Uncovering the Truth Behind a Haunting Holocaust Photograph with Wendy Lower

In 2009, an acclaimed historian of the Holocaust was shown a picture of one family’s execution by Ukrainian allies of the Nazis some 70 years earlier.  In the years that followed, Dr. Wendy Lower’s research gave names to the victims and the killers and lays bare the horror of the Holocaust on an in…

Exploring Heartache Through Word and Music with Dessa

Everyone of us knows heartache—the sweet melancholy of a love that just doesn’t work. Multi-talented Dessa traces much of her musical inspiration to that pain, and commissioned a team of neuroscientists to help her fall out of love. Dessa is a singer, rapper and writer whose musical resume include…

Harnessing Love as a Force for Pivotal Change with Valarie Kaur

Love is the stuff of poetry, and heartache, and hope, and songs.  Valarie Kaur says love can be revolutionary and is needed as a public ethic to confront hate, and nationalism, and the violence born from ignorance. Valarie Kaur is a renowned civil rights leader, lawyer, best-selling author, award-…

Earning, Learning and Serving: Jamie Merisotis on Human Work in the Age of Smart Machines

The prognosticators of doom would have you believe that humanity is cursed to a future without work as Artificial Intelligence replaces people in the workforce.  But Jamie Merisotis says we’ll still be working—doing the kinds of things only human beings can do. Jamie Merisotis is a globally recogn…

Discussing The State of Asian-American-Targeted Violence with Janelle Wong

Hate crimes are nothing new to members of the Asian American community.  Dr. Janelle Wong helps us put them in historical context—from the Asian Exclusion Acts to the rise in violence targeting Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Wong is a professor of American Studies and a core faculty…

Capturing Life in Lyric and Melody with Mariee Sioux

Folk music has a long and rich tradition in the United States, telling stories by capturing life in lyric and melody.  Singer-songwriter Mariee Sioux uses those tools to tell stories that reflect her indigenous heritage. Mariee Sioux was raised in a small gold mining town in Northern California an…

Jonathan Karp Matches Books with their Readers

Books have always seemed like self-contained worlds to me.  Pick up a book, and you can transport yourself to any time in history—or the future. Delve into the mystical or the romantic.  Books help us to open our minds and our hearts, and over the last 30 years, Jonathan Karp has put more of those …

Creating a Collective Urban Experience with Julian Chambliss

The analytical mind can explain the world around us, but the creative mind can help create our future. Dr. Julian Chambliss explores the power of Afrofuturism in comic books, the expression of creativity in the midst of the pandemic, and the way we think about and process history as a society. Cha…

Continuing the Creative Process During the Pandemic with Ida Darvish and Josh Gad

The pandemic has had a profound effect on the entertainment industry, disrupting live performances and posing challenges for production in both film and television.  Ida Darvish and Josh Gad are two of the bright lights of Hollywood and they tell us that the creative process continues. Ida Darvish…

Covering the 2021 Academy Awards with Pete Hammond

In the midst of a year that saw pandemic disease, social unrest, and bare-knuckled politics, Hollywood churned out a tremendous body of work—even while theaters closed and films created for the big screen streamed directly to our homes.  Pete Hammond says this year’s Academy Awards reflect the issu…