January 2002

Arriving in New York
Commentator Mary Jo Pehl relates her experience of arriving in New York City, where she immediately got an important lesson from her cabdriver. (4:00)

Things That Are Confusing
Commentator and humorist Patty Marx explains a handful of things many people are confused about, from second cousins once removed to free-range chickens. (1:30)

Human Cloning
Commentator Joe Loconte observes that the possibility of cloning a human being has made strange bedfellows of groups with very different agendas. He says die-hard abortion rights advocates, environmental groups and Christian conservatives have -- perhaps for the first time -- found themselves on the same side of a controversial issue. (3:30)

Poetry Education
Commentator Desiree Cooper says writing can be a way to a second chance in life. She talks about a middle school boy who was supposed to be suspended, but whose writing convinced his principal to give him a second chance. She also cites a teenager convicted of murder who is beginning to write as a way to express his frustration. (3:30)

Foreign Policy and Terrorism
International relations figured largely in President Bush's State of the Union address last night. NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr ponders where American foreign policy may be headed. (3:00)

Plea for a Better Childcare Tax Deduction
During President Bush's State of the Union address last night, he said one of his goals was economic security for Americans in the forms of jobs. Commentator Andrea Cooper suggests the President can better stimulate the economy by increasing the income tax deduction for childcare. (2:45)

China - Aloneness
Commentator Ann McBride Norton lives in China. The ubiquity of crowds in China has forced her to adjust her own conception of solitude. (4:00)

KKK
Commentator Jon Ronson recounts the time he spent with the grand wizard of the Klu Klux Klan in Arkansas. This is an excerpt from his new book: Them: Adventures with Extremists. The book is published by Simon and Shuster. (3:00)

Tea With a Patient
Commentator Elissa Ely thinks she's achieved a breakthrough with one of her patients who has been institutionalized for years. Unfortunately, she can't follow up on her success. (3:45)

Sorry, Wrong Number
Commentator Nancy Hall got repeated, impassioned messages in Spanish on her answering machine. It became clear the caller was in prison trying desperately to reach someone named Cynthia and was distraught at not hearing back. (3:00)

Wasted Youth
Commentator Heather Havrilesky laments the fact that there is truth in the saying, "Youth is wasted on the young." (4:00)

Detainees
There are reports of ideological disagreements within the Bush administration about possible prisoner-of-war status for Afghan war combatants detained by the U.S. NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr laments the presence of ideology in such a discussion. (3:00)

John Walker Lindh
Commentator Andrei Codrescu thinks John Walker Lindh is a handy subject for news media attention because, unlike Osama Bin Laden, we know where he is. (2:15)

Grandma's Funeral
Commentator Elissa Ely's talks about the tender moment between her and her daughter on the occasion of Elissa's grandmother's funeral. (4:00)

Talked Out
TALK magazine folded a week ago today. Since then, other journalists have been busy gloating -- particularly about the failure of its founder, the legendary editor Tina Brown. Commentator Jake Tapper - who was a political columnist for TALK - says the phenomenon can only be called... "TALKenfreude." (3:00)

In Memoriam
A patient dies and Commentator David Watts, feels deep grief. Even after thirty years as a doctor he's not immune from the pain of losing people. (2:15)

Save Kmart
Commentator Lenore Skenazy hopes Kmart can stay alive, but she also hopes the chain can clear up a few problems in its stores. She says Kmart prices are good, but the items are always in disarray and the lines too long. She equates the history of the Blue Light Special to the career of John Travolta. (2:00)

King Tut
Commentator Reynolds Price remembers a special tour he took of the famed King Tut exhibit nearly 30 years ago. Impressed on his mind are the meaning of the exhibit's wonders and also the memory of an interloper on the tour. (4:00)

Enron
Congress is preparing for hearings on Enron as the president gets ready for his State of the Union address. NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr says that Mr. Bush would rather be dealing with issues other than the collapse of the energy trading giant. (3:00)

Cable News Hype
Jeremy Hobson is a 19-year-old who watches way too much TV news. He's fed up with the way tragedy has been hyped with on-screen titles and flash. (2:30)

Inside the West Wing
Wednesday, NBC will air a behind-the-scenes documentary called The Bush White House: Inside the Real West Wing. NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr says the title is a misnomer and viewers will in fact be seeing a day-long "pseudo event" staged especially for the cameras. (3:00)

My Accent Problem
Commentator Reynolds Price comes by his native North Carolina accent honestly. But that's not his problem. His problem is a tendency to adopt the accent of anyone in particular with whom he is speaking. "Why?" he wonders. (3:30)

Religion and Democracy
Commentator Bill Moyers looks at how -- over a generation or two -- America has become a very religiously diverse nation. Almost 2,000 religions are now practiced in the United States. He says religious diversity may be one of the biggest challenges of the next century -- especially religious intolerance. He concludes "the antidote to bad theology is good democracy." (2:45)

Treasure Hunt
Commentator Louise Rafkin has a black lab named Lucy. Two years ago, Lucy lost her tags on a beach. A few months ago, the dog's tags were found by two men - treasure hunters - who spend much of their spare time walking the sand with metal detectors. (4:00)

A Second Adolescence
Commentator Marion Winik is experiencing adolescence for a second time in her life, thanks to her two teenage boys. (3:30)

'Now More Than Ever'
Commentator Lenore Skenazy has issues with firms trying to hook their ad campaigns to Sept. 11. One phrase that particularly irks her -- "Now more than ever" -- keeps appearing in ads. (2:15)

John Walker Lindh
John Walker Lindh enjoyed a relatively pleasant upbringing, yet turned against the country which afforded him such comfort. NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr wonders why he did it. (2:45)

Highs and Lows
According to NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr, Enron's most questionable activities didn't come as top executives sought government help in the face of bankruptcy, but earlier, when the company lavished campaign contributions in return for political favors. (3:00)

The November Snake
Commentator Silas House relates a short story about a teenager who is bitten by a snake. Through the experience, she sees a side of her father that he has always hidden. (4:30)

Lobster Boat
Commentator Peter Heller remembers the best job he ever had -- working on a 35-foot lobster boat 120 miles off the coast of Rhode Island when he was 19 years old. (5:00)

Anthems and Classics
Commentator Mitch Myers explains there's a difference between a rock "anthem" and a rock "classic." Some artists, he says, are predisposed to writing anthems. And some radio stations that claim to play classic rock regularly play anthems instead. (5:30)

The Lamb Warning
Commentator and psychiatrist Elissa Ely notes that in Massachusetts, patients must be given a psychiatric equivalent to a Miranda warning before treatment. It's no more popular with Ely than the Miranda is with some police officers. (2:30)

Formers
Commentator Andrei Codrescu ponders television as a land of "formers," where the experts are often former newsmakers -- former generals, former senators, even former beauty queens. (3:00)

Brilliance
Commentator David Watts, a poet and doctor, tells a bittersweet story about his three-year-old son. (2:00)

Arms Shipment
NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr says that Thursday's seizure of an arms shipment off the Red Sea port of Eilat is bad news not only for Israeli-Palestinian relations but also for the war on terrorism. (2:00)

Commentary: Winter Down South
Commentator Ed Cullen offers an essay on the variability of winter in the South, a time when the outdoor plants are wheeled indoors and morning coffee can be taken outside with no fear of mosquitoes. (3:30)

Commentary: The Ice Cream Man
Commentator Debra Ginsberg, mother of a child with special needs, ponders a middle-aged man in an ice cream vendor's uniform and wonders if her own boy will have a job like this someday. (3:30)

Ginsberg is author of the book Waiting: The True Confessions of a Waitress, published by Harper (ISBN # 0060932813).

Politics & Taxes
Democrats and Republicans are beginning to set aside their post-Sept. 11 bipartisan friendship to spar over domestic issues. NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr says that President Bush should tread carefully on taxes. (3:00)

Kevin Kling Returns
Storyteller Kevin Kling has brought many bright moments to All Things Considered, with tales of his family life growing up in Minnesota. Last summer, he had a serious motorcycle accident and, as he says, a brush with death. He survived and returns to the air today to tell us about it. (6:00)

Read more about Kevin Kling.

Moral Compass
Unaccustomed to dispensing moral advice, commentator Meredith Small finds that as a parent and a teacher, she can no longer avoid the role. (3:15)

The Draft
NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr suggests that meaningful national service might best be achieved through a draft. (3:00)

New Year's Story
Commentator Amy Dickinson recounts her horrible New Year's Eve as her daughter got stuck in an elevator in her apartment building. (2:00)


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