This week on Under the Radar with Callie Crossley:

Plus, many celebrities have turned their cooking passion into a money-making endeavor. That includes actors Reese Witherspoon, Jessie Tyler Ferguson, Stanley Tucci, Danny Trejo, and even basketball icon Shaquille O’Neal. We discuss which of these authors is a foodie…and who should maybe hang up their apron. 

And we have a little something extra for you, dear Under the Radar listeners. This summer our former intern Eli Chavez took a field trip to the Boston Harbor to take a tour on the family owned Cycleboat Boston. 

Eli Chavez, former WGBH intern.

This week on Under the Radar with Callie Crossley: 

Plus: During the height of the pandemic, medical experts characterized group singing as a potential superspreader EVENT. Choirs and choruses were relegated to a very unsatisfying Zoom experience until some determined musicians –including a local Massachusetts couple–figured out a way for individual singers to sing together– while apart– each from the safety of their cars. These unusual melodic assemblies became so-called “driveway choirs.” Their story is captured in the new documentary, “The Drive to Sing.” 

Bryce Denney is the director of the film. He is a microchip verification engineer, as well as a singer and pianist. He has a degree in physics and piano performance from Oberlin College.

This week on Under the Radar with Callie Crossley:

Plus: Erika Sanchez’s first novel “I’m Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter” was a critically acclaimed bestseller. Now the poet/author has followed up with her memoir. In “Crying in the Bathroom” this proud Mexican- American writer chronicles her circuitous path to claiming her talent, and managing her mental health. We’re celebrating Hispanic Heritage month with our October selection for “Bookmarked: The Under the Radar Book Club.” 

Erika Sanchez is a Mexican-American poet, novelist, and essayist.

This week on Under the Radar:

The days of hunting and gathering are far behind us.... maybe? Foraging, modern-day gathering, has exploded in popularity as of late thanks to people like TikToker Alexis Nikole. It's a way to get in touch with your environment through species native to your area. We explore why this plant based activity has taken off.

And author Kevin Ngyuen goes inside the tech world for his novel “New Waves.” The novel offers biting commentary along with a who-done-it plot line which takes the book into an unexpected direction. It’s our September selection for “Bookmarked: The Under the Radar Book Club.”

Guests:

David Craft, assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital and in his free time, leads foraging expedition into the Boston wilderness.

Maria Pinto, a Boston area writer for Grub Street, educator and mushroom enthusiast. Maria can be found leading interactive and educative foraging excursions in Boston.

Tyler Akabane, known as "Mushrooms for my friends" on Instagram is the owner of The Mushroom Shop in Somerville.

Kevin Nguyen is the features editor at The Verge, the Vox Media technology news website. He was formerly a senior editor at GQ. He’s written for many publications including The New York Times Book Review, the Paris Review, The Atlantic and The New Republic.

For some of us, September 11th, 2001 still rings clear in our minds, even 20 years after the attacks. But newer generations have little to no memory of that tragic day — either having been too young to remember, or not yet born. Under The Radar is marking the upcoming 20th anniversary of 9/11 by reflecting on how Gen-Zers recognize an event that they learn about in history books. How does generational trauma affect those who didn’t even live through the event?

And, once it was clear that the 9/11 hijackers were Muslim, American Muslims became targets 20 years ago. The pain and anger of the tragedy drove anti-American sentiment as well as ongoing suspicion and misconception of Islam.

Has public perception towards Muslims shifted, as the 20-year marker of 9/11 approaches? Under The Radar is examining the systemic and structural racism against Muslims that has long been embedded in the U.S.

Guests:

Garrett Graff, journalist and historian, whose latest book “The Only Plane in the Sky,” is the first comprehensive oral history of September 11th. Graff also serves as the director of the Aspen Institute’s cybersecurity and technology program.

Sam Sommers, experimental social psychologist, author, and professor at Tufts University.

Dana Rose Garfin, trauma scholar and assistant professor at the University of California, Irvine.

Amaney Jamal, the Edwards S. Sanford professor of politics at Princeton University, dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, director of the Mamdouha S. Bobst Center for Peace and Justice and author of "Race and Arab Americans Before and After 9/11."

Journalist Malika Bilal, host of “The Take” podcast by Al Jazeera and former co-host of The Stream, a social-media led talk show on Al Jazeera English.

Fatema Ahmad, executive director at Muslim Justice League, here in Boston.

This week on Under the Radar we are looking back at one of our favorite episodes. Philadelphia International Records celebrates its 51st anniversary this year and the iconic "Phillysound" that it made famous. But the legacy of Philadelphia International Records is also its influence on other music genres and artists far beyond its birth city. We’re humming some of Philadelphia International’s biggest hits, and asking: What is the sound of Philadelphia?

This week on Under the Radar with Callie Crossley:

This week on Under the Radar with Callie Crossley:

We're talking all things historical fiction in this special August edition of “Bookmarked: The Under the Radar Book Club.” We explore the world of books described as historical fiction — imagined stories based on real-life events and people, combining the best of history and novels.

GUESTS:

Jabari Asim is the author of seven books for adults including his latest, novel, “Yonder” a story of love and friendship set during the time of American enslavement. Asim has also written eleven books for children. He is an associate professor of writing, literature and publishing at Emerson College, and is also a playwright and a poet. The former Book Editor for the Washington Post, he is the winner of a Guggenheim Fellowship in nonfiction and a former member of the nonfiction panel for the National Book Foundation. Jabari Asim lives in Boston.

Sabina Murray is the author of four books. Her latest the “The Human Zoo” follows a biracial woman navigating life between America and the Philippines under a President Duterte-like dictator. Murray teaches in the Creative Writing Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and is also a screenwriter. Her second book, "The Caprices,” won the Penn/Faulkner award and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Radcliffe Institute Fellowship. Sabina Murray lives in western Massachusetts.

Jenny Tinghui Zhang is the author of “Four Treasures of the Sky,” the story of a young Chinese girl kidnapped and brought to America who ends up caught up in the targeted racism of the Chinese Exclusion Act. This is Zhang’s first novel. Her stories have appeared in multiple literary publications including The Rumpus, and Calyx; her articles and essays have been published in HuffPost, Bustle and The Cut and she is a Kundiman Fiction Fellow. Jenny Tinghui Zhang lives in Austin, Texas.

This week on Under the Radar:

New England Confectionery Company, or Necco, was the oldest continuously running candy company in the country up until its closure in 2018. The company, which was based in Revere, Massachusetts, produced Clark Bars, Mary Janes, Candy Buttons, Sky Bars, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Sweethearts, and — most notably — Necco Wafers.

The New England Confectionery Company shaped the candy industry in our region and beyond, and its closure shocked sweettooths across the country. But the historic Necco candies are living on, produced by the Ohio-based Spangler Candy Company. We’re talking all things candy, confections and the future of our region’s sweets industry.

GUEST:

Darlene Lacey, an author and curator of The Candy Wrapper Museum. Her most recent books are “Necco: An Epic Candy Tale” and “Necco: The Archive Collection.”

Boston Red Sox legend David Ortiz is now a Hall of Famer, cementing the legacy of Latinos in major league baseball. Plus, a new Latino media start-up plans to buy 18 right-leaning Spanish speaking radio stations — a potential media transformation that’s riled up conservative lawmakers. And Black and Latino teachers will collect $835 million through a New York discrimination lawsuit.

Those stories and more on our Latinx Roundtable!

GUESTS:

Julio Ricardo Varela is president of Futuro Media Group, co-host of the “In The Thick” podcast, founder of Latino Rebels, and an MSNBC opinion columnist.

Tibisay Zea is a public radio reporter at GBH and PRX’s "The World."