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Ideas Matter: Why Do Stories Matter?

In our Ideas Matter segment we take time just about every week to check in with the state humanities councils in our 7-state region. Today we're talking with Maria Tatar, Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures at Harvard University.

She's written and translated several books on fairy tales, and she describes how seemingly simple stories like “Little Red Riding Hood,” and “Beauty and the Beast,” challenge us to think a little harder as we try to decode the cultural contradictions in them. The Vermont Humanities Fall Conference “Why Do Stories Matter?” will take place November 13–14 at the Dudley Davis Center at the University of Vermont and our guest, Maria Tatar will participate.

In a radio career that has spanned nearly 35 years, Ray Graf has done it all. At one time or another he worked as an overnight board operator, a commercial copywriter, a reporter and a voiceover announcer. For several years - a lifetime ago - he was a morning drive disc jockey. Graf has been a member of the WAMC News team for 16 years. These days, he finds himself as The Roundtable's news anchor, panelist- and occasional guest host for Joe Donahue. "Radio news is not always easy," said Graf of his most recent radio vocation, "but it's not nearly as difficult as spinning a Michael Bolton record at 5:45 in the morning and pretending you're happy about it."