July 19, 1990 - MPR’s Chris Roberts reports on the challenges Southeast Asians face in finding employment and social services in St. Paul. Roberts looks into a city plan that provides better access and avenues for those in the Hmong community to utilize.
July 23, 1990 - Nien Cheng, author of the book "Life and Death in Shanghai", speaking at the Fargo Town Hall. Cheng told her audience about Chinese history and politics, her experiences during the Cultural Revolution, and her views about the Communist party and conditions in China today. Cheng is the widow of a former Kuomintang diplomat and executive at Shell Oil Company's Shanghai subsidiary. She was a target of the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution in China, and was arrested, placed in solitary confinement, and tortured. After nearly seven years of imprisonment, Nien Cheng was released - only to find that her only child had been killed by the revolutionaries.
August 9, 1990 - Andrei Codrescu speaking at the Walker Art Center as part of its American Icons Series. His speech was titled, "Where is Abroad?: The Disappearance of the Outside in the Age of Collapsed Ideologies". Codrescu talked about literature, religion, politics, history, imagination, and the necessity of exile.
August 22, 1990 - Ralph Nader, consumer activist, speaking about at the Early Warnings Conference in Minneapolis, a meeting of print and broadcast journalists, environmental scientists and consumer activists. Nader's address was on the topic "Media and the Solar Age."
August 23, 1990 - MPR’s Donna Nicholson reports on visiting soviet farm managers touring the Minneosta State Fair. The group is studying American farmers stewardship of the land.
August 24, 1990 - Soundprint documentary: a mother and daughter's recollection of life in Taiwan during World War II, including reminiscences, "sound poetry", and original music. Producer D. Roberts describes her mother's childhood in Taiwan and her own cross-cultural identity. "Mei Mei" is a 25 minute documentary that chronicles Dmae and her mother, Chu-Yin, as they travel to Taiwan together. Mei Mei is Chinese for "little sister" - a term of endearment for any younger girl. First produced in 1989, "Mei Mei" was highly personal and groundbreaking for its time - interweaving interviews and dramatizations to tell the story of a conflicted daughter and her mother who suffered abuse, starvation and the horrors of World War Two. "Mei Mei" has been broadcast on NPR, the BBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Peabody - Winner 1989 - D. Roberts, Independent Producer, American Public Radio's "Soundprint" Series The story of the relationship between the parents and children is as old as time itself, but we never tire of it because it is central to all. D. Roberts' documentary examines how personal boundaries can be complicated by cultural boundaries as here, where the mother is Taiwanese and her daughter is American. The pain of the mother, who was sold into servitude as a girl and suffered abuse and near starvation makes it very difficult for her to relate to her daughter with the warmth and affection that her daughter desires. Thus the two share an uneasy alliance with the daughter continuously trying to understand her mother and her mother's culture, an attempt that culminates with a trip to Taiwan to explore together her mother's roots. For an exceptional examination of personal relationships and for sharing them with the radio audience, a Peabody Award to D. Roberts for Mei Mei: A Daughter's Song.
September 4, 1990 - MPR’s Gary Eichten interviews a Czech University of Minnesota professor about his thoughts on Slovak statesman Alexander Dubček.
September 6, 1990 - A Midday broadcast of Alexander Dubček, the chairman of the federal assembly of Czechoslovakia First, speaking at Minnesota Meeting. Dubcek’s address, titled “Trade with the Czech Slovak Federated Republic,” addresses the economic future of his country. Dubcek spoke through a translator.
September 6, 1990 - Civil rights leader Vernon Jordan, former President of the National Urban League. He was the keynote speaker at the annual meeting of the Minneapolis United Way.
September 11, 1990 - Former Minnesota Governor Elmer L. Andersen comments on his concerns of public apathy in the political environment. He sees a lack of organized activity and programs to draw public interest.