The State of Things

Ari Picker's novelistic childhood and difficult life story has been at the heart of his music since he started writing songs. He describes his band, Lost in the Trees, as making orchestral folk music, combining the passion and pathos of symphonic music with the intimacy and searching of classic folk music. The band's album "All Alone in an Empty House" has had more than one incarnation including the newest, released last summer.

Recently, the news was focused on President Barack Obama and his critics who publicly doubted that he was native born. In response, the President released his long-form birth certificate as proof of U.S. citizenship. Still, some don't believe him. What is it about conspiracies that draw people in, even after being presented with the facts? Host Frank Stasio talks about the Obama story and other famous conspiracy theories with Kenneth Kitts, a professor of political science at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke and author of the book, “Presidential Commissions & National Security: The Politics of Damage Control” (Lynne Rienner Publishers/2006).

Burning Coal Theatre Company in Raleigh wants young playwrights to have a chance to showcase their work. That's why staff there created Kidswrite, a contest that picks and performs the best plays written by junior high and high school students. This year's winning plays include an impressionist romance and a play told from the perspective of a hangman.

Silvia Heyden has had a thriving career as a weaver, creating tapestries on commission in her native Switzerland before moving with her family to Durham, NC in 1966. She continues to weave, forging a new abstract tapestry form that is inspired, in large part, by the Eno River. Kenny Dalsheimer's new film, "A Weaverly Path," documents Heyden's long and colorful journey with the yarn, the loom and the river.

This year’s session of the North Carolina General Assembly has already been pretty heated. Lawmakers have to hammer out a budget agreement this summer, so things could get even more tense before the session ends. Revenue is down and budget cuts are inevitable, but how much to cut and where remains to be seen. Yesterday, the State Senate began its work drawing up a new budget. Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue and the State House of Representatives have hammered out plans as well.

How we spend our money says a lot about what we value. This holds true for governments as well as individuals. As we make our way through this lengthy recession, host Frank Stasio takes a look at what is really important to North Carolina, based on the state's budget priorities. Joining him to read the tea leaves in the state budget are Louisa Warren, senior policy analyst for the North Carolina Justice Center; John Hood, head of the John Locke Foundation; and Scott Huler, journalist and author of the recent book "On the Grid: A Plot of Land, An Average Neighborhood, and the Systems that Make Our World Work " (Rodale/2010). Listener call-in.

Most counties have one school district for all of their students, but North Carolina's Halifax County is an exception. It has three districts for about 8,000 students, and The UNC Center for Civil Rights is targeting them for being separate and unequal. Despite the fact that Halifax County is 39 percent white, two of its districts have almost no white students while one has more than 70 percent.

Helping students become entrepreneurs has become part of the educational mission for many colleges and universities. North Carolina State University does this through its Entrepreneurship Initiative and the Garage. In the Garage, students can design prototypes, meet with investors or brainstorm with their peers. Host Frank Stasio talks about college entrepreneurship with N.C. State graduate students Angela Hollen, creator of the children's clothing company Spitter Spatter; Andrew Misenheimer, creator of SPARKmoto, a company that designs electric superchargers for motorcycles; Tom Miller, executive director of N.C. State's Entrepreneurship Initiative; David Townsend, assistant professor of entrepreneurship in the Department of Management, Innovation and Entrepreneurship at N.C. State; and Micah Gilmer, clinical assistant professor of social innovation at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Big Daddy Kane is one of the most influential voices from the golden era of hip-hop. In the 1980s, Kane entered the music scene with style, sex appeal and the skills to rhyme over rapid-fire beats – a combination that sealed his place in hip-hop history as one of the best emcees of all-time. The Brooklyn-born rapper now makes his home in North Carolina where he continues his creative work. He joins host Frank Stasio to talk about his influential career and his role as a rap music pioneer.

An 18th century home and several other historic buildings sit on a tract of land on Wake Forest Road in Raleigh known as Mordecai Historic Park. Neighbors of the property are atwitter about the city's plan to build an interpretive center at the site. At one time, the Mordecais owned one of the largest estates in Wake County and were among the area's most powerful families. They were also one of the few prominent Jewish families in central North Carolina during the 19th century. Host Frank Stasio talks about the family's remarkable history with author Emily Bingham, author of the book "Mordecai: An Early American Family" (Hill and Wang/2004).