With Good Reason

Christmas is really all about the stories we tell. From early classics like A Christmas Carol, The Nutcracker, and The Gift of the Magi to new traditions like How the Grinch Stole Christmas, holiday stories shape our experiences. This year we’re joined by Diane Griffiths, Sarah Hillenbrand Varela and Erik Varela, Siân White, Eric Lorentzen, and Laura Kimball as we peek under the surface of some of the most enduring Christmas tales.

The Inthrive Film Festival is a one-of-a-kind event that features films directed by formerly incarcerated people. Kenneth Hunter performed spoken word poetry at the festival on opening night. He sits down with producer, Matt Darroch, to share his experience in the prison system and his thoughts on what the Inthrive movies mean to him. And: We lose so much of what makes us human in prison. Privacy, personal possessions - and most importantly, freedom - all get stripped away. But Zoe Spencer says there's still humanity behind bars. Plus: Gary Cuddeback and Courtney Holmes co-direct Project Belong. Collaborating with the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice, Project Belong helps young people who’ve been recently released from juvenile corrections facilities reintegrate back into society. Later in the show: In 1994, Kemba Smith Pradia was sentenced to 24 and a half years in prison for drug crimes committed by her ex-boyfriend. She’s a survivor of mandatory minimum sentencing, an extension of the war on drugs and mass incarceration. She spoke with my Virginia Humanities colleague, Yahusef Medina, about Kemba - her recently released movie based on her inspiring life, now streaming on BET+.

The biggest migration happens every night in the ocean. Plankton come up from the twilight zone to eat, safe from daytime predators. And then they go back to the deep ocean before dawn. Debbie Steinberg says that these plankton are helping us to manage our carbon output by taking it back to the deep ocean. And: The rustic boardwalk that winds through the marsh carrying visitors down to the water’s jagged edge at Ragged Island is getting shorter. Due to erosion, two feet of the boardwalk has been cut back each year for the past twenty years. Rob Atkinson and Gary Whiting say it won’t be a generation before homes are threatened and the biodiversity and carbon storage would be lost. They’re working with students to try to divert that unfortunate outcome. Later in the show: As sea levels rise, groundwater in coastal areas is getting saltier. This has been a real issue for farmers because many things don’t grow well in salty water. But some do -- and that could mean a new specialty crop. Josh Dusci is testing the hypothesis that tomatoes grow sweeter in saltier water. Plus: For years, the United Kingdom and Germany had used Icelandic waters for fishing. But when Iceland became an independent nation, its leaders realized they’d need the economic benefits of their own waterways to sustain themselves. So they claimed exclusive rights of fishing in their waters. Ingo Heidbrink walks us through the three big conflicts of the so-called Cod Wars.

Michael Carter Jr left America looking for home in Ghana. Now, on his fifth generation farm, he’s growing farmers through what he calls Africulture. And: How Virginia’s maritime climate enhances its fruit, according to celebrated sommelier Lee Campell. Later in the show: In Richmond, Virginia, you can walk up to one of 13 community refrigerators and get what you need. No questions asked. It all started because Taylor Scott had some extra tomatoes to spare. Plus: Leni Sorenson uses colonial era cookbooks to bring to life the stories and stick-to-it-iveness of the enslaved women and men who really threw down in the kitchen.

The distinctive foodways of the Eastern Shore of Virginia bring together influences from Indigenous peoples, European migrants, enslaved and free West Africans, and more recent newcomers. We dine at folklorist Bernard Herman’s table to learn about the flavors of local ingredients and the stories of cooks who have prepared them. And: Along with the craft beer renaissance has been a resurgence of hard cider. Greg Hansard says cider has been in a fixture on Virginia tables and farms for more than four hundred years. Plus: Some food safety tips from Melissa Wright for the big feast. Later in the show: Sure, stuffing and sweet potato casserole are delicious–but how much do you think about the science behind those dishes? Kenneth Pestka and Doug Young unpacks the physics and chemistry of turkey, celery, carrots, marshmallows, and more.

The FDA recently approved a number of medications to treat Alzheimer’s disease. But while these new drugs are far from a cure, Lana Sargent says they’re certainly a step in the right direction. And: Fruit flies can be such a nuisance. But those tiny little buggers hovering around your old bananas might actually help treat Alzheimer’s. Anna Salazar’s found a link between gut health and dementia in fruit flies that may apply to humans as well. Later in the show: Close to 7 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease. And as the country continues to age, the search for a cure has never been so pressing. Timothy Jarome works with elderly lab rats to understand what happens to the brain as we grow older. He was named an Outstanding Faculty member by The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. Plus: When we’re young, a slip or trip might result in a bruise or skinned knee. But as we grow old, falls can be dangerous - even life threatening. Michael Madigan helps elderly folks practice falling in harnesses so they can better navigate obstacles in the real world.

For twenty years, Jason Moulenbelt has asked his students to go back in time and decide whether to do something differently. Most of them say that despite the painful lessons, they wouldn’t change a thing. And: In the infamous Stanford rape case, a member of Stanford’s men’s swimming team was caught behind a dumpster in the act of raping an unconscious woman–Chanel Miller. Chanel was known only as the “unconscious female victim” until her powerful victim impact statement went viral. Mercedes Corredor says that Miller’s impact statement and memoir, Know My Name, are examples of the moral power of vindictive anger. Later in the show: Life’s big changes often leave us grappling for meaning. As a philosophical counselor, Kevin Cales works with people to understand their values as a way forward. Plus: Do you ever catch yourself speaking about plants as though they have human senses? Well they just might. And if they do, Kate A. Brelje says that we’ve got to re-evaluate our care ethics towards plants.

On this episode of With Good Reason, Technical Director Jamal Millner hosts and we explore how some musicians interact with the communities they inhabit. The inspiration, support and motivation these artist’s receive from their families, friends and fans. CJ Colston is a millennial Evangelical Preacher and Singer that performs proselytizes in Southwestern Virginia area churches regardless of the race of the congregations. And: Filmmaker and VH Fellow Alicia Aroche discusses her upcoming documentary 32 Blocks. We discuss her film about a few of the great and internationally recognized musicians that grew up in the Church Hill area of Richmond VA. Lonnie Liston Smith and Wah Wah Watson are just a couple of the musicians featured in the film. Later in the show: Alternative Hip Hop artist geonova from Big Stone Gap tells us about the struggles and triumphs of being an LGBT artist in rural Virginia. Plus: Jazz Trumpeter and Composer John D’earth is the final guest on this episode. We discuss his upcoming retirement as Director of Jazz Studies at UVA, stories of his interactions with some of jazz histories masters and his latest projects.

NASA recently announced they’re preparing to send humans to Mars as early as 2035. It’ll be a huge undertaking that will require a big budget and massive collective effort. But Joel Levine is focused more on the small stuff. He’s working with NASA on sterilization methods to prevent the cross-contamination of microbes between Earth and Mars. And: It’s around a 7 month trip to go from Earth to Mars. That’s a long time to be in outer space. And we’re just now learning how it’ll affect the body. Hank Donahue says extended space travel can cause serious bone density loss and other health issues. Later in the show: Stargazers rejoice! Any day now the night sky will welcome a new star. Justin Mason says it’s a NOVA called the T-Corona Borealis, and when it explodes it’s brightness will rival the North Star. Plus: What’s rubber, a must-have at every birthday party, and can fly to the highest reaches of the atmosphere? Why, balloons of course! Wendy Hinton launches high-altitude balloons with her students to get them hands-on experience outside the classroom.

The borders of Jordan have changed over and over in the last century. And each time they shift, Jordanian immigration policy–officially or unofficially–shifts as well. Lillian Frost takes us deep into the history of the region to understand how Jordanian officials have interpreted the same immigration laws differently depending on what’s going on in the nations around them. And: In the US, more than 80% of survey respondents say they want to see immigration reduced. Researchers find similar numbers in Europe. Megan Roosevelt explores what drives these anti-immigrant attitudes. Later in the show: Applying for a spousal visa to the U.S. means navigating a whole system of unwritten rules. Gina Longo explores how informal online communities navigate this U.S. immigration system. Plus: When Sophia Sexton first came to the United States as an immigrant from Afghanistan, she recognized the importance of language and communication. Today, she teaches students at Northern Virginia Community College, many of whom are immigrants themselves, how to share their own stories through writing.

Could a centuries-old curse be to blame for Will Smith’s infamous slap of Chris Rock at the Academy Awards? Amanda Kellogg uncovers the long history of a superstition known as Macbeth’s curse. And: Anna Beecher first encountered the Brothers Grimm’s fairy tale, The Boy Who Went Forth to Learn to Shudder, as a young kid and was thoroughly frightened. She based her play, Skin of the Teeth, on that same Grimm’s fairy tale. Later in the show: Halloween and Scream are two of the goriest slasher movies. But they’re more than just jump-scares and frights. Jennifer McLawhorn says slasher movies actually open a window into important social anxieties around gender. Plus: The first horror movies like Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari came out in the 1920’s, during the silent film era. Jenny Taylor says the roots of the horror movie genre can be traced back to Germany’s Weimar Republic.

In America, presidential primaries don’t officially begin until February of the election year. But we all know that presidential campaigns go on for years before that. In mid-August, the Democratic Party announced Vice President Kamala Harris as their nominee after incumbent President Joe Biden stepped down. Voters didn’t choose this. The party did. Caitlin Jewitt wonders how this will impact the way that political elites nominate future presidential hopefuls. Plus: Presidents have to know how to take a joke. And how to tell one about themselves. Steve Farnsworth says that many young people are finding their way into understanding the political landscape one joke at a time. Later in the show: Gen Z is exceptionally active in protests and rallying people around causes that matter to them. But surveys show that they’re not quite as active at the polls. Xiaowen Xu says this might be because they don’t feel heard or represented by current presidential candidates. And: Political party identification is the unmoved mover. It rarely changes. Except when it does. Daniel Reed says that some things can affect how we show up at the polls.

We usually reserve the word “wicked” for the worst things in life. But at Radford University, being a wicked student is a badge of honor. Every year, Paige Tan and Meg Konkel help students come up with creative solutions to life’s messiest problems for the Wicked Festival. And: What if you could get 500 dollars for free? Only catch is, you have put it toward something that does good - something that leaves a positive impact. How would you spend the money? That’s the challenge Chris Tweedt brought to his business ethics students. Later in the Show: From the long list of expenses to endless paperwork, starting a business can be a headache. That’s where Norfolk State’s Innovation Center comes in. Established in 2019, Akosua Acheamponmaa says the Innovation Center is all about helping early entrepreneurs in underserved communities make their business dreams come true. Plus: When Meg Michelsen was a kid, she used to collect fragrance samples from department stores and magazines. Now she studies sensory marketing, focusing on how brand names and product scents influence our buying habits.

There’s an AI arms race. And anyone can compete. But AI doesn’t have moral judgment; it only sees patterns. Atin Basu says that military education needs to emphasize the humanities to ensure that the people behind the machines have moral center and judgment that the machines will never have. And: For one reason or another, doctors and nurses don’t have a lot of time to talk to patients. The AI chatbot Florence is here to help. Haipeng Chen hopes to train Florence to be as smart as a human nurse. Later in the show: Water is essential to life. And hackers know that. Floridian and Hawaiian water systems have been hacked in the past year. Some of that damage cannot be undone. Feras Batarseh and his colleagues are working to ensure that water in the nation’s capital is not hacked. Plus: Sachin Setty says that the future of work requires us to coexist with AI. So we have to learn how to trust it.

If you’re looking for new music, you might turn to youtube, spotify, social media–basically, the internet. In Cuba, internet access is so limited that music is passed through a USB network called Sneakernet. Mike Levine explains how Sneakernet helps spread the rhythms–and politics–of reparto music. And: What does it sound like when trees sing? Or rocks? Or a city waterworks? Sara Bouchard is a sound artist who often works with data from objects and nature to make music. Later in the show: As a young kid, music brought meaning to Donald Sorah’s life–and it kept him in school. Now as a teacher, he brings the joy of music making to students, particularly the ones who don’t think of themselves as musicians. Plus: There’s nothing quite like sharing your favorite songs with the people you love. But Kevin Caffrey says that kind of shared musical experience can also be a way to connect with strangers.

In the early 20th century, terrapins–a kind of turtle–were a culinary delicacy. Then humans nearly hunted them to extinction. While Americans don’t eat much turtle these days, terrapin populations are still in danger–from crab traps. Randy Chambers is working to perfect a device for crab traps that will help protect terrapins. And: Learning about learning is a lot easier if you’ve got hands on practice. That’s what inspired the first ever Wise-minster Dog Show at the University of Virginia College at Wise. Robert Arrowood’s psychology of learning class put theory to practice by training shelter dogs. Through the project, UVA Wise students helped dozens of dogs find their forever homes. Later in the show: Lab rats have a pretty cushy life. And if you measure their stress levels compared to wild city rats, it shows. But what about wild country rats? Molly Kent’s research asks questions about stress in rats, but along the way she’s learning about human stress, too. Plus: Are undiscovered animals lurking in plain sight? Tara Pelletier says that even if animals look the same to our human eyes, they can have genetic differences that make them different species.

Failure is a key part of the scientific process. But Gertrude Fraser says women in STEM aren’t often given the same leeway to fail as their male colleagues. Plus: Ken Ono applied his mathematics research to help swimmer, Kate Douglass, shave 4 tenths of a second off her breastroke. He says it took countless failures to save just a tiny fraction of time, but it ultimately proved to be the difference between winning and losing. Kate won gold at the Paris Olympics in the women’s 200 meter breaststroke. Later in the show: When Mona Danner was a kid, her father used to say: if you don’t A-S-K you won’t G-E-T. Now she’s paying that wisdom forward. She teaches seminars on the art of negotiation to help women in STEM break through the gender pay gap. And: Josephine Rodriguez says talent alone isn’t always enough for students to succeed in STEM. They need outstanding teachers and opportunities to develop. She’s dedicated much of her career to broadening participation in STEM.

There’s a parasite inhabiting the bodies of crabs and making them infertile. Amy Fowler says that if that parasite entered the Chesapeake Bay, 90% of our crabs would be inedible. America is littered with battlefields, and abandoned forts. They’re often some of the most pristine sites of Virginia ecosystems. Plus: Todd Lookingbill is a SCHEV winner for his research on the ecological value of battlefields. Later in the show: Scientists first noticed coral reefs disappearing in the late nineties. Now, it’s getting worse as underwater temperatures continue to rise. Researchers Nastassja Lewinski and Liza Rogers are busy testing and developing solutions to coral bleaching. And: Deer enjoy forest edges. They’re away from the predators in the heart of the forest, and there’s less competition for food. But Matthias Leiu says that the lone star ticks love the forest edge, too.

Sitting in a doctor’s office, trying to understand medicalese, is familiar for most of us. And really frustrating. Suzanne Makarem found forty women who pursue nontraditional medical professionals after years of feeling unheard by traditional care providers. Many of these women now only see their traditional doctors for blood tests, vaccines and annual check ups. Plus: The United States and New Zealand are the only countries that allow pharmaceutical companies to advertise directly to consumers. So ever since the late 90s, American cable stations are littered with direct-to-consumer drug ads that urge people to ask their doctor today if a certain drug is right for them. Staci Defibaugh says that these ads are not just promoting drugs to patients. They’re showing people how to be an “activated patient.” Later in the show: It’s baffling to think that by and large, African-American men have a shorter life expectancy than most other groups of people in America. There are many factors involved in that. But Alton Coleman says that being perceived as a threat in public spaces plays a huge role. And: There are many barriers to accessing good healthcare in Appalachia. Troy Makal was shocked to find that the greatest barrier wasn’t transportation, money or insurance, but a fundamental distrust in medical providers.

Babies come into the world ready to learn and all those coos and grunts that they make–and that their parents make at them–are stepping stones to fluency. Rory DePeolis and Shiree Harbick are studying baby babble to better understand how babies learn language. And: Too often when it comes to helping minority kids succeed in school, families are seen as part of the problem to solve. Instead, Melissa Wells recognizes the strengths that families bring. She shares her favorite kids books that help invite families into schools and celebrate their cultural strengths. Melissa was named an Outstanding Faculty member by The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. Plus: There’s a lot of discussion of teachers who are worried about how ChatGPT and other AI tools will affect their classrooms. But some teachers, like Jinhee Kim, are embracing ChatGPT as a lesson-planner, a discussion coordinator, and even a sympathetic ear for stressed out students. Later in the show: In the early months of Covid, kids were sent home with packets for Zoom school. This was tough on all parents, but for parents with limited English language skills, it was particularly hard. Katherine Barko-Alva and her students started holding bilingual office hours for parents to call for help in Zoom-schooling. Today, the community that came from that meets monthly for Spanish-language parenting support. And: The relationships young children have with their teachers early in school make a big difference in later years. Kathleen Rudasill says that a child’s individual temperament can really affect how that relationship forms.