On Demand
The Next Big Thing
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Words, Words and More Words
Words, words, and more words in this week’s show. Political words twisted, poetic words remembered, and new words not (yet) in the dictionary. Also, an exploration of patriotic bug art and a new drama from novelist Meg Wolitzer.
Bush Redux
President Bush came to Wall Street this week to deliver a much anticipated speech on corporate malfeasance. Much-anticipated, that is, by John Collins and Steve Bodow of the Elevator Repair Service, who deconstructed the president’s speech to reveal the message between the lines. If the stock market crashes on Monday, don’t blame us.
Poetry Lives
Poet Kenneth Koch died last week. Alice Quinn, poetry editor for the New Yorker and executive director of the Poetry Society of America, remembers Koch as she sorts through some entries to the Poetry in Motion Contest, a competition for New Yorkers to get their poems displayed in the subway.
Five Sounds in Search of an Author
Listen up! In between these sounds is a story and it's up to you to write it. Once again, The Next Big Thing is inviting your ideas on ways to weave a plot out of seemingly unrelated sounds. Author and Next Big Thing contributor Jesse Green will choose a winner to read his or her story on our show. You'll hear the results next week. E-mail your stories to nextbigthing@wnyc.org by midnight, Monday, July 15, 2002. Please include a daytime phone number. And remember, the time it takes to read them should come close to the time it takes to hear the sounds (about 30 seconds). Good luck!
Shelf Life
Producer Chelsea Merz knows that one way into a person’s world is through his library. Today she visits the bookshelf of Cameron Ives, a computer guy for a Boston pharmaceutical company.
Bug Art
If the medium is the message, America might be in trouble. Harriet Baskas visits the patriotic portraits of John Hampson in Vermont. The problem? Well, the portraits are made out of insects, and let’s just say there are some preservation issues.
View the portraits
Call Her Irresponsible
If avoiding blame, responsibility and guilt are the order of the day in this new era of corporate corruption, novelist Meg Wolitzer did not get the message. In another of her story-dramas, Meg goes over the minor irresponsible acts in her life that led to major consequences. With Broadway stars Jonathan Freeman and Mary Testa.