July 2000

How to Be a Teacher -- Commentator Daniel Ferri gives a quick lesson in how be a teacher. Some of the basics: learn how to say "now" before you say anything else, wear dumb shoes, make dumb jokes and lie awake in bed all Sunday night.

Tribal Courts -- Commentator Lis Wiehl explains that tribal courts, which operate on many Indian reservations, function separately from the federal court system. These courts have not had to apply the U.S. Constitution directly, leaving out Constitutional guarantees like the right to free legal counsel. But one of the problems with suspending Constitutional protections, is that convictions obtained in tribal courts can be used against defendants later in federal and state courts.

Frederick's Of Hollywood -- Commentator Lenore Skenazy tells us how this Hollywood glamour clothing store rose and fell. It's brand of peek-a-boo was very 1940's. Victoria's Secret, and the world at large, is much bolder, she says, and that's why the store has filed for bankruptcy.

Bass Keno Commentator Kelly Roberty is a professional musician -- he plays the bass. Recently he sat down with his bass and told us his story of getting addicted to gambling. He lost everything -- more than 70-thousand dollars, his friends and family, his wife left him, and he pawned his bass as part of it all. At rock bottom, he had a breakdown, and an epiphany, an understanding of hope and redemption and courage to turn things around. He explains how he turned it all around. Roberty now is living in Bozeman Montana, is teaching music and will be touring Europe with a jazz sextet later this fall.

Petit Prince and Outer Space -- Commentator Mario Livio reflects on The Little Prince, and the search for extraterrestrial life.

Computer Mom -- Commentator Douglas Rushkoff is extremely computer savvy. But in trying to help his mother buy a computer, he realized the computer has a long way to go before it becomes a reliable household appliance.

Summer School -- Commentator Jeanne Brennan says that it's more important to help students and teachers during the school year so that they don't need summer school to catch up.

Swimming Pool -- Commentator Martha Ann Overland lives in India, and takes her kids to the US Embassy Club swimming pool. She learns that the class and racial divisions that have become taboo on most American soil, are still openly practiced by Americans abroad.

Snapping -- Commentator Judith Fein works with juvenile prisoners. She describes "snapping," a term they use when they realize the consequences of their actions and are then ready to change.

E-Mail -- Commentator Andrew Lam remarks on the substance of e-mail conversation. He says a friend of his complains that although she hears from him more by e-mail now, she misses him more and knows him less than when he wrote letters. Their conversation is shallower. There's a high price for digital communication; language is streamlined and intimacy lost.

The Barber -- Commentator Elissa Ely talks about the barber that comes to the hospital where she works. The patients look forward to his visits. The barber connects with one particular patient in a way that Elissa -- a psychiatrist -- was never able.

Rats -- Commentator Lenore Skenazy expresses her thoughts about rodents and their place in Manhattan.

Middle East -- NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr says that the prospect of Congressional opposition to peace's price tag looms over the negotiations at Camp David.

Efficiency -- Commentator Jeremy Rifkin says in the world where we measure nano-seconds and have every time-saving device imaginable, we still find ourselves without free time. Our culture is obsessed with efficiency. Rifkin is looking for a paradigm that replaces efficiency with sufficiency.

New Shoes -- Commentator Daniel Ferri -- a grade school teacher in Chicago -- relates the story of his relationship with one of his students. Ferri gets off on the wrong foot - so to speak - with the boy - and is relieved at the boy's ability to forgive his teacher.

Talking with Loons -- Storyteller Kevin Kling talks about the summer his voice changed; the summer he went fishing with his dad, and talked with the loons.

Single Life -- Commentator Reynolds Price is an advocate for chosen singleness. He points out that the much-touted nuclear family is the source of many psychic and societal problems, and argues that the "suspect minority" of single people have included such "friends of the human enterprise" as Beethoven and Isaac Newton.

Middle East -- On the eve of the Camp David talks, NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr ponders the reasons Israelis and Palestinians are drawn to the table.

First Job -- When he was sixteen, Commentator Bill Harley worked at a seafood restaurant. He says learned about race, class and privilege when an angry cook hurled a baked potato at him.

Sibling Rivalry -- Commentator Amy Dickinson writes about sibling rivalry. She knows that sisters are often rivals. But in the case of the Williams sisters, it is especially hard, because there is always a winner and a loser.

News Leaks -- NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr comments on the penchant for news leaks in the Nation's Capital.


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