Menstrual Hygiene Remains a Major Health Concern in Africa. The Cup Is Helping. (0:34)

Guest: Penelope Phillips-Howard, Public Health Epidemiologist, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine; Khadija Osman, Founder of Live Right Ghana; Kofi Nyanteng, Monitoring and Evaluating Specialist, CouldYou? Cup in Ghana; Darmin Mutenda, Menstrual Cup Educator, CouldYou? Cup in Mozambique

Every year at the end of May, global health organizations celebrate International Menstrual Hygiene Day. Now, I know menstruation isn’t something you’re supposed to talk about in polite company. But it literally affects half the people on the planet. One of the goals of Menstrual Hygiene Day is to end the stigma around periods by 2030. That stigma is part of what makes it hard for women and girls all over the world to manage their periods in a safe, effective way. In Africa, for example, the UN estimates one in ten girls miss school during menstruation. Programs simply haven’t found a way to get disposable pads and tampons into the hands of every woman and girl who needs them every single month. (Originally aired 2/27/2020)

 

The Story of Fry Bread Is the Story of American Indians (31:48)

Guest: Kevin Noble Maillard, Professor of Law, Syracuse University, Author of “Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story”

The steep toll COVID-19 has taken on the Navajo Nation highlights the long-standing inequities that continue to affect tribal communities. Many Navajos who live on the reservation lack access to indoor plumbing and safe drinking water. Higher rates of disease among Native Americans reflect centuries of being displaced from their ancestral lands, placed into government boarding schools, fed government issue foods. But “we’re still here” is the message of a book for children by native author Kevin Noble Maillard. (Originally aired 8/24/2019)

 

Walt Disney’s Shaping of American Ideals (50:48)

Guest: Bethanee Bemis, Museum Specialist in Political and Military History, Smithsonian National Museum of American History

Disney World will reopen in July, if Florida’s Governor gives the okay. But visitors will have to wear face masks and there will be no parades, fireworks or meet-and-greets with Mickey and his pals. Even so, Disney World is confident it can still be “the happiest place on earth” – perhaps the very thing pandemic-weary people need right now? (Originally aired 10/14/2019)

 

What America Can Learn From Germany’s Response to the Holocaust (1:12:33)

Guest: Susan Neiman, Director of the Einstein Forum and Author of “Learning From the Germans: Race and the Memory of Evil.” 

The death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody this week and ongoing protests – some of which have turned violent – clearly expose the racial fault lines in our country. Protesters say they’re fed up with empty promises as yet another unarmed black man is killed by a white police officer. And their critics ask why every incident involving a “bad apple” police officer is an excuse for bad behavior on the part of protesters? President Trump has called the protesters “thugs.” The truth is that America has not reckoned with its racist past of slavery, lynching, segregation, and discrimination. So what would it mean to “reckon” with that past? Philosopher Susan Neiman believes America could benefit from studying the way Germans have wrestled with the crimes of the Holocaust. (Originally aired 11/6/2019)