February 16, 2010 - Willa Cather's "My Antonia" captured the beauty of the prairie and the hardscrabble existence of European immigrants on the Nebraska plains. The author of a new stage adaptation of the novel, and a Cather scholar, talk about why the story still resonates.
February 17, 2010 - MPR’s Euan Kerr reports on the play "Black Pearl Sings." Kerr talks with director Lou Bellamy and actors from play.
February 19, 2010 - When it comes to defining Ellen Kuras, it's simplest just to call her a filmmaker. The bulk of her work is as director of photography for many of the great film directors of our time. She also makes commercials. Last year, her film "The Betrayal" received a nomination for best documentary Oscar. Kuras will speak about her work Saturday night at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. She says the different facets of what she does are very much intertwined. Ellen Kuras went to college to study Egyptology and anthropology. To hear her tell it, the path to becoming a cinematographer was a natural progression. "Basically I realized I was interested in people and history, and how people relate to each other and culture. And it was that that led me to an interest in documentary filmmaking," Kuras said. "I have a very strong sense of the political. And I thought, I want to make films that move people, I want people to be educated about the nature of the world, or about stories about people." Kuras started work on a film about a family of Laotian refugees living in New York. Like the Hmong, they fled Laos after helping the U.S. military in the so-called secret war in their country. Kuras directed the film about their struggles in America. She knew it was a great story. Yet as she reviewed the material her crew shot, she became uneasy. The footage was technically great, but she felt something was missing.
February 24, 2010 - Award-winning Minnesota history author Dave Kenney discusses the history of the Boy Scouts in central Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Kenney is out with a book on the subject, entitled Honor Bright: A Century of Scouting in Northern Star Council. Kenney also answers listener questions.
February 25, 2010 - Elizabeth Gilbert's first memoir, "Eat, Pray, Love," which chronicled her travels and personal renewal after a divorce, became a blockbuster bestseller. In her latest book, "Committed" she explains how she came to make peace with marriage as she gives it a second try with a new partner.
February 26, 2010 - A day after President Barack Obama gathered top lawmakers in Washington for a bipartisan summit on health care, former U.S. Sen. Dave Durenberger, chair of the National Institute of Health Policy at University of St. Thomas, assesses the ideas and accomplishments of the all-day session.
March 1, 2010 - As part of the Meet the Candidates series, Midday”s Gary Eichten interviews three Independence Party candidates for governor to discuss issues facing the state and take questions from listeners. Guests are Rob Hahn, Tom Horner, and John Uldrich.
March 4, 2010 - MPR’s Sasha Aslanian and Paul Tosto present a tale about two women who have forged an unlikely alliance to help each other through a rough patch in the economy....and through one of life's tragedies.
March 10, 2010 - Midday features a rebroadcast of two Voices of Minnesota stories about women in World War II. Program includes the profiles, interviews, and a brief NPR report on Women Airforce Service Pilots.
March 10, 2010 -