The Roundtable

This week's Book Picks comes from Connie Brooks and Heather Boyne from Battenkill Books in Cambridge, NY and Cheryl McKeon from The Book House in Albany and Marketblock Books in Troy, NY.

"Mayo Buckner (a life interrupted)" will be performed at the Seagle Festival in Schroon Lake, NY on August 6 – 9.Seagle Festival is proud to present the second ever production of this exemplary new opera by one of the most performed contemporary opera composers alive today.The opera is based on the tragically true story of a young boy (Mayo) committed to the Iowa Home for the Feeble Minded in 1898. Despite Mayo’s repeated requests to be released, it was not until 1957 at age 67 he was properly tested and found to have an above average IQ.

The Roundtable Panel: a daily open discussion of issues in the news and beyond. Today's panelists are Chief of Staff and Vice President for Strategy and Policy at Bard College Malia DuMont, Tetherless World Professor of Computer, Web and Cognitive Sciences at RPI Jim Hendler, and Semi-retired, Editor at large/columnist/editorial writer, Times Union Jay Jochnowitz.

Robert Kaplan for three decades reported on foreign affairs for “The Atlantic,” he was a member of the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board, and the Chief of Naval Operations Executive panel. "Foreign Policy" twice named him ‘one of the world’s top 100 global thinkers.’ He is the author of 23 books. The latest is “Wasteland: A World in Permanent Crisis.”

Growing up, Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian felt most at home in the swamps and culverts near her house in the Hudson Valley. A child who frequently felt out of place, too much of one thing or not enough of another, she found acceptance in these settings, among other amphibious beings. In snakes, snails, and, above all, fungi, she saw her own developing identities as a queer, neurodivergent person reflected back at her—and in them, too, she found a personal path to a life of science.In her new book, "Forest Euphoria", Kaishian shows us this making of a scientist and introduces readers to the queerness of all the life around us. Nature, Kaishian shows us, is filled with the unusual, the overlooked, and the marginalized—and they have lessons for us all.

The Roundtable Panel: a daily open discussion of issues in the news and beyond. Today's panelists are Senior Fellow, Bard Center for Civic Engagement Jim Ketterer, Political Consultant Libby Post, and Investment Banker on Wall St. Mark Wittman.

Each weekday morning, The Roundtable's Joe Donahue is joined by various experts, journalists, educators, and commentators to discuss current events. On Roundtable Panel: The Week in Review, we feature your favorite panelists discussing news items from the previous week.

Carol Leifer is an Emmy-Award winner who has written for such shows as “Hacks,” “Seinfeld,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Modern Family,” “Saturday Night Live,” “The Larry Sanders Show,” and 10 Academy Award broadcasts. Her new book is “How to Write a Funny Speech… for a Wedding, Bar Mitzvah, Graduation & Every Other Event You Didn't Want to Go to in the First Place.”

In "Unwanted: The Causes and Effects of America’s Horse Population Crisis," equestrian journalist and lifelong horsewoman Christina Keim delivers a compassionate, fact-based investigation into one of the most complex and divisive issues facing the equine world today.

Last month, public radio and television stations across the country learned Congress voted to eliminate all federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. CPB distributes federal money to more than 1,500 noncommercial TV and radio stations across the country.When we came to you to help us fill the gap of money lost – you rose to the occasion and pledged almost half the money we are expected to lose in just 6-hours. In your messages and calls, many of you also asked us how we can also support rural stations who do important work, and who face a steep climb to make up large cuts in federal funding.Today we focus on our friends at North Country Public Radio.