Where We Live

The misogyny surrounding the Amber Heard-Johnny Depp trial has horrified advocates for survivors of intimate partner violence.

This hour on Where We Live, we look at implications for survivors and the setback to the #MeToo movement. We hear from a survivor on how coping mechanisms can look like emotional detachment, and why it’s misleading to judge a survivor on appearances.

We acknowledge that male victims would feel silenced by this conversation and point to national statistics – 1 in 4 women, and 1 in 9 men experience severe intimate partner violence. And 1 in 7 women and 1 in 25 men have been injured by an intimate partner; 1 in 10 women have been raped by an intimate partner. Data is unavailable on male victims. This show focuses on the cultural assumptions pertaining to male versus female claims of domestic violence.

We also look at data on the creation of new, fake social media accounts spreading disinformation in this trial, and what tech companies must do to regulate their social media platforms.

This show is not suitable for young viewers and some listeners. 

If you or someone you know is experiencing intimate partner violence, call, text, chat, or email 24/7 CTSafeConnect at 888-774-2900 

Resources

• Mayo Clinic – Recognize Domestic Violence Patterns Against Women
• United Way – What is domestic violence?
• Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence – Domestic violence 24/7 crisis center. Call 888-774-2900 CTSafeConnect 
• Interval House – Call 24/7 hotline 888-774-2900 
• WomensLaw.org – Domestic violence shelters, lawyers, courthouses in Connecticut
• A summary of Connecticut domestic violence laws  

GUESTS: 

• A survivor of intimate partner violence: Anonymous for safety reasons
• Meghan Scanlon: President & CEO, Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence
• Sree Sreenivasan: Social and digital expert at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism
• Hillary Haldane: Professor of Anthropology, Quinnipiac University; Member, Connecticut Council on Sexual Misconduct Climate Assessments

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today by visiting ctpublic.org/donate.

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Plans for a new Amazon distribution center in Waterbury are in the works.

The site would be the twelfth distribution or sorting center to land in the state in as many years. Amazon came to Connecticut in 2010, and currently has more than 18,000 full- and part-time jobs.

This hour, Connecticut Public reporter Ali Oshinskie has the latest on the plans for Waterbury and local pushback.

Plus, while elected officials continue to laud the company’s growth in Connecticut, ProPublica journalist and author Alec MacGillis digs into Amazon’s broader economic impact.

GUESTS:

• Ali Oshinskie: Naugatuck Valley Reporter, Connecticut Public; Fellow, Report for America
• Alec MacGillis: Senior Reporter, ProPublica; Author, Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today by visiting ctpublic.org/donate.

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Governor Lamont has signed three bills into law regarding children’s mental health.

Today, we talk to the Connecticut Child Advocate Sarah Eagan and hear from a social worker in schools.

The laws target workforce support for mental health professionals, an expansion of mental health care in schools as well as more funding for a mobile crisis response.

How would you like to see mental health access improve in our state?

Later, we hear from Makhi Ettienne-Modeste, Connecticut’s kid governor, about his platform and his term serving our state.

GUESTS:

• Sarah Eagan - Connecticut's Child Advocate
• Kerry Ann Frank - Clinical Program Manager for the School Based Health Services for Clifford Beers, a not-for-profit mental health clinic, serving seventeen surrounding towns and school districts
• Makhi Ettienne-Modeste - Connecticut Kid Governor 2021-2022

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today by visiting ctpublic.org/donate. 

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The number of homeschoolers in Connecticut has increased since the start of the pandemic.

The Connecticut State Department of Education reported a "slight decrease" in students returning to public school in 2020, "attributed to an increase in homeschooling."

Families are asked to log their "exit" from public school with the agency. There were 550 exits reported in 2019, and that number rose to "around 3,500 in 2020." By 2021, that number was at 2,300, though the Department of Education notes "students who have not returned to school by October 1 could still have returned to school any day after that for the remainder of the year."

This spike is well above the AP's recent calculation for "18 states that shared data through the current school year," where "the number of homeschooling students increased by 63% in the 2020-2021 school year" and "fell only by 17 percent this school year."

While the pandemic was a major factor driving families to consider homeschooling, parents also responded to the national "reckoning with race." As one testimonial explains, "For many parents of color, this included questions about whether it would be healthier for their child to be educated outside a system they viewed as replicating injustices."

This hour, we learn about one approach to "unschooling" in our state.

"It takes a village to raise free people," says Connecticut parent and social liberation "eduvist" Chemay Morales-James. She founded My Reflection Matters in 2016 "to provide the tools necessary to support and nurture the development of healthy racial and ethnic identities of Black and Brown children and older youth."

The My Reflection Matters Village launched in 2020, a co-learning membership co-op "for caregivers whose families have opted out of traditional education and are walking the path of liberated, self-directed education."

We hear from Morales-James as well as education consultant and community organizer Dr. Vanessa Liles. Plus, Sylvia Maribei shares her experience as a parent in the Village.

GUESTS:

• Chemay Morales-James: Social Liberation Eduvist (Education Activist); Founder, My Reflection Matters; Co-Chair, Waterbury Bridge to Success
• Dr. Vanessa Liles: Consultant, My Reflection Matters; Co-Project Director, PT Partners
• Sylvia Maribei: Parent; Member, My Reflection Matters Village

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Trees are more than just ornamental, they provide benefits to all of us.

Today, we hear from Hartford City forester Heather Dionne. Tree planting is part of the city’s Climate Stewardship Initiative. We explore the role of trees in Connecticut’s cities.

Later, William Bryant Logan, author of Sprout Lands: Tending the Endless Gift of Trees joins us. He is on the faculty of the New York Botanical Garden.

We want to hear from you. Do you notice trees in your neighborhood?

First we hear from Connecticut Public's investigative team, the Accountability Project, about a New London charter school on probation. We find out why the state and the school’s accrediting agency continue their investigations.

GUESTS:

Walter Smith Randolph - Investigative Editor and Lead Reporter for The Accountability Project at Connecticut Public
William Bryant Logan - Arborist, teacher and author. He is the author of Sprout Lands: Tending the Endless Gift of Trees. He is on the faculty of the New York Botanical Garden
Heather Dionne  - Hartford City Forester
Andrea Urbano - Central District Service Forrester at DEEP Connecticut

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The state of Connecticut has announced a $3 million dollar summer tourism campaign titled ‘Find Your Vibe in Connecticut.’ But how does this compare to other New England states that boast their beaches, mountains and plenty of lobster?

This hour on Where We Live, we discuss the reach of the new campaign and its goals, as well as the steady decline in tourism spending by the state – $12 million in 2014 to $4.1 million in 2018. According to the Connecticut Tourism Coalition, declining budgets could “negatively affect tourism.”

On the other hand, according to the U.S. Travel Association, over the past five years, tourism spending by states increased 27% to nearly $24 million – on average – in 2021-2022. Massachusetts and New Hampshire both saw increases among states that reported the data.

And, check out our list of ‘11 things you should do in Connecticut this summer,’ from our Newsroom.

GUESTS: 

• Maribel La Luz: Director of External Affairs, Department of Economic and Community Development
• Mark Enslein: Owner, CT Bike Tours
• Dan Haar: Associate Editor, Hearst Connecticut Media
• Charu Suri: Travel Writer at the NYT and WSJ 

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Randall Horton is an associate professor of English at the University of New Haven. His new memoir, Dead Weight details his time incarcerated.

Today, we talk about his journey from incarcerated person to English professor.

Horton’s numerous felony convictions made establishing a career in academia challenging, at best.

Have your or someone you know navigated transitioning out of the prison system? We want to hear from you.

GUEST:

Randall Horton - Ph.D., Professor of English at University of New Haven.

Read an excerpt of Dead Weight on the Boston Review.

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.

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Standardized testing is a normal part of the school year, but what does this data really tell us about how children are performing?

Today, Akilah Alleyne from the Center for American Progress, joins us to talk about standardized testing in local schools.

Many families invest considerable time and money to make sure their student performs well on these college entrance exams, but several universities are doing away with requiring them for entry. Later, Scott Jaschik, Editor and Founder of Inside Higher Ed joins us to talk about this.

First we talk to a Newtown CT resident about how the latest school shooting in Uvalde reignites the trauma felt by the community since 2012.

GUESTS:

• Carol Ann Davis - Poet and Professor at Fairfield University
• Akilah Alleyne - Associate Director of K through 12 Education, at Center for American Progress, in Washington, D.C.
• Scott Jaschik -  Editor and Founder of Inside Higher Ed

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sandy Hook survivor Mary Ann Jacobs was working in the school library in 2012. On Wednesday, she stood on the steps of the State Capitol and asked, "How can we still be having the same conversations about access to guns after ten years?"

This hour, we hear directly from three Connecticut teachers about how they are responding to the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

Dr. David Bosso, a social studies teacher in Berlin and 2012 Teacher of the Year, says "it's like we're living in a nightmare reinforced or compounded by the fact that we know things can be done, and they're not."

He reflects that "just in the 25 years I've been teaching, going back to Columbine, there have been hundreds of shootings that have taken place [in] institutions of education... and of course, that doesn't count grocery stores and places of worship. So the fact that we have really yet to move the needle on this and the fact that this conversation happens again and again, is a stain on our society and we have to do something about it, because otherwise what are we doing?"

Plus, Ryan Busse wrote Gunfight: My Battle Against the Industry that Radicalized America, describing his decision to leave his post as a firearms manufacturing executive in 2020, and the politics that drove him out. He answers your questions about the influence of political lobbies like the NRA.

GUESTS:

• Lisa Cordova: Kindergarten Teacher, Glastonbury-East Hartford Elementary Magnet School; President, CREC Education Association
• Dr. David Bosso: Social Studies Teacher, Berlin Public Schools; 2012 Teacher of the Year
• Sheena Graham: Retired Performing Arts Teacher, Bridgeport Public Schools; 2019 Teacher of the Year
• Ryan Busse: Former Firearms Executive; Author, Gunfight: My Battle Against the Industry that Radicalized America

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hartford HealthCare is in the pilot phase of an innovative “food as medicine” treatment program called food farmacy.

This hour on Where We Live, we hear from a cardiac patient referred by a Hartford Hospital cardiologist to the free farmacy pantry. The program is offered to food-insecure patients and their families, and is aimed to improve outcomes in patients with diabetes, heart failure, and more.

Experts also weigh in on food deserts in low-income communities, and SNAP incentives to choose healthier foods.

GUESTS: 

Jessica Soto: Hartford HealthCare food pharmacy patient

David Fichandler: Senior Director, Clinical Operations, HartfordHealthCare

Devin Avasahalom-Smith: Aldar Ward 20, Newhallville, New Haven

Patrick Dowling: Resource Director, End Hunger Connecticut

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.