Trust Your Gut

Guest: Quinn Mecham Regular contributor Quinn Mecham joins us monthly to point our attention toward three international events worthy of a bit more attention: corruption in Brazil, South Korea and South Africa, violence in Gaza and the new prime minister in Ethiopia.

Guest: Robbie Miller Kaplan, Author, “How to Say It When You Don’t Know What to Say” The stormy teenaged years are a time of intense emotions – lots of highs and lows as young people develop and learn to regulate their emotions. So, it may surprise you to hear grief expert Robbie Miller Kaplan say that we mature adults could learn a thing or two from the way teens cope with loss. Read more of Kaplan's writing about grief on her blog.

Guest: Steven Wisensale, PhD, Professor of Public Policy, University of Connecticut Here’s a story about baseball’s centuries-long ability to broker goodwill. Believe it or not, the game played an important role in helping the US and Japan mend relations after World War II. And more recently, when a US submarine collided with a Japanese ship, killing nine high school students and teachers, a youth baseball tournament was organized to honor the victims. That tournament rotates between Japan and Hawaii and has happened every year since the accident in 2001.

Guest: Rod Gustafson, Host, Parent Previews A Quiet Place: In a post-apocalyptic world, a family tries to avoid detection from the unknown beings that destroyed mankind. They are only in danger if they make a sound… but it is hard to live in total silence. The Miracle Season: A high school volley ball team is emotionally devastated after the death of star player Caroline "Line" Found. But under the guidance of their coach, the girls rally together to hoping to win the state championship in their teammate's honor. Chappaquiddick: Based on a true story, this movie dramatizes the wreckage caused to the political career of Senator Ted Kennedy when, in 1969, he is involved in a car accident that claimed the life of a 28-year-old woman, Mary Jo Kopechne.

Guest: Suzy Hansen, Journalist, Author, “Notes on a Foreign Country: An American Abroad in a Post-American World” Journalist Suzy Hansen moved to Istanbul in 2007 to learn more about Islam and the Middle East. When her two year writing fellowship ended, the recession was in full swing and jobs were tight back in the US. So she stayed in Turkey and continued her travels reporting around the region – Afghanistan, Egypt, Greece, Iran, Iraq.  And everywhere she went, she encountered people surprised that the she knew hardly anything about their country’s history, while their lives were literally defined by US influence in their country.  Hansen’s book “Notes on a Foreign Country” is full of these eye-opening moments as she – a white American woman – discovers just how little she understands about America’s influence around the world.