Patt Morrison for Monday, January 23, 2012

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

Monday, January 23, 2012

1-3 p.m.

 

CALL-IN @ 866-893-5722, 866-893-KPCC; OR JOIN THE CONVERSATION ONLINE ON THE PATT MORRISON BLOG AT KPCC-DOT-ORG

 

1:00 – 1:40

OPEN

 

1:40 – 2:00

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Bruce Norris provokes with “Clybourne Park”

Have you ever seen a movie or a play and wondered what happened to the characters before or after the fictional events of the story took place? Such inquiry is what likely inspired Bruce Norris to write his award-winning comedy, “Clybourne Park,” in which he explores what might have happened in one of the most important houses in history both before and after the events of the famous play “Raisin in the Sun,” by Lorraine Hansberry. Both plays address controversial social issues including race relations and socio-economic struggle. Prior to writing “Clybourne Park,” for which Norris earned a Pulitzer Prize in 2011, the accomplished artist worked as an actor in theatre and television and later wrote several plays that were produced by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company. “Clybourne Park,” featuring the original cast and director, will be opening the 45th Season of the Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles beginning January 25, 2012. 

 

Guest:

Bruce Norris, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright; his play “Clybourne Park” opens at the Mark Taper Forum on January 25.

 

2:060– 2:30

Will Apple’s iPad mark the beginning of the end for traditional textbooks?
Apple Inc. has made a habit of revolutionizing the way we do many things and the computer and software innovator is now turning its digital sights on the textbook. Traditional paper bound textbooks are bulky and expensive, not to mention labor intensive to update - making them fall quickly out of date in the information age. Apple is betting that the market and the halls of academia are ready for virtual textbooks that are portable and easily updated – and that feature videos, animations, definitions, flashcards, quizzes and interactive content. A pilot program in Riverside, California found that students who used digital algebra textbooks on Apple’s iPad had scores 20 percent higher than their fellow students using traditional textbooks. But some experts are wary. Apple’s 70/30 revenue model has ruffled feathers in the music business and Apple’s policies dictate that content created with their software can be sold only through Apple’s iBookstore. So are virtual textbooks a leap forward or an expensive and profitable way to solve a problem that doesn’t exist? Would you prefer a digital version of your venerable study aids?

Guests: TBA

 

2:30 – 3:00

Watch out for that manhole! … walking distracted and paying the price

If your gut has been telling you not to wear headphones while you walk around town, you now have vindication.  A new study in the journal Injury Prevention looks at statistics in accidents between pedestrians and vehicles from 2004–2011 and concludes that nearly three-quarters involved headphones.  The same study reports that in thirty percent of the cases, someone sounded a warning before the collision actually occurred. Besides the obvious conclusion (if the volume is up too loud, pedestrians can’t hear the city around them), scientists also pointed to a phenomenon they call “inattentional blindness”.  Apparently, your brain gets so busy processing whatever’s on your iPod or MP3 player that it fails to “see” – or pay attention to – things like traffic.

Do you wear headphones while you’re walking or jogging near traffic? Do you feel you’re more aware of your environment than say, that person wearing headphones on his or her bike? Or that guy over there texting while he crosses the street?

 

Guests:

Amy Alkon, advice columnist and author of "I see Rude People: One woman's battle to beat some manners into impolite society."

CALL HER