Samson, Don: The Creative Imagination of Don Samson

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The creative imagination of playwright Don Samson is the topic of this edition of Radio Curious.  In May 2015, I had the good fortune of seeing a ten minute play entitled “Blind Date,” written by my long time friend, who lives in nearby Willits, California.  For many years prior to becoming a playwright, Don Samson researched and wrote legal briefs for criminal defense attorneys, an experience we also discuss in this program.

After seeing the local production of “Blind Date,” I was curious about the circumstances that came to Don Samson’s mind when he created this play, so I invited him to visit the Radio Curious studios.  We met on May 22, 2015 and began our conversation with his description of those circumstances.

Don Samson recommends the book, which is also a play, “Antigone,” by Sophocles.

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Blevis, Marcianne: Jealousy

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Are you jealous?  Have you ever been?  Do you know the origin of your jealousy? Jealousy often goes hand in hand with feelings of love, but where does this emotion come from, and how can we manage it?

In this edition of Radio Curious we visit with psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Marcianne Blevis, author of “Jealousy: True Stories of Love’s Favorite Decoy.”  In this book, Marcianne Blevis, who lives and works in Paris, France, reveals different ways jealousy affects different people and suggests methods to understand and manage what can be a very destructive yet elusive emotion.

She examines the deeper consequences of jealousy and inquires if jealousy is useful to us and if this ‘extraordinary passion,’ in reality is ‘a strategy for survival’.

I spoke with Marcianne Blevis from her home in Paris, France on February 2nd, 2009, and began by asking her to explain what jealousy is.

The book Marcianne Blevis recommends is “Aux confins de l’identité” (title translated by Marcianne Blevis as “At the Frontier of Identity”) by Michel De M’uzan. This book is currently published only in French.

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Cooperrider P.hD., Allen ,Cooperrider, Sid: Trump the Swamp: It’s in the Cards

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When Donald Trump ran for president of the United States in 2016, he pejoratively pledged to “drain the swamp.” This metaphor, referencing the policies and politicians which he deplored, refers to the large portion of Washington, D.C., which lies as sea level, and was, in fact, a swamp, before it became the seat of our nation’s government.

Once Trump took office he appointed people associated with the special interests he condemned during the campaign. They included corporate executives from Goldman Sachs and Exxon Mobile; politicians who sought to curtail, if not dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy for example, and their political allies. Some say that instead of draining the swamp, Donald Trump trumped the swamp.

In this edition of Radio Curious, we visit with Allen Cooperrider, Ph.D., and Sid Cooperrider, a computer whiz. This father and son duo created Trump the Swamp, (www.docyale.com/cards) a standard 54 card deck of playing cards that portray and features informative details about the ever-changing cast of characters in the Trump administration, Congress and the so called Shadow Government. Their website is www.docyale.com/cards.

The Cooperriders are concerned about the damage that they say Trump is doing to our country and are worried that the country is moving toward a totalitarian state. Their Trump the Swamp cards are part of an effort to resist this trend.

When Allen Cooperrider and Sid Cooperrider visited the studios of Radio Curious on September 8, 2017, we began our conversation when I asked Allen, about the genesis of the Trump the Swamp deck of playing cards.

Their website is www.docyale.com/cards.

The book Allen Cooperrider recommends is “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century,” by Timothy Snyder.

The book Sid Cooperrider recommends is “Minerals for the Genetic Code,” by Charles Walters.

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