David Gessner discovered the American West as a young man, and the huge mountains and wide open spaces changed his life. He recently took a road trip through the West, following in the footsteps of two literary heroes, Edward Abbey and Wallace Stegner. Gessner says their books help us see the West in all its complexity.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Norwegian pianist Tord Gustavsen is a leading figure in Scandinavian jazz, famous for his meditative, almost prayful music. In his latest recording, he's collaborated with singer Simin Tander to reinterpret Norwegian church hymns and the poems of the Sufi mystic Rumi.
Screenwriter Charlie Kauffman (“Being John Malkovich”) made himself a character in his adaptation of Susan Orlean’s book “The Orchid Thief”. The movie is called “Adaptation,” and is up for several Academy Awards, including one for Meryl Streep who plays the author.
Rebecca Dopart was working as a Peace Corps volunteer in Poland, in the mid-90s. While there, she fell in love and got married. Just three weeks after her wedding, her father-in-law died. In this story, Dopart recalls how her husband tended to his father’s body.
White Americans of European descent will make up less than half the population by 2042, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In other words, white people will soon become a demographic minority. Philosopher Linda Martin Alcoff says that shift represents a sea change in how we'll think about American identity. She’s the author of the new book “The Future of Whiteness.” Alcoff told Steve Paulson that before we contemplate the future, we need to grapple with what it means to be white today.
Ron Powers tells Jim Fleming that today’s teens may turn to violence to express their individuality since all the traditional means for signaling coolness have been co-opted by corporate consumer culture.
In Sacred Economics, Charles Eisenstein writes that we need to get our economic systems into alignment with our values. He says the indebtness, competition and scarcity leave us anxious and unhappy. In this extended conversation, he digs down to what he sees as the root of the problem with our financial system, and what we can do about it.
Dr. William Frey, director of the Alzheimer’s Research Center at Regents Hospital in Minnesota and author of “Crying: A Mystery of Tears,” talks with Steve Paulson about the physiology of tears.
Pages
