doctor Blog

Is there a song that brings back a strong memory from your childhood? In this installment of our ongoing series, "Song and Memory," we meet James Palmer, a listener in Seattle, Wash. Palmer grew up in small town in Michigan. For much of his early life, his family consisted only of himself and his mother. One of Palmer`s earliest memories is a popular lullaby his mother used to sing to him. Years later, after quite a bit of hardship, the memory of the song became even more significant, if also bittersweet.

For a decade now people have worried about a digital divide forming in America: a gap between those with the access to all the information and opportunities of internet and those without. This was an especially big issue for rural areas where getting news and media from the cities was already difficult. And many industries were packing up and moving to places where they could get high-speed DSL or T1 connections. So when one tiny farming town in southern Minnesota brought high-speed internet to them, they were expecting a digital renaissance. And while some people in the town have embraced the cyber-life, not everyone is eager for the web revolution. Producer Sanden Totten went to Windom, Minn., for this story.

Two weeks ago, Susan Peters, a local TV news anchor, was marked for deletion. "Not notable," wrote one Wikipedian. "What distinguishes her from any other local anchor (and local Emmys don`t cut it for me)?," asked another. This is Wikipedia--the massive communal online encyclopedia written, edited, and deleted, entirely by volunteers. Every day over a hundred articles, many of them on living people, are nominated for deletion. And it`s not pretty. Even those that defended Susan`s Wiki-worthiness were harsh: "Seems notable enough. At least as notable as any other second-tier author or journalist." Ouch. But this is how decisions get made at Wikipedia. We talked to two Wikipedians who have been participating in Susan`s judgment.

Bill Radke delves into the listener mailbag and learns that good fences don`t necessarily make good neighbors. But first, we hear another State of the Union address from a prominent American.

Most of us are familiar with the big news that comes out of the Sundance film festival -- the big movie deals and star-studded parties. But what goes on in Park City behind the scenes when Hollywood bum-rushes the town? Weekend America investigates.

For nearly 30 years Arthur Wood has been turning a brick building in Brooklyn into a handmade sculpture. It`s called Broken Angel and it has become a cultural icon in the neighborhood.But last October a fire broke out. That`s when the real trouble began. We talk with Arthur Wood and his son Christopher about their home.

It`s time to set our watches again. The Doomsday Clock moved two minutes closer to midnight this week. This is of course just a symbolic clock that`s wound every now and then by board members of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. In 1947 the BAS started using the clock to measure how close we are to global nuclear annihilation. The closer the minute hand gets to midnight, the more doomed we are. And as of Wednesday, it`s 11:55. We asked Weekend America`s Sean Cole to look into how doomed we are and if there`s anyone who might be able to offer a second opinion.

Rafter Roberts is facing a dilemma: He`s a fiercely independent musician who was bred on the strange music of the Residents and Devo, and he enjoys making music that pushes the limits of what`s acceptable. The problem for Rafter is that the way he finances his art, is writing commercial music. Literally. He`s one of the guys that writes that catchy music you hear when you`re watching TV. We caught up with him in his San Diego studio and asked him about balancing his art with his day job.

Whenever an ice storm hits, we think of Rick Moody. Moody is the author of the novel "The Ice Storm," which was later turned into an Ang Lee film of the same name. So we wondered -- what does Rick Moody think of when the country is frosted over?

Don Briggs is an ice climber. That can be a bit of a challenge when you live in a flat state like Iowa. But a few years ago, Briggs was looking up at an old corn silo and an idea struck like a bolt of lightning. The thing was about six stories tall. What if he covered it in ice? No, really. He ran hoses up to the top of the silo and left them running through the frigid, Midwestern night and the next day he had ice to climb. A new extreme winter sport was born. We`ll join him while he`s practicing for a silo climbing competition in Cedar Falls, Iowa, where he lives.

The New Orleans Saints face off with the Chicago Bears at Chicago`s soldier Field tomorrow, and the winner will go to the Super Bowl. The Bears haven`t gone in 20 years, but the Saints have never gone. The Bears would bring the first ever African-American head coach to the Super Bowl but New Orleans, well, look at what they`ve been through. The game is fraught with back story. Radio producer Jenni Lawson went looking for opinions on which team deserves the win more. She climbed aboard the City of New Orleans, the famous railroad line from New Orleans to Chicago.

Our panel of non-experts review the week`s events in a parlor game to gauge what kind of week America had. Weighing in is Dana Gould, a Hollywood writer, Nancy French, the author of "A Red State of Mind," and screenwriter and author John Ridley.

President Bush will deliver his State of the Union address on Tuesday. At some point, he`ll pay tribute to some average Americans whom he has invited to the speech -- a tradition that Ronald Reagan started. Two years ago, Janet and Bill Norwood were guests of the first lady. They live in Texas, and are the parents of Byron Norwood, a Marine who died in the battle of Falluja. We talk with the Norwoods about what it meant for them to have their son mentioned by the president and how their lives have changed since that speech.