The Colin McEnroe Show

The Paris bombings and shootings are the latest in a string of attacks by the Islamic State. Mourners around the world have gathered to show support for the victims and world leaders are responding politically and militarily. This hour, national security expert and Connecticut native Scott Bates discusses what the appropriate response should be. We also hear from a University of Connecticut studen...

Events this past week at Yale and the University of Missouri have sparked intense debate about the boundaries of free speech, and whether that debate is diverting the conversation away from a culture of racism at both schools that is not easily understood by those who don't live it. Can we separate the fight against racism from the freedom to speak openly about it? Are we hurting students on the b...

It's not uncommon to see someone wearing a prosthesis, especially after wars in Iraq and Afghanistan sent many veterans home minus a limb. While losing a limb is a life-changing event, a good prosthetist can "carve" a prosthesis with just the right fit. It's a long process that can take years to perfect.  Limbs today vary from simple body-powered prostheses moved by cables to a "fully ro...

According to Yale Philosophy Professor Shelly Kagan, many of today's political issues are actually philosophical ones. Kagan says no one ever asks philosophers to weigh in. Wouldn't a deeper understanding of the day's news -- including why people think what they think and hold the positions they hold -- be beneficial? One reason for the lack of philosophical commentary in the media might be the re...

In 1954, Alfred Hitchcock directed two movies. They both star Grace Kelly. They’re both murder mysteries involving a married couple and a boyfriend and a girlfriend. They both take place almost entirely in one room. They both look like plays. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You may best remember Ana Gasteyer eating Alec Baldwin's Schweddy Balls as Margaret Jo, the NPR co-host of The Delicious Dish on "Saturday Night Live." She was also a real-life Broadway actor and cabaret singer, and she just released her new album of jazz standards,  I'm Hip . We talk about her upcoming appearance at the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center on November 24, part of CPTV...

Star Wars fans are anxiously awaiting the release of " Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens ," the seventh film in the Star Wars franchise, and first one without George Lucas at the helm.   Will J.J. Abrams live up to the challenge? And where is Luke Skywalker? Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Colum McCann was assaulted in New Haven last summer while attending a conference on empathy. He was knocked unconscious and suffered physical and emotional injuries that lingered long after the attack. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Coincidences happen to everyone -- whether it's hearing a song you've been thinking about all day on the radio or running into an old acquaintance whose name recently came up in conversation. For events so seemingly unlikely, coincidences certainly have a way of happening quite often. And now, after much study, psychologists and mathematicians think they know why. Support the show: http://www.wnpr...

Music can be a powerful, transformative tool in the quest for social change. Protest songs are the songs associated with a particular movement. Earlier this month, Janelle Monáe and Wondaland produced the searing protest song " Hell You Talmbout. " Nearly seven minutes long, it's a tribute to a long list of black men and women lost, and has been performed alongside protesters at Black Lives Matter...

Caroline Jacobs is a grown woman with children of her own. But by all accounts, she's a wimp. She would prefer to suffer in silence than stand up for herself or anyone else -- until she couldn't stand it anymore.   One night, while at a public meeting and in a crowded room, she stood up, pointed her finger at the one she loathed, and shouted "F%$# You" to her nemesis. With that one phrase, sh...

Atlas Obscura considers itself a "friendly tour-guide to the world's most wondrous places" -- a number of which can be found right here in Connecticut.  Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Connecticut might mean clapboard homes, leafy suburbs, and town centers that show off their roots to our colonial past. Unless you're thinking of southeastern Connecticut. The southeastern part of our state conjures images of casinos, submarines, and a blue-collar vibe that's just a little different from the rest of the state. It probably doesn't help that the Connecticut River literally cuts the...

This year's  Nobel Prize went to three Chinese scientists . It was the first time China won a Nobel in science. The committee emphasized it was not giving the award to traditional Chinese medicine, just the scientist who applied her knowledge of it to her research. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tonight the Kansas City Royals and the New York Mets face off in game one of the 2015 World Series. A lot has changed in the 29 years since either of these clubs won the Series: a tenfold increase in the average player's salary, the commercialization of fantasy baseball, and four new expansion teams. And 'America's pastime,' has become increasingly multi-cultural with players coming from around th...

We had a great show planned for you today with two great authors. But, sometimes life is crazier than the fiction we talk about and today, we ended up with two great authors, but only one we expected.  Sloane Crosley  pays homage to Guy de Maupassant in her debut novel about three old friends searching for an elusive necklace as a way out of their quarter-life crisis, yet unable to share...

This week, movie trailers lost their way when someone advocated boycotting Star Wars VII because they believe the trailer advocated white genocide. Why? Because a black man, a woman and a Latino were prominently featured in the trailer to the detriment of you guessed it, white men. What does this say about the level of diversity in science fiction fans? Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate...

Humans are used to being the predator, not the prey. But when it comes to our relationship with bed bugs - well, these little critters have been making a meal of us for thousands of years. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

More than a decade after his death, Arthur Miller’s plays continue to resonate with readers and audiences across the world. This October marks his 100th birthday, and theaters from Los Angeles to London are staging Miller productions in celebration of his centennial.   Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jonathan Franzen has become that rare American author whose life and moods and sulks make news. From his friendship with David Foster Wallace to his fractious encounter with Oprah Winfrey, Franzen may have become America’s most visible intellectual. All that puts a lot of pressure on Purity , his newest novel. We’re experimenting on the show with a new book club format, asking three Connecticut li...

Bob Woodward thought he knew everything about Watergate. Then Alexander Butterfield, now in his late 80's, told him there were other stories never spoken of. Woodward focuses on these stories in his latest book on the Watergate scandal called  The Last of the President's Men . This hour, we hear from the legendary Washington Post journalist. Also, the Wesleyan Argus  faces an uncertain f...

This past week brought us the long-awaited first of six Democratic candidate debates, held at the Wynn Casino in Las Vegas. The tone was substantive, exposing a few stark differences between the candidates and their Republican opponents. They offered nuanced and complex views -- overall, a good night for voters who want to know the candidates.  Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See...

Three years ago, Hurricane Sandy hit the shores of Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey, killing 71 people and causing damages worth $50 billion. We suffer from a kind of amnesia: we know it happened, but we hesitate to change much about the way we prepare for future events. New York invested nearly $20 billion in new protective measures, simultaneously allowing 900 new housing units to be constr...

There's a debate over whether college should prepare kids with specific skills that will prepare them for jobs, or give them a wide-ranging but more general liberal arts education.  Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I could have called myself a Stradivarius, for though I, of course, was just an ordinary violin, waiting, ready to be held for the first time in a musician’s hands, primed to be played, mobilized by all my busy genes to become music – when first I felt the quiver of its stirring sound, I became, imparadised, the most priceless stringed instrument on the face of the earth.  Support the show: h...