With Good Reason

Today’s teens--Generation Z--are making headlines for their politics and their protests. The YA books that speak to them have followed suit. Lisa Koch shares three of her favorite recent young adult books that are speaking to a wider world of culture and politics. And: Old school guidance counselors sit behind their desks, giving one-on-one sessions that can feel like pulling teeth for moody kids....

Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and How to Get Away with Murder aren’t just popular tv shows--they’re also groundbreaking. Michaela Meyer says Shonda Rhimes has changed the way we make and watch TV. Also: Imelda O’Reilly published her first poem when she was just seven years old. Now a filmmaker, her short film Eggs and Soldiers examines a single father and son struggling to adjust to life in New York af...

David Coogan is the editor of “Writing Our Way Out” written by former jail inmates, exploring the conditions, traps and turning points on their paths to imprisonment, as well as the redemptive power of writing. Jazz musician Antonio Garcia composed a musical piece “Open Minds: Music that Mends,” that reflects the book’s themes of social justice, healing, self-reflection and redemption. Music perfo...

What do the mythological Chimera and motherhood have in common? In her work, poet Julie Phillips Brown dissects this and other biological queries, cleverly unveiling what makes us distinctly and undoubtedly human. And: Playwright Ivan Rodden focuses on the stories of refugees in his plays On Arriving and Lost Sock Laundry. He aims to dispel the mystique surrounding the refugee crisis, painting int...

What can we learn about climate change from literary figures like Walt Whitman or Cormac McCarthy? Greg Wrenn says it’s a lot more than you might think. He teaches a fascinating class that fuses both creative writing and the natural environment. And: Nick Balascio has journeyed to the far reaches of the planet, collecting lake sediments that offer clues into environmental change over thousands of...

We often think of cemeteries as separate worlds unto themselves. But those buried at Confederate graveyards were surely connected to those at the African burial grounds, and the cemetery reveals the intimacy of their connections. Ryan Smith says he and his students have been transformed by tending to cemeteries over the past 20 years. And: After Pearl Harbor, the United States Navy needed land for...

Although it was once an important part of feeding families, home canning in America has never been just about necessity. Danille Christensen says a look back at home canning reveals the pride and creativity that went into stocking a pantry. And: Lilia Fuquen takes us inside a community cannery and a basement storeroom to hear from people who are keeping the tradition alive. Later in the show: Two...

In 1970, Philicia Jefferson was forced to integrate into all-white, E.C. Glass High School in Lynchburg, Virginia. 40 years later, she finally attended her first class reunion. She says it was a profoundly healing experience. Plus: As a teenager, Owen Cardwell made history as one of the first Black students to attend E.C. Glass High School. Today, he continues to work on improving equity in public...

Parents spend a lot of time delegating. No, you can’t have the hot fries and ice cream for dinner. Yes, please, have some more kale. Andria Timmer takes us to the dinner tables of “natural parents,” who left city life behind to bring the kids closer to their food source. Plus: For decades images of Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben -- the “happy” enslaved cooks--adorned boxes of rice, bottles of syrup and...

Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency marked the beginning of United States imperialism. Matt Oyos explains how Roosevelt modernized the military to bolster America’s international presence. Also: Arthur Schlesinger Jr. was the foremost presidential historian of the 20th century. Over the course of his career, he won two Pulitzer prizes and was a close friend and advisor to former president, John F. Ken...

If you think poll taxes and literacy tests are voting barriers of the past, think again. Gilda Daniels’ new book Uncounted: Voter Suppression in the United States explores how updated versions of these barriers--like voter ID laws and misinformation--are undermining our democracy. Later in the show: This election has a lot of people worried about voting--how to do it and how to make it count. Jenn...

As the world waits for a coronavirus cure, attention is focused on vaccines. Steven Zeichner cautions against prematurely approving a vaccine that later has significant safety concerns. Plus: With colder temperatures, how risky is it to dine indoors again? Linsey Marr says plenty risky. The tiny aerosols are like cigarette smoke and can pose a risk to anyone in the room. Also: For the estimated 7...

Bars, nightclubs, dance, and music have long held a special place in LGBTQ culture. But even as shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race and Pose bring that culture into the mainstream, real-life gay bars and clubs are shuttering. DJ and Professor Madison Moore argues that the club scene and the “fabulous” fashions on display there are radical spaces for queer and trans of color togetherness. Gregory Samanth...

Atin Basu and his colleague’s Hotspot Predictors placed America high on the conflict predictor index for 2019. Sure enough, in 2020, we’ve seen hundreds of thousands of people marching in the streets, guns flying off of the shelves and police and military using weapons against civilians. And there are 3 months left in the year. Can Predicting Hotspots help us see ahead to 2021? Christie Jones was...

In 1908, the U.S.S. Albatross set off on a research expedition to the newly acquired U.S. colony of the Philippines. Today, Kent Carpenter is studying the more than 80,000 fish samples collected by the Albatross to uncover how overfishing is actually changing fish genetics. Carpenter has been named an Outstanding Faculty member by The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. And: The Chukar...

100 years ago women gained the right to vote with the 19th amendment. Professors Amanda Nelson and Molly Hood set the stage, and their students are bringing suffragettes to live in the digital, interactive theatre collaborative “Performing History: Women and the Vote.” Later in the show: At the same time that the 19th amendment passed, lynchings increased in the South. Khadijah Miller highlights h...

Everyone remembers things differently. With Good Reason takes you from D.C. to Poland and Jerusalem to show the different ways museums are commemorating the Holocaust.

Turns out the pandemic is the ideal time for workplaces to build better systems for getting women into positions of power.

Vic Sizemore was an evangelical for much of his life - until he wasn’t. His book, Goodbye My Tribe: An Evangelical Exodus, chronicles his journey away from fundamentalist religion. And: We’ve all heard about the Evangelical Right, but what about the lesser-known Evangelical Left? David Kirkpatrick traces the Latin American roots of the Evangelical Left movement. Later in the Show: The pandemic has...

Homelessness is an unfortunate reality for many military veterans. Jimmie Fedrick says having a support system and an active social life can be key to turning their lives around. And: Loneliness is more than just a horrible feeling. Studies show that it can actually have adverse health effects. Pam Parsons founded the Richmond Health and Wellness Program, which helps reduce social isolation among...

Universities will never be the same. Donna Henry sent all students, staff and faculty home with an iPad last fall. She says now those iPads are keeping the university operational. Also: When COVID-19 made the Spring semester digital, John Broome made a Facebook group for professors to support each other that quickly went viral. 30-thousand professors are using it to get ready for the Fall semester...

A traveling exhibit called New Virginians: 1619-2019 & Beyond from The Library of Virginia in Richmond features oral histories and photographs recorded by Pat Jarrett. People share their personal stories of how they journeyed from Central and South America, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Republics to make Virginia their new home. David Bearinger discusses the complexity of th...

Sammy was just a month old when he started experiencing symptoms of heart failure. Dr. Mark Roeser helped perform the groundbreaking surgery that saved the boy’s life. And: Burnout is especially prevalent in the medical field. And Dr. Mark Greenawald should know, he felt its devastating effects after a patient of his died tragically while giving birth. Earlier this year, he created PeerRxMed to he...

At the confluence of the James and Rivana Rivers in Virginia sits a Monacan site. Monacan Chief Kenneth Branham walks us through the site of what was once the village of Rassawek, the epicenter of Monacan life before the Europeans arrived. And: Martin Gallivan, author of James River Chiefdoms and Jeffery L. Hantman, author of Monacan Millennium, say there is no doubt that Rassawek is the site of t...

After months at home, your streaming watchlists are probably exhausted. With Good Reason is here to the rescue! We’re bringing you summer streaming recommendations from scholars and artists. Myles McNutt charts Netflix’s rise to video streaming juggernaut and recommends a miniseries on the systemic failures in sexual assault investigations. And: Yossera Bouchtia suggests two TV shows grappling wit...