Think from KERA

[2016-03-02 13:00:00] For people trying to immigrate to the United States legally, the average wait for a hearing in immigrant court sits at two years. And nearly 500,000 people are standing in line. This hour, we’ll talk about the logjam – and if anything can be done about it – with Dianne Solis, who writes about the issue in “The Dallas Morning News.”

[2016-03-02 12:00:00] The presidential candidates are hitting the campaign trail telling voters about the troubled nation we live in – and how they intend to fix it. This hour, we’ll talk about everyday Americans already at work making the country a better place with James Fallows. He spent three years traveling coast-to-coast to write the cover story, “How America is Putting Itself Back Together Again” for the March issue of “The Atlantic.”

[2016-03-01 12:00:00] Healthcare has become a globally competitive business, with people traveling to Hungary for dental work, South Korea for organ transplants and Costa Rica for checkups. This hour, we’ll talk about the financial and health considerations that have patients booking plane tickets with Sasha Issenberg, author of “Outpatients: The Astonishing New World of Medical Tourism” (Columbia Global Reports).

[2016-03-01 13:00:00] As presidential candidates crisscross the country and rent-out rally spots, it’s reasonable to ask: Who’s paying for all of this? This hour, we’ll talk about where that cash comes from and what’s really being bought with Nick Penniman, co-author of “Nation on the Take: How Big Money Corrupts Our Democracy and What We Can Do About It” (Bloomsbury Press).

[2016-02-29 13:00:00] When we need to look something up, Wikipedia is often the first stop. That site, though, is just the current iteration of a centuries-old attempt by people to compile knowledge in one handy place. This hour, we’ll talk about that history with Rutgers University English professor Jack Lynch, author of “You Could Look It Up: The Reference Shelf From Ancient Babylon to Wikipedia” (Bloomsbury Press).

[2016-02-29 12:00:00] One of the challenges early-childhood educators face is the difficulty of thinking like a kid. This hour, as part of KERA’s American Graduate series, we’ll talk about how at least trying to see the world through children’s eyes can inform the way we teach them with Erika Christakis. Her new book is called “The Importance of Being Little: What Preschoolers Really Need from Grownups” (Viking).

[2016-02-25 13:00:00] A million-dollar idea can come to us when we’re not even really thinking. Making that idea a reality, though, takes extraordinary effort. This hour, we’ll talk about how we can get others to buy into our plans – and how we can clear a path to their incarnation – with Wharton School professor Adam Grant. His new book is called “Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World” (Viking).

[2016-02-25 12:00:00] When the Academy Awards are announced Sunday, there’s almost a 100 percent chance the person heading to the stage is white. This hour, we’ll talk about Hollywood’s diversity problem – and how it affects filmmakers at all levels – with UTA assistant film professor Ya’Ke Smith, past vice president of Women in Film director and writer Deidre Woodard and “Dallas Morning News” culture critic Chris Vognar.

[2016-02-24 12:00:00] For most of us, death is a topic we’d rather not think about. There are some people, though, whose professions require them to confront death every day. This hour, we’ll talk about the lives of funeral home employees, EMTs and death-row inmates with Pamela Skjolsvik, author of “Death Becomes Us” (CreateSpace).

[2016-02-24 13:00:00] Just about everything we do on a given day leaves a trail of data points. This hour, we’ll talk about how researchers are studying these data points to better understand how we live – and about the potential harm in collecting all of this information – with Sandy Smolan. The PBS documentary he directed, “The Human Face of Big Data,” airs tonight at 9 on KERA-TV.