February 2, 2001 - While some critics have questioned whether Governor Ventura's weekend gig is appropriate, Commentator Dale Connelly says the Legislature might learn a thing or two from the XFL.....
January 23, 2001 - SHORT LEAD: The Caring Sharing hands proposal is actually only one of several plans to open residential facilities for children in Minnesota, but as Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Stucky reports there is still fierce opposition.
December 20, 2000 - Author Martin Goldmith says he owes his life to an orchestra that disappeared long before he was born. During the 1930's in Germany the Kulturbund orchestra, staffed entirely by Jewish musicians was used as a Nazi propaganda weapon. Goldsmith, the former host of National Public Radio's Performance Today, tells the story of the Kulturbund in his book "The Inextinguishable Symphony". He told Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Crann it is part of the very personal story of his family. Until recently he didn't even realize how his parents met. And they almost didn't. His father, a flutist, was within days of fleeing the country.
December 12, 2000 - Tease Cut. Congressman Minge-Florida is a circus, nothing like Minnesota . Congressman Kennedy-Minnesotans can be proud of our process . There are no hanging chads in Minnesota--but as the Minge-Kennedy race makes clear, we do have some very close elections. Yet when elections are tight, the Minnesota experience is far different than events unfolding in Florida. Minnesota Public Radio's Bill Buzenberg has been watching the post-election contests in both states, and takes a look at how these two extremely close elections have been sorted out:
December 12, 2000 - On this Word of Mouth report, Chris Roberts interviews Stan Hill, the artistic director of the Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus. In a region brimming over with choral groups, choirs, chorales and oratorial societies, the Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus has been a relatively well-kept secret, but the group is determined to raise its profile as it celebrates a 20-year anniversary.
December 7, 2000 - Born in Egypt and now living in Britain, novelist Ahdaf Soueif says she is caught in the space between two cultures. She's placed both of those cultures under a magnifying-glass in her Booker Prize short-listed novel "The Map of Love." The book examines the complex historical and political relationship between Egypt, Britain and the US, but Soueif told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr she set out to write a romance. She says she is a fan of the genre of stories of courageous Victorian women setting out from the West to explore the exotic east, and so that is where she started.
December 7, 2000 - Tonight Twin Cities theater goers will get a rare opportunity to see one of America's premier experimental theater ensembles--- the Wooster Group. Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr reports the New York based company is presenting "North Atlantic" a satire on cold war spy shows--- amongst other things.
November 28, 2000 - Every story in Frederick Busch's new collection of short fiction"Don't Tell Anyone" is about secrets. There are different kinds: people hiding a troubled past, or a current problem, some denying reality, and others simply ignorant of what the rest of the world seems to know. Busch says he did not set out to write about secrets, its just the way his fiction has developed in recent years. He told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr secrets are stories in themselves, but he doesn't really know from where his stories come. Frederick Busch's collection of stories "Don't Tell Anyone" is published by Norton. If you would like to hear an extended interview with Frederick Busch, and read more about his work, please visit the bookpage at Minnesotapublicradio-dot-org. You'll also be able to find past book interviews from MPR programs.
November 21, 2000 - Dava Sobel came across the subject for her book "Galileo's Daughter" when researching what became her best-seller "Longtitude." She uncovered a letter to the 16th-century astronomer written by his daughter, a cloistered nun. Sobel discovered it was just one of a hundred letters written during one of the biggest battles between science and theology...the debate over whether Galileo's book proving Copernican theory that the earth revolves round the sun was heretical. She told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr the letters reveal Galileo, far from being an enemy of the church, was a devout Catholic who was trying to protect his religion.
November 13, 2000 - On election day St. Paul voters approved a school levy which earmarked money for improving technology in the public schools. Voters around the country have been asked to spend money on computers in education. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Stucky reports that, at one time, computers were seen as a cure for America's educational ills, but now some experts are calling for a moratorium on computers in the classroom. { ambience of classroom (59:23, 1:19:30, 1:24:00) At Highwood Hills Elementary School in St. Paul, each of these 7 and 8 year olds has their very own laptop computer. On the teacher's desk there is another computer, which is networked with the machines on the students desks. Teacher Cindy Arle (ar-lee) types a question about a story the children recently read. That quesiton flashes on each child's screen and the kids go to work typing in the answer.