Bringing Powerful Subjects to the Big Screen with Elaine McMillion Sheldon
Air Dates: July 13-18, 2021 Documentary filmmakers take us into the lives of their subjects in a way that the written word can’t capture. We see what they see. We get a sense of the physical space they occupy with our own eyes. We hear their voices. Elaine McMillion Sheldon weaves these elements together in powerful films that explore everything from love to addiction. McMillion Sheldon is an Academy Award-nominated, … Read More
Fighting for Human Rights for all Americans with Kylar Broadus
Air Dates: July 5-11, 2021 The Human Rights Campaign estimates that there are 2 million transgender people living in the United States, today. Yet Kylar Broadus says the fight for human rights is not yet won as long as transgender Americans lack equal rights under the law. Kylar Broadus is a Black trans man that has been a pioneer in the movement as an attorney, long-time activist, public speaker, author … Read More
Uncovering the Truth Behind a Haunting Holocaust Photograph with Wendy Lower
Air Dates: June 21-27, 2021 In 2009, an acclaimed historian of the Holocaust was shown a picture of one family’s execution by Ukrainian allies of the Nazis some 70 years earlier. In the years that followed, Dr. Wendy Lower’s research gave names to the victims and the killers and lays bare the horror of the Holocaust on an intimate, personal level. Dr. Lower is an acclaimed historian and widely published … Read More
Exploring Heartache Through Word and Music with Dessa
Air Dates: June 14-20, 2021 Everyone of us knows heartache—the sweet melancholy of a love that just doesn’t work. Multi-talented Dessa traces much of her musical inspiration to that pain, and commissioned a team of neuroscientists to help her fall out of love. Dessa is a singer, rapper and writer whose musical resume includes performances at Lollapalooza and Glastonbury, co-compositions for 100-voice choir, performances with the Minnesota Orchestra, and top-200 … Read More
Harnessing Love as a Force for Pivotal Change with Valarie Kaur
Air Dates: June 7-13, 2021 Love is the stuff of poetry, and heartache, and hope, and songs. Valarie Kaur says love can be revolutionary and is needed as a public ethic to confront hate, and nationalism, and the violence born from ignorance. Valarie Kaur is a renowned civil rights leader, lawyer, best-selling author, award-winning filmmaker, educator, innovator, and celebrated prophetic voice. She leads the Revolutionary Love Project with a mission … Read More
“Story in the Public Square” Wins Bronze in 42nd-Annual Telly Awards
NEWPORT, RI (May 25, 2021) – “Story in the Public Square” has won bronze for excellence in Public Interest Television in the 42nd Annual Telly Awards, the fifth Telly Award win for the nationally-broadcast show. This year, “Story in the Public Square” was honored with a bonze award for its 2020 episode featuring Elizabeth Rush, author of “Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore,” a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in General … Read More
Discussing the State of Asian-American-Targeted Violence with Janelle Wong
Air Dates: May 24-30, 2021 Hate crimes are nothing new to members of the Asian American community. Dr. Janelle Wong helps us put them in historical context—from the Asian Exclusion Acts to the rise in violence targeting Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Wong is a professor of American Studies and a core faculty member in the Asian American Studies Program at the University of Maryland. From 2001-2012, Wong was … Read More
Season Seven of “Story in the Public Square” Set for July Premier
May 17, 2021, NEWPORT, RI – “Story in the Public Square,” the four-time Telly-Award winning series from the Pell Center at Salve Regina University and The Providence Journal, will debut its seventh national season on July 5, 2021. The season will feature 24 new episodes seen nationally on public television and heard nationally on SiriusXM Satellite Radio’s P.O.T.U.S. channel “Story in the Public Square” provides insights and perspectives into culture, politics … Read More
Capturing Life in Lyric and Melody with Mariee Sioux
Air Dates: May 17-23, 2021 Folk music has a long and rich tradition in the United States, telling stories by capturing life in lyric and melody. Singer-songwriter Mariee Sioux uses those tools to tell stories that reflect her indigenous heritage. Mariee Sioux was raised in a small gold mining town in Northern California and is of Indigenous and Polish Hungarian ancestry. She was exposed to melody, harmony, and the way … Read More
Jonathan Karp Matches Books with Their Audiences
Air Dates: May 10-16, 2020 Books have always seemed like self-contained worlds to me. Pick up a book, and you can transport yourself to any time in history—or the future. Delve into the mystical or the romantic. Books help us to open our minds and our hearts, and over the last 30 years, Jonathan Karp has put more of those books into hands than just about anyone else. Jonathan Karp … Read More