Contact: Corwin Ericson, Managing Editor, The Massachusetts Review: 545-2689
massrev@external.umass.edu                                                                                Release Date: November 1, 2002

The Massachusetts Review announces the debut of MR² (MR Squared), its new radio program on WMUA, 91.1 FM, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst's public radio station. The first broadcast is scheduled for November first from 5:30-6:30 PM.

MR² features interviews with artists, writers, artisans, scholars and notable personalities. On its upcoming programs, the Massachusetts Review's Executive Editor David Lenson and Pioneer Valley radio legends Roger Fega and Jim MacDee will interview poet Dara Wier, Hans Teensma, principal of Impress Inc, and creative director of Disney and Family Fun magazines, Bill Streeter, owner of the Silver Maple Bindery, and Sut Jhally, executive director of The Media Education Foundation.

Each hour-long show will have two half-hour segments:

November 1, 2002: Dara Wier, Hans Teensma

November 29, 2002: Bill Streeter, Sut Jhally

Biographies:

Dara Wier's most recent book of poetry, Hat on a Pond (2002) was published recently by Verse Press (based in Florence, Massachusetts). She is the author of several collections of poetry, including: Voyages in English (2001, Carnegie Mellon), Our Master Plan (1999, Carnegie-Mellon), and Blue for the Plough (1992, Carnegie Mellon). Dara Wier is also a professor in the University of Massachusetts Master in the Fine Arts, Poetry program.

Hans Teensma is the creative director of Disney and Family Fun magazines, both based in Northampton. He is also the principal of Northampton's Inpress, Inc., a graphic design company. He has been a designer for Rolling Stone magazine and was the art director of New England Monthly magazine.

Bill Streeter is the owner of Silver Maple Bindery in Northampton, where he binds and restores antique books, including works from George Washington's personal library. He also teaches the craft of bookbinding. Bill Streeter grew up on a family farm in Cummington, Massachusetts, has owned the Cummington General Store, and served in World War II.

Sut Jhally is the executive director and founder of the Media Education Foundation, where he has produced, written, and/or directed a number of videos, including Money for Nothing: Behind the Business of Pop Music (2001), and Killing Us Softly 3: Advertising’s Image of Women (2000). Sut Jhally is a professor in the Communications Department at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

Please contact the Massachusetts Review for artwork for this program.