April 14, 2005 - Betty Crocker was born in 1921 in the Home Services Department of Minneapolis' Washburn Crosby Company, which would later become General Mills. She was conceived as a pen name to answer the torrent of baking questions pouring into the office, and the name stuck. In the decades that followed she became the domestic ideal, the role model to which millions of American women aspired, or were expected to aspire. Susan Marks is the author of "Finding Betty Crocker: The Secret Life of America's First Lady of Food."
April 15, 2005 - And in the popular fiction category this year, PJ Tracy has been nominated for "Live Bait." P.J. AND Tracy, that is - PJ Tracy is the pseudonym for the mother-daughter writing team P.J. and Tracy Lambrecht. PJ, the mother, lives here, and came into the studio the other day. Daughter Tracy Lambrecht joined us by phone. PJ says that when her daughter was in college, she became the ideal writing partner.
April 15, 2005 - This weekend, the literati gather to hand out the annual Minnesota Book Awards. In a few minutes, Marianne will be talking murder with two of the fiction nominees. In the history category, one of the books is a biography of a man who was arguably one of Minnesota's great writers. Toward the end of the 19th century, Minnesota produced three men who would go on to Ivy League schools and pursue writing careers. You've no doubt heard of Princeton's F. Scott Fitzgerald and Yale's Sinclair Lewis. But the name of Harvard's Charles Macomb Flandrau probably draws a blank. Flandrau was a wit, a mentor, a critic and a sought-after writer by both book and magazine publishers. Though he traveled the world, he called a house in St. Paul's Ramsey Hill neighborhood home until his death in 1938. So why doesn't the world know about Charlie Flandrau, a writer who all agreed was destined for greatness? "In Gatsby's Shadow," a new biography by Larry Haeg - who lives just a stone's throw from where the Flandrau house used to stand. He didn't set out to write about Flandrau. While researching Fitzgerald's life, Haeg stumbled across his name.
April 20, 2005 - All Things Considered’s Tom Crann interviews Rick Linsk, reporter at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, about Vang Pao Foundation. The non-profit foundation named for General Vang Pao, a leader in the Hmong community, faces a law suit from the office of State Attorney General Mike Hatch. The suit alleges that the Vang Pao Foundation engaged in questionable spending, and bypassed state charity laws.
April 26, 2005 - Julian Loscalzo, a longtime Twins fan who led the failed effort to save Metropolitan Stadium, discusses what is it about outdoor baseball that you find so attractive. Loscalzo also gives his “grade” on Minnesota Twins and Hennepin County having formally announced their agreement to finance a new baseball stadium.
April 28, 2005 - MPR’s Tom Crann interviews Dr. Jon Hallberg about the intersection of poetry and medicine. Segment includes Halberg reading a William Carlos Williams poem. Williams, sustained his medical practice throughout his writing career.
April 28, 2005 - New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has come to the conclusion that Christopher Columbus had it all wrong. He says the world isn't round, at least not anymore. In his new book, "The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century," Friedman argues that communication technology has leveled the international economic playing field, allowing people from Brainerd to Bangalore to compete on a more or less even footing. Thomas Friedman is a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, a bestselling author and a native of St. Louis Park, Minn.
April 29, 2005 - MPR’s Karl Gehrke interviews local jazz saxophonist Jeremy Walker, founder of the band Jazz is Now! Orchestra. Walker discusses the band and his love for jazz. Gehrke also interviews jazz saxophonist Ted Nash about group.
May 7, 2005 - MPR’s Dan Olson interviews Ric Jost, a disabled veteran who is competing in the 2005 National Veterans Wheelchair Games held in Minnesota. Jost shares how the games help build the self-confidence to cope with his disability. The event is the 25th National Veterans Wheelchair Games, but the first held in Minnesota.
May 16, 2005 - MPR’s Chris Roberts reports on a new instrument, called a cleophone. Minneapolis inventor, Dave Krejci, talks about design of his new creation and the unique sounds it emits.