Craft: Exploring Creativity

Craft: Exploring Creativity episodes:

• 03.04.2022

  Multitalented: The Accidentals visit Columbus

  ​Violinist Savannah Buist, cellist Katie Larson, and percussionist Michael Dause make up The Accidentals, who will perform in Columbus on March 12 with Six String Concerts. I spoke with Sav and Katie about their time as musicians, how the pandemic...

  
• 02.09.2021

  Love and loss in the Gulf Coast: Columbus author Karin Cecile Davidson gives insight into her new novel

  If you’re looking for a break from the various crises filling our lives right now, you might find some solace in reading up on a volatile moment in the United States’ past. This week we talk to Columbus author Karin...

  
• 08.19.2020

  Public School Teaching: Glamorous or Does It Suck?

  My father was a school administrator for many years and I heard his enthusiasm for schools throughout my childhood. So I was intrigued by the title of Doris Caceres-Schumick’s book Public School Teaching Sucks, Period.: A Memoir of a Special Education/ESL...

  
• 08.13.2020

  Bobby Thompson: The story that the US government doesn’t want you to know

  Ohioana 2020 author Jodi Andes has worked at the Columbus Dispatch and was a senior investigator at The Ohio Attorney General’s office, where she conducted an inquiry into the con artist Bobby Thompson, the subject of her book, Master of...

  
• 08.05.2020

  2020 Ohioana Book Festival Author Kiya Renae

  Currently a doctoral candidate at Xavier University, 2020 Ohioana Book Festival author Kiya Renae has written three books: Through Her Own Eyes: This is Only the Beginning; It’s Ok to Be Broken: Highs, Lows, and Happy Mediums; and an as-yet...

  
• 07.15.2020

  This old guy talks to the creators of another Old Guy: Gabrielle C. Burton and Peri Gilpin

  Along with her four sisters, Columbus, Ohio, resident Gabrielle C. Burton make up Five Sisters productions. Their recent YouTube release Old Guy features their late father Roger Burton as a man re-entering the acting field after having been away from...

  
• 06.18.2020

  Connie Schultz’s move from reporting to fiction

  Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Connie Schultz published her first book Life Happens: And Other Unavoidable Truths, a collection of her columns for The Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper in 2006. She followed this in 2007 with a book about accompanying her...

  
• 03.26.2020

  CoronaVirus Update with Dr. Iahn Gonsenhauser from the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center

  I don’t normally post the transcript of my interviews, but this episode makes sense to have it available. Doug Dangler From a secret location in room 100 of 540 jack Gibbs Boulevard, this is Craft. I’m your host Doug Dangler....

  
• 01.05.2019

  How a Super Scientist Helps a Superhero: Nadya Mason Rescues Paul Rudd (someday)

  While Ant-Man floats in the endless expanse of the Marvel Universe Quantum Realm, scientists like Professor Nadya Mason at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign work diligently to discover what the rules of quantum mechanics really are. Professor Mason’s January...

  
• 12.22.2018

  A message to Dino Tripodis’s mother: He’s working!

  Dino Tripodis started gracing Columbus radio nearly 25 years ago as part of the Dino and Stacy duo, and he’s transitioned to podcasting with Whiskey Business, more writing, and a return to stand up comedy. He dropped by WCBE recently...

  
• 12.05.2018

  Paul M. Sutter Puts You in Your Place in the Universe

  The universe is endlessly vast and can seem incomprehensible. However, it’s not as incomprehensible as you might think. In his book Your Place in the Universe: Understanding Our Big, Messy Existence, astrophysicist Paul M. Sutter explains a lot about what...

  
• 11.28.2018

  Margaret Peterson Haddix and the Children of Exile

  I find dystopian novels one of the most interesting forms of science fiction. From 1984 to Fahrenheit 451, authors have created futures that we fear may come to pass (if they haven’t already). Margaret Peterson Haddix is known for her juvenile...

  
• 11.21.2018

  Spamalot comes to Columbus’s Palace Theater

  Almost everyone has seen the hilarious comedy Monty Python and the Holy Grail. From the Black Knight, the Taunting Frenchman, and the importance of knowing the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow, the film’s many funny moments have a place in...

  
• 11.14.2018

  Think you know mitochondria? Think again says Michael W Gray

  “I never learned to do taxes at school but I know the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.” The phrase “the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell” has become a common punchline in a lot of jokes online,...

  
• 10.27.2018

  Happy Halloween 2018

  It’s here again: Halloween, that time of year when Craft goes a little crazy and gives the world a variety of questionable stories and interviews. We cover all the greatest Halloween hits: cannibalism, zombies, serial killers, where to buy super science...

  
• 09.29.2018

  Celeste Ng receives 2018 Ohioana award for fiction

  Ohio author Celeste Ng is the 2018 Ohioana Fiction Award winner for her book Little Fires Everywhere. Listen in as we discuss what it’s like to win an Ohioana award; how she ensured that she got the details right about...

  
• 06.22.2018

  Henry Alford: So you think you can contact improv?

  Did your school have mandatory square dancing lesson? Mine did, which may be why I’ll never wear western plaid again. Humorist and participatory journalist Henry Alford has not only written for The New York Times, The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, Vanity...

  
• 05.19.2018

  Billy Boyd: Art imitates life

  One of my favorite exchanges in the first Lord of the Rings movie occurs after Aragorn tells the hobbits to stop eating and get walking: Aragorn: Gentlemen! We do not stop ’til nightfall. Pippin: But what about breakfast? Aragorn: You’ve...

  
• 05.18.2018

  Thomas Ian Nicholas: From actor to producer to musician

  Actor Thomas Ian Nicholas has appeared in many films, starring in Rookie of the Year and playing Kevin Myers in the American Pie franchise. He’s also a musician, producer, and writer. His latest work in production involves magicians and vampires,...

  
• 05.15.2018

  Steven Wright’s favorite joke

  Steven Wright is one of a handful of comics I’ve paid to see perform live, although that says more about how cheap I am than it does about comics. At any rate, it was great to talk to him and...

  
• 05.14.2018

  Heather Whaling: Spring cleaning your social media profile

  CEO and founder of Geben Communications, Heather Whaling is a fan of social media, not a surprise given her occupation. So the recent news about the Facebook privacy problems were of particular interest to her. Listen in while she describes...

  
• 04.18.2018

  John Gorka: The past never dies. It comes back as songs

  For legendary singer-songwriter John Gorka’s new album, True in Time, he casts his mind back to the past, with songs that explore memories and those we’ve lost. Join us as we discuss his songs and his songwriting. John Gorka will...

  
• 04.06.2018

  Visual Trumpery or How Alberto Cairo Confronts Fake News and Statistics

  Like many of us, Alberto Cairo is a polls-junky. Whenever election season comes around, he gets locked into the numbers. But for Cairo, it’s not just a seasonal passion; he’s devoted his academic studies to graphical representations of data in...

  
• 04.03.2018

  Michael Kardos: A book so good, it’s magic

  Ohio State University alum Michael Kardos had a problem. How could he keep his son busy while he was writing? The solution: promise to write story chapters for his son if he played quietly for a time. In a classic...

  
• 04.03.2018

  Christine Hayes: Lost Restaurants of Central Ohio and Columbus

  Christine Hayes is a Columbus native and columnist for the Short North Gazette. You might know her as Ramona Moon, the art car lady. Aside from gluing toys to her car, Hayes has edited a book of her father’s old...

  
• 04.03.2018

  Steve Goble: Writing the pirate seas

  Yo ho! Yo ho! It’s the pirate’s life for Steve! Ever since Steve Goble was a kid, he’s been enthralled with the adventure novel. Since he couldn’t be a pirate, Goble became a reporter for ten Ohio news publications and...

  
• 03.31.2018

  Amanda Petford-Long: Let’s Get Small

  How small can we go with computers? What happens as materials get as tiny as the dinosaur I’ve shrunk to the size of a pen? Amanda Petford-Long is a distinguished physicist in the Materials Science Division of the Argonne National...

  
• 02.27.2018

  Dustin Meadows: Weezer, NuMetal, and finding your voice as a comedian

  Dustin Meadows has been doing stand up for eight years. He’s released two albums, founded an alternative comedy troupe called Whiskey Bear Comedy, and frequently hosts The Pop Culture mixtape. He stops by Craft to talk about his new album, No!...

  
• 02.11.2018

  Lori Erickson: Monks Don’t Make the Best Interview Subjects

  Lori Erickson grew up on a farm in Iowa and grew up reading adventure novels by John L. Stoddard that inspired her to travel the world. In her newest book, Holy Rover, Erickson explores her love of travel and her personal spirituality....

  
• 02.09.2018

  Matthew Kahle: Did Archimedes build a death ray?

  Matthew Kahle is an associate professor at Ohio State and researches topology, geometry, probability, statistical mechanics, and combinatorics. He’s also enamored with Archimedes, one of the foremost mathematicians, scientists, inventors, and engineers of the ancient world. Kahle first heard about...

  
• 01.28.2018

  Craft Intern Adam Hribar hosts WCBE’s Johnny DiLoretto

  Want a Marvel-DC cross-over on the silver screen? Well, the studios probably can’t hash out that legal mess, so you’ll have to settle for watching two radio shows collide. Johnny DiLoretto, host of Cinema Classics and WCBE Community Relations Coordinator,...

  
• 01.03.2018

  Rebecca Reczek: Are you spending your food dollars wisely?

  Rebecca Walker Reczek, Ohio State associate professor of marketing, will appear on January 21 at the Ohio State University’s Science Sundays where she’ll discuss “Do Healthy Diets Make Empty Wallets? How Consumer Beliefs Shape Food Choice.” Tune in to hear...

  
• 11.15.2017

  Loudon Wainwright III returns to Columbus

  In the summer of 1992, I had  moved to Columbus with my wife so she could attend medical school. I was working odd jobs, including a lunch and dinner shifts at a seedy Italian restaurant I was convinced was run...

  
• 11.08.2017

  Masha Hamilton on the perfume of people in war

  Journalist, novelist, and public speaker Masha Hamilton is the 2017 John E. Nance writer in residence with the Thurber House and will appear with Evenings with Authors on November 14. She’s covered conflicts across the globe, from the fall of...

  
• 11.05.2017

  Ohio State University Professor Ruchika Prakash on mindfulness

  I’ve tried to meditate, but never got it to work. I’ve focused on my breath, let ideas go past unnoticed, and still haven’t gotten to the peaceful state described in writings about meditation. Serenity now! Ohio State University Associate Professor...

  
• 11.04.2017

  Brian Kilmeade co-authors book on Andrew Jackson

  Brian Kilmeade, co author of three books, will appear with the Thurber House Evenings with Authors series on Thursday, November 2 to discuss his latest Historical Thriller “Andrew Jackson and the Miracle of New Orleans: The Battle that Shaped America’s...

  
• 10.26.2017

  Craft Halloween Special 2017

  If it’s Halloween, it must be time for a  Craft Halloween special. Here it is: all the heartwarming family fun you could ask for in a show filled tenderness, beauty, and a pile of cats and dogs burning in front of...

  
• 09.27.2017

  Marisa Silver: Sometimes you have to change

  Ohioana Marisa Silver was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio and has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, an O. Henry Prize, and, on October 6, a 2017 Ohioana Awards. Join us as we talk about her time in Ohio (think overcast skies), her background working...

  
• 09.20.2017

  Lisa Black: Murder in Cleveland

  If you’ve watched CSI: Las Vegas, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, and CSI: Cyber or even CSI: Pickerington and wondered what really happens during a crime scene investigation, then Lisa Black is the author for you. She spent five years working at...

  
• 08.31.2017

  Sally Fingerett: Raised by wolves

  Sally Fingerett was raised by wolves. Her words. Join us for an exploration of the childhood of this singer-songwriter and founding member of Four Bitchin’ Babes, how being Jewish and born on Christmas Day affected her, and the ways that...

  
• 08.22.2017

  Bruce Campbell: Columbus and the Evil Dead

  Actor, producer, and author Bruce Campbell has been in a lot of movies that I’ve enjoyed, like the Evil Dead movie franchise, which is now a TV show on Starz Channel (Ash vs. Evil Dead). But perhaps my favorite is...

  
• 07.15.2017

  How to Survive a Summer: Nick White tells all

  Ohio State Professor Nick White had a secret, one he didn’t want to tell himself or anyone else: he was gay. But, like most secrets, it eventually came to light, for him in a surprisingly hopeful way. The protagonist of his...

  
• 06.14.2017

  Ikea Idea

  A nightmare scenario: cheap Nordic prices and a wild population. Join us.

  
• 05.18.2017

  Comedy from pain: Columbus comic Leslie Battle

  Columbus comedian Leslie Battle is no stranger to struggle. What makes her special is the ability to make others laugh with her at life’s trials and oddities. Listen in as we discuss the decidedly unfunny event that led her to comedy,...

  
• 05.09.2017

  Letting the past have its say: Jennifer Schlueter and Patience Worth

  Ohio State University Associate Professor and Associate Chair of the Department of Theatre Jennifer Schlueter is a playwright and her latest, Patience Worth, premiered in March in St Louis and will have a two-day run on May 19-20 at Ohio...

  
• 04.14.2017

  And the winner is…Colson Whitehead!

  Life is made up of surprising coincidences. Examples: Colson Whitehead was awarded the  2017 Pulitzer Prize for fiction on April 11  for his book Underground Railroad, and he’s in Columbus on April 28 with the Bexley Library. AND he’s this...

  
• 04.13.2017

  Cara Malek: How to zip a two-headed dragon

  Character riggers create digital puppets for animation, the code that brings to life your favorite personalities like Po in Kung Fu Panda or Toothless in How To Train Your Dragon. Cara Malek worked as a rigger on both of these...

  
• 04.01.2017

  Jennifer Chiaverini on the women around John Wilkes Booth

  What drives an assassin? What makes someone break past societal barriers and kill a president? Jennifer Chiaverini , author of Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker, The Spymistress, and Mrs. Grant and Madame Jule, explores this territory in Fates and Traitors, a fictional history of...

  
• 03.30.2017

  C. F. Payne: Matching heads and bodies on a magazine cover near you

  I enjoy talking to illustrators because I’m fascinated with how their brains are wired so differently from mine. I can draw a stick figure and a smiley face. Beyond that, my drawings look like a toddler accidentally got ahold of...

  
• 03.19.2017

  Junk: It’s not what you think

  Junk. Most likely it’s what you think you need to throw away. But for the organizers of Junk Bash, it’s something to be treasured. According to Mercantile Fairs Director of Operations and Outreach Suzanne Perreault, Junk Bash brings together people with...