Silver Lining
Week of Friday, January 17 2003


We look for, and find, the silver lining: in the weekly routine of a woman who shuttles puppies to and from a medium-security men's prison in upstate New York; in the rainy day tunes of American popular song; and in the accumulated newspaper clippings regularly sent by one's mother. Also this week, the people have spoken! Find out their choices for Word of the Year.





Puppies Behind Bars

Every weekend, Susan Hallett is responsible for transporting puppies between New York City and the Fishkill Correctional Facilty upstate. She understands better than most the importance of letting inmates have contact with our four-legged friends. Dean takes the passenger seat on an early Saturday morning, for the noisy trek to Fishkill. Produced by Emily Botein. For more information about the Puppies Behind Bars program, click here.



The People Have Spoken

As promised, we present to you the People's Choice for 2002 Word of the Year. And we bring back Dennis Preston, Professor of Linguistics at Michigan State University, to defend The American Dialect Society's much-maligned selection — "weapons of mass destruction."



Errata

No, not the stuff you hide from your mother, the stuff she SHARES with you - the funny misprints in magazines and newspapers and newsletters. For twenty years Jesse's mother sent him clip-outs of her favorite bloopers. Jesse waxes poetic on his considerable collection, and the woman who foisted them upon him. Produced by Curtis Fox.

American Songbook

What happens when you put Eric Comstock - "a walking encyclopedia of show songs," New York Times cultural critic Margo Jefferson, and host Dean Olsher together in a room with a well-tuned piano? Well, something akin to bliss, for those interested in taking a stroll down the lane of American popular song.
C.

WNYC archives id: 32107