StudioTulsa

Our guest is Dr. Grant Jenkins, Associate Professor of English here at the University of Tulsa. He teaches creative writing as well as modern and contemporary U.S. literature, with a specialty in experimental poetry and poetics. Dr. Jenkins has just published his first novel, which he tells us about. "Ivory Tower" is an engrossing, genre-hopping crime thriller, set mainly on an American university campus. It's about a film professor who sets out to uncover sexual corruption within her school's

Our guest is our friend, Barry Friedman, the Tulsa-based writer and comic, who's also a longtime commentator for this public-radio program. His son, Paul, died a few years ago from a drug overdose -- at age 24. And while Barry was devastated by this tragedy, as any parent would be, he was not really surprised. Paul's death, as Barry notes in his new book about his son, had been foreshadowed for years. Barry joins us to discuss his moving, unsettling, and perceptive new book, which is meant not

Our guest is Devin Fergus, the Strickland Distinguished Professor of History, Black Studies, and Public Affairs at the University of Missouri. He's written on politics, policy, and inequality in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The American Prospect, The Guardian, and so forth. He joins us to discuss his latest book, which is just out in paperback: "Land of the Fee: Hidden Costs and the Decline of the American Middle Class." This book exposes the effects that fees have on wealth

It's easy to take safe drinking water for granted, but so very much of public health stems from having it (that is, having lots of it) on hand. Moreoever, the problems that've recently affected Flint, Michigan -- and other communities -- have brought the whole potable-water issue to the forefront for many Americans. Where does Tulsa's drinking water come from, and how does it get here? How safe is it, and how clean or "pure" is it? And how do we know these things? How is our water monitored? And

On this edition of ST Medical Monday, we learn about The Prism Project, a far-reaching, recently-released needs-assessment survey that was commissioned in order to better inform the Greater Tulsa community about issues related to our LGBTQ+ neighbors, friends, and fellow citizens. As per the Prism Project website , Tulsa Reaches Out (which is an advisory council within the Tulsa Community Foundation) "commissioned The Hope Research Center at the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa to conduct the survey

On this edition of StudioTulsa, we offer another edition of the popular Museum Confidential podcast, which is co-created twice a month by Jeff Martin with Philbrook Museum and Scott Gregory with Public Radio Tulsa. This time around, MC looks back to May of 2018, when -- at Christie's in Hong Kong -- an 18th-century Chinese vase owned by Philbrook sold for $14.5 million. MC sets out to learn the full story behind this potentially controversial sale.

Our guest is Michael Brose, the longtime Chief Empowerment Officer at Mental Health Association Oklahoma (or MHAOK). Brose joins us to discuss this important nonprofit's ongoing work to secure permanent housing for the homeless throughout our city and our state. Per the MHAOK website : "The Association's statewide work is dedicated to promoting mental health and the equity of access to mental health care through advocacy, education, research, service, and housing. Since 1955, we have worked

Our guest is Phil Keith, who is the co-author of a remarkable new biography titled "All Blood Runs Red: The Legendary Life of Eugene Bullard -- Boxer, Pilot, Soldier, Spy." As was noted of this compelling work in a starred review in Publishers Weekly: "This dazzling biography, drawing on the subject's unpublished memoir, explores the incredible life and times of the first African-American fighter pilot: Eugene 'Gene' Bullard. At 12, he ran away from Columbus, Ga., to escape the vicious racism of

As many of us return home for the holidays, we might see certain signs that our parents are not only aging but also, perhaps, are in declining health. What are those signs, and what should we do if we see them? Our guest has some answers. He's Tulsa-based attorney Todd Whatley, and he's with the Oklahoma Elder Law Group. Elder law, as noted at the National Elder Law Foundation website , is "the legal practice of counseling and representing older persons and persons with special needs, and their

Following a recent coup attempt, more than 100,000 people were arrested and dismissed from their jobs in the Republic of Turkey. Turkey is also the world's largest jailer of journalists; 300+ are now behind bars. Our guest is an expert on these and related matters: Vonya Womack teaches at Cabrini University in Pennsylvania and spoke recently at the Raindrop Turkish House in Broken Arrow, OK. She spoke about her work as a human rights activist and about how she recently visited with Turkish