Author Madhur Jaffrey speaks with fellow South Asians, some of whom are being targeted in misplaced acts of revenge. Musician Laurie Anderson offers one artist's response to the attack on the World Trade Center. A poem that's been making the rounds on the Internet, and a classic essay that now seems eerily prescient.

Anger, and the victims of anger
An exploration by host Dean Olsher of the smoldering anger expressed by many New Yorkers. And author Madhur Jaffrey speaks with some of the innocent targets of that anger.

September 1, 1939
Poet W.H. Auden commemorated the beginning of World War II with this poem, which has been circulating around the country by e-mail. Someone we know received it from no less than four different people. You can hear why it speaks to the current mood, in this reading by David Margulies.

Statue of Liberty
Host Dean Olsher speaks with musician Laurie Anderson has been touring to promote her latest CD, "Life on a String." After she performed in New York this week, people sent her e-mails asking how she was able to change her show to reflect the attack on New York. But she had barely changed anything.

We have a lot of thinking to do
A montage of what New Yorkers are thinking and feeling this week.

The lessons of history
Dean Olsher remembers another attack - now largely forgotten - on New York's financial district. But until the Oklahoma City bombing, it was the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

"Here is New York"
E.B. White's classic essay "Here is New York" creepily foreshadowed the events of September 11. But the essay also communicates his palpable love for the city, and somehow it seems just as necessary to hear it now as when he wrote it in 1948. Extended selections, as read by David Margulies.

The cellist
One of the lasting images from the siege of Sarajevo was a lone cellist playing while war raged around him. When Peter Lewy started playing his cello on Bleecker Street this week, Dean Olsher asked, does this mean we're at war?

The Next Big Thing with Dean Olsher airs on WNYC New York Sundays from 11am-12 noon on 93.9FM and at 6pm on AM820. The Next Big Thing is funded in part by the Kaplen Foundation.

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