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December 2002
 Elissa Ely on Informal Times
These days we live in informal times. First names are in, and formal titles are going the way of the top hat. Commentator Elissa Ely isn't sure she likes the change.
Walk Through The Door
Commentator Katie Davis describes a New Year's tradition her friend Reggie participates in every year. A southern tradition requires that a man be the first person to cross the threshold of a home on January first. Reggie does the honors for his children's great grandmother.
Bread
Commentator Marion Winik has discovered that baking bread
reveals the secrets of life. (3:15)
Holiday Rules
Commentator Beth Lapides creates a crazy funny list
of do's and don'ts for the Christmas and New Year's season. They are
contradictary and arbitrary. She delivers them as if on speed. Among them:
Slow down, Eat everything in sight, do not watch Martha Stewart, and spend
New Year's Day in bed. (3:15)
Tibetan Christmas
Commentator Ann McBride Norton offers this audio
postcard of how Christmas was celebrated in a remote Tibetan village.
Services were held more than a week ago when the traveling priest was
available to officiate. (8:00)
GOP Agenda
NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr says that Trent
Lott's imbroglio may mark the end of an era in which Republican politicians
have marginalized racial issues. Changes in voter demographics led
President Bush to embrace blacks and hispanics as early as the 2000
Republican National Convention, but Senator Lott's legacy appears to be
creating a new sensitivity in the Republican party to policies affecting
minorities. (2:30)
Nutcracker
Commentator/story teller Kevin Kling remembers as a
child becoming enamored of becoming a dancer, a desire he grew oout of.
Nevertheless, as an adult, an invtation to participate in a production of
The Nutcracker leads him to attempt to re-live the dream. (7:30)
Feed The Models
Commentator Jane Gennero tells of her compassionate plan to feed and improve the lives of fashion models.
Walter Cuenin
Writer Paul Wilkes comments on Father Walter Cuenin, the Boston priest who was once close to Boston Cardinal Bernard Law. Cuenin was responsible for 58 parish priests petitioning for Law's resignation. Wilkes profiled Cuenin in The New Yorker magazine this fall.
Lott's Gaffe
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS), has been hearing stern criticism for his remarks last week in support of retiring Sen. Strom Thurmond's 1948 presidential campaign and its racist legacy. NPR senior news analyst Daniel Schorr says the remarks may have done damage not only to Sen. Lott's popularity but also to the Republican Party's efforts to woo blacks away from the Democrats.
Cao-Dai
In the tropical jungle outside Saigon, commentator Robert Franklin visited the Cao-Dai, a syncretic religious group that pulls from Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Islam, Confucianism, Judaism and Christianity. Their fantastic, beautiful and ornate compound is in the middle of people living in extreme poverty, and it reminds Franklin that that religions may be better at dispensing charity than demonstrating justice.
Stubborn Facts
Commentator Beth Lapides has been more in tune with her emotional state than the with hard facts of dates and names and places. Faced with questions from a New Yorker magazine fact-checker, she tries to recall information to help proofread a story. But alas, that is not her strength. But she is glad she's more heart than brain.
Farm Labor
Commentator Jesus Mena started working in farm fields when he was 8 years old along with his parents, and he hated it. Now, he is an administrator at Harvard University and he thought that his family was beyond working the fields. But this past summer, his son took a job on a farm.
Iraq Weapons Programs
NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr says that Iraq's recent admission concerning its purportedly long-defunct nuclear weapons program was likely intended to deflect attention away from even more questionable claims about its chemical and biological weapons programs.
Live From Baghdad
This week HBO has been heavily promoting it's new movie, Live from Baghdad. It's about the CNN producers and reporters who braved Iraqi censors and Allied bombs to report from a room in the al-Rashid Hotel on the first night of the Gulf War in 1991. Commentator and Time magazine writer James Poniewozik says it might be worth your while to watch this weekend.
St. Nicolas
Every year in early December, French schoolchildren act out the gruesome tale of St. Nicolas and the butcher. At least it has a happy ending, according to commentator Nancy Coons.
Oedipus Rex
Commenator Bill Harley visits a classroom and gets so excited about storytelling, he blunders into "Oedipus rex," and the kids get curious about incest, patricide and other neat stuff. Bill gets to leave, but the teachers have to clean up his mess.
Funding the First Responders
NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr says while President Bush has made homeland security a rhetorical priority of his administration, the money necessary to fight the war against terrorism on the local level simply has not been forthcoming.
Mecca
Commentator Murad Kalam made a pilgrimage to Mecca for Ramadan, and saw diversity there. He says he realized that the values of Mecca -- acceptance of all as equals -- are American values.
Friend or Foe
Today's announcement by the Saudis about new measures against terrorism hasn't improved their appearance in the eyes of commentator Ken Adelman. Adelman says that the Saudis are U.S. allies officially -- but that their values, religious restrictions and financial support of terrorism are against the United States. In the past, government-to-government relations were exclusive policymakers, but now, he says, the United States needs to think about individuals, too.
Media Bias Complaints
Commentator Byron York says that for decades now, conservatives have complained about liberal bias in the media. But now, we're hearing something different -- liberals complaining about conservative bias in the media. York says that complaining about media bias is a loser's game.
Job Loss
Commentator Bruce Farr's father lost his job in 1976 at the age of 52. After months of job searching, he took a job as a janitor. For 26 years, Bruce was haunted by his father's misfortune. A few weeks ago, at the age of 52, Bruce lost his job, and he is trying not to settle like his father did.
Commentary: All Terrorism Is Global
Just after Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush declared war on "every terrorist group of global reach." NPR Senior Analyst Daniel Schorr says that this policy was originally intended to guard against U.S. involvement in civil conflicts, but the reach of terrorism has expanded to the point where it no longer makes sense to categorize any terrorist attack as local.
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