The worst blackout in Texas history happened in the winter of 2021. Is the state better prepared for this winter? Mose Buchele, KUT reporter and host of the podcast “The Disconnect: Power, Politics and the Texas Blackout,” joins host Krys Boyd to walk us through any regulatory or policy changes that have happened since the massive storm, and if Texas has secured the power grid for the future.

Baby Boomers saw technology jump from the telephone to the moon landing. Are the current incremental advances in smartphones anywhere close to that wonder? Michael Bhaskar is a writer, researcher and co-founder of Canelo Digital Publishing, and he joins host Krys Boyd to talk about how he believes risk aversion has led us to move away from dynamic discoveries, and why he says it’s time to dream big again. His book is called “Human Frontiers: The Future of Big Ideas in an Age of Small Thinking.”

Is the U.S. a nation of immigrants or a nation of immigrant restrictions? Reece Jones, chair of the Department of Geography and Environment at the University of Hawai‘i, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss his research into nativism and white supremacy and how panicked views about immigration from the fringe made it to the mainstream. His book is called “White Borders: The History of Race and Immigration in the United States from Chinese Exclusion to the Border Wall.”

Grappling with a father’s alcoholism becomes more complicated when a family lives on two sides of a border. Obed Silva joins host Krys Boyd to discuss his father, who his family left behind in Mexico to escape his drunken violence, and what it means to grieve for a complicated man who caused so much pain. His book is called “The Death of My Father the Pope: A Memoir.”

How many times have we heard that if you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life? What happens when the work you love leaves you overworked and exploited? Erin A. Cech, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Michigan, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why the mantra of finding your calling in a career helps fuel a culture that sacrifices balance for long hours and low pay and solidifies class inequalities. Her book is called “The Trouble with Passion: How Searching for Fulfillment at Work Fosters Inequality.”

What if anxiousness caused by the pandemic could actually work in our favor? Dr. Wendy Suzuki is a professor of neural science and psychology in the Center for Neural Science at New York University, and she joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how we can master stress to put it to good use. Her book is called “Good Anxiety: Harnessing the Power of the Most Misunderstood Emotion.”

There was a time when “I want my MTV” meant music videos, not reality stars. Amanda Ann Klein, associate professor of film studies at East Carolina University, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why the original music channel moved away from rock stars and shifted to ordinary people living wild lives. Her book is “Millennials Killed the Video Star: MTV’s Transition to Reality Programming.”

Families used to split up over inheritance and duty – and today the reasons also include boundaries, personal growth and happiness. Joshua Coleman is a psychologist and senior fellow at the Council on Contemporary Families, and he joins host Krys Boyd to talk about why parent-child bonds are easily severed in a modern family setting. His article “A Shift in American Family Values Is Fueling Estrangement” was published in The Atlantic.

Reggaeton can be heard all over Top 40 radio – and its rise to the top of the charts is a fascinating story of how music transcends borders. Katelina Eccleston is founder of Reggaeton Con La Gata and producer of the Spotify podcast “Loud,” and she joins host Krys Boyd to tell the story of reggaeton’s humble origins, how it spread from Panama to Puerto Rico, Jamaica and now the U.S., and the message it sends to listeners about race and power.

To better understand women’s health needs, it seems obvious that women researchers and physicians should be part of the conversation – but it’s only recently that that’s actually happened. Elinor Cleghorn suffered through a long series of misdiagnoses before finally correctly being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. She joins host Krys Boyd to unpack the long history of how medicine has failed women. Her book is “Unwell Women: Misdiagnosis and Myth in a Man-Made World.”