Fordham Conversations

There are hundreds of thousand missing persons in the FBI’s database.  For many people, the methods of finding their lost loved ones are as mysterious as their disappearances. Fordham Conversations Host Robin Shannon talks with Privacy and Information Consultant Bob Gellman.  He discusses some of the legal and ethical challenges in searching for missing people. Gellman is  a Senior Fellow, Center on Law and Information Policy, Fordham University School of Law 2012-13. 

First WFUV’s Rob Palazzolo talks to Dr. Arnita Fowler. Her son went missing almost 20 years ago, and due to a lack of resources for locating missing adults and a bureaucratic mess, she didn’t recover his body from Hart Island for 4 years. Fowler has been trying to reform the system for locating missing persons in the New York.

In part one of the interview about the book Freedomland USA. The Definitive History, author Michael R. Virgintino took us on an audio tour of the history-themed amusement park.

In part 2 of the interview about the book, Fordham Conversations Host Robin Shannon talks with Michael R Virgintino about Freedomland’s developmental stages, and the circumstances that befell The World's Largest Entertainment Center.

On June 19, 1960 a short-lived, history-themed amusement park opened on what now sits co-op city in the Bronx. Freedomland U.S.A. was considered, by some, to be the East Coast’s version of Disneyland.  However, Journalist and author Michael R. Virgintino disagrees. “Unlike Disneyland, the story of Freedomland does not have a happily ever after" he wrote.

Fordham Conversations Host Robin Shannon sat down with Virgintino to discuss his book Freedomland USA. The Definitive History.  The book follows the park’s developmental stages, and the circumstances that befell The World's Largest Entertainment Center.

In 1946 Ed Rohs was left at a Catholic orphanage in pre-World War II Brooklyn.   He spent the next 19-years of his life going from one institution to another until he was “unceremoniously dumped out into the world.”   Fordham Conversations Host Robin Shannon talks with Rohs about his own experience of being raised by priests and nuns in New York City and his book “Raised by the Church.”

Fordham Conversations Host Chris Williams explore The
Grand Concourse. This four-and-a-half-mile boulevard is a
major thoroughfare in the Bronx. Bronx Borough Historian,
Lloyd Ulatan, discusses the history of Grand Concourse
including its Art Deco buildings and the Loews Paradise
Theater. Then, Patrice Kane, head of Fordham archives and
special collections, talks about a bell with a special
connection to former Bronxite Edgar Allen Poe.

With the rise of social media there are fewer hard copies of
letters, photos, and other documents. So what happens in the
future? Will all of this be preserved and will there be too much
of it to sort through? Fordham Conversations Host Chris
Williams talks to Elizabeth Keohane-Burbridge about how
historians preserve memories and how this is changing. This
Fordham University graduate produces the historical podcast
series Footnoting History.

How does describing someone by a certain term or label influence what others think about them? Fordham Conversations Host Robin Shannon talks with Fordham Associate Professor of Political Science Zein Murib.   Murib’s research examines the terms “gay” and “homosexual” and the socio-political impact of using both words.

Then, Reclaim Pride Coalition co-founder Natalie James discusses the Queer Liberation March and Rally held as an alternative to last Sunday’s Pride Parade. James also talks about some of the key issues involved in the continued fight for LGBTQ rights.

As the American population ages, so does its population in the prison system. That has created particular challenges for members of the LGBT community that are incarcerated.

Fordham Conversations Host Robin Shannon talks with Tina Maschi, a Fordham University professor and former prison social worker who studies aging prisoners. Maschi shares research from her study “Coming Out of Prison: an exploratory study of LGBTQ Elders in the criminal justice system.” 

Also, Randy Killings and Mark Pelipiche share what it was like to grow older while in New York’s Criminal Justice System.  A programming note, Mark wants our listeners to know he has a speech impediment that might be noticeable during this interview.

PROMO: Fordham University Professor Lyn Slater has been making a name for herself on social media. She has hundreds of thousands of followers on her blog and Instagram page Accidental Icon | For Women who Live Interesting but Ordinary Lives. The model and fashion influencer is also using her platform to draw attention to what she says is discrimination against older adults in American culture.

Fordham Conversations Host Robin Shannon sits down with Author Debra Caruso Marrone. They discuss her book Fordham University and the United States: A History.