Coming Up!

By Catie Talarski

UPDATED!

Here is what’s coming up – May 2 to 6, 2011.

MONDAY: Bin Laden is Dead
President Barack Obama made the stunning announcement late last night that a long intelligence operation led US forces to a compound 60 miles outside of Islamabad, Pakistan – where they killed Bin Laden in a firefight.   In his short speech, he also asked Americans to think back to the sense of unity that the nation felt after 9/11- unity that has since frayed.  In New York, at the site of the World Trade Center, and in Washington, outside the White House, crowds cheered and waved American flags.  On social media sites like Twitter - the conversation was relentless.  On Connecticut commuter trains, heading into the city, passengers were cautiously relieved, and a bit wary of heightened security. Today, where we live – what does the death of Osama Bin Laden mean to you?  We’ll hear from national security experts and Pakistani Americans, and from you.

TUESDAY: A New Generation in the Workforce
Workplace consultant Al Bhatt says our places of employment should feel more like a jazz band than a marching band. But how do businesses foster the kind of improvisational and independent workplace that appeals to the millennial generation? He says it’s more than deep expertise, rigorous methodology and crystal clear problem-solving. Coming up, we’ll talk with Bhatt, managers, and millennials about how businesses can empower and engage young people, and create the ideal workplace of the 21st century.

WEDNESDAY: Small Business Breakfast – Bridgeport
Small business is said to be the “engine of economic growth.”  So, in a state like Connecticut, which hasn’t had any job growth for two decades – has our engine stalled?  And, what will the state’s new budget mean for entrepreneurs and small companies?  Join us for a conversation live at Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport.  We’ll be talking with new DECD Commissioner Catherine Smith, and with small businesspeople from the Bridgeport area.  It’s part of WNPR’s Small Business Breakfast – which starts at 7:30, followed by Where We Live at 9.  Seating is limited (we’re not broadcasting from the center of the hockey rink) so register today at WNPR.org, keyword “Small Biz.”

THURSDAY: The Bro Show
I’m watching the NFL draft, and one after one, these newly minted millionaires take to the stage and each give the commissioner a big ol’ bear hug!  Whatever happened to a handshake? On the next Where We Live -  it seems the rules are changing for male friendships and intimacy. So, men, get ready to squirm uncomfortably as we present  “The Bro Show!”  Are you involved in a “bro-mance?”  We want to hear about it. High Five!

FRIDAY: Chris Murphy
Up until Sunday night, on the wall of the US special operations command center in Afghanistan, hung a poster of a wanted man.  Osama Bin Laden.  That poster’s come down now, and Congressman Chris Murphy says he’s likely one of the last Washington visitors to see it.  Murphy serves on the foreign affairs committee, and was in Afghanistan last week before the raid that killed Bin Laden. He’ll come by to tell us what he learned during his trip, and what Bin Laden’s death will mean for the US effort in Afghanistan, and its rocky relationship with Pakistan.

The Youngest Public Radio Fans

By Catie Talarski

… They love us!  They really love us!

John Dankosky receiving check from 8th grader

Yesterday the Where We Live team was honored to receive a $100 check from the 8th grade classes of William J. Johnston Middle School in Colchester.  Math teacher Maddalena Scrivano has gotten into the habit of playing the first few minutes of Where We Live during their morning classes, followed by a discussion – getting the students engaged and involved in local and national issues. They were excited to meet Dankosky, and had lots of questions about how the radio show works (and what kind of car he drives.)

The money was raised at the school snack bar: when a student bought a snack for .60 cents and paid with a dollar, they had the option of giving their remaining .40 cents to WNPR.

The ceremony yesterday included a number of students reading wonderful essays they wrote about Where We Live and WNPR.  Some excerpts:

Alec Ematrudo:

The importance of WNPR is that is helps you get your brain into the zone and back into a willing to learn state of mind. The walk from science class to math class can be very distracting and I am usually not ready to learn again by the time I get to math. So when I walk into math and something interesting is being said on WNPR, it kind of helps me focus again before we start class. This works for me anyway. So many kids aren’t as informed about what’s going on around them as they should be. No other news station covers as much news as WNPR does.

Jessica Blaise:

I don’t know a lot about other countries, so when something happens I’m clueless. NPR provides me with that extra information so that I actually know these things. For instance, Libya had all those riots and they wanted their president to step down. I would have never known all the tiny little details if I hadn’t listened to NPR. Every day our President makes important decisions or choices about the war and how to help other countries, of course with the help of congress. But by listening to this radio show I get a better understanding of the whole process and decisions… To be honest, I’m not that interested in the war debt, but I try to pay attention, our country has a lot of debt, that I do know, but NPR talks about that every show and keeps all of us aware of this problem.

Jessy Stanavage:

You’re probably wondering, so how is this supposed to be fun? Well, NPR often acknowledges local or national events such as a new book signing or fun places to visit like Mystic Aquarium… NPR also features “Song of the Week” and reviews new released movies.

Jared Kranc:

Above all, there is one subject that is always mentioned on NPR, math. It might not seem like it, but it’s actually true. Many aspects of mathematics are heard on NPR. First, proportions to different disasters and events are mentioned. Also, quantities of prices are mentioned when they speak about grocery shopping or real estate. Additionally, when they speak about the stock market, they mention how many points were lost during one day, and what percentage it was, and what fraction of it was gained back the next day. Finally, when they speak about Congress and government, they tell us the ratios of different political parties in power in Washington. Wherever you are, there’ll always be math that is somehow related to everyday life.

Thanks to the 8th grade students, English teacher Krista Farrell  and principal Chris Bennett for inviting us in and for the generous donation! And they say our average listening age is over 50…

*the ear cave*

Join me tonight at 7:30 at La Paloma Sabanera – Hartford.

*the ear cave* is a stripped down listening session, curated and hosted by a rotating cast of local radio professionals who want to share with you interesting, weird and wonderful radio.

We’ll sit and listen – and afterward, maybe talk about what we just listened to.

BYOB.
BYOE.

This month’s host: me (Catie T.)
***I’ll be playing documentary piece I am working on and would love feedback!

Coming Up!

By Catie Talarski

What are you doing on this Earth Day to make the world a better place? Perhaps recycling, biking into work instead of driving, or maybe donating to your favorite public radio station?!  Thanks to all those who support us here at WNPR.

An exciting week of shows coming up… April 25 to 29, 2011:

MONDAY: Addicted to Food
Could there be a similarity between a line of cocaine and a piece of chocolate cake? One Yale researcher says that addictions to both food and drugs have similar reactions on the brain. Today, we’ll explore this new research and talk to food addict Michael Prager, author of Fat Boy, Thin Man.

TUESDAY: The Complex Science of Annoying
Loud cell-phone “half-a-logs” on the bus, lip-smacking at the dinner table, slow drivers in the left lane, someone singing (ever so slightly) off key.  The smallest things can be as annoying and offensive as fingernails on a blackboard.  But why?  NPR Science correspondent, Joe Palca and Flora Lichtman, multimedia editor for NPR’s Talk of the Nation: Science Friday, explore the varied science behind one of the most widely experienced and least-studied human emotions in their new book ANNOYING: The Science of What Bugs Us.  What annoys you? Incessantly buzzing flies, squeaky sneakers, public radio fund drives? Call us with your pet peeves as we’ll seek the explanation for what gets under our skin.

WEDNESDAY: The Art of Negotiation
It’s not just executives and politicians who need to be master negotiators; William Ury says we all use these skills every day. Co-founder of the Harvard Negotiation Project, Ury joins us to talk about his methods for negotiating personal and professional disputes. And we’ll get tips on the type of negotiating we hope you’ll never have to use: the hostage situation.  But as they say, it’s best to be prepared. Join us.

THURSDAY: Prisons and the Mentally Ill
About one in five prisoners in Connecticut is receiving mental health treatment and, according to the 2010 recidivism report recently released by the OPM, inmates with mental health problems are significantly more likely to end up back in jail.  The statistics reveal a fundamentally flawed system of treatment and rehabilitation for the mentally ill in the state’s justice system and systems across the country.  Michael Lawlor, Malloy’s new chief of criminal justice planning and policy, is leading the way to find more effective treatment and alternatives.  Coming up, we’ll talk about how we can better protect and promote the health and safety of the mentally ill, and better train those who treat them.

FRIDAY: Reporters in The Round
This week, Governor Dannel Malloy and members of his administration heard from federal health officials about how health reforms will be enacted – and how they will affect the states.  Meanwhile, supporters of a “public option” under the state-run SustiNet hope to keep that idea alive, even after it’s been taken out of a proposed budget.  Our regional reporter roundtable tackles health care in Connecticut, Washington, and the place this all started, Massachusetts.  “Romney-care For All,” anyone?

 

Smith Tirade No Surprise

by John Dankosky –  Sometimes stories you hear surprise you.  Sometimes, not at all.  When we learned this week about the threatening, profane tirade by Sean Smith, the outgoing communications chief for Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, it struck me as…well, just about what I’d expect.

Smith was campaign manager for Joe Lieberman during his 2006 re-election campaign.   As you’ll see if you click the previous link, liberal bloggers didn’t…and don’t like him very much.  They didn’t like his bogus claim that Ned Lamont’s campaign had somehow hacked Lieberman’s election site (later proven bogus by the FBI) and they didn’t like his nasty attacks on the Democrat, who beat Lieberman in that Democratic primary in August.  But, he didn’t make a whole lot of friends in the “traditional” media ranks, either.

On the day after Lamont’s win, I filed this story for NPR‘s All Things Considered.  By the time it aired in the afternoon, Smith had already been fired by Lieberman.  But his seething rebuke of the Democratic establishment which had embraced his candidate for so long was still the lead of my story.

In the early morning hours, after his candidate’s close defeat, Sean Smith looked angry. Angry at Democratic voters eager to throw out 18 years of Senate experience, and angry at a party that wouldn’t have Joe Lieberman as its candidate.

Mr. SEAN SMITH (Former Campaign Manager, Joe Lieberman): Joe Lieberman is now going to friendlier territory, to all the voters of Connecticut. And I think the Democrats are going to learn something about that, too. You can nominate someone from the far left and they can win a primary, but they can’t win a general election. And I hope we pay attention in 2008.

Listen to the story, and you’ll hear what words on a page can’t convey.

Looking back, I’ll admit that lead was too kind.  Smith didn’t “look” angry…he was angry that night, and was often angry at members of the media throughout the campaign.

As I read the words in his recent angry email, ”I swear to f—ing god I am going to come over to ICE and f—cking decapitate every single person,” in the press department at immigration, all I could think is: “Can’t a department like Homeland Security find anyone else to do this work?”

When working in an organization that treads such a fine line in issues of terrorism and illegal immigration, the messengers need to have a diplomat’s touch, not the bite of a rabid dog.   Smith’s apology?  ”I’m sorry for saying such dumb things.”

Not dumb, Sean.  Mean, angry, wrong.

Coming Up!

By Catie Talarski

Here is what we have planned for next week: April 18 to 22, 2011

MONDAY: A Tax Plan?
Well, it’s tax day – and taxes are all that we seem to be talking about.  State taxes, federal taxes, corporate taxes… Governor Malloy’s tax plan has changed, as he plans to shift more of the burden onto wealthy residents.  Today, Where We Live, we’ll look at two new studies that try to refute the idea that rich people will leave the state if their taxes go up, and we’ll talk to a Republican lawmaker who’ll assure us that they will leave.  We’ll also talk to a ProPublica reporter who’s been digging into the story about Fairfiled-based General Electric, and how one of the world’s biggest companies gets away with paying so little in taxes.

TUESDAY: Where We Yawn (rebroadcast)
Today, we’re going to take a break from our usual talk about the state budget crisis…or transportation policy…and talk about something really exciting.  Boredom! Yeah, you know what I’m talking about.  Especially in these mid-winter stir crazy days.  What to do with myself?  Well, according to author Peter Toohey, there’s about 3000 years of bored humans dealing with the same problem.   His book is called Boredom: A Lively History. We’ll also talk with boredom enthusiasts who’ve put together a conference on the subject…here are some of the lectures you can choose from: “Like Listening to Paint Dry”, “The Intangible Beauty of Car Park Roofs”, “Personal Reflections on the English Breakfast”.  What bores you?  What do you do when you’re feeling bored?

WEDNESDAY: Our Growing Cities
People are starting to move back into Connecticut’s cities. This reverses a decades-long trend toward suburban sprawl. The five largest cities in the state have gained close to 23,000 residents.  But what does this mean for our small state?  Coming up, we’ll explore these new demographic trends.

THURSDAY: Art as Tolerance
Last Saturday a vandal broke into St. Paul and St. James in New Haven.  The ransacked the chapel, broken windows and tore a bible.  The church community responded with a message of forgiveness and several days later the most valuable items stolen were returned on the front step.  The church, which is home to Sunday jazz services, AA meetings and a soup kitchen, will host a concert this weekend to promote religious tolerance and diffuse the violent rhetoric.  Today we’ll take a look at that and other local projects using art to promote tolerance.  We’ll talk to the founder of Drums No Guns – a percussion workshop in urban schools. And we’ll hear about Music Haven’s program that brings free lessons and instruments to New Haven’s empowerment zone neighborhoods.

FRIDAY: A Look at the Humanities
Jim Leach is a former congressman and champion collegiate wrestler.  Both of these life skills come in handy as he navigates the funding needs for the National Endowment for the Humanities.  Leach is touring all 50 states to talk about the role the humanities play in our daily lives – in understanding the human condition.  Today on Where We Live, we’ll talk to leach about cuts to the NEH, the role of humanities in a digital world, and the case for historical perspective as we approach the problems of today.   

Himes: Ryan Budget Plan Puts Spotlight on Democrats

Jim Himes dreams of better days...

by John Dankosky – A midnight deadline is approaching for Congress to reach a budget agreement or face a government shutdown.   Democrats and Republicans are locked in a short-term political battle over the scope of government cuts, but congressman Jim Himes says its a long-term conversation that needs to happen.

Himes said that Republican congressman Paul Ryan is proposing a “glidepath” for the federal government to reduce its deficit over the next ten years, similar to the “Simpson-Bowles” recommendations that came out of President Obama’s deficit commission.

Speaking on WNPR’s Where We Live, Himes says he doesn’t like a much about Ryan’s plan – a plan that he says would shift healthcare costs and cut deeply into transportation funding.

“But look, it’s an opening statement for a negotiation that we need to have.  I’ve been on record for a couple of months saying that I support the Simpson-Bowles proposal.  I’m not happy about much that’s in there – but we do need to have that broad-based conversation.  And frankly, Ryan’s proposal, though problematic in a lot of ways, has now shifted the spotlight to the Democrats for them to sort of say, ‘Here’s our version of the next ten years, and what government should be doing.’”

The Simpson-Bowles plan proposes some caps on spending that are similar to Ryan’s plan, but also proposes cuts to defense spending, something the Republican plan does not.

Himes says he hopes that now that Ryan’s plan is out, that President Obama will get behind Simpson-Bowles and push it through the Senate.

Coming Up!

By Catie Talarski

According to my friends at NOAA:

Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 63.
Sunday: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 60. (There may be some rain)
Monday: Partly sunny, with a high near 76. CLOUDY

The weather is getting warmer, folks.  Make sure you get outside this weekend!

Next week, when you are stuck back in your home/office/car, here is what you can look forward to on the program. April 11 to 15, 2011.

MONDAY: Cultural Ooops!
So we keep hearing that we’re a “global society.”  But just because there’s a Starbuck on every corner of the world, it doesn’t mean there aren’t still some bill gaps in cultural understanding.  We’ll talk to international businesspeople, diplomats, and bi-lingual Americans who have learned how to negotiate across cultures…but can also tell of laughable faux-pas and huge business deals gone sour, over mere misunderstanding.  Share your stories about the cultural “oops.”

TUESDAY: Teaching Kids About Money
A recent study finds that today’s parents are “incredibly lenient” about handing their children extra money – That kids are learning more about immediate gratification then budgeting or financial discipline. Today we tackle financial literacy for kids. What works and what doesn’t? Join the conversation.

WEDNESDAY: Winning (Rebroadcast)You can win the peace, win the future, win the game, win the lottery, or if you’re Charlie Sheen you can just be “A Winner.” You’ve heard variations on the saying, “Winning isn’t everything…it’s the only thing.”  Motivational, to be sure – but when winning is the only goal, does that make most of us “losers? Today, we’ll look at how the rhetoric of winning pervades our competition-obsessed society. Author Francesco Duina’s new book “Winning,”  takes a look at the social and psychological effects of success and asks whether winning should really be the ultimate goal.  Mark Fenske, co-author of the new book “The Winner’s Brain,” would argue “no”.  He’ll identify eight “win factors” that are proven to pave the road to success. So, what does it mean to be a “winner?” In sports, in business, in education, in life?

THURSDAY: Immigration Day
For the 14th Annual Immigrant Day, we’ll highlight some of the heroic, inspiring, and heartbreaking stories of immigrants in Connecticut and around the country.  David Trust, a Rawandan Genocide Survivor, immigrated to Connecticut after losing both parents and two sisters in the genocide in 1994. He has since started a foundation that assists orphaned children and enrolled in SCSU where he’s currently a junior.  And Ruth Leitman, the director the new documentary “Tony & Janina’s American Wedding” will tell the story a family divided by American immigration policy.  And we’ll hear from local reporters about the thriving yet often embattled immigrant community in New Haven.

FRIDAY: How We Age (Rebroadcast)
Advanced science and technology is helping to keep people alive longer than ever, but our emotional and mental ability to cope with aging are as regressed as ever.  Dr. Marc Agronin is a geriatric physciatrist and author of the new book How We Age: A Doctor’s Journey Into the Heart of Growing Old.  He says that with baby boomers speeding towards old age, it’s time to take a closer look at how to deal with aging.  There may not be a cure, but we sure can find a better way to cope as more of us reach into our 80s and beyond.  Today he shares stories of patients he’s worked with and explain how we can come to understand aging not as inevitable decline, but a period of vitality, wisdom, fulfillment, and hope.

Lamont, Foley Debate Malloy’s Budget, Each Other

Tom Foley and I look serious as we listen to Ned Lamont. Photo: Ned Gerard / Connecticut Post

by John Dankosky - Tom Foley showed up looking relaxed, rested and without a tie.  ”Is there a dress code for this?” he asked me.  He said he’d put back on the seven or eight pounds he’d lost during his campaign for governor.  Ned Lamont showed up looking like he’d just gotten back from vacation, and made a joke about having a “John Boehner” tan.

Clearly, the “debate” I moderated at Yale Law School was between two guys not saddled with the job that Dan Malloy faces – balancing a nearly $3.5 billion budget deficit.

Foley, at least, still wants that job.  He was back in campaign mode – reading a nine-minute-forty-five second opening statement.  Since narrowly losing to Malloy in November, he’s started the Connecticut Policy Institute, and has been acting like someone who’s ready to try again in 2014.

Foley picked apart Malloy’s budget proposal, calling it “snake-oil stuff” and ”a cynical deception.”  He suggested that Malloy is “heading in a different direction” than any other governor in the country with his tax plan, and that he should follow the lead of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is not raising taxes in his deal with lawmakers to balance that state’s budget.

Lamont, meanwhile, was kinder to Malloy, but wondered why the new governor hadn’t sent a stronger message about “shared sacrifice.”  As Malloy asks labor for givebacks that could be nearly 20 percent of their pay, Lamont wondered why no big pay cuts at the top.  “How about the governor? How about the lieutenant governor? How about the constitutionals? How about those commissioners? How about the legislators? How about their staff?”

Lamont said the tax plan “really hammers the middle class,” but praised that Malloy has presented “the first honest budget this state has had in a long time.”

The debate was held in front of a room full of Yale law students, almost all of whom volunteered that they’d be headed out of state after graduation. Lamont, Foley and Senator Ed Meyer – a 1961 graduate of Yale law – all made pleas for the budding lawyers to stay and practice in Connecticut.

When they were through, Lamont and Foley headed off to the New Haven institution Mory’s for a bite, and then presumably on to watch the UConn game.

The Governor, meanwhile, did finally end up in Hartford to watch the title game with fans…but not until after slogging to Norwalk to take more grief from residents at a sparsely-attended town-hall meeting on the budget.

Read coverage of the debate:

• Christine Stuart in CTNewsJunkie
• Ken Dixon in The Connecticut Post
• Mary O’Leary in The New Haven Register

Coming Up!

By Catie Talarski

John Dankosky is quitting his job as host of Where We Live to take over as the mascot for the University of Connecticut. “It pays more money. And there is free ice cream,” he told the newsroom in an announcement this morning.  The new host will be decided by the end of the month. Listeners will be able to vote in an online poll between: Darwin Deez, Monte from Say Yes to the Dress, or John Rowland.

(aprilfools!)

Here is what will broadcast over the airwaves next week, April 4 to 8, 2011.

MONDAY: Abolitionists in Connecticut
Slavery in this country is not just a Southern phenomenon. Today we’ll explore the journey from slavery to contemporary questions of racism with the story of an old New England frame house. Multi-media artist Judy Dworin’s new work “In This House” is inspired by the Joshua Hempsted House in New London.  It explores slavery, race relations and abolition. We’ll talk to Dworin and a Yale historian about the Hempsted House and the history of slavery in New England. We’ll also talk to a Connecticut civil war historian who says the Nutmeg state wasn’t the abolitionist stronghold you might think.

TUESDAY: No Peace in the Middle East
Today we talk with Palestinian physician Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish. In 2009 during Israel’s invasion and bombardment of Gaza, a rocket hit his house killing three of his daughters and his niece. Author of “I Shall Not Hate,” Abuelaish has devoted his life to reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. We’ll also talk to Greg Myre and Jennifer Griffin, husband and wife journalists. They first moved to Jerusalem in 1999 and had optimistic plans to begin a family and witness a historic Middle East peace deal.  They soon found themselves raising two daughters while covering the worst fighting ever between Israelis and Palestinians.  We’ll talk to them about their book “This Burning Land” that recounts their experience of the changes taking place in the Israeli Palestinian conflict over the past decade. And award-winning foreign correspondent and journalist Christina Lamb talks about her travels in the Middle East and Africa, and her work with women in Afghanistan.

WEDNESDAY: Roots of Prejudice
Prejudice is one of the more troubling and baffling aspects of human nature, and has been the subject of scientific study of psychologists, neuroscientists and biologists for many years.  Are we hardwired to judge, or does our society teach us the “us versus them” mentality?  A recent Yale Study argues that prejudice is more than the product of our culture or history.  In fact, it is an attribute that extends beyond humans, to our primate cousins. By studying rhesus monkeys’ propensity to show suspicion and dislike for monkeys outside of their group, these experiments evidence the evolutionary roots of prejudice. We’ll talk to the lead psychologist of the study to learn how monkeys can reveal new truths about ourselves. But we can’t all be guilty of harboring prejudiced thoughts — what about the open-minded, tolerant human beings?  We’ll hear from the developer of IAT, a test that reveals our subconscious stereotypes – judgments even the most politically correct individuals can make on a daily basis. These can influence our attitudes towards gender, race, even reveal our biases towards Coke over Pepsi, jocks vs. nerds, or skirts v. pants.  Today we’ll ask: are we really all predisposed to prejudice?  If so, what can we do to counteract something that is biologically and neurologically ingrained?

THURSDAY: Partnership: A New Model For New Media
We’ve been hearing for years about the chronic struggles of newspapers and the proliferation of so called “new media” sources of journalism.  As one outcome of this change, the traditional competition for stories between papers has given way to a new era of cooperation.  By pooling resources and working together, these upstarts are making a real impact, informing the community, and driving the discussion in collaboration with newspapers.  Today we talk with a panel of innovators who are forming partnerships to present insightful and investigative journalism of the highest order (while maintaining a healthy sense of “competition”). This panel was recorded during a day long symposium at CCSU.

FRIDAY: Our Growing Cities
People are starting to move back into Connecticut’s cities. This reverses a decades-long trend toward suburban sprawl. The five largest cities in the state have gained close to 23,000 residents.  But what does this mean for our small state?  Coming up, we’ll explore these new demographic trends.