January 31, 2006 - You may know Camille Paglia from her wide-ranging columns on culture and politics on Salon. Or from her breakthrough book: "Sexual Personae, a treatise on decadence in the history of art." It's fair to say her thoughts are often provocative, causing controversy with feminists and cultural conservatives alike. In her most recent book, she goes back to basics, and turns to her academic roots: poetry. And she rails against what she terms "post -modernist" theories of poetry. The title -- "Break, Blow, Burn" -- comes from a line of one of John Donne's Holy Sonnets. It's a collection of essays on 43 poems Paglia teaches in class: from lyrics to a song by Joni Mitchell, to classics like Shakespeare and Donne.
January 25, 2006 - That's Minneapolis author Robert Alexander, his new novel is "Rasputin's Daughter." He embarks on a national book tour tomorrow, but will be back in Minnesota later this spring. He'll appear with Minnesota Public Radio's Kerri Miller on March 10th at Saint Scholastica college in Duluth, for a Mid-morning book club event.
January 11, 2006 - One of Minnesota's largest medical groups has announced it will lay-off a quarter of its mental health workers. HealthPartners plans to stop providing mental health therapy at its University Avenue clinic in Minneapolis, eliminating the jobs of 13 therapists in the process. Other major healthcare providers have made similar cuts in mental health treatment in recent years. The HealthPartners announcement also comes on the heels of a disturbing case in which a mentally-ill man killed his step-mother. The family says they had sought care for the man at Fairview Southdale Hospital but were advised to go to another hospital because there were no beds available. Our regular medical analyst Dr. Jon Hallberg says great strides have been made in the field of mental health treatments, but providers still don't give it the attention it deserves.
December 13, 2005 - As congress moves into its last week in session, representatives in the senate and house have two things on their minds: taxes and immigration. MPR's Tom Crann examines the different sides of the debate.
December 12, 2005 - MPR’s Tom Crann interviews Emerson College literature professor Daniel Tobin about Eugene McCarthy’s poetry.
December 2, 2005 - MPR’s Tom Crann meets with the Steele family in the Maud Moon Weyerhaeuser Music Studio to discuss family and Christmas. The Steeles also perform various Christmas songs.
November 17, 2005 - All Things Considered’s Tom Crann profiles “To Be Certain of the Dawn.” The new oratorio is written by Stephen Paulus to a text of Michael Dennis Browne for the Minnesota Orchestra, the choirs at the Basilica, and soloists.
November 10, 2005 - When the Edmund Fitzgerald went down on Lake Superior 30 years ago tonight, among the 29 crew members lost were two cooks: Charles Robert Rafferty, and Alan Kalmon. They were two of the best in their trade. They worked in the galley kitchen of the famed ore freighter, feeding the rest of the crew with elaborate, freshly cooked meals. Yesterday, when the radio producers known as the Kitchen Sisters were here to talk about their new project "Hidden Kitchens," Davia Nelson told me they were reminded of the work they did which led to the discovery of the freighter food.
October 10, 2005 - Ramsey County Office of Sexual Offense Services has observed trends on sexual assaults in Hmong community. All Things Considered’s Tom Crann talks with officials about the concerns and efforts to protect families and children.
October 3, 2005 - Tom Crann interviews Minnesota writer Ann Bauer about her book "A Wild Ride up the Cupboards," a story of how one family struggles with their son's withdrawal, and how his parents, Jack and Rachel, make sense of it in their own ways.