Yearly Archives: 2009

Web Extras

Web Extra: Chris Hedges On Threats and Hope

Chris Hedges
Chris Hedges

Are you pessimistic about the future? Are economic woes, climate chaos, the capture of Washington by special interests and a host of other nail-biting problems in the reality-based universe getting you down?

Chris Hedges on threats from the Right, but also reasons for hope.

Listen to the full interview and read the article here.

Podcast

Empires of Illusion, Empires of Torture

Chris Pyle
Chris Pyle
Chris Hedges
Chris Hedges

Journalist Chris Hedges talks about EMPIRE OF ILLUSION: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle. He says Americans are in thrall to a culture of narcissism, revenge, and fake “happiness” that is destroying our democracy — and our power to connect genuinely with others. And former Army intelligence officer and constitutional scholar Chris Pyle says the Bush Administration is GETTING AWAY WITH TORTURE. He tells us about secret government, war crimes, and the rule of law. Continue reading

Podcast

Meth Epidemic In America’s Heartland and Thoreau’s Bad Day

John Pipkin
John Pipkin
Nick Reding
Nick Reding

We interview Nick Reding about how the methamphetamine epidemic is eating away at rural America. His book is METHLAND: The Death and Life of an American Small Town. And John Pipkin tells us about his debut novel WOODSBURNER. It’s about a very bad day in the life of Henry David Thoreau: when he started a forest fire that burned three hundred acres. Pipkin uses the fire as a starting point to examine the destruction human passions can cause. Continue reading

Podcast

Migraines and Madness: The Upsides and Downsides

David Lovelace
David Lovelace
Andrew Levy
Andrew Levy

Andrew Levy talks about [amazon-product text=”A BRAIN WIDER THAN THE SKY: A Migraine Diary” type=”text”]1416572503[/amazon-product]. Weaving his personal story together with reflections on science, art, history and spirituality, he gives us a surprising portrait of this malady. And David Lovelace tells us why he is “proud to be bipolar” despite the troubles the disorder has brought him. His memoir is [amazon-product text=”SCATTERSHOT: My Bipolar Family” type=”text”]0525950788[/amazon-product]. Continue reading

Podcast

Women Writing Powerfully About Women’s Lives

Chimamanda Adichie
Chimamanda Adichie
Honor Moore
Honor Moore

Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie talks about her stunning collection of stories [amazon-product text=”THE THING AROUND YOUR NECK” type=”text”]0307271072[/amazon-product]. And poet Honor Moore reads from and tells us about [amazon-product text=”POEMS FROM THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT” type=”text”]1598530429[/amazon-product]. Our guests use fiction (Adichie) and poetry (Moore) to evoke the lives of women with power, honesty and grace. Continue reading

Podcast

Looking at New York City, Before and After 9/11

Max Page
Max Page
Patrick Radden Keefe
Patrick Radden Keefe

Host Francesca Rheannon talks with architectural historian Max Page about [amazon-product text=”THE CITYS END: Two Centuries of Fantasies, Fears, and Premonitions of New York’s Destruction” type=”text”]030011026X[/amazon-product]. And journalist Patrick Radden Keefe tells us the story of China’s outmigration to New York in the 1980’s and the “snakeheads” who facilitated and exploited it. His book is [amazon-product text=”SNAKEHEAD: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream” type=”text”]0385521308[/amazon-product].
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Podcast

LIFE, INC. and Washington Sex Scandals, too

Douglas Rushkoff
Douglas Rushkoff
jeff-sharlet
Jeff Sharlet

Media critic Doug Rushkoff talks about LIFE, INC. and Jeff Sharlet, author of THE FAMILY, returns for another interview, updating us on how the sex scandals in Washington are splitting the Christian Right.
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Podcast

Human Spaces and Liveable Cities

Rutherford Platt
Rutherford Platt
Colin Ellard
Colin Ellard

We talk with scientist Colin Ellard about [amazon-product text=”YOU ARE HERE: Why We Can Find Our Way To The Moon But Get Lost At The Mall” type=”text”]038552806X[/amazon-product].

And urban geographer Rutherford Platt tells us about [amazon-product text=”The Humane Metropolis: People And Nature in the Twenty-first Century City” type=”text”]1558495541[/amazon-product].

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Podcast

SO SEXY SO SOON, Jean Kilbourne & HOLD LOVE STRONG, Matthew Aaron Goodman

Jean Kilbourne
Jean Kilbourne

Writers Voice host Francesca Rheannon talks with Dr. Jean Kilbourne about [amazon-product text=”SO SEXY SO SOON: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids” type=”text”]0345505077[/amazon-product]. Also this week, Francesca speaks with Matthew Aaron Goodman about his debut novel [amazon-product text=”HOLD LOVE STRONG” type=”text”]1416562036[/amazon-product].

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Podcast

Richard Wilbur: Great American Poet

Richard Wilbur
Richard Wilbur

We speak with former U.S. Poet Laureate Richard Wilbur about new poems and old, the art of translation, and his evolution as a poet.  Richard Wilbur is one of America’s greatest living poets. He earned the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry twice, once in 1957 and then again in 1989, and was named the U.S. Poet Laureate in 1987. Wilbur also reads from his work for us.

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Podcast

Food Security and Insecurity

Robin Wheeler
Robin Wheeler
Sasha Abramsky
Sasha Abramsky

We talk with journalist Sasha Abramsky about his new book [amazon-product text=”BREADLINE USA: The Hidden Scandal of American Hunger and How to Fix It” type=”text”]0981709117[/amazon-product].  And sustainability expert Robin Wheeler talks about her book, [amazon-product text=”FOOD SECURITY FOR THE FAINT AT HEART” type=”text”]0865716242[/amazon-product].

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Podcast

Les Leopold and Barney Frank: Wall Street and THE LOOTING OF AMERICA

Les Leopold
Les Leopold
Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA)
Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA)

Everything you want to know about instruments of financial mass destruction — but were afraid to ask! Les Leopold explains the financial meltdown in plain English — and what we should do about it.  Also, Representative Representative Barney Frank talks about the TARP.

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Podcast

THE BROTHER GARDENERS and OUT OF SIGHT

Sara Felder
Sara Felder
Andrea Wulf
Andrea Wulf

We talk with design historian and writer Andrea Wulf about THE BROTHER GARDENERS. Also, playwright and juggler Sara Feldman tells us about her new play OUT OF SIGHT, playing at the Ko Festival of Performance in Amherst from July 24-26. Continue reading

Podcast

Curious Garden & Arecelis Girmay

Arecelis Girmay
Arecelis Girmay
Peter Brown
Peter Brown

Francesca Rheannon talks with children’s book author and illustrator Peter Brown about [amazon-product text=”THE CURIOUS GARDEN” type=”text”]0316015474[/amazon-product] and Katy Lorah of Friends of The High Line. Also, poet Arecelis Girmay talks with guest host, Christian MacEwen.  Continue reading

Podcast

Jacqueline Sheehan

Jacqueline Sheehan
Jacqueline Sheehan

Jacqueline Sheehan talks about her new novel, NOW AND THEN. And host Francesca Rheannon talks with Sheehan about her previous novel, LOST AND FOUND in an archived interview from 2007.

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