September 19, 2012 - Minnesota author Jim Heynen knows the landscape and life of the farm. He is a master of the short short story, and he's been called "a Hemingway of farm life." His new novel "The Fall of Alice K," is a love story set in an Iowa farm town he calls Dutch Center. Both Heynen and his protagonist Alice know this landscape well.
September 21, 2012 - As protests continue in the Middle East over an online video that mocked the Prophet Muhammad, our panel will look at the debate over art and free expression, and what happens when art provokes violence. Guests: Syl Jones: Journalist, author and playwright. His newest play, "Going Up," will be performed by the Mixed Blood Theater. Mohannad Ghawanmeh: Curator of The Twin Cities Arab Film Festival, producer, and senior instructor in communications and film at Dunwoody College of Technology.
September 21, 2012 - Roundtable: Amid Middle East protests, a look at free expression. Guests: Syl Jones, Andrew Karre, Mohannad Ghawanmeh.
September 26, 2012 - MPR’s Nikki Tundel profiles Pao Her, a Hmong photographer beginning a new visual arts tradition. The photography showcases the Hmong American experience through the eyes of someone who, as a child, often felt smothered by her Hmong culture.
October 2, 2012 - On this Daily Circuit program, MPR’s Kerri Miller talks with Native American author Louise Erdrich about her book “The Round House.” Erdrich describes the writing decisions and background to book.
October 8, 2012 - Stephen Smith, host of Bright Ideas, talks with playwright Christopher Hampton. They discuss Hampton's long career and his new work, "Appomattox." Also a screenwriter, Hampton won the Oscar for "Dangerous Liaisons" and was nominated for "Atonement." Hampton visited Minnesota for a festival of his plays at the Guthrie Theater.
October 25, 2012 - Minnesotans are involved in a passionate debate about marriage during 2012 election season. The two sides began squaring off more than 40 years ago. This project draws from MPR's extensive audio archive to explore the origins of this election day showdown over same-sex marriage.
November 7, 2012 - MPR’s Laura Yuen reports on Minnesotans rejection of a proposed constitutional amendment that would have made marriage only between a man and a woman. It also made the state the only one in the nation to defeat a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
November 9, 2012 - All Things Considered presents MPR’s Sasha Aslanian report on how the Minnesotans United for All Families campaign brought down a seemingly unbeatable amendment that would have added a definition to the state constitution that marriage is only between a man and a woman (which is already state law). The defeat of the marriage amendment was a victory that was surprising, historic, and extremely calculated by gay rights supporters.
November 13, 2012 - MPR’s Dan Kraker visits Grand Marais, as lake herring season on Lake Superior crests. For about six weeks every October and November, thousands of the silvery fish, also called cisco, are pulled from the Lake's icy waters. The harvest supports a small but thriving fishing industry along the North Shore that caters to the growing market for local and sustainable food.