Monologuist Josh Kornbluth wonders if our society is suffering from political dementia

As a fellow at the Global Brain Health Institute, monologuist Josh Kornbluth started to see parallels between brain disease and, well, everything that’s going on in our politics today. With his new solo show, Citizen Brain, he hopes to “spark an empathy revolution.” Josh Kornbluth joins us in stu…

From boredom to handwriting: Christine Rosen on the embodied experiences we lose to technology

This hour we talk with Christine Rosen about her new book, The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World. We talk about how technology has impacted face-to-face interactions, boredom, loneliness, handwriting, and more. GUEST:  Christine Rosen: Author of The Extinction of Exper…

The political importance of Gen Z with journalist Rachel Janfaza

Going into November, we’ll be doing some shows where we talk with one guest, for the hour, who knows a lot about the election. This hour, we talk with journalist Rachel Janfaza about Gen Z voters. GUEST:  Rachel Janfaza: Journalist who covers Gen Z political culture and young voters in U.S. politi…

Author A.J. Jacobs says he “will never take elastic or democracy for granted again”

In A.J. Jacobs’ new book, The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution’s Original Meaning, he details his experience living by the Constitution for a year. Jacobs joins us for the hour to tell us about the experiment and what he learned. GUESTS: A.J. Jaco…

All calls: Fat Bear Week, sports, call-in shows, Mars, and more

We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing. This hour, the conversation winds around to our old friends evolving (or not), sports losing its magic (or no…

An hour with Percival Everett

Percival Everett is the author of 24 novels, four short story collections, and six collections of poetry. His 2001 novel Erasure was adapted as the feature film American Fiction, which was nominated this year for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Everett has been shortlisted for the Bo…

The role of journalism in the 2024 election with writer Mark Jacob

Going into November, we’ll be doing some shows where we talk with one guest, for the hour, who knows a lot about the election. This hour, we talk with veteran journalist Mark Jacob about the state of American journalism and its impact on the upcoming election. GUEST:  Mark Jacob: Writes the weekly…

The art and politics of political speechmaking

Policy speeches, convention speeches, concession speeches, victory speeches, stump speeches. Inaugural addresses, State of the Union addresses, prime-time addresses. There sure are a lot of speeches that we expect presidents and presidential candidates to give. But how much do those speeches reall…

Let us pray — A salute to our favorite mantis

This year, local students lobbied Connecticut lawmakers to change our state insect, which is currently the praying mantis. This hour, we are focused on the praying mantis. We learn about the insect, why students think it should not represent the state, and what praying mantises of the future coul…

All calls: Colin says you don't want to meet him, hummus, robins, and more

We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls, calls about anything, everything. These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.