February 18, 1981 - On this Midday program, author and illustrator Tomie dePaola talks about writing children's books and answers listener questions. He also discusses the stage version of his children's book, Clown of God, being produced by the Children's Theater Company of Minneapolis.
February 28, 1981 - This episode of KCUR’s New Letters on the Air is devoted to the work of California writer Kenneth Rexroth.
March 7, 1981 - On this Weekend program, MPR’s Nancy Fushan interviews artist Harmony Hammond. Hammond lived in the Twin Cities while going to school in the 1960s. She left Minnesota for New York where she helped to create Heresies, a women's art collective. During the transition, her art changed course. Hammond prefers to describe herself as a feminist artist struggling to find herself. The results of that struggle are on view at the WARM and Glen Hanson's galleries in downtown Minneapolis.
March 7, 1981 - Playwright Corinne Jacker discusses her plays Bits and Pieces, performed by the At Random company at the Hennepin Center for the Arts; and Domestic Issues, which will be read at the Playwrights' Center.
March 10, 1981 - The Radio Project presents Vanished Voices: New Yorkers in the Thirties, part 2 (Coming to New York). Program includes a collection of interviews based on unpublished materials collected by the Federal Writers' Project in the 1930s, recounting the experiences of immigrants to New York City.
March 11, 1981 - The Radio Project presents Vanished Voices: New Yorkers in the Thirties, part 3 (The Union Spirit). Program features workers stories of their union activities: Morse code operators, radiomen on merchant ships…and one tale relates an organized hair bobbing that was sparked by the firing of a junior nurse for showing up at work with bobbed hair.
March 12, 1981 - The Radio Project presents Vanished Voices: New Yorkers in the Thirties, part 4 (Magic and Medicine). Program includes a collection of interviews on unpublished materials collected in the 1930's by the Federal Writers' Project, where New Yorkers talk about witch doctors, herbalists, and ambulance drivers.
March 13, 1981 - The Radio Project presents Vanished Voices: New Yorkers in the Thirties, part 5 (Romance of the City). Program includes a collection of interviews based on unpublished materials collected by the Federal Writers' Project in the 1930's, where people of New York talk about friendships, romance, and the American Dream.
March 14, 1981 - National Public Radio President Frank Mankiewicz and Minnesota Public Radio President Bill Kling discuss public radio, funding cuts, and recessions proposed by the Reagan administration, and what the future may hold for public broadcasting on this call-in program.
March 18, 1981 - Results show water quality has shown marked improvement since Reserve Mining stopped discharge of taconite tailings directly into Lake Superior. Environmentalists believe fibers found in the taconite tailings have carcinogenic characteristics of asbestos.