|
||||||
|
Story Archives of 'Family'
Japan Works Itself to Death
By Virginia Prescott on Tuesday, June 30, 2009.
US unemployment reached a high of 9.4 percent last month. In Japan, workers are also suffering from unemployment, and the related problem of too much work. Job insecurity and company-wide wage cuts mean that fewer employees are working harder, often at the expense of their health.
Last year a record number of Japanese workers sought and received compensation for job-induced mental disorders. The country’s suicide rate is also climbing. Japan’s Labor and Welfare Ministry reports that 158 people died from karoshi, or overwork last year. Reporter Ian Rowley is a correspondent in Businessweek's Tokyo bureau. He’s been talking to anxious Japanese workers. We called him to ask if that number represents a significant rise from the past.
Business Week: Anxious Japanese Are Working Themselves to Death
(Photo by MShades via Flickr/Creative Commons)
StoryCorps: Lilly and Don Rich
By Andrew Parrella on Monday, June 22, 2009.Milan’s Lilly and Don Rich stopped by, just short of their 64th wedding anniversary. They met in 1944 and decided to get married, but a few things got in their way.
Here's What's Awesome: Kid-Launching, Timesharing Sports Cars
By Brady Carlson on Sunday, June 21, 2009.It's an all-Father's Day edition of Here's What's Awesome! This week's awesome links are all about dad stuff - sadly I was unable to find a robot that fixes your power tools. Maybe next year.
Three-two-one magic
Usually when dads (and moms) count to three, it's because Junior is doing something he or she shouldn't be doing. Not here - this dad (a spitting image of Iron and Wine's Sam Beam) has rigged up a kid-launching super slip 'n' slide for his little ones. So when they hear Pops counting, they expect fun instead of punishment.
StoryCorps: Lilly and Don Rich (Web Extra)
By Andrew Parrella on Friday, June 19, 2009.Though her father was in the military, he didn't approve of her choice of Don, a G.I., as a husband.
StoryCorps: Lilly and Don Rich (Web Extra)
By Andrew Parrella on Friday, June 19, 2009.Sadly, we didn't have time to broadcast many of the deatils of Don and Lilly's remarkable courtship story.
Eco-Friendly Father's Day Gifts
By Zach Johnk on Thursday, June 18, 2009.
Father’s Day is right around the corner, and for those of you who have left it until the last minute, there’s still time to get dad a gift. There’s even time to make it an eco-friendly one. Instructables.com offers advice on how to transform your push mower into a solar-powered grass eating machine.
Marriage Broker
By Kelly McEvers on Wednesday, June 17, 2009.
There’s a shortage of women in China, Taiwan, and South Korea, due in part to years of low birthrates and preference for male offspring. That makes it difficult for men in those countries to find marriage partners, unless they go overseas.
Vietnam is a popular destination for what are known as “matrimonial holidays.” One service offers South Korean men the opportunity to meet dozens of eligible Vietnamese women. Marriage brokers make the introductions and arrange the ceremonies...for several thousand U.S. dollars in fees.
Homeland Productions’ Kelly McEvers brings us a profile of one of these marriage brokers. You can hear this piece at the The Public Radio Exchange.
(Photo by Raveesh Vyas via Flickr/Creative Commons)
Ask Me About My Divorce
By Virginia Prescott on Wednesday, June 17, 2009.
D-I-V-O-R-C-E... it was such a dirty word that Tammy Wynette had to spell it out in front of the kids in her 1968 song.
The big “D." About 50 percent of first marriages in the U.S. end in divorce - the highest rate in the world. Yet divorce still carries feelings of shame, failure, and the stigma of damaged goods. “No more!” says Candace Walsh, features editor for Mothering Magazine. While the dissolution of her marriage was painful and traumatic, it didn’t call for whispered conversations or pity. Candace wanted to talk about it, and as a writer and editor, she found others who did, too.
Ask Me About My Divorce is an anthology of stories by women who open up about moving on when things didn’t turn out as they planned. Candace edited and contributed to the collection, and she joined us from her part-time home in New Mexico.
We also hear from Elaine Soloway who got married in 1960 when divorce was taboo. She contributed "A Badge On My Biceps" to the Ask Me About My Divorce anthology.
Elaine Soloway's blog She's Not The Type
(Photo by Ouij via Flickr/Creative Commons)
Recession-Style Weddings
By Virginia Prescott on Monday, June 8, 2009.
June marks the beginning of wedding season, which kicks the matrimony industrial complex into full swing. The weak economy has couples tightening their cummerbunds and finding creative ways to scale back. Deciding when to scrimp and when to splurge on a monumental day isn’t easy. Garen Daly, better known as The Frugal Yankee, is here to help us sort through some recession-era wedding conundrums.
(Photo by Ricardo Wang via Flickr/Creative Commons)
Giving Kids Free Range
By Deb Baker on Saturday, June 6, 2009.When Lenore Skenazy wrote a column last spring called "Why I Let My 9-Year-Old Ride the Subway Alone," she already knew she’d touched a nerve with people who felt she was being a reckless mom. But the resulting national media frenzy surprised her, so she started a blog where parents are still weighing in on how much freedom is okay for kids.
