Where We Live

Author Garrard Conley published his first book in 2016, "Boy Erased". The bestselling memoir, relaying Conley's experience undergoing conversion therapy at 19, inspired a major motion picture two years later.

This hour, Conley discuss his newest book and his first foray into fiction. "All the World Beside" explores queerness in Puritan New England. Set in 1700s Massachusetts and inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter," an affair unfolds between Arthur Lyman, a physician, and Nathaniel Whitfield, a reverend.

GUESTS:

• Garrard Conley: Author, All the World Beside and Boy Erased

Where We Live is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Support the show: http://wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Beloved Muppet Elmo recently asked social media a simple question, "How is everybody doing?" The answers ranged from incredulous to raging. The trauma-dumping on Elmo begged the question: Are we burnt out?

Burnout has been reported in many industries: Connecticut Public has previously covered burnout in health care, and among early child care educators and teachers, for example. When Where We Live covered burnout in the nonprofit world in 2022, our phone lines were flooded.

This hour, we hear from Emily Ballesteros, a management coach and the author of the new book, The Cure for Burnout. She defines the phenomenon, and fields your questions.

Plus, Elizabeth Thompson is a local news researcher focused on burnout in local journalism.

A 2020 report from UNC found that more than one-quarter of American newspapers had shut down since 2005, forcing more than half of all local journalists out of the industry, and "leaving many remaining newsrooms staffed by a small number of reporters burdened by excessive workloads and unable to dedicate themselves to particular topics of local interest."

GUESTS:

• Emily Ballesteros: Management Coach; Author, The Cure for Burnout

• Elizabeth Thompson: Local News Researcher, Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media at the University of North Carolina

Where We Live is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Cat Pastor contributed to this show that originally aired February 29, 2024.

Support the show: http://wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In a 2022 survey from CT Humanities, only 26% of Connecticut residents had said they had visited a museum in-person in the last two years. Some 83% of those museum-goers identified as white.

There are many museums where we live working to open their doors to a broader public, and to engage their local community more meaningfully. We’ve covered some of those efforts on this program, including over the course of the Yale Peabody Museum’s four-year renovation process. We even got a sneak preview of one of the museum’s partnerships with local artists, celebrated New Haven-based artist and architect Mohamad Hafez's "Eternal Cities."

Last week, the museum reopened to the public, now 50% larger and with free admission. There are some familiar and many new exhibitions, as well as new research facilities and eight classrooms staffers hope will be used by schools in the area.

This hour, we hear from curators, educators and students about their hopes for the new Peabody. Plus, producer Katie Pellico takes a tour with director David Skelly and associate director of exhibitions Kailen Rogers.

GUESTS:

• Chris Norris: Director of Public Programs, Peabody Museum
• Andrea Motto: Director of Education, Peabody Museum
• Lindsay Pierce: Digital Content Assistant, Peabody Museum
• Kelsey Jenkins: Paleontology Doctoral Student, Yale University

Where We Live is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Support the show: http://wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You’ve heard of Bigfoot and Nessie, but did you know Connecticut is home to a host of creatures, or "cryptids"?

Cryptozoology is the study of animals whose existence is a matter of debate. While Bigfoot sightings have been reported where we live, sea serpents, the Glastonbury Glawackus, and plenty of others call Connecticut home.

This hour, we hear from Patrick Scalisi and Valerie Ruby-Omen, the author and illustrator of a new field guide to this cast of Connecticut cryptids.

Plus, Stephen Olbrys Gencarella explains how folklore can deepen our understanding of these fantastic creatures, and how the stories about them are shaped over time.

• Patrick Scalisi: Author, Connecticut Cryptids: A Field Guide to the Weird and Wonderful Creatures of the Nutmeg State

• Valerie Ruby-Omen: Illustrator, Connecticut Cryptids

• Stephen Olbrys Gencarella: Professor of Folklore Studies, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Where We Live is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Cat Pastor contributed to this show that originally aired on January 18, 2024.

Support the show: http://wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Longtime U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman has died at 82. His family said he died due to complications from a fall. His wife, Hadassah, and members of his family were with him when he passed.

Lieberman represented Connecticut in the U.S. Senate for more than two decades. In 2000, he made history as the first Jewish American on a major party’s presidential ballot when he became Al Gore’s running mate.

This hour, be talking about his legacy, and we want to hear from you. Our newsroom has been compiling tributes from elected officials across Connecticut. We’ll be hearing from some of them this hour, including Senator Richard Blumenthal.

GUESTS:

• Colin McEnroe: Host, The Colin McEnroe Show on Connecticut Public
• Frankie Graziano: Host, Wheelhouse on Connecticut Public
• Ebong Udoma: Senior Political Reporter, WSHU Public Radio
• John Craven: Political Reporter, News 12 Connecticut

Where We Live is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Support the show: http://wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"An act of translation is always an act of betrayal."

This idea, and the questions it inspires, are central to author Rebecca or RF Kuang’s 2022 novel, Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution.

As the title promises, the book also explores the nature of revolution and the "necessity of violence," in addition to those complex questions surrounding the art of translation.

This hour, we revisit our conversation with the author, which was focused on the award-winning book, during an event organized by local bookseller RJ Julia.

On the importance of student revolutions, Kuang reflects, "The student's weakness is precisely his allure. The fact that the student is so naïve and doesn't have the jadedness of somebody who's been through more; the fact that students are dreamers, that they are romantic idealists; that kind of hope, that kind of ability to imagine an alternate future is beautiful and it matters and I hope we keep seeing that."

GUESTS:

• RF or Rebecca Kuang: Award-winning author of the Poppy War trilogy, Babel: An Arcane History, Yellowface, and Katabasis (forthcoming). She has an MPhil in Chinese Studies from Cambridge and an MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies from Oxford; she is now pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale.

Where We Live is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

This episode originally aired December 18, 2023.

Support the show: http://wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The curly hair movement – and market – is growing, as more people learn to style and to celebrate their natural hair.

This hour, we hear from one salon that’s just for natural curls in Connecticut. Luvena Leslie opened The Curly Hair Salon in 2011. "So many people have had bad experiences before they come to us," Leslie says.

Viola Clune, a Yale student and editor of the New Journal, recently wrote a piece about salons like Leslie's, and the work they do to untangle "hair trauma," titled "Kinks in the Movement." She joins the conversation.

Clune writes that The Curly Hair Salon "exists as a contradiction, intervention, remembrance, and stagnation at once. The ever-growing salon industry in New Haven suggests that there is something complementary about these contradictions, something inherent about them..."

Plus, the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford has a new exhibit all about the optics and politics of hair. A curator joins us to discuss Styling Identities: Hair’s Tangled Histories, on view through August 11. We also hear from one archivist who contributed to the exhibition and created an accompanying zine.

GUESTS:

• Luvena Leslie: Owner, The Curly Hair Salon in New Haven
• Viola Clune: Editor, The New Journal and author of the article “Kinks in the Movement"
• Jama Holchin: Lead Curator for "Styling Identities: Hair’s Tangled Histories" at The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art

Where We Live is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Support the show: http://wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today, we're airing the first and second episode of the new podcast Unforgotten.

It’s a history lesson many of us didn’t get in school: Slavery has deep roots in Connecticut and across New England. Enslaved people helped build the foundation of much of this state.

In this five-episode podcast from reporter and producer Diane Orson and editorial consultant and curator Frank Mitchell talk about efforts to shed light on this history and they explore why it matters.

Visit ctpublic.org/unforgotten to learn more, including videos, photos and digital stories.

Support the show: http://wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 2023, more than 6 million animals entered shelters and rescues in the U.S., according to a recent report from Shelter Animals Count. Believe it or not, those numbers are down from pre-pandemic reports.

Over the summer, Connecticut news outlets reported that animal shelters in our state were "bursting at the seams" and unable to keep up with calls from people trying to surrender pets.

This hour, we’ll be checking back in with some of those pet shelters. How is the so-called "pandemic boomerang" affecting them now?

Plus, we’ll switch gears and talk to farm animal and wildlife rescues in Connecticut. Whether you’ve got questions about your pandemic puppy or a stray opossum you think might need some help, join the conversation.

GUESTS:

• Laura Burban: Director, Dan Cosgrove Animal Shelter in Branford

• Marla C. Riley: MSN, MBA, RN; President and Founder, The Riley Farm Rescue in Canterbury

• Pamela A. Lefferts: Licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator, Ferncroft Wildlife Rescue in Woodstock

Cat Pastor contributed to this episode which originally aired February 5, 2024.

Support the show: http://wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A multi-year investigative report has shown that High Road Schools, a group of eight publicly funded, privately run schools for children in special education, must make improvements. 

The report cites several incidents of teachers without proper certification managing classrooms,overuse of restraint and seclusion, and a total lack of proper education for “the state’s most vulnerable students.” 

Today, we hear from the authors of this report: the Office of the Child Advocate and Disability Rights Connecticut. You can read the full report here.

If you have a student at High Road Schools, or if you're a parent navigating special education, we want to hear from you.

The Connecticut State Department of Education and High Roads Schools have responded to this report. You can view their response to investigation

GUESTS:

• Sarah Eagen: Connecticut Child Advocate
• Tom Cosker: Disability Advocate at Disability Rights Connecticut
• Penny Spencer: Educational Consultant, Associate Professor, Department of Education at the University of Saint Joseph

Where We Live is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Support the show: http://wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.