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from Wisconsin Public Radio

June 18, 1995 Programs

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1100 - 1159

Father's Day

1200 - 1259

Birth Control

1300 - 1359

Modern Dance

PROGRAM RUNDOWN

Father's Day

SEGMENT 1:

The last year has seen debate about single mothers, welfare moms, and mothers who do or don't deserve government aid. Where is the talk about fathers? Social critic and author of "Fatherless America" David Blankenhorn tells Jim Fleming that the missing dad is our most pressing social problem. Lawyer and labor expert Rhona Mahoney agrees that men aren't doing their part, but as she argues in her own book "Kidding Ourselves," women have to stop blaming men for the problem. She tells Margaret Andreasen that if women want out of the mommy track, it's up to them to change.

SEGMENT 2:

There's nothing like having children to teach you to love your parents, and men are finally learning that's true for fathers and sons. Commentator Andy Moore reflects on what his father taught him about raising kids. And psychologist Sam Osherson tells Judith Strasser that the relationship of fathers and sons deserves a lot more attention than it's getting, but it's not too late to start.

SEGMENT 3:

Poet Li-Young Lee has been called one of America's finest young poets, and he's now published his first prose work -- a memoir of his family's long and sometimes dangerous journey from China to America. Lee tells Steve Paulson that searching for memories of his father made him realize that though the two of them were always close, in many ways they are still strangers.

6-18-A

PROGRAM RUNDOWN

Birth Control

SEGMENT 1:

Chemist Carl Djerassi is often called the "father of the Pill." In the years since he pioneering work, birth control has become something of an obsession with him. He tells Steve Paulson that he continues to hope that some new form of contraception will replace the one he helped to develop.

SEGMENT 2:

The Pill has become so much a part of modern life that we forget it's only a few decades old. Bernard Asbell has written a "biography" of the Pill, full of fascinating little stories. He tells Jim Fleming, for instance, that the Vatica was all set to approve the first oral contraceptive, until at the last moment the Pope was persuaded not to.

SEGMENT 3:

Pregancy is seen by some women as a blessing, by others as a curse, but as social historian Elaine Tyler May tells Margaret Andreasen, it's always an obsession. Her book "Barren in the Promised Land" even tells of cases where individual fertility was policed by government.

6-18-B

PROGRAM RUNDOWN: HOUR 3:

Modern Dance

SEGMENT 1

As the American Dance Festival begins its celebration of one-hundred years of modern dance, co-directors Charles and Stephanie Reinhart talk with Judith Strasser about the explosive internationalization of the art form. The freedom inherent in modern dance is particularly attractive in democraticizing countries, including China, and former members of the Soviet bloc.

SEGMENT 2:

Jim Fleming asks dance historian Lynne Garafola what it is that makes modern dance different from other dance forms (like folk) where dancers don't where tutus and don't stand on the ends of their toes. She offers an introduction to this revolutionary art form-- and gives a few tips for watching modern dance. Also, philosopher Gerald Myers tells Steve Paulson why African-Americans have had a profound influence on the history of American modern dance. Myers directs the humanities programs at the American Dance Festival, including projects that retrieve and recreate historic dances by black choreographers.

SEGMENT 3:

Up-and-coming choreographer Ron Brown calls his company "Evidence" because, he says, his dances provide proof of the circumstances of his life. He talks with Margaret Andreasen about creating dances out of his identity as a gay black man.

6-18-C