Steaming hot chicken noodle soup … chewy oatmeal chocolate-chip cookies … apple pie with a perfect crust. Sure, food is a necessity -- but it can also nourish the soul. And what role does food play in our connections to heritage, or to home?

Our guests today, Saima Sitwat and Soo Koo, are featured in a series of videos and essays that explores those questions and more, particularly for immigrants to America. It’s called “Food at Home.” 

Plus, Rabia Chaudry talks about her new book "Fatty, Fatty, Boom, Boom: A Memoir of Food, Fat and Family."

Links: Panel discussion on Wed. 11/16: Food at Home: An Evening of Storytelling, Food and Belonging, Food at Home video series, Writers LIVE! Rabia Chaudry at Enoch Pratt.  

Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his [email protected] 410-235-1472

Veterans Day is a time to honor those who wore the uniform. We talk with Katie Kilby, the founder of Baltimore Military Muster, to hear why the power of community and connection can heal, inspire and transform lives.

Links: Baltimore Military Muster, Reveille Grounds, Veterans Day Bash Nov. 11 12-9pm at Checkerspot Brewing, Reveille Grounds Honor Wall.

Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his [email protected] 410-235-1472

A note to listeners, today’s Stoop Story has references to suicide. It’s from Jordan Lally about living life in a dark place, and then finally seeing the light. 

Links: Obsessed, Stoop live show 11/5 at Union Craft Brewing, Stoopstorytelling, Ed Lally Foundation.

Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his [email protected] 410-235-1472

Marylanders voted overwhelmingly to legalize recreational marijuana. What now? We ask Delegate David Moon, vice chair of the House Judiciary Committee, what steps lawmakers must take to set up the industry. Then, Owings Mills civics teacher Leah Strapec reflects on her experience as a first-time election judge. 

Find WYPR's continuing coverage of the midterm election here.

Learn more about what's ahead for recreational cannabis:
Maryland’s new cannabis law will also make it easier to expunge some charges and convictions
Maryland legalized recreational marijuana. Here’s what you should know.

Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his [email protected] 410-235-1472

A historic election: Wes Moore is the third Black governor ever elected in the country, the first in Maryland. We’ll go On the Record with Mileah Kromer, Goucher College's chief pollster, and The Baltimore Banner’s political editor John O'Connor to talk about Moore’s rapid ascent in politics. Plus, what happened to the red wave?

Find WYPR's continuing coverage of the 2022 General Election here.

Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his [email protected] 410-235-1472

The fuel of the Underground Railroad was its passengers--enslaved people who summoned their courage to flee. The Railroad’s engineer was William Still, a free Black who met them in Philadelphia, fed them and helped them move to freedom.

Andrew Diemer, associate professor of history at Towson University, tells the story of that work and what followed in his new book, "Vigilance: The Life of William Still, Father of the Underground Railroad."

On Thursday, Nov.10 at 7 p.m. at the central branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, Diemer will speak as part of the Writers LIVE! Series. The event will also be live streamed. 

Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his [email protected] 410-235-1472

Brittany Young’s non-profit, B360, gives kids hands-on STEM experience through dirt bikes. As they ride them, fix them and even design them … they learn science, technology, engineering and math.

Young knows dirt bike riding has a reputation … and she intends to transform that, along with the lives of young people. Five years in, her dream is within sight: to create a permanent multi-acre campus:

 “I just need people, even if you don’t understand it,  to have a bit more empathy, a bit more compassion. Because there are kids that don’t want to be in the streets they want to be in programming -- we know, because we work with them every summer! And so we need a space for us.” 

Then we hear all about the buzz around B360 camp!

Links: B360, Ride4Change for all your B360 merch!

Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his [email protected] 410-235-1472

Stories teach empathy and entertain. Storytelling is an art! The Griot Circle of Maryland will offer all of that and more during its 40th Annual National Black Storytelling Festival and Conference: “40 Years Strong – The Power of BlackStorytelling!”  We get a preview with Master Storyteller and mentor William Starke, and Growing Griots Literacy Learning program participant Xavier Reid.

Links: Griot Circle of Maryland, National Black Storytelling Festival and Conference: “40 Years Strong – The Power of BlackStorytelling!”

Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his [email protected] 410-235-1472

Here's a Stoop Story from Naomi Cross about her memories of the fall of the Berlin wall on Nov. 9, 1989, 33 years ago next week.

Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his [email protected] 410-235-1472

Passed in 1978, the Indian Child Welfare Act - or ICWA - is considered by many to be a gold standard because it was ahead of its time in mandating child welfare best practices and goes to great lengths to keep children connected to their heritage. 

Beginning November 9th, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments challenging the constitutionality of Indian Child Welfare Act, in place for nearly half a century. The outcome of the case could affect all federal Tribal laws … a potentially catastrophic blow for Native Americans across the country. Why?

We hear from Rori Collins, Public Policy Counsel at the National Council of Urban Indian Health and from Chrissi Ross Nimmo, Deputy Attorney General of the Cherokee Nation, to understand why the ICWA is in place, and why it's under the scrutiny of the Supreme Court.

Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his [email protected] 410-235-1472