Leaving the Syrian Civil War
We’re going to get out of the Syrian war the same way we got in: without a strategy to do so. I’ve said before that the president’s refusal to engage in a policy process is troublesome in the extreme. Structured policy processes serve to add discipline to a decision-making process, to surface unintended consequences, and to ensure that whatever decisions are made for the nation are thoroughly vetted and thought-through. … Read More
Destroy All Monsters with Jeff Jackson
Air Dates: March 5 – 10, 2019 Stories are sometimes told with a particular message for their audiences. Other times, they are just stories. And in some cases, you can’t tell the difference. Enter the playwright, songwriter and novelist Jeff Jackson, who explores the intersection of fame and violence in a remarkable new novel. Jackson is a novelist, playwright, visual artist, and songwriter. His second novel Destroy All Monsters: The … Read More
Why We Dream with Alice Robb
Air Dates: February 26 – March 3, 2019 Poets, rock stars, authors—and even we mere mortals—all share a nightly sojourn—a temporary stay–in the land of dreams. Alice Robb argues they are not just flights of fancy, but critical to health and happiness in our waking hours too. Robb is a science writer whose work has been published in The New Republic where she was a staff writer, The New York … Read More
The First Campaign Narrative of 2020
The 2020 campaign is fully under-way. Democrats and even a few Republicans have announced campaigns and exploratory committees, and campaign narratives are beginning to emerge. Campaign narratives are central to how candidates engage with the public. They provide a framework for understanding developments because the public, once having internalized a narrative, can sort facts and new developments on their own. The narratives that emerge around campaigns are driven by the … Read More
The life of Rocky Marciano with Mike Stanton
Air Dates: February 19-24, 2019 There are not a lot of examples of perfection in life—except in the world of sports. On rare and exciting nights, a baseball pitcher can throw a perfect game or a basketball player can have a perfect night shooting. But a perfect career—that’s the rarest of accomplishments. Mike Stanton recounts the life of Rocky Marciano, who finished his heavyweight championship career with a perfect 49 … Read More
Health in the LGBTQ Community with Jason Rafferty
Air Dates: February 12-17, 2019 Recently, the Trump administration proposed defining gender as an individual’s assigned sex at birth. But the medical community—including Dr. Jason Rafferty—tells us gender is not so simply expressed. Rafferty graduated from Harvard Medical School and obtained post-graduate training through the Triple Board Residency at Brown University. He has additional Masters’ degrees from Harvard University in public health concentrating on Maternal and Child Health, and education … Read More
Untold Stories of Christianity with Karen King
Air Dates: February 5-10, 2019 Even for the devout, questions about the earliest history of Christianity can seem lost behind a shroud of history and official church teachings. Karen King traces the power of stories told and untold in the growth of the early church. Karen L. King is the Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Montana and a … Read More
The Costs of War with Dr. Rosella Cappella Zielinski
Air Dates: January 5-6, 2018 The costs of war are measured lives and treasure. As of the day we produced this episode, 6,979 Americans have lost their lives in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Dr. Rosella Cappella Zielinski warns that the financial costs of these wars have profound meaning for the United States, our politics, and our economy. Rosella Cappella Zielinski is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at … Read More
Rethinking Cyber Training for the Non-Cyber Warrior: Conference Summary and Conclusions
NEWPORT R.I. – Today the Pell Center released the summary and conclusions from the “Victory Over and Across Domains: Cyber Training for the Non-Cyber Warrior” conference held on September 6-7, 2018 at Salve Regina University. The conference convened an interdisciplinary group of experts from the United States, Australia, France, and Canada to discuss how best to train the non-cyber warfighter to fight in— and through—an increasingly contested and complex battlespace … Read More
Elizabeth Kolbert Named 2019 Recipient of the Pell Center Prize for Story in the Public Square
NEWPORT, R.I. – Elizabeth Kolbert, best-selling author and staff writer for The New Yorker, has been named the 2019 recipient of the Pell Center Prize for Story in the Public Square. Awarded annually since 2013, the prize honors a storyteller whose work has significantly influenced the public dialogue. Kolbert’s most recent book, “The Sixth Extinction,” a masterpiece of environmental writing, received the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction in 2015 and … Read More