Hearsay With Cathy Lewis

We'll bring you conversations with local residents who have bested the odds and are thriving despite daunting obstacles they have faced. You'll want to tune in to hear these inspiring stories - join us!

We want to know what your biggest culinary catastrophe has been. Some home cooks can't seem to get rice right, others avoid making sauces at all costs. Today we'll work our way through your food phobias one course at a time with the help of our resident foodie Patrick Evans-Hylton. We'll start with a bread basket, move on to a fish entree and finish with some baked goods. Guests: William Alexander, author of 52 Loaves: One Man's Relentless Pursuit of Truth, Meaning, and a Perfect Crust, Chef John Maxwell, an Advisor to the Virginia Marine Products Board and Carla Hesseltine of Just Cupcakes in Virginia Beach.

The Patchwork Nation project has classified each of America's 3,142 counties into 12 categories. We'll discuss Hampton Roads' dominant designation of 'Military Bastion' and consider the question of regional identity as we look ahead to Hampton Roads Vision Regional Day on May 6th. Guests: Dante Chinni, project director of Patchwork Nation, Alex Marshall, senior fellow at the Regional Plan Association, and Dana Dickens, President and CEO of the Hampton Roads Partnership.

Local elections are looming - are you ready to head to the polls? Today we'll talk about some of the upcoming races and consider the results of the General Assembly's reconvened session. Join us!

Music plays a role in many religious services and some find that listening to music can be akin to a religious experience. We'll consider the ways these realms overlap and interrelate with WHRO 90.3 FM's Program Director Dwight Davis, Dr. Sandra Billy, director of the Center for Sacred Music and teaches Sacred Music History at Virginia Wesleyan College and Jamie Bernstein, daughter of the legendary composer Leonard Bernstein. The Virginia Arts Festival and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra will stage a new production of Leonard Bernstein's MASS: A Theater Piece for Singers, Players, and Dancers on Friday, April 23 and Saturday, April 24.

HearSay's favorite veterinarian Dr. Phyllis Neumann joins us today to tackle your pet queries. If Fido has been acting up or Fluffy suddenly won't eat her food Dr. Phyllis has a solution. Send your questions in advance to hearsay@whrv.org.

To rephrase the song 'Spring is busting out all over!' Gardening Guru Jim Orband joins us to tackle your questions about all things garden related. We'll also check in with Kathy Van Mullekom of the Daily Press to get the latest on garden related happenings in Hampton Roads. Call in with yours at 440.2665 or 1.800.940.2240!

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, better known as NASA, has been in the headlines following President Obama's recent speech on the future of the organization. We thought it would be a great time to check in with the folks at NASA Langley to talk about the always evolving areas of research that they are working on. With Earth Day approaching this Thursday we'll talk about NASA's research regarding climate change and more. Join us!

We will consider the role of citizen participation in journalism during today's broadcast. Many publications are reconsidering their policies regarding user comments posted online. We'll talk about the risks and rewards of anonymous online posts with Don Luzzatto, the editorial page editor of the Virginian-Pilot. We'll also talk about our WHRO's Community Advisory Board with WHRV-FM's Director of Programming, Heather Mazzoni. Later in The hour we'll talk with Robert Puentes, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program. He'll be in town Tuesday, April 20th for the 2010 Future of Hampton Roads Regional Futures Conference

Today we're bringing you conversations with a quartet of authors we've had the pleasure of speaking with over the past few months. They include - Ethan Watters, author of Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche, Jeremy Rifkin, the president of the Foundation on Economic Trends whose most recent book is The Empathic Civilization : The Race to Global Consciousness in a World in Crisis, CAPT Shannon Meehan, author of Beyond Duty: Life on the Frontline in Iraq written with Roger Thompson, and Hugh Ambrose who has written The Pacific, a companion book to the ongoing HBO miniseries. Tune in!

Many aspects of life become more immediate and require a sharper focus as one ages. Health and medical care is certainly a big issue, but one important area that is sometimes overlooked is getting one's legal matters in order. Today we'll talk about the legal issues to consider as you age with Chaplain David Cochran and Dr. Krista Dobbie, Director of Palliative Care, both of Sentara, about Advanced Directives and with Andrew Hook of Oast & Hook, a Hampton Roads based firm concentrating in elder law.

We'll talk about the challenges that Civil Rights organizations have faced in the past, the successes they have achieved and discuss the ways they're changing to meet the challenges of the future. The conversation is inspired by two upcoming events taking place in the community - inspired by an upcoming York-James City-Williamsburg NAACP event titled 'NAACP: Our Story, Our Work, Our Partners' and a Colonial Williamsburg hosted forum titled 'A Dream Fulfilled? Race, Citizenship, and the Presidential Election of 2008'. Guests: Rex Ellis, Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs at the National Museum of African American History and Culture of the Smithsonian Institution and Clarence Wilson, the President, York-James City-Williamsburg NAACP and Marc Morial, President.

Many questions remain about the causes of autism and whether the increased number of cases reported recently indicate a spike in incidences or better diagnosis. What we do know is that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 1 in 110 children in the United States has an autism spectrum disorder. Today we'll talk with people impacted by autism including the author of The Autism Mom's Survival Guide Susan Senator, Tom Swanston, the Executive Director of Chesapeake Service Systems which provides employment and habitation opportunities for people with disabilities, and Dr. John Harrington, M.D., director of CHKD's General Academic Pediatrics and an associate professor at EVMS. Dr. Harrington is also the father of an autistic child and has made the study and treatment of autism a major focus of his research and community outreach.

We'll talk with Dr. Bob Holsworth of Virginia Tomorrow about the political implications of 'Confederate History Month'. Also, earlier this week a judge ruled in favor of seven Virginia families seeking compensation for damages due to Chinese drywall; we'll talk to one homeowner impacted by the issue. Later in the hour we will visit with two very special guest - first, Barbara Eden of I Dream of Jeannie fame who will be in town April 17th for a performance of Love Letters. Later in the hour we'll talk with NPR correspondent Susan Stamberg who will be at the Chrysler Museum April 27th for a Norfolk Society of the Arts Lecture and Luncheon. Join us!

On February 20th Hampton Roads' best student spellers competed in The Virginian-Pilot Spelling Bee, which took place here at the WHRO studios and was broadcast on WHRO TV-15. The winner will go on to compete in the 2010 Scripps National Spelling Bee in late May and the competition inspired us to host our own listener spelling bee. If you're still regretting misspelling 'chrysanthemum' during your 5th grade Bee - this show is for you!

Questions and conflicts over the issue of dress codes in the workplace and appropriate attire at social events abound. Guest host Barbara Hamm Lee will consider the question of what is and isn't appropriate in various settings and situations. We'll also talk about the image we project through our clothing choices with guests including "image architect" Sandy Dumont.

Segment A: Jon Meacham Jon Meacham is the editor of Newsweek magazine and if that isn't enough to keep him busy he's also authored several best-selling books. His most recent tome, American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House, won the a Pulitzer Prize for biography. We'll talk with Meacham in advance of his upcoming appearance as part of The Norfolk Forum on Tuesday, April 13th. Join us! Segment B: Dee Dee Myers Dee Dee Myers debuted on the national political scene as President Clinton's press secretary. She was the first woman to hold the job and has parlayed her work within the White House into a varied career that has included serving as a consultant to The West Wing. She's currently a contributing editor for Vanity Fair and the author of the best-seller Why Women Should Rule the World. We'll talk with Myers prior to an upcoming appearance as part of The Virginia Beach Forum on Wednesday, April 21st.

Today we'll talk with our go-to guy on all things tech Ed Sykes and Dr. Herman Tavani, author of Ethics and Technology: Controversies, Questions, and Strategies for Ethical Computing, about the sticky situations we sometimes find ourselves in online. Some of the issues we'll tackle - 'tagging' of photos on Facebook, setting online boundaries with your colleagues, and more! Share your thoughts on our Facebook page or call us with your thoughts during the show at 440.2665 or 1.800.940.2240.

We'll talk with Uwe Reinhardt, one of the nation's leading authorities on health care economics, about the recently signed health care legislation. Reinhardt will take your questions on the matter at 440.2665 or 1.800.940.2240. We'll also talk with Bill Schneider, a Portsmouth native who is a renowned journalist, scholar and former CNN senior political analyst. He'll be in town for the 2nd Annual Civic Engagement Summit on April 10th.

Segment A: Letters to Jackie When President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 the nation, and the world, mourned. Over the course of the two years following Kennedy's death his widow Jackie received 1.5 million condolence letters. The letters remained largely untouched for decades, but historian and News Hour with Jim Lehrer commentator Ellen Fitzpatrick has gathered 250 of the letters in a collection titled Letters to Jackie: Condolences from a Grieving Nation. You'll want to tune in to hear about the heartfelt and moving letters Fitzpatrick has brought to light. Segment B: A Taste of Honey Acclaimed author, critic and literary scholar Jabari Asim has penned and published his first work of fiction A Taste of Honey: Stories. Though it is a work of fiction the stories are rooted in the tumultuous reality of 1968 America. The sixteen interconnected stories create a realistic depiction of life for African Americans living in a fictionalized small Midwestern town.