Patt Morrison for Tuesday, March 6, 2012

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

Tuesday, March 6, 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

 

 

1:06 –1:39 OPEN

 

 

1:41:30 – 1:58:30
Vladimir Putin wins a still-contested election in Russia
Vladimir Putin won Russia’s presidential election Sunday with 63% of the vote, inciting large demonstrations in Moscow and elsewhere. Twenty thousand protestors gathered in Moscow’s Pushkin Square the day after the election to protest the contested election results. Hundreds of police in full riot gear dispersed the protestors, arresting dozens - along with opposition leaders. Russia’s opposition movement, called a “middle-class revolution” by some experts, says that the election was rampant with massive fraud.  International election monitors say that Putin’s challengers did not receive balanced media coverage and sometimes faced harassment. Putin will now face a heated and challenging political climate in the aftermath of former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev’s many reforms. Russian and American author and journalist, Masha Gessen has had a front row seat in the Russian’s latest election, and her new book, “The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin,” discusses the enigmatic figure in detail.” Gessen calls the climate in Russia a “mass movement” with the potential to “change the course of Russian history.” Can Vladimir Putin maintain control of Russian in a post-Arab Spring world of grass roots revolutions? Will the protests continue… and how will Putin consolidate power?

 

Guest:
Masha Gessen, author of “The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin” (Riverhead Hardcover)

 

2:06 – 2:30

Does couples therapy work? It’s hard on therapists AND couples

Screaming couples, couples who don’t talk to each other, couples where one person talks (or screams) and the other person remains stonily silent. We’ve all seen or been in a couple going through rough patches, or just ripping apart at the seams. Imagine being a couples or family therapist dealing with the volatility of squabling partners. A recent New York Times article points out the challenges for couples therapists, as well as patients. The trade magazine Psychology Networker devoted an entire cover package to the subject for its November/December issue. More and more therapists are vocalizing the difficulties of dealing with not one, but two, people who love/hate each other. They also say that being a passive voice in the mix doesn’t work, that you need to get in and “be a ninja,” says one therapist in the NY Times article. At times, the therapist him or herself can become the target of venom. Does couples therapy work? Have you been in couples therapy? Are you a therapist who has dealt with couples, and what were the highs and lows of that process?

 

Guests:

Rich Simon, clinical psychologist and editor of trade magazine the Psychology Networker, whose November/December issue was about the challenges of couples

WAITING ON CONFIRMATION FOR SECOND GUEST – COUPLES THERAPIST

 

 

 

2:30 – 2:58:30
Neil deGrasse Tyson’s space race pep talk
Neil deGrasse Tyson is something like a rock star in the world of astrophysics. While many of his colleagues toil away doing research and teaching in classrooms, Tyson is an evangelist for space exploration with an unparalleled ability to make lofty science subjects fun and interesting to people who may not spend a lot of time contemplating the cosmos. You may recognize Tyson’s face from his many late night TV appearances, where his boyish enthusiasm for a science revolution akin to the golden age of space exploration is nothing less than infectious. He has an ardent following on Twitter, has hosted Nova scienceNOW on PBS since 2006 and is the host of StarTalk, a radio science show that “bridges the intersection between pop culture and science with clarity, humor and passion.” In his new book, Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier, Tyson points out some glaring holes in America’s space program in the aftermath of the now-defunct space shuttle program. In Space Chronicles, Tyson uses his trademark enthusiasm, razor intellect and affable manner to argue that NASA and the space program have shaped our national identity and regularly pushed our society and our imaginations forward – citing that a generation of young people became scientists after watching America’s golden age of space travel in the 1960s, when NASA went from launching the first American into space to landing two on the moon in a mere eight and a half years later. What is the state of the American space program? Can a new space race kick start the economy and foster a sense of national unity? What are your questions about the universe?

Guest:
Neil deGrasse Tyson: “dih-GRASS” director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History; host of Nova scienceNOW on PBS and StarTalk, a radio science show; author of “Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier” (W. Norton and Company 2012)