Many recent conversations about the Wisconsin Idea have focused on the politics and controversies around it, but all the negative attention ignores the fact that at its core, it's an aspirational vision commited to truth and public education. Wisconsin poet laureate Kimberly Blaeser joined Anne Strainchamps to talk about the beauty behind the Wisconsin Idea, and how it reflects the natural world.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
William Irwin tells Steve Paulson how philosophical questions echo throughout popular culture with several examples from Seinfeld and The Simpsons.
Film critic Roger Ebert’s written a book called “The Great Movies” in which he describes 100 films he thinks make the cut. Among them is Richard Lester’s film of the Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night.” Ebert talks about why that film is so important.
Physicist Alan Lightman likes living in a universe filled with mystery. He finds it in the unanswered questions about the cosmos and also in his personal life, including a remarkable interspecies encounter with two ospreys.
Ted Steinberg tells Jim Fleming that Americans love perfect mono-cultures and are willing to over-water and freely use chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides to achieve them.
Historian Steven Mintz tells Jim Fleming that the idyllic, carefree American childhood never existed.
Susan Vreeland talks about why she’s so attracted to the world of art, and why Emily Carr, the subject of her latest book, loved the First Nations’ people and their art.
Simon Rich talks about his new collection of humorous short stories, "Spoiled Brats."
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