Think Humanities

Host Bill Goodman is joined by author, graphic designer, and member of Kentucky Humanities Speakers Bureau, Gary Cieradkowski. A native of New Jersey, Gary has worked for advertising firms all over the country. He now resides in Northern Kentucky and has his own graphic design studio. His interest in baseball history and his artistic ability led him to design baseball cards that landed him features on ESPN and NPR. A specialist in baseball history, his work titled "The League of Outsider Baseball: An Illustrated History of Baseball’s Forgotten Heroes," was published in 2015.

Host Bill Goodman is joined by Dr. George Herring, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Herring retired from UK after thirty-six years, including three terms as chair of the Department of History. He specializes in the history of U.S. foreign relations and is an expert on the Vietnam War. Dr. Herring is also a member of our Kentucky Humanities Speakers Bureau. On today’s episode, he discusses one of his favorite lectures, "An Ordinary Soldier in an Extraordinary War," which tells the story of a WWI soldier based on the letters he wrote home and a pocket diary he kept while in Europe.

Host Bill Goodman is joined by local bookstore owner, Jay McCoy. Brier Books is located in Lexington but also provides a number of pop-up shops throughout the state. Jay shares with us the latest summer reads by Kentucky authors, including works by Silas House, Hannah Pittard, Tiffany Reisz, and Andrew Shaffer. To purchase books, sign up for workshops, and learn about upcoming events, you can visit www.brierbooks.com.

Host Bill Goodman is joined by Juanita White – researcher, scriptwriter, and member of Kentucky Humanities Speakers Bureau. Juanita is a former educator and curriculum specialist from Louisville. After retiring from the school district, she began working at the Farmington Historic Home. Juanita discusses the history of Farmington as the home of James Speed, who served as the Attorney General to Abraham Lincoln. Juanita researches Kentucky African American history, which you can learn more about in her Speakers Bureau talks on Edith Goodall Wilson and Matthew Garrison.

Host Bill Goodman is joined by Jeff Worley – a Kentucky poet, former professor of English, and research magazine editor. Worley taught American literature in Germany for eight years through the University of Maryland’s European Division and later became an assistant professor of English at Penn State Altoona. After moving to Lexington, Worley joined the staff of Odyssey, the University of Kentucky’s research magazine, which he became the editor of in 1997. Having retired from UK in 2010, he still serves as a free-lance writer for magazines across the country. He is also a member of the Kentucky Humanities Speakers Bureau in which he performs poetry readings. On today’s episode, Worley reads some of his new poems and gives us a preview of his upcoming publication.

Host Bill Goodman is joined by historian and retired University of Kentucky administrator David Bettez. Dr. Bettez formerly served as the director of UK’s Office of International Affairs. A specialist of World War I history, Dr. Bettez explains Kentucky’s response to the war. You can learn more about this topic in his book, "Kentucky and the Great War: World War I on the Home Front." Bettez also discusses the archival research he pursued to write "Kentucky Marine: Major General Logan Feland and the Making of the Modern USMC" which won the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation Colonel Joseph Alexander award in 2015. Dr. Bettez is also a member of our Kentucky Humanities Speakers Bureau.

Host Bill Goodman is joined by Dr. Michael Benson, President of Eastern Kentucky University. President Benson provides a thoughtful analysis of the current state of higher education in America, which you can read more about this fall in his new book, "College for the Commonwealth: A Case for Higher Education in American Democracy." President Benson urges the importance of investing in higher education through historic examples such as the Land Grant Act and the GI Bill. A friend of the humanities, Dr. Benson discusses the value of liberal arts training and the importance of higher education in Kentucky.

Host Bill Goodman is joined by author, former attorney, and Episcopal priest Laurie Brock. Laurie serves at St. Michael the Archangel in Lexington and volunteers as a crisis chaplain with the Lexington Police Department. On today’s episode of THINK HUMANITIES, Laurie shares a passage from her new book, "Horses Speak of God: How Horses Can Teach Us to Listen and Be Transformed," and discusses how she lets horses teach her about God, joy, and patience. You can follow Laurie’s blog on horses, faith, and writing at revlauriebrock.com.

Host Bill Goodman is joined by former Kentucky Humanities Executive Director Dr. Virginia Carter. The duo discuss her 25-year tenure with Kentucky Humanities and her work to bring unique humanities programs to the Commonwealth including Kentucky Chautauqua®; PRIME TIME Family Reading Time®; Kentucky Humanities magazine; and Our Lincoln: Kentucky’s Gift to the Nation, performed for a national audience at the Kennedy Center.

Host Bill Goodman is joined by Kentucky author Crystal Wilkinson. Crystal shares her early life growing up in Indian Creek, Kentucky, where her grandmother instilled in her a lifelong love of reading and writing. Wilkinson discovered her talent for writing at a young age, having written her first op-ed when she was only twelve. A critically acclaimed author, Wilkinson has written numerous award-winning books, including "Blackberries, Blackberries" and "The Birds of Opulence." She currently serves as the Appalachian Writer-in-Residence at Berea College.