Wgtd's The Morning Show With Greg Berg

From 2019- Sarah Steward Holland and Beth Silvers, co-hosts of the podcast "Pantsuit Politics" and author of "I think you're wrong- but I'm listening: A Guide to Grace-filled Political Conversation." These two friends are from opposite sides of the country's political divide but have found a way to be respectful of each other's political views.

We speak with writer Samuel Ashworth about his novel "The Life and Death of August Sweeney." The title character is a famous (and infamous) TV chef .... the other main character is the doctor who is performing his autopsy and seeking to learn more about how he died- and, more importantly, how he lived. The story lines of these two character intersect in remarkable fashion- and along the way, we learn a great deal about the world of fine cuisine as well as the work done by forensic pathologists. Ashworth is an award-winning writer, screenwriter, and professor of creative writing.

Dr. Thomas Carr (Carthage College) , who is co-Poet Laureate for Racine, talks about the Poetry for Dinosaurs program he created in January. With him is Andrew Goebel, a volunteer assistant, and Nick Ramsey, who is part of the steering committee for the Poets Laureate project for Kenosha and Racine.

Today's program features both a newly-recorded interview and an interview from the archives- both concerning the so-called Red Scare in the years following World War Two. First is New York Times reporter Clay Risen talking about his book "Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America." The book examines the nature of the Red Scare, the way it extended beyond the infamous congressional hearings to involve many facets of American life, and the reverberations of it to the present day. After that, from 2021, comes an excerpt from a conversation with best-selling author Larry Tye, talking about his book "Demogogue: The Life and Long Shadow of Senator Joe McCarthy." McCarthy is the figure most vividly remembered from the Red Scare, but Tye was able to gain access to McCarthy's personal archives to paint an exceptionally clear portrait of the man.

From 2009- Andrei Cherny discusses his book "The Candy Bombers: The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America's Finest Hour." The book chronicles the extraordinary and inspiring story of how a small group of Americans planned and carried out the airlift to the beleaguered citizens of West Berlin during the Soviet blockade of that city.

My guest is Scott Coey, who is a social studies teacher at Bradford High School in Kenosha - and a member of the school board for the Racine Unified School District. We talk about the operational referendum that is going before Racine voters on Tuesday, April 1st- and then talk about his career in education, what led him to become a teacher, and the trips to foreign countries that he has led over the last few years.

In an interview dating all the way back to the late 1990s, I speak with a sensational local basketball player by the name of Sonja Henning - a graduate of Racine's Horlick High School - who was at the time the all-time leading scorer among Wisconsin high school girls basketball players. She went on to play professionally. She is now a practicing attorney.

From 2019 - Dave Cullen talks about his book "Parkland: Birth of a Movement." His book chronicles how a number of students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida responded to the horrific mass shooting at their school by creating #Never Again MSD .... and eventually March For Our Lives. It was their way of working through the trauma which they experienced. We're sharing this interview during a weekend of performances of the Carthage Verbatim Theater's production of "Terminal Exhale," which seeks to tell the story of the trauma experienced by front line health care workers ministering to victims of gun violence.

Part 1 of today's Morning Show is a newly recorded interview with Hope Larson in which she talks about "Very Bad at Math- a Very Graphic Novel." Her main character is an otherwise successful high school student who struggles terribly with math. It turns out that she - like the author- suffers from a condition called Dyscalculia (similar to Dyslexia, but involving the swapping of numerals rather than letters.) Part 2- an archival interview from 2019, features Professor John D. Stein talking about his book "How Math Explains the World- A Guide to the Power of Numbers from Car Repairs to Modern Physics."

We preview the Kenosha Unified School District's pilot production of the musical "The Prince of Egypt" with Kristen Singer, who is both the stage director and the costume designer for this production. The performances are this weekend.

We preview this weekend's performances of "Terminal Exhale," the latest iteration of Carthage's Verbatim Theater Project. This particular production shares stories from frontline healthcare workers and what it is like for them to interact with victims of gun violence. (There is also an event happening at Carthage Saturday afternoon called "Healing the Healers" which will feature several guest experts discussing the trauma experienced by healthcare workers dealing with gun violence. My two guests are two members of the Carthage faculty: Martin McClendon from theater and Patricia Kelly from social worker.

From 2013 - Maggie Stuckey talks about her book "Soup Night: Recipes for Creating Community Around a Pot of Soup."

We preview the next installment in the PBS documentary series AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: "Change, not Charity- the Americans with Disabilities Act." Our guest, Chana Gazit, is the writer and producer of the film, which airs tonight (Tuesday the 25th of March) on PBS stations across the country, including channel 10 in Milwaukee.

For Women's History Month- from 2012, we talk with Virginia Scharff, Professor of History at the University of New Mexico, who was one of the participants in an American Experience documentary about Annie Oakley, one of the most remarkable American women of the 19th century and one of the most famous figures out of the Old West.

Jeffrey Toobin, author of "The Pardon: The Politics of Presidential Mercy." Toobin explores why the founding fathers gave the U.S. president such sweeping powers to extend pardons - and how this authority has been used over the years.

This interview is undated but was recorded more than fifteen years ago. It features two noteworthy women from Kenosha .... acclaimed children's author Florence Parry Heide and renowned artist Nan Pollard.

From 2008 - Diane Ackerman talks about her book "The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story" - an amazing but true resistance story from World War II.

From 2016- Susan Quinn discusses her bestselling book "Eleanor and Hick: The Love Affair that Shaped a First Lady." The book is an illuminating examination of the close and intimate friendship between Eleanor Roosevelt and journalist Lorena Hickok. (for Women's History Month.)

For Kailyn Palomares's March visit to the Morning Show, we speak with Brandon Gross, president of the Root River Chapter of Wild Ones, a national organization that encourages the creation of native habitats and the growing of native plants. The local chapter's Native Plant Sale is currently underway (the deadline for placing orders is April 1st.)

We remember sportswriter John Feinstein, who passed away last week at the age of 69. A long-time sports commentator for NPR, Feinstein also authored 44 books. It was my pleasure to speak with Mr. Feinstein on eight different occasions over the course of more than 20 years. Here are two of those interviews. Part One: "The Ancient Eight: College Football's Ivy League and the Game They Play Today." Part Two: "Game Changers," one of a number of works of fiction Feinstein wrote with young readers in mind.