Coming Up!

By Catie Talarski

Dankosky has had enough of the cold… and has officially skipped town.  McEnroe is in charge again, which means daily group snowshoeing and Packers Indoctrination Hypnotherapy in the Libby Conn Amphitheater.

In other news and shameless self promotion, next Thursday night is my 3rd Adventure Theater, based off my unhealthy obsession with explorer Ernest Shackleton.  Join me 7PM at the Studio at Billings Forge.  We’ll talk Shackleton and Antarctic exploration, Peary and Arctic exploration, and we’ll explore the majesty of ships of all kinds.  Also, there will be sea shanty’s by The Jovial Crew, a reading by  UHart professor Michael Robinson, poetry, Sea Tea improv, and tons of great listening.  Stay after for some of my favorite local bands performing at Indie Night.   It’s all part of Billings Forge’s new MashUP.  Tons of great stuff going on all day.  Hope to see you there!

Ok, back to business.  Here’s what’s happening Where We Live next week January 31 to February 4:

MONDAY: Understanding Diabetes (rebroadcast)
Diabetes is reaching epidemic proportions across the world.  Type 2 diabetes, which is an outgrowth of insulin resistance, affects around 40% of the American population over age 65. We’ll look at a new Yale study that explains why diabetes risk increases as we age. And we’ll look at the some of the latest technologies in blood sugar monitoring.  Glucose Monitor?  There’s an App for that!  Literally.  We’ll see how these new gizmos and other modern medical advances are affecting diabetics’ lifestyle.

TUESDAY: Uncovering the Boston Post Road (rebroadcast)
During its evolution from Indian trails to modern interstates, the Boston Post Road, a system of overland routes between New York City and Boston, has carried not just travelers and mail but the march of American history itself. Coming up, we’re joined by Eric Jaffe, author of “The King’s Best Highway: The Lost History of the Boston Post Road, the Route that Made America”.  He explores the progress of people and culture along the road through four centuries, from its earliest days as the King of England’s “best highway” to today.  We’ll visit New Haven where a man is walking the length of the post road, take a drive up in Stonington to uncover the old Post Road mile markers, and get an arborist’s tour of some of the trees planted by a group in Milford aiming to green some of the most commercially developed parts of the road.

WEDNESDAY: Congressman Larson
Congressman John Larson joins us in studio to talk about the President’s State of the Union address and more.

THURSDAY: Kicking Off The MashUP
Billings Forge is reshaping Hartford’s Frog Hollow neighborhood through the arts, historic preservation, farm-to-table food and affordable housing.  It might just be the next big thing in community revitalization.  Join us as we take part in the first MashUP at Billings Forge.   It’s a day long series of events that starts with a live show at 9AM at the Lyceum.

FRIDAY: The Next Generation of Democracy (rebroadcast)
Jared Duval’s book “Next Generation Democracy” looks at big changes he sees coming in politics.  But the politics Duval is talking about don’t have to do with Democrats or Republicans – it’s about Open Source, citizen participation and a crowd-sourcing solution to problems.  It’s about not waiting for government or corporations to do something for you.  His new book  explores big ideas that are shaping our political landscape – and taking apart the “same-old” political structures we’ve come to know – and hate.  Ben Berkowitz, The creator of one of these big ideas – New Haven’s own “See Click Fix” will join us as well.   What are you looking for in the next version of American democracy?  How are you getting involved in making change?

Coming Up!

By Catie Talarski

Where We Live will be out and about during the next few weeks – we’d love you to join us at one of our remote shows.  Next Wednesday 1/26 we’ll broadcast from the Palace Theater in Waterbury, as part of our “Small Business Breakfast” series (more info below) and the following Thursday 2/3 we’ll be at the Lyceum in Hartford kicking off the daylong MashUP at Billings Forge.  (Come back at 7PM for my Radio Adventure Theater at the Studio, celebrating explorers!)

Here’s what’s in store for you for next week – January 24 to 28. (Schedule subject to change due to pending nor’easter.)

MONDAY: Denise Merrill
Democrat Denise Merrill has taken over a tough job – as the new secretary of the state, she’s the top elections officer in Connecticut, a state coming off an election debacle in Bridgeport – who also has a role in helping people start their businesses in a tough economy.

TUESDAY: Unions
Last Week the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that union membership in America has slipped from 12.3 to 11.9 percent – a loss of more than 600,000 workers since 2009.  Membership is at its lowest rate in more than 70 years.  Much has changed since the peak of the Labor Union power and membership in the 1950s.  Today union membership in the private sector is less than 9% — levels not seen since 1932, and budget deficits have led many states to try and change agreements with union workers.  But in Connecticut, public labor unions are still serving as a driving force behind the election of a new Governor.  Today we’ll ask whether union influence is outsized and unions themselves outdated.  We’ll talk with Steven Greenhouse, the labor and workplace reporter for the New York Times and the author of a new book on the history of labor.  And we’ll hear from organizers here in Connecticut and in Ohio – one of the main battlegrounds for labor rights, as the new governor aims to take on unions.

WEDNESDAY: Small Business Remote
Where We Live plays host to WNPR’s first “Small Business Breakfast” at the Palace Theater in Waterbury.  You can join us for breakfast at 7:30am, followed by a live show where we’ll discuss how we actually define what a “small business” is.  Our guests include WNPR Business Editor Harriet Jones, former state business advocate Rob Simmons, and economist Nick Perna of Webster Bank.  We’ll also be hearing from Waterbury-are small businesspeople.  If you’d like to join us, register online at wnpr.org, keyword “small biz.”

THURSDAY: Creativity and Copying (rebroadcast)
Copying is something that we do every day, and it’s also the building block of much of our culture.  What truly gets created that’s not in some way a copy of something else? Of course, our digital environment has amplified the importance of copying, in fields like music, fashion and journalism. Today, a conversation with author Marcus Boon about his book “In Praise of Copying,” who argues that copying is inherently human, to do so is technologically inevitable, and is really the greatest complement, (under certain circumstances).  We’ll take a copycat tour, from the words of the great philosophers, to how copying shows up in Buddhism to students who plagiarize term papers, to hip-hop samples, to the ubiquitous Louis Vuitton rip-off bags. Will this “mash-up” mentality ultimately be the death of original thinking?  Are we becoming curators of pre-existing information rather than creators of new ideas?

FRIDAY: Charles Lloyd
In the late 1960s Jazz Saxophonist Charles Lloyd sold millions of records, by tapping into the psychedelic sounds of the day.  The second act of his career has him playing music that’s every bit as spiritual, but still grounded in the roots of Jazz.  He comes to Wesleyan University with a band of young jazz superstars, and we’ll talk to him about his career – and about the role spirituality plays in music.

Borges On Senate Run: “No, not true at all”

by John Dankosky – Frank Borges, former State Treasurer, tells WNPR that he has not decided to enter the race for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Joe Lieberman in 2012.  Currently, Borges is managing partner at investment firm Landmark Partners.

He’s disputing a report by Hartford Courant columnist Kevin Rennie on his Daily Ructions blog.

“I can tell you this: There’s no announcement coming from me soon.  I haven’t made a decision to get into the race.  As I said, it’s pretty early in the process,” Borges told me by cell phone, adding: ” I read the blogs and the other reports with amusement.”

Borges said entering a campaign for senate is  ”not something that anyone should consider without an awful lot of thought,” and he told me he hasn’t thought about it…yet.  ”But I’m sure I will over time,” he said.

Borges would be an intriguing candidate for Democrats.  He’s seen as a moderate who was a former secretary of the NAACP, served as deputy mayor in Hartford, and has worked with GE Capital and Travelers.  He’s also well-connected in the non-profit world, serving on the board of trustees at Connecticut Public Broadcasting, the parent of WNPR.

Most importantly, he’s well-connected to the top Democrat in the country, President Barack Obama.  An early supporter of Obama, he helped the President fundraise during the 2008 campaign.

He said he’d recieved “a number of calls from political friends and others within the business community, inquiring whether I have some interest,”  but he said none of these calls was from President Obama.

“No, no, I think the president has things much more important on his plate than to call me with regard to something like this,” he told me.

Borges said right now he is “clearly focused on running the business with my partners.”

Earlier today, Congressman Chris Murphy said he’s entering the race for senate. Susan Bysiewicz announced her intentions earlier this week.

Updates: Lieberman Leaves, Dubious Docs, and Setting the Shipwreck Record Straight

by John Dankosky – No big surprises out of Joe Lieberman in Stamford today, he’ll step down after 2012.  I talked about his decision on Talk of the Nation’s “Political Junkie” segment today, expressing profound displeasure that we’re already covering another Senate race.  Colin McEnroe was on The Takeaway this morning, offering his thoughts as one of the nation’s leading “Liebermanologists.”   He’s also got a take on his blog over at Your Public Media, and spoke with another leading Lieberman researcher, Paul Bass on today’s Colin McEnroe Show.

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ProPublica writes that their “Dollars for Docs” investigation has forced changes at at least one medical center:

The University of Colorado Denver and its affiliated teaching hospitals have launched an overhaul of conflict of interest policies after aProPublica database revealed extensive ties between its faculty and pharmaceutical companies.

At a meeting of the faculty senate last week, Dr. Richard Krugman, vice chancellor for health affairs, said he hoped members would soon consider a policy to clearly ban faculty from delivering talks for drug companies.

We featured the ProPublica report as part of our “Dubious Docs” program in December.

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Where We Live also followed up on our interview with two Connecticut Divers who claim to have discovered the shipwrecked USS Revenge.  The interview prompted this letter from listener and Historical Geographer Bill Keegan:

I heard your show this morning about Oliver Perry’s Revenge.  A couple of very important facts were not mentioned by you or, naturally, your guests.

First, it actually has not been lost for quite some time: the Army Corps of Engineers identified its location in the 1880s.  The National Park Service has a public web page discussing where it is, which has been up for a while.  (We first used it in 2005.)  So, your guests claiming to have “discovered” it is very questionable.

Second, the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection Long Island Sound Program has it in its inventory of shipwrecks, and has had it since we compiled the database a few years ago.

Third, all Naval vessels are still considered property of the United States Government and are protected, by law, from interference by unauthorized parties.  It is extremely disturbing that your guests not only dove to the wreck and disturbed it, but stole items from it and then talked about it in public.  These wrecks are protected maritime archaeological sites, and depending on the circumstances are also considered to be burial sites.

We wanted to get the record straight on these issues of “disturbance” at a shipwreck site, so we talked to the knowledgeable, and vastly entertaining state archeologist Nick Bellantoni.  He says the divers did nothing wrong, as long as they didn’t take anything from the site itself.

McDonald Says “Yes, New York!” To Cuomo

by John Dankosky – Not a big surprise that Joan McDonald, a favorite appointee of former Governor Jodi Rell, is leaving the state to take a job with New York’s new Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo.   She’ll be the commissioner of transportation in the state next door, a pretty big job.  That same position in Connecticut has yet to be filled, and many mass transit-oriented observers in the state think it’s Gov. Dannel Malloy’s toughest hire.

Now, he’ll also have to find a DECD commissioner to replace McDonald, someone he called a “hardworking individual, dedicated to helping create new jobs and engaging Connecticut’s business community.”   Despite that hard work, economists and business leaders continually told us that the state wasn’t doing enough to attract jobs, and kept using this term: “Dead last in job creation.”

In fact, we’re hearing once again from the state’s big employers that Connecticut has a “bleak future” if it doesn’t do to more to attract jobs.

Our program in December of 2009 presented this challenge to the state with a question: Who’s getting these jobs that Connecticut isn’t?  Turns out, one place is Virginia.  Why?  Well, check out these two websites.  The first one is what you get when you search for the Virginia Department of Economic Development:  http://www.yesvirginia.org/

Yes, it’s called “Yes, Virginia” and gives you countless reasons why you should start a business there, and a road map of how to do it.

Now check out the Connecticut DECD’s site: http://www.ct.gov/ecd/site/default.asp

Where do you want to start your business?

At the time of that show, UConn economist Fred Carstensen told us that Connecticut needs an overarching economic development strategy, not band-aid solutions. But perhaps we could start with something every business needs…a marketing plan.

Coming Up!

By Catie Talarski

I won’t complain about the fact that I’ll be at work for another two hours – as this is a glorious three day weekend.  Hope you have something special planned.  Monday we’ll be airing a special theatrical performance of my friend Russ Goings’ poem The Children of Children Keep Coming. The week will also feature art, music and Republican legislators.

Here’s what’s in store for January 17 to 21:

MONDAY: Special Broadcast –The Children of Children Keep Coming
Through story and song, author Russell Goings has adapted his epic poem “The Children of Children Keep Coming” into an hour-long spoken word performance that delineates and celebrates the too often unsung African American cultural history.  His inspiration comes from friendship of iconic collagist Romare Bearden and from the voices of the ancestors.  Infused with the improvisational feel of jazz, this program celebrates the soulful spirits of ancestors through Goings’ masterfully poetic prose.  Narratives of historical figures Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Frederick Douglass and Phillis Wheatley intertwine with mythic characters Evalina, Banjo Pete and Black Tiny Shiny to tell the important story of the African American heroic journey.

TUESDAY:  Celebrating Sol LeWitt
The Hartford-born artist Sol LeWitt is known for his large-scale wall drawings and paintings, which are still being “re-created” by artists to this day.  His work is the subject of a massive retrospective at MassMoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts.  Now that museum is presenting another aspect of his work – an “exchange” in which artists trade works and objects – A kind of “open source” model for the art world.  We’ll talk to LeWitt’s friends, colleagues and admirers about what keeps his ideas so vital after his death.

WEDNESDAY: TBA
The anticipation is mounting…

THURSDAY:  Republican Leadership
Republican legislators at the Capitol in Hartford have been left on the sidelines during many of the state’s tough political battles over the last few years.  With Republican Governors negotiating, or fighting with, the big Democratic majority in the General Assembly, the voice of GOP lawmakers hasn’t always been heard.  But with a new Governor, and a big budget deficit, could this be ready to change?  We’ll talk with Minority leaders, Senator John McKinney and Representative Larry Cafero.

FRIDAY: Music Of Africa
Banning Eyre is the editor of Afropop.org, and reviews African music for NPR.  He’s also written about his musical travels on the continent.  Brian Shimkovitz is a music publicist at Sacks & Co, but he also writes a music blog that has become a repository for some of the more obscure African music, past and present.  It’s called Awesome Tapes from Africa.  They’ll both join us for a listening session of some of the best music from Africa today.

Updates On NPR Coverage, Controversy

by John Dankosky - Two of our guests from Monday’s program about recent NPR editorial decisions have provided updates since that program.

Ombudsman Alicia Shepard provides a timeline of Saturday’s events that led to NPR incorrectly reporting that Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords had been killed.  She also takes us through the process of correcting the error and issuing an apology.  She writes:

While NPR made a significant mistake that dinged its credibility, it should be commended for quickly apologizing and being transparent. Rather than hurting NPR’s credibility, taking responsibility for the mistake should enhance it.

Unfortunately, however, many people will remember the mistake and not the correction.

Mike Marcotte, former PRNDI President and Knight Journalism Fellow also updated his blog since his appearance on the show.  He amends his statements about what may have led to rifts in NPR’s news organization, but also confirms what we already, kinda knew about the abrupt departure of 29-year NPR veteran Ellen Weiss:

I will verify other reports about Ellen’s startling departure — it was forced, not coincidental, and viewed by her as disproportionately harsh (relative to her principled banishment of loose-cannon Juan Williams).

 

Gary Hart: “America is better than this”

Members of Congress and staff members observe a moment of silence Monday for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Photo courtesy NPR/Charles Dharapak/AP

by John Dankosky – Since Saturday, millions of words have been written about the presumed causes of the shooting rampage in Tuscon, Arizona.  Many more have been used to talk about the country’s “tone” and the “heightened rhetoric” which could be at the root of such violence.  At the very least, with the actual reasons still unknown, the tragedy has made us look directly at the nasty tone of politics in the country.

Our guest on today’s program, former Senator Gary Hart was one of the first Saturday to say “Words have consequences” in piece for the Huffington Post.

Those with a megaphone, whether provided by public office or a media outlet, have responsibilities. They cannot avoid the consequences of their blatant efforts to inflame, anger, and outrage. We all know that there are unstable and potentially dangerous people among us. To repeatedly appeal to their basest instincts is to invite and welcome their predictable violence.

Is the violence predictable?  We have no way of knowing the motivations of Jared Loughner, but does it matter?  What does is our opportunity now to address a problem that has only gotten worse in recent years.  In late September, when we talked about “Incivility in Politics,” our conversation was framed by the nasty political campaigns we were in the midst of.  Once ended, though, the nasty tone of campaign language continues in blogs, on right-wing talk radio, and in every-day conversations.

Congressmen like Connecticut’s own Jim Himes have had to step up security since the attack, and Chris Murphy well remembers getting threats during the health care debate.  In fact, he’s faced angry constituents when he made visits to supermarkets, similar to the Giffords event, called “Congress in Your Corner.”

But remember, that health care debate had both sides fuming at each other.  While Murphy and others faced screaming “tea partiers” at town hall meetings, economist Paul Krugman was arguing for the health care bill in a column that began with these words: “A message to progressives: By all means, hang Senator Joe Lieberman in effigy.”

So, what do we actually do to “tone down the nastiness?”  We’ve already heard from countless pundits saying – in one way or another -

John Hickenlooper, courtesy Wikipedia

that “civility” doesn’t really work in politics.  I don’t agree, so let’s give it our best shot.  What better place than by consulting politicians who genuinely seem like “nice” people who don’t really have a bad word to say about others – and aren’t spoken badly of themselves.

People like Congressman Joe Courtney, who’ll join us today.  I have yet to meet anyone from either major party, or any other political affiliation, who doesn’t consider him a thoughtful, kind person.  And, John Hickenlooper, the Governor-elect of Colorado, a seemingly non-partisan Democrat, whose genial manner cuts through the ugly talk that political hacks too often engage in.  He’ll join us by phone…on the day he’s being inaugurated!

Join them today with your thoughts 860-275-7266, or email wherewelive@wnpr.org  9-10 a.m. ET.

Coming Up!

By Catie Talarski

Happy Monday, friends!  This week we talk civility, shipwrecks and veterans.  And we’ll sit down with the Mayor of Hartford.  As always, feel free to give us feedback on show topics, suggestions for guests, etc.

Here is what’s coming up for this week January 10 – 14, 2011:

MONDAY: Inside NPR
NPR News has made headlines twice in the last week for its editorial decision making.  First, with the release of an independent report about the firing of commentator Juan Williams that led to the resignation of a senior news official, and once again threw the network into the middle of controversy about speech, bias and race.  The second was NPR’s initial reporting – incorrectly – that congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords had been killed in a shooting incident.  We’ll talk with NPR media reporter David Folkenflik and Ombudsman Alicia Shepard.

TUESDAY: Uncivil Discourse
The Giffords shooting is causing political observers around the country to question whether heightened political rhetoric could be the cause.  Our guest, former Senator Gary Hart says, “Those with a megaphone, whether provided by public office or a media outlet, have responsibilities. They cannot avoid the consequences of their blatant efforts to inflame, anger, and outrage.”  As a follow-up to our show about “civility” in politics, we’ll talk about whether incivility can lead to violence – and how the nation can tone down the nastiness.

WEDNESDAY: Pedro Segarra
Last time we talked to Pedro Segarra, he had just stepped into the role of Hartford Mayor.  Today we’ll sit down with him to talk about what he’s accomplished, his plans for the capital city, and his role on the transition team for Governor Dan Malloy.

THURSDAY: Keeping An Eye On Veterans
Despite many new appointments in his administration, Malloy has held onto Linda Schwartz as Connecticut’s veterans affairs commissioner, a job she’s held for more than seven years.  Today we will speak with this long-time champion of Veteran’s aid, about the current state of CT veterans affairs, and her plans for the future.  And with U.S. Sen.-elect Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. seeking a seat on Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee and calling for a comprehensive No Veteran Left Behind program, much change is afoot. We’ll also talk to the acting chief of the Eastern Blind Rehabilitation Center, part of the Veteran’s Health Administration’s medical center in West Haven, and one of only 10 advanced-care vision centers for veterans in the country.  We’ll hear from a veteran who has benefited from the center’s important services.

FRIDAY: Don’t Give Up The Ship
The USS Revenge was at one time commanded by Oliver Hazard Perry, a Rhode Island native who rose to fame in the War of 1812.  Coming up, we’ll talk to Connecticut scuba divers (one ancestor of the late Perry) who have discovered what’s left of the wrecked ship that they say “changed the course of U.S. History”.  We’ll also talk to a Wesleyan artist whose work exposes how unconscious projections from America’s colonial past shape perceptions of its current reality.

More on Haiti, CPTV

By Catie Talarski

If you missed our show on Haiti this morning – you can catch the podcast here.

And don’t miss some great CPTV programming on the anniversary of the earthquake – airing Tuesday 1/16:

NOVA: Earthquakes – 8PM

In 2010, epic earthquakes all over the planet delivered one of the worst annual death tolls ever recorded. The deadliest strike was in Haiti, where a quake just southwest of the capital, Port-au-Prince, killed more than 200,000, reducing homes, hospitals, schools, and the presidential palace to rubble. In exclusive coverage, a NOVA camera crew follows a team of US geologists as they first enter Haiti in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy. It is a race against time as they hunt for crucial evidence that will help them determine exactly what happened deep underground and what the risks are of a new killer quake. Barely a month after the Haiti quake, Chile was struck by a quake 100 times more powerful, unleashing a tsunami that put the entire Pacific coast on high alert. In a coastal town devastated by the rushing wave, NOVA follows a team of geologists as they battle aftershocks to measure the displacement caused by the earthquake. Could their work, and the work of geologists at earthquake hot-spots around the U.S., one day lead to a breakthrough in predicting quakes before they happen? NOVA investigates new leads in its investigation of a deadly scientific conundrum.

Egalite For All: Toussaint Louverture and the Haitain Revolution – 9PM

It was the only successful slave insurrection in history. It grasped the full meaning of French revolutionary ideas and used them to create the world’s first Black republic. It elevated a Black general, Toussaint Louverture, to such international fame that admirers ranked him on par with George Washington. It was the Haitian Revolution, a movement that’s been called the true birth moment of universal human rights. Vaguely remembered today, the Haitian Revolution was a hurricane at the turn of the 19th century — traumatizing Southern planters and inspiring U.S. slaves. This program explores this history through music, voodoo ritual, re-creations and insightful writers and historians.

Frontline: Battle for Haiti – 10PM

Last year, in the chaos of the earthquake that devastated Haiti, thousands of the country’s worst criminals seized the opportunity to stage a mass escape from the National Penitentiary. One year later, the gang leaders are re-asserting control in the capital, threatening the country’s stability. With unique access to the police units trying to hunt down the gangsters — and revealing encounters with the gangsters themselves — FRONTLINE examines the uphill fight to rebuild Haiti in the face of deep-rooted corruption and intimidation. The film also offers portraits of the fearful lives many Haitians are living, as the central government and judicial system routinely fail to maintain order. “Haiti is a nation that committed collective suicide some time ago,” the chief of the UN mission tells FRONTLINE. If the gangs are not defeated, many now believe a new Haiti cannot be born.

Independent Lens: Children of Haiti – 11PM

In the midst of Haiti’s lush mountains and historical relics is an epidemic of over 500,000 orphan children who wander the streets day and night. Known as the “soulless” and forgotten by their own people, they do what they must to survive each day. “Children of Haiti” follows three teenage boys — Denick, a prolific and charming 14 year-old; Nickenson, a tough but sensitive 16 year-old; and Antoine, an energetic paint-thinner abuser — who reflect on their country and their lives, while sharing a common dream of education, government assistance, and social acceptance. Shot in the northern city of Cap-Haitien over a period of two years, this film captures the spirit of human survival and transports you to Haiti’s strange contrasts, breathtaking landscapes and rich history, through the eyes of some of Haiti’s most unforgettable characters.