"If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities."
-- Maya Angelou
Get Involved
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"If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities." -- Maya Angelou
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Get Involved
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August 29, 2008 | |||||||
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 GoodThings on Public Radio September 6, 2001 We want to hear from you. What's the best public radio story or show you heard this past week? Share. If you want to listen, you'll need RealPlayer on your computer. (If you don't already have it, it's a FREE download.) Visit Real Networks. FRIDAY, August 31 | Terminal Bestseller Few books have lasted on the New York Times bestseller list as long Mitch Albom's Tuesdays with Morrie, his account of conversations with his terminally ill, former professor Morrie Schwartz. For four years, the list's cornerstone, Tuesdays with Morrie has resonated with audiences because of its willingness to confront the issue of aging and death head-on. Counter to the American tendency to joke about death rather than deal with it openly and seriously, Albom's book (and Schwartz's wisdom) offers refreshing honesty and compassion about what it means to be terminally ill. [All Things Considered] Listen (length of clip 3 min). Get a copy of Tuesdays with Morrie. SATURDAY, September 1 | Forgotten Leader Few Americans would recognize the name Robert Carter among a list of the nation's early leaders. But unlike his contemporaries George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, Carter was a pioneer on the slavery issue. In the largest private act of emancipation, his "Deed of Gift" freed at least 280 of his slaves in 1791, nearly 75 years before Lincoln's similar public declaration made him a hero. Carter not only believed that slavery didn't make economic sense for plantation owners like himself, but he also was freed from the political chains that made elected officials like Jefferson and Washington hesitant to make difficult decisions. [Weekend All Things Considered] Listen (5:00). Learn more about Robert Carter. SUNDAY, September 2 | Paddle to Paddle Tired of traffic? A group of commuters in Baltimore, Maryland, has found a quicker, quieter, and altogether more interesting way to get to work than sitting in bumper-to-bumper jams. Now 70 members strong, the Canton Kayak Club offers the adventurous an entirely different perspective on their approach to downtown on any given workday. Membership in the club gives you access to docks and lockboxes throughout the bustling Baltimore harbor and, despite the harbor's industrial identity, a unique way to experience rare wildlife. [Weekend Edition Sunday] Listen (6:49). Read the GoodThings story about a company with employees who commute by kayak. MONDAY, September 3 | The Old Ways 150 miles south of Minneapolis, Minnesota, a vintage water mill, used to grind corn and process a variety of grains, is still operating just as it did when it was first built in 1887. Like most of its ilk, this is no museum relic. It's still the most reliable and efficient way for Ivan Krugmeier to get most of his work done on his small farm along Beaver Creek in Houston County. He has no intention of turning his mill into a tourist curiosity, preferring instead to keep it finely tuned: "If you don't use it, it goes downhill." [All Things Considered] Listen (5:00). TUESDAY, September 4 | Simply the Best In the Arab town of Sakhnin, north of Nazareth in Israel, an unlikely team is giving its 25,000 inhabitants a reason to celebrate. In this site of the deaths of two teenage boys during riots a couple of years ago, a girls soccer team has made the most of its old equipment, overplayed field, and struggle against tradition to become a community -- and a national -- icon. The team originally formed as a way to keep teenagers off the dangerous streets, despite fundamentalist arguments that the athletic field was no place for girls. The team persevered against great odds to become national champions and be asked to represent Israel in the highly politicized Jewish Olympics. Predictably, politics were trumped by community spirit. [Morning Edition] Listen (6:17). WEDNESDAY, September 5 | Hey, Ladies! Its roots in the small community of Olympia, Washington, a movement has formed around LadyFest, quickly becoming a phenomenon in much larger cities across the U.S. and Europe. Last week, at LadyFest Midwest, 1500 women gathered in Chicago for music, film, workshops, and then some. Organized and operated entirely by local women, the LadyFests have taken their lead from the Olympia gathering and are building new communities of empowered women, many of them artists, seeking to give contemporary meaning to the term "lady." There are no corporate sponsors for LadyFest, and men are welcome. LadyFest East in New York City begins next week. [Morning Edition] Listen (6:34). Learn more about: :: New York'sLadyFest East :: Chicago'sLadyFest Midwest :: Glasgow'sLadyFest UK :: The originalLadyFest WEDNESDAY, September 5 | McBealian Democracy? The new nation of East Timor -- a Portuguese colony for 400 years and occupied by Indonesia for another 25 -- has just completed its first democratic elections, but it has yet to install a functioning legislature, judiciary, or media infrastructure. Why else would a subtitled version of the American television hit "Ally McBeal" be the most popular show in this country with fewer than 60 practicing lawyers? Does Ally's Boston law firm and zany, tortured personal life reveal anything about life during this unstable time in East Timor's history? NPR's Rob Gifford thinks it may have something to do with understanding what legal issues are all about. [All Things Considered] Listen (3:15). [ : previous week : ] WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU. Did we miss a good public radio story this week? Want to recommend one for next week? Share it with us! |
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