Program 03-10-19-B

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To The Best of Our Knowledge
from Wisconsin Public Radio

Central Juvenile Hall is a detention facility for Los Angeles' most violent teenage offenders, so when Mark Salzman was invited to visit a writing class there he tried to find a reason not to go. When he did he was so surprised by what he discovered that ended up teaching creative writing to some of the young men inside. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, teaching at Central. And some samples of the SIBL Project: Songs Inspired By Literature.

SEGMENT 1:

John McWhorter teaches linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley and is the author of Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of Language and Music and Why We Should, Like, Care. He tells Steve Paulson that the ringing rhetoric of past presidents sounds stale to today's audiences who are jaded by the violence of gangsta rap. Also, Deborah Pardes is the founder of the SIBL Project. SIBL stands for Songs Inspired by Literature. We hear some of it and Deborah Pardes tells Jim Fleming about the project and the CD's it has produced.

SEGMENT 2:

Novelist Mark Salzman tells Steve Paulson about his experience teaching creative writing at Central Juvenile Hall in Los Angeles, a detention center for L.A.'s most serious young offenders. Salzman describes the tremendous emotional power of helping these young men find words to express their feelings. And we hear some of their writing. Salzman's memoir is called True Notebooks.

SEGMENT 3:

The Reduced Shakespeare Company bring their latest production into our studio. They chat with Jim Fleming and provide a whirlwind tour of the great books of literature. And not just English language literature! You want Don Quixote in the original Spanish? Coming right up!

Cassette copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 03-10-19-B.

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Books:

• Mark Salzman, True Notebooks (Knopf)
  
• John McWhorter, Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of Language and Music and Why We Should, Like, Care (Gotham Books)

Websites:

• -- John McWhorter's "Doing Our Own Thing" website
  http://www.doingourownthing.com\
  
• -- The SIBL Project...Songs Inspired By Literature
  http://www.siblproject.org/
  
• -- The Reduced Shakespeare Company
  http://www.reducedshakespeare.com/

Music:

• -- "Let Them All Talk"/Elvis Costello & The Attractions
  from the CD, "Punch The Clock" (Rhino)
  http://www.rhino.com/store/ProductDetail.lasso?Number=73910
  
• -- "7th Step"/Deborah Pardes
  from the CD, "Songs Inspired By Literature, Chapter One/Artists For Literacy"
  (SIBL Project)
  http://www.siblproject.org/aboutcd.html
  
• -- "The Ghost of Tom Joad"/Bruce Springsteen
  from the CD, "Songs Inspired By Literature, Chapter One/Artists For Literacy"
  (SIBL Project)
  http://www.siblproject.org/aboutcd.html
  
• -- "Calypso"/Suzanne Vega
  from the CD, "Songs Inspired By Literature, Chapter One/Artists For Literacy"
  (SIBL Project)
  http://www.siblproject.org/aboutcd.html
  
• -- "The Last Temptation of Odysseus"/Justin Wells
  from the CD, "Songs Inspired By Literature, Chapter One/Artists For Literacy"
  (SIBL Project)
  http://www.siblproject.org/aboutcd.html
  
• -- "Tolstoy"/Bob Hillman
  from the CD, "Songs Inspired By Literature, Chapter One/Artists For Literacy"
  (SIBL Project)
  http://www.siblproject.org/aboutcd.html
  
• -- "The Summer I Read Colette"/Rosanne Cash
  from the CD, "Songs Inspired By Literature, Chapter Two/Artists For Literacy"
  (SIBL Project)
  http://www.siblproject.org/aboutcd2.html
  
• -- "Brains Liaters"/Drums & Tuba
  from the CD, "Mostly Ape"
  http://www.drumsandtuba.com/
  
• -- "Hillbillies From Outerspace"/Vaughan Brothers
  from the CD, "Family Style" (Epic/Associated)

week of 10/19/2003 - hour 2

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

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