The People Left Out By The Classical Definition Of Beauty

March 26, 2021 Culture, History, Race/Identity

Philosophy professor Chloé Cooper Jones joins us to talk about the vulnerability and rejection of being “othered” because of a disability while learning to find strength and solace within herself.

New To America? Here’s Where To Start

March 25, 2021 Culture, Current Events, Education, History, Race/Identity

Roya Hakakian joins us talk about her instruction manual for newcomers to this country, acting as tour operator for all the wonder of American sights and sounds.

A Case For A Great Migration Back To The South

March 24, 2021 Culture, Education, History, Race/Identity

New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow joins us to talk about his ideas for how to create lasting social change, honor culture and memory, and fight back against systemic racism.

Relax Late Bloomers, You’ll Be Fine

March 23, 2021 Culture, Race/Identity, Science and Technology

Forbes publisher Rich Karlgaard counts himself among the group of “late bloomers”, and he joins us to talk about the scientific explanation for why so many of us make something of ourselves later in life.

When Birth Mothers Were Shamed Into Adoption

March 17, 2021 Culture, Health, History, Race/Identity

Gabrielle Glaser joins us to tell the story of how a system of closed adoptions across the nation operated on shifty moral ground and separated mother from child in the name of a wholesome environment.

Your Ancestors Were Not Helicopter Parents

March 12, 2021 Culture, Current Events, Environment, History, Race/Identity, Science and Technology

Michaeleen Doucleff, correspondent for NPR’s Science Desk, joins us to discuss her journeys with her daughter, from the Arctic to the Yucatan, to understand parenting best practices around the world and why American parents may be getting it all wrong.

Sports Fandom Is Good For Your Health

March 11, 2021 Culture, Race/Identity, Sports

Larry Olmsted joins us to talk about the health benefits of rooting for your favorite team brings and why it might even make you smarter.

The Black Roots Of Beer Culture

March 11, 2021 Culture, Current Events, Economics, Race/Identity

James Bennett II joins us to talk about why beer is often conflated today with a rich, white world and why something as simple as the backyard BBQ is essential to understanding how America chooses to drink.

What It Means To Be Asexual

March 10, 2021 Culture, Current Events, Race/Identity

Journalist and writer Angela Chen joins us to discuss her book – part-reporting, part-memoir – on the spectrum of human sexuality and the categories that often go ignored.

Making Sense Of The World As A Black Queer Kid

March 10, 2021 Culture, Current Events, Race/Identity

Hari Ziyad, the editor-in-chief of the website RaceBaitr and a 2021 Lambda Literary Fellow, joins us to discuss their personal history of a queer and Black childhood, and about breaking down structures of institutionalized racism and violence.

A Case For Rebuilding The Voting Rights Act

March 9, 2021 Culture, Current Events, History, Politics, Race/Identity

Vann R. Newkirk II, senior editor at The Atlantic and the host of the podcast Floodlines, joins us to talk about how the bill was originally perceived and passed, and what might happen if it again lands at the Supreme Court’s door.

Meet The 11-Year-Old Black Girl Who Struck Oil

March 9, 2021 Culture, History, Race/Identity

Lauren N. Henley is an assistant professor of leadership studies in the Jepson School of Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond, and she joins us to tell the story of a girl who went from farm laborer to millionaire overnight in the Jim Crow South.