With Good Reason

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 [...]

Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald (left) had a celebrity marriage during the Jazz Age of the 1920s.  However, from 1930 until her death in 1948, Zelda was in and out of mental hospitals.  Karen Tatum (Norfolk State University) is exploring the possibility of a link between the medication Zelda took for eczema and her debilitating [...]

When Virginia’s fight against integration of the public schools failed, white families moved out of cities in droves and left behind social and physical scars that are still felt today.  Renee Hill (Virginia State University) and John Moeser (University of Richmond) discuss the history of “white flight” and its effect today on Richmond, Virginia, the [...]

Harper Lee’s 1960 novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, presents the Jim Crow south through the eyes of a young girl.  Mary Badham, the actress who portrayed “Scout” in the film, shares memories of her fond relationship with actor Gregory Peck.  Gary Edgerton (Old Dominion University) and Ted McKosky (Radford University) explain why the film is [...]

Female tree frogs use complex information processing when listening to the mating calls of male frogs to select their mates.  Kit Murphy (James Madison University) is discovering how females make their choices and may be close to answering the age old question, “Why is she with him?”  Also featured: Between 33 and 50 percent of [...]

Are the days of the big newspapers numbered?  Jeff South (Virginia Commonwealth University) says the demand for news and information is higher than ever.   In order to survive, newspapers need to change the business models of both their on-line presence and how they gather the news.   And, if Mike Marshall’s Crozet Gazette is any indication, [...]

Women journalists who covered the Vietnam War are often not given their proper due when the history of the conflict is told.   Joyce Hoffmann (Old Dominion University) is the author of On Their Own:  Women Journalists in Vietnam. She shares stories of women who won esteemed prizes for their reporting and several who broke [...]

A special episode of With Good Reason recorded live at the Virginia Festival of the Book in Charlottesville.  NPR book critic Alan Cheuse (George Mason University) discusses his recent novel, To Catch the Lightning, about photographer Edward Curtis who documented Native Americans in the early Twentieth Century.  See a collection of Curtis’s photographs here Also: [...]

The last ten years has seen tremendous growth of Latino populations throughout the country.   Silvia Tandeciarz and Jennifer Bickham Mendez (The College of William and Mary) discuss the challenges Latinos face as they integrate into new communities, and the ways in which they are influencing our culture. Also: Richard J. Kilroy (Virginia Military Institute) says [...]

For centuries, “Shakespeare’s Sonnets” languished in obscurity, but now the collection is considered a masterpiece.  Robert Matz (George Mason University) reveals that the more famous lines from the Sonnets, such as “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day” were written by Shakespeare to a young man.  Also Featured: Toni-Leslie James (Virginia Commonwealth University) has [...]