With Good Reason

Francis O’Neill rose through the ranks to become a prominent Chicago police chief at the turn of the 20th century. But he’s mostly remembered as the savior of Irish folk music. Mike O’Malley highlights O’Neill’s incredible life and explains how he used the authority of his badge to collect thousands of tunes. And: Thomas Stanley says that there is no such thing as silence--there’s always something to hear. Stanley teaches and creates sound art and shares with us some of his favorite listening selections.

Later in the show: Violinist Naima Burrs explores how to escape the white male vacuum of the classical music canon, and underscores key moments in her life as a musician.

While many Americans keep the Christmas decorations stowed away until after Thanksgiving, the Philippines takes Christmas to another level. From September to December, the Southeast Asian island-country celebrates the longest Christmas season in the world. Ken Garcia Olaes and his parents bake some Bibingka, a filipino-style cake, and share fond memories of Christmas time in the Philippines. And: Erica Cavanagh spent two years as a member of the Peace Corps in Benin, West Africa. She says sharing food with her host family helped to shed her long-held values of independence and self-reliance. Plus: Over the last few decades, pumpkin spice has become synonymous with the Fall season. If you’ve never had a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks have you ever truly experienced the glory of Fall? Catherine Franssen breaks down our obsession with pumpkin spice and explains how our brain is hardwired to love Fall.

Later in the show: Ever tried to drink a bottle of hot sauce? That’s what Ray Parrish says his new Signal One beer tastes like. He’s teamed up with Sarah Smith and her student, Val Ebenki, to attempt to create the world’s spiciest beer.

It’s all about the power of the almighty dollar. Meredith Katz says that from From the Boston Tea Party to the Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work, consumers have long known that. What companies are you avoiding this year? Who’s getting your hard-earned money instead? And: These days almost all toys are Made in China. But that wasn’t always the case. Susan Fernsebner says that most Chinese toys were made in America. So the Chinese government incentivized creating toys that reflected its own national identity.

Later in the show: For months, companies and experts have been suggesting that we hurry up and buy our Christmas gifts. It’s almost judgement day... will they arrive in time? Erika Marsillac says that while it may be tempting to blame this on COVID-19, the reality is that we import almost everything and it’s adding up. Plus: Stefan Duma spent the 1990s through the early aughts researching how to prevent face and eye injuries in the military. After publishing his findings, he started getting calls from popular toy companies to test their products.

Pregnant people who struggle with substance abuse face an uphill battle getting the care they need for their pregnancy and the care they need for their recovery. Caitlin Martin’s OB MOTIVATE clinic believes that caring for the whole person--pregnancy, addiction, and everything else--in one place is the best way to truly help patients. And: The criminal justice system has the highest concentration of people with opioid use disorders in the US. If you’re in the justice system, you are 400 times more likely to abuse opioids than the general population. And yet, says Faye Taxman, the justice system is not at all equipped to handle addiction services.

Later in the show: Since 1999, opioid overdose deaths in this country have increased more than six times. What’s driving that incredible rise? Barbara Blake Gonzalez has looked at many different factors that contribute to overdose deaths, from commute time to the number of pharmacies in a town. Plus: Long before today’s opioid crisis, there was a crisis of Civil War veterans addicted to drugs like morphine and laudanum. Jonathan Jones uncovers the toll addiction took on the lives of Civil War veterans and their families and the surprising parallels between the 19th century opioid crisis and the one of today.

For many, the Thanksgiving holidays are a time to gather with your biological relatives. But what if you don’t have the traditional, Norman-Rockwell family? April Few-Demo studies how queer families of color, especially Black lesbians, navigate biological and chosen family. She says that dialogue about identity and acceptance might happen in subtle ways during the holidays. And: Shannon Davis argues that we should remember those families who can’t get together during the holidays at all, because time off work is too high a price to pay. Plus: Laura Heston shares how they and their LGBTQ chosen family celebrate a “Friendsgiving,” complete with drama and drag.

Later in the show: Some scholars argue that what we call non-traditional families aren’t so non-traditional after all. Alicia Andrzejewski has found chosen families and alternative bonds throughout the works of William Shakespeare. And: Before she became an instructor, Roslyn Durham was a social worker helping families in crisis. She shares her strategies for supporting families experiencing trauma, including how families can stay connected when a child is placed into foster care.

Since she was a child, Luz Lopes would help her mother prepare the altar for the Day of the Dead. This year, her go-to bakery shut down so she made her own pan de muerto. Plus: It seemed like quinoa just kind of came out of nowhere didn’t it? Well, it kind of did. Linda Seligmann tells us how she witnessed this afterthought crop become a commercial crop. And: Will the real pigs please stand up? Brad Weiss gives us insight on North Carolina’s local farming efforts to produce real, local pork.

Later in the show: When they first hit the shelves, Americans really were not interested in canned goods. They canned their own food in clear mason jars. There really was no real need for this strange, aluminum can that they couldn’t see inside of. Anna Zeade says that the commercialization of canned foods marks the beginning of our opaque food system. And: Pasta didn’t always come in neat boxes on shelves. Melissa Gray says that American pasta makers started that practice as a way to distinguish themselves from Italian immigrant pasta makers who sold in bulk. The idea was that the American pasta was cleaner.

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 has devoted his career to studying and conserving these peaceful primates. Plus: A few months ago, Francesco Ferretti 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: The bald eagle has been the national bird of the United States since 1782. But only a few decades ago, it was on the brink of extinction. Bryan Watts 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 says the rich and powerful are illegally capturing wild and critically endangered elephants to have as symbols of wealth.

A lot of parents are tired of telling their kids to put down the video games, and pick up the textbooks. But now, video games are part of school. Lisa Heuvel says that Minecraft creates a unique opportunity for practicing effective teamwork. And IT specialist Jan Dougherty says that through games, students begin dealing with complex topics without even realizing it.

Later in the show: A lot of people avoid exercising the parts that ache as they age. But James Thomas says that’s the worst thing you could do. He’s working with a team at VCU’s Motor Lab to create virtual reality games that move people beyond their fear of movement, and into feeling better. Plus: Jacob Enfield says that not all games are created equally. Without a real challenge, he says, educational games can be rather useless.

During the early months of the pandemic, live theater shut down completely. Leslie Scott-Jones, a theater director and producer, was looking for a way to continue her work. Grounds: A Blackcast was born. This fictional podcast follows five Black professors at a predominantly white university in the south as they navigate work and life. And: Contemporary fiction these days is experimental, genre-crossing, and form-breaking. But one form that hasn’t quite made into the fiction mainstream: theater. Kate Kremer is a playwright, teacher at UVa Wise, and editor of 53rd State Press. She publishes new, contemporary plays as books that are meant to be read by anybody, not just theater-goers.

Later in the show: Ten years ago if you asked a classroom of college students if they were feminists, most of them would say no. Today, Jessica Del Vecchio says her feminism and performance class has a waiting list. Culture has shifted and at the front lines of that shift, you’ll find experimental theater. Plus: When we teach math to third graders we use songs and games and movement. But step into a college math class and you’re likely to see rows of students staring ahead at a teacher talking. Kerrigan Sullivan is a theater professor and she says that the interaction and games of improv can--and should--be used in college classrooms, regardless of the subject being taught.

After new episodes drop, fans of TV shows from The Bachelor to Grey’s Anatomy take to social media to dissect what they just saw. And the twittersphere isn’t just venting about plot twists and love interests--sometimes there are bigger issues at hand. Dr. Morgan Smalls says that shows like Insecure and Being Mary Jane that feature Black women protagonists and majority Black casts inspire important conversations about race on social media. And: Disney princesses can be a bit of a scapegoat for what’s wrong with representations of women in movies. One of the problems: they don’t have many healthy female relationships. Jessica Stanley talks about the toxic relationships of wicked stepsisters and evil witches and how modern Disney movies are doing better.

Later in the show: Movies and television tell stories about who we are and who we get to be. What does that mean for people who don’t find themselves on the screen? Andre Cavalcante explores the history of trans representation in the media and how trans women have subverted the stories so often told about them. Plus: Movies are so much more than entertainment--they shape the way we see the world around us. Even when we don’t realize it. Kimberly Brown looks at common stereotypes of Black women in movies and what it means for a casual moviegoer to watch film in an anti-racist way.