With Good Reason

Homelessness is an unfortunate reality for many military veterans. Jimmie Fedrick says having a support system and an active social life can be key to turning their lives around. And: Loneliness is more than just a horrible feeling. Studies show that it can actually have adverse health effects. Pam Parsons founded the Richmond Health and Wellness Program, which helps reduce social isolation among the elderly.

Later in the show: How can we be alone together in the pandemic? In a world without skin-to-skin contact, James Coan thinks the next best option might be something equally uncomfortable for many people: singing. Plus: Covid quarantine takes a particular toll on kids and their parents. Danielle Dallaire says families who normally need extra support are struggling even more now.

Universities will never be the same. Donna Henry sent all students, staff and faculty home with an iPad last fall. She says now those iPads are keeping the university operational. Also: When COVID-19 made the Spring semester digital, John Broome made a Facebook group for professors to support each other that quickly went viral. 30-thousand professors are using it to get ready for the Fall semester.

Later in the show: Animals movements have changed as humans migrated indoors to quarantine. Anneke DeLuycker says COVID creates an opportunity to develop new conservation technologies. Plus: David J. Barrish says the restaurant industry is changing and culinary education has to change with it.

A traveling exhibit called New Virginians: 1619-2019 & Beyond from The Library of Virginia in Richmond features oral histories and photographs recorded by Pat Jarrett. People share their personal stories of how they journeyed from Central and South America, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Republics to make Virginia their new home. David Bearinger discusses the complexity of the immigrant and refugee experience for the individuals and families who have lived and are living it.

Later in the show: The contributions that Irish nuns made to help destitute immigrant Catholic children in New York City were instrumental in developing modern American social institutions like foster care and welfare. Before the nuns aided these children, they were being sent to live with Protestant families, often never seeing their parents again. Maureen Fitzgerald speaks about what lessons can be learnt from the Irish immigrant experience. Also: Cindy Hahamovitch compares the history and experience of guest workers in the United States to other countries.

Sammy was just a month old when he started experiencing symptoms of heart failure. Dr. Mark Roeser helped perform the groundbreaking surgery that saved the boy’s life. And: Burnout is especially prevalent in the medical field. And Dr. Mark Greenawald should know, he felt its devastating effects after a patient of his died tragically while giving birth. Earlier this year, he created PeerRxMed to help health care workers identify and overcome burnout.

Later in the show: Domestic violence has been on the rise since the onset of the pandemic. Jhumka Gupta says that’s because stay at home orders have isolated women with abusive partners. Plus: Getting facetime with a doctor can be tough--they’re often overbooked and expensive. The problem is even worse in rural areas, where there’s a shortage of doctors. Erika Metzler Sawin runs a program called UPCARE, placing RNs in rural communities to help fill the gap and get more care to more people.

At the confluence of the James and Rivana Rivers in Virginia sits a Monacan site. Monacan Chief Kenneth Branham walks us through the site of what was once the village of Rassawek, the epicenter of Monacan life before the Europeans arrived. And: Martin Gallivan, author of James River Chiefdoms and Jeffery L. Hantman, author of Monacan Millennium, say there is no doubt that Rassawek is the site of the former Monocan capital.

Later in the show: For a decade, now, Amy Clark has been probing family land to make sense of ghost stories. A cemetery of enslaved people punctuates the family homestead. Now she’s troubling myths of Appalachia to make the ground talk. Plus: William Isom II is the director of Black in Appalachia. His work with Amy Clark led to his discovery in Tennessee of the grave of his great, great grandfather.

After months at home, your streaming watchlists are probably exhausted. With Good Reason is here to the rescue! We’re bringing you summer streaming recommendations from scholars and artists. Myles McNutt charts Netflix’s rise to video streaming juggernaut and recommends a miniseries on the systemic failures in sexual assault investigations. And: Yossera Bouchtia suggests two TV shows grappling with race and identity in America.

Later in the show: White actors have recently been stepping down from voicing characters of color. Shilpa Davé explains the harmful stereotype she calls “brown voice” and recommends a Netflix show that captures the Indian-American coming of age experience. Plus: Tanya Stadelmann shares two films that document the journey to environmental activism.

Even though transgender-themed TV shows like Transparent and Pose have achieved mainstream popularity, trans people still face huge barriers to employment, housing, and safety. In fact, many trans people of color say that their lives are harder than ever before. Transcripts, a new podcast hosted by Myrl Beam and Andrea Jenkins, investigates how trans activists are trying to change that.

Later in the show: The Global Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer History tackles wide-ranging topics, including masculinity in Iranian cinema and crossdressing in the Middle East. Hanadi Al-Samman coordinated the 56 entries in the encyclopedia connected to the Middle East. Plus: Hate crimes against LGBTQ people have been on the rise since 2012. Liz Coston discusses what these crimes look like and how police and doctors are failing victims.

When writer and radio producer Lulu Miller (Invisibilia) discovered she’d have to leave Virginia, she wrote a startling love letter to the state -- one that charges everyday people to stay angry about injustice. A.D. Carson (University of Virginia) uses hip-hop and spoken word to tell hard truths about racist history, cutting through denial with metaphor.

Later in the show: Tawnya Pettiford-Wates (Virginia Commonwealth University) believes that theatre can heal injustice. She believes it, because she’s seen it happen. Her theatre troupe The Conciliation Project stages plays and dialogues that tackle issues of identity and race in America. Plus: Theatre professor and performer Artisia Green (William & Mary) explains how West African spirituality helps her illuminate new dimensions to familiar plays.

Colleges all over the country closed campus and shifted to online classes at the start of the coronavirus outbreak. Despite fears of a virus resurgence, Virginia Tech and William & Mary are among a growing number of colleges planning to re-open in the Fall. Katherine Rowe (William & Mary President) and Tim Sands (Virginia Tech President) discuss their plans for keeping students safe and how the institution of higher education may be forever changed.

Later in the show: Student loan numbers have skyrocketed in recent years, but some groups of students are affected more than others. Jason Houle (Dartmouth College) explains how the burden of student debt follows the same social divides that much else does: race and class. Plus: Stephanie Cellini (George Washington University) studies the rise and fall of for-profit colleges and universities. She says they often take advantage of the students who are most in need of a leg up.

In 1855, an outbreak of yellow fever devastated the port city of Norfolk, VA. Annette Finley-Croswhite (Old Dominion University) says the similarities with the handling of the coronavirus pandemic are chilling. And: Marie Antoinette had wacky hairdos and threw lavish parties. She was also smart and never said,“Let them eat cake.” Ron Schechter (William & Mary) has uncovered her secret library of banned books, which he says reveals a depth to her character not previously recognized.

Later in the show: Maggie Walker was an African American teacher and businesswoman and the first woman of any race to charter a bank in the United States. Colita Fairfax (Norfolk State University) says Walker was also a powerful civil rights leader in the former capital of the Confederacy during the repressive Jim Crow era. Plus: A town’s historical markers tell visitors the story of a place. But what do they leave out? We take a walking tour of Fredericksburg, Virginia’s historic markers and monuments with geographer Stephen Hanna (University of Mary Washington) to understand its untold stories.