Word of Mouth

For much of recent history, banning access to birth control was a Democratic issue. When did that change?

With the advent of credit cards and the digitization of monetary exchanges, the relevancy of physical money is being called into question. We speak with author David Wolman about his book The End of Money and the future of paper currency.

The War to End All Wars, ended as just another history riddled with misconceptions and construed with well-rehearsed grade school dogma. We speak with author of The Lost History of 1914, Jack Beatty, to help us cross no man’s land with a cadre of new evidence that challenges the long held assumptions of the First World War.

A two part documentary on the Clinton Presidency concludes tonight on PBS. We speak with the producer Barak Goodman.

With the troubling specter of economic befuddlement roving around the globe, it’s only appropriate that a movie should be done to mirror the climate, Margin Call staring Kevin Spacey, does an apt job of portraying the financial crisis of 2007-2008. The New Yorker going as far as to call it “ easily the best Wall Street movie ever made”, we discuss the boardroom action with the film’s director J-C Chandor.

Northampton’s indie rock quintet the Winterpills joins us to discuss their latest album All My Lovely Goners.

A new documentary looks at the Presidency of Bill Clinton. Paula Poundstone talks politics, motherhood, and sex. And how the first social media campaign may have been kicked off by one Martin Luther.

By Danielle Lima

This week has been an incredibly fast one- I can’t believe it’s Friday already! I really need to start writing down what I do here every day… because come Friday… I do what I’ve been doing for the past 10 minutes or so… sitting here trying to remember what I did the last couple days… and drawing a complete blank. Maybe if I just start writing…

I’m here three times a week, and each morning I come in, my task is to post that day’s show to the web page. As I’ve explained before, this involves a few steps: come up with a headline, summary, and photo… edit the script for capitalizations, etc, and add links.

In describing a novel, a literary scholar might describe how narrative “unfolds.” In the case of Kenan Rubenstein's micro-comic series “the Oubliette,” the meaning is literal.  

Like elaborate high school love notes, Rubenstein’s comics are contained on single sheets of 8 ½ X 11” paper, each crisply folded into 3 inch booklets.  It’s not a lot of space to tell a story – but Rubenstein manages quite nicely. 

The series follows the romantic misadventures of a sensitive, scruffy-haired hipster who looks suspiciously like the author himself. When I point out the resemblance, Kenan jokes it would be “somewhat more striking if I were a better artist.”

Does it smell in here, or is it just me? A new book by Rachel Herz examines the individualized reasons behind 'the cringe' from scientific and cultural perspectives.

Eight-year-old Jane Frauenfelder and her dad help us sort through which apps are worth her time.

High vacancy rates and changing consumer tastes are promping malls to re-think their space.

We’ll look at how the social media technology of the time helped the Protestant Reformation go viral.

Multiple monitors allow us to take everything in with just a sweep of the eye... but increase in productivity is debatable.

A student discovers that hacking digital networks controlling bridges, sewage, and power plants isn't as difficult as you may think.