This is Laura Ellis with your weekly State of Affairs update! Sorry for the tardiness of this week’s post, folks. Holidays discombobulate me!
Monday’s show was a conversation about human exploration on the moon, with Andrew Chaikin, author of Voices from the Moon. It’s been 40 years this month since the first moon landing, and we thought that was worth commemorating! Chaikin couldn’t join us on the actual anniversary of the moon landing, because he’ll be hanging out with actual astronauts at the Smithsonian. I swear, some people’s priorities are really out of order. Seriously, though, he was a fascinating guest, and if you missed the show, you can listen back to it here.
On Tuesday’s show we’ll learn about the Employee Free Choice Act – who’s for it, and who is against it, and why. We’ll find out what’s actually in the bills, and how they would affect labor in Kentucky and elsewhere in the nation.
Wednesday’s show came from a provocative book title that landed in our inboxes. It was Leadership 101 for White Men: How to Work Successfully with Black Colleagues and Customers, by Chuck Shelton. He’ll be delivering the keynote speech at Governor Beshear’s EEO Conference, but first, he’ll stop by our studios – joined by Marilyn Clark from Worksmart Training & Consulting – to talk a bit about supervising a diverse workplace.
Thursday’s show is sure to inspire nostalgia in our listeners of a certain age, and anyone interested in Louisville history. It’s about Fontaine Ferry Park, which closed 40 years ago after having been open since 1905. While many people have fond childhood memories of whiling away summer days in the pool or Hilarity Hall, other Louisvillians’ memories are of exclusion; the park was segregated until 1964, and even then the integration was uneasy and marked by protests. A spree of vandalism and attacks on workers shut the park down on opening day, 1969. We’ll talk about the good and bad of Fontaine Ferry Park, and we’ll be asking you to chime in with your memories. We’ll also learn more about the current exhibit at the Frazier International History Museum. If you have any pictures you’d like to share, we’d love to have you send them in so we can put them on our website!
Now, let’s talk about Friday. On Friday, we’ll be trying something a little new for us – a look back at recent news. We’ll talk about the big stories (and the stories that should have been bigger), put them in context, and take your questions about them. We love the Diane Rehm’s Friday News Roundup and thought it would be great to do something similar, but with the ability to localize the stories we discuss. Since this is a new venture for us, we’ll want your feedback! Let us know what you think at soa@wfpl.org.
