Inside Stories

LISTENING IN LITERATURE -- "THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD"

2010-03-14T20:00:00.067-04:00

The neighbors are talking, sitting in on judgment. That, on the surface, is what leads Janie Crawford to tell her life story to her best and oldest friend, Phoeby Watson, in Zora Neale Hurston's 1937 novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God." Janie tells her friend, "Ah don't mean to bother wid tellin' 'em nothin', Phoeby. 'Taint worth the trouble. You can tell 'em [the neighbors] what Ah say if you

LISTENING IN LITERATURE -- FRANKENSTEIN

2010-03-11T20:00:00.006-05:00

Poor Dr. Frankenstein. Busy on a doomed mission, chasing his rogue monster over frozen seas of ice! It is in this terrible terrain where -- in Mary Shelley's novel "Frankenstein" -- we first encounter the, how to say, mad scientist who created a man out of the body parts of the dead. But this all comes later. First we meet Robert Walton, a young Englishman who, in an effort

ROMAN SKASKIW ON "NARRATIVE AND MEMORY AT WAR"

2010-03-09T12:00:00.001-05:00

Here's a fantastic piece by former infantry officer Roman Skaskiw, on "Narrative and Memory at War." It's the last of a five-part New York Times series called "Retelling the War," in which veterans of the Afghanistan and/or Iraq wars reflect on recent war movies "The Hurt Locker" and "The Messenger," and on the larger topic of war and narrative. (Photo of Skaskiw is from the NYT website.)

INSIDE STORIES PODCAST 17: STEPPING BACK IN TIME WITH FORD'S THEATRE

2010-03-04T20:00:00.038-05:00

DOWNLOAD THE NEW EPISODE ON iTUNES HERE, OR LISTEN ONLINE HERE. Abraham Lincoln is perhaps our most storied president. Of course one of the most legendary aspects of Lincoln is, alas, his assassination. From the shooting in Ford's Theatre, to the fact that his killer was an actor, to the place of the murder in national history and lore, this murder is, among other things, the stuff of theater

A LITTLE HIATUS

2010-02-25T17:16:00.000-05:00

Hello readers and podcast listeners -- I've been remiss in posting the last couple weeks, dealing with some family matters. Check back around the beginning of March for new posts and podcast episodes. Thanks for sticking with me! Paul

BEHIND THE NEWS

2010-02-12T12:00:00.041-05:00

Here's a hilarious short video from the BBC's Charlie Brooker, on "How to Report the News." Nicely pops the bubble of the local news, with its inane prefab format. Just plug in a few specifics of whatever issue is being covered, and you've got yourself a news story. This also reminds me of Andy Schocken's early 2000s film "Live at Five," a half-hour "newscast" -- really a brilliantly

"NEW ROUTES TO COMMUNITY HEALTH" -- DISPELLING "TET CHARGE" AND OTHER PROBLEMS

2010-02-08T20:00:00.005-05:00

Project SALUD: "Fronteras del Amor" from Latinos Progresando on Vimeo. "Tet charge," I just learned, is a Haitian Creole expression for "a lot of problems in your head," as Renald Raphael puts it. Perhaps "overload" would be another way of translating it. Raphael works with Twa Zanmi (Three Friends), a community health program for Haitians in the Boston area. And "tet charge" is how he

GROUNDHOG DAY -- WHAT HAPPENS AFTER HAPPILY EVER AFTER?

2010-02-02T14:00:00.002-05:00

To my mind, one of the enduring mysteries from movie-dom is this: What happens after the ending of the film "Groundhog Day"? On the surface of things, the answer is pretty obvious. TV weatherman Phil Connors (Bill Murray) and his producer Rita (Andie MacDowell) fall in love and live happily ever after. But the falling in love is a little lopsided, and I wonder if Phil ever

INSIDE STORIES PODCAST 16: SELECTIONS FROM "WORD OF MOUTH"

2010-01-30T20:00:00.114-05:00

DOWNLOAD THE NEW EPISODE ON iTUNES HERE, OR LISTEN ONLINE HERE. Let us first state the obvious: George King is a pretty cool-looking cat. Wouldn't you say? That's him in the photo. I hope I look as cool as him when I grow up. Well, I hope that right now I look even half as groovy as him, but I have some serious doubts. Anyway, George King & Associates is an ad hoc group of filmmakers

ANGLES ON ALLEN GINSBERG'S HOWL

2010-01-24T20:00:00.004-05:00

"I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix, angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night..." The first thing that strikes one upon reading Allen Ginsberg's epic 1955 poem "Howl," is

LET'S GET REAL -- THE EIGHTH UNBELIEVABLE SEASON OF "24"

2010-01-17T19:53:00.000-05:00

It doesn't take a national security expert to know that hands-free phone calling makes it easier to coordinate special ops. But no one appears to have told that to Jack Bauer and the other counter-terrorist agents on the hit FOX series "24"--entering its 8th season tonight--who rarely use Bluetooth or other telephone headsets while driving. You'd think that 20 months in a Chinese prison-

BIG STORIES MADE SMALL

2010-01-13T20:00:00.002-05:00

I'm super excited about a play (or a sort of hand-performance) and film I just saw, both of which suggest how a grand-scale, even epic story can be told in miniature. First, "Flooding With Love for the Kid," a 2009 micro-budget film adaptation of the novel "First Blood," which was the inspiration for the Rambo movies. Zachary Oberzan designed, shot, edited and directed the whole

...UNTIL NEXT TIME

2010-01-11T11:34:00.004-05:00

"I have been the mother of seven children, the most beautiful and most loved of whom lies buried near my Cincinnati residence. It was at his dying bed and at his grave that I learnt what a poor slave mother may feel when her child is torn away from her." That's Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1851, on the death of her son Charley, and the inspiration for her antislavery novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin."

INSIDE STORIES PODCAST 15: "LIVING IN EMERGENCY" FILMMAKER

2010-01-10T20:00:00.020-05:00

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE ONLINE HERE, OR BETTER YET SUBSCRIBE TO THE FREE PODCAST ON iTUNES HERE. This time on the podcast, a conversation with Mark Hopkins, director of "Living in Emergency," a fly-on-the-wall documentary film that follows four "Doctors Without Borders" volunteers in Liberia and Congo as they struggle to provide critical medical care in the face of poor

HAPPY HOLIDAYS -- NO PODCAST THIS WEEK

2009-12-30T12:00:00.011-05:00

Hello blog readers and podcast listeners -- I'm visiting family, and don't have a podcast episode today. Keep your ears peeled (and your iTunes set) for the next podcast episode on January 10. If you don't already subscribe to the free podcast, please click here to subscribe on iTunes. It comes out on the 10th, 20th, and 30th of every month. And as for February, well, gosh, we'll just have

IN MEMORIAM -- FICTIONAL FRIENDS WE'VE LOST THIS YEAR

2009-12-29T20:00:00.210-05:00

As 2009 draws to a close, it's a fitting time to remember the loved ones we've lost this year. Whether it's the faceless billions killed in one or another global apocalypse, or a single caring doctor who sacrificed herself to save her friends, they touched our lives in ways that words can't begin to describe. And yet words are all we have to pay tribute to just some of the colorful characters

SHERLOCK HOLMES -- DRUG USER, GENIUS, AND INGRATE

2009-12-24T12:00:00.003-05:00

Using my keen powers of observation, I have come to believe that Sherlock Holmes is a terrible ingrate. How else to describe someone who berates the narrative skill of Dr. Watson, his faithful chronicler and friend of so many years? Watson, who has made written accounts of the great majority of Holmes' cases. Watson, who assists Holmes in any investigation at the drop of a hat, or even

INSIDE STORIES PODCAST 14: BATTLEFIELD OF HISTORY

2009-12-20T20:00:00.078-05:00

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE ONLINE HERE, OR SUBSCRIBE TO THE FREE PODCAST ON iTUNES HERE. Photo of members of the First Rhode Island Regiment from their website, here. This past summer I had the pleasure of meeting some total nerds. Naturally, I mean that in the best way possible. Anyone who's as deeply into something as the members of the First Rhode Island Regiment reenactors are into

THE LAST WOMAN ALIVE -- NOW THAT'S AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT STORY

2009-12-13T18:00:00.003-05:00

Like many kids growing up in the 1980s, I was terrified by the prospect of a nuclear war. But I also became fascinated by what would come after, in spite of the grim picture conjured up by the TV movie The Day After, the book The Fate of the Earth or the many other post-apocalyptic visions I have consumed right up through today (On the Beach, 28 Days Later, The Pesthouse). And this month we

INSIDE STORIES PODCAST 13: "LOVE SHACK" RADIO PLAY

2009-12-10T20:00:00.067-05:00

LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE OF THE PODCAST ONLINE BY CLICKING HERE, OR BETTER YET SUBSCRIBE TO THE FREE PODCAST ON iTUNES BY CLICKING HERE. This is, I will admit, a rather random podcast episode. It's a diversion from the usual conversation on storytelling, which I didn't have time to prepare this past week because I was on vacation. Instead, it's a short comic radio play I wrote years ago, and

SEVERAL SIDES OF THE "DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS" STORY

2009-12-09T22:00:00.009-05:00

Coming up next Monday, December 14, a national simulcast of the Oscar-shortlisted documentary film "Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders." There's a screening and panel discussion in NYC that night, and the whole megillah will be simulcast in nearly 450 theaters around the country. For locations and tickets, click HERE. The organization "Doctors Without Borders" (or MSF, by

INSIDE STORIES PODCAST 12: NEWSEUM

2009-11-30T02:00:00.004-05:00

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST EPISODE ONLINE HERE, OR BETTER YET SUBSCRIBE TO THE FREE PODCAST ON iTUNES HERE. In the new podcast episode, a confab with Cathy Trost, the exhibit development director of Newseum, the museum of the news, and which is touted as "Washington DC's most interactive museum." (The above photo of the Newseum exterior is by James P. Blair.) Sure enough, you can't swing a dead

INSIDE STORIES PODCAST 11: HOUSING IS A HUMAN RIGHT

2009-11-20T18:00:00.062-05:00

Photograph by Michael Premo (c) 2009 LISTEN TO THE PODCAST EPISODE HERE, OR BETTER YET SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST SERIES ON iTUNES HERE. Michael Premo and Rachel Falcone chat with me about "Housing is a Human Right," a multimedia documentary project of the struggle for Home in New York City. The project collects and shares first person stories of Home, community and ongoing efforts to

MOTHS TO THE FLAME

2009-11-18T13:00:00.000-05:00

First off, can I just tell you how totally under-dressed I felt last night at "The Moth Ball," the big black-and-white formal benefit for the "The Moth"? Let's just say, very. The recommended attire was, of course, black and/or white, and a mask if you could manage it. I'm not a real clothes horse to begin with, and on top of that, a bunch of my clothing is in a box right now, since I just

"THE MOTH BALL" TONIGHT!

2009-11-17T13:00:00.003-05:00

Tonight I'm going to "The Moth Ball" in New York City, it's the annual benefit for "The Moth." For the uninitiated, "The Moth" is a regular series of performances where people tell true stories live on stage without notes. "The Moth" started in New York City, and has since spread to Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles and other cities. They have a free weekly podcast of stories recorded at their live