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Marc has said for years that the best way to address drug and gang related violence in Baltimore is to get ex-offenders, those wise men who have been there and come back to tell the tale, to work in outreach with troubled communities.  But there has always seemed to be an institutional and government aversion towards giving money to people who have been in prison.  Maybe things just had to get really, really, really bad before that changed.In 2000, Chicago implemented a program that was developed at the University of Illnois School of Public Health in Chicago.  This program began in  West Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago. Police Beat 1115 was chosen as the first CeaseFirezone in large part because of the high number of shootings.  The idea was to send ex-offenders, faith leader, and other community members into those neighborhoods to offer conflict resolution, help kids get out of gangs, and whatever else it took to save a neighborhood. In the first year of CeaseFire, shootings in beat 1115 dropped by 67%.  In the past few years, CeaseFire has seen continuing success, which you can read about here. Last year, Mayor Sheila Dixon and the Baltimore City Health Department brought Operation Safe Streets to Baltimore.  It is a program based on CeaseFire, and we're hearing that the pilot neighborhood has seen a tremendous drop in homicides and shootings.  Today at one, we'll talk with people from that community to learn more. Join us....

-Jessica

As the subprime mortgage mess has gone into major meltdown mode, we're hearing a lot about "predatory lenders" while sympathetic words are being used for the people who are losing their homes.  But at what point do we say, "Wait a second--should these people bear some responsibility for making bad financial choices?  Why did they choose a loan that was not good for them?  Are they guilty of living beyond their means?" Ah, living beyond ones means.  An American tradition, some would say.  Advertisers and credit card companies surely want you to engage in this kind of behavior, and hey, it's good for the economy, which is good for America, right?  Or at least that's what we tell ourselves when those $230 Cole Haan shoes at Nordstrom are calling our name. But at what point does it become too much? If I buy the Cole Haan shoes, or use my credit card to pay for groceries or for my kids school uniform, and then I can't make the payments and my interest rate jumps not only on the credit card I didn't make the payment on but on ALL my credit cards--is that my fault for not being responsible with my money?  Or was I lured by dishonest and seductive promises about easy credit and low APR's into thinking that I could spend now, pay later? And if, as in the case of the subprime debacle, the government intervenes, what message will it send to people?  Will it help us become smarter spenders and borrowers, or teach us that we can engage in risky behavior and not bear the consequences? We're talking about issues of responsibility with debt today, and how our culture thinks about money and credit.  The subprime mess has showed us how far this issue reaches.  All sectors are hurt, not just those involved with the industry. Is it time for our country to radically transform the way we think about money, credit, and debt? Join us! Poll: Who do you think is to blame for the mortgage meltdown? Poll: Should the government intervene to keep people from losing their homes? -Jessica

Mexicans.  That is what many Americans call any person living in America who is from south of our border.  But the truth is that many of the people living in our country without permission began their journey south of Mexico-and they had to sneak into that country illegally as well.  That is the subject of a new article in this month's National Geographic.  Around 400,000 people sneak into Mexico every single year, making Mexico’s southern border feel "like the place in distant water where the wave first rises and swells and gathers uncontainable propulsive force."  We'll talk with the author of that article, Cynthia Gorney.  Please also check out the photographs of Alex Webb, who traveled with Cynthia as she reported the story. And then...

 

There is this cool test on the BBC website I took last week that measures whether or not your senses overlap. As in, do you connect days of the week, letters or numbers with color?  Is Thursday always green to you, and is the letter F always red?  What the test is really measuring is whether or not you may have a neurological phenomenon called synesthesia.  Synesthesia is only beginning to be understand by scientists and the people who have it.  There are several different types, the most common called Grapheme-color synesthesia, which is where an individual associates letters and numbers with color.  There is also spatial-sequence synesthesia, where numbers have spatial relationships to each other and to you-for example, 18 is further away and to the left, while 9 is rather close and above.  There are many other kinds and you can read about them here.   So what is life like for someone with synesthesia?  Today we are going to talk with writer Alison Buckholtz, who wrote a great article for Salon.com earlier this week called The Letter E is Purple about her personal experience with the condition-and how she feels about the fact that her son may have it..  Join us!

-Jessica

Baltimore City's 36th police commissioner has a lot of work to do to keep the homicide rate from following last year's trend, when it was the highest since 1999.  He's going to be in the studio today to discuss his plans, which include using community engagement, targeted enforcement, and strong partnerships. We're taking your questions for Baltimore City Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld.  Join us at Noon. -Jessica

Baltimore is crazy for HBO's critically acclaimed series The Wire.  I think that many citizens of Baltimore secretly enjoy the violent and criminal reputation of the city, that they are perversely proud of it in the way that New Yorkers were of their city before Giuliani cleaned it up. We think it makes us look tough or something.  The Wire is a part of that--almost our way of saying to the world, "See how messed up and tough our city is?  I bet you couldn't handle this."  It's also just such a great show.  Baltimore Sun television critic David Zurawik, who you also hear weekly on WYPR's Take on Television, will be in the studio today to discuss the show.  We can also talk about the writer's strike and what it means for the next year of entertainment.  Is any end in sight? Join us, with your questions and comments for David.  What do you love or hate most about this new, final season of The Wire?  What television show are you going to miss seeing as a result of the writer's strike? Poll: What do you think of the fifth and final season of The Wire? -Jessica P.S. Aaron Henkin of The Signal, our weekly arts and culture show, did a great piece last week where he watched The Wire with former drug dealers and got their thoughts on how real or unreal the depiction of their lives is.  Listen to it here.