The Colin McEnroe Show

As Barbie Millicent Roberts -- yes, that's her name -- turns 60 we, as a plastic loving nation, celebrate! For six decades the impossibly proportioned fashion doll has been delighting children and adults around the world. But the road to 60 hasn't always been easy. Critiqued by feminists, diversity advocates, and even child psychologists for her role in perpetuating harmful sterotypes, eating disorders, and body dysmorphic syndrome among young women, Barbie may be just as controversial as she is iconic. In recent years, however, Mattel has made some long overdue changes. The new Barbies are more diverse in their career choices, body shapes, and ethnicities than ever before, and her new ad campaigns focus heavily on issues of women's empowerment and equality. But the question remains: Is it too little, too late for Mattel or are these changes enough to see Barbie into her seventies? We speak with expert guests about the good, the bad and the ugly side of Barbie, as well as about the doll's creator, Ruth Handler. And in case you were wondering, we may even get to Ken along the way!Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For everyone who watched Sunday's series finale of Game of Thrones, perhaps a better show to get a handle on what's happening inside America is Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale. People aren't going around greeting their neighbors with "Blessed by the fruit." But there's an argument to be made that news headlines from the past week are eerily similar to the fictional transpirings that gave way to Handmaid's Republic of Gilead. Today, we consider Alabama's new ultra-conservative abortion law, President Trump's desire for barriers along the Mexico border to be painted black with spikes, and the ousting of administration officials opposed to a White House plan to conduct mass raids of migrants in 10 major U.S. cities, among other recent events. Is comparing them to Handmaid's make-believe dangerously unhinged? Or is it right to be concerned that we may be heading down a potentially Margaret Atwoodian path? We'll take your calls. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's been a rough week for the famous. Last Saturday, Peggy Lipton died at age 72. On Monday, Doris Day died at 97. Then on Tuesday, it was Tim Conway at 85. And yesterday, I. M. Pei died aged 102. And the week's gone kind of the same way for TV shows too. On Sunday, Veep finished its seven-year run on HBO. Last night, The Big Bang Theory aired its 279th and final episode. And Game of Thrones's series finale is set to air this coming Sunday.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tracking, rewinding, ejecting, collecting - VHS broke ground in home entertainment like never before. The culture of VHS and its enormous best friend, the VCR, were kings of consumer media for decades. Despite the last VCR and VHS being manufactured just three years ago, videotapes are still consumed, collected, and in some cases, sold(!) across the country. But why? With streaming service giants like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and (soon) Disney, giving us on-demand content with the push of a button and with Blu-ray and 4K players displaying movies and TV shows at crystal clear resolutions, videotapes offer a simpler, analog experience that will just not go away. Today, a look inside the impact, history, and legacy of VHS. Plus, video stores! It was the place to get your VHS rental and consume the content you couldn’t get anywhere else. A look at life owning and working at a video store.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The 18th century Parisian cafe was an incubator for the liberal tradition as it was before liberalism became a politically-loaded and dirty word. The cafe brought people together to exchange ideas, talk, connect, argue, debate, and learn about humanity, empathy, and humility outside the control of the state; a place where civil society trumped tribal impulse. We are a far more humane people today compared to what we've been, despite the astounding level of cruelty in the headlines every day. Laws still rule the day. Yet, many question whether liberalism can survive the rise of nationalist leaders from Hungary to the United States and the illiberal ideas they promote; some 2020 presidential candidates are calling for revolution. Can the long history of the liberal tradition teach us something about this current moment?Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Religious scholar Elaine Pagels, trusted the Gospel of Thomas to get her through the almost unbearably painful years after the death of her six-year-old son -- born with a congenital heart defect -- followed one year later by the unexpected death of her husband.  Thomas was one of many hidden texts discovered in a cave in Egypt in 1945, written around the time of Jesus but omitted from the New Testament.  Pagels exploration of the secret gospels revealed early Christianity to be a mix of traditions, stories, music, mysticism, art, and poetry that were lost in later versions perpetuated by individual Christian groups. Pagels wonders, how Roman Catholics, Baptists, Mormons, and Quakers -- to name a few -- could all proclaim themselves the one true version of Christianity?  The Gnostic Gospels challenged thousands of years of Christian ideology regarding our views on God, women, sexuality, and death that still dictate the cultural values we follow today. How had we not become aware that thousands of years of censoring Christianity has come to contradict our own experience of what is meaningful in our lives? So often, religion fails us in our time of need. The Gnostic Gospels gave Elaine Pagels hope. She was grateful for that.  GUEST:  Elaine Pagels - Professor of Religion at Princeton University and the author of several books including The Gnostic Gospels, Beyond Belief and most recently, Why Religion?: A Personal Story Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listen at 1:00 pm.  President Trump is working to block more than 20 separate Congressional investigations led by the Democratic-controlled House. Democrats say the Trump Administration has failed to respond to or comply with at least 79 requests for documents or other information. Are we in a Constitutional crisis, or not?  Also this hour: Two students lost their lives in recent weeks charging at the school shooter who was trying to kill them and other classmates. Both died and are being hailed as heroes for their actions. They are heroes. Yet, for others looking in, have adults abdicated their responsibility to protect children to the point where they believe they must take things into their own hands? Lastly, NASA will study three never touched samples from the rocks and soil astronaut Neil Armstrong scooped up during the Apollo 11 mission almost fifty years ago.  Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Father of the Bride is Vampire Weekend's fourth studio album, their first in nearly six years, and their first for a major label. It has been called a "masterpiece" and a "multi-layered dissertation on the world's ills." It's also been called "mild" and "some of the worst ideas the band has ever put to tape." The real question is, though: Is Vampire Weekend still cool? And then: Gorman Bechard's Pizza, A Love Story has its New Haven premiere in a few weeks at this year's NHdocs documentary film festival. The Nose talks Pizza, specifically, and pizza, more generally, from the pizza capital of the world.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hartford native Sol LeWitt was one of the giants of conceptualist and minimalist art. As an artist, he abandoned the long histories of painting and drawing and sculpture in favor of his Wall Drawings and Structures. And as an art figure, he abandoned the conventions of celebrity and resisted ever even having his picture taken. This hour, a look at Connecticut's own Sol LeWitt.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Reality TV shows like the Discovery Channel's Doomsday Bunkers and National Geographic Channel's Doomsday Preppers perpetuate a stereotype of "preppers" that omits the wide swath of people who engage in preparedness in a less extreme and more varied way. Talk of nuclear war, climate apocalypse, pandemic, economic instability, and the decline of democracy has led more people to think about how to survive a catastrophic -- if not apocalyptic -- event.  Do you buy organic food? Will you drink only bottled water? Do you avoid antibiotics? You may not have an underground bunker but you might have a generator, short wave radio, extra batteries and a supply of canned foods. Today, we dive into the real world of "preppers." Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Elvis left two legacies. Musically, he pulled several American musical traditions out of the shadows, braided them together, and made them mainstream. Personally, he created a far darker template for the way a musical celebrity could be devoured by the very fame he avidly sought. Recorded live in front of an audience -- and with a band! -- as part of Colin's Freshly Squeezed series at Watkinson School, an hour about the artist who defined the birth of rock and roll and was the genre's first superstar.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

NPR has a new theme song. The new theme is much like the old theme with new embellishments created by a "sonic studio" instead of one artist and a "creative director" instead of a composer or arranger. After 40 years, is it time to update or do you miss the old song? Also this hour: Rachel Held Evans was a 37-year-old Christian evangelical writer with an ability to both challenge orthodoxy within the religion and bridge the political divide between conservative and progressive followers. She died this past week from complications of an infection. We pay her tribute.  Lastly, today's UN report on biodiversity makes a direct link between human behavior and the faster than expected extinction of thousands of animal and plant species. Today's report coincides with a new Yale-led study showing that thousands of species of amphibians will go extinct faster than expected if we don't take action now. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Avengers: Endgame is the 22nd feature film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is the fourth Avengers movie and the fourth MCU entry directed by Anthony and Joe Russo. It is the 10th film in the MCU's Phase Three and the last part of its Infinity Saga. I didn't understand very much of that stuff I just wrote, but I totally get this last bit: Avengers: Endgame may well be on its way to becoming the highest-grossing movie ever made. And then: Taylor Swift's new single/video, "Me," is setting records of its own. Never mind that the duet with Panic! at the Disco's Brendon Urie is maybe kinda... terrible? And terribleness just might be the new trend in movie trailers: There's Sonic the Hedgehog and his creepy human teeth. There's Will Smith's weird blue genie in Aladdin. Or the "live-action" Lion King and its new-look Scar. The Sonic backlash has been so bad that it looks like they might even redesign the character.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The concept of the early 20th century sideshow evokes images of bearded ladies, sword swallowers and exotic "others" exhibited as "freaks" before audiences both lured and repelled by what they saw. Crowds flocked to Coney Island sideshows where, for 10 cents, they could find solace that someone was worse off than they were during times of low life expectancy, high infant mortality, world war, and financial instability. Few had the luxury of seeing the humanity behind the act. Cartoonist Bill Griffith based his legendary character Zippy the Pinhead on Schlitzie, a real life sideshow "pinhead" who appeared in the movie Freaks. Early audiences were appalled by director Tod Browning's use of real sideshow actors who banded together to seek revenge on those who treated them with cruelty. Griffith's new graphic novel is his way to dig a little deeper into who Schlitzie was and the sideshow family who cared for and loved him. Also this hour: we learn about a man who saved thousands of premature infants over almost 40 years by exhibiting them in incubators in a Coney Island sideshow. Behind the acts, sideshow performers were often people of great compassion, courage, and humanity. GUESTS: Bill Griffith - Creator of the syndicated daily comic strip Zippy and author of two graphic memoirs, Invisible Ink: My Mother's Secret Love Affair With a Cartoonist and Nobody's Fool: The Life and Times of Schlitzie the Pinhead Wolf Krakowski - Yiddish singer whose CDs are on Tzadik Records; Wolf has videotaped testimonies of Holocaust survivors for the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation Claire Prentice - Award-winning freelance journalist, editor, and writer; she's the author of two non-fiction books, The Lost Tribe of Coney Island: Headhunters, Luna Park, and the Man Who Pulled Off the Spectacle of the Century and Miracle at Coney Island: How a Sideshow Doctor Saved Thousands of Babies and Transformed American Medicine Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Jonathan McNicol contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Who would have thought that a book on grammar would be #5 on Amazon's best-seller list? (Should that be "whom" would have thought? Should I write out the number five? Should it be "bestseller?" Ugh. I can't remember if the exclamation goes inside or outside the quotation mark in the sentence I just asked myself.) Benjamin Dreyer says we're all writers. Or, we can channel our best writers if we choose our words more carefully, (try not writing the words very, rather, really, quite, surely, and actually for the next week) check our spelling, and quiet our sudden impulse to use two words where one will do. (Oops. I mean, quiet your impulse to use two words where one will do.) Most of all, break those rules you were taught to obey. Language is about more than grammar. It's about artistry, voice, style. Sentences ending with a preposition shouldn't be hard to put up with. And start your sentence with an "and" or "but." Embrace the fragment. Channel your passive voice. (but only if it makes your sentence stronger) I feel freer already.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dust is a fascinating substance. Our bodies are always shedding dust from our skin, hair, and nails, leaving little bits of DNA wherever we roam. Dust floats unseen through the air around us. It's light. It's hard to see unless it lands on a contrasting surface or crosses the path of a ray of sunshine. It can travel far and wide. Earth collects more than 100 tons of cosmic dust a day. A speck of it might be in your rug. The unseen dust deeply embedded in our homes over many years becomes an archive of every "geochemical" substance that's ever entered our home. All of history is recorded in the dust we create: the pollution we make, the fires we start, the chemicals we use, the volcanos that erupt. Scientists can learn about the Roman Empire through the dust that has been compressed each year for thousands of years into layers of ice sheets in Greenland. Today, we talk about the science and politics of dust. We also talk to a cleaning expert who will take your questions about dust and an artist who makes dust bunnies--bunnies sculptures from dust.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We want to hear from you. It's just Colin and your calls. Twenty Democratic presidential contenders are in the race for 2020. Are you suffering from choice overload? Is electability your primary criteria? If so, it probably shouldn't be. Who we consider electable usually leaves out women and minorities. Do we even know what makes someone electable?  You're not alone if you're having trouble keeping up with who believes what. Give us a call. Also this hour: Sunday's shooting at Chabad Poway is more evidence in the rise of anti-semitic violence across Europe and the U.S. The nearly 2,000 incidents fueled by social media and provacative language by politicians coincide with what the Anti-Defamation League calls the biggest jump in violence since it began tracking events forty years ago. Yet, as violence against Jews surge, there is a concurrent denial that anti-Semitism exists, including by way of ignorance. Here's how both topics come together. We have an opportunity before the 2020 election to demand plans on how candidates from both parties plan to deal with the rise of white nationalist violence.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To say Beyoncé's performance at Coachella was historic feels like an understatement. In about the span of a week, Queen Bey released a two hour Netflix exclusive film (part one of her deal with the streamer) of the entire concert, a 40-track live album from the same show, which was released unexpectedly, and just for fun, she released her 2016 pop culture smash album “Lemonade” on all streaming platforms, which was originally exclusive to just Tidal. Let’s not forget Bey’s Coachella set was months in the making, required about 200 people including dancers, musicians, and backup-singers, surprise appearances from Jay-Z, Destiny’s Child, and Solange, and it marked the first time an African American female headlined the 20-year old festival. So, yeah, it’s beyond historic. Today, the Nose gets into Homecoming. Plus, is Jeopardy broken? Average joe, James Holzhauer, has set all types of record-setting feats on the game show, and he’s currently on the verge of winning the biggest cash prize in show history. How?  Finally, are podcasts just wasting our time?Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fyre Festival, Theranos, Anna Delvey, the college admissions scandal... the list goes on. And whether explored on the news or as a book, podcast, documentary or feature film, consumers can't seem to get enough of this 'scamtent.' This hour, we'll talk about scams and scammers, and discuss why we as a culture can't seem to look away.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Most of us know what Kafkaesque means even if we've never read a word Kafka wrote. For example, it's Kafkaesque when your smart home turns on you. It's not Kafkaesque when you wait in line for two hours at DMV and they close the line when you get to the front. (Well, it's a little Kafkaesque.) Franz Kafka, the man whose absurdly dark stories inspired the adjective of the same name, was an ascetic and introspective man. He was given to self-doubt, concerned over his health and obsessed with writing. He said his need to write "left empty all those abilities which were directed toward the joys of sex, eating, drinking, philosophical reflection, and above all music." Today, we talk about the man behind the adjective and the truly Kafkaesque trial to determine who owned his papers.  Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The number of Americans who identify as 'spiritual but not religious' is growing, especially among millennials who may not be finding what they need in the religious institutions of their parents generation. While some of the "Nones" have never affiliated with a particular religion, those who have some connection to faith yearn to find meaning they can't find in traditional churches, synagogues and mosques. We look at why people -- especially millennials -- are becoming disaffected with religion, how mainstream institutions are responding (or not) to their departure, and how others are finding that the path to religion often goes through the arts much like it did centuries ago.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re exploring the world of Barbershop Harmony; from its roots in the African American community to its influence in other genres, Barbershop is an important piece of the puzzle in the American music scene. For many, Barbershop calls to mind old people, singing old songs - but ask any Barbershopper and they’ll tell you nothing can be further from the truth. For them, there is a youthful joy, a sense of family, a love for the music and the performance in a dynamic and empowering setting. And if you let them, they’ll gladly share it with you. So sit back and enjoy the sounds of Barbershop. Hopefully, we’ll ring a few chords along the way.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, the long awaited final season of Game of Thrones launched on HBO. As more than 17 million viewers dig in for one last round, some of the Nose's most dedicated fans gather to discuss what's made this series such a hit, and what they're thinking about as the show marches toward its end. GUESTS:  Rebecca Castellani - Director of operations at We Save Music. Jim Chapdelaine - Musician, producer, composer, and recording engineer Theresa Cramer - Writer and the editor of E Content Magazine Taneisha Duggan - Producing associate at Theater Works. Jacques Lamarre - Playwright and director of client services at Buzz Engine. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.  Colin McEnroe and Betsy Kaplan contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Engineers at Ford are working hard toward a breakthrough: A car that runs on tears! Okay, maybe not, but they really should be. Why? Because people cry in cars, a lot! Whether it's a sad song playing on the radio, passing a cemetary where a loved one is buried, or simply releasing the stress of a long, hard day, the car is one of the few places that offer the privacy and intimacy necessary for a good cry. And it's not just crying that happens in cars. Awkward, sometimes difficult conversations of all manner happen in cars every day. From bad first dates, to couples breaking up, to parents talking birds and bees with their kids, cars seem somehow perfectly designed to be emotional spaces. So what is it about cars that allow us to be so vulnerable? How, while surrounded by windows on all sides, do we manage to shroud ourselves in the illusion of privacy? On today's show we talk with psychologists and self professed car-cryers to explore this very phenomenon.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It could be argued that you will never understand yourself if you don’t understand the universe. And the universe is full of both beautiful and scary things. At least once, something has come roaring out of the skies to reconfigure completely life on earth. So it might be a good idea to study the heavens. If it’s a clear night, we’ll have telescopes outdoors, but one of the many misconceptions about astronomy is that it’s entirely visual. There are blind astronomers and ways to “hear” the stars. One way or another, we’re going to blow your mind.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Between November of 2016 and June of 2018, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) saw it's membership jump from 5,000 to over 40,000.  This hour we'll explore what socialism means today, and why the ideology is having a resurgence. Plus, why are more young people getting involved in the movement? Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The significance of being confirmed as Connecticut's first African-American state Supreme Court chief justice last May didn't fully sink in for Richard A. Robinson until a class of mostly minority students recently showed up to the Hartford court building for a tour. Robinson came down from his office to give a presentation to the children packed in the courtroom gallery. "You would have thought Barack Obama had walked in," he recalls during our initial call leading to today's show. "You could just sense a change in the room." The class wanted to know when his portrait would be going up on the wall next to the all-white chief justices who served before him. Robinson says he believes he opened many young eyes to how bright their futures could become. Robinson's goals as the new head of the Connecticut Judicial Branch center around working toward a time when everyone who enters a courthouse's doors, regardless of their background, is confident they will receive equal justice under the law. In his spare time, he's a 4th-degree black belt in the Tang Soo Do martial arts. He's also fluent in Middle English. We talk to him about his life as chief justice and how he got there.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What is country music? If you ask Billboard, it’s definitely not Lil Nas X’s viral sensation, and the number one song in America, “Old Town Road”. The song, which was also remixed with country star Billy Ray Cyrus, has country themes, vibes, and sounds country, but Billboard booted it off their country charts.  Still, Lil Nas X, Cyrus, and a big swath of the country love the song regardless of its genre and can’t stop lip-singing to it on social media. Today, The Nose hops on the “Old Town Road”. Plus, we cover the HBO series Barry. SNL alum Bill Hader co-created the series and he also stars, directs and writes the show. Hader plays Barry Berkman, a contract killer who is attempting to leave that life behind him while pursuing his new passion, acting. But he keeps killing people. This week the series was picked up for season three, so HBO definitely likes it. Today, the Nose takes on season two. Finally, we tackle Lucky Lee’s restaurant in New York.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's much more to vending machines than those tasty, preservative-laden treats temptingly lined up on display behind the glass casing. Today we take a magical voyage to find out what these snack dispensers tell us about how we live, what we value, our stresses, and our restraints. Along the way, we check in with a local author and Hartford Courant columnist who devoured one of each snack in her workplace vending machine one afternoon without being rushed to the hospital. We discuss their role in the nation's obesity epidemic, and why they rarely offer healthy eating choices. We discover the fascinatingly strange (warm corn chowder, camouflage watches), sometimes disgusting (used women's underpants) products they pump out in Japan. And we look at what they are legally not able to offer here in Connecticut. As Yale students found out, that includes emergency contraceptives. Could self-pouring beer machines be in the state's near future? What about machine serving delicious, ready-to-eat bacon?Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Women scientists and inventors have been making ground-breaking discoveries since Agnodike pretended to be a man in order to become the first female anatomist in ancient Greece. Yet, women's scientific contributions have historically been hidden in the footnotes of the work men claimed as their own.  It's 2019. Things are better, right?  Not really. Men still hold the majority of patents, and systemic biases still lead to lower pay, less authorship for scientific papers, and overt and subtle forms of harassment. Women scientists of color and those in the LGBTQ community feel it the most. Yet, women scientists are banding together to call out bias and give credit where it's due -- one Wikipedia page at a time.  Today, we talk to four of them.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode is really going to be the cat’s pajamas. Or is it pyjamas? Do cats even wear pajamas? Why would they? Why do we? Should any of us wear pajamas at all? And if we do don a pair, are they only for bed? Or should pajamas have their day in the sun? If our PJs are making a fashion statement just what exactly are they saying? We’re talking today about what we wear to bed, but who knows? Does not wearing pajamas to bed have health and other benefits once we settle in under the covers?  Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Since 1989, more than 2,000 people have been identified as victims of wrongful convictions in the U.S. In 2015 and 2016, the wrongfully convicted were exonerated at a rate of about three per week. This hour, a look at the reality of, psychology behind, and institutionalized pressures toward wrongful convictions in America.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Will Leitch, from New York Magazine, wrote that "The Era of the Old Athlete is Over." Is it? And what does this mean for the future of sports?    And, what's so bad about slicing your bagel like bread? You may have heard of "Bagelgate." We'll discuss the ins and outs of slicing your bagel in half, or into slices.    And finally: Tim Burton has directed a live action re-make of Dumbo. Our panel gives their take on the new film, and it's relationship to the original. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joni Mitchell is a singer-songwriter from Alberta, Canada. In 1968, her debut album, Song to a Seagull, was released and since then, Mitchell has become one of the most influential, and greatest recording artists. Mitchell has won nine Grammys, including a Lifetime Achievement Award, countless musical awards, and her albums are considered as among the best ever made. We’re big fans. It turns out we’re not alone. Today, we talk to a few friends of the show to discuss Mitchell’s influence on them while listening to their favorite Joni songs. Plus, we chat with Mitchell biographer David Yaffe who recently wrote Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There are a group of Connecticut parents who feel they must relinquish custody of  their “high needs” children in order to get them into residential treatment programs when in-home services are inadequate to meet their needs. Many years ago, the Connecticut Department of Children and Families chose to move children out of residential treatment centers and back to their families or foster care. Most agree it was a good move; residential care is expensive and many kids do better at home. Some wonder if we've gone too far. The combined effect of the closing of residential centers, budget restrictions, and lack of available community resources to fill the void have led to a perfect storm.  Connecticut is not the only state to use the 'custody-for-care' loophole. It still happens in 44 states, even though 26 of those states have statutes or policies to prevent it. Connecticut has significantly decreased its use over the last decade, but not enough. No one is a bad actor in this story. Parents do the best they can under difficult and stressful circumstances. DCF does the best they can within the reality of political and budgetary pressures. And there are systemic problems with the way insurance, hospitals, and schools are set-up to deal with the expensive and complex needs of some children.   Today, we take a look. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today's theme is about truth. Roger Cohen asks us to look inward at our complicity -- the media included -- when he laments our obsession to follow seductive, yet empty leaders down a primrose path. Truth no longer seems to have meaning in our social-media-driven democracy. Before assuming that Trump supporters and conspiracy theorists are to blame for our current condition, ask yourself whether leaders like our President Trump are the antithesis of our values or a reflection of them. The attorneys representing the Sandy Hook families who sued Alex Jones for repeatedly and falsely claiming the killings were staged, released the deposition to the public last week. It's funny how powerless and silly Jones looked when he could no longer control the narrative. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The sophomore film from any new director is oftentimes held to a harsher critique than their debut movie. It’s unfair. But Jordan Peele’s directorial debut was such a profound moment in 2017 culture, that anything he created after couldn’t live to the success of Get Out. And then there was Us. Not only did Us gross a lot of money, but it’s (mostly) universally praised by critics and audiences just like Get Out. Is the film a commentary on race? A commentary on class? Was it just a giant bait-and-switch? Did you even notice all of the references? The Nose attempts to go underground with Us. But that’s not all. Since 2016, Amy Schumer has been one of the most successful comedians in entertainment. Last week, she released her second Netflix stand-up special, Growing, where she talks personally about her husband’s autism, her difficult pregnancy with hyperemesis, and, well about other things we just can’t say here. But is it funny? The Nose weighs in.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

During his remarkable career with the Boston Red Sox, Ted Williams earned many nicknames: The Kid, The Splendid Splinter, Teddy Ballgame... but the only nickname that he ever wanted was "the greatest hitter who ever lived." And maybe he really was? He's baseball's all-time leader in on-base percentage, and he's second behind only Babe Ruth in both slugging and on-base plus slugging percentages. He's the last guy to hit .400, and that was 77 years ago. And on top of all that, he lost close to five full seasons (and three of them in the prime of his career) to serve in two different wars. This hour, a look at the man, the hitter, and the pitchman (you see what I did there) that was Ted Williams.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The annual U.N. World Happiness Report was released last week on World Happiness Day. (I'm a little unhappy that we missed it.)  It may be no surprise that the happiest countries have a few traits in common: people in happy countries value social and cultural connections, trust their government to work for them, and like to help others more than people in less happy countries. They also vote in greater numbers and donate more time and money to causes important to them. America didn't make the top ten. Leo Canty took a 44,000-mile trip through 2018's ten happiest countries. We talk with Leo about what he discovered in his talks with people who live in those places.   Also this hour: The comic strip "Cathy" resonated with a generation of young women when it first appeared in the comic pages in 1976. It gave voice to women's confusion and grief that their newfound 'liberation' remained stubbornly tethered to the expectations of a still dominant patriarchy. The strip ran for 34 years and in almost 1,400 newspapers before ending its run in 2010.  For Cathy Guisewite, creator of the eponymous comic strip, happiness has always been a step out of reach for her and her namesake.  We talk with Cathy and Leo about the search for happiness. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It is estimated that 12 million Americans live inside one of our nations roughly 45,000 mobile home communities. Despite these numbers, few people outside these parks truly know what life is like for their residents. Stereotypes of mobile home communities are still largely tolerated in America, and as of yet there's been little pushback against such depictions. In headlines, Hollywood movies and on television, images of addicts, alcoholics and other societal outcasts still abound in stories of trailer park living. This hour we speak with mobile home park operators, residents and researchers about the reality of life in these parks, about the struggle of park residents to achieve upward mobility, and about the need for mobile homes as a low-cost housing option. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

President Donald Trump is declaring it to be a "complete and total exoneration," but Democrats in Congress vehemently disagree.  Still how much should they press to win the release of every bit of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Trump campaign contacts with Russian interlopers during the 2016 election?  On today's Scramble, we'll consider that and several other questions emerging Sunday from Attorney General Bill Barr's four-page summary of Mueller's findings.  Those questions include: What happened with the FBI's counterintelligence investigation into whether Trump was secretly working on behalf of Russia? Did Mueller perform his duties admirably in an era of government leaks, or will he be remembered most for punting on the question of whether Trump should be charged with obstruction of justice? Was 48 hours adequate time for Barr to reach his conclusions about a 22-month investigation? Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For a period of about fifty years, many of America's top cartoonists and illustrators lived within a stone's throw of one another in the southwestern corner of Connecticut. Comic strips and gag cartoons read by hundreds of millions were created in this tight-knit group -- Prince Valiant, Superman, Beetle Bailey, Hägar the Horrible, Hi and Lois, Nancy, The Wizard of Id, Family Circus... I could keep going. This hour, a look at the funny pages, and at Connecticut's cartoon county.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, on Last Week Tonight, John Oliver tackled public shaming with perhaps the one person who has had the worst case of public shaming in recent memory, Monica Lewinsky. The interview focused on how Lewinsky survived the shaming, and she said if social media was around in the mid-90s, it could have been worse. That’s how James Gunn got his dose of public shaming. Eight months ago the director was fired from Guardians of the Galaxy 3 by Disney after decade old social media comments by Gunn surfaced. The tweets made light of pedophilia and rape. But now Gunn was rehired by Disney. So maybe there is a way back from public shame? Plus, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse was released on Blu-ray and made available for rent this past Tuesday (you can also purchase it on Amazon, Google Play or wherever you buy digital movies). This week we get into the Oscar winner for Best Animated Feature because it’s one of the best animated and superhero films ever made, despite being the (and depending on how you want to count it) ninth film to feature a Spider-Man. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

March Madness starts TODAY with some of the best games coming to Hartford! There's a lot of excitement over the match-up between No. 5 seed Marquette's Marcus Howard and No. 12 seed Murray State's Ja Morant. I'm just sayin' that a No. 5 seed has beat a No. 12 seed 67% of the time. Last year's winner, Villanova, also starts in Hartford. And Florida State will play the University of Vermont. Okay, Vermont may not win but they have a great mascot and they tell you why you should root for them.  As is our custom, a comedian and a political commentator join us to share their bracket strategy. Since there are 9.2 quintillion possible outcomes for a bracket -- that's 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 -- we think their chances are pretty good.  This hour, we talk mascots, vasectomy rates during March Madness, Wofford, the XL Center's deterioration and, hopefully, something about basketball. *It's probably our 10th one of these. Other options include its being our ninth one of these. Also our eighth one of these. But probably it's our 10th. GUESTS:  Julia Pistell - Writer, podcaster, and comedian.; she's the host of the podcast Literary Disco and Managing Director at Sea Tea Improv (@echochorus) Bill Curry - Political commentator, two-time Democratic nominee for Governor of Connecticut, and former White House advisor in the Clinton Administration (@BillCurryct) Nayef Samrat - President of Wofford College (@WoffordTerriers) Frankie Graziano - Reporter at Connecticut Public Radio (@FrankieGrazie6) Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In case you haven't heard, our planet is as flat as a pancake. Sound crazy? Perhaps. But around the globe (disc?) a flat Earth movement is steadily on the rise. More and more people, educated and not, from all walks of life, are posting videos, attending conferences, and publishing books embracing this seemingly radical notion. NBA all-stars like Kyrie Irving and Shaquille O'Neal have publicly supported the idea. Rapper B.o.B is funding a satellite launch to prove it. And if that's not enough to convince you, know that social media and television star Tia Tequila is also a believer! Is this just some strange new celebrity fad like Scientology, or is it a larger symptom of the post-truth, alternative facts era we're living in? This hour we look inside the flat Earth movement with believers and non-believers alike to find out.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Colin was diagnosed with melanoma last year. He had a few scary weeks between diagnosis and removal of the cancer. He's told he's clean but, what happens next?  Fewer Americans diagnosed with cancer this year will die from their disease than at any other time in the last two decades. Medical advances in detection and treatment and a population more aware of the habits that can lead to cancer are helping more people live with cancer. The good news is that more people survive a diagnosis of cancer. The bad news is that regardless of the medical advances, the word "cancer" can still trigger mental images that terrify us and the medical treatment can leave us ill-prepared to live with  the fear and emotional upheaval that take center stage after the cancer is treated.  Today, Colin talks with friends who have been living with cancer for a very long time.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're outraged that wealthy parents illegally paid to get their kids into elite colleges they would otherwise not qualify to enter. Despite evidence to the contrary, we still want to believe that America is a meritocracy. It's not. And believing that it is might be bad for you. The word ‘meritocracy’ was coined as a satirical slur by Michael Young, a British sociologist and politician, in his 1958 dystopic novel, The Rise of the Meritocracy, 1870–2033. The idea that luck, socioeconomic status, and environment were neutralized by grit and hard work made it easy to absolve ourselves of discriminatory policy and rising inequality -- until now.   Also this hour: the global threat of white nationalism and the NCAA brackets. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp suffered major worldwide outages, and Twitter previewed some possible new changes. And people took to (what else?) social media to (what else?) complain. And: The Ringer asks the age-old question, if a TV show falls in the woods, and no one talks about it, can it be certified fresh? Or something like that. And finally: Captain Marvel is the 21st feature film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is the ninth movie in the MCU's Phase Three. It is, chronologically, a sequel to 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger and a prequel to 2008's Iron Man. I didn't follow much of that, but I get this part: After 11 years and all those previous movies, it's the first one with a female lead.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jessica Harper has starred in movies like Suspiria, Brian De Palma's Phantom of the Paradise, Woody Allen's Stardust Memories, and Steven Spielberg's Minority Report. And now she's publishing a memoir as a podcast. Winnetka tells the story of growing up in a big family -- six kids, including two sets of twins -- in the 1950s and '60s in the midwest -- in Winnetka, Ill., you see -- and later in Connecticut. Plus: An update on the podcast industry more generally. The "Netflix of podcasts" is here. A big new study on podcasting has just come out. And... is "podcaster burnout" becoming a thing?Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Are you one of the millions inspired by Marie Kondo and her KonMari Method to get rid of your clutter? Kondo's books, such as The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and Netflix series, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, have sparked an intense and prolonged fervor where other self-help gurus have failed.  What is it about this phenom who advocates tidying as the path to the self-actualization? Is it her respect for our stuff as animated and alive? Is it because she doesn't shame us for our consumption, even as she encourages us to consider why we consume? Do our things 'spark joy' or hold us back? Yet, she's not without her critics. The backlash has been fierce, and occasionally misconstrued  Kondo's words. What's so threatening about questioning what we value? Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.