June 2001

Suck-dot-com -- Earlier this month Automatic Media, Inc. closed its doors, laying off the staff that ran Web sites like Feed-Mag and Suck-dot-com. Suck-dot-com was one the company's most popular site and the Web's longest running daily publication. Heather Havrilesky wrote Suck's Wednesday column, Filler under the pen name Polly Esther. We hear her thoughts on the demise of her publication. (3:15)

Teens and Sex -- Surgeon General David Satcher wants sex education to go beyond teaching about abstinence. In a report released yesterday he called for a "mature and thoughtful discussion about sexuality" among parents, schools, and community leaders. Youth Radio's Belia Mayeno-Choy spent some time talking to middle schoolers in Berkeley, California about how useful they find their sex education classes. Not very useful is the answer. They say not many people they know are having sex, and so teaching about abstinence seems like preaching to the choir. And they say sex ed classes are worthless when it comes to understanding what sexual ASSAULT really is, and the aggressive horseplay that leads up to it. (5:15)

Supreme Court and Civil Rights -- Georgetown University Law Professor David Cole comments on the latest US Supreme Court term, which has just come to an end, and how the decisions will affect civil rights. (3:45)

Bike Theft -- Commentator Katie Davis relates how two neighborhood kids she works with were accused of stealing from the local bike shop. They say they didn't do it. It turns out they're right. The experience shows Davis how easy it is to make racist assumptions. (4:45)

Nailbiters -- Commentator Elissa Ely is a psychiatrist in Massachusetts. Times of stress take a toll on her fingertips. (2:30)

Israeli Prime Minister Sharon -- NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr outlines Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's approach to the next step in the Middle East peace process. (3:00)

Jackie Kennedy Show -- Commentator Bob Morris took his 9-year-old niece to the Met to see Jackie Kennedy: The White House Years. He expected the trip to be compelling for his niece, who loves a good fairy tale. But she couldn't relate at all. He was unexpectedly faced with her innocently questioning the sanctity of an icon. (4:00)

Dog's World -- Commentator Hilary Abramsonsays she buys pet insurance for her dog -- and the company treats her with more humanity than many health insurers for humans. (3:00)

Walking -- Commentator Meredith Small says her walk to work has given her time to reflect on the human endeavor to make progress... by walking. (2:15)

AIDS In Africa -- NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr says that a reluctant America needs to devote more money to the global fight against AIDS. (3:00)

Hungry Dot-Commers -- Commentator Katharine Mieszkowski remarks on the tongue-in-cheek Web site www.hungrysite.com. It's put together by a jobless ex-dot-commer satirizing himself and his self-pitying compatriots. (2:15)

Youths and Evangelicals -- Commentator Ellen Charry says a number of evangelical Christian outreaches are finding success with America's young people. Though not perfect, she says, they're meeting a need that has been ignored by many mainline denominations. (3:30)

GE - Honeywell -- NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr takes a look at th European Union's opposition to the merger of General Electric and Honeywell, two American companies. (3:00)

Ellis' Lies -- Commentator Jim Sleeper expresses disapproval of claims by Pulitzer-Prize winning historian Joseph Ellis that he fought in Vietnam. It was recently revealed that he did not. (3:00)

Bad Decision -- Commentator William Tucker argues that California got into its energy mess by thinking it could have conservation and low prices too. He says the state needs to accept higher prices, new power plant construction, and realize that environmentalism and consumer interests conflict. (3:00)

Testing -- Commentator Bill Harley has a tirade against standardized testing. He says it takes time away from opportunities for real learning. (2:30)

Grand Canyon With Little Sister -- Commentator Peter Heller took a trip down the Colorado River with his sister, who has Cerebral Palsy. He writes of how the beauty of the Grand Canyon and overcoming the dangers of the trip created a bond and trust between them. (2:30)

Bush - Putin -- NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr takes a look at the latest in a long line of summits between Russian and American leaders. (3:30)

Bloomsday -- Commentator Scott Huler is going to stop trying to read Ulysses. He will do this tomorrow, June 16th, which is known to some as "Bloomsday." It's the day in which all the action of James Joyce's book Ulysses transpires. Huler says literary snobs drink Guinness and read from the obscure and dense novel on Bloomsday, but he's giving up. (2:00)

Dad's War -- Commentator Bob Morris has some thoughts for Father's Day on what being a war hero really means. His father didn't see any action during his service in the Second World War, but that doesn't mean he didn't matter. (3:30)

Loud Noises -- Opinions about what is "noise" and what is not, vary. But living amid the wailing sirens, stuttering jackhammers, roaring buses, and blasting stereos of New York City has become a social cause for activists there, and for producer Curtis Fox. (7:00)

Old Chairs -- Commentator Carol Wasserman says old chairs have an uncanny way of reproducing themselves in storage. (3:45)

Going Postal In Romania -- Commentator Andrei Codrescu relates how a friend sent him word on strange postal rules in Romania. It's not the employees, but the customers there that "go postal." (3:15)

Bush and Putin -- NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr says that President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin should be more wary of Russia's poorly-kept nuclear arsenal. (2:45)

None of the Above -- Teen-ager La Mer Stepptoe's heritage is a mix of Caucasian, African-American, and Native American. She says she's unable to choose any one racial label. The only Italian culture she's gotten from her mother's Italian family is food. Her father wants her to absorb her African-American culture. Instead, she likes music from many cultures and sees herself as part of "the human race." (3:00)

Jurors and Race -- Commentator Lis Wiehlsays a recent court ruling has made it possible for African-Americans to be excluded from juries based on their beliefs about the O.J. Simpson trial. A Texas appeals court allowed a prosecutor to exclude black jurors who supported Simpson's acquittal. Wiehl says the ruling smells of racial stereotyping. (3:30)

The Fogger -- Commentator Bill Harley remembers when kids got excited when the mosquito spraying truck came around. Kids loved to run in the toxic mist. (3:30)

Church and Schools -- Commentator Joe Loconte reacts favorably to a Supreme Court ruling yesterday that allows public schools to let religious groups use school space after hours. Loconte says it's a simple matter of fairness. (3:15)

Graduations Galore -- Commentator Amy Dickinson complains about what she sees as the proliferation of graduation ceremonies for younger and younger school children. Case in point: her daughter's graduation from seventh grade. Where will it end? Diplomas for toilet training? (3:00)

Closure #3 -- Bruce Feiler says that during difficult times we don't need "closure," we need an opening. He says "closure" is not a moment of ending, but a moment of uncertainty and a beginning of a struggle between what remains and what is lost. (2:30)

Closure #2 -- Wendy Kaminer disagrees. She says the idea of "closure" is just pop psychology, helping us make a transition from victim to survivor, and that the quest for closure can be neverending. McVeigh's execution, Kaminer says, is supposed to be therapeutic for victim's families. But she asserts that closure talk wrongly assumes that all losses are consolable. (2:30)

Closure #1 -- Following this morning's execution of Timothy McVeigh, we hear three views on the issue of "closure." First, writer Alan de Botton says it is easy to dismiss the idea as just another talk show topic. He writes in defense of the process whereby we seek to make sense of a difficult, tragic or painful event. (2:30)

Safety O's -- Commentator Lenore Skenazy has been enraged by a cereal box. The box features a picture of a child in a mini NASCAR-style racing car. She proposes a new kind of cereal -- "Safety O's" -- for safety-obsessed moms. (2:30)

Bush Foreign Policy -- NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr says that the Bush administration often fails to look before it leaps. (3:00)

Thumbsucking -- A series of recent events led commentator Elissa Ely, a psychiatrist in Massachusetts, to ponder the idea of comfort. (3:00)

Millie -- Commentator Morton Kondracke, whose wife suffers from Parkinson's disease, makes his case for government support of stem cell research to fight the illness. (3:30)

Bizarre Latin TV -- Commentator Guillermo Gomez Pena reports on the hot new and bizarre programming on TV in Latin America --including a Mexican talk show with the highest ratings -- a Jerry Springer kind of program featuring, among other topics, guests with "peculiar forms of transexuality" and "families engaged in bizarre forms of incest." (3:30)

Tax Cut Comment -- Stephen Moore, President of the Club for Growth in Washington D.C. is an economic conservative who says the tax cut passed by Congress was too small. (3:15)

Surprised By Mom -- Commentator Desiree Cooper thought that just as her kids were growing up and needing her less, she would have to take care of her own aging mother. But she's realized she's still relying on her mother for help. (3:00)

Six Feet Under -- The new HBO drama Six Feet Under debuted last night. One of the main characters is gay and in the closet. Commentator James Poniewozikthinks a closeted character marks a new beginning for gay characters on TV. (4:00)

Noodles -- Chef and food writer Jay Weinstein notes that noodles -- all kinds, from rice to ramen -- are finding new popularity in the American grocery. (2:15)

Bush - Daughters -- Commentator Margaret Moser thinks America should lighten up on the underage daughters of President Bush who were caught this week trying to buy alcohol. (2:15)


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