KHOI

Originally broadcast 04/30/2014
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Local Talk ends National Poetry Month with a bit of a "slam" featuring 4 local poets: Jim Coppoc, Xavier Cavazos, Jennifer L. Knox and Claire Kruesel. In between poems, Jim Coppoc shares the history of poetry slams nationwide and in the town of Ames, and describes the scene at Ames Poetry Revival, the poetry slam / music jam that happens the first Tuesday of each month at DG's Taphouse. Host Greta Anderson also checks in with the poets on what drives them to keep pulsing out poems.

Originally broadcast 04/28/2014
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We featured coverage of the annual Ames Sand County Almanac "marathon" reading, led by Erwin Klaas, then pursued a controversy arising last week from the publication of scientific research about the carbon footprint of cellulosic ethanol, made from corn stalks. The DuPont plant going up in Nevada is the largest-ever plant using this experimental technology. Two articles published in the Des Moines Register last week demonstrate industry push-back against the researcher's conclusions that burning cellulosic ethanol may be worse for the environment than gasoline. Co-host Greta Anderson talks to Greenlee School of Journalism professor Michael Dahlstrom about this controversy as an example of how science is reported in the mass media.

Originally broadcast 04/23/2014
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Today's Local Talk helps you "gear up" for this weekend by sharing info and insights about 2 cultural happenings in our community. Our first guest is Sandra Looft, founder of Ames Kidical Mass, which gathers once a month for family-friendly bike rides (April 26). Tune in to hear Sandra's inspirations and the childhood bike memories of other Ames residents. Next we spoke with Lyndsay Nissen, the organizer of an "unfiltered" art exhibition called Art Vacancy (April 24-27) and two artists whose installations are featured in this event, Ryan Francois and Jennifer Drinkwater.