RadioWest Films

Thursday, we’re talking about the money teachers make, and what that tells us about how the profession is valued. We’ll also ask how Utah stacks up and what the state is doing about it.

Salt Lake City’s First Unitarian Church is giving sanctuary to a young Honduran mother facing deportation. Tuesday, we’re talking about sanctuary and the tension between moral conscience and the law.

We’ve just posted a film about an exquisite aria from Handel’s Messiah. So Friday, we’re talking about the oratorio. It’s a story with scandal, godliness, and of course, beautiful music.

How did a Trappist monastery flourish in the mountains of Utah for 70 years, and what led to its closing? Thursday, we’re talking about the history of monastic life and how it is expressed today.

It's no secret that Americans love their lawns. In fact, grass is the largest crop in the United States. But as water becomes more scarce and chemical treatments more toxic, an anti-lawn movement has sprouted. Some are questioning whether we should keep our finely-manicured grass or plant gardens instead. Friday, Doug talks lawns with The New Yorker's Elizabeth Kolbert about her article "Turf War," and Ted Steinberg, author of American Green: The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Lawn. (Rebroadcast)

In 2010, Gerda Saunders learned that she has dementia. She was 61 years old at the time, and soon had to leave her post teaching at the University of Utah. So Gerda started writing what she calls her field notes on dementia. The result is a new memoir due out this week. We’ve been following Gerda over the last year with a series of short films documenting her journey, and Monday, Doug sits down to talk to her about her book. It’s called Memory’s Last Breath.

Questions surrounding suicide have been with us for at least as long as we’ve had written record, and the answers are as varied as the times and places where they were discussed. Wednesday, Doug sits down with philosophy scholar Margaret Battin. She’s spent her career collecting the works of religious and secular thinkers regarding suicide. It has been considered noble, immoral, heroic and cowardly, and we’ll talk about what all of those views teach us about end-of-life issues today.

Tuesday, we’re talking about 'ach yIn nuvpu' Hol chenmoH 'Iv, Klingon for “people who create language.” Constructed languages aren’t just for science fiction though. The linguist Arika Okrent says that people have been inventing their own languages for centuries. They’ve wanted to better understand the world, build Utopia or create artistic expression. She’ll join us, along with filmmakers working on a documentary about “conlangs”, to explore how playing with language helps us understand ourselves.

Wednesday, Doug’s guest is Ardean Watts, who served as associate conductor of the Utah Symphony and is Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of Utah. Watts says that if there’s one unifying theme in his life though, it’s that he’s a generalist who is interested in everything. So, we’ll ask him to tell us stories from his distinguished music career, but we’ll also talk about his LDS background, raising a family of 8 kids, Chinese philosophy, mushroom hunting and more.