Tag: book/Archives

HV136- Where Wild Things Are

Illustration from Where the Wild Things AreHearing Voices from NPR®
136 Where Wild Things Are: Maurice Sendak Memorial
Host: Barrett Golding of Hearing Voices
Airs week of: 2012-05-30

“Where Wild Things Are” (52:00 mp3):

“Where Wild Things Are” (52:00) Peter Bochan

A memorial to recently departed cultural innovators: Beastie Boys bassist and rapper Adam Yauch — aka, “MCA,” British hairdresser and business person Vidal Sassoon, pioneer FM rock n’ roll disc jockey (WOR-FM, WNEW, WFUV, XM satellite radio) Pete Fornatale, and mostly we hear mostly we hear children’s literature author/illustrator Maurice Sendak, along with all the music and movies inspired by his 1963 classic, “Where the Wild Things Are.”

The Wild Mix (playlist below) was produced by Peter Bochan, General Manager of WPKN-Bridgeport CT, announcer WBAI-NYC NY, and mixmaster at All Mixed Up Productions. His Shortcuts and other mixes are at PRX.

We also hear music from the ballet, “Where the Wild Things Are,” by composer Randall Woolf, created with Maurice Sendak and Septime Webre for the American Repertory Ballet.

More…

Paper Sculptors Anonymous

Librarians in Scotland have discovered a spate of exquisite paper sculptures, popping up anonymously inside their edifices, with notes, such as:

We know that a library is so much more than a building full of books… a book is so much more than pages full of words… This is for you in support of libraries, books, words, ideas… a gesture (poetic maybe?)

Photos © chrisdonia:

A large version of this slideshow is at Flikr.

NPR’s Robert Krulwich wondered “Who Left A Tree, Then A Coffin In The Library?,” then news-flashed “The Library Phantom Returns!.”

At present the stealth papyrus scupltor remains unsourced.

HV122- Prisoner of Zion

Prisoner of Zion book coverHearing Voices from NPR®
122 Prisoner of Zion: Religious Fundamentals- 9/11/11
Host: Larry Massett of Hearing Voices
Airs week of: 2011-09-07

“Prisoner of Zion” (52:00 mp3):

“Prisoner of Zion” (52:00) Scott Carrier

Shortly after the World Trade Center fell in autumn 2001, it became clear the United States would invade Afghanistan. Producer Scott Carrier decided he ought to go there too. Why? To see for himself: that’s what writers do. Who are these fanatics, these fundamentalists, the Taliban and the like? And what do they want?

For the weekend of 9/11/11, Hearing Voices from NPR presents Prisoner of Zion. Carrier narrates his trip to Afghanistan. With his young guide and translator, Najibulla, they tour the horrors of war.

Years later Naji tells Scott he must leave his homeland — the dangers for a translator have become extreme. Scott gets Najibulla accepted at Utah Valley University. Naji, it turns out, handles the Mormons quite well, while Scott, teaching at the same school, has a hard time with them. At the end Naji is graduating, about to get married, and start a new job; while Scott wonders whether he can stand teaching another year — or if he’ll wind up on the street like Naji.

From Afghanistan: A photo-audio-essay by Scott Carrier; with sounds, images, songs and prayers of the Afghan people.

→ At Amazon: Prisoner of Zion: Muslims, Mormons and Other Misadventures.

Prisoner of Zion: KUER

PoZ at Amazon

Scott talks PoZ w/ RadioWest’s Doug Fabrizio:

Qala-i-Jangi, Afghanistan, photo by Scott CarrierKUER: 8/30/11: Prisoner of Zion
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH (kuer) – Wednesday, Doug is joined by independent radio producer Scott Carrier. When the US invaded Afghanistan after the attacks on 9/11, Carrier decided to go there too. He wanted to meet the enemy himself and find out what life is like in their world. But when he returned, he also found an enemy at home. It was the fear and anger that he says Americans have towards others. Scott Carrier has just published a book of stories from the post-9/11 world. It’s called “Prisoner of Zion.”

Qala-i-Jangi, Afghanistan, photo by Scott Carrier

Prisoner of Zion

Scott Carrier new e-book is out, Prisoner of Zion. It’s available at Amazon and soon in Apple’s iBook store.

Soon after the World Trade Center towers fell in autumn 2001, it became clear the United States would invade Afghanistan. Writer and This American Life radio producer Scott Carrier decided to go there too. He wanted to see for himself: Who are these fanatics, the fundamentalists, the Taliban and the like? What do they want?

In his new book, Prisoner of Zion, Carrier writes about his adventures, but also about the bigger problem. Having grown up among Mormons in Salt Lake City, he argues it will never work to attack the true believers head-on. The faithful thrive on persecution. Somehow, he thinks, we need to find a way—inside ourselves — to rise above fear and anger. Prisoner of Zion is Scott Carrier’s second collection of dramatic tales and essays.

Scott Carrier below a religious statue, photo by Julian Cardona

Stetson Kennedy

Writer Zora Neale Hurston sings and dances with children in Eatonville, Fla., June 1935.
Writer Zora Neale Hurston sings and dances with children in Eatonville, Fla., June 1935. Photo: Alan Lomax/American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

William Stetson Kennedy
October 5 1916 — August 27 2011
(Website | Wikipedia)

In 2001 I stopped by Stetson’s house, on a beautiful marshland near Jacksonville, Florida. We talked about his 1939-40 recording expedition, accompanied by Zora Neale Hurston, documenting the songs and stories of Florida. That interview and those recordings become the NPR story “The Sound of 1930s Florida Folk Life” (22:00 mp3):

The Klan Unmasked is Stetson’s story of infiltrating and undermining the KKK. He tell it in this next clip, “Nazi-minded Klansmen” (4:26 mp3):

His good friend Woody Guthrie wrote a song about him, “Stetson Kennedy.” lyrics: Woody Gurthrie; music: Billy Bragg & Wilco, from Mermaid Avenue Vol. II (2:40 mp3):

I done spent my last three cents
Mailing my letter to the President
Didn’t make a show, I didn’t make a dent
So I’m swinging over to this independent gent

Stetson Kennedy
Writing his name in
Stetson Kennedy
Writing his name in

I can’t win out to save my soul
Long as Smathers-Dupont’s got me in the hole
Them war profit boys are squawking and balking
That’s what’s got me out here walking and talking

Knocking on doors and windows
Wake up and run down election morning
And scribble in Stetson Kennedy
I ain’t the world’s best writer, ain’t the world’s best speller
But when I believe in something I’m the loudest yeller
If we fix it so you can’t make no money on war
Well we’ll all forget what we was killing folks for

We’ll find us a peace job equal and free
We’ll dump Smathers-Dupont in a salty sea
Well, this makes Stetson Kennedy the man for me

Stetson Kennedy on his porch, Jacksonville FL USA

Insurgency in Chechnya

Insurgency in Chechnya book coverA new book is out by Lt. Col. Robert Scheafer, U.S. Army Special Forces, Eurasian Foreign Area Officer, and poet in the NEA book Operation Homecoming. He’s also host of the HV hour For the Fallen and the NPR stories “Clusters” and “Remembering a Fallen Friend.”

In his book The Insurgency in Chechnya and the North Caucasus: From Gazavat to Jihad:

An expert on both Russia and insurgency offers the definitive guide on activities in Southern Russia, explaining how the Russian approach to counterinsurgency is failing and why the conflict will continue to escalate.

The unique geopolitical characteristics of the North Caucasus has made it a site of conflict for thousands of years. It was, in many ways, the testing and training grounds for today’s conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Understanding this volatile region is especially important now in light of President Obama’s effort to “reset” the relationship between Russia and the United States.

The Insurgency in Chechnya and the North Caucasus: From Gazavat to Jihad is an exhaustive treatment of the 400-year period leading up to the present. Thematically organized, it cuts through the rhetoric to provide a contextual framework through which readers can understand the conflict in the region.
ABC-CLIO (publisher)

The book is part of the Praeger Security International series. Some early praise for Schaefer’s work:

“Incisive, insightful — in short, invaluable.” – Liz Fuller, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

“A must-read for anyone who wants to understand the nuances of the conflict in Caucasus.”
– Brian Glyn Williams, Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth

“Demystifies our longest running graduate-level conflict…” – Col. Andrew N. “Nick” Pratt, USMC (Ret.), Director, Program on Terrorism and Security Studies and Professor of Strategy and International Politics, George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies

StoryCorps- Mom

Book coverA new book from StoryCorps comes out April 15, Mom: A Celebration of Mothers from StoryCorps, just in time for Moms Day:

In Mom, Dave Isay, StoryCorps founder and editor of the bestselling book, Listening Is an Act of Love, presents a celebration of American mothers from all walks of life and experiences. Selected from StoryCorps’ extensive archive of interviews, Mom presents the wisdom that has been passed from mothers to their children in StoryCorps’ recording booths across the country.

Reality Radio- Coming Home

The publshers of Reality Radio have allowed to post a bit of their book. From John Biewen’s Introduction:

The goal is to bring together producers with distinctive, powerful, and richly varied approaches to their craft. Some of our essayists call themselves audio artists. They push the boundaries of journalism to the breaking point—okay, beyond the breaking point—in the service of an aesthetic vision but also in pursuit of a different (higher?) sort of truth. Others describe themselves primarily as storytellers, drawing mainly on the narrative power of the spoken word. Still others see themselves as journalists; on the surface, at least, they emphasize information over formal innovation. But the journalistic documentarians, too, give careful attention to form and, in fact, employ plenty of (conventionally sanctioned) artifice along the way.

Here’s an excerpt of the essay “Coming Home,” by Katie Davis:

A boy rumbles by on his skateboard, says his name is Julio and asks to pet the dogs. Sure. Another twelve-year-old bellows like a carnival hawker, “Hey lady, you got a tire patch?” Sure. And I give Joaquin ten dollars to run to the bike store to buy three patch kits, one for him, and the rest I’ll keep for other kids. The super from the building down the street notices the cluster of kids and lugs up two old bikes he found in the alley. And this is how, without planning, I start a recycle-a-bicycle program on my front porch. Everything takes place on my front porch for a long while.

I become known as the “bike lady,” the lady who always has granola bars and time to sit and listen. After a year, I form a youth group called the Urban Rangers and begin raising money to pay for bike parts and snacks. Two teenagers ask me start a basketball team. Sure why not? And then as I explain my philosophy to the guys, that winning is not important on this team, and everybody will get to play in every game. “No, no,” the boys interrupt and begin coaching me on how to be a coach. The dialogue is funny and that night the rusty part of my radio brain begins chanting, Good tape. Good tape.

So, I call an old friend at NPR and float the idea of writing an “essay with tape” about my team. I warn the show producer that the story will be personal, like a diary, that I break the rules of journalism in every paragraph. I write in the first person and I have not kept any objective distance from these boys. I give money to two brothers because I know they are hungry. I hire another kid’s father because they are struggling on $12,000 a year. The boys hang out at my house, they come to tell me about problems. I no longer wanted any distance between me and these neighborhood kids. NPR solves the issue of my status by calling me a commentator. My transition from reporter to commentator took four years of neighborhood porch sitting and trouble shooting and is distilled into this one word.

From Reality Radio: Telling True Stories in Sound, edited by John Biewen.
© 2010 by the Center for Documentary Studies.
Used by permission of the University of North Carolina Press.

Ka

HV069- Pen to Paper

Charles Bowden and Isak DinesenHearing Voices from NPR®
069 Pen to Paper: Charles Bowden & Isak Dinesen
Host: Scott Carrier of Hearing Voices
Airs week of: 2010-09-08 (Originally: 2009-08-26)

“Pen to Paper” (52:00 mp3):

Audio essays on authors:

“Charles Bowden” (21:50) Scott Carrier

Writer Charles Bowden reports from the US-Mexico border about the drug wars, the poverty, and the environment. His writing is harsh but unflinchingly accurate. Host Scott Carrier portrays Bowden in the words of the people he has written about.

NPR host Susan Stamberg revisits the world of Karen Blixen, aka, Isak Dinesen, when she lived in Kenya and wrote Out of Africa (produced for NPR by Larry Massett; mixed by Barrett Golding.)

“That One” (3:55) Alex Caldiero & Theta Naught

Poet and wordshaker Alex Caldiero (The Sonosopher) ponders the writing and sounding of “That One” word, with music by Theta Naught.

Scott Carrier (Communication) and Alex Caldiero (Humanities/Philosophy) are professors at Utah Valley University in Orem. Go Wolverines!

BBC Radio Love

Book coverFrom “Why we’re still ga-ga for radio” in the UK Telegraph:

The 1929 BBC Handbook was untroubled by controversy. Seven years on from its first cracklings, John Reith’s pioneers were still drunk with the glory of it all. “Broadcasting, that magical agent,” they wrote, “has made available by means of comparatively simple apparatus and at next to no cost the finest things there are to hear.”

Meanwhile C. A. Lewis, Reith’s deputy, spoke of the aerial posts “like spears against the sky”, as sounds were carried “along the roadsides, over the hills, brushed by trees, soaked by rain, swayed by gales … [to] the shepherd on the downs, the lonely crofter, the labourer in his squalid tenement, the lonely invalid on her monotonous couch”. Grim old Reith himself put it more succinctly: “There are two kinds of loneliness: insulation in space and isolation of spirit. These are both dispelled by wireless.”

Article by Libby Purves, author of Radio: A True Love Story.

HV042- Yes to God

Mary (mother of Jesus) 19th century paintingHearing Voices from NPR®
042 Yes to God: Mother Mary & Thomas Merton
Host: Beverly Donofrio of Nada Hermitage
Airs week of: 2009-12-16 (Originally: 2008-12-17)

“Yes to God” (52:00 mp3):

Sound-portraits of the Virgin Mary and a Trappist monk:

“Riding in Cars with Boys” (2:39) Beverly Donofrio

This week’s host reads a home for Christmas story from her book Riding in Cars with Boys: Confessions of a Bad Girl Who Makes Good (music: Trans-Siberian Orchestra “Christmas Eve, Sarajevo” & The First Noel” from Christmas Eve And Other Stories; “Silent Night” from Christmas.)

“Thomas Merton” (17:24) Noah Adams

In 1980 NPR traveled to the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky to talk to those who know Thomas Merton (), the Catholic writer (The Seven Storey Mountain) and Trappist monk.

“Looking for Mary” (23:39) Sound Portraits

Ms. Donofrio goes cross-country looking for those who see visions of the Virgin, a Sound Portraits production. More…

Deer Hunting with Jesus

Book coverJoe Bageant is a Well Read Neck. Just finished his illuminating look at the typical towns of Billy Bob & Bobby Sue Sixpack, and why they don’t vote lib’rul, Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America’s Class War:

With Micheal Savage and Ann Coulter openly calling for liberals to be put in concentration camps, with the CIA now licensed to secretly detain American citizens indefinitely, and with the current administration effectively legalizing torture, the proper question to ask an NRA member may be, “What kind of assault rifle do you think I can get for three hundred bucks, and how many rounds of ammo does it take to stop a two-hundred-pound born-again Homeland Security zombie from putting me in a camp?” Which would you prefer, 40 million gun-owning Americans on your side or theirs?

Bageant blogs at JoeBageant.com.