Enya Cid moved from Mexico to the U.S. as a three year old. She says this country is her home, but her right to stay here never feels certain. In 2022, Enya joined other first generation immigrants in a writing workshop hosted by the publisher Restless Books and Arlington, Virginia’s Dream Project. Enya shares her story along with Nataly Montano, who immigrated to the U.S. from Bolivia. Their teacher, playwright Isaiah Stavchansky, explains how the writing workshop empowers immigrants as Americans. Later in the show: Workshop participants Karen Vallejos Corrales, Cecilia Morales, and Hareth Andrade Ayala share their stories of immigrating to this country and read some of their written work.

Living with a disability can be hard. But it doesn’t have to lead to a life less lived. Elizabeth Barnes says her own diagnosis made her confront the reality of finding the unexpected joys in disability. And: Many parents of young deaf children don’t have access to learn sign language. Carrie Humphrey and Colin Wells say this can put deaf kids at a disadvantage and delay their development. Carrie and Colin both work as full-time faculty in the American Sign Language and Interpreter Education program at Reynolds Community College. Carrie was named an Outstanding Faculty member by The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. Later in the show: In 2007, Susan Ghiaciuc was diagnosed with MS. After she told her university employer, she was promptly greeted with a mound of paperwork and probing questions. Now she’s working to help improve the disclosure process for professors across Virginia. Plus: Traditional ways of teaching don't always work for every student. That’s what prompted Laurie Cubbison to look for alternatives. She says Universal Design for Learning better serves students with a diverse array of learning needs.

19th and 20th century poet, Alice Meynell–a.k.a. “the penciling mama”--described motherhood as “life without boundaries.” Cristina Richieri Griffin discusses the Victorian mother of eight’s complicated feelings on mothering. And: The 2003 Haitian novel, The Infamous Rosalie, tells the stories of generations of women who are enslaved on a plantation. Ima Hicks explores how for these women, mothering was a particularly complicated act. Later in the show: Camilla Morrison believes that a costume design can explore existential ideas like what it means to be a woman and how women grapple with motherhood. Plus: In recent years, experiences of postpartum depression that used to be whispered about are now shouted on tik tok and instagram. Marion Young has studied maternal depression and shares one way it changes how mothers parent.

Imagine if everyday you went to work and pretended to be someone else. That’s life for professional actors. Robyn Berg says self care is essential for acting professionals to stay themselves while pretending to be other people. And: Self care can get conflated with selfishness. Peter Thaxter started thinking about that after a student interviewed him about selfishness. Now, he’s clear on why self care and selfishness are not the same. Later in the show: Our childhood affects who we become. And Adrian Bravo has found that in seven countries, childhood trauma has nurtured alcohol dependency in adulthood. Plus: All sexes deal with PTSD. But Timothy Jarome has found that a certain protein in women’s brain makes them experience PTSD differently.

Valentine’s Day today means candy hearts and stuffed bears. But Kat Tracy says the origins of the holiday are far from cute and fuzzy–and they don’t have a whole lot to do with St. Valentine. And: A safe and secure relationship seems like an obvious goal, but it’s surprisingly hard to achieve. Amber Pope shares how attachment theory and strong support networks can help people thrive in a safe and secure partnership. Later in the show: A thriving intimate relationship starts long before the meet-cute. Dayna Henry says early, comprehensive, age-appropriate sex education makes for happier, healthier relationships later in life. Plus: True love – is it in the head or the heart? Or the gut? No, this is not about your microbiome determining your love life. Instead, Lindsey Hicks wants to talk about what our gut reactions say about how our relationships are really going.

Cauline Yates was at a family reunion the first time she heard she was a descendant of Thomas Jefferson. She later helped develop the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers at the University of Virginia. And: Clint Smith is the author of the award-winning book, How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America. He traveled to 9 historic sites to understand how slavery is remembered and taught. Later in the Show: Gayle Jessup White was on a tour at Monticello when she raised her hand and told the guide she was related to Sally Hemings. She says that moment changed her life forever. Her memoir, Reclamation: Sally Hemings, Thomas Jefferson and a Descendant’s Search for Her Family’s Lasting Legacy, chronicles uncovering her family’s roots at Thomas Jefferson’s home. Plus: Descendants recently gained structural parity at James Madison’s plantation home, Montpelier. When this interview was originally recorded, James French represented the descendant community on Montpelier’s board.

In 2011, Japan was rocked by a magnitude 9.1 earthquake. It triggered a tsunami that measured 130 feet high - killing around 18,000 people and causing untold damage. Tina Dura and Robert Weiss say sea level rise will now allow even weaker earthquakes to cause tsunamis with similar destruction. And: Sea level rise is also endangering white cedar trees. Rob Atkinson and Linda Manning run the Fear to Hope project, which gets high school students out in the field to help protect white cedar trees from extinction. Later in the show: Liesel Ritchie and Duane Gill have gone around the world, talking with people who’ve had their lives upended by oil spills. They say we process the emotional trauma of natural disasters differently than man-made disasters. Plus: Disasters often hit historically marginalized communities the hardest. Nakeina Douglas-Glenn is the Director of the Research Institute for Social Equality. She’s helping to ensure equitable outcomes for vulnerable communities impacted by disaster.

Beverly Sher has been teaching her “Emerging Diseases” seminar since 1996. From AIDS in the 1990s, SARS in 2003, the H1N1 pandemic in 2009 and the modern COVID-19 pandemic, students realize what public health crises reveal about the psychology and sociology of a nation. And: Since it was first identified in the United States in 1975, Lyme disease has become the world’s most common disease to spread from animals to humans through the bite of infected ticks. The sooner it's treated, the better the possible outcome for the patient. This is good news. Except that current testing for Lyme disease takes weeks. Brandon Jutras and his team are working on a rapid, at-home Lyme detection test. Later in the show: COVID-19 isn’t over. Sara Reed Houser says that the proof is in the wastewater. Plus: You may or may not have been infected by a parasitic nematode in your life. Not to worry, though. It was just that ringworm in kindergarten. Why Mandy Kyle Gibson is deliberately introducing parasitic nematodes to an environment to help solve a problem.

When we dig deep underground, we get a chance to dig deeper into history. Dennis Blanton wants to change the way we think about America’s beginnings. He’s studying the expedition of a Spanish conquistador who was the first European in many parts of the Southeast. And: At “The Cove” along the Staunton River in Virginia, Brian Bates and his students have uncovered nearly 10,000 items that paint a picture of a thousand year old Sappony Indians fishing camp. Later in the show: Along with tools, pottery, and human remains, prehistoric sites are filled with ancient bird bones. Tal Simmons says these bones tell us what ancient humans ate, worshiped, and perhaps how they hunted. A discovery of seven prehistoric bird bone whistles might be the world’s oldest duck call. Plus: Before a state road gets moved or expanded, a team of archeologists comes in to dig for historical “treasure”. Elizabeth Monroe talks about a massive pile of oyster shells she uncovered and what they tell us about the people who used to live in the area.

In the earlier stages of the pandemic, when many people were still staying as close to home as possible, nearly 1 in 5 American households adopted a pet. Furry cats and snuggly dogs–and some temperamental pigs. Sherrie Clark is a veterinarian who treats and studies pet pigs. She says they make good pets–for the right family. And: Relationships between dogs and humans go back 10,000 years. Nancy Gee says that today relationships between people and pooches improve health outcomes for everyone with two or four legs. Later in the show: As a kid, Wynne DiGrassie was always bringing lizards and small snakes home in her pockets. After years focused on work as a horse veterinarian, Wynne has fallen back in love with reptiles. She talks about the common mistakes lizard and snake owners make and what it’s like inviting these slithery friends into your home. Plus: Cats rule the internet and they’ve been part of it from the beginning. Dylan Wittkower gets philosophical about why we can’t stop making and sharing cat memes.