Hillbilly Elegy, Skateboarding, Animal Armor, Ty Detmer

Hillybilly Elegy Guest: J.D. Vance, Author of “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis” J.D. Vance’s life today is something his 13-year-old self would have considered impossibly ludicrous. He’s a former Marine with a degree from Ohio State University and a graduate of Yale Law School now working as a principal in a Silicon Valley investment firm. He’s also a rising star among conservative commentators. For a kid with Kentucky roots growing up in an Ohio steel town that – as Vance writes – “has been hemorrhaging jobs and hope for as long as” he can remember, the future was bleak. Life with his single, drug-addicted mother was chaotic and miserable. The numbers said a lucky outcome for a kid like him would mean barely avoiding welfare. Unlucky meant dying of a heroin overdose. Can Skateboarding Survive the Olympics? Guest: Neftalie Williams, Professor of Skateboarding Business, Media and Culture at the University of Southern California The next time the Summer Olympics roll around – that’ll be 2020 in Tokyo – skateboarding will be part of the games. To see skateboarding get the official Olympic sport seal of approval might surprise anyone who considers the kids doing tricks on curbs and handrails around town a public nuisance. The more surprising thing is that lots of skateboarders want nothing to do with the Olympics or even the title of “sport” applied to what they do. More than 7,000 of them have signed an online petition urging the International Olympic Committee to drop skateboarding from the plan for Tokyo. Why Do Some Animals Have Body Armor? Guest: Ted Stankowich, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biology at California State University, Long Beach We know that animals adapt and evolve to survive as their environments change. So what kind of an environment causes an animal to develop quills, spikes or noxious spray, while other animals living in the same environment have no such protection? Break Open the (Non-Alcoholic) Bubbly Guest: Bruce Blosil, CEO and Founder of Delmosa The fo