Brave Painting

Friday, February 22 2008

Brave Painting

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Joan Snyder

Joan Snyder paints her way through pain and pleasure. Last year, her 40-year career as an abstract painter was recognized by the MacArthur Foundation with a $500,000 fellowship.

But Joan didn't always want to be a painter. She was studying social work at university when she enrolled in a painting class. Years later, Joan's powerful "stroke" paintings earned her major recognition.

Dick Gordon talks to Joan about why she passed up a career in social work to become a painter and how she turns scribbles on playbills into art.

• Explore Joan's paintings here and here
• See some of Joan's recent work here

Music heard in this story: Les nuits d'été, Op.7: II. Le spectre de la rose by Anne Sofie von Otter, Berliner Philharmoniker & James Levine for the album Berlioz: Les nuits d'éte & Mélodies; Opening by Philip Glass Ensemble for the album Glassworks - Expanded Edition; Mass in C Minor, "The Great," K. 427: XI. Et incarnatus est by Amor Artis Chorale, Ann Murray, Carole Bogard, English Chamber Orchestra, Michael Rippon & Richard Lewis for the album Mozart: Sacred Choral Masterpieces

IS ANYONE OUT THERE?

A satellite was shot out of space this week. Another less-noticed story was that our galaxy may in fact be home to other planets like Earth.

For Maggie Turnbull, the search for extra-terrestrial life is a personal mission, ever since she saw the movie "Contact" years ago. She talks to Dick about how scientists try to look for signs of life 'out there', and what drives her to do so.

Maggie Turnbull

She also gives Dick a sneak preview into NASA's plan of action should they ever discover extraterrestrial life.

Dr. Maggie Turnbull works at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland.

• Check out the Space Telescope Science Institute
• What's SETI?

Payday Lending

Monday, February 11 2008

Payday Lending

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Lisa Engelkins

Lawmakers in Virginia, Kentucky and Colorado are considering tightening up the way payday lending institutions conduct business. These short term loans are designed to help people make ends meet between paychecks, but the interest rates they carry can veer upwards to 400%. As a result, many people get sucked into a vortex of never-ending debt.

Lisa Engelkins found herself needing money all the time in 1998. She was a single mom making $7 an hour at one of her jobs, and it just wasn't enough. So she went to a payday lender and before she knew it, was trapped paying off the same loan for nearly 2 years. She eventually clawed her way out of debt and is now a credit and housing counselor in Winston-Salem, NC.

Alba Onofrio

Yet the issue may be more complex than some observers think. Alba Onofrio used to authorize the kinds of loans people like Lisa needed. While Alba didn't like the fact that such loans can overburden people, she makes the point to Dick Gordon that some people have no other option, and that imperfect help is arguably better than none at all.

• Find out if pay day lending is legal in your state

MISDIAGNOSED

Thursday, February 07 2008

MISDIAGNOSED

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Audrey Serrano

For 9 years Audrey Serrano thought she was HIV positive. Audrey took an anonymous HIV test at a clinic after her boyfriend reluctantly revealed he had HIV. Her test came back positive, and she underwent years of grueling medical treatments and lost custody of her daughter.

Eventually Audrey got herself retested and those results were negative. Last year, she sued her doctor and a jury awarded her $2.5 million in damages. Dick Gordon talks with Audrey about the mental and physical obstacles she confronted while trying to prove she didn't have HIV.

• Visit Audrey's organization, Families Against Abuse

Family Lies

Steve DeJoseph

Steve DeJoseph grew up listening to his Italian grandfather complaining about family back in the old country. His grandfather constantly said his Italian relatives were "no good" and that all they wanted was the money he sent them. Steve tried to convince his granddad to take a trip back home, but it never happened.

Finally Steve went himself to meet the "no good" people his grandfather had talked about. It was there that he had a revelation: his grandfather had been lying about his family all those years. Steve tells Dick that if his grandfather had admitted how wonderful his family actually was, he never could have handled the emotional cost of living so far away from them.

• Read Steve's story about his grandfather's lie