Explosion big fire small. Gas fire of course the Huntington Beach Fire Department was also there they were responding to an initial report of an electrical fire when they say the explosions happened unexpectedly the cause remains under investigation Amy Held n.p.r. News in Hong Kong thousands of masked pro-democracy demonstrators started another day of protest peacefully with many defying a ban on face masks at rallies but as N.P.R.'s Emily Phang reports some demonstrators wound up throwing bricks and gas. Protesters chanting at Hong Kong fight back as they retreated from riot police firing tear gas in downtown Hong Kong Sunday afternoon the marches began peacefully However with thousands of demonstrators some wearing hoods and goggles in addition to masks turning out despite heavy rain the city's Metro system remains almost entirely closed leading to huge crowds lining up for buses to join the March. 2 year in prison for wearing masks but the ban has been in the unenforceable because so many residents were all wearing them. Willing to risk consequences of marching today because they fear emergency powers may be used to further erode civil liberties in Hong Kong and n.p.r. News. This is n.p.r. Iraqi officials say at least 18 people were killed in clashes overnight between anti-government protesters and police in Baghdad nearly 100 demonstrators have died since protests started Tuesday demonstrators say they're angry about corruption and unemployment. Voters in Portugal are casting ballots for a new parliament today the election comes as Portugal's economy is expanding faster than the Eurozone average for the 1st time in decades and reports from Lisbon socialists hope to benefit the socialist prime minister Antonio Costa and several other party leaders have already voted in an election for which almost 11000000 citizens in Portugal and abroad are eligible to do so there's a choice of candidates from as many as 21 poll teams in some districts seeking election to the new 230 c. Parliament the largest group in the last Parliament was the sense of right social democrats but it was the socialists who took power in 2015 by signing deals with far left parties. During the campaign for this election suggested that strong economic growth may help the socialists secure a win this time for n.p.r. News I'm Alison Roberts in Lisbon Kosovo is also holding elections today the main issues on voters' minds there are corruption and a peace deal with Serbia which could pave the way for u.n. Membership there Kosovo's 4th round of elections since it declared independence in 2008 on Barbara Klein n.p.r. News in Washington support for n.p.r. Comes from n.p.r. Stations other contributors include the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the estate of Joan Kroc whose bequest it serves as an enduring investments in the future of public radio and the John d. And Catherine t. MacArthur Foundation Ed Mack founded dot org. Support comes from the forward theaters where summer doesn't have to end nestled in the natural beauty of the Hollywood Hills the Ford amphitheater offers an intimate outdoor concert experience the $21000.00 season includes artists from around the world and around l.a. Summer nights under the stars at the Ford now through October 20th tickets and info at Ford theaters dot org or 3231 Ford. This is Weekend Edition from n.p.r. News I'm Luke Garcia Navarro good morning the House Intelligence Committee will hear more witnesses this week for its impeachment inquiry including diplomats who handled Hugh crane policy but the battle over impeachment will be fought in the court of public opinion as well as in the halls of Congress and it is a battle to control the message President Trump has bombarded the electorate with a constant stream of tweets he's relentlessly held the airwaves making himself available to the press every time he gets on a helicopter and his message is consistent so a hoax folks it's all a big hoax what these guys are doing Democrats are doing to this country is a disgrace he made it up every word of it made up it's a joke. Impeachment that his words repeated over and over are echoed and amplified by his right wing media allies this was a set up who were these other people in the White House or look at the sink our president and the House Intel Committee chairman Adam the cowardly shifty shifting has been caught in yet another insane laws the same people who spent 2 years writing Russia collusion fanfiction are outraged Once again or did they ever stop being outraged Probably not and the Democrats are staying on their message to it is a cover on the simple reason presence of office classic abuse of power the president must be held accountable no one is above the law to help us understand how the messaging battle is being waged in our media ecosystem and why it matters we have Margaret Sullivan media columnist for The Washington Post and Farhad Manjoo an opinion columnist for The New York Times welcome to you both thanks thanks very much Lou Margaret I'm going to start with you are we back in 2016 where everything Donald Trump says is breaking news and breathlessly reported and he gets a lot of unfiltered free air time I actually think we've learned a few things a sense the campaign and since the early days of the Trump presidency when I say we I mean the news media writ large I think we're a little bit more likely to make sure that the things that are being amplified not in every case but in many cases that they are fact checked in real time and that they're expressed as you know said something without evidence and so on Biden has expressed concern though that he's being smeared others have said that the goal is to do to Biden what they say was done to Hillary you know the but her e-mails is that what's happening I mean I think a lot of people do think that even though there's really no evidence to support this that Biden you know there's sort of a vague idea that oh he he did something wrong so I think to that extent the president's message has gotten through Farhad are the. That's keeping up in your view we see a lot of Adam Schiff a lot of Democratic lawmakers talking on the media but can they compete with the sheer volume of Trump coverage I don't think they can and that's one of the things that worries me I mean I feel like the president's side is doing a really effective job at kind of repeating as you said repeating this charge about the Biden's repeating your sort of witch hunt that rhetoric and I'm not sure that the Democrats are doing that much to counter it there's a story line in the On The Right now about the whistleblower story was different from the transcript that was released or he had secondhand information that's just being endlessly repeating even though it doesn't seem like a logical point but it's just sort of the main message that you hear on the right and I feel like that echoing is going to continue. I want to talk about the right wing ecosystem and specifically Fox News and the role that it plays in this Farhad you had a column the other day advising readers to watch Fox News you wrote quote While other organizations report the news Fox News is the news can you explain for the most part the pundits on Fox News endlessly repeat Trump's talking points I mean they're very you know Sean Hannity Tucker Carlson are very close to the president they've advised him on policy and so you know I think it was interesting that we saw some pushback against the administration on particularly on sort of the news reporting side of Fox News Chris Wallace on his Sunday show was really you know asked tough questions of Steven Miller Trump aide Wallace was also pointing out the various ways that the administration was trying to spin this story in a way that you know reflected I think the kind of highest traditions of journalism I think that far has being too positive I think that the moments in which we see reality rear it's had on Fox News are relatively rare and that Fox makes a big point there p.-i. Our operation makes a big point of of using those moments of Shepard Smith or Chris Wallace to say see we're we are in fact fair and balanced they're not fair and balanced they're actually very close to state t.v. Most of the time so if then we are in this media landscape I'm wondering can we tell how the public is being influenced when they're getting such different information from so many disparate sources we've noticed that you know the polls on Impeachment have changed in a in a big way we haven't really seen a lot of movement on the question of whether the president should be impeached and the kind of opposition to impeachment ways has long been kind of higher than support for it and that flipped and I think that flip reflects both the new evidence but the way that the public is understanding the new evidence the role of the media here and clearly I think you know Americans are paying attention to the story and their actual feelings about impeachment have shifted as a result of this story so many asked to finally is my thesis wrong this is playing out in the court of public opinion might it not just be a matter of certain constituencies the base of President Trump will stick with the president and that will keep Republicans locked to their narrative and it doesn't actually really matter what the media covers or how it covers it I think it is true that this will play out in the court of public opinion and because of that what the media does is very important I also would say that we might not notice a lot of change because we're just not fundamentally polarized country where you know 40 percent believes one thing and 60 percent believes another thing and we may not see you know a huge shift in that but still what happens at the margins is interesting and important and might affect what you know senators do what people in the House do that's important Well I think the media coverage is extremely important and will be going forward you know one thing I keep hammering over. And over that would like to bring up because I think it's germane here is that the news media meet needs to be very careful not to walk down the middle of this thing and try to say well there's over here and there's this and there's that and they're kind of the same and we want to give them equal time that's an impulse we have that maybe comes out of a sense of wanting to be fair but it often creates false equivalency is that are actually damaging and I think we need to be very careful about this because not all things are created equal That's Washington Post media critic Margaret Sullivan and Farhad Manjoo opinion writer for The New York Times thank you both so very much thanks very much thanks a lot now the impeachment inquiry into whether President Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden and his son is the topic here in Washington some members of Congress who return to their districts find it's true there as well one Pennsylvania Republican is in a unique position Representative Brian Fitzpatrick is a former f.b.i. Agent who was sent to Ukraine in 2015 to help that country crack down on corruption and P.R.'s Jeff Brady reports from Philadelphia just a year before Brian Fitzpatrick was elected to Congress in 2016 the f.b.i. Assigned him to work in Ukraine for a few months so I got sent out there to give them a hand and help them set up what was known as a national anti corruption Fitzpatrick talked with member station w.h.y. Why his Radio Times last Wednesday the Prosecutor General's Office was a problem there was a lot of corruption within that energy itself and obviously it was believed that Mr So it was part of that problem that's Victor show can He was the prosecutor general in Ukraine which is like the attorney general here in the u.s. Fitzpatrick's assessment or so can differs from that of fellow Republican President Trump Trump called choke an affair prosecutor and said he was treated very badly when former Vice President Joe Biden insisted Chuck can be removed from office Fitzpatrick also. Has a different view on the whistleblower whose complaint prompted Democrats to launch the impeachment inquiry the congressman says that person should be considered credible he says the allegation deserves investigation but he says law enforcement should do that not Democrats it's a middle of the road approach that may seem like a good fit for his moderate suburban district outside Philadelphia. But at this post office in Levittown Pennsylvania voters are not in a moderate mood on the subject of impeachment I think that years ago they used to not put the president's under like they did and I just think it's wrong while soon Lynne opposes the impeachment inquiry Emily Moore supports it because she thinks Trump should not be president no ethics. He'd lie all the time. And what is what Brian is our children a watch in this criticism of Congressman Fitzpatrick extends to social media where conservatives say he should give President Trump more support now and on the left there are people like your sins all fo with the anti Trump group Pennsylvania statewide into visible she says Fitzpatrick should play a more visible role now and actually help Democrats with the impeachment inquiry because it's not just that he was in the Ukraine right now He's the co-chair of the house Ukraine caucus so one would imagine that he should have more of an opinion be more towards the front of this issue and he's on the Foreign Affairs Committee too so these are all areas that are in twined in this whistleblower situation Limburg college in Allentown political scientist Chris Boric says Fitzpatrick is in a difficult position it seems like he straining to find that sweet spot where he can make a case of concern about the president's actions while not seem to be all in on the movement forward with an impeachment inquiry Boric calls Fitzpatrick an adept politician he survived the 28000 election when other Republicans in swing districts lost their seats Boric says this middle of the road approach may be the best option for Fitzpatrick while he and the rest of the country wait to see how the impeachment inquiry plays out Jeff Brady n.p.r. News Philadelphia. You're listening to n.p.r. News. On Monday October 7th. Public Square present how are immigrants changing the way health care is practiced in downtown l.a. Kaiser Health News columnist Emily health policy researcher use gates and Michel executive director of the u.c.l.a. International medical graduate program visit to discuss how immigrants are changing medicine in California this event is free and open to the public for details visit . The u.s. Supreme Court is about to open a new term one of the cases will raise questions about whether Roe vs Wade. Out will take a closer look at Baton other big issues of expected to rule on and continuing coverage of the House impeachment inquiry that's on the next morning edition. On 89.9. With these headlines violence again has rocked Hong Kong tens of thousands of pro-democracy activists turned out to March many wearing face masks despite a ban police have fired tear gas at protesters who threw bricks and explosives and attack government offices police in Kansas City Kansas are searching for one or more suspects who shot and killed 4 people at a bar overnight 5 Police say the shooting stemmed from an earlier. Influential drummer Ginger Baker has died. Of the sixty's bands cream and blind faith Baker was 80 years old. Support for n.p.r. Comes from this station and from a similar family foundation supporting the National Center for Learning Disabilities which works to improve the lives of the one in 5 individuals with learning inattention issues learn more again see l.d. Dot org from the estate of Joan b. Kroc whose bequest serves as an enduring investment in the future of public radio and seeks to help n.p.r. Produce programming that meets the highest standards of public service in journalism and cultural expression and from Americans for the Arts. This is Weekend Edition from n.p.r. News I'm Luke Garcia Navarro for centuries since the early days of the Roman Catholic church priests have been required to be unmarried in order to emulate Christ but a shortage of priests in remote places has the church now considering allowing married men to be ordained that proposal and others will be taken up by bishops who at the Vatican for a 3 week meeting on environmental issues facing the Amazon and P.R.'s Sylvia Poggioli reports the 1st pope from Latin America has made the fate of the planet one of his signature issues he called the meeting known as a Synod to address the ecological social and spiritual needs of the Amazon's indigenous peoples there rain forests are ravaged by fires and deforestation often caused by agribusiness miners and loggers father Peter Hughes and Irish missionary in the region stresses the link between Francis's 2015 document on the environment and Amazon people's spiritual link with nature even the Pm of them that we all know have their own vision their own comedy and not reality where are all of my fears interconnected if none try interconnectedness the pope underlined it bedrock of his spirituality and Christian spirituality in addition to $185.00 bishops mostly from the Amazon region Synod Participants include scientists and environmentalist caught up with the Me founder of the slow food movement says the great novelty of this it it is that indigenous peoples will be the teachers Catholic priests the students they simply because it's a do not approve this is revolutionary for centuries in that region the cross went hand in hand with the sword destroying local cultures and spirituality now it's the priests who must go through a process of inculturation. Navi Amazon peoples and Catholic conservatives are screaming heresy some of the pope's opponents charge that the sin is working document was inspired by pagan anti christian ideas but one of the main organizers Brazilian cardinal cloud has says it's the result of an unprecedented 2 year listening exercise with $87000.00 people across the 9 countries of the Amazon basin . It's the voice of the local Church of the Amazon of its people its history and also the voice of its land the most controversial proposal concerns the shortage of priests that deprives the faithful of attending Mass for many months the working documents suggest the possibility of ordaining older married men highly respected in their communities if approved this would be an exception to the rule of priestly celibacy but conservatives liken this to a rejection of the Catholic religion criticism of the Senate is coming also from another side it seems to me that the purpose of the Senate will be mess Sister Simone Campbell leader of the nuns on a bus campaign advocating social justice says its goal is to improve the quality of the church in a region and when I discovered that they had again the voices of the reman who are the principal ministers in the Amazon region. We're going to be small in representation but absolutely nothing in a for the Vatican points out that more women are participating $35.00 female experts and nuns than in any previous Synod Sister Simone still hopes that as it gets under way rules could be adjusted to treat women as full participants like men with the right to vote Sylvia Poggioli n.p.r. News Rome. At the restaurant in San Antonio there is a huge mural on the wall where many of the good and great of the Latino community are depicted from Carlos Santana to archbishop Patrick Flores to the former mayor of San Antonio who became Hud secretary under President Obama and is now running for president himself and Castro there is a saying I understand here that you will have made it in San Antonio politics once you make it on that mural Thank you that's right it's it reflects generations of San Antonians primary Latinos who have helped build up the community I spoke with Castro as part of a new n.p.r. Series with voters and candidates called off script Castro's roots in the city are deep his mother Rosie was a Chicana activist and who Leon and his twin brother Hakim who's now a congressman grew up poor they graduated early from high school then headed off to Stanford and Harvard Law and careers in politics he's now the only Latino in the Democratic field I asked for his opinion on the impeachment inquiry I believe that Trump is trying to do to Joe Biden what he did to Hillary Clinton that he's trying to take a public servant that has served honorably over the years and muddy their reputation with false accusations that in this case have been investigated to me there are plenty of reasons for people to make a decision in this primary I hope that in this Democratic primary they're going to do that about the issues I disagree with Vice President Biden on immigration on health care as people saw the last debate and a number of other issues but I believe that he's fundamentally an honest honorable man do you think it's the best thing for the country if indeed the House votes to impeach and if indeed there is a trial in the Senate do you think that that is really the best thing for the country in a year which will see an election I believe the best thing for the country would be not only impeachment the removal. In this president has violated his oath of office he has abused his power people can read that in that transcript. Precedented ways he has used the office of the presidency. To boost himself and put his own self-interest about the national interest how much more evidence to people need that this man should not be anywhere near the Oval Office the most recent poll in Nevada showed not good news for you you did not have great numbers in fact close to 0 percent it's a state with a lot of Latinos that's got of hurt to see that you didn't do as well as you may have hoped Well I mean I think there haven't been that many polls of Nevada that's been the problem one of the problems as opposed to the other 3 early states Nevada has gotten very little attention but is it sending a signal to you that perhaps it might be time to move on to something else not at all not at all we have 4 months until Iowa votes and 4 and a half months until the Vatican this is so we're going to keep working hard of this campaign I also asked Castro if he would consider running for the Senate against Republican John Cornyn He ruled that out some also see him as a potential running mate you are also voted the man most likely to be vice president by some if indeed you don't get the nomination. Is that something that you would consider. I'm not interviewing for the job but it isn't so. I'm running for president and I are ready when once through the vice presidential process and it wasn't my favorite process a few other things I found out about Castro he's allergic to cats his favorite taco is cheese and beans and he thinks his generation generally gets overlooked Yeah we get lost in the shuffle you know I guess I'm proud to carry the banner. You can hear more of my conversation with Willie on Castro at npr dot org slash off script and later today you can hear Michel Martin conversation with. At the age of $94.00 director and author Peter Brook can genuinely be called a living legend his career has stretched for over 7 decades from groundbreaking productions of Shakespeare to his 9 hour adaptation of the Sanskrit epic The Mahabharata his latest work is now on stage in Brooklyn it's called why and as Jeff Lunden reports it asks that question about the very profession Peter Brook has spent his life exploring Peter Brook has been in love with cedar for as long as he can remember as a boy in London his Russian born parents took him to plays and he even staged Hamlet for them in a toy see it or with cut out figures when he was 10 and the pool feeling the set for about 2 years. I have a really good with one hand the text and with the other hand is the move icon for a matter of the portrait this time me of all his reading better dancing to be a monopoly better. By the time he was in his twenty's he was staging Shakespeare in Stratford with the finest actors of the day John Gill good Vivien Leigh Paul Scofield to be. On not to be. That is the question but even back then Peter Brooks found himself asking why there wasn't another way to create see it or he wrote a book in 1968 called the empty space which begins quote I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage when you talk about space like I sometimes say to people who would have been both at Riva book read the title because if one really thinks of it this is a cool to question to say it was bit by bit get rid of. Trappings of scenery of course to music all that has to be questioned. And true to that aesthetic in Brooke's latest work the stage is bare save for a large carpet some chairs and 3 actors all dressed in black why do we do theater. Why didn't do it why. What do you know about. Let's see it. Brooke ceaseless questioning led him to establish the International Center for theater Research in Paris where he and his principal collaborator Maria Len Sdn have been reinvestigating classics and devising new works with actors from around the globe for over 40 years and it's Shakespeare says that is who. And who can sing that i Phone but a mixture going beyond race who has the national Barrios mang which various cultural better is some of the. SUV This is a method in the Christmas book uses that approach to ask who we are and why we do things to each other in 1975 he staged the eat about an African tribe that starved to death because it was forced from its land he took on this issue in the most profound deepest way imaginable Karen Brooks Hopkins saw it in grad school she's executive producer of Peter Brook an y. Which is sponsoring events across the city exploring the 94 year old director's work and I never thought or understood that theatre could be so essential so powerful and just so right on in terms of getting straight to the heart of something in his latest piece Peter Brook investigates the questioning work of some of his predecessors notably director has said. Valid Meyerhold who was swept up in the Russian Revolution but ultimately denounced imprisoned and murdered by Stalin's regime and he was sitting there in his cell it's terrifying to think oh say have made mistakes is this all my fault his. That he's also saying that why why are. The enemy of the revolution why do they want to get rid of me why I am him prisoner bang in why actress Catherine Hunter quotes Meyerhold answering those questions it is a very dangerous Well imagine you will prescribe 0.005 milligrams of sticking to take budget and you swallow the whole bottle in one multiple theatre is more dangerous than more dangerous than both because says actor Marcelo manye who's worked on several of Brooks' pieces theatre can shine a light on the world we live in in the theater that he's the world but Peter is constantly doing left and right looks and not been down and behind and signed to his to la. To look at theater at 94 Peter Brook is growing increasingly frail yet he continues to explore if. You have an obligation to try to care as long as you can find the truth and that is not in question for n.p.r. News I'm Jeff Lunden in New York. President Trump blames the deep state for triggering the impeachment inquiry but what exactly does he mean by that tomorrow on Morning Edition Steve Inskeep talks with James p. Stewart he's written a book about the deep state 2 men by asking your smart speaker to play n.p.r. Or your member station by name. You're listening to Weekend Edition from n.p.r. News. Dennis is a 19 year old man who engages in high risk sex with men often exchanging sex for money that is last medical visit my goal was to get Dennis to value himself and take more precautions to protect his health this is Dr Michael Wilkes with a 2nd opinion prevention is now possible using a medication called prep which is short for pre-exposure prevention or profile access prep has changed the face of the disease for hundreds of thousands of at risk Americans it prevents nearly all about 97 percent of HIV infections if taken exactly as prescribed but still only one in 5 people at risk are taking the medicine it's no surprise that those with poor access to health care or those with less education and those with fewer financial resources are far less likely to receive the medication and thus more vulnerable to acquiring a HIV Aids significant part of the problem is the ridiculously high price of the drug about $20000.00 a year and people at high risk need to take the drug over years those without health insurance simply can't afford the drug like we've learned with measles and other infectious diseases the more people in a community that are protected with a vaccine or in this case with medicines the less likely the infection can spread within the community so we need to boost the rates of high risk people who are taking prep far above the current level so how do we get people like Dennis to take the drug Well 1st we need to make it affordable when I tell Denis the drug will cost him about $1500.00 a month he smiles and gently shakes his head no no in Australia the drug costs only $340.00 a year so it is pos. Able to bring the price down to about $30.00 a month other than profit gadding I am not sure why prep is exponentially more expensive in the us in all fairness I should mention that the drugs manufacturer Gilliatt has agreed to donate a small proportion of the drug to those who can't afford perhaps but the small donation won't be enough to help the 80 percent who need the drug but can't get it in addition to the cost of the drug high risk people also need to obtain regular lap tests that can also cost hundreds of dollars a year even if the drug was free dentist still might not choose to take it he's a bit skeptical of medicine and doctors and doesn't currently even have a place to live he's living on the street but as a civil society we ought to be able to find a way to at least have the drug available to every person who needs it in the end it's going to be a lot cheaper to do that than paying for Dennis's care once he gets HIV This is Dr Michael Wilkes with a 2nd opinion a 2nd opinion with Dr Michael Wilkes airs Sundays at 635 an 8 35 am and can be streamed in podcast it k c w dot com. Listen. Customize your feed of us. It's free. You'll never find a truly balanced political discussion on cable news but don't worry you got case. Twice a week. There's all the president's lawyers Wednesdays at $130.00 and. One and again at 7 right here on. You're listening to Weekend Edition. We have news headlines coming up next coming up on Weekend Edition being one with nature. It's going to be sunny and warm today. Along the coast. Too. A little bit. With these headlines another whistle blower has contacted the intelligence communities inspector general about President Trump's dealings with Ukraine that's according to attorney Mark Zaid who says he's representing both informers they say Trump asked Ukraine's president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden. Already he's in Huntington Beach California say underground transformers are responsible for several explosions at a restaurant last night during Tobar fest celebration 5 people were injured Italian tenor Marcelo. He was one of the biggest stars in the world of opera Giordani suffered a massive heart attack he was 56. Support for n.p.r. Comes from this station and from Warby Parker they designed glasses and sunglasses crafted with materials like cellulose acetate titanium and stainless steel and each pair includes custom cut scratch resistant lenses learn more at Warby Parker dot com and from Alliance for lifetime income educating Americans about annuities and protected lifetime income online and across America a sponsor of the Rolling Stones 21000 u.s. Tour at Alliance for lifetime income dot org. This is Weekend Edition from n.p.r. News I'm Luke Garcia Navarro Natalie Portman has played lots of different royalty from a galactic queen in Star Wars to a 1st lady in Jackie but in the new movie Lucy In The Sky Portman plays a member of an even more rarified club an astronaut named Lucy cola Lucy when we meet her is one of the 1st female astronauts to venture into space but her adjustment back to Earth is uneasy and she quickly spirals out of control you know how it is you go up there and see 3. Homes you hers. And the response to have one you go to Apple. And you never. Could you tell us the character is inspired by the real story of astronaut Lisa Nowak who was charged with attempted kidnapping in 2007 of the then girlfriend of a man with whom she was having an affair Lucy In The Sky is directed by no Holly who joins me now along with Natalie Portman Welcome to the program Thank you hi. Natalie I want to start with you you can talk to us a little bit about your character Lucy in this film she was recruited by NASA from the Naval Academy It seems like there's nothing she can do what drives her. Lucy is one of those kids who will do everything to succeed and you can feel it but she's kind of been pushed to just be this high achiever making everyone proud kind of figure and their family yet thumbed their nose at the Ivy Leaguers leg Zach Yeah she's got a chip on her shoulder but yeah she she certainly has a lot of bottled up pressure for sure. And then she goes to space remind us how that changes her. Well it's so remarkable that this moment that can be the most beautiful moment of her life and probably is the most beautiful moment of most astronaut's lives is also the moment when they face the smallness of everything they've ever known and everyone they've ever known because they see how the Earth is situated and how small it is and how they can literally cover it with their outstretched hand and so to have those simultaneous experiences I think can be pretty jarring you know of this story is based loosely on a real person I want to read a headline from the a.v. Club which is why make the astronaut in a diaper movie if you don't want to show the astronaut in a diaper and so I have to ask you about why you decided not to include that. I find it interesting because I've seen those kinds of headlines as well and I think it says a lot about the people who are writing them explain well for me what was interesting was the realization that behind every tabloid story are human beings with dignity who've made mistakes who failed maybe even ruined everything and we've reduced them to a punchline so when I see those headlines what it makes me think is that you know there's a segment of society that's not Ok with that that need those people to be punchlines for whatever reason not only do you think that female characters are complicated stories about women can sometimes be reduced to a punchline in that way that no I was talking about. I think that off in female characters are reduced to single word descriptive possibility he says you know I think people talk a lot about strong women or bad ass women or tough way men or victims or villains or psychos crazy because or Exactly I mean there's almost like a genre films about like men who are like lovable but curmudgeons are like there's there's so many male characters that are like contradictionary qualities which is the most human kind of behavior in my in my view look I find it interesting that there's 2 movies coming out this weekend about characters having a psychological decline that ends and violence and he gets to be called joker with a capital j. But she's just supposed to be a joke. No I'm listening to you speak I can hear you're very protective of this character and I'm wondering how that translates as a male director directing a film that is so centered on the female experience was there something that you went into this thinking you know I have to really be thoughtful about the way that this is pro-trade and that you felt you were the right person to tell the story. But you know I thought a lot about the male gaze especially since it's a film that has an affair at the center of it and the way that that might normally be portrayed by a filmmaker and in making an experience the movie from her point of view to also. Cinematically represent of the female gaze the romance of the sex at the heart of it is not it's not about the act itself as as much about the feelings that go with it and the editing of the film The calibrating of the journey was one of the hardest parts just in terms of shaping the audience's journey because there's never a moment that I want you to step outside and judge her. I ask also because Natalie made a comment at the Golden Globes last year about the fact that the category for best directors was all male nominees and that there is still obviously a lack of female directors in Hollywood so when you come into a project like this with Noah is there discussion beforehand are you more intentional now about who you work with. It's actually really disturbing to me when people ask male directors how they feel telling a female story if they can do it and I'm like we take it for granted that they can tell stories about serial killers like if you can get into the mind of a serial killer why can't you get into the mind of a woman. The problem and I don't think there's anything qualitatively different about women directors or men directors except that women directors get way fewer opportunities so yes I am very conscious of working with female directors I am a female director I think women directors need more opportunities at every level and the more disturbing thing is Meldrew actors who only tell stories about men because then I feel that they do not. Consider female stories as humans talk it's. I do want to point out how novel this movie is I mean because it is a about a female astronaut and that is a rarity we've seen several space movies this year about men like at Astra and high life was that this is to both of you something on your mind will making this that that it was you know sort of very important to show the real and important contribution that women have made to space exploration definitely I think if I had been offered the male version of this film I wouldn't found it that that interesting just because I've seen so many versions of it and you know Brad Pitt is having his existential crisis in space right now and then and see it and you know I know what what's interesting is you know whether or not people like that movie they don't question it's right to exist this story obviously you know is a story that is meant to portray the reality of experience of you know someone who has a existential crisis basically and makes mistakes and on some level ruins everything and there's nothing more human than that you know there's no redemption without the fall so you know I think that that's what was appealing Natalie I read that you actually do want to be an astronaut. It might be a little too late for me that I definitely dreamed of it as a kid and you know if there was some fast track opportunity I mean listen I certainly I would certainly take it Lucy In The Sky is directed by no Holly and stars Natalie Portman thank you both so very much thank you thanks. I tore down a barn and recycled. Have a cabin with a glass wall to the self. He knows the place. Even communicates with it. Which he says didn't fruit until he coaxed. The. Troops. 100. He recalls the exact spot where he cultivated his 1st patch of garden in the surrounding forest but the speaks about with a fervent love is the water. Where he's been harvesting. For decades. I came to interview. Is the capital of cultivation in this country and as part of our series on adaptation in the face of climate change we wanted to know what could play as a future food source that is not what the story turned into Henson has both a spiritual and physical connection to this place where he lives something most people have never found he wants to heal the planet and he says in order to do that we must 1st understand it connect to it he tells a story of how. He has a special way to alert the bigger ships he. Says . It's. We think of them as being on the other side of a veil between life and death and the veil is permeable and because they're on the other side of the veil they have wider perspective they have more clarity than we do so we express our gratitude to them and we ask them for guidance for Henson the connection to the water began with his own ancestor his dad I was a boy in Minnesota who the tribe of Norwegian relatives and some Swedes spent time with my father fishing looking down into water drifting around pretty happy boy and he's been on or around the water pretty much ever since 45 years ago he drove his motorcycle up the Eastern Seaboard and when I got to Maine I said Oh this place doesn't have lights at night I can see the stars This place has air that goes into my lungs deeper than a place I've ever lived he tried making a living doing what the locals did digging clams cutting wood raking blueberries selling vegetables at a roadside stand but then one day an older couple took him seaweed harvesting and they got on hip boats long rubber gloves that come up past their elbows they've got a sickle tied to a long handle and they take me to a place where the water is very swift and there's kelp and a Leiria and dulls and they harvest those hang them up on their clothes liners spread them out on that rack and I o. Oh. Food. Larch Hansen is turning 74 years old he and muscular handsome in a square jawed old fashioned kind of way with a shock of white hair from this wooden house in the woods which features a spiral staircase encased in a turret reminiscent of a castle or a lighthouse he and his partner 9 a cracker operate main seaweed with the help of a rotating cast of apprentices they harvest dry and ship their products around the world for cooking and also the nutrition offered up by seaweed vitamins and minerals and Iodine larch and Ninus seaweed is considered some of the most pure in the world. Joining our September that the sea weed season has passed but Hansen took us out to where he harvests in Goldsboro he wears a full wetsuit protective. It's low tide and we slog through the muck to get to his string of small robots one equipped with a motor along the way we step across vast swaths of beach rock with a type of seaweed that's a very slow growing plant and it takes 10 years for a rock Reed to just get up to my waist but in the next 10 years when it grows to be 6 foot tall and it looks more like a maple tree was overarching canopy that creates protected habitat for 150 years. Fish lobsters all kinds of sales all kinds of things I don't have names for just great big mysteries. Out in the bays and stop on top of the top that but he's also been harvesting for many years nearby there's the pool where he also frequently works there are layers of memories here he knows what this place looks like every season Wendell Berry wrote an essay and he asked the question what are people for his answer is people are for preserving memory of place. That's what I do here it's the deep knowledge of a particular place it's all the memories that play off Hanson says climate change has affected his crop tide pools of inviting plants that squeeze out a sea weed he looks out at what has become of his beloved and says he's filled with anger he rails against the commercial seaweed harvesters he use draggers that he says destroy the sea that's where the plants grow he questions the food that is held sacred here lobster a multi-million dollar industry. What's the ratio now between food produced and fuel Yosi how much fuel does it take to run a mid-water troll to get the bait how much it take to get. I'll get tarred and feathered for saying this but this is how I feel as you get a very emotional when you talk. I don't know. How to get up in the morning and think about this world and not have a tinge of sadness about the condition it's in right now. So I get a little frustrated when trying to transmit a whole bunch of information or words and there are so many stories I want to tell . That's my frustration. My sadness you can't take that away from me. Lurch Hanson reminds me that we humans have something in common with this planet we are both mostly made of water and then he says something that is a warning that sounds like a prayer the water remembers us and we should remember it. Our stories from Maine this week were produced by Peter Breslow and edited by ed. This is Weekend Edition from n.p.r. News I'm. Happy Sunday thanks for the. Support for n.p.r. Comes from this station and from New him offering a personalized weight loss program based on a cognitive behavioral approach with the goal of losing weight and keeping it off for good learn more at noon and 00 am dot com from American Jewish World Service working together for more than 30 years to build a more just and equitable world learn more at a.j. Ws Dato argy and from the John d. And Catherine t. MacArthur Foundation Mack found dot org Here Be Monsters is a podcast about. It's about a lot of. It's about faith and doubt. Love and loneliness. Optimism and. It's a podcast about the things that frighten us the things that we can't get out of our heads. Here be monsters. Podcast about the new episodes out now listen where ever you get your podcasts. Good morning it's a minute before 9 o'clock you're listening to Weekend Edition on member supported case. Palm Springs. Mojave community service of Santa Monica College. California coming up on Weekend Edition we have news headlines also developments on the impeachment inquiry it's going to be 70 and warm today highs low to mid eighty's in Los Angeles upper seventy's along the coast this is. N.p.r. News Washington d.c. This is Weekend Edition. Morning All the President's Men. Over what when and why confused our Mara Liasson straightens it out also asking about the new immigration view on health insurance who is it targeting and why. House is set in the secret societies of Yale and takes a supernatural look at power and privilege and to Maine where whales are missing from the rapidly heating waters will we save the Gulf of Maine I don't know I don't know if we can our Climate Change series continues it's Sunday October 6 news is coming up now. From n.p.r. News in Washington I'm Barbara Kline another whistleblower has contacted the intelligence communities inspector general about President Trump's dealings with Ukraine that's according to attorney Mark Zaid who is representing both informers who flagged the phone call during which Trump asked Ukraine's president to investigate a Democratic presidential contender former Vice President Joe Biden Hong Kong has been rocked by another day of protests that started peacefully with a March.