Monday, April 6, 2009
The Education Trust is dedicated to closing the achievement gap that separates low-income and minority students from other students. Kati Haycock is the president of that non-profit organization and as part of our on-going series on education reform; she discusses how the stimulus money can be used to address the challenges facing all students. Then, Newsweek columnist Ellis Cose’s new public radio series, Against the Odds, focuses on stories of individuals who, despite enduring terrible events, have made positive contributions to the world. The first of the four hour-long programs is Hope on a Pile of Bones, and examines how the small country of Rwanda is pulling itself back together after the 1994 genocide.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Since 1992, the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression has celebrated the birth and ideals of its namesake by recognizing those who in the past year forgot Mr. Jefferson’s admonition that freedom of speech “cannot be limited without being lost.” Bob talks to the Director of the Center, Bob O’Neil, about The Jefferson Muzzles which will be announced today. Then, Duke Law professor Jedediah Purdy’s most recent book, A Tolerable Anarchy, examines the meaning of American freedom.Purdy asks questions about that guiding American principle of freedom – questions like: does capitalism perfect or destroy freedom? And can a nation of individualists also be a community of citizens?
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
As the Discovery channel’s hit show Mythbusters starts its seventh season, scientists and hosts Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage talk with Bob about the hard work of using science to confirm or expose popular myths. Then, a look at the rest of the film world with our resident entertainment critic David Kipen.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Appalachia’s mountains are some of the oldest in the world and contain one of earth’s most diverse ecosystems. The region’s people, and the mountains themselves, are exploited by economic interests from outside the area. Bob talks with filmmaker Jamie Ross, who directed and co-wrote Appalachia: A History of Mountains and People. The four-part PBS documentary on the history of the region premieres today. Next, co-directors Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden talks about the new film Sugar. It’s about a Dominican baseball prospect trying to make his way to the big leagues.
Friday, April 10, 2009
David Broder of The Washington Post joins Bob to talk live about the latest news from the capital and beyond. Then, Evan Wright was embedded with the Marines for the first forty days of the Iraq War and those reports for Rolling Stone were made into a dramatic HBO miniseries called Generation Kill. Wright’s knack for documenting human nature and power struggles didn’t start there. He’s written for Hustler and Vanity Fair and his latest book, Hella Nation, draws on detailed observations of the underbelly of American culture. Wright tells the stories of a Russian immigrant searching for America’s gangster dream, skinheads attending the Aryan Nations World Congress, and a rising star of the radical right as he makes a pro-war documentary, just to name a few.