Patt Morrison schedule for Thursday, March 29, 2012

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

**SPRING PLEDGE DRIVE**

Thursday, March 29, 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

 

 

 

1:07 – 1:19 SEGMENT 1 (12:00) - OPEN

 

1:19 – 1:26 PITCH BREAK (7:00)

 

1:26 – 1:36 SEGMENT 2 (10:00) - OPEN

 

1:36 – 1:41 PITCH BREAK (5:00)

 

1:41 – 1:53 SEGMENT 3 (12:00)

Are you smarter than a 12^th grader?

…or, are you at least as smart as the 12^th-grader you once were, when college loomed and the dreaded Standardized Aptitude Test could make or break your prospects?  That’s the question Deadspin.com columnist Drew Magary asked himself.  And then answered – by doing something no adult should ever have to face: taking the practice test, sans preparation, in the time allotted, using a good old No. 2 pencil.  Kids, don’t try this at home. The first instruction?  “Set aside 3 hours and 20 minutes of uninterrupted time.”  Whoa, who has that? Magary details the horrific experience – hilariously – in his essay, “What Happens When A 35-Year-Old Man Retakes the SAT?”  It’s all there – the scratched wooden desk, the bubble sheets, the tense minutes of pressurized clock-watching as the minutes tick by and the smudged pencil marks build up on the page.  If you had to do it again, do you think you could ace the SAT? 

 

Guests:

Drew Magary (muh-GAIR-ee) author and editor at Deadspin.com

 

1:53 – 2:00 PITCH BREAK (7:00)

 

2:04 - 2:08 PITCH BREAK (4:00)

 

2:08 – 2:20 SEGMENT 4 (12:00)

Haircuts, quick sandwiches, and bare knees – all proof that the economy is on the rise?

Before you get upset about twiddling your thumbs for a while at a place like Subway, consider this: that long wait for your sandwich might just mean the economy is picking up. According to some economists, when times are bad, skilled workers take just about any job, and that includes spreading condiments and flipping burgers. Just like a groundhog supposedly knows that winter will last longer based on its shadow, the world of economics is full of macroeconomic indicators located where science meets intuition (or superstition). Besides sandwiches, more haircuts and more spending on men’s underwear means things are looking up – Alan Greenspan famously believes that extra boxers and briefs are one of the first places where men cut back during a recession. Then there is the Hemline Indicator, proposed by University of Pennsylvania Wharton School professor George Taylor and tested this year by Business Insider magazine. (In case you’re wondering, BI reported that hemlines are on the rise, and thus the economy should be, too.) Of course, if you really want to know how the nation is recovering, there’s always Google.  How many searches for “unemployment benefits” do you think its search engine has seen since 2008?

 

Guest:

Justin Wolfers, visiting professor of Economics, Princeton University and Associate Professor of Business and Public Policy, The Wharton School

 

2:20 – 2:27 PITCH BREAK (7:00)

 

2:27 – 2:39 SEGMENT 5 (12:00)

All together now: open infant adoptions are on the increase

For years, adoptions were shrouded in secrecy, the birth records sealed and adoption papers hidden forever.  Birth mothers might never know what kind of life their child was living.  Children would wonder “where they came from,” who their birth parents were and why they were given up.  Finding out the truth could be a long, painful, possibly futile or even disappointing journey. In recent years, however, the trend has been toward “open adoptions,” in which birth parents, adoptive parents and child might all remain friendly, even close, for life. A new study by the Evan B. Donaldson Institute reveals that only about five percent of infant adoptions take place without some kind of relationship between parties.  In the majority of cases, birth parents meet and select the adoptive parents, rather than, as formerly, delegating this crucial decision to intermediaries.  Fifty-five percent could be considered “fully disclosed” and forty percent are “mediated,” with contact maintained indirectly through the agency that facilitated the adoption.  According to the report, in an open adoption, adoptive parents feel more satisfied with the adoption process, birth parents feel less stress and regret, and children reap the benefit of access to their birth relatives and medical histories.  There are plenty of good reasons to pull back the curtain of secrecy when it comes to adoption. But while there are still some families who, for whatever reason, would choose to have no contact, it’s now easy enough to find your old classmates on Facebook, or to Google your family tree.  In the internet age, can any degree of privacy be maintained? What are adoption agencies doing to ensure best practices when it comes to security? How can they guarantee that a closed door will stay closed?  If you’re someone who has participated in an open adoption, how do you feel about the experience? 

 

Guest:

Adam Pertman, executive director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, a national not-for-profit organization devoted to improving adoption policy and practice.

 

2:39 – 2:44 PITCH BREAK (5:00)

 

2:44 – 2:53 SEGMENT 6 (9:00)

All together now: open infant adoptions are on the increase (Cont’d.)

 

2:53-3:00 PITCH BREAK (7:00)

 

 

 

 

Lauren Osen

Southern California Public Radio - 89.3 KPCC

626-583-5173 / 626-483-5278

losen@scpr.org @Patt_Morrison