With Good Reason
by Virginia Humanities
Latest episode
Farm-to-Feast Thanksgiving
Farm-to-Feast Thanksgiving
About this podcast
Each week scholars explore the worlds of literature, science, the arts, politics, history, religion, and business through lively discussion with host Sarah McConnell. From the controversies over slave reparations and global warming, to the unique worlds of comic books and wine-making, With Good Reason is always surprising, challenging and fun!
Episodes
The newest 50 of 470 episodes
- Farm-to-Feast Thanksgiving · 52 minChef Joy Crump of Foode brings "familiar with a twist" flavor to the holiday table. She shares her deep roots of cooking as an act of love. Also: Discover how native crops and…
- Living Language · 52 minHarsh U.S. policies forbade Virginian Indian tribes from speaking their own languages for generations. But when a friend asked then-Army linguist Ian Custalow "What about your…
- Sidelines of the Mainstream · 52 minLARP stands for Live Action Role Play. Think of it like Lord of the Rings comes to life, where you get to create your own character and wield foam swords on a mock-battlefield…
- Haunted Fun · 52 minGhost stories aren’t just for campouts and slumber parties. Ingrid Johnson shares some of the great writers–from Shakespeare to Oscar Wilde–who have turned to ghosts for…
- Baby Brains and Little Beats · 52 minJennifer McDonel-Rivers and David Rivers have made children’s music together for years. And it’s led to one happy marriage and multiple albums of educational songs that kids love…
- Black Studies Under Threat · 52 minBlack Studies Departments on college campuses nationwide are facing mounting pressures. Shawn Utsey says they need to engage even more closely with the Black communities they…
- The Rumpelstiltskin Effect · 52 minHealth Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said that America is the “sickest country in the world,” citing that 76.4% of Americans suffer from a chronic disease. And maybe so…
- Unheard · 52 minSitting in a doctor’s office trying to understand “medicalese” is really frustrating. Suzanne Makarem found forty women who switched to nontraditional medical professionals after…
- Women at Work · 52 minAt colleges and universities, women professors are doing a lot more emotional work on top of teaching and research. Linda Waldron explains how that happens and how it affects…
- Love in the Digital Age · 52 minStumbling into your soulmate while running errands used to be romantic. But Jenny Rosier says this romcom fantasy has gone out of style. She studies the ever-changing dating…
- Voices Behind Walls · 52 minCollege classrooms are opening up behind federal prison walls, sparking a massive shift in American higher education. Driven by the return of Pell Grant eligibility for…
- America After 1619 · 52 minIn late August 1619, twenty or more enslaved Africans arrived in Virginia at what’s now called Fort Monroe. They were the first Africans documented in British North America. Fort…
- Rights to Nature · 52 minThe James River provides drinking water for 1 in 4 Virginians. But it was once the most polluted river in America. Justin Black and Will Gemma’s two-part documentary Headwaters…
- Jazz and Civil Rights · 52 minThe personal and professional lives of musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane cannot be divorced from the struggle for racial equality. Antonio Garcia…
- Healing from the Holocaust · 52 minAfter liberation, concentration camp survivors were left a shell of themselves - malnourished, diseased, and traumatized. Children who lost their parents and extended family had…
- The Pursuit of Happiness · 52 minWhat did Jefferson mean by “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”? Adam Potkay explains the moral and philosophical world behind the phrase and the important passages that…
- Counting Plants · 52 minLittle babies and potted plants: the stationary, the helpless... the hardest working beings in the room. Peter Vishton found that babies and plants process information in similar…
- Mow Lawn, Mo Problems · 52 minWhat if a well-manicured lawn isn’t the end all be all? What if it’s actually harming the local habitat? Doug Tallamy is the co-founder of Home Grown National Park. It’s a…
- Audacious Women · 52 minA new one-woman show tells the story of Virginia’s history through the eyes of ten audacious women. From the Civil War to the Harlem Renaissance to the Civil Rights movement…
- America the Beautiful · 52 minFrom Marian Anderson’s 1939 concert at the Lincoln Memorial to Marvin Gaye singing the National Anthem at the NBA Finals, the theme of patriotism can be heard throughout African…
- Stories for the Semiquincentennial · 52 minIn 1976, the Bikecentennial became the first organized bike tour across the U.S. Around 4,000 bicyclists pedaled to celebrate the Bicentennial, or America’s 200th anniversary…
- Framing the Civil War · 52 minFor nearly a century the National Park Service would tell you all about the civil war battles and tactics, but meticulously avoided the most explosive word in the American…
- The Monsters Among Us · 52 minA cold, dark summer in 1816 brought an extraordinary group of young writers together on the shores of Lake Geneva—including an eighteen-year-old Mary Shelley. Andrew Stauffer…
- Fatherhood · 52 minGeorge Tzamaras fancies himself as a “connoisseur of fine dad jokes.” I have him rate a few of my own dad jokes as a rite of passage as I start my journey into fatherhood. His…
- A Crack in the System · 52 minI’ll admit it, I’m not very good at dealing with conflict. In fact, I’d rather avoid conflict altogether than tackle it head on. It’s not something I really love about myself. So…
- What Air is to Fire · 52 minA life steeped in literature fueled the rise of the nation’s first Muslim woman elected to a statewide office. Ghazala Hashmi discusses the power of storytelling and why she…
- 2026 Summer Reading Recs · 52 minIt’s time for our annual summer reading recommendation round-up! From a book that traces the Cold War history of our “Made in China” goods, to a witchy novel about an old woman…
- Music That Speaks · 52 minIf you’re looking for new music, you might turn to youtube, spotify, social media–basically, the internet. In Cuba, internet access is so limited that music is passed through a…
- Eye in the Sky · 52 minThere’re over 10,000 active satellites orbiting Earth. And they do more than just power our phones and GPS, they’re giving us a whole new perspective on who we are. Dan Runfola…
- Love in the Time of Hubots · 52 minIn the German novel “I’m Your Man” a couples therapist and her robot partner Tom explore the limits of post-human love. Holly Yanacek wrote the English translation of the novel…
- Child's Play · 52 minLEGO used to be just for kids. But with the help of the COVID-19 pandemic and plain old burnout, many adults have returned to LEGO. They’ve even got a cool acronym – AFOL. It…
- Making Justice · 52 minWhat makes a court a court? Most people might answer something like this: there’s a judge with legal training who makes a judgment, and if you don’t follow their judgment, you…
- HBCUs Past, Present, and Future · 52 minHistorically Black Colleges and Universities are powerful American institutions. Cheryl Mango and Lisa Winn Bryan explore the culture, currency, and legacy of HBCUs. Later in…
- Having a Ruff Day · 52 minDogs have co-evolved with humans for thousands of years. They’re uniquely adapted to us. It’s why our dogs are more than pets, they’re family! Tanya Mitropoulos studies how dogs…
- Touring Wuthering Heights · 52 minIn the world of literary tourism, the Brontë Parsonage Museum in the Yorkshire moors is a heavy hitter. Alison Booth says this small stone house in the town of Haworth served as…
- Ultimate Enforcers · 52 minDemocratic constitutions are social contracts. And sometimes, what’s on the page is more stunning than what comes to life. Mila Versteeg says that citizens are the ultimate…
- Ruling Women · 52 minIn fascist Italy, resistance took surprising forms. Maura Hametz shares the story of one woman who stood up to the regime–by refusing to change her name. And: Numbers of Black…
- Hungry Black Holes · 52 minEinstein theorized the existence of black holes. Then in the 1960’s we observed them for the first time. Anca Constantin says black holes occur throughout the universe, but we…
- A Miserable Revenge · 52 minGeorge Newman, born to free Black parents in 1855, was only 21 or 22 when he wrote the novel, A Miserable Revenge: A Story of Life in Virginia. Newman’s granddaughter, Ruth…
- The Grand Mothers · 52 minLucille Clifton survived cancer four times. She maintained that her mother would not let her die until she had finished her work on Earth. That work? Writing poetry. A year…
- Staggered by the Fact of You · 52 minJoin us as we bring two nationally renowned Black poets conversation with a new generation of Black poets. This episode features former Virginia Poet Laureate and Old Dominion…
- Concrete Jungle · 52 minFaedah Totah is a walker. So when she traveled to Damascus, Syria in the 2000’s, she ditched the car and sauntered the streets to really take in the beauty of the old city. She…
- The Body Language of Trees · 52 minScientists are using video cameras and glorified fitbits to decipher the body language of trees. Geology professor Dom Ciruzzi says the way trees sway tells us a lot about tree…
- Delicious Predator · 52 minThe Chesapeake Bay is ballooning with an apex predator that can only be defeated with grease and breading – blue catfish! They were introduced to Virginia’s freshwater rivers in…
- Recovery · 52 minUniversities have been trying to curb dangerous binge drinking for years. Today’s students are glued to their phones, and Abby Braitman (Old Dominion University) and her…
- Holiday Hand Me Downs · 52 minAs we age, we come to appreciate the holiday traditions of our youth. Ricky Mullins (University of Virginia at Wise) remembers receiving treat bags at his small, backroads…
- Holiday Tunes · 52 minMusic is wrapped up in how we celebrate the holidays. Musician and band director Stephanie Sanders (Norfolk State University) shares some of her favorite holiday tunes and why…
- Grief Attacks · 52 minElisabeth Kübler-Ross’ concept of the stages of grief gave people real footing in understanding how we react to loss. But Sherman Lee (Christopher Newport University) says grief…
- The Weight of a Whale · 52 minA new anthology of poems, including one that reflects on the weight of a whale, gathers voices from science, the arts, and Indigenous communities to create a portrait of nature…
