The Colin McEnroe Show

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.

Sunday morning news shows were abuzz about the Democratic National Committee's decision to deselect Fox News as a media partner for the 2020 Democratic presidential primary debates. But you may have missed it if you didn't reset your clocks to Daylight Savings Time, or like a lot of us, spent your weekend fixated on that hour of lost sleep. On this week's Scramble, we take on the weary rants over both topics. Is the DNC wasting an opportunity to pull in Republicans or independents dissatisfied with President Donald Trump by ruling out Fox News as a debate host? Or is it a justified response to the cable network's uncomfortably close ties to the occupant in the White House, as meticulously detailed in a recent examination in The New Yorker? As for that lost hour of sleep, should we readjust our clocks permanently ahead one hour so we capture that extra sunlight when we get out of work? Many say yes. But what about those children waiting for the morning school bus when it's still dark outside?Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's been rough going here for the famous for a little while. This week, Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek announced his stage four cancer diagnosis. Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver retired from public life because of his dementia diagnosis. And then there are the deaths: Actor Luke Perry at 52. The Prodigy frontman Keith Flint at 49. Actress Katherine Helmond at 89. Also this hour: a look at Netflix's new not-exactly-the-X-Men, but-still-adapted-from-a-comic-book series, The Umbrella Academy.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You know all the reasons Trump won, right? Economic anxiety. Racial anxiety. The forgotten working class. The forgotten rustbelt... But what if the real cause were something much simpler and much more pervasive: our popular culture. This hour, a conversation with Peter Biskind, the author of The Sky Is Falling: How Vampires, Zombies, Androids, and Superheroes Made America Great for Extremism.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Laszlo Ratesic is a nineteen-year veteran of the Speculative Service. He lives in the Golden State, the only place left in what was once America. Laszlo's job is to bring the worst criminals to justice, those who tell lies. In his new novel, Ben Winters creates a world which might sound Eden-esque in our era of misinformation. It's getting more difficult to distinguish real from fake news, AI-assisted technology allows a bad actor to splice celebrity heads onto the faces of actors in a pornographic video, and major news organizations need to keep track of how often America's president lies.  Yet, we should be careful what we wish for. Philosophers like Derrida have long questioned the nature of truth; can there be one truth? If so, whose truth is it? While few of us want to return to the pre-internet days when everyone got their news from Walter Cronkite, we need to understand how to recognize when information is false and how it is spread. It's too easy to blame ignorance or a willful repudiation of the truth for the spread of misinformation. It's a lot more about who we trust.  For those who fear a Golden State could be our future, there's hope on the horizon if we're willing to pay attention.  GUESTS: Ben Winters - Author of ten novels including Underground Airlines, the award-winning Last Policeman trilogy, and most recently Golden State: A Novel James Owen Weatherall  - Professor of Logic and Philosophy of Science at the University of California, Irvine and the author of three books. His most recent is The Misinformation Age: How False Beliefs Spread, co-authored with Cailin O’Connor  Aviv Ovadya - Founder of the Thoughtful Technology Project, set to launch soon, and a non-resident fellow at the German Marshall Fund’s Alliance for Securing Democrac (@metaviv) 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.

For the past few months, Nose regular Jacques Lamarre has been posting debate-starting, head-to-head style Facebook posts. Taylor Swift vs. Katy Perry. Ketchup vs. mustard vs. mayonnaise. When Harry Met Sally vs. Sleepless in Seattle. That kind of thing. And so now, we've decided to try to turn the concept into a radio show. This hour, YOU MUST CHOOSE.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joyce Maynard has been writing for over 45 years about the kind of human experiences we're often taught to keep hidden - stories  about envy, anger, vanity, self-pity, pride.   We read her stories because they offer a chance to first confront and then forgive ourselves for how those emotions can shape us into people we don't like.  Her honesty has come at a cost to her.  She has been criticized for writing about her relationship as an 18-year-old with a famous 53-year-old writer after 26 years of silence. She was told she should have kept quiet.  She did this 20 years before #MeToo. Today, we have a wide-ranging discussion with Joyce Maynard about politics, #MeToo, art, music and her marriage at 59-years-old to a love who died from cancer 3 short years later.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was hard to watch the first part of Leaving Neverland, the documentary which aired on HBO aired on March 3. The poignancy of the mixed emotions expressed by two men and their mothers who fell under the spell of Michael Jackson and later, his predation, left me feeling like a fly on the wall of a particularly difficult visit to a therapist. I was forced to consider my own complicity in how we collectively create and reward a celebrity culture that allows us to suspend reality against our own better judgment. We've seen time and again in the recent year with Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, and R. Kelly, to name a few, and how it takes a village to let serial predators go unscathed in the name of art and profit. Also this hour: The cheating and doping scandals in the world of professional bridge. Lastly, we take your calls. Have we hit peak cancel culture yet? Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nobody likes the termite. They get into the wood in our homes that can lead to infuriating and expensive repairs. What's to like. It turns out, there's a lot to like about the termite; scientists study how termites build their "mounds" for clues to solving some of the world's most pressing problems, like mitigating the effects of drought, building colonies on Mars, and the creation of biofuels. Plus, their ability to adapt to the harshest conditions over millions of years says a lot about them. Almost 90% of the microbes found in their guts are unique to the termite. Those same gut microbes are what make them so productive and on the flip side, so destructive. Lastly, some believe termites work with joy and have a soul. You be the judge.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why do we dance? The answer is more complicated than you might think. Dancing has served a multitude of functions for various cultures throughout history, and there is even evidence to suggest we, as a species, are biologically hard-wired to dance.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You have pain that wakes you up at night and distracts you during the day. You go to the doctor, who asks you to grade your pain on a scale of 1-10. The doctor can't find anything wrong with you; it may be stress or anxiety or that you need more exercise or sleep. You're confused. You feel pain but nothing seems to be wrong. Does this sound familiar?Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We were going to produce a show today on loneliness with British writer Olivia Laing. We still want to do that show with Olivia - but not today.Instead, we decided to switch gears and talk with Olivia and other artists about the themes in Olivia's new novel because they mirror our own concerns: how to live life in this fast-moving world where the present is history in the blink of an eye and world leaders can end our world with one wrong tweet? How can we exist, create art, raise children, commit to a future in a world that could be ending?Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today, we remember Peter Tork of The Monkees. This show originally aired April 25, 2013.John Lennon said they were the greatest comedy team since the Marx Brothers.Gene Roddenberry based the look of the character Chekov on them. The Jimi Hendrix Experience got its first U.S. concert work as their opening act.  Their TV show generated the money that launched the movie career of Jack Nicholson.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's been a year of aborted missteps for the Academy Awards. There was going to be a new Best Popular Picture category. But now there won't be. Kevin Hart was going to host. But now there's nobody. They were going to present four awards -- including Film Editing and Cinematography -- during the commercial breaks. But now they aren't.Oh and there're the actual movies. Roma and The Favourite lead the field with 10 nominations each. A Star Is Born was once the favorite (no "u") to win in a bunch of categories. But now bettors' odds seem to favor Roma. Or maybe Green Book? And A Star Is Born? Its Best Picture hopes have fallen all the way to 40-1 against.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. 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. 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.

To do a show about local stand-up comedy, we figured we should probably do a show of local stand-up comedy.So we went to a comedy club, put on a comedy show, and then did a talk show about the comedy show we'd just done.This hour: some of said comedy show plus most of said talk show -- and we're fairly confident it'll make more sense when you hear it than it probably just did reading about it.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Colin's away this week, but The Nose must go on! Or maybe "must" isn't quite right, but in this particular case, The Nose is going on -- with excellent guest hosts: The Arts Paper's Lucy Gellman and the New Haven Independent's Tom Breen.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mimes have been gesticulating their way into our hearts (or nightmares) for a lot longer than you may think. While it may have been the legendary Marcel Marceau who popularized the mime, people have been communicating through movement since the very beginning.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're doing a show on supermarkets today - from a supermarket!Most Americans still buy most of their food from a supermarket. While farmer's markets and specialty stores offer organic and local alternatives, large-scale supermarkets still offer more convenience, the lowest prices and a seemingly endless variety of choices. Their big wide aisles with neatly stacked and eye-catching packaged products are hard to resist. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How do you make a 100-meter telescope that folds down to three meters so you can tuck it inside a space vehicle? How do you make a heart stent that folds out inside the human body? In each case, researchers have turned to masters of origami, the thousand-year-old art of paper folding.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.)Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Darko Tresnjak has been artistic director at Hartford Stage Company since 2011. During his tenure here, he's won a Tony. He's had multiple productions make the leap to Broadway. His Anastasia has multiple tours touring internationally.And this season is his last season in Hartford.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wilhelm Reich was a once-promising psychoanalyst and scientist under the guidance of Freud in pre-World War II Europe. He promoted the "sexual revolution" to support his belief that sexual repression was linked to the bodily and societal ills of neurosis and fascism.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton has inspired millions to learn more about the founding of America. Some may be moved by a story of scrappy underdogs fighting for freedom against all odds. Others may wonder if America has ever lived up to the ideals assured in our Constitution. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Have you ever been to the opera? I know, you think it's stuffy and formal and only for rich, white people of a certain age. You're wrong. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.