October 1999

Yellow Bow -- Psychiatrist and commentator Elissa Ely tells the story of a young immigrant woman who she treated in the hospital. Years after the woman left the hospital, Ely found a letter the patient had written the day she got out. It forecast sunny days ahead - but that was not to be. (4:00)

Ghosts -- Commentator Carol Wasserman reflects on ghosts. She says it is their absence that haunts us. She mourns the loss of real souls, and wistfully imagines if they really could come back. (2:30)

Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty -- NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr says that, if Russia fails to accept US amendments to the historic 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the US may withdraw from it. (3:00)

From Pig to Art -- Grandma Kling could make art out of food. It was her cooking that transformed Commentator Kevin Kling's pet pigs to sausage. (5:00)

Baseball -- Commentator Katie Davis says the World Series has prompted reminiscing by her Washington DC neighbors. (2:00)

Visiting Colombia -- Commentator Guillermo Gomez-Pena says the image we have of Colombia clearly overshadows the reality of daily life in the South American nation. Before a recent visit, Gomez-Pena and his wife were warned about the violence they would confront daily--but he says that it was pretty easy to forget that Colombia is at war. Even when some fear crept in, he simply had to remember all the things he had left behind in America, like racist killers and massacres at high-schools. (4:00)

Foreign Policy -- NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr says that the unilateralist Congress, in battling with the Administration over foreign policy, is crippling America's standing in the world. (2:15)

Bears and Berries -- Commentator Peter Heller was in Alaska during the berry season. Along with the berries come the bears; grizzly bears. Heller describes a near encounter with the latter. (3:15)

Generation Mex -- Commentator Guillermo Gomez-Pena talks about his "generation mex" nephews -- children of globalization. They were born in Mexico but are culturally American -- disconnected from their roots, techno-literate and fully bilingual. (4:00)

Dan Sez -- NPR's Dan Schorr on the crisis in Pakistan. (2:45)

Harry Potter -- Commentator Daniel Ferri sends an open letter to J.K. Rowling, author of the best-selling Harry Potter books. Ferri, a sixth grade teacher, tells Rowling that the kids in his class love her books--and prefer NOT to see the small illustrations she has at the beginning of each chapter -- they like the pictures in their minds a lot more. He makes a plea that she resist the temptation to market Harry Potter and the other characters from the book -- no action figures, no calendars. (4:30)

Goodbye Texas -- Commentator Marion Winik has left her dear Austin, Texas. The only place she says she has ever loved. This is an ode to that place where she spent the last twenty years - came in a mini-skirt - left in a mini van. (4:00)

Southern Stupidity -- Commentator Scott Brunner contends that Southerners appear dumb on TV because they give stock answers to questions. "Sounded like a freight train," is how a tornado sounds; "tastes like chicken," is how exotic food tastes. Brunner thinks this actually reveals TV savvy... going for the simple answer to make the news. (3:30)

Maroon Herbalism -- In remote parts of Jamaica, people known as Maroons has maintained a way of life distinct from the rest of the island nation. Maroons are descendants of slaves and Jamaican natives who have lived in rugged country for centuries. Commentator Michael Ivey spent some time among the Maroon people this year -- and found practitoners of Maroon herbalism. (7:45)

Outsider Candidates -- NPR's Dan Schorr says that politics has become more and more like entertainment. (2:45)

My Fashionless Dad -- Commentator Bob Morris on his father's total lack of fashion sense. {3:30)

The Juror -- Commentator Belle Waring gets picked to be on the jury. The young man is being tried for possessing less than a gram of crack. Waring offers impressions of the scene at DC Superior Court. (3:30)

Moviefone -- Commentator Douglas Rushkoff says too often a fun, convenient technology can become mandatory and imprisoning. For example Moviephone, was at first just a great way to get information. But now Rushkoff says in New York and some other cities, getting assigned seats for the movies by buying tickets over the phone has become a must. (2:30)


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