GUY RAZ, host:
From NPR News, this is All Things Considered. I'm Guy Raz, filling in for the gang on this first day of 2009.
(Soundbite of song "Auld Lang Syne")
RAZ: We begin the year with a look ahead to some events and trends for the New Year. There is, of course, the inauguration of the 44th president, Barack Obama, later this month. 2009 is the year of the Ox in the Chinese calendar. And this year analogue TV is out, digital TV is in. That'll be the only way to watch what's on the airwaves come mid-February. My colleague Melissa Block has been taking a survey of some other things in store for 2009.
MELISSA BLOCK: This year brings two important golden anniversaries. Hawaii and Alaska will celebrate 50 years of statehood. Hawaii celebrates its 50th on August 21st. But first up is Alaska.
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BLOCK: Alaskans are preparing for big celebrations this Saturday, January 3rd. That's the day President Eisenhower signed the proclamation officially admitting Alaska to the union. So how does a state celebrate its 50th? To find out, we're joined by a man who was there when Alaska became a state in 1959. Vic Fischer pushed for statehood and helped draft the state's Constitution. He joins us from Anchorage. Mr. Fischer, welcome to the program.
Mr. VIC FISCHER: Well, thank you very much. It's a delight.
BLOCK: And this was a very long road for Alaskans to get statehood. There was a - first, a state referendum. And then they had to get legislation through Congress. Why was this such a tough fight?
Mr. FISCHER: It was actually a very long and frustrating process. We had the Southern Democrats, we had conservative Republicans, we had President Eisenhower who was concerned about defense issues, so it was pretty tough to get a bill through Congress.
BLOCK: What was the main argument against?
Mr. FISCHER: Republicans assumed that Alaska would send two Democratic senators to Washington and therefore could break up the more or less even distribution of the parties. Southern Democrats did not like the idea of Alaskans coming to the Senate because that would be enough to break up filibusters on civil rights legislation.
BLOCK: Well, it was finally in 1958 when the U.S. Senate did ratify the Alaska Statehood Act. And I gather there were big celebrations in Alaska when that happened. What was that like?
Mr. FISCHER: There was a phenomenal celebration that just spontaneously broke out all around Alaska. There was a giant bonfire in Anchorage. There was a tremendous American flag that was covering one side of the downtown Federal Building, and a fire ladder truck sent Miss Alaska up to the top of the flag with a giant new gold star to celebrate admission. And it was phenomenal. It just - and it's great to still be alive 50 years later and be able to celebrate it together with a lot of young people who are grandchildren of those who participated.
BLOCK: Mr. Fischer, have you thought, this Saturday, coming up on the 50th anniversary, if you might commemorate it in sort of a quiet, personal way?
Mr. FISCHER: No, I couldn't do it quietly.
BLOCK: I see.
Mr. FISCHER: I like to celebrate. This is too exciting to just go off in the corner and contemplate.
BLOCK: You want a big do?
Mr. FISCHER: I would just want to be among them, the mass of people who are celebrating and giving high fives. And I'm just thrilled about where we are as a state and how exciting it's going to be to see the next stage of Alaska begin.
BLOCK: Well, Mr. Fischer, happy 50th.
Mr. FISCHER: Well, thank you very much. And happy 50th to Hawaii.
(Soundbite of song "Auld Lang Syne")
BLOCK: That's Vic Fischer, one of those who fought for Alaskan statehood, talking with us from Anchorage about his state's upcoming 50th birthday. 2009 is the bicentennial birth year of a master of the macabre.
(Soundbite of poem "The bells")
Ms. HELEN MCKENNA UFF (Park Ranger, Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site, Philadelphia): (Reading) Oh, the bells, bells, bells. What a tale, their terror tells of despair. How they clang and crash and roar. What a horror they outpour on the bosom of the palpitating air.
BLOCK: That's from Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Bells," read by Helen McKenna Uff. She's a park ranger at the Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site in Philadelphia. And 2009 is a big year for her.
Ms. MCKENNA UFF: Oh, boy. January 19th, Poe will be 200 years old. And it's going to be a big year for us. We're going to do it all year.
BLOCK: There are any number of cities that want to stake a claim to Edgar Allan Poe, and I wouldn't have thought immediately or Philadelphia, I have to say.
Ms. MCKENNA UFF: Oh, no. We don't have a football team named after one of his poems. He's not buried in our city. So that covers Baltimore right there.
BLOCK: The Ravens.
Ms. MCKENNA UFF: Yeah, the Ravens. And he's buried in Baltimore. And he was born in Boston. And he was raised in Virginia. So, you know, those places people would tend to think of first. But he spent six years in Philadelphia, and they happened to be the most productive of his life. So we get to claim the highlights of his literary career.
BLOCK: And what would those be?
Ms. MCKENNA UFF: He started to really master the horror genre while he was here. So some of the great classics like "Fall of the House of Usher," "Tell-Tale Heart," "Black Cat," "Masque of the Red Death," "Pit and the Pendulum" - so these were all written here in Philadelphia.
BLOCK: There is, of course, another big bicentennial coming up in 2009, the Lincoln bicentennial.
Ms. MCKENNA UFF: Yeah.
BLOCK: Do you worry that poor Edgar Allan Poe is just going to get kind of lost in the shuffle?
Ms. MCKENNA UFF: No, not at all. Poe has a lot of passionate, devoted fans. And they're just really looking forward to this whole year to have their boy on the map.
BLOCK: Well, Helen McKenna Uff, happy Edgar Allan Poe bicentennial in 2009.
Ms. MCKENNA UFF: Thank you.
BLOCK: And I wonder if you would mind taking us out with some reading of something he wrote in Philadelphia. How about "The Tell-Tale Heart"?
Ms. MCKENNA UFF: Excellent.
(Soundbite of short story "The Tell-Tale Heart")
Ms. MCKENNA UFF: (Reading) I felt that I must scream or die! - and now - again! - hark! louder! louder! louder! "Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed!- tear up the planks!- here, here! - it is the beating of his hideous heart!"
(Soundbite of song "Auld Lang Syne")
BLOCK: From historic anniversaries to more frivolous interests now, some new trends for the New Year. We wondered what 2009 will taste like. So we asked Lynn Dornblaser of the global market research company Mintel for her predictions on flavor trends for the New Year.
Ms. LYNN DORNBLASER (New Product Expert, Mintel): Top five. First one would be lavender. What we're seeing is lavender in food and beverage, usually paired with very familiar flavors, so quite often lavender with chocolate.
BLOCK: Lavender and chocolate sounds - well, it sounds interesting.
Ms. DORNBLASER: It's very yummy. Most of the people I know who've tasted a chocolate bar with lavender in it say that it's very feminine.
BLOCK: OK. Lavender.
Ms. DORNBLASER: Lavender. The next one would be cactus.
BLOCK: Cactus?
Ms. DORNBLASER: Yes. We see cactus in Latin America, of course, in all types of foods and beverages, but it's beginning to expand to North America. So I think what we're going to see is cactus flavors in, let's say, functional waters, think like vitamin water type of drinks, and also in salty snacks.
BLOCK: OK. So we have lavender, cactus. What's third on your list?
Ms. DORNBLASER: Third on my list is persimmon. Persimmon I'm calling the new pomegranate, not because of its functional benefits or because of its nutritional benefits, but because of its uniqueness. Persimmon is a fruit that's native to the Middle East, but also to New England. And we are beginning to see it showing up in a few ways, mostly in beverages right now.
BLOCK: OK. So, we have lavender, cactus, persimmon.
Ms. DORNBLASER: Well, the next one I would say might be masala, which is kind of the kissing cousin to curry. Different flavor profile. Sometimes very hot, sometimes quite mild.
BOCK: And where will we be finding masala? Not in chocolate I hope?
Ms. DORNBLASER: No, absolutely not in chocolate. For now in the U.S., mostly in sauces and seasonings.
BLOCK: So you've ticked off lavender...
Ms. DORNBLASER: One more.
BLOCK: Cactus, persimmon, masala. Your last top flavor for 2009 is...
Ms. DORNBLASER: Chimichurri.
BLOCK: Chimichurri?
Ms. DORNBLASER: Chimichurri, as I'm sure you know, is a Latin American sauce. It's usually used on grilled meat. It's from Argentina. It's parsley, olive oil, paprika, garlic. Sometimes some other seasonings as well. It's a very versatile flavor. As I said, it is designed to be paired with grilled meats. But I think we'll see it extend into new categories. We might see it - why not flavored meat snacks that have this flavor profile with it, as well, for example?
BLOCK: So a global flavor forecast for 2009 is what you're predicting here?
Ms. DORNBLASSER: That's correct.
BLOCK: We've been talking with Lynn Dornblaser of the global research firm Mintel with her flavor forecasts for 2009. Lynn, thanks so much.
Ms. DORNBLASSER: You're very welcome.
(Soundbite of song "Auld Lang Syne")
BLOCK: And the color of 2009, Pantone, a provider of color standards for the design industry, believes that mimosa will be the color of the year. It's a warm golden yellow. The company says that particular yellow embodies hopefulness and reassurance in a climate of change.
Finally, for those of us who love to garden, what does 2009 have to offer that's new in plants and flowers? We put that question to Nicholas Staddon, who travels the world seeking out new discoveries for the plant company Monrovia.
Mr. NICHOLAS STADDON (Director of New Plant Introductions, Monrovia): We're also looking for plants which are more disease and pest resistant and plants which are really easy care. So some of the really exciting things that we're working on for 2009, one is a brand new Agapanthus from Australia, and we've been working on this plant for, oh, three to four years.
BLOCK: And what's an Agapanthus?
Mr. STADDON: An Agapanthus is an annual plant in the colder parts of America, say the Midwest or the East Coast. On the West Coast and the Southern part of America, it's going to be perennial. It's a dwarf plant. This particular plant is about 18 to 20 inches tall and the same wide. It has really nice green leaves in the spring and summer. But the main attribute on this one, it has really pretty blue flowers that rise above the leaves. And they're almost like a ball of flowers. They're actually called an umble.
And what's so important about this plant is that it's almost seedless. And so the blooming time is greatly extended over other Agapanthus. It's really interesting in the last few years, people in the Mid and the East, Midwest and East Coast, have really latched on to Agapanthus as a group of plants because they use them in their containers. So it's really a rewarding plant.
BLOCK: And you said the ball of flowers is called an umble?
Mr. STADDON: Yeah, it's called an umble, yeah.
BLOCK: Umble. And you're not saying humble without the H?
Mr. STADDON: Umble. Oh, no.
BLOCK: (Laughing) OK.
Mr. STADDON: No. It's always one of the concerns in horticulture that people get confused with all the various strange Latin terms we use. So...
BLOCK: So that's one thing you're excited about. And you were saying it can be grown in a pot. I suppose if we're thinking about downsizing in all different ways, this would be an example of that.
Mr. STADDON: One of the real trends in the United States is that gardens are getting smaller. And so one of the tremendous trends is container gardening. Agapanthus is a group of plants who have had this rise to popularity. So we think Baby Pete is going to be an absolute winner because of its compact size.
BLOCK: Baby Pete, you said?
Mr. STADDON: Baby Pete, yeah. We believe this is going to be an absolute hit.
BLOCK: Nicholas Staddon, thanks so much for talking with us.
Mr. STADDON: Thank you, Melissa.
(Soundbite of song "Auld Lang Syne")
RAZ: That's Nicholas Staddon, the man who travels the world for the Monrovia plant company. He was speaking with Melissa Block about some of the things we can look forward to in 2009. For me, it's the birth of my first child in a couple of months. And he or she will be 250 years younger than Robert Burns, Scotland's favorite son, born in 1759, and the man who wrote the New Year's classic "Auld Lang Syne."
(Soundbite of song "Auld Lang Syne")
RAZ: You're listening to All Things Considered from NPR News.