Program 03-05-18-A

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To The Best of Our Knowledge
from Wisconsin Public Radio

Is it any wonder boys don't read? Too often they're assigned the books their female teachers loved. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the man behind the GuysRead website says forget "Little House on the Prairie" and bring on Stinky Cheese Man! And we'll hear what happened when the man who made "Hoop Dreams" reconnected with his "little brother." Boys and the men they become on To the Best of Our Knowledge.

SEGMENT 1:

Jon Scieskza is the co-author (with Lane Smith) of contemporary classics for children such as "The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales." His latest project is Guys Read - a literacy project for boys. Scieskza tells Anne Strainchamps that boys like to read funny stuff, not the books their female teachers loved as girls. His web site is guysread.com. Also, David Benjamin grew up in Tomah, Wisconsin in the fifties. Benjamin tells Steve Paulson that in those days, adults left kids pretty much alone, but relied on a network of neighbors to keep tabs on things. Boys grew up playing baseball, and everybody got to play. Benjamin's memoir is called "The Life and Times of the Last Kid Picked."

 

SEGMENT 2:

Film-maker Steve James talks with Anne Strainchamps about "Stevie." It's a documentary that chronicles James' attempt to reconnect with his "Little Brother" Stevie Fielding. Stevie had a horrendous childhood and is now in prison. The conversation is illustrated with numerous clips from the movie. It's a story that will break your heart.

 

SEGMENT 3:

Rich Cohen is the author of "Lake Effect" - memoir of his adolescence on Chicago's affluent North Shore. Cohen tells Jim Fleming about his charismatic friend Drew, and their forays into a more complex and sophisticated world. Also, Jeffrey Eugenides won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel "Middlesex." He tells Steve Paulson why he chose to use a hermaphrodite as his narrator, how he finds the voice of a character, and why he resists the notion that our behavior is the result of our genes.

Cassette copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 03-05-18-A.

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Books:

• David Benjamin, The Life and Times of The Last Kid Picked (Random House)
• Rich Cohen, Lake Effect (Vintage)
• Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex (FSG)
• Steve James, Stevie (a movie) (Lions Gate Films)
• Jon Scieskza, The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales (Penguin Putnam)

Music:

• Button after Scieskza: Tracy Byrd; Title cut from new album “The Truth
  about Men”

  Option after Benjamin: “Little One Mine” Turtle Island String Quartet
  from “On A Starry Night” Windham Hill 1934-11213-2

  Button & Option after James: “Japanese Music Box” Itsuki No
  Komorjuta from “On A Starry Night” (see above)

  Button after Cohen: “Billy Bob” by Bob Dawson from “Breaking the
  Rules” Audio Alternatives, P.O. Box 405 Chappaqua, NY 10514

  Alternate Close Music: “The Room of Doom” by Michael Gullezian from
  “The Language of the Flame” TMBR 0703 Timbreline Music P.O. Box
  40493, Tucson, AZ 85717

  
  

Distribution dates:

week of 05/02/2004 - hour 2 week of 05/18/2003 - hour 1

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Questions and comments can be addressed to: flemingj@wpr.org

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