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To The Best Of Our Knowledge

An Architect Under Siege in Syria

Not all architecture in the Arab world glitters like a golden dome. Some are being shelled to dust by war. Such is the horrifying story of Homs, Syria.  Once a cosmopolitan and tolerant city of more than one million, Homs has hosted clashes between rebel groups and President Bashar Assad’s forces since 2011. Those clashes have mortared and shelled the city into an oblivion. Thousands of residents have been killed. Most of the remaining have fled. But not all.

Marwa al-Sabouni and her family have stayed. Marwa al-Sabouni has her PhD. in Islamic architecture and wrote a compelling memoir about architecture and destruction in Homs called “The Battle for Home.”

Marwa al-Sabouni spoke with Anne Strainchamps via Skype from her apartment in Homs, Syria.

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Anna Rabinowitz on "Darkling"

Poet Anna Rabinowitz found a shoe box full of old letters and photos of family and friends killed in the Holocaust.  She wrote the poem "Darkling" to feature their voices.   We also hear excerpts from the opera "Darkling."

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Alain de Botton on Philosophy

Alain de Botton tells Steve Paulson how modern readers can derive comfort from philosophy, and sees no conflict between talking about serious ideas and entertaining the reader.

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"Death Doesn't Bother Me Anyway, Pt. 4"

In the fourth episode of the story of Dan Pierotti's death, friends and family stay with Dan's body in the days before the funeral. Dan's wife Judy talks about her experience of the funeral and burial.

"Then it's final," Judy says. "There's no coming back from any of it. But just the first shovel full of dirt that hits that coffin... that's very hard to hear, very hard to experience."

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

A New Look at the NSA - Susan Landau

What have the recent leaks about the NSA's surveillance program have revealed? Computer scientist and independent scholar Susan Landau gives us her perspective, and weighs in on the questions of inquiries, and checks and balances.

You can also hear our extended conversation with Landau.

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Allen Long and Robert Sabbag on "Loaded: A Misadventure on the Marijuana Trail"

Allen Long is a former dope-smuggler and the subject of Robert Sabbag’s book “Loaded: A Misadventure on the Marijuana Trail.”  Anne Strainchamps interviewed them a week apart.

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Anne Lamott on "Grace (Eventually)"

Anne Lamott is famous for her intensely personal and very funny style of writing. Her latest book is "Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith."

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Andrew Davies on Screenwriting

Screenwriter and novelist Andrew Davies talks about why Jane Austen is hot again, what he had to do to the “Bridget Jones’s Diary” script, and how he felt when someone else adapted and filmed one of his novels

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