New-to-this-country students are constantly being asked to adapt. And often, their wellbeing is measured almost entirely by their ability to speak English. Alfonzo Perez Acosta (Virginia Humanities K-12 Education Fellow) is an arts educator. In his classroom, he gives students the tools to let their art do the talking. And: Everybody has a story. Not everyone has a place to tell it. Through the Community Media Center, Chioke I’Anson (VCU ICA Community Media Center hopes to solve the problem of the untold story.

Later in the show: Education has long been seen as a tool of racial uplift. In the early twentieth century, Phyllis Wheatley YWCA’s across the country served young Black girls and women. Cassandra Newby-Alexander (Norfolk State University) fondly recalls her days at the Norfolk YWCA, and is hopeful about what the old facility could become today. Plus: A generous grant from the Mellon Foundation has changed the game for many Richmond area high schoolers. Janelle Marshall (Pathways to the Arts and Humanities) and her team with the Virginia Community College System are helping get students enrolled, and sticking beside them all the way until the finish line.

Gumbo, BBQ, and biscuits–what makes Southern food Southern? Caity Finlayson (University of Mary Washington) talks about the fusion of cultures–African food brought by enslaved people, British and French food brought by early European colonists–that created a mouthwatering Southern cuisine. And: For indigenous communities in the Canadian Arctic and Sri Lanka, hunting and gathering is still a main source of food. Eranga Galappaththi (Virginia Tech) is working with these communities to address how climate change is affecting their food sources.

Later in the show: Recipes from home can comfort us and connect us, both to the past and to the present. Suryani Omar is the Program Manager at Mozaic, a nonprofit that works with refugees and asylum seekers. She’s collaborating with some of the women Mozaic serves to write a cookbook of stories and recipes from their homes.

At the end of the world, Philip Lorish (University of Virginia) decided to open a bookstore. He says that despite the cultural moment that audiobooks are having and that impenetrable, digital mass distribution behemoth who shall not be named – bookstores matter. He’s the owner of Commerce Street Books. And: As a child, Lamar Giles (William & Mary) was allowed to read anything he wanted. And he took full advantage of that on his weekly library visits. Everything from DC comics and Stephen King novels, he read it all. There was nothing called “young adult” literature when he was coming up. Now, he writes it. And he says it's important to him that kids today have the same freedom to read.

Later in the show: When you think of trees in Charlottesville, Virginia, what comes to mind? Probably not the willow oaks lining the eight-block downtown mall. But MaKshya Tolbert (University of Virginia) became entangled with the trees. Her book is Shade is a place.

Into the Sun is a new musical featuring the poems of British war poets and soldiers who were killed in World War I. Co-author Mike Gubser (James Madison University) says the title is from Wilfred Owen’s 1918 poem Futility, where soldiers try to awaken their fallen comrade with the warmth of the sun.

Move him into the sun. Gently its touch awoke him once,

At home, whispering of fields unsown.

Always it woke him, even in France,

Until this morning and this snow.

Later in the show: The 1918 Battle of Megiddo was the world’s last great cavalry charge and a decisive British victory. Eric Osborne (Virginia Military Institute) says the victory led to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and paved the way for the future state of Israel in Palestinian territories. Plus: In his forthcoming book, “Unwilling Doughboys: The U.S. Army’s Foreign-born Conscripts in World War I, Alex Paul (Virginia Military Institute) shatters the myth that during WWI, most immigrants in the United States submissively complied with the conscription practices of many local draft boards.

Legacies of WWII by With Good Reason

Armed with a newly-talking cinema and trying to survive The Great Depression, Universal Studios developed a new genre – horror. For twenty-two weeks, crews filmed Dracula. And for six of those weeks on a shoestring budget of $66,000, they shot Drácula at night. Antonio Barrenechea (University of Mary Washington) says that despite this unbalanced relationship with Hollywood, this inter-American production contributed to a national cinema throughout the Western Hemisphere in Mexico, Brazil, Peru and beyond. Also: Each generation has its own toxicant. The children of The Great Depression had asbestos. Their children were rattled with lead exposure. And their children are littered with microplastics. Aaron Reuben (University of Virginia) says over 150 million Gen X’ers have mental health issues because of their exposure to lead. And here’s the real fright: there’s no cure!

Later in the show: We’re all gonna die. That’s one thing that life promises us all. After helping his parents settle their estate and make funeral arrangements, Willy Donaldson (Christopher Newport University) realized that they needed to talk more about death. Way more. Did they want to be cremated or buried? Did they want a big funeral or something more intimate? He found it easier to start with the negative. What don’t you want at the end of your life? Willy’s book is Estimated Time of Departure.

In a walk through the forest, an Appalachian landowner and biologist points out dozens of species he and his family sustainably harvest for meals. From sycamore trees–whose syrup tastes like butterscotch–to Appalachian wasabi–a spicy root they use in their spice blends–Ryan Huish (University of Virginia College at Wise) is teaching a new generation plant identification and sustainable harvesting practices.

Later in the show: For hikers seeking self-discovery on the Appalachian Trail, their cell phones are both a tool and a tether. Scott McCrickard (Virginia Tech) studies how hikers' use of cellphones transforms the experience of the trail. Also: Students in Jacob Barneys (Virginia Tech) invasive species class get to eat what they study. They cook up creative dishes that include blue catfish, wild boar, chickweeds, bamboo, kudzu, autumn olive, and wineberries.

The red colobus monkey is one of the most endangered primates in the world. Found in West, East, and Central Africa, the once thriving species has been decimated by over-hunting. Josh Linder (James Madison University) has devoted his career to studying and conserving these peaceful primates. Plus: Francesco Ferretti (Virginia Tech) led an expedition to be the first to ever tag endangered great white sharks in the Mediterranean. While he and his crew didn’t end up tagging any sharks, they uncovered exciting new evidence of great white activity in the water.

Later in the show: Only a few decades ago, the bald eagle was on the brink of extinction. Bryan Watts (William & Mary) has been monitoring the bald eagle population in the Chesapeake Bay for 30 years. He says the bald eagle is one of the biggest success stories in the history of conservation. And: In the small island-nation of Sri Lanka, elephants are sacred animals. But Sujan Henkanaththegedara (Longwood University) says the rich and powerful are illegally capturing wild and critically endangered elephants to have as symbols of wealth.

For little girls, princess culture is everywhere. Carlee Bradbury says it’s been that way for hundreds and hundreds of years. And: darlene anita scott collages and poems explore Black girlhood and the beautiful resistance Black girls and women engage in everyday.

Later in the show: In Barbie Magical Fashion, you can design your very own cover model outfit. Lady Popular lets you compete in a fashion battle. Fashion Doll Makeover starts with skincare–facials, pore strips, acne treatments–before you move to the dress up challenge. Kelsey Cummings says all these games targeted at girls are training them on a very specific kind of womanhood.

America has a problem. There’s a nursing shortage. And it's not for lack of hopeful nurses. There's not enough clinical space! The Mary Morton Parsons Clinical Simulation Learning Center (CSLC) at University of Virginia School of Nursing is helping to alleviate that bottleneck with simulations. They get to experience Rob Craig as their first difficult patient in a range of simulations. And: Veterans Affairs hospitals are one of the largest medical providers in the nation. And recently, Sheila Ward introduced Virginia veterans to African diasporic dance and drumming.

Later in the show: Teresa Salgado and her colleagues found that tens of thousands of Virginians from Hampton Roads to Wise County live far away from pharmacies. Researchers are calling these places “pharmacy deserts.” Salgado and her colleagues hope that their findings will support policy makers in creating incentives to establish pharmacies in underserved areas.