April 2003
Program Notes
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First Week (April 5 through April 11)
Exploring Fear and Irony
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Aerophobia is the fear of swallowing of air. People with ostraconophobia
are terrified of shellfish. Those afflicted with scriptophobia will
do anything to avoid writing in public. Why are some of us terrified
by the most mundane of things? Thomas Ollendick (VT) studies
phobias in children and is looking for remedies for intense feelings
of fear. Also featured: Shortly after 9/11, many pundits declared
that irony was dead, and would no longer pervade the way we talk
and think. Chidsey Dickson (CNU) discusses the role that
irony plays in contemporary rhetoric.
Twenty years ago, Ireland was largely an undeveloped and relatively
poor country. Today, the Irish economy is called the Celtic Tiger,
and Irish culture is being transformed like never before. Who are
the Irish and where does Ireland stand in a global context? Fintan
O'Toole, a journalist with the Irish Times, says that Ireland
is a country forced from moment to moment to imagine itself anew.
Also featured: In 2002, Ireland and eleven other EU nations began
using a new currency, the euro. Desmond Dinan (GMU), a native
of Ireland, is the author of Ever Closer Union, a textbook that
examines the evolution of the European Union.
(Note: WCVE-FM in Richmond will air this program
on Saturday, April 19)
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Third Week (April 19 through April 25)
Grasping for Words
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Literacy is defined by the U.S. government as the ability to read,
write and speak in English and to compute and solve problems at
levels necessary to function on the job, and in the family and society.
But, more than that, it's the ability for a person to fully communicate
their hopes and dreams as human beings. Literacy experts Edward
Jones (GMU) and Rebecca Spurlock (GMU) explain how the
mind acquires the ability to read. Also featured: Literacy coordinator
Susan Erno introduces some adult learners in Central Virginia
who recently showed off their newly acquired writing skills by reading
out loud at a public event.
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Fourth Week (April 26 through May 2)
Examining the Disappeared World: Jaguars and Longhouses
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The jaguar is the largest cat in the Americas, but little is known
about the behavior of this endangered creature. Marcella Kelly
(VT) spends four months each year in the central American country
of Belize studying jaguars. Using an innovative technique called
camera trapping, Kelly's work is helping wildlife biologists understand
how the jaguar lives in order to help preserve its habitat. Also
featured: Anthropologist Peter Metcalf (UVa) spent part of
the 1970s living in the longhouse communities of Borneo. Traditionally,
the longhouse was the center of life for the Orang Ulu people of
Borneo, but globalization and the destruction of the Indonesian
rain forest have radically changed the tenor of that life.
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