With Good Reason

Until recently, Caroline Shaw was uncomfortable calling herself a composer–violin, singer, musician, sure. But not acomposer. Then in 2013, her composition Partita for 8 Voices made her the youngest recipient ever of the Pulitzer Prize for Music. Now she’s one of the most respected composers on the New Music scene and has been heralded as the future of music. Today, Shaw’s compositions range from traditional quartets and solo piano pieces to a cappella and collaborations with Kanye West.

Later in the show: 2016 has been a tough year for fans of popular music. The sudden death of giants like David Bowie and Prince has been a blow for music, and nostalgia, fans. Tim Anderson is a scholar of the popular music industry. He said as our rock and roll heros die, the collective grieving process has been altered and amplified by social media. If you wanted to take a course on how to succeed as a professional musician, Mark Snyder would be the undisputed choice to teach it. Snyder has performed with nearly 100 bands in the past 30 years, from rock to jazz to classical. Along with performance tips, he teaches students how to book gigs, sell merchandise, create and promote an album and how to handle life on tour.

When Frances Mayes moved to Tuscany in Italy, she left behind her family and roots in Fitzgerald, Georgia. In her new memoir Under Magnolia, the renowned author of Under the Tuscan Sun returns to her hometown to explore her coming of age in the Deep South. And: Since 2000, furniture imports from China have increased dramatically and offshoring has cost American furniture makers thousands of jobs. In her new book Factory Man, Beth Macy tells the remarkable story of John Bassett III’s battle to keep his family’s furniture business in southwest Virginia open.

Later in the show: In central Mexico, the work of preparing elaborate meals for fiestas involves many women working together. Maria Elisa Christie, author of Kitchenspace: Women, Fiestas, and Everyday Life in Central Mexico, says this work gives women status and a way to share traditions with younger generations. And: Residents of northern China prize individualism, while southerners value their sense of community. Thomas Talhelm has developed what he calls a “rice theory” to explain the cultural differences. Also: There’s no silver bullet for battling obesity, but Jamie Zoellner says studying different communities and their specific food and exercise resources can help jumpstart a solution

Summer travel is in full swing, which means many of us are headed to the airport in the coming weeks. While most people do know that flying is the safest way to travel, studies show 1 in 4 people are afraid of flying. Sherina Ong reports on new research that might quell the fears.

Countless chick flicks, novels, and even self-help books have tackled the question: can men and women be just friends? Cassandra Good argues that, in fact, American men and women have maintained close friendships since our country’s founding. And: Most of us don’t intend to be sexist or racist, and yet sometimes we find ourselves in the wrong. Jennifer Mease asks the question, “When it comes to racism or sexism, why aren’t good intentions enough?”

Later in the show: Many people struggle to find balance between work, family, and self-care. Beth Cabrera interviewed more than a thousand women about how they find a happy balance. Plus: Researchers have found specific genetic markers in a population of Chinese Han women that predispose them to the risk for clinical depression. Kenneth Kendler was part of the team that made the breakthrough.

In the late nineteenth century, Americans caught bicycle fever. Evan Friss is the author of The Cycling City, about the 1890s when American cities were home to more cyclists than anywhere else in the world. Plus: Veteran animator “Tuck” Tucker talks about illustrating many of the most popular cartoons in recent times, including SpongeBob Squarepants, Hey Arnold!, Family Guy, and The Simpsons. Also: The NCAA has doled out more academic sanctions to historically black colleges and universities than to other institutions. Carray Banks hopes to make college sports more equitable.

Later in the show: There’s a scene in the 1987 film Dirty Dancing where a dance instructor lifts his young student in a beautiful lake at sunset. Today, that lake is disappearing, and Skip Watts and George Stephenson are studying why. And: Virginia’s shoreline is expecting a sea level rise of as much as three feet or more by 2060. Ray Toll is leading a comprehensive local response to the flooding that will be used as a model for the rest of the nation. Plus: The earliest environmentalists weren’t tree-huggers; they were hunters and colonialists. Historian Stephen Macekura traces how African conservation has been closely tied with colonialism and development.

With immigration rising, the United States will soon no longer have a white, Anglo ethnic profile. Tom Gjelten, NPR Correspondent and author of, “A Nation of Nations,” says that in the last fifty years, our immigrant population has tripled. Plus: In 1960, eleven-year-old Gustavo Pérez-Firmat came to the States as an exile from Cuba. In his new book, “A Cuban in Mayberry,” Pérez-Firmat discovers that even though a Cuban would never live in a town like The Andy Griffith Show’s Mayberry, he feels that, in a way, Mayberry is home.

Later in the show: An influx of foreigners with a desire to share your resources is nothing new to the Cherokee. “The Cherokee Diaspora” by Gregory Smithers details the Cherokee evolution from a close group to a people of multiple communities. Also: “Border Odyssey” by Charles Thompson Jr. tells how Thompson left his small organic farm in North Carolina and traveled the entire length of the nearly 2,000 mile border between the United States and Mexico.

While most Americans know Native American tribes like the Lakota or Cherokee, the Mandan are less well known. In her Pulitzer Prize-winning book Encounters at the Heart of the World, historian Elizabeth Fenn recounts the story of the Plains Mandan tribe as they rose to a population of 12,000, before being nearly wiped out in a few short years. Fenn turns to untraditional sources from archeology to climatology to tell a history that supposedly couldn’t be written.

Later in the show: It’s been a year since the mass shooting of churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina by a gunman whose online manifesto includes photos of himself with emblems of white supremacy. The shooting sparked national conversation about the removal of Confederate battle flags and monuments from public spaces. In a candid conversation, Chioke I’Anson and Kelley Libby share their thoughts on Richmond, Virginia’s Confederate monuments, racism, and growing up in the Deep South.

Join us for 1619: The Making of America conference at Norfolk State University. Page Laws explores the myths and truths behind the lives of two native women—Pocahontas and Tituba. Also: We get a rundown of the entire human history of slavery from Paul Finkelman. And: We hear the stories of three remarkable enslaved women in Canada who fought back.

Later in the show: The story of Pocahontas has been told and retold for 400 years, from Captain John Smith’s early letters, to director Terrence Malick’s film, The New World. In a lively discussion, historians Helen Rountree and Camilla Townsend demystify the legend of Pocahontas and, in doing so, paint an engrossing picture of Indian life in the early 1600s.

What is a Hogzilla Chuck Norris Duck Ape? It’s the creation of a special education class in St. Louis and winner of the 2014 Global Monster Project. Terry Smith explains how creating monsters can help kids learn and grow. Plus: Earlier this year, a viral video raised new concerns about how teachers should be disciplining young children. Kevin Sutherland talks about training teachers to address bad behavior before it happens, not after. And: Rhonda Brock-Servais says that gothic or horror literature for young kids is more popular than ever. She explores why and shares some of her favorites.

Later in the show: The most important factor in determining student success is having a good teacher. In two 15-minute sessions, Bob Pianta can tell whether a teacher is good or bad. Plus: Heralded by Time as one of the ten best college presidents, Freeman Hrabowski helped build UMBC’s reputation as a top school for students of color in STEM fields. And: Surprisingly, sometimes the problem in math class is not with numbers, but with words. Anne Charity Hudley believes teachers need to be more

The kitchen of the future might be completely pre-fabricated and delivered to the construction site ready to be installed. Joseph Wheeler says that these modular kitchens are far less expensive, have stringent quality controls, and can use the latest technologies to create a whole house integrated system. And: In a fortuitous accident, Chris Hughes and his students found a new way of attaching metal, in this case gold, to plastic. Chris believes that this breakthrough is a perfect example of his philosophy of teaching: that students often learn more by discovery and less by lectures. Hughes was named Outstanding Faculty of 2016 by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. Plus: Engineer David Lattanzi has nearly died three times while inspecting bridges, so he's now using drones and 3-D computer modeling to inspect the bridges, many of which are now reaching the end of their lifespan.

Later in the show: Sometimes all it takes to get kids excited about science is a bag full of eyeballs. Robert Tai has spent years studying when and why kids fall in love with science. Henry Alan Rowe uses fire and static electricity to draw students into chemistry. Plus: Science class matters even for kids who grow up to be writers or bankers. Tina Grotzer explains how science can help kids understand the causes of what’s going on around them.