Wgtd's The Morning Show With Greg Berg

In anticipation of UW-Parkside's upcoming Nonprofit Leadership Conference on Friday, November 17th, we speak with Debra Karp, Director of the Alan E. Guskin Center for Community and Business Engagement at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, and Beth Ridley, who is the keynote speaker for this year's event.

Dr. Art Cyr, from the faculty at Carthage College, pays his monthly visit to the program - offering his thoughts on the Hamas attack on Israelis in the Gaza Strip, an historic accord reached between the U.S. and Viet Nam, and the ongoing struggles of the Republicans in the House of Representatives to select a new Speaker to replace ousted Kevin McCarthy.

Ed Haddon's book is "The Modern Maverick: Why writing your own rules is better for you, your work, and the world." Haddon argues in his book that adhering to the tried-and-true or conventional way of doing things can be a trap that prevents us from realizing our full potential.

From 2004- Peter Smith, author of "Two of Us: The Story of a Father, a Son, and The Beatles." This memoir is the story of how Smith and his son became much closer to each other through their mutual love for the music of The Beatles.

From 2005- Michael Finkel talks about his riveting book "True Story: Murder, Memoir, and Mea Culpa." Finkel's was fired from New York Times Magazine in a very public and embarrassing professional reversal - and shortly thereafter, his identification was stolen by a fugitive wanted for murder. It's an incredible story that became a major motion picture of the same name in 2015.

Gail Merrifield Papp talks about her fascinating memoir "Public/Private: My Life with Joe Papp at the Public Theater." Joe Papp's remarkable theatrical career included creating free performances of Shakespeare in Central Park- and creating and running NYC's Public Theater, where groundbreaking works like "Hair" and "A Chorus Line" had their world premieres. Gail Papp was an indispensable assistant to her husband until his death in 1995.

For Nan Calvert's monthly visit to the Morning Show, she welcomed back Dr. Marissa Jablonski from the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to talk about the enormous damage done to the environment by plastics- and what we can do to reduce our own usage of plastics in our daily lives- and what needs to be done in the realm of public policy and industrial practices to effectively confront the crisis.

Nadia Steinzor from the Environmental Integrity Project talks about their new report titled "The Aluminum Paradox" that outlines some of the environmental damage that is done in the way we currently produce aluminum, a material that - ironically - figures prominently in some alternative energies.

Michael D. Smith, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, discusses his new book "The Abundant University: Remaking Higher Education in the Digital World." Smith offers up some provocative ideas about how higher education should reevaluate its mission and priorities as we move further and further into the Digital Era.

The Choral Arts Society of Southeastern Wisconsin is performing Adrian Snell's "The Cry: A Requiem for the Lost Child" this Saturday night at 7 p.m. We speak with conductor James Schatzman, violinist Rebecca Engstrom, soprano soloist Talia Engstrom, and baritone soloist Leif Olsen. The performance will feature projected images of artwork by Ukrainian children.

From 2018 - Pulitzer Prize winning author Alvin E. Roth discusses his book "Who Gets What - and Why: The Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design."

(From 2021) In honor of UW-Parkside's production of "The Laramie Project," which is being performed this weekend and next weekend, we are sharing a MS conversation from the summer of 2021 about the Racine Theater Guild's virtual performance of "The Laramie Project," which concerns the murder of Matthew Shepard outside of Laramie, Wyoming - and the struggles of the people of Laramie to come to terms with that savage hate crime. It was 25 years ago on October 12th that Matthew Shepard died.

Investigative Reporter Irving Muchnick (Concussion, Inc. - "Wrestling Babylon") discusses his latest book, "Without Helmets or Shoulder Pads: The American Way of Death in Football Conditioning." The book examines the disturbing phenomenon of young football players dying during conditioning workouts. The book focuses on three such incidents, including one which occurred at Northwestern University.

From 2019 - Diana Butler Bass, author of "Grateful: The Subversive Practice of Giving Thanks." (The book has also been published with a different subtitle: "The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks.") The book is a lovely exploration of what true gratitude is and what sort of difference it can make in a person's life.

We preview Thursday night's choral concert at Carthage College which will feature the school's three large choral ensembles under the direction of Dr. Maggie Burk .... as well as a very special guest appearance by Stile Antico, one of the world's most renowned small vocal ensembles specializing in early music. In part two of today's program, we sample the exquisite singing of the group and hear from one of their members, bass James Arthur.

(From 2013) Christina Baker Kline talks about her poignant novel "Orphan Train,' which links a modern-day story of a teenage girl in foster care with someone from decades earlier who found a new home via the Christian Children Aid Society's so-called Orphan Train.

Fabrice Conte-Williamson, chair of the UW-Parkside theater department, talks about the school's production of THE LARAMIE PROJECT, a play created by the Verbatim Theater Company shortly after the brutal murder of Matthew Shepard outside of Laramie, Wyoming. 2023 marks the 25th anniversary of his murder. Professor Conte-Williamson is the director of this production, which will be performed over the next two weekends in the school's black box theater.

Part One - Daniel Dain discusses his book "A History of Boston," a meticulously researched and utterly engrossing chronicle of the surprisingly complicated history of one of America's most significant cities. Part Two- from the archives- John Feinstein talks about "The Walk-On," a novel for young readers concerning behind-the-scenes drama when a talented young high school football player moves to town and threatens to unseat the incumbent QB, who is the coach's son.

From 2014, Robert Simonson talks about his book "The Old Fashioned. The story of the world's first classic cocktail."

From 2011- a conversation about the complexity of political polling with Dr. David Wegge, who at the time was Professor of Political Science at St. Norbert College and extensively involved in the school's political polling activity.