On Demand
The Next Big Thing
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NASAIf Memory Serves
Remember when...in 1977, NASA put a gold-plated record of earth’s sounds, voices and music on board Voyager 1? Or when New York City’s Meatpacking District really was a meatpacking district? Or when Marines went to Iraq to take on Saddam Hussein – in 1991? A look into the not-so-distant past from the vantage point of the not-so-comforting present. Also, Jeffrey Eugenides reading from his short story on thwarted fatherhood.
This is Us…in Potential
In 1977, NASA launched the spacecraft Voyager 1. On board, they placed a record containing sounds, voices and music from all over the world – literally, a record of the human race. Jazz musician Matt Glaser marvels at this optimistic gesture, and wonders what aliens might make of us after they listen to Louis Armstrong’s “Melancholy Blues,” shakuhachi flute music from Japan, or Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F.
Shelf Life
Producer Chelsea Merz knows that one way into a person’s world is through her library. Today she visits with Bonniebelle O’Neal, whose library is mostly in her memory. She had to give up her physical library when she became homeless. For more works by Chelsea Merz, go to Transom.
The Last War
Four veterans speak with Dean Olsher about the last Persian Gulf war. Neal Creighton, Greg Downey, Alex Vernon and Rob Holmes were all lieutenants in the same tank battalion of the 24th Infantry Division. They wrote The Eyes of Orion: Five Tank Lieutenants in the Persian Gulf War. Produced by Michael Kavanagh.
She's Getting...Pregnant!
A tale of paternity longed for, and paternity denied, in the age of artificial insemination. Excerpts from Jeffrey Eugenides' story "Baster," taken from his reading at the New Yorker's Fiction Live Festival.
Life in the Meatpacking District
Marla Mitchnik grew up in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, back when it was nothing but butchers and slaughterhouses. Now the meatpacking industry is migrating to other parts of the city, making way for fancy restaurants with fancy patrons. Miriama Young visits with Marla and others to create this audio portrait of a changing neighborhood. The piece is adapted from Young’s longer audio documentary, "The Prime Cut."
