← The World and Everything In It
The World and Everything In It
1.23.26 The price of pro-life witness, a review of two different mysteries, and an exploration of poetry and music
00:40:03
Loading summary
Transcript131 lines
- [00:06]
Myrna Brown
Good morning. Today, the 53rd annual March for Life in Washington. We'll talk abortion, politics and more with John Stonestreet on Culture Friday. Also today, my experience, people who go looking for trouble, they usually find it.
- [00:20]
Nick Eicher
World film reviewer Colin Garbarino with a new film and a classic later, music critic Arsenio Orteza on a poet, a composer and a partnership decades in the making.
- [00:38]
Myrna Brown
It's Friday, January 23rd. This is the world and everything in it from listener supported World Radio. I'm Myrna Brown.
- [00:46]
Nick Eicher
And I'm Nick Icker.
- [00:47]
Kent Covington
Good morning.
- [00:49]
Myrna Brown
Up next, Kent Covington with today's news.
- [00:53]
News Reporter
President Trump unveiled the new Board of Peace for the Gaza Strip on Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The board will help oversee the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and guide Gaza's future and reconstruction.
- [01:05]
Kent Covington
There's tremendous potential with the United nations.
- [01:09]
Nick Eicher
And I think the combination of the.
- [01:10]
Kent Covington
Board of Peace with the kind of people we have here coupled with the United nations can be something very, very unique for the world.
- [01:19]
News Reporter
Trump says 59 countries have signed on, but only about 20 countries were physically represented. Secretary of State Marco Rubio remarked countries of different backgrounds from different parts of.
- [01:29]
Nick Eicher
The world, majority Christian, some majority Muslim.
- [01:33]
News Reporter
Others who've come together. In fact, former adversaries who have joined here as part of this Board of Peace. Many close US Allies have yet to join. Some countries say that they support the ceasefire but have concerns about the board's scope and how it would interact with the United Nations. U.S. officials say additional countries may still join after finishing internal reviews. President Trump says the United States is negotiating a deal that would give American forces broad access to Greenland as part of a new Arctic security framework.
- [02:04]
Kent Covington
It's really being negotiated now, the details of it, but essentially it's total access.
- [02:10]
Nick Eicher
There's no end, there's no time limit.
- [02:13]
News Reporter
He says the deal does not require Denmark to give up sovereignty over the island. Nevertheless, he is satisfied with the arrangement, saying it was enough to cancel his threatened tariffs a against eight European countries. NATO Secretary General Mark Ruda says the plan would mean allies working more closely together on Arctic security. Greenland's Prime Minister Jens Friedrich Nielsen says details are still being worked out.
- [02:36]
Nick Eicher
We are ready to cooperate more in.
- [02:38]
John Stonestreet
Economics in other areas, but that's something.
- [02:41]
Arsenio Orteza
We have to talk about in mutual respect.
- [02:44]
News Reporter
Trump says the agreement would tie Greenland into the Golden Dome missile defense system and expand U.S. and allied military activity in the Arctic. Also in Davos on Thursday, President Trump met with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump said the talks were good and that both leaders say they want a path to peace. Zelenskyy, though, used his speech in Davos to challenge Europe. He said European leaders are moving too slowly and relying too much on Washington. Even as Russia continues its attacks, Europe.
- [03:14]
John Stonestreet
Looks lost trying to convince the US President to change. Europe says almost nothing. America says nothing.
- [03:23]
News Reporter
EU officials pushed back, insisting they are deeply involved. On Thursday, Russian strikes hit towns in Ukraine's southeast. Regional officials said one person was killed and others were hurt. Next, the focus shifts from Switzerland to the United Arab Emirates. Zelenskyy says US Ukrainian and Russian national security advisers are set for two days of trilateral meetings starting today. Trump's team was also expected to meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. A powerful winter storm is barreling across the United States and could hit areas from Texas all the way to New England this weekend. Forecasters warn the system could bring heavy snow, ice and dangerously cold air to more than 200 million Americans. Ice is expected first in the south and plains. Texas Governor Greg Abbott because of the.
- [04:11]
John Stonestreet
Severity of this storm, right now I.
- [04:14]
Nick Eicher
Am making a disaster declaration declaration covering.
- [04:18]
John Stonestreet
134 counties across the state of Texas to make sure that every possible resource.
- [04:25]
Nick Eicher
Can be made available to them so.
- [04:26]
News Reporter
They can respond quicker, faster and better. Officials have closed schools and canceled events from Texas to Georgia ahead of the storm. Snow is expected to build in the Midwest and Northeast later in the weekend. Former special counsel Jack Smith faced sharp questions Thursday during testimony before the House Judiciary Committee defending his handling of investigations involving then former President Donald Trump. Smith told lawmakers he has no regrets.
- [04:54]
Colin Garbarino
I stand by my decisions as special.
- [04:56]
News Reporter
Counsel, including the decision to bring charges against President Trump. Smith argued that the evidence supported his actions and suggested the cases could have led to convictions, including for alleged 2020 election interference. Republicans on the committee, though, strongly disagreed, accusing Smith of overreach and political bias. Committee Chairman Jim Jordan but of course.
- [05:17]
Arsenio Orteza
We shouldn't be surprised. Democrats have been going after President Trump for 10 years, for a decade.
- [05:25]
News Reporter
President Trump reacted online, calling the testimony a failure for Smith and accusing the former special counsel of lying under oath. He said Smith should face prosecution in Texas.
- [05:37]
Nick Eicher
We the jury find defendant Adrian Gonzalez not guilty.
- [05:41]
News Reporter
A jury acquitted former police officer Adrian Gonzalez of charging is that he failed to adequately confront a mass shooter at a Uvalde elementary school. That gunman killed 19 children and two teachers back in May of 2022. An uncle of a nine year old student who died in the massacre said he was not pleased with the verdict.
- [06:01]
Arsenio Orteza
Messages out there that if you're an officer, you can simply stand by, stand.
- [06:05]
News Reporter
Down, stand idle, do not do anything.
- [06:07]
Nick Eicher
And wait for everybody to be executed, killed.
- [06:09]
News Reporter
But defense attorney Jason Goss told reporters his client was unfairly targeted.
- [06:14]
Nick Eicher
It's not fair to do that to any officer because everybody out there was trying to do what they thought was right. And we know that there were failures, but it wasn't because they wanted to fail. It's because they were trying to do what they thought was right.
- [06:27]
News Reporter
Prosecutors said Gonzalez was the first officer on the scene, but it was more than an hour before law enforcement staged a counter assault to end the massacre. I'm Kent Covington. And straight ahead, a Look at the 53rd annual March for Life on Car Culture Friday. And later, World film reviewer Colin Gaborino with a new film and a classic, this Is the World and Everything In It.
- [07:08]
Myrna Brown
It's Friday, January 23rd. Glad to have you along for today's edition of the WORLD and Everything In It. Good morning. I'm Myrna Brown.
- [07:16]
Nick Eicher
And I'm N Eicker. It's Culture Friday. John Stonestreet will be along in just a moment. But before we go to him, Today marks the 53rd annual March for Life in Washington, the largest annual human rights demonstration in the world. It's going on in our nation's capital today. And ahead of that, our Washington producer, Harrison Waters caught up with some of the state delegations from around the country, with special attention to those that are fighting local measures that put unborn children at risk.
- [07:48]
John Stonestreet
Thank you so much for coming.
- [07:49]
Colin Garbarino
Thank you for being part of the world's largest human rights demonstration. We're so excited to see all of your signs.
- [07:56]
Myrna Brown
Yesterday, a group gathered in a hotel conference room nearby to strategize about defeating abortion legislation in their home state.
- [08:04]
News Reporter
Virginia is going to be a real challenge for us.
- [08:06]
Myrna Brown
I mean, John Mize is CEO of Americans United for aul, fights for passage of pro life legislation and defeat of pro abortion measures. This November, voters in Nevada and Virginia will decide whether to make abortion a constitutional right in those states. Nevada would allow abortion up to viability. Virginia could join nine other states and the District of Columbia to remove virtually all limits on abortion up to the moment of birth.
- [08:36]
Nick Eicher
And the other side's not being incremental in their approach with the government in Virginia right now.
- [08:42]
News Reporter
General assembly they are all in just.
- [08:44]
Nick Eicher
About on every different UN life affirming, high tax, taxing, you name it, they're overreaching and that could potentially bite them come November when we have a ballot amendment. Missouri voters this fall will Take a second look at a 2024 state constitutional amendment that established a fundamental right to reproductive freedom. It had the effect of pulling the legal rug from underneath nearly every pro life law approved in Missouri.
- [09:13]
News Reporter
So we went from essentially a pro life state to a not pro life state because of the 2024Amendment 3.
- [09:21]
Myrna Brown
That's Evan Fowler, a pro lifer from Kansas City in D.C. with his wife for today's march. After the pro abortion amendment passed in Missouri, Planned Parenthood sued the state arguing that laws setting medical standards for surgical abortions are an unconstitutional burden. That case was in a Kansas City court this week and Fowler was paying close attention.
- [09:44]
News Reporter
My predict that this judge will probably keep some of the regulations. She will also probably get rid of some of the regulations. So they're trying to chip away at it.
- [09:55]
Nick Eicher
He's hopeful that voters will repeal the pro abortion amendment and replace it. The proposed new measure is a compromise allowing abortion for rape, incest or the life of the mother.
- [10:06]
News Reporter
If amendment three passes, we will be a 98% pro life state. The new amendment three, well said. I'll take that. Because if we lose, then we will be where we are now, probably with fewer regulations because of this case that's going on.
- [10:20]
Nick Eicher
But even with state issues on their minds, pro lifers have national objectives today too. They hope to convince Congress and the White House to stand by the pro life cause. Mize of Americans United for Life told world that job one is defending the so called Hyde amendment that bars federal funding of abortions. And then the second is they've got to accelerate the study on mifepristone to reimplement the safety measures to keep them safe. And so we're holding them to account in that regard while praising them for.
- [10:53]
Colin Garbarino
The work that they're currently doing.
- [10:54]
Nick Eicher
All right, well, let's bring in John Stonestreet now. He's president of the Colson center and host of the Breakpoint podcast. John, good morning.
- [11:02]
John Stonestreet
Good morning.
- [11:03]
Nick Eicher
All right, John. Well, you heard that report. And I'd like to mention one other thing. This is from yesterday. A report by Lauren Canterbury reporting on some concern among pro lifers that the White House is pulling back from the issue, fearing that abortion is a political loser and may contribute to Republicans losing control of Congress. So let me just flip the question around and say, what if the political people in the administration are right about this? What if pro life is a net negative at the polls? Is it a smart move just to acknowledge the reality? Or do you stick by your guns and say, look, I'm a pro Lifer. That's what I do. And I just can't worry about your political judgments.
- [11:47]
John Stonestreet
Well, you have to stick by your guns. I mean, in terms of what can be politically accomplished, that's just the question of what's possible. And many people have defined politics that way. But then to actually not be pro life, to be pro abortion by making a generic version of mifepristone more widely available and reinforcing FDA shortcuts and by restoring funding to Planned Parenthood, there's not a strategic level to this. I mean, listen, the president was always transactional on the issue of life. He had a few moments in his first term in particular, where he was very out front and vocal and articulate even about why life should be protected. Certainly JD Vance has been more so that way as a vice president, but I don't know that anyone's ever believed or should have believed that. You know, there was a personal level of commitment from the president, and we certainly had no reason to believe that from someone like rfk, who's driving many of these decisions. Clearly, his priorities lie elsewhere. This isn't the first time, by the way, that we've been told that to be pro life is kind of a political disability. That, of course, happened all the way through the 90s, and we didn't allow it to come off the docket of the conservative platform. Trump's presidency ends soon, and we're going to have another candidate, and that candidate is going to support another platform. And we don't think, as President Trump has said repeatedly, that the real success here is overturning Roe. We think, and the goal has always been, that abortion is both illegal and unthinkable. You know, as Ryan Anderson said, I think very well when the Dobbs decision came out, this is not the end of the pro life movement or even the beginning of the end. It's the end of the beginning. And now we go on to step two, and it goes on. So I think it has to be called out. I don't think we should think that there's some sort of strategy or commitment here that the president himself hasn't owned up to. I mean, that's the good thing about President Trump. You know exactly what he believes, you know exactly what he's going to fight for. He may change his mind, but if he does, he'll tell you about it. Right? So we know this, and the movement now has to stay committed. It's got to be committed at the state level and on the federal level. We have to make sure that the only party that we've had any sort of alliance with in the last 30 years on this issue, 50 years really is still on our side, because that would be a real big loss if not.
- [14:23]
Nick Eicher
Well, John, let's shift gears. Yesterday, Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered the FBI to arrest three of the ringleaders responsible for the disruption of church services last weekend in the Twin Cities in Minnesota, Nekima, Levy, Armstrong, Chantille, Louisa Allen, and William Kelly. Now, Kelly, he's a frequent flyer. He evidently able to shuttle between Minnesota and Washington, D.C. he's a regular outside Christchurch in D.C. he's a disruptor. He yells in the sidewalk, but he hasn't been inside the sanctuary. But he was one of the most aggressive ones that you saw in that disruption up in St Paul. He yesterday posted a video of himself earlier in the day taunting the ag, saying, come get me Pam Bondi, to which she went back on social media and said, okay, and then followed that up with a green check mark. And now he's cuffed and in custody. John, I want to hear from you on this church disruption, seemingly this new low that we've hit. And I'd like to ask, suppose that you'd been present at that worship service, what would you have hoped that you had done, especially in the face of a guy like Kelly screaming, cursing, calling you a fake Christian because you happen to disagree with him on illegal immigration?
- [15:50]
John Stonestreet
Well, listen, I don't think we have to worry about what a clear pagan, non Christian activist has to say about what Jesus would have done or what Christians should do any more than we should care when Whoopy Goldberg or the other members of the View do it. To ask what I hope I would have done is much of what I saw the church members did, which is first and foremost protect the children. And I think that has to be the number one priority. And then I appreciate the pastor being firm, being clear, but also wanting to avoid any sort of escalating violence as it goes along. Listen, we are in a new place and I don't think we should skip over that too quickly, though. This is a real issue. I appreciated an observation Scott Jennings made on CNN the other night to a other group of fellow panelists who were downplaying this as being no big deal by saying, look, you might remember just a few months ago, there was a shooter that came in and targeted children at a Minnesota church. So you can really forgive a group of Minnesota churchgoers for, for maybe being a little bit on edge. But what I think that means is that we're In a moment. The freedom of speech, like the freedom of religion, something we've discussed here many times, has limits. And the freedom of speech that's being claimed by these protesters actually interfered with the freedom of assembly and the freedom of religion. And the idea here is that the freedom of religion has been often called our first freedom, not only because it's found in the First Amendment, but because from it, as Chuck Colson would say, all the other freedoms.
- [17:18]
Kent Covington
God.
- [17:19]
John Stonestreet
And we're now at a place where we have to really be serious, because this is a fear inducing act of emotional terrorism that took place. And the goal of that is to silence people. The goal of that is to inflict fear. I was in South Korea last week. The government there has jailed a pastor and trumped up charges, held him without bond, and he faces trial now, whatever they decide. In the end, the whole point is intimidation. What the state of Colorado did to Jack Phillips, the point was intimidation. The question is, is this government going to allow this kind of intimidation to stand? Because it has a chilling effect on people's willingness to exercise the freedom of religion. Certainly the high courts have been very clear on protecting freedom of religion and how that connects to speech and how that connects to association. But the process has been the punishment for folks like Jack Phillips, from the incident to the resolution has taken a long time. Here we have an incident that has had a chilling effect on whether people have the willingness to express it. And you don't want that silence. You don't want that chilled in America. And so I think it is a critical moment. I think it matters now what the state is going to do on behalf of people of faith. They should not interfere, but they should make sure that interference doesn't happen, especially when done in a planned, systemic way here.
- [18:53]
Myrna Brown
That's true. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, I was a little bit hesitant about whether, John, you wanted to go here, even if I wanted to go here, because, you know, I grew up in an era where grandmamas and Sunday school teachers had at least two pictures hanging on the walls and one was Jesus and one was Martin Luther King Jr. So I'm a little nervous right now. But anyway, this week we observed as a nation MLK Day. But more and more I am reading and hearing pushback from the younger generations. This young lady, Sarah Wilder, for instance, said younger generations are bristling against holidays like MLK Day. And then this conservative commentator, Chad Jackson, making some bold, pointed statements about King, what he stood for, et cetera. But I want to go back to Wilder. She says she doesn't want to leave us with the impression that noble movements like the civil rights movement can't be led by complicated or even immoral men. But she points to something else that goes beyond King's flaws and his indiscretions. And she writes, mlk day represents the de facto wokeism which infects both the right and the left, rewriting our history into a basic story of oppression and hate versus freedom and liberalism. She goes on to say, the conservative establishment is willing to overlook a whole host of the most leftist positions because their opponents may call them racists for opposing a universally beloved character like King. Does she make a valid point? And if so, how do you think discussions like this will affect future MLK observances?
- [20:41]
John Stonestreet
I think there's a completely valid point in how we talk about our heroes, and Martin Luther King Jr. Is a prime example of that. Here's someone who was facing injustice, facing oppression, and doing it in a way that stood up for the idea of the image of God, based it on natural law, and made some very compelling arguments that are very important and very true, and yet was a flawed man, both in his personal conduct and that's really saying it lightly and also in many of his positions. But I think where the problem lies here is in allowing the de facto wokeism to hijack the MLK legacy. That's really the problem. Just because the wokeism has hijacked history into a basic story of oppression and oppressor. I agree with that. But we shouldn't then allow that to reframe what was actual oppression to taking place and what was actual movements of liberation that the civil rights movement accomplished, while at the same time talking about the flaws when it's appropriate and how it's appropriate. In other words, we call balls and strikes, and we do that with our heroes and we do that with others. I think it would be a real loss to lose the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. To the left. Now, that doesn't mean he acknowledged biblical truth in every area of his life. And I think in many ways he accepted insufficient and even heretical positions on the person and life of Jesus. So what do we do with that? Well, we say that out loud. We just talk about it. You know, the issue isn't to downplay what it is that the man and the movement actually accomplished. It's to not allow it to be hijacked. And let me be really clear. De facto wokeism in our culture, the critical theory mood in our culture, and I think especially the sexual version of critical theory, they don't have arguments to make on their own, so they hijack legacies. That's actually the strategy. And I just don't want to concede that to them. I don't want to concede a holiday. I don't want to concede a legacy. I don't want to concede a movement. I don't want to concede a man. We should not fall for that. We should not accept that.
- [22:53]
Myrna Brown
Saying it out loud. Is that what they're doing then, these young people, these from the different younger generations, saying it out loud?
- [23:01]
John Stonestreet
Well, maybe some of them are. I mean, I think they're asking questions. But I do think we have to teach them the intellectual and academic intent, integrity and patience. And I think, by the way, that involves getting the human person right. And critical theory gets it wrong by saying those are the people that are messing up the world and we're the ones that are right. And that's just not the way the Bible describes the human condition. And it can't be the framework that we use to try to understand the past, the present or the future.
- [23:31]
Myrna Brown
John Stonestreet is president of the Colson center and and host of the breakpoint Podcast. Welcome back and thank you, John.
- [23:39]
John Stonestreet
Thank you both.
- [23:49]
News Reporter
Additional support comes from the Joshua program at St. Dunstan's Academy in Virginia.
- [23:56]
John Stonestreet
A gap year shaping young men through trades, farming, prayer.
- [24:00]
News Reporter
Stdunstonsacademy.org and from Pensacola Christian College, Academic.
- [24:07]
John Stonestreet
Excellence, Biblical Worldview, Affordable cost. Go pcci.
- [24:14]
Arsenio Orteza
Edu.
- [24:15]
News Reporter
World.
- [24:34]
Myrna Brown
Today is Friday, January 23rd. Thank you for turning to World Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I'm Myrna Brown.
- [24:42]
Nick Eicher
And I'm Nick Iker. Coming next on the World and everything in it, two very different takes on the mystery genre. World Arts and Culture editor Colin Garberino reviews a new release and a classic brought back to life.
- [24:58]
Colin Garbarino
This weekend, a new movie called Mercy opens in theaters. It stars Chris Pratt and Rebecca Ferguson, and it's set in Los Angeles in the near future. Crime is out of control and the city has implemented a new artificial intelligence justice system for the worst offenders.
- [25:12]
John Stonestreet
Based on available evidence, I have already judged your probability of guilt to be 97.5%.
- [25:19]
Colin Garbarino
Ferguson plays the imperious AI who acts as judge, jury and executioner. Pratt plays a police officer who's now at the mercy of the draconian system he once championed.
- [25:29]
News Reporter
Mr. Raven, how do you plead?
- [25:33]
Colin Garbarino
Not guilty.
- [25:35]
John Stonestreet
I'm not guilty.
- [25:36]
Colin Garbarino
Pratt's Officer Raven wakes up after a drunken brawl to find himself in a chair in the AI courtroom. He's on trial for murdering his wife earlier that morning, but he can barely remember the day's events.
- [25:48]
News Reporter
You may use any and all resources.
- [25:50]
Myrna Brown
Available to this court to provide with evidence of your innocence.
- [25:54]
News Reporter
Should you be found guilty, you will be executed in precisely 90 minutes.
- [25:59]
Colin Garbarino
Those 90 minutes zip by in real time. The evidence against him looks bad, but Raven puts his police training to work, sifting through mountains of digital data looking for the real killer. In the AI courtroom, Raven has access to every cell phone record and Internet connected device in the city.
- [26:16]
John Stonestreet
This is the Los Angeles Municipal Cloud.
- [26:19]
News Reporter
Every private citizen and organization is mandated.
- [26:21]
John Stonestreet
By law to connect their devices to it.
- [26:24]
Colin Garbarino
The setup feels compelling and the film benefits from slick visuals. Pratt spends most of the movie strapped to his chair, surrounded by holograms of body cam footage and live streams. But these promising elements are wasted in Mercy. The crime Raven uncovers ends up relying on a string of coincidences that make the central plot preposterous. It doesn't help that none of the characters, including Raven, are particularly sympathetic. And the movie doesn't even say anything insightful about the ethics of AI in the end, it just kind of shrugs and mumbles something about how both humans and AI can make mistakes if we don't have all the facts. Mercy is a mildly entertaining police procedural, but it's definitely something you can wait to watch when it finds its way to streaming. On the other hand, if you're looking for a new mystery to stream right now, you might enjoy Agatha Christie's Seven Dials on Netflix. This three part series, based on the mystery novel of the same name, is one of those classic English country house whodunits. After a party at the home of Lady Caterham, played by Helena Bonham Carter, one of the guests dies of an overdose of sleeping medicine. Is it an accident or is it murder? Lady Caterham's inquisitive daughter, Lady Eileen, aims to find out.
- [27:36]
Myrna Brown
Well, if I learned one thing from your dear departed father, it was this.
- [27:40]
John Stonestreet
It doesn't do to ask too many questions.
- [27:43]
Colin Garbarino
Lady Eileen, who goes by the nickname Bundle, is played by a fresh faced Mia McKenna. Bruce bundle may have recently experienced a personal tragedy, but her irrepressible spirit propels her deeper into the mystery.
- [27:56]
John Stonestreet
Miss, you can't go in there. You're quite mistaken, Officer.
- [27:59]
Nick Eicher
I absolutely can.
- [28:02]
News Reporter
See her.
- [28:03]
Colin Garbarino
Investigation puts her on the trail of the secret Seven Dials Club. Along the way, she crosses paths with an enigmatic police detective played by Martin Freeman. Both of them seem to think they're in charge of the investigation.
- [28:16]
News Reporter
You're going to do exactly the opposite.
- [28:17]
Nick Eicher
Of what I've just advised, aren't you?
- [28:19]
Myrna Brown
I don't know why you'd think that.
- [28:21]
Colin Garbarino
I don't usually expect too much from Netflix originals, but I found Agatha Christie's Seven Dials to be a worthwhile adaptation. The sets and costumes were charming, the dialogue amusing and the performances endearing. McKenna Bruce's bundle is the epitome of a plucky heroine. Also, there isn't much objectionable content. The show is rated TV14 for fear and smoking. It's a murder mystery, so expect to see some dead bodies laying in pools of blood, but there's no sensuality or strong language. Seven Dials is like a more fast paced version of those classic masterpiece murder series.
- [28:55]
Myrna Brown
In my experience, people who go looking for trouble usually find it.
- [29:01]
Colin Garbarino
The series features a multi layered mystery as the characters talk through the clues. Most viewers will have the satisfaction of solving part of the crime before the detectives do, but in true Agatha Christie style, there's always a twist. Of course, Bundle and Battle wrap up the mystery, but the series concludes by leaving the door open for more of Bundle's adventures. I'm hoping the show garners enough views that Netflix considers screen lighting a sequel. I'm Colin Garbarino.
- [30:02]
Nick Eicher
Next up on the World and Everything in It Poetry finds its voice A composer and a poet put their skills to work, beginning a collaboration that has lasted decades. It began back in 1987 when the wife of composer Paul Salerney read a poem in the New Yorker by Dana Joya. She thought it ought to be set to music. She persuaded her husband to give it a try. He did, and a team was born.
- [30:29]
Myrna Brown
Slanerni and Joya's first project was a one act opera, their second a song collection. Their latest is a project that blends both World's music critic Arsenal Arteza. Asked about the project and what makes their partnership tick.
- [30:48]
Arsenio Orteza
In 2024, World Magazine chose Poetry as Enchantment as one of its books of the year. It's a collection of essays by the poet Dana Gioia. These essays as a whole, wrote Micah Maddox, offer one of the most eloquent defenses in recent memory of the power of poetry's musicality and the art's spiritual nature. Joya's awareness of poetry's musicality has not been lost on contemporary composers, many of whom have set his poems to music. One of the first was Paul Salerney, who in 1987 set Joya's poem Garden on the Campagna. Since then, Salerney and Joya have collaborated on three album length projects. The first was 2010's Tony Caruso's Final Broadcast, a one act opera about a classical music radio host on the eve of his station's switch to a commercial format. The album, Speaking of Love, Love Songs and Chamber Music, followed seven years later, then last year Haunted in Other Works by Dana Gioia and Paul Salerney. It juxtaposes contemporary opera with art song. Some of it is contemplative and some of it is playful. It's an eclectic mix and it made me wonder who Salerny considers his audience.
- [32:14]
John Stonestreet
We want people who are committed to paying attention, who don't come with a lot of biases. I want to talk to my fellow composers because they're my colleagues, but I want to reach beyond them. I want my mother who had to get a high school equivalency degree in order to go to nursing school. You know, I want to talk to my children when they were young. I think I started writing the music that I write, both thanks to Dana's voice, but also to this idea that.
- [32:41]
Kent Covington
Yes, there's a broad audience there that.
- [32:43]
John Stonestreet
I really want to get to. And so yeah, I think I'm trying.
- [32:46]
Kent Covington
To write for everybody.
- [32:49]
Arsenio Orteza
A good example of how Joya's work takes on different dimensions when set to music is film noir. It's a poem that cleverly tweaks and arranges cliches associated with the genre until they tell a suspenseful and compelling if bare bones story. As recited by Joya. It sounds like it's a small town.
- [33:10]
Kent Covington
In the August heat with a couple of bars along Main Street. A jukebox moans from an open door where a bored waiter sweeps the floor.
- [33:22]
Arsenio Orteza
But set to music by Salerney and sung by Jessica Bowers, it sounds like this.
- [33:28]
Myrna Brown
It's a farm town in the August heat with a couple of bars along Main Street. A jukebox moans from an open door where a bored waiter sweeps the floor.
- [33:44]
Arsenio Orteza
Film noir is one of three standalone other works on Haunted and other works. The other two are the Ballad of Jesus Ortiz, which tells the story of Joya's great grandfather and Prayer at Winter Solstice, a kind of contemporary version of the Beatitudes. The main piece though, is haunted itself. It's Salerny's transformation of a 112 line blank verse narrative poem into a 34 minute combination opera, ballet and like the other material on the album, it's sung by the award winning baritone Keith Ferris.
- [34:19]
Myrna Brown
It happened almost full 40 years ago.
- [34:26]
John Stonestreet
The world was different then, slower.
- [34:34]
Myrna Brown
Less.
- [34:34]
Arsenio Orteza
Frantic because the poem tells a story. It's possible to spoil the plot by saying too much about it. But I can say that one of its main characters, just like one of the main characters in Tony Caruso's final broadcast, is a ghost. Joya has what he calls a metaphysical view of life. In other words, he believes that we experience the material and the spiritual simultaneously and that though we live in time, we have a sense of the eternal. It's good, he says, for a writer to feel that way because it helps him to grasp life's complexity.
- [35:09]
Kent Covington
I saw a ghost when I was young. I was a young boy. Both of my parents worked. But occasionally my Aunt Felice would take me because she had a whole bunch of kids. And I just, you know, merged into the pack. And she died of cancer. I don't know how old. I was maybe nine. And I was in my bed one night, and she came into my room. You know, she looked at me, she put her hand on me, and then she left. And she didn't say anything, but I knew it was her, and I knew I was awake.
- [35:44]
Arsenio Orteza
Joya is a practicing Catholic and does not take the spiritual implications of such an experience. He eventually described the encounter to a priest who said that because the spirit didn't speak, it probably wasn't demonic. But as far as the ghosts in his poetry goes, it's important to him that they retain their mystery.
- [36:03]
Kent Covington
I'm trying to write a poem that awakens in my readers an increased awareness to the. The full realities of their own life, the possibilities of their consciousness, that I make them remember things in their past, that they forgo. And my poems are deliberately unfinished. I leave something out of my poems, and the reader goes, well, why isn't he telling me this? And the reader then has to bring something from his or her own life to complete the poem.
- [36:41]
Arsenio Orteza
In one sense, you could say that in setting them to music, Salerny has already completed the pieces on Haunted and other works for the listeners. In another sense, though, you could say that Salerny's music has mysteries of its own, mysteries that, in overlaying Joyas, require even more of the listener than before. It's a more that listeners will be happy to give.
- [37:02]
Myrna Brown
Blessed is the shortest day that makes.
- [37:09]
Nick Eicher
Us long for light. Blessed. Blessed is the love that in losing. I'm arsenio ortezzo. All right, time now to thank the crew, without whom we'd have no programs this week. Mary Reichert, David Bonson, Emma Eicher, Joe Rigney, Hunter Baker, Onise, Adua Carolina, Lumeta Cheney, B Cheney, Lauren Canterbury, Josh Schumacher, Cal Tom, John Stonestreet, Colin Garbarino and Arsenio Ortezza. Thanks also to our breaking news crew, Kent Covington, Steve Klosterman, Travis Kircher, Daniel Devine and Christina Grube. And thanks to the Twilight text, the moonlight maestros serving the program each weekday bright and early, Benj Eicher and Carl Peetz. Harrison Waters is Washington producer. Kristin Flavin is features editor. Lindsay Mast is producer. I'm executive producer Nick Eicher.
- [38:38]
Myrna Brown
And I'm Myrna Brown. The world and everything in it comes to you from World Radio. World's mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates and inspires. The Bible records that in the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking on the sea.
- [38:56]
John Stonestreet
But.
- [38:57]
Myrna Brown
But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified and said, it is a ghost. And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, take heart, it is I, do not be afraid. And Peter answered him, lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water. He said, come. So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and beginning to sink. He cried out, lord, save me. Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, o you of little faith, why did you doubt verses 25 through 31 of Matthew chapter 14 walk in love this weekend as you you worship with your brothers and sisters in Christ in a Bible believing church. And Lord willing, we'll meet you right back here on Monday. Go now in grace and peace.