Lacresha Berry is a singer, actor, writer and educator living in Queens, New York. Her work infuses her life experiences into a broader, historical context. She received her BA in Theatre from the University of Kentucky. Her most recent one woman show, "Tubman," reimagines Harriet Tubman, the famous underground railroad conductor, as a 21st century student in Harlem, New York. 

Berry talked with WPSU about why she think Tubman's story still resonates with today's audience and how her career in teaching influence her art work, and vice versa.

I believe in running.

If you asked me how I felt about running five years ago, I would have laughed at you. My feelings about running? Pure, undeniable disgust. Coupled with my asthma and general lack of motivation, I considered running as one of my worst enemies.

November is transgender awareness month. On Thursday, Penn State’s Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity hosted alumna Mara Keisling at University Park.

Almost 40 years ago, Keisling graduated from Penn State. Today, she is the founder and executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality in Washington, D.C.

In the late 1970s, when Keisling knew she wanted to transition from male to female, there were no resources for her.

Ranked-choice voting has been in the news a lot lately. It was adopted in New York City's November 2019 election, used for the first time in U.S. Congressional elections last year, and will be the method by which at least a few states choose a Democratic primary candidate in 2020.

But, what is it? How does it work? And, is it more democratic than the single-vote method we're used to? This week's guest has answers to all of those questions.

An archive recording of the WPSU Blues show as aired on November 16 , 2019 and hosted by Max Spiegel. 

In the first hour, hear tracks from Parliament, Etta James, Ry Cooder, Peggy Seeger, Teresa Carter & The Rhythm Tramps, The White Stripes, Bob Dylan, Son House, Boozoo Chavis, Alabama Shakes, Paul Gayten, and more.

We hear a lot about global warming, but not necessarily about how effective different proposed solutions actually are.

We talked with Tom Richard, the director of the Institutes of Energy and the Environment at Penn State, who helped organize the first ever Project Drawdown conference – which looked at the top 100 actions to reverse climate change.

And we talked with Jonathan Foley, the executive director of Project Drawdown, about the conference and the book it’s based on.  

An archive stream of the WPSU Jazz show as broadcast on November 15, 2019 and hosted by Greg Halpin. 

The first hour of the program features all new jazz releases from Joey Alexander, Accidental Tourists, The Bad Plus, Jeff Goldblum & The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, Daniel Szabo, the Taron Herman Trio, the Oddgeir Berg Trio, Russ Lossingand Avishai Cohen with Yonathan Avishai. 

“What does a landscape dream of in its unsettled dreams?”

Todd Davis’s newest collection of poems, titled “Native Species,” opens with this question. The question is gentle and idle. It’s the kind of thing you ask yourself while half-asleep on a streambank on a hot day. But then there’s that word “unsettled.” The landscape may be “settled.” It may be cultivated into farm and town… but its dreams are unsettled, uneasy, perhaps even wild.