April 13, 2015 - For the 40th anniversary since the first Hmong family settled in Minnesota, MPR’s Tom Weber interviews three Hmong American artists: spoken word and hip hop artist Tou Saiko Lee, painter Cy Thao, and writer Kao Kalia Yang. They discuss the value of the arts, through which personal and cultural pasts are melded with their present lives.
March 5, 2015 - MPR News with Tom Weber presents a commentary and interview with Pai Yang, a Hmong woman who used to live in St. Paul. Yang shares her thoughts of Hmong family and perceptions of Hmong in society.
February 27, 2015 - This week, a roundtable discussion on what it's like to be a first generation American.
January 9, 2015 - On this The Daily Circuit program, MPR’s Tom Weber talks with Lee Pao Xiong and Chia Youyee Vang about the history of the Hmong migration to the U.S…a history that some are unaware of 40 years after the first arrivals.
September 18, 2014 - The Daily Circuit presents a transgender panel discussion moderated by MPR’s Marrianne Combs. The group discuss that for many whose gender doesn’t conform to the traditional image of male or female, the barriers to success…and sometimes even to basic survival, are everywhere.
July 30, 2014 - The Daily Circuit’s Tom Weber talks with U.S. Representative Tim Walz, who represents Minnesota's 1st District and sits on the House Veterans Affairs committee, about what the VA needs to change and whether a $17 billion fix from Congress can do the job. The two also discuss the latest rules governing the safety of oil trains. 50 oil trains a week pass through Minnesota.
July 23, 2014 - We air Kerri Miller's conversation with novelist Elizabeth Gilbert earlier this month at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul.Gilbert's latest book, "The Signature of All Things," is a sprawling tale of 19th century botanical exploration.Gilbert is best known for her 2006 memoir "Eat Pray Love," which chronicled her journey alone around the world, looking for solace after a difficult divorce. The book was an international bestseller, translated into over thirty languages, with over 10 million copies sold worldwide.In 2010, "Eat Pray Love" was made into a film starring Julia Roberts. The book became so popular that Time Magazine named Gilbert as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.This is the 15th season of Talking Volumes.
February 20, 2014 - MPR’s Kerri Miller has a conversation with Lou Bellamy, co-artistic director of Penumbra Theatre, and Ifa Bayeza, playwright of “The Ballad of Emmett Till,” about the themes of the play and its relevance to current tragic events concerning young men of color.
January 24, 2014 - It's a Friday in Minnesota, and that means tonight's a good time for a meat raffle.It may be a part of Minnesota culture, but to newcomers and out-of-towners, the meat raffle baffles. As "Eat, Pray, Love" author Elizabeth Gilbert observed in the New York Times after visiting a Brainerd meat raffle in 2006, "You know you're an outsider when something that seems perfectly normal to everyone else is impenetrably bizarre to you."Meat raffles are considered a form of legal gambling, and they're regulated in this state by the Minnesota Gambling Control Board. They are common in Minnesota and Wisconsin, as well as in Canada and England.
December 26, 2013 - Richard Moe, Minnesota native and former chief of staff to Vice President Walter Mondale, brings readers into the world of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his latest book, "Roosevelt's Second Act."Moe explores the year 1940, what he deems a pivotal year of American history, through Roosevelt's complex character of actions and motivations as he considered pursuing a third term. Moe argues that Roosevelt's third term greatly changed d America's foreign policy and changed the way people perceived the presidency.Moe joins The Daily Circuit to discuss his book. Moe will also speak Nov. 20, at 7:30 p.m. at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School of Public Affairs.