WYPR: Midday with Dan Rodricks Podcast

Midday Eats Ice Cream with Henry Hong and John Shields; a great Friday afternoon summer treat, and the show features a conversation about the innovative Taharka Brothers Ice Cream of Baltimore.

Justin Fenton, Justin George, crime reporters The Baltimore Sun, on the recent wave of gun violence in the city; Kimberly Katz, professor at Towson University and Middle East expert, on the political chaos and violence in Egypt; Janet Metzner, Pikesville Patch, on a rash of thefts of airbags from cars in Baltimore County; and Robert Cradle, a Baltimore barber doing good works and seeking other unsung heroes to highlight in a new campaign called "Give Up The Good."

Writer Will Schwalbe talks about the joys associated with the book club he started with his mother, who at the time was dying of cancer. Schwalbe is the author of the New York Times best-selling memoir The End of Your Life Book Club.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says sea level could rise more than six feet by the end of the century. Scientists in Maryland say it could rise as much as two feet by 2050. How should Maryland prepare? Our guests: Donald Boesch, president of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, who chaired the group of experts who assembled the recent Maryland report; Zoe Johnson, program manager for climate change policy in the Office for a Sustainable Future, Maryland Department of Natural Resources; and architect and Midday on Urban Design contributor Klaus Philipsen.

We spend the hour with Maryland People's Counsel Paula Carmody in a discussion of consumer advocacy issues including wireless cramming, and recent gas and electric rate increases.

Former president of the Baltimore Development Corporation M.J. “Jay” Brodie, now a columnist for the Baltimore Business Journal, returns to talk about the state of the city, including the delay in the “Superblock” project, the controversial Harbor Point development, the city-owned Baltimore Hilton Hotel, and the importance of renovating Baltimore’s public schools.

Columbia-based psychiatrist and writer Gordon Livingston discusses the concept of the "ethical will,” an account of a person’s life prepared for children and grandchildren and passed down as a teaching tool. Dr. Livingston is the author of Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart: Thirty True Things You Need to Know Now and The Thing You Think You Cannot Do: Thirty Truths about Fear and Courage.

In July of 1963, after nearly a decade of demonstrations against segregated Gwynn Oak Amusement Park in northwest Baltimore, the idyllic playground exploded when a multi-racial group of civil rights protesters collided with a contingent determined to keep Gwynn Oak all-white, resulting in hundreds of arrests and several injuries. We continue our commemoration of 1963, a landmark year in the civil rights movement, with a discussion about the desegregation of Gwynn Oak with veteran news videographer and filmmaker Pete O’Neal and his wife Beverly, co-producers of the documentary, “All the Kings Horses: The Story of Gwynn Oak Amusement Park,” and Leo W. Burroughs, a veteran of the Baltimore chapter of the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE), which was instrumental in the ultimate desegregation of Gwynn Oak in August 1963.

According to worldwide conservation groups, poachers are wiping out tens of thousands of African elephants a year, fueled by the high demand for Ivory in China. Some animal activists have gone so far as to call it genocide. In the meantime, President Obama recently launched a wildlife trafficking initiative aimed at combating the problem. This hour, we look at the plight of African elephants with Richard Ruggiero, chief of the Near East, South Asia, and Africa Branch in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Division of International Conservation; and Michael McClure, general curator and elephant manager at the Maryland Zoo, and president of the Elephant Manager’s Association.

BWI Marshall Airport set a third straight annual passenger record last year, adding two new airlines, and increasing international passenger traffic by 20 percent. BWI CEO Paul Wiedefeld joins Midday to discuss such growth of the regional airport, and what it means for the Maryland economy.

Midday Eats with Hong & Shields and an appreciation of the burrito and other Mexican food with Gustavo Arellano, who writes the syndicated Ask A Mexican! column. He is the author of, Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America.Original Air Date: 06/14/13

A look at “aging in place,” allowing people to live in their homes for as long as possible, instead of in nursing homes or assisted living centers. Our guests: Sally Hurme, an expert on aging with AARP; Rebecca Sheppard, home-sharing program director for St. Ambrose Housing Aid Center in Baltimore and the president of the National Shared Housing Resource Center; Lynn Berberich, an expert on home care and the founder of Bright Star Health Care; and Nick Romano, owner of Charm City Remodeling, an aging in place contractor. Original Air Date: 06/18/13

Is world peace a dream or something that the next generation can achieve? For three decades, John Hunter, a teacher in the Maryland and Virginia, has given his students the chance to seek this ideal through his World Peace Game. The game has become widely popular, the subject of a documentary and Hunter’s new book, World Peace and Other 4th-Grade Achievements. Original Air Date: 06/04/13

In Bea Johnson’s household, there are no prepackaged snacks, no small plastic bottles of shampoo and no disposable paper towels. In fact, she doesn’t even own a trash can, preferring to run a home that operates under the principles of “zero waste.” Johnson discusses her book, Zero Waste Home: The Ultimate Guide to Simplifying Your Life by Reducing Your Waste, and her personal journey towards a low-impact lifestyle. In addition, she provides easy to follow instructions for employing her methods of conscientious consumerism. Original Air Date: 06/13/13

Historian Thomas Fleming wonders whether the Civil War could have been avoided. He joins Midday to examine the underlying causes that led to the war, arguing that more than slavery, it was a deep and mutual hatred of the other that pitted North against South. Fleming is the author of, A Disease in the Public Mind: A New Understanding of Why We Fought the Civil War.