TJC’s Up Close

http://newsdesk.tjctv.com/2015/06/up-close-ashlee-vance-and-robin-wall-kimmerer This week on "Up Close," our human ambitions have brought our civilization to literally unprecedented heights -- but with great damage to the world we live in. Where do we go next? To Mars, argues Silicon Valley billionaire Elon Musk. who's the subject of a book by Bloomberg Businessweek reporter Ashlee Vance discusses his book on Musk, "Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for Fantastic Future."

But in an approach that's literally more down to earth, botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer suggests that Native American heritage can guide us to a better coexistence with nature. Her book is "Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants," which is now out in paperback.

This week on "Up Close," we share two narratives of unconventional choices, what drives them, and the fallout from them.

So many of us think of having children as simply the normal course of life. But some, of course, choose not to do so. Meghan Daum and Jeanne Safer are the editor of and a contributor to an anthology about that choice: Selfish, Shallow and Self-Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on the Decision Not To Have Kids.

And then, when her husband told her he wouldn't have a child with her, Robin Rinaldi chose to have a series of lovers instead. It's a decision that has had life-long consequences for her, and also led to some surprising revelations. She shares her story in The Wild Oats Project.

Watch the complete episode of Up Close on TJC on-demand on cable in the TJC Original Series/Interviews category. You can also watch highlights from the episode in the video above, or listen to the complete audio of this episode at the top of this post or by subscribing to our weekly audio podcast at http://feeds.feedburner.com/tjcupclose or on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/tjcs-up-close/id807702211.

This week on Up Close, memoirs from two men who blazed a trail by being different from what many expected of them. Congressman Barney Frank was the first member of Congress to voluntarily come out as gay, and the first to marry someone of the same sex while in office. We discuss his book, "Frank: A Life in Politics From the Great Society to Same-Sex Marriage."

And then, we see a lot of writing these days from ultra-Orthodox Jews who are leaving or who have left their communities and occasionally their families. But one man started that genre under the blog name "Hasidic Rebel." He's now got a memoir out, and Shulem Deen stopped by to discuss "All Who Go Do Not Return."

This week on Up Close, what does money mean to us? New York Times Columnist Paul Sullivan attempts to answer that questions in "The Thin Green Line: The Money Secrets of the Super Wealthy."

And then, exploring new solutions to take government and banks out of the money equation is Wall Street Journal Columnist Michael Casey, who is co-author of "The Age of Cryptocurrency: How Bitcoin and Digital Money are Challenging the Global Economic Order."

This week on Up Close: Three groundbreaking artists and how their work came into being. "The Threepenny Opera" changed what we think about theater, drama, and music. Author Pamela Katz tells the story behind it in "The Partnership: Brecht, Weill, Three Women, and Germany on the Brink," and Annie Cohen-Solal delves into the rebellious life and work of one of the most distinctive visual artists of the 20th century in "Mark Rothko: Toward the Light in the Chapel."

And then, there are few painters whose work is so distinctive that even a casual observer can instantly recognize their work. Mark Rothko rebelled against the art world to become one of those artists, as Annie Cohen-Solal describes in Mark Rothko: Toward the Light in the Chapel.

This week on Up Close, revisiting the stories we were told as children. Mary Pilon dug into the story of the board game Monopoly, and what she found is that there's very much more going on under the surface. We discuss her book, "The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World's Favorite Board Game." And then, Vanderbilt University Professor Amy-Jill Levine has spent a career explaining Judaism to Christians, and Christianity to Jews. In digging deeply into the parables of Jesus, she finds lessons that provide a different picture than the one often portrayed. Her book is "Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi."

This week on "Up Close," two different approaches to women's advancement in corporate America. The story of GM's Mary Barra is told by Bloomberg News reporter at large Laura Colby, in "Road to Power: How GM's Mary Barra Shattered the Glass Ceiling," and then, Silicon Valley's most prominent female CEO is profiled by Business Insider's Nicholas Carlson in "Marissa Mayer and the Fight to Save Yahoo!"

http://newsdesk.tjctv.com/up-close-alan-wolfe-and-shira-dicker This week on Up Close, what makes Jews lose their sense of place? And what can give it back to them? Boston College Political Science Professor Alan Wolfe discusses his book, "At Home in Exile: Why Diaspora is Good for the Jews," and Shira Dicker talks about her novella, "The Jerusalem Lover."

This week on Up Close, the joy of discovery. Marilyn Johnson explores the experince of contemporary archaeologists in Lives in Ruins: Archaeologists and the Seductive Lure of Human Rubble, and artist Maira Kalman discusses My Favorite Things: Maira Kalman’s Illustrated Catalog of Unusual Objects, Memories, and Delight.

In this week's episode of Up Close, we look at political choices that can be viewed as controversial.

Minority voters have agreed on one thing since the days of FDR: in presidential elections, they vote for Democrats. But what about those who turn against that tide -- what are they hoping for, and do they get there? Harvard University Kennedy School of Government Professor Leah Wright Rigueur explores the African-American community's approach in The Loneliness of the Black Republican: Pragmatic Politics and the Pursuit of Power.

And then, one of the major political choices we make is about the question of choice. But The Nation columnist Katha Pollitt has some words for those who think they're advocates for choice in Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights.

Watch the complete episode of Up Close on TJC on-demand on cable in the TJC Original Series/Interviews category. You can also watch highlights from the episode in the video above, or listen to the complete audio of this episode at the top of this post or by subscribing to our weekly audio podcast at http://feeds.feedburner.com/tjcupclose or on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/tjcs-up-close/id807702211.