There's the time when you know something is happening, but you're not sure exactly what. The illness before it's diagnosed. The era, before it's been given a title. And something changes when the name is given. Stories of that transformation ... between what it is now, and what it was before it had a name.
Act One. Mr. Boder Vanishes.In 1946, a man named David Boder started to investigate the Holocaust before it was known as the Holocaust. He dragged a primitive recording device around Europe and gathered the first recorded testimonials of concentration camp survivors. But his research was largely ignored, and his recordings forgotten for decades. The tapes are broadcast for the first time nationally on tonight's show. Carl Marziali tells the story. (22 minutes). Listen to Boder's recordings, or read transcripts, at their official home on the web.
Act Two. Of Course I Remember Your Name.
A short story about the moment when we suddenly learn the name of something that has heretofore been unnamed for us ... and about the difference between knowing the person, and knowing the person's name. Heather O'Neill is the author of Two Eyes Are You Sleeping, a book of poetry.
Song: "What's My Name," Bric-a-Brac
Act Three. A Bad Day for Plates.
The story about what happens when you discover the medical reason your mother was such a bad parent all your life. Laura Tangusso tells the story of how she and her siblings learned the name of something they'd always wondered: What was wrong with their mother?
Song: "What's the Good Word," Jackie Reinach/Mel Poretz
Act Four. You Call That Love?
There is that moment when you're falling for someone, before either of you says the word love ... but when you both FEEL it. But then once the word love is applied to a feeling ... is it possible we're all actually referring to different feelings? Jonathan Goldstein tells a story about what if the word love didn't exist. He's the author of a novel, Lenny Bruce is Dead.
Song: "I Something You," Robin Hitchcock
Act Four. You Call That Love?
There is that moment when you're falling for someone, before either of you says the word love ... but when you both FEEL it. But then once the word love is applied to a feeling ... is it possible we're all actually referring to different feelings? Jonathan Goldstein tells a story about what if the word love didn't exist. He's the author of a novel, Lenny Bruce is Dead.
Song: " I Something You," Robin Hitchcock