She is in town today to give the 1st annual Korenman lecture at UMBC, today at 4:30 pm. Go here for more information! I don't know how one gets to become known as "an international feminist treasure," but I imagine it involves being pretty smart and interesting. She is the author of Bananas, Beaches and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics, Maneuvers, The International Politics of Militarizing Women's Lives, and, The Curious Feminist: Searching for Women in a New Age of Empire She writes and teaches about the interplay of women's politics in the international arena. One example she focuses on is the implications for women that exist in the War in Iraq. What does it mean for feminism? What does it mean for the welfare of women in the Middle East? Join us!
-Jessica
-Jessica
-Marc
-Jessica
For more info about Jena 6, click on the names below to go to a couple of other blogs that were mentioned during the show today:
Friends of Justice (Alan Bean)
-Justin
Whether or not you agree with Robert Kaplan's politcal opinions and worldview, which are undoubtedly controversial, a couple points are hard to argue.
He's highly influential, not only through his prolific writing, which includes a dozen books and twenty years worth of features and op-eds in everything from the NY Times to The Washington Post to military journals to The Atlantic Monthly, where he serves as correspondent, but also through the role he has played as advisor to the US government and military.
He's a great writer, always conveying a wealth of information in a way that is both literary in style and readable. He does a great job of combining on-the-ground reporting, history, politics, travel writing, and literary references with his own forward-thinking analysis.
That said, you can decide for yourself what you think of Kaplan's opinions. Click here for an archive of his articles for The Atlantic Monthly. His most recent book is Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts. I would strongly recommend one of his earlier books, Balkan Ghosts, an in depth look at the tumultuous Balkans.
Leave your comments here to let us know what you think of today's interview and any of Kaplan's writing that you may have read.
-Justin
-Jessica
-Jessica
Franky
It's been a somewhat stressful morning around here. Can I tell you how excited I am by the fact that at one o'clock, representatives from Baltimore Area and Rescue Shelter (BARCS)are going to bring a doggie in? I am also excited about the work BARCS is doing to expand their offerings for really sick animals. They don't just get in normal abandoned puppies, kittens, dogs and cats. They get in animals with severe physical problems. And I think anyone who owns a pet knows how amazingly expensive serious veterinary care is. So BARCS has started a fund to take care of these animals. It was inspired by Franky, who was only four months old when his owner threw him out of a second story window and then put him in a trashcan. BARCS saved Franky's life, and it wants to save the lives of more animals, so it started this special fund. Want to bring a special pet into your life? Click here to view the animals BARCS has for adoption! We'll hear about all this and more. Join us!-Jessica
September 30, 2007 will mark the 800th anniversary of the great Sufi mystic poet Rumi. A number like 800 deserves more than one day of celebration, so we'll be starting ours at 1pm today with Coleman Barks, who has done the finest English-language Rumi translations that I have read. If you already are familiar with Rumi's tremendous body of work, I don't need to write anything else here. If not, I hope you'll have a chance to hear today's show. There's plenty of Rumi's writing, as well as information about him online, as well. Click here for one good place to start. -Justin
Reporting from Iraq, not everyone's idea of a choice job. Despite the obvious risks, some people wouldn't have it any other way. One of our guests this hour, The Washington Post's Baghdad Bureau Chief Sudarsan Raghavan, has been on with us a couple times before. Last time, his hearing was damaged from a bomb blast in the Green Zone that he was caught in the middle of. I remember him talking about whether he considered leaving Iraq after that, and it sounded like he really felt compelled to stay. Check out his articles here.
Two other reporters are joining us for the first time today, Gordon Lubold from the Christian Science Monitor and Tina Susman from the LA Times. Just click on their names to see what they've been writing.
Hopefully, we'll have an hour today that goes beyond all of the political rhetoric on Iraq last week, from Petraeus and Crocker's testimony to Bush's speech, and helps us gain an understanding of what is really going on there.
-Justin
-Jessica
I was trying to figure out how to describe our guest for 1pm today, which isn't easy. It seems like he has a lot of pursuits going on, with a common underlying motivation, but not anything that fits into the usual categories. Then I found a mention on this website of an award he won that seems to sum it all up: The Temple Award for Creative Altruism. You can learn more about the award and the institute behind it here. It was the phrase "creative altruism" that struck me, though. That seems to be the common thread in his works, whether doing prisoner outreach, writing books and music, starting the first biodiesel processing nonprofit in his home state of North Carolina, and more, which we'll hear about today. -Justin
First of all, is it just me, or does "General Petraeus" sound like a character from The Aeneid or some other Greek war epic? It's a strange contrast with "Ambassador Crocker."
Secondly, the attention seems to really be focused on him, as opposed to Ambassador Crocker. Maybe Crocker feels slighted, or maybe he's happy to avoid the harsh glare of the spotlight. Either way, here are a couple takes on our willingness to trust military opinion on the war moreso than political opinion: one from the NY Times yesterday and one from The Center for Media and Democracy.
Here is the transcript of Petraeus' testimony yesterday and here is the transcript of Crocker's testimony yesterday.
Today is Patriot Day, a national holiday. Wikipedia has an interesting article on it here. Yes, there are greeting cards available, even e-cards.
-Justin
-Jessica
Feet (today)
Girl feet (yesterday)
Feet girls (two days ago)
Girl foot love (two days ago)
I think I just figured out why this is occuring. But I keep the challenge open!
-Jessica
Overuse of too many “uhs…” or “ums…” can result in someone being seen as a poor speaker or unintelligent. According to our guest this hour language expert Michael Erard verbal gaffes say a lot about who we are. In his new book UM…Slips, Stumbles and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean Michael Erard offers an in-depth study of everyday speech, Freudian slips and our fascination with language mix-ups.
Join us for a discussion that will have you looking at language in a whole new way Do you have a great and embarassing story of a verbal blunder you've made? If so, share it with us! -MarcusAs the Sun recently reported, Bealefeld has emerged as one of the top two contenders for the position of Baltimore’s top cop. Viewed as a street-savvy hands-on cop, Bealefeld, who comes from a family of police officers, has steadily climbed the ranks through the police department to his current position.
-Marcus Poll: Should Fred Bealefeld be the permanent police commissioner?