The Colin McEnroe Show

We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing. This hour, the conversation winds around to our old friends evolving (or not), sports losing its magic (or not), spending billions of dollars trying to get rockets to Mars (or not), Fat Bear Week, radio call-in shows, sane washing … Anything. (Seemingly) everything. These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Percival Everett is the author of 24 novels, four short story collections, and six collections of poetry. His 2001 novel Erasure was adapted as the feature film American Fiction, which was nominated this year for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Everett has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. His newest novel, James, reimagines Adventures of Huckleberry Finn “from the enslaved Jim’s point of view.” This hour, Percival Everett joins us in studio. GUEST: Percival Everett: Novelist and poet The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired June 5, 2024.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Going into November, we’ll be doing some shows where we talk with one guest, for the hour, who knows a lot about the election. This hour, we talk with veteran journalist Mark Jacob about the state of American journalism and its impact on the upcoming election. GUEST:  Mark Jacob: Writes the weekly newsletter “Stop the Presses.” He is the former Metro Editor of The Chicago Tribune and former Sunday Editor of The Chicago Sun-Times. He is also the co-author of ten books on history and photography Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Policy speeches, convention speeches, concession speeches, victory speeches, stump speeches. Inaugural addresses, State of the Union addresses, prime-time addresses. There sure are a lot of speeches that we expect presidents and presidential candidates to give. But how much do those speeches really matter anymore? How much do they work as, say, TikTok fodder? This hour, the art and politics of political speechmaking. GUESTS: Bill Curry: Playing the part of Bill Curry Jeff Nussbaum: A special assistant and senior speechwriter to President Joe Biden from 2021 to 2022; he is a partner at Bully Pulpit Interactive Media and the author of Undelivered: The Never-Heard Speeches That Would Have Rewritten History Linda Qiu: A New York Times reporter specializing in fact-checking statements made by politicians and public figures The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This year, local students lobbied Connecticut lawmakers to change our state insect, which is currently the praying mantis. This hour, we are focused on the praying mantis. We learn about the insect, why students think it should not represent the state, and what praying mantises of the future could look like. GUESTS: Liz Alter: Professor of evolutionary biology at California State University Monterey Bay Katherine Dugas: Entomologist and research technician at The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired April 8, 2024.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls, calls about anything, everything. These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is there some thing that EVERYBODY seems to like that you’re just not that into? Star Wars? Game of Thrones? Seinfeld? The Beach Boys? Christopher Nolan? … Taylor Swift? Or what about some very current thing that seemingly everybody thinks is so interesting and cutting edge and exciting, but you just don’t like it? (For Colin, that very current thing is The Bear on TV.) What do you do when that happens? How do you feel about it? Embarrassed? Wrong? Defiant? This hour, a look at not liking all the things you’re “supposed” to like. GUESTS: John Dankosky: Director of news and audio for Science Friday, event and podcast host for The Connecticut Mirror, and co-owner of Lam Yoga in New Hartford, Connecticut David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College, and she’s the author of The Essays Only You Can Write Gene Seymour: A “writer, professional spectator, pop-culture maven, and jazz geek” Lindsay Lee Wallace: Writes about culture, health care and health equity, and other stuff, too Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Everyone has likely experienced some form of writer's block in their lives — when you sit down to write and the words just won't come. This hour we dive into the phenomenon and talk with writers about their experiences with it. What is writer's block, where does it come from, and how can you get past it? Plus, we take a look at the long history of writer's block, and the muses, goddesses, and saints we call on when we have it. GUESTS:  Jami Attenberg: Author whose new book, out next week, is A Reason to See You Again. She is also the creator of “#1000wordsofsummer,” and writes the newsletter “Craft Talk” Dennis Palumbo: Writer and licensed psychotherapist who specializes in working with creative patients. He is a former Hollywood screenwriter, and the author of numerous books Joyce Kinkead: Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English at Utah State University. She is author of A Writing Studies Primer, among other books Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bestselling author Don Winslow joins us to discuss his new novel, City in Ruins, which he says is the last of his career. GUEST:  Don Winslow: Bestselling author whose new book is City in Ruins Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.  Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on April 3, 2024.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It feels like tourism hit a breaking point this summer, with residents around Europe protesting visitors, new entrance and tourist fees popping up at famous spots, and even a net going up to block a popular view of Mt. Fuji. This hour, a philosopher makes the case against travel. Plus, we talk about how tourism is impacting destinations, like Bologna, Italy, and ways to travel differently. GUESTS:  Agnes Callard: Associate Professor of Philosophy at The University of Chicago. Her forthcoming book is Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Life Ilaria Maria Sala: Italian journalist Lisa Abend: Journalist for The New York Times, TIME, Vanity Fair and AFAR. Her Substack is “The Unplugged Traveler”  Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.