Connections Podcast

Which films are on your summer movie list? From "In the Heights" to "The Green Knight" to "Space Jam: A New Legacy with LeBron James," movie buffs have a lot to choose from in the coming months. Our guests this hour preview this summer's films and discuss how movie theaters have weathered the pandemic. Our guests: Scott Pukos , public relations coordinator for the Little Theatre Jackie McGriff , co-founder of the Our Voices Project , owner of Jackie Photography , and movie fan Adam Lubitow ,

Journalists from the USA Today Network have published allegations from more than 16 women that they were abused by a Christian youth camp leader in Western New York. The allegations date back to the 1990s and involve sexual and emotional abuse. We talk to the reporters who have been working on this story for months. Our guests: Sarah Taddeo , consumer watchdog reporter for the Democrat and Chronicle and USA Today Network's New York team Georgie Silvarole , backpack reporter for the Democrat and

We hear from two more candidates for Rochester City School Board. Our goal is to talk to all of the candidates before Primary Day. Our guests this hour include: Minister Clifford Florence James Patterson

We discuss a new partnership that offers mental health intervention services for Black and Brown victims of racial trauma and gun violence. It's a grassroots, on-the-ground effort to connect people with resources and assistance. The leaders say their work is not meant to be reactionary, but to ensure stability and good long-term outcomes. We discuss it with our guests: Justin Morris, community activist Megan Clifford , psychotherapist and mental health first aid instructor Brandon Irons,

Something very strange is happening with trading cards – baseball cards especially, but also football cards, Pokémon cards, and more. Target recently announced that it would stop selling such cards, and local Target stores have posted signs saying that they’ve pulled the cards in order to protect the safety of the staff. Why would baseball cards make the staff unsafe? Turns out that during the pandemic, the card market exploded – and now buyers are competing for each new shipment, hoping to suck

In a recent piece for CITY Magazine, editor David Andreatta detailed plans for a proposed Food Policy Council in Rochester. The council would address the city’s so-called food swamp – “an urban area with an abundance of food that is unhealthy and where healthy food is hard to find or afford.” Food swamps can lead to systemic unequal access to food, perpetuating the structural inequalities that already exist in a community. So what would a Food Policy Council do? How would it work? Our guests

Are you a fan of Friends ? The megahit show just had its long-awaited cast reunion. In a piece for the Atlantic, Megan Garber writes that the special treats the nostalgia of the original series as "a kind of absolution." She says, " Friends , after all, has not just failed to age well; it showed its failings even when it was young. Its jokes are sometimes homophobic; its plots are occasionally cruel; its cast, and its world, are almost entirely white. The show is popular, and it is, as a

In 2015, Jackie Augustine lost her bid for mayor of Geneva by just 14 votes. Then, she dusted herself off and launched a 501c3 called BluePrint Geneva, designed to create new solutions for old problems. The organization has worked on environmental and economic justice, from composting to a food cooperative. Augustine joins us to discuss why it can be so difficult to see old problems in new ways -- and how to pull together diverse groups to make change. Jackie Augustine, founder and executive

A 2019 report from ROC the Future showed that only five out of 10 kids in the City of Rochester felt like they mattered to people in the community. Statistics like these inspired teenagers from across the Finger Lakes region to come together and create a magazine addressing mental health issues. We talk with the teens behind "FLX Kids are Alright" and professionals in the field on the importance of mental health literacy and education. Our guests: Hannah Shippee , program coordinator for the

Local real estate agents say the booming market is making it difficult for many first-time homebuyers to participate. With homes selling for well over asking price, many buyers are being pushed out of the process. This hour, we build on a conversation we had on the program last week, in which we discussed how these trends in the market are leading to gentrification in some areas. We hear from a first-time homebuyer regarding the challenges she's faced, and we talk to a real estate agent about