Soundprint programming for 2004 Click here to remove program descriptions

December 2004

December 31	Knitting with Dog Hair An entertaining and informative look at knitting with dog hair, from its alleged origins in Catalonia to contemporary practice in Australia. This program will encourage listeners to look at their four legged friends in a new and creative light. Knitting with Dog Hair was produced by Natalie Kestecher of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and airs as part of our international exchange series, Crossing Boundaries. Young People Against Heavy Metal T-shirts This program is a parody, listen to it before you complain Young People Against Heavy Metal T-shirts (YPAHMTS) is a grass roots organization determined to fight the perception of young people's moral decline as epitomized by Heavy Metal T-shirts...Or is it? In 1992, Matthew Thompson decided it was time to fight back. He aimed to give the media a different image of youth, one that was disciplined, ordered and strong. From a single letter to a tabloid newsletter, YPAHMTS was born. However, when YPAHMPTS developed into a media juggernaut that threatened to run him over, Matthew discovered how difficult it could be to argue a sophisticated message in an era of sound bites.
December 24	How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice - and that is what millions of people across the country have done for generations. Piano lessons led to recitals, with dreams of glory dancing in their heads - or at the least their doting parents and relatives. What happened after all of those hours of agonizing scale runs and finger exercises? Did it all go for naught - to be wasted away in parlor entertainment with endless renditions of Heart and Soul? Composer Brenda Hutchinson set out across the U.S. to find out - with a U-Haul truck, a piano and a microphone. The Spanish Room This is not a Big Important Story. It's a small whimsical story about finding the unexpected in your own backyard - in this case the existence of a Spanish dance company pulling standing-room-only crowds in a place more often known for its Celtic music and dance traditions. Producer Chris Brookes presents a portrait of El Viento Flamenco, Newfoundland's only professional flamenco troupe.
December 17	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. Residence Elsewhere Settling down. It's a term that's associated with maturity, with being well-adjusted. The converse-- a person drifting from place to place-- is usually regarded with some suspicion and wariness. If, in the act of settling down, we join mainstream society, then the documentary, "Residence Elsewhere," is about someone living on the margins. His name is Doug Alan and he's a musician. His chosen life- style is that of urban nomad. Alan moves from city to city in a self-crafted mobile home--a life on wheels. He is in Chicago at the moment, making improvements to his rolling home. His story is layered with a chorus of three other Chicago nomads in varying stages of arrival and departure. All of them are trying to define the meaning of "home," when you're constantly on the move.
December 10	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. Dream Deferred Each year 5,000 refugee children arrive in the U.S. penniless and alone, seeking asylum and freedom. A third are locked up - some alongside violent offenders. Many are deported back to traumatic home situations. The U.S. government does not provide them with lawyers, yet whether they can stay legally is decided in court. Dream Deferred follows two of these children, Juan Pablo from Honduras and Jimmy from Punjab, India. Why did they leave? What dreams are they chasing? How did they get here and where are they today?
December 3	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. 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

November 2004

November 26	Money in the Family Peter and Lauren Roberts have three children and a dog. They are all intelligent, animated, thoughtful, and unafraid to disagree with each other. As Canadians who have lived in Africa and in the United States, they are in the unique position of being outside observers of the American scene as well as participants in it. For financial reasons, they have decided to move back to Canada this year. We'll follow them through the Spring in America as they prepare to leave, documenting how they face particular financial burdens and decisions -- paying for music lessons for one of the kids, throwing a birthday party for another, deciding on schools, finding tuition fees, getting glasses for their daughter, selling their house. They have a lot to say about how they've been spending money and about how Americans spend money in general. The Marathon Story Andy Clark is a 31- year-old guy, a father and a journalist, who considers himself moderately sane. But in the course of training for his first marathon race, he begins to question his sanity -- as well as his muscles, lungs and joints. Running for exercise was a joy compared to this. Training for a marathon is tough, grueling and painful. So why do people do it? Why in the world is Andy doing it? Find out as we accompany marathon man Andy Clark from the start of his four month training to the finish line at the Rotterdam marathon.
November 19	The World at Your Fingertips Helen Keller said that blindness separates a person from objects, and deafness separates that person from people. Without support, encouragement and education, the world of a deaf-blind person can be an isolated one of darkness and silence. In the documentary "The World at Your Fingertips" produced by Anna Yeadell of Radio Netherlands, we visit India where more than half a million people are deaf-blind. But with the help of Sense International and the Helen Keller Institute in Mumbai, many deaf-blind children and young adults are reaching out to the world around them, widening their horizons, and fulfilling their potential. This program airs as part of the international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries. A View From the Bridge Thecla Mitchell is a triple amputee. For her, running in a marathon means finding complete physical existence within one wrist, one elbow and one set of fingers. Henry Butler is a blind jazz pianist, but through photography, Henry has found a meeting ground for the sighted and the sightless. Producer John Hockenberry, who is himself mobile in a wheelchair, has been a war correspondent, reporting from the field. He and associate producer Joe Richman show us what the disabled learn from living in a fundamentally different way -- where daily adventure is a part of life.
November 12	After Graduation: Meeting Special Needs Many learning disabled students are finding that they learn more readily with a variety of technology assistance and human support in their classrooms. But what happens once they leave school? Whether moving into the workforce, or on to higher education, most high school graduates discover they must adjust to new environments on their own and learn to advocate for themselves. Alyne Ellis takes a look at how some schools and universities are trying to ease the transition of learning disabled students to a life after graduation. This program is part of our ongoing series on education and technology and is funded in part by the United States Department of Education. Snacktime, Naptime, Computer Time Computers in classrooms are a given in elementary schools across the nation. Now new technology initiatives are bringing computers into preschools, driven by the assumption that if children don't begin early, they fall behind. But is this really true? And are computers essential learning tools for very young minds? How do very young children learn, how do their brains develop, and does pointing, clicking and hyperlinking affect their neurological and social development? Early childhood education specialists weigh in on a government funded statewide program that aims to make toddlers computer literate. 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 5	Who needs libraries? As more and more information is available on-line, as Amazon rolls out new software that allows anyone to find any passage in any book, an important question becomes: Who needs libraries anymore? Why does anyone need four walls filled with paper between covers? Surprisingly, they still do and in this program Producer Richard Paul explores why; looking at how university libraries, school libraries and public libraries have adapted to the new information world. This program airs as part of our ongoing series on education and technology, and is funded in part by the U.S. Department of Education. 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.

October 2004

October 29	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. The Goldilocks Story Mars, Earth and Venus are sibling planets with huge similarities and even bigger differences. Starting from the same primordial material , the climates of each planet diverged, until you have the Goldilocks scenario --one that is too hot, another that's too cold and Earth which is just right. Our program will look at what processes affect the evolution of planetary atmospheres, and what Mars and Venus can tell us about the future of our own climate.
October 22	Three Women of East Timor On May 20, 2002, East Timor finally got what it had struggled for. The road to independence was long and difficult; a journey that was reflected in the fortunes of its national radio station. From colonization to independence - each wave of occupation brought a new language for broadcast. When Filomena Soares was growing up on the outskirts of the capital Dili, fifty years ago, her country was still a Portuguese colony and she remembers dancing on the veranda to the folk songs on the Portuguese Radio, and dreaming of working in radio one day herself. When she finally did, it wasn't a dream come true. By then the Indonesians had taken over and replaced the Portugese Radio with Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI),and when they asked her to join the station, she had to obey. Meanwhile, in the mountains, another Timorese woman, Carmen da Cruz, was working for Radio Falintil, the voice of the resistance. It was after the Santa Cruz massacre in 1991 -- that placed enormous international pressure on the Indonesian government and forced them, eight years later, into accepting a referendum -- that the fate of Carmen and Lourdes became intertwined, and a third woman, Maria, joined in. Listen to their stories and hear how they put the jigsaw of East Timor's history together. The Three Women of East Timor was produced by Radio New Zealand and airs as part of our international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries. In India Saathin Means Friend Indian filmmaker T. Jayashree presents the impact of cultural and social traditions on the lives and destinies of Indian women. She begins with the story of Bhanwari, who was gang-raped by five men in her village when she tried to stop a child marriage. Bhanwari's case and other stories illustrate the tensions in a society resistant to change in its centuries-old traditions and customs.
October 15	Hana's Suitcase At the Children's Holocaust Education Center in Tokyo, children - flocks of them - come to see a suitcase, sitting in a glass case. The owner of the suitcase was Hana Brady. She died in Auschwitz in 1944 at age 13. The museum acquired the suitcase a few years ago and since then the director, Fumiko Ishioka, has made it her mission to find out more about Hana. Her search leads to George Brady, Hana's older brother. This program comes to us from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and airs as part of the international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries. The Colony The Colony began as a hostel in Jerusalem in 1902 during the Ottoman empire. Later on it became a hotel on the advice of Baron Von Ustinov. The history of the colony is inextricably linked to the history of the city itself. It was here in room 16 that the secret talks leading to Oslo accords were held. Over the years the hotel became a place where Christians, Jews and Arabs could sit together in peace, away from the tensions of the violent city. Producer Mandy Cunningham of the BBC presents The Colony, as part of our international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries.
October 8	Gore's Great Art Coup The small rural town of Gore on New Zealand's South Island, recently managed to secure the art collection of the renowned sexologist and academic John Money. John Money gained international recognition for his ground-breaking work at Johns Hopkins University and for his early championing of the New Zealand 20th century author, the late Janet Frame. This program, from Radio New Zealand, tells the story of how the director of a tiny regional art gallery managed to convince a town, known mainly for its sheep and gold mining past, to accept a renowned art collection and have it relocated from Money's flat in a rundown area of Baltimore. Gore's Great Art Coup airs as part of our international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries. Throne of St.James In a Washington, D.C. garage, James Hampton, a non- descript janitor by trade, started work on the Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations Millennium General Assembly. Built entirely out of discarded objects, this 180 piece sculpture was discovered after James' death in 1964. Considered by some to be one of the finest examples of American visionary religious art, the Throne resides at the Smithsonian. This is the story of The Throne of St. James. This program comes to us from Radio New Zealand and airs as part of the international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries.
October 1	Sanctuary Our series Global Perspectives: Nature in the Balance continues with a visit to Australia. In one small corner of Australia, just off one of the country's busiest expressways, the Cohen family is cultivating 80 acres of natural bush land, with the aim of reintroducing vulnerable native animals. Australian Broadcasting Corporation Producer Nick Franklin explores the legacy of Australia's early acclimatizers, the reality of modern 'nature' as opposed to romantic notions of 'wilderness,' and one family's expensive experiment in nature conservation. There's No Word for Robin In Canada, the warning signs that global warming may be having a long-term effect on the climate are subtle. In the far north of Canada, where the land is defined by ice, ice is slowly melting - and for the first time, people who live in Northern Canada are seeing plants and animals much more familiar to those of us in the South. Producer Bob Carty of the CBC travels north to see how people are adapting to the changes. This is part of our special international collaboration called Global Perspectives: Nature in the Balance.

September 2004

September 24	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. Making a Home for Refugees In 'Making a Home for Refugees' BBC producer Esther Armah reports from Hull in the north east of England. Traditionally Hull has had only a very small ethnic community numbering some 300 Chinese, so there was considerable suspicion when the local council agreed to accept around 250 Iraqi Kurds, under the British government's dispersal programme. In fact between 1,500 and 3,000 arrived in the city, as a result of a deal done by private landlords. Initially there were incidents of violence and racial abuse, even today there are occasional attacks. But as Esther discovered, despite lingering prejudice, there is a growing acceptance of these refugees and asylum-seekers. This program airs as part of the special international collaboration series Global Perspectives: Looking for Home.
September 17	The Music House Music is the life-blood of the Baka Pygmies, the rainforest people of the Cameroon. They use music to enchant the animals of the forest before the hunt, to cure illnesses and to overcome disputes. Everyone sings and plays and there is no sense of performer and audience. The Euro-African band 'Baka Beyond' have been making music inspired by their visits to the Baka for over ten years. On this visit, at the request of the Baka, the band are taking an English timber-frame specialist to build a music house for them, paid for with royalties from Baka Beyond's recordings. In this program, Producer Eka Morgan travels to the forest to meet the Baka and members of the band while they build the music house. Missionaries Not more than 25 years ago, they were the first outsiders to come to Irian Jaya. Outsiders who will never become insiders, the missionaries of Irian Jaya introduced the twentieth century to the native peoples. Although they came to educate, offer health care and save souls, ultimately, as this portrait by producer Moira Rankin reveals, the greatest effect of their work is on their own personal development.
September 10	We Were on Duty One Hundred Eighty Four people died at the Pentagon while hundreds more crawled through choking smoke and over burning wreckage to safety. Hear the stories of the valiance and tenaciousness of the Pentagon employees; about the horrendous physical and psychological toll the attack has taken on them and their families -- and about how they have overcome and are moving on. This hour-long program tells these stories in the voices of the people who lived them. Without narration. Many of these survivor stories are devastating. Many are inspirational. From career officers to accountants, computer technicians to security personnel, We Were on Duty paints a sobering, yet inspiring portrait of people whose lives were forever changed. Purchase a CD
September 3	Intersex A group of women talk of their experiences with a rare condition - intersexuality. They are women who have the male XY chromosome. One was forcibly raised as a boy. One only found out about her condition accidentally when she was a teenager. And one was kept in the dark about it deliberately by doctors. About one baby in 20,000 infants is born intersex. Often these infants can be clearly seen to belong to one sex, but a small percentage of them are born with ambiguous genitalia and in the past, doctors made a unilateral decision about which sex they thought the child belonged to. Sometimes they even performed surgery without properly consulting or informing the parents. That practice has been banned in the Netherlands but although medical personnel and lay people are more open to variations in sexuality these days, people with an intersex condition still find the subject very difficult to bring up. This program was produced by Dheera Sujan of Radio Netherlands and airs as part of our international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries. Whom they Fear they Hate Hate crimes are a persistent problem in America, even in seemingly quiet, politically tolerant communities. Producers Stephen Smith and Dan Olson focus on two such communities, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Portland, Oregon, each of which face disturbing levels of assault, vandalism, harassment and even murder committed on the basis of the victim's race, religion, sexual preference, or gender. The program examines why a country that is becoming more culturally diverse may be growing less tolerant.

August 2004

August 27	Ana Grows Up "Ana" is Anastasia Bendus, a 13 year-old girl who lives in Ottawa. She uses a wheelchair and has done so all her life She was born when her mother, Pat Erb, was in her 6th month of pregnancy. She weighed just over a kilogram, 2lb 4oz, and could fit in her father's hand. What happens to such a tiny baby? Will she grow up like any other kid? What are the challenges that face the family? Ana went through years of surgery, doctors visits and all sorts of physio and occupational therapy. Now, l0 years later, Ana Grows Up picks up the story as Ana, her mother, two of Ana's friends and their mother go camping in Fitzroy Harbor Provincial Park. This was their summer vacation and producer Karin Wells of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation went with them. This program is part of the international exchange series, Crossing Boundaries. Eric and Milena We often hear amazing stories of people risking or sacrificing themselves for loved ones. Perhaps you've often wondered what you would do in a similar situation. Radio Netherlands producer Dheera Sujan meets a remarkable couple. One a young American man, who met the woman of his dreams, a Dutch student. Shortly after they married, Eric contracted a form of Multiple Sclerosis that left him debilitated, paralyzed from the neck down. Told in first person, Eric and Milena is an incredible love story. This program is part of the international exchange series, Crossing Boundaries.
August 20	The Long Distance Patient In the high tech world of NASA and the military, the concept of remote medical consultations from the isolation of an orbiting space craft or a ship on international patrol has been accepted and well-known for some time. But telemedicine also plays an increasingly important role in the lives of ordinary people. This program explores the increasingly common use of video links and telemetry to treat patients in isolated or difficult locations, where ordinary consultations with specialists would require long expensive journeys to far away cities. From the original Flying Doctors in Australia to the treatment of inmates in high security jails, telemedicine has dramatically changed the way many of us interact with our physicians. Life Support Dying is no longer something that simply happens. More often, it's something someone decides to let happen. Patients and their families and doctors are forced to answer questions they didn't even consider before. Is being kept alive the same as living? When have we crossed the line from prolonging life, to extending death? We follow a woman struggling with these questions and her father's life.
August 13	Kiribati in Crisis As global warming creates rising sea levels, no one is perhaps more vulnerable than people who live on small islands. Expecting to find a country battling to keep the sea back, Radio New Zealand's environmental reporter, Bryan Crump, traveled to the atoll nation of Kiribati, which straddles the equator in the middle of the Pacific. This thirty-three island nation lies no more than thirteen feet above sea level. But Crump found a nation already in an environmental crisis of a different sort: overcrowded, polluted, running out of water, affected by coastal erosion and disease. And while much of that is the result of outside influences, Kiribati is failing to find solutions. Schokland - The Island on Dry Land In the middle of Dutch wheat fields, miles away from the sea rises the little island of Schokland. In the never-ending tug of war with the sea, the Dutch rescued the island from the sea by building one of their famous polder dikes. The island soon bustled as a farming community and a tourist spot. Now the island is sinking, and Radio Netherlands producer Michele Ernsting reports that in a dramatic reversal of their old policy, the Dutch have decided to flood the land around it - to keep Schokland afloat. This is part of our special international collaboration called Global Perspective: Nature in the Balance.
August 6	One Potato More The Tasmanian potato farmers in Australia now sell their produce to McDonalds. Once they made a decent living selling to open air markets in Sydney. Now they barely get by. Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Roz Bluett reports how one man is trying to change that. This program is part of our special international collaboration called Global Perspectives: Faces of Globalization. Cafe Culture Gone are the days of the simple cup of coffee. Now, you can choose -- lattes, cappuccino or macchiato while filling up at the local coffee bar. But any way you drink it, all coffee started out the same way -- as a bean. Producer Judith Kampfner journeys with the sacred substance from a plantation in Costa Rica to your local Starbucks.

July 2004

July 30	For the Glory of the Game Producer Sam Levene of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation presents this documentary about a league of base ball (that's 2 words) enthusiasts who play the game the way it was first devised in the mid 19th century. Across the U.S. and Canada, teams regularly meet in period costume, and without gloves to play a polite, very gentlemanly (and womanly) version of the game that's become America's favorite sport. This program is part of our international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries. Spinning the Tour The Tour de France is the ultimate event in cycling - and a metaphor for all the crisis and controversy that surrounds a big-time sport. In this documentary Producer Ian Austen of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, an amateur cyclist himself, delves into the race to expose the drug scandals, superhuman physical effort, sleazy sponsorships and yet somehow the thrill of the race. This program airs as part of the international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries.
July 23	Mississippi Becomes a Democracy Mississippi Becomes a Democracy, produced by Askia Muhammad, tells the story of the 1960's voter registration drive in Mississippi that culminated in Freedom Summer and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party's move to unseat the regular delegation to the Democratic Convention in Atlantic City in 1964. Provocative, fascinating and fast-moving - the hour long documentary is a reminder that the fight for civil rights was tumultuous and complex, with ramifications still felt today. Mississippi Becomes a Democracy transports listeners back to the sixties in Mississippi and then brings them to Mississippi today. The documentary brings the story to life through a combination of archive tape and recent interviews with legendary civil rights activists. Interviews with some of the major organizers, including Bob Moses and Fannie Lou Hamer, show how the events of that year set the stage for sweeping reforms. Interviews with today's generation of black politicians in Mississippi show the fruit of those struggles and what remains to be accomplished.
July 16	Moonlanding It's been 35 years since the Apollo 11 moonlanding, and the lingering effect of that journey on the collective American psyche is remarkable. Anyone over 40 can tell you what they were doing on the warm July day when the flickering images of footsteps and moondust filtered down into living rooms around the nation. SOUNDPRINT presents some personal memories of the moonlanding, and snapshots from that historic day. Washington Goes to the Moon: Against the Tide Thirty and forty years removed now from the debate over Apollo, we look back to a time when American public support of the space program was uncertain. Skeptics came at their opposition from varying perspectives. This program looks and talks (with and about) the opponents of the space program, those who chose to swim against the pro-Apollo tide.
July 9	Voices of the Dust Bowl Many of the Oakies and Arkies who poured into California at the height of the Dust Bowl ended up in migrant camps set up by the federal government. Using Library of Congress recorded interviews with the 1935-40 farm worker emigrants, our program tells their stories - about why they left, conditions along the way, life in the camps, and what life was like for a rural farmer back home. Forecasters of Farming How do farmers, futures traders, scientists and policy makers forecast production? What have they relied on in the past, and how are the new tools, including satellite technology, creating better models? How is the science of prediction evolving? Forecasters of Farming looks at the history, art and science of predicting agricultural production using space technology and climate modeling.
July 2	Will The Banana Split? Producer Bob Carty of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation takes us on a lively and hilarious, but informative examination of the banana. Its history (it could soon be extinct), its biology(it is sexless), its myths (you CAN keep bananas in the refrigerator), and its impact on popular culture, everything from Chiquita Banana, and Monty Python to The Simpsons. This program is part of our international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries. Let's Call the Whole Thing Off How do you buy tomatoes in a grocery store? Do you choose by taste, or price, or shape, or because the recipe you inherited from your grandmother calls for Roma and no other? No matter the reason, Americans are probably the largest consumers of tomatoes in the world. On average, they consume 16 pounds a year of fresh tomatoes. Most of these fresh tomatoes are grown in Florida and California. But a significant percent of the market now comes from Canada, thanks to free trade agreements struck in 1994. This intrusion has led to a good old fashioned trade war. In October of 2001 the U.S slapped heavy antidumping tariffs on Canadian tomatoes. The Canadians have answered with their own charges. Growers on both sides claim grievous injury. The greenhouse growers in Canada, who ship 50% of their production to the U.S., claim American protectionism is keeping the better tasting tomatoes off the shelf. In the U.S, the fresh tomato growers, both field and greenhouse, say that local markets are being undermined. And furthermore, local buyers now must make a Hobson' choice, between their own homegrown tomato and a nefarious import. Producer Chris Brookes explores the tomato war on both sides of the border. This program aired as part of the international radio exchange series, Global Perspectives: Faces of Globalization.

June 2004

June 25	Software Is Elementary There's an unusual phenomenon popping up in schools across the country-- educational software is almost never used in a classroom beyond the 8th grade. From pre-school to 8th grade, there is widespread use of specially-designed software to teach math, reading, grammar, and languages, but you'd be hard-pressed to find any of it in high school. Producer Richard Paul talks to professors, teachers, psychologists and software developers on his quest to find out why educational software disappears after middle school. This program is part of our ongoing series on education and technology and is funded in part by the United States Department of Education. 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.
June 18	A Bird in the Hand Avian Flu has hit many Asian countries this year, but Hong Kong, where the disease first spread to humans, has not been affected. Still, there are increasing calls to end the sale of live chickens which are chosen and killed at markets and shops across the city. Should Hong Kong stop the sale of freshly slaughtered chicken? Scientists agree this simple public health measure would reduce the risk of a worldwide pandemic which has killed tens of millions. But what if that measure goes against habit, culture and tradition; and what if no one can calculate the risk? How much is a bird in the hand really worth? Producers Hugh Chiverton and Sophia Yow of Radio Television Hong Kong present A Bird in the Hand as part of our special international collaboration, Global Perspectives: Check-up on World Health. 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.
June 11	Korle-Bu Hospital In the Children's Block of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Ghana's capital, Accra, the dedicated staff struggle to do their best for their young patients. It's a tough and stressful job. They face a lack of equipment, staff shortages, and patients who are often unable to pay for medical care. Ghana's current health system requires that all medical bills must be paid before the patient leaves the hospital; hospitals actually employ security guards to make sure no one leaves without paying their bills. But now the Ghanaian government is introducing a health insurance scheme, to make health care more affordable for all the country's citizens. Joy FM's Akwasi Sarpong speaks with Korle-Bu's staff and patients about the challenges facing them and the future prospects for change. This program is part of our special international collaboration, Global Perspectives: Check-up on World Health. Soweto: In Hector's Path June 16, 1976 - Hector Petersen, a 13-year old South African student is shot and killed during a massive demonstration to protest apartheid laws in South Africa. The photograph of the fatally wounded Petersen being carried from the scene appeared throughout the world and he became a symbol of the anti-apartheid movement. A generation later, June 16 is still a day of remembrance, particularly in Soweto, where Petersen was killed.
June 4	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. Songs of the Automobile Songs of the Automobile explores U.S. culture through the national love affair with the car. Travel from coast to coast to visit hot-rodder enthusiasts, auto show junkies, and everyone else in between on this musical journey of unfolding car tales and anecdotes. From stories of that first purchase, to dating in the backseat, to the beloved car full of nostalgia rusting in the driveway, BBC producers Judith Kampfner and Roger Fenby take you on this lyrical cross-country radio road trip. This program is part of our international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries.

May 2004

May 28	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.
May 21	People and Software There are hundreds of software programs being pitched every day to teachers and administrators. But the reality is that many of the latest programs are not what students are using when they use computers in schools. What they're using is software like Word, PowerPoint and email. What is keeping the wiz-bang software out of the classroom? Producer Richard Paul test drives some of the hot new applications and investigates the gap between the promise and reality of educational software. This program is part of our ongoing series on education and technology and is funded in part by the United States Department of Education. 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.
May 14	Equity in Education Brown vs. the Board of Education was the 1954 Supreme Court decision that declared the old "separate but equal" policies of many school boards unconstitutional. Producer Kathy Baron takes a look at how far school systems have come over the past 50+ years in assuring equality for all students and whether technology plays a role in giving these students access. The Brown case triggered numerous court mediated desegregation policies around the country. Some school systems are only now emerging from court orders. Are schools for minority students now equal to those of primarily white students? And many higher education systems are facing a grim reality. In California university systems are not able to admit everyone who is eligible and a large percentage of incoming freshman are enrolled in remedial classes. Another major court case found that K-12 students in the state were not getting equal access to education. What, in fact, does an equal education look like? This program is part of our ongoing series on education and technology and is funded in part by the United States Department of Education. Click Here for College Remember the dot-com craze? Then perhaps you recollect the mad dash by universities and others to ring in the virtual university. The bubble may have burst but is the online university just another bad idea? Some say yes but others say no. But before you sign up for that virtual course, click along with Producer Richard Paul as he investigates the state of the online university. This program is part of our ongoing series on education and technology and is funded in part by the United States Department of Education.
May 7	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. Making Faces Michael Williams-Stark gives comedy improv workshops to a special group of children. Like Michael, they're kids who have cleft palates, or no palates. They meet regularly, and through comedy and performing, they learn to stand up for themselves, to gain confidence and feel less alone. Producer Cate Cochran of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation presents this program as part of our international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries.

April 2004

April 30	Touched by Fire Madness and genius have often been linked. And studies show that there is a greatly increased rate of depression, manic-depressive illness, bi-polar disorder, and suicide in writers and artists. In "Touched by Fire," Producer Dheera Sujan of Radio Netherlands explores the connections between creativity and mental illness. We meet Kay Redfield Jamison, Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University, one of the world's leading experts on manic-depressive illness. She herself suffers from manic depression and she believes that people who have experienced the highs of mania and the depths of depression have a unique insight into the human condition. We also meet Stella, Edward, and Carrie-Anne, who provide an intimate portrait of what it's like to live with bi-polar disorder. This program is part of our international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries. Wannabes Why would anybody want, even choose, to be disabled in order to feel whole and secure? In this fascinating and challenging report from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, producer Kath Duncan, who herself was born without one arm and one leg, tries to understand why some people actually aspire to be like her. These "wannabes" are physically complete and able, but wish they weren't and will go to great lengths, even amputation, to achieve the body image they hold of themselves. Duncan brings us a moving portrait of her journey into a strange subculture. This program is part of our international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries.
April 23	Betwitched Until recently, little was known about the unusual neurological disorder that compels people to make strange noises, utterances and movements, otherwise known as tourette's syndrome. 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.
April 16	Space Aging SOUNDPRINT takes a look at new frontiers in space research: the ways scientists are linking space research and biomedical research; the discoveries that are being made in areas of bone loss, cardiovascular disease and muscle atrophy; the thinking on how these conditions affect astronauts on extended space missions; and new ways in which applications from this research may benefit the population on earth, particularly the growing aging population. We'll take you to Boston, Washington, DC and Baltimore to hear from scientists, doctors and astronauts on the cutting edge. RP: Through A Tunnel Darkly Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) is an eye disease that causes someone to lose his or her vision gradually. It's as if the lens of the eye gets smaller and smaller. It's not uncommon; yet it has no single cure. Producer Susan Davis joins writer David Stewart, who suffers from the disease, to investigate the latest advances in treating RP, including the possibility of implanting a computer chip into the eye.
April 9	Sick at Heart The Netherlands is statistically the sickest country in Europe. One in 6 people of working age are on a disability pension, and most of them are younger than their counterparts around the world. In recent years, more and more young highly educated women have been going onto long term disability leave for various kinds of stress related disorders. Radio Netherlands Producer Dheera Sujan looks at a disability system that is unique in the world. A system which allows its beneficiaries to earn a salary as well as receive sick benefits, a system which rates illness on a percentage basis, and a system which until fairly recently no politician was allowed to overhaul although its financial drain to the economy was almost too much to bear. This program is part of our special international collaboration, Global Perspectives: Check-up on World Health. Health Over the Horizon Distance medicine has been around for awhile. The flying doctors in Australia, for example, work with isolated communities on remote sites. Research ships visit the polar ice caps for months at a time and medical emergencies have to be dealt with on board. In the early days, it was done with wireless radio communication, sending samples of diagnostics and medical investigations through the mail. Nowadays, it's done digitally and it's called telemedicine. This need to consult, diagnose and deliver effective medical care from far-off, when the doctor is away from the patient, is very crucial on an extended space flight. Scientists are looking at developing hardware and software to facilitate this, and much of this technology is micro-sized, whether it's a case of storing blood samples so they will be fresh when a person arrives back three years later from a trip to Mars, or installing a pill inside the body to take measurements of body temperature. Producer Judith Kampfner takes a look at Health Over the Horizon.
April 2	The Last Out If you are a baseball junkie, this program is for you. Producers Moira Rankin and Dan Collison explore the baseball fan's addiction to the game as they follow two die-hard enthusiasts to see how they endure the off-season in anticipation of the spring. Original Kasper's Hot Dogs During its seventy year tenure, a hot dog stand in Oakland has become an anchor for residents of the city's Temescal neighborhood in good times and bad. This is the story of Kasper's Original Hot Dogs.

March 2004

March 26	London: The Superbug Capital of the World? Newspaper headlines have dubbed London "the superbug capital of the world" because of the number of deadly infections, such as MRSA, in the city's hospitals. But across Britain there has been an alarming rise in infections caused by bugs resistant to antibiotics and poor standards of cleanliness have been identified as a major cause. Many people are genuinely scared at the prospect of hospital treatment and the National Health Service is taking steps to improve hospital hygiene, including setting up the post of Ward Housekeeper. In this program, we meet patients and staff in the Lane Fox Respiratory Unit at St. Thomas' Hospital on the banks of the River Thames. Here an infection control initiative has been launched that's a model for the rest of Britain. We spend a day on Lane Fox ward, following Ward Housekeeper Charles Bell and Ward Sister Hazel Chisholm, as they work, often against the odds, to ensure that a stay in hospital does not leave their patients in a worse state than when they arrived. This program was produced by Gillian Gray of the BBC and airs as part of our special international collaboration, Global Perspectives: Check-up on World Health. Out of their hands Twenty five years ago, four stunned mothers who'd lost their children, one an adult, one a teenager, the others younger, were introduced at a Toronto hospital by a chaplain. They found they could talk to each other with more ease than to other people. Their friendship grew to an organization, Bereaved Parents of Ontario, that now has hundreds of members. Producer Teresa Goff of the CBC brings us their stories and what the organization has done for them. This program is part of our international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries.
March 19	Trauma This program is a portrait of the ebb and flow of life within the Alfred Hospital's Trauma and Emergency Department in Melbourne, Australia. In a kaleidoscopic style, Mark Fitzgerald, the Director of Emergency Services takes us into the heart of his department a place where dramatic, life-changing events occur with relentless regularity against a background of routine order. As staff and patients share their experiences of either unexpectedly arriving at the hospital or coming home from it every day, we discover what place the big questions about life, society and human nature have in an environment that by definition strives to maintain the mechanics of life from one moment to the next. This program is part of our special international collaboration, Global Perspectives: Check-up on World Health. The Human Clock Does your body clock say "sleep" when it's only two o'clock in the afternoon? According to the experts, most of us are simply not getting enough sleep. If we want to add years to our lives and maintain good health, there is no excuse for not keeping to a set number of sleep hours. We need to respect the normal biological timing for sleep and wakefulness.
March 12	Hot Flash This program deals with the issue of menopausal women who took Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) and then were told - in glaring headlines in July 2002 that HRT increases the risk of heart disease, stroke and breast cancer. The news was crushing for the huge number of women who have managed a big chunk of their lives with these drugs. Drugs that for decades promised stronger bones, sharper memories, healthier hearts, an energy boost, and the relief of some of the most unpleasant symptoms of menopause. Now, many women are finding it almost impossible to live without the drugs. And they are having to make grueling choices. This documentary is about seven women, many of whom have gone back on HRT in spite of the risks. Two doctors talk about how they counsel their patients about this difficult matter. Hot Flash is about taking charge of your own health, making informed decisions, and the dilemma of doctors who know one thing scientifically but see another in a suffering patient. This program is part of our special international collaboration, Global Perspectives: Check-up on World Health. Getting Your Bearings Losing your balance and feeling dizzy? It happens as we grow older, and astronauts are trying to help us figure out why. Why do we get seasick? Why do we get any kind of motion sickness? What is going on in our bodies that so disturbs our equilibrium? The effects of motion sickness--disorientation, maladjustment to environment, and human flexibility to adapt--are the same effects experienced by astronauts in outer space.
March 5	AIDS in Haiti In Haiti, it's not hard to find people who have been touched by HIV. Over 30,000 people died from the disease in 2002. The stories of those who survive draw a portrait of a country in turmoil a mother in a rural countryside already overwhelmed by poverty and disease; sex workers who must decide every night whether to risk condom free sex; and HIV positive family members who still feel a lingering stigma. The prognosis for Haiti's response to the disease still remains elusive. Yet doctors firmly believe that the tide is turning on the AIDS battle in Haiti. We visit centers where community-based work, such as research and treatment, is carried out daily. This program is part of our special international collaboration, Global Perspectives: Check-up on World Health. Curanderismo: Folk Healing in the Southwest In an age of high-tech, highly specialized medicine, the ancient healing arts of Curanderismo are an attractive alternative. When they are ill, Mexican-Americans in the southwestern states often prefer to visit the curandero-- the traditional healer-- who uses herbs, aromas, and rituals to treat the ills of their body, mind and spirit. It is a much more personal approach to treating illness -complex, but not necessarily scientific- and one that modern health care professionals in the region are now exploring, and in some cases embracing as a healing tool.

February 2004

February 27	What's New at School? American education is prone to fads, such as New Math, Roberts English, Denelian Handwriting. These fads sweep the country and then disappear. Why are these fads so readily accepted and then so quickly abandoned? Producer Richard Paul looks into the trend of educational fads. This program is part of our ongoing series on education and technology, and is funded in part by the United States Department of Education. Get A Life Coach When Alan was told to get a life, he decided to go one better. He got a Life Coach. What exactly is a Life Coach, this new kind of ultimate personal trainer? As one coach describes it: "Coaching is not therapy. In therapy you talk about how to throw the ball. In coaching, you throw it." We'll join Alan as he works with his Life Coach-to improve his flirting skills-and meet other coaches and their satisfied clients. We'll even learn how to become a coach and sit in on a telephone training session. And producer Natalie Kestecher just might convince us, in this sly production from the Australian Broadcasting Company, that it's time to sack that shrink and get a Life Coach instead. This program is part of our ongoing international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries.
February 20	New Songs from an Old Mountain A personal journey through the contemporary literary landscape of Appalachia, guided by some of the new young poets and fiction writers in the region. We explore issues of identity, stereotypes, dialects, and how a new generation defines "home." This diverse group of young writers reflects on these issues in conversation, and they read to us from their recent poems and stories. 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.
February 13	Gay Ballroom Dancing Ian and his partner had no experience dancing in competition. Yet they decided to enter the ballroom event at the International Gay Games held in Australia. They kept an audio diary of their training in the Waltz, the Quick Step and the Tango. They also recorded how they learned to glide around the dance floor with confident smiles, even when shaking with nerves and, on one memorable occasion, with Ian's trousers falling down. Ian Poitier steps out onto the dance floor and takes us into the world of ballroom dancing. This program was produced by Louise Swan of the BBC and is part of our international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries. Attachments Love, the universal emotion. From the first crush, to the worst heartbreak, to a long-lasting marriage, people young and old share with us their stories of passion and pain. Producer Ginna Allison presents us with snapshots of love in "Attachments."
February 6	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. Building Blocks Several years ago at Long Creek juvenile detention center in Maine, one MIT professor revolutionized the existing school system. He instituted a learning-by-doing program where young offenders spend their day using Legos to build programmable robots - clocks, vehicles and moving fantasy figures. Teens photograph their creations and write diaries proudly chronicling their progress. Can incarcerated youth gain important skills and confidence from such a program or should they be learning discipline in a conventional schoolroom? Producer Judith Kampfner takes us inside the classroom to find out. This program is part of our ongoing series on education and technology.

January 2004

January 30	Water is Gold Multi-year droughts are an accepted part of life in the Southwest. The summer of 2002 was the worst drought in Arizona in nearly a century. Will the next year be any different? Water is Gold explores the role of climate modeling and the effects of the extreme drought on people, livestock, policy makers and the economy. Find out, if modelers can predict future droughts? Why is the tropical Pacific Ocean important in understanding the droughts in the Southwest? What role do long-range climate models play in assessing drought conditions? Learn how modelers are constantly improving their understanding of the forces and conditions that create climatic and weather events. Producer Lex Gillespie brings the science of climate modeling, in a language you will understand. The Blackwater Estuary Over the centuries the south and southeast of England have been tipping into the sea, the legacy of the last Ice Age. In fact, concrete walls to keep the sea out surround the entire Essex coast. But now environmental managers are beginning to rethink that fortress policy. Maintaining the defenses is expensive, especially when the walls must constantly be repaired and rebuilt. And to what end? Britain is no longer a farming nation, in need of all the land it can get. On the banks of the Blackwater Estuary, there's a 700-acre farm that's become an experiment in coastal management. The walls are going to come down and the farm will be returned to the sea - becoming a system of soft defenses, like marshes and mudflats. As the BBC's Stephen Beards reports, the farm could become a model of managed retreat from the battle with the sea. This is part of our special international collaboration called Global Perspectives: Nature in the Balance.
January 23	Art Gallery Blockbuster Thronging crowds, ticket lines, competitive scalpers, strict security, frayed tempers... no, it's not the Superbowl or some millennial extravaganza. It's the National Gallery of Art. Producer Joe Gill takes you back behind the scenes at Washington D.C.'s legendary Van Gogh exhibit. 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.
January 16	A Big Affair Producer Deborah Nation of Radio New Zealand brings us a heartwarming romance between man (Tony Ratcliffe) and elephant (Jumbo). This is the backdrop for some reflections on the sometimes troubled relationships between men and women. This program is part of our international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries. Dog Day Afternoons The arrival of the dog days of summer is marked by the appearance of the Dog Star, Sirius. The Romans believed that Sirius added to the heat of the sun and made dogs more prone to madness. The Romans weren't the only ones fascinated with dogs, add to that list writers, artists, historians and every dog owner today. Radio Netherlands producer and dog lover, David Swatling embarks on a humorous tribute to dogs. This program is part of our international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries.
January 9	Short Circuit Literally synaesthesia means "a crossing of the senses." In practice synaesthetes may see colors when they hear music, or experience taste when they are touched. Letters and numbers have individual colors and words can appear as paintings. For a long time it was thought that synaesthetes were fabricating their experiences, but recent neurological studies show that they do in fact perceive things like music or words with several senses. In Short Circuit, people with synaesthesia talk about the difficulties of explaining what they see, hear and taste. We also hear from two artists, Carol Steen and Ans Salz, who use their work to translate the complex landscape of their minds. This program was produced by Michele Ernsting of Radio Netherlands as part of our international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries. Upright Grand A document of the poignant moment in the life of Producer Tim Wilson's own mother, a daunting figure and a once-accomplished pianist, now diagnosed with Alzheimer's, when she is forced to leave her apartment, her pearls, and her 'upright grand' to enter 'a home.' Upright Grand turns into a searching examination of the often ambiguous relationship between a mother and son.
January 2	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. Blindness and Insight They say that you can never go home again, but journalist David Stewart proves otherwise. With the advent of an eye condition called RP and the imminent loss of his vision, David returns to his home town of Galion, Ohio, to test his memory against the truth. He reunites with old friends and finds out that much has changed and still more has stayed the same. Producer Susan Davis presents this portrait of blindness and insight.