TO THE BEST OF OUR KNOWLEDGE
from Wisconsin Public Radio
April 28, 1996 Programs
Click here to return to the Main Menu
1100 - 1159 Hour #1 Central Europe
1200 - 1259 Hour #2 Presenting Science
1300 - 1359 Hour #3 Teenagers
PROGRAM RUNDOWN Hour 1:Central Europe
SEGMENT 1:
Revolution spread through Central Eastern Europe at a terrific
speed in 1989, and Communist regimes fell one right after
another. Democracy's growth has proceeded much more slowly.
Journalist Tina Rosenberg, in her Pulitzer-Prize winning book
"The Haunted Land," describes the citizens of Poland, Germany,
the Czech Republic and Slovakia as wanting retribution for
their suffering. Rosenberg tells Steve Paulson that the
attempt to match justice to injustice presents an ethical
dilemma -- who's guilty, and who's a fair judge? Also
economist Laslo Urban of the World Bank in Washington, D.C.
tells Jim Fleming about business opportunity in the former
Eastern Europe. The transition to a free-market is a success,
but only in some of the countries, not all.
SEGMENT 2:
In World War II hundreds of thousands of gypsies died in the
Holocaust, and under the Communists the remaining gypsy
communities were forced to assimilate into the larger culture.
Journalist Isabel Fonseca, spurred by the discovery of gypsy
ancestry, researched the gypsy world and wrote a book about
them, "Bury Me Standing." She told Judith Strasser gypsies are
still despised in many areas, and she wanted to clear up some
of the misconceptions of Gypsies.
SEGMENT 3:
What does freedom mean to people who've never had it? Czech
author Iva Pekarkova (EE-vah Peh-KAR-koh-VAH) makes that
question the center of her novel "Truck Stop Rainbows," which
takes place right after the 1989 revolution. These days
Pekarkova is a New York City taxi driver, but she tells Steve
Paulson that some of her fictional story came right out of her
own life.
For cassette copies of this hour, call 1-800-747-7444, and ask for program number
04-28-A.
PROGRAM RUNDOWN Hour 2:Presenting Science
SEGMENT 1:
Secretary of State Warren Christopher recently announced his
commitment to putting environmental issues "in the mainstream
of American foreign policy." Maybe this will do for science
what the space race did decades ago, and it's about time. Rafe
Pomerance, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the
Envornment and Development tells Steve Paulson in this segment
that environmental problems are as important now as Communism
was during the Cold War.
SEGMENT 2:
Presenting science isn't just a matter of foreign policy, or
even of better high school textbooks. Nobel Prize-winning
physicist Leon Lederman tells Judith Strasser about other ideas
for catching the public fancy. He wants, for instance, to
interest Hollywood in creating an "E.R." for general science,
making popular drama out of scientific problems like global
warming and the thinning ozone layer.
SEGMENT 3:
One of the best current models for taking science to the people
is the public television program NOVA. Linda Garmon is one of
five NOVA producers, and has won an Emmy for her episode called
"The Wild Child." She tells Judith Strasser how the producers
decide what their topics will be. We'll also hear from the
internationally acclaimed BBC science producer David
Attenborough, who tells Jim Fleming about the beauty of time-
lapse photography and how it changed his understanding of
biology. His latest tv/publishing venture is "The Private Life
of Plants."
For cassette copies of this hour, call 1-800-747-7444, and ask for program number
04-28-B.
PROGRAM RUNDOWN: HOUR 3: Teenagers
SEGMENT 1
Being a teenager in America isn't what it used to be. Just
look at the statistics: over 20% of teens live in poverty,
every minute 12 kids drop out of school, and gunfire is now the
second-leading cause of death for American children.
journalist Edward Humes tells Judith Strasser how he
volunteered as a writing teacher at L.A.'s Juvenile Hall. In
his book "Now Matter How Loud I Shout" Humes follows the court
system and the kids who go through it.
SEGMENT 2:
Stephen O'Conner is a creative writing teacher in the New York
City public schools. He tells Steve Paulson how in the
beginning he shared the common view that kids didn't want to
write, but he was surprised and pleased to discover they just
didn't like what they were being asked to write about. Once he
asked for something relevant to their lives, everything
changed. Meanwhile, in Hawaii, David Nakada was discovering
the value of wilderness expeditions for kids in transition. He
tells Judith Strasser about the effects of this rite of
passage.
SEGMENT 3:
In Chicago teenagers do have a voice -- it's called "New
Expression" and it's a newspaper written by teens for teens,
with a press run of 60,000. Editorial Advisor Adolfo Mendez
and managing editor Heather MacDonald, a high school senior,
tell Jim Fleming about their newspaper, and why this paper is
different from both the mainstream media and the high school
paper.
For cassette copies of this hour, call 1-800-747-7444, and ask for program number
04-28-C.
Click here to return to the Main Menu
Last modified: Friday April 26, 1996