Radio Curious

“The Endless War,” a movie released in late July 2007, written, directed and produced by Charles Ferguson, depicts the blunders and ill-prepared manner in which the United States initiated and carried out the war against Iraq. This full-length feature film juxtaposes the statements and actions of the Washington leadership of the war, which at the outset failed to include President Bush – the Commander-in-Chief, with the leadership’s actions and grievous consequences that followed.  Charles Ferguson holds a Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has extensive experience in foreign policy analysis, and lives and works in the San Francisco Bay area. When I spoke with him on July 20, 2007 we began with his explanation how the war and the occupation of Iraq were shaped by an extremely small group of people In Washington D.C., with limited foreign policy and post war occupation experience.

The film he recommends is “The Lives of Others,” a story about East Germany under the community regime.

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French Seduction: An American’s Encounter with France, Her Father, and the Holocaust.

In a passionate blend of autobiography and cultural history, love, sex and art collide with hatred, withering French xenophobia and death, Eunice Lipton, our guest in this edition of Radio Curious, describes her book, “French Seduction: An American’s Encounter with France, Her Father, and the Holocaust.” Lipton, who lives in Paris and New York received her Ph.D. in art history at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts. I spoke with her from her home in New York City the last week of March 2007.  Because she describes painting as her favorite companions, we began when I asked her to tell us about her friends who she calls art.

Eunice Lipton recommends “The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion,” by Ford Madox Ford..

Originally Broadcast: March 28, 2007

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Born Into Brothels

“Born into Brothels” received the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2005.  A tribute to the resiliency of childhood and the restorative power of art, “Born into Brothels” is a portrait of several unforgettable children who live in the red light district of Calcutta, where their mothers work as prostitutes.  The most stigmatized people in Calcutta’s red light district however are not the prostitutes, but their children.  In the face of abject poverty, abuse, and despair, these kids have little possibility of escaping their mother’s fate or for creating another type of life. In “Born into Brothels,” directors Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman chronicle the amazing transformation of the children they come to know in the red light district.  Briski, a professional photographer, gives them lessons and cameras, igniting latent sparks of artistic genius that reside in these children who live in the most sordid and seemingly hopeless world. The photographs taken by the children are not merely examples of remarkable observation and talent; they reflect something much larger, morally encouraging, and even politically volatile: art as an immensely liberating and empowering force. Devoid of sentimentality, “Born into Brothels” defies the typical tear-stained tourist snapshot of the global underbelly.  Briski spends years with these kids and becomes part of their lives.  Their photographs are prisms into their souls, rather than anthropological curiosities or primitive imagery, and a true testimony of the power of the indelible creative spirit. You can learn about this film and Kids with Cameras at www.kids-with-cameras.org. I spoke with Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman in February 2005. Beginning the conversation first with Zana Briski, I asked her to explain what drew her to India before the concept of “Kids With Cameras” was even a dream.

www.kids-with-cameras.org

Zana Briski recommends “Secret Life of Bees,” by Sue Monk Kidd.

Originally Broadcast: March 15, 2007

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The Song of Hannah, A Biblical Novel of Love, Temptation, and the Making of A Prophet

Eva Etzioni-Halevy, a retired professor of sociology at Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv, Israel, is the author of, “The Song of Hannah, A Biblical Novel of Love, Temptation, and the Making of A Prophet,” and the guest in this edition of Radio Curious. The story takes place in Judea in the eleventh century B.C. when few people were literate. In this interview with Eva Etzioni-Halevy, recorded from her home in Tel Aviv, Israel, in late September 2006, she describes her interpretation of Hannah’s life, loves and leadership, and her impressions of Israel several weeks after the summer 2006 war with Lebanon. We began when I asked her to describe who Hannah was.

www.evaetzioni-halevy.com

Dr. Eva Etzioni-Halevy recommends, “Walking the Bible,” by Bruce Feiler.

Originally Broadcast: September 27, 2006

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The Culture Code, An Ingenious Way to Understand Why People Around The World Live and Buy As They Do

The collective unconscious may be defined as a cultural code, a set of imprinted concepts that control how members of different societies live.  Dr. Clotaire Rapaille, a French born psychologist brings together the concepts of Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud in his development of the collective unconscious in the book, “The Culture Code, An Ingenious Way to Understand Why People Around The World Live and Buy As They Do.” Dr. Rapaille thrives on new ideas, which is part of the reason he chose to become American. We visited by phone from his home in New York State, the last week of June 2006, and asked him to describe the development of his ideas.

Dr. Rapaille’s website is:  www.archetypediscoveriesworldwide.com

The books Dr. Clotaire Rapaille recommends are, “The DiVinci Code,” by Dan Brown and “Straight From The Gut,” by Jack Welsh.

Originally Broadcast: June 28, 2006 and July 5, 2006

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Concepts of reality have many levels, some of which are gained by fasting and/or the use of certain plants that allow a person to view the past, present and/or the future. This is especially true for cultures that cherish and practice oral traditions and which thrive in parts of the world which have an abundance of flora and fauna, like those located in the Amazon basin of South America. The knowledge of the use and effects of these various plants in the Ecuadorian portion of the Amazon basin is held by persons known as Shamans. Dr. Juan Martinez, our guest in this edition of Radio Curious, is a professor of History and Anthropology at the University of Cuenca, in Cuenca, Ecuador. He has studied, written and lectured about the Shamanistic practices in the Ecuadorian jungle and the medicinal and spiritual effects of the plants native to the western portion of the Amazon basin. I spoke with Professor Juan Martinez in his office in Cuenca, Ecuador on November 17, 2005. He began our conversation by describing relationship of the people of Ecuadorian jungle to their worlds, the spiritual world, and the world in which they live on a daily basis.

Juan Martinez recommends “Amazon Worlds,” published by Sinchi Sancha.

Originally Broadcast: December 5,2005

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The war that the United States has invoked in what is often called the “War On Terror” is unusual in many ways. One of those ways is that this war is being fought against a network that is spread out in many unsuspecting and obscure places. It is not being fought as many wars have been in the past, directly against another county. Dr. John Arquilla, is a professor of defense analysis and co-director of the justify on Terrorism at the Naval Post-Graduate School in Monterey, California. In this program we talk with Professor Arquilla about the fighting tactics employed by networks as opposed to countries, the threats they pose, and some of the war tactics used against these networks.

John Arquilla recommends “Kim,” by Rudyard Kipling.

Originally Broadcast: June 21, 2005

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Genocide is the intent to exterminate in whole or in part a specific group of people often based on nationality, ethnicity, race or religion. For the past two years, in the Darfur region of the nation of Sudan, located in north central Africa and populated primarily by black Africans, the Sudanese government has been committing racial genocide. Reports are that as many as 400,000 black African civilians have been murdered by the Sudanese government together with Arab rebel groups in Darfur. Professor Sam Totten, a scholar in Genocide Studies at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, visited the Darfur area in the fall of 2004 and has been examining this present day massacre that most of the world has chosen to ignore. I spoke with Professor Totten from his home in Arkansas and asked him to explain the reasons behind the genocide.

www.savedarfur.org

Sam Totten recommends “Shake Hands With the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda,” by Romeo Dallaire.

Originally Broadcast: June 7, 2005

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My Hometown Concentration Camp

Bernard Offen, age 72, survived five Nazi concentration camps in Poland during World War Two, when he was a young teenager. He now leads tours of these concentration camps and tells his story in this interview.

Bernard Offen recommends “My Hometown Concentration Camp,” by himself.

Originally Broadcast: May 3, 2005

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