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GRETA CUNNINGHAM: From Minnesota Public Radio, I'm Greta Cunningham. Officials in Buffalo Lake are trying to decide whether to allow unescorted volunteers to enter the city to help clean up the damage from Tuesday night's tornado. National Guard troops enforced a 10:00 PM curfew in Buffalo Lake last night. The town still does not have power or phone service. Officials say the damage could exceed more than $10 million.

The old Apache mall in Saint Anthony Village will be demolished for new construction with the help of a cleanup grant from the Metropolitan Council. The Met Council approved more than $1/2 million for the suburban Twin Cities project. Saint Anthony Village mayor Randy Hudson says the grant to contain asbestos pollution in the old mall buildings is critical before redevelopment on the site can proceed.

RANDY HUDSON: You can imagine with buildings that were built back in those days, the amount of asbestos and so forth, you never know the extent of it. And as we dug into it, I mean, there is a considerable amount of cleanup that's going to be required to take this building down and contain it properly.

GRETA CUNNINGHAM: Hudson says the old Apache mall site will become a mix of housing and commercial space when all the phases of the $125 million project are completed in a few years. The eight Met Council cleanup grants totaled $2.5 million.

A Saint Cloud teen accused of killing his father can use up to $25,000 from his father's estate to pay for his defense. Stearns County judge Skipper Pearson ordered the sister of the victim, Ken McClellan, to release money from the estate for the defense of 18-year-old Jason McClellan.

The forecast from Minnesota calls for mostly cloudy skies in the north with a chance of showers, partly sunny in the south with a few thunderstorms possible. It will be cooler statewide with breezy conditions, highs today ranging from 58 in the far north to 75 in the south. Right now in Duluth, it's cloudy and 55, in the Twin cities, cloudy and 60. From Minnesota Public Radio, I'm Greta Cunningham.

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GARY EICHTEN: 2,578 people have done that already during this very abbreviated membership drive. 2,578 people like yourself around the region have picked up the phone, made the call, or clicked and join online. And now we're hoping this hour will be your opportunity to join that distinguished crew of members, new members, and renewed members of Minnesota Public Radio. Gary Eichten here, Bill Wareham has joined me again. And we're here for just a couple of minutes, then we're going to hear from Emily Buchwald, who is being honored tonight for her contributions to the arts in Minnesota. 1-800-227-2811, the number to call to make your membership pledge.

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BILL WAREHAM: On a good day, on a really good day.

GARY EICHTEN: --on one of those big days. But there are a few of you who aren't members yet. And if you're one of those folks, but you listen fairly regularly to this program and other programs on that station, for that matter, give us a call, make a membership pledge. That's the way it works. Other folks have been paying the freight up till now, and maybe it's time for you to step forward as well.

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GARY EICHTEN: 1-800-227-2811. I can't see. Let me see if I can-- oh, goodness gracious. 22 people now. We're up to 22 people who have joined us at the Leadership Circle level. And before we get started with the Emily Buchwald program, I wanted to point out to you the special advantages.

If you're one of those folks who, you know, uses the service a lot, recognizes Minnesota Public Radio as a community resource, maybe more than just a radio station, $100 a month pledge would be most appreciated. Join us at that Leadership Circle level. We'll put your money to good use and you will receive, as a special thank you gift, 10,000 Northwest Airlines world perk miles.

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GARY EICHTEN: All right. You know, Minnesota is often praised for its unusually vibrant arts and culture scene. And during this hour, we're going to hear from a woman who has played a central role in developing and nurturing that reputation. Publisher Emily Buchwald, the winner of last year's McKnight Foundation Distinguished Artist Award.

Buchwald was a founder of Milkweed Editions, the influential literary press based in Minneapolis. But now, after decades in the business, Emily Buchwald is retiring as publisher of Milkweed. And she's being honored at a reception tonight at Open Book in Minneapolis, the literary arts building that she helped bring into being.

Given all that she's accomplished, Emily Buchwald was a natural for our Voices of Minnesota interview series, which features prominent Minnesotans with interesting stories to tell. You hear the Voices interviews here on Midday. So last fall, given her situation, Voices producer Dan Olson talked with Emily Buchwald about her career. Let's listen in.

DAN OLSON: Emily Buchwald is a writer, a former college professor, and the mother of four daughters. She was born in Vienna, Austria. Her father, an attorney and her mother, a concert pianist, fled the country for the United States as Hitler's power spread.

Buchwald grew up in Queens, New York. She spoke with me at the Milkweed Editions offices on Washington Avenue in Minneapolis. When your family sat down with you later on and talked with you about leaving Austria, what kinds of stories came up? Did a picture emerge of what were the circumstances for leaving? Obviously, the rise of Hitler.

EMILY BUCHWALD: Yes, the rise of Hitler and the fact that my parents both were interrogated just because they were Jews, and their property was confiscated. My father actually was taken downtown by the Gestapo. He was made to scrub the streets. There are some pretty harrowing stories.

DAN OLSON: Did your parents adjust well to the United States?

EMILY BUCHWALD: I think it was very difficult because my father was an attorney. And when he came here, he couldn't speak English, so he lost his profession. He worked a variety of jobs, as most immigrants do. He swept out factories, he ground lenses. And eventually, he set up a business as an importer/exporter. And so that took quite a few years.

My mother, who had never even boiled water, suddenly found herself faced with a very different kind of life. She went to work in a butter factory and then in a music type. She was a pianist, so she was better suited for that. And then, after a few years when my father did have a little business, she was able to stay home with me.

DAN OLSON: So the picture that is drawn here in the 2002 distinguished artist McKnight Foundation publication is of this kid, you, sitting on the stoop reading the dictionary because you loved words. What was that all about?

EMILY BUCHWALD: I did always love words and books and stories. And I think my father played a large role in that. He loved to talk about books. I collected comic books. And he said, all right, every time you give me 10 comic books, we'll go out and buy a book. And then, of course, we went to the library together.

But because he was such a good storyteller, he was very vivid in what he was able to communicate to me about the books he had enjoyed when he was growing up. And so he had read Mark Twain. He had read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and other books by Jules Verne. And so we had a lot to talk about.

DAN OLSON: Did being the bookish kid in the neighborhood set you apart? Did kids pick on you or did they make use of your knowledge?

EMILY BUCHWALD: At first, you know, I was only almost four when we got there. And for a while, I just wasn't going to speak English. Finally, it dawned on me that I had to speak English if I wanted to communicate. And then I had to find my place in, really, this group of girls. We had a gang of girls, maybe varying in age. And you kind of had to fight for your place.

So I think it was learning of how to be a street kid. Because during the years when my mother wasn't around, I was with a family who were my babysitters. But I was out on the street playing a lot of the time. And so I really grew up on the streets.

DAN OLSON: Are we talking pretty rough? Kids shoving each other around, getting into scrapes?

EMILY BUCHWALD: Oh, yes, hair pulling, people whacking and shoving, and so forth. So, I mean physical fighting.

DAN OLSON: A side of Emily Buchwald probably not too many people associate with you now.

EMILY BUCHWALD: Well, I'm not generally known for it these days.

DAN OLSON: Emily Buchwald. Among her other duties at Milkweed Editions, she's an editor. She's the person who helps authors find the best structure and the best words for their stories. Buchwald explains that that often means asking writers to rethink, rewrite, and discard.

How many manuscripts does Milkweed Editions get a year from authors who want to be published?

EMILY BUCHWALD: We receive about 3,000 manuscripts. And in addition to that, we receive a number of queries. So we are constantly looking at unsolicited manuscripts and we welcome them. That's part of our job as a literary nonprofit press, to look at work by new writers. And many of the books we've published successfully over the years have been by emerging writers. These are debuts for writers who have gone on to become successful not only published by us, but published by commercial houses.

DAN OLSON: How do you do it? Can you tell now fairly quickly, within a couple of minutes, you read the lead and you think, wow, that one's not going to make it, that's in the out pile?

EMILY BUCHWALD: I think after years of reading manuscripts-- and remember, that I was a college teacher for a long time and I read a lot of writing during that period of time-- one can tell fairly soon whether it's a literary manuscript. And then, if you are excited by it, you go on and read more. And if you are really lucky, you're reading till the very end and you're thrilled. And that, of course, is what we're looking for. We're looking for that response of being thrilled.

DAN OLSON: Really? Some of the manuscripts-- very few, I assume-- come to you in such good shape that you actually just go right through them and are quite excited by them?

EMILY BUCHWALD: Excited by the talent of the writer. The manuscript may have a long way to go, but the talent of the writer emerges invariably.

DAN OLSON: What's the range of quality you're getting these days? How does it rate with what you've seen over the years?

EMILY BUCHWALD: It doesn't change much. I think it's going to be true and probably any of the arts that there are going to be some practitioners whose work strikes you as superlative, and you know that these are people who have a career as writers.

DAN OLSON: So what happens in the editing process? Does stuff really get torn apart and reassembled?

EMILY BUCHWALD: Often. Often that happens. You know, one of the real pleasures of my work is to talk to writers, to talk to them about their manuscripts, and to say, you know, you've done such a wonderful thing with this character. What happened to the other character who you introduced early on? And can we see more of that character? Or the sequence of events here doesn't seem to be as clear as it could be.

So first, I would begin by looking at the manuscript architecturally. Does it hold together? Does it have a sound structure? And so we begin by looking at that. And then if it's fiction, of course, characters are everything because characters move the plot.

And character-driven fiction is the most arresting and not only the most successful, I think, but the most lasting kind.

DAN OLSON: What happens when a writer says, now wait, you can't touch that. That phrase or that section is sacred to me, the writer, and I don't want you touching it.

EMILY BUCHWALD: What's really been interesting to me over the years is that the better the writer, the more interested the writer is in feedback and in discussing back and forth why something works or why something doesn't work. Because the aim of the writer is to produce the best possible finished product, the best possible book that he or she is capable of.

And my job is not to take over the manuscript. My job is to be the writer's outside eye, the eye that looks a little more coolly at what's on the page and is able to point out what can be changed and what the writer can do differently. And so, over the years, I've really never had anyone say to me, no, I won't do that.

They'll say, well, wait a minute, I really like it that way. Why? What makes you think? And then we start talking. And I'm not out to change anybody's fixed opinion. I'm out to ask them to think further about something.

DAN OLSON: Naturally, I'd love you to name names, but I don't need you to do that, if you'll remember some memorable exchanges over what some of us might consider a fairly itsy points.

EMILY BUCHWALD: Well, there's really nothing that's too itsy, I guess I would say. Because after the discussion about structure and character, there's the discussion about line editing, about the sentences, the words, the word choices in the sentences, because it all adds up.

You know, the finished book is the result of hundreds and hundreds of choices deliberately made. And so I would say that I'm very willing to go back and forth with a writer on points that I think would help to make that manuscript better.

DAN OLSON: So your advice to writers, what should they do if they want to be published by Milkweed Editions?

EMILY BUCHWALD: General advice to writers-- and I think most writers already are aware of this-- is to be avid readers, to read for style as well as for content, to become really familiar with the work of master stylists, stylists of their choice. People like different kinds of books. It doesn't really matter. It's being aware of how much has gone into the writing of any particular book.

And so to read a book two or three times that they like, to take a paragraph or two, see how it's constructed, see what makes it happen, recognize the fact that the writer has a distinctive voice. So I'd say it's not that you want to copy another writer, but learn that each individual writer has struggled and has found his or her voice.

So after that, find your voice, your unique voice. And it helps if you have something to say. The most important advice I can give is have a body of knowledge. It's so refreshing to read a book where not only are you thrilled by the literary quality of the work, but you're learning something as you go forward.

For instance, a couple of examples. I was just looking again at Snow Falling on Cedars. And I was thinking how much Guterson knows about boats, about fishing ships, and about catching salmon. You know, the details are marvelously rendered.

And a recent book by Jane Smiley called a Horse Heaven, which is entirely about horses and horse racing, is thrilling in that it gives you someone's intimate knowledge of what it means to own a horse, to race a horse, to train a horse, what it's like to go to a racetrack. What does it mean to be a jockey, for instance. And she could not have written that book without a whole world of information behind her.

And so I think when I tell writers have something to say, not only have something to say, but be an expert in it. Be so aware of the background of what you're saying that you could write a little biography of each character that you're creating, that you could draw a map of the landscape that you're describing, so that you have exactly in your mind these human beings you want to bring to life, and so that your book feels realized in every sense.

DAN OLSON: Listening to that makes me feel not very many people who would like to be writers have all that much to say or have done all of those things you've just described.

EMILY BUCHWALD: The good thing about writing is that can continue to learn. I think if you are truly dedicated to becoming a writer and recognize that it means taking pains, you can do that. You can be a writer at 80. And there are writers. I'm trying to remember when Joseph Conrad began to write his novels in English, but he was fairly advanced in years.

And there are a number of writers who grow in their art. And it's much better to grow than to shrink or diminish.

DAN OLSON: You're listening to a Voices of Minnesota conversation with Emily Buchwald on Minnesota Public Radio. I'm Dan Olsen. Buchwald is a founder of Milkweed Editions. The Minneapolis based nonprofit organization publishes nonfiction, poetry, literature for young people, and books about the natural world and the environment. Among her other duties at Milkweed, Buchwald is the person who says no to writers whose work doesn't measure up.

Now, I don't mean this question sarcastically at all. I'm quite serious when I ask this. Do you have a collection of stock phrases for letting people down gently? Dan, I know you can grow, if you'll just take a little more time to study this piece you're trying to write.

EMILY BUCHWALD: Fortunately, I don't have to look most writers in the eye and say that, although I have done that. And I think one of the most difficult parts of my job is that I have to say no more than 90% of the time. And that, I hate. I like to say yes, and I'm not able to.

So we do it by sending letters, and rejection letters back to writers. And I know it's not satisfying, but what I found is early on, I would actually give people comments when they asked for them. And invariably, they were angry. They were angry because I presumed to criticize their work and I hadn't accepted it.

And so I've learned, very painfully along the way, that it is a mistake to do that, at least so it seems to me.

DAN OLSON: So just reject them and say good luck to you.

EMILY BUCHWALD: Well, you know, the idea is to say that someone else might like their work. Because the other piece of advice I would give to a writer that is not to be disheartened. If you think you're good and someone has rejected you, or 15 or 20 people have rejected you because those people can be wrong, as many successful writers have pointed out. They've papered their room with rejection letters, and the great delight is in proving those people wrong who rejected their work.

DAN OLSON: Tell me your take on the commercial publishing houses. I can't tell where we are in our literary history in the United States at this point. Self-help, cooking, memoir, where are we, Emily?

EMILY BUCHWALD: Well, of course, commercial houses will always publish, I would say, some of the most exciting literary work because they can pay for it. And more power to them and to the writers that they publish, because we want writers to earn as they should.

However, having said that, I would say that they hedged their bets. In addition to publishing some very fine literary books, they publish a lot of books to pay the bills because they found that they can't make a living by publishing literature. And that's why it's a relatively small part of their publishing program.

They publish books that they think will sell. So they do publish the cookbooks, the home repair manuals, the latest gardening book, the new version of how to be rich and thin. You know, that's a perennial. There's always a book like that. And then the television biographies. And they will publish 200, 300, 500 titles a year, hoping that out of those titles will come some books that will pay for all the others and that will make them a lot of money. And that, of course, is their right and their job.

DAN OLSON: Do you spend much time trying to figure out the American psyche by charting what's being published? If murder mysteries go from the cozies to the more slasher-oriented veins, does that tell you that we're a more violent nation or anything like that?

EMILY BUCHWALD: We are a violent nation, but human beings are a violent species. And I don't think there's any way of getting around that. All you have to do is look at what sells not only in book publishing, but in other media, to know that that's true. However, it doesn't have much meaning for Milkweed Editions, in the sense that we take the opposite perspective.

Instead of saying to ourselves, what sells? Or, what sells this year? Or, what will sell next year? We say, what is good writing? What's good literature? What deserves to be between covers? What might last? What might become part of the weave of American culture? You know, how is this talented writer going to be represented in the future. So that's our perspective.

DAN OLSON: Has moviemaking and the purchase of book rights for movies, has that greatly changed the style of writing? Or has it had any effect on the style of writing in this country?

EMILY BUCHWALD: I'm sure it has. I read many manuscripts which almost are film scripts or television scripts. They're very cinematic and you can have a very good book that is very cinematic if the writing is exciting enough. But the heart of good literature has always been to examine through words, not only the dialogue, but also the surroundings, also the larger picture of what's going on in the society.

And a good film can certainly do that. But, you know, as I look at films, for instance, I'm going to see White Oleander, which has just been released, but I don't think it will approach the book by Janet Fitch, which is so darkly compelling and so well written. And certainly, when I look at the Forsythe saga on television, which is being very interestingly adapted-- and I remember the earlier version on Masterpiece Theater as well-- I have read the Forsythe saga, and there is no way that those very good television adaptations are going to give you the glory of the book-- books, I should say, because there are a number of them. And the glory is the language.

DAN OLSON: Do you have a novel of your own tucked away somewhere in the drawer that you're working on privately, quietly?

EMILY BUCHWALD: The answer is no. And if I were doing that, I'd probably be remiss because there's so much to do in publishing that the same kind of creative activity that goes into writing really does go into editing and publishing. And if you're not giving it the office, you're not doing your job.

So as long as I am here at Milkweed Editions, I'm not likely to go back to being a writer. And I must tell you that I admire the writers I've worked with so much. It's been just a tremendous joy for me to have worked with so many marvelous writers.

DAN OLSON: Have you reached a point in your role as editor with some authors where you've seen the book published, Milkweed perhaps has published the book, and you've thought to yourself, gee, I wrote that book as much as the author.

EMILY BUCHWALD: I would never dare to imagine that. But it's nice to know that I've contributed. It's nice to know that the writer feels I've given that book real attention, loving attention, I guess I would say, and that I have thought about that book in a very intense way, probably a very obsessional way during the time that I was editing it. And so that's my part of it, but it's not my book.

DAN OLSON: You're a poet and a poetry lover at heart. You're, of course, also a published writer in your own right. You already referred to your time as a college professor. I think this McKnight publication, where you've been awarded the 2002 Distinguished Artist by the McKnight Foundation, this book contains a poem, "The Dream of Now" by William Stafford. Tell us about this poem. You like it. What do you like about it?

EMILY BUCHWALD: I love this poem. I loved it when I first read it back in 1980. And I just have to say that William Stafford, who was then already a very well-established poet, was extremely kind. He was flying through Minneapolis, and I had called him and said, we're starting a new journal. Would you help us? Would you help us with finding writers? Do you have any ideas for us, any suggestions?

And so he suggested that we meet in the Minneapolis airport. And we spent several hours together talking. He opened his address book, he gave me names. He gave me addresses, a very generous, large souled individual. And even more wonderful, he allowed us to print two of his poems in the first issue of Milkweed Chronicle. "The Dream of Now" was one of them.

DAN OLSON: Would you read it for us?

EMILY BUCHWALD: I would love to. "The Dream of Now." When you wake to the dream of now from night and its other dream, you carry day out of the dark like a flame. When spring comes north and flowers unfold from earth and its even sleep, you lift summer on with your breath lest it be lost ever so deep. Your life you live by the light you find and follow it on as well as you can. Carrying through darkness wherever you go, your one little fire that will start again.

I love that poem. I love that poem in its description of the human condition. It's understanding that we are always trying to figure out where we are in our lives, where we've come from, where we might be going, recognizing that we're going to stumble and fail and fall.

And if we can hold that one little fire and recognize that we can light it again, it offers human beings hope in the darkness that many of us recognize is an essential part of human existence.

DAN OLSON: Emily Buchwald, thank you so much. A pleasure to talk with you.

EMILY BUCHWALD: Thank you. I've enjoyed it.

GARY EICHTEN: Writer and publisher Emily Buchwald talking with Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson as part of our continuing Voices of Minnesota interview series, which you hear frequently here on our Midday program. Emily Buchwald is the winner of the 2002 McKnight Foundation of Distinguished Artist Award and the founder of Minneapolis-based publisher Milkweed Editions. After decades in the business, she's retiring and she's being honored at a reception tonight.

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BILL WAREHAM: Won't break. You can keep stuff cold in there. You can put hot stuff in there. It's a nice deal to have.

GARY EICHTEN: So both of those are available at the $10 a month level. And then, you know, we're shameless here. If you join us at the $20 per month level, if you'd like that t-shirt, if you've been thinking you'd like that new Nalgene water bottle and you've been eyeing the Grundig radio, the wind-up radio that we've talked so much about--

BILL WAREHAM: The one you can take on the go. It runs on batteries, but also, you can wind this thing up. So if you're out camping, got to stay in touch with Midday, just crank this radio up. You can stay in touch with Minnesota Public Radio day, night, midday, $20 a month is all it takes. You just have to call us now at 1-800-227-2811.

GARY EICHTEN: Lots of Thank you gifts. And I think you've heard about most of them. I think you're probably aware-- if you've been listening to the last couple of days, you're probably aware of the drawing we're going to have, whoever calls in.

BILL WAREHAM: I haven't heard about that.

GARY EICHTEN: This is for the Vespa scooter. Somebody is going to win a new Vespa ET2 scooter. To qualify, all you have to do is call us and we enter your name. You don't even have to pledge to get in on that. I think you've heard about all of these various inducements. The big thing here is to think for a moment about the value of the programming. I think we had a couple of pretty good shows again today on Midday, and if you heard them, I think you would agree.

Over the 11 o'clock hour, we're talking to Chris Farrell and Lewis Johnson about the state of the US economy. And, you know, was it a ponderous discussion? I don't think so.

BILL WAREHAM: I don't think so at all.

GARY EICHTEN: We covered a lot.

BILL WAREHAM: That's what I loved about that discussion. It's what I love about all those discussions, is that a guy like me who sometimes feels barely educated can hang in there. I mean, I understand the US economy when fellows like Chris and the Professor talk about it.

GARY EICHTEN: Right. So you learn a little something, but it's not like you have to eat spinach. That was at 11:00. This hour, you to get some insight into one of the really significant contributors to the Minnesota arts scene, Emily Buchwald.

BILL WAREHAM: That's right.

GARY EICHTEN: Part of our Voices of Minnesota series, good programming, we think. And I think you would agree for the most part.

BILL WAREHAM: Other people seem to agree. Tommy Tallaksen of Big Lake, Minnesota, seems to agree. Tommy called in a $240 per year pledge and didn't take any of those great thank you gifts. Tommy says this just seemed like the thing to do, to call in, He recognizes the value of Minnesota Public Radio and recognizes how important it is for us to balance the books at the end of this fiscal year. We have two people on the line who've called 1-800-227-2811.

We'd like to get more. We still have a ways to go to balance the books, and it takes you out there to give us a call and say, yeah, I listen to Midday all the time. This is important to me. It's important that Midday is there every weekday. So give us a call at 1-800-227-2811.

GARY EICHTEN: 10, or let's call it a dozen, a good solid round dozen calls here, membership pledges, and we'll make our hourly goal $2,200 to raise. How about you? If you're one of 12 people who's not currently a member or if it's time to renew, 1-800-227-2811.

BILL KLING: Many complain that the era of media consolidation is drowning out independent voices, serious journalism, and locally oriented programming and news. Hello, I'm Bill Kling, president of Minnesota Public Radio. We're a local nonprofit, independent news organization. We do not offer sensationalism or infotainment, but we do bring you balanced, in-depth, national and world news and information, a strong local and regional news agenda, all featuring journalism of substance and value.

We're only able to do this because of financial contributions from listeners. Please take a moment to support this important voice by letting your voice be heard. Today, click and join at minnesotapublicradio.org or call us at 1-800-227-2811. Thank you.

SPEAKER: During the war, you heard Anne Garrels in Baghdad reporting on Iraq and its people.

ANNE GARRELS: I'm pretty proud to say that I think I gave an accurate sense of their fears, their concerns about Americans coming in, their sense of-- I mean, they were very conflicted. While they hated Saddam Hussein, they're very nervous about having outsiders come in and perhaps dictate their future.

SPEAKER: As you can imagine, this kind of coverage isn't cheap.

ANNE GARRELS: In order to stay in baghdad, the Iraqi information ministry charged us basically $200 a day just for the pleasure of being in Baghdad. And the satellite phone costs were extraordinary. You know, I was living in a dump of a hotel. It was not high living but I know that it's going to be extremely-- the foreign desk is way over budget.

SPEAKER: Maybe our war coverage brought you to Minnesota Public Radio for the first time. Maybe you've been listening for years but haven't gotten around to joining. Now is the time to help.

ANNE GARRELS: If you did appreciate our war coverage, please help us. Because we're not only going to need to move forward to cover the complexities of Iraq now, but we're going to have to cover a lot of bills. And it's going to be a tough time for us. And I just hope that you can help.

SPEAKER: Call 1-800-227-2811. That's 1-800-227-2811, or click and join at minnesotapublicradio.org.

GARY EICHTEN: Sure hope to hear from you. 1-800-227-2811 is the number to call. There are two folks on the line right now. And again, if there are about 12 of you who have not called in to show your support for Midday yet, you'll be able to get us to our hourly goal. And it's important as we come to the end of the fiscal year, as we come to the end of our drive, we're not going to be on the air over the weekend. Tomorrow is the last day. So we're hoping to get you signed up today before you get busy with the weekend.

1-800-227-2811. Now there are five callers on the line, so I guess about nine more.

BILL WAREHAM: I think we can hit that dozen more that you're talking about there. And I hope folks will listen carefully to what Anne Garrels said there, because I know the people that listen to Midday are voracious news consumers. And I am, too. And I get news from a lot of sources. I subscribe to a couple of newspapers every day, three on Sundays.

I have cable TV jones that I have to work out every day, watch CNN and other stations. And you know, we're in the same business they are. And businesses incur expenses. And we're trying to balance the books on our expenses right now. We've dipped under $380,000 to go here. So we're headed in the right direction. We aren't quite there yet. I'd like to see another dozen people call us up at 1-800-227-2811.

Jenny Ryan called. And let's see, she called in from Roseville, I think with a new membership pledge, although I'm probably misreading the form. Carol Thompson, thank you for your call from Excelsior, brand new member of Minnesota Public Radio, admits that guilt played something of a role.

David Tower from Bloomington has called us with a new membership pledge. And thanks to Frederick Myers from Duluth, Lois Geiger from Bemidji, both of whom renewed, and Christine Hahn, brand new member from Shorewood. 1-800-227-2811.

How about you? These are the folks who pay for the programs that we all listen to, and we'd like you to do what you can. $10 a month, $20 a month, whatever works.

SPEAKER: If you win the Vespa from Minnesota Public Radio, would you ride it to the store to pick up a gallon of milk? Or, would you race through the streets on a secret mission, avoiding your enemies and foiling the bad guys all without breaking a sweat?

Break out of your routine. Become a member now at minnesotapublicradio.org and you're automatically enter to win a spunky Vespa scooter from Vespa, Minnesota. Or call 1-800-227-2811. That's 1-800-227-2811. There's no pledge necessary to enter.

SPEAKER: I really appreciated the voices from the Middle East.

SPEAKER: When the Minnesota Public Radio takes 15 minutes to talk about a topic, you feel like you get something a little more in depth.

SPEAKER: I felt there was really no other media outlet where I could get really good information.

SPEAKER: Do the right thing and call--

SPEAKER: 1-800-227-2811.

SPEAKER: I can now listen to public radio and not feel like I'm taking something that doesn't belong to me.

SPEAKER: Hey, this is your body speaking. Did you know I'm supposed to be getting eight glasses of water a day? Come on, I'm dying here.

SPEAKER: Excuse me, this is your brain. We're listening to Minnesota Public Radio, and I'm getting quite the workout.

SPEAKER: This is your conscience. Do you realize that we've been listening to NPR and we haven't given them any money?

SPEAKER: Ease your cognitive dissonance. Become a member of Minnesota Public Radio today and get the summer pack. For just $10 a month, we'll not only send you the new NPR t-shirt, but also the stylish and sturdy Nalgene water bottle. Support radio that nourishes your mind, spirit, and body. Click and join at minnesotapublicradio.org, or call 1-800-227-2811. That's 1-800-227-2811.

GARY EICHTEN: Bill, I'll see you with the t-shirt on cruising around on that Vespa, which you cannot win. You're going to have to buy yours because we work here.

BILL WAREHAM: That is unfortunate, but I'm willing to put up with that.

GARY EICHTEN: Chugging from the water bottle, I can see that. I can see that.

BILL WAREHAM: I'd love to be that person. And you out there can be that person if you give us a call, 1-800-227-2811. You'll be entered in that Vespa giveaway. You don't have to win the t-shirt. We'll send you the t-shirt if that's what you'd like, if you join at the $10 a month level. We also have this road trip kit, a bunch of books to take with you on the road this summer as you head out and visit the United States.

You know, maybe you're looking for the best place for barbecue somewhere in the South. You know, the road food book will tell you where to find that barbecue. So give us a call. 1-800-227-2811. Five people are on the line. We're getting dangerously close to making our goal, but we aren't there yet. We have to balance the books and we can only do that if you call in, 1-800-227-2811.

GARY EICHTEN: We are probably about seven callers, seven members shy now of making our hourly goal here. So one of seven of you out there, if you are one of seven folks who's not yet called in with a membership pledge, 1-800-227-2811, you will help us get to our goal, our hourly goal, staying on track.

You can pick up a copy of the Willie Nelson two CD set if you'd like, $12.50 a month, hear Willie in the background, whatever works for you. Whatever these thank you gifts appeal to you the most, make the call because we need your membership support to pay for the programs, which is really what this is all about. 1-800-227-2811.

I want to just run down very briefly here. I know a lot of you do listen to Midday regularly, but just a reminder. Now, this was last week, Monday, Governor Pawlenty, then the Speaking of Faith documentary on Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Tuesday, Eugene McCarthy here to talk presidential politics. Then at noon, Hume Cronyn with Joe Dowling.

Let's see, Wednesday, we talked about Medicare reform with Susan Foote, National Press Club broadcast with the head of one of the big drug companies to get their perspective. Then on Thursday, Stanley Hubbard of Hubbard Broadcasting with his take on the big changes in the world of the media. And a National Press Club broadcast with Chuck Hagel.

We stayed on the air an extra hour to give you a live coverage of President Bush's visit to Fridley. Then on Friday, let's see, what did we do? Oh, yes, presidential politics with Larry Jacobs, kind of getting ready for the presidential visits or the candidate visits from all the people who want to be president who are Democrats. And among other things, we heard from Howard Dean over the noon hour. Then that evening, we heard all of the other candidates. So that was one week's worth of Middays.

BILL WAREHAM: Not bad at all. That speaks, I think, to the incredible breadth and depth of news you pick up here at Minnesota Public Radio, not just during Midday, but all day long you get that. But if you're a hardcore news consumer, Midday is the place to be. You know, you get your headlines, of course, at the top of the hour. But then, you know, we're not talking about a couple of minutes of interview here. You know, the governor was on all hour long. People were calling in, asking their questions, talking about everything under the sun. A lot of budget talk, a lot of policy talk.

You just don't find that anywhere else. And if you appreciate that, give us a call now. Help us balance our books. 1-800-227-2811.

GARY EICHTEN: We have just four minutes to go here. And we're so very close to making this hourly goal. If you would be one of, I think we're down to about five people now, who would make a membership call, either a new membership or renewal. Get your name in the hat. Do what you can, step forward here. Some of the folks who've been paying for this service, who've been supporting are not going to be able to renew, so take their place in line here. 1-800-227-2811.

We have several open lines. You'll be able to get right through. I'd like to get you counted and we'll enter your name in the drawing for the scooter if you'd like to win that, the Vespa scooter. Got plenty of thank you gifts. The big thing is that we stay on track so that programs like Midday can stay on the air and we can pay for these programs. 1-800-227-2811 is the number to call. And let's see, what do we have here now, in these last two minutes?

BILL WAREHAM: There's a Leadership Circle challenge. I was just going to mention the Leadership Circle. So if you can do it, the Leadership Circle is $100 a month and you know, we realize not everybody can do it. But if you can, give us a call, 1-800-227-2811 and pledge at that level, this is the time to do it, because maybe you've had a chance to read the details here, but we have a matching challenge here, right? $1,000 matching challenge. $1,000 of your pledge amount will be matched. So give us a call, 1-800-227-2811. If you've been thinking about joining at that level, this is certainly the time to do it.

GARY EICHTEN: Sure is. 1-800-227-2811. Of course, you get the 10,000 Northwest Airlines world perk miles. You get the big tax deduction. But the big thing right now is you get matched dollar for dollar. So if you're one of those who've been thinking about becoming a Leadership Circle member, give us a quick call here and get your contribution matched dollar for dollar. 1-800-227-2811. Whatever level, get that membership in. We're really close to making the goal this our.

SPEAKER: Programming is supported by the McKnight Foundation, working to strengthen families and communities, and the General Mills Foundation.

SPEAKER: I became a member during your most recent drive.

SPEAKER: I've been a member-- well, this is my first time.

SPEAKER: I'd been using the old I'm really poor defense. I frankly was feeling guilty about not contributing.

SPEAKER: Even I couldn't put off being a member anymore. It was just too affordable.

SPEAKER: I think it is crucial, especially now, to support a public radio stations. To become a member, call 1-800-227-2811. 1-800-227-2811.

SPEAKER: Programming is supported by the Navab Brothers Oriental Rug Company, proudly serving the community for 15 years, now in their new location on Excelsior Boulevard in Saint Louis Park, and online at orientalrugcompany.com

GARY EICHTEN: 91.1. You're tuned to 91.1 KNOW FM.