Getting together for dinner on a regular basis can be tough for any family, but it is especially hard for military families during deployments. On today’s show: how one mother of three dealt with her husband’s deployment, by asking guests to fill his empty seat once a week. Then, the artist M.C. Escher may be best known for his repeating patterns and mind-bending optical illusions, but a new exhibit at the Currier Museum of Art, touted as the most comprehensive retrospective of Escher’s work, is highlighting his lesser known illustrations.
Listen to the full show and Read more for individual segments.
Dinner With the Smileys
- Sarah Smiley is a syndicated newspaper columnist her new book is Dinner with the Smileys: One Military Family, One Year of Heroes, and Lessons for a Lifetime.
- Sarah is giving readings throughout New England, including The Perfect Wife restaurant in Manchester, Vermont this Saturday.
Black Chefs, White House
- From King George VI to former soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, countless members of royalty and foreign dignitaries have had dinner at the White House. But for our next story we’re slipping behind the scenes to focus on those preparing dinner, specifically two men who fed the founding fathers. The Kitchen Sisters, Nikki Silva and Davia Nelson bring us their story.
- You can hear the story at PRX.org.
M.C. Escher
- Jane Oneail is the Currier Museum of Art's senior educator and she joined us to talk about the new Escher retrospective opening the weekend. Here's a link for more information on the exhibit and special programs happening throughout the show's run.
- You can read more about Escher and find out a few things you might not have known about the famous draftsman, here.
The TI-84 Calculator: Still Crazy Expensive After All These Years
- Matt McFarland is the innovations editor at The Washington Post where he wrote about why the classic graphing calculator continues to dominate the classroom.
Stylometry: Where Math Meets Art
- Visual stylometry is a new branch of mathematics that uses statistical analysis to determine the style of a particular artists' body of work. Jenny Chen takes a closer look at how stylometry works and what the implications of it may be.
- This story is part of the PRX STEM Story Project, made possible by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. You can listen to the story at PRX.org.
