Enoch Pratt Free Library Podcast

Experts from the University of Maryland Medical Center, Morgan State University School of Community Health & Policy, and the Baltimore City Health Department answer questions and provide resources for families about childhood obesity.

Speakers include: Dr. Peter Gaskin, pediatric cardiologist, University of Maryland Hospital for Children; Dr. Yvonne Bronner, Professor of Behavioral Health Sciences, Morgan State University; Dr. Jacquelyn Duval-Harvey, Deputy Director, Baltimore City Health Department; Congressman Elijah E. Cummings; and Chauncey Whitehead, fitness activist. Moderator: Marc Steiner, WEAA radio host.

Presented in partnership with the Center for Emerging Media, University of Maryland Medical Center, and Morgan State University School of Community Health & Policy.

Recorded On: Thursday, April 28, 2011

On April 1, Columbia University professor and scholar of African American history Manning Marable died, just days before his landmark work Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention was published.

The Pratt Library pays tribute to Marable with a panel of  scholars discussing his life and work. Panelists include Melissa Harris-Perry, Princeton University; Sherrilyn Ifill, University of Maryland Law School, and Lester Spence, Johns Hopkins University. Moderator: Marc Steiner.

Recorded On: Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Ralph Nader appeared at the Central Library to launch the paperback edition of his "work of imagination."

Nader calls it a major "speculative work of practical utopia" in which he answers the question: What if a cadre of superrich individuals tried to become a driving force in America to organize and institutionalize the interests of the citizens of this troubled nation? Written by the author who knows the most about citizen action, this extraordinary story returns us to the literature of American social movements -- to Edward Bellamy, Upton Sinclair, and John Steinbeck -- and reminds us that changing the body politic of America starts with imagination.

For the past 45 years, Ralph Nader has challenged corporations, government agencies, and institutions to be more accountable to the public. In 1965, Unsafe at Any Speed changed the face of the automobile industry, gave cars more safety features, and made Ralph Nader a household name. His lobbying and writing on the food industry insured that the food we buy is required to pass strict guidelines before reaching the consumer. One of his greatest achievements was the 1974 amendment to the Freedom of Information Act that gave increased public access to government documents. Ralph Nader has co-founded numerous public interest groups including Public Citizen, Critical Mass, Commercial Alert, and the Center for Study of Responsive Law.

Recorded On: Tuesday, May 3, 2011

On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan was shot by a would-be assassin. For years, few people knew the truth about how close the president came to dying. In his new book, Rawhide Down, Del Quentin Wilber provides a minute-by-minute account of that harrowing day. Wilber interviewed more than 125 people, many of them for the first time.

With cinematic clarity, we see the Secret Service agent whose fast reflexes save the president's life; the brillian surgeons who operated on Reagan as he was losing half his blood; and the small group of White House officials trying to determine whether the country was under attack.

Del Quentin Wilber is an award-winning reporter for the Washington Post. He has spent most of his career covering law enforcement and sensitive security issues, and his work has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Wilber will be joined by Dr. Paul Colombani and Dr. David Gens, who were young surgical residents at George Washington University Hospital who helped treat Reagan. Dan Rodricks of the Baltimore Sun and WYPR-FM will moderate the discussion.

Dr. Paul Colombani has been the Children's Surgeon-in-Charge at the Johns Hopkins Hospital since 1991. He is the Robert Garrett Professor of Pediatric Surgery and Professor of Surgery, Oncology, and Pediatrics. He also directs the Pediatric Transplant Program at Hopkins.

Dr. David Gens is Associate Professor of Surgery and the top attending surgeon at the Shock Trauma Center, University of Maryland Medical Center.

Recorded On: Wednesday, April 27, 2011

From one of the biggest names in rap during the golden era of hip-hop, Prodigy, one half of the group Mobb Deep (currently signed to G-Unit/50cents label), reveals a hidden side of today's biggest rappers and industry executives. He also provides shocking allegations of police misconduct in the New York City Police Department and talks about his ongoing battle with sickle cell anemia. (Prodigy is a Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation national advocate with "The No Pain Campaign.")

In his memoir, My Infamous Life, Prodigy speaks for the first time about growing up in an illustrious family, his struggles with drugs, and his life-long battle with sickle cell anemia and unremitting hospitalizations. Through Prodigy's eyes we watch the birth of today's most influential musical genres and subcultures. He delivers an unblinking account of his wild life with Mobb Deep who, alongside New York rappers Nas, The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac, Jay-Z and Wu-Tang Clan, changed the musical landscape with their unapologetic street stories.

Recorded On: Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Andrei Codrescu is an award-winning poet, novelist, essayist and NPR commentator. He edits the online journal Exquisite Corpse and taught literature and creative writing at Louisiana State University for 25 years before retiring in 2009 as the MacCurdy Distinguished Professor of English. His recent work includes The Poetry Lesson, The Posthuman Dada Guide, and Jealous Witness: Poems. ( www.codrescu.com)

Recorded On: Saturday, April 16, 2011

On July 16, 2009, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., a renowned Harvard University professor acclaimed for his work on racial justice, was arrested by a Cambridge police sergeant. The reasons for his arrest would come under scrutiny, raise questions about racial profiling, and set off a firestorm in the media, finally culminating in the "beer summit" at the White House. Charles Ogletree, one of the country's foremost experts on civil rights, puts the now infamous event in the context of the complicated history that exists at the intersection of race,, class, and crime in America.

Charles Ogletree is the Jesse Climenko Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the founding and executive director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at the law school. He has received numerous awards and honors, including being named one of the 100+ Most Influential Black Americans by Ebony Magazine. He is the author of All Deliberate Speed.

Recorded On: Thursday, April 14, 2011

Danielle Evans, author of the new story collection, Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self, has seen her short fiction and reviews published in The Paris Review, American Book Review, Phoebe, Black Renaissance Noire, and The L Magazine. Her work has been included in Best American Short Stories 2008 and 2010 and has been nominated for several Pushcart Prizes.

Recorded On: Saturday, April 16, 2011

Jaimy Gordon, a Baltimore native, won the 2010 National Book Award for fiction for Lord of Misrule. She is the author of three previous novels: Shamp of the City-Solo, She Drove Without Stopping, and Bogeywoman. Gordon has been a Fellow of the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown and the Bunting (now Radcliffe) Institute at Harvard. She teaches at Western Michigan University and in the Prague Summer Program for Writers.

Part of a day-long celebration of literature presented at the 8th annual CityLit Festival.

Recorded On: Saturday, April 16, 2011

In 1991, Mark Osteen and his wife, Leslie, were struggling to understand why their son, Cameron, was so different from other kids. In a powerful, deeply personal narrative, Osteen recounts the struggles he and Leslie endured in diagnosing, treating, and understanding Cam's disability -- autism. He chronicles the experience of raising Cam, whose autism causes him aggression, insomnia, compulsions, and physical sickness. One of Us is not a book about a child who overcomes autism; rather, it's the story of the triumph of love over tremendous adversity.

Since 1988 Mark Osteen has taught at Loyola University Maryland, where he is Professor of English and Director of Film Studies. He has written or edited eight books, including American Magic and Dread: Don DeLillo's Dialogue with Culture. A professional musician, Osteen performs regularly in the Baltimore-Washington area with Cold Spring Jazz Quartet. He also serves as president of the Baltimore Jazz Alliance.

Recorded On: Tuesday, April 5, 2011