Paper Dolls

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Friday, May 9 2008

Paper Dolls

Carolyn Parkes - larger >>

In honor of Mother's Day, we have two stories of mother and child.

Carolyn Parkes married at age 13 after she got pregnant by an older boy. She struggled to learn how to be a mother at such a young age. She was lonely - living in an isolated area, and her new husband was at work all day.

One day, in lonely desperation, she pulled out her childhood paper dolls and played with them, even while her real life infant gurgled nearby. This memory always embarrassed Carolyn. When she got older, she told her daughter the story. Later, her daughter gave her a gift - an elaborate set of vintage paper dolls. That gesture enabled Carolyn to stop blaming herself for her shortcomings as a young mom and treasure the bond she had created with her child.

• See photos of Carolyn's daughter and her paper dolls

Music heard in this story: Three Lullabies For Deirdre: Gently Rocking performed by Anthony Byrne for the album Piano Music

Doctor's Bag

Leon Prochnik - larger >>

This Sunday, Mother's Day, Leon Prochnik will be remembering his late mother — who saved his life nearly 70 years ago.

Leon grew up in Poland in the 1930s, living a life of privilege. The Prochniks were a well-to-do Jewish family who ran a chocolate factory. But all that changed in 1938 when the Nazis reached their hometown of Krakow. In the wake of the brutal Nazi occupation of Poland, which would eventually claim 90 percent of the country's Jewish population, the family gathered what they could and began a long, dangerous journey that would take them through Eastern Europe and eventually to safety in New York City. However, had it not been for a chance encounter with a doctor's wife and a mother's instinct, Leon says he never would have survived.

Leon Prochnik is a screenwriter living in Los Angeles.

• Click here to see photos of Leon with his mother
• Click here to learn more about Leon's work

Music heard in this story: Schindler's List from the album The Ultimate Guitar Collection; I Could Have Done More (Schindler's List) performed by The 12 Cellists of The Berlin Philharmonic for the album As Time Goes By

High Cost of Dying

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Thursday, May 8 2008

High Cost of Dying

The cost of everything is going up. Where Claudia Windal lives, near a large Native American community in Minnesota, people are having trouble paying for burials and even gas to drive to the funerals of their family members. Claudia is committed to helping. She's been ministering to the dying and their families as a nurse and Anglican priest for decades.

A couple of years ago, she realized what her community needed most was a sympathetic funeral director who knew how to keep unnecessary costs down. She went back to school to learn mortuary science and now runs a funeral home that serves Native Americans.

• Read an article about Claudia
• Learn more about Claudia's funeral home

A Voter's Drive

Frank Lynch circa 1972 and today - larger >>

We've been asking you to make the political personal. What are the political moments that have changed you?

Frank Lynch clearly remembers the moment that changed everything for him. Frank couldn't wait to become eligible to vote in the early 1970s. So when the Constitution was amended to allow 18 year olds to vote, Frank was eager to get his fellow college students involved.

Frank vividly remembers a hundred "hippies" descending on the local election supervisor's office -- along with the faint hint of marijuana in the air.

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Phoning Home

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Wednesday, May 7 2008

Phoning Home

The death toll in Burma is rising quickly in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, and aid is arriving too slowly to help. Pyi Maung and NyuNyu Maung both have extended family members in Rangoon. After the devastating cyclone hit the region, both tried desperately to contact family members. They called again and again, each time re-dialing the same long string of numbers. NyuNyu was able to get through to her family, and they talked for about five minutes. The roof was blown off of the family house, and the neighborhood is devastated. No aid has arrived.

Mistaken Identity

Abbas Raza

Every day, airport travelers are questioned under the USA Patriot Act. However, when Abbas Raza was stopped by the INS, it wasn't because he was Pakistani or on the "terrorist watch list." He was being mistaken for a man who attacked him 10 years before.

Abbas talks to Dick Gordon about how he convinced the cops they were arresting the wrong man and what he did when his court appointed attorney refused to believe that he was innocent.

• Read Abbas's essay, "Mr. Sampson, I Presume"

Medical Errors

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Tuesday, May 6 2008

Medical Errors

Julia Hallisy

Every year, tens of thousands of people die from mistakes hospitals make while treating patients.

Julia Hallisy spend a decade in and out of medical facilities while her daughter Kate battled cancer. Julia saw first-hand the kinds of mistakes that hospital staff make. One day, while her daughter was watching cartoons in the hospital bed, Julia pulled out a notebook and began to write down the lessons she had learned during her time advocating for Kate. Her notes became a powerful book - a guide to keeping yourself safe from medical errors.

• Learn more about Julia's book, The Empowered Patient

Family in Pictures

Helen Tsatsos and Yia Yia

Helen Tsatsos has always been interested in her grandmother's Greek heritage. Helen remembers seeing the stiff formal portraits taken of her grandmother when "Yia Yia" was a teenager. On one trip to Greece, Helen wandered into a shop and began looking through old photos. She was shocked to find her own grandmother's eyes looking back at her from the stack. The store was hundreds of miles away from her grandmother's hometown. Helen talks to Dick about how important it was for her to discover this small piece of her heritage.

• See the photo (and a closeup)

Better Weapons

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Monday, May 5 2008

BETTER WEAPONS

Anh Duong

You would think that the victims of war would be the last ones to get into the business of inventing new arms. 

Ahn Duong was a teenage girl in Saigon when she fled from the invasion of Communist forces. She stuffed everything she owned into a little duffle bag and, along with her family, made her way to the US.

Ahn is now a weapons designer in Washington. She is responsible for engineering America's first "thermobaric bomb". This bomb is designed to be extra deadly when it is dropped into caves. Ahn talks with Dick Gordon about what it is like to have seen war from both sides, and her strong connection to freedom.

• Read an article written about Anh after she won the 2007 National Security Medal
• See a photograph of Anh receiving the medal
• Read an article about US plans to send 7000 more troops to Afghanistan
  

The Sound of Melting Ice

Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky

This summer in Antarctica was one of the wettest and warmest on record. Like anyone, artist Paul D. Miller finds this alarming - but it's also intriguing. Any dynamic shift is fertile ground for art. So Paul, who performs and writes under the name DJ Spooky: That Subliminal Kid, decided it was time to take a trip.

During the weeks Paul traveled by ship through the icy waters around Antarctica, he recorded images and sounds for mixing into a multi-screen live performance. His shows tend to shake up people's perspectives on what they think they know. He talks to Dick about what he saw and heard on his trip, and how he's hoping to share those experiences with audiences.

• Check out Paul's website
• See photos of the ice in Antarctica and Paul