Programs for the Week of 2/27

I’d like to call your attention to next Wednesday’s Inside Islam show on Green Faith which is intended to whet your interest in an upcoming conference Interfaith Conference on the same theme, hosted by yours truly. It which will take place on Tuesday, March 6, starting at 6:00pm in the Pyle Center on the UW campus. For more information, you can view the PDF flyer

Jean’s Pick of the Week (watch video): South Africa's MenCare Project: I was very impressed with Wednesday’s show featuring the courageous work that MenCare is doing in South Africa to end the horrific sexual violence against women. Nothing like having a former anti-apartheid freedom fighter on your side, modeling a new way to be a real man.

Monday: How to be Black: Comedian Baratunde Thurston boasts having "over thirty years’ experience being black." Now, the digital director of The Onion shares his witty wisdom in a new book called, How to Be Black. Thurston provides answers to a range of pressing questions, including: "When did you first realize you were black?"; "How’s that post-racial thing working out for you?"; and, perhaps most urgent, "Can you swim?"

Tuesday: Panther Baby: As a member of the Black Panther Party in the 1960s, Jamal Joseph urged Columbia University students to burn their school to the ground. Today the former fugitive, who once topped the FBI's "most wanted" list, chairs Columbia's graduate film program. Joseph's new book, Panther Baby, explores his journey from urban guerrilla to Oscar nominee and Ivy League professor.

Wednesday: Green Faith: How does faith affect eco-consciousness? Is religion more focused on the after-life than on stewardship of the earth? Experts on Islam and Christianity join us for an interfaith conversation about faith and environmental activism. This show will preview an Inside Islam conference on Green Faith that will be held on March 6th at the Pyle Center at UW-Madison.

Thursday: Why Bother with Foreign Language Study?: In a recent New York Times op-ed, former Harvard University president Larry Summers speculated that, given the advances in translation software technology, foreign language study may soon be obsolete. The article provoked such an uproar that the Times created a forum to discuss it. To continue the debate, we’ve invited University of Minnesota history professor and linguist Giancarlo Casale (my son) to join us together with David Bellos, who directs the Program in Translation at Princeton.

Friday: La Boca: My husband and I were in Santa Fe a few weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon when I had a craving for a classic Italian family-style feast. We walked from place to place only to discover that, on Sunday, almost everything in SF is closed between brunch and dinner. We finally settled on a little place called La Boca, which turned out to be a Spanish tapas restaurant and, as each tantalizingly delicious little dish began to arrive, it didn’t take us long to realize we had stumbled into a little piece of heaven. The chef is famous; he has a new cookbook, and, best of all, he has agreed to be on the show, recipes and all!

It’s almost March – my farewell month.

Jean