With Good Reason

For twenty years, Jason Moulenbelt has asked his students to go back in time and decide whether to do something differently. Most of them say that despite the painful lessons, they wouldn’t change a thing. And: In the infamous Stanford rape case, a member of Stanford’s men’s swimming team was caught behind a dumpster in the act of raping an unconscious woman–Chanel Miller. Chanel was known only as...

On this episode of With Good Reason, Technical Director Jamal Millner hosts and we explore how some musicians interact with the communities they inhabit. The inspiration, support and motivation these artist’s receive from their families, friends and fans. CJ Colston is a millennial Evangelical Preacher and Singer that performs proselytizes in Southwestern Virginia area churches regardless of the r...

NASA recently announced they’re preparing to send humans to Mars as early as 2035. It’ll be a huge undertaking that will require a big budget and massive collective effort. But Joel Levine is focused more on the small stuff. He’s working with NASA on sterilization methods to prevent the cross-contamination of microbes between Earth and Mars. And: It’s around a 7 month trip to go from Earth to Mars...

The borders of Jordan have changed over and over in the last century. And each time they shift, Jordanian immigration policy–officially or unofficially–shifts as well. Lillian Frost takes us deep into the history of the region to understand how Jordanian officials have interpreted the same immigration laws differently depending on what’s going on in the nations around them. And: In the US, more th...

Could a centuries-old curse be to blame for Will Smith’s infamous slap of Chris Rock at the Academy Awards? Amanda Kellogg uncovers the long history of a superstition known as Macbeth’s curse. And: Anna Beecher first encountered the Brothers Grimm’s fairy tale, The Boy Who Went Forth to Learn to Shudder, as a young kid and was thoroughly frightened. She based her play, Skin of the Teeth, on that s...

In America, presidential primaries don’t officially begin until February of the election year. But we all know that presidential campaigns go on for years before that. In mid-August, the Democratic Party announced Vice President Kamala Harris as their nominee after incumbent President Joe Biden stepped down. Voters didn’t choose this. The party did. Caitlin Jewitt wonders how this will impact the...

We usually reserve the word “wicked” for the worst things in life. But at Radford University, being a wicked student is a badge of honor. Every year, Paige Tan and Meg Konkel help students come up with creative solutions to life’s messiest problems for the Wicked Festival. And: What if you could get 500 dollars for free? Only catch is, you have put it toward something that does good - something th...

There’s an AI arms race. And anyone can compete. But AI doesn’t have moral judgment; it only sees patterns. Atin Basu says that military education needs to emphasize the humanities to ensure that the people behind the machines have moral center and judgment that the machines will never have. And: For one reason or another, doctors and nurses don’t have a lot of time to talk to patients. The AI cha...

If you’re looking for new music, you might turn to youtube, spotify, social media–basically, the internet. In Cuba, internet access is so limited that music is passed through a USB network called Sneakernet. Mike Levine explains how Sneakernet helps spread the rhythms–and politics–of reparto music. And: What does it sound like when trees sing? Or rocks? Or a city waterworks? Sara Bouchard is a sou...

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 pra...

Failure is a key part of the scientific process. But Gertrude Fraser says women in STEM aren’t often given the same leeway to fail as their male colleagues. Plus: Ken Ono applied his mathematics research to help swimmer, Kate Douglass, shave 4 tenths of a second off her breastroke. He says it took countless failures to save just a tiny fraction of time, but it ultimately proved to be the differenc...

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 battle...

Sitting in a doctor’s office, trying to understand medicalese, is familiar for most of us. And really frustrating. Suzanne Makarem found forty women who pursue nontraditional medical professionals after years of feeling unheard by traditional care providers. Many of these women now only see their traditional doctors for blood tests, vaccines and annual check ups. Plus: The United States and New Ze...

Babies come into the world ready to learn and all those coos and grunts that they make–and that their parents make at them–are stepping stones to fluency. Rory DePeolis and Shiree Harbick are studying baby babble to better understand how babies learn language. And: Too often when it comes to helping minority kids succeed in school, families are seen as part of the problem to solve. Instead, Meliss...

Many pipelines have been protested, but few have been defeated. Jonathan Mingle says the cancellation of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline in 2020 is a story of collaboration between local activists and the Southern Environmental Law Center. And: Oil was first discovered in Louisiana at the turn of the 20th century. Suddenly, even the most unassuming plots of land could be worth millions. But Henry Wien...

In the '80s and '90s, many Puerto Rican poets who lived in the contiguous United States wrote within a fixed aya and aca/mainland vs. island story. The island was home. Jane Alberdeston Coralin and other contemporary Puerto Rican poets approach their selves, memories and bodies as home. And: Latin American literature of the 60’s was complex and required active readers. By the 70s and 80s, the lite...

What makes a court a court? Most people might answer something like this: there’s a judge with legal training, who makes a judgment, and if you don’t follow their judgment, you get punished. David Law says that, actually, none of that is required for a court. That’s how the American courts work, but all over the world there are courts that operate very differently. And: Five years after getting fe...

In 1979, the US government commissioned a fictional account of the aftermath of nuclear war…set in Charlottesville, Virginia. George Perkovich says the report inspired The Day After - one of the most popular made for TV movies of all time. And: Remember when fears of the Y2K computer bug sent everyone into a frenzy at the turn of the year 2000? Matthew Gabriele (Virginia Tech) says a similar apoca...

The Soulmasters was a 1960’s interracial soul band from Danville, VA. Jerry Wilson and John Irby were the two African-American lead singers and the other band members were white. Jerry reflects on what it was like touring the South during the height of segregation. And: We all have that one song that soothes our soul. This ability to escape through music was a lifeline for American troops during t...

Much has been said about the golden age of gospel music in the 1940s and 50s. But what about the gospel music that came later when hip-hop and soul were dominant? Claudrena Harold’s in her book, When Sunday Comes, takes us to the Black record shops, churches, and businesses that transformed gospel after the Civil Rights era and nurtured the music that was an essential cultural and political expres...

Citizens quickly took Fidel Castro up on his offer to leave Cuba from the Port of Mariel if they had someone to pick them up. From Spring to early Autumn of 1980, over one hundred thousand Cubans emigrated to America by boat. They arrived raw and tender-hearted, trying to reconnect with family members. Terry Marsh recalls the great attempts FEMA made to reconnect families and determine who was goi...

Dog breeds get stereotypes. There’s the well-heeled, intelligent border collie or the good-natured, but not-so-bright golden retriever. Jennifer Holland’s new book, Dog Smart digs into what we actually know about dog intelligence. And: In recent years, honeybee-keeping has seen an impressive increase in the U.S. The rising numbers means more beekeepers are concerned with viruses that threaten hive...

Immigrant incarceration has a long history in the US - starting with the Chinese Exclusion Acts of 1882. Brianna Nofil says it’s part of a system of mass incarceration that’s still largely intact today. And: In 2015, Levi Vonk joined one of the first migrant caravans, marching with hundreds through Mexico. It’s where he met a 37 year old computer hacker named Axel Kirshner who had just been deport...

The International Olympic Committee has never required men to prove that they are men. But from nude inspections to DNA swabs, women have had to prove their womanhood since the 60s. Bonnie Hagerman says that this is more sinister than creating an “equal” playing field. And: Matt Andrews is taking his students to the 2024 Olympic games in Paris. Later in the show: Tim Passmore explores how nations...

HBCUs rose from the ashes of slavery and have been educating Black students for generations. Cheryl Mango says HBCUs are currently experiencing a renaissance, sparked from Black Lives Matter movement and the fight for racial justice. Plus: HBCU bands like the Trojan Explosion at Virginia State University play with power and energy. It’s an audio and visual display, with high-step marching and deck...