To The Best of Our Knowledge

from Wisconsin Public Radio

Lauren Weedman grew up knowing she was adopted. When she became a teenager, she decided she wanted to meet her birth mother, but the hospital records were sealed and the search seemed hopeless. Then Lauren's mom got in on the act, and today Lauren has two moms – and a one woman show about how they all found each other. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge stories about mothers.

Scott Gelfland directs the Ethics Center at Oklahoma State University, and organized an international conference called "The End of Natural Motherhood?" Gelfland tells Jim Fleming about the latest in reproductive technology: the artificial womb. He worries that the device will be upon us before we've settled all the social and ethical issues it raises. Also, Jacqueline Plummez, author of "Motherpower: Discover the Difference that Women Have Made All over the World," tells Steve Paulson that every caring woman has greater strength than she imagines and gives some examples of Mother power in action, from MADD to the Mall of America.

Jacqueline Hornor Plumez, author of "Mother Power"

SEGMENT 2:

Lauren Weedman was adopted. When she got curious about her birth parents, her adoptive mother organized a conspiracy to track them down. Weedman's made a one-woman play, "Homecoming," from the saga. She talks about it with Anne Strainchamps and performs excerpts. Also, Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus are the authors of the best-selling novel, "The Nanny Diaries." They tell Anne Strainchamps about their experience as nannies and discuss the complexities of paid child-care in the home.

SEGMENT 3:

Poet Gillian Ferguson lives in Edinburgh. Her volume "Baby: Poems on Pregnancy, Birth and Babies" explores her experience of being pregnant and giving birth. Ferguson talks with Jim Fleming, and reads some of her poems.

Books:

• Gillian Ferguson, Baby: Poems on Pregnancy, Birth and Babies (Canongate Books, Ltd)
• Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus, The Nanny Diaries (St. Martin's Press)
• Jacqueline Hornor Plumez, Mother Power : Discover the Difference That Women Have Made All over the World (Sourcebooks)

Music:

• Baka by Outback (Hannibal)
• "Heroes" by Ann reed on the album "Hole in the Day" (A Major Label)
• "Mother, Sweet Mother" by Rebe Gosdin and Rabe Perkins, on teh LP "New Sounds Ramblin' from Coast to Coast: The Early Days of Bluegrass, Vol. 3" (Rounder)
• "The Perfect Nanny" sung by Louis Prima and Gia Maione on their CD "Let's Fly with Mary Poppins" (Buena Vista Records)
• "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" sung by Peggy Seeger on the CD set "Washington Square Memoirs: The Great Urban Folk Boom 1950-1970" (Rhino)

Distribution dates:

• week of 05/12/2002 - hour 1