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The Leonard Lopate Show

Friday, September 28, 2007
  • Ang Lee's "Lust, Caution"
    Ang Lee's "Lust, Caution"

    Cultural Exchanges

    Director Ang Lee discusses his latest film, "Lust, Caution." And a documentary filmmaker traces the troubled history of three Southern counties where whites systemically banished African-Americans residents around the turn of the 20th century. On today's Please Explain, we'll learn the value of a dollar as our experts tell us all about currency rates. But first, a local filmmaker reveals how one once-impoverished Brooklyn neighborhood is reacting to gentrification. Amy Eddings sits in for Leonard today.

Bushwick Homecomings

Bushwick was one of New York's poorest areas in the 1990s, but it's now becoming part of the wave of gentrification sweeping across the city. Stephanie Joshua's new documentary, Bushwick Homecomings, explores how residents of this Brooklyn neighborhood are reacting the rapid changes going on around them and what those changes might mean for their futures.

Bushwick Homecomings is screening at the Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival. For more infromation, visit the festival website.

For more information about film, including dates of other upcoming screenings, visit the film's website.

Weigh in: How has your neighborhood been changed by gentrification?

Banished

During the time between the Civil War and the Great Depression, dozens of Southern counties banished thriving African-American communities from their midst. This little-known phenomenon typically began with a criminal accusation of a black man and his lynching, followed by the violent eviction of all the black families living in the county - and the subsequent appropriation of their land. Today, these counties remain virtually all white and their victims’ descendants remain uncompensated. Filmmaker and New York University film professor Marco Williams interviewed both white and black residents of three such counties in Georgia, Missouri, and Arkansas for his new documentary, Banished: How Whites Drive Blacks Out of Town in America.

Banished will be playing at Film Forum though October 9.

Marco Williams will take part in a Q&A session
tonight at 8 pm
at Film Forum, 209 West Houston Street.
Call 212-727-8112 for tickets.

Weigh in: How have you been affected by racism?

Please Explain: Currency Valuation

Anyone who has traveled outside the United States knows that the value of a dollar all depends on where you are. On today's Please Explain, Professor Mark Duckenfield of the London School of Economics and Associate Editor for Barron's Mike Santoli are here to answer your questions about how currencies are valued, how exchange rates are set, how currencies are traded, how relative values affect international trade, and how recent trends in currency values can affect your wallet.

Call us at 212-433-WNYC or post your questions and comments here.

Weigh in: How has the weak dollar affected you?

Lust, Caution

Director Ang Lee discusses "Lust, Caution," his new film based on a short story by Eileen Chang. The movie takes place in Shanghai just before the outbreak of World War II, and follows a young Chinese actress as she becomes part of an intricate plot to ensnare a top Japanese collaborator.

Lust, Caution opens tonight at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas and in theaters nationwide on October 5. For more information, visit the film's website.

Listen to our Underappreicated Literature series segment about Eileen Change, author of Lust, Caution, here.

Tributes: Jeanne-Claude

The Leonard Lopate Show

Jeanne-Claude created environmental works of art with her husband and fellow-conspirator/collaborator Christo. Together, they wrapped the Reichstag in Berlin, the Pont-Neuf in Paris, and created The Gates, with billowy orange drapes, in Central Park. Jeanne-Claude just died at the age of 74. You can hear Leonard Lopate’s last interview with them both, from July 19, 1999.

Let’s Go Swimming!

The Leonard Lopate Show

According to the Centers for Disease Control, bacterial, viral, and parasitic organisms found in recreational water in the United States sicken thousands of people every year, and even result in deaths. We’ll speak with chemist and industrial hygienist Monona Rossol about the protozoa, amoebas and other things that love to go swimming with us. Monona is also founder and President of Arts, Crafts and Theater Safety.

Frank McCourt

The Leonard Lopate Show

Frank McCourt has been a guest many times on this show over the years, starting in 1996 for the memoir, Angela’s Ashes, that would earn him a Pulitzer Prize. Fame came to him late in life, after he’d retired at the age of 65 from teaching English and creative writing at public schools here in New York. He was a sweet, eloquent man who spoke with grace and humility; he just died at the age of 78 after a battle with cancer. You can hear him speaking with Leonard Lopate for his Survival Kit in 2000, and in 2005, for his memoir, Teacher Man.

Science and Faith

The Leonard Lopate Show

Earlier this week, Pres. Obama announced that he plans to nominate geneticist Dr. Francis Collins to lead the National Institutes of Health. You can listen to Leonard’s 2006 conversation with Dr. Collins about how he reconciles his personal faith with his professional scientific knowledge.

FDA to Regulate Tobacco?

The Leonard Lopate Show

May 14, 2009
Congress is getting ready to a vote on whether to make tobacco subject to FDA regulation. You can listen to a segment we did in May about the bill and what it would mean for the cigarette companies.

Our 3-ingredient Challenge wins a James Beard Award

The Leonard Lopate Show

On May 3, the Lopate Show won its third James Beard Award for our 3-ingredient challenge. In August, we asked our listeners to call in and name 3 ingredients and then challenged New York chef and 3-ingredient expert Rozanne Gold to whip up a recipe! You can listen to the 3-ingredient challenge and get some inspiration for simple, delicious, and unexpected dishes.

Leonard is on Facebook

Now Leonard is on Facebook! We’re posting photos, status updates, links to notable interviews, and lots more. Check it out.

Barack Obama, Circa 2004

The Leonard Lopate Show

Listen to President-Elect Barack Obama on the Leonard Lopate Show in November 2004. He had recently won a seat in the U.S. Senate, and only a few months before, his rousing speech during the 2004 Democratic National Convention catapulted him into the national spotlight.