With Good Reason

If you think poll taxes and literacy tests are voting barriers of the past, think again. Gilda Daniels’ new book Uncounted: Voter Suppression in the United States explores how updated versions of these barriers--like voter ID laws and misinformation--are undermining our democracy.

Later in the show: This election has a lot of people worried about voting--how to do it and how to make it count. Jennifer Victor (George Mason University) walks us through the best way to cast our ballots this November and what to expect from a pandemic election. Plus: With the institution of no-excuse absentee voting, states like Virginia could see drastically different polling than in past years. Rosalyn Cooperman (University of Mary Washington) breaks down who this policy impacts most, and why your absentee vote is so essential this year.

As the world waits for a coronavirus cure, attention is focused on vaccines. Steven Zeichner cautions against prematurely approving a vaccine that later has significant safety concerns. Plus: With colder temperatures, how risky is it to dine indoors again? Linsey Marr says plenty risky. The tiny aerosols are like cigarette smoke and can pose a risk to anyone in the room. Also: For the estimated 7 million American adults who are immuno-compromised, traveling to a doctor’s office for a vaccine could be a massive risk. Julian Zhu is developing a mailable stick-on patch that would allow people to vaccinate from home.

Later in the show: After being nearly eradicated, black lung has made a strong resurgence in central Appalachia. Aysha Bodenhamer looks at the human costs of so-called cheap fuel in coal country. And: The term self-help calls to mind home-organizing strategies and meditation guides. But in the 1960s and 70s, a different kind of feminist self-help movement was revolutinizing women’s healthcare. Hannah Dudley-Shotwell’s new book shares the history of the women who founded clinics, published pamphlets and books, performed medical procedures, and helped a generation of women reclaim control over their bodies.

Bars, nightclubs, dance, and music have long held a special place in LGBTQ culture. But even as shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race and Pose bring that culture into the mainstream, real-life gay bars and clubs are shuttering. DJ and Professor Madison Moore argues that the club scene and the “fabulous” fashions on display there are radical spaces for queer and trans of color togetherness. Gregory Samantha Rosenthal, Don Muse, and Peter Thornhill describe the sometimes-dangerous, always-exciting gay bars of the 1970s and 1980s in Roanoke, VA, before the AIDS crisis and gentrification changed the scene forever.

Later in the show: Choreographer and performer Al Evangelista brings us into the world of experimental queer Pilipinx dance, a form that he and his collaborators say can spark conversations and social change. And: Growing up, Lauron Kehrer’s parents wouldn’t let her listen to hip-hop music. Now, she studies it for a living. Kehrer says hip-hop by both straight and LGBTQ artists can help us better understand race, gender, and sexuality.

Atin Basu and his colleague’s Hotspot Predictors placed America high on the conflict predictor index for 2019. Sure enough, in 2020, we’ve seen hundreds of thousands of people marching in the streets, guns flying off of the shelves and police and military using weapons against civilians. And there are 3 months left in the year. Can Predicting Hotspots help us see ahead to 2021? Christie Jones was working in homeland security when Trayvon Martin was murdered by a neighborhood vigilante. She began questioning why addressing terrorism wasn’t a priority for securing the nation, shifting her perspective from homeland to human security.

Later in the show: As an undergraduate student, Juan Garibay found himself frustrated by his math program as an undergraduate student. How could it be the best program in the nation if it couldn’t connect STEM to social justice? Garibay is using the SENCER method to transform classrooms and connect students to the human needs in the data. Alix Fink is teaching students about the Power of Water through the waterways they swim in.

In 1908, the U.S.S. Albatross set off on a research expedition to the newly acquired U.S. colony of the Philippines. Today, Kent Carpenter is studying the more than 80,000 fish samples collected by the Albatross to uncover how overfishing is actually changing fish genetics. Carpenter has been named an Outstanding Faculty member by The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. And: The Chukar Partridge is a common ground-bird found in parts of Asia and the western United States. Brandon Jackson believes this species is the key to understanding the evolutionary link between dinosaurs and birds.

Later in the show: When a neighboring wind farm was endangering an entire population of bats at the Rose Guano Cave in Spring Valley, Nevada, Rick Sherwin helped come up with an ingenious system to protect them. Also: “Toad Day” is the one night that all toads in a single region mate, and biologist Jason Gibson celebrates it each year. Gibson also started HerpBlitz, an annual citizen scientist event to collect information on reptiles and amphibians.

100 years ago women gained the right to vote with the 19th amendment. Professors Amanda Nelson and Molly Hood set the stage, and their students are bringing suffragettes to live in the digital, interactive theatre collaborative “Performing History: Women and the Vote.”

Later in the show: At the same time that the 19th amendment passed, lynchings increased in the South. Khadijah Miller highlights how Black women strategically organized against disenfranchisement. Also featured: The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is often seen as the peak of Black suffrage. But as we speak, history professor Lucien Holness says the Supreme Court is chipping away at the VRA.

Everyone remembers things differently. With Good Reason takes you from D.C. to Poland and Jerusalem to show the different ways museums are commemorating the Holocaust.

Turns out the pandemic is the ideal time for workplaces to build better systems for getting women into positions of power.

Vic Sizemore was an evangelical for much of his life - until he wasn’t. His book, Goodbye My Tribe: An Evangelical Exodus, chronicles his journey away from fundamentalist religion. And: We’ve all heard about the Evangelical Right, but what about the lesser-known Evangelical Left? David Kirkpatrick traces the Latin American roots of the Evangelical Left movement.

Later in the Show: The pandemic has been an exceptionally hopeless time for many. David Salomon looks to religion and art for guidance. Plus: Evangelical America is changing. Sean Connable tracks online masses and hologram preachers to study how digital culture is changing the politics of faith.

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.