St. Louis-area residents Rachel Webb and Jossalyn Larson come from different walks of life, but they have at least one path in common: They’ve both in recent years developed breast cancer – and have chosen to open up online about their experiences living with it. While they now have intensive treatments and surgeries behind them, their respective journeys are far from over. The two women join guest host Ruth Ezell to discuss some of the surprises and challenges they’ve been encountering lately.
Leticia Colon de Mejias, founder of nonprofit Green Eco Warriors, believes we can impact the environment for the better by making small, consistent changes to energy consumption. She also advocates for Latinos getting a place at the table in activism and involvement in environmental issues.
As the U.S. population grows more ethnically diverse, many historians and educators are becoming more aware of changing demographics and are keen on ensuring that diversity is reflected in the way the nation’s history is presented in classrooms. Guest host Ruth Ezell of the Nine Network delves into how educators are developing more well-rounded approaches to teaching history in an inclusive way.
After many months of planning and construction, the owners of a unique project in north St. Louis are now calling the completed space home. Gina and Travis Sheridan moved into their house, which is made out of nine steel shipping containers and located in the Old North neighborhood, several weeks ago. In this episode of "St. Louis on the Air," they discuss what went into the effort and share what they’re enjoying most about their distinctive new abode.
Women make up just a fraction of professional basketball referees, coaches and owners. A St. Louis woman is doing her best to change that. In our Sharing America profiles series, St. Louis Public Radio’s Andrea Henderson meets Khalia Collier who owns and operates the St. Louis Surge Women’s Basketball Team. Collier uses her role as a means of mentoring youth and advocating for more women coaching and owning pro sports teams and refereeing.
Yes, Nature can probably get along without us, but we are here and we're part of Nature, our nature creates as well as whacks. How can we renew this connection? To heal and protect Nature - and us!
Andres Edwards - educator, media professional and welcomed returning Earthworms guest - brings ideas and heart to this conversation from his new book Renewal - How Nature Awakens Our Creativity, Compassion, and Joy (2019, New Society Publishers).
THANKS to Andy Heaslet, Earthworms engineer
Music: Brandenburg No.4, composed by J.S. Bach, performed by Kevin MacLeod
Like many urban and rural areas around the U.S., the St. Louis region has seen a shortage of veterinarians, and it's affecting clinic hours, staffing and wait times in some communities. Guest host Ruth Ezell talks with three people deeply invested in the profession and in seeing both veterinarians and the animals they care for thrive.
A little over a year ago, Benjamin Akande was tasked with a big job: strengthening and expanding Washington University’s efforts in Africa. He was appointed as director of the Africa Initiative, which aims to strategically enhance a wide range of institutional activities connected to the African continent. He gives an update on the initiative, offers his perspective on the demise of Better Together proposal that sought to consolidate St. Louis and St. Louis County and also addresses other topics.
Parenting and pre-K advocate Annie Watson is an Asian American woman who played a leading role in a recent ballot measure to fund pre-K in Kansas City. Sharing America Profiles is a series about women of color doing important local work on an issue of national importance.
Guest host Ruth Ezell of the Nine Network talks with St. Louis County Library Director Kristen Sorth about the final projects in the Your Library Renewed campaign, which includes the new library branch openings in the region, among other initiatives.
Residents of towns along the Mississippi River are all too familiar with the effects of flooding on their communities. The disasters happen again and again, and people are eager for a path forward – and for solutions that look beyond levees. Guest host Ruth Ezell talka with Jo Anne Smiley, the mayor of Clarksville, Missouri, and Phil Stang, the mayor of Kimmswick, Missouri, about their goals moving ahead. Colin Wellenkamp, executive director of the Mississippi River Cities & Towns Initiative, also participates in the discussion.
David Crosby is a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer twice over: inducted in 1991 for his work as a founding member of The Byrds and again six years later for the folk-rock supergroup Crosby, Stills and Nash. But the 77-year-old isn’t stuck in the past. He’s collaborating with a new circle of younger musicians and has released four albums in five years, with another on the way. He performs May 15 in St. Louis at the Sheldon Concert Hall.
Alderman Jack Coatar joins St. Louis Public Radio’s Rachel Lippmann and Jason Rosenbaum in talking about what to expect in the next few months at the St. Louis Board of Aldermen.
Coatar represents the city’s 7th Ward, which includes neighborhoods like downtown St. Louis, Soulard, Lafayette Square and Compton Heights. He was elected to a full term on the board in 2017 after winning a 2015 special election.
CC Ice talks with producer Evie Hemphill about working on the Marvel movies, the intense and inherently risky nature of her chosen profession – and how growing up in Missouri has influenced her life and career.
This week marked the beginning of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Many Muslims locally and around the world are observing this holiday by daily fasting, increased religious observance and self-reflection. For the next few decades, the month will take place within the school year. The Missouri chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations released “An Educator’s Guide to Ramadan and Accommodating Muslim Students” to help schools better understand and accommodate Muslim students during this time.
As journalists who frequently produce stories focused on the environment, St. Louis Public Radio’s Eli Chen and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Bryce Gray are no strangers to the Mississippi River and its critical role in their city. Now they’ve traveled all 2,300-plus miles of it, following the Big Muddy from Minnesota to Louisiana and bringing home an even deeper understanding of the waterway. Chen and Gray returned earlier this month from a weeklong Institute for Journalism & Natural Resources trip along the Lower Mississippi. The experience was part of a fellowship that also included exploration of the Upper Mississippi in 2018.
The latest local reminder of an ongoing nationwide epidemic came over the weekend as at least 19 people were injured and two people killed in St. Louis during multiple incidents involving guns. Guest host Jim Kirchherr talks with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Stu Durando about his new book “Under the Gun: A children’s hospital on the front line of an American crisis.”
St. Louis-based author Terry Baker Mulligan, who wrote the award-winning memoir “Sugar Hill: Where the Sun Rose Over Harlem,” joins guest host Jim Kirchherr to discuss her new book “These Boys are Killing Me: Travels and Travails With Boys Who Take Risks,” and what lessons she’s learned from her experience as a mother.
It’s been about a year since New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other progressive women around the country were busy taking on powerful Democratic incumbents during the 2018 midterms. St. Louisan Cori Bush was one of them, and her challenge of longtime Congressman Lacy Clay fell short in the primaries. But she and the three other candidates whose campaigns are featured in the new Netflix documentary “Knock Down The House” say 2018 was just the beginning. Bush and fellow progressive Amy Vilela, of Nevada, were both in St. Louis last week for the film’s premiere in select theaters including the Tivoli. In this episode of "St. Louis on the Air," they talk with producer Evie Hemphill.
Edwina Sandys, a sculptor and Winston Churchill's granddaughter, joins guest host Jim Kirchher to discus the sculpture she created in Fulton commemorating her grandfather's famous "Iron Curtain" speech, her artistic process and more.
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