June 30, 1999 - Garrison Keillor gives a speech at the spring commencement for the Class of 1999 at the University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts. Keillor talks abotu growing up, what’s next for the graduates, and doing good in the world.
May 21, 1999 - "Walking Out of History: The True Story of Shackleton's Endurance Expedition," an American RadioWorks documentary about Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance Antarctica expedition. MPR’s John Rabe presents various interviews, readings, sounds, and commentary.
March 1, 1999 - Breakfast on Pluto is the new novel by acclaimed Irish writer Patrick McCabe. The story takes place around Ireland and in London during the 1970's when IRA bombs were heard all-too-often. McCabe's dark, wild and comedic tale earned him his second Booker prize nomination...he was nominated for "The Butcher Boy" in the early 90s. McCabe has an atypical central character, Pussy Braden, a tranvestite prostitute who flounces through the Irish political chaos. McCabe told Minnesota Public Radio's Stephanie Curtis he didn't intend to write about Braden when he started, his main character was supposed to be a little girl, but then the book took a direction of its own.
February 26, 1999 - Jim Knipfel has walked on the dark side of life. As a young man, he was a heavy drinker, and a petty thief prone to start fights. He spent time in psychiatric wards after multiple suicide attempts. Finally, in his late twenties he started settling down, landing a job as a newspaper columnist, getting married and moving away from his wilder drinking buddies. But then Knipfel entered a literal dark side. His eyesight had always been poor, but doctors told him that he was going to be blind by age 35. Now almost completely blind, he recounts his wild years and his loss of vision in his new blackly comedic memoir Slackjaw.
July 3, 1998 - MPR’s Stephanie Curtis talks with Gary Eichten about the summer movies. Asteroids, killers, and monsters make up a slew of summers releases. Commentary on “Armageddon”, “Truman Show”, “Out of Sight”, and “X-Files”. There is also a discussion on the top 100 films put out by AFI. Curtis also answers listeners questions.
June 26, 1998 - MPR sports analyst Howard Sinker talks about the late homerun champion Roger Maris, and the new challenger to his record, who is coming to town for Twins/Cardinals game, Mark McGuire. Also interviewed is Johnnie Blanchard, New York Yankees great, and Minneapolis native. Sinker also answers listener questions. Program contains pledge drive segments.
May 28, 1998 - Wolves are also thriving in the northwoods of Minnesota. Their population is estimated to be over 2-thousand and they soon may be pulled from the endangered species list. But Minnesota doesn't have the largest population of wolves in the United States. Doctor David Mech is a renowned biologist who has studied wolves in Minnesota since 1966. He's in town today to speak about the wolves of Denali National Park in Alaska, the subject of his new book: "The Wolves of Denali".
May 28, 1998 - Minnesota is one of the few places without complaints against El Nino. The mysterious change in the weather has brought us a mild, sunny spring and staved off the humidity of summer. Commentator Wendy Knox says that the fabulous weather makes her think of cows. Wendy Knox is the artistic director of the Frank Theater and a gardening enthusiast. Sun 28-MAY 11:03:53 MPR NewsPro Archive - Wed 04/11/2001
March 23, 1998 - MPR movie maven Stephanie Curtis previews the 70th Academy Awards. Curtis makes predictions on nominations, including Titanic, L.A. Confidential, and Good Will Hunting, amongst others. Curtis also answers listener questions.
June 9, 1997 - Truckers can be a lonely bunch. Long hours on the road transporting goods back and forth across the country mean time spent away from friends and family. In the Twin Cities, an organization called Transport for Christ hopes to lighten their burden with counseling and worship. Their pulpit? A '73 Kenworth semi. For this installment of the Odd Jobs series, Charles Maynes visits with a truck stop chaplain at the depot just over the border in Hudson, Wisconsin.