October 3, 2002 - Cleveland gets little respect in many quarters. It's a great place to live nowadays, but its still known as the town where the river caught fire. Author Keith Gandal grew up in Cleveland, and he tries to exorcise some of the bad feelings in his novel "Cleveland Anonymous". The novel is a thriller, a love story, and a mystery, but Gandal says he also wants it to be a book of healing for anyone suffering from Midwestern angst. He came in to the MPR studios to talk with Euan Kerr. He began by reading an excerpt from the book, in which a member of a New York support group for ex-residents of Cleveland is unhappy. Keith Gandal will read from his book "Cleveland Anonymous" at the "Bound to be Read" bookstore in St Paul tomorrow evening at 7.
October 7, 2002 - Minneapolis writer Norah Labiner's (Lab-in-er's) new novel "Miniatures" takes readers into the lives of a reclusive literary couple. Owen Leib {Lee-ib} has returned to Ireland after years of self-imposed exile. Owen fled to Paris after his first wife, Franny, supposedly committed suicide in 1964. There are rumors surrounding Franny's unpublished second novel--and speculation about the circumstances surrounding her death. I spoke to Labiner about her book--and the unusual way she began the novel. "Miniatures" begins with a list of how many famous people met their untimely demise--from F. Scott Fitzgerald's death while eating a chocolate bar--to Virginia's Woolf's suicidal drowning.
October 8, 2002 - A new book tells the story of the bygone life of a country doctor. For almost forty years, Dr. Roger MacDonald cared for people in the remote communities of northern Minnesota. His book is called A Country Doctor's Casebook. In style it's a lot like James Herriott's tales of a Yorkshire veterinarian. Roger MacDonald talked with Mainstreet Radio's Stephanie Hemphill.
October 9, 2002 - Minnesotan's know her as Rhoda Morgenstern--the headscarf wearing, wise-cracking woman who lived upstairs from Mary Richards on the "Mary Tyler Moore Show." Valerie Harper is in St. Paul starring in the Tony Award-winning play "The Allergist's Wife" at the Ordway. Harper plays Marjorie Taub--a culture obsessed upper-middle class New Yorker who is facing a mid-life crisis armed with humor. I spoke with Valerie Harper backstage at the Ordway. She says she's enjoying her role. She says Majorie Taub shares similiarities with characters in the "Mary Tyler Moore Show."
October 11, 2002 - 150 years ago this week the Rock Island Line departed from Chicago on its maiden voyage. Over the next 50 years, the Rock Island Line would extend through 14 states and play a big role in the settlement of the West. Then it would inspire a song that would travel around the world. A documentary airing today at noon traces the history of the railroad and the song and how they fit into the story of America. In this excerpt, reporter Jim Bickal tells how the song was first discovered in a southern prison.
October 11, 2002 - Word of Mouth
October 15, 2002 - MPR’s Lorna Benson interviews Mai Nemg Moua, author and editor of "Bamboo Among the Oaks: Contemporary Writing by Hmong-Americans," which features stories, poems and essays written by the first generation of Hmong to grow up in the United States. It is the first Hmong anthology ever published.
October 29, 2002 - Folk singer Larry Long is a longtime friend of Senator Wellstone's who is preparing two songs for Wellstone memorial service. Long says he wrote the songs after traveling with Wellstone and his wife Sheila on a plane back from Farmfest in southwestern Minnestoa.
November 12, 2002 - The popular musical "The Producers" opens today at the Historic Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis. The show has been a huge hit in other parts of the country, setting box office records and collecting multiple Tony awards. The Producers is created and co-written by Mel Brooks. It's the story of two con men who try make money in a shameless scam-- by creating what they think is a sure-fire Broadway flop so they can pocket the investors' money when the show closes. Dominic Papatola is a theatre critic for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. He's come by the studio this morning.
November 19, 2002 - The possibility of cloning human beings has caused a great deal of concern. But writer Eva Hoffman believes there has not been near enough debate of the issues involved. A native of Poland, who emigrated when she was 13, Hoffman is the author of the best selling memoir "Lost in Translation." Hoffman turned to fiction to investigate the issue of human cloning. Her new novel "The Secret" follows a young girl, Iris Surrey, who longs to discover her father's identity. Her life is turned upside down when she discovers her father does not exist. She is her mother's clone, the product of a process in a lab. Eva Hoffman told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr she wanted to explore the deeper implications of cloning.