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The Next Big Thing
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Perspective
What can we learn about human behavior by following the course of a man who stepped out of his life and observed it from the distance of a few blocks – over the course of twenty years? What can we learn about the world by studying bugs? What can we learn about the prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq by looking at a chapter in Canadian history? According to Nathaniel Hawthorne, Paul Auster, Tom Eisner and others, a lot – as you’ll discover on this week’s show.
Week (or so) in Review
A review of recent news, pressing and otherwise, with NBT journeyman news analyst Steve Almond. Produced by Julie Subrin.
» More about Steve Almond
What Would Canada Do?
In 1993, before the American disaster in Mogadishu, the Canadians had a problem of their own in Somalia. Several members of the elite Canadian Airborne Regiment tortured and killed a 16-year-old Somali and then took photos of their deed. Dean Olsher speaks with Dr. Donna Winslow, professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology, who contributed research to the Canadian inquiry of the tragedy. Produced by Amanda Aronczyk.
» More on the Somalia affair from the CBC archives
Crosstown Contemplation
Host Dean Olsher finds loose connections between these dots: the Whitney Biennial, the start of the war in Afghanistan, the film "Angelheart," fear, and presidential duties.
Conversations about Hawthorne
The Next Big Thing's Julie Subrin finds out what Brooklyn Public Library visitors remember about Hawthorne’s best known work, The Scarlet Letter. And not far from there, Brooklyn writer Paul Auster chats with Dean Olsher about one of his favorite Hawthorne stories, "Wakefield."
» Read Hawthorne's "Wakefield"
Wakefield
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story is a remarkably contemporary-seeming portrait of a man’s unpremeditated, life-changing act. Wakefield leaves his wife for a week, only to stay away twenty years, taking up secret residence just a block away from his previous life. Read here, for our radio adaptation, by writer and Hawthorne devotee Paul Auster.
Sounds of L.A.
Believe it or not, Los Angeles has a natural history, and you can hear it. At least that’s the case the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County makes, in their exhibit "LA: Light, Motion, Dreams." Listen to the evidence. Produced by Ben Adair.
» More about the exhibit
Bugging Out
Tom Eisner is one of the world’s foremost entomologists and a professor at Cornell University. His most recent book, For Love of Insects, documents his 60-year love affair with bugs. On one of the first true days of spring, Dean Olsher, Eisner, and Eisner’s wife Maria took a walk through Central Park, looking for insects and discussing the depth of perspective that is granted by a life spent studying bugs. Produced by Jamie York.
Sounds of Spring
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| Photo by Amy White |
» For more photos, click here
