Archive for August, 2004

Tift Merritt

Tuesday, August 31st, 2004

Tift Merritt: Host Melinda Penkava speaks with alternative country singer and musician Tift Merritt. The North Carolina artist earned critical acclaim for her first album “Bramble Rose” (Lost Highway/2002) and is attempting to earn crossover appeal with her second, “Tambourine” (Universal/2004), which debuted last week. (56:00)

August: Poet Michael Chitwood reads his poem “August.” (3:00)

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Ariel Dorfman

Monday, August 30th, 2004

Ariel Dorfman: Host Melinda Penkava talks with Ariel Dorfman about his new book, “Other Septembers, Many Americas: Selected Provocations, 1980-2004” (Seven Stories/2004). Dorfman is a writer, playwright, and professor at Duke University. Born in Argentina, he was exiled from Chile following the military coup of September 11th, 1973. His new book is a collection of essays about that Sept. 11th, and September 11th, 2001, and the ways we remember the past. Listener Call-In. (59:00)

Essay: Writer and photographer John Rosenthal remembers the photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, who died this summer.

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Defining The Wind

Sunday, August 29th, 2004

Defining the Wind: Host Melinda Penkava talks with Scott Huler, author of “Defining the Wind: The Beaufort Scale, and how a 19th-century admiral turned science into poetry” (Crown/2004). The Beaufort Scale was invented as a method of measuring the force of wind using only human observation. Huler discovered the scale in a dictionary while he was working as a copy editor in New Jersey. He fell in love with its spare poetry. Today, the Beaufort Scale is rarely used. We also hear from Bob Leker, Renewable Energy Program Manager at the State Energy Office, about how he measures the wind for wind farms. Listener Call-In. (53:00)

Summer Camp Cheers: WUNC’s Leoneda Inge introduces the sounds of her six-year old son and the raucous cheers he learned at summer camp. (4:00)

Summer Reading Series: Paul Jones, faculty member at UNC-Chapel Hill, tells us what he is reading this summer. His list includes Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig, Eastern Standard Tribe by Cory Doctorow, and Mind Wide Open by Steven Johnson. (2:00)

Originally broadcast on August 17, 2004

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Charter Schools

Thursday, August 26th, 2004

Charter Schools: North Carolina opened its first charter schools less than 10 years ago. Today, there are nearly 100 schools and 20,000 charter school students in the state. New studies show students at charter schools may have more trouble meeting academic standards than their counterparts in traditional public schools. Melinda Penkava hosts a discussion on the growth of charter schools in North Carolina, and the challenges these schools face. Listener Call-in. (57:00)

Summer Reading Series: Retired Raleigh internist Charles Merwarth tells us what he’s reading this summer. (2:00)

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Voting/Letters to the Editor

Wednesday, August 25th, 2004

Voting: The last two elections in North Carolina suffered from low voter turnout. Host Melinda Penkava talks with Steven Greene, professor of political science at NC State, about what motivates people to vote, and what kind of turnout North Carolina can expect for the general election in November. Also, in the 2004 general election, North Carolina will utilize a variety of voting equipment. Melinda Penkava talks about voting machines with Johnnie McLean, deputy director of the NC Board of Elections; and David Allen, contributing writer and publisher of the book “Black Box Voting: Ballot Tampering in the 21st Century,” (Plan Nine/2004) by Bev Harris. Listener Call-in. (40:00)

Letters to the Editor: Like almost every aspect of communication, the letter to the editor has changed dramatically with the rise of the internet. Websites allow letter writers to send out a form letter to hundreds of editorial page editors with just a few clicks. Host Melinda Penkava speaks with Tim White, the editorial page editor at the Fayetteville Observer, about letters to the editor — what makes an effective one and how he determines its authenticity. (17:30)

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