KERA's Think

[2014-02-10 13:00:00] Cities and the buildings that inhabit them are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. But some architects believe that fixes can be made to existing structures that will actually turn them into solutions to climate change and energy problems. We’ll talk about sustainable architecture this hour with Ed Mazria of architecture2030 and Thom Powell of Good, Fulton & Farrell. AIA Dallas hosts a discussion of sustainable architecture tonight at the headquarters of HKS Architects.

[2014-02-10 12:00:00] Anna Quindlen is the author of three best-selling novels and a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist. We’ll talk to her this hour about her newest book, Still Life With Bread Crumbs: A Novel, ahead of her appearance tonight at the Dallas Museum of Art for Arts & Letters Live.

[2014-02-06 13:00:00] For a young girl growing up in a Yeshivish community, life is about worshiping God and not asking questions in a male-dominated society. And for Leah Vincent, that proved to be too limiting. We’ll talk to her this hour about being rejected by her family when she sought to embrace the wider world, which she chronicles in her memoir, Cut Me Loose: Sin and Salvation After My Ultra-Orthodox Girlhood (Nan A. Talese).

[2014-02-06 12:00:00] In the 1950s and ’60s, Mississippi developed a secret spy agency charged with preserving segregation. We’ll talk this hour about the impact of the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission with Rick Bowers, author of Spies of Mississippi: The True Story of the Spy Network that Tried to Destroy the Civil Rights Movement (National Geographic). Bowers’ book is the source material for an Independent Lens film airing Feb. 11 on KERA.

[2014-02-05 13:00:00] Foods that are high in sugar and low in nutrition pack our supermarkets. But American parents aren’t the only ones struggling to feed their kids well. We’ll find out this hour how processed foods have nudged nature off the shelves and how we can reverse the trend with Jeannie Marshall, author of The Lost Art of Feeding Kids: What Italy Taught Me About Why Children Need Real Food (Beacon Press).

[2014-02-05 12:00:00] Even as the economy rebounds from recession, we’re still stuck in one of the worst job markets in history. So what’s a worker to do after receiving a pink slip? As part of KERA’s One Crisis Away initiative, we’ll talk with Dwain Schenck, a journalist who’s been there and come out the other side. His new book is Reset: How to Beat the Job-Loss Blues and Get Ready for Your Next Act (De Capo).

[2014-02-04 13:00:00] In 2002, David Stuart MacLean woke up on a trip to India to the realization he had no idea who he was or why he was there. What followed was a years-long attempt to regain his identity in a world in which identity itself is fluid. We’ll talk to him this hour about his journey, which he details in his book, The Answer to the Riddle is Me: A Memoir of Amnesia (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).

[2014-02-04 12:00:00] Masha Gessen is a Russian-American journalist and gay-rights activist. Ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, we’ll talk to her this hour about her new book, Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot (Riverhead Trade), and about her complicated relationship with the country of her birth.

[2014-02-03 13:00:00] Malcolm Gladwell has made a career out of applying his own unique analysis to research and data. We’ll talk with him this hour about what’s piquing his interest these days and about his latest book, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants (Little, Brown and Co.) ahead of his appearance tonight for Arts & Letters Live.

[2014-02-03 12:00:00] A new study shows that nearly 50 percent of Texans don’t have enough cash available to stay above the poverty line for three months after a financial emergency. As part of KERA’s One Crisis Away initiative, we’ll find out this hour why the numbers have jumped since the last Scorecard was released with Andrea Levere, president of Corporation for Enterprise Development.

[2014-01-30 13:00:00] Why would a Stanford economist care about online dating? The answer: He was in the market for a date. And in the process of putting himself out there, he actually learned a lot about his profession. We’ll talk to Paul Oyer this hour about his new book, Everything I Ever Needed to Know About Economics I Learned from Online Dating (Harvard Business Review Press).

[2014-01-30 12:00:00] Humans have been using and abusing drugs since the Stone Age, when our ancestors discovered the medicinal properties of poppies. And since then, we’ve been on a never-ending search for substances that ease our pain and expand our minds. We’ll talk this hour about the history of drug use with Northwestern Professor of Pharmacology Richard Miller, author of Drugged: The Science and Culture Behind Psychotropic Drugs (Oxford University Press).

[2014-01-29 13:00:00] We sometimes keep secrets from one another as a form of protection. But often when the truth comes out, both parties are relieved. We’ll talk this hour about the slippery slope that secrets create with Jane Isay, author of Secrets and Lies: Surviving the Truths That Change Our Lives (Doubleday).

[2014-01-29 12:00:00] Worldwide, there is a growing divide between the skills graduates possess and the demands of a high-tech workforce. Tackling that problem is the subject of Microsoft YouthSpark Connections, an event being held today in Dallas. As part of KERA’s American Graduate initiative, we’ll talk this hour about the importance of STEM education and the opportunity divide that exists in North Texas with Microsoft Chief Technology Officer Cameron Evans, Marc Christensen, dean of the Lyle School of Engineering at SMU; and Kristin Larimore, Strategic Engagement Leader with GE Capital Equipment Finance.

[2014-01-29 13:00:00] We sometimes keep secrets from one another as a form of protection. But often when the truth comes out, both parties are relieved. We’ll talk this hour about the slippery slope that secrets create with Jane Isay, author of Secrets and Lies: Surviving the Truths That Change Our Lives (Doubleday).