How America’s Coastal Cities Left the Heartland Behind (12:10)

Brian Feldman is a Researcher-Reporter with the Open Markets Program at New America. He previously worked for an education technology company in Cleveland, OH through Venture for America, an entrepreneurship fellowship centered on regional economies.  Many of America’s Midwestern cities are experiencing an economic decline with big employers moving to bigger cities or out of the country. While many believe it to be an issue of deindustrialization and the trends in the free market, it may not be that simple. Brian Feldman says that the problems is actually a result of decisions made by “presidents and lawmakers in both parties, influenced by a handful of economists and legal scholars, quietly altered federal competition policies, antitrust laws, and enforcement measures over a period of 30 years.” So why are many Midwestern cities seeing such heavy economic blows? How have laws affected the growth of the cities? And will they ever return to their former “glory days”?

 What Role do Libraries Play in the Internet Age? (1:00:03)

Donald Barclay is the Deputy University Librarian at the University of California Merced campus. He graduated in 1990 from Cal Berkeley with his Master of Library and Information Science. Libraries. What visuals enter your mind when you hear the word library? Maybe an old curmudgeon shushing you, maybe you remember sitting on the floor as a child while hearing a story, maybe you think of hours searching computers and bookshelves for an academic assignment. But is the library a thing of the past? Donald Barclay's research may surprise you.

Commonwealth and Covenant: Economics, Politics, and Theologies of Relationality (1:44:11)

Dr. Marcia Pally is a Professor at New York University in Multilingual Multicultural Studies and at Fordham University, and is a regular guest professor at Humboldt University’s Theology Faculty. Her research interests are culture, religion, and politics as well as culture and language.  Author of Commo