Think from KERA

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi elicits strong opinions from the left and the right. But who is she* really? *Molly Ball, Time magazine’s national political correspondent and a political analyst for CNN, joins host Krys Boyd to talk about Pelosi’s journey to becoming arguably the most influential woman in American political history. Her new biography is called“Pelosi.”

Millions of Americans have embraced a new reality centered around Zoom calls and working at the kitchen table. Georgetown University professor Cal Newport joins host Krys Boyd to talk about face-to-face communication vs. computer interfacing and how we can master working from home. His article published in The New Yorker is“Why Remote Work Is So Hard—and How It Can Be Fixed.”

Changing policing methods requires changing a department’s internal culture. There are, however, additional changes that need to happen to the places being policed. Monica Bell of the Yale School of Law joins host Krys Boyd to argue that “segregation rots community life at the root” and that police reform is empty until we examine how people live in proximity to one another. Her article “Anti-Segregation Policing” will be published in the NYU Law Review.

Henrietta Wood was a free black woman who won her freedom in 1848, only to be re-enslaved five years later. Rice University historian W. Caleb McDaniel joins host Krys Boyd to tell the story of how Wood ultimately sued and won the largest amount given in restitution for slavery. His book “Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America” was awarded the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in history.

Broadly speaking, an ideological gap exists between the more liberal coasts and the more conservative “fly-over” states. So why does that divide exist? Marie Mutsuki Mockett, a fiction and nonfiction teacher at Rainier Writing Workshop and visiting writer in the MFA program at Saint Mary’s College, joins host Krys Boyd to talk about her exploration of her family’s heritage in rural Nebraska to understand a more conservative way of life. Her book is “American Harvest: God, Country, and Farming in the Heartland.”

Modern Monetary Theory is a policy position that asks whether the federal government should operate like a household with a balanced budget or more like a change agent. Stephanie Kelton, professor of economics and public policy at Stony Brook University and former Chief Economist on the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, talks to host Krys Boyd about using the national debt as a tool in service of a higher standard of living for all Americans. Her book is“The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People’s Economy.”

No matter how often we’re told “we’re all in this together,” months of isolation and perpetual bad news still make us want to throw something at the wall. Washington Post humorist and columnist Alexandra Petri joins host Krys Boyd to add her brand of humor to the discord and irony to our current events. Her new book is called “Nothing is Wrong and Here Is Why: Essays.”

We all need some self-care these days, so if someone growls at you to “take a hike,” definitely take them up on it. After all, it’s one of the healthiest things you can do. Trinity College Dublin neuroscientist Shane O’Mara joins host Krys Boyd to talk about why ditching the car is great for your body, your mood, and your connection to your fellow man. His new book is “In Praise of Walking: A New Scientific Exploration.”

There’s a stark difference between the image of the friendly neighborhood police officer in a blue uniform and the officer dressed in body armor and riot gear. Seth W. Stoughton is an associate professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law, where he is affiliated with the Rule of Law Collaborative, and a former Tallahassee Police Department officer. And he joins host Krys Boyd to talk about his research into why he believes the current playbook for police training is too focused on force rather than community.

Football games, sorority parties, dorm life – not to mention classes – aren’t advisable, even if you’re standing six-feet away wearing a mask. So college administrators are left to rethink what higher education looks like going forward. Paul Quinn College president Michael J. Sorrell joins host Krys Boyd to talk about how COVID-19 complicates the way institutions of higher learning welcome back their students and staff.