It's hard to believe, but commerce is actually bustling in Goma, the provincial capital in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Our Gwen Thompkins, who's seven hours ahead of eastern time, cranked up her phone after lunch to talk to us about the busy life there. Before we started recording, we promptly lost our phone connection but were able to get her back, thankfully. Gwen, a born story-teller, described what life can be like as a refugee:

You can get hard hearted if you are carrying all your possessions on your head, you don't know where your children are and you have been separated from all your loved ones.

It doesn't get much clearer than that.

There's a very civil dustup today among Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist William Raspberry, Columbia Law Professor Patricia Williams, and award-winning author and history professor, William Jelani Cobb. Initially, our conversation focused on what personal responsibility Barack Obama might have to African Americans, but we segued to different views of personal and societal responsibilities of and to African Americans. Recently, Mr. Raspberry discussed the topic in a Washington Post column; we hear contrary views today from our other two guests. Like our panelists, not everybody is going to agree with him on this, so make sure you catch Mr. Raspberry's original column here. You can find Prof. Cobb's blog here, and here's a link to the Nation Magazine, where you can find several of Prof. Patricia Williams' columns.

There are a lot of things to be thankful for, including our delightful conversation today with Chef Daniel Young, former personal chef to NBA star Carmelo Anthony (the REAL reason you want to make it in pro sports). We get a different taste of thankfulness from some of our listeners. It's just an appetizer, because there's more to come tomorrow.

And, we loved her so much we had to bring her back. Slam Poet Gayle Danley returns with a holiday poem on gratefulness. Don't forget to check out her work earlier this week, and you'll see why we fell so hard for her.

That's it for me this week -- what a wonderful break from tight deadlines and strict time limits. It's obviously not possible for me during our regular newscasts to spend a long time talking about classical music and poetry or even to make light of scary economic news, such as deflation. But that's the joy of working with Tell Me More. The long-form interviews are the draw for any journalist, and we love that you love them too. We know that asking you to stick with us for a lengthy interview is an investment of your time, and the creative team here at TMM is focused on making every minute worthwhile. (Who knew Alvin Hall enjoyed shopping for handbag sales?)

I'm happy to have been here, and hopeful we'll talk to each other again. Be sure to stick around for tomorrow's program! Michel returns, bringing a wealth of Thanksgiving goodies, including more of your thoughts on gratitude.

-- Korva

12:33 - November 26, 2008

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