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Readers Radio: Read Globally, Talk Locally on KAFM 88.1

CMU's Reference & Distance Services Librarian Laureen Cantwell has a monthly community affairs hour radio show on Grand Junction's KAFM (88.1) where she brings on local guests and talks about recently-published non-fiction.

 

  • Guest(s): Dr. Erika Jackson (CMU, History); Tycee Belcastro (youth counselor, BEing There Counseling, Grand Junction)
  • Listen to the episode! (9.18.2017)
  • Book blurb: In You Play the Girl, Chocano blends formative personal stories with insightful and emotionally powerful analysis. Moving from Bugs Bunny to Playboy Bunnies, from Flashdance to Frozen, from the progressive ’70s through the backlash ’80s, the glib ’90s, and the pornified aughts—and at stops in between—she explains how growing up in the shadow of “the girl” taught her to think about herself and the world and what it means to raise a daughter in the face of these contorted reflections. In the tradition of Roxane Gay, Rebecca Solnit, and Susan Sontag, Chocano brilliantly shows that our identities are more fluid than we think, and certainly more complex than anything we see on any kind of screen.

you play the girl by carina chocano book cover

(book image and this link go to Amazon.com page for the book)

 

  • Guest(s): DJ Nephew (cool guy, raconteur, IT personnel, gamer dude)
  • Listen to the episode! (10.16.2017)
  • Book blurb: Crash Override offers an up-close look inside the controversy, threats, and social and cultural battles that started in the far corners of the internet and have since permeated our online lives. Through her story--as target and as activist--Quinn provides a human look at the ways the internet impacts our lives and culture, along with practical advice for keeping yourself and others safe online.

crash override by zoe quinn book cover

(image above and this link will take you to the Amazon page for the book)

 

  • Guest(s): Kate Simonds, CMU’s Student Wellness and Prevention Specialist
  • Listen to the episode! (11.20.2017)
  • Book blurb: Born in the mid-1990s up to the mid-2000s, iGen is the first generation to spend their entire adolescence in the age of the smartphone. With social media and texting replacing other activities, iGen spends less time with their friends in person—perhaps contributing to their unprecedented levels of anxiety, depression, and loneliness. But technology is not the only thing that makes iGen distinct from every generation before them; they are also different in how they spend their time, how they behave, and in their attitudes toward religion, sexuality, and politics. They socialize in completely new ways, reject once sacred social taboos, and want different things from their lives and careers. More than previous generations, they are obsessed with safety, focused on tolerance, and have no patience for inequality. With the first members of iGen just graduating from college, we all need to understand them: friends and family need to look out for them; businesses must figure out how to recruit them and sell to them; colleges and universities must know how to educate and guide them. And members of iGen also need to understand themselves as they communicate with their elders and explain their views to their older peers. Because where iGen goes, so goes our nation—and the world.

iGen by Jean Twenge book cover

(cover image and this link will take you to the Amazon page for the book)

 

  • Guest(s): Dr. Melissa Connor (CMU, Forensic Anthropology)
  • Listen to the episode! (12.18.2017)
  • Book blurb: Fascinated by our pervasive fear of dead bodies, mortician Caitlin Doughty set out to discover how other cultures care for the dead. From Here to Eternity is an immersive global journey that introduces compelling, powerful rituals almost entirely unknown in America.

(cover image and this link will take you to the Amazon page for the book)