Armed with a newly-talking cinema and trying to survive The Great Depression, Universal Studios developed a new genre – horror. For twenty-two weeks, crews filmed Dracula. And for six of those weeks on a shoestring budget of $66,000, they shot Drácula at night. Antonio Barrenechea (University of Mary Washington) says that despite this unbalanced relationship with Hollywood, this inter-American production contributed to a national cinema throughout the Western Hemisphere in Mexico, Brazil, Peru and beyond. Also: Each generation has its own toxicant. The children of The Great Depression had asbestos. Their children were rattled with lead exposure. And their children are littered with microplastics. Aaron Reuben (University of Virginia) says over 150 million Gen X’ers have mental health issues because of their exposure to lead. And here’s the real fright: there’s no cure! Later in the show: We’re all gonna die. That’s one thing that life promises us all. After helping his parents settle their estate and make funeral arrangements, Willy Donaldson (Christopher Newport University) realized that they needed to talk more about death. Way more. Did they want to be cremated or buried? Did they want a big funeral or something more intimate? He found it easier to start with the negative. What don’t you want at the end of your life? Willy’s book is Estimated Time of Departure.

In a walk through the forest, an Appalachian landowner and biologist points out dozens of species he and his family sustainably harvest for meals. From sycamore trees–whose syrup tastes like butterscotch–to Appalachian wasabi–a spicy root they use in their spice blends–Ryan Huish (University of Virginia College at Wise) is teaching a new generation plant identification and sustainable harvesting practices. Later in the show: For hikers seeking self-discovery on the Appalachian Trail, their cell phones are both a tool and a tether. Scott McCrickard (Virginia Tech) studies how hikers' use of cellphones transforms the experience of the trail. Also: Students in Jacob Barneys (Virginia Tech) invasive species class get to eat what they study. They cook up creative dishes that include blue catfish, wild boar, chickweeds, bamboo, kudzu, autumn olive, and wineberries.

The red colobus monkey is one of the most endangered primates in the world. Found in West, East, and Central Africa, the once thriving species has been decimated by over-hunting. Josh Linder (James Madison University) has devoted his career to studying and conserving these peaceful primates. Plus: Francesco Ferretti (Virginia Tech) led an expedition to be the first to ever tag endangered great white sharks in the Mediterranean. While he and his crew didn’t end up tagging any sharks, they uncovered exciting new evidence of great white activity in the water. Later in the show: Only a few decades ago, the bald eagle was on the brink of extinction. Bryan Watts (William & Mary) has been monitoring the bald eagle population in the Chesapeake Bay for 30 years. He says the bald eagle is one of the biggest success stories in the history of conservation. And: In the small island-nation of Sri Lanka, elephants are sacred animals. But Sujan Henkanaththegedara (Longwood University) says the rich and powerful are illegally capturing wild and critically endangered elephants to have as symbols of wealth.

For little girls, princess culture is everywhere. Carlee Bradbury says it’s been that way for hundreds and hundreds of years. And: darlene anita scott collages and poems explore Black girlhood and the beautiful resistance Black girls and women engage in everyday. Later in the show: In Barbie Magical Fashion, you can design your very own cover model outfit. Lady Popular lets you compete in a fashion battle. Fashion Doll Makeover starts with skincare–facials, pore strips, acne treatments–before you move to the dress up challenge. Kelsey Cummings says all these games targeted at girls are training them on a very specific kind of womanhood.

America has a problem. There’s a nursing shortage. And it's not for lack of hopeful nurses. There's not enough clinical space! The Mary Morton Parsons Clinical Simulation Learning Center (CSLC) at University of Virginia School of Nursing is helping to alleviate that bottleneck with simulations. They get to experience Rob Craig as their first difficult patient in a range of simulations. And: Veterans Affairs hospitals are one of the largest medical providers in the nation. And recently, Sheila Ward introduced Virginia veterans to African diasporic dance and drumming. Later in the show: Teresa Salgado and her colleagues found that tens of thousands of Virginians from Hampton Roads to Wise County live far away from pharmacies. Researchers are calling these places “pharmacy deserts.” Salgado and her colleagues hope that their findings will support policy makers in creating incentives to establish pharmacies in underserved areas.

It’s football season, baby! And that means big upsets, impossible comebacks, nail biting finishes - plus sports betting ads… lots and lots of sports betting ads. Brendan Dwyer studies how this new era of sports betting is changing how we watch games. Later in the show: Virginia legalized casino gaming in 2019 and now there are three operational casinos with two more on the way. Barbara Blake says casinos can boost the local economy but they aren’t a golden ticket. Plus: Larry Epplein is the program advisor for Virginia’s first casino management class.

Lafayette was just 19 when he sailed to America from France and fought alongside George Washington in the Revolutionary War. David Marsich says 50 years later the Feenchman toured all 24 states and was greeted by adoring hordes wherever he went. Plus: A Creek Indian was falsely blamed for the brutal slaying of a band of Cherokees just outside Charleston. Josh Piker writes about it in The Four Deaths of Acorn Whistler. Later in the show: Haiti’s revolution exposed the lie in the Enlightenment values that celebrated universal rights but excluded black people. Julia Gaffield is the author of I Have Avenged America: Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Haiti’s Fight for Freedom. 54f05c20-8f1c-11f0-a36f-63a3d3cf6fc5 dc3612f0-9247-11f0-984f-b10d79862af0

Polar bears are no one’s prey, except for climate change itself. John Whiteman says our human fate is tied up with the fate of the polar bears. And: Birds have an unusual predator. Windows. Karen Powers says that an $8 pack of window decals could be lifesaving. Later in the show: We’ve all killed a spider or sprayed weeds in the garden. Todd Tupper encourages us to start trying to live humbly and more mindfully with nature.

This week we’re returning to Virginia’s Eastern Shore with Virginia Folklife Director Katy Clune. She explores how newcomers to the Shore are adopting and adapting traditional foodways. From gorditas and Haitian plantains to oysters and fresh jams, we get a closer look at the Eastern Shore’s vibrant food culture. Later in the show: Daniel Morales digs into the history of Mexican migrant labor in the American food system. And: Tanya Golash-Boza explores the importance of immigrant labor on farms, in production facilities, and in restaurants across the country.

They say around 20% of students in K-12 schools are considered gifted. But identifying giftedness isn’t exactly a precise science. Chandra Floyd breaks down the inequities in gifted education. Plus: Learning to read is one of those magical childhood experiences. Once you figure it out, it’s like a whole new world opens up! Sean McDonald studies literacy in special education. He says outside of cognitive ability, there are other lesser-known cultural and psychological factors that have a big impact on reading comprehension. Later in the show: Melissa Švigelj taught at a juvenile detention center for four years. She says she was shocked by the oppressive and punitive environment her students faced in the juvenile justice system.

Margot Robbie brought Barbie to life with the 2023 Barbie movie. It was successfully “femvertised” to women and girls across generations. And not only did they go see the movie, but they made sure that they were seen being a part of Barbie’s world. They bought a lot of pink, fast fashion pieces to wear to the theatre and film content with and then, they threw it away. But the problem is that a lot of that fast fashion is plastic. Alexandra Villela says that plastic is forever and the landfill tells the story of that Barbie summer. Plus: Advertising firms are starting to use generative AI to make graphics faster and cheaper. Consumers may soon find themselves wondering what’s even real. But one thing’s for sure: Meg Michelsen says that consumers want the humans in advertisements to be real. Everything else can be fake. Later in the show: Apple products are the norm now. I have more than I care to admit. And it all began for me in middle school with a G3 iBook. But they were once a counterculture product. Ted Gournelos says that one of the ways that Apple created value for itself was by donating tens of thousands of laptops to public schools in the early 2000s. This created a generation of loyal Apple customers, and parents who had to pay attention to the products their children were begging for.

After the long French and Indian War, British surveyors fanned out to create maps of their new frontier territories so they could better control the unruly colonists. Max Edelson is author of The New Map of Empire. Plus: A spin through early American Cartographic History by Cassandra Farrell. She describes one map created by Captain John Smith and another by the father of Thomas Jefferson. Later in the show: When Johnny Finn's urban planning students arrive at the campus they often warn each other to stay away from the number streets in the nearby city because those are dangerous. Finn says the "number streets" represent a century of deliberate segregation and redlining that have cost African American middle-class families across America billions in lost wealth.