The Field of Lost Shoes (October 2-8) The Virginia Military Institute is rich in traditions that work to cement the bonds among the corps of cadets from the day they amble in the door to the day they march out into the world. Each fall, students re-create the Battle of Newmarket where ten VMI cadets lost their lives in the Civil War. Senior cadets march 84 miles from Lexington to New Market, freshmen “Rats” take their Cadet Oath, and hundreds of students charge screaming across the former battlefield in honor of their fallen predecessors. WGR presents a “sound portrait” of this VMI tradition.

 

Cheuse and Choose Wisely (October 9-15)
With thousands and thousands of books published each year, it’s the job of the literary critic to sort through those millions of pages to help us find a book worth reading. Alan Cheuse (GMU) left has been reviewing books for National Public Radio for two decades and in ninety-seconds he can distill a novel to its very essence. His reviews are known for their brevity but also for their warmth and style…and some listeners contend a Cheuse commentary is often as good as the books itself. Also featured: Poet Claudia Emerson (UMW), a native of Chatham, who infuses her poetry with childhood memories of growing up in Southside, Virginia.

Furious Flower Blooms (October 16-22)
The Furious Flower Poetry Conference at James Madison University hopes to “re-generate the Black poetic tradition” and explore the direction African-American poetry will take in the next quarter century. Virginia’s newest Poet Laureate Rita Dove (UVA) above left reads from her latest collection, American Smooth; emerging poet Kevin Young (U of Indiana)above discusses his blues-based love poems from Jelly Roll: A Blues; and Joanne Gabbin (JMU) above right re-traces the origins of Furious Flower, both in name and concept.

What Good Are Elections? (October 23-29)
With presidential politics heating up, Fred Damon (UVA) takes a cool look at elections through the trained eye of an anthropologist—as an American ritual, deeply embedded in the culture and history of the United States. He argues, therefore, that it is not a practice that would necessarily work in other countries. Also featured: Bob Holsworth (VCU) left examines the hidden language of politics and how both parties skillfully manipulate words and phrases to appeal to specific demographics and Jeffrey Jones (ODU) leftsays the new comedy talk shows are adding life to our national political debate.

above:Elizabeth Dore left: Barbara Melosh

The ABC’s and Adoption (October 30-November 5)
Adoption is no longer hush-hush…celebrities like Mia Farrow and politicians like German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder have helped make inter-country adoption just another way to build a family. But what happens when these children get to school and later start dating? Education professors, Ruth Lyn Meese (LU) and Elizabeth Dore (RU) have explored that question from a professional perspective as well as a personal one. They are both adoptive mothers. Also featured: English/ history professor Barbara Melosh (GMU) calls adoption “the quintessential American institution” in her scholarly history of the relatively new practice, Strangers and Kin: The American Way of Adoption.