Access Utah

It’s a pledge drive special edition of Access Utah today. My special guest for the hour is Ken Sanders from Ken Sanders Rare Books in Salt Lake City. We’ll reach into the archives for parts of some of our favorite episodes of the program. We’ll hear from Evelyn Funda, Associate Dean of the USU College of Humanities and Social Sciences and author of “Weeds: A Farm Daughter’s Lament.” Evelyn Funda will tell us the gripping story of her mother’s escape from communist Czechoslovakia. Then we’ll hear part of my conversation with Colin Dickey, author of the forthcoming book “The Unidentified,” about conspiracy theories. And Ken Sanders will read poems of Ken Brewer and prose of Edward Abbey. We’ll invite you to pledge your support to UPR to ensure that Access Utah continues strong.

It’s a pledge drive special edition of Access Utah today. My special guest for the hour is folklorist and USU Assistant Professor of English Lynne McNeill. We’ll reach into the archives for parts of some great episodes of the program. We’ll hear from Eric Nuzum, former Vice President of Programming at NPR and author of “Giving Up the Ghost: A Story About Friendship, 80s Rock, A Lost Scrap of Paper, and What It Means to Be Haunted.” We’ll also hear part of my conversation with National Geographic photographer Paul Nicklen about global warming and rapid changes in the Arctic. And Lee Austin will introduce us to the soundscape of Zion National Park. We’ll invite you to pledge your support to UPR to ensure that Access Utah continues strong.

It’s a pledge drive special edition of Access Utah today. My special guest for the hour is former UPR Station Manager Richard Meng. We’ll reach into the archives for parts of some of my most memorable interviews. We’ll hear from explorer and educator Helen Thayer; indomitable Holocaust survivor Eva Kor; and singer-songwriter Rosalie Sorrells. And we’ll invite you to pledge your support to UPR to ensure that Access Utah and all the programming you value continues strong.

It’s a pledge drive special edition of Access Utah today. My special guest for the hour is former UPR Program Director and Access Utah host Lee Austin. We’ll reach into the archives for parts of interviews Lee conducted with writer Gore Vidal and former Utah Poet Laureate Ken Brewer. We’ll also hear a portion of a special broadcast on the history of Capitol Reef National Park. We’ll talk about the history of Access Utah and the public affairs programs that preceded this program. And we’ll invite you to pledge your support to UPR to ensure that Access Utah and all the programming you value continues strong.

Described by Fanfare Magazine as “one of the most talented and intriguing of living composers,” Lori Laitman has composed multiple operas and choral works, and over 250 songs, setting texts by classical and contemporary poets (including those who perished in the Holocaust). Her music is widely performed, internationally and throughout the United States, and has generated substantial critical acclaim. The Journal of Singing wrote “It is difficult to think of anyone before the public today who equals her exceptional gifts for embracing a poetic text and giving it new and deeper life through music.”

We don’t know how. We don’t know when. But death comes for us all.

Physicist and futurist Michio Kaku says that moving human civilization to the stars, formerly the domain of fiction, is increasingly becoming a scientific possibility–and a necessity. Whether in the near future due to climate change and the depletion of finite resources, or in the distant future due to catastrophic cosmological events, we must face the reality that humans will one day need to leave planet Earth to survive as a species.

Dr. Anne Spoerry treated hundreds of thousands of people across rural Kenya over the span of fifty years. A member of the renowned Flying Doctors Service, the French-born Spoerry learned how to fly a plane at the age of forty-five and earned herself the cherished nickname, "Mama Daktari"--"Mother Doctor"--from the people of Kenya. Yet few knew what drove her from post-World War II Europe to Africa. Now, in the first comprehensive account of her life, Dr. Spoerry's revered selflessness gives way to a past marked by rebellion, submission, and personal decisions that earned her another nickname--this one sinister--working as a "doctor" in a Nazi concentration camp.

Patty Rayman was born with the ability to communicate with animals and has helped thousands of people resolve many types of behavior, health, attitude and relationship issues with their animal companions. In working with all types of animals, she has developed techniques to help people move from conflict to cooperation in their relationships.

One month after seventeen people were killed in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Women’s March Youth Empower is organizing a national student walkout against gun violence. In most areas, including Utah, the walkout will happen at 10:00 a.m.local time on Wednesday, March 14.