Midday on WNYC

Journalist Will Doig discusses his new book, High-Speed Empire: Chinese Expansion and the Future of Southeast Asia. Today, China owns a network of 14,000 miles of high-speed rail, far more than the rest of the world combined, and it is now pushing its railway expansion further into Southeast Asia. The Pan-Asia Railway portion of China’s One Belt One Road initiative could transform Southeast Asia, bringing shiny Chinese cities, new economic growth, and waves of migrants where none existed before. But this growth may have negative consequences for some countries. This segment is guest hosted by Arun Venugopal.

The Families Belong Together Coalition, comprised of a diverse network of organizations, recently led a 30,000 person protest in NYC against the separation of families at the border. The coalition is assisting in reuniting immigrant children and parents around the country. Jessica Morales Rocketto, the political director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance and Anu Joshi, immigration policy director at the The New York Immigration Coalition discuss how the coalition was formed, the significance of it being led by women of color, and aspirations for the coalition this year. This segment is guest hosted by Arun Venugopal.    

Lindy Lou Isonhood discusses the story behind the documentary for which she is the subject, Lindy Lou, Juror Number 2, which premieres on July 16 on PBS at 10 pm. For 20 years, Lindy Isonhood has lived with an unbearable feeling of guilt -- she sat on a jury that handed down the death penalty to a Mississippi man convicted of a double homicide. When Bobby Wilcher was executed in 2006, Lindy had been his only visitor in 15 years. The film charts her journey of tracking down her fellow jurors and of coming to terms with her own role in Wilcher’s life trajectory. This segment is guest hosted by Arun Venugopal.

Amy Littlefield and Tina Vasquez discuss their recent piece for Rewire News titled, “Bethany Christian Services Is Fostering Migrant Kids. It Also Has a History of Coercive Adoptions.” The article focuses on the children being separated by the Trump administration from their families. Some of them are going to homes run by Bethany Christian, “a religious adoption agency with a troubling record.”  This segment is guest hosted by Arun Venugopal. 

Robin de Jesús, Charlie Carver and Tuc Watkins discuss starring in the new production Boys in the Band, which focuses on a group of gay men who gather in a New York City apartment for a friend’s birthday party. The evening slowly exposes the fault lines beneath their friendships and the heartache that threatens their solidarity. When it first opened in 1968, this production helped spark a creative revolution by putting gay men’s lives onstage unapologetically and earnestly. Boys in the Band is running through August 11.  This segment is guest hosted by Nancy Giles.    

Tony-award winning artistic director and director John Doyle discuss the new production of Carmen Jones. This Classic Stage Company production features a book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and music by Georges Bizet. Based on the canonical opera Carmen, this is the first major New York revival of the musical since its Broadway debut 75 years ago. This segment is guest hosted by Nancy Giles.

Richard E. Cytowic MD will join us for a 'Please Explain' on synesthesia. One in twenty-three people carry the genes for the synesthesia. This neurological trait vividly creates cross-sensory couplings. A synesthete might hear a voice and at the same time see it as a color or shape, taste its distinctive flavor, or feel it as a physical touch. Cytowic will tell stories from his book,  Synesthesia, and answer all your questions. This segment is guest hosted by Nancy Giles.

Lynda La Plante discusses her recent book Widows, which is also the basis for Steve McQueen’s upcoming film. When their husbands are killed in a security van heist that goes disastrously wrong, the women in La Plante’s novel decide to carry out the robbery themselves. On July 13 Lynda La Plante will be appearing at Thrillerfest.  This segment is guest hosted by Nancy Giles.

Ryan Gallagher and Henrik Moltke  discuss their new piece in The Intercept titled, “The Wiretap Rooms: The NSA’s Hidden Spy Hubs in Eight U.S. Cities,” which looks at how AT&T has offered its buildings and facilities to the NSA. The evidence “indicates that the buildings are central to an NSA spying initiative that has for years monitored billions of emails, phone calls, and online chats passing across U.S. territory.” This segment is guest hosted by Jenna Flanagan.   An AT&T building at 811 10th Avenue, NYC, that currently houses the NSA (Steven Day / The Intercept)   The fortress-like building AT&T building in NYC that houses the NSA (Courtesy of The Intercept)  

Award-winning documentary filmmaker Jonathan Hacker and Jesse Morton a former jihadist and founder of Parallel Networks, an organization dedicated to countering violent extremism discuss Hacker’s new documentary, Path of Blood. Based on his acclaimed book of the same title, the film offers an intimate perspective on terrorism using a trove of Al-Qaeda home-movie footage captured by the security services and shows how idealism and youth and can be used to create violent extremism. The film opens on July 13 at the IFC Center. On July 13 and July 14, Jonathan Hacker will be at a Q&A at IFC Center at 7 pm.  On July 20 Path of Blood will be showing at Laemmle's Music Hall in Los Angeles, with a national release to follow.  This segment is guest host Jenna Flanagan.     

Admission to New York City’s specialized high schools have always depended on single test, but all that may change as the de Blasio administration works to implement policy that would designate a number of spots in specialized high schools to black and Latino students from under-resourced schools around the city. This plan is receiving pushback from the Asian-American community who believe the current merit-based system is effective. WNYC education reporter Beenish Ahmed and New York Times and Tablet Magazine writer Wesley Yang, who covers Asian-American affairs, discuss the administration's plan and the criticism it has received. This segment is guest hosted by Jenna Flanagan.

Filmmaker Lisa Immordino Vreeland discusses her new documentary LOVE, CECIL. Cecil Beaton was a photographer, writer and painter who also designed sets and costumes for Oscar-winning films such as My Fair Lady and Gigi. Vreeland shows how Beaton intersected multiple worlds from British royalty to fashion to Hollywood. LOVE, CECIL is playing at Film Society Lincoln Center-Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center. On July 13 it will open in Cinema Village. July 14 & 15 it will screen at Nitehawk Cinema in Brooklyn. Full release schedule at Zeitgeist Films. This segment is guest hosted by Jenna Flanagan.

Jon Meacham talks about his book The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels. The title derives from what Abraham Lincoln called the “better angels of our nature,” who Meacham argues have have repeatedly won out during tense ideological junctures in US history. Painting surprising portraits of Lincoln and other presidents and illuminating the courage of influential citizen activists, Meacham brings to life turning points in American history and offers an optimistic take on these historic moments of strife. This segment is guest hosted by Arun Venugopal.

Mother Jones senior reporter Tim Murphy tells the story of the housing crisis in Cairo, Illinois, and how the city has been affected by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and its secretary, Ben Carson’s, crusade against fair housing. Murphy dives deep into the consequences of Carson’s reign at HUD, a department lacking the staff and the will to carry out its mission. With HUD failing to ensure fair and equal housing, the public housing situation in America is now going from bad to worse, and cities like Cairo are forced to pay the price. This segment is guest hosted by Arun Venugopal.

Paul Greenberg discusses his book The Omega Principle: Seafood and the Quest for a Long Life and a Healthier Planet. Omega-3 fatty acids have long been celebrated by doctors and dietitians as key to a healthy heart and a sharper brain, and they are now a multi-billion dollar business--even as recent medical studies caution that the promise of omega-3s may not be what it first appeared. A closer look at the omega-3 sensation reveals a troubling side effect to this health craze: the miracle pill is the latest product of the reduction industry, a vast, global endeavor that, over the last century, has boiled down trillions of pounds of marine life into animal feed, fertilizer, margarine, and dietary supplements. Greenberg looks at how the creatures that are the victims of this industry are essential to the survival of whales, penguins, and fish of all kinds. On July 11 Paul Greenberg will be at McNally Jackson at 7:00 pm (52 Prince Street, NY, NY 10012) This segment is guest hosted by Arun Venugopal.