Dr. William Kuhn (a former English professor at Carthage College) talks about his latest book, "Swimming with Lord Byron," which examines the life and career of this celebrated writer with particular focus on Lord Byron's colorful personal life and complicated sexual identity. (Lord Byron was something of a gay icon even during his lifetime- and very much since.)

For Kailyn Palomares's May visit to the Morning Show, she secured the participation of Alyssa Firkus, director of education for Lake County Forest Preserves, to talk about one of the most amazing creatures on earth - the cicada. 2024 is an extraordinary year for cicadas because of a very rare occurrence: the emergence of 17-year cicadas and 13-year cicadas in the same year- something that has not happened in more than 200 years.

Patrick K. O'Donnell discusses his latest book, "The Unvanquished: The Untold Story of Lincoln's Special Forces, the Manhunt for Mosby's Rangers, and the Shadow War that Forged America's Special Operations."

We hear about the Carthage theater department's latest verbatim theater project - "Terminal Exhale" - from faculty member Martin McClendon .... as well as from Michael Cotey, founder of the organization "Enough: Plays to end gun violence," which encourages young people to write their own plays addressing the issue of gun violence. "Terminal Exhale" is comprised of the actual testimony of various front line health care workers who have had to deal with gunshot victims and have witnessed the carnage on an ongoing basis. The play tells the story of what they have seen and experienced. There is a public reading of the play coming up at Carthage this Saturday, May 11th.

David Lockwood and Lawrence Kirby talk about new efforts underway to create a "walking school bus" in Kenosha for students at Brass Elementary. A walking school bus involves volunteers who help walk elementary students from their homes to school; it is known to be one of the most effective means to deal with school truancy.

Dr. Jame Ripley, director of instrumental activities at Carthage College, talks about Saturday night's concert that finishes out this special 150th anniversary year of bands at Carthage. The concert includes the world premiere of "Scene One: Fortitude," a piece commissioned for the occasion.

I'm happy to say that I won a first place award from the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association this past weekend - Best Interview for a middle market music station - for this interview which I recorded with William Shatner.

ERika Lee, Christina Soontornvat, coauthors of "Made in Asian America: A History for Young People."

For Holocaust Remembrance Day- from 2002 ..... Alexandra Zapruder, author/editor of "Salvaged Pages," an extraordinary collection of young person's diaries from the Holocaust.

For Holocaust Remembrance Day- from 2016- Wendy Holden, author of a truly amazing book titled "Born Survivors" about three women imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp who manage to conceal their pregnancies from their captors, preserving the lives of their as yet-unborn children. An extraordinary story.