With Good Reason

The evolution of social change in America can be traced through popular songs by the likes of Nat King Cole, Percy Mayfield, Lena Horne, and the Impressions. Charlie McGovern shares from his book Body and Soul: Race, Citizenship and Popular Music, 1930-1977. Also: Music streaming platforms like Spotify and YouTube have changed the conversation about music and democracy. These days we talk about in...

From start to finish, the Appalachian Trail covers a whopping 2,181 miles. Rodney Bragdon dishes on the toughest challenges he experienced while through-hiking the entire trail. And: Camping, hiking, and enjoying the great outdoors are American pastimes. But for African Americans, gathering in public spaces has long been fraught. Erin Devlin discusses the racism that was built into America’s natio...

You only die once. But you can get close a few times. Bruce Greyson never was very spiritual, but after interviewing 1,000’s of people who have had near-death experiences he’s changed his mind about life after death. His new book is After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal about Life and Beyond. Later in the show: For many of us, the frantic rush of our morning commute has been...

In 2019, Virginia joined just three other states in making Juneteenth a paid state holiday, recognizing it as a holiday for all Virginians. Historian Lauranett Lee says in this country we have parallel histories, with Black and white Americans knowing about and acknowledging different pasts. But community efforts and local activists are elevating the stories of African Americans so that those para...

Black women are three and a half times more likely to die in childbirth than white women. Even highly educated, wealthy African Americans are at a greater risk than whites. To combat the disparity, Dr. Rochanda Mitchell advocates hiring more African American nurse educators and providing anti-bias training for medical professionals. Plus: Bellamy Shoffner was well aware of the frightening statisti...

One study found that in the early months of the pandemic, as many as 40% of Americans skipped medical care. But new health insurance coverage of telehealth visits means that there’s a better option. UVA Health’s Karen Rheuban and Laurie Archbald-Pannone have steered innovative telehealth approaches that bring safe medical care to patients’ homes and long-term care facilities. And: When the world c...

It’s difficult to imagine that the highway was someone’s home. But it was. LaToya S. Gray says a once thriving Richmond neighborhood known as the Harlem of the South fell victim to intentionally destructive city planners. And: You don’t have to look far to connect racial inequities to environmental issues. Jeremy Hoffman says that many formerly redlined neighborhoods experience up to 16 degree hot...

In July of this year, Virginia will become the first Southern state to legalize marijuana, marking a major milestone in the failure of the War on Drugs. Katherine Ott Walter traces the racist roots of the War on Drugs and offers sensible alternatives to dealing with addiction in America. And: In the early 1970’s, Richard Bonnie became the Associate Director of the National Commission on Marijuana...

If plants could talk, what would they say? What if they could sing? Sam Nester, Yassmin Salem, and Donald Russell explain how George Mason University’s Arcadia installation turns a greenhouse into an orchestra. And: Fossils give away the secrets of the past, but they can also tell the future. Rowan Lockwood is taking a closer look at the fossils of giant oysters to learn how to rebuild oyster reef...

More and more often, celebrities are home-grown in front of a ring light and iPhone. As viewers keep scrolling past these insta-celebs, they’re starting to see themselves differently. Miriam Liss and Mindy Erchull say we compare ourselves to what we see despite knowing all that glitters isn’t gold. And: Have you been running to Twitter to cope with the crazy news cycle over the past year? John Bru...

Kirsten Gelsdorf has spent over 20 years working for the United Nations and other organizations in the humanitarian sector. She discusses her experience in disaster zones and clears up some commonly-held misconceptions about humanitarian aid. And: Earlier this year, Virginia became 1 of only 10 states to pass a Bill of Rights for domestic workers. But Jennifer Fish says while it’s certainly a step...

Thanks to COVID-19, 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 venture into dark caves with Ángel García, traipse around the foothills of Ap...

In 2019, the most notable poets of our time gathered in the nation’s capital to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Furious Flower Poetry Center, devoted to African American poetry. Furious Flower founder, Joanne Gabbin and Lauren Alleyne join us in-studio to celebrate poets and hear excerpts from interviews with Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, Rita Dove, Sonia Sanchez, and many others. Later in th...

We have a lot to do with what happens to rainwater from the time it hits the ground, to the time we drink it. And our small efforts can add up over time to prevent catastrophe. Kathy Gee has great advice for us: don’t live downhill from someone else, and start a rain garden. And: Along Appalachian streams, people grew up watching the hellbenders swim around and fight beneath the surface. Now, thei...

The Women’s March in January 2017 was the largest single-day protest in U.S. history. Anywhere from 3 to 5 million Americans--most of them women--took to the streets in the U.S. and around the globe. But while women have certainly made their voices heard in massive protests like that one, women’s activism often looks like radical everyday acts. Lori Underwood and Dawn Hutchinson share some of thei...

Serena Williams is widely regarded as one of the best athletes of all time. But far too often her passion on the tennis court has been criticized as aggression. So why do Black sports women seem to attract more scrutiny than other athletes? Letisha Engracio Cardoso Brown says it’s because the same commonly-held stereotypes for Black women in society frequently get repurposed into sport. And: The U...

Remember those twelve months where every ad was asking you to vote? It was inescapable. Gilda Pedraza and her team worked around the clock to ensure Latino voters in Georgia had the information they needed to cast their ballot. But even with historic voter turnout, a third of eligible adults didn’t vote. Bernard Fraga says that’s a political failure, and not the failure of individual voters. Plus:...

We all know that teenagers would rather die than hang out with their parents, right? Not so, says Jon Lohman. The Old Fiddlers Convention in Galax, Virginia, brings young and old together to share traditions and songs. But how are musicians faring during the pandemic? Plus: The studio comes alive with song when Steve Rockenbach and Gregg Kimball bring their banjos in to share the instrument’s stor...

In 2016, Lashrecse Aird made history as the youngest woman ever elected to the Virginia House of Delegates. She says her unique perspective - shaped by a childhood of adversity and hardship - allows her to better serve the full range of experiences within her constituency. And: Ebony Guy was inspired to get involved in activism from a young age by her grandmother, a beloved civil rights leader in...

Scholars, historic interpreters, and descendants of enslaved people recently gathered at Montpelier, the home of James Madison. They were there to create a rubric for historic sites who want to engage descendant communities in their work. Anthropologist Michael Blakey discusses why historical sites must consider the needs and wishes of descendants. And: Historian Hasan Kwame Jeffries says we need...

In mid-December, UVA Health physician Taison Bell rolled up his sleeve to be one of the first people in Charlottesville to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Today he shares why he got the vaccine and how we can get it to as many Americans as possible. Bell was named a 2021 Outstanding Faculty member by The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. And: Navigating social lives in the time of Covid can...

We’re drawn to people who are kind to others. But once that kind person becomes our partner, we want special treatment. Lalin Anik says that we get a boost from feeling our "uniqueness" affirmed. She shares just how critical that special treatment is to a fulfilling relationship. And: Can one person really satisfy all of our needs? Julian Glover says no. They share how non-monogamy can be a freedo...

Dwayne Betts was only a teenager when he was convicted of carjacking and sentenced to 9 years in prison. Today, he’s an acclaimed poet and PhD candidate at Yale Law School. He recounts his inspiring story and brings attention to one of the biggest civil rights issues of our time: felon disenfranchisement. Later in the show: Think immigrant voting is un-American? Think again. Ron Hayduk says it’s a...

While people planned socially distanced funerals and waited in miles-long lines for canned food, the stock market soared and brought the GDP with it. The pandemic has revealed that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a poor measure of economic and societal health. Stephen Macekura’s new book, The Mismeasure of Progress, explores GDP and the long history of those who have critiqued it. And: The 2008 fi...

When theatres, clubs, and bars shuttered their doors back in March, Michael-Birch Pierce and their fellow drag queens took to the streets - literally. Also: After growing up in the Philippines, Francis Tanglao Aguas realized that he’d spent a lot of time on colonized soil. That’s why he founded Aguas Arts Ink, a digital theatre collective dedicated to decolonizing the body and mind. Then: How do y...