Poor, Sick, Mad & Criminal in 19th Century New York (0:38)

Guest: Stacy Horn, Author of “Damnation Island: Poor, Sick, Mad & Criminal in 19th-Century New York”

Nellie Bly is heading back to the site of her most famous exploit. As an investigative journalist in the late 1800s, Bly went undercover to get herself committed to the notorious insane asylum on an island in New York’s East River. Her expose shocked the world and drew attention to the dreadful treatment of those with mental illness. Today Roosevelt Island is a trendy residential neighborhood, but its residents want to make sure the island’s difficult past is remembered. Hence the Nellie Bly statue they’re planning for the spot where the insane asylum once stood. (Originally aired 7/25/2019).

 

Romantic Love Is One of the Most Addictive Substances on Earth (37:07)

Guest:  Helen Fisher, Biological Anthropologist, Senior Research Fellow, The Kinsey Institute, Indiana University. Chief Scientific Advisor for Match.com. Author of “Anatomy of Love” and “Why We Love.” 

After scanning the brains of people falling in and out of love and surveying tens of thousands of people on a dating site, Helen Fisher has concluded that romantic love is among the most addictive substances on Earth. We’re not talking about lust or sex drive. She says the desire–to fall in love, be loved romantically by someone–is entirely separate and even more powerful. (Originally aired 01/07/2020).

 

How Effective is Sign Language Interpreted Performance for Deaf Audiences? (52:52)

Guest: Michael Richardson, PhD, Author of the Study: “Playing Bilingual: Interweaving Deaf and Hearing Cultural Practices to Achieve Equality of Participation in Theatrical Performance Processes”

Attendance at live theater performances by deaf people is low. And for good reason. The costumes, makeup, set, and lights, are all part of the full sensory experience of theater. But that’s lost on those who have to watch an interpreter off to the side the entire time. Is it possible for a deaf person to have an equal theater experience as someone who isn’t deaf? (Originally aired 10/28/2019).

 

Screen Time Doesn’t Account for the Rises in Depression and Anxiety in Teenagers (1:10:07)

Guest: Sarah Coyne, Professor of Family Life, Brigham Young University 

You may have heard that spending so much time on social media is making teenagers anxious and depressed. If you’re the parent of a “screenager” addicted to a smart phone, I’m sure you’ve worried about this. Well, maybe worry a bit less. An eight-year study of teenagers finds no evidence that time spent on social media is “destroying a generation.” (Originally aired 11/12/2019). 

 

Historically Black Colleges and Universities Are Struggling to Survive (1:22:06)

Guest: Delece Smith-Barrow, Senior Editor for Higher Education, The Hechinger Report

Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Thurgood Marshall, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, Spike Lee, Oprah Winfrey, Samuel L. Jackson, Chadwick Boseman–aka Black Panther. That’s just a partial list of prominent African Americans who graduated from an HBCU, which stands for Historically Black Colleges and Universities. There are more than a hundred HBCUs around the country–Howard, Tuskegee, Spelman, Shaw, Fisk, Morehouse–are some names you might recognize. If you saw Beyonce’s Coachella performance in 2018–or the Netflix documentary about it-that whole thing was an ode to HBCUs. She had marching bands and step dancers. Beyonce’s HBCU tribute was well-timed, because many of these schools are in crisis. Enrollment is down. Government funding is down. More than a dozen HBCUs have closed. (Originally aired 11/05/2019).