With Good Reason

Worldwide there are more than 35 million refugees who have fled their homes. And when other countries take in a huge influx of those refugees, there’s a lot to consider. Erika Frydenlund studies how host countries can help manage a refugee surge. And: In March 2023, the William & Mary Law School’s Immigration Clinic had their very first approval of an asylum case–a client from Afghanistan, who fled when Kabul fell. Stacy Kern-Scheerer shares what it’s like navigating the complicated asylum system. Later in the show: The war in Ukraine created the largest refugee crisis since World War II. Patrick Rhamey says that Poland has taken in the most refugees–and actually done a good job of welcoming and resettling them. Plus: In the U.S., mainstream media has given the Ukrainian refugee crisis a lot of coverage. Nearly every day brings new headlines about it. On the other hand, the tens of millions of people making up Africa’s refugee crises are largely overlooked. Soji Akomolafe speaks to what’s causing so much mo

Michael Carter Jr left America looking for home in Ghana. Now, on his fifth generation farm, he’s growing farmers through what he calls Africulture. And: How Virginia’s maritime climate enhances its fruit, according to celebrated sommelier Lee Campell. Later in the show: In Richmond, Virginia, you can walk up to one of 13 community refrigerators and get what you need. No questions asked. It all started because Taylor Scott had some extra tomatoes to spare. And: How Leni Sorenson uses these cookbooks to bring to life the stories and stick-to-it-iveness of the enslaved women and men who really threw down in the kitchen.

Some of America’s first maestros of European art music were enslaved and free Virginians of African descent. Violinist David McCormick shares the music of the Black violinists of Monticello from the Hemings and Scott families. Also: Justin Holland was a black man who was born free in 1819 in Norfolk County, Virginia. He became one of America's first classical guitarists and was respected by European Classical Guitar Masters. Ernie Jackson discusses Justin Holland and Jackson’s own life as a contemporary classical guitarist of African descent. Later in the show: Renowned musician JoVia Armstrong plays some of her latest works and discusses how her childhood led to her life as a musician and composer. This episode is hosted by musician and With Good Reason sound engineer Jamal Millner, who spent 20 years as a professional touring musician and composer and was a member of the Corey Harris 5x5.

You have Chef James Hemings, who cooked for Thomas Jefferson, to thank for the macaroni and cheese on your plate this Thanksgiving. Setting the Table's Deb Freeman tells us how the French dish became so baked into American cuisine. And: Across troubled waters, enslaved people carried benne seeds and grew them in a new land. Chef Amethyst Ganaway is snacking on benne wafers while thickening the Thanksgiving stew. Later in the show: The Lowcountry is always cooking. Chef BJ Dennis says the vast rice plantations of the Lowcountry are visible from outer space. The famed Gullah Geechee chef honors the grain with his smoky tomato purloo.

Dorothy Suskind diagnoses the kind of workplace culture that allows bullying. And: Chris Reina says that prioritizing relationships creates better results in the workplace. This belief is at the center of his work at the Institute for Transformative Leadership. Later in the show: Alexandra Dunn shares how “imposter syndrome” can affect us at work. Plus: The 2020 global pandemic transformed the American workers and the American workplace Ben Biermeier-Hanson found that workers now prioritize flexibility in a job.

No matter how they served or where or when, for veterans, returning to civilian life is a big transition. Eric Hodges is researching what it was like for African American veterans in his small Virginia community to return home. And: Alicia DeFonzo’s grandfather was a big part of her life as a kid. He was charming and jovial and the absolute best storyteller. But his stories always left out the years he spent fighting in WWII. Late in his life, Alicia finally asked her grandfather to tell those stories and their conversations gave rise to her new book The Time Left Between Us. Later in the show: After the Civil War, veterans and their families were able to apply for a pension. But they had to prove they were eligible. Sharon Roger Hepburn’s book Private No More compiles almost 60 letters written by John Lovejoy Murray submitted as proof for a pension and kept in his government file since the Civil War. Murray, a Black soldier who died during the war, wrote home about the food, the pay, and racism in the ranks

After watching movies like the Terminator, it’s hard not to come away a little jaded about the future of AI. But Dan Runfola says the rise of AI will be a huge boon to society, similar to the industrial revolution of the 18th century. And: As we enter into the age of AI, where do the humanities fit in? Rishi Jaitly recently founded the Virginia Tech Institute for Leadership and Technology, a one-of-a-kind fellowship that immerses rising leaders in the tech world in all things humanities. Later in the show: Many teachers are scared about the impact AI will have on cheating. But Anand Rao says most of his students will be using AI in the workplace once they graduate. So he encourages them to use AI on assignments and coaches them on how to use it appropriately. Plus: Falling down the rabbit hole started as a reference to Alice and Wonderland. Now it's mostly used in the context of online radicalization. Ugo Etudo uses a form of AI called natural language processing to glean new insights into how people get rad

Since she was a child, Luz Lopes would help her mother prepare the altar for the Day of the Dead. This year, her go-to bakery shut down so she made her own pan de muerto. Plus: It seemed like quinoa just kind of came out of nowhere didn’t it? Well, it kind of did. Linda Seligmann tells us how she witnessed this afterthought crop become a commercial crop. And: Will the real pigs please stand up? Brad Weiss gives us insight on North Carolina’s local farming efforts to produce real, local pork. Later in the show: When they first hit the shelves, Americans really were not interested in canned goods. They canned their own food in clear mason jars. There really was no real need for this strange, aluminum can that they couldn’t see inside of. Anna Zeade says that the commercialization of canned foods marks the beginning of our opaque food system. And: Pasta didn’t always come in neat boxes on shelves. Melissa Gray says that American pasta makers started that practice as a way to distinguish themselves from Italian

Old time music is a way of communication. A way to welcome rain after a drought or shoo a cold. Many men took it on the road. But the women stayed home. Rene Rodgers and Toni Doman (Birthplace of Country Music Museum) give us a taste of women musicians from Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn, to Cathy Fink and Amythyst Kiah. Later in the show: 2022 Virginia Folklife mentor artist Elizabeth LaPrelle keeping the centuries old tradition of Appalachian ballad singing alive. Plus: Nationally renowned guitar and ukulele maker Jayne Henderson describes the art and joy of crafting these prized instruments.

Conversations around community policing are polarizing. It can be hard to have a meaningful and useful conversation. Brian Williams believes that conversations that first hit the heart can impact the head and hands, bringing corrective and collaborative action. And: Police suicide rates are on the rise. It’s clear that mental health is a real problem in the profession. Stacey Clifton studies how the very culture of police–a sort of macho suppression of emotion–makes it extra hard to address their mental health crises. Later in the show: When we think of policing, we don’t usually think about policing white collar crime. Thomas Dearden explains some of the challenges of stopping white collar crime. Plus: Before England had a police force, Queen Elizabeth had a secret enforcer named Richard Topcliffe. Topcliffe’s job was to track down suspected Catholics and use their own pro-Catholic books as weapons against them. Centuries later, Mark Rankin found those books and uncovered the treasonous evidence that Topcl

Photoshop recently unveiled a new function that integrates generative AI, a cutting-edge technology that can produce images from text. JD Swerzenski says we’ve reached a point where photo manipulation has never been so easy. And: Rebecca Silberman specializes in miniature set pieces: think of tiny scenes intricately constructed inside dioramas. She says it's a delicate process that requires a small paint brush, strong magnifying visors, and a good deal of focus. Later in the show: Deepfakes have been around since the last presidential election in 2020. But the technology was pretty clunky, so they were easy to spot. Cayce Myers says deepfakes will have a much bigger impact on the upcoming 2024 presidential race. Plus: The ability to see has been one of the senses that distinguishes living organisms from nonliving things. But computers have recently gained sight as well. Khan Iftekaruddin uses computer vision to help identify a deadly form of brain cancer, called glioblastoma. Khan was named an Outstanding Fa

Traditionally people become licensed educators and then enter a classroom. Smita Mathur and her colleagues took a different approach. They invited migrant farm workers to come teach migrant children, and then trained them to be teachers. And: How Kelly Cartwright found that a lot of students can sound words out, but can’t quite connect the sound to the meaning of the word. And what educators are doing about it. Plus: Curiosity is central to learning, but Jamie Jirout says that school snuffs it out.

After new episodes drop, fans of TV shows take to social media to dissect what they just saw. Dr. Morgan Smalls says shows that feature Black women protagonists and majority Black casts, like Insecure and Being Mary Jane, inspire important conversations about race on social media. And: Disney princesses can be a bit of a scapegoat for what’s wrong with representations of women in movies. One of the problems: they don’t have many healthy female relationships. Jessica Stanley talks about the toxic relationships of wicked stepsisters and evil witches and how modern Disney movies are doing better. Later in the show: Movies and television tell stories about who we are and who we get to be. What does that mean for people who don’t find themselves on the screen? Andre Cavalcante explores the history of trans representation in the media and how trans women have subverted the stories so often told about them. Plus: Movies are so much more than entertainment--they shape the way we see the world around us. Even when we

We experience the world first with our senses. And then art can help us understand what we’re seeing, feeling, and experiencing. Stephanie Hodde uses spectacle theater to help communities be in touch with the issues that matter most to them. And: The design of everyday objects is about usefulness—but there’s also an art and a politics to it. Carissa Henriques shares the innovative strategies that designers can use to be more democratic, compassionate, and effective in their work. Later in the show: Paul Bogard’s new book Solastalgia is an “anthology of emotion in a disappearing world.” He shares some of his favorite essays from the book and explains the love–of his daughter, of this Earth–that drove its publication.

As India celebrates 76 years of independence - Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has drawn criticism for promoting a kind of hindu nationalism that's rooted in the colonial period. Rohan Kalyan says Modi’s vision for India doesn’t leave much room for non-hindus and other minorities. And: Neel Amin studies the writings of British hunters in 19th century India. He says the sense of colonial superiority held by the British was threatened when they met a nomadic people called the Banjara. Later in the show: In 1765, the ruler of the Indian province of Awadh was defeated in battle by the East India Company. Flush with war debt, he turned to his wife, Bahu Begam, to bail him out. Nick Abbott looks at how Bahu Begam leveraged her wealth to gain political influence during the colonial period. Plus: While Greco-Roman polytheism has long died off, Hinduism remains alive and well. In fact, it’s the third largest religion in the world. So what accounts for its staying power? Atin Basu says it’s because there’s no jealousy

Universities have been trying to curb dangerous binge drinking for years. Today’s students are glued to their phones, and Abby Braitman and her colleagues are meeting them where they are for interventions. And: Meagan Brem says that drinking is intertwined with a lot of the intimate partner violence that happens on college campuses. Later in the show: There’s a psychedelic renaissance going on in Javier González-Maeso’s biochemistry lab. He’s hoping to develop a new drug using psilocybin, the component found in magic mushrooms, to help people battling alcohol abuse disorder. Plus: How Jasmohan Bajaj discovered that addiction lives in the gut, not the mind.

In the early 20th century, terrapins–a kind of turtle–were a culinary delicacy. Then humans nearly hunted them to extinction. While Americans don’t eat much turtle these days, terrapin populations are still in danger–from crab traps. Randy Chambers is working to perfect a device for crab traps that will help protect terrapins. And: Learning about learning is a lot easier if you’ve got hands on practice. That’s what inspired the first ever Wise-minster Dog Show at the University of Virginia at Wise. Robert Arrowood’s psychology of learning class put theory to practice by training shelter dogs. Through the project, UVA Wise students helped dozens of dogs find their forever homes. Later in the show: Lab rats have a pretty cushy life. And if you measure their stress levels compared to wild city rats, it shows. But what about wild country rats? Molly Kent’s research asks questions about stress in rats, but along the way she’s learning about human stress, too. Plus: Are undiscovered animals lurking in plain sight?

In 2017, many Americans watched in horror as violent images from the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville started spreading. A few short years later, My Monticello tells the story of Charlottesville neighbors fleeing racist violence and taking refuge in Thomas Jefferson’s home, Monticello. The author, Jocelyn Johnson, talks about what it means to be writing about a past and a future that both feel very present and whether there’s hope in writing about America’s racism. Later in the show: Famous for the fatwa put on him by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989, Salman Rushdie is still writing years later--but now from the United States. Pennie Ticen discusses Rushdie’s past and the new kind of writing he’s publishing as an American immigrant. Plus: On the surface, The Tigger Movie and Anne of Green Gables don’t have a lot in common. But if you look a bit closer, they both touch on an incredibly popular theme in stories for kids: adoption. Kim Gainer explores why kids are so obsessed with reading about adoption and h

During the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, tensions between the United States and Russia nearly led to nuclear disaster. So what prevented the unthinkable from happening? Martin Sherwin argued it had something to do with luck. And:. Philip Roessler has studied the impact of rising temperatures on conflict zones around the world. He predicts climate change will soon become one of the main drivers of large scale political violence. Later in the show: China has burst onto the scene as one of the world’s most powerful countries - forcing the United States to take notice. Patrick Rhamey says as competition heats up between the two countries, the Biden administration should avoid treating China as the enemy. Plus: George Washington famously warned against the dangers of alliances in his Farewell Address. But Jason Davidson says despite Washington’s misgivings, America has relied on foreign alliances throughout its history.

In the 1990s, a group of single Black mothers known as The Circle formed an underground gambling ring in Danville, Virginia. Their winnings went a long way in easing the struggle of raising a family as a single mother. With Good Reason producer, Matt Darroch, has the story. And: Now close to a century removed from prohibition - speakeasies, gangsters, and moonshine still loom large in the public imagination. But Michael Lewis says our understanding of the era isn’t a very accurate one. Also: There are currently more than 100,000 people in the US in need of an organ transplant. Every year, thousands die while waiting for their turn on the transplant wait list. Kim Krawiec studies how we view organ donation as admirable, as long as money isn’t involved. Later in the show: Most of us know the dark web as this scary and mysterious corner of the internet where online crime reigns free. But Babur Kohy says the dark web is more than just a hub for illegal activity, it can actually be used for good as well. Plus: Un