The Apple Seed

Guest: Sarah Pierce, Policy Analyst, US Immigration Program, Migration Policy Institute US immigration policy is Top of Mind today. President Trump has just signed an executive order to end the forced separation of migrant families at the US-Mexico border. It’s quite a reversal after days of defending the policy and blaming Democrats for bad immigration laws that forced his hand. Since early May, 2,342 children have been separated from their parents after crossing the southern US border, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Guest: Lincoln H. Blumell, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Ancient Scripture, Brigham Young University Among the ancient treasures housed in BYU’s Special Collections vault is a piece of papyrus that contains the notes of a student who attended the lecture of a famous religious scholar in early Christianity. The document has an incredible discovery story involving a cave and a group of soldiers during World War II who had no idea what they’d uncovered.

Guest: Amy Bentley, PhD, Professor of Food Studies, New York University  Ketchup is one of the most popular condiments in American restaurants. It pairs well with French fries and burgers. What makes ketchup so appealing to American taste buds?  The Chinese actually made it first - though they left out the tomatoes and used fermented fish instead. So really, can you even call that ketchup?  Amy Bentley is also the author of, “Inventing Baby Food: Taste, health, and the Industrialization of the American Diet.” Click here to listen to our interview about her book.

Guest: Eve Abrams, Lead Producer of the Radio Show “Unprisoned”, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation “Artist as Activist” Fellow About one in every hundred people in Louisiana and Oklahoma are behind bars. In a country that sends more people per-capita than any other, these two states are competing for the incarceration capital of the world. Eve Abrams is producer of the “Unprisoned” podcast, which airs on WWNO public radio in New Orleans. It tells the stories of individuals impacted by the criminal justice system and mass incarceration in Louisiana.

Guests: Erin Beckloff, Co-Director of “PRESSING ON: The Letterpress Film”; Gregory Walters, Long-time Printer, Featured in the Documentary Computers and easy-to-use software have turned the whole world into graphic designers capable of making a decent poster or party invitation from a vast array of templates. So maybe that’s why there’s such a fascination right now with old-school printing and design. Owning a vintage letterpress bestows all kinds of hipster cred.  “Pressing On” is now available on iTunes and Amazon.