06/14/07 1 pm Watching America

Tomorrow, get ready for an hour talking about planning for the influx of people coming into Maryland because of Base Realingment and Closure with Lietenaunt Governor Anthony Brown.

Scratch that. Elected officials are busy, and when your boss is the Governor and asks you to clear your schedule to come to a meeting, you listen! No harm, no foul. We’re working to schedule another date soon. Good thing we had a special super secret show in the works!!

WatchingAmerica.com is a website I try and check on a daily basis. It’s a place where you can read articles from the foreign press about America. The people who run the website have dozens of articles translated each day from the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Russia, China, and more. In conversations with the founder of the website, William Kern, we thought that Watching America could translate into a radio special, too. So tomorrow we are putting some hurt on the phone bill at WYPR (which reminds me…are you a member yet?) and talking to foreign journalists around the world.

We’ll talk to:

• Ahmad Khalidi, a co-editor of Mideast Mirror, a London-based daily, as well as the Editor-in-Chief of the quarterly Journal of Palestine Studies.
• William Waack, a newscaster for O Globo, Brazil. He’s spent multiple decades as a reporter, editor, and international correspondent for the Brazillian Press.
• Andrei Sitov, the Washington Bureau Chied for the Itar-Tass news agency of Russia.
• and Hugh Williamson, the Berlin correspondent for the Financial Times since 2001.

We’ll be talking with them about how America is viewed by their audience and in their countries. What does the world think of our domestic debates over immigration? What does the world think of our scandals (federal prosecutor firings, Plamegate, etc.) Watchingamerica.com shows the foreign press writing about topics such as tensions between Iran and the U.S. (understandable; has consequences for the entire world) and Paris Hilton’s trip to, and from, and back to jail (less understandable; of course I care, and desperately, but why do they?)

Enjoy the show. It will be the first of many such programs on Watching America.

-Jessica

 I’m going to jump in here with a few quick words about this hour’s show.  I just came out of the studio, where we recorded the interview that will be played at 1pm.  The conversation never came around to Paris Hilton or any of the recent political scandals, but it did cover a lot of very interesting ground.  To find out the details, you’ll have to listen.  If you don’t catch it at 1pm, just go to http://www.wypr.org/M_Steiner.html.  We’ll have the audio up there as soon as possible.

We taped the show in advance in case we had any trouble with all of the international phone connections, and to better coordinate with schedules in so many time zones.  Since we won’t be taking calls as it airs, we’re really looking forward to some feedback right here!

-Justin

06/14/07 Andres Alonso, new CEO of BCPSS

Who the heck is Andres Alonso?

Well, starting July 1st, the new CEO of Baltimore City Public Schools.

He’s also a Cuban immigrant, a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School.  He’s been a teacher and was most currently the Number 2 official in the New York City Public School System.

He’s also our guest tomorrow at Noon.

Now, I know you all are passionate about our schools and how they need to be reformed.  I hope to see lots and lots of comments and ideas in this blog.  Anything posted before the show will be given to Marc so he can consider to read or ask during the program.

-Jessica

 

update:  Don’t miss our two hour special with Dr. Andres Alonso that will air from 7-9 pm on August 22nd on WYPR!

06/13/07 Seth Lerer “Inventing English”

 

This afternoon we welcome Stanford University professor Seth Lerer.

He is the author of Inventing English: A Portable History of the Language.

 If you are a fan of William Satfire and love to learn the etymology of words, this show is for you.  My boyfriend is a big fan of words and wordplay.  I had to beg him last night to cease anagramming words outloud-it’s driving me crazy.  He’s the kind of word nut that will excitedly tell anyone who will listen how awful and awesome once meant the same thing, and will get very heated when discussing how he believes people misuse the word myriad.

 If you have the same tendancies (or if you are just driven mad by people who do), join us today.  We’ll be talking about how the English language has developed, and some of the people who had the biggest influence, like William Shakespeare.  Did you have any idea how many words he invented?  Apparently, I have him to thank for my name.

-Jessica

06/13/07 12 pm Open Phones

It’s time for another rollicking round of Open Phones.  What’s on your mind?  Call in at 410/662/8780, 866/661/9309, email at steinershow@wypr.org, or post your comment or idea below and I’ll get it to Marc before the show.

-Jessica