Audio by Adam » Women

“Grandma” Cora’s Sweet Potato Pies

adamphillips — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:38:32 +0000

Down a couple of old Maryland country roads that barely show up on state maps you’ll find Grandma Cora, an elderly African American lady who is known throughout those parts for her delicious sweet potato pies, which she lovingly backs on her old stove and sells to make ends meet nicely. I spent an afternoon with Grandma Cora for this “Women in Business” story, and got both happier and fatter as a result.

Profile: Dave Isay, Audio Documentarian and “Storycorps” Founder

Black “Born Again” Christian Hair Salons

adamphillips — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:33:47 +0000

The Bible says that a woman’s hair is a glory to her, and they take that quite literally at several African American beauty salons that are springing up in the Washington DC and other urban areas. Come with me on my visit to a salon where being “born again,” amazing hair-dos and “prayerful” and joyous sisterhood intertwine in a sacred (often musical) weave.

Kay Ryan, US Poet Laureate (2008-present)

adamphillips — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 01:32:09 +0000

Since October 2008, Kay Ryan has been serving as America’s 16th poet laureate, tapped by the librarian of Congress to be ambassador for American poetry. She has published more than half a dozen books of collected poems. and is cherished for her compact, vivid and accessible verse. This profile is based on my interview with her at the Academy of American Poetry in New York City.

Here is a link to the VOA story I did about her and includes audio links to an extended excerpt from our interview and sound files of Ryan reading several of her poems.

See also my profiles of US Poet Laureates Charles Simic and Donald Hall.

Mother’s Day: Mothering in the Non-Human World

adamphillips — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 05:40:18 +0000

Mother’s Day in America is a special day set aside for honoring mothers, and celebrating all those qualities and actions that make mother “Mom.” But animals and even plants have also evolved their own dizzyingly diverse maternal styles over the millennia, all of which serve to make sure the next generation thrives. Adam interviewed a leading evolutionary biologist and a zoologist about some of those strategies.

Profile of the Poet Annie Finch

adamphillips — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 20:31:19 +0000

Annie Finch is one of the most intelligent, sensitive and prescient poets writing about poetry and women’s poetry in particular. Here is a story I did about her when a new collection of her poems had been published. What a voice! Related posts: Kay Ryan, US Poet Laureate (2008-present) American Profile: Poet Naomi Shihab Nye [...] Related posts:

Profile: Maxine Greene – Educator, Philosopher, Humanist (VOA 2009)

adamphillips — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 04:31:28 +0000

Professor Maxine Greene of Teachers College, Columbia University, 91, has spent her educating and inspiring educators, artists and children in humanistic “wide-awakedness” and the social imagination. Now 91, Maxine has also been Philosopher-in-Residence at the Lincoln Center Institute for the Arts in Education since 1975. She just received a Gold Medal from Barnarnd College. Maxine grew up with my mother in Brooklyn, and was a frequent dinner guest at our home on East 70th Street.

The Kitchen Sisters: Audio Maestre

adamphillips — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 17:38:40 +0000

The Kitchen Sisters are famous in the radio world, and to National Public Radio listeners, for the wonderful way they combine the sounds and sentiments of real people according to themes and make their lives come alive for all of us. In this profile, I talk to them in a cozy San Francisco locale and learn more about what makes them tick, and how they find their inspirations.

The Pentacle and the Wand: Contemporary Witchcraft in America

adamphillips — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 00:39:54 +0000

The witch has come in for some pretty hard knocks in previous centuries, but lately there has been a resurgence of interest in what she has to offer both as a way of seeing, and a way of being that is female, strong, earthy, connected and wise. This is a half hour documentary that explores witchcraft in all its wholesomeness and mystery. Appearances by Z. Budapest, Starhawk, Gina Banghart, Matthew Fox, Joseph Campbell and many others. Come on in! The magick’s fine!

(Also of interest: my NPR long form documentary “The Goddess in the USA” )

The Status of Women in Israel

adamphillips — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 15:24:47 +0000

Due to religion, socialism, the Zionist ideal, the militarization of the society, Western feminism, Arab culture and many other factors, Israeli women have complex competing factors that inform their self-image and their social roles. This is a half hour documentary I did for National Public Radio back in the 1990s that is still relevant today.

The Status of Women in Israel (NPR 1990)

adamphillips — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:52:57 +0000

Between Zionism, Socialsim, Feminism, Judaism, the Holocaust, and all the American, Eastern European, Middle Eastern and Asian cultural influences that compete for primacy as models for women in Israel, their status and self-image is deeply multi-layered and complex. This half hour documentary, which I completed for National Public Radio back in the early 1990s, offers a sound-rich and varied sampling through the eyes of real women living, working and raising families in that amazing place.