Under the Radar Podcast GBH

Mother expressions run the gamut of familiar advice.”If everybody jumps off the bridge, will you do it, too?” “I’m the mother; that’s why.” “We have food at home.”These and other motherly quips have lasting resonance — not always positive.“If you came to my mom and told her you were bored, you got assigned a cleaning task. Can't be bored washing the windows, you know?” Carissa Burk, author of “The Little Green Book of Mothers’ Wisdom” told Under the Radar.This Mother’s Day we reflect on the sayings, quotes and expressions that both nurture and challenge our relationship with mom. Rachel Marie Martin, author of “Mom Enough: Inspiring Letters for the Wonderfully Exhausting but Totally Normal Days of Motherhood,” says that ultimately, motherhood is about doing your best. She said you can find value even in your mistakes.“Learning from it [a mistake] and really learning to embrace the other women that get to walk this journey with you — and walking hand in hand without the judging, but with the loving and knowing that they too are really trying to do their best,” she said.GUESTSCarissa Burk, CEO of Creative Green Living Media Group, author of “The Little Green Book of Mothers' Wisdom”Rachel Marie Martin, founder of findingjoy.net and author of “Mom Enough: Inspiring Letters for the Wonderfully Exhausting but Totally Normal Days of Motherhood”

On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court overturned legal segregation in America’s public schools in the landmark ruling, Brown v. Board of Education. The decision dissolved the “separate but equal” doctrine, effectively ending legal segregation in American education.The ruling 70 years ago was a defining moment for the country’s racial progress — it also marked the beginning of what turned out to be a slow and arduous process of integrating Black students into majority white schools. In 1974, Boston drew national headlines for the violent response to the busing of Black students. And it wasn’t until 1988, more than 30 years after the Brown decision, before close to half of Black students were in desegregated schools. Since then the numbers have significantly decreased.On this 70th anniversary, Under the Radar considers the legacy of Brown v. Board of Education in Boston and nationwide.GUESTSTomiko Brown-Nagin, dean of the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School and professor of history at Harvard UniversityMichaele N. Turnage Young, senior counsel and co-manager of the Equal Protection Initiative at the Legal Defense FundAlisa R. Drayton, executive director of the Yawkey Club of Roxbury

Author Suzanne Park's new rom-com, “One Last Word,” is a novel centered around a Korean tech entrepreneur — and what happens when her new app accidentally sends intimate messages to all the important people in her life.“Her goal is just to get from point A to point B. I've been conditioned to work hard and get good grades and work hard at work, and I'll get promoted, and my life will go in this trajectory that's predictable,” said Park. “And then when all of this falls apart and, crumbles around her, she sees that what she had thought in her life, as her life plan, isn't actually turning out the way she thought it was.”The fictional main character Sarah Chae is jobless, estranged from her best friend, and still carrying a torch for a high school buddy who has no idea how she feels. She puts her life on hold to create a new app about death — but then it all blows up.Park said her main character's story is not just figuring out her career and romantic life. “She also has to figure out, is her life outlook even aligned to where it should be? Because she had believed all these things before and now she's seeing that what she had believed is actually not necessarily true,” said Park.The new romantic comedy serves up a life-altering pivot for Sarah that leads to an even sweeter happy ending. “One Last Word” is Park's latest novel and the May selection for “Bookmarked: The Under the Radar Book Club.” Listen to the full interview above.GUESTSuzanne Park, author of four romance novels, including her latest, ”One Last Word” 

Organizations across the Bay State are joining together to take on a bold mission — eliminating hunger in Massachusetts.More than one million people in the state try to make ends meet with federal funds for food; many of those include families with children.The new Make Hunger History Coalition includes leaders of food banks, legislators and other advocates for hungry residents whose stated goal is to make Massachusetts “the first state to end hunger, permanently.”GUESTSJennifer Lemmerman, chief policy officer for Project BreadAndrew Morehouse, executive director of the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts

America loves hot sauce. A 2021 Instacart survey found 74% of consumers eat hot sauce with their food, and when there was a shortage of the popular Huy Fong Foods' sriracha hot sauce last year, one bottle would go for as much as $52 on Amazon. Right now, they go for $9. But given Greater Boston’s reputation for cuisine that is the opposite of spicy (clam chowda, anyone?) you might be surprised that Massachusetts has a long history with hot sauce — the first bottled cayenne sauces appeared here in 1807.“There is a really, really long history of use of hot and spicy foods in the Americas,” Megan Elias, director of the food studies programs at Boston University, told Under the Radar. “The capsicum comes from the Americas. And it was, then exported out to Europe and to the rest of the world, really crucially. So it ends up in South Asia and ends up in Africa, getting kind of involved ... in the foods there. And then, eventually kind of comes back to the U.S.”The hot sauce market in the U.S. is projected to grow from about $3 billion in 2023 to more than $5 billion by 2030, and there will be plenty of spicy food for local fans to sample at the upcoming, inaugural Rhythm N' Spice festival in Cambridge on Saturday, May 4. It reflects the area's growing desire for spicy flavors, says Nicola Williams, producer of the festival. She plans to highlight the culinary diversity that exists in Greater Boston.“We have a spicy Jamaican vegetarian and beef patty challenge. We have a spicy pizza challenge with a local, Black-owned restaurant right here in Cambridge. We have, wings. And we're going to have three categories of flavors, from African sauces, to jerk, to hot sauce from all over the world,” she said. “And so we want to make sure that we infuse all of this spice throughout the event. We also have dance so you can shake it off after you've blown your mouth or palates.”GUESTSNicola Williams, producer of the Rhythm N' Spice Hot Sauce Fest, president of The Williams AgencyBrian Ruhlmann, founder and owner of Craic Sauce in Lowell, MassachusettsMegan Elias, director of the food studies programs at Boston University

Each year more than one million American women begin menopause — an experience many don’t understand and few talk about. Often referred to as “the change,” the most common symptoms include — hot flashes, brain fog and fatigue.“I had insomnia for years,” Dr. Tina Opie, a management professor at Babson College, told Under the Radar. “I was sweating profusely. I would be at work and forget my train of thought.” What’s more, many are still in the dark about how to navigate this natural transition in life, even with new information and medication available. For some people like Marian Themeles, a breast cancer survivor who has experienced hot flashes, the standard hormone replacement therapy treatment is not viable, despite her severe symptoms. She says it feels like, “suffocation from the inside. You get incredibly hot, and you feel like you can't breathe, and that lasts several minutes.”However, there is a newly approved drug, Fezolinetant, designed to treat hot flashes for patients who cannot take the standard hormone replacement therapy. Dr. Jan Shifren, a reproductive endocrinologist and obstetrician/gynecologist said, for the first time, “we are really targeting a place in the brain where hot flashes occur and in very well controlled trials, it reduces the severity and frequency of hot flashes.”This conversation and more this week on Under the Radar with Callie Crossley. GUESTS Dr. Jan Shifren, a reproductive endocrinologist and obstetrician/gynecologist and director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Midlife Women's Health CenterMarian Themeles, a patient of Massachusetts General Hospital who uses the prescription menopause medicine, Veozah (Fezolinetant)Dr. Tina Opie, an associate professor in management at Babson College