This Conversation

Democrat Cindy Green is running for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates in the Nov. 4 election. She is challenging Republican Delegate Israel O'Quinn who has held the seat since 2011. Topics include campaign financing, issues related to potential cuts to Medicaid, Virginia's Clean Energy Requirement Act that requires 100% clean energy in the state by 2050, Green's view on proposed Virginia C...

Haile Ferrier spent her early years in Emory, Virginia, home of WEHC-FM and This Conversation. Host of the show Teresa Keller goes into groupie/biggest fan mode in the conversation with Haile Ferrier. Haile reviews her time in Emory and her early theatre experiences with Barter Theatre. She traces her short and VERY successful career from Elon University through a role in the national Broadway tou...

Dr. Rob Jones has just returned from Sri Lanka where he was doing battle with a mountain of plastic on the beach of the Indian Ocean. Hear about his organization Parley Oceans Plastic. What are his signs of hope in conquering the plastic problem? Mentioned in this episode: WEHC 90.7 FM is the Voice of Southwest Virginia. Stay tuned, connected, informed and entertained. This is listener supported r...

Luke Groom came to Emory & Henry from a small town in East Tennessee. He played football and he sang in the choir. In this interview, you'll hear the story of his pathway to New York and Broadway world tours and his recent months in Thailand. Another fascinating success story from Emory & Henry graduates. And Luke is big-time fun to talk to!! Mentioned in this episode: WEHC 90.7 FM is the...

A special group of actors is presenting a one-time reading of the 1937 play "It Can't Happen Here" at the Martha Washington Inn in Abingdon on Saturday, September 13 at 6:00. The play developed from Sinclair Lewis's 1935 book of the same name, is described as a cautionary tale about the fragility of democracy and potential for fascism. The book describes a president who develops a military that ar...

I interviewed "Dalton" many years ago. "Dalton" was a name we used to disguise his real identity. He had been one of my students as a female and was undergoing a gender reassignment to be a male when we talked. "Dalton" recently died, which caused me to find the old interview and listen to it once again. Being transgender has become a topic that is currently a political lightning bolt with fierce,...

  We talk with Thomas Jefferson. What are his thoughts about writing the Declaration of Independence? How can he justify the contradiction in his commitment to individual rights while simultaneously owning slaves? You'll be amazed at how the issues in Jefferson's time mirror current philosophical perspectives on the role of government. And in the latter part of the interview, we meet Kurt Smi...

Former WCYB news anchor Julie Newman now runs PBS Appalachia, an all digital television station, operating from inside Hard Rock Bristol.  After winning the highest honors for the station and leadership, she now faces the challenge of lost funding for PBS from the government.  What is the mission of the station and why is it important?   What is the path forward? Mentioned in t...

David and Jill Dalton live in the William King House in Abingdon. They've restored it and they're sharing it because of its significant history. In fact, the house now hosts a permanent Virginia Historic marker because William Clark -- of Lewis and Clark fame-- spent the night there. And William King was the richest man in the region at the time he built this first brick house -- WITH running wate...

Through a renowned re-enactor, "Thomas Jefferson" will be making several presentations at the popular Virginia Highlands Festival in Abingdon July 25 through August 3, 2025. Guest Walter Jenny will describe several events that focus on important historical connections to Southwest Virginia. He'll explain why Thomas Jefferson proclaimed that the Battle of Kings Mountain was the turning point in the...

Dr. Julia Adeney Thomas, a professor of History at Notre Dame, is part of a group that is working to rename the current epoch in the history of the earth to "Anthropocene." The "anthro" label suggests that the literal structure of the earth and its biosphere have been changed by human behaviors. The proposition for the new name comes with objections. How did Dr. Thomas, born in Abingdon, Virginia,...

Emory & Henry University is now offering a Certification in Addiction Counseling in the School of Health Sciences Clinical Mental Health Counseling Department at the School of Health Sciences. Program Director Matthew Tirrell talks about the 12-credit post-Master's program and its requirements. He emphasizes the need for the program, both locally and nationally. Those who may be interested in...

This episode features a member of TAKE ACTION SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA, one of the organizers of the NO KINGS protest in Abingdon, Virginia on Saturday, June 14, 2025. Guest Lynn Manweiler works with the local protest group that claims attendance of 700 people in one of the more than 2,000 protests held nationwide on the same day.   We look at the issues causing  people to take ...

Blue Ridge Job Corps Admissions Manager Heather Goodpasture continues to defy instructions to keep quiet and provides updates on Department of Labor orders to shut down the Job Corps. The shut down is under a restraining order, due in part because of the public backlash, and is set for a hearing on June 17 in a federal court. The decision will affect nearly 100 Job Corps programs nationwide. This...

Heather Goodpasture, Admissions Manager of Marion, Virginia's Blue Ridge Job Corps has gotten notice that she is losing her job and that 90 students at the Job Corps will be turned out of their living quarters. Goodpasture is ignoring instructions not to speak to the media and wants people to know the benefits of the program to individual students and to the community. Mentioned in this episode: W...

IN 2023, Southwest Virginia author Barbara Kingsolver won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel Demon Copperhead. In this interview, you'll hear how the title character reflects the challenges of drug addiction in his family and in his own life. The boy is loveable and resilient with a grand dream to see the ocean. Barbara talks about how many of the region's challenges were pressed upon the area by ex...

Long-time U.S. resident Dr. Philip Farah is member of the Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace and was a speaker at the United Nations just before this interview aired on May 21, 2025. Farah is a Christian who has lived in the West Bank and who has relatives in Gaza who have been killed in the Israeli-Gaza War. His Palestinian parents were displaced from their home in the establishme...

Susan Lachman has been presenting the radio show "Women on Air" for 38 years. In this interview, she details the first idea of the show and talks about its growth, leading to its current airing of five hours per week. The show can be heard on WEHC-FM, 90.7 and WISE-FM, 90.5 on Wednesdays at 3:00 and Fridays on 6:00 in Southwest Virginia. On WETS-FM, 89.5 in Johnson City, TN, the show airs on Satur...

Emory & Henry History Professor is leaving his position to start a new life in Egypt. Why? We'll find out in this episode of This Conversation. Mentioned in this episode: WEHC 90.7 FM is the Voice of Southwest Virginia. Stay tuned, connected, informed and entertained. This is listener supported radio. www.wehcfm.com

The news producer does not show up in front of the camera, but does have great power of the newscast: what stories are covered... the order they appear...the graphics... the use of video...what the anchors say...and the way reporters approach the story they're covering. News Producer Aaron Taylor works for CBS affiliate WJHL-TV in Johnson City and shares insights into the busy, behind-the-scene wo...

This week's conversation is a lively conversation with Monica Hoel -- an Emory & Henry legend who is retiring after 40 years as a staff member at the University. Until April 30, Monica is the Alumni Director. She has hosted her radio show, The Duckpond Wall for many years. She reviews some of the highlights of her career and of her radio show. Mentioned in this episode: WEHC 90....

Olivia Bailey on combatting crime, drugs, and Medicaid abuse as Community Liaison in Southwest Virginia for Virginia's Attorney General Jason Miyares. Bailey is able to work with programs that reduce crime, assist victims of Medicaid Fraud, and focus on drug problems, such as the "One Pill Can Kill" program that addresses the dangers of fentanyl. Olivia reviews her time as an Emory & Henr...

Dr. Lou Fincher is the first president of Emory & Henry University, moved into the position from her Interim President status in March 2025. https://www.emoryhenry.edu/live/news/3845-emory-henry-university-selects-career-educator Mentioned in this episode: WEHC 90.7 FM is the Voice of Southwest Virginia. Stay tuned, connected, informed and entertained. This is listener supported radio. www.weh...

In this episode, we talk to international opera star Mike Austin who is coming to Emory with his opera star son Justin for a concert on April 12, 2025 at the McGlothlin Center for the Arts at 7:00 p.m. Austin is an Emory & Henry graduate and was the first African American to perform the lead opera role of Otello in the United States and has performed the role all over the world. In T...

This interview concludes a four-part series on free press.  PART IV A First Amendment lawyer details the scope of the liberties we have, including those that scare us.   Gabe Rottman works with the First Amendment Clinic in The School of Law at the University of Virginia. He also serves as an officer in the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which offers 24-hour support t...