KERA's Think

[2012-12-13 12:00:00] What’s the best way to approach writing, and how do successful writers get started? We’ll discuss the process this hour with J. Suzanne Frank, novelist and director of The Writer’s Path, a creative writing program at the SMU Simmons School of Education & Human Development. We’ll also be joined by Daniel Hale a writer and instructor for the program and Kay Honeyman, a recent participant whose novel, “The Fire Horse Girl” (Arthur A. Levine Books, 2013), will be published in early January.

[2012-12-12 13:00:00] What can be done to make higher education available to everyone and how can we learn from the experiences of nontraditional students? As part of KERA’s North Texas American Graduate initiative, we’ll talk this hour with Mike Rose, professor at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies and author of “Back to School: Why Everyone Deserves A Second Chance at Education” (The New Press, 2012).

[2012-12-12 12:00:00] Should the world be a fair place, where everyone gets a chance or would things be better if we showed our natural tendencies toward selfishness? We’ll talk this hour with Stephen T. Asma, Professor of Philosophy and Distinguished Scholar in the Department of Humanities at Columbia College Chicago. His new book is “Against Fairness” (University Of Chicago Press, 2012). p>

[2012-12-11 13:00:00] How did the man we know as St. Paul shape the Christian religion we recognize today? We’ll talk this hour with James Tabor, chair of religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and author of “Paul and Jesus: How the Apostle Transformed Christianity” (Simon & Schuster, 2012).

[2012-12-11 12:00:00] How could our psychological disorders be the result of biologically evolved social instincts? We’ll find out this hour with Dr. Jeffrey Kahn, Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College and author of the new book “Angst: Origins of Anxiety and Depression” (Oxford University Press, USA, 2012).

[2012-12-10 13:00:00] From the archive: What’s the best way to rear children? Every parent wants to do best by their kids, but whose method is correct and who should decide? Our guest this hour, Yale law professor Amy Chua, ignited a firestorm of debate with the release of her book “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.” We spent an hour with Chua last February. Her book is now out in paperback.

[2012-12-10 12:00:00] From the archive: Is there any practical way to mitigate the influence of money on American politics? We talked in January with Lawrence Lessig, director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University and author of the book “Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress–and a Plan to Stop It” (Twelve, 2011).

[2012-12-06 13:00:00] What can we learn about Victorian life and history from an evening at the theater or a contemporaneous work of fiction and what goes into staging such a production? We’ll discuss Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” this hour with Joel Ferrell, Associate Artistic Director at the Dallas Theater Center and Director of the play, Beth Newman, Associate Professor of English at SMU’s Dedman College of Humanities & Sciences, and Chamblee Ferguson, who plays Ebenezer Scrooge in the show. “A Christmas Carol” runs at the Kalita Humphreys Theater in Dallas through December 23rd.

[2012-12-06 12:00:00] How do the different ways we cook around the world define our separate traditions and cultures while also drawing us together as people? We’ll talk this hour with James Oseland, editor-in-chief of SAVEUR and author of the new book “The Way We Cook: Portraits of Home Cooks Around the World” (Weldon Owen, 2012).

[2012-12-05 13:00:00] How can introverts survive the clamoring world in which we live? We’ll spend this hour with writer and journalist Sophia Dembling who has a few ideas – especially as we enter the busy holiday season. Dembling writes The Introvert’s Corner blog for Psychology Today and her new book is “The Introvert’s Way” (Perigree, 2012).

[2012-12-05 12:00:00] Why would an Eagle Scout father decide not to enroll his own son in the organization he loved as a young man? We’ll talk this hour with Brian Sweany, a senior executive editor at Texas Monthly magazine. His “Behind the Lines” op-ed, “Scout’s Dishonor,” appears in the current issue of the magazine.

[2012-12-04 13:00:00] How did a small group of slaves destined for a brutal life of servitude in 1839 re-gain their freedom? We’ll find out this hour with Marcus Rediker, Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburgh and author of the new book “The Amistad Rebellion: An Atlantic Odyssey of Slavery and Freedom” (Viking, 2012).

[2012-12-04 12:00:00] How will we transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy and is such a move even possible? We’ll spend this hour with filmmaker Harry Lynch who examines the opportunities and the challenges in his new film “Switch,” which screens this evening at the Landmark Magnolia Theater in Dallas.

[2012-12-04 12:00:00] How will we transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy and is such a move even possible? We’ll spend this hour with filmmaker Harry Lynch who examines the opportunities and the challenges in his new film “Switch,” which screens this evening at the Landmark Magnolia Theater in Dallas.

[2012-12-04 13:00:00] How did a small group of slaves destined for a brutal life of servitude in 1839 re-gain their freedom? We’ll find out this hour with Marcus Rediker, Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburgh and author of the new book “The Amistad Rebellion: An Atlantic Odyssey of Slavery and Freedom” (Viking, 2012).