TO THE BEST OF OUR KNOWLEDGE
from Wisconsin Public Radio
March 24, 1996 Programs
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1100 - 1159 Hour #1 Prisons/violence
1200 - 1259 Hour #2 Sleep
1300 - 1359 Hour #3 Martial Arts
PROGRAM RUNDOWN Hour 1:Prisons/Violence
SEGMENT 1:
Attorney Steve Donziger is a member of the National Criminal
Justice Commission which has just published a scathing report
called "The Real War on Crime." Donziger tells Steve Paulson
that fear of crime has created a prison-industrial complex in
America and that incarcerating more and more people for
nonviolent offenses will not make us any safer. Also, NY State
Supreme Court Justice Harold Rothwax thinks the criminal
justice system has acquired too many bureaucratic accretions
and that trial lawyers are out of control. He says most people
who come to trial are probably guilty and we should be glad
about it. Judge Rothwax is the author of "Guilty: The Collapse
of Criminal Justice."
SEGMENT 2:
New York Times reporter Fox Butterfield talks with Judith
Strasser about Willie Bosket who had committed some 2,000
roberies and several murders before his sixteenth birthday.
Willie is the subject of Butterfield's book "All God's
Children: The Bosket Family and the American Tradition of
Violence."
SEGMENT 3:
New Orleans has one of the highest crime rates in America and a
recidivism rate of seventy five percent. Tulane University
professor Bob Roberts is the director, and Nelson Marks the
program manager, of Project Return - a prison rehab program in
New Orleans that actually works. Roberts and Marks (a program
alumnus who served twelve years for armed robbery) explain to
Steve Paulson how they're able to turn lives around.
For cassette copies of this hour, call 1-800-747-7444, and ask for program number
03-24-A.
PROGRAM RUNDOWN Hour 2:Sleep
SEGMENT 1:
Sleep deprivation can kill you! So says Stanley Coren,
neuropsychologist at the University of British Columbia, in
this conversation with Judith Strasser. Coren says we're
seriously sleep-deprived and should shut off Letterman and go
to bed! Coren is the author of "The Intelligence of Dogs," and
"Sleep Thieves: An Eye-Opening Exploration into the Science and
Mysteries of Sleep."
SEGMENT 2:
Stanford University researcher Joel Benington talks with Jim
Fleming about his (and colleague Craig Heller's) theory about
why we sleep. He thinks it's so the body can feed the brain.
Also, some sleep disorders can kill. Neurologist Mark Mahowald
of the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center at Hennipin
County Medical Center in Minneapolis, tells Steve Paulson about
some spectacular cases of sleep-related violence and how little
we understand them.
SEGMENT 3:
Jungian analyst Robert Bosnak takes dreams seriously, but he
tells Steve Paulson that it was an aboriginal dream doctor who
taught him that dreams are real. Bosnak is the author of
"tracks in the Wilderness of Dreaming." Also, poet, novelist
and literary critic A. Alvarez tells Jim Fleming that he was
terrified of the dark as a child. Now he's fascinated by the
culture of night, which he documents in his book "Night."
For cassette copies of this hour, call 1-800-747-7444, and ask for program number
03-24-B.
PROGRAM RUNDOWN: HOUR 3: Martial Arts
SEGMENT 1
Dee Costanzo, a senior instructor with Impact Self Defense in
Chicago, tells Judith Strasser about teaching women martial
arts skills for self defense. She says women neeed to be able
to deliver a knock out blow in five to eight seconds and that
strong women can fight and cry. Also, Robin Cooper, a fifth
degree Black Belt in Akido, tells Judith Strasser that her
martial art has left her more physically graceful, but also
helps her find balance in all her interactions with people. She
says the aim in Akido is to resolve conflict without harm to
either party.
SEGMENT 2:
Historian Winston L. King, professor emeritus at Vanderbilt
University and author of "Zen and the Way of the Sword," tells
Jim Fleming how Japanese swordsmanship differed from the
European style, and that the sword, though central to Japanese
martial arts, is ultimately of less importance than the
individual's character. Also, writer Mark Salzman tells Jim
Fleming that he got into martial arts to attract girls. Later
he studied with a major Chinese martial artist and ended up
(after a back injury) practicing Tai Chi. Now he finds the
same fulfillment in playing the cello. Salzman's book about
his experiences in China is "Iron and Silk." His most recent
novel is "The Soloist."
SEGMENT 3:
David Bordwell is a film scholar at the University of Wisconsin
at Madison. In this rollicking conversation with Steve
Paulson, Bordwell explains why Jackie Chan's films are
irresistable - even when (like "Rumble in the Bronx") they make
no sense at all. Bordwell also explains why Hong Kong cinema is
so exciting, and talks about the huge presence the martial arts
now have in American popular culture.
For cassette copies of this hour, call 1-800-747-7444, and ask for program number
03-24-C.
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Last modified: Friday March 22, 1996