State Services for the Blind

Radio News

Radio Talking Book Radio News October 2007

Current Edition: January 2008

Previous News Editions: January 2007, February 2007, March 2007, April 2007, May 2007, June 2007, July 2007, August 2007, September 2007, October 2007, November 2007, December 2007

January 2006, February 2006, March 2006, April 2006, May 2006, June 2006, July 2006, August 2006, September 2006, October 2006, November 2006, December 2006

White Cane Day - October 15
October 15 is National White Cane Safety Day, first proclaimed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. He said, in part, “A white cane in our society has become one of the symbols of a blind person’s ability to come and go on his own. Its use has promoted courtesy and opportunity for mobility of the blind on our streets and highways.”
     
Few people are aware of the history of the white cane used by blind people. Its origin was between the two World Wars. James Biggs of Bristol, England, claimed to have invented it in 1921. When an accident took his sight, he painted his walking stick white to make himself more visible to motorists. Ten years later in France, Guilly d’Herbemont launched a campaign for a national white stick movement. Concurrently in the United States, Lion’s Clubs International began a national program promoting the use of white canes for persons who are blind. When blind World War II vets returned to America, the white cane went through further transition with the development of Doctor Richard Hoover’s “long cane” or the “Hoover” method of cane travel. It was during this time that the white cane began to make its way into government policy as a symbol for the blind.
     
Today, there are several versions of the white cane commonly used by people with blindness and visual impairment. Whatever type of cane you are using, we encourage you to use it proudly and well, and take advantage of White Cane Day to educate friends and family about its history.

Books Available Through Faribault   
All books broadcast on the Minnesota Radio Talking Book Network are available through the Minnesota  Braille and Talking Book Library in Faribault. Their phone is 1-800-722-0550 and hours are 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Their catalog is also online, and you can access it at the main website, http://education.state.mn.us and clicking on the link, or go to http://education.state.mn.us/mde/Learning_Support/MN_Braille_Talking_Book_Library/index.html. If you live outside of Minnesota, you may obtain copies of books by contacting your own state=s Network Library for the National Library Service.  
 
Review old issues of Radio News on the Internet at www.mnssb.org/radionews.

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Chautauqua
Tuesday - Saturday 4 a.m.
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Peace Be Upon You
Nonfiction by Zachary Karabell, 2007.
Muslims, Christians, and Jews have shared a rich, textured coexistence that has disappeared from collective memory. From medieval Spain to today’s Dubai, they have found common ground.
Read by Fred Lyon.
16 broadcasts. Began September 19.
   
Sixty Things to Do When You Turn Sixty
Nonfiction edited by Ronnie Sellers, 2006.
More than 98 million people will turn sixty in North America during the next twenty years. Here sixty writers give their advice.
Read by Carolyn Light Bell.
7 broadcasts. Begins October 11.
   
Animal Architects
Nonfiction by James and Carol Grant Gould, 2007. Does an animal’s structure reveal the workings of its mind? What is the role of animal cognition in competing claims of nature v. nurture?
Read by Marylyn Burridge.
10 broadcasts. Begins October 22.
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Past is Prologue
Monday - Friday 9 a.m.
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Grand Avenues
Nonfiction by Scott W. Berg, 2007.
George Washington enlisted Pierre Charles L’Enfant to plan the City of Washington. He had studied drawing at the most prestigious art academy in the world.
Read by Susan Niefeld.
11 broadcasts. Begins October 2.
   
Crazy ‘08
Nonfiction by Cait Murphy, 2007.
In 1908, the Cubs were baseball’s greatest team. That year, they were up against the New York Giants and the Pittsburgh Pirates in the greatest pennant race the National League has ever seen. Read by Ray Christensen.
13 broadcasts. Begins October 17.
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Bookworm
Monday - Friday 11 a.m.
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Dragonwell Dead
Fiction by Laura Childs, 2007.
At the Spring Plantation Ramble, Theodosia Browning has just poured a cup of tea for commodities broker Mark Congdon when he falls dead. There are several who could gain from his death but some suspect Theodosia of the crime.
Read by Eleanor Berg.
9 broadcasts. Begins October 3.
    
Cross Country
Nonfiction by Robert Sullivan, 2007.
Robert Sullivan spent fifteen years driving across the country; his family has had an annual summer migration from Oregon to New York. He tells the tales of all those crossings, along with the ponderings of the historical context of our roads.
Read by Art Nyhus.
17 broadcasts. Begins October 16.
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Potpourri
Monday - Friday 2 p.m.
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Grace (Eventually)
Nonfiction by Anne Lamott, 2007.
Wherever a person looks, there is trouble and wonder, pain and beauty, restoration and darkness. Some days are better than others but Lamott says she is learning what it means to be fully human and alive.
Read by Sue McDonald.
6 broadcasts. Began September 26.

Ariel Sharon: A Life
Nonfiction by Nir Hafez and Gadi Bloom, 2006. Warrior, statesman, peacemaker - few world leaders have had as dramatic and pivotal a life story as Ariel Sharon. And no modern leader’s life has been as tightly woven into the history of his nation. V -
Read by Dan Sadoff.
22 broadcasts. Begins October 4.
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Choice Reading
Monday - Friday 4 p.m.
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On Agate Hill
Fiction by Lee Smith, 2006.
Molly Petree was orphaned by the Civil War. Raised in the ruins of a once prosperous plantation, she is a refugee with no self-pity. When a benefactor appears, she takes what is offered and saves herself.
Read by Aletta Jervey.
15 broadcasts. Began September 13.
 
Burning Bright
Fiction by Tracy Chevalier, 2007.
In 1792, three people come together for an impassioned journey. Maggie, daughter of a rogue, and young Jem are drawn into William Blake’s spell, sparking his imagination and influencing one of the greatest works of literature.
Read by Mary Davies.
10 broadcasts. Begins October 4.
 
The Shadow Catcher
Fiction by Marianne Wiggins, 2007.
Artist Edward Curtis was a disappearing husband, gone for years at a time. When filmmakers want to make a biopic, it promises to be fraught with problems. Wiggins, too, had a disappearing father. Were they running from something, or running to? S -
Read by Ann Hoedeman.
10 broadcasts. Begins October 18.
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PM Report
Monday - Friday 8 p.m.
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The Edge of Disaster
Nonfiction by Stephen Flynn, 2007.
When it comes to catastrophe, America is living on borrowed time. Our growing exposure to peril is largely rooted in our negligence as we take for granted the infrastructure we’ve inherited from earlier generations.
Read by Sally Browne.
11 broadcasts. Begins October 1.

In an Instant
Nonfiction by Lee and Bob Woodruff, 2007.
In January 2006, the Woodruffs seemed to have perfect lives. Then, while embedded with the military in Iraq for ABC News, Bob’s vehicle was near an explosion and the ensuing brain injury almost killed him.
Read by Charlie Boone.
11 broadcasts. Begins October 15.
  
The New Faces of Christianity
Nonfiction by Philip Jenkins, 2006.
Many Christians in the global South live in a world like that of the New Testament, an agricultural world marked by famine, plague, poverty, and exile.
Read by Leila Poullada.
11 broadcasts. Begins October 30.
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Night Journey
Monday - Friday 9 p.m.
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The Traitor’s Tale
Fiction by Margaret Frazer, 2007.
Dame Frevisse comes to help her cousin, the widowed Lady Alice, duchess of Suffolk. Suffolk was hated by many, and former employees have been disappearing. V,L -
Read by Judith Johannessen.
12 broadcasts. Began September 18.
 
Errors and Omissions
Fiction by Paul Goldstein, 2006.
Michael Seeley is an intellectual property litigator on the brink of personal and career collapse. When he is hired to confirm the rights to a series of films, it sets off a chain of events that forces him to face his own demons.
Read by Judy McGuigan.
12 broadcasts. Begins October 4.
 
The Shape Shifter
Fiction by Tony Hillerman, 2006.
Joe Leaphorn’s last case was unsolved, a priceless Navajo rug supposedly destroyed by fire. Now the rug is in a magazine spread, and the man who let Leaphorn know about it is missing. L -
Read by Nancy Felknor.
8 broadcasts. Begins October 22.
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Off the Shelf
Monday - Friday 10 p.m.
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Divisadero
Fiction by Michael Ondaatje, 2007.
Anna and Claire work with the hired hand and their father on his farm as a makeshift family until a violent incident drives it apart. V,L,S -
Read by Del Adamson.
8 broadcasts. Began September 26.
 
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Fiction by Khaled Hosseini, 2007.
The last thirty years have been difficult for Afghans. In the midst of the war-torn country, families struggle to survive, raise children, and find happiness.
Read by Ray Christensen.
12 broadcasts. Begins October 8.
 
What the Dead Know
Fiction by Laura Lippman, 2007.
A woman claims to be one of two sisters who disappeared thirty years before. But her admission deepens the mystery of what happened. L -
Read by Judy Woodward.
11 broadcasts. Begins October 24.
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Evening Odyssey
Monday - Friday 11 p.m.
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Boomsday
Fiction by Christopher Buckley, 2007.
Cassandra was an A student when she found that her Baby Boomer father had spent her tuition money and she needed to join the army. Ten years later, she sought her revenge. L -
Read by James Keane.
14 broadcasts Begins October 2.
 
Amen Corner
Fiction by Rick Shevchik, 2007.
Police detective Skarda is participating as an amateur in the Masters golf tournament. When two people are murdered in the first three days, he is hired to find the killer. V,L -
Read by Ray Christensen.
10 broadcasts.  Begins October 22.
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Good Night Owl
Monday - Friday midnight
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Brendan Wolf
Fiction by Brian Malloy, 2007.
Brendan shows a different view of himself to different people in his life: devoted partner, tireless gay volunteer, scam artist, or dangerous fugitive. L,S -
Read by Scott Brush.
13 broadcasts. Begins October 3.
 
Moonlight Hotel
Fiction by Scott Anderson, 2007.
David Richards is a midlevel diplomat in the sleepy kingdom of Kutar. When American-inspired violence breaks out, Americans are ordered to leave, but he stays. V,L,S -
Read by Chuck Torrey.
17 broadcasts. Begins October 22.
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After Midnight
Tuesday - Saturday 1 a.m.
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The Wizard Lord
Fiction by Lawrence Watt-Evans, 2007.
Breaker is one of the Chosen whose responsibility is to remove an errant Wizard Lord. But he has doubts about the balance of power.
Read by Scott Ford.  
16 broadcasts. Began September 17.
   
The Children of Húrin
Fiction by J.R.R. Tolkein, 2007.
Tolkein was working on The Children of Húrin when he died in 1973. The book sets background for stories of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
Read by Del Adamson.
7 broadcasts. Begins October 9.
   
Unscrewed
Fiction by Lois Greiman, 2007.
L.A. homicide detective Jack Rivera is accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend who left him for his wealthy dad. L,S -
Read by Barbara Morison.
11 broadcasts. Begins October 18.
  
Abbreviations: V  - violence, L - offensive language, S - sexual situations