An insight into one of this country’s appalling injustices, the life imprisonment in adult penitentiaries of teenagers as young as 13 who have been convicted of murder. Author, activist and retired pediatrician Bettye Kearse joins me to speak about an upcoming local event to help to bring awareness that may change young people’s lives, to be tried in juvenile courts and given a real chance to understand their crime. Bettye Kearse is the author of The Other Madisons: The Lost History of A President’s Black Family. Join her to hear wonderful soul music and dance at Gathering Up: The Gospel of Community. Saturday, October 7, 2:00 pm at United Church of Santa Fe on Arroyo Chamiso and Sunday 8th, 2:00 pm at the Railyard Performance Center. Come prepared to dance! Full details at inspiritstudio.com/gathering-up

Fourteen months out from the next general election is it possible to break big money’s stranglehold on our electoral system ? Former Santa Fe attorney and social justice activist for more than 40 years, Bruce Berlin joins me with his critically acclaimed book, Breaking Big Money’s Grip on America. With lobbyists and super PACs soliciting seemingly unlimited funds from corporations and individuals how can we break the cycle ? A fascinating and important conversation that we all need to hear, understand and learn effective ways to take action. More in Bruce Berlin’s topical weekly blogs at breakingbigmoneysgrip.com

A priceless interview for all animal lovers with Santa Fe’s Hersch Wilson, recently retired volunteer firefighter after 33 years, soccer coach, organizational consultant, master storyteller, former dancer, author of the acclaimed Firefighter Zen and today’s newly released Dog Lessons: Learning the Important Stuff from Our Best Friends.

Mary L. Grow’s beautifully rendered story Night Train to Odessa is set 100 years ago in Ukraine as it is torn apart by civil war and the Bolshevik revolution. Yet events could be mirror images of Ukraine now, of loss of all that is loved and familiar and the desperate need to flee certain death and horror overnight. I ask the author how she creates a novel so immersive, suspenseful and intimate and yet to bring lightness to even the most dire experiences the characters suffer. Mary L. Grow will be reading from Night Train to Odessa at Santa Fe’s Collected Works bookstore at 6:00 on Thursday, September 14th. Learn more about her now at marylgrow.com

Standing at the gravesite of their grandmother, three young children and their mother were asked to make a solemn promise that they would never, ever, put their Dad in a nursing home. Decades later, their father is deep in the trenches of vascular dementia, and they try to care for him and for their exhausted, burned out, elderly but determined mother. Then, on Christmas Day as the family gathers, Mom asks her daughter Bernadette, who is an ICU nurse, to seriously consider euthanasia to put Dad out of his daily misery. What follows is a brilliantly-written tale filled with wisdom and life, an unexpected page-turner. Essential reading for everyone with a family member suffering from dementia of any kind. Available from the independent bookseller bookshop.org and directly from Debra on her website at http://dliebhart.com/

Since she was five years old, Bettye’s mother has reminded her of the family credo, “Always remember you’re a Madison. You come from African slaves and a president.” Her book, The Other Madisons: The Lost History of A President’s Black Family” is Bettye’s gift to her own descendants and to all of us to remember that the Founding Fathers may have laid the foundations for our country, but the actual physical foundations were built and maintained by millions of enslaved people. Bettye is the “griotte” in her family, the one bearing witness to the lives of generations long past by retaining and protecting the oral history which she will in turn pass onto her own daughter. The Other Madisons takes this history and her decades of exhaustive research and puts it in writing for the first time. Yet to listen to this interview with Bettye gives you a taste of the ancient storytelling tradition without which we would never learn the truth. The Other Madisons bettyekearse.com

A mouth-watering treat for listeners today with three-time James Beard award-winning culinary writer Anya von Bremzen with her new book, National Dish: Around The World in Search of Food, History and The Meaning of Home. Part geography, part history and an exploration of deep cultural roots, we begin in Paris with the classic home-cooked dish, pot au feu, and travel with Anya onto Naples, Italy, to taste pizza unlike any you’ve tasted before. In a few minutes we’re in Seville, Spain relaxing with friends over tapas and onto Oaxaca, Mexico where the secrets of mole are passed down through generations There we learn of the 3,000 year old fight to keep corn, masa, safe from the wheat barons. Our final moments are spent in war-torn Ukraine the home of borsch, or is it Russia who claims to have created the delicious beetroot soup? National Dish is published by Penguin.

Today, a delightful and fun chat with author and playwright Rosemary Zibart and director Nick Stofocik ahead of their long-awaited production City Mice. How does a playwright find a director and actors who can turn her long-nurtured seed idea and carefully-crafted script into a play ready for the audience and critics? What happened when Rosemary handed over City Mice to Nick? The answer may surprise you. We also clarify the reasons why Hollywood screenwriters and SAG actors are striking, and again that answer may not be what you think. City Mice will be playing at Teatro Paraguas in Santa Fe for two weekends, August 3–5 and 10–12 at 7:30 with matinees on Sundays, August 6 and 13 at 2:00. city-mice.ticketleap.com

A perfect show for a hot day as visual artist and poet Susan Gardner joins me with her perceptive and calming new volume of poetry, Love and The Weather.