Sounds Good

A perennial favorite opens at Murray’s Playhouse in the Park this week: "Driving Miss Daisy," by Alfred Uhry. The 1987 play centers around the relationship of an elderly white Southern Jewish woman, Daisy Werthan, and her African American chauffeur, Hoke Colburn during the time period 1948 to 1973. Kate Lochte speaks with Director Katie Hamilton, and actors Marci Edmonds (Daisy) and Joshua Jones (Hoke) about the production.

Murray State’s Teacher Quality Institute’s Constance Alexander brings poetry to the studio on Sounds Good today. She’s produced Poetry Minutes for WKMS over the past several years. In the conversation, she reads some of the poems written by area school kids for the project, and talks about teaching poetry to kids, how to interpret something like a photo or painting using carefully constructed words.

Click here to listen to this year's Poetry Minutes.

Bonus: Here's last year's Poetry Minutes!

Last week, the Pennyrile Area Development District announced that a new set of letter-size county maps for its region is now available at its website: peadd.org. The person responsible for mapping is Jim Creighton, who is called a “data integrator,” and he spoke with Kate Lochte about his work.

Murray State's Cinema International is including "Between Two Rivers" the 2012 Documentary about Cairo, IL, in this week's features with a showing tomorrow night (first showing was Thursday night). Tim Johns is Assistant Professor of English and Coordinator, Jesse Stuart Fellowship, in the Department of English and Philosophy at Murray State and is becoming active with the Cinema International organization on campus.

Kate Lochte speaks with interior designer Bill Ford of Paducah. Saturday, April 13 from 4 to 8 pm, Gallery 1025, at 1025 Jefferson Street in Paducah, hosts the opening reception for Mr. Ford’s first art show, “Bill Ford: Signature Collection.” The show runs through May 25th. See more at Bill Ford's website.

We continue our occasional series previewing good reads for young adults from Katherine Farmer, Coordinator of the Racers Children's Preview Collection at Murray State University. This week's recommended read is The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate, a Newberry Winning book for ages 8 and up that School Library Journal describes as a must-have, that the characters will capture readers' hearts and never let go.

Kate Lochte speaks with West Kentucky Easter Seals President and CEO Danny Carroll about a new project underway. The organization is in the first stages of implementing a Prescribed Pediatric Extended Care Program, called "The Lily Pad," providing enhanced childcare to Western Kentucky families with children facing complex medical issues.

Kate Lochte speaks with Ann Johnson of the Kentucky Historical Society about their Cemetery Preservation Program. They have recently added two new services, thanks to grant funds from the Steele-Reese Foundation: KHS' Pioneer Cemetery Program and its Adopt-A-Cemetery Program. Cemeteries dating prior to 1842 are considered "pioneer" and if so designated will be marked and dedicated as such. Click here to learn more about KHS Cemetery Preservation. 

Murray State’s Kentucky Center for School Safety Resource Center hosts a free workshop on training and curriculum on bullying and violence prevention next Wednesday, April 10 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Curris Center.  Registration is open until Friday at kysafeschools.org for this “Operation Respect Workshop.”  Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Murray fame founded Operation Respect and will appear in concert in Wrather Auditorium at 6:30 p.m., also on April 10.  Kate Lochte speaks with Operation Respect education director Mark Weiss.

Tens of thousands of visitors will be in our region to view the contemporary art of quilting in a myriad of styles, methods, and materials during the AQS Quilt Show and Contest in Paducah the 24th through the 27th of April. Among these visitors will be two men from Cairo, Egypt who will be demonstrating their art of applique’, making works on the spot, exhibiting their textile art and selling works as well. Next we meet the woman who paved the way for these artisans to have access to the American marketplace. Kate Lochte interviews Jenny Bowker.