May 16, 2000 - Larry Redmond, Minnesota Citizens for the Arts lobbyist; and Joe Dowling, artistic director of the Guthrie Theater, discuss Governor Ventura’s veto on the legislative funding for the Guthrie and an arts center in Lanesboro. Redmond and Dowling also answer listener questions. Program begins with brief interview with John Wodele, Governor Ventura’s press secretary.
May 16, 2000 - Writer Nancy Cobb knows first-hand how the death of a loved one changes your life forever. Her father committed suicide, her mother died after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease and her close friend Elaine died of cancer. Cobb's personal experiences with grief are the inspiration for her new book "In Lieu of Flowers: A Conversation for the Living." The book is part memoir--and part advice column. Cobb wants people to accept the "divine intersections" where the living meet the dying. She says she wrote it as a way help her deal with her overwhelming grief.
May 17, 2000 - Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Thomas Friedman of the New York Times will be in the MPR studios to talk about the controversy over globalization. He is a native of St. Louis Park.
May 18, 2000 - MPR's Stephanie Hemphill presents a Mainstreet Radio report on how a rural school is keeping local history alive. At North Shore Elementary School, just north of Duluth, the whole community gathers to celebrate their history. They've created a new curriculum for the school, and they're publishing a book.
May 22, 2000 - Critics have called it a modern day "Midsummer Night's Dream." Charles Baxter's new novel "The Feast of Love" opens with a sleepless character--also named Charles Baxter--meeting his insomniac neighbor Bradley. The two men are in a park at 4 o'clock in the morning and begin talking about love and relationships. Bradley suggests that Charles should write a book about him--and call the book "The Feast of Love." The novel charts Bradley's ups and downs in relationships. It also lets characters linked to Bradley to tell their story. His neighbors, his employees and his two ex-wives all appear in the book. Charles Baxter is a Minneapolis native and a Macalester College graduate. He's appearing at this alma mater tonight.
May 24, 2000 - Randy Johnson, Hennepin County board chairman; and Rick Kruger, CEO of "is.com", discuss results of the first annual "Regional Opportunity Forecast.” Report was put together by a group of business, education and civic leaders called The Great North Alliance. Johnson and Kruger are members of the group, and answer listener questions. Program begins with news from MPR’s Greta Cunningham.
May 24, 2000 - MPR’s Gary Eichten interviews Walter Mondale, former U.S. ambassador to Japan and former vice-president, on congressional bill that would allow China permit normal trade status. Following Mondale interview, David Foster, director of the NW quadrant of states for the United Steelworkers of America, shares his view on the bill and its impact.
May 24, 2000 - Mainstreet Radio's Leif Enger reports that on the Rainy River, the border between Minnesota and Canada, lake sturgeon is rising. Surviving near obliteration by commercial fishing and polluting paper mills, the sturgeon has resurfaced as a gamefish of almost mythical power. With the coming of summer, anglers by the hundreds of thousands are stalking Minnesota's lakes and rivers. Their objective, almost always, are walleye, northern pike, panfish and trout. Yet for a few anglers, a walleye holds no attraction; a twenty-pound northern, no allure; a rainbow trout, no romance…but lake sturgeon is a different matter.
May 24, 2000 - The 400 Bar in Minneapolis is a West Bank institution, with a rock and roll crowd, hot bands, cold beer and almost no one over 30. Now wildly successful bar readings in New York and L.A. are inspiring 400 Bar owner Tom Sullivan--who wonders will it work here?
May 24, 2000 - Memories are easy to come by for anyone who sifts through piles of old family photographs. But what about pictures of people you've never met and places you've never been? For author Lawrence Sutin, these images were even more useful than a family album in sparking his memories. In his new book, "A Postcard Memoir", Sutin relies on 97 antique postcards to help chronicle moments in his life. Sutin says he first began collecting old postcards during the 1970s.