Spectrum

By WOUB Public MediaNews

Spectrum episodes

October 12, 2016 Thousands of Blacks Die Annually Due To Health Care Disparities and Biases
A new book claims that nearly 84,000 black and brown lives are lost each year in the United States due to health care disparities and unconscious racial and ethnic bias in the health care professions.

Dayna Bowen Matthew just released a new book Just Medicine – A Cure for Racial Inequality in American Health Care published by the New York University Press.

She claims that African Americans and Latinos suffer from unconscious racial and ethnic biases by physicians, institutional providers and even the patients themselves. This implicit bias often leads to unintentional stereotyping and disparate care from Caucasians.

Matthew is a lawyer, law professor and health-care analyst. She is a professor of law at the University of Colorado Law School and the Colorado School of Public Health. This year she also is in Washington, D. C. as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow. She also has co-founded the Colorado Health Equity Project.

Matthew claims that unconscious and unintentional racism is the single most important determinant in health care disparities. She says that unjust and avoidable discrimination based upon race and ethnicity alone is a fundamental cause of destructive and even deadly health disparities between races.

Matthew proves her thesis with a study of our history of health care and an analysis of current health care procedures and patient interactions.

She also notes that even in 2016 that infant mortality is twice the rate among African American women than white women – even at the upper ends of the socio-economic scales.

Matthew suggests that legal action needs to be taken to rectify these disparities. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 could be an effective legal tool for eradicating racial and ethnic bias in health care, she claims.

She also says that the Affordable Care Act contains the first civil rights provision that specifically prohibits discrimination in health care. It also should be used to erase the disparities and eradicate the implicit racism, according to Matthew.
35 min
October 05, 2016 “Dating and Sex: A Guide for the 21st Century Boy” Answers Critical Questions
In an era when young men often feel “entitled” in sexual matters and sexual assaults on college campuses are rising, Dr. Andrew Smiler tries in his new book, Dating and Sex: A Guide for the 21st Century Boy, to aim straight talk to young teenage boys. He tries to establish personal responsibility early in a boy’s development.

He felt that no one was talking directly to teen boys about relationships, sex in a technological age and what puberty and adolescence means in the 21st century.

“There was no other book that I found that was written specifically for teenage boys,” Dr. Smiler says. Therefore, I targeted a specific audience.”

Dr. Smiler is a licensed therapist and an expert on boys, men and masculinity. He has been featured in the New York Times and has written for the Huffington Post, Shriver Report, Everyday Feminism and the Good Men Project (featuring issues of sexually abused men.)

He is the associate editor for the Journal of Psychology of Men and Masculinity and served as President of the Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinity.

He has targeted this new book for 13 to 16 year old boys and has sprinkled the book with humor cartoon-like illustrations. The book does not read like a textbook. Instead, it is designed for readers to skip around in the book and read sections they have particular interests in or questions about.

The first 13 pages of the book are “Frequently Asked Question” and their answers. Then the book is divided into three sections: Relationships, Pleasure and Sexual Behavior, and Puberty and Adolescence.

The book is contemporary and talks, in depth, about sexting and sexual roles and orientation. It also talks about sexual realities, the fluidity of sexuality and discusses sexual stereotyping.

The text specifically addresses issues of “consent” and what constitutes consent. It also discusses “withdrawal of consent.”

Dr. Smiler’s text also highlights the problem of sexual abuse of boys. He notes that some studies say as many as 1 in 4 males are sexually assaulted at some point in life and other studies say 1 in 6 are abused prior to age 18. He talks frankly to boys who might be potential victims or who already have been victimized.

A review of the book states: “Written for teen boys, Dating and Sex provides them with the knowledge they need to understand dating, relationships, and sex. If goes beyond basic descriptions of biological processes with a progressive, practical approach they relies on secular ethics and emphasizes sexual health and personal responsibility. The book addresses common questions about what’s typical, provides a framework for dating and sex that fits their values and identity, and helps boys identify what feels right for them in a variety of common situations.”
38 min
September 28, 2016 A Race Like No Other: Turbulent 2016 Presidential Campaign
As the presidential polls tighten and September nears an end, SPECTRUM gets a political update from a non-partisan expert on American politics and elections. Kyle Kondik, author of a new book – The Bellwether: Why Ohio Picks the President (published by the Ohio University Press) -- speaks about what each candidate needs to do to win in the last month of the campaign.

Kondik noted the unique nature of this race.

Donald Trump needs to win traditionally Republican states but also needs to win some states that were previously won by President Barrack Obama. He needs to not only win regular Republican votes but also must grab Democrats or Independents who feel disenfranchised, according to Kondik. He is spending a great deal of time in traditionally Democratic areas.

Hillary Clinton needs to hold the states won by President Obama but also draw to her campaign educated Republicans and especially college educated Republican women, Kondik adds.

Kondik places states into four groups to watch as predictors of the outcome of the race.

The first group is states that Republicans normally win – like Arizona and Georgia. The question is can Trump hold these states and what will be the roles of African-American and Latino voters in those states. At this point, he says Clinton’s campaign has a shot in these states but it is remote. If she wins either state, Kondik says it is significant.

Kondik also thinks Trump will win Iowa – a state with a large white population without college degrees and he believes Trump also will take the 2nd Congressional District in Maine for the same reason. Iowa had gone for President Obama in the past.

The third state grouping is what is traditionally called the “battleground states” of Ohio, Florida, Nevada, and North Carolina. Both candidates target these as “must-win” states.

Finally, to win, Kondik believes that Trump must maintain his Republican base and get Democratic crossover votes in Colorado, Michigan, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Clinton’s selection of Sen. Tim Kaine from Virginia has helped her chances in that important state, says Kondik.

Kondik also notes that up to one-third of the electorate will take part in early voting this year which means the status of the campaign in early October will take on greater significance than in the past. Therefore, public reaction to the first two debates (Sept. 26 and Oct. 9) could be vital to each candidate’s chances.
42 min
September 21, 2016 Life of Civil Rights Leader Revealed by Historian and Documentarian
Dr. Amina Hassan, an independent historian and award-winning public radio documentarian, recently authored a new book Loren Miller—Civil Rights Attorney and Journalist, published by the University of Oklahoma Press.

Loren Miller was an attorney who also practiced journalism and owned his own newspaper, the California Eagle, one of the longest running African American newspapers in the west. He also was deeply involved with the L.A. Sentinel.

As a journalist, Miller was an outspoken advocate for civil rights issues and as an attorney, he worked with noted attorney Thurgood Marshall on key civil rights cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and he also represented minority groups in California.

Miller worked against internment of Japanese American citizens in World War II. He helped integrate parts of the U. S. Military and the Los Angeles Fire Department. He also defended Black Muslims and took on issues facing the Latino population in Southern California.

The son of a slave, Miller was originally raised in a bi-racial home in the Midwest before spending the bulk of his professional career in the Los Angeles area. He was appointed judge of the Los Angeles Municipal Court in 1964.

Hassan became interested in writing about Miller because, at one time, Miller represented Hassan’s father in a civil rights matter when Hassan’s dad was denied service at a Los Angeles dinner.

Hassan, as a radio documentarian, has had productions for National Public Radio – including a series on how race, class and gender shape American sport. She also covered the United States’ invasion of Grenada and did an NPR series on the Bill of Rights.

Throughout her career, Hassan has been committed to social, cultural, gender and foreign policy issues. She has travelled and lived in the Caribbean, the Near Middle East, North African, Central American and Europe.

She has been a consultant to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and handled radio projects for the National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian Institution and the Washington D.C. based research center the Institute for Policy Studies.

Hassan received her undergraduate degree from the University of California in Berkley, her master’s degree in telecommunication and her doctorate in rhetorical criticism from Ohio University.
29 min
September 14, 2016 Why are Black Women NOT Elected to Statewide Offices Throughout the Nation?
There are only two black women in the nation who hold statewide elective executive offices, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. Spectrum wants to know why.

Although there are numerous women of color elected to state and federal legislative offices, the numbers don’t translate to statewide executive offices, according to Dr. Kira Sanbonmatsu, senior scholar at the Center for American for American Women in Politics.

She points to several reasons for this paucity of statewide public officeholders of color. First, she says legislative districts are usually more minority based than statewide populations – therefore, making it easier to win in a select district.

Secondly, she notes that black women may have fewer campaign resources available than white women and men, thereby limiting spending amounts in campaigns.

Also, the majority of black women candidates are Democrats, according to Sanbonmatsu, and Republicans recently have been making greater strides in controlling statehouses.

Finally, she said there are often racial and gender stereotypes working against black female candidates among the electorate.

Spectrum also talked with two African-American women politicians in the swing-state of Ohio to get their perspectives: former State Senator Nina Turner who ran unsuccessfully for Sec. of State in 2014 and Judge Gayle Williams-Byers, an elected judge in Ohio from a diverse district.

Both found it unacceptable that in 2016 there have been no black women governors and such a small number of statewide officeholders across the nation. This is especially true, they say, since African-American women and other women of color constitute the largest voting constituency in the country.

“We get everyone else elected but ourselves,” said Sen. Tuner.

Both Judge Williams-Byers and Sen. Turner confirmed that it has been difficult for black women candidates to raise the kind of money that is needed to be successful in winning a statewide office. They don’t get the same amount of money as white candidates.

They also agreed that they face a “double whammy” of being black and being women when running statewide. However, they spoke of more difficulty confronting racial issues than gender bias.

Often, negative stereotypes are used against African American women as being ineffective and just plain angry. Passion for equality and fairness is often mischaracterized as being just an “angry black woman,” says Sen. Turner.

When asked what it will take to change the current status of so few black women in statewide offices, both agreed: 1) Consciousness of the problem of under-representation, 2) commitments from individuals and party leaders to getting black women elected, and 3) consequences for failing to grabble with this overarching problem.
46 min
September 07, 2016 Sex and Power: What’s Behind the Headlines?
Why do powerful and famous men sexually act-out, often repeatedly, in ways that most people find inappropriate and that are risky to their careers and families? Why do they risk it all? We see headlines and inevitably ask those questions.

SPECTRUM spoke with two experts to try to find the reasons. Dr. Steven Gold is a psychology professor at Nova Southern University and is the founder of the highly regarded Trauma Resolution and Integration Program. Christopher Anderson is the Executive Director of the national advocacy organization MaleSurvivor, a group benefitting men who have been victimized by sexual abuse.

There is definitely a linkage between power and the sexual escapades we have seen repeatedly in the headlines involving numerous men such as Pres. John F. Kennedy, Pres. Lyndon Johnson, Sen. Gary Hart, Pres. Bill Clinton, Sen. John Edwards, Tiger Woods and Congressman Anthony Weiner – to name a few.

Our experts say that high-achieving men often have a form of narcissism and certainly a feeling of entitlement to act-out sexually as they please without consideration of risks or consequences. There is often a direct link between power and authority and the inner feeling of sexual entitlement.

The fact that some powerful men seem not to be able to stop these objectionable behaviors – regardless of the severe consequences--leads to a discussion of sexual addiction or compulsive sexual behavior. Our experts say that this form of addiction is the necessity of “continuing to do something regardless of the consequences.” In short, they are not able to stop the aberrant behavior regardless of the risks.

Both Dr. Gold and Anderson quickly stress that this form of addiction or compulsion is NOT an excuse for the activities but instead is an explanation for the repeated nature of bad behavior. The acting-out may be a form of self-medication for the perpetrator similar to alcohol or drug abuse.

“Trauma” also is a critical element in finding the reasons for this sexual acting-out and its results.

In addition to a sense of entitlement and addictive behaviors, both Dr. Gold and Anderson say past “trauma” may be an underlying reason for the perpetrator’s behavior. Past trauma may be the underpinning for a feeling of present entitlement.

Trauma also alters the behavior and life of the victims. Dr. Gold studies both aspects of trauma: trauma as the “bad” event and trauma as the result of the bad event. Academic research has been slow to study the sexual impacts of trauma but, according to Dr. Gold, research is becoming more active in this critical area of study.
52 min
August 31, 2016 #010 Salvador Dali Expert, Paul Chimera
Paul Chimera, a 1971 Ohio University journalism graduate, is a writer, teacher, journalist and one of the world’s foremost experts on the Spanish artist Salvador Dali.

In March, Chimera’s latest book about Dali was published – Dali and His Doctor: The Surreal Friendship Between Salvador Dali and Dr. Edmund Klein.

Chimera became interested in this friendship after the widow of Dr. Klein contacted Chimera and told him of a special relationship between Dali and Dr. Klein.

Dr. Klein was a skin cancer researcher and expert. He was contacted by Dali to treat some type of skin condition. Over the next eight years (1972-1980), the pioneer in surrealism and the pioneer in medicine met and worked together, according to Chimera.

Each time they met Dali would make a drawing or a sketch for Dr. Klein. Klein did not charge Dali a fee and Dali repaid him with original drawings. The drawings were signed and dedicated to Dr. Klein, whom Dali called his Guardian Angel.

The drawings were all kept in a safety deposit box at a bank. Dr. Klein’s widow asked Chimera to inspect the art, catalogue the art, get it appraised and sell it.

As a result of this unique relationship, Chimera wrote his new book which is for sale through online book distributors.

Chimera currently teaches Writing and Public Relations at Daeman College. He also has his own editing and freelance business called Chimera Communications.

He has written two previous books about writing: "Nuts, Bolts and Anecdotes: Journalists Discuss Interviewing and Note-Taking in Their Own Words" and "Winning With the News Media: Simple Steps to Better Press Relations".

Chimera has been a writer/columnist with the Salvador Dali Society of Redondo Beach, California and was the former publicity director of the Original Dali Museum of Beachwood, Ohio. The museum permanently relocated to St. Petersburg, Florida in 1982.
29 min
August 24, 2016 Pauline Frederick: Broadcast Pioneer Focus of New Book
Pauline Frederick was a broadcasting pioneer. She was the first woman to be heard as a reporter for network radio in the late 1940’s as she covered the Nuremburg trials of Nazi war criminals.

She was the first woman reporter to appear on network television covering the 1952 political conventions and her career in broadcasting spanned over three decades. She covered the founding of the United Nations, Fidel Castro’s first trip to the United States, the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis among other major events.

In addition to being a network radio and television reporter from the 1940’s through the 1970’s, Frederick ended her career by joining a fledgling radio network in the late 1970’s called NPR.

Ms. Frederick’s career has been brought to life in a new biography, Pauline Frederick Reporting: A Pioneering Broadcaster Covers the Cold War, written by Professor Marilyn Greenwald of the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University.

The book, published by Potomac Books, was released just last month in January 2015.

This is Greenwald’s fourth biography of journalistic giants.

Greenwald talked about her latest book and the personal life and career of Frederick with Spectrum's Tom Hodson.
30 min
August 17, 2016 Christopher Anderson, Executive Director of "MaleSurvivor"
Christopher Anderson is the executive director of a national organization called MaleSurvior – an organization dedicated to assisting and advocating for men who have suffered some form of sexual abuse.

Sexual abuse of males is a major issue and it often is under-reported, according to Anderson

He notes that, at least, one out of every six American males are sexually abused before they reach the age of 18. Some statistics have the number even higher.

Often males do not come forward and disclose their abuse for fear of the ramifications of disclosure. This often results in lifelong battles with self-esteem, problems with intimacy and relationships, addiction issues, PTSD and other forms of self-loathing and sometimes self-destruction.

Anderson, himself a survivor of sexual abuse, heads MaleSurvivor which is dedicated to helping men with issues originating with abuse.

MaleSurvivor has a new website – www.malesurvivor.org which features discussion boards and chat rooms where survivors can talk with one another about issues they confront. It also provides access to resources where abused males can receive help and counseling.

MaleSurvivor also sponsors Weekends of Recovery, across the country, where survivors gather with other survivors to begin healing – under the watchful eyes of therapists and counselors.

Anderson and MaleSurvivor also advocate against sexual abuse of males and they attempt to enlighten the public about the terrible ramifications of this type of abuse. Both Anderson and MaleSurvivor were quite vocal in the Penn State sexual abuse controversy involving former football coach Jerry Sandusky.

Anderson also tours the country speaking to various groups and the news media to raise awareness of the life-long ramifications of male sexual abuse.
47 min
August 10, 2016 #008 Sonja Williams, Award-winning Radio Storyteller
Sonja Williams has always loved music and that led her to award-winning public radio shows. She now is a professor in the Department of Media, Journalism, and Film at Howard University and just penned her first book.

She has amassed an amazing body of work in broadcast and print since receiving her master’s degree in Communication from at Ohio University.

During her career Williams has received three prestigious George Foster Peabody Awards for Significant and Meritorious Achievement for groundbreaking music programming and audio documentaries for National Public Radio, Public Radio International and the Smithsonian Institution.

She created a 26 part audio documentary called Wade in the Water: African American Sacred Music Traditions, Black Radio: Telling It Like it Was and NPR’s Making the Music with Wynton Marsalis.

Williams talks with Spectrum's Tom Hodson about her early days in radio and how she was able to marry her love for music with her passion for audio storytelling.

Williams has now turned her career to print.

She discusses her new book, Word Warrior: Richard Durham, Radio and Freedom, just published in 2015 by the University of Illinois Press. It is a biography about a “gifted broadcast dramatist, journalist and activist” – who lived from 1917 to 1984.

He wrote radio dramas in the 1940’s and had a radio series called Destination Freedom.

In addition to his radio work, he was an investigative reporter for the Chicago Defender, wrote television shows and ghost-wrote Muhammad Ali’s book The Greatest.

Durham was posthumously induced into the National Radio Hall of Fame in his hometown of Chicago.

Williams discusses, in depth, the book and her legendary career in public broadcasting.
31 min

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