KUOW Presents

Father Bernard Lynch says there’s no vow in which Catholic priests promise not to be gay. But that didn’t make Lynch's life any easier. He and other gay and lesbian Catholics in New York City had to hold their own Eucharist (communion) in secret in another church.

It wasn’t until the AIDS crisis, when people suffering from emergent disease couldn’t get comfort from the church, that Bernard discovered why he’d remained a priest through all those years of adversity.

Other stories on KUOW Presents, Wednesday, March 20:

If an architect on planet earth wants to design a home, he or she must work with the same basic elements designers have used for centuries: floors, walls, and ceilings.

That all changed when designers began planning dwelling units for astronauts. In zero gravity, there’s no up, no down, no reason to distinguish floors from walls from ceilings! Every surface was a potential light source, dinner table (just add Velcro) or toilet (please don't mix them up). But the astronauts living in those spaces had a much different take on that design revolution.

It turns we need more than our basic biological needs met in order to feel comfortable. We need a view of the horizon, we need light overhead (like the sun) and we need the ritual of sitting down at a proper table to share a meal together. The more alien the environment, the more reminders we need of our humanity.

99% Invisible explores design for astronauts, today on KUOW Presents.

Other stories on KUOW Presents, Tuesday, March 19:

It’s a popular model for charities these days: “one for one.” Buy something for yourself and a needy African somewhere will receive the same. That strategy has made charities like TOMS shoes wildly successful. Customers who buy the shoes often feel they’re patronizing a different sort of company. But this sort of giving might actually be doing more harm than good.
 

Other stories on KUOW Presents, Monday, March 18:

Peggy was a profiler, by trade. Sometimes, for her work, she had to judge someone’s character in under two minutes. She’d practiced that skill for 26 years.

When she was home, her daughter Liza would introduce Peggy to the boys she was dating at the time. Peggy would size them up, and immediately make a judgment. But Peggy differed from other mothers in an important way: She was always right.

That realization led Liza to embrace her mother’s special skills. And the two of them teamed up together, in a very public way, to find Liza the right guy.

Other stories from KUOW Presents, Thursday, March 14:

Hugh Sykes has covered Iraq for the BBC since 2003. In that time, he’s had to maintain a journalist’s distance. In part two of this special documentary, he returns to Basra and visits many of the Iraqis he met as a war correspondent.

From the opening chorus of frogs in a swamp (Saddam’s dams having been breached like those on the Elwha river), to the closing regrets of a young woman who cannot walk the streets alone, the journalist's deep connection to these people shines through and helps us understand how someone could love a place like Basra.

Other Stories on KUOW Presents, Wednesday, March 13:

In the former Soviet Union, a cult of the former dictator Joseph Stalin seems to be forming. Not in a religious sense. But the adoration his former subjects bestow upon him can sometimes reach a religious pitch. Russians know Stalin was responsible for many deaths, but they brush that aside. There's just seems to be something about a strong man.

Other stories on KUOW Presents, Tuesday, March 12:

It can be hard to know how to respond to tragedies on the scale of the Newtown, Conn. shooting. We want to do something, but what?

What began as widespread protests in response to a brutal gang rape have evolved into a movement. Its object is to change the way women are treated in India. PRI's Rhitu Chatterjee  profiles one girl who seems to represent where girls in India have been - and where they're heading.

Other stories on KUOW Presents, Monday, March 11:

When someone says they have a hobby, that often means they spend their evenings knitting scarves, or their weekends restoring an old car. But Mike Hankey's hobby is a little more intense. He hunts meteorites. It’s a hobby that has him scouring gas station security videotapes, in hopes of glimpsing a shadow created by the meteor’s glare. It’s a hobby that has him interviewing scores of Amish teenagers and renting a house so he can live among them. The quest has consumed years of his life. But he still hasn’t found the dang thing.

To learn more about meteorites, visit the American Meteor Association's website.

Other stories on KUOW Presents, Thursday, March 7:

Anxiety. Regret. But also happiness and hope. These are the emotions experienced by Iraqis as they try to find stability and safety for their families in post-Saddam Iraq. The BBC’s Hugh Sykes has reported on some horrific scenes in Iraq. Now, he returns to Iraq to reflect. And to try to understand how it is the Iraqis can, having seen so much, be so filled with laughter.

More stories from KUOW Presents, Wednesday, March 6: