Arts & Life

As the busy holiday shopping season revs up, it seems like retail stores and delivery services have the hardest working folks in town.  But another industry shifts into high gear after Thanksgiving: the arts.

“The apple never falls far from the tree,” the saying goes. But what happens when it does? Our guest today tells the stories of children whose identities are very different from their parents, such as dwarfs who are born to parents of average stature.  How do parents and children navigate these differences?  And what do these children have in common?

Constructed languages, or "conlangs," are the made-up tongues that bring the worlds of "Avatar,"  "Lord of the Rings" and "Star Trek" to life. We talk with linguist David J. Peterson, creator of the Dothraki language for HBO's "Game of Thrones," about what goes into creating a language from scratch.

The fall 2012 RadioActive students just completed their eight-week workshop where they learned how to make radio stories for the first time. In this podcast, we're featuring several of their incredible stories about triumphing over tough times:

• A 15-year-old girl accidentally burns her house down. Now she's trying to pick her life up from the ashes. She shares her deeply personal story.
• A teenage girl loves to care for children with cancer at Seattle Children's Hospital. But the help goes both ways — she has a rare form of leukemia herself.
• A high school teacher tells a Samoan student that he's only good at football. The student channels his anger at that teacher into a documentary about the stereotypes Samoans face.

In "Fooling Around," poet and translator Alice Derry considers the implications of the artistic life — whether it is chosen, or thrust upon us.

Mina Miller is a Seattle pianist who founded the organization Music of Remembrance 15 years ago. Her passion for the organization springs in part from her family history. Mina comes from a Holocaust family.

The first Thursday of every month you can tour through the downtown galleries and see art from independent local artists, exhibits from out of town artists and masterpieces at the SAM. And if you want, you can do more than look, you can buy. Do you?

Ross Reynolds talks to listeners about the art of buying art.

Andrea Allen was a force to be reckoned with. For more than two decades she ran Seattle Repertory Theatre's Education Program, but her passion for theater and for kids transcended the Rep. Allen shared her expertise with other Seattle arts groups. She was involved with teen writing programs.  And she was involved in arts advocacy at the state level, as a leader of Arts Ed Washington.

When Dance Theatre of Harlem was forced to close its professional company in 2004, it was a blow to dance lovers around the country and to fans in the Pacific Northwest.  Seattle had been a frequent stop during the company's 35-year history, attracting raves for its productions of classical ballets as well as contemporary work influenced by African and African-American cultural traditions.  So it seems fitting that after Dance Theatre of Harlem re-started its company two years ago, then mounted its first national tour in 2012, Seattle would be on the itinerary.