With Good Reason

Paul Freedman (University of Virginia) says negative political ads actually help to educate and engage voters. Television viewers may instinctively reach for their remote controls when yet another negative ad airs during a commercial break, but those who stay tuned might reap some surprising benefits. Also: Quentin Kidd (Christopher Newport University) examines the likely impact—or [...]

Despite what many people believe, fall leaf color in Virginia is remarkably consistent every year. Dendrologist John Seiler (Virginia Tech) has been studying fall leaf color for decades. Also: biologist Dan Cristol (William & Mary) says mercury pollution in waterways is not only bad for fish-eating birds, but for songbirds as well, who are absorbing [...]

Batten Institute Director Mike Lenox (University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business) and internationally-renowned ethicist Ed Freeman (Batten Institute) engage in a lively discussion about the corporate world’s recent and increasing interest in sustainability. How, they ask, can businesses move beyond the “low-hanging fruit” of the green movement, taking major strides toward making service and [...]

After September 11, 2001 President Bush and his administration were under tremendous pressure to try to prevent another devastating attack, which they believed was imminent. This led to the secret authorization of interrogation methods that many have called torture. Jane Mayer, author of The Dark Side, and Dahlia Lithwick, a senior editor at Slate, discuss [...]

This summer, a statue honoring leaders of Virginia’s civil rights movement was dedicated on Capitol Square grounds in Richmond. One of the panels features Oliver W. Hill, an attorney who argued the landmark case of Brown vs. the Board of Education before the Supreme Court. Oliver Hill, Jr. (Virginia State University) shares memories of the [...]

Within seconds of hearing someone speak, we make judgments about that person and background, just based on their accent. Linguistics professor Steven Weinberger ( George Mason University) explains how and when we develop accents and how they affect our identity. Also: Geoffrey Chaucer’s fourteenth century writings may seem impenetrable, with strange pronunciation and incomprehensible phrases [...]

On the 12th of August 1942, Lt. Col. Frank Goettge and 24 Marines under his command landed in the dark on the wrong beach on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands and came under withering fire from Japanese soldiers, killing Goettge and 21 of his men.  Sixty-six years later, Cliff and Donna Boyd (Radford University) and [...]

Historians have long held that children of 17 th and 18 th century Europe were thought of as incomplete adults who were not yet worthy of love or compassion. However, historian Michael Galgano (James Madison University) says actually children were understood to be in a different stage of life, and they were celebrated and loved. [...]

One in every 150 American-born children is diagnosed with an autism-spectrum disorder. Christofer Foss (University of Mary Washington) has examined how autism is portrayed in contemporary literature and film and says it is time to re-think difference, dignity, discrimination, and other disability issues. Also: Nicole Myers (University of Mary Washington) says with proper training, teachers [...]

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. Maureen Fitzgerald (College of William and Mary) says before the nuns aided these children, they were being sent to live with Protestant families outside NYC, often [...]