We remember first crushes, 1980s style and vibe on the street, the lost minutes of September 11, and some lesser known moments in the life of Stephen Jay Gould. Plus another episode of "What's Your Word" with Erin McKean.
Back in the Days
In the 1980's, young people on the streets of New York posed for photographer Jamel Shabazz with style, flair and a kind of innocence. With host Dean Olsher, Shabazz revisits those streets and his memories of the people he knew back then. The photographs are collected in his book, titled, appropriately, "Back in the Days."
Time Stopped
Found, near the site of the World Trade Center shortly after its collapse: a clock that reads " 8:48 a.m." Why, asks Next Big Thing contributor Steve Zeitlin, is such an object so compelling to us? And would it still be compelling if it read "7:48 a.m."? Zeitlin is co-curator of "Missing: Streetscape of a City in Mourning," an exhibit now on view at the New York Historical Society.
Missing: Memory
By day, Brian Guestring reconstructs crime scenes for the Medical Examiner's office. In his free time, he's trying to reconstruct a scene from his own life, on the morning that the Twin Towers collapsed. He owes his life to someone, but can't remember to whom. Produced by WNYC reporter Marianne McCune.
What's Your Word?
If you want to introduce a word into the dictionary, first you'll have to get it past an editor. Callers pitch favorite homegrown words to New Oxford American Dictionary editor Erin McKean.
Crush
Writer Meg Wolitzer imagines what might have been had her teenage crushes been reciprocated. Would Donnie Osmond roll up his rhinestone studded sleeves when the baby's diapers needed changing? Along for the ride back in time are actors Mary Testa and Charlie Schroeder. Produced by Curtis Fox.
Well-Tempered Professor
For three years of his undergraduate career, Eric Altschuler, M.D. met with Stephen Jay Gould one hour per week for an independent study. Their subject: Bach. Altschuler, author of "Bachanalia: The Essential Listener's Guide to Bach's 'Well-Tempered Clavier,'" remembers his meetings with the famed paleontologist. (Bach's Fugue No. 20 in A Minor from Volume 1 of "The Well-Tempered Clavier" is played here by Glenn Gould [CBS Masterworks].)
Ferry Man
Not long ago, we brought you stories of disappearing professions. Today, we talk to Albert Mayetti, who's part of an opposite trend - the expansion of New York Waterway's ferry service. Morning and night, he offers assistance, spiritual and otherwise, to commuters from the shores of Hoboken, NJ and downtown Manhattan.
WNYC archives id: 24653