As an undergrad at Mt. Holyoke College, Suzan-Lori Parks was described as an “an utterly astounding and beautiful creature who may become one of the most valuable artists of our time.” The quote belongs to James Baldwin, Parks’ creative writing professor, and one of America’s literary greats. Parks has since written six plays and won a Pulitzer for one of them.

Spike Lee, Oprah Winfrey, even Disney have commissioned her creative muscle. Now, Suzan-Lori Parks has a novel. A Faulknerian drama set in the dusty west Texas of her youth, where down-and-out doesn’t necessarily mean done for good, where a road trip and a treasure hunt make room for hope and bad choices in equal measure. “Getting Mother’s Body” with Suzan-Lori Parks.

Guests:

Suzan-Lori Parks, author of “Getting Mothers Body,” and Winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama

Katrina vanden Heuvel and Bill Emmott agree on one thing. They both think America is at a defining moment in its history. However, when you ask them if the U.S. is going the way of empire or republic, that’s when the verbal fireworks start. Vanden Heuvel, editor of the leftwing journal The Nation is alarmed by what she sees as Bush administration tendencies to strong arm the world, neglecting democracy and civil rights in the process. Democracy doesn’t come at the tip of a bayonet, she says.

Bill Emmott, who edits the more conservative British magazine, The Economist, says America can be clumsy, and a bit misguided, but that generally it wields its considerable power for good, and that is just what this unstable, unsafe world needs. America is at full power, but in forward or reverse?

Guests:

Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor, The Nation

Bill Emmott, editor, The Economist

The institution that helped build the United States, then nearly tore the nation apart. Slavery, the ultimate embarrassment for a country founded on the principles of freedom and equality, is still a touchy subject 140 years after Lincoln’s proclamation.

Amid debates about reparations and responsibility, many would prefer to keep America’s great skeleton in the closet. Douglas Wilder is not one of them. His grandparents were slaves. He’s the former governor of Virginia. And for more than a decade he’s been fighting to put the peculiar institution on display by building a National Slavery Museum.

Some argue that putting whips, leg chains, and branding irons behind glass is just asking for trouble, but he believes that to move forward America must confront its demons.

Guests:

L.Douglas Wilder, former Governor of Virginia, Distinguished Professor, Center for Public Policy, Virginia Commonwealth University, and founder of the National Slavery Museum

Carol Swain, Professor of Political Science, Professor of Law, Vanderbilt University, and author of “The New White Nationalism in America: Its Challenge to Integration.”

The longest undefended border in the world — kind of sounds like one of the seven wonders, doesn’t it?

In a way, the 49th parallel, that line dividing the U.S. and Canada is something of a wonder. Every day, billions in goods and thousands of people go back and forth across that line. But since September 11th, life on both sides of the border has changed.

Most Americans continue to see those folks up North as a colder, more polite, perhaps more boring version of themselves, but increasingly, Canadians don’t know what to make of the U.S. People there are feeling pressure to get on board the American anti-terror train — and that’s prompting new debate among Canadian’s about making up, or making do.

Guests:

Margaret Wente and Rick Salutin, both columnists for the Globe and Mail

The idea that blood is thicker than water is something deep in our sense of family. Listen to your mother. Never let anyone pick on your brother. Always stand up for your family. But we are also taught: Tell the truth. Do the right thing, even when it hurts.

So consider the situation when your brother stands accused of murder and plans to disappear. What do you do? Stand by family loyalty, or obey the law and help the hunt for the wayward sibling.

For most of us, it’s a dilemma we can only imagine. But right now, in Massachusetts, a major public figure is accused of not doing enough to bring his own brother to justice. It may cost him his job.

Guests:

Peter Gelzinis, reporter, Boston Herald

David Kaczynski, brother of convicted Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski

Patricia Williams, law professor, Columbia University.

Some who believe they are doing God’s work strap on explosives, blow themselves up and kill as many other people as possible. Some terrorists commandeer airplanes. Others bomb gay nightclubs, abortion clinics and high-profile events like the Olympics.

All of which raises questions about the difference between international terrorism and the homegrown style of Timothy McVeigh or the recently arrested Eric Robert Rudolph. They all share a fervent belief in God along with the idea that they are right and the rest of the world is demonically misguided.

But after 9/11, the federal government focused on terrorism, international style, and appears to be somewhat less concerned about the domestic variety which has its roots firmly in right wing soil. Onward Christian terrorists?

Guests:

Brian Levin, Center for Study of Hate & Extremism, California State University at San Bernadino
Chip Berlet, co-author, “Right Wing Populism.”

A little over 300 years ago a new show opened in Venice, and according to reports it was a smash hit. Funny thing that, because, save for one reprise, it then all but disappeared — along with much of the baroque and “early music” of that era.

It is now being re-discovered, and re-played, on the instruments of that era, the lute, the harpsichord, the theorbo.

Early music is described in rapturous terms by the music critic, Andrew Porter. He said that, “music sounds best the way its composer wrote it, and by best, I mean most expressive, most beautiful, and most enjoyable.”

Guests:

Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs, codirectors of the Boston Early Music Festival

The delicate balance of relations between two of the world’s powers is down to body language. It was the first encounter between US President George Bush and French President Jacques Chirac since the two disagreed so vehemently over war in Iraq.

And from a nation that refined the four kiss welcome, all Bush got from his French host was four gentle fingertips guiding him to the G-8 photo shoot. The tactile Texan, Mr. Bush was no more welcoming.

Diplomats regard the current frostiness between the United States and France as a genuine crisis in relations; so much so that the French Ambassador to the United States sent a letter to American politicians and the media, pleading for an end to these useless polemics.

Guests:

Jean-David Levitte, French Ambassador to the United States

They call it “The Monster” — that’s how some refer to the black-on-black violence that is eating South Central L.A. Every week of every month, the monster rises up and kills.

This weekend, three people were killed in South Central Los Angeles; one victim was a three-year-old boy. The weekend before, 16 people were shot, 10 died.

Take the body count for the past year and you’ll find that the murder rate in South Central L.A. is double that of Bogota, Colombia. But behind the numbers are the stories, and the families, and the community that every day, suffers under the weight of the violence.

Some blame the police and residents of nearby white suburbs for apathy and inaction. Others are pointing fingers at black leaders, saying they have failed to take responsibility for the violence, and stand against it.

Guests:

Reverend Eugene Rivers, founder of the National Ten Point Leadership Coalition and pastor of the Azusa Christian Community in Boston, MA.

In part two of our series on the path to peace in the Middle East, we examine the political power and messianic vision of the Israeli settler movement.

Once seen as an unstoppable force in the march towards a Greater Israel, today, settlers are feeling extremely unsettled over Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s recent use of the word “occupation” in referring to Israel’s presence in the West Bank and Gaza.

In advance of President Bush’s meeting in the Middle East, settlers are organizing mass demonstrations and saying they will do everything in their power to stop the peace process in its tracks. Some observers are warning of violence, recalling the time eight years ago when settlers rose up in anger, inciting a young man steeped in their extremist religious ideology to assassinate Yitzak Rabin.

Guests:

Benny Elon, Israeli tourism minister, and a member of the National Union Party

Ofer Shelah, a columnist and journalist for the Israeli daily newspaper Yediot Ahronot.