Coming Up! November 28 to December 2, 2011

MONDAY: The Supercommittee Failure and Connecticut
Just before Thanksgiving, the Congressional super committee failure to reach a deficit-reduction agreement. Now over the next decade, $1.2 trillion in federal spending will be cut. We’ll take a look at the impact these cuts will have on Connecticut with government officials and a defense analyst. We’ll also talk with a Yale professor who is organizing a panel discussion on “The Volatility Economy.”

 TUESDAY: The Superintendent’s Plan
The state’s school superintendents have cooked up the latest in a series of high-profile plans to reform education in the state. It includes changes to testing, teaching and teacher tenure. Coming up, we’ll explore the plan with supers and teachers.

WEDNESDAY: Andre Dubus III (rebroadcast)
After their parents divorced in the 1970s, Andre Dubus III and his three siblings grew up with their exhausted working mother in a depressed Massachusetts mill town saturated with drugs and crime. On Sundays, Andre spent time with his dad, an author and college professor. Today we have a conversation with Dubus, the House of Sand and Fog author, about his new memoir Townie, about a clash of worlds, physical violence, and the failures and triumphs of love.

THURSDAY: TBA

FRIDAY: Arts Magazine
The Wadsworth is one of the cornerstones of Connecticut’s art scene. We’ll talk with the Wadsworth’s director Susan Talbott, who recently wrote the introduction to a book of Patti Smith’s photography, which is also currently on display at the museum. Also, The Needle Drop’s Anthony Fantano stops by for a rundown of music you should check out.

Coming Up: Turkey Edition!

Happy Thanksgiving, folks. Eat up. Enjoy your families. Here is what’s happening November 21 to 25, 2011:

MONDAY: After the Storm
After Tropical Storm Irene and the October snowstorm…both of which knocked out power for thousands of residents for an extended period of time, Governor Malloy announced a two-storm panel to look into the handling of the storm response. We’ll talk with one of the co-chairs of the panel, and what it would realistically mean to overhaul the state’s infrastructure to make it more storm-ready. UConn economist Fred Carstensen will also discuss the economics of an infrastructure overhaul.

TUESDAY: Eyewitnesses
Every year, more than 75,000 eyewitnesses identify criminal suspects in the U.S., and studies suggest that as many as a third of them are wrong. Connecticut recently created a task force to look at eyewitness testimony and its reliability. Coming up, we’ll find out about the task force and eyewitness credibility.

WEDNESDAY: Public Radio Magazine
Every Friday, NPR’s Morning Edition runs a piece from StoryCorps. Some are hilarious, others are heart-breaking but it’s always something to look forward to at the end of the week. We’ll talk with StoryCorps founder Dave Isay ahead of Friday’s National Day of Listening, which encourages all Americans to interview a friend or loved one. We’ll also hear from Kitchen Sister Nikki Silva about her new special, The Hidden World of Girls hosted by the one-and-only Tina Fey. It’s a two hour-long special airing on back-to-back Saturdays starting this weekend.

THURSDAY/FRIDAY: Happy Thanksgiving!
HOLIDAY SPECIAL: Best of the Best 2011: The Third Coast Festival Broadcast Part 1 and 2

Each fall the Third Coast International Audio Festival brings the best new documentaries produced worldwide to the national airwaves in a special two-hour program. The 2011 broadcast includes evocative stories, from the tale of a young woman coaxed out of a coma by her boyfriend, to the insightful exploration of Tea Party politics in Michigan through a friendship gone awry. And much more. Host Gwen Macsai, an award-winning writer, producer and humorist, is our guide through this annual tour of the world’s best new documentaries. Plus, you’ll hear interviews with winning producers Jad Abumrad of Radiolab, Nick van der Kolk ofLove+Radio and Ben Calhoun of This American Life; and highlights from the 2011 Third Coast Awards ceremony, which was hosted by Peter Sagal of NPR’s Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me.

 

Coming Up! November 14 to 18, 2011

MONDAY: Give Us An Inch
Coming up, we’ll talk measurement with a philosopher and physicist who wrote a book tracing the rise of the metric system. He suggests that the US might be using it – if not for the kidnapping and death of an 18th century European emissary carrying an early set of metric standards. And of course we’ll discuss the smoot.

TUESDAY: Poverty in the Suburbs
Between 1999 and 2008, the number of poor people living in the suburbs increased by 25%. New research from the Brookings Institute explores how poverty is shifting from inner cities to the suburbs, especially in New England. Today we’ll look at what this means for Connecticut.

WEDNESDAY: Small Business Breakfast – New Haven
This month we’re focusing on young entrepreneurs and how to foster small business among people early in their careers. The recession means more young people than ever are getting out of college without jobs, or not finding work in their fields. How can Connecticut get more creative entrepreneurs started in their own small businesses? We’ll hear from successful (and experienced) entrepreneurs who will give advice, and hear from networks of young entrepreneurs about their ideas and the challenges facing them. WNPR’s final Small Business Breakfast in 2011 will take place during the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce Business Expo, at the Oakdale Theatre, Wallingford. Register here

THURSDAY: Decisions, Decisions
When we make a decision, we can carefully deliberate for hours, or go with our gut feeling. But as scientists dig deeper into the human mind, they’re discovering that this is not actually how the mind works. Our best decisions are a finely tuned blend of both feeling and reason and the precise mix depends on the situation. Coming up, scientist Jonah Lehrer joins us to discuss “How We Decide” – prior to his appearance at the upcoming Connecticut Forum. And we’ll talk to an author who says that freedom of choice is at the core of American history. But what if choice is fake?

FRIDAY: TBA

 

Listener Poetry

After several days without power, boredom starts to set in. One listener of Where We Live (who I’m assuming was out of power for a long time) was bored but creative. We received this Ode to CL&P this morning. If you have other ways of expressing your feelings (good or bad) about CL&P please feel free to share them with us at wherewelive@wnpr.org.

Ode to CL&P
By Marci Moreau

An early snow begins our plight what seems so long ago
Too soon it falls on still dressed trees and brings us to our knees
Our homes go dark, our fingers cold and streets seemed paved with bark

Through all our faith is steadfast strong, we believe there is no fear
With riches plenty in our State help surely will be here
Alas we hear Jeff Butlers call echo through the night
With all we give, how much we pay, of course there will be light

Days march on, no phone, no food, my hair I want to dry
Thank goodness for the restaurants or I would really cry
We wait for hope with each new day yet nothing comes our way
I listen for Charles Shivery but he has naught to say

Our elders freeze, our children whimper and spirits become grim
Shelters fill and people hear apologies for there is no room at the inn
Business halts and much is lost in times so very tough
What will we do and how will it ever be enough

Still confused and cold and dazed, why were we not prepared
Tales of low inventory and no staffing all sound very weird
In final hours crews arrive from lands so far away
They hook things up and work so hard for that golden ray
Through the nights they mend the streets, our passages now clear
Alas we know our future plans need so much work from here

Adieu my friends I must return, my home is warm and bright
Back to life, to have a go and try to make this right
But first I call CL& P and say I cannot pay
It seems my funds have all been spent on dining out each day
But wait I’ll speak Sir Butler’s name, after all he is the chief
In that I trust he will agree to give me some relief
I am sure he will wait with patience for my bill
He understands just what it means to live amidst a very icy chill

Coming Up! November 7 to 11, 2011

Catie Talarski

Here’s to hoping that everyone’s power will be back on by Monday. Be sure to continue to listen to WNPR, Where We Live and the Colin McEnroe Show for continued coverage of the aftermath of the storm. And let us know how things are faring in your corner of the state. Here’s what’s coming up:

MONDAY: The Remaking of West Hartford Center
Donald Poland’s research focuses on the remaking of urban spaces, and he’s using West Hartford Center as a case study. He argues that this type of space is not conceptualized or explained by current urban theory. Today we’ll explore this and other similar town centers across the country, which he describes as both resilient and mundane. We’ll also have an update on power outages around the state.

TUESDAY: Robert Gates
Robert Gates was defense Secretary for two Presidents – overseeing two wars. But on the way out of that job, he’s been sharply critical of the types of wars that were left to him, and has called for cuts to “excessive” military spending. Gates is in Connecticut to give the The Robert C. Vance Distinguished Lecture at Central Connecticut State University. He’ll come to our studio to talk to us, and to you, about America’s future military.

WEDNESDAY: Deadlines
Today CL&P faces another deadline to have your lights back on.  It’s also the deadline for the NBA players to accept a deal from the league. There’s that deadline on the national debt ceiling (as if it really matters)… and the President has set a deadline for troop withdrawal from Iraq: December 31st. Did you get your emissions checked? Write that term paper? File your taxes? Coming up we’ll talk about the power of the deadline.  How effective are they – in business, in politics, in your life?

THURSDAY: Scientific Literacy in the 21^st Century (rebroadcast)
In a world where everything we do seems tied to science and technology, a quote like this is pretty scary: Leon Botstein, the president of leading liberal arts college Bard, told the New York Times: “The most terrifying problem in American university education is the profound lack of scientific literacy for the people we give diplomas to who are not scientists or engineers. The hidden Achilles’ heel is that while we’ve found ways to educate scientists in the humanities, the reverse has never really happened. Everybody knows this, but nobody wants to do anything about it.” Well, there are some people who want to do something about it…people like Neil deGrasse Tyson, Director of theHayden Planetarium in New York. What’s a benefit of scientific literacy to him? It “inoculates you against charlatanism.” There’s a big benefit – the more you understand, the less chance you’ll have the wool pulled over your eyes by people like slick-talking politicians. But here’s the funny thing…you want to arm yourself against scientific doublespeak from the political class? New Jersey Representative Rush Holt – himself a Princeton physicist – says of his colleagues: “There are 435 people in the House and 420 don’t know much about science and choose not to.” So today, a conversation about scientific literacy – with some of the leading thinkers in the field. We’ll talk about getting students more interested in the sciences – about how to talk with science “disbelievers” and how science impacts politics.

FRIDAY: Veterans Day
President Obama announced the end of the Iraq War last month. The war will officially end on December 31 and many troops will come home. On this Veterans Day, we’ll have a discussion about the transition for these soldiers from military to civilian life. WNPR’s Lucy Nalpathanchil has been covering military and veterans issues and she’ll join us to discuss her reporting from around the country.