With Good Reason

When urban universities expand, working-class neighborhoods are often the first casualty. We take a look Lambert's Point, the Norfolk, VA community displaced Old Dominion University. From With Good Reason, the Short Listen combines compelling interviews with short-form storytelling to bring you the best of each week's episode in about five minutes.

Immigration is a hot topic -- so this week, we're returning to a series of interviews on the immigrant experience in America, from one Cuban exile's love of American TV to a farmer's journey along 2,000 miles of the Mexican border.

Taking a step back from the debates on immigration, we look at the evolution of one of America's first nations: The Cherokee Nation. Today, the Cherokee Nation is the third largest Native American tribe in the United States, with an enormous population of Americans claiming Cherokee ancestry. From With Good Reason, the Short Listen combines compelling interviews and short-form storytelling to bring you the best of each week's episode in about five minutes.

America is hooked on opioids — by one count, there are currently more opioid prescriptions than people in the southeastern United States. This week, we we’re taking a deep dive into the causes of the opioid crisis. We speak to the author of Dreamland, Sam Quinones, on how communities have been torn apart by addiction. We hear from a surgeon and father who lost his son to opioid addiction. And we tackle the latest research on how opioid dependency is affecting so many Americans.

America is facing a opioids crisis of epic proportions. In the southeastern United States, there are more opioid prescriptions than there are people -- and it's having lethal effects. Now, a new study has shown that the path to opioid abuse can begin even before you're conscious -- on the operating table. From With Good Reason, the Short Listen combines compelling interviews and short-form storytelling to bring you the best of each week's episode in under five minutes.

"Music has always moved movements." This is how Arthur Romano puts it on this week's show. He would know -- he trains musicians on navigating the complexities of representing hip-hop abroad on behalf of the US government. He's not the only one who wrestles with the politics of music. We also speak to Noel Lobley, who's project to remix historical recordings of African musicians tries to reverse the legacy of the colonial archive.

An ethnomusicologist's discovery brought unexpected life to 80-year-old recordings of traditional African music. From With Good Reason, The Short Listen combines compelling interviews and short-form storytelling to bring you the best of each week's episode in under five minutes.

Kiki Petrosino is afraid when she gets behind the wheel -- afraid that she will be killed by police in a routine traffic stop. In "Letter beginning, 'If My Body is a Text'", she tries to express this fear of being misunderstood by white authorities. This week, we speak with Petrosino about her work, and continue our series on remarkable, untold stories from black history -- this time, in the world of sports. Plus, we talk to a scholar who is mapping the history of the KKK -- despite descendants' efforts to erase records -- and trace the origin of revolutionary thinking.

Before Jackie Robinson, there were the Negro Leagues -- home to some of the greatest untold stories in baseball. From With Good Reason, The Short Listen combines compelling interviews and short-form storytelling to bring you the best of each week's episode in under five minutes.

This week, we honor Black History Month by exploring some unbelievable stories from African-American history. We also look at some new work that has had profound success in helping African-American college students make it to graduation.

Joseph Roane was out of work. Then Stalin came knocking to offer him a job. From With Good Reason, the Short Listen combines compelling interviews with short-form storytelling to bring the best of each week's episode in around five minutes.

Under the indignity of the Jim Crow South, some truly remarkable stories were born. This week, we speak with the authors who chronicled two true stories of African-American resistance that have now become Oscar-nominated movies: Margot Lee Shetterly, whose book Hidden Figures documents the tale of the African-American women who put a man on the moon; and Peter Wallenstein, who tells the story of Richard and Mildred Loving, the couple who struck down bans on interracial marriage. Plus, producer Kelley Libby talks with the voice of NPR about their different experiences of growing up in the South.

When NASA wanted to put a man on the moon, they naturally turned to the brightest -- and whitest. That is, until the brilliant Katherine Johnson demanded a role. This week on the Short Listen, we hear from the author who broke the story of the NASA women and African-American engineers that became the Oscar-nominated movie, Hidden Figures.

This week's show is for the bibliophiles. We take a deeper dive into the unusual story of Ferdinand, the pacifist bull who terrified dictators and earned a rebuke from Ernest Hemingway (he never liked bulls much anyway). Then we poke around the margins of old library books and discover the forgotten stories of mourning mothers and licentious lovers. Plus we talk with authors and educators exploring new worlds with literature.

You know the expression “Like a bull in a china shop”? Well, that phrase came to mind while we were working on our show this week -- and not because any of us were more clumsy than usual in the studios. It's because we’ve been talking about the children’s book “The Story of Ferdinand”, the classic children’s book with a bright red cover, about the little bull who just wants to smell flowers. It was published in 1936, at the dawn of the Spanish Civil War. And almost immediately, it was a success. But this nice little story about a sweet-hearted bull wasn't just for kids. It managed to upset the likes of Franco, Mussolini, and Hitler. Here's why. From With Good Reason, the Short Listen combines compelling interviews with short-form storytelling to bring the best of each week's episode in around five minutes.