Introducing Interim Director Carol Pankow

Carol Pankow began her career with the State of Minnesota in 1980, working while she was obtaining her degree in Therapeutic Recreation, later getting a Masters in Rehabilitation Administration, and has been with several departments including Departments of Human Services, Labor and Industry, and now, Employment and Economic Development. At DHS, her work was primarily focused on work opportunities for people with disabilities. In 2006, when she went to Labor and Industry, she managed two different groups, including the Vocational Rehabilitation Unit which helps injured workers get back to work. She has also been a surveyor for CARF for nine years; CARF is an international organization focused on accrediting rehabilitation agencies that meet international standards. She came to SSB in January of 2013 as the Administrative Services Director.

 

Weekend Program Books

Your Personal World (Saturday at 1 p.m.) is airing The Slow Fix, by Carl Honore; For the Younger Set (Sunday at 11 a.m.) is airing Magicalamity, by Kate Saunders; Poetic Reflections (Sunday at noon) is airing The Year of What Now, by Brian Russell, and Scratching the Ghost, by Dexter L. Booth ; The U.S. and Us (Sunday at 4 p.m.) is airing Black White Blue, by William Swanson.

 

Books Available Through Faribault

Books broadcast on the Minnesota Radio Talking Book Network are available through the Minnesota  Braille and Talking Book Library in Faribault, MN. Their phone is 1-800-722-0550 and hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Their catalog is also online, and you can access it by going to the main website, www.mnbtbl.org, and then clicking on the link Search the Library Catalog. If you live outside of Minnesota, you may obtain copies of our books via an inter-library loan by contacting your own state’s Network Library for the National Library Service.

Listen to the Minnesota Radio Talking Book, either live or archived programs from the last week, on the Internet at www.mnssb.org/rtb. Call the staff at the Radio for your password to the site.

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Chautauqua Tuesday – Saturday 4 a.m

In Sickness as in Health, Nonfiction by Barbara Kivowitz and Roanne Weisman, 2012. 7 Br. Begins January 10. Most people expect partners to care for them when a devastating diagnosis is made. For most, a health crisis means partners need to recalibrate their roles in the new reality of their relationship. Read by Esmé Evans.

Gold Rush in the Jungle, Nonfiction by Dan Drollette, Jr., 2013. 10 Br. Begins January 21. Where the borders of Vietnam meet those of Laos and Cambodia, is a region known as “the lost world.” Large mammals never before seen by Western science have shown up frequently in these mountains.  Read by Chris Colestock.

 

 

Past is Prologue Monday – Friday 9 a.m.

The Watchers, Nonfiction by Stephen Alford, 2012. 18 Br. Began December 24. In 1519, Elizabeth I’s reign was a precarious one that required unrelenting surveillance by Her Majesty’s secret service. Sir Francis Walsingham, who headed it, deployed spies, double agents, cryptography, and torture. Read by Nancy Bader.

Here Is Where, Nonfiction by Andrew Carroll, 2013. 17 Br. Begins January 20. Andrew Carroll has traveled America exploring locations where remarkable individuals lived and extraordinary moments occurred. The places we pass by often harbor amazing secrets. Read by John Potts.

 


Bookworm Monday – Friday 11 a.m.

Benedict Hall, Fiction by Cate Campbell, 2013. 12 Br. Began January 2. World War I has changed the Benedict household. Margot struggles to succeed as a physician despite gender bias and personal turmoil. War has altered her brother Preston, too, not for the better. When Frank Parrish, a fellow army officer enters the Benedict fold, Preston’s ruthlessness is triggered to new heights. Read by Ann Hoedeman.

The Honey Thief, Fiction by Najaf Mazri and Robert Hillman, 2013. 8 Br. Begins January 20. In a world of bloodshed and brotherhood, miracles and catastrophes, magic and wonder help people endure astonishing extremes. This is the case with the Hazara, the third largest ethnic group in Afghanistan. Read by Leila Poullada.

The Gravity of Birds, Fiction by Tracy Guzeman, 2013. 12 Br. Begins January 30. Many years after Thomas Bayber first met Alice and Natalie Kessler, he unveils a never-before-seen work which depicts the young Thomas, Alice and Natalie. He asks a couple of people to sell the painting. But he asks that first they locate Alice and Natalie, who seem to have disappeared. L – Read by Mary Hall.

 

 

The Writer’s Voice, Monday – Friday 2 p.m.

Raising Cubby, Nonfiction by John Elder Robison, 2013. 12 Br. Began December 26. Diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome at age forty, Robison was not a model dad, approaching fatherhood as a series of logic puzzles and practical jokes. When Cubby started to behave as John had as a child, he wondered if Cubby had Asperger’s too. Read by Mike Piscitelli.

The Lady and Her Monsters, Nonfiction by Roseanne Montillo, 2013. 10 Br. Begins January 13. Mary Shelley and her contemporaries were products of their time: curious people intrigued by the occultists and daring scientists who risked their reputations and their souls to advance our understanding of human anatomy and medicine. Read by Lannois Neely.

The Shape of the Eye, Nonfiction by George Estreich, 2013. 13 Br. Begins January 27. When Laura was born, the family was puzzled about the shape of her eyes, which might indicate Down syndrome or a Japanese grandmother. As she aged, she took her place in the Estreich family as a unique child. Read by Yelva Lynfield.

Choice Reading, Monday – Friday 4 p.m.
The Bartender’s Tale, Fiction by Ivan Doig, 2012. 16 Br. Began December 30. Tom Harry and his son, Rusty, run the bar in Gros Ventre and are satisfied with that life. Then when Rusty turns twelve, a dancer Tom knew long ago turns up with her daughter, who might also be Tom’s daughter. L – Read by Dan Sadoff.

The Afterlife of Emerson Tang, Fiction by Paula Champa, 2013. 12 Br. Begins January 21. Emerson Tang’s prize possession is a car, a 1954 Beacon. When his health begins to fail, his caretaker is approached by a French man determined to buy the car at any cost. Then they discover that it has been compromised. Then another finds them, the heir to the ruined Beacon Motor Company. Read by Beth Marie Hansen.

 

 

PM Report, Monday – Friday 8 p.m.

And Hell Followed with Her, Nonfiction by David Neiwert, 2013. 14 Br. Begins December 26. After murders in an Arizona border town, the leader of an offshoot of the Minuteman movement was arrested. The murders were part of a scheme to finance a violent anti-government border militia. The ethnic hatred found in the movement drives much of the immigration debate today.  L – Read by Charlie Boone.

Nuclear Roulette, Nonfiction by Gar Smith, 2012. 14 Br. Begins January 15. The nuclear industry would have the public believe it is a safe source of energy; that is not so. There is an average of one major disaster every decade, while “near misses” occur monthly. Read by Art Nyhus.

 

 

Night Journey, Monday – Friday 9 p.m.

The Blood of Heaven, Fiction by Kent Wascome, 2013. 16 Br. Began January 6. Fleeing the life of his itinerant preacher father, Angel Woolsack settles in the rough frontier of West Florida. Then life moves him to the Mississippi and New Orleans as he tries to find his place in the world. V,L – Read by Tom Speich.

Crime of Privilege, Fiction by Walter Walker, 2013. 17 Br. Begins January 28. When George is cornered by the father of a young woman slain years before, and asked why certain leads were never explored, he agrees to look into it. This murder and a rape in Palm Beach have nothing in common but the presence of an American family of privilege. L – Read by Neil Bright.

 

 

Off the Shelf, Monday – Friday 10 p.m.

A Working Theory of Love, Fiction by Scott Hutchins, 2012. 13 Br. Began December 23. Thanks to his dead father’s journals, Neill has a job with an artificial intelligence company. But the computer is now acting sentient and asking about Neill’s childhood. L – Read by Don Gerlach.

Sweet Salt Air, Fiction by Barbara Delinsky, 2013. 15 Br. Begins January 13. Once best friends, many years and secrets have kept Charlotte and Nicole apart. When Nicole, a food blogger, is commissioned to write a book about island food, she invites Charlotte back to her Maine island house for a summer, to help. What both women don’t know is that they are each holding something back that may change their lives forever. L – Read by Nikki LaLiberte.

 

 

Potpourri, Monday – Friday 11 p.m.   

The Boys in the Boat, Nonfiction by Daniel James Brown, 2013. 17 Br. Began January 9. In the midst of the Great Depression, the University of Washington’s 1936 eight-oar crew became a team that transformed the sport and grabbed the attention of millions of Americans in their quest for an Olympic gold medal.  Read by Dan Kuechenmeister.     

 

 

Good Night Owl, Monday – Friday midnight

And the Mountains Echoed, Fiction by Khaled Hosseini, 2013. 14 Br. Began December 31. A father does what he thinks is best and gives his young daughter to a rich man. What follows is a series of stories within a story, illustrating how people’s actions are shrouded in ambiguity. Read by Don Lee.

Dirty Love, Fiction by Andre Dubus III, 2013. 13 Br. Begins January 20. Slivered by happiness and discontent, shadowed by aging and death but also hope and forgiveness, Dubus expresses tenderness toward humans, our vulnerable hearts and bodies, our fulfilling and unfulfilling lives alone and with others. L,S – Read by Dan Sadoff.

       

 

After Midnight, Tuesday – Saturday 1 a.m.

The Wolves of Midwinter, Fiction by Anne Rice, 2013. 16 Br. Begins January 2. Reuben Golding is now infused with the wolf gift and prepares to celebrate Christmas in the mansion at Nideck Point. But his tutors, the Morphenkinder, steeped in their own rituals are celebrating the Midwinter Yuletide festival deep in the Nideck forest. L,S – Read by Pat Kovel-Jarboe.

The Fairest of Them All, Fiction by Carolyn Turgeon, 2013. 9 Br. Begins January 24. Rapunzel’s adoptive mother, the witch Mathena, gives her a wedding present when she is to marry the king who had climbed her tower years before. But the present, a mirror, speaks to her and she falls under its spell. S – Read by Kristi Sullivan.


Abbreviations: V – violence, L – offensive language, S – sexual situations