Viewpoints

Our guest says that Henry Clay was just as important to our nation as the founding fathers, and he discusses the great contributions this Speaker of the House made. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s almost time to head to the mall and check out the holiday decorations and pick up some presents for friends and family. A lot of people will be buying clothing, shoes, accessories and making sweets as gifts, thinking only about the cost and if the recipient will like it. Our guests say that you should also consider where the gift comes from, what it’s made of and how the workers who created it are treated. Our guests discuss the need for sustainable, ethically-made gifts, from clothing to jewelry to chocolate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There have been a number of incidents recently where large companies or their spokespeople give the business a black eye by their manufacturing practices or illegal behavior. What can a business do to bounce back and once again create trust with its customers? Our two business specialist discuss the issue and offer advice about how companies can avoid problems with their brands as well as how to clean up the mess afterwards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Although their numbers are dwindling every year, there are still many people alive today who remember and lived through the Holocaust during World War II. One of these men spoke to us about his experience as a young boy in a Czechoslovakian work camp, and how his mother – through hard work, quick thinking and just pure luck – managed to keep herself and her two children from the death camps in Poland. He also discusses the need for young people to learn about the Holocaust and the reasons why it happened. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We talk to an author whose new book chronicles an exhibition to the North Pole and the men who risked their lives to find out what was actually on the top of the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaking in public can be a very anxiety-producing experience, but why? And how can we remove some of that anxiety and do a better job in front of an audience? Our guests discuss the fear of public speaking and offer advice on how to create, prepare for and deliver a speech with confidence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author Jack London is known for his stories of adventure in the Klondike, the Yukon and other far-away places. Our guest, however, says these stories also reflect his desire to bring the plight of poor and exploited workers to the public’s attention. We’ll hear how London’s hardscrabble youth and physically demanding jobs informed his writing, and find out how the author used sustainable farming methods long before they became fashionable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s the time of year when all the ghosts and goblins, witches and monsters, superheroes and villains don their Halloween best and head off to trick-or-treat, party or walk through a haunted house. Why do we dress up for the holiday? What do our costumes say about us? Why do we love to be frightened on this night in the year? We talk to a psychologist and a haunted attraction specialist about these issues, and also take a look at where some of our Halloween traditions came from. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re all familiar with the various ages such as the Jurassic and the Paleozoic, but have you ever heard of the Anthropocene? We meet a woman who has traveled around the world looking at how climate change caused by humans has transformed areas of our planet and how people are looking for creative ways to deal with the changes in lifestyle, agriculture and migration caused by these changes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You can find almost any fruit – domestic and exotic – in the produce section of grocery stores across the country these days. There’s one fruit, though, that’s both domestic and exotic that you will have a hard time locating: the pawpaw. The once-common fruit has all but disappeared from stores except for a few mail order specialty shops and some farmers’ markets. We talk to a man who wanted to know more about this exotic, tropical-tasting fruit so he researched its history, culinary uses and the efforts to bring it back into favor here in the states. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does it take to be a successful entrepreneur? A hot idea? Venture capital money? A lot of internet buzz? Those things help, but our two guests, who are both successful entrepreneurs and businessmen, say there is a lot more to it, especially if you do business solely or mostly on the internet. They’ll give us advice on picking the best partner, why financing your venture is a family affair, and how to present yourself in the best way to internet customers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When a child is placed in foster care, she’s already been through the traumatic experience of being removed from her family’s care, and now faces an uncertain future in a new home – sometimes worse than the one she left. We discuss the successes and failures of the system and hear about what can be done to strengthen it so that children receive the best care available, foster families get the support they need to help a child with the transition, and caseworkers receive the support they need to do their jobs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Although unemployment is down across the nation, there are still pockets of workers who have been unemployed for years, with no hope of ever finding a good job. Our guest researched the sociological effects of long-term unemployment on out-of-work autoworkers in Michigan, and found out that the hurt, humiliation and family problems that unemployment brings aren’t just about the financial losses. He also discusses how the global economy is making employment more difficult in the U.S., and suggests some ways to alleviate the burden of the unemployed and help all workers gain good, secure employment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices