Wgtd's The Morning Show With Greg Berg

In memory of Phil Donahue, who passed away yesterday at the age of 88, we are replaying this 2020 conversation with Donahue and his wife Marlo Thomas as they talk about their book "What makes a marriage last: 40 celebrated couples share with us the secrets to a happy life."

Dr. Art Cyr joins us for his monthly visit to the program. We begin with the current presidential race - but move from there to look back 50 years to the resignation of Richard Nixon and some of the forgotten aspects of his legacy .... the recent re-election of Venezuela's corrupt president, Nicolas Maduro .... recent positive developments in relations between South Korea and Japan .... and the long-awaited release by the Russians of Wall Street Journalist Even Gershkovich and 15 other political prisoners.

Diana McLain Smith discusses her new book "Remaking the Space Between Us: How Citizens Can Work Together to Build a Better Future For All."

Dr. Adaira Landry and Dr. Resa Lewiss, who are both ER physicians, discuss their new book "Micro Skills: Small Actions, Big Impact" - in which they talk about how even intimidating, complicated challenges in one's life can be broken down into relatively simple, learnable skills or 'micro skills.'

Dr. Jerald Mast, Professor of Political Science at Carthage College, returns to the Morning Show on the eve of the Democratic National Convention to talk about all that has transpired since his last visit to the program: President Biden's decision to withdraw from his re-election bid, Vice President Harris's rise to become presumptive nominee of her party, her choice of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to be her running mate - and how Republic nominee Donald Trump has responded to all of this.

From 2008- Russ Parsons, author of "How to Pick a Peach: The Search for Flavor from Farm to Table." (This interview only exists in an off-the-air recording in somewhat poor sound quality- but I think the conversation is compelling and worth hearing.)

From 2000- Michael Schumacher discusses his book "Francis Ford Coppola: A Filmmaker's Life."

Thomas Fuller, author of "The Boys of Riverside: A Deaf Football Team and a Quest for Glory."

We're talking about The Cooking Studio at the Harbor Park Jazz Rhythm & Blues Festival coming up this Saturday in Kenosha. We speak with Teri Jacobson (Kenosha County Treasurer) who is captain of the Cooking Studio ..... and with two chefs from Bartolotta Restaurants in the Milwaukee area: Aaron Bickham, Corporate Executive Chef, and Connor McNeil, Executive Chef at Joey Gerard's, a Bartolotta Super Club in Greendale. McNeil will be the special guest chef for this year's festival. Tim Mahone joins us for part of the conversation as well.

Grammy-nominated jazz musician Jonathan Butler is the headliner for this Saturday's Harbor Park Jazz Rhythm & Blues Festival in Kenosha. He was born in South Africa in abject poverty at a time when Apartheid was in full effect - but managed to break through in an unprecedented way- becoming the first Black musician to have their work played on white radio. His music was an inspiration and comfort to Nelson Mandela during the last years of his imprisonment. After the interview, I play several of his songs in their entirety.

Today's show opens with the second half of my interview with Matthew Ferrence, author of "I hate it here- Please Vote for Me: Essays On Rural Political Decay." Ferrence, a creative writing professor at Allegheny College, ran for political office as a liberal democrat in Crawford County, Pennsylvania- one of the most decidedly republican conservative counties in the whole region. (The beginning of the interview was shared in yesterday's podcast.) After that, from 2018, comes an interview with Benjamin Carter Hett, author of "The Death of Democracy: Hitler's Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic."

Matthew Ferrence is a creative writing professor at Allegheny College. In 2020, he decided to run for political office as a progressive democrat in Crawford county, Pennsylvania - one of the most decidedly conservative republican counties in the region. His book is both a memoir of that experience of running for office (and losing badly) - as well as a reflection on how politics play out in much of rural America.

From 2017- Gregg Albright, Chronic Disease Management Pharmacist with Ascension All Saints Hospital in Racine, discusses what opioids are - and the nature of the opioid epidemic (which was to grow even worse in subsequent years.)

From the summer of 1998 - Dr. John Windh, who directed the Carthage Choir from 1966 until 1999, talks about the Carthage Choir Alumni Tour to Europe which he led earlier that summer. A group of almost 40 singers (most of whom were former members of the Carthage Choir) undertook a tour that took them to Salzburg, Vienna, Prague and Venice. (I was privileged to be part of that alumni choir, as the spouse of a choir alum. It was my very first trip to Europe.)

Today's Morning Show is a walk-thru tour of KPL Kids at Uptown Lofts .... the newest addition to the Kenosha Public Library system. It's a beautiful, state-of-the-art children's library in the heart of the Uptown neighborhood. This interview will also be available for viewing on WGTD's Facebook page and website. (My thanks to Scott Nelson for his technical assistance.) Our three tour guides: Heather Thompson, Head of Youth and Family Services .... Shawn Wolf, Learning Coordinator ... and Kahlil Griffin, Branch Manager.

For Kailyn Palomares's August visit to the Morning Show, we talk about the Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge - with acreage in both McHenry County, IL and Walworth County, WI - with Steve Byers, chair of the Friends of Hackmatack NWR, and Vince Mosca, VP and Senior Principal Ecologist for Hays & Associates, which does wetland and ecological assessment projects in Illinois and Wisconsin. They are engaged in a restoration project for the Hackmatack NWR.

Elizabeth Mehren, author of "I lived to tell the world: Stories from Survivors of Holocaust, Genocide, and the Atrocities of War." This book springs out of a Portland, OR based non-profit project called "The Immigrant Story," begun by Sankar Raman, which sought to gather stories of the immigrants among us in order to give insight into their normal daily lives. In the gathering of these stories, it became apparent that a number of these immigrants had managed to escape from truly horrifying circumstances- and had not only survived, but also thrived. Thirteen of these inspiring stories are gathered together into this book.

Rachel Kousser, author of "Alexander at the End of the World: The Forgotten Final Years of Alexander the Great."

In honor of the Olympics underway in Paris, France- we are replaying this conversation with Ronald C. Rosbottom, author of 'Sudden Courage: Youth in France Confront the Germans, 1940-1945" .... in which he talks about some of the courageous and inventive ways in which young people in France sought to resist the Nazis during World War Two.

From 2009 - Mark Frost, author of 'Game Six: Cincinnati, Baton, and the 1975 World Series- The Triumph of America's Pastime."