Merle Goldman, professor emerita at Boston University and an associate at the John K. Fairbank Center for East Asian Resarch, last night addressed the Mothers’ Club of Cambridge Thursday night open meeting, hosted at the Cambridge Historical Society on Brattle Street.  My mother has belonged to this club for decades, and I can see why she seldom misses its events, even in bone-chillingly cold weather like we had in Cambridge last night.  This episode contains a brief interview I did with Prof. Goldman during the reception after her talk, in which she put China’s incredible economic growth in historical perspective and posed questions about whether the nation of 1.3 billion can make political changes fast enough to sustain the ongoing economic phenomenon.

Music: "Going to the Sun" on the Glacier Journey
CD composed by Montana musicians Christine Dickinson, Janet Haarvig and
Matthew Lyon  Link here. Used by
permission.

Blake Allison of Dingman Allison Architects in Cambridge, Mass., has begun work on our home remodeling project. After our first meeting this morning with our contractor, I asked Blake some general questions about the role of an architect. Afterward, we had a chance to admire his and his partner Nancy’s work in a completed remodeling project, also in Cambridge, courtesy of Polly, who showed us through her remarkable transformation of a 110-year-old home.
     Music: "Going to the Sun" on the Glacier Journey CD composed by Montana musicians Christine Dickinson, Janet Haarvig and Matthew Lyon  http://www.earthpassage.com/glacier.htm . Used by permission.

This visit to Cambridge marks the beginning of our remodeling plans for our new home here that will complement our base in Denver.  I’ve combined two artistic impressions of Cambridge in this podcast, a poem I wrote about the birth of my grandson a year ago, and an anthem sung by the Fellows of the University Choir this morning at Harvard’s Appleton Chapel.

mp3 version of today’s Audio Pod Chronicles, “PodCampers Pick Podcasts.”

John Joseph of Denver responded to an invitation to a podcast interview that I posted through the Mile High for Obama group at BarackObama.com. Having just finished The Audacity of Hope, I was looking for someone to discuss the book with me.  John, who is 27 and a programmer, met me at a Starbucks and shared insightful perspectives on the book and what he thinks may be ahead in the long campaign.  I liked the originality and nuance of his opinions.  For example, near the end of the interview he revealed why, even though he is a huge fan of Obama, he might actually prefer another Democrat to win the nomination this time, with Obama as Veep.  Not that he wouldn’t be thrilled to see Obama elected president in 2008.  Anyway, it was great getting to know John through the Obama web site, which is smartly designed to make it easy for Obama supporters to connect and share ideas and activities.

Denver’s Su Teatro, the nation’s 3rd oldest Chicano/Latino theatre company, is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year with an exciting move to a new and bigger location at 215 South Santa Fe Drive.  At the kickoff this week, I interviewed longtime Artistic Director Anthony J. Garcia and visiting Hollywood actor Jesse Borrego about the importance of Su Teatro’s work.  Tony at one point says, "You realize that what you ended up building is what you wanted all along."  This is a terrific example of the power of art to change lives, and I urge anyone interested to consider helping out with Su Teatro’s $3.5 million capital drive now under way.

I am working on a presentation to the Denver Commission on Cultural Affairs about how we might use Web 2.0 capabilities to advance the arts in Denver.  As part of my cogitations, I spent some time learning about Me.dium, a Boulder-based startup which hopes to transform the way we browse the web.  A more modest Web 2.0 initiative, goodreads, pointed me to possible communities in Denver which could be brought together using these new internet tools. 

Which presidential aspirants are taking the best advantage of podcasting’s potential?  A review of the candidates’ offerings on iTunes shows John McCain and Rudy Giuliani as no-shows.  Hillary’s well-done video chats don’t show up in iTunes, but there is an old podcast in the directory which doesn’t do much to help her, and she should take it down ASAP.  At the head of the presidential podcasting class are Tom Vilsack, John Edwards, and Barack Obama.  Mitt Romney has an effective enthusiast’s site up, MyManMitt.com featuring the MittCast, hosted by Justin Hart.  This episode of the Audio Pod Chronicles, recorded in Denver, contains excerpts from the podcasts and thoughts about what works and what doesn’t in this powerful new medium.

Each year the Brown Palace Hotel in downtown Denver hosts the top steer from the National Western Stock Show.  This year’s top steer was deemed too skittish to make a solo appearance in the ornate hotel, so his runner-up came along for company.  I interviewed the hotel general manager, Miss Colorado Rodeo, the boy who raised Titan, and my friend Michael Drummy and his sister-in-law, among others.  I love this event for combining Denver’s elegance with its cow country history.

I have deleted the original episode 15, recorded a week ago after my return from Macworld Expo in San Francisco.  What happened is that the person I interviewed ended up feeling very nervous about having his words up on the internet, so he asked me in very strong terms to take it down.  He needn’t have pressed so hard, because I had no intention of making him uncomfortable.  I’m sad, because I loved his story and have listened to it several times for my own pleasure.  But I completely honor his desire for privacy, so I immediately deleted the episode when I received an e-mail from him.  I’m putting this episode in its place, so my numbering isn’t thrown off, and to explain what happened.