Choose to be Curious

Trinity College professor Barbara M. Benedict delights in curiosity, curiosities and collecting in English literature. We cover everything from Gulliver's Travels to Freud, from curiosity cabinets to the dawn of journalism. Indie Photobook Library founder Larissa Leclair illuminates her version of what Barbara describes. This is the first in a monthly series of interviews with the contributing aut...

Lani Watson wants to know what makes a question a question - and Andrew Minigan wants to help us get better at asking them. It's all about questions today!

We've talked about better and more beautiful questions, but what about the foundational question: what IS a question? Edinburgh philosopher Lani Watson is thinking a lot about the question question. Join us again next time when Trinity College professor of English Barbara M. Benedict explores curiosity and collecting - with a special feature on the Indie Photobook Library! Theme and other music by...

"What I love most about curiosity is sitting with someone I don't know, asking what makes them tick, what brought them to this day, just really leaning into it -- and enjoying it." Mike Morales just retired as a LtCol USAF, was a White House Fellow, has been to both divinity and business school. He has a lot to say about curiosity as a gateway to community. Enjoy! Join us next time when philosophe...

Think of all the ways we make and find connections. Think how important that is. Mike Morales and I talk about curiosity as a gateway to connection -- and my mother-in-law takes us on a journey to discover family connections she didn't know she had...all that in five fast minutes!

Learning to ask more and better questions, with The Right Question Institute's (RQI) Andrew Minigan and WERA's own Enlighten Me host, Andrea Cambron. #QFT #parenting #questions

The Right Question Institute has pioneered an elegant and deceptively simple way to generate more and better questions, no matter who you are or what your circumstances. Andrew Minigan, PhD, Director of Strategy for RQI's Education Program, joins me to explain. Theme and other music by Sean Balick. Join us again next time when Mike Morales and I explore curiosity as a gateway to connection.

Jacomina de Regt speaks to validating our natural curiosity about sex and our sexuality, and Dr. Judson Brewer explores other forms of awakening in this celebration of human nature.

What could be more basic than curiosity about sex? And yet the topic makes lots of us squeamish. C2BC intern Caroline Kish sits down with Jacomina de Regt, sexuality education facilitator, to celebrate two basics of human nature: curiosity and sexuality. Join us next time for a visit with the Right Question Institute.

Cartographer Alison Davis-Holland and Capital Naturalist founder Alonso Abugattas each help ground us where we are. We're all about being curious in the world around us this week!

Artist-naturalist Ellen Meloy wrote, "A map, it is said, organizes wonder." Cartographer and story map author Alison Davis-Holland couldn't agree more. Where might your curiosity take you, given the right map? And what makes for a good map, anyway? join us to learn more! And join us next time when we consider the inevitable intersection of curiosity and sex ed.

In honor of National Walking Day, and every day that is made for walking, we take a stroll around Arlington -- and another around the farmers market. Complete with a taste of music from -- you guessed it! -- The Walkaways

In honor of National Walking Day, we take a stroll with Eileen and Allen, who've decided they're going to walk every street in the County. They neither know, nor really care, how many miles that is -- they just want the journey. I walked along with them one Saturday. Featuring music thanks to Blue Dot Sessions: "Walking Shoes" by Skittle, "Home Home At Last" by Warmbody; "City Limits" by  Albany,...

I'm delighted to introduce the radio debut of our Choose to be Curious/American University intern, Caroline Kish. She found a link between our conversation with Noobtsaa Vang about the comforts of food and Brandon Charles' insights on empathy: it's all about making the human connection. Theme and other music thanks to Sean Balick.

How many ways might curiosity serve in a social enterprise that partners with budding home-taught chefs from diverse immigrant communities and celebrates their stories, heritage, and cultures through their delicious foods? Foodhini founder Noobtsaa Vang explores just that. Theme and other music by Sean Balick. Join us next time when we take our curiosity out for a stroll in honor of National Walki...

Palma Strand and Ellen Fox -- one a lawyer, the other a doctor -- make the case for curiosity and listening. Our lives and communities depend on it. Theme and other music by Sean Balick.

Lawyers ask a lot of questions, but are they curious? Is the law itself curious? Does it foster curiosity? Law professor and forward thinker Palma Strand parses the question. Music by Sean Balick. Join us next time when Noobtsaa Vang, founder of Foodhini, explores curiosity in his business model.

How do our thoughts shape our actions? How do our actions shape and focus our thoughts? Columbia University professor and neuroscientist Jacqueline Gottlieb studies the links between cognition, curiosity and decision making in behavioral, computational and physiological terms. Join us next time when we look at curiosity and the law with Palma Strand. Theme music and "Summer Dream" by Sean Balick.

Henry James wrote in The Art of Fiction, “Try to be one of those on whom nothing is lost.” Neuroscientist Jacqueline Gottlieb and executive coach Dana Theus take that advice very much to heart, whether they're investigating neural networks and eye movements as expression of curiosity, or professional networks and career advancement with the help of curiosity. Theme music and "Summer Dance" by Sean...

Arlington County Board Chair Christian Dorsey and Virginia Tech's Discovery Analytics Center Director Naren Ramakrishnan consider the implications of what information we gather -- and from whom -- as we look at how curiosity can support one community's commitment to equity and our larger search for knowledge. Theme and other music thanks to Sean Balick.

Newly-elected Arlington County Board Chairman Christian Dorsey has called for a focus on equity in County policies. We explore what role curiosity might play in understanding past damage and ensuring a more just future. Theme and other music by Sean Balick. Join us again next time when Columbia University professor and neuroscientist Jacqueline Gottlieb eyes curiosity.

Wilma Jones traced her family and community history in one of Arlington's historically Black neighborhoods and published those stories in "My Halls Hill Family." She makes a case for choosing to be curious about our own stories and their social context. Join us next time when newly-elected Arlington County Board chair Christian Dorsey joins us to talk about how curiosity supports his focus on equi...

So many stories to be shared and heard in Arlington, VA! Wilma Jones' "My Halls Hill Family" meets Valeria Gelman's "The Local Shop" in this celebration of oral and family history in historically Black neighborhoods and legacy businesses.

Photographer Jason Horowitz and journalist/sound artist Jocelyn Frank both take to heart my own father's favorite line, "If you change your point of view, you will see something new." Ah, the perspective we gain by looking and listening with curiosity! Theme music and "Coyote Kid" by Sean Balick.

"If you change your point of view, you will see something new," says my Dad. Fine art photographer Jason Horowitz walks that talk -- and takes us along for the ride. Looking, reframing and using curiosity to see things with fresh eyes -- all in a day's work. Check out Jason's photographs at jasonhorowitzfineart.com Theme music and "Coyote Kid" by Sean Balick.