On Demand
Survival Kit Archive
June 2003
Studs Terkel
Sunday, June 29, 2003
Studs Terkel has been called the voice of Chicago; for over five decades he had a popular radio show in that city, and his bestselling oral histories, including Division Street: America, Hard Times, Working, Race, and The Good War have examined our national experience from the Depression, through World War II, to the lives of contemporary Americans, and their thoughts on a wide range of subjects. Now I’ve asked him to leave behind the two things he loves most - the city of Chicago and people - at least in imagination, for a long stay in a remote place, and to figure out what he would need to get him through the ordeal.
Linda Emond
Sunday, June 22, 2003
Linda Emond says that if she weren’t an actor she’d “probably be working for the Environmental Protection Agency.” Well, they may have to wait a long time for her services, given the rave reviews she’s garnered for her performances in plays like Homebody/Kabul, Life x 3, The Dying Gaul, and “1776”. The New York Times has called her “one of the essential treasures of the New York theater”. But I get the feeling that she’d enjoy a journey into the wild, if she had the time to spare. Let’s ask her what she’d bring along in her cultural survival kit.
ROSIE PEREZ
Sunday, June 15, 2003
Rosie Perez seems like the quintessential city-girl: streetwise, fast-talking, and quick on her feet. At least that’s what she’s like in her roles in films like Do the Right Thing, White Men Can’t Jump, The 24-Hour Woman, Riding in Cars With Boys, and It Could Happen to You. And she did grow up in Brooklyn. But she’s also played more contemplative characters, like the grieving mother in Fearless, which won her an Oscar nomination. Maybe we can find out what the real Rosie Perez is like, by looking into her Survival Kit.
Eugenia Zuckerman
Sunday, June 08, 2003
Eugenia Zuckerman has excelled in so many different fields of endeavor her friends have dubbed her “Superwoman”; not only is she a celebrated flutist with dozens of recordings, she’s also the arts correspondent for CBS News Sunday Morning, the artistic director of the Vail Valley Music Festival, and she’s published both novels and non-fiction. I get the feeling that if we send her out to the wilderness not only will she organize the caribou and elk into a world-class orchestra, she’ll probably also discover a cure for cancer among the native plants in her spare time. Let's see what’s in her Survival Kit.
Michael Palin
Sunday, June 01, 2003
Michael Palin helped change the face of comedy as a member of the Monty Python troupe. Since then he’s acted in films (Winning a British Academy Award for his performance in "A Fish Called Wanda"), written fiction, screenplays and children’s books. But he’s also made a name for himself as an explorer and adventurer, documenting his travels in a series of books and TV series, including Around The World in 80 Days, Pole to Pole, Full Circle, Hemingway Adventure and Sahara. I’m wondering how to get this peripatetic wanderer to stay in one place for several months, and what his survival kit would have to contain to keep him from going stir crazy.