A look at the “mommy wars?, and how—and why-- we look at working mothers the way we do today. My guest is Fordham historian Kirsten Swinth.

Christmas time is toy time...but what are we playing at when we talk about toys? An look at the emergence of the modern toy industry with Fordham historian David Hamlin. Also, we'll look at why it is that jingles are so memorable.

We take a look at--and pay a visit to-- the Hasidic neighborhood of Boro Park, Brooklyn. Our tour guide is Fordham anthropologist Ayala Fader--she's working on a book about Yiddish among Hasidic girls and women.

Did you ask for an X-Files box set for christmas this year? Spending Hanukah with your giant Darth Vader cutout? Mapping out your holiday drive so that you never lose NPR reception? Then you might be...a fan. We explore fandom with Fordham professor Jonathan Gray. He’s one of the editors of the book “Fandom: Identities and Communities in a Mediated World.?

This week on Fordham Conversations...Birdsong. We speak with Fordham Biologist Alan Clark about the songs that penguins sing to each other--and we visit a canary singing competition in Michigan.

Feel like taking a walk? How about a 275 mile walk? We’ll speak to author and Fordham grad Chris Lowney about his pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela; and for those of us who can’t even seem to get out of bed on these wintry mornings, a look at how seasonal light affects our bodies, and what we can do about it.

A crash course in Low Power FM, media activism, pirate radio and why we should care about it, with Christina Dunbar-Hester, of  Fordham's McGannon Communication Research Center.

We get our freak on with a post-halloween conversation about the American Freak Show, with Fordham English professor Leonard Cassuto.

We look at AIDS in Malawi, with filmmakers Doug Karr and Eddie Boyce. Their new film follows Fordham Law School’s Crowley Scholars on their 2007 mission to Malawi to study the effects of AIDS on women there.

If you have something to say in America, you know that at least in theory you have the right to stand in any public place and say it. But if you want to say it on TV, do you have a right to do it in prime time? A conversation about how the right to free speech plays out in today's media universe, with Fordham communications scholar Phil Napoli.

The stories we tell about ourselves…and the stories that the food we eat tells about us. We talk with Fordham professor Kim Hall about food and culture, and with a Brooklyn mother and daughter about what it’s like being Greek and American at the same time.

You might think that finding an apartment in New York City is tough, but for new immigrants it can be an impossible task. We’ll talk about how immigrants—and their children and grandchildren—fare in the New York housing market.

Everyone knows that New York city is the place where they say “hey babe…take a walk on the wild side?…but nothing’s more wild and wooly than New York City politics. We take a look at what makes the city go with Fordham political scientist Bruce Berg, and we talk to some New Yorkers about what they think of when they think of city politics.

She was a middle-class girl from St. Petersburg, Florida, who became a heroine in the French resistance during World War II. We'll talk about the life of Virginia D'Albert Lake, with historian Judy Barrett Litoff, who edited D'Albert-Lake's diary and memoir for publication by Fordham University Press.

This week on Fordham Conversations, we talk about the American presidency--and how it's changed over time--with Fordham Political Scientist Jeffrey Cohen.

Lions and tigers and...polar bears? We talk about Fordham's new joint program with the Bronx Zoo, teaching teachers how to teach conservation biology. Also, branding global warming using polar bears; and a look at a somewhat different educational effort in New York State's prisons.

The West Indian American Day Parade in Brooklyn is the city's largest cultural celebration--up to 3 million people show up every year for the carnivale-like celebration--and it's coming up on labor day. This week on Fordham Conversations, we talk about some of New York's West Indian communities.

this week on the show, we say "nyet!" to conventinality, with a discussion of the occult in Russia...also, a look at the links between
russian alternative spiritual beliefs, and the space race, and a visit with a boy psychic right here in the northeast.

With back-to-school preparations beginning in earnest and parents frantically buying extra-long sheets for their college students' dorm beds, we talk with Fordham Professor Leonard Cassuto about the state of the university today.

In the last few years, the catholic church has received a fair amount of publicity for its conservative stances on issues like abortion, birth control, and gay marriage, leaving many progressive catholics feeling somewhat abandoned. But that wasn't always the case--remembering the heyday of liberation theology, this week on Fordham Conversations.

If you remember the 1980's TV show "thirtysomething", chances are you either loved it or hated it. We talk with Fordham professor Al Auster about that show and why he says it's still fresh 20 years after the fact. He's one of the authors of an upcoming book about the series.

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?.

It's one of New York City's least appreciated waterways, but birds, fish, and now at least one beaver are fans! The Bronx river, by canoe.

We take a fieldtrip, to look at a few of Philadelphia's more than 2700 murals, with Fordham theologian Maureen O'Connell--she's looking at what the murals say about faith.

On this weekend before Independence Day, we look at one very British institutions--the Booker Prize--and what it says about what it means to be British in this day and age.

Apparently, yes. We speak to the author of the new book "Why Classical Music Still Matters", Fordham Professor Lawrence Kramer.

This week on Fordham Conversations, we continue our look at Communism in Harlem during the Great depression. With my guest Mark Naison, we take a closer look at Richard Wright and Paul Robeson's forays into Communism, and we talk about the lingering affects of this little-discussed chapter in American History. (part 2 of 2)

Most of us are familiar with the Harlem Renaissance, but we may not know that around that same time, the Communist Party was gaining a major foothold in the neighborhood and in other African-American areas throughout the country. We'll begin a conversation about race and American communism in the 1930s, with Fordham Historian Mark Naison (part 1 of 2).

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

With support for the war in Iraq severely waning and a new democratic legislature in power, the stories that we hear from Washington and in the media might be different ones this year than they have been for the last few. We talk to to author and Fordham professor Robin Anderson about the stories we've been telling about this war, and the stories we tell about others. Her new book is "A Century of Media, A Century of War." --Aired 1/22/2007

With the end of the year approaching, and with it about a million lists of the superlatives of 2006, we'll hear from the former publisher of another superlative--The Nation, America's oldest weekly magazine. He's written a memoir of his time at The Nation. Also, a few of our favorite things. --Aired 12/23/2006

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. --Aired 1/6/2007

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe was a huge blockbuster and introduced many to CS Lewis as a writer of adventure stories. But an off-off-broadway production is taking a stab at some of Lewis' less child-friendly work. We talk to Magis artistic director, Fordham artist-in-residence, and Jesuit Priest, George Drance. --Aired 1/13/2007