Drink Local (August 8, 2015)

In recent years, a culture has grown up around brewing beer locally and at home. Hunter Smith and Levi Duncan of Champion Brewery met in a brewing course at Piedmont Virginia Community College, where they now both teach. They say local breweries like Champion can help foster community. Plus: In early America, just about everyone drank beer—even for breakfast. We go with Susan Kern (College of William and Mary) to the site of a brew house that once existed on the campus of one of the nation’s oldest colleges. And: We all know of Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin, but few of us have heard of Robert Morris, who was also a founding father. Ryan Smith (Virginia Commonwealth University), in a new book, tells the tale of this wealthy financier of the Revolution who signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, but ended up in financial ruin and public disgrace.

Later in the show: There is an extreme shortage of nurses in “bush” Alaska, a stunningly beautiful part of the world only reachable by plane or barge. Maria DeValpine (James Madison University) spent three years learning why nurses elect to stay in this challenging environment on the edge of the earth. And: Courses that include service learning projects can have a profound effect on college students. While teaching at the American University in Cairo, Egypt, James Curiel (Norfolk State University) had his students, who were predominately from the wealthiest Egyptian families, work with impoverished families who made their living by recycling the rubbish they collected. The lessons learned were invaluable.