On Demand
The Next Big Thing
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The Other Side
Show #417We turn things on their head. Sound poet Tracie Morris finds what she calls the “Afrofuturistic” in everything from Star Trek episodes to nursery rhymes. Author Joshua Wolf Shenk researches Abraham Lincoln’s melancholic side. And poet Jim Behrle tries out being millionaire-for-a-day. Also, the unusual habits of Glenn Gould, as elaborately imagined by writer John Haskell.
Spinning Records
A walk in the park. Two happy dogs, piles of snow, and black shiny discs everywhere. It’s an installment from Washington, DC writer Katie Davis’s series, Neighborhood Stories.
Rich Verse
Next Big Thing contributor Sean Cole trails poet Jim Behrle as he attempts to live the life of a poet and a millionaire at the same time – for a day. For more on Behrle, go to his website, canwehaveourballback.com.
Future Vision
Sound poet Tracie Morris and host Dean Olsher bond over Star Trek and Thelonious Monk, and Morris gives Dean a sampling of her contributions for the multimedia performance “Afrofuturistic.” Produced by Amanda Aronczyk.
Trespassing
When Next Big Thing contributor Laura Starecheski was in high school, she and her thrill-seeking friends used to spike their adrenaline by sneaking onto the grounds of what they believed to be an abandoned insane asylum. Now they return to the Pennhurst State School and Hospital outside Philadelphia to see if it’s as scary as they remembered.
The Melancholy of Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln has become a mythic figure for many Americans, from Civil Rights activists to those pursuing the American rag-to-riches dream. Writer Joshua Wolf Shenk is working on a book that offers a new understanding of Lincoln - perhaps less idealized, but, for Shenk, more inspiring. Seated in Cooper Union's Great Hall, the site of one of Lincoln's most famous speeches, Shenk and Dean Olsher consider the implications of the 16th president's gloomy temperament. Produced by Julie Subrin.
Scenes from the Life of Glenn Gould
Zooming in on well-known scenes from the life of a brilliant musician, writer John Haskell uses fiction to try to interpret Glenn Gould’s famously idiosyncratic behavior. It’s an adaptation of a short story in Haskell’s debut collection, I Am Not Jackson Pollock. Produced by Emily Botein.