Wgtd's The Morning Show With Greg Berg

Paul Lockhart is the author of "The Drillmaster of Valley Forge:  The Baron de Steuben and the Making of the American Army."  

Kenosha is home to the Washington Park Velodrome, the nation's oldest continuously operating velodrome for competitive track cycling.  On the program, you'll meet Mike Riva, one of the coach's of the Kenosha Velosport Team - and two of the finest athletes on his team,  Carter Kasianowicz and Mia Scarlato.  Mia's mother, Jennifer Scarlato, contributes the perspective of the parents and other family members who support the athletes in all kinds of ways.  Carter and Mia will be competing at Nationals in early July.

My guest, Shannon Watts, is the founder of Moms Demand Action .... and the author of "Fight Like a Mother:   How a Grassroots Movement Took on the Gun Lobby and Why Women Will Change the World."   In the wake of the horrifying shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School,  Watts posted a call to action on her Facebook page- and six million mothers across the country have joined her in working for sensible gun control. 

Retired U.S. Army Lt. Colonel Ralph Peters is now a New York Times bestselling author who is best known for his historically-based novels.  His most recent is "Darkness at Chancellorsville: A Novel of Stonewall Jackson's Triumph and Tragedy."  

My guest, Nolan Gasser, was the first musicologist hired by the creators of Pandora Radio- and the chief architect of the so-called Music Genome Project.  His book is titled "Why You Like It:  The Science & Culture of Musical Taste."   

For Memorial Day:   Patrick K. O'Donnell, author of "The Unknown: The Untold Story of America's Unknown Soldier and World War I's Most Decorated Heroes who Brought him Home."   

After living and working in China,  Zak Dychtwald wrote "Young China:  How the Restless Generation will Change their Country and the World."  By 'restless generation,'  Dychtwald is referring to China's young adults in their twenties.  

This interview from 2005 is with Peter Steinhart, author of "The Undressed Art:  Why We Draw."     In a follow up conversation,  I get a reaction to the book from Dr. David Holmes, a Professor of Art at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside at the time.  (Professor Holmes passed away in 2014.)  

We have a conversation about - among other things - why there have been so few women in the field of computer science and whether or not that situation is beginning to change. 

Sarah Stewart Holland and Beth Silvers are friends- but also at odds politically. (One of them is a Democrat; the other is a Republican.)  They co-host a popular podcast called "Pantsuit Politics" and their new book is titled "I Think You're Wrong (But I'm Listening) - A Guide to Grace-Filled Political Conversations."  They want this book to help all of us be better at talking about politics with those who disagree with us.   <Please note that due to a poor phone line, there are intermittent moments of audio difficulty.  We apologize.>

This is a conversation about the Gateway Promise, a program which allows deserving and qualified Gateway students to have what is essentially a tuition-free Gateway education.  The Gateway Promise program provides funds that bridge the gap between the amount of financial aid a student has received and the full cost of tuition.   We speak with Jennifer Charpentier, director of the Gateway Foundation, two counselors in the Gateway Promise program, and a Gateway student who has been a recipient of Gateway Promise funds. 

Dr. Art Cyr, Clausen Distinguished Professor of Political Economy and World Business,  is a monthly visitor to the Morning Show.  In today's interview, we discuss the so-called U.S.-China Trade War .... as well as recent summits involving the leaders of the U.S. & South Korea at one and the leaders of  Russia & South Korea at the other.  Also an update on recent events in Indonesia - and some thoughts on Immigration.  

Mitchell Zuckoff was a reporter for the Boston Globe on 9-11.   His meticulously-researched and beautifully-written book about the events of that terrible day is titled "Fall and Rise:  The Story of 9/11."  

Jim Dwyer, a reporter for the New York Times,  was co-author of "102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers."   This book, published in 2005,  examines how thousands of people on 9-11 were able to escape the Twin Towers on that terrible morning before the Towers ultimately fell.  

Ralph Houghton was the coordinator of Fine Arts for the Kenosha public schools for many years.  Saturday night, May 18th, at 7:00 there is a free concert at Reuther High School Auditorium, which is being renamed the Ralph J. Houghton Performance Center.  There will be performances by the KUSD Madrigal Singers, the Golden Strings, and the Kenosha Alumni Band with Ralph's son Steve (a superb professional percussionist) as a special guest.  We are replaying this interview with Ralph Houghton from many years ago in tribute to this great champion of the arts in Kenosha. 

Joshua A. Douglas, a professor at the University of Kentucky College of Law, examines efforts across the country to expand the voting rolls such as lowering the minimum voting age or extending the right to vote to felons ... as well as efforts to remove barriers that can discourage or prevent people from exercising their right to vote.  His book is titled "Vote for Us: How to Take Back our Elections and Change the Future of Voting." 

We are discussing Aerial Arts, in which a person is suspended above the floor or ground- sometimes a large distance off of the ground - by silken hammocks and/or silken strips which they hold on to and with which they can assume various positions.  It can be done as dance, for therapy, and even for Yoga.   We speak to two instructors at the Spiral Space Yoga Gallery where aerial arts are taught.  (They are presenting a showcase of their students on Friday night, May 17th, at The Branch- 1501 Washington Ave. in Racine.  The event is a fundraiser.) 

In Part One, we find out about an exciting exchange program called "Two Worlds-One Art" involving choral singers from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and Jianghan University in Wuhan, China.   In Part Two, we meet composer Dana Wilson; a new piece by Dr. Wilson will be premiered this weekend by the Lake Geneva Symphony Orchestra.  

May is Mental Illness Awareness Month.  Part One is with Lisa Zanin, co-president of the Kenosha County chapter of NAMI- the National Alliance on Mental Illness.   Part two is a portion of a 2005 conversation with Paul Raeburn, author of "Acquainted with the Night."  Raeburn, a former writer for Business Week,  writes about his son's and daughter's respective struggles with mental illness.   

Kenosha's own Betsy Ade returns to the Morning Show to tell us more about what it was like to be a contestant on NBC's "The Voice."  (She was recently eliminated.)  She takes us behind the scenes to describe what it was like to be coached by the show's celebrity judges,  how the songs she sang for the series were chosen,  what kind of relationship she had with her fellow contestants,  and much more.