With Good Reason

In Japan, insects are pets, medicine, and even vehicles for spirits. Mary Knighton (Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, William & Mary) researches Japan’s special relationship with insects. And: One of the most unpopular insects in the U.S. is the tick, which can be a carrier of Lyme disease. David Livingston, Jay Sullivan, and Jim Squire (Virginia Military Institute) have invented a tick-removal robot that rolls over a lawn, attracting and killing these unwanted insects. Tick expert Holly Gaff (Old Dominion University) has tested the “tick rover” with surprising results. Plus: Between errands and dishes and kids, it sometimes feels like there aren’t enough hours in the day. Luisa Igloria (Old Dominion University) has managed to make time to write one poem every day—for 1,270 days! Later in the show: Poetry has long been used to celebrate love and family, but it has also always documented the dark times in human life. Bob Hicok (Virginia Tech) worked for 20 years in the automotive industry. His poems explore the lives of family and friends coping with economic devastation in Michigan. Also: Many scholars have believed that nonsense literature in the vein of Lewis Carroll or Edward Gorey is a strictly English language innovation. But Kevin Shortsleeve’s (Christopher Newport University) book documents nonsense literature from all over the world. And: Lisa Russ Spaar (University of Virginia) explores how a familiar place changes through time in her poem Empty Nest.

The tempestuous relationship between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton captured the world’s attention in a way no other Hollywood couple’s had before. The public and press couldn’t get enough of their volatile romance. Nancy Schoenberger (College of William and Mary) is the co-author of Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century. Also featured: If anyone’s qualified to write a satire about football, it’s Inman Majors (James Madison University). He comes from a family known as “Tennessee’s First Family of Football.” His novel Love’s Winning Plays is an affectionate tongue-in-cheek look at college football. And: Henrietta Lacks was a poor African American woman whose tumor cells were collected without her knowledge just before her death in 1951. Though these “HeLa” cells launched a multimillion-dollar biomedical industry, her family was never compensated. Henrietta’s son recently shared his family’s story at Norfolk State University. Later in the show: The aftermath of traumatic brain injury can devastate a couple, because the healthy partner must forge a relationship with someone who has changed dramatically and the injured partner must learn that they are indeed changed. Psychologists Jeffrey Kreutzer and Emilie Godwin (Virginia Commonwealth University) are among the few therapists in the country who are focused on developing marriage-counseling techniques tailored to couples coping with brain injuries. Plus: After a promising clinical trial using focused ultrasound as a treatment for people with essential tremor, Jeff Elias (University of Virginia) is a leader in the ground-breaking study using scalpel-free technology in reducing the tremor related to Parkinson’s disease. The FDA-approved trial is enrolling 30 subjects with Parkinson’s disease. Focused sound waves target a small area deep in the brain, replacing any need to cut into the skull.

The Gulf Stream current pushes water from the Americas to Europe and back with a force three hundred times more powerful than the Amazon River. Stan Ulanski (James Madison University) explains that the Gulf Stream was essential to the early exploration of the New World and continues to influence our climate, weather, environment, and shipping industry. And: Brian Payne reveals how gangs of fisherman in the 1800s argued and fought over fishing grounds even as they practiced a kind of early environmentalism. Later in the show: Where did African Americans in the south vacation during the Jim Crow era when facilities in many of the parks were segregated? New research by Brian Katen (Virginia Tech) is revealing a vital and widespread network of African American owned and developed recreational sites including parklands, amusement parks, mineral springs, and camps. Plus: From Jesse Dukes and Big Shed Media, the story of Dreamland, a swimming pool and dance hall in Roanoke, Virginia’s historic African-American neighborhood of Gainsboro. Built in the 1930′s, Dreamland was condemned and torn down in 1947 as a forerunner to drastic and damaging urban renewal in Gainsboro.

From Marian Anderson’s 1939 concert at the Lincoln Memorial to Marvin Gaye’s singing of the National Anthem at the NBA Finals, the theme of patriotism can be heard throughout African American music. Benjamin Ross offers selections from this rich musical heritage. Also: Published in 1946, The Street by Ann Petry was the first million-selling novel by an African American author. Keith Clark (George Mason University) says Petry deserves to be in the pantheon of other great American writers like James Baldwin or Toni Morrison. Later in the show: In 1862,Poet Walt Whitman went to Fredericksburg, Virginia, searching for his brother George who had been wounded in a Civil War battle. Mara Scanlon and Brady Earnhart (University of Mary Washington) say Whitman was so moved by the carnage he found that he worked as a nurse for the rest of the war. Also featured: 19th-century poet and author Edgar Allan Poe is still considered the master of the macabre. Jerome McGann (University of Virginia) says Poe, whose influence is probably unmatched by any American author, was more charming and humorous than his famous dark fiction suggests.

In central Mexico, the work of preparing elaborate meals for fiestas involves many women working together. Maria Elisa Christie (Virginia Tech), author of Kitchenspace: Women, Fiestas, and Everyday Life in Central Mexico, says this work gives women status in their communities, as well as a way to share traditions and beliefs with younger generations. And: Residents of northern China prize individualism, while southerners value their sense of community. Ph.D. student Thomas Talhelm (University of Virginia) has developed what he calls a “rice theory” to explain the cultural differences. Also: There’s no silver bullet for battling obesity, but Jamie Zoellner (Virginia Tech) believes that studying different communities and their specific food and exercise resources can help jumpstart a solution. Later in the show: Wilbur and Orville Wright won a place in history for unraveling the secrets of aviation, but their charismaticsister, Katharine Wright, deserves a lot of credit. Cindy Wilkey (University of Virginia College at Wise) says the brothers, who never married, were shy and reserved and Katharine devoted her life to running their home and business. Also featured: Stephen Watkins (University of Mary Washington) drew accolades for his first book about discriminatory hiring practices at Shoney’s national restaurant chain. His book, Down Sand Mountain, is a novel about coming of age in the south in the 1960s.

The way we manage all types of cancers of the blood is rapidly evolving. Dr. Michael Williams (University of Virginia), internationally known for his work in lymphoma, says expect much more conservative chemo and radiation and less toxic drugs with better outcomes and higher cures. Also featured: There has been a dramatic drop in the rate of heart bypass procedures performed in the U.S. over the last decade. Dr. Michael Ragosta (University of Virginia) says advances in medications and drug-coated stents have given rise to a hybrid approach to heart disease. Increasingly surgeons and interventional cardiologists are getting better results for patients by taking a team approach to each case. Later in the show: When John Thomas (University of Virginia) met his first wife, he knew she was “the one.” Sadly, she died of breast cancer. Then, after the trauma of losing her, something amazing happened. John fell in love again. But tragically, he learned the woman who would be his second wife was diagnosed with breast cancer too.John details his experience in a new book called My Saints Alive: Reflections on a Journey of Love, Loss, and Life. Also featured: About 12 percent of women develop breast cancer. But years of studies have shown that for female flight attendants, nurses, factory workers, and other frequent night shift workers, the risk of breast cancer is as high as 37 percent. Carla Finkelstein (Virginia Tech) believes that these high rates of breast cancer in night shift workers is due to a disruption in circadian rhythms. But she says there may be simple, cost-effective solutions to the problem

The way we manage all types of cancers of the blood is rapidly evolving. Dr. Michael Williams (University of Virginia), internationally known for his work in lymphoma, says expect much more conservative chemo and radiation and less toxic drugs with better outcomes and higher cures. Also featured: There has been a dramatic drop in the rate of heart bypass procedures performed in the U.S. over the last decade. Dr. Michael Ragosta (University of Virginia) saysadvances in medications and drug-coated stents have given rise to a hybrid approach to heart disease. Increasingly surgeons and interventional cardiologists are getting better results for patients by taking a team approach to each case. Later in the show: When John Thomas (University of Virginia) met his first wife, he knew she was “the one.” Sadly, she died of breast cancer. Then, after the trauma of losing her, something amazing happened. John fell in love again. But tragically, he learned the woman who would be his second wife was diagnosed with breast cancer too.John details his experience in a new book called My Saints Alive: Reflections on a Journey of Love, Loss, and Life. Also featured: About 12 percent of women develop breast cancer. But years of studies have shown that for female flight attendants, nurses, factory workers, and other frequent night shift workers, the risk of breast cancer is as high as 37 percent. Carla Finkelstein (Virginia Tech) believes that these high rates of breast cancer in night shift workers is due to a disruption in circadian rhythms. But she says there may be simple, cost-effective solutions to the problem.

Murder, mystery, and poetry come together in medieval scholar Bruce Holsinger’s (University of Virginia) new novel set in Chaucer’s London. Plus, Faulkner Fox (Virginia Foundation for the Humanities) has a new novel that explores the complexity of race relations for southerners in the 1980s. And, Michael O’Donnell (University of Virginia’s College at Wise) has been teaching for nearly five decades and has no plans of stopping. Later in the show: Award-winning poet Sonia Sanchez is a pioneer in founding black studies. In a literary career that spans more than 42 years, she is most often associated with The Black Arts Movement. We hear from Sonia Sanchez and Dr. Brenda M. Greene, Director of the Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York, as Sonia was honored by the Furious Flower Poetry Center at James Madison University.

In the 1960s, it took almost three weeks to cross the sea from America to Vietnam. Three weeks for young men in crowded cabins with salt water showers and absolutely nothing to do but think about home, the war, and what might be next. In this Memorial Day special episode we focus on a single troopship, the General Nelson M. Walker, and a few of the soldiers who traveled on it. There’s the man who wrote home about the voyage to Vietnam—about tanning oil, hillbilly radio, and a run-in with a typhoon. Another who survived the jungles of Vietnam, only to return home and feel as though democracy had passed him by. And then there’s the fiancée who snuck on board to say one last goodbye to her lover before he was killed in action. Through found tape and contemporary interviews, we recreate the troopship experience and capture the moments outside of combat—three weeks there, and, for the lucky ones—three weeks back. These stories were produced in partnership with The Vietnam Graffiti Project. Later in the show: Women journalists who covered the Vietnam War are often not given their proper due when the history of the conflict is told. Joyce Hoffman (Old Dominion University) is the author of On Their Own: Women Journalists in Vietnam. She shares stories of women who won esteemed prizes for their reporting and several who broke new ground covering the war. Plus: In recent years, more and more military mothers have been deployed throughout the world. Mona Ternus says there’s a connection between the length of time military mothers are deployed and an increase in drug use, attempted suicide, and other risk factors for their children.

Nearly a third of college students in the United States are first-generation—meaning their parents and grandparents didn’t go. For many of these students, entering academia can feel like moving to a foreign land. Lee Ward (James Madison University), author of First Generation College Students, says colleges should embrace these students. Also featured: Most writing teachers correct nonstandard sentences like “My brother and me drives the same truck.” But Amy Clark (University of Virginia’s College at Wise) believes it’s important for her Appalachian students to hold onto to their home voices. Amy is coeditor of Talking Appalachian: Voice, Identity, and Community. Later in the show: Based on experience as a teacher, and on her work in neuroscience, Abigail Norfleet James (Germanna Community College) believes boys and girls have very different learning styles. She shares teaching techniques that have helped when teaching all boys or all girls in the classroom. Also featured: When Jonathan Dickinson’s father was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease—a fatal neurodegenerative disorder—Jonathan decided to take him on an epic adventure: a motorcycle journey through the Himalayas in India.

Yoko Ono is best known for her marriage to John Lennon and was vilified by the press in the 1960s for her perceived role in the breakup of the Beatles. Kevin Concannon (Virginia Tech), an expert on Ono’s work, notes she was an accomplished and innovative artist long before she met Lennon. Plus: A new novel by Fred D’Aguiar (Virginia Tech) tells the story of a mother and daughter caught up in the tragic Jonestown mass suicide of 1978. Later in the show: Americans have been getting their kicks from Route 66 since John Steinbeck labeled it “The Mother Road” in The Grapes of Wrath. Michael Lund (Longwood University) is fascinated by the nostalgic small town life found along “America’s Main Street.” Lund is the author of a series of Route 66 novels. And: Jack Kerouac wrote about his travels along Route 66 in On the Road, the novel that made him a literary success. Gordon Ball (Virginia Military Institute) says Kerouac’s novel about the Beat Generation is as relevant today as it was in the 1950s.

When Shenandoah National Park was built, hundreds of families were forced off their land. Margaret Marangione (Blue Ridge Community College) says new information has emerged suggesting that some of those displaced people were sent to state colonies and sterilized. Plus: Veterans of the Revolutionary War collected the nation’s first pensions for wounded soldiers. But Benjamin Irvin (Virginia Foundation for the Humanities) says claiming a pension was difficult and threatened the pride of many veterans. And: Aging baby boomers are beginning to influence the funeral industry. Rhonda Pleasants (John Tyler Community College) says more are now opting for “green” burials and there is a trend toward more personalized funerals that reflect the hobbies and passions of the person who died. Later in the show: Too many young people imagine old age as a time when we become no longer useful or interested in the world around us. But Terry Lee (Christopher Newport University) has been challenging these kinds of ageist stereotypes. He’s spent hours behind a camera, documenting the lives of elders and their caregivers. And he says older people have an important job to do. Also featured: As we age, we all experience changes in our brains that make our memories less sharp than they used to be. But some older people actually have a condition called Mild Cognitive Impairment, or MCI, which is different from Alzheimer’s and other dementias. Rosemary Blieszner (Virginia Tech) was instrumental in a study that looked at how patients and their family members cope with MCI.

When it comes to love, jealousy is sometimes thought of as “natural” or even desirable. But a recent survey led by Mindy Erchull (University of Mary Washington) suggests that women who see jealousy as a positive thing may be more likely to find themselves in abusive relationships. Also: Tragedies like the Newtown shootings dominate the debate over gun ownership. But in an average year, suicides outnumber homicides by 3 to 1 and most are by firearm. Alex Tabarrok and Justin Briggs (George Mason University) say a causal relationship is clear: more gun ownership means more suicides. Later in the show: Michael Jones McKean (Virginia Commonwealth University) is an artist whose work is a simple, but phenomenal visual event: he creates rainbows that can arc up to 400 feet in height. For over two weeks, his rainbows in downtown Omaha, Nebraska could be seen from a thousand feet away. Also featured: If you’ve ever watched a bee dance near a flower patch, you’ve probably seen an element of “bee democracy.” Christian Gromoll (University of Virginia) says from collecting nectar to choosing a new home, bees follow an intelligent set of rules that keep the colony in tact.

American-invented hip hop music is now an international phenomenon with rappers in countries like Japan and Senegal. Kevin Kosanovich (College of William and Mary) traces hip hop’s roots, focusing on how it is expressed in different regions of our country, from California to New York, and even in Virginia. And: Rapper Tupac Shakur was gunned down in 1996, but his influence can still be felt in rap culture today. Poet Nikki Giovanni (Virginia Tech) shares her poem “All Eyez on U,” a tribute to the artist. Later in the show: For teenagers dealing with substance abuse issues, talking about what they’re feeling can be a challenge. So music therapist Jim Borling (Radford University) uses rock and metal music to help them externalize their internal struggles. It may not sound like medicine, but Jim says music therapy is a powerful healing practice. Also featured: John Adam (Old Dominion University) is the author of a new book called X and the City, an entertaining romp through the urban landscape using mathematical modeling as a way to understand how cities work. John uses math to explain aspects of urban life from population growth to something called “taxi cab geometry.”

In her book Bible Babel: Making Sense of the Most Talked About Book of All Time, Kristin Swenson explains what the Bible is, where it comes from, and how it’s relevant today. Also featured: Edward Neukrug (Old Dominion University) has collected oral histories of colleagues and former patients of some of the great psychologists of our time, including B.F. Skinner and Carl Rogers. Later in the show: Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald had a celebrity marriage during the Jazz Age of the 1920s. From 1930 until her death in 1948, Zelda was in and out of mental hospitals. Karen Tatum (Norfolk State University) is exploring the possibility of a link between the medication Zelda took for eczema and her debilitating mental illness. Also featured: Hermine Pinson (College of William and Mary) is a poet and singer who found herself fighting for her life after she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Her book Promises to Keep: A Memoir of Healing explores writing as therapy after recovering from serious illness.