Gemma Watters Production Assistant

Harry Potter, Huckleberry Finn and Little Red Riding Hood have all been the subject of censorship. On this week's show, Weekend Edition Host Liane Hansen speaks with Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison about censorship in literature. Morrison has recently edited a book entitled "Burn this Book" for the group, PEN. The organization's goal is to fight against censorship in literature.

What are your views on censorship? We want to hear your uncensored thoughts.

Here's a list of the American Library Association's Top 10 most frequently challenged books of 2008.

1. And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
Reasons: anti-ethnic, anti-family, homosexuality, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group

2. His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman
Reasons: political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, violence

3. TTYL; TTFN; L8R, G8R series by Lauren Myracle
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

4. Scary Stories series by Alvin Schwartz
Reasons: occult/satanism, religious viewpoint, violence

5. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
Reasons: occult/satanism, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, violence

6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: drugs, homosexuality, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit, suicide, unsuited to age group

7. Gossip Girl series by Cecily von Ziegesar
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

8. Uncle Bobby's Wedding by Sarah S. Brannen
Reasons: homosexuality, unsuited to age group

9. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

10. Flashcards of My Life by Charise Mericle Harper
Reasons: sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

Gemma Watters Production Assistant

Transvestite, criminal, and king, it can safely be said that British actor Anthony Head has tried it all. He really is an all singing, dancing and talking man. I remember him from when he featured in a series of coffee adverts for Nescafe Gold Blend in the 80's and 90's -- please excuse me for not using the word "commercial" but we are referring to England - The adverts crossed Stateside to become Taster's Choice. Since then, Anthony Head has become well known around the world for his role in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Listen to Scott Simon's conversation with Anthony Head on this week's show. Below you can see Anthony in action as the smooth talking coffee man -- take a break and have refresher.

Scott Simon, Weekend Edition Host

A man named David Kaczynski lives in upstate New York, where he is the Executive Director of New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty. David is the younger brother of Theodore Kaczynski: The Unabomber, who is now in prison for running what amounts to a terrorist by mail campaign. From 1978 to 1995, Theodore Kaczynski mailed 16 bombs that killed three people and injured 23. He was identified and arrested largely because his brother David had begun to suspect that he was the Unabomber, and contacted authorities.

For the first time, David Kaczysnki has written about his relationship with the brother he grew up with and admired. It appears in a new collection called BROTHERS: 26 STORIES OF LOVE AND RIVALRY. Here is an excerpt from my interview with him this Saturday:

Tony Marcano, Senior Editor

I never thought I'd have much in common with a potential Supreme Court justice. I grew up down the block from Sonia Sotomayor -- she was in the Bronxdale Houses, which abut the north side of the Bruckner Expressway; I was in the James Monroe housing project, a few hundred yards to the south. Her family moved to Co-op City, a massive apartment complex in the northeast Bronx; my family stayed put, but I ended up going to Truman High School in Co-op City. She was 9 years old when her father died of heart complications at age 42; I was 14 when my father died of heart complications at 44. She ended up in a way, Way, WAY more successful career than my own, but I haven't done so badly.

Continue reading "Growing Up in the Bronx Near Sonia Sotomayor" >

Kimberly Adams, Production Assistant

When was the last time you got stuck on hold waiting for a company's customer service rep?

Today, Weekend Edition Host Liane Hansen talks to Steve Herlocher, an executive at Jacada, Inc. about what some people do to kill time when they are on hold.

Jacada sells customer service software to call centers, and commissioned a phone survey of 1,000 people to find out the answers. Here are some of the results:

While on hold....
36% of respondents went to the bathroom
26% made a meal
25% watched a full TV show episode
17% completely cleaned a room
16% played two or more games of Solitaire
14% read an entire magazine or newspaper

What about you? What sorts of (G-rated) things do you do while stuck on hold?

Thomas Pierce, Weekend Edition

Photo courtesy of Mike Lang.

 

Thanks to those who've already submitted recipes. For those of you who haven't, there's still time before we pass them on to our first judge -- a pastry chef -- whose identity will be announced in the coming weeks.

After that, the chosen three recipes will be presented to our panel of chefs here in Washington, D.C.

Here's a quick reminder of what we're looking for:

1) a dessert
2) prepared on a grill
3) inventive and original
4) with ingredients we can track down.

Perhaps you're wondering what the winners will get in return for sharing their culinary secrets with the rest of the world.

How about the love and appreciation of your fellow hungry humans?

Oh, and we'll talk to the winner on the show.

Happy grilling!

Scott Simon, Weekend Edition Host

Michael Vick working with the Humane Society!

The idea that a man who has just served 23 months in prison for running a dogfighting business -- and who has confessed to drowning and electrocuting dogs who became too old, injured, or weak to be profitable -- sounds as absurd as John Gotti working with Mother Teresa. Or Magneto working with the X-Men. But Mr. Vick met twice while he was in prison with Wayne Pacelle, head of the Humane Society, and told him that he wants to help the organization's anti-dogfighting programs.

Continue reading "Michael Vick Muse" >

Thomas Pierce, Weekend Edition

I'm pretty sure it's a scientific fact that the smell of hot dogs and hamburgers and sweet corn on the grill can travel entire city blocks and penetrate thick concrete walls. If the weather in your neck of the woods has finally turned to summer, you probably know what I'm talking about. All your neighbors are abandoning their kitchens and firing up the grill out back -- where they can enjoy the lovely warm temperatures and, more importantly, show off what's on the family menu.

Well, we're looking for ways to one-up the neighbor, olfactory-style. We want your recipes for desserts you can grill. We all know about grilled peaches, but what else can you concoct outside? Apple pies? Three-tier cakes?

We'll take the more inventive submissions and put them in front of our celebrity chef panel. Bonus points for creativity, but please, no crazy, obscure ingredients that we can't track down.

Produced by Thomas Pierce and Kimberly Adams

Thomas Pierce, Weekend Edition

For 30 years, Stanley Dural, Jr. has been the "laissez les bon temps roulez" guy for zydeco music. If the name doesn't sound familiar, it's because he's better known as Buckwheat Zydeco. He'll be on our show this weekend to talk about his new album, Lay Your Burden Down.

He told us that when zydeco legend Clifton Chenier asked him to join his band years ago, he was ready -- mainly because his father had showered him with accordion music, morning, noon, and night. Even at breakfast. Here's a sneak listen:

Shea Shackelford, Guest Producer

Place and Memory will be a summer-long series on Weekend Edition, featuring on-air and web-based stories of those places, long gone, that have left their mark on us so clearly--just their mention brings them instantly back to life. Our first radio story will be about The Rabbit Hutch, a family-owned restaurant that served as its specialty--you guessed it--rabbit. Relying on word of mouth advertising, the Venz family operated The Rabbit Hutch for more than a decade at a four-way stop in rural Northern Alabama.

Continue reading "Place & Memory" >

Davar Ardalan, Senior Producer

Roxana Saberi has been released from Tehran's Evin prison, but she isn't the only political prisoner in Iran. Scott Simon spoke to one of the most prominent human rights lawyers in Iran today about the state of dissent.

Produced by Weekend Edition

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Kimberly Adams, Production Assistant

This week, Weekend Edition Saturday's Scott Simon speaks with Gloria Gaynor about a new children's book she helps narrate, Loukoumi's Good Deeds. Although Ms. Gaynor wrote an original song for the book, she's best known for the classic, I Will Survive. For many people, the song has served as an anthem through difficult times, and Ms. Gaynor told Scott how, even today, people stop her to share stories about how the song has changed their lives.

Although I have to admit participating in more than one karaoke session featuring the song following a bad breakup (either mine or a friend's), I had several I Will Survive moments in college, while struggling to pursue my career goals. Some of the people around me told me my goals were unrealistic or that my appearance or background would make them so. Luckily, I had other people in my life who supported and encouraged me, helping me to survive the bumps in the road. So what's your I Will Survive moment? How did you make it through?

Continue reading "I Will Survive!" >

There's a new show on the HDNET television channel called Sex, God, Rock 'n Roll, and it's about just that: sex, God, and rock 'n roll. Stuart Davis is the man behind the series -- acting, directing, and writing. He's been recording albums and touring for years, but this is his first TV show.

Each episode was filmed in front of a live audience and features a mixture of comedy sketches, music and monologues. When Stuart sat down to talk with us, he told us about his hopes for the series, his introduction to Buddhism, and his not-so-secret love of indie-film queen Parker Posey.

He also suggested we play a song that... well... let's just say you may not want to play this song for any metaphor-savvy sixth-graders. Or maybe you do. It's up to you. But just in case, here's a disclaimer: the sexual references in this song might be a turn-off to some listeners.

Kathryn Dalrymple, Weekend Edition

While Weekend Edition does great music pieces, it's not often that we get the chance to document a band during a concert. But we did just that when Israeli music producer Idan Raichel invited fellow intern Jason Sparks and me to his concert at George Washington University's Lisner Auditorium in Washington D.C. in March. We were able to get some really great stage footage, sound and interviews of the band and some of its fans.

Watch our audio slideshow of the concert below. And don't miss Host Liane Hansen's conversation with Idan Raichel on today's show, where you can hear more music from his latest CD, called "Within My Walls."

Produced by Kathryn Dalrymple and Jason Sparks

Peter Breslow, Senior Producer

Joe and Cheryl Torline became instant empty nesters last fall when their quadruplets all headed off to Indiana University on the same day. As mom and dad Torline struggled to fill the space left behind, Allison, Eric, Melanie and Vanessa tried to assert their individuality on campus after growing up as a foursome.

We sat down to talk with the Torline family, and at one point, they reminisced about the moment they discovered they'd be having four more children:

The full interview will air this Saturday.

Scott Simon, Weekend Edition Host

When Jack Kemp, who died over the weekend from cancer at the age of 73, ran for vice president with Bob Dole in 1996, the odds were never good. They were behind from the first, and by fall, the press covering Mr. Kemp made bitter little jokes that being assigned to cover his campaign was like being telegraph operators on the Titanic.

That's when I spent a couple days with the campaign. But I was glad because I witnessed one of those rare moments in politics when a man unexpectedly reveals something of his character.

The campaign stopped in Wisconsin, and the plan was for Jack Kemp to appear on a public television show and take calls from voters across the state. He steered almost every answer back to his free market economic policies, and replied with almost numbing detail. Then a call came in from a man who was clearly agitated.

He said he was among many who marched for civil rights during the '60s in Madison. He said Jack Kemp was a famous pro football player then. And he wanted to know why, if Mr. Kemp was such champion of civil rights, he didn't lift a finger to help the civil rights movement then, when a famous athlete might have made a difference.

Continue reading "Thank You, Mr. Kemp" >