Jean's Pick of the Week - September 25th

Joe Hardtke

I have to admit, Jean surprised me (and herself, so it seems) with her favorite program this week. Can you envision our resident Puccini-lover bein' down wit da D-O-double-G? Well, think again...



If you want to keep in touch with Jean's video blog, consider signing up to the Here on Earth YouTube channel. We post Jean's vlog, along with plenty of other goodies.

Want to hear Jean's pick of the week? Oh yeah you do!

Coming of Age...Between Cultures 9/22

Carly Yuenger


Coming of age is all about becoming independent from your parents, right? But what if your parents made huge sacrifices to move to a country with greater opportunities and you grew up between the culture they brought with them and the one of the country you grew up in? How do you find your place, your identity, then?


On today's show, the story of Rocky Otoo. She was born in the United States to Ghanaian parents, grew up in the Bronx and, the summer before she left for college, she went back to Ghana to visit her father.


Rocky's story is unique and universal, a story of how we learn to negotiate different parts of our identity in an increasingly complex world, and, more poignantly, how we do this within our own family when family members grow up in very different contexts.


Rocky's story is documented in the film Bronx Princess, directed and produced by Yoni Brook and Musa Syeed which premieres tonight on PBS. You can check your local listings for show times here.

Help us tell the story of a multicultural world through the eyes of immigration. What are your experiences of growing up between cultures? Did the tensions reach a crisis when you had to set out on your own? What can we all learn from the experiences of those who have grown up in multiple cultures about what it means to live in a multicultural world? Share your thougths and stories by adding a comment below.

International Day of Peace 9/21

Carly Yuenger

On today's show , in celebration of the International Day of Peace, we speak with Former Prime Minister of Norway, Kjell Magne Bondevik, and former Wisconsin legislator and U.S. Ambassador to Norway, Tom Loftus. After serving as Prime Minister, Mr. Bondevik founded the Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights and today, Mr. Loftus serves as the Chair of its U.S. branch.

The Oslo Center brings a special perspective to the cause of peace: the Center sees religion and inter-faith dialog as a means of attaining peace and resolving conflict.

On this International Day of Peace, what do your visions of world peace look like? What do you promise to do in your own community to resolve conflict, build bridges, and increase understanding? Share your ideas and stories by adding a comment below.

Jean's Pick of the Week - September 18th

Joe Hardtke

So we're starting a new video component to the blog, Jean's Pick of the Week. Fans of Jean's personal blog already know that Jean writes about her favorite show over there, but we've decided to make this weekly event slightly more personal by letting you see our host as she reflects back on her work (and maybe forgets a name or two, as you'll soon see!) :)

If you want to receive this video blog (or "vlog" as my cyberfriends call it) automatically, consider signing up to the Here on Earth YouTube channel, as it will be posted there as well.

So, without further ado, Ms. Feraca, the stage is yours...



Want to listen back to Jean's Pick of the Week? Well, I'm glad you asked!

How do you eat when you eat solo? 9/18

Carly Yuenger

On today's show we discuss the intimacies of eating with ourselves, all alone. Late night snack? Housemates out of town? Night after a break up? Just living alone? What does eating alone look, and feel like, for you?

Award-winning cookbook author, Deborah Madison, began her book project, What We Eat When We Eat Alone: Stories and 100 Recipes, with her husband and a set of interviews with friends and strangers based around the question, "What do you eat when you eat alone?"

Help us collect a list of tips, recipes, and confessions about eating alone by adding a comment below about your rituals and habits of solo-eating.

The World Has Curves 9/17

Carly Yuenger

On today's show we interrogate the notion of female beauty and the perfect female body. It's different depending on where you grow up in the world, but there may be things that are universal across all the world's notions of the ideal female form.

For one, the notion of beauty in your community and culture is always a powerful idea. While men are not safe from its influence, women around the world, it seems, are particulary pressured to attain the ideal.

Our guest today, Julia Savacool, who has worked in the magazine business for years, discusses her new book, The World Has Curves: The Global Quest for the Perfect Body. In it she documents what women do and go through around the world to attain beauty in form. She also shows what cultural notions of female beauty have in common: it's always an ideal that is tightly tied to issues of socio-economic class. The female body, she argues, is a status symbol for wealth and prosperity.

What do you think? Who decides what is beautiful? What things determine what a commuity decides is beautiful? What determines what our bodies look like, anyway? Are notions of beauty tied to class? Are women complicit in the hegemonic power of the ideal body? Share your thoughts and stories by adding a comment below.

Life at the Edge of Death 9/14

Carly Yuenger

On today's show we confront our ultimate, collective foe--death. We ask, can a friend, also, be found in death?

Author Georgia Weithe discusses her book, Shining Moments, about the death of her father and the surprisingly positive changes it brought to her life.

How about you? Is death friend or foe in your mind? What is the cultural knowledge about death that you call on to help you? Do you wish you had more wisdom about death to draw from? Share your thoughts and stories by adding a comment below.

The Gastronomy of Marriage 9/11

Carly Yuenger

On today's show, author Michelle Maisto shares her story about the changing but central role food and cooking played in the courtship, engagement, and finally marriage between her and her husband.

How do to foodies fall--and stay--in love? Is cooking a point of contention or harmony in your partnership? Has the role of food been important in your love life? Have you found that its role has changed over time or over the course of a relationship? Share your thoughts and stories by adding a comment below.

China and India as Global Powers 9/9

Carly Yuenger

On today's show we examine the popular prediction that the power of the United States will continue to decline and that, in the coming decades, we will see countries like China and India rise to the status of global superpowers.

Our guest, government and Asia scholar Minxin Pei, argues that just because the economies of China and India are booming does not mean that their influence and power will match or overtake that of the United States.

What makes a global superpower? Does power inevitably shift over time? Are we entering a time where multiple nations share or split up dominance on the global stage? What kind of relationship do you expect or hope to see form in the next few decades between the United States and rising nations? Share your thoughts below by adding a comment.

Healthcare, American Style 9/8

Carly Yuenger

On today's show we visit the doctor's office in countries around the world with journalist and author T.R. Reid.

How "American" is the health care system in the United States? Could it reflect our values and priorities better than it does now? What elements from other nations' health care systems would you like to see incorporated into a renewed American system? Share your thoughts and experiences in health care in the U.S. and abroad by adding a comment below.