Where We Live

With Roe v Wade overturned, and abortion becoming less available, will we see more children placed in foster care and parents seeking adoption?

Today on Where We Live, we speak with experts and learn whether or not we should expect to see an increase in adoption. We hear from Connecticut Department of Children and Family Services Commissioner Vannessa Dorantes.

Later, we hear from Doris Houston, Director of the Center for Child Welfare and Adoption Studies at Illinois State University.

What questions do you have about the future of adoption and foster care?

GUESTS:

• Commissioner Vannessa Dorantes - Connecticut Department of Children and Family Services
• Doris Houston - Assistant to the President for Diversity and Inclusion and Associate Professor of Social Work and the Center for Child Welfare and Adoption Studies at Illinois State University.
• Molly Rampe Thomas - Founder and CEO of Choice Network, a national recognized pro choice and LGBTQ adoption agency

Where We Live is dedicated to exploring the issues and impact of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe. We wanted to create a space to make it easy for our listeners to find all of this content with one click. Visit ctpublic.org/PostRoeWorld for easy access to our ongoing coverage.

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The average American woman wears between a size 16 and 18, according to the International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education. Yet plus size clothing is still hard to come by.

Today, we talk about size inclusivity in the fashion industry. Alex Waldman joins us, co-founder of fashion brand Universal Standard, that offers sizes 00-40.

And later, we hear how fashion colleges are including subjects like size inclusivity, gender identity and sustainability as part of their core curriculum.

When you walk into a store, how easy is it to find clothes in your size?

GUESTS:

• Kenlyn Jones - Assistant Professor at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in the fashion department
• Gianluca Russo - Fashion Journalist and author Power of Plus coming out in August
• Alex Waldman - Co-founder of Universal Standard

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How does craft deepen your understanding of your history, your community, or yourself? And how can predominantly-white craft spaces better welcome diverse experiences?Textile artist and printmaker Jen Hewett threads the needle on these questions in her latest book, This Long Thread: Women of Color on Craft, Community and Connection. The book includes interviews with 19 fiber artists, and surveys hundreds of creators of color, all of whom draw on their relationship with making. This hour, we hear from Hewett – and briefly, from writer Mia Nakaji Monnier.Plus, Susi Ryan is an author and social justice activist from Connecticut who co-founded the quilt guild, Sisters In Stitches Joined By The Cloth. Ryan recently wrote a piece about how craft connects her to her ancestors, titled "Cloth Has Given Me A Voice," for Mass Humanities' We, Too, Are America series. She says, "Cloth has given me a voice to recall the memory of my enslaved ancestors."Untitled"

The quilts that I create visually depict and document in cloth the life journeys of my family, my ancestors, and the many others who lived through the African diaspora," Ryan writes. "The stories my quilts tell allow me to ease into uncomfortable conversations about such critical issues as racism, social and medical justice, prison reform, African American history and literature, farm, food and housing sustainability, climate change, women’s rights, religion, politics, and human trafficking, that sadly still exists today."

GUESTS:

• Jen Hewett: Printmaker; Textile Artist; Author, This Long Thread: Women of Color on Craft, Community, and Connection
• Susi Ryan: Author; Speaker; Fiber Artist; Social Justice Activist; Co-Founder, Sisters In Stitches Joined By The Cloth

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

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Cat Pastor contributed to this show which originally aired April 28, 2022.

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Today, we talk about how experiences coming of age impact us into adulthood. Melissa Febos, author of the bestselling memoir Girlhood, joins us.

She writes about what she learned about herself, including the ways we begin to understand consent and how this impacts our relationships long-term.

And later, what should parents and educators consider when teaching about consent?

GUESTS:

• Melissa Febos - author of Girlhood
• Kelsey Alexander - Training and Prevention Coordinator at Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence

Cat Pastor contributed to this show which originally aired February 18, 2022.

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A new study examining "news deserts" in the U.S. finds an average of two newspapers are closing per week, and estimates that by 2025, "one-third of American newspapers that existed roughly two decades ago will be out of business."

This hour, we hear from lead author Penny Abernathy, plus, a researcher with Oxford’s Reuters Institute who found that at the same time, digital news is failing to fill the void.

"More people are disconnected, interest in news is down, selective news avoidance up, and trust far from a given," the annual Digital News Report concluded.

We'll hear from local journalists to discuss how these trends are playing out in Connecticut.

GUESTS:

• Penelope Muse Abernathy: Visiting Professor, Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism
• Wendy Metcalfe: Senior Vice President of Content and Editor-in-Chief, Hearst Connecticut Media Group
• Daniela Altimari: Reporter, Route Fifty
• Nic Newman: Senior Research Associate, Reuters Institute of the Study of Journalism

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A New Haven resident was recently injured while in police custody, and could be permanently paralyzed.

Today, we talk about what went wrong and how the New Haven Police Department is responding. New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker and Assistant Police Chief Karl Jacobson join us.

Later, we talk about how a Supreme Court opinion on Miranda Rights could impact policing.

What questions do you have about police conduct in our state?

GUESTS:

• Tom Breen - Managing Editor of New Haven Independent
• Mayor Justin Elicker - City of New Haven
• Assistant Police Chief Karl Jacobson - New Haven Police Department
• Jorge Camacho - Policing, Law, and Policy Director of the Justice Collaboratory at Yale Law Sc

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Fifty-one percent of adults in a 2022 report from the Restaurant Industry Association say they aren’t eating at restaurants as often as they’d like – an increase of 6 percentage points from before the pandemic.

That’s led to a rise in demand for home-delivered food, takeout, and curb-side pick up – an attractive option for small-scale food start-ups.

This hour on Where We Live, we hear from a food entrepreneur about her plant-based, Caribbean-infused meal delivery business, and how she learned to cook at the age of 8 in her father’s kitchen in Kingston, Jamaica.

We talk about food businesses launched by BIPOC and immigrant women entrepreneurs through reSET and City Seed’s food incubators in Hartford and New Haven, the entrepreneurial ecosystem needed to succeed, and funding available for start-ups.

Also, the manager of a ‘pay what you can’ cafe and shared kitchen discusses food trends.

GUESTS: 

GiGi Lawrence: Master Chef, RastaRant – Caribbean inspired vegan cuisine

Sarah Bodley: Executive Director, reSET

Cortney Renton: Executive Director, City Seed in New Haven, and Sanctuary Kitchen by City Seed

Molly Reynolds: Manager, Shared Kitchen and Cafe, Hands on Hartford

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The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the new federal gun safety legislation signed into law on Saturday, includes increased funding for school security and mental health programs.

Several school districts in our state have revisited their safety and security measures recently, in the wake of the mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

This hour, we hear from Bridgeport Superintendent Michael Testani, who recently proposed an increase in school resource officers. Also known as SROs, they are sworn, armed police officers.

The Connecticut Post reports the request meets "strong opposition." The number of SROs had been reduced in Bridgeport in recent years "due to budget constraints and concerns about their having a negative impact in particular on students of color."

The Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents and school security expert Kenneth Trump discuss what’s involved in a more comprehensive approach, including mental health resources, as well as where federal dollars from new gun safety legislation might be best spent.

Plus, we discuss the landmark Supreme Court decision regarding the right to carry a firearm, as well as the new federal gun safety law, with the Duke Center for Firearms Law.

GUESTS:

• Jacob D. Charles: Executive Director, Duke Center for Firearms Law; Lecturing Fellow, Duke University School of Law
• Fran Rabinowitz: Executive Director, Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents
• Michael Testani: Superintendent, Bridgeport Public Schools
• Kenneth Trump: President, National School Safety and Security Services

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Mental illness, especially among children, is hard to identify.

Today, we preview a new Ken Burns documentary--Hiding In Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness. 

We talk with film director Erik Ewers, and Connecticut resident, Yanarry Acevedo, who’s featured in the film.

This documentary speaks directly to the children impacted by mental illness, and how trauma has shaped their worldview and influenced their well being.

First, we talk about the US Supreme Court’s ruling reversing Roe V. Wade - what’s your reaction?

GUESTS:

• Claudine Constant - Public Policy and Advocacy Director of the Connecticut ACLU
• Erik Ewers: co-director and editor of the Ken Burns film Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness
• Yanarry Acevedo: featured participant in documentary, New Haven 19 years old

Where We Live is dedicated to exploring the issues and impact of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe. We wanted to create a space to make it easy for our listeners to find all of this content with one click. Visit ctpublic.org/PostRoeWorld for easy access to our ongoing coverage.

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Journalist Erik Hesselberg has covered Connecticut’s waterways for decades. This hour, we preview his new book about the vibrant history of steamboats in our state, taking a trip on Night Boat to New York.

"For more than a century, overnight and day-excursion steamers had plied the route between Hartford and New York," writes Hesselberg, "carrying passengers, mail, and goods on regularly-scheduled runs. More than just transportation, a trip on a river steamer was an adventure in itself."

1 of 4From "Night Boat to New York" by Erik Hesselberg. "The steamboat Oliver Ellsworth was the first of the Connecticut River night boats, offering regular service to New York beginning in the spring of 1824."Erik Hesselberg2 of 4From "Night Boat to New York" by Erik Hesselberg. "This 'bird’s-eye' view of East Haddam, Connecticut, published by O.H. Bailey in 1880, gives some idea of the prominence of the river town in those years. The quaint village was an important shipbuilding and commercial center in the eighteenth century, which blossomed into a prosperous resort area with the coming of the steamboat beginning in the 1830s. Goodspeed’s opera house is shown, just three years after its completion."Erik Hesselberg3 of 4From "Night Boat to New York" by Erik Hesselberg. "Both the steamboats Traveller and Champion, pictured in this broadside from 1851, ran on the Connecticut River. Passengers had the option of disembarking at New Haven to catch a train to Hartford or proceeding by water."4 of 4From "Night Boat to New York" by Erik Hesselberg. "The steamer Middletown was a well-known sight churning up to Goodspeed's Landing in the early 1900s when this photo was taken."

Hesselberg explains that through much of the 1800s, the steamboat was a social phenomenon at the center of a recreational revolution, drawing wide swaths of the public to commune with nature and, eventually he says, to the seashore.

GUESTS:

• Erik Hesselberg: Journalist; Author, Night Boat to New York; Editor, Voices on the River

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