KERA-TV (Dallas, TX)

Is it possible that conversations with A.I. can be as effective as talking to a friend or therapist? Author Vauhini Vara joins host Krys Boyd to discuss her experience asking A.I. for critiques and insights into her deepest feelings - and we'll consider the portrait A.I. creates of us based on what we share with it. Her book is "Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age."

By At the beginning of the pandemic, messages of togetherness were everywhere. That quickly changed. David Wallace-Wells joins host Krys Boyd to discuss Covid five years on, how the pandemic changed the way we view each other, and the distrust it has woven into our most venerable institutions. His opinion piece in The New York Times is "How Covid Remade America." Isolated child Shutterstock

By Feminist author Roxane Gay has put together a compendium of notable feminist works, but even she says it's not the last word. The contributing opinion writer for The New York Times joins host Krys Boyd to talk about editing a new collection that looks at hundreds of years of feminist writers and why the ideas around women's rights are always evolving. She's the editor of "The Portable Feminist Reader."

Courtney Collins [00:00:00] Most of us have at least a surface-level understanding of what obvious signs of child abuse and neglect look like. If a child appears uncared for at school, if there's unexplained injuries, a kid who shows fear around parents and caregivers, these red flags are dramatized on TV and in movies and they're painstakingly detailed in true crime documentaries and podcasts.

By Researchers are diligently gathering data about near-death experiences to better understand the thin line between life and death. Science journalist Rachel Nuwer joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the phenomenon, which has been recorded since ancient times, and how it may offer insight into how we understand consciousness. Her Scientific American article is "Lifting the Veil on Near-Death Experiences." This episode originally aired on June 10th, 2024.

Disengaged teen Shutterstock It can be bewildering to see a child go from loving to learn to dropping out of academic engagement. Jenny Anderson is a co-author of "The Disengaged Teen: Helping Kids Learn Better, Feel Better, and Live Better" written with co-author Rebecca Winthrop. She joins guest host Courtney Collins to discuss why teens disconnect from the world and to offer strategies to get them back on track not only in the classroom, but also in life.

Nuns walking Shutterstock Sisters of Mary Morning Star is a group of Catholic nuns who work with women on Texas' death row. New Yorker staff writer Lawrence Wright joins guest host Courtney Collins to discuss the deep bonds the sisters have with condemned inmates, what it says about faith and friendship, and how they view the death penalty as law. His article is "The Nuns Trying to Save the Women on Texas's Death Row." Disengaged teen Shutterstock Kamala posters Shutterstock

Kamala posters Shutterstock In the 2024 election, Democrats lost the presidency and control of the Senate. What now? Katie Glueck covers American politics with an emphasis on the Democratic Party for The New York Times. She joins guest host John McCaa to discuss why the Blue Wave never materialized, the current mood of a party marked by in-fighting, and strategies Democratic Party leadership might employ heading into the 2026 mid-terms. Black students in a classroom Shutterstock

Black students in a classroom Shutterstock If knowledge is power, withholding an education is also a way of denying power. University of South Carolina School of Law professor Derek W. Black joins guest host John McCaa to talk about the history of Southern leaders withholding literacy from Black people from the end of the Civil War through Reconstruction and beyond - and about the lengths that Black Americans have gone to to get an education. Couple holding hands Shutterstock

Krys Boyd [00:00:00] I had my share of last minute cram session studying for exams when I was a student, and I can honestly tell you some of them were wasted effort. Even when I made pretty good grades or classes I really cared about, the lessons mostly stuck. But when I was studying with only the grade in mind, it seems like a lot of the valuable things I was learning just fell out of my brain before I could make it back to my dorm room. From KERA in Dallas, this is think I'm Krys Boyd.