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1.21.16: What Does "Progressive" Mean, School Assemblies, & 10-Minute Writer's Workshop

City of Boston Archives via flickr Creative Commons
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https://flic.kr/p/bnwScM
Dorchester High School auditorium, Dorchester, Boston, MA

Labels get thrown around willy-nilly during primary season...among them? Progressive.  However candidates Clinton & Sanders use the term, its history is not so straightforward. 

On today’s show, the rise and fall of progressive politics. Then, from anti-bullying seminars to the dare to keep kids off drugs program, ushering a gaggle of students into an auditorium or gymnasium for an all school assembly is a time honored tradition. But sometimes the educational value of the message is questionable.

Listen to the full show:

What Does "Progressive" Mean Anyway?

Just what does "progressive" mean in 2016.  Yale University history professor Beverly Gage, dug into that question for The New York Times Magazine: "More Progressive Than Thou

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What Does "Progressive" Mean Anyway?

Remembering Weird School Assemblies

An annual snake show? How about a song and dance routine about the dangers of popping pimples? Or a rock cover band playing Supertramp songs at middle schools? Sometimes the purpose of a school assembly can be head scratching or downright inappropriate. We asked some people around the station about their memories of school assemblies and the results were fascinating.

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Remembering Weird School Assemblies

Religious Groups and Assemblies in Public Schools

As ill-advised, strange, or tone-deaf as some school assemblies can be -- in some places, they can be borderline unconstitutional, crossing the blurry line between church and state. Katherine Stewart is an author and a contributor to Slate where she wrote about the overlap between school assemblies and religiously affiliated groups. "Conservative Christians Are on a Mission in Public Schools."

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Religious Groups and Assemblies in Public Schools

The Country of Ice Cream Star

While one critic has called Sandra Newman’s book The Country of Ice Cream Star a sort of Hunger Games for grown-ups, Newman’s dystopian epic may have more in common with books like a Clockwork Orange, or Riddley Walker – at least when it comes to the language.  Producer Taylor Quimby spoke with Newman about the language she created for her characters.

The book is now out in paperback.

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The Country of Ice Cream Star

Read a review of the book from NPR: “10 Hearts for the Country—and Language of ‘Ice Cream Star’”

10-Minute Writer's Workshop - Megan Abbott

Megan Abbott, is the author of Dare Me, The Fever and, and the forthcoming, You Will Know Me, which is due to be published in July. This episode of the 10-Minute Writer’s Workshop was produced by Sara Plourde.

100 Views of Mount Monadnock

 "100 Views of Mt. Monadnock” is an installation by Corwin Levi and Michelle Aldredge,  from that most pedestrian of memorials...the postcard. It opens in Harrisville this weekend along with a performance by Katie Loughmiller. The public event is billed as a Gwarlingo Salon, and we spoke to founder and curator, Michelle Aldredge.

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100 Views of Mount Monadnock

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