Choose to be Curious

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.

I didn't know much about animal curiosity when a student asked me about it, but a visit to the Smithsonian's National Zoo helped fix that problem. It's curiosity, predators, puzzles and the power of sex! Theme music by Sean Balick; "Trivial Call" by Bayou Birds from Blue Dot Sessions. Join us next time when we change our point of view to see something new with photographer Jason Horowitz.

It started with a philosophical question and took us to Amazonia and the Shenandoah Mountains as well. Animal curiosity, all in under five minutes! Theme music by Sean Balick; "Lord Weasel" by Molerider from Blue Dot Sessions.

It's a big world, get out and explore! Capital Naturalist founder Alonso Abugattas makes his case for delighting in the natural world around us and Laine Coates takes off for the far reaches of the nation in an RV. Two ways to pay attention, be astonished and tell about it. All in 5 fast minutes. Music thanks to Sean Balick and Blue Dot Sessions.

We get wrapped up in our busy city lives, but with a little help from Alonso Abugattas and his Capital Naturalist group you can bask in the glory of bugs, native plants and the mystery species among us. The joys of choosing to be curious about the (wild! wonderful!) world out there. Join us next time when we head to the National Zoo to explore animal curiosity. Theme music by Sean Balick; Gullwing...

Rebecca Czarniecki, maven of manners and founder of Tea With Mrs. B, teaches people of all ages a mix of traditional and modern etiquette over a cup of tea. Please, pour yourself a cup o' and pull up a chair as we chat about the intersection of curiosity and courtesy. Join us next time when Alonso Abugattas, founder of The Capital Naturalist, explores the wonders of our natural world, right here i...

Just in time for the holidays: the intersection of courtesy, conflict and curiosity! Rebecca Czarniecki of Tea With Mrs. B and Megan Price of George Mason University's School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution on the art of good discourse in any company, all in 5 fast minutes. Theme music by Sean Balick; "Lick Stick" by The Nursery from Blue Dot Sessions.

Educational Theatre Company builds its work with school-aged kids around what it calls its “four Cs” corner stones: creativity, community, collaboration and confidence. Founder Stan Kang and I think we could make a case for adding curiosity to the list. Just listen to what one high school participant has to say about what she’s gained along the way... Theme music by Sean Balick; also featuring Min...

On the eve of Educational Theatre Company's 20th anniversary, Stan Kang, executive director and founder, explores the role of curiosity in storytelling and the theater. ETC and a celebration of the human experience - bravo! Join us next time when Rebecca Czarniecki, maven of manners and founder of Tea With Mrs. B, explores the intersection of curiosity and courtesy. We're going to be curiously wel...

Film-maker Brian Grazer wrote: “Curiosity—asking questions—isn’t just a way of understanding the world. It’s a way of changing it.” In some ways, that’s really what Choose to be Curious is about -- and its certainly what this segment addresses with select tips from current affairs radio host Andrea Cambron and students of Central Falls High School's class on "How to Change the World."

Andrea Cambron, producer and host of "Enlighten Me", encourages our curiosity about current affairs -- and invites kids' attention there as well. So what happens when children actually start asking questions about what's going on in the world around them? Making the case for choosing to be curious, even when it's complicated -- maybe especially when it's complicated. Join us next time when Stan Ka...

Good conversation relies on good listening -- in other words, choosing to be curious about what others are thinking and feeling. This week George Mason University professor Todd Kashdan and Vivek Patil, founder of Building Bridges, explore what it takes to better understand perspectives that are different from our own. Six minutes well spent.

Todd B. Kashdan's work was one of the first places I encountered an explicit call for *choosing* to be curious. I'm fascinated by his latest research illuminating what he calls the "full bandwidth" of curiosity. He grapples with curiosity in all its multidimensional, technicolor glory. Join us next time when Andrea Cambron, producer and host of news show Enlighten Me, explores curiosity, current a...

Ep. #64: Bias, with filmmaker Robin Hauser by Lynn Borton

A filmmaker and a film critic weigh in on something else entirely. Robin Hauser (producer and director of the documentary Bias) and Kevin Sampson (of WERA's own PictureLock) and I explore unconscious bias, the many -isms that afflict us -- and how curiosity might just be the solution. Six fabulous minutes.