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I'm Kelly Crossley and this is the Kelly Crossley Show. The state legislature is working hard to whittle down kids waistlines by supporting a bill that would ban junk food and schools throughout the state. Today one in three kids in Massachusetts is obese or overweight. Take that statistic and pair it with the latest research. That fatty foods could be as addictive as cigarettes or cocaine. And one wonders if banishing bad food is enough. We'll look into what it will take to render childhood obesity obsolete. From there we literally segue to a street war in Boston's North End where city officials citizens and business owners are fighting over the tourism that the tubular machines are bringing to the city. We top off the hour with writer Michael Dell but his latest book on how uncorking a bottle of vino can uncorked your ingenuity. Up next weight wheels and wine. First the news. From NPR News in Washington on CORBA Coleman President Obama has signed into law. Big changes in the college

student loan program. Students will now apply directly to the federal government for loans rather than going through private banks. Mr. Obama says this will save taxpayers 68 billion dollars over a decade in the 21st century when the success of every American hinges more than ever on the quality of their education and what America's success as a nation. Rest more than ever on an educated workforce that is second to none. We can't afford to waste billions of dollars on giveaways to banks. The change in the loan program is actually attached to the last piece of health care overhaul legislation to be signed. Federal authorities have arrested a ninth member of a militia group in Michigan who is wanted on sedition and weapons charges. He's part of a group of Christian militants who hoped to incite an uprising against the government. NPR's Dina Temple-Raston reports. Joshua Matthew Stone surrendered without incident last night after the FBI played messages over loudspeakers urging the young man to give himself up. Stone is the son of the man behind a Michigan based militant group that calls itself Hutaree hate of its

members were arrested over the weekend for allegedly wanting to kill an unidentified law enforcement officer and then attacked his funeral killing more law enforcement officials. Their goal was to spark an uprising against the government. Joshua Stone's father David Stone is thought to be the leader of the group. FBI officials say the nine men involved in the plot were preparing in their words for a coming battle against the anti-Christ. They had allegedly planned some sort of dry run of their planned for April. Officials say that's why they moved in when they did. Dina Temple-Raston NPR News. Heavy rain is causing flooding in parts of the Northeast and in Rhode Island residents on the Patuxent River are working to keep floods out of homes and businesses. From member station WRNI in Providence Alex newness reports. NEW YORK RESIDENT Walter shallow has three sump pumps running at his home but that has not stopped the two to three inches of water that have already accumulated in his basement. Officials suggested a voluntary evacuation yesterday before national rela says he plans on staying put.

I'm Joe we don't I don't see how much worse this gets but. Well it's going to get to the point of not being able to stay in the hall it was all done. Want to come up with a plan going somewhere but as of right now. Trying to. Keep what we have from the Patuxent hit major flood stage this morning it is currently above 15 feet its flood stage is nine feet in the National Weather Service expects the river to crest at more than 7000 feet tomorrow. Elsewhere in Rhode Island the Blackstone River is expected to reach a major flood stage by later this afternoon. For NPR News I'm Alex Noons in Providence. On Wall Street the Dow Jones Industrials are up a point to ten thousand eight hundred ninety six The Nasdaq is also up a point at 24 0 5. The S&P 500 is down a fraction. You're listening to NPR News. Home prices continue to send mixed messages about the housing sector. The latest S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index shows prices inching up in some regions of the United States in January. However Daniel Karson reports fewer cities are seeing higher

home prices. The latest report shows home prices aren't doing any swan dives. They fell seven tenths of a percent in January. The smallest dip in three years but Standard and Poors Maureen Maitland says prices overall are flat lining. They're not moving too much in either direction. There are some mixed results. You know every year we're looking better but that may be simply because this time last year the housing market was in absolute turmoil. Among the 20 cities the index tracks home prices rose in 12 including San Francisco San Diego and Minneapolis. They're still tanking in Las Vegas. And if you look at the big picture Washington D.C. Los Angeles and New York City held up strongest with each of those markets still 70 percent above January's level a decade ago. For NPR News I'm Daniel Carson. The South Korean military is on alert South Korean President Lee Myung bak made the order following an accident last Friday. A ship broke up and sank in the Yellow Sea. Half the sailors are missing and feared dead. U.S. and South Korean officials say there's no

evidence North Korea was involved in the accident. But South Korea's defense ministers said a North Korean mine may have been responsible. The body of a missing member of the ruling family from Abu Dhabi has been found shaky amid bin Zyad Knight was the younger brother of the president of the United Arab Emirates. He was in a glider crash over the weekend in a lake outside the capital of Morocco. I'm CORBA Coleman NPR News from Washington. Support for NPR comes from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation helping NPR advance journalistic excellence in the digital age. Good afternoon I'm callin Crossley and this is the Calla Crossley Show today one in every three kids in Massachusetts is obese or overweight and legislators are working to reverse this. A bill to ban the sale of junk food and sugar loaded sodas is gaining serious momentum. But when it comes to kids and the prevalence of fast

and processed foods. Are these measures enough. Joining us to talk about what it will take to reverse childhood obesity are Pat Bebo and Dr. David Katz. Pat Bebo is a registered dietitian and a project leader with the expanded food and nutrition education program at UMass extension. She has also been a part of the governor's council that is carrying out this kind of legislation. Dr. David Katz is an authority on nutrition weight management and the prevention of chronic disease. He is also a professor of public health practice at Yale School of Public Health. Bebo Dr. Katz welcome. Thank you. Thank you Kelly. Now in Massachusetts the House passed a version of the get junk food out of schools bill in January and then in March the Senate did and so now what remains is there has to be a reconciliation between the two. But for all purposes the bill is passed and we're talking about a ban on these vending machine junk food items fried food the sugary drinks all of that stuff.

When the bill passed in the Senate Senate president to reste Mary Dr. Katz said call this childhood obesity a crisis. I wonder is that too strong a word or is that appropriate. If anything it's not strong enough it's been a crisis for a while. And when you ignore a crisis for too long it turns into a catastrophe. You mentioned in the intro that one in three kids is overweight or obese. Frankly that's just because the definition we use for overweight obesity in children is quite exclusive rather than inclusive because of the stigma. We really don't want to use this label if we don't have to. I think the actual figure if you look around is higher. And you know just just to put the situation in the bluntest of terms when I went to medical school I learned about two kinds of diabetes juvenile onset and adult onset adult onset diabetes is extinct. We now call it type 2 diabetes because this chronic disease of midlife is occurring routinely in childhood and that

is solely and exclusively because of epidemic childhood obesity and there's worse around the next corner. So it's certainly a crisis. It is long overdue to intervene very assertively and protect our kids. Have you seen the same thing pit Bebo. Yes it's the type 2 the incidence of type 2 diabetes has gone up alarmingly in our area. I work in the lower southeast region of the state. It's one of the highest areas that has one of the areas of the state that has the highest incidence of diabetes. We see a large amount of children that are. Increasingly not able to partake in physical activity and the issues of co-morbidities besides type 2 diabetes hypertension in children high cholesterol in children those are all going up. Is it because they are too overweight or because they don't have access to P.E. programs. Well there's a combination of things that obesity isn't something

overweight obesity isn't something that has taken place in a vacuum with only the food being a component of it. It also has to do with lack of physical activity lack of access to the healthier foods. Understanding of how to make those choices and the environment that goes along with that so it is a multi factorial issue and it has to take multiple components in an environment to have an impact on that issue. Now having said that what is the impact of removing these junk food items from vending machines as you see it. Well the bill is actually putting. Recommendations upon the competitive foods we call them competitive foods in the schools because they compete with the National School Lunch Program and the other foods that have guidelines that are in the schools. But the bill goes further than that and it promotes the availability of fresh fruits and vegetables. It promotes the idea of access to recess prior to having your meal. It

promotes nutrition education. So there are other components it's looking that the whole if you will the community of the school having a part in creating a healthy lifestyle choice. Dr. Katz specifically what this bill is going to do is as I said they're going to take that soda out the candy bars the fried chips and sports drinks which I think a lot of people would be surprised to know that they're almost as sugary as the regular sodas. Replace that with 100 percent fruit juice as Pat has mentioned add some non fat low fat dairy products and non fried items. But I want to ask you the same question I asked Bebo and that is what can be the the impact of just that removing of the food from the vending machines. I mean is can that be significant enough even a part of the community of effort as Pat has described. Right. Well Kelly a few responses first. We in our children face a lot of factors associated with modern living that are causing obesity diabetes and other

chronic diseases. Everything that makes. High calorie low nutrient very tasty highly processed food convenient excess of all economical the preferred and easiest choice is part of the problem everything involved in marketing that food is part of the problem. And frankly every technological advance that replaces something with technology that muscles used to do is part of the problem and suburban sprawl is part of the problem if we think of that as a flood of factors. The only way to stop a flood is a levee and any one thing we do is a sandbag in that levee. So the answer is no one intervention will fix all of this. But on the other hand you never build a levee until you start stacking sandbags. Everything we do is either part of the solution or it's part of the problem. And just to to help people over the hump of resistance none of it particularly with the recent health reform legislation people are pretty stirred up about not wanting the government to tell us what to do. And I think every parent every adult concerned with the well-being of children should understand that the notion of

junk food is not cute and it's not innocuous. The growing body of a child grows out of nutrients derived from the food they eat and absolutely nothing else you watch your child or your grandchild grow. And the building material for that growing body of that child you love is the food they eat. I don't think any loving adult would want to see a body of a child they love constructed out of junk it's not cute. Getting rid. It doesn't go far enough there's much more we need to do in every setting But absolutely it's part of the solution. We're speaking with Dr. David Katz who is an authority on nutrition and weight management and is based at Yale School of Public Health. And Pat Biba who is a registered dietitian and based at the expanded food and nutrition education program at UMass extension. Let me ask this question. What's to stop a kid from bringing junk food from home I mean if if. OK so it's taken out of the school vending machines and the kid keeps bringing it from home. How can how can we even given that I know

both of you are telling me is not just one thing but you know that's a big deal I think absolutely everybody has a choice and there's no question that choice will always be there. The best we can do again is if you're looking at the school environment the best we can do is educate the parents at the same time as to the healthy choices so we have if we are creating a healthy environment in the schools communicating to that to the parents and helping them learn how to make those healthy choices helping them learn how to determine what is a healthier. Less process snack to bring to school. If their child isn't provided a snack during the school day. In fact you think that part of the reason of this increase in obesity is that lots of parents don't cook anymore. There is that issue of lack of skills. And again the obesity issue or the overweight obesity and all this has come to play over the last 30 years it hasn't been something that just dropped in our seats and we have

to look at it as something that has been skills that have been trained out of us. And one of those skills is healthy cooking and as Dr. Katz said the availability of the highly processed quick easy foods and the way our culture has developed into print preferring those over foods that are take a little more time to prepare and don't even take that much longer but we have that thought process that they do that has become part of the issue. And I agree completely and I would second the notion that just because every parent doesn't and maybe can't do the right thing for lack of time lack of skill power and it's critical to know this depends not just on willpower but also skill power many people don't have. That's no reason for schools not to do the best they can do and we can give people skill power so that everyone can identify better nutrition and intervening in other settings then schools work sites

communities supermarkets as part of the solution. For the last several years I've been intensely involved in an effort that culminated in the nutrition guidance system called Nouvelle and UBL and listeners can check it out at Nouvelle dot com that scores overall nutritional quality on a scale from 1 to 100. The higher the number the more nutritious the food it can score any food any meal. It's in about 600 supermarkets around the country and spreading to more. And we're in several communities around the country putting it in schools and actually linking education in the schools to education for the parents who are doing the shopping in the supermarket. We can start to build that levy by stacking the sandbags and thinking creatively about how to get them to rise higher faster and turn the tide of all these problems that confront families around the country. Well that brings me right to the question of if intervention and how one begins to get people to be interested in the sandbagging and I'm reminded of a celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's new program has a new show on ABC called Jamie Oliver's

Food Revolution and the idea behind it is to get Americans to eat healthier and I just want to give listeners a taste of what he came across when it went to Huntington West Virginia in a place where nearly half the adults are considered obese and the incidence of diabetes and heart disease lead the nation. One man is coming to lead a food revolution. This is about life and death as a piece of a breakfast and on my years I've never seen people give back in any country. Now I played that clip Dr. Katz because when he created the healthier food choices for breakfast as opposed to pizza the kids overwhelmingly chose pizza. So I mean he's an uphill battle here. How responsive have kids and parents been to learning healthy ways I mean you've articulated a program. I know Pat is working with parents but how responsive are they really. You know actually I think they're very responsive. We have a free program for kids in schools called Nutrition detectives and it's in thousands of schools around the country.

And the first thing it teaches kids is the care and the message there begins with simple things like healthy people have more fun you know talking to an 8 year old this isn't about chronic disease years down the line. It's about energy and play in the things they love to do. And so I think we need to translate messages so that they resonate with whatever our audience is. Maybe it's the parents maybe it's the grandparents maybe it's the children. Children CARE ABOUT fun they care about energy and vitality. They understand that food is the fuel that runs their body. And then the issue becomes this. We need to guide people to a place where they can still love food but it loves them back in other words it's good and good for you and I'm sure Pat and I agree that's absolutely possible. It just requires an education most people haven't had if they think we're trying to talk them into giving up loving food so that it's. Good for them they will resist. But I think we can show them you can eat better. It can still taste good and it doesn't even need to cost more. It just requires skills you don't have yet but you can learn that you can learn them your kids can learn them and the whole family can

pursue health together. It's not as hard to sell it as our society tends to make it out to be. OK well one of the persons that was in charge of leading the charge against obesity we have to give her a mention is First Lady Michelle Obama has launched a nationwide campaign called Let's Move. It's an ambitious program in childhood obesity in a single generation. We're spending 150 billion dollars a year treating obesity related illnesses so we know this is a problem and there's a lot at stake. So we know that we need to do something big and get moving on it so we're we're launching a mad nationwide campaign called Let's Move because we need to get this done. Bebo will that have an impact on the people you're working with. The fact that the first lady is leading this initiative and giving it visibility I think that she's given it visibility in the places that she has visited. I don't know how much visibility it's getting in certain individual communities around

the country I know that where I work they they haven't really heard that much about it. But I think that it's one of those components that moves the country as a whole into having a different mindset toward a healthier lifestyle which is the goal I know we talk about overweight and obesity. But if we could just get people living healthier lifestyles that in and of itself will make a difference in the future of the citizens of the country and that's part of what this initiative is going to produce over time. OK we have on the line. Ayana Pressley who is Boston city councilor at large and I understand you think this law to get the junk food out of schools out of schools is a step in the right direction. It certainly is. You know I'm calling as one of the newest members on the Boston City Council. And congratulations Kelly your new show I really love it. Thank you. I recently established a new Standing Committee. And it's called Women and healthy

communities. And I certainly do see this campaign in this legislation as being a step in the right direction and I look forward to being a partner on the municipal level with the state. So not too much government for you to take to pass this legislation. Absolutely not and I think it's very timely. You know we're in the midst of comprehensive education reform. I think it's all for not if we talk about improving infrastructure and improving curriculum. If our young people are coming to school not even in the mindset ready to learn and I can tell you the number of young people that I see waiting in a bus stop they're eating honey buns for breakfast. So and especially now in a down economy when many of our parents and many of our households that are single parent it are working multiple jobs and don't have the luxury of the privilege to prepare meals or in urban areas even access. The food choices for many of our young people the education that they're getting at school about healthier choices. This

this is the only time they will receive this education and get this information and have access to that food. Thank you very much for calling in. Councilor Presley thank you. Pat let's let's pick up a piece of that. And David Katz I'd like you to address it as well. When a child does not have the kind of food that that helps in thinking and being able to stay awake. We're really talking about something else so this is not just about reducing the weight it's about really impacting their learning ability right Bebo right. Dr. Katz said it earlier it's a parent a caregiver does not want to see their child. Suffering because of lack of nutrients and lack of nutrients can cause other things like laughter Gee in school if they missed their breakfast you know you know that that child's going to have their head on their desk and they're not going to be able to perform at their best they're going to be absent more often. So it has ramifications throughout their whole lives not just

in that one weight issue which is a component again of that whole healthier life. Dr. Katz I want to give you the last word on something that came out this week a junk food addiction study published in Nature Neuroscience that said proved in rats in a way that people just sometimes are just compelled to eat if they eat more junk food than they're compelled to eat more. What do you think about it. Yeah I saw the study Kalyan and you know we could get into the details but for the sake of time I'll simply say this that one of the key drivers of dietary preference is familiarity. So if you soak your tastebuds in highly processed foods with added sugar and high fructose corn syrup and monosodium glutamate you get used to it and you come to. I prefer it. We have overwhelmingly clear evidence that you can reverse engineer that process too that you can get people not only to eat more nutritious foods that benefit their bodies and yes their academic performance and we and others have actually seen declines in medication used for ADHD in some of our studies. When we give kids more physical activity better

food recess not Ritalin actually works. But you know frankly you can come to prefer those more nutritious foods taste buds are very malleable little fellow they can be rehabilitated. And so when you shift them from this junk food they can learn to love food that will love you back no question about it. Well I thank you both for this very invigorating conversation and we will be continuing it because this I'm sure is the first step in a long process. We've been talking about childhood obesity with Bebo and Dr. David Katz. Thank you both for joining us to register. Thank you. Is a registered dietitian and a project leader with the expanded food and nutrition education program at UMass extension. Dr. David Katz is an authority on nutrition weight management and the prevention of chronic disease is a professor of public health practice at Field School of Public Health. Coming up we'll have a look at how the Segway is stirring up the city. We'll be back after this break. And by the way if you have an opinion on Segway use in Boston love them or hate them. Call us that 877 3 0 1 89 cents.

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Securely. At auction dot WGBH or sponsored by Skinner auctioneers and appraisers. You're listening to eighty nine point seven WGBH Boston is an NPR station for news context and analysis with MORNING EDITION. The takeaway and the Diane Rehm Show explore ideas with us all day long here on the new eighty nine point seven. WGBH. Celebrate the birthday of Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim with a round trip for two aboard and try to sell espresso to catch Sondheim in 80 lines. Washington D.C. Is it free online at WGBH dot org. I'm Kelly Crossley and this is the Calla Crossley Show a booming tourism industry in

Boston by way of the two wheeler Segway. It's provoking everyone from citizens to city officials. Allan Delaney and Mary McGee are on opposite sides of the growing controversy. Allan Delaney is the owner of Boston gliders Segway adventures which is based in the north end. And Mary McGee is on the executive committee of the North End waterfront residence Association and she has lived in the north in for 35 years. Allan Delaney and Mary McGee Welcome thank you. Now I want to note that we were also going to be joined by city councilor Sal Lama Tina but he canceled this morning I guess Ellen you scared him. That's the only way I can think of. Well. The central issue appears to be that people are upset about what your Segway tours do to change the dynamic in the neighborhood which is a historic neighborhood in the north in and also the potential safety issues. What do you say to that. Well there's only really a couple things to say in general. The first thing is that if we're you know if we're really going to stop the dynamic

change of these neighborhoods then you know where where was the line. You know I continue to hear from you know people in different neighborhood groups about you know things like unwritten rules and you know the way it was going to be the way it was. But yet what about the safety issues. Well I'm actually going to head that right on. Over a thousand tours completed not a safety issue. So where is the safety issue. You know they keep referring to you know the kids in the old people in you know what if somebody gets hit. But you know the idea here is that where is the credit for the fact that a thousand people have gone and no problem and no problems. So I've got on my side and you know if you want to call it you know any type of you know match or stack up I've got a thousand on my side and a good zero on their side but yet they're still playing the What If card.

OK well let me let Mary McKee weigh in here. Some people have said I've read some of the hearing comments that the streets are narrow so it is not so much that they're upset about the dynamic changing in the neighborhood but you have to think about that and the segues are silent so sometimes people can hear them coming up behind them. What's your chief concern. MARY Well you know you start by saying that by no means the most important issue facing the north we are dealing with by closing the home. What are more theory of pointed out we are long over where Hoover thought for a little bit quicker than we do have three five walk our people in the neighborhood have gotten upset about the things she would be provoking our knowing why she could go for a moment of home might be stopping a car Walker a federal papa clear the fog off. What about the fact that is adding to the tourism in the in the north in it seems to me a

lot for. I just went online and pulled up some reviews from Trip Advisor and the comments were this tour was so much fun the absolute highlight every trip. The segues are easy to use your comfortable after 10 minutes or so. The segue lighter is easy to use the staff did a great job we ran them for three hours it was a great way to learn about the neighborhood. What do you say to that. Well I thought about that good morning from the Torah. You know you know we welcome to our. If you come to that. You complain that people have no problem accepting a buy point. I mean you can literally walk from one end of the north to the other in about 12 minutes. So we really don't need to bring in torrents. I live right across from the major tourist area in the Boy's Town. We probably have you know on some weekend several thousand people going by on foot per day. I don't think we really need a company like this to bring tourists. I will say this and this is not taking Allan side.

I happen to know some people who came to town this just you know I didn't even know there were segues in the north in and they were so excited about viewing the north in using the Segway So that was as much a draw for them as actually going to the north end. So I think you would agree that some people are drawn by the XSL ability to use those machines. I would agree that I think could be a lot of fun. And I mean. Most of the participants but I've seen them to be young people who are enjoying it for nothing along with that. I think you just have to use some common sense about where to locate this activity and also to the extent to which it is kind of a fun activity. I think it perhaps you know less important where the effectivity is located and that there might be other parts. Also get out of the North End is what you're saying. The family I mean I have to say that in my section of the north where I live when I think the egg ways go by We've actually been in the street not on the sidewalk

which is probably less of a problem. And you know at the current level of activity I don't really have such a problem with that. But I know that is significant expansion of this activity. And I think that could be a problem because as everybody knows not just the five walk problem but driving on the other big problem so that if we have a lot of people on the street I could see where people would have an issue. Well one of the things that some people have appreciated including yourself Alan is that segues are good for people with disabilities so Mary is making a point that a lot of people come and walk and that's that's true there's a lot of walking towards the north end and people enjoy them. But for people who might have a disability this is another tool for them. Well Julie I mean and and really it's not even so much just about a disability nowadays. Today it's also about a mobility issue. Some people may not be completely classified as disabled. They may have just a

mobility issue where they may have had a broken hip but they're not disabled. They may have had you know. You know a ligament or cartilage removed from their knee but they're still not disabled. They can stand for a period of time and they can enjoy the Segway for an hour or two. You know like I said advantage then for those people. It absolutely is advantage and we have we have countless stories where you know people have rented a segway from us not attended the adventure gone with their family along the Freedom Trail where the younger children in the sun walked. But Grandma rode the Segway 82 years old. There are people who live in the north end who own their own Segway. They they commute back and forth to end G.H. and they volunteer over the hospital every day. Let me ask this question how is this going to end I know that some things have come to a head because you've asked for a license to offer coffee and tea and people get used this is an occasion to articulate some of the concerns that Mary has about the neighborhood. I'm told you're moving. Are you moving this segues out of there out of the north and into Cambridge.

Explain it tell me what I know where I mean you know and as you know one Mary had just alluded to we are growing. I mean. Over two years there are very few companies in this city that could say that they've had eight hundred percent growth that we have had and we're going to continue to have we're opening in Cambridge now as an addition 10 orders in addition. OK. You know the the worst part about this is when people talk about the North End when you look to see where I shop is on Commercial Street where the last two shops at the end of the road which is the last street in the north then we only occupy the address on Hanover Street from about 400 up to the very end which is about 470 which is the last two or three blocks after the fire station on Hanover Street So what are you trying to say you know take up that much space. Yeah what burns me the most is that people take it and they try to you know literally you know make it look like you know we're running up and down the streets running up and down the sidewalks creating all this avick. When we.

Quietly glide down Salem Street turn into the back of the North Church. Let people off so maybe you can stay off the sidewalks that is an issue for them can you do that. It was in the north and we preferred to stay off the sidewalk because the difference is that the the street traffic is slow. Ten miles you zero last the street is a little bit more you know wider for the Segway and you know when we get to our destination we park the segues we're off or inside the venue getting the tourist of course to participate in the economic growth. And then we're back out of the north in a few moments later so you know let me turn to Mary on this Mary Some people just say that and Allan's been one of them. It's just that people don't want to see something that looks like the future in it. And the Segway as it is you know looks like the future is not you know the old school walking tour it's something else it's a it's right now. How do you respond to that. I really don't leave out of issue at all Crowley.

Matter is what they look like. And that they are a modern convenience is really not the issue and using them for mobility impaired people that is a totally different issue. I think what the issue is is that it is a very crowded area as in the before it is super saturated with activity and there is just a limit to what you can bring in to a neighborhood like this and I think that this particular operator seems to be pushing the envelope a little bit so to speak because again it really is not something that is so beautiful for a neighborhood like the north and then and not just a neighborhood like the north end but other neighborhoods that have now three ply block than Charles Town I know has had a well let me ask this question Is there a way to resolve it resolve the dispute in the north end or is just some one sided

one of you are going to be unhappy. And what would you like to see happen. Well I think this is really a city wide issue. I think it is going to have to be addressed at the city wide level and I think that other neighborhoods have this issue I think it's going to be a matter of common sense in terms of where these are suitable. And again. You don't need to get around the north just kind of funny for anybody who would walk to the north and I don't even think we are. I don't even know if we're a quarter of a mile or so. North probably But while we're in other neighborhood it might be great because they're often really helpful. Well we're leaving it right there today I got a feeling this is going on for a while and we may be reaching out to you too to have another conversation by the way we did also reach out to Boston park's Commissioner Antonio Pollock and city councillor Bill Linehan and neither one of them was free to join us. I'm

Cali crossing we've been talking segues with Alan Delaney and Mary McKee Alan Delaney is the owner of Boston blighter Segway adventures. Mary McGee is on the executive committee of the north in waterfront Ware's events Association thank you both for joining us. Thank you. Coming up were uncorking wine and unlocking our imagination with writer Michael Gayle will be back after this break stay with us. Support for WGBH comes from you and from the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Welch and Forbes and the Post Club. Pleased to sponsor news and culture on the new eighty nine point seven. Learn about sponsorship at 6 1 7. Three hundred fifty five hundred and from Huntington Theatre Company presenting Becky Shaw by Pulitzer Prize finalist Gina Jean freed and directed by Artistic Director Peter Dubois and acclaimed new comedy about a blind date gone bad playing Nell through April 4th info at Huntington Theatre dot org and from the 15000 WGBH sustainers who helped the station save

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work sponsored by an appraiser. I'm Cally Crossley and this is the Cali Crossley Show writer Malcolm Michel Galba is in town and he joins us to talk about his latest book wine drinking for inspired thinking UNC cork your creative juices. The book is a right brain take on wine and the art of living creatively. And I'm welcoming Michael Gayle because he's opening up a bottle of champagne because it has something to do with what he wrote in his book. Now your book is a lot of things Michael. One of them of course has to do with your background in inspiring creativity in general so while you struggle to get that bottle open I want you to talk to me about being a professor of him.

You explain to our listeners I mean there we go. Here we go there we go. That's one of my favorites as mine to an all time sipping while we're talking Tell me about being a professor of SU. Yes what people say. What's your background. And I say well I'm a. Professor at MSU and they say Michigan State University and I say no make stuff up. I would say that's the essence of creativity right. That's what it's all about. That's what it's all about here's a beautiful glass of doo ball the THANK YOU were sipping tea here I am and I am. OK listeners the reason that I had Michael open up this bottle of champagne that is so good. Oh is it delicious. This is the best interview I've done I don't know a whole book tour you are the best. Radio host in the nation. This is what happens let's just when you have to pay for your guest Michael has a section in his book called Seven wine and food pairings you must experience before you die. So I decided to bring one in so that I could experience it before I die with the with the master the man who

makes stuff up and it calls for aged parmesan fried Marco and that's from Spain they're from Spain. And also this beautiful champagne in his book he says 1905 but this is a 1908 because I was in a hurry and couldn't find the 1095 last night. Michael how does wine drinking inspire thinking and uncorked your creative uses while we're sleeping and eating. Well we talked about making this up but actually I have to confess the ancient Greeks made it up. Plato and Socrates the ancient Greek partly they had a Greek symposium was a convivial gathering where Plato Socrates and their colleagues shared wine and poetry and created Western philosophy and the notion of the pursuit of truth beauty and goodness. Then in the Renaissance all the geniuses from Dante right through to Galileo with stops at Machiavelli Leonardo Michaelangelo all gathered at the MET it

cheap lot so to share wine and poetry and to philosophize on the rebirth of those ancient Greek notions of truth beauty and goodness. And then Benjamin Franklin George Washington Thomas Jefferson John Adams Madison and Monroe all got together shared fine wine. And mused on translating those notions of truth beauty and goodness into that freedom that we now enjoy and that we get to it to live and express thanks to their vision. Now what you've done is taken that and turned it into scimitars and opportunities for people in various groups to really inspire their own creativity So tell us a little bit about that. Well I actually earn my living doing consulting for organizations around the world on helping to create an innovative culture and develop the creativity of all their people and my clients are always asking me for a team building exercise.

At the end of a day of training and creative thinking so. I asked him What have you done before they say oh they made us go on a ropes course and if somebody fell off and broke their arm and I guess we bonded in the ambulance on the way to the hospital they made us go white water rafting people were drowning. One group actually went fire walking and were admitted to hospital with burns on their feet because a lot of team building seems to be saying to people your job is stressful. So we'll take you out of your stressful job and make you even more stress so when we send you back you'll stop complaining. But I had this notion based on the symposium in the med it so in the founding fathers that the best way to bring people together is to encourage them to relax to enjoy some fine wine. And then I came up with this notion of getting them to express themselves by writing poetry about the wine. Now they always say to me something like we're managers not poets but I say after the second glass of wine everyone is a

poet. And what's amazingly cool is that they write. Such a vocative and often very funny poetry. And they surprised themselves with how creative they really are. But even better they look around the room and they realize that everybody in the room has the spark of creative possibility within them that has just begun to emerge. And then they can continue to develop and cultivate that when they go back into the workplace. They were poets and didn't know it. We're speaking with Michael gale. His book is wine drinking for inspired thinking uncork your creative juices. I want our listeners to hear a stanza from one of the funny poems that one of your participants wrote which I think is so cute. He's referring to the wines that you had them taste and he says the second wine is bright and purple. It smells good so I'll take a slower pull. It goes down with a plum. Wow what a fruit. My feelings are now beyond verbal. I mean what you can imagine is that I collect all the poetry and I read out the honorable

mentions and also the dishonorable mentions. And then we read out five or six Prize winners. And what's wonderful is I read them out and then we announce the name of the winner and all the people in the room look over that person with wonder and amazement. And they usually applaud wildly and cheer and everybody has such a fabulous time. And I've been doing this for many years. So a few years ago I just thought I have to share with the world how you can do this. Why didn't poetry exercise for yourself have a wine and poetry party with your friends get together with your colleagues. It's so much fun it works every time. And the book includes step by step guidance how to hold one of these wine drinking for inspired thinking parties. Yeah give us a couple of questions that you asked to just sort of get people away from saying I'm not a poet I'm not doing it right and I'm not drinking this wine either and by the way you say that you don't have to drink it to participate.

Well we always have folks who for whatever reason don't drink wine. And what we're really after is getting them to be mindful and present and savor the joy of life. Italians have something they call La Dolce Vita the sweet soulful life. The French have joie de vivre the joy of living. But in the States you know we just have happy hour. You tell me. I'd love to read one of the ones that was one of the poet poems that written in one of your sessions that are really good for people who are not and never consider themselves to be Robert Frost at the beginning of the of the of the session. I'll be happy to do that and I've got to tell you that I was recently doing a wine and poetry event actually at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. and the person introducing me read this poem and announced to the group that this was a poem by the great Sufi poet Rumi but she didn't realize it was actually a poem from a corporate executive on one of these events. This is what this gentleman wrote remembering. I

forget every day I forget sometimes for a week sometimes for months I forget. But then a day like today happens the sun bright warm light everywhere the sun. Then I remember the smells the tastes the sights. People laughing talking happy the wine I remember like the rays of the sun. We are connected different. But one tomorrow I will try to remember again. Beautiful is not beautiful. And that's a quote. But executive as a corporate executive what I really love about it is it expresses the spirit of the poetic consciousness because whether people win a prize or not what's important is that they feel this sense of connection with the poetic mind with the muse that then brings more creative spark to their lives every day that's my real mission. I feel that after people do this then they must feel that they can expand their

horizons in ways they had not imagined because they never imagine themselves being a poet. Well the CEO of a construction management company sponsored this event for his team in the midst of this grave economic economic turmoil. At these folks really needed an opportunity relax and bond and experience reporter and just have some fun. But he wrote me a note he said. I was blown away by the creativity of all my people. But I was especially amazed that the most expressive evocative poems came from my guy and my finance person. He said in a million years I never would have imagined that they could be so creative. Well I have a question that I want you to explain what were eating and sipping and why you think this is a great pairing. One of the seven that one must have before you die. Share that with our listeners and then I'm going to have another question to ask you about all this. Well I've been on this quest to find the life changing most

endorphin inspiring food and wine pairings. And this you know this book took lots of research. I would write a book about you all right which of all my friends are incredibly thrilled to have been part of and what I was looking for were treats that people could experience without having to be a five star chef. So there are things that are kind of easy to get hold of. And although some of them may seem expensive if you share them with three or four friends they're actually quite reasonable especially when you think of them as possible lifetime memories. And if I had to choose just one wine to drink every day I would choose champagne too but since I don't have to choose I'm going to celebrate by drinking the champagne. So I think champagne as it is is just an incredibly exquisite effervescent bubbly a life affirming treat. It goes so well with so many different things. But when you have a really fine champagne like the one you were so gracious to provide for our time together

today you want to just bring out its subtle nuances. So oil really isn't what it is again. Right we have the Duvall Blanc the Shard in a 1998. All right go ahead. That really rocks. OK yes it does. And so basically all you really want is something salty that doesn't interfere in any way. One of the great masters of wine Michael broad Brett said when you're pairing food and wine you have to decide which is the soloist and which is the accompaniment. So here are Marconi Aman's which are just so delicious crunchy buttery with a bit of salt on them make a perfect compliment for all the delicious qualities of this magnificent champagne. Having said that when you're matching food and wine the other thing to be aware of is what the great food critic Roy Andress de Groot once said which is that in the marriage of food and wine always leave room for infidelity.

So that's the parmesan cheese that's the part yes also it's also basically salty buttery. You know when you have aged parmesan cheese it has this granular texture that just sets up your mouth texturally for the wash of fruit exploding bubbles that come flowing down your palate as you take each sip of this exquisite champagne. Now I want you to explain that because in your book you also have some just great wine tips wine drinking tips for people in addition to all of the stuff you're talking about. Inspiring creativity. So here's a question. What does this say about us as a society that we need a seminar and an expert in Miss you that you are guide us with wine to finding our creativity. Are we just so not creative. Well it's not that it's it see the nature of our beloved and beautiful land is that we're focused on the future. Now if you go to Italy people there have a much greater sense of the past.

But whether you're focused on the past or the future joy is always in the present moment. So we're in a unique time in history where we can savor all the riches of the cultures of the world. We can work hard to create a better future which I'm committed to do. But we just have to take time to be fully present to be mindful. Now you can be mindful by going to a yoga class and meditating on your navel. But I just get people to meditate on fabulous Washington food instead. And everybody loves it. What does it say about us if we had you know with all of the great CEOs in the country could involve their teams of workers in this kind of process to free them. To them the best of their creativity. You know what we look like then what kind of what kind of creative juices would we uncork. Well let's see I guess I have a biased sample because that's who I get to meet. I'm meeting these visionary humanistic folks. They're

interested in something called Conscious Capitalism. It's the notion that you can make a profit and you can also care for all the stakeholders involved in your enterprise and your community that those two things aren't. Opposed to one another but have to be blended together to me that's a really creative idea I'm passionate about supporting it. So I'm meeting CEOs I'm meeting folks all over the country and the world who have this vision of bringing out the best in their people of facilitating and being a catalyst for that creative spark that everyone has. I wrote a book that came out in 1908 called How to think like Leonardo DaVinci a New York Times bestseller. Thank you very much and this new book is how to drink like Leonardo DaVinci. Now does it work with any group we've talked about the CEOs and the corporations but can you can those of us who are you know hosting a radio show or working as a

custodian or being a nurse can you know can any group benefit from this. Very much so. And that's you know if you. Think of that I just kind of thought of it snobby you know. Well that's what this book is dedicated to changing that. I got to read you something this is from a Roman poet Horace in the 1st century B.C. And he writes I shall then be the line that nectar rare which brightens hope and drowns dull care. Come Taste my wine but ere thou try it. Remember friend that thou must buy it. So to compliment the right brain playful poetic aspect of this book I am to pack these pages with down to earth common sense guidance on how to get great wine values and that that nurse that cussed that school teacher can get together with a couple of friends put up five bucks each. I have a list of wines twenty dollars for under a comprehensive list of fabulous wise so you can get

this inspiration. You know Robert Louis Stevenson said that wine is bottled poetry and what we're aiming to do is release that poetry from the bottle so that nurse that custodian that teacher can have this experience just like the great things of life should not be the province of snobs. We should all have the opportunity to listen to Mozart to to play opera and drink wine and enjoy the great art of the world which you can now do on your computer and fill our lives with truth beauty and goodness every single day. And uncorked our creative juices you got it. Well Michael Gill I have to tell you this is one way to do it. And I'm loving it. Michael Gale thank you so much for joining us. Michael gales latest book is wine drinking for inspired thinking uncork your creative juices. Listeners we're going to go off with the toast of champagne. This is the Cali Crossley Show today's program was engineered by Antonio only art and produced by Chelsea murders. Our production assistant is Anna white knuckle big. We got

special help today from her in turn. Vivian Ho we are a production of WGBH radio Boston's NPR station for news and culture. See you tomorrow Robert.