http://www.radiocurious.org/category/world-culture/ Fri, 01 May 2026 04:07:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.8.1 Welcome to the 20th year of Radio Curious, half hour interviews on a curiously wide variety of topics about life and ideas. All of the almost 400 half-hour archive editions on our website are free for you to enjoy, download, copy, share or rebroadcast as you wish. Please give credit to Radio Curious and let us know what you like about the program. www.radiocurious.org Radio Curious no Radio Curious curious@radiocurious.org curious@radiocurious.org (Radio Curious) Creative Commons-Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Radio Curious Radio Curious, Interviews, Environment, Education, Chautauquan, Psychology/Psychaitry, Sex, Mendocino, Law, Religion, Feminism http://www.radiocurious.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/radio-curious-rss-logo.jpg http://www.radiocurious.org/category/world-culture/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2024/11/15/janet-mendel-fine-spanish-cooking/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2024/11/15/janet-mendel-fine-spanish-cooking/#comments Fri, 15 Nov 2024 07:17:47 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=5380 http://www.radiocurious.org/2024/11/15/janet-mendel-fine-spanish-cooking/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening.  - In the story of Don Quixote, the author Miguel Cervantes tells, among other things, what Don Quixote ate for dinner every day of the week. This, in part became the inspiration for a book entitled, Click here to begin listening.  In the story of Don Quixote, the author Miguel Cervantes tells, among other things, what Don Quixote ate for dinner every day of the week. This, in part became the inspiration for a book entitled, “Cooking from the Heart of Spain: Food of La Mancha,” written by Janet Mendel, an American woman who has lived in Spain for approximately 40 years. This book and the name of the author ignited my spontaneous curiosity, so when Janet Mendel and I visited by phone from her home on the southern coast of Spain in June 2007, I asked about her focus and inspiration to write a cookbook centered around Don Quixote de La Mancha. The book she recommends, not surprisingly, is “Don Quixote,” by Miguel Cervantes, in the English translation by Edith Grossman.     Ignacio Ayala no http://www.radiocurious.org/2024/09/05/carroll-pickett-to-kill-or-not-to-kill-no-man-should-die-alone/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2024/09/05/carroll-pickett-to-kill-or-not-to-kill-no-man-should-die-alone/#comments Fri, 06 Sep 2024 05:00:50 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=5348 http://www.radiocurious.org/2024/09/05/carroll-pickett-to-kill-or-not-to-kill-no-man-should-die-alone/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening. - To Kill or Not To Kill: That is the question still presented to juries in capital cases in the United States, one of the few countries remaining in the world to employ the death penalty. In this edition of Radio Curious, Click here to begin listening. To Kill or Not To Kill: That is the question still presented to juries in capital cases in the United States, one of the few countries remaining in the world to employ the death penalty. In this edition of Radio Curious, we visit with Pastor Carroll Pickett, who served as chaplain for the Texas Department of Corrections from 1982 to 1995 and counseled 95 inmates on their way to death by lethal injection. “At the Death House Door: No Man Should Die Alone,” is a independent film documentary, directed and produced by Steve James and Peter Gilbert, that presents a personal and intimate look at the death penalty in Texas through the eyes of Pastor Pickett, a Presbyterian minister. Over the years, after each of the 95 executions, Pickett would record his experiences with that person on the tape he used to practice his sermons. Although he never listened to those tapes, they became the thread and primary source for the movie. I spoke with Pastor Carroll Pickett on May 23, 2008 from his home in Texas, after hearing him speak at a special hearing on capital punishment in San Francisco, CA, while he was on a break from a national publicity tour. We began when I asked him to explain what brought him to work with condemned men and be with them in their last hours. This program was originally broadcast on June 25, 2009. The book Carroll Pickett recommends is “Just Call Me Mike: A Journey to Actor and Activist,” by Mike Farrell and Martin Sheen. Ignacio Ayala no http://www.radiocurious.org/2024/06/27/michael-adair-william-ray-shakespeare-was-really-edward-de-vere/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2024/06/27/michael-adair-william-ray-shakespeare-was-really-edward-de-vere/#comments Fri, 28 Jun 2024 04:26:58 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=5315 http://www.radiocurious.org/2024/06/27/michael-adair-william-ray-shakespeare-was-really-edward-de-vere/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening.  - Of two people, William Shakespeare and Edward De Vere, whose lives overlapped, De Vere had many of the experiences described in the literary works attributed to William Shakespeare. Click here to begin listening.  (https://www.radio4all.net/files/vogel@sonic.net/ADAIR_and_RAY_6.27.24%20IA.mp3) Of two people, William Shakespeare and Edward De Vere, whose lives overlapped, De Vere had many of the experiences described in the literary works attributed to William Shakespeare. This conversation with Michael A’Dair and William Ray, two gentlemen intellectuals from Willits, California explores some of the reasons they believe De Vere wrote what is generally attributed to Shakespeare. This program was originally broadcast March 27, 2008. Ignacio Ayala no http://www.radiocurious.org/2024/02/15/zana-briski-ross-kauffman-brothels-of-calcutta-india-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2024/02/15/zana-briski-ross-kauffman-brothels-of-calcutta-india-2/#comments Fri, 16 Feb 2024 04:43:54 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=5244 http://www.radiocurious.org/2024/02/15/zana-briski-ross-kauffman-brothels-of-calcutta-india-2/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening.  - Originally Broadcast: March 15, 2007 - Born Into Brothels - “Born into Brothels” received the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2005. A tribute to the resiliency of childhood and the restorative power of... Click here to begin listening.  (https://www.radio4all.net/files/vogel@sonic.net/BRISKI_AND_KAUFFMAN%202.15.24%20IA.mp3) Originally Broadcast: March 15, 2007 Born Into Brothels “Born into Brothels” received the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2005. A tribute to the resiliency of childhood and the restorative power of art, “Born into Brothels” is a portrait of several unforgettable children who live in the red light district of Calcutta, where their mothers work as prostitutes. The most stigmatized people in Calcutta’s red light district however are not the prostitutes, but their children. In the face of abject poverty, abuse, and despair, these kids have little possibility of escaping their mother’s fate or for creating another type of life. In “Born into Brothels,” directors Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman chronicle the amazing transformation of the children they come to know in the red light district. Briski, a professional photographer, gives them lessons and cameras, igniting latent sparks of artistic genius that reside in these children who live in the most sordid and seemingly hopeless world. The photographs taken by the children are not merely examples of remarkable observation and talent; they reflect something much larger, morally encouraging, and even politically volatile: art as an immensely liberating and empowering force. Devoid of sentimentality, “Born into Brothels” defies the typical tear-stained tourist snapshot of the global underbelly. Briski spends years with these kids and becomes part of their lives. Their photographs are prisms into their souls, rather than anthropological curiosities or primitive imagery, and a true testimony of the power of the indelible creative spirit. You can learn about this film and Kids with Cameras at www.kids-with-cameras.org. I spoke with Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman in February 2005. Beginning the conversation first with Zana Briski, I asked her to explain what drew her to India before the concept of “Kids With Cameras” was even a dream. www.kids-with-cameras.org Zana Briski recommends “Secret Life of Bees,” by Sue Monk Kidd. Ignacio Ayala no http://www.radiocurious.org/2024/01/28/eunice-lipton-seduced-by-france-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2024/01/28/eunice-lipton-seduced-by-france-2/#comments Mon, 29 Jan 2024 04:37:21 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=5237 http://www.radiocurious.org/2024/01/28/eunice-lipton-seduced-by-france-2/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening. - Originally Broadcast: March 28, 2007 - French Seduction: An American’s Encounter with France, Her Father, and the Holocaust. - In a passionate blend of autobiography and cultural history, love, Click here to begin listening. Originally Broadcast: March 28, 2007 French Seduction: An American’s Encounter with France, Her Father, and the Holocaust. In a passionate blend of autobiography and cultural history, love, sex and art collide with hatred, withering French xenophobia and death, Eunice Lipton, our guest in this edition of Radio Curious, describes her book, “French Seduction: An American’s Encounter with France, Her Father, and the Holocaust.” Lipton, who lives in Paris and New York received her Ph.D. in art history at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts. I spoke with her from her home in New York City the last week of March 2007.  Because she describes painting as her favorite companions, we began when I asked her to tell us about her friends who she calls art. Eunice Lipton recommends “The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion,” by Ford Madox Ford..   Ignacio Ayala no http://www.radiocurious.org/2023/10/12/dr-clotaire-rapaille-understanding-our-collective-unconscious-part-one/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2023/10/12/dr-clotaire-rapaille-understanding-our-collective-unconscious-part-one/#comments Fri, 13 Oct 2023 04:03:45 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=5182 http://www.radiocurious.org/2023/10/12/dr-clotaire-rapaille-understanding-our-collective-unconscious-part-one/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening.  - Originally Broadcast: June 28, 2006 and July 5, 2006 The Culture Code, An Ingenious Way to Understand Why People Around The World Live and Buy As They Do - The collective unconscious may be defined as a cultural code, Click here to begin listening.  Originally Broadcast: June 28, 2006 and July 5, 2006 The Culture Code, An Ingenious Way to Understand Why People Around The World Live and Buy As They Do The collective unconscious may be defined as a cultural code, a set of imprinted concepts that control how members of different societies live. Dr. Clotaire Rapaille, a French born psychologist brings together the concepts of Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud in his development of the collective unconscious in the book, “The Culture Code, An Ingenious Way to Understand Why People Around The World Live and Buy As They Do.” Dr. Rapaille thrives on new ideas, which is part of the reason he chose to become American. We visited by phone from his home in New York State, the last week of June 2006, and asked him to describe the development of his ideas. Dr. Rapaille’s website is: www.archetypediscoveriesworldwide.com The books Dr. Clotaire Rapaille recommends are, “The DiVinci Code,” by Dan Brown and “Straight From The Gut,” by Jack Welsh. Ignacio Ayala no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2023/08/16/martinez-juan-shamanism-in-the-ecuadorian-jungle-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2023/08/16/martinez-juan-shamanism-in-the-ecuadorian-jungle-2/#comments Thu, 17 Aug 2023 01:06:56 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=5156 http://www.radiocurious.org/2023/08/16/martinez-juan-shamanism-in-the-ecuadorian-jungle-2/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening.  - Originally Broadcast: December 5, 2005. - Concepts of “reality” have many levels, some of which are gained by fasting, and/or the use of certain plants that allow a person to view the past, present or  and future. Click here to begin listening.  Originally Broadcast: December 5, 2005. Concepts of “reality” have many levels, some of which are gained by fasting, and/or the use of certain plants that allow a person to view the past, present or  and future.  This is especially true for cultures which cherish and practice the oral tradition and thrive among an abundance of flora and fauna, like those located in the Amazon basin of South America.  In Ecuador the knowledge of the effects of the various plants in the Amazon basin is held by Shamans. Dr. Juan Martinez, our guest in this edition of Radio Curious, is a Professor of History and Anthropology at the University of Cuenca, in Cuenca, Ecuador.  He’s studied, written and lectured about Shamanic practices in the Ecuadorian jungle and the medicinal and spiritual effects of the plants native to the eastern portion of the Amazon basin. Professor Juan Martinez and I visited in his office in Cuenca, Ecuador on November 17, 2005.  He began by describing the relationship of the people of Ecuadorian jungle to their worlds, the spiritual world, and the world in which they live on a daily basis. The book Juan Martinez recommends is “Amazon Worlds,” a collected work published by Sinchi Sancha, an indigenous foundation based in Ecuador. Ignacio Ayala no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2023/06/01/sam-totten-genocide-in-darfur-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2023/06/01/sam-totten-genocide-in-darfur-2/#comments Fri, 02 Jun 2023 01:53:28 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=5114 http://www.radiocurious.org/2023/06/01/sam-totten-genocide-in-darfur-2/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening.  Genocide is the intent to exterminate in whole or in part a specific group of people often based on nationality, ethnicity, race or religion. For the past two years, in the Darfur region of the nation of Sudan, Click here to begin listening.  Genocide is the intent to exterminate in whole or in part a specific group of people often based on nationality, ethnicity, race or religion. For the past two years, in the Darfur region of the nation of Sudan, located in north central Africa and populated primarily by black Africans, the Sudanese government has been committing racial genocide. Reports are that as many as 400,000 black African civilians have been murdered by the Sudanese government together with Arab rebel groups in Darfur. Professor Sam Totten, a scholar in Genocide Studies at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, visited the Darfur area in the fall of 2004 and has been examining this present day massacre that most of the world has chosen to ignore. I spoke with Professor Totten from his home in Arkansas and asked him to explain the reasons behind the genocide. www.savedarfur.org (http://www.savedarfur.org/) Sam Totten recommends “Shake Hands With the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda,” by Romeo Dallaire. Originally Broadcast: June 7, 2005 Ignacio Ayala no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2023/05/11/john-arquilla-networks-and-netwars-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2023/05/11/john-arquilla-networks-and-netwars-2/#comments Fri, 12 May 2023 04:39:03 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=5101 http://www.radiocurious.org/2023/05/11/john-arquilla-networks-and-netwars-2/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening.  - The war that the United States has invoked in what is often called the “War On Terror” is unusual in many ways. One of those ways is that this war is being fought against a network that is spread out in many unsuspect... Click here to begin listening.  The war that the United States has invoked in what is often called the “War On Terror” is unusual in many ways. One of those ways is that this war is being fought against a network that is spread out in many unsuspecting and obscure places. It is not being fought as many wars have been in the past, directly against another county. Dr. John Arquilla, is a professor of defense analysis and co-director of the justify on Terrorism at the Naval Post-Graduate School in Monterey, California. In this program we talk with Professor Arquilla about the fighting tactics employed by networks as opposed to countries, the threats they pose, and some of the war tactics used against these networks. John Arquilla recommends “Kim,” by Rudyard Kipling. Originally Broadcast: June 21, 2005 Ignacio Ayala no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2023/05/04/bernard-offen-surviving-the-holocaust-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2023/05/04/bernard-offen-surviving-the-holocaust-2/#comments Fri, 05 May 2023 03:40:15 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=5097 http://www.radiocurious.org/2023/05/04/bernard-offen-surviving-the-holocaust-2/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening.  - My Hometown Concentration Camp - Bernard Offen, age 72, survived five Nazi concentration camps in Poland during World War Two, when he was a young teenager. He now leads tours of these concentration camps and tells h... Click here to begin listening.  My Hometown Concentration Camp Bernard Offen, age 72, survived five Nazi concentration camps in Poland during World War Two, when he was a young teenager. He now leads tours of these concentration camps and tells his story in this interview. Bernard Offen recommends “My Hometown Concentration Camp,” by himself. Originally Broadcast: May 3, 2005 Ignacio Ayala no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2023/04/13/rodolfo-gomez-a-walk-in-the-costa-rican-rain-forest-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2023/04/13/rodolfo-gomez-a-walk-in-the-costa-rican-rain-forest-2/#comments Fri, 14 Apr 2023 05:00:51 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=5086 http://www.radiocurious.org/2023/04/13/rodolfo-gomez-a-walk-in-the-costa-rican-rain-forest-2/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening.  On the eastern slope of the Continental Divide, about an hour’s drive east of San Jose, Costa Rica, is the Rain Forest Aerial Tram, a tramway that travels through, above and below the rain forest canopy. Click here to begin listening.  On the eastern slope of the Continental Divide, about an hour’s drive east of San Jose, Costa Rica, is the Rain Forest Aerial Tram, a tramway that travels through, above and below the rain forest canopy. The rain forest canopy is home to more diverse forms of flora and fauna than anywhere else in the known universe. Rodolfo Gomez, trained as an architect, has found his calling as a tour guide in Central America and specifically Costa Rica. My daughter Molly and I met with Rodolfo in the rain forest, near the aerial tram and recorded this program in April of 1995. Originally Broadcast: June 20, 1995 Ignacio Ayala no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2023/04/06/david-osborn-the-papal-conclave-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2023/04/06/david-osborn-the-papal-conclave-2/#comments Fri, 07 Apr 2023 04:12:12 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=5080 http://www.radiocurious.org/2023/04/06/david-osborn-the-papal-conclave-2/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening.  - The Last Pope It is no secret that the papal conclave met April 18, 2005 to elect the head of one of the world’s few remaining imperial monarchies.However, those participating in the conclave and those assisting the ... Click here to begin listening.  The Last Pope It is no secret that the papal conclave met April 18, 2005 to elect the head of one of the world’s few remaining imperial monarchies.However, those participating in the conclave and those assisting the Cardinals who will elect the next pope are sworn to secrecy regarding all the events within this historic gathering.In this edition of Radio Curious, we visit with papal scholar David Osborn, the author of “the Last Pope” who we interviewed in June 2004.“The Last Pope” is a novel about the lives and the papal competition of two Cardinals of the Catholic Church, after the death of a conservative and long tenured Pope.In this interview David Osborn discusses the process and some of the politics of electing the successor to Pope John Paul II.When I spoke with David Osborn from his home in Connecticut, I asked him about what he believed would occur just prior to the opening of the conclave on April 18, 2005. David Osborn recommends “Remembrance of Things Past,”by Marcel Proust. Originally Broadcast: April 19, 2005 Ignacio Ayala no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2023/03/23/swanee-hunt-women-waging-peace-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2023/03/23/swanee-hunt-women-waging-peace-2/#comments Fri, 24 Mar 2023 04:47:29 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=5073 http://www.radiocurious.org/2023/03/23/swanee-hunt-women-waging-peace-2/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening.  - This Was Not Our War: Bosnian Women Reclaiming the Peace - Women Waging Peace is a global policy-oriented initiative working to integrate women into the peace process. Swanee Hunt, Click here to begin listening.  This Was Not Our War: Bosnian Women Reclaiming the Peace Women Waging Peace is a global policy-oriented initiative working to integrate women into the peace process. Swanee Hunt, a former United States Ambassador to the Austria, founded it. Swanee Hunt is also the author of “This Was Not Our War; Bosnian Women Reclaiming the Peace.” She interviewed twenty-six Bosnian women who are reconstructing their society in the years following the devastating war in their country. These women describe what it was like living in a vibrant multicultural community that suddenly imploded in an onslaught of violence. They relate the chaos; the atrocities, the rapes of neighbors and friends, their efforts to care for children and elderly parents and to find food and clean drinking water. This interview with Ambassador Swanee Hunt was recorded from her home near Boston, Massachusetts in February 2005. Swanee Hunt recommends “The Courage To Be,” by Paul Tillich. Originally Broadcast: February 15, 2005 Ignacio Ayala no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2023/02/10/abha-dawesar-babyji-a-story-of-physics-sex-and-caste-politics-in-india-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2023/02/10/abha-dawesar-babyji-a-story-of-physics-sex-and-caste-politics-in-india-2/#comments Fri, 10 Feb 2023 06:24:26 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=5053 http://www.radiocurious.org/2023/02/10/abha-dawesar-babyji-a-story-of-physics-sex-and-caste-politics-in-india-2/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening.  - Anamika Sharma, the lead character in the novel Babyji, by Abha Dewasar grows up in Delhi, India, studying quantum physics at school and sex out of school. The story follows the life of a girl who sets her own rules i... Click here to begin listening.  Anamika Sharma, the lead character in the novel Babyji, by Abha Dewasar grows up in Delhi, India, studying quantum physics at school and sex out of school. The story follows the life of a girl who sets her own rules in a culture that historically demands the opposite. Our conversation begins with the author Abha Dewasar describing India, the place where she grew up, and where the life of Anamika takes place. http://abhadawesar.com/ Abha Dawesar recommends “Purple Hibiscus,” by Chimamanda Ngozi Ardiche. Originally Broadcast: February 24, 2005 Ignacio Ayala no 25:04 http://www.radiocurious.org/2022/12/01/yael-berda-israeli-human-rights-attorney-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2022/12/01/yael-berda-israeli-human-rights-attorney-2/#comments Fri, 02 Dec 2022 01:58:19 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=5022 http://www.radiocurious.org/2022/12/01/yael-berda-israeli-human-rights-attorney-2/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening.  Yael Berda is a young Israeli lawyer, born in New York and raised in Jerusalem. At the age of 14, she became involved in a struggle to free her parents from debtors’ prison and the experience changed her life. Click here to begin listening.  (http://www.radio4all.net/files/vogel@sonic.net/BERDA_YAEL__12.1.22%20IA.mp3) Yael Berda is a young Israeli lawyer, born in New York and raised in Jerusalem. At the age of 14, she became involved in a struggle to free her parents from debtors’ prison and the experience changed her life. She has since become a leader of a non-violent movement for reconciliation and understanding among the Israel and Palestinian populations. Yael Berda recommends “Fields of Protest,” by Roca Ray. Originally Broadcast: November 30, 2004   Ignacio Ayala no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2022/11/10/jed-barahal-cellist-extraordinaire-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2022/11/10/jed-barahal-cellist-extraordinaire-2/#comments Fri, 11 Nov 2022 05:33:13 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=5012 http://www.radiocurious.org/2022/11/10/jed-barahal-cellist-extraordinaire-2/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening. In this edition of Radio Curious, we take a look at the cello, the kind of musical instrument it is and the sounds it makes. My guest is Jed Barahal, a concert cellist extraordinaire, who lives in Porto, Click here to begin listening. In this edition of Radio Curious, we take a look at the cello, the kind of musical instrument it is and the sounds it makes. My guest is Jed Barahal, a concert cellist extraordinaire, who lives in Porto, Portugal and performed with pianist Christina Margotto, his wife, and Amari Barash, an oboist, in Ukiah, California in August 2004. Jed Barahal recommends “The Party’s Over: Oil, War and the Future of Industrial Societies,” by Richard Heinberg. Originally Broadcast: September 7, 2004 Ignacio Ayala no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2022/09/19/david-osborn-papal-politics-the-election-of-a-new-pope-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2022/09/19/david-osborn-papal-politics-the-election-of-a-new-pope-2/#comments Tue, 20 Sep 2022 05:31:34 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4991 http://www.radiocurious.org/2022/09/19/david-osborn-papal-politics-the-election-of-a-new-pope-2/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening.  - The Last Pope “The Last Pope,” by David Osborn, takes us inside the world of the Vatican and the American branch of the Catholic Church. Fictional relationships between the conservative and reform branches of the Cat... Click here to begin listening.  The Last Pope “The Last Pope,” by David Osborn, takes us inside the world of the Vatican and the American branch of the Catholic Church. Fictional relationships between the conservative and reform branches of the Catholic Church are revealed in a novel that combines character from both groups. David Osborn recommends “Naked,” by David Sedaris, “Blindness,” by Jose Saramago, “Bel Canto,” by Ann Patchett & “Remembrance of Things Past,” by Marcel Proust. Originally Broadcast: June 8, 2004 Ignacio Ayala no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2022/04/20/alexandra-fuller-growing-up-white-in-africa-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2022/04/20/alexandra-fuller-growing-up-white-in-africa-2/#comments Thu, 21 Apr 2022 03:48:07 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4915 http://www.radiocurious.org/2022/04/20/alexandra-fuller-growing-up-white-in-africa-2/feed/ 0 This episode was first broadcasted on September 2, 2003. Click here to begin listening. Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood Our guest in this program lived in Rhodesia, Malawi and Zambia from 1972 to 1990. This episode was first broadcasted on September 2, 2003. Click here to begin listening. Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood Our guest in this program lived in Rhodesia, Malawi and Zambia from 1972 to 1990. Her father joined up on the side of the white government in the Rhodesian civil war, and was often away fighting against the guerilla factions. Her mother dove into their African life and its rugged farm work. Resilient and self-sufficient she taught her children to have strong wills and opinions, and to embrace life whole-heartedly, despite and because of difficult circumstances. Alexandra Fuller is the author of “Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, an African Childhood.” Alexandra Fuller recommends “Echoing Silences,” by Alexander Canigone. Originally Broadcast: September 2, 2003 Ignacio Ayala no http://www.radiocurious.org/2021/12/29/philip-weiss-cover-up-of-a-peace-corps-murder-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2021/12/29/philip-weiss-cover-up-of-a-peace-corps-murder-2/#comments Thu, 30 Dec 2021 01:12:02 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4838 http://www.radiocurious.org/2021/12/29/philip-weiss-cover-up-of-a-peace-corps-murder-2/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening.  American Taboo, A Murder in Peace Corps In this edition of Radio Curious, we take a look at murder and getting away with murder. In the small island kingdom of Tonga, an American Peace Corps Volunteer murdered another ... Click here to begin listening.  (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-WEISS_PHILIP_12.29.21_IA.mp3) American Taboo, A Murder in Peace Corps In this edition of Radio Curious, we take a look at murder and getting away with murder. In the small island kingdom of Tonga, an American Peace Corps Volunteer murdered another American Peace Corps volunteer in October 1976. “American Taboo, A Murder in Peace Corps,” by Philip Weiss, is a detailed story about the murder, how and why it happened, the legend that developed, the subsequent cover-up, and an interview with the murderer. Philip Weiss recommends “McArthur and Southerland, The Good Years,” & “McArthur and Southerland, The Bitter Years,” both by Paul P. Rogers Originally Broadcast: June 29, 2003 Ignacio Ayala no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2021/11/10/socrates-ron-gross-socrates-of-athens-in-conversation-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2021/11/10/socrates-ron-gross-socrates-of-athens-in-conversation-2/#comments Thu, 11 Nov 2021 04:45:46 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4797 http://www.radiocurious.org/2021/11/10/socrates-ron-gross-socrates-of-athens-in-conversation-2/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening.  - Socrates’ Way: Seven Masterkeys to Using Your Mind to the Utmost Socrates of Athens, who lived before the Common Era, is respected as one of the greatest independent thinkers of all time. Click here to begin listening.  Socrates’ Way: Seven Masterkeys to Using Your Mind to the Utmost Socrates of Athens, who lived before the Common Era, is respected as one of the greatest independent thinkers of all time. Socrates himself refused to be recognized as a teacher. Instead, Plato, his well-known student and reporter of Socrates’ dialogues, tells us he asked to be seen as a “midwife of ideas.” Socrates’ passion to achieve self-understanding, and the proper ways to live, continues to be studied and emulated to this day. Socrates recommends “The Trojan Women,” by Euripides. Ron Gross recommends “The Clouds,” by Aristophanes. Originally Broadcast: January 13, 2003 Ignacio Ayala no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2021/09/01/peter-hessler-a-peace-corps-volunteer-in-china-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2021/09/01/peter-hessler-a-peace-corps-volunteer-in-china-2/#comments Thu, 02 Sep 2021 01:12:41 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4751 http://www.radiocurious.org/2021/09/01/peter-hessler-a-peace-corps-volunteer-in-china-2/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening.  River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze Imagine arriving by boat in a rural town of 150,000 people where two rivers join in central China. Imagine being one of the first two Americans to live there in 50 years, Click here to begin listening.  (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-HESSLER_PETER_9.1.21.mp3) River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze Imagine arriving by boat in a rural town of 150,000 people where two rivers join in central China. Imagine being one of the first two Americans to live there in 50 years, and speaking very little Chinese. That is experience of Peter Hessler, the author of “River Town.” Peter Hessler recommends “This Boy’s Life,” by Tobias Wolf. Originally Broadcast: August 1, 2002 Ignacio Ayala no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2021/08/18/elana-rozenman-jewish-muslim-christian-understanding-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2021/08/18/elana-rozenman-jewish-muslim-christian-understanding-2/#comments Thu, 19 Aug 2021 05:04:02 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4741 http://www.radiocurious.org/2021/08/18/elana-rozenman-jewish-muslim-christian-understanding-2/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening. - In June, 2002 I overheard an American woman now living in Israel passionately describe her belief that teaching children to be suicide bombers is the worst form of child abuse imaginable. I invited Elana Radley Rozenman, Click here to begin listening. In June, 2002 I overheard an American woman now living in Israel passionately describe her belief that teaching children to be suicide bombers is the worst form of child abuse imaginable. I invited Elana Radley Rozenman, an organizer of the Women’s Interfaith Encounter, a group of Muslim, Christian and Jewish women who meet regularly in Jerusalem, to be our guest on this edition of Radio Curious. Elana Rozenman recommends “Yet a Stranger: Why Black Americans Still Don’t Feel at Home,” Debra Mathis. Originally Broadcast: July 23, 2002     Ignacio Ayala no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2021/07/28/zoya-an-afghan-womans-struggle-for-freedom-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2021/07/28/zoya-an-afghan-womans-struggle-for-freedom-2/#comments Thu, 29 Jul 2021 04:49:25 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4728 http://www.radiocurious.org/2021/07/28/zoya-an-afghan-womans-struggle-for-freedom-2/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening. Zoya’s Story, An Afghan Woman’s Struggle for Freedom Zoya, a member of the RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan, tells the story of her childhood, her parents and her parents’ disappearance. Click here to begin listening. Zoya’s Story, An Afghan Woman’s Struggle for Freedom Zoya, a member of the RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan, tells the story of her childhood, her parents and her parents’ disappearance. She describes the wrath that first the Russians, then the Taliban and then the Northern Alliance have brought to her country. Along with the suffering, she describes the hope and spirit carried in the hearts of the Afghan people. Zoya recommends the collected speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr..  Originally Broadcast: June 18, 2002 Ignacio Ayala no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2021/07/21/brad-newsham-a-taxi-across-america-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2021/07/21/brad-newsham-a-taxi-across-america-2/#comments Thu, 22 Jul 2021 01:31:43 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4724 http://www.radiocurious.org/2021/07/21/brad-newsham-a-taxi-across-america-2/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening. - Take me with you: Around the World Journey to Invite a Stranger Home Have you ever made friends with someone from a place where you visited as a traveler? Have you ever wondered what it would be like for that person t... Click here to begin listening. Take me with you: Around the World Journey to Invite a Stranger Home Have you ever made friends with someone from a place where you visited as a traveler? Have you ever wondered what it would be like for that person to visit you in your home and your surroundings? Well, that is what Brad Newsham did. He is the author of “Take Me With You: A Round The World Journey to Invite a Stranger Home.” Brad Newsham recommends “Dangerous Beauty,” by Mark Ross. Originally Broadcast: May 7, 2002 Ignacio Ayala no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2021/02/03/marta-morena-vega-one-religion-people-forced-to-migrate-brought-to-the-americas-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2021/02/03/marta-morena-vega-one-religion-people-forced-to-migrate-brought-to-the-americas-2/#comments Thu, 04 Feb 2021 02:04:51 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4605 http://www.radiocurious.org/2021/02/03/marta-morena-vega-one-religion-people-forced-to-migrate-brought-to-the-americas-2/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening.  - The Altar of My Soul - Religious beliefs normally follow people as they migrate, including people who are forced to migrate. The people forced to migrate to the western Hemisphere during the slave-trading period carr... Click here to begin listening.  The Altar of My Soul Religious beliefs normally follow people as they migrate, including people who are forced to migrate. The people forced to migrate to the western Hemisphere during the slave-trading period carried their beliefs and belief systems to the diaspora of their new world. The Santeria religion, also know as Lucumí, is a belief system that originated in Africa later brought to the Americas and is still practiced in widely separated communities of the western hemisphere. Marta Moreno Vega, a Santeria Priestess, and university professor in New York City is the author of “The Alter of My Soul.” Her book is a story of the Santeria or Lucumí religion, its traditions, how they were brought from Africa and are practiced now. I spoke with Marta Moreno Vega by phone in November of 2000, and we began when I asked her to tell us about the Santeria religion and how it differs from other religions. Marta Morena Vega recommends “Face of The Gods: Art and Altars of Africa and the African Americans,” by Robert F. Thompson. Originally Broadcast: November 7, 2000 Ignacio Ayala no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2021/01/06/da-chen-life-in-china-under-mao-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2021/01/06/da-chen-life-in-china-under-mao-2/#comments Thu, 07 Jan 2021 02:34:57 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4585 http://www.radiocurious.org/2021/01/06/da-chen-life-in-china-under-mao-2/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening. Colors of the Mountain The Chinese Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, led by Mao Zedong, imposed a major change to the nation where one in every four people in the world live. Click here to begin listening. (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-Da_Chen_1.6.20.IA.mp3) Colors of the Mountain The Chinese Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, led by Mao Zedong, imposed a major change to the nation where one in every four people in the world live. Da Chen was born in 1962 in southern China to a once wealthy family, by that time despised for its capitalist past. At the age of 23, after graduating with top honors and serving as an assistant professor at the Beijing Language Institute, Da Chen came to America with $30 and a bamboo flute. He won a full scholarship to Columbia University Law School, and later settled in the Hudson River Valley. His book, “Colors of the Mountain,” tells the story of his childhood, his life and experiences. Da Chen recommends “The God of Small Things,” by Arundhati Roy. Originally Broadcast: July 18, 2000 Ignacio Ayala no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2020/05/27/mike-halle-brady-life-in-vladivostok-russia-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2020/05/27/mike-halle-brady-life-in-vladivostok-russia-2/#comments Wed, 27 May 2020 20:09:46 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4521 http://www.radiocurious.org/2020/05/27/mike-halle-brady-life-in-vladivostok-russia-2/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - Vladivostok, Russia, at the very eastern end of Siberia, is a city of about 800,000 people. It is the same distance north of the equator as is central Oregon and Rome, Italy. Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-Mike_and_Halle_Brady_5.26.20_IA.mp3) Vladivostok, Russia, at the very eastern end of Siberia, is a city of about 800,000 people. It is the same distance north of the equator as is central Oregon and Rome, Italy. It’s close to the border of China and North Korea. This city was closed to everyone, including Russians, until the early 1990s. Halle Brady and Mike Brady, formerly of Potter Valley, California, spent two years teaching in Vladivostok and, in this program, we shared their experiences there. Mike Brady recommends “Lenin’s Tomb,” by David Remnick. Halle Brady recommends “Gates of November,” by Chaim Potok. Originally Broadcast: July 3, 1998 LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2020/05/20/del-castillo-dennis-lu-mercedes-peruvian-environmental-issues/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2020/05/20/del-castillo-dennis-lu-mercedes-peruvian-environmental-issues/#comments Wed, 20 May 2020 20:07:58 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4519 http://www.radiocurious.org/2020/05/20/del-castillo-dennis-lu-mercedes-peruvian-environmental-issues/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - In this edition of Radio Curious, we visit Dennis del Castillo and Mercedes Lu, two environmental activists from Peru. I met with them in Lima, Peru on February 5th, 1998. Dennis del Castillo, who holds a Ph.D. Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-5.20.20_Dennis_del_Castillo_Mercedes_Lu_IA.mp3) In this edition of Radio Curious, we visit Dennis del Castillo and Mercedes Lu, two environmental activists from Peru. I met with them in Lima, Peru on February 5th, 1998. Dennis del Castillo, who holds a Ph.D. from Mississippi State University in soil science and in this interview describes contemporary environmental problems in the Peruvian Amazon Basin. In the second half of this program we visit with Mercedes Lu, a scientific technician, who described some of the problems resulting from copper mining that occurs along the coast of southern Peru. We began our conversation when I asked Dennis del Castillo to describe the potential of the Peruvian Amazon Basin. Dennis del Castillo recommends “The Losing Ground,” by Erik P. Eckholm. Originally Broadcast: April 3, 1998 LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2020/04/01/luke-gregorio-mexican-culture-in-the-united-states/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2020/04/01/luke-gregorio-mexican-culture-in-the-united-states/#comments Wed, 01 Apr 2020 19:52:16 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4507 http://www.radiocurious.org/2020/04/01/luke-gregorio-mexican-culture-in-the-united-states/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - The governments of most countries in the world send an ambassador to other countries to talk about and promote what their country is like and carry on political affairs between the two countries. Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-Gregorio_Luke_4.1.20_IA.mp3) The governments of most countries in the world send an ambassador to other countries to talk about and promote what their country is like and carry on political affairs between the two countries. These ambassadors often have assistants that are called “cultural attaches”. They present the culture, the folklore and the history from the country where they’re from and the country where they are. In this program from the archives of Radio Curious, recorded in 1997, we visit with Gregorio Luke, who then was the counsel for cultural affairs for Mexico. He spent 8 ½ years in Washington DC, and at the time this program was recorded he had been working at the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles for eighteen months. Gregorio Luke recommends “The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh,” by Vincent Van Gogh. Originally Broadcast: November 7, 1997 LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2020/02/04/blincoe-bob-the-kurdish-people/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2020/02/04/blincoe-bob-the-kurdish-people/#comments Tue, 04 Feb 2020 19:37:00 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4491 http://www.radiocurious.org/2020/02/04/blincoe-bob-the-kurdish-people/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - The word millet is a term from the Ottoman Empire that ruled parts of Europe Central to the Near East from 1430 to 1921 and means “a recognized people or cultural group who have no homeland. Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-BLINCOE_BOB_IA_2.4.19.mp3) The word millet is a term from the Ottoman Empire that ruled parts of Europe Central to the Near East from 1430 to 1921 and means “a recognized people or cultural group who have no homeland.” Millet now applies to the Kurdish people, who live in the Zagros Mountains, where the borders of eastern Turkey, northern Iraq, and northwestern Iran converge. Starting with Gulf War of 1991, 25 million Kurdish people live homeless and stateless in the Zagros Mountains. They are subject to frequent attacks from the Turks and the Iraqis. Bob Blincoe, a Presbyterian minister, lived and worked as a community organizer among the Kurds in the Zagros Mountains for five and one-half years until the Fall of 1996. At first he spoke Arabic, so he wouldn’t stand out as someone working with a suspect minority. He quickly learned Kurdish and has many interesting stories to share. Bob Blincoe recommends “A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern World,” by David Fromkin. Originally Broadcast: May 14, 1997 LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2020/01/15/knight-m-wayne-rural-american-artist-in-cambodia/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2020/01/15/knight-m-wayne-rural-american-artist-in-cambodia/#comments Wed, 15 Jan 2020 19:31:46 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4487 http://www.radiocurious.org/2020/01/15/knight-m-wayne-rural-american-artist-in-cambodia/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - Wayne Knight, an artist based in Mendocino County, California with over 40 years of experience, traveled very little before he found himself in Phnom Phen, Cambodia in 1995 and 1996. He spent just under a year there, Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-Wayne_Knight_(1-15-20).mp3) Wayne Knight, an artist based in Mendocino County, California with over 40 years of experience, traveled very little before he found himself in Phnom Phen, Cambodia in 1995 and 1996. He spent just under a year there, looking, seeing, and painting scenes that previously were beyond his imagination. Wayne Knight also worked with the Cambodian Defenders’ Project in developing computer access to their legal resources in Cambodia. His experience verified his security and, in many ways, enhanced his continuing growth as an artist. Other programs you may enjoy are with Daniel Ellsberg discussing the Pentagon Papers and Vietman, and with Linda Kremer, Esq., a Marin County, California, public defender who took a leave of absence to direct the Cambodian Defenders Project. They both may be found on this website. Wayne Knight recommends “Living My Life,” by Emma Goldman. Originally Broadcast: April 2, 1997 LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2019/11/27/kremer-linda-the-legal-defense-of-jailed-cambodians/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2019/11/27/kremer-linda-the-legal-defense-of-jailed-cambodians/#comments Wed, 27 Nov 2019 19:24:41 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4479 http://www.radiocurious.org/2019/11/27/kremer-linda-the-legal-defense-of-jailed-cambodians/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - Attorney Linda Kremer, a Public Defender in Marin County, California, worked for thirteen months in Phnom Phen, Cambodia, in 1996 and 1997 as Director of the Cambodian Defenders’ Project. Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-Linda_Kremer_11.16.19_IA.mp3) Attorney Linda Kremer, a Public Defender in Marin County, California, worked for thirteen months in Phnom Phen, Cambodia, in 1996 and 1997 as Director of the Cambodian Defenders’ Project. The Cambodian Defenders’ Project recruits and trains Khmer men and women to serve as Public Defenders in the criminal courts of Cambodia. Cambodian law requires that no person be detained in excess of 48 hours without being charged with a crime or be held without trial from longer than six months. In practice, these rights are rarely honored. Without legal defense, those is prison are powerless to request compliance. Other programs you may enjoy are with Daniel Ellsberg discussing the Pentagon Papers and Vietman, and with Wayne Knight, a Mendocino County artist who was also associated with the Cambodian Defenders Project. They both may be found on this website. Linda Kremer recommends “Spontaneous Healing” & “Natural Healing,” both by Andrew While. Originally Broadcast: March 26, 1997 LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2019/10/15/potok-chaim-escaping-communism/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2019/10/15/potok-chaim-escaping-communism/#comments Tue, 15 Oct 2019 19:15:17 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4471 http://www.radiocurious.org/2019/10/15/potok-chaim-escaping-communism/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - Chaim Potok, the author of “The Chosen,” “The Gift of Asher Lev,”Davida’s Heart,” and many other novels, chronicled the life of a Russian Jewish family in the non-fictions story, “The Gates of November. Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-Potok_Chaim_10-15-919_IA.mp3) Chaim Potok, the author of “The Chosen,” “The Gift of Asher Lev,”Davida’s Heart,” and many other novels, chronicled the life of a Russian Jewish family in the non-fictions story, “The Gates of November.” This true story of the Slapeck family, Solomon Slapek, his son Valodya, and daughter-in-law Masha, spans 100 years. Beginning with Solomon’s childhood at turn of the 20th century, his escape to America and return to Russia, it eventually describes Valodya and Masha’s life after they apply for an exit visa to leave Russia in 1968, in order to emigrate to Israel. Chaim Potok died July 23, 2002, at his suburban Philadelphia home of brain cancer at the age of 73. The book Chaim Potok recommends is “The English Patient,” by Michael Ondaatje. This program was Originally Broadcast: January 8, 1997 LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2019/10/09/hilario-manenima-born-into-the-stone-age/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2019/10/09/hilario-manenima-born-into-the-stone-age/#comments Wed, 09 Oct 2019 19:13:33 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4469 http://www.radiocurious.org/2019/10/09/hilario-manenima-born-into-the-stone-age/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - A generally accepted theory about human migration tells us that people crossed the landmass that once connected Siberia to Alaska. Some of those people continued walking south and many generations later settled on the w... Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-Hilario_10.9.19_IA.mp3) A generally accepted theory about human migration tells us that people crossed the landmass that once connected Siberia to Alaska. Some of those people continued walking south and many generations later settled on the western edge of the Amazon Basin in South America in what is now eastern Peru. One of those groups is called Shapibo. Manenima Hilario, who is now 26 yeas old, was born Shapibo, into his tribe which lived in the Stone Age traditional fashion. At age 11, he went to secondary school in the Hispanic Amazon jungle town of Pucallpa. Later, from Lima, Peru he found his way to Taylor, Texas, and on to Sonoma State University, in Northern CA, where he graduated in June of 1997. Since that time he was enrolled at Stanford University to work on his Ph.D. Manenima Hilario recommends the biography of General Colin Powell. Originally Broadcast: January 22, 1997 LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2019/10/03/lev-daniel-a-story-of-chanukah/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2019/10/03/lev-daniel-a-story-of-chanukah/#comments Thu, 03 Oct 2019 19:11:30 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4467 http://www.radiocurious.org/2019/10/03/lev-daniel-a-story-of-chanukah/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - Every year on the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev, which falls four days before the new moon closest to the winter solstice, the eight day holiday of Chanukah, celebrated worldwide, begins. Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-DANIEL_LEV_10.1.19.IA.mp3) Every year on the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev, which falls four days before the new moon closest to the winter solstice, the eight day holiday of Chanukah, celebrated worldwide, begins. Before the days of radio and television a person called a magid traveled from town to town, visiting Jewish people and Jewish families. Daniel Lev is a modern day magid who sometimes visits Ukiah and Willits to teach and pass along Jewish tradition through stories, songs, and spiritual practice. This program was originally broadcast in December 1996, and joined these archives the day Daniel Lev became a rabbi in 2005. Daniel Lev recommends the Torah. Originally Broadcast: December 14, 1996 LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2019/08/20/sarmientodomingo-lewis-daniel-an-argentine-president/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2019/08/20/sarmientodomingo-lewis-daniel-an-argentine-president/#comments Tue, 20 Aug 2019 18:51:46 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4455 http://www.radiocurious.org/2019/08/20/sarmientodomingo-lewis-daniel-an-argentine-president/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - Domingo Sarmiento, a teacher and later President of the Republic of Argentina, spent several years traveling in Europe and the United States in the mid-19th Century. He spent six weeks in the US in the fall of 1847 and ... Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-Sarmiento_(Lewis)_8-20-19_IA.mp3) Domingo Sarmiento, a teacher and later President of the Republic of Argentina, spent several years traveling in Europe and the United States in the mid-19th Century. He spent six weeks in the US in the fall of 1847 and later published his account of this visit, selectively interpreting what he saw and experienced to conform to his ideas. In this archive edition of Radio Curious, I visit with Domingo Sarmiento in the person of Professor Daniel Lewis, a scholar-presenter in the 1996 Democracy in America Chautauqua. I met with Domingo Sarmiento during a break in the Chautauqua programming in Ukiah, California, and asked him what he saw the future of the American Union to be, from his perspective in 1843. Domingo Sarmiento recommends any book by James Fenimore Cooper. Daniel Lewis recommends “The Invention of Argentina,” by Nicolas Shumway. Originally Broadcast: July 27, 1996 LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2019/07/09/gomez-rodolfo-a-walk-in-the-costa-rican-rain-forest/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2019/07/09/gomez-rodolfo-a-walk-in-the-costa-rican-rain-forest/#comments Tue, 09 Jul 2019 18:35:30 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4443 http://www.radiocurious.org/2019/07/09/gomez-rodolfo-a-walk-in-the-costa-rican-rain-forest/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - On the eastern slope of the Continental Divide, about an hour’s drive east of San Jose, Costa Rica, is the Rain Forest Aerial Tram, a tramway that travels through, above and below the rain forest canopy. Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-1197-1-[143]_Gomez_Rodolfo_7.8.19IA.mp3) On the eastern slope of the Continental Divide, about an hour’s drive east of San Jose, Costa Rica, is the Rain Forest Aerial Tram, a tramway that travels through, above and below the rain forest canopy. The rain forest canopy is home to more diverse forms of flora and fauna than anywhere else in the known universe. Rodolfo Gomez, trained as an architect, has found his calling as a tour guide in Central America and specifically Costa Rica. My daughter Molly and I met with Rodolfo in the rain forest, near the aerial tram and recorded this program in April of 1995. Originally Broadcast: June 20, 1995 LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2019/05/07/kattan-prof-alberto-argentinian-environmental-issues-in-1993/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2019/05/07/kattan-prof-alberto-argentinian-environmental-issues-in-1993/#comments Tue, 07 May 2019 18:13:39 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4425 http://www.radiocurious.org/2019/05/07/kattan-prof-alberto-argentinian-environmental-issues-in-1993/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - The late Professor Alberto Kattan, a Professor of Law at Buenos Aires University and one of the foremost litigators of environmental issues in Argentina, is my guest on this archive edition of Radio Curious. Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-1197-1-Kattan_Alberto_3-7-93_(5-07-19)IA.mp3) The late Professor Alberto Kattan, a Professor of Law at Buenos Aires University and one of the foremost litigators of environmental issues in Argentina, is my guest on this archive edition of Radio Curious. In our conversation originally broadcast in March 1993, we discussed the future of the penguins that he was and endeavoring to protect, dolphins, the use of 245T, and problems with the tobacco industry in Argentina. Originally Broadcast: March 7, 1993 LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2019/01/15/coverdale-paul-peace-corps-priorities/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2019/01/15/coverdale-paul-peace-corps-priorities/#comments Wed, 16 Jan 2019 02:21:56 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4398 http://www.radiocurious.org/2019/01/15/coverdale-paul-peace-corps-priorities/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - This program’s guest is Paul Coverdale, at the time the Director of the Peace Corps, appointed by the first President Bush. He later became a Senator from Georgia. Our discussion concerned the nature of the Peace Corps ... Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-1197-1-Coverdale_Paul_1-15-19_IA.mp3) This program’s guest is Paul Coverdale, at the time the Director of the Peace Corps, appointed by the first President Bush. He later became a Senator from Georgia. Our discussion concerned the nature of the Peace Corps and Coverdale’s role as the agency’s director. Originally Broadcast: August 19, 1991 LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2018/12/25/rozenman-elana-jewish-muslim-christian-understanding/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2018/12/25/rozenman-elana-jewish-muslim-christian-understanding/#comments Wed, 26 Dec 2018 02:15:45 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4391 http://www.radiocurious.org/2018/12/25/rozenman-elana-jewish-muslim-christian-understanding/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - In June, 2002 I overheard an American woman now living in Israel passionately describe her belief that teaching children to be suicide bombers is the worst form of child abuse imaginable. I invited Elana Radley Rosenman, Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-1197-1-ROZENMAN_ELANA_12-25-18_IA.mp3) In June, 2002 I overheard an American woman now living in Israel passionately describe her belief that teaching children to be suicide bombers is the worst form of child abuse imaginable. I invited Elana Radley Rosenman, an organizer of the Women’s Interfaith Encounter, a group of Muslim, Christian and Jewish women who meet regularly in Jerusalem, to be our guest on this edition of Radio Curious. Elana Rozenman recommends “Yet a Stranger: Why Black Americans Still Don’t Feel at Home,” Debra Mathis. Originally Broadcast: July 23, 2002 LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2018/11/13/fuller-alexandra-growing-up-white-in-africa-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2018/11/13/fuller-alexandra-growing-up-white-in-africa-2/#comments Wed, 14 Nov 2018 02:03:35 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4379 http://www.radiocurious.org/2018/11/13/fuller-alexandra-growing-up-white-in-africa-2/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - In the late summer of 2003 Radio Curious visited with Alexandra Fuller who, as a child lived in Rhodesia, Malawi and Zambia in southeast Africa between 1972 and 1990.  After her father sided with the white government in... Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-1197-1-FULLER_ALEXANDRA_2018_IA.mp3) In the late summer of 2003 Radio Curious visited with Alexandra Fuller who, as a child lived in Rhodesia, Malawi and Zambia in southeast Africa between 1972 and 1990.  After her father sided with the white government in the Rhodesian civil war, he was often away from home.   Fuller’s resilient and self-sufficient mother immersed herself in their rural and rugged life. She taught her children to have strong wills and opinions, and to whole-heartedly embrace life, despite and because of their difficult circumstances.  Alexandra Fuller, author of “Don’t Let’s Go To The Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood,” known as Bobo to her family, developed a love of reading and story telling early on in her life. When I spoke with Alexandra Fuller in September 2003 her home was in rural Wyoming.  We visited by phone and began our conversation when I asked her how she choose the title for her book, “Don’t Let’s Go To The Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood.” The book Alexandra Fuller recommends is “Echoing Silences,” by Alexander Canigone. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2018/06/12/ron-gross-as-socrates-socrates-in-athens-in-conversation/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2018/06/12/ron-gross-as-socrates-socrates-in-athens-in-conversation/#comments Wed, 13 Jun 2018 01:07:20 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4333 http://www.radiocurious.org/2018/06/12/ron-gross-as-socrates-socrates-in-athens-in-conversation/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - Socrates of Athens, who lived before the Common Era, is respected as one of the greatest independent thinkers of all time. Socrates himself refused to be recognized as a teacher. Instead, Plato, Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-1197-1-SOCRATES-9-28-CA.MP3) Socrates of Athens, who lived before the Common Era, is respected as one of the greatest independent thinkers of all time. Socrates himself refused to be recognized as a teacher. Instead, Plato, his well-known student and reporter of Socrates’ dialogues, tells us he asked to be seen as a “midwife of ideas.” Socrates’ passion to achieve self-understanding, and the proper ways to live, continues to be studied and emulated to this day. Chataquan scholar Ron Gross portrays Socrates in this archived interview, recorded in January 2003. We began our conversation when I asked him to describe the process of self understanding. The book Socrates recommends is “The Trojan Women,” by Euripides. Ron Gross recommends “The Clouds,” by Aristophanes. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2017/08/17/most-stephen-documentary-filmmaker-stories-make-the-world-part-two/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2017/08/17/most-stephen-documentary-filmmaker-stories-make-the-world-part-two/#comments Thu, 17 Aug 2017 20:24:07 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4239 http://www.radiocurious.org/2017/08/17/most-stephen-documentary-filmmaker-stories-make-the-world-part-two/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - We continue with part two of “Stories Make the World,” with Stephen Most.  He’s a playwright, documentary film maker, and author of the book “Stories Make the World: Reflections of Storytelling and the Art of the Docume... Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-MOST_STEPHEN_2_8-16-2017_CA.mp3) We continue with part two of “Stories Make the World,” with Stephen Most.  He’s a playwright, documentary film maker, and author of the book “Stories Make the World: Reflections of Storytelling and the Art of the Documentary.”  Most presents vignettes of his mentors and experiences, and employs his personal art of storytelling to share who they are and what he has learned in his 54 year career as a writer and story teller. In part one Most discusses his experience with Peruvian Shamen and Curanderos as a young man when he lived on the north coast of Peru, and the art of documentary making.  Here, in part two, Most tells the story of biologist and conservationist Aldo Leopold, among others, and describes the art of listening. When Steve Most visited the Radio Curious studios on August 4, 2017, we began part two when I asked him about the art of storytelling. The books Stephen Most recommends are: “Human Condition” and “On Revolution,” by Hanna Arendt, and “Granada” by Steven Nightingale. Stephen Most's website is (http://stephenmost.com/). LeGov no 29:01 http://www.radiocurious.org/2017/02/07/janssen-susanna-words-how-we-learn-what-they-mean-when-they-are-spoken-and-heard/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2017/02/07/janssen-susanna-words-how-we-learn-what-they-mean-when-they-are-spoken-and-heard/#comments Tue, 07 Feb 2017 19:05:38 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4181 http://www.radiocurious.org/2017/02/07/janssen-susanna-words-how-we-learn-what-they-mean-when-they-are-spoken-and-heard/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - Words: what they mean to the speaker and what they mean to the listener are the bedrock of human communication and cultural understanding. - In this edition of Radio Curious, we talk with Susanna Janssen, Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-Radio_Curious_-_20170207_-_Janssen.mp3) Words: what they mean to the speaker and what they mean to the listener are the bedrock of human communication and cultural understanding. In this edition of Radio Curious, we talk with Susanna Janssen, the author of Wordstruck! The Fun and Fascination of Language. She discusses the multiple aspects of the meanings of words, how they translate from one language to another, and how Janssen sometimes seems to have a different personality in different languages. Susanna Janssen is dedicated to changing the linguistic culture of America by advocating the learning of foreign languages. She is a foreign language educator, as well as author, speaker, and newspaper columnist on all topics related to words, language, and culture. She is particularly interested in the benefits of learning two or more languages, and how doing so affects brain development, especially in early childhood. This interview was recorded on February 5, 2017. The book she recommends is A Book of Roads: Travel Stories from Michigan to Marrakech, by Phil Cousineau. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2016/12/07/werdinger-roberta-a-woman-of-words/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2016/12/07/werdinger-roberta-a-woman-of-words/#comments Thu, 08 Dec 2016 02:04:56 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4163 http://www.radiocurious.org/2016/12/07/werdinger-roberta-a-woman-of-words/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - Story teller, writer, publicist and editor Roberta Werdinger is our guest once again. - In the course of our November 21, 2016, visit when Roberta Werdinger when her personal story Barbwire and Flowers, Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-WERDINGER_BROADCAST_12-1-16.mp3) Story teller, writer, publicist and editor Roberta Werdinger is our guest once again. In the course of our November 21, 2016, visit when Roberta Werdinger when her personal story Barbwire and Flowers, it was clear that she had more to say. Werdinger is a woman of words, who studies the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history. Fascism is one of those words. How to recognize and respond to fascism, work with fear and go beyond trauma, is part of our conversation in this program. When Roberta Werdinger and I met in the Radio Curious studios November 26, 2016, she commented that she sees herself as having a hybrid life and modus operandi. We began when I asked to describe her hybrid life and modus operandi. The book Roberta Werdinger recommends is “The Unconquerable World: Power, Non-Violence and the Will of the People,” by Jonathan Schell LeGov no 29:01 http://www.radiocurious.org/2016/11/23/werdinger-roberta-barbed-wire-and-flowers/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2016/11/23/werdinger-roberta-barbed-wire-and-flowers/#comments Thu, 24 Nov 2016 01:58:08 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4159 http://www.radiocurious.org/2016/11/23/werdinger-roberta-barbed-wire-and-flowers/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - "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, Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-WERDINGER_INTERVIEW_BROADCAST_11-23-16.mp3) "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. LeGov no 28:14 http://www.radiocurious.org/2016/10/25/mcgourty-glenn-euphoria-of-wine-varietals-and-history/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2016/10/25/mcgourty-glenn-euphoria-of-wine-varietals-and-history/#comments Wed, 26 Oct 2016 01:44:09 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4150 http://www.radiocurious.org/2016/10/25/mcgourty-glenn-euphoria-of-wine-varietals-and-history/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - The lack of pure water was one of the several things that resulted in the development of wine as a source of potable liquid for human intake.  Putting that aspect of human history in a time and place in relation to soci... Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-MCGOURTY_GLENN_2016_CA.mp3) The lack of pure water was one of the several things that resulted in the development of wine as a source of potable liquid for human intake.  Putting that aspect of human history in a time and place in relation to social and political events, and the tracing of the different varietals of wine is the topic of this edition of Radio Curious. Our guest is Glenn McGourty, the Winegrowing and Plant Science Advisor at the University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources (http://cemendocino.ucanr.edu) located in the hills a few miles northeast of Hopland, in rural Mendocino County, California. This locale has been called the university of our back yard by many of us who live nearby. Glenn McGourty’s specialty is the history of wine and it's evolution--how so many varietals came to be and were further developed.  When Glenn McGourty visited the Radio Curious studios on October 18, 2016, we began our conversation with his reflections on the history wine making. The book Glenn McGourty recommends is “Cold Mountain,” by Charles Frazier. LeGov no 29:01 http://www.radiocurious.org/2016/05/25/davey-frankel-rasselas-lakew-he-twice-ran-and-won-olympic-marathons-barefoot/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2016/05/25/davey-frankel-rasselas-lakew-he-twice-ran-and-won-olympic-marathons-barefoot/#comments Thu, 26 May 2016 00:23:44 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4102 http://www.radiocurious.org/2016/05/25/davey-frankel-rasselas-lakew-he-twice-ran-and-won-olympic-marathons-barefoot/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - It is said that in the early part of World War II, it took 500,000 Italian soldiers to occupy Ethiopia, and one Ethiopian soldier to conquer Rome. - 19 years later, this one Ethiopian solder, Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-FRANKEL_DAVEY_2016CA.mp3) It is said that in the early part of World War II, it took 500,000 Italian soldiers to occupy Ethiopia, and one Ethiopian soldier to conquer Rome. 19 years later, this one Ethiopian solder, Abebe Bikila competed barefoot in the 1960 Olympiad marathon foot race in Rome, Italy, leaving all other runners in the dust. Winning the 42 kms, 195 meter race, Abebe Bikila became the first African to win an Olympic Gold Medal. Abebe Bikila, a shepherd from the plains of Abyssinia in rural Ethiopia, had never been away from his family and stunned the world with his extraordinary victory. He became the hero of Rome Olympiad and for years to come a national hero in Ethiopia. Four years later he won the Marathon at the Tokyo Olympiad becoming the first person to win two Olympic Marathon Gold Medals. In this edition of Radio Curious we visited by phone with the Davey Frankel, from his home in Berlin, Germany and Rasselas Lakew, from his home in New York City. They are the writers, directors and producers of the movie "The Athlete." the story of Abebe Bikila. Rasselas Lakew portrays Abebe Bikila in the lead role of The Athlete, and was born and grew up in Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia. "The Athlete" tells the powerful and tragic story Abebe Bikila, a quiet man, who in many ways meets the Homer s description in the Odyssey: " the distant Ethiopians, the father outposts of mankind, half of whom live where the sun goes down and half where the rises." Beyond igniting East Africa s dominance in long distance running, Abebe Bikila became a quiet champion of hope for a continent that was in the midst of its struggle for self-determination. During his career Bikila won 12 of the 15 marathons he entered. Abebe Bikila died of a brain hemorrhage on October 23rd, 1972, two and a half years after his final race and victory in Norway. He was 41 years old. This interview with Davey Frankel and Rasselas Lakew, which was recorded on May 9, 2011, began when I asked them explain what prompted them to write and produce "The Athlete." The movie that Davey Frankel recommends is "My Life Without Me," directed by Isabel Coixet. The movie that Rasselas La Lakew recommends is "Living Russian, Man With A Movie Camera," directed by Dziga Vertov. LeGov no 29:01 http://www.radiocurious.org/2016/04/26/steifel-frank-ingelore-speaking-without-hearing/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2016/04/26/steifel-frank-ingelore-speaking-without-hearing/#comments Wed, 27 Apr 2016 00:13:40 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=4094 http://www.radiocurious.org/2016/04/26/steifel-frank-ingelore-speaking-without-hearing/feed/ 0 Click here to begin listening - What would it be like for you if you were deaf? If you could not speak your first word until you were six? If you had three years of education, your first language was German, Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-STEIFEL_FRANK_4-26-16_CA.mp3) What would it be like for you if you were deaf? If you could not speak your first word until you were six? If you had three years of education, your first language was German, and you later emigrated to another country where they speak English? Ingelore is the first name of a woman who was born in Germany in 1934, and came to America in 1940 at the beginning of the Third Reich, right after Kristallnacht. The film “Ingelore” was made by Inglelore’s son Frank Stiefel, and it tells his mother’s story. In this edition of Radio Curious, we begin with Ingelore in her own words from the documentary “Ingelore.” As you hear her ability to articulate words in English it’s important to remember she cannot hear. This interview was recorded on May 29th, 2010 with Frank Stiefel from his home in Santa Monica, California. The books that Frank Stiefel recommends are “Hand Of My Father,” by Myron Uhlberg, and “The Road,” by Cormac McCarthy. LeGov no 29:01 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/12/09/peru-ancient-history-and-today/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/12/09/peru-ancient-history-and-today/#comments Wed, 09 Dec 2015 17:45:54 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3924 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/12/09/peru-ancient-history-and-today/feed/ 0 christianity,history,Inca,Peru,religion,South America Peru is a county about which I’ve been curious for over 60 years, beginning when I first learned of the Inca Empire.  Ten years later the Peace Corps sent me to Peru as volunteer for two years in 1964. - Peru’s current societies are windows into a wor... Peru is a county about which I’ve been curious for over 60 years, beginning when I first learned of the Inca Empire.  Ten years later the Peace Corps sent me to Peru as volunteer for two years in 1964. Peru’s current societies are windows into a world in which many Andean people live in the three adjoining countries of Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.   The complex societies which flourished in this region, centuries before the Inca Empire was destroyed by the Spanish invaders in the 16th century are still very much a part of the lives of people whose homes and communities are located high in the Andes between 10,000 and 14,000 feet above sea level.  Many still enjoy and celebrate the traditions rooted in the ancient cultures of their land. When Radio Curious visited Peru and Bolivia in the fall of 2015 we engaged in several conversations about ancient and current times in Peru. Edith Zapata, an independent licensed Peruvian tour guide, based in Cusco, Peru, is our guest in this edition of Radio Curious. Edith Zapata and I visited in the court yard of a somewhat noisy guest hostal in Cusco, Peru, on November 10, 2015.  We began our conversation with her description of the geological history of the Cusco valley, and moved forward in time to how some of the current leaders of the Catholic Church and some of the people of the greater Cusco area related to each other. Edith Zapata, a licensed independent Peruvian tour guide, based in Cusco, Peru.  You may contact her by email at ezv27@hotmail.com (mailto:ezv27@hotmail.com).  The movie she recommends is “In Search of Happyness,” starring Will Smith. Click here to listen, or download this program on the link below.     LeGov no 28:52 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/12/01/jespers-jean-jacques-effects-of-paris-attacks-in-belgium/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/12/01/jespers-jean-jacques-effects-of-paris-attacks-in-belgium/#comments Wed, 02 Dec 2015 05:31:42 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3916 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/12/01/jespers-jean-jacques-effects-of-paris-attacks-in-belgium/feed/ 0 ISIS,Islamic State,Paris Radio Curious discusses the terrorist attacks in Paris, France with Jean-Jacques Jespers, a retired television news anchor and journalism instructor in Brussels, Belgium and the affects of the attacks on his country, where one of the suspects is from. In this program we visit Brussels, Belgium, to discuss the effects of the November 13, 2015, Islamic extremist terrorist attacks in Paris, France.  Our guest is Jean-Jacques Jespers, who recently retired as the anchor for the television news broadcast aired nightly in French on the Belgium National Television Network.  While the terrorist attacks occurred in Paris, France, investigations led authorities to neighboring Belgium in search for the suspects-causing a state of emergency in the country's capital city, Brussels. Currently Jean-Jacques Jespers is a journalism professor and a member of the Belgian Journalist’s Committee on Human Rights.  Jean-Jacques Jespers and I first met here in Mendocino County, California, in 1977, when he was the leader of a television news magazine team reporting on California.  When Jean-Jacques Jespers and I visited by phone from his home in Brussels on November 28, 2015, we began when I asked him to describe what occurred and what the Belgian people’s reactions were to the November 13, 2015, terrorist attacks in Paris and the lock-down in Brussels. The books Jean-Jacques Jespers recommends are the three volume “Century Trilogy” by Ken Follette. Click here to listen or on the media player below. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/11/24/blincoe-bob-kurdish-people-their-struggle-to-keep-their-homeland/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/11/24/blincoe-bob-kurdish-people-their-struggle-to-keep-their-homeland/#comments Tue, 24 Nov 2015 17:22:39 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3909 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/11/24/blincoe-bob-kurdish-people-their-struggle-to-keep-their-homeland/feed/ 0 Kurdistan,Kurds,Zagros Mountains Radio Curious revisits an archived conversation with Bob Blincoe, a Presbyterian minister who worked as a missionary in the Zagros Mountains from 1990-1996, where the Kurdish people live. He talks about the Kurdish people and their history. In this 1997 edition of Radio Curious, we visited with Bob Blincoe, a Presbyterian minister, who lived and worked among the Kurds in the Zagros Mountains from 1990 to 1996.   The Kurdish people have long been aptly referred to as a “millet.”  This is a Turkish term that originated in the Ottoman Empire when it ruled parts of central Europe to the near east from 1430 to 1921.  It means “any ethnic group.” Until the 20th century millets, were able to control their way of life and effectively rule themselves.  Now approximately 25 million Kurdish people live in the Zagros Mountains, where the borders of eastern Turkey, northern Iraq, and northwestern Iran converge.  These Kurdish people live stateless and many homeless in their ancestral homeland.  Currently they have been able to successfully defend themselves from brutal ISIS attacks.  When Bob Blincoe lived among the Kurds and worked as a community organizer in their ancestral homeland he first spoke Arabic, so he wouldn’t stand out.  He quickly learned Kurdish which he spoke only with great discretion. His stories of the Kurdish people are important to consider now in light of terrorism and other dangers inflicted against them. When Bob Blincoe and I visited in the studios of Radio Curious in the spring of 1997, we began our conversation when I asked him to describe the Zagros Mountains where so many Kurdish people live. The book Bob Blincoe recommends is “A Peace to End All Peace,” by David Fromkin. This program was originally broadcast in May 1997. Click here to listen or on the media player below. LeGov no 29:01 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/09/15/mcpherson-guy-ph-d-near-term-human-extinction-part-one/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/09/15/mcpherson-guy-ph-d-near-term-human-extinction-part-one/#comments Wed, 16 Sep 2015 03:55:00 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3829 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/09/15/mcpherson-guy-ph-d-near-term-human-extinction-part-one/feed/ 0 climate change,global warming Radio Curious discusses human extinction with Dr. Guy McPherson, co-author of “Extinction Dialogs:  How to Live With Death in Mind” and Professor Emeritus of Natural Resources, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona. Imagine the human habitat in which we all live changing so rapidly that life as we know it is extinguished. Temperatures that are getting hotter than ever, decades long droughts, catastrophic fires, melting polar ice, rising sea levels, and unprecedented winter storms are expected to radically limit food production and availability of potable water.  In this, the first of a series on near term extinction of the human species, we visit with Dr. Guy R. McPherson, Professor Emeritus of Natural Resources, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona. Professor McPherson is co-author with Carolyn Baker of “Extinction Dialogs:  How to Live With Death in Mind.”  Together they present what appears to be overwhelming scientific evidence that our environment is headed for swift apocalyptic collapse.  Not only is this extinction likely, it is occurring every day. “How to live with death in mind” is the goal; living with urgency is the practice.  The point from which average global temperature rise is measured dates back to 1750, the beginning of the industrial revolution--the time at which the ever increasing use of fossil fuels began. Since 1750, the planet has warmed by more than 1 degree centigrade.  McPherson's book “Extinction Dialogs:  How to Live With Death in Mind,” explains how this small global rise in temperature is leading to a large scale mass extinction on the planet. When Guy McPherson and I visited by phone on September 14, 2015, while he was traveling near New York, we began our conversation when I asked him to describe the indicators that reveal we're in an era of unstoppable climate change. Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. Click here to listen to part two and here to listen to part three--a conversation with "Extinction Dialogues" coauthor Carolyn Baker. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/08/18/reese-father-tom-pope-francis-the-catholic-church-a-discussion-with-a-priest-part-one/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/08/18/reese-father-tom-pope-francis-the-catholic-church-a-discussion-with-a-priest-part-one/#comments Wed, 19 Aug 2015 00:52:16 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3800 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/08/18/reese-father-tom-pope-francis-the-catholic-church-a-discussion-with-a-priest-part-one/feed/ 0 Catholic Church,LGBTQ,marriage,Pope Francis,women Radio Curious guest host Martha McCabe discusses Pope Francis and the future of the Catholic Church with Father Tom Reese, a member of the Society of Jesus and appointee to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.  In recognition of Pope Francis' visit to the United States in September 2015, Radio Curious presents a series of visits with Father Tom Reese, a member of the Society of Jesus.  In this first of two visits, we discuss his view of Pope Francis, the role of prayer, changes within the Catholic Church’s view of marriage and the possibility of opening the priesthood to women.  Father Tom Reese entered the Jesuits in 1962 and was ordained in 1974.  Currently he is a senior analyst with the National Catholic Reporter. He was appointed by President Obama to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent, bipartisan federal commission that reviews the facts and circumstances of religious freedom violations and makes policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress.  Our guest host for this visit with Father Reese is Martha McCabe, a retired higher education legal counsel and civil rights attorney.  She holds masters' degrees in history and creative writing.  Brought up as a Roman Catholic, she graduated from Jesuit Santa Clara University. As a novelist, she was a guest on Radio Curious in 2006.  When Martha McCabe visited with Father Tom Reese by phone on August 14, 2015, they began when she asked him what the election of a Latin American Pope Francis indicates about the future direction of the Catholic church and the papacy. The book Father Tom Reese recommends is “Laudato Si,” Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical on climate change.  Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. Click here to listen to part two. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/07/28/pico-pio-garza-robert-meet-the-last-mexican-governor-of-california/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/07/28/pico-pio-garza-robert-meet-the-last-mexican-governor-of-california/#comments Wed, 29 Jul 2015 05:48:53 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3780 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/07/28/pico-pio-garza-robert-meet-the-last-mexican-governor-of-california/feed/ 0 Mexico Radio Curious visits with the last Mexican Governor of California, Pio Pico, as portrayed by historian Roberto Garza. Pico fled California during the American takeover, but returned and later served on the Los Angeles City Council. Radio Curious goes back into California history about 165 years, and visits with the last Mexican governor of California, Pio Pico. Born at the San Gabriel Mission in 1801, Pico was of Spanish, Italian, Indian and African ancestry. Both as a politician and as an entrepreneur, he espoused the views of many native-born “Californarios” over distant seats of government. As the last Mexican Governor of California, he presided over the secularization of the missions, and turned over their vast land holdings to private hands. Although he fled California during the American takeover, Pio Pico returned to build the first major hotel in Los Angeles. Later, he served on the Los Angeles City Council. I met with Pio Pico, portrayed by Roberto Garza, in February of 1998.  When Pio Pico and I met in the person of Roberto Garza we began when I asked him to tell us about his life. The book Pio Pico recommends is “Pio Pico, A Historical Narrative,” by Pio Pico. Roberto Graza recommends “Pio Pico Miscellany,” by Martin Cole and “The Decline of the Californios: A Social History of the Spanish-Speaking Californians, 1846-1890,” by Leonard Pitt. Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/07/07/patterson-dr-victoria-native-american-life-before-and-after-europeans-part-two/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/07/07/patterson-dr-victoria-native-american-life-before-and-after-europeans-part-two/#comments Tue, 07 Jul 2015 21:23:12 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3764 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/07/07/patterson-dr-victoria-native-american-life-before-and-after-europeans-part-two/feed/ 0 Radio Curious revisits the second part of a conversation with Dr. Victoria Patterson, an anthropologist based in Ukiah, California, who has worked with Native Americans for over 30 years. She shares their stories and her insights. Cultures that have no written language pass on their histories through oral traditions. The stories are the way that social values and traditions are taught by one generation to the next. Animals often play a significant character role in these stories. In the Native American traditions of the northwest part of California, the coyote is a popular character. Dr. Victoria Patterson, an anthropologist based in Ukiah, California, has worked with native peoples for over 30 years. She knows these stories, and she sees them as windows, allowing us to imagine how original native peoples of northern California thought and lived. I met with Dr. Victoria Patterson and asked her about the significance of the story where the coyote jumped off into the sky. Our discussion lead to a two-part program, originally broadcast in February of 1999.  In part one we discuss the indigenous stories and in part two we discuss how the northern California indigenous communities changed after European colonization. The books Dr. Victoria Patterson recommends are “Deep Valley,” by Bernard W. Aginsky and “Under the Tuscan Sun,” by Frances Mayes. Originally Broadcast: February 16, 1999 and February 26, 1999. Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/05/19/wallach-amei-art-outwitting-oppression-the-kabakov-story/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/05/19/wallach-amei-art-outwitting-oppression-the-kabakov-story/#comments Tue, 19 May 2015 20:31:40 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3677 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/05/19/wallach-amei-art-outwitting-oppression-the-kabakov-story/feed/ 0 Radio Curious visits with Amei Wallach, producer/director of the documentary “Ilya and Emilia Kabakov: Enter Here,” about the lives of a world renown artist, Ilya Kabakov and his wife Emilia, who fled communist Russia and returned after the fall of the... Amei Wallach, producer and director of the documentary film “Ilya and Emilia Kabakov: Enter Here,” about the lives of Ilya and Emilia Kabakov is our guest in this edition of Radio Curious. Amei Wallach met Ilya Kabakov in 1987, when she was in the Soviet Union investigating the effect of perestroika on the arts.  Unavoidably intrigued, eight years later she published the first biography of Ilya Kabakov, “The Man Who Never Threw Anything Away.”  "Enter Here" documents not only the lives and work of Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Russia’s most celebrated international artists, who are now United States citizens, but also the lives of the average Russian from the Stalin era to the fall of the Soviet Union.  The film will be shown at the Mendocino Film Festival May 31, 2015, at 12:30 pm, in the Village of Mendocino, California. Amei Wallach says her film documents how “art can outwit oppression.” When we visited by phone on May 10, 2015, she began with an explanation of how art outwits oppression.    The book Amei Wallach recommends is “Vermeer in Bosnia: Selected Writings,” by Lawrence Weschler.  Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. LeGov no 29:01 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/04/14/offen-bernard-the-power-of-good-and-evil/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/04/14/offen-bernard-the-power-of-good-and-evil/#comments Wed, 15 Apr 2015 03:26:28 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3633 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/04/14/offen-bernard-the-power-of-good-and-evil/feed/ 0 Radio Curious honors Yom Hashoah, the Holocaust Remembrance Day, in an archived conversation with Bernard Offen, a survivor of five concentration camps in Poland, when he was a young teenager during World War II. He now leads tours of these camps. In honor of Yom Hashoah, the Holocaust Remembrance Day which falls on April 16, in 2015, we visit with Bernard Offen, a survivor of five concentration camps in Poland, when he was a young teenager during World War II. Bernard Offen leads tours of these concentration camps and says, “You don't have to be a survivor or Jewish. It's for all the wounded who want to understand the power of good & evil and want to create goodness in the world.” When Bernard Offen visited the studios of Radio Curious in April 2005, he began our conversation by describing some of his early childhood experiences in Krakow, Poland in the years just prior to World War II.  Bernard Offen recommends his own book that was published in 2010, entitled “My Hometown Concentration Camp.”  Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. LeGov no 29:01 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/03/24/nawa-fariba-child-brides-drug-lords-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/03/24/nawa-fariba-child-brides-drug-lords-2/#comments Tue, 24 Mar 2015 18:06:45 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3609 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/03/24/nawa-fariba-child-brides-drug-lords-2/feed/ 0 afghanistan,drug trade,opium Opium, child brides, drug lords and their effect on life in Afghanistan is the topic of this week’s Radio Curious in conversation with Afghan-American Journalist Fariba Nawa, author of “Opium Nation: Child Brides, Imagine Darya, a twelve year old girl in a remote village of Afghanistan. Her father forces her to marry a drug lord as part payment for an opium drug trade. Her father is not home and she is about to be taken from her family. Desperately, her hands trembling, she implores you, a complete stranger: “Please don’t let him take me.” In this edition of Radio Curious we visit with Fariba Nawa, author of “Opium Nation: Child Brides, Drug Lords and One Woman’s Journey Through Afghanistan.” Fariba Nawa was ten years old when her family fled Afghanistan shortly before the Soviet invasion in 1979. Eighteen years later Fariba Nawa met twelve year old Darya when she returned to her native Afghanistan as an Afghan-American investigative journalist. Her book tells Darya’s story, and reveals what the Afghan opium drug trade is doing to her native land in the midst of war. Fariba Nawa and I visited by phone from her home near San Francisco, California on January 23, 2012. We began with her description of coming to the United States and flight from Afghanistan. The book Fariba Nawa recommends is “Day of Honey: A Memoir of Food, Love and War,” by Annia Ciezaldo. Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/03/03/mbaabu-brenda-a-contemporary-black-womans-history/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/03/03/mbaabu-brenda-a-contemporary-black-womans-history/#comments Tue, 03 Mar 2015 21:55:31 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3591 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/03/03/mbaabu-brenda-a-contemporary-black-womans-history/feed/ 0 Africa,Kenya,Meru Radio Curious visits with Brenda Mbaabu, an immigrant woman in her mid-twenties from Nairobi, Kenya who shares her Meru tribal history and experiences living in the United States. The experience of immigrating, at age 13, to America from Nairobi, Kenya, and bringing the traditional roots of her ancestors’ lives from the remote village of the Meru people of northeast Kenya, are the stories told in this edition of Radio Curious by our guest Brenda Mbaabu. She shares her tribal legends, family background, and her experiences in the United States.  A woman in her mid-twenties, now working as an AmeriCorps Volunteer in Ukiah, California, Brenda Mbaabu and I visited in the studios of Radio Curious on February 28, 2015.  We began with her description of the Meru, her family and their importance to her. The books Brenda Mbaabu recommends are “The Bible” and “Little Bee” by Chris Cleve.     Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/02/24/totten-sam-genocide-by-attrition/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/02/24/totten-sam-genocide-by-attrition/#comments Wed, 25 Feb 2015 01:41:55 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3585 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/02/24/totten-sam-genocide-by-attrition/feed/ 1 Nuba Mountains,South Sudan,Sudan Radio Curious visits with Sam Totten, professor emeritus at the University of Arkansas and a genocide scholar about the on-going conflict in Sudan between the Nuba Mountains people and the Sudanese government. Black history is acknowledged in the month of February in the United States and is lived every day in the African continent. The history of the continuing genocide by attrition within the nation of Sudan is the topic of this edition of Radio Curious. Sudan is located in northeast Africa, south of Egypt, and east of the Red Sea and the nations of Eritrea and Ethiopia. The people of Sudan continue to be killed by war and famine as has happened for generations. Twice Radio Curious has considered this little discussed topic with University of Arkansas Professor Emeritus Sam Totten, author of "Genocide by Attrition: Nuba Mountains, Sudan," and "An Oral and Documentary History of the Darfur Genocide."  Totten is a scholar who has devoted his career to the study of genocide and genocide by attrition. In 2011, we first discussed the disaster in southern Sudan. Again in 2013, Totten described the genocide by attrition of the people of south Sudan, which has continued to become increasingly drastic in the past two years. Professor Totten continues to follow this crisis between the people of the Nuba Mountains and the Sudanese government in the state of South Kordofan, Sudan. In late December 2014, he returned from what he described as "a tough, tough trip to the Nuba Mountains in order to carry up ten tons of food to desperate civilians who face daily bombing sorties by the Government of Sudan using Antonov bombers." He reports some very close calls, traveling with rebels to recently bombed villages. When Sam Totten and I visited by phone from his home near Fayetteville, Arkansas, on February 19, 2015, he began with a brief history of this continuing crisis. The book Professor Sam Totten recommends is "Touched With Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament," by Kay Redfield Jamison. Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/02/04/massey-orell-racism-in-a-rural-california-sheriffs-department-part-one/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/02/04/massey-orell-racism-in-a-rural-california-sheriffs-department-part-one/#comments Wed, 04 Feb 2015 15:47:00 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3557 http://www.radiocurious.org/2015/02/04/massey-orell-racism-in-a-rural-california-sheriffs-department-part-one/feed/ 1 african american,racism Radio Curious visits with Orell Massey, a black sheriff's deputy in rural Mendocino County, Ca, who shares his experiences as a black sheriff in a mostly white community. Our guest on this edition of Radio Curious is Deputy Sheriff Orell Massey—a black man, native of South Carolina and a 20 year veteran of the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Department. He is also a 21 year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps where he was assigned to the Embassy detail.  When I asked Sheriff Massey to be a guest on this program and share his experience as a black Deputy Sheriff, he asked:  “Are the people of Mendocino County ready to hear what I have to say?”    In part one of our conversation, recorded on February 1, 2015, Deputy Orell Massey shares his experiences.  You may decide if you are ready to hear what he has to say. In part two, Deputy Massey gives his personal response when asked, “what is it like to be the only black Deputy Sheriff ever in the history of Mendocino County?” Later he shares stories about his off duty life, his goals and aspirations. Click here to listen to part one or on the media player below. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/12/23/pereda-marcos-the-new-cuba-reflections-stories-and-song/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/12/23/pereda-marcos-the-new-cuba-reflections-stories-and-song/#comments Tue, 23 Dec 2014 22:04:56 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3516 http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/12/23/pereda-marcos-the-new-cuba-reflections-stories-and-song/feed/ 0 Cuba Radio Curious visits with Cuban born singer-songwriter Marcos Pereda, who now lives in Ukiah, Ca. Pereda shares songs and stories about his life and his reflections about the new diplomatic relationship between the U.S. and Cuba. Marcos Pereda, a native of Havana, Cuba, and a singer-songwriter who lives in Ukiah, California, is our guest in this edition of Radio Curious. The background music in this weeks program is a song titled "Center" that he wrote and then performed on his guitar in our studios.  Pereda returned from a two month visit in Havana on December 20, 2014; he traveled there to attend his mother’s funeral.  In our visit, recorded on December 22, 2014, Pereda shares his music and songs, his thoughts and experiences about life in Cuba and in the United States, and his hopes for the new relationship between the the two nations.  We began our conversation when I asked him to tell us about his mother.  Marcos Pereda's email is: marcosinsonte@hotmail.com (mailto:marcosinsonte@hotmail.com). The book he recommends is “The Little Prince,” by Antoine St. Exupery. Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. LeGov no 29:02 http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/09/16/wells-spencer-the-unforseen-cost-of-civilization-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/09/16/wells-spencer-the-unforseen-cost-of-civilization-2/#comments Tue, 16 Sep 2014 19:23:16 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3419 http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/09/16/wells-spencer-the-unforseen-cost-of-civilization-2/feed/ 0 Radio Curious revisits a conversation with Spencer Wells, author of “Pandora’s Seed: The Unforeseen Cost of Civilization,” published in 2010, about the impacts of civilization that could eventually kill our species. In this edition of Radio Curious we revisit a conversation with Spencer Wells about his book, “Pandora’s Seed: The Unforeseen Cost of Civilization,” published in 2010. Our interview is a follow-up to a 2003 conversation about his book, "The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey," in which Wells traces our routes as small bands of hunter-gatherers when our ancestors walked out of Africa approximately 60,000 years ago and began populating the world. “Pandora’s Seed” tells the story of what we humans, with our hunter-gatherer biological construct have created in the past 10,000 years. These multiple life style changes have produced what we call “civilization,” with systems and mechanisms that will not allow us to continue the life-styles that are emulated by many people world-wide, and exploited by those who have access to them. In other words, we can’t last much longer doing what we are doing without radically reducing the way we all live, if not outright killing our species. Spencer Well is an Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C., where he leads the Genographic Project, which is collecting and analyzing hundreds of thousands of DNA samples from people around the wold in order to decipher how our ancestors populated the world. He is also a professor a Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. In this interview with Spencer Wells, recorded on July 19, 2010, we began by describing the changes necessary for our species survival. The book Spencer Wells recommends is “The Histories," by Herodotus, a 5th century B.C. Greek historian. Click here to listen or on the media player below. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/08/18/hong-fincher-leta-ph-d-gender-inequality-in-china-part-two-workplace-disparity/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/08/18/hong-fincher-leta-ph-d-gender-inequality-in-china-part-two-workplace-disparity/#comments Mon, 18 Aug 2014 21:22:50 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3396 http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/08/18/hong-fincher-leta-ph-d-gender-inequality-in-china-part-two-workplace-disparity/feed/ 0 Radio Curious continues a conversation about gender inequality in China with Leta Hong Fincher, the author of “Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China.” Welcome to part two of our conversations about the erosion of gender equality in China with our guest Leta Hong Fincher, the author of “Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China”. Her book is based in part on her research for the Ph.D. in sociology she received in 2014 from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. In this 2nd conversation we discuss the extent of what if anything is done about domestic violence in China, the difference in the retirement ages for women and men and the requirement that women submit to a gynecological examination before obtaining a civil service job. When Leta Hong Fincher and I visited by phone on August 9, 2014 we began with a discussion of domestic violence in China. The book Leta Hong Fincher recommends is “The Birth of Chinese Feminism: Essential Texts in Transnational Theory,” by Lydia H. Liu, Rebecca E. Karl and Dorothy Ko. Click here to listen to part two of the program or on the media player below. Click here to listen to part one. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/08/11/hong-fincher-leta-ph-d-gender-inequality-in-china-part-one-leftover-women/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/08/11/hong-fincher-leta-ph-d-gender-inequality-in-china-part-one-leftover-women/#comments Mon, 11 Aug 2014 21:03:00 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3390 http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/08/11/hong-fincher-leta-ph-d-gender-inequality-in-china-part-one-leftover-women/feed/ 1 "leftover women",China,women Radio Curious discusses the erosion of gender equality in China with Leta Hong Fincher, the author of “Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China” in this two part conversation. The erosion of gender equality in China is the topic of this two part series with Leta Hong Fincher, the author of “Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China.” This book is based in part on her research for the Ph.D. in sociology she received in 2014 from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. In our first conversation we discuss governmental, social and family pressures on women to marry by age 27. Those who don't are characterized in cartoons and posters as “leftover women.” We also discuss the why home ownership deeds are most often only recorded in the name of the husband, regardless of the fact the wife has made a significant if not great financial contribution. In the second conversation, we discuss issues of domestic violence in China and treatment of women in the workplace. When Leta Hong Fincher and I visited by phone on August 9, 2014 we began our conversation with her description of the term “leftover women.” The book Leta Hong Fincher recommends is “The Birth of Chinese Feminism: Essential Texts in Transnational Theory,” by Lydia H. Liu, Rebecca E. Karl and Dorothy Ko. Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/07/15/brown-seyom-the-international-responsibility-to-protect/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/07/15/brown-seyom-the-international-responsibility-to-protect/#comments Tue, 15 Jul 2014 06:32:50 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3364 http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/07/15/brown-seyom-the-international-responsibility-to-protect/feed/ 0 right to protect,united nations Radio Curious discusses international relations and governmental duty of “responsibility to protect” with Dr. Seyom Brown, author and adjunct senior fellow at the American Security Project, in Washington, D.C. The “responsibility to protect,” established by the United Nations, is a governmental duty to respect and protect international human rights. This responsibility, its adoption, and how countries, especially the United States exercise it, is the topic of our second, 2014 conversation with Dr. Seyom Brown. Dr. Brown is currently an adjunct senior fellow at the American Security Project, in Washington, D.C. He has previously held senior research and policy analysis positions at the RAND Corporation, the Brookings Institution, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the Kennedy School of Government. He has also served as a Special Assistant in the Office of International Security Affairs at the Department of Defense, and to the Director of Policy Planning in the Department of State. Dr. Brown has taught at Harvard, Brandeis, John Hopkins, Columbia, University of Chicago, and UCLA. He is the author of twelve books on the United States’ foreign policy and international relations. When Dr. Brown visited Radio Curious on July 4, 2014, we began this conversation with his description of “responsibility to protect” and the history of how it was established. The book Dr. Seyom Brown recommends is “Five Myths About Nuclear Weapons,” by Ward Wilson. You also may hear our first 2014 conversation about the contradictions of United States' nuclear policy here and two 1995 Radio Curious interviews with Dr. Seyom Brown discussing then President Bill Clinton's foreign policy here. For full disclosure, Dr. Seyom Brown is the uncle to Radio Curious host and producer, Barry Vogel. Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/05/06/rosenwasser-penny-from-fear-to-love-a-judaic-perspective/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/05/06/rosenwasser-penny-from-fear-to-love-a-judaic-perspective/#comments Wed, 07 May 2014 04:38:11 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3285 http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/05/06/rosenwasser-penny-from-fear-to-love-a-judaic-perspective/feed/ 2 Holocaust,Judaism Radio Curious visits with Penny Rosenwasser, author of “Hope into Practice: Jewish Women Choosing Hope Despite Our Fears,” a book that explores internalized oppression and describes steps to embrace who we are as a means to create a world based on love, When Penny Rosenwasser, our guest in this edition of Radio Curious, was a child in the suburbs of Virginia, people sometimes said, “You don't look Jewish.”  She replied, “Thank you.”  Her book, “Hope into Practice: Jewish Women Choosing Justice Despite Our Fears,” delves into the Jewish experience and its rich yet tragic cultural history. She explores internalized oppression and ways to face fear with a positive outcome, and describes steps to embrace who we are as a means to create a world based on love, tolerance and justice. I spoke with Penny Rosenwasser from her home near San Francisco, California on May 5, 2014.  She began our conversation by describing a major theme of her book. Penny Rosenwasser will be speaking in Redwood Valley, on May 18, at 4pm at Kol-ha-Emek 8591 West Road. Call 707 468 4536 for details. The book she recommends is “The Colors of Jews: Racial Politics and Radical Diasporism,” by Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz. Click here or on the media player below to listen. LeGov no 29:02 http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/04/29/blevis-marcianne-jealousy/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/04/29/blevis-marcianne-jealousy/#comments Tue, 29 Apr 2014 18:56:34 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3279 http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/04/29/blevis-marcianne-jealousy/feed/ 1 jealousy Radio Curious discusses jealousy with French psychoanalyst Marcianne Blevis, author of “Jealousy: True Stories of Love’s Favorite Decoy.” Are you jealous?  Have you ever been?  Do you know the origin of your jealousy? Jealousy often goes hand in hand with feelings of love, but where does this emotion come from, and how can we manage it? In this edition of Radio Curious we visit with Marcianne Blevis, author of “Jealousy: True Stories of Love’s Favorite Decoy.”  In this book Marcianne Blevis,  a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who lives and works in Paris, France, reveals different ways jealousy affects different people and suggests methods to understand and manage what can be a very destructive yet elusive emotion. She examines the deeper consequences of jealousy and inquires if jealousy is useful to us, and is this ‘extraordinary passion’ in reality ‘a strategy for survival’. I spoke with Marcianne Blevis from her home in Paris, France on February 2, 2009, and began by asking her to explain what jealousy is? The book Marcianne Blevis recommends is “Aux confins de l’identité" (title translated by Marcianne Blevis as “At the Frontier of Identity”) by Michel De M'uzan. This book is currently published only in French. Click here or on the media player below to listen. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/04/15/cochran-gregory-the-10000-year-explosion-how-civilization-accelerated-human-evolution-part-two/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/04/15/cochran-gregory-the-10000-year-explosion-how-civilization-accelerated-human-evolution-part-two/#comments Tue, 15 Apr 2014 17:18:09 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3266 http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/04/15/cochran-gregory-the-10000-year-explosion-how-civilization-accelerated-human-evolution-part-two/feed/ 0 evolution,human biology Radio Curious revisits part two of a conversation with Gregory Cochran, co-author of the book “The 10,000 Year Explosion – How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution,” which explores how changes in human biology have evolved from civilization. In this, the second of two Radio Curious interviews, we continue our discussion of human evolution with Gregory Cochran an aerospace physicist and professor of anthropology at the University of Utah; his expertise is in genetic anthropology. Gregory Cochran along with Henry Harpending, also a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Utah, are the co-authors of the 2009 book “The 10,000 Year Explosion – How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution.” This book explores how humans appear to have evolved over the last 10,000 years, largely driven by civilization-the place, culture and lifestyle of the time. In this two part conversation, recorded by phone with Gregory Cochran from his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico on February 23rd, 2009, we discuss how humans have genetically evolved. In part one we discussed the changes in human biology such as lactose tolerance and resistance to malaria that represent human evolution accelerated by civilization. We also discussed the intermixing of neanderthals and humans and the genetic benefits in our species that continue to this day. In part two, Cochran discusses how gene mutations have allowed specific human advantages in different locations around the world.   We began with his discussion of the migration of the human species out of Africa, which resulted in some people living in the northern latitudes.  People born in these areas with a random genetic mutation resulting in skin of a lighter color allowed them to absorb more vitamin D from the sun, thus giving them better health and a greater opportunity to have off spring. We also discuss the genetic mutations that contribute to certain types of intelligence. The book Gregory Cochran recommends is"Tthe Princeton Companion to Mathematics,” edited by Timothy Gowers. Click here or on the media player below to listen to part two. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/04/08/cochran-gregory-the-10000-year-explosion-how-civilization-accelerated-human-evolution-part-one/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/04/08/cochran-gregory-the-10000-year-explosion-how-civilization-accelerated-human-evolution-part-one/#comments Wed, 09 Apr 2014 00:26:19 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3262 http://www.radiocurious.org/2014/04/08/cochran-gregory-the-10000-year-explosion-how-civilization-accelerated-human-evolution-part-one/feed/ 1 evolution Radio Curious revisits a two part conversation with Gregory Cochran, physicist, anthropologist, and co-author of the book “The 10,000 Year Explosion – How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution,” which explores how changes in human biology have evolv... Have humans changed in the last 10,000 years?  Are we biologically the same as we have been for the past 60,000 years? Recent evidence suggests that so called civilization has promoted rapid evolutionary change in our species in the last 10,000 years. In this edition of Radio Curious we visit with Gregory Cochran, a physicist and anthropologist, who is the co-author of the book “The 10,000 Year Explosion – How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution”.  His book asserts that changes in human biology, lactose tolerance and resistance to malaria for example, represent human evolution accelerated by civilization. In this, the first of two Radio Curious conversations with Gregory Cochran we discuss some of these evolutions. In part two we discuss the evolution and genetic mutations of race and physiology. I spoke with Gregory Cochran from his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico on February 23, 2009 and began by asking him what biological indications exist to show an increase in human evolution in the past 10,000 years and why they occurred. The book Gregory Cochran recommends is “Twilight of the Mammoths: Ice Age Extinctions and the Re-Wilding of America” by Paul S. Martin Click here or on the media player below to listen to part one. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/11/19/binder-mark-freund-hugo-latkes-turkey-a-holiday-special/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/11/19/binder-mark-freund-hugo-latkes-turkey-a-holiday-special/#comments Tue, 19 Nov 2013 21:00:32 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3085 http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/11/19/binder-mark-freund-hugo-latkes-turkey-a-holiday-special/feed/ 0 Hanukkah,Thanksgiving Radio Curious discusses Hanukkah and Thanksgiving, two holidays which intersect this year. Our guests are Mark Binder, author of “A Hanukkah Present!” and Professor Hugo Freund who studied the history of Thanksgiving in the United States. The Jewish celebration of Hanukkah which means “dedication” in Hebrew, commemorates the rededication during the second century B.C. of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, where according to legend Jews had risen up against their Greek-Syrian oppressors in the Maccabean Revolt. It begins every year on the 25th day of Kislev and usually falls in November or December.  The Jewish calendar is based on lunar cycles, and Hanukkah, often called the Festival of LIghts always starts five days prior to the last new moon before the winter solstice. Thanksgiving is a celebration common to cultures and religions world wide, often after harvest.  It is held in the United States on the fourth Thursday of November which.  In this the Hebrew calendar year 5774 and the Gregorian calendar year 2013 these two holidays converge with Thanksgiving falling on the second day of Hannukah.  Thus some people will eat latkas, also known as potato pancakes, with turkey and/or stuffing.  In this edition of Radio Curious we combine two archive editions and tell the story of two very fun holidays.  We start with our 2011 conversation with Mark Binder, author of “A Hanukkah Present!” followed by a 2002 conversation with Professor Hugo Freund about the history of Thanksgiving in the United States. We begin with Mark Binder explaining the purpose of telling stories around Hanukkah. We continue with a 2002 visit about the roots of Thanksgiving with Sociology Professor Hugo Freund recorded in a noise hotel lobby at the American Anthropology Association in New Orleans, Louisiana.   Click here to listen or on the media player below. Click here (http://www.radio4all.net/responder.php/podcast/podcast.xml?program_id=72604&version_id=80321&version=1) to download the podcast. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/11/04/organic-grapes-wine-charlie-barra/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/11/04/organic-grapes-wine-charlie-barra/#comments Tue, 05 Nov 2013 01:38:24 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3069 http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/11/04/organic-grapes-wine-charlie-barra/feed/ 0 Radio Curious visits with organic grape grower Charlie Barra, founder of Barra of Mendocino Organic Wines. One might say that wine is the life blood of Charlie Barra, the founder of Barra of Mendocino Organic Wines.  He’s our guest on this edition of Radio Curious. Barra was born in 1928, close to his winery, about five miles north of Ukiah, in Mendocino County, California.  His parents, both immigrants from the Piedmont region of Italy, had a long history in the vineyards and grew only organic grapes.  Barra continues that policy now in his vineyards and grows only certified-organic crops. He says that for the past 67 years he never missed a harvest, claiming that pay day comes once a year, after the harvest is sold. Charlie Barra and I visited in the kitchen of his home in Ukiah, California on November 1, 2013, and began our conversation with stories of his early memories. Click here to listen or on the media player below. Click here (http://www.radio4all.net/responder.php/podcast/podcast.xml?program_id=72255&version_id=79955&version=1) to download the podcast. LeGov no 29:01 http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/10/29/luke-gregorio-the-day-of-the-dead/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/10/29/luke-gregorio-the-day-of-the-dead/#comments Tue, 29 Oct 2013 19:26:27 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3063 http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/10/29/luke-gregorio-the-day-of-the-dead/feed/ 0 The Day of the Dead, as it's celebrated in Mexico, is the subject of this archive edition of Radio Curious, in conversation with Gregorio Luke, the cultural attache of the Republic of Mexico in 1997. Most countries in the world send ambassadors to talk about and promote what their country is like and to carry on political affairs between and along other nations.  These ambassadors often have assistants known as “cultural attaches.”  They bring and share their nation’s culture, history and the folklore with their host countries.  The cultural event known as Halloween in the United States is celebrated annually on November 1st as the Day of the Dead in Mexico and other Latin American Counties. In 1997 Radio Curious invited Gregorio Luke, the cultural attache from the Republic of Mexico based in Los Angeles, California, to our studios when he was the Consul for Cultural Affairs. His job at that time was to broaden the Mexican cultural presence in the United States. Our conversation began when I asked Gregorio Luke to describe the cultural gaps he sought to bridge in presenting Mexican and to tell us about the Day of The Dead. The book Gregorio Luke recommends is ”The Crystal Frontier,” by Carlos Fuentes. Click here to listen or on the media player below. Click here (http://www.radio4all.net/responder.php/podcast/podcast.xml?program_id=72102&version_id=79798&version=1) to download the podcast. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/10/14/blaise-clark-the-creation-of-standard-time-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/10/14/blaise-clark-the-creation-of-standard-time-2/#comments Mon, 14 Oct 2013 18:30:03 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3021 http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/10/14/blaise-clark-the-creation-of-standard-time-2/feed/ 0 standard time,time Just in time for daylight savings time Radio Curious brings you a discussion about time with Clark Blaise, author of “Time Lord:  Sir Sandford Fleming and the Creation of Standard Time.”  Not such a long time ago, time was an arbitrary measure decided by each community without consideration of other localities. In this edition of Radio Curious, we visit with Clark Blaise, author of “Time Lord:  Sir Sandford Fleming and the Creation of Standard Time.”  Although this program was recorded a long time ago, we aired it for the first time in the last week of 2011, and again in October 2013 as we near standard time. In the mid 19th century, with the advent of continent-spanning railroads and transatlantic steamers, the myriad of local times became a mind-boggling obstacle and the rational ordering of time to some became an urgent priority for transportation and commerce.  Standard Time was established in 1884, leading to an international uniformity for telling time.  Arguably, the uniformity of time was a “crowning achievement” of Victorian progressiveness, one of the few innovations of that time to have survived unchanged into the 21st century. Under the leadership of Sir Sandford Fleming, amid political rancor of delegates from industrializing nations, an agreement was reached to establish the Greenwich Prime Meridian passing through Greenwich, England and the International Date Line that wanders it way through the Pacific Ocean.  The 1884 agreement resulted in a uniform system of world-wide time zones that exists today. I had a good time visiting with Clark Blaise in the spring of 2001 as we discussed how our current notion of time was established.  We began when I asked him to explain what standard time is. This interview with Clark Blaise, author of “Time Lord: Sir Sandford Fleming and the Creation of Standard Time,” was recorded in the spring of 2001 and first broadcast in the last week of 2011. The book Clark Blaise recommends is “Time of Our Singing,” by Richard Powers. Click here to listen or on the media player below. Click here to download the podcast. LeGov no 29:01 http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/10/07/fuller-alexandra-growing-up-white-in-africa/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/10/07/fuller-alexandra-growing-up-white-in-africa/#comments Mon, 07 Oct 2013 22:12:59 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=3022 http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/10/07/fuller-alexandra-growing-up-white-in-africa/feed/ 0 Radio Curious revisits a 2003 conversation with Alexandra Fuller, author of “Don’t Let’s Go To The Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood,” a memoir about growing up in southeast Africa. In the late summer of 2003 Radio Curious visited with Alexandra Fuller who, as a child lived in Rhodesia, Malawi and Zambia in southeast Africa between 1972 and 1990.  After her father sided with the white government in the Rhodesian civil war, he was often away from home.   Fuller’s resilient and self-sufficient mother immersed herself in their rural and rugged life. She taught her children to have strong wills and opinions, and to whole-heartedly embrace life, despite and because of their difficult circumstances.  Alexandra Fuller, author of “Don’t Let’s Go To The Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood,” known as Bobo to her family, developed a love of reading and story telling early on in her life.   When I spoke with Alexandra Fuller in September 2003 her home was in rural Wyoming.  We visited by phone and began our conversation when I asked her how she choose the title for her book, “Don’t Let’s Go To The Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood.” The book Alexandra Fuller recommends is “Echoing Silences,” by Alexander Canigone.   Click here to listen or on the media player below. Click here to download the podcast. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/08/13/freed-lynn-reflections-on-a-life/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/08/13/freed-lynn-reflections-on-a-life/#comments Wed, 14 Aug 2013 00:22:37 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=2949 http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/08/13/freed-lynn-reflections-on-a-life/feed/ 0 Radio Curious revisits a conversation with Lynn Freed, author of the fictional journal chronicling a woman's life in South Africa titled “The Mirror.” The personal journal is often not meant for the eyes of anyone but the writer. When a stranger’s journal is read, the reader often becomes a voyeur to the innermost secrets of another. And whether it is a true journal or one of fiction, who cares? Often, it remains a good story. Lynn Freed, originally of Durban, South Africa, wrote the fictional journal of Agnes LaGrange, entitled “The Mirror,” which reveals the thoughts, feelings, and loves of Agnes, starting when she arrived in South Africa to work as a housekeeper, and ending 50 years later. Lynn Freed recommends “Misfit,” by Jonathan Yardly, “Essays,” by George Orwell & “Last Days in Cloud Cukooland Dispatches,” by Graham Boynton. Originally Broadcast: December 12, 1997 Click here to listen or on the media player below. Click here to download the podcast. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/08/07/buron-melissa-french-impressionists/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/08/07/buron-melissa-french-impressionists/#comments Wed, 07 Aug 2013 08:28:01 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=2940 http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/08/07/buron-melissa-french-impressionists/feed/ 0 Radio Curious visits with Melissa Buron, art historian and curator of the French Impressionist exhibit, Impressionists on the Water, currently at the Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, California.  The travel facilitated by the industrial revolution in 19th century Europe opened vistas for those who could afford the excursion and vistas for the painters who became known as the Impressionists.   In this edition of Radio Curious, we discuss the work of the French Impressionists, what they saw and what they chose to portray.  Our guest is art historian, Melissa Buron, the curator of Impressionists on the Water, the current exhibit at the Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, California.  Melissa Buron and I visited by phone from her office at the Palace of Legion of Honor Museum, one of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, on August 5, 2013.  We began our conversation with her description of the exhibit, Impressionists on the Water. The book she recommends is “Possession,” by A.S. Byatt. Click here to listen or on the media player below. Click here to download the podcast. LeGov no 29:01 http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/07/30/martinez-juan-shamanism-in-the-ecuadorian-jungle/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/07/30/martinez-juan-shamanism-in-the-ecuadorian-jungle/#comments Wed, 31 Jul 2013 00:20:04 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=2932 http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/07/30/martinez-juan-shamanism-in-the-ecuadorian-jungle/feed/ 0 Radio Curious revisits a conversation about shamanism in the Ecuadorian Amazon with Dr. Juan Martinez, Professor of History and Anthropology at the University of Cuenca, in Cuenca, Ecuador. Concepts of “reality” have many levels, some of which are gained by fasting, and/or the use of certain plants that allow a person to view the past, present or  and future.  This is especially true for cultures which cherish and practice the oral tradition and thrive among an abundance of flora and fauna, like those located in the Amazon basin of South America.  In Ecuador the knowledge of the effects of the various plants in the Amazon basin is held by Shamans. Dr. Juan Martinez, our guest in this edition of Radio Curious, is a Professor of History and Anthropology at the University of Cuenca, in Cuenca, Ecuador.  He’s studied, written and lectured about Shamanic practices in the Ecuadorian jungle and the medicinal and spiritual effects of the plants native to the eastern portion of the Amazon basin. Professor Juan Martinez and I visited in his office in Cuenca, Ecuador on November 17, 2005.  He began by describing the relationship of the people of Ecuadorian jungle to their worlds, the spiritual world, and the world in which they live on a daily basis. The book Juan Martinez recommends is “Amazon Worlds,” a collected work published by Sinchi Sancha, an indigenous foundation based in Ecuador. Originally Broadcast: December 5, 2005. Click here to listen or on the media player below. Click here to download the podcast. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/07/15/frost-mike-spying-on-americans-not-a-new-activity-part-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/07/15/frost-mike-spying-on-americans-not-a-new-activity-part-2/#comments Mon, 15 Jul 2013 20:58:03 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=2918 http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/07/15/frost-mike-spying-on-americans-not-a-new-activity-part-2/feed/ 0 Radio Curious brings you part two of an archived conversation with Mike Frost, author of “Spy World: Inside the Canadian and American Intelligence Establishments.” In part two Frost discusses Echelon, a large private intelligence gathering system. In the 1970s and 80s the use of the telephone or credit card, could have been and probably was recorded and saved in an international database called Echelon. This is the second part of a two part series on international spying, recorded in 1999 with Mike Frost, author of “Spy World: Inside the Canadian and American Intelligence Establishments.” We talked about Echelon, the code name given to the capability to intercept all of the word’s communications all the time. Mike Frost worked for over 30 years as a spy for the American and Canadian Governments. He wrote the book, which describes many of his experiences, because he felt the privacy rights of innocent people were then regularly violated. I spoke with Mike Frost in April 1999, from his home near Ottawa, Canada and I asked him to tell us about Echelon. Mike Frost recommends the movie “Wag the Dog.” Part one of our conversation with Mike Frost is here. Click here to listen to part two or on the media player below. Click here to download the podcast. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/05/06/samuelson-kristine-20000-crows-in-tokyo/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/05/06/samuelson-kristine-20000-crows-in-tokyo/#comments Mon, 06 May 2013 18:02:20 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=2806 http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/05/06/samuelson-kristine-20000-crows-in-tokyo/feed/ 0 Radio Curious visits with filmmaker Kristine Samuelson, co-creator of the documentary film, “Tokyo Waka: A City Poem” about the 20,000 crows that inhabit the city of Tokyo, Japan and the human relationships with them. The more than 20,000 crows that inhabit the largest metropolis in the world, have come to be an imposing and sometimes harassing influence on the daily lives of the people with whom these clever birds share the city of Tokyo, Japan. "Tokyo Waka: A City Poem” is a film poem about these crows and their people. In this edition of Radio Curious we visit with filmmaker Kristine Samuelson, a Professor of Humanistic Studies in the Department of Art and Art History at Stanford University. She is the co-creator, along with her husband John Haptas, of the film “Tokyo Waka.”  Their website is Stylofilms. Our visit with Kristine Samuelson from her home in Berkeley, California on May 3, 2013 began when I asked her to describe the nature of their film poem. Kristine Samuelson recommends two films: “Oblivion,” and “Underground Orchestra,” by Heddy Honigmann, a Peruvian born Dutch filmmaker. Click here (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-SAMUELSON_INTERVIEW_CA_5-3-13.mp3) to listen or on the media player below. Click here (http://www.radio4all.net/responder.php/podcast/podcast.xml?program_id=68243&version_id=75684&version=1) to download the podcast. LeGov no 29:01 http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/04/30/makepeace-anne-we-still-live-here-revival-of-the-wampanoag-language/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/04/30/makepeace-anne-we-still-live-here-revival-of-the-wampanoag-language/#comments Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:05:10 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=2795 http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/04/30/makepeace-anne-we-still-live-here-revival-of-the-wampanoag-language/feed/ 0 Radio Curious visits with Anne Makepeace, the writer and director of the documentary film, “We Still Live Here,” which chronicles the movement to reclaim the lost Native American language of the Wampanoag people. The film “We Still Live Here,” tells the story of the revival of an indigenous Native American language that was not spoken or written for over 100 years. Our guest in this edition of Radio Curious is Anne Makepeace, the writer and producer of the documentary film. The Wampanoag people of Southeastern Massachusetts ensured the survival of the Pilgrims in New England, and lived to regret it. After nearly 400 years of forced cultural assimilation the Wampanoags have brought their language home again. Radio Curious visited with Anne Makepeace from her home in northwestern Connecticut on April 29, 2013, and she began by pronouncing "We Still Live Here" in Wampanoag. The films Anne Makepeace recommends are “The Beasts of the Southern Wild” and “Dersu Uzala.” Click here to listen or on the media player below. Click here to download the podcast. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/01/13/totten-professor-sam-genocide-in-the-nuba-mountains-sudan-africa/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/01/13/totten-professor-sam-genocide-in-the-nuba-mountains-sudan-africa/#comments Mon, 14 Jan 2013 05:17:12 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=2645 http://www.radiocurious.org/2013/01/13/totten-professor-sam-genocide-in-the-nuba-mountains-sudan-africa/feed/ 0 Nuba Mountains,Sudn Radio Curious discusses the current state of affairs in the Nuba Mountains in Northeast Africa, with Professor Sam Totten, author of “Genocide by Attrition:  Nuba Mountains, Sudan,” and “An Oral and Documentary History of the Darfur Genocide.” The people of the Nuba Mountains, located in northeast Africa, just north of the new nation of South Sudan, are in a crisis that may well threaten their very survival.  In this edition of Radio Curious we visit with retired Professor Sam Totten, author of “Genocide by Attrition:  Nuba Mountains, Sudan,” and “An Oral and Documentary History of the Darfur Genocide.”  Sam Totten returned from a two week visit to the Nuba Mountains on January 11, 2013. When he and I visited by phone from his home near Fayetteville, Arkansas, on January 13, 2013, we began with his description of the civil war there. The book Professor Sam Totten recommends is “The World of Darfur: International Response to Crimes Against Humanity in Western Sudan,” by Amanda Grzuyb and Romeo Dallaire. Click here (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-TOTTEN_SAM_INTERVIEW_1-13-13_CA.mp3) to listen or on the media player below. Click here to listen to our June 2011 interview with Professor Sam Totten. Click here (http://www.radio4all.net/responder.php/podcast/podcast.xml?program_id=65525&version_id=72791&version=1) to download the podcast. LeGov no 29:01 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/12/31/berkowitz-eric-sex-and-punishment-part-one/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/12/31/berkowitz-eric-sex-and-punishment-part-one/#comments Mon, 31 Dec 2012 23:27:02 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=2630 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/12/31/berkowitz-eric-sex-and-punishment-part-one/feed/ 0 Radio Curious brings you part one of a two-part conversation about the struggle to regulate the most powerful engine of human behavior-sexuality. We visit with Eric Berkowitz, author of “Sex and Punishment: Four Thousand Years of Judging Desire.” “Sex and Punishment: Four Thousand Years of Judging Desire” is a story of the struggle to regulate the most powerful engine of human behavior. This engine that drives the human species is substantially different in us than in other mammals. In our million years of evolution, physically and socially we have developed the ability to communicate ideas and the expected, if not “required” behaviors of women and men and children regarding sexual thought, expression and procreation. The history of these ever changing definitions and controls of this fundamental aspect of our lives are visited in this two part series of conversations with Eric Berkowitz, recorded in the Radio Curious studios on December 29, 2012. Part One discusses the effect the topic of sex has on other people; the development of laws dealing with adultery and women as property; enjoyment of sex; and the way humans dress compared to other animals. Part Two discusses the issues of young women having sexual relationships with considerably older men; the intention and effect of religion in relationship to sex; prostitution; and same sex intimacy. The books Eric Berkowitz recommends are “Nemisis,” by Philip Roth, and “Love and Exile: An Autobiographical Trilogy,” by Issac Bashevis Singer. Click here to listen or on the media player below. Click here to download the podcast. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/11/13/miller-geoffrey-%e2%80%94-sex-evolution-and-consumer-behaviour/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/11/13/miller-geoffrey-%e2%80%94-sex-evolution-and-consumer-behaviour/#comments Tue, 13 Nov 2012 20:26:02 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=2558 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/11/13/miller-geoffrey-%e2%80%94-sex-evolution-and-consumer-behaviour/feed/ 0 Consumer behavior is the topic of this edition of Radio Curious in a conversation with Geoffrey Miller, professor of evolutionary psychology at the University of New Mexico, and the author of “Spent: Sex, Evolution, and Consumer Behavior”. Consumer behavior is the topic of this edition of Radio Curious in a conversation with Geoffrey Miller, professor of evolutionary psychology at the University of New Mexico, and the author of “Spent: Sex, Evolution, and Consumer Behavior”. Click here to visit and listen to our archived program or click on the media player below. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/08/01/johnston-lila-balas-son-sacred-sites-of-the-winnemem-wintu/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/08/01/johnston-lila-balas-son-sacred-sites-of-the-winnemem-wintu/#comments Wed, 01 Aug 2012 18:43:50 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=2439 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/08/01/johnston-lila-balas-son-sacred-sites-of-the-winnemem-wintu/feed/ 0 sacred sites,Winnemem Wintu Radio Curious brings you a conversation with Lila Johnston, a student at Stanford who is documenting the sacred sites of the Winnemem Wintu tribe in Northern California. The Winnemen Wintu people of California, having lived near Mount Shasta, along a tributary of the McCloud River for over 10,000 years celebrate the Balas Chonas, or Puberty Ceremony when girls mature into women.  The ceremony, celebrated on July 3, 2012 was extraordinary, when Balas Chonas was held for the next Winnemem Wintu chief and spiritual leader. However, the Balas Chonas ceremonies may come to an end, if the United States government continues with a plan to raise Shasta Dam and flood out most of the tribes remaining sacred sites. Our guest is Lyla Johnston, currently a student of Race and Ethnicity at Stanford University who is documenting the culture and sacred sites of the Winnemem Wintu. Christina Aanestad the Assistant Producer of Radio Curious visited with Lyla Johnston at the July 3rd, 2012 Balas Chonas. They began their conversation when Christina asked Lyla how many sacred sites the Winnemem Wintu have along the McCloud River. The book Lyla Johnston recommends is “The Red Tent,” by Anita Diamont. Click here (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-JOHNSTON-LILA-RC-7-3-12.mp3) to listen to the program or on the media player below. Click here (http://www.radio4all.net/responder.php/podcast/podcast.xml?program_id=61810&version_id=68814&version=1) to download the podcast. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/07/17/rapaille-dr-clotaire-understanding-our-collective-unconscious/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/07/17/rapaille-dr-clotaire-understanding-our-collective-unconscious/#comments Tue, 17 Jul 2012 18:54:32 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=2422 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/07/17/rapaille-dr-clotaire-understanding-our-collective-unconscious/feed/ 0 Radio Curious brings you an archived, 2-part conversation about the collective unconscious and people's living and consumption habits with Dr. Clotaire Rapaille, author of “The Culture Code, An Ingenious Way to Understand Why People Around The World Li... Radio Curious brings you an archived, 2-part conversation about the collective unconscious with Dr. Clotaire Rapaille, author of “The Culture Code, An Ingenious Way to Understand Why People Around The World Live and Buy As They Do.” Click here to visit and listen to our archived program. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/06/12/hanson-rick-ph-d-a-pre-historic-brain-in-the-21st-century/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/06/12/hanson-rick-ph-d-a-pre-historic-brain-in-the-21st-century/#comments Tue, 12 Jun 2012 21:27:17 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=2377 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/06/12/hanson-rick-ph-d-a-pre-historic-brain-in-the-21st-century/feed/ 1 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/06/05/capt-forrington-cass-a-beach-made-of-glass-and-hands-in-acid-one-man-and-many-stories/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/06/05/capt-forrington-cass-a-beach-made-of-glass-and-hands-in-acid-one-man-and-many-stories/#comments Tue, 05 Jun 2012 23:57:06 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=2369 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/06/05/capt-forrington-cass-a-beach-made-of-glass-and-hands-in-acid-one-man-and-many-stories/feed/ 0 Radio Curious takes you to Glass Beach in Ft. Bragg, Ca for a visit with Captain Cass Farrington, the creator and owner of the Glass Beach Museum. While traveling the world as a merchant marine, Cass Forrington has transported munitions, A former dump site at the edge of the Pacific Ocean in Ft. Bragg, California, is part of the story in this edition of Radio Curious. Captain Cass Forrington, creator and owner of the Glass Beach Museum, and the author of "Beaches Of Glass, a History & Tour of the Glass Beaches of Fort Bragg, California," is our guest.   He is also a Master Mariner, holder of an unlimited Master’s Certificate, allowing him to be the captain of any size sea going vessel.  He has many stories to tell. Captain Cass and I sat on Glass Beach No. Two in Ft. Bragg, on a windy afternoon, June 2, 2012, with the waves lapping ten feet away.  We began when I asked him to describe Glass Beach.  But keep listening to hear his story about putting his hands in acid 40 years ago. Captain Cass Forrington's website is: captcass.com Capt. Cass Forrington recommends a movie and a book. The book is "The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology," by Ray Kurzweil.  And the movie is “What the Bleep Do We Know?” Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. Click here to download the podcast. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/05/28/schwawrtz-maya-one-holocaust-survivor%e2%80%99s-wonderful-thrill-of-life/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/05/28/schwawrtz-maya-one-holocaust-survivor%e2%80%99s-wonderful-thrill-of-life/#comments Mon, 28 May 2012 22:06:51 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=2362 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/05/28/schwawrtz-maya-one-holocaust-survivor%e2%80%99s-wonderful-thrill-of-life/feed/ 0 Radio Curious takes you to France as it was in 1932 where Maya Schwartz was born to an immigrant family. 1939 to 1945 her family was torn apart by the Nazis. California 2012 – We interview Maya Schwartz a holocaust survivor who relies on optimism and s... There are two kinds of Holocaust survivors:  Those who didn’t die yet could no longer experience pleasure and those who yearned to feel alive and were able to create anew. In this edition of Radio Curious we visit with Maya Finkel Schwartz, born in France in 1932 to Jewish parents from Poland.  After being separated from her father at the beginning of World War Two, her mother had the foresight to introduce then seven year old Maya to as many social workers and nuns as her mother could locate.  It was these people who Maya credits with saving her life as they sheltered her in barns and convents.  She never saw her parents after the war.  As an older teen-ager she arrived in Los Angeles, California where she still lives after a decades long career teaching high-school, and later as a singer, as we shall hear. The story of Maya Finkel Schwartz is one of 52 childhood accounts of the horrors perpetrated by Nazi Germany documented in the book “How We Survived:  52 Personal Stories by Child Survivors of the Holocaust.”  More information about this book is available at childsurvivorsla.org. Maya Schwartz visited the studios of Radio Curious on April 20, 2012.  Maya shared her story and a song, accompanied by her son Michael Charnas. Her theme is the “joy of life,” which is where we began our conversation. The story of Maya Finkel Schwartz is found in the book she recommends.  She wrote one of 52 childhood accounts of the horrors perpetrated by Nazi Germany documented in the book “How We Survived:  52 Personal Stories by Child Survivors of the Holocaust.” Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. Click here to download the podcast. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/01/23/nawa-fariba-child-brides-drug-lords/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/01/23/nawa-fariba-child-brides-drug-lords/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 23:54:26 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=2158 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/01/23/nawa-fariba-child-brides-drug-lords/feed/ 0 Opium, child brides, drug lords and their effect on current life in Afganistan is the topic of this week’s Radio Curious when we visit with Afgan-American Journalist Fariba Nawa, author of “Opium Nation: Child Brides, Imagine Darya, a twelve year old girl in a remote village of Afghanistan.  Her father forces her to marry a drug lord as part payment for an opium drug trade.  Her father is not home and she is about to be taken from her family.  Desperately, her hands trembling, she implores you, a complete stranger:  “Please don’t let him take me.” In this edition of Radio Curious we visit Fariba Nawa, author of “Opium Nation: Child Brides, Drug Lords and One Woman’s Journey Through Afghanistan.”  Fariba Nawa was ten years old when her family fled Afghanistan shortly before the Soviet invasion in 1979.  Eighteen years later Fariba Nawa met twelve year old Darya when she returned to her native Afghanistan as an Afghan-American investigative journalist.  Her book tells Darya’s story, and reveals what the Afghan opium drug trade is doing to her native land in the midst of war. Fariba Nawa and I visited by phone from her home near San Francisco, California on January 23, 2012. We began with her description of coming to the United States and flight from Afghanistan. Fariba Nawa's website is www.faribanawa.com. The book she recommends is “Day of Honey: A Memoir of Food, Love and War,” by Annia Ciezaldo. Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. Click here to download the podcast. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/01/03/2115/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/01/03/2115/#comments Tue, 03 Jan 2012 21:55:04 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=2115 http://www.radiocurious.org/2012/01/03/2115/feed/ 0 Radio Curious visits with the Herd Museum in Pheoniz Arizona, a museum of over 2000 pieces of art from Southwestern Native American tribes. Founded in 1929, the Heard Museum’s mission is dedicated to educating people about the arts, heritage and life ways of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, with an emphasis on American Indian tribes of the Southwest. Committed to the sensitive and accurate portrayal of Native arts and cultures,  the museum successfully combines the stories of American Indian people from a personal perspective with the beauty of art, showcasing old and new hand woven baskets, kachina dolls, other art and cultural objects. The museum showcases the art and regalia of Apache, Hopi, Navajo, Pueblo, and Yaqui, to name a few.  More than 2000 items make up the museums exhibition.  Artwork ranging from pottery, baskets, beadwork, dolls and paintings are on display. Our guest is Debra Krol, the communications manager who shared portions of the Heard Museum with me on December 10, 2011.  We began our conversation with Krol when she introduced us to the Heard Museum and the unique features that reflect the evolution of south western Native American art. Debra Krol recommends two books: "Ishi’s Brain," by Orin Starn, and "Indians, Merchants and Missionaries: The legacy of Colonial Encounters on the California Frontiers", by Kent G. Lightfoot. Our interview with Orin Starn may be found here. The Heard Museum website is www.heard.org. Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. Click here to download the podcast. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2011/12/26/blaise-clark-the-creation-of-standard-time/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2011/12/26/blaise-clark-the-creation-of-standard-time/#comments Mon, 26 Dec 2011 19:41:39 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=2105 http://www.radiocurious.org/2011/12/26/blaise-clark-the-creation-of-standard-time/feed/ 0 Radio Curious discusses time, as we know it, with Clark Blaise, author of "Time Lord: Sire Sandford Fleming and the Creation of Standard Time." Not such a long time ago, time was an arbitrary measure decided by each community without consideration of other localities. In this edition of Radio Curious, we visit with Clark Blaise, author of “Time Lord:  Sir Sandford Fleming and the Creation of Standard Time.”  Although this program was recorded a long time ago, we are airing it for the first time in the last week of 2011. In the mid 19th century, with the advent of continent-spanning railroads and transatlantic steamers, the myriad of local times became a mind-boggling obstacle and the rational ordering of time to some became an urgent priority for transportation and commerce.  Standard Time was established in 1884, leading to an international uniformity for telling time.  Arguably, the uniformity of time was a “crowning achievement” of Victorian progressiveness, one of the few innovations of that time to have survived unchanged into the 21st century. Under the leadership of Sir Sandford Fleming, amid political rancor of delegates from industrializing nations, an agreement was reached to establish the Greenwich Prime Meridian passing through Greenwich, England and the International Date Line that wanders it way through the Pacific Ocean.  The 1884 agreement resulted in a uniform system of world-wide time zones that exists today. I had a good time visiting with Clark Blaise in the spring of 2001 as we discussed how our current notion of time was established.  We began when I asked him to explain what standard time is. This interview with Clark Blaise, author of “Time Lord: Sir Sandford Fleming and the Creation of Standard Time,” was recorded in the spring of 2001 and first broadcast in the last week of 2011. The book Clark Blaise recommends is “Time of Our Singing,” by Richard Powers. Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. Click here to download the podcast. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2011/09/28/socrates-ron-gross-%e2%80%93-socrates-of-athens-in-conversation/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2011/09/28/socrates-ron-gross-%e2%80%93-socrates-of-athens-in-conversation/#comments Thu, 29 Sep 2011 04:43:09 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=1990 http://www.radiocurious.org/2011/09/28/socrates-ron-gross-%e2%80%93-socrates-of-athens-in-conversation/feed/ 0 Radio Curious visits with Ron Gross, author of "Socrates’ Way: Seven Masterkeys to Using Your Mind to the Utmost." Gross speaks as if he were Socrates. Socrates’ Way: Seven Masterkeys to Using Your Mind to the Utmost Socrates of Athens, who lived before the Common Era, is respected as one of the greatest independent thinkers of all time. Socrates himself refused to be recognized as a teacher. Instead, Plato, his well-known student and reporter of Socrates’ dialogues, tells us he asked to be seen as a “midwife of ideas.” Socrates’ passion to achieve self-understanding, and the proper ways to live, continues to be studied and emulated to this day. Socrates recommends “The Trojan Women,” by Euripides. Ron Gross recommends “The Clouds,” by Aristophanes. Originally Broadcast: January 13, 2003 Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. Click here (http://www.radio4all.net/responder.php/podcast/podcast.xml?program_id=54673&version_id=61136&version=1) to download and subscribe to our podcast. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2011/08/30/aanestad-christina-gold-oil-and-a-journalist%e2%80%99s-adventure-in-ecuador/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2011/08/30/aanestad-christina-gold-oil-and-a-journalist%e2%80%99s-adventure-in-ecuador/#comments Tue, 30 Aug 2011 18:11:44 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=1953 http://www.radiocurious.org/2011/08/30/aanestad-christina-gold-oil-and-a-journalist%e2%80%99s-adventure-in-ecuador/feed/ 0 Radio Curious speaks with Associate Producer Christina Aanestad about her recent journalistic adventure to Ecuador and her findings about oil pollution, mining and community resistance. One of the things I learned in law school about bankruptcy was that if you have to borrow money to take a trip and then go bankrupt, the judge can’t take the trip away from you. In this edition we have a travel report from Christina Aanestad the Associate Producer for Radio Curious. Christina recently returned from a 6 week exploratory, journalist visit from Ecuador, a favorite country of mine. We visited at the Radio Curious studios on August 29, 2011, to discuss her adventures and what she learned about oil drilling, gold mining and dam construction, as well as what motivated her to take this trip. The books that Christina Aanestad recommend are, "Now is the Time to Open Your Heart," by Alice Walker and "Pronoia is the Antidote to Paranoia: How the Whole World is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings," by Rob Brezney. Click here (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-AANESTAD_INTERVIEW_2_8-29-11_CA.mp3) to listen to the program or on the media player below. Click here (http://www.radio4all.net/responder.php/podcast/podcast.xml?program_id=54066&version_id=60461&version=1) to download and subscribe to our podcast. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2011/06/13/totten-ph-d-samuel-genocide-in-africa-the-nuba-mountains-of-sudan/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2011/06/13/totten-ph-d-samuel-genocide-in-africa-the-nuba-mountains-of-sudan/#comments Mon, 13 Jun 2011 22:57:47 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=1853 http://www.radiocurious.org/2011/06/13/totten-ph-d-samuel-genocide-in-africa-the-nuba-mountains-of-sudan/feed/ 1 A little publicized war, involving the indiscriminate killing and torture of people in the Nuba Mountains of southern Sudan, in northeast Africa, is our topic in this edition of Radio Curious, with Professor Samuel Totten, Another little publicized war, involving the indiscriminate killing and torture of people in the Nuba Mountains of southern Sudan, in northeast Africa, is our topic in this edition of Radio Curious. Our guest is Professor Samuel Totten, a genocide scholar based at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. He was last in the Nuba Mountains in January, 2011 conducting research for a new book, “Genocidal Actions Against the Nuba Mountains People: Interviews with Survivors of Mass Starvation and Other Atrocities.”  He served as one of the 24 investigators with the U.S. Atrocities Documentation Project in eastern Chad.  His most recent book is "An Oral and Documentary History of the Darfur Genocide." This interview with Dr. Totten was recorded from his home in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on June 10, 2011.  We began when I asked him to describe the situation in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan. The book he recommends is one that he wrote and was just published entitled “We Cannot Forget:  Interviews with Survivors of Genocide in Rwanda.” Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. Click here (http://www.radio4all.net/responder.php/podcast/podcast.xml?program_id=52453&version_id=58735&version=1) to download and subscribe to our podcast. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2011/05/12/frankel-davey-lakew-rasselas-he-twice-ran-and-won-olympic-marathons-barefoot/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2011/05/12/frankel-davey-lakew-rasselas-he-twice-ran-and-won-olympic-marathons-barefoot/#comments Thu, 12 May 2011 19:50:41 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=1778 http://www.radiocurious.org/2011/05/12/frankel-davey-lakew-rasselas-he-twice-ran-and-won-olympic-marathons-barefoot/feed/ 0 Radio Curious speaks with Davey Frankel & Rasselas Lakew, directors and producers of "The Athlete," a film about the life of Abebe Bikila, the first African to win an Olympic Gold Medal in 1960 when he ran barefoot. It is said that in the early part of World War II, it took 500,000 Italian soldiers to occupy Ethiopia, and one Ethiopian soldier to conquer Rome.  19 years later, this one Ethiopian soldier, Abebe Bikila competed barefoot in the 1960 Olympiad marathon foot race in Rome, Italy, leaving all other runners in the dust.  Winning the 42 kms, 195 meter race, Abebe Bikila became the first African to win an Olympic Gold Medal. Abebe Bikila, a shepherd from the plains of Abyssinia in rural Ethiopia, who had never been away from his family, stunned the world with his extraordinary victory.  He became the hero of Rome Olympiad and for years to come a national hero in Ethiopia.  Four years later he won the Marathon at the Tokyo Olympiad becoming the first person to win two Olympic Marathon Gold Medals. Beyond igniting East Africa’s dominance in long distance running, Abebe Bikila became a quiet champion of hope for a continent that was in the midst of its struggle for self-determination.  During his career Bikila won 12 of the 15 marathons he entered. Abebe Bikila died of a brain hemorrhage on October 23rd, 1972, two and a half years after his final race and victory in Norway.  He was 41 years old. In this edition of Radio Curious we visit by phone with the Davey Frankel, from his home in Berlin, Germany and Rasselas Lakew, from his home in New York City.  They are the writers, directors and producers of the movie “The Athlete,” the story of Abebe Bikila.  Rasselas Lakew portrays Abebe Bikila in the lead role of “The Athlete," and was born and grew up in Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia.  “The Athlete” which will be shown at the Mendocino Film Festival on Friday evening June 3, tells the powerful and tragic story Abebe Bikila, a quiet man, who in many ways meets the Homer’s description in the Odyssey: “… the distant Ethiopians, the father outposts of mankind, half of whom live where the sun goes down and half where the rises.” This interview with Davey Frankel and Rasselas Lakew, which was recorded on May 9, 2011, began when I asked them explain what prompted them to write and produce “The Athlete.” The movie that Davey Frankel recommends is “My Life Without Me,” directed by Isabel Coixet.   The movie that Rasselas La Lakew recommends is “Living Russian, Man With A Movie Camera,” directed by Dziga Vertov. Click here to listen to the program or on the media player below. Click here (http://www.radio4all.net/responder.php/podcast/podcast.xml?program_id=51695&version_id=57924&version=1) to download and subscribe to our podcast. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2010/12/07/munoz-maca-community-radio-in-the-americas/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2010/12/07/munoz-maca-community-radio-in-the-americas/#comments Tue, 07 Dec 2010 18:43:34 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=1542 http://www.radiocurious.org/2010/12/07/munoz-maca-community-radio-in-the-americas/feed/ 0 Radio Curious speaks with Maca Munoz, an organizer with Palabra Radio, a group that facilitates low power radio stations in the America’s, from immigrant communities in the U.S. to indigenous communities in Latin America. As part of our ongoing series of community radio around the world, Radio Curious speaks with Maca Munoz, an organizer with Palabra Radio.  Radio Curious host and producer Barry Vogel and Maca Munoz both attended the 10th international congress of Community Radio Broadcasters in La Plata, Argentina, along with approximately 500 other community radio delegates from 86 countries who gathered to discuss community radio around the world. Palabra Radio is an organization that facilitates low power radio station projects in the America’s, from immigrant communities in the United States to rural indigenous communities in Latin America.  Palabra Radio provides training, technical support and other assistance to communities, collectives and social organizations that want to operate a low-power community radio station.  Their website is www.palabraradio.org The interview with Maca Munoz was recorded on November 12, 2010 in La Plata, Argentina.  The book Maca Munoz recommends is, "Open Veins of Latin America," by Eduardo Galeano. Click here (http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-MUNOZ_MACA_11-29-10_CA.mp3) to listen to this weeks program, or on the player below. Click here (http://www.radio4all.net/responder.php/podcast/podcast.xml?program_id=47761&version_id=53691&version=1) to listen to and subscribe to our podcasts. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2010/12/06/abuzada-fadi-rahman-ahm-bazlur-community-radio-around-the-world/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2010/12/06/abuzada-fadi-rahman-ahm-bazlur-community-radio-around-the-world/#comments Mon, 06 Dec 2010 20:43:11 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=1528 http://www.radiocurious.org/2010/12/06/abuzada-fadi-rahman-ahm-bazlur-community-radio-around-the-world/feed/ 0 AMARC In this edition of Radio Curious, the first in a series about local community radio around the world, we visit with Fadi Abuzada, a community radio activist in Palestine and AHM Bazlur Rahman, the CEO of the Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Commun... Radio Curious host and producer Barry Vogel and associate producer Janet Mendell attended the 10th international congress of the World Association of Community Broadcasters, known as AMARC.  AMARC is a network of more than 4,000 community radio stations, in more than 100 countries. Founded in 1983, its goal is to democratize the media sector. AMARC advocates for the right to communicate at the international, national, local and neighborhood levels. It defends and promotes the interests of the community radio movement through global solidarity, networking and cooperation. The 10th AMARC congress was held near Buenos Aires, Argentina the second week of November 2010, with 500 delegates from 86 countries present. In addition to presenting a workshop on interviewing skills, Radio Curious interviewed conference delegates from several different countries. In this edition of Radio Curious, the first in a series about local community radio around the world, we visit with Fadi Abuzada, a community radio activist in Palestine and AHM Bazlur Rahman, the CEO of the Bangladesh NGO's Network for Radio and Communication. The interviews were recorded in November 2010, in La Plata, Argentina. Fadi Abuzada recommends the movie, The Little Town of Bethlehem. AHM Bazlur Rahman recommends visiting his organizations website, www.bnnrc.net, instead of reading a book. Click here to listen to the interview with Fadi Abuzada and AHM Bazlur Rahman, or click on the player below. Click here (http://www.radio4all.net/responder.php/podcast/podcast.xml?program_id=47710&version_id=53640&version=1) to download and subscribe to our podcasts. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/2010/10/19/dakin-sadgopal-dr-mira-midwifery-in-rural-india-2/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2010/10/19/dakin-sadgopal-dr-mira-midwifery-in-rural-india-2/#comments Tue, 19 Oct 2010 18:35:52 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=1501 http://www.radiocurious.org/2010/10/19/dakin-sadgopal-dr-mira-midwifery-in-rural-india-2/feed/ 0 Join us for part two of an interview with Dr. Mira Dakin-Sadgopal, an obstetrician and gynecologist living and working in rural India and an organizer of the Jeeva Project, which in part, studies an indigenous midwifery practice that uses the placenta... Join us for part two of an interview with Dr. Mira Dakin-Sadgopal, an obstetrician and gynecologist living and working in rural India and an organizer of the Jeeva Project, which in part, studies an indigenous midwifery practice that uses the placenta to revive newborn babies who are unable to breathe.  In this two part series we discuss  current and traditional midwifery practices in India’s rural countryside. For part one and more information on Dr. Mira Dakin-Sadgopal, visit our first interview here . This second interview with Dr. Mira Dakin-Sadgopal was recorded in the studios of Radio Curious on September 6th, 2010. The book Dr. Dakin-Sadgopal recommends is, "Anila's Journey," by Mary Finn. Click here to listen to part two of the interview with Dr. Mira Dakin-Sadgopal, or click on the player below. Click here to download and subscribe to our podcasts. LeGov no http://www.radiocurious.org/2010/10/12/dakin-sadgopal-dr-mira-midwifery-in-rural-india/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2010/10/12/dakin-sadgopal-dr-mira-midwifery-in-rural-india/#comments Tue, 12 Oct 2010 19:20:00 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=1481 http://www.radiocurious.org/2010/10/12/dakin-sadgopal-dr-mira-midwifery-in-rural-india/feed/ 0 Dr. Mira Dakin-Sadgopal is an obstetrician and gynecologist living and working in rural India and an organizer of the Jeeva Project, which in part, studies an indigenous midwifery practice that uses the placenta to revive newborn babies who are unable ... Dr. Mira Dakin-Sadgopal is an obstetrician and gynecologist living and working in rural India and an organizer of the Jeeva Project, which in part, studies an indigenous midwifery practice that uses the placenta to revive newborn babies who are unable to breathe.  In a two part series we discuss  current and traditional midwifery practices in India’s rural countryside. Dr. Dakin-Sadgopal is the Managing Trustee of Tathapi, a small center for ‘Women and Health’ Resource Development in India, where she has lived for over 3 decades.  In the 1980s Dr. Dakin-Sadgopal provided medical relief to victims of the Union Carbide gas leak in Bhopal.  She later collaborated with women members of a landless laborer’s union to run “Zaroori Dawai ki Suvidha” – “essential medicines facility,” a local village medical co-operative.  She is the author of “In Our Hands,” and the editor of two books, “Her Healing Heritage,” and “Na Shariram Nadhi," – "My Body is Mine." In 2007 Dr. Dakin-Sadgopal was the recipient of the Chingari Award for Women Against Corporate Crimes, which is given annually to a woman activist who has taken up the cause of a community fighting corporate criminal activity in India.   Dr. Dakin-Sadgopal grew up in California and is now citizen of India. This, the first of two interviews with Dr. Mira Dakin-Sadgopal was recorded in the studios of Radio Curious on September 6th, 2010. The book Dr. Dakin-Sadgopal recommends is, "Anila's Journey," by Mary Finn. Click here to listen to part one of the interview with Dr. Mira Dakin-Sadgopal, or click on the player below. Click here to listen to part two of the interview with Dr. Mira Dakin Sadgopal. Click here (http://www.radio4all.net/responder.php/podcast/podcast.xml?program_id=46178&version_id=52003&version=1) to download and subscribe to our podcasts. LeGov no 28:58 http://www.radiocurious.org/2010/08/02/wells-spencer-the-unforseen-cost-of-civilization/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2010/08/02/wells-spencer-the-unforseen-cost-of-civilization/#comments Mon, 02 Aug 2010 21:07:44 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=1239 http://www.radiocurious.org/2010/08/02/wells-spencer-the-unforseen-cost-of-civilization/feed/ 0  - In this edition of Radio Curious we visit again with Spencer Wells and discuss his new book, “Pandora’s Seed: The Unforeseen Cost of Civilization,” published n 2010.  Our interview is a follow-up to a 2004 conversation about his book,  In this edition of Radio Curious we visit again with Spencer Wells and discuss his new book, “Pandora’s Seed: The Unforeseen Cost of Civilization,” published n 2010.  Our interview is a follow-up to a 2004 conversation about his book, "The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey," in which Wells traces our routes as small bands of hunter-gatherers when our ancestors walked out of Africa approximately 60,000 years ago and began populating the world.  Our 2004 interview may be found here (http://www.radiocurious.org/2004/02/10/spencer-wells-the-peopling-of-the-world/). “Pandora’s Seed” tells the story of what we humans, with our hunter-gatherer biological construct have created in the past 10,000 years. These multiple live style changes have produced what we call “civilization,” with systems and mechanisms that will not allow us to continue the life-styles to are emulated by many people world-wide, and exploited by those who have access to them. In other words we can’t last much longer doing what we are doing without radically reducing the way we all live, if not outright killing our species. Spencer Well is an Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C., where he leads the Genographic Project, which is collecting and analyzing hundreds of thousands of DNA samples from people around the wold in order to decipher how our ancestors populated the world.   He is also a professor a Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. In this interview with Spencer Wells, recorded on July 19, 2010, we began by describing the changes necessary for our species survival. The book Spencer Wells recommends is “The Histories," by Herodotus, the 5th century B.C. Greek historian. Click here (http://www.radio4all.net/responder.php/download/44618/50309/65742/?url=http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-WELLS_SPENCER.2_1_CA_7-19-10.mp3) to begin listening. Click here (http://www.radio4all.net/responder.php/podcast/podcast.xml?program_id=44618&version_id=50309&version=1) to download the podcast. LeGov no http://www.radiocurious.org/2010/05/11/cohen-joel-understanding-the-language-of-the-cello/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2010/05/11/cohen-joel-understanding-the-language-of-the-cello/#comments Tue, 11 May 2010 22:13:49 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=1150 http://www.radiocurious.org/2010/05/11/cohen-joel-understanding-the-language-of-the-cello/feed/ 0 The sound of the cello may, if you listen, be heard in the heart invoking a kaleidoscope of emotions on a “magic carpet ride” of sound. Joel Cohen, cellist extraordinaire has performed with the Oakland Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, The sound of the cello may, if you listen, be heard in the heart invoking a kaleidoscope of emotions on a “magic carpet ride” of sound. Joel Cohen, cellist extraordinaire has performed with the Oakland Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, and currently lives in Mendocino County.  When Joel Cohen visited the Radio Curious studios on April 26, 2010 he described his friend the cello, bowed it to life, and it sung and spoke to us.  Our conversation began with Joel Cohen describing his relationship with the cello. This interview was recorded in the studios of Radio Curious on April 26, 2010. The book Joel Cohen recommends is “Skinny Legs And All” by Tom Robbins. Click here to begin listening (http://www.radio4all.net/responder.php/download/42605/48103/63968/?url=http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-COHEN_JOEL_04-26-10_HB_WEB_MONO_COHEN_INTRO.mp3) Click here to download the podcast of this program (http://www.radio4all.net/responder.php/podcast/podcast.xml?program_id=42605&version_id=48103&version=1) LeGov no http://www.radiocurious.org/2010/03/24/dow-katie-how-do-we-feel-about-surrogacy/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2010/03/24/dow-katie-how-do-we-feel-about-surrogacy/#comments Wed, 24 Mar 2010 22:18:52 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=1092 http://www.radiocurious.org/2010/03/24/dow-katie-how-do-we-feel-about-surrogacy/feed/ 0 For millennia when couples were not able to conceive and bear their own children their options were somewhat limited, and not at all available if the complication was on the females parts.  And, these matters still are not much discussed even among the... For millennia when couples were not able to conceive and bear their own children their options were somewhat limited, and not at all available if the complication was on the females parts.  And, these matters still are not much discussed even among the couples themselves.  However in the past decades medical science has developed in vitro fertilization which can accommodate the egg for the intended mother, or from another woman, and the sperm from the intended father, or from another man, depending on what is needed. The fertilized egg can then be placed into a ‘surrogate’ mother who can take the pregnancy to term and deliver the baby for the parents. The many issues surrounding surrogacy form the conversation in this edition of Radio Curious.  We visit with Dr. Katie Dow, who has studied issues of surrogate parenthood in preparation of her doctorial dissertation in anthropology at the London School of Economics. Katie Dow joined us in the studios of Radio Curious in Ukiah, California on March 8th, 2010, and began by explaining what constitutes surrogacy. The book Katie Dow recommends is “A Meaningful Life,” by L.J. Davis. Click here to begin listening. (http://www.radio4all.net/responder.php/download/41064/46486/63209/?url=http://www.radio4all.net/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-dow,_katie_3-8-10_hb_mono.mp3) Click here to download the podcast of this program. (http://www.radio4all.net/responder.php/podcast/podcast.xml?program_id=41064&version_id=46486&version=1) LeGov no http://www.radiocurious.org/2009/12/14/fogg-charles-peace-activist-and-interrogator/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2009/12/14/fogg-charles-peace-activist-and-interrogator/#comments Mon, 14 Dec 2009 23:11:20 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=893 http://www.radiocurious.org/2009/12/14/fogg-charles-peace-activist-and-interrogator/feed/ 0 http://www.radiocurious.org/2009/07/13/fraser-alasdair-haas-natalie-sounds-of-scotland/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2009/07/13/fraser-alasdair-haas-natalie-sounds-of-scotland/#comments Mon, 13 Jul 2009 23:54:29 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=613 http://www.radiocurious.org/2009/07/13/fraser-alasdair-haas-natalie-sounds-of-scotland/feed/ 0 http://www.radiocurious.org/2009/04/16/the-dragons-gift-sacred-arts-of-bhutan/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2009/04/16/the-dragons-gift-sacred-arts-of-bhutan/#comments Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:10:52 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=416 http://www.radiocurious.org/2009/04/16/the-dragons-gift-sacred-arts-of-bhutan/feed/ 0 http://www.radiocurious.org/2009/02/12/ishmael-khaldi-israeli-diplomacy/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2009/02/12/ishmael-khaldi-israeli-diplomacy/#comments Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:52:27 +0000 http://www.radiocurious.org/?p=493 http://www.radiocurious.org/2009/02/12/ishmael-khaldi-israeli-diplomacy/feed/ 0 http://www.radiocurious.org/2008/10/19/mendel-janet-fine-spanish-cooking/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2008/10/19/mendel-janet-fine-spanish-cooking/#comments Sun, 19 Oct 2008 21:03:54 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/10/19/mendel-janet-fine-spanish-cooking/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2008/10/19/mendel-janet-fine-spanish-cooking/feed/ 0 http://www.radiocurious.org/2008/07/01/pickett-carroll-to-kill-or-not-to-kill-no-man-should-die-alone/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2008/07/01/pickett-carroll-to-kill-or-not-to-kill-no-man-should-die-alone/#comments Wed, 02 Jul 2008 05:09:17 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/07/01/pickett-carroll-to-kill-or-not-to-kill-no-man-should-die-alone/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2008/07/01/pickett-carroll-to-kill-or-not-to-kill-no-man-should-die-alone/feed/ 0 http://www.radiocurious.org/2008/03/27/michael-adair-wm-ray-shakespear-was-really-edward-devere/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2008/03/27/michael-adair-wm-ray-shakespear-was-really-edward-devere/#comments Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:11:01 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/03/27/michael-adair-wm-ray-shakespear-was-really-edward-devere/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2008/03/27/michael-adair-wm-ray-shakespear-was-really-edward-devere/feed/ 0 http://www.radiocurious.org/2007/07/25/charles-ferguson-will-this-war-ever-end/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2007/07/25/charles-ferguson-will-this-war-ever-end/#comments Wed, 25 Jul 2007 07:45:12 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/16/charles-ferguson-will-this-war-ever-end/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2007/07/25/charles-ferguson-will-this-war-ever-end/feed/ 0 !-/* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Arial; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi... !-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Arial; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> “The Endless War,” a movie released in late July 2007, written, directed and produced by Charles Ferguson, depicts the blunders and ill-prepared manner in which the United States initiated and carried out the war against Iraq. This full-length feature film juxtaposes the statements and actions of the Washington leadership of the war, which at the outset failed to include President Bush – the Commander-in-Chief, with the leadership’s actions and grievous consequences that followed.  Charles Ferguson holds a Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has extensive experience in foreign policy analysis, and lives and works in the San Francisco Bay area. When I spoke with him on July 20, 2007 we began with his explanation how the war and the occupation of Iraq were shaped by an extremely small group of people In Washington D.C., with limited foreign policy and post war occupation experience. The film he recommends is “The Lives of Others,” a story about East Germany under the community regime.   Click here (http://radio4all.net/responder.php/download/24072/28131/41724/?url=http://emma2.radio4all.net/pub/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-20070730-FERGUSON_INTERVIEW_7-20-07.mp3) to begin listening.   LeGov no http://www.radiocurious.org/2007/03/28/eunice-lipton-seduced-by-france/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2007/03/28/eunice-lipton-seduced-by-france/#comments Wed, 28 Mar 2007 08:00:12 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/16/eunice-lipton-seduced-by-france/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2007/03/28/eunice-lipton-seduced-by-france/feed/ 0 French Seduction: An American’s Encounter with France, Her Father, and the Holocaust. In a passionate blend of autobiography and cultural history, love, sex and art collide with hatred, withering French xenophobia and death, Eunice Lipton, French Seduction: An American’s Encounter with France, Her Father, and the Holocaust. In a passionate blend of autobiography and cultural history, love, sex and art collide with hatred, withering French xenophobia and death, Eunice Lipton, our guest in this edition of Radio Curious, describes her book, “French Seduction: An American’s Encounter with France, Her Father, and the Holocaust.” Lipton, who lives in Paris and New York received her Ph.D. in art history at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts. I spoke with her from her home in New York City the last week of March 2007.  Because she describes painting as her favorite companions, we began when I asked her to tell us about her friends who she calls art. Eunice Lipton recommends “The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion,” by Ford Madox Ford.. Originally Broadcast: March 28, 2007 Click here to begin listening. (http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-20070414-LIPTON_INTERVIEW_3-26-07.mp3) LeGov no http://www.radiocurious.org/2007/03/15/zana-briski-ross-kauffman-brothels-of-calcutta-india/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2007/03/15/zana-briski-ross-kauffman-brothels-of-calcutta-india/#comments Thu, 15 Mar 2007 08:05:10 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/16/zana-briski-ross-kauffman-brothels-of-calcutta-india/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2007/03/15/zana-briski-ross-kauffman-brothels-of-calcutta-india/feed/ 0 Born Into Brothels "Born into Brothels" received the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2005.  A tribute to the resiliency of childhood and the restorative power of art, "Born into Brothels" is a portrait of several unforgettable children w... Born Into Brothels "Born into Brothels" received the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2005.  A tribute to the resiliency of childhood and the restorative power of art, "Born into Brothels" is a portrait of several unforgettable children who live in the red light district of Calcutta, where their mothers work as prostitutes.  The most stigmatized people in Calcutta's red light district however are not the prostitutes, but their children.  In the face of abject poverty, abuse, and despair, these kids have little possibility of escaping their mother's fate or for creating another type of life. In "Born into Brothels," directors Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman chronicle the amazing transformation of the children they come to know in the red light district.  Briski, a professional photographer, gives them lessons and cameras, igniting latent sparks of artistic genius that reside in these children who live in the most sordid and seemingly hopeless world. The photographs taken by the children are not merely examples of remarkable observation and talent; they reflect something much larger, morally encouraging, and even politically volatile: art as an immensely liberating and empowering force. Devoid of sentimentality, "Born into Brothels" defies the typical tear-stained tourist snapshot of the global underbelly.  Briski spends years with these kids and becomes part of their lives.  Their photographs are prisms into their souls, rather than anthropological curiosities or primitive imagery, and a true testimony of the power of the indelible creative spirit. You can learn about this film and Kids with Cameras at www.kids-with-cameras.org. I spoke with Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman in February 2005. Beginning the conversation first with Zana Briski, I asked her to explain what drew her to India before the concept of "Kids With Cameras" was even a dream. www.kids-with-cameras.org (http://www.kids-with-cameras.org/) Zana Briski recommends "Secret Life of Bees," by Sue Monk Kidd. Originally Broadcast: March 15, 2007 Click here to begin listening. LeGov no http://www.radiocurious.org/2006/09/27/dr-eva-etzioni-halevy-israel-the-11th-century-bc-and-now/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2006/09/27/dr-eva-etzioni-halevy-israel-the-11th-century-bc-and-now/#comments Wed, 27 Sep 2006 08:18:16 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/16/dr-eva-etzioni-halevy-israel-the-11th-century-bc-and-now/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2006/09/27/dr-eva-etzioni-halevy-israel-the-11th-century-bc-and-now/feed/ 0 The Song of Hannah, A Biblical Novel of Love, Temptation, and the Making of A Prophet Eva Etzioni-Halevy, a retired professor of sociology at Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv, Israel, is the author of, “The Song of Hannah, A Biblical Novel of Love, The Song of Hannah, A Biblical Novel of Love, Temptation, and the Making of A Prophet Eva Etzioni-Halevy, a retired professor of sociology at Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv, Israel, is the author of, “The Song of Hannah, A Biblical Novel of Love, Temptation, and the Making of A Prophet,” and the guest in this edition of Radio Curious. The story takes place in Judea in the eleventh century B.C. when few people were literate. In this interview with Eva Etzioni-Halevy, recorded from her home in Tel Aviv, Israel, in late September 2006, she describes her interpretation of Hannah’s life, loves and leadership, and her impressions of Israel several weeks after the summer 2006 war with Lebanon. We began when I asked her to describe who Hannah was. www.evaetzioni-halevy.com (http://www.evaetzioni-halevy.com/) Dr. Eva Etzioni-Halevy recommends, "Walking the Bible," by Bruce Feiler. Originally Broadcast: September 27, 2006 Click here to begin listening. (http://www.radio4all.net/pub/archive2/07.01.07/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-20060928-ETZIONI-HALEVY_INTERVIEW_final.mp3) LeGov no http://www.radiocurious.org/2006/07/05/dr-clotaire-rapaille-understanding-our-collective-unconscious/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2006/07/05/dr-clotaire-rapaille-understanding-our-collective-unconscious/#comments Wed, 05 Jul 2006 08:27:40 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/16/dr-clotaire-rapaille-understanding-our-collective-unconscious/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2006/07/05/dr-clotaire-rapaille-understanding-our-collective-unconscious/feed/ 0 The Culture Code, An Ingenious Way to Understand Why People Around The World Live and Buy As They Do The collective unconscious may be defined as a cultural code, a set of imprinted concepts that control how members of different societies live.  Dr. The Culture Code, An Ingenious Way to Understand Why People Around The World Live and Buy As They Do The collective unconscious may be defined as a cultural code, a set of imprinted concepts that control how members of different societies live.  Dr. Clotaire Rapaille, a French born psychologist brings together the concepts of Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud in his development of the collective unconscious in the book, “The Culture Code, An Ingenious Way to Understand Why People Around The World Live and Buy As They Do.” Dr. Rapaille thrives on new ideas, which is part of the reason he chose to become American. We visited by phone from his home in New York State, the last week of June 2006, and asked him to describe the development of his ideas. Dr. Rapaille's website is:  www.archetypediscoveriesworldwide.com (http://www.archetypediscoveriesworldwide.com/) The books Dr. Clotaire Rapaille recommends are, "The DiVinci Code," by Dan Brown and "Straight From The Gut," by Jack Welsh. Originally Broadcast: June 28, 2006 and July 5, 2006 Click here to begin listening to part one. Click here to begin listening to part two. LeGov no http://www.radiocurious.org/2005/12/05/juan-martinez-shamanism-in-the-ecuadorian-jungle/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2005/12/05/juan-martinez-shamanism-in-the-ecuadorian-jungle/#comments Mon, 05 Dec 2005 21:30:45 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/16/juan-martinez-shamanism-in-the-ecuadorian-jungle/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2005/12/05/juan-martinez-shamanism-in-the-ecuadorian-jungle/feed/ 0 Concepts of reality have many levels, some of which are gained by fasting and/or the use of certain plants that allow a person to view the past, present and/or the future. This is especially true for cultures that cherish and practice oral traditions a... Concepts of reality have many levels, some of which are gained by fasting and/or the use of certain plants that allow a person to view the past, present and/or the future. This is especially true for cultures that cherish and practice oral traditions and which thrive in parts of the world which have an abundance of flora and fauna, like those located in the Amazon basin of South America. The knowledge of the use and effects of these various plants in the Ecuadorian portion of the Amazon basin is held by persons known as Shamans. Dr. Juan Martinez, our guest in this edition of Radio Curious, is a professor of History and Anthropology at the University of Cuenca, in Cuenca, Ecuador. He has studied, written and lectured about the Shamanistic practices in the Ecuadorian jungle and the medicinal and spiritual effects of the plants native to the western portion of the Amazon basin. I spoke with Professor Juan Martinez in his office in Cuenca, Ecuador on November 17, 2005. He began our conversation by describing relationship of the people of Ecuadorian jungle to their worlds, the spiritual world, and the world in which they live on a daily basis. Juan Martinez recommends "Amazon Worlds," published by Sinchi Sancha. Originally Broadcast: December 5,2005 Click here to begin listening. (http://www.radio4all.net/pub/archive2/07.01.07/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-20051204-JUAN_MARTINEZ_11-17-05.mp3) LeGov no http://www.radiocurious.org/2005/06/21/john-arquilla-networks-and-netwars/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2005/06/21/john-arquilla-networks-and-netwars/#comments Tue, 21 Jun 2005 21:50:36 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/16/john-arquilla-networks-and-netwars/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2005/06/21/john-arquilla-networks-and-netwars/feed/ 0 The war that the United States has invoked in what is often called the "War On Terror" is unusual in many ways. One of those ways is that this war is being fought against a network that is spread out in many unsuspecting and obscure places. The war that the United States has invoked in what is often called the "War On Terror" is unusual in many ways. One of those ways is that this war is being fought against a network that is spread out in many unsuspecting and obscure places. It is not being fought as many wars have been in the past, directly against another county. Dr. John Arquilla, is a professor of defense analysis and co-director of the justify on Terrorism at the Naval Post-Graduate School in Monterey, California. In this program we talk with Professor Arquilla about the fighting tactics employed by networks as opposed to countries, the threats they pose, and some of the war tactics used against these networks. John Arquilla recommends "Kim," by Rudyard Kipling. Originally Broadcast: June 21, 2005 Click here to begin listening. (http://www.radio4all.net/pub/archive/09.01.05/curious@pacific.net/1197-1-20050620-ARQUILLA__JOHN.mp3) LeGov no http://www.radiocurious.org/2005/06/07/sam-totten-genocide-in-darfur/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2005/06/07/sam-totten-genocide-in-darfur/#comments Tue, 07 Jun 2005 21:53:18 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/16/sam-totten-genocide-in-darfur/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2005/06/07/sam-totten-genocide-in-darfur/feed/ 0 Genocide is the intent to exterminate in whole or in part a specific group of people often based on nationality, ethnicity, race or religion. For the past two years, in the Darfur region of the nation of Sudan, Genocide is the intent to exterminate in whole or in part a specific group of people often based on nationality, ethnicity, race or religion. For the past two years, in the Darfur region of the nation of Sudan, located in north central Africa and populated primarily by black Africans, the Sudanese government has been committing racial genocide. Reports are that as many as 400,000 black African civilians have been murdered by the Sudanese government together with Arab rebel groups in Darfur. Professor Sam Totten, a scholar in Genocide Studies at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, visited the Darfur area in the fall of 2004 and has been examining this present day massacre that most of the world has chosen to ignore. I spoke with Professor Totten from his home in Arkansas and asked him to explain the reasons behind the genocide. www.savedarfur.org Sam Totten recommends "Shake Hands With the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda," by Romeo Dallaire. Originally Broadcast: June 7, 2005 Click here to begin listening. (http://www.radio4all.net/pub/archive/09.01.05/curious@pacific.net/1197-1-20050606-MOLLY_SECOND_EDIT_OF_TOTTEN.mp3) LeGov no http://www.radiocurious.org/2005/05/03/bernard-offen-surviving-the-holocaust/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2005/05/03/bernard-offen-surviving-the-holocaust/#comments Tue, 03 May 2005 21:56:33 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/16/bernard-offen-surviving-the-holocaust/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2005/05/03/bernard-offen-surviving-the-holocaust/feed/ 0 My Hometown Concentration Camp Bernard Offen, age 72, survived five Nazi concentration camps in Poland during World War Two, when he was a young teenager. He now leads tours of these concentration camps and tells his story in this interview. My Hometown Concentration Camp Bernard Offen, age 72, survived five Nazi concentration camps in Poland during World War Two, when he was a young teenager. He now leads tours of these concentration camps and tells his story in this interview. Bernard Offen recommends "My Hometown Concentration Camp," by himself. Originally Broadcast: May 3, 2005 Click here to begin listening. (http://www.radio4all.net/pub/archive/09.01.05/curious@pacific.net/1197-1-20050429-OFFEN_BERNARD_3-30-05.mp3) LeGov no http://www.radiocurious.org/2005/04/19/david-osborn-the-papal-conclave/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2005/04/19/david-osborn-the-papal-conclave/#comments Tue, 19 Apr 2005 21:57:47 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/16/david-osborn-the-papal-conclave/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2005/04/19/david-osborn-the-papal-conclave/feed/ 0 The Last Pope It is no secret that the papal conclave met April 18, 2005 to elect the head of one of the world’s few remaining imperial monarchies.However, those participating in the conclave and those assisting the Cardinals who will elect the next p... The Last Pope It is no secret that the papal conclave met April 18, 2005 to elect the head of one of the world’s few remaining imperial monarchies.However, those participating in the conclave and those assisting the Cardinals who will elect the next pope are sworn to secrecy regarding all the events within this historic gathering.In this edition of Radio Curious, we visit with papal scholar David Osborn, the author of “the Last Pope” who we interviewed in June 2004.“The Last Pope” is a novel about the lives and the papal competition of two Cardinals of the Catholic Church, after the death of a conservative and long tenured Pope.In this interview David Osborn discusses the process and some of the politics of electing the successor to Pope John Paul II.When I spoke with David Osborn from his home in Connecticut, I asked him about what he believed would occur just prior to the opening of the conclave on April 18, 2005. David Osborn recommends "Remembrance of Things Past,"by Marcel Proust. Originally Broadcast: April 19, 2005 Click here to begin listening. (http://www.radio4all.net/pub/archive/09.01.05/curious@pacific.net/1197-1-20050417-OSBORN__DAVID.mp3) LeGov no http://www.radiocurious.org/2005/02/24/abha-dawesar-babyji-a-story-of-physics-sex-and-caste-politics-in-india/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2005/02/24/abha-dawesar-babyji-a-story-of-physics-sex-and-caste-politics-in-india/#comments Thu, 24 Feb 2005 21:59:09 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/16/abha-dawesar-babyji-a-story-of-physics-sex-and-caste-politics-in-india/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2005/02/24/abha-dawesar-babyji-a-story-of-physics-sex-and-caste-politics-in-india/feed/ 0 http://www.radiocurious.org/2005/02/15/swanee-hunt-women-waging-peace/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2005/02/15/swanee-hunt-women-waging-peace/#comments Tue, 15 Feb 2005 22:02:06 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/16/swanee-hunt-women-waging-peace/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2005/02/15/swanee-hunt-women-waging-peace/feed/ 0 http://www.radiocurious.org/2004/11/30/yael-berda-israeli-human-rights-attorney/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2004/11/30/yael-berda-israeli-human-rights-attorney/#comments Tue, 30 Nov 2004 22:14:52 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/16/yael-berda-israeli-human-rights-attorney/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2004/11/30/yael-berda-israeli-human-rights-attorney/feed/ 0 Yael Berda is a young Israeli lawyer, born in New York and raised in Jerusalem. At the age of 14, she became involved in a struggle to free her parents from debtors’ prison and the experience changed her life. Yael Berda is a young Israeli lawyer, born in New York and raised in Jerusalem. At the age of 14, she became involved in a struggle to free her parents from debtors’ prison and the experience changed her life. She has since become a leader of a non-violent movement for reconciliation and understanding among the Israel and Palestinian populations. Yael Berda recommends "Fields of Protest," by Roca Ray. Originally Broadcast: November 30, 2004 Click here to begin listening. (http://www.radio4all.net/pub/archive/04.01.05/curious@pacific.net/1197-1-20050110-BERDA__YAEL__11-10-04.mp3) LeGov no http://www.radiocurious.org/2004/09/07/jed-barahal-cellist-extraordinaire/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2004/09/07/jed-barahal-cellist-extraordinaire/#comments Tue, 07 Sep 2004 22:20:22 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/16/jed-barahal-cellist-extraordinaire/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2004/09/07/jed-barahal-cellist-extraordinaire/feed/ 0 http://www.radiocurious.org/2004/06/08/david-osborn-papal-politics-the-election-of-a-new-pope/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2004/06/08/david-osborn-papal-politics-the-election-of-a-new-pope/#comments Tue, 08 Jun 2004 22:25:40 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/16/david-osborn-papal-politics-the-election-of-a-new-pope/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2004/06/08/david-osborn-papal-politics-the-election-of-a-new-pope/feed/ 0 http://www.radiocurious.org/2003/09/02/alexandra-fuller-growing-up-white-in-africa/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2003/09/02/alexandra-fuller-growing-up-white-in-africa/#comments Tue, 02 Sep 2003 10:03:47 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/17/alexandra-fuller-growing-up-white-in-africa/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2003/09/02/alexandra-fuller-growing-up-white-in-africa/feed/ 0 http://www.radiocurious.org/2003/06/29/philip-weiss-cover-up-of-a-peace-corps-murder/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2003/06/29/philip-weiss-cover-up-of-a-peace-corps-murder/#comments Sun, 29 Jun 2003 07:20:50 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/25/philip-weiss-cover-up-of-a-peace-corps-murder/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2003/06/29/philip-weiss-cover-up-of-a-peace-corps-murder/feed/ 0 American Taboo, A Murder in Peace Corps In this edition of Radio Curious, we take a look at murder and getting away with murder. In the small island kingdom of Tonga, an American Peace Corps Volunteer murdered another American Peace Corps volunteer in... American Taboo, A Murder in Peace Corps In this edition of Radio Curious, we take a look at murder and getting away with murder. In the small island kingdom of Tonga, an American Peace Corps Volunteer murdered another American Peace Corps volunteer in October 1976. “American Taboo, A Murder in Peace Corps,” by Philip Weiss, is a detailed story about the murder, how and why it happened, the legend that developed, the subsequent cover-up, and an interview with the murderer. Philip Weiss recommends "McArthur and Southerland, The Good Years," & "McArthur and Southerland, The Bitter Years," both by Paul P. Rogers Originally Broadcast: June 29, 2003 Click here to begin listening. LeGov no http://www.radiocurious.org/2003/01/13/socrates-ron-gross-socrates-of-athens-in-conversation/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2003/01/13/socrates-ron-gross-socrates-of-athens-in-conversation/#comments Mon, 13 Jan 2003 07:35:02 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/25/socrates-ron-gross-socrates-of-athens-in-conversation/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2003/01/13/socrates-ron-gross-socrates-of-athens-in-conversation/feed/ 0 http://www.radiocurious.org/2002/08/01/peter-hessler-a-peace-corps-volunteer-in-china/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2002/08/01/peter-hessler-a-peace-corps-volunteer-in-china/#comments Thu, 01 Aug 2002 08:02:54 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/25/peter-hessler-a-peace-corps-volunteer-in-china/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2002/08/01/peter-hessler-a-peace-corps-volunteer-in-china/feed/ 0 http://www.radiocurious.org/2002/06/18/zoya-an-afghan-womans-struggle-for-freedom/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2002/06/18/zoya-an-afghan-womans-struggle-for-freedom/#comments Tue, 18 Jun 2002 17:27:51 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/28/zoya-an-afghan-womans-struggle-for-freedom/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2002/06/18/zoya-an-afghan-womans-struggle-for-freedom/feed/ 0 Zoya's Story, An Afghan Woman's Struggle for Freedom Zoya, a member of the RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan, tells the story of her childhood, her parents and her parents’ disappearance. Zoya's Story, An Afghan Woman's Struggle for Freedom Zoya, a member of the RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan, tells the story of her childhood, her parents and her parents’ disappearance. She describes the wrath that first the Russians, then the Taliban and then the Northern Alliance have brought to her country. Along with the suffering, she describes the hope and spirit carried in the hearts of the Afghan people. Zoya recommends the collected speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.. Originally Broadcast: June 18, 2002 Click here to begin listening. (http://www.radio4all.net/pub/archive/04.01.05/curious@pacific.net/1197-1-20050209-ZOYA__-_10__6-15-02.mp3) LeGov no http://www.radiocurious.org/2002/05/07/brad-newsham-a-taxi-across-america/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2002/05/07/brad-newsham-a-taxi-across-america/#comments Tue, 07 May 2002 17:32:47 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/28/brad-newsham-a-taxi-across-america/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2002/05/07/brad-newsham-a-taxi-across-america/feed/ 0 http://www.radiocurious.org/2001/09/11/gordon-chang-how-will-china-survive/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2001/09/11/gordon-chang-how-will-china-survive/#comments Tue, 11 Sep 2001 17:52:18 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/28/gordon-chang-how-will-china-survive/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2001/09/11/gordon-chang-how-will-china-survive/feed/ 0 http://www.radiocurious.org/2000/11/07/marta-morena-vega-one-religion-people-forced-to-migrate-brought-to-the-americas/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2000/11/07/marta-morena-vega-one-religion-people-forced-to-migrate-brought-to-the-americas/#comments Tue, 07 Nov 2000 18:12:32 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/28/marta-morena-vega-one-religion-people-forced-to-migrate-brought-to-the-americas/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2000/11/07/marta-morena-vega-one-religion-people-forced-to-migrate-brought-to-the-americas/feed/ 0 The Altar of My Soul Religious beliefs normally follow people as they migrate, including people who are forced to migrate. The people forced to migrate to the western Hemisphere during the slave-trading period carried their beliefs and belief systems... The Altar of My Soul Religious beliefs normally follow people as they migrate, including people who are forced to migrate. The people forced to migrate to the western Hemisphere during the slave-trading period carried their beliefs and belief systems to the diaspora of their new world. The Santeria religion, also know as Lucumí, is a belief system that originated in Africa later brought to the Americas and is still practiced in widely separated communities of the western hemisphere. Marta Moreno Vega, a Santeria Priestess, and university professor in New York City is the author of “The Alter of My Soul.” Her book is a story of the Santeria or Lucumí religion, its traditions, how they were brought from Africa and are practiced now. I spoke with Marta Moreno Vega by phone in November of 2000, and we began when I asked her to tell us about the Santeria religion and how it differs from other religions. Marta Morena Vega recommends “Face of The Gods: Art and Altars of Africa and the African Americans,” by Robert F. Thompson. Originally Broadcast: November 7, 2000 Click here to begin listening. (http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-20070422-VEGA__Marta_Moreno_11-7-00.mp3) LeGov no http://www.radiocurious.org/2000/07/18/da-chen-life-in-china-under-mao/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2000/07/18/da-chen-life-in-china-under-mao/#comments Tue, 18 Jul 2000 18:16:59 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/28/da-chen-life-in-china-under-mao/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2000/07/18/da-chen-life-in-china-under-mao/feed/ 0 Colors of the Mountain The Chinese Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, led by Mao Zedong, imposed a major change to the nation where one in every four people in the world live. Da Chen was born in 1962 in southern China to a once wealthy family, Colors of the Mountain The Chinese Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, led by Mao Zedong, imposed a major change to the nation where one in every four people in the world live. Da Chen was born in 1962 in southern China to a once wealthy family, by that time despised for its capitalist past. At the age of 23, after graduating with top honors and serving as an assistant professor at the Beijing Language Institute, Da Chen came to America with $30 and a bamboo flute. He won a full scholarship to Columbia University Law School, and later settled in the Hudson River Valley. His book, “Colors of the Mountain,” tells the story of his childhood, his life and experiences. Da Chen recommends "The God of Small Things," by Arundhati Roy. Originally Broadcast: July 18, 2000 Click here to begin listening. (http://www.radio4all.net/pub/archive/04.01.05/curious@pacific.net/1197-1-20050207-Da_Chen_July_18__2000.mp3) LeGov no http://www.radiocurious.org/2000/05/16/steve-jones-origin-of-species-updated/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2000/05/16/steve-jones-origin-of-species-updated/#comments Tue, 16 May 2000 18:21:55 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/28/steve-jones-origin-of-species-updated/ http://www.radiocurious.org/2000/05/16/steve-jones-origin-of-species-updated/feed/ 0 Darwin's Ghost: The Origin of Species Updated The Origin of the Species,” written by Charles Darwin, after his trip to the Galapagos Islands off of the northwest coast of South America, approximately 150 years ago, fundamentally changed, Darwin's Ghost: The Origin of Species Updated The Origin of the Species,” written by Charles Darwin, after his trip to the Galapagos Islands off of the northwest coast of South America, approximately 150 years ago, fundamentally changed, the understandings of how our species came to be. Steve Jones, Professor of Genetics at University College in London, England, has written a sequel to Darwin’s book called “Darwin’s Ghost, the Origin of the Species Updated. Steve Jones recommends “The Basque History of the World: The Story of a Nation,” by Mark Kurlansky and "The Book of Pi," author unkown. Originally Broadcast: May 9, 2000 May 16, 2000 Click here to begin listening to Part One. (http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-20070713-Jones__Steve__part_1_May_9__2000.mp3) Click here to begin listening to Part Two. (http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-20070713-Jones__Steve_May_16__2000_Part_2.mp3) LeGov no http://www.radiocurious.org/1999/05/08/dr-ken-alibek-soviet-germ-warfare/ http://www.radiocurious.org/1999/05/08/dr-ken-alibek-soviet-germ-warfare/#comments Sat, 08 May 1999 18:49:51 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/28/dr-ken-alibek-soviet-germ-warfare/ http://www.radiocurious.org/1999/05/08/dr-ken-alibek-soviet-germ-warfare/feed/ 0 Radio Curious visits with Dr. Ken Alibeck, author of the true story, "Bio-Hazard: The Chilling Story of the Largest Covert Biological Weapons Program in the World — Told From Inside by the Man Who Ran it." Bio-Hazard: The Chilling Story of the Largest Covert Biological Weapons Program in the World -- Told From Inside by the Man Who Ran it Biological warfare is the use of weapons that cause death by disease. The largest and most sophisticated biological weapons program in the world, which cultivated and stockpiled anthrax virus, brucellosis, the plague and genetically altered strains of small pox, employed more than 6000 people at over 100 facilities in the former Soviet Union. For 15 years, ending in 1992, Dr. Ken Alibek, a doctor of medicine and a Ph.D. in microbiology, was the scientific leader of Bio-Preparat, the civilian branch of that secret biological weapons program, masquerading as a pharmaceutical company. In 1992, Dr. Alibek defected to the United States. Several years later, he wrote “Bio-Hazard,” a book detailing the development of biological weapons, the horrors of his former life and why he chose to defect. This is a two-part program with Dr. Ken Alibek, recorded in 1999. Dr. Ken Alibek recommends "Prevent," by Richard Preston & "Vector," by Robin Cook. Originally Broadcast: May 11, 1999 & May 18, 1999 Click here to listen to Part 1 or on the media player below. Click here (http://www.radio4all.net/responder.php/podcast/podcast.xml?program_id=54380&version_id=60810&version=1) to download and subscribe to our podcast. LeGov no 29:00 http://www.radiocurious.org/1998/11/27/elliott-norse-trawling-the-ocean-floor/ http://www.radiocurious.org/1998/11/27/elliott-norse-trawling-the-ocean-floor/#comments Fri, 27 Nov 1998 19:35:50 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/28/elliott-norse-trawling-the-ocean-floor/ http://www.radiocurious.org/1998/11/27/elliott-norse-trawling-the-ocean-floor/feed/ 0 Once, fishes as big as turkeys and sheep swam the seas. Now, most of their few remaining descendants would fit into a frying pan. Dr. Elliot A. Norse, president of the Marine Biology Conservation Institute in Redmond, Washington, Once, fishes as big as turkeys and sheep swam the seas. Now, most of their few remaining descendants would fit into a frying pan. Dr. Elliot A. Norse, president of the Marine Biology Conservation Institute in Redmond, Washington, believes that this radical reduction in the size and number of the world’s fishes comes not only from over fishing, the catching of fish at a faster rate than they can breed, but also from bottom trawling. Dr. Norse writes that bottom trawling crushes, buries, and exposes marine creatures like lobsters, crustaceans, clams, corals and sponges that live on or in the seabed, damaging or killing them. In August of 1999, Dr. Norse visited with Radio Curious to discuss the effects of bottom trawling, how and where it’s done, and some of the concerns and causes of global warming and the effects it has on the oceans. Elliott Norse recommends “The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction” by David Quammen. Originally Broadcast: November 27, 1998 Click here to begin listening. (http://www.radio4all.net/pub/archive2/07.01.07/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-20060719-NORSE__ELLIOTT_8-10-99.doc.mp3) LeGov no http://www.radiocurious.org/1998/07/03/mike-halle-brady-life-in-vladivostok-russia/ http://www.radiocurious.org/1998/07/03/mike-halle-brady-life-in-vladivostok-russia/#comments Fri, 03 Jul 1998 19:47:35 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/28/mike-halle-brady-life-in-vladivostok-russia/ http://www.radiocurious.org/1998/07/03/mike-halle-brady-life-in-vladivostok-russia/feed/ 0 http://www.radiocurious.org/1998/04/03/dennis-del-castillo-mercedes-lu-peruvian-environmental-issues-1998/ http://www.radiocurious.org/1998/04/03/dennis-del-castillo-mercedes-lu-peruvian-environmental-issues-1998/#comments Fri, 03 Apr 1998 19:49:25 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/28/dennis-del-castillo-mercedes-lu-peruvian-environmental-issues-1998/ http://www.radiocurious.org/1998/04/03/dennis-del-castillo-mercedes-lu-peruvian-environmental-issues-1998/feed/ 0 In this edition of Radio Curious, we visit Dennis del Castillo and Mercedes Lu, two environmental activists from Peru. I met with them in Lima, Peru on February 5th, 1998. Dennis del Castillo, who holds a Ph.D. In this edition of Radio Curious, we visit Dennis del Castillo and Mercedes Lu, two environmental activists from Peru. I met with them in Lima, Peru on February 5th, 1998. Dennis del Castillo, who holds a Ph.D. from Mississippi State University in soil science and in this interview describes contemporary environmental problems in the Peruvian Amazon Basin. In the second half of this program we visit with Mercedes Lu, a scientific technician, who described some of the problems resulting from copper mining that occurs along the coast of southern Peru. We began our conversation when I asked Dennis del Castillo to describe the potential of the Peruvian Amazon Basin. Dennis del Castillo recommends “The Losing Ground,” by Erik P. Eckholm. Originally Broadcast: April 3, 1998 Click here to begin listening. (http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-20070320-_247__4-3-98_Dennis_del_Castillo__Mercedes_Lu.mp3) LeGov no http://www.radiocurious.org/1997/12/12/lynn-freed-reflections-on-a-life/ http://www.radiocurious.org/1997/12/12/lynn-freed-reflections-on-a-life/#comments Fri, 12 Dec 1997 20:25:59 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/28/lynn-freed-reflections-on-a-life/ http://www.radiocurious.org/1997/12/12/lynn-freed-reflections-on-a-life/feed/ 0 http://www.radiocurious.org/1997/11/07/gregorio-luke-mexican-culture-in-the-united-states/ http://www.radiocurious.org/1997/11/07/gregorio-luke-mexican-culture-in-the-united-states/#comments Fri, 07 Nov 1997 20:28:18 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/28/gregorio-luke-mexican-culture-in-the-united-states/ http://www.radiocurious.org/1997/11/07/gregorio-luke-mexican-culture-in-the-united-states/feed/ 0 The governments of most countries in the world send an ambassador to other countries to talk about and promote what their country is like and carry on political affairs between the two countries. These ambassadors often have assistants that are called... The governments of most countries in the world send an ambassador to other countries to talk about and promote what their country is like and carry on political affairs between the two countries. These ambassadors often have assistants that are called “cultural attaches”. They present the culture, the folklore and the history from the country where they’re from and the country where they are. In this program from the archives of Radio Curious, recorded in 1997, we visit with Gregorio Luke, who then was the counsel for cultural affairs for Mexico. He spent 8 ½ years in Washington DC, and at the time this program was recorded he had been working at the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles for eighteen months. Gregorio Luke recommends "The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh," by Vincent Van Gogh. Originally Broadcast: November 7, 1997 Click here to begin listening. (http://www.radio4all.net/pub/archive2/07.01.07/curious@pacific.net/1197-1-20051029-_234__11-7-97_Gregorio_Luke.mp3) LeGov no http://www.radiocurious.org/1997/05/14/bob-blincoe-the-kurdish-people/ http://www.radiocurious.org/1997/05/14/bob-blincoe-the-kurdish-people/#comments Wed, 14 May 1997 20:46:15 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/28/bob-blincoe-the-kurdish-people/ http://www.radiocurious.org/1997/05/14/bob-blincoe-the-kurdish-people/feed/ 0 The word millet is a term from the Ottoman Empire that ruled parts of Europe Central to the Near East from 1430 to 1921 and means “a recognized people or cultural group who have no homeland.” Millet now applies to the Kurdish people, The word millet is a term from the Ottoman Empire that ruled parts of Europe Central to the Near East from 1430 to 1921 and means “a recognized people or cultural group who have no homeland.” Millet now applies to the Kurdish people, who live in the Zagros Mountains, where the borders of eastern Turkey, northern Iraq, and northwestern Iran converge. Starting with Gulf War of 1991, 25 million Kurdish people live homeless and stateless in the Zagros Mountains. They are subject to frequent attacks from the Turks and the Iraqis. Bob Blincoe, a Presbyterian minister, lived and worked as a community organizer among the Kurds in the Zagros Mountains for five and one-half years until the Fall of 1996. At first he spoke Arabic, so he wouldn’t stand out as someone working with a suspect minority. He quickly learned Kurdish and has many interesting stories to share. Bob Blincoe recommends "A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern World," by David Fromkin. Originally Broadcast: May 14, 1997 Clcik here to begin listening. (http://www.radio4all.net/pub/archive/09.01.05/curious@pacific.net/1197-1-20050717-BLINCOE__BOB_5-14-1997.mp3) LeGov no http://www.radiocurious.org/1997/04/02/m-wayne-knight-rural-american-artist-in-cambodia/ http://www.radiocurious.org/1997/04/02/m-wayne-knight-rural-american-artist-in-cambodia/#comments Wed, 02 Apr 1997 22:07:51 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/29/m-wayne-knight-rural-american-artist-in-cambodia/ http://www.radiocurious.org/1997/04/02/m-wayne-knight-rural-american-artist-in-cambodia/feed/ 2 Wayne Knight, an artist based in Mendocino County, California with over 40 years of experience, traveled very little before he found himself in Phnom Phen, Cambodia in 1995 and 1996. He spent just under a year there, looking, seeing, Wayne Knight, an artist based in Mendocino County, California with over 40 years of experience, traveled very little before he found himself in Phnom Phen, Cambodia in 1995 and 1996. He spent just under a year there, looking, seeing, and painting scenes that previously were beyond his imagination. Wayne Knight also worked with the Cambodian Defenders’ Project in developing computer access to their legal resources in Cambodia. His experience verified his security and, in many ways, enhanced his continuing growth as an artist. Other programs you may enjoy are with Daniel Ellsberg discussing the Pentagon Papers and Vietman, and with Linda Kremer, Esq., a Marin County, California, public defender who took a leave of absence to direct the Cambodian Defenders Project. They both may be found on this website. Wayne Knight recommends “Living My Life,” by Emma Goldman. Originally Broadcast: April 2, 1997 Click here to begin listening. (http://www.radio4all.net/pub/archive2/07.01.07/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-20060129-_212__4-2-97_Wayne_Knight.mp3) LeGov no http://www.radiocurious.org/1997/03/26/linda-kremer-the-legal-defense-of-jailed-cambodians/ http://www.radiocurious.org/1997/03/26/linda-kremer-the-legal-defense-of-jailed-cambodians/#comments Wed, 26 Mar 1997 22:10:18 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/29/linda-kremer-the-legal-defense-of-jailed-cambodians/ http://www.radiocurious.org/1997/03/26/linda-kremer-the-legal-defense-of-jailed-cambodians/feed/ 1 Attorney Linda Kremer, a Public Defender in Marin County, California, worked for thirteen months in Phnom Phen, Cambodia, in 1996 and 1997 as Director of the Cambodian Defenders’ Project. The Cambodian Defenders’ Project recruits and trains Khmer men ... Attorney Linda Kremer, a Public Defender in Marin County, California, worked for thirteen months in Phnom Phen, Cambodia, in 1996 and 1997 as Director of the Cambodian Defenders’ Project. The Cambodian Defenders’ Project recruits and trains Khmer men and women to serve as Public Defenders in the criminal courts of Cambodia. Cambodian law requires that no person be detained in excess of 48 hours without being charged with a crime or be held without trial from longer than six months. In practice, these rights are rarely honored. Without legal defense, those is prison are powerless to request compliance. Other programs you may enjoy are with Daniel Ellsberg discussing the Pentagon Papers and Vietman, and with Wayne Knight, a Mendocino County artist who was also associated with the Cambodian Defenders Project. They both may be found on this website. Linda Kremer recommends “Spontaneous Healing” & “Natural Healing,” both by Andrew While. Originally Broadcast: March 26, 1997 Click here to begin listening. (http://www.radio4all.net/pub/archive2/07.01.07/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-20060129-_211__3-26-97_Linda_Kremer.mp3) LeGov no http://www.radiocurious.org/1997/01/08/chaim-potok-escaping-communism/ http://www.radiocurious.org/1997/01/08/chaim-potok-escaping-communism/#comments Wed, 08 Jan 1997 22:22:55 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/29/chaim-potok-escaping-communism/ http://www.radiocurious.org/1997/01/08/chaim-potok-escaping-communism/feed/ 0 The Gates of November Chaim Potok, the author of “The Chosen,” “The Gift of Asher Lev,” “Divida’s Heart,” and many other novels, chronicled the life of a Russian Jewish family in his non-fiction work, “The Gates of November. The Gates of November Chaim Potok, the author of “The Chosen,” “The Gift of Asher Lev,” “Divida’s Heart,” and many other novels, chronicled the life of a Russian Jewish family in his non-fiction work, “The Gates of November.” This true story of the Slapeck family, Solomon Slapek, his son Valodya, and daughter-in-law Masha, spans 100 years. Beginning with Solomon’s childhood at turn of the 20th century, his escape to America and return to Russia, it eventually describes Valodya and Masha’s life after they apply for an exit visa to leave Russia in 1968, in order to emigrate to Israel. Chaim Potok died July 23, 2002, at his suburban Philadelphia home of brain cancer at the age of 73. Chaim Potok recommends "The English Patient," by Michael Ondaatje. Originally Broadcast: January 8, 1997 Click here to begin listening. (http://www.radio4all.net/pub/archive2/07.01.07/curious@radiocurious.org/1197-1-20051211-_200__Potok__Chaim_1-8-97.mp3) LeGov no http://www.radiocurious.org/1995/06/20/rodolfo-gomez-a-walk-in-the-costa-rican-rain-forest/ http://www.radiocurious.org/1995/06/20/rodolfo-gomez-a-walk-in-the-costa-rican-rain-forest/#comments Tue, 20 Jun 1995 22:45:46 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/29/rodolfo-gomez-a-walk-in-the-costa-rican-rain-forest/ http://www.radiocurious.org/1995/06/20/rodolfo-gomez-a-walk-in-the-costa-rican-rain-forest/feed/ 0 On the eastern slope of the Continental Divide, about an hour’s drive east of San Jose, Costa Rica, is the Rain Forest Aerial Tram, a tramway that travels through, above and below the rain forest canopy. The rain forest canopy is home to more diverse f... On the eastern slope of the Continental Divide, about an hour’s drive east of San Jose, Costa Rica, is the Rain Forest Aerial Tram, a tramway that travels through, above and below the rain forest canopy. The rain forest canopy is home to more diverse forms of flora and fauna than anywhere else in the known universe. Rodolfo Gomez, trained as an architect, has found his calling as a tour guide in Central America and specifically Costa Rica. My daughter Molly and I met with Rodolfo in the rain forest, near the aerial tram and recorded this program in April of 1995. Originally Broadcast: June 20, 1995 Click here to begin listening. (http://www.radio4all.net/responder.php/download/11192/13320/20248/?url=http://emma2.radio4all.net/pub/archive/04.01.05/curious@pacific.net/1197-1-20050208-_143__Gomez__Rodolfo_6-26-95.mp3) LeGov no http://www.radiocurious.org/1995/04/01/dr-donald-perry-a-ride-through-a-rain-forest-in-costa-rica/ http://www.radiocurious.org/1995/04/01/dr-donald-perry-a-ride-through-a-rain-forest-in-costa-rica/#comments Sat, 01 Apr 1995 22:47:19 +0000 http://radiocurious.org/2008/01/29/dr-donald-perry-a-ride-through-a-rain-forest-in-costa-rica/ http://www.radiocurious.org/1995/04/01/dr-donald-perry-a-ride-through-a-rain-forest-in-costa-rica/feed/ 0