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December 2007

December 28	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 21	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 Go Tell it on the Mountain It was born in the oral culture of African slaves in the American south. It was embraced by the civil rights movement in the 1960's. Today it is a perennial favorite at Christmas concerts and church services across North America. The spiritual Go Tell It on the Mountain has come to mean many things depending on the time and place in which it is sung - freedom anthem, hymn of faith, a simple song of Christmas. As is the case with most spirituals, its music and lyrics cannot be attributed to any one person. African American composer John Wesley Work is credited with formally adapting the song and including it in a songbook in 1907. But the versions of Go Tell it on the Mountain are as varied and distinctive as the people performing it. But it is always, at its heart, a song of joy. This program comes to us from Producer Jean Dalrymple of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and is part of our ongoing international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries.
December 14	Bird Safe Much of the bush (the NZ-English term for natural forest) in New Zealand is under the protection of conservation authorities and hunters must have bird-safe dogs before they can get a permit to hunt pig or deer in the East Coast Hawkes Bay Conservancy. Producer Jack Perkins joins hunting dogs and their owners as they attend a training course near Hastings, which teaches the dogs to avoid kiwis in the bush. This program airs as part of the international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries. Born Free Built on the site of a colonial era estate, the John Morony Correctional Complex in Sydney’s outer suburban fringe covers 300 acres and all the bases. There are minimum and maximum-security prisons for men, and a women’s prison. There is also accommodation for a seized crocodile, smuggled parrots, endangered snakes, crippled kangaroos and wounded wombats. In the middle of an Australian summer the sprawling prison grounds are dry, bare and flat, and the whole complex is surrounded by high chain link fences topped with razor wire. Within this forbidding environment there lies an unlikely refuge, a literal sanctuary of green, with a lush garden, shady trees and plenty of water. The wildlife center is part animal hospital, part educational facility – and a congenial workplace for three correctional officers and ten minimum security male inmates. Producer Natalie Kestecher of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation takes listeners inside a jail to meet up with a group of men for whom working in a cage might even be fun. This program airs as part of our special international collaboration, Global Perspectives: The World of Crime.
December 7	A Life of Ashes There are more than 40 million widows in India today – and for a large proportion of these women, their lives are what some have referred to as a living sati – a reference to the now outlawed practice of widow burning. A woman’s diet, dress, and even sexuality all suddenly become part of the public realm the moment her husband dies. Producer Dheera Sujan is an Indian herself and the daughter of a widow. In A Life of Ashes she weaves her own experiences with those of the women she met. 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.

November 2007

November 30	The Village that Got too Old BBC Producer David Stenhouse visits a dwindling village in Japan where the only remaining inhabitants are all over age 60. Unable to maintain their homes, the residents must decide on the fate of their village and their future as a community. Shades of Grey: Shell vs. Nigeria's Ogoni People In Nigeria, the Ogoni people have been at war with the giant Anglo-Dutch petroleum company, Shell, for nearly a decade. It has been a bitter conflict between David and Goliath, a conflict full of recriminations, deceit and politics. Radio Netherlands producer Eric Beauchemin reports from both sides of the conflict. This program airs as part of the international documentary exchange series Crossing Boundaries.
November 23	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. 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.
November 16	Wives of the Gods According to the Trokosi custom practised in Ghana, a family must offer a virgin daughter to a fetish priest as a way of appeasing the gods for a relative's transgression, past or present. The tradition, which has been part of the Ewe culture for centuries, requires a girl to spend the rest of her life as a 'wife of the gods' through their medium, the Trokosi priest. Angela Robson talks to priests, girls who want to stay in the shrines as 'wives,' and activists fighting for the end of this traditional practice. 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.
November 9	Vietnam Blues Vince Gabriel is a Maine-based blues musician who's written an album of songs chronicling his experience in the Vietnam War. In this program, Vince takes listeners chronologically through his time in Vietnam, with his music leading us into stories about getting drafted, arriving in the jungle, what combat was like, the loss of his closest friend, the relief of finally returning home, and his reflections on the legacy of Vietnam today. Vince's stories give listeners an almost visceral sense of what it's like for those on the front lines. Though it is an account of a war that took place years ago, Vince's observations feel disturbingly immediate and poignant. Producer Christina Antolini brings us the "Vietnam Blues." D-Day Diaries June 6th, 1944 dawned unlike any other day in history. Three million Allied soldiers prepared for months to cross the English Channel and liberate Europe. All along the coast of Normandy machine guns, mines, booby traps and obstacles awaited the invading army. Thousands lost their lives that day. Many more were wounded. The story of D-Day is best told in the words of the soldiers who lived through the landing, words gathered from letters, books and diaries. These are their memories.
November 2	The Return of the Breaksea Rat Busters 3 hours by sea out from Doubtful Sound on the uninhabited south west coast of New Zealand, The wild Breaksea Island, was identified back in the late 1970’s as an ideal refuge for endangered birds, if it were not for it’s ever-growing population of rats. When DSIR Ecologist Rowley Taylor came up with a method to eradicate the vermin from this steep 170 hectare area, everyone thought he was mad. But with the help of Bruce Thomas and support from the Fiordland National Park, the invasive Norway rat population was successfully removed, first from Hawea Island in 1986 and then Breaksea, two years later. Rowley and Bruce became pioneers for the eradication of pests from islands, and forerunners to the establishment of sanctuaries on mainland and off shore islands. Almost twenty years on from their pioneering project, the two return to see the fruits of their labour, and to relive the gory glory of their battle against the rat. Songs of the Humpback Whales They are among the largest mammals on earth, but also among the most invisible: humpback whales are an enigma to scientists who can't observe much of their underwater activities. To unlock the secrets of humpback behavior, researchers have turned to sound to hear what they cannot see. Join us on an underwater visit to the whales on their feeding grounds near Sitka, Alaska. The remarkable sounds discovered there are causing scientists to forge new theories about whales and why they sing.

October 2007

October 26	Hags and Nightmares It's the middle of the night. You wake up with a start. There's a presence in the room watching you. You sense that it is evil. But you are paralyzed and powerless. It's your worst nightmare, or is it? This program looks at a strangely common condition called sleep paralysis in which people are dreaming while they are awake and are unable to move. Psychologist Al Cheyne explores what happens to the body during these episodes and tries to explain why the experience is so terrifying. Sleep paralysis appears to be the source of some of our most terrifying myths and legends, and it has inspired artists through the ages. Hags and Nightmares was produced by Michele Ernsting of Radio Netherlands, and airs as part of our international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries. 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.
October 19	Live at the Apollo According to the Oxford English dictionary, the word "outsourcing" first showed up in 1981, to describe how car companies were sending skilled jobs abroad. Today, "outsourcing" is part of our daily vocabulary. Just about everything that we used to do here is being done much more cheaply somewhere else. India, for instance, is teeming with educated workers who now take care of our textiles, our call centres and our computers. And now they're starting to take care of our bodies. In early February, six Canadians made their way to the V.I.P. ward in the Apollo Hospital in Chennai - formerly Madras - in southern India. They're what we call "medical tourists." They're frustrated with their country's waiting lists, and scared off by the high price of private care in the United States. At the Apollo Hospital they're welcomed with open arms and in high style. Chennai's steamy crowded streets, the motorized rickshaws and ox-drawn wagons are floors down and a world away. Producer David Gutnick follows a woman from Kenora, Ontario who chose to go to India rather than wait five years for the gastric bypass surgery she wanted. While there David met a man who was told by Canadian doctors he would never walk without pain again, and that surgery was useless. He refused to believe them. Live at the Apollo will make you think again about the future direction of Canadian healthcare. This program is part of our international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries. 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.
October 12	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. 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.
October 5	Run for your Life It was a Friday. A sunny fall day, one year ago. Francine Mailly got up very early. She had taken the day off from her job as a clerk at the National Research Council and told her kids they wouldn't be going to school. She filled garbage bags with clothes as quickly as she could and tossed them in the trunk of her sister's car. Francine had to move fast because her husband Frank would be back from his shift at the post office at any time. And if he caught her trying to leave, she was doomed. Frank had warned Francine many times before: If you leave me, I'll kill you. On September 30th, 2005, a desperate Francine Mailly and her three children sped away from their Cumberland, Ontario home. But Francine didn't run far enough. Francine left behind two sisters who had tried desperately - over a number of years and in the best way they knew how - to help her get out of a violent marriage. Producer Alisa Siegel talks with them as they struggle to come to terms with the nightmare of Francine's life - and of her death. This program is part of our international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries. Fear on the Inside: Diary of Domestic Violence Producer Dan Collison documents a week in the life of "Anna," a battered woman in Chicago. The documentary begins three days after Anna's estranged husband has threatened to kill her and their baby at gunpoint. Anna keeps an audio journal of her attempt to have her husband, who she says beat her repeatedly before they separated, arrested. She tells of her frustration with the police and legal system and of her attempt to live a "normal life."

September 2007

September 28	Durga's Court It's on the verandah of a house in a remote village in West Bengal, India, where one court's sessions are held. Each litigating party comes with a group of supporters who try to outshout each other, and the judge – untrained in formal law – makes her rulings by a potent alchemy of mythology, common sense, a flamboyant personality and a very loud voice. Shabnam Ramaswamy is the only hope for hundreds of people who are too poor to grease palms to make India’s judiciary or police work for them and her court is often the only shot these people have at justice. In Durga’s Court, Dheera Sujan visits what must be one of the more unusual courts of justice in the world. This program is part of our international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries. Ode to Josephine Josephine Fernandez was Dheera Sujan's 20-something, bow-legged, horsey faced Goan ayah, or nanny. She was about five and her sister two years younger when Josie came into their lives. She stayed with them until they immigrated to Australia a few years later. When they left India for good to start a new life, it was Josie whom they missed more than anything else they'd left behind. This program comes to us from Radio Netherlands and is part of our international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries.
September 21	Hospice Chronicles It's been forty years since 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. Over the course of eight months, team Long Haul followed two hospice volunteers through their training and first assignments in patients' homes. Trained to provide "respite care," the volunteers set out to give family members a break from their caretaking responsibilities. And while one has a chance to reflect on her patient's life in a intimate setting, another gets to explore death in a rather unexpected way – a way that training never could have prepared him for. 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.
September 14	The United States of Dating A producer's quest for real stories of how people meet each other in the current dating environment, and how they negotiate their dating relationships. Along the way, we'll hear from matchmakers, relationship experts and common-or-garden daters. We'll explore how the written word still rules romance and dating etiquette -- from staccato text-message shorthand to classified ads, postcards and email. We'll meet the Dating Coach who advises clients on putting their best face forward; New York City's own cupid cab driver who tries his hand at amateur matchmaking in Manhattan gridlock; a political activist who runs a booming online dating service for like-minded lefties (motto: "take action, get action"); and a woman who blogs her private dating activities in a public online diary... with some surprising results. This program airs as part of our special international collaboration, Global Perspectives: Romance Series. A Complicated Friendship Canadian producer Frank Faulk has an unusual - but long running - friendship with a fundamentalist preacher in Kentucky. They may disagree on just about everything, but their friendship is solid. This program comes to us from the CBC and airs as part of the international documentary exchange series Crossing Boundaries. It won a Silver Medal at the 2005 New York Festivals.
September 7	Wildfire! With thousands of sheep and cattle burned alive this year, hundreds of houses destroyed and a number of human deaths, Australia is pouring millions of Australian dollars into wildfire research and many other countries are turning to Australia for advice and help. Are these fires malicious? Part of the complex system of global warming? Just natural phenomena that will die down again? Producer Sharon Mascall puts on fireman's helmet and overalls and heads for the Australian Bush where the frequency and intensity of wildfires seems to be increasing. This program is part of our international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries. 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.

August 2007

August 31	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. Home Schools Imagine that your parent is your teacher, your siblings are your classmates, and your kitchen is your classroom. Plus, you get to study outside, choose your areas of interest, and do your classwork online. The image of home schooling is changing from detached and reclusive, to engaged and mainstream. And not all homeschooling is alike. Home school parent and producer Heather Gattucio examines very different approaches to this alternative educational regime.
August 24	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.
August 17	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. Islands of Genius How can a 20 year old man who is blind, autistic and still believes in Santa Claus play the most sophisticated improvisational jazz piano? How can a child who appears withdrawn and retarded gaze at a building for only a minute then draw an exact reproduction on paper? Producer Stephan Smith explores the mysterious powers of savants -- people with profound mental disabilities who develop an island of genius in music, mathematics or art. Contemporary research on Savant Syndrome is producing new insights on how the human brain works, and how personal intelligence can outwit the IQ test.
August 10	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 Katanko'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.
August 3	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 Children of the Hated During the Second World War, an estimated 10,000 children were born in Norway out of liaisons between occupying German soldiers and local women. The Nazis had set up special Lebensborn homes where these liaisons could take place and where single mothers and their babies could stay. After the war life became hell for most of these Norwegian women and their children. Producer Dheera Sujan of Radio Netherlands brings us Children of the Hated. This program is part of our international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries.

July 2007

July 27	Before the War it Was the War In the recent Middle Eastern conflict between the Lebanese guerilla organization Hezbollah and the state of Israel, one man took it upon himself to 'resist with his pen', to bear witness for his people and bring the world 'the real news from Beirut.' His name is Mazen Kerbaj, a young musician and comic illustrator whose impromptu blog site reached tens of thousands of people. The bombing of Lebanon has ceased but his blog-site continues. Producers Anna Burns and Nicole Steinke of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation give a vivid audio recreation of Mazen’s blog-site and of everyday life inside a war zone. This program airs as part of the international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries. 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.
July 20	Under the Canopy A very delicately nuanced and richly atmospheric story of a group of young protesters who've been camping at the end of a logging road deep in old growth forest for almost a year. They've built a tree-sit village and a full sized pirate ship to stop construction of the road. Producer Judy Rapley of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation joins them at the beginning of a cold, wet winter. This story airs as part of the international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries. 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.
July 13	The Urban Forest Healing Center From the time he wrote ‘Walden – Life in the Woods’ philosopher Henry David Thoreau understood the restorative value of trees to the human soul. More than 100 years later researchers are discovering that a pleasurable walk among trees and green space can calm an active child, refresh a tired mind, and make all of us feel better. The view of a tree outside a window can make an office worker more productive, a hospital stay shorter, or a prison sentence more bearable. Even in the most deprived inner city, trees and green space around buildings reduce crime and violence as well as promote a sense of community and well-being. In our series, Tales from Urban Forests, Jean Snedegar explores the power of trees to restore us, body and mind. Watershed 263 In urban areas across the country, trees and grass have been replaced with pavement and concrete. Storm water runoff from these paved surfaces in cities can be saturated with harmful substances such as gasoline, oil and trash. We head to the inner city of Baltimore where partners have joined forces to clean up the runoff flowing into the harbor and into the Chesapeake Bay, and at the same time to improve the quality of life for the residents living there.
July 6	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." 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.

June 2007

June 29	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. 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.
June 22	God Indifferent According to the 2006 census, more than a third of all New Zealanders claim to have no religion. Few, however, would agree to being called an atheist. For some, calling yourself an atheist is a certain path to derision. But for many, the term atheist just doesn’t accurately reflect their particular version of disbelief. Instead, they often opt for a different term: God Indifferent. Producer Justin Gregory talks to three different people about their take on disbelief. Academic and unashamed atheist Dr. Bill Cooke, radical theologian and Presbyterian minister Professor Lloyd Geering (the only person to have been tried for heresy in New Zealand), and “constructive skeptic” Arch Thompson speak to the tradition and variety of atheism, the emerging trends of fundamentalism and indifference, and the possibilities for new forms of belief, free from gods or dogma. God Indifferent was produced by Radio New Zealand as a part of the Global Perspective series on belief. A Visit to Sedona Just two hours south of the Grand Canyon, the scenic remote village of Sedona, Arizona, has gone from being an isolated haven for visual artists and retirees to a bustling center of New Age activity. Sedona is now home to an increasing number of young seekers who claim that the land has powerful healing energies. The population has doubled in recent times and longtime residents and local Native tribesmembers are concerned about the destruction of the land and the removal of sacred artifacts from the ruins, as well as the misappropriation of traditional culture by well meaning New Age seekers. Producer Njemile Rollins talks with members of local tribes, longtime residents, and new arrivals to Sedona who come seeking inner peace, fulfillment and new cultural identities.
June 15	Biblically Correct Tours If you walk through a natural history museum these days, you might see signs that reflect our more "politically correct" reality. For instance, the word "humankind" often replaces "mankind" on the placards. But a Christian movement aims to take museums beyond politically correct to what they refer to as "biblically correct". CBC’s Frank Faulk explores "Biblically Correct Tours" which offer a literal, Biblical interpretation of everything from what fossils tell us about evolution, to the disappearance of the dinosaurs. One of the guides teaches children that evolution is "bad science" and that answers to questions concerning where we came from can be found in the book of Genesis. This program was produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as part of our Global Perspective series about belief. New Norcia: The Monastery and the Observatory In Western Australia, there's a small and somewhat surreal town called New Norcia. It's Australia's only Monastic town - with a surprising and imposing collection of Spanish style buildings. New Norcia was established in the 1850s as a 'Spanish Benedictine Monastery.' Today, a handful of monks continue the ancient tradition of prayer, work and service in their search for God. Now, New Norcia is also the home to one of the European Space Agency's largest tracking stations. A monastery next to an observatory might seem incongruous, however these neighbors have forged an unlikely understanding. Both groups are exploring the riddle of existence and space, in different ways. This program was produced by Roz Bluett of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and is part of our international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries.
June 8	Tale of 2 computer labs This program takes a look at the digital divide between two schools, Herndon High School in wealthy Fairfax County, Virginia which has 800 computers, and the Cesar Chavez Public Charter High School for Public Policy in the District of Columbia which has only 42 computers for the entire school. Based solely on these numbers, one might wonder if Herndon High School offers more opportunities for its students, but can computers alone give students a successful education? Producer Richard Paul discovers how these schools use this technology to aid their classrooms. 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.
June 1	When the Siren Sounds The Volunteer Fire Brigade in Akaroa has been putting out fires, rescuing horses, and prying survivors out of mangled vehicles for over 100 years. It’s the backbone of this tiny community with 25 trained members on call twenty-four hours a day. When the siren sounds, they drop everything – and race to the station and into the trucks. Sometimes it’s a car over the edge of a bank on one of the many treacherously windy roads in the region, sometimes a house fire where the occupants are personal friends. Nowadays, there are women on the brigade, and a disabled man who fought hard to get behind the wheel of the truck. What hasn’t changed is the camaraderie and friendships formed from years of risking their lives to save others. 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.

May 2007

May 25	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. Fierce for Change: Meridel Le Sueur A portrait of writer Meridel Le Sueur, whose works for over 60 years have been informed by her political history and beliefs, and colored by her connectedness to the midwestern land and environment.
May 18	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. 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 11	Van Gogh and Gauguin Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin were two of the greatest painters of the late 19th century. A brief but intense collaboration occurred between the two artists. They met in Paris in the autumn of 1887. Each man tried to learn from the other and admired the other's work. Their collaboration was marked at first by mutual support and dialogue, but there was also competition and friction. The men differed sharply in their views on art: Gauguin favored working from memory and allowing abstract mental processes to shape his images, while Vincent held an unshakeable reverence for the physical reality of the observable world of models and Nature. This is reflected in the very different techniques each artist used. But toward the end of 1888, a series of violent incidents around Christmas Eve brought a dramatic end to their collaboration. This is the story of their personal and professional relationship. My Monets Writer David Stewart has a collection of valuable paintings by the impressionist painter Claude Monet. And he has a team of international curators taking care of them. That's because they're stored not in Stewart's private gallery, but in museums all over the world. Wherever he travels, he visits one of "his Monets", personal favorites that he makes a point of spending time with on each trip. That way, he comes to know them intimately, in his gallery of the mind. Stewart suffers with retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease that renders him increasingly blind. When he visits his Monets, he is remembering them rather than seeing them, and using other people's observations to keep his memories fresh. In pursuit of his passion, Stewart writes essays, journeys to some of his favorite museums, and explains how it feels to take visual ownership of a painting.
May 4	Remains of the Sword: Armenian Orphans Ninety years ago, up to 1.5 million Armenians were deported and died at the hands of the Ottoman rulers of Turkey. But it is believed that Turkish families saved thousands of orphaned Armenian children secretly. Some children who had been adopted were then forcibly taken away from their Turkish families by foreign troops and sent to orphanages in Europe. Until now, the very existence of the children has remained largely an untold story, buried along with those who died between 1915 and 1916. But their family members are slowly uncovering the stories of those Armenian orphans. The issue still remains extremely contentious, and the story of Armenian orphans is now becoming one of most sensitive and emotionally charged issues in Turkish society. Producer Dorian Jones exposes how descendants of Armenian orphans are discovering their family histories. My Father's Island In the 1930s, five German brothers fled Nazi Germany and set sail for the Galapagos to live a Robinson Crusoe lifestyle. The Angermeyers were exotic and eccentric, and among the first permanent settlers. Through the memories of Joanna and other family members, Producer Ruth Evans of the BBC uncovers the family history and their links with the Galapagos. This program is part of our international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries.

April 2007

April 27	A Whisper from the Past In Australia, the world's driest continent, the north eastern state of Queensland is in the grip of the worst drought in 100 years, and the state government is pushing hard for one of the country's most beautiful valleys to be dammed. However, the Mary River is one of the last breeding places for a strange and ancient fish held sacred by the Gubbi Gubbi people, who were brought up to believe they must do everything they can to protect the fish. In 'A Whisper from the Past' the ABC's Nick Franklin explores how an indigenous elder is pursuing her belief in the Queensland lung fish', known to her people as 'Dala', to save the valley. This program was produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as part of our Global Perspective series about belief. 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.
April 20	Von Trapped A dark tale about a woman obsessed with 'The Sound of Music' and the Von Trapp Family as well as other things Austrian. That is, until she realizes Austria's recent history is not just about apple strudel, singing nuns and happy blond children. The producer is Natalie Kestecher of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. This feature was awarded the bronze medal at the inaugural Chicago Third Coast International Audio Festival in 2001. 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.
April 13	The Lucky Secret to Success Many Hong Kongers believe that a person’s success is governed by five factors. These are, in order of importance: fate/destiny, luck, feng shui, good deeds/virtues, and hard work/study. For the city that’s known for its competitive business culture, assiduous students, and industrious people; it seems surprising that hard work comes at the bottom of the list and more importance is attributed to external factors facilitating success. So are Hong Kongers successfully lucky or luckily successful? Erin Bowland of Radio Television Hong Kong explores the culture that is full of superstitions, rituals and beliefs revolving around the pursuit of success. This program was produced by Radio Television Hong Kong as part of our Global Perspective series on belief. 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.
April 6	After the Shot On the night of April 14th 1865, in front of a thousand people at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC, John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. Shouting ‘Sic semper tyrannis’ – ‘thus always to tyrants’, Booth believed that he was striking down a tyrant as surely as Brutus struck down Julius Caesar. Twelve days later Booth himself was shot dead in a barn in Virginia. From the moment Booth shot Lincoln, conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination have flourished – and 140 years later, for both historians and ordinary people, they are still very much alive. Some believe Booth was the ring leader of a small group; others are convinced he was simply a pawn in a grand conspiracy plot. While still others believe it wasn’t really Booth who died in that Virginia barn. Jean Snedegar tries to unravel the truth – and a myriad of legends - about the assassination of a great American president. 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.

March 2007

March 30	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. Kinshasa Story Head off to one of the great music capitals of the world, Kinshasa, on the banks of the mighty Congo River in Central West Africa. This Kinshasa Story is all about music and music makers - from well established stars, to hopeful wannabes with nothing more than a set of empty cans as drums. Our guide is Melbourne musician and some time disc jockey, Miriam Abud. This program comes to us from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and airs as part of our ongoing international documentary exchange series, Crossing Boundaries.
March 23	Heavy Petting Americans will do anything for their pets -- from cemetaries to beauty salons to day camp. There are tv and radio shows aimed at pets, cooking shows for pet food, and pet therapists. There's no fluff here...pets are big business and very important to people. Producer Gemma Hooley explores the psychology behind this singularly American phenomenon. 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.
March 16	Little Fish in a Multiculti Pond Not very far from Amsterdam is a neighborhood called the Baarsjes, or “little fish”. The area covers less than one square mile, and houses 35,000 residents from 126 countries. Such multicultural diversity in such a small area has not been without serious problems. Controversy and discrimination are not uncommon in the area. The most recent debate surrounds plans to build a new Turkish mosque. But residents believe they can make a difference by taking initiatives to bring these diverse communities together - through meetings, sport and cultural events. Producer David Swatling of Radio Netherlands takes to the streets of his neighborhood to find out just how much is changing for the “Little Fish in a Multiculti Pond.” This program was produced by Radio Netherlands Worldwide as part of our special Global Perspective series on belief. 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.
March 9	Treasure on Earth Ghana’s charismatic church offers material wealth to its believers. This troubles Kofi Owusu of Joy FM, who while a committed believer in the church, is uncomfortable with the requests for the congregation to make offerings. What is preached is Prosperity Gospel is God will make you rich, but first you must give generously to your church. Some of the pastors in Ghana’s charismatic church are very wealthy. So what is going on here? Is there any control of how the pastor spends the money given to his church? Kofi seeks to learn why the church is emphasising material gain rather than spiritual growth. The resulting program is ‘Treasure on Earth’. This program was produced by Joy FM Ghana and is a part of our special Global Perspective series on belief. 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.
March 2	Beyond the Mirror A recent decision in the UK allowed the world’s first full facial transplants. The BBC's Kati Whitaker talks to three people about the impact of severe facial disfigurement and discovers what beliefs have helped them through their despair. The face is our first point of contact with the world. But what happens if you lose your face to injury or disease? Simon Weston suffered from burns in the Falklands war; Michele Simms had her face destroyed by a firework, and Diana Whybrew had half her face removed with a malignant tumor. Their belief in themselves has been challenged to its limits – down to a sense of who they are. This program was produced by the BBC World Service as part of our special Global Perspective series on belief. Caitie's Story Winner of a 2001 Gracie Allen Award. 12-year old Caitie Gattucio was born with the stunningly rare genetic skin disease ichthyosis. It affects every inch of her body, and is profoundly disfiguring. In this documentary essay, produced when Caitie was 9 years old, Caitie and her mother Heather discuss the disorder: how it has affected them physically and mentally; how it has impacted their entire family.

February 2007

February 23	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.
February 16	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. One More Chance for P.S. 123 A principal, parents and students who believe in themselves and their New York City middle school are determined to raise it from a grade 'F' and threatened closure to its new motto, 'Superior in Every Way.' Producer Steven Mencher returns to his childhood school to look at the effect of 20 years of social changes in the neighborhood on the spirit and student body there.
February 9	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. 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 2	The Long Road Home With no choice other than to leave their home, Chandra and Roy fled to India from Pakistan. They left behind their friends, jobs, and their house. Living in India for the past decade, producer Shivani Sharma takes them back to Pakistan to see if there's anything left coming home to. The Place You Cannot Imagine Gyzele Osmani is an Albanian woman who fled East Kosovo in 1999 with her husband and five children to find refuge in Australia. When the Australian Government decided that Kosovo was safe, they refused to go back. The family reasoned that nowhere could be worse than their village, which was still without the protection of the United Nations. They was arrested and taken into the infamous and isolated Port Hedland Detention Centre. Gyzele and her family spent seven months there. Gyzele's story is contextualised by Marion Le, a migration agent and human rights spokesperson, who intervened to have the family released from detention, and by Melanie Poole, an 18-year-old school student who interviewed Gyzele and wrote a prize-winning account of her story.

January 2007

January 26	Magic Box Today, the computer in the classroom is ubiquitous. But how did it get there? Was it an organic process, or was it driven by manufacturers looking for a new place to push their machines? Turns out it was a little of both - altruism and profit. Hear from the people who started it all; the teachers who were the very first to use computers in the American classroom, and the salespeople who put them there. Web of Letters Children who don't learn to read by the fourth grade are likely to be plagued by reading problems their entire life. Research has shown that learning to read is complex, involving neurological and sociological processes. Despite these insights, reading averages in schools continue to drop. But some educators believe that the trend can be reversed, with the help of technology. Producer Gemma Hooley looks at some of these interactive technologies and the role they play in today's schools by helping the students and the teachers. Tune in to the A, B, C's in Web of Letters.
January 19	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. The Enabled Classroom How can technology help students with learning disabilities? From academics and hardware manufacturers to teachers in the field, hear about the technological advances for teaching everyone from elementary to university students grappling with learning disabilities, deafness, blindness, motor problems and speech disorders. Producer Alyne Ellis delves into the advantages, controversies and problems of these merging technologies.
January 12	Brazilian Beauty In a world where just about everyone is concerned about their different shapes, sizes and colors producer Ilana Rehavia takes us from the beaches to the countryside of Brazil to see what the people have to say. The Male Order Business For Colette Sinclair, finding Mr. Right in her spare time just wasn't working, so she made it a full-time job. Using personal ads from several newspapers in and out of the UK, Colette ran her Male Order Business for over 2 years. Along the way, she made a LOT of dates, a TV appearance, a book deal, and a radio program -- BBC producer Katherine Mahoney was with her every step of the way.
January 5	Feminism and the Veil Does the act of a Muslim woman wearing the veil affect how she is perceived as well as her family? Does modern feminism and the practice of wearing the hijab conflict with one another? Producer Safaa Faisal returns to her home country, Egypt, to find out why so many women are taking up the veil. 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.