Ideas

Sarpong Osei Asamoah, Ghanaian poet who writes about memory and loss. Bayo Holsey, Emory scholar of the slave trade and community memory. Ato Quayson, Stanford scholar of colonial architecture and urban history. Philip Amoa-Mensah, longtime Elmina tour guide. They explore Elmina’s bustling harbor, the imposing castle’s architecture and dungeons, inscriptions and the Door of No Return, and the town’s resilient, living culture.

James Clauss, a classics professor, gives scholarly context on Jason and the Argonauts. Rosie Wyles, a classical history lecturer, analyzes Medea's role and adaptations. Edith Hall, a classics scholar, traces the tradition and tragic logic. They unpack the voyage for the Golden Fleece, Medea’s betrayal and revenge, colonial tensions in the myth, and how later artists and performances reshape the story.

Stephen Lewis, former UN envoy and tireless AIDS advocate, reflects on the moral emergency of HIV/AIDS in Africa and lambasts global indifference. He recounts harrowing scenes from hospitals and orphaned children. He criticizes IMF/World Bank policies, phantom aid, and low G8 commitments. He pushes bold remedies: debt relief, accountable aid, women's leadership, and universal treatment targets.

Safia Aidid, historian of modern Africa, Shahla Haeri, anthropologist of gender and Islam, and Kamala Sulayli, journalism professor and documentary narrator, explore the Queen of Sheba's many afterlives. They trace portraits from biblical and Quranic retellings to Ethiopian and Yemeni claims. Conversations cover medieval reinventions, nationalist contests over her origins, and how her image fuels contemporary movements for women's authority.

Robert Harris, music broadcaster and commentator who analyzes and interviews musicians, guides listeners through Bach's St. John Passion. He and Ivars Taurins probe how conductors turn notes into drama. They trace chorales, recitatives, arias and crowd choruses, explore instrumentation and rehearsal choices, and reflect on the work's intense emotional arc and unresolved Good Friday ending.

John Dadosky, a professor of philosophy and theology and Lonergan scholar, guides listeners through Bernard Lonergan’s ideas. He explores consciousness and a five-step pattern for authentic knowing. He discusses questioning as the spark of inquiry, different biases that distort understanding, and how authority, technology, and love shape personal and cultural development.

W. Scott Poole, historian of modern horror; Lynn Kozak, scholar of ancient literature and fear; Catherine Wynne, literary critic of du Maurier. They explore why birds became terrifying: migrations and environmental loss, Hitchcock’s shift to domestic and psychological dread, ancient ornithophobia and group behavior, and the story’s resonance with nuclear, technological and ecological anxieties.

Tim Wu, Columbia Law scholar who studies tech power and antitrust, and Paul Krugman, Nobel-winning economist and commentator, discuss the rise of extreme wealth. They trace long-term inequality trends, the political and policy shifts since the 1970s, and how tech and concentrated corporate power reshape attention and democratic risk.

Mike McTavish, a conservation scientist who studies woodland soils, and Joshua Steckley, a political ecologist and author of The Nightcrawlers, dig into surprising worm stories. They trace worm introductions with colonization, explain how worms help some farming practices but harm northern forests, and unpack when worms signal healthy soil or signal deeper change.

In this thought-provoking discussion, Alex Neve, a seasoned human rights lawyer and advocate, challenges Canada's self-image as a human rights leader. He explores the urgent human costs of conflicts like Gaza and the systemic failures that undermine universal rights. Neve emphasizes the necessity to confront colonial legacies and Indigenous injustices, while advocating for a renewed agenda focused on universality and justice. He highlights the impact of global policy shifts on Canada and calls for proactive measures to champion rights and protect defenders for a more equitable future.