FRESH AIR
NPR’s Baghdad bureau chief, Jamie Tarabay, has been living in and covering Iraq since December 2005. She spoke to Terry Gross in Fresh Air’s Philadelphia studios, during a two-week break from her reporting duties.
Australian by birth and Lebanese by heritage, Tarabay speaks fluent Arabic and French. She lived for three years as a child in Beirut during the bombings there. Before joining NPR she was a correspondent for the Associated Press, reporting from Southeast Asia, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt. She’s the author of the book A Crazy Occupation: Eyewitness to the Intifada. Tarabay talks to Fresh Air about Iraq’s internal politics, about the advantages and disadvantages of being a woman reporter in Iraq, and about the challenges of being a foreigner living and working in a chaotic society. “There are layers and layers that I’m still trying to get my head around,” she tells Terry Gross about the complexities of the various conflicts raging in Iraq.In March 2007, Tarabay was riding in a military convoy that was struck by a roadside bomb. When it was over, she filed a previously scheduled story for that day’s Morning Edition, then reported on the convoy bombing (see story below) for All Things Considered. “You try not to think about the fact that you almost just died,” she tells Terry Gross.
RADIO TIMES
Hour 1
Do we need paper verification in the age of E-Voting? We’ll talk with Congressman RUSH HOLT who has introduced bill that would require all voting machines to produce a paper ballot by Nov 2008. It’s hoped the uniform paper ballots will prevent the messy recount we saw in the 2000 Presidential election. We’ll also hear from ELAINE MANLOVE, the Election Commissioner for the State of Delaware, on the challenges of implementing any changes.
Hour 2
Thousand dollar handbags and designer dresses were once reserved for the rich and famous. Now such luxury items have gone mass market with middle class men and women sacrificing to buy clothing and accessories with designer labels and logos. Writer DANA THOMAS explores the phenomenon in her new book, “Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster.”
THE WORLD CAFE
Tomorrow David Dye welcomes John Doe to the World Cafe to talk about his career and his new album, A Year in the Wilderness. Founding member of the seminal LA punk-rock band X, Doe’s seventh solo album was recorded in a little over two weeks and features an eclectic mix of rootsy material. In the second hour, Kevin Courrier talks about his new book about Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band’s 1969 release, “Trout Mask Replica.”
X: WHITE GIRL