Think from KERA

In those years between child, teenager, and man, there is a hard-fought battle for identity. But growing up black and queer in a Texas town adds more layers to those lessons of pain, vulnerability, and love. Poet Saeed Jones joins host Krys Boyd to discuss his coming-of-age, which he writes about in, “How We Fight for Our Lives: A Memoir.”

This summer, cries for systemic change brought protestors to city centers — spaces specifically designed to help citizens come together and solve problems. Dr. Mindy Thompson Fullilove, professor of urban policy and health at The New School, joins host Krys Boyd to talk about how physical spaces are turned into communities, from her research in 178 cities across 14 countries. Her book is called “Main Street: How a City’s Heart Connects Us All.”

Political strategists are working to woo Latino voters while at the same time respecting that Latinos are not a monolith. Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker Bernardo Ruiz joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the issues most important to the people some say will determine the 2020 election. His documentary “Latino Vote: Dispatches from the Battleground” airs tonight on PBS stations. This conversation is in collaboration with The Texas Newsroom statewide project “Unlocking the Latino Vote.”

President Trump’s announcement that he has tested positive for the coronavirus has many Americans wondering how it might affect his ability to govern – and how it will affect the election. Jeffrey Engel is the founding director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University. He joins host Krys Boyd to talk about how previous administrations have communicated with the public about the health of the president – and about how President Trump’s health will factor into the remainder of the campaign season.

No one is suggesting it’s possible to make politics less contentious but is there a way to go back to our good, old-fashioned approach to anger and bitterness? P.J. O’Rourke is a contributing editor at the Weekly Standard, a P.J. O’Rourke fellow and editor-in-chief of the web magazine American Consequences. He joins host Krys Boyd to talk about how before we return to civility, we first must return to sanity. His book is “A Cry from the Far Middle: Dispatches from a Divided Land.”

Calls for police reform are playing out in our legal system, in city budgets, and in the streets. This hour, we’ll talk about updating police training with a former police officer. We’ll look to sociology to explain how police forces can contribute to residential segregation. And we’ll talk about roles police officers serve that can be outsourced, allowing them to better focus on policing.

New voting technology, from paper ballots to today’s touch-screen option, moves at a snail’s pace. Hackers, on the other hand, move at lightning speed. Journalist Benjamin Wofford joins host Krys Boyd to talk about Texas election administrator Dana DeBeauvoir, who partnered with the tech world to build a safer election system. His recent story “Lone Star” appears in Wired magazine.

In the 1990s, an American father was kidnapped by the Colombian FARC, leaving his emotionally devastated family with the task of securing his release. And all along, his son was chronicling the saga on video. Filmmaker Miles Hargrove joins host Krys Boyd to tell his own story — the story he captured on a Video8 camcorder — of his family’s dramatic and harrowing struggle to get their patriarch home. “Miracle Fishing” screens tonight as the opening night film of VideoFest’s DocuFest.

Maybe instead of asking, “what’s the meaning of life?” We should focus on, “What makes a meaningful life?” Philosopher Frank Martela joins host Krys Boyd to talk about identifying the essential qualities of happiness, which he writes about in “A Wonderful Life: Insights on Finding a Meaningful Existence.”

Bound together for safety or pushed together by traffickers, migrant caravans moving from Central America through Mexico struggle with violence, corruption and desperation. Nick Quested, joins host Krys Boyd to talk about embedding with Guatemalan immigrants bound for the U.S. border. He’s a producer and co-director of the documentary “Blood on the Wall,” which premieres on today on the National Geographic channel.