May 4th to 8th, 2009 on KCUR's Up to Date

Monday May 4, 2009 Listen to or share this program with someone here. Given away by her birth parents, but with the help of a benevolent nun and the determined persistence of her adoptive parents, Mei-Ling Hopgood eventually arrived into loving arms and a new home.  Hopgood, knowing how she was fortunate to have escaped a life of poverty in Taiwan, thoroughly enjoyed becoming a big sister, attending college, and studying journalism. Then, on her 23rd birthday, Hopgood received a call from her birth family, which lead to a reunion in Taiwan and the beginning of an emotional journey full of joyful discoveries and new friendships, but also dark secrets: obsession, infidelity, and a shadowy death. Today Steve Kraske talks with Mei-Ling Hopgood about her book Lucky Girl, which details the true account of the tug and pull between her middle-class life in Michigan and that of a family thousands of miles away. Additional Information: The Adoption Triad Support Network KC meets each month in three different locations in the Kansas City area.  For more information email Carolyn Pooler or call 816 505 0328. Mei-Ling Hopgood has written for  the Detroit Free Press, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, National Geographic Traveler, the Miami Herald, and has worked in the Cox Newspapers Washington bureau. She has been a recipient of the National Headliner Best in Show, as well as several other national and international awards. She lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with her husband and their daughter. A newspaper feature she wrote for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about the reunion with her birth family won a national award from the Asian American Journalists Association. You can learn more about Mei-Ling Hopgood and her book here. Tuesday May 5, 2009 Listen to or share this program with someone here. By now most are familiar with the occasionally controversial political actions of Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser.  But have any of his alleged offenses risen to the level of removing his honor from office? There's a petition effort underway in Kansas City to recall Mayor Funkhouser.  Organizers need approximately 17,000 signatures in order to put the issue on a ballot... and they need to turn them in by this Thursday.  Just this past weekend petition organizers swept through the Brookside Art Fair, just blocks away from the Mayor's home. On today's program Steve Kraske talks with petition organizer and attorney Harris Wilder and former city councilman, attorney, and Funkhouser supporter George Blackwood.  They'll discuss the process for recalling an elected official, debate the charges that petition organizers state in their paperwork, and review whether or not the recall process is a correct and just vehicle to use in this case. Additional Information: To learn more about Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser, visit the Mayor's website and the Mayor's blog - Funk's Front  Porch. For more information on the recall effort, visit these websites: Recall the Funk, Funkhouserrecall.com, and Recallguy's blog.   Wednesday May 6, 2009 Listen to or share this program with someone here. How could it have happened that a wine was given five out of five stars, the highest rating, in one journal and in another it was called the worst wine of the decade?  Even the legendary Roger Maris, who beat Babe Ruth's single-season home run record, was in all likelihood not great... but just lucky. And it might be shocking to realize that you are twice as likely to be killed in a car accident on your way to buying a lottery ticket than you are to win the lottery. In his book The Drunkard's Walk (a phrase indicating a type of random statistical distribution) author and physicist Leonard Mlodinow writes of how randomness, change, and probability reveal a tremendous amount about our daily lives, and how we misunderstand the significance of everything from a casual conversation… to a major financial setback. As a result, successes and failures in life are often attributed to clear and obvious cases, when in actuality they are more profoundly influenced by chance. The rise and fall of your favorite movie star of the most reviled CEO--in fact, of all our destinies--reflects as much as planning and innate abilities. From the classroom to the courtroom, from financial markets to supermarkets, from the doctor's office to the Oval Office, today Mlodinow talks with Steve Kraske about how wine ratings, school grades, political polls, and many other things in daily life are less reliable than we believe. By showing us the true nature of change and revealing the psychological illusions that cause us to misjudge the world around us, Mlodinow explains what is really meaningful and how we can make decisions based on a deeper truth. Leonard Mlodinow presents a talk based on his book The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives Thursday, May 7, at 6:30 p.m. at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St.  A 6 p.m. reception precedes the event.  Click here for more information or click here or call 816 701 3407 to RSVP. Free parking is available in the Library District Parking Garage at 10th and Baltimore. Additional Information: Leonard Mlodinow received his doctorate in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, was an Alexander von Humboldt fellow at the Max Planck Institute, and now teaches about randomness to future scientists at Caltech. Along the way he also wrote for the television series MacGyver and Star Trek: The Next Generation. His previous books include Euclid's Window: The Story of Geometry from Parallel Lines to Hyperspace, Feynman's Rainbow: A Search for Beauty in Physics and in Life, and, with Stephen Hawking, A Briefer History of Time. He lives in South Pasadena, California. To read Leonard Mlodinow's complete bio, click here. Thursday May 7, 2009 Listen to or share this program with someone here. Any critic worth their weight in salt will tell you that no matter how good the special effects, no matter how talented the actors, no matter how renown the director, a film is nothing without a good screenplay. So why is it that we don't pay much attention to them when the credits roll? In the first half of today's program screenwriter and BlueCat Screenplay Competition founder Gordy Hoffman joins Steve Kraske to talk about the importance of a good screenplay.  We'll talk with Hoffman about the elements necessary for a good screenplay, and what themes are currently popular in Hollywood.  We'll also debate what makes art and independent screenplays different from their Hollywood-studio counterparts, why screenwriting competitions are important, and how screenwriters can learn from failure. Gordy Hoffman presents "The First Ten Pages Workshop" on Saturday May 9th from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Screenland Theatre at the Crossroads, 1656 Washington Street, Kansas City, MO.  Sponsored by KU Friends of Film, the workshop is limited to 10 writers, and is $115.  A $20 donation will be made to the KC Film Commission on behalf of each registrant.  For more information about the workshop, click here. Additional Information: Winner of the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival for LOVE LIZA, Gordy Hoffman made his feature directorial debut with his script, A COAT OF SNOW, which world premiered at the 2005 Locarno Intl Film Festival. A COAT OF SNOW made its North American Premiere at the Arclight in Hollywood, going on to screen at the Milan Film Festival and the historic George Eastman House. The movie would go on to win the 2006 Domani Vision Award at VisionFest, held at the Tribeca Cinemas in New York City. Gordy is the founder and judge of the BlueCat Screenplay Competition, and has conducted workshops all over North America and London. He recently taught screenwriting at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, and is now attached to direct a movie in 2009 in Europe. Pictured above: Love Liza starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, screenplay by Gordy Hoffman.  Oh yeah, they just happen to be brothers. Also today  – a visit with actor Jamie Farr, best known for his role as Corporal Max Klinger on the long-running TV series M*A*S*H.  Farr is in town performing the lead role in The New Theatre’s production of Don’t Dress for Dinner.  Today Steve Kraske talks with Farr about his many years of acting, how he landed his regular spot on the 1970s hit TV show. Jamie Farr appears in Don't Dress For Dinner at the New Theatre Restaurant in Overland Park.  Visit the New Theatre website for show times and ticket information. Additional Information: Jamie Farr was born Jameel Joseph Farah on July 1, 1934, in Toledo, Ohio, the only son of Samuel, a meat cutter/grocer, and Jamelia, a seamstress. Farr's acting career began at age 11 when he won $2 in a local talent contest.  He graduated from Woodward High with honors and was named most outstanding student, having served as class president for three years.  He also wrote and acted in two variety shows, was editor of his school paper, president of the Radio Club, and manager of the football and basketball teams.  He became a member of the National Honor Society, and after graduation he moved with his family to Southern California where he attended the Pasadena Playhouse.  He won his first film role as Santini in “The Blackboard Jungle”, then served two years in the army in Korea and Japan.  He then proceeded to carve out a TV career by appearing as a regular on “The Red Skelton Show” and several episodes of the “The Danny Kaye Show” as well as the Chicago Teddy Bears” series. During the first season of M*A*S*H* Jamie was hired for one day’s work as a phony transvestite bucking for a section 8 discharge.  Something about the chomped cigar under the veil and hairy legs under the flowing skirt and the hook nose immediately clicked with the producers.  Jamie became a full member of the cast of the No.1 show on television, playing Corporal Klinger and having even directed several episodes.  The weekly show could boast of an amazing audience of 32 million regular viewers, running for eleven years, and was chosen by TV guide as the best television show of all time.  The final two and a half  hour episode aired February 28, 1983, drawing more than 125 million viewers, a record that may never be broken. Friday May 8, 2009 Listen to or share this program with someone here. At a briefing on Sunday, a spokesman for the World Health Organization cautioned that the swine flu outbreak could gain momentum in the months ahead, despite claims by the health secretary of Mexico -- the epicenter of the outbreak -- that the virus "is in its declining phase." If the H1N1 virus returns with a vengeance this fall, who will receive priority with regard to immunizations? What tough decisions will have to be made in order to protect the greater population? We may not have to wait for an outbreak of a deadly influenza to debate the topic of health care rationing.  Today in conjunction with the Center for Practical Bioethics symposium, Up to Date comes to you live from the Kansas City Library Central branch as Steve Kraske talks with Dr. Susan Goold, Director of the University of Michigan Medical School's bioethics program, and Dr. John Lantos, John B. Francis Chair in Bioethics, and a professor of pediatrics and bioethics at The University of Chicago. They’ll discuss the difficult decisions many providers may have to make in order to cover all citizens, including whether or not America’s health care system has the resources to care for all, and what role universal coverage may play in health care rationing. Additional Information: Susan Dorr Goold, MD, MHSA, MA, is director of the University of Michigan Medical School's Bioethics Program, and studies the allocation of scarce healthcare resources, especially the perspectives of patients and citizens. Results from projects using the CHAT (Choosing Healthplans All Together) allocation game have been published and presented in national and international venues. CHAT won the 2003 Paul Ellwood Award and is listed in the Foundation for Accountability's database of Innovators and Visionariesa. Dr. Goold's paper "Will Insured Citizens Give Up Benefits to Include the Uninsured?" was awarded the 2002 Mark S. Ehrenreich  Prize for Research in Healthcare Ethics. CHAT has been used by educators, community-based organizations, employer groups, and others in order to obtain input on health benefit priorities Dr. Goold pursues a second, related area of scholarly interest, the philosophical and empirical study of trust relationships in health care settings. Dr. Goold directs the Graduate Medical Education in Ethics Program, an innovative cross-departmental initiative to design and implement an ethics curriculum for resident physicians. John D. Lantos, MD of the Center for Practical Bioethics is a national leader in bioethics and pediatrics.  He holds the John B. Francis Chair in Bioethics, and is Professor of Pediatrics and Bioethics at The University of Chicago.  He has appeared on Larry King Live, Oprah, and Good Morning America.  He serves on the ethics committee at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City and is a member of the Kansas City Hospital Ethics Committee Consortium.  Dr. Lantos has published more than 150 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters and has written or edited several books in medical ethics, including Neonatal Bioethics, The Lazarus Case: Life and Death Issues in Neonatal Intensive Care; The Last Physician: Walker Percy and the Moral Life of Medicine; and Do We Still Need Doctors? Looking for older programs?  Check the Previously on Up to Date section of our website.