March 3rd, 2001

We're haunted. Haunted by the things that happen in specific places - in Cuba, in New York -- and what effect that has on memory. We're STILL haunted by the election... And then there's the real question keeping us up at night: Just what will we do with that big, fat tax cut?

About that tax cut...
Erin and Al Baldwin, dispatches from a soon-to-be family of four
Bucknell University junior Ben Wellington
Next Big Thing Correspondent Alice Furlaud

A distant island
It's been 40 years since the Bay of Pigs and, while isolation is still the official U.S. policy toward Cuba, more American tourists seem to be finding ways to get south of Miami. It makes us wonder: What do Cubans here think about home? Ambivalence, vivid memories, contradictions. Hear more from Mario Grillo, bandleader of the Machito Orchestra; Mirta Ojito, New York Times reporter; and Dino Fernandez, architect. Produced by Jad Abumrad.

Doesn't everyone's grandma hide spies?
Rose Freedman, the last survivor of the horrific Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory fire that changed labor law forever, died last week. Believe it or not, that wasn't the event that defined her life. To her granddaughter, Dana Walden, Grandma Rose had almost as many stories as the number of years she lived - 107. Find out more about her and other centenarians featured on the PBS series The Living Century at www.thelivingcentury.com. Produced by Jule Gardner.

After Bluegrass Destroyed His Life
Musician and folklorist John Fahey appeared at Summerstage in Central Park. He died last week in Salem, Ore.

The Chowhound
Jim Leff's getting too spicy, but he gets to go on as long as he wants at www.chowhound.com

Mr. Beller's Neighborhood
Imagine there's a park somewhere in New York and every time you go by it, you remember you were dumped by someone there. It's not that New York is different from other places in its ability to haunt you, it's just that there are so many more opportunities for it to happen here. And, little by little, those stories are finding a home online. Here we hear from Peter Strauss, Maggie Carino-Ganias, Jim Merlis, Denise Campbell and proprietor Tom Beller, himself. Submit your own story at www.mrbellersneighborhood.com. We'd love to hear it, too. Write to us at thenextbigthing@wnyc.org. Produced by Catherine Fenollosa.

Bush wins?
The Florida recount that wasn't. Host Dean Olsher asks: Where's the outrage?

WNYC archives id: 8954