the trade - Felix Thalhammer (Capri cheese) and Mary Falk (LoveTree Farm) way up in Grant County where she has to chase the wolves away from her sheep. Odd thing is all three of the Wisconsin cheese makers we contacted either have injuries or are ailing - hazards of the trade - we'll pursue that theme tomorrow. And thanks, Kevin! Looks like this blog stuff is actually working, now that I've caught on to it. Anybody else out there with suggestions for food topics with an international twist, by all means, keep those cards and letters coming.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Driving Across the Sahara
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Jeroen Van Bergeijk's hair raising road trip across the Sahara (My Mercedes is Not For Sale) reminded me of the time back in 1971 when I traveled with my first husband through the Tunisian desert in an old but trusty VW bug with a hired driver. This was the real Sahara and the dunes were huge blank mountains that rose up all around us on both sides. The little car's engine was full of sand that rattled around and around inside. There were two little girls way up high on the crest of one of the dunes, watching for the first sign of us as we drove into their village. The second they spied the car, they raced each other down the steep side of the dune and came right up to the car window, holding up their dolls for us to see. The dolls were wrapped in layers of dark red cloth scraps. They each had big breasts, but no faces, just like the little girls' Bedouin mothers. The bodies of the dolls stood out against the Sahara, but their blank faces blended right in. I still have both those dolls. I keep them on one of the shelves in my library bookcase. Here's a poem I wrote about them called "Bedouin..."
She climbed the far side of the dune,
a dot
above a curving line. Then
sudden as a shout she came running, the
small breath rattling like seeds in her lungs.
She held a doll in the car window,
a clutch of shreds begged
from her mother: coconut-hard breasts,
a bit of tin, a red
bandana. But my mind stopped at the face -
a featureless white patch she held
against the eyeless
Sahara - I watched it fade
drop back
empty
into Allah.
Jeroen Van Bergeijk's hair raising road trip across the Sahara (My Mercedes is Not For Sale) reminded me of the time back in 1971 when I traveled with my first husband through the Tunisian desert in an old but trusty VW bug with a hired driver. This was the real Sahara and the dunes were huge blank mountains that rose up all around us on both sides. The little car's engine was full of sand that rattled around and around inside. There were two little girls way up high on the crest of one of the dunes, watching for the first sign of us as we drove into their village. The second they spied the car, they raced each other down the steep side of the dune and came right up to the car window, holding up their dolls for us to see. The dolls were wrapped in layers of dark red cloth scraps. They each had big breasts, but no faces, just like the little girls' Bedouin mothers. The bodies of the dolls stood out against the Sahara, but their blank faces blended right in. I still have both those dolls. I keep them on one of the shelves in my library bookcase. Here's a poem I wrote about them called "Bedouin..."
She climbed the far side of the dune,
a dot
above a curving line. Then
sudden as a shout she came running, the
small breath rattling like seeds in her lungs.
She held a doll in the car window,
a clutch of shreds begged
from her mother: coconut-hard breasts,
a bit of tin, a red
bandana. But my mind stopped at the face -
a featureless white patch she held
against the eyeless
Sahara - I watched it fade
drop back
empty
into Allah.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Aug 18-22 Programs
Hi Guys,
The truth is it's damn hard to program the show in the last half of August –- nothing happening, everybody on vacation, and the mattresses are on the march. But we've managed, nonetheless, to come up with a week’s worth of programs –- almost. For some strange reason, the Food Friday programs which are usually the easiest to book are drawing blanks lately. We'd love to have your suggestions on international cuisines, new food trends, great cooks, unusual cookbooks, memorable kitchen stories, characters, etc. Send your ideas to hereonearth@wpr.org, or post them on my blog, or on our new producers’ blog. And thank you!
Monday: WERN music host Lori Skelton fills in for me on Monday with a preview of the upcoming World Music Festival (UW-Madison, Sept. 12-14)
Tuesday: The last time John Nichols was on the show he made my jaw drop by suggesting that we do a program about What Bush Got Right. Lo and behold it shows up on the cover of this month’s Newsweek. John gives it a spin by talking about the ways in which Obama and McCain are each likely to follow in Bush’s footsteps.
Wednesday: Now this is a hairbrained idea: Buy a beat up Mercedes and drive it through the Sahara to see what you can get for it on the Third World used car market. But that’s exactly what an allegedly really smart Dutchman set out to do. It’s one of the strangest road trips you’ll ever hear about: From Amsterdam to Ouagadougou -- My Mercedes is (Not) For Sale by Jeroen Van Bergeik.
Thursday: Joe’s been working on a wrap-up program about the Olympics: Here’s the question for the week: Did the Beijing Olympics change your mind about China? How would you rate it as a PR campaign?
Friday: Help! Help! Calling all foodies! Our cupboard of food ideas is bare, and that’s a shame with all this glorious harvest produce pouring into the market.
I’ll be spending the weekend in Aspen, attending a memorial service for a very dear friend.
Adios,
Jean
The truth is it's damn hard to program the show in the last half of August –- nothing happening, everybody on vacation, and the mattresses are on the march. But we've managed, nonetheless, to come up with a week’s worth of programs –- almost. For some strange reason, the Food Friday programs which are usually the easiest to book are drawing blanks lately. We'd love to have your suggestions on international cuisines, new food trends, great cooks, unusual cookbooks, memorable kitchen stories, characters, etc. Send your ideas to hereonearth@wpr.org, or post them on my blog, or on our new producers’ blog. And thank you!
Monday: WERN music host Lori Skelton fills in for me on Monday with a preview of the upcoming World Music Festival (UW-Madison, Sept. 12-14)
Tuesday: The last time John Nichols was on the show he made my jaw drop by suggesting that we do a program about What Bush Got Right. Lo and behold it shows up on the cover of this month’s Newsweek. John gives it a spin by talking about the ways in which Obama and McCain are each likely to follow in Bush’s footsteps.
Wednesday: Now this is a hairbrained idea: Buy a beat up Mercedes and drive it through the Sahara to see what you can get for it on the Third World used car market. But that’s exactly what an allegedly really smart Dutchman set out to do. It’s one of the strangest road trips you’ll ever hear about: From Amsterdam to Ouagadougou -- My Mercedes is (Not) For Sale by Jeroen Van Bergeik.
Thursday: Joe’s been working on a wrap-up program about the Olympics: Here’s the question for the week: Did the Beijing Olympics change your mind about China? How would you rate it as a PR campaign?
Friday: Help! Help! Calling all foodies! Our cupboard of food ideas is bare, and that’s a shame with all this glorious harvest produce pouring into the market.
I’ll be spending the weekend in Aspen, attending a memorial service for a very dear friend.
Adios,
Jean
Friday, August 15, 2008
What Just Hit Us
Friday, August 15, 2008 (oh my goodness, it's the Feast of the Assumption!)
Okay, okay, I've been a lousy blogger. I admit it. But all that's about to change. It took two crackshot media consultants and a tw0-day workshop on social networking to get me to see the light. Sue Schardt and Mary McGrath arrived in Madison on Tuesday and hit the ground running and we're not exactly sure what just hit us. But here I am blogging about blogging, plus as of yesterday every member of the Here on Earth production team has a Facebook page, plus a page for the show, plus we've been Twittered, and just this morning Joe created a really spiffy Here on Earth - the Blog Without Borders complete with video. Check it out! All this in the span of three days!
Okay, okay, I've been a lousy blogger. I admit it. But all that's about to change. It took two crackshot media consultants and a tw0-day workshop on social networking to get me to see the light. Sue Schardt and Mary McGrath arrived in Madison on Tuesday and hit the ground running and we're not exactly sure what just hit us. But here I am blogging about blogging, plus as of yesterday every member of the Here on Earth production team has a Facebook page, plus a page for the show, plus we've been Twittered, and just this morning Joe created a really spiffy Here on Earth - the Blog Without Borders complete with video. Check it out! All this in the span of three days!
That's Sue of SchardtMEDIA to the right.
P.S. The purpose of all this is to get you guys to help us produce the show. I'm not kidding.
P.S. The purpose of all this is to get you guys to help us produce the show. I'm not kidding.
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Aug 11-15 Programs
Dear Friends,
This will be an interesting week. The Here on Earth team is about to about to make the leap into cyberspace! On Wednesday and Thursday we’ll be attending a training seminar that will teach us how to use social networking and other new media tools (Twitter, Face Book, MySpace, etc.) to extend the reach of the program and build an interactive global community. Since I don’t really know anything about all this, we thought we’d start with a program about it on Monday. Lisa found an expert in Australia…
Monday: Mark Pesce, one of the early pioneers in virtual reality, is an expert on the future of technology and the author of The Human Network: Sharing, Knowledge and Power in the 21st Century.
Tuesday: I spent last weekend at the Harwood Institute for Public Innovators in the gorgeous Columbia River Gorge on the border of Washington and Oregon. There I met an extraordinary man -- Jerry White -- who lost his leg from a land mine explosion while camping in Israel 20 years ago. Now he’s the director of Survivorcorps, an organization that works to rehabilitate and empower people all over the world who are victims of the consequences of war. He’s a happy guy, and he loves his work. You may have seen him interviewed recently on Good Morning America.
Wednesday: While we’re in training this week, you’ve be enjoying listening to the incomparable Satish Kumar talk about his walks on the wild side.
Thursday: An American couple with six figure salaries chucks it all to sail into the Wild Blue Yonder and sends back Notes from Patagonia.
Friday: Any ideas? We could use a little help from our friends on a great mid-August food show. Send your suggestions to hereonearth@wpr.org.
And now, on to OutSourcifying!
Jean
This will be an interesting week. The Here on Earth team is about to about to make the leap into cyberspace! On Wednesday and Thursday we’ll be attending a training seminar that will teach us how to use social networking and other new media tools (Twitter, Face Book, MySpace, etc.) to extend the reach of the program and build an interactive global community. Since I don’t really know anything about all this, we thought we’d start with a program about it on Monday. Lisa found an expert in Australia…
Monday: Mark Pesce, one of the early pioneers in virtual reality, is an expert on the future of technology and the author of The Human Network: Sharing, Knowledge and Power in the 21st Century.
Tuesday: I spent last weekend at the Harwood Institute for Public Innovators in the gorgeous Columbia River Gorge on the border of Washington and Oregon. There I met an extraordinary man -- Jerry White -- who lost his leg from a land mine explosion while camping in Israel 20 years ago. Now he’s the director of Survivorcorps, an organization that works to rehabilitate and empower people all over the world who are victims of the consequences of war. He’s a happy guy, and he loves his work. You may have seen him interviewed recently on Good Morning America.
Wednesday: While we’re in training this week, you’ve be enjoying listening to the incomparable Satish Kumar talk about his walks on the wild side.
Thursday: An American couple with six figure salaries chucks it all to sail into the Wild Blue Yonder and sends back Notes from Patagonia.
Friday: Any ideas? We could use a little help from our friends on a great mid-August food show. Send your suggestions to hereonearth@wpr.org.
And now, on to OutSourcifying!
Jean
Friday, August 01, 2008
Aug 4-8 Programs
Dear Friends and Fans,
Monday: Remote Area Medical: Get ready for the wild and wooly world of Stan Brock, who was once seen wrestling an anaconda on ABC’s Wild Kingdom! Now he flies portable medical clinics and teams of volunteer doctors to set up portable medical clinics in third world countries including, and guess which country just joined his list – the United States! Next stop? Tennesee.
Tuesday: Capoeira! Five centuries ago, slaves from West Africa who ended up in Brazil practiced capoeira as a martial art, a game, and a way to keep their native cultures alive. Since then it’s been spreading like a fever through the forests of Brazil, and landing in places as distant as Berkeley, California and Madison, Wisconsin. But as capoeira gets farther and farther from home, is it still recognizable?
Wednesday: After decades of harassment, there are signs that transgender communities in India and Cuba are finally getting accepted. India has a transgendered TV talk show host, and in Cuba, gender reassignment surgeries are being routinely performed. Progress? You decide.
Thursday: Tuna! Richard Ellis, author of The Book of Sharks, introduces us to a fish that can weigh in at 1500 pounds and speed up to 55 miles per hour - an Atlantic northern bluefin can travel from New England to the Mediterranean, then turn around and swim back; one of the biggest, fastest, and most highly evolved marine animals now hovering on the brink of extinction. I once visited a tuna museum in Sardinia and marveled.
Friday: In honor of the start of the Beijing Olympics, we are working on a program about Chinese eating.
I’ll be spending the weekend on the Columbia River in Washington with fellows from Richard Harwood’s Institute for Public Innovation. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Jean
Monday: Remote Area Medical: Get ready for the wild and wooly world of Stan Brock, who was once seen wrestling an anaconda on ABC’s Wild Kingdom! Now he flies portable medical clinics and teams of volunteer doctors to set up portable medical clinics in third world countries including, and guess which country just joined his list – the United States! Next stop? Tennesee.
Tuesday: Capoeira! Five centuries ago, slaves from West Africa who ended up in Brazil practiced capoeira as a martial art, a game, and a way to keep their native cultures alive. Since then it’s been spreading like a fever through the forests of Brazil, and landing in places as distant as Berkeley, California and Madison, Wisconsin. But as capoeira gets farther and farther from home, is it still recognizable?
Wednesday: After decades of harassment, there are signs that transgender communities in India and Cuba are finally getting accepted. India has a transgendered TV talk show host, and in Cuba, gender reassignment surgeries are being routinely performed. Progress? You decide.
Thursday: Tuna! Richard Ellis, author of The Book of Sharks, introduces us to a fish that can weigh in at 1500 pounds and speed up to 55 miles per hour - an Atlantic northern bluefin can travel from New England to the Mediterranean, then turn around and swim back; one of the biggest, fastest, and most highly evolved marine animals now hovering on the brink of extinction. I once visited a tuna museum in Sardinia and marveled.
Friday: In honor of the start of the Beijing Olympics, we are working on a program about Chinese eating.
I’ll be spending the weekend on the Columbia River in Washington with fellows from Richard Harwood’s Institute for Public Innovation. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Jean
Friday, July 25, 2008
July 28 - Aug 1 Programs
Dear Friends,
We’re closing in on the last week in July – alas! The older we get, the faster summer flies by. But what better time to bring you a program about HOW TO COOK AT THE SOUTH POLE? (don’t miss this week’s Food Friday)
Also, if you happened to miss today’s program on The Natural Step: The Science of Sustainability, you’ll want to check it out. One of the best holistic systems approaches to sustainability I’ve come across. David Cook, the Chief Exec of TNS International, helped me understand how all our problems, from gas prices to lay-offs, are interconnected, and how initiatives as diverse as composting and rain gardens all contribute to the solution. We touched on so many things – from politics to business to government, weaving it all together.
Here’s the line-up for the coming week:
Monday: Barack Obama’s International Tour: Some are hailing it a global victory lap; others say it was a big mistake. John Nichols weighs in and we may have a journalist from Deutsche Welle joining us as well.
Tuesday: When Elizabeth Pisani is asked what she does for a living, she replies, “sex and drugs”. As an epidemiologist who has studied AIDS for the past fourteen years, she knows her stuff. Elizabeth Pisani joins us to talk about international AIDS prevention and her new book, The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels, and the Business of AIDS.
Wednesday: Books That Open the World: We had so much fun talking about great summer reads for kids, we thought why not do the same thing for grown-ups? So we invited NPR’s Alan Cheuse to join us with his list of new favorites.
Thursday: If you take a look at the U.S.’s first Olympics in St. Louis in 1904, you’ll find a lot of the same rhetoric being used in Beijing today. According to Susan Brownell, who has lifelong experience in Chinese sports as an athlete and anthropologist, the Chinese government is using the Olympics as a model to build a fair and powerful nation. Will the Olympics change China?
Friday: Cooking in the Coldest Place on Earth: Forget the cookbooks and the recipes, you have to be really creative to cook at the South Pole where ingredients take at least a week to thaw and foods like pasta turn to instant mush.
Good stuff, huh?
We’ve added a new occasional Thursday feature, by the way: The Here on Earth Mailbag, with content provided exclusively by you. Didn’t get a chance to be on the air? Send your comments to hereonearth@wpr.org or call 1-608-890-0269, and you get a second chance.
Jean
We’re closing in on the last week in July – alas! The older we get, the faster summer flies by. But what better time to bring you a program about HOW TO COOK AT THE SOUTH POLE? (don’t miss this week’s Food Friday)
Also, if you happened to miss today’s program on The Natural Step: The Science of Sustainability, you’ll want to check it out. One of the best holistic systems approaches to sustainability I’ve come across. David Cook, the Chief Exec of TNS International, helped me understand how all our problems, from gas prices to lay-offs, are interconnected, and how initiatives as diverse as composting and rain gardens all contribute to the solution. We touched on so many things – from politics to business to government, weaving it all together.
Here’s the line-up for the coming week:
Monday: Barack Obama’s International Tour: Some are hailing it a global victory lap; others say it was a big mistake. John Nichols weighs in and we may have a journalist from Deutsche Welle joining us as well.
Tuesday: When Elizabeth Pisani is asked what she does for a living, she replies, “sex and drugs”. As an epidemiologist who has studied AIDS for the past fourteen years, she knows her stuff. Elizabeth Pisani joins us to talk about international AIDS prevention and her new book, The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels, and the Business of AIDS.
Wednesday: Books That Open the World: We had so much fun talking about great summer reads for kids, we thought why not do the same thing for grown-ups? So we invited NPR’s Alan Cheuse to join us with his list of new favorites.
Thursday: If you take a look at the U.S.’s first Olympics in St. Louis in 1904, you’ll find a lot of the same rhetoric being used in Beijing today. According to Susan Brownell, who has lifelong experience in Chinese sports as an athlete and anthropologist, the Chinese government is using the Olympics as a model to build a fair and powerful nation. Will the Olympics change China?
Friday: Cooking in the Coldest Place on Earth: Forget the cookbooks and the recipes, you have to be really creative to cook at the South Pole where ingredients take at least a week to thaw and foods like pasta turn to instant mush.
Good stuff, huh?
We’ve added a new occasional Thursday feature, by the way: The Here on Earth Mailbag, with content provided exclusively by you. Didn’t get a chance to be on the air? Send your comments to hereonearth@wpr.org or call 1-608-890-0269, and you get a second chance.
Jean
Friday, July 18, 2008
July 21-25 Programs
Salve, Amici!
Here’s what’s coming up this week on Here on Earth:
Monday: Samuel Johnson once said that patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. With Democrats and Republicans waging a war of words over which candidate is the true patriot, how do you weigh in? Join us for what promises to be a lively discussion about the nature of patriotism and its place in this year’s presidential election.
Tuesday: Imagine an American summer camp where no one speaks English and you can’t either. Welcome to the world of language camps, where traditional activities like canoeing and hiking are conducted completely in Spanish, Chinese, or even Arabic. We'll be joined by Donna Clementi of the Concordia Language Villages, and a new camp in the Fox Valleys of Wisconsin.
Wednesday: Life is good for Binti, a young girl living in Malawi. She has a role on a radio play and goes to a prestigious school. But when her father dies of AIDS and she’s sent to live with resentful relatives, Binti has to find a way to remake her life. You might recognize this plot from The Heaven Shop, the latest book from Canada’s award-winning children’s author, Deborah Ellis.
Thursday: “I don’t believe the solutions…will come from the left or the right…They will come from islands of people with integrity who want to do something.” So said the founder of The Natural Step, a program for sustainability based on the laws of thermodynamics that was founded by Swedish scientist Karl-Henrik Robert. Followers include Whistler, BC, IKEA, and groups in Eugene, Oregon, and Madison, Wisconsin.
Friday: In order to save an endangered species, you have to eat it! Or so says the coalition of groups behind Renewing America’s Food Traditions, a project committed to restoring the unique foods of North America as elements of living cultures and regional cuisines.
Think Woody: That’s all, Folks!
Jean
Here’s what’s coming up this week on Here on Earth:
Monday: Samuel Johnson once said that patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. With Democrats and Republicans waging a war of words over which candidate is the true patriot, how do you weigh in? Join us for what promises to be a lively discussion about the nature of patriotism and its place in this year’s presidential election.
Tuesday: Imagine an American summer camp where no one speaks English and you can’t either. Welcome to the world of language camps, where traditional activities like canoeing and hiking are conducted completely in Spanish, Chinese, or even Arabic. We'll be joined by Donna Clementi of the Concordia Language Villages, and a new camp in the Fox Valleys of Wisconsin.
Wednesday: Life is good for Binti, a young girl living in Malawi. She has a role on a radio play and goes to a prestigious school. But when her father dies of AIDS and she’s sent to live with resentful relatives, Binti has to find a way to remake her life. You might recognize this plot from The Heaven Shop, the latest book from Canada’s award-winning children’s author, Deborah Ellis.
Thursday: “I don’t believe the solutions…will come from the left or the right…They will come from islands of people with integrity who want to do something.” So said the founder of The Natural Step, a program for sustainability based on the laws of thermodynamics that was founded by Swedish scientist Karl-Henrik Robert. Followers include Whistler, BC, IKEA, and groups in Eugene, Oregon, and Madison, Wisconsin.
Friday: In order to save an endangered species, you have to eat it! Or so says the coalition of groups behind Renewing America’s Food Traditions, a project committed to restoring the unique foods of North America as elements of living cultures and regional cuisines.
Think Woody: That’s all, Folks!
Jean
Sunday, July 13, 2008
July 14-18 Programs
Dear Here-on-Earthians:
Here’s the line-up for next week:
Monday:When Africa Goes Pop: One of the rising movements in American indie-rock comes out of West Africa. Obscure recordings from the seventies are suddenly flying off the shelves, finding new fans in record stores and on-line. So why are white hipsters listening to old school African fun? If you like music, this will be a fun show to listen to (produced by Joe Hardtke, our musician/drummer/tech guy).
Tuesday: The ex-director of the Royal Geographical Society and expert on all matters Amazonian – John Hemming, author of Tree of Rivers: The Story of the Amazon, regales us with stories of the river’s amazing and tangled history. He knows whereof he speaks – this guy’s done it all: gotten hopelessly lost, contracted malaria, hacked trails through dense rainforest.
Wednesday: Kids Read: In this first post-Harry Potter summer, are you looking for good books for your children? We have some great recommendations. They’re not only fun, but also give young minds an early start on becoming a world citizen.
Thursday: Gregorian Chant Hits the Top of the British Pop Chart: In a quiet monastery deep in the Vienna woods a group of Benedictine monks have become pop stars since their album shot to #7 this spring. What prompted them to get into the music business? And what’s behind the sudden popularity of this ancient style of sacred chant?
Friday: How the California wine industry trumped France: In 1976, the wine world was stunned when red and white wines from unknown California vintners beat out established French wines in a blind tasting. Today, California and France stand at the forefront of a global interest in wine production and consumption. What has happened since the “Judgement of Paris?” Uncork a favorite bottle and listen in as guest host Lori Skelton and author George M. Taber explore the many pleasures to be found between Napa Valley and Bordeaux.
My Pick of Last Week: Thursday with Salman Rushdie; Friday with Adam Gollner and The Fruit Hunters. What’s your?
Thanks for listening and stay tuned!
Jean
Here’s the line-up for next week:
Monday:When Africa Goes Pop: One of the rising movements in American indie-rock comes out of West Africa. Obscure recordings from the seventies are suddenly flying off the shelves, finding new fans in record stores and on-line. So why are white hipsters listening to old school African fun? If you like music, this will be a fun show to listen to (produced by Joe Hardtke, our musician/drummer/tech guy).
Tuesday: The ex-director of the Royal Geographical Society and expert on all matters Amazonian – John Hemming, author of Tree of Rivers: The Story of the Amazon, regales us with stories of the river’s amazing and tangled history. He knows whereof he speaks – this guy’s done it all: gotten hopelessly lost, contracted malaria, hacked trails through dense rainforest.
Wednesday: Kids Read: In this first post-Harry Potter summer, are you looking for good books for your children? We have some great recommendations. They’re not only fun, but also give young minds an early start on becoming a world citizen.
Thursday: Gregorian Chant Hits the Top of the British Pop Chart: In a quiet monastery deep in the Vienna woods a group of Benedictine monks have become pop stars since their album shot to #7 this spring. What prompted them to get into the music business? And what’s behind the sudden popularity of this ancient style of sacred chant?
Friday: How the California wine industry trumped France: In 1976, the wine world was stunned when red and white wines from unknown California vintners beat out established French wines in a blind tasting. Today, California and France stand at the forefront of a global interest in wine production and consumption. What has happened since the “Judgement of Paris?” Uncork a favorite bottle and listen in as guest host Lori Skelton and author George M. Taber explore the many pleasures to be found between Napa Valley and Bordeaux.
My Pick of Last Week: Thursday with Salman Rushdie; Friday with Adam Gollner and The Fruit Hunters. What’s your?
Thanks for listening and stay tuned!
Jean
Sunday, July 06, 2008
July 7-11 Programs
Dear Here-on-Earthians,
Salman Rushdie is coming to Madison this week. He'll be giving a reading at Border's West on Friday at 7:00pm. But if you can't make it, you can talk with him directly Thursday at 3:00 on Here on Earth! Here's what else we've got in store for you this week:
Monday: Muhaja Babes: Meet the New Middle East -– Young, Sexy and Devout: veiled young women in the Middle East who combine traditional piety with a secular sensibility, wearing tight bluejeans with their headscarves, following pop stars and religious leaders with equal devotion. Guest: Allegra Stratton former BBC producer.
Tuesday: Human: The Science Behind What Makes Us Unique: According to Michael S. Gazzaniga -– one of the world's leading neuroscientists -– language, memory, emotion and perception determine the difference.
Wednesday: We're hoping to reschedule Guantanamo Bay Diary. We promised you this program last week but got it back on the docket. It was Google that got Mahvish Khan to Gitmo. Then a student of the University of Miami School of Law and native speaker of Pashto, Mahvish was the perfect candidate to work as a translator for Guantánamo Bay detainees. But she could never have anticipated the stories that she would hear on her trips down to Cuba.
Thursday is Salman Rushdie Day. His latest book is a historical novel that goes back and forth between 16th century Florence and the hedonistic Mughal capital of India. But we'll try to get him to talk about sex and Satan as well.
Friday: Ever tasted a cloudberry, an ice cream bean, or a peanut butter fruit? From the apple orchards of Washington to the forests of Bali and beyond, Adam Gollner, author of The Fruit Hunters, traveled the globe in search of its most delicious and exotic fruits.
Have a great week!
Jean
Salman Rushdie is coming to Madison this week. He'll be giving a reading at Border's West on Friday at 7:00pm. But if you can't make it, you can talk with him directly Thursday at 3:00 on Here on Earth! Here's what else we've got in store for you this week:
Monday: Muhaja Babes: Meet the New Middle East -– Young, Sexy and Devout: veiled young women in the Middle East who combine traditional piety with a secular sensibility, wearing tight bluejeans with their headscarves, following pop stars and religious leaders with equal devotion. Guest: Allegra Stratton former BBC producer.
Tuesday: Human: The Science Behind What Makes Us Unique: According to Michael S. Gazzaniga -– one of the world's leading neuroscientists -– language, memory, emotion and perception determine the difference.
Wednesday: We're hoping to reschedule Guantanamo Bay Diary. We promised you this program last week but got it back on the docket. It was Google that got Mahvish Khan to Gitmo. Then a student of the University of Miami School of Law and native speaker of Pashto, Mahvish was the perfect candidate to work as a translator for Guantánamo Bay detainees. But she could never have anticipated the stories that she would hear on her trips down to Cuba.
Thursday is Salman Rushdie Day. His latest book is a historical novel that goes back and forth between 16th century Florence and the hedonistic Mughal capital of India. But we'll try to get him to talk about sex and Satan as well.
Friday: Ever tasted a cloudberry, an ice cream bean, or a peanut butter fruit? From the apple orchards of Washington to the forests of Bali and beyond, Adam Gollner, author of The Fruit Hunters, traveled the globe in search of its most delicious and exotic fruits.
Have a great week!
Jean
Sunday, June 29, 2008
June 30 - July 4 Programs
Dear Hereonearthlings,
Jean is coming back on air on Monday. We have missed her because the office sounds too quiet without her presence and laughter. Here's what we have lined up for her next week:
Monday: Apostle Islands National Lakeshore: An Environmental Success Story. Since 1970 the lands and waters of Lake Superior's Apostle Islands have been protected by the federal government as the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, thanks to Gaylord Nelson, father of Earth Day. But thirty-five years ago, people said this could never happen.
Tuesday: Canada Apologizes to its Native Peoples for its Boarding School Policy, following Australia's example. So what about us?
Wednesday: Jean talks to Valzhyna Mort, a young Belarusian poet who is a rising star in the international poetry world.
Thursday: For an insider perspective on what goes on inside Gitmo, join us for: My Guantanamo Diary. An Afghan translator gets into Guantanamo and manages by stealth to record a number of candid interviews with Afghan detainees.
Friday: How has German "hamburg steak" evolved into hamburgers, an American icon? Jean and her guest trace how the hamburger has gone from a little-known, greasy-spoon treat sold at fairs and carnivals to a mass-produced mammoth that is almost omnipresent across the globe.
Last, some improvement on our website over the past two "quiet" weeks: First, I have created a RSS news feed to allow you to receive latest program update automatically from your news feed reader such as Bloglines. Second, there are so many ways to listen to our program (on-air, online, MP3, podcast, streaming) and to contact us (phone, email, IM, Facebook) that it could become confusing. Now a new "how to listen" and "contact" page should help you sort out your options. If you have other ideas on how to improve our web site, please send them in from our "Comments" web page. I would love to hear about them.
Thanks. Cheers.
Lisa Bu
Web Producer
Here on Earth: Radio Without Borders
Wisconsin Public Radio
Jean is coming back on air on Monday. We have missed her because the office sounds too quiet without her presence and laughter. Here's what we have lined up for her next week:
Monday: Apostle Islands National Lakeshore: An Environmental Success Story. Since 1970 the lands and waters of Lake Superior's Apostle Islands have been protected by the federal government as the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, thanks to Gaylord Nelson, father of Earth Day. But thirty-five years ago, people said this could never happen.
Tuesday: Canada Apologizes to its Native Peoples for its Boarding School Policy, following Australia's example. So what about us?
Wednesday: Jean talks to Valzhyna Mort, a young Belarusian poet who is a rising star in the international poetry world.
Thursday: For an insider perspective on what goes on inside Gitmo, join us for: My Guantanamo Diary. An Afghan translator gets into Guantanamo and manages by stealth to record a number of candid interviews with Afghan detainees.
Friday: How has German "hamburg steak" evolved into hamburgers, an American icon? Jean and her guest trace how the hamburger has gone from a little-known, greasy-spoon treat sold at fairs and carnivals to a mass-produced mammoth that is almost omnipresent across the globe.
Last, some improvement on our website over the past two "quiet" weeks: First, I have created a RSS news feed to allow you to receive latest program update automatically from your news feed reader such as Bloglines. Second, there are so many ways to listen to our program (on-air, online, MP3, podcast, streaming) and to contact us (phone, email, IM, Facebook) that it could become confusing. Now a new "how to listen" and "contact" page should help you sort out your options. If you have other ideas on how to improve our web site, please send them in from our "Comments" web page. I would love to hear about them.
Thanks. Cheers.
Lisa Bu
Web Producer
Here on Earth: Radio Without Borders
Wisconsin Public Radio
Saturday, June 14, 2008
June 16-27 Programs
Dear Friends,
Hail, and Farewell, at least for a couple of weeks while I’ll be on vacation with my family. Since love is lovelier the second time around, we hope you’ll enjoy listening to some of our best Here on Earth programs from the past year. We made our choices based in part on your comments and responses. I’ll be back in the saddle on Monday, June 30, starting with a program about the extraordinary transformation that Lake Superior’s Apostle Islands have undergone since being declared a national wilderness preserve.
WEEK ONE
WEEK TWO
Jean
Hail, and Farewell, at least for a couple of weeks while I’ll be on vacation with my family. Since love is lovelier the second time around, we hope you’ll enjoy listening to some of our best Here on Earth programs from the past year. We made our choices based in part on your comments and responses. I’ll be back in the saddle on Monday, June 30, starting with a program about the extraordinary transformation that Lake Superior’s Apostle Islands have undergone since being declared a national wilderness preserve.
WEEK ONE
- June 16th - (repeat from 4/23/07) – Is Peace A Dirty Word?
- June 17th - (repeat from 1/29/08) – The Dead Beat: The Art of Obituaries
- June 18th - (repeat from 4/11/08) – Lila Downs’ Ranchero Music
- June 19th - (repeat from 6/21/07) – Poetry Circle of the Air: Maxine Kumin (featuring the Excrement Poem)
- June 20th - (repeat from 5/25/07) – How to Pick a Peach
WEEK TWO
- June 23rd - (repeat from 3/25/08) – Young America and the Middle East (featuring Jewish-American journalist Gideon Yago and Iranian-American Reza Aslan)
- June 24th - (repeat from 7/16/07) – The World Without Us
- June 25th - (repeat from 5/21/08) - Street Cries from Around the World (starring the ever-amazing Annie Zanzillotto)
- June 26th - (repeat from 8/23/07) – Edith Piaf and the Street Singers of Paris
- June 27th - (repeat from 3/21/08) – Yerba Mate
Jean
Saturday, June 07, 2008
June 9-13 Programs
Dear Friends,
Here’s what’s in the line-up for Here on Earth programs next week:
Monday: My Cousin the Saint: This is a new twist on geneology and the search for roots: Justin Catanoso was a typically lapsed American Catholic when he discovered that his late cousin was about to be canonized by Pope John Paul II. Now, you have to understand what drew me to this topic: I lost a long-standing debate with my husband over the issue of whether the Pope has the right to make saints when my position was completely compromised by, of all people, – the Pope himself! Plus, Justin happened to come from a family in Calabria, my paternal homeland.
Tuesday: In his new book, A Thousand Hills, Stephen Kinzer tells the astonishing story of how Paul Kagame, the president of Rwanda, seized power in his genocide-shattered country and brought about one of the most successful revolutions of the modern era. I hope he doesn’t leave out the role of the women.
Wednesday: Who Owns Antiquities? Should they be returned to the countries where they were found? Museum directors say no, but countries such as Italy, Greece, Turkey, and China are all clamoring for their return, and have passed laws against their future export. We’ll talk with James Cuno, director of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Thursday: One of New York City’s most venerable institutions, The Center for Traditional Music and Dance, just held a festival and put out a CD in honor of its 40th anniversary. Starting with Balkan immigrants in the Bronx, the Center now spans traditions from all over the globe, bringing age-old enemies side by side on the same stage. Talk about diversity!
Friday: What kind of diet reduces miles rather than calories? Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon’s 100-Mile Diet, which has taken off as a new way to think – and eat – locally. We’ll talk with Alisa about the challenge she and James set for themselves: to eat only food produced within 100 miles of their British Columbian apartment for one year. Can eating locally really help save the planet?
Sayonara,
Jean
Here’s what’s in the line-up for Here on Earth programs next week:
Monday: My Cousin the Saint: This is a new twist on geneology and the search for roots: Justin Catanoso was a typically lapsed American Catholic when he discovered that his late cousin was about to be canonized by Pope John Paul II. Now, you have to understand what drew me to this topic: I lost a long-standing debate with my husband over the issue of whether the Pope has the right to make saints when my position was completely compromised by, of all people, – the Pope himself! Plus, Justin happened to come from a family in Calabria, my paternal homeland.
Tuesday: In his new book, A Thousand Hills, Stephen Kinzer tells the astonishing story of how Paul Kagame, the president of Rwanda, seized power in his genocide-shattered country and brought about one of the most successful revolutions of the modern era. I hope he doesn’t leave out the role of the women.
Wednesday: Who Owns Antiquities? Should they be returned to the countries where they were found? Museum directors say no, but countries such as Italy, Greece, Turkey, and China are all clamoring for their return, and have passed laws against their future export. We’ll talk with James Cuno, director of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Thursday: One of New York City’s most venerable institutions, The Center for Traditional Music and Dance, just held a festival and put out a CD in honor of its 40th anniversary. Starting with Balkan immigrants in the Bronx, the Center now spans traditions from all over the globe, bringing age-old enemies side by side on the same stage. Talk about diversity!
Friday: What kind of diet reduces miles rather than calories? Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon’s 100-Mile Diet, which has taken off as a new way to think – and eat – locally. We’ll talk with Alisa about the challenge she and James set for themselves: to eat only food produced within 100 miles of their British Columbian apartment for one year. Can eating locally really help save the planet?
Sayonara,
Jean
Saturday, May 31, 2008
June 2-6 Programs
Hello Friends, Thursday has rolled around once again and it’s time to let you in on what the Here on Earth team has in store for you this coming week:
Monday: China’s Earthquake Generation: Our mission, as you know, is to deliver good news whenever we can, so we tend to stay shy of stories about natural disasters. But when we began hearing that in the aftermath of China’s earthquake, hundreds of students had lined up to donate blood and supplies while others went to the earthquake zone, traveling more than 1,000 miles to distribute aid, we knew we had a Here on Earth story.
Tuesday: Green Collar Jobs: What are they and where are they? John Foley, the director of SAGE, the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment, joins us to talk about green economics.
Wednesday:Hardcore Zen: The story of a punk whose lifelong quest for truth led him through a path from the aggressive beats of hardcore punk music to the monster movie studios in Tokyo to a temple where he discovered Zen Buddhism. Brad Warner is a Zen monk, a musician, a filmmaker, and the author of Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies, and the Truth about Reality.
Thursday: We’ve heard that The Daily Show is where young Americans get their news. But is it the same in the UK? What about Australia? And should every news story be turned into a joke?
Friday: It’s not Valentine’s Day, but who cares? Any day is a good day to talk about Chocolate: Chocolatier Gail Ambrosius has been all over Central and Latin America, visiting cocoa growers. It’s a little like going to the vineyard before you make the wine.
It’s been a long week. I’m out’a here!
Jean
Monday: China’s Earthquake Generation: Our mission, as you know, is to deliver good news whenever we can, so we tend to stay shy of stories about natural disasters. But when we began hearing that in the aftermath of China’s earthquake, hundreds of students had lined up to donate blood and supplies while others went to the earthquake zone, traveling more than 1,000 miles to distribute aid, we knew we had a Here on Earth story.
Tuesday: Green Collar Jobs: What are they and where are they? John Foley, the director of SAGE, the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment, joins us to talk about green economics.
Wednesday:Hardcore Zen: The story of a punk whose lifelong quest for truth led him through a path from the aggressive beats of hardcore punk music to the monster movie studios in Tokyo to a temple where he discovered Zen Buddhism. Brad Warner is a Zen monk, a musician, a filmmaker, and the author of Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies, and the Truth about Reality.
Thursday: We’ve heard that The Daily Show is where young Americans get their news. But is it the same in the UK? What about Australia? And should every news story be turned into a joke?
Friday: It’s not Valentine’s Day, but who cares? Any day is a good day to talk about Chocolate: Chocolatier Gail Ambrosius has been all over Central and Latin America, visiting cocoa growers. It’s a little like going to the vineyard before you make the wine.
It’s been a long week. I’m out’a here!
Jean
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Mafalda
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
You may have been surprised and delighted, as I was, to hear a promo for this Thursday's Here on Earth program broadcast in Spanish in a sweet little girl's voice. That was Constanza Serrani (a.k.a. Liborio - she changed her name), our student producer from Argentina who convinced us to do a program about Mafalda, the influential Argentine comic strip that features a six-year-old wunderkind famous for her witty political quips and ironic observations about life. The comic strip is intended for an adult audience, a little like Peanuts' Charlie Brown, and its popularity has spread throughout Europe and even into China. Isn't it about time we Americans were introduced? I hope you'll be listening tomorrow and let us know what you think.
Also, we're adding a new weekly feature to our programming: A Here on Earth Mailbag. Beginning next Monday, June 2, I'll be reading some listener comments from the previous week's programs. We figure it's one way to keep you listening through the end of the hour, and of letting you know that we really do read them and want more, more more!
You may have been surprised and delighted, as I was, to hear a promo for this Thursday's Here on Earth program broadcast in Spanish in a sweet little girl's voice. That was Constanza Serrani (a.k.a. Liborio - she changed her name), our student producer from Argentina who convinced us to do a program about Mafalda, the influential Argentine comic strip that features a six-year-old wunderkind famous for her witty political quips and ironic observations about life. The comic strip is intended for an adult audience, a little like Peanuts' Charlie Brown, and its popularity has spread throughout Europe and even into China. Isn't it about time we Americans were introduced? I hope you'll be listening tomorrow and let us know what you think.
Also, we're adding a new weekly feature to our programming: A Here on Earth Mailbag. Beginning next Monday, June 2, I'll be reading some listener comments from the previous week's programs. We figure it's one way to keep you listening through the end of the hour, and of letting you know that we really do read them and want more, more more!
Friday, May 23, 2008
Hi Everybody!
Here ‘s what’s coming up on Here on Earth the last week in May:
Monday, Memorial Day: Naples vs. the Nazis: we explore a long-kept secret left over from the last world war: how the Neapolitans fought a guerilla war against the Nazis during World War I, with John Domini, the author of a memoir in progress: Cooking the Octopus: Discovering Naples, My Father, and Myself.
Tuesday: The Garbage Warrior: Michael Reynolds builds houses out of garbage -- literally. He's the subject of The Garbage Warrior, a documentary about his adventures building what he calls "earthships", off-grid sustainable communities made out of beer cans, old tires, and plastic bottles. We'll talk with director, Oliver Hodge, and the Garbage Warrior himself.
Wednesday: American Universities Go Overseas: From Kuwait to Singapore, American universities are expanding. At Kean University, plans for a campus in China are underway. At the University of Washington, a program in Abu Dhabi teaches recent UAE graduates the skills they need to make it in the contemporary workforce. Guests: Kean University President Dawood Farahi; University of Washington program coordinator Marisa Nickle.
Thursday: Mafalda: a comic strip for adults from Argentina, it features a five-year-old girl named Mafalda who is deeply concerned about humanity, world peace, and the current state of society. Written and drawn by the Argentine cartoonist Quino, Mafalda is a huge hit all over Latin America, Europe, and elsewhere, with ambitions to take on the US next.
Friday: “All you need is love. And wine. And beer. And food”, that’s the motto for the next festival of food and music at the University of Gastronomical Sciences in Pollenzo, Italy, an institution dedicated exclusively to the study of food where nobody ever touches a pot.
Have a great Memorial Day weekend!
Jean
Here ‘s what’s coming up on Here on Earth the last week in May:
Monday, Memorial Day: Naples vs. the Nazis: we explore a long-kept secret left over from the last world war: how the Neapolitans fought a guerilla war against the Nazis during World War I, with John Domini, the author of a memoir in progress: Cooking the Octopus: Discovering Naples, My Father, and Myself.
Tuesday: The Garbage Warrior: Michael Reynolds builds houses out of garbage -- literally. He's the subject of The Garbage Warrior, a documentary about his adventures building what he calls "earthships", off-grid sustainable communities made out of beer cans, old tires, and plastic bottles. We'll talk with director, Oliver Hodge, and the Garbage Warrior himself.
Wednesday: American Universities Go Overseas: From Kuwait to Singapore, American universities are expanding. At Kean University, plans for a campus in China are underway. At the University of Washington, a program in Abu Dhabi teaches recent UAE graduates the skills they need to make it in the contemporary workforce. Guests: Kean University President Dawood Farahi; University of Washington program coordinator Marisa Nickle.
Thursday: Mafalda: a comic strip for adults from Argentina, it features a five-year-old girl named Mafalda who is deeply concerned about humanity, world peace, and the current state of society. Written and drawn by the Argentine cartoonist Quino, Mafalda is a huge hit all over Latin America, Europe, and elsewhere, with ambitions to take on the US next.
Friday: “All you need is love. And wine. And beer. And food”, that’s the motto for the next festival of food and music at the University of Gastronomical Sciences in Pollenzo, Italy, an institution dedicated exclusively to the study of food where nobody ever touches a pot.
Have a great Memorial Day weekend!
Jean
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Street Cries
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
I just did one of the best Here on Earth programs ever, thanks to the wizardry of poet/performance artist Annie Lanzilotto and her sidekick, singer/songwriter DePree. Street Cries! Who would have thought that a program about something as commonplace, raw, vulgar, and oh so not midwestern could evoke such a soulful response! We had some wonderful sound lined up from Annie's collection of street cries from all over the world to use in the program, but what callers spontaneously supplied was even better - a garbanzo seller from India, peanut and hot dog vendors at a ballgame, a Vietnamese fish vendor, even an Egyptian hawking cotton candy in Arabic - and so many callers recreating these soul cries right on the air! It was what God intended a talk show should be. The poet in me, the street hawker, rose to the occasion, and Joe Hardtke, our engineer, was just as thrilled. Now, why can't we do that more often? Any ideas?
I just did one of the best Here on Earth programs ever, thanks to the wizardry of poet/performance artist Annie Lanzilotto and her sidekick, singer/songwriter DePree. Street Cries! Who would have thought that a program about something as commonplace, raw, vulgar, and oh so not midwestern could evoke such a soulful response! We had some wonderful sound lined up from Annie's collection of street cries from all over the world to use in the program, but what callers spontaneously supplied was even better - a garbanzo seller from India, peanut and hot dog vendors at a ballgame, a Vietnamese fish vendor, even an Egyptian hawking cotton candy in Arabic - and so many callers recreating these soul cries right on the air! It was what God intended a talk show should be. The poet in me, the street hawker, rose to the occasion, and Joe Hardtke, our engineer, was just as thrilled. Now, why can't we do that more often? Any ideas?
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