Daily Archives: September 8, 2000

Joe College

Listen / Download

Joe College used to be the earnest, ambitious undergrad who was grateful for the GI bill. Nowadays, with loans, scholarships, and rich parents, Joe College is everybody – from the daughter of a mechanic to a movie star.

College used to launch you into adulthood, but now you could almost say it’s set up to prolong adolescence. Just ask George W – according to Maureen Dowd he’s still indulging his inner frat boy. How else do you describe an institution that cultivates fun and free love, provides three square meals a day and 24 hour internet access, and frees you from curfews and parental restrictions? Yours for a hundred thousand bucks, books not included.

All that fun does come with its own anxieties and pressures, though. There’s the freshman 10, midterms, nightmare roommates, and learning what the delicate cycle on the washing machine means.
(Hosted by Christopher Lydon)

Guests:

Tom Perrotta, Author of “Election” and most recently, “Joe College”

Revisiting the '72 Munich Olympics

Listen / Download

The Munich Summer Games of 1972, the showcase of Olga Korbut’s gymnastics and Mark Spitz’s swimming, were “the Olympics of Serenity,” as Germany billed them, that became “the Olympics of Terror.” For 21 hours under the unblinking cameras of ABC television, hooded gunmen of the Palestinian faction “Black September” held Israeli athletes hostage, killing 11 of them before the botched getaway and airport firefight were over.

It was a horror story on live TV that changed forever the mood of the Olympics and the imagery of terrorism. And now it’s the stuff of an Oscar winning experiment in movie-making: a documentary that’s also a thriller. Perhaps the strangest note in the hindsight on the Munich massacre is that it’s the German politicians and security bunglers who still don’t want to talk about it, and the last surviving Palestinian warrior who does. “One Day in September” and the men who made the movie. Listen in.
(Hosted by Christopher Lydon)

Guests:

Arthur Cohn, Co-Producer of Oscar-winning “One Day in September” and winner of 5 previous Oscars

and Kevin Macdonald Director, One Day In September