Fordham Conversations

Host Robin Shannon sits down with cultural anthropologist and Performance and African American Studies Dr. Aimee Cox to talk about what makes hip hop what it is. 

This week, author Linda Francis Lee talks about her new novel The Glass Kitchen. It's the story of a woman who leaves Texas after a tumultuous divorce and has to make a new life for herself in New York City with her sisters. She decides to open a restaurant reminiscent of the one her grandmother ran in Texas, called the Glass Kitchen. Fordham University professor Mary Bly (who writes romance novels under the pen name Eloisa James) joins the conversation to discuss the novel's Shakespearean roots. 

On this week’s show on we hear from two members of a new Broadway show inspired by the life and music of Tupac Shakur, Holler If Ya Hear Me. Both actor Saul Williams and playwright Todd Kreidler sit down to talk the show’s message, Tupac Shakur’s legacy, and how both of those found a way to mix on the stage.

This week, we’re going inside the minds of psychopaths. There isn’t a way to diagnose someone as a “psychopath,” there’s only a test to determine how many psychopathic traits a person has. Forensic clinical psychologist and Fordham professor Barry Rosenfeld helps clear up the idea of how psychopathy is measured and the potential to treat it. Then, Dr. James Fallon author of “The Psychopath Inside” talks about his own experience as a borderline psychopath.

On this week’s show wehear from Nat Horne, an original member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.  He shares his experiences growing up in the segregated south and his move to Broadway.

The technology of the future is happening right now and this week on Fordham Conversations, Chris Williams hosts a "science fair" themed show that highlights innovations in technology. Senior Producer Alen Kanlic talks 3D printing with Fordham University assistant professor Stephen Holler. Then, Chris Williams explores applications of virtual reality with developers and enthusiasts in the field. And finally, Cityscape's Veronica Volk finds out about "smart cities" and how we can use technology to solve NYC's problems with author Anthony Townsend and independant developer/VP of a digital advertising firm Will Turnage.

  Elaine Congress is the Associate Dean for Continuing Education and Extramural Programs in the Fordham Graduate School of Social Service andAllan Luks is the Director of the Fordham Center for Nonprofit Leadership.  They discuss The future of non-profits and the skills needed to run them.”

Scott Samuelson, author of The Deepest Human Life: An Introduction to Philosophy for Everyone talks about why he teaches Plato to plumbers at a community college in Iowa. You can read his piece in The Atlantic and also visit his website.    Then Eva Badowska, Fordham University’s Associate Dean for Academic Programs in the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, talks about why a liberal arts degree is vital to the workforce and how statistics tell us liberal arts majors are better off in the long run.

Author and Fordham Professor Dr. Mary Bly discuss her class “Publishing Theory and Practice.” It introduces students to the world of publishing. She also offers advice for writers looking to become published author.

Autism is a developmental disorder that can hinder a persons social skills and cause them to have repetitive and restrictive behaviors. This week two researchers join Fordham Conversations to talk about what they are doing to treat autism. Fordham University Doctoral Candidate Amanda Leeder discusses how the brothers and sisters of kids with autism can be a key element in treatment. Later, Fordham University PhD student Xiaoming Lou tells us about her research on memory processing and how to develop it in people with autism.

This week on Fordham Conversations is about the monstrous, the grotesque, human oddities, and why we’re drawn to things that aren't the norm. Adam Rinn grew up on Coney Island and now he teaches a sideshow class for people who want to learn to eat fire, walk on broken glass, or survive an electric shock. He talks about how someone can learn these oddities and the history of freak shows. Rebecca June teaches medieval studies at Fordham University and provides insight into the role monsters play in literature and society. Dean McKay, psychology professor at Fordham, does a lot of research disgust, how it affects us and its relationship to fear. 

Fordham Alumni and Author Joseph Finora discusses his new book “Red Like Wine: The North Fork Harbor Vineyard Murders”. The murder mystery novel is based on Long Island.

This week on Fordham Conversations we're talking about combating cyber crime. Fordham Professor of Computer and Information Science Frank Hsu talks about how cybersecurity works and how to combat cyber crime. We'll also hear from Richard Aborn, President of the Citizens Crime Commission of NYC about how cyber crime affects New Yorkers. 

Jim O'Connell, national college basketball writer for the Associated Press talked with Nolan Silbernagel and Mike Watts about the strengths of each of the FInal Four teams. He discussed Kentucky's impressive freshmen and how the team is just hitting its stride. Jim also broke down the keys to UConn's unlikley run. Finally, he gave his thoughts on who his thinks will win it all.

Elder abuse is a crime that can go unnoticed if unchecked, affecting one of the most vulnerable among us by making them victims of financial, physical, and often sexual abuse. On this week’s Fordham Conversation, we put a spotlight on Elder Abuse, and learn how it’s perpetrated and what can be done to stop it.  We’ll hear from Dr. Patricia Brownell on the abuse older women suffer internationally. We’ll also hear about elder abuse in prisons from Tina Maschi, an Associate professor at Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Service. We also travel to a Citymeals-on-Wheels elder abuse awareness training for volunteers.  They’re learning to recognize signs of elder abuse, what questions to ask, and what to do if abuse is suspected.

This week on Fordham Conversations, Clarence Ball (professor in the Gabelli School of Business at Fordham University) talks about his work on the Emmy Award winning documentary,Looking Over Jordan: African Americans in the Civil War. The documentary explores what it was like to be a slave during one of the most tumultuous times in American history.    Some African Americans fought for the north, while others were stuck on plantations even after the war was over. He talks about the slave experience during the Civil War as well as his work on the documentary, and what he found while researching that surprised him.

On this week’s Fordham Conversations we hear how an artist and a blogger are bringing attention to the issue of gun violence in their own personal ways.    Mexican Artist Pedro Reyes discusses his performance and community engagement art project “Palas por Pistolas: Shovels for Guns,” while Fordham University’s Dr. Jo Anna Isaak and Father Gregory Waldrop discuss bringing the project to New York City.  We also hear from NYU Professor Antonius Wiriadjaja, who has chronicled the experience of being the innocent victim of a drive-by shooting.

It's Oscar weekend! And this week's Fordham Conversation is all about the Academy Awards. Fordham Conversations producer Alen Kanlic talks to Matt Atchity, Editor in Chief of Rotten Tomatoes, to find out about movie reviews and how those affect nominations. Then, Chris Williams talks to Fordham professor Damian Lyons about how love and technology intersect as depicted in the Best Picture nominee, "Her."

Elder abuse is a crime that can go unnoticed if unchecked, affecting one of the most vulnerable among us by making them victims of financial, physical, and often sexual abuse. On this week’s Fordham Conversation, we put a spotlight on Elder Abuse, and learn how it’s perpetrated and what can be done to stop it.  We’ll hear from Dr. Patricia Brownell on the abuse older women suffer internationally. We’ll also hear about elder abuse in prisons from Tina Maschi, an Associate professor at Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Service. We also travel to a Citymeals-on-Wheels elder abuse awareness training for volunteers.  They’re learning to recognize signs of elder abuse, what questions to ask, and what to do if abuse is suspected.

How do historians preserve memory?    With the rise of social media, we have fewer and fewer hard copies of letters, photos, and other documents. So what happens in the future? Will all of this be preserved? Will there be too much of it to sort through? This week on Fordham Conversations, Chris Williams talks to Elizabeth Keohane-Burbridge, graduate researcher at Fordham University and producer of the Footnoting History podcast, about how historians preserve memories and how this is changing.