Programs for the Week of 5/30

Monday: Theater of War (encore): Long before Memorial Day, Sophocles, the ancient Greek general and playwright, depicted the timeless psychological wounds inflicted upon warriors in his plays. In the Theater of War project, actors and actresses read Sophocles's plays to active service members and their families to show them that they are not alone in dealing with pain of battle. (Rebroadcast from August 9, 2010)

Tuesday: Inside Islam: Laughter: Another Path to Understanding: In keeping with the lighter spirit of our latest Inside Islam programs, we present Muslim Comedians: Tissa Hami and Dean Obeidallah, who use comedy to break down the stereotypes about Muslims and Arabs that have surged after 9/11.

Wednesday: Indigo – The Color that Seduced the World: Indigo, “the bluest of blues,” is not just a color, but, as Catherine McKinley puts it, “an attempt to capture beauty”. Inspired by her own ancestral entanglement with Indigo, Catherine set out to learn from the last master dyers of West Africa and discovered amazing stories of wealth, power, and divine meaning.

Thursday: The Wabi-Sabi Way: Do you love your rusty, dented old wheelbarrow? How Wabi-Sabi of you! A philosophy of seeing and homemaking, wabi-sabi has its roots in Japanese Zen Buddhism, but it’s all about the imperfection of dried leaves, not the perfection of a fresh cherry blossom.

Friday: You Can Make Injera!: If you've had the opportunity to dig into a traditional Ethiopian meal, the "plate" you probably ate it from and the "fork" you used to eat it were probably a spongy, sour bread called injera. Even for a native Ethiopian like Mulusew Yayehyirad, co-founder of Clinic At A Time, it took years of living in the United States to perfect her recipe using North American ingredients.