With Good Reason

Nine teams of step dancers from black Greek organizations wowed spectators recently at what has become the largest folk festival in the nation.  Dance historian Benita Brown (Virginia State University) says stepping routines at the sororities and fraternities are part of a tradition that goes back to African tribal rituals.  Folklorist Jon Lohman (Virginia Foundation [...]

Just shy of their 100th birthday, the Girl Scouts are working to shed their cookie and campfire image with new badges that focus on skills such as such as robotics, web design, and even “The Science of Happiness.”  Sandra DeLoatch (Norfolk State University) has just been given the highest Girl Scout award and a badge in her [...]

Halloween is just around the corner.  Haunted houses, graveyards, and ghost walks – paranormal tourism is more popular than ever.  Teresa O’Bannon (Radford University) is an expert on what she calls “dark side tourism.”  Then, With Good Reason will also do a little ghost-busting of its own. Also featured: The Shenandoah Valley is prehistoric home of mastodons and giant sloths, [...]

When Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray was first published in 1890, it was a substantially altered version of Wilde’s original text. Material considered scandalous for its day had been cut out. Nicholas Frankel (Virginia Commonwealth University) is the editor of a new edition that restores Oscar Wilde’s famous novel to its original form – a [...]

When President Ronald Reagan traveled to Normandy in 1984 to mark the 40th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, a young army officer, Casey Brower, was with him and deeply moved.  Casey is now Brigadier General Casey Brower (Virginia Military Institute) and takes cadets on tours of the American cemeteries for the fallen soldiers in France.  [...]

The United States gives out roughly 25 billion dollars a year in foreign aid projects. Is that money ending up in the right hands and what is it accomplishing? Michael Tierney (College of William and Mary) and his colleagues have created AidData to allow the public to follow the money. Also featured: Biologists have used game theory to [...]

John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln on Good Friday, April 14, 1865 in Ford’s Theater in Washington.  But Booth had been part of a long standing conspiracy to kidnap Lincoln.  Terry Alford (Northern Virginia Community College), an expert on Booth, investigates who were these conspirators, their motives at the end of the war and whether [...]

Have more children, don’t stress out about parenting, and spend less time on activities that you and your children don’t enjoy. This is the advice of Bryan Caplan (George Mason University), author of the new book Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids: Why Being a Great Parent is Less Work and More Fun Than You [...]

The American Civil War has produced a number of mythical characters. Perhaps there are none like the notorious Champ Ferguson, a Confederate guerrilla who claimed to have killed over 100 Union soldiers and sympathizers. Brian McKnight (University of Virginia’s College at Wise) says Ferguson was both a skilled fighter and a ruthless murderer who exploited [...]

When Jonathan Dickinson’s father was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease – a fatal neurodegenerative disorder – Jonathan decided to take him on an epic adventure.  They set out on a motorcycle journey through the Himalayas in India, and along the way met sadhus, foreign travelers and locals who became personally invested in the father’s and son’s [...]