This hour we talk with experts in ballot design about how to put together a ballot that's accessible to everyone, and all of the things to keep in mind, from font size to the length of candidate's names. Plus, a look at the evolution of ballots throughout history.

GUESTS: 
Whitney Quesenbery: Executive Director of the Center for Civic Design
Alicia Cheng: Head of Design at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and author of This is What Democracy Looked Like: A Visual History of the Printed Ballot

This hour we talk with experts in ballot design about how to put together a ballot that's accessible to everyone, and all of the things to keep in mind, from font size to the length of candidate's names. Plus, a look at the evolution of ballots throughout history.
GUESTS: 
<ul>
<li>Whitney Quesenbery: Executive Director of the <a href="https://civicdesign.org/">Center for Civic Design</a></li>
<li>Alicia Cheng: Head of Design at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and author of <a href="https://papress.com/products/this-is-what-democracy-looked-like-a-visual-history-of-the-printed-ballot">This is What Democracy Looked Like: A Visual History of the Printed Ballot</a></li>
</ul>

The Colin McEnroe Show is public radio’s most eclectic, eccentric weekday program. The best way to understand us is through the subjects we tackle: Neanderthals, tambourines, handshakes, the Iliad, snacks, ringtones, punk rock, Occam’s razor, Rasputin, houseflies, zippers. Are you sensing a pattern? If so, you should probably be in treatment. On Fridays, we try to stop thinking about what kind of ringtones Neanderthals would want to have and convene a panel called The Nose for an informal roundtable about the week in culture.

<a href="https://www.ctpublic.org/show/the-colin-mcenroe-show/about">The Colin McEnroe Show</a> is public radio’s most eclectic, eccentric weekday program. The best way to understand us is through the subjects we tackle: Neanderthals, tambourines, handshakes, the Iliad, snacks, ringtones, punk rock, Occam’s razor, Rasputin, houseflies, zippers. Are you sensing a pattern? If so, you should probably be in treatment. On Fridays, we try to stop thinking about what kind of ringtones Neanderthals would want to have and convene a panel called <a href="https://www.ctpublic.org/tags/the-nose">The Nose</a> for an informal roundtable about the week in culture.

The Colin McEnroe Show

Does democracy have a design problem?

We’ve been doing these shows 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 spousal knowledge, tree sperm, progressive candidates, tree sperm, hitpeople, tree sperm, sleepy bees … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we’re doing another one.
In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EDT hour about whatever you want to talk about. 888-720-9677.‌

Music featured (in order):
thank u i guess – forrest nolan
Museum of Idiots – They Might Be Giants
Love Is Salvation – Jesca Hoop
I Don’t Know Anything – Alan Hsiao
Something’s Coming – Laura Anglade
Mary Singletary – Deer Tick
With New Eyes – Simon Lynge

We&rsquo;ve been doing these shows where we don&rsquo;t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing &mdash; This hour, the conversation winds around to spousal knowledge, tree sperm, progressive candidates, tree sperm, hitpeople, tree sperm, sleepy bees &hellip; Anything. (Seemingly) everything.
These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we&rsquo;re doing another one. In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EDT hour about&nbsp;whatever you want to talk about.&nbsp;<a href="tel:8887209677">888-720-9677</a>.&zwnj;
Music featured (in order):
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9ZmP35jWFQ">thank u i guess</a>&nbsp;&ndash; forrest nolan</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHcWXRCsknE">Museum of Idiots</a>&nbsp;&ndash; They Might Be Giants</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bQkgF9rkyA">Love Is Salvation</a>&nbsp;&ndash; Jesca Hoop</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zIVr9dRFPY">I Don&rsquo;t Know Anything</a>&nbsp;&ndash; Alan Hsiao</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSUysarBS_g">Something&rsquo;s Coming</a>&nbsp;&ndash; Laura Anglade</li>
<li><a href="https://youtu.be/oG5_PejyAVE">Mary Singletary</a>&nbsp;&ndash; Deer Tick</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQP5chmfiFg">With New Eyes</a>&nbsp;&ndash; Simon Lynge</li>
</ul>

All Calls: Stop spraying your sperm-laden dust on my Subaru Outback

Billy Joel has reportedly sold more than 160 million albums. He’s been nominated for 24 Grammy Awards (and won six of them), an Emmy, and a Tony Award (which he won). In the U.S., he’s had 33 top 40 singles and 11 top 10 albums. He’s simply one of the most popular recording artists in the history of music.

But. Critics have never been terribly kind to him, and a lot of the general public hasn’t either.

This hour, we look at the two-part, nearly five-hour HBO documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes. And we look at Billy Joel more generally and at the love/hate relationship we all seem to have had with him and his music for more than 50 years now.

GUESTS:
Jen Allen: A pianist, composer, arranger, and educator; her new album is Possibilities
Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and the director of marketing at Washington Montessori School
Jack Hamilton:Slate’s pop critic and the author of Just Around Midnight: Rock and Roll and the Racial Imagination
Gene Seymour: A “writer, professional spectator, pop-culture maven, and jazz geek,” and he now writes the That Gene Seymour Substack

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Isaac Moss contributed to this show, which originally aired August 8, 2025.

Billy Joel has reportedly sold more than 160 million albums. He&rsquo;s been nominated for 24 Grammy Awards (and won six of them), an Emmy, and a Tony Award (which he won). In the U.S., he&rsquo;s had 33 top 40 singles and 11 top 10 albums. He&rsquo;s simply one of the most popular recording artists in the history of music.
But. Critics have never been terribly kind to him, and a lot of the general public hasn&rsquo;t either.
This hour, we look at the two-part, nearly five-hour HBO documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes. And we look at Billy Joel more generally and at the love/hate relationship we all seem to have had with him and his music for more than 50 years now.
GUESTS:
<ul>
<li>Jen Allen: A pianist, composer, arranger, and educator; her new album is&nbsp;<a href="https://trrstore.bandcamp.com/album/possibilities">Possibilities</a></li>
<li>Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of&nbsp;<a href="https://quietcornercommunications.com/">Quiet Corner Communications</a>&nbsp;and the director of marketing at Washington Montessori School</li>
<li>Jack Hamilton: Slate&rsquo;s pop critic and the author of Just Around Midnight: Rock and Roll and the Racial Imagination</li>
<li>Gene Seymour: A &ldquo;writer, professional spectator, pop-culture maven, and jazz geek,&rdquo; and he now writes&nbsp;the <a href="https://thatgeneseymour52.substack.com/">That Gene Seymour</a> Substack</li>
</ul>
The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-colin-mcenroe-show/id714179884">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/0AXtqrzWounIoJyIqz003p">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9b6b3cee-f69b-4729-a78b-181f851d80e8/the-colin-mcenroe-show">Amazon Music</a>, <a href="https://tunein.com/podcasts/News--Politics-Podcasts/The-Colin-McEnroe-Show-p1208473/">TuneIn</a>, <a href="https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-colin-mcenroe-show-connecticut-public-lXR08dxQSM5/">Listen Notes</a>, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!
<a href="https://www.ctpublic.org/newsletters">Subscribe to The Noseletter</a>, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.
Join the conversation on&nbsp;<a href="https://facebook.com/ColinMcShow">Facebook</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/colinmcshow">Twitter</a>.
Colin McEnroe and Isaac Moss contributed to this show, which originally aired August 8, 2025.

You may be wrong, but you may be right: A look at Billy Joel

Podcast bonus: Interview with Charles Ericson 

The Hartford circus fire in 1944 was the deadliest disaster in the history of Connecticut.

Our friend Jacques Lamarre (if you listen to The Nose most Fridays, you know Jacques) has written a big-deal new play about the fire and its aftermath that TheaterWorks Hartford is currently world premiering.

This hour, a conversation recorded in front of a live audience at TheaterWorks about the play Circus Fire and the actual Hartford circus fire.

Note: This podcast version of the show is more than 12 minutes longer than the episode as it’s airing on the radio, and it includes our full interview with circus fire survivor Charles Ericson.

GUESTS:
Charles Ericson: A survivor of the Hartford circus fire
Jacques Lamarre: A playwright and a frequent guest on The Nose; he wrote and co-conceived Circus Fire
Rob Ruggiero: Artistic director at TheaterWorks Hartford and a co-conceiver of Circus Fire

TheaterWorks Hartford is a current underwriter of Connecticut Public.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Thanks to Kate Cudworth, Dennis Dowding, Ethan Pervere, and Katherine Plutnicki at TheaterWorks Hartford.

Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, Dylan Reyes, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buaIFg5YTJ8">The Hartford circus fire</a> in 1944 was the deadliest disaster in the history of Connecticut.
Our friend Jacques Lamarre (if you listen to <a href="https://www.ctpublic.org/tags/the-nose">The Nose</a> most Fridays, you know Jacques) has written a <a href="https://twhartford.org/portfolio-items/circus-fire/">big-deal new play</a> about the fire and its aftermath that TheaterWorks Hartford is currently world premiering.
This hour, a conversation recorded in front of a live audience at TheaterWorks about the play Circus Fire and the actual Hartford circus fire.
Note: This podcast version of the show is more than 12 minutes longer than the episode as it&rsquo;s airing on the radio, and it includes our full interview with circus fire survivor Charles Ericson.
GUESTS:
<ul>
<li>Charles Ericson: A survivor of the Hartford circus fire</li>
<li>Jacques Lamarre: A playwright and a frequent guest on The Nose; he wrote and co-conceived Circus Fire</li>
<li>Rob Ruggiero: Artistic director at TheaterWorks Hartford and a co-conceiver of Circus Fire</li>
</ul>
TheaterWorks Hartford is a current underwriter of Connecticut Public.
The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-colin-mcenroe-show/id714179884">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/0AXtqrzWounIoJyIqz003p">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9b6b3cee-f69b-4729-a78b-181f851d80e8/the-colin-mcenroe-show">Amazon Music</a>, <a href="https://tunein.com/podcasts/News--Politics-Podcasts/The-Colin-McEnroe-Show-p1208473/">TuneIn</a>, <a href="https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-colin-mcenroe-show-connecticut-public-lXR08dxQSM5/">Listen Notes</a>, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!
<a href="https://www.ctpublic.org/newsletters">Subscribe to The Noseletter</a>, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.
Join the conversation on <a href="https://facebook.com/ColinMcShow">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/colinmcshow">Twitter</a>.
Thanks to Kate Cudworth, Dennis Dowding, Ethan Pervere, and Katherine Plutnicki at TheaterWorks Hartford.
Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, Dylan Reyes, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show.

Does democracy have a design problem?

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