Irida Kakhtiranova, our last neighbor living in sanctuary in a church is released. Some special performances from Lou Barlow and Martin Sexton. Scenes from her homegoing. UMass virologist Dr. Mandy Muller responds to an opinion piece in the local paper claiming that the real answer to our pandemic problems is Vitamin C. Congressman McGovern on whether there is bipartisan support for the Biden infrastructure plan. The viral TikTok trend that’s dangerous for your dog. Retronyms with the Word Nerd. Heron wine from a wine heroine with the Wine Snobs

Meltdown, our free family music and book bash, goes virtual. I’ll talk with Meltdown co-creator NY Times Best-selling author and illustrator Jarret J. Krosoczka. Short attention span school with the winners of the 3-minute thesis contest. A surprise in-studio visit from US Congressman Jim McGovern. The history of the & symbol with the Word Nerd. We talk about the bipartisan effort to limit the Executive Branch’s war powers. It’s Rose season! Drinking 3 great ones with the Wine Snobs.

The incomparable Valerie June. On the music makers and dreamers of dreams. Dreamer, Lucio Perez, who has been living in sanctuary in a church in Amherst for 3 and a half years comes home. Scenes from the homegoing. And a conversation with Congressman Jim McGovern about the next step for Lucio and for all the dreamers. UMass grad students and their 3 minute thesis..es. And SOMEBODY got their first vaccine

Looking back at a year of quarantine. Conversations and reflections on our pandemic year.The biggest relief package in a generation just passed Congress and is headed to your bank account. I’ll talk with the person who wrote the rules for the package-Congressman Jim McGovern. Mo Willems-beyond the pigeon and thinking bigger thoughts. Remembering another legend of KidLit, Norton Juster. The stange etymology of the word vaccine. A follow up at one of the most delicate spots on the CT River-Rock Dam. The problem with Elon Musk leading us to Mars

Scenes from the first and only Cancer Connection Bed-In with special guests Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, Rachael Price from Lake Street Dive and her musical spouse Taylor Ashton, Noel Paul Stookey-Paul from Peter Paul and Mary, US Congressman Jim McGovern and more all in my bed. And all to support the Cancer Connection. We’ll hear how well the fundraising went and some post bed-in shenanigans.

Gearing up for the first and ONLY Cancer Connection Bed-in. Will Congressman McGovern join me in bed? And are kids still being kept in cages at the border? I talk with the top of the pops when it comes to wine snobbery, local hero Master Sommelier Somm Brahm Callahan. Our own paltry attempt at wine snobbery tasting whites from Italy. Just what is oozing into the CT River at it’s most vulnerable spawning site? I’ll talk with environmental activist Karl Meyer.

Mars Madness with Mr. Universe. Congressman McGovern on MA botched vaccine rollout. Are you sapiosexual? New words with Emily Brewster. A Zoom call with the ghosts of Hamlet. Exploring the convoluted world of Italian wines and meats.

Congressman McGovern is now a main character in this bleak chapter of US History. Hear his take on the Second Impeachment hearings. Debriefing Tom Brady’s SEVENTH Super Bowl win with NE Pat correspondent, my Dad. Hardpass on the performative digital blackface-more words in the latest edition of MW Dictionary. And THE SHOUTY THURSDAY ORIGIN STORY!

Week one of the grown-ups back in charge. US Congressman Jim McGovern weighs in. Remembering the home run king, Hank Aaron, by talking to his…batboy. Civil Rights Attorney Buz Eisenberg. A civil right plea from our neighbors living in churches in The Valley and all over the US. Did an alien spaceship buzz through our solar system? A Harvard astronomer thinks so. What does our resident astronomer, Mr. Universe, think? Bringing a little more transparency to Beacon Hill with the Act on Mass campaign. Don’t @ me or I’ll flex and cancel your bubble! New words in Merriam Webster’s dictionary. Deep dark red wines to get us through this deep dark winter.

The End is Here! The end of the reign of the 45th President and on to what feels like a more hopeful 46th. We’ll hear Congressman McGovern’s thoughts on the inauguration. And we’ll hear the Word Nerd’s thoughts about how weird a word inauguration is and the even weirder etymological history of it. I talk with NASA about how badly we screwed up the planet in 2020. Three delicious French reds with the Wine Snobs.