The Next Big Thing

Finding the Proper Words

Show #444

Friday, July 02, 2004

It’s not easy to find just the right word. To wit, this week, we follow the efforts of fifth graders trying to interpret a Wallace Stevens poem; a British expat struggling to remain ever the proper lady; Orson Welles tripping over ad copy; and Thomas Jefferson (as imagined in a 1950s radio drama), lobbying for his version of the Declaration of Independence. And then there’s young singer Sophie Auster, in a recording studio, striving to hit the right note.

Listen to the whole show

Declaration Drama

At present, most Founding Father fanatics are directing their attention toward Alexander Hamilton. In honor of Independence Day, we thought it appropriate to divert some of that attention to Thomas Jefferson – with the help of a 1952 educational radio broadcast titled “The Living Declaration,” and starring Claude Rains. Produced by Emily Botein.

» Listen to the full radio drama

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The Odds

In the United States it is illegal to bet on elections, but that doesn’t keep Ben Eckstein from figuring out the odds. Eckstein runs "America’s Line," a company which publishes odds on things like sports events, the Oscars, the Grammies … and the upcoming presidential election. Host Dean Olsher goes to him to find out where people put their money. Produced by Ben Adair.

» The latest odds

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Again...

Novelist Paul Auster and the band One Ring Zero collaborated on the band’s recent album, "As Smart as We Are." Now they’ve pulled Auster’s 16-year-old daughter Sophie into the mix. We stopped by a modest recording studio in the heart of Brooklyn to listen in on their latest project.

» More about One Ring Zero
» Listen to of the other songs they recorded that day

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The Sound of a Blog

It seems blogs have taken a new turn towards more (and more interesting) audio. Here’s our pick of the week, from the "365 Days Project," curated by Otis Fodder. It’s titled "Orson Welles - Frozen Peas Spot."

» Listen to more of Fodder’s findings

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Thirteen Ways

We leave the summer behind and step into a classroom in Queens, New York, filled with restless eleven-year-olds. At the front sits Sam Swope, a visiting writer who is determined to teach these children the pleasures of reading Wallace Stevens’ "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird." Take a seat. You might learn something. Produced by Pejk Malinovski.

» Sam Swope’s essay on teaching Stevens’ poem to children, part of his forthcoming collection titled I Am a Pencil, is on Sam Swope's website
» Full text of Wallace Stevens’ poem, "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird"

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Farewell to Sis

Guthrie and Sis As an accordion player in the group The Almanac Singers, which included Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, and later as co-founder of the folk-song journal Broadside, Agnes "Sis" Cunningham was at the heart of the American folk music revival. She died this past week at the age of 95. We remember her here, with one of her recordings from 1948.

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The English Rose of Indiana

Elsie Arnold is a proper English woman. Only she’s not thoroughly English anymore. She’s lived in America’s heartland ever since she became a war bride in the 1940s. Nor is she exactly a woman – rather, she’s a fictional character created by David Cale. In this short story, he imagines the inner life of this feisty but mournful woman, finding her solitary way as the years pass by. Read by Jenny Sterlin. Produced by Emily Botein.