Under the Radar with Callie Crossley

This week on  Under the Radar: The new Huntington Theatre Company play “Our Daughters, Like Pillars” has all the signature touches of local playwright Kirsten Greenidge. It’s set in New England, it’s a story about a Black family where issues of race and gender are a part of the main characters’ reality and humor is a part of the storytelling. For “Our Daughters, Like Pillars” Greenidge also adds a...

This week on  Under the Radar : Lexington, Mass. — the “birthplace of American liberty” — did not guarantee liberty and justice for all. A new initiative by the Lexington Historical Society has uncovered more details about slavery’s presence in colonial Lexington. For the first time, the society will have materials that include the new research this Patriots’ Day. The goal is for visitors to under...

This week on  Under the Radar with Callie Crossley : Earth Day is right around the corner. But we’re far from putting Mother Earth first, according to the latest U.N. climate change report. Plus, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has okayed 20 all-electric public school buses. Will a proposed new state Senate bill guarantee a whole fleet of electric MBTA buses? And environmentalists are getting pumped up o...

This week on  Under the Radar: It’s undeniable — poetry is having a moment. So we’re revisiting one of our favorite conversations about the craft from back in 2019. Many attribute the growing popularity to social media, poetry outreach efforts and visibility from superstars like Beyoncé, who read poems by Warsan Shire on her visual album "Lemonade." So what is it about the art of putting motion to...

This week on  Under the Radar: We’re marking this National Poetry Month by taking a look at our  next generation of local poets . Who are the young writers and lyrical wordsmiths shaping the newest wave of poetry? And what about Massachusetts’ poetry scene, which is rapidly expanding across the state? GUESTS: Anjalequa Leynneyah Verona Birkett , Boston’s 2022 Youth Poet Laureate. Adael Francisco-M...

This week on  Under The Radar : Nobody would have suspected that PopPop’s old, damaged fiddle would turn out to be a $10 million rare instrument. The coveted Stradivarius crafted by Italian masters ended up in America by way of the slave trade. That part of its history is intertwined with Rayquan Millian’s family to make the foundation of the story in  “The Violin Conspiracy.”  From the moment tha...

This week on  Under the Radar with Callie Crossley: The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world.  Two million people are in the nation’s prisons and jails.  According to The Sentencing Project, a research and advocacy center, that’s a  500% increase  over the last 40 years at an annual cost of $80 billion. That reality has helped drive a movement for criminal justice reform w...

This week on  Under the Radar with Callie Crossley: Banksy, the British artist who has stayed out of public view since the 1990s, is arguably the most famous and lucrative street artist in the world. A selection of his work is now on display in Cambridge as part of a traveling exhibition called “The Art of Banksy.” Exhibitors independently sourced more than 100 pieces of Banksy's outdoor and indoo...

Toni Morrison — the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature — was the author of 11 novels. Her first was “The Bluest Eye,” published in 1970. Morrison died at the age of 88 in 2019. Her works, which deeply describe and embody the Black experience, have always been met with critical and commercial success. But they’ve taken on a renewed significance during our country’s cu...

Bad entrepreneurs abound on new streaming series like “The Dropout,” “WeCrashed” and “Super Pumped," feeding into our culture's fascination with doomed CEOs. Plus, our stir-crazy age seeks escapism in dark, twisted shows like the workplace thriller “Severance,” the high school drama “Euphoria,” and a slew of horror series. And Pixar’s animated “Turning Red” is led by Oscar winner Domee Shi, the fi...

This week on  Under the Radar with Callie Crossley : Florida’s newly passed “Don’t Say Gay” law is part of the rise of anti-LGBTQ legislation across the country. Plus, Massachusetts was the first state to legally recognize same-sex marriage. But it’s now the only New England state that hasn’t updated a law to give clear legal protections for LGBTQ parents. And Catwoman returns to the big screen in...

This week on  Under the Radar with Callie Crossley: Just 40 percent of transgender people are "out" to all of their healthcare providers, according to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey by the National Center for Transgender Equality. Many trans patients delay healthcare out of fear that their medical needs won't be met or respected. In Western Massachusetts, one rural clinic is providing healthcare...

This week on  Under the Radar with Callie Crossley: American lobsters could soon be “red-listed,” with consumers and restaurants banned from purchasing the crustacean. Plus, is the multi-billion-dollar sale of Rhode Island’s National Grid dead? And, New Hampshire’s House of Representatives will start to meet in person again this month, despite pleas from immunocompromised Democratic colleagues. Th...

This week on  Under the Radar with Callie Crossley : Few would argue that the multibillion-dollar fitness industry is driven by millions of American women who regularly run, box, climb, swim, cycle or otherwise sweat their way to good health and strength. But most of us would be surprised to know that daily exercise for women was a major cultural shift in the 20th century. Or that it took the pers...

This week on  Under the Radar with Callie Crossley : President Joe Biden flexes his foreign policy skills, imposing sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine. Could this boost Biden’s popularity? Plus, a review of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s first 100 days in office. And pot dispensary owners are inviting Massachusetts gubernatorial candidates inside for an up-close look at the business. It's a...

This week on  Under the Radar with Callie Crossley : Grateful for COVID-19 vaccines? You should be thanking a creature that has nine eyes and blue blood. No, it’s not a monster — it’s a horseshoe crab. Their special blood has created a multimillion dollar industry in pharmaceuticals. And they’re to thank, in part, for the development of the COVID-19 vaccine. But these “living fossils” are now thre...

This week on  Under the Radar with Callie Crossley : You’ve probably heard about the recent federal report estimating up to a foot of sea level rise by 2050, creating dangerous coastal flooding. Too much doom and gloom? Well, there’s a cohort of young activists using social media to inspire climate action. Plus, green transportation gets a boost in Massachusetts, with three free bus lanes in Bosto...

This week on our Local News Roundtable of  Under the Radar : Massachusetts is  ending its school mask mandate  after February vacation. Governor Baker's announcement comes after a growing number of Bay State cities have eased their restrictions and was met by anti-vax protestors. Plus, more protests over plans to  close Tufts Children’s Hospital . And the City of Boston has expanded its protected...

This is a special encore segment of Under the Radar. This originally published on August 6, 2021. Feeling the love? This year, people are toasting their sweethearts not with champagne or beer, but with rosé. Rosé producers are meeting the increased consumer demand with new styles — exciting wine lovers and making enthusiasts out of wine drinkers who declared they’d never go pink. Guest: Jonathon A...

This week on  Under the Radar with Callie Crossley : Many more Latinos are running for office and winning. But they still make up  less than 2%  of all elected officials in the country. Plus, most food delivery workers in New York City are Latino. They’re organizing to demand better wages and working conditions. And fans of Disney’s animated musical "Encanto" are praising the film for its multirac...

CBD: three small letters behind a billion-dollar industry. CBD, short for cannabidiol, is a compound from the cannabis plant that does not produce a high. People can consume it, vape it or apply it to their skin. Manufacturers are putting CBD in everything from lattes to lotions. Proponents say that CBD helps manage many health conditions, especially pain and anxiety. But many researchers insist t...

This week on  Under the Radar with Callie Crossley: Four years ago, a movie called  Crazy Rich Asians  made waves in Hollywood. The award-winning film was a modern love story featuring an entirely Asian and Asian American cast — the first major Hollywood production with an all-Asian cast since  The Joy Luck Club  in 1993. The movie signaled a major step forward in the film industry. What originall...

This week on  Under the Radar with Callie Crossley : Voters will elect at least  three new district attorneys in Massachusetts  this year. Whoever wins will determine how nonviolent crimes are handled, and influence long-term criminal justice reform. Plus, the doomed voting rights bills have sunk on President Biden’s watch. Does this set the tone for his second year in office? And Massachusetts’ s...

Today on  Under The Radar: A special exhibit at the  Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston  showcases the work of three local artists. They are the 2021 winners of the  James and Audrey Foster Prize . The biennial exhibition is key to the ICA’s efforts to support local artists. The Foster Prize, which has been around for more than two decades, helps highlight the winner's artistry with specially c...

This week on  Under the Radar : As we approach Martin Luther King Jr. Day, there's new evidence that the civil rights icon’s life and the civil rights movement have been willfully misinterpreted. This is part of what’s become a public battle over teaching the documented history of race in America. What is the impact of this campaign of disinformation on civil rights and race history in America? Gu...