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Programming

Best Bets - Week of 4/5/10

Posted by Greg Petersen on 04/05 at 07:33 AM

A Nobel Conversation and An Examination of Buddha

Radio Interview: Toni Morrison – Tues. at 7:33am and 8:33am during Morning Edition – Nobel Prize winning writer Toni Morrison is in town to accept an award from Penn State’s Institute for the Arts and Humanities. Emily Reddy talked to Morrison about winning awards, writing about slavery and Barack Obama’s presidency.

Radio Feature: Alcohol Issues Series:  View from the ER –Thurs., at 7:33am and 8:33am during Morning Edition – As part of our ongoing series on alcohol issues in State College. Cynthia Berger rides ambulance on a Saturday night.

TV: NOVA – Tuesday, 8pm – “Hunting the Edge of Space: The Mystery of the Milky Way” – Part 1 of 2 on how the telescope revolutionized the understanding of the universe. This installment highlights today’s powerful telescopes, which reveal the universe in astonishing detail. (Part 2 airs next Tuesday.)

TV: THE BUDDHA – Wednesday, 8pm – Richard Gere narrates the story of the Buddha, who some 2500 years ago, in northern India, found enlightenment while meditating beneath a fig tree. The documentary includes remarks from the Dalai Lama, poets Jane Hirshfield and W.S. Merwin, scholars Robert Thurman, Kevin Trainor and Max Moerman, astrophysicist Trinh Xuan Thuan, psychiatrist Mark Epstein and practicing Buddhist monastics.

TV: CONVERSATIONS FROM PENN STATE – Thursday, 9pm – “Hon. Barbara Franklin” – In 1969, the Nixon administration launched a little-known initiative to recruit women to government. President Nixon’s then staff assistant, who became the 29th U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Barbara Franklin, led the effort. She talks about the project and the special collection of oral histories that document it. Franklin is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of Barbara Franklin Enterprises, a private investment and consulting firm headquartered in Washington, DC.  (Repeats Saturday at 6pm.)

TV: YOUR KIDS ARE DRINKING – Sunday, 7pm – A recent survey by the State of Nebraska revealed that one out of every four kids in Nebraska had their first taste of alcohol before they reached age 13. By their senior year in high school, about half the students in the state are drinking at least once a month. Produced by Nebraska Educational TV, Your Kids are Drinking explores how lax attitudes among adults aggravate the youth drinking problem and corresponding ways that adults can provide realistic solutions.