West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Telling West Virginia's Story
Today a new episode of our podcast "Us and Them" comes out. This one focuses on sex education. Beth Vorhees talks with host and producer Trey Kay about…
Today a new episode of our podcast “Us and Them” comes out. This one focuses on sex education. Beth Vorhees talks with host and producer Trey Kay about the conflict that has surrounded sex education for decades.
When you see panhandlers on the street, what do you do? Ignore them and walk the other way? Hand them some spare change? And, how do you decide?
A lot of people have strong opinions about panhandlers, but are they based in reason or in ideology?
That’s the focus of latest episode of Us & Them, the new podcast from Trey Kay & West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
Trey Kay says the WVPB news staff’s reporting about a panhandling controversy in Parkersburg was the inspiration for his most recent episode.
Last fall, reporter Dave Mistich filed a story about the city of Parkersburg posting signs that read:
“Please Do Not Contribute to the Drug and Alcohol Problem by Giving To Panhandlers.”
“These signs made it sound like the city knew for sure that the money panhandlers get goes to drug and alcohol,” Kay recalled. “And I’ve always wondered whether that was true. I’ve always struggled with whether to give money to panhandlers. And so do a lot of people.”
Trey grew up in West Virginia, but he lives in New York now. He says whenever he’s in New York City, he encounters panhandlers. He recently stopped random people in Manhattan to ask if they give to beggars. He was surprised by how much thought people had given this question. Nearly everyone he talked to had a reason they choose to give – or not to give.
John, a guy Kay met at Penn Station, said he doubts that these people really need the money.
“I’ve seen some wearing $200 sneakers panhandling,” John said. “So you tell me. Why would I give that person money?”
A man named Simon told Kay he rarely gives because he believes panhandlers “just have to find a job.”
“I’ve seen a lot of alcoholics drinking, not really working,” Simon said. “They’re just lazy. They don’t want to work.”
Another person told him she doesn’t give because she’s seen TV news stories about beggars who are actually rich.
Others said they gave if the person seemed sincerely needy. And some said they didn’t care how the panhandlers spend the money – even if it goes for alcohol or drugs.
Friday marks the release of the latest episode of the West Virginia Public Broadcasting podcast ‘Us & Them.’ This episode was inspired by a story WVPB reporter Dave Mistich reported in the fall that focused on panhandling in Parkersburg.
The city had posted signs asking citizens not to give to panhandlers claiming donations would support the drug and alcohol abuse problems in the area.
The West Virginia ACLU threatened the city with a defamation lawsuit, but today, the signs are still posted and nothing has been filed.
Listen and subscribe to “Us & Them” and our other podcasts here: http://wvpublic.org/podcast
Americans are as divided as they’ve ever been. A recent Pew Research Center study found that “Republicans and Democrats are more divided along ideological lines – and partisan antipathy is deeper and more extensive – than at any point in the last two decades.” The report found the percentage of Americans who express consistently conservative or consistently liberal opinions has doubled over that period, to 21%, and that “ideological overlap between the two parties has diminished.”
The Us & Them podcast will focus on the fault lines that divide Americans. From fights over same-sex marriage or whether humans cause climate change to immigration and whether or not President Obama should identify ISIS militants as Muslim terrorists, we’ll the explore issues, disputes or ideas that divide people into longstanding, entrenched camps. In each episode, we’ll give a good listen to passionate people on either side of the culture war divide – from conservative, God-fearing Christian preachers and creationism advocates to moderate Muslim imams and campy flamboyant drag queens – not to determine who is right or wrong, but rather to access their humanity. Shows may include some expert voices, but in essence an Us and Them program is an intimately told story, focused on real people with deeply held core beliefs. It’ll provide insight as to how and why people come by these strong beliefs.
Trey & Alice
In the first episode of Us and Them, a red state Christian conservative and a blue state secular liberal share an unlikely friendship. And a slug burger.
The Great Textbook War
In 1974, Kanawha County, West Virginia became an early battleground in the culture wars when fighting broke out over new school textbooks. People planted bombs in schools, shot at buses, and shut down coal mines. This radio documentary was honored with Peabody, Murrow and DuPont/Columbia awards.
Rev. Jim Lewis – Marrying Gays When It Wasn’t Cool
Decades before same-sex marriage was legal, the Rev. Jim Lewis of Charleston, West Virginia, sparked outrage by blessing the unions of gay men and lesbians.
Revisiting the Grand Palace
Americans’ attitudes towards gay relationships have changed dramatically in a short time. Host Trey Kay returns to his home state of West Virginia to see how this change is playing out in a state where 53 percent of residents believe the Bible is the literal word of God.
A blue state secular liberal and a red state Christian conservative have an unlikely friendship
From West Virginia Public Broadcasting, this is “Us & Them” the podcast where we tell stories from America’s cultural divides.
Subscribe to “Us & Them” on iTunes or however you listen to podcasts.An edited version of “Us & Them” airs bi-weekly on West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s radio network, and the full version is available at wvpublic.org/podcast.
Share your opinions with us about these issues, and let us know what you’d like us to discuss in the future. Send a tweet to @usthempodcast or @wvpublic, or reach us on the feedback page at usandthempodcast.com.
And if you enjoyed this episode, join our community and sustain “Us & Them” with a pledge of support.
Edit | Remove On Friday, May 1, West Virginia Public Broadcasting debuts its new podcast, Us & Them. The program, hosted by Peabody Award-winner and…
On Friday, May 1, West Virginia Public Broadcasting debuts its new podcast, Us & Them. The program, hosted by Peabody Award-winner and Charleston native Trey Kay, seeks to explore the issues that create vast cultural divides.
We spoke with Kay about the origins of the podcast, as well as the dialogue he hopes to create between people of widely different ideological beliefs.
<img data-cke-saved-src="/sites/all/modules/contrib/wysiwyg/plugins/break/images/spacer.gif" src="/sites/all/modules/contrib/wysiwyg/plugins/break/images/spacer.gif" alt="” title=”” class=”wysiwyg-break drupal-content”>
On the Origins of Us & Them
Kay says his interest in the culture wars began when he produced a radio documentary on a conflict over textbooks in Kanawaha County.
“It just put me in this world at looking at people–on each side of the culture wars–people who have very different fundamental beliefs are just constantly at odds. And I looked at the world we live in, especially with so much bitter long-jams in Congress and how one side just thinks the other side is evil. And I just thought ‘this is just a fertile territory for me to explore in my journalism work but, also, it’s something that probably could be great fodder for a podcast.”
On the Mission of the Podcast
“I don’t think that we are doing well with regard to [finding common ground]. I think that we have a media culture that has made it so that people can reinforce their own beliefs, whether they’re right or wrong. People kind of lock into echo chambers–and that’s a phrase that we use quite often, and we use on some of the Us & Them episodes.”
Instead, Kay says the goal is to keep one side of the ideological spectrum from shouting at or ridiculing the other. He maintains that, while people’s beliefs are deeply held, some sort of rational conversation could still be had when addressing intensely divisive issues.
On West Virginia’s Role in Us & Them
“I was not really interested in making something that was all about West Virginia. But, I wanted to make a program that would feature a lot of West Virginia stories that would open up into a national issue. The culture wars are alive and well in West Virginia, just as they are in so many other parts of the country. There are going to be some Us & Them programs that have nothing to do with West Virginia. But, there are going to be many that open up and show how West Virginia relates to the rest of the country, if not the rest of the world.”
An Excerpt: Changing Attitudes Towards West Virginia’s LGBT Population
One of the first episodes of the podcast looks at how attitudes toward gay men and lesbians are changing in West Virginia. Here’s an excerpt from that program, when host Trey Kay interviews one of Charleston’s more colorful figures: Ted Brightwell.
Brightwell is nationally known for his impersonations of Cher and Barbra Streisand. He’s been performing in drag for decades, and Trey asked him what led him to be so out back when homosexuality was much more closeted in West Virginia.
