Podcast
Say More
Hosted by The Boston Globe · EN
Big ideas and big debates, explained through intimate conversations with the compelling personalities who shape them. AI and biotech. Higher education and health care. Climate and sustainability. Politics and the media. Culture and culture wars. Hosted by Boston Globe columnist Shirley Leung.
42episodes
Episodes
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Politics Panel: A Police Shooting, the Maine Race, and Wu’s Political Grudges
Apr 200:34:06Tap to summarizeFor the first time in 30 years, a Boston policeman is facing manslaughter charges for the shooting of an unarmed carjacking suspect who was trying to flee in his car. With this move, in an important election year, Suffolk DA Kevin Hayden is garnering praise and condemnation. By his side, is Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, whose recent acts of political retribution are drawing parallels with her predecessor, Mayor Tom Menino, a famous holder of grudges. This week on Say More’s political panel, opinion editor Jim Dao sits down with Ideas writer Abdallah Fayyad and opinion columnist Joan Vennochi to talk about these topics, and the insurgent oyster farmer, Graham Platner who is leading the polls in Maine’s senate primary. Email us at saymore@globe.com.
Transcribe →BONUS Say More LIVE: Emily Oster on Why Parenting Feels Harder these Days
Mar 3100:19:58Tap to summarizeEmily Oster, Brown University economist and author of ParentData newsletter, headlined Boston’s Globe second annual Working Mothers Summit this month. In a special live recording, Oster talks with Say More producer Anna Kusmer about why making parenting decisions feels even harder now than ever before. (Hint: social media isn’t helping) Oster, author of best-selling books EXPECTING BETTER and CRIBSHEET, stirred controversy during the pandemic for her controversial takes on school reopening. She says she has no regrets. Email us at saymore@globe.com. learn more about Boston Globe events here. https://events.bostonglobe.com/
Transcribe →Can Boston be a Women’s Sports Town?
Mar 2600:28:25Tap to summarizeThe sun was shining for the inaugural game this month of Boston Legacy, the city’s new women’s soccer team. While Legacy didn’t win their first match, optimism was high that finally, Boston may have a big women’s sports team to rally around. This week on Say More, host Shirley Leung talks to New Yorker sports writer Louisa Thomas about the progression of women’s sports, and what this team needs to do to survive the long haul. Can they promote stars and secure loyal fans? Can success mean an WNBA team is next? Email us at saymore@globe.com.
Transcribe →A Middle East Correspondent Reflects on War in Iran
Mar 1800:31:42Tap to summarizeReporter Shirin Jaafari has covered countless conflicts across the Middle East. But now, for the first time, the neighborhoods of her childhood in Iran have become a warzone. Shirin has been covering the war for The World radio program at GBH, here in Boston, while keeping tabs of her family and friends back home. This week on Say More, she talks to Boston Globe opinion editor Jim Dao about what Americans get wrong about Iran and the aspirations of the vast, and diverse, Iranian diaspora. Email us at saymore@globe.com.
Transcribe →US Literacy Rates are Shocking. Will AI Save Us? or Make it Worse?
Mar 1200:29:36Tap to summarizeLiteracy rates in the US are shocking. Nearly half of the nation’s fourth graders cannot read at a basic level. Even Massachusetts, a leader in public education, reading scores have been falling. These disappointing results have fueled a bitter debate over how best to teach reading. And now that debate is fueled by another factor: artificial intelligence. Could tech tools help save more of our kids from illiteracy? Or will it simply expand the use of junk science? This week on Say More, opinion page editor Jim Dao talks to Ola Ozernov-Palchik, a cognitive neuroscientist at Boston University. She specializes in understanding how the brain learns how to read. Her lab is working to ensure that new tools using AI are also backed by good science, which history shows, is not something you can take for granted in literacy education. Email us at saymore@globe.com.
Transcribe →Politics Panel: Iran, Epstein, and the Mass Senate Race
Mar 500:32:16Tap to summarizeWhy exactly did the Trump administration bomb Iran, and how will it affect the rest of politics? And what should happen to the powerful Massachusetts people who were chummy with Jeffrey Epstein after his 2008 conviction for sex trafficking? This week on Say More, Opinion Editor Jim Dao talks to Globe Opinion columnist Joan Vennochi and Ideas writer Abdallah Fayyad about whether age seems to matter in the Massachusetts Senate primary and who we should be mad at when our sidewalks fill up with snow. Email us at saymore@globe.com.
Transcribe →BONUS Say More LIVE: Rare Diseases aren’t so Rare.
Feb 2700:47:50Tap to summarizeIt’s Rare Disease Week! And the Boston Globe held its second annual Rare Disease Summit, shining a spotlight on the 30 million people living with a rare disease in the US. In this BONUS live recording of Say More, we talk to Boston Children’s Hospital head of pediatrics Dr. Wendy Chung about strides in newborn genetic screening, and Bob and Bobby Coughlin, a father and son whose lives have been transformed by a breakthrough cystic fibrosis drug that’s changing the outlook for people with the disease. Email us at saymore@globe.com. To sign up for the Boston Globe Events newsletter, click here.
Transcribe →Deep Sea Adventurer Edie Widder says, “We’re all Explorers”
Feb 2600:26:20Tap to summarizeDeep sea explorer Edie Widder will never forget her first dive into the deep ocean. The second she turned off the lights on her submersible, she was met with a light show, “like the Fourth of July.” She couldn’t believe her eyes as blue sparks, swirls, and flashes filled her vision. The lesson was one she would bring through years of her career: the deep ocean is not a barren wasteland; it’s a vibrant world teeming with life and light. This week on Say More, Widder talks to co-host Anna Kusmer about the inner-explorer within each of us, and the ways curiosity can trump fear. Email us at saymore@globe.com.
Transcribe →From Braintree to Mainland China, Janice Page was Lost and Found
Feb 1900:28:30Tap to summarizeJanice Page thinks of life like water. It flows, and you find yourself in situations you never could have imagined. In her new memoir, The Year of the Water Horse, Janice draws a complex love story across cultures, biology, and oceans. The story starts in whitebread Massachusetts and ends in rural China for the adoption of her baby girl. This week on Say More, Janice rings in the Lunar New Year with host Shirley Leung. They talk about falling in love, mothers-in-law, and cosmic twinning. Email us at saymore@globe.com.
Transcribe →From TV Host to Pastor, Liz Walker Found her Higher Purpose
Feb 1200:30:16Tap to summarizeLiz Walker made her mark in Boston as the first Black woman to co-anchor a TV newscast. But now, her impact is much deeper. After leaving the TV host chair, Walker became the pastor of Roxbury Presbyterian Church, a historic church in Boston. While working at this church, Reverend Walker realized the true power of talking. She launched a group project called, “Can We Talk…” which mixes the community power of church with the power of talking. On this episode of Say More Rev. Walker talks to host Anna Kusmer about how she ended up back at church, her childhood in Little Rock, and what music is inspiring her right now. Email us at saymore@globe.com.
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