Werdinger, Roberta: Barbed Wire and Flowers

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“Barbed Wire and Flowers”: A daughter’s story of her perception and relationship with her father. He, a survivor of the holocaust, and she, his adult child describes the strength of his life incumbent on her youth, and their visit to one of the two concentration camps where he was interned by the Nazis in World War Two.

Roberta Werdinger, a storyteller, writer, publicist, editor, is our guest in this edition of Radio Curious. Raised as a non-secular Jew and ordained as a Buddhist Monk, plans to include “Barbed Wire and Flowers” in the memoir she is currently writing. I heard her public reading of “Barbed Wire and Flowers” here in Ukiah in June, 2016 I invited her to visit Radio Curious. She did on November 21, 2016. Our visit begins with her reading “Barbed Wire and Flowers,” and I invite you listen for the next 17 minutes. Our conversation follows.
This program was recorded on November 21, 2016.

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Tracy, Dr. Jessica: Pride: The Most Human Emotion

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The science of pride, authentic pride and hubristic pride is the topic of this edition of Radio Curious. Our guest, Dr. Jessica Tracy, (http://ubc-emotionlab.ca/people/dr-jessica-tracy/) is the author of Take Pride: Why the Deadliest Sin Holds the Secret to Human Success. She is a professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, Canada and directs the Emotion & Self Lab as part of her work.

In “Take Pride” Tracy explains her research, partially conducted in the most rural areas of the West African nation of Burkina Faso, in Athens, Greece among the athletes who participated in the 2004 Olympic Games, and at the with blind athletes at the Paralympic Games. Her findings substantiated that pride is an emotion experienced and similarly expressed by all human beings: Chest-expanded, shoulders-back and broad smile.

With pride as a cross cultural human emotion I became curious as to why pride is considered a sin by some. So when Jessica Tracy and I visited by phone from her office in Vancouver, British Columbia, on November 11, 2016, that’s where we began,

The book Jessica Tracy recommends is The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature, by Steven Pinker.

This program was recorded on November 11, 2016

 

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President Jimmy Carter: Life After the Presidency

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The Virtues of Aging – Considering the alternatives, growing older is really not all that bad. The frame of mind that we develop and carry with us as we age controls much of how we feel and behave. James Earl Carter Jr., more often known as Jimmy Carter, the 39th President of the US, is the author of a book called, “The Virtues of Aging.” President Carter’s book covers issues from Social Security and medical expenses to the importance of staying active and involved. Radio Curious spoke with President Jimmy Carter by phone, in the fall of 1998, and I asked him what prompted him to write the book.

President Jimmy Carter recommends “The Age Wave: How the Most Important Trend of Our Time Can Change Your Future,” by Ken Dychtwald.

Originally Broadcast: December 4, 1998

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Getty, James: Abraham Lincoln & James Getty ” The 16th President”

In 1995, James A. Getty, who appears in public as Abraham Lincoln, visited Ukiah, California and joined us in the studios of Radio Curious. In talking with President Lincoln about his life, the events of his time and about his presidency, the conversation focused upon the economics of the mid-19th century. I asked Mr. Lincoln to give us his opinion about the effect that Eli Whitney’s cotton gin had on the spread of slavery.

Abraham Lincoln and James Getty recommend “Malice Toward None,” by Steven Oats.

Originally Broadcast: March 7, 1996

 

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