KERA's Think

[2013-12-04 12:00:00] Dallas ISD is looking at changing the way that it evaluates its teachers, moving to a system that connects teachers’ individual compensation to the achievement of their students. We’ll find out about the district’s new Teacher Excellence Initiative this hour from DISD  superintendent Mike Miles.

[2013-12-03 13:00:00] John Ajak spent his childhood literally running for his life in his native war-torn Sudan. His prayers were answered when, as a 20-year-old, he moved to Dallas and got a job at the Dallas Arboretum. He joins us this hour to retrace his incredible life story, which he writes about in his new book, Unspeakable: My Journey as a Lost Boy of Sudan.

[2013-12-03 12:00:00] American workers are increasingly finding that their commute to work is just down the hall from their bedrooms. And companies and employees alike are learning that this new way of doing business is proving to be a plus for both sides. We’ll find out why this hour from Jason Fried. He’s the co-author of Remote: Office Not Required (Crown Business).

[2013-12-02 13:00:00]What roles do our friends play in shaping our personal identities? Science shows that our social circles affect us in different ways as we age. We’ll learn how this hour from Carlin Flora. Her new book is Friendfluence: The Surprising Ways Friends Make Us Who We Are (Anchor).

[2013-12-02 12:00:00]Apple and Google are arguably the two biggest names in technology. And for the past decade, they’ve been locked in a battle for innovation supremacy. This hour we’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at the competition from Fred Vogelstein. His new book is Dogfight: How Apple and Google Went to War and Started a Revolution (Sarah Crichton Books).

[2013-11-27 13:00:00]Could improving your gardening game make cocktail hour more fun? In March, we spoke with Amy Stewart, author of the new book The Drunken Botanist: The Plants that Make the World’s Great Drinks (Algonquin Books, 2013). Please enjoy this encore broadcast.

[2013-11-26 12:00:00]Can our meals be both good for us and really delicious? In April, we explored strategies for maximizing our enjoyment of food all while maintaining our health with food writer Peter Kaminsky. His book Culinary Intelligence: The Art of Eating Healthy (and Really Well) (Vintage, 2013) is now out in paperback. Please enjoy this encore broadcas

[2013-11-26 13:00:00]Norman Rockwell had as much of an impact as any artist in defining our American identity during the 20th Century. The Saturday Evening Post published his folksy illustrations for nearly 50 years. But the man who drew them suffered from depression and questioned his own talents. We’ll get to know Rockwell this hour with Deborah Solomon, whose new book is American Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell (Farrar, Straus and Giroux).

[2013-11-26 12:00:00]Each culture across the world has its own distinct cuisine. And everything from politics to economic concerns to health discoveries has played a role in shaping cultural palates. We’ll look at how civilizations historically have developed their eating habits with University of Texas visiting scholar Rachel Laudan, author of Cuisine and Empire: Cooking in World History (University of California Press).

[2013-11-25 13:00:00]Contemporary American food culture is pushing the boundaries of what we consider to be food. These days, if a chef can get flavor out of something, there’s a good chance it will end up on a menu. We’ll learn this hour about the experimentation happening in avant-garde kitchens from Dana Goodyear. Her new book is Anything That Moves: Renegade Chefs, Fearless Eaters, and the Making of a New American Food Culture (Riverhead Hardcover).

[2013-11-25 12:00:00] Blood is something none of us can live without. And yet, in literature, art and culture, it’s so often associated with death. We’ll explore the symbolism attached to blood, as well as its social history, this hour with Lawrence Hill. He’s the author of the Blood: The Stuff of Life (House of Anansi Press).

[2013-11-21 13:00:00] What was it like in Dallas and across Texas the day of the assassination? We’ll talk this hour with Quin Matthews, Lisa Hembry and Katie Sherrod, who recall their memories of that day and talk about how the assassination changed the area they still call home.

[2013-11-21 12:00:00] This fall, several guests with unique perspectives on Kennedy’s life and death have joined us on Think. This hour, we’ll listen back to highlights of interviews with newsmen Hugh Aynesworth and Jim Lehrer; Dallas 1963 authors Steven Davis and Bill Minutaglio; as well as Mark Samels and Susan Bellows, the filmmakers behind PBS’s recent American Experience Presidential Documentary JFK.

[2013-11-20 13:00:00] Each year, the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture awards the prestigious Hiett Prize to a promising writer. This year’s recipient is cultural critic William Deresiewicz, who joins us this hour to talk about his work and preview his upcoming book, Excellent Sheep: Thinking for Yourself, Inventing Your Life, and Other Things the Ivy League Won’t Teach You (Simon & Schuster).

[2013-11-20 12:00:00] How can urban neighborhoods be energized through art? We’ll explore the topic this hour with Houston artist Rick Lowe. His “social sculpture” in Dallas’ Vickery Meadow neighborhood is part of the Nasher Sculpture Center’s public art program called XChange, and his Project Row Houses program in Houston is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.