March 2, 1999 - The discovery of malformed frogs in Southeastern Minnesota whcih caught the attention of the world... is now the inspiration of an exhibit at Concordia University in St Paul. Using photographs of these frogs, artists Christine Baeumler and Rhoda London have created what they admit is a disturbing installation --- but one intended to inspire action.
February 19, 1999 - Since the early 1960s the Vermont-based Bread and Puppet Theater has been taking it to the streets. Considered at the forefront of the theater of social protest... the company uses hand-made puppets which are deceptively simple-- created from common materials but with powerful artistic results. This week and next Bread and Puppet -- with it's founder Peter Schumann -- are in the Twin Cities performing some of their classic work and and adding new creations with the help of Macalester college students and children from area schools.
February 18, 1999 - The desire for artistic expression is inherent in every human being. That's the view at the Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts which is opening a new play this weekend. Interact is the only place of it's kind in the country, offering people with mental and physical disabilities a chance to become artists. A Mind in Flames" is about mental illness written and performed by artists who know first hand what it's like to live with schizophrenia, depression, and paranoia.
February 15, 1999 - Novelist T.C. Boyle, author of "The Road to Wellville" and "Riven Rock" amongst other books, had a strange experience recently. His high-school aged son, who he describes as a 'tech-head who doesn't read much and who came out of the womb connected to a modem', was assigned two of his books for English class. Boyle found out when he caught his son sneaking a copy of "Tortilla Flats" out of the house. Luckily for the younger Boyle, he doesn't have to read his dad's new volume simply called "Stories". It's a seven-hundred page doorstep of a book... which collects many of Boyle's short stories from the last quarter century. Boyle told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr the wide range of subjects for his story shouldn't really come as a surprise.
February 11, 1999 - The impeachment trial of President Clinton is nearly over, and by next week it could be back to other business for members of Congress. But senators and representatives will be assessing the political fallout from the trial for months to come. Polls show that Republicans have lost popularity due to their role in the trial -- and Minnesota's Republican Senator, Rod Grams, may be one of the Senate's most vulnerable members. But Grams is busy looking past impeachment, and is taking the lead on a key issue the Republican party hopes will resonate strongly with voters and bring support back into the fold.
February 1, 1999 - Playwright, actor, and director, Lillian Garrett-Groag just had a unique experience at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis . Not only is she one of the few living writers to see her work performed on the Guthrie stage... her play depicts her own life-story. Garrett-Groag told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr "The Magic Fire" is a fictionalized account of her childhood in Argentina, as the daughter of European immigrants.
January 28, 1999 - It's a strange scene -- 500 pairs of shoes piled on stage, dancers crawling out from under the heap, while a woman in a leopard print pillbox hat sits in a chair trying on pair after pair. This is "The Lives and Death of Cinderella" a performance work being presented this weekend at the College of St Catherine. Performance artist Laurie Van Wieren created the piece which reflects her quirky style which in the past has included everything from shoes and wigs to fireworks.
January 27, 1999 - In Ian McEwan's Booker Prize winning novel "Amsterdam", opens with the funeral of a society woman attended by her husband, a publisher, and three of her former lovers; a composer, a newspaper editor and a high level politician, the British Foreign Secretary.
January 26, 1999 - As the White House scandal has slowly unfolded, many have pondered on what to tell their children. Commentator Nanci Olesen thinks perhaps it's adults who should be doing the listening.
January 18, 1999 - In the movie "You Got Mail" the central characters carry on a relationship over the internet long before they ever meet in person. Even in these cyberlinked days this might seem a strange way to connect but consider the case of a Minneapolis woman who is using email to write novels together with an author in Montreal a man she'd never even met face to face until after they'd written 3 books together.