With Good Reason

There’s a new robot in town. Nathan Sprague and the JMU X-Lab faculty are in their fifth year of retrofitting a golf cart. The automated machine will ideally transport seniors around senior citizen communities. And: What’s real? A documentarian used AI to generate the late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain’s voice in a documentary. William Little says the controversy illuminates our celebrity worshi...

A.D. Carson’s new album, “iv: talking with ghosts,” was written under the heaviness of covid lockdown, the deaths of close friends and family, and the worldwide protests addressing the deaths of Black people at the hands of police. Carson shares the deeply personal place this album comes from and his work to include his family and friends in the historical record. Later in the show: Africans and t...

The Philippines takes Christmas to another level. From September to December, the island-country celebrates the longest Christmas season in the world. Ken Garcia Olaes and his parents bake some Bibingka, a filipino-style cake, and share fond memories of Christmas time in the Philippines. And: Erica Cavanagh spent two years as a member of the Peace Corps in Benin, West Africa. She says sharing food...

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 Tha...

Cauline Yates was at a family reunion the first time she heard she was a descendant of Thomas Jefferson. In 2019, she was asked to help develop the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers at the University of Virginia. With Good Reason producer Matt Darroch has the story. And: Clint Smith is the author of the award-winning book, How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America....

In 19th century American cities, the smell of rapid industrial growth was overwhelming. This was particularly concerning, because at the time, people thought smells actually caused disease. Melanie Kiechle tells us about the official smell committees that were created to track down offensive odors and the lengths cities went to in order to cover those smells up. And: Buried in a folio of a 15th ce...

Right after the cashier tells you your total, they induce the moral dilemma: Would you like to round up to donate? Adrienne Sudbury says that most checkout charity donors give less than a dollar. And: America has a pay inequality problem. Caroline Hanley says that the age-old advice to get more education to increase income isn’t going to cut it. This is a structural issue. Later in the show: The f...

Could a centuries-old curse be to blame for the infamous slap between Will Smith and Chris Rock at the Academy Awards? Amanda Kellogg uncovers the long history of a spooky playhouse 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. The story haunted he...

In the earlier stages of the pandemic, when many people were still staying as close to home as possible, nearly 1 in 5 American households adopted a pet. Furry cats and snuggly dogs–and some temperamental pigs. Sherrie Clark is a veterinarian who treats and studies pet pigs. She says they make good pets–for the right family. And: Relationships between dogs and humans go back 10,000 years. Nancy Ge...

The consecutive terrorist attack on two mosques in Churchchrist, New Zealand was streamed live on Facebook. Within 24 hours, an AI tool was able to delete millions of copies of the footage. Ariel Pinto is working to further develop AI tools that find and delete terrorism online. And: Kwabena Konadu says that America is on a cybersecurity spending spree because the bad guys just keep getting smarte...

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 accomplished attorney. 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 as American...

Tensions over Taiwan are making U.S.-China relations even more fraught. What do the two nuclear powers want to do with the small island that is also a technological giant? Plus: Quilts made by women of Southwest China

Bonaventure Balla’s favorite word in any language is “cornucopia.” And that’s saying something, because he’s a translator from Cameroon who speaks seven languages. His favorite? His home dialect called Fang.

The creators of a new multi-million dollar Innovation Hub in a farming region say it's already supporting rural entrepreneurs. They have high hopes it will also help reverse economic hardship and population decline.

Chef Ralph Brown’s parents fed the neighborhood for years. Now, he’s keeping that tradition going. Plus: Fifty years after the last atmospheric nuclear tests on American soil, radioactive elements remain in our food supply. Jim Kaste says the honey is especially hot. And: There are many threats to our food supply. Mike Evans is working with farmers to grow vertically indoors. Later in the show: Ka...

America has locked up hundreds of thousands of people on minor marijuana possession charges. And the majority of those arrests have targeted Black, indigenous, and people of color. Advocates argue that after bearing the brunt of harsh marijuana laws, people of color deserve a spot in Virginia’s commercial cannabis industry. Also: Last year More states are legalizing marijuana, marking a major mile...

Decisions about parenting–when to parent, whether to parent–have been in the news a lot lately. Mary Thompson says that stories about reproductive choices aren’t just newsworthy–they’ve also made their way increasingly into art. And: Janice Hawkins has been administering the covid vaccine to children. She shares why she believes it’s so important to get even the youngest vaccinated. Later in the s...

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...

It’s difficult to be a veteran re-entering civilian life. One day your major decisions are being made for you. The next? It’s up to you. What do you do? Every Tuesday in one small town, veterans gather with Elizabeth Byland for life-affirming improv. Plus: How Brad Stoller worked with incarcerated women to create a performance about, in part, one of the world's most unsuspecting hot commodities......

What caused the Big Bang? Are black holes key to interstellar travel? And how close are we to discovering extraterrestrial life? These are some of the big questions that Kelsey Johnson (University of Virginia) covers in her fascinating class, “The Unsolved Mysteries of the Universe.” And: Robin Hanson (George Mason University) has come up with a mathematical model that predicts when us earthlings...

Outer space probably isn’t in your travel plans this summer. But it could be soon. Last year, Hayley Arceneaux was a SpaceX crew member in the first all-civilian mission to orbit earth. Her upcoming book, Wild Ride: A Memoir of IV Drips and Rocket Ships, chronicles her unlikely journey from childhood cancer to space explorer. With Good Reason producer, Matt Darroch, has the story. And: Mara Scanlo...

Summer is officially here and with it comes our annual With Good Reason summer reading list. We’ve got stories of mothers and daughters, spiritual-seekers, Spike Lee, and so much in-between. Archana Pathak, Rosalie Kiah, Kyle Garton-Gundling, Cheryl Mango, and Bruce Cahoon share some of their favorite recent reads.

The pandemic gave rise to people from all walks of life trying their hand at gardening for the first time. And longtime gardeners began trying new things like “immunity gardens.” And: Jinny Turman tells us about the 70s back-to-the-land movement, and how the fallout of COVID-19 could lead to another movement. Later in the show: In Japanese folklore, when a brightly colored fish resembling a dragon...

Alongside the army of men on the front lines of conflict was an army of women in support roles. From the Red Cross volunteers who boosted morale to the nurses who treated injuries, women were a major part of soldiers’ experience of the war. We hear the stories of some of these women, and connect with scholars on how women’s roles in Vietnam reflected the gender norms of the era. Later in the Show:...

New-to-this-country students are constantly being asked to adapt. And often, their wellbeing is measured almost entirely by their ability to speak English. Alfonzo Perez Acosta is an arts educator. In his classroom, he gives students the tools to let their art do the talking. And: Everybody has a story. Not everyone has a place to tell it. Through the Community Media Center, Chioke I’Anson hopes t...