With Good Reason Radio » Arts & Culture

The End of Men

klibby — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 05:01:57 +0000

On college campuses, female students continue to outnumber male students. Films like Knocked Up and television shows like Last Man Standing suggest that being a man in America is ever more difficult. Real American men, so the narrative goes, are disappearing. David Magill (Longwood University) explores the myths and realities of the male crisis. Also featured: As an English teacher in Atlanta, Joseph Jones (Radford University) recognized the damaging effects of homophobia among students in his classroom. He now wants to help other teachers address bullying. He’s just written a new book called Making Safe Places Unsafe: A Discussion of Homophobia with Teachers.

The Magna Carta Online

klibby — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 05:02:11 +0000

One of the most important legal documents in history, the Magna Carta influenced the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. Nearly 800 years later, it’s now going online. Bruce O’Brien (University of Mary Washington) is leading an effort to translate and digitize 150 early English laws, including the Magna Carta. Also featured: The King James Version of the Bible has been used to justify slavery and the submission of women. But it has also had a profound effect on the writings of African American women. Katherine Bassard (Virginia Commonwealth University), author of “Transforming Scriptures,” says African American women writers have used the King James Bible as a vehicle for social power.

Equal Time: The Networks and the Civil Rights Movement

klibby — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 05:02:46 +0000

Aniko Bodroghkozy (University of Virginia) is the author of the new book “Equal Time: Television and the Civil Rights Movement” which explores how the newly created evening news shows shaped attitudes about race relations during the Civil Rights Movement. She investigates the network news treatment of events including the 1965 Selma voting rights campaign, integration riots at the University of Mississippi, and the March on Washington. Also featured: Stephen Alcorn (Virginia Commonwealth University) is the illustrator of the children’s book “Odetta: The Queen of Folk,” which tells the story of the legendary singer and social activist known as “the Voice of the Civil Rights Movement.” The book follows her renowned career and her influence on many of the most important singers of the folk revival of the 1960s.

From Combat to College

klibby — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 05:01:23 +0000

With the end of the War in Iraq, tens of thousands of soldiers have returned home, and many of them are going to college. But the transition to academia can be hard. Alexis Hart and Roger Thompson (Virginia Military Institute) are traveling the country, coaching professors on how to welcome and support veterans. Also featured: Kurt Vonnegut’s experience as a World War II POW informed his writing decades later. A new biography, by Charles J. Shields (University of Mary Washington), about the iconic countercultural author is called And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut, A Life. The man who emerges in the book is not the man his readers believed him to be.

Travel for Transformation

em8x — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:06:58 +0000

The Camino de Santiago, a medieval pilgrimage trail in northern Spain, continues to attract tens of thousands of travelers each year. Among those are George Greenia (William & Mary, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities), who for years has walked the 500-mile route with his students. George studies the relationship between medieval and modern pilgrimages. He says that today’s American pilgrimages, like Underground Railroad tours, share something in common with medieval pilgrimages—transformation of the traveler. Also featured: Between 1898 and 1901, China experienced a movement marked by violent opposition to Western Imperialism. In the summer of 1900, a Christian missionary and explorer from Sweden escaped what became known as the Boxer Rebellion. To save his family and other Christian missionaries, Frans Larson led a caravan through the Gobi Desert and into Siberia. That explorer’s great-grandson, Henry Hart (William & Mary), recently retraced his great-grandfather’s trip through the Gobi.

Ghostwriter in Bahrain

sbm2p — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 05:01:00 +0000

In the early 1990s, a young American man worked as a ghostwriter for a member of the royal family of Bahrain. Now, 20 years later, Ranjit Singh (University of Mary Washington) is sharing his story about the man who would become the Bahraini minister of information and a key figure in the brutal response to that country’s recent uprising. Also featured: Camels were once imported from Afghanistan to build the Australian railroad and telegraph lines. Now their numbers are so abundant in the wild that they have become a nuisance and the Australian government is permitting people to shoot them from helicopters and use the meat for burgers. Shah Mahmoud Hanifi (James Madison University) studied the camel trade and presented his findings at the international Camel Conference in London.

A Symphony of Hopes and Dreams

cms4tf — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 05:00:14 +0000

The poetry of children in Birmingham, Alabama, inspired a recent classical music piece titled “Dream, Child. Hope.” It was composed by Adolphus Hailstork (Old Dominion University), in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Hailstork has written music for a number of prestigious ensembles, including the New York Philharmonic and the Chicago Symphony. But his influences sometimes come from unlikely places.

Also featured: Food tins with discriminatory logos. Toys that caricature African Americans. Slave shackles and Klan robes. These artifacts of slavery and its aftermath have drawn the attention of entertainers like Oprah Winfrey, Whoopie Goldberg, and Bill Cosby, who have become collectors of racist ephemera. Joining their ranks are Therbia Parker and his wife Marva, who use their extensive collection to educate people about racism in America.

What’s the Economy For, Anyway?

cms4tf — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 05:00:37 +0000

An epidemic of over-consumption is sweeping the United States and the rest of the industrialized world. With Good Reason sat down with PBS documentary producer John De Graaf, among whose best-known shows is Affluenza, for an in-depth discussion of happiness and the economy and how the life/work balance got out of whack for American workers. De Graaf, the author of a new book on the economy, proposes solutions for living more sustainably. Take the Happiness Survey!

Also featured: The story of life has a complex cast of characters, and Fred Singer (Radford University) says we’re losing many of them due to poor judgment and our own astounding biological success. Singer has interviewed Jane Goodall, Dan Jansen and other renowned scientists for his new textbook on ecology.

Ups and Downs of Dynamic Ticketing

cms4tf — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 05:00:14 +0000

In 2010, baseball’s San Francisco Giants became the first professional sports team to use dynamic ticket pricing for games. It was the same year they won the World Series. Stephen Shapiro (Old Dominion University) studied the Giants’ ticket pricing practices and says more teams are following suit.

Also featured: Female athletes are three times more likely to suffer catastrophic knee injuries as male athletes. Physical therapist Steven Morrison (Old Dominion University) has found some simple exercises that help women’s soccer players prevent knee injuries.

And also: Stefan Duma (Virginia Tech) has led a drive to reduce head injuries to football players at all levels. Now Duma and his team have released results from the first study ever to measure blows to the helmets worn when children play football.

From the Volga to the Mississippi and Back

cms4tf — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 05:00:50 +0000

In the period between the American Civil War and the Russian Revolution of 1905, American and Russian travel writers wrote home about their encounters abroad. At first the observations were mostly positive. But as time went on the writings became increasingly hostile. Margarita Marinova (Christopher Newport University), in her new book, says these negative characterizations became the basis for a mutual rhetoric of hate common during the Cold War.

Also featured: Charles Erric o (Northern Virginia Community College) is the co-editor of a two-volume anthology of essays by some of America’s most eminent historians. He believes that teachers should humanize American history by portraying it through the stories of real people to whom students can relate.

From the Volga to the Mississippi and Back – web extra

cms4tf — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 05:00:25 +0000

To read about Mark Twain’s travels in, views of, and relationship with Russia, visit this section of the Twain Quotes website.

Total Artificial Heart

cms4tf — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 05:00:29 +0000

The Total Artificial Heart is one of the many wonders of modern medicine. It is a mechanical device that replaces the human heart. Vigneshwar Kasirajan (Virginia Commonwealth University) has performed 60 operations implanting the Total Artificial Heart, saving the lives of patients who may have died while waiting for a transplant.

Also Featured: Researchers around the world are working to map the tens of millions of neurons that make up the human brain. But it could take decades. Barry Condron (University of Virginia) and his colleagues are developing computer software that will speed up the mapping process. He says the payoff may someday be treatment for everything from cancer to drug addiction.