Fordham Conversations

When we think of the internet, our vision is often of something of an

e-utopia of personal freedom, albeit one marred by annoying pop-up ads.

But is the internet actually making us less free, at least from our

past indiscretions? 

Maybe in the last few years, you've noticed more Mexican restaurants

around and tortillas for sale in the supermarket, or seen people playing

a different kind of music in the subway...They're all part of the

explosion in New York's Mexican population that's been occurring in the

last two decades. We talk with CUNY's David Badillo about this newer

wave of immigration and how Mexicans are making New York theirs.

Dispatches from foreign lands: We talk with

reporter and author Bryan Mealer about his time in Congo--His book "All

Things Must Fight To Live: Stories of War and Deliverance in Congo" is

out from Bloomsbury--and we hear from filmmakers Doug Carr and Eddie

Boyce. They traveled with Fordham Law School’s Crowley Scholars on their

2007 mission to Malawi to study the effects of AIDS on women there...and

they reported back with the 2007 film "The Face of AIDS".

On October 4, 1947, “Leave it to Beaver”

premiered on US television…and space travel premiered in the USSR as the

Soviets launched the first Sputnik. We take a look at the roots of

Soviet space travel, and America’s response to it, with Fordham History

professor Asif Siddiqi.

When we think of bullies, we tend to think

of things like bigger boys stuffing a smaller boy into a locker. But

when girls bully, it's a lot more covert, and some say a lot crueler.

We'll talk with JoAnne Dornfeld Januzzi, the principal of Henry H. Wells

Middle School in Brewster, about her research on how girls bully, and

what we can do about it.

Most of us know about those Galapagos island finches, but we may not be

as aware that Charles Darwin was an avid botanist. We look at an

exhibit at the New York Botanical Garden that explores the role plants

played in Darwin's framing of his theory; and we hear about one of the

more interesting animal adaptations around--penguin song.

We look at the summer scourge of ticks with Fordham researcher Thomas Daniels--and we hear about some of the possible long-term effects of a tick's bite.

We look at the world of New York's longshoremen,

and the classic movie it inspired, with Fordham Theologian and author

James Fisher--his forthcoming book is "The Irish Waterfront and the Soul

of the Port", from Cornell University press.

We visit the murals of Philadelphia with theologian

Maureen O'Connell, and Lincoln monuments around the country

with James Percoco--his book, "Summers with Lincoln", is out from

Fordham University Press.

Sure, you can bring home the bacon, and fry it up in a pan, but if you have to do it through shiftwork will it mess up your kids? We talk with sociologist Chris Morett about work-life balance and how nontraditional work schedules affect children.