WAMU 88.5FM American University Radio

Talking Trash

Regional leaders signed a "Trash Treaty" last week that pledges to make the Potomac River watershed "trash free" by the year 2013. Trash winds up in the waterways through public littering as well as through more blatant forms of illegal dumping. Most of the trash comes from the streets. When it rains, trash gets swept into gutters that connect to pipes that spill into rivers. Environmentalists say the voluntary agreement is a good start, but they're pushing for regulations that would force local governments to reduce trash. WAMU's Lisa Nurnberger tiptoes along our garbage-lined river banks to find out what it would REALLY take to get people to stop trashing the Potomac.

Prince George's New Superintendent

The Prince George's County Public Schools, a large, multicultural and fast-changing school system, is about to get a new leader. In May, John Deasy, who currently leads a small school system in southern California, will take the reins. Deasy has a big job ahead. Prince George's County Public Schools is the second largest system in Maryland, with over 133,000 students and roughly 94-hundred teachers. Seventy six of its 199 public schools are rated "in need of improvement" because students did not meet attendance goals or academic goals on state tests. WAMU's Sarah Hughes spoke with John Deasy this week, and asked him how he'll get more students to master the basics. Deasy says his plan starts with setting high expectations.

Commentary by Fred Fiske - Losing Journalism

WAMU Senior Commentator Fred Fiske just realized that some people get their news without getting their fingers dirty with newsprint.

Civil War Insects

You can tackle the history of the Civil War from so many angles...but it's the BUGS we concern ourselves with today. More than six hundred fifty thousand soldiers died in the Civil War. It may not be widely known at least two-thirds of those deaths came not directly from bullets or bayonets, but from disease. Back then we didn't know that most illness was caused by organisms too small to see, and that those "germs" were often carried by insects - flies, mosquitoes, lice and fleas. WAMU's Susan Goodman reports on how soldiers in the north and south often found themselves battling insects as much as each other. A word of warning, if you haven't finished eating lunch yet, you may want to wrap it up.

Le Ballet Mechanique

The Dada movement that formed during the chaos of World War I had a huge impact on the art of the 20th century. Dada artists claimed their movement was anti-art, a rebellion against common sense, logic, formal ideas, institutions, good taste, and "movements" themselves. The Dadaists didn't confine themselves to the world of visual art - theater, poetry, dance, film and music were all fair game.

An exhibit on Dada opened February 19th at the National Gallery of Art. And as part of the exhibit, you can hear – and experience – Dadaism at work in music that calls for xylophones, bass drums, door bells, airplane propellers and 16 player pianos. "Easy Listening" this is not.

American composer George Antheil wrote the score for a silent movie, "Le Ballet Mechanique" in 1924, when the Dada movement was at its peak. But getting humans to play all the instruments in sync with the film was next to impossible. Now, using the technology of 2006, an orchestra of computers and robots bring the ballet to life twice every day at the National Gallery.

During a visit, the exhibit's curators attempted to explain just what those Dada artists were up to - and why we still care about them today.

Dada exhibit curators Stephen Ackert and Leah Dickerman spoke with WAMU's Stephanie Kaye and Peter Fay. To experience excerpts of the Ballet Mechanique, visit the National Gallery of Art exhibit at 1 or 4 pm.

Crummy but Good at the Cattle Auction

We hope you brought along an extra stomach - it's time once again for one of our "Crummy but Good" expeditions. A "crummy but good" food joint might be a little rough around the edges, but something about the dining experience more than makes up for the lack of fine china.

Today we wander about as far from fine china as you can get, to a lunchroom in the Farmer's Livestock Exchange in Winchester, Virginia. It's where the aroma from the griddle and the fragrance from the barn meet. While buyers and sellers were gearing up for the 1 pm auction, David Furst sat down at a table with "Crummy But Good" food editor Donovan Kelly. And luckily, here at EMD Catering, ordering lunch doesn't require the speed-talking techniques perfected by the exchange's auctioneers...

Commentary by Liam Callanan - the Green & Gold

It's a confusing time in commentator Liam Callanan's household. His wife has a degree from George Washington, and he has degrees from Georgetown and George Mason. They've got all the "Georges" covered. And each school sent teams to the NCAA basketball tournament this March. But today, Liam reveals his true colors...and apparently his blood runs green and gold.

Liam Callanan wrote his first "real" book, The Cloud Atlas, at George Mason University.