Festivities in Chennai

This week on The Sound Kitchen, you’ll hear the answer to the quiz about the justice quotation. There’s “On This Day”, some great music, and of course, the new quiz question. So click on that little “Listen” arrow above, and join in!

David Franklin/Getty Images/A Terrade

Hello everyone!

Welcome to The Sound Kitchen. You can catch the programme on-the-air every Saturday, at 6:15, 6:45, 14:45 and 16:45 universal time. You’ll hear the winner’s names announced and the week’s quiz question, along with all the other ingredients you have grown accustomed to: your letters and essays, “On This Day”, quirky facts and news, interviews, and great music … so be sure and tune in every Saturday.

Fabulous news! We have a shortwave frequency again! It’s 13725 kHz on the 22m band, and you can hear us between 6.00 and 7.00 UT every day. We’ve had reception reports from Algeria, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, China, Cuba, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, the UK and the US, and although the frequency is “aimed” (or however that works) towards the African continent, give it a try. You never know … and be sure and send us your reception reports. Maybe we can get more time, which would be wonderful.

This week’s quiz: On 27 June, I asked you to identify the following quotation: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice”.

The answer is: I accepted two answers, because the question was a bit tricky – even my eldest sister chided me for not making it clear – so, sorry! The exact sentence “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice” was said by the great American civil rights leader, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, in his 1965 speech on the courthouse steps in Montgomery, Alabama, following the successful completion of the Selma to Montgomery march.

But: Dr King was paraphrasing his brother minister Theodore Parker, an American Unitarian minister and an abolitionist, who lived a century before him. The exact 1853 quote by Theodore Parker, which inspired Dr King, is: "I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice."

Theodore Parker is pretty interesting – read about him when you have a minute. He was not only an anti-slavery activist, he was also a very early feminist. He wrote this in 1853 (!!!): "The domestic function of the woman does not exhaust her powers ... To make one half of the human race consume its energies in the functions of housekeeper, wife and mother is a monstrous waste of the most precious material God ever made". (Don’t get excited: Dr Parker was not against marriage and children; he was against that being all that a woman could expect or work for in life – and I agree, as a married woman and a mother!)

Speaking of Dr King: last week on the program I spoke about my main professor at university, the Greek scholar Br Edmund Hunt. After talking about him I began to miss him so much I just had to have some “Brother Energy” – so I called my old school and got in touch with the only brother-teacher still there, Gerald Muller – a wonderfully madcap man whom we all adored (and still do); Br Gerald was our music professor. And he writes – like a fiend, non-stop – he has over 100 published books to his name, and one is a biography of Dr King. You can download it - as well as many others - for free (no profit motivation, bless him). Here’s the link: http://faculty.stedwards.edu/geraldm/

His e-mail address is right under his name – send him a little note and say hello – he’ll love it.

The winners this week are: P Sivashanmugham from Chennai, India; Arnold Kitsao Jefwa, from Nairobi, Kenya; Misebo Andrew from Ndola, Zambia; Sathi Parvin from Nilphamari, Bangladesh, and Navin Nadasen, from Durban, South Africa.

Congratulations winners!

This week’s question ... you'll have to listen to the show to participate. You have until 21 September to enter this week's quiz. The winners will be announced on the 29 September program. When you enter, be sure you send your postal address in with your answer, and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

Send your answers to:

[e-mail]
or
Susan Owensby
RFI – The Sound Kitchen
80, rue Camille Desmoulins
92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux
France

or

By text … You can also send your quiz answers to The Sound Kitchen mobile phone. Dial your country’s international access code, or “ + ”, then 33 6 31 12 96 82. Don’t forget to include your mailing address in your text – and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

To find out how you can win an RFI Radio, wireless computer mouse, or Mp3 player, click here:

http://www.english.rfi.fr/culture/20141218-sound-kitchen-essay-contests

To find out how you can become a member of the RFI Listeners Club, or to form your own official RFI Club, click here:

http://www.english.rfi.fr/culture/20141218-how-form-official-rfi-listeners-club