Saturday Morning for Saturday 11 May 2019

 

    
8.09   Katrina Karkazis -  Caster Semenya and the myth of testosterone

Katrina Karkazis is a anthropologist and bioethicist whose research aims to challenge entrenched scientific and medical beliefs about gender, sexuality, and the body. She is a senior research visiting fellow in the Global Health Justice Partnership at Yale University and co-author of a soon to be published book: Testosterone: An Unauthorized Biography. Karkazis recently commented on Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling that 800m Olympic gold medalist Caster Semenya will have to take medication to reduce her naturally high levels of testosterone to be able to compete against other women. Karkazis feels the ruling "discriminates against women" and argues there is "no predictable relationship between natural testosterone and improved performance".

 

 

9.04    Jeff Tweedy - Recording and Discording with Wilco

Founding member and leader of American rock bank Wilco, Jeff Tweedy is an accomplished songwriter, musician and performer. The Guardian describes Tweedy's ascent to fame as a 30 year battle against "drugs, alcohol and in-fighting to become one of the US's most revered musicians". His memoir Let's Go (So We Can Get Back): A Memoir of Recording and Discording with Wilco etc was published in 2018. Jeff Tweedy will be appearing at two events at the Auckland Writers Festival
 

 

 

 

 

 

9.40     Bryony James  - Do crunchy foods make you fuller? 

Bryony James is a Professor in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering at the University of Auckland. She is a materials engineer, but rather than looking at metals, plastics or ceramics, her focus has been on food. Her current research programme explores the impact of food texture on satiation - why crunchy, crispy, chewy food makes us feel fuller than  smooth food. Her previous work has included finding novel ways to remove proteins from wine, and measuring the "snap" of good chocolate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.04   Dustin Lance Black - Mama's Boy 

Dustin Lance Black is an American screenwriter, director, film and television producer, and LGBT rights activist. He won a Writers Guild of America Award and an Academy Award for the 2008 film Milk. He has recently written a memoir about his upbringing called Mama's Boy, which describes growing up Mormon in Texas - where being gay was not only a sin, but a crime. His polio-stricken mother, while conservative and very religious, would stand by his side when he helped bring the historic gay marriage case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Black is married to British Olympic diver Tom Daley.
 

 

11.04    Cliff Curtis  - How Merata Mita decolonised the screen 

Cliff Curtis is one of New Zealand's most well known actors. His successes include Once Were Warriors and Whale Rider and he has also had roles in international films including Last Knights and Avatar and in television series, including a lead role in Fear of the Walking Dead for American channel AMC. Curtis is the executive producer of a new movie called MERATA: How Mum Decolonised the Screen, about the life and legacy of filmmaker Merata Mita, by her son Hepi Mita. Curtis was a protégé of Merata's and prompted Hepi to undertake the documentary - and he also financed the project.  MERATA: How Mum Decolonised the Screen is launching nationwide on Mother's Day, May 12th.
 

 

 

11.40   Alison Stringer  - Gathering mushrooms in May 

 

 

Alison Stringer works a government job by day, and is a scientist and lifelong forager.  A trained mycologist (fungi expert), she undertook graduate studies in Dr Ian Hall's edible ecomycorrhizal fungi group aka the Truffle Lab at Invermay. She is active in the international DIY Bio/Community Bio networks and is the mycologist in residence at Fab Lab Wgtn. Alison is also a founding member of the Space and Science Festival Trust, which runs hands-on science/tech education events in New Zealand. She is currently hard at work in the autumn foraging season, looking for all manner of delicious field mushrooms, porcini, oyster mushrooms, giant puffballs and shaggy ink caps.

 

 

Books mentioned in this episode:

 

Let's Go (So We Can Get Back): A Memoir of Recording and Discording with Wilco, Etc

by Jeff Tweedy 

ISBN: 9780571330515

Faber & Faber

 

Mama's Boy: A Story from Our Americas

by Dustin Lance Black

ISBN13: 9781524733278

Knopf Publishing Group 

Music played in this show

Song: I Know What it's Like
Artist: Jeff Tweedy
Album:: Warm
Played at: 9:08

Song: Family Ghost
Artist: Jeff Tweedy
Album: Warmer
Played at: 9:43

Song: Pagan Angel & a Borrowed Car
Artist: Iron & Wine
Album: The Shepherd's Dog
Played at:10:08

Song: Real Thing
Artist:Middle Kids
Album:  New Songs for Old Problems - EP
Played at:11:40