Bob Edwards Weekend
May 21-22, 2011
HOUR ONE
Bob talks with funny man Harry Shearer about his deadly serious documentary titled The Big Uneasy. It tells the story of the 2005 flooding of New Orleans, the unnatural disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina. The focus is on three scientists who tried to warn of the danger or investigate the aftermath of the flooding and the many obstacles they faced.
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series This I Believe, we hear the essay of Michele Weldon. She has three sons who have many fathers. After Weldon’s ex-husband disappeared from the family, she says teachers and coaches stepped into the void, becoming father figures. Those relationships have helped guide her sons through adolescence, and have shown them that they are worthy of being loved.
HOUR TWO
Film and stage legend Julie Andrews is one of the English-speaking world’s most beloved entertainers. First gaining critical and popular success as Eliza Doolittle in the 1956 Broadway production of My Fair Lady, Andrews went on to star in Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Victor Victoria and many other films and Broadway productions. In recent years, Andrews has become a prolific children’s book author, often partnering with her daughter Emma Walton Hamilton. Their most recent book is The Very Fairy Princess Takes the Stage.
Loyalty Day was made official in 1958, the original purpose was for Americans to reaffirm their loyalty to the United States. Loyalty oaths have a problematic history in this country, starting with the Revolutionary War. George Washington was for them, but so was Joe McCarthy who believed you were not patriotic enough unless you took one. Loyalty is a tricky virtue, the foundation for love and family, but also the cause of much misery and betrayal, especially when loyalties collide. Pulitzer Prize winning Wall Street Journal columnist Eric Felten offers mediation on the subject in his new book, Loyalty: The Vexing Virtue.