Think from KERA

Whether we want to admit it or not, audiences crave violence. Take the dominance of “true crime,” the New York Times called the genre a “gold rush.” Journalist Rachel Monroe joins host Krys Boyd to talk about murder, media, and the people obsessed with dark stories, which she writes about in book, “Savage Appetites: Four True Stories of Women, Crime, and Obsession.”

Gordon Parks, the first African American staff photographer for Life Magazine saw his camera, he said, as “a weapon against poverty.” John Rohrbach, Senior Curator of Photographs at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, joins host Krys Boyd to talk about the photographer’s work that won prestige in the face of significant barriers. The exhibition is “Gordon Parks: The New Tide, Early Work 1940–1950”.

It wasn’t long ago when bilingualism was frowned upon—immigrant parents were asked to stick to one language at home so families could all be versed in the lingua franca. But with that unwritten policy, came a loss of connection to family and traditions. Journalist Melissa Hung joins host Krys Boyd to talk about reconciling the loss of a generational language in the face of her mother’s mortality, which she writes about in her essay “Towards Chinatown,” published in Longreads.

According to the American Pet Products Association, we spend almost $70 billion on our dogs each year. It’s clear we love our dogs–but do we truly understand our relationship to our furry friends? Alexandra Horowitz, who runs Barnard College’s Dog Cognition Lab, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss our continued canine obsession, which she writes about in “Our Dogs, Ourselves: The Story of a Singular Bond.”

Country music is a genre built by artists who were outsiders, singing to those who felt left out. Host Krys Boyd sits down with writer/producer Dayton Duncan and producer Julie Dunfey to talk about their work on “Country Music,” the new eight-part series by Ken Burns debuting Sept. 15 on PBS stations.

In 2018, Americans spent more on healthcare than the GDPs of Brazil, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Spain and Canada. Healthcare activist Timothy Faust joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why, he says, it’s more dangerous to get sick in the U.S. than anywhere in the world. His new book is “Health Justice Now: Single Payer and What Comes Next.”

If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is…but that old saying is growing old. Jennifer Schwartz joins host Krys Boyd to explain the scientific, social and mathematical reasons for why we’re choosing to believe misinformation as gospel truth, which she writes about for Scientific American.

Transitioning from military to civilian life is notoriously challenging – and for female veterans, there are unique barriers just now being acknowledged. Tara Galovski, director of Women’s Health Sciences Division National Center for PTSD and director of WoVen (the Women’s Veterans Network), talks to host Krys Boyd about the research paving the way for healthy re-entry.

In the discussions about how to mitigate climate change, two important factors are largely ignored: migration and trade. Southern Methodist University professor Klaus Desmet talks to host Krys Boyd about the importance of strategizing long term solutions for commerce and conservation, which he writes about in The Catalyst.

The benefits of a good night’s sleep are well documented, but what if a restful sleep isn’t mentally or physically possible? Neurologist Dr. Guy Leschziner joins host Krys Boyd to talk about night terrors, sleepwalking and all the maladies that keep us from sleeping like a baby, which he writes about in “The Nocturnal Brain: Nightmares, Neuroscience, and the Secret World of Sleep.”