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December 2011

December 30	Mummers at the Door Long before Santa, Bing Crosby and the Mattel Toy Company stole the occasion, even before Christianity itself kidnapped it, the Winter Solstice was celebrated with seasonal ritual. One ancient solstice custom is Mummering. Still practiced annually in many parts of England and Ireland, this great-grand-daddy of Halloween masquerade died out in much of Canada and the United States centuries ago. In North America today it is a popular part of Christmas now only in Newfoundland and Pennsylvania. On any night during the twelve days of Christmas you may hear a pounding on your door and strange indrawn voices shouting outside: Any mummers allowed? Whether allowed or not, the mummers will tumble in, loud and masked and rowdy and possibly threatening, turning normal household decorum upside down. They may be friends or complete strangers, and unless you can guess their identities you cannot be sure who is behind the mask or whether their intentions are benign. They are certain to track muddy boots across your carpet, play music, demand drink and act outrageously. All over Newfoundland, these rough-and-tumble spirits of the ancient winter solstice have survived despite the religious and commercial hoopla of modern Christmas. Photos courtesy of Paul Turner A Little Before 'Tis Day There is a centuries old caroling tradition that was thought to be lost, but discovered to still exist in a tiny village in Newfoundland. The villagers sing the New Year's carol, brought from Europe with the first settlers, and handed down through the ages in the community's oral tradition. There is no written transcription of the melody or its origin. For generations villagers have walked from house to house, entered darkened kitchens after midnight, and sung the carol as occupants listened in the darkness. Producer Chris Brookes tracks down the village carolers and follows them on their rounds as they sing their medieval melodies.
December 23	World of Viruses:Flu Pandemic From pig to farm worker and back to pig – that’s the path of the perfect swine flu virus. Likewise, chickens and turkeys, not to mention geese and birds, are hot zones for pandemic flu viruses. In the past, when governments grew concerned about a particular flu, often they will isolate, quarantine or even kill animals that carry a suspect virus. Now animal health and public health authorities are beginning to collaborate on more extensive bio-security. Producer Lakshmi Singh visits farms, fairs and clinics, to find out how surveillance is preparing for the next pandemic. The illustration, which shows how flu pandemics are spread, is provided with permission from 2006 Albrecht GFX and the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska. My So Called Lungs Laura Rothenberg is 21 years old, but, as she likes to say, she already had her mid-life crisis a couple of years ago, and even then it was a few years late. Laura has cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder that affects the lungs and other organs. People with CF live an average of 30 years. Two years ago, we gave Laura a tape recorder. Since that time, Laura has been keeping an audio diary of her battle with the disease and her attempts to lead a normal life with lungs than often betray her.
December 16	Time on the Outside: Hope's Story About 2.3 million adults are incarcerated in U.S. jails and prisons. That's almost 1% of the adult population, including the parents of over 1.7 million children. William and Candice are two of those children. Their single-parent father is doing time 9 hours away from home, so they've moved in with their grandmother, Hope. Over the course of a year, two long car trips, multiple moves, and new schools, producer Shannon Heffernan finds out how Hope's family lives while serving Time on the Outside. Survivors (2009)President Obama has declared that “We have banned torture without exception.” However, some would take exception to this claim. The practice of isolating a prisoner in solitary confinement for extended periods of time causes severe sensory deprivation and has been denounced as torture by the United Nations. But tens of thousands of inmates are locked up in solitary confinement in American prisons today. And the number is rapidly growing. Often prisoners spend years – even decades – by themselves in a cell the size of a small bathroom. They don't see anyone. They don't talk to anyone. They don't touch anyone. What does this experience do to a person's mental state? Claire Schoen shows us what solitary confinement looks, sounds and feels like.
December 9	Changing Spaces: Hampden, Baltimore Producer Gemma Hooley profiles the neighborhood of Hampden, in Baltimore. It's a pop culture landscape of pink plastic flamingoes, beehive hairdos, vintage clothing, leopard-skin purses, and cat-eye sunglasses. Then there are the annual festivals like the HonFest competition, and Christmas lights that you'll swear are shining through your radio. Join us as we explore the underlying culture of this blue collar community. The Changing Face of Neighborhood Crime A look at how neighborhoods change as new people move in, and when urban dwellers go to the suburbs. Race and class are issues here, with perceptions that crime rates are rising, fuelled by preconceptions about race. The program profiles the town of Laurel, Maryland, a midway point between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland, where Governor George C. Wallace of Alabama was shot and paralyzed during his presidency campaign in 1972. The governor was there appealing to the mostly white constituents. However today Laurel is a town better characterized by its growing minority and ethnic populations, and also by crime. We investigate how the town has changed in the past 30 plus years, and whether crime is actually on the increase, or whether the perception of crime is what is changing. This program airs as part of our special international collaboration, Global Perspectives: The World of Crime.
December 2	The Battlers This documentary takes us deep into the experience of Australia's urban poor. We accompany the volunteers of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, past the million dollar real estate, the mansions, swimming pools and harbor views of Sydney's eastern suburbs, into the homes and lives of the real battlers - people unable to afford to keep a roof over their heads, or feed and clothe their children. This program comes to us from Producer Sharon Davis of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and is part of our ongoing international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries. Our Daily Bread An aural picture of a Baltimore neighborhood soup kitchen created through the stories of the lives of several regular customers. We are surrounded by the sounds of the streets that are their homes, and we share a sense of hope, despite the empty routine of merely getting through another day with a stop at the soup kitchen.

November 2011

November 25	Life at McMurdo The science station called McMurdo has been operating on the southern tip of the continent since 1956. It’s an important research center, attracting geologists, physicists, engineers, hydrologists, pilots, and just plain adventure-seekers. McMurdo Station has grown so much, in fact, that it’s really a town unto itself. It’s got a harbor, three airfields, a heliport, over a hundred buildings, and a bowling alley. After all, if people are going to work in such a bleak outpost, they need some recreation! About a thousand people work at McMurdo in the summer -- 200 in the dead of winter -- and the scientists depend on the non-scientists to keep the place humming. SOUNDPRINT went to McMurdo as part of the International Polar Year Media Collaboration Pole to Pole to cover a scientific project. While we were there, we met the diverse and colorful group of people who constitute LIFE AT MCMURDO. Gibtown Gibsonton, Florida is the retirement and off-season home for hundreds of carnival and circus show people. Called "Gibtown" by many of its residents, the town was at one time considered the oddest place is America. You could walk into any restaurant and find The World's Only Living Half Girl sipping coffee with her 8 foot 4 inch husband, Giant Al. They, along with The Lobster Man, Alligator Skin Man and the Monkey Girl, among others, made their living touring with carnival sideshows. The sideshows are mostly gone. We take a look back at sideshows through the lens of Gibtown.
November 18	Gut Reaction There is a disease you've probably never heard of, but chances are you have it or someone you know or love has it and doesn't know. Doctors now believe that one in 133 Americans have Celiac Disease, though only one in 4,700 gets diagnosed. Celiac Disease is an intestinal disorder where, when you eat wheat, barley or rye, your immune system attacks the food as if it were a virus. The results are devastating and painful. Celiac is more common than diabetes and hypertension, but because the means to diagnose it are only two or three years old, the disease is practically unknown in this country -- both to sufferers and their doctors. Producer Richard Paul presents the story of how Celiac Disease played itself out in the lives of 10 people. Sunshine and Darkness Xeroderma Pigmentosum is a genetic mutation with a number of implications. It can be life threatening. It diminishes the body's resistance to UV waves. People with XP can't tolerate sunlight. The older they get, the worse the problem becomes. People with XP have to be completely covered up before they go out, and even inside they live with curtains drawn. The disorder also creates a bubble around the person with XP, their family and friends. Often isolated, even in school, their connection to the world is tenuous. Today, that isolation is breaking down. Producer Marti Covington reports on how schools, families and technology are helping people with this rare disorder (only 125 people in the United States have it) connect with the world. This program is part of our ongoing series on education and technology and is funded in part by the United States Department of Education.
November 11	The Soybean Wars Soybeans, rows and rows of soybeans all around. In western Paraguay the fields that were once thick rain forests are now soybean plantations. They stretch far into the distance swaying hypnotically back and forth in the wind. This ocean of soy, though, is dotted with small islands--houses, actually, that belong to the subsistence campensinos who once eked out a living farming an array of crops like sugar, cotton, wheat, and maize. But now there is only industrial harvested soy. And pesticides. Soybeans, of course, have a very good reputation in the West (think tofu and biofuels), but the reality is they have damaging repercussions in developing nations where environmental laws are lax and local populations are exploited by multinational corporations. Right now, this is happening in Paraguay, the world's fastest growing soybean producer. The Bourbons, the Wampum and Boodle Boys, and Stalin's Mortimer Snerd In 1948 the Democratic party faced extraordinary challenges: how to forge an alliance between Southern conservatives, Western progressives and big city labor; how to incorporate a civil rights plank; how to quell the rise of a third party. Truman, Dewey and Henry Wallace. It was a year of upsets. Producer Moira Rankin brings us the sense, and sounds, of that pivotol election year. And are there political and social lessons for this year's presidential contest to be learned from the election of '48.
November 4	IGY:Weather Report Until satellites came along, weather forecasting was either very local (it's raining) or very general (it's going to be warmer tomorrow). When satellites started sending pictures of the Earth and its atmosphere, a remarkable meteorologist named Harry Wexler, saw the opportunity for long range, global forecasting. In the late 1950's, as head of the U.S. Weather Bureau and chief U.S. scientist for the International Geophysical Year, Wexler not only had the vision, but the means to carry it out. Producer Barbara Bogaev looks at how Harry Wexler changed meteorology from weather forecasting to global climate research. When the Snow Melts on Svalbard Snowy peaks, untouched wilderness as far as the eye can see -- the Svalbard archipelago, at 79° North, is a focal point of the world's Arctic research. Polar regions play a key role in regulating our climate. The are also the most sensitive to change. Just 750 miles from the North Pole, scientists from all over the world monitor what's happening to our climate and how changes affect life on our planet. Join Radio Deutsche-Welle producer Irene Quaile, as she tours Koldewey Station in the Svalbard archipelago as part of Pole to Pole, an international media celebration of the International Polar Year, produced with support from the National Science Foundation.

October 2011

October 28	At Home on Cape Cod In AT HOME ON CAPE COD, reporter Alice Furlaud remembers her childhood and adolescence in summers on the Lower Cape. Furlaud has come back, after 26 years in Paris, to live year-round in the 1829 Truro house which her parents bought in l933. She revisits sites full of memories, and talks to friends who remember her early days on the Cape. Living History in Colonial Williamsburg Step back in time to the eve of the American Revolution, following a woman whose job it is to play an 18th slave character in Colonial Williamsburg; a woman who must learn, in 2004, to interpret and recreate 1770 slave culture for a tourist audience. The story is told through this character's own narration and reflection, her interaction with other historical characters and with the tourist public in Williamsburg, and through documentation of her daily tasks. As she steps in and out of character, we discover what it's like to step in and out of history: re-enacting the mundanities and tensions of 18th century life in the fields and kitchens during the day and negotiating a modern 21st century life after visiting hours.
October 21	Surviving Extinction Across the United States, ecologists are battling to save endangered species from extinction. Scientists are now joining in the effort with sophisticated models that can be used to predict, and eventually prevent extinction. In this program, we travel to the Florida Everglades to see how the tiny Cape Sable Sparrow is faring despite an over-flooded environment, and to New England to find out how field mice are adapting after their habitat was destroyed. We discover what role scientific models play in the future of these species. Fire and Ice The Eskimos in Alaska have a legend that they call "The year of no summer". One year, summer never came, winter just continued. No one could fish or hunt. And nothing could grow. The story is a creation myth. A few survivors were left to form what is now the Kauwerak tribe. Scientists are now looking at the legend as another piece of evidence for what they believe was a major climate shift in the Northern Hemisphere. Producer Dan Grossman takes on a journey to discover the truth behind the legend. This is part of our special international collaboration called Global Perspective: Nature in the Balance. Click on the following link to find out more. Global Perspective
October 14	Everest and Beyond A tribute to the extraordinary life and achievements of Sir Edmund Hillary. After his memorable conquest of Everest in 1953, this tall, craggy, modest man, added to his worldwide fame with expeditions to remote corners of the world and his activities serving the Sherpa people of Nepal. This New Zealand legend of the 20th century has lived life to the full – surviving personal tragedy as well as achieving historic triumphs and displaying tireless philanthropy. Produced by Jack Perkins of Radio New Zealand, ‘Everest And Beyond’ draws on the recollections of family, friends and colleagues of Sir Edmund Hillary and also uses audio from films shot in Nepal and India by documentary film maker Michael Dillon. In My Father's Dreams Rob Robins has always wanted to learn to fly, but with five kids to feed the former brewery worker’s budget would not stretch to lessons and running up the required number of flying hours to get his private pilot’s license. Now at 74, and Rob is at last living his dream. He’s learning to fly. Rob is fit. Until recently he’d regularly cycle up the winding hills that lie alongside his home town of Christchurch, and a few months ago, he walked the tough Milford Track through New Zealand's Southern Mountains. Yet, it’s taken him almost a year to pass the physical tests required before he can start flying lessons. There’s also another catch - Rob has been deaf since he was five. This means that he has to learn at an airfield that does not have radio controls. So in mid-March Rob and his wife Glenis, packed up their camper van and headed to an appointment with a vintage Tiger Moth bi-plane and the isolated Mandeville airfield, near Gore Rob’s son , Julian Robins , goes along with a microphone to observe his father's progress
October 7	Game Over Video games dull the brain and turn children into violence craving delinquents. That apparently is the popular opinion but not one that is entirely factual. Psychologists do see an increase in violent tendencies after game playing but they also note that students who play video games learn new technologies faster in school. What if video games could be educational and improve knowledge of math, science and social studies? That is what some video game developers and educators are working on. Combining curriculum with state of the art game software, they are testing how games can improve education and student participation in the classroom. Game Over takes a look at how video games are making a comeback in the educational world. This program is part of our ongoing series on education and technology and is funded in part by the United States Department of Education. High School Time From 6:00 am to 6:00 pm, a student, teacher, and principal let us in on their world of bells, tests, technology, and teen life. We track what a day is like at Westfield High School in Virginia. With almost 3,000 students, it is one of the largest schools in the Washington, DC area. This program is part of our ongoing series on education and technology.

September 2011

September 30	Educating Emily Twelve-year-old Emily lives with her mother in a small town in the mountains of West Virginia. Emily has cerebral palsy, and is one of three-quarters of a million children in the United States with developmental disabilities she has impaired hearing, very limited speech and didn't learn to walk until she went to school. Because of Emily's inability to communicate in conventional ways, educators and other professionals initially had little idea of what her mental capabilities were, nor how much she could learn. But advances in communication technology, plus the love and commitment of family, teachers, therapists and community, have meant that Emily is learning not only to communicate, but also to reach her full potential as a human being. This program is part of our ongoing series on education and technology and is funded in part by the United States Department of Education. Teaching: The Next Generation In conversations about the use of technology in schools, what you'll often hear is: Once we have a cadre of young teachers and administrators who've grown up with technology, computer use in schools will take off. This program examines that premise by following a young teacher, Brian Mason (7th grade American History) as he begins his second year in the classroom. The program also explores Mr. Mason's approach to teaching by testing his theories about "what works" against the opinions of education experts. Producer Richard Paul brings us "Teaching: The Next Generation." This program is part of our ongoing series on education and technology and is funded in part by the United States Department of Education.
September 23	Sneak Out In the 1960's, in California, African American parents set up an elaborate ruse to get their children a better education. Restricted to poor schools in low income East Palo Alto, outside of San Francisco, parents looked across the freeway and devised a way to send their children to wealthy Palo Alto schools. A young mother, barely educated herself, organized the Sneak Out program. Working with white parents, the program was a modern day Underground Railroad. KQED FM's Kathy Baron paints a portrait of conducters and passengers, students and safe houses in the fight to end school segregation. The High Stakes of Today's Testing Standardized tests have been around for years in the United States. What's different now is that schools and teachers are being held accountable for the results of these tests. Add to that new federal legislation, and the stakes are raised even higher, with threats of federal funding being cut off to underachieving school districts. Then there is the question of how and what the children are being tested on. Producer Katie Gott follows the paths of two failing schools, one in Maryland and the other in Virginia, to understand how each state applies its testing policy, and how testing impacts schools, teachers, parents and children. What happens if these schools don't make the grade after the scores are in? This program is part of our ongoing series on education and technology and is funded in part by the United States Department of Education.
September 16	Foot and Mouth Disease The virus that causes FMD (Foot and Mouth Disease) is one of the most feared among farmers. It can decimate herds. Even if animals recover, beef and milk production can be severely impacted. FMD is so contagious, and such a dreaded disease, that animal health agencies in outbreak countries fear stigmatization if outbreaks aren't eradicated quickly. Draconian measures such as mass killings and burning of carcasses are often employed, as the effectiveness of vaccines is short-lived, and the FMD virus has seven distinct varieties. As part of our special World of Virus series, producer Judith Kampfner takes us to the UK, where the damage from an FMD outbreak 10 years ago is still fresh in farmers' minds, and to South Korea, which has dealt with 5 outbreaks in the past decade, to show us the devastation of FMD, why it's so hard to eradicate, and the drastic steps taken to keep the US FMD-free. Where the Buffalo Roam Hong Kong is largely known for its sophisticated mix of every thing modern, and its thriving economy, but this island city of over 7 million people also has a thriving animal kingdom. Like their human counterparts, these animals are not native to the land. Sarah Passmore of Radio Television Hong Kong introduces these animals, from "Pui Pui" the celebrity crocodile to the Rhesus Monkeys that terrorize women and children. For our Global Perspective Series on Escape, Sarah Passmore shows us around Hong Kong where the Buffalo roam.
September 9	Face to Face What does it mean to be an American with the face of the enemy? Face to Face connects the experiences of Japanese Americans following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 with those of Arab and Muslim Americans in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. Visit the Face to Face website Testing the Alarms Since 9/11, many people have come to view the world through a filter of anxiety. Daily media reports of terror attacks or threats keep us all on heightened alert. But what is the source of that fear? A woman relives her brush with a possible suicide bomber on the London underground. An Iranian man in the Netherlands recalls how he was prepared to attach a bomb to his body to destroy the enemies of Islam. In "Testing the Alarms ", Fiona Stewart and Sassan Saghar Yaghmai offer two very different perspectives on fear and how it shades their lives. Joanna Bourke explores the history of the manipulation of fear. This documentary was produced by Michelle Ernsting of Radio Netherlands as a part of the Crossing Boundaries exchange.
September 2	The Busker and the Diva Margaret Leng Tan and James Graseck were boyfriend and girlfriend while they both attended Julliard in 1970. Margaret was offered a place by a Juilliard scout who came to her native Singapore. At the age of 16, she became a piano major in New York. She loved New York, but James who came from Long Island, found it dirty - hating the streets and the noise. That hasn’t stopped him in his chosen line of work -- for the last 20 years he’s been a busker - a street musician, well known in the subway system. Margaret meanwhile has had a long career as an unconventional pianist as a protege of John Cage and in the words of the New York Times "a diva of the toy piano". While at Julliard, Margaret and James drifted apart because they were studying different instruments and had different courses, and they lost touch when they graduated. Their very different musical lives took them in different directions but recently, their paths crossed again, in the bowels of Grand Central station. Their meeting quickly developed once again into an intimate relationship, physically, emotionally and professionally. Producer Judith Kampfner traces their reunion and the obstacles to their relationship, which lie more in their approaches to music making and their polarized positions in the musical spectrum than their bond as individuals. This is the story of both their personal romance, and their professional lives. Going Home: Bronx Memories and other Stories A collection of three stories on the mysterious tug that keep us going back home, again and again. Carolyn Hopewell loves going back home to her large extended southern family in Tidewater, Virginia. She likes to hear the old family stories, catch up and keep things centered. For Lynn Neary the Bronx was a mythical place. Childhood memories of her grandparents apartment draw her back on a nostalgic journey, 20 years later. Dan Collison tracks down a memory that runs down generations of his family. It leads him to the Shuffleboard Hall of Fame in Florida.

August 2011

August 26	After Katrina: Charmaine Neville's Story Born into the third generation of the legendary musical family, jazz singer Charmaine Neville has always called New Orleans ‘home’. And when Hurricane Katrina headed for the Gulf Coast, she stayed in New Orleans because she didn't have a car or money. She also didn't think Hurricane Katrina would be serious. In fact, she was trapped in water for five days, with great fear that she was going to die. But she survived. She witnessed dire events – death, rape, robbery. Overshadowing all of that, she witnessed a community working together to survive – neighbors, elderly people, children. This is Charmaine’s account of Hurricane Katrina, interwoven with her own music. Code Green Code Green explores the impact that hurricanes have on urban greencover, from integrating trees and wetlands into a city's infrastructure and disaster plan, to post-hurricane damage assessment of city trees and coastal marshes, to recovery and rebuilding. Hear from scientists, city planners and urban foresters about their work to establish, protect and restore the green infrastructure in the wake of catastrophic hurricanes, in coastal cities from Charleston to New Orleans. This program, from Producer Gemma Hooley, airs as part of our ongoing series, Tales from Urban Forests.
August 19	IGY On the Ice During the International Geophysical year, in the late 50's, teams of scientists poured in Antarctica, mining for data: about the weather, the climate and most especially, about the Ice. For some, it was the adventure of a lifetime. For others, the beginning of a long and illustrious career exploring the polar terrain. Producer Barbara Bogaev talks to some of the men who were there. Among them are: John Beherndt, who signed on as a young grad assistant, and went onto author numerous books about the ice; Tony Gowan, who thought he was going to study volcanoes, and went onto to become one of the world's leading authorities on the properties of ice; Phil Smith, one of the few who knew how to safely forge a path around crevasses, and became one of the leading architects of international Antarctic policy; and Charlie Bentley, part of the team that made the first measurements of West Antarctic ice sheets, and became a world renown glaciologist. Southern Ocean Voyage Australian Broadcasting Corporation Producer Margot Foster takes us on a voyage aboard the Aurora Australis, Australia's research vessel. The 7-week trip into the Southern Ocean around Antarctica lets scientists sample plants, animals, and ocean water quality and composition, in an attempt to uncover how climate change is affecting, and will be affected by, the ecology of the Southern Ocean. Producer Sarah Castor-Perry talks to scientists after the trip, to try to decipher the data they collected.
August 12	Trapped on the Wrong Side of History In 1939, California farm girl Mary Kimoto Tomita traveled to Japan to learn Japanese and connect with the culture of her ancestors. She boarded a ship two years later to come back home to America. Two days into the voyage, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. The ship turned around and Mary was trapped in the middle of a bloody war between the country of her birth and the country of her heritage. Mary's story -- told through interviews and letters from the time -- is a rare glimpse at a piece of the World War II experience. A Hiroshima Story On a sunny August morning in 1945, Keijiro Matsushima sat in his math class in Hiroshima. He looked out the window, saw two American bombers in the clear blue sky, and suddenly his world was torn apart. Now a retired English teacher, he fears young people today are no longer interested in his story. On a sunny June morning in 2005, Amsterdam English teacher Kevin Hogan’s 11th grade class are reading a novel about Hiroshima. They are the same age Mr. Matsushima was sixty years ago. How will they react when they hear his story? A Hiroshima Story was produced by David Swatling of Radio Netherlands and airs as part of our international documentary exchange series Crossing Boundaries.
August 5	Calling Mr. Marconi When Guglielmo Marconi installed a receiving station at St. Johns Newfoundland in November 1901 he probably never realized the full impact of his invention. Radio is now as remarkable as wallpaper. The people of St. Johns are determined to celebrate this most ubiquitous of mediums on the 100th anniversary of the transmission of the first signal across the Atlantic. Producer Chris Brookes from Battery Radio captures the town's enthusiasm as they move through the day. Zoom Black Magic Liberation Radio Mbanna Kantako's pirate radio station, broadcast from a corner of his living room, is heard in a two mile radius of the John Hay Homes housing project in Springfield, Illinois. 'Zoom Black Magic Radio' has attracted a relatively large audience with its mix of rap and reggae music, listener call-ins and political commentary. It has also attracted the attention of the FCC, the local legal system and the Springfield Police, all of whom have attempted to shut the station down.

July 2011

July 29	The Clinic South Africa’s approach to HIV/AIDS has dramatically changed in recent years. For more than two decades, a combination of government inaction, socio-political conflict, and controversial public health policies led to the situation that South Africa finds itself in today: home to the largest number of people living with HIV. Now the country is trying to make up for lost time, both in prevention and in treatment. The government has launched an ambitious HIV Counseling and Testing campaign that would include 15 million people by 2011, with the goal of reducing the HIV incidence rate by half. At public health clinics across the country, addressing the science of HIV/AIDS means addressing a litany of social problems, too. Producer Gemma Hooley speaks to scientists, researchers, field workers and patients as South Africa fights to slow the march of the virulent disease. Our program today is called The Clinic. The photograph of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)was provided with permission from the Nebraska State Museum/ Angie Fox, Ilustrator/ 2005. HPV - the Shy Virus The Human Papillomavirus - or HPV - is a common virus that touches billions of human beings in one way or another - from a tiny wart on the hand to invasive cancer. HPV is a major health threat worldwide, yet mostly harmless. The virus can "hide" for years from a person's immune system - with no apparent ill effects - then awaken and create deadly disease. This is the story of a virus that often doesn't act as scientists expect it to - a puzzling, paradoxical virus. HPV, the Shy Virus is part of the series "World of Viruses". The photograph showing the structure of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV), is provided with permission by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln/ Angie Fox, illustrator/ 2009.
July 22	Cut and Paste Plagiarism at universities and colleges is rife - 4 out of 10 students admit they copy material from the internet and try to pass it off as their own work. For some it's an easy way out at the last minute; for others it's driven by cut-throat competition to get into the best graduate or professional schools. To deal with the issue, colleges and universities are trying many different approaches, from changing their teaching methods to using online detection filters to promoting a culture of integrity on campus. Producer Jean Snedegar visits faculty and students at Duke, the University of Virginia, and other colleges to discover the underside of higher learning. This program is part of our ongoing series on education and technology and is funded in part by the United States Department of Education. Low Flying Fish A spirited exploration of the culture of extreme motivation in America, from team- and vision- building in the corporate world ... to the multi- million dollar industry of self-improvement books and videos. Along the way, we'll meet Seattle's famous corporate-training fishmongers; hear from someone trying to figure out Who Moved Her Cheese; and be introduced to despair.com's lucrative mockery of the whole motivation business.
July 15	Chickens Producer Adi Gevins presents both a lighthearted and serious examination of chickens and their relationship to humans in historical, cultural, economic and institutional contexts. Life before the Computer Remember the first television set your family got? Or the first transistor radio that was really all your own? Our relationship with technology is oddly intimate, worming its way into even our most evocative memories. Producer Ilene Segalove talks to people with humorous memories of the "latest technologies" of their childhoods, now faded into obscurity in the computer age.
July 8	Bean Jumping This is the story of the immigration experience of two sister communities: one in the Ecuadorian Mountains, and the other in Suffolk County, on Long Island in New York. A 2008 hate-crime killing brought to light a pattern of abuse, persecution, and violence that shocked the residents of Patchogue, a quiet coastal suburban "Anytown, USA" -- but maybe didn't shock the residents of the community in the shadows, or their family members 3000 miles away. Producer Charles Lane reported on and covered the local story, and now brings us the international story. He found that the meaning of "American Dream" might be changing, and he discovered a Latino Dream. Running with Atalanta Ten years ago, two young women were studying law – one in The Netherlands and the other in Latvia. Years later their lives would intersect. Ruth Hopkins, researching a European Commission report on the trafficking of women, interviewed Anna Ziverte – a victim who had been forced to work as a prostitute in Rotterdam. The number of women trafficked and exploited in the sex trade annually in Europe is estimated to be as high as 700,000. Nearly a third are trafficked from Eastern and Central European countries. Ziverte escaped her traffickers only to find herself entangled in another nightmare – a Dutch system where victims are perceived as illegal immigrants. Taking matters into her own hands, she founded a support group called Atalantas, inspired by the swift-footed goddess from Greek mythology who could outrun any man. Producer David Swatling of Radio Netherlands follows the journey of two women trying to find the light at the end of a seemingly endless tunnel. This program airs as part of our special international collaboration, Global Perspectives: The World of Crime.
July 1	Green Tea and Landmines The streets of Mae Sot, on the Thai Burma border, are full of stories of loss and death and flight. About two and a half million Burmese have fled their country for Thailand, Burma remains one of the poorest countries in the world, and the protests against the military dictatorship have done little to change peoples' lives. In this episode, Nicole Steinke of the Australian broadcasting Corporation visits the extraordinary haven of Dr Cynthia Maung's Mae Tao Clinic. Funded mainly by foreign donations, Mae Tao Clinic runs the training center for the Backpack Medical Teams and the Free Burma Rangers, both of whom illegally cross the border back into Burma to help the country's ethnic minorities survive the onslaught of the Burmese military. The Clinic is also where people come to vaccinate their babies, to be treated for malaria or cholera, or to receive a prosthetic -- many of the refugees fleeing the Burmese military have been forced to act as unwilling porters, or even as human landmine detectors. We also meet long-time political prisoners, ethnic Burmese working to help their own people in their struggle against the Burmese military, and children who have crossed the border alone. Holland's Black Page Producer Dheera Sujan from RADIO NETHERLANDS traces the stories of four former soldiers who tortured and killed Indonesian prisoners. Now in their seventies, they remember the details of quieting an open rebellion in the late 1940's. They remember the electrocutions, the torture and the killing. They also remember how they had to live in shame with the secrets. They call for the Dutch government to accept some measure of responsibility for what they say they were ordered to do. Their solace lies in being able to publicly discuss the events. Holland's Black Page originally aired as part of the collaboration War and Forgiveness, produced by Soundprint, WNYC, and Radio Netherlands with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

June 2011

June 24	Birthday Suit Janet Jackson reveals a breast and there is an uproar, a woman breast feeds in a mall and is thrown out, a child of 4 is naked on a beach and the life guard tells him to put his swimsuit on. Around the world there is topless bathing but it is rare in this country. Yet one in four Americans admit to having skinny dipped. Are we hypocrites? We obviously secretly like swimming nude so why don't we do it all the time? The Internaional Naturist Federation says that nudism or naturism is " A way of life in harmony with nature, characterized by the practice of communal nudity with the intent of encouraging self respect, respect for other and the environment". I don't know that going naked makes you respect the environment more but surely it must lead to a greater appreciation of the different shapes and sizes bodies come in and that might conceivably make us less body conscious and phobic about fat and imperfections. Naturist camps are almost always in a mixed social setting. Detractors say that naturist is a code for sex but perhaps men and women start to notice their differences less? And what about naked children? Naturists warmly encourage children. Would being at one of these camps cause psychological harm? And then how hygenic really are these places? At the end of summer, before the chill winds blow, reporter Judith Kampfner visits a naturist camp and yes, complies with the no clothes rule. And that's no clothes when dancing, horsebackriding, kayaking, or in the canteen. It's not something that this reporter relishes. She is short and is used to her everyday weapons of stacked heels. Like most women she uses clother to camoflage faults. Baring all may mean feeling vulnerable and stupid. But the nudists who come year after year find it liberating, relaxing, democratic, wonderfully cheap, wildly romantic. Perhaps our reporter will become comfortable in her birthday suit. Now why do we say 'suit'? Summer Triptych Summer afternoon. The two most beautiful words in the English language, according to Henry James. While away the afternoon at a ballgame. Take your kid to the state fair. Go for a ride on a Ferris wheel. It's the one time of year when nature sets out to amuse us. Of course, it's an illusion. You need only be stuck behind a desk and looking out the office window to get a reality check. But if summer is an illusion, at least it's a grand illusion, and well worth the trouble. Producers David Isay, Dan Collison, and Neenah Ellis take us back stage behind the sets, props, facades, carnivals, games and country fairs. We're going to meet the technicians of summer, the people who work to make it happen.
June 17	Every Tree Tells A Story Urban forests provide economic, social and cultural value to neighborhoods and cities. But what are the needs and expectations different ethnic and racial groups have for green space? And how does understanding those needs draw tighter communities? Producer Judith Kampfner compares the cities of New York and London, and the approach new and old ethnic racial and immigrant groups have towards green space. This program airs as part of our ongoing series, Tales from Urban Forests. Photo of Max's cement square from the revitalized New York City park. The Music Boat Man Reinier Sijpkens travels around the world making magic and music for children. At home in the Netherlands, he haunts the canals of Amsterdam playing barrel organ, trumpet and conch. Producer Dheera Sujan meets with this illusive magical character who says his day job is "developing his soul."
June 10	Mosquitoes in Iquitos Iquitos, Peru, home to nearly 400,000 people, is a living laboratory. Researchers there are tracing the spread of lethal dengue fever by going door to door in neighborhoods throughout the city. They're mapping the spread of the virus, as well as the mosquitoes that carry it. Producer Dan Charles follows researchers as they try to figure out what people can do to stop it. The Bucket When you lower a bucket into the ocean, from a pier or off the side of a ship, it may well seem to come up containing nothing but clear water. But scientists now know that every teaspoonful of that water can contain a hundred-million tiny viruses. That sounds sinister, but without them the ocean couldn't function. Every day, marine viruses invade bacteria and other organisms, releasing their nutrients to the underwater food chain. Only since the late 1980's have marine biologists been aware of how many viruses are indigenous to the ocean, and how powerful and varied they are. They differ radically in size, shape, and DNA blueprint -- so much so that totally novel DNA keeps being discovered, with implications for anything from anti-aging creams to anti-cancer drugs and evolutionary science. Far from being a bad thing, these amazing marine viruses are useful, dramatic, novel, and dynamic; imagine that all hiding in your bucket of clear water! Producer Judith Kampfner travels from the coast of Plymouth in England to Santa Monica to meet with some of the intrepid pioneers who are on the trail of these new natural marvels. Photograph of algae, Emiliania Huxleyi, was provided with permission by The Natural History Museum, London (Dr. Jeremy Young) and University of Nebraska-Lincoln (Angie Fox) / 2009.
June 3	Paris: Heat Wave In August 2003, European suffered the worst heat wave in at least 500 years. Many weather records were set that month. Great Britain reported its hottest day ever. Forest fires raged in much of southern Europe, themselves causing deaths. Crops withered and trees died. One of the cities hit hardest was Paris. Although the high heat started in early August, it was nearly mid-month, after hundreds of people had been killed, before the French government realized that the heat wave had turned deadly in Paris. Before the heat wave was over, the city’s morgues had to requisition refrigerator trucks just to hold the excessive number of dead bodies. More than 1,000 Parisians had died of dehydration, heat stroke and other ailments caused by high heat, a disproportionate fraction of which were single, elderly women. Producer Dan Grossman tells us the story of the Paris Heat Wave, and the signs that other parts of the world, including parts of the U.S. Midwest, could soon face significantly increased climate extremes. Cities of the Plain Urban forests in desert settings -- no, this is not about transferring Central Park to L.A. Arid environments have their own "green" cover, and cities destroy and ignore that vegetation to their peril. Veteran producer Bill Drummond travels out West from mountains to shore to ask: when are trees beneficial and when are they not? This program airs as part of our ongoing series, Tales from Urban Forests.

May 2011

May 27	The Orphan Train "The Orphan Train" is an unnarrated documentary about one of the least known and yet most significant social experiments in American history. In September 1854, the first "orphan train" carried 46 homeless children from New York City to far off homes to become laborers in the pioneer West. It was the first step in what was to become the emigration of as many as 250,000 orphan children to new homes throughout the entire United States. Some children found kind homes and families, others were overworked and abused. Widely duplicated throughout its 75 year history, the original orphan train was the creation and life project of the now forgotten man who was to become the father of American child welfare policy. This documentary features interviews with surviving orphan train riders, as well as readings from historical newspapers, letters and journals, and is laced with classical and folk music. Girls Like Us Marisela and Yadira immigrated illegally to the United States as small children. Marisela, who immigrated when she was 7, remembers crossing over the border while lying in the back of a truck. Yadira, who was 3 when she crossed, remembers nothing of her entry into the U.S. Her first memories are of life in California. After their families moved to Denver, Colorado, the two young women met in middle school. Both went on to become star students in high school – AP classes, top ten percent of their class – and recruiters from Colorado colleges were telling them that they would bend over backwards to snag students like them. But of course they had a big problem, which they were afraid to share: They didn’t have Social Security numbers. This meant that they didn't qualify for any federal aid, or for most private scholarships. “Girls Like Us” is the story of two young girls trying to get into college in a country where they are undocumented.
May 20	The Bonus Army March In 1932, in the depths of the Depression, thousands of hungry and disgruntled veterans of WW I marched on Washington, D.C. demanding that Congress pay them the bonus for their military service that had been promised years before. Banding together, unemployed Oregon cannery workers marched with Pennsylvania coal miners and Alabama cotton pickers, as more than 20 thousand "bonus marchers" participated in the biggest rally to date in the nation's capital. And they stayed for weeks, setting up tent cities, living in cardboard shanties, and shaking the nerves of President Hoover. Find out how they played a role in defeating Hoover in the fall election, and improving the government's treatment of veterans after WW II. Legacies Sept 11th was a day without parallel. For an older generation that fought and lived through the two world wars, riots, terrorist attacks, the holocaust, the carnage and destruction on the 20th century, it brought back memories. It reminded them not just of war but also the tenacity of the human spirit that enabled them to overcome all odds. Many of them realized that they had to pass on their history of survival and hope to their children and grandchildren. They chose unique and personal ways to tell their story. This is the story of Isadore Scott, Leon Lissek and Ruth LaFevre and their amazing legacies.
May 13	The Peakist Facing the future, with news bulletins full of daily doom and gloom, can be a dispiriting business. In fact, sometimes it seems easier to turn off the news and do something simple. Something we can control all by ourselves – like going for a walk. Lloyd Morcom knows intuitively that people get sick of too much bad news. But he also feels he must change his life dramatically to survive the challenges of the years ahead, especially the challenges of the global financial crisis, climate change and peak oil. In ‘The Peakist’ – the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s contribution to the 2009 Global Perspective ‘island’ series, we hear the story of Lloyd, an ex 70’s hippy and former oil man, and how his experiences and the mistakes he made in the past, are helping shape big changes in his life. While John Donne said that no man is an island, Lloyd Morcom sometimes feels like one. An island in his own community and his own country. At the height of the global financial crisis Lloyd, with some misgivings (he knows how people feel about bad news) decides to call a public meeting to outline his fears for the future. More importantly he hopes to convince his fellow locals in this small, conservative, rural community in South Gippsland, Victoria to follow his lead and start changing their lives. The Public Green and the Poor Numerous times in American history, reformers have sought to help the poor by putting them amidst nature -- the belief being that physical beauty can make beautiful people. It seems like an odd idea. But Thomas Jefferson believed it fervently. And it's also the reason Central Park exists in New York and the town of Greenbelt exists in Maryland. This program, from Producer Richard Paul, looks at a time in our past when nature was used to uplift the poor. It airs as part of our ongoing series, Tales from Urban Forests.
May 6	Life Beyond Death " My son was dead, but six Israelis now have a part of a Palestinian in them, and maybe he is still alive in them" These are the words of the Palestinian father Ismail Khatib who donated his son Ahmed's organs to Israelis after the 12 year old was shot dead by Israeli soldiers while holding a toy gun. This remarkable gesture of humanity is not the first time victims of the conflict have given life to people on the other side of the Arab-Jewish divide. This year is the 5th anniversary of the death of Yoni Jesner, a 19 year old Jewish religious student murdered in the bombing of a Tel-Aviv bus. Part of his body went to save the life of a Palestinian girl from East Jerusalem. Presenter Vera Frankl of the BBC takes a closer look at the generosity and faith of these two families - the Jesners and the Khatibs - and we ask if a person can live on in some way through organ donation - here, in these two stories, part of a Jew alive in an Arab, and part of an Arab alive in a Jew. Epiphany In this program, producer Richard Paul examines the roots of hatred in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam and considers whether people of faith can ever reconcile those divisions. The world’s great monotheistic faiths share centuries-old traditions, but they are also locked in dangerous rivalries that permeate contemporary thought. Through the stories of three men raised to their religion's version of the truth, and distrust of the "other", this program probes that duality and confirms the power of faith to overcome legacies of hostility, illuminating ways that people work beyond hatred and stereotypes.

April 2011

April 29	Survivors (2009)President Obama has declared that “We have banned torture without exception.” However, some would take exception to this claim. The practice of isolating a prisoner in solitary confinement for extended periods of time causes severe sensory deprivation and has been denounced as torture by the United Nations. But tens of thousands of inmates are locked up in solitary confinement in American prisons today. And the number is rapidly growing. Often prisoners spend years – even decades – by themselves in a cell the size of a small bathroom. They don't see anyone. They don't talk to anyone. They don't touch anyone. What does this experience do to a person's mental state? Claire Schoen shows us what solitary confinement looks, sounds and feels like. Across The Water: Journey to Robben Island South African President Nelson Mandela spent 18 years in prison on Robben Island. Now the prison is closed and the island has become a museum, a fast growing tourist attraction in the new South Africa. Former political prisoners work alongside their former jailers as the new keepers of the island's history. It is perhaps one of the most tangible symbols of South Africa's miraculous transformation from apartheid to a multi-party democracy. But what about the personal transformations of those who continue to work on the island? Hear from some of the former prison wardens who continue to live and work there.
April 22	Sam's Story Sam was brought to the United States by his parents as a young child, but his family overstayed their visas. Over the past fourteen years, Sam has grown from a small boy to a young man — taught in American schools and churches, he grew up like any other American kid. But when he was asked to fill in his social security number on a financial aid form, he began to realize the consequences of being undocumented. Long Haul Productions picks up Sam's story as he's graduating from high school in Elkhart, Indiana, and looking to start his first year of college. Citizenship Diary How many stars and how many stripes and what do they mean? You need to know this and many more flag questions to pass the US Naturalization test. Judith Kampfner recorded an audio diary about the process of becoming an American citizen, and about what it was like taking on a second identity. Was it a betrayal of her British roots? Or was it a very logical step to take for someone who thinks of herself as in internationalist? Many more people are becoming dual or multiple citizens today as more countries accept the idea - Mexico, Columbia and the Dominican Republic for instance. Does this dilute the concept of citizenship? Indeed perhaps we are less likely to identify ourselves as citizens today because we are part of a global culture and travel more. Kampfner discovers that going through the paperwork, the test and the ceremony does not help her feel American - that is something she and all the others who are processed have to do for themselves.
April 15	Peanut King's Children Maurice “Peanut” King was a successful drug dealer in East Baltimore and a transitional figure in the drug trade. He bridged the world of the old school gangsters and the kid gangstas of today. He was the first to recruit children to work for him -- ten-, eleven- and twelve-year-olds equipped with mopeds. After the addict gave his money to the “corner man”, one of Peanut’s kids would speed by and toss him the drugs. The kids easily eluded the cops and, if they were caught, didn’t require any outlay in bail or lawyer’s fees. Deborah George tells the story of the Baltimore drug trade 30 years ago, before it was common for children to sell drugs or carry guns. Learning to Live: James' Story "Learning to Live: James' Story" documents the journey of James Robinson, a 38 year old ex-offender, as he makes the transition from repeated prison sentences to life in the free world. After a 7-year prison term, James arrives at St. Leonard's halfway house for ex-offenders in Chicago. He tells the staff that he needs to "learn to live," knowing full well how hard it is to transition back to society on his own. "James' Story" chronicles James' hard work over the course of ensuing three months; job training, drug counseling and 12-step support meetings. During his stay at the halfway house, James also finds his "dream" job and reconnects with family members, including an eighteen-year-old son he hadn't seen since the child was four.
April 8	The Color of Shakespeare At countless times in America, and for countless groups of citizens, the question has come up: Who "owns" Shakespeare? Who is it meant for, and to whom does it mean what? This is a particularly poignant question in the case of African-Americans, whom some have sought to exclude from the Bard's work. This story looks at minstrel show parodies of Shakespeare, color-blind casting of Shakespeare, and the African-American experience with Shakespeare. Produced by Richard Paul and narrated by Sam Waterston, The Color of Shakespeare was made possible with support from the Folger Library. Living History in Colonial Williamsburg Step back in time to the eve of the American Revolution, following a woman whose job it is to play an 18th slave character in Colonial Williamsburg; a woman who must learn, in 2004, to interpret and recreate 1770 slave culture for a tourist audience. The story is told through this character's own narration and reflection, her interaction with other historical characters and with the tourist public in Williamsburg, and through documentation of her daily tasks. As she steps in and out of character, we discover what it's like to step in and out of history: re-enacting the mundanities and tensions of 18th century life in the fields and kitchens during the day and negotiating a modern 21st century life after visiting hours.
April 1	War and Forgiveness Memorial Day is a day of remembrance of wars won and lost. Often, we think of the battles and the victories. At times, we consider the inevitable war crimes: the massacres, rapes and other atrocities. Rarely do we consider the perspectives of those who are responsible as well as those who are injured. In a special hour long documentary, War and Forgiveness, we present two sides of the equation: the victims and the perpetrators of wartime atrocities. WNYC, RADIO NETHERLANDS, and SOUNDPRINT have collaborated on a two part program that looks at women in Korea who were commandeered to have sex with Japanese soldiers during World War II and Dutch soldiers who carried out a torture campaign in Indonesia. As different as their stories are, they reach the same conclusion: the need for a moral apology from the government.

March 2011

March 25	Who's Got the Dog? Divorce has an immediate impact on family and friends beyond the couple and their children. Marcia Sheinberg of the Ackerman Institute for Family Therapy in NY says that the crisis that a divorce creates in the wider network of relationships has been underexplored. It underscores the fact that divorce is more traumatic than we as a society acknowledge. It is not the quick paper solution of a society which discards and moves on all to easily. The program explores the ripple effects of divorce – how divorce has an impact far beyond the immediate family. In part, this is personal reflection from the producer's own divorce -- Kampfner discovered that there were people who were shocked, in pain and grieving about her family break up and that she felt obligated to console and reassure them. It both made her feel guilty and blessed to know that we are more closely bound to a wide orbit of friends and relatives than we realize. Who’s Got the Dog? will look at how we think we live only in nuclear families, but are actually tied to a community and it often takes a crisis to realize this. Picture from a late-1990's Halloween in Chicago of Milo the Bee, with Alex as Toto's human and Max as Dogbert's human. At Home on Cape Cod In AT HOME ON CAPE COD, reporter Alice Furlaud remembers her childhood and adolescence in summers on the Lower Cape. Furlaud has come back, after 26 years in Paris, to live year-round in the 1829 Truro house which her parents bought in l933. She revisits sites full of memories, and talks to friends who remember her early days on the Cape.
March 18	Tuning into the Enemy Between the mid seventies and the early nineteen nighties, Paul Erasmus was a secret police official in South Africa. His unit was responsible for what he calls dirty tricks, which included arson, sabotage, theft, discrediting people, illegal phone tapping, and firebombing. Then, before apartheid ended, he went in front of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, to confess to 500 offenses and 80 serious crimes and was granted partial amnesty in 2000. Paul Erasmus attributes his return of conscience, in part, to the realisation that he had destroyed the career of a musician whose work, talent and passion he grew to admire and love. Over time, a strange kind of respect and even friendship has developed between Roger Lucey, a political singer, and his former tormentor. Their new relationship is one example of the reconciliation that was part of the political achievement of post apartheid South Africa. Triads and Film Enter the Hong Kong Triad "Underworld", where actors, directors, and police describe the Triad control of the film industry in the 1990s when a whole series of murders, beatings and dodgy dealings went down. That's when the Triad techniques of persuasion allegedly came into play - extortion, blackmail, beatings, rape - to get actors and stunt men to appear in their flicks. Eventually the actors had enough and campaigned against the violence. In “Triads and Film”, Producer Sarah Passmore of Radio Television Hong Kong looks at the current situation in the Hong Kong film industry to see the extent to which it may have broken free of these groups, and how much Triads are still involved in the entertainment industry. This program airs as part of our special international collaboration, Global Perspectives: The World of Crime.
March 11	The Spoken Word Join us on a journey through the rich tradition of performance poetry, set in Washington DC's famous and eclectic U Street corridor. Our program takes you from memories of the live poetry clubs that emerged there in the 1960's, through the D.C. riots that saw venues closing down and artists scattering to the West Coast, to the modern day renaissance of the spoken word tradition. Our story is narrated by performance poets M'wili Yaw Askari, Toni Ashanti Lightfoot and Matthew Payne. Going Home to the Blues People say going down south is like going home. Take a trip to the Mississippi Delta to find the true meaning of the Blues. Everyone has hard times throughout their lives, but does that classify as the Blues? Producers Askia Muhammed and Debra Morris search for an answer while going home.
March 4	Touchstones of Reality Having a serious mental illness such as schizophrenia or severe bipolar disorder isn’t easy for patients, or for their families. In the early days of mental illness, the pressures can tear families apart, and many of them don't know where to turn. As patients and caretakers age, things can get even tougher. While mental health services may provide some support, it's often family members who remain the only "touchstones of reality" for the person suffering with a severe mental illness. Producer Jean Snedegar speaks to several families who face the difficult challenge of supporting their mentally ill family members throughout the course of their lives. Escape from Time "Lost Time is never found again." Benjamin Franklin wrote that, and producer Barbara Bogaev agrees. She tries daily to reconcile her time, "Barbara Time", with "Clock Time"; at the same time, she dreams of a life WITHOUT time. And really, who wouldn¹t like to escape the relentless march of time? In that spirit, we consider various routes people take to Escape From Time. A neuroscientist explains the ways in which the brain stretches time in periods of stress and peak performance; a civil war re-enactor immerses himself so convincingly in the past that he achieves the elusive high known as "period rush"; and then we visit the ten thousand year clock -- a project devoted to looking ten thousand years into the future in order to gain perspective on the present. Escape From Time was produced by Barbara Bogaev, with additional production by Queena Kim. The show was mixed by Jared Weissbrot. “Yew Piney Mountain” was performed by Appalachian Fiddler Lars Prillaman. Special thanks to Wide Awake Films, Alexander Rose of the Long Now Foundation, and Taylor Dupree at 12k for permission to use the song Solang by Sogar, from their album Apikal Blend. This program was produced as part of the international documentary exchange collaboration, Global Perspectives: Escape!

February 2011

February 25	My World: Officer Candidate School In 1965 and 1966, Producer Askia Muhammad was a star-struck and naive college student who had matriculated from Watts to San Jose State University, while getting college deferments to serve two years active duty in the U.S. Navy Reserve. As Askia began struggles with becoming a Reserve Office Candidate, the country began to struggle with itself with blacks' rights, the hippie movement, the constant protest against the war in Vietnam. In My World: Officer Candidate School, Askia takes us through his path from faithful Naval Officer to conscientious objector. Remembering Kent State 1970 When thirteen students were shot by Ohio National Guard Troops during a war demonstration on the Kent State University Campus on the first week of May 1970, four young lives were ended and a nation was stunned. More than 30 years later, the world at war is a different place. However, those thirteen seconds in May, 1970 still remain scorched into an Ohio hillside. Through archival tape and interviews, Remembering Kent State tracks the events that led up to the shootings.
February 18	The Clinic South Africa’s approach to HIV/AIDS has dramatically changed in recent years. For more than two decades, a combination of government inaction, socio-political conflict, and controversial public health policies led to the situation that South Africa finds itself in today: home to the largest number of people living with HIV. Now the country is trying to make up for lost time, both in prevention and in treatment. The government has launched an ambitious HIV Counseling and Testing campaign that would include 15 million people by 2011, with the goal of reducing the HIV incidence rate by half. At public health clinics across the country, addressing the science of HIV/AIDS means addressing a litany of social problems, too. Producer Gemma Hooley speaks to scientists, researchers, field workers and patients as South Africa fights to slow the march of the virulent disease. Our program today is called The Clinic. The photograph of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)was provided with permission from the Nebraska State Museum/ Angie Fox, Ilustrator/ 2005. World of Viruses:Flu Pandemic From pig to farm worker and back to pig – that’s the path of the perfect swine flu virus. Likewise, chickens and turkeys, not to mention geese and birds, are hot zones for pandemic flu viruses. In the past, when governments grew concerned about a particular flu, often they will isolate, quarantine or even kill animals that carry a suspect virus. Now animal health and public health authorities are beginning to collaborate on more extensive bio-security. Producer Lakshmi Singh visits farms, fairs and clinics, to find out how surveillance is preparing for the next pandemic. The illustration, which shows how flu pandemics are spread, is provided with permission from 2006 Albrecht GFX and the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska.
February 11	Traffic Islands:Dividing Lines Traffic Islands: Dividing Lines This documentary explores the collective narrative created by people whose lives intersect in different ways with traffic islands and streetscapes. From a scientist trying to rationalize urban wildlife patterns, to a man who makes a living on the street corner, to people who use the streetscape to memorialize loved ones: what they have in common is that they map out private parts of their lives on the public traffic grid. We'll hear about this traffic island life in stories from the medians, as part of the international documentary collaboration, Global Perspectives on Islands. Yellow and Black Talk about taxis as a guilty pleasure! Whether it's riding in style on the streets of New York (avoiding the hustle, bustle, and pain of the Subway), or zipping across London's spiraling maze of cross-streets (never doubting your intrepid guide's sense of direction), producer Judith Kampfner takes us on a tour of Taxi drivers -- the rough-edged New York City cabbies, and the traditional, vintage hacks of London.
February 4	Hospice Chronicles: Joe and Roger In 1967, St. Christopher's Hospice – the first modern hospice – opened in a suburb of London. Since then, millions of people around the world have chosen hospice at the end of their lives, with many patients choosing to receive care in their homes. In Hospice Chronicles: Joe and Roger, team Long Haul follows Joe, a volunteer trained in "respite care", giving family members a break from caretaking responsibilities. As Joe, a Buddhist, engages Roger, a devout Christian, in discussions of death and (im)mortality, he finds himself exploring death in a way for which training could not have prepared him. After the Forgetting This is a story about a Vermont family's experience living with an elderly member's progressive dementia. It is told in a series of interview segments and dinner conversations among the story's three characters, Gregory Sharrow, his husband Bob Hooker, and Greg's mother Marjorie. The story explores the relationship with a son and son-in-law whose names Marjorie can't remember. It addresses the question, what happens to love when there is no more memory? There is no narration in the story. Brooklyn musician Karinne Keithley created music for the story. For more about Karinne Keithley, go to: http://www.fancystitchmachine.org/ Thanks to Rob Rosenthal for his mentorship during the production of this piece.

January 2011

January 28	The Lonely Funeral Every year up to twenty people die completely alone in Amsterdam. There are no friends or family to prepare their funeral or mourn over the body. Sometimes these people are illegal migrants, drug mules, or simply people who for one reason or another, cut-off all social contacts. Poet Frank Starik decided that these people also deserved to be eulogized. He contacted the Amsterdam city services and asked if he could take part in these forgotten funerals. Producer Michele Ernsting of Radio Netherlands Worldwide brings us the story of the Lonely Funeral. It airs as part of the international collaboration, Global Perspectives: At The Edge. Death Comes Home An intimate emotional portrait of three families who have chosen to fore-go the funeral director and proscribed memorial, and instead care for their dead in their own homes. This is not a story about hospice or green burial; producer April Dembosky introduces us to people taking matters into their own hands: washing and dressing the bodies of their loved ones, building coffins, digging graves, and keeping their loved ones closer to home.
January 21	Time on the Outside: Hope's Story About 2.3 million adults are incarcerated in U.S. jails and prisons. That's almost 1% of the adult population, including the parents of over 1.7 million children. William and Candice are two of those children. Their single-parent father is doing time 9 hours away from home, so they've moved in with their grandmother, Hope. Over the course of a year, two long car trips, multiple moves, and new schools, producer Shannon Heffernan finds out how Hope's family lives while serving Time on the Outside. Living in Limbo Almost weekly there are stories in the British press about backlogs in the UK asylum system, and the pressure this puts on asylum seekers. No-one in the UK is more marginalised than asylum seekers who have not had their applications accepted, but not been asked to go, sometimes for as long as 8 years. Jenny Cuffe meets Collen, who thinks his 4 years of asylum claims and appeals may be at an end, but is too frightened to return to Zimbabwe, and Thomas, who is from Eritrea, who doesn’t know yet if he can stay in the UK after originally claiming asylum as a teenager 7 years ago. In Living in Limbo, Jenny Cuffe investigates the impact of this long wait on their lives, when you don’t know for so long whether you are staying or going.
January 14	Here and Now New Zealand is renowned for its sweeping natural landscape, safe, clean-green environment, and ready access to adventure sports and tourism. But how does the landscape influence the character and mentality of those who inhabit it? With a population of around 4.1 million, at least 1 in 20 young New Zealanders seek opportunities overseas every year to gain experiences that don’t exist back home. Howard Sly was one of those young people who left New Zealand wanting something more. What he would experience was far beyond anything he could ever imagine. Meanwhile, Cheyne Berry’s love of sports and the outdoors keeps him in New Zealand, but it’s a swim on a summer’s day that brings his life crashing to a halt. Produced by Sonia Yee of Radio New Zealand as part of our special international collaboration Global Perspectives: At The Edge, Here and Now explores the journeys of two New Zealanders whose carefree Kiwi attitudes lead to life-changing experiences. At the Edge in Soweto On the South Western edge of Johannesburg, densely populated Soweto is where Freddy and Sibusiso, both young men in their 20s, live and are looking for work. Unemployment among young people there is over 40%, higher than the national average in South Africa and rising. Hardly surprising then that many of them have become ‘discouraged jobseekers’. They feel that living in Soweto is in itself counted against them. For SAFM radio station in Johannesburg, presenter Anza Dali, who was brought up in Soweto and is looking for a job too, finds out how Freddy and Sibusiso are coping with long-term unemployment and the constant temptation to make a ‘fast buck’ rather than an honest buck.
January 7	The Traveler The monarch butterfly is the greatest marathon runner of the insect world. Each year in May hundreds of millions of them take off from their winter quarters in Morelia, Mexico to begin a perilously delicate 3000 mile journey north. With luck, three months later by the human calendar but three generations later in butterfly time, the Monarchs reach northern United States and southern Canada. In late summer their journey begins again, and they arrive back in their winter roosts around the time of the Mexican Day of the Dead in late November. And while the monarch butterfly is beautiful, it is also mysterious. We don't know how the monarchs know where to go. We have no idea how they navigate the annual route along identical flight paths, right down to nesting on the same trees in the same fields year after year. And we don't know how they pass on the knowledge of those routes to the future generations that make the return trip. Producer Chris Brookes takes us on an in-depth journey with the monarch butterfly, and looks at three factors that may be threatening its existence. The Evolution Boomerang As humans continue to make their imprint on Earth, they find they are making a noticeable difference in the evolution of different species. The Evolution Boomerang looks at the effect humans are having on insects, fish and certain kinds of bacterium, and how that evolution is in turn affecting humans. Supported in part by the National Science Foundation.