Tough Questions. Honest Answers.

Filed under: On Air

Several months ago, Dawn Turner Trice, a columnist for the Chicago Tribune, started a new blog, called Exploring Race. She wants it to be an open forum, where readers write frank comments, where they can pose any question.

"We have a moment in history to have a national discussion about race," she writes. "We should seize it and try to mine it for what it's worth. I want this to be a safe place where people of all races can explore their views and biases, openly and honestly."

Do you agree with her? Is this the time for a real, honest dialogue about race?

In the first hour of our show today, we'll talk with Trice about her blog. Does she think that Exploring Race is working? What has she learned? We'll also hear from Gregory Rodriguez, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, and Kathy Cramer Walsh, who teaches at the University of Wisconsin. Her most-recent book is called Talking about Race: Community Dialogues and the Politics of Difference. (You can read the first chapter from it here.)

When do you and your friends talk about race? What exactly do you talk about? How honest are the conversations? Do you hold back, why? What makes it such a hard subject for you? Do forums like Exploring Race make it easier?

-- David Gura

Tags: Dawn Turner Trice | Gregory Rodriguez | Kathy Cramer Walsh | race | talking about race

Mommy MySpace

Filed under: On Air

Your mom, online -- a good thing?

Source: ukdenners

Mother's Day is fast approaching, which means every teenager and adult with a computer is getting ready to send that cheery e-card of love and appreciation. The only concern is, what will happen when it reaches its destination? Qwerty keyboards and fast-paced texting may still furrow a few brows; but increasingly, moms are becoming more and more technologically savvy... and they're indulging in a whole new form of communication with their children online -- through emails, texts, blogs, and social networking sites.

If you're a Generation Xer or Yer, you may be familiar with one or all of the following:

The frantic technical support calls from mom at 8 o'clock in the morning because she doesn't know how to send an email, and it needs to get to her book club before noon; or

The random text messages that look like hieroglyphics because she hasn't mastered the T9Word keypad on her phone; or, worse,

The mom that reads your emails or "friends" your friends on Facebook because she has a little too much technological know-how.

But no matter what the online situation is, younger generations are taking this new style of communication in stride, and some have even managed to grow closer to their moms because of it.

Linda Lowen, a mom of two teens and a writer on women's issues for about.com, will join us to talk about the nuances and politics of moms interacting with their kids online. And we'll also hear from Doree Shafrir and Jessica Grose who co-founded Postcards from Yo Momma, a website that runs user-submitted e-mails and chat transcripts from real moms.

How have you experienced this trend of communicating with your mom online? What's the latest email or text you received from her? And, moms, how do you communicate with your kids online?

-- Ashley Grashaw

Tags: Doree Shafrir | IM-ing | Jessica Grose | Linda Lowen | Postcards from Yo Momma | email | mothers online | social networking sites | text

I'm Not Gonna Lie To You...

Filed under: On Air

See!?! She reads!

Source: BarrieJH

...except, I probably am! I'm a shameless exaggerator. Shameless. (In fact, my level of exaggeration is the one thing I don't exaggerate about, so you can trust me on this one point.) For instance, in our meetings I've been known to wave my hands around like I'm landing a plane -- all the while insisting that "the price of manure has skyrocketed and we've absolutely got to cover this s#$t!!!" (For the record -- the price is at a record high, but skyrocketed is a -- wait for it -- exaggeration.) I regularly used to inflate my age -- even when I wasn't in bars -- and now I regularly (sigh) deflate it. I'm 5'8" feet tall.* My cat can read. I failed geometry three times.** I took the trash out -- and I paid that bill in full! (It's a nuance, but I'm pro'ly a bit of a fibber, too, I realize.) Well, a small study in the journal Emotion says that this kind of exaggeration isn't really about deceiving other people -- it's simply a reflection of our hopes and dreams. (I hope and dream my cat will read -- and talk someday!) We're talking to one of the authors of the study, but we really want to to hear from you. So, 'fess up, y'all. What truth have you stretched -- and what have you simply snapped?

*5'3"
**Only twice.

-- Barrie Hardymon

Tags: exaggeration | fibbing

May 8th Show

Filed under: Coming Up

For our entire first hour today, we'll continue talking about how we talk about race....inside and outside the political arena. Is it possible to really get down and dirty and HONESTLY talk about race? And what do we hope to accomplish and possibly resolve in those discussions? Our guests will be Dawn Turner Trice, a Chicago Tribune columnist and mediator of a blog called "Exploring Race," Gregory Rodriguez, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times and director of the California Fellows Program at the New America Foundation, and Kathy Kramer Walsh, an associate professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. And as always we want to hear your story. Has talking about race helped you understand other people?

In our 2ND HR 2DAY...AFAIK and FWIW*... Okay, if you are the mother of a teen or tween and can understand what those symbols mean, our second hour is about you. Have you become an online mother...IMing your child and showing up on their Facebook page? You're not alone. In our second hour, we'll talk an online mom of 14 and 16 year olds, and the co-founders of Postcards from Yo Momma, a website that collects those lovely emails mothers send out when all she really wants is for you to call her!! At the end of the hour, a Harvard professor will tell us if there really is a difference between a bold-face lie and a mere exaggeration. It will probably be our best ender segment yet!

CUL8R

*As Far As I Know, and For What It's Worth

-- Gwen Outen

11:58 AM ET | 05- 8-2008 | permalink | e-mail post

Keeping the Newly Dead Ready for Organ Donation

Filed under: Deep Thoughts

I've been an organ donor for a long time. I've always been of the belief that once I'm finished using my heart, lungs or whatever, if they can be of use to someone else, please, be my guest. But even I find this idea a little, well, unsettling.

It's pretty well-known that there just aren't enough donated organs to go around to all the people who need them. And until we learn how to grow them -- which is, realistically, not as far off as we might think -- the shortage will continue. So New York City officials have come up with an idea of how to work the odds in their favor a bit. USA Today reports that, within months, they plan to "dispatch the nation's first ambulance equipped to preserve bodies of the newly dead so that families have time to consider organ donation."

The controversial twist: Crews would swoop in and perform procedures on a corpse without consent in order to preserve the organs until the family had time to give consent for organ donation. No organs would be taken without consent.

The idea of this ambulance roaring through the streets of New York on this particular mission seems like something out of a graphic novel.

Apparently, city officials are hoping that grieving people will be rational enough to give consent for their very recently deceased loved ones' organs to be donated. It's not a totally wild theory. Any reporter who has ever covered a story involving a sudden fatality will tell you that many times the family wants to do whatever it can to preserve the memory of their loved one in a meaningful way.

But does this idea of an ambulance dispatched to keep a victim, well, "fresh," take the desire to harvest organs a step too far? Does it create an unnecessary tension between families of the deceased and the family of those needing an organ donation? Or it this a smart and useful way to take a tragic situation and turn in into something that can be life affirming?

-- Tom Regan

Tags: New York City | organ donation

Homestretch Strategies

Filed under: On Air

The results from yesterday's primaries are in: Senator Obama won North Carolina, and Senator Clinton won Indiana. But Obama increased his lead in pledged delegates, and former Clinton supporter Senator George McGovern has called for her to drop out of the race. So was yesterday a critical turn in the race, or just one more bend along the path to nomination?

Clinton is expected to perform well in the upcoming primaries in West Virginia, Kentucky and Puerto Rico, and Obama is predicted to win Oregon, Montana and South Dakota. So where do their campaigns go from here? NPR political Junkie Ken Rudin joins us to give us his insight. We'll also hear from Donna Brazile, campaign manager for Gore-Lieberman in 2000, and Glen Bolger, co-founder of Public Opinion Strategies.

Pretend you're an undecided superdelegate -- what do you need to hear from the candidates at this point?

-- Ashley Grashaw

Tags: Barack Obama | Democratic primaries | Hillary Clinton | Indiana | Ken Rudin | North Carolina

NPR's Ombudsman

Filed under: On Air

Sometimes while screening calls during our show, I have to let a caller go because their phone has shoddy reception or we're running up against the wall and don't have enough time to put them on the air. To me, it makes sense, and seems justified at the time. But then I think about what it would be like to be that caller on the other end of my hang-up. Here you are, listening to a segment on NPR that got you excited enough to call in and offer your $0.02 live on the air, and you're greeted by a screener like me telling you, "Sorry, we won't be able to take your call. [Insert reason here.] But thanks for calling in and listening!" I can see how it could be infuriating at the most, and a little disappointing at the least.

NPR's Ombudsman, Lisa Shepard, is the one responsible for following up on listener complaints and questions. In other words, she keeps us honest, helps keep the peace. And she will join TOTN every so often to talk about some of the phone calls and emails she receives from listeners, and the ethical issues they raise. NPR received complaints that the description of what police found at the site of Deborah Jean Palfry's suicide was too graphic. What do you think?

When there is a death, be it a suicide, murder, car accident, or an act of war, how much do you want to know? How much should you know?

-- Ashley Grashaw

Tags: Lisa Shepard | NPR Ombudsman

How to Help Vets in Trouble with the Law

Filed under: On Air

For many years, it was a staple of movies and TV shows; the vet -- almost always from Vietnam, but sometimes from the first Gulf War -- who hadn't never been quite able to handle the return to their everyday lives after military service. Sometimes it would only take a slight nudge to send them over the edge into trouble with the law, like in the novel "First Blood" which was later turned into the first of many Rambo films. Sometimes the story featured a vet who seemed normal -- they might even work in law enforcement -- but could fall into a rage-filled anger at a moment's notice, like James Lee Burke's Cajun detective Dave Robicheaux.

The reality of the situation is that a certain percentage of vets do get into trouble with the law, often linked to experiences during their time in the military. And that number has increased as more veterans have returned from Iraq or Afghanistan. (But not as many as you might think. A study by the Justice Department in 2000, showed that the incarceration of vets is about 60 percent of non-veterans. There is one difference among incarcerated veterans than non-veterans. White males comprise a much larger percentage of vets in jail than white males do in the other category.)

So how to help those vets who do find themselves in legal trouble? One answer is might be what is happening in Buffalo. NPR's Libby Lewis reports on a special veterans court -- working in conjunction with the Veterans Affairs Department -- that tries to help veterans in trouble with the law. The court appoints mentors, often other veterans or active-duty soldiers, to help those in trouble get their lives back on track. The men in trouble with the law have to check in regularly with the court and prove that they are making the effort to get out of trouble in order to avoid jail time.

Do vet courts sound like a good idea? Is this something that you think should be used in the rest of the country?

-- Tom Regan

10:44 AM ET | 05- 7-2008 | permalink | comments (8) | e-mail post

A Tribute to Comedians Past

Filed under: Deep Thoughts

Chris Farley's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Source: bsoist

John Belushi, Chris Farley, and John Candy. All Second City vets. All on the SNL stage at one point or another. And all died earlier than their time -- drugs, drugs, and heart disease, respectively. But, in a way, they live on in the comedy they left behind.

In a new biography about Chris Farley called, The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Acts, his brother Tom put it this way:

For every hilarious thing he did on camera, there were twenty things he did off-screen that just blew it away. He lived to make others laugh, and he was fearless about it. In the years since Chris passed away, there have been countless times when Chris's buddies would find themselves huddled together, sharing these crazy stories.

What do you miss most about these comedic actors? And what was your favorite skit or movie they did?

-- Ashley Grashaw

Tags: Chris Farley | John Belushi | John Candy | The Chris Farley Show

Insane or Just Plain Nuts

Filed under: On Air

It is by far one of the most unpleasant stories out there. A man in Austria commits the worst kind of child abuse -- and then takes it into another stratosphere of evil by keeping his children and grandchildren (all of whom he fathered) in a basement for years. It's a horrible, horrible story -- and my informal survey of friends and compatriots has found either people can't read about it at all -- or they just want to know what breach of hell created this man's particular brand of evil. Austrian courts however, have a different set of questions -- namely, is Josef Fritzl legally insane? One argument says he wouldn't have kept the kids hidden away if he didn't know what he was doing was wrong. Insane is legal term -- not a medical one. (And meshuggeneh is merely a descriptor, if you're curious.) The insanity defense is invoked in Law and Order and CSI a lot -- but it differs from state to state, country to country, and court to court. Insanity Famous defendants that have pleaded insanity range from Zacarias Moussaoui to D.C. sniper Lee Boyd Malvo. Even Reagan's would-be assassin, John Hinckley Jr., used the insanity defense -- and the court found him not guilty back in 1982. Today -- we're talking about Insane vs. Crazy: questions? Post 'em here.

-- Barrie Hardymon

Tags: Fritzl | insanity defense

When an Oath Clashes with Personal Convictions

Filed under: On Air

I come from a part of the world where the taking of an oath has a rather unpleasant history.

I grew up in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia in Canada. I lived literally a block from the spot where, in 1755, the British commander told a group of Acadian farmers -- who had grown estranged from France during their almost 150 years in the area and had no interest in the latest British-French blowup -- that they would have to swear allegiance to the King of England or else their lands would be forfeited to the crown and they would be shipped away.

And as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow chronicled in his poem, Evangeline, this is exactly what happened when the proud Acadians refused to take the oath.

For most people, taking an oath is not a problem. But for some their personal convictions -- particularly their personal religious convictions -- can create a troubling situation. Take the case of Marianne Kearney-Brown, a Quaker and graduate student who was fired from her teaching job at California State University East Bay this week because she refused to sign an 87-word Oath of Allegiance to the Constitution that the state requires of elected officials and public employees.

It wasn't so much that she didn't want to swear allegiance to the state's Constitution. As the San Francisco Chronicle reports, "A veteran public school math teacher who specializes in helping struggling students, Kearney-Brown, 50, had signed the oath before - but had modified it each time."

Each time, when asked to "swear (or affirm)" that she would "support and defend" the U.S. and state Constitutions "against all enemies, foreign and domestic," Kearney-Brown inserted revisions: She wrote "nonviolently" in front of the word "support," crossed out "swear," and circled "affirm." All were to conform with her Quaker beliefs, she said.

Kearney-Brown did this several times over her career teaching in California and it was never rejected. But this time she got a letter that said the university's counsel said she couldn't alter the oath (which may or may not be true, as it turns out) and she had to sign it or be fired. She refused to sign and was axed.

Kearney-Brown will be on Talk of the Nation today to talk about what happened to her and why she did what she did.

Should a person be able to change the wording of an oath to suit their religious situation? Atheists are not required to say "under God" while reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, nor are they required to swear on a Bible in court. They can affirm their promise to tell the truth. Should the same consideration be extended to other strong religious beliefs?

-- Tom Regan

Tags: loyalty oaths

Film School at Home

Filed under: On Air

David and Jesse Gilmour had a unique arrangement.

From the witty repartee of Annie Hall and va-va-voom of Lolita, to Tony Montana's "little friend" in Scarface, Jesse Gilmour didn't receive your ordinary high school education. After almost flunking out of school, without remorse, his dad, David, decided to make a deal with him: he could drop out, live at home job- and rent-free, and all he had to do, in exchange, was watch three movies a week with his old man. Every teenager's dream, right? What resulted was a unique exchange between father and son -- film critic and novice. In watching the films, they found ways to talk about girls and relationships, drugs and alcohol, and how to approach life's big decisions -- at a time when most teenage boys pull away from their fathers.

Former film critic and Canadian talk show host David Gilmour wrote about the experience in a new book called The Film Club, and he and his son, Jesse, join us today to share their stories.

Have you ever learned something important from a movie, or a scene from a movie? Tell us about it! And what would your film school curriculum be?

-- Ashley Grashaw

Tags: David Gilmour | Jesse Gilmour | The Film Club

RIP: Yearbooks

Filed under: On Air

My yearbooks, from middle school and high school, are tucked away somewhere in my childhood bedroom. Some day, five or ten years from now, I'll crack them open, to look at awkward studio portraits, to read benedictions and valedictions, to search for an embarrassing photo of a now-famous classmate.

I was sad to read that future classes, in colleges and universities especially, might not have yearbooks to look at, to laugh at. Free social networks, like Facebook and MySpace, and online photo websites, like Flickr and Picasa, have eroded yearbook sales.

Ye Domesday Booke, the yearbook at Georgetown University, is poorly funded and understaffed. The yearbook office at Virginia Wesleyan College is filled with old books. (Many students who ordered copies didn't pick them up.) And The Debris, from Purdue University? There will be no 2009 edition.

Do you mourn the dying yearbook? What does it give you that an website can't? Do you have your old yearbooks? Do you look at them with any frequency?

-- David Gura

Tags: Facebook | MySpace | yearbooks

May 6th Show

Filed under: Coming Up

In our first hour, we'll talk about shocking news that filled newspapers last week: Josef Fritzl, a 73-year-old Austrian man, held his daughter captive in the basement of his home and fathered seven children with her. He is now under investigation for rape, incest, coercion and the death of one child. Fritzl's lawyer is preparing an insanity defense, arguing Fritzl has a serious mental disorder and did not "choose" to do what police allege he did.

Where is the line drawn that divides responsibility and insanity?

In our first hour, we will look at who and what determines "legal insanity". At the end of the hour, we'll talk with Marianne Kearney Brown, a graduate student at Cal State East Bay about why she declined to sign the loyalty oath required to teach mathematics at the university.

When author David Gilmour's son, Jesse, dropped out of high school, he offered his son a deal. Jesse could drop out, live at home job and rent free, BUT it was required that they watch three movies a week together. In the second hour, David Gilmour and Jesse tell their story of how "film home schooling" effected their father-son relationship. At the end of the hour, we'll talk how Facebook could lead to the demise of the beloved school yearbook.

-- Gwen Outen

12:00 PM ET | 05- 6-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Veteran Court In Buffalo -- YOUR Turn

Filed under: Your Turn

The Newseum.

Source: ktylerconk

Tomorrow, we're back at the Newseum, and we've got two shows for you -- half special coverage, half TOTN regular style. First show is all about the world's longest homestretch in the Democratic nominating contest, but the second show is where we need your help.

This past January, Buffalo started a specialized veterans court -- a court meant to address problems specific to veterans: like substance abuse, mental health, even traffic issues caused by PTSD or the simple lack of civilian driving skills. NPR's Libby Lewis has done the reporting on this, so we've invited her to the Newseum tomorrow to tell us about it -- along with the project director for Buffalo's vet courts. Here's where you come in: if you're a vet and have been involved with the legal system, tell us your story. We want to hear about your experience -- we're looking for personal stories, and we'd like to hear from you about what you (or a loved one) would want in a specialized court for veterans. And if you've participated in Buffalo's project, by all means, let us know that too.

AND: if you're in the Washington area (that means you, Baltimore, Falls Church, Richmond, etc!!), let us know if you want to attend the live broadcast for either hour. It's at the Newseum, which is gorgeous, and worth the trip even with out added TOTN bonus. It's free, fun, and you can see Neal and Ken live (both red-heads, btw) if you want to come for the two o'clock broadcast, and Libby Lewis at the three o'clock show (not a red-head, but super smart). Here's what to do.

To reserve your complimentary tickets, send an email to tickets@npr.org or call 202. 513. 3959. When reserving tickets, please indicate which show you would like to attend, 2-3, 3-4 or both. A post-show Q&A with our host, Neal Conan, can be arranged for school groups.

-- Barrie Hardymon

Tags: Newseum | veteran courts