MPR News with Angela Davis Minnesota Public Radio

Want to keep your feet healthy? Try slipping off your shoes this summer and let your feet feel the grass.

Walking barefoot builds up the small muscles in your feet and helps prevent some of the more common foot problems we experience as we age.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with a podiatrist who shares tips for happy feet, advice on footwear and how to prevent and treat common foot problems, including bunions and plantar fasciitis.

Guest:


Dr. Paul Langer is a podiatrist at Twin Cities Orthopedics. He specializes in sports medicine, foot disorders, biomechanics, surgery and foot care in aging. He is also a clinical advisor for the American Running Association, the author of “Great Feet for Life: Footcare and Footwear for Healthy Aging” and part owner of the athletic shoe store Fleet Feet Minneapolis.





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Democrat Joe Biden, the current president, and Republican Donald Trump, the former president, meet Thursday, June 27, for the first debate either candidate has been in since 2020. 

The presumed presidential rematch has been set for months — with both candidates earning the necessary primary wins to gain their party nominations, which they’ll formally accept at conventions later this summer. 

MPR News guest host Brian Bakst talked with presidential scholars and a former presidential candidate about the work it takes to prepare for a presidential debate and how Thursday’s debate could impact both campaigns over the next few months. 

Do you ever wonder what it takes to keep the party going all night long? What exactly goes into curating music for different audiences and events? 

Who are these musical geniuses who have the ability to get us out on the dance floor and keep us swaying to the beat long after our bodies get tired? 

On Monday, we went behind the scenes of the DJ world — from the gear they use to the secrets of reading the crowd. 

DJing has often been seen as a male-dominated profession, but times are changing with more women dominating the Twin Cities’ vibrant music scenes. 

Millions of Americans are leaving church. Are they also leaving their faith?   

Thirty years ago, about 90 percent of Americans identified as Christian. Today, that’s dropped to about 60 percent.

Meanwhile, the number of people without any religious affiliation at all continues to grow.

For some, the decision to leave is rooted in conflict and pain. But for most people, the reasons for leaving church are a lot more mundane.

MPR News guest host Kelly Gordon talks with a researcher and a pastor about the historic exodus from Christian congregations, what some have called the “great de-churching.”

In many ways, Lee Hawkins’ childhood in Maplewood was typical for families in the 1980s. He rode bikes, spent hours exploring the landscape, played rudimentary video football games. He and his sisters were raised by two loving parents and spent hours at Mt. Olivet Baptist Church each week.

But in other ways, Hawkins’ experience was unique. His family was Black in a mostly white suburb, part of the “integration generation.” He found community both with his peers at North St. Paul High School and at the barbershop he frequented in the Rondo area of St. Paul. And his parents, especially his dad, could be volatile, wrestling with the effects of intergenerational trauma that had roots in Alabama, where Hawkins’ father grew up.


North Star Journey Live: What Happened in Alabama? Ending cycles of trauma in Black America



Reconciling those two truths led Hawkins to dive into his family’s history. The result is his new podcast, What Happened in Alabama? It’s an honest look at what 400 years of unaddressed trauma can do in individuals, in families, in communities. It’s also a nuanced narrative of Hawkins’ own life. How could the father he idolized also be violent? How could he break the cycle of trauma so that future generations would know their history and be able to heal from it?

Hawkins lives in New York now, but he came home to Minnesota in May to talk with MPR News host Angela Davis about his journey for a special North Star Journey Live. On stage at the Minnesota History Center the night of May 22, before a crowd of several hundred people, they discussed the significance of exploring family history and intergenerational trauma, highlighting the lasting impact of Jim Crow on America and the power of truth-telling as we seek to understand our past and break cycles of trauma.













































You can listen to What Happened in Alabama? wherever you get your podcasts. Hawkins is also the author of the forthcoming book, “Nobody's Slave: How Uncovering My Family's History Set Me Free,” which is available for preorder now.

What Happened in Alabama? on Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-happened-in-alabama/id1743990592

Some people call Juneteenth our nation’s second Independence Day.  

It marks the date on June 19, 1865, when enslaved Black Americans in Texas finally learned of their freedom, after the Civil War and Emancipation Proclamation.  

The day became a federal holiday in 2021, but Americans are still grappling with how to commemorate it.  

MPR News guest host Nina Moini talks with Kevin Lindsey, CEO of the Minnesota Humanities Center, about what the nonprofit organization is doing to mark Juneteenth and how better understanding the past can help address injustice today.  

Guests:  


Kevin Lindsey was hired as CEO of the Minnesota Humanities Center in 2019 after serving almost eight years as commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Rights. He’s also worked as an attorney in private practice and in the Ramsey County attorney’s office. 




Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.