Fordham Conversations

Are you thankful for 600-year-old choirbooks?  Carmelite priest and musicologist James Boyce gives us a look and a listen.  Followed by sober career advice from Shasa Dobrow, who says your sense of calling is out to get you.

Vince Lombardi is one of football's most accomplished and respected coaches.  The Brooklyn native and Fordham University Alum is known for his inspirational speeches and no-nonsense coaching methods that helped transform under-dog teams into successful winners. On this week’s Fordham Conversations, Author John Eisenberg discusses his new book “That First Season,” and explains how Lombardi took the worst team in the NFL, The Green Bay Packers, and set them on the path to glory.

<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1107304683 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; mso-layout-grid-align:none; text-autospace:none; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> Move o

The Bronx, the immigration experience, and the pleasures of wordplay, with poet Janet Kaplan.

We talk with author Christina Baker Kline about her new novel, “Bird In Hand" (William Morrow), kids, adulthood, and moving to New Jersey. 

We all joke about stalking people or having stalkers...but what,actually, is stalking? And how can we stop it or at least reduce the risk that it will escalate into violence? We speak with Fordham psychologist Barry Rosenfeld about his work with stalking offenders.

The Grand Concourse at 100: We look at the Concourse as an inspiration for art, with the Bronx museum's Sergio Bessa; and we look back at the history of the street with author Constance Rosenblum.

Comics: Good or Evil? We speak with comics author and editor Alisa Kwitney about Young Adult comics for girls; and with author David Hajdu about the comic book-related panics of the 1940s and ‘50s.

To kids' consternation and many parents' relief, it's time again for school...this week, we look at schooling in some less-explored corners of America--at immigrants and education with Fordham sociologist Emily Rosenbaum, and at Teach for America in one of the nation's toughest schools, with author Donna Foote.

This week on Fordham Conversations, we go on a bee hunt in New York City's largest park, with Fordham biologist and pollinator expert Kevin Matteson.

This week, we look at how retailers, the government and others know so much about us--an exploration of data mining, with Fordham computer scientist Gary Weiss. Also, the future of reputation in the internet age.

Do you get your news from Jon Stewart? Do you know the meaning of the word "truthiness"? You're not alone – satire shows like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report inform the way we think like never before. We talk with Fordham communication and media studies professor Jonathan Gray about the phenomenon, why it's happening, and why now. He's one of the editors of the book Satire TV (NYU Press).

Vaccinations are more than just a necessary “ouch” for kids and flu-avoidant adults…they’re a major public health issue, especially right now. We talk with Fordham economist Troy Tassier about what we know, and what we think we know, about epidemics and vaccines. Also, saying goodbye to one of the Bronx’s most high-flown residents.

Hello, Clarice! From Sam Spade to Hannibal Lecter, we look at crime novels, that thing they do to us, and what they say about the way we look at families. Lenny Cassuto, Fordham english professor and the author of "Hard Boiled Sentimentality: The Secret History of American Crime Stories", joins me in the studio.

New York City's schools are notoriously troubled, but within that we can find stories of scrappy schools that turned themselves around. One such school is Brooklyn elementary school PS 335, in Bedford Stuyvesant. We speak with principal Laverne Nimmons about the school, the neighborhood and how they're helping their students overcome often-difficult circumstances.

This week on the show, we look at intellectual property law, where it's going, and why we should be nervous about that--my guest is James Boyle, the author of "the Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind" (Yale).  Also, how to avoid your summer being an endless nightmare of mosquito bites, with Fordham researcher Tom Daniels.

Now that the seemingly endless rain has (knock wood) let up, we step outside again, with conversations about green building, and about how common plants are being affected by climate change.

This week on Fordham Conversations, two looks at what housing speculation does to neighborhoods. My guests are Beryl Satter, author of "Family Properties: Race, Real Estate and the Exploitation of Black Urban America" (Metropolitan Books), and Jim Buckley, the executive director of the University Neighborhood Housing Program in the Bronx.

If someone were to ask you to describe yourself, what would you say? If you're a member of an ethnic or racial minority, chances are it's more likely to include your race...but that might change at different times of the day. We talk with Fordham psychologist Tiffany Yip about ethnic identity among New York City teens.

We talk about angels—and why they’re probably not what we think—with Fordham theologian Clair McPherson. Also, getting to know Brooklyn’s Hasidic community with Fordham anthropologist Ayala Fader.