With Good Reason

Whether you’re on foot crossing the street, or behind the wheel -- there are a lot of new technologies to be distracted by. Bryan Porter says that we do not recover from looking at our phones as quickly as we think. Is your brain on the road when you are? And: Screen time is transforming children’s brains. Robyn Kondrad says there are times when it is useful, alongside glaring limitations. Later in the show: Many of us have horror stories of how we took out extra student loans or took on a new job to pay for textbooks. Thomas Geary heard so many of those stories that he transformed his syllabus to focus on free resources. Plus: A lot of our handheld devices are fun. But they can also help us to monitor our health. Vivian Mortii is working with a team on a smartwatch app that supports neurodiverse people in being more independent.

In recent years, the incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII has gotten more attention. But most of that attention focuses on the West Coast, California in particular. Emma Ito studied the racism and incarceration that Virginians and other East Coast Japanese Americans faced during the war. And: Japanese Americans weren’t the only immigrants persecuted during WWII–many German and Italian immigrants were also sent to incarceration camps and repatriated. John Schmitz’s own family were German Americans who lived for three years in the Crystal City camp. Later in the show: When you think of archeology what comes to mind? Maybe paper maps and pickaxes in dusty places? Instead imagine precise instruments delicately probing what’s below the surface to prevent destruction to sacred spaces. Richard Freund uses this less invasive archeology to help tell the stories of Jewish resistance in WWII. Plus: There are some well-known violent plots by Germans designed to overthrow the Nazi regime. But what about the qu

The patient-doctor relationship is complicated and fraught. Patients often feel confused and talked down to, in part because doctors feel like they need to project authority. As a physician and a poet, Laura Kolbe is trying to make room for uncertainty and humility from both sides in the exam room. Kolbe’s new collection of poetry, Little Pharma, explores the messy and human side of doctoring. And: The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed so many vulnerabilities in our healthcare system, from racial inequities to provider burnout. Irène Mathieu is a writer, pediatrician, and medical teacher. She argues that poetry can be a small part of fixing those vulnerabilities. Later in the show: What if the difference between the right diagnosis and the wrong diagnosis is whether or not a doctor thinks you’re believable? Cathryn Molloy shares why education, socio-economic status, and especially gender influence how doctors listen to and treat their patients. Plus: What happens when we empower on-the-ground healthcare workers

Formed in the mid 1960’s, The Soulmasters was an interacial soul band from Danville, VA. Jerry Wilson and John Irby were the two African-American lead singers, and the other 8 members of the band were white. Producer Matt Darroch headed over to Danville to hear Jerry reflect on his three years in the band and what it was like touring the South during the height of segregation. And: No matter your background or where you're from, we all have that one song that eases our troubles and soothes the soul. Lisa Gilman says this ability to escape through music was a lifeline for American troops during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Later in the show: Meet Virginia Humanities’ new director of the Virginia Folklife program, Katy Clune! She says her passion for folklife stems from her experience growing up all over the world as the child of a parent in the foreign service. Plus: Back in the early 1980’s, Grace Toney Edwards developed Radford University’s first Appalachian Folklore class. She taught it for decades an

There’s a parasite inhabiting the bodies of crabs, and making them infertile. Amy Fowler says that if that parasite entered the Chesapeake Bay, 90% of our crabs would be inedible. America is littered with battlefields, and abandoned forts. They’re often some of the most pristine sites of Virginia ecosystems. Plus: Todd Lookingbill is a SCHEV winner for his research on the ecological value of battlefields. Later in the show: Scientists first noticed coral reefs disappearing in the late nineties. Now, it’s getting worse as underwater temperatures continue to rise. Researchers Nastassja Lewinski and Liza Rogers are busy testing developing solutions to coral bleaching. And: Deer enjoy forest edges. They’re away from the predators in the heart of the forest, and there’s less competition for food. But Matthias Leiu says that the lone star ticks love the forest edge, too.

Thomas Jefferson said Patrick Henry “got the ball of revolution rolling.” Historian John Ragosta says Henry was five times elected governor of colonial Virginia, but it was his ability to electrify an audience that made him the idol of the common people. Plus: Before Patrick Henry died, he credited a Presbyterian minister named Samuel Davies with “teaching me what an orator should be.” Kelley Libby finds the story of Davies at a “ghost church” on a stretch of rural road. Also: Two hundred years ago this week the British burned Washington in the War of 1812. The man in the White House was our nation’s fourth president, James Madison. Andrew Burstein says Madison was an intensely political man, but he wasn’t slippery—you knew where you stood with him. Later in the show: More than 30 people spent three years immersed in transcribing and digitizing thousands of letters written by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Abigail Adams, and James Madison. Many of them said they experienced a sense of lo

Many of us are more closely tuned in to the environment around us than ever before. We’re spending more time hanging outdoors, planting kitchen gardens, and taking up bird-watching. In honor of Earth Day and our new relationship with the great outdoors, With Good Reason invites you to walk with us. We traipse around the foothills of Appalachia with Ryan Huish, wade through ghost forest wetlands with Matt Kirwan, venture into dark caves with Ángel García, and explore the mini-ecosystems of fallen trees with Deborah Waller.

The colonial era is usually seen as prim and proper - a time when manners were refined and marriage was sacrosanct. But that period may have been much wilder than previously thought. Liz Elizondo says in colonial Spanish Texas, love affairs didn’t just occasionally happen…they were the norm. And: What does it mean to feel like you belong within a community? Jennifer Bickham Mendez studies that question within the Latin American immigrant population in Williamsburg, VA. She says latina immigrant mothers in Williamsburg have forged a sense of belonging by developing support networks and pooling resources to overcome institutional barriers. Later in the show: Before traveling together along the US-Mexico border, Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera and Sergio Chapa were practically strangers. Now - after making the trip three times - they’re the best of best friends. They share their favorite moments, from drinking margaritas in the town where they were invented, to marveling at the beauty of the diverse geography of the b

Being a Black girl in a mostly white space can bring stress, frustration, anger, and all kinds of mixed emotions. In Finding Her Voice, Faye and Ivy Belgrave, along with co-author Angela Patton (Girls for A Change), have created a guidebook for Black girls navigating predominantly white spaces. And: Two years on, the covid-19 pandemic is still affecting us in new ways. Although many schools have returned to in-person learning, parents are still struggling to support their teens. Development expert Nancy Deutsch shares how grownups can help teens create positive identities during these unprecedented times. Later in the show: Seventy years ago, Barbara Rose Johns led a student walkout at all-Black Robert Russa Moton High School in Farmville to protest overcrowding and substandard conditions. Today, a statue celebrating the then 16-year-old activist is set to be erected in the U.S. Capitol building. Moton Museum director Cameron Patterson and historian Larissa Smith share the story of how Johns – who was hardl

Student survivors of school shootings have made their voices heard, loud and clear. But the teacher's perspective of school shootings is less common. Megan Doney is an English professor turned gun control activist who writes about her traumatic experience. And: Research suggests that a police strategy called "community policing" benefits those with mental illness. Charlotte Gill rides along with a police officer and catches a surprisingly warm encounter. Later in the show: Hunting for evidence at a crime scene? Try E. coli. Biology professor Amorette Barber and analytical chemist Sarah Porter have invented a way to use bacteria to detect gunshot residue. Porter is a Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award recipient. Plus: One of the biggest misconceptions of school shooters is that they are all mentally ill kids who are evil from birth. Philip Mongan says most of them live normal lives until they experience triggers and turn violent over months or years.

A lot of the day’s popular shows like Lovecraft Country and Watchmen have their roots in Black newspapers. Brooks Hefner says these stories imagined futuristic solutions to issues of Jim Crow and racism. And: Literature influences a lot of how we interpret history. Jonathan Crimmons says the short lived genre of comedic theater, harlequins, opens the door for new historical interpretations. Later on the show: When Northam’s yearbook photos went public, Stephen Poulson and his students began looking through digital archives of Virginia yearbooks. What they found shocked him. Plus: For centuries, William & Mary has held a copy of Isaac Newton’s Philosphiae -- his document expanding on his theories of space and time. And they couldn’t figure out who wrote the Latin notes. Caitlin Dolt is an undergraduate student. She found out who wrote the notes within a week. Now, she’s looking to uncover why.

The first federally registered Black neighborhood in the United States was Jackson Ward, a once-booming economic and residential district in Richmond, Virginia. Through the Skipwith-Roper Homecoming initiative, Sisters Sesha Moon and Enjoli Moon are working to reconstruct the gambrel roof cottage of Richmond’s first known Black homeowner, Abraham Skipwith. And: Kelli Lemon is Virginia’s biggest cheerleader. She says that Richmond, Virginia will soon become the top destination for Americans to learn about Black American history. Later in the show: How an image of two unknown women brought arts critic Jessica Lynne back home to Virginia.

Last year, officials and public health leaders across the United States were also talking about a public health emergency besides Covid-19: racism. Jamela Martin says that racism’s direct impact on health is well-documented. What we know less about is how to fix it. And: Cancer is caused by a combination of factors, including genetics, lifestyle, and environmental causes. Li Li studies colon cancer and he’s trying to understand the particular combination of factors that causes African Americans to get and die of colon cancer at much higher rates than white Americans. Later in the show: Racial health disparities are, of course, much more complicated than Black and white. Elyas Bahktiari says that Middle Easterners and North Africans are considered white on the American census, but they have worse health outcomes than other white populations. Plus: People living with HIV have extra healthcare needs, but they’re often some of the least able to get those needs met. Leah Adams studies the extra difficulties peopl

When Colin Rafferty moved to Virginia in 2008 he didn’t know much about the presidents, so he set out to read a biography of each one. What began as a personal project eventually turned into his new publication - a collection of experimental, genre-bending essays on every U.S. president. Also: In 2016, Eric Drummond Smith guest-curated an art exhibit called The Cherry Bounce Show at the William King Museum in Abingdon, VA. He called on artists from all over Appalachia to create modern artwork, with one small stipulation… every piece had to be inspired by a presidential election. Later in the show: In grade school, many of us learned how the founding fathers carefully defined the office of the presidency. But Nathaniel Green argues that the presidency was shaped by ordinary people, not the political elite. Plus: Loaded with humor and biting satire, political cartoons have a long history of holding people in power to account. What makes political cartoons so effective? Fran Hassencahl says the answer lies in t

In 1979, members of the KKK shot and killed five labor and civil rights activists in Greensboro, North Carolina. Aran Shetterly, who is writing a book about the incident, says it still reverberates in the racial politics of Greensboro today. Also: The European philosophers of the Enlightenment argued that Europeans were civilized, but Africans were barbarians. Stefan Wheelock describes how radical African American writers used those same philosophical principles to unmask the barbarism of slavery. Later on the show: One of the darkest pages of American history is the racial terror inflicted on thousands of African Americans through lynching. Gianluca De Fazio and his students have developed a website Racial Terror: Lynching in Virginia, 1877-1927 that focuses on telling the stories of all the 104 known lynching victims who were killed in Virginia between 1877 and 1927, nearly all of them African American men. Plus: Renee Hill coordinated a memorial service to pay tribute to the lives of the thousands of peo

Little kids absorb everything around them–from the words we say, to the way we move and dress. Psychologist Chelsea Williams says that long before we realize it, little kids are also absorbing attitudes about race and ethnicity. She studies how parents can help young Latinx kids be proud of their identity. And: The 1980 Marial Boatlift brought 125,000 mostly Black Cuban immigrants into Florida. Monika Gosin says messaging around these arrivals in Miami reveals a lot about the racial tensions that already existed between African Americans and the existing, mostly white, Cuban enclave. Her book shares the memories of Black Cubans who struggled to find their places within African-American and Latinx communities in Florida. Later in the show: Record numbers of Latino students are enrolled in college, but there’s still a huge achievement gap between Latino and non-Latino Americans. Juan Espinoza and Karina Kline-Gabel are working through The Virginia Latino Higher Education Network to get more Latino students to–

As technology advances, society becomes more vulnerable to cybersecurity threats. Bug bounty hunters to the rescue! Bug hunters are ethical hackers who help companies fix vulnerabilities in their systems before the bad guys find them. But Daniel Graham says some ethical hackers face a moral dilemma: should they fix the vulnerability for a modest sum or sell it on the black market for much more? And: Hypothetical scenario: You just suffered a traumatic brain injury. You’re unconscious and doctors say you’ve fallen into a vegetative state. What would you want your family to do? Andrew Peterson says we’re more likely to want to be taken off life support, because of something he calls prognostic pessimism. Later in the show: Duncan Richter says taking an ethics course is not necessarily transformative, but it will teach how to think through all sides of an issue and determine what resonates with you. Plus: If you swipe a stranger’s car and nobody sees, what do you do? Do you leave a note? Do you track the owner

Back in the 1950s, the Soviets were eager to follow their Sputnik success with an even bigger milestone: they would send something living to outer space. Amy Nelson says that the pups were easy to rebrand as space pioneers. And: Scientists have reason to believe that Mars has a lot in common with Earth. Joel Levine says the search for life outside of Earth is the driving force of space exploration. Later in the show: Increasingly, tech that was for extraterrestrials is making its way into the hands of everyday people. David Bowles says this is a good thing, and it's only up from here. Plus: Scientists and engineers aren’t the only ones who belong in outer space. Sterling Hundley says that artists help us get to clearer answers sooner.

The 1970s saw a renaissance of Black women writers like Alice Walker and Gloria Naylor who told stories of Black women’s pain and healing. Tamika Carey says that just a few decades later, these stories trickled up to a whole Black women’s wellness industry, driven by figures like Oprah Winfrey, Iyanla Vanzant, and even Tyler Perry. And: In the wellness world, “natural” reigns supreme. So much so that according to Alan Levinovitz, it’s become a religion. His new book explores how too much faith in nature can be misleading and even harmful. Later in the show: When we’re making New Year’s resolutions, many of us look to add to our lives to make them better: eat more vegetables, sleep more, start running. Leidy Klotz argues that instead of always trying to make change through additions, we should consider more subtractions. Plus: We are living through what’s been dubbed “the great resignation.” People are leaving their jobs in droves and we can’t quite figure out why. Richard Bargdill thinks that boredom might h

When Jennifer Malia started researching her young daughter’s behaviors, she realized that both she and her daughter were on the autism spectrum. Malia has a children’s book coming out next year, called: Too Sticky! Sensory Issues with Autism. Also: Leslie Daniel celebrates autism and shares some basic strategies for communicating with children on the autism spectrum. And: Children’s museums can be tricky for kids with autism. Through personal experience and extensive research, Jackie Spainhour has come up with some ways to make children’s museums fun for all. Later in the show: It’s New Year’s resolution time. In 2022 we will all exercise more, lay off Netflix, and eat better … right? If you’re tired of thinking about your own health, maybe it’s time to turn to the kids. Amy Best says that part of getting young people to make the right food choices means understanding what they like about bad food. Plus: If you ever got a concussion as a kid, doctors might have recommended cocooning: staying in a dark room,