Fordham Conversations

President Bush announced this week that he's seeking to double spending on AIDS prevention...but what does fighting HIV/AIDS look like on the ground? We talk to recent Fordham Law grad Brian Honermann about his work fighting for people with AIDS in South Africa, and we'll hear voices from around the world of people whose lives have been affected by AIDS.

Queens often gets all the credit for being the most diverse borough, but almost as diverse is WFUV's home borough of the Bronx. We talk to the Bronx African American History Project's Natasha Lightfoot about one community in the borough--West Indians.

In the first of two shows about life in the Bronx...with housing prices on a continual upward crawl in New York, we look at efforts to keep housing in one area of the city--the North West Bronx--decent, and affordable, for New Yorkers. My guest is Gregory Lobo Jost, of the University Neighborhood Housing Program.

On this mother's day Fordham Conversations, we look at the "mommy wars", and how--and why--we look at working mothers the way we do today.

Sure, their show’s been running longer than any TV sitcom ever has…but that’s not the only reason the Simpsons might be the most successful family ever to wrap things up in 23 minutes or less. We talk to Fordham communication and media studies professor Jonathan Gray about the Simpsons and how they’ve managed to change the way that people all over the world look at TV, and America.

On October 4, 1947, "Leave it to Beaver" premiered on US television, and space travel premiered in the USSR as the Soviets launched the first Sputnik. We take a look at the roots of Soviet space travel, and America's response to it, with Fordham History professor Asif Siddiqi.

We tend to think of romani--"gypsies"--as romantic and mysterious; but in Romania, and throughout Europe, they're an ethnic minority that faces widespread discrimination. We talk to Tracy Higgins from Fordham Law School's Joseph R. Crowley Program in International Human Rights, about the problems Romani children face as they try to go to school. 

One day before Holocaust remembrance day, we look at one family--Holocaust survivor Roma Ben-Atar and her son, Fordham History professor Doron Ben-Atar. Together they wrote a book about Roma's experience in the war...and now Doron's written a play inspired by it.

We talk to author Eric Klinenberg about his surprisingly optimistic take on media consolidation in America. He's the author of the new book, "Fighting for Air: The Battle to Control America's Media."

In the wake of the first conviction this week of a Guantanamo detainee before a military commission, we talk to Fordham law professor Martha Rayner about the basics of the camp, how the US has come to be in the position we're in, and her work representing detainees.

A few years ago, Yvette Christianse was doing archival research in South Africa, when she came across a slave woman's story. The story haunted Christianse, and the book she wrote about, Unconfessed, has just been named a finalist for the prestigious Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award.

In literature, what does it really mean to tell the truth? We explore that question with authors Mary Karr--she's the author of the hugely successful memoir "The Liar's Club"; and Heidi Julavits, whose novel "The Uses of Enchantment" explores the idea of how truth changes when different interests get involved.

On an early-St. Patrick's Day Fordham Conversations, we talk with author Peter Quinn, about Politics, Jimmy Cagney, and the Irish-American sense of History (or lack thereof.) Also, one Irish-American daughter's memories of her father's favorite drinking song.

When most of us think of the Civil Rights movement, we think of iconic figures like Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks...southern figures. But there was much more going on in the north than we seem to recall. We talk to Fordham African-American Studies professor Brian Purnell, about the civil rights movement in Brooklyn, and why we should remember it.

You might be cursing sugar right now for your winter weight gain. But back in the 17th century, sugar was a luxury item that people couldn't stop talking about...and it had a much bigger effect on the development of the modern world than you might think. We talk to Fordham professor Kim Hall about what sugar means to us today, and what it meant back then.

Who really owns the music you buy online? A Conversation with Fordham Professor Tom McCourt, co-author of "Digital Music Wars: Ownership and Control of the Celestial Jukebox."

People place bets on it; nominees are covered in the tabloids; and the award is given out at a black-tie gala that's broadcast nationally on TV.  Is it the oscars?  No! It's the Booker Prize. We talk with Fordham professor Nicola Pitchford about the literary prize, and why it's so important to the British.

Hugo Benavides grew up watching Latin American soap operas -telenovelas-on TV in New York and Equador. But he never thought that when he grew up, he'd be studying them. We talk to Benavides about telenovelas, and about the US-Mexico border melodramas called  "Narcodramas".

What image comes into your mind when you think of someone in prison? Chances are it's not an image of a woman. But there are about 200,000 women incarcerated in the United States, and they have health needs that the prison system, which was designed for violent male offenders, isn't prepared to face. We talk to Fordham Professor Jeanne Flavin about her reseach and work with women prisoners.

Abu Ghraib and other incidents abroad have brought misbehavior in the US Military into sharp relief...but what about at home? We'll talk to Fordham Professor Mary Ann Forgey about a project she's working on with the Army, to improve social workers' ability to deal with reports of domestic violence. --Aired 12/9/2006