July 2009
20 posts
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Watch“Playing” The Audience
by Andy Dayton, associate web producer
Nancy just sent around a link to this video of Bobby McFerrin presenting at the 2009 World Science Festival (we’re hoping they’ll also release video of Xavier Le Pichon’s presentation soon). I don’t really know much about McFerrin, but admittedly my impression of him in the past has been cynical —...
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“To leave an urban setting to live in a tent in the woods just like thousands of...”
– — Brian Bradley, a camp counselor at Lake Delaware Boys’ Camp, in “A Century of Character-Building and Games” for The New York Times’ summer ritual series.
Trent Gilliss, online editor
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"Prayers Fly via Twitter to Old City of Jerusalem" →
Trent Gilliss, online editor
Through the Twitter vine, a follower of ours (@SOFtweets) turned us on to this brief article in USA Today. During this economic climate, I particularly appreciate the good will of this 25-year-old economist who’s printing out the petitions and physically wedging them in.
Thanks for the heads-up, Lisa (@Lisamol1)!
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Our Coverage of Climate Change
Trent Gilliss, online editor
Producers and reporters from American Public Media (SOF/Marketplace/American RadioWorks) are gathering to discuss collective climate change reporting. I will be tweeting ideas and following the comments section here.
What’s the story we want to tell, and how do we want to tell it? I’m glad to bring your suggestions into the large and small group...
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Context and Viewpoints for the Pope's Latest...
Trent Gilliss, online editor
With the Pope Benedict XVI’s release of his third encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, Nancy wondered if we should do a short post pointing to Laurie Goodstein and Rachel Donadio’s article in The New York Times or the press release issued by the Vatican. I recommended we hold off and suggested that perhaps Martin Marty might weigh in Monday’s issue of...
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“I was so influenced so greatly by a television show in igniting the passion that...”
– —Sonia Sotomayor, in response to Sen. Klobuchar’s (D-Minn.) question during yesterday’s confirmation hearings for her nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court
Yesterday’s Senate confirmation hearings for Sonia Sotomayor included a lighter moment where Sotomayor shared how growing...
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Opening Clip, from Battlestar Galactica Trent...
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The Burden of Good Television
Trent Gilliss, online editor
The production staff diligently spent hours selecting clips from their favorite television series for inclusion in this week’s program with Diane Winston. We’ve even got a title: “TV and Parables of Our Time.” Somehow, I am told, downloading and watching 24 and Lost and Battlestar Galactica and The Wire is really hard work. Ah fellow producers,...
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Hollywood in the Classroom
Nancy Rosenbaum, Associate Producer
Students who enroll in Diane Winston’s “Religion, Media and Hollywood” class at USC get to watch a lot of good TV. Even better, some of the best TV writers and producers in the business visit their classroom to discuss the influences, themes, and ideas undergirding their shows.
Fortunately for the rest of us, many of these guest lectures are...
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My Oxytocin Moment
Colleen Scheck, Producer
Our immersion into the world of neuroscience for this week’s program with Paul Zak has given me a label for one of the uplifting parts of my weekdays — my “oxytocin moment.” It’s the moment I exit work to pick up my 7-month-old son. Walking to the car, a rush of energy, excitement, and warmth comes over me as I eagerly anticipate how his smile...
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"Torture" vs. "Enhanced Interrogation" →
Kate Moos, Managing Producer
NPR has taken some sharp criticism recently about a news policy against the use of the word “torture” relative to Bush administration policy regarding techniques employed during interrogation of suspected terrorists. I find Salon’s Glen Greenwald’s point of view pretty persuasive, as he critiques one version of journalistic balance (emphasis in...
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Modern-Day Martin Luther Nails 95 Comment Cards To... →
Mitch Hanley, Senior Producer
Caught this on The Onion’s Twitter “news” feed and couldn’t resist sharing it here. I sense that this may open the floodgates — watch out, Waffle House!
“These steep and serene blue roofs, which arc to the heavens, in truth house corrupt souls who once sought succor in a simple pancake, but have now succumbed to the temptation of...
