By Catie Talarski
Have a wonderful Fourth of July weekend! Here is what’s coming up next week - July 4 to 8, 2011:
MONDAY: America Abroad: Roots of Arab Spring (4th of July Special Programming)
While the Arab Spring may have toppled a couple of regimes, democracy alone can’t solve the bread and butter issues of the region. The Arab world faces a stark demographic dilemma: nearly a quarter of Arabs under 30 remain jobless. The bleak economic conditions that fueled the Arab uprisings have become the inheritance of any new governments that stand up in the region. And youth in the region aren’t likely to sit quietly and wait for economic change.
TUESDAY: Animal Rights
The Humane Society of the United States is the nation’s largest animal protection organization. From renegade mountain lions to the underground world of dog fighting, HSUS has dealt with it all. Today we’re joined by CEO and New Haven native Wayne Pacelle as he talks about the deep links of the human–animal bond, as well as the conflicting impulses that betray this bond through widespread mistreatment of animals – and his new book The Bond: Our Kinship with Animals, Our Call to Defend Them.
WEDNESDAY: TBA
It’s gonna be good.
THURSDAY: Ikea (Rebroadcast)
You can find a blog called “Colorado Ikea Fans” – where you’ll see a real-time countdown to the store’s opening in Denver on July 27th at 9 AM. Now, anxious shoppers – we’ve learned – will be lining up 48 hours before opening day. The Ikea craze is widespread – indoctrinating us with their “Life Improvement Plan” mentality. Its inexpensive products that you largely build yourself, home organizers for your stuff, art for your walls, everything you could need, right? But not everyone is so enamored of IKEA. A recent article in Fast Company magazine wondered whether the world’s largest furniture retailer – can really claim to be “sustainable” while making all of these nearly “disposable” products. Today we discuss the IKEA phenomenon. Do you shop there? Do you love it? Do you hate it…and shop there anyway? Can you resist the lure of the Swedish Meatballs?
Frederick Law Olmsted, oil painting by John Singer Sargent, 1895, Biltmore Estate, Asheville, North Carolina
FRIDAY: Olmsted’s Parks
When you stroll through the winding paths of Central Park, or the tidy rows of roses in Elizabeth Park, or the bustling campus of Trinity College, you see and feel the hand of Frederick Law Olmsted. This Hartford native is credited as the father of landscape architecture, and on today’s Where We Live, we’ll explore his legacy, here in Connecticut and across the country – from the Back Bay of Boston to the grounds of the U.S. Capitol to Stamford University in Palo Alto.
