Editorial Cartoons with Adam Zyglis
Air Dates: July 15-21, 2019 Editorial cartoonists occupy the space between writing and drawing—capturing truth and big ideas with seemingly simple illustration and an economy of words. Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Adam Zyglis uses evocative images to connect with readers while conveying layers of meaning in a few words. Zyglis has produced cartoons for The Buffalo News since 2004. His cartoons are internationally syndicated and have appeared in many publications … Read More
Living with Neurological Disease with Lisa Genova
Air Dates: July 8-14, 2019 An estimated 5.6 million Americans live with Alzheimer’s today. Another 100,000 are living with ALS—or Lou Gehrig’s disease. Lisa Genova is a brain scientist whose best-selling novels describe not what it’s like to die from these diseases, but what it means to live with them. Dr. Genova is a Harvard trained neuroscientist who broke into the public’s consciousness with her novel, Still Alice. Likened to … Read More
Native American History with Philip Deloria
Air Dates: July 1-7, 2019 The British colonies in the New World, and later the United States, were built on land taken from native populations. Philip Deloria explores the interplay of Native Americans and the development of America’s national identity. Deloria is the first tenured professor of Native American history in the long history of Harvard University. His first book, Playing Indian (1998), explores the tradition of white Americans dressing … Read More
The Impact of Technology on Modern Relationships with Helen Schulman
Air Dates: June 24-30, 2019 It is almost taken for granted that technology is changing America. Whether we’re talking about job losses, election meddling, or the role of big-data in healthcare, technology is everywhere. Helen Schulman, through her remarkable fiction, warns that technology is changing our personal relationships and our families, too. Schulman, a novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and non-fiction author, is the chair of Fiction for the MFA Creative … Read More
Mikhail Gorbachev and the End of the Cold War with William Taubman
Air Dates: June 17-23, 2019 Mikhail Gorbachev is one of the most important figures of the 20th century. A child of the Soviet Union, and a fast rising star in the Communist Party, Gorbachev was also a democratizer whose reforms led to the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union. William Taubman has authored the definitive biography of the last Soviet leader. William Taubman is … Read More
Immigration and America’s Dairy Farms with Julie Keller
Air Dates: June 10-16, 2019 The super-heated rhetoric over immigration and border security in the United States today is part of a long tradition of anti-immigration hysteria. Julie Keller puts our recent panic in a sociological context—exploring changes in who works on American dairy farms, and how they traveled from Latin America to farms in the upper-Mid-West. Julie C. Keller is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of … Read More
Local Journalism with Alexandra Watts
Air Dates: June 3-9, 2019 Local journalism is one of the key-stones of American democracy. There’s no substitute for an experienced, local reporter—not just to get a story, but to share it with the insight and perspective that only comes from living in the community in which they report. Alexandra Watts is one of 13 fellows with Report for America, a new effort to put reporters on the ground in … Read More
Environmental Justice with Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha
In April 2014, officials in Flint, Michigan, switched the source of the city’s water from the Detroit water supply to the Flint, River. It was a cost-saving move, but it touched the lives of citizens across that city. Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha helped blow the story open. With science and determination, she proved the decision was poisoning the children of Flint. An associate professor of pediatrics and human development at Michigan … Read More
The Press and the War in Afghanistan with Katherine A. Brown
Air Dates: May 20-26, 2019 America’s war in Afghanistan is the longest war in the history of the United States. Katherine A. Brown served on the staff of the U.S. ambassador there in the years after 9/11 and she argues now that the role of the American press in Afghanistan is essential to understanding the conduct of the war. Brown is the author of a compelling new book about the … Read More
Iran? I’ve seen that movie, too
On February 15, 1898, the USS Maine was at anchor in Havana Harbor when an explosion sank her killing 260 officers and men. The so-called Yellow Press—led by William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer— promptly blamed the Spanish government and cried “Remember the Maine!” In truth, historians remain uncertain about what caused the explosion, but the leading theory is that a fire in one of the coal bunkers on board … Read More