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This time of year, we're used to seeing a sprig of mistletoe hanging from the doorway, the inevitable invitation to a kiss. But we don't often think about how it got there. There are commercial mistletoe farmers who harvest it, bag it and sell it. But in some areas of the country, amateur harvesters follow ancient methods of retrieving the plant from the tops of trees. Matt Shafer Powell of member station WUOT in Knoxville recently went on a trek through the woods of East Tennessee to take part in this holiday ritual...
In both Russia and the United States, people with mental and physical disabilities have witnessed discrimination--- and progress. One east Tennessee community recently hosted five Russian women who work with those with special needs. WUOT's Brandon Hollingsworth has more on what the delegates learned, and the ideas they'll share when they return to Russia...
(UT Photo-Journalism professor Rob Heller with one of his photos of Auschwitz. Photo by C Keuper)
University of Tennessee professor Robert Heller has spent almost three decades photographing and interviewing World War Two holocaust survivors and liberators... When some of that work was exhibited not long ago in Warsaw, Poland, Heller made the trip. While he was there, he spent a few hours at the Auschwitz concentration camp. His photographs from that trip are now on display at the University of Tennessee's Ewing Gallery. WUOT's Chrissy Keuper has this feature about Heller's work...
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The film "It's a Wonderful Life", starring Jimmy Stewart, is considered a quintessential holiday story. George Bailey of Bedford Falls, New York, is a man bitterly disappointed by his life... and he feels that maybe things would have been better for everyone if he'd never existed. A visiting angel, Clarence Oddbody, tries to show George why his life is indeed wonderful. The film has been adapted for the stage in the form of a radio play. WUOT's Chrissy Keuper speaks with Bill Jenkins, the director of the Clarence Brown Theatre production of this adaptation...
Last May, Katie Allison Granju received the news that no parent ever wants to hear. Her 18 year-old son Henry was dead, following a month spent trying to recover from an assault and a drug overdose. The assault, the overdose and his death all represented the tragic final act in a life that featured both tremendous promise and a suffocating addiction to drugs.
You could excuse any mother for drifting into isolation following the death of her oldest child. But Katie Allison Granju is not any mother. She's a prolific blogger and through her blog, the world has seen her suffering, her moments of weakness, her surges of strength, her frustration with the authorities and the way Henry's death has changed her. Host Matt Shafer Powell speaks with Katie Allison Granju on this episode of Dialogue...