The Colin McEnroe Show

It is estimated that 12 million Americans live inside one of our nations roughly 45,000 mobile home communities. Despite these numbers, few people outside these parks truly know what life is like for their residents. Stereotypes of mobile home communities are still largely tolerated in America, and as of yet there's been little pushback against such depictions. In headlines, Hollywood movies and on television, images of addicts, alcoholics and other societal outcasts still abound in stories of trailer park living. This hour we speak with mobile home park operators, residents and researchers about the reality of life in these parks, about the struggle of park residents to achieve upward mobility, and about the need for mobile homes as a low-cost housing option. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

President Donald Trump is declaring it to be a "complete and total exoneration," but Democrats in Congress vehemently disagree.  Still how much should they press to win the release of every bit of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Trump campaign contacts with Russian interlopers during the 2016 election?  On today's Scramble, we'll consider that and several other questions emerging Sunday from Attorney General Bill Barr's four-page summary of Mueller's findings.  Those questions include: What happened with the FBI's counterintelligence investigation into whether Trump was secretly working on behalf of Russia? Did Mueller perform his duties admirably in an era of government leaks, or will he be remembered most for punting on the question of whether Trump should be charged with obstruction of justice? Was 48 hours adequate time for Barr to reach his conclusions about a 22-month investigation? Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For a period of about fifty years, many of America's top cartoonists and illustrators lived within a stone's throw of one another in the southwestern corner of Connecticut. Comic strips and gag cartoons read by hundreds of millions were created in this tight-knit group -- Prince Valiant, Superman, Beetle Bailey, Hägar the Horrible, Hi and Lois, Nancy, The Wizard of Id, Family Circus... I could keep going. This hour, a look at the funny pages, and at Connecticut's cartoon county.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, on Last Week Tonight, John Oliver tackled public shaming with perhaps the one person who has had the worst case of public shaming in recent memory, Monica Lewinsky. The interview focused on how Lewinsky survived the shaming, and she said if social media was around in the mid-90s, it could have been worse. That’s how James Gunn got his dose of public shaming. Eight months ago the director was fired from Guardians of the Galaxy 3 by Disney after decade old social media comments by Gunn surfaced. The tweets made light of pedophilia and rape. But now Gunn was rehired by Disney. So maybe there is a way back from public shame? Plus, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse was released on Blu-ray and made available for rent this past Tuesday (you can also purchase it on Amazon, Google Play or wherever you buy digital movies). This week we get into the Oscar winner for Best Animated Feature because it’s one of the best animated and superhero films ever made, despite being the (and depending on how you want to count it) ninth film to feature a Spider-Man. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

March Madness starts TODAY with some of the best games coming to Hartford! There's a lot of excitement over the match-up between No. 5 seed Marquette's Marcus Howard and No. 12 seed Murray State's Ja Morant. I'm just sayin' that a No. 5 seed has beat a No. 12 seed 67% of the time. Last year's winner, Villanova, also starts in Hartford. And Florida State will play the University of Vermont. Okay, Vermont may not win but they have a great mascot and they tell you why you should root for them.  As is our custom, a comedian and a political commentator join us to share their bracket strategy. Since there are 9.2 quintillion possible outcomes for a bracket -- that's 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 -- we think their chances are pretty good.  This hour, we talk mascots, vasectomy rates during March Madness, Wofford, the XL Center's deterioration and, hopefully, something about basketball. *It's probably our 10th one of these. Other options include its being our ninth one of these. Also our eighth one of these. But probably it's our 10th. GUESTS:  Julia Pistell - Writer, podcaster, and comedian.; she's the host of the podcast Literary Disco and Managing Director at Sea Tea Improv (@echochorus) Bill Curry - Political commentator, two-time Democratic nominee for Governor of Connecticut, and former White House advisor in the Clinton Administration (@BillCurryct) Nayef Samrat - President of Wofford College (@WoffordTerriers) Frankie Graziano - Reporter at Connecticut Public Radio (@FrankieGrazie6) Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In case you haven't heard, our planet is as flat as a pancake. Sound crazy? Perhaps. But around the globe (disc?) a flat Earth movement is steadily on the rise. More and more people, educated and not, from all walks of life, are posting videos, attending conferences, and publishing books embracing this seemingly radical notion. NBA all-stars like Kyrie Irving and Shaquille O'Neal have publicly supported the idea. Rapper B.o.B is funding a satellite launch to prove it. And if that's not enough to convince you, know that social media and television star Tia Tequila is also a believer! Is this just some strange new celebrity fad like Scientology, or is it a larger symptom of the post-truth, alternative facts era we're living in? This hour we look inside the flat Earth movement with believers and non-believers alike to find out.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Colin was diagnosed with melanoma last year. He had a few scary weeks between diagnosis and removal of the cancer. He's told he's clean but, what happens next?  Fewer Americans diagnosed with cancer this year will die from their disease than at any other time in the last two decades. Medical advances in detection and treatment and a population more aware of the habits that can lead to cancer are helping more people live with cancer. The good news is that more people survive a diagnosis of cancer. The bad news is that regardless of the medical advances, the word "cancer" can still trigger mental images that terrify us and the medical treatment can leave us ill-prepared to live with  the fear and emotional upheaval that take center stage after the cancer is treated.  Today, Colin talks with friends who have been living with cancer for a very long time.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're outraged that wealthy parents illegally paid to get their kids into elite colleges they would otherwise not qualify to enter. Despite evidence to the contrary, we still want to believe that America is a meritocracy. It's not. And believing that it is might be bad for you. The word ‘meritocracy’ was coined as a satirical slur by Michael Young, a British sociologist and politician, in his 1958 dystopic novel, The Rise of the Meritocracy, 1870–2033. The idea that luck, socioeconomic status, and environment were neutralized by grit and hard work made it easy to absolve ourselves of discriminatory policy and rising inequality -- until now.   Also this hour: the global threat of white nationalism and the NCAA brackets. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp suffered major worldwide outages, and Twitter previewed some possible new changes. And people took to (what else?) social media to (what else?) complain. And: The Ringer asks the age-old question, if a TV show falls in the woods, and no one talks about it, can it be certified fresh? Or something like that. And finally: Captain Marvel is the 21st feature film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is the ninth movie in the MCU's Phase Three. It is, chronologically, a sequel to 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger and a prequel to 2008's Iron Man. I didn't follow much of that, but I get this part: After 11 years and all those previous movies, it's the first one with a female lead.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jessica Harper has starred in movies like Suspiria, Brian De Palma's Phantom of the Paradise, Woody Allen's Stardust Memories, and Steven Spielberg's Minority Report. And now she's publishing a memoir as a podcast. Winnetka tells the story of growing up in a big family -- six kids, including two sets of twins -- in the 1950s and '60s in the midwest -- in Winnetka, Ill., you see -- and later in Connecticut. Plus: An update on the podcast industry more generally. The "Netflix of podcasts" is here. A big new study on podcasting has just come out. And... is "podcaster burnout" becoming a thing?Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.